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World War I The Colonies |
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| Between the Wars : The Colonies, 1919-1939 |
A.) Territorial Gains
Germany's colonies were given, by the LEAGUE OF NATIONS, as MANDATES to the countries whose troops had occupied them. Britain gained the western stretches of Togo (TOGOLAND) and CAMEROONS, as well as the larger part of German East Africa, soon to be named TANGANYIKA. SOUTH WEST AFRICA was placed under South African administration; German New Guinea and (Australian) Papua merged to form PAPUA NEW GUINEA.
The dissolution of the Ottoman Empire was a problem much more complex. Conflicting promises had been made to the Hijaz Arabs and to the Jews, in addition Britain and France had agreed to partition Ottoman Arabia into spheres of influence (SYKES-PICOT-AGREEMENT). Britain was given the mandates over PALESTINE, MESOPOTAMIA and the (Kurdish) MOSUL REGION. Palestine soon was partitioned into Palestine proper and TRANSJORDAN (1923), while Mesopotamia was declared the KINGDOM OF IRAQ (1921), given as consolation to Emir Faisal who had been deprived of Damascus, his conquest, by the French. The Mosul region was incorporated in 1926.
A.) British Rule in Arabia
The British were not happy with their conquests in Arabia. Transjordan and the Iraq were soon given a wide degree of political autonomy, the independence of the Iraq recognized in 1930. The autonomy of the KINGDOM OF EGYPT had been declared in 1922, the British retaining military presence in the region, control over the Suez Canal and domination over the oil industry (Kirkuk/Iraq). Palestine, however, was a different matter. Conflicting claims ruled out the option of indirect rule. Jewish immigration was permitted, but limited to annual quotas, which in the 1930es dissatisfied the Jews and enfuriated the Arabs. Both sides armed themselves, and in 1936 the Arabs launched the INTIFADA (Arab Revolt in Palestine), a revolt which tied British forces and still went on at the time of the Munich Pact of 1938, a factor which influenced Chamberlain's decision to give in to German demands.
A.) Developments in India
Another center of political activity was India. In 1919, British troops had opened fire on an illegal, but peaceful, unarmed assembly of Indians at Amritsar, killing over 1.000, among them women and children. MOHANDAS K. GANDHI became the leader of India's independence movement, propagating NON-VIOLENT NON-COOPERATION. British law and the British media became his strongest allies; his actions laid open the oppressive structure of British rule in India. Parliaments with a consultative function had been introduced; elections were dominated by Gandhi's CONGRESS PARTY.
In 1937, BURMA, CEYLON, ADEN and the Persian Gulf sultanates (Muscat & Oman, Trucial Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait) were separated from India. The end of British rule in India was in sight.
Afghanistan, regarded a British vassal state, reestablished it's political independence in the 3RD AFGHAN WAR (1919-1929); as it was a remote mountain country of only strategic interest, Britain finally gave in.
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EXTERNAL FILES |
A Brief History of the Brigade of the Gurkhas, from the Royal Gurkha Rifles |
| DOCUMENTS |
| VIDEOS |
A Dangerous Man : Lawrence after Arabia, 1990 Gandhi, 1982, cc |
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This page is part of World History at KMLA First posted in 2000, last revised on November 9th 2004 Click here to go Home Click here to go to Information about KMLA, WHKMLA, the author and webmaster Click here to go to Statistics |
