Time Line of British Imperialism

British Imperialism Time Line

Introduction:

The period of the British Empire lasted for multiple decades and some people even believe that Britain is still an Empire. During the height of the British Empire Britain was “comprised [of] over 13,000,000 square miles-nearly one quarter of the Earths land surface” and ruled over 500 million people all over the world like the Middle East, Africa, and Asia (Jackson,1). There are many events that lead to the success of the Empire and eventually the independence of its colonies. The top ten major events that followed the life of the British Empire are the formation of the East India Company, The Great Game, The First Opium War, the Indian Revolution, World War 1, The Rowlatt Acts, the Massacre at Amritsar, formation of the Noncooperation Movement, Sir William Manning’s Reforms to the Ceylon Constitution, and the independence of India. These 10 events follow the start of the British Empire till the release of one of England’s biggest colonies. Whether on not England’s choice of becoming an Impearl power was the right thing to do the empire brought together many different countries and cultures and the British Empire became the biggest empire the world had ever seen. During the height of the British Empire there was not a single continent on Earth that was not touched by England’s influence or power. Some people still argue that the British Empire is still in power today because it hasn’t allowed self-rule in some of its colonies like Bermuda.

Jackson, Ashley. The British Empire: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2013. Print.

 

Formation of the East India Company: 1600

Upon the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 the English were able to take part in the spice trade with east and southeast Asian and India (The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica, 1). With the new entrance of the spice trade the East India Company was founded a “monopolistic trading body [that] became involved in politics and acted as an agent of British imperialism … from early 18^th century to the mid-19^th century (The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica, 1). The company took part in many historic parts of British Imperialism such as colonial rule of India, the slave trade, the tea trade, and the start of the first Opium War.

http://www.britannica.com/topic/East-India-Company

The Great Game: 1813-1907                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

The Great Game played a huge roll in British Imperialism. The British were afraid of losing their political and economic influence in Asia and losing control of the Jewel of the Crown India due to Russian influence in the countries surrounding India, and by a direct invasion of India. The fear of losing their power politically and economically in the region resulted in multiple wars such as the First & Second Afghan Wars, Crimean Wars, and the Anglo Persian War. Another aspect of the great game was near the end of the nineteenth century Russia would send out exploration teams to “invade India through mountain passes” to claim the area of Pamirs (Fromkin, 5). These scouting teams are shown through Kipling’s book Kim when Kim and the Lama are in the mountains of Afghanistan.

https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/south-asia/1980-03-01/great-game-asia

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/great-game.htm

 

First Opium War: 1839-42

The First Opium War started as a result of the Chinese trying to prevent the British opium trade in China (Pletcher,1). The war ended after the British captured the city of Nanking in 1842 which resulted in the Treaty of Nanking. The Treaty forced China to give England Hong Kong, and use of five other ports. This treaty marked the start of British Colonia control over parts of China, and the start of a very profitable free port that became the East-West trading center for southern China. It also marked the start of 156 years of British control of Hong Kong.

 http://www.britannica.com/topic/Opium-Wars

 

Indian Revolution (Sepoy Mutiny): 1857-58

Due to the suspicion and fear that the British were purposely trying to downplay and ignore the traditions of Hindu’s and Muslims in India when a rumor broke out that “the grease used to lubricate the cartridges [for a Enfield rifle] was a mixture of pigs’ and cows’ lard; thus, to have oral contact [when biting the ends of the cartridges] … was an insult to both Muslims and Hindus” lead to the start of the Indian Revolution (Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica, 2). In 1857 after attacks and refusing to use the Enfield the British imposed harsh punishments such as execution and long prison terms which outraged more Sepoy troops who then revolted by shooting their officers and marching Delhi to restore the power of the Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah II (Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica,2). In 1858 the British ended the rebellion after there were many massacres by both parties, and the murder of women and children by the Sepoy. To punish the Sepoy for their crimes the British executed hundreds of Sepoys by bayonet or by strapping them to the front of cannons before they fired them (Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica,2). This revolution lead to the government of India taking over India from the East India Trading Company, reorganization of finances from India, and the Indian Army (Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica,2).

http://www.britannica.com/event/Indian-Mutiny

 

 World War I: 1914-18

World War one played a very important role in India. It started the beginning of an end of British colonial rule. The British promised India a progressive move to self-rule in exchange for troops, ammunition, food, and an increase in taxes(Tharoor,)    . With this promise 1.3 million Indian Troops moved out to Europe, Mediterranean, Mesopotamia, and North & East Africa to fight for England. The Indian troops fought in battles such as Ypres, Neuve Chapel, Gallipoli, and many other famous battles. At the end of the war the Indian troops had suffered 150,000 casualties, and 36,000 fatalities (Britanica). Despite this sacrifice by the Indian people England did not honor their promise of movement to a self-ruled India. Even though England did not honor their promise they did construct “the triumphal arch known as India Gate in New Delhi” (Tharoor,).

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-33317368

http://academic.eb.com/EBchecked/topic/285248/India

 

Rowlatt Acts

The Rowlatt Acts were an extension of laws from World War 1 into peace time in India that made it legal to arrest and jail any person in India on the basis of suspicion of plotting against the British rule without the ability to appeal or petition the arrest (IndiaNetzone, 1). The Rowlatt Acts became known as the Black Acts by Indians because of the dissatisfaction of the laws. In fact not a single Indian in the Supreme Legislative Council approved of the new laws (Britannica, the Post war years). The approval of these laws spurred lots of dissatisfaction of British rule. Gandhi even “called for on all Indians to take sacred vows to disobey the Rowlatt Acts and launched a nationwide movement for the repeal of those repressive measures” (Britannica, The Post war years).

http://www.indianetzone.com/14/the_rowlatt_act_1919.htm

http://academic.eb.com/EBchecked/topic/285248/India

 

Massacre at Amritsar: 1919

Due to protests, attacks on British citizens and property in Amritsar the city was placed under martial law under General Reginald Dyer. General Dyer imposed a ban on all “meetings and gatherings in the city” (History Staff, 1). Despite the ban many Indians traveled to Amritsar for the traditional Sikh Baisakhi Festival. Dyer then surrounded the area, and had his men open fire “on the crowd, killing several hundred and wounding more than a thousand” because there was nationalist demonstration in the same area (History Staff, 1-2). This event is very important because it inspired Gandhi to organize “his first campaign of civil disobedience against [Brittan].

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-amritsar-massacre

 

Formation of the Noncooperation Movement: 1920

In Response to the dissatisfaction with the British Impearl Power over India due to their failed promise of self- rule, the Rowlatt Acts, and the Massacre at Amristar Gandhi formed the noncooperation movement. The Noncooperation Movement was created to “induce the British government of India to grant self-government” (Britannica).  The Noncooperation Movement believed in not using violence to get what they want but to boycott British products, and using non-violent protests to prove their point. Gandhi eventually called off the Noncooperation Movement after the Charia Chaura Incident in 1922 after a protest got out of hand when protesters killed 22 Indian Police, and destroyed British Property. The Noncooperation movement played an instrumental role in the process of removing the British from Imperial power. It encouraged others to finish Gandhi’s work upon his arrest and ending of the Noncooperation movement. This relates to the book a A Passage to India by E.M. Forster because it started a public movement in India  to remove the British from power. The purpose of the movement made it unacceptable and not wise for a Indian man (Aziz), and a British man (Mr. Feilding) to be friends during a time of political unrest in India.

http://academic.eb.com/EBchecked/topic/285248/India

Sir William Manning Reforms to the Ceylon Constitution: 1920-24

Due to civil unrest in Ceylon during World War I caused by civil disturbances, and political ramifications in 1915 Sir William Manning started a new constitution to appease the Ceylon National Congress which consisted of Leaders from both Sinhalese, and Tamil organizations. (Arasaratnam, 21). Four years later his constitution was reformed again to better appease the growing unrest in Ceylon by the Ceylon National Congress and the people as a whole. The new reform created “an elected majority in the legislature, and increase in the number of territoriality elected members, and the election of communal representative” (Arasaratnam, 21). These reforms made a huge difference to British Imperialism because the British where starting to give some political power back to their colonies. This event relates to the autobiography Growing by Leonard Woolf because Mr. Woolf was a colonial administer in Ceylon but left because he could see no reason why the British were still in Ceylon and not letting it be a self-ruled nation.

http://www.britannica.com/place/Sri-Lanka/Administration-and-social-conditions#toc214602

 

India Gains Independence: 1947

 

India finally gained independence from Britain in 1947 becoming a “free and independent nation” after being controlled by East India Trading Company since the battle of Plassey in 1757, and then the British government after the Indian Munity due to continued protests and the end of World War II (The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica, 1)(National Archives ,1). Jawaharlal Nehru was elected to be the first Prime Minister of India, and stayed in power till 1964.  The independence also signifies the start of conflict between the newly free states of Pakistan and India over Kashmir (Bates, 1).It also started a desire to create to an independent Bengal State called Bangladesh.

http://academic.eb.com/EBchecked/topic/285248/India

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/empire/g3/cs3/background.htm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/modern/partition1947_01.shtml