The European Colonial Empires, 1900-1945
Multiple Choice Questions
Exam Questions
Discussion Questions
How were British relationships with India, Ireland, and the Dominions affected by the First World War?
Contrast the British and the French experience with imperial rule in the interwar period.
Why were empires seen as important to European states before 1939?
Arab nationalism in the early 20th century was focused entirely on opposition to the west. Discuss.
What were some of the responses of colonized people to the post-1919 world order?
To what extent were the principles of self-determination upheld by the League of Nations?
How did Chinese politics influence events within Southeast Asian empires?
Was empire unsustainable after the events of 1940-1942?
How did the Great Depression alter relationships between European states and their overseas empires?
What are some of the explanations for the rise of European empires in the late 19th century?
Exam Questions
How did the experience of the First World War affect European empires?
It was changing economic relationships, rather than new ideals of self-determination, that altered the relationship between European states and their empires in the 1920s and 1930s. Discuss.
How did imperial reforms make imperial rule more difficult in the interwar period?
Weblinks
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1936westminster.asp – text of Westminster Statute 1931
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1908/10/the-new-nationalist-movement-in-india/304893/ – text of 1908 article on Indian nationalism
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1930hochiminh.asp – text of Ho Chi Minh 1930 statement on programme for Communist Indochina
http://filestore.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pdfs/small/cab-24-182-CP-384.pdf – text of British Cabinet documents on imperial relations with Dominions 1926
http://filestore.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pdfs/small/cab-24-232-CP-298-3.pdf – text of British Cabinet document on imperial preference 1932
http://filestore.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pdfs/small/cab-24-187-CP-187.pdf – 1927 memorandum on Indian constitutional reforms
http://www.difp.ie/docs/1919/Declaration-of-independence/1.htm – Irish Declaration of Independence 1919
https://www.mkgandhi.org/selectedletters/62viceroy.html – Letter from Gandhi to Viceroy of India 1930
http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/ho-chi-minh/works/1923/01/19.htm – statement by Ho Chi Minh on the French colonial empire in 1922
http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/ho-chi-minh/works/1923/03/30.htm – statement on an uprising in the French colony of Dahomey in 1923
Bibliography
Gerwarth, Robert, & Erez Manela, “The Great War as a Global War: Imperial Conflict and the Reconfiguration of World Order, 1911-1923,” Diplomatic History 38:4 (2014) 786-800.
Gorman, Daniel, The Emergence of International Society in the 1920s, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012).
Jacobs, Matthew F., “World War I: A War (and Peace?) for the Middle East,” Diplomatic History 38:4 (2014) 776-785.
Louro, Michele L., Comrades against Imperialism: Nehru, India, and Interwar Internationalism (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018).
Pedersen, The Guardians: The League of Natins and the Crisis of Empire (New York: Oxford University Press, 2015).
Samuel, Annie Tracy, “The Open Door and U.S. Policy in Iraq between the World Wars,” Diplomatic History 38:5 (2014) 926-952.
Stubbings, Matthew, “Free Trade Empire to Commonwealth of Nations: India, Britain and Imperial Preference, 1903-1932”, International History Review 41:2 (2019) 323-344.
Thomas, Martin, “French Empire Elites and the Politics of Economic Obligation in the Interwar Years,” Historical Journal 52:4 92009) 989-1016.
Thomas, Martin & Andrew Thompson, “Empire and Globalisation: From ‘High Imperialism’ to Decolonisation,” International History Review 36:1 (2014) 142-170.
White, Nicholas J, J. M. Barwise, & Shakila Yacob, “Economic Opportunity and Strategic Dilemma in Colonial Development: Britain, Japan and Malaya’s Iron Ore, 1920s to 1950s,” International History Review 42:2 (2020) 424-446.