The Mandate System after World War I

• The mandate was a legal and administrative instrument, not a geographical territory

• Article 22 of the [1919 League of Nations] Covenant established the Mandates System, founded on the concept of the development of such territories under the 'tutelage ... of advanced nations' formed 'a sacred trust of civilization'. The degree of tutelage was to depend on the extent of political maturity of the territory concerned. The most developed would be classified as 'A' Mandates, the less developed as 'B', and the least developed as 'C'... All Arab Mandates were class “A.”

• Overall, the French and the British occupied much of the former Ottoman Empire (divided into 5 Mandates) and divided Germany's Africa colonies (divided into 7 Mandates) between themselves.

  • • Japan took over most of Germany's Pacific island colonies

Balfour Declaration (1917)

• Great Britain promises to assist the Jewish people in establishing a “national home” in Palestine

• Britain hoped that the settlement in Palestine of a pro-British Jewish population might help to protect the approaches to the Suez Canal in neighboring Egypt and thus ensure a vital communication route to British colonial possessions in India

• the Declaration contradicted the agreements between the British and Husain bin Ali and the map drawn by Sykes and Picot.

Sykes and Picot Agreement (1916)

• French diplomat Francois Georges-Picot and his British counterpart, Sir Mark Sykes, drew up a map dividing the Ottoman Empire's Middle Eastern territory between British and French zones of control.

• The agreement permitted British and French authorities to divide up their respective territories however they pleased.

• This led to the creation of a series of Arab countries — Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Jordan, and so on — whose borders and political institutions only dimly reflected the Arab world's ethno-sectarian makeup.

1920s -- Japanese Agreements

League of Nations

• Japan joined the League of Nations as one of the “big five” powers

• entered into a series of international agreements that sought to improve relations among countries with conflicting interests in Asia and the Pacific

  • • 1922 -- Washington Conference treaties

      • • Japan agreed to limit naval development, pledged to evacuate Shandong province of China, and guaranteed China’s territorial integrity

    • 1928 -- Kellogg-Briand Pact

      • • Japan renounced war as an instrument of national policy

Change in Direction

• The Great Depression

  • • the depression undermined support for the internationalist position, and the militarists were able to benefit from Japanese martial traditions and their own unwillingness to be constrained by international cooperation

• Chinese Unification

  • • China’s unification, aided by international attempts to reinstate its sovereignty, threatened Japan’s economic interests in Manchuria

    • political instability, the result of nationalists and communists vying for power, made China an inviting target

    • Manchuria had historically been Chinese territory, but by the twentieth century it was a sphere of influence where Japan maintained the Manchurian Railroad (built in 1906), retained transit rights, and stationed troops

The Mukden Incident

• In 1931 Japan’s military forces in Manchuria acted to assert control over the region

• Manufactured incident:

  • • On the night of 18 September 1931, Japanese troops used explosives to blow up a few feet of rail on the Japanese-built South Manchuria Railway north of Mukden

    • Japan accused the Chinese of attacking their railroad

    • This “Mukden incident” became the pretext for war between Japanese and Chinese troops

• Japan's civilian government tried to halt this military incursion

• 1932 -- Japanese troops controlled all of Manchuria, thereby ensuring Japan preeminence and protecting its long-term economic and industrial development of the region.

• The Japanese established a puppet state called Manchukuo, but in reality Japan had absorbed Manchuria into its empire

International Reaction

• Guomindang (Nationalist Party) leader Jiang Jieshi (Chiang Kai-shek ) appealed to the League of Nations to halt Japanese aggression

• League of Nations called for the withdrawal of Japanese forces and for the restoration of Chinese sovereignty

• Japanese responded by leaving the league

This reaction set the pattern for future responses to the actions of expansionist nations such as Japan. Embarking on conquests in east Asia, Japanese militarists found a sure means to promoting a new militant Japanese national identity. They also helped provoke a new global conflagration

In 1885 a small group of English-speaking Hindu professionals founded a political organization called the Indian National Congress

• For twenty years its members respectfully petitioned the government for access to the higher administrative positions and for a voice in official decisions, but they had little influence outside intellectual circles.

• 1905 -- Viceroy Lord Curzon divided the province of Bengal in two to improve the efficiency of its administration.

  • • This decision, made without consulting anyone, angered not only educated Indians, who saw it as a way to lessen their influence, but also millions of uneducated Hindu Bengalis, who suddenly found themselves outnumbered by Muslims in East Bengal

    • Soon Bengal was the scene of demonstrations, boycotts of British goods, and even incidents of violence against the British.

• 1906 -- All-India Muslim League

  • • while the Hindus of Bengal were protesting the partition of their province, Muslims, fearful of Hindu dominance elsewhere in India

• the British Raj government responded by granting Indians a limited franchise based on wealth.

  • • Muslims, however, were on average poorer than Hindus, for many poor and lowcaste Hindus had converted to Islam to escape caste discrimination.

    • the British instituted separate representation and different voting qualifications for Hindus and Muslims

• 1911 -- the British transferred the capital of India from Calcutta to Delhi (the former Mughal capital)

• These changes disturbed Indians of all classes and religions and raised their political consciousness

• two mass movements emerged:

  • • one by Hindus

    • one by Muslims

Nationalist Industrial Protests

• Pramatha Nath Bose -- the only Indian member of the Indian Geological Service wanted to prospect for iron ore

  • • he had to resign because the government wanted no part of an Indian steel industry that could compete with that of Britain

• Jamsetji Tata -- a Bombay textile magnate who decided to produce steel in spite of British opposition

• With the help of German and American engineers and equipment, Tata’s son Dorabji opened the first steel mill in India in 1911, in a town called Jamshedpur in honor of his father.

World War I

• Indians supported Britain enthusiastically

  • • 1.2 million men volunteered for the army

    • millions more voluntarily contributed money to the government.

• Many expected the British to reward their loyalty with political concessions.

• 1917 -- in response to the agitation, the British government announced “the gradual development of self-governing institutions with a view to the progressive realization of responsible government in India as an integral part of the British Empire.”

  • • This sounded like a promise of self-government, but the timetable was so vague that nationalists denounced it as a devious maneuver to postpone India’s independence

• Spanish Influenza

  • • late 1918 and early 1919 a violent influenza epidemic broke out among soldiers in the war zone of northern France.

    • Within a few months it spread to every country on earth and killed over 20 million people (estimates go as high as 50-100 million).

    • India was especially hard hit; of the millions who died, two out of three was Indian.

Amritsar Massacre (Jallianwalla Bagh Massacre)

• April 13, 1919 in the city of Amritsar in Punjab, General Reginald Dyer ordered his troops to fire into a peaceful crowd of some 10,000 demonstrators

• killing at least 379 and wounding 1,200.

• Waves of angry demonstrations swept over India, but the government waited six months to appoint a committee to investigate the massacre.

• In the charged atmosphere of the time, the period of gradual accommodation between the British and the Indians came to a close

• Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948), who had returned to India during WWI, became the leader of the Indian National Congress following the Amritsar Massacre.

French West Africa

• a growing frustration with the level of rebellion expressed during World War I conscription drives led to a move away from the "civilizing mission," assimilationist policies and direct rule.

• a higher priority was placed on "conserving" African society and "tribal" structures.

  • • This was an attempt to contain the protests of Western-educated elites in urban centers, both the British and French attempted to vest more and more power in the hands of "traditional" authorities

    • urban activists challenged the anti-democratic nature of the colonial system during the interwar years

Following WWI, because of the overwhelming technological forces arrayed that could be deployed by European powers against West African rebels, new forms of resistance were employed

Protesting harsh conditions resulting from forced labor, collective punishments, and unfair legal practices in a particular area (particularly in French colonies)

• mass migrations

• strikes by urban workers

  • • most notably railway and dockworkers

• boycotts

• petitions

• delegations orchestrated by elite associations:

  • • Aborigines' Rights Protection Society

    • the Young Senegalese Club

    • the People's Union

    • the Anti-Slavery and Aborigines' Protection Society

• religious/millenarian forms of protests:

  • • from independent Christian churches

    • Muslim mahdist movements

    • sufi brotherhoods

    • practitioners of Traditional African Religions