Independence+and+Nationalism+in+the+British+Empire

= = =Independence and Nationalism = = = = Ireland =

The British had control over Ireland from the 1500s to 1922. Ireland has fought hard for their independence many times before finally achieving it in 1922. From 1916 to 1921, there was a lot of violence which led to the gaining of the 26 out of the 32 counties. In 1916 there a failed attempt to gain independence called the Easter rising. Since the rebels fighting was small, and a lot of violence was used against them, people started to support them more and had a more positive impression of them. In 1918, December, the party of rebels called Sinn Fein, won the election and declared a 32 county republic parliament. Now a republic the Irish formed the Irish Republican Army, and unwilling to try to agree to anything more with the British, they started the Guerilla War (Irish War of Independence), which started in 1919 and ended in 1921. In 1920, the country split into Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland and created the Irish Act of 1920 which gave Ireland Home Rule. The war ended in 1921, July, when Britain and Ireland made a truce. They then signed the Anglo-Irish treaty in December that year. The representatives fro Ireland, who signed the treaty were, Arthur Griffith and Micheal Collins. This got rid of the Irish Republic and instead made Ireland a free state and a self-governing dominion of the commonwealth of nations. Part of this treaty allowed Northern Ireland to stay in the United Kingdom instead of joining the Irish Free State, which it did. In 1922, the 26 county Irish Free State gained its independence and Northern Ireland gained Home rule and stayed as a part of the United Kingdom. In 1937, Ireland renamed itself Ireland and in 1940 it became a republic. =Australia =



Australia has a statue, called the Westminster Statue, which allowed the British Parliament to make laws and create states for Australia. The final, and most important, use of this statue was when the Australian Act was created i 1986. This stopped the British Parliament and Government from being able to create laws and states for Australia, even when asked by the Australians. This meant that originally, if Australia wanted a new state or law, it would have to be checked and agreed upon by the British Parliament, but with the the Australian Act it meant that the Australians did not have to ask the British Parliament in order to make a law, it could instead make the law itself, if the Australian government agreed. The Australian Act also meant that the English Monarch could not use her powers on Australia unless she came over to Australia to use them. Australia achieved independence on March 3rd, 1986, the same year the Australian Act was made. =India =

The first organized Indian Independence movement started in Bengal, but later the Indi ﻿ an National Congress became involved. They made a better approach to independence in the early 1900s when leaders such as Lal Bal Pal and Sri Aurobindo made proposals toward political independence. The Congress decided to use a no violent way to gain independence which was led by several campaigns and //**Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi**// . Ghandi started his movement for independence from 1915-1920 onwards. Ghandi wanted to gain independence in a non-violent way, so he told Indians to boycott British products. This movement was called //**Swadeshi**// . Because of this, Ghandi became very popular among the people in India.In WWII the //**Swadeshi**// <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> movement caused problems for the British, which showed the British how strong this movement actually was. In the WWII, and with the Japanese invading Burma, the British empire became very weak. This made the British realize that they were not strong enough to be in control of India any longer. In 1946, the British Prime Minister, Clemen Attlee, stated this saying; =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">//**“India is today in a state of great tension and this is indeed a critical moment… It is a time emphatically for very definite and clear action… Let us all realise that whatever the difficulties, whatever the divisions may be, there is this underlying demand among all the Indian peoples… Is it any wonder that today she claims – as a nation of 400,000,000 people that has twice sent her sons to die for freedom – that she should herself have freedom to decide her own destiny? My colleagues are going to India with the intention of using their utmost endeavours to help her to attain that freedom as speedily and fully as possible."**// = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">After his speech, Britain agreed to give India its independence. So in 1947 India gained independence and India and Pakistan were formed and they both became republics in the 1950s. =

=<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000080; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">__Back to Links to Cliodhna's work on the British Empire__ =

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000080; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">[]

<span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Times; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">[|__http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Ireland__] <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Times; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">[|__http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitutional_history_of_Australia#The_Australia_Act__]

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000080; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">[] [|__http://www.google.co.jp/imglanding?q=Australia+map&um=1&hl=ja&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&tbs=isch:1&tbnid=j2c9HN3azOeiRM:&imgrefurl=http://www.ezmapfinder.com/jp/map-66276.html&imgurl=http://www.gccm.com.au/imgs/interactive/australia/Map-Australia.jpg&ei=TJxtTerSOofEvgOGvNHFBA&zoom=1&w=1640&h=1416&iact=hc&oei=TJxtTerSOofEvgOGvNHFBA&page=1&tbnh=138&tbnw=160&start=0&ndsp=15&ved=1t:429,r:3,s:0&biw=895&bih=524__] [|http://www.google.co.jp/imglanding?q=India+map&um=1&hl=ja&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&tbs=isch:1&tbnid=4lt1igYKwg9S1M:&imgrefurl=http://sattwp.dyndns.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php%253Ff%253D49%2526t%253D470&imgurl=http://home.att.net/~Local_Catholic/india-map.gif&ei=y5xtTcfUCYj-vQPl4My2BA&zoom=1&w=330&h=355&iact=hc&oei=y5xtTcfUCYj-vQPl4My2BA&page=1&tbnh=137&tbnw=127&start=0&ndsp=18&ved=1t:429,r:4,s:0&biw=895&bih=524]