Britain decided to enter World War I largely to protect its overseas empire from a hegemonic power dominating continental Europe. Since the seventeenth century, Britain looked to overseas commerce and colonies to expand its military and economic power. Queen Victoria’s diamond jubilee of 1897 illustraets a highpoint of imperial power. Notably, “Contingents of troops from the Queen’s territories all over the world,” were visible signs of the empire’s unity and far reach. Two years later, the Boer War came to overshadow this moment. An imperial force of 250,000, including soldiers from the dominions, struggled to squash a much smaller Boer army. Boers were descendants of white Europeans, and horrific stories of civilian casualties severely …show more content…
Throughout the crown colonies, the experience of war undoubtedly stressed the relationship between the empire and indigenous peoples. However, in the dominions, the extreme loss of life, or ‘sacrifice’, strengthened ties to a wider Anglo-Saxon identity. Furthermore, both settler and crown colonies believed their wartime sacrifices would bring more political autonomy. Undoubtedly, the war brought about irreversible political changes throughout the empire. This theme’s affect on five significant colonies - Canada, Australia, Ireland, South Africa, and India - will be inspected in this essay, particularly with the roles of sacrifice and race. A multilateral view of empire, accounting for relationships among colonies and not just with Britain, nuances this global imperial effort. Britain’s response to political dissent often exacerbated conflict and verified the opposition’s claims. Nevertheless, while World War One stressed existing political tension in some colonies, it strengthened ties amongst others, often along racial …show more content…
Morrow expresses this context by stating, “Aggression and fear saturated the entire imperial world view.” The technological and scientific gains of European powers catapulted their military power into world dominance, with perhaps the exception of Japan and the United States. Adas describes this development as a period when, “White European males reached the pinnacle of their power and global influence.” The game of world dominance lead to, “The haunting fear that one’s lesser competitor might somehow gain the upper hand, unleashing disastrous consequences for civilization.” This view of the international system contrasts with Darwin’s who describes the East as passive and West as, “Locked in… ‘balance of power.’” Describing the ‘East’ as passive does capture a prevailing perception among the west, but it is problematic. For one, it somewhat dismisses Japan’s imperial ambitions and victory over Russia, the first of any Eastern power over a Western Empire. It also connotes a frame of mind that diminishes the contributions of India to the war effort before it is even discussed. Nevertheless, balance of power politics dictated international affairs in Europe, with the emergence of a unified Germany in the 1870s disrupted the delicate balance. These politics played out throughout the globe, as