Reasons for independence

The British Raj unravelled quickly in the 1940s, perhaps surprising after the empire in the east had so recently survived its greatest challenge in the shape of Japanese expansionism.

The reasons for independence were multifaceted and the result of both long and short term factors.

The pressure from the rising tide of nationalism made running the empire politically and economically very challenging and increasingly not cost effective. This pressure was embodied as much in the activities of large pan-national organisations like the Congress as in pressure from below - from the 'subalterns' through the acts of peasant and tribal resistance and revolt, trade union strikes and individual acts of subversion and violence.

With US foreign policy pressurising the end of western imperialism, it seemed only a matter of time before India gained its freedom.

There were further symptoms of the disengagement from empire. European capital investment declined in the inter-war years and India went from a debtor country in World War One to a creditor in World War Two. Applications to the Indian Civil Service (ICS) declined dramatically from the end of the Great War.

Britain's strategy of a gradual devolution of power, its representation to Indians through successive constitutional acts and a deliberate 'Indianisation' of the administration, gathered a momentum of its own. As a result, India moved inexorably towards self-government.

The actual timing of independence owed a great deal to World War Two and the demands it put on the British government and people.

The Labour party had a tradition of supporting Indian claims for self-rule, and was elected to power in 1945 after a debilitating war which had reduced Britain to her knees.

Furthermore, with US foreign policy pressurising the end of western subjugation and imperialism, it seemed only a matter of time before India gained its freedom.

(http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/modern/independence1947_01.shtml)

12. The Two Winstons

1910–1965. In the final episode, Schama examines the overwhelming presence of the past in the British twentieth century and the struggle of leaders to find a way to make a different national future. As towering figures of the twentieth century, Churchill and Orwell (through his 1984 character Winston Smith) in their different ways exemplify lives spent brooding and acting on that imperial past, and most movingly for us, writing and shaping its history.

1902	Britain defeats Dutch settlers in Boer War in South Africa
1902	The first old age pension
1914 - 1918	First World War Compulsory military service and food rationing introduced
1920	Republic of Ireland gains independence
1937	Sir Frank Whittle invents the Jet Engine
1939 - 1945	TheSecondWorldWar
1951	Festivalof Britain
1952	Elizabeth II becomesQueen
1953	Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II

Task 1. Who were the following people: Winston Churchill, Winston Smith, George Orwell, Home Secretary, Richard Blair, Eric Blair, St. Catherine of Sienna, Venerable Bede, Oswald Mosley, Stanley Baldwin, Neville Chamberlain, Franco, Stalin, Hitler, Nazis, Lord Halifax, Big Brother?

Task 2. What do you know about the following events and places: Oceania, Shanghai, Gallipoli, Burma, Jarrow, Czechoslovakia, Munich, Prague, Battle for Britain, Dunkirk, New Jerusalem?

Task 3. Answer the following questions:

1. Describe the families and early years of Winston Churchill and Eric Blair? Were they in any way similar?

2. What major political and social events formed the characters and outlook of Churchill and Blair? What were their respective views on the British Empire and further development of Britain?

3. Describe the political career of W.Churchill prior to the World War II.

4. What transformation did Eric Blair undergo on his return to Britain?

5. Describe the political and social life in Britain in 1930s

6. What was the attitude of the leading British politicians to German aggression in Europe in 1930s?nbhytf

7. What political events inspired G.Orwell’s books Animal Farm and 1984 ?

8. What was Churchill’s contribution to Britain’s victory in the World War II?

9. What political and social changes marked the post-war decade in Britain?

Butchery– массовое кровопролитие

Millstone – мельничный жернов, тяжкий груз

Scrap yard - свалка

Penal servitude– тюремное заключение

Ardent - ревностный

Impetuous – стремительный, бурный

Apprenticeship- ученичество

Fake– подделка, поддельный

Ordeal– мука, испытание

Sardonic - язвительный

Sweatshop

-предприятие, в котором рабочие работают в чрезвычайно тяжелых условиях

Second fiddle– вторая скрипка, вспомогательная роль

Perish - погибать

Trenches- окопы

Machine gun- пулемет

Expiation-искупление

Premature-преждевременный

Cowardice-трусость

Hollowness-пустота

Glee - радость

Franciscan – францисканский, в подражание Франциску Ассизскому

Destitution- нищета

Gruesome-отвратительный

Gutter– сточная канава, трущоба

Bedrock- основание

Underworld– криминальный мир

Purgatory- чистилище

Balaclava– вязаный шлем

Conspicuous - очевидный

Gymkhana– конноспортивное мероприятие

Appeasers – умиротворитель, соглашатель

Spineless- бесхребетный

Equilibrium - баланс

Lament– плач, оплакивать

Handthereins– передать управление

Gaunt- сухопарый

Geezer– парень, эксцентричный человек

Goodegg– славный парень

Defiant - дерзкий

Fret-хмуриться

Outrage– оскорбление, злодеяние

Endure- переносить

Fuhrer–фюрер, вождь (нем.)

Closeshave– на волосок от гибели

Indefatigable- неутомимый

Defeatist- пораженческий

Carnivorous- хищный

Landslide– лавинообразный, мощный

IronCurtain– «Железный Занавес»,граница между западноевропейскими странами и странами коммунистического блока во второй половине 20 в.

Doublespeak– демагогия, термин из романа «1984»

Guerrilla - партизанский

Repel– отражать, отбивать

Task 4. Supplementary Reading. Read the following texts and mark the facts that were not mentioned in the film.