The empire had led to giant industrial cities rising up all across England. They were dark frightening places where millions of people lived in appalling conditions. What alarmed those in charge was the violence and the anger that was building up there among the masses. ibid.
They used aircraft to bomb the rebels: they called it aerial policing, and they took back the country and set about creating the new country Iraq. But because there was no money, the group could not afford to survey the country. Instead, with no information Bell and the others simply projected on to the Arabs that powerful romantic dream of an old England. They decided that the middle classes in the cities who had run the country under the Ottoman empire were corrupt and untrustworthy, which meant that they had tot be excluded from power. Instead, power should be given to the Sheikhs who ruled the tribes out in the countryside … The truth was that this picture of Iraq was completely detached from reality. ibid.
Hong Kong: The BBC continued the fantasy of the special virtues of the Britain’s empire … ‘There’s a genuine fondness for Britain’s decent contribution here.’ ibid. BBC commentary handover ceremony
This is the story of how the government of the United Kingdom decided to attack an Arab nation. Of how afraid its oil supplies were under threat it embarked on a strategy of regime change. Of how Britain deliberately bypassed the United Nations. And of how a British prime minister led the nation to war based on suspect intelligence. But this isn’t Iraq 2003. This is Egypt 1956. These are British paratroopers fighting on the orders of British prime minister Anthony Eden. The Other Side of Suez, BBC 2006
This is a war over who will run this Egyptian waterway, the Suez canal, and the vital oil supplies transported through it. ibid.
But in Nasser, Eden encounters a new kind of Arab leader. ibid.
The prime minister and the Americans decide to punish him for cutting a deal with the Soviets. Their response it to mount a covert campaign against Nasser, codenamed Omega. ibid.
Nasser knows that nationalisation is a huge risk. He will have to physically seize control of the canal itself. ibid.
In London, Eden is feeling the strain. He has failed to win the hearts and minds of the Egyptian people. Nasser is more popular than ever … Dealers all over the world dump Sterling. ibid.
The prime minister reluctantly calls a ceasefire ... Plans are made for United Nations’ troops to replace the British and French on the ground. The ceasefire is a humiliating climbdown for Eden and his commanders. ibid.
1899: British dominion in Southern Africa was for the first time seriously challenged. The Boer War I, History 1992
Behind these concessions lay a calculated disregard for what the British believed to be an arid, inhospitible and generally barren hinterland. ibid.
Railways were built and further settlements established. ibid.
By 1898 the gold fields of the Transvaal had overtaken America as the world’s single largest gold producer. ibid.
Alfred Milner: A subtle campaign of coercion designed to bully the Transvaal. ibid.
An ultimation was delivered to the British … found the British unprepared for a major conflict … The largest army Britain had ever sent overseas. ibid.
The war can be seen clearly as having two distinct phases: the first phase covered the period of conventional warfare. ibid.
In the first months of the war the Boers had proved themselves formidible enemies, and their generals more imaginable and more daring than their British counterparts. ibid.
Gold also enabled the Boers to arm themselves with the most modern European weapons. The Boer War II
The artillery was employed for the first time in support of the infantry. ibid.
The Boers had melted away into the north. ibid.
A typhoid epidemic swept through the camps. ibid.
Individual, apparently localised, actions were often accompanied by a campaign of sabotage over a large area. ibid.
Typhoid and scurvy bore tragic witness to overcrowding, a lack of sanitation, and malnutrician, but the most distressing and harrowing killers were as often the diseases of childhood … The death toll climbed steadily … One of the darker chapters of British history. ibid.
They [Boers] fought with a personal commitment … Throughout 1901 the raids continued. ibid.
Those rendered destitute had nowhere to go. ibid.