The Britannic vision : historians and the making of the British Commonwealth of nations, 1907-48 / W. David McIntyre.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

McIntyre, W. David (William David), 1932-2022.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Colonies.

Historiography.

Commonwealth countries--History.

Commonwealth countries.

History.

Commonwealth countries--Historiography.

Great Britain--Colonies--History.

Great Britain.

Great Britain--Colonies--Historiography.

Physical Description:

xvi, 377 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Basingstoke : Palgrave Macmillan, 2009.

Summary:

The Britannic Vision is a highly original account of the part played by historians in the British Commonwealth of Nations that figured on the world stage from the First World War until the aftermath of the Second World War. A century after the self-governing colonies in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa were designated 'Dominions', David McIntyre's accessible and engaging study looks at the work of seventeen historians, who made their own mark on the story as well as writing about it. With Dominion status, the 'new Britains' combined full freedom with continuing unity under the flexible and ever-evolving triple conventions of autonomy, free association, and common allegiance to the Crown. It was a peaceful and fascinatingly subtle pathway to sovereign independence that satisfied the British states, but not most Afrikaners, Irish and Indians, whose countries became Dominions but remained determined to abandon the Crown and become sovereign republics.

Contents:

Part I Historiography 19

Arthur Berriedale Keith 22

Oscar D. Skelton 25

Lionel Curtis 28

Alfred Zimmern 31

H. Duncan Hall 33

Leo Amery 36

Sir Sidney Low 37

Reginald Coupland 38

Kenneth Wheare 39

Keith Hancock 40

Harry Hodson 43

Nicholas Mansergh 45

Patrick Gordon Walker 46

J. Enoch Powell 49

John Coatman 51

Vincent Harlow 53

Margery Perham 57

Historians and Dominions 58

Part II Terminology 63

Britain, British, Britannic, British World 66

British subject 67

Britishness 70

Responsible government 73

Dominions 76

Dominion status 79

Home Rule and Home Rule All Round 81

Commonwealth and Commonwealth of Nations 82

Imperial Conferences 85

The Round Table 87

Organic Union 89

The Raj 90

Imperial Preferences 93

Imperial Defence 95

'Society of Peoples' 96

Part III Chronology 105

1 Federalism Frustrated 113

Sir Joseph Ward's 'Imperial Parliament of Defence' 113

The Imperial War Conferences 117

A declaration of constitutional right or independence 129

The 1921 Imperial Conference 133

2 Ambiguous Equality 138

The Irish Free State and external association 139

Dominions' diplomacy 152

The 1926 status formula 160

3 Optional Sovereignty 175

The inter-departmental committee 176

Conference on the Operation of Dominion Legislation 178

The 1930 Imperial Conference and the Statute of Westminster 185

4 Equality Delayed - The Dominion of India 194

A Commonwealth of India 197

The great debate on India's future 200

The Lost Dominion 209

5 Common Allegiance to the Crown 217

Single or multiple kingship 218

External association 222

Republics in the Commonwealth 235

Head of the Commonwealth 252

6 Freely Associated 258

Imperial defence 260

The Commonwealth at war 270

The Prime Ministers' Meetings 275.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780230227811

0230227813

OCLC:

317926614