1855-1870
Gold!
With the defeat of Russia, peace once again descended upon Britain- but not on Russia however, as the Germans marched towards St Petersburg and forced the Tsar to establish a protectorate over the Baltic. Britain launched a formal diplomatic protest over the incident, but had it had full over an unpleasant conflict with one of her closest allies and Friends- The Netherlands.
By the mid 1850s, the reserves of gold remained the same, causing immense difficulties to the world wide economy. The Bank of England attempted to alleviate the situation by introducing the double gold/silver standard and introducing central bank printing, but although these measures caused some improvement, they were obviously not a long term solution. New sources of precious metals had to be found to allow the world economy to expand. In 1855, a new source was found, in the Dutch colony of Dutch South Africa.
The area north of the Transvaal possessed British and Dutch trading posts and mission stations prior to this period, and the colonial office was pleased with this situation. However, owing to a mistake at the foreign office, British claims in the area, thought to be worthless, were signed away by a junior clerk at the Foreign Office. At first, this was thought to be a minor error, as the land in question was thought to be totally worthless. However, the Netherlands, always known for their business acumen, discovered the first
OOC: I accidentally agreed to a Dutch negotiation buying the claim for a tech. Not a good move.
Previous to this period, relations between the Netherlands and Great Britain had been excellent. Numerous peaceful exchanges of territory and investment had occurred. War seemed a distant prospect. However, the fact that the Dutch now possessed the only functioning gold mine in the world cause enormous consternation. Britain could be blackmailed by the Dutch, and her entire economy could be controlled from Amsterdam. Such a prospect was not appealing to Her Majesty’s Government, especially the treasury. The Foreign Office examined the prospect of purchasing the province in question from the Dutch (Salisbury), but events on the ground moved too fast for them. An ambitious inhabitant of Cape Colony, not even in his 20s yet had gathered together a large armed force and seized control of the disputed region in September 1855. His name was Cecil Rhodes.
The war for what became known as “Rhodesia” was something of a civilized affair- Britain and the Netherlands both came to an unspoken agreement not to attack each others centers of population. British troops reluctantly occupied the Dutch settlements in Southern Africa and one or two minor pacific trading posts. Rhodes occupied Salisbury, but his success was temporary- In early 1856 Rhodes was driven out by a Dutch led African force, which eventually grew to be almost 50,000 strong. Reluctantly, the Indian Office allowed the use of Bengali troops to attack the Dutch, but attention was distracted by events in China.
The Second Free Trade war, as it became universally known, began when Qing forces rudely attacked a British ship named the
Arrow. After bursting on board, the Chinese hauled down the British flag, molested the mean women and children and reintroduced restrictions on the opium trade.
Naturally, Britain could not allow the Qing to destroy the lives of their subjects by destroying trade, and thus a powerful force was sent from India to restore the
Status Quo Ante, which they did with magnificent pluck and dare by again capturing the forbidden city and forcing the Qing to stop their harassment of British traders and pay the British traders substantial indemnities for the money lost.
There was another consequence of the war with China. Some parts of Northern India and even Bengal were occupied by Chinese forces, who committed the most unspeakable atrocities against the Indian population. Naturally, most of the population was appalled, but a very few reactionaries and criminals joined the Chinese invaders in a short lived rebellion. The mutiny was very small and localized, and easily put down by loyal forces. However, without the prompt action, the mutiny could have become much more severe.
After China and the Dutch Pacific claims had been dealt with, Britain moved to occupy the disputed colony. Curiously however, the Dutch forces proved to both well equipped and well led, and the British expeditionary force found it necessary to retreat, leaving Salisbury in Dutch control.
However, the cause of the war was soon made meaningless, as new gold deposits were discovered in Australia and Borneo. The Borneo deposits were discovered by none other than James “Rajah” Brooke. Almost independent, the “White Rajah” of Sarawak had made his name campaigning against Dyak pirates in Sarawak, over which he assumed autocratic control. However, the very success of the war with the Dutch ended his independent status. British forces occupied most of Borneo, and established the Crown Colony of Borneo in early 1858, with the result that Brooke was now subject to increased control from London. He did however, maintain enormous influence within the new colony.
James Brook, the White Rajah of Sarawak
By 1858 the Foreign Office succeeded in its efforts to persuade HMG that the best course of action was to make peace as soon as possible. At first, the Dutch resisted these efforts, but after the occupation of Java and Okinawa by British forces, the Dutch were persuaded to sign a peace which left the frontiers unchanged apart from the trading posts seized by the British Army. Strenuous efforts were made by the British to normalize relations. Dutch companies were allowed very generous terms to establish Dutch factories in Britain itself. Britain was also not averse to returning certain of the trading posts seized to Dutch control, although some monetary and technological concessions were normally made.
East Asia following the Anglo-Dutch War
The performance of they army in the war was widely criticized in parliament. Numerous reforms were made, to the extent of examining military technology available from the Americans and Dutch.
The Americans give some military tech and the Dutch pay generous war reparations to British citizens inconvenienced by the Netherlands unprovoked defence
Previously, reform of the army had been regarded as too expensive- however, that was soon to change.
Economic Boom
The release of gold generated a boom in both the British and world markets. At last, there was sufficient capital available for large-scale industrial enterprises. Of particular importance was the establishment of training programs for the industrial workforce. The pace of industrial research and development improved significantly. The best example may be found in the steel industry. The Bessemer process revolutionized the steel industry, allowing for a much greater output. This lowered the cost of steel, which in turn allowed the more widespread implementation of railroads. This in turn allowed the improved transportation of goods, opening up development of previously inaccessible resources, further boosting the economy.
The development of railways was spurred primarily by Belgian firms, who were instrumental in building the first steel railways in Britain. There was however, a rather sad reason for this, as the Germans had invaded Belgium in 1861 and placed large parts of the nation under “permanent occupation”. In this case, Belgium’s loss was Britain’ gain, as large numbers of educated Belgians fled the country. It wasn’t long before steel and Iron railways crisscrossed all of Britain, although in the rest of the Empire services were much more rudimentary.
Iron railroads crisscross Britain
Increased funding allowed the government to spend more money on certain areas. The Home Office was allowed, after much parliamentary debate to re-establish the defunct metropolitan police force. Although the new force was small and overworked, it did do some good in preventing the spread of crime, although eradication or even a reduction in crime levels were far beyond its capabilities.
There was one large company the boom did not reach – The British East India Company. For unclear reasons, perhaps due to its clinging to outdated aristocratic ideas in this new age of worker control of the means of production, the East India Company went bankrupt in 1858. The result of this was that the administration of British India, which had previously been under Company control with only modest influence from Her Majesty’s Government, was placed under the control of the Indian Office. This did not include the Bengali Army, which fell under the control of the War Office.
Queen Victoria laid out her vision of the new British India in a speech to the House of Commons in 1859.
…To stimulate the peaceful industry of India, to promote works of public utility and improvement, and to administer its government for the benefit of all our subjects resident therein. In their prosperity will be our strength; in their contentment our security; and in their gratitude our best reward;
Naturally, these changes in India did bring enormous benefit to Britain. Particularly important were the establishment of colleges and other institutions, which allowed India an academic establishment.
OOC: I had an event involving India which gave me 100 research points in about 1860. That and the ability to promote clerks basically solved all of my research points.