Divyanshu67/squad_v2 huggingface dataset:
British_Empire

Since 1718, transportation to the American colonies had been a penalty for various criminal offences in Britain, with approximately one thousand convicts transported per year across the Atlantic. Forced to find an alternative location after the loss of the 13 Colonies in 1783, the British government turned to the newly discovered lands of Australia. The western coast of Australia had been discovered for Europeans by the Dutch explorer Willem Jansz in 1606 and was later named New Holland by the Dutch East India Company, but there was no attempt to colonise it. In 1770 James Cook discovered the eastern coast of Australia while on a scientific voyage to the South Pacific Ocean, claimed the continent for Britain, and named it New South Wales. In 1778, Joseph Banks, Cook's botanist on the voyage, presented evidence to the government on the suitability of Botany Bay for the establishment of a penal settlement, and in 1787 the first shipment of convicts set sail, arriving in 1788. Britain continued to transport convicts to New South Wales until 1840. The Australian colonies became profitable exporters of wool and gold, mainly because of gold rushes in the colony of Victoria, making its capital Melbourne the richest city in the world and the largest city after London in the British Empire.

Question: How many convicts per year had Britain been sending to the American colonies?
Answer: one thousand

Question: Where did Britain switch to sending their convicts after the loss of the American colonies?
Answer: Australia

Question: Who discovered Australia in 1606?
Answer: Willem Jansz

Question: What had the Dutch East India Company initially named Australia?
Answer: New Holland

Question: When did the first shipment of British convicts leave for Australia?
Answer: 1787
British_Empire

During his voyage, Cook also visited New Zealand, first discovered by Dutch explorer Abel Tasman in 1642, and claimed the North and South islands for the British crown in 1769 and 1770 respectively. Initially, interaction between the indigenous Māori population and Europeans was limited to the trading of goods. European settlement increased through the early decades of the 19th century, with numerous trading stations established, especially in the North. In 1839, the New Zealand Company announced plans to buy large tracts of land and establish colonies in New Zealand. On 6 February 1840, Captain William Hobson and around 40 Maori chiefs signed the Treaty of Waitangi. This treaty is considered by many to be New Zealand's founding document, but differing interpretations of the Maori and English versions of the text have meant that it continues to be a source of dispute.

Question: When was New Zealand discovered by the Dutch?
Answer: 1642

Question: Who discovered New Zealand for the Dutch?
Answer: Abel Tasman

Question: When did Cook visit New Zealand and claim the North Island?
Answer: 1769

Question: What is New Zealand's native population called?
Answer: Māori

Question: Who signed a treaty with the Maori?
Answer: Captain William Hobson
British_Empire

The Napoleonic Wars were therefore ones in which Britain invested large amounts of capital and resources to win. French ports were blockaded by the Royal Navy, which won a decisive victory over a Franco-Spanish fleet at Trafalgar in 1805. Overseas colonies were attacked and occupied, including those of the Netherlands, which was annexed by Napoleon in 1810. France was finally defeated by a coalition of European armies in 1815. Britain was again the beneficiary of peace treaties: France ceded the Ionian Islands, Malta (which it had occupied in 1797 and 1798 respectively), Mauritius, St Lucia, and Tobago; Spain ceded Trinidad; the Netherlands Guyana, and the Cape Colony. Britain returned Guadeloupe, Martinique, French Guiana, and Réunion to France, and Java and Suriname to the Netherlands, while gaining control of Ceylon (1795–1815).

Question: The British Royal Navy blockaded which ports?
Answer: French

Question: Where did the British Royal Navy defeat the French and Spanish in 1805?
Answer: Trafalgar

Question: When were the Netherlands' colonies annexed by Napoleon?
Answer: 1810

Question: When was Napoleon finally defeated?
Answer: 1815

Question: The Napoleonic peace treaty had Ceylon given to which country?
Answer: Britain
British_Empire

With support from the British abolitionist movement, Parliament enacted the Slave Trade Act in 1807, which abolished the slave trade in the empire. In 1808, Sierra Leone was designated an official British colony for freed slaves. The Slavery Abolition Act passed in 1833 abolished slavery in the British Empire on 1 August 1834 (with the exception of St. Helena, Ceylon and the territories administered by the East India Company, though these exclusions were later repealed). Under the Act, slaves were granted full emancipation after a period of 4 to 6 years of "apprenticeship".

Question: When was the Slave Trade Act enacted?
Answer: 1807

Question: What abolished the British slave trade?
Answer: the Slave Trade Act

Question: Which colony was the official British colony for freed slaves?
Answer: Sierra Leone

Question: What abolished slavery throughout the British Empire?
Answer: The Slavery Abolition Act

Question: How long of an 'apprenticeship' did slaves need to have before being fully freed?
Answer: 4 to 6 years
British_Empire

Between 1815 and 1914, a period referred to as Britain's "imperial century" by some historians, around 10,000,000 square miles (26,000,000 km2) of territory and roughly 400 million people were added to the British Empire. Victory over Napoleon left Britain without any serious international rival, other than Russia in central Asia. Unchallenged at sea, Britain adopted the role of global policeman, a state of affairs later known as the Pax Britannica, and a foreign policy of "splendid isolation". Alongside the formal control it exerted over its own colonies, Britain's dominant position in world trade meant that it effectively controlled the economies of many countries, such as China, Argentina and Siam, which has been characterised by some historians as "Informal Empire".

Question: How many square miles of territory were added to the British Empire between 1815 and 1914?
Answer: 10,000,000

Question: How many people were added to the British Empire between 1815 and 1914?
Answer: 400 million

Question: Who was Britain's last serious rival after Napoleon?
Answer: Russia

Question: What was the period of Britain acting as the world's police called?
Answer: Britain's dominant position in world trade

Question: Britain's dominant position in world trade over some countries' economies has been called what?
Answer: Informal Empire
British_Empire

During the late 18th and early 19th centuries the British Crown began to assume an increasingly large role in the affairs of the Company. A series of Acts of Parliament were passed, including the Regulating Act of 1773, Pitt's India Act of 1784 and the Charter Act of 1813 which regulated the Company's affairs and established the sovereignty of the Crown over the territories that it had acquired. The Company's eventual end was precipitated by the Indian Rebellion, a conflict that had begun with the mutiny of sepoys, Indian troops under British officers and discipline. The rebellion took six months to suppress, with heavy loss of life on both sides. The following year the British government dissolved the Company and assumed direct control over India through the Government of India Act 1858, establishing the British Raj, where an appointed governor-general administered India and Queen Victoria was crowned the Empress of India. India became the empire's most valuable possession, "the Jewel in the Crown", and was the most important source of Britain's strength.

Question: When did Britain pass the Regulating Act?
Answer: 1773

Question: When did Britain pass Pitt's India Act?
Answer: 1784

Question: When did Britain pass the Charter Act?
Answer: 1813

Question: The British East India Company was dissolved by which act?
Answer: Government of India Act

Question: Who was crowned the Empress of India?
Answer: Queen Victoria
British_Empire

When Russia invaded the Turkish Balkans in 1853, fears of Russian dominance in the Mediterranean and Middle East led Britain and France to invade the Crimean Peninsula to destroy Russian naval capabilities. The ensuing Crimean War (1854–56), which involved new techniques of modern warfare, and was the only global war fought between Britain and another imperial power during the Pax Britannica, was a resounding defeat for Russia. The situation remained unresolved in Central Asia for two more decades, with Britain annexing Baluchistan in 1876 and Russia annexing Kirghizia, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan. For a while it appeared that another war would be inevitable, but the two countries reached an agreement on their respective spheres of influence in the region in 1878 and on all outstanding matters in 1907 with the signing of the Anglo-Russian Entente. The destruction of the Russian Navy by the Japanese at the Battle of Port Arthur during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–05 also limited its threat to the British.

Question: When did Russia invade the Turkish Balkans?
Answer: 1853

Question: What was took place in 1854-1856?
Answer: Crimean War

Question: Who lost the Crimean War?
Answer: Russia

Question: When did Britain take over Baluchistan?
Answer: 1876

Question: Which country took over Kazakhstan?
Answer: Russia
British_Empire

The Dutch East India Company had founded the Cape Colony on the southern tip of Africa in 1652 as a way station for its ships travelling to and from its colonies in the East Indies. Britain formally acquired the colony, and its large Afrikaner (or Boer) population in 1806, having occupied it in 1795 to prevent its falling into French hands, following the invasion of the Netherlands by France. British immigration began to rise after 1820, and pushed thousands of Boers, resentful of British rule, northwards to found their own—mostly short-lived—independent republics, during the Great Trek of the late 1830s and early 1840s. In the process the Voortrekkers clashed repeatedly with the British, who had their own agenda with regard to colonial expansion in South Africa and with several African polities, including those of the Sotho and the Zulu nations. Eventually the Boers established two republics which had a longer lifespan: the South African Republic or Transvaal Republic (1852–77; 1881–1902) and the Orange Free State (1854–1902). In 1902 Britain occupied both republics, concluding a treaty with the two Boer Republics following the Second Boer War (1899–1902).

Question: When was the southern tip of Africa colonized?
Answer: 1652

Question: Which entity founded the Cape Colony?
Answer: The Dutch East India Company

Question: When did Britain formally acquire the Cape Colony?
Answer: 1806

Question: What African people moved northwards to escape British rule?
Answer: Boers

Question: When did the Second Boer War end?
Answer: 1902
British_Empire

In 1869 the Suez Canal opened under Napoleon III, linking the Mediterranean with the Indian Ocean. Initially the Canal was opposed by the British; but once opened, its strategic value was quickly recognised and became the "jugular vein of the Empire". In 1875, the Conservative government of Benjamin Disraeli bought the indebted Egyptian ruler Isma'il Pasha's 44 percent shareholding in the Suez Canal for £4 million (£340 million in 2013). Although this did not grant outright control of the strategic waterway, it did give Britain leverage. Joint Anglo-French financial control over Egypt ended in outright British occupation in 1882. The French were still majority shareholders and attempted to weaken the British position, but a compromise was reached with the 1888 Convention of Constantinople, which made the Canal officially neutral territory.

Question: When did the Suez Canal open?
Answer: 1869

Question: Which ocean did the Suez Canal connect the Mediterranean to?
Answer: Indian Ocean

Question: Which French leader ruled when the Suez Canal opened?
Answer: Napoleon III

Question: How much did Britain spend to buy Egypt's share of the Suez Canal?
Answer: £4 million

Question: The Suez Canal became neutral territory by what treaty?
Answer: Convention of Constantinople
British_Empire

With French, Belgian and Portuguese activity in the lower Congo River region undermining orderly incursion of tropical Africa, the Berlin Conference of 1884–85 was held to regulate the competition between the European powers in what was called the "Scramble for Africa" by defining "effective occupation" as the criterion for international recognition of territorial claims. The scramble continued into the 1890s, and caused Britain to reconsider its decision in 1885 to withdraw from Sudan. A joint force of British and Egyptian troops defeated the Mahdist Army in 1896, and rebuffed a French attempted invasion at Fashoda in 1898. Sudan was nominally made an Anglo-Egyptian Condominium, but a British colony in reality.

Question: Where did France try to invade in 1898?
Answer: Fashoda

Question: What army did Britain and Egypt defeat together?
Answer: Mahdist

Question: When did Britain withdraw from Sudan?
Answer: 1885

Question: What was the period of European empires competing to control Africa called?
Answer: the "Scramble for Africa"

Question: Where was a conference held in 1884 to regulate European competition for Africa?
Answer: Berlin
British_Empire

The path to independence for the white colonies of the British Empire began with the 1839 Durham Report, which proposed unification and self-government for Upper and Lower Canada, as a solution to political unrest there. This began with the passing of the Act of Union in 1840, which created the Province of Canada. Responsible government was first granted to Nova Scotia in 1848, and was soon extended to the other British North American colonies. With the passage of the British North America Act, 1867 by the British Parliament, Upper and Lower Canada, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia were formed into the Dominion of Canada, a confederation enjoying full self-government with the exception of international relations. Australia and New Zealand achieved similar levels of self-government after 1900, with the Australian colonies federating in 1901. The term "dominion status" was officially introduced at the Colonial Conference of 1907.

Question: When was it proposed to unify Upper and Lower Canada?
Answer: 1839

Question: The Act of Union unified Canada into a territory by what name?
Answer: Province of Canada

Question: When was the British North America Act passed?
Answer: 1867

Question: When did Australia achieve self-government?
Answer: after 1900

Question: When did New Zealand achieve self-government?
Answer: after 1900
British_Empire

By the turn of the 20th century, fears had begun to grow in Britain that it would no longer be able to defend the metropole and the entirety of the empire while at the same time maintaining the policy of "splendid isolation". Germany was rapidly rising as a military and industrial power and was now seen as the most likely opponent in any future war. Recognising that it was overstretched in the Pacific and threatened at home by the Imperial German Navy, Britain formed an alliance with Japan in 1902 and with its old enemies France and Russia in 1904 and 1907, respectively.

Question: Which country seemed like Britain's most likely threat in the early 20th century?
Answer: Germany

Question: Which country did Britain ally with in 1902?
Answer: Japan

Question: Which country did Britain ally with in 1904?
Answer: France

Question: Which country did Britain ally with in 1907?
Answer: Russia
British_Empire

Britain's fears of war with Germany were realised in 1914 with the outbreak of the First World War. Britain quickly invaded and occupied most of Germany's overseas colonies in Africa. In the Pacific, Australia and New Zealand occupied German New Guinea and Samoa respectively. Plans for a post-war division of the Ottoman Empire, which had joined the war on Germany's side, were secretly drawn up by Britain and France under the 1916 Sykes–Picot Agreement. This agreement was not divulged to the Sharif of Mecca, who the British had been encouraging to launch an Arab revolt against their Ottoman rulers, giving the impression that Britain was supporting the creation of an independent Arab state.

Question: When did the First World War begin?
Answer: 1914

Question: When WW1 began, Britain took the opportunity to take over most of which country's colonies?
Answer: Germany

Question: Who took over German New Guinea?
Answer: Australia

Question: Who took over Samoa?
Answer: Sykes–Picot Agreement

Question: The Sykes–Picot Agreement was signed in what year?
Answer: 1916
British_Empire

The British declaration of war on Germany and its allies also committed the colonies and Dominions, which provided invaluable military, financial and material support. Over 2.5 million men served in the armies of the Dominions, as well as many thousands of volunteers from the Crown colonies. The contributions of Australian and New Zealand troops during the 1915 Gallipoli Campaign against the Ottoman Empire had a great impact on the national consciousness at home, and marked a watershed in the transition of Australia and New Zealand from colonies to nations in their own right. The countries continue to commemorate this occasion on Anzac Day. Canadians viewed the Battle of Vimy Ridge in a similar light. The important contribution of the Dominions to the war effort was recognised in 1917 by the British Prime Minister David Lloyd George when he invited each of the Dominion Prime Ministers to join an Imperial War Cabinet to co-ordinate imperial policy.

Question: How many people were in the Dominions' armies?
Answer: Over 2.5 million

Question: When was the Gallipoli Campaign?
Answer: 1915

Question: Which British Prime Minister recognized the Dominions' contributions in 1917?
Answer: David Lloyd George

Question: The Imperial War Cabinet was created by which British Prime Minister?
Answer: Gallipoli Campaign

Question: The Gallipoli Campaign fought against which country?
Answer: the Ottoman Empire
British_Empire

Under the terms of the concluding Treaty of Versailles signed in 1919, the empire reached its greatest extent with the addition of 1,800,000 square miles (4,700,000 km2) and 13 million new subjects. The colonies of Germany and the Ottoman Empire were distributed to the Allied powers as League of Nations mandates. Britain gained control of Palestine, Transjordan, Iraq, parts of Cameroon and Togo, and Tanganyika. The Dominions themselves also acquired mandates of their own: the Union of South Africa gained South-West Africa (modern-day Namibia), Australia gained German New Guinea, and New Zealand Western Samoa. Nauru was made a combined mandate of Britain and the two Pacific Dominions.

Question: When was the Treaty of Versailles signed?
Answer: 1919

Question: How many square miles did the Treaty of Versailles add to the British Empire?
Answer: 1,800,000

Question: Which countries' colonies were given to the Allied powers in 1919?
Answer: Germany and the Ottoman Empire

Question: What modern-day country is South-West Africa?
Answer: Namibia

Question: How many people did the Treaty of Versailles add to the British Empire?
Answer: 13 million
British_Empire

The changing world order that the war had brought about, in particular the growth of the United States and Japan as naval powers, and the rise of independence movements in India and Ireland, caused a major reassessment of British imperial policy. Forced to choose between alignment with the United States or Japan, Britain opted not to renew its Japanese alliance and instead signed the 1922 Washington Naval Treaty, where Britain accepted naval parity with the United States. This decision was the source of much debate in Britain during the 1930s as militaristic governments took hold in Japan and Germany helped in part by the Great Depression, for it was feared that the empire could not survive a simultaneous attack by both nations. Although the issue of the empire's security was a serious concern in Britain, at the same time the empire was vital to the British economy.

Question: When did Britain sign the Washington Naval Treaty?
Answer: 1922

Question: The Great Depression helped which countries' governments become more militaristic?
Answer: Japan and Germany

Question: When Britain had to choose between its Japanese alliance or the US, which did it choose?
Answer: United States

Question: British imperialism was being reconsidered in light of which territories' independence movements?
Answer: India and Ireland
British_Empire

In 1919, the frustrations caused by delays to Irish home rule led members of Sinn Féin, a pro-independence party that had won a majority of the Irish seats at Westminster in the 1918 British general election, to establish an Irish assembly in Dublin, at which Irish independence was declared. The Irish Republican Army simultaneously began a guerrilla war against the British administration. The Anglo-Irish War ended in 1921 with a stalemate and the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty, creating the Irish Free State, a Dominion within the British Empire, with effective internal independence but still constitutionally linked with the British Crown. Northern Ireland, consisting of six of the 32 Irish counties which had been established as a devolved region under the 1920 Government of Ireland Act, immediately exercised its option under the treaty to retain its existing status within the United Kingdom.

Question: When did Ireland establish their own assembly?
Answer: 1919

Question: What political party established Ireland's assembly?
Answer: Sinn Féin

Question: When did the Anglo-Irish War end?
Answer: 1921

Question: What treaty was signed after the Anglo-Irish War?
Answer: Anglo-Irish Treaty

Question: How many counties of Ireland are in Northern Ireland?
Answer: six
British_Empire

A similar struggle began in India when the Government of India Act 1919 failed to satisfy demand for independence. Concerns over communist and foreign plots following the Ghadar Conspiracy ensured that war-time strictures were renewed by the Rowlatt Acts. This led to tension, particularly in the Punjab region, where repressive measures culminated in the Amritsar Massacre. In Britain public opinion was divided over the morality of the event, between those who saw it as having saved India from anarchy, and those who viewed it with revulsion. The subsequent Non-Co-Operation movement was called off in March 1922 following the Chauri Chaura incident, and discontent continued to simmer for the next 25 years.

Question: When was the Government of India Act passed?
Answer: 1919

Question: What event stoked fears of communist plots in India?
Answer: the Ghadar Conspiracy

Question: In what region was the Amritsar Massacre?
Answer: Punjab

Question: The Chauri Chaura incident led to the end of what movement?
Answer: Non-Co-Operation
British_Empire

In 1922, Egypt, which had been declared a British protectorate at the outbreak of the First World War, was granted formal independence, though it continued to be a British client state until 1954. British troops remained stationed in Egypt until the signing of the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty in 1936, under which it was agreed that the troops would withdraw but continue to occupy and defend the Suez Canal zone. In return, Egypt was assisted to join the League of Nations. Iraq, a British mandate since 1920, also gained membership of the League in its own right after achieving independence from Britain in 1932. In Palestine, Britain was presented with the problem of mediating between the Arab and Jewish communities. The 1917 Balfour Declaration, which had been incorporated into the terms of the mandate, stated that a national home for the Jewish people would be established in Palestine, and Jewish immigration allowed up to a limit that would be determined by the mandatory power. This led to increasing conflict with the Arab population, who openly revolted in 1936. As the threat of war with Germany increased during the 1930s, Britain judged the support of the Arab population in the Middle East as more important than the establishment of a Jewish homeland, and shifted to a pro-Arab stance, limiting Jewish immigration and in turn triggering a Jewish insurgency.

Question: When did Egypt regain formal independence from Britain?
Answer: 1922

Question: When did Egypt stop being a British client state?
Answer: 1954

Question: What treaty was signed in 1936?
Answer: Anglo-Egyptian Treaty

Question: When did Iraq gain independence from Britain?
Answer: 1932

Question: Britain became more pro-Arab in the 1930s at the expense of which race?
Answer: Jewish
British_Empire

The ability of the Dominions to set their own foreign policy, independent of Britain, was recognised at the 1923 Imperial Conference. Britain's request for military assistance from the Dominions at the outbreak of the Chanak Crisis the previous year had been turned down by Canada and South Africa, and Canada had refused to be bound by the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne. After pressure from Ireland and South Africa, the 1926 Imperial Conference issued the Balfour Declaration, declaring the Dominions to be "autonomous Communities within the British Empire, equal in status, in no way subordinate one to another" within a "British Commonwealth of Nations". This declaration was given legal substance under the 1931 Statute of Westminster. The parliaments of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the Union of South Africa, the Irish Free State and Newfoundland were now independent of British legislative control, they could nullify British laws and Britain could no longer pass laws for them without their consent. Newfoundland reverted to colonial status in 1933, suffering from financial difficulties during the Great Depression. Ireland distanced itself further from Britain with the introduction of a new constitution in 1937, making it a republic in all but name.

Question: When was the right of Dominions to determine their own foreign policy recognized?
Answer: 1923

Question: Which treaty did Canada ignore?
Answer: Treaty of Lausanne

Question: When was the Balfour Declaration issued?
Answer: 1926

Question: When was the status of Dominions as equal autonomous communities given legal force?
Answer: 1931

Question: When did Ireland issue a new constitution?
Answer: 1937
British_Empire

After the German occupation of France in 1940, Britain and the empire stood alone against Germany, until the entry of the Soviet Union to the war in 1941. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill successfully lobbied President Franklin D. Roosevelt for military aid from the United States, but Roosevelt was not yet ready to ask Congress to commit the country to war. In August 1941, Churchill and Roosevelt met and signed the Atlantic Charter, which included the statement that "the rights of all peoples to choose the form of government under which they live" should be respected. This wording was ambiguous as to whether it referred to European countries invaded by Germany, or the peoples colonised by European nations, and would later be interpreted differently by the British, Americans, and nationalist movements.

Question: When was France occupied by Germany?
Answer: 1940

Question: When was the Atlantic Charter signed?
Answer: August 1941

Question: Which British Prime Minister signed the Atlantic Charter?
Answer: Churchill

Question: Which US President signed the Atlantic Charter?
Answer: Roosevelt

Question: Which country first entered World War 2 after France's defeat?
Answer: Soviet Union
British_Empire

In December 1941, Japan launched, in quick succession, attacks on British Malaya, the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, and Hong Kong. Churchill's reaction to the entry of the United States into the war was that Britain was now assured of victory and the future of the empire was safe, but the manner in which British forces were rapidly defeated in the Far East irreversibly harmed Britain's standing and prestige as an imperial power. Most damaging of all was the fall of Singapore, which had previously been hailed as an impregnable fortress and the eastern equivalent of Gibraltar. The realisation that Britain could not defend its entire empire pushed Australia and New Zealand, which now appeared threatened by Japanese forces, into closer ties with the United States. This resulted in the 1951 ANZUS Pact between Australia, New Zealand and the United States of America.

Question: Which country attacked British Malaya in 1941?
Answer: Japan

Question: Which country attacked Hong Kong in 1941?
Answer: Japan

Question: When was the ANZUS Pact formed?
Answer: 1951

Question: Which countries were in the ANZUS Pact?
Answer: Australia, New Zealand and the United States

Question: Which territory had been compared to Gibraltar?
Answer: Singapore
British_Empire

Though Britain and the empire emerged victorious from the Second World War, the effects of the conflict were profound, both at home and abroad. Much of Europe, a continent that had dominated the world for several centuries, was in ruins, and host to the armies of the United States and the Soviet Union, who now held the balance of global power. Britain was left essentially bankrupt, with insolvency only averted in 1946 after the negotiation of a $US 4.33 billion loan (US$56 billion in 2012) from the United States, the last instalment of which was repaid in 2006. At the same time, anti-colonial movements were on the rise in the colonies of European nations. The situation was complicated further by the increasing Cold War rivalry of the United States and the Soviet Union. In principle, both nations were opposed to European colonialism. In practice, however, American anti-communism prevailed over anti-imperialism, and therefore the United States supported the continued existence of the British Empire to keep Communist expansion in check. The "wind of change" ultimately meant that the British Empire's days were numbered, and on the whole, Britain adopted a policy of peaceful disengagement from its colonies once stable, non-Communist governments were available to transfer power to. This was in contrast to other European powers such as France and Portugal, which waged costly and ultimately unsuccessful wars to keep their empires intact. Between 1945 and 1965, the number of people under British rule outside the UK itself fell from 700 million to five million, three million of whom were in Hong Kong.

Question: How much money did the US loan to Britain after WW2?
Answer: $US 4.33 billion

Question: When did Britain finish paying back the US loan?
Answer: 2006

Question: When did the US make a large loan to Britain?
Answer: 1946

Question: Though the US and the Soviet Union were both against colonialism, what was the US more afraid of?
Answer: communism

Question: How many people outside the UK were under British rule in 1945?
Answer: 700 million
British_Empire

The pro-decolonisation Labour government, elected at the 1945 general election and led by Clement Attlee, moved quickly to tackle the most pressing issue facing the empire: that of Indian independence. India's two major political parties—the Indian National Congress and the Muslim League—had been campaigning for independence for decades, but disagreed as to how it should be implemented. Congress favoured a unified secular Indian state, whereas the League, fearing domination by the Hindu majority, desired a separate Islamic state for Muslim-majority regions. Increasing civil unrest and the mutiny of the Royal Indian Navy during 1946 led Attlee to promise independence no later than 1948. When the urgency of the situation and risk of civil war became apparent, the newly appointed (and last) Viceroy, Lord Mountbatten, hastily brought forward the date to 15 August 1947. The borders drawn by the British to broadly partition India into Hindu and Muslim areas left tens of millions as minorities in the newly independent states of India and Pakistan. Millions of Muslims subsequently crossed from India to Pakistan and Hindus vice versa, and violence between the two communities cost hundreds of thousands of lives. Burma, which had been administered as part of the British Raj, and Sri Lanka gained their independence the following year in 1948. India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka became members of the Commonwealth, while Burma chose not to join.

Question: Who led the British government elected in 1945?
Answer: Clement Attlee

Question: What were India's two largest political parties in the 1940s?
Answer: the Indian National Congress and the Muslim League

Question: What was India's majority religion in the 1940s?
Answer: Hindu

Question: When India was split into Hindu and Muslim areas, what country did the Muslim area become?
Answer: Pakistan

Question: When did Burma get its independence?
Answer: 1948
British_Empire

The British Mandate of Palestine, where an Arab majority lived alongside a Jewish minority, presented the British with a similar problem to that of India. The matter was complicated by large numbers of Jewish refugees seeking to be admitted to Palestine following the Holocaust, while Arabs were opposed to the creation of a Jewish state. Frustrated by the intractability of the problem, attacks by Jewish paramilitary organisations and the increasing cost of maintaining its military presence, Britain announced in 1947 that it would withdraw in 1948 and leave the matter to the United Nations to solve. The UN General Assembly subsequently voted for a plan to partition Palestine into a Jewish and an Arab state.

Question: What race was the majority in Palestine in the 1940s?
Answer: Arab

Question: When did Britain announce plans to withdraw from Palestine?
Answer: 1947

Question: Which entity decided to partition Palestine into Jewish and Arab states?
Answer: The UN General Assembly

Question: Where did many Jewish refugees want to move because of the Holocaust?
Answer: Palestine
British_Empire

Following the defeat of Japan in the Second World War, anti-Japanese resistance movements in Malaya turned their attention towards the British, who had moved to quickly retake control of the colony, valuing it as a source of rubber and tin. The fact that the guerrillas were primarily Malayan-Chinese Communists meant that the British attempt to quell the uprising was supported by the Muslim Malay majority, on the understanding that once the insurgency had been quelled, independence would be granted. The Malayan Emergency, as it was called, began in 1948 and lasted until 1960, but by 1957, Britain felt confident enough to grant independence to the Federation of Malaya within the Commonwealth. In 1963, the 11 states of the federation together with Singapore, Sarawak and North Borneo joined to form Malaysia, but in 1965 Chinese-majority Singapore was expelled from the union following tensions between the Malay and Chinese populations. Brunei, which had been a British protectorate since 1888, declined to join the union and maintained its status until independence in 1984.

Question: When did the Malayan Emergency begin?
Answer: 1948

Question: When did Britain give the Federation of Malaya its independence?
Answer: 1957

Question: When did Singapore leave the Federation of Malaya?
Answer: 1965

Question: What race was the majority of Singapore's population?
Answer: Chinese

Question: When did Brunei get its independence?
Answer: 1984
British_Empire

In 1951, the Conservative Party returned to power in Britain, under the leadership of Winston Churchill. Churchill and the Conservatives believed that Britain's position as a world power relied on the continued existence of the empire, with the base at the Suez Canal allowing Britain to maintain its pre-eminent position in the Middle East in spite of the loss of India. However, Churchill could not ignore Gamal Abdul Nasser's new revolutionary government of Egypt that had taken power in 1952, and the following year it was agreed that British troops would withdraw from the Suez Canal zone and that Sudan would be granted self-determination by 1955, with independence to follow. Sudan was granted independence on 1 January 1956.

Question: What party regained power in Britain in 1951?
Answer: Conservative Party

Question: Which party was Winston Churchill in?
Answer: Conservative Party

Question: Who ruled Egypt in 1952?
Answer: Gamal Abdul Nasser

Question: When did Sudan receive independence?
Answer: 1 January 1956

Question: Britain wanted to retain control of the Suez Canal to help its importance in what region?
Answer: Middle East
British_Empire

In July 1956, Nasser unilaterally nationalised the Suez Canal. The response of Anthony Eden, who had succeeded Churchill as Prime Minister, was to collude with France to engineer an Israeli attack on Egypt that would give Britain and France an excuse to intervene militarily and retake the canal. Eden infuriated US President Dwight D. Eisenhower, by his lack of consultation, and Eisenhower refused to back the invasion. Another of Eisenhower's concerns was the possibility of a wider war with the Soviet Union after it threatened to intervene on the Egyptian side. Eisenhower applied financial leverage by threatening to sell US reserves of the British pound and thereby precipitate a collapse of the British currency. Though the invasion force was militarily successful in its objectives, UN intervention and US pressure forced Britain into a humiliating withdrawal of its forces, and Eden resigned.

Question: When was the Suez Canal nationalized?
Answer: July 1956

Question: Who became British Prime Minister after Winston Churchill?
Answer: Anthony Eden

Question: Which country did Eden conspire with to cause an attack on Egypt?
Answer: France

Question: Who decided to sell US reserves of the British pound to cause the pound to collapse?
Answer: Eisenhower

Question: What country did Britain convince to attack Egypt?
Answer: Israeli
British_Empire

The Suez Crisis very publicly exposed Britain's limitations to the world and confirmed Britain's decline on the world stage, demonstrating that henceforth it could no longer act without at least the acquiescence, if not the full support, of the United States. The events at Suez wounded British national pride, leading one MP to describe it as "Britain's Waterloo" and another to suggest that the country had become an "American satellite". Margaret Thatcher later described the mindset she believed had befallen the British political establishment as "Suez syndrome", from which Britain did not recover until the successful recapture of the Falkland Islands from Argentina in 1982.

Question: Where did 'Britain's Waterloo' occur?
Answer: Suez

Question: Who referred to 'Suez Syndrome'?
Answer: Margaret Thatcher

Question: When did Britain retake the Falkland Islands?
Answer: 1982

Question: From whom did Britain retake the Falkland Islands?
Answer: Argentina

Question: A British minister thought which country was becoming an 'American satellite'?
Answer: Britain
British_Empire

While the Suez Crisis caused British power in the Middle East to weaken, it did not collapse. Britain again deployed its armed forces to the region, intervening in Oman (1957), Jordan (1958) and Kuwait (1961), though on these occasions with American approval, as the new Prime Minister Harold Macmillan's foreign policy was to remain firmly aligned with the United States. Britain maintained a military presence in the Middle East for another decade. In January 1968, a few weeks after the devaluation of the pound, Prime Minister Harold Wilson and his Defence Secretary Denis Healey announced that British troops would be withdrawn from major military bases East of Suez, which included the ones in the Middle East, and primarily from Malaysia and Singapore. The British withdrew from Aden in 1967, Bahrain in 1971, and Maldives in 1976.

Question: When did Britain withdraw from Aden?
Answer: 1967

Question: When did Britain withdraw from Bahrain?
Answer: 1971

Question: When did Britain withdraw from the Maldives?
Answer: 1976

Question: Who was Harold Wilson's Defense Secretary?
Answer: Denis Healey

Question: Where did Britain's army attack in 1961?
Answer: Kuwait
British_Empire

Britain's remaining colonies in Africa, except for self-governing Southern Rhodesia, were all granted independence by 1968. British withdrawal from the southern and eastern parts of Africa was not a peaceful process. Kenyan independence was preceded by the eight-year Mau Mau Uprising. In Rhodesia, the 1965 Unilateral Declaration of Independence by the white minority resulted in a civil war that lasted until the Lancaster House Agreement of 1979, which set the terms for recognised independence in 1980, as the new nation of Zimbabwe.

Question: What was the last British colony remaining in Africa?
Answer: Southern Rhodesia

Question: When was the second-to-last British colony in Africa granted independence?
Answer: 1968

Question: When was the Unilateral Declaration of Independence of Rhodesia?
Answer: 1965

Question: What new country did the Lancaster House Agreement recognize?
Answer: Mau Mau Uprising

Question: Where was the Mau Mau Uprising?
Answer: Kenyan
British_Empire

Most of the UK's Caribbean territories achieved independence after the departure in 1961 and 1962 of Jamaica and Trinidad from the West Indies Federation, established in 1958 in an attempt to unite the British Caribbean colonies under one government, but which collapsed following the loss of its two largest members. Barbados achieved independence in 1966 and the remainder of the eastern Caribbean islands in the 1970s and 1980s, but Anguilla and the Turks and Caicos Islands opted to revert to British rule after they had already started on the path to independence. The British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands and Montserrat opted to retain ties with Britain, while Guyana achieved independence in 1966. Britain's last colony on the American mainland, British Honduras, became a self-governing colony in 1964 and was renamed Belize in 1973, achieving full independence in 1981. A dispute with Guatemala over claims to Belize was left unresolved.

Question: Which British territory received independence in 1961?
Answer: Jamaica

Question: Which British territory received independence in 1962?
Answer: Trinidad

Question: When did Barbados get independence?
Answer: 1966

Question: Which islands decided to return to British rule after receiving independence?
Answer: Anguilla and the Turks and Caicos

Question: What was Britain's last American mainland colony?
Answer: British Honduras
British_Empire

In 1980, Rhodesia, Britain's last African colony, became the independent nation of Zimbabwe. The New Hebrides achieved independence (as Vanuatu) in 1980, with Belize following suit in 1981. The passage of the British Nationality Act 1981, which reclassified the remaining Crown colonies as "British Dependent Territories" (renamed British Overseas Territories in 2002) meant that, aside from a scattering of islands and outposts the process of decolonisation that had begun after the Second World War was largely complete. In 1982, Britain's resolve in defending its remaining overseas territories was tested when Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands, acting on a long-standing claim that dated back to the Spanish Empire. Britain's ultimately successful military response to retake the islands during the ensuing Falklands War was viewed by many to have contributed to reversing the downward trend in Britain's status as a world power. The same year, the Canadian government severed its last legal link with Britain by patriating the Canadian constitution from Britain. The 1982 Canada Act passed by the British parliament ended the need for British involvement in changes to the Canadian constitution. Similarly, the Constitution Act 1986 reformed the constitution of New Zealand to sever its constitutional link with Britain, and the Australia Act 1986 severed the constitutional link between Britain and the Australian states. In 1984, Brunei, Britain's last remaining Asian protectorate, gained its independence.

Question: When was Canada given full control of its constitution?
Answer: 1982

Question: When did Rhodesia become Zimbabwe?
Answer: 1980

Question: What were the remaining British territories called in 1981?
Answer: British Dependent Territories

Question: What were the remaining British territories called in 2002?
Answer: British Overseas Territories

Question: Which 1980s war victory helped Britain seem more like a world power again?
Answer: Falklands War
British_Empire

In September 1982, Prime minister Margaret Thatcher travelled to Beijing to negotiate with the Chinese government on the future of Britain's last major and most populous overseas territory, Hong Kong. Under the terms of the 1842 Treaty of Nanking, Hong Kong Island itself had been ceded to Britain in perpetuity, but the vast majority of the colony was constituted by the New Territories, which had been acquired under a 99-year lease in 1898, due to expire in 1997. Thatcher, seeing parallels with the Falkland Islands, initially wished to hold Hong Kong and proposed British administration with Chinese sovereignty, though this was rejected by China. A deal was reached in 1984—under the terms of the Sino-British Joint Declaration, Hong Kong would become a special administrative region of the People's Republic of China, maintaining its way of life for at least 50 years. The handover ceremony in 1997 marked for many, including Charles, Prince of Wales, who was in attendance, "the end of Empire".

Question: Who was the British Prime Minister in 1982?
Answer: Margaret Thatcher

Question: Which treaty had given Hong Kong to Britain?
Answer: Treaty of Nanking

Question: When did Britain hand over Hong Kong to China?
Answer: 1997

Question: When was the Sino-British Joint Declaration?
Answer: 1984

Question: Which territory did Margaret Thatcher compare Hong Kong to?
Answer: Falkland Islands
British_Empire

Britain retains sovereignty over 14 territories outside the British Isles, which were renamed the British Overseas Territories in 2002. Some are uninhabited except for transient military or scientific personnel; the remainder are self-governing to varying degrees and are reliant on the UK for foreign relations and defence. The British government has stated its willingness to assist any Overseas Territory that wishes to proceed to independence, where that is an option. British sovereignty of several of the overseas territories is disputed by their geographical neighbours: Gibraltar is claimed by Spain, the Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands are claimed by Argentina, and the British Indian Ocean Territory is claimed by Mauritius and Seychelles. The British Antarctic Territory is subject to overlapping claims by Argentina and Chile, while many countries do not recognise any territorial claims in Antarctica.

Question: How many overseas territories does Britain still have?
Answer: 14

Question: When did Britain decide to call its territories the British Overseas Territories?
Answer: 2002

Question: Which country besides Britain claims Gibraltar?
Answer: Spain

Question: Which country besides Britain claims the Falkland Islands?
Answer: Argentina

Question: Which country besides Britain claims the South Sandwich Islands?
Answer: Argentina
British_Empire

Most former British colonies and protectorates are among the 53 member states of the Commonwealth of Nations, a non-political, voluntary association of equal members, comprising a population of around 2.2 billion people. Sixteen Commonwealth realms voluntarily continue to share the British monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, as their head of state. These sixteen nations are distinct and equal legal entities – the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Grenada, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Solomon Islands and Tuvalu.

Question: How many Commonwealth nations are there?
Answer: 53

Question: What is the population of the Commonwealth?
Answer: 2.2 billion

Question: How many Commonwealth nations still consider the British Queen their head of state?
Answer: Sixteen

Question: Who is the British Queen?
Answer: Elizabeth II