In today’s blog we hear from Robert Crosby, formerly of the London School of Economics, winner of the History of Parliament Undergraduate Dissertation Competition 2022. Here Robert has adapted his winning essay, exploring how those in Wales viewed themselves and their position in the British Empire during the early 20th century.

The History of Parliament’s 2023 Undergraduate Dissertation Competition is open for entries until 29 September. Find all the details here.

“Britain is now at the full strength of an Imperial tide, and whilst the tide will still get higher, it will never submerge the joy of the little nation in its past, in its present, and in the future which it conceives for itself.”

David Lloyd George, Cardiff, October 1916.

Wales has been described by many as England’s first colony, yet it also played a formative role in British imperialism, creating a nuanced, almost paradoxical national identity that is crucial in understanding Wales today.

At the turn of the 20^th century Wales was experiencing cultural, economic and political transformation, re-emerging as a distinct nation after centuries of English dominion. This national rebirth intersected with the high-water mark of British imperialism, too, as the Empire approached its territorial and cultural extent.

In the two most significant wars during this period, the 1899-1902 Boer War and the 1914-1918 First World War, the Welsh nation compared itself to fellow small nations facing colonial expansionism and defined itself against imperial aggression.

David Lloyd George, the first and only Welsh prime minister, was a particular exponent of this ‘small nations’ narrative, personifying it as one of the strongest critics of the Boer War, and one of the strongest supporters of fighting the First World War to the bitter end.

He was a Welsh speaker, who, early in his political career, campaigned for home rule through the Cymru Fydd movement. By the end of it, however, he was at the very top of British politics as the Empire became the biggest in history. He was a complicated man whose split (or more accurately concentric) personal and political identities mirrored those of Wales – Welsh, but also British. Colonised, but also a coloniser. 

The Boer War was a popular one in Wales as it was in the rest of Britain. But there was a key contingent of Welsh Liberal Members of Parliament – the so-called pro-Boers – who opposed it using the small nations narrative, and there were many more who could certainly be classed as sympathetic to the anti-war camp while not explicit pacifists.

They held diverse views, seeing Britain’s war against the two small Boer republics as a variety of things: a greedy landgrab; a vengeful punitive campaign; a needlessly brutal colonial expedition; or even a fundamentally just war, but incompetently prosecuted.

Lloyd George led these Welsh pro-Boers, and it was on this issue he made his name, giving impassioned speeches against the war in constituency meetings in Wales and in the House of Commons alike, earning him a reputation as a firebrand backbencher.

Lloyd George’s political metamorphosis, even maturation, from anti-war activist to ‘knock-out blow’ wartime leader is a fascinating one. His rapid rise from rural constituency MP to prime minister, via ministerial posts as Chancellor of the Exchequer, Minister of Munitions and Secretary of State for War, brought with it a greater burden of responsibility and understanding of the realities of statecraft, as he sat in the seat of power of the world’s largest empire. His 1911 Mansion House speech, where he warned a sabre-rattling Germany over the Agadir Crisis, was a key point in this journey.

While his private correspondence shows that he desperately sought to maintain peace in Europe on the eve of the First World War, he became increasingly convinced of the inevitability of war and the necessity of intervening in the event of a violation of Belgian neutrality.

Here the small nations narrative returns, as his decision to support declaring war on Germany and Austria-Hungary for invading the small nations of Belgium, Serbia and Montenegro was crucial in ensuring that the Cabinet remained united. He invoked the narrative in speeches throughout the war, frequently and explicitly making connections between his Welshness and his belief that the war was a just one, a war to defend fellow small nations.

Speaking to the Welsh community in his birthplace of Manchester in September 1918, Lloyd George noticed a Welsh flag hung before the platform. Pointing to the ddraig goch (red dragon), he made a call to Welsh martial tradition to deliver the final blow to Germany that was the ongoing Hundred Days Offensive:

“I like to see that its tail is well up, with a curl. But it is rather shocking that its tongue is well out too. And its claws are out too. And I do not want them sheathed until the greatest foe of human progress has been crushed.”

This war was another popular one, especially at the outset. The small nations narrative was now used, contrastingly, as a casus belli for ‘gallant little Wales’ to support, and indeed send its sons to fight and die in, a war to defend small nations rather than to conquer them. The Empire, once criticised for trampling on the right to self-determination, was now lauded for defending it.

Present but not necessarily popular in the Boer War, this narrative framing could now be found across all of Wales, from recruitment meetings and fundraising drives for Belgian refugees, to school assemblies and local newspaper reports, to even the national Eisteddfod, the beating heart of Welsh culture.

Wales in the early 20^th century was a proud nation with a distinct culture, language, religion and identity. It cannot be said, however, that it was not broadly supportive of Empire, if more critical of it than English or Scottish counterparts. The Empire was a popular project across the United Kingdom, and Wales was no exception. It had a seemingly contradictory national-imperial identity, that can be clearly seen through the contrasting uses of the small nations narrative.

In the early 20^th century, Wales conceptualised itself as a ‘small nation’ with a history of fierce independence, using this self-image to argue for a moral and responsible British Empire as a defender of self-determination, without challenging its underlying principles. David Lloyd George personified this and did much to popularise this view.

The seemingly paradoxical relationship that Wales had with the Empire shows us that history seldom fits into neat boxes. There are always nuances, contradictions, and exceptions. Yet it is all the richer for it.

RC

Robert Crosby graduated with a degree in International Relations and History from the London School of Economics in 2022, and is now completing a master’s degree in Strategic Communications at King’s College London, where he is researching the intersection of devolved politics and norm entrepreneurship in the context of the Welsh Government. He is pursuing a career in communications and currently works for a legal public relations agency.

Further reading

John W. Auld,. “The Liberal Pro-Boers”, Journal Of British Studies (1975), 14 (2): 78- 101

John S. Ellis, ““The Methods Of Barbarism” And The “Rights Of Small Nations”: War Propaganda And British Pluralism”, Albion (1998), 30 (1): 49-75

Bentley B. Gilbert, “Pacifist To Interventionist: David Lloyd George In 1911 And 1914. Was Belgium An Issue?”, The Historical Journal (1985), 28 (4): 863-885

Kenneth O. Morgan, “Peace Movements In Wales 1899-1945”,Welsh History Review (1980), 10: 398-430.