Joseph Chamberlain
Joseph Chamberlain [ 'ʧeɪmbəlɪn ] (* July 8, 1836 in London ; † July 2, 1914 there ) was an influential British statesman of the 19th century . He was the father of the future British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and the foreign minister and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Austen Chamberlain .
Chamberlain initially entered his father's commercial business in Birmingham , but at the same time took an active part in political life. In 1868 he became chairman of the National Education Association and in 1873 of the Birmingham School Council . From 1873 to 1876 he was mayor of the city of Birmingham. His reforms of the urban health system, the demolition of slums , his massive promotion of compulsory education , the creation of the conditions for the establishment of the University of Birmingham ( 1900 ) and the establishment of a gas and water supply under municipal control had an impact far beyond the city limits and led to fundamental changes in the entire British local order. In 1876 Chamberlain was elected to the House of Commons . There he quickly became one of the most important figures of the liberals . In the party he led the clear political left development of these years with demands for social, sometimes even socialist, reforms. Under Chamberlain, the liberals developed from a parliamentary and functionary party to a mass party. Under William Ewart Gladstone Chamberlain was Minister of Commerce from 1880 to 1885. In 1886 he chaired the local administration office.
Chamberlain was an opponent of Irish self-government. When Gladstone committed himself to the Homerule policy , Chamberlain resigned from his post in March 1886. He became one of the leaders of the Liberal Unionists , who split off from the Liberal Party and weakened it lastingly. Chamberlain leaned closely with the Conservatives with the liberal unionist parliamentary group. In 1892 Chamberlain became the leader of the Liberal Unionists in the House of Commons. On April 25, 1895 he took over the Secretary of State for the Colonies under Lord Salisbury . In this office he tried to establish closer trade relations between Great Britain and the white settlement colonies and founded a customs union for this purpose . At the same time he was one of the most determined representatives of British imperial policy , which among other things promoted the outbreak of the Boer War . The statesman expressed his beliefs of the superiority of the Anglo-Saxon race as often as clearly:
“ As I traveled through England on the way to the United States, and then again when I crossed the borders of the Dominion (of Canada), a thought imprinted itself on me with every step that was indestructible on the forehead of this vast land stands: the thought of the greatness and importance of the destiny reserved for the Anglo-Saxon race, this proud, persevering, right and determined sex, which no change in climate or living conditions can transform, and which is infallibly determined to be the ruling race in the future history and civilization of the world. [...] We are all of the same race and blood ... "
Chamberlain's efforts to establish close Anglo-American relations and an alliance with Germany (until the failure of the negotiations in 1901) as well as his preparatory work for the Entente Cordiale with France ended the splendid isolation , Britain's self-imposed foreign policy isolation.
“ No forward-looking statesman can agree to England's permanent isolation on mainland Europe. The natural alliance is that between us and the German Reich. The two peoples are of the same race, and they share the same interests ... Whether in China or elsewhere - it is in our interest that Germany should stand in the way of the Russians. An alliance between Germany and Russia is the danger that we have to fear…. "
In July 1903 he began to advocate a break from the dogma of free trade policy and campaigned for tariff reforms. This split the Liberal Unionist faction; some returned to the Liberals, while Chamberlain and his supporters remained in alliance with the Conservatives. In September 1903 Chamberlain resigned from the cabinet so that he could pursue his ideas unhindered.
In 1906 he had to give up his job after a stroke . He died on July 2, 1914 in London; he was buried in Keyhill Cemetery in his hometown of Birmingham.
The Chamberlain River in Australia is named after him.
literature
- Travis L. Crosby: Joseph Chamberlain. A Most Radical Imperialist , London: IB Tauris 2011, ISBN 978-1-78831-393-3 .
Web links
- Literature by and about Joseph Chamberlain in the catalog of the German National Library
- Newspaper article about Joseph Chamberlain in the 20th century press kit of the ZBW - Leibniz Information Center for Economics .
Individual evidence
- ↑ F. Salomon, Die British Reichsbildung 1869–1925, Teubner's source collection II, No. 131, 2nd ed., Pp. 2f.
- ↑ "Atmosphere brutally disturbed" . In: Der Spiegel . No. 21 , 1965, p. 93 ( online - May 19, 1965 ).
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Chamberlain, Joseph |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British politician, member of the House of Commons |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 8, 1836 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | London |
| DATE OF DEATH | July 2, 1914 |
| Place of death | London |