1857-1890

• The greatest debate about decolonisation explores whether independence was wrested from below, or whether Britain remained in control and granted freedom to her former territories.

  Economic impact of WW2

  • The economic impact of WW2 had left Britain in an economically precarious position.
  • Britain was unable to continue ploughing money into colonial wars.
  • Historian John Strachey in The End of Empire (1959) argued that British decolonisation was a result of the political shift in the post-WWII government. Building the Welfare State was seen as preferable to colonial control.
• Reliance on the US

  • Britain’s growing relationship with (and reliance on) the USA made maintaining an Empire difficult.
  • Anti-colonial in its nature, USA would not allow the money they gave Britain to be used to prop up its Empire.
  • In the age of the Cold War, sustaining a close relationship with the USA became vital.
  • Historian Stuart Easton in The Twilight of European Colonialism (1960) argues that Britain wanted to keep an Empire, but was unable to do so in the broader context of the Cold War. Britain could not match the ideological, economic or military power of the USA or USSR.
• Nationalist movements

  • The emergence of nationalist movements within the colonies challenged British hegemony.
  • Charismatic leaders often unified independence movements.
  • Henri Grimal in Decolonisation: The British, French, Dutch and Belgian Empires, 1919 – 1963 (1965) argues that independence was wrested from the British by the strength of the local populations and their willingness to oppose the colonial rule.
  • If local populations do not want foreign rule and are protesting more vehemently, handing over control seems fair. However, this had been true in many places throughout their occupation.
• The strength of Western Europe

  • The rapid recovery of Western Europe and the growing strength of the EEC (European Economic Community) shocked much of the West.
  • It suggested to Britain that it was in Europe, rather than its Empire, where its economic future and prosperity lay.
  • Historian Paul Baran, in The political economy of growth (1957) argues that decolonisation was rooted in the international shift in the structure of capitalism in the postwar era. Multinational companies saw old colonial structures as a threat
• The timeline of decolonisation is just as debated by historians as the causes of decolonisation. Historians also debate the extent to which Britain was in control of the process of decolonisation.

  Britain in control

  • Former British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan in Pointing the Way (1972) argued that Britain’s Empire was always planning to fall, following the pattern of other great Empires. He thought that Britain was in control of the process throughout
• Economic imperialism

  • Historian Catherine Schenk argues in Britain and the Sterling Area: From Devaluation to Convertibility in the 1950s (1994) that Britain aimed to convert the Empire into a more informal economic imperialism, hence the collapse of formal colonial rule.
• Deep roots

  • Historian Ronald Hyam argues in Britain's Declining Empire: The Road to Decolonisation, 1918-1968 (2007) that the roots of decolonisation were in WWI and the 1930s Depression, not the Second World War.
• Decolonisation in West and East Africa happened

  After the British Empire gradually conceded power
• Independence groups seized upon the opportunity
• The Gold Coast

  Now Ghana
• The Burns Constitution of 1946


  1. Created a law-making Council that included the Governor of the Gold Coast, 6 British officials, 6 nominated members, and 18 elected representatives of the people

  2. In June 1946, the Gold Coast held elections
• Kwame Nkrumah founded the Convention People's Party


  1949
• Local British officials were still derogatory to local nationalist movements, reportedly referring to Nkrumah's efforts for independence as 'our local Hitler'
• Ghanaian independence

  • There was violence and animosity between the Ashanti-based National Liberation Movement and Nkrumah's CPP. Nkrumah received a 3-year prison sentence for organising mass protests but still managed to orchestrate election victories from prison.
  • By 1957, the Gold Coast and Togoland were granted independence as a united Ghana.
  • "The chiefs with whom the British had traditionally dealt felt bitter and betrayed" by the Nkrumah-led transition of power (Kitchen, 1996).
• Nigeria

  • The Richards Constitution of 1946 created similar representation and law-making powers as the Burns Constitution.
  • After World War Two, trade union leaders like Michael Imoudu and ex-soldiers began to campaign more strongly for independence.
  • The ethnic divisions between the Igbo, Yoruba, and Hausa made Britain hesitant to unite the country. However, nationalist momentum continued after the voting franchise grew after 1951.
  • In 1954, the area became the 'autonomous Federation of Nigeria'.
  • In 1958, the British government agreed to full Nigerian independence from 1960.
• Decolonisation


  The process of gaining independence from colonial rule
• Decolonisation in West and East Africa

  1. British Empire gradually conceded power

  2. Independence groups seized upon the opportunity
• Tanganyika


  Now known as Tanzania
• The British Colonial Development Corporation was tasked with investing £100 million in development projects across the Empire after World War Two
• The Tanganyika project


  1. Aimed to farm food on 150,000 acres

  2. Employed local people

  3. Created cooking oil for export to Britain
• The project employed 100,000 ex-soldiers in the 'ground-nut army'
• The project cost £49 million and ruined the land on which the nuts were grown
• Tanganyika became independent with Queen Elizabeth II as the head of state


  1961
• Tanganyika joined with the island of Zanzibar and was renamed Tanzania


  29th of October 1964
• Kenya

  • The cities of Mombasa and Nairobi were transformed by World War II.
  • This was because they saw rapid urbanisation and nationalism.
  • Initially, in 1944, the Kenyan Kikuyu Central Association was prohibited from any operations because of its threat to the colonial government.
  • Living conditions in the newly urbanised cities were very crowded. Combined with the powerful nationalist sentiment, this created a recipe for revolution.
• Mau Mau


  Extremist branch within the Kikuyu
• Mau Mau activities

  Began a series of high-profile and violent attacks on white settlers
• Sir Evelyn Baring declared a state of emergency in Kenya and arrested Kenyatta, the nationalist leader


  1952
• Despite little evidence, Kenyatta was convicted and sent to prison for 7 years
• 17,000 Mau Mau suspects were arrested
• 1,000 Kikuyu were hanged in response to the deaths of 70 Europeans
• Britain crushed this rebellion
• Britain's moral and political authority vanished and Kenya was granted independence in 1963
• Kenyatta led Kenya with a message of forgiveness and appointed the judge who rejected his appeal as Chief Justice for the country
• The British Colonial Development Corporation was tasked with investing £100 million in development projects across the Empire after World War Two. Here are the key features of the project in Tanganyika...

  Aim: farm food on 150,000 acres
• The British Colonial Development Corporation was tasked with investing £100 million in development projects across the Empire after World War Two. Here are the key features of the project in Tanganyika...

  Aim: farm food on 150,000 acres

  Aim: create cooking oil

  • This oil was to be exported to Britain.
• The British Colonial Development Corporation was tasked with investing £100 million in development projects across the Empire after World War Two. Here are the key features of the project in Tanganyika...

  Aim: farm food on 150,000 acres

  Aim: create cooking oil

  Employed 100,000 ex-soliders

  • They made up the 'ground-nut army'.
• The British Colonial Development Corporation was tasked with investing £100 million in development projects across the Empire after World War Two. Here are the key features of the project in Tanganyika...

  Aim: farm food on 150,000 acres

  Aim: create cooking oil

  Employed 100,000 ex-soliders

  Cost £49 million
• ruined the land
• Decolonisation in southern Africa was affected by the apartheid policies of South Africa