Britain's position in the world 1951-97

• Reasons for GB's decolonisation (5)

  Impact of ww2, Economic weakness, Growth of anti-colonial nationalism, The Suez Crisis 1956 and Macmillan's Winds of change speech in 1960
• Impact of ww2 on Decolonisation

  • British officers exploited the Empire to support the war effort causing resentment, e.g. farmers in Kenya being forced to sell crops at a fixed price
  • the humiliating surrender of Singapore to the Japanese in 1942 and collapse of the French and Dutch empires in ww2 showed white rule was not invincible; encouraged communists in Malaya to rebel against British rule
  • GB defeats in Asia, economic conditions and growth of Indian nationalism forced GB to withdraw from India, the 'jewel in the crown' which encouraged resistance elsewhere like in Africa and West indies
• Impact of economic weakness on Decolonisation

  • WW2 cost 25% of national wealth and left it 29 billion in debt to the US, GB could no longer afford to maintain it's empire
  • in order to overcome financial problems, GB was dependent on the US which opposed empire and put pressure on them to abandon it e.g. India in 1947, Palestine in 1948 and Suez in 1956
  • Attempts to strengthen the economy by exploiting colonies, hindering any economic growth that didn't effect them and garnering further resentment e.g. East African Groundnuts scheme in Tanzania
• To some extent the empire was still an economic asset, a closed imperial economy could still garuntee cheap food and raw materials. GB withdrew from India and Palestine because they were seen as an economic drain but fought for 12 years for Malay because of their rubber and tin. It was given independence in 1957 but British troops weren't withdrawn until 1960. Ghanaian independence was given under the condition of retaining trade with GB
• impact of growing anti-colonial nationalism on GB's decolonisation

  • there was a growth in the number of charismatic nationalist leaders such as Gamal Abdel Nasser in Egypt who humiliated Eden in Suez
  • Many leaders were Western educated e.g. Kwarme Nkrumah of Ghana who won elections against British backed opponent in Ghana 1957, learned African centralist ad Marxist ideas while studying in GB and US
  • In some places resistance was violent, In Malaya, a communist rebellion against British rule lasted 12 years from 1948. In kenya, the Mau Mau uprising led to the deaths of over 20,000 people
• Winds of change speech

  1960, Macmillan recognised the change of approach in Africa and Caribbean, dropping the idea of multi-racial governments. criticisms are that it was more reflecting changing attitudes rather than paving the way.
• Britain successfully dealt with decolonisation

  • there was a successful transition to the commonwealth, seen with south Africa re-joining and Mozambique wanting to join even though they had no ties to GB
  • successfully dealt with Ghana's want for independence, agreed to remain in commonwealth and keep trade links
  • McMillians wind of change speech 1960 showed he understood the importance of peaceful decolonisation in Africa, learning from France's mistakes
• Britain unsuccessfully dealt with decolonisation

  • the pulling out in nigera did not prevent a civil war from breaking out
  • unable to prevent south africa from leaving the commonwealth in 1961 and rodesia in 1965 because of thrie determination ot maintain a white rule
  • GB joining the eec in 1973 loosened attention on the commonwealth
• korean war 


  biggest war since ww2 for GB. 700 dead. lasted 3 years. North korean invasion of S Korea. US fought against china, nuclear threat. risk of soviet response. GB role much less than US
• Sue war/crisis 


  1956 - crisis for eden personally. damaged GB's special relationshop with US. Paved the way for decolonisation of Africa and Asia. Least costly and shortest of all wars.