Date Posted:21:13:48 03/01/07 Thu Author: Alex Author Host/IP: h-69-3-113-90.lsanca54.covad.net / 69.3.113.90 Subject: Re: Why did the British Empire break up? In reply to:
Anthony
's message, "Re: Why did the British Empire break up?" on 11:23:27 02/14/07 Wed
Here's my take on the main reasons for the end of the British Empire:
1) relative economic decline after establishing a huge lead in the early-mid 19th century as the world's first modern industrial superpower
2) the empire was based on naval supremacy established after (or during) Napoleonic Wars. After WWII, air supremacy such as that enjoyed by the US became the new standard for Imperial Power.
3) the post WW II rise of the "Nanny State" among the world's leading industrial powers made the cost of empire increasingly unpopular among average citizens: Brits voted in Labour and National Health. This pretty much precluded spending any more large sums to defend the sprawling empire
4) Fall of Singapore in WW II. The humiliating defeat of the British forces by the Japanese Empire pretty much ended any notion of White Supremacy. It also forced two White Dominions, New Zealand and Australia to look to the US for defense against Japan.
5)Rise of the US and USSR. British power was dwarfed by the gigantic military forces built up by the world's two super powers during the struggle against Japan, Italy and Germany in WWII
6) Rise of nationalism. British ideals of individual and national liberty (ie WW II was begun to save Poland) started to work against their dominion over Africa and Asia. Many Brits harbored sympathy for liberation movements abroad while Capitalists sensed that resistance would play into the hands of the Communists. Creating free states that would remain as trading partners with British forms of self-government (more or less) seemed like the enlightened way to go
7) Suez Crisis The US refused to back the Imperial Powers France and Britain with Israel in their occupation of the Suez Canal to prevent Egypt from nationalizing the crucial route for oil. This pretty much shattered France and Britain's pretensions to being stand-alone superpowers equal to the US and USSR. (After that, the US and USSR squared off and divided the Middle East into spheres of influence which lasted until the USSR was expelled from Afghanistan and the US-backed Shah was overthrown in Iran. The latter was the beginning of the rebellion against Western Hegemony which our country is facing in Iraq and elsewhere.)
8) It is possible the British Empire could have lasted longer if there had been more desire for it on the part of the British people. However, I think most Brits saw it as a drain on resources and manpower, despite the tremendous prestige associated with it. I believe there was a growing resentment among the working class about going overseas to die to preserve the fortunes of the super rich. Even so, Britain did cling to Empire for a fairly long time despite the crippling blows dealt to it by Germany and Japan in WW II. After giving up India/Pakistan in 1947, the road to independence for the rest of the non-white Empire took another 20+ years.
