Liquidation of Empire: The Decline of the British Empire

192 Pages·2002·1.15 MB·English

by  Roy Douglas (auth.)

Liquidation of Empire
By the same author
1939: A Retrospect Forty Years After* (editor)
THE ADVENT OF WAR 1939–40*
BETWEEN THE WARS 1919–1939: The Cartoonists’ Vision
DRAWING CONCLUSIONS: Cartoon History of Anglo–Irish Relations
1798–1998 (with Liam Harte and Jim O’Hara)
FROM WAR TO COLD WAR 1942–48*
THE GREAT WAR 1914–1918: The Cartoonists’ Vision
GREAT NATIONS STILL ENCHAINED: The Cartoonists’ Vision of Empire
1848–1914
THE HISTORY OF THE LIBERAL PARTY 1895–1970
HISTORY OF TAXATION SINCE 1660*
IRELAND SINCE 1690:A Concise History (with Liam Harte and Jim O’Hara)
IN THE YEAR OF MUNICH*
LAND, PEOPLE AND POLITICS: A History of the Land Question in the
United Kingdom 1878–1952
LAW FOR TECHNOLOGISTS
NEW ALLIANCES 1940–41*
SURREY: The Rise of a Modern University
WORLD CRISIS AND BRITISH DECLINE 1929–56*
THE WORLD WAR 1939–1945: The Cartoonists’ Vision
*Also Published by Palgrave Macmillan
Liquidation of Empire
The Decline of the British Empire
Roy Douglas
© Roy Douglas 2002
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2002 978-0-333-80454-4
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as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published 2002 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN
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PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave
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ISBN 978-1-349-42244-9 ISBN 978-0-230-55456-6 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9780230554566
This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and
made from fully managed and sustained forest sources.
A catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Douglas, Roy, 1924-
Liquidation of empire: the decline of the British Empire / Roy Douglas.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-349-42244-9
1. Great Britain–Colonies–History–20th century. 2.
Decolonization–Great Britain–Colonies–History–20th century. 3.
Imperialism–Government policy–Great Britain–History–20th century. 4.
Commonwealth countries– History–20th century. I. Title.
DA16 .D68 2002
909’.09712410825–dc21 2002019599
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02
Contents
Acknowledgements vii
The British Empire 1920 viii
1. Zenith 1
2. Uneasy Peace 13
3. Coming of War 27
4. The Impact of Japan 37
5. Aftermath 47
6. Ottoman Succession 61
7. The Road to Suez 73
8. Colonial Africa 87
9. Southern Africa 109
10. Smaller Colonies 127
11. Seeking a Role 141
12. Reflections 159
Notes 169
Select Bibliography 177
Index 183
v
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Acknowledgements
I am deeply grateful to my wife Jean who worked through the
manuscript and made many helpful suggestions. She is not an
historian, and that has been particularly useful, since this book is
aimed at a popular as well as a professional readership.
The map on p. viii is from Martin Gilbert, The Dent Atlas of British
History, and is reproduced by kind permission of Taylor and Francis.
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Zenith
On 10 November 1942, Winston Churchill told the House of
Commons: ‘I have not become the King’s First Minister in order to
preside over the liquidation of the British Empire.’ Five years earlier
George Orwell, very much a man of the ‘Left’, had reflected that ‘at
the bottom of his heart, no Englishman … does want [the Empire]
to disintegrate’.1
When Churchill spoke, children at school still celebrated Queen
Victoria’s birthday, 24 May, as ‘Empire Day’, when they were
encouraged to reflect on the merits and durability of the British
Empire, and received a half-holiday in the afternoon to give the
occasion a pleasant flavour. Many people who had profound qualms
about the way in which that Empire had been acquired, and even
about the wisdom of acquiring an Empire at all, would still have
acknowledged that speedy ‘liquidation’ would do much damage,
not only to Britain but to the remainder of the Empire as well. And
yet, by the time of Churchill’s death in 1965, the British Empire had
all but ceased to exist.
What happened, and why? In 1945, Britain emerged victorious
from the greatest war of history, universally acknowledged as one of
the ‘Big Three’ countries which would play the dominant part in
determining the future of the world. The other two members of the
trio may have looked askance at the British Empire for disparate
reasons; but neither was disposed at that moment to play an active
part in destroying it.
The present study examines the ‘liquidation’ process mainly from
the ‘official’ British point of view. In the nineteenth century, and
1
R. Douglas, Liquidation of Empire
© Roy Douglas 2002