How successfully did Britain deal with the problems of decolonisation and the Commonwealth's changing nature?

Britain and the wider world

reasons for ending the British Empire

• wanted to rebuild Britain after WW2

• the growing threat of the USSR, especially during and after the Cold War

• militant/political uprisings in British colonies becoming more frequent

• growing global backlash from (newer) UN member states

Why Britain granted independence to its colonies + contextual knowledge

• impact of WW2: surrendering Singapore to Japan in 1942 showed the emerging weakness of white European rule, led to greater civil unrest in India

• economic weakness of Britain: the failure to keep up with the Colonial Development Corporation, generally weak economy, failure of the East African Groundnut Scheme

• growth of colonial nationalism: nationalist leaders in Britain’s colonies started to emerge (e.g. Nasser in Egypt), anti-imperialist sentiments grew, the UN wanted them to end their imperialism streak

• the Cold War: the US wanted British colonies to act as a buffer to growing Soviet influences in order to protect Africa/Asia from communism - used anti-USSR propaganda to do this

How successful were British colonial policies?

• Britain wanted independent nations apart of the Commonwealth and the British economic sphere (the sterling area)

• Britain usually found themselves handing power over to nationalist leaders that opposed their involvement (e.g. Kenyatta -Kenya, Nkrumah - Ghana)

• Central African Federation (CAF) of 1953, 1958 federation for the West Indies and 1963 Arabian Peninsula federation all failed and worsened political divisions in these areas

Malaya

• 1948: Malayan Chinese communists began an insurrection against Britain until 1960

• 40,000 British troops insurged this - successful, as most Malayans were Muslim and disliked atheistic communism

• August 1957: Britain granted independence to Malaya to a conservative government, maintaining their influence

Ghana

• 1948: Britain gave Ghana universal suffrage and an elected parliament

• Nkrumah appeased Britain by entering Ghana into the Commonwealth and the sterling area

• 1966: Nkrumah was overthrown by a military coup for his authoritarian rule

Nigeria

• South and North Nigeria were divided by religious differences and their proximity to the West

• Britain handed power over to a coalition that represented Igbos (in the south) and the north

• October 1960: Nigeria gained independence but from 1967-70, a civil war broke out and destroyed the nation

Kenya

• 1952: Mau Mau uprising, savagely suppressed by British authorities until 1957 under PM Macmillan

• December 1963: Kenya becomes independent from Britain but still faced racial divisions

Cyprus

• April 1995: Greek Cypriots began a terror campaign to expel British authority and reunify Cyprus with Greece

• 20% of Cyprus was Turkish, and thus did not want to unify with Greece

• 1960: PM Macmillan got Cyprus to accept independence under a Greek president and Turkish VP

• 1974: Türkiye invaded Cyprus, leading to its partition

Rhodesia (Zimbabwe)

• November 1965: the white minority government unilaterally declared South Rhodesia as independent from Britain

• Left-wing Brits wanted to end the Rhodesian regime but right-wing Brits saw white Rhodesians as ‘kith and kin’ as they fought with Britain in WW2

• Harold Wilson failed to reach a settlement with R’s leader Ian Smith as Smith ignored majority rule

• 1980: Zimbabwe gained independence after South Africa and the US pressured Britain to let them go

Commonwealth - nature

• 1931: South Africa, Canada, NZ and Australia were granted full legislative independence

• India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka joined the Commonwealth as republics

• Commonwealth troops fought alongside Britain and the US in the Korean war

Commonwealth - tensions

• 1956 Suez crisis threatened Commonwealth unity - Canada, Australia, NZ and South Africa supported Britain, but India and Pakistan supported Egypt

• 1961: South Africa left the Commonwealth due to apartheid - Britain was disliked for continuing to trade with them despite this

• 1962 Commonwealth Immigration Act disproportionately limited black immigration to Britain

• the Rhodesia crisis threatened Commonwealth unity

Commonwealth - successes

• 1994: Nelson Mandela re-entered South Africa into the Commonwealth

• 1995: Cameroon and Mozambique joined as the first nations not colonised by Britain

• 1995-1999: Nigeria was suspended from the Commonwealth for violating the Commonwealth Charter