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November 21st, 2008

British DecolonisationEssay

After the first world war, the international trade was disrupt and Britain lost important markets outside the empire, and after the 1929 crisis Britain’s economy moved from a free trading one to a protected one. And at the end of the Second World War, although Britain was one of the victorious states, the effects of the war were deep: much of the Europe laid in ruins and the balance of power had shift: the most important powers were now URSS and the USA. Britain was bankrupt and at the same time there were important rise of national movements in the colonies, in addition the Cold War was at its beginning, so even if the USA disapproved the British’s imperialism, they feared more the possibility of communist expansion so they were not really able to do something against it.

The British Empire was much smaller at the end of the World War II than before, because some of the colonies had fallen to other countries. As economy was in a difficult period, the British Empire needed that the colonies developed quickly, and during the war they had developed their industrialisation so they were more independent and self-conscious than before. But the post-war austerity prevented Britain to take efficiently care of the empires. War loans made Britain not a creditor anymore, but a debtor. And the Cold War inducted new military defence spending. So the government decided to make their colonies more economically efficient, this was cold policies of “new imperialism” and was supposed to obtain cheap food and export earnings. However, the colonies were more independent and the British people’s opinion was now that imperialism was not necessary anymore. The “neo-colonialists” wanted free markets like the USA’s example and other thought of a common European market.

The new elected government in 1945 was the Labour’s party and they were committed to the Empire and their “new imperialism” policies included the more important taxation of the colonised people. Indirect rule trough local chiefs declined and this was more the urban middle class that led the colonial governments. Finally the colonial bureaucracies were weakened during the war and had to open up government as nationalist movements pressed for inclusion.

After 1918 India had an important debt to Britain so during the interwar period Britain policy was to create a budget surplus so India could pay Britain back and the Indian textile industry was protected at the expense of Britain. But difficulties appeared as the rupee was overvalued and Indian exports to Britain became more expensive. In 1931 a political campaign boycotted British goods. The nationalism rose in India in 1931 after the depression because 1,5 millions of Indian fought during the war, and the taxes increased so the Indians felt that Britain lacked gratitude and they wished a self governing status like the dominions.

In 1919 the government of India offered only provincial autonomy over education and health and the parliament with only limited responsibility, so mass protest broke out and general strikes occurred. Gandhi, a leader of the Congress party appealed to a peaceful protest, and a civil disobedience campaign. In 1928 Nehru, another congress leader, demanded immediate independence while Gandhi was more moderate and asked for the dominion status within a year. Because there was no proper answer of the British government, mass civil disobedience was organised: the taxes were not paid anymore, they boycotted British goods, there were important desertion from the army and strikes were organised by school children. In reaction Britain made Gandhi and Nehru arrest but only a change of policies would have been able to end the protests. Since the end of the war, the government in India was more representative and by 1930 the Simon report promised the progress toward Dominion status, however the reforms could not be really effective with the Indian leaders in prison. By 1931 Gandhi was much closer to Nehru about the need of immediate independence. In 1935 the government of India Act provided provincial self government but the Viceroy was still in control of important matters such as foreign policy, so the Congress was opposed because it saw it as a measure to contain its power.

As the 1939’s war broke out, the Indian Congress did not want to enter the war as long as India was denied freedom because it was not logical to fight a war for democracy when its own countries didn’t have those rights. So a civil disobedience campaign followed. While the war advanced and France fell Britain really needed Indian participation so they finally offered them Dominion status once the War ended but Congress rejected it: it was too late for that, the distrust in Churchill was strong because he excluded India from the Atlantic Charter of 1941 which said that the people had to be respected and they could chose their form of government, but Churchill meant it only for Europeans. If Britain wanted India to support the war, it had to be granted immediate independence. But the Congress President, Subhas Chandra Bose, did not agree with the non-violent resistance and led Indian National Army in armed struggle with the Japanese against British and a “free Indian Government” was established in Singapore.

When the Congress leaders were interned because of the “Quit India” program, their Rival, the Muslim League grew. Its leader was Mohammad Ali Jinnah. The Congress favoured a unified Indian state as the Muslim league preferred a separate state for Muslim-majority regions. The Anglo-Indian relations were further damaged by inflation, food shortages and the 1943-44 famine. The British decided that India was becoming ungovernable. Furthermore, economically there were strong reasons to withdraw: the war demand accelerated Indian industrialisation and the business’ men’s position was strengthened in the Congress Party and India became a British creditor.

The Muslim League’s rejection of projects of a unitary state forced the Congress to compromise. In 1946 Cripps, a Labour member of the wartime coalition, suggested a federal settlement that would be accepted by them, but I did not work. By then, the Congress accepted the sovereign Pakistan’s intransigent demand; which would be constituted of the north-western and north-eastern regions of India, where there were Muslim majorities. In the 1946’s summer, the interim Congress-Muslim League government collapsed and serious rioting occurred. Wavell, the Viceroy, withdrew from India because mass violence was about to destroy its administration. Lord Mountbatten replaced him, he had served India during the war and was going to bring about Britain’s withdrawal from India by 1948, trough partition. Each province could choose if it wanted to be part of Pakistan or of India. The problem was that the Pakistan would be separated in two, where the Muslim majority was. The date of dominion status was advanced to summer 1947, so the Congress and the Muslim League were jostling for position. The minority groups interests were neglected, and the princely states, ruled by rich landowners who recognised British authority but did not belong officially to the Empire, they were 80 millions people, but no provision for them were made. Finally they joined India, when they were pressured and promised that they would still have their titles and landownership. However, in the areas where the two religions were mixed, important violence occurred and a mass migration took place and murders continued for months. Besides Gandhi was killed by a religious fanatic, while he had always condemned the religious conflicts.

The Indian Decolonisation was not much opposed in Britain, because it was ceased to be economically vital: it had declined for British exports while imports had increased. The key interests of Britain was now finances, moreover American aid was needed for the reconstruction.

Malaya was ethnically divided between Malay and Chinese community. There was too a smaller Indian Community. The Chinese Community was communist and dominated the state. It disarmed because the British promised equal rights. Britain delayed the Malyan decolonisation because the tin and rubber exports were valuable and Britain needed to pay its debts, and Singapore was useful to trade and defence strategically. The Malayan isles had crown colonies like Singapore, administered from London, and Malay states, protectorates with Commissioners working with local Sultans.

But the United Malays’ National Organisation prevented Britain to implant equal rights, and a constitution preserved the Sultan rights. In protest young Chinese engaged in the communist, guerrilla training camps. The Indian community rejected the communism because it was seen as a Chinese ideology, and trade unionism used working class of Kuala Lumpur and the dockers of Singapore.

Indian decolonisation was seen as a weakness of Britain and that it had lost its commitment to remain an imperial power, but Cold War politics prevented Britain to let it happen so easily in countries where there was the possibility of a communist take-over. In June 1948 British planters were killed by communists so a martial law of Emergency was declared. In 1952 anti-insurgency campaign made the communist insurrection fade: it gave guerrilla amnesty if they agreed to be “re-educated”.

The Malayan Chinese Association was composed of the business people who opposed communism. They obtained to open up the bureaucracy to Chinese. In 1953, the two parties and The Malayan Indian Congress allied, they won the 1955 elections and formed a government and they looked for ethnic co-operation. The relations with Britain were good, they reached agreement on retention of key military bases.

In 1956 Israel, supported by Britain and France, invaded Egypt. There was an almost universal condemnation from the international community so Britain and France had to withdraw. The long-term origins of that is the British’s mandate over Palestine and the massive immigration of Jewish in the 1930s and after the Second World War. In 1947 Palestine was divided and a year after Britain gave up its mandate. The subsequent war between Israelis and Arabs resulted in a much bigger state than it was foreseen. 700 thousands Palestinian Arabs were homeless and Britain was hold responsible for not imposing a multi-racial state in Palestine. But the short-terms events were the development of Egyptian (one of the defeated Arab states) terrorism against Britain. Nasser became the new leader, then President of Egypt in 1956 and wanted to unite all Arab states against Imperialism. At the same time, Britain looked for allies in the Middle East and was condemned by Nasser as neo-colonialism. He agreed with USSR about the hate of the western imperialism so Soviet Union supported Egypt. In 1956 Nasser nationalised the Suez Canal which was very important to Britain because it led to India so it could trade and be oil supplied. Britain did not give up its military bases as agreed in 1954 and World Bank withdrew from financing an Egyptian project.

The Suez crisis was a victory for Egyptian nationalism and Britain lost prestige and had humiliated itself. Britain restored relations with the Commonwealth and the prime minister, Eden, resigned. The USA-British relation was deteriorated and the money currency lost value.

In Africa, first the decolonisation was very slow because it was not really economically developed, however after the World War II, the campaign to grow more food improved the rural economy and the living standards rose, the cities grew and the population became more politically conscious. The imperialist state controlled the African colonies more directly; however wartime shortages of food and inflation caused a rose of discontent among the middle class. The War weakened colonial administrations and strengthened the white settlers’ position. They replaced bureaucrats called to war by the white settlers and they hoped retaining the jobs after the war. In South Africa the economy was the most industrialised of the continent and it increased the racial segregation of the region, it later helped South Rhodesia to resist decolonisation.

By the mid-1960s there was a “wind of change” (expression used by Macmillan about the quickness of African decolonisation) blowing trough Africa. The Britain was no longer protect from the American competition, the value of the Sterling had fallen. But the colonial economy still grew after 1945. But the British investments in colonial markets were less profitable than in Europe.

In Ghana, the transition to independence was more and less pacific so it considered as a model of decolonisation. In 1948 the capital city Accra there were lots of riots because of the “new imperialist” policy extracting more economic growth from the colonies. There were continuing wartime controls, rising unemployment and inflation. The rural chiefs had more power in the Legislative Council than the urban class. Kwame Nkrumah was arrested because he was suspected to be an ally of Moscow. He was not but prison radicalised him. He founded the Convention People’s party in 1949. The Coussey Committee proposed self-government in 1949 but under the control of the chiefs.

Nkrumah, released, campaigned for an immediate Self-government, so Britain had to compromise and to create an acceptable timetable towards independence. He had good relation with the Governor so it smoothed the transition. In 1954 new elections were organised. The CPP won but they were losing control of the North. The Northern opposition formed he National Liberation Movement and the NLM wanted to make a federal state, unlike the CPP which wanted a united one. The CPP won again which overcame the opposition to create a national party and a united state. But it became a one party state and Ghana leaned toward USSR.

Because of the world fall of cocoa prices in the 1960s Nkrumah’s regime became more and more dictatorial and was overthrown by a military coup in 1966 and the new government did not lessen the corruption so there was another coup in 1979 the Lieutenant Rawlings and he improved the economy, reduced inflation and obtained investment from the West, in 1992 constitutional government was restored and Rawlings was elected President in 1996.

Nigeria’s decolonisation was more difficult because of ethnic and religious divisions. North was Muslim and South was Christian and tribally divided. National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroon was regional and Nigeria did not have a solid middle class. In 1951’s elections The Action Group and the Northern People’s Congress emerged. The first represented Yoruba and the second one the Northern Muslims. British thought that they had to concede full regional autonomy to Nigeria so they promised it in the 1954’s constitution.

The first government was a Muslim-Igbo coalition, but Yoruba was opposed. When oil and gas were discovered, the co-operation ended because they set off competition. Igbo broke away in 1967 and a civil war of three years followed, the Army was the power behind Nigeria’s politics and the situation was unstable. An elite of Nigerian Generals monopolised oil resources and they ravaged environment and executed opponents. Decolonisation was a failure and Nigeria returned to democracy only recently.

Unification in Uganda was difficult because the tribal separatism was very strong but there was no white settlers class to appease. The most powerful tribe, the Buganda feared being merged into a unitary state, British suggested regional autonomy and they finally accepted in 1962 an independent and unitary state. But after the independence the separatism survived and the Uganda People’s Congress leader, Obote, used the army against the government in 1966 then he was overthrown by Idi Amin 1971 whose military dictatorship terrorised the opposition and expelled 70 000 Asian community, Amin’s rule ended with the Tanzantan invasion in 1978. The country was bankrupt and was desperately poor even if democratic government was set in 1985.

In Kenya with settler were many and they dominated landholding. African were in tribal reserves and were poor. The Governor at the end of the World War II suggested a land reform for Africans. But this was opposed. Kenyan African Union led by Kenyatta accused the whites of land’s stealing. The administration baned it in 1950 and it encouraged African discontent and their political activity was now organised in secrecy. The Mau Mau movement thus was born which aimed to restore the land to Africans and had support too in Urban Areas where there was a decline of living standards. Its methods were very violent. So London declared an Emergency interpreted as a civil

war because of the white-black conflict and the fighting between the different tribes and within the Kikuyu tribe themselves. It was however based upon economic grievances. Mau Mau was contained by repression and reforms. Unrest was finally suppressed in key centres. And the Swynnerton Plan of 1954 helped Africans buy land and created a class of smallholders with an interest in social stability. Political parties were allowed in 1955 and African got equal representation on the Legislative Council. The crushing of Mau Mau inducted improvements for African communities.

The Lancaster House Conference met in 1959 and 2 new social forces accelerated decolonisation. The rise of Kenyan trade unionism and the New Kenya Group which was composed of white businessmen who wanted to negotiate settlement with African politician. Once independence had been promised for December 1963 KAU accepted a federalist constitution. This had ultimately been achieved peacefully but it became a one party state under Kenyatta presidency.

In Central and Southern Africa, the Central African Federation was created because Britain wanted a single and viable colony outside of Nyasaland and Rhodesia. They wanted increase the Nyasaland economic development through federation with the copper-rich Northern Rhodesia and the agriculturally prosperous Southern Rhodesia, but the races were not the same: Nyasaland were exclusively black, Northern Rhodesia had a small, white settler class population who possessed the copper industry and the Southern Rhodesia had a larger white population who were mostly farmers but also urban middle class and working class. The whites sought independence to preserve racial segregation from blacks.

The leader of the Nyasaland National Congress listened to African criticism of the CAF to preserve white control, the Monckton Commission hastened the CAF’s demise by condemning racial rule. Macmillan was convinced that the Conservative Party had to decolonize efficiently and quickly. When the black obtained a majority on the Legislative Council, Nyasaland left the CAF, They obtained independence in 1964, And the Northern Rhodesia was similar: the multi-racial elections and the victory of the black so they left Federation. In the end, the new country of Zambia became independent inn October 1964.

Southern Rhodesia was a more difficult problem: the white settlers in the country saw the British decision to decolonize Africa as a betrayal: they would have agreed if it had led to a white rule. So Southern Rhodesia became ultra-conservative and the Rhodesian Front was elected in 1964, the Prime Minister was April 1964, he declared independence on November 1965 following the British error of saying that they did not want to use force. The British Prime Minister, Wilson, feared a mutiny if asked to fight the Rhodesian Army. Economic sanctions were not good ideas neither because not well support and that this country had a diversified economy, for example for oil. But compromises could not be accepted by the black Africans. The Zimbabwean African National Union (ZANU) and the Zimbabwean African People’s Union (ZAPU) started guerrilla warfare against the Smith government in 1964. They operated from Zambia and obtained a second front in Mozambique and won over the peasantry, secondly their Marxist ally FRELIMO cut off the Rhodesia’s oil pipeline, so Cold war considerations interfered. Because a Communist possible control of the country was feared, Smith government had to negotiate for the first time with the black leaders in 1975. ZANU and ZAPU united in the Patriotic Front (PF) in 1976 and continued the guerrilla war.

Internal settlement was reached with the “moderate” black leaders, the whites would still control the political system and own the land with a black as Prime Minister but it was condemned as a puppet government because PF did not participate to the elections. Commonwealth insisted on a all-party elections monitored for fairness but the Thatcher government did not want to transfer power to the Marxist Mugabe but the ZANU won elections in 1980 and he obtained the power, however he could be constrained: he was not allowed to change the constitution or forbid private property or the British and US aids would be stopped.

This government began moderate land retribution in the 1990s once constitutional provisions faded away and by 200 corruption, illegal and violent land occupations and economic depression because of the Congo’s civil war involvement led to a Movement for democratic change. Zimbabwe was so rather unstable.

In the West Indies, the decolonisation was less problematic: they had been neglected. Jamaica received a new constitution in 1944 and The Federation of the West Indies of 1958 made them stronger trading partner but was weakly supported. Jamaica and Trinidad left in 1962 so it broke up, they were granted independence as two separate states and Barbados followed in 1966.

Caribbean states were linked with Britain and the USA, but in Grenada the USA overthrew a Marxist government. In Guyana the Marxism influenced the People’s Progressive Party so it was hostile to the West. Jamaica since the 1970s used socialist policies.

Cyprus was problematic because it interested Turkey and Greece: there was a Greek majority with a Turkish minority. Britain had diplomatic commitment with Turkey so it did not support the Greek government. A terrorist group called EOKa developed, Makarios, the Greek leader, officially dissociated himself form them but he was in private in contact with their leader, so Britain exiled him then negotiated with him because of risks of civil war. In 1959 all parties agreed to an independent government led by Makarios, with guaranteed rights for Turkish residents. Britain obtained military bases.

It obtained independence in 1960 but peace was not reached: UNO intervened in 1963 after civil conflict and a coup was organised in 1974 and Turkey invaded the North of the isle. They proclaimed a separate state. There were religious tensions too between Greek Orthodox and Muslim Turkish.

In conclusion, decolonisation led to an expansion of the Commonwealth and its transformation into a multiracial organisation which became a force for further decolonisation, but British interest in Commonwealth for trade is less important since the development of European Economic Community.

Because of the many former colonies, Britain became a multi-cultural society and had an important immigration but racism persisted.

The causes of decolonisation were that Britain wanted it in some ways because of war, decline, nationalism, international relations and Cold War matters but more many specifics reason to each case appeared too. After the war, Britain was weaker and could not efficiently held its empire and new imperialism was given up after the Suez fiasco. More over Britain interests turned towards Europe, the finally accepted that decolonisation was inevitable.