Reflections

Abstract

The period between the arrival of the ‘Great Depression’ in 1929 and the Suez expedition of 1956 covers barely a generation. At the beginning of that period Britain was head of the greatest Empire the world had seen; the acknowledged leader in world diplomacy; and in the first rank of economic power and influence. At the end the Empire was falling apart; nobody ranked Britain among the ‘Super Powers’, and her economy was largely dependent on the United States. In a sense there is nothing particularly remarkable in such developments. Other Empires have fallen as fast, or faster, yet their collapse has usually been occasioned by military defeat. Britain, so far from being defeated in war, had emerged victorious from the Second World War: indeed, she was still universally acknowledged in 1945 as one of the ‘Big Three’ who were to determine the world’s future. Nor is there much to show that the government either of the United States or of the Soviet Union was disposed to take positive action to undermine her position.