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The Crisis of Empire, 1945–48

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Britain and Decolonisation

Part of the book series: The Making of the 20th Century ((MACE))

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Abstract

It was inevitable that the British should have found the aftermath of the war a period of intense strain in the organisation and defence of their worldwide interests. With their economic resources stretched beyond their limit, new commitments at home and abroad and a lowering international landscape, it required strong nerves to be the landlord of so much far-flung, ill-defended and turbulent real estate. But the years beteen 1945 and 1948 were not simply a phase of anxiety and overload in the management of the imperial system. They formed a critical turning point in Britain’s post-war career as an international power. In these years the rough outline of Britain’s last phase as an imperial power took shape; the commitments which dictated her foreign policy until the late 1960s were established; and their validity recognised by the main body of political opinion at home. By 1948 most, though not all, of the huge uncertainties of 1945 had begun to clear away.

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Notes and References

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  79. Ibid.

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  84. The provincial assemblies were to decide between partition and unity. Mountbatten thought there was an ‘outside chance’ that Bengal would vote for unity and independence. Viceroy’s personal report 5, 1 May 1947.

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  85. But see the discussion in Moore, Escape from empire, pp. 234–280, which suggests that Mountbatten himself was confused and uncertain about the implications of this first plan.

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  140. The British to show their good faith granted Trans-Jordan independence in 1946, but with a treaty of alliance. The Arab Legion retained its British officers.

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  144. For the genesis of this offer see E. Lerman, ‘British diplomacy and the crisis of power in Egypt: the antecedents of the British offer to evacuate 7 May 1946’, in K. M. Wilson (ed.) Imperialism and nationalism in the Middle East: the Anglo-Egyptian experience 1882–1982 (London, 1983) pp. 96–122.

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  148. I.e. Chief of the Imperial General Staff.

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  153. The best study of these efforts is now M. J. Cohen, Palestine and the great powers 1945–1948 (Princeton, 1982).

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  154. The Haganah, the official Jewish underground, opposed the terrorist tactics of the Irgun and the Stern Gang. But official Jewish organisations like the Jewish agency were implicated in a number of violent attacks.

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© 1988 John Darwin

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Darwin, J. (1988). The Crisis of Empire, 1945–48. In: Britain and Decolonisation. The Making of the 20th Century. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-19547-3_3

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