There are a number of reasons which contributed to the decline of the British Empire. The aftermath of the second world war played a massive role as we saw a struggle in the British economy. The end of the war was extremely costly to Britain which had an impact on her colonies. Britain’s withdrawal from India and the Suez Crisis both exposed the weakness of the British empire. It became clear that Britain could no longer act dependently with the amount of burdens she had and this idea of great power became impossible to maintain. New imperialism also contributed to the decline of the empire as its efforts failed and led to colonies enjoying economic independence during the war. Nonetheless, colonies could no longer cope with the struggle as
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The money raised for the military expenditure was taken from the colonies, by adding harsh laws, restricting trade routes, imposing high taxes and controlling the exports to other colonies made the life in these colonies difficult. Economic conditions declined and led to numerous strikes and protests. There were riots in the Gold Coast in February 1948 which were caused by terrible housing conditions, unemployment growing rapidly and prices driving up drastically. This led to riots extending from Accra to Kumasi. Protests also took place in other areas of Africa because many people were unhappy with their living conditions. In Lagos, Nigeria alone, a strike of railway and government workers consisted of 30,000 who were protesting at low wages and high prices. Such figures emphasise how much the decline in economic conditions had an impact on colonies. Nonetheless, in 1952 the Mau Mau Rebellion occurred. This was a violent uprising of Kenyan peasants against white settlers and British rule. The anger was focused on land shortage and the fact that a large white settler dominated landholding in the ‘highlands’ whilst Africans were restricted to overcrowding tribal reserves. This violent uprising resulted in a process of political reform which led to the independence of Kenya in 1963. It also shows how the British empire began to decline because the Gold Coast riots became hard to keep under control, also showing a lack of the
The money raised for the military expenditure was taken from the colonies, by adding harsh laws, restricting trade routes, imposing high taxes and controlling the exports to other colonies made the life in these colonies difficult. Economic conditions declined and led to numerous strikes and protests. There were riots in the Gold Coast in February 1948 which were caused by terrible housing conditions, unemployment growing rapidly and prices driving up drastically. This led to riots extending from Accra to Kumasi. Protests also took place in other areas of Africa because many people were unhappy with their living conditions. In Lagos, Nigeria alone, a strike of railway and government workers consisted of 30,000 who were protesting at low wages and high prices. Such figures emphasise how much the decline in economic conditions had an impact on colonies. Nonetheless, in 1952 the Mau Mau Rebellion occurred. This was a violent uprising of Kenyan peasants against white settlers and British rule. The anger was focused on land shortage and the fact that a large white settler dominated landholding in the ‘highlands’ whilst Africans were restricted to overcrowding tribal reserves. This violent uprising resulted in a process of political reform which led to the independence of Kenya in 1963. It also shows how the British empire began to decline because the Gold Coast riots became hard to keep under control, also showing a lack of the