The Wind Of Change Speech: The Decolonization Of South Africa

The 1960 British Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan once gave a speech in South Africa known as “The Wind of Change Speech”. Macmillan said, "The wind of change is blowing through this continent, and whether we like it or not, this growth of national consciousness is a political fact. We must all accept it as a fact, and our national policies must take account of it” (Baker 179). Macmillan was reinforcing that decolonization is taking place in Africa. Most of the European powers had African colonies, the British Empire was not an exception, and following 1950, most of these colonies were relinquished. Some independence movements were peaceful such as Ghana (Falola and Mbah 37). Ghana was vital for its exports of gold and diamonds. Britain was …show more content…
Hong Kong had a booming economy, rapidly growing, wealth and was an important trade center. There were “political, strategic, and economic advantages to keeping Hong Kong British, London could not ignore the colony’s vulnerable position if the Chinese government was determined to take it back” (Chan and Young n.p). China wanted the territory back, but the British weren’t ready to relinquish it. However, the British also realized how easily China’s military could occupy Hong Kong, and they weren’t willing to enter war with China over it. There was also the issue of the areas surrounding Hong Kong. One of these areas was Kowloon, which Britain had gained through the Treaty of Beijing in 1860. The rest of the areas were a set of islands called the New Territories that Britain had gained from the Second Convention of Peking in 1898. The issue at hand was that Britain did not permanently hold the New Territories; they were under a 99 year lease and would be returned to China in 1997 (Chan and Young n.p). These surrounding territories were so unified that they were practically a part of Hong Kong; it would be impractical to only return the New Territories to China and not Hong Kong. In 1997, Hong Kong was peacefully returned to China along with Kowloon and the New Territories. Hong Kong was the last …show more content…
Australia had been independent since 1901 and Canada had been independent since 1867 (Boyce n.p.). Although independent, both their legislative powers were still limited; the British appointed their governors, taxed them, and made their laws. This resembled parts of colonialism. The Statute of Westminster in 1931 was supposed to correct this and reaffirm that Canada and Australia were dominions with equal status to Britain (Boyce n.p.). However, for Canada it wasn’t until 1982 that the Canada Act was passed that made amendments to its constitution to make it truly self-governing. And for Australia it wasn’t until 1986 that a similar act called the Australia Act was packed (Boyce n.p.). Cutting theses links helped dismantled one of the few remains of colonialism the formal British Empire had left.
The Second British Empire declined and fell due to the effects brought on by World War II. Wartime spending and borrowing money left the empire bankrupt. It’s power decline and was surpassed by other powers. And what was once the largest empire in the world, ended up liquidating a large amount of its colonies by the end of the 20th century. The collapse of the Second British Empire can be traced back to the Second World