On August 15th, 1945,

radios up and down the United Kingdom

crackled with a stirring announcement

from Prime Minister Clement Atley. Japan

offered its surrender. Crowds thronged

in Piccadilli Circus to celebrate

through the night. The British Empire

survived, though battered. Yet, the

United Kingdom soon faced an even

greater threat to its power.

Crippling challenges remained after the

downfall of the Axis powers. Cities in

the mother country were devastated and

rebuilding was as daunting as the

government was bankrupt, owing $40

billion to foreign creditors by 1946.

They were dependent on their ally, the

United States, for funding. Though

friendly with the US, American leaders

expressed disdain for buttressing

British colonial projects. Money flowing

from the AngloAmerican loan of 1946 and

later the Marshall Plan made it

challenging for the British government

to influence the Truman administration.

As the Iron Curtain descended on Europe,

the UK also found itself increasingly

unable to influence world affairs.

Burgeoning superpowers like the US and

the Soviet Union dominated the post-war

world and began their multi-deade

strategic rivalry. While the UK aligned

with the Western capitalist democracies,

it was a junior partner plagued by

problems at home and with its colonies.

The Second World War exposed the tenuous

grip that the British Empire held over

its colonies. The United Kingdom leaned

heavily on its overseas territories to

supply the war effort during its [music]

darkest hours. Burma and Malaya bore the

brunt of the combat as the Imperial

Japanese armed forces cut through

British defenses. Britain's image as a

powerful uncontested colonial master

crumbled as the Japanese Navy and Army

outfought and humiliated British

garrisons in Southeast Asia. The

appearance of weakness was an

opportunity for the largest colony,

India, to push even harder for

independence.

Indians despised colonial authority

[music] and with members of the upper

classes receiving British education. The

independence movement grew larger and

more sophisticated. For years, the

British Raj strained under the weight of

a burgeoning population, an increased

number of Indian civil servants, and a

growing amount of sectarian strife. The

traditional strategy of appeasing the

princes, and playing the major ethnic or

religious groups against one another

faltered.

A weakened Britain, out of cash and out

of will to crack down on the massive

subcontinent, relented.

Despite Winston Churchill's insistence

that India remain, Atley's government

sought a path to handing over power. He

tasked Lord Lewis Mountbatten with

overseeing the transfer and independence

of India. As the last viceroy and first

governor general of India, Lord

Mountbatten sought to maintain peace

between the powerful factions vying for

power while avoiding partition. [music]

He and his charming wife played host to

some of the most critical leaders of the

independence movement like Muhammad Ali

Jina, Jawaharal Nu and Mahatma Gandhi to

manage these strong personalities. But

decades of exploiting divisions

hamstrung their efforts. Despite his

preference to maintain the status quo,

Mount Batten reasoned that the only

peaceful solution under his time

constraints was partition. With

independence came a tumultuous and

bloody partition of India between Hindus

and Muslims. Minority religious and

ethnic groups suffered terribly as

massacres and street battles erupted

across the subcontinent.

The British colonial police and military

forces were far too small and

intimidated to prevent the worst of the

violence.

The loss of India stung. For decades,

the civil service in India served as a

training ground for ambitious members of

the British government, military, and

press. More broadly, the imperial

project captured the imagination and

attention of British society and

culture. The Raj had long been known as

the jewel in the crown of the British

Empire.

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British held Palestine became an

embarrassing disaster. After decades of

making contradictory promises to Zionist

and Arab groups about who would settle

and rule the Holy Land, violence

exploded in the region. The Atly

government and British mandate failed to

stem the tide of Jewish immigration.

After the war, Truman, who sought unity

among the Western Allies, pressured

Britain to allow more Jewish

immigration. At the same time, Zionist

paramilitary groups attacked British

authorities and troops.

When colonial forces responded, their

actions were cast down as anti-Semitic

and a resumption of the horrors of the

Holocaust. To avoid further costs, the

British dissolved the mandate on May

15th, 1948.

Similar to the partition of India,

sectarian violence erupted into ethnic

cleansing and massacres. The absence of

British authority allowed Israelis to

form the state of Israel unilaterally

and for Truman to recognize it despite

the UN's resolution 181 proposal to

divide the region into two states. The

partition of India and the dissolution

of the British mandate were the

beginning of the end for the British

Empire. They were severe psychological

blows to the British government and

people. The United Kingdom's remaining

colonies in Asia and Africa sensed

weakness. Independence movements from

Burma and Malaya rose. When the

Conservative Party returned to power at

home, negotiations soured as repression

became the new strategy.

With the threat of communism looming in

every corner of the globe, quashing

these movements took on extra priority.

During the Malayan emergency, the United

Kingdom continued to support Malaya's

democratic [music]

process of independence while at the

same time fighting the Communist Malayan

National Liberation Army. With

Commonwealth support, the insurgents

were defeated in 1960, 3 years after

Malaya's independence.

Like their Asian cousins, the African

British colonies looked to shaken loose

from the empire, breaking away from

imperial authority involved a mix of

negotiation and suppression of

insurgents colony by colony. A pattern

emerged. The more Europeans lived in a

colony, the more willing the United

Kingdom was to use [music] force in

delaying or denying independence.

Kenya's struggle for independence was

particularly bloody. Racism and

reprisals marked the British response

[music] to the anti-colonial movement

known as the Maau. Guerilla fighters and

alleged fighters or supporters were

rounded up and placed in detention

camps.

It was the Suez crisis that captured the

bleak prospect of restoring any

semblance of British international

clout. Egyptian President Abdal Nasser

nationalized the Suez Canal Company in

1956,

seizing control from British and French

shareholders. The canal was the artery

of maritime trade and had been a

strategic lynchpin in both World Wars.

Angered by the seizure, French and

British diplomats demanded that Nasser

hand back the canal. The Egyptian

president refused and asserted his

government's ownership.

Entering into a partnership with France

and Israel, British armed forces raced

to secure the vital waterway, fearing

that Nasser would close the canal to

European traffic. The partners sought

assistance and participation from the

United States. Still, President Dwight

Eisenhower outright rejected the offer

and complained that he didn't want

America to join a colonial war. The

alliance's military forces quickly

overwhelmed the Egyptian army and took

control. But Cold War superpowers

intervened.

Both the US and USSR agreed that the

British, French, and Israelis had to

give up the canal zone and that Egypt

was to operate it. The incident was a

devastating reminder of which powers in

the world exerted real influence. The UK

was not one of them. Not all

decolonization movements resulted in

civil war. Nigeria left the empire

through relatively peaceful means. By

the late 1950s, Parliament under

conservative control now saw the

maintenance of colonies as a massive

drag on a teetering economy. Granting

freedom made financial sense. The loss

of further prestige and embarrassment on

the world stage after the Suez crisis

further encouraged Britain to release

its former colonies in Africa.

As the empire's degradation accelerated,

the consequences of deolonization

reached British shores. Immigration from

current and [music] former colonies

changed the makeup of British society.

After 1948, the Windrush generation of

immigrants from the Caribbean came to

the home islands to provide labor in

rebuilding the country. People from

Kenya, Pakistan, India, and Hong Kong,

amongst many others, formed communities

in British cities. Discrimination and

racism from native born Britain, some

under increasing financial distress

through the 1970s, became prominent.

Added to the bubbling racial, ethnic,

and sectarian ferment was the continuing

and increasingly violent troubles in

Northern Ireland. Although the majority

of Ireland gained independence in 1922,

the Protestant majority counties in the

northeast remained in the British Union.

Violence between Catholics and

Protestants, Unionists and Nationalists

burst into a long-running insurgency

between the provincial Irish Republican

Army and the British government. Street

battles, terrorist attacks, and

reprisals plunged Northern Ireland into

chaos from the 1960s to 1998 when the

Good Friday Agreement led to an uneasy

peace. The violence there spilled over

to Great Britain as IRA members planned

assassinations and bombings. The British

public was insecure and anxious.

With its influence on the Wayne, the

United Kingdom held fast to tiny

far-flung outposts across the globe.

Though not rich in resources, these

small islands were in strategic

locations that granted the armed forces

bases to conduct military operations far

from home. Gibralar, Diego Garcia, and

Cyprus were staging grounds for the

Royal Navy and Air Force. These bases

projected power, allowing the UK to

punch above its weight. Even if these

islands were little more than rocks in

the middle of the ocean, Britain went to

great lengths to defend them.

During the 1980s, Britain's will to

shield these far-flung outposts was

tested. The Argentine government eyed

the Faullands. A group of islands off

the east coast of Argentina. These

British possessions had little in the

way of industry or resources. And yet,

as a matter of national pride, the

Argentine Huta reasoned that an invasion

would be best to enforce its claims of

sovereignty over the Faullands.

They perhaps believed [music] that

Britain was too weak were too far away

to respond forcefully. Britain, in the

midst of a recession, and under the

government of the unpopular Margaret

Thatcher, struck back with as much force

as the remnants of the empire could

muster. Determined to recapture the

Faullands, the Royal Air Force, Navy,

and Army mobilized and fought over great

distances. Though the United States was

wary of a conflict between the UK and

Argentina for fear of driving the South

American government into the arms of the

Soviet Union, the Reagan administration

gave covert and tacit support for the

military operations.

Despite setbacks and logistical

challenges, Britain emerged victorious.

At last, it seemed that the old pride of

the empire returned. The country basked

in the glow of victory and the ability

to shape world affairs once again. The

conservative party was rewarded with a

landslide re-election in 1983, fresh off

the military success. However, the

reality of continued deolonization soon

challenged the country's new

rediscovered pride. The fate of Hong

Kong loomed large as the 1990s

approached. The island colony in China

became a new pressure point. The crown

secured permanent access to Hong Kong

Island and Cowoon while the surrounding

new territories were leased for 99 years

in 1898 through a treaty. After the

Second World War, Britain watched

wearily as the Communist government took

control of Beijing. The Chinese

Communist Party sought to undo the

legacy of imperialism, and Hong Kong

remained a sore spot. Though not

seriously interested in military efforts

to absorb the island city, the Chinese

government was steadfast that reunion

would happen once the lease was

completed. British negotiators attempted

to renegotiate the old treaty, but to no

avail. Hong Kong would return to Chinese

control. The Foreign Office attempted to

determine to what extent the city would

be integrated into the People's Republic

of China. Concerns abound about how the

Communist Party would deal with the

democratic practices and government of

the soon-to-be former colony. It became

clear that Hong Kong would be treated

like a few other Chinese cities that

operated with some economic freedom.

Some citizens of the city were not so

reassured and immigrated throughout the

angophone world with many relocating to

Great Britain. With no option to

continue control, Britain oversaw yet

another transfer of government ceremony.

As the Union Jack was lowered and the

Chinese flag raised high into the night

sky on July 1st, 1997, it could be

fairly said that the sun had indeed set

on the British Empire.

Britain struggled in a new world order

that no longer recognized [music] its

traditional role of a world superpower.

Decolonization challenged Britain at a

time of strategic, economic, and

diplomatic weakness. Once colonies broke

away, it became impossible to stem the

tide. How would Britain establish an

identity without an empire? It's a

question that still haunts the country

today.