Expert: Mark Smith - 8/12/2005

Question
what were the main reasons for the fall of the british empire?

Answer
Hello Harry.
There are several reasons for the decline of the British Empire (fall sounds so sudden and dramatic, it was neither). They include a rise in Nationalism in the colonies of all the European powers after World War II. They saw their former masters weakened and bankrupt by the war and took the opportunity to agitate for independence. The ease in which India achieved it in 1947 encouraged the others. GB's industrial weakness after 1945 meant that financing the pre-war Empire was no longer possible, so the more important colonies were granted swift independence on favourable terms to ensure they remained friendly relations with their former Imperial masters.
Another theory is that after the war GB saw her future in Europe and took steps to divest herself of her Imperial responsibilities.
Another more controversial theory is that the undoubted world superpower after 1945, the USA, secretly encouraged the European colonies to demand their freedom so that the USA could develop new spheres of anti-Communism in Africa and Asia that she, and not GB, could control, believing GB to no longer have the strength to counter the spread of Communism.
Mark