ABSTRACT
This chapter covers a period of dramatic change in Britain’s world role. Faced with three serious problems in the post-war world – the threat of the Soviet Union, the demands for independence from the colonies and economic problems, Britain was forced, not altogether unwillingly, to dramatically reduce her overseas commitments. At first, this took the course of a military alliance with the USA and independence for India and Palestine. In 1956, however, a misguided attempt by Anthony Eden to regain control of the Suez Canal led to Britain having to back down in the face of American disapproval. There is some disagreement over whether the government began to decolonise as a direct consequence of the Suez debacle, but for whatever reason, Britain’s historic Empire, which had taken centuries to amass, was discarded with extraordinary haste over the next ten years. Britain was, despite Suez, forced to grow closer to the USA in her need to maintain a nuclear deterrent, which was, by the 1960s, the only feature of Great Power status that really mattered. At the same time, she tried to align her economy closer with that of mainland Europe, but, unsurprisingly, found the other European countries suspicious of her intentions and did not manage to join the European Economic Community (EEC) until 1973.
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The end of Empire
India
Palestine
Suez
Decolonisation 1957–79
The outbreak of the Cold War
The Korean War
The ‘special relationship’
Britain’s defence policy in a nuclear age
Britain and Europe
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Britain’s defence policy in the 1960s and 1970s
Britain and Europe
The end of Empire
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Britain and the European Community
Decolonisation
Britain and the USA 1945–51
<inline-graphic content-type="black-white" xlink:href="<a href="https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9781315012865/0daafc64-eb55-4ea8-8366-aa2b2ad0c257/content/inline4_B.jpg" target="_blank">https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9781315012865/0daafc64-eb55-4ea8-8366-aa2b2ad0c257/content/inline4_B.jpg</a>" xmlns:xlink="<a href="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" target="_blank">https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink</a>"/>Historical skillsGroup work to study the complex processes that led to the end of the British Empire in this period
<inline-graphic content-type="black-white" xlink:href="<a href="https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9781315012865/0daafc64-eb55-4ea8-8366-aa2b2ad0c257/content/inline5_B.jpg" target="_blank">https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9781315012865/0daafc64-eb55-4ea8-8366-aa2b2ad0c257/content/inline5_B.jpg</a>" xmlns:xlink="<a href="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" target="_blank">https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink</a>"/>Chronology https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9781315012865/0daafc64-eb55-4ea8-8366-aa2b2ad0c257/content/page283_1_B.jpg" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/>