ABSTRACT
The most important shift in global power after World War Two was the fall of the Western empires. This was a shift that involved a large amount of conflict, although much decolonisation, especially in Oceania, the West Indies and French sub-Saharan Africa, was accomplished without warfare. The Suez crisis revealed the limitations of British strength, encouraging a new attitude towards empire in Britain, which led to rapid decolonisation, especially in Africa, but also in the West Indies and Malaysia. France was less successful in Indo-China in 1946–1954 than Britain in Malaya; in part because, unlike the British, the French faced an opponent that, after the communists won the Chinese Civil War in 1949, had a safe neighbouring base. The French were also unsuccessful in Algeria, despite committing considerable resources to its retention. The French protectorate in Morocco, where guerrilla activity had become widespread in 1955, also ended in 1956.
