Introduction

British Empire – The End of the British Empire, 1945-1968

In this course, Dr Simon Potter (University of Bristol) explores the final decades of the British Empire, from the end of the Second World War in 1945 to Britain’s withdrawal of troops “East of Suez”, announced by Harold Wilson in 1968. As we move through the course, we think about the impact of the Second World War, the withdrawal of India and Burma from the Empire in the late 1940s, the Suez Crisis of 1956, Harold Macmillan’s now famous ‘Wind of Change’ speech, delivered in Cape Town in 1960.

Introduction

In this module, we introduce some of the key themes for the rest of the module, thinking in particular about the meaning and implications of the term ‘decolonisation’, as well as introducing Ged Martin’s concept of ‘past futures’.