Decolonization and the Collapse of the British Empire

Before World War II it was fairly said that, “The sun never set on the British Empire.” For decades, this was true; their colonial Empire literally spanned the entire globe. After the War concluded, however, a worldwide process of decolonization commenced in which Britain granted independence to all of its major colonies, beginning notably in India. The British decision to grant independence to India arose primarily out of necessity; however, Gandhi’s successful social movements also inspired a fundamental change in the perceptions of colonial power that eventually led to the collapse of the British Colonial Empire.

In India there were numerous uprisings and conflicts that arose over the course of the centuries long British occupation, but it wasn’t until Mohandas “Mahatma” Gandhi’s social efforts, beginning in India from 1915-1920 and onward, that a popular vision for India began to spread among ordinary Indians.1 At the time, Gandhi had only recently returned from South Africa where he had stayed for more than twenty years, as the “voice and conscience of thousands” of racially subjugated Indians.2  Upon his return to India, Gandhi advocated for Indians to boycott British institutions and products in a non-violent way; this movement was ultimately known as “Swadeshi.” Because of these efforts Gandhi became wildly popular; when Jawaharlal Nehru—the first Prime Minister of independent India—gave his famous Independence speech in 1947,  he called Gandhi “The Father of our Nation who… held aloft the torch of freedom and lighted up the darkness that surrounded us.”3 Gandhi’s momentum reached a peak during World War II and consequently caused great strain on Britain, forcing them to recognize the significance of the Swadeshi movement. Additionally, pressures from within India were complemented by two major external factors: Britain’s economic and human resources were exasperated by the War effort; 4 and the Japanese, who had invaded the British colony of Burma in 1943, were aggressively expanding in Southeast Asia.5 Each of these factors was important in pushing Britain to the realization that it was no longer realistic for them to prolong their control of India. In March 1946, shortly after the close of the War, Clement Attlee, the Prime Minister of Great Britain, expressed these sentiments in a speech to the House of Commons:

“India is today in a state of great tension and this is indeed a critical moment… It is a time emphatically for very definite and clear action… Let us all realise that whatever the difficulties, whatever the divisions may be, there is this underlying demand among all the Indian peoples… Is it any wonder that today she claims – as a nation of 400,000,000 people that has twice sent her sons to die for freedom – that she should herself have freedom to decide her own destiny? My colleagues are going to India with the intention of using their utmost endeavours to help her to attain that freedom as speedily and fully as possible.”6

Attlee’s description of India as being in a “state of great tension” was a verbal affirmation of the ultimate conclusion: the British had little choice but to help India “attain [her] freedom.”

After India was finally granted freedom in 1947, as the separate states of India and Pakistan, it was apparent that a change in the perceptions of colonial power was occurring. As early as 1931, Time Magazine featured Gandhi as the “Man of the Year,” forgoing other noted possibilities that included, ironically, the Prime Minister of Great Britain.7 In the article, Gandhi is described as being exalted by the people while the British colonizers are condemned:

"Cold English brains devised the system whereby bands of native police, especially in the rural districts, set upon individual Indian men & women and beat them… Individual beatings are applied, in the main, to extort from the victim his land tax.”8

Violence within the colonies was viewed as a reflection of the colonizers. From 1935 to 1951, Time Magazine prepared monthly newsreels of world events that in 1942 depicted video footage of British soldiers brutally attacking Indian protestors, while a commentator read, “The Indian people have never ceased to defy British authority, whether enforced by Soldier’s bayonets or Policemen’s batons.”9 Later, in June 1947, Gandhi graced the cover of Time magazine again, shortly after India had been declared independent.10 The media therefore played a significant role in showing the brutal reality of colonialism to the masses; in the end, increased media coverage was a catalyst in shifting public perceptions of colonial power.

It was nevertheless not only the perceptions of Europeans and Americans that were affected by India’s independence movement. In Africa, nationalist leaders such as Kwame Nkrumah in the British colony of the Gold Coast were inspired by Gandhi’s success. Nkrumah was a native of the Gold Coast territory but nonetheless was highly educated in the United States. During his studies, he drew from the “Back to Africa” vision devised by Marcus Garvey in the 1920’s and consequently later went on to become the most influential proponent of Pan-Africanism in Africa.11 After returning home, Nkrumah became the leader of the Convention Peoples’ Party (CPP) in 1950, which advocated the need for self-government, and began a campaign of “positive action involving nonviolent protests, strikes, and noncooperation with the British colonial authorities.”12 Nkrumah’s campaign was strikingly similar to the one Gandhi had led in India, and likewise, he was imprisoned for his efforts. The atmosphere regarding colonialism, however, had undergone significant changes since India’s independence; after the British granted a new constitution to its colony in 1951, Nkrumah’s party, the CPP, won a majority of votes and Nkrumah was released as the new Premier.13 Several years later, a major turning point occurred that was reflective of the times: on May 9^th, 1956, the population of British citizens living in the British administered U.N. Trust Territory of British Togoland voted in a 58% majority to integrate with an independent Gold Coast.14 Less than a year later, on March 6^th, 1957, the independent state of Ghana was created out of the merging of the former British territories of the Gold Coast and British Togoland; Nkrumah became the first Prime Minister.15