Chronicling the last days of British rule around the globe, through the remarkably candid reminiscences of both colonizers and the colonized.
WriterBrian Lapping
The Beginning of the End
Apr 15, 1985
The fall of Singapore in 1942, and an examination of how the British Empire -- the largest in the history of the world -- had survived to that point.
India: Engine of War
Apr 22, 1985
In 1939 Lord Linlithgow the Viceroy, declared India at war with Germany without consulting one Indian, and Winston Churchill expected India to provide soldiers without any reward. As a result, clashes began which lead to the partition of the subcontinent.
India: The Muslim Card
Apr 29, 1985
At Independence, Britain's achievement of bringing unity to India was destroyed, mainly due to Winston Churchill and the leader of India's 100 million Muslims, Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
India: Divide and Quit
May 6, 1985
By early 1947, British soldiers and officials could no longer control India. Their numbers had fallen and a frenzy of murder was spreading through the subcontinent. PM Attlee appointed Lord Louis Mountbatten to be Britain's last Viceroy. His job was to bully the Indian leaders into agreeing on arrangements for the succession and to ensure that Britain retreated with dignity. The murders in the Punjab -- estimates of those killed vary between 250,000 and a million -- became a terrible blot on the British withdrawal.
Malaya
May 13, 1985
The British Army and Chinese Communists fought side-by-side against Japanese forces in the Malayan jungle in the 1940s. The Communists' leader, Chin Peng, was awarded the OBE by the grateful British Government. But the military alliance fell apart after Britain regained control in 1945.
Palestine
May 20, 1985
In promising the Jewish people a home in a country which belonged to Arabs, the British were embarking on a policy which led to hatred and bloodshed. Britain's undignified departure left the Palestinian people dispossessed and an imposed Jewish state to fight for its life.
Iran
May 27, 1985
In 1953 the British exercised imperialist muscle and toppled Iranian PM Mohammad Mosaddegh -- who had freed his country from foreign domination (particularly the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company) -- to restore the Shah to power.
Egypt
Jun 3, 1985
Egypt was formally part of the empire from 1914 to 1922, but the Suez Canal zone remained central to imperial defence and trade for decades afterwards. The British invasion of Suez in November 1956 is generally accepted as a major turning point for the empire.
Aden
Jun 10, 1985
Britain thought it could hang on to Aden after giving independence to all its principal colonies in Asia and Africa. But the Egyptian-inspired Arabs proved fierce opponents, and the British made a hurried escape by helicopter.
Cyprus
Jun 17, 1985
Leading Cypriots petitioned twice to join Greece in a dominant Greek political state -- in 1830 upon the creation of the Kingdom of Greece and in 1878 when Britain took control of Cyprus. So when Archbishop Makarios forced the issue decades later, imperial officials did not recognize it as a revolutionary movement.
The Gold Coast
Jun 24, 1985
Riots in Accra and other Gold Coast towns in 1948 tested Britain's post-India strategy of power sharing, moderate leaders, and voluntary concessions. Rather than exert firm repression, the Labour government sent a committee of inquiry which recommended self-government.
Kenya
Jul 1, 1985
Mau Mau -- depraved barbarians to the British, desperate nationalists in their own eyes -- waged a bloody and brutal rising. The trial and imprisonment of their "manager" Jomo Kenyatta led to even more bloodshed.
The Rider and the Horse
Jul 8, 1985
In 1953 Britain launched a huge new state in Africa made up of the present Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Malawi. Its ideal was peaceful cooperation between black and white. It lasted only 10 years, and its collapse helped bring down PM Harold Macmillan.
Rhodesia
Jul 15, 1985
In a 15-year rebellion, white Rhodesians seized independence illegally and held it in the face of world opposition until weakened by African military force. Then, in a diplomatic coup, Lords Carrington and Soames bluffed them into peacefully transferring power to Robert Mugabe.
