242. A wind of change driving the retreat from empire

242. A wind of change driving the retreat from empire

‘The wind of change’ was the other famous phrase of Harold Macmillan’s, along with ‘You’ve never had it so good’. It came in a speech in which he talked about how a movement had grown up in many countries, and particularly in Asia, for nations previously dependent on others to break free and become self-governing. Now, he told an audience in South Africa, a wind of change was blowing through Africa as similar, entirely legitimate nationalist aspirations were spreading from country to country in the continent.

And it was. Ghana was the first sub-Saharan African colony to win independence, but it would be followed by many others in relatively quick succession. Some went easily. Others went after ugly incidents, notably in Kenya, where bloody fighting led to the use of torture and killings on both sides before the country achieved its freedom from the British Empire.

And then there was South Africa and Southern Rhodesia (today’s Zimbabwe) which clung on for several more decades to white minority rule. They too got away from imperial rule, but there was no sense of their granting freedom to a majority – only to a tiny, elite minority. An elite which, during his childhood, even included a man whose name has become a household word around the world: Elon Musk.


Illustration: A stamp with Queen Elizabeth II’s head from the British colony of Gold Coast, overprinted with Ghana Independence, marking the nation’s transition to self-government. Public Domain

Music: Bach Partita #2c by J Bu licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives (aka Music Sharing) 3.0 International License


Jaksot(275)

202. Fall following the decline

202. Fall following the decline

The Chanak crisis of 1922 brought Britain to the brink of war with Turkey. Saner heads, in particular those of both the British general on the spot and the Turkish leader, Mustafa Kemal, soon to be Tu...

7 Heinä 202414min

201. Decline before the fall

201. Decline before the fall

In 1921 and 1922, the sharks were beginning to circle around Lloyd George. While he thought that getting a Peace Treaty for Ireland was a major success, many felt dissatisfied with a compromise that g...

30 Kesä 202414min

200. Ireland partitioned

200. Ireland partitioned

Would Britain go to war in Ireland? Was military action its only available response to the republican party, Sinn Fein, and its determination to govern an independent nation from its own parliament, t...

23 Kesä 202414min

199. Unaffordable, looming wars

199. Unaffordable, looming wars

We saw last week that Britain wasn’t in any fit state to go fighting more wars in 1919. Having got out of the bloodiest war in history (up to then), a deep war-weariness had set in amongst the combata...

16 Kesä 202414min

198. Unfit for heroes

198. Unfit for heroes

At the end of the First World War, a devastating worldwide flu pandemic killed perhaps as many as 50-100 million around the globe, and even 228,000 in Britain. That was a cruel addition to the 880,000...

9 Kesä 202414min

197. White Man's Burden

197. White Man's Burden

Rudyard Kipling’s poem, The White Man’s Burden, is a song of praise to the selflessness of the white man who goes out to the lands of benighted savages and gives them the benefits of his wisdom and ki...

2 Kesä 202414min

196. An independent Ireland?

196. An independent Ireland?

The 1918 election was a disaster for the Liberal Party. Although Lloyd George’s faction, inside the coalition government with the Conservatives, took 127 seats, the Liberals independent of the coaliti...

26 Touko 202414min

195. Empires collapsing, women voting, a coalition campaigning

195. Empires collapsing, women voting, a coalition campaigning

The return of peace after the First World War might have heralded the arrival of a time of tranquillity. Sadly, it didn’t. Too much had changed. Four empires, three venerable and one an unpstart, had ...

19 Touko 202414min

Suosittua kategoriassa Historia

olipa-kerran-otsikko
gogin-ja-janin-maailmanhistoria
mayday-fi
huijarit
mystista
rss-ikiuni
totuus-vai-salaliitto
tsunami
konginkangas
sotaa-ja-historiaa-podi
rouva-diktaattori
rss-sattuu-sita-suomessakin
rss-i-dont-like-mondays-2
rss-kirkon-ihmeellisimmat-tarinat
rss-subjektiivinen-todistaja
apinan-vuosi
historiaa-suomeksi
rss-peter-peter
tiedetta-ja-sirkushuveja-vanhojen-aikojen-podcast
maailmanpuu