Anti Imperialism grew as a substational amount of the British Public began to disagree with the Government and its tactics. The anti-Boer feeling that was spread by Milner, lead to Britain making an enemy out of the Dutch, and seeing as Holland was so close by, it was not particularly helpful that potential allies disliked each other. Boer General J.C. Smuts, late Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa concluded that ‘Lord Kitchener has begun to carry out a policy in both (Boer) republic of unbelievable barbarism and gruesomeness which violates the most elementary principles of the international rules of war,’ which depicts the fact that the British were meant to be ‘civilizing’ the world, and put them in a bad light in the British press back home.
The fact that many women and children were killed under British hands, in concentration camps surely proves that even they weren’t acting in the normal ‘British manner.’ This also backs up the statistic that 75% who were killed died from horrific conditions and diseases alone.
In conclusion, although the Boer war highlighted weaknesses in the British army; draining their sources and creating a low British morale, it was not the only factor in decolonization and does not necessarily mean than the British were any less of a strong and powerful elite (apart from of course considering the damage done to the military and economic sectors.) It could even be considered that although the Boer War was overshadowed by the extreme loss of life and money, it helped highlight Britain in the sense that it highlighter her weaknesses and in putting an end to ‘splendid isolation,’ she began to search for allies in the form of the Anglo Japanese.
There have been two theories as to the reasons behind the decolonization of India. The first theory, from an Indian perspectives depicts the idea that the Indians drove the British out through a substantional rise in Nationalism. The other argument which is believed by some historians is that after WW1, India was no longer economically viable or useful to the British, and so decolonizing it seemed like a good option as trading with India for goods such as spices was no longer needed.
European Civilization threatened the traditions of India causing tensions between the Indians and the British as well as the fear that the British were trying to insert the Catholic church into India, causing a backlash. At first, the British were successful in holding back Indian rebels, an example being the Sepoy Mutiny in 1857 where Delhi was struck by rebels. India, however is a vital example of how it seems, the British were driven out indicating that ruling over other countries was just not tolerable anymore.
The decolonization of India can somewhat be put down to a number of acts and protests on behalf of the Indian People. One person who particularly helped the movement was Gandhi, who thoroughly believed in peaceful protest stating ‘Violent means will give violent freedom.’ He was not against the British as such, but wanted India to run under it’s own government, once stating "I think it would be a good idea,’ referring to what he thought about western civilization.
When India declared their Independence, it became apparent that Nationalist pride would soon swoop through the other colonies too. This may explain the speech made by the British Prime minister in which I quote ‘the wind of change is blowing through Africa…’ suggesting that in this day and age the Government knew that Britain keeping hold of her colonies was no longer socially acceptable; of course the fact that America were threatening to invade if Britain did not ‘release,’ her colonies in the name of a free marker may have contributed, whereby Africa’s colonies received their independence from 1957-1964.
When World War One erupted, all intentions were focused on protecting Britain and so making a profit from trading with Empires was not the key issue anymore. However, the people living in the colonies proved to be useful to the British as they fought along side them. For those indigenous people this merely provoked nationalistic views, as they didn’t believe they should be forced to fight in a war which they did not involve them.
A fear in communism also irrupted around this time, and so the elites who were making a profit from the colonies, were distracted by the fear of losing money elsewhere. This took the limelight from decolonisation, which was by this time not the countries main priorities.
Therefore it can be suggested that World War One was more inflectional in the process of decolonization than any of the other factors mentioned due to the sheer number of impacts it had on Britain. It completely crippled the economy, as most wars would’ but this one was far more costly than the Boer war.
An example of how the war affected the British economy would be when there was an economic boom in 1919-20 in America after Britain bought substantional amounts of ammunition from them, and finished with the Wall Street Crash on 1929 in which the British decided to go on the notions of lasses faire which lead to ‘inflation, strikes and increased wages,’ taken from the encyclopedia of world history.’ The government responded with the Emergency Powers Act (1920), restoring its wartime emergency authority.’ Overall, the British economy was crippled, and cost the Government 8 billion pounds, taking women out of work and placing soldiers back into it, as well as paying for reparations and causing a huge rise in foreign debt; making maintaining the Empire far less important.
I believe the British and the rest of the world superpowers who formerly had colonies never really relinquished full control of former colonial countries back to the indigenous occupiers. I believe decolonization is a concept that does not really exist as the former colonizers have maintained a portion of control over the societies by means of military, economic and political influences. An example of such control being exerted is the neo-colonial control being orchestrated by the West today on poor countries such as ones in Africa.
However, in the context of decolonization it is arguable to say that World War One was the most significant factor as it completely took the focus away from the Empire and crippled Britain’s economy so much so that the Empire was becoming more of a nuisance than a profitable cause. This, coupled with a post war anti colonial Government, I think were the main reasons which spurred on decolonization. Although Nationalism in her colonies was clearly on the rise, it can not be disputed that after World War One, decolonization was no longer economically or morally viable anymore and out weighed the benefits of keeping on the Empire.