This essay will attempt to understand for what reasons the Great Britain and France decolonised, and the effects this decolonisation had for those countries decolonised.

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Decolonisation

In 1945 the Second World War ended, the next thirty years were to see rapid disintegration of the European empires and the creation of many new independent states. This essay will attempt to understand for what reasons the Great Britain and France decolonised, and the effects this decolonisation had for those countries decolonised.

At the beginning of end of the Second World War Britain had the largest empire, which spanned the whole of the globe. But in the next thirty years this was dramatically reduced in size. The first country to seek independence from Britain at the end of the Second World War was India. India was seen as the "Jewel in the crown" of the British Empire and was of key significance to Britain. The Indian desire to decolonise had gather momentum at the end of the First World War and by the beginning of the Second World War Britain was forced to recognise Indian independence in return for her support in the Second World War.

At the end of the Second World War a Labour government came to power in Britain. They had a different outlook upon the issue of decolonisation. Whereas the conservative government before them were unwilling to decolonise India the Labour government supported decolonisation in the right circumstances. The reasons for this policy were their disapproval of the exploitation of the Indians and also the fact that Britain could not afford to keep India.

However there were a number of problems with decolonising India the major one of which was the religious hostilities that existed between the Hindus and the Muslims. The two religions could not agree on the federal system of government so it was decided that there should be a partition of India. This would create a new independent state Pakistan.

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The British method of partition was to set a date for British withdrawal 1947, and then work up until this date to achieve a peaceful partition. When the partition was created making India a Hindu state and Pakistan a Muslim state many people found themselves in the wrong area and there was a lot of mass movement of people between the two areas. The method with which Britain decolonised India met respects worldwide and was regarded as the best way to decolonise.

With India's declaration of independence it became apparent that it was only a matter of time before Britains ...

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