Within the context of 1880-1980, to what extent did British actions accelerate British decolonisation in Africa?

The first 200 words of this essay...

Within the context of 1880-1980, to what extent did British actions accelerate British decolonisation in Africa?

In the later years of the 19th century the scramble for the African continent by Western imperialist powers was reaching its climax. It appeared that the "dark continent" was to be no longer "dark", but to be the product of Western colonial expansion with several European countries dividing up the land. No where was this more apparent than with Britain whose Empire was at its height at the turn of the century. Egypt, for instance, was a colony for 40 years (1882-1922) with its pinnacle at the turn of the century; however the decolonisation of the country as early as this is an anomaly in itself as only South Africa had previously been granted independence by the British, albeit as a self-governing dominion. In a bizarre turn of events which historians still debate today, the Empire crumbled and by the 1970s only two African states remained British colonies: Rhodesia and South West Africa. The Empire had taken the best part of a century to amalgamate, yet was mostly swept away in just over a decade. Many reasons have been proposed for the vast