Did the Suez Crisis hasten the end of the British Empire?

Did the Suez Crisis hasten the end of the British Empire? The Suez crisis did not hasten the end of the British Empire; it was more of an effect rather than cause of decline. Carlton argues that since Britain only had an average sized population and the corresponding economic strength her overseas territories had caused her to overstretch and over-commit herself from the end of the First World War. Hence one can argue that retreat from empire and fall from her position as a global superpower to that of a medium global power by the 1980s was inevitable and unavoidable. 'Suez, on this view, was a rather dramatic hiccup in a generally well managed transition.'1 This is the point of view that I would agree with when considering the affect of the Suez crisis. However, one must also acknowledge that for some Suez did hasten the end of the British Empire and it was a watershed marking a significant change in direction in Britain's imperial foreign policy. This viewpoint must also be discussed and evaluated. Moving away from just focusing on the effects of Suez one must also discuss the other factors and causes of decolonisation, including the established nationalist, international and metropolitan explanations and how they were represented in the Suez crisis. Firstly I will look at the arguments supporting the opinion that Suez did hasten the end of the British Empire to which

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  • Subject: Historical and Philosophical studies
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If sodomy/homosexuality was 'unmentionable' in the Middle Ages, how can we write its history?

If sodomy/homosexuality was 'unmentionable' in the Middle Ages, how can we write its history? The study of gender, specifically homosexuality, is a relatively new invention. Tied up in the rise of feminism and the documentation of females in history, as a tributary of this, is the study of homosexuality through the ages. This essay is therefore part of an ongoing field of relatively new study. John Boswell, in my opinion clearly describes the difficulty of the study in such an "unexplored" area. Indeed, writers are often forced down "wrong paths" as well as "dead ends". However the comfort lies in the knowledge that we have "opened trails" and "posted landmarks" so others can "reach destinations beyond his furthest advance".1 In order to answer this question, one needs to ascertain, clearly, what this question is demanding. Within this essay I am going to clearly define "homosexuality" and "sodomy" within the boundaries of the Middle Ages. Whether, it was "unmentionable" and to what extent this contributes to our ability to record its history. Of the evidence available to us, we must also deem its effectiveness, in enabling us to accurately access homosexuality in the Middle Ages. In this essay, I am going to argue, that, through the study of primary sources relating to the existence of homosexuality, we can, indeed, write its history. However the evidence available to

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  • Subject: Historical and Philosophical studies
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Is History a Nightmare

'History' Stephen said, 'is a nightmare from which I am trying to awake' (James Joyce, Ulyssess). Is history a 'nightmare' and, if so, is it possible to awake? History has been represented by some as a triumphal march. As a progressive, unlinear, emancipating process. Fukyama, for instance, has heralded liberal democracy as the 'end of history'; while orthodox Marxism also posits a liberating 'end goal' in the form of 'communism'. History is understood as teleological and determined; a dream. It will be argued that history is more accurately understood as a 'nightmare'; as contingent and determined by conflict or struggle within specific networks of power-relations. In this respect, crude, reductive, teleological understandings of history are rejected, in favour of those that analyse history as based on contingent inter-relationships between structure, agency and discourse. Paradigms such as historical materialism, post-structuralism and critical-discourse analysis will be drawn on to show how relations of power and domination are constructed through conflict. It is these relationships which are the 'nightmare' of history; the nightmare of 'power' and the 'conflict' over it.1 Historical scholarship in historicising social relationships, de-naturalises relationships of power and showing the agency of historical actors can act as a critique to past and present

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  • Subject: Historical and Philosophical studies
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