“Churchillian” Foreign Policy Since 1945: Imperial Establishment’s Ideological Adjustments to Managing British Power, and Interests in Post Colonial Britain.

“Churchillian” Foreign Policy Since 1945:
Imperial Establishment’s Ideological
Adjustments to Managing British Power, and
Interests in Post Colonial Britain.

The two World Wars each had a different impact on the British Empire. The First World War accelerated the ever growing rise of the British Empire, as the defeated mandated territories of the enemies became entrusted to Britain’s care and also the relationship between Britain and her Empire stood its greatest test. This was demonstrated by the massive contribution that the Empire nations made to Britain’s war effort. The white Dominions alone sent two and a half million soldiers to add to the five million British soldiers and fought the War alongside each other. Other Empire countries such as India, and the Colonies in Asia and Africa also made a striking contribution by sending many troops to fight the War alongside the rest of the Empire. Consequently, the “British” imperial power was not just the United Kingdom’s power, it was also due to the co-operation of the Dominions and all the contributions that the various Empire nations had made to winning the First World War. In fact, the Cabinet Committee on defence co-operation was called the “Committee of Imperial Defence”. After the First World War, over a quarter of the world’s land surface and a quarter of the world’s population had been covered by the British Empire as opposed to the period from the turn of the century up to the 1914-18 War, when the British Empire had covered one-fifth.

The impact of the Second World War, however, was a turning point in the history of the British Empire. Britain survived the War of 1939-45, together with her Empire, but at a heavy cost. The post-World War Two period was a new and changing world of demands and pressures placed on Britain from various directions. Although Britain’s Empire grew larger after the First World War and she emerged on the winning side against Germany, she had lost a sixth of her wealth in that War. The United States, on the other hand not only turned out as a creditor rather than a debtor but also as a nation producing half the world’s manufacturing goods. This was due to her population, size and resources that she had acquired after her independence, which also, eventually guaranteed her supremacy. Additionally, although the Empire nations demonstrated a firm co-operation with Britain during the First World War, for some time, in fact since the late nineteenth century, there had been a growing movement towards economic and political independence among them, in particular Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa. This was as a result of their own economic development which at last led to Britain granting them legislative control over their internal affairs, such as fiscal and trading policies as the nineteenth century came to an end. Having obtained control over their internal affairs, the white Dominions, as they became in the twentieth century, began to call for political control over their external affairs. Also, as early as the late nineteenth century, India too had been asking for more self-rule, first internally and then over her foreign affairs, though not to the extent that Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand and South Africa had been asking. India’s demand was that she should be treated equally to that treatment the white Colonies received from Britain, and not to be left behind.