GREAT BRITISH EMPIRE

Decline of the Great British Empire

Introduction

The Great British Kingdom was a centre of power and prestige in the18th and start of 19th century. It was a famous saying of that time “sun never set in British Empire”. The British Empire was at its peak during 1837-1901 under Queen Victoria. British were great power of all times. Her territory included India, Egypt, most of Africa, France and British were the superpower of that era. They enjoyed the world's strongest economy comprises of largest industrial power and the unrivaled NAVY (Burns 2009, p.154).

The main reason behind the fall of Britain Empire was Britain's involvement in World Wars one after the other. During World War (II), the people of occupied India also get mobilized and demanded freedom from British Empire. The empire was already in financial crises due to engagement in Wars, and it was very difficult for the empire to hold all the territories from Asia to Africa (Darwin 2003, p.n.d).

The World War (II) mainly contributed towards fall of British Empire, but the separation of India and formation of two independent states from it (India and Pakistan) was a significant indication of weakness of British Empire (Darwin 2003, p.n.d). However, it is widely assumed that the partition of India into two sovereign states was the sign of decline of British empire, but another jerk for British empire was in 1956 when the Britain invade Suez, and after only one week, they had to return after a humiliation (Jasanoff 2007, p.n.d). The fall of British Empire was not just because of economical crises, though, it was a major contributing factor. The loss of popularity among people due to cruel and imperial domination also plays a crucial rule in giving rise to rebellion.

Discussion

The Great Britain was the superpower of her time. The decline of this superpower began with the economic instability because of involvement in world wars. An important cause behind the fall of great Britain empire was these wars in which the Britain lost her manpower and also a huge amount of money was wasted, and the empire lost her grip over occupied territories for instance India.

The Great Depression (1930)

The financial crises in 1930 were a trauma to not only Great Britain, but also to the international market. Commonly known as the great depression, It was an era when the international market suffers worst down fall with 50% fall in productivity. This depression lasted for around 20 years and overcome international economy. In Britain, people were living a miserable life and endured these financial crises with an unemployment rate of more than 20%. There were many reasons behind this economic depression. First and most strong was the impact of the First World War The collapse of Gold standards also affected the value of pounds (which was the most valuable currency of that time). The stock market crash of 1929 led to the international economic depression (Matziorinis 2007, p.01-03).

The textile industry of Great Britain collapsed along with a downfall in the steel ...