Fight or flight : Britain, France, and their roads from empire
Martin Thomas (Author)
Although shattered by war, in 1945 Britain and France still controlled the world's two largest colonial empires, with imperial territories stretched over four continents. And they appeared determined to keep them: the roll-call of British and French politicians, soldiers, settlers and writers who promised in word and print at this time to defend their colonial possessions at all costs is a long one. Yet, within twenty years both empires had almost completely disappeared. The collapse was cataclysmic. Peaceable 'transfers of power' were eclipsed by episodes of territorial partition and mass vio
History
1 online resource (558 pages)
9780191664076, 0191664073
867929531
Available in another form:
Cover; FIGHT OR FLIGHT: BRITAIN, FRANCE, AND THEIR ROADS FROM EMPIRE; Copyright; Acknowledgements; Contents; List of Illustrations; List of Maps; Preface; Introducing Fight or Flight; 1:Imperial Zenith? The Victors' Empires after the First World War; A post-war crisis of empire; New territories and threats to Britain's Empire; The French Empire after 1918; French decision-making; Repression and violence in the French Empire; Repression and violence in the British Empire; Co-option and control; Conclusion; 2:Empires and the Challenge of Total War; Widening cracks in the French Empire. Looking to the Future of the British EmpireFighting for a New French Empire?; Conclusion; 3: Brave New World? Rebuilding Empire after the Second World War; Conclusion; 4:Fiery Sunsets: Fighting Withdrawals in Asia, 1945-8; The Indian subcontinent; Assessing partition and the early withdrawals; Flight or rout? Palestine; The fight alternative: France returns to Indochina; Epitaph: Britain, France, and the early tests of fight or flight; 5: Troubled Roads: War and Revolution in Southeast Asia, 1948-57; Escalating war in Indochina; Conclusion; 6:Fighting Together, Drifting Apart: The Suez Crisis. Conclusion7: The Return of the Red Shawls? Fighting Insurrection in Madagascar; The 1947 rebellion; Towards independence; Conclusion; 8:Emergency! Paths to Confrontation in Black Africa; Fights in British Africa: The Central African Emergency; Mau Mau; Conclusion; 9:Keeping the Peace? 'Constructive Nationalism' in West Africa; Colonial structures in West Africa; Towards flight solutions in French West Africa?; Conflict and negotiation in Nigeria; A Ghanaian model of constructive nationalism?; West African commonalities: pressure from below; Repression and its abandonment. Towards independence in French West AfricaConclusion; 10:From a Whisper to a Scream: The Politics of Letting Go; Decolonization's second wave; The Cyprus Emergency; British politics and ending Empire; Economic factors; Arms sales; Fights ahead?; Conclusion; 11:Open Wounds: Fighting the Algerian War; The fight begins; Violence; Intellectuals, immigrants, and the war in France; Extending the fight; The Constantine massacres and after; International and transnational pressures; Terror and counter-terror: fighting the battle of Algiers; Algeria's uniqueness; 12:Endgames in Algeria and Rhodesia
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