Decolonization The Fall of the European Empires

by Chamberlain, M. E.

• ISBN13: 9780631218043
• ISBN10: 0631218041
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1991-01-16
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

This book charts the decolonization of Asia, Africa and the Caribbean from 1945 to the present day, analyzing the ways in which countries separated themselves from the control of the European Powers. The author provides a concise historiographical survey of decolonization, placing the last days of the empire in the context of long-term international developments.For the Second Edition, a new chapter has been added to examine the post-Cold War realignments in Central and Eastern Europe which mark the final phase of decolonization. Coverage is also given to the hand-over of Hong Kong from Britain to China in 1997. In view of recent changes, the conclusion has also been fully revised.The text also includes an updated chronology of events and a completely rewritten bibliography, to guide the student to further reading.

Author Biography

Muriel Chamberlain is Emeritus Professor of History at the University of Wales, Swansea. She is currently the editor of The Historian, the journal of the Historical Association and is an Associate Editor of The New Dictionary of National Biography. Her previous publications include Lord Aberdeen: a Political Biography (1983), Lord Palmerston (1987), Pax Britannica: British Foreign Policy, 1789-1914 (1988) and The Scramble for Africa (second edition 1999). She is also joint editor of an English edition of Friedrich Fabri’s Does Germany Need Colonies? (Ed. with Breuning, 1998).

Table of Contents

Outline Chronology	vi
Maps	x
Introduction	1	(14)
The British Empire: Asia	15	(18)
The British Empire: Africa	33	(24)
The British Empire: Outposts	57	(8)
The Commonwealth	65	(5)
The French Empire	70	(14)
The Empires of the Smaller European Powers	84	(9)
The Russian Empire	93	(23)
Conclusion	116	(12)
Guide to Further Reading	128	(5)
References	133	(3)
Index	136