In this regard, the rise of the United States and the Soviet Union as superpowers led to many antagonisms to the European colonial dominance across the world. In this regard, Britain and France had a lot of challenges in maintaining their colonies across the world and had to decolonize most of these colonies in order to cut costs. Moreover, many people in Britain felt that it was high time some of the colonies were disposed off in order to focus on the internal affairs of their country. Moreover the emergence of institutions like the United Nations provided many opportunities for nationalists to oppose and challenge the nationalist influence. In this regard, the colonial masters were subsequently held accountable for their conduct in their colonies. In a way, the face of imperialism was gradually changed from a sense of pride to a demonstration of embarrassment.
Much of the British internal infrastructure was greatly damaged by the German Luftwaffe during the Second World War
. After the war, the country was in much debt and was evident that it could no longer afford to keep its large empire. The rise in crime and other social issues created the need to address the basic human needs at the expense of the colonies. Moreover, considering that the growth of the British Empire had been greatly aided by its naval force, the destruction of this force during the War meant that Britain could not effectively watch and police its vast empire across the world
It was therefore seen that the Second World War was actually a catalyst for the decolonization process in the British colonial empire.
Against Argument
However, it can also be argued that decolonization would still be realized even without the Second World War. In this regard, the growth of the United States and African nationalism would be the major driving force that would spearhead this decolonization. This argument gains much support considering that British decline as a global superpower had actually began even before the Second World War. Similarly, it would be practical to argue that decolonization would still go along without the presence of the World War II given that it was becoming much costly to maintain some of the territories which no longer provided much of the resources they had previously provided
. In this regard, it is realized that it was just a matter of time and the process would still continue.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is realized that the dominance of Britain as a global superpower and the subsequent decolonization process was basically a function of several factors at play. In this regard, it was realized that the Second World War played a great role as a catalyst for the decolonization process in Africa and other British colonies across the world. The rise of nationalist movements after the war also triggered a sense of new direction on the British imperialist thought.
