Research
British Documents at the End of the Empire Project
British Documents at the End of The Empire Project
`On any long-term view the dominant fact about
postwar Britain is the loss of Empire.''Collections like this do not only make the historian's job immeasurably easier. … They also enable patterns to form, possible lines of historical explanation to emerge, far more readily than they could for the solitary researcher ferreting away amidst the unselected mass of original documents themselves. In that sense the process of selection is in itself a big step on the way to being a process of interpretation.' [--- Times Higher Educational Supplement]
The British Documents on the End of Empire Project holds a major research award from the Arts and Humanities Research Board. The AHRB funds postgraduate and advanced research within the UK's higher education institutions. All AHRB awards are made on the basis of academic excellence. In 2003 the AHRB's peer reviewers commented that BDEEP has 'an excellent track record, with tried and tested methods, a clear management structure and guaranteed publications'.
The Project
In 1945 Britain had over 50 formal dependencies in a colonial empire which was scattered across the world in Africa, the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, the Pacific, South-East Asia and the Far East. By the end of 1965 the total had been almost halved and by 1985 only a handful remained. Over the same period parallel changes took place in the setting of an informal empire as Britain withdrew from the Middle East, North Africa, the Arabian Peninsula and the Persian Gulf.
Based overwhelmingly on previously unpublished material from official British archives in the Public Record Office, the British Documents on the End of Empire Project (BDEEP) presents, for the first time, an extended documentary record of the final stages of Britain's association with the colonies of the formal empire and the countries within an informal empire. Established in 1987 under the auspices of the British Academy and based since its inception at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies in the University of London, BDEEP is currently one of the UK's largest and most successful historical research projects. It was described in 1996 by the British Academy as 'an outstanding academic success, a model for other Academy Research Projects both in its scholarship and management, and fully worthy of the Academy's continued endorsement.'
The project has been conceived as a sequel to the acclaimed publications of official British documents on The Transfer of Power in India and The Struggle for Independence in Burma. From the huge quantities of available official material on the empire, specialist editors have researched and selected for publication key documents which illustrate shifts in the major policy concerns of British ministers, Whitehall officials, colonial administrators, and imperial proconsuls. Editorially supported by information necessary to their ready understanding, the documents constitute an essential research aid for all those seeking a fuller understanding of British perspectives on one of the major themes in twentieth century history.
The documents chosen for publication embrace a complex variety of frequently overlapping themes. Several explore the economic, geopolitical and strategic role of the empire and the Commonwealth in the efforts made by successive British governments to maintain Britain's position as a world power in a rapidly changing international order. Others highlight important aspects of British colonial policy on such issues as economic and social development in the colonies, the evolution of government and constitutions, race relations and immigration, and the future of colonial civil services and defence forces in a period of transition from European to indigenous control. Finally there are documents which record how British governments responded to the development of political and social forces within the colonies in a process which led ultimately to self-government and independence. The documents do not in themselves provide detailed histories of political and nationalist movements in any particular territory; instead they reveal the extent to which major policy decisions in Britain were influenced by an awareness of local political situations in the colonies.
The Three Series
The project is structured into two main documentary series, together with a third support series.
Series A represents the general volumes and contains documents for successive British governments relating to the empire as a whole. Series B represents the country volumes and provides territorial studies of how, from a British government perspective, former colonies achieved their independence, and countries within an informal empire regained their autonomy. A third support series -- Series C - provides archival guides to official sources in the form of handbooks to the records of the former colonial empire, which are deposited at the Public Record Office.
The publications in the three series are described in detail on this site. Series A and C are now complete. Series B is ongoing and further volumes are in preparation on Central Africa, Fiji, Southern Africa, Malta and Cyprus.
Special features of the volumes in series A and B include:
- An impressive range of official material, drawing on documents from departments which include the Colonial Office, Dominions/Commonwealth Relations Office, Foreign Office, Treasury, Ministry of Defence, as well as documents from the records of the Cabinet and Cabinet committees and the Prime Minister's Office.
- An extensive use of minutes by ministers and officials, reflecting in detail the evolution of official policy.
- Authoritative introductions written by specialist editors.
- Editorial link notes which explain the context of a number of documents.
- Lists of principal office holders, biographical notes for major figures and chronologies.
- Bibliographies of official sources, unpublished private collections and secondary sources.
British Documents at the End of The Empire Project
Series A[Series A, Vol. 1] [Series A, Vol. 2] [Series A, Vol. 3] [Series A, Vol. 4] [Series A, Vol. 5]
`… another triumph for the British Documents on the End of Empire Project. … It will be used by historians and students for many decades to come…'
John Flint on Imperial Policy and Colonial Practice 1925-1945
in the Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History.
Series A, Volume 1
S R Ashton & S E Stockwell, eds, Imperial Policy and Colonial Practice 1925-1945 (London: HMSO, 1996) in two parts
Part I Metropolitan Reorganisation, Defence and International Relations, Political Change and Constitutional Reform
ISBN 0 11 290544 7 cviii + 403 pages (including index for both parts)Part II Economic Policy, Social Policies and Colonial Research
ISBN 0 11 290551 X xxi + 405 pages (including index for both parts)Each part 246x156mm, casebound, £70 each
The documents in this introductory volume to the series range in content from questions of high policy in such areas as defence, international relations and imperial economics, to significant aspects of colonial policy on the issues of future policy in Africa, the ramifications of colonial unrest in the Caribbean and, centrally throughout the entire period, the emergence of a more systematic strategy of colonial economic development and social welfare.
The regions and territories covered include the Mediterranean (Cyprus and Malta), the Middle East (Egypt, Iraq and Palestine), South and South-East Asia (India, Sri Lanka and Malaya), the Irish Free State (in a Commonwealth context), the Caribbean and, above all, Africa, where the emphasis is on indirect rule, the problem of white settler communities in East and Central Africa, and relations with South Africa. Anglo-American differences over colonial policy are recorded and the volume also includes material on the management of colonial affairs in Whitehall, public attitudes towards empire in Britain, educational policies and labour relations, the impact on the colonies of the Second World War, colonial research and the always sensitive issue of race relations.
What emerges over the twenty years in relation to the colonial empire is a pattern of intensified official activity and the adoption of interventionist policies on a hitherto unprecedented scale. Taking the empire as a whole the documents reveal different perceptions of Britain's interests and obligations. While the defence establishment grappled with the dilemmas of strategic priorities and the allocation of scarce resources, the mandarins at the Colonial Office are often seen clashing with their counterparts in the Foreign Office and Treasury over significant areas of colonial policy.
`a treasure trove on the first early post-war steps towards imperial disposal. … whatever aspects of the story you may wish to tackle, the documentary distillation of its essence is in these four volumes.'
Peter Hennessy on The Labour Government and the End of Empire 1945-1951 in The Times Educational Supplement.Series A, Volume 2
Ronald Hyam, ed, The Labour Government and the End of Empire 1945-1951 (London: HMSO, 1992) in four parts
Part I High Policy and Administration
ISBN 0 11 290521 8 lxxxiv + 372 pagesPart II Economics and International Relations
ISBN 0 11 290522 6 xxi + 408 pages (including map)Part III Strategy, Politics and Constitutional Change
ISBN 0 11 290523 4 xxi + 419 pages (including map)Part IV Race Relations and the Commonwealth
ISBN 0 11 290524 2 xvii + 389 pages (including index for all four parts)Each part 246x156mm, casebound, £60 each
The 444 documents in this volume provide an unrivalled guide to imperial policy-making in all its aspects during the early stages of the 'end of empire' between 1945 and 1951. Labour government ministers and their civil servants had to deal with a wide range of post-war problems, including those posed by Britain's own economic weakness, the development of international criticism articulated at the United Nations, the growth of an international threat in the shape of communist expansion and, in some areas, the emergence of colonial nationalism.
Almost all parts of the empire are represented here, with Africa, which was perceived at the time as the new 'core of our position', forming a major focus of attention. Although the processes of planning for transfers of power are reproduced as fully as possible, this is no mere collection of constitutional documents. Also covered are educational, agricultural, defence, research, medical and marketing issues; policies towards the sterling balances, trade unions, racial discrimination, Mediterranean strategy and South African apartheid; as well as the problems of administrative organisation, Anglo-American relations, and collaboration with other European powers.
Equally wide is the range of documents selected. They include the records of the Cabinet, minutes written by ministers and their officials, and a number of important specialised reports, including the famous 'Caine report' of the Agenda Committee for the African Governors' Conference of 1947, reproduced here in full for the first time.
The volume transforms scholarly understanding of the work of the Labour government in imperial and colonial policy. It provides a unique insight into British government policy formation across an extended field of action.
'These volumes, superbly produced and meticulously edited … will be a treasure trove not just for historians of empire but for all those interested in Britain's Byzantine age after 1945.'
John Darwin on The Conservative Government and the End of Empire 1951-1957 in The Times Literary Supplement.Series A Volume 3
David Goldsworthy, ed, The Conservative Government and the End of Empire 1951-1957 (London: HMSO, 1994) in three parts
Part I International Relations
ISBN 0 11 290535 8 lxxix + 422 pages (including index for all three parts)Part II Politics and Administration
ISBN 0 11 290536 6 xxvii + 410 pages (including index for all three parts)Part III Economic and Social Policies
ISBN 0 11 290537 4 xxvii + 422 pages (including index for all three parts)Each part 246x156mm, £60 each
Between 1951 and 1957 the Conservative governments of Churchill and Eden grappled with a fundamental policy dilemma. As the documents in this meticulously researched volume reveal, they were determined to maintain Britain's world role but were unable to resolve how to do so at an affordable cost. Successive reviews of Britain's external commitments led in June 1956 to a major discussion paper by officials on 'The future of the UK in world affairs', a key document of the period which is reproduced here for the first time.
Policies for the empire were pursued against the background of this high-level debate. Conservative ministers recognised the inevitability of colonial political change but were equally concerned to control it so that Britain's influence would not suffer damage.
Almost all parts of the empire are represented in this collection: West Africa, described by Eden in December 1951 as moving 'at a pretty dangerous gallop'; Central Africa, where on the one hand white settlerdom was given greater power and, on the other, Whitehall officials contemplated in 1956 the eventual possibility of a unilateral declaration of independence; the 'emergency' territories of Malaya, Kenya, Uganda, British Guiana and Cyprus, in each of which Britain responded with force majeure; Malta, considered as a possible candidate for integration within the United Kingdom; and of course the Middle East, where the use of force in 1956 led to the debacle of Suez.
With additional coverage of such issues as Commonwealth evolution, anti-colonialism in the United Nations, management of the sterling area, colonial development, economic association with Europe, and race relations and immigration, the volume constitutes an indispensable source of reference for an understanding of Britain's role as an imperial power in the critical period prior to the wind of change.
'... to have emerged from the Public Record Office with such a comprehensive, well-organised and informative collection is a remarkable achievement. In what is arguably the most significant area in which to ensure careful selection, that of high policy, this volume is particularly outstanding.' John Young on The Conservative Government and the End of Empire 1957-1964 in The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History.
Series A Volume 4
Ronald Hyam & Wm Roger Louis, eds, The Conservative Government and the End of Empire 1957-1964 (London: The Stationery Office, 2000) in two parts
Part I High Policy, Political and Constitutional Change
ISBN 0 11 2905781 cix + 825pp + maps (including index for both parts)Part II Economics, International Relations, and the Commonwealth
ISBN 0 11 290579X xxxvii + 811pp + maps (including index for both parts)Each part 246x156mm, casebound, £150 each, £250 for the set
Between 1957 and 1964 the Conservative governments of Harold Macmillan and Sir Alec Douglas-Home presided over a short but key period in twentieth-century British history. The British empire was transformed into the modern, multi-racial Commonwealth that is recognised today. Macmillan captured the spirit of the times in his address to the South African parliament in February 1960 when he referred to a 'wind of change' sweeping across the African continent. No fewer than eighteen territories (all but eight of them African) became independent and joined the Commonwealth during these years, and Zambia was only days away from independence when Home left office in October 1964.
This volume represents the first in-depth treatment of end of empire during its climactic phase, and from it will emerge a closer understanding of the dynamics involved in decolonisation. Published in two substantial parts, it contains 583 official documents. Every aspect and area of colonial disengagement are covered, together with the main strategic questions of continuing defence commitments in Aden, the Indian Ocean and Singapore. After comprehensive coverage of a major series of policy planning reports, separate chapters are devoted to individual territories, and suggest that the pace of change was influenced by several factors, among them calculations about the feasibility of holding on to colonies, the repercussions of examples being set in neighbouring territories, and decisions to support strong national leaders. Ministers and their officials operated under considerable pressure or frustration and are often shown grappling with issues of Byzantine complexity in the transfers of power. Also dealt with are the other main issues of the period: the containment of communism, relations with the USA and the United Nations, the management of sterling, the significant development of aid policies, the first application to the European Economic Community, immigration into Britain, and the departure of South Africa from the Commonwealth. Southern Rhodesia emerges as the Achilles heel of British colonial policy, and the unilateral declaration of independence is plainly foreshadowed.
The volume has been researched and edited by two of the world's pre-eminent historians of the British empire and is based overwhelmingly on hitherto unpublished material from the records of the Colonial Office, Foreign Office, Commonwealth Relations Office and the Treasury, as well as from those of the Cabinet and its committees and the Prime Minister's Office. An original work of fundamental scholarship, the volume will be required reading for students of imperial history and international relations alike.
An introduction to the Project along with a detailed description of the publications in Series B and Series C are also available on this page.
'... to survey such a vast array of material and turn it into a meaningful collation represents a prodigious feat of editorial intelligence and control.' Matthew Jones, International Affairs
Series A Volume 5
S R Ashton & Wm Roger Louis, eds, East of Suez and the Commonwealth 1964- 1971 (The Stationery Office 2004) in three parts
Part I East of Suez
ISBN 0 11 290582 X cxliv + 477pp + maps (including index for all parts)Part II Europe, Rhodesia, Commonwealth
ISBN 0 11 290583 8 xxxii + 481pp + maps (including index for all parts)Part III Dependent Territories, Africa, Economics, Race
ISBN 0 11 290584 6 xxxiv + 639pp + maps (including index for all parts)Each part 246x156mm, casebound, £190 each
This is the first in-depth treatment of a neglected period in studies of end of empire. It covers Harold Wilson's two Labour governments between 1964 and 1970, and the first eighteen months of Edward Heath's Conservative government from June 1970 to the end of 1971. Excluding protected states, ten territories became independent during these years, all but one (Aden) becoming new members of the Commonwealth. For the British government, however, the decisive change was a shift in Britain's position and interests in the world. As the FCO put in 1969, while retaining global influence through the Commonwealth and trade, Britain had become 'predominantly a European and Atlantic power'.
The reassessment of Britain's role is examined across fourteen chapters and 454 documents in this three-part volume. Against a background of successive sterling crises culminating in devaluation in 1967, part one considers the symbolic significance of the recall of troops from East of Suez, and the chaotic circumstances of Britain's withdrawal from Aden. It also covers a reappraisal of British interests in South-East Asia in the context of Singapore's secession from Malaysia, the ending of confrontation with Indonesia, and British views of the Vietnam conflict. Part one concludes with the end of Britain's treaties of protection in the Persian Gulf and the creation of the UAE. Part two examines Britain's second application to join the EEC, colonial issues at the UN, and a novel approach to planning, the FCO in 1968-1969 assessing all countries of the world according to their priority for British interests. Part two concludes with surveys of the major administrative changes in Whitehall (from the end of the Colonial Office in 1966 to the creation of the FCO in 1968), an assessment of the value of the Commonwealth to Britain, and the efforts of the British Government to escape the dilemma of Rhodesia. Part three examines policy towards the dependent territories and includes new material on the Falkland Islands and Hong Kong. It continues with surveys of African policy, aid and trade issues, and race and immigration. Across the entire volume, whether Britain should put its own interests first, or those inherited from its colonial and Commonwealth legacies, is revealed as a key question in many of Whitehall's policy debates.
As with earlier volumes in the series, the volume is based overwhelmingly on previously unpublished material drawn from the records of the FCO and its predecessors, as well as those from the Cabinet and its committees, the Prime Minister's office, the Board of Trade, Ministry of Overseas Development, and the Treasury. As a major contribution to research and scholarship, it will be required reading for students of imperial history and international relations alike.
British Documents at the End of The Empire Project
Series B[Series B, Vol. 1] [Series B, Vol. 2] [Series B, Vol. 3] [Series B, Vol. 4]
[Series B, Vol. 5] [Series B, Vol. 6] [Series B, Vol. 7] [Series B, Vol. 8]`Rathbone's professional eye and long acquaintance with the history of Ghana have given him an instinct for selecting documents which bear on questions at the heart of current historical debate.'
Richard Crook on Ghana in the Journal of Commonwealth and Comparative Politics.Series B, Volume 1
Richard Rathbone, ed, Ghana (London: HMSO, 1992) in two parts
Part I 1941-1952
ISBN 011 290525 0 lxxxviii + 421 pages (including map and index for both parts)Part II 1952-1957
ISBN 011 290526 9 xxix + 443 pages (including map and index for both parts)Each part 246x156mm, casebound, £60 each
Formerly the Gold Coast, Ghana became the first tropical African state to achieve independence from European rule in March 1957. This volume documents the frequently turbulent political relationship between Britain and the Gold Coast in the 16 years preceding independence.
The documents reveal how, in the aftermath of the Accra riots of February 1948 and the subsequent reports of the Watson Commission of Inquiry the Coussey Committee on Constitutional Reform, the government in London and the colonial administration in Accra were persuaded to revise their ideas that a generation must elapse before the Gold Coast could be considered eligible even for internal self-government. The relationship between Kwame Nkrumah and Governor Sir Charles Arden-Clarke is presented in a new light and the documents also reveal, for the first time, the full extent of the divisions in Whitehall over the Gold Coast as progress towards independence was threatened in the 1950s by the crisis in Ashanti and the emergence of the National Liberation Movement in opposition to Nkrumah's government. The circumstances surrounding the unscheduled general election of 1956, allegations of governmental corruption, South African views on the question of Ghana's membership of the Commonwealth, the problem of the United Nations Trust Territory of Togoland, and the future economic relationship between Britain and Ghana, are also recorded in the documents as additional complications as the country approached independence.
This selection of documents provides a unique insight into British perspectives on how Ghana achieved its independence, and also on how, in the process, Ghana played a pioneering role in the ending of colonial rule in Africa.
'… this is a fine collection of documents, superbly edited and well printed. It should be in every academic library concerned with the study of colonialism in general and the British empire in particular.'
Chandra R de Silva on Sri Lanka in the Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth HistorySeries B, Volume 2
K M de Silva, ed, Sri Lanka (London: The Stationery Office, 1997) in two parts
Part I The Second World War and the Soulbury Commission 1939-1945
ISBN 0 11 290558 7 cvi + 368 pages (including map and index for both parts)Part II Towards Independence 1945-1948
ISBN 0 11 290559 5 xxxvii + 396 pages (including map and index for both parts)Each part 246x156mm, casebound, £60 each
Renamed Sri Lanka in 1972, Ceylon was the first of Britain's crown colonies in Asia and Africa to become independent. It was also the first to treat dominion status, and not independence outside the Commonwealth, as the primary objective of political endeavour. In British times the island was regarded as a model colony. With the introduction of universal suffrage in 1931, it was governed by one of the empire's most progressive constitutions. But the political landscape was also marked by communal differences between the Sinhalese majority and the minority Tamils. Although non-violent, these differences constituted a major obstacle in further progress towards self-government. The documents in this volume illustrate the complexities in the negotiations, which led to Ceylon's independence in February 1948.
Part one covers the period from September 1939 until April 1945. It reveals how, although at first a setback to their political aspirations, the Second World War ultimately worked to the advantage of the island's nationalist leaders. Unlike their counterparts in India and Burma, Ceylon's nationalist politicians co-operated in the war. D S Senanayake, the dominant figure, insisted that Ceylon should be rewarded by a pledge of dominion status. The Colonial Office and the War Office in London were at first unmoved but in 1944 senior British officials in the island persuaded Whitehall to appoint a commission to report on Ceylon's constitution.
Part two records developments up to independence. The Soulbury Commission advocated internal self-government, Britain retaining responsibility for defence and external affairs. But much had changed by the time the Soulbury Report was published in October 1945. The war against Japan had ended with dramatic suddenness, a Labour government was in power in Britain, and political advance in both India and Burma was on the agenda. Senanayake's response was that Ceylon should not be treated differently. Although gradually the Colonial Office was won over, the Labour Cabinet proved hard to convince. There was constant concern over adequate measures to protect minority rights, while in New Delhi the Indian government was insistent on a settlement concerning the political status and voting rights of the island's Indian community. These were major issues throughout the period and they are fully recorded in the documents. That the Cabinet was eventually persuaded to grant dominion status owed much to Senanayake's willingness to conclude a defence treaty with Britain. However satisfactory from a British viewpoint - in contrast to that of India and Burma, Ceylon's independence was peaceful, orderly, and negotiated by consent - the actual settlement itself left the minorities nurturing misgivings.
'Previous volumes have earned high praise for the skill and scholarship of their editors. Dr Stockwell's achievement is no less outstanding.'
John Gullick on Malaya in the Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History.Series B, Volume 3
A J Stockwell, ed, Malaya (London: HMSO, 1995) in three parts
Part I The Malayan Union Experiment 1942-1948
ISBN 0 11 290540 4 xciv + 393 pages (including maps and index for all three parts)Part II The Communist Insurrection 1948-1953
ISBN 0 11 290541 2 xxx + 486 pages (including maps and index for all three parts)Part III The Alliance Route to Independence 1953-1957
ISBN 0 11 290542 0 xxxii + 458 pages (including maps and index for all three parts)Each part 246x156mm, casebound, £60 each
This volume documents the course of Anglo-Malayan relations from the fall of Singapore in February 1942 to the achievement of Malayan independence in August 1957. Part one begins with a series of documents on wartime planning in Whitehall following the loss of Malaya to Japan. Between 1942 and 1945 a radical shift occurred in British policy and the secret plans for a Malayan Union involved the establishment of direct British rule and a common citizenship scheme for Malays and non-Malays. But the Malayan Union and the treaties concluded with the Malay rulers provoked unprecedented Malay opposition. The British were forced into retreat and the Malayan Union was replaced by the Federation of Malaya.
No sooner had the crisis in Anglo-Malay relations subsided, than the government was overtaken by long-fermenting labour unrest and violence associated with the Malayan Communist Party. Part two deals with the worst five years of the emergency from its origins and declaration in June 1948, to the assassination of Sir Henry Gurney, the high commissioner, in October 1951, and finally to the decision at the end of August 1953 to designate part of Malacca a 'white area'. The documents show how the setbacks experienced in the first years of countering insurgency heightened tensions between Malays and Chinese, between the business community and the federal government, between military police and administrative authorities on the spot, and between different departments in Whitehall. They also disclose for the first time the results of the visit to Malaya by Oliver Lyttelton, the secretary of state for the colonies, which led to the appointment of General Templer as the new high commissioner in February 1952.
Part three reveals how, as the Malayan Communist Party fell back in the shooting-war, the pace of political change increased with the authorities making preparations for federal elections, political parties competing for support, and the communists attempting to re-enter legitimate politics. The documents throw new light on relations between the Alliance (of the United Malays National Organisation, the Malayan Chinese Association and the Malayan Indian Congress), the Malay rulers and the British, and they show how Tunku Abdul Rahman gained the political initiative and forced the pace of constitutional advance. First, the Alliance non-co-operation campaign of June 1954 extracted concessions with respect to the composition of the federal council. Then the Alliance landslide victory at the federal elections in July 1955 gave Tunku Abdul Rahman the authority to form his own government, resist the political demands of the communists at the Baling talks in December 1955 and persuade the British, at the London conference in early 1956, to bring forward the projected date of independence by at least two years. Although the British worried over the dangers facing the emerging nation-state from communism, communalism, and administrative inexperience, they were in no position to reject Alliance demands. Over the next eighteen months hectic preparations were made for the independence constitution, Malayanisation of the civil service, membership of the Commonwealth, policing and internal security, and the Anglo-Malayan defence agreement.
'… a landmark piece of scholarship on the Byzantine relationship between military planning and foreign policy in the twilight years of informal empire.'
Michael Thornhill on Egypt and the Defence of the Middle East in the Times Literary SupplementSeries B, Volume 4
John Kent, ed, Egypt and the Defence of the Middle East (London: The Stationery Office, 1998) in three parts
Part I 1945-1949
ISBN 0 11 290560 9 cx + 386 pages (including map and index for all three parts)Part II 1949-1953
ISBN 0 11 290561 7 xxxii + 594 pages (including map and index for all three parts)Part III 1953-1956
ISBN 0 11 290562 5 xxxvi + 590 pages (including map and index for all three parts)Each part 246x156mm, casebound, £60 each
For British policy makers at the highest level, the Second World War reinforced the belief that Egypt in particular and the Middle East more generally were crucially important for Britain's standing as a world power. By the end of the war, the British base in the Suez Canal Zone was the largest military base in the world. It was manned by troop numbers considerably in excess of the 10,000 permitted under a 1936 treaty whereby Britain stationed forces in Egypt for the purpose of protecting the Suez Canal. In 1945 the Egyptian government requested negotiations to revise the treaty and thus secure the evacuation of British troops. The British response, in terms of how Britain could reduce the size of its garrison and yet, at the same time, preserve a military base in Egypt from which the UK could maintain its preponderant influence in the Middle East and thus its standing as a world power, is the subject of this volume.
The volume covers the period from the end of the war to the eve of the Suez crisis in 1956. It reveals how Britain's position in Egypt and the Middle East was based on a fundamental and ultimately insoluble dilemma. While the British military supplied all manner of reasons why it was important for Britain to remain in the Middle East, and the Foreign Office in London and the embassy in Cairo deliberated over the question of how to engineer a friendly and compliant government in Egypt, all three were unable to suggest convincing means whereby either objective could be achieved. In fact for much of the period under review Britain's defence planning for the Middle East was based on little more than plans to defend the base in Egypt itself. Furthermore, while emphasising the significance of the defence of the Middle East for global strategy and the Cold War, Britain's planners were constantly thwarted by Britain's own economic difficulties. Britain did not have the resources to defend the region. Attempts to engage the Americans to bolster Britain's position were not successful. American policy was often deemed unhelpful. Elements in Whitehall suspected that the Americans aimed to supplant Britain in the Middle East.
An agreement finally reached with Egypt in 1954 to evacuate the base was followed by revised British plans to defend the Middle East based on an alignment of powers, which took shape in the following year as the Baghdad Pact. But the dilemma was not resolved. Britain did not have the military means to make a significant contribution to the Pact. Despite the intention to deploy nuclear weapons, the military admitted that Britain's defence plans for the region remained nothing more than a façade. Moreover the Pact encountered stiff opposition from an Egypt led by Colonel Nasser posing as the champion of Arab nationalism. In a battle of wills, the maintenance of prestige was now the vital consideration for the British government as it embarked on a collision course, which led to the humiliation of Suez. This prodigiously researched volume will be essential reading for political and military historians, for specialists in international relations, and for all those seeking a fuller understanding of the critical role played by informal empire in the dissolution of Britain's imperial heritage.
`These carefully edited documents are a valuable contribution to both the transformation of the Sudan from British rule to independence, and the roles of the co-domini in the establishment of new patterns of political relations between Sudanese political leaders north and south which survive to this day through decades of civil war.'
Peter Woodward on Sudan in the Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History.Series B, Volume 5
Douglas H Johnson, ed, Sudan (London: The Stationery Office, 1998) in two parts
Part I 1942-1950
ISBN 0 11 290563 3 cxi + 438 pages (including maps and index for both parts)Part II 1951-1956
ISBN 0 11 290564 1 xliii + 540 pages (including map and index for both parts)Each part 246x156mm, casebound, £60 each
The Sudan was an anomaly in the history of the empire. A colony of Egypt, it was administered by Britain as a condominium, and negotiations for its independence were inextricably entangled in the broader fabric of Anglo-Egyptian relations. As an anomaly, the Sudan's position in the broader scheme of decolonisation within the British empire has generally been overlooked by both Commonwealth and African historians. The Sudan's independence has been classed as part of post-war Anglo-Arab politics of the Middle East, with no special relevance to British policy in Africa. Yet as these documents show, events in the Sudan did influence the direction and pace of decolonisation elsewhere in Africa. Precedents were set in the Sudan, often against the objections of the Colonial Office in London. It was through the Sudan, and the Foreign Office responsible for its administration, that Britain first committed itself to the right of self-determination for subjects living in an African territory. It was in the Sudan that the idea of self-government was defined to mean a Cabinet composed exclusively of African ministers. It was the Sudan's approach to independence which precipitated the debate within the British government that ultimately led to opening Commonwealth membership to non-white African territories.
Part one of the volume begins with officials contemplating the possible impact of the Atlantic Charter on the Sudan. It then documents the manoeuvres of the various Sudanese political groups, as, in alliance with either of the codominal governments, they competed against each other for power in a post-independence state. It also examines Britain's attempts to prevent Egypt's reassertion of sovereignty over the Sudan and the subsequent failure to renegotiate the Anglo-Egyptian treaty. Part two covers the period up to October 1956 and begins with the crisis resulting from Egypt's abrogation of the treaty. It then documents the impact of the Free Officer's coup in Egypt in 1952 and the elections which led to the first all-Sudanese government. With the rapid Sudanisation of the administration, police, and army, it ends with the 1955 uprising in the south and the grant, in haste, of independence on 1 January 1956.
The documents throw new light on debates surrounding decolonisation within the post-war Labour and Conservative governments. They also, in their attempts to foresee a future for so divided a country as the Sudan, show a prescient concern for the troubled place of Southern Sudan, the role of sectarian Muslim politics in the nation at large, and the enduring importance of that long subterranean stream, the Nile Waters question.
Series B, Volume 6
S R Ashton & David Killingray, eds, The West Indies (London: The Stationery Office, 1999) in one part
ISBN 0 11 290577
3 civ + 750 pages (including map and index) 246x156mm, casebound, £160
Covering the years 1948-1966, the central theme of this volume is the short-lived West Indies Federation, which was painstakingly created in the decade before 1958, collapsing four years later. From the end of the Second World War, federation was the recognised goal of British policy-makers. Independence for any of the individual islands was not even contemplated until as late as 1959, and only then in the hope that it might never happen. Jamaica and Trinidad were the key federal players and aspects of their domestic politics and their achievement of separate independence are recorded. There is also coverage of federal moves in the East Caribbean (1962-1966), and of the two mainland territories - British Guiana (Guyana) and British Honduras (Belize) - with considerably more documentation on the successive crises that so dominated the politics of the former.
Other aspects of end of empire in the Caribbean have not been neglected. Defence issues are covered, in terms both of local defence requirements and the controversy over the American naval base at Chaguaramas in Trinidad. West Indian immigration to the UK is treated in some detail, while the place of the Caribbean in UK foreign policy, in the context especially of Anglo-American relations, is also considered. Above all there is considerable coverage of those economic and financial issues that so dominated the contemporary debates about development programmes in the Caribbean. Included here are the implications for the West Indies of Britain's negotiations with the EEC and the place of the Caribbean in the aid programmes of Canada and the US.
Drawn from the official UK records and revealing the Caribbean to be an area of low British priority from which successive British governments were anxious to withdraw as speedily as possible, the 256 documents in the volume represent the first detailed treatment of end of empire in the British West Indies.
Series B, Volume 7
Martin Lynn, ed, Nigeria (London: The Stationery Office, 2001)
Part I 1943-1953
ISBN 0 11 2905978 cix + 643 pp (including map and index for both parts)
Part II 1953-1960
ISBN 0 11 2905986 li + 801 pp (including map and index for both parts)Each part 246x156mm, casebound, £150 each, £250 for the set
Nigeria was Britain's largest colonial dependency in the 1950s and home to one-third of the population of the British empire. This two-part volume of official documents on the evolution of British policy examines Nigeria's move to independence in the years to 1960. It is a story of policy-making in London and of political pressure from Nigeria, punctuated by riots, communal conflict and regional tensions, and one that has much to say about both Britain's future position in Africa and Nigeria's subsequent history. Part one covers the years between 1943 and 1953. It begins with the wartime Colonial Office debates over indirect rule and Nigeria's political future. Nigerian reactions to British initiatives and to local economic and political developments are recorded in detail. These are seen first in the increased prominence of the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons under Nnamdi Azikiwe, and the subsequent polarisation within Nigerian politics that led eventually to the emergence of the Action Group under Obafemi Awolowo and the Northern People's Congress under the Sardauna of Sokoto. Part two covers the period from mid-1953 through to independence in October 1960. Throughout, the documents reveal Britain's explicit aims and ambitions for the future of Nigeria as independence drew closer. Central to ministerial and official thinking in Whitehall was the view that Nigeria would not be ready for independence in 1960. But rather than forfeit Nigerian goodwill and its place within the Commonwealth, and also to protect British trade with and investment in the country, the decision was made to proceed. Documents on the future of the Cameroons, as a United Nations Trust Territory administered from Nigeria, are interwoven in the main text and an appendix takes the Cameroons' story from Nigeria's independence through to Britain's withdrawal the following year. Entirely based on hitherto unpublished material and drawn primarily from the records of the Colonial Office, Commonwealth Relations Office, the Foreign Office, and the Cabinet and its committees, this volume will be essential reading for all students of decolonisation and modern African History.
An introduction to the Project along with a detailed description of the publications in Series B and Series C are also available on this page.
'This immaculately edited volume ...' Matthew Jones, Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History
Series B, Volume 8
A J Stockwell, ed, Malaysia (London: The Stationery Office, 2004)
ISBN 0 11 290581 1 cxiii + 723pp (including map and index)246x156mm, casebound, £190
The achievement of Malayan independence in 1957, which was the subject of an earlier volume in this series, did not bring to an end the British Empire in Southeast Asia. Britain's declared, if long-term, objective was the amalgamation of Malaya with Singapore and its Borneo territories, and it is the pursuit of territorial consolidation in the years after 1957 that is the central theme of this collection of documents. At first sight the creation of Malaysia in 1963 may appear to have been the logical, even straightforward, completion of Biritish decolonisation in the region. Indeed, the term 'Grand Design', which was applied to the project by some at the time, suggests a coherent plan to enable Britian to surrender the costs and obligations of colonialism without sacrificing interests or influence in the area.
The documentary record reveals, however, that the road to Malaysia was full of pitfalls. First of all, British policy-making lacked coherence since contradictory objectives were championed in different quarters of government. While commercial considerations did not bulk large in official thinking, Whitehall was divided by competing commitments to regional security, international alliances and the welfare of subject peoples. Secondly, Britain's freedom of action was reduced, not only by its declining power, but also by local resistance and the independent aspirations of Southeast Asian leaders. Contesting demands, particularly those of Tunku Abdul Rahman (Malaya), Lee Kuan Yew (Singapore) and the Sultan of Brunei, in large measure determined the timing and shape of Malaysia. Moreover, as subversives in Singapore, rebels in Brunei and President Sukarno of Indonesia mounted attacks on the scheme, ministers realised that its inauguration would be a close-run thing. Faced with the prospect of failiure, the British government occasionally supplemented planning and painstaking negotiations with guile (as did Macmillan at the Chequers lunch with Tunku Abdul Rahman in July 1962) or with bluster (as did Duncan Sandys during his eleventh-hour mission to Southeast Asia in August 1963). The Malaysia agreement was, therefore, the result of grudging compromise. Yet, although it failed wholly to satisfy any of the parties to it and was underpinned by guarantees too fragile to prevent the secession of Singapore two years later, Malaysia survived, and, unlike the federal experiments in Central Africa and the West Indies, would grow in strength.
This volume tells the story of the making of Malaysia from the records and perspective of British government. Considering policy in its domestic, regional and global contexts, it presents a continuous record of decision-making in an area whose importance for Britain outlived colonial rule.
British Documents at the End of The Empire Project
Series C[Series C, Vol. 1] [Series C, Vol. 2]
`The volume is a considerable achievement … and … will surely find its way into the personal collection of every serious historian of empire who dares to venture to the PRO.'
David Anderson on Records of the Colonial Office, Dominions Office, Commonwealth Relations Office and Commonwealth Office in the Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth HistorySeries C, Volume 1
Anne Thurston, Sources for Colonial Studies in the Public Record Office: Records of the Colonial Office, Dominions Office, Commonwealth Relations Office and Commonwealth Office (London: HMSO, 1995)
ISBN 0 11 440246 9 xv + 479 pages (including plates and index)246x156mm, casebound, £60
A revised and updated version of The Records of the Colonial and Dominions Offices (by R B Pugh) which was first published in 1964, this volume describes the administrative arrangements for handling Britain's relations with its dependent territories, and the records created by those processes, from the late seventeenth century until 1968 when the Commonwealth Office merged with the Foreign Office to form the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. It guides readers through the often complex registry systems used by the Colonial Office, its predecessors and successors, making these rich sources more accessible to postgraduate students and other researchers and opening them to undergraduates. New material gleaned from the annual Colonial Office and Commonwealth Relations Office Lists and from other sources will enable the reader quickly to identify the ministers, key officials, departments, and official and unofficial bodies responsible for various areas of work, and to check the constitutional development of the individual territories of the empire.
Reforms of the twentieth century which substituted specialist and advisory functions for the predominantly geographical organisation of the nineteenth century Colonial Office, and which often complicate the task of the modern researcher, are comprehensively described and fully cross-referenced to the records series in which their documentary sources are now preserved, making this an indispensable working tool.
`Volume 2 is especially welcome since it surveys those PRO records which until now have been rarely used by imperial historians. There will no longer be any excuse to rely upon the familiar Colonial Office classes for the study of empire.'
Simon C. Smith on Records of the Cabinet, Foreign Office, Treasury and Other Records in the Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History.
Series C, Volume 2
Anne Thurston, Sources for Colonial Studies in the Public Record Office: Records of the Cabinet, Foreign Office, Treasury and Other Records (London: The Stationery Office, 1998)
ISBN 0 11 440247 7 xi + 564 pages (including index)246x156mm, casebound, £80
This volume provides a detailed coverage of the records of the Cabinet and its committees, the Prime Minister's Office, the Foreign Office and the Treasury, and also lists the major series relevant to certain aspects of colonial studies among the records of departments such as the Admiralty, the Air Ministry and Ministry of Aviation, the Board of Trade, the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Labour. It covers records of interdepartmental committees, which have previously been difficult to trace, and records relating to international organisations and international conferences. In describing the responsibilities of the various bodies and summarising the contents of relevant record series, the guide minimises the complexities of identifying material and opens up to the researcher much under-used documentation.
An introduction to the Project along with a detailed description of the publications in Series B and Series C are also available on this page.
Page last updated October 4, 2005
