Martin Thomas, Bob Moore and L.J. Butler
The book is relevant, timely and innovative. It addresses an important historic topic and synthesises the existing literature. The authors give empirical body to some of the questions that have been raised in recent years by the theorists of post colonial history and of global history while at
the same time staying on firm ground by not neglecting the 'old fashioned' fields of diplomatic and economic history. Crises of Empire is essential reading for students of imperialism and comparative decolonization. It also offers new perspectives for those interested in contemporary European
history, international politics, and the legacies of colonialism across the developing world. Written by subject specialists, it analyses the forces that precipitated the twentieth century collapse of all Europes late colonial empires. The fate of the British, French, and Dutch colonial empires is
investigated individually and comparatively. So, too, is the bloody end to Belgian and Portuguese colonialism in black Africa. Ranging from the wave of European imperial expansion in the aftermath of World War I to the collapse of the last settler colonies in Africa during the 1960s and 1970s, the
authors assess decolonization as a long-term process whose roots and outcomes transcended the Cold War. They draw attention to significant changes to the international system during the twentieth century as well as to shifting popular attitudes towards colonialism both within Europes imperial nation
states and within individual colonies. They also discuss the economics of empire, focusing on such factors as changing global markets, colonial urbanization, and the growth of colonial organized labour. Above all, they consider the role of Africans and Asians as agents of colonial change,
highlighting the parts played by anti-colonial movements, popular protest, and armed insurgency as catalysts of Europes imperial collapse.
Preface
List of Maps
LIst of Abbreviations
Introduction: Constructions of Decolonization
Part I: British DecolonizationLarry Butler:
1. The British Empire, 1918-45: Inter-War Change and Wartime Pressures
2. The First Wave of British Decolonization:
Commonwealth Territories, South Asia and the Gold Coast, 1945-51
3. British Decolonization, Insurgence, and Strategic Reverse: The Middle East, Africa, and Malaya, 1951-57
4. Winds of Change: The Final Waves of British Decolonization in africa and Asia after 1957
Part II: French
DecolonizationMartin Thomas:
5. The Roots of French Decolonization: Ideas, Economics, and Reform, 1900-1946
6. Decolonizing the French African Federations after 1945
7. People's War and the Collapse of French Indochina, 1945-54
8. From French North Africa to Maghreb
Independence: Decolonization in Morocco, Tunisia, and Algeria 1950-56
9. Algeria's Violent Struggle for Independence
10. Territories Apart: Madagascar, the Togo Trusteeship, and French Island Territories
Part III: Dutch DecolonizationBob Moore:
11. An 'Ethical
Imperialism'?: The Dutch Colonial Empire before 1945
12. Indonesia: The Politics of Delusion, 1940-47
13. Indonesia: The Realities of Diplomacy
14. Unfinished Business: New Guinea as a Last Outpost of Empire
15. Decolonization by Default: Dutch Disengagement in Suriname
Part IV: Contrasting Patterns of DecolonizationMartin Thomas:
16. Patterns of Decolonization in Belgian and Portuguese Africa
Conclusion: Changing Attitudes to the End of Empire
Select bibliography
Index
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Martin Thomas is Professor in Colonial History, University of Exeter. Bob Moore is Professor of Twentieth-Century European History at the University of Sheffield. He recently held a fellowship in the Department of War Studies at King's College, London. L.J. Butler is Senior Lecturer in
Contemporary British History, University of East Anglia.
Writing History - William Kelleher Storey and Towser Jones
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