After reaching the summit, you have to come down to go home.
The word ‘Zenith’ is an irony in itself. It proves the fact that there was a peak for the British empire and a peak is formed only when decline follows. 1922 marks the Zenith of the British Empire but only in terms of the land under its rule because in 1921 Britain experienced the deepest recession in its history. The wars shattered the financial and economic independence of Britain, the real foundation of the imperial system.
Economic power helped Britain to gain an edge by introducing the industrial revolution. But in order to run the factories, you have to sell, the more you sell the more you produce the more you have work for people. In order to sell you need a market. So colonisation for Britain became a necessity rather than a quest to keep the factories running. Due to high costs, less durability of products and low wages in the colonies, the demand for industrial goods decreased. The decrease in demand led to the stall in production. This ultimately led to unemployment in the country. This situation went parallel with the devastation of WW1 which marked the social unrest within the country.
The Colonies had turned into pressure cookers due to continued torture and failed promises made by the crown. It was due to the war crisis that Britain needed resources and manpower to get back in the game. They enforced high taxation and tough policies in the colonies. The British faced accretion of a number of serious nationalist challenges to the imperial rule.
In the arrogance to rule the world, the British got themselves into a closed room with no doors but one — accept their defeat. Due to the shortage of men and resources to control colonies, they started freeing the colonies. The loss of India, African territories and Suez crisis was a savage revelation of Britain’s financial and military weakness. By 1960s most British exports were going to Europe rather than the Commonwealth and it was during this period that applied to join the European Economic Community to sustain themselves.
The process of the colonial rule meant economic exploitation, the destruction of thriving industries, the systematic denial of opportunities to compete, the elimination of indigenous institutions of governance, the transformation of lifestyles that had flourished since time immemorial, and the destruction of their identities and self-respect. The colonies did gain their independence after the wars but the devastating effects of the rule left them in turmoil. They gained their independence due to the weakness and inability of colonial powers to sustain the rule due to war not because they were worthy enough to stand on their own feet.
The India — Pakistan conflict, Middle East’s unrest and Africa’s identity crisis proves the fact that Britain left a mark on their identity which they are still not able to eradicate.