Fight or Flight

Although shattered by war, in 1945 Britain and France still controlled the world's two largest colonial empires, with imperial territories stretched over four continents. And they appeared determined to keep them: the roll-call of British and French politicians, soldiers, settlers and writers who promised in word and print at this time to defend their colonial possessions at all costs is a long one. Yet, within twenty years both empires had almost completely disappeared. The collapse was cataclysmic. Peaceable 'transfers of power' were eclipsed by episodes of territorial partition and mass violence whose bitter aftermath still lingers. Hundreds of millions across four continents were caught up in the biggest reconfiguration of the international system ever seen. In the meantime, even the most dogged imperialists, who had once stiffly defended imperial rule, ultimately bent to the wind of change. By the early 1950s Winston Churchill had retreated from his wartime pledge to keep Britain's Empire intact. And General de Gaulle, who quit the French presidency in 1946 complaining that France's new post-war democracy would never hang on to the country's imperial prizes, narrowly escaped assassination a generation later - after negotiating the humiliating French withdrawal from Algeria. Fight or Flight is the first ever comparative account of this dramatic collapse, explaining the end of the British and French colonial empires as an intertwined, even co-dependent process. Decolonization gathered momentum, not as an empire-specific affair, but as a global one, in which the wider march of twentieth-century history played a vital part: industrial concentration and global depression, World War and Cold War, Communism and other anti-colonial ideologies, mass consumerism and the allure of American popular culture. Above all, as Martin Thomas shows, the internationalization of colonial affairs made it impossible to contain colonial problems locally, spelling the end for Europe's two largest colonial empires in less than two decades from the end of the Second World War. Martin Thomas tells this story in a book that is based in an impressive range of reading. He works hard to give a balanced account. Richard Vinen, The Times Literary Supplement His book is a refreshing new take on the end of empire. Mihir Bose, History Today Hugely impressive Literary Review This is an ambitious book...Few historians these days have the ability to embark on such a wide-ranging comparative study. Kwasi Kwarteng, The Times Thomas's account is comprehensive and well researched. Kwasi Kwarteng, The Times [An] immensely impressive comparative study. The ScotsmanIntroduction ; 1. Imperial Zenith? The European Empires after World War I ; 2. Empires and the Challenge of Total War ; 3. Brave New World? Rebuilding Empire after World War II ; 4. Fiery Sunsets: Fighting Withdrawals in Asia, 1945-48 ; 5. Troubled Roads: War and Revolution in Southeast Asia, 1948-57 ; 6. Taking Centre Stage: Suez and Cold War Interventions in the Colonial World ; 7. Emergency! Paths to Confrontation in Black Africa ; 8. Keeping the Peace? 'Constructive Nationalism' below the Sahara ; 9. A Whisper or a Scream? Ending the British Empire ; 10. Open Wounds: Algeria's Settlers, Colonial Terror and War ; 11. New Dawn? The Legacies of Fight or Flight ; Notes ; Further Reading ; Index