| Unit name | Decolonisation and its Consequences |
|---|---|
| Unit code | HISTM2013 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | M/7 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12) |
| Unit director | Professor. Howe |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
none |
| Co-requisites |
none |
| School/department | Department of History (Historical Studies) |
| Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
After the Second world War, the European colonial empires were still near the apex of their territorial stretch, and apparently of their power.Yet within just two decades, almost all colonies had become independent states. By the 1970s only a few scattered islands and enclaves remained under European rule. The political decolonisation of the European empires took place, with astonshing rapidity, between the end of the Second World War and the 1970s. The wave of accessions to independence in the two decades 1945-65 was without precedent or parallel. Membership of the United Nations more than doubled. Eventually, over a hundred new sovereign states were created. It was one of the most profound transformations the world political system ever experienced. This unit looks at the process of decolonisation: it's course, its possible causes, and it's consequences for the contemporary world. The course will focus primarily on this: the ends of the European seaborne empires, with the largest space devoted to Bristish decolonization, France in second place, and briefer treatment of Dutch, Belgian, Spanish, Portuguese and other experiences.
