全屏显示专题章节

Towards the end of the 19th century, some other countries also established their large manufacturing industries. They were also in need of foreign markets and raw materials. But the world was partitioned and most was colonized by England and France. But some younger capitalist countries became very aggressive and they demanded more lands. As a result the contradiction between repartition and anti-repartition became extremely fierce. At the beginning, Britain had maintained her “splendid isolation” policy which was aimed at preserving balance of power in Europe. However, Britain found it impossible to sit on the fence in the changed world, so she signed the Triple Entente with France, Russia and U.S.A. against the Triple Alliance including Germany, Austria, Hungary and Italy.

The First World War broke out in 1914 and ended in 1918. Though Britain and its Allies won the war and Britain got more colonies from Germany, Britain was also a loser. During the war, Britain lost over 1 million people and 70% of its merchant ships. To finance the war, Britain government borrowed 100 million dollars from America. This caused Britain to become a debtor nation. London was consequently replaced by New York as the world’s most important financial center. Britain’s foreign trade declined to about only half of the prewar total. The clearest manifestation of Britain’s weakened position in the world was the Washington Naval Conference which limited the number of American, British, and Japanese war ships to the ratio of 5:5:3. Britain lost its position of the world’s leading shipping nation and entered an era of social change, economic recession and large scale unemployment. By 1921 there were over two million unemployed. There were strikes and hunger marches. The effects of the New York Stock Market crash at 1929 soon spread throughout Europe and by 1931 Britain was entering the Great Depression. Of course, Britain could still claim to be among major powers, but it was no longer the strongest power in strength.

The First World War did not remove the basic contradictions between imperialist powers. In 1929, another serious economic crisis started in America and soon spread to other countries. Banks failed, factories closed down and foreign trade declined sharply. Endless demonstrationsand strikes caused by large unemployment shocked the whole capitalist world. Thinking it unjust for Germany to pay a large war indemnity, Adolf Hitler who made use of the desperate situation started military expansion and war preparations. At start, British government followed a foreign policy of non-intervention or appeasement. After Britain made many compromise, she found it impossible to satisfy Germany’s demands. Britain thus was forced to declare war on Germany and the Second World War broke out in 1939. However, Britain was ill-prepared for war. To deal with this serious situation, the whole nation was mobilized and industries were centered on war production. Externally, Britain entered into alliance with anti-fascist countries to form a united internal front. After six years of fierce fighting, the Second World War came to an end with Britain and its allies winning the war.

The Second World War indicated in the last stage of the disintegration of the British Empire. During World War II, Britain suffered great loss and London was repeatedly bombed. Having devoted her entire strength into the war, Britain was left gravely impoverished. She lost one-quarter of her national wealth and entered upon a period of economic and financial difficulties. Its finance was greatly weakened and it had to rely on America aid for its economic reconstruction. On the other, awakened and tempered by the war, consequently, most of its colonies in the world swept a large scale of independence movement. By the year 1970, Britain had lost all its former colonies except Hong Kong.