Wind of Change (speech) - Background

Background

Harold Macmillan was the Conservative prime minister of the United Kingdom from 1957 to 1963. He presided over a time of prosperity and the easing of Cold War tensions. The dissolution of the British Empire was quite rapid in comparison to others in our known history, such as the Roman or Ottoman Empires. At the time of the collapse the Empire embodied the direct rule of foreign territories as an integral part of a supra-national enterprise, called the British Empire. Britain, as the colonizing power, directly controlled territories, in the partial, or complete, disregard to the will of the indigenous peoples of those territories, to rule themselves. This was especially true in the British Empire of Africa, which was falling apart in the years 1957–1965. during the time when the United Kingdom was under Macmillan's leadership.

The Empire had begun its dissolution after the end of the Second World War. Many had come to the conclusion that running the empire had become more trouble than it was worth. There were many international fears contributing to this conclusion. For example, the fear of Soviet penetration into Africa and the Cold War politics was an international concern that helped initiate the dismantling of the British Empire. The independence of British Somaliland in 1960, along with the "Wind of Change" speech that Macmillan delivered in South Africa earlier in the same year, is what started the decade when the dismantling of the British Empire reached its climax, as no fewer than twenty-seven former colonies in Asia, Africa and the Caribbean left the empire and started their independence. At the same time the African nationalists were becoming increasingly demanding in their initiative for self rule. Although it was unclear how to decolonize the nation or when to try. The path to independence in the Southern African states proved more problematic because the white settler population became hostile towards the majority rule.