242. A wind of change driving the retreat from empire

242. A wind of change driving the retreat from empire

‘The wind of change’ was the other famous phrase of Harold Macmillan’s, along with ‘You’ve never had it so good’. It came in a speech in which he talked about how a movement had grown up in many countries, and particularly in Asia, for nations previously dependent on others to break free and become self-governing. Now, he told an audience in South Africa, a wind of change was blowing through Africa as similar, entirely legitimate nationalist aspirations were spreading from country to country in the continent.

And it was. Ghana was the first sub-Saharan African colony to win independence, but it would be followed by many others in relatively quick succession. Some went easily. Others went after ugly incidents, notably in Kenya, where bloody fighting led to the use of torture and killings on both sides before the country achieved its freedom from the British Empire.

And then there was South Africa and Southern Rhodesia (today’s Zimbabwe) which clung on for several more decades to white minority rule. They too got away from imperial rule, but there was no sense of their granting freedom to a majority – only to a tiny, elite minority. An elite which, during his childhood, even included a man whose name has become a household word around the world: Elon Musk.


Illustration: A stamp with Queen Elizabeth II’s head from the British colony of Gold Coast, overprinted with Ghana Independence, marking the nation’s transition to self-government. Public Domain

Music: Bach Partita #2c by J Bu licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives (aka Music Sharing) 3.0 International License


Avsnitt(275)

26. Restoration

26. Restoration

As any fan of Tolkien's Lord of Rings can tell you, nothing beats the return of a king. After the chaos that followed Richard Cromwell's following Oliver as Lord Protector, the restoration of Charles ...

24 Mars 202113min

25. Protectorate

25. Protectorate

In the 1650s, power concentrated in England into fewer and fewer hands, until in the end a Lord Protector was appointed and - surprise, surprise, since he dominated the Army Council which appointed hi...

19 Mars 202113min

24. Republic

24. Republic

Who could imagine that England could ever be a republic? And yet for eleven years it became one. Still, it would be a serious mistake to confuse 'republic' with 'democracy'. It swiftly became clear, a...

14 Mars 20219min

23. An uncertain throne and an oak tree

23. An uncertain throne and an oak tree

We start with Charles I's son mounting a throne in Scotland as Charles II, and end with him hiding up an oak tree, throneless once more. In between, lots of exciting battles, all rather boringly won b...

9 Mars 20218min

22. A desert called peace

22. A desert called peace

This is the chapter where we reach the Third English Civil War. We've seen that though their concerns may have been mainly English, the civil wars were by no means limited to England. They were, indee...

4 Mars 20218min

21. Round 2 and a deluded king’s fine death

21. Round 2 and a deluded king’s fine death

When the Scots began to worry about the increasing power of the New Model Army, and even whether it might be a bigger threat to them than the king, they decided to open negotiations with him. The resu...

27 Feb 202111min

20. Interlude

20. Interlude

The First Civil War had ended. King Charles I had lost, which wasn't just a military or political problem, but a religious one too: after all, if God had made him king, and God also determined who won...

22 Feb 202114min

19. First Civil War: Parliament gets serious

19. First Civil War: Parliament gets serious

Parliament getting serious about the Civil War, getting its act together on military matters - above all by launching its New Model Army - and starting to win some key battles. Against that context, a...

17 Feb 20219min

Populärt inom Historia

massmordarpodden
kod-katastrof
historiska-brott
p3-historia
olosta-mord
historiepodden-se
motiv
rss-historiska-brottslingar
rss-massmordarpodden
historianu-med-urban-lindstedt
rss-brottsligt
rss-seriemordarpodden
rss-historien-om-2
krigshistoriepodden
militarhistoriepodden
harrisons-dramatiska-historia
nu-blir-det-historia
bedragare
vetenskapsradion-historia
obskyr-historia