What in Your Opinion Was the Short Term Importance of the Suez Crisis in Terms of Britain’s African Empire?

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WHAT IN YOUR OPINION WAS THE SHORT TERM IMPORTANCE OF THE SUEZ CRISIS IN TERMS OF BRITAIN’S AFRICAN EMPIRE? There are two main schools of thought with regards to the immediate effects of the Suez Crisis on Britain’s African empire: the first is one that accredits the rapid dismantling of the empire entirely to the crisis, enabling us to describe it as a watershed moment in the decolonisation process. The second, however, insists that the importance of the Suez debacle is limited. Suggesting that decolonisation was already on its way and Suez did very little, if not nothing, to influence it. The former would be most associated with Brian Lapping, while Lord Home, (former Commonwealth Secretary and Prime Minister) would be more likely to agree with the latter. To say the Crisis had no impact would be untrue, so too would it be to say it was the most important short term factor that led to decolonisation, so at which end of this spectrum is it closest to? Lapping argued that Suez dictated the pace of British decolonisation in Africa, stating that within three years of the Crisis Britain replaced their policy of gradually moving towards a hand over of power with ‘one of rapid scuttle’. The Crisis did, expose to many high ranking circles of influence Britain’s incapability of maintaining control across their empire successfully, turning opinions against Eden’s government and their policy of pursuing traditional methods of control. The Observer, in an Editorial shortly after British invasion of the Canal Zone, condemned the government’s actions, describing them as “folly and crookedness”, before going on to state that “the world should know that the Eden Administration no longer has the nation’s confidence”. The resentment was so strong that it was also expressed by government officials: Chancellor, Harold Macmillan, spoke of the cabinet’s embarrassment of the situation
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