A Comparative Study Of French And British Decolonization In Southeast Asia From 1945 To 1955

After World War II, the rise of national liberation movements damaged the Western colonial system severely, and the impact of the "decolonization" wave sweep across the world. On the other hand, Britain and France have been weakened in the war. The surrender of France made a sharp decline in big-power status in particular. In order to safeguard their vital interests and restore the great power status, the United Kingdom and France attached great importance to the colonial problem. As the forefront of the confrontation of the two major camps, and it hold an important strategic location with rich resources, Southeast Asian decolonization process was more complicated.Britain and France performed great differently in the decolonization process of Southeast Asia. British politicians were aware of trend of decolonization earlier, and adopted a relatively moderate strategy. Its armed suppression of Malaya was more out of the need for fighting against communism in the Cold War. French attempted at reconstructing the rule in Indochina even to the cost of the war. It took violence as the primary means to achieve its object, in sharp contrast to the more moderate policy of decolonization of the United Kingdom.In this paper, the text is divided into three parts, the basic information of the decolonization policy of British and French in Southeast Asia, and the similarities and differences between the two.In the first section, it is focusing on the historical facts of Southeast Asia's decolonization process , by clarifying the context to facilitate the issue of further analysis.The second part is the analysis the similarities between the decolonization policies of British and French, this shows the nature of two countries' policies in decolonization of Southeast Asia.The third part summarizes the differences between the decolonization policies in Southeast Asia of British and French. It sums up the reasons for the differences from many aspects such as the political system, history and tradition of the two countries.