The Second World war and after war years.

Second World War

Main article: Military history of the United Kingdom during the Second World War

The Eighth Army was made up of units from across the Empire and fought in the Western Desert and Italy.

Britain's declaration of war against Nazi Germany in September 1939 included the Crown colonies and India but did not automatically commit the Dominions. Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand all soon declared war on Germany, but the Irish Free State chose to remain legally neutral throughout the war.[117] After the German occupation of France in 1940, Britain and the Empire were left standing alone against Germany, until the entry of the Soviet Union to the war in 1941. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill successfully lobbied President Franklin D. Roosevelt for military aid from the United States, but Roosevelt was not yet ready to ask Congress to commit the country to war.[118] In August 1941, Churchill and Roosevelt met and signed the Atlantic Charter, which included the statement that "the rights of all peoples to choose the form of government under which they live" should be respected. This wording was ambiguous as to whether it referred to European countries invaded by Germany, or the peoples colonised by European nations, and would later be interpreted differently by the British, Americans and nationalist movements.[119][120]

In December 1941, Japan launched, in quick succession, attacks on British Malaya, the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, and Hong Kong. Japan had steadily been growing as an imperial power in the Far East since its defeat of China in the First Sino-Japanese War in 1895,[121] envisioning a Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere under its leadership. The Japanese attacks on the British and American possessions in the Pacific had an immediate and long-lasting impact on the British Empire. Churchill's reaction to the entry of the United States into the war was that Britain was now assured of victory and the future of the Empire was safe,[122] but the manner in which the British rapidly surrendered in some of its colonies irreversibly altered Britain's standing and prestige as an imperial power.[123][124] Most damaging of all was the fall of Singapore, which had previously been hailed as an impregnable fortress and the eastern equivalent of Gibraltar.[125] The realisation that Britain could not defend the entire Empire pushed Australia and New Zealand, which now appeared threatened by Japanese forces, into closer ties with the United States, which after the war eventually resulted in the 1951 ANZUS Pact between Australia, New Zealand and the United States of America.[119]

Economy: After WWII, the British economy had again lost huge amounts of absolute wealth. Her economy was driven entirely for the needs of war and took some time to be reorganised for peaceful production. Immediately after the war had ended, the USA halted Lend-Lease. This had been fundamental to the sustainability of the British economy during the war and it was expected that it would continue during the period of transition. Instead, the Labour Government under Clement Attlee sent John Maynard Keynes to negotiate a loan, known as the Washington Loan Agreement in December 1945. The terms were not as favourable as the British had hoped for, and included crucially a convertibility clause.

The Labour Party victory after the war was seen as a vote by the returning soldiers for what they felt were their rights after serving their country. The most important reform was the founding on the 5 July 1948 of the National Health Service, which promised to give "cradle to grave" care for everyone in the country regardless of their income. Doctors were made state employees; the sale of private practices was abolished. Rationing, which had been instituted during the war, was actually extended afterwards with bread only being rationed between 1946-1948 and sweets being rationed until 1954.

Reforms in education led to the effective elimination of the grammar school; the rise of the comprehensive school was aimed at producing a more egalitarian educational system, and there were ever-increasing numbers of people going into higher education.

In the 50s and 60s immigration of people to the UK, mainly from former British colonies in the Caribbean, India and Pakistan, began to escalate, leading to racism. Over a million of ‘coloured minorities’ migrated to Britain. Dire predictions were made on the effect of these new arrivals on British society, and tension led to riots, but in the longer term many people with differing cultures have successfully integrated into the country and some have risen to positions of importance.