Planning and accelerating the British imperial transition

Why did the British Empire wind down gradually, and how did postwar economics and American power change the timetable?

The panel describes a transition discussed from the late nineteenth century, then sharply accelerated by two world wars, depression, dependence on the United States, and the end of Lend-Lease.

The transition from empire to Commonwealth was tied to the strategic and financial conditions behind British naval power. The panel traces dominion autonomy and a Commonwealth-style settlement to late nineteenth-century planning. World wars, depression, the abrupt end of Lend-Lease, and the need for US alignment compressed a much longer timetable and narrowed Britain's freedom of action.