How and why did European states abandon or redefine their empires in Essay

How and why did European states abandon or redefine their empires in the 1950s and 1960s - Essay Example 15). In 1956 France passed laws that allowed elected officials in colonies to decide labor legislation. The French would continue to give sovereignty to these colonies until France many colonies in Africa their independence in 1960, and then Algeria at the end of the Algerian War in 1962. The case was different in colonial Sudan under Britain. America once supported British imperialism. However, according to White by the 1950’ the Americans came "to view controlled decolonisation as an essential element in Cold War strategy; the continuance of European imperialism would only drive nationalist movements into the arms of the Soviet Union" (p. 68). After the United States withdrew its promise to help construct the Aswan Dam due to Egypt’s increasing relationship with the U.S.S.R. the Egyptian president nationalized the canal, leading to the Suez Crisis. After the crisis and America failing to step in and aiding its allies, the U.S.S.R. accused the West as being weak and di vided. Several colonies in Africa, including the British colony Anglo-Sudan gained their independence in the following years.