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SUMMARY:British intelligence and Britain's end of empire in Africa - Calde
 r Walton
DTSTART:20070508T114500Z
DTEND:20070508T130000Z
UID:TALK7216@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:T.S. Thompson
DESCRIPTION:Britain’s end of empire is a vast historical subject\, which
  by now has a voluminous historiography.  However\, the ‘missing dimensi
 on’ of the existing literature is intelligence.  Even the best and most 
 recently written studies on Britain’s retreat from empire fail to discus
 s the role performed by Britain’s intelligence services.  In reality\, a
 s I shall discuss in my paper\, the British intelligence community perform
 ed a significant role in British decolonisation after 1945.  The recent de
 classification of Security Service (MI5) files allow us to document and an
 alyse\, for the first time\, the role performed by British intelligence in
  British decolonisation movements\, both in Africa and elsewhere.  These r
 ecords reveal the influence that intelligence exerted on British policy-ma
 king when presented with ‘independence’ movements in Africa\, and the 
 impact that intelligence had on national and international relations.  My 
 talk will focus on West Africa (Ghana) and East Africa (Kenya)\, but I sha
 ll argue that these examples were part of a much wider picture.  In fact\,
  Britain’s intelligence services played a role in every major colonial s
 tate that gained independence after 1945.  Furthermore\, some of the lesso
 ns that can be derived from this period are still useful for governments a
 nd intelligence agencies today.
LOCATION:Entertaining Room\, Darwin College
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