FROM THE BRITISH EMPIRE TO THECOMMONWEALTHI.Introduction.Great Britain, also known as The United Kingdom of Great Britain and North Ireland, had once been the center of world for centuries and made great contributionto human civilization. However, in the late 19th century, with the rise ofother countries, Britain began to fall in the fierce competition among capitalist countries. Afterwards, suffering great loss in the two world wars, Britain became less powerful and thecolonies won independence one after another. The Great Britain Empire gradually transformed itself to a friendly and harmonious Commonwealth. II.Background: The Rise of The British Empire.a)Industrial Revolution and ExpansionThe British Industrial Revolution, which took place in 1700s, resulted in great development of the British society.Hand production methods could no longer meet the need of products.The newly-invented machines simplified the process of production and greatly increased the productivity.And the well-known steam engine provided new source of power, thanks to which, fast development also took place in other important fields such as transportation, steel industry and coal industry.The industrial revolution marked the beginning of a new era in the history of mankind.In 1588, the Spanish Armada was defeated by the Great Britain, which marked Great Britain’s gaining of sea supremacy, and paved the way for the expansion.During the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, British citizens were encouraged to trade abroad,or even plunder and colonize through sailing. Weaker countries’ door s were first knocked open with commerce, and it was often followed by occupation and colonization backed withstrong military force.With advanced technology and broad market, bourgeoisie of Britain started their accumulation of capital, and the country started to lead theworld.b)The Sun-never-set EmpireThe British Empire became the “workshop of the world”, and London became the financial center. For over a century, it was the principal naval and imperial power, and almost unchallenged at seaand in territory. In the early 1900s, it ruled a population of over 500 million and occupied more than one fifth of the Earth’s total land ar ea.Because of its expanse around the globe, the sun could shine on at least one of its territories at any time. P eople call it “the empire on which the sun never sets”.III.Transformation to the Commonwealth.a)The Proposal of CommonwealthQueen Elizabeth II once declared that the confederation of Canada on 1st July 1867 marked “the beginning of that free association of independent states which is now known as the Commonwealth of Nations".In 1884, Lord Rosebery, while visiting Australia, described the changing British Empireas some of its colonies became moreindependentas a "Commonwealth of Nations".In 1917, a specific proposal was presented by Jan Smuts,at that time a member of the British Imperial War Cabinet, when he brought up the term "the British Commonwealth of Nations". The term first received imperial statutory recognition in the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921, which concluded the Irish War of Independence, when the term “British Commonwealth of Nations” was substituted for “British Empire” in the wording of the oath taken by the parliament of the Irish Free State.b)Falling EmpireThe two Industrial Revolutions pushed more countries to develop bourgeoisie and look for foreign markets and raw materials.Therefore, the competition became fiercer. Newly-emerging powers, especially Germany, struggled for a repartition of market and land, while the British Empire had to fight to defend the acquired benefits.The First World War broke out in 1914 and lasted about four years, during which nearly every country suffered from it except America.Although Britain was one of the victorious nations and won many new colonies from the Germans, it could n’t afford to the great expenses for maintainingsuch a huge lions of people died, economy suffered, and Britain became a debtor, rather than creditor. At the same time, independence movements in thecolonies were running high.The empire was losing its control of the colonies. The international financial center transferred to New York. All of these deprived the Empire of its hegemonic position.c)TransformationThe Balfour Declaration, issued by the 1926 Imperial Conference, declared that the United Kingdom and the Dominions are...autonomous Communities within the British Empire, equal in status, in no way subordinate one to another in any aspect of their domestic or external affairs, though united by a common allegiance to the Crown, and freely associated as members of the British Commonwealth of Nations. ...The declaration accepted the fact that the dominions were having growing independence in internal and external affairs in the years after World War I, and became the basis of the Statute of Westminster 1931.The Parliament of the United Kingdom passed Statute of Westminster in 1931. It is a statutory embodiment and formalization of the principles of equality and allegiance to the Crown, which were brought up in the Balfour Declaration. Until today, the Statute of Westminster still serves as a basis of the relationship between the Commonwealth realms and the Crown.d)Postwar ChangesAfter World War II, the situation of the world changed profoundly. Europe, a continent that had dominated the whole world for several centuries, was in ruins. The United States and Soviet Union held the super power, while Britain was left bankrupt.In this period, anti-colonial movements were on the rise in the colonies of European nations.The London Declaration was issued by the 1949 Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference. It is considered a milestone in the history of the modern Commonwealth.The declaration allowed the Commonwealth to admit and retain members that were not Dominions, and it changed the name of the organization from the “British Commonwealth of Nations”to the “Commonwealth of Nations”. The dropping of the word “British” reflects the major changes.After London Declaration, the colonies gained their independence and new members from different continents joined the Commonwealth.Finally, the handover ceremony of Hong Kong in 1997 marked the end of the long decolonization process, as well as the empire.monwealth Today.The Commonwealth of Nations is an voluntary intergovernmental organization of52 independent member states that are mostly former territories of the British Empire.Although they acknowledge the British Monarch as the symbolic head of the Commonwealth, they have no obligation to each other and have full autonomy on their own internal and external affairs. They are united by language, history, culture and their shared values of democracy, human rights, and the rule of law.Commonwealth countries interact with each other outside governmentwith various non-governmental organizations of different fields, such as sport, culture, education, law and charity.The Commonwealth Foundation is an intergovernmental organization, resourced by Commonwealth governments. It aims to strengthen civil society in theachievement of Commonwealth priorities: democracy and good governance, respect for human rights and gender equality, poverty eradication, people-centered and sustainable development, and to promote arts and culture.The Commonwealth games is the third largest multi-sport event in the world.Being held every four years, the games include sports particularly popular in Commonwealth countries, such as netball and rugby sevens. The games were designed with the goal of promoting relations between Commonwealth countries and celebrating their shared sporting and cultural heritage.V.Conclusion.History witnessed the rise and fall of the British Empire and its transformation to the Commonwealth of Nations.From the history, there’s much we can learn.The rise of the British Empire from the Industrial Revolution can help us realize the importance of science and technology. With advanced technology, a little effort can produce great achievement.The lack of ability and power to control the large area of colonies can remind us that we should pre-estimate the situation, in order that what we wouldn’t cause results that we cannot control.The self-transformation to a loose commonwealth can also enlighten us that we should always follow the historical trend and that being against the trend is not a wise option.。