Free Fight Or Flight By Thomas Book Review Example

The book ‘Fight or Flight: Britain, France, and their Roads from Empire’ written by Martin Thomas is one of the unique books on the concept of decolonization. In the book, the author explains shows how Britain’s imminent withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan and the dispatch of troops to the Central African Republic by France are the recent observations of a long-standing trend of decolonization. Author Thomas begins in the book, a vast and impressive study to examine the entire range of acts of decolonization, differentiating those where scurry or flight were the order. In the case of the British, the best examples are the independence of India in 1947, and Palestine and Burma in 1948, in which the British imperial power considered to entrench and fight. The French preferred the latter in the case of the Indo-China war, the war of Madagascar, and the Algerian War, which took place in the 1950s.
The British indulged in fight, especially in Kenya and Malaya. However, such fights remitted the instant of flight, though the British were proud of themselves, extremely as always, on the occasion of winning campaigns in the colonies and decolonizing to heirs whom they thought they could survive with. In the book, Thomas advises that on the scrutiny of the decolonization events, it is interesting to know the apparent similarities, in spite of the opposing ideas of administration and political traditions. The rebels and their oppression in the countries of Madagascar and Kenya have various similarities in spite of the difference in their origins. In both the cases, it was fight that led to flight. All the acts of decolonization that occurred during the time period between 1940s and 1960s imply an immense geopolitical change. Thomas has done an impressive research to showcase the arguments of fight and flight.
The French could not accept the fact that the World War II brought the 400 year-old European domination to an end. They had to fight wars and engage in revolts in order to retain their colonies, which had a vast impact on the French. When the British left India in the year 1947, the French denied accepting the proposal of Ho Chi Minh, which could have brought independence to the Vietnamese without fighting a war. The Vietnamese war witnessed the humiliating suffrage and defeat of the French in the year 1954 at Dien Bien Phu. It was the same instant that encouraged Jean-Marie Le Pen, one of the French soldiers to move into politics and create the right-wing Front National, which is one of the powerful forces of France. The Algerian War fought for the independence lasted for eight years and caused a dramatic impact. The book gives an account of colonial problems.
In response to the terrific deeds of the Front de Libération Nationale, the French beheaded the opponents in a gruesome manner. They raped several women and threw the suspects from the helicopters into the sea. Algeria played the role of a catalyst in the downfall of the Fourth Republic, which is the parliamentary form of government established after the independence. In the year 1958, the French politics in upheaval due to the war saw a coalition of the army; the French settlers in Algeria and a voluntary political expel called De Gaulle. De Gaulle decided that Algeria could not be a part of the French, however used the system of votes to occupy seats in the current Fifth Republic with a president elected directly. Thomas’ thesis based on the fact as to how the British provide a practical lesson on quitting from the colonies is an oversimplification.
In the case of Palestine, in 1946, the Jewish military organization called Irgun Tzva Le’umi destroyed an entire wing of a hotel, taking the lives of over 90 people. In response, the British boycotted Jewish businesses. Finally, in the year 1948, the British had to leave Palestine as a Jewish state with conflict as the solution. Thomas describes that decolonization gained a wider momentum in the 20th century amidst World Wars, Cold War, Global Depression and ideologies related to anti-colonization. He differentiates the British from the French saying that the British were less passionate in the war with less involvement of the public, often in an atmosphere of bi-partisan. On the other hand, the French were more violent in their actions and always tried to create a political revolution. The events described by the author in the book led to the disappearance of the human rights records of several post-colonial states.
The book is a recommended read as it helps to study history, especially the collapse of the European and French empires around the world. The author explains the causes that led to the rapid decolonization of the British and French empires. He investigates the reasons for violent wars and analyzes the political, social and economic consequences in the host country as well as the mother country. Though it was not possible to avoid conflict as a part of decolonization, it was easy for the colonial power to reduce the time frame of the conflicts by addressing the political interests of the colonies. Thomas explains numerous scenarios, in which Britain and France choose fight over flight. Though the colonies are free at the present time, they are still in news for the never-ending problems caused by the colonies. The book creates an awareness regarding the spread of consumerism and increase in multiculturalism in the colonies.
Thomas allows the readers to shift their focus from the political and economic interests of one colonial power to that of the other colonial power. The analysis made by the author is fruitful in characterizing the colonial policing during the war period. It does not link colonization to the territorial and national differences, instead examines the political and economic circumstances. The book helps the readers to understand the measures taken by the post-colonial states in re-establishing their order. It gives a description of the disrupted living conditions of the colonized people. The withdrawal of the European power from the colonies not only led to mass migration and war, but also political upheavals in Europe as well as the post-colonial states. The book examines the accelerating rate of historical change that brought down the mighty empires within two or three generations. Britain and France were instrumental to each of the conflicts.
While the French presence formally ended in the year 1954, the British handed over the power in Malaysia after six years. While France fought and lost in Vietnam, Britain fought and won in Malaysia. By 1960s, the European dominant powers, France and Britain turned out as a colonial retreat. It took two decades for the colonial powers after the Second World War to understand that colonialism was indefensible politically, strategically and ethically. The book explains how the apparent disintegration of the European empire into a radical violence was far from unique. The book helps the students to understand the collapse of the French and British empires, the onward march of decolonization, the acclamation of civil rights and the need for the emergence of a nation free from colonial powers.