The loss of empire came as a profound shock to Britain. For the past half century, successive politicians have attempted to re-define the UK's role in the modern world.
Suez, 1956: the end of imperial self-confidence

And British school-children proudly noted how much of the map of the world was coloured red - to denote the British empire. Today, Britain has just 14 overseas territories, including the Falkland Islands, Gibraltar and the Cayman islands.

1997: Britain hands back Hong Kong to China

Most of the countries which once made up the British empire are now members of the Commwealth, a loose association of states which retains the Queen as its head, but over which Britain has no direct control.

While largely peaceful, the loss of empire was a profound shock to Britain. Old certainties about Britain's role in the world were replaced by new questions - many have yet to be answered.

British politicians at first hoped to contain the loss of empire, by giving Dominion status to long established colonies such as Australia and Canada.

	BRITAIN'S OVERSEAS TERRITORIES TODAY:
Anguilla, Bermuda, British Antarctic Territory, British Indian Ocean Territory, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Montserrat, Pitcairn Islands, St Helena, South Georgia and the Sound Sandwich Islands, the Sovereign base areas of Akrotiri and Dhekalia on Cyprus and the Turks and Caicos Islands.

They reluctantly conceded independence to India in 1947, and by the early 1960s, it became clear that Britain's position in Africa was no longer defensible.

Following the famous "wind of change speech" by the Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, Britain gradually handed back its nineteenth century acquisitions.

All the while, Britain agonised over its place in the new world order: should it remain at the heart of the burgeoning Commwealth; should it look towards the United States (traditionally suspicious of imperalism) or direct its attention closer to home, to Europe?

	AUDIO
BBC Sound Archives, 1960 Prime Minister Harold Macmillan on the "wind of change" blowing through Africa.

"The end of empire was not just a change for Britain but signalled a transformed world," says the Open University's William Brown: "Numerous new independent states in place of subject colonies; co-operation and integration in Europe in place of warring imperial powers; the rise of new international organisations like the UN in place of the failed League of Nations; World War replaced by Cold War, Cold War by US global leadership."

Renewed uncertainties since the end of the Cold War have revived debates about Britain's place in the world.

How far should Britain go in supporting American foreign policy now that the enemy of Communism, supported by the Soviet bloc, has disintegrated?

Politicians and strategists have been searching for a new coherence to Foreign Policy, since the end of the Cold War, as we shall see.

TIMELINE: FROM EMPIRE TO Commwealth
20th Century
1914	High water mark of the British empire. It has 88 million subjects - one fifth of the entire population of the world.
1914-18	First World War.
1920	League of Nations established. Each member pledges to seek peaceful resolutions to disputes and assist fellow members against aggression. American Congress fails to ratify membership.
1920	League of Nations confirms British mandate over Palestine.
1931	Australia, Canada, South Africa and New Zealand get together as a "Commwealth" of nations.
1939	Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand given independence within the Commwealth
1939-45	Second World War.
1945	United Nations set up.
1947	India and Pakistan gain independence from Britain.
1948	Burma and Ceylon gain independence from Britain.
1960	The wind of change is blowing through this continent and, whether we like it or not, this growth of consciousness is a political fact. Harold Macmillan, speech in South Africa
1960-68	Independence for: Nigeria, Somalia, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Malawi, Botswana, Zambia, Gambia, Lesotho, Swaziland.
1961	South Africa leaves the Commwealth after objections from other members about its racial policies.
1965	The white regime in Rhodesia issues a unilateral declaration of independence to avoid black majority rule.
1973	Britain joins the "Common Market", later to become the European Union.
1980	Britain brokers deal under which Rhodesia becomes Zimabwe.
1981	British Nationality Act - revokes the right of many citizens of remaining "dependent territories" to live in Britain.
1982	Falklands War - Britain launches military action to oust Argentina from one of its few remaining overseas territories.
1994	South Africa elects Nelson Mandela as its first black president and is accepted back into the Commonweath.
1997	Britain hands Hong Kong back to China as its hundred-year lease on the island runs out.
1999	Government White Paper proposes reinstating the right to live in Britain for citizens of British overseas territories, as they're now called. The government estimates this could affect around 200,000 people
21st Century
2001/2	Legislation to implement this promise is currently going through parliament.