Documentary Analysis of Harold Macmillan’s “winds of Change” Speech
by A documentary analysis I did for first year history at degree level on Macmillan’s famous winds of change speech. Apologies for any mistakes, I am using an early edit of the essay but hopefully it might be of use to someone.
During the speech, Macmillan makes reference to the “national consciousness” four times. This repetition combined with emotive language and direct address in the form of ‘you’ suggests to the listeners that South Africa now understands itself better than it did before and this is because of the western civilization’s influence of “education”.
A reference to the “awakening of national consciousness” in Asia gives Britain power. Rather than the economic difficulties and the lack of control Britain had which is closer to the truth, the speech suggests Britain helped to create political stability in Asia as it now has done in Africa.
This speech is not reliable for telling the reader the exact reasons decolonization took place. However, it is reliable for demonstrating the reasons Britain told the rest of the world and the colonies themselves. It is useful to see how Britain’s power was failing yet her pride encouraged her to put on the act of having done what she had set out to do to these colonies. For a student of history, this document is particularly valuable for many reasons. It is an example firstly of the way Britain dealt with being unable to keep hold of her colonies for any longer as well as showing what Britain told these colonies; that it had done them good. Perhaps one of the document’s more hidden yet biggest uses, however, is the underlying fears of a Soviet takeover. By attempting to sway the South African Parliament listeners away from the “communist camp”, Macmillan shows a history student an obvious threat and fear of Soviet expansion.
Bibliography
Gorst, Anthony. Lecture Slides, Lecture 10: Empire to Europe 1956-1973. Accessed from University of Westminster blackboard site ( 18 March, 2009).
Gorst, Anthony. Lecture Slides, Lecture 9: The Cold War, Accessed from University of Westminster blackboard site (11 March, 2009).
Macmillan, Harold ‘The Winds of Change’. February, 1960. in The Penguin Book of Twentieth Century Speeches (ed.) Brian McArthur accessed from University of Westminster Blackboard (18 March, 2009).
Marwick, Arthur. British Society since 1945. London: Penguin, 1996.
Turner, John. Macmillan. London: Longman Group, 1994.
Websites
Suri, Jeremi. The Cold War, Decolonization and Global Social Awakenings: Historial Intersections. Accessed from < http://personal.lse.ac.uk/WESTAD/suri.pdf> (Accessed on 23 March, 2009).
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