The British Empire did not fail (fall is probably more appropriate).

They were doing just fine till the mid-1800s and had no challenger in sight. The Royal Navy was more powerful and dominant than the US Air force of today. France, their arch rivals for long had been neutralized in 1815 when Napoleon was beaten decisively. The Ottoman empire was crumbling and known as the “Sick man of Europe”. Germany and Italy were yet to be born. The newly independent USA had acquired the entire landmass from coast to coast and was getting populated but then hit a speed bump called the Civil war (1861–65). Russia was the only potential challenger but they were mostly peasants and technologically backward. Japan was just waking up from their 200 year isolation.

However, by late 1800s the global situation changed completely. Germany became the industrial powerhouse of Europe, particularly in Chemicals. The US was exploding with hard working immigrants, railroads, inventions, steel, oil. As new frontiers were opening up in America, immigrants arrived with no “class” baggage and the frontier men and women worked hards with their hands, and a spirit of entrepreneurship and invention prospered. Japan was another miracle, thanks to the Americans for poking this Ninja out of slumber. Even in higher education, American and German institutions were producing technically competent graduates while the focus of British universities was subjects like Law, Arts, History aimed at producing Civil servants to “manage” the vast empire.

Britain’s downfall did not seem apparent because they were still adding territory (in Africa along with other Europeans and other places), but then empty landmass of Canada, Australia or the overpopulated Indian subcontinent wasn’t enough to compete with the technology powerhouses. Bureaucracy, nepotism (Churchill-Mountbatten for instance) and risk aversion creeped into the Empire and they were busy holding opulent Durbars in India, socializing at clubs and gymkhanas, playing polo and the word “prestige” would repeatedly be associated with the Empire. Lording over millions of poor Indians, aborigines, Maoris, Egyptians, Sudanese, or bullying the unprepared Chinese wasn’t going to help them match the colossus (sorry what’s the plural of colossus?) like Germany, USA or even Japan.

Before the colonies got in a rebellion mode, it was actually Europe where the ideas of Nationalism were born. 1848 Revolutions across Europe may not have resulted in immediate outcomes, but it did lead to groups questioning their identity and coming out of the clutches of empires. Like the Greeks who got independent from the Ottomans were a major inspiration for others. The colonized Asians, Middle Easterners, Africans were further inspired by the European nationalism.

Between World War 1 and World War 2, India, the crown jewel of the British witnessed rising rebellion, and finally World War 2 broke the Empire’s back. They emerged winners, but the world knew that heavy lifting had been done by the Americans with their unlimited ability to produce war planes and tanks and they took on the Japanese all by themselves.

At best, the British were able to defend the Nazi invasion (Operation Sea Lion) or evacuate soldiers in large numbers (Dunkirk), but as Churchill said, you don’t win by defending or evacuating.

The humiliation of the British at Singapore and Malaya at the hands of the Japanese sent shockwaves in the colonies. Not that the British didn’t have any victories. In North Africa, General Montgomery and his commonwealth troops handed the legendary Nazi General Erwin Rommel a decisive defeat.

The other factor was the spirit of the Soviets who lost over 20 million men but defended their motherland against the mightiest Blitzkrieg. No wonder the Soviets and Americans were the two powers standing post the war.

The British were a bankrupt and exhausted nation, which is why Churchill, the war hero PM got voted out immediately. The Americans bailed them out along with other European countries with the Marshall loans. Independence of India, was an expected outcome. Burma, Ceylon, Singapore, Malaya, Sudan, and others followed.

After a long eventful innings, the Empire was over.