The Depression Years

• The 1930s was a difficult time for colonies of all nations

• The Depression deflated prices of raw materials and crops
• Exactly the kind of economic sectors that the colonies depended upon.
• Somerset Maugham wrote many stories set in this time highlighting the economic difficulties of colonies especially in SE Asia.

• Colonies were becoming an economic liability rather than an asset

• Plus it complicated and escalated defence costs
• Eg Britain diverting funds to resist rising Japanese power in Asia