Yeah I know remnants still exists, France still indirectly controls a lot of african nations' currency etc but why did they have to relinquish direct control?
Yeah I know remnants still exists, France still indirectly controls a lot of african nations' currency etc but why did they have to relinquish direct control?
From what I understand it was partially just expense, but partially that a lot of colonial subjects fought in the war; So now you have a ton of military trained men who just fought and died in your stupid war, good luck telling them "Welp, back to your basically slave existence!"
There were also expectations (and I think explicit promises?) in some cases that fighting for the metropole would be rewarded with independence. So you either follow through on that (and transition to more neocolonial forms of exploitation) or balk and face resistance.
Other factors include:
Hell for Britain concentration camps had become a serious issue on the home front before WW1. It harmed the military's reputation and Kitchener being given power leading up to WW1 was protested from Socialists to liberals. The world was shrinking, people had expectations, it was just never gonna go back to the old days so they had to change