How did South Africans view Britain in the period 1945 to 1961? While perceptions were as diverse as the identities of South Africans themselves, there was nevertheless a general perception that Britain and the British connection mattered far less in 1961 than they ever had before. It might be thought that this was an inevitable consequence of Britain's economic and strategic eclipse as a great power during the Second World War. The war certainly left Britain far behind the United States and the Soviet Union militarily. It also weakened Britain financially, and undermined its hold on its Asian empire. Britain's decline in the eyes of white South Africans seemed to be demonstrated by the fall in 1948 of the strongly pro-British government of Jan Smuts and by the advent of an Afrikaner nationalist government overtly hostile to the British connection. Britain's decline was further suggested by the tendency of African nationalists to turn away from Britain as a source of support in their struggle against racial oppression within South Africa. The establishment of a republic in South Africa and its exit from the Commonwealth in 1961 also seemed to confirm Britain's collapse. Historians have hitherto given little direct attention to South African perceptions of Britain in this period, perhaps because the British connection did not seem to matter much after 1945; or perhaps because the British government seemed to play little positive part in the struggle against apartheid.