Why did imperial powers give up their empires after World War 2?

Chris, No, it was not because the Soviet Union demanded it. The circumstances differed from one country and colony to another but there were two factors that, I think, played the biggest role. One was that after the war the European countries were too exhausted and too broke to bear the expenses of empire. It was no longer necessary to have the colonies in order to secure their economic strength and, indeed, the colonies were a drain on recources. Thus there was pressure to let them go. The second factor was that, in the wake of both world wars, European peoples attitudes about empire and self determination went through a significant change. Having experienced for themselves foreign conquest they no longer felt justified in denying soveriegnty to other peoples who plainly desired it for themselves.Michael Montagne

One thesis suggested for at least the colonies of southeast Asia, was that the colonial populations after WWII could see the weakness of the Europeans and would not be cowed by them any longer. This made them more restive, no longer willing to put up with colonialism, more willing to rebel against the colonial masters.

Sincerely,Paul

The Imperial Powers gave up their soverignty over their Empires because of two factors:

One was the Soviet Union wanted to have supremacy over the world.If the Western Powers didn't let go their colonies, the Union would have been threatened.

The second reason was that the present Imperial soverigns were weak and wanted to appeal to the world they were not conqurers. They didn't have the skills to govern their Empires and had to give them the chance of being a democracy. They didn't have the strength like other leaders like Napolion and Queen Victoria.

Overall, I think the main cause of the Empires's desolution were the leaders.

if by the imperial powers you mean sucha s the british giving up sovreignty of countries such as malaya and so forth, a theory put forward by many is that the Japanese in taking power in these countries had sowed the seed for change already, and shown citizens that they were not inferior to the white rulers. And so the uprising was instilled then. The myth of white supremecy was shattered by the conquests of the Japanese