The UK was the third country to develop a nuclear weapons arsenal ( with its first atomic bomb test in 1952 ) , but the new post-war limits of Britain 's international role were illustrated by the Suez Crisis of 1956 . The international spread of the English language ensured the continuing international influence of its literature and culture . As a result of a shortage of workers in the 1950s , the government encouraged immigration from Commonwealth countries . In the following decades , the UK became a more multi-ethnic society than before . Despite rising living standards in the late 1950s and 1960s , the UK 's economic performance was less successful than many of its main competitors such as France , West Germany and Japan
first atomic bomb test
Operation Hurricane
United Kingdom