<P> Japan invaded and occupied Indonesia during the war and replaced much of the Dutch colonial state . Although the top positions were held by Japanese, the internment of all Dutch citizens meant that Indonesians filled many leadership and administrative positions . Following the Japanese surrender in August 1945, nationalist leaders Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta declared Indonesian independence . A four and a half - year struggle followed as the Dutch tried to re-establish their colony, using a significant portion of their Marshall Plan aid to this end . The Dutch were directly helped by UK forces who sought to re-establish the colonial dominions in Asia . The UK also kept 35,000 Japanese Surrendered Personnel under arms to fight the Indonesians . </P> <P> Although Dutch forces re-occupied most of Indonesia's territory, a guerrilla struggle ensued, and the majority of Indonesians, and ultimately international opinion, favoured Indonesian independence . In December 1949, the Netherlands formally recognised Indonesian sovereignty . </P> <P> British covert operations in the Baltic States, which began in 1944 against the Nazis, escalated after the war . In Operation Jungle, the Secret Intelligence Service (known as MI6) recruited and trained Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians for the clandestine work in the Baltic states between 1948 and 1955 . Leaders of the operation included Alfons Rebane, Stasys Žymantas, and Rūdolfs Silarājs . The agents were transported under the cover of the "British Baltic Fishery Protection Service". They launched from British - occupied Germany, using a converted World War II E-boat captained and crewed by former members of the wartime German navy . British intelligence also trained and infiltrated anti-communist agents into Russia from across the Finnish border, with orders to assassinate Soviet officials . In the end, counter-intelligence supplied to the KGB by Kim Philby allowed the KGB to penetrate and ultimately gain control of MI6's entire intelligence network in the Baltic states . </P> <P> Vietnam and the Middle East would later damage the reputation gained by the US during its successes in Europe . </P>

How did world war 2 change the role of great britain on the world stage