Why did United Kingdom not keep the colonies after Napoleon's defeat?
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Accepted answer
Unlike the earlier European wars of the 18th Century, the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, from a British perspective, were not about acquiring or retaining territory. The purpose of war for the British Government was more of an ideological one, to prevent the spread of revolutionary ideas (especially to Britain) by restoring the French monarchy.
As a consequence, the war was waged against the French revolutionaries and Napoleon's Empire, rather than against the French state. Where territories were taken, it was done in order to help win the war rather than to expand the British Empire.
As has already been answered here, the peace deal at the end of the wars, was very lenient to the French. The hope being that a stable French empire under a restored French monarch was the best chance of a lasting peace deal.
Britain retained those territories that were strategically important to them, such as Malta (which gave them a naval base in the center of the Mediterranean) and the South African Cape (which gave them a base on the route to India).
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