The Suez Crisis of 1956 is considered by some commentators to the beginning of the end of Britain's period as a superpower,[9][10][11] but other commentators have pointed to World War I, the Depression of 1920-21, the Partition of Ireland, the return of the pound sterling to the gold standard at its prewar parity in 1925, the loss of wealth from World War II, the end of Lend-Lease Aid from the United States in 1945, the postwar Age of Austerity, the Winter of 1946–47, the beginning of decolonization and the independence of India as other key points in Britain's decline and loss of superpower status.[12]