The German Commonwealth is the popular name given to the loose affiliation of states which were formerly colonies of the German Empire. It is seen as a comparable if smaller allegory of the British Commonwealth founded in the wake of Britain's defeat in the Great War. Both organization declined significantly after the Wars of National Liberation in various European colonial empires, beginning with the independence of Vietnam in 1945. The formal organization manages free trade agreements between the several "member" states on the one hand and the EEC on the other hand.