Transcript Decolonization Following WWII - Elrick Social Studies

DECOLONIZATION
POST WORLD
WAR II
6.2, 6.3
WHY NOW? HASN’T COLONIALISM
BEEN GOING ON FOR A LONG TIME?
• Yes! The short answer is because of World War II. This was the first
time many colonial subjects saw “poor Europeans.”
• Surge of anti-colonial nationalism after 1945. Leaders used lessons in
mass politicization and mass mobilization of the 1920s and 1930s.
• Three major patterns:
– Civil War (China)
– Negotiated independence (India and much of Africa)
– Incomplete decolonization (Algeria, Southern Africa, Vietnam)
GLOBAL EVENTS INFLUENTIAL IN DECOLONIZATION
• Imperialism (1800’s)
• Growing Nationalism
• World War I (1914-1918)
• World War II (1939-1945)
• Cold War (1945-1991)
COLONIES AS OF 1914
WORLD WAR I
• Promises of self-determination- Remember Wilson’s 14 points?
• Use of colonial soldiers in trenches- First time seeing poor Europeans, vulnerabilities
• Locals filled posts left by colonial powers during war- Lack of structure
• Financial strain on empire- Colonies cost money
• Treaty of Versailles
WORLD WAR II
• Increased nationalist uprisings following WWI and as a result of the
global depression
• Costs of empire- It’s all about the money!
• US support of anti-colonial liberation movements- Remember selfdetermination despite being an imperial nation themselves
• Atlantic Charter (1941) “right of all people to choose the form of
government under which they live”
• Soviets condemned colonialism
ATLANTIC CHARTER, 1941 CHURCHILL
SIGNS FDR IS SICK
COLD WAR
• Provided inspiration a blend of capitalist and socialist economies and agendas.
• Provided arms to those who sided with one or the other (proxy wars and arms races).
• Encouraged violent recourse for some as a result of the power politics of cold war
competition.
COLONIALISM IN
CHINA
C H A I R M A N M AO
ZEDONG
CHINA IN 1949
INDIA DURING
THE RAJ
GANGHI ON THE
S A LT M A R C H
FRENCH
INDOCHINA
VIETNAM,
C A M B O D I A , L AO S ,
AND THAILAND
COLONIALISM IN
AFRICA
BRITISH EMPIRE IN AFRICA
END OF WORLD WAR II
• 1941: Atlantic Charter written by Roosevelt and Churchill, affirming all
other nations have the right to self determination.
• By the end of World War II, colonialism seemed to contradict the spirit
of the Allies fight against Nazi Germany and fascist Italy.
• Africans had fought in Europe and Asia for the Allies’ freedom and
democracy, and most noticed the contradiction.
“STRETCHED
AROUND THE
WO R L D ”
Political cartoon, 1941.
A WO R L D AT WA R
Jagama Kello, left,
was fifteen when he
raised a force of
guerrilla fighters
and led them
against the Italian
forces occupying
Ethiopia in World
War II.
AFRICAN FORCES
I N WO R L D WA R I I
END OF WORLD WAR II
• Pan-Africanism: Movement in early 1900’s to support African pride and
decolonization of Africa. Early promotors included Jamaican Marcus Garvey to unite
all humans of African descent o support African culture and question West’s “civilizing
mission”
• In 1945, the 5th Pan-African Congress met and discussed the prospect of
independence. In attendance were a number of leaders who would eventually lead
their nations.
–
–
–
–
–
W.E.B. DuBois (United States)
Kwame Nkrumah (Ghana)
Jaja Wachuku and Obafemi Awolowo (Nigeria)
Dudley Thompson (Jamaica)
Jomo Kenyatta (Kenya)
• In the years immediately after the war, several colonies had achieved independence
or were on the road to independence in north-east Africa– some peacefully, some
not.
W. E . B . D U B O I S I N
1945
END OF WORLD WAR II
• Started a new pan-African nationalism that
would spread throughout the continent
• In 1960 the United Nations General Assembly
passed Resolution 1514 that supported the end of
colonization.
AFRICA UNDER
COLONIAL RULE
AFRICA UNDER COLONIAL RULE
• Africa under imperial rule
– Harsh treatment of African peoples
– Artificial borders
• Divided cultural groups
• United long-standing enemies
• Vestiges of the Berlin Conference
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Africa’s Natural Resources:
Majority of world’s diamonds
Vast oil reserves
75% of world’s cobalt
25% of world’s copper
50% of world’s gold
33% of world’s manganese and uranium
FRENCH
COLONIAL
HOLDINGS
FRENCH COLONIES
• Immediately after World War II, France attempted to reassert dominance
in colonies.
– Violation of Atlantic Charter?
• The French saw violent reactions to this tactic in Tunisia and Algeria.
• Algerian Decolonization was especially violent. Frantz Fannon was an Algerian
psychiatrist who wrote about this effects of colonialism in his book, The
Wretched of the Earth. Member of the Algerian Liberation Front.
• He argues violence against the colonial power is necessary in decolonization.
He died tragically at 36 of leukemia in 1961 4 months before independence in
his country was reached. The US even flew him to Maryland for treatment.
• Fannon’s work influenced civil rights leaders like Malcom X in the United
States and Che Guevara in Cuba
FRENCH COLONIES
• Though limited, the French colonies were given representation in
the French parliament in the Fourth French Republic in 1947.
• Despite a slight increase of advantages, most nationalists still sought
full independence.
FRENCH COLONIES
• Unlike other African colonies, Algeria was a settler’s colony
with nearly one million French immigrants.
• Clashes between white settlers and Africans would result
in the death of thousands before independence was gained.
FRENCH EMPIRE IN AFRICA:
SUMMARY
• 1945-1958 – French Union – organization of French colonial possessions
• 1956 – Morocco and Tunisia independent
• 1958-1960 – French Community succeeded French Union – ended in 1960
with most French colonial possessions independent
• 1962 – Algeria independent
• Circa 115,000,000 French speakers in Africa (2009)
WEST AFRICAN
INDEPENDENCE
WEST AFRICA
• Interaction with Europeans date back to the 1400s. What were
those interactions like?
• West Africans had adopted many elements of Western civilization.
• Early ties allowed more opportunities for education and
modernization.
• Nationalists in West Africa drew from their own history and
western influences.
WEST AFRICA
• As a result, independence in West Africa was more “natural” (read:
slightly less painful) for both the Africans and European powers.
• Once Ghana (formerly the Gold Coast) became the first republic in
West Africa, the movements in neighboring British and French colonies
intensified.
• Nigeria will become independent in 1960 and early on was pointed to as
an example of decolonization but the Biafran conflict and the role of
humanitarian aid complicates this.
SOUTHERN
AFRICA
SOUTHERN AFRICA
• South Africa gained independence from Britain in 1910.
• White minority dominated political and economic institutions.
• Educated Africans began movements to gain power.
SOUTHERN AFRICA
• The African National Congress (ANC) tried to reason with the
government.
• In 1960, after a riot, the government instituted strict measures to
formally separate the races in a segregated system known as
apartheid.
CENTRAL
AFRICA
CENTRAL AFRICA
• The colonies in central Africa were far less prepared for
independence in the material sense.
– Colonial practices had severely restricted access to education,
sanitary conditions, and public infrastructure
• Educational opportunities had been severely limited for Africans– in
the Belgium Congo, fewer than 120 Africans had a college
education.
CENTRAL AFRICA
• In 1956, Belgium had only a vague 30 year plan for Congo’s
independence.
• By 1960, the Belgians had turned control over to Patrice Lumumba.
Twelve weeks later, the new leader of the Republic of the Congo
was deposed in a coup, and executed by a firing squad.
CENTRAL AFRICA
• Prime Minister Lumumba had hoped to reform the Congo and take advantage of its
vast natural resources.
• Two mineral rich provinces did not wish to be ruled by the republic and therefore
declared their own independence.
• When the U.N. and Western powers would not support the halting of the
secessionists, Lumumba turned to the Soviet Union, which sent military
equipment and advisors.
• Fearing a communist takeover, the United States encouraged General Joseph Mobutu
to take over.
CENTRAL AFRICA
• Over the years, Mobutu would be rewarded by loans and payments
from the West for his strong anti-communist rhetoric.
• As a dictator, Mobutu also embezzled millions of dollars, stifled
economic development, and oppressed his people.
RWANDA
• Rwanda had been colonized by the Germans and then the Belgians. They became independent
in 1962.
• The Belgians, in their scientifically racist minds had favored one ethnic group in colonial
administration (The Tutsis) over another (The Hutus).
• This racism created by European Imperialism lead to the Rwandan Genocide of 1994.
• Hutu nationalism grew during independence and in 1994 the Rwandan president’s plane was
shot down and he was therefore assassinated.
• Hutu groups then used state radio.
• Failures of Humanitarian Aid and non intervention- 800,000 estimated deaths.
EAST AFRICA
KENYA
• Presence of settlers prevented
smooth transition of power.
• Kenya (20,000 Europeans only)
led to violent revolt.
• Mau-Mau Revolt, 1952, led by
Kikuyus suppressed by British.
• 1963 independence granted to
black majority, led by Jomo
Kenyatta.
• Kikuyu
DECOLONIZ ATION
IN SOUTH ASIA
NEGOTIATED INDEPENDENCE IN INDIA
AND AFRICA
• Independence with little bloodshed in India and much of colonial Africa in decades following
World War II.
• Why? At what cost?
INDIA CASE STUDY BACKGROUND
• India and other Asian colonies were the first to establish independence movements.
• Western-educated minorities organized politically to bring about the end of modification of
colonial regimes.
INDIA: HISTORY OF THE MOVEMENT
• Indian National Congress party founded in 1885. (Elite group not
mass movement)
• Growth of Indian national identity- presented grievances to the
British.
• Congress party attracted mass following which opposed shift from
the production of food to commercial crops.
• Gandhi and Congress leadership tried to prevent mass peasant
uprising (as was happening in China) by keeping power centered on
middle class leaders.
PEACEFUL PROTESTS
• Mohandas Gandhi and other western educated lawyers led peaceful
alternative. British Colonialism education, experiences in South Africa
• Nation-wide protest against colonialism through boycotts and campaigns
of civil resistance. This will late influence Dr. Martin Luther King in the
civil rights movement
• His efforts were not well received by the Muslims who formed a
separate organization in 1906, The Muslim League.
• Muhammad Ali Jinnah (Muslim League) insisted on partitioned state
(Hindu and Muslim).
CONTINUED INDIAN RESISTANCE
• Salt March, 1931
• Government of India Act 1935
INDIAN INDEPENDENCE
• August 1947 Pakistan and
India gained independence.
• Mass killings of Muslims and
Hindus (1 million) followed
by mass migrations (12
million). (Gandhi fasted to
prevent war-> assassination)
• Jawaharlal Nehru, first Prime
Minister,began
modernization campaign.
VESTIGES OF
COLONIALISM
O R M Y I N T R O D U C T I O N B E T W E E N YO U
A N D P O S T- C O L O N I A L S T U D I E S
FALL OF EMPIRE: FALL OUT AND
LEGACY
• Colonial footprint,
Berlin Conference
• Problems of
Transition, Unstable
Governments
• Problems of
Identity, Place
Matters
CHALLENGES OF INDEPENDENCE
• Ethnic disputes
• Dependent economies
• Growing debt
• Cultural dependence on west->
religious revivalism as backlash
• Widespread social unrest
• Military responses to restore order
• Population growth
• Resource depletion
• Lack of middle class in some
locales
• Education deficit and later, brain
drain.
• Neo-colonialism through economic
debt.
CONCLUSIONS
• Decolonization was sometimes a violent process- dependent in
large part on how many settlers had come to the colony.
• In many parts of world, decolonization was not revolutionary.
Power passed from one class of elites to another. Little economic
and social reform occurred.
• Significant challenges faced independent nations.
• Western economic dominance of the global trade system
continued unabated. WHY?