Decolonization

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Decolonization
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Questions

• Why did European nations abandon their overseas
  empires after WWII?
• What problems did newly-independent nations have
  after they received independence?
• How did nationalism play a role in helping
  colonies obtain independence and in helping
  destabilize them once they gained independence?

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Opposition to Imperialism

• Opposition to British control over Egypt in the
  1920s forced Britain to withdraw some of its
  control over Egyptian affairs
• In India the move for independence was lead by
  Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869-1948), who advocated
  non-cooperation with the British government in
  the years following WWI
• Strife between Hindu and Muslim Indians hurt the
  movement for independence
• It would not be until after WWII that nationalist
  movements in Africa and Asia were powerful enough
  to force European nations to grant them
  independence.
• Nationalism as an imagined community

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India and Pakistan

• Gandhis vision
• The Congress Party and the Muslim League
• Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964)
• Muhammad Ali Jinnah (1876-1948)
• India as a creation of the British Empire
• The great problem facing newly independent
  nations what happens when a state includes more
  than one imagined community
• India and Pakistan after 1947
• West and East Pakistan
• Kashmir
• The Cold War

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(No Transcript)
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Africa

• European reluctance to abandon African colonies
• Rebellions in Kenya 1952-1957, Algeria 1954-1962
• Suez Crisis 1956
• End of European hegemony
• African nationalism drove Europeans to grant
  independence
• Problems of independent states
• Seizure of power by European Settlers (S. Africa,
  Rhodesia)
• Apartheid
• Conflict among ethnic groups (one state, many
  nations)
• Nigeria and Biafra
• Poverty
• The Cold War

French Soldiers frisking N. Africans
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Decolonization in Africa
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Conclusions

• After WWII European nations lacked the will or
  the strength (or both) to maintain colonial
  empires in the face of nationalist movements in
  Asia and Africa.
• With the abandonment of imperialism, W. Europeans
  looked toward their neighbors to find new markets
• De Gaulle and Brandt found two different ways to
  establish an independent foreign policy.