7. history of European colonization: chapter 7: the twentieth century

1. the first world war and its aftermath - war - peace 2. the interwar period 3. the second world war 4. decolonization 5. postcolonials

decisive contribution from the colonies in WWI

• resources ex oil and metallic ores

• troops

  • ca 1300000 Indians in the British army

  • ca 600000 northern africans in french army

  • flanders: first acquaintance with colonized individuals

    • british indian soldiers in flanders’ fields

fights in the colonies during WWI

• conquest of german colonies

• laying base for new colonies

  • WWI in the ottoman empire

the conquest of German colonies

• 1914: Asia and Oceania

  • Britain [new Zealand & Australia] & Japan (quickly reconquered)

• 1914: togo

• 1915: Kamerun and german southwest africa

  • belgian congolese force publique in kamerun

• 1914-18: german east africa (stayed german for longer time)

  • force publique, conquered 1916: Kigali, Usumbura & Tabora

ottoman empire

• ottoman alliances

  • 1760s-1910s: many wars with russia

    • ottomans protected by britain (common enemy)

    • but: alliance russia and britain in 1907 (triple entente)

  • august 1914: ottoman empire joins Triple Alliance

• the triple entente’s interest

  • weakest link

    • vs the trenches at other fronts

  • oil in the Arabian/persian gulf

    • british

    • germans (ally ottoman empire): bagdadbahn (500 km short of completion in 1915)

fighting the ottoman empire (britain)

• the defeat at gallipoli (april-dec 1915)

  • australian and new sealand army corps (ANZAC)

  • anzac day: 25 april

• the mesopotanian campaign

  • 1914 Basra, 1915-16 kut (wtihdrawal), 1917 bagdad

  • british troops mainly Indian

• the arab revolt (1916-18) = brits gave support

  • T.E. Lawrence aids sharif hussein of mecca (hejaz)

  • conquest of jerusalem (1917) and Damascus (1918)

conflicting promises (allies to several groups)

• 1915: McMahon-Hussein correspondence

  • british high commissioner in egypt

  • prior to arab revolt to hussein: '“on behalf of british government, recognize and uphold independence of the arabs in all the regions within fronties proposed by sherif of Mecca (including “holy land”)”

    ==> independence of arab states as proposed by hussein

• may 1916: sykes-picot agreement

  • british and french diplomat

  • divide west-asia after fall ottoman empire into (french and british zones of influence)

  • no obvious conflict with McMahon

    • trade zones and spheres of influence (not direct colonies)

  • Palestine: allied condominium

• nov 1917: balfour declaration

  • british foreign secretary 1916-1919

  • “establishment in palestine of a national home for the jewish people” ==> promises national home for jews to zionist leaders

    • new war positions and need of US support

  • with respect for non-jews

    • protest from palestinians and zionists (did not go far enough)

league of nations mandates

• jan 1918: wilson’s fourteen points

  • point 5: equal treatment between colonizer and colonized

  • point 14: formation of an association of nations

• june 1919: mandate system

  • ruling the colonies of germany and ottoman empire

  • not seen as war booty, but responsible government on behalf of the league of nations

    • annual reports to a permanent commission in the league

  • THUS: international legitimization of colonialism

pariser vorortverträge

decisions about post-war fates:

• versailles: germany

• saint-germain: austria

• neuilly: bulgaria

• trianon: hungary

• sèvres: ottoman empire

devision of the ottoman empire (sèvres)

• mandates

  • british:

    • iraq (king faisal; 1932 independent)

    • transjordan (king abdullah; 1946 independent)

      ==> sons of sharif hussein

    • palestine (direct british rule)

  • french: syria and lebanon

    • loss of cilicia to turkey (Atatürk) => treaty of Lausanne 1923

• others

  • Kuwait: british protectorate

  • Kingdom of Hijaz: 1925 to Saudi Arabia

  • Armenia: only the Armenian SSR

  • Kurdistan: divided

division of german colonies after WWI

• France

  • largest parts togoland & camerun (incl Neukamerun)

• great britain

  • rest of togoland and camerun

  • rest of german east africa

• belgium

  • ruanda & urundi (only 1962 two different states)

    • 1926: added to the administration of the Belgian Congo

• colonies

  • south africa (britain): southwest africa (namibia)

  • Japan, australia & new-zealand: pacific islands

why colonial era experienced peak during inter-bellum period

• colonies’ contribution to WWI

• new colonies after WWI

  • mandates of the league of nations

  • Italy conquered Ethiopia (took revenge)

• development of the colonies

  • immigration: more families and administrators

  • missionaries

  • infrastructure: railways, communication

  • economic specialization

cracks in colonialism

• economic decline

  • priority: europe’s postwar recovery

  • great depression of 1929

  • more expenses due to growing democratization

• loss of image

  • cruelty of the war (vs image of civilization)

  • cultural pessimism and self-criticism (Spengler)

  • fascism and nazism deriving from European culture

• competition with US, Soviet Union and Japan

  • US and Philippines (1934: independent in 1946)

shrinking gaps between colonizer and colonized

• colonized had better knowledge

  • education

  • more contact with Europe

  • better spread of ideas via colonial infrastructure

• consequences

  • technological arreas (backwardness) shrink

    • ex rebellion (war) abd-el krim in morocco 1921-26

  • growing consciousness of abuse

    • forced labour, taxes,… due to colonials

answer colonized to developments and shrinking gaps

• infiltration and collaboration

  • ex missionaries (indigenization of church), officials (felix éboué),…

• group formation (to resist colonial system)

  • sub-nationalism (within colony): religion, ethnicity, age, gender

  • supra-nationalism: négritude (pan-african), panarabism, class (workers,…)

• political parties

  • communist party of vietnam (Ho Chi Minh, 1925)

  • partai nasional indonesia (Sukarno 1927)

• violence

  • strikes, insurrections

cracks in british empire

• loss of position in türkiye, persia and china

• loss of the white settlers’ colonies

  • ireland: independence in 1922

  • commonwealth with the white dominions

    • second declaration of balfour (1926)

    • statute of westminster (1931)

• frustration in the arab world

  • egypt: revolution in 1919, independence in 1921

  • iraq: independence in 1932

  • Palestine & jewish immigration

• growing problems in india

the egyptian revolution

• Saad Zaghloul

  • demands egyptian independence at versailles

  • exiled by british —> protest in Egypt

• 1919: revolution

  • 192: independence recognized by britain

  • Egypt became kingdom (sultan (fuad) —> king (fuad, farouk))

  • british kept control over sudan and suez

• postwar

  • revolution/coup of 1952 (officers led by nasser) => monarchy abolished

  • 1956: independence sudan and suez crisis (nasser)

Jews in Palestine

• immigration

  • ca 400.000 jews between 1920 and 1945 (grew further after WWII)

• development

  • cities (Tel aviv) and agriculture (kibbutz = collective farms)

  • jewish school system (exclusively for jews)

  • literacy rate: 86% among jews, 22% among arabs

• seperate institutions (=> 2 nations)

  • assembly of representatives (later Knesset)

  • jewish national council

  • security service (later mossad)

Palestine under the british mandate

• protest

  • 1919 syrian national congress (about versailles)

  • 1920 palestine riots (against zionism)

  • 1936-39 Arab revolt

• solutions

  • 1939: White Paper (by British government)

    • favours independent Palestine governed by Arabs and Jews

  • 1948: british disengagement and creation of Isreal

    • following holocaust

    • wars of 1948, 1956, 1967 and 1973 (conquests of land)

    • Intifada’s of 1985-93 and 2000-2005 (popular uprisings in palestine)

    • Gaza War of 2023-

India before Gandhi

• representation

  • Indian National Congress (1885) = not to prepare Indian independence but wanted more representation indian elite in policy making British India

  • Muslim League (1906) = british supported muslim minority in India to weaken Indian national congress and other freedom fightsn (divide and rule) => led to the partition of India in india and pakistan

• action

  • including violence ex in 1905 onwards

• contribution in and disenchantment after WWI

  • promise of responsible government (out of racism, only for white settler colonies)

  • Dyer & Massacre of Amritsar (1919) => thousands of people killed

  • New measures: too little & too late

Mahatma Gandhi

• 1869-1948

• Bio before 1915

  • India- UK (study) - India (lawyer) - south africa: 1893-1915

• various strategies

  • 1915: turned INC from elite party into mass party (crossed all of india by train and collected support)

  • 1920-22 & 1930: non-violent boycott (satyagraha = insisting on the truth) => confront Brits with paradoxes of their own discourse => failed because Indians ended up using violence anyway

  • 1924: constructive program (ashram)

  • early 1930s: round table conference in London (second satyagraha campaign)

  • 1942: Quit India Movement

• legacy

  • non-violence (ahimsa) = like Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela

  • criticism of the European model (not only colonizers) = if entire world would adapt this system, it would be unsustainable

Japan WWII

• 1931-1937-1941: conquering parts of China (violent)

  • december 1937: The rape of Nanking (Nanjing)

    • pictures spread also in Europe => much fear

• december 1941: United States

  • pearl harbour

• Spring 1942: Japan conquers colonies in South-East Asia (European colonies)

  • because of fear of Europeans and European metropoles were in war with Germany

  • idea of Pan-asian liberation (represented by Japan) = welcomed with open arms

  • deliberate policy of offensing the white (taken into captivity, forced labour)

  • varying positions of ‘national’ leaders = some supported japan, others didn’t

• 1944 defeated by British India

• 1945 defeated by US (lost WWII, atom bombs)

Italy colonies WWII

• 1935-36: Italy conquers Abyssinia (Mussolini)

• decolonization immediately after WWII

  • ethiopia gains independence

  • eritrea joined with ethiopia

  • italian somaliland added to british somaliland (colony ruled by brits)

  • libya: 1945 UN administration, 1952 independent

    • NB: mandates of league of nations turned into UN trusteeships

• after the decolonization: bloody conflicts

  • 1970s in the Horn: Mengistu, Ogaden War,…

  • 1993: Eritrea independent after decades of civil war (after collapse mengistu regime)

  • somalia (independent in 1960): chaos from 1990s

causes of decolonization

• a normal stage of development

  • technical catch-up by the colonies

  • radicalization and inspiration through education

  • confrontation with the metropole’s discrimination

• war (WWII)

  • economic weakening of Western Europe

  • new, ‘anti-imperialist’ world leaders: US & SU, UN

  • ideological dimension: antifascism and antiracism

  • atlantic charter (aug 1941): self-determination (britain and US)

• observation effect

  • domino from asia to africa

geography of decolonization

• interwar and WWII: Middle east/west-asia

  • egypt & Iraq: interwar period

  • Lebanon, Syria & Jordan: de facto during WWII

  • Israel: 1948

• 1947: south and southeast asia

  • 1947: independence India and pakistan

  • 1945-49: dutch east indies (indonesia) = first to claim independence but dutch did not immediately accept

  • 1946-1954: first/french indochina war

• 1954: northern africa

• 1957/1960: sub-saharan africa

India after WWII

• growing Muslim-Hindu violence = about what British India should look like => 2 nations theory

  • Hindu side: Jawaharlal Nehru, Muslim side: Mohammed Ali Jinnah = founding father Pakistan

  • Churchill (imperialist) lost elections => Labour PM Attlee: political solution

  • jan 1947: Brits promised independence in july 1948

  • spring 1947: Brits promised independence a year earlier in august 1947 => growing violence and Britain did not want to be responsible

• partition: India and (West- and East-) Pakistan

  • Radcliffe Border Commission: public on 14 aug

  • ethnic cleansing in Punjab and Bengal (divided between Pakistan and India)

    • 10M-15M refugees; 1M casualties

    • Hindu’s in west-punjab or east-bengal and muslims in east punjab or west bengal

  • Maharaja of Kashmir does not want to take side (wanted to become independent)

    • hindu raja, but three quarters of population is muslim

    • had choice between being conquered by pakistan or joining india => chose india

    • 1947 Pakistan invasion, 1949 cease-fire

    • wars in 1947-49, 1965, 1971 (Bangladesh) & 1999 => kashmir still not solved today

other British colonies in South Asia independence

• 1948: Ceylon (Sri Lanka)

  • conflict between Sinhalese majority and Tamil minority (2 ethnic groups)=> only ended in 21st c

• 1948: Birma (Myanmar)

  • Initially democracy, from 1962 military junta

  • democracy temporarily returned with AUng San Suu Kyi but she is “dethroned” in 2021

• Malaya remains British colony

  • 1948: federation of Malaya

    • without crown colonies Singapore, British Borneo,…

  • 1948-1960: ‘Malayan Emergency’

    • = anti-British National Liberation War (should be seen within cold war) => much amnesia

  • 1957: Malaya independent

    • 1963: federation of Malaysia (with Borneo & Singapore)

    • 1965: secession Singapore

• Brunei stays British protectorate until 1984 = very rich

the decolonization of the Dutch Indies

• 17 aug 1945: Sukarno asserts independence

• two dutch military actions (1947 and 1949)

  • KNIL (100.000 soldiers) = royal dutch indian army

  • 95.000 dutch soldiers to East Indies to fight indonesian freedom fighters

  • 5000 Dutch soldiers died, 150.000 indonesian casualties

  • different names

    • Netherlands: ‘politionele actie’

    • indonesia ‘agresi militer belanda’ (dutch military agression)

  • huge research program amsterdam university on decolonization indonesia => acknowledge extreme violence

• 27 dec 1949: dutch recognize independence

  • Sukarno remains president

dragging problems after independence indonesia

• Dutch New Guinea (west of papua)

  • Dutch remain ‘to protect Melanesian population’

  • 1962-63: Indonesia takes over after UN intervention

• South Moluccans (like sikhs in british india)

  • fought with the dutch against the indonesian freedom fighters

  • independence war 1950-1966

  • KNIL soldiers to the Netherlands (Westerbork)

  • 1975-78: train and school hostages (2nd generation) = schools and trains hijacked by moluccans

• East Timor

  • 1974: Portuguese withdrawal

  • 1975: indonesian invasion

  • 2002: independence

french retreat from indochina

• 1945: vietminh (hanoi) declared independence

• 1946: French troops returned to Indochina

• French defeat

  • independence Laos (1949) and Cambodia (1953)

  • 1954 French troops surrendered at Dien Bien Phu

• 1954: geneva conference: division

  • North vietnam: vietminh (communist)

  • south vietnam: republic => quite weak

• 1965-73: american protection of south vietnam (from communist powers of north vietnam) = Vietnam war

  • 1975: south vietnam surrenders (painful defeat americans)

  • 1976: (united) socialist republic of vietnam

the algerian war

• algerian resistance (had already resisted colonization since beginning)

  • political parties in interwar period

  • May 1945: Sétif rising and French suppression (about 300 pieds noirs killed) = French took revenge with severe violence

  • insurrection of 1 november 1954 (Geneva)

    • Front de Libération Nationale (FLN) = algerian freedom fighters

    • french occupied with indochina => answered uprising with war

• war (1954-1962)

  • fierce stance of the pieds-noirs

    • 500.000 french troops vs guerilla

  • cruelty and violence = greater amount of European settlers in Algeria

    • 300.000 algerians and 21.000 Europeans killed

the suez crisis

• 1956

• facts

  • Nasser nationalizes the Suez canal

  • britain france and Israel attack on egypt (29 oct)

  • furious US reaction

    • not informed about operation by Brits, french and israeli

    • colonialism fosters third world’s sympathy with Soviet Union => US wanted to avoid this

    • attack diverts attention from hungarian crisis

  • cease-fire (6 nov) and retreat => Suez canal became egyptian

• significance

  • anachronistic colonial arrogance = Brits and French still determined to show power in Africa

  • to some: trigger of african decolonization => algerian war had already broken out before

french colonial disengagement

• Morocco and Tunesia gain independence in 1956

  • france cannot handle three fronts

• fifth republic (sept-nov 1958)

  • may 1958: de gaulle to pieds-noirs: ‘je vous ai compris’ = promised to fight back in algeria

  • in power: negotiations with FLN

• violent reactions against decolonization

  • paris massacre of 1961 (maurice papon) = police shot at pro-algerian demonstrants

  • terrorism: organisation de l’armée secrète (OAS) = attacks on de gaulle

• decolonization

  • 14 sub-saharan colonies 1960 (referendums in 1958)

  • Algeria: Evian Accords (1962)

Sub-Saharan africa

• Britain: first

  • 1957 Ghana, 1960 Nigeria, 1961 TAnganyika

• France: peaceful

• Belgium: quick

• Portugal: last

  • 1961-1974: wars (heaviest in Guinea-Bissau)

  • 1974: carnation revolution and decolonization

  • 1974: independence Guinea-Bissau

  • 1975: independence Angola & Mozambique

  • next decades: civil wars (especially Angola)

Kwame Nkrumah

• 1909-1972

• 1935-47 in US

• 1947 back to Gold Coast

• 1949 leader Ghana independence moement

• 1957-66 first president Ghana

• advocate of Pan-Africanism

• Pariticipant of the Non Alignment Movement (NAM)

Julius Nyerere

• 1922-1999

• 1954 cofounder Tanganyika African National Union

• 1960 prime minister and 1962 president (till retirement 1985) Tanganyika/Tanzania

• 1967-: ujamaa (familyhood): african socialism

• economic decline and systematic corruption

British acceptance independence africa

• 1960: Nigeria, Somalia

• 1961: Tanganyika (1964 Tanzania)

• 1962: Uganda

• 1963: Kenya

• 1964: Northern Rhodesia (Zambia) & Malawi

• 1965: Gambia

• 1966: Bechuanaland (Botswana) & Lesotho

• 1968: Swaziland

• 1980: Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe)

==> all different dates (not know)

British declarations of independence Asia

• Mlaya (1957), Borneo & Singapore (1963)

• (south-) Yemen

  • north yemen: 1918 independent

  • south yemen (Aden): British leave in 1967

    • after lost war against communist insurrectionists

  • 1990: unification North and South Yemen

• Cyprus: 1960 independent

  • Makarios, enosis and the Turkish invasion of 1974

• Brudei (petrol and gas): 1984 independent

• Hong Kong: 1997 to China

British’ mess

• more democratic but also more divided colonies

• Palestine, Kashmir,…

• secessions

  • Nigeria: Biafra War (1967-1970) (Igbo ethnical group)

  • Sudan: south sudan, darfur,…

• white vs black

  • Kenya: Mau Mau uprising (1952-60)

  • south africa: Apartheid 1948-90

  • namibia: occupied by south africa until 1990

the Mau Mau uprising

• anti-colonial rebellion

  • large white presence owned the (very fertile) land

  • increasing african population

• rebellion and guerilla war

  • first european victim shot in 1952

  • rebel leader dedan KImathi arrested in 1956

• dirty war and fierce repression

  • detention programme

  • villagisation programme

  • capital punishment: more than 1000 hanged

  • at least 20.000 Mau Mau militants killed

heritage of colonialism

• general

  • politics: states, borders, systems

  • culture: religions, languages, identities

    • francophonie, commonwealth,…

  • psychology: feeling of inferiority

  • power: the west vs the rest

  • globalization and the place of Europe

• particular

  • politics: the cold war

  • economy: neocolonialism?

  • societies: development aid

  • people: migration

the cold war

• the appeal of communism

  • soviet union

  • Mao’s China

  • communism in the third world (fidel castro, che guevara, ho chi minh)

• the non aligned movement = did not want to choose either west or communist block

  • the bandung conference of 1955: to share ideas, form a front (India, Ghana, Egypt, jugoslavia)

• US interventionism

  • support of dictatorships around the world (afraid of ‘red danger’ => american support of Mobutu Congo (cleptocracy)

neocolonialism

• new economies

  • state directed economy

  • nationalization and loans

• dependency theory

  • economy based on export of raw materials

• neoliberalism

  • 1970s: growing debts at IMF and World Bank

  • 1980s: growing interference

  • 1989: washington consensus: standard reform package => counties who wanted loans, very neoliberal

  • 1995: World Trade Organization

  • 2001-: Doha Development Round

development aid

• colonial era

  • missionaries for colonies

  • NGO’s for European issues

• 1960s: mushrooming of NGOs

  • episcopacy, missionaries, pillars, ‘vierde pijler’

• 1970s: tiersmondism (committed)

• 1980s: humanitarian aid (professional or popular)

  • artsen zonder grenzen

  • band aid & USA for Africa

• umbrella organizations

  • 11.11.11

migration

• France & Britain

  • ex British Nationality Act 1948

    • right of all british subjects to enter Britain (six categories)

    • migration waves in the 1950s

  • —> majority of immigrants from the colonies

• Netherlands

  • 1M on 16M has colonial roots

• Portugal

  • 150.000 postcolonial immigrants

• begium?

  • 20.000 congolese in 1990