Introduction:

• Decolonization was the political focus during the 1940s-1990s for many in Asia and Africa.

  • Decolonization involved nation-states unifying and triumphing over the empires that had dominated the Asian and African nations during the 1800s to the period of global conflict.

  • Signaled the end of empires and race as a basis for political and social life internationally

• 1940s Asian/Middle Eastern independence: Philippines, India, Pakistan, Burma, Indonesia, Syria, Iraq, Jordan, and Israel achieved independence

• From the mid 1950s to the mid 1970s, over fifty African colonies and many Pacific states in Oceania achieved independence.

  • The Oceanian states of Samoa, Fiji, Tonga, among others joined the ranks of independent states peacefully as the colonial powers relinquished them.

• In the 1960s and 70’s, Caribbean states achieved independence

  • Cuba was formally independent since 1902, but it declared its rejection of American control during the Cuban communist revolution by Fidel Castro.

Fall of Empires throughout History:

• Let’s review the fall of some notable empires in history:

  • Russian Empire (1721-1917) - Fell because of the Russian Revolution of 1917 with the Bolshevik uprising.

    • After Russia faced severe military defeats in the prior Russo-Japanese War of 1904 and significant economic turmoil caused during WWI, the Bolshevik socialist party, led by Lenin, dethroned Tsar Nicholas II in 1917. This put an end to the Romanov dynasty and Tsarist Russia.

      • Following this was the founding of USSR in 1922 and later, Stalin prompted the Five Year plans in order to industrialize the Soviet Union and catch up with European powers— collectivizing agriculture, confiscating land, and the suppression of political dissent in a series of Terrors.

  • Ottoman Empire (1299-1922) - Faced military defeats and faced economic declines leading up to the start of the 1900s, disintegrated during WWI.

    • During the 1840s-1870s there were the Tanzimat attempts at modernization, but they failed. The Young Turks and Young Ottomans banded for more comprehensive reforms with a centralized and nationalist government, but this failed.

      • Following this was the establishment of Turkey as its modern successor state.

  • Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) - Internal (Peasant rebellions) and External (imperialism) factors.

    • The Qing Dynasty fell because of its defeats during the Opium Wars, bestowing upon them extreme and unequal treaties (Treaty of Nanjing 1842 and Treaty of Tientsin 1868)— forced the empire to cede Hong Kong and pay debts, and also give Britain the ability establish private property in China and open ports for trade.

    • The Qing Dynasty was also weakened by peasant rebellions, namely the Taiping and Boxer Uprisings which were in response to the already weak administration and Western influence.

The End of Empire:

• The end of empire after WWII had been associated with the rise of nationalism in the imperial colonies, much unlike the past.

  • These freedom struggles of the twentieth century asserted not only political independence, but also affirmed and revived their cultures which had been diminished severely during colonial occupation.

• General causes of the end of empire:

  • Economic strain from World War II weakened imperial powers.

  • Nationalist movements in colonies demanded independence.

  • Global shift towards decolonization and self-determination accelerated the end of empires.

  • These freedom struggles of the twentieth century asserted not only political independence, but also affirmed and revived their cultures which had been diminished severely during colonial occupation

End of Empires in the 20th century.

• World War I: Ottoman and Austrian empires were abolished and disintegrated following WWI

  • Gave rise to a number of new states in Eastern Europe and the Middle East

  • The Russian Empire unraveled but quickly came under new occupation under the USSR

• World War II: German and Japanese Empires ended, forced to demilitarize.

  • German Empire: Nazi status ended with the unconditional surrender of Germany in May 1945, following the fall of Berlin. Forced to demilitarize

  • Japanese Empire: The Japanese Empire ended after Japan's surrender in September 1945, which was ensued by U.S. occupation and democratization.

• U.S.’s intrusive economic imperialism in Latin America (remember multinational corporations like the United Fruit company) stimulated the Mexican Revolution of 1910.

  • One of the outcomes was the 1937 nationalization of Mexico’s oil industry.

    • Much of the Mexican oil industry was owned by British and American investors, and the nationalization was motivated in large part by a desire to secure national control over the industry.

  • National self-determination and freedom from Soviet control motivated the Eastern European revolutions of 1989.

• The end of the Soviet Union in 1991 created 15 national states

Towards Independence in Asia and Africa:

• How did the cold war facilitate global independence movements?

  • The Cold War created a power vacuum as superpowers focused on their rivalry, allowing for independence movements to gain momentum in former colonies.

  • The ideological competition between the US and USSR led to support for anti-colonial movements seeking independence from European powers. Although the ideological competition was capitalism vs. communism, colonies in themselves were essentially dictatorships.

How did European colonial empires collapse and how did new nation-states emerge?

• Fundamental contradictions within the colonial enterprise:

  • The increasingly democratic values of European states during the Cold War contradicted the dictatorship and exploitation of colonialism.

  • The fight against fascism contradicted the continued existence of colonialism.

  • The ideal of nationalist self-determination, a huge motivator for 19th century imperial expansion, empowered the colonial peoples who were denied any opportunity to express their own national identity by the motherland.

• How did this lead to independence post WWII? Variety of reasons.

  • The World Wars weakened Europe and discredited the idea of any sort of moral superiority. The US and USSR generally opposed these empires.

  • The new United Nations provided a prestigious platform for anticolonialism

  • Within the colonies, the dependence of distant rulers on the local elite made the empires vulnerable to their withdrawal

Social and economic processes within the colonies that supported anticolonialism:

• Cause: During the 20th century new waves of Western-educated elites arose in colonial Asia and Africa — insisted on independence.

  • Beyond elites, normal citizens (men and women) supported this movement

    • The young veterans of the world wars, the urban working class, and the rural dwellers lower down in the spectrum were aware of colonial exploitation.

      • The population of people in opposition to colonialism would only grow across the different classes in society.

• Effect: Only in response to these nationalist pressures, colonial rulers began planning for a dismantling of colonial governments. Political reforms; investments in railroads, ports and telegraphs; and constitutions.

• Important notes on reformers:

  • Always educated and male

  • Organized new political parties and ideologies.

  • Negotiated amongst themselves and with the colonial state.

  • Socioeconomic backgrounds of each major reformer:

    • Gandhi and Nehru in India

      • Gandhi was a middle-class lawyer; Nehru, the first prime minister, came from a privileged background and was educated in England.

    • Sukarno in Indonesia

      • Sukarno received a Dutch education and was a middle class citizen.

    • Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam

      • Modest background, was self taught and worked in the urban labor class.

    • Nkrumah in Ghana

      • Relatively privileged, received an American and English education

    • Mandela in South Africa

      • Came from a royal family and received a formal education, was a lawyer.

  • In places with extreme colonial rule, mainly settler colonies like Algeria and Kenya, reformers often directed military operations (guerrilla warfare).

  • Recruited a mass following

    • millions of ordinary people joined Gandhi’s nonviolent campaign against the British Raj

Controversies and divides during decolonization:

Independence movements were largely fragile alliances of colonial peoples involving different classes, ethnic groups, and religions.

• (SIMILARITIES) They all had a common goal of independence, but often internally struggled over leadership, power, ideology, and the distribution of material benefits often over ethnicity.

  • The relationship between nationalist independence leaders and their followers was sometimes tense, as in Indonesia.

  • In Nigeria, the three political parties were identified by ethnic groups (Igbo, Yoruba, Hausa)

  • Many states experienced multiple changes in the type of government.

The Indian National Congress is the most prime example of the divisions and controversies.

• Gandhi rejected modern industrialization; while his ally Jawaharlal thoroughly embraced science, technology, and industry.

  • Not everyone embraced Gandhi’s nonviolent and inclusive philosophy due to the rigidness of Hinduism on society.

• There was also a growing divide between the Hindu and Muslim (minority)

  • Muslims feared they would be suppressed by the Hindu majority with the creation of only one Indian state.

    • Muhammed Ali Jinnah founded the Muslim League (new political group) and shortly later Pakistan.

    • The 1947 Partition of India was accompanied by around a million deaths, and 12 million migrated between the countries for religion. Gandhi was later assassinated by a Hindu extremist.

Nationalist movements differed sharply from one another (DIFFERENCES)

• How long it would take to reach independence:

  • In some, like the Belgian Congo, it would take 4 or so years

  • In others, like Vietnam, it would take decades.

• South Africa was distinctive:

  • Was focused on dismantling the internal apartheid regime, a system of internal racial oppression rather than gaining independence from colonial rule.

    • Apartheid was a system that segregated the black and white populations of South Africa from 1948 to the 1990s.

• Differences in the way independence movements were conducted:

  • In West Africa, nationalists relied on peaceful civil disobedience: strikes, mass mobilization, and colonial negotiation

  • In Algeria, guerrilla warfare is what brought independence from France in 1962.

A comparison: Economics of India and South Africa

• South Africa was a mature, industrialized, and urbanized nation during the Anti-Apartheid movement, they also had independence since 1910.

• India was not modernized due to the conservative/traditional culture, and didn’t industrialize much even after its independence and partition in 1947.

Differences in the ideologies and outlooks in nationalist movements:

• Many in India and the Islamic world viewed their new nations with a religious outlook, whereas elsewhere people had secular views.

  • In Indonesia, Sukarno sought to embrace the opposing Islamic and Marxist outlooks.

• Communist nationalist movements in China and Vietnam sought major social transformations and an expulsion of foreign rule, while those in Africa (South Africa) focused on ending racial discrimination and achieving independence, with little concern for domestic class inequality as in China.

After Freedom:

The Global South, or Third World refers to the developing countries characterized by experiences of colonization and imperialism.

• Neither the Soviet Union or the United States dominated the entire Global South, but they did win some encounters through Proxy wars.

What conditions challenged efforts of self-governance in developing nations?

• Exploding populations often exceeded the available resources

• Cultural diversity decreased loyalty to a central state

• Conditions of poverty causes civil unrest.

Political systems of developing countries:

• Communism in China, Vietnam, and Cuba

• Multiparty democracy in India and South Africa

• Single-party democracy in Mexico, Tanzania, and Senegal

• Military regimes in Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East

• Dictatorships in the Philippines, Iraq, and Uganda

As colonialism ended, European authorities attempted to push Western-style democracy in the developing countries

• India: Western style democracy was accepted; regular elections, multiple parties, civil liberty.

• Africa: Western democracy was shortly replaced by military coups

Post independence conditions in Africa and Latin America:

• Economic disappointments, class resentments, and ethnic conflicts motivated military takeovers in many, many African countries.

• Military coup d’etat’s took place in various Latin American countries.

  • Differences lie in that:

    • African military rule was foreign, whereas it was common in Latin America

    • Latin America was far more modernized than Africa.

    • Latin America had been free for a while, but it was still subject to economic influence from the United States.

Globalization of Democracy:

Causes:

• Ideas of democracy and human rights spread far beyond their Western origins during the 20th century.

• Failure of authoritarian governments to raise standards of living and stop corruption.

• The growth of civil society provided a social foundation for change

Effects:

• Brought Western democracy: popular movements, multiparty elections, and constitutions to developing countries as well as countries all throughout the world.

  • The Globalization of Democracy ended autocracy (absolute rule) in the Iberian Peninsula

  • The Globalization of Democracy ended military regimes in Latin America and Africa by 2000.

  • The Globalization of Democracy ended authoritarianism in South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, the Philippines, Iraq, and Indonesia.

  • The Globalization of Democracy gave rise to Arab Spring in 2011.

    • Arab Spring was a series of anti-authoritarian protests, uprisings, and armed rebellions that spread across the Middle East in the early 2010s, demanding democracy and economic reforms.

  • An example of this was the South African struggle against Apartheid.

Challenges faced by newly democratic nations:

• Leaders like Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, Vladimir Putin in Russia, and Recip Erdogan in Turkey went authoritarian.

• Political corruption, mainly in the form of Electoral fraud tainted democracy in many places, allowing the elites to exercise influence everywhere, not only in the Global South.

  • The CCP brutally crushed the Tiananmen Square democratic protests in 1989

  • Algerian military sponsored elections in 1992 but cancelled them when an Islamic party was projected to win.

  • Arab Spring was challenged when Abdel Fattah El-Sisi returned to power in Egypt (2014)

• Economic Development: Transitioning to a market economy posed challenges such as high unemployment, poverty, and income inequality.

• Social Conflict: Ethnic tensions, religious conflicts, and social inequalities often hindered the consolidation of democracy and stability in these nations.

Making Connections:

Class companion SAQ:

1. One similarity in decolonization movements in Africa and Asia during the twentieth century was that they often internally struggled over leadership, power, ideology, and ethnicity. The 1947 Partition of India split a newly decolonized India into a Muslim Pakistan and a Hindi India, resulting in 12 million people migrating between the two countries for their religion, resulting in almost a million deaths. This conflict exemplifies how internal conflicts over power, culture, and stuff of that matter often overshadowed the common goal of independence.

2. One difference in these decolonization movements lies in the way they were conducted by their leaders. In colonies like West Africa and the British Raj in India, nationalists like Mohandas Gandhi worked on a philosophy of civil disobedience, using strikes, mass mobilization, and colonial negotiations to liberate their country of European rule, whereas other movements were conducted through guerrilla warfare as in the Algerian conflict against France in 1962. This disparity between peaceful civil disobedience and armed conflict shows a difference in the level of violence used in decolonization movements.

3. To explain the reason for the similarity expressed in (a), India’s independence movement consisted of internal conflict between the Indian National Congress; led by Gandhi, and the Muslim League; led by Muhhamed Ali Jinnah. When the British Empire declared their intention to leave India following World War II, a massive border dispute was declared in India known as the Partition, which violently split a decolonized India into a Muslim Pakistan and a Hindi India. This measure of internal conflict in India over ethnicity and culture can be compared to the Nigerian independence movement which resulted in the creation of three political parties identified by ethnicity, that being the Igbo, Yoruba, and Hausa.