Decolonization: Chapter 39

Decolonization: Chapter 39

Factors Leading to Decolonization

• After the world struggle against dictatorship, many leaders argued that no country should control another nation.

• Others questioned the high cost and commitment of holding colonies.

• Nationalist movements among native peoples.

What factors led to the division of India?

• Mohandas Gandhi used passive resistance to accomplish his goals.

• In 1935, the British Parliament passed the Government of India Act which increased suffrage and turn provincial governments over to Indian leaders.

• Some Muslims wanted a separate Muslim state.• In 1947, the British granted India its

independence.• India followed a path of nonalignment with either

superpower.

What factors led to the division of India?

• Muhammad Ali Jinnah led the Muslim League in pushing for the division of Indian into two separate nations: Pakistan (Muslim) and India (Hindu)

• Pakistan was then divided into eastern and western regions separated by Indian territory.

• Unequal distribution of wealth between the two Pakistans ended in civil war in the early 1970’s. East Pakistan became the independent nation of Bangladesh.

What were the goals of the nonaligned movement?

• Led by Indian Prime Minister Nehru• Bandung Conference (1955)• Leaders from 23 Asian and six African nations met in Bandung,

Indonesia.• Goal: Find a path, a third alternative between choosing between the

U.S. and the Soviet Union; maintain neutrality.• Stressed struggle against colonialism and racism• “first international conference of cooured peoples in the history of

mankind.”

Nonaligned Movement

• “The preservation of peace forms the central aim of India’s policy. It is in the pursuit of this policy that we have chosen the path of nonalignment in any military or like pact of alliance. Nonalignment does not mean passivity of mind or action, lack of faith or conviction. It does not mean submission to what we consider evil. We believe that each country has not only the right to freedom but also to decide its own policy and way of life. Only thus can true freedom flourish and a people grow according to their own genius.”

» Nehru’s Speech at Bandung Conference

What were the obstacles to nonaligned movement?

• Many member states had close ties to each other.

• This caused dissension within the movement.

• The Philippines and Cuba clearly supported the U.S. and Soviet camps, respectively.

What events contributed to the Arab-Israeli conflict?

• The land called Palestine now consists of Israel, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip.

• To Jews, their claim to the land dates back 3,000 years, when Jewish kings ruled the region.

• To Palestinians (both Muslims and Christian), the land has belonged to them since the Jews were driven out around 135 C.E.


• After being forced out of Palestine during the second century, the Jewish people were not able to establish their own state and lived in different countries throughout the world.

• The global dispersal of Jews is known as the Diaspora.

• During the late 19th and 20th centuries, a group of Jews began returning to the regions. They were known as Zionists, people who favored a Jewish homeland in Palestine.


• At the time, Palestine was still part of the Ottoman Empire, ruled by Islamic Turks.

• After the defeat of the Ottomans in World War I, the League of Nations asked Britain to oversee Palestine until it was ready for independence

• In 1917, British Foreign Secretary Sir Arthur Balfour promoted the idea of creating a Jewish homeland in Palestine.

• Despite the Balfour Declaration, efforts to create a Jewish state failed.

• Hostility between Palestinians and Jews continued to grow.


• In 1947, the Untied Nations voted for a partition of Palestine into a Palestinian state and a Jewish state.

• The terms of the agreement gave Jews 55 percent of the area even though they made up only 34 percent of the population.

• In the wake of the war and the Holocaust, the U.S. and many Europeans felt great sympathy for the Jews.

• All of the Islamic countries voted against the partition. • On May 14, 1948, the state of Israel was established.• The day after it was proclaimed a state, six Islamic states—

Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Syria—invaded Israel. This was the first of many Arab-Israeli wars.

What factors have united the Arab nations since independence? What factors have divided them?

• Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser joined forces to oppose Israel and to take command of the Arab world.

• Nasser also condemned states that joined with foreign powers in military alliances.

• Nasser dedicated himself to ridding Egypt and the Arab world of imperial interference

• He gave aid to the Algerians in the war against the French.

Describe the Suez crisis of 1956. What was the outcome?

• The Suez Cana, which runs along Egypt’s eastern border, was controlled by British interests for many years.

• In 1956, Egypt took control of the Suez Canal after the U.S. and British refused support for the building of Egypt’s Answan Dam.

• The British made an agreement with France and Israel to retake the canal.

• With air support provided by their European allies, the Israelis marched on the Suez Canal and defeated the Egyptians.

• The world community, including the U.S. and Soviet Union, forced Israel and the Europeans to withdraw from Egypt.

• This left Egypt in charge of the canal and thus ended the Suez Crisis.

What obstacles did Algeria face in its fight for

independence from the French?

• Algeria had one million French colonists and nine million Arabs.

• After World war II, the French colonists refused to share political power with the native Algerians.

• In 1954, the Algerian National Liberation Front or FLN announced its intention to fight for independence.

• The French sent about half a million troops into Algeria to fight the FLN.

• The FLN prevailed and Algeria gained its independence in July 1962.

Compare the process of independence for both Ghana and Kenya.

• Following World War II, the British began making preparations for Ghana’s independence. For example, they allowed more African to be nominated to the Legislative Council.

• In 1947, Kwame Nkrumah led a nonviolent movement to liberate the Gold Coast (Ghana) from the British.

• He organized strikes and boycotts.• On receiving it independence in 1957, the Gold Coast took

the name Ghana.


• Nkrumah pushed for new roads, new schools, and expanded health facilities.

• These costly projects crippled the country and undermined the economy and strengthened his opposition.

• In 1966, while Nkrumah was in China, the army and police in Ghana seized power.

• Since then, the country has shift back and forth between civilian and military rule.

• In 2000, Ghana held its first open elections.


• Kenya, in contrast to Ghana had to take up arms against their European rulers in order to win their freedom.

• Mau Mau was a secret society that was made up of native Kenyan farmers forced out of the highlands by the British.

• Mau Mau used guerrilla war tactics to push white farmers from the highlands.

• By the time the British granted Kenya independence in 1963, more than 10,000 Africans and 100 settlers had been killed.

• Jomo Kenyatta became president of the new nation. • He worked hard to unite the various ethnic and language groups.• Ethnic conflicts in Kenya resulted in hundreds of deaths and

thousands homeless.

China Under Mao Zedong

• 1953-1957 – Five Year Plan: Industry grew 15 percent a year; agricultural output grew slowly.

• 1958-1961 – Great Leap Forward: China suffered economic disaster; industrial declines and food shortages. Mao lost influence.

• 1966-1976 – Cultural Revolution: Mao regained influence by backing radicals. Purges and conflicts among leaders created economic, social, and political chaos

Describe China after Mao Zedong’s death in 1976..

• 1970’s – Zhou Enlai tried to form ties to the West.

• 1971 – The U.S. reversed its policy and endorsed UN membership for the People’s Republic of china.

• 1972 – President Nixon made a state visit to China. He met with Mao and Zhou.

• In 1979 – the U.S. and China established diplomatic relations.

• 1980 – Deng Xiaoping, a lifelong communist, supported moderate economic policies. He used capitalist ideas to help China’s economy.

Deng eliminated Mao’s communes and leased land to individual farmers. He called for progress in agriculture, industry, defense, and science and technology.

Describe China after Mao Zedong’s death in 1976..

• 1970’s – Zhou Enlai tried to form ties to the West.

• 1971 – The U.S. reversed its policy and endorsed UN membership for the People’s Republic of china.

• 1972 – President Nixon made a state visit to China. He met with Mao and Zhou.

• In 1979 – the U.S. and China established diplomatic relations.

• 1980 – Deng Xiaoping, a lifelong communist, supported moderate economic policies. He used capitalist ideas to help China’s economy.

Deng eliminated Mao’s communes and leased land to individual farmers. He called for progress in agriculture, industry, defense, and science and technology.

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Decolonization: Chapter 39