Change: Decolonization and Freedom Movements WHAP/Napp
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“The allies in World War I had proclaimed the mission of making the world safe for democracy and had promised increased self-government after the war to many of their colonies. Britain had made such promises to its European colony, Ireland, in 1914, and to India in 1917. It promised a new homeland for Jews in Palestine and at the same time promised to do no harm to the existing Arab population of Palestine. At war’s end, the smaller ethnic groups in southern and eastern Europe had hoped for new states. Middle Eastern regions, like Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Palestine, had looked forward to self-government. Most of these aspirations were quashed. Ireland was given independence, but only after an armed uprising. The Protestant north remained a colony of England. India continued in colonial status. Much of the Middle East was mandated to Britain and France.
As independence movements intensified, Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana wrote:
‘I saw that the whole solution to this problem lay in political freedom for our people; for it is only when a people are politically free that other races can give them the respect that is due them. It is impossible to talk of equality of races in any other terms. No people without a government of their own can expect to be treated on the same level as peoples of independent sovereign states. It is far better to be free to govern or misgovern yourself than to be governed by anybody else.’ (Nkrumah, p. 9)
The British- and French-mandated territories in the Middle East were the first to gain their freedom. Iraq had been granted formal independence from Britain in 1932 as a kingdom. British troops were called in, however, when coups were attempted to overthrow the monarchy. In 1958, a leftist coup did succeed in overthrowing the king, breaking the ties to Britain, and reorienting the country’s foreign policy toward the USSR. Jordan gained independence from Britain in 1946, as did Lebanon in 1943 and Syria in 1946 from France. India, the largest of all the colonies, had begun to organize a modern nationalist political movement from 1885 and finally won its independence from Britain in 1947, although the subcontinent was partitioned on religious grounds into two nations, India and Pakistan. In the same year the United Nations passed a resolution agreeing to partition the British-mandated land of Palestine between its bitterly antagonistic Jewish and Arab populations. In 1920, only about 60,000 Jews were living in Palestine, about one-tenth the number of Arabs. Jewish immigration and settlement increased between the two world wars, driven in part by the increasing persecution of Jews under the Nazis in Germany and its conquered territories. Arab resistance to this new stream of immigration from Europe led to repeated armed clashes between the two groups. To reduce the tensions, the British severely restricted Jewish immigration. In the face of the Holocaust, however, the Jewish people felt a desperate need for a safe haven under their own national sovereignty, and they continued to immigrate illegally. In 1947, as the UN declared its partition plan, the British prepared to leave. Arabs and Jews armed for battle. David Ben-Gurion’s declaration of statehood for Israel in 1948 triggered an immediate armed attack by its neighbors. The new state survived, even expanding its borders slightly, but no peace treaties were signed, only agreements to cease fire.” ~ The World’s History
1- Identify and explain the process of decolonization in two different regions. ______
I. New Ideas and New DynamicsA. Idea of self-determination rendered empire illegitimate in the eyes of many
B. World wars weakened Europe, discrediting sense of European superiority
C. U.S.A. and Soviet Union, new superpowers, generally opposed imperialism
II. Case Study: India
A. Before 20th century, few of its people thought of themselves as “Indians”
B. Cultural identities were local and infinitely varied
C. Most important political expression of an all-Indian identity took shape in the Indian National Congress (INC), which was established in 1885
D. Association of English-educated Indians; overwhelmingly Hindu/high-caste
E. But circumstances began to change in aftermath of World War I
F. A series of repressive actions, including killing of some 400 people who had defied a ban on public meetings to celebrate a Hindu festival in Amritsar
G. Mohandas K. Gandhi
1. 1893, accepted a job with Indian firm in South Africa
2. Personally experienced overt racism for the first time in South Africa
3. Began to protest the country’s policies of racial segregation
4. Emerging political philosophy, known as Satyagraha (“truth force”), was an active and confrontational, though nonviolent, approach to political action
5. Returning to India in 1914, Gandhi rose within leadership ranks of the INC
6. Called Mahatma, Great Soul
7. Worked to raise status of India’s untouchables
8. Organized boycott of British cloth and Salt March, acts of civil disobedience
9. Opposed modern industrial future, seeking instead self-sufficient villages
H. Jawaharlal Nehru – nationalist and colleague of Gandhi’s, embraced science, etc.
I. All-India Muslim League (1906) – feared Muslim minority and Hindu majority
a) Muhammad Ali Jinnah, increasingly argued that those parts of India that had a Muslim majority should have a separate political status
J. India became independent in 1947 with Muslim Pakistan, divided into two parts
K. Rioting ensued and Gandhi was assassinated by a Hindu extremist in 1948
III. Case Study: South Africa
A. South Africa had been independent of Great Britain since 1910
B. But independence had been granted to a government controlled by a white minority
C. Whites descended from Dutch settlers in 1600s and known as Boers or Afrikaners
D. Boers unsuccessfully sought independence from a British in Boer War, 1899-1902
E. Prominence of race, expressed most clearly in the policy of apartheid, which attempted to separate blacks from whites in every conceivable way
F. Rigid “pass laws” – to control the movement of Africans to cities
G. “Native reserves,” or Bantustans, served as ethnic homelands
H. Established in 1912, African National Congress (ANC), sought equality
I. 1950s, ANC leader Nelson Mandela used civil disobedience but imprisoned
J. Shooting of sixty-nine unarmed demonstrators at Sharpeville in 1960
K. In 1976 in a impoverished black neighborhood called Soweto hundreds were killed
a) Trigger was government’s decision for Afrikaans rather than English in schools
M. Divestment or withdrawal of private funds in South African economy also
Occurred: 1994 resulted in national elections, which brought ANC to power
1- What forces encouraged decolonization? ______
2- What was the Indian National Congress and when was it established? ______
3- Why was the Amritsar Massacre a turning point in the nationalist movement? ______
4- Who was Mohandas K. Gandhi and what did he experience in South Africa? ______
5- Define Satyagraha. ______
6- Why was Gandhi called “Mahatma”? ______
7- What was Gandhi’s view on untouchables? ______
8- Why was the Boycott of British cloth effective? ______
9- Define civil disobedience. ______
10- Why was the Salt March an example of civil disobedience? ______
11- Who was Jawaharlal Nehru? ______
12- How did Nehru and Gandhi differ on modernization and modern technology? ______
13- What was the Muslim League? ______
14- Who was the leader of the Muslim League? ______
15- What happened to the Indian subcontinent at independence? ______
16- Why was the Indian subcontinent partitioned? ______
17- What happened at the partitioning of the subcontinent? ______
18- Why was Gandhi assassinated? ______
19- What happened in South Africa in 1910? ______
20- Why did the white minority control South Africa at independence? ______
21- Who were the Afrikaners and what did they establish when they gained power? ______
22- Describe apartheid in South Africa. ______
23- How did the Sharpeville Massacre, the imprisonment of Mandela, and Soweto change world opinion about South Africa? ______
1. What was Jawaharlal Nehru’s overall policy direction for India?(A) To put Gandhi’s dream of a spiritually pure, nontechnological India into action
(B) To cement a firm military alliance between India and the United States
(C) To modernize, secularize, and democratize India
(D) To gain more territory for India at the expense of China
(E) To create a theocratic regime governed by Hindu principles
2. The Indian National Congress
(A) From the outset took part in acts of violence against the British Raj.
(B) Was initially loyal to the British rulers and primarily concerned with interests of the Indian elite.
(C) Was composed primarily of peasants and Muslim holy men.
(D) Included only Hindus.
3. Colonial societies with white settler populations
(A) Were among the first to grant majority rule.
(B) Were the regions where overt violence and revolution were most likely to occur.
(C) Did not achieve independence in the twentieth century.
(D) Introduced the tactics of peaceful mass demonstrations and boycotts. / 4. Which of the following statements concerning Gandhi is not accurate?
(A) Prior to returning to India, he had opposed restrictive laws aimed at Indians in South Africa.
(B) He was the first of the great liberators to spring from the ranks of the peasants.
(C) He stressed non-violent, but aggressive protest tactics.
(D) He willingly accepted the role of the traditional Hindu holy man.
5. In 1931 Gandhi renewed his civil disobedience to the British administration of India with the
(A) Coal strike.
(B) Salt March.
(C) Guerrilla assault on Simon Commission.
(D) March on Hunger.
6. What radical African leader helped to achieve independence in Ghana?
(A) Jomo Kenyatta
(B) Nelson Mandela
(C) Julius Nyerere
(D) Kwame Nkrumah
Thesis Practice: Continuity and Change over Time Practice
Analyze political and cultural continuities and changes in South Africa from 1600 to 1994. ______