Because the Cold War and decolonization occurred around the same time, and were equally global in their impact, each influenced the way that the other developed. Today, almost all the world's population. After World War II, European countries generally lacked the wealth and political support necessary to suppress faraway revolts; they also faced opposition from the new superpowers, the U.S. and the Soviet Union, both of which had taken positions against colonialism. decolonization of Africa by affecting both Europe and Africa militarily, psychologically, politically, and economically. The 1990s were characterized by the prevalence of the Washington consensus on neoliberal policies, "structural adjustment" and "shock therapies" for the former Communist states. Thus, nationalism in the colonies became stronger in between the two wars, leading to Abd el-Krim's Rif War (19211925) in Morocco and to the creation of Messali Hadj's Star of North Africa in Algeria in 1925. [2][3] Other scholars extend the meaning to include economic, cultural and psychological aspects of the colonial experience. They could not oppose the new superpowers the U.S. and the Soviet Union's stands against colonialism. The process of decolonization in Africa was a long and tedious battle between the imperial powers and the Africans. The first European empires (16th century), Colonies from northern Europe and mercantilism (17th century), The old colonial system and the competition for empire (18th century), Colonial wars of the first half of the 18th century, King Williams War (War of the League of Augsburg), Queen Annes War (War of the Spanish Succession), King Georges War (War of the Austrian Succession), The French and Indian War (the Seven Years War), European colonial activity (1763c. The Declaration affirmed the right of all people to self-determination and proclaimed that colonialism should be brought to a speedy and unconditional end. After a nine-year war of independence against France, Vietnam split into two countries: a Chinese- and Soviet-backed north and a U.S.-backed south. The following list shows the colonial powers following the end of hostilities in 1945, and their colonial or administrative possessions. as kids, we tried to act out the things we had seen in the movies. All of the British colonies on mainland Africa became independent by 1966, although Rhodesia's unilateral declaration of independence in 1965 was not recognized by the UK or internationally. This formulation also glosses over the great variety of epistemological, ontological, methodological and axiological constellations within this knowledge system.". The U.S. relinquished the Philippines in 1946. In 1931, Japan seized Manchuria from the Republic of China, setting up a puppet state under Puyi, the last Manchu emperor of China. A demonstration for Angolan independence on January 1, 1960. The Dutch in the East Indies, and at home, were practically unanimous (except for the communists) that Dutch power and prestige and wealth depended on an extremely expensive war to regain the islands. The Cold War and decolonization happened in roughly the same period of time and were, to many people, one experience rather than two. Zimbabwe, Angola, Mozambique and Namibia were among the African countries that achieved independence a bit later bringing to an end the era of colonial rule on the continent of Africa. The wave of decolonization, which changed the face of the planet, was born with the UN and represents the world bodys first great success. Decades of ethnoreligious violence resulted. Strayer, Robert. East Timor (1999/2002) Israel. The main tenets of the NIEO were: The UNCTAD however wasn't very effective in implementing the NIEO, and social and economic inequalities between industrialized countries and the Third World grew throughout the 1960s until the 21st century. Get the latest news from World101, including teaching resources and special offers. When North Vietnam invaded the south in 1955, the United States, China, and Russia ratcheted up their support for the respective sides, sending financial aid, weapons, and soldiers, which fueled a devastating, two-decade conflict. The Union victory in the Civil War in 1865 forced both France and Spain to accede to American demands to evacuate those two countries. Following the SpanishAmerican War in 1898, the US added most of Spain's remaining colonies: Puerto Rico, Philippines, and Guam. . Philosopher Paul Ricur has spoken of the necessity of a "decolonisation of memory", starting with the recognition of the 1961 Paris massacre during the Algerian war, and the decisive role of African and especially North African immigrant manpower in the Trente Glorieuses postWorld War II economic growth period. The Second Sino-Japanese War started in 1937, and Japan occupied much of eastern China, including the Republic's capital at Nanjing. By the end of 1954, Gamal Abdel Nasser had induced Britain to accept total withdrawal by June 1956 and set to work to undermine Britains position in Iraq and Jordan. Arabs, however, rejected the UN plan, whichin their viewseized their ancestral lands. TheSpecial Committeecontinues to monitor the situation in the remaining 17 territories, working to facilitate achieving their decolonization. As World War II faded into the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union sought to win the support of newly independent countries. However, conflict, revenue growth, and economic growth did not systematically differ before and after independence. [25], Great Britain's Thirteen North American colonies were the first to declare independence, forming the United States of America in 1776, and defeating Britain in the Revolutionary war.[26][27]. After World War II, the U.S. poured tens of billions of dollars into the Marshall Plan, and other grants and loans to Europe and Asia to rebuild the world economy. Far more damaging to Britains world position as a great power was the end of the Palestine mandate. [5][6], The United Nations (UN) states that the fundamental right to self-determination is the core requirement for decolonization, and that this right can be exercised with or without political independence. [7] A UN General Assembly Resolution in 1960 characterised colonial foreign rule as a violation of human rights. This includes all11 Trust Territories, which have achieved self-determination through independence or free association with an independent State. With support from Britain, its Monroe Doctrine reserved the Americas as its sphere of interest, prohibiting other states (particularly Spain) from recolonizing the newly independent polities of Latin America. Religion is yet another common colonial carryover. ", In general, the release of the colonized caused little economic loss to the colonizers. [80] Some activists have claimed that the attention of the United Nations was "further diverted from the social and economic agenda [for decolonization] towards "firefighting and extinguishing" armed conflicts". Armed struggle against colonialism centred in a few areas, which mark the real milestones in the history of postwar decolonization. This lack of economic diversification presented challenges for newly independent countries when demand for their primary exports fell. More than two million Vietnamese civilians are estimated to have died in the war, which resulted in communist control over a unified country. Omissions? [35], After 1898 direct intervention expanded in Latin America. Most of Africa's island countries had also become independent, although Runion and Mayotte remain part of France. America's only African colony, Liberia, was formed privately and achieved independence early; Washington unofficially protected it. Japan joined the allies in World War I, and after the war acquired the South Seas Mandate, the former German colony in Micronesia, as a League of Nations Mandate. As such, postcolonial leaders like Kwame Nkrumah, Ghanas first prime minister, looked toward innovative solutions. However, the colonizer continued to be able to obtain cheap goods and labor as well as economic benefits (see Suez Canal Crisis) from the former colonies. For generations, colonized people called for independence to little avail. But before this event, the country was embroiled in the Angolan War of Independence (1961-1974). Between 1945 and 1960, three dozen new states in Asia and Africa achieved autonomy or outright independence from their European . Netherlands: Portugal: Where did rapid decolonization occur after WWII? See also point XII. Only after World War II did large-scale decolonization begin. The French left Vietnam in 1954 and gave up its North African colonies by 1962. Puerto Rico became an unincorporated territory of the US, but Cuba became independent in 1902. The new Jewish state, recognized by the United States, the Soviet Union, and France, reached an uneasy armistice with the Arabs in 1949, and Britains position in the Middle East began to crumble. It attempted to invade Britain but this proved to be unsuccessful. African decolonization was more gradual, though, with many African states remaining colonies until the 1960's. Africa really isn't an area of expertise for me though. Eleven Global Issues That Will Shape the Future, conquered more than 80 percent of the worlds landmass between 1492 and 1914, which ruled over two hundred million people across thirteen modern-day countries, attempted to unite the exceedingly diverse country through a national identity based on ideas, pushed for the formation of two separate countries, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, South Korea has been the beneficiary of American protection. Indias first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, requested the former British colonial ruler, Lord Louis Mountbatten, stay on to aid the new administration. Whenever Africans sneaked up behind Tarzan, we would scream our heads off, trying to warn him that 'they' were coming". decolonization, process by which colonies become independent of the colonizing country. On August 15, 1947, the Indian Independence Bill took effect, inaugurating a period of religious turmoil in India and Pakistan that would result in the deaths of hundreds of thousands, including. Japan also set up the Imperial Universities in Korea (Keij Imperial University) and Taiwan (Taihoku Imperial University) to compel education. Meanwhile, in Rwanda and Sudan, tensions between ethnic groups grew after independence, leading to discrimination, violence, and eventually genocide (actions taken with the intent to destroy a specific group of people). After the war, the Japanese colonial empire was dissolved, and national independence movements resisted the re-imposition of colonial control by European countries and the United States. In March 2023, following the 2022 Russian invasion and subsequent Russian occupation of parts of Ukraine, Ukraine did forbid to have toponymy with names associated with Russian ("the occupying state").[55]. How the World Works and Sometimes Doesnt. Each side rewrote its own history, blaming the other. Kwame Nkrumah (19091972) who was inspired by the works of Garvey led Ghana to independence from colonial rule. In Cameroon and Nigeria, political movements have pushed to reorganize the countries along ethnic lines rather than colonial borders. Deciding not to annex Cuba outright, the U.S. established it as a client state with obligations including the perpetual lease of Guantnamo Bay to the U.S. Navy. Today, fewer than 2 million people live under colonial rule in the 17 remaining non-self-governing territories. Undoing political, economic and cultural legacies of colonisation, This article is about the undoing of colonialism. Ultimately, these countries could not garner enough support for their vision and instead settled for the creation of a less powerful organization called the Organization of African Unitya forerunner to todays African Union. International Pressure: The founding of the United Nations in 1945 gave newly independent countries a forum to raise global support for decolonization around the world. . The decolonization of Africa followed World War II as colonized peoples agitated for independence and colonial powers withdrew their administrators from Africa.The only two world powers to officially and actively support decolonization in Africa through the entire 20th century were the Soviet Unionand the People's Republic of China all others After World War II, European countries generally lacked the wealth and political support necessary to suppress faraway revolts; they also faced opposition from the new superpowers, the U.S. and the Soviet Union, both of which had taken positions against colonialism. Ultimately, the British accepted Jinnahs proposal and divided the subcontinent, leading to a traumatic period of mass displacement and violence known as partition. The factors that caused this transformation are colonial nationalism, politics, religious and ethnic movements and international pressure. High-quality, standards-aligned classroom resources, lesson plans, teaching inspiration, and professional development opportunitiesall inspired by our mission that Global Civics is essential for twenty-first century citizenship. Cyprus, which came under full British control in 1914 from the Ottoman Empire, was culturally divided between the majority Greek element (which demanded "enosis" or union with Greece) and the minority Turks. Decolonization allowed the colonizer to disclaim responsibility for the colonized. [45][46] The Netherlands also had one other major colony, Dutch Guiana in South America, which became independent as Suriname in 1975. [1] Some scholars of decolonization focus especially on independence movements in the colonies and the collapse of global colonial empires. "Power of the dead and language of the living: The Wanderings of Nationalist Memory in Cameroon". India's independence movement started at the beginning of the 20 th century. Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the United States has been far less active in the Americas, but invaded Afghanistan and Iraq following the September 11 attacks in 2001, establishing army and air bases in Central Asia. In 1807 and 1808, the Viceroyalty of the River Plate was invaded by the British. Significant violence was involved in several prominent cases of decolonization of the British Empire; partition was a frequent solution. Some nationalized industries and infrastructure, and some engaged in land reform to redistribute land to individual farmers or create collective farms. Italian Somaliland was governed by the UK, and by Italy after 1954, until its independence in 1960. War, decolonization, and declining economic strength abroad dealt a lasting blow to the United Kingdom and ushered in a new era of American dominance in the arena of global influence and economic strength. Other methods such as public interaction, and attempts to eradicate the use of Korean, Hokkien, and Hakka among the Indigenous peoples, were seen to be used. These territories included the League of Nations mandate territories which had not achieved independence by 1945, along with the former Italian Somaliland. Italy had occupied the Dodecanese islands in 1912, but Italian occupation ended after World War II, and the islands were integrated into Greece. Indian medical orderlies attending to wounded soldiers on stretchers outside a dressing station, Mesopotamia, during the First World War. Postwar Agreements: Several countries on the losing side of World War II forfeited their colonies as terms of their surrender. By becoming a symbol of both peace and opposition to British imperialism, many Indians began to view the British as the cause of India's problems leading to a newfound sense of nationalism among its population. In 1822, Portugal lost control of Brazil, its largest colony. [32] Large-scale communal violence broke out between Muslims and Hindus and Muslims and Sikhs after the British left in 1947 in the newly independent dominions of India and Pakistan. World War II led to decolonization of Africa by affecting both Europe and Africa militarily, psychologically, politically, and economically. The arsenal of democracy that Franklin D. Roosevelt called into existence when the United States entered World War II proved to be a . The Monroe Doctrine was expanded by the Roosevelt Corollary in 1904, providing that the United States had a right and obligation to intervene "in flagrant cases of such wrongdoing or impotence" that a nation in the Western Hemisphere became vulnerable to European control. [66], In a few cases, settler populations have been repatriated. "A comparative study of French and British decolonisation. When in 1946 the French Army tried to regain the colony, the Communists, proclaiming a republic, resorted to the political and military strategies of Mao Tse-tung to wear down and eventually defeat France. For example, Indian independence leader Mahatma Gandhi supported the creation of a unified India free of British rule, whereas Muhammad Ali Jinnah pushed for the formation of two separate countries: Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan. After achieving independence, postcolonial leaders began the difficult work of setting up new governments. An estimated 20 million Chinese died during the 19311945 war with Japan.[40]. Who would be in charge? After World War II, there was uprising decolonization in many countries. Millions of formerly disenfranchised people voted for the first time, and new, postcolonial leaders brought attention to historically neglected global issues such as economic inequality and foreign military intervention. But for those former colonies that gained their independence, establishing a country entailed far more than simply flying a new flag or playing a national anthem. [96][97][98] Dismantling the feudal structure of global health has been mentioned to be a key decolonisation agenda. However, these movements would gain full potential only after World War II. [62][63] Nation-building projects seek to replace loyalty to the old colonial power, and/or tribal or regional loyalties, with loyalty to the new state. The Cold War was another. ", "British and French political institutions and the patterning of decolonization", "Decolonizing global health: what should be the target of this movement and where does it lead us? The constitution of the French Fourth Republic provided for token decentralization of colonial rule, and cycles of revolt and repression marked French history for 15 years after the end of World War II. Compromises were negotiated, but were trusted by neither side. Soviet control of its non-Russian member republics weakened as movements for democratization and self-government gained strength during the late 1980s, and four republics declared independence in 1990 and 1991. After independence, the new states needed to establish or strengthen the institutions of a sovereign state governments, laws, a military, schools, administrative systems, and so on. Updates? However, some countries struggled to promote inclusive governance. The amount of self-rule granted prior to independence, and assistance from the colonial power and/or international organizations after independence, varied greatly between colonial powers, and between individual colonies.[61]. Then, the 1982 Latin American debt crisis exploded in Mexico first, then Argentina and Brazil, which proved unable to pay back their debts, jeopardizing the existence of the international economic system. Some former colonies like South Korea and Taiwan shifted from exporting raw materials to instead producing various industrial goods such as ships and computers. The process of breaking away from colonial rule often entailed years of violence or protest. Darwin, John. A demonstration in Algiers on April 26, 1958, during the Algerian War, a conflict between France and Algerian independence movements from 1954 to 1962. In Southern Africa, however, the transfer of power to an African majority was greatly complicated by the presence of entrenched white settlers. In 1990, the General Assembly reaffirmed that the question of Western Sahara was a question of decolonization which remained to be completed by the people of Western Sahara. During this time, roughly from 1945 to 1975, countries gained independence through various means, including nonviolent pressure and resistance, diplomacy and negotiation, and violent armed conflict. Across the empire, the general protocol was to convene a constitutional conference in London to discuss the transition to greater self-government and then independence, submit a report of the constitutional conference to parliament, if approved submit a bill to Parliament at Westminster to terminate the responsibility of the United Kingdom (with a copy of the new constitution annexed), and finally, if approved, issuance of an Order of Council fixing the exact date of independence.[29]. The Sukarno regime held fast through three years of intermittent war, however, and the Dutch found no allies and no international support. In the Far East, US troops took possession of Japan and were aided by British Commonwealth forces in the reconstruction and demilitarization of the country. Iran had moved close to the United States, warding off Soviet penetration and expropriating British oil holdings. Global Language Politics: Eurasia versus the Rest (pp. David Strang, "Global patterns of decolonisation, 15001987.". All rights reserved. The act or process of eliminating colonialism or freeing from colonial status. It is in this sense that the European Second World War made a contribution to the decolonisation and political liberation of Africa. OPEC nations then agreed, on January 7, 1975, to raise crude oil prices by 10%. In the aftermath, the British pulled back from modernizing reforms of Indian society, and the level of organised violence under the British Raj was relatively small. Financial, political and military pressure could still be used to achieve goals desired by the colonizer. Both the United States and the Soviet Union were generally happy to see an end to European overseas empires. Enlightenment social and political theories such as individualism and liberalism were central to the debates about national constitutions for newly independent countries. [15][16], In the two hundred years following the American Revolutionary War in 1783, 165 colonies have gained independence from Western imperial powers. The African Union includes all 55 African states. [54] Meanwhile, the Russian Federation continues to apply political, economic, and military pressure on former Soviet colonies. The Haitian Revolution was a revolt in 1789 and subsequent slave uprising in 1791 in the French colony of Saint-Domingue, on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola. Today, debates persist over the lasting effects of colonialism and decolonizationspecifically why some former colonies like Singapore and South Korea have developed stable democracies and strong economies while others like Libya and North Korea have experienced decades of authoritarianism and underdevelopment. The two superpowers backed protest movements, funded aid packages, and provided military support to advance their respective goals. The process of decolonization largely took place after the end of the Second World War. As Edward Said (1994:xii) wrote in the preface to his Culture and imperialism, the dominance of the West 'culminated in the great movement of decolonization all across the Third World'. After the French defeat at Dien Bien Phu (Vietnam) in 1954 and the abortive Anglo-French Suez expedition of 1956, however, decolonization took on an irresistible momentum, so that by the mid-1970s only scattered vestiges of Europes colonial territories remained. However, some of the Dominions were already independent de facto, and even de jure and recognized as such by the international community. The second oil crisis occurred in the wake of the 1979 Iranian Revolution. [10], Although examples of decolonization can be found as early as the writings of Thucydides,[citation needed] there have been several particularly active periods of decolonization in modern times. In general, those colonies that offered neither concentrated resources nor strategic advantages and that harboured no European settlers won easy separation from their overlords. "The Impossible Republic: The Reconquest of Algeria and the Decolonisation of France, 19451962,", Smith, Tony. In Some Areas, It Was Peaceful, And Orderly. Ties between the Cold War superpowers and many former colonies persist to this day. President Woodrow Wilson, a Democrat in office from 1913 to 1921, ignored the Philippines, and focused his attention on Mexico and Caribbean nations.