The Winds of Change:

The End of the European Empires

Unit 2 Overview EQ: When, if ever, is the use of

violence for political ends justified? 5 weeks (today through 11/22) Case studies: India + Algeria Major assessments

Essay: why did the nonviolent movement eventually succeed in India?

Discussion on EQ

Decolonization

Decolonize: to allow a colony to become self-governing or independent

Wave of decolonization in the late 20th century

The World in 1945

1945: 750 million people in non-self-governing territories (1/3 of world pop)

Today: 17 non-self-governing territories, pop. 2 million

The Big Picture

Post-WWII wave of independence movements A turning point: Indian independence, August

15, 1947 1947-1962: African independence

Why decolonization?

WWII Economics Nationalism

Europe no longer dominated the world as it had at the start of the

century.

That’s morelike it.

What happened?

Effects of WWII: The Big Picture

Effects of WWII: Changing Ideology

Defeated by an Asian power less prestige

Western Allies defeated oppressive regimes during war tarnished ideology

Effects of WWII:US Becomes a Superpower

Anti-colonial stance Wilson’s Fourteen Points FDR + Winston Churchill

Atlantic Charter: free trade and self-government for the world’s peoples

Break imperial trading blocs opportunity for new markets

War for freedom and liberty

Effects of WWII: The Cold War (from the US perspective)

The US Freedom! Democracy! Capitalism!

The USSR Dictatorship! Imperialism! Communism!

US supports decolonization for ideological reasons

Preoccupation with avoiding Communist takeovers (think Lumumba)

Why it happened so quickly: Economics

Colonies shrank in importance Niger:

France: 44 billion francs on cotton production. 1,000 tons produced out of 300,000 projected

Tanganyika: Britain spent 40 million pounds on

peanut growing failed miserably

Why it happened so quickly: Nationalism Nationalism: a political belief that

promotes strong identification with one’s nation. A people must be: Independent Self-governing United by national culture

Nationalism

Holding on by force The Colonized:

Dynamic leaders with political/military organizations and one ideology

The Colonizer: waging war in name of belief that is no longer relevant

Why not just leave?

Economic factors

Home away from home

National identity

Winston Churchill: Inevitability and Dignity “It is with deep grief I

watch the clattering down of the British Empire, with all its glories and all the services it has rendered to mankind…But at least, let us not add—by shameful flight, by a premature, hurried scuttle—at least let us not add, to the pangs of sorrow so many of us feel, the taint and smear of shame.”

A Fork in the Road Constitutional change backed by

political action (Southeast Asia and Africa)

Prolonged, bloody revolutionary wars (Algeria, Vietnam)

India: Independence through Nonviolent Protest

British Raj, 1858-1947 Sepoy Mutiny, 1857 Gradual, nonviolent

independence movement

Independence and Partition, 1947

Algeria: Independence through Violent Struggle

French colony, 1848-1962

“Civilizing” the country

Tremendous violence

Algerian War, 1954-1962

Debates

ESSENTIAL QUESTION: When, if ever, is the use of violence for political ends justified?