I Key Themes II Free World III Shattered myth Lecture 23 The Problem of Decolonization The ends of Europe s Empires What factors dictated whether decolonization was a peaceful or a violent process What were the different approaches taken to decolonization How did decolonization become wrapped up in Cold War politics Age of empire is coming to an end Problem is that Britain wins the war they don t view imperialist empire being over Increased nationalism and decolonization particularly in Asia Shattered myth of European superiority IV Different paths to the end Europeans not quite ready to give up empires Is it worth fighting in certain areas Keep the colonies you want and keep somewhat of a connection of ones you don t mind letting go First European empire and last European empire was the Portuguese V Partition Gandhi Britain would not have been able to defeat Japanese without India British viceroy of India declared war on Japan without Indians consent Organized the quit India movement in 1942 thrown in jail by British Only let him out because they were afraid he was going to die After war plan to grant India autonomy but didn t satisfy anyone British do a cost benefit analysis must give up India because they don t have the money to either pay them off or fight them India National Congress wanted a unified independent India democratic problem is that Congress is dominated by Hindus leaves out much of the many Muslims in India People wanted split between Hindus and Muslims but huge portions of the country where they live within the same village as each other Partition of India Signed a partition that divided India into 2 states India and Pakistan New viceroy Lord Mountbatten Britain realized they didn t want to police conflict in India Millions of people found themselves on the wrong side of the line Between 0 5 1 5 million people killed in 1947 due to conflict VI Defending value s Kenya had a large white settler population that maintained agriculture sector Exploded into violence in 1952 because white settlers were taking up all of the good farmland Mau Mau Rebellion British sent in troops to suppress the Mau Mau Kenya is divided ethnically and promised benefits to other ethnic groups so they got some Kenyans to fight against the Mau Mau Those captured sent to prison camps Malayan Emergency Major british colony in southeast asia Malaya now Malaysia Communists decided to take up arms and British was fighting against communism and protect the rubber and tin production in Malaya Malaya is crucially important to British economy War between 1948 1960 US military advisors watch how the British fight the Malayans b c US will eventually fight Vietnam VII Holding the line Mohammed Mossadegh Anglo Iranian Oil Company controlled all of oil in Iran now known as BP British Petroleum British controlled all of oil in Iran but Iranians trying to take it for themselves while still offering to pay Britain world Britain debating invasion try to negotiate for 3 years while cutting off oil exports to rest of Mohammed turns to communist party for help British turns to USA to help them Convinces CIA to stage a coup against Mossadegh overthrows him and puts the Shah as absolute ruler overthrew democratically elected man and put in a dictator for 25 yrs Gamal Nasser Jewish terrorists destroy King David Hotel which houses many British officials British hands over Jewish responsibility to UN Arabs blame British for this disaster use it for pro Arab nationalism Nasser young military leader climbs to power charismatic wants to create one Arab state and actually convinces Syria and Iraq to join at one point Spread message of arab nationalism effective in Algeria technically part of France Algerian Revolution France denies plea for independence leads to massive civil war Millions of French people actually live in Algeria However many Algerians still want to be independent Algerians use guerilla warfare and terrorist tactics French respond with torture electric shock etc Civil war lasts for almost 10 years Suez Crisis French believe Algerians were receiving aid from Nasser Britain and France wanted Nasser out of Egypt Conspired with Israelis to get rid of him Israel would invade Egypt while British and French would pretend to step in as peacekeepers and in the process they would get Nasser out nobody is convinced by this plan US is furious because Britain and France went against them and hurt them economically in return Britain and France humiliated VIII Cold War Empires Fidel Castro Cuba was part of USA s sphere of influence since 1898 Regime rule in cuba was corrupt Castro swept into power in 1959 with anti American tone because US backed the previous corrupt regime Castro embraced Soviets as their protection Failed Bay of Pigs invasion to try to overthrow Castro Ho Chi Minh Declared independence from France by reading American Dec of Independence Marginally a communist however Americans refused to allow Indochina to go communist pumped a ton of into preventing communism US steps in to try to promote peace Divided Vietnam Northern led by Ho Chi Minh Southern backed by US IX Winds of Change Loss of india made British refocus efforts to Africa British says they have been tutoring these nations so they would eventually let them be independent commonwealth of Britain French said in 1960 that any country can choose to be part of the French community and any other can choose to be independent only Guinea chose to be independent apartheid South Africa sovereign part of Britain X Conclusion Following the Second World War decolonization became a pressing issue The violence or peacefulness of this process was due to a combination of the value of the colony to the Imperial state the existence of organized nationalist forces and the willingness of the colonial peoples to continue cooperation The ultimate goal of decolonization was to maintain some form of influence and or connection with the former colonial territory Where this could be achieved peacefully it was done so but where antipathetic forces existed warfare ensued An added complication was the areas with white settler populations who had different agendas from the Imperial metropole As the Cold War deepened however anti colonial movements were sucked into the conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union This meant that what were in essence wars of liberation came to be seen through the lens of communist expansion and were thus resisted by the United