Decolonization European weakness and the rising nationalism of Asian and African peoples led to the end of European imperialism.

East Asia 1946 Philippines wins independence from the U.S India/Pakistan gain independence from Britain 1948 Sri Lank and Burma break from Britain 1949 Indonesia gains freedom from The Dutch 1949 Mao Zedong and his Communist Party win the Civil War versus US backed Chiang Kai- Shek’s Nationalist party. Mao eliminates foreign influence in China 1954 Vietnamese free themselves from the French

Middle East/North Africa 1944 Syria and Lebanon free from France 1947 Britain withdraws from Palestine 1948 Newly created United Nation partitions Palestine into a Jewish state and an Arab state 1952 Egypt under Gamal Nasser ends the pro- western monarchy and nationalized the Suez Canal 1962 Algeria breaks French in a violent fight for independence

Sub-Saharan Africa Most sub-Saharan Africa independence was achieved through negotiation Ghana gains independence from Britain 1958 Guinea gains independence and by 1960 France gives up its remaining African colonies 1960 Nigeria gains independence from Britain 1960 Congo gains independence from Belgium 1964 Kenya gains independence from Britain 1975 Angola and Mozambique gain independence from Portugal Critics argue that the Europeans simply replaced colonialism with neocolonialism to maintain Western economic domination, much as the United States had in Latin America after their independence.