 Colonies- reservoirs of raw materials, labor, and territory for future settlement.  significant development and European settlement in colonies was sporadic.  Greater settlement in Africa (East and South)  Colonies brutally exploited for natural and labor resources, and sometimes even for military conscripts COLONIZATION

 3 factors brought an end to an empire 1.War damaged economic and military status and maintaining a colony was extremely expensive 2.Many colonies had been under Japanese rule and colony troops fought them off-no more status quo ante bellum 3.Super powers wanted spheres of influence not colonies  Liberation Movements WHY DECOLONIZATION?

 Some areas, it was orderly  others, independence was achieved only after civil war.  Few newly independent countries acquired stable governments almost immediately  others ruled by dictators or military regimes for decades, or endured long civil wars.  Some powers welcomed new relationships with colonies others challenged liberation movements DECOLONIZATION

 WWII Japanese imperialism drove Europeans out  Post-war period nationalist movements led to the independence rather than status quo ante bellum  Indonesia and French Indochina= guerillas fighting Japanese after European defeat  Liberation movements often looked to the US for support NEW NATIONS IN SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST ASIA

 United States generally supported the concept of national self-determination  Ties to allies who had imperial claims to territory  Several NATO allies-colonial possessions provided them with economic and military strength  U.S. encouraged European powers to negotiate an early withdrawal from colonies.  The United States granted independence to the Philippines in  Fears would grow as European powers let go of their colonies communist governments would come to power US CONFLICTED

 Indonesian struggle for independence from the Netherlands (1945–50)  The First French Indochina War (1945– 54) Vietnamese vs. France  Malaya civil war and British involvement ( ) STRUGGLES IN SOUTH EAST ASIA

 New independent nations changed the balance of power within the United Nations.  1946: 35 member states  1970: 127 member states  New members had few characteristics in common with previous members  non-white  developing economies  internal problems from colonial past  suspicious of European-style governmental structures, political ideas, and economic institutions.  Advocates for decolonization UNITED NATIONS

 People of European descent fought against Indigenous Africans  Retain personal privileges, control of resources, and political power.  Race conflict- Portuguese colonies of Angola and Mozambique, the British colony of Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), and in South and Southwest Africa. THE STRUGGLE IN AFRICA

 Gold Coast (Ghana) autonomy in 1952 with Kwame Nkrumah, successful for 5 years =Independence 1957  Nigeria, multiple ethnic groups= conflict. Britain tried to implement federal government and in 1954 however this would fail as conflict would arise to civil war after independence in 1960  Kenya- Jomo Kenyatta demands independence. Mau Mau attacks 1952 pushing out white settlers. Independence 1963  Uganda- Tribal differences. Assumed they were fixed by British, granted independence Milton Obote  Idi Amin AFRICA

 New states suffered from  arbitrarily drawn borders  overdependence on export crops  lack of national road and railroad networks  Overpopulation DECOLONIZATION

 Decolonization occurred on a vast scale= dozens of new nations between 1945 and  Challenges  establish government while facing severe economic challenges CHALLENGES OF NATION BUILDING

 educational concerns:  language to teach  how to teach a sense of national unity  how to provide satisfying jobs for graduates  many nations opted for authoritarian rule because they were rarely able to overcome these challenges CHALLENGES OF NATION BUILDING

 1958 African colonies could choose independence or join the French Community  Guinea chose independence in 1958, all the other states followed in  Algeria finally received independence in 1962 after civil war ( ) FRANCE

 French, Algerian Muslims and French army  Nov 1 st 1954  FLN (Muslim rebels) vs. French army  Muslim population divided on whether Algeria should stay French  sent into camps  1956 Committee of Public Safety - Charles De Gaulle  New Constitution- equal rights. Movement towards independence  referendum vote  Pro-Gaulle's vs. Anti- Gaulle’s-tear gas bombs and grenades  1960 FLN burning cars, buildings, people. Demand provisional government (GPRA)  Algeria independence 1962 after yes vote. Mostly coming from France itself. ALGERIAN CONFLICT