 |  Traditions and Encounters, 2/e Jerry H. Bentley,
University of Hawai'i Herbert F. Ziegler,
University of Hawai'i
THE RETREAT FROM EMPIRE
Table of Contents- Independence in Asia
- India's "vivisection": partitioned independence
- Indian self-rule
- British finally willing to consider independence after WWII
- Muslim separatism grew; feared domination by Hindus
- Muslim League called a Day of Direct Action in 1946; rioting
left six thousand dead
- Partition of India and ensuing violence
- Gandhi condemned division of India as a "vivisection"
- Independent India, 1947, divided into Muslim Pakistan and Hindu
India
- Ten million refugees moved either to India or Pakistan; one
million died in migration
- Gandhi assassinated by a Hindu extremist, 30 January 1948
- Conflicts between India and Pakistan
- 1947, fought over province of Kashmir; Pakistan lost
- Pakistan allied with United States; India accepted aid from
both superpowers
- India and Pakistan stayed in British Commonwealth; English
was official language
- Nonalignment emerged as attractive alternative to a cold war alliance
- Indian prime minister Nehru favored policy of nonalignment,
the "third path"
- At Bandung Conference in Indonesia, 1955, twenty-nine nonaligned
nations met
- Movement lacked unity; many members sought aid from United
States or USSR
- Nationalist struggles in Vietnam
- Fighting the French
- Japan's invasion ended French rule; Ho Chi Minh declared independence
- France reasserted colonial rule, recaptured Saigon and south
Vietnam, 1945
- Retook north by bombing Hanoi and Haiphong; killed at least
ten thousand civilians
- Ho and followers (Viet Minh) conducted guerrilla warfare from
the countryside
- Aided by Communist China, Viet Minh defeated the French in
1954
- Geneva Conference and partial independence, 1954
- Vietnam temporarily divided, north and south, at 17th parallel
- South Vietnam's leaders delayed elections, feared communist
victory
- United States supported first the French, then the unpopular
government of South Vietnam
- North Vietnam received assistance from USSR and China
- Cold war stalemate
- Nationalist-communist (Viet Cong) attacks on government of
South Vietnam
- President Johnson launched bombing campaign, sent ground troops
in 1965
- U.S. troops were trapped in a quagmire; dragged on until 1973
- Arab national states and the problem of Palestine
- Arab states, except Palestine, gained independence after World
War II
- Zionist dream of a Jewish state in Palestine
- Zionism affirmed by Balfour Declaration, 1917, and Paris peace
talks
- Britain supported Zionist effort, but limited Jewish migrants
to Palestine
- Conflicts between Arab Palestinians and Jewish settlers, 1920s
and 1930s
- Arab Palestinians resisted both British rule and Jewish settlement
violently
- Increased Jewish migration to escape Nazis; armed for self-protection
- Independent Arab states opposed a Jewish state
- Creation of Israel
- Unable to resolve conflict, Britain turned Palestine question
over to UN, 1947
- UN proposed dividing into two states, Palestine and Israel;
Arabs opposed
- 1947, British withdrew, civil war broke out, Jews proclaimed
the state of Israel
- Egypt, Jordan, Syria, and Iraq declared war on Israel
- Israel achieved victory in 1949; claimed territories larger
than what was granted by UN plan
- Egypt and Arab nationalism
- Military leaders under Gamal A. Nasser seized power in 1952
- Nasser became prime minister, a leader of pan-Arab nationalism
- Egypt neutral in cold war, accepted aid from both powers
- Nasser dedicated to ending imperialism and destroying state
of Israel
- Suez crisis, 1956, greatly enhanced Nasser's prestige
- Canal controlled by Britain; Nasser nationalized it to build
Egypt's economy
- Attacked by British, French, and Israeli forces, which retook
canal
- Both superpowers condemned military action, forced them to
withdraw
- Suez crisis divided United States and its allies in western
Europe
- Decolonization in Africa
- Forcing the French out of north Africa
- France in Africa
- 1950s and 1960s, French granted independence to all its African
colonies except Algeria
- Two million French settlers in Algeria
- Revolt of May 1954 was repressed by French; eight thousand
Algerian Muslims died
- War in Algeria, 1954-1962
- Algerian nationalists pursued guerrilla warfare against French
rule
- By 1958, a half-million French soldiers were committed to the
conflict
- Atrocities on both sides; heavy civilian casualties; Algerian
independence, 1962
- Revolutionary writer Franz Fanon urged violence as weapon against
colonial racism
- Black African nationalism and independence
- Growth of African nationalism
- Began as grassroots protest against European imperialism
- African nationalism celebrated Negritude (blackness),
African roots
- Obstacles to African independence
- Imperial powers assumed Africans were not ready for self-government
- White settlers opposed black independence
- Anticommunist fears justified interference in African politics
- Economic and political instability often hampered postindependent
Africa
- Freedom and conflict in sub-Sahara Africa
- Ghana (Gold Coast) first to gain independence, 1957
- Kwame Nkrumah, nationalist leader, jailed and censored for
political actions
- Eventually released, Nkrumah became Ghana's first president,
1957
- Side-by-side posters presented Queen Elizabeth and Nkrumah
as equals, 1961
- Anticolonial rebellion in Kenya
- Violent clashes between native Kikuyu (Mau Mau) and European
settlers after 1947
- 1930s and 1940s, Kikuyu pushed off farm lands, reduced to wage
slaves
- Labeling Mau Mau as communist subversives, Britain gained U.S.
support
- Kikuyu uprising crushed by superior arms in 1955; twelve thousand
Africans killed
- Political parties legalized, 1959; Kenya gained independence,
1963
- After independence: long-term struggles in the postcolonial era
- Communism and democracy in Asia
- Mao reunified China under communism
- Great Leap Forward (1958--1961) was an effort to catch up with
industrial nations
- All land collectivized; farming and industry became communal
- Agricultural disaster; great famine followed, 1959--1962
- Great proletarian cultural revolution, 1966--1976
- To root out "revisionism," revitalize the revolutionary fervor
- Millions subjected to humiliation, persecution, and death
- Educated elites targeted; setback for Chinese education and
science
- Died out after Mao's death in 1976
- Deng's revolution
- Deng Xiaoping regained power in 1981; opened China to foreign
influence
- Welcomed economic, market reforms; remained politically authoritarian
- Crushed pro-democracy student demonstration in Tiananmen Square,
1989
- Hong Kong reverted to China in 1997: how to absorb democratic
city into China?
- Stable Indian democracy was exception to Asian pattern of authoritarian
rule
- Nehru's daughter, Indira Gandhi, was prime minister of India,
1966-1977, 1980-1984
- "Green revolution" dramatically increased agricultural yields
- Adopted harsh policy of birth control: involuntary sterilization;
voted out in 1977
- Reelected in 1980, but faced strong opposition from religious
and ethnic groups
- Crushed uprising of Sikhs; was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards
in 1984
- Her son Rajiv Gandhi was elected in 1985, but was assassinated
in 1991
- Islamic resurgence in southwest Asia and north Africa
- Muslim revival and Arab disunity
- Cold war split Arab-Muslim world; pan-Arab unity did not materialize
- Israel became a staunch ally of United States; many Arab-Islamic
states allied with USSR
- Israel defeated Egypt and Syria in 1967 and in 1973
- Egypt's president, Anwar Sadat, ended alliance with USSR in
1976
- Sadat signed peace treaty with Israel in 1980; was assassinated,
1981
- Palestine Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat and
Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin signed peace treaties in
1993-1995
- Islamism: revival of Muslim traditions
- Reasserting Islamic values in Muslim politics
- Resentment at European and American societies
- Extremists embraced jihad, or duty to defend Islam from
attack; justified terrorism
- The Iranian revolution, 1979
- CIA helped anticommunist Shah Mohammed Pahlavi gain power,
1953
- Repressive rule overthrown by Islamist followers of Ayatollah
Khomeini, 1979
- Khomeini attacked United States for support of the shah
- Militants held sixty-nine Americans hostage for 444 days; shut
down U.S. military bases
- Movement encouraged other Muslims to undertake terrorist actions
- Iran-Iraq war, 1980-1988
- Iraqi president Saddam Hussein launched attack on Iran in 1980
- War dragged on till 1988; killed one million soldiers
- Next, Iraqis invaded Kuwait in 1990, inciting Gulf War, 1991
- Politics and Economics in Latin America
- Mexico after the revolution of 1910-1920
- Liberal constitution of 1917 guaranteed land and liberty to
Mexico
- Subsoil assets claimed by Mexican government
- Redistribution of land to peasants by government legalized
- After 1930s, conservative governments dominated by Institutional
Revolutionary Party (PRI)
- Argentina: return to military rule
- Leader of Latin American struggle against U.S. and European
intervention
- Gradual shift to free elections, but often reverted to military
rulers
- Militarist Juan Pe_on was elected president, 1946; immensely
popular
- His wife, Eva P_on, was national heroine for her service to
the poor
- Pe_on ousted in 1955; three decades of military dictators followed
- Late 1970s, death squads conducted "dirty war" against dissidents
- Guatemala: destabilized
- Cold war shaped U.S. policies in Central America
- Guatemalan president Arbenz nationalized land held by United
Fruit Co., 1953
- CIA engineered overthrow of Arbenz and armed Colonel Castillo
Armas
- Castillo Armas established brutal military dictatorship; was
assassinated, 1957
- Nicaragua: American interference
- Somoza regime (1934-1980), brutal dictators but anticommunist
U.S. ally
- Overthrown by Marxist Sandinistas in 1980
- Carter administration did not interfere, restored Panama Canal
to Panama
- Reagan reversed policy; supported Contras, rebels opposed to
the Sandinistas
- Costa Rican president negotiated end to Contra war, new coalition
government
- Patterns of economic dependence in Latin America
- Need to reorient economies from export to internal development
- Raul Prebisch, Argentine economist, crafted theory of "economic
dependency"
- developed nations controlled world economy at expense of
undeveloped ones
- developing nations needed to protect domestic industries
- War and peace in sub-Saharan Africa
- Aftermath of decolonization
- Organization of African Unity was created in 1963 to maintain
peace and promote pan-African unity
- Artificial boundaries imposed by colonialism were ruled inviolable
- Ghana and many other states became one-party dictatorships
- Transformation of South Africa
- Gained independence in 1901, but denied civil rights to black
population
- South African economy strong, both mining and industry; prospered
during WWII
- Black workers demanded political change
- Apartheid: harsh legal system imposed in 1948, designed to keep
races separate
- 87 peercent of South African land was for white residents,
others classified by race
- African National Congress, led by Nelson Mandela, launched
campaign to protest apartheid
- Severe government repression provoked international opposition
after 1960
- Black agitation and international sanctions brought end to
apartheid in 1989
- 1994, under new constitution, Mandela won free election as
first black president
- Democratic Republic of Congo (Zaire)
- First prime minister, a Marxist, killed in a CIA-backed coup,
1961
- Dictator Mobutu ruled from 1965 to 1997; plundered Zaire's
economy
- Mobutu ruled Zaire in dictatorial fashion and amassed huge
personal fortune
- Lawrence Kabila ousted Mobutu in 1997, changed country's name
back to the Congo
- Kabila killed, 2001; replaced by his son Joseph; no elections
yet
- Developing economies of Africa
- Africa has 10 percent of world's population but less than 1
percent of industrial output
- Rich in minerals, raw materials, agricultural resources
- Lacking in capital, technology, foreign markets, and managerial
class
- Rapid population growth compounds problems
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