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unit 5: Fight for Independence

Vocabulary & Important People 1. Colonization: the act of colonizing; the establishment of colonies; a colony is a territory under the

immediate political control of another state. Within colonies, imperial power controlled all aspects of life, large numbers of Europeans settled in them, Europeans owned and controlled businesses while colonies provided the labour, and many locals became educated in western universities and served in colonialist’s militaries. Colonization declined drastically due to the four following factors:

Atlantic Charter: a published statement agreed between Britain and the United States of America off the coast of Newfoundland. It was intended as the blueprint for the postwar world after World War II, and turned out to be the foundation for many of the international agreements that currently shape the world; the charter basically said that countries should have the right to look after themselves if they would want to (India for the Indians, Vietnam for the Vietnamese, etc.). Even though Britain signed this charter, they wanted to keep their colonies, however eventually gave in.

Nationalist Movements: there were many large nationalist movements (Ex. Gandhi [Vocab #3] and Mandela [Vocab #4]) that put pressure on major countries to give territories back to the people who live there. Many who started these movements were educated in the West and heard all about how great democracy was. They demanded to receive the same rights, and they had fought and died for the colonialists in wars and felt they were owed independence.

Costs: it was extremely expensive to have a colony. Colonial powers had to keep military presence in colonies to keep the people in line and run governments there, and WWII had already drained European economy and they could no longer afford it.

International Opinion: many countries around the world pressured the world to get rid of their colonies for many reasons.

i. Opinion of the United States of America: the USA had had its own revolution from the British Empire in the 1700’s and was empathetic so the current struggle for independence around the world. Also, the USA saw potential in new international partners with independent countries with access to resources.

ii. Opinion of the Soviets: they had also experienced political revolutions and supported independence around the world.

iii. Opinions of many other European Countries: Africa had made tremendous contributions to small European countries in WWII, and they felt that for that they deserved independence. Liberalism grew throughout those areas. Also,

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post-war reconstruction was expensive, meaning few resources could even go to the colonies, so why keep them?

Colonies were created under the policy of imperialism because of the Three G’s:

Gold: Desire for natural resources and ready markets for finished goods.

Glory: Economic rivalry between European nations.

God: Notion of ‘racial superiority’ and desire to ‘civilize backward countries.’

2. Apartheid (Separateness): a policy or system of segregation or discrimination on grounds of race; a system of legal racial segregation enforced by the National Party government in South Africa between 1948 and 1994, under which the rights of the majority 'non-white' inhabitants of South Africa were curtailed and minority rule by white people was maintained.

3. Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948): political and spiritual leader during India's struggle with Great Britain (who had ruled for over 20 years) for home rule; an advocate of passive resistance. Gandhi studied law in Britain where he learned about Western democracy and civil rights. He returned to India in 1915 to share his blend of Indian and western political and religious beliefs. Although he never held government office, he was regarded as the country's supreme political and spiritual leader. Gandhi was assassinated by a Hindu following his agreement to the creation of the state of Pakistan.

Indian National Congress (INC): political party led by Gandhi that sought independence for India from British rule.

Passive Resistance: the practice of achieving socio-political goals through symbolic protests, civil disobedience, economic or political noncooperation, and other methods, without using violence. (ex. hunger strikes, protests, etc.)

Civil Disobedience: the act of breaking unfair laws in protest (ex. he led a march to illegally obtain salt).

India and WWII: Britain made a deal with India that, in exchange for assisting the Allies, they would receive full

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autonomy (independence). After the war, the British and the Muslim League wanted India to be broken up into separate states – the Hindus and the Muslims. The INC didn’t want this, as Gandhi wanted everyone to get along despite religious differences. However, in 1947, the Indian Independence Act was passed, partitioning the country.

Indian Independence Act: an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that partitioned British India into the two new independent dominions of India (primarily Hindu) and West and East Pakistan (Primarily Muslim); East Pakistan then became Bangladesh in 1971. Over 1 000 000 people died during their migration to their proper state.

The Indian-Pakistan Conflict: a religious and territorial conflict that still exists today between the two nations over areas of land, and over religious disputes. Because both countries have nuclear capabilities, this is considered a major threat to world peace.

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4. Nelson Rohilala Mandela (Nickname: Madiba): African leader who was imprisoned by the white government of South Africa (from 1964-1990) for trying to achieve fairness and equality for black people. In 1994, he became the first elected president of South Africa.

African National Congress: A South African political party and Black Nationalist organization. Having been banned by the South African government 1960–90, the ANC was victorious in the country's first democratic elections in 1994 and its leader, Nelson Mandela, became the country's president. After their success, they surprised the whites by welcoming them to stay in the country; Nelson Mandela preached the importance of forgiveness.

Apartheid in South Africa: although the country was freed from British and French rule (after the Boer War between the British and the Dutch from 1899-1902), there was still extreme racial segregation between Caucasians (whites) who had settled there and Africans (blacks) who lived there originally.

o Africans had to live in slums o Africans had no rights o Africans had to carry identification papers with them at all times o Africans could not mix with whites o Africans could not vote o Africans could not own businesses o Africans had sub-standard health care and schooling.

At first, like Gandhi, Mandela practiced passive resistance and civil disobedience; however, after hundreds of arrests and large shootings with high casualties on their peaceful protests, he realised that violence was needed. The protests became violent, and in 1964 Mandela was arrested for terrorism. This gave him international attention, and protests were organized all over the world, asking for the end of apartheid in South Africa and Mandela’s release from prison. The UN then passed a resolution to end all trade with the white government of South Africa, ruining their economy. Famous musicians (such as Bono) refused to play in Sun City, a white-only city in South Africa, and instead released a song opposing apartheid.

F.W. De Klerk: the last President of apartheid-era South Africa who played a role in ending the system of segregation. He released Mandela from prison in 1990, shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Mandela in 1993, and was Mandela’s Vice-President during his time in office. The fact that they shared office shows Mandela’s forgiveness and will to make peace with the whites, not punish them for what they had done (and eye for an eye makes the whole world go blind).

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5. Gamal Abdel Nasser: leader of Egypt starting in 1948. His efforts to achieve these goals led to the Suez Crisis.

Suez Canal: The Suez Canal provided a route from Europe to India without having to go around Africa. It was completed in 1869 and later treaties allowed ALL countries to use it. The British and the French were responsible for the canal – they designed and built it, and took the credit for it – however, Egyptians were the actual laborers in the build.

Suez Crisis: the birth of UN Peacekeeping; the conflict surrounding the control of the Suez Canal between the French/British and the Egyptians in the 1950’s. Many events led to the crisis:

i. Nasser’s Goals: He had three main goals for the country: (1)Create an independent Egypt that does not rely on the West; (2)Bring Arabs together into one nation; (3)Destroy Israel. To achieve these goals he needed money, which led to other events that led to the crisis.

ii. Nasser’s Deals: to become industrialized and independent, Nasser saw that the rebuilding of the Aswan dam was very important to the economy. To do this he needed a military and money. He made a deal with the Soviets in which he received arms (specifically from Czechoslovakia), and a deal with the USA in which they received funding. However, the USA backed out as they started to question Egypt’s opinion on Israel (a USA ally).

iii. Nasser’s Takeover: Losing the USA as a partner took the funding from Nasser, but still left him with arms, so he took over the Suez Canal. This was justified as it was in fact Egyptians who labored the build of the Canal – in all fairness, Britain and France should not have been controlling it.

iv. The Response: after Nasser took the canal from the French and British, they developed a scheme to take it back without damaging their reputation. They were allied with Israel, and therefore would make a deal with Israel to attack Egypt – France and Britain would then intervene as “peacemakers” and take back the canal to “keep the peace.” This outraged the United Nations, who voted to remove Britain and France from Egypt completely. Both countries vetoed the vote; however because of the United for Peace Resolution signed after WWII, this did not affect the outcome. Lester B. Pearson of Canada suggested that UN Peacekeeping forces be stationed at the canal to keep Israel and Egypt apart – these forces were there until 1967. To this day, Egypt has control of the canal and is running it smoothly

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– it has rebuilt their economy, as they are still battling extreme political problems

United for Peace Resolution: a resolution passed during Korean War vote in 1950; it states that in any cases where the members of the Security Council fails to act as required to maintain international peace and security, the General Assembly shall consider the matter immediately and may issue any recommendations it deems necessary in order to restore international peace and security. In short, if any of the big powerful countries backs out (vetoes) of making a decision, the rest of the UN can make the decision for them.