Effects of World War I: Document-Based Question

HOW DID WORLD WAR I AFFECT THE

COLONIZED POPULATIONS OF ASIA AND AFRICA?

Task: Using information from the documents and your own knowledge of world history, write
an essay in which identify and explain how World War I affected colonized peoples in Asia and
Africa. Be sure to include specific historical details. Your essay must also include additional
information from your knowledge of world history.

Remember, your essay must:

 Have a relevant thesis or claim that directly addresses all parts of the question 1 pt.
 Contextualize the argument by explaining broader historical development 1 pt.
 Utilize specific evidence and descriptions from SIX of the included documents 2 pts.
 Provide additional examples of historical evidence outside of the documents 1 pt.
 Analyze purpose, audience, context, or POV in THREE of the documents 1 pt.
 Demonstrate historical complexity by comparing and contrasting documents 1 pt.
 Document 1
Source: Sierra Leone Weekly, popular Sierra Leone newspaper focusing on the rights of colonial
Africans, March 8th, 1919.

After Africa's sons had shed their blood on the altar of liberty and after having experienced that
terrible plague called the influenza epidemic, are we not the same people? The South African
Natives Congress has decided to send a delegation to England to place before the Imperial
authorities the disabilities of which the coloured people complain. Liberia has asked for a place
in the Peace Conference. What is Sierra Leone doing? We have been sleeping too long. It is high
time we take up the world's work and cry - reconstruction!

Document 2
Source: Article 22 of the Covenant of the Treaty of Versailles, ratified June 1919.

To those colonies and territories which, as a consequence of the late war, have ceased to be
under the sovereignty of the States which formerly governed them and which are inhabited by
peoples not yet able to stand by themselves under the strenuous conditions of the modern world,
there should be applied the principle that the well-being and development of such peoples form a
sacred trust of civilization and that securities of this trust should be embodied in this Covenant.

The best method of giving practical effect to this principle is that the tutelage of such peoples
should be entrusted to advanced nations who, by reason of their resources, their experience, or
their geographical position can best undertake this responsibility, and who are willing to accept
it, and that this tutelage should be exercised by them as Mandatories on behalf of the League.

Document 3
Source: Amasya Circular, written by Turkish nationalist Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, declaring
Turkey’s independence from the Ottoman imperial government, June 1919.

The integrity of our motherland and the independence of our nation are in grave danger, but the
Istanbul government has not fulfilled its responsibilities. National independence will only be
preserved by decided and resolute action on the part of the nation itself. With this objective, a
national congress will be held in Sivas within the shortest period of time possible, to be attended
by three representatives from each [sancak]. Before this, however, a regional congress will meet
in Erzurum to organize the defense of eastern Anatolia.

Document 4
Source: King George V of the United Kingdom, on the passage of the Government of India Act
of 1919, which expanded participation of Indians in the government of India, December 1919.

The Acts of 1773 and 1784 were designed to establish a regular system of administration and
justice under the Horrible East India Company. The Act of 1833 opened the door for Indians to
public office and employment. The Act of 1858 transferred the administration from the Company
to the Crown and laid the foundations of public life which exist in India to-day. The Act of 1861
sowed the seed of representative institutions, and the seed was quickened into life by the Act of
1909. The Act which has now become law entrusts the elected representative of the people with
a definite share in the Government and points the way to full responsible Government hereafter.

Document 5
Source: Mohandas Gandhi, Indian nationalist and independence supporter, in an open letter to
Englishmen living in India, 1920.

No Indian has cooperated with the British Government more than I have for an unbroken period
of twenty-nine years of public life in the face of circumstances that might well have turned any
other man into a rebel. I did all this in the full belief that acts such as mine must gain my country
an equal status in the Empire. But the treachery of [Parliament] has completely shattered my
faith in the good intentions of the Government and the nation which is supporting it. You are in
search of a remedy to suppress this rising ebullition of national feeling. I venture to suggest to
you that the only way to suppress it is to remove the causes. You have yet the power. You can
repent of the wrongs done to Indians. You can compel the government to summon a conference
of the recognized leaders of the people elected by them and representing all shades of opinion.
 Document 6
Source: Map illustrating the political boundaries of the Middle East before and after WWI.

Document 7
Source: Jomo Kenyatta, Kenyan nationalist and freedom fighter, from his book Facing Mount
Kenya, 1936.

The African is conditioned, by the cultural and social institutions of centuries, to a freedom of
which Europe has little conception, and it is not in his nature to accept serfdom forever. He
realizes that he must fight unceasingly for his own complete emancipation; for without this he is
doomed to remain the prey of rival imperialisms, which in every successive year will drive their
fangs more deeply into his vitality and strength.