Europe & the World:

Decolonization
What is Decolonization?
• Decolonization:
• Becoming free
(from colonial rule)

• Between WWI & WWII, several movements began

throughout Africa and Asia
• Empires were reluctant to let go of their colonies;
however, their colonial domination seemed at odds
with Allied goals during WWII
What is Decolonization?
• Between 1947 and
1962, virtually every
colony achieved
independence and
statehood
• BITTER & DIFFICULT process
• Ended the era of western domination
Decolonization: India
Decolonization: India
• World War I
• India provided troops
to the British army
• Promised Indian self-rule in return
• World War II Ends
• Self-rule was NOT GRANTED
• As a result, nationalism & demands for
independence increased
Decolonization: India
• 1920s
• Mohandas Gandhi
emerged as a leader
of the independence movement
• Urged Indians to use non-violent tactics in order to
achieve their goals
• Civil disobedience, peaceful protest, etc.
Decolonization: India
• 1935
• Great Britain granted India
limited self-rule, but not
total independence
• Self-rule created tensions between the Hindu
majority & the Muslim minority
Decolonization: India
• World War II
• Britain committed Indian
troops to the war effort
• Did not seek permission
from India’s self-governing assembly
• Led to an increasing number of protests and
renewed calls for independence
Decolonization: India
• World War II Ends

• Great Britain weak,

in debt & ready
to grant India its
freedom
• Problem?
• Violence between Hindus and Muslims made
granting independence difficult
• Possible solution?
Decolonization: India
• 1947
• Great Britain agreed to a
partition of India
• Granted independence to
two nations: INDIA & PAKISTAN
• During the partition
– 10 million people relocated
– Widespread violence
(1 million dead)
– Gandhi was assassinated in 1949
Decolonization: India
• At this point, India
became the world’s
LARGEST democratic
nation
• First Prime Minister
• Jawaharlal Nehru
• Emphasized democracy,
unity & modernization
Decolonization: Africa
 Decolonization: West Africa
• World War II Ends
• Colonial rule in Africa would have to end
• Unfortunately, little had been done to prepare the
colonies for self-rule
• 1950s & 1960s
• African colonies experienced decolonization and
gained independence
Decolonization: West Africa
• After World War II,
Great Britain allowed
Africans on the Gold
Coast to participate
in local self-
government
• DID NOT grant
independence
Decolonization: Africa
• 1947
• Kwame Nkrumah used
Gandhi’s non-violent
strategies to pressure
Great Britain for
independence
• Nkrumah supported Pan-
Africanism & hoped to create
a “United States of Africa”
Decolonization: Africa
• 1957
• After a decade of struggle,
GB finally granted the Gold
Coast independence
• The nation was
renamed Ghana
• Kwame Nkrumah was
elected president for
life…
• Problems?
 Decolonization: South Africa
• Unlike Ghana, demands for independence in
South Africa were led by white colonists
• 1931
• South Africa gained independence
• White Afrikaners gained power & created a
policy of apartheid
• Apartheid
• Laws that created strict racial segregation
between blacks and whites
Decolonization: South
Africa
• Black South Africans
protested apartheid and
violent riots often broke out
• Anti-Apartheid Leader
• Nelson Mandela
• 1964
• Mandela arrested
• Given a life sentence for
opposing apartheid laws
 Decolonization: South Africa
• 1990
• New South African President F.W. de Clerk
released Mandela
• The South African parliament repealed all
apartheid laws & announced the first multiracial
election
• 1994
• Nelson Mandela won the election and became
South Africa’s first black president