Colonialism and Postwar Independence 1947
viceroys of India. Today it houses the National Library of India.
Colonialism and Postwar Independence 1947
Between 1945 and 1960, three dozen new states in Asia and Africa gained autonomy or complete independence from European colonists.
British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan Helps Start Decolonisation
There was no decolonisation process. In some areas it was peaceful and orderly. In many other regions, independence was achieved only after a protracted revolution. Some new and independent countries received a stable government almost immediately. Others have been dominated by dictators and juntas for decades, or have experienced long-term civil wars. Some European governments have welcomed new relationships with former colonies. Others fought militarily against decolonisation. The process of decolonisation was in line with the new Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States and the early development of the new United Nations. Decolonisation was often influenced by the competition of superpowers and had a clear impact on the development of that competition. It has also changed the pattern of international affairs more generally.
The creation of so many new nations, those that occupy strategic places, those that possess important natural resources, and the most desperately poor nations are the composition of the United Nations and the political complexity of every part of the world. Changed. From the mid to late 19th century, the great powers of Europe colonised most of Africa and Southeast Asia. For decades of imperialism, European industrial powers regarded Africa and the Asian continent as a regional reservoir for raw materials, labor, and future settlement. However, in most cases, significant developments and European settlements in these colonies were sporadic. However, the colonies were sometimes cruelly exploited for natural and labor resources, and sometimes even for conscription. In addition, the introduction of colonial rule delineates previously non-existent arbitrary natural boundaries, separates ethnic and linguistic groups and natural features, and has geographical, linguistic, ethnic, or political affinity. It laid the foundation for the creation of a large number of non-sexual states.
During World War II, Japan was itself a major empire power, expelling the European powers from Asia. After Japan surrendered in 1945, the local nationalist movement of the former Asian colonies insisted on independence rather than a return to European colonial rule. Often, like Indonesia and French Indochina, these nationalists were guerrilla fighters who fought the Japanese after the surrender of Europe, or were former members of colonial military installations. These independence movements often sought help from the US government.
The United States generally supported the concept of self-determination, but maintained strong ties with its European allies, who had an imperial claim to their former colonies. The Cold War only complicated the position of the United States. Because support for US decolonisation was hampered by the growing communism and US concerns about the Soviet Union’s strategic ambitions in Europe. Some of NATO’s allies claimed that their colonial rule gave them economic and military strength. Almost all European allies in the United States, after recovery from World War II, their colonies will eventually consolidate their colonies into Europe with a combination of manufactured raw materials and protected markets. I believed it would be offered. In any case, the option of slipping the colony into perhaps the US economy and other powers was unattractive to the European government, which was concerned about postwar stability. The US government did not put pressure on the issue, but encouraged European imperial forces to negotiate an early withdrawal from foreign colonies. The United States granted independence to the Philippines in 1946.
However, in the late 1940s and 1950s, the Cold War competition with the Soviet Union dominated US diplomatic policy concerns, and the Truman and Eisenhower administrations lost their colonies and became independent of the Soviet Union. I became worried that the Communist Party would gain power. New state. This could help shift the international balance of power in favor of the Soviet Union and deprive US allies of access to economic resources. Indonesia’s struggle for independence from the Netherlands (1945–50), Vietnam’s war against France (1945–54), hijacking of socialists who profess to be nationalists in Egypt (1952) and Iran (1951). The event intensified such fear. Governments that are not directly related to the Soviet Union have emerged. Thus, the United States has used aid packages, technical aid, and sometimes even military intervention to encourage newly independent Third World countries to take over a government that is consistent with the West. The Soviet Union has adopted similar tactics to encourage new nations to join the communist sphere, and communism has been newly decolonized as an essentially non-imperialist economic and political ideology. I tried to persuade the nations. Resisting the pressure of being drawn into the Cold War, many new nations participated in the “Non-Aligned Movement”, which was formed after the 1955 Bandung Conference and focused on internal development.
The newly independent nations that emerged in the 1950s and 1960s were important factors in changing the balance of power within the United Nations. In 1946, the United Nations had 35 member states. By 1970, the number of members had increased to 127 when new independent “Third World” countries joined the organisation. These new member states had some things in common. They are non-white, and emerging economies face internal problems that are the result of the past colonial era, which sometimes confronts them with European nations, questioning European governmental structure, political ideas and economic institutions. did. These countries also became defenders of the ongoing decolonisation voice, and as a result, the UN General Assembly often preceded the Security Council on the issue of autonomy and decolonisation. New nations have adopted a resolution of colonial independence to the United Nations, urging them to establish a special committee on colonialism, and some have continued to fight for independence, but in the eyes of the international community, It showed that the colonial era was nearing its end.
SEE ALSO:
No Man’s Land (1959);
Creation of the European Union (1993).
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