The Start Of Decolonization
period 1, Maddi Pifer, Ariana Konhke, Sydney Walter
European Loss Of Colonial Power
Post World Wars, western colonial powers were discredited as superior races and it became hard for them to control subjugated people. Educated Africans and Asians started independence movements after being taught with nationalist undertones.
Independence Movements In India
the Indian National Congress was to originally increase the rights of India under their colonial rule and the Muslim League was established to protect Islamic rights. Despite their efforts to protest peacefully, it often ended in violence, enraging the population. The leader of these protests was Gandhi. His peaceful protests and boycotts is what started the civil disobedience of the us civil rights movements. While both the Hindus and Muslims wanted independence for India, there was growing tensions between them. Gandhi wanted unity among both religious groups, but the Muslim League wanted a separate Islamic state.
After Independence Was Won
Splitting Pakistan
The Jews And The Muslims
The Palestinian state was split in 1948 into two separate nations, one for the Muslims and one for the Jews. The jewish state, Israel, was attacked by the Muslims in other Arab countries, but quickly defended themselves with a great military and even gained control of regions populated by Muslims. They later regained their land and the conflicts between the Palestinians and Israelis continue to this day, mostly over the land in control of the Israelis, the West Banks, the Gaza Strip, and Golan Heights. No matter what steps were taken towards peace, it was never achieved because of multiple complications preventing it.
A Revolution In Iran
The shah started reforms involving land, education, and women's rights but didn't include anything with the political system. Many Muslims were angry with the reforms because they thought they were westernizing too much while others felt they weren't reforming enough. During the Iranian Revolution, the shah was overthrown and Iran went back to its original theocracy and the modernization of the nation was reversed to make it go back to the way it was. Today Iran is characterized by a power struggle between other powerful Islamic states.
Loads And Loads Of Oil
The Industrial Revolution was very successful in the Middle East because of the amount of oil they are sitting on top of. They had fuel that was needed by the majority of the industrializing nations and many of the countries in the Middle East were able to make a ton of money with their oil. The OPEC, Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, was organized by the exporting countries once they realized how much power they had.
Another Nation Seeking Independence
Africa was inspired by India to start the journey towards independence. They believed that if they were willing to die for their government then they should receive freedom. Although South Africa as independent and somewhat self-ruling, the black men still did not have the same rights as the white men did. While trying to push out the Europeans, they established the African National Congress which was similar to the Indian National Congress.African Nations along the Mediterranean were the next to seek independence. An Egyptian army general, Gamal Nasser, overthrew the Egyptian leader and helped to nationalize they industries. Below the Sahara, the people wanted independence but they knew that once they received it, they would not be able to maintain a stable society because they were too dependent on the Europeans for education. It was harder for these colonies to maintain order and to negotiate because they all had such diverse backgrounds. When claiming independence, nations such as Algeria, Angola, and Belgian Congo had to engage in war to do so and nations such as Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and Zimbabwe were able to negotiate without any major problems. Most of Africa was in the African Union (which replaced the Organization of African Unity or OAU). Efforts to balance the government resulted in civil wars and further corruption. Although many nations wanted to maintain a friendly relationship with Africa because they have many of the natural resources we use in our everyday life.