Mada za sehemu hiiInfluence Of External Forces And The Rise Of Nationalism And The Struggle For IndependenceMada 3
- Impact of peace settlement (Versailles treaty 1919) after the first world war
- Pan Afracanism movement
- Impact of second world war and the subsequent change
The second world war
After World War I the world powers worked very hard to stop the occurrence of another great war. In 1920s several peace treaties were signed in an effort to strengthen relations among the European powers. It was however very difficult to create such relations because many European powers were dissatisfied with the conditions they found themselves in, so in the 1930, there was general aggression which worsened the relations between the powers thus culminating into the Second World War.
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The Versailles peace treaty. The terms of the treaty blamed German for being responsible for the outbreak of World War II. The allied powers occupied most of German territories and forced her to disarm. The war reparations made German to become bankrupt leading to inflation and wide spread of unemployment
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Hitler's ambition to restore German dominance in Europe contributed to the outbreak of World War II. He made it clear that German cannot become a world power without affecting another war. He demanded rearmament, of German and set out to assert German authority over smaller and weaker states which destabilized European peace.
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The rise of dictatorship. Dictatorship developed during the 1920 and 1930 which destroyed democratic rights. In Italy Mussolini founded the fascist party in 1919; he seized all political powers of the country and transformed the country into a totalitarian state.
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Introduction of the marshal plan. The marshal plan was a package of loans given to European countries to reconstruct their economies after the Second World War with the introduction of the marshal plan, the USA found herself getting more involved in European affairs.
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Formation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). This was a military alliance of the USA and most states of Western Europe formed in 1949. The organization committed to USA to defend Western Europe and in return those countries would support the USA. This scheme threatened to destroy the communist Russia.
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Formation of the Warsaw Pact. The Soviet Union response to NATO was the formation of the Warsaw pact in 1955 which brought all the soviet satellites into a military union. From the 1950's Europe remained a divide continent and a major theater of the cold war
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Formation of NAM. The Non Alignment Movement was a kind neutralism i.e. a policy of not aligning with any power block; it is therefore a free and independent policy whereby international issues are decided on merit. Loss of live. The World War II led to huge loss of lives because very many people, both soldiers and civilian were killed during the war.
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Massive unemployment. The war created massive unemployment. This was due to the return of the demobilized soldiers and prisoners of war who increased the demand of jobs.
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Change in the balance of power. The Second World War changed the balance of power in the world, it destroyed the economies of power such as France and Britain and contributed to the emergence of the United States of America and the union of soviet socialist republics as the world powers.
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Intensified exploitation. There was intensification of colonial exploitation of African resources so as to reconstruct their economies
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Increased state intervention. There was increased colonial state intervention in the production of raw materials and marketing of primary exports. Under peasant agriculture.
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Establishment of more processing industries. There was establishment of more processing industries to reduce the weight of raw materials so as to keep freight charges low to facilitate their exportation to Europe.
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Intensification of African nationalism. There was intensification of African nationalism because of returning African soldiers who came back with new ideas like the Europeans are not invincible. Independence.
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Introduction of American neo-colonialism. Due to the Second World War, the USA emerged as the leading capitalist power, but it had no colonies hence she introduced the open door policy whereby she put pressure on the European counties to grant independence to African countries.
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Loss of lives. The Second World War led to heavy losses of lives because many of the people who were taken to fight never returned back because they were killed on the battle fields.
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Collapse of the Italian imperialism. The Second World War contributed to the collapse of Italian imperialism in Africa. The defeat of the central powers where Italy was an active member forced her to lose her colonies of Libya and Eritrea.
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There was change in the mandatory status of former German colonies such as Tanganyika, Namibia, Rwanda and Burundi had become mandate states under the League of Nations organization, they became trusteeship territories.
The Second World War played a great role in the rise of African nationalism by doing the following
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Formation of UNO. The UNO was formed in 1945 with the main objective of maintaining peace in the world. The UN formed the trusteeship council which had to make sure all colonies gain their independence by using peaceful means. Tanganyika is one of the countries that benefited from UN because it was a trusteeship territory.
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Rise of the USA. After the World War II, USA emerged as a leading economic and political power. USA introduced the open door policy though which USA needed raw materials, markets and areas for investment from overseas hence her support for decolonization became paramount so as to have access to these needs in the colonies.
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Rise of the USSR. The Russia revolution that took place in 1917 contributed to the formation of the USSR. The union of soviet socialist republic became a leading socialist power in the world.
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Role played by the return of soldiers. The war widens the political horizon of Africans who were involved in the war. The Africans came to know the meaning of freedom and democracy. They knew now to use weapons and participate in struggle.
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The war weakened the colonial power. The World War II played a great role in the rise of African nationalism. It weakened the military and economic states of major powers such as Britain, France and German.
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Increased exploitation of African resources. It weakened the economic and military strength of major powers such as Britain, France and German. This poor condition for the European forced them to increase the exploitation of African resources so as to revamp the colonial economies.
The Manchester conference was inspired in the rise of African nationalism. This conference was inspired by the USA president Woodrow Wilson who declared the principle of self-determination. This was the first conference that demanded complete independence for the Africans. After the conference intellectuals went back to Africa to mobilize the people for independence instead of remaining in Europe.
The Bandung conference was opened in Bandung city on April 18th 1955. The conference comprised of 29 Asians and African nations. The presidents from Africa who attended this meeting were from Nigeria, Ghana, Libya, Egypt and Ethiopia. Many of the African of the African presidents who attended the conference were members of the non - aligned movement NAM. The Bandung conference demonstrated the determination of these nations to voice the independence of Africa in international affairs. It also declares that all forms of colonialism and its elements must be removed and called colonialists to give political independence to their colonies.
The Bandung conference influenced the development of nationalism in Africa in the following ways
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Encouragement of young freedom fighters. It encouraged young freedom fighters in Africa to fight for independence. The members at the conference realized that there were some European countries that were not ready to grant independence to their colonies hence the freedom fighters had to fight for independence.
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Educated the nationalists. It educated young nationalists on the tactics to be used in order to succeed to attain independence. Example they advised the nationalists to form political parties. Political parties would unite all the people and fight against one common enemy the colonialists.
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Provided a forum. The conference provided a forum where nationalists from Africa could get moral and material support from Asian states. The forum also made it possible for the African nationalists to meet and discuss strategies that can be used to attain independence.
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Advice It influenced nationalists not to take sides with any ideological camps of capitalism or socialism as the best way to achieve independence early. Siding with one camp would provoke hostile relations with other camp thus delaying the independence struggle.
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Reduced the influence of the USA and Russia. It reduced the support from Russia and USA since they were not defined on which ideology they will follow after regaining their independence. The two powers were ready to provide assistance to African nationalists because they wanted independent African states to follow their ideologies.
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Use of constitutional means. It influenced Africans to use constitutional means to fight for independence though in some colonies it failed. The constitutional method was possible mainly in British colonies which did not have settler economies, but in Portuguese colonies, force had to be applied.
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Unity The conference stressed the importance of unity among the Africans when fighting for their independence. Unity would make it possible for all Africans to join hands to fight against a common enemy.
The USSR adopted communism after the Bolshevik revolution of 1917 under the leadership of Lenin and Stalin. The strength of the USSR reached its climax after the Second World War which enabled it to consolidate and expand her communist ideology in the world. The USSR played a significant role in the rise of African nationalism.
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Ideological support. Many African nationalists adopted Marxist theory as a tool to fight and oppose capitalist exploitation and oppression. Karl Marx stated that it was possible to dismantle capitalism, this line of thinking inspired African nationalist movement to fight for independence.
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Alternative for capitalism. Socialism provided the alternative for capitalism as it clearly exposed the evils associated with capitalism which was characterized with exploitation and oppression of man. Providing an alternative to capitalism increased the momentum of the Africans to fight for independence.
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Material and moral support. The USSR provided material and, oral support to the African nationalist movements. It provided guns and uniforms and advice to the movements thus playing a vital role in the struggle for self-rule.
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Use of the VETO power. The USSR used her VETO power in the United Nations to help African nationalist counties. The Security Council was dominated by capitalist powers such as France, Britain and the USA who wanted colonial rule to stay in countries such as Angola and Mozambique so as to protect South Africa.
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Provided scholarships. The USSR provided scholarships to African nationalists to study in Russia. Studying in Russia led to political awareness among the nationalists and equipped them with the necessary tools to fight for self-rule and government.
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Establishment of class alliance. The USSR established class alliance with the revolutionary forces in Africa to end colonial rule. In Angola, Russia transported Cuban forces with the forces of the movement people's liberation of Angola to defeat UNITA and the fascist which enabled Angola to regain its independence in 1976.
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