Chapter 35 Independence Movements

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• 35.1 - Indian Independence Movement
• 35.2 - African Under Colonial Domination
• 35.3 - Latin American Neo- Colonialism

Key Concepts

6.2.I.C. - After the end of World War II, some colonies negotiated their independence, while other colonies achieved independence through armed struggle.

• India from the British Empire

6.2.II - Emerging ideologies of anti-imperialism contributed to the dissolution of empires and the restructuring of states.

6.2.II.A - Nationalist leaders and parties in Asia and Africa challenged imperial rule.

• Indian National Congress

6.2.II.B - Regional, religious, and ethnic movements challenged both colonial rule and inherited imperial boundaries.

• The Muslim League in British India

6.2.III.A. - The redrawing of old colonial boundaries led to conflict as well as population displacement and/or resettlements, such as the partitioning of India and Pakistan and population displacements following the creation of the state of Israel.

6.2.V.A - Groups and individuals challenged the many wars of the century, and some promoted the practice of nonviolence as a way to bring about political change.

• Nonviolence: Mohandas Gandhi

35.2 - African Under Colonial Domination

SECTION OVERVIEW

The Great War and the Great Depression similarly complicated quests for national independence and unity in Africa. African contributions to the Great War and the wartime rhetoric of self-determination espoused by U.S. President Woodrow Wilson led some Africans to anticipate a different postwar world. The peacemakers in Paris, however, ignored African pleas for social and political reform. Rather than retreating, colonialism consolidated its hold on the African continent. In the decades following the peace settlement of 1919, the European powers focused on the economic exploitation of their colonies. The persistence of colonialism led to the development of African nationalism and the birth of embryonic nationalist movements. During the decades following the Great War, African intellectuals searched for new national identities and looked forward to the construction of nations devoid of European domination and exploitation.

35.3 - Latin American Neo- Colonialism

5.1.III.B. - The global nature of trade and production contributed to the proliferation of large scale transnational businesses that relied on various financial instruments.

• Transnational businesses: The United Fruit Company based in the U.S. and operating in Central America

5.2.I.E. - Industrialized states practiced neocolonialism in Latin America and economic imperialism in some parts of the world.

• Britain and the United States investing heavily in Latin America

6.2.II.D. - The Mexican Revolution arose in opposition to neocolonialism and economic imperialism, and movements to redistribute land and resources developed within states in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, sometimes advocating communism and socialism.

SECTION OVERVIEW

Having gained their independence in the nineteenth century, most sovereign nations in Latin America thereafter struggled to achieve political and economic stability in the midst of interference from foreign powers. The era of the Great War and the Great Depression proved crucial to solidifying and exposing to view the neocolonial structures that guided affairs in Latin America. Generally seen as an indirect and more subtle form of imperial control, neocolonialism usually took shape as foreign economic domination but did not exclude more typically imperial actions such as military intervention and political interference. In Central and South America, as well as in Mexico and the Caribbean, this new imperial influence came not from former colonial rulers in Spain and Portugal but, rather, from wealthy, industrial-capitalist powerhouses such as Great Britain and especially the United States. Neocolonialism impinged on the independent political and economic development of Latin American states, but it did not prevent nationalist leaders from devising strategies to combat the newfound imperialism.

Mexican Revolution

POWER SHIFTS IN MEXICO

• Mexico enters 20th Century as an independent nation
• Led by a dictator...Porfirio Diaz

RESULTS OF MEXICAN REVOLUTION

Established a democratic-based Constitution in 1917

• Goals were land redistribution, universal suffrage, and public education

Country stabilized under Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI)

• Formed in 1929
• Criticized as corrupt
• PRI dominated Mexican politics
• Until 2000, all presidents were PRI members

OVERALL IMPACT OF MEXICAN REVOLUTION

• Reshaped Mexican society
• Inspired other revolutions around the world to fight against oppressive regimes and social injustice
• Countries began to question how much foreign influence they would allow in their country