chapter 37 Flashcards
the end of empire
Who assassinated Mohandas K. Gandhi on January 30, 1948?
Nathuram Godse
What was Gandhi doing on the morning before he was assassinated?
drafting a new constitution for the Indian National Congress
In the decades after 1945 (the end of WWII), peoples in the colonial world fought tenaciously for independence and then for national unity, and by 1990 nationalist movements had swept away colonial rule and given birth to over how many new nations?
90
Peoples in former colonial worlds labored to build national identities, balancing their__________ against demands for _________.
traditions; development
The British people voted Churchill out of office and his conservative government was replaced with a _______ government more inclined to _______ the empire.
Labour; dismantle
Who was the leader of the Muslim League?
Muhammad Ali Jinnah
Who was a leader of the Congress Party that worked alongside Gandhi, urging all Indians to act and feel as one nation?
Jawaharlal Nehru
What is communalism?
emphasizing religious over national identity
- Gandhi and Nehru discouraged division amongst India by communalism
In August 1946, in the midst of negotiations with the British to reach terms regarding independence, the Muslim League called for what, leading to the Great Calcutta Killing, and further fueling communal feeling?
Day of Direct Action
What was the idea of the partition of India?
the division of India into separate Hindu and Muslim states
- violated the stated ideals of men like Gandhi and Nehru who sickened at the prospect of a divided and independent India
By mid-1948 how many refugees were estimated to have made the torturous journey to one state of India or the other?
ten million
- one million died in the violence that accompanied those massive human migrations
Explain the significance of India’s breakaway from the British empire, and what it meant for decolonization across the globe.
India was the crown jewel of the British empire, and its breakaway marked a significant turning point. Just as Gandhi’s nonviolent resistance to British rule inspired nationalists around the globe before and after WWII, independence in India and Pakistan further encouraged anti-imperialist movements throughout Asia and Africa.
In addition to being a leader of the Indian National Congress alongside Gandhi, who became one of the impassioned defenders of nonalignment?
Jawaharlal Nehru
Leaders of new African and Asian countries first discussed nonalignment at what conference?
Bandung Conference
- in April 1955, leaders from 23 Asian and 6 African nations met in Bandung, Indonesia
What were the purposes of the Bandung Conference?
- to meet to find a “third path”, an alternative to choosing either the United States or the Soviet Union
- stressed neutrality in the cold war - stressed the struggle against colonialism and racism
Who was an Indonesian president who proudly proclaimed the Bandung conference as “the first international conference of coloured peoples in the history of mankind”?
Achmad Sukarno
Bandung was the precursor of the broader _________ Movement, which held occasional meetings so that its members could discuss matters of common interest, particularly their relations with the United States and the Soviet Union.
Nonaligned
Was the Nonaligned Movement successful in its primary goal to maintain formal neutrality? Why or why not?
movement suffered from chronic lack of unity among its members and ultimately failed to present a genuinely united front
- theoretically nonaligned with either cold war superpower, but many member states had close ties with one or the other which caused dissension within the movement
What was the primary goal of the Nonaligned Movement?
to maintain formal neutrality
Who was Vietnam’s nationalist communist leader who had exploited wartime conditions to advance the cause of Vietnamese independence?
Ho Chi Minh (1890-1969)
Who conquered Vietnam and effectively ended French rule in the waning days of World War II?
Japan
Ho Chi Minh issued the Vietnamese Declaration of Independence which was modeled on what document?
US declaration
Humiliated by their country’s easy defeat and occupation by the Germans, the French sought to reclaim their world-power status by recapturing what Vietnamese city in 1945?
Saigon
Northern nationalist communists in Vietnam were organized under what name?
Viet Minh
Who was a Vietnamese general who led Vietnamese resistance forces alongside Ho Chi Minh to mount a campaign of guerilla warfare?
Vo Nguyen Giap (1912-2013)
Where did the Viet Minh defeat the French in 1954?
the French fortress in Dienbienphu
The peace conference held in Geneva in 1954 determined what about Vietnam?
Vietnam should be temporarily divided at the 17th parallel:
North Vietnam would be controlled by Ho Chi Minh and the communist forces
South Vietnam would remain in the hands of noncommunists
With whose support did South Vietnam avoid elections and sought to build a government that would prevent the spread of communism in South Vietnam and elsewhere in Asia?
the United States
Who was the first president of the Republic of (South) Vietnam?
Ngo Dinh Diem (1901-1963)
In 1960, Vietnamese nationalists formed what organization to fight for freedom from South Vietnamese rule?
National Liberation Front (NLF)
Which US president embarked on a course of action that exponentially increased US involvement with Vietnam (included ordering a bombing campaign against North Vietnam and sending US ground troops to augment the South Vietnamese army)?
Lyndon Johnson (1908-1973)
What was Richard Nixon’s strategy of Vietnamization?
turning the war over to the South Vietnamese: extended the war into Cambodia, resumed heavy bombing in North Vietnam, opened diplomatic channels to Soviet Union and China, hoping to get them to pressure North Vietnam into a negotiated end to the war
What year was Vietnam nationally reunified?
1976
What did the Vietnamese term the war against each other, but involving the US?
the “American War”
What was the Northern Vietnamese army/military known as?
Viet Cong
Before the war, Arab states agitated for concessions under the ________ system, which limited Arab nationalist aspirations after the Great War.
mandate
Which four Arab states had gained complete independence after the war?
Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, and Jordan
Why were imperialist superpowers drawn to/interferred with the region of the Arab states?
its vast reserves of oil (the lifeblood of the cold war’s military-industrial complexes)
Which European power served as the mandate power in Palestine after the Great War?
Great Britian
Using which document did the British government commit itself to the support of a homeland for Jews in Palestine?
Balfour Declaration of 1917
What three circumstances encouraged the British to allow Jewish migration to Palestine under their mandate>
- Zionist movement of returning to Jewish homeland
- Balfour Declaration
- Allies’ support for it at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919
How did tensions and conflicts spurred by World War II affect the migration of Jews to Palestine, and their relationship with surrounding Palestinian Arabs?
- Arab states in Palestine gained their freedom from imperial rule, and developed pan-Arab nationalism sparked by support for their fellow Arabs in Palestine and opposition to the possibility of a Jewish state there
- Holocaust along with British policy of limiting Jewish migration to Palestine intensified the Jewish commitment to build a state capable of defending the world’s remaining Jews
What two factors intensified the Jewish commitment to build a state capable of defending the world’s remaining Jews after WWII?
- the Holocaust
- British policy of limiting Jewish migration to Palestine
Whom did the British give up Palestine to in 1947, stating that they intend to withdraw from Palestine?
turned over the region to the newly created United Nations
- delegates to the UN General Assembly debated the idea of dividing Palestine into two states, one Arab and the other Jewish
What were the conflicting interests of Palestinian Arabs and Jews that caused the British to withdraw from the region in 1947?
Arabs: insisted on complete independence under Arab rule
Jews: embarked on a course of violent resistance to the British to compel recognition of Jewish demands for self-rule and open immigration
How did Arabs inside and outside Palestine react to the decision of the UN General Assembly to divide Palestine into two distinct states?
found the solution to be unacceptable and in late 1947, civil war broke out
- Arab and Jewish troops battled each other as the British completed their withdrawal from Palestine
What was the result of the civil war between Arab and Jewish troops in Palestine?
May 1948, Jews in Palestine proclaimed the creation of the independent state of Israel
What was the relationship between Israeli and Arab forces after Israel’s proclamation of statehood?
proclamation provoked a series of military conflicts between Israeli and various Arab forces spanning five decades
What was the result of the military conflicts between Israeli and Arab forces after the Israel’s proclamation of statehood?
result of those wars, Israel substantially increased the size of its territory beyond the original area granted to it by the original UN partition
thousands of Palestinians became refugees outside the state of Israel
What popular mass movement initiated a series of demonstrations, strikes, and riots against Israeli rule in the Gaza Strip and other occupied territories?
intifada
Under whose direction did Egyptian military leaders commit themselves to opposing Israel and taking command of the Arab world?
Gamal Abdel Nasser (1918-1970)
Whom did Gamal Abdel Nasser and other officers stage a bloodless coup to end the monarchy against in order to develop Egypt economically and militarily and make it the fountainhead of pan-Arab nationalism?
King Farouk
Whose policy was Gamal Abdel Nasser’s internationalist position similar to?
Nehru’s nonalignment policy
- Nasser’s neutralism, like Nehru’s, was based on the belief that cold war power politics were a new form of imperialism
- condemned states that joined with foreign powers in military alliances
What three nations did the Baghdad Pact include?
British- and US -inspired alliance that included Turkey, Iraq, and Iran
How did Nasser rid Egypt of any remaining imperial presence?
- destroying the state of Israel
- giving aid to the Algerians in their war against the French
- abolishing British military rights to the Suez Canal in 1954
What happened during the Suez crisis?
Nasser decided to nationalize the Suez Canal, and use the money it collected to finance construction of a massive dam of the Nile River
- British, French, and Israeli forces combined to wrest control of the canal away from him because Nasser did not allow it
- launched military campaign against him but failed on the diplomatic level, not consulting with the United States, forcing them to withdraw
How did the Suez crisis leave Nasser and Egypt in a dominant position in the Arab world?
gained tremendous prestige, solidifying position as leader of the charge against imperial holdovers in southwest Asia and north Africa
- successfully kept imperial powers from controlling Suez canal
What did the Suez crisis mean for the relationship between the US and its allies in western Europe?
further tangled cold war power politics, DIVIDING the US and its allies in western Europe
(US strongly condemned France and Britain’s attack on Egypt for control of the Suez canal)
What two powers supported Israel’s right to exist?
the United States and the Soviet Union
In what two African colonies was the process of decolonization especially violent because imperial rule had the support of European settlers?
Algeria and Kenya
In many instances, African nations symbolized and sealed their severance from _______ control by adopting new _____ that sunned the memory of European rule and drew from the glory of Africa’s past empires.
imperial; names
What are some examples of African countries that adopted new names to symbolize their severance from imperial control and drew on the glory of Africa’s past empires?
Ghana, Zambia, Malawi, Zimbabwe
What year was known as “the year of Africa”?
1960
Ironically, while France focused its efforts on Algeria, what other African territories did the French allow to gain their independence? How many specifically in 1960?
1956: Morocco, Tunisia
1960: thirteen French colonies in west and equatorial Africa won independence
What event touched off the Algerian revolt in May 1945?
French colonial police in the town of Sétif fired shots into a peaceful demonstration in support of Algerian and Arab nationalism
French repression + Algerian rioting = more than 8,000 Algerian Muslims died and about 100 French