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As we discussed earlier in the year, there were two competing forces in the world as we entered the Industrial revolution. You had Imperialism in places like Britain and France, of course, their empire was born from their Nationalistic fervor. Many of the colonies that they established sought to become nations of their own. This was Nationalism. Most of the wars of the 19th and 20th century were fought in the battle between existing or aspiring empires and the nations that sought to have their own identity.
Even before World War 2, many of the colonies of the big empires were seeking freedom. These movements were both peaceful and militaristic. The most obvious example is America itself who became an empire after winning independence from Britain.
However, after World War 2, there was a rapid and widespread movement towards decolonization. Many of the empires had been weakened by the war and even taking care of their homeland was a struggle. In this atmosphere, many of the colonies all over the world that had previously begun to rise up against their colonizers now gained their freedom.
One of Britain’s colonial holdings was the area of Palestine. This is still to this day one of the most contested areas of the planet. After the Holocaust, the Jewish Zionists and the world community were seeking to give the Israeli people their own home. Millions flooded into their ancestral homeland in Palestine and after Britain loosed their control of the area, they declared their independence. Obviously, you can see that this would be an issue for the Arab Palestinians that had lived there since before the fall of the Ottoman Empire.
While America always sought to help countries that were interested in following in the path of capitalistic democracy, not all countries go that way. In China, they had been struggling for independence since 1911 when they overthrew the Qing Dynasty and established the Republic of China.
However, they had a lot of difficulties along the way and after World War 2, they followed the path of their Communist neighbors in Russia. In 1949, Chinese Communist leader Mao Zedong declared the creation of the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
Reeling from the recent victory of Communist forces in the Chinese Civil War and the successful detonation of an atomic weapon by the Soviet Union. The U.S. National Security Council believed that the decline of the Western European powers and Japan following World War II had left the United States and the Soviet Union as the two dominant powers. They argued in the “NSC-68” that the Soviet Union was “animated by a new fanatic faith” antithetical to that of the United States, and was driven “to impose its absolute authority over the rest of the world.” Furthermore, they concluded that “violent and non-violent” conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union had become “endemic.”
Its authors argued that one of the most pressing threats confronting the United States was the “hostile design” of the Soviet Union. The authors concluded that, with the additional support of China, the Soviet threat would soon be greatly augmented by the addition of more weapons, including nuclear weapons, to the Soviet arsenal. They argued that the best course of action was to respond in kind with a massive build-up of the U.S. military and its weaponry.
Under these recommendations, the Truman Administration almost tripled defense spending as a percentage of the gross domestic product between 1950 and 1953 (from 5 to 14.2 percent). The Cold War was well underway and as these nationalistic uprisings continued into the 1950s, they became opportunities for proxy wars between Communist and Capitalist forces.
We’ve looked today at the decolonization and nationalism in India, Africa, the Middle-East and China. Is there anything surprising that you learned today or that you found interesting that you would like to learn more about?
I really liked learning about Palestine i had never heard about how the Jews and Arabs had bad blood for each other over land.
I wonder why nobody talks about it that much.
I was wondering the same thing
i would have to agree with Maria that I never knew the Jews and Arabs were out for blood, that was really neat to know and understand
I didn’t know that either Jack. It’s interesting how much we don’t know about our world’s history
i used to yell “Hot Magandi!” when i was little because i didn’t know how to pronounce it. Now that i’m learning about him i like him even more. trying to end fighting peacefully, gaining rights for women and spreading the idea of peace and education. all those are things i want to see happen so now i look up to him. id love to learn more about him.
Yeah, Ghandi was just like: Hey Britain! If you don’t get the hecc out of India, I’m going to starve myself in public 🙂
I was also surprised to learn that the Jews and Arabs had been fighting each other for years. I had no idea. I knew that there was conflict there, but I didn’t know that it was at that scale.
yea, I didn’t realize the extremity of that conflict
mohandas gandhi is a amazing character in history because he helps out india so much and also is creative.
He certainly doesn’t stick to the traditional route when it comes to uprisings.
I liked how a lot of countries gained independence after WW2, I would like to know more about what contributed to colonies gaining independence.
Truman tripled our military. Obviously there was never actually an invasion/major land offensive between Russia and the US, so what happened to those troops after the cold war? Did they stay in the military? Did that number of forces become the standard for America? How does the number of troops then compare to now?
Oh, you ain’t seen nothing yet.
I should say that Military spending and troop levels would never again reach the heights that Truman brought them to bring an end to World War 2. However, peacetime Defense spending during the Cold War was extremely high, as high as 15% as a percentage of GDP. Today that number is around 5%.
I’d like to learn more about five year plans, and how they affected different social classes. Obviously, the peasants got the short end of the stick in this model.
WOW! decolonization was a real thing! People saw their authorities weakened and were like bye bye! Whether thru war or any other means, they wanted liberty.
im with Maria and jack and whoever else I never knew that abt the jews and the Palestines
“Even before World War 2, many of the colonies of the big empires were seeking freedom. These movements were both peaceful and militaristic. The most obvious example is America itself who became an empire after winning independence from Britain.” How can something be both peaceful and militaristic? Militaristic means pursuing an aggressive military policy. These two things don’t really go together. Does it mean that they are militaristic at first but then when they gain their freedom it’s peaceful?
I meant that some like Gandhi in India was peaceful, whereas the Israeli independence was won through warfare.
I think it is interesting that so many nations wanted independence in the 1800s. I think they were completely fine up untill America introduced the new idea of revolting against such a great superpower like Brittian. America kind of proved that it was possible so other nations followed suit.
I feel like revolution is nessecarry for some areas, but how the america’s influenced almost the whole world is kinda crazy