African Independence Movements
After World War I,
many Africans
organized to end
colonial rule in their
countries.
African Independence Movements (cont.)
• Opposition to colonial rule escalated and
Africans became more politically active after
World War I.
• In Nigeria, resistance
was started by the
king of Lagos and the
educated Africans
who wanted a
democratic
government.
African Independence Movements (cont.)
• In Kenya, the British colonial government
took land from the black Africans
and gave it to white settlers.
African Independence Movements (cont.)
• Libya used guerrilla warfare against the
Italians to gain more freedoms.
African Independence Movements (cont.)
• W.E.B. Du Bois, an African American, led a
movement to make all Africans aware of
their heritage.
Marcus Garvey, a
Jamaican living in
Harlem, wanted to
unite all Africans
under a movement
called PanAfricanism.
African Independence Movements (cont.)
• Jomo Kenyatta was educated in Great
Britain and argued that colonial rule was
destroying the traditional cultures of the
peoples of Africa.
• Léopold Senghor was
educated in France,
wrote poetry about
African culture, and
organized an
independence movement
in Senegal.
African Independence Movements (cont.)
• Nnamdi Azikiwe of Nigeria started a
newspaper that urged nonviolence as a
method to gain independence.
Revolution in Asia
In the 1920s, the Comintern helped to
spread communism throughout Asia.
Revolution in Asia (cont.)
• By the end of 1920, almost every colonial
society in Asia had a Communist Party.
• Lenin and the Bolsheviks
proved that a revolutionary
Marxist party could overturn
an outdated system even in
the mostly agricultural nations
of Asia.
• Agents were trained in
Moscow and returned to their
own countries to form Marxist
parties.
Revolution in Asia (cont.)
• Ho Chi Minh trained in Moscow and
returned to French Indochina to organize the
Vietnamese Communists.
• In China, the Communist
party worked together with
the Nationalist Party to
fight against foreign
control.
• Most of the Communist
parties in the 1930s failed
to gain support among the
majority of the population.
Indian Independence
Mohandas Gandhi and Jawaharlal
Nehru led India’s independence
movement.
Indian Independence (cont.)
• Even before World War I, Mohandas
Gandhi was active in the Indian
independence movement. The Indian people
called him Mahatma, or India’s “Great Soul.”
• Gandhi organized
mass protests
against British law
using methods of
civil disobedience.
Indian Independence (cont.)
• In 1935 Britain passed the Government of
India Act, which created a two-house
parliament and granted the right to vote to
five million Indians. Two-thirds of the
parliament’s Indian members were to be
elected.
• The Indian National
Congress (INC)
originally fought for
reforms but later pushed
for full independence.
Indian Independence (cont.)
• Gandhi began a nonviolent campaign against
British laws by encouraging Indians to:
– Not pay their taxes
– Not send their children to Englishsupported schools
– Make their own cloth
– Harvest their own salt
– Boycott British-made goods
Indian Independence (cont.)
• The Indian independence movement
became divided and split into two paths:
− One group identified
with Gandhi, religion,
and tradition.
− The other group
identified with
Jawaharlal Nehru
and his secular,
Western, and modern
approach.
Indian Independence (cont.)
• Another division began to separate India when
Muslims became dissatisfied with the Hindudominated INC and created the Muslim
League.
A Militarist Japan
By the late 1920s, militant forces in
Japan were campaigning for an end to
peaceful policies.
A Militarist Japan (cont.)
• During the Meiji Era, Japan developed a
modern industrial and commercial sector.
• The four largest zaibatsu
controlled large percentages of
Japanese industries. Economic
inequalities existed as a result
of the zaibatsus’ concentration
of wealth.
• Rapid population growth, food
shortages, and the Great
Depression led to a wish to
return to traditional Japanese
values.
A Militarist Japan (cont.)
• Traditionalists opposed Western influence
and wanted Japan to use its own strength to
dominate Asia and meet its needs.
• In 1922 the United States
held a conference with other
Western nations and signed a
treaty recognizing the
territorial integrity of China
and maintaining the Open
Door policy.
• Japan agreed to the terms in
return for acceptance of its
control of southern
Manchuria.
A Militarist Japan (cont.)
• The Japanese government soon came under
pressure to find new sources for raw
materials abroad.
• Without government
approval, an extremist
group of army officers
invaded and eventually
conquered all of Manchuria.
• The government was soon
dominated by the military
and other supporters of
Japanese expansionism.
A Militarist Japan (cont.)
• Education and culture were
purged of Western ideas,
traditional values were
stressed, and all political
parties were merged into the
Imperial Rule Assistance
Association.
THE END of 18-2