Throughout the middle of the 1900’s, decolonization was flooding the globe. Many third world countries were growing tired of living in the shadow of the super powers of the world. The time of imperialism was ending and freedom of all states was on the rise. However, this freedom did not come without sacrifice due to the controlling empire’s refusal to let go. Many countries had bloodshed due to fighting for their freedom. However, some, such as the French, released countries without a fight (p. 23-24). As the super powers began to come across other issues, the colonized countries began to seek independence. An important ordeal that occurred during the twentieth century was the cold war. The cold war enhanced the will for decolonization by driving
The super powers were trying to stretch their beliefs to the rest of the world, especially the former colonized countries. The countries that choose to side with the Soviet Union were seen basically as victims of communism by the rest of the world. The Soviet Union were determined to spread Communism to countries around them and eventually the world. The United States made it their duty to stop this spread by interfering with the Soviet Union’s plans. For example, the Vietnam War, where the United States stepped in to aid South Vietnamese against Communism (p. 152). The United States feared the spread of this ideology to the point of sending soldiers to stop it from scattering out to smaller countries, South Vietnam in this case. However, the result was not victorious for the United States. Ben Bella compared the Vietnamese people to the Algerian people when it came to fighting for independence with a foreign power hovering over them (p. 155). Ben Bella was faced with many questions as to what would happen to the people with the influence of opposing powers of the cold war (p. 153-154). As people strived for their independence, the two sides that arose in the world following the cold war truly impacted the third world counties as they struggled to stand on their own feet. The struggle to influence the third world with two completely different ideologies only caused more conflict in the
After World War II, Europe emerged as a continent torn between two very different political ideologies, Communism and Democracy. As the two major superpowers, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the United States, struggled to defend their respective governmental policies, the European Continent was caught in an intrinsic struggle to preserve the autonomy which had taken so long to achieve. During the Cold War, Eastern European nations struggled to achieve autonomy with the help of the West's dedication to break the Soviet sphere of influence. After the disintegration of the USSR, the struggle for autonomy among nations shifted from an intense, inward, nationalistic struggle to break away from a superpower to a commitment of international unity and cooperation as nations began to take moral and political responsibility for their actions.
A war does not necessarily require physical weapons to fight. From 1947 to 1991, military tension and ideological conflicts held place. Cold War is defined as a state of political hostility existing between countries, characterized by threats, violent propaganda, subversive activities, and other measures short of open warfare, in particular. The causes of the Cold War between United States and the Soviet Union were the mutual distrust that had taken place in World War II, intense rivalry between the two super powers, and conflicting ideologies. The two superpowers differed in views of political and economic principles and were eager to spread their ideologies to other countries. The United States were in favor of democracy and capitalism while the Soviet Union sought for the chances of influencing communism. Cold War did not involve the use of physical arms but was intensely fought. Propaganda, economic aids, Arms Race, and the creation of alliances were the main methods to fight the war. The use of propaganda played a crucial role in containment by criticizing the other power and raised the morale and spirit of their nation. The economic support for nations helped them recover from the desperate situation after World War II, which prevented the nations from falling under communism. Also, the Arms Race and forming alliances between the two main powers were important weapons for competition and rivalry in Cold War.
Moving forward from the Industrial Revolutions, the course emphasized World War I, as a truly world-redefining war. Stromberg may argue that the First World War was devastating and then arbitrarily move on to the next period in history, which was the rise of Communism and Fascism, but through the lecture we see the connection. “Communism and Fascism were the two big movements out of WWI” (6/1). As the lecture explains, World War I produced many extremist ideas, and the reason for these extremist ideas was the problems the world identified inherently from the conditions it was left in after the war. The role of communism and fascism did not end here though, its impact continued until after the Second World War and led to giving fuel to decolonization. In isolation, we may treat the two wars as having impact on each nation individually, the truth is far from that, and many nations leaned on common ideas in order to decolonize. “Class, religion and race were all forms of identity that transcended national borders, and movements of national independence drew from international movements” (6/3). The highlighted idea being “international movements. From this we understand that the big story was that imperially ruled nations wanted to decolonize and start anew as independent world. The big story, is not, as Stromberg may have us believe that each nation, in isolation, worked on
The Cold War was a series of global conflicts connected by the common goal of self determination. The global war which spanned from the 1940s to the 1990s was not solely based on the differing ideologies of communism and capitalism, but rather stemmed from the opportunity after World War II to alter the international system. Countries like the USSR, US, and the global south engaged in conflicts in order to defend their self determination. During the Cold War period self determination could be described as having the ability to make independent decisions within the international system, such as by determining its own statehood, government, and treaties. In the first part of the Cold War, ranging
The Cold War was an ideological struggle between Soviet Union and Eastern Europe opposing the United States and Western Europe. Liberal democracy became the First World; it was capitalistic and democratic countries with United States leading these countries. Authoritarianism became the Second World, which were communistic and autocratic countries with the Soviet Union leading the Second World countries. Lastly, anti-colonialism became the Third World; it was less economically developed where poverty is more pronounced. This world was looking for a ‘third way.’ There were three patterns to find a ‘third way’ – decolonization: negotiated transfer of power, violence, and revolution. All of these three worlds were in competition for influence of the
Odd Arne Westad, Director of the Cold War Studies Centre at the London School of Economics and Political Science, explains how the Cold War “shaped the world we live in today — its politics, economics, and military affairs“ (Westad, The Global Cold War, 1). Furthermore, Westad continues, “ the globalization of the Cold War during the last century created foundations” for most of the historic conflicts we see today. The Cold War, asserts Westad, centers on how the Third World policies of the two twentieth-century superpowers — the United States and the Soviet Union — escalates to antipathy and conflict that in the end helped oust one world power while challenging the other. This supplies a universal understanding on the Cold War (Westad, The Global Cold War, 1).
The Cold War was a prolonged period of political and military tension between countries on the side of democracy and those on the side of communism, the major players being the United States belonging to the former and the Soviet Union belonging to the latter (Westad). While the Cold War was known as such because there were no direct wars between the two major powers, there was large scale fighting in Vietnam. The Vietnam War (1954-75) is thought of as a historical consequence of the Cold War and hence a proxy war between the socialist and capitalist blocs, although many historians provide a second perspective, which is that the war was simply a nationalist struggle for national independence and reunification. While the latter argument acknowledges that external factors played a part, it states that the deciding factor that led to the Vietnamese people fighting for their independence was their nationalism and patriotism (Marr). However, it is clear that from the moment after the Democratic Republic of Vietnam was recognized by communist powers China and Soviet Union and America’s subsequent direct intervention in the war in Vietnam that the Vietnam War was no longer a nationalist fight against the French colonialists’ re-conquest, but had become a part of the Cold War.
In the second half of the twentieth century, started a process of decolonization, first in Asia and then in Africa. In 1949, India was one of the first country to gain its independence, followed by Burma, Malaysia, and Ceylon. In Africa the decolonization started a few years later, first in Libya and Egypt, and in the rest of the continent afterwards. The main colonists were the Great Britain and France. The history has shown that Great Britain succeeded to decolonize generally in peace while France had much more problems to give up its colonies, which led to numerous conflicts opposing the colonists and the colonized. It has been the case especially in Algeria where a murderous war lasted almost eight years. The philosopher Frantz Fanon has studied the outbreak of this conflict as he was working in Algeria and he spent some time working on the question of colonialism, drawing the conclusion that violence was the only way to get rid of colonists. This essay will analyse who was Fanon and why he came to such a conclusion along with the reasons why it could be said that he is right ,and finally, the arguments against his statement. Finally, it will aim to prove that even though Fanon had valid points, diplomacy could have been for efficient and less tragic rather than his support to violence.
With the shock of two destructive world wars and then the creation of the United Nations, whose aim is to preserve peace, it is unconceivable for these two nations to fight directly in order to promote their own ideology. But the US and the USSR end up to be in competition in numerous ways, particularly in technological and industrial fields. In the same time they start to spread their influence over their former allies. This phenomenon have led to the creation of a bipolar world, divided in two powerful blocs surrounded by buffer zones, and to the beginning of what we call the Cold War because of the absence of direct conflicts between the two nations.
During the 20th century, the rise of communism sparked rage in people throughout the world. More towards the end of the 1900's the fall of communism and dictatorships was just the beginning of what would eventually be a large democratic change for several countries. 1989: Democratic Revolutions at the Cold War's End, speaks about the change brought to several different countries from the 1980's-1990's and plans to show "the global transformations that marked the end of the cold war and shaped the era in which we live"(Pg V). During the cold war, communist had power and control over a large area and spread communism throughout several continents. This book specifically hits on six different studies of where communism and dictatorship affected these areas and what they did to stop it. Poland, Philippines, Chile, South Africa, Ukraine, and China throughout the end of the 20th century created revolutionary movements which brought them all one step closer to freeing themselves and creating democratic change.
At the same time, the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics were involved in the Cold War. They were competing against one another, constantly trying to show that their country (and therefore their form of government and ideals) was the better choice. They were competing for influence over the rest of the world. Eventually the USSR and Communism lost, but far more important results came out of this competition instead.
The end of the Second World War marked the beginning of the end for the British and French empires. Due to its weakened positions and the emergence of two new ‘anti-colonial’ superpowers, Britain eventually lost its colonies in Africa, India, and her influence in the Middle East. France also lost its colonies in West and North Africa, as well as Indo-China. This period marked ‘the end not just of formal colonial rule, but of the era of European dominance, and of the very idea of empire’ The Second World War had left both countries in a very weak and vulnerable position, Britain being exhausted physically and France psychologically as well as physically after the humiliation of defeat and occupation by Nazi Germany, and their global standing severely weakened. With this, they had to face the challenge of maintaining authority over the colonial people who were increasingly opposed to domination by the European powers. After fighting alongside them to free countries under the Axis Powers control, the colonial people now wanted their own freedom. Although occurring over a similar time period and in similar regions, the two countries dealt with decolonisation very differently, with French decolonisation occurring much later and much less peaceful than British decolonisation.
The Cold War was a time between 1947 to 1991 in which tensions between two of the largest superpowers of the world were at an all time high: United State of America and the Soviet Union. The war never had a true battlefield between the two, but traces of each the superpowers could be found in many of the wars at the time directly or indirectly like: the Vietnam War, Korean War, and etc. Though the feud didn’t always happen on the battleground. The Soviet Union and United States faced off in expanding their power of their technology and economy at the time, which led to events like the Space Race, Nuclear Arms Race, and even globalization in the countries. Some of the new technologies like computers, space shuffles, and satellites were just some
After the tragic events of World War II, the Cold War represented how the two superpowers were in a fight in order to gain more territory. The Soviet Union wanted European countries to abide by communism while the United States were trying to prevent the spread of communism and enforce democracy. However, the Soviets took control of the eastern half of Europe and the United States controlled the western side. Communism is a one-party dictatorship where the government controls economic and political decisions which is based on a five year plan. On the other hand, democracy is where the People elect the president and are protected under the rule of law. From 1947 to 1991, the cold war took in effect and led to decolonization, political and diplomatic confrontation, and armament race.
Smith, Tony. The End of the European Empire: Decolonization after World War II. Lexington, MA: Heath, 1975. Print.