HIST 1707 Lecture Notes - Kenya African Union, Algerian War, Kwame Nkrumah
7 Jul 2014
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Document Summary
Mid 70s, most of colonial world was liberated. Also was the peak of the cold war. Cold war played a role in the process of liberation in these former colonies. Decolonization was rushed, happened quickly, and complex. 3 main reasons for decolonization: colonial subjects wanted independence, wwii led to a decline in capacity of europeans to resist, european powers decided it was in their interests to let former colonies go. Political desire after wwii really surged to get out from under european thumb. Colonial subjects were furious at hypocrisy of european powers after the war. West put forward democratic rhetoric the whole time against spread fascism (saying they were evil), even though the experience of the colonies were horrible. Most european economies took a major hit after wwii, so they saw their colonies as important as rebuilding their economies. Further eroded any respect colonies had for european colonial masters.
