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Since the Age of Exploration, Europeans had been exerting their power and influence tar beyond their borders, After World War II, however, the situation changed. Most western European nations pulled back from (or were pushed out of) their involvements/ownership of land across the seas. Decolonization—The End of Imperialism During the height of empire building from the late nineteenth century to the outbreak of World War I, Europe had engaged in many imperialistic ventures. Beginning in 1945 the same nations that had so eagerly sought possessions lost these same territories until by 1965 hardly a colony remained. A new bloc of nations the Third World came into being. (The other two were the Communist bloc and the so-called free world or noncommunist countries) The Third World consists largely of non industrialized nations, most of them located in the Southern Hemisphere. The British Withdrawal - Britain with the largest empire, had the most to lose, and it did so gracefully for the most part. In the Middle East Transjordan (later Jordan) gained its independence in 1946, Two years afterward the British ended their mandate in Palestine, which became the nation of Israel. Arab counties in the region immediately went to war against the new Jewish state, but it successfully withstood their attacks —as it was to do several times in the next thirty years. Other Asian possessions that Britain relinquished after the war included Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and Burma both of which gained independence in 1948. One of the few British possessions left in the region was the important enclave of Hong Kong at the southern tip of the China mainland. In 2000 the British turned over Hong Kong to the Chinese government. Britain retained its African colonies somewhat longer (although Egypt had been self governing since 1922). Not until 1956 did Anglo Egyptian Sudan become independent, the first West African state to win its freedom was Ghana (formerly the Gold Coast) in 1957. The new state was regarded by many, as the first nation of black Africa to win independence. It inspired independence movements in Nigeria (free in 1960), Uganda (1962) and Tanzania (1961—1964) In two British African possessions, the struggle for freedom proved long and, bloody. Kenya was torn by guerrilla warfare for several years until its independence in 1963. Violence also caused havoc in Southern Rhodesia, for many years dominated by its white minority. Not until 1980 were full political rights guaranteed to blacks with the establishment of the nation of Zimbabwe. French Withdrawal - Decolonization was a more troublesome process for France than it was for Britain, The French relinquished their Middle Eastern possessions of Lebanon and Syria in 1946 and gave up their last four trading stations in India eight years later. French Indochina, however, was a different story) A Communist leader, Ho Chi Minh had established his authority in northern Vietnam right after the war, but France was unwilling to give up the south to his forces. In 1946 the two sides went to war. The puppet government installed by the French was unpopular, and French military forces finally with drew after suffering a humiliating defeat in 1954. The North continued to fight for reunification. The United States defended South Vietnam in the hope of keeping it independent and out of the hands of the Communists. United States involvement grew into a bloody war in the 1960s. In the next decade, United States troops were withdrawn, and the two parts of Vietnam were joined under Communist control. France had trouble in Africa too, It was unwilling to cede its control over Tunisia and Morocco, but did so in 1956 after guerrilla struggles. The major French military effort was in Algeria, which launched a war for independence in 1954. This region, with its large French population was not considered a colony but a part of France itself. The French government sent more than half a million troops to North Africa and the conflict was waged with great intensity. The Fourth Republic seemed unable to deal effectively with the Algerian crisis, For the Algerians and their sympathizers; its response was too repressive. For French settlers and other hardliners, it was not strong enough. When in 1958 a tough paratroop organization seemed about to seize France itself, the government was turned over to Charles de Gaulle, the wartime leader of the Free French. De Gaulle had been largely inactive in politics since 1945. Algeria was granted its independence and De Gaulle gave France a new Constitution, which it is currently under. Cold War Hot Spots—The Cold War had its effect on decolonization in that it sped up the superpowers trying to enhance their power and prestige by helping emerging nations. The Korean War -- After Japan’s defeat in 1945 its former protectorate Korea was divided supposedly impartially at the 38th parallel. The Soviet Union occupied the territory to the North while the United States occupied the south. The United Nations called for free elections throughout the country but the Soviets refused to allow a UN commission into the north, which became a Communist satellite. After UN supervised elections had been held in the south, the Republic of South Korea was established. The United States recognized this new government and gave it large amounts of economic and military aid. In June 1950 without warning, North Korea invaded South Korea. The United States assumed that this attack would not have taken place without the aid of the Soviet Union, and feared that the Chinese Communist regime might lend help as well. When the United States brought the issue before the United Nations, the Soviet Union was temporarily boycotting the organization, so the Security Council was able to vote aid to South Korea without risking a Russian veto. A UN force that eventually included troops of seventeen nations (the majority from the United States) was led by a United States general, Douglas MacArthur. Together with the South Korean army, UN troops drove the North Koreans back to the 38th parallel in September 1950, and then north of it. When this force approached the Yalu River at the China- Korea border, however, China entered the war on the side of the North Koreans. The UN army was forced south and almost out of Korea altogether.
In the Korean War, the United States demonstrated for the first time its willingness to use force in containing communist expansion. A UN fighting force successfully welded together troops from the United States, Britain and its allies, France, Greece, and the Benelux countries along with others from Asia and Africa. But the fact that the existence of nuclear weapons did not prevent the occurrence of a limited war was a sobering prospect for the world community. The Suez Crisis-- When the British pulled out of Egypt, they kept troops in the Suez Canal zone to guarantee the neutrality of the canal (They and the French still owned most shares in the Suez Canal Company, too.) After a revolution in Egypt had overthrown the king, Britain agreed to withdraw its forces in 1956. At this time, however, the Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser was negotiating for aid from both the United States and the Soviet Union. When the United States withdrew a sizable loan to build a dam across the Nile River Nasser responded by nationalizing the canal. Britain France, and Israel (whose ships had been denied use of the canal since 1950) attacked Egypt in the fall of 1956 seizing the whole Sinai Peninsula and bombing Egyptian airfields. While the Soviet Union backed Nasser, the United States did not go to the aid of its allies. Instead it urged a cease-fire through the UN. This was arranged late in the year, and Egypt agreed to pay an indemnity to canal company stockholders. It was not until 1975 however, that the canal was opened to all shipping on an unrestricted basis. The Cuban Missile Crisis - One of the most dangerous confrontations of the Cold War period involved Cuba. In 1959 a revolution led by Fidel Castro had overthrown the government of this island nation, Castro soon declared himself to be a Communist, and he formed a close military and economic alliance with the Soviet Union. American concern with this Communist bastion so close to its shores reached a peak in 1962 when it was revealed that the Russians were installing long range rockets on Cuban soil United States President John F. Kennedy demanded that the missiles be removed, and he instituted a naval ‘quarantine’ to inspect all ships sailing to and from Cuba. The situation was as tense and the world feared a war between the superpowers. Within a few days, however, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev agreed to dismantle the missile sites in return for a United States promise not to invade Cuba. |
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Assignment 9.06 - Europe and the World Beyond |
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You are going to submit a design proposal for a proposed Cold War Museum at the Smithsonian. Assume that you have ANY AND ALL items at your disposal to include in the museum. Include anything you desire that is relevant to your exhibition on the Cold War. For example, you may choose to include a full scale U2 Spy Plane. Creativity and accurate research are the essentials to a successful proposal, ALSO BE CREATIVE, USE YOUR IMAGINATION! Include any photos of your artifacts. Submit your design proposal using the following graphic organizer. The items below could become the “rooms” or the “exhibits” in the museum. Resize the table, as needed, in order to fit your artifacts.
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