Making the Global Local: Comparing Decolonization in India, Vietnam, Nigeria, and Algeria

Decolonization began quickly and spread rapidly to many different places after the Second World War. There were many similarities among the diverse decolonization movements. For example, decolonization was achieved through the shared efforts of people who—for a time—set aside differences to achieve a common goal. Often, the people who achieved independence in one place helped those in other places. Still, each struggle was based on local conditions, and was therefore unique. In this article, we will briefly compare independence movements in India (1947), Vietnam (1954), Nigeria (1960), and Algeria (1962). These comparisons can help us understand the broader trends of decolonization globally. But these comparisons also remind us that even big, global stories are shaped by local people and their actions.

Nationalism and other ideologies of unity

Decolonization in India, Vietnam, Nigeria, and Algeria only succeeded because people in each colony worked together to reject their colonial rulers. This unity wasn’t the only factor in decolonization. But unity was the necessary condition to end colonial rule.

Unity was necessary because each colony contained different ethnic groups, political factions, and religious identities. For decades, colonial rulers pushed these groups to be rivals. Divided people are much easier to rule. Anti-colonial leaders understood that they had to develop an ideology that could unite these various groups against the colonizers.

Historically, the most common decolonizing ideology was nationalism. Promoting a nationalist ideology encouraged diverse communities to think of themselves as a single “nation” with a shared history, culture, and struggle. But nationalism wasn’t the only ideology used. Several independence movements combined nationalism with socialism or communism. Leaders encouraged colonized people to think of themselves as a unified “class” of peasants and workers, while the colonizers formed a ruling “class.” This approach often gained them the support of communist nations like China and the Soviet Union. Other ideologies included pan-Islamism, which allowed Muslims in one colony to create unity and gain support of Muslims in other former colonies. There was also Pan-Africanism, which tied together people across the continent of Africa in a unity of purpose.

In Nigeria, India, Vietnam, and Algeria, nationalism played a key role. Nigerian leaders came together in the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC) and the Action Group. They sought to overcome the many ethnic differences in Nigeria by stressing people’s shared ties to the land of Nigeria and by highlighting their cultural similarities rather than differences. In India, the Indian National Congress Movement, led by Mohandas K. Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, sought to unify people across religious divides. Gandhi championed the idea of a mass movement that united Indians while still celebrating their differences.

In both Algeria and Vietnam, socialism played a leading role in nationalist movements. In Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh and his Viet Minh movement first spoke of independence in terms of Western, liberal values but then quickly embraced communism instead. This change helped them gain allies in China and the Soviet Union. Communism also addressed the economic inequalities within Vietnam, which helped poor peasants. In Algeria, the main liberation movement—the Front de Libération National (FLN)—used socialism to convince poorly paid urban workers and rural peasants to unite as one class of people with a shared goal of independence against the colonial ruling class. In all four cases, the choice of ideologies was aimed as much at colonizers as it was at uniting colonized peoples.

Changing attitudes of the colonizers

At the end of the Second World War, neither Britain nor France expected to surrender their colonies. They planned to use taxes and profits from colonies like India and Algeria to rebuild their countries and economies after a devastating war.

India had been enriching Great Britain for centuries. But after the war, the British quickly realized they were no longer strong enough to rule in the face of a determined nationalist movement led by the India National Congress. In 1945, the British Labour Party came to power. They hoped that granting Indian independence would allow Britain to remain influential in the region. In the decades that followed, Britain’s government generally agreed to demands for colonial independence in other regions as well. Yet, they weren’t willing to accept just any decolonization leader. Instead, they tried to ensure the new rulers would be useful to them and to the West. This was the case in Nigeria, for example. The exception to this rule was where there were large numbers of white settlers. Britain tended to hold on to these colonies—such as Kenya and Rhodesia—longer.

The French were more reluctant to give in to nationalist movements, and this hesitancy influenced the course of decolonization in Algeria and Vietnam. At first, the French government refused to even consider independence. For example, they rejected Ho Chi Minh’s demand for independence for Vietnam in 1945. Then, once they realized that the independence movements were strong, the French tried to negotiate. They offered limited self-rule to keep the colony attached to France. In both Algeria and Vietnam, French reluctance resulted in bloody decolonizing conflicts.

Violent or peaceful movement

French reluctance to grant independence to their colonies meant that anti-colonial movements often turned to violent struggle. In Algeria, nationalists engaged in guerilla warfare, first in the countryside and then in the cities. The French responded with brutal tactics including the jailing of civilians, torture, and land seizure. Although the French achieved some military victories, their tactics angered the local population, uniting support behind the FLN. France’s tactics also turned its allies and the French public against the occupation. In 1962, the French electorate voted to end French rule in Algeria. But the numerous French settlers in Algeria didn’t like this idea. They tried to stop independence from happening and attempted to overthrow France’s own government. They were unsuccessful in both cases.

In Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh’s supporters managed to gain control by 1946. French forces attacked the city of Haiphong and then reoccupied Vietnam, launching a war that would last decades. As they began to lose this war, the French tried to install a friendly government under a ruler named Bao Dai. Few Vietnamese acknowledged him. After the Vietnamese defeated a French force at the battle of Dien Bien Phu, the French retreated to south Vietnam and called for help from their ally, the United States. After a war that lasted until 1975, Vietnamese forces finally liberated the entire country.

By contrast, both India and Nigeria decolonized largely through peaceful means. While India had its share of military resistance to colonialism, by the 1940s, Mohandas K. Gandhi’s principle of nonviolent resistance dominated the movement. Nonviolent tactics included boycotts, strikes, and peaceful marches. Gandhi’s strategy turned public opinion against the British and threatened British economic interests. By 1947, the Indian National Congress achieved success.

It took the independence movement in Nigeria longer to get going. But by the time it reached its height, the British recognized that they could no longer control this large country. Nigeria’s leaders led strikes and boycotts and used newspapers to spread their message. These tactics led the British government to agree to transition power to Nigerian leaders who they thought would remain friendly to Britain.

Post-independence unity?

Three of the colonies described in this article ended decolonization as unified countries. Successful decolonization depended on a diverse set of groups remaining united in the purpose of defeating the colonizers. Yet, after independence was achieved, many of these coalitions began to falter. In Nigeria, nationalist leaders struggled to balance the needs and power of many different ethnic groups. In 1967, a civil war broke out that led to immense suffering among the lgbo-speaking community. Three years later, the Nigerian government reunited the state. In Vietnam, many Catholics and ethnic minorities who supported the French and the United States fled the country. In Algeria, French and other European settlers also left. Still, those two former French colonies remained fairly unified and stable after decolonization.

India was a unique case. The unity of all Indians, so desired by Gandhi and many others, did not hold for long. In fact, in giving independence to India as a Hindu-majority state, the British also created the new Muslim-majority country of Pakistan (today’s Pakistan and Bangladesh). As these two countries became independent, the religious minority in each faced persecution and violence, with almost 2 million people killed. The partition, as the division of India and Pakistan was called, also led to the second-largest refugee migration in world history, as Muslims fled India for Pakistan while Hindus and Sikhs fled Pakistan for India.

Conclusion

In this article, you’ve learned about four of the most prominent stories of decolonization in world history. Each of these stories played out in its unique way, but there are important similarities linking them. What can we learn from this comparison? First, you’ve learned that ideologies such as nationalism and socialism provided a basis for unifying diverse groups behind the goal of independence. Second, you’ve seen how decolonizing movements changed the mindset of the colonizers, which could determine whether the road to independence would be peaceful or bloody. And finally, you’ve learned that, in the absence of a unifying enemy, some nationalist movements faced internal divisions after winning their independence.