Decolonization Around the World
Driving Question: What role did the Cold War play in anticolonial movements in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia?
Revolution and global pressure pushed massive changes forward after World War II. This lesson features powerful voices of decolonization often left out of the story for a fuller view of the end of empire.
Learning Objectives:
- Use the historical thinking practice of comparison to examine how decolonization movements differed across various regions during the Cold War.
- Use evidence to evaluate how leaders and communities resisted colonial rule in the context of Cold War power struggles.
- Use a graphic biography to support, extend, or challenge the overarching narratives of this period.
Opener: Decolonization Around the World
Comparing Decolonization Struggles
By comparing cases like India, Vietnam, Nigeria, and Algeria, you’ll uncover how the global struggle between the United States and Soviet Union influenced local fights for independence—bringing both support and conflict to anticolonial movements.
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Guiding Questions
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Before you read
Preview the questions below, and then skim the article. Be sure to look at the section headings and any images.
While you read
Look for answers to these questions:
- Why did violence break out in South Asia in the late 1940s?
- How did the British try to manage the crisis during partition?
- How did the Cold War affect the region after South Asia’s independence?
- Why did the United States get involved in Latin America and the Congo during the Cold War?
- Where and why did US efforts to stop communism fail?
After you read
Respond to this question: Which course frame best explains why the Cold War shaped decolonization—and why?
Decolonization in the Middle East
As Cold War powers competed for influence in the Middle East, nationalist leaders like Nasser and Mossadegh faced new challenges and new opportunities to resist empire.
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Guiding Questions
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Before you read
Preview the questions below, and then skim the article. Be sure to look at the section headings and any images.
While you read
Look for answers to these questions:
- Which countries are part of the “Middle East”?
- What was the Sykes-Picot Agreement?
- Why was the Suez Canal so important to imperial powers?
- What did Nasser do that led to a military response from Britain, France, and Israel?
- What actions did Mossadegh take in Iran?
After you read
Respond to this question: Why do you think Nasser succeeded in nationalizing the Suez Canal while Mossadegh was overthrown?
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Guiding Questions
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Before you read
Preview the questions below, and then skim the article. Be sure to look at the section headings and any images.
While you read
Look for answers to these questions:
- How did oil shape the economies of many Middle Eastern countries?
- What role did foreign companies play in controlling oil production?
- How did oil wealth affect political power in countries like Iran and Saudi Arabia?
- What actions did OPEC take to influence global oil prices?
- How did oil become a tool in Cold War power struggles?
After you read
Respond to this question: How did control over oil empower some countries and leaders during decolonization while making others more vulnerable to outside influence?
Decolonization in India
Colonized people fought for independence through a variety of methods. Some chose violent revolt. Mohandas Gandhi, on the other hand, embraced a philosophy of nonviolence in the fight for India’s independence from Britain.
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Guiding Questions
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Before you read
Preview the questions below, and then skim the article. Be sure to look at the section headings and any images.
While you read
Look for answers to these questions:
- What is meant by an “imagined community”?
- What was Gandhi’s vision for a united India?
- Why was the Amritsar massacre a turning point for the Indian independence movement?
- What is satyagraha?
- How did community actions such as boycotts help challenge colonial rule?
After you read
Respond to these questions: How did Gandhi’s idea of an imagined nation inspire people to fight for independence? What do you think truly defines a nation?
Decolonization in Ghana
In Ghana, the fight for independence showed how local resistance and Cold War politics were connected. Learn how leaders and grassroots movements challenged colonial rule and shaped a new nation.
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Guiding Questions
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Before you watch
Preview the questions below, and then review the transcript.
While you watch
Look for answers to these questions:
- What did historian A. Adu Boahen mean when he said independence was “won by blood”?
- Who was Yaa Asantewaa, and what made her a symbol of resistance?
- What was the Golden Stool, and why did the British want it?
- Why was some resistance directed at local chiefs and kings?
- What roles did the UGCC and veterans play in postwar resistance?
After you watch
Respond to this question: Looking through the communities frame, what motivated resistance in Ghana?
Key Ideas
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Guiding Questions
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Before you read
Preview the questions below, and then skim the comic, paying attention to things like prominent colors, shapes, and types of text and fonts. How do you know where to start and in which direction to read? What’s in the gutters (the space between panels)? Who or what is the focus of the comic?
While you read
- Where was Kwame Nkrumah born?
- Why was Nkrumah’s education in Pennsylvania important?
- Why did Nkrumah believe it was important to support other independence movements?
- How did Nkrumah’s international work contribute to his overthrow?
- How does the artist show Nkrumah’s role in global anticolonialism?
After you read
Respond to this question: How does Nkrumah’s story support, extend, or challenge what you have learned about the Cold War and decolonization?
Closer: Decolonization Around the World
Coming Soon!
Writing: Cold War and Decolonization
These exercises will help you practice using historical sources to build a strong, evidence-based argument about the global impact of Cold War rivalries on independence movements.
Decolonization in India, East Asia, and the Caribbean
Colonized people fought for independence as Cold War rivalries complicated those struggles. In this section, you will see how leaders, revolutions, and wars were shaped by the global battle between capitalism and communism.
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Guiding Questions
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Before you watch
Preview the questions below, and then review the transcript.
While you watch
Look for answers to these questions:
- What was colonialism like in the Caribbean in the late twentieth century?
- Why did Castro turn to the Soviet Union after the Cuban Revolution?
- How did Puerto Ricans resist US territorial control?
- How has Puerto Rico’s territorial status impacted its people?
- How did Cuba’s revolution influence other Caribbean nations?
After you watch
Respond to this question: How did Cold War rivalries give people in the Caribbean both new opportunities and new challenges?
As the two superpowers struggled for control in Cuba, Puerto Rico, Colombia, and Central America, new leaders and movements sought to direct their nation’s future.
Key Ideas
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Guiding Questions
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Before you watch
Preview the questions below, and then review the transcript.
While you watch
Look for answers to these questions:
- What colonial-era events led to the Korean and Vietnam wars?
- Who were the main leaders on each side in Korea and Vietnam?
- What was one major similarity shared by these leaders?
- How was the Vietnam War both a decolonization struggle and a Cold War conflict?
- How was Korea’s experience with decolonization and the Cold War different from Vietnam’s?
After you watch
Respond to this question: Why do you think the United States built normal relations with Vietnam after the war, but remains hostile toward North Korea?
As Asian nations threw off the yoke of foreign colonial control and the Cold War intensified, wars in Korea and Vietnam reshaped East Asian politics.