Decolonization
Teacher Resources
Driving Question: How were the Cold War and decolonization entangled?
After the Second World War, colonized people began winning their independence and established their own nations. Many of these new countries faced the difficult decision of aligning with either the United States, the Soviet Union, or trying to be non-aligned. Sometimes, the decision was forced upon them.
- Examine the end of empire and decolonization efforts around the world and how these were intertwined with the Cold War.
- Use the historical thinking skill of comparison to examine decolonization efforts in various regions including the participation of women in different African nations.
- Work on informal writing skills as you revisit and answer the Unit Problems.
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Guiding Questions
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Note: For more detailed directions on completing the three close reads below, refer to the Three Close Reads – Introduction activity.
Skim
Before you read, you should quickly skim the article, by looking at the headings of each section and the charts. Read the questions below as well, so you know what to look for when you read!
Key Ideas
- Why was there so much bloodshed in South Asia in the late 1940s, and how did the British government try to contain the violence?
- How did the partition of South Asia influence the Cold War in that region?
- How did the United States try to contain communism in Latin America? Where did they fail?
- Why was the United States so interested in preventing communism in the former Belgian Congo?
Evaluate
- This article points out that the United States frequently intervened during the Cold War to stop socialist reformers in many places. Why do you think that communist and socialist ideas were so appealing to so many people in the newly independent nations of Asia, Africa, and Latin America?
Resisting Colonialism: Through a Ghanaian Lens
Key Ideas
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Guiding Questions
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Before you watch
Before you watch the video, it’s a good idea to open and skim the video transcript. And always read the questions below so you know what to look and listen for as you watch!
While you watch
- What did Ghanaian historian A. Adu Boahen mean when he said, “Independence was not given on a silver platter but won by blood”?
- Who was Yaa Asantewaa, and what did she do that made her famous?
- What was the Golden Stool of Asante? Why did the British want it? Did they get it in the end?
- Why, according to Tony Yeboah, was a lot of anti-colonial resistance actually aimed at chiefs and kings?
- What kind of resistance did the UGCC (United Gold Coast Convention) organize after the Second World War?
- Why did Ghanaian veterans, who had fought for Britain during the war, march in 1947, and what happened to them?
- What was Kwame Nkrumah’s strategy of positive action? Why was he such an effective leader, according to Tony Yeboah?
After you watch
- This video focuses on some big acts of resistance. Do you think these acts represent most common forms of resistance? If not, what is missing? If so, what evidence supports your argument?
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Guiding Questions
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Note: For more detailed directions on completing the three close reads below, refer to the Three Close Reads – Introduction activity.
Skim
Before you read, you should quickly skim the article, by looking at the headings of each section and the charts. Read the questions below as well, so you know what to look for when you read!
Key Ideas
- What was the necessary condition for a colonized people to end colonial rule? Why?
- What ideologies helped people resist colonial rule?
- How did anti-colonial struggles attempt to change the mindset of their colonizers? What regions were more successful?
- Which of these four nations engaged in violent struggles? Which attempted nonviolence? Were their outcomes different?
- What happened to the nationalist movements’ unity after achieving independence?
Evaluate
- All four of the nations compared in this article were successful at ending colonial rule and all are independent today. What do you think are the most important similarities among all four that help explain this success?
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Guiding Questions
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Note: For more detailed directions on completing the three close reads below, refer to the Three Close Reads – Introduction activity.
Skim
Before you read, you should quickly skim the article, by looking at the headings of each section and the charts. Read the questions below as well, so you know what to look for when you read!
Key Ideas
- Why did African women infrequently appear in official records kept during colonial rule?
- How did the roles for African women under European colonial rule differ from women’s roles in pre-colonial societies?
- What was the role of “warrant chiefs”? How did colonial rulers create a new structure of authority in Nigerian communities? Why do you think they did this?
- Why did European rulers force African women to stick to the boundaries of mothers, wives, and home keepers? How might the pre-colonial roles of women in African society have undermined colonial authority?
- How did Egyptian women respond when the anti-colonial party led by Saad Zaghlul was forced into exile?
Evaluate
- Historian Rachael Hill makes the claim that “women suffered more under colonial rule than men.” What evidence does the author provide for this statement? Review what you already know about gender expectations and the changing role of women through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in considering Hill’s thesis?
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Guiding Questions
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Note: For more detailed directions on completing the three close reads below, refer to the Three Close Reads – Introduction activity.
Skim
Before you read, you should quickly skim the article, by looking at the headings of each section and the charts. Read the questions below as well, so you know what to look for when you read!
Key Ideas
- What were some regional confrontations that were also Cold War battles between 1945 and 1990?
- What were some colonies that gained independence before 1960?
- Why was 1960 called “the year of Africa”?
- What are two ways in which the Cold War and decolonization were entangled?
- On what basis do some historians argue that both superpowers were building empires of their own?
Evaluate
- Focusing on individual struggles for independence tells a very different story than does highlighting how all these individual struggles are part of a global Cold War confrontation. What are the advantages of looking at each struggle independently? What are some advantages of looking at the bigger pattern?
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Guiding Questions
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Note: For more detailed directions on completing the three close reads below, refer to the Three Close Reads – Introduction activity.
Skim
Before you read, you should quickly skim the article, by looking at the headings of each section and the charts. Read the questions below as well, so you know what to look for when you read!
Key Ideas
- What was the Double-V campaign?
- How did Hitler view racism in America?
- What example does the author use as evidence for the influence of anti-colonial leaders on the civil rights movement?
- How did the connections between civil rights and decolonization create a foreign policy problem for the US government?
Evaluate
- To what extent does this article explain various reactions to existing power structures in the period after 1900?
- How does the information in this article about the civil rights movement support or challenge the narratives in this unit about connections between the Cold War and decolonization?
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Guiding Questions
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Note: For more detailed directions on completing the three close reads below, refer to the Three Close Reads – Introduction activity.
Skim
Before you read, you should quickly skim the article, by looking at the headings of each section and the charts. Read the questions below as well, so you know what to look for when you read!
Key Ideas
- What does the author mean when he describes the history of modern Latin America as a pendulum?
- How did the pendulum swing toward the left before World War II?
- How were Latin American politics radicalized after World War II?
- What is neoliberalism? Was it good for Latin America?
Evaluate
- The author of this article describes the changes in modern Latin America as swinging on a pendulum. Do you think the changes he describes could be classified as revolutions? Why or why not?
The Chinese Communist Revolution in a Global Perspective
Key Ideas
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Guiding Questions
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Before you watch
Before you watch the video, it’s a good idea to open and skim the video transcript. And always read the questions below so you know what to look and listen for as you watch!
While you watch
- What is the difference between liberal and social revolutions?
- What were the two parties that, during the 1920s and 1930s, sought to lead China, and what were their goals?
- What were the internal and external inspirations for the Chinese Communist Revolution?
- How did the Chinese Communist Party’s response to the Japanese occupation help them to win the revolution?
- Can we call the Chinese Communist Revolution part of an anticolonial struggle? Why or why not?
- What were the successes and failures of the revolution?
After you watch
- Consider the Chinese Communist Revolution alongside the earlier revolutions you’ve encountered. Which would you label social revolutions? Which were liberal political revolutions? Which were both?
- How does the Chinese Communist Revolution show the ways in which the Cold War and decolonization were intertwined?