CRISES IN CAPITALISM SYSTEM
You remember how the capitalist powers got into conflict BEFORE THE Berlin Conference (1884/85). They resolved their conflicts in their attempt to achieve their imperialist motives in colonizing other countries. Later, after the colonization and exploitation of the other countries, especially African countries, there happened great crises in the capitalist world that manifested themselves in conflicts and other political and economic problems.
The crises in the world capitalist system involved major conflicts and problems that faced it as they continued to exploit the colonies in Asia and Africa. The crises manifested themselves in three major events:
(a) The First world war
(b) The Great Depression
(c) The Second World war
All these events had impacts in Europe as well as Africa.
THE FIRST WORLD WAR (1914-1918)
CAUSES AND IMPACT ON AFRICA
The First World War was a war that existed for sour years involving the imperialist nation, notably Britain, Russia, and French (Triple Entente) against Germany, Italy and Austro-Hungary (Triple Alliance). The war started on 4th August 1914 to 11th November 1918.
1. LONG-TERM CAUSES
Most of the long-term causes of the WW1 had to do with the political and economic development following the Industrial revolution in Europe in the 10th Century. Some of the causes include:
1. Economic rivalries.
2. Colonial disputes.
3. Conflicting alliance systems.
4. Arms race.
5. Need for revenge.
6. Irreconcilable nationalist aspirations.
ECONOMIC RIVALRIES
Most of the major European capitalist powers had undergone the Industrial revolution towards the end of the 19th century, which called for the need of raw materials and external markets. This led to tariff wars and competition for markets in foreign lands. For example Italy and France wages tariff wars between 1888 and 1889. Russia and Germany had tariff wars between 1879 and 1894. Austria and Serbia had similar war between 1906 and 1910.
The most serious economic rivalry took place between Britain and Germany due to Germany’s extraordinary rapid industrialization in the late 19th century. Bt 1914 Germany was ahead Britain in the industrialization process. This caused strong competition between the two for overseas markets. The competition worsened the relationship between the two countries which contributed to international tension by stimulating competition in naval armaments. The long misunderstanding had a great force in sparking of the WW1 when the time came.
COLONIAL DISPUTES
Colonial rivalries and domestic difficulties caused disputes as the countries fought for additional colonies, particularly after the 1884 Berlin Conference. Each imperialist nation craved for more colonies for investment of surplus capital and markets for manufactured goods. The Germans entered the race for colonies after 1871 and thus they were latecomers compared to the other European powers like France and Britain. Germany became more aggressive in claiming for more colonies to match his growing economic strength. A living example of fierce dispute were the two crises in Morocco, in 1905/06 and 1911.
The first Moroccan Crisis (1905/06)
This began in 1904 when France and Britain agreed to settle their old disputes. France agreed to recognize the British occupation of Egypt while Britain agreed to let France occupy Morocco. Meanwhile Germany also had interests in Morocco. Kaizer of Germany went to Tangier, a Moroccan coastal town and assured the Moroccan Sultan that Germany would support his quest for independence. During the Algeciras Conference convened in January 1906 France, Russia and Britain took a united stand against Germany’s interests in Morocco. The Germans left the conference bitterly to seek for other means to foster their interests in Morocco.
The second Moroccan Crisis (1911)
After the Algeciras Conference, the French settled in Morocco against the wishes of the Sultan who wanted to collaborate with the Germans. The Sultan was replaced by another pro-France Sultan in 1908. In 1911 an uprising erupted in Morocco when the Moroccans rose against the new Sultan. France sent her forces to occupy fez, the capital of Morocco. Kaizer dispatched a gunboat named Puncher to the port of Algadir in Morocco, aiming at provoking a confrontation between Germany and France. The Algadir crisis was about to spark off a war, but the crisis was resolved when it was agreed that the Germans acquire a part of French Congo and surrender Morocco to the French. Despite the resolution, enmity still existed only to erupt later in the WW1.
CONFLICTING ALLIANCE SYSTEMS
The colonial rivalries among European nations led to the formation of alliance systems that were largely responsible for the WW1. These systems began in 1889 when Otto von Bismarck of Germany formed the Dual Alliance with Austria-Hungary as a defensive pact designed to protect Germany against France which aspired to recover Alsace and Lorraine provinces which had been annexed by Germany in 1870-71. Hungary Joined this pact as Russia was her traditional enemy.
In 1882 the Dual Alliance turned into a Triple Alliance when Italy joined it. Italy was needed protection from France due to serious conflicts between the two over the ownership of Tunis where eventually the French had the upper hand. The three countries forming the alliance pledged to support one another if any of them was attacked by another country that did not belong to the alliance.
In 1894 France and Russia formed the Franco-Russia Alliance, as both had colonial problems with Britain. They both also felt isolated by other European powers and thus they sensed vulnerability.
After the death of Queen Victoria of England in 1901, her successor Edward VII reconciled Britain with France and the two signed ‘Dual Entente’ (Entente is a French term that means “understanding”). Edward VII also entered an agreement with the Japanese in 1902 pledging to support Japan in case she was attacked by another power in the Far East.
In 1904, Russia joined the Dual Entente of France and Britain, which now became the Triple Entente.
The major conflict, therefore, was between the two conflicting groups, The Triple Alliance (Germany, Italy, and Austria-Hungary) and the Triple Entente (Britain, France, and Russia).
With the formation of these two opposing alliances world peace was threatened. Whenever a dispute arose the members of both blocs were forced to support their respective allies. When the time for the war came, the alliances were used to effect it.
ARMS RACE
Due to the hostilities that emerged between the European capitalist powers there came the need to build strong armies and navies in preparation for any possible war. The countries thus started the efforts to effect this armament build-up, with the major competition involving Britain and Germany. The Germans began to threaten the British naval supremacy which was then recognized as the most powerful force in the seas. The British strengthened their navy by building a new battle ship called Dreadnought in 1905. In response to this the Germans constructed similar battleships. This competition increased the suspicion and tension in Europe. When the time came, there was already the means to effect the WW1.
NEED FOR REVENGE
Some nations had lost their battles previously. France, for example, had lost Alsace and Lorraine provinces to Germany in 1871. The two provinces were very rich in coal and iron ore. Prior to 1871, France was renowned as a major land power. The defeat at the hands of a small country like Germany in 1871 was the most humiliating, as not only did it make the French lose the provinces but it also lowered their prestige. The French were thus waiting for the slightest provocation to go to war.
IRRECONCILABLE NATIONALIST ASPIRATIONS
There was also a surge of strong nationalist aspirations among minorities in Europe. For example, the ethnic French in the annexed provinces of Alsace and Lorraine remained unreconciled to the Germans’ rule of the territories. The Italian and Rumanian speakers within the Austro-Hungarian Empire aspired for their own independence. The Slavic peoples like Czechs, Slovaks, Poles, Slovenes, Croats and Serbs were also unhappy with Austro-Hungarian rule. The Serbs, in particular, wanted reunification with Serbia across the Danube river. The Slavs were supported by Russia, Britain and France. These nationalist desires increased tension and misunderstandings between the countries involves in their interests. When the time came, it was the proper opportunity to foster the aspirations.
The Balkans wars of 1912 also falls under this category of irreconcilable nationalist aspirations. By the end of 19th century, Turkey was so weak that she was regarded by other European powers as the ‘Sick Man of Europe’. As a result a section of the population in the Turkish Empire that comprised most of the Balkans and North Africa began to plot its collapse, especially because it was inefficient and corrupt. Among the forerunners of the movement against the Empire was the Young Turks movement that demanded a constitutional government modeled on western democracies. They also wanted to end hostilities between Muslims and Christians in the Empire.
As the movement gained more support, some of the demands were achieved, as when Bulgaria declared her Independence from Turkey.
Austria on the other hand had annexed two provinces from the empire, namely Bosnia and Herzegovina. This annexation annoyed the Serbians who felt that the provinces belonged to them. Consequently a new league made up of Greece, Serbia, Montenegro, and Bulgaria attacked Turkey in 1912. Turkey sued for peace when it became apparent that she was losing the war. The hostilities were therefore concluded by the Treaty of London.
Peace, however, was short-lived, as in 1913 the Second Balkan War broke out with the main adversaries being Bulgaria and Serbia over the ownership of Macedonia, which had been curved from Turkey in the Treaty of London. Serbia sought for allies among Greece and Turkey. As a result, Greece and Serbia acquired Macedonia while Turkey recaptured Adrianople which she had lost at the Treaty of London.
The major outcome of the Balkan Wars was that hostilities were accentuated in the former Turkish Empire, particularly between Serbia and Austria. This set one of the crucial the stages for the outbreak of WW1 in 1914.
2. SHORT-TERM (IMMEDIATE) CAUSE
Assassination in Sarajevo
On 28th June 1914, Francis Ferdinand – the heir to the Austrian throne – and his wife were assassinated in Sarajevo, the then capital of the annexed province of Bosnia. The murder was committed by a young Bosnian student called Gavrillo Princip, who was backed by a secret Serbian organization known as ‘Union of Death’, which was also popularly known as the Black hand.
The organization was founded in 1911 in Belgrade with the aim of realizing the national ideal (i.e. the union of all Serbs). The Serbian government, however, did not give the organization full support sisnce it was regarded as too radical and dangerously militant.
Following the assassination, the alliance systems began to operate. First, Germany quickly assured Austria-Hungary of its full support in any action that she would take. On 23rd July, Austria presented Serbia with a stiff ultimatum which contained the following demands:
1. An explanation for the assassination
2. Apologies to Austria-Hungary
3. Suppression of all anti-Austrian publications and organizations.
4. Participation of Austrian officials in the inquiry, including the judicial proceedings against those who committed the crime
The Serbians accepted all nearly all the terms but refused the demand that Austrian officials participate within Serbian territory in the investigation of the crime. As aresult, Austria declared war on Serbia on 28th July 1914.
Russia supported Serbia and went on to order full mobilization of her forces on 39th July. Germany in turn sent a twelve-hour ultimatum to Russia demanding that Russia stop her mobilization forthwith. When Russia showed no sign of response to the ultimatum, Germany declared war on Russia on 1st august 1914, and on France on 3rd August. Germany then went to invade Belgium on 4th August and, as a result, the British declared war against Germany.
In the meantime, many countries had joined either the Triple Alliance or the Triple Entente. For example Japan supported the Triple Entente, because she had an eye on German territories in the Far East. Soon, Italy was lured to the war after she was promised a share of the spoils by the Triple Entente. Other supporters of the Triple Entente were Belgium, Serbia and Montenegro.
Other countries supported the Triple Alliance. These included Turkey and Bulgaria.
By the support from more powers, the term “triple” lost its meaning, therefore, The Triple Alliance came to be called the Central Powers and the Triple Entente became the Allied Powers, or simply, the Allies.
The full war erupted vigorously with each side striving to subdue the other.
FACTORS THAT LED THE WAR TO SPREAD WORLD-WIDE
A number of factors led to the war to spread worldwide. There are general factors as well as specific factors:
General factors
1. More imperialist motives to control as many areas of the world as possible.
2. The alliance systems attracted many world countries to join either side.
3. The countries that were dissatisfied in one way or another were forced to side with either of the antagonistic group
4. Nationalist aspirations were growing in many countries, thus they sought assistance from either the Central Powers or the Allied.
5. Some countries just felt unsafe, thus to ensure their safety they were compelled by circumstances to side with one of the antagonistic groups.
6. Each antagonistic group had to seek for strategic areas for their forces, thus looking for strategic war areas made the Central Powers and the Allies to disperse to different places of the world.
7. Some countries were involved in wars because war victims were also forced to seek refuge in their countries, making the war a global chaos.
8. Some solutions to crises caused in war-torn areas had to be sought from other relatively unaffected areas.
Specific factors
In specific factors for the war to spread worldwide, each country decided to participate in the war for its own specific motive. Following are some specific motives behind different nations of the world to be involved in the war.
1. Russia participated because she wanted to keep Austria-Hungary out of the Balkans.
2. Britain participated because she was leading the Triple entente to foster her interests against other capitalist nations like Germany.
3. French participated mainly because she wanted to recover her provinces of Alsace and Lorraine which were annexed by Germany.
4. Japan wanted German colonies in the Far East.
5. China participated because she wanted to get rid of unfair treaties imposed on her in the past by imperialist powers.
6. Germany participated mainly because he wanted more colonies to meet her growing economic needs after being highly industrialized.
7. U.S.A participated in the war because she took it as a good opportunity to punish Germany because Germany had attacked her ship called Lusitania off the coast of Ireland.
8. Africa participated in the war because most of it was under the control of imperialists, thus many African countries had to receive orders from their colonial masters, thus the Africans were unwillingly conscripted in the war.
The First World War became a global phenomenon because many countries participated willingly for their own planned motives, while many other countries had to be part of it unwillingly.
End of the War
Germany and his allies accepted defeat. The Austria-Hungary Empire was the first to collapse. In Germany the soldiers began a mutiny. Kaiser, the German leader, was deserted by his generals. Eventually he fled to Holland. The democratic and socialist politicians declared Germany a republic. This group of allies had met the supreme commander of the Allied forces, Ferdinand Foch on 7th November 1918. Ferdinand placed stiff terms on Germany, including withdrawal of Germany from all occupied territories including overseas colonies. The allies also wanted the Germans to surrender his warships to the allies, among other things. The Germans had to succumb to the demands of the allies, and they bitterly signed an armistice on 9th November 1918. The war came to an end on 11th November 1918, with the Allies emerging victorious.
Most of the results of the war were negative. Briefly the results were:
· Many people died. In total, over 13 million people are believed to have died in the war.
· Many people contracted diseases, including venereal disease, cholera and influenza.
· There was mass starvation as production of food crops was highly affected.
· Property of immense value was destroyed (cities, schools, factories, railways, bridges etc.)
· Huge sums of money were spent on the purchase of war related equipments.
· The USA emerged as the leading world power, because her economy was still intact.
· The war altered some boundaries in Europe and some other parts of the world.
· Europe’s domination of colonies overseas started facing challenges as many Indians and Africans who participated in the war returned home with revolutionary ideas.
· The League of Nation was formed.
· The art of surgery advanced significantly due to many casualties requiring operation.
· The use of motor vehicles and aircraft became widespread.
You remember how the capitalist powers got into conflict BEFORE THE Berlin Conference (1884/85). They resolved their conflicts in their attempt to achieve their imperialist motives in colonizing other countries. Later, after the colonization and exploitation of the other countries, especially African countries, there happened great crises in the capitalist world that manifested themselves in conflicts and other political and economic problems.
The crises in the world capitalist system involved major conflicts and problems that faced it as they continued to exploit the colonies in Asia and Africa. The crises manifested themselves in three major events:
(a) The First world war
(b) The Great Depression
(c) The Second World war
All these events had impacts in Europe as well as Africa.
THE FIRST WORLD WAR (1914-1918)
CAUSES AND IMPACT ON AFRICA
The First World War was a war that existed for sour years involving the imperialist nation, notably Britain, Russia, and French (Triple Entente) against Germany, Italy and Austro-Hungary (Triple Alliance). The war started on 4th August 1914 to 11th November 1918.
1. LONG-TERM CAUSES
Most of the long-term causes of the WW1 had to do with the political and economic development following the Industrial revolution in Europe in the 10th Century. Some of the causes include:
1. Economic rivalries.
2. Colonial disputes.
3. Conflicting alliance systems.
4. Arms race.
5. Need for revenge.
6. Irreconcilable nationalist aspirations.
ECONOMIC RIVALRIES
Most of the major European capitalist powers had undergone the Industrial revolution towards the end of the 19th century, which called for the need of raw materials and external markets. This led to tariff wars and competition for markets in foreign lands. For example Italy and France wages tariff wars between 1888 and 1889. Russia and Germany had tariff wars between 1879 and 1894. Austria and Serbia had similar war between 1906 and 1910.
The most serious economic rivalry took place between Britain and Germany due to Germany’s extraordinary rapid industrialization in the late 19th century. Bt 1914 Germany was ahead Britain in the industrialization process. This caused strong competition between the two for overseas markets. The competition worsened the relationship between the two countries which contributed to international tension by stimulating competition in naval armaments. The long misunderstanding had a great force in sparking of the WW1 when the time came.
COLONIAL DISPUTES
Colonial rivalries and domestic difficulties caused disputes as the countries fought for additional colonies, particularly after the 1884 Berlin Conference. Each imperialist nation craved for more colonies for investment of surplus capital and markets for manufactured goods. The Germans entered the race for colonies after 1871 and thus they were latecomers compared to the other European powers like France and Britain. Germany became more aggressive in claiming for more colonies to match his growing economic strength. A living example of fierce dispute were the two crises in Morocco, in 1905/06 and 1911.
The first Moroccan Crisis (1905/06)
This began in 1904 when France and Britain agreed to settle their old disputes. France agreed to recognize the British occupation of Egypt while Britain agreed to let France occupy Morocco. Meanwhile Germany also had interests in Morocco. Kaizer of Germany went to Tangier, a Moroccan coastal town and assured the Moroccan Sultan that Germany would support his quest for independence. During the Algeciras Conference convened in January 1906 France, Russia and Britain took a united stand against Germany’s interests in Morocco. The Germans left the conference bitterly to seek for other means to foster their interests in Morocco.
The second Moroccan Crisis (1911)
After the Algeciras Conference, the French settled in Morocco against the wishes of the Sultan who wanted to collaborate with the Germans. The Sultan was replaced by another pro-France Sultan in 1908. In 1911 an uprising erupted in Morocco when the Moroccans rose against the new Sultan. France sent her forces to occupy fez, the capital of Morocco. Kaizer dispatched a gunboat named Puncher to the port of Algadir in Morocco, aiming at provoking a confrontation between Germany and France. The Algadir crisis was about to spark off a war, but the crisis was resolved when it was agreed that the Germans acquire a part of French Congo and surrender Morocco to the French. Despite the resolution, enmity still existed only to erupt later in the WW1.
CONFLICTING ALLIANCE SYSTEMS
The colonial rivalries among European nations led to the formation of alliance systems that were largely responsible for the WW1. These systems began in 1889 when Otto von Bismarck of Germany formed the Dual Alliance with Austria-Hungary as a defensive pact designed to protect Germany against France which aspired to recover Alsace and Lorraine provinces which had been annexed by Germany in 1870-71. Hungary Joined this pact as Russia was her traditional enemy.
In 1882 the Dual Alliance turned into a Triple Alliance when Italy joined it. Italy was needed protection from France due to serious conflicts between the two over the ownership of Tunis where eventually the French had the upper hand. The three countries forming the alliance pledged to support one another if any of them was attacked by another country that did not belong to the alliance.
In 1894 France and Russia formed the Franco-Russia Alliance, as both had colonial problems with Britain. They both also felt isolated by other European powers and thus they sensed vulnerability.
After the death of Queen Victoria of England in 1901, her successor Edward VII reconciled Britain with France and the two signed ‘Dual Entente’ (Entente is a French term that means “understanding”). Edward VII also entered an agreement with the Japanese in 1902 pledging to support Japan in case she was attacked by another power in the Far East.
In 1904, Russia joined the Dual Entente of France and Britain, which now became the Triple Entente.
The major conflict, therefore, was between the two conflicting groups, The Triple Alliance (Germany, Italy, and Austria-Hungary) and the Triple Entente (Britain, France, and Russia).
With the formation of these two opposing alliances world peace was threatened. Whenever a dispute arose the members of both blocs were forced to support their respective allies. When the time for the war came, the alliances were used to effect it.
ARMS RACE
Due to the hostilities that emerged between the European capitalist powers there came the need to build strong armies and navies in preparation for any possible war. The countries thus started the efforts to effect this armament build-up, with the major competition involving Britain and Germany. The Germans began to threaten the British naval supremacy which was then recognized as the most powerful force in the seas. The British strengthened their navy by building a new battle ship called Dreadnought in 1905. In response to this the Germans constructed similar battleships. This competition increased the suspicion and tension in Europe. When the time came, there was already the means to effect the WW1.
NEED FOR REVENGE
Some nations had lost their battles previously. France, for example, had lost Alsace and Lorraine provinces to Germany in 1871. The two provinces were very rich in coal and iron ore. Prior to 1871, France was renowned as a major land power. The defeat at the hands of a small country like Germany in 1871 was the most humiliating, as not only did it make the French lose the provinces but it also lowered their prestige. The French were thus waiting for the slightest provocation to go to war.
IRRECONCILABLE NATIONALIST ASPIRATIONS
There was also a surge of strong nationalist aspirations among minorities in Europe. For example, the ethnic French in the annexed provinces of Alsace and Lorraine remained unreconciled to the Germans’ rule of the territories. The Italian and Rumanian speakers within the Austro-Hungarian Empire aspired for their own independence. The Slavic peoples like Czechs, Slovaks, Poles, Slovenes, Croats and Serbs were also unhappy with Austro-Hungarian rule. The Serbs, in particular, wanted reunification with Serbia across the Danube river. The Slavs were supported by Russia, Britain and France. These nationalist desires increased tension and misunderstandings between the countries involves in their interests. When the time came, it was the proper opportunity to foster the aspirations.
The Balkans wars of 1912 also falls under this category of irreconcilable nationalist aspirations. By the end of 19th century, Turkey was so weak that she was regarded by other European powers as the ‘Sick Man of Europe’. As a result a section of the population in the Turkish Empire that comprised most of the Balkans and North Africa began to plot its collapse, especially because it was inefficient and corrupt. Among the forerunners of the movement against the Empire was the Young Turks movement that demanded a constitutional government modeled on western democracies. They also wanted to end hostilities between Muslims and Christians in the Empire.
As the movement gained more support, some of the demands were achieved, as when Bulgaria declared her Independence from Turkey.
Austria on the other hand had annexed two provinces from the empire, namely Bosnia and Herzegovina. This annexation annoyed the Serbians who felt that the provinces belonged to them. Consequently a new league made up of Greece, Serbia, Montenegro, and Bulgaria attacked Turkey in 1912. Turkey sued for peace when it became apparent that she was losing the war. The hostilities were therefore concluded by the Treaty of London.
Peace, however, was short-lived, as in 1913 the Second Balkan War broke out with the main adversaries being Bulgaria and Serbia over the ownership of Macedonia, which had been curved from Turkey in the Treaty of London. Serbia sought for allies among Greece and Turkey. As a result, Greece and Serbia acquired Macedonia while Turkey recaptured Adrianople which she had lost at the Treaty of London.
The major outcome of the Balkan Wars was that hostilities were accentuated in the former Turkish Empire, particularly between Serbia and Austria. This set one of the crucial the stages for the outbreak of WW1 in 1914.
2. SHORT-TERM (IMMEDIATE) CAUSE
Assassination in Sarajevo
On 28th June 1914, Francis Ferdinand – the heir to the Austrian throne – and his wife were assassinated in Sarajevo, the then capital of the annexed province of Bosnia. The murder was committed by a young Bosnian student called Gavrillo Princip, who was backed by a secret Serbian organization known as ‘Union of Death’, which was also popularly known as the Black hand.
The organization was founded in 1911 in Belgrade with the aim of realizing the national ideal (i.e. the union of all Serbs). The Serbian government, however, did not give the organization full support sisnce it was regarded as too radical and dangerously militant.
Following the assassination, the alliance systems began to operate. First, Germany quickly assured Austria-Hungary of its full support in any action that she would take. On 23rd July, Austria presented Serbia with a stiff ultimatum which contained the following demands:
1. An explanation for the assassination
2. Apologies to Austria-Hungary
3. Suppression of all anti-Austrian publications and organizations.
4. Participation of Austrian officials in the inquiry, including the judicial proceedings against those who committed the crime
The Serbians accepted all nearly all the terms but refused the demand that Austrian officials participate within Serbian territory in the investigation of the crime. As aresult, Austria declared war on Serbia on 28th July 1914.
Russia supported Serbia and went on to order full mobilization of her forces on 39th July. Germany in turn sent a twelve-hour ultimatum to Russia demanding that Russia stop her mobilization forthwith. When Russia showed no sign of response to the ultimatum, Germany declared war on Russia on 1st august 1914, and on France on 3rd August. Germany then went to invade Belgium on 4th August and, as a result, the British declared war against Germany.
In the meantime, many countries had joined either the Triple Alliance or the Triple Entente. For example Japan supported the Triple Entente, because she had an eye on German territories in the Far East. Soon, Italy was lured to the war after she was promised a share of the spoils by the Triple Entente. Other supporters of the Triple Entente were Belgium, Serbia and Montenegro.
Other countries supported the Triple Alliance. These included Turkey and Bulgaria.
By the support from more powers, the term “triple” lost its meaning, therefore, The Triple Alliance came to be called the Central Powers and the Triple Entente became the Allied Powers, or simply, the Allies.
The full war erupted vigorously with each side striving to subdue the other.
FACTORS THAT LED THE WAR TO SPREAD WORLD-WIDE
A number of factors led to the war to spread worldwide. There are general factors as well as specific factors:
General factors
1. More imperialist motives to control as many areas of the world as possible.
2. The alliance systems attracted many world countries to join either side.
3. The countries that were dissatisfied in one way or another were forced to side with either of the antagonistic group
4. Nationalist aspirations were growing in many countries, thus they sought assistance from either the Central Powers or the Allied.
5. Some countries just felt unsafe, thus to ensure their safety they were compelled by circumstances to side with one of the antagonistic groups.
6. Each antagonistic group had to seek for strategic areas for their forces, thus looking for strategic war areas made the Central Powers and the Allies to disperse to different places of the world.
7. Some countries were involved in wars because war victims were also forced to seek refuge in their countries, making the war a global chaos.
8. Some solutions to crises caused in war-torn areas had to be sought from other relatively unaffected areas.
Specific factors
In specific factors for the war to spread worldwide, each country decided to participate in the war for its own specific motive. Following are some specific motives behind different nations of the world to be involved in the war.
1. Russia participated because she wanted to keep Austria-Hungary out of the Balkans.
2. Britain participated because she was leading the Triple entente to foster her interests against other capitalist nations like Germany.
3. French participated mainly because she wanted to recover her provinces of Alsace and Lorraine which were annexed by Germany.
4. Japan wanted German colonies in the Far East.
5. China participated because she wanted to get rid of unfair treaties imposed on her in the past by imperialist powers.
6. Germany participated mainly because he wanted more colonies to meet her growing economic needs after being highly industrialized.
7. U.S.A participated in the war because she took it as a good opportunity to punish Germany because Germany had attacked her ship called Lusitania off the coast of Ireland.
8. Africa participated in the war because most of it was under the control of imperialists, thus many African countries had to receive orders from their colonial masters, thus the Africans were unwillingly conscripted in the war.
The First World War became a global phenomenon because many countries participated willingly for their own planned motives, while many other countries had to be part of it unwillingly.
End of the War
Germany and his allies accepted defeat. The Austria-Hungary Empire was the first to collapse. In Germany the soldiers began a mutiny. Kaiser, the German leader, was deserted by his generals. Eventually he fled to Holland. The democratic and socialist politicians declared Germany a republic. This group of allies had met the supreme commander of the Allied forces, Ferdinand Foch on 7th November 1918. Ferdinand placed stiff terms on Germany, including withdrawal of Germany from all occupied territories including overseas colonies. The allies also wanted the Germans to surrender his warships to the allies, among other things. The Germans had to succumb to the demands of the allies, and they bitterly signed an armistice on 9th November 1918. The war came to an end on 11th November 1918, with the Allies emerging victorious.
Most of the results of the war were negative. Briefly the results were:
· Many people died. In total, over 13 million people are believed to have died in the war.
· Many people contracted diseases, including venereal disease, cholera and influenza.
· There was mass starvation as production of food crops was highly affected.
· Property of immense value was destroyed (cities, schools, factories, railways, bridges etc.)
· Huge sums of money were spent on the purchase of war related equipments.
· The USA emerged as the leading world power, because her economy was still intact.
· The war altered some boundaries in Europe and some other parts of the world.
· Europe’s domination of colonies overseas started facing challenges as many Indians and Africans who participated in the war returned home with revolutionary ideas.
· The League of Nation was formed.
· The art of surgery advanced significantly due to many casualties requiring operation.
· The use of motor vehicles and aircraft became widespread.
DECOLONIZATION THROUGH ARMED STRUGGLE
This subtopic has three specific objectives: The student should be able:
1. To explain the meaning of armed struggle.
2. To analyze the causes of armed struggle for independence.
3. To analyze the strengths, weaknesses and contribution of armed struggle towards the road t independence.
MEANING
Armed means using war weaponry.
Struggle in this context means a fight.
Armed struggle, therefore, refers to the state of waging war involving the coercive use of weapons.
Armed struggle was a method used by some African countries when Africans took up arms against the colonial governments, in a bid to fight for their independence.
Armed struggle took place in some British colonies like Zimbabwe, Namibia (a trusteeship territory) and Kenya, and in some French colonies like Algeria; but mostly in the Portuguese colonies such as Mozambique, Angola, Guinea Bissau, Cape Verde Islands, Dao Tome and Principe Islands.
SOME CASE STUDIES
MOZAMBIQUE
Africans in Mozambique started their anti-colonial moves early in 1920’s. Like in other countries the movements began as associations with the aim to reform colonialism and not to remove it. In 1920 there was Associacao Africano, founded to protect African rights.
In the early 1930’s another African movement which opposed the colonial rule was the Institute Negrofilo (The Institute of Negro Friends). It later changed its name to the Centro Associativo Dos Negros de Mozambique. This also was another kind of semi-political movement.
The sense of mass nationalism came after the WW2 in 1950’s. The Portuguese, however, placed a stubborn stand against political parties and trade unions. By 1960’s, it was obvious that unlike other colonialists, the Portuguese were not willing to prepare their colonies for independence. This is when the African nationalists resorted to the use of arms.
In 1952, the coalition of nationalist movements in exile formed a political organization called Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (FRELIMO), in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, under the leadership of Eduardo Mondlane. Mondlane was killed on 3rd February 1969 by using a parcel bomb, in Dar es Salaam, by supposedly his enemies.
In 1970’s FRELIMO was led by Samora Machel. FRELIMO was backed up by Tanzania in its armed struggle, and Tanzania was its main base of the struggle.
There was another leader called Lazaro Nkavandame who formed his organization called the Makonde African National Union (MANU) in 1968. This later changed to Mozambique African National Union. They fought for separate independence of the Makonde in Mozambique. Lazaro had to join FRELIMO for effective struggle.
The pressure the Portugal got from her allies to grant Mozambique her freedom, and from guerilla war waged by FRELIMO made the Portuguese agree to hold talks with FRELIMO in Lusaka, Zambia in September, 1974. It was agreed that Mozambique would become independent on 25th June, 1975.
A provisional government was formed with six ministers from FRELIMO and three from Portugal. Joachim Chisano was appointed the prime Minister and the Portuguese appointed a high commission to monitor the transitional government.
The Portuguese settlers tried to resist the independence move to no avail. Mozambique attained her independence eventually on 15th June, 1975, and Samora Machel was the President.
ANGOLA
Like Mozambique, Angola was also a Portuguese colony. The colonial oppression and exploitation led to the political struggle mainly after WW2. Before embarking on armed struggle, the Angolans tried constitutional means of forming political parties.
In 1955 the Angola Communist Party (P.C.A) was formed by elites against colonialism and aimed at protecting African culture and dignity.
In 1956 Partido de Luta dos Africanos de Angola (PLUA) after P.C.A joined with other radical groups. This party insisted on the struggle for independence.
In December, 1956 Movement Popular de Liberacao de Angola (MPLA) after merging PLAU with other smaller groups. The party advocated for universal suffrage and equal rights for all Africans regardless of race, ethnicity or creed. MPLA consisted of members from the privileged assimilados living in urban areas. It was led by Augustino Neto, and was highly supported by OAU and the Soviet Union.
In 1957 Uniao Das Populacaoes do Norte de Angola (UPNA) was formed to resist forced labour and struggled for the restoration of the Kingdom of Congo. It was largely supported by the Bakongo. Latr the party changed its name to Uniao Das Populacaoes de Angola (UPA) to struggle for independence under Holden Roberto.
UPA formed a government in exile with Roberto as its president and Jonas Savimbi the foreign minister. UPA received help from Zaire and America to oppose MPLA which had a socialist approach.
In 1962 Partie de Democratic Angola (PDA) united with UPA to form Fente National de Liberatacao de Angola (FNLA). FNLA formed an exile government in Kinshasa, Zaire. OAU tried to unite MPLA and FNLA but it withdrew its support to FNLA after realizing that the party had tribal elements.
In 1966, Uniao Nacional Para Independencia Total de Angola (UNITA) was formed by Jonas Savimbi, after his resignation as prime minister from UPA in 1964. UNITA was supported by USA and the Boer government of South Africa.
Intensive armed struggle was carried out by MPLA and FNLA. They also carried out negotiations under OAU initiatives. The negotiations led to the formation of the Supreme Council for the Liberation of Angola in December 1972. Holden Robert was the president of the council and Augustino Neto was the vice president.
In July, 1974, MPLA and FNLA met in Bukavu and adopted a common stand in the liberation struggle. In January, 1975 MPLA, FNLA and UNITA met in Mombasa, Kenya in a meeting chaired by Jomo Kenyatta. They agreed to stop hatred among themselves and evil propaganda which caused disunity.
After the Mombasa meeting, the three groups met the Portuguese to discuss about the formation of a transitional government. A cease-fire accord was made and Angola was to be independent in November 11th 1975.
In January 1975 the transitional government was formed with three representatives from each group and the Portuguese minister for overseas territories included.
Disagreement, however, persisted among the three groups. The Portuguese left Angola without solving the problem.
MPLA was the strongest of the three groups. It was helped by Cuban revolutionary troops to defeat the opposing groups. By June, 1976 MPLA held state power in Angola under Augustino Neto.
ZIMBABWE
Originally, Zimbabwe was ruled by the British South Africa Company (BSACo) led by Cecil Rhodes (hence the name Rhodesia. The company encouraged the settlement of the white settlers and there was massive exploitation and oppression of the Africans. By 1922 64% of land was expropriated by settlers.
Discrimination based on race took place as the white settlers claimed higher wages than the Africans, and skilled jobs were for whites and unskilled for Africans. The African hatred of the whites started growing roots here.
When the company started ruling Zimbabwe, it wanted to join Rhodesia wit South Africa, but the settlers wanted their own autonomy and independence. In October, 1922 the settlers were granted the so-called Responsible Government, and Rhodesia became a self-government with its own parliament, army and police force.
After the formation of the government Land Apportionment Act was made in 1930, and allocation of land on the basis of race began. In 1934 the Industrial Conciliation Act was passed to prevent the Africans from the formation of trade unions. In the same year the settlers formed the United Party (UP), and later the Rhodesian Front (RF) in 1962.
Under the oppressive situations the Africans started forming their nationalist movements (political parties).
The United Federal Party (UFP) was formed in 1950’s by settlers with the aim of forming the Central African Federation of Zimbabwe, Zambia and Nyasaland (Malawi).
The white men formed Dominion Party (DP) in 1950’s to suppress the Africans in Zimbabwe.
The Africans in turn formed their party based in Bulawayo, the African National Congress, in 1955 to demand for independence.
In the same year (1955) The City Youth League was formed in Salisbury (Harare). This later changed to African National Youth League (ANYL). The aim was the same. The liberation of Zimbabwe.
ANC and ANYL united in 1957 to form a stronger organization with nationwide impact. They formed SRANC, with Joshua Nkomo the president. The party threatened the settlers and it was banned in 1959.
The settlers also worked hard to disunite the Africans in terms of tribe, e.g. the Washona and Ndebele. They also went ahead with their aim to make the federation of South Rhodesia, Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland in order to frustrate the liberation movements.
In 1960, the Africans formed another party, National Democratic Party (NDP), which was also banned the following year. Meanwhile, the Afruicans had formed another party called Zimbabwe African People’s Union (ZAPU), which was also banned in 1963.
The Africans then realized that they could never reach their objectives through the constitutional means of mass nationalism. In 1963, a three African liberationists, Ndabaningi Sithole, Robert Mugabe and Herbert Chitepo broke away from ZAPU and formed another party called Zimbabwe African National Union.
The settlers did not only ban both the parties but also detained the leaders in 1964. They then declared their independence on 11th November 1965, led by Ian Smith.
This is when the patriots resorted to preparing themselves for the armed struggle, with their bases being in exile.
The real offensive began before the end of 1966. The war was fought fiercely to the extent of making the settlers totally confused. Some of them started forsaking their farms, seeking safety in towns. A good number of them fled to South Africa. The remaining ones pledged to sit down with the patriots for talks. This was between 1978 and 1979.
Some Africans were tricked by Ian Smith to accept the so-called internal agreement which led to the appointment of the puppet Abel Muzorewa to be the prime minister.
The patriots took up arms again after realizing the trick. Armed struggle resumed again more fiercely.
In 1979, Ian Smith with his puppets agreed to hold talks with the leaders of ZAPU and ZANU. A cease-fire was passed, elections were arranged with Britain and some Common Wealth countries as overseers.
In the elections, ZANU, led by Robert Mugabe, emerged the winner, and Mugabe became the Prime Minister. Zimbabwe was declared independent on 18th April 1980.
CAUSES OF ARMED STRUGGLE
Most of the Africans nationalists resorted to the use of armed struggle after seeing that the diplomatic means would not help. The reasons for the struggle can be generally explained using the following points:
1. The colonial reluctance to grant the Africans their independence. While the other colonial powers had granted their colonies their independence, the Portuguese were not ready to do so as they depended solely on the colonies for their economic growth.
2. The presence of settlers. The settlers posed a great challenge for the granting of independence to Africans since they had already invested a lot in the African lands. They thus sought to cling to their occupation of lands. The Africans wanted to reoccupy the lands from which they were alienated. The use of armed force was the only way to drive the whites away.
3. The suppression of political movements. The colonialists had the tendency to suppress the political parties, especially banning them. The Africans therefore saw that the whites did not understand the diplomatic language, thus they resorted to the language of violence through armed struggle.
4. Political persecution of nationalist leaders. The African leaders were persecuted through detention and assassination. The African saw that the whites were not ready for negotiation or constitutional procedures. So they resorted to the use of armed struggle to attain their independence.
5. Empathy by fellow Africans: The African who attained their independence by diplomatic means empathized with their fellow Africans and vowed to give them moral and material support. Many liberationists were welcomed in exile and their training and war bases were there. Tanzania led the five front-line states in the liberation.
6. Support from revolutionary socialist states. This also was a great force to the nationalist armed struggle. Russia and Cuba played a great role in training as well as equipping the nationalists with weapons to fight against the stubborn colonialists. The nationalists were empowered so they just had to go for armed struggle.
7. The rise of militant leaders. Some Africans were by their nature militant. They advocated the use of armed struggle since the beginning of nationalism. They were at first not supported by those who advocated peaceful means. When it was proved that constitutional means could not work out, they took the advantage.
A good example of the militant Africans include Dedan Kimathi of Kenya, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, Amilca Cabral of Guinea, Samora Machel of Mozambique, and Augustino Neto of Angola.
STRENGTH
Armed struggle was very effective in the process of decolonization of the African countries.
1. It made the Europeans give up the colonies, since they were reluctant when peaceful means were employed.
2. It proved that Africans could stand up and fight against big powers.
3. It showed the extent of patriotism of many Africans who sacrificed their life to face the enemy.
4. It also showed how Africans across the continent could unite against their common enemies. African alliance was demonstrated when other independent states assisted their colonized fellows.
5. It helped suppress reactionary forces and thus made many reactionaries agree to work together with their fellow Africans to build one nation.
WEAKNESSES
There were some weakness points in the armed struggle, such as:
1. Regionalism (Disunity). Some revolutionaries were fighting for the interests of particular regions instead of having national interests, e.g. Lazaro Nkavandame with MANU, who fought for separate independence of the Makonde in Mozambique.
2. Alliances (Ideological differences): Africans were also divided in terms of alignment, as some were backed up by the socialst (USSR) and some by the capitalists (USA). This created a tag of war among themselves.
3. Lack or shortage of funds. This was a weakness that made the liberationists not to be effective in some cases and times. They sometimes failed to buy good weapons and even foodstuffs for the guerilla fighters. They largely depended on the support from other friendly nations.
4. Lack of support from other African countries. Some countries did not want to commit themselves in helping the nationalists. Out of all the African countries only five declared to put themselves in the front line to help their fellows. So a few frontiers were created. This to a large extent delayed the development of armed struggles.
5. Poor weapons. The fighters mostly used poor weapons compared to the ones used by the Europeans. The enemies had air forces, war tanks and missiles, while the freedom fighters used only guns and infantries.
CONTRIBUTION
Despite the weaknesses, it was armed struggle that contributed a lot to the decolonization of the African countries that used it. It was the only means to force the Europeans to accept the final procedures of forming transitional governments and eventually the granting of full independence.
This subtopic has three specific objectives: The student should be able:
1. To explain the meaning of armed struggle.
2. To analyze the causes of armed struggle for independence.
3. To analyze the strengths, weaknesses and contribution of armed struggle towards the road t independence.
MEANING
Armed means using war weaponry.
Struggle in this context means a fight.
Armed struggle, therefore, refers to the state of waging war involving the coercive use of weapons.
Armed struggle was a method used by some African countries when Africans took up arms against the colonial governments, in a bid to fight for their independence.
Armed struggle took place in some British colonies like Zimbabwe, Namibia (a trusteeship territory) and Kenya, and in some French colonies like Algeria; but mostly in the Portuguese colonies such as Mozambique, Angola, Guinea Bissau, Cape Verde Islands, Dao Tome and Principe Islands.
SOME CASE STUDIES
MOZAMBIQUE
Africans in Mozambique started their anti-colonial moves early in 1920’s. Like in other countries the movements began as associations with the aim to reform colonialism and not to remove it. In 1920 there was Associacao Africano, founded to protect African rights.
In the early 1930’s another African movement which opposed the colonial rule was the Institute Negrofilo (The Institute of Negro Friends). It later changed its name to the Centro Associativo Dos Negros de Mozambique. This also was another kind of semi-political movement.
The sense of mass nationalism came after the WW2 in 1950’s. The Portuguese, however, placed a stubborn stand against political parties and trade unions. By 1960’s, it was obvious that unlike other colonialists, the Portuguese were not willing to prepare their colonies for independence. This is when the African nationalists resorted to the use of arms.
In 1952, the coalition of nationalist movements in exile formed a political organization called Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (FRELIMO), in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, under the leadership of Eduardo Mondlane. Mondlane was killed on 3rd February 1969 by using a parcel bomb, in Dar es Salaam, by supposedly his enemies.
In 1970’s FRELIMO was led by Samora Machel. FRELIMO was backed up by Tanzania in its armed struggle, and Tanzania was its main base of the struggle.
There was another leader called Lazaro Nkavandame who formed his organization called the Makonde African National Union (MANU) in 1968. This later changed to Mozambique African National Union. They fought for separate independence of the Makonde in Mozambique. Lazaro had to join FRELIMO for effective struggle.
The pressure the Portugal got from her allies to grant Mozambique her freedom, and from guerilla war waged by FRELIMO made the Portuguese agree to hold talks with FRELIMO in Lusaka, Zambia in September, 1974. It was agreed that Mozambique would become independent on 25th June, 1975.
A provisional government was formed with six ministers from FRELIMO and three from Portugal. Joachim Chisano was appointed the prime Minister and the Portuguese appointed a high commission to monitor the transitional government.
The Portuguese settlers tried to resist the independence move to no avail. Mozambique attained her independence eventually on 15th June, 1975, and Samora Machel was the President.
ANGOLA
Like Mozambique, Angola was also a Portuguese colony. The colonial oppression and exploitation led to the political struggle mainly after WW2. Before embarking on armed struggle, the Angolans tried constitutional means of forming political parties.
In 1955 the Angola Communist Party (P.C.A) was formed by elites against colonialism and aimed at protecting African culture and dignity.
In 1956 Partido de Luta dos Africanos de Angola (PLUA) after P.C.A joined with other radical groups. This party insisted on the struggle for independence.
In December, 1956 Movement Popular de Liberacao de Angola (MPLA) after merging PLAU with other smaller groups. The party advocated for universal suffrage and equal rights for all Africans regardless of race, ethnicity or creed. MPLA consisted of members from the privileged assimilados living in urban areas. It was led by Augustino Neto, and was highly supported by OAU and the Soviet Union.
In 1957 Uniao Das Populacaoes do Norte de Angola (UPNA) was formed to resist forced labour and struggled for the restoration of the Kingdom of Congo. It was largely supported by the Bakongo. Latr the party changed its name to Uniao Das Populacaoes de Angola (UPA) to struggle for independence under Holden Roberto.
UPA formed a government in exile with Roberto as its president and Jonas Savimbi the foreign minister. UPA received help from Zaire and America to oppose MPLA which had a socialist approach.
In 1962 Partie de Democratic Angola (PDA) united with UPA to form Fente National de Liberatacao de Angola (FNLA). FNLA formed an exile government in Kinshasa, Zaire. OAU tried to unite MPLA and FNLA but it withdrew its support to FNLA after realizing that the party had tribal elements.
In 1966, Uniao Nacional Para Independencia Total de Angola (UNITA) was formed by Jonas Savimbi, after his resignation as prime minister from UPA in 1964. UNITA was supported by USA and the Boer government of South Africa.
Intensive armed struggle was carried out by MPLA and FNLA. They also carried out negotiations under OAU initiatives. The negotiations led to the formation of the Supreme Council for the Liberation of Angola in December 1972. Holden Robert was the president of the council and Augustino Neto was the vice president.
In July, 1974, MPLA and FNLA met in Bukavu and adopted a common stand in the liberation struggle. In January, 1975 MPLA, FNLA and UNITA met in Mombasa, Kenya in a meeting chaired by Jomo Kenyatta. They agreed to stop hatred among themselves and evil propaganda which caused disunity.
After the Mombasa meeting, the three groups met the Portuguese to discuss about the formation of a transitional government. A cease-fire accord was made and Angola was to be independent in November 11th 1975.
In January 1975 the transitional government was formed with three representatives from each group and the Portuguese minister for overseas territories included.
Disagreement, however, persisted among the three groups. The Portuguese left Angola without solving the problem.
MPLA was the strongest of the three groups. It was helped by Cuban revolutionary troops to defeat the opposing groups. By June, 1976 MPLA held state power in Angola under Augustino Neto.
ZIMBABWE
Originally, Zimbabwe was ruled by the British South Africa Company (BSACo) led by Cecil Rhodes (hence the name Rhodesia. The company encouraged the settlement of the white settlers and there was massive exploitation and oppression of the Africans. By 1922 64% of land was expropriated by settlers.
Discrimination based on race took place as the white settlers claimed higher wages than the Africans, and skilled jobs were for whites and unskilled for Africans. The African hatred of the whites started growing roots here.
When the company started ruling Zimbabwe, it wanted to join Rhodesia wit South Africa, but the settlers wanted their own autonomy and independence. In October, 1922 the settlers were granted the so-called Responsible Government, and Rhodesia became a self-government with its own parliament, army and police force.
After the formation of the government Land Apportionment Act was made in 1930, and allocation of land on the basis of race began. In 1934 the Industrial Conciliation Act was passed to prevent the Africans from the formation of trade unions. In the same year the settlers formed the United Party (UP), and later the Rhodesian Front (RF) in 1962.
Under the oppressive situations the Africans started forming their nationalist movements (political parties).
The United Federal Party (UFP) was formed in 1950’s by settlers with the aim of forming the Central African Federation of Zimbabwe, Zambia and Nyasaland (Malawi).
The white men formed Dominion Party (DP) in 1950’s to suppress the Africans in Zimbabwe.
The Africans in turn formed their party based in Bulawayo, the African National Congress, in 1955 to demand for independence.
In the same year (1955) The City Youth League was formed in Salisbury (Harare). This later changed to African National Youth League (ANYL). The aim was the same. The liberation of Zimbabwe.
ANC and ANYL united in 1957 to form a stronger organization with nationwide impact. They formed SRANC, with Joshua Nkomo the president. The party threatened the settlers and it was banned in 1959.
The settlers also worked hard to disunite the Africans in terms of tribe, e.g. the Washona and Ndebele. They also went ahead with their aim to make the federation of South Rhodesia, Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland in order to frustrate the liberation movements.
In 1960, the Africans formed another party, National Democratic Party (NDP), which was also banned the following year. Meanwhile, the Afruicans had formed another party called Zimbabwe African People’s Union (ZAPU), which was also banned in 1963.
The Africans then realized that they could never reach their objectives through the constitutional means of mass nationalism. In 1963, a three African liberationists, Ndabaningi Sithole, Robert Mugabe and Herbert Chitepo broke away from ZAPU and formed another party called Zimbabwe African National Union.
The settlers did not only ban both the parties but also detained the leaders in 1964. They then declared their independence on 11th November 1965, led by Ian Smith.
This is when the patriots resorted to preparing themselves for the armed struggle, with their bases being in exile.
The real offensive began before the end of 1966. The war was fought fiercely to the extent of making the settlers totally confused. Some of them started forsaking their farms, seeking safety in towns. A good number of them fled to South Africa. The remaining ones pledged to sit down with the patriots for talks. This was between 1978 and 1979.
Some Africans were tricked by Ian Smith to accept the so-called internal agreement which led to the appointment of the puppet Abel Muzorewa to be the prime minister.
The patriots took up arms again after realizing the trick. Armed struggle resumed again more fiercely.
In 1979, Ian Smith with his puppets agreed to hold talks with the leaders of ZAPU and ZANU. A cease-fire was passed, elections were arranged with Britain and some Common Wealth countries as overseers.
In the elections, ZANU, led by Robert Mugabe, emerged the winner, and Mugabe became the Prime Minister. Zimbabwe was declared independent on 18th April 1980.
CAUSES OF ARMED STRUGGLE
Most of the Africans nationalists resorted to the use of armed struggle after seeing that the diplomatic means would not help. The reasons for the struggle can be generally explained using the following points:
1. The colonial reluctance to grant the Africans their independence. While the other colonial powers had granted their colonies their independence, the Portuguese were not ready to do so as they depended solely on the colonies for their economic growth.
2. The presence of settlers. The settlers posed a great challenge for the granting of independence to Africans since they had already invested a lot in the African lands. They thus sought to cling to their occupation of lands. The Africans wanted to reoccupy the lands from which they were alienated. The use of armed force was the only way to drive the whites away.
3. The suppression of political movements. The colonialists had the tendency to suppress the political parties, especially banning them. The Africans therefore saw that the whites did not understand the diplomatic language, thus they resorted to the language of violence through armed struggle.
4. Political persecution of nationalist leaders. The African leaders were persecuted through detention and assassination. The African saw that the whites were not ready for negotiation or constitutional procedures. So they resorted to the use of armed struggle to attain their independence.
5. Empathy by fellow Africans: The African who attained their independence by diplomatic means empathized with their fellow Africans and vowed to give them moral and material support. Many liberationists were welcomed in exile and their training and war bases were there. Tanzania led the five front-line states in the liberation.
6. Support from revolutionary socialist states. This also was a great force to the nationalist armed struggle. Russia and Cuba played a great role in training as well as equipping the nationalists with weapons to fight against the stubborn colonialists. The nationalists were empowered so they just had to go for armed struggle.
7. The rise of militant leaders. Some Africans were by their nature militant. They advocated the use of armed struggle since the beginning of nationalism. They were at first not supported by those who advocated peaceful means. When it was proved that constitutional means could not work out, they took the advantage.
A good example of the militant Africans include Dedan Kimathi of Kenya, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, Amilca Cabral of Guinea, Samora Machel of Mozambique, and Augustino Neto of Angola.
STRENGTH
Armed struggle was very effective in the process of decolonization of the African countries.
1. It made the Europeans give up the colonies, since they were reluctant when peaceful means were employed.
2. It proved that Africans could stand up and fight against big powers.
3. It showed the extent of patriotism of many Africans who sacrificed their life to face the enemy.
4. It also showed how Africans across the continent could unite against their common enemies. African alliance was demonstrated when other independent states assisted their colonized fellows.
5. It helped suppress reactionary forces and thus made many reactionaries agree to work together with their fellow Africans to build one nation.
WEAKNESSES
There were some weakness points in the armed struggle, such as:
1. Regionalism (Disunity). Some revolutionaries were fighting for the interests of particular regions instead of having national interests, e.g. Lazaro Nkavandame with MANU, who fought for separate independence of the Makonde in Mozambique.
2. Alliances (Ideological differences): Africans were also divided in terms of alignment, as some were backed up by the socialst (USSR) and some by the capitalists (USA). This created a tag of war among themselves.
3. Lack or shortage of funds. This was a weakness that made the liberationists not to be effective in some cases and times. They sometimes failed to buy good weapons and even foodstuffs for the guerilla fighters. They largely depended on the support from other friendly nations.
4. Lack of support from other African countries. Some countries did not want to commit themselves in helping the nationalists. Out of all the African countries only five declared to put themselves in the front line to help their fellows. So a few frontiers were created. This to a large extent delayed the development of armed struggles.
5. Poor weapons. The fighters mostly used poor weapons compared to the ones used by the Europeans. The enemies had air forces, war tanks and missiles, while the freedom fighters used only guns and infantries.
CONTRIBUTION
Despite the weaknesses, it was armed struggle that contributed a lot to the decolonization of the African countries that used it. It was the only means to force the Europeans to accept the final procedures of forming transitional governments and eventually the granting of full independence.
DECOLONIZATION THROUGH REVOLUTION
This subtopic has four specific objectives. The student should be able:
1. To explain the meaning of revolution.
2. To analyze causes of decolonization through revolution.
3. To assess the strengths, weaknesses and contribution of decolonization through revolution
4. To analyze problems experienced during the struggle for independence through revolution.
MEANING
Revolution refers to a complete overthrow of an established government or political system.
It specifically refers to the nationalist movement whereby the majority people decide to overthrow or replace a minority government which subordinates, exploits and dominate the majority.
This replacement is aimed at effecting political, economic and social changes in a society.
In Africa decolonization through revolution occurred in a situation where colonial government was handed over to a regime that was not governing according to the wishes of the majority, usually puppet regimes.
This situation forced Africans to overthrow the regimes and replacing them with popular governments or administration.
In Africa decolonization through revolution was experienced in Egypt and Zanzibar.
EGYPT
European powers developed tremendous interest in Egypt after the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, linking Egypt with the Orient.
In 1882, Britain occupied Egypt because of her strategic position in the Far East trade.
Following the resentment among Egyptians, who were predominantly Muslims, active nationalist movements ensued. One such movement was led by Sa’d Zaghloul. Among their demands included:
• full political independence.
• withdrawal of all British troops.
• the merger of Sudan and Egypt.
In 1919, the nationalist movement organized a series of rebellions all over the country. As a result, in February 1922 the British granted self-independence to the Egyptians, thus ending the protectorate status over the country. Zaghloul, leader of the Wafd party, became the prime minister and King Fuad I became the king.
Upon attaining independence, several other stipulations were made in the movement. These included:
1. There was to be an elected parliament.
2. British forces were to remain in the country and some of the British officers were to continue advising Egyptian the administration.
3. Europeans in Egypt were to have special courts.
4. British forces would be responsible for the protection of the Suez canal.
Thus, it was a political independence by name only, but the real power remained in the hands of the British.
In 1936, the Wafd government entered into an Anglo-Egyptian Treaty, which expanded the Egyptian independence to some extent, e.g. the special European courts were abolished. Nevertheless, the British forces continued to be stationed on the Suez Canal. The treaty made Wafd party unpopular as the Egyptians the eviction of the British immediately.
Between 1922 and 1952, the Egyptians experienced several problems at the hands of the British and the national government.
1. The population growth of the Egyptians did not tally with the need for more land.
2. Unemployment rate increased drastically.
3. Exploitation was intensified, both by the government and landowners.
4. The fellahin were overburdened with land tax. Landlords were able to evade the payment as most of them were politically connected.
5. The king and the loyal family led a luxurious life, and the king was the greatest landlord.
6. The rulers and the rich were favoured by the judicial system which was very corrupt and oppressive.
All these injustices fuelled the Egyptians’ resentment towards the government. This resulted into a number of events:
1. Frequent demonstrations by workers and students who were now becoming increasingly more radical then ever before.
2. The communist organizations intensified their activities, attracting more and more followers.
3. Many radical religious movements emerged. The most powerful was the Muslim Brotherhood.
In the atmosphere of resentment, a young colonel, Gamal Abdel Nasser, of the Egyptian army, formed a group called “Free Officers” in 1945. The aim of the group was to liberate Egypt from foreign domination and to overthrow the corrupt regime in Egypt. The motivation to organize a revolution was increased by the decision of UNO to create a Jewish State of Israel in Palestine.
The Egyptian army was compelled to assist their fellow Arabs, but the army suffered humiliating defeat under Israel. There was then a conflict between the army and the leadership.
Meanwhile, Nahas, the leader of the Wafd party in 1936 went against the treaty with the British and started demanding for the withdrawal of the British troops from Egypt.
The British responded by sending more troops to the Suez Canal. On the 26th January, 1952, the Egyptians responded by holding riots, setting on fire all British property in Cairo. Shops , hotels, cinemas and clubs were burnt down. This day is known as Black Saturday in Egypt.
The following six months were full of confusion as the king tried to exert his power by persecuting the radical political and religious organizations.
On the morning of 23rd July 1952, the leader of the ‘Free Officers’ organization forcefully took over power.
The Egyptian king, Farouk, escaped to avoid persecution. General Mohammad Naquib took over leadership.
The country’s constitution was consequently reformed and the monarchy subsequently abolished. Egypt became a republic. Naquib became president and prime minister, while Colonel Gamal Abdel Nasser became deputy PM.
In 1954, Naquib was removed from power and Nasser took over as prime minister. In 1956 general elections, Gamal Abdel Nasser was elected the first president of the Republic of Egypt.
ZANZIBAR
Zanzibar received her independence from the British colonialists on December 10th in 1963 under the Afro-Shirazi Party. The Africans in Zanzibar realized that the independence favoured the Arabs more, so the felt that there was a need to struggle yet for their full independence.
The British granted independence to Zanzibar which led the Arab Sultan to be the head of state. The government of Zanzibar was formed by the coalition of political parties led by the ruling Arab minority and the other two parties representing the African majority. There were thus social and economic inequalities between the Africans and the Arabs.
A number of reasons made the Africans to adjust the situation:
1. Historical differences: Since the coming of the Arabs in the isles in 1841, and the establishment of Arab administration and the clove industry under Seyyid Said, the Arabs treated the Africans unfairly, as their workers and slaves. This stigma continued even after the independence.
2. Land allocation: The Arabs possessed large portions of fertile land and employed Africans as labourers in the coconut and clove plantations. The Africans were alienated from their lands and to survive the turned into squatters in Arab farms depending on their masters. The oppressive situations made the Africans hate the Arabs.
3. Trade monopoly: Foreigners such as Asians of Indo-Pakistan origin monopolized the commercial activities in Zanzibar and they directed commerce, finance, and all the civil-service affairs. The Arabs thus controlled the legislature, administration and the coercive apparatus, while the Asians controlled the economy. The Africans remained powerless.
4. Persisting colonial legacy: Under the British rule, there was a division of Zanzibar into classes with the Africans being the disadvantaged class and the Arabs and Asians being the favoured class. The British thus prepared the Arabs to administer key sectors of the country. The Africans felt that the legacy persisted even after independence.
5. Multi-party politics. The revolutionary ideas came to Africans after seeing that constitutional means would never help them since there existed a number of conflicting parties such as Z.N.P., Afro-Shirazi Party, Z.P.P.P. Each party did not have nationalistic aims but racial ambitions and favoratism.
6. Mass exploitation: The Arab government failed to offer sufficient social services to the masses due to the drop in the price of cloves in the world-market. Africans became the scapegoats of the economic hardships, with poor education, unemployment, and poor health services, and intensive exploitation.
7. The emergence and role of John Okello, who came from northern Uganda, a Lango by tribe. He sttled in Zanzibar in 1952 and worked periodically as a painter. He was an official of ASP in Pemba. In 1961 he had an ambition to involve himself in a revolutionary army. From January 11th to 12th 1934 his ambition materialized.
Okello organized surprise attacks on the Arabs key posts, using civilians with poor weapons. The revolutionaries under Okello managed to capture an armory, and the Arab government was toppled and the Sultan had to flee with his family to Britain. On 24th January 1964, Sheikh Abeid Amani Karume’s party, ASP seized power, and the Africans celebrated their independence, forming a revolutionary government.
CAUSES
Generally, there were a number of causes of decolonization through revolution.
1. Discontent among the ruled: After independence the ruled felt that their rulers kept mistreating them, thus they were discontented in various ways. Bad governance, exploitation and oppression persisted, thus they felt the need to topple the ruling classes.
2. Land alienation: The majority of the people were deprived of land. In Zanzibar, the Africans were landless and they turned to be workers in the Arab farms. In Egypt the population growth of the Egyptians did not tally with the need for more land, and most land was expropriated by the ruling class.
3. Discrimination: In Zanzibar, Africans were discriminated against in employment, social services, ownership of property, and in decision making. In Egypt the rulers and the rich were favoured by the judicial system which was very corrupt and oppressive.
4. The emergence of radical groups: In Zanzibar there was socialist and religious radicalism. The UMMA party was one of the radical religious group. In Egypt many radical religious movements emerged. The most powerful was the Muslim Brotherhood. These prepared the ground for the spontaneous upraising of the people.
5. The emergence of militant leaders: The revolution was inspired by the rise of militant and revolutionary leaders. In Zanzibar there was John Okello and Abdulrahmaan Babu, where as in Egypt there was Colonel Jamal Abdel Nasser, who believed in revolution as the only means to adjust the maladministration.
6. Fake independence: In Egypt the independence granted was a political independence by name only, but the real power remained in the hands of the British. In Zanzibar, the non-native Sultan continued to rule according to the dictates of the colonial masters. The Africans felt that they needed real independence, hence they staged the revolutions.
STRENGTH
1. Revolutions in both cases were spontaneous and took the rulers by surprise, leading to the toppling of the oppressive government and forming the rule of the majority.
2. The mass participation in the riots and attacks totally disorganized the oppressive rulers. They were attacks by the majority which could never be controlled. The oppressors had to surrender to the power of the people, though the people never had massive weapons.
3. The revolutions showed that unity is the main weapon of the oppressed. The strength of the oppressed lied in their unity, and with unity they succeeded to end their miseries in one day.
4. The revolutions were indicators of high degree of patriotism, where the people were ready to fight and die for their lands against their powerful enemies, against the state powers for that matter.
5. The revolutionary events were spontaneous but well organized and coordinated by good, patriotic leaders, to the final success.
WEAKNESS
There were a few weaknesses of the revolutions, as goes the saying, you cannot make an omelet without breaking eggs.
1. Destruction of properties. Riots caused destruction of properties, as in Egypt people rioted by setting on fire all British property in Cairo. Shops , hotels, cinemas and clubs were burnt down. This day is known as Black Saturday in Egypt. In Zanzibar the same was the case. After revolution there was a task of reconstruction of important items.
2. Some innocent people were either injured or killed during the fracas. There was a serious mobilization and organization problem in Zanzibar which later led to bloodshed. In Egypt also a number of innocent people suffered, and some lost their lives.
3. Some Africans had blood linage to the attacked rulers. To them revolution was seen as a bad move. They thus remained with a grudge. In Pemba, most Arabs had intermarried with Africans. The offspring of the Arabs were left with a scar, after their elders were ousted or killed in the revolution.
CONTRIBUTION
Despite the minor weaknesses, the revolutions contributed greatly to the welfare of the oppressed majorities in the countries. Revolution was the only means to bring to the countries the adjustments in the government, and to get rid of all the evils such as exploitation, oppression, and discrimination.
PROBLEMS
1. Suppression of revolutionary cliques. The rulers kept watch on revolutionary elements, thus giving them hard times in their moves.
2. Reactionary moves. As in other means of struggle, anti-revolutionary moves also were there to frustrate the revolutionary moves.
3. Lack of armed forces. The armed forces were in the hands of the rulers, thus the revolutionaries depended solely on the power of the civilians.
4. Untrained fighters. The civilians who took the initiative to fight were untrained in war tactics, thus many were injured or killed, and they caused unnecessary destructions.
5. Poor weapons. The people used poor, crude weapons to fight against the state powers. With these many failed to protect themselves against strong weapons of the few counterattacks of their enemies.
6. Lack of funds. There was no financial support, as the revolution was organized by the poor ruled class. They thus could not make thorough preparations of the war, e.g. they could not buy any weapons.
7. Lack of international support. The revolutionaries did not have a party that was internationally recognized and supported.
CONTRIBUTION
Despite the weaknesses the revolution contributed a lot in making sure that the majority of Africans seize power, and the rule by the minority is ended, so that there is justice, equality and good and fair governance.
PROBLEMS
Like in other methods of decolonization, there were some problems that were experienced in the process of revolution.
1. Reactionary cliques. Anti-revolutionary elements were there which to some extent hindered the smooth completion of the task, and that is why some weaknesses like attacking of some Africans had to take place.
2. Lack of strong weapons. The fighters used crude weapons which culminated in cases of counter attacks that made some participants victims of counterattacks.
3. Lack of funds. The people fought using poor weapons because they had no financial ability to buy good weapons.
4. Lack of well-trained fighters. The revolution used untrained civilians, most of whom fought carelessly without employing good war tactics. That is why cases of unnecessary casualties and destructions occurred.
5. Lack of support. Unlike in other methods, the revolutions were spontaneous and no support from other friendly countries or organization was at hand. The support could make the revolution smoother.
This subtopic has four specific objectives. The student should be able:
1. To explain the meaning of revolution.
2. To analyze causes of decolonization through revolution.
3. To assess the strengths, weaknesses and contribution of decolonization through revolution
4. To analyze problems experienced during the struggle for independence through revolution.
MEANING
Revolution refers to a complete overthrow of an established government or political system.
It specifically refers to the nationalist movement whereby the majority people decide to overthrow or replace a minority government which subordinates, exploits and dominate the majority.
This replacement is aimed at effecting political, economic and social changes in a society.
In Africa decolonization through revolution occurred in a situation where colonial government was handed over to a regime that was not governing according to the wishes of the majority, usually puppet regimes.
This situation forced Africans to overthrow the regimes and replacing them with popular governments or administration.
In Africa decolonization through revolution was experienced in Egypt and Zanzibar.
EGYPT
European powers developed tremendous interest in Egypt after the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, linking Egypt with the Orient.
In 1882, Britain occupied Egypt because of her strategic position in the Far East trade.
Following the resentment among Egyptians, who were predominantly Muslims, active nationalist movements ensued. One such movement was led by Sa’d Zaghloul. Among their demands included:
• full political independence.
• withdrawal of all British troops.
• the merger of Sudan and Egypt.
In 1919, the nationalist movement organized a series of rebellions all over the country. As a result, in February 1922 the British granted self-independence to the Egyptians, thus ending the protectorate status over the country. Zaghloul, leader of the Wafd party, became the prime minister and King Fuad I became the king.
Upon attaining independence, several other stipulations were made in the movement. These included:
1. There was to be an elected parliament.
2. British forces were to remain in the country and some of the British officers were to continue advising Egyptian the administration.
3. Europeans in Egypt were to have special courts.
4. British forces would be responsible for the protection of the Suez canal.
Thus, it was a political independence by name only, but the real power remained in the hands of the British.
In 1936, the Wafd government entered into an Anglo-Egyptian Treaty, which expanded the Egyptian independence to some extent, e.g. the special European courts were abolished. Nevertheless, the British forces continued to be stationed on the Suez Canal. The treaty made Wafd party unpopular as the Egyptians the eviction of the British immediately.
Between 1922 and 1952, the Egyptians experienced several problems at the hands of the British and the national government.
1. The population growth of the Egyptians did not tally with the need for more land.
2. Unemployment rate increased drastically.
3. Exploitation was intensified, both by the government and landowners.
4. The fellahin were overburdened with land tax. Landlords were able to evade the payment as most of them were politically connected.
5. The king and the loyal family led a luxurious life, and the king was the greatest landlord.
6. The rulers and the rich were favoured by the judicial system which was very corrupt and oppressive.
All these injustices fuelled the Egyptians’ resentment towards the government. This resulted into a number of events:
1. Frequent demonstrations by workers and students who were now becoming increasingly more radical then ever before.
2. The communist organizations intensified their activities, attracting more and more followers.
3. Many radical religious movements emerged. The most powerful was the Muslim Brotherhood.
In the atmosphere of resentment, a young colonel, Gamal Abdel Nasser, of the Egyptian army, formed a group called “Free Officers” in 1945. The aim of the group was to liberate Egypt from foreign domination and to overthrow the corrupt regime in Egypt. The motivation to organize a revolution was increased by the decision of UNO to create a Jewish State of Israel in Palestine.
The Egyptian army was compelled to assist their fellow Arabs, but the army suffered humiliating defeat under Israel. There was then a conflict between the army and the leadership.
Meanwhile, Nahas, the leader of the Wafd party in 1936 went against the treaty with the British and started demanding for the withdrawal of the British troops from Egypt.
The British responded by sending more troops to the Suez Canal. On the 26th January, 1952, the Egyptians responded by holding riots, setting on fire all British property in Cairo. Shops , hotels, cinemas and clubs were burnt down. This day is known as Black Saturday in Egypt.
The following six months were full of confusion as the king tried to exert his power by persecuting the radical political and religious organizations.
On the morning of 23rd July 1952, the leader of the ‘Free Officers’ organization forcefully took over power.
The Egyptian king, Farouk, escaped to avoid persecution. General Mohammad Naquib took over leadership.
The country’s constitution was consequently reformed and the monarchy subsequently abolished. Egypt became a republic. Naquib became president and prime minister, while Colonel Gamal Abdel Nasser became deputy PM.
In 1954, Naquib was removed from power and Nasser took over as prime minister. In 1956 general elections, Gamal Abdel Nasser was elected the first president of the Republic of Egypt.
ZANZIBAR
Zanzibar received her independence from the British colonialists on December 10th in 1963 under the Afro-Shirazi Party. The Africans in Zanzibar realized that the independence favoured the Arabs more, so the felt that there was a need to struggle yet for their full independence.
The British granted independence to Zanzibar which led the Arab Sultan to be the head of state. The government of Zanzibar was formed by the coalition of political parties led by the ruling Arab minority and the other two parties representing the African majority. There were thus social and economic inequalities between the Africans and the Arabs.
A number of reasons made the Africans to adjust the situation:
1. Historical differences: Since the coming of the Arabs in the isles in 1841, and the establishment of Arab administration and the clove industry under Seyyid Said, the Arabs treated the Africans unfairly, as their workers and slaves. This stigma continued even after the independence.
2. Land allocation: The Arabs possessed large portions of fertile land and employed Africans as labourers in the coconut and clove plantations. The Africans were alienated from their lands and to survive the turned into squatters in Arab farms depending on their masters. The oppressive situations made the Africans hate the Arabs.
3. Trade monopoly: Foreigners such as Asians of Indo-Pakistan origin monopolized the commercial activities in Zanzibar and they directed commerce, finance, and all the civil-service affairs. The Arabs thus controlled the legislature, administration and the coercive apparatus, while the Asians controlled the economy. The Africans remained powerless.
4. Persisting colonial legacy: Under the British rule, there was a division of Zanzibar into classes with the Africans being the disadvantaged class and the Arabs and Asians being the favoured class. The British thus prepared the Arabs to administer key sectors of the country. The Africans felt that the legacy persisted even after independence.
5. Multi-party politics. The revolutionary ideas came to Africans after seeing that constitutional means would never help them since there existed a number of conflicting parties such as Z.N.P., Afro-Shirazi Party, Z.P.P.P. Each party did not have nationalistic aims but racial ambitions and favoratism.
6. Mass exploitation: The Arab government failed to offer sufficient social services to the masses due to the drop in the price of cloves in the world-market. Africans became the scapegoats of the economic hardships, with poor education, unemployment, and poor health services, and intensive exploitation.
7. The emergence and role of John Okello, who came from northern Uganda, a Lango by tribe. He sttled in Zanzibar in 1952 and worked periodically as a painter. He was an official of ASP in Pemba. In 1961 he had an ambition to involve himself in a revolutionary army. From January 11th to 12th 1934 his ambition materialized.
Okello organized surprise attacks on the Arabs key posts, using civilians with poor weapons. The revolutionaries under Okello managed to capture an armory, and the Arab government was toppled and the Sultan had to flee with his family to Britain. On 24th January 1964, Sheikh Abeid Amani Karume’s party, ASP seized power, and the Africans celebrated their independence, forming a revolutionary government.
CAUSES
Generally, there were a number of causes of decolonization through revolution.
1. Discontent among the ruled: After independence the ruled felt that their rulers kept mistreating them, thus they were discontented in various ways. Bad governance, exploitation and oppression persisted, thus they felt the need to topple the ruling classes.
2. Land alienation: The majority of the people were deprived of land. In Zanzibar, the Africans were landless and they turned to be workers in the Arab farms. In Egypt the population growth of the Egyptians did not tally with the need for more land, and most land was expropriated by the ruling class.
3. Discrimination: In Zanzibar, Africans were discriminated against in employment, social services, ownership of property, and in decision making. In Egypt the rulers and the rich were favoured by the judicial system which was very corrupt and oppressive.
4. The emergence of radical groups: In Zanzibar there was socialist and religious radicalism. The UMMA party was one of the radical religious group. In Egypt many radical religious movements emerged. The most powerful was the Muslim Brotherhood. These prepared the ground for the spontaneous upraising of the people.
5. The emergence of militant leaders: The revolution was inspired by the rise of militant and revolutionary leaders. In Zanzibar there was John Okello and Abdulrahmaan Babu, where as in Egypt there was Colonel Jamal Abdel Nasser, who believed in revolution as the only means to adjust the maladministration.
6. Fake independence: In Egypt the independence granted was a political independence by name only, but the real power remained in the hands of the British. In Zanzibar, the non-native Sultan continued to rule according to the dictates of the colonial masters. The Africans felt that they needed real independence, hence they staged the revolutions.
STRENGTH
1. Revolutions in both cases were spontaneous and took the rulers by surprise, leading to the toppling of the oppressive government and forming the rule of the majority.
2. The mass participation in the riots and attacks totally disorganized the oppressive rulers. They were attacks by the majority which could never be controlled. The oppressors had to surrender to the power of the people, though the people never had massive weapons.
3. The revolutions showed that unity is the main weapon of the oppressed. The strength of the oppressed lied in their unity, and with unity they succeeded to end their miseries in one day.
4. The revolutions were indicators of high degree of patriotism, where the people were ready to fight and die for their lands against their powerful enemies, against the state powers for that matter.
5. The revolutionary events were spontaneous but well organized and coordinated by good, patriotic leaders, to the final success.
WEAKNESS
There were a few weaknesses of the revolutions, as goes the saying, you cannot make an omelet without breaking eggs.
1. Destruction of properties. Riots caused destruction of properties, as in Egypt people rioted by setting on fire all British property in Cairo. Shops , hotels, cinemas and clubs were burnt down. This day is known as Black Saturday in Egypt. In Zanzibar the same was the case. After revolution there was a task of reconstruction of important items.
2. Some innocent people were either injured or killed during the fracas. There was a serious mobilization and organization problem in Zanzibar which later led to bloodshed. In Egypt also a number of innocent people suffered, and some lost their lives.
3. Some Africans had blood linage to the attacked rulers. To them revolution was seen as a bad move. They thus remained with a grudge. In Pemba, most Arabs had intermarried with Africans. The offspring of the Arabs were left with a scar, after their elders were ousted or killed in the revolution.
CONTRIBUTION
Despite the minor weaknesses, the revolutions contributed greatly to the welfare of the oppressed majorities in the countries. Revolution was the only means to bring to the countries the adjustments in the government, and to get rid of all the evils such as exploitation, oppression, and discrimination.
PROBLEMS
1. Suppression of revolutionary cliques. The rulers kept watch on revolutionary elements, thus giving them hard times in their moves.
2. Reactionary moves. As in other means of struggle, anti-revolutionary moves also were there to frustrate the revolutionary moves.
3. Lack of armed forces. The armed forces were in the hands of the rulers, thus the revolutionaries depended solely on the power of the civilians.
4. Untrained fighters. The civilians who took the initiative to fight were untrained in war tactics, thus many were injured or killed, and they caused unnecessary destructions.
5. Poor weapons. The people used poor, crude weapons to fight against the state powers. With these many failed to protect themselves against strong weapons of the few counterattacks of their enemies.
6. Lack of funds. There was no financial support, as the revolution was organized by the poor ruled class. They thus could not make thorough preparations of the war, e.g. they could not buy any weapons.
7. Lack of international support. The revolutionaries did not have a party that was internationally recognized and supported.
CONTRIBUTION
Despite the weaknesses the revolution contributed a lot in making sure that the majority of Africans seize power, and the rule by the minority is ended, so that there is justice, equality and good and fair governance.
PROBLEMS
Like in other methods of decolonization, there were some problems that were experienced in the process of revolution.
1. Reactionary cliques. Anti-revolutionary elements were there which to some extent hindered the smooth completion of the task, and that is why some weaknesses like attacking of some Africans had to take place.
2. Lack of strong weapons. The fighters used crude weapons which culminated in cases of counter attacks that made some participants victims of counterattacks.
3. Lack of funds. The people fought using poor weapons because they had no financial ability to buy good weapons.
4. Lack of well-trained fighters. The revolution used untrained civilians, most of whom fought carelessly without employing good war tactics. That is why cases of unnecessary casualties and destructions occurred.
5. Lack of support. Unlike in other methods, the revolutions were spontaneous and no support from other friendly countries or organization was at hand. The support could make the revolution smoother.
DECOLONIZATION THROUGH CONSTITUTIONAL MEANS
This sub-topic has three specific objectives. Students should be able
1. To explain the meaning of decolonization through constitutional means.
2. To assess the conditions which facilitated constitutional struggle for independence.
3. To analyze problems experienced during the struggle for independence through constitutional means.
MEANING
Decolonization through constitutional means was the process of fighting for independence from the colonialists by using peaceful means of using political parties. This method of struggle takes place through mass political organization. Some countries in Africa used this method to attain independence.
Examples of African countries that attained their independence through constitutional means are Ghana, Nigeria, Tanganyika and Malawi.
GHANA
Ghana’s mass African nationalism began in 1940’s with the formation of political parties which demanded independence through peaceful or constitutional method.
The Africans in Gold Coast pressed the colonialists with mass political moves, and the British colonialists decided to form a constitution called the Burns Constitution, which stipulated that the majority of members in the legislative council would be the Africans.
The Africans, however, realized two major weaknesses of the Burns Constitution:
1. The legislative Council was only an advisory body which could not allow the Africans to make decisions.
2. The African representation was limited, contrary to the stipulation of the constitution, with most of the pro-colonial African chiefs representing the Africans.
3. In 1947 United Gold Coast Convention (U.G.C.C.) was formed by J. B. Danquah, with Kwame Nkrumah being the General Secretary. The party was formed in opposition of the Burns Constitution. They started demanding for independence.
4. In 1948, the British government formed another constitution called the Coussey Constitution. A group of Africans opposed the constitution although it provided more chance for African representatives. Those who did not accept the constitution decided to break out from U.G.C.C. and formed Conventional People’s Party (C.P.P.) under the leadership of Kwame Nkrumah.
5. Nkrumah became very popular, with support mainly from youths, especially primary school leavers; workers in different fields, peasants and cocoa farmers. CPP protested not only against colonialism but also against the structure of authority in which the Ashanti Chiefs had immense power.
Nkrumah advocated for positive action through the following methods:
1. Legitimate political action.
2. Newspaper and educational campaigns.
3. Constitutional application of boycotts, strikes and non-cooperation based on the principle of absolute non-violence.
He also started a newspaper called Accra Evening News which he used to propagate CPP views and to foster mass mobilization.
Nkrumah’s moves threatened the colonial government. He was arrested, charged with incitement and imprisoned.
The struggles of parties led to holding elections for independence.
The elections took place in 1951 while Nkrumah was still in jail. CCP won 33 seats against 3 of UGCC. Dr. Kwame Nkrumah was released from jail to form a government in 1952. He became the first Prime Minister in the Gold Coast.
In 1956 there were more elections. CPP won 71 seats and 33 were won by the opposition. On 6th March 1957 Gold Coast became independent, and the country took the name of the ancient empire – Ghana. In 1960 Ghana became a republic and Dr. Kwame Nkrumah became the president.
NIGERIA
Mass nationalism in Nigeria took shape against colonialism through the formation of political parties after WW2. Political parties replaced the social and welfare associations that sought to reform colonialism. The new form of nationalism aimed at political independence through peaceful methods (constitutionalism).
The political parties held discussions with the colonialists and pressed the British government to provide independence to the Nigerians. There were a number of political parties formed to foster the moves to independence.
In 1944 The National Council of Nigeria and Cameroon (NCNC) was formed by Dr. Namdi Azikiwe and Herbert Maculay. It was supported by workers mainly from Igbo in Eastern Nigeria because they had quarrels with the Yoruba.
In 1951, another important party called the Northern People’s Party (NPC) was formed by the Hausa and the Fulani living in the North. Many of its supporters were Muslims who struggled for the independence of the north, fearing the domination of the well-developed Christians in the South. The leader of the party was Alhaj Sir Abubakar Tafawa Blewa.
Around the same year a party called the Action Group (AG), mainly supported by the Yoruba was formed. The party struggled for the independence of the westerners from colonial domination.
The pressure exerted by these parties to the colonial masters led to the making of constitutions which prepared Nigeria for independence. The constitutions mainly aimed at bringing unity among the parties.
The first constitution was the Richard’s Constitution made in 1946. The constitution had three main provisions:
1. Election of central legislature for the north and south which were ruled separately by the British.
2. Giving chances to majority of members who were not in the government to the legislature.
3. Making laws for the first time for the whole country which was divided into three regions, the north, South and the west and East.
4. The executive Council to remain under the British
NCNC protested against the constitution.
In 1951 another constitution called the Macpherson Constitution was formed by the new governor. It brought some changes to the former constitution.
Ethnic conflicts led to the formation of yet another constitution in 1954. This was called the Lyttelton Constitution. It was made at a conference held in London, and it was a federal constitution that gave more power to regional governments and their legislatures. After the constitution there were elections in Nigeria.
The first Federal general Election took place in 1954. NPC and CNCN made a coalition government. Alhaj Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa of NPC became the prime minister of the Federal Government of Nigeria. In 1951 he provided a chance to the Action Group in order to get the government of national unity.
The second election took place in 1959. Due to ethnic divisions in, NPC won in the north, AG in the west and NCNC in the east.
The British provided full independence to Nigeria on 1st October, 1960, amidst the ethnic divisions, with Dr. Namdi Azikiwe being the first president and Tafawa Balewa the first prime minister.
NYASALAND (MALAWI)
The nationalist political movement in Nyasaland was the Nyasaland African Congress (NAC), formed in 1944. This also used constitutional means to fight for independence. It called for African majority representation in the legislative councils, township managements, and land boards.
The nationalist pressure made the Rhodesian whites to campaign for the federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, which started in 1949. Groups of people in Nyasaland opposed the federation for different reasons:
1. NAC feared blockage of political advancement in Nyasaland.
2. Many chiefs feared that the federation would undermine their power.
3. Those who worked in Rhodecia experienced racial discrimination, thus they feared the federation would extend its discrimination in Nyasaland.
In 1955, NAC was strengthened by two young radicals, H. Masauko Chipembere and Kanyama Chiume, to advance its political moves using constitutional means.
In order to win the support of elders and chiefs, the young leaders invited the elderly and educated Hastings Kamuzu Banda to lead the party.
In March 1959, NAC was banned and Banda, its president general, was imprisoned.
In the place of NAC, another party, the Malawi Congress Party (MCP), was formed. The party was well organized. It increased political mobilization in the rural areas and opened more branches.
Consequently the MCP won independence for Malawi on 6th July, 1964, with Hastings Kamuzu Banda as president.
TANGANYIKA
A more systematic political movement started with Tanganyika African Association (TAA). On 7th July, 1954, seventeen leading TAA members assembled for a conference in Dar-es-Salaam. Their purpose was to change the aims and objectives of TAA which had been semi-political.
TAA was transformed to a full-fledged political party called Tanganyika African National Union (TANU). The new party adopted one major aim: the attainment of national independence. Julius Kambarage Nyerere was elected its first president.
After its formation, TANU started embarking on a number of organizational tasks:
1. To mobilize the people to fight for national independence.
2. To educate the people on unity and against divisive obstacles such as tribalism, racialism and religious differences.
3. To consolidate and provide political direction to the trade unions.
TANU had its Youth League, which became very useful in organizing meetings and propagating the message of Uhuru in both urban and rural areas.
At the international level, TANU capitalized on Tanganyika trusteeship. It appealed to UNO for sympathy and support.
The colonial administration tried to frustrate the moves of TANU. TANU was called a riotous movement. The colonial government prevented civil servants from joining it. Then the colonialists sponsored the formation of reactionary organizations, e.g. the formation of United Tanganyika Party (UTP), formed by chiefs in 1956.
TANU faced all the challenges boldly. It called for a democratically elected legislative council (LEGCO). Finally the colonial government agreed to have elections of members to LEGCO which would be based on racial parity. In its conference at Tabora in 1958, TANU agreed to take part in the elections.
In the 1958 general election, TANU won massively. All the TANU-sponsored candidates won election irrespective of their racial origins. All the UTP candidates were defeated, and the party died altogether.
The strength of TANU made the colonialists deal with it more liberally. Some members, however, accused the party of moderate policies. They wanted a more militant African stand. The group with this view broke away from TANU and formed the African National Congress (ANC) in 1958.
Even after the split, TANU remained strong. Meanwhile, Britain went ahead laying the ground for extended relations with post-independence Tanganyika.
In the polls of August 1960, TANU won massively again. It formed a government that worked together with the colonial government for a smooth transfer of power.
On 9th December, 1961, ANC ceased to exist following its total defeat in the presidential elections. Julius Kambarage Nyerere, the president of TANU, became the first Prime Minister of Tanganyika.
CONDITIONS
There were several conditions that facilitated the struggle for independence by constitutional means.
1. The nature of colonial government: This means the colonial government accepted gradually the representation of the Africans in the legislatures, thus Africans could not easily opt for other means.
2. The status of the colonies. The colonialists had already been given the task of preparing the colonies for their independence, for example, Tanganyika was under the trusteeship of the UNO. The leaders thus used the status to fight constitutionally for the independence.
3. The existence of strong African leaders, from the few elites, like Kwame Nkrumah, Dr. Namdi Azikiwe, Dr. Hastings Kamuzu Banda, and Julius Kambarage Nyerere, helped in the formation of strong, well-organized political parties that was supported by the African majorities.
4. Weak opposition from the colonial side, due to the absence of many settlers in the countries, also contributed to the use of constitutional means.
5. Weak inter-party opposition. The strong nationalist parties did not get strong opposition from other parties, even those which were sponsored by the colonialists. Elections were thus smooth and did not bring misunderstanding among Africans.
6. The African awareness of the need for national independence made them unmindful of their ethnic or religious identities. They formed a strong unity and unilaterally supported their political leaders in the movements.
PROBLEMS
There were some problems that faced the struggle for independence using constitutional means. Following are some:
1. Harassment and imprisonment of nationalist leaders.
2. Formation of reactionary movements and opposition parties.
3. African colonial collaborators, e.g. chiefs.
4. Illiteracy among the majority Africans.
5. Lack of funds, due to the fact that the parties depended on the majority Africans, who were poor.
6. Land vastness. Coordination was difficult due to land vastness, e.g. Nigeria, which was divided into three political regions.
7. Colonial delaying tactics. They were required to prepare some territories for independence but they deliberately delayed the moves to extend exploitation.
This sub-topic has three specific objectives. Students should be able
1. To explain the meaning of decolonization through constitutional means.
2. To assess the conditions which facilitated constitutional struggle for independence.
3. To analyze problems experienced during the struggle for independence through constitutional means.
MEANING
Decolonization through constitutional means was the process of fighting for independence from the colonialists by using peaceful means of using political parties. This method of struggle takes place through mass political organization. Some countries in Africa used this method to attain independence.
Examples of African countries that attained their independence through constitutional means are Ghana, Nigeria, Tanganyika and Malawi.
GHANA
Ghana’s mass African nationalism began in 1940’s with the formation of political parties which demanded independence through peaceful or constitutional method.
The Africans in Gold Coast pressed the colonialists with mass political moves, and the British colonialists decided to form a constitution called the Burns Constitution, which stipulated that the majority of members in the legislative council would be the Africans.
The Africans, however, realized two major weaknesses of the Burns Constitution:
1. The legislative Council was only an advisory body which could not allow the Africans to make decisions.
2. The African representation was limited, contrary to the stipulation of the constitution, with most of the pro-colonial African chiefs representing the Africans.
3. In 1947 United Gold Coast Convention (U.G.C.C.) was formed by J. B. Danquah, with Kwame Nkrumah being the General Secretary. The party was formed in opposition of the Burns Constitution. They started demanding for independence.
4. In 1948, the British government formed another constitution called the Coussey Constitution. A group of Africans opposed the constitution although it provided more chance for African representatives. Those who did not accept the constitution decided to break out from U.G.C.C. and formed Conventional People’s Party (C.P.P.) under the leadership of Kwame Nkrumah.
5. Nkrumah became very popular, with support mainly from youths, especially primary school leavers; workers in different fields, peasants and cocoa farmers. CPP protested not only against colonialism but also against the structure of authority in which the Ashanti Chiefs had immense power.
Nkrumah advocated for positive action through the following methods:
1. Legitimate political action.
2. Newspaper and educational campaigns.
3. Constitutional application of boycotts, strikes and non-cooperation based on the principle of absolute non-violence.
He also started a newspaper called Accra Evening News which he used to propagate CPP views and to foster mass mobilization.
Nkrumah’s moves threatened the colonial government. He was arrested, charged with incitement and imprisoned.
The struggles of parties led to holding elections for independence.
The elections took place in 1951 while Nkrumah was still in jail. CCP won 33 seats against 3 of UGCC. Dr. Kwame Nkrumah was released from jail to form a government in 1952. He became the first Prime Minister in the Gold Coast.
In 1956 there were more elections. CPP won 71 seats and 33 were won by the opposition. On 6th March 1957 Gold Coast became independent, and the country took the name of the ancient empire – Ghana. In 1960 Ghana became a republic and Dr. Kwame Nkrumah became the president.
NIGERIA
Mass nationalism in Nigeria took shape against colonialism through the formation of political parties after WW2. Political parties replaced the social and welfare associations that sought to reform colonialism. The new form of nationalism aimed at political independence through peaceful methods (constitutionalism).
The political parties held discussions with the colonialists and pressed the British government to provide independence to the Nigerians. There were a number of political parties formed to foster the moves to independence.
In 1944 The National Council of Nigeria and Cameroon (NCNC) was formed by Dr. Namdi Azikiwe and Herbert Maculay. It was supported by workers mainly from Igbo in Eastern Nigeria because they had quarrels with the Yoruba.
In 1951, another important party called the Northern People’s Party (NPC) was formed by the Hausa and the Fulani living in the North. Many of its supporters were Muslims who struggled for the independence of the north, fearing the domination of the well-developed Christians in the South. The leader of the party was Alhaj Sir Abubakar Tafawa Blewa.
Around the same year a party called the Action Group (AG), mainly supported by the Yoruba was formed. The party struggled for the independence of the westerners from colonial domination.
The pressure exerted by these parties to the colonial masters led to the making of constitutions which prepared Nigeria for independence. The constitutions mainly aimed at bringing unity among the parties.
The first constitution was the Richard’s Constitution made in 1946. The constitution had three main provisions:
1. Election of central legislature for the north and south which were ruled separately by the British.
2. Giving chances to majority of members who were not in the government to the legislature.
3. Making laws for the first time for the whole country which was divided into three regions, the north, South and the west and East.
4. The executive Council to remain under the British
NCNC protested against the constitution.
In 1951 another constitution called the Macpherson Constitution was formed by the new governor. It brought some changes to the former constitution.
Ethnic conflicts led to the formation of yet another constitution in 1954. This was called the Lyttelton Constitution. It was made at a conference held in London, and it was a federal constitution that gave more power to regional governments and their legislatures. After the constitution there were elections in Nigeria.
The first Federal general Election took place in 1954. NPC and CNCN made a coalition government. Alhaj Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa of NPC became the prime minister of the Federal Government of Nigeria. In 1951 he provided a chance to the Action Group in order to get the government of national unity.
The second election took place in 1959. Due to ethnic divisions in, NPC won in the north, AG in the west and NCNC in the east.
The British provided full independence to Nigeria on 1st October, 1960, amidst the ethnic divisions, with Dr. Namdi Azikiwe being the first president and Tafawa Balewa the first prime minister.
NYASALAND (MALAWI)
The nationalist political movement in Nyasaland was the Nyasaland African Congress (NAC), formed in 1944. This also used constitutional means to fight for independence. It called for African majority representation in the legislative councils, township managements, and land boards.
The nationalist pressure made the Rhodesian whites to campaign for the federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, which started in 1949. Groups of people in Nyasaland opposed the federation for different reasons:
1. NAC feared blockage of political advancement in Nyasaland.
2. Many chiefs feared that the federation would undermine their power.
3. Those who worked in Rhodecia experienced racial discrimination, thus they feared the federation would extend its discrimination in Nyasaland.
In 1955, NAC was strengthened by two young radicals, H. Masauko Chipembere and Kanyama Chiume, to advance its political moves using constitutional means.
In order to win the support of elders and chiefs, the young leaders invited the elderly and educated Hastings Kamuzu Banda to lead the party.
In March 1959, NAC was banned and Banda, its president general, was imprisoned.
In the place of NAC, another party, the Malawi Congress Party (MCP), was formed. The party was well organized. It increased political mobilization in the rural areas and opened more branches.
Consequently the MCP won independence for Malawi on 6th July, 1964, with Hastings Kamuzu Banda as president.
TANGANYIKA
A more systematic political movement started with Tanganyika African Association (TAA). On 7th July, 1954, seventeen leading TAA members assembled for a conference in Dar-es-Salaam. Their purpose was to change the aims and objectives of TAA which had been semi-political.
TAA was transformed to a full-fledged political party called Tanganyika African National Union (TANU). The new party adopted one major aim: the attainment of national independence. Julius Kambarage Nyerere was elected its first president.
After its formation, TANU started embarking on a number of organizational tasks:
1. To mobilize the people to fight for national independence.
2. To educate the people on unity and against divisive obstacles such as tribalism, racialism and religious differences.
3. To consolidate and provide political direction to the trade unions.
TANU had its Youth League, which became very useful in organizing meetings and propagating the message of Uhuru in both urban and rural areas.
At the international level, TANU capitalized on Tanganyika trusteeship. It appealed to UNO for sympathy and support.
The colonial administration tried to frustrate the moves of TANU. TANU was called a riotous movement. The colonial government prevented civil servants from joining it. Then the colonialists sponsored the formation of reactionary organizations, e.g. the formation of United Tanganyika Party (UTP), formed by chiefs in 1956.
TANU faced all the challenges boldly. It called for a democratically elected legislative council (LEGCO). Finally the colonial government agreed to have elections of members to LEGCO which would be based on racial parity. In its conference at Tabora in 1958, TANU agreed to take part in the elections.
In the 1958 general election, TANU won massively. All the TANU-sponsored candidates won election irrespective of their racial origins. All the UTP candidates were defeated, and the party died altogether.
The strength of TANU made the colonialists deal with it more liberally. Some members, however, accused the party of moderate policies. They wanted a more militant African stand. The group with this view broke away from TANU and formed the African National Congress (ANC) in 1958.
Even after the split, TANU remained strong. Meanwhile, Britain went ahead laying the ground for extended relations with post-independence Tanganyika.
In the polls of August 1960, TANU won massively again. It formed a government that worked together with the colonial government for a smooth transfer of power.
On 9th December, 1961, ANC ceased to exist following its total defeat in the presidential elections. Julius Kambarage Nyerere, the president of TANU, became the first Prime Minister of Tanganyika.
CONDITIONS
There were several conditions that facilitated the struggle for independence by constitutional means.
1. The nature of colonial government: This means the colonial government accepted gradually the representation of the Africans in the legislatures, thus Africans could not easily opt for other means.
2. The status of the colonies. The colonialists had already been given the task of preparing the colonies for their independence, for example, Tanganyika was under the trusteeship of the UNO. The leaders thus used the status to fight constitutionally for the independence.
3. The existence of strong African leaders, from the few elites, like Kwame Nkrumah, Dr. Namdi Azikiwe, Dr. Hastings Kamuzu Banda, and Julius Kambarage Nyerere, helped in the formation of strong, well-organized political parties that was supported by the African majorities.
4. Weak opposition from the colonial side, due to the absence of many settlers in the countries, also contributed to the use of constitutional means.
5. Weak inter-party opposition. The strong nationalist parties did not get strong opposition from other parties, even those which were sponsored by the colonialists. Elections were thus smooth and did not bring misunderstanding among Africans.
6. The African awareness of the need for national independence made them unmindful of their ethnic or religious identities. They formed a strong unity and unilaterally supported their political leaders in the movements.
PROBLEMS
There were some problems that faced the struggle for independence using constitutional means. Following are some:
1. Harassment and imprisonment of nationalist leaders.
2. Formation of reactionary movements and opposition parties.
3. African colonial collaborators, e.g. chiefs.
4. Illiteracy among the majority Africans.
5. Lack of funds, due to the fact that the parties depended on the majority Africans, who were poor.
6. Land vastness. Coordination was difficult due to land vastness, e.g. Nigeria, which was divided into three political regions.
7. Colonial delaying tactics. They were required to prepare some territories for independence but they deliberately delayed the moves to extend exploitation.