Nationalist Movements after
WWI
What led to the Nationalist
Movements?
Most movements started before WWI;
WWI gave them a needed push
African and Asian soldiers fighting
Europeans in Europe
Colonies supplied troops and raw materials
Devastation of the war crushed the myth
of the European being a superior being
Key Ingredients of Nationalist
Movements
Western-educated leaders
Charismatic leaders who could spread
the ideas from the elite to the masses
Non-violent protest
India
Indian National Congress party led Indians to
independence and governed during the early
decades of the postcolonial era
Leaders began stressing the gross inequality
between the British and the Indians in India
(economy devastated, land devastated,
racism)
Difficulty over the role of religion in the
movement and emergence of B.G Tilak (first
leader who appealed to the masses and
stressed that Indian nationalism should be
India- Reforms
Morley-Minto Reforms of 1909provided educated Indians opportunities
to vote and serve on legislative councils
Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms of 1919increased the powers of the Indian
legislators and put provincial
administration in their hands
Mohandas Gandhi
Stress on non-violent protestsatyagraha- peaceful boycotts, strikes,
non-cooperation
Western-educated with attributes of a
Hindu guru, which gave him the mass
peasant support the movement needed
1920s-1930s mass protest surged
Egypt
Quest for independence and nationalism early
in Egypt and eventually led to the British
occupation in 1882
Lord Cromer dominated Egypt and the gap
between rich and poor grew
Landlords allied themselves to British regime,
so resistance left up to the middle class- sons
of the effendi (professional class)
In India lawyers led the independence
movements but in Egypt journalists did
Egypt
A few movements emerged but were unable
to unite the masses and British put down
uprisings
Dinshawai incident –1906- where the British
hung four villagers after a skirmish between
the British and the villagers
This demonstrated the hostility of the masses and
galvanized support for popular protest
1913- British grant a constitution and
representation in parliament
Revolt in Egypt 1919
Defense of Suez canal during the war drained
resources from Egypt- increased unrest
Egypt denied participation at settlement at
Versailles
Riots exploded everywhere (women,
students, intellectuals)
Emergence of the Wafd party- focus for
unified action
British withdrawal in stages beginning in 1922
Military coup in 1952 by Gamal Abdul Nasser
Middle East
Turks defeated in WWI and Ottoman
Empire disappeared
1923 Turkish Republic under Attaturk
Reform program modeled on the west
Arab nationalists turned to Britain and
France who betrayed promises to
preserve Arab independence and
occupied land after the war
Middle East (contd)
League of Nations mandate to promise
Palestine to the Jews and Zionists angered
Arabs (Balfour Declaration- British pledge in
1917 to support the creation of a Jewish
state)
Dreyfus Affair in 1894 – Theodor Herzl
(Austrian journalist) stunned at French mobs
reacting to Alfred Dreyfus (French Jew
accused of passing secrets to Germans)- led
to the creation of the World Zionist
Organization
Africa
Most western-educated elites loyal to British and
French in WWI
Africa provided manpower and materials
Local rebellions due to recruitment of Africans and
economic shortages caused by war
Lost promises after WWI lead to an attempt to
build pan-African movement
1930s protest increased due to Great Depression
Africa (contd)
1920s and 1930s beginning of organization of
protest- Marcus Garvey and W.E.B. DuBois –
charismatic nationalist figures
Pan-African organizations- though largely failed
did arouse anti-colonial sentiments
Negritude literary movement, led in part by the
great Senagalese poet, Leopold Sedar Senghor
combated the racial stereotyping of the Africans
British granted more freedom for political voice
than the French
Movement gave way to independent colonies
struggling themselves