Module 6

1. What international circumstances and social changes contributed to the end of colonial empires?

Europe was weakened through wars and discredited moral superiority. Transformation of social values encouraged African and Asians to seek political independence. Western-educated elites rose in colonies to insist on independence. People became increasingly aware of unfair colonial rule. Some colonial leaders sought new political relationships with colonies.

2. What international circumstances and social changes contributed to the end of colonial empires?

The United States and the Soviet Union, the new global superpowers, generally opposed the older European colonial empires. By the early twentieth century in Asia and the mid-twentieth century in Africa, a second or third generation of Western-educated elites, largely male, had arisen throughout the colonial world. These young men were thoroughly familiar with European culture, were aware of the gap between its values and its practices, no longer viewing colonial rule as a vehicle for their peoples' progress as their ancestors had, and increasingly insisted on independence.

3. What conflicts and differences divided India's nationalist movement?

Not all nationalists accepted Gandhi's nonviolence or his inclusive definition of India, Gandhi opposed industrialization while his chief supported it. With all that some militant Hindus saw efforts to improve the position of women or untouchables as a distraction from the chief task of gaining independence from Britain. A number of smaller parties advocated on behalf of particular regions or castes. There was a growing divide between India's Hindu and Muslim populations, which led to arguments that India was really two nations rather than one.