Nationalism and Political Identity

AsiaAfricaIndia

Latin America

Indian Home Rule

• Indian National Congress founded 1885, to promote self-rule

• Initial support from both Hindus and Muslims• Original position in favor or collaboration with

British, after World War I moved to opposition• British encouraged development of Muslim

League (1906) to blunt Congress• Woodrow Wilson, Lenin inspirations to

movement

Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869-1948)

• Hindu, studied law in London, practiced in South Africa– Opposed apartheid

• Returned to India 1915, made Indian National Congress into a mass movement

• Titled Mahatma: “great soul”• Opposed caste system on a personal level

Gandhi’s Resistance

• Ahimsa: non-violence• Satyagraha: passive resistance (“truth and

firmness”)• Amritsar Massacre (1919)• Non-cooperation Movement (1920-1922)• Civil Disobedience Movement (1930)• Boycott of British Institutions

The Government of India Act (1937)

• Creation of autonomous legislature– 600 “sovereign” princes refuse to cooperate

• Muslim fears of Hindu dominance grow– Traditional economic divide– Especially severe with Great Depression

• Muhammad Ali Jinnah (1876-1948) proposes partition, creation of the State of Pakistan

The end of the Dynastic Cycle?

• Revolution in 1911 forces Emperor Puyi to abdicate

• Sun Yatsen (1866-1925) proclaims Republic of China in 1912– What if they gave a Republic and no one came?

• Political anarchy follows• Independent warlords exercise local control

Chinese Nationalism Grows

• Post WWI, China is treated badly in treaty negotiations;

• Concerns ignored, Japan gets Germany’s possessions in China.

• Students and intellectuals protest• May 4th Movement• Marxism enters China• Chinese Communist Party founded in Shanghai (1921)– Leader: Mao Zedong (1893-1976)

Sun Yatsen (1866-1925)

• Lived in Hawaii as a child, became a Christian• Created Nationalist People’s Party

(Guomindang--GMD)– Exiled to Japan for a time

• Accepts support from Soviet Union• Members of the Chinese Communist Party

also join Guomindang

Chinese Civil War

• Jiang Jieshi (a.k.a.Chiang Kai-Shek) takes over after death of Sun Yatsen

• Launches military expedition to unify China, turns against communist allies

• Communists flee; 6,215 miles to north-west China, 1934: The Long March

• Mao Zedong led, eliminated rivals, and articulates Chinese communism (Maoism)

China, 1927-1936

Imperialist Japan

• Japan signs treaties under League of Nations to limit imperialist activity, 1922-1928 (but is the only power in the region.

• Economy slumps in Great Depression• Political chaos in interwar Japan, assassinations,

reactionary nationalist leaders emerge• Militarist, imperialist circles advocate greater

assertion of Japanese power in the region• Military assumes indirect control of government

The Mukden Incident (1931)

• Japanese troops in Manchuria, China, secretly blow up small parts of the Japanese-built South Manchuria Railroad as pretext for war

• Over opposition of Japanese civilian government, military takes Manchuria, renames it Manchukuo, a puppet state; military in de facto control

• League of Nations censures Japan, Japan leaves the League of Nations

• Occupation of China and war follow

Africa and the Great War

• African colonies participate in World War I– Over 1 million African soldiers involved—trained

and armed– Compulsory and volunteer soldiers

• Africans encouraged to fight white soldiers• Many Europeans left to be deployed

elsewhere• Encouraged local rebellions, challenges to

European domination

Economic Changes in Africa

• Two goals of Colonial powers– 1) Ensure colonized pay for their own subjugation– 2) Development of export-oriented, raw goods for

manufactured products.• Infrastructure is constructed:– Railroads, ports, telegraphs. All to facilitate dominance

and export mineral and agricultural wealth• Tax structure to drive Africans into labor markets– Farming (cash crops); mining; forced labor impoverish

Africans.

African Nationalism

• Africa never unified before imperialism• Looks toward Woodrow Wilson’s 14 Points– Self-determination rhetoric powerful– Accountability for colonial mis-treatment

• The idea of becoming free of colonial domination spurs new thinking.

Africa’s New Elite

• Post-war class of elite: civil servants, physicians, lawyers and writers

• Often influenced by education, other experiences abroad– Jomo Kenyatta (1895-1978), Kenyan nationalist

• Teachers, interpreters, most held jobs with colonial governments;

• Moved to create modern nation-states in Africa– Embrace European concept of the Nation as unifier

But what makes a Nation in Africa?

• Some look to pre-colonial era– Ethnicity, religion, languages as unifiers

• Some look to race as a unifier– “Pan-Africanism”– US and Afro-Caribbean intellectuals– Marcus Garvey—”Back to Africa”

• Some look to geography– Build nations around borders– NO MATTER WHAT, DESIRE IS STRONG FOR

INDEPENDENCE.

Latin America in the early 20th Century

• Most Latin American countries were independent in 19th Century.

• Influence came from wealthy countries like the US and Great Britain looking for economic gain.

• Great Depression opens the door for radical Marxist approaches to take root in Latin America– Impoverished native masses grasp Marx’ ideas– Enlightenment ideas faded rapidly

• US has emerged from WWI as a economic power.

Radicalism takes Root

• US Capitalism was rejected by Latin American universities

• Mexican and Russian revolutions seen as models– Reform demanded by students– More representation in education demanded;

students become politicized.• Marxism and Anti-Imperialism shape the

curriculum and ideologies of a generation.

Latin American Developments

• Students who take in this education include:– José Carlos Mariátegui (Peru, 1895-1930)

• Focus on poor and Indians, 50% of Peru’s population• Exiled; Dedicated Marxist, dies of cancer

– Peruvian leadership able to contain APRA and other groups, but ideas remain

– Artist Diego Rivera (Mexico, 1886-1957)• Celebrate indigenous traditions, Marxist and anti-

imperialists

– Fidel Castro influenced as a student studying law in Cuba…

Fidel Castro (1926- )

US Economic Domination/Neocolonialism

• Huge capital investment in Latin America, export of raw materials

• US banks double their investment 1924-1929• US economic neocolonialism under President

William Howard Taft (1857-1931)– dollar diplomacy—”substitute dollars for bullets”– Latin Americans call it “Yankee imperialism”

• Great Depression halts US investment, Latin American states very susceptible to damage.

Post Depression

• Opportunity for change• Raw materials were not in demand, prices fall.• Governments enact tariffs on imports,

encouraging domestic production– Protectionism runs rampant– Brazil’s estado novo (New State) an example of

industrialization attempt—iron and steel industry built

– Social welfare programs born

The “Good Neighbor Policy”

• US approves “sweetheart treaties” guaranteeing US control of Caribbean economies– US Marines train indigenous forces and are a

presence• Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945)

promotes cordial relationship• Avoids direct intervention by supporting local

leaders

Nicaraguan Developments

• Civil war in Nicaragua, 1920s• US supports Anastacio Somoza Garcia (1896-

1956)• Augusto César Sandino leads opposition to US

influence• Somoza assassinates Sandino in 1934• Somoza maintains good relations with US (gets

paid!)• Sandino becomes a martyr-Sandinistas form

Mexican developments

• Roosevelt formally renounces intervention as per Monroe Doctrine and Roosevelt Corollary, 1933

• Lázaro Cárdenas (1895-1970) nationalizes Mexican oil industry in 1938– Previously controlled by US, British interests

• Roosevelt convinces US, British businesses to accept $24 million in compensation ($260m sought)– US wants to retain support of Mexico with approaching war– Also, increasing dependence on Mexican immigrant labor

FDR Strategery

• US wants Latin American nations to be friendly in the event of future global conflict– Also want regional economic markets

• Mexicans fill the gap of European immigrants– Flood into the US engaging in agricultural and

industrial work– Resentment builds and move toward restrictions on

Mexican immigration sought.• Business cultivate positive images: Carmen

Miranda and Chiquita Banana created.