Chapter 43 Chapter 7 The End of the Empire 5

5 Sure enough, the old colonial system was the first to declare bankruptcy in Asia.Syria and Lebanon (formerly French) declared their independence in 1945.India and Pakistan became independent in 1947. In 1948, Myanmar, Ceylon (Sri Lanka), Palestine (Israel), and Indonesia in the Dutch East Indies declared independence. In 1946, the United States granted formal independence to the Philippine Islands, which it had occupied since 1898.As for the Japanese Empire, of course it had come to an end in 1945.In the area of ​​Islamic North Africa, the colonial power is also in jeopardy, but it is still stable for a while.Much of sub-Saharan Africa, as well as the islands of the Caribbean and the Pacific, remained silent.Only in Southeast Asia, the disintegration of colonial politics was stubbornly resisted by the colonial authorities, especially in French Indochina (ie today's Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos).After the Allied victory, the underground anti-Japanese groups of the Communist Party declared their independence under the leadership of the great Ho Chi Minh.However, with the successive support of the United Kingdom and the United States, the French side continued to fight a trapped beast and launched an attack in an attempt to recapture this land and force the nascent country to be an enemy of the victorious revolution.After all, the French failed in the end and withdrew from Vietnam in 1954.However, the United States is unwilling to let go, continues to hinder the unification of Vietnam, and supports a vassal regime in the divided southern half of Vietnam.When this regime was also lost, the United States launched a 10-year war in Vietnam until 1975, when it finally lost its way out of Vietnam. In 10 years, the United States dropped more bombs on this unfortunate country than it did during World War II.

As for the rest of Southeast Asia, the resistance of the colonial powers was less serious.The national power of the Netherlands has declined greatly, and it has been unable to prepare enough force in the vast Indonesian archipelago.However, if the Netherlands really intends to use force, most of the islands can be used as a break, as a balance between the Netherlands and the Javanese tribe (Javanese) with a dominant population of more than 55 million (the performance of the Netherlands is much better than that of the United Kingdom, The original colony was not arbitrarily divided into several independent small countries).But once the Dutch discovered that the United States had no intention of using Indonesia as an important line of defense against the communist world like Vietnam, they immediately abandoned it.In fact, Indonesia was far from communist rule; the emerging Indonesian nationalists had just quelled a local communist rebellion in 1948.This performance convinced the U.S. side that the Dutch military force should return to Europe and that it would be more effective to concentrate on fighting the threat of the Soviet Union, which was far more cost-effective than staying in the Far East to maintain its empire.Therefore, the Dutch returned home, leaving only a foothold of overseas colonization in the western half of New Guinea (New Guinea), the largest island in the Melanesian archipelago.By the 1960s, the last stronghold of the Netherlands was finally handed over to Indonesia.In the Malay Peninsula area, the British side found themselves in a dilemma. On the one hand, the local traditional sultan ruled, and under the wings of the empire, it was already quite developed.On the other side, there are two very different ethnic groups that are suspicious of each other: the Malays and the Chinese - and each has its own radical side.The Chinese, inspired by the Communist Party, were the only anti-Japanese group during the World War II, so they had considerable influence.Once the Cold War broke out, the West would naturally not allow any communists to take power in the former colonies, let alone Chinese communist parties. After 1948, it took the British side 12 years of work, 50,000 troops, 60,000 policemen, and 200,000 local police forces to put down a rebellion mainly launched by Chinese guerrilla forces.Here we can ask, if Malaya did not have the tin mines and rubber that can guarantee the British Empire’s pound sterling, would the British still be so willing to pay the price and carry out these actions?But no matter how you say it, Malaya's separation from colonial rule will not be a simple and easy task.It was not until 1957 that it was finally resolved, and both the Malayan conservatives and the Chinese millionaires were satisfied with the result. In 1965, Singapore, which is dominated by Chinese residents, declared independence from Malaya and became a wealthy city-state.

The United Kingdom sees it more clearly than the Netherlands and France. Years of experience in India tell it that once the nationalist movement is seriously launched, the only way for the empire to protect itself is to let go and no longer insist on formal ruling power. In 1947, Britain withdrew from the Indian subcontinent without a fight, before its own dominance was largely in jeopardy.Ceylon (renamed Sri Lanka in 1972) and Burma also gained independence under the same circumstances.Ceylon was surprised and delighted, and readily accepted it; the Burmese were slightly hesitant.Because Burmese nationalists, although led by the anti-fascist People's Freedom League, had also worked with the Japanese.They were very hostile to Britain, and as soon as they became independent, they immediately refused to join the Commonwealth (British Commonwealth)-among the many former British colonies, Burma was the only country that had never joined.The intention of London is to use this organization without any responsibilities and obligations to at least keep a memory for the British Empire; the vision of hope even bets on the Republic of Ireland, which declared its independence from the Commonwealth in the same year.All in all, the British can quickly withdraw from the world's largest piece of land ruled by outsiders in a peaceful manner. Although it can be attributed to the British Labor Party government that was in power at the end of World War II, this good deed is still not a complete success. .Because although the British retreated completely, India paid a bloody price and was divided into two countries: one is Islamic Pakistan, and the other is composed of Indians who believe in Hinduism although they have no sects. of India.At the time of partition, about hundreds of thousands of people were brutally killed because of religious opposition.In addition, millions of residents were forced to leave their ancestral homelands and move to what is now a foreign country.This tragic outcome was by no means the intention of either the Hindu nationalists, the Islamist movement, or the former imperial rulers.

How did the idea of ​​a so-called "Pakistan" separate from India evolve into the final fact in 1947?This concept, in fact, even the name Pakistan, was not called out by a group of students until 1923-1933.This question, the doubt of "what if..." is still haunting scholars, experts and dreamers to this day.We now have the benefit of hindsight to see that dividing India along the lines of religion set a very ominous precedent for the world to come.In this regard, further clarification is required.From a certain point of view, although the mistakes of the year were not the fault of any one party, they were also the common fault of everyone.In elections under the 1935 constitution, the Congress party won sweeping victories everywhere, even in majority-Islamic areas.Another national party, the Moslem League, which claimed to represent minorities, fared poorly.The rise of the Congress Party, a non-religious and non-sectarian political force, naturally made many Muslims who still did not have the right to vote (most Hindus did not have the right to vote at the time), fearing that the Indian faction would become stronger from now on.Because in a country where Hindu people are the majority, most of the leaders of the Congress Party are naturally of Hindu origin.After this election, not only did not pay special attention to the fear of the Muslim people, nor did they allocate additional representation.The result of the election, on the contrary, strengthened the position that the Congress Party has set for itself: it is the only national major party in all of India, representing the common people of both Hinduism and Islam.It was this impression that prompted Jinnah, the hard-line leader of the Muslim League, to break with the Congress Party, embarking on a path that would eventually lead to the separation of the two ethnic groups.However, until 1940, Jinnah always opposed the idea of ​​an independent Muslim state.

In the end, it was a world war that split India in two.In a way, the Great War was the last great victory of British rule in India—and at the same time, it was the last breath of exhaustion.This was the last time that the British ruling power in India mobilized the human and economic forces of all India to fight in the service of Britain.The scale of this war is even greater than that of 1914-1918.However, this time the war action went against the will of the people.This time, the people have united under a national liberation movement.This time, the target of the battle is also different from the previous war, it is the Japanese army that will attack at any time.Although the final result was brilliant, the price paid was too heavy.The anti-war stance of the Congress Party not only forced its leaders to withdraw from the political arena, after 1942, they were even sent to prison.The pressure caused by the wartime economy also caused dissatisfaction among important members of the Muslims who originally supported the British rule and turned to the military camp of the Muslim League, especially the members of the Punjab (Punjab) in today's Pakistan.The power of the Muslim League quickly jumped and became a major mass force.At the same time, the colonial government in Delhi, fearing that the Congress party's momentum would undermine the war effort, began to deliberately and systematically exploit the hostility between Muslims and non-Muslims to create troubles in an attempt to undermine the strength of the nationalist movement.Here, the British really cannot escape the conspiracy of "split and rule".In order to win, the British colonial rule did everything possible to destroy not only itself, but also its own morally justified intention: to establish a single state in the Indian subcontinent, where many communities coexisted peacefully and ruled under one roof. under a single just government and law.But once the opportunity is gone, it will never come back. When the war is over, the political engine of ethnic autonomy has been activated, and there is no turning back.

By 1950, except for Indonesia, the colonial politics of all Asian countries had come to an end.During the same period, the Islamic region in the west, starting from Persia (Iran) and going all the way to Morocco, was also completely changed due to a series of mass movements, revolutionary coups, and rebellions.The first attacks were the nationalization of Western oil companies in Iran (1951) and the country's transition to populism under the communist-backed Muhammad Mussadiq (1880-1967) (after the Soviet victory , it is not surprising that the Communist Party has gained some degree of influence in the Middle East).Moshad was overthrown in 1953 in a coup led by secret agents from the United States and Britain.In Egypt, the Free Officers (Free Officers) led by Gamal Abdel Nasser (1918-1970) rose up to launch a revolution (1952).Next, the people of Iraq and Syria overthrew the regime proxies of Western powers (1958).The political situation of the three countries of Egypt, Syria and Syria has been determined. Even with the joint efforts of Britain and France, together with the newly established anti-Arab country Israel, the tripartite cooperation tried their best to fight the Suez War in 1956 (see Chapter 12). China attempted to bring Nasser down from power; but with the power of the three countries, they could no longer reverse the overall situation.France bitterly rejected the national independence movement in Algeria (1954-1962).Algeria, like South Africa—albeit in a different context—was a troublesome region where indigenous peoples struggled to coexist with large numbers of European settlers, making the problem of decolonization particularly difficult.The wars fought in Algeria were particularly cruel. In these countries that originally wanted to pursue civilization, the brutality of military and police special forces has since deepened into a part of the system.All kinds of inhumane cruelty, such as shocking the tongue, nipples, genitals, etc., have been widely used since the beginning of the Algerian war.The war led to the downfall of the French Fourth Republic (1958) and almost the Fifth (1961) before Algeria finally won its independence - although General de Gaulle had long recognized that Algeria's independence was inevitable .During the same period (1956), the French government was quietly negotiating with two other protectorates in North Africa - Tunisia and Morocco - for their autonomy and independence (Tunisia would later become a republic, while Morocco would maintain a monarchy).In the same year, Britain also quietly let go of the Sudan in the south of Egypt.After the British lost control of Egypt, Sudan had also become ungovernable.

When did the big empires suddenly realize that the era of empires is coming to an end?There is no clear answer to this question.Britain and France once attempted to rebuild their former global hegemony. They paid the final blow in the Suez War in 1956, intending to cooperate with Israel and use military action to overthrow the revolutionary regime of Colonel Nasser in Egypt.Looking back now, it is obvious that fate has been fixed, and there is no way to recover.However, the London and Paris authorities at that time were fans and could not see the truth.The result of this interlude was a catastrophic failure (Israeli views are naturally different).What's even more ridiculous is that the British Prime Minister at the time, Anthony Eden, was simply incompetent and unbelievably naive.The operation, barely launched, was called off under pressure from the United States, pushing Egypt into the Soviet camp. The "Era of Britain in the Middle East" since 1918, the era of absolute British hegemony in the region, has since come to an end forever.

By the end of the 1950s, the remaining old empires were well aware that the formal colonial methods implemented in the past must be completely abandoned.Only Portugal is still obsessed with it, refusing to wake up in the face of the disintegration of the empire.Portugal itself was economically backward and politically isolated, unable to adapt to the colonial methods of the new era.It also requires the exploitation of resources in Africa, which, combined with an uncompetitive economic system, can only be done through direct domination.As for South Africa and Southern Rhodesia (Southern Rhodesia), these African countries (with the exception of Kenya) with large white immigrants also refused to cooperate with policies that would eventually lead to native African regimes.White immigrants from Southern Rhodesia even went so far as to declare independence from Great Britain (1965) to avoid the fate of black majority rule.However, the governments of Paris, London and Brussels (Belgium owns the Belgian Congo in Africa) have all decided to face the reality that instead of fighting for a long time, the colonies will eventually become independent and fall into the hands of left-wing regimes; Making them formally independent politically also maintains their cultural and economic dependencies.Only in Kenya did large-scale riots and guerrilla warfare break out—the Mau Mau Movement from 1952 to 1956—but mainly limited to the Kikuyu tribe.In other parts of Africa, the preventive colonial self-government policy has been quite successful in its implementation.Only the Belgian Congo, which fell into anarchy immediately after the end of colonial politics, developed into a scene of civil war and international strife.As for British Africa, there used to be a People's Congress in the former Gold Coast (now Ghana), led by the talented African politician and well-known intellectual in Africa, Kwame Nkrumah. independent.As for Guinea in French Africa, de Gaulle originally suggested that it join the so-called "French Community" (French Community), called autonomy, but in his heart he wanted to make it continue to maintain a high degree of dependence on the French economy.The leader of Guinea, Sekou Toure, flatly refused, so when the time was not ripe, the country hurriedly became independent in 1958. It was so impoverished that it had to become the first black leader to turn to Moscow for help.The remaining colonies of Britain, France and Belgium in Africa were almost all freed between 1960 and 1962.The remaining places will soon follow the same path.Only Portugal, and some independent small countries founded by white immigrants refused to return the ruling power to the local people.

In the 1960s, several large islands in the British Caribbean colony quietly lifted their colonial status.As for some other small islands, they gradually became independent in batches over the next 20 years.The Indian and Pacific Islands declared their independence in the late 1960s and 1970s.In fact, before 1970, there were few areas in the world with a considerable area that remained under the direct rule of the former colonial power or its immigrant regime, with the exception of central and southern Africa—of course, there were also areas in the Vietnam at war.The Age of Empires has finally come to an end.Yet less than three-quarters of a century ago, the power of the empires seemed forever indestructible.Even less than 30 years ago, most of the world's inhabitants were under the rule of imperial powers.The past is gone, and there will never be a time to return. The glory of the empire in the past can only be described by former imperial literati as self-sorrowful, and in the film footage.However, in the country born from the former colony, a new generation of local writers began to write and create a new era of literature.This new starting point begins with a new era of independence.