Unit 8

New Nations

Post WWII• After WWII, people questioned the practice of owning colonies after a war against dictatorships.

• Could one nation rightfully control another and were the costs and commitments worth it?

Mohandas Gandhi

• Gandhi organized a nonviolent movement for the independence of India.

• He used hunger strikes and boycotts to shame the British into granting “swaraj” or self-rule.

Independence for India

• After WWII, Britain would grant independence to India. But who would rule?

• India was home to over 350 million Hindus and over 100 million Muslims.

Partition of India• In 1946, four days of fighting in Calcutta

left more than 5,000 people dead.• Britain decided to partition (separate)

India into two separate nations. One with a majority population of Hindu people, the other a Muslim majority.

• In July 1947, the two nations of India and Pakistan were granted independence by the British Parliament.

• An estimated 1,000,000 people were killed in fighting during the partitioning of India……Including Mohandas Gandhi….

India

• August 15, 1947, India became the largest democracy in the world.

• Jawaharlal Nehru became the 1st prime minister. He tried to raise the status of the lower castes at the bottom of society and improve women's rights.

Kashmir• Kashmir, at the northern

point of India is also next to Pakistan.

• The majority of the population at the time of partition was Muslim but its ruler was Hindu.

• India and Pakistan fought over control of Kashmir until the U.N. arranged a cease-fire leaving two thirds under India’s control and one third under Pakistan's.

Pakistan• Pakistan was originally divided into

a West Pakistan and East Pakistan, which today is called Bangladesh.

• Muhammad Ali Jinnah had provided strong leadership encouraging Muslims to reject the Hindu dominated Congress Party of India and instead support the Muslim League. Now West Pakistan was an independent Muslim majority nation.

Bangladesh

• In 1971 East Pakistan declared itself independent and called itself Bangladesh.

• A Civil War was fought and eventually Indian forces intervened and Bangladesh was independent. Pakistan had lost 1/7th if land and ½ of its population.

Sri Lanka

• A small island nation at the southern tip of India. 3/4th of the population is Buddhist and 1/5th is Tamil.

• The Tamil people have been fighting a civil war in Sri Lanka trying to force the creation of a separate Tamil nation.

Post WWII Middle East

• After WWII and the Holocaust many people felt sympathy for the Jews. The U.N. decided to create a Jewish state.

• Despite all Islamic nations voting against it in the U.N. on May 14th 1948 Israel was created from land partitioned from Palestine.

Israel• The day after Israel was

created, May 14, 1948, six Islamic nations invaded. The 1st Arab-Israeli war of the 20th century.

• After months of fighting, Israel had won and gained more land. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled to refugee camps.

• Major wars would follow in 1967 and 1973. Both were victories for Israel.

PLO

• Palestine Liberation Organization. Yasir Arafat organized a military wing of this group for an armed struggle against Israel.

Intifada• “Uprising” The widespread use

of civil disobedience and protests against Israeli soldiers.

• This affected the way the world looked at the Palestinian situation and put pressure on Israel to negotiate with the Palestinians.

• 1993 Oslo Peace Accords. Israel granted the right of self-rule to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and West Bank.

Apartheid

• South African policy complete legal separation of the races, including the banning of all social contacts between blacks and whites.

• The U.S. and most of Europe placed sanctions on South Africa. Nations refused to invest money or trade with a isolated South Africa.

Nelson Mandela

• Because he protested and fought against apartheid Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 26 years.

• In 1990 President de Klerk released Mandela from prison and one year later Mandela became the President of South Africa.

• The two men shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993.

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Sources

• World History -McDougal Littell 2003• Let’s Review: Global History and Geography 5th Edition