External Factors in the Development of African Nationalism
1. The role of the Second World War
-The Second World War produced the ex-soldiers who were used as Freedom fighters E.g. The Front Party Army of Kenya which organized the Maumau uprising examples of these ex-soldiers were Jonathan Okwiriri, Dedan Kimathi and General China.
-The Second World War weakened the economy of colonial powers hence a need for them decolonize the colonies and opt for contemporary colonialism.
-The Second World War contributed to the birth of UNO in 24/10/1945. The United Nations came up with the idea of pressurizing the colonial masters to set free their colonies.
-The second World War intensified colonial exploitation in Africa and hence the increased the Africans struggles for independence.
-The Second World War led to the rise of the British labour party that came up with Anti-colonial attitude in Britain
-The Second World War led the rise of both USA and USSR which played vital role in liberation of African countries.
-WW2 also led to 1941 Atlantic charter, the charter that promoted the decolonization of Africa and the rest of the world.
-The Marshall plan in response to the WWII also insisted the decolonization of Africa to create fee market.
2. The role of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)
The government of USSR wanted free market in Africa, it also wanted to prevent the spread of the USA’s Capitalistic ideology in Africa. So, the government of Russia decided to provide moral and material support to African nationalists. For example, it provided support to the FRELIMO Mozambique, it also supported the anti-colonial movements of MPLA of Angola, PAIGC of Guinea Bissau and Cape Verde. Umkhonto We Sizwe of South Africa and others. USSR supported African in all those countries materially and morally.
3. The role of the United States of America (USA).
The government of the United States supported the nationalistic struggles in Africa because America wanted to prevent the spread of Russian communism through Russia’s support to African nationalists. It also wanted free market which was prevented by European colonialism in Africa. So, the government of America supported the African nationalists. Example the USA support to UNITA of Angola.
4. The role played by the United Nations Organization (UNO).
The United Nation advocated for world peace, it was against colonialism because, colonialism was responsible for the rise of the WWII, so through its Trusteeship Council, the United established a system Trusteeship Territories to prepare them for self-rule. Tanganyika for instance became a trustee “Mandate “Territory under UNO in 1946, Namibia in 1966. The UNO also supported the rest of the Freedom fighters in Africa.
5. Success of Asian countries
Since 18th century, India was a British colony. In the mid-1930, Gandhi came back to India from South Africa where he had been working as a lawyer. He came with revolutionary ideas that led the country to independence in 1947.
The independence of Asians countries particularly India, and Pakistan in 1947 and Burma in 1948 stimulated the rise of African nationalism due to the large population, vastness of the country, economic problems of India, but she attained independence through non – violent method under Mahatma Gandhi. Many African nationalist leaders like Nkrumah of Ghana, Nyerere of Tanganyika and Kaunda of Zambia copied examples of non – violence technique from him (Mahatma Gandhi).
6. The Bandung Conference of 1955
The conference unified Asian and African countries like South Africa, Egypt, Libya and the like. The meeting was held in Indonesia, in the meeting, many things were discussed among them being the question of colonialism in Africa and Asia. The meeting called for unity and solidarity among the developing countries.
The conference led to the formation of Non-Aligned Movement that was instrumental in the fight against colonialism.
7. The role played by Pan-Africanism
Pan-Africanism was a movement that was formed in America in the late 19th century for the aim of fighting for the rights of black people throughout the world. The movement aimed at uniting the people of African origin both in Africa and diaspora in order to fight for their rights and against any form of foreign domination.
Pan-Africanism was formed by an African American called William Sylvester. Pan-Africanism held many conferences such as the London conference of 1900, the 1919 Paris conference, the 1923 and 1927 Lisbon conferences and the 1945 Manchester conference of all these conferences the Manchester conference of 1945 was important one because it was attended by many African nationalist leaders, such as Leopard Sedar Senghor, Hasting Kamuzu Banda, Nnamdi Azikiwe, Peter Abrams, Jommo Kenyatta and the like, thse nationalist leaders were much inspired by the Pan-Africanism and upon their return, these nationalists were much inspired by this conference and hence this was a reason for the rise of African nationalism.
8. The role played by the British labour party.
The British Labour Party took power to rule Britain in 1945, the policies of the British labour Party were all against colonialism, and the party viewed colonialism as oppression of Humanity and wastage of British tax payers’ money to finance African colonies, therefore given the economic state of Europe following the consequences of the Second World War, the British Labour Party concentrated much in rebuilding the British ruined economy and reduced attention towards colonial business something that gave chance to the rise of anti-colonial movements in Africa.
