Decolonization: the end of colonial empires

In 1945 the United Nations had 51 members. By 1970 it had 127, and most of the newcomers were former colonies in Asia and Africa. In just a quarter of a century, empires that had ruled for generations vanished from the map. How did this happen — and why was it peaceful in some places and bloody in others?

Why did empires fall after 1945?

• The Second World War weakened Britain, France and the Netherlands economically and militarily; Japan's early victories in Asia (such as the fall of Singapore in 1942) destroyed the myth that Europeans could not be beaten.
• National movements, often led by leaders educated in Europe, grew stronger.
• The USA and the USSR, for different reasons, opposed the old colonial empires.
• The UN Charter (1945) proclaimed the principle of self-determination of peoples; in 1960 the General Assembly adopted the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples.

Asia: India, Indonesia and Indochina

In India Mahatma Gandhi led a non-violent mass struggle: the Salt March of 1930 and the “Quit India” movement of 1942. In August 1947 British India was divided into two independent states, India and Pakistan. The partition caused mass migration: millions of people were forced to leave their homes, and hundreds of thousands died in religious violence. Gandhi was assassinated in January 1948, and Jawaharlal Nehru became India's first prime minister.

In Indonesia Sukarno declared independence on 17 August 1945; after four years of fighting and negotiation the Netherlands recognised it in December 1949. In Vietnam Ho Chi Minh declared independence on 2 September 1945, but France went to war to return. The French defeat at Dien Bien Phu in May 1954 led to the Geneva Accords, which temporarily divided Vietnam along the 17th parallel — the prelude to the later Vietnam War.

Africa: from Ghana to the “Year of Africa”

In 1957, led by Kwame Nkrumah, the British colony of the Gold Coast became independent as Ghana and turned into a symbol of African freedom. 1960 was called the “Year of Africa”: that year 17 African countries became independent — mostly former French colonies, but also Nigeria, Somalia and the Belgian Congo. Belgium's hasty withdrawal led to the Congo Crisis: Katanga broke away, UN peacekeepers were sent in, and Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba was killed in January 1961.

Some colonies won independence only after long wars. In Algeria, which France regarded as part of its own territory and where about a million European settlers lived, war lasted from 1954 to 1962; Algeria became independent on 5 July 1962. In Kenya Britain harshly suppressed the Mau Mau uprising (1952–1960); Kenya became independent in 1963. Portugal gave up its colonies only after the Carnation Revolution in Lisbon (25 April 1974): Angola and Mozambique became independent in 1975. In 1956, when Egypt's president Nasser nationalised the Suez Canal, Britain, France and Israel attacked Egypt but had to withdraw under pressure from the USA and the USSR — a clear sign that the age of European empires was over.

Bandung, non-alignment and the final stage

In April 1955, 29 Asian and African countries met in Bandung, Indonesia: they condemned colonialism and said they did not want to join either bloc in the Cold War. In 1961 the Non-Aligned Movement was founded in Belgrade. Azerbaijan joined the movement in 2011 and chaired it in 2019–2023. In the final stage, change came to southern Africa: Zimbabwe became independent in 1980 and Namibia in 1990, and in South Africa the system of racial segregation, apartheid, came to an end — Nelson Mandela was released from prison in 1990 and elected president in 1994. In 1997 Britain returned Hong Kong to China.

1. 1945
   UN Charter; Indonesia and Vietnam declare independence
2. 1947
   Independence of India and Pakistan
3. 1949
   The Netherlands recognises Indonesia
4. 1954
   Dien Bien Phu; the Algerian War begins
5. 1955
   The Bandung Conference
6. 1956
   The Suez Crisis
7. 1957
   Ghana becomes independent
8. 1960
   The “Year of Africa”: 17 countries become independent; the UN declaration on decolonization
9. 1961
   The Non-Aligned Movement is founded
10. 1962
    Algeria becomes independent
11. 1974–1975
    The Carnation Revolution; Angola and Mozambique become independent
12. 1994
    End of apartheid: Mandela is elected president
13. 1997
    Hong Kong is returned to China