The Cold War And Decolonization

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The Cold War and Decolonization

Introduction

The end of the Second World War signified the return of peace as rivals started working

together to rebuild what was destroyed during the war. The aftermath of the war was a welcome

idea to many as it served as an important time for countries to recover after years of endless

fighting. Two superpowers were, however, reluctant to work together, a factor that led to the

beginning of the cold war. The USA and Russia were oblivious of the fact that the war had come

to an end and was still in a state of war, only that no one wanted to engage. What ensued was the

cold war which lasted from1945 to 1963. With most nations gaining independence, there was a

connection between the cold war and decolonization, one that can be regarded to as a mutual

connection since the end of one led to the start of the other and vice versa.

The start of the Cold War

The cold war was an open rivalry between the USA and Russia that quickly escalated to a

stalemate right after the World War II. The war which had restrictions was mainly fueled by the

politics, economic downfall, and propaganda. Although there was no physical fighting, the 20-

year long war left more damage than any other war in its time. The nuclear stalemate that ensued

was further worsened by the two states trying to outdo each other in a supremacy war. At the

time, the Soviet Union had established its control over Eastern Europe by installing a left-wing

government all over the country. This move of domination over Eastern Europe caused fear in

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the USA who saw the permanent establishment of governance as a lee-way into gaining access

over Western Europe too. By 1948, the war had escalated to dangerous levels when the USA

managed to establish communism across Western Europe.

As a counterattack to the Soviet dominance over Europe, the USA and British among other

Europe allies formed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization which further unified their

resistance against the Soviet presence. All through, the USA and the allies of Europe had

remained in control of events especially due to the American monopoly on atomic bombs. This

monopoly was challenged in 1949 when the Soviet Union exploded their first atomic warhead.

The bomb causes a ripple effect that sparked several secondary wars especially in Korea where

the Soviet-supported communist government of North Korea attacked South Korea which was

basically supported by the US government. The Korean War lasted four years. Politics can be

seen to have played a major role in the Korean War with the Communist party gaining

dominance making Korea a single party state.

The Politics of the War

Politics a major determining factor of the direction the war took ever since it started in

1945. Lack of agreement when three political leaders met in Potsdam to discuss the

reconstruction of Europe. Several efforts to call off the standoff were frustrated by the political

parties whose lack of agreement over the stalemate further heightened the tension between the

fighting sides. A supremacy war was evident. To further connect politics to the Cold War, there

was a period of calm when the then Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin died in 1953. The period of

calm lasted close to four years as both sides remained adamant (Betts, 45). Despite his untimely

death, the standoff remained. None of the sides wanted to call it quits. With technology quickly

reshaping the art of war, weapons changed, making the war a threat to the existence of humanity.

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In one instance, in 1962, the Soviets managed to secretly install missiles in Cuba in a plan to

launch nuclear attacks on US cities. These installations sparked the Cuba missile crisis.

Colonization

To better understand why European countries were slowly decolonizing, it is important to

understand the reason why they colonized in the first place. With most countries in Europe

having achieved industrialization there was a need to diversify their source of raw materials as

well as expand their markets. The military was also an important addition to the supremacy

equation thus colonized states were a ready source of military power. With the onset of the

Second World War, the damage done on the European countries was too much to an extent that

most of them could not support having other nations under their funding. The war also had an

adverse effect on the military of all participants, with most colonized countries military

personnel being worst hit. The war had done more harm than good on the asymmetry of military

power.

The USA had also become a world power, drastically reducing the need for competition

among nations which had since intensified the competition to colonize other nations. With most

of them being considered secondary to the USA, the intensity of the competition drastically

reduced. Since the European racial superiority was seen as an ideology, the Japanese success in

toppling this ideology further fueled the decolonization campaigns. With the states needing these

colonies to help them in rebuilding their states, the influence of the USA in funding the

reconstruction reduced the pressure on the colonized states. Most of the countries in Western

Europe were under the USA and thanks to their funding, these states loosened their grip on their

colonies. To many historians, the influence of the USA was seen as a strategy to reduce the

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Soviet Union’s influence over East Europe and its expansion. Before most of the ally nations to

the USA realized, the USA had made the conditions conducive to the decolonization process.

Decolonization

The journey to self-colonization did not happen in one day, rather the process was long and

for some, took longer than others. For some countries, the transition from being colonized to

independent was smooth while for others it was marked with bloodshed and war. Although the

journey started way before the end of the World War II, decolonization took shape during the

cold war (Jersild, 220). At this time, the US was concentrated at making most of the colonized

countries self-governed, their efforts were frustrated by the constant Soviet strategic ambitions

over Europe. The Soviet Union had over the years gathered enough countries under its wing

especially by establishing governments over them. By mostly concentrating on self-government,

the US was at the forefront of decolonization by encouraging most countries to fight for their

own independence.

A good example was in Indonesia where a continued struggle to get independence from the

Netherlands gave rise to the new government in Indonesia. A struggle for independence was

going on at the same time in Vietnam where the French had their colonial powers challenged.

With most of these new countries being regarded as the third world, their inclusion in the United

Nations gave those colonized states the power to fight for their independence. Imperialism was

widespread at the time the cold war continued taking effect. For the countries that managed to

gain independence, the push for liberal economies encouraged decolonization of other states.

There was the pressure to join the cold war as allies of both sides but a counter nonaligned

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movement made it possible for most nations to avoid being drawn into the war. With the United

Nations gaining more members, the colonial era was drawing to an end thanks to the

international watchdog.

Colonized states were following suit. Most of them started campaigns to gain self-

governance. Political parties were at the forefront of this march towards gaining independence.

For those who were left behind, the pressure was slowly building up. At this time, the cold war

was now on the receiving end. The two states the USA and the Soviet Union lacked the

necessary support they need from Europe, making it hard to continue their dominance. Although

the cold war was not necessarily the cause of the rapid decolonization that occurred, the

overlapping global events had a connection that goes beyond political or economic interplay.

Having determined that the USA was at the center of most of the decolonization efforts, the

interrelationship between the cold war and decolonization can be clearly determined. Since the

USA and the Soviet Union were the main participants, the strategic influence of the USA over its

allied states gave decolonization an easy time.

Considering several examples, the French administration and troops were withdrawn from

Lebanon and Syria right after the attempts by French to reverse wartime contracts were frustrated

by the USA who gave the French pressure to leave Syria and Lebanon. With the French troops

out of the way, these countries could actualize self-governance. For the Dutch in Indonesia, the

Americans did a big deal of pushing off the Dutch, thus actualizing independence for Indonesia.

Although there are more examples to draw from, one can clearly link the cold war to the

decolonization. For the USA, the cold war was a strategy to keep the Soviet Union in check by

ensuring that they do not expand and by so doing, they were able to make the decolonization

easier since the decolonization efforts were motivated by cold war objectives. Most of the

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colonizers were pressurized to leaving their colonized states as a way of safeguarding their best

interest with the USA.

Conclusion

With this easy affirming that the Cold War helped with decolonization, the strategies used

were both applicable and ingenious. For the better part of the Cold War, the two superpowers

concentrated on expansion by trying to gain as many followers as possible. However, the efforts

by the USA to ensure the Soviet Union’s dominance was minimized gave the other nations

enough motivation to try and undo the dominance that was being asserted by the colonizing

countries. The Second World War escalated with the start of the Cold War where a supremacy

war between the USA and the Soviet Union made it last for more than 20 years. Although the

Cold War and decolonization were separate events, the all-important link between the two was

the one determining factor that made it possible for the decolonization process to take effect.

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Work Cited

Betts, Richard K., ed. Conflict after the Cold War: arguments on causes of war and peace.

Taylor & Francis, (2017).

Jersild, Austin. "Sino-Soviet Relations, Decolonization, and the Global Cold War." Kritika:

Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History 19.1 (2018): 217-224.

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