1. Power to the People?:
Independence Movements
&
Revolutions up to 1949
2.
3.
4. Independence Movements
• Led by mixed identity local elite
–Gandhi (India under British)
–Ho Chi Minh (Indochina under French)
• Post World War II Decolonization
amidst Cold War Agendas
–Africa
–SE Asia
5. Debate Time!
• We will judge the
merits/disadvantages of Gandhi and
Ho Chi Minh’s leadership:
–Key terms: civil disobedience, violent vs.
non-violent resistance, boycott, guerrilla
warfare
–Terrorists or freedom fighters?
19. 20th Century Revolutions
up to 1949
• Mexican Revolution, 1910-1920
• Chinese Revolution, 1911-1949
• Russian Revolution, 1917-1921
20. China’s Revolution
• 1911: October rebellions leads to National
Assembly
• 1912: Pu-Yi abdicates; Republic of China
created
• 1913-1916: Yuan Shikai undermines ROC;
dies
• 1916-1927: Warlord period
• 1927-1937: Nanjing Decade
– KMT vs. CCP vs. Warlords
– Mao Zedong’s Long March
• 1937-1945: Japanese invasion
21. Who looks to win in 1946?
KMT
• US initially gave KMT 1.5
billion dollars worth of aid
between 1945-1948, then gave
KMT another 2 billion dollars
worth of aid after 1948
• 3 million trained men with
American weapons
• Controlled big cities, main
railway lines and some of the
richest provinces
• Many foreign governments
recognized CKS as the true
leader
CCP
• Communists were only in the
countryside, no air force, no
navy, only 1 million men
• No other nation is backing
them at this point
• CCP had been quite successful
using guerrilla warfare against
Japanese, giving them heroic,
legendary stories
• Red army soldiers had helped
in community projects and on
many peasant farms in areas
under their control
22. • 1945-1949: KMT vs. CCP
1949: ROC retreat to Taiwan; PRC
established
31. Comparing Revolutions
• Battling weak regimes
– Aging dictator; boy emperor; inept tsar
• Large social group willing to engage in violence
– Peasants; working class
• Ideological buildup
– Republicanism; Communism
• Civil War
– Increased centralization and one-party rule to quell
resistance
• Western interference
– $$ to support various non-socialist and/or pro-independence
leaders/armies
32. Comparing Revolutions
• Social change
– Undermining landowners
• New cultural forms
– Indian heritage of Mexico (pre-West!), the
proletariat and Soviet realism, Mao’s cult
• Negotiating new vs. old identities
– Nationalism built on older traditions and/or
Western ideas
Editor's Notes
We are going to examine political movements around the world up to 1949 which call for radical changes.
Empires in 1900: this was a result of what? (New Imperialism)
Which areas had been colonized even before New Imperialism (Indian Ocean basin)
1945 Map of empires. Notice that empires are shrinking: British empire in particular. Japan’s territories return to Westerners.
Then 1950. Notice majority of Africa still colonized by 1950, but the trend post-WWII will be for colonies to declare independence. Working towards NATIONHOOD.
Two main ideas
First some background, then the primary sources for debate.
Born in 1869 to a wealthy Hindu family (2nd caste). Received law education in London, where he spent spare time studying a variety of spiritual writings (Hinduism, Bible, Tolstoy, Thoreau). This shows his globalized outlook from living in London.
Moved to South Africa after graduation (do you remember what was happening there in late 19th century?). Developed strategy of non-cooperation & non-violence to help Indian contract workers – they went on strike and ruined the profits. They burned their identity cards.
Returned to India in 1916 (midst WWI). Welcomed as a hero and invited to join INC…what was this organization?
After traveling throughout India, Gandhi advocated satyagraha: love-force. He believed that self-sacrifice was a form of purification, both for an individual and between peoples. It brought out the truth of injustice. More than that, however, Gandhi also saw poverty as a serious problem in India. Notice how he looks in this photo – focused on creating nationalism based on the identity of peasants. Began ‘homespun movement’ and boycotting English goods.
British displayed multiple responses. Gandhi was arrested multiple times, as well as released. The British also used violence: in 1919 a general fired upon a non-violent crowd in Amritsar, killing hundreds of people. But the British public was horrified to learn about this massacre, and the general in charge was both celebrated and reprimanded. The British army was retrained on how to deal with crowds
In 1930 Gandhi organized a huge march, 241 miles from his ashram to near salt mines (61 years old). This was to gather support and PR for defying British law regarding salt monopoly. Was he a general of a great Indian army…? Gandhi gathered huge masses and openly encouraged Indian citizens to disobey unjust laws of government. To allow themselves to be arrested.
Gandhi also frequently starved himself in order to get Hindus and Muslims to stop fighting each other when there were conflicts. People’s faith and love for him meant that they stopped fighting in order for him to live. Keep in mind gandhi wanted a united and equal India, so he was not only fighting British but also inequalities and divisions within India (that had in many ways been created by the British and late Mughal policies). Asoka was his inspiration.
- India granted independence by Britain in 1947…by WWII the British public had lost interest in keeping a stern, civilized empire? Empires seemed out of line with reasons for fighting authoritarian gov’ts in WWII
- With Muslims fearing that they would be a minority in a new nation seeking their own country, Pakistan is also created. Hindus and Muslims continue to disagree and violence often breaks out; Gandhi is assassinated in 1948 by a young Hindu extremist who felt he was being too generous with the Muslims. Gandhi eventually earns the name ‘Mahatma’, or Great Soul.
Ho Chi Minh also had a different name at birth. Born in 1890, Ho saw first hand the abuses committed by French Colonial rulers. His father, a diplomat for the French Empire, resigned his position in disgust. Thus Minh grew up in a family that resented French rule, although Ho traveled to France in 1911 for his education. Again, what is the reality created on the ground? Social mobility created by assimilation. In France he became obsessed with the French idea of "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity" and sovereignty. By 1919, Ho was also a voracious reader of American President Woodrow Wilson's ideas on self-determination. In a chance meeting with Wilson, Ho attempted to outline French atrocities in Vietnam. Wilson largely ignored Ho. He soon turned to the French Communist Party, especially since the Soviets under Lenin began a program to spread communist ideas in colonies.
In the 1920s and 1930s, Ho traveled throughout Asia as a member of Comintern, an organization created by Lenin to spread Communism and promote revolution. In 1930 he founded the Indo-Chinese Communist Party.
With the invasion of the Japanese in 1941, Ho returned to Vietnam and founded the Viet Minh, an independence organization. He also changed his name to Ho Chi Minh, the "Bringer of Light."
The Viet Minh achieved independence from Japan in September 1945. Ho read the Vietnamese Declaration of Independence aloud in Hanoi.
Attempted to get help from US, but his Communist ideas made him unattractive…again he is spurned by Western powers.
Independence would be short lived as France would attempt to recolonize Indochina. France was unsuccessful at recolonizing in large part because of Ho's message of Nationalism. The Viet Minh forces defeated French troops at Dien Bien Phu in 1954. However, independence would not yet be granted to Vietnam. At the Geneva Conference it was decided that Vietnam would be split for two years; there would be a democratic South and a communist North. After two years, there would be a reunifying election. However, the 1956 election was cancelled because the South feared that Ho would win the election. This is where we will pause the story.
Now let’s debate their strategies and tactics.
These are some of the major revolutions of the 20th century. Decolonization after WWII will result in many revolutions around the world – lots of civil war as countries decide their political and economic fate.
As the civil war drags on, KMT proves to be corrupt and even the US abandons KMT (US policy at this point is NOT to get directly involved): CASH MY CHECK.
(Even Stalin doesn’t side with Mao officially until 1947, after Mao has military successes)
Even CKS admits the KMT lost because of ‘rot from within’
Porfirio Díaz, who ran Mexico for more years than any other president, was 18 years old when the Mexican-American War of 1848 started. He watched while the U.S. annexed about half of Mexico’s land as a result of winning that war. Mexico continued to fight foreign invasions and wars right up through the rest of the century, and Díaz became a hero fighting the war against the French occupation in the 1860s.
Diaz’s popularity allowed him to be elected President in 1876, but eventually this led to him aggrandizing all power until he basically became a dictator, ruling Mexico until 1910!
His rule represented 30 years of relative peace and stability in Mexico, including economic stability. But both the peace and the economic stability came at a price. Díaz wanted Mexico to emulate the sophistication of Europe – and to that end, he re-made Mexico City in the image of the great European cities, virtually eliminating the influence of indigenous culture. Díaz so dissociated himself from his own indigenous roots, and so admired Europeans, that he would sometimes paint his face to make it look whiter than it actually was. The wealth gap was also stark: fewer than 200 Mexican families owned 25% of all the land of Mexico, and foreign investors owned another 25%. Cronyism was a big problem. In 1910 rebellions broke out (Diaz was in his 80s) and he fled to Paris.
Many leaders who contested for subsequent power were mestizos who demanded a dramatic break with past control by creoles. The two most radical leaders were Francisco “Pancho” Villa (center) and Emiliano Zapata (with the hat and moustache). They advocated significant land reform and were famous for loving the limelight (Pancho Villa even filmed or recreated battles for Hollywood). They attracted mixed groups of followers, and in 1911 Zapata declrated a return of land to Indian villages. The rallying cry was “Tierra y Libertad”, and the saying was that it was better to die on one’s feet than to live on one’s knees. Zapata’s supporters seized large sugar estates and haciendas. This period of civil war lasted throughout the tweens, without military generals becoming and being ousted as president – even the US was involved in supporting leaders they liked with weapons and $.
Eventually conservatives win out and under President Carranza a Mexican Constitution is written, promising land reform and imposing restrictions on foreign economic control. It also reduced the power of the Church since most of the revolutionaries were themselves anti-clerical, except for Zapata since many of the peasantry who followed the radicals were devoted to the church.
Alvaro Obregon (another military man) eventually became President in 1920 and the revolution would come to a slow end as wider representation was gained by all social classes. The Ministry of Public Education expanded literacy campaigns into the rural sections of Mexico, and used the arts as a way to help establish a Mexican cultural identity and re-establish Mexican pride. The Ministry’s support of education, literature and the arts would have far-reaching effects…ultimately, however, the Mexican revolution was violent and resulted in the deaths of millions of people
http://teachers.yale.edu/curriculum/viewer/initiative_07.04.03_u
The woman is seated with her left arm by her side, and her right hand holding the hand of Cortez, who is seated next to her. Both figures are naked. Her skin is brown and blends in with the background. Her eyes appear to be closed, or almost closed and she is naked. Cortez is seated to the left of her, and he is reaching across her. His gaze is off in the distance, not focused on her. Cortez is stepping on a figure who is face down on the ground below them, who has brown skin like Malinche's. The artwork is a fresco in a preparatory school in Mexico.
José Clemente Orozco was a Mexican muralist working at the turn of the century. The title of this artwork states the obvious comparison to Adam and Eve where the woman signifies the downfall of the culture, just as Eve did when she bit the apple. The two figures are holding hands, representing a union. However, the union appears to be contingent upon a variety of factors, including the restraint of the indigenous man underneath Cortez's foot. It also appears as though Cortez is either restraining Malinche, or protecting her - the way his arm is thrown across her body it is difficult to tell. It looks as though he is trying to keep her in place. Her expression shows that she is disinterested, almost apathetic, while Cortez is very aware of his surroundings. "The image of Cortez and Malinche symbolizes sythesis, subjugation and the ambivalence of her position in the story of the nation's history of colonial intervention," (Rochfort 44).
Famous muralist Diego Rivera is one example of the results of this emphasis on art and Mexican identity. The story of Mexico is often told celebrating the indigenous (the oppressed) over the conquistadors.
His wife would also be celebrated as emblematic of Mexican tradition (bright colors; celebration of the indigenous) as well as highly individualistic and feminist (here is the agricultural world of Mexico on the left, and the industrial world of the US on the right. Mexico would not industrialize even by end of revolution)
CIVIL WAR:
Increased centralization (one-party rule in Mexico; no civil liberties under USSR, CCP, KMT) although Mexico succeeded in allowing for more sectors of the population to participate in politics.
