How Did So Many Countries Gain Independence

Several nations of South Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and the Middle East wanted to escape the control of a colony that invaded their countries. Some gained peaceful independence and others had to take violent measures in order to escape the ruler that had corrupted their country through diversity. Borders drawn by European colonial rulers left nations with mixed ethnic and religious groups, which led to corruption. These foreign nations were the one thing that pushed these countries to want to be free. The common thread that has driven the countries of Kenya, Algeria, and India to independence is the fact that the people wanted to escape rule from their colonial leaders in order to form their own country and the ethnic and religious tensions also
pushed away the colonial leaders. Kenya, ruled by Britain, and Algeria, ruled by France, were both colonies that had ethnic tensions that demanded independence from their foreign rulers.
For instance, Kenya took the route of violence in order to achieve freedom from Britain and create fairness for the black majority. White settlers had built plantations in Kenya and they had passed laws to ensure their domination as the minority. Kikuyu spokesman Jomo Kenyatta wanted justice for the black majority. He called for nonviolent means to end the laws. Black Kenyans then turned to guerrilla warfare and killed white settlers. The British imprisoned Kenyatta, because they thought he was the leader of this group, which they called the Mau Mau. Several Kikuyu were killed, but in 1963, the British finally withdrew from Kenya, because of all the issues. Kenyatta became the first leader of this independent nation. Furthermore, Algeria faced similar problems being a colony of France. Over one million French populated Algeria and wanted to stay as part as France. France also wanted to hold on to this colony, because it had recently lost its Asian colony of Vietnam and Algeria had several resources, such as gas and oil. Algeria wanted independence and rights, so things turned to violence. The National Liberation Front was set up and guerrilla warfare was
used to gain independence. From 1954 to 1962 several Algerians were killed in conflict. The people of France finally turned against the war and the people of Algeria escaped from their colonial leader. These two colonies gained independence by wanting to push out the people that were put there by their colonial rulers. Often, division was caused by the colonial leaders that drew the borders. They created the ethnic and religious tensions within these countries. This then pushed the people to end the leadership of their colonial leaders and to fight back to form a better nation. The ethnic tensions also pushed the colonial leaders to withdraw from the nations. These two colonies used violence in order to solve their ethnic problems and in order to drive away their colonial controllers. In addition, violence also pushed out the colonial ruler in the nation of India, Britain, which led to the nation’s freedom. From diversity, to wanting to be united, to separation and slaughter, the nation of India has faced several challenges trying to achieve independence. It all started when leaders and members of the Congress Party wanted a unified India that would include both Muslims and Hindus. The Muslim League, led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah, feared discrimination against the minority of Muslims if India united. The Muslim League demanded the creation of Pakistan that would include Muslims, or the minority of India. The British government decided that it could no longer resist demands for independence from India. Violence between the Hindu majority and Muslim minority grew. Britain then decided it was time to accept this idea of dividing India into India and Pakistan, known as partition. Both countries won independence on August 13, 1947. Hindus on the Pakistani side then fled to India and Muslims on the Indian side fled to Pakistan. Muslims were slaughtered by Hindus and Sikhs (members of a religious minority). Muslims killed Hindu and Sikh neighbors. Britain left India to independence, because of the problems within the country and figured the creation of Pakistan was the only way to solve these problems. Pakistan and India then after finally gaining independence from its colonial ruler fought over Kashmir, which was in the Himalayas. The Kashmir Hindu ruler tried to join India, but the Muslim majority population wanted to be part of Pakistan. Tensions about this area still continue today between Pakistan and India today. To top it all off, nuclear weapons then came into play. India developed nuclear weapons and Pakistan shortly followed. These two countries alarmed neighbors in South Asia and the world because of their nuclear weapons and their conflicts. This country gained independence, but like the colonies struggled with ethnic and religious divisions. Their road to independence was long and challenging, because it took a long time to gain stability and to stop all the fighting. India wanted to be free and relived from its colonial ruler, but struggled with the tensions between the Hindu and Muslim population, which then resulted in the creation of Pakistan in order to have independence; this then resulted in slaughtering and nuclear weapon fear. In conclusion, several countries have started out by escaping from their colonial powers. These powers have controlled these countries and caused tensions. The ethnic and religious groups within these countries have also caused the colonial powers to back away as they have planned. Kenya, Algeria, and India both faced problems ethnically and religiously, which led to violence, which have driven their powers away. Throughout history, it has been an important concept that people do not like to be controlled by a power and other countries often do not want to deal with the problems that the countries they have claimed possess. It is important to remember that freedom is valued by people and the ability to thrive as a country without being controlled by another is what most countries strive to have.