Decolonization and Nationalism Triumphant: Crash Course World History #40

In which John Green teaches you about the post-World War II breakup of most of the European empires. As you'll remember from previous installments of Crash Course, Europeans spent several centuries sailing around the world creating empires, despite the fact that most of the places they conquered were perfectly happy to carry on alone. After World War II, most of these empires collapsed. This is the story of those collapses. In most places, the end of empire was not orderly, and violence often ensued. While India was a (sort of) shining example of non-violent change, in places like The Congo, Egypt, Rwanda, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, things didn't go smoothly at all. John brings you all this, plus pictures of Sea Monkeys. Sadly, they don't look anything like those awesome commercials in the comic books.

Chapters:
Introduction: Decolonization 00:00
What Happens When Empires Fall? 0:33
Post-WWII Decolonization 2:24
Decolonization in India 3:14
Mohandas K. Gandhi 3:47
An Open Letter to Hunger Strikers 5:43
Indonesian Nationalism 6:40
The End of Colonization in French Indochina (Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia) 7:51
Gamal Abdul Nasser and Egyptian Nationalism 8:35
Decolonization in Central and Southern Africa 9:16
Credits 12:10

Resources:

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[MaxMarriner]

"We never saw what happens AFTER the rebels defeated the empire!" And less than a week later, the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy was announced. Timing, man.

[lukeo.]

Nigeria turned 56 on October 1st. My father lived through their fight for independence. Just to give you an idea of how young African countries are.

[nathanjeromin]

Obnoxiously eating a cupcake while talking about Ghandi's hunger strikes is the most American thing I've ever seen lol

[nicolereeds]

My high school History teacher often said he wanted to be a I'm scared now.

[pyrosianheir]

John - "You never knew what happened AFTER the rebels victory in Star Wars!"


Me - "Oh.... oh John.... We should've wished for it to stay that way..."

[embreezyvmi]

Thank you, John, for citing you sources. I just happened to stumble across this wonderful video, and I was overcome with emotion when I heard you cite my late, beloved Grandfather, Ainslie Embree, regarding post-colonial India. He passed away earlier this year. I hope I can show this video to my children someday. Thank you.

[bubblegumpanda]

Ah, winning was easy young man, governing is harder.

[amaiainsausti]

More videos on decolonization would be awesome! In Europe we don't learn much (if anything) about it. Our books are cool with talking about colonization and how we got rich thanks to exploiting other people, but they love to skip the part about what happened to those people afterwards.

[eunicelee]

I love how Meredith the intern celebrates her singleness with a holiday

[stubley]

John looked legitimately infuriated by Stan cutting away from his *ahem* beautiful *ahem* singing

[jaspernato]

Really love all your history videos. I hated history back in high school because all we ever did was memorize names and dates. This on the other hand is so much more useful and critical.

[chinamanandfriends]

Don't forget Wakanda! True, their economy is pretty well-backed by vibranium exports and hard protectionism for the last few decades, but the late king T'Chaka seemed well-loved and respected by his people. Let's hope the new king maintains the political and social stability.

[controlledchaos]

10:00 did this dude just throw his gun at the guy? lol

[alicecroquette]

yay indonesia episode.. we're like canadians, starving for attetntion in world history...

[jreaganmorganchannel]

You're like the Bill Nye of historians.

[ShinobuSakurazaka]

"He was assassinated by a Hindu nationalist who believe that Gandhi was too sympathetic to Muslims".
For fucks sake, he helps break the English rule over India and make it a sovereign state and you assassinate him because he believed that Muslim minority deserved as much respect as the Hindu majority. Talk about you can't please all of the people all of the time, a great video as always and Gandhi proved that pacifism and lack of violence can be just as effective as bullets and bayonets which is something that the founding fathers should of taken into consideration FYI I am American.

[hmoney]

i like that you don't "talk down" when you explore the histories of the "third world". its sad (even scary) how often smart people (including respected professors in my political science program) appear to have imperialistic and racist undertones in their discussions/lectures. the number of times i flinch when such people pass on their assumptions about western superiority is almost amusing. you'd think ive developed a nervous twitch. so anyway i would just like to say thank you, and keep it up!

[chubbz]

Mr. Green, Mr. Green! I'm so excited that I finally get to cite one of your awesome videos for my history class!

[JAGomez]

Dear John Green and Crash Course team, YOU have not forgotten to be awesome. Thanks for making informative and educational videos well suited to the hyperactivity of the collective rising generation. :)

[morbidbushido]

History has shown, there are no absolutes. Nothing stays the same forever...so yes; very Optimistic about Africa.