Challange: Make Decolonization stop by 1960.

Well, it's worth a try is supose. :)

First: shouldn't this be at the post 1900 part of the forum?

Second: I know that Surinam was basicly pushed into independence by the Netherlands. It could have easily remained Dutch, like the Dutch antilles still are.
 
Have early decolonization efforts go so badly that they decide to slow the process down considerably?

The situation in the Belgian Congo, for example, was pretty bad.
 

King Thomas

Banned
More terroism, so the colonial states don't want to give in to it?
A greater fear of Communism maybe, so the USA props up the old colonial empires rather then risk Communism spreading?
 
I haven't heard this. Elaborate?

Speaking entirely from Wiki-knowledge, 1/3 of Suriname emigrated to the Netherlands because it was widely feared that Suriname would fall into anarchy without direct Dutch control. Clearly the average citizen was not pro-independence.
 

DISSIDENT

Banned
I've read that Nehru was very Anglophilic to the point he asked Lord Mountbatten to serve as head of state of India at one point. Not saying its true, or if it was, a good idea, considering Partition, but that could be a POD, given that when Britain withdrew, it started the unraveling as Britain's colonial empire was Indocentric and the Suez and Malaya among others revolved around the British Raj. They may decide its better to try to patch things up as a Loyal Dominion with more autonomy then get made into two mutually hostile nations.

Also, there was an attempted coup in France against De Gaulle launched by Pied Noir settlers in Algeria to try to keep France in charge there.

There's two starting points.

Not that I'd be rooting for it. Any rule imposed from without is tyranny in my book.
 

Baskilisk

Banned
Speaking entirely from Wiki-knowledge, 1/3 of Suriname emigrated to the Netherlands because it was widely feared that Suriname would fall into anarchy without direct Dutch control. Clearly the average citizen was not pro-independence.
Hm. That's actually fascinating. My one question still remains: why were they forced into independance though? Dutch didn't want to pay for it? Hmmm...
I guess I'll have to look it up myself.
 
I was under the impression that decolonization mainly occurred because the European powers that held colonies around the world could no longer support them financially or militarily due to the cost of the Second World War and post war reconstruction. European countries were dependent on the Marshall Plan to prevent bankruptcy. Then we have the rise of the United States and the Soviet Union as the superpowers, with the Soviet Union financing wars of national liberation such as the war in French Indochina (Vietnam).
 
Hm. That's actually fascinating. My one question still remains: why were they forced into independance though? Dutch didn't want to pay for it? Hmmm...
I guess I'll have to look it up myself.
They were more or less forced into independence because at that time it wasn't considered moraly acceptable in the Netherlands to have colonies.
 
The easiest way to have decolonization stop by 1960 might be to have it COMPLETED by then. Then it would have stopped by having come to an end.

Mind you, that would be tricky. I could imagine the US demanding the end of colonial empires in return for WWII aid...
 

Baskilisk

Banned
They were more or less forced into independence because at that time it wasn't considered moraly acceptable in the Netherlands to have colonies.
Well, in that case, why'd they keep all those islands that wanted them (and needed them) a lot less than Suriname did? It's gotta be a money thing...
 
Well, in that case, why'd they keep all those islands that wanted them (and needed them) a lot less than Suriname did? It's gotta be a money thing...

Let me first assume that by the island you mean indonesia and not the Dutch antilles. If you don´t then my post will make no sense.

You must remember that there is a lot of time between the independence of Indonesia (which happened in the 1940´s) and the independence of Suriname (which happened in the 1970´s). That is almost 30 years. A whole generation. Things changed, certainly the way people thought. You must also remember what happened just before the Indonesian war of independence. The Netherlands was recently humiliated by both the germans and the Japanese. Suddenly the Indonesians where revolting; Indonesia was almost the last piece of national pride the Dutch had and now they would lose that too? Three years later it turned out the answer was yes.
Thirty years later most of the Dutch national pride was basicly gone. People looked at the second world war and noticed what horrors nationalism could bring (and they looked at the Indonesian war of independence to see what horrors they themselves did in the name of nationalism). Colonialism was clearly wrong. All over the world colonies wanted to become independend. The age of the overseas European Empires was gone. So the Netherlands should lose their remaining colonies. An opinion widely shared, certainly among the left-wing politicians (who on that moment formed the governmen). Surinam was the biggest, so they where the first to leave.
The next would be Aruba (which is why Aruba is't part of the Dutch antilles). But Aruba decided (in the 1980's I believe) that they preferred to remain an autonomous part of the Netherlands. I must admid that a large part of the Dutch people wants to get rid of our remaining overseas parts because they consider them too expensive, but that was most certainly not the most important reason to get rid of Surinam (although it was probably part of the consideration).
 
The easiest way to have decolonization stop by 1960 might be to have it COMPLETED by then. Then it would have stopped by having come to an end.

Mind you, that would be tricky. I could imagine the US demanding the end of colonial empires in return for WWII aid...

Would the U.S. lead the way by giving up its significantly-populated island territories?
 
Well, you could have the colonial powers deign that the few independent nations have not fared well, and thusly the colonies are not prepared for independence.
 
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