1. From Bipolar to Multipolar World

2. War and Decolonization
First Indo-Pakistani War ( )
With the partition of India there was much violence, and many Muslims fled to Pakistan; and Hindus and Sikhs fled to India. Many people left behind all their possessions and property.
India vs Pakistan over the princely state of Kashmir and Jammu
First Arab-Israeli War (1948)
Indonesian National Revolution ( )
Mau-Mau revolt ( )
Kikuyu-dominated groups (Mau Mau) vs the white settlers
Second Arab-Israeli War (1956)
First Indochina War ( )
Algerian War ( )

3. France vs Vietnam Viet Minh (League for the Independence of Vietnam)
Most of the fighting took place in Tonkin
Japanese forces allowed the Viet Minh to take over public buildings and weapons without resistance (August Revolution)
The Japanese also kept Vichy French officials and military officers imprisoned for a month after the surrender
25 August 1945: Ho Chi Minh persuaded Bảo Đại to abdicate
2 September 1945: Ho Chi Minh declared independence of Vietnam
Fighting broke out in Haiphong between the Viet Minh government and the French
23 November 1946: The French fleet began a naval bombardment of the city that killed over 6,000 Vietnamese civilians

4. War General Võ Nguyên Giáp
1948: France started looking for means of opposing the Viet Minh politically, with an alternative government in Saigon (Bảo Đại) within the French Union
1949: France officially recognized the independence of the State of Vietnam as an associated state within the French Union
1950: Giap attecked French garrisons in the north
The military situation improved when General Jean Marie de Lattre de Tassigny, built a fortified line from Hanoi to the Gulf of Tonkin

5. Defeat and Peace Talks
1954: Despite official propaganda presenting the war as a "crusade against communism", the war was still growing unpopular with the French public
The Battle of Dien Bien Phu (March-May 1954):
Almost 3,000 French deaths and 11,721 prisoners
The Geneva Conference (April 26 – July 20, 1954): France agreed to withdraw its forces from French Indochina, while stipulating that Vietnam would be temporarily divided at the 17th parallel, with control of the north given to the Viet Minh (Democratic Republic of Vietnam), and the south becoming the State of Vietnam nominally under Emperor Bảo Đại

6. Algeria ( )
1954: Started by members of the National Liberation Front (FLN) during the Toussaint Rouge, the conflict shook the foundations of the weak and unstable Fourth French Republic (1946–58) Battle of Algiers (1956–57)
: The FLN successfully applied hit-and-run tactics (guerrilla warfare)
The military campaigns greatly weakened the FLN militarily, with most prominent FLN leaders killed or arrested
By 1956: More than 400,000 French troops in Algeria. The elite colonial infantry airborne units and the Foreign Legion bore the brunt of counterinsurgency combat operations, while approximately 170,000 Muslim Algerians served in the regular French army, most of them volunteers
The brutality of the methods employed failed to win hearts and minds in Algeria, alienated support in Metropolitan France and discredited French prestige abroad

7. Algerian Independence
1960: Major demonstrations in favor of independence
United Nations resolution recognizing the right to independence
The Fifth Republic: A strengthened Presidency (Charles de Gaulle)
De Gaulle decided to open negotiations with the FLN, concluded with the signing of the Évian Accords (March 1962)
8 April 1962: French electorate approved the Évian Accords through a referendum (91% in favor of the ratification)
1 July 1962: The Accords were subject to a second referendum in Algeria (99.72% voted for independence and just 0.28% against)
1962: 900,000 European-Algerians (Pieds-noirs) fled to France
The majority of Algerian Muslims who had worked for the French, were disarmed and left behind
However, the Harkis in particular, having served as auxiliaries with the French army, were regarded as traitors by the FLN and between 50,000 and 150,000 were murdered
About 91,000 managed to flee to France

8. British Decolonization
Though Britain emerged victorious from the Second World War, the effects of the conflict were profound
1945: The pro-decolonization Labour government (Clement Attlee) moved quickly to tackle the pressing issue of Indian independence
Malaya:
Following the defeat of Japan in the Second World War, resistance movements in Malaya turned their attention towards the British. The guerrillas were primarily Malayan-Chinese Communists meant that the British attempt to quell the uprising was supported by the Muslim Malay majority, on the understanding that once the insurgency had been quelled, independence would be granted
1951: Conservative Party returned to power (Winston Churchill) and believed that Britain’s position as a world power relied on the continued existence of the Empire (the role of Suez Canal)
Prime Minister Macmillan gave a speech in Cape Town (February 1960) where he spoke of “the wind of change blowing through this continent”
1960s: To the three colonies that had been ALREADY granted independence (Sudan, the Gold Coast and Malaya) were added nearly almost all the other colonies

9. Africa
By the end of the 1960s, all British colonies but Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) and the South African mandate of South West Africa (Namibia) had achieved recognized independence
Britain’s remaining colonies in Africa, except for self-governing Southern Rhodesia, were all granted independence by 1968

10. The Commonwealth
1917: A specific proposal was presented by Jan Smuts when he coined the term “the British Commonwealth of Nations”
1921: The term first received imperial statutory recognition in the Anglo-Irish Treaty, when the term British Commonwealth of Nations was substituted for British Empire in the wording of the oath taken by members of parliament of the Irish Free State
1926: In the Balfour Declaration at the Imperial Conference, Britain and its dominions agreed they were “equal in status, in no way subordinate one to another in any aspect of their domestic or external affairs, though united by common allegiance to the Crown, and freely associated as members of the British Commonwealth of Nations.”
1931: A relationship formalized by the Statute of Westminster
Although the Union of South Africa did not need to adopt the Statute of Westminster for it to take effect, two laws (the Status of the Union Act, 1934, and the Royal Executive Functions and Seals Act of 1934) were passed to confirm South Africa’s status as a sovereign state

11. Commonwealth of Nations
1949: It was formally constituted by the London Declaration, which established the member states as “free and equal”
The Queen is the Head of the Commonwealth as well as the monarch of 16 members, known as Commonwealth realms
As the Commonwealth grew, Britain and the pre-1945 dominions became informally known as the Old Commonwealth
The term New Commonwealth has been used (especially in the 1960s and 1970s) to refer decolonized countries
18 April 1949: Ireland formally became a republic and it was automatically excluded from the Commonwealth
Other dominions wished to become republics without losing Commonwealth ties
Under the London Declaration, India agreed that, when it became a republic (January 1950), it would accept the British Sovereign as a “symbol of the free association of its independent member nations and as such the Head of the Commonwealth”

12. Breznev and Soviet Union
During Brezhnev’s rule, the global influence of the Soviet Union grew dramatically, in part because of the expansion of the Soviet military. It was an era of economic and social stagnation in the Soviet Union
1969: Sino–Soviet border conflict.
Mid-1970s: It had become clear that Kissinger’s policy of détente towards the Soviet Union had failed
The first SALT Treaty established parity in nuclear weapons between the two superpowers
The Helsinki Treaty (1977)
Brezhnev and Nixon also agreed to pass the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty
The Soviet Union extended its diplomatic and political influence in the Middle East and Africa

13. Afghanistan
The war lasted over 9 years (December February 1989)
Insurgent groups (Mujahideen) received aid from several Western countries and several Muslim countries, fought against the Soviet Army and allied Afghan forces
Between 850,000 –1.5 million civilians were killed and millions fled the country as refugees, mostly to Pakistan and Iran

14. Cold War and Neocolonialism
It is a geopolitical practice of using capitalism, business globalization, and cultural imperialism to influence a country, in lieu of either direct military control or indirect political control
Central America:
Chile (dictatorship )
Nicaragua (1960s-1990)
Grenada (1983)

15. Reforming China 1976: After Mao, Deng Xiaoping took power
He led the country to significant economic reforms
The communes were disbanded in favor of private land leases
This marked China’s transition from a planned economy to a mixed economy with an increasingly open market environment
4 December 1982: China adopted a new constitution
The goals of Deng’s reforms were summed up by the Four Modernizations (agriculture, industry, science and technology, and the military)
Special economic zones
1990s: Economic growth
2001: The country formally joined the World Trade Organization and maintained its high rate of economic growth in the 2000s
Rapid growth also severely impacted the country’s resources and environment