The Fall of Empires: World War II and the End of Colonial Rule

Since the 1400s, European empires maintained control over African colonies using their advanced weaponry and military technology, justifying it through claims of racial superiority and religious duty. The African colonies and subjects were exploited for resources and economic gain. Despite attempts at resistance, the colonies could not escape Europe’s firm grasp, partially because much of Africa was divided into small tribes. The impact of World War I planted the seeds for resistance to colonial rule by increasing the awareness of unfair treatment. World War II then accelerated decolonization by promoting self-determination and weakening the European empires. These aspects, combined with the expansion of colonial cities and growing international anti-colonial sentiment, facilitated the growth of African nationalist movements and ultimately the fall of African colonialism.

One of the most important impacts World War I had on ending colonialism was opening the African subjects' eyes to not only the ongoing unfair treatment by their European rulers but also the unlikelihood of improvement. Many African men fought for Europe during World War I, but despite their efforts and sacrifice, soldiers like Bakary Diallo were still rejected when they returned. If a decorated soldier like Diallo, who also loved France, could not be treated like an equal, there would not be a bright future for people under European colonial rule. However, despite being rejected by their European colonists and sent back to Africa, these colonial troops found that their service did give them credibility with both the European governments and their citizens. Some of these soldiers, like Nar Diouf, a decorated Senegalese veteran, used their influence to organize resistance efforts and lobby for African independence. Diouf represented his village against the French government and even received an apology from a Tubab over an incident with a blind child. To further worsen the situation, Europe raised taxes and lowered African wages to help rebuild a depleted Europe following World War I. African laborers, who were already unhappy with their living conditions, responded by organizing and going on strike. In Zambia, laborers went on strike and created a “Call to Action” to unite the workers in the Nkana Copper mines against colonial oppression. Soon, these bad financial conditions led to more strikes and localized resistance across Africa. With colonial tensions building and the Africans growing weary of their mistreatment, it would only take a spark from World War II to drive the spread of anti-colonial views and a push for independence.

World War II was a political turning point as the European colonial powers were fighting for self-determination, among other things, which directly contradicted colonial views and weakened Europe's actual and moral hold on its colonies. The Atlantic Charter of 1941 was created to combat the rise of fascism during World War II. It was an agreement between the U.S. President and the Prime Minister of the U.K. to both respect the rights of people and allow for self-governance. These modern Western ideas, however, directly contradict colonialist views of ruling over others, removing any moral high ground for colonialism. Colonial soldiers in World War II also played a key role in the rise of independence movements. Waruhiu Itote, a Kenyan colonial soldier stationed in India, met British and Indian soldiers while fighting. Both of them, even the British soldier, questioned Itote’s motivations, pointing out that he was fighting for a country that exploited and oppressed his own country.  Through interactions like this, African soldiers became increasingly aware of outside independence movements, like the one in India, and began to question the reason they were fighting.  Furthermore, as the European nations took heavy losses against the Axis powers in World War II, colonial soldiers witnessed firsthand the military struggles, giving hope to the colonial subjects that Europe was not as invincible as they claimed. Not only were they perceptually weaker, but World War II also drained Europe economically and militarily, making it very difficult to maintain their overseas empires. 

The rapid growth of African colonial cities after World War II created centers for political activism and helped spread nationalist movements across Africa. To rebuild their economy after the destruction of World War II, Europe heavily invested in African colonial cities, creating jobs, economic growth, and infrastructure. As a result, thousands of people from across Africa immigrated to these cities for better jobs and lives. This immigration turned colonial cities into intellectual hubs where ideas would be exchanged, facilitating the flow of independence movements. One way the city spread these ideas was through the rise of cultural arts, such as Ghanaian Highlife. Ghanaian Highlife was a music genre that often contained nationalist messages and appealed to younger audiences. People in these cities would also gather at nightclubs to exchange thoughts, often about Ghana’s political climate of independence. The spreading of ideas wasn’t just limited to cities, as straddlers would bring these ideas back to their hometown and vice versa, allowing for independence movements to spread across the continent swiftly. Political activists like Bibi Titi were able to use this to their advantage. Leading urban women's movements and objecting to European capitalism, she would travel around Africa, giving speeches in major cities and inspiring others to join anti-colonial organizations like TANU. Aided by the improved circulation of ideas through these urban hubs, activists were able to give rise to growing independence movements, fostering a collective desire for independence and self-determination that would shape the future of colonization.

Then, after World War II, the rise of new global superpowers that were anti-colonialist, along with the growing African belief in independence, set a powerful international force against the European empire. With this backdrop, grass-roots protests, like when both teachers and young people gathered in Conakry (Guinea) to protest the signing of the new French Constitution, started to grow.  The teachers and young people were not satisfied with placing Guinea back under French rule, with only slightly more representation. The protests were successful in managing to scare the President of Guinea into not signing the Constitution. This protest was part of the development of independence movements in Africa, as not only are more people starting to demand full autonomy from Europe, but they are also succeeding. These demands were later displayed on a global stage, as the President of Ghana gave a speech at the UN Assembly about Africa’s right to freedom. Soon, other African countries and leaders were following Ghana’s example. In addition, the African independence movements worldwide were supported by both of the new global superpowers, the US and the Soviet Union, as well as the international institution, the United Nations, which strongly opposed colonialism. A weakened Europe after World War II had no choice but to start to concede its colonial empires, as they depended on these superpowers for economic, military, or even political aid. Combined with the growing wave of nationalist beliefs, the African struggle for independence gained considerable momentum and ultimately led to the fall of African colonialism.

While World War I planted the seeds for resistance to colonialism, World War II catalyzed these movements by fostering modern Western anti-colonial ideals and exposing the decline in European imperial power. These notions gave rise to independence movements across the world and redirected global politics away from colonial rule for the foreseeable future. World War I sparked African resistance as they were being treated as inferior and forced to work for little pay. World War II, however, was the turning point for colonialism as the spread of self-determination was combined with Europe’s economic and military decline. The colonies, on the other hand, developed urban centers, which facilitated the spread of anti-colonial movements throughout Africa.  Aided by the new superpowers, the U.S. and Soviet Union, European empires were finally shut down for good, not only in Africa, but across the globe. Ironically, both World Wars were a result of European nations’ imperialist ambitions, but they led to the downfall of the European colonial empires and ultimately made European nations second-tier powers behind the U.S. and Russia.

Works Referenced

Barry, Bocor Biro. "Rejecting the French Community." In Africa in Global History with Sources, by Robert Harms. W. W. Norton, 2018.

Diallo, Bakary. "Strength and Goodness, 1926." In White War, Black Soldiers: Two African Accounts of World War I, edited by George Robb, 149-50. Hackett Publishing, 2021.

Diouf, Nar. "Oral Testimony of Nar Diouf, a Senegalese Veteran of World War I, 1919." In Memories of Maelstrom: A Senegalese History of the First World War, edited by Joe Lunn, 232. Heinemann, 1999.

"E.T. Mensah's Tempos." In Highlife Saturday Night: Popular Music and Social Change Urban Ghana, edited by Nate Plageman, 109. Indiana University Press, 2012.

Harms, Robert. "Explosive Growth of Cities." In Africa in Global History with Sources, 1930-1960, 530-31. W. W. Norton, 2018.

Itote, Waruhio. "Mau Mau." In Africa and the West: A Documentary History, edited by William H. Worger, Nancy L. Clark, and Edward A. Alpeas. Vol. 2. Oxford University Press, 2010.

"Kwame Nkrumah." In Highlife Saturday Night: Popular Music and Social Change Urban Ghana, edited by Nate Plageman, 158. Indiana University Press, 2012.

Lovewey, G. "Report of the Commission Appointed to Enquire into the Disturbances in the Copperbelt, Northern Rhodesia, 1935." In Africa in Global History with Sources, edited by Robert Harms.

Mohammed, Bibi Titi. "Travel for TANU, 1958." In The Political Thought of African Independence, edited by Gregory Smilewicz-Zucker, 62-64. Hackett Publishing, 2017.

Nkrumah, Kwame. "Visions of Independence, Then and Now." Africa Renewal. United Nations. Last modified August 15, 2010. Accessed April 9, 2025. https://www.un.org/africarenewal/magazine/august-2010/visions-independence-then-and-now.

Roosevelt, Franklin D., and Winston Churchill. "Atlantic Charter." In Government, Politics, and Protest: Essential Primary Sources, edited by K. Lee Lerner, Brenda Wilmoth Lerner, and Adrienne Wilmoth Lerner, 129-32. Detroit, MI: Gale in Context: World History, 2006.

Shackleton, Deborah A., and Dennis Showalter. "Imperial Systems: Did the British and French View World War II as the Beginning of the End for Their Respective Empires?" In History in Dispute: World War II, 1943-1945, 168-74. Vol. 5. St. James Press, 2000.

Strayer, Robert W., and Eric W. Nelson. "Toward Independence in Asia and Africa." In Ways of the World: A Global History with Sources, 5th ed., 941-45. Bedford, Freeman & Worth, 2023.

Harms, Robert. "Explosive Growth of Cities, 1939-1960s." In Africa in Global History with Sources, 530-31. W.W. Norton, 2018.