Nationalism in Africa and

Latin America
Africa During
World War I
• World War I accelerated African
demands for independence
• African colonies participated in the
war as wars raged on between
German colonies in Africa and the
Allied powers’ colonies
• Over one million African troops
participated directly in the war and
the recruitment of soldiers increased
Challenges to European
Authority

• Africans began mounting significant

challenges to European authority
• Challenges were caused by the perceived
weakening of European authority as some
left their colonies, whereas others were
caused by growing pan-Islamism
• Colonial authorities responded to these
challenges ruthlessly
 • Colonized powers wanted Africans to pay for the institutions that kept them
subjugated
Postwar • Colonized powers developed export-oriented economies that exchanged
Colonial raw materials for manufactured goods abroad
• Colonizers built infrastructure to meet their economic goals
Economy • Colonial taxation drove many Africans into cash crop farming and mining
• Many colonies resorted to compulsory labor
African
Nationalism
• Africans were disappointed that
their sacrifices during the war went
unrewarded and that the self-
determination lauded by President
Wilson didn’t include them
• An emerging class of elites, mostly
educated in the west, helped form
ideologies that pushed for freedom
from colonial control and new
national identities
Forms of Nationalism

• New Elite studied in the west

• Embraced the European concept of the nation
• Example: Jomo Kenyatta led Kenya to
independence
• Some nationalists looked to pre-colonial past for
inspiration
• Some nationalists used race as a foundation for
nation-building and this led to ideas of pan-
Africanism
• WEB du Bois and Marcus Garvey called on the
African diaspora to move back to AFrica
Latin America and Neo-
Colonialism

• Latin American countries were already

politically independent so imperial control
was much more indirect and subtle
• Old imperial powers like Spain and Portugal
were replaced by wealthy industrial powers
like the U.S. and Britain, who impeded the
economic development of many countries
in Latin America
The Impact of World
War I on Latin America

• World War I and the Russian Revolution

spread radical ideas and reoriented the
desires of many in Latin America
• WWI increased US economic power, so more
people began to criticize capitalism;
universities became places where anti-
imperial and Marxist ideas thrived and
influenced new leaders
• Political parties formed to rebel against the
status quo
Radical Artistic
Visions

• Diego Rivera- muralist who shaped

political art in Mexico for decades
• Rivera celebrated pre-Columbian
traditions and incorporated radical
political ideas
• When the U.S. commissioned a mural
from him it was later destroyed by those
who found it offensive
Economic Imperialism in
Latin America
• US investment in Latin America soared in the 1920s with the
takeover of business engaged in extracting vital minerals
• Dollar diplomacy
• Taft wanted to replace military intervention with friendly
business relationships
• Great Depression halted 50 years of economic growth in Latin
America and their exports fell sharply with the collapse of global
trade
• This forced some countries like Brazil under Vargas to begin a
transformation of their economy
• Brazil would industrialized key sectors and implemented
protectionist policies to keep foreign competition out
Conflicts with the U.S.
• The Great Depression also led the U.S. to reassess the cost of
direct intervention in Latin America
• FDR’s Good Neighbor Policy guaranteed financial control of
certain industries and training for indigenous police forces but
the intent wasn’t really that different from previous policies
• Nicaragua
• US had a history of intervention in Nicaragua for financial
interests
• US departed following elections in 1932 but placed a
brutal leader in charge of the National Guard there,
Samoza
• Samoza would eventually take over Nicaragua
• Mexico
• Cardenas nationalized the oil industry
The United Fruit
Company

• The United Fruit Company owned

160,000 acres of land in the Caribbean
• Marketing executives used the popular
Carmen Miranda in banana
commercials to soften the threating
image of imperial control in Latin
America