Nationalism Post-WWII

After WWII, the world was exhausted from another world war and was paranoid thinking of the possibilities of more world-wide entanglements. Tired of war, many countries suffered on a nationalistic front, starting the trend of decolonization as colonies that had tried to become more nationalistic demanded independence. Britain gave independence to India in 1947, splitting up the large colony into the two countries India and Pakistan, as well as Ireland, Egypt, and South Africa. France first resisted the decolonization movement, involving itself in conflicts arising in Algeria, violently trying to oppress the increasing nationalism in its colonies while struggling to develop nationalism at home. France had soon granted independence to almost all its African colonies by 1960, Vietnam had fought to become its own nation, and only a few areas were still partially under French rule (Somalia fought for its independence later on and achieved it in 1977). The lack of effort to retain colonies on Britain's part and the lack of ability to control colonies for France brought any wartime nationalism to an end. Many European nations chose to forgo the independence associated with nationalism and formed the United Nations, providing an economic and social council, an International Court of Justice, and a Trusteeship council to oversee colonial territories. As international collective defense seemed to become more appealing, NATO was formed in 1949, an agreement that bound members together for mutual protection from potential attacks. The lack of nationalism after WWII (excluding the nationalistic colonies fighting for independence) brought upon a want for international cooperation to ensure an avoidance of another worldwide conflict and a lackluster effort on Britain and France’s part to keep colonies under their control, especially after the war had taken so much away from them and given so much power to their colonies.