Why did decolonization rapidly increase after World War II?
It was really because of Japan in World War II. In Asia (with the exception of Japan) it was the fundamental belief that Europeans were socially, economically and most certainly militarily superior to all other races in the world. The Japanese in World War II disproved that theory by occupying China, Hong Kong, Indochina, the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia, and eliminating all British, French, American and Dutch rule in Asia. Despite Asians holding anti-Japanese sentiment after World War II, the belief that Europeans were unbeatable was undoubtably shattered, and after Japanese rule they were not going to go back to European rule. The first wars of independence in the process of decolonization was thus in Asia, where the Indonesians battled against Dutch rule and the Vietnamese battled against French rule. The British realized the inevitable wars of independence and sponsored an independent Burma and Malaysia. When European colonies in Asia fought or were given independ
I don’t have a specific source, but: There are a few reasons: First: a shift in power. Nearly all of the countries in the world were burned out. The only large countries that were still intact were the US and the USSR. The countries were not really powerful enough to maintain colonies, and they didn’t have enough money either. The US didn’t have colonies because, with a few exceptions, whenever they got land, they just made it into a state(once it met certian requirements). The USSR didn’t have colonies because whenever it got more land, it just absorbed it. Second: the cold war. Part of the cold war was getting as many “friends” as possible. So, by releasing colonies, you can become “friends” with the new country.
