The Role of Nationalist Movements in African Independence Struggles

Assess the extent to which nationalist movements contributed to African nations gaining their independence.

Indicative content

During the 1950s and 1960s, when Africans began to seriously resist colonial rule, Africa underwent a major transformation and each colony eventually gained its freedom. In Africa, nationalism became a central focus for calls for the unification of Africa. Nationalist movements attempted to transform conceptions of African identity from a focus on isolated ethnicities to a racial identification, or an identity based on the territorial state created by colonial rulers. By 1950, most African colonies had some organised national movement; most of these were in the form of political parties that led the demand for independence. These movements were more broad-based in their appeal. Political parties emerged in the period between the two World Wars and they represented national movements. They helped to organise national movements across Africa. Popular parties included the Kenyan African National Union (KANU) in Kenya and the Convention People’s Party in Ghana. In general, these political parties were led by charismatic nationalist figures like Nkrumah, Kenyatta and Azikiwe. They were all keen advocates of national independence.

In the 1950s and 1960s, struggles by African Americans in the United States for constitutional rights intensified. African national movements and the Civil Rights Movement in the United States mutually affected each other. In 1957, Martin Luther King visited Ghana at the invitation of the Prime Minister Kwame Nkrumah to witness the official replacement of the Union Jack with the new Ghana flag. Another Civil Rights leader, Malcolm X, travelled widely in Africa. He met with all the prominent African leaders of the time, including Nkrumah. Pan-Africanism also influenced the nationalist leaders like Kaunda, Haile Selassie, Nkrumah, and Azikiwe. The fifth Pan-African Congress held in Manchester in 1945 supported strongly the African struggle for independence. Nkrumah argued that African workers and peasants needed to reclaim their independence advocating the use of force if necessary. Nkrumah's hatred of colonial rule, enthusiasm for independence, and the ideal of a United States of Africa made him popular throughout the continent. Azikiwe was a prominent Pan-Africanist; he rejected Nkrumah's united Africa and advocated the use of colonial boundaries to define nations. For him, a united Africa meant cooperation, but not an actual unification of the continent. He abandoned his Pan-Africanist ideals. Returning veterans from the Second World War expected more freedom and dignity and supported nationalism. The formation of the UN also popularised notions of national sovereignty. Weakened economically and militarily from their participation in the Second World War, European colonial powers became less able to repress the national movements that were growing across the African continent. They, therefore, became more open to the idea of granting independence.

In some colonies the calls for independence led to armed confrontations between nationalist insurgent groups and colonial armies. In Kenya, the Mau Mau uprising carried on guerrilla warfare against the colonial government for most of the 1950s. In most colonies, however, national movements used a combination of armed resistance and constitutional protest to fight for independence. Armed struggle was often used only as a strategy of last resort when other more peaceful means of protest had proven futile or were repressed. In sub-Saharan Africa, the Gold Coast (Ghana) was the first to gain independence in 1957. Fourteen African countries gained independence in the year 1960. By 1966, most African countries had attained independence.