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8 Chapter 1 Reformed Imperialism and the Onset of the Cold War, 1945–50 From the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 to its defeat by Germany in 1940, France had taken its place among the world’s great powers. When World War II ended, however, France’s economy was in a shambles, its transportation system had been destroyed, and coal and food were in short supply. The country had been defeated, occupied, and humiliated during the war.1 Yet it was still an imperial power, second only to Great Britain in the size of its colonial empire.2 It was widely believed that because the empire had helped France to survive the war and allowed it to retain the illusion of grandeur, the empire would permit France once again to assume its position as a great power.3 French plans for greatness were threatened on several fronts. The imperial power’s hold on its empire was endangered by African and Asian nationalist movements that flourished in the postwar period and by the emergence of the United States and the Soviet Union as the new world powers. Nationalist leaders argued that their people deserved increased political rights and economic compensation for their wartime sacrifices. The United States pressed for the breakup of colonial empires, in the name of free trade and, to a lesser extent, the self-determination of peoples. The onset of the Cold War and the support of French communists and the Soviet Union for the anticolonial cause magni- fied French concerns. Under pressure in the colonies and in the international arena, France adopted a two-pronged imperial strategy. On the one hand, it hoped to deter more radical solutions by reforming its empire.4 On the other, it cracked down hard on emergent nationalist movements, particularly those with communist affiliations. In Guinea, the RDA was nearly destroyed during this period of intense repression. You are reading copyrighted material published by Ohio University Press/Swallow Press. Unauthorized posting, copying, or distributing of this work except as permitted under U.S. copyright law is illegal and injures the author and publisher. 1945–50 9 World War II and the New International Order American pressure on the old imperial powers began during World War II. As an emerging industrial giant whose shores had not been devastated by war, the United States was in a strong bargaining position. Embattled Allies appealed to the United States for money, supplies, weaponry, and troops. In March 1941, the U.S. Congress passed the Lend-Lease Act, which authorized the president “to sell, transfer title to, exchange, lease, lend, or otherwise dispose of” war materials to any country whose defense was deemed necessary for U.S. security.5 In exchange for wartime assistance, the United States sought access to European colonies in Africa and Asia for the purchase of raw materials, the exploitation of markets, and the establishment of military bases. Such access required a fullscale transformation of the old imperial order. In August 1941, American President Franklin Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill signed the Atlantic Charter, a document outlining the principles upon which the new order would be based.6 The Atlantic Charter championed a variety of liberal rights and liberties and addressed American economic concerns. It underscored the right of all nations to free trade and to “access, on equal terms, . . . to the raw materials of the world which are needed for their economic prosperity.” It further declared “the right of all peoples to choose the form of government under which they will live” and the “wish to see sovereign rights and self-government restored to those who have been forcibly deprived of them.”7 These principles were endorsed by the United States, Great Britain, and twenty-four other nations on January 1, 1942, and subsequently by other countries, including France after its liberation by the Allies in 1944.8 France’s adherence to the principle of free trade was strengthened in February 1945, when it signed a lend-lease agreement with the United States that included a free-trade stipulation.9 Despite their endorsement of the Atlantic Charter principles, the imperial powers did not envision full-fledged decolonization. When France and Britain called for the restoration of “sovereign rights and self-government,” they imagined European countries and their respective African and Asian empires, which had been overrun by the Axis powers. They protested the violation of European sovereignty, of which their empires were deemed an integral part. Americans , in...

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