Final answer:
Colonized nations post-1900 frequently engaged in armed struggles to gain independence from European powers. The Cold War further complicated these efforts, as newly independent nations became stages for proxy conflicts between the US and Soviet Union. Despite European militarism and superiority, the desire for sovereignty spurred many colonized peoples to take up arms and achieve national liberation.
Step-by-step explanation:
The armed struggle for independence following 1900 was a significant method utilized by colonized nations to free themselves from European imperial powers. Post-World War II decolonization efforts often turned violent, with colonies like Kenya, Algeria, and Vietnam engaging in bloody conflicts to attain independence. The French, in an effort to suppress the Malagasy Revolt, were responsible for the deaths of 80,000 in Madagascar in 1947, while Indonesia fought a brutal war from their declaration of independence in 1945 until the Dutch recognition in 1949. These confrontations sometimes received support from powers like the United States, which intervened in conflicts such as the Korean War due to fears of growing international communism.
Nationalism and a powerful desire for independence also compelled countries to adopt more violent means when peaceful negotiations did not yield the desired outcome. The failure of moderate changes and reforms proposed by some European powers, like France in its African colonies, led to demands and fights for complete independence, culminating in wars that ultimately ended colonial rule.
The impact of the Cold War cannot be overlooked in the context of decolonization, as the ideological battle between the USA and Soviet Union played out in a series of proxy wars within newly independent nations, with both superpowers vying for influence over these countries.
Militarism in the nineteenth century set the stage for the conduct of colonial warfare, which often pitted European nations with vast technological superiority against less equipped colonized peoples. Despite this, the resolve for independence led many nations to embrace militant nationalism to attain their sovereignty from their imperial overlords, especially in the wake of exploitation during wartime.