ch 23

There was a struggle for countries independence with attempts to end empire rule in world history.  The fall of many empires came in the 20th century.  It seems as if the independence of many countries and the fall of empires worked hand in hand with each other.  In the late 1940's, countries that obtained their independence include India, Pakistan, Burma, Indonesia, Syria, the Philippines, Iraq, Jordan, and Israel.  Between the 1950's and 1970's came African independence.  Austrian and Ottoman empires fell in the beginning of WWI.  Russian empire was crashed in the 20th century and then rebuilt as the USSR.  German and Japanese empires collapsed at the finale of WWII.   Within these world changes that so many countries were experiencing, there were freedom struggles for many.  The main ones included the case of India and ending British rule, and the case of South Africa ending Apartheid.  There were also experiments with Freedom.  One is that the new nations that were coming up from colonial rule faced the problem head on of how to parlay independence into economic development and industrial growth, unification, and political participation.   There were also experiments with culture.  I find it surprising how long that it has taken some countries to gain independence, and how some countries are still working on it.  This section of history is still going on.