Wars of National Liberation - Decolonization Period

Decolonization Period

Further information: Decolonization and Colonialism

The first separatist rebellion within the former British Empire not to end in defeat since the American Revolutionary War was the Irish War of Independence of 1919-1922 which led in 1922 to the renewed independence of most of Ireland (26 counties out of 32). However the rebellion also led to the Irish Civil War (1922-1923).

The First Indochina War (1946–54), Vietnam War (1959–75), and the Algerian War of Independence (1954–62) were all considered national liberation wars by the rebelling sides of the conflicts. The African National Congress (ANC)'s struggle against the apartheid regime is also another example. These wars were in part supported by the Soviet Union, which claimed to be an anti-imperialist power, although it has been argued that the Soviet Union practised colonialism also. Since the 1917 October Revolution and the subsequent Russian Civil War, the revolutionary objectives of communism were shared by many anticolonialist leaders, thus explaining the objective alliance between anticolonialist forces and Marxism. The concept of "imperialism" itself had been which had theorized in Lenin's 1916 book, Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism. For example, Ho Chi Minh — who founded the Viet-Minh in 1941 and declared the independence of Vietnam on September 2, 1945, following the 1945 August Revolution — was a founding member of the French Communist Party (PCF) in 1921. In January 1961, over three years before the Gulf of Tonkin incident which would mark the United States' increased involvement in the Vietnam War, Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev would pledge support for "wars of national liberation" throughout the world. In the same decade, Cuba, led by Fidel Castro, would support national liberation movements in Angola and Mozambique. The Portuguese colonial wars finally led to the recognition of Angola, Mozambique and Guinea-Bissau as independent states in 1975, following the April Carnation Revolution.