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oa De enige zekere bondgenoot - Nederland, Frankrijk en de zwanenzang van het Europese kolonialisme (1950-1962)
- Amsterdam University Press
- Source: Tijdschrift voor Geschiedenis, Volume 122, Issue 1, Mar 2009, p. 18 - 33
Abstract
In the 1950s European colonialism was more vigorous than is often assumed. Despite growing international resistance, European colonial powers tried fervently to cling on to the remnants of their once great empires. Yet, little is known of the way they perceived and acted towards each others’ attempts to keep their empires alive. This article explores this topic by studying how the Netherlands and France interacted diplomatically concerning colonial matters. It shows that The Hague and Paris, which in the 1950s were often at loggerheads concerning the future of the EEC, put their differences aside when it came to colonial issues, and actively worked together in order to maintain their power overseas. In doing so, they acted against Cold War logic. In contrast to the United States, their strongest NATO-ally, the Europeans both advocated and supported a policy of no compromise when it came to anti-colonial nationalism. American fear that Moscow would take advantage of the resentment this aroused in the non-western world was not shared in either The Hague or Paris. Rather both the Dutch and the French thought it was American appeasement of Afro-Asian (national) ambitions in North-Africa and the Indonesian archipelago that formed the greatest threat to European and Western influence overseas.