This article explores how people resisted power structures through nonviolent and violent means from 1900 to the present, based on AP World History Unit 8 Topic 7.
Nonviolent Resistance
•Mohandas Gandhi led civil disobedience against British colonial rule in India, including the homespun movement and salt march, leading to India's independence in 1947.•Martin Luther King Jr. inspired by Gandhi, used nonviolent protests like bus boycotts and marches to achieve civil rights victories such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965.•Nelson Mandela initially used violence but turned to nonviolence against apartheid in South Africa, resulting in his imprisonment and eventual release and election as president in 1994 after apartheid ended.Violent Resistance and State Responses
•Violent resistance included terrorist groups like Peru's Shining Path, which caused 37,000 deaths before collapsing in 1992, and Al-Qaeda, which attacked the U.S. on September 11, 2001.•States used violence to suppress resistance, such as Francisco Franco in Spain executing or imprisoning protesters and Idi Amin in Uganda killing or exiling dissenters, leading to 500,000 Ugandan deaths.•The military-industrial complex in the U.S. and Soviet Union grew through nuclear stockpiling, with President Eisenhower warning it could undermine democratic principles.Key Takeaways
•Nonviolent resistance, led by figures like Gandhi, King, and Mandela, achieved significant political changes through civil disobedience.•Violent resistance included terrorist acts by groups such as the Shining Path and Al-Qaeda, often resulting in widespread casualties.•States sometimes responded to resistance with brutal violence, as seen in Spain and Uganda, while military build-ups created self-feeding cycles of power.Conclusion
Resistance to power structures has shaped global history through both peaceful and violent actions.
