(i) Leaders of national liberation struggles of the twentieth century were inspired by earlier examples of national liberation and development which had introduced the modern idea of citizenship-that all members of a nation should enjoy equal rights and responsibilities.

The United States of America 

(ii) The American War of Independence was followed by the emergence of stable, democratic governing institutions in the new United States of America, and the gradual extension of rights of full citizenship to all members of the American nation.

(iii) Also, the American military remained small and did not often interfere with the working of civil institutions. This was very attractive to people in colonies in Asia and Africa where the military was regularly used to control the population.

(iv) There were other reasons why people under colonial rule admired the American model of national freedom and development. Americans developed the world's largest economy between 1865 and 1950, based on capitalist agriculture, heavy industry and mass consumer spending.

(v) Many people around the world believed that the U.S.A. was sincerely committed to self- governance through democracy on a global scale, and that it would act as a force against colonialsim, perhaps by directly assisting colonial subjects in their national liberation struggles.

France

(vi) The French Revolution in 1789 did not begin as a struggle against a foreign power, but the revolutionaries launched a campaign to spread universal principles' of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity to other parts of Europe.

(vii) The French Revolution inspired people in Europe and in the French colonies to revolt against French domination – in the name of these principles. Not all of these national revolutionaries believed deeply in democracy or equality, but most believed that the people needed to be mobilised to fight against foreign domination.

Russia (USSR)

(viii) The Rusian (Bolshevik) Revolution of 1917-1921 had a huge global impact. The Bolsheviks argued that different 'nationalities' all over the world have a right to independence and to decide their own future.

(ix) The Russian Revolution also presented an alternative model of rapid social and economic development different from that of the capitalist western states. Many Soviet citizens in 1941 enjoyed a higher material standard of living than had their grandparents.

(x) The Soviet leaders gave moral and material support to people of many politically – and economically –dominated countries and colonies.

(xi) According to Marxism, small peasants and proletarians around the world shared the same interests and needed to co-operate to defeat the bourgeoisie and the imperialists.

(xii) Some colonial nationalists visited or studied in the U.S.S.R. in order to learn to organise national freedom struggles. These included the Vietnamese nationalist Ho Chi Minh, the Chinese nationalist leader Chiang Kai-Shek (1887-1975), and Jawaharlal Nehru, the Indian National Congress leader who believed in democratic socialism and thought that aspects of the Soviet command economy might be imitated by India.