The 1950s and 1960s saw the end of colonization and the establishment of new and independent nations across Africa. For the most part, this process was a peaceful one. In regions with large numbers of white settlers, however, decolonization was often accompanied by considerable violence. In French Algeria, for example, the large European population pressured the French government to resist calls for Algerian independence, sparking a long and bitter war between France and Algerian anticolonial forces (see Chapter 31). In South Africa, an even more entrenched European population made the preservation of the colonial racial hierarchy its highest priority, organizing the government, economy, and legal system of South Africa around that goal. As you read the documents included here, ask yourself if the racial policies of the South African government in the decades following World War II made political violence inevitable. How would Nelson Mandela have responded to this question? What about the leaders of the South African government under apartheid?