DSE History: African Decolonisation 1957-1975 (Tutor Prep Guide) — Ghana, the Congo crisis and the Algerian war

2026-11-05

Tutor lesson-prep guides · Secondary History

The lesson fixes the pattern where a student knows that African states became independent but cannot say why some changed hands peacefully in three years while others fought eight-year guerrilla wars.

Objectives — By the end students can (1) place 1957 Ghana, 1960 the year of Africa, 1962 Algeria and 1975 Portuguese Africa on a timeline; (2) compare negotiated and armed paths by settler numbers and economic value; (3) explain how Cold War competition shaped the Congo and Angola.

01 Prerequisites (3-minute check)

If any of these fails, fix it before the lesson starts.

Skill	Quick check	Pass mark
What colonialism means	Explain in one sentence that one state rules another territory directly	Seizing land is an acceptable answer
The two Cold War camps	Name the United States and the Soviet Union	Confusion means three minutes of repair
What nationalism means	Answer that a people claims self-rule on national grounds	Patriotism needs steering towards self-government

02 Lesson flow (45 minutes)

Time	Stage	Tutor does	Student does
5 minutes	Opening diagnosis	Ask students to circle three African states that became independent in 1960	Work alone, no atlas index
8 minutes	Timeline	Draw a 1957 to 1975 line and fill four turning points with the class	Copy the line with one sentence per point
12 minutes	Path comparison	Contrast Ghana with Algeria and model how settler numbers decide the path	Fill two cells of the comparison table aloud
10 minutes	Source question	Hand out a 1960 Congo headline and the 1963 OAU charter, ask what each tried to solve	Write two sentences quoting the source
5 minutes	Trap check	Write that African independence was all negotiated and ask students to refute it	Refute with one armed example
5 minutes	Exit check	Give three questions to finish independently	Answer alone

03 Teaching script (read it out)

Scene 1: 1957 and 1960: two early models

Write 1957 and 1960 on the board and ask how one independence became seventeen in three years. Explain: Ghana became independent under Nkrumah in 1957, the first in sub-Saharan Africa, and he argued for independence first and continental unity second, hosting the All-African People’s Conference in 1958; in 1960 seventeen African states became independent, the year of Africa, including Nigeria with the largest population. Most were British or French territories where colonial administrations had already built bureaucracies and legislative elections, so handover could be negotiated. Ask whether a parliament guarantees peace.

Students write one sentence: the shared condition behind 1957 and 1960 was ___.

Scene 2: Congo and Algeria: when handover was not an option

Explain: the Congo became independent in June 1960, Katanga seceded a week later with Belgian support, Prime Minister Lumumba appealed to the United Nations, was deposed in September and killed in early 1961. The Cold War entered at once because Western governments feared the mines would fall to Soviet influence and Moscow offered advisers and supplies. Algeria was different: France treated it as part of France, with nearly a million European settlers. The FLN rose in 1954, the war ran to 1962, the Evian Accords ended it and most settlers left. Ask why one handover took three years and the other eight years of war. The key is settler numbers and economic value: where many citizens of the ruling country had settled, conceding meant accepting their likely expulsion.

Students fill two rows: Ghana and Algeria, each with settler numbers and method of independence.

Scene 3: After 1974: revolution starts in the metropole

Explain: in April 1974 the Carnation Revolution ended the Portuguese dictatorship, and the new government gave up the colonies, so Mozambique and Angola became independent in 1975 after Guinea-Bissau had declared unilaterally the year before. Angola fell into civil war at once, with the Soviet and Cuban-backed MPLA against the American and South African-backed UNITA. This case shows that independence is not peace: borders were drawn by colonial powers, and resources and state power were left to competing groups inside them, with the Cold War raising the temperature. The Organisation of African Unity, founded in 1963, made acceptance of colonial borders its central rule to prevent continental border war.

Students write the chain of consequences from the 1974 Portuguese revolution, naming at least two countries.

Scene 4: Closing: one map, three columns

Draw three columns: colonial conditions, path to independence, Cold War entry. Explain that a bureaucracy and legislature left behind usually produced negotiation, large settler populations or strategic minerals usually produced armed struggle, and once minerals and shipping lanes were treated as strategic assets the superpowers arrived. The independence years look tidy; the conditions behind them do not.

Students write one sentence proving that the years are tidy but the conditions are not, citing two states.

04 Question types and worked steps

Type	Example	Steps	Answer
Causal question (why)	Why was Algerian independence far more violent than Ghana’s?	1 settler numbers 2 legal status 3 economic and strategic value	Algeria had nearly a million European settlers and was treated as French soil, so concession meant accepting their expulsion; Ghana had few officials and could be handed over.
Comparison	Compare the 1960 Congo crisis with the Angolan civil war after 1975	1 outside interveners 2 resource factor 3 outcome	Both were amplified by the Cold War; the Congo ended in secession and a coup, Angola moved straight into a proxy war.
Source question (news report or charter)	OAU charter 1963: respect existing borders	1 identify the document and year 2 state the problem it addressed 3 state its limits	A regional charter addressing border disputes, but unable to stop internal conflict and external intervention.
Essay (how far)	African decolonisation was mainly decided by external factors. How far do you agree?	1 argue metropolitan policy and Cold War intervention were decisive 2 counter that local parties and guerrilla war created the pressure 3 conclude that outsiders shaped the form and locals set the timing	External factors shaped the form and pace, but without local organisation independence would not have come.

Sanity check (teach this): Keep years exact: Ghana 1957, seventeen states and Congolese independence 1960, Algeria 1962, OAU 1963, Portuguese revolution 1974, Mozambique and Angola 1975. Never say all of Africa was independent in 1960 and never date Lumumba’s death to 1960.

05 Independent practice (3 questions)

Question	Answer	What to watch
Use two states to distinguish negotiated from armed independence	Ghana handed over after elections in 1957; Algeria fought from 1954 to 1962 and signed at Evian	Check that conditions are explained, not only methods
Explain how the Cold War entered the Congo	Katanga secession, mineral interests, UN intervention, foreign advisers and supplies	Check that local conflict and external amplification are separated
Why the 1974 Portuguese revolution mattered in Africa	Colonies abandoned, Mozambique and Angola independent in 1975, Angola at once in civil war	Check that independence is not equated with peace

06 Common mistakes and what to say

Mistake	Student writes	Say this
Assuming all handovers were peaceful	African states all negotiated independence.	Algeria fought eight years, Kenya faced the Mau Mau revolt, Portuguese Africa waited until 1975. Negotiation was one path, not the path.
Vague decades	All of Africa was independent by the 1960s.	Seventeen states in 1960, but Portuguese Africa waited until 1975 and Zimbabwe until 1980.
Cold War as sole cause	The Congo crisis was purely a superpower confrontation.	It began with the Katanga secession and mineral wealth; the Cold War amplified a local conflict.
Confusing independence with stability	Angola settled down after independence in 1975.	Civil war followed at once between the MPLA and UNITA and lasted until 2002.

07 Homework (paper, section and question numbers)

S5 Southeast Asian decolonisation guide: section 4, question type table row 3 — Contrast the Asian cases with Africa on method and settler numbers
S5 Cold War in Asia guide: section 2, prerequisite check — Confirm students can separate local conflict from Cold War intervention before the essay

08 Exit check (last 5 minutes)

Question	Answer	Decision
What 1957 and 1960 signify	Ghana independent in 1957; seventeen states in 1960, the year of Africa	Only one year means reteaching act one
Year and method of Algerian independence	1962, after the Evian Accords	Saying 1954 confuses the rising with independence
One sentence on the Cold War’s effect in Africa	It amplified local conflicts and made secession and civil war harder to end	Soviet help for independence means the mechanism is not yet understood

09 Tutor FAQ

Which year group is this for

Mainly S6; S5 classes covering decolonisation can use act one and the timeline only.

Is forty-five minutes enough

Yes. Go deep on the Congo and Algeria only and carry the rest on the timeline; the target is explaining paths by conditions.

Do I need handouts

Only a map of independence years and an extract from the 1963 OAU charter. A full colonial history chapter will lose focus.

Find a tutor — free Tutor Registration →

A TutorZone lesson-prep guide. Written by the TutorZone team; questions and lesson flow are original and are not taken from any school or publisher material.