Chapter Ten, Recent Stuff: 1914 –Present

Chapter Ten, Recent Stuff: 1914 –Present

I. The Twentieth Century in Chunks

A. The World War I Era

1. Shifting Alliances- A Prewar Tally of European Countries

a. Europe tried to keep the balance of power by forming alliances
b. France and Russia become an alliance
c. Britain then signed a friendly agreement with France and Russia called the Triple Entente

2. Trouble in the Balkans: Europe in a Tizzy

a. Europe was so tightly wound that anything could have started a war
b. 1914, Gaurilo Princip (from Serbia) shot the Archduke of Austria/Hungary
c. Austria/Hungary then declared war on Serbia, (Russia allied with Serbia and declared war on Austria/Hungary
d. Pressure builds for Britain, France, Italy and Germany to join

3. WWI: The War to End All Wars?

a. U.S. declared neutrality (at first) until a German submarine sank a ship with more than 100 Americans onboard. U.S. shifted away from isolationism after this.
b. Germany then attacked U.S. Merchant ships
c. 1917, America joined war
d. Eight million soldiers were killed

4. The Treaty of Versailles: Make the Germans Cry

a. This treaty brings the official end to WWI

5. The League of Nations: Can’t We All Just get Along?

a. President Wilson’s 14 point speech addressed issues like post-war treaties, and for a joint council of Nations (called the League of Nations)

6. The Russian Revolution: Czar out, Lenin in

a. The Russian revolution happens before the WWI ended
b. 1917, Czar Nicholas gave up his throne
c. Alexander Kerensky takes over
d. 1918, Soviets rally behind the socialist party called the Bolsheviks
e. Vladimir Lenin issued his April Theses where he demanded peace, land for peasants, and power to the soviets (within 6 months the Bolsheviks took command of the government).
f. 1918, The Red Army is a sizable force

7. Here Comes the Turks: The Sick Man of Europe is Out of his Misery

a. The failing Ottoman Empire join the losing central power of WWI
b. 1919, Greeks attack
c. Mustafa Kemal (later known as Ataturk…father of Turkey) overthrew the Ottoman Sultan and became president of Turkey

B. The World War II Era

1. Stalin: The Soviet Union Goes Totalitarian

a. Joseph Stalin: Leader of Communist Party
b. Industrializes USSR
c. Uses terror tactics, secret police force, bogus trials and assassinations for control

2. The Great Depression: Capitalism Crashes, Germany Burns

a. WWI was expensive costing 180 billion dollars
b. France and Germany relied on U.S. credit
c. 1929, the great depression begins and quickly escalates into an international catastrophe

3. Fascism Gains Momentum

a. Between WWI and WWII, fascist parties immerge
b. “Fascism” is to destroy the will of the individual in favor of “the people”

4. Fascism in Italy: Another Step Towards Another War

a. Italy was the first to have a Fascist government
b. 1919, Benito Mussolini created the National Fascist Party
c. This Party paid squads known as “Blackshirts” to fight socialist and communist organizations
d. 1922, by this time Italy was transformed into a totalitarian fascist regime

5. The Rise of Hitler

a. 1920’s, Nazis rose to power
b. Hitler was the head of the Nazi Party
c. He believe Aryans were the superior race and that everything was the Jews fault
d. Hitler gains control of the government, known under his fascist rule as the Third Reich, and set his eyes on conquering Europe

6. Appeasement: Go Ahead You Nut, We Trust Ya

a. 1933, Hitler rebuilds German military (a violation of Versailles)
b. 1935, Hitler takes back Rhineland (lost to Germany in WWI)
c. 1939, Germans sign the Nazi-Soviet pack

7. Need to Read About More Aggression? How About Japan?

a. After WWI Japan fought with the allies and their economy and military started to thrive
b. 1930, Japanese Militarists gained momentum
c. 1937, Japan invaded China

8. A Quick Review of WWII: Tens of Millions Dead

a. Hitler’s forces destroy everything in it’s path and conquered virtually all of Europe
b. Winton Churchill: Britains Prime Minister refuses to cut a deal with Hitler…Hitler launches a major bombing campaign…Battle of Britain
c. 1941, Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor, (U.S. doesn’t lift sanctions against Japan so….)
d. U.S. develop the Manhattan Project (the development of the atomic bomb)
e. 1945, August 6….Truman orders the dropping of the atomic bomb on Japan’s city of Hiroshima

9. The Consequences: So Much Changed

a. The Holocaust was revealed
b. The Peace settlement: U.S. and Soviet Union became Super powers
c. Europe torn to shreds: U.S. instituted the Marshall Plan to help rebuild (or reconstruction of Europe)
d. The decline of Colonialism: Native populations began to rise up against oppressors
e. Jobs for women
f. Creation of International Organizations (example United Nations)

C. Communism and the Cold War (the cold war lasted from1945-1990’s)

1. Power Grab: Soviets and Americans want everyone to take sides

a. Germany and other parts of eastern Europe were divided into temporary “spheres of Influence”
b. 1948, French, British and Americans formed into one, forming democratic West
c. Soviet works at controlling the East with Communism

2. East Verses West: Lets Point Our guns at each Other

a. 1940’s, Europe was divided into East and West
b. 1947, Truman doctrine…U.S. says they will aid countries threatened by Communist takeovers
c. NATO is formed (for Western bloc)
d. Warsaw Pact (for Eastern bloc)

Note: Churchill calls the line between East and West as the “Iron Curtain”

3. China: Communists Make Huge Gains

a. 1911, Chinese revolution…leader Sun Yat-sen
b. Three principles of people…Nationalism, Socialism and Democracy
c. Kuomindang (KMT) Sun Yat-sen’s political party to be continued by his successor, Chiang Kai-shek
d. 1920’s and 1930’s, two forces wreaked havoc with Chiang’s plan….Japan and Russia

4. Mao Zedong: His Own Way

a. 1950’s, Great Leap forward
b. 1960’s, Cultural Revolution

(1) Against privileged ruling class
(2) Little Red Book

c. 1976, Deng Xiaoping takes office after Mao’s death

(1) Education policies change
(2) Focusing on restructuring the economic policies

5. China Looks West: Likes Money, Not So Sure About Freedom

a. Tiananmen Square

6. Division of Korea: The Cold War Turns Hot and Now Possibly Nuclear

a. Korea is occupied by both U.S. and Soviet Union
b. 1948, forms two separate governments

(1) Soviet backed Communist regime in the North
(2) U.S. backed democracy in the South

c. Remain separate to this day

7. Vietnam: The Cold War Turns Ugly

a. After WWII, the French try to hold onto control of their colony of Indochina…Nationalists known as Vietminh fought back
b. 1954, Vietminh Guerilla warfare succeeds in forcing the French into an accord (signed in Geneva) dividing the Nation

(1) Communist under Ho Chi Minh…controlled North of the 17th parallel
(2) Democracy under Ngo Dihn Dien in the South

8. The Cuban Revolution: Communism on the American Doorstep

a. 1898, Cuba wins independence from Spain
b. Platt Amendment keeps U.S. involved with Cuban affairs
c. 1939-1959, U.S. supports Batista Dictatorship in Cuba
d. 1956, Peasants Revolt under Fidel Castro
e. Cuban Revolution
f. 1961, President Kennedy/ Bay of Pigs
g. 1962, Cuban Missile Crisis
h. 1990’s, Soviet Union collapses and Cuba loses it’s main financial backer

9. Poland: Solidarity Grows in Population

a. 1980, Solidarity Movement under Lech Walesa
b. 1989, Solidarity becomes legal and member of solidarity (Tadeusz Masow) becomes Prime Minister in first open election since WWII
c. 1990, Communist Party fell apart in Poland and Lech Walesa is elected President
d. 1999, Poland joins NATO (and European Union in 2004)

10. German Reunification: All This, Just to be back where we started?

a. East Germany cuts ties with soviet Union and unifies with West Germany
b. 1989, Berlin Wall comes down
c. Unemployment is high on both sides but government does not give up on reunification

11. The Soviet Union Collapses: Glasnos, Peresstroika, kaput

a. 1985, Mikail Gorbachev instituted policies of Glasnos(openness) and Perestroika (restructuring) of the Soviet economy
b. USSR, Soviet Union disintergrates….Russia is it’s own country again
c. Other countries separate with relative peacefulness
d. Some countries separate with a lot of turmoil (“ethnic cleansing” in former Yugoslavia, where Muslims were slaughtered by Serbians)

D. Independence Movements And Developments In Asia And Africa

1. The Indian Subcontinent

a. 1919, Amritsar Massacre….319 Indians (some Muslim, some Hindu), slaughtered by British General Dyer during a peaceful protest in a city park
b. 1920’s, Mohandas Gandhi became the movements most important voice

(1) Gandhi’s philosophy of Passive resistance, or civil disobedience gained popular support in struggle against British colony rule

c. late 1920’s, Gandhi calls for Indian Unity above religious considerations

2. Independence Won: Nations Two (Britain granted Independent subcontinent but then the real struggle begins…..)

a. First school of thought (promoted by Gandhi): United India where Hindus and Muslims could both practice their religions
b. Second school of thought (or movement promoted by Muhammad Ali Jinnah) was to partition and separate Muslims in the North….Hindus in the South
c. Britain agrees with the second school of thought, saying this would be the only way to stop further killing
d. When the reigns were handed back the leaders of the independent India (1947) it separated the country…

(1) India in the South
(2) Pakistan: One to North West of India (Pakistan) and One to the East (East Pakistan) which is currently Bangladesh

e. Nearly half a million people were killed as they moved to their prospective “sides”
f. Gandhi is assassinated

3. Africa

a. After WWII they also assert their independence

(1) Other than South Africa, who was already independent before WWII, Nations North of Sahara were the first to gain independence
(2) South of Sahara was tricky because most of these colonies had been raped of their resources
(3) National unity was difficult as boundaries were formed according to European needs not African needs

b. Rwanda: Ethnic Genocide

(1) 1962, Hutu (85% of Rwanda) revolted against the Tutsi (15% of Rwanda) leadership leaving thousands dead
(2) The two ethnic groups continue to fight until 1972 when a military coup by Juvenal Habyarimana unseated the government and established one party republic (in 1981)
(3) 1994, civil War breaks out after general dies in plane crash (100 days of genocide left as many as 800,000 Tutsi dead
(4) By the following year 2 million Hutu refugees were sent to neighboring Zaire (where many died of disease).

c. Developments in South Africa: The Rise and Fall of Apartheid

(1) 1910, Union of South Africa: Two British colonies and two Boer republics

Notes: British and Dutch were given considerable rights to self-government; blacks were entirely excluded from this.

(2) 1948, Apartheid (separation of races)
(3) 1950, Nelson Mandela-leader of African Congress
(4) 1964, Mandela arrested
(5) 1990, Mandela freed from prison
(6) 1994, Apartheid is abolished and Mandela is elected president in first free open election in Nation’s history

4. Middle East

a. Israel: Balfour Declares a Mess

(1) Zionists (Jewish Nationalists) convince Arthur Balfour that the Jewish homeland in Palestine is desirable and just
(2) 1917, Balfour Declaration: Palestine…Jewish homeland but not to displace Palestinians
(3) 1930’s, Huge numbers of Jewish people flood into Palestine (many to escape Nazi Germany as Hitler came to power
b. The Jewish wait for a State Ends in 1948
(1) 1948, United Nations creates two Palestines…one for Jewish people….one for Muslims

5. The Iranian Revolution: The Shah gets Shooed

a. 1925, Reza Sha Pahlavi rises to power
b. He westernizes Iran
c. 1979, people revolted against this (westernization) and the Sha was ousted from power

6. Oil: Enormous amounts of Geo

a. Industrial Revolution was great in the middle east, they had 2/3 of the worlds oil reserves
b. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iran and Iraq started to get billions of dollars annually
c. 1970, OPEC collectively cut supply of the world’s reserves sending prices high (billions of extra dollars went to the middle east)

E. Globalization and the World Since 1980

1. International terrorism and war

a. Since WWII, there is an increased interest in international security…organizations for the task are:

(1) NATO
(2) United Nations
(3) International Atomic Energy Agency

2. War in the Gulf: Oil and Saddam Hussein

United Nations sent forces to drive Iraq out of Kuwait
Hussein, kept his brutal dictatorship
2003, United States and Britain invaded Iraq to oust Hussein from power. He was captured in December of that year.


3. Taliban, Al Queda, Osama bin Laden

b. 1980’s, Soviet Union sent troops to Afganistan at the request of Marxist military leader, Nur Muhammad Taraki
c. Civil war soon raged
d. 14 years later….2 million deaths….Taliban power is formed
e. Osama bin Laden is the leader of the Al Queda (a terrorist group)
f. Al Queda operatives take over four American passenger planes…fly two into the World Trade Center, One into the Pentagon and one (presumably unintentionally) into a field in Pennsylvania. (close to 3000 people were killed in this attack)
g. U.S. launches a war on terrorism

4. World Change and Cultural Exchange

The end to the cold war removed the obstacles for global interactions and trade
Currencies were no longer tied to old alliances
1990’s, The North American Free Trade Agreement was created

5. Global Alphabet Soup

a. Agencies design to protect trade were:

(1) International Monetary Fund
(2) World Bank
(3) GATT agreed to reduce barriers to international trade
(4) 1975, the group of six was created as a forum for the world’s major industrialized democracies

6. Environmental Change

a. 1980’s, Environmental issues were focused on pollution and waste management (until the 80’s)
b. The “Green Revolution” happens in the 1950’s and 1960’s
Global Warming is discovered (which is making the earth warmer through human activities like fuel consumption)

7. Technology Since 1980’s

a. Computer and personal computing
b. 1970’s and 1980’s, new hardware and software came out
c. 1980’s, Internet
e. 1990’s, email

II. Changes and Continuities of Women

Women gained the right to vote, birth rates dropped, birth control was accessible, divorces and second marriages became more common, Women’s presence in the work place more accepted.

III. Pulling It All Together

A. In this chapter

1. Two world Wars
2. The end of the European Imperialism
3. USA as a super power
4. Islamic Fundamentalism in Middle EastLate 20th century there were a huge number of Independent Nation-States.