Boundary 5

1914-Present

Major Characteristics

• Repositioning of the “West”: Western dominance turns to the United States after WWII. The United States emerged as the dominant world power after the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.

• International Contacts: globalization occurs as a result of technological advancements. Long distance connections could be made in a matter of hours instead of weeks.

• Democratic Transition: Monarchies all over the world are replaced by democratic governments or authoritarian regimes.

• Changes in Belief Systems: Trend away from religion and a new reliance on non-religious philosophies. People in western nations rely less on religious explanations and more on science.

• Questioning of Social Inequality: Civil Rights movements, women’s rights movements, and the successful bid for freedom from colonial rule.

WWI-Causes (Nationalism)

• 1. National rivalries: unification of Germany threatened to topple the balance of power. Britain controlled 1/3 of the industrial output in 1870. All industrialized nations will be increasing their military.

• 2. Nationalist aspirations: nations tried to unify their states based on ethnicity, language, and/or political ideals. The Slavic people-Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes were viewed as “problems” for nationalist aspirations.

• 3. Entangling alliances: Two hostile camps emerged bound by treaties. The Triple Entente (Russia, England and France) vs. The Triple Alliance (Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy.)

WWI-Spark for War

• Gavrilo Princip, a member of a Serbian nationalist group called the Black Hand assassinated Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the Austrian throne.

• Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, who had an alliance with Russia. Russia declared war on Austria-Hungary, requiring Germany to declare war on Russia, etc.

Nature of the War

• Allied Powers: England, France, Russia, Italy• Central Powers: Germany, Austria-Hungary, and

the Ottoman Empire• Two Fronts- Western Front (Germany against

French and British) problems b/c machine guns, poison gas, and trenches. Eastern Front Germany and Austria-Hungary fought Russia along this battle line.

• Russia will withdraw in 1917 when the Bolsheviks took the government and assassinated the tsar.

The Treaty of Versailles

• 27 nations gathered, but Great Britain, the United States, and France made the final decisions in the treaty.

• Germany lost land along all borders• German military was restricted• Germany had to pay high reparations• The League of Nations was created• Germany’s overseas possessions were placed under the

control of the League • Eastern Europe was redrawn along ethnic lines• The Ottoman Empire is dismantled and designated as

mandates, not independent countries.• The treaty infuriated many people and left the world

ready to fight again.

The Roots of WWII

• The Rise of Japan: as China’s power diminished, Japan’s grew. When WWI broke out, Japan entered on the side of the Allied powers and claimed German territories. They took over a great deal of Chinese trade and production. In 1931 they invaded Manchuria and intended to expand their empire.

• Hitler and Mussolini both appealed to nationalism and the rebuilding of their nations to prior glory (pre-WWI Germany and Ancient Rome)

• Germany claimed areas outside the borders of the TofV. When he took part of Czechoslovakia he received a reaction.

• England (Chamberlain) and France reached an agreement focused on appeasement where Hitler promised not to take any more land.

• Winston Churchill said appeasement was dangerous.

The Nature of WWII

• Allied Powers: Britain, France, Russia, and the U.S.

• Axis Powers: Germany, Italy, and Japan

• Worldwide participation: fought on all corners of the globe

• Fighting in “theatres” or “arenas”: Europe (including N. Africa) and the Pacific Ocean.

• Technology: major war technology (aircraft carriers) allowed for a different type of war. The atom bomb was introduced toward the end of the war.

• Widespread killing of civilians: bombings destroyed industrial infrastructure as well as civilian areas. The German Nazis deliberately killed Jews and other people they considered inferior to them.

The Course of the War

• Germany introduced blitzkrieg (lightning war) to quickly conquer Poland, Denmark, Norway, Holland, Belgium, and France.

• Germany also employed the German Luftwaffe to fight against the Royal Air Force in the Battle of Britain (air warfare.)

• Germany invaded Russia in 1941 causing Russia to enter the war on the Allied side, and Germany had its first defeat in Stalingrad in 1942.

• In December 1941 the U.S. entered as a result of the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

• American and British generals began an assault in northern Africa and then moved up Italy. In 1944 the Allied forces stormed the beaches of Normandy.

• The U.S. fought a great sea-air war that resulted in the blocking of Japanese attacks of Midway Island. The “island hopping” campaign bringing them closer to Japan, but opted to drop atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 rather than do a land invasion of Japan.

Post-WWII International Organizations

• The United Nations: the main purpose was to negotiate disputes among nations, but it also addressed other world issues, such as trade, women’s conditions, child labor, and environmental protection

• NATO: formed in 1949 as a defensive alliance among the U.S., Canada, and western European nations.

• Warsaw Pact: included the Soviet Union and eastern European nations.

• This new type of political warfare created the Cold War.

The Cold War

• The Yalta Conference: early 1945 the three countries split Germany into four pieces (US, Britain, USSR, and France)

• The Potsdam Conference: The USSR already occupied eastern Poland and eastern Germany and they were allowed to continue occupation. Tensions were high during this July 1945 conference.

• The U.S. and the U.S.S.R. seized lands in Asia and the USSR bushed its boundaries into eastern Europe.

• The Marshall Plan was a program created in the US to help democratic nations rebuild.

New Nationalism

• Africa: Christian missionaries set up schools and taught a new native elite that noticed the contrast between democratic ideals and the reality of the discrimination that they saw around them.

• In Senegal, Blaise Diagne agitated for African participation in politics and fair treatment by the French army.

• In South Africa, the African National Congress pushed to defend the interests of black Africans in 1912. They led a bloody struggle against apartheid, which led to Nelson Mandela’s election as the first black president of South Africa in 1994.

• In Ethiopia, Emperor Haile Selassie led Ethiopian troops into his capital city to reclaim his title. In exchange for promises of liberation they helped the Allies defeat the Germans.

• In Algeria: war broke out in 1954 with great brutality. It took Algeria 8 years to gain independence.

• India was given independence in 1947 after violent clashes between the British and the Indians. Mohandas K. Gandhi pushed for non-violent protest including the Walk to the Sea (or the Salt March.)

• Jawaharlal Nehru (Indian National Congress) and Muhammad Ali Jinnah (Muslim League) clashed openly and violent riots broke out between Hindus and Muslims.

• Pakistan was formed as a Muslim state and India remained a Hindu state. Gandhi was assassinated by a Hindu who was angered by the fact that he was going to have to move from his home.

• In Southeast Asia there are many wars/conflicts over the spread of communism (including Korea and Vietnam.)

• In Mexico, after a violent revolution led by Emiliano Zapata and Pancho Villa a democratic-based Constitution was established in 1917. Lazaro Cardenas (PRI) became the first long-term president and started a long reign of PRI presidents until the 1990’s when a non-PRI president was elected.

• In Argentina and Brazil authoritarian rule continued into the second half of the century at the hands of military dictators Getulio Vargas and Juan Peron.

• The Cuban Revolution, led by Fidel Castro, helped Cuba become communist in 1959.

The Great Depression

• In 10/1929 the economy took a downturn and investors lost millions.

• Industrial production dropped 36% between 1929 and 1932.

• It ended with the advent of WWII.

New Developments

• Faster transportation• Computers replace typewriters, transform

communication• Multinational Corporations- General Motors,

Exxon, Microsoft, Honda, Sony cross national borders

• The Pacific Rim (Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, and Hong Kong) develop into economic strongholds. The Asian Tigers (S.Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore) followed the model of close cooperation between government and industry.

Ideologies and Revolutions

• Communism: USSR as a result of the 1917 revolution and China in 1949 as a result of Mao Zedong’s revolution.

• Fascism: an authoritarian political movement that sought to subordinate individuals to the service of the state (Mussolini-Italy and Hitler-Germany.)

Communism in the USSR

• Became the first communist regime in the 20th century.

• Stalin took control after Lenin’s death. He focused on industrial goals and collectivization by force.

• Economic Crisis: Gorbachev attempted to revive his country in the mid 1980’s through perestoika (economic reforms,) glasnost (openness,) and democratization.

• His reforms backfired, the USSR fell, and Boris Yeltsin became the first president of Russia.

Communism in China

• In 1934-1935 Mao Zedong gained a lot of followers during the Long Mach when he and his followers evaded Chiang Kai-shek’s army.

• In 1949 Mao Zedong claimed main land China for communism and renamed it the People’s Republic of China.

• He instituted the Great Leap Forward to compensate for the loss of Soviet aid when he refused to industrialize as quickly as Stalin wanted.

• In 1966 the Cultural Revolution encompassed political and social change as well as economic change to remove all vestiges of the old China and its hierarchical bureaucracy and emphasis on inequality.

• Emphasis was put on elementary education.

• Deng Xiaoping followed Mao in 1976 and encouraged a mix of socialism and capitalism. Tensions erupted in 1989 Beijing at Tienanment Square.