Unit Six: 1900 to present

Unit Six: 1900 to present

Remember the acronym… Technology Age Revolution Authoritarianism Decolonization Ideologies Nationalism Global Conflict

…and the song. UNIT SIX Two World Wars and Fascism, Communists and Cold War; Russia, China, Iran All have revolutions; Computers, Unit Six

World War I • Causes: M.A.I.N…Militarism, Alliances, Imperialism, Nationalism • Spark? Assassination of heir to Austrian throne (Archduke Ferdinand) • New Kind of War • Improvements in weaponry increases casualties (gas, machine guns) • Trenches lead to prolonged, defensive war • Civilians involved in war effort: “Total War”

Treaty of Versailles • Big Four: US, GB, France and Italy meet at Paris Peace Conference • Wilson’s Fourteen Points: self-determination, disarmament, peace w/o victory, League of Nations • Harsh terms of the treaty

Outcomes of the war • Devastation of GB and France • Weakening of control over colonies • Japan and Italy upset at lack of spoils • US a true world power, but doesn’t want it • China’s May Fourth Movement • Russia’s early withdrawal and revolution • Germany WRECKED and forced to accept full blame…ripe for rise of fascism • Ottoman Empire collapses and creation of Mandate System • India intensifies push for independence

Global Depression • Global economy dependent on health of US economy (especially Europe) • US stock market crashed in 1929 and created global depression • Wave of bank failures and personal bankruptcies • Unemployment at double digit levels • Increase in tariffs blocked international trade

Causes of depression • Overdependence on American loans and buying • Increase in tariffs and protectionism • Industrial and farming surpluses led to deflation • Poor banking management • Results? • Political instability and rise in political extremism (communists and fascists) • Invasion by dictatorial states • Modern welfare state emerges

What is Fascism? • Destroy will of individual in favor of “the people” • Unified society, but unlike the communists, not at expense of private property or class distinctions • Rooted in extreme nationalism, usually reliant on racial identity

Comparing Fascism and Communism

Fascism in Italy • Benito Mussolini seizes power from King Emmanuel III by threatening to march on Rome • Completely took over Parliament in 1922 • Outlawed all political parties, seized radio stations and newspapers, set up secret police • 1926: Italy transformed into totalitarian regime focused on expansion (Ethiopia 1936)

Germany • Weimar Republic and Reichstag • Rise of the National Socialist Party (Nazis) in the 20’s • Hitler • Preached ultra-nationalism and promised a greater Germany • 1923 he was imprisoned and wrote Mein Kampf, outlining ideas of “master race” and lebensraum • 1933 appointed chancellor through aggressive anti-communist propaganda

Gathering support • Established himself as dictator: outlawed political parties and SS (personal guard) eliminated all opposition • Gestapo: political police force • Used schools, newspapers, radio, the arts, churches to gather support • Public rallies burned anti-Nazi books • Openly attacked Jews, other minorities and Communists • Hitler boldly announced would defy treaty, and nobody stopped him. WHY?

Coming of War • Appeasement • 1936: When Germany reoccupied the Rhineland, France and Britain did nothing because they feared war, hoping it would stop further aggression • 1938: Marched into Austria and annexed it…again no one steps in • 1938: Germany wanted Sudetenland. Munich Conference called and powers let him have it…he ended up taking ALL of Czechoslovakia

Japanese Aggression • Japan wanted Manchuria’s iron ore and coal, seizing it in 1931 • League of Nations could do nothing • 1937: Japanese soldiers sweep through much of China, torturing and killing thousands • Italian Expansion • 1935: Mussolini invaded Ethiopia • League of Nations voted only for sanctions when Emperor of Ethiopia asked for help • Again…appeasement

World War II • In Europe • Most of northern and Eastern Europe fall, as well as France, fairly easily • GB and RAF left to defend against Hitler • Hitler invades USSR in 1941 • The Holocaust: as many as 20 million die, including 6 million of Europe’s 9.5 million Jews

In the Pacific • Japanese attack Pearl Harbor in 1941 • By 1942 controlled much of the Pacific • Militarist oppression and extermination • New Technologies • Radar and sonar to detect planes and subs • Rockets • Nuclear bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki (killing over 150,000) • Industrial capacities of US and USSR outpace Germany and Japan

Outcomes of WWII • Unconditional surrender • Only two “winners”: USSR and US as GB, China, France are devastated (US-Soviet ascendancy) • Formation of the United Nations and state of Israel • War Crimes Tribunals and international law • Rise of women • Decline of colonialism

Cold War • De facto division of Western Europe and Eastern Europe (Iron Curtain) • US Foreign Policy • Containment and Domino Theory • Truman Doctrine • Marshall Plan • NATO • USSR Foreign Policy • Eastern Bloc • Warsaw Pact

Cold War competition: arms race, space race, fight for aligned nations and promotion of ideology • Cold War turned HOT? Berlin Blockade, Korean War, Berlin Crisis, Cuban Missile Crisis, Vietnam War, Soviet war in Afghanistan, Non-aligned nations (India) • Normalizing relations with China • Détente beginning in 1970s and M.A.D.

Independence and Nationalist Movements • India (1947) • Sub-Saharan Africa (beg. 1950s) • Zionism and Palestinian Nationalism (creation of Israel 1948) • Vietnam (1950s to 1975)

INDIA • Led by the Indian National Congress • British-educated • Government of India Act of 1919 • Gave some power over domestic issues • Repression (1919) • Cracked down on freedom of press and assembly • Amritsar: troops fire on protest rally

Gandhi • Focus on peasant roots and spiritual traditions of India • Ahimsa: nonviolence in face of attack • Civil disobedience

After WWII difficult for British to maintain an empire • August 15, 1947 • Independence granted to India and Pakistan (Muslim-dominated area led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah) • Division led to mass migration of Muslim and Hindu refugees and violence • Gandhi assassinated by Hindu extremist

SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA • Economically had become a monoculture of cash crops and mines of precious metals such as gold and diamonds • Ownership exclusively in European hands • Independence movements led by small minority of Africans w/ European education • Vehicles for protest: labor organization, social clubs, literary circles, and youth movements

Ghana (The Gold Coast) • First to achieve independence 1957 • Led by US educated Kwame Nkrumah • Strikes and protest removed British from power • On the other hand, Kenya had sizable European population blocking independence leading to armed revolt (1963)

Chaos and Ethnic Tension in Africa • Congo 1959 • Belgian gov’t departed suddenly, leaving country of chaos and civil war • Rwandan Genocide (1994) • Political borders created by colonial powers led to nations comprised of unrelated ethnic groups who became rivals competing for power • Conflict between majority Hutus and minority Tutsis • 100 day genocide, almost 1 million Tutsi deaths

South Africa • Union of South Africa formed in 1910 • Black majority population granted no rights • Restrictive laws controlled black pop. • Apartheid: separate black and white societies

Apartheid • 87% of land for white citizens • African National Congress (ANC): organized resistance was formed • Gov’t combated it repressive measures of extensive jail times for opponents • International opposition, like UN economic sanctions and international boycotts, brought global attention

1989, National Party began to take apart apartheid system • Nelson Mandela released from jail after 26 years and ANC legalized • 1994: elections for all people held and Mandela became the first freely elected president of South Africa

Zionism and Palestinian Nationalism • After WWI, British had a mandate (nation administers territory on behalf of League of Nations) in Palestine • Conflicting promises to Arabs and Jews • Balfour Declaration of 1917 • Committed to support creation of homeland for Jews in Palestine • Allowed Jews to migrate to Palestine during mandate • Arab Palestinians saw British rule and Jewish settlement as imperial control

Migration increased during WWII • Pan-Arabism movement • Holocaust increased Jewish commitment to homeland • 1947: British gave up the mandate to the UN • UN decided to divide land into two states • Civil war and Jewish victories create Israel in May 1948

Continued fighting in the region • Six Day War in 1967 • Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) • Created and dedicated to reclaiming the land and establishing a Palestinian state

Vietnam • French colonial rule of SE Asia dealt with rising nationalism • France and colonies occupied by Axis powers (Japan) during WWII • Vietnamese nationalists under Ho Chi Minh fought Japanese then returning French using guerilla warfare • Minh was a Marxist who idealized Jefferson • Wanted US support but…Cold War

French-Indochina War lasted 9 years before France gave up Asian possessions • Conference in Geneva in 1954 created four zones: N and S Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia

Cold War sideshow • US gave aid to South Vietnam • Beijing and Moscow supported the communists in the North • Evolved into large-scale American war to protect S Vietnam from communist encroachment (1965-1975)

Revolution and Reform • Russia 1917 • China 1949 • Iran 1979 • Mexico 1910 • Cuba 1959

Russia • Behind Western Europe economically and technologically • Losses in Russo-Japanese War and Revolution of 1905 weakens ability to fight and strength of autocracy • March of 1917: Duma forced czar to abdicate • Vladimir Lenin and Bolsheviks: “Peace, Land and Bread”: Nov 1917 • Treaty of Brest-Litovsk • 1918-1921 Civil War: Reds v. Whites • Lenin’s NEP • Joseph Stalin and 5-Year Plans • Great Purges of the 1930s

Khrushchev (1953): de-Stalinization, encouraged more freedom of speech • Brezhnev (1964-1982): more restrictive of dissidents and freedom of expression; industrial growth declined w/ no incentives and a quota system • Gorbachev (1985-1991): perestroika (restructuring into a market economy w/ some free-enterprise and private property); glasnost (openness of discussing strengths and weaknesses of Soviet system); other parties and elections

Nationalism in the Soviet Republic • Yeltsin (1991-1999): economic reform against inequality and corruption; Chechnya • Putin (2000-2008): return of order, stability and progress at expense of liberties • TODAY: • Medvedev • Changes too much, too fast?? • Major problems with corruption and an unstable economy

Eastern Europe • Economic hardships and lack of liberty leads to dissent with Soviet Union • Did have rise in education and urban-working class • 1956: student protest in Hungary crushed • 1960s: Czechoslovakia’s Prague Spring

Lech Walesa and Solidarity in Poland • 1989: reunification of Germany • Eastern European countries join NATO/EU • Ethnic cleansing in Bosnia in 1990: Milosevic on trial in International War Crimes Tribunal

China • Revolution of 1911: Nationalist gov’t only nominally in control • Chiang Kai Shek (Jiang Jieshi) leads Republic of China in 1924 • 1921 Chinese Communist Party (CCP) est. • Initially RofC works with CCP, but turns on them in 1927 • Unified against Japanese attacks in 1931 and 1937

1945: negotiations break down into civil war • CCP and GMD fought until communists win in 1949 under Mao Zedong • Changes under Mao • Economic: businesses nationalized, land distributed to peasants, urged to pool land and form cooperative farms • Political: one-party totalitarian state, Communist party supreme, gov’t attacked crime and corruption

Social: peasants speak “bitterness” against landlords, Communist ideology replaced Confucian ideals, health care workers to remote areas, women won equality?, extended family weakened • Great Leap Forward in 1950s • All life a collective: commune life, backyard steel furnaces • FAILURE: production tanked and bad weather of 50s and 60s killed 16-30 million

Cultural Revolution of 1960s • Instituted reforms to erase any Western-influenced intelligentsia/elite • “Cultural retraining” and forced egalitarianism • Group of teenagers (Red Guards) destroyed temples, cities and closed schools • Military suppressed the anarchy, but cost country loss of entire generation of educated people

1976: Deng Xiaoping • Four Modernizations (industry, agriculture, technology, and national defense) • Foreign investment increased and student study abroad • Economy booms with these capitalist reforms, but left out democratic reform • 1989 Tiananmen Square

Women of Russian and Chinese Revolutions • Russia • Served in Red Army • 65% of factory workers were women • Gov’t ordered equal pay (not enforced) • Maternity leave w/ full pay • Women entered professions • China • New marriage law forbade arranged marriage • Women worked with men in factories • State-run nurseries • Party leadership remained male • Efforts made to end foot-binding

Iran • Qajar Dynasty (1781-1921) • Reza Khan 1921 • Shah Reza (1953-1979) • Influenced by West and modernized, but also oppressive, using secret police • Opposed by • Religious ulama • Students and intellectuals • Farmers and urban workers • 1979: demonstrations under Ayatollah Khomeini force Shah into exile

Under Khomeini (Theocracy) • Sharia (Islamic law) becomes law of land • Women req’d to return to traditional clothing and under legal restrictions • A stand against Western culture?? • After Khomeini’s death in 1989, more moderate leaders in power • Iran hostage crisis and Iran-Iraq War • President Ahmadinejad (2005-present)

Unit Six: 1900 to present