Download Unit 22 Global War and Peace

Unit 22
Global War and Peace
Introduction to Unit
This unit examines the costs and consequences of twentieth-century global conflicts. In terms of human lives lost
and resources spent, these conflicts remain unparalleled in the history of the world. Yet they also ultimately gave
voice—and some new measure of control and self-definition—to peoples previously excluded from world politics. Indeed, by the end of the century, independent nations in Asia, Africa, and the Pacific that had once been
colonies were, to a greater extent than ever before, independent actors on the world stage. Their voices were critical in arguing for the recognition of universal human rights on a global basis. At the same time, and partly as a
result of the legacies of imperialism, these same new nations were also freer to emphasize distinctions of race,
nation, religion, and region in domestic and international relations. Even as post-war global governing bodies like
the United Nations were founded to mediate disputes over these same issues, nationalism, regionalism, and
racism increasingly threatened to tear the fragile peace apart again.
Learning Objectives
· Compare how global warfare in the twentieth century differed from previous conflicts.
· Identify some of the global consequences of the twentieth-century World Wars.
· Analyze how imperialism helped to create the conditions for global war in the twentieth century.
· Trace the short and long term effects of the World Wars on empires and colonies.
Preparing for This Session
Read Unit 22 in the Bridging World History online text. You may also want to refer to some of the Suggested
Readings and Materials. If you feel you need more background knowledge, refer to a college-level world history
textbook on this subject (look under the index for United Nations, Japan [China and], Patrice Lumumba).
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Unit 22
Unit Activities
Before You Begin—30 minutes
U.S. President Woodrow Wilson spoke to the U.S. Congress on January 8, 1918, to again justify the U.S. entry into
World War I and to outline his ideas for how world peace could be maintained after the war was won. Read the
speech, and then discuss how Americans, Europeans, and colonial peoples reacted to his 14 points.
It will be our wish and purpose that the processes of peace, when they are begun, shall be absolutely open
and that they shall involve and permit henceforth no secret understandings of any kind. The day of conquest
and aggrandizement is gone by; so is also the day of secret covenants entered into in the interest of particular
governments and likely at some unlooked-for moment to upset the peace of the world. It is this happy fact,
now clear to the view of every public man whose thoughts do not still linger in an age that is dead and gone,
which makes it possible for every nation whose purposes are consistent with justice and the peace of the
world to avow now or at any other time the objects it has in view.
We entered this war because violations of right had occurred which touched us to the quick and made the life
of our own people impossible unless they were corrected and the world secure once and for all against their
recurrence. What we demand in this war, therefore, is nothing peculiar to ourselves. It is that the world be
made fit and safe to live in; and particularly that it be made safe for every peace-loving nation which, like our
own, wishes to live its own life, determine its own institutions, be assured of justice and fair dealing by the
other peoples of the world as against force and selfish aggression. All the peoples of the world are in effect
partners in this interest, and for our own part we see very clearly that unless justice be done to others it will
not be done to us. The programme of the world’s peace, therefore, is our programme; and that programme,
the only possible programme, as we see it, is this: (the 14 points of his programme including:)
V. A free, open-minded, and absolutely impartial adjustment of all colonial claims, based upon a strict observance of the principle that in determining all such questions of sovereignty the interests of the populations
concerned must have equal weight with the equitable claims of the government whose title is to be determined.
XIV. A general association of nations must be formed under specific covenants for the purpose of affording
mutual guarantees of political independence and territorial integrity to great and small states alike. (© 1997
The Avalon Project, Co-Directors William C. Fray and Lisa A. Spar, February 11, 1999 http://www.yale.edu/
lawweb/avalon/wilson14.htm.)
Watch the Video for “Unit 22: Global War and Peace”—
30 minutes
As you watch the video, consider how the different views of self-determination and justice might be differently
understood by European soldiers, colonial men drafted into the war effort, middle-class women of European heritage who protested against war, Japanese soldiers, Koreans who opposed Japanese colonization of their country,
other Asians whose countries were “liberated” by the Japanese, Eleanor Roosevelt and others instrumental in creating the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, victims of attempted genocides, leaders
of independence movements, and political leaders whose efforts were supported or undermined by the actions
of the U.S. and the USSR during the Cold War.
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Unit Activities, cont’d.
Activity 1: Human Rights in the Twentieth Century—
60 minutes
Use the sources below to help you write an answer to the following essay question:
To what extent were human rights more protected and (or) more abused in the twentieth century?
Franz Blumenfield, Letter to His Mother, 1914
... I think that war is a very, very evil thing .... But now that it has been declared, I think ... that one should feel
oneself so much a member of the nation that one must unite one’s fate as closely as possible with that of the
whole.... The sight of the ... dangerously wounded, the dead men, and horses lying about, hurts, of course, but
the pain of all that is not nearly so keen or lasting as one imagined it would be. Of course that is partly due to
the fact that one knows one can’t do anything to prevent it ... how is it possible that it gives me more pain to
bear my own loneliness than to witness the suffering of so many others?... What is the good of escaping all the
bullets and shells, if my soul is injured? (Weisner, Merry E., et al., Discovering the Global Past: A Look at the
Evidence [Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1997], 2:295–96.)
Japanese Expansion
One thing that makes Japanese imperialism quite different from Western imperialism is just how extensively
Japan develops all of its colonies, especially Korea, and then the puppet state of Manchukuo. The level of industrial development sponsored by the Japanese is very significant and makes those two cases rather different from
the typical European colonies of the time. There was domestic opposition to Japanese imperialism, however, that
showed up on walls in Japanese cities. Some of the graffiti was: “Look at the pitiful figures of the undernourished
people. Overthrow the government...” and “No rice. End the war. Give us freedom.” The Japanese really didn’t
intend to give Asian people their freedom. They moved in and instituted colonial policies just as oppressive as the
Western powers. So in the case of the INA (Indian National Army), you have the Japanese first and foremost trying
to strike a blow at their British foe, keeping British forces busy in India trying to fend off attacks by the INA. That’s
probably the first thing that’s going on. You no doubt have some idealistic officers at the time who genuinely
believe in liberating Asia and want to help fellow Asians achieve independence from Britain. But I think that the
bottom line is that this is a self-serving effort by the Japanese to further their own interests. (Ken Ruoff, interview
with Oregon Public Broadcasting, Bridging World History, Unit 22: Global War and Peace [Oregon Public
Broadcasting, Fall 2003].)
Colonial Troops
The global nature of warfare in the twentieth century was underscored by European powers’use of colonial troops
in virtually every theatre of war. In World War I, Britain used Indian soldiers in Africa, and France fielded West
African units in Europe. In German East Africa, Britain deployed troops from Malawi, Kenya, Uganda, and India.
France even went so far as to replace its dwindling work force at home with Vietnamese and African factory
workers.
Decolonization After World War II
In 1960, after decades of Belgian rule, a free Republic of the Congo was established in Africa, and Patrice
Lumumba—the popular hero of the anti-colonial struggle—became prime minister. The account of the first
months of nationhood of this former colony offers an insightful example of the interplay between the U.S., the
Soviet Union, the United Nations, and the often-charged atmosphere that surrounded African decolonization.
In his Independence Day speech on July 30, 1960, Patrice Lumumba declared:
... But we, whom the vote of your elected representatives have given the right to direct our dear country, we
who have suffered in our body and in our heart from colonial oppression, we tell you very loud, all that is
henceforth ended. The Republic of the Congo has been proclaimed, and our country is now in the hands of its
own children. History will one day have its say, but it will not be the history that Brussels, Paris, Washington, or
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Unit Activities, cont’d.
the United Nations will teach, but that which they will teach in the countries emancipated from colonialism
and its puppets. I prefer to die with my head high, my faith unshakable, and my confidence profound in the
destiny of my country, rather than to live in submission and scorn of sacred principles. (Robin McKown,
Lumumba: A Biography [New York: Doubleday and Company, 1969]: 123.)
Lumumba wasted no time in removing Belgian military advisors as part of the process of Africanization. Riots and
violence were the result of the exit of this officer corps. Belgium, wanting to protect its citizens in the Congo—as
well as its business interests—quickly took advantage of the opportunity to re-establish its military presence. The
move had all the appearances of an occupation. Lumumba promptly called upon the United Nations to remove
the Belgians. When the U.N. moved too slowly, he solicited military and technical aid from the Soviet Union. By
inviting the Soviets into his country, Lumumba was seen by the U.S. as a dangerous man, and a CIA operative was
assigned to kill him. The U.S. also encouraged another leader for the Congo: Joseph Mobutu, a colonel and head
of the military under Lumumba. Mobutu, in a push for more power, betrayed Lumumba, and with the help of
either American or Belgian mercenaries, he delivered Lumumba to Congolese rebels. Lumumba was imprisoned,
tortured, and eventually executed in early 1961.
Peace Movements and Protection of Human Rights
Early twentieth-century peace groups were founded around the world in opposition to the carnage of World War I.
The American Union Against Militarism was a lobbying group that attempted to keep America out of the war. And
delegates from the Women’s Peace Party joined European women at an international conference in The Hague in
1915.
The charter establishing the United Nations pledged to achieve “universal respect for, and observance of, human
rights, and fundamental freedoms.”In December of 1948 the National Assembly of the U.N. adopted the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. The declaration, drafted in part by Eleanor Roosevelt, addressed specific human
rights violations such as summary executions, arbitrary arrest, and torture.
Eleanor Roosevelt:
Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home—so close and so small that
they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person; unless these
rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to uphold
them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world. (Mary Ann Glendon, A World Made
New: Eleanor Roosevelt and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights [Random House, 2001].)
Rwanda
Rwanda had long existed as an ancient and well-governed kingdom. The people of Rwanda all spoke the same
language and shared a common culture: All had converted to Roman Catholicism. Belgian rule imposed ideas of
hierarchy in race and civilization. Belgium stereotyped a Tutsi elite (perhaps related to white ancestors) and Hutu
commoners, labeling these groups as tribes with tribal hatreds.
By the 1990s, there was a Hutu-dominated government, a Tutsi army entering the country from neighboring
Uganda, and a Hutu-led radio campaign of hatred. The presidents of Rwanda and Burudi were killed in 1994, and
massacres began. Both France and the United States acted to halt any United Nations intervention for several
months, during which time at least a half million people had died.
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Unit Activities, cont’d.
Activity 2: Images of War, Peace, and Decolonization—
60 minutes
Analyze the images below and on the following page using the following questions.
· What is the subject of the image?
· Who do you think or know made the image?
· What was the purpose behind the image’s creation?
· Which images can be grouped together? What is your rationale for the groupings?
· Which images contradict each other? Why?
· What other images would help you answer the essay question about the expansion and abuse of human
rights in the twentieth century?
Item #2323. Anonymous Japanese, SINKING OF A CHINESE SHIP IN THE
YELLOW SEA DURING THE SINO-JAPANESE WAR (c. 1894–1895).
Courtesy of The Library of Congress.
Item #2907. Anonymous, MRS. ROOSEVELT HOLDS UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS (n.d.). Courtesy of Oregon Public Broadcasting and its licensors.
Item #4047. Anonymous, WOMEN CARRYING PEACE BANNER
(1915). Image donated by Corbis-Bettmann.
Item #5204. Anonymous, PEACE CONFERENCE AT THE HAGUE
(1915). Image donated by Corbis-Bettmann.
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Item #4270. Tshibumba Kanda Matulu, FIRST ARREST,
LUMUMBA IN 1959 AT BULUO CENTRAL PRISON AT
JADOTVILLE (n.d.) Courtesy of Bogumil Jewsiewiski.
Item #4274. Tshibumba Kanda Matulu, ZAIRE INDEPENDENCE,
JUNE 30, 1960 (n.d.). Courtesy of Bogumil Jewsiewiski.
Item #1586. United Press International Telephoto,
PATRICE LUMUMBA SIGNING THE INDEPENDENCE
PACT FOR THE CONGO (1960). Courtesy of The Library of
Congress.
Item #5050. Anonymous, INDIAN TROOPS IN EAST
AFRICA. INDIAN SOLDIERS LEARNING THE USE OF
ARMORED EQUIPMENT (c. 1941). Courtesy of The
Library of Congress.
Item #5086. Anonymous, PRESIDENT KENNEDY WITH
MAJOR GENERAL JOSEPH MOBUTU (1963). Image donated
by Corbis-Bettmann.
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Homework
Read Unit 22 in the online text, Section 3, Reading 3: Michael Adas, “Contested Hegemony: The Great War
and the Afro-Asian Assault on the Civilizing Mission Ideology,” Journal of World History 15, no. 1 (March 2004):
31–63 and answer the following questions.
Reading Questions
· How did Asian and African novelists, poets, philosophers, and emerging political leaders critique the civilizing mission ideology that had long been invoked to justify European dominance?
· How were European advances in science and technology questioned by the use of chemical weapons and
aerial warfare during World War I?
· After World War I, why did European intellectuals question the progressive nature of industrial civilization
and its potential as the model for all of humanity to emulate?
· Why does Michael Adas claim that the worldwide discourse after World War I among intellectuals in all parts
of the world would prove a critical prelude to the struggles for decolonization that followed?
Optional: Visit the Web Site
Explore this topic further on the Bridging World History Web site. Browse the Archive, look up terms in the Audio
Glossary, review related units, or use the World History Traveler to examine different thematic perspectives.
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Notes
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