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WORLD STUDIES
FINAL EXAM REVIEW - 2008
REGIONS:
South Asia (India, Pakistan, etc.)
Middle East (modern conflicts)
Sub-Saharan Africa
For each region, the main themes are: a) civilization and culture of the region
b) geography of the region (incl. Climate)
c) impact of modern life and economic development
on the region
d) impact of the Cold War on the region
( know the sides countries were on)
e) challenges and strengths of the region today
JAPAN (pp. 531-615 in textbook)
Origins of civilization – relationship with China
Feudalism and role of samurai
Emperor’s role and shoguns
Class structure
Geography – 2,000 + islands, mostly mountainous and forested. Four main islands:
Kanto and Kinai plains on Honshu are where most people live and most industries and
cities are located. Located at the intersection of three tectonic plates; volcanoes (e.g. Mt.
Fuji), earthquakes, hot springs are common.
Modern history – Tokugawa period – Japan’s shoguns cut country off from trade and
Western influence
1853 – US Commodore Perry and “black ships” open Japan to trade
1867+ - Meiji Restoration – young emperor restores power of emperor, Japan
rapidly adapts Western industrial technology, government, and ways.
1895 and 1905 – Japan defeats first China, then Russia in wars that establish them
as world power in the Pacific, takes over Korea as a colony
1920s and ‘30s – Japan develops military government and begins expansion into
China, then in 1940s takes on Britain and US as ally of Germany in Axis
1945 – Japan defeated by US, surrenders after atomic bomb is dropped; US
occupation begins
1945-55 – US occupation. Reforms change everything – emperor loses divinity
status, parliamentary democracy established, Japanese manufacturers adopt American
methods and ideas.
Cold War – Japan’s “Economic Miracle” creates model for other Asian countries to
develop with capitalism; becomes staunch US ally. “Four Tigers” – South Korea,
Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan, follow Japan’s lead of producing high tech products
such as electronics for export.
Problems – stagnant population growth, poor economy since early ‘90s.
Vocab: Ainu – indigenous inhabitants of Japanese islands
burakumin (class similar to untouchables)
Shogun (military ruler)
Zaibatsu (government-chartered company given responsibility for a part of the
economy
Samurai, bushido code, daimyo (master)
Historical figures: Meiji
The “Zaibatsu” - Matsushita, Toyota, Mitsubishi
KOREA: See power point
People: Kim Il-Sung
Kim Jong-Il
Synghman Rhee
Gen. Douglas MacArthur
Korean War; today South Korea is Asian economic “Tiger; “ North Korea is isolated,
less developed outpost of Stalinism, one of world’s last real Communist countries. Has
huge military and has been testing missiles and atomic weapons even though its people
are malnourished.
SOUTHEAST ASIA
pp. 461- 485, 488-495, 498-500 in text
a) Origins of civilization: Transition zone between Indian and Chinese civilizations,
which has borrowed many ideas including languages and religion from both.
Many indigenous peoples in remote areas. Remains found of very early ancient
civilizations, but most peoples (e.g. Thais, Malays, Vietnamese, Laos, Burmese)
probably migrated from southern China area over last several thousand years as
the Chinese empire expanded.
b) Geography: Mainly consists of islands and peninsulas, with some fertile coastal
plains and mountainous rain forests in interior. Big fertile river valleys are the
most important centers of population. Mekong is the region’s major river. More
islands than anywhere else in world; Indonesia has over 13,000. Region of high
contrast: Includes some of world’s most populous places (Java, Singapore,
Manila) and very remote jungles with only primitive tribes. All of region is in
tropics, climate is uniformly tropical rain forest, with monsoons. Rice is main
grain, fish and seafood is chief protein source. Food is spicy. On the mainland,
nations are made up of highly-irrigated river valleys located between forested
mountain ranges, where indigenous groups grow rice using “slash and burn”
farming, usually for rice. Music (gamelan orchestra in Indonesia) and ritual dance
are very important parts of culture. On island of Bali, whole villages are made up
of craftspeople. Buddhism is biggest religion in mainland Southeast Asia, Islam
in Malaysia and Indonesia, and Roman Catholicism in Philippines. Each country
has its own separate language. “Overseas” Chinese immigrants are active in
region, generally running businesses. They are often scapegoated when economy
goes bad.
c) Since European colonial countries departed, the area is modernizing rapidly, with
high population growth but high economic growth as well. Indonesia and Brunei
are important sources of oil; Malaysia of tin and rubber. Singapore has become a
model for developing world, with one of world’s most advanced economies, but
with a strict, authoritarian government. Other countries remain backward, esp.
Burma, which has been ruled by a group of military officers since 1963.
d) Cold War: one of the major battlegrounds of the Cold War: former French
Indochina (Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia) had guerrilla movements that led to
Communist governments. In Vietnam, Communists battled first the Japanese,
then the French and then the US for thirty-five years. 58,000 Americans were
killed, and over a million Vietnamese. In Cambodia, history’s most brutal
Communist regime under the Khmer Rouge, killed one-two million of its own
people attempting to establish a peasant utopia. In Indonesia, world’s third largest
Communist party was purged and about a half million killed in 1965. Thailand
and Philippines were staunch allies of US. Communist uprisings were defeated in
Thailand, Malaysia and Philippines. Domino theory was the reason for U.S.
intervention, but it doesn’t seem to have held, as Communism’s advance stopped
at the Thai border, where an established kingdom was able to thwart the efforts of
rebels. Thailand was only country in region never colonized by Europeans.
e) Problems: Most countries are struggling with widespread poverty, rapid
population growth, and lack of development. Some people live in desperate
conditions, such as garbage dumps. Few governments are democratic, but some,
like Thailand’s and Malaysia’s, are stable.
f) Development: Some countries are developing rapidly, esp. Singapore, a container
shipping port that has oil refineries and makes computer disk drives. Others, like
Malaysia and Thailand and to an extent Indonesia, are becoming more developed
through exports of cheap manufactured goods (esp. for final assembly in China) and
their own natural resources, while maintaining elements of their traditional cultures.
Others, like Burma and Cambodia, are isolated either by war or by choice and are
making little progress.
Historical figures:
Ho Chi Minh - Vietnam
Ngo Dinh Diem – Vietnam
Lee Kuan Yew - Singapore
AFRICA REVIEW SHEET
Packets from World History textbook
Africa is the most likely origin of the human species
Second largest continent; home to oldest nations – Egypt and Ethiopia; has most
independent nations of any continent – 53
Mostly savanna, then desert, rain forest, Mediterranean in far north and south.
Equator runs through it.
River systems: Nile, Niger (West Africa), Congo (central), Zambesi (south)
Good, arable (farmable) land is spotty because of tropical soils and rainfall
patterns;
Subsistence farming or growing of cash crops is the rule
REGIONS:
Sahel – edge of Sahara desert. Dry and subject to drought. Mostly nomads.
Elephant’s Ear – West Africa. Many nations, some rain forest. Coastal area
Horn of Africa – East Africa in Somalia and Ethiopia. Very dry, on Red Sea.
Great Lakes region – East central Africa, very fertile.
Southern Africa – rich in mineral resources; more diverse in climate, peoples, more
European-influenced than other places
Important Countries: Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, South
Africa.
HISTORY: Africa had several centers of culture in east, west and south, but was
off global trade routes except in Niger region (gold and salt trading kingdoms of
Ghana, Mali and Songhai) and along eastern coast (Swahili and Zimbabwe)
Slave trade encouraged local wars and drained off many young people for
centuries.
Western imperial countries engaged in “scramble for Africa” in late 1800s,
stimulated by explorers and missionaries and fed by desire for resources like
minerals and rubber. Worst example of abuse was by King Leopold of Belgium in
the Congo, c. 1880s to 1910.
Most countries became independent between 1957 and 1975. Most were
peaceful, as Britain and France gave up their expensive foreign empires. Warfare
in former Portuguese colonies and in Kenya (Mau Mau). In South Africa, apartheid
system established by victorious white Afrikaner Nationalist party in 1948; was
fought by African National Congress led by Nelson Mandela and finally ended in
1994 with all-race elections.
Influence of Colonialism: irrational boundaries, little preparation for independence.
Often, the military was the only well-developed institution, because the colonial
governments needed it to maintain control.
Since independence: Many military coups or independence leaders who remained in
office for decades. Much corruption in some places, warfare and instances of
genocide in Rwanda and Burundi.
COLD WAR: many countries were neutral, but guerrillas, helped by Cubans,
fought in Angola, Mozambique and Ethiopia.
CURRENT ISSUES AND PROBLEMS:
Irrational boundaries
AIDS
Hunger and famine
Lack of medical care
High population growth rate
Water supply
Lack of power and roads (infrastructure)
Unstable or dictatorial governments
New democracies
South Africa’s relative wealth and influence
Wars and refugees
Vocabulary:
African culture
African National Congress
African Socialism
Apartheid
Boer War
Colonization (effects)
Congo
Cultural groups
Darfur
Decolonization
F.W. DeKlerk
Great Rift Valley
Felix Houphouet-Boigny
Jomo Kenyatta
Jungle/rain forest
Kalahari
Language groups
Mau Mau
Nationalism
Natural resources
Nelson Mandela
Non-aligned nations
Julius Nyrere
Organization for African Unity
Peace and Reconciliation Committee
Rwanda genocide
Sahara
Savanna
South Africa
Transatlantic Slave Trade
Tribal religions
MIDDLE EAST – see power points on my website, handout assignments from
textbooks
In most of the Middle East, boundaries are just lines in the sand and Arab countries
have more in common than they have differences. Thus pan-Arabism (the idea all
Arab countries should unite as a big ‘super-country’ and pan-Islamism (the idea that
all Muslims should unite and exclude others) have been strong trends. Political
movements in the countries have rarely been democratic. The present US war in Iraq,
whatever other reasons have been given for it, is really an attempt by the US to
directly create a major democratic Arab state in the region with good ties to the US,
thereby stabilizing the whole region. In Iran, Islamic fundamentalists successfully
captured the revolution against the Shah there in 1979, and since then the US policy
in the region has been directed at preventing the spread of fundamentalism (which is
usually associated with use of terrorism tactics) to other countries.
d) Cold War: during the Cold War Turkey, Israel and pre-revolutionary Iran were all
staunch allies of the US. Most of the Arab countries followed the lead of Egypt’s
Nasser and declared their neutrality, allowing them to get help from both sides or
to switch sides freely.
e) Problems: Oil has brought great wealth to some and influence to oil countries, but
has also brought problems of inequality.
Water or lack of it, is a problem throughout the region
The ongoing dispute between Israel and the plight of the Palestinian Arabs has
been a source of many wars.
Poverty and rapid population growth are long-term problems.
Modern, secular governments have not been able to successfully cope with many
of these problems, and some governments have failed or are on the brink of doing so.
There have been few attempts at democracy, and more reliance on military rule or a
“survival of the fittest and strongest” that produces strong but often brutal leaders,
like Saddam or Qaddafi in Libya.
People: Gamal Abdel Nasser
Ayatollah Khomeini
Ataturk
David Ben-Gurion
Ariel Sharon
Yassir Arafat
Saddam Hussein
SOUTH ASIA
INTRODUCTION – Handout assts. from textbook, class notes, powerpoints on
website
I.
II.
South Asia is a subcontinent.
a. India consists of a landmass that millions of years ago was a separate
continent
b. The collision of this landmass with Asia created the Himalayan
mountain range, the highest in the world.
c. The edges of this landmass are lined with low mountains, called the
eastern and western ghats.
d. The center of the landmass is the oldest part of it, a weathered plateau
called the Decca plateau. It is a shield area, which has deposits of iron
ore.
South Asia depends on its rivers.
a. most of the region is dry except for monsoon rains every year, or
several large river systems.
b. Largest and most important of these rivers are the Indus on the west
side of the subcontinent, and the Ganges and Brahmaputra on the
east side. The latter two river systems drain into the Bay of Bengal in
Bangladesh, creating the largest delta system in the world.
III.
The region consists of five nations: India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal,
and Bangladesh. Sometimes Bhutan, a small kingdom in the Himalayas,
and Afghanistan, which is really in Central Asia, are also included.
IV.
South Asia is one of the world’s major population centers.
a. About 1.3 billion people, one in every five humans, live in this region.
b. The entire area’s population averages about 25-30% urban, but it
contains several of the world’s biggest cities:
Mumbai (Bombay), India: 18 million (sixth largest in the world)
Calcutta, India: 13 million (fourteenth largest in the world)
Dhaka, Bangladesh: 12.3 million
Karachi, Pakistan: 11.7 million
Delhi, India: 11.6 million
( for perspective, New York’s is the only American metropolitan area
with a population over 10 million. New York’s population is about 20
million)
c. Three of the countries in the region – India (#2), Pakistan (#7) and
Bangladesh (#8) are among the world’s most populous countries.
V. South Asia is a complete, distinct civilization
a. Civilization began in the Indus Valley between 4-5,000 years ago. It is
one of the five or six major culture hearths in the world where civilization
developed.
b. Two of the world’s major religions, Hinduism and Buddhism, originated
here, as well as several minor ones including Sikhs and Jains.
c. Many different languages are spoken here, including several of the
world’s largest: Bengali (#4 in the world), Hindi (#5), Telugu (#15),
Marathi (#17), Tamil (#18), and Urdu (#20). All of the above are spoken
by more than 50 million people.
d. Many early advances, particularly in mathematics, astronomy and
technology, occurred in India.
Early history: Gupta and Maurya empires
Aryan invasion
Mogul emperors
The British “Raj”
Important figures: Gandhi – leader of nonviolence movement that forced India’s
indpendence
Jinnah – founder of Pakistan
Nehru – first leader of independent India
Indira and Rajiv Gandhi (Nehru’s daughter and grandson) – serve as
prime minister from 1960s through 1980s. Indira Gandhi loses election in 1975 after she
tries to become dictatorial.
Pervez Musharaf - current leader of Pakistan
India is the world’s largest democracy. It has been led for most of its history by the
Congress Party, which led its independence movement. Important groups in recent years
include the Hindu Nationalist party, BJP. The last election, last year, returned control of
the government to Congress after seven years under BJP. Manmohan Singh, who
instituted economic reforms in 1991, is new prime minister.
Economic development: Since 1991, more competition and less regulation. “Green
revolution” in agriculture feeds the population, but India is pegging its future on
advanced computer software firms and outsourcing by Western firms. Still widespread
poverty, slums, discrimination based on caste (although officially outlawed), corrutpion
Pakistan and Bangladesh: Pakistan has varied between democracy and military
dictatorship. Both countries have major problems with population growth, disease
control and in Pakistan, large numbers of refugees with terrorists among them.
Indian subcontinent is a cradle of major religions: Hindu - caste system, reincarnation
Buddhism - enlightenment
Sikhs – middle way between
Hinduism and Islam
Jains – total nonviolence toward life
Famous scriptures include the Bhagavad Gita, which spell out in story form what is
expected of a good Hindu. Laws of Karma and Dharma.
Cold War: India was officially neutral but Pakistan has been a U.S. ally.
India and Pakistan
4 Noble Truths
8-Fold Path
Ahimsa
Brahma
Brahmin
British Raj
Buddha
Caste
Dharma
East India Company
Ganges
Gupta Empire
Himalayas
Hindu
Indus
Karma
Mogul Empire
Moksha
Monsoon
Nirvana
Non-violence
Salt March
Satyagraha
Sepoy Rebellion
Shiva
Sikh
Untouchable
Vishnu
Kashmir
“Islamic Bomb”
Mohandas Gandhi (Mahatma)
Jarawarhal. Nehru
Mohammed Ali Jinnah
Indira Gandhi
Green Revolution
Benazir Ali Bhutto
Pervez Musharraf
Secular
Islamic Republic
Punjab
Manmohan Singh
AQ Khan
MIDDLE EAST
pp. 40-49, 53-56, 67-86, 104-108, 116-121, maps, readings and class notes. SEE
POWER POINTS
a) Origins of civilization: What we now call “Western civilization” has its roots in
the ancient Fertile Crescent, where agriculture has been documented earlier than
anywhere else in the world, approx. 8,000 years ago. Timekeeping, the first law
codes, the first maps, and astronomy first appeared in the cities of the TigrisEuphrates Valley; Irrigated agriculture, the monumental architecture of the
pyramids in the valley of the Nile in Egypt. The three “Abrahamic religions”
(tracing their origins back to the Biblical patriarch Abraham) of Judaism,
Christianity and Islam developed here, mostly in Palestine and the Arabian
peninsula.
Islam: Know the “Five Pillars;” the role of Saudi Arabia as keeper of the major holy
places in Mecca; the importance of Jerusalem; the differences between Sunnis and
Shi’ites; the importance of the Qu’ran and the role of clergy (Shi’a have a hierarchy,
Sunnis do not); also know what the Ka’aba is.
b) Geography: the region is ringed by deserts, and the climate is uniformly either desert,
Mediterranean (near the coasts) or highland climates like in the Kurdistan region of
Turkey, northern Iraq, Iran, Lebanon and western North Africa. The population is
growing rapidly and is extremely diverse, a true “mosaic of peoples.” The major groups
in the population are Arabs (a little more than half the population of the region), Turks,
Persians (in Iran), and Jews (in Israel). There are numerous ethnic and religious
minorities, the biggest of which is the Kurds in the mountains of Turkey, Iran and Iraq.
There are two Christian countries bordering the region, Armenia and Georgia in the
Caucusus Mountains, and the Jewish state of Israel, but for almost the entire region the
cultural influence of Islam and the Arabic language which carried it are strong.
c)Impact of modern life: During Europe’s Dark Ages in the 600s-1200s, the Islamic
world was one of the world’s great centers of civilization, because of its position as a
crossroads of trade and ideas. Conquest by the Ottoman Turks brought several
centuries of stagnation, during which the region lagged behind the West. Ottomans
ruled absolutely but loosely, so local rulers could “do their own thing” as long as they
paid their taxes and did what the Sultan wanted.
When Westerners began arriving as potential colonizers, this brought resentment and
a position of conflict with the West that has not let up to this day. The Ottomans
were defeated in World War I and their empire broken up. Turkey went on to found a
successful modernized republic under the military dictator Mustapha Kemal
(Ataturk). Arab lands were divided between Britain and France which gradually had
to let go of them. Persia became a kingdom (king was called the Shah) and renamed
Iran, and most of the Arabian peninsula became a strict Wahhabi Muslim
fundamentalist kingdom of Saudi Arabia, that discovered it was sitting on top of the
world’s biggest oil reserves.
MIDDLE EAST continued:
In most of the Middle East, boundaries are just lines in the sand and Arab countries
have more in common than they have differences. Thus pan-Arabism (the idea all
Arab countries should unite as a big ‘super-country’ and pan-Islamism (the idea that
all Muslims should unite and exclude others) have been strong trends. Political
movements in the countries have rarely been democratic. The present US war in Iraq,
whatever other reasons have been given for it, is really an attempt by the US to
directly create a major democratic Arab state in the region with good ties to the US,
thereby stabilizing the whole region. In Iran, Islamic fundamentalists successfully
captured the revolution against the Shah there in 1979, and since then the US policy
in the region has been directed at preventing the spread of fundamentalism (which is
usually associated with use of terrorism tactics) to other countries.
f) Cold War: during the Cold War Turkey, Israel and pre-revolutionary Iran were all
staunch allies of the US. Most of the Arab countries followed the lead of Egypt’s
Nasser and declared their neutrality, allowing them to get help from both sides or
to switch sides freely.
g) Problems: Oil has brought great wealth to some and influence to oil countries, but
has also brought problems of inequality.
Water or lack of it, is a problem throughout the region
The ongoing dispute between Israel and the plight of the Palestinian Arabs has
been a source of many wars.
Poverty and rapid population growth are long-term problems.
Modern, secular governments have not been able to successfully cope with many
of these problems, and some governments have failed or are on the brink of doing so.
There have been few attempts at democracy, and more reliance on military rule or a
“survival of the fittest and strongest” that produces strong but often brutal leaders,
like Saddam or Qaddafi in Libya.
People: Gamal Abdel Nasser
Ayatollah Khomeini
Ataturk
Menachem Begin
Yitzhak Rabin
Yassir Arafat
Saddam Hussein
Middle East vocabulary:
Abrahamic Religions
Al-Qaeda
Arafat
Balfour Declaration
British Mandate
Caliphate
Camp David Accords
Diaspora
Five Pillars of Islam
Gaza Strip
Hamas
Hezbollah
Imam
Intifada
Islam, Islamist
Khomeini
Kibbutz
McMahon
Nasser
OPEC
Oslo Accords
Ottoman Empire
Palestine
PLO
Quran
Saddam Hussein
Shah
Shari’ah
Shia (Shi’ite)
Six-day War (October 1967)
Suez Canal
Sunni
Sykes-Picot Agreement
Talmud
Terrorism
Torah
West Bank
WMD
Kurds
Iranian Revolution
Zionism
WORLD STUDIES - FINAL EXAM ESSAY
You will be able to bring three one-sided 3x5, handwritten file cards for notes. The
essay must be a minimum of a five-paragraph essay: introduction, three body
paragraphs and conclusion. It must fill at least five pages of a blue exam booklet,
double-spaced, or three pages single-spaced.
QUESTION: For at least two of the regions we have studied since second quarter
(including China), compare and contrast responses to Western civilization and
modern life. The essay should refer to origins of the civilizations and cultures of the
two regions you choose, and also to recent developments in the regions, including
regional problems and levels of modern economic development. You can use
material from class notes but also outside sources, including the Internet.
The regions can be: South Asia (Indian subcontinent and its surrounding countries)
East Asia ( China, Japan, Southeast Asia) or any one of its
components
Middle East, including North Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa
MIDTERM REVIEW
RUSSIA AND THE SLAVIC REALM (EASTERN EUROPE)
From packets and homework from book “Russia” and “Cold War in Eastern
Europe, Chapter 1, Lands and Peoples” as well as class notes.
I. Geography and climate – region extends from central Europe into southern
Siberia.
a. Taiga (forest) and Tundra (frozen land most of the year)
b. Eurasian Plain – world’s largest plain, makes the area a crossroads for
nomads and invaders throughout history.
c. Soils – Black Earth or Mollisol area in steppes, beginning in eastern
Romania, extending through Ukraine into southern Russia and into
Central Asia. Important source of food supply, particularly grain.
d. Resources – Vast, esp. in Siberia – world’s largest forest (taiga), iron ore,
coal, uranium, one of world’s largest oil supplies in area near Caspian
Sea, large amount of world’s gold, biggest fresh water body in world –
Lake Baikal
e. Languages include mainly Slavic languages – Russian, Bulgarian, Polish,
Czech, Serbo-Croatian, etc., some non-Slavic in Romania, Hungary and
Baltic states – Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia
II. HISTORY
a. Slavic tribes push older groups westward during and after Roman
Empire
b. Varangians (Vikings) under Rurik create kingdom of Rus, which
becomes Russia
c. Prince Vladimir of Kiev converts kingdom of Rus to Orthodox
Christianity. Moscow later tries to be “Third Rome.”
d. Russians develop distinctive style of architecture, using wood and
featuring onion-shaped domes. Later Russia produces many great
composers like Tschaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, and Stravinsky, and
great authors like Tolstoy and Chekhov.
e. Mongols destroy early Russian kingdoms as well as Christian kingdoms
in eastern Europe, and rule for centuries through tribute. As a result,
Russian history is said to be a blend of Eastern and Western influences,
outlooks and traditions which are continually at odds with each other.
f. During 1400s, princes of Muscovy (Ivan the Great, Ivan the Terrible)
begin to expand and create nucleus of modern Russia. Ivan the Great
begins to call himself Czar or Tsar, meaning emperor or Caesar
g. Tsars expand into Siberia as well as westward, and become a great power
in Europe despite being backward technologically. Peter the Great tries
to modernize empire by bringing in technology from western Europe;
h.
i.
j.
k.
l.
builds new capital at St. Petersburg, to reinforce Western European
orientation.
Tsars in nineteenth century resist modern ideas, esp. democracy, rule is
autocratic (absolute rule by one person). Alexander II frees serfs and
tries to modernize, but is assassinated, Jews are blamed, unfairly, and
many emigrate.
Last Tsar, Nicholas II, loses Russo-Japanese war, respect of people.
Revolution begins in November, 1917.
Revolution is taken over by Bolsheviks – Communists – under Lenin and
Trotsky, who begin to establish a Communist state, at first very open but
later using terror on counter-revolutionaries. Russia becomes isolated
internationally and Lenin turns from tightly state-controlled War
Communism to the more market-oriented New Economic Plan in the
1920s to gain stability. Gorbachev later turns to this model in the 1980s,
with his perestroika program.
After Lenin’s death in 1924, a power struggle occurs between backers of
Trotsky and Stalin, who emerges as party secretary and dictator. Stalin
eliminates real or imagined enemies ruthlessly through: purges and show
trials, work camps in Siberia, ethnic deportations (during World War II
of Caucasian peoples), elimination of kulaks – prosperous peasants during collectivization. As many as 20 million people die because of his
policies.
Stalin also succeeds in rapidly industrializing and modernizing Soviet
Union through his Five-Year Plans, providing a model for development
which will be imitated in many countries. However, collectivization of
farms proves a failure that leads to widespread famine, and eventually
the USSR is never able to produce enough food for its own needs. In the
1970s it begins buying wheat from the US, the first sign of real weakness
in its economy.
m. Germans invade during World War II. Much of fiercest fighting in
World War II occurs in Soviet Union. Another 20 million die. Germans
defeated at Stalingrad (1943) and held up outside of Moscow (1941). Red
Army drives on across Eastern Europe and into Berlin. Stalin is one of
“Big Three” leaders (along with Roosevelt and Churchill) who gets to
decide the future of postwar Europe.
Tsars to know: Ivan the Terrible
Peter the Great
Catherine the Great (built up territory and education)
Alexander II (reformer, freed serfs, assassinated)
Nicholas II (last Tsar; unprepared, bad decisions)
Communist leaders: Lenin
Stalin
Trotsky
Khrushchev
Recent Russian leaders: Boris Yeltsin, Vladimir Putin
Brezhnev
Gorbachev
MIDTERM REVIEW
1945: YEAR OF INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION (Class notes):
1. United Nations
2. Manhattan Project – first atomic bombs developed and used on
Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end US war with Japan.
3. Bretton Woods agreement – establishes World Bank and
International Monetary Fund to eliminate currency problems and
bases all Western European currencies on the value of the dollar.
4. Nuremberg War Crimes Trials – prosecutes Nazis as war
criminals for first time in history
5. Yalta Agreements: Allies agree on postwar issues like United
Nations, Soviets to help in war vs. Japan, occupation zones in
Germany, FIRST BIG PROBLEM emerges over what type of
government will be created for Poland.
MIDTERM REVIEW
COLD WAR
(From packets in Cold War in Eastern Europe and class notes and assignments)
Origins (Chapters 3-5 packets in Cold War in Eastern Europe, packets titled “U.S.
Responds to the Spread of Communism, 1,2 and 3; class notes):
a. Communist takeovers in Eastern Europe: “salami tactics,” Iron Curtain,
satellites
b. U.S. and British response – Containment policy developed by diplomat
George Kennan and implemented by President Harry Truman. “Four
pillars:” Truman Doctrine, Marshall Plan, National Security Act,
NATO. Know what these were.
c. First confrontations: Berlin crisis (airlift) – 1948-49
WESTERN EUROPE vs. EASTERN EUROPE (packets)
With American aid, Western Europe rebuilds successfully and becomes more
prosperous and unified than ever before thanks to Common Market (now European
Union). Democratic Socialists in Scandinavia, Britain, France and other places
create welfare states where government gives people security but does not control
every aspect of life or economy.
In Eastern Europe, many countries never fully accept Soviet domination. Uprisings
occur in East Germany, Poland, Hungary in 1956, and Czechoslovakia in 1968 when
reformers try to free their countries up and are crushed by Soviet tanks. Berlin
Wall built by East Germany in 1961 to prevent citizens from flooding to more
prosperous West. Legacy of communism is economic backwardness and a hideous
level of industrial pollution.
People to know: Konrad Adenauer, Willy Brandt (West Germany)
Charles DeGaulle (France)
Clement Attlee, Ernest Bevin, Margaret Thatcher (Britain)
Imre Nagy
COLD WAR CONTINUED:
Cold War is fought in different ways:
a. Espionage (spying) Soviet spy rings in US deliver secrets of atomic
bombs
b. Arms Race – development of more and better weapons, esp. nuclear after
USSR explodes its first atomic bomb in 1949. First hydrogen bombs in
early 1950s
c. Armed interventions: USSR sends troops to quell uprisings in Hungary
in 1956 and Czechoslovakia in 1968 (Prague Spring); US invades
Lebanon in 1958, Cambodia in 1970. USSR occupies Afghanistan in 1979;
US sends troops into Vietnam in 1960s. These last two examples are also
proxy wars.
d. Proxy wars (Fighting the rival superpower indirectly, through backing
the opposing side in a civil war)– The two sides back different sides in
conflicts in newly independent nations, sometimes openly, sometimes
secretly: e.g. Vietnam, Angola, Nicaragua, Afghanistan
e. Diplomacy – arms agreements, “summit meetings”
f. Competition – space race, after Soviets launch Sputnik, first satellite, in
1957; Olympics, etc.
g. Covert operations – US (mainly), through CIA, arranged to overthrow
governments considered potentially Communist: Guatemala (1954), Iran (1953),
Chile (1973), Cuba (Bay of Pigs, failed 1961).
END OF COLD WAR (Chapters 6 and 7 in “Cold War in Eastern Europe” packets)
1. Gorbachev comes to power in USSR in 1985. A true reformer, he
faces economic problems and an unwinnable and unpopular war
in Afghanistan. His people have lost faith in Communism’s ability
to give them a better life and the party is seen as corrupt.
Institutes glasnost (openness, freedom of speech) and perestroika
(modernizing economy). Soviet people begin to speak up.
2. Ronald Reagan, US president, is a cold warrior. Starts research
into SDI or “Star Wars,” an anti-missile defense system based on
high-tech space weapons, and stations nuclear missiles in Western
Europe.
3. Gorbachev and Reagan meet at summit meetings in 1986 and
later, and get along well.
4. Gorbachev tells Eastern European Communist states they must
govern their own countries without interference or support from
USSR.
5. Polish elections in early 1989 lead to victory for Solidarity;
Hungary begins taking down Iron Curtain border;
6. East German communists collapse as Berlin Wall is taken down
over freedom of travel;
7. Communist regimes fall in Czechoslovakia (“Velvet Revolution”);
Bulgaria, Albania and Romania.
8. Soviet Union dissolves into 14 separate countries in 1991;
Communism ended
9. Yugoslavia also splits into six separate countries, sometimes
bloodily, gets rid of communism.
PEOPLE: Gorbachev, Lech Walesa, Vaclav Havel, Ceaucescu,
MIDTERM EXAM
FORMAT: 50-100 Multiple choice, True-false questions
Choice of two out of four short answers (minimum one page each)
Essay question (20-30 points). The essay question must be a minimum
of four blue book pages (one side). You may bring three one-sided index cards with
notes. You are being supplied with interpretations of what caused the Cold War.
The question is which interpretation best explains the origin of the Cold War. You
must use the usual essay format (intro, body, conclusion) but you can use more than
three body paragraphs. You must use solid facts to support your argument, and use
facts other than those already used in the interpretations I am supplying.
HOW TO STUDY FOR THIS EXAM:
Concentrate on class notes and review former quizzes, as I will take many
questions from those sources. I expect you to be able to recognize topics, concepts
and facts we’ve gone over in class. I also expect you to be able to think about the
ideas generated by the “essential questions” I’ve presented for each unit. Refer to
these, which I’ve given you in note form, and which I’ll also post on my website.
STUDY UNITS:
1. 1945 : International cooperation and new international
system – research assignments
2. Russia and Slavic realm, history and culture - handouts
3. Cold War – The Cold War in Eastern Europe, other
handouts
4. End of Cold War and post-Communist Europe (we
covered this only very briefly)
5. Introduction to global culture (“Journey of Man” and
“Guns, Germs and Steel” videos and associated notes and
research
6. East Asia – China, Japan, Southeast Asia – their history,
culture, Cold War impacts, and modern economic
development. Textbook handouts.
LIST OF POWER POINTS ON MY WEBSITE THAT CAN BE CONSULTED
FOR THIS EXAM:
Remember, the power points were developed mainly as a way of introducing the
material and seeing it visually. Everything you have to know is not necessarily on
any one power point
Stalin
The Tsars
Space Race
Cuban Missile Crisis
Marshall Plan
Socialism and Communism
Slavic Culture
DNA Graphic
Chinese Republic
China Since 1976
Korean War