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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 nonreligious 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, AustriaHungary, 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 nonviolent 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.