Download 28 - MK2Review

Comprehensive List of ID’s--Defined
1. Camillo Benso di Cavour (1810-1861)
o Premier of Piedmont-Sardinia from 1852, favored policy of unification to enhance Italian
power/prestige
o Combination of diplomacy and military tactics
o Liberal administrative reforms --tax reform, stabilized currency, expanded railways,
created transatlantic steamship system, supported private enterprise
o Allied with Napoloen III against Austria, 1858, united Lombardy, Tuscany, Parma and
Modena
o Garibaldi and Red Shirts take Sicily and Naples and turns to Rome, Cavour rushes to take
Papal States and annexes Naples for Victor Emmanuel II, king of Piedmont Sardinia
o Victor Emmanuelle king in 1860 of everything but Venetia and Rome, which were later
annexed
o Cavour=legacy as state-builder and unifier, considered himself a realist
o Wrote "On railways in Italy" (1846), Railways as principle of unity
2. Risorgimiento
o Movement for reunite Italy, culturally and politically, literally, "Resurgence"
o Roots in eighteenth century, hopes for unification during organization of Napoleonic era
crushed
o Repeatedly defeated, first half 19th century; fail to expel Austria in 1848 (championed by
Charles Albert of Piedmont, later made into a martyr for nationalist cause)
Guiseppe
Mazzini (1805-1872)
3.
o "New breed of liberal nationalist"
o Founded, in 1831, the "Young Italy" movement
o Forced out pope and became head of Republic of Rome, 1849
o Defeated by the highly trained French armies and forced into exile
o Wrote the every so sexy Duties to Country, in our coursepack, which sums up his views
on nationalism
o Nineteenth century liberal nationalism at its most renowned, more or less
4. Guiseppe Garibaldi (1807-1882)
o Led the Red Shirts, a band of patriots and soldiers of fortune
o Capable soldier, undertook defense of Rome in 1849 against French soldiers
o Defeated, flees to Staten Island (Really now, of all the places you can flee? Staten
Island?)
o Returns to lead Red Shirts in conquest of Sicily and Naples, forced to turn over territories
to Victor Emmanuel II to form united Italy
o Disciple of Mazzini
5. Victorio Emanuelle II (r. 1849-1861)
o King of Italy during Risogimento unification, focus of nationalist sentiment
o His nation unified Italy, but it was mostly Cavour
o Still, he served as a sort of focal point for nationalist energies that had been severely
lacking
o
Not much to say; sort of overshadowed by Cavour leadership-wise, famous for being the
first king of a united Italy, though never lived to see Venetia and Rome brought in
6. Italia irredenta (unredeemed Italy)
o Those territories that, Italian nationalists believed, should be brought into a united Italy,
because they sported an Italian majority but were retained by Austria after 1866.
o So, that would be Trentino, Fume, parts of Dalmatia, Istria and most notably Trieste
o The Treaty of Versailles satisfied most of the nationalist claims
o Irredentism has come to mean nationalist agitation in another country
7. Italian unification, 1861
o This is a big one--1861 is the year that Italy was finally unified under Victor Emmanuel
II, king of Piedmont-Sardinia and then King of a United Italy
o Spearheaded by Cavour, and embarked upon to improve Italy's political status, not to
satisfy nationalist aspirations, though nationalism was used to secure reunification
o The Piedmontese allied with the French against Austria, and sacrificed Nice and Savoy in
order to gain Lombardy, Tuscany, Parma, Modena, and Romagna (which pissed off
Mazzini, who was a Savoyard)
o When Southern Italians began to agitate against their king, Francis II, Garibaldi returned
from Staten Island with his Red Shirt--"the Thousand"--to take Sicily and drive Francis
from Naples
 He then turned to Rome, with a French garrison protecting the Pope
o Cavour, troubled by the liberal nationalist's victory and popularity, rushed south and took
the Papal States, and then won some victories against royal forces in Naples
o Garibaldi pretty much had to hand over his conquered territory in 1861, unifying Italy
under Cavour's liberal constitutionalism (liberal in the 19th century use of the term, of
course)
o Venetia was part of Austria until Italy struck a deal with Prussia in 1866, who had just
defeated the Austrians. Rome was united in 1870, after France's embarrassing defeat in
the Franco-Prussian war. Fun fact: after Rome fell into the hands of a secular ruler, the
Pope refused to leave the Vatican in protest, and no Pope set foot in Rome proper until
one of his successors decided that it was a stupid rule
o Starts out as an undemocratic republic--600,000 citizens out of 20 million people
o Also North/South conflict, Southern aristocracy didn't like Cavour's liberal economic
policies
8. Otto von Bismarck (1815-1898)
o Practiced realpolitik, wanted to unite Germany to aid Prussia
o Favored unification excluding multinational, problem-ridden Austria
o Overrode Diet to reorganize army--no problem with going over the head of democratic
bodies in the state
o Provoked war with Austria over Danish territories of Schleswig and Holstein, crushed
them in Seven Weeks 'War
 Austria gave up their claim to rulership of a united Germany
o Manipulated telegraphs to provoke Franco-Prussian War, over in a matter of weeks
(Battle of Sedan), Prussians occupy Paris and declare German Empire in Hall of Mirrors
in Versailles
o Created constitution with strong central power in hands of monarchy, universal male
suffrage--nod to liberals--but weak central parliamentary body
o
As Chancellor, embarked upon risky foreign policies to increase German power and
prestige
o Held Germany aloof from struggle for colonies until he dove right in to get "a place in the
sun"
o Mostly famous for uniting Germany, being a master politician, and his willingness to
alternatively use and override the machinery of the state
9. The constitutional struggle
o This ID just confuses me. My TF said it "refers in particular to Bismarck's disagreements
in the 1860's over issues concerning the military and taxation." If so, it would be cut and
dry Bismarck overrode the parliament to reorganize the military without official budget
approval. The ID I wrote at first, and which I still include here, concerns the struggle
Bismarck faced after the unification. Either way, it shows that Bismarck was willing to
use parliamentarianism to destroy parliamentarianism and always always always acted in
the interests of Prussia, no matter what. If anyone has anything more to say on this or has
a clarification, feel free to shoot it to the group--MAK
o Bismarck, using realpolitik, had sort of allied himself with the liberal nationalists, who
wanted more power to the Parliament
o As a nod to them all men over 25 could vote on who would be elected to the new
Parliament, or Reichstag
o Bismarck built on the constitution of the North German Confederation, which guaranteed
Prussian dominance
o The Reichstag was not sovereign and the chancellor was accountable only to the
Emperor, and the bureaucracy was used "as a mainstay of the emperor"
 So, the constitution was not liberal, but had a few concessions to the liberals
 It was liberal enough that most liberals supported it, all except the radicals
 Bismarck hoped to "destroy parliamentarianism by parliamentarianism."
o Real power still resided in the Emperor, and in Bismarck the Chancellor
o In the end, unified Germany, strong emperor, weak Reichstag but enough of a parliament
that no one will revolt, Bismarck is the man again
10. Franco Prussian War: Bismarck wanted a unified Germany but the Southern states of Baden,
Wurttemberg, Bavaria, and Hesse-Darmstadt resisted idea of Prussian dominance b/c Prussia was more
conservative, Protestant (these states were Catholic), and militarist. Napoleon III opposed further
Prussian growth and attempted to curb it through diplomacy. In 1870, however, France had no big allies
against Prussia. Bismarck decided that war w/ France would bring about cooperation and unity w/
southern German states so he told the press that French ambassador had insulted Prussian king. French
and Prussians got angry even though it was a lie; France declared war in 1870 and southern German
states sided w/ Prussia as Bismarck had hoped. French army outnumbered, Prussia had been preparing
for long time by studying French terrain and the use of railroad in war. W/in weeks Napoleon III
capitulated and France’s 2nd republic collapsed, replaced with 3rd republic. 1871-peace, German empire
declared, Alsace and Lorraine ceded to Germany. Paris held out longer than rest of France, established
Paris commune when govt. tried to disarm Parisians with the army, wanted self-govt. for Paris.
Significance: part of Bismarck’s drive toward German political unity, the Franco-Prussian war caused
southern states to combine w/ Prussia and thus brought about united German empire.
11. Schleswig-Holstein: in 1864 Bismarck, the minister-president of and foreign minister of Prussian
cabinet, made an alliance with Austria in order to invade Schleswig, a predominantly German speaking
territory under control of king of Denmark but whose population wanted to be part of German
Confederation. Denmark yielded duchies of Schleswig and Holstein in just 5 days. They were to be
ruled jointly by Prussia and Austria. Bismarck then provoked a crisis b/w Austria and Prussia over
management of the territories and Prussia went to war w/ Austria in 1866. In 7 weeks Austria was
defeated. Bismarck dictated terms of peace- didn’t want to cripple Austria, just wanted to exclude it
from a united Germany so that Prussia could be dominant in the united Germany. Austria was thus
forced to deal w/its internal problems- separated into 2 states, Austria and Hungary, under one ruler. Sig:
the schleswig-holstein issue provided an excuse for Bismarck to declare war b/w Prussia and Austria
and for him to secure for Prussia a dominant role in his vision of a united German empire.
12. Zollverein (customs union): name for the series of alliances made in 1834 between Prussia and the
smaller states of Germany. Germany still divided into many states, some of which separated Prussia’s
eastern and western parts, and each state exacted its own tolls and customs duties when Prussian
merchants moved goods from one part of Prussia to another by going through these other states. In
1800’s German manufacturing began growing a lot to meet needs of a growing population that made up
an internal market. Zollverein was not a free-trade zone but rather a customs union in which each
member state used liberal Prussian customs regulations. Member states were paid annual portion of
receipts based on their population and every state except Prussia increased its revenues b/c of creation of
Zollverein. Prussia was thus able to move goods from east to west. It also forced Hanover and Saxony to
join Zollverein and excluded main rival, Austria. Sig: creation of Zollverein facilitated exploitation of
natural resources such as coal and iron and helped make possible the building of single railroad across
boundaries of many states, precursor to unification of all these German states.
13. Blood and Iron: this phrase symbolizes drive toward German unification from 1862-1871-it was
violent, because of the Austro-Prussian war and the Franco-Prussian war, and coincided with the
industrialization of the German states. Bismarck united Germany through “blood and iron” by 1) waging
war to eliminate Austria as a rival for dominance in the united Germany and to gain cooperation of
southern German states and by 2) manipulating the Zollverein to exclude Austria from German
economic affairs while allowing rest of Germany to prosper b/c of increased ability to trade iron and
coal for industrialization across boundaries. Trade in iron and coal allowed for industrialization and
introduction of railroad to German states to speed up the trade, thus further unifying the states. Sig:
Bismarck used the human and industrial resources of Prussia to create a unified Germany which could
compete with other European powers.
14. January 18, 1871: On this date, in the palace of Versailles’ Hall of Mirrors, Bismarck declared a
unified German Empire called the Second Reich, to be under the leadership of the Prussian king.
Bismarck built on the constitution of the North German Confederation formed in 1867 to unify Germany
and guarantee Prussian dominance. The Reichstag, or national legislative assembly, was to be elected
with universal male suffrage. However, it wasn’t a liberal constitution since Reichstag wasn’t sovereign
and chancellor was accountable only to emperor. Parliament was weak in terms of ability to create
policy and control taxation. Bismarck wanted a united Germany but he wanted to destroy
parliamentarianism so he created a sort of neo-absolutism, which he saw as a stronger form of govt. Sig:
unified Germany balanced power of other European states and allowed Germany to compete with other
major powers….
15. Kulturkampf: an anti-church campaign launched in 1872, means “struggle for civilization”supporters claimed it was a battle in the interests of humanity. In 1870’s Bismarck collaborated w/
German liberal parties to make legal codes, set up monetary/ banking system and judicial system, and
create railway network to solidify the unification of Germany. Laws passed in this campaign expelled
Jesuits from Germany, removed priests from state service, attacked religious education, and established
civil marriage. When bishops and priests followed instructions of Pope Pius IX not to obey these laws,
they were arrested and exiled. However, many became concerned about social costs of widespread
religious repression as the Catholic Center Party rallied Catholics as voting bloc and increased its
parliamentary representation. When new pope, Leon XIII, succeeded Pius, Bismarck negotiated a
settlement w/ Catholic Church and stopped the Kulturkampf: Sig: example of Bismarck’s illiberalism,
he wasn’t truly devoted to democracy
16. Paris Commune: France quickly capitulated in 1871 in Franco-Prussian war but even during the over
4 month Prussian siege of Paris, Parisians held out. With dwindling food supplies, they turned to horses,
dogs, and even rats for sustenance. When rest of France accepted armistice, Parisians felt that they had
been betrayed and were the true patriots. When new govt. of 3rd republic attempted to calm volatility of
Paris by sending army to disarm citizens in 1871, people rebelled to protect right to bear arms and drove
army away. Parisians established Paris Commune hoping for self-government. Marx believed this was
the beginning of a proletariat revolution but in fact, it was just continuation of siege and a civil war
against rest of France. Commune lasted 72 days until army reentered Paris and in one “bloody wee”
crushed commune and killed 25,000 Parisians. 40,000 Parisians arrested and tried, 10,000 convicted,
5000 sent to a penal colony. This angered radicals and workers all over Europe and cry for revolutionary
movements spread throughout world, even influencing future leaders of Russian revolutionary state. Sig:
commune showed power of patriotism but also showed that there were 2 images of France, that of
Parisians and that of rest of nation. Also made it clear that revolutionary movements couldn’t succeed
w/out control over state’s forces of repression (army…).
17. Viceroy: the 1861 appointment of a viceroy in India marked the beginning of formal British rule in
India. The viceroy was assisted by legislative and executive councils, both of which included some
Indian representatives. The British relationship with India began in 17th century with British East India
Company. By 1849 Britain had conquered last independent areas of India. While Britain invested
overseas capital in India, India absorbed 1/5 of British exports and became a large market for British
cotton. Thus, although India already had a govt and a set hierarchy, the appointment of a viceroy
officially established Britain’s economic rule. Sig: late 19th century imperialism signaled domination by
industrial powers over non-industrial powers. Britain maintained domination over India b/ of its
lucrative markets and the financial gains for Britain.
18. Jewel in the Crown: on New Year’s Day, 1877, British parliament declared that Queen Victoria
would add title of Empress of India to her existing titles. Prime Minister Disraeli came up with the new
title not only to flatter the queen but also to warn Russia, which was present on India’s frontier in
Afghanistan, and France, which was pursuing imperialist interests in Egypt. India was called the jewel in
the queen’s crown b/c it was the main point of British expansion and the center of British foreign policy.
Britain made concessions and acquired strategic territories all over the world in order to protect India
since it was such an important market for Britain. Sig: during 19th century Europe experienced a new
imperialism in which nations claimed territories for the symbolic power and prestige they would bring
the nation. Calling India the jewel in the crown was a way for British to exalt their own nation and its
achievements....
19. India Mutiny
A native Indian rebellion against British occupiers (the British East India Company were the original
colonizers of India) in 1857, also known as the Sepoy Rebellion. According to anecdotes, the rebellion
began when the British forced the Indian troops to use a new type of cartridge that required them to
handle pig and cow lard, forbidden to both Muslims and Hindus. This uprising was forcibly crushed by
the British, but it marked the end of both the Mogul empire and the reign of the British East India
Company in India. After 1861, the British ruled India directly, without any mediation or influence from
the East India Company and employed the use of a native Indian viceroy. This marked the beginning of
the British Empire in India and India as the “jewel in the crown” of Queen Victoria as the first empress
of India, also the start of the native Indian resistance movements that would culminate in India’
emancipation from the British empire in 1946.
20. Crimean War
War between Russia and an alliance of Britain, France and the Ottoman Empire. Russia hoped to gain
influence in the Balkans by taking advantage of the weaknesses in the dissolving Ottoman Empire,
claiming to be protecting the interests of Orthodox Christians who lived within its borders. After the
Ottomans were soundly defeated at a naval battle near Sinope, France and Britain declared war on
Russia. All three parties hoped to gain land and power through involvement in the war. After 750,000
soldiers died, Russia settled on peace terms that included relinquishing control of the Danube River and
parts of modern Romania, as well as the neutralization of the Black Sea. The war took a huge toll on
Russia in terms of human losses, with Russians making up two thirds of the total casualties. Russia also
withdrew from European politics for a time, instead focusing on expansions in Central Asia.
21. Congress of Berlin
An international conference called in Berlin in 1878 to settle a peace for the Russo-Turkish War in the
Balkans, brought about by Slav nationalism and Russian desire for greater power in E. Europe, Bismark
offered to mediate as a neutral party, Britian supported the Ottomans, Austria-Hungary occupied Bosnia
, Serb claims were ignored, Russians had to abandon support for Serbs. Led to the estrangement of
Russia and Germany and closer ties between AH and Germany and greater overall tension both
internationally and in the Balkans which would eventually lead up to WWI
*note*: This ID was copied word for word off the blackboard at one of the review sessions as an
example of what a full-credit ID looks like. Just thought you all might like to know.
22. King Leopold II
As king of Belgium from 1865 until 1909, Leopold was one of the primary architects of the “Scramble
for Africa”. Upon hearing stories of the riches of the Congo Basin, he organized the International
African Association to colonize and begin trade in the Congo, all under the guise of ending the slave
trade in East Africa and bringing the benefits of modernization to native Africans. In 1884 at the Berlin
Conference, Leopold was granted the official right to rule the Congo Free State independently of the
Belgian government for personal profit. This set the guiding principles for colonization of Africa;
influencial presence was required, not merely “planting a flag”, sending other European countries into a
competitive panic. Leopold’s mistreatment of his African workers was so outrageous that he was
eventually forced to hand over rule of the Congo Free State to the Belgian government, but not before
amassing a huge personal fortune and engendering a mad rush to colonize Africa among European
nations.
23. White Man’s Burden
Phrase coined by Rudyard Kipling in his poem “The White Man’s Burden”. Concerning European
imperialism of the nineteenth century, this idea of the Europeans’ duty to “civilize” indigenous peoples
was based on the premise that colonization was actually a good thing for the conquered peoples because
it exposed them to the wonders of western civilization, including modern technology, trade, culture, and
the Christian religion. In his poem, Kipling goes so far as to suggest that Europeans are actually
sacrificing themselves for the good of the native Asians and Africans by going on dangerous missions
and fighting wars to colonize their lands. This view of imperialism implies a missionary-like “call to
civilize” that was often a cover for outright greed and hunger for power, as demonstrated by the above
example of Leopold II.
24. Scramble for Africa
The rush among European countries to colonize Africa following Leopold II’s official possession of the
Congo Free State following the Berlin Conference of 1884. Colonization of Africa provided the
opportunity for countries such as Germany, which had never before possessed large amounts of foreign
territory, to claim “a place in the sun” and gain larger international influence through the acquisition of
both markets for their consumer goods and sources of raw material and labor. The presence of gold and
other precious metals and minerals sparked even more enthusiasm for territorial acquisitions. This drive
to colonize was also engendered by the popular theories of European cultural and intellectual superiority
to Africans known as “social Darwinism”. By 1914, all of Africa was under European rule or
supervision except Ethiopia and Liberia.
25. The Third Republic
The republican government of France following the end of the reign of Napoleon III in 1870 until 1940.
France was a primarily agricultural nation at this time, and large separations existed between the rural
population and the urban population. This era would see a rise in the influence of and intellectual
interest in, the “mob mentality” and the idea of “the crowd” as a political entity. Yet, this era also
marked the beginning of the modern French national identity; compulsory education for all children
gradually wiped away the regionalism, superstitions, and the “peasant mentality” that had divided
France for so long. The spread of literacy and sources of information, such as newspapers, gave rise to a
greater mobility in the lower classes. Yet instances such as Boulanger’s attemp to reinstate an
authoritarian government, and the display of anti-Semitism that was the Dreyfus affair were notable
setbacks in what is typically known as an era of liberalism and advances in art (impressionism-Monet)
and consumer culture (Bon Marche)
26. General Boulanger
A popular minister of war who became the face of the rightist movement in fin-de-siecle France.
Through the use of a public relations campaign, Boulanger became known as a patriot and a romantic
figure who won the hearts of big business through his actions as a strike buster. Boulanger began a run
for national leadership in 1889, under the approving eye of right wing leaders who wanted the return of
an authoritarian, possibly monarchical, form of government. Rightists hoped that by securing enough
popular support for Boulanger through propaganda, the people would actually vote him into power.
However, these ambitions were thwarted when accusations of treason caused Boulanger to leave France.
His success was emblematic of a new breed of rightist that was rising in numbers and power at the end
of the nineteenth century; the hallmarks of this new Right were excessive nationalist sentiment and use
of symbols traditionally reserved for Leftist revolutionaries, such as the flag, to stir up support and
patriotism among ordinary people.
27. The Anti-Socialist Laws
Passed by Bismark in Germany in 1878, these laws made it illegal for Socialists to meet, raise money, or
distribute literature. Because of their criticism of capitalism and their interest in collaboration with
socialists in other nations, Bismark saw the existence of an organized socialist party as a threat to the
unified, stable Germany he had worked so hard to achieve. When the Socialists won a significant
portion of the Reichstag seats despite these laws, Bismark began to doubt the merits of universal
sufferage, causing increasing separation between him and the new emperor Wilhelm II and leading to
his eventual dismissal in 1890. These laws represent the efforts of the bourgeois class, represented in
Germany by Bismark, to quell the growing influence of Socialism, although the Socialist Party in
Germany was more in favor of gradual reforms then bloody revolutions. By 1914, the Socialists formed
the largest political party in Germany.
28. Socialist Revisionism - These socialists, a fixture of 19th century England, were not socialists in
the sense of “ultimate revolutionary confrontation but in the gradualist sense of a reformist
commitment to social justice.” Some prominent members included HG Wells and George
Bernard Shaw. The most prominent group of socialist revisionists was the Fabian Society. By
1900, the Fabians had thrown the bulk of their support behind an increasingly radical labour
party.
29. Ringstrasse - Vienna was modernized in the 1860s, and the old central city was separated from
the suburbs by the ringstrasse, or ring street, which set apart the urban from the ordinary. The
building of the street was a tangible move of confidence by the ruling class, and as well, a sign of
the measures it had to introduce to insure its dominance.
30. Russian Emancipation Proclamation (1861) – After the Revolutions of 1848, reform was
needed in Russia. By the 1850s, tsars and their advisors in Russia realized that serfdom was
uncivilized and morally wrong. Russia was the only European Power that had not abolished
serfdom. Freeing the serfs was a complicated affair, but Russian defeat in the Crimean War was
viewed by the new tsar, Alexander II, as a testament to Russia’s backwardness. Abolition of
serfdom would permit a well-trained army to exist without fear of rebellion. Liberating the serfs
would also create a system of free labor necessary for industrial development. Alexander was
noted as saying, ‘It is better to abolish serfdom from above than to wait until the serfs begin to
liberate themselves. Alexander II signed the Russian Emancipation Proclamation in March,
1861. The edict allotted land to freed peasants while requiring the former serfs redemption
payments spread out over a period of 49 years. The peasant paid the state in installments, the
state reimbursed the landowner in lump sums. Emancipation affected 52 million peasants, more
than 20 million of them from private landowners. Abolition of serfdom still did not create the
floating proletariat of Western Europe nor did it solve Russian backwardness.
31. Pale of Settlement – At the end of the 19th century, Jews in Russia could not own property and
were forced to live in the Pale of Settlement on the Western edge of the Russian empire.
Following the assassination of Tsar Alexander II in 1881, Jews were blamed for the assassination
and the social instability that followed. The Jews were expelled from Moscow and St. Petersburg
as a result and pogroms, or organized massacres of the Jews occurred in the Pale of Settlement in
Kiev, Odessa, and Warsaw. Jews fled to France and London (where they became prominent in
the East end) or Vienna (where they were in ethnic slums) or New York City lower East side.
The pogroms recurred after the failed Russian revolution of 1905 and al in call, resulted in the
death and displacement of tens of thousands of Russian and eastern European Jews.
32. Emmeline Pankhurst – Around the turn of the century, growing numbers of middle class women
began calling themselves feminists. Two groups emerged, those who agitated for the vote and
those who that that suffrage was beside the point and that economic, social and legal reforms
were more important. Emmeline Pankhurst was part of the first strain in Great Britain and saw
the need for a broad, consolidated base of support. In 1903 she helped from the Women’s Social
and Political Union (WSPU). With her training as a lawyer and her two daughters, Sylvia and
Christabel, Pankhurst succeeded in keeping women’s suffrage before the British public and
brought the plight of British women to international attention. She came to advocate violence
against personal property to highlight violence done to women and was arrested for a protest
outside Buckingham Palace on May 1, 1914.
33. Narodniki – Despite the Reforms of Alexander II, Russia had not liberalized enough to satisfy
the critics. Between 1860 and 1870, a young generation of intelligentsia educated in the West
began to protest the existing order in Russia. In 1873, the imperial government began to see this
group as a threat and ordered students studying in Switzerland to return. These students joined
forces and traveled from village to village, attempting to radicalize the peasants. Many ended up
exiled in western Europe, but those who remained chose violence as the only effective weapon
against absolute rule. These radical Russian populists known as the Narodniki “Will of the
People” decided that terrorism and assassination were the best strategy and condemned the tsar
to death. Alexander survived several attempts on his life by the Narodniki, but eventually a
terrorist bomb killed him in St. Petersburg in 1881.
34. Emile Zola – Emile Zola was a central figure in the Dreyfus Affair of 1894 in France. A novelist,
his letter “I Accuse” in 1898 pointed to the falsifications by Dreyfus’ superiors and attacked the
military and judiciary for framing Dreyfus and collusion against him. The article appeared in a
French newspaper and was influential in securing Dreyfus’s eventual exoneration and the
discovery of the real culprit. Zola’s article was important because it represented a writer
engaging in politics on behalf of the vulnerable. The press and the intellectuals emerged as
shapers of public opinion largely as a result of Zola’s article and the surrounding Dreyfus Affair
35. Anti-Semitism – As Jews began to move from rural areas to urban areas, they became scapegoats
for high rates of unemployment and high prices that seemed to follow their migration. The term
anti-Semitism was first coined by Wilhelm Marr’s anti-Semitic Party in Germany in 1879,
creating hostility towards the Jews as an official platform. Anti-Semitism was particularly bad in
Russia where Pogroms killed or displaced tens of thousands of Russian and eastern European
Jews. In Austria, anti-Semitism became a mass political movement as Georg von Schonerer’s
pan-Germanist movement and society for the Defense of the Handworker caused riots and
violence against the Jews in the 1890s. In France and Germany, Jews became targets in hard
times because they controlled the banking and commercial firms. The professional success of
Jews in France, Germany and Austria was associated with democratic, liberal and cosmopolitan
tendencies that anti-Semitics were consciously rejecting. The solution to anti-Semitism for many
Jewish leaders was Zionism, the movement of Jews to new national territory.
36. Captain Alfred Dreyfus – Alfred Dreyfus demonstrates the anti-Semitic movement in France in
the 1890s. A Jewish army officer, Dreyfus was accused of selling military secrets to the
Germans, and his trial served as a lightning rod for hared of the Germans and hatred of the Jews.
Evidence of illegal activities and falsification came out in the mass media that indicated Dreyfus’
innocence and split the French public into pro-Deryfusards and anti-Dreyfusards. People on the
left supported Dreyfus and right-wing groups, the Catholic Church and virulent anti-Semites all
came together to “defend the honor of France.” Dreyfus was eventually granted a full pardon in
1905. The affair surrounding his innocence represented the ability of an individual to seek
redress against injustice and also represented the shift towards propaganda and public opinion as
political tools.
54. Battle of the Somme – A British offensive during WWI, which was usually planned to be the big
breathrough of the summer o f1916, instead had to be delayed because of the German attack at
Verdun until 1 July 1916. On the first day of battle, the British lost 57.470 casualties, the single
largest one-day loss in the history of the British army, and this went on to cost 623,907 Allied
and ~600,000 German casualties by the battle’s end on 18 November, 1916. The result was a
stalemate, which accomplished very little, although there is some speculation among historians
that it set the groundwork for a British victory later in the war. In terms of 10b, the Battle
illustrates the horrors of trench warfare and the effect of the Industrial Revolution in living detail
– the tank debuted and the machine gun was again terrifying against the enemy. In addition, TV
and media emerged as strong tools of propaganda – the battle was the first taste the British public
had of trench warfare, coming in the form of a propaganda film with original footage.
55. 14 Point Plan – American President Woodrow Wilson entered the negotiations at Versailles with
a plan of Fourteen Points that had been delivered before Congress in January of 1918. They
included the elimination of secret treaties, freedom of seas, removal of economic
barriers/equality of trade, reduction in arms, adjustment in colonial claims based on the rights of
the indigenous populations, evacuation of Russian territory and an acceptance of Russia on her
own terms, and then specific proposals dealing with French, Italian, Austria-Hungarian,
Romanian, Serbian, Montenegron, Turkish, and Polish land. Unfortunately, Wilson
accomplished little at the negotiations due to the interference of the French and British, who
proved stronger negotiators and manipulated his proposals to make them ineffective. In addition,
Wilson was unable to overcome the intense isolationism in the United States to gain ratification
of the League of Nations treaty. The 14 points can also be viewed as having a much more long
term effective because the values of self-determination that they included ultimately became a
destabilizing force in Central and Eastern Europe and may have even encouraged nationalism.
56. Council of four – The biggest leaders that emerged in 1919 Europe – Georges Clemenceau of
France, PM David Lloyd George of Great Britain, PM Vittorio Emanuele Orlando of Italy, and
President Woodrow Wilson of the US. Wilson, who took a liberal and idealistic view of the
peace released his 14 points early in 1918. In 1919, at the conference table, Clemenceau of
France, who took a view primarily motivated by his nation’s security, supported measures to
cripple Germany as a military power. In the peace, Germany was to be disarmed, Rhine River
territory was demilitarized and occupied by Allied troops (for up to 15 years), states in Eastern
Europe were created to act as a buffer to Germany. While Wilson justified these as a form of
self-determination, they were in fact self-defense measures. Ironically, they placed France in a
precarious situation by WWII, when they were faced with the prospect of defending these
territories from German aggression, and so it in some ways led to WWII. In addition, the peace
stipulated for the
57. Article 231 – This article in the Versailles Treaty, read “The Allied and Associated Governments
affirm and Germany accepts the responsibility of Germany and her allies for causing all the loss
and damage to which the Allied and Associated Governments and their nationals have been
subjected as a consequence of the war imposed upon them by the aggression of Germany and her
allies.” This and the articles that followed required Germany to make reparations and pay for the
effects of the war. This also justified a later invasion of German territory by French troops trying
to claim economic recompensation at the end of the war. In some part, the War Guilt Clause also
contributed to the fall of Weimar modernity because it led to the German government’s
excessive printing of bills (they planned to allow moderate inflation) as a way to pay back loses
to France without ruining their economy. This, of course, spiraled into hyperinflation and the
eventual fall of the Weimar Republic to Adolf Hitler. In addition, the reparations kept the
German populace angry and preserved French-German animosity
58. Sigmund Freud – Freud was the Austrian founder of the psychoanalytic school of psychology,
with his theory that unconscious motives control much behavior. He developed free association
and dream analysis in what is now know as the “talking cure”. He wrote Studies in Hysteria
(1895), The Interpretation of Dreams, Psychology of Everyday Life, and Three Essays on a
Theory of Sexuality. As a component of fin de siecle culture, it is debated whether Freud is a
progressive (for raising sexuality as a topic of discussion) or a conservative (because his theories
made the bourgeois more disciplined and regimented).
59. John Maynard Keynes – The founder of modern macroeconomics, Keynes was an Englishman
born in 1883 and his theories had a major impact on modern economic political theory and
FDR’s New Deal. He advocated government intervention in the form of fiscal and monetary
measures that tried to mitigate the impact of recessions, depressions, and booms. In this way,
Keynes represents a significant shift in thinking from a general, liberal idea of non-government
intervention to one of increasing government intervention as governments attempted to cope with
the Great Depression. After WWI, he was very critical of the peace crafted at Versailles (in his
Economic Consequences of the Peace) as unduly burdensome on Germany, something that was
seemingly demonstrated during the German collapse of 1923.
60. Erich Maria Remarque – Pseudonym of Erich Paul Remark, the German author of All Quiet on
the Western Front. This novel, which reflects the horrors of war, was so effective at garnering
anti-war support that the Nazi government burned and banned his works. The novel is reflective
of the horrors of industrial warfare, while it also focuses on the nationalistic tendencies and
manipulation of mass politics that falsely manipulated soldiers into going to war, Remarque also
details the effect of the war on soldiers, families, and an entire generation.
61. 11th hour, 11th day, 11th month, 1918 – The armistice date for the First World War. This
concluded a scourge that had ravaged Europe since 1914. Unfortunately, it also led to the Peace
of Versailles, which as described above (in “The Fourteen Points”, “Council of Four”, “Article
231”, and “John Maynard Keynes”) resulted in tension that built up to WWII. Instead of
building a stable peace, this would lead to an eventual second world war.
62. Menshevik/Bolshevik
The Mensheviks (term means “minority”) and the Bolsheviks (term means “majority”) were the
two opposing groups of Russian Social Democrats (Marxists) who rose to counter the Provisional
Government in 1917. Russia’s Provisional Government led by progressive liberals was established after
the abdication of the Tsar Nicholas II in early 1917. As Russia’s peasants (constituting 80 percent of the
population) demanded and seized land, as bread prices soared, and as the Provisional Government
fought desperately to encourage soldiers to keep fighting the war, the Mensheviks and Bolsheviks
debated the direction the coming revolution would take. The more moderate Mensheviks wanted to
work through parliamentary institutions and were willing to cooperate with the Provisional Government.
The smaller faction, the Bolsheviks, dedicated themselves to preparation for revolutionary upheaval.
After 1917, the Bolsheviks, led by Lenin, refused to work with the Provisional Government and
organized themselves to take control of the Petrograd Soviet, believing that all power resided with the
soviets and not the Provisional Government. In October 1917, the Bolsheviks, holding majorities in key
soviets, toppled the Provisional Government, and established a regime with Lenin as its leader.
63. Party Vanguard
The theory of a “party vanguard” was set forth by Lenin in his 1902 work, “What is to be
Done?” examining Russia’s dismal social, political, and economic situation. More a pragmatist than a
theoretician, Lenin argued for an elite, disciplined party of professional revolutionaries, a vanguard that
would lead the peasants and workers in a socialist revolution against capitalism. In contrast to the
Mensheviks, he argued that the time was ripe for successful revolution and that it could be achieved
through the soviets [ See ‘Menshevik/Bolshevik’ ID]. The October Revolution of 1917 was orchestrated
by Lenin and his vanguard of Bolsheviks.
64. General Strike
The “General Strike” of 1905 was declared by soviets, holding the idea that workers would
spontaneously rebel. In 1905, the workers of St. Petersburg had protested the hardships due to cyclical
downturns in the economy. On a Sunday in January 1905, the tsar’s troops fired on a peaceful mass
demonstration in front of the Winter Palace, killing scores of workers, women, and children appealing to
the tsar for relief. This event, known as ‘Bloody Sunday,’ set off a revolution that spread to Moscow and
the countryside. The revolution led the Russian state to make certain parliamentary concession including
the legalization of political parties and the establishment of the Duma, or the national parliament.
65. April Theses
Returning to Petrograd from exile in Switzerland, Lenin challenged the Provisional Government
with the release of his April Theses. In his April Theses, he promised the Russian people peace, land,
and bread. The war must be ended immediately, he argued, because it represented an imperialist struggle
that was benefiting capitalists. Russia’s duty was to withdraw and wait for a world revolution. That was
more than rhetoric on Lenin’s part. His years in exile in the west and news of mutinies and worker
protests convinced him that revolution was imminent. His revolutionary policies on land were little more
than endorsements of the seizures already taking place all over Russia. Even his promises of bread had
little substance. But on the whole, the April Theses constituted a clear critique of the policies of the
Provisional Government.
66. Intelligentsia
While the Provisional Government was trying to deal with the devastating social and economic
conditions of the country, many members of the intelligentsia (including Lenin)—Russia’s educated
class, who had been exiled by the tsar for their political beliefs—now rushed back from western Europe
to take part in the great revolutionary experiment. Theorists of all stripes put their cases before the
people. Those who were in favor of gradual reform debated the relative merits of various government
policies with those who favored violent revolution [See ‘Menshevik/Bolshevik ID]. The months
between February 1917 and July 1917 were a period of great intellectual ferment. It was the Marxists,
the Social Democrats, who ad the greatest impact on the direction of the revolution.
67. Duma
Responding to the uprisings of 1905, the Tsarist instituted a series of reforms that legalized
political parties and established the Duma, or national parliament. Like the calling of the Estates
General, the tsar established the Duma with the hope of defusing revolutionary sentiment. After the
abdication of the Tsar in February 1917, the Duma established the Provisional Government, composed
of progressive liberals, in the hope of establishing democratic and constitutional rule. The Duma
appointed Provisional Government was forced to compete with the soviets—committees or councils
elected by workers and soldiers and supported by radical lawyers, journalists, and intellectuals in favor
of socialist self-rule—as the center for authority.
68. The Bourgeois Revolution, 1905
In 1905, the workers of St. Petersburg had protested the hardships due to cyclical downturns in
the economy. On a Sunday in January 1905, the tsar’s troops fired on a peaceful mass demonstration in
front of the Winter Palace, killing scores of workers, women, and children appealing to the tsar for
relief. This event, known as ‘Bloody Sunday,’ set off a revolution that spread to Moscow and the
countryside. In a move toward a constitutional monarchy, the regime responded to the disruptions with a
series of reforms that legalized political parties and established the Duma, or national parliament.
Peasants, oppressed with their own burdens of taxation and endemic poverty, launched mass attacks on
big landowners throughout 1905 and 1906. The government met the workers’ and peasants’ demands
with a return to repression in 1907. In the half-decade before WWI, the Russian state stood as an
autocracy of parliamentary concessions blended with severe police controls.
69. NEP (The New Economic Policy)
In an effort to restore economic and political stability after the Russian Civil War, the NEP, a
dramatic shift from socialist theory, allowed Russian producers to engage in some capitalist practices.
Attempting to counter crippling poverty and to generate capital for industrialization, the NEP, led by
Nikolai Bukharin, established a system of individual farms and private accumulation. Agriculture
operated through market system, peasants controlled their own surpluses, and rural prosperity generated
profits for industrial development. The policy stood in stark contrast to Stalin’s later plan to feed
industry by starving the agricultural sector. Collective and large-scale farming had to be deferred
indefinitely in order to reconcile the peasantry to the state. In 1928 a war scare and a fall in the food
prices led to an economic crisis. The failure of the NEP led to the rise of Stalin.
70. Gulag: Soviet forced labor camps often in remote parts of Russia such as the Far North or Siberia
where Stalin (see 74.) eventually sent over 8 million prisoners, including common criminals and
political and religious dissenters. Particularly popular form of punishment beginning in the
1930’s, though remained at least partially in existence into the Gorbachev reign. Prisoners of the
camps completed many large industrial projects for the Soviet Union, including canals, railroads,
and hydroelectric stations. Conditions were harsh, and many people died from poor nutrition,
exhaustion, etc. Described by Alexander Solzhenitsyn in The Gulag Archipelago, as well as by a
few journalists in the late half of the twentieth century.
71. Soviet: First referred to “worker’s councils” that proliferated after the revolution of 1905 (see
68.) Committees were elected by soldiers and workers, and were supported by radical lawyers,
journalists, intellectuals etc. who favored self-rule. Their power and prominence as well as
conflict with many of the policies and goals of the Duma (see 67.) guaranteed an unstable
relationship and governing system that would come to an end in 1917. The most famous and
powerful was the Petrograd Soviet, which the Bolsheviks (see 62.) took control of in April 1917
under the leadership of Lenin (see 73.) In July 1917, there was an increase in popular support for
the soviets, where the upper classes could not vote, due to dissatisfaction with the Provisional
Government and the war, as well as the growing influence of the Bolsheviks. Of course, later,
the word became part of the identification of the first organization to achieve the implementation
of communism, the USSR, officially established in 1922.
72. October, 1917: Marked the true seizure of power by the Bolsheviks led by Lenin. Actually
occurred in November according to Western calendars. After the July Days, the prime minister
of the Provisional Government, Kerenski, allowed for the arming of the Red Guards of the
Petrograd Soviet in order to avoid a coup from the right. In “October,” these Red Guards seized
control of the Russian capital, in an action that had been carefully organized by Lenin and his
vanguard and directed by Leon Trotsky. Lenin had returned in secret from Finland, and walked
the streets of Petrograd in disguise as the Red Guard seized public buildings and communication
centers. Members of the Provisional Government were arrested, but Kerenski fled, and almost
no blood was spilled during the entire seizure of power (the tsar was executed almost a year
later.) The All-Russian Congress of Soviets endorsed the new government and effectively gave
complete power to Lenin and his Bolsheviks. Represented the realization of Marxism and the
beginning of the most enduring experiment in an alternative to bourgeois society. Was followed
by a period of civil war between White and Red Armies.
73. Vladimir Illych Lenin: Also known as Vladimir Ilyich (in the book there is only one “l”)
Ulyanov, but Lenin was his more famous revolutionary name. Spent most of his early life in
exile or in prison, so was relatively old at the time of the revolution (47). Held an ideology
slightly different from the communism of Marx, in that he believed that an elite vanguard of the
party should lead peasants and workers through the revolution. Unlike Marx, he did not believe
that a country, especially Russia needed to go through the progression of feudalism to bourgeois
society to crisis, but rather could move straight from essentially feudalism to socialism, and
planned his revolution in Russia accordingly. He found himself at the head of the Bolsheviks,
and oversaw their rise to power in October 1917 (see 72.) He negotiated the Treaty of BrestLitovsk with the Germans during WWI. During the civil war, he extended his dictatorial
powers; could not find a solution to the food shortages that Russia was experiencing. His rule
after the war was characterized by a government in the hands of the Party, a new socialist
society, and the stimulation of growth in industry through the NEP (see 69.) After his death in
1924, the most powerful leaders in the party were left to decide who should take his place, with
Stalin (see 74.) eventually winning out.
74. Stalin: Ruled the Soviet Union as dictator from 1928 until 1953. Originally from Georgian (not
Russian) shoemaking family. Against his father’s wishes, gained a decent education through
which he learned about revolutionary socialist politics, and dropped out of school to become a
revolutionary and follower of Lenin in 1899. As commissar for nationalities and then later as
general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist party, Stalin kept close ties to
Lenin and revealed his capacity for political maneuvering. Though he knew little about the
West, his non-Russian heritage meant he was adept at dealing with ethnic and religious
minorities. Lenin’s death in 1924 marked the beginning of his rise to ruler of the Soviet Union.
He began creating a cult around the personality of Lenin, and at the same time eliminating his
political competition. The crisis of the NEP in 1928 provided him with the opportunity to end
the lives and influence of Trotsky (ice pick) and Bukharin (trial and execution), the two most
powerful members of the party after Stalin himself. Once in power, Stalin introduced the system
of five year economic plans, the first of which was launched in 1929 (see 75.), and encouraged
the formation of the Comintern, the international association for promoting and coordinating
communist revolutions around the world. Stalin’s regime was also characterized by severe
brutality and repression—during the so-called Great Purge, which lasted from 1934-1938, he
systematically eliminated “class enemies” who were tortured and forced to make false
confessions as well as appear in “show trials.” He also sent about 8 million people to the gulags
(see 70.) [Stalin also led his country through the “Great Patriotic War,” but I assume whoever
does the WWII id’s will cover his role in that. If not, it can be found on pages 928-931]
75. First Five Year Plan: Stalin saw growth in industry as a way to preserve socialism, as
revolutionary movements in other parts of Europe were not materializing. A year after coming
to power, he announced the First Five Year Plan, which outlined the movement of the Soviet
economy to one of urban industrialization, with steel and iron central to its success. Between the
years of 1929 and 1937 (which also included the 2nd 5-Yr. Plan), industrial output increased
between 300 and 600 percent. The workforce was created from agricultural workers and
peasants, as well as many women. Collectivization of farms was Stalin’s answer to the grain
crisis, and he systematically confiscating private land and deporting kulaks, or “tight-fisted”
wealthy peasants, causing misery and hardship for millions of people. After only three years the
plan was deemed as a success (mostly as a publicity ploy), after it had laid the foundations of the
planned industrial economy that would characterize the Soviet Union under Stalin where
bureaucracy made every decision on production, distribution, and pricing.
76. Treaty of Brest-Litovsk: Peace treaty signed between Russia and Germany in March 1918,
initiated by Lenin in his attempt to get Russia out of the war as quickly as possible. Was
humiliating in many ways for Russia: it lost vast amounts of territory reducing it to its size
during the Muscovite period. It gave Germany and Austria-Hungary its territories in Poland, the
Baltics, and Byelorussia. The Ukraine, Finland, and Georgia were made independent, and
Russia returned territories near the Black Sea to Turkey. Lenin felt that though the treaty
represented great losses for Russia, that he had no other choice as he tried to consolidate the
revolution at home. He was also hoping that the revolution would extend to Germany and soften
the treaty. The treaty was seen by many as a betrayal by both the Allies who were fighting with
Russia in the war and officers and soldiers inside Russia who had sacrificed a great deal in battle.
These unhappy parties formed and supported the White Army during the civil war.
77. Spartacists: The Spartacists, who took their name from the slave rebel Spartacus, were an
extreme German socialist group headed by Karl Leibnecht and Rosa Luxemburg founded 1915
that gained prominence during and immediately after the First World War. Dedicated followers
of Lenin, they advocated a communist revolution in Germany equal to the Bolshevik revolution
in Russia rather than democratic reform. They helped found the German Communist Party
before they were destroyed by rightist forces in January 1919. They represented the socialism
that Germany eventually feared so much in the years before WWII, and to which Nazism was
largely a response.
78. Hyperinflation, 1923--After the war, the German government printed excess money as opposed
to levying
new taxes in order to pay off its war debt. This meant that the value of money
went down considerably, and the German standard of living went down considerably. 1 in 3
Germans had full time work, and, literately, at times printed money was not worth the paper it
was printed on.
79. French Occupation of the Ruhr--In a post-war territorial concession, France received Alsance
and Lorraine, which they had lost in the Franco-Prussian war. Further, France occupied a
demilitarized German territory, the Rhineland, in 1923 in order to try to force Germany to pay
reparation payments. In the face of UK/American pressure, France withdrew in 1924-1925,
agreeing that the best solution was for Germany to grow economically.
A German region, the Saarland, was put under League of Nations control. The Saar Coal mines
were put under the control of France, until 1935, when they were returned to Germany in a
plebiscite.
80. Locarno Treaties--The Locarno treaties were part of a 1920s wave of treaties with pacifistic
aims. These particular treaties, engineered in Switzerland primarily by the French, British, and
Germans, contained pledges from the French, Germans, and Belgians never to go to war with
each other again and to respect their demilitarized zones. These treaties, with no effective
enforcement mechanisms, did not stop any country from rearming.
81. March on Rome--Mussolini, a former socialist, was on the rise in Italy. Promising efficiency and
security, he turned down a place in government in 1922. Instead, following takeovers in Milan
and Bologna, he and his forces took over and occupied the capital. Armed terror gangs attacked
political enemies, and opposition parties resigned in protest. While this threatened his
government temporarily, eventually the fascists had complete control of the government in a
one-party dictatorship.
82. Beer Hall Putsch --Hitler and the Nazi party’s first attempt to come to power occurred in 1923.
The name comes from the place at which the event occurred, in Munich. Hitler served a prison
sentence (9 months out of a five year sentence) for the attempted coup, where he wrote Mein
Kampf. Hitler comes to power, legally, in 1933, when he becomes Chancellor. The Beer Hall
Putsch was Hitler’s first attempt at power.
83. Ethiopia 1935--Looking to increase his power at home, Italy invaded and defeated the
independent state of Ethiopia and its ruler, Haile Selassie, in 1935. While Britain and France
condemned the action, the League of Nations did nothing. One of the consequences of the event
were the beginnings of Italy’s alliance with Germany, the nation which did not condemn the
invasion of Ethiopia.
84. NSDAP--The NSDAP is the original name of the National Socialist, or NAZI party, which rose
with Hitler to prominence in 1930s Germany. As a fascist party, the NAZIs believed in a
powerful state but not necessarily benefits for the poor or underclass. The German party was
supported by a propaganda machine and a pseudo-military police force, both which helped
facilitate ultimate control of government.
85. Action Francais-- The preeminent French fascist group. Action Francais - reactionary movement
in France, anti-Semitic, which grew in popularity during Great Depression. Believed in french
culture, purging France of foreign influences. The group the attacked popular front government
the socialist government and helped establishment of conservative pro-business government in
France in 1937. The group is similar to fascist movements in Spain, Britain, Germany and Italy,
which suggests a European movement.
86. Sudetenland- As part of Hitler’s plan for the rise of the new Germany, he sought the unification
of all German speaking Aryans, including those outside the contemporary German borders.
After his rise to power as Chancellor, and emboldened by his successful “peaceful” takeover of
Austria, he turned his eye toward the Sudetenland, an area of Czechoslovakia whose population,
according to Hitler, was rightly part of the German empire. Not only was he looking for
unification however, but also for the elimination of one obstacle in his quest for living space
farther east. Chamberlain, the British Prime Minister led his country, France and
Czechoslovakia in a policy of appeasement, ceding the Sudetenland to Germany at Munich in
1838, one day before German troops were scheduled to invade Czechoslovakia.
87. Dawes Plan – After WWI, France was determined to place both economic and moral blame on
Germany for the war. This came in the form of forced reparations that drove the German
government to print excess currency and resulted in the hyperinflation of 1924. Britain and
France realized this system was unsustainable so in 1924 they developed a plan that would allow
Germany to prosper economically while still paying back the reparations on a more realistic
schedule. They not only created this new schedule but also gave Germany a loan from American
banks to get payments started.
88. Vichy- The Vichy government was established in France after the country was invaded by
Germany in 1940. The former WWI hero of France, Petain, yielded to German aggression and
signed an armistice, creating the Vichy right wing government over two-fifths of France (the
other three-fifths was ceded by Germany) that would be aligned with the Germans for the rest of
the war. The Vichy government and the Right Wing success came on the heels and was
probably made more possible by the recent failure of the Left in France, with the collapse of the
Leon Blum’s Popular Front government. The subsequent fall of Vichy France at the close of the
war opened the way for Charles de Gaulle’s return from exile to power.
89. Munich Conference- This was the meeting at which British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain,
Mussolini, Hitler, and the French Prime Minister met to discuss Hitler’s demands for the cession
of the Sudetenland in 1938. Believing that giving Hitler what he wanted would protect England
and France as well as avoid war, Chamberlain decided to fall into a policy of appeasement,
ceding the Sudetenland to Germany. While this averted the threatened invasion of
Czechoslovakia at least temporarily, it did not bring the “lasting peace” Chamberlain hoped for
and within months the appeasement failed and multiple countries began to fall into the hands of
Hitler and his German empire.
90. Anschluss- Hitler’s first step in the reunification and geographic strengthening of Germany was
the annexation of Austria, or Anschluss, in 1938. Without firing a shot, Hitler rolled into Austria
and conquered it by intimidating the Austrian government and rigging an election putting the
Nazis into official power. This was Hitler’s first move to unify all those he considered the
German people under one nation and was also his assertion to the world that the new Germany
would be unwilling to follow the rules it had been confined to.
91. Great Patriotic War- Hitler invaded Soviet Union in June 1941, bringing three million men into
the USSR. At first, a scorched-earth policy and a huge German advantage in troops and
technology brought the Soviet Union to its knees. When the winter set in however, the German
troops were crippled by the lack of food and supplies because of their own destruction and were
further decimated when the Soviets took advantage of their unpreparedness by launching a
massive attack on the Germans. Hitler’s last siege in the Soviet Union occurred in Stalingrad,
where the German attempt to conquer the city failed at the hands of the second Russian winter.
The Soviets were able to defend themselves against this attack primarily because of the huge
number of peasants who joined the army despite the massive amount of casualties.
92. Battle of Britain- Following the fall of France, Britain found themselves alone in the battle
against Germany and Italy. The Germans attacked the British in the Battle of Britain in the fall
of 1940. Raids on aircraft and military centers shifted to attacks against civilians in the bombing
of London and other industrialized cities. Winston Churchill, Chamberlain’s successor as Prime
Minister led the British people in morale, finally leading to the defeat of the German aircraft
because of the performance of the British Royal Air Force and the continuing industrial
production. Hitler abandoned the Battle of Britain.
93. Nuremberg Laws- The Nuremberg Laws, established in 1935 were a legalized form of AntiSemitism, identifying Jews, depriving them of their citizenship, and forbidding intermarriage or
extramarital relations between Jews and non-Jews. These actions put into law Germany’s
increasing antagonism toward Jews and other non-Aryans, leading to kristallnacht, the
destruction of synagogues and Jewish businesses, the formation of ghettos, and eventually to the
“Final Solution”.
94. (Reichs)kristallnacht
 “Night of broken glass”
 Pretext: German diplomat shot by Polish Jew
 November 9, 1938: synagogues burned, stores owned by Jews looted, books and
valuables confiscated; Jews also made to pay for clean up



Many Jews beaten, about 91 killed, and 20,000-30,000 imprisoned in concentration
camps; victims fined and arrested
Government claimed that this was the will of the German people; state-sanctioned
violence by Brownshirts (storm trooper paramilitary thugs)
Soon after, Jews banned from schools and most public places
95. Wannsee Conference, January, 1942
 Meeting of top Nazi leaders in a suburb of Berlin to plan “Final Solution” policy of racial
extermination and mass murder; responsibility placed with Heinrich Himmler and SS;
extermination never explicitly mentioned
 Initially, executions performed by SS; prisoners in Poland and USSR shot and buried in
mass graves
 Gas extermination introduced; first in trucks with exhaust fumes, then using Zyklon B
gas in gas chambers
 First extermination camp: Chelmno, Poland, 1,500,000 killed between 1941 and 1944;
most infamous camp – Auschwitz (see Levi’s Survival in Auschwitz)
 Along with Jews, many homosexuals, Soviet prisoners, gypsies, political prisoners, and
sick were killed
 Prisoners taunted and abused by German guards; many died in railroad cars or as forced
laborers; once in the camps, sick and aged, small children, and pregnant women
immediately sent to the gas showers
 Complete policy of dehumanization, destroying families
96. Battle of Stalingrad, summer 1942-Feb 1943
 Second major offensive of German invasion of Soviet Union
 Stalingrad was an important strategic objective – large city, link between northern and
southern Russia, key to oil fields of Caucasus
 Attack led by German 6th Army; constant bombardment practically destroyed the city, but
Soviet 62nd Army under Gen. Chuikov fought street-to-street with their backs to the
Volga River and halted the German advance
 As winter approached and German supplies ran low, Soviets counterattacked and
encircled the Germans; however, under orders from Hitler, Germans fought on until
forced to surrender on January 31st
 Of 6th Army, fewer than 100,000 survived to be imprisoned and only 5,000 ever reached
Germany again; total Axis dead: 800,000; total Soviet dead: over 1,000,000
 Farthest German advance in Russia; huge morale-booster for Soviets and celebrated
victory to this day
97. Warsaw Ghetto
 As part of the “Final Solution,” the Nazis herded Jews into ghettoes; in Warsaw, the old
Jewish quarter of the city was walled in and over 500,00 Jews were moved in;
 Living conditions were terrible, and many thousands died of starvartion
 In July 1942, the Nazis began to move Jews to the death camp at Treblinka; by
September, only 55,000 remained




The Jewish Fighting Organization was formed; when more deportations were announced
in January 1943, resistance erupted and the Germans withdrew
In April, the SS attacked but was repulsed by the fighters; however the SS changed its
tactics and decided to raze the entire ghetto
Resistance lasted a month until the Germans killed or deported all Jews and dynamited
the Great Synagogue: “The Jewish Quarter of Warsaw is no more!”
Resistance had broken out once it was clear that there was no hope of survival; the Jewish
fighters were up against overwhelming odds
98. June 6, 1944
 D-Day
 Operation Overlord: massive amphibious and airborne invasion of Normandy in northern
France by the Allies
 2.2 mil U.S., British, and Free French under Gen. Eisenhower
 By nightfall, beachheads established
 Germans hampered by long coastline to defend and by Hitler’s interference; also allied
air supremacy was essential
 By August, Allies were on the offensive and sweeping south towards Paris as more
troops were landed; Paris liberated August 25th
 U.S. and Britain thus fulfilled commitment to Soviet Union to open a new front on the
continent and relieve German pressure on Russia; also liberation of France was a huge
victory
 After Battle of the Bulge in December 1944, Allies crossed the Rhine by March; Berlin
fell in April to the Russians and official German surrender on May 8, 1945
99. August 6, 1945
 Atomic bomb dropped by American plane on Hiroshima in Japan
 In the face of continued Japanese resistance to firebombing bombing and the bloody
fighting on Iwo Jima and Okinawa, U.S. President Truman decided that it would be less
costly to drop bomb than to invade Japanese home islands
 Hiroshima chosen as military and industrial target
 78,000 dead immediately; death toll reached 140,000 by December; also many, many
people developed cancers from radiation sickness; thousands wounded and scarred
 Another atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki on August 9; Japan formally surrendered
unconditionally on September 2nd
 Debate over use of bomb: general consensus among American leadership, but some
argued that Japan was already close to surrender – Eisenhower voiced misgivings – and
scientists working in atomic project objected on moral grounds
 Hiroshima marked beginning of atomic age; the atomic bomb was an important weapon
for post-war America as leverage against the Soviets; arms race: USSR tested its first
bomb in 1949, hydrogen bombs developed in 1953, later ICBMs; changed warfare
between great powers – deterrence and cold, rather than hot, war
100. Marshall Plan
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After initial attempts to stabilize European economies stalled, U.S. Secretary of State
George C. Marshall introduced European Recovery Act (at Harvard Commencement!).
Billions of dollars of aid made available to European states provided that states cooperate
with one another to align economic policies and improve international monetary system
and work to reduce trade barriers
Participating countries: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, West Germany, Great
Britain, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden,
Switzerland, and Turkey; Soviets opposed plan
Total aid: $23 billion between 1947 and 1952 – mostly grants, with some loans; restored
Western European trade and production while controlling inflation; Office of European
Economic Cooperation created to administer Marshall Plan
Keynesian economics to control and regulate business cycle, provide safety net; limited
nationalization and intensified planning except in free-market West Germany
Shift from European balance of power to East vs. West split
101. Yalta Conference
 Meeting in February 1945 between Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin at Black Sea resort to
plan final defeat and occupation of Germany; previous meeting at Teheran in 1943; later
in 1945 in Potsdam
 Decided upon total dismantling of Axis governments; industry and armaments dismantled
also; trials of German and Japanese leaders as war criminals;
 Germany would be divided into different zones of occupation
 U.N. discussed, planned
 Main point of contention: fate of Eastern Europe. Realistically, Russian troops occupied
the countries of Eastern Europe and there was little the Anglo-Americans could do; Stalin
did not allow free elections as promised and instead established communist governments
 Stage set for Iron Curtain and Cold War
110.Sputnik - any of a series of artificial Earth satellites whose launching by the Soviet
Union beginning on October 4, 1957, inaugurated the space age. These satellites
were very important to the course of the cold war. In attempting to perpetually beat
each other in every facet of international relations, the sputnik series exemplified a
Russian victory in space exploration as it showed the Soviet Union’s ability to get into
space before America. However, it nonetheless showed how while America was not
alone in their superior technology at this time, the importance of Russian’s ability to
get into the air first was quickly nullified by American’s future superiority in
technology.
111.Détente – was the approach to foreign policy taken by Richard Nixon and his secretary of state
Henry Kissinger during the time period of the cold war. Kissinger through this policy hoped to
achieve his belief that "peace was not a universal realization of one nation's desires, but a
general acceptance of a concept of international order." Therefore he negotiated a treaty with
Brehzne of Russia called the Salt 1 treaty signed in Moscow in 1972. The treaty set serious
limitations on the technology that both the Soviet Union and United States were able to create
and deploy for war in the future.
112.Dominion status - A Dominion is a wholly self-governing or virtually self-governing state of the
British Empire or British Commonwealth, particularly one which reached that stage of
constitutional development in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Prior to attaining Dominion
status these states have always been a Crown colony, under direct rule from Britain and/or a
self-governing colony, or they have been formed from groups of such colonies. World War II,
which fatally undermined Britain's already weakened commercial and financial leadership and
heightened the importance of the United States as a source of military assistance, further
loosened the political ties between Britain and the Dominions. The Dominions Office merged
with the India Office as the Commonwealth Relations Office upon the independence of India
and Pakistan in August 1947, and the term Dominion fell out of general use as India's adoption
of republican status in January, 1950 signalled the end of the former dependencies' common
constitutional connection to the British crown (although Ireland had already dropped its oath of
allegiance to the King in 1937): henceforth continuing willing members of what was
subsequently styled the Commonwealth agreed to accept the British monarch as head of that
association of independent states. Éire had formally ceased to be a member seven months on the
declaration that it was to be described officially as the Republic of Ireland. South Africa was at
one point an English dominion until the Boer War at the very end of the nineteenth century.
113.Dutch Boer - English domination of the Dutch descendents (known as Boers or Afrikaners)
resulted in the Dutch establishing the new colonies of Orange Free State and Transvaal. The
discovery of diamonds in these lands around 1900 resulted in an English invasion which sparked
the Boer War. However, English had little success in attempting to reassert power over the
Dutch powers. Following independence from England, an uneasy power-sharing between the
two groups held sway until the 1940's, when the Afrikaner (Boer) National Party was able to
gain a strong majority. Strategists in the National Party invented apartheid as a means to cement
their control over the economic and social system.
114.Apartheid - Initially, aim of the apartheid was to maintain white domination while extending
racial separation. With the enactment of apartheid laws in 1948, racial discrimination was
institutionalized. Race laws touched every aspect of social life, including a prohibition of
marriage between non-whites and whites, and the sanctioning of ``white-only'' jobs. In 1950, the
Population Registration Act required that all South Africans be racially classified into one of
three categories: white, black (African), or colored (of mixed decent). The coloured category
included major subgroups of Indians and Asians. Classification into these categories was based
on appearance, social acceptance, and descent. For example, a white person was defined as ``in
appearance obviously a white person or generally accepted as a white person.'' A person could
not be considered white if one of his or her parents were non-white. The determination that a
person was ``obviously white'' would take into account ``his habits, education, and speech and
deportment and demeanor.'' A black person would be of or accepted as a member of an African
tribe or race, and a colored person is one that is not black or white. The Department of Home
Affairs (a government bureau) was responsible for the classification of the citizenry. Noncompliance with the race laws were dealt with harshly. All blacks were required to carry ``pass
books'' containing fingerprints, photo and information on access to non-black areas.
115.Truth and Reconciliation Committee – South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission is
charged with granting amnesty for political crimes, investigating past human rights violations,
and offering reparations to the victims. With the negotiated end to apartheid in 1993 the new
majority government faced the daunting task of addressing the political crimes of the previous
era. The Truth Commission has played a key role in facilitating transitional justice, and building
a more peaceful community. The Commission has also benefited from the credibility and clear
moral vision of its leader, Nobel Peace Prize recipient Bishop Desmond Tutu. Through the
Amnesty Committee, the Commission offers criminal and civil amnesty to individuals in
exchange for full confessions. All political crimes committed after the banning of the African
National Congress are eligible for amnesty. Individuals who do not confess their crimes may
still be subject to prosecution, and information from other confessions may be used in such
prosecutions. There are practical political reasons for such broad grants of amnesty. The white
minority is still economically and militarily powerful. It is very possible that the old regime
would begin a new uprising rather than face prosecution for their crimes. Also, without
confessions, there would not be enough evidence to effectively prosecute apartheid-era crimes.
Amnesty also suits the Commission's philosophical approach to justice. Justice is achieved not
by retribution, but by the restoration of community. Healing communities requires truth-telling,
forgiveness, acceptance and trust. The Human Rights Violations Committee investigates cases
of amnesty-era political violence and violations of human rights. This branch of the Commission
has held public meetings all across the nation, where victims of violence or human rights
violations can tell their stories. The third branch of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission is
the Reparation and Rehabilitation Committee. This Committee helps victims find needed
medical or psychological treatment. It also aids victims in such matters as securing pensions,
and providing an education for their children
116.Hybridity - The idea of nation is often based on naturalised myths of racial or cultural origin.
Asserting such myths was a very important part of the imperial process of the European colonies
over Africa and therefore an important feature of much imperial writing and indeed postcolonial
writing. The need for commonality of thought to encourage resistance became a feature of many
of the first postcolonial novels. ‘Hybridity' commonly refers to “the creation of new
transcultural forms within the contact zone produced by colonisation.” Hybridisation takes
many forms including cultural, political and linguistic. Pidgin and Creole are linguistic
examples. Thus this term displays the effects of the interactions between Dutch settlers in
Soutch Africa and the local African people.
117.Algeria - Indigenous Algerians were French subjects, but could only become French citizens if
they renounced Islam and Arab culture. Official posts could only be held by French speakers
and the primary school system set up the French did not teach Arabic. Algerians was not
permitted to hold political meetings or bear arms. They were subjected to strict pass laws that
required them to seek permission from the colonial authorities to leave their hometowns or
villages. As a result of this oppression there were many large-scale uprisings and support for
Algerian Independence was widespread. On VE day in 1945, as millions across Europe
celebrated their liberation from the Nazi's, 8000 Algerians marched in the city of Setif to
demand their own liberation from French rule. A number of French police and colonists were
killed when they tried to interfere with the demonstration. In the ensuing reprisal thousands of
Algerians were murdered. The Setif massacres brought many Algerians to the conclusion that
only armed resistance could force the French to withdraw. Ben Bella, who had been decorated
for bravery while fighting for the Free French Army against the Nazis, was one of the many
returning soldiers who joined the resistance. In 1954 he was one of the nine leaders who came
together to form the ALN, and its military wing, the FLN (National Liberation Front). Later that
year they launched a co-coordinated national uprising. One by one, as the rebels continued their
struggle, governments across the world began to recognise the FLN as the legitimate power in
Algeria. In April 1962 the people of France voted overwhelmingly for a settlement that
promised Algerian independence and on July 1st Algerians voted almost unanimously for
independence. The Algerian revolution was not a socialist revolution, though its leaders
sometimes used the language of socialism and did genuinely want to improve the lot of their
people. Ben Bella was elected president by a constituent assembly in July 1963 and his
government took many progressive measures. He distributed the huge European land estates
among the rural poor and nationalised parts of the economy