AYNTK: Contemporary Period: 1914 – Present
1. Hegemony of Western Europe broken up by 1945. 2 Superpowers emerged: USA/Soviet Union. Their rivalry, where neither fought each
other face to face (fought proxy wars instead), played out during the Cold War (ending in 1991).
2. International organizations (UN, NATO, COMECON, OPEC, etc.) became more popular.
3. Nationalism remained important (just as in 1750-1914), but took new forms because of ideas and movements such as fascism,
decolonization, racism, genocide, and the breakup of the Soviet Union.
4. Political revolutions were frequent and took two routes: 1. Democratic route. 2. Radical route.
5. Social reform/revolution changed gender roles, peasant protests, & helped spread Marxism and religious fundamentalism.
6. Globalization sped up (almost hyper-globalization). Interactions worldwide became more frequent.
7. Demographic changes featured a decline in Western populations, and environmentally the world continued to change because of
industrialization and the post-industrial world.
8. Civilization changed in the following areas and events:
a. World War I. 1914-1918. 9 mil soldiers killed. 21 mil injured. TOTAL WAR.
i. Pre-war buildup: causes!
1. Nationalism. Rivalries were intensified by it. Rivalry between GB/GER most intense of all EUR nations. Naval
arms race increase between the two (and the rest of the world).
2. Colonial disputes. Scramble for empire pitted many W.EUR nations against one another around the globe.
GB/FR = biggest colonial holders. GER = got a late start due to late unification in 1871.
3. Self-determination. Nationalism supported the idea that people with common national identities (thought
of themselves as the same) should form their own sovereign states. Pan-Slavism = belief of cultural kinship
amongst Slavic peoples that supported freedom from Austro-Hungarian rule (peoples: Czechs, Slovaks,
Serbs, Croats, Slovenes)
4. Entangling Alliances. Franz Ferdinand = heir to AUS/HUN throne, assassinated by a Serb nationalist, causes
chain-reaction of war declarations b/c of alliances. Prior to the war – GER allied w/ITA & AUS/HUN; GB allied
w/FR & RUS. RUS supported Serbia, GER supported AUS/HUN.
ii. WWI: total war fought between Triple Entente (FR, GB, RUS) & Central Powers (GER, A-H, OTT).
1. Total war implies high civilian casualties and civilian mobilization to support war efforts globally.
2. War Fronts: Eastern (RUS & Balkans)/Western fronts (E/NE FRA). Trench warfare prominent. Western front
stalemate (no one gaining/losing ground). Unrestricted sub warfare in ATL by GER.
a. RUS bowed out of war in 1917 as RUS people revolted against Tsar Nicholas II b/c of war
casualties/poor leadership. Allowed for Lenin & Bolsheviks to establish Marxist gov’t.
b. USA joined the war in 1917 b/c of Zimmerman Telegram & sinking of Lusitania.
3. Outside Europe: GB sent troops from OZ, NZ, IND to fight in EUR theater/worldwide, as did other colonial
powers. GB fought GER in AFR. JAP/CHI entered war on GB side, tried to oust GER from JAP/CHI. GB
promised Zionists & other middle-eastern nationalists sovereignty to get them to fight alongside GB vs. OTT
(ex: Balfour Declaration).
4. Home front: nations conscripted male citizens to fight, capitalism put on hold in many nations to support
war effort. Women worked traditional male jobs in place of husbands
5. New battlefield tech: chemical warfare, planes, tanks, machine guns, heavier artillery, blimps
iii. End of the War:
1. RUS out after 1917 Brest-Litovsk Treaty (gave GER lands in western RUS).
2. Treaty of Versailles.
a. GER must: pay reparations to Allies, admit guilt, disassemble army, give up gained territories (ex:
Alsace-Lorraine).
b. 14 Points: USA Pres. Wilson. Wanted to make world ‘safe for democracy.’ Only gets 1 of his 14
Points: League of Nations. Irony = US Senate wouldn’t ratify treaty, so USA never joined. LoN =
collective security. If one member was attacked, all fought!
c. Versailles: too punitive on GER. Good propaganda for people like Hitler later in time. GER/FR
wanted to punish GER, USA more lenient.
d. Self-determination fulfilled w/Poland for Poles, Czechoslovakia (Czechs/Slovaks), Yugoslavia
(Serbs, Croats, Slovenes), Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania.
e. Mandate system: antithesis of self-determination. Many Arab territories of OTT & GER colonies in
PAC/AFR given over to EUR powers to ‘oversee.’ Upsetting to many, including Arab nationalists.
GB – Palestine/Iraq; FR – SYR/Lebanon.
i. 1923 = Turkey. ITA/GRE tried taking Turk lands, Ataturk resisted & negotiated an free
Turkish republic. Most Arab lands not so lucky. Westernized & secularized TUR (highly
controversial amongst Muslims).
b. Europe Between the Wars. 1919-1938.
i. Economic crises:
1. GER = in process of repaying war debt. Borrowing $ from US to rebuild country in the process.
a. Experienced massive hyperinflation due to printing tons of Deutschmarks.
2. GB, FR = borrowing money from US to rebuild countries.
3. Most countries promoted high tariffs & protectionism to dig themselves out. Failed.
ii. Political trends:
1.
c.
d.
e.
Totalitarianism: Mussolini (ITA, in power by 1922), Hitler (GER, in power by 1933), Stalin (RUS).
Oppression! Stalin – purged all political opponents from RUS by 1938.
2. Nationalism: never disappeared after WWI. GER bitter b/c of Versailles (Hitler comes to power conveying
this message & being anti-Weimar Republic). GER nationalism took form of racism (i.e. persecution of Jews,
gypsies, Poles, etc.). Eugenics = scientific racism. Result = Holocaust (6 mil Jews, Gypsies, Poles died)
3. Fascism: in ITA first. Implied sacrifice of self/private industry for the country. Nazism: extreme form of
fascism.
4. Imperialism: GER (reunited w/AUS – Anschluss!, invaded Sudetenland). ITA (Ethiopia).
5. Alliances: after GER/ITA began grabbing territory, GB/FR allied once again. JAP joined GER/ITA.
World War II. 1939-1945. 2 theaters: Pacific & European.
i. 1938 – GER takes Sudetenland. Ends GB/FR policy of appeasement towards Hitler.
ii. 1939 – GER invades POL, GB declares war on GER, war starts.
iii. 1940 – GER takes FR. GER Wehrmacht unbelievably efficient/fast. Blitzkrieg = lightning war.
1. Southern FR = Vichy gov’t (collaborated w/Nazis). Northern FR = occupied by GER.
2. Battle of Britain. Just GB vs. GER, GER bombing/air raiding GB regularly.
iv. 1941 – GER battles USSR at Stalingrad. JAP attacks US @ Pearl Harbor. USA = in.
v. 1942 – USA v JAP in Pacific. USA = Island hopping towards JAP. Important wins @ Guadalcanal, Coral Sea, Midway.
Europe/Africa = USA/GB fighting GER in N.AFR., then Sicily, then Italy (landings @ Anzio).
vi. 1943 – ITA liberated by USA.
1. Tehran Conference – allies meet & decide a Western Front must open in EUR. D-Day!
vii. 1944 – D-Day landings in Normandy.
1. Final counteroffensive by GER during Battle of the Bulge (winter 1944). Fails.
viii. 1945 – Allies close in on Berlin. War ends in EUR w/Hitler’s suicide, unconditional surrender.
1. Yalta Conference – division of GER into 4 zones of occupation decided upon.
2. Potsdam Conference – Truman (USA) tells Churchill (GB) about atomic bomb. The two also protested
communist govts installed in E. EUR by Stalin.
3. PAC Theater = big USA battles at Iwo Jima and Okinawa.
4. PAC war ends after atomic bombs dropped at Hiroshima & Nagasaki.
a. Rationale: US would’ve lost 1 mil + lives invading JAP.
Aftermath of WWII & Beginning of the Cold War. 1946-1949.
i. 2 superpowers: USA/USSR. Ideologically opposed (democracy & capitalism v. totalitarian communism).
ii. End of Western European dominance globally.
iii. Decolonization in SE Asia, AFR, & Middle East, especially amongst former GB/FR colonies.
iv. Cold War Origins
1. GB, FR, USA knew Stalin wouldn’t play nicely after the Yalta conference, disliked him by Potsdam
2. USA/USSR never fight face to face. Proxy Wars = fighting an enemy through intermediaries.
3. USA & Soviets engage in an arms race. “He who has the most toys wins.” Soviets had an atomic bomb by
1949. Soviets then developed a hydrogen bomb by 1952.
4. Berlin = microcosm of Cold War. City divided into American western half, Soviet eastern half.
5. USA postwar policies = Truman Doctrine, Marshall Plan, & Containment.
a. TD = USA will support countries facing outside pressures. Aided GRE & TUR against communist
revolutions.
b. MP = help rebuild western EUR (ITA, FR, W.GER, GB) & forge stable democracies.
c. Containment = USA Cold War policy vs. Soviets until 1970’s. George Kennan (USA ambassador to
USSR). Keep communism where it is, don’t let it spread. The regime, because of the nature of
communism (being centrally planned & funded) will mess it up.
6. Multinational Organizations.
a. UN – United Nations. Global conference of countries to keep peace, ensure justice.
b. NATO – North Atlantic Treaty Organization. USA/CAN/W.EUR defensive alliance.
c. COMECON – Soviet equivalent of NATO.
The Cold War Proper. 1950-1991.
i. Proxy Wars & Other Conflicts
1. Korea – Site of the 1st Proxy war in the Cold War between USA/USSR.
a. 1948 – Korea split between communist north (controlled by USSR/China), democratic south
(controlled by USA).
b. 1950 – 1953 = Korean War. NK invaded SK, US troops w/UN came to aid of SK, CHI aided NK. A
ceasefire ended the conflict in 1953. Korean War = still going!, peninsula divided @ 38th parallel.
2. 1957 = Space Race begins. Soviets launch Sputnik satellite, US launches its own a few months later.
Continued through 1960’s, culminated w/the US moon landing in 1969.
3. Cuban Missile Crisis. October 1962. Closest the world ever was to nuclear war.
a. Soviets sent missiles & nuclear warheads via ships to Cuba, 90 mi. off Floridian coast.
b. Kennedy negotiated w/Nikita Khrushchev (USSR Premier), pulled USA missiles out of Turkey,
Khrushchev turned his ships around. Lasted 12 days. INTENSE for both sides.
4. 1963 = Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Signed by 137 countries, signed by GB, USA, USSR. Banned
underwater and atmospheric nuclear testing.
Vietnam – 2nd Proxy war in the Cold War.
a. 1954 = Ho Chi Minh (w/help of CHI) led revolutionaries to overthrow the French. The Viet Minh
gained the North, while non-communist gov’t was in the south. Civil war ensued. US/FR gave
support to South Vietnam & its leader Diem. This was part of the US policy of containment. Viet
Minh worked w/guerilla forces in South Vietnam (Viet Cong).
b. 1973 = War ends w/US pulling out of Vietnam.
c. 1975 = South/North Vietnam unite after communist forces broke the 1973 treaty and took over
the country.
Asia – WWI/WW2 – Asia involved. Most Asians concerned w/decolonization, not Cold War, afterwards.
i. India – British raj still in place. Many INDs knew ENG by this point & had adopted many GB customs. However INDs
discriminated in workplace/govt jobs. GB favored Brits over INDs.
1. 1919 = GB troops killed 370 IND protestors, sparking demonstrations throughout IND.
a. GB reluctantly afterwards gave Civil Service/military officer jobs to INDs.
b. Ind. Nat’l. Cong./Muslim League (Led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah) demands slowly met. Public
works & education reforms put under IND control.
2. 1930s = Gandhi led fasts/marches in protest of GB rule. Jailing Gandhi only made him more popular. Civil
disobedience, passive resistance. Passed leadership to Jawaharalal Nehru (man credited w/leading IND
into independence/modernity).
3. WWII = GB declared war for IND w/out consulting INDs, who protested. 2 million IND soldiers fought for GB.
Starvation in Bengal of over 2 mil INDs.
4. 1947 = Ind. Nat’l. Cong. Divided IND into 2 sovereign nations: Muslim Pakistan, Hindu India. Disputed
territory: Kashmir (very resource-rich, still divided in 2 today). Many refugees fled to be w/people of same
faith, violence ensued.
5. 1948 = Gandhi killed by a Hindu refugee.
ii. Japan – quickly becoming industrial/military power. VERY aggressive in the Pacific.
1. Economy growing faster than any Western powers.
2. Industrialization promoted Westernization in JAP. Poor farmers still ½ of population.
3. WWI: JAP on allied side, traded frequently w/other Allies.
a. Twenty-One Demands = guaranteed JAP control/access to resource-rich areas of CHI. China
boycotted & became very anti-JAP.
b. Conquered GER colonies in western PAC.
4. 1930’s = JAP hit hard by Depression. Saw colonial empire as way to regain prosperity, gain resources needed
to maintain prosperity.
a. Result: JAP aims to take Manchuria & does.
5. 1937-1945 = Sino-Japanese War. JAP troops gained Beijing, Shanghai, other coastal CHI cities. Took Nanjing
later, killed 200k CHI civilians, raping 20k CHI women, burned city. Chang Kai-shek’s & Mao Zedong’s forces
too weak to deal w/JAP, had to retreat to Western CHI, where Mao set up a communist gov’t.
6. 1940 = JAP moved to grab French Indochina.
a. US/GB halted oil, steel, rubber shipments to JAP as a result.
7. 1941 = Pearl Harbor. JAP retaliation for halted shipments. GER declared war on USA w/in a week.
8. JAP then occupied Thailand, the Philippines, Malaya, and all of the Dutch East Indies.
9. 1942 = USA defeated JAP at Coral Sea, Guadalcanal, Midway. Campaign of island-hopping northward from
Australia towards JAP. Bombed Tokyo 1942.
10. 1945 = Atomic bombs dropped at Nagasaki, Hiroshima. 200k JAPs die. JAP surrendered.
11. By 1975 JAP economy benefitted from Cold War as it concentrated on development of electrical, steel,
shipbuilding industries. World economic power!
iii. China – westerners & JAP controlling CHI up until Boxer Rebellion (1911), which resulted in the overthrow of the last
Qing emperor. Long struggle in booting out foreigners followed.
1. May 4th Movement: Protests led by students over JAP control of CHI territories.
2. Sun Yat-Sen restricted Guomindang w/Leninist ideals. Dies 1925. Heir: Chang Kai-shek.
3. Chang crushed regional warlords & united CHI, wanted: modernize, crush Communism.
a. Modernization didn’t happen due to gov’t inefficiency/ineptness.
4. Communists fled to Mao Zedong. 1934: Long March. Guomindang surrounded communists & escaped on 1
year journey. Thousands of Mao’s people perished.
5. 1937-1945 = Sino-Japanese War. CHI can’t compete w/JAP army.
6. 1945 = JAP surrender to USA prompted power vacuum in CHI (which was under JAP control in certain parts).
Chang Kai-shek/Mao Zedong battled it out in a 4 year civil war, ends w/Communists winning. Mao’s
communist party gained tons of popular support in the process.
7. 1949 = foundation of the People’s Republic of China by Mao & his communist supporters.
8. 1949 and onward: China biggest communist player in Asia ( though it received $ from USSR)
9. 1958-1966 = Mao’s Great Leap Forward. Attempt to make China an industrial power by collectivizing
agriculture and village-level industries. HEAVY PARTY DEVOTION! GLF resulted in 30 million deaths via
famine, not industrialization, though.
10. 1966 = Mao’s Cultural Revolution. Tried to mobilize youth to support the gov’t, ended w/factionalism &
violence, jailings & executions.
5.
f.
g.
11. 1971 = CHI reestablished ties w/the USA, gained seat on UN Security Council (diff. from USSR). Pres.
Nixon visits Beijing.
12. 1976 = Mao dies, followers divide into factions: radicals (Mao’s wife), Military, Moderates.
13. 1978 = Deng Xiaoping in power. Reforms CHI in 3 ways:
a. “Open Door” Trade Policy. Trade w/everyone, including capitalists like the USA.
b. Educational reforms. Higher academic standards, expansion of higher education.
c. Restoring of Gov’t Bureaucracy. Legal system restored, gov’t decentralized, capitalism infused
into CHI economy.
Decolonization – Once powerful Western European countries began letting go of colonial control worldwide because of debt
and tough financial crises AFTER WORLD WAR II. Happens in SE Asia, SW Asia, AFR.
i. Africa
1. Most AFR countries will gain independence in the 1960’s. Earliest = Libya (1951), latest = Namibia (1985).
2. 2 biggest Colonial powers in AFR = GB, FR. Open to giving independence to AFR colonies.
3. Belgium & Portugal less willing to give independence for AFR colonial holdings. BEL = didn’t prepare colonies
for independence. POR = held onto colonies longer than most EUR countries.
a. 1956 = FR turns over self-control to most of its colonies in AFR, but kept them in the FR empire.
b. 1957 = Ghana = 1st country to gain independence. GB colony.
c. 1959 = Belgium backs out of Belgian Congo & other central AFR colonies.
d. 1960 = Nigeria. Composed of 3 regions based on ethnicity (Hausa, Yoruba, Ibo). North = majority
Islam. South = majority Christianity.
e. 1960 = Guinea and Djibouti chose independence, but most of FR colonies chose self-control w/FR
protection (not entirely free).
f. 1962 = Ruanda-Urundi (Modern Rwanda/Burundi). Civil violence btwn Hutu/Tutsi.
4. South Africa – 20 % of population = white, 80 % native African.
a. ANC = African National Congress. Fought on side of native Africans.
b. 1948 = apartheid. Segregation of the races.
c. 1964 = Mandela sentenced to life imprisonment.
d. 1982 = ~1 mil AFRs transferred to Swaziland w/out any say in the matter.
e. 1990-1991 = Mandela released, elected president of the ANC.
f. 1993-1994 = Mandela receives Nobel Peace Prize, voted as SoAFR’s 1st black president.
ii. Southwest Asia/North Africa
1. Arabs & Muslims were promised much by GB & FR during WWI to get them to fight on the GB/FR side.
GB/FR went back on these promises after the war & colonized much of Southwest Asia. Independence,
like in AFR, came during DECOLONIZATION after WWII.
a. Iran & Oman = Never colonized.
b. 1923 = Turkey. Ataturk. Republic. Secular. Westernizing.
c. 1932 = Iraq, Saudi Arabia.
d. 1944-1948 = Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, ISRAEL.
e. 1960s-70s = Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Yemen.
2. Iran
a. 1925 = Colonel Reza Khan est. himself as Shah. Palavi Dynasty begins. Authoritarian, centralized
state & rule.
b. 1953 = Overthrow of Muhammad Reza Shah (Palavi) after democratic elections of Muhmmad
Mosaddeq (elected prime minister). Shah fled Iran. Mossadeq overthrown & assassinated
Mossadeq by USA (CIA) & GB. Shah = reinstalled.
i. Tons of Iranian resentment towards USA b/c they are seen to support authoritarian rule
in Iran, not democratic. Shah = pawn of USA.
ii. Shah = totalitarian, secularized Iran (disliked by religious community), tied to the west
(built up Iranian resentment). Iran divided politically: 1. Supporters of modernization &
closer ties w/West, 2. Supporters of traditional ways & Shi’a.
c. 1979 = Islamic Revolution. Diff than political revolutions in CHI, MEX, RUS b/c it was religiously
motivated. Iran installed a cleric as gov’t leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Ayatollah
defended Islamic fundamentalism (literal interpretation of texts), social conservatism, political
traditionalism, & resentment of the USA (‘great satan’). Velayat-e faqih (jurist’s guardianship) =
gave clergy power over Islamic community.
d. February 1979 = official founding of Islamic Republic of Iran.
3. Egypt – officially part of OTT Empire, but operated as independent state since days of Muhammad Ali. After
WWI = GB economic control over EGY, despite EGY’s independence.
a. WWII = GB put Wafd, EGY nationalist party, in charge. Wafd led the est. of the League of Arab
States, a regional organization created to strengthen Arab countries.
b. 1952 = EGY army drove out king, cut ties w/GB. Gamel Abdel Nasser = natl’list leader!
i. Nasser played both sides of Cold War, gained $ from USA & USSR, never aligned
w/either, though.
c. 1956 = Suez Crisis. EGYT nationalized Suez Canal, claimed it. GB/FR = upset. USA sided w/EGY, let
them have the canal.
d.
e.
iii.
2 major wars w/Israel in 1960’s & 1970’s. Ended w/Camp David Accords (below).
Nasser’s successors = 1st. Anwar al-Sadat (assassinated 1981); 2nd. Hosni Mubarak (deposed in
2011 by Arab Spring movement).
4. Algeria = Arab-Islamic nat’list movement grew before WWII (FR colony). 1950’s = revolution w/ National
Liberation Front, forced FR & Charles De Gaulle to negotiate independence in 1962.
5. Israel & Palestine. Nothing but conflict.
a. 1948 = state of Israel created. Jews’ claims for a state rooted in Abraham’s settlement of this area
about 4000 years ago. Over time Hebrews had conflicts w/outside peoples, dispersed by Romans
in 1st c. CE. Diaspora went throughout world, some Jews remained. By 20th century Zionist
Movement (wanted Jewish state) in full swing, even though GB Balfour Declaration during WWI
proved to be false. Problem = many Palestinians had settled in same area Jewish community saw
as Jewish homeland since diaspora strewn out across EUR/N.AFR.
i. Arabs post WWI had tried to stop Jewish settlement in Palestine unsuccessfully.
ii. Holocaust reminded Western powers of Zionism & need for Jewish state.
iii. This caused a land dispute. Arabs tried to block creation of Israel. Land dispute mistaken
as anti-Semitism, as many Palestinians were Muslim.
iv. UN then partitioned Israel into Jewish/Arab areas, warfare erupts! 100s of thousands of
Palestinian Arab refugees resulted. Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) created to
represent these stateless people.
b. 1967 = Israeli military offensive. Wanted to take Gaza Strip & West Bank (2 places where Arabs
had hoped to form their own state). EGY brought into this b/c areas of Gaza bordered EGY, ISR
then attacked EGY, taking Sinai Peninsula & Suez Canal.
c. 1973 = EGY strikes back. Anwar el-Sadat = EGY president. Peace agreement forged in 1979
w/USA Pres. Carter mediating (Camp David Accords). ISR = gained US $$$, EGY = gained Suez &
Sinai back.
Latin America – had gained independence WAY before Decolonization of AFR, SWAsia, SEAsia. Still a bit backwards,
not quite industrialized, but not impoverished. Authoritarian leaders = prominent, but Latin American countries had
many ties w/capitalist and communist nations.
1. US = Bully of the North. Very active in Latin America economically, politically, even militarily from 1823 and
onward.
2. Import substitution industrialization = after WWI many LAM countries began making goods they’d
previously imported from around the world.
3. Growing middle class became political in places like Brazil, Chile, Argentina.
4. Immigrants from SPA & ITA came, some w/radical political ideologies like fascism & socialism.
5. Mexico
a. 1910-1911 = Mexican Revolution sent MEX into violence all the way to the 1930’s.
b. 1929 = Caudillos (regional military leaders) banded together to form the Party of the
Institutionalized Revolution (PRI).
c. 1930’s = President Lazaro Cardenas stabilized MEX under a socialist-leaning government that
nationalized industries (not capitalist or free market). This was a very common pattern throughout
many other LAM countries. Not necessarily a democratic regime, and most MEX regimes weren’t
after this.
d. After Cardenas MEX went free market! B/C the MEX president is limited to 1 6 year term, MEX
went through back and forth socialist, then capitalist govts until the 1980s, when they settled on
moderate capitalism.
e. 1990’s = PRI still dominated MEX politics. Democratic reforms set in by 2000 w/election of
Vicente Fox (a non-PRI candidate).
6. Brazil
a. 1929 = Getulio Vargas began rule in BRA based on Mussolini’s fascist, authoritarian regime in ITA.
Traded w/Axis & Allies during WWII, sided w/Allies in return for arms, $$$, and trade favors!
Government based on corporatism (authoritarian state’s allowance of input from major groups
(like corporations) outside the government)
b. 1945 = Vargas deposed by military coup, but he returns 5 years later. Vargas was kind of a
changed man and incorporated views from the left, nationalized oil industry, incorporated some
communists elements, & then committed suicide in 1954.
7. Argentina
a. 1929 = military coup est. coalition of nationalists, fascists, socialists (weird mix). Didn’t last.
b. 1930s = military backed party ruled.
c. 1943 = military coup (again!) w/General Juan Peron in power. Nationalist, charismatic, popular
amongst urban workers & because of his wife Eva Peron (aka. Evita). Supported Axis powers
during WWII. Re-elected in 1946 despite USA efforts to discredit him.
d. 1955 = military coup. Deposed Peron.
e. 1973 = Peron won’t go away, won presidency again.
f. 1976 = another military dictatorship took over.
8. Guatemala
a.
b.
c.
d.
9.
Cuba
a.
b.
c.
d.
10. Chile
a.
Marxist Revolution (1917) in RUS influenced socialist govt est. in Guatemala.
1944 = Juan Jose Arevalo = president. Land reform, regulation of working conditions in
factories/farms. Turned on foreign companies in GUA such as United Fruit Company. UFC (the
Octagon!) controlled transit, shipping, & lots o’land in GUA, not liked by GUA govt or people.
Colonel Jacobo Arbenz = after Arevalo, more radical, tried to nationalize more industries in GUA
controlled by foreign companies. USA feared communist elements in GUA govt & imposed
economic/political sanctions on GUA, and THEN organized a CIA-backed overthrow of the GUA
govt in 1954.
1954 = Pro-American military regime in power. Inattentive to plight of Natives, let foreign
investors, coalition of coffee growers, & military control country.
Cuban economy based on sugar export. USA companies = large investment. Cuba = reasonably
wealthy, decent middle class.
1934-1959 = Fulgencio Batista. Authoritarian dictator.
1959- Present = Fidel Castro. Concerned about corruption in Batista regime, organized army of
students/rural workers/intellectuals to overthrow Batista. Radically nationalized all foreign
properties in Cuba. Centralized, socialist economy (very Marxist), eliminated all private property.
1961 = relations cut off w/USA. Cuba = dependent on USSR for aid.
1961 = Bay of Pigs Invasion. Used Cuban exiles to invade Cuba to overthrow Castro. Crushed by
Castro’s forces. USSR responded by putting nuclear-armed missiles on Cuba. Led to Cuban Missile
Crisis in October of 1962. Cuba = still communist today!
1973 = overthrow of socialist Salvador Allende government by the military. Allende had
nationalized industries, banks, redistributed lands to favor peasants. Coup led by military &
supported by the USA, installed Augusto Pinochet as leader.
i. Allende & his supporters rioted, thousands tortured, killed, or imprisoned.
ii. Pinochet rolled back Allende’s reforms, encouraged foreign investment, controlled Chile
until 1990 when a civilian govt was elected.