The Reaction Against Revolutionary Ideas
UNIT #2-GLOBAL HISTORY
LATIN AMERICA
INDEPENDENCE MOVEMENTS IN LATIN AMERICA
Case Study:
TOUSSAINT L’OVERTURE
• The French colony of
Haiti was the first
Latin American colony
to revolt against
European rule.
• In 1791, a selfeducated former slave
named Toussaint
L’Overture led a revolt
against the French
owners of the island’s
sugar plantations.
• Toussaint was
familiar with the
works of the
Enlightenment
thinkers and wanted
to lead his people to
liberty.
• He gained control of
the island which
allowed the Haitian
slaves to win their
freedom in 1798.
• After a failed attempt by
Napoleon’s forces to retake the
island, Haitians formally declared
their independence in 1804.
• Haiti became a republic in 1820.
Case Study:
SIMON BOLIVAR
• In South America
during the early 1800s,
an educated creole
named Simon Bolivar led
resistance movements
against the Spanish.
• Bolivar was inspired by
the ideas of the
Enlightenment, along
with the French and
American Revolutions.
• Simon Bolivar vowed to
fight Spanish rule in
South America.
• Called “the Liberator,”
Bolivar became one of
the greatest Latin
American nationalist
leaders of this period.
• However, Bolivar did
fail to unite Latin
America as a single
state, instead multiple
independent states
emerged.
• These nations faced a
long struggle to gain
stability, achieve social
equality, and eliminate
poverty.
THE REACTION AGAINST
REVOLUTIONARY IDEAS
LATIN AMERICA
The Failure of Democracy and the Search
for Stability
• Although
revolutionaries in Latin
America had eliminated
Spanish rule, life did
not improve for most
people after they
achieved independence.
• Revolts and civil wars
broke out while poverty
and prejudice
continued.
• Many factors made it
difficult for Latin
American nations to
benefit from these
revolutions.
Geographic Barriers
• The Latin American nations that gained
independence in the 1800s covered a vast area,
from Mexico to the southern tip of South
America.
• This area included numerous geographic barriers,
such as the Andes Mountains.
• Fights between various leaders and nationalistic
feelings within isolated groups also kept Latin
Americans from uniting.
Social Injustice
• Despite the
establishment of Latin
American republics with
constitutions,
democracy did not
follow.
• One problem was that
the colonial class
structure remained
largely intact.
• Creoles-those of
European descent born in
the colonies-were the
ruling class.
• Mestizos (people of
mixed Native American
and European decent),
mulattos (people of mixed
African and European
descent), Indians and
Africans gained few
rights and faced racial
prejudice.
Power of the Church
• The Roman Catholic
Church acted as a
stabilizing force in Latin
America and promoted
education.
• However, the Church
owned large amounts of
land in Latin America
which gave them a great
deal of power.
Military Rulers
• Local military
strongmen called
caudillos put together
their own armies and
challenged central
governments.
• Some caudillos even
gained control of
governments.
• These dictators usually
favored the upper
class.
Economic Problems
• CASH CROP ECONOMIES-Under colonial rule,
Latin American economies had become dependent
on trade with Spain and Portugal.
• Latin American colonies sent raw materials such
as sugar, cotton, and coffee to Europe and
imported manufactured goods.
Cash Crop Economies
cont.
• Dependence on just one crop or even a few crops
makes a nation’s economy very unstable.
• If a drought or crop failure occurs, or if prices
for products fall, the economy can be
devastated.
THE
MEXICAN
REVOLUTION
(1910-1930)
CAUSES…
• General Porfirio Diaz ruled
Mexico as a dictator in the
late 1800s and early
1900s.
• Diaz brought economic
advances to Mexico;
railroads were built and
industry grew.
• However, the wealth went
to a small upper class.
• The rule of Diaz,
who brutally
suppressed
opposition, left most
Mexicans
uneducated,
landless, and poor.
• Finally, in 1910 the
discontent boiled
over into a
revolution that
forced Diaz from
power.
Key Figures…
Several local leaders assisted in leading the revolution.
• Emiliano Zapata-led a
large peasant revolt in
the south, calling for
land reform.
• Francisco “Pancho” Villafought against the U.S.
government when they
sided with Mexico.
• Venustiano Carranzaelected president of
Mexico in 1917.
EFFECTS OF THE REVOLUTION…
The Constitution of 1917
• The new constitution
agreed to by Carranza in
1917 called for land
reform, gave the
government control of
Church estates, and
guaranteed more rights
to workers and to
women.
Social Reforms
• Mexico was the first
Latin American nation to
achieve social and
economic reform for the
majority of its people.
• For example, the
government set up
libraries and schools.
• Some Native communities
were given land that had
been taken from them.
Economic Nationalism
• Mexico became
determined to develop
its own economy.
• The Mexican
government brought
industries under
government control and
took over foreign-owned
industries.
Cultural Nationalism
• In the 1920s and 1930s
writers in Mexico and
other parts of Latin
America began to take
pride in their culture.
• These nationalistic
feelings helped revive
interests in mural
painting.
• These paintings showed
the struggles of the
Mexican people for
freedom.
GLOBAL
NATIONALISM
Role in Political
Revolutions
Global Nationalism
NATIONALISM
• Nationalism-a feeling of pride in and devotion to
one’s country.
– Example: If you take great pride in being a
citizen of the United States of America, these
feelings are considered nationalistic
(nationalism).
Force for Unification
& Self-Determination
Nationalistic feelings became an
increasingly significant force for
self-determination and unification
in Europe.
ITALY
Giuseppe Mazzini
• One of the three great
leaders of Italian
nationalism was Giuseppe
Mazzini.
• Mazzini formed the Young
Italy national movement in
1831, but he was exiled
for his views.
• His writings and speeches
provided inspiration to the
nationalistic movement.
Count Camillo Cavour
• Count Camillo Cavour was
the prime minister of
the Italian state of
Sardinia.
• He shrewdly formed
alliances with France and
later with Prussia.
• He used diplomacy and
war to drive Austrian
power from Italy in
order to bring
unification to the
peninsula.
Giuseppe Garibaldi
• Giuseppe Garibaldi
was a soldier who
led the forces
that won control
of southern Italy
and helped it to
unite with the
north.
Unification of Italy
• By 1861, Victor
Emmanuel of Sardinia
was crowned king of
a united Italy.
• Rome and Venetia, at
first not part of
Italy, were included
by 1870.
GERMANY
The Rise of Prussia
• In the 1830s, Prussia set up a trade union
among German states called the Zollverein.
• This agreement ended trade barriers between
the states and was a step toward unity.
• More important, it established Prussia as a
leader among the states.
Otto von Bismarck
• In 1862, Otto von
Bismarck was appointed
chancellor of Prussia.
• Over the next decade
Bismarck, a strong and
practical leader, guided
German unification.
• Aside from unification,
Bismarck sought to make
the Prussian king the
ruler of a strong and
united German state.
• Bismarck believed that the
only way to unify Germany
was through a policy he
called “blood and iron.”
• Not believing in speeches
and representative
government, Bismarck
believed that the only way
to unite the German states
was through war.
• In seven years Prussia was
involved in 3 wars, each
bringing the German states
closer to unification.
• In 1871, the German states united under the
Prussian king, William I.
• As their ruler, William called himself the kaiser,
a title that was derived from the name Caesar
and meant “emperor.”
ZIONISM
GLOBAL NATIONALISM
• The rise of nationalism in Europe had led to an
intensification of anti-Semitism in the late
1800s.
• As citizens grew more patriotic about their own
nations, they often grew more intolerant of
those whom they saw as outsiders, including
Jews.
• As anti-Semitism (anti-Jew) grew in Europe,
some Jews moved to Palestine, the ancient
Jewish homeland, buying land that they
organized into farming communities.
• A Jewish journalist named Theodor Herzl called
for Jews to establish their own state.
• Herzl’s writings helped to build Zionism, the
movement devoted to building a Jewish state in
Palestine.
• Herzl’s dream of an independent Israel was
realized a little more than 50 years later.
Force Leading to
Conflicts
GLOBAL NATIONALISM
Balkans before WWI
The Ottoman Empire as the Pawn of
European Powers
• Nationalism was a source
of conflict in the Balkans
peninsula of southeastern
Europe.
• In the 1800s, the
Ottoman empire still ruled
much of the area, which
was home to many groups.
• Among these were Serbs,
Greeks, Bulgarians, and
Romanians.
• During the 1800s,
nationalist groups in the
Balkans rebelled against
this foreign rule.
• The nations of Europe
viewed the Ottoman
empire as “the sick man
of Europe.”
• They hoped to gain land
from the Ottoman
empire.
• Russia, Austria-Hungary,
Britain, and France all
entered into alliances and
wars that were designed
to gain territory from
the Ottoman empire.
• In the early years of 1900, crisis after crisis
broke out on the Balkan peninsula.
• By 1914, the Balkans were the “powder keg of
Europe.”
• Tensions would soon explode into a full-scale
global conflict: World War I.