PERIOD 6: Accelerating Global Change & Realignments, c. 1900 to present
Key Concept 6.1 Science & the Environment
I.
New technologies allowed for rapid scientific advances
A. New communication & transportation eliminated problem of geographic distance
B. New scientific paradigms transformed understandings (relativity, quantum mech., Big Bang, psychology)
C. Green Revolution (chemically & genetically enhanced ag) produced food for earth’s growing population
D. Medical innovations increased human survival & life expectancy (polio vaccine, antibiotics, artificial heart)
E. New energy tech (oil & nuclear) raise productivity & increase production of material goods
II.
As global population expanded, human-environment relationship fundamentally changed
A. Exploited & competition over finite natural resources more than ever before
B. Negative effects: global warming, air/water pollution, deforestation & desertification, species extinction
III.
Disease, scientific innovations, & conflict led to demographic shifts
A. Diseases: 1)poverty-associated diseases persist (malaria, tuberculosis, cholera); 2) new epidemics (1918
influenza pandemic, ebola, HIV/AIDS); 3) Changing lifestyles & increased longevity led to higher incidence
(diabetes, heart disease, Alzheimer’s)
B. Birth control gave women greater control over fertility & transformed sexual practices
C. Military technology (tanks, airplances, atomic bomb) & new tactics (trench warfare, firebombing)increase
wartime casualties (Nanjing, Dresden, Hiroshima)
Key Concept 6.2 Global Conflicts & Their Consequences
I.
Europe dominated c. 1900 but land-based and transoceanic empires give way to new forms of trans-regional
political organization by century’s end
A. Older land based Ottoman, Russian, Qing empires collapsed (factors: economic hardship, political & social
discontent, technological stagnation, military defeat)
B. Some colonies negotiated independence (India, Gold Coast from British)
C. Some achieved independence through armed struggle (Algeria/Vietnam—French, Angola—Portuguese)
II.
Anti-imperialism contributed to dissolution of empires & restructuring of states
A. Nationalists in Asia & Africa challenged imperial rule (Mohandas Gandhi, Ho Chi Minh, Kwame Nkrumah)
B. Regional, religious, & ethnic movements challenged both colonial rule & imperial boundaries (Muhammad
Ali Jinnah, the Québécois separatist movement, the Biafra secessionist movement)
C. Transnational movements sought to unite people (communism, Pan-Arabism, Pan-Africanism)
D. Communist & socialist movements: redistribution of resources in Africa, Asia, Latin America
III.
Demographic & social consequences of political changes
A. Redrawing of old colonial boundaries led to population resettlements (India/Pakistan partition, Zionist
Jewish settlement of Palestine, division of Middle East into mandatory states)
B. Migration of former colonial subjects to imperial metropoles maintained cultural & economic ties (South
Asians to Britain, Algerians to France, Filipinos to the United States)
C. Proliferation of conflicts led to various forms of ethnic violence (Armenia, Holocaust, Cambodia, Rwanda) &
displacement of peoples resulting in refugee populations (Palestinians, Darfurians)
IV.
Military conflicts occurred on an unprecedented global scale
A. WWI & WWII=”total wars,” gov’ts used ideologies like fascism, nationalism, & communism, to mobilize
resources; strategies included political speeches, art, media, intensified forms of nationalism (examples of
mobilization of state’s resources: Gurkha soldiers in India, ANZAC troops in Australia, military conscription)
B. Sources of global conflict 1900-1950: 1) imperialist expansion by European powers & Japan; 2)
competition for resources; 3) ethnic conflict; 4) great power rivalries between Great Britain & Germany;
5) nationalist ideology; 6) economic crisis engendered by Great Depression
C. After WWII balance of power shifted into Cold War—struggles of capitalism vs. communism, superpowers
D. Cold War produced new military alliances: NATO, Warsaw Pact, proxy wars in Latin America, Africa, Asia
E. Dissolution of the Soviet Union effectively ended the Cold War
V.
Conflict dominated, but individuals & groups & states opposed conflicts, while others intensified them
A. Challenges to many wars (Picasso’s Guernica, antinuclear movement during the Cold War, Thich Quang Duc
by self-immolation), promotion of nonviolence (Gandhi, Martin Luther King) to bring about political change
B. Alternatives to existing order (Communists like Vladmir Lenin & Mao Zedong; Non-Aligned Movement
presented alternative political bloc to Cold War; Anti-Apartheid Movement in South Africa; global uprisings
of 1968; Tiananmen Square protestors promoting democracy in China)
C. Militaries & militarized states often furthered intensified conflict (promotion of military dictatorship in
Chile, Spain, & Uganda; U.S.’ promotion of New World Order after Cold War; buildup of “military industrial
complex” and arms trading)
D. Movements used violence against civilians for political aims (IRA, ETA, Al-Qaeda)
E. Global conflicts influenced popular culture (Dada, James Bond, Socialist Realism, video games)
Key Concept 6.3 New Conceptualizations of Global Economy, Society, & Culture
I.
States responded to economic challenges in various ways
A. Communist USSR & China: gov’t controlled national economies (Five-Year Plans, Great Leap Forward)
B. US & Western Europe states played minimal $ role until Great Depression, then more active (New Deal,
Fascist corporatist economy)
C. In new states after WWII, gov’ts often took strong rule to promote $ development (Nasser’s promotion of
economic development in Egypt, encouragement of export-oriented economies in East Asia)
D. Late 20th cent., many gov’ts encouraged free market economic policies & economic liberalization (US under
Ronald Reagan, Britain under Margaret Thatcher, China under Deng Xiaoping, Chile under Pinochet)
II.
International organizations promoted interdependency among states, communities, & individuals
A. New international organizations formed to maintain world peace & facilitate int’l cooperation (League of
Nations, United Nations, International Criminal Court)
B. New economic institutions promoted free market economics (Int’l Money Fund, World Bank, WTO)
C. Humanitarian organizations responded to crises (UNICEF, Red Cross, Amnesty International, Doctors
Without Borders, World Health Organization)
D. Regional trade agreements/blocs promoted movement of capital & goods across national borders
(European Union, NAFTA, ASEAN, Mercosur)
E. Multi-national corporations challenged state authority & autonomy (Royal Dutch Shell, Coca-Cola, Sony)
F. Movements protested environmental & economic inequality (Greenpeace, Green Belt in Kenya, Earth Day)
III.
People conceptualized society & culture in new ways; some challenged old assumptions about race, class,
gender, & religion; often using new technologies to spread reconfigured traditions
A. Notion of human rights gained traction throughout world (UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
women’s rights, end of White Australia policy)
B. Increased interactions among diverse peoples sometimes led to formation of new cultural identities
(Negritude) & exclusionary reactions (xenophobia, race riots, citizenship restrictions)
C. Believers developed new forms of spirituality (New Age religions, Hare Krishna, Falun Gong), chose to
emphasize particular aspects of practice within existing faiths and apply them to political issues
(Fundamentalist movements, Liberation Theology)
IV.
Popular & Consumer Culture became global
A. Sport reflected national & social aspirations (World Cup Soccer, Olympics, cricket)
B. Communication & transportation technology enabled diffusion of music & film (reggae, Bollywood)