AP WORLD HISTORY
1900 – Present
The Modern Era
The
th
20
Century
• MAJOR THEMES
– World conflict & the decline of empires
– Decolonization and Nationalism
– Cold War conflicts
– Social Reforms
– Globalization
– Environmental Issues
WORLD WAR I
The Great War, 1914-1918
CAUSES OF WORLD WAR I
– M -- Militarism
– A -Alliances
– N -Nationalism
– I -Imperialism
– A -Assassination of
Archduke Ferdinand
(the spark that lit the
powder keg….)
EUROPE IN 1914
• The Balkan region is the powder keg…
WORLD WAR I
• Promises of selfdetermination
• Use of colonial soldiers
• Machine guns, trench
warfare, submarines,
planes, tanks = major
death and destruction
• Financial strains on
empires
• Treaty of Versailles ends
the war but will set the
stage for World War II
WORLD WAR I
• Germany, Austria-Hungarian
Empire, and the Ottoman
Empire make up the Triple
Alliance
• Britain, France, Russia and
eventually the U.S. make up the
Triple Entente, or Allies
• Fighting was concentrated in
Europe between France and
Germany, in trenches, with very
little progress made in 3 years
• Between 16 and 28 million
people died as a result of World
War I
THE TREATY OF VERSAILLES, 1919
• Germany must take responsibility for starting the
war and pay reparations to the victors
• Germany had to disband its military and give up
land they considered Germanic
• Britain and France take the lands held by the
Ottoman Empire (Iraq, Palestine, etc.)
• League of Nations is created (President Wilson’s
idea but the U.S. does NOT join)
EUROPE’S NEW LOOK, 1919
THE 1920’s
• The U.S. becomes a
recognized world power
• Britain and France regain
strength as Germany
suffers
• Russia is now in the
Soviet Union after the
Bolshevik (Communist)
Revolution of 1917
• Economic boom time
until 1929 when a global
depression hits
ACTS OF AGGRESSION
lead to World War II
• Japan invaded Manchuria/China and did not have any
consequences
• Italy is taken over by Fascists (Mussolini) and
invades Ethiopia, promising a return of the Roman
Empire
• Germany takes Austria, Czechoslovakia, and Poland
in the 1930’s while the European leaders watch
(policy of appeasement)
• “An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping
it will eat him last.”
•
-Winston Churchill
GERMANY AND ITALY
• Hitler and Mussolini were both Fascists (a
militaristic nationalism that would stop at
nothing to make the country powerful)
WORLD WAR II, 1939-1945
• CAUSES: Increased nationalist uprisings following
WWI and the problems of the global depression
• Fighting took place in Europe, Northern Africa
(colonies of European powers), Southeast Asia,
and the Pacific Ocean
• Total Warfare = destruction of entire cities with
firebombing; much deadlier weaponry than in
World War I
THE END OF THE WAR
• Germany surrendered
in 1945 but Japan
refused to surrender
• The U.S. dropped two
nuclear bombs (a new
technology only
America had) on
Hiroshima and
Nagasaki
• Finally Japan
surrendered, ending
World War II
• At least 65 million
deaths from World War
II
The Impact of World War II
• Empires no more…colonies fight for
independence and gain it
– India, China, Vietnam, Israel, Afghanistan, and
African nations all begin the struggle for freedom
from western domination
IMPACT OF WORLD WAR II
(continued)
• The Cold War begins with the
U.S. and the U.S.S.R. beginning
an arms race, a space race,
fighting proxy wars around the
globe
– The Domino Theory
– The Containment Theory
– Détente
POST WORLD WAR II
• The United Nations begins and is
headquartered in New York…American
isolationism is over and a new era of global
involvement begins
• The U.N. has the goal of keeping peace
between nations by promoting free trade and
attempting to negotiate conflicts rather than
fight wars
20th Century Revolutions
• After World War II, colonies and developing
world nations struggle for independence and
change
• Issues confronting these nations:
– The need to industrialize rapidly
– Corrupt and unresponsive political systems
– Harsh living and working conditions
– Foreign intervention
– Need for land reform
The Mexican Revolution, 1910
• Mexico had a second revolution
after the initial one to gain
independence from Spain in the
19th century
• This one forged a new government
and a new constitution of 1917
with some real changes
– Land reforms with limits on foreign
ownership of key resources
– Guaranteed rights of all workers
– Restrictions on the power of the
Catholic Church
– Educational reforms (public
schooling for all)
THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION,
1917
• The Czar was seen as corrupt and
selfish by most Russian people,
who were poor and powerless
• The Bolsheviks, a Communist
rebel group led by Vladimir Lenin
(aided by Stalin and Trotsky)
overthrew the Czar’s regime and
took over (after a long war)
• The Soviet Union was formed in
1922 with Russia being the key
nation in the new Communist
powerhouse
• Authoritarian rule with new
political, economic, and cultural
structure in place
COMPARING REVOLUTIONS
MEXICO
• Sought the end of corrupt government
• Land reform to help the peasants gain a better life
as well as the working class
RUSSIA
• Sought the end of corrupt government
• Centered more on improving the lot of industrial
workers (Proletariat) along with some land reform
CHINA in the 20th Century
• Qing Dynasty falls in 1911
• Japan invades and brutalizes China
for decades
• Nationalists led by Chang Kai-shek
fight against the Communists led by
Mao Zedong
• Mao wins and China becomes a
Communist nation in 1949;
Nationalists flee to Taiwan
• Mao promised land redistribution,
rights for women, education access,
tax reform, and cooperative farming
Cuban Revolution, 1959
• Fidel Castro and Che Guevara lead
rebel forces against dictator (Batista) in
Cuba for years
• Batista is backed by the U.S. because
he allowed American business interests
to control his nation’s resources…and
he wasn’t a Communist (remember
how the Cold War made the U.S.
operate in a very black/white fashion)
• Castro seizes control in 1959 and
executes opponents, nationalizes
industries, and creates a Socialist
nation just miles from the coast of
Florida
• He threatened to spread Communism
to other Latin American nations which
will create a lot of Cold War
tension….just what we needed!
IRANIAN REVOLUTION, 1979
• Also known as the Islamic Revolution
• 1953 Shah Reza Pahlavi came to power in Iran with the help
of the CIA; he repressed all opposition and violated their
constitution and promoted western values, angering his
conservative Muslim population
• 1979 the Ayatollah Khomeini led a revolution and overthrew
the Shah, creating a new constitution based on Islamic law
• 55 American hostages were taken and held for 444 days
• 1980-1988 Iran fought a war with Iraq over oil fields
Patterns of Decolonization
and Nation-Building
• THREE PATTERNS
– Violent Revolutions and Civil War (China,
Algeria, Vietnam, Palestine)
– Non-violent, negotiated independence (India,
Ghana, Turkey)
– Both violent and non-violent methods (Kenya,
Egypt, South Africa)
Palestine and Israel
• Zionism led thousands of Jews to
migrate to Palestine, controlled
by Britain after World War I
(Balfour Declaration helped)
• Palestinians living there (Arab
Muslims) resented the flood of
immigrants and began fighting
• The UN promised nationhood to
both groups but only delivered for
Israel in 1948
• Israel had to fight several wars to
defend
herself
against
neighboring
nations
who
resented a Jewish state in their
region (Israel won all of these
wars thanks to the support of the
U.S.)
• Israel took more land after
victories
ALGERIA vs. FRANCE
• Algeria broke away from French colonial rule
after a war lasting from 1954-1962
• Arab nationalism vs. French colonialism
• 300,000 lives lost
INDIA
• Indian National Congress formed in
1885 which got nationalist
sentiment started
• Gandhi and other nationalist
leaders tried to prevent violent
uprisings and concentrated instead
on non-violent resistance
– Boycotts, marches, hunger strikes
were designed to make the British
realize their policies in India were
immoral and India deserved
independence
– 1947 India is partitioned and
becomes 3 nations (India, Pakistan,
Bangladesh)
– Many died as a result of religious
violence between Muslims and
Hindus after partitioning
Decolonization in Africa
GHANA
• 1957 - Ghana (the Gold Coast) gained independence,
led by western educated Kwame Nkrumah
• Used non-violent methods like Gandhi
• Developed a parliamentary democracy similar to the
British model
• By 1963, all of British African colonies except for
Rhodesia were independent
KENYA
• Presence of many British
settlers prevented a smooth
transition of power
• Jomo Kenyatta used nonviolent protests
• Mau-Mau Revolt of 1952 led
by tribal group known as
Kikuyus was suppressed by
the British
• Finally in 1963 Kenya was
granted independence and
Kenyatta was the new leader
of the new nation
SOUTH AFRICA
• Small white minority ruled over large black majority
using system of Apartheid (separateness)
• No protests tolerated and leaders and members of the
African National Congress were imprisoned or
executed
• 1990 – ANC becomes legalized and Apartheid finally
ends after 80 years
• Nelson Mandela is freed from prison and becomes the
president of the new South Africa
Challenges of Independence
• Ethnic disputes
• Weak economies still dependent on industrialized
nations (that used to own them)
• Growing debt (constant loans from IMF and World
Bank)
• Widespread social unrest
• Military responses to restore order
• High population growth
• Resource depletion
• Education deficit and “Brain Drain” as a result
• Neo-Colonialism through economic debt
THE COLD WAR, 1945-1991
• The U.S. and the U.S.S.R. in a
tense ideological standoff pitting
democracy and capitalism against
Communism
• Both sides were nuclear by the
1950’s so the Cold War was very
tense indeed
– Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962
looked like the start of World
War III and the end of the
world
– Proxy wars were fought all
over the world in Africa, Latin
America, and Asia
NATO and the Warsaw Pact
• After World War II, the democratic western
nations (Britain, U.S., France) joined NATO (the
North Atlantic Treaty Organization) to form a
united front against the spread of Communism in
Europe
• The Soviets and their allies formed the Warsaw
Pact to promote Communism in Europe and the
world
U.S. Cold War Policies
• Containment: block Soviet influence and
prevent the spread of Communism
• Truman Doctrine: monetary support given by
the U.S. to nations that resisted Communism
• Marshall Plan: post WWII assistance program
to give food, aid, industrialization support to
war torn nations of Europe to keep Soviets out
THE SOVIET RESPONSE
• The Berlin Wall – built in 1961 to keep East
Germans inside the Communist controlled section
of East Berlin
• “The Iron Curtain” – controlled satellite nations
under Communism like Poland, Romania, Bulgaria,
Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia
The Korean War, 1950-1953
• Soviets aided North Korea’s
new Communist
government and the South
was aided by the United
Nations, led by the U.S.
• Stalemate was the norm,
and an armistice was signed
in 1953
• There are still two nations
and North Korea is an
example of a Communist
dictatorship today, while
South Korea has done very
well as an “economic tiger”
in the global economy
VIETNAM
• French colony since the 1880’s
• During World War II, Japan took over
• Nationalist leader Ho Chi Minh formed the Viet Minh to
fight France for independence
• France asked for help from the U.S. in 1954 and then
pulled out as Vietnam was divided into two nations with
Communists in control of the North under Ho Chi Minh
VIETNAM
• Viet Cong Communists fought
against the South (who were aided by
the U.S.)
• 500,000 U.S. soldiers were unable to
defeat the Viet Cong due to many
factors:
– Limited war strategy of the U.S.
(fear of bringing China into the
war)
– Dedicated insurgency (refusal to
be colonized again)
– Guerilla war by the Viet Cong
– Corrupt government in South
Vietnam supported by the U.S.
made America unpopular with the
Vietnamese
– 1973 the U.S. leaves Vietnam and
in 1975 Vietnam is united under
one Communist government
The Arms Race & The Space Race
• The Cold War was all about
defense spending, with both the
Soviets and the U.S. spending
trillions of dollars developing the
newest, deadliest weaponry
• The Space Race was also evidence
of Cold War competition, with the
Soviets winning the first round by
launching the satellite Sputnik in
1957 (making Americans panic that
they were falling behind the
Russians); but the U.S. won the
Space Race by being the first to
land a man on the moon in 1969
A NEW WORLD ORDER
• Communism fell in Europe in 1989 and in the
Soviet Union in 1991
• Most of the transitions were non-violent, but
Romania was pretty bloody
• Reasons for collapse of Communism in Europe:
–
–
–
–
Food shortages (and everything else)
Corruption in government
Nationalist yearnings
Terrible and inefficient economies
GLOBALIZATION
• In the 1990’s, the global economy became even
more global
• NAFTA, EU, and WTO
• Consumerism
• Interdependence of the global economy:
– Recession in Greece impacts the EU which impacts the
United States which impacts the entire world
– Many large companies are multinational
– “The World is Shrinking”
– Cultural imperialism (McDonald’s everywhere)
THE RISE OF MILITANT ISLAM
• In the 1990’s, Global Terror networks like alQaeda take the place of Communism as the
major threat to the west
SOCIAL REFORMS
• Rise of feminism and
women’s rights
• Civil rights movements
• Anti-Apartheid movement
in S. Africa
• Class, religious,
racial, gender, sexual
reforms worldwide but
of course in many
places there is still
resistance to these
changes
HUMAN ENVIRONMENTAL
INTERACTION
• Continued urbanization
• Green Revolution
(improved agricultural
yields in developing
world)
• Deforestation
• Ozone depletion and
other environmental
concerns
• Rapid population
growth in one century,
now at 7 billion people