Era 5 Review: 1914 to the Present
The World War I Era
B. The World War II Era
C. Communism and the Cold War
D. Independence Movements in Asia and Africa
E. Globalization and the World Since 1980
F. Women since 1914
G. Summary
A.
A. World War I Era
 By 1914 most of the world was either colonized by Europe, or
once was colonized by Europe: nationalism resulted
 When the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary was
assassinated by a Serbian nationalist while visiting Bosnia in 1914,
war quickly followed
 Alliances already existed in Europe with the power hungry
monarchs of the time:
 Triple Alliance/Central Powers: Austria-Hungary, Italy, Germany
 Entente Powers/Allies: Britain, France, Russia (later, US)
 Zimmerman Telegram: Germany luring Mexico into war, US
public opinion turns from isolationism to war
 Results: 8.5 million soldiers died; government takeover of
industrialization, price controls, etc. (moved left); colonial
empires were hit hard with deaths and disease
A. World War I Era
 Treaty of Versailles: Make the Germans Cry
 1919; brought official end to WWI; Germany had to pay reparations,
release territory, downsize military
 Departure from Wilson’s 14 Points, which hoped to establish future
peace (League of Nations)
 Created conditions for WWII
 Russian Revolution: WWI ruined Russia
 Started with world’s largest army, severe losses made conditions so bad
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Czar Nicholas abdicated throne
Alexander Kerensky made provisional gov’t, which shared power with
“representative” groups called soviets
Soviets, representing the working peasants and soldiers, got behind the
Bolshevik party
Lenin, Marxist leader of Bolsheviks, mobilized the workers and took
command of the gov’t, withdrew from WWI
Created the Red Army to put down violent struggles
B. World War II Era
 Soviet Union: Under Stalin goes Totalitarian
 Lenin had instituted his New Economic Policy (NEP) in the 1920s, was
based on agriculture
 Stalin came to power and began the Five Year Plans—rapid agricultural
production by overtaking private farms and making them state-run:
collectivization
 Made large, national factories—not communist because people didn’t
share the wealth—totalitarian—many died in famines but USSR was
successfully industrialized
 Great Depression: Capitalism crashes, Germany Burns
 WWI was expensive. Financial headquarters of world shifted to US,
Europe relied on American credit
 US stock market crash of 1929 caused a spiral of monetary problems
around the world-no credit for Europe: no reparations payments from
Germany, no money in Europe
 FDR in US makes lots of gov’t programs (Alphabet Soup) to get boys
working and public projects done.
B. World War II Era
 Fascism: subset of Totalitarianism
 Totalitarianism uses a dictator to rule every aspect of life. Fascist
rulers are right-wing because they use traditional institutions to
enforce and are nationalistic. Communist totalitarians like Stalin
are left-wing because they destroy traditional institutions and
class distinctions. Both militaristic
 Rise of Hitler: Germany’s economic crisis left door open
 Nazi party rose to power in 1920s with Hitler as head, first elected
democratically; his fascist rule known as Third Reich
 He began rebuilding German army and started restoring Germany
to its pre-WWI borders, then some. But the rest of Europe was hit
hard by the Great Depression and ignored this—actually gave him
some territory—appeasement
 Signed the Nazi-Soviet Pact of 1939
B. World War II Era
 Japan: kicked out all Europeans after Meiji Restoration, started
industrializing
 After WWI (had fought with Allies and done well) sent 21 Demands
to China for trading rights and gov’t control; war ensued
 The war: tens of millions died, Holocaust occurred, nuclear
weapons used
 Consequences: Holocaust, two super powers left, Europe torn
up, decline of colonialism, big changes for women, creation of
international organizations, start of Cold War
C. Communism and Cold War
 Power Grab: Soviets and Americans seek allies at every turn
 Germany and Eastern Europe were divided into “spheres of influence”
at conferences like Yalta and Potsdam
 USSR incorporated much of Eastern Europe
 East vs. West: pointing weapons at each other and creating a two-sided
world
 Containment policy—US will aid any country against USSR takeover—
proxy wars (Afghanistan)
 China: Communism grows
 Sun Yat-sen led Chinese revolution 1911, created communist gov’t
 Mao Zedong created People’s Republic of China
 Implemented the Great Leap Forward in 1950s—agricultural production as focus,
but huge famine killed 30 million
 Cultural Revolution—trying to erase Western influence, many sent to cultural
retraining on farms; universities shut down, reopened as communism factories
 By 1970s reopened to Western ideas: likes the money, not the ideas
C. Communism and Cold War
 Korea and Vietnam: North Communist, US/Europe backed South;
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lost both really, still present there
Cuban Revolution: Communism too close to US
Germany: decline of communism and Soviet bloc led to
reunification of Germany (previously split into east and west), back
to a market democracy
Soviet Union collapsed when Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in
1985. Most nationalities in USSR wanted their own countries—
mostly peaceful, some exceptions: like genocide in Balkans
By 1991 Cold War was over, US only Superpower left
D. Independence Movements
 After WWII independence movements ended European
imperialism; as US and Europe fought to let post-Cold War
countries fight for self-determination, old colonies had to be given
same right
 India: Indian National Congress had formed in 1885
 Gandhi in 1920s: huge protests against colonial rule; passive
resistance/civil disobedience, boycotts, increased violence between
Muslims and Hindus: India and Pakistan were created
 Africa: most wanted independence, but had been raped of
resources, most were uneducated, borders drawn according to
European conveniences, not ethnic boundaries
 Rwanda: genocide because of ^
 South Africa: though independent longer, faced apartheid
D. Independence Movements
 Middle East: fall of Ottoman Empire after WWI left most lands
under League of Nations protection
 Israel: Balfour Declaration by Britain said Jews should get a
homeland—said shouldn’t displace Palestinians
 1948 Jews get a state, Palestinians get an area, have been fighting
ever since
 Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) trying to negotiate a
homeland, complicated by terrorist uprisings (intifada)
 Iranian Revolution: the Shah was ousted from power, sought
refuge in US, Iran invaded by Iraq
 Quran became basis of legal system; bad elections since, hostility
with US
 OIL: OPEC seeks steady prices, rules the world.
E. Globalization and the world since 1980
 Terrorism: educated, bored, hopeless boys in the Middle East
 Saddam Hussein, Osama bin Laden, Al Queda, Taliban…
 Global Organizations: globalization of trade has created agencies
and organizations to protect trading interests
 Group of Six (G6) was US, Great Britain, West Germany, Italy, Japan
and Poland. Now joined by Canada and Russia—G8. They are the
world’s most powerful leaders and meet annually
 Environmental concerns: started with Industrial Revolution, now
fueled by scientific concern over climate change and the ruination
of the landscape; water problems in one area contrast sharply with
bottled water and sprinkler use in other areas
 Technology: 1970s and 80s: silicon chip for storing data… has
exploded from there.
F. Women
 Beginning of 20th century, worldwide right to vote
 Education to vote? Largely absent worldwide
 Family structure changed as birth control became available,
workforce was opened to females, and education became
widespread
 In agricultural economies, not the case
G. Summary
 The contrast between self-determination at beginning of
time period with globalization of culture at end of time
period
 Globalization not well-received by Islamic cultures…
 … a clash of civilizations?