Time Period 4

Militarization and advancements in war technology contributed to the scale and destruction at which the global conflict was able to reach starting with WW1

•  The rise of nuclear weapons during and after WWII enabled the cold war to intensify

Tensions and the rise of new ideologies along with political instability in the interwar period would lead to WWII

•  WWII saw the rise of fascism and racist ideologies, which grew especially in Germany due to Hitler's Nazi party

The political instability of Germany after it was left in ruins from WWI allowed Hitler to gain control of the government and implement his ideas on Germany and across the globe

The global wars and political tensions/instability the war left behind gave way to the Cold War

• Ideological opposition between the U.S., capitalists, and the U.S.S.R, communists.

Economic struggles within Europe created tensions between the individuals and state most notably with disputes involving democracy, communism, and fascism

• Democracy, communism, and fascism all promoted the ideas that they were the solution to the economic struggles happening in Europe

Causes:

Political stagnation in Russia caused by the revolution of 1905 when people demanded liberal reforms; some of which were enacted while some weren’t or were later taken away

Social Inequality led to Russian revolution through wealth gap and serfdom

• Serfdom was abolished in 1861 but many landed elites still kept huge amounts of power and the gap between wealthy and poor kept increasing causing discontent within country

Incomplete industrialization contributed to Russian Revolution

• Peter I of Russia’s attempt to industrialize was thought to have worked, but Russia's involvement in WWI revealed how deficient it was
• Russian troops didn’t have enough guns, ammunition, correct clothing, footwear, etc.

Food and land distribution was a leading factor for WWI because of the uneven distribution and the prioritization of some people over others

• Serfdom was abolished, yet most peasants were landless and lacked food with food shortages being common
• The March Revolution – women factory workers protested the insanely inflated prices of bread and Czar Nicholas ordered the troops to subdue crowds, but many felt sympathy and joined in, with Nicholas losing control Duma (Russian legislature) took power, March Revolution started Russian Revolution

Effects:

Russian Revolution led to Russia’s withdrawal from World War I, caused by the new leadership resulting from revolution

• Nov. 1917 – Vladmir Lenin leader of Bolsheviks  seized control of the government and gave up a huge amount of Russian territory in Eastern Europe to exit war

New social, political, and economic order of Russia was implemented and challenged which resulted in the formation of the Soviet Union

• The Bolsheviks gained control and imposed  communist ideals on Russia 
• Russian Civil War was caused by the discontent among aristocracy and anti-Leninists
• Victory went to Lenin and Trotsky in 1922 which marked the official transformation of Russia into the Soviet Union
• The New Economic Policy - peasant farmers were no longer required to send produce to the state, but rather sell on the open market, promoted private ownership of small businesses and farms while maintaining control of larger institutions and businesses. 
• Put in place to dig Russia out on economic hole it was in

The Versailles Peace Conference satisfied only a few because each victorious state had a different idea of how peace should be administered

• The President of the US, Woodrow Wilson, had his idea of peace was states no longer going to war. He proposed the 14 points to administer peace including:
  • Provision for reduction of arms among nations
  • Open diplomatic relations rather than secretive treaties 
  • Right of self-determination among nations
  • Creation of League of Nations – international body devoted to prevention of war
    • League of Nations failed because the US didn’t join because of a fear of being dragged into war, which caused Germany and Russia to not participate, 
    • US and Russia were huge global powers so the League was  doomed 
  • Britain’s Prime Minister, David Lloyd George, wanted to punish Germany for their role in WW1 as well as France's premier George Clemens, who wanted to punish for   destruction caused in France.

Clemens also wanted to protect France from future German aggression, so he pushed for Germany to be demilitarized, pay reparations, and create geographic buffer   zone in Rhineland to prevent Germany from attacking France

Tensions between Russia and the rest of the powers prevented peace from being achieved

• Russia became a communist state created distrust between them and western European powers
• As a result, European powers formed and strengthened democratic successor states (Yugoslavia, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary)   around Russia to weaken Russia, which led to even greater tensions
• The Treaty of Versailles failed to build peace because of the blame it put on Germany causing them economic, social, and political instability and destress, which gave way to WWII
  • The war guilt clause – put all the blame of the war on Germany  which humiliated and demolished Germany globally leading to the rise of Fascism in Germany, 
  • The provision for Germany to pay reparations for damage during the war required them to pay so much money that Germany was in economic ruin leaving the   government vulnerable and easy for Hitler to gain control
• The establishment of the Mandate System and the distribution of Arab lands to Britain and France under authority of the League of Nations, despite them promising the Arab nations their independence, caused significant tensions among these peoples

Rise of Extremism: ​

• The poverty that Europe faced allowed for the rise of authoritarian leaders.​
• In countries such as Spain, Germany and Italy,  men with military backgrounds began giving speeches which expressed their anger about the state of their country​
• Europe was dependent on the US's economy after WWI,  so many of these leaders wanted a self-sufficient economy​

New Economic Theories​:

• Keynesianism:  the idea that government intervention is needed in order to maintain economic stability​
  • Created by British economist John Maynard Keynes
  • He emphasizes the importance of fiscal government policies that used government spending to expand the economy. ​
• Cooperative Social action: the idea that there should be cooperation between the government, employers and workers so that there can be social and economic equality​
• Popular Front Policies in France was led by the French Communist Party​
  • Their goal was to reduce poverty and to push for more equality through nationalization of certain industries​
  • This included the implementation of 40 hour work weeks ​

 Fascists Rearm and Expand:​

• Germany lost WWI and the Treaty of Versailles made it so that Germany had to not only demilitarize but also shrink their territory​
• Adolf Hitler rearmed Germany and began conquering new territory​
• Both violated the treaty​
• This was possible because of the policy of Appeasement that was shown towards Germany mostly by France and Britain​
• France and Britain realized that Germany was rearming and conquering territory, however WWI left France and Britain with great amounts of debt that they were in no rush to start another war​
• Hitler was facing no consequences for violating the treaty​

The Soviet Union was an authoritarian communist while the U.S. and Western Europe were capitalist democracies​

• This caused a huge distrust between the Soviets and Western Europe and the U.S. which could not be worked out to form an alliance against the expansion of fascist states 

Specific Factors leading to WWII:​

• In 1935 Italy invaded Ethiopia successfully which caused Britain to become worried since that threatened their control of the Suez Canal in Egypt​
  • Mussolini faced no consequences​
• Hitler remilitarized the Rhineland which was the area between Germany and France around the Rhine river​
• In 1836 Hitler sent troops to occupy the Rhineland
• German troops came to Austria to give them a vote whether or not they wanted to be a part of the German right​
  • 99% of Austria voted yes to the annexation​
  • The vote was rigged but Hitler was still successful​
• Munich Agreement: Britain and France told Hitler he could keep the land that he has already gotten, but he couldn't take anymore​
• Nazi Soviet Non-Aggression Pact: ​

1. The Nazis or the Soviets could not attack one another for a decade after the agreement​ 
2. Poland would be split among them which basically gave Hitler the green flag to invade Poland in 1939, since the Soviets couldn't do anything to stop him​

• The invasion of Poland would be France and Britain's last straw

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Pacific and European Theaters of War:​

• Two theaters of the war, the European Theater and the Pacific Theater​
• The war started in the Pacific Theater because of Japan​
• Japan had driven policies of aggressive expansionism​
• Japan acquired many territories in Southeast Asia​
• War on the Pacific began in 1937 after Chinese and Japanese forces battled over Manchuria​
• The European Theater was set off by Hitler's invasion of Poland in 1939 because this time, Britain and France finally declared war on Germany​
• There was two opposing sides during the war: The Allied Powers consisting of Britain, France and the Soviet Union later to be joined by the U.S.; and the Axis Powers consisting of Germany, Italy and Japan​
• The European Theater was first dominated by the Axis powers​
• A lot of this is due to Hitler's blitzkrieg or lighting war​
• This tactic included aircrafts, tanks and ground troops to quickly take out enemies​
• In 1941, Hitler invaded France using his lightning war tactics once again​
• Mussolini also rushed over to France to assert his own power​
• Northern France was occupied by Germany while the puppet government (Vichy France) was established in the south​
• June 1941, Hitler began looking to attack the Soviet union​
• In 1941 Operation Barbarossa was launched to take over the Soviet Union​
• Hitler wanted control over the Soviet Union due to the need for the natural resources​
• Soviets were never able to fully conquer Soviet Russia​
• Siege of Stalingrad: Soviet civilians/ military endured brutal conditions in effort to not surrender to the Germans ​
• By 1940, Hitler's only threat was Britain- Winston Churchill and his people rallied against Hitler​
• Bombing raids from Germany only encouraged the British to continue with their resistance ​
• President Franklin D. Roosevelt realized that the British fall to Germans would leave the U.S. in a bad position​
• The United States aided Britain by supplying them with weaponry​
• December 7th, 1941, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in Hawaii which caused the U.S. to declare war on Japan and for Germany to declare war on the United States​
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• Factories in the U.S. were used to produce weapons for war​
• The U.S. was able to create planes, guns, and tanks that all had a significant effect on the war\​
• D-Day: A joint U.S. and Britain invasion of France was a turning point for the war​
• June 6, 1944, The U.S. and Britain executed the largest amphibious invasion in history​
• They both suffered heavy casualties but were able to liberate France​
• The Battle of Midway changed the course of war for the Pacific Theater where Americans dominated the Japanese Navy which cut off Japanese supply lines​
• May 7th, the German government surrenders after Hitler committs suicide which closed the European Theater of War
• New technology in WWII: ​
• More people died in WWII than in any other war due to new technology​
• Incendiary bombs: bombs encased in a wood housing that not only exploded but started fires​
• Atomic Bomb: created by Americans, the atomic bomb destabilized atoms and released destructive energy that happened because of the destabilization​
• The U.S. closed the pacific theater by dropping atomic bombs in Hiroshima and in Nagasaki​

• As more societies began to focus on the concept of race, the question If whether one race is superior became popular​
• Long before either World Wars, anti-semitism had a very long history in Europe and around the World​
• Hitler and Nazis viewed groups such as Jews, Slavs, Roma, people with disabilities, and gay or lesbian women as inferior to the "Aryans" ​
• Hitler blamed these groups for the economic problems Germany faced after WWI​
• The "Jewish Question" was what Nazis referred to when discussing how to end Jewish influence in Germany​
• Nuremberg Laws: The Nuremberg Laws denied any Jews in Germany their civil rights and citizenship​
• Enacted by Hitler's government in 1935, the laws made it impossible for Jewish people to marry non-Jewish people; Jewish businesses could not have non-Jewish workers, they also could not serve non-Jewish customers; and Jewish doctors could not treat non-Jewish patients​
• The government further stretched these laws by not allowing Jews to attended public schools or universities, they also could no longer mingle in public​
• Jewish people also had to always wear a visible gold star of David on them​
• Kristallnacht (The Night of Broken Glass) : November 9-10, 1938, the Nazi government sent out waves of pogroms (organized assault on Jews)  in Germany, Austria, Poland and Czechoslovakia​
• Homes, businesses and synagogues were all attacked and looted​
• At least 91 were killed and 30,000 jewish men were deported to concentration camps​
• Kristallnacht is considered the beginning of the Holocaust​

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• The Holocaust: The Holocaust was the systematic – mass genocide of Jews​
• Nazis operated about 40,000 camps where Jews were sent to do labor, or to be slaughtered, ultimately, most Jews were sent to camps to be killed one way or another​
• Camps such as Auschwitz were called concentration camps because  they were designed to kill Jews​
• The Holocaust killed over 6 million Jews, and 5 million minorities​

• Before the outbreak of the World Wars, it was widely believed that science and the industry met the needs of people

Advancement in Physics: ​

• Nuclear weapons were developed because of a better understanding of physics​
• Albert Einstein: developed the theory of relativity which was built off Newton's theory of gravity​
• Werner Heisenberg: A German scientist credited as the creator of quantum mechanics​
• He helped develop the first nuclear reactor in WWI​

Lost Generation:​

• Lost generation refers to the directionless of children who had to come to age during WWI​
• The term was created by Ernest Hemingway as well as F. Scott Fitzgerald​
• Returning to normal society was consider difficult by many of the children because war was all that they knew​
• The term lost generation was also used as a term that characterized the entire generation that lived through WWI ​

Women Involvement: ​

• During both World Wars, women filled in for the positions that men used to work since they were fighting in war​
• Women began working in factories and even served as medical field nurses ​
• After the wars ended, women continued practicing these skills​
• Many nations across Europe allowed women to vote after WWI since they were a huge help on the battlefield​
• By the end of WWII, most European nations allowed for women to vote​
• The 20th century saw an increased amount of feminist movements but also an increase in the demand for universal suffrage​

• The Two world wars created one of the strongest period of polarization​
• Russia and the United States emerged as the two world superpowers​

After WWI:​

• WWI caused severe economic impacts with every nation that was involved​
• Over 15 million people died due to WWI​
• Diplomatic idealism pushed on designs that were not very beneficial during the Paris Conference which acted as motivation for WWII​

The Inter War and Post-WWII Period:​

• After WWI, there was an increase in fascist and in communist ideals​
• Authoritarian leaders took advantage of the poverty WWI left many countries in​
• The ideological crisis between democracy, communism, and fascism set the stage for the Cold War​

Intellectual and Cultural movements:​

• Nationalistic propaganda was used to not only limit critical thinking but also to exclude groups and justify racism​
• Subjective interpretations were reinforced through scientific and psychological theories​
• Demographics and Economics:​
• Decolonization after WWII caused immigrants to move to different states ​
• Industrialization was at peak levels​
• Industrialization led to rapid economic growth and rapid population growth​