WWI-Post-Cold War
Militarism
Industrialism brought stronger militaries and weapons, which led to arms races, intensified the naval race, and led to Germany surpassing Britain in industrial manufacturing
Alliances
Bismarck alliance system had been designed to keep peace in Europe which led to a chain reaction
Kaiser Wilhelm II
Ruled from (1888-1918)
Intensified naval competition between Germany and Britain
Germany demanded Moroccan independence from France
Daily Telegraph Affair: Germany didn’t care for Britain, France and Russia attempted to incite Germany to intervene in the Second Boer War, Germany naval buildup was targeted against the Japanese not Britain
Balkans “Powder Keg”
Balkans had a long history of nationalist uprisings and ethnic clashes, so they formed new nations after the fall of the Ottomans: Bulgaria, Greece, Montenegro, Romania, and Serbia. Serbia was backed by Russia due to a large Slavic population and Austria annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina, which led to tensions between the two nations.
Panslavism
One nation of south slavic people
Franz Ferdinand
June 28, 1914 — Assassinated while visiting the capital of Bosnia (Sarajevo) by a Serbian teenaged nationalist
Heir to the throne of Austria
Black Hand
Terrorist organization of nationalist Serbs — assassinated Ferdinand
Ultimatum
Austria-Hungary gave Serbia an ultimatum: in 48 hours they had to stop all anti Austrian-Hungarian activity and let AH run an assassination investigation in Serbia. Serbia agreed to most demands, but not enough.
Triple Alliance/Central Power
Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy
Triple Entente/Alliances
Britain, France, Russia, Japan, and later Italy
Schlieffen Plan
military strategy during WW1 that declared if war were to outbreak, Germany would attack France first and then Russia.
Trench Warfare
Battles result in many deaths and very small land gains —> stalemate battlesA,
Gallipoli Campaign
Allies try to defeat the Ottoman empire, but the Allies are defeated. Allies also tried to open a supply line through a region to Russia.
Unrestricted Sub Warfare
Germany uses unrestricted submarine warfare to ship British ships without warning
Total War
Nations devote all resources to WW1: rationing, governments seize the economy, propaganda, women fill mens jobs
Armistice
Germans lay down arms on November 11th, 1918
Self-Determination
Sovereignty and open trade
Treaty of Versailles
League of Nations
Territorial losses
Military restrictions
War guilt
Built to punish Germany for their actions — never ratified by the US
Article 231
War Guilt Clause made German solely responsible for starting the war and for its vast destruction of European landscape — provision for heavy reparations to be paid by Germany
League of Nations
Opposed by Americans — Basically pre-NATO NATO
Wilsonian Idealism
Stresses the importance of national self-determination and international cooperation to promote peace and prosperity
V.I. Lenin
Bolshevik leader
Felt that the socialist revolution needed centralized leadership
Gave land to peasants and put workers in control of factories
Created self-governing republics under one national government
Russia is renamed the USSR in 1922
Dies in 1924
Bolshevik Revolution
In November 1917, workers seized control of the government
Civil War breaks out between them and the White Army (conservative/allies)… They win…. This war lasted for three years and killed over 14,000,000 men.
Soviets
Russian commies
Communist Party
Reinvention of the Bolsheviks
Internationalistic, sought a classless society, urban working lower class
Totalitarianism
Government dominates every aspect of life, secret cops, indoctrination/propaganda, persecution, command economy: government makes all economic decisions
Joseph Stalin
Communist Party general secretary who seized power after Lenin’s death and transformed the Soviet Union into a totalitarian state.
5 Year Plans
Stalin’s plan for developing the (command) economy
Collectivization
Government creates collective farms owned by the state — peasants resit this change and 10 million die in this government crackdown
By 1938, 90% of peasants lived on collective farms
Cult of Personality
Pro-Stalin propaganda
Weimar Republic
German democratic government, est. 1919
Government has serious weaknesses, inflation causes crises, U.S. loans helped to revive the German economy with the Dawes Plan
Great Depression
Economic downturn in the US affects the rest of the world — world trade falls sharply
Hyperinflation
Reparations + damages to industry + government mismanagement = hyperinflation
Fascism
Nationalistic (for the good of one country), likes class division, made up of aristocrats, industrialists, war veterans, and lower middle class, loyalty to the state above all else
Benito Mussolini
Promised to rescue Italy’s economy and rebuild its military
Founded the Fascist party in 1919
Hitler
Mein Kampf (My Struggle) — Memoir
1933 - Became chancellor (VP) and called for new elections and expelled communism in Germany
Emergency acts: abolished civil rights protection after the reichstag (commie) fires
Enabling acts: Basically enabled him to have full power
1934 - Night of the long knives: Assassinates over 100 political opponents
German president died —> Hitler banned all political parties
The Gestapo: His secret police
Privately funded weapon factories in “school buildings”
1938: Jewish emigration
Italy & Japan back up Germany
Hitler defies the treaty of Versailles
Hitler and Mussolini ally and form the Berlin axis
Nazi Party
National Socialist German Workers Party — brand of fascism
“Stab-in-the-back” theory
Believed German military was stabbed in the back by Jews, politicians, and commies
Kristallnacht
“Night of broken glass” — Jewish business were ransacked/destroyed — anti-Jew riots
Nuremberg Laws
Laws that restricted Jews’ rights
Lebensraum
“Living space” — Germany needed room to grow it’s master race
Appeasement
Giving in to an aggressor to keep the peace — Britain urged it
Collective Security
Security of one is the concern of all
Munich Conference
September 29th, 1938 — The British prime minister Neville Chamberlain believed that he could preserve peace by giving into Hitler’s demand —> Britain and France agreed that Hitler could take the Sudetenland —> Hitler pledged to respect Czech’s new borders — The Czechs were not invited
Spanish Civil War
General Francisco Franco (anti-fascism) vs. fascists
Neville Chamberlain
British prime minister who gave into some of Hitler’s demands to preserve peace
Winston Churchill
British prime minister — vowed to never surrender
Non-agression pact
Germans and Soviets will not fight each other and made a deal to split poland
Blitzkrieg
Lightning battles
Battle of Stalingrad
Nazis versus Soviets (Aug. 1942 - Feb. 1943). Nazis are defeated + turning point for allies victory. One of the bloodiest battles ever
The Holocaust
Killing jews and polish peo
D-Day Invasion
US troops stormed the beach of Normandy in a surprise attack. Basically set the path to our victory.
United Nations
Soviet and Eastern Euro alliance
NATO
Group formed by the US, Canada, and Western Europe that basically meant if you mess with one of us you mess with us all.
Warsaw Act
Soviet Union‘s response to NATO — Alliance between Poland, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary
Marshall Plan
US program of economic aid designed to promote the recovery of Europe while also limiting Soviet influence — Truman
Containment
US policy designed to keep out communism
Truman Doctrine
1947 — Immediate goal was to block Soviet influence in Greece and Turkey —
Cold War
Decades long conflict between USSR and US
Iron Curtain
Line down Europe between NATO and Warsaw Act
Nikita Khrushchev
Post-Stalin, destalinaztion
De-Stalinization
The process of removing Stalin’s ideals across Eastern Europe
Secret Speech
1956 — Khrushchev denounced Stalin’s reign of terror and repudiated his “cult of personality” — Speech was at the Twentieth Communist Party Congress in Moscow.
Hungarian Revolution
The only violent anti-communist revolution. Resulted in the execution of their leader and and collapse of communism.
Leonid Brezhnev
Made the Soviet military bigger and led during stagnation
Brezhnev Doctrine
Capitalist uprisings —> Soviet invasions
Mikhail Gorbachev
Leader of East Germany
Glasnost
Soviet openess
Perestroika
Reforming the Soviet economic system
The Velvet Revolution
Nonviolent revolution in Czechoslovakia which put an end to commie rule
Berlin Wall
A wall built to divide the free and democratic West Germany from the Soviet-controlled communist East Germany (German Democratic Republic). It was torn down in 1989 and represents the death of the USSR and collapse of communism.
Decolonization
Process of giving rights to colonies
Economic Miracle
Sparked by Marshall Plan aid — Europe entered a rapid economic growth period
French National Front
Movement that formed Vichy France
Margaret Thatcher
First female prime minister in Europe
Bosnian War
Ethno-religious war in the Balkans
European Union
The economic and political grouping of the European states — Churchill wanted to make a United States of Europe