1900s

axis powers

wwII

-germany, Italy, Japan and their satellites

-seized all of Europe besides GB and USSR in 1941

-defeated allies in 1945

great depression

1929

-american involved in Euro recovery (Dawes plan) led to GD greatly affecting europe

Led to

-severe unemployment

-renewed interest in Marxist doctrines

-collapse of Weimar and rise of fascism because people wanted a strong leader

league of nations

-created after wwI as a peace keeping organization

-ultimately failed due to the inability of the league to send troops

-eventually replaced by NATO post WWII

-started appeasements of Hitler, Mussolini, and Japanese emperor Tojo when they began their conquests and league only vocally condemn actions

treaty of versailles

1919

signed at the Paris peace conference that ended WWI

Terms of treaty

-article 231: germany took full responsibility and paid reparations ($)

-germany lost colonies and alsace and lorraine

-reduced army and navy and no airforce

-french & British created mandate system in mid east

-creation of league of nations

ultimately led to Germany seeking revenge

lenin

communist leader gained power through Russian soviets (workers council)

-took over during bolshevik rev in Nov 1917

-pulled Russia out of WWI: treaty of brest-litvosk

-won civil war against “whites” and everyone else

-after civil war -established NEP-New Economic policy, which was a little bit of capitalism with farms (helped feed Russia) while nationalizing industry

Successful but dies in 1924, Stalin takes over

bolshevik

communist in russia

-founded by lenin:took over govt with Bolshevik rev in Nov 1917

-civil war erupted and Bolsheviks successfully defended themselves using war communism, terror and a strong red army

stalin

1929-1953

leader of soviet union after lenin

5 year plans (before and after WWII)

-focused on heavy industry - successful

-collectivized agriculture -disatrous (millions of famine)

-potential enemies executed or sent to forced labor camps

-great purges

Stalin aligned with US and GB in WWII (1939-1945)

engaged in cold war w/ west after WWII

kulaks

-peasants in Russia wealthy enough to own a farm & hire labor

-emerged after emancipation of serfs in 1861

-resisted stalin’s forced collectivization, but millions were arrested, exiled, or killed

-kulaks sent to gulags!

COMECON

stalin’s economic aid to east Euro countries in response to west Marshall plan

russian provisional gov

russia summer of 1917

-provisional govt is an interim gov set up to manage a political transition…always sucks!

-march 1917 revolution (women and army) results in abdication of tsar Nicholas II

-provisional gov established

-kept Russia in WWI and issued army order #1=disaster

-failed to feed the people

-nov 1917 -bolshevik revolution (lenin) overthrew prov gov

warsaw pact

1955

-military alliance between Sovietunion and east Euro countries

-formed in response to NATO

iron curtain

boundary dividing Euro into communist (E) and non-communist (W) from the end of WWII in 1945 until the end of cold war in 1991

marshall plan

1948

-european recovery program post WWII

-us provided financial aid to help west euro countries stabilize and rebuild economy after WWII

-goal was to help stop communism

spanish civil war

1936-1939

-nationalists (Franco/military/right wing) vs. republicans

-franco aided Hitler/Mussolini and repubs by Stalin — used as weapons testing ground for WWII

-franco’s forces won and estab dictatorship until 1977

Picasso’s Guernica refers to civilian bombing of city of guernica

NATO

-north Atlantic treaty organization, a military alliance by West nations formed in 1949

-agreed to provide assistance if any one of them was attacked

-east Euro formed Warsaw pact in response

baby boom

-post WWII, women were removed from the workforce to provide jobs for the soldiers returning home

-birth rates began to rise creating what we know as the “baby boom”

-however in the late 1950’s, birth rates began to decline and today much of Europe has negative population growth

common market - EEC/EC

-west euro nations joined to create trading networks and improved economies post WWII

6 original countries involved in common market (belgium, france, Italy, Luxembourg, the netherlands, west Germany)

-later joined by more and eventually becomes EU

vatican II

-called by pop John XXIII (1958-1963)

-liberalized a number of Catholic practices andsparked a dramatic revival of catholicism

ex. mass vernacular, not latin

-new avenues of communication w other Christian faiths were also opened for 1st time since reformation

woodrow wilson

u.s. president during WWI

-presented 14 points proposal at treaty of Versailles, led to creation of league of nations, but US never joined league

mussolini (II duce)

facist leader of Italy 1922-1943

-attempted to establish totalitarian control —least successful

-used squadristi/blackshirts to enforce his terror

Domestic policies

-war on wheat, women at home, indoctrination of children, economic corporations to try and control big business without nationalizing

+Lateran accords- agreement w catholic church

Foreign policy

-fought alongside Hitler in WWII, but remember the Italian army ALWAYS SUCKS!

hitler

1933-1945

rose to power legitimately- official w/ enabling act in 1933

Goals:

1) totalitarian control

2) lebensraum (living space 4 Aryan race)

How

-eliminated political opposition and threats w/ SA & SS

-controlled economy w/out nationalizing: workbook idea/ german labor front

-rearmed germany

-propaganda

blitzkrieg

-lightning war

-used to annihilate Poland 1939

-spring of 1940 — successfully launched against Denmark, Norway, France, Luxemburg, belgium

-hitler was incabable of using blitzkrieg after failed invasion of USSR

holocaust

-deliberate attempt by nazi’s to exterminate Jewish population

-reinhard heydrich was given responsibility to lead the final solution at wannsee conference in 1942

khrushchev

soviet leader 1956-1964

Domestic policy

de-stalinization: denounced purges and eased censorship

-shifted investment from heavy industry to consumer goods

Foreign policy

-policy of “peaceful coexistence” w/ west at first

-crushed revolts in both Hungary and poland

-cuban missile crisis led to his humiliatian and ousting

glasnost

1980’s

-gorbachev instituted this policy of “openness” in soviet union

-decreased censorship: ok to criticize gov

western style arts allowed

perestroika

1980’s

-economic restructuring under soviet union’s gorbachev

-elements of market economy

-some private property