Modern History Statistics for year 11 final

4

Months/year for average employment in Cuban sugar industry in the 1950s (unstable)

900

Thousand Cubans were benefitting from 43% of the national income

5

Million Cubans in intense poverty

invoke[d] the name of the United States in support of his reign of terror

• JFK, 1960 (when presidential candidate)

• Highlights how Batista’s corrupt regime and its relation to the US fuelled anti-American sentiment in Cuba that would pave the way for Fidel Castro’s rise

• 
  

17

% of Cubans unemployed in 1950s (up to)

24

Percentage of Cubans illiterate (pre-revo)

• 11% in cities, up to 40% in rural areas

59.44

Average life expectancy in Cuba 1950-1955

• Higher than central american average but below that of more developed countries and most western ones

When we speak of struggle, the people means the vast unredeemed masses

Fidel Castro, 1953

Relates to social impacts

When guerrilla warfare is waged with success, military tactics are coordinated with political and social…variables

• Edward Katzenbach Jr, 1955

• Highlights importance of building local relationships to success of the revolution

85

% of Cuba's exports were sugar (1950s)

60

% of Cuban land was owned by people from the US

• as well as all of the sugar industry and most big businesses

The regime’s indifference to the needs of the people for…economic justice…is an open invitation for revolution

Arthur Schlesinger, 1973

Economic factors that contributed to the success of the Cuban revolution

US may exercise the right to intervene for the preservation of Cuban independence

this is in the Platt Amendment Article 3

Monroe Doctrine

Demonstrated America’s long-standing ambition to dominate Cuban affairs

60-74

% of Cuban exports purchased by the US in Batista era

73

% of Cuban imports supplied by the US in batista era

90, 50, 40

US monopolies directly owned __% of domestic mines, __% of railways, and __% of sugar production

60, 28

Private investment: over $__ million into building __ luxury hotels and casinos from 1954-56

[under Batista] Havana became America’s adult playground

Captain Hank Bracket, 2015 

• Highlights how Americans were coming in and making big money 

• Lots of corruption involved that Americans were benefiting off of

1.9

• US embargo / sanctions

  • Started in 1960 as a response to the Cuban government nationalising American-owned properties and businesses (valued at about US$__ billion without compensation 

  • Formalised as a total embargo in 1962 

  • Significant impact, particularly on further entrenching the sugar monoculture 

    • Castro planned to move away from it, but the US embargo led to Cuba pivoting to the USSR, who offered highly lucrative deals for Cuban sugar (11 times the world market price)!, therefore ruining his plans to diversify

98

• By the 1980s, the USSR was supplying roughly __% of Cuba’s crude oil

80

Because Cuba relied on the Eastern Bloc for over __% of its total trade, the collapse of the USSR in 1991 triggered an economic depression.

Our regime owed its life to the Soviet Union…prevent[ing] the destruction of the socialist revolution

Fidel Castro, 1963

• Relations with US and USSR in cold war period

100,000

• VENEZUELA ALSO HELPED CUBA AFTER FALL OF SOVIET UNION 

  • Traded up to _______ barrels of subsidised oil per day from the late 1990s 

  • Allowed Cuba to economically stabilise

23, 4, 75, 15

• Universal healthcare and education system (healthcare and education reform was a key goal of the revolution) → Castro implements free Universal healthcare and education → results in number of high schools tripling, illiteracy rates fall from __% to __%, infant mortality rates fell __% to __/1000, life expectancy increased to mid 80s, highest number of doctors per capita in the world

The literacy campaign was the Revolution’s finest hour…bridged the historic divide between Urban and rural Cuba

Historian Marifeli Perez-Stable, 2012

• Social legacy of the Cuban revolution

26, 20, 60

The economic legacy of the Cuban revolution is highly negative, as the Castro administration failed to reform the instability at the heart of the Country’s economy.

• Economic conditions worsened 

  • Material scarcity → short supply of shelter food → blamed on lack of central economic planning by the new revolutionary govt → __% poverty, govt employee average income $__/month

  • Declining relationship with the USA led to lack of exports of sugar (originally imported __% of sugar) → caused decline in economy

  • Declining economy blamed on the new revolutionary government, significantly enhancing the negative economic legacy

1, 15

More than _ million Cubans fled the country within __ years of his reign → citizens lacked basic needs

100,000, 30,000

Relatively positive legacy of foreign relations  Supported other socialist governments in the Americas and Africa as well as aiding many countries Cuba + Venezuela positive and mutually beneficial. Venezuela provided oil (_______ barrels) contrasting to US oil imports   Cuba paid for the coil through sensing over ______ Cuban doctors, teachers, and intelligence advisors to Venezuela Following the Revolution Cuba supported popular movements through Latin America  Aid support to Latin America  Military uprisings failed in other countries, but a few socialist leaders were elected US/USSR relationships  Trade impacts  relationships Downside however, a negative impact on legacy was foreign relations with neighbours was the backing of revolutionaries in several countries i.e. Bolivia, El Salvador, etc. in the cold war period.

90, 25

• __% of Africa colonised

• __% of the world’s population under the British Empire prior to WW1

3, 15, 20, 30, 20, 15

• _ parallel lines of trenches 

• Frontline (actual battle)

• Support line (maybe retreat during bombardment) 

• Reserve line (waiting for call to battle)

• German trench quality was generally better compared to the British, as they viewed trenches as a long-term proposition. 

• Average routine across the war: 

  • __% in the frontline trench 

  • __% in the support line 

  • __% in the reserve line 

  • __% in a rest area  

  • __% for training, travel, leave and hospitalisation

The most horrible consequence of the mud was that men actually drowned in it

• Frequent rain in northeastern France and Belgium meant that mud was a significant concern 

  • ‘_____’ historian John Ellis, 1976

20,000, 800

• The British Army had to deal with ______cases of trench foot in the first winter of the war 

• Rats- one pair being able to produce ___ more a year

400-600, 700

Key Technological Impacts:

• Machine Guns: Weapons like the British Vickers or German MG08 fired _______ rounds per minute. They decimated traditional infantry charges across No Man's Land.

• Artillery: Rapid-fire field guns (e.g., French 75mm) forced armies into the ground. This created a continuous ___ km trench system from Switzerland to the North Sea after the Battle of the Marne.

• Naval Blockade: Britain's superior naval technology strictly restricted German imports, leading to severe resource shortages early on.

60, 800,000

• Artillery caused roughly __% of all Western Front casualties.

• By late 1914, Germany and France suffered over _______ casualties each due to defensive firepower.

1, 700,000, 32

• Over _ million casualties were suffered at the Somme and _______ at Verdun.

• Only __ out of 49 British tanks made it to the starting line at the Somme due to mechanical failure.

500, 1,900

• At the Battle of Amiens (August 1918), the Allies deployed over ___ tanks and _____ aircraft, advancing 8 miles in a single day.

27,000

On a single day (August 22, 1914), the French army suffered ______ dead during the Battle of the Frontiers due to outdated tactics.

70

During the German Verdun offensive, France rotated __% of its army through the battle to survive the attrition.

680,000

• Germany’s Spring Offensive cost them _______ casualties, exhausting their army and setting up the final Allied breakthrough.

sturmtruppen

Stormtrooper Tactics: German _____ bypassed strongpoints using speed, smoke, and portable fire support during the 1918 Spring Offensive.

57,000

• The British suffered ______ casualties on the first day of the Somme (July 1, 1916) due to rigid offensive planning.

300,000, 5

The Third Battle of Ypres (Passchendaele) cost the Allies roughly ______ casualties to advance the front line by only _ miles.

380,000, 6,000

• During the Hundred Days Offensive, the Allies captured over _______ German prisoners and took _____ artillery pieces, completely collapsing German military resistance

18, 41, 18, 41

• Conscription introduced in 1916 

  • January- Military Service Act 1916: conscription for single men and for widowers without children, aged between __ and __

  • May- Universal Conscription Act: conscription for all men between __ and __

Defence of the Realm Act

• Gave the British government powers to intervene in everyday life 

pub licensing

• _____ hours restricted: 

  • Lloyd George (PM 1916-22) in 1915: ‘...fighting Germany, Australia and the drink…far as I am concerned the greatest of these foes is drink’.

1 in 4

• Rationing (voluntary in 1917, mandatory in 1918) 

  • German U-boats were sinking _ __ _ British merchant ships in April 1917

20, 18

• Conscription throughout the war 

  • Little conscientious objection due to German tradition of militarism 

  • Also industrial conscription (National Service War) which included women and men who weren’t in the army 

  • First __ minimum age, later dropped to __. 

  • First soldiers had to be fit, later wasn’t a requirement

17-60, 100,000

• Food shortages 

  • January 1915 Bread rationing 

  • August 1915 butter shortage 

  • December 5 1916 The Auxiliary Service Law, compulsory employment of every male German aged _____ for war industry, agriculture and forestry.  

  • Winter 1916-17 known as the Turnip Winter, where turnips usually fed to animals were given to the civilian population to ease the famine 

  • Failure of Ludendorff Offensive in 1918 meant that the homefront ran out of working men and materials 

    • By August most civilians wanted the war to end, extreme inflation, massive starvation, _______ workers starving each month

100,000

• Germany: By late 1917, official propaganda lines completely failed to quell domestic unrest, leading to massive strikes by over _______ workers starving each month while the state continued to preach military triumphalism.

8, 1

• _ million casualties suffered by the Russian Army by February 1917 

• _ million Russian soldiers deserted 

• Tsar’s authority shattered since he was military commander

34, 89, 32

• Treaty of Brest-Litovsk 

  • Russia forced to accept after German started fighting again 

  • Russia lost a quarter of its European territory

    • __% of population 

    • __% of coal mines 

    • __% of agricultural land 

532, 1,900, 380,000, 6,000

• Battle of Amiens (August 1918): The ultimate display of combined arms. The Allies deployed ___ tanks, _____ aircraft, and massive artillery support, advancing 8 miles in a single day—German General Ludendorff called it the "Black Day of the German Army."

• The Hundred Days Offensive: Between August and November 1918, this highly mobile strategy collapsed the Hindenburg Line, capturing over _______ German prisoners and _____ artillery pieces.

680,000, 10,000

• The Ludendorff Offensive cost Germany over _______ casualties, draining their finest veteran troops.

• By mid-1918, fresh US troops were arriving at a staggering rate of ______ soldiers per day, entirely erasing any manpower advantage Germany had gained from the Eastern Front.

25, 1, 750,000, 1,000

• Convoy System Success: After convoys were introduced in mid-1917, shipping losses plummeted from over __% to less than _% for escorted ships, securing the Allied transatlantic supply line.

• Human Cost of the Blockade: Academic estimates show that the British naval blockade caused roughly _______ German civilian deaths due to severe malnutrition and disease.

• The Turnip Winter (1916–17): German civilian rations dropped to just ____ calories a day, completely destroying domestic morale long before the military surrendered on the battlefield.