HIstory Finals Sem. 2

Causes of the French Revolution

Debt issues, enlightenment ideas, weak leaders and injustices

First estate of France

Clergy occupied this group; were exempt from most of their taxes and had to pay a very little amount. 1% of citizens

Second estate of France

Nobles; exempt from most of their taxes such as a land tax, but had to pay some other minor taxes. 2% of citizens

Third estate of France

Bourgeoisie (middle class), workers of France, and peasants occupied this group. Took up 97% of the population of France. Had to pay heavy taxes such as the land tax, salt tax, and church tax

Bourgeoisie

Middle class: bankers, factory owners, merchants, professionals, skilled artisans

Storming of Bastille

Angry revolutionaries stormed the prison in Paris and seized control of the building, killing many people and marking a key event in the French Revolution. People unhappy w/ monarchy

Parlements

Could register royal edicts, which meant they had some power to check the king’s decisions. They often resisted reforms, claiming to defend tradition and the people’s rights

Tennis Court Oath

Oath that the third estate members wouldn’t leave the tennis court until they drew up a new constitution

Declaration of the Rights of Man and of Citizen

Declared “men are born and remain free and equal in rights” had the rights to: Iiberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression.

Maximillian Robespierre

Built republic of virtue, governed France, justified torture by “remaining true to Revolution ideas,” 40,000 people executed during the reign of terror.

Reign of Terror

When Robespierre governed France, executed 40,000 (85% peasants, urban poor middle class). Did this to “remaining true true to Revolution ideas”

Napoleon

Defended delegates and saved the French Republic, drove out the national legislature, set up efficient tax and banking systems, wanted to control over Europe and America

Napoleonic Code

Gave uniform set of laws and eliminated injustices, but individual rights were restricted.

French rev. VS American rev.

American evolution sought independence from Britain. France wanted to overthrow their monarchy and establish a new government.

Industrial Revolution

The process of developing machine production of goods. England 1700s transformed goods - machines. Required such natural resources:

• water power and coal to fuel the new machines

• Iron ore to construct machines, tools, and buildings

• Rivers for inland transportation

• Harbors from which merchant ships set sail

Factors of production

the resources needed to produce goods and services that the Industrial Revolution required. Included: land, labor, and capital (wealth)

Impact of Industrial Revolution on women

Offered women new job opportunities in factories, but often under harsh conditions and low pay. Also reinforced domestic roles.

Negative effects of the Industrial Revolution

Left people in poverty

• long, suffering work hours

• Horrible working conditions

• Lower life expectancy

• Streets trashed

Positive effects of the Industrial Revolution

Left a forever impact on the world

• created jobs and money

• Technology and good standard of living

• Better food, housing, cheap clothing

• Living and working improved

Unions

Workers joined in voluntary labor associations. Engaged in collective bargaining: working conditions and higher pay

Capitalism

An economic system in which the factors of production are privately owned and money is invested in business ventures to make a profit.

Communism

Form of complete socialism in which the means of production would be owned by the people

Socialism

The factors of production are owned by the public and operate for the welfare of all

Capitalism v communism v socialism

Capitalism = private ownership and free markets

Communism = advocated for collective ownership and classless society

Socialism = promotes social ownership and wealth redistribution through government intervention

Karl Marx

Introduced radical socialism. Argued that human societies divided into warring classes: middle class “haves” and workers “have-nots.” Believed the Industrial Revolution enriched the wealthy and impoverished the poor.

Adam Smith

Defended free economy, free market (capitalism) Made book: Wealth of Nations talked about economic liberty should be guaranteed, the government shouldn’t interfere.

Militarism

Policy of glorifying military power and keeping an army prepared for war.

• European nations built up large armies and navies in an arms race, believing that military strength would deter the war. Germany and Britain competed for naval superiority. This militarization made war more likely when tensions rose.

Alliances

Alliance system designed to keep peace in Europe, but instead pushes the continent into war.

• Complex alliances divided Europe into 2 groups:

  • Triple Alliance: Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy

  • Triple Entente: Britain, France, Russia

Nationalism

Sense of devotion to one’s national group

• national pride and competition between nations created hostility

Imperialism

Practice of one country extending its power and control over other territories. European powers were competing for colonies in Africa and Asia, leading to rivalries and tensions. Germany sought to expand its empire, challenging Britain and France.

Assassination

Key event that sparked the war. Archduke Fran’s Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary was killed by Gabriel Princip, a Serbian Nationalist on June 28, 1914, setting a chain of reactions of war declarations

Allies Powers

Great Britain, France, and Russia; Japan joined within weeks, as well as Italy

Central Powers

Germany and Austria-Hungary, located in the heat of Europe

Schlieffen Plan

Germany developed battle strategy called for attacking and defeating France in the West and then rushing east to fight Russia. Speed = vital

Gallipoli campaign

British, Australian, New Zealand, and French troops made assaults on Gallipoli Peninsula. The Allies believed they could take Constantinople, defeat the Turks, and establish a supply line to Russia.

Unrestricted submarine warfare

German submarines would sink any ship in the waters around Britain. Used u-boats to attack ships like the Lusitania.

Zimmerman Telegram

Germans stated that they would help Mexico “reconquer” the land it had lost to the US if Mexico allied with Germany. This angered the US, and so the US joined into WWI with the Allies

Trench Warfare

Type of land warfare using occupied fighting lines, largely composing military trenches, in which troops are well-protected from the enemy’s small-arms fire and are sheltered from artillery

Reason US opposed joining the League of Nations

Many in the senate feared it would pull the country into foreign conflicts and undermine the US Sovereignty

Total war

Countries dedicating all resources to a war effort. Governments took over the economy, deciding what factories could produce.

Treaty of Versailles

Compromise between Germany and Allies 5 years to date after Franz Ferdinand was assassinated. Goal to keep peace among the nations.

League of Nations

International association whose goal would be to keep peace among the nations. Punished Germany to lose their territory, the blame of the war was on them

Kaiser Wilhelm II

Forced Bismarck to resign from Germany. His army was his greatest pride. Did not share power with anyone, wanted to assert his own power.

Woodrow Wilson & 14 points

Outlines a plan for achieving a just and lasting peace. Ending secret treaties, freedom of seas and trade. Creating new “general association of nations” that protects “great and small states alike”

Bloody Sunday

200,00 workers and families approached the czar at the Winter palace in St. Petersburg protesting for better working conditions, personal freedom, and an elected legislature. Nicholas II ordered soldiers on the crowd Killing many.

Alexander II

• wanted a form of government in which he was in total power

• Imposed strict censorship on the media

• Turned Russia into a police state.

• Anyone who questioned the absolute authority of the czar, worshiped the Russian Orthodox Church, or spoke a language other than Russian was considered dangerous

Nicholas II

Czar of Russia, dragged Russia into WWI while they were unprepared

Vladimir Lenin

Leader of the Bolsheviks. Fled Europe in 1900s to avoid arrest by czar regime

Rasputin

Self described “holy man” claimed to have magical healing powers. Nicholas moved headquarters to war front. Czarina Alexandra ran the government and fell under the influence of Rasputin

Great Purge

A campaign of terror directed at eliminating anyone who threatened Stalin’s power. Turned against members of the communist party and launched the Great Purge

Joseph Stalin

• aimed to create a perfect communist state in Russia

• Planned to transform the Soviet Union into a totalitarian state

• Built a police state to maintain his power

• Plans called for a command economy: system in which the government made all the economic decisions

• Made the Five-Year plan

Totalitarianism

Government that takes total, centralized, state of control over every aspect of public and private life. Leaders appear to provide a sense of security and to five a direction for the future. Wants to create fear. Ways of persuasion: terror, indoctrination, propaganda, censorship, and religious or ethnic persuasion

Command economy

A system in which the government makes all the economic decisions. Political leaders identify the country’s economic needs and determine how to fulfill them under this system

Five-Year Plan

Outlined the first several Five Year Plans for the development of the Soviet Union’s economy Set impossibly high quotas to increase the output of steel coal, oil, and electricity

Collective farms

Combined privately owned farms into large, government-owned farms: a process called collectivization. Government seized over 25 million privately owned farms and combined them into government owned farms.

Stock Market Crashes

1929, NYC Wall Street was financial capital of the world. Stock holders began selling their stocks, thinking the prices would go down. Everyone began selling stocks and a record of 16 million shares of stock were sold. The market collapsed.

Communism Vs. Fascism

Fascism: had no clearly defined theory or program. Preached extreme form of nationalism. Believes struggle = success

Communism: internationalists, hoping to unite workers worldwide, other than just ones own country

Benito Mussolini

Promised to secure Italy by reviving its economy and rebuilding its armed forces. Vowed to give Italy strong leadership. Founded Fascists.

Weimar Republic

Germany’s government after WWI, 1919-1933: an attempt to establish a democratic system, but it faces many problems like economic crises and political instability, which eventually led to the rise of Nazi Germany

Hitler’s Germany

• joined tiny political group to share the belief that Germany had to overturn the Treaty of Versailles and combat communism

• Later named the group the National Socialist German Worker’s Party (Nazi for short)

• Hitler’s success led him to be chosen as the leader of the Nazi party

Appeasement

Giving in to a an aggressor to keep peace

Munich Conference

Meeting of Germany, France, Britain, and Italy in Munich, Germany. Britain and France agreed Hitler could take Sudetenland if Hitler respected the Czechs new borers. Hitler ended up taking the Czech and Mussolini siezed Albania.

Isolationism

The belief that political ties to other countries should be avoided

Nonaggression pact

Signed by Hitler and Stalin for 10 years. German ends up invading the Soviet Union anyways

Cause and Effect of Germany invading Poland

• Hitler moved ahead to conquer Poland: surprised attack on Sepp, 1, 1939

• France and Britain declare war on Germany on Sep. 3

• Hitler annexed west Poland because of the amount of “German population” that resided there

Allied Powers

• Great Britain

• United States

• Soviet Union

• France

Axis Powers

• Germany

• Italy

• Japan

Winston Churchill

British prime minister during WWII

Germany’s invasion of the Soviet Union

• June 22, 1942, Germany invaded the Soviet Union

• Soviet troops retreated, using scorched-earth strategy

• 1 million in Leningrad died from starvation

• Gained nothing but the cost of 500,00 German lives

US actions against Japan, pre-war

• Japan had plans to threaten American-controlled Philippine Islands and Guam

• US sent aid to strengthen China

Pearl Harbor

• December 7, 1941, Pearl Harbor was bombed

• Japan sunk 19 American ships, 2300 killed, 1100 injured

• Attacks were called upon by Isoroku Yamamoto

Battle of Midway

• Japan targeted Midway Island, key American airfield

• Allies code breaker, Admiral Chester Nimitz found out when Japan launched

• American planes swooped to attack Japanese fleets

• Destroyed 332 Japan planes

• Ended June 7, 1942

• Crucial turning point in WWII

Battle of Britain

• Churchill said he would not give in to Germany

• Radar and German code-making machine (Enigma) helped in war efforts

• Battle ended May 10, 1941, when Hitler called off his attacks

• Showed Hitler could be stopped.

D-Day

The start of Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944. Involved U.S., British, and Canadian forces, was a key turning point in the war, marking the beginning of the liberation of Western Europe from Nazi control. 

Battle of the Bulge

Marked the last of the Germans efforts offense on the Western front, December 1944

Kristallnacht

• Night of broken glass

• Nazi violence led to the destruction of Jewish properties and synagogues

• 30,000 Jews sent to concentration camps

Final Solution

• genocide targeting the Jewish population primarily

• Extermination camps built; mass killings conducted in gas chambers

Nuremberg Trials

1945,1946, an international Military Tribunal representing 23 nations put Nazi war criminals on trial in Nuremberg, Germany

Island Hopping Strategy

Military Tactic used by the Allies to attack the weaker Japanese held islands

Japan in Manchuria

Invaded for coal and iron

Japanese Internment

The forced relocation and imprisonment of Japanese Americans in concentration camps. Happened because of fear and prejudice after the attack on Pearl Harbor

Truman’s reasons for using the atomic bomb

Said he used the atomic bomb to end the war quickly and save American lives by avoiding a costly invasion of Japan

Harry Truman

33rd President of the United States. Served from 1945-1953

Douglas MacArthur

Five-star general in the US army who played a prominent role in the Pacific theater during WWII. Commander of Allied Land forces

United Nations

International organization intended to protect the members against aggression

Truman Doctrine

Truman’s support for countries that rejected communism

Domino theory

The belief that the fall of one to communism would lead to the fall of its neighbors

Containment

Directed at blocking Soviet influence and stopping the expansion of communism

Brinkmanship

The willingness to go to the brink, or edge, of war

Nikita Khrushchev

Became dominant Soviet leader after Stalin died in 1956

Marshall Plan

Provides food, machinery, and other materials to rebuild Western Europe (from US)

Iron Curtain

Chruchill’s definition of the division of Europe post-war

NATO/Warsaw Pact

• Western Europe Nations joined US and Canada

• (North Atlantic Treaty Organization)

• Soviet Union made Warsaw Pact with East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, and Albania in response to NATO, and served to solidify the Soviet Union’s influence and control over its satellite states during the Cold War

Causes of Korean War

North Korea, supported by the Soviet Union and China, invaded South Korea in 1950, aiming to unify the peninsula under communist rule

MacArthur in Korea

Commanded the United Nations forces in the Korean War. He was later removed from command due to disagreements with President Truman over strategy, particularly MacArthur’s desire to expand the war into China using a Nuclear attack

Results of Korean War

Resulted in a divided Korean Peninsula, with North Korea remaining under communist rule and South Korea remaining a democrat icon nation. Massive destruction and loss of life on both sides, but no formal peace treaty was ever signed

Causes of Vietnam war

Caused by spread of communism, American containment policy, and Vietnamese nationalism. After the French withdrew from Indochina, Vietnam was divided, and the US supported South Vietnam to prevent a communist takeover by the North

Vietnamization

Nixon’s plan: US troops gradually pull out, South Vietnamese increased combat role

Results of Vietnam War

Ended with the fall of Saigon in 1975. Leading to the reunification of Vietnam under communist rule. The war had a devastating impact on Vietnam and caused significant social and political divisions in the United States

Vietcong

Communist guerrilla force that fought against the South Vietnamese government and the United States during the Vietnam war. They used guerrilla tactics and were supported by North Vietnam.