Unit 8 AP world

Hopes for greater self-government

Following World War I, many colonized people who had supported the war effort expected increased autonomy or independence. However, these hopes were largely unfulfilled by the imperial powers, leading to long-term resentment.

Anti-imperialist sentiment

This sentiment gained significant global support after World War II. The war economically and militarily drained European powers like Britain and France, making it increasingly difficult and expensive for them to maintain their vast empires.

Shift in global balance of power

The Allied success in World War II resulted in a fundamental change in international politics. Power shifted away from Western Europe toward two new superpowers: the United States and the Soviet Union (USSR).

Causes and effects of the ideological struggle

The Cold War was a global rivalry for power and influence that shaped world politics for decades. It was driven by conflicting visions for the postwar world: the U.S. promoted liberal democracy and capitalism, while the USSR promoted authoritarian communism and a planned economy.

United States (Superpower)

A global power that promoted multi-party elections, civil liberties, private property, and market-driven economics.

Soviet Union (USSR) (Superpower)

A global power characterized by a one-party system and a state-planned economy, often described as totalitarian by Western sources.

Non-Aligned Movement

An active strategy by newly independent states to avoid formally aligning with either superpower bloc. Leaders sought to preserve their independence and avoid a new form of colonial dependence on the U.S. or USSR.

Sukarno

The leader of Indonesia who was a key figure in the Non-Aligned Movement. He hosted the 1955 Bandung Conference to promote Asian-African cooperation and neutrality.

Kwame Nkrumah

The nationalist leader of Ghana (formerly the Gold Coast) who secured independence from Britain. He was a vocal advocate for pan-Africanism and a leader in the Non-Aligned Movement.

Must Know #1

Do not just focus on ideology. The USSR wanted a "buffer zone" in Eastern Europe to prevent future invasions, while the U.S. feared that postwar instability would make nations vulnerable to communist revolutions.

NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization)

A collective defense alliance formed in 1949 led by the United States. It established that an attack on one member would be treated as an attack on all.

Warsaw Pact

A Soviet-led collective defense alliance formed in 1955 in response to the creation of NATO. It included the communist-aligned governments of Eastern Europe.

Nuclear proliferation

The massive buildup of nuclear weapons by both superpowers during the arms race.

Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD)

The logic that a nuclear exchange would destroy both the attacker and the defender.

This prevented direct war between the U.S. and USSR because the cost was unacceptably high.

Proxy wars

Conflicts where major powers support opposing sides without fighting each other directly. This allowed superpowers to compete for global influence while avoiding a direct, catastrophic nuclear war.

Korean War (1950–1953)

A proxy war that began when communist North Korea (supported by the USSR and China) invaded anti-communist South Korea (supported by the U.S. and UN). It ended in an armistice, leaving the peninsula divided at the 38th parallel.

Angolan Civil War

A long-running proxy war in Africa where different factions were backed by the U.S., USSR, and Cuba following Angolan independence from Portugal.

Sandinista-Contras conflict

A Cold War struggle in Nicaragua where the U.S. supported "Contra" rebels against the socialist Sandinista government.

Chinese Civil War

A long conflict between the Kuomintang (KMT) and the Chinese Communist Party. The Communists, led by Mao Zedong, eventually won in 1949 by recruiting millions of peasants.

Japanese invasion of China

This event interrupted the Chinese Civil War and forced a temporary, uneasy alliance between the KMT (chinese political party) and Communists to fight Japan.

Chinese Communist Revolution

The 1949 victory of Mao Zedong, leading to the proclamation of the People's Republic of China (PRC) on the mainland.

Mao Zedong

The revolutionary leader who became the head of the PRC. He implemented radical land reforms and social programs to transform China into a Marxist state.

Great Leap Forward

Mao's 1958 plan to rapidly industrialize China through large-scale rural communes. Poor planning led to a catastrophic famine that killed over 30 million people.

Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution

Launched in the 1960s, this was Mao's attempt to purge "Western" or "capitalist" influences and prevent the rise of a new privileged class.

Deng Xiaoping

The leader who rose to power after Mao and focused on restructuring the economy. He adopted free-market elements while maintaining communist political control.

Tiananmen Square Massacre (1989)

The violent suppression of pro-democracy protests by the Chinese government, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of demonstrators.

Mengistu Haile Mariam

The leader in Ethiopia who established a communist regime and pursued radical land redistribution and modernization through often violent means.

White Revolution

A series of pro-Western land reforms and social changes in Iran implemented by the Shah, which eventually contributed to religious opposition.

Indian National Congress

The primary political party that led the struggle for Indian independence from Britain.

Ho Chi Minh

The communist nationalist leader in Vietnam (French Indochina) who fought against French colonial rule and later U.S. intervention.

Gamal Abdel Nasser

The leader of Egypt who promoted pan-Arab nationalism and nationalized the Suez Canal.

Negotiated Independence

A pathway to decolonization where imperial powers transferred authority through political processes, as seen in India, Ghana (the Gold Coast), and French West Africa.

Independence through armed struggle

A pathway where independence was achieved through guerrilla warfare and insurgency, such as in Algeria, Angola, and Vietnam.

Must Know #2

Vietnam is a classic example of where anti-colonial nationalism met Cold War rivalry. While the U.S. saw it as "containment," many Vietnamese saw it as a struggle against foreign domination.

Partition of India (1947)

The division of the British Raj into Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan. This led to massive population displacement and religious violence.

Creation of Israel (1948)

In 1948, Israel was created as a home for Jewish people on land that Britain had been in charge of (Palestine). As soon as this happened, neighboring Arab countries went to war with Israel because they disagreed with the land being divided.

Metropole Migrations

The movement of people from former colonies to the former imperial centers (metropoles) for work or education, such as South Asians to Britain or Algerians to France.

Indira Gandhi

The Prime Minister of India who implemented state-led economic policies to guide the nation's development.

Sirimavo Bandaranaike

The leader of Sri Lanka who pursued specific economic policies to reduce colonial dependency.

Augusto Pinochet

The dictator in Chile whose regime intensified internal conflict by punishing or getting rid of anyone who disagreed with his government. (let to violence and division)

Francisco Franco

The nationalist dictator of Spain who maintained a militarized state until his death in 1975.

Idi Amin

The military dictator of Uganda known for his brutal rule and the buildup of military power.

Shining Path

A radical communist guerrilla group in Peru that used terrorism and violence to challenge the state.

Al-Qaeda

A global militant organization that used violence and terrorism to challenge established international power structures.

Mohandas Gandhi

A leader in India who pioneered the use of nonviolent civil disobedience and passive resistance to end British rule.

Martin Luther King Jr.

A leader in the U.S. Civil Rights Movement who used nonviolent protest to challenge racial segregation and inequality.

Nelson Mandela

A leader of the ANC in South Africa who fought against Apartheid. He became the country's first Black president after years of imprisonment.

Soviet-Afghan War (1979–1989)

A costly and failed invasion by the USSR to support a communist government in Afghanistan. It drained Soviet resources and contributed to the system's collapse.

Advances in U.S. Military/Tech

During the 1980s, U.S. technological advances and military spending put immense economic pressure on the struggling Soviet economy.

Mikhail Gorbachev’s Reforms

He introduced Glasnost (openness) and Perestroika (restructuring) to save the USSR, but these reforms inadvertently led to the rise of nationalist movements and the system's downfall.

Revolutions of 1989

A wave of protests across Eastern Europe that led to the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of communist governments in the Soviet bloc.

Dissolution of the Soviet Union (1991)

The official end of the USSR, marking the final conclusion of the Cold War.

Economic Drivers

While the U.S. economy surged due to wartime production and a lack of domestic destruction (with the exception of Pearl Harbor), the Soviet Union relied on its massive territory and command economy to recover. However, the Soviet focus on heavy industry (coal and steel) over consumer goods eventually weakened their long-term economic stability.

The Marshall Plan

The U.S. sent over $13 billion in aid to rebuild Western Europe, which shifted the global balance of power decisively toward the United States.

Ideological Universalism

Both the U.S. and USSR believed their systems were "universalizing," meaning they felt their respective ideologies (capitalism vs. communism) could only be proven superior if adopted by the entire world.

The Non-Aligned Movement Wildcard

While the movement sought independence from superpower control, some leaders were "shrewd" and played both sides. For example, Indonesia accepted aid from the Soviet Union while simultaneously destroying its own domestic Communist Party.

The Cuban Missile Crisis Context

The U.S. tried and failed to kick Fidel Castro out of power (the Bay of Pigs invasion). Because of this, the Soviet Union sent nuclear missiles to Cuba to protect their ally.

At the same time, the U.S. already had its own missiles in Turkey, right on the Soviet border.

Both sides basically had weapons pointed at each other from very close range.

Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (1968)

This was a direct result of the 13-day "anxiety-filled" standoff of the Missile Crisis, aimed at preventing other nations from developing nuclear capabilities.

China’s Great Leap Forward (Context)

Unlike the Soviet focus on urban industrialization, Mao focused on small-scale industrialization in rural areas. This resulted in poor-quality goods and a famine that killed between 20 and 50 million people. Mao famously refused foreign aid during this time to maintain the appearance that his brand of communism was successful.

Egypt & The Suez Crisis

In 1956, Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal. When British, French, and Israeli forces invaded, the USSR threatened a nuclear strike, and U.S. President Eisenhower eventually pressured the Western powers to withdraw.

The "White Population" Factor

A deciding factor in whether decolonization was peaceful or violent was often the size of the European settler population. In Algeria, the large French settler population resisted independence fiercely, leading to one of the bloodiest struggles where French soldiers targeted civilians.

Negotiated Independence - Ghana (Context)

Kwame Nkrumah led the Gold Coast to become the new state of Ghana in 1957, benefiting from the fact that the British public no longer supported the expense of quelling colonial rebellions after WWII.

The Legacy of Borders (Nigeria)

In Nigeria, the Igbo people tried to secede to form a nation called Biafra in 1967. The conflict was intensified because the Igbo land was rich in oil, leading the northern government to resist the secession violently.

Homespun Movement

A boycott of British textiles where Indians were encouraged to weave their own clothes.

Salt March

A protest against the British salt monopoly where Gandhi harvested salt from the sea, leading to his arrest.

Nelson Mandela's Shift

Mandela initially promoted non-violence but shifted to advocating for armed struggle after the Sharpeville Massacre, where police killed 69 peaceful protesters.

The Military-Industrial Complex

This became a self-feeding cycle; as military spending increased, more people relied on these industries for jobs, making it politically difficult for leaders to cut spending even if they wanted to.

SDI ("Star Wars")

Ronald Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative proposed using space-based lasers to shoot down nuclear missiles. While it never fully materialized, it forced the Soviets—whose economy was already stagnant—to attempt to match U.S. spending, accelerating their economic collapse.

Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan (1979) (Context)

The Soviets spent 9 years in a losing "rural guerrilla war" against Afghan rebels who were supplied by the U.S., Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan.

Perestroika

Restructuring by moving away from a strictly centralized "command economy" and allowing for limited free-market elements. (mid to late 1980s led by soviet leader gorbachev

Glasnost

"Openness," allowing for public criticism of the government for the first time.

The End of Intervention

Gorbachev’s 1985 decision to stop using the military to prop up communist regimes in satellite states directly led to the democratic reform movements that tore down the Berlin Wall in 1989.