AICE International History, 1870-1945

Theme 1: Empire and the emergence of world powers 1870-1919

Key events:

  • November 1867 — Opening of the Suez Canal

  • December 1880 - March 1895 — First Boer War

  • February 1885 — Treaty of Berlin

  • April 1895 — Shimonoseki Treaty (Japan and China)

  • December 1895 - January 1896 — Jameson Raid

  • January 1895 — Kruger Telegram

  • April 1898 - August 1898 — Spanish-American War

  • September 1898 — Fashoda Incident

  • October 1899 - May 1902 — Second Boer War

  • January 1902 — Formation of Anglo-Japanese Alliance

  • February 1904 - September 1905 — Russo-Japanese War

  • September 1905 — Treaty of Portsmouth (Japan and Russia)

  • January 1906 - April 1906 — Algeciras Conference

  • July 1914 — Outbreak of the First World War

  • August 1914 — Opening of the Panama Canal

  • April 1917 — USA enters the First World War

  • January 1918 — US President Wilson’s Fourteen Points speech

Theme 3: The League of Nations and its Impact on International Relations in the 1930s

  • 1929-33 —————— Great Depression

  • 1931-33 —————— Manchurian Crisis

  • January 30, 1933 —— Hitler appointed Chancellor of Germany

  • March, 1935 ———— Hitler reintroduces conscription

  • October, 1935 ——— Abyssinia invaded by Italy

  • March, 1936 ———— Hitler remilitarized the Rhineland

  • July, 1936 ————— Spanish Civil War

  • October, 1936 ——— Rome-Berlin Axis

  • March 12, 1938 ——- German occupation of Anschluss

  • September, 1938 —- Four-Power Conference at Munich

  • March 15, 1939 —— Germany occupies Bohemia and Moravia

  • March 31, 1939 —— Anglo-French guarantee of Poland

  • August 23, 1939 —— Nazi-Soviet Pact

  • September 1, 1939 — Germany invades Poland

  • September 3, 1939 — Britain and France declare war on Germany

How did the rise of extremism affect international relations?

Key terms:

  • Fascist Party: A political group in Italy led by Benito Mussolini that sought to establish a totalitarian regime through aggressive nationalism and militarism. Its programme combined social reforms and a tax on war profits with an intensely nationalist foreign policy.

  • Nationalist Socialism: German National Socialist had many similarities to Fascism, but its driving force was race and anti-Semitism.

  • Reichswehr: The German army, 1919-1935.

  • Nazi Party (NSDAP): The National Socialist German Workers Party. Hitler became chairman, 1921. The Party was banned 1923 in the Munich putsh, but refounded in February 1925. Became only legal party in Germany in 14 July, 1933.

  • Putsh: Take-over of power, also know a coup or coup d’etat.

  • Mein Kampf: ‘My Struggle’: Hitler’s major book in which he outlined his political intentions and beliefs.

  • Buffer State: Small state positioned between two much larger ones.

  • Luftwaffe: The German air force.

  • Conscription: Compulsory military service.

  • Non-aggression pact: An agreement between two or more countries not to resort to force.

  • Social cohesion: The social unity of a country.

  • Staff talks: Talks between officers of the planning and administrative departments of national armies.

  • Treaty of Mutual Assistance: A treaty between two or more states whereby each state would