History Final: Semester 2 Unit 4 – The World Wars

World War I (1914-1918)

  • Causes:
    • Main Factors:
      • Militarism: Arms race between European powers
      • Alliances: Triple Alliance (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy) vs. Triple Entente (Britain, France, Russia)
      • Imperialism: Competition for colonies and resources
      • Nationalism: Strong patriotic sentiments across Europe
    • Spark: Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand
  • Key Battles:
    • Western Front: Trench warfare, Verdun, Somme
    • Eastern Front: Tannenberg, Gallipoli Campaign
  • New Technology: Machine guns, poison gas, tanks, aircraft, and submarines
  • US Entry: April 1917 after German unrestricted submarine warfare
  • End of War: Armistice signed November 11, 1918
  • Treaty of Versailles:
    • War guilt clause (Article 231)
    • German reparations
    • Territorial losses
    • Military restrictions
    • Creation of League of Nations

Imperialism and WWI:

  • Colonial Tensions: European powers competed for colonies in Africa and Asia
  • Economic Motives: Raw materials, markets, investments
  • Colonial Troops: Over 4 million colonial subjects fought in WWI
    • Effects on Colonies:
      • Increased nationalism and independent movements
      • Mandate system established by League of Nations
      • German colonies redistributed to victors
  • Post-War Changes:
    • Beginning of the decolonization process
    • Wilson’s Fourteen Points and self-determination principle
    • Colonial disillusionment with European powers

Russian Revolution & Lenin

  • February Revolution (1917):
    • Overthrow of Tsar Nicholas II
    • Establishment of Provisional Government
  • October Revolution (1917):
    • Bolshevik seizure of power led by Lenin
    • Slogan: "Peace, Land, Bread"
  • Vladimir Lenin:
    • Leader of Bolshevik Party
    • Developed Marxism-Leninism ideology
    • Issued April Theses and New Economic Policy (NEP)
    • Created Communist International (Comintern)
  • Russian Civil War (1918-1922):
    • Red Army (Bolsheviks) vs. White Army (anti-Bolsheviks)
    • Foreign intervention
    • War Communism policies
  • Creation of USSR (1922)

Soviet Union Under Stalin

  • Rise to Power: Stalin outmaneuvered rivals after Lenin's death (1924)
  • Five-Year Plans: Rapid industrialization and collectivization
  • Collectivization:
    • Forced peasants onto collective farms
    • Kulak resistance and liquidation
    • Holodomor (Ukrainian famine, 1932-33)
  • Great Purges (1936-1938):
    • Show trials of Old Bolsheviks
    • Elimination of military leadership
    • NKVD and Gulag system
    • Estimated 700,000+ executions
  • Cult of Personality: Propaganda, art, education
  • Socialist Realism: Official art form glorifying Soviet achievements

Fascism & Interwar Germany

  • Fascist Ideology:
    • Ultranationalism
    • Anti-communism
    • Authoritarian leadership
    • Militarism
  • Weimar Republic Challenges:
    • Treaty of Versailles resentment
    • Hyperinflation (1923)
    • Political instability
  • Rise of Hitler:
    • Munich Beer Hall Putsch (1923)
    • Great Depression impact
    • Nazi Party electoral success
    • Appointed Chancellor (1933)
  • Nazi Germany (1933-1945):
    • Enabling Act consolidated power
    • Gleichschaltung (coordination of society)
    • Anti-Semitic Nuremberg Laws (1935)
    • Autarky economic policy
    • Lebensraum expansion concept
    • Kristallnacht pogrom (1938)

Militarist Japan

  • Meiji Restoration Legacy: Rapid modernization and militarization
  • Great Depression Impact: Economic crisis led to political instability
  • Military Control: Civilian government increasingly dominated by military
  • Expansion in Asia:
    • Invasion of Manchuria (1931)
    • Second Sino-Japanese War (1937)
    • Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere
  • Atrocities:
    • Rape of Nanking (1937-38)
    • Forced labor and "comfort women"
  • Path to War:
    • Tripartite Pact with Germany and Italy (1940)
    • U.S. embargo on oil and steel
    • Pearl Harbor attack (December 7, 1941)

World War II (1939-1945)

  • Early Axis Victories:
    • Blitzkrieg tactics in Poland and Western Europe
    • Fall of France (June 1940)
    • Battle of Britain
  • Major Turning Points:
    • Operation Barbarossa (German invasion of USSR, 1941)
    • Pearl Harbor and U.S. entry
    • Battle of Stalingrad (1942-43)
    • D-Day Normandy landings (June 6, 1944)
  • The Holocaust:
    • Systematic genocide of Jews and other groups
    • Wannsee Conference (1942)
    • Concentration and death camps
    • Approximately 6 million Jews murdered
  • Pacific Theater:
    • Island-hopping strategy
    • Battles of Midway, Iwo Jima, Okinawa
    • Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (August 1945)
  • War's End:
    • German surrender (May 8, 1945)
    • Japanese surrender (August 15, 1945)
  • Aftermath:
    • United Nations establishment
    • Nuremberg and Tokyo Trials
    • Beginning of Cold War tensions
    • Decolonization movements accelerated
    • Economic reconstruction (Marshall Plan)