Cambridge International AS Level International History 1871-1945 Notes

International Relations in an Age of Imperialism 1871–1918

• Definition of Imperialism: The policy of extending a nation’s power by gaining political and economic control over more territory. This is sometimes referred to as colonialism.
• General Characteristics of the 1871–1914 Wave:     * Focused primarily on Africa and Asia due to mineral supplies and trade opportunities in the crumbling Chinese Empire.     * A real attempt was made to prevent rivalry from leading to open warfare (e.g., Treaty of Berlin $1885$).     * The USA and Japan emerged as new imperial powers alongside European nations.

The ‘Scramble for Africa’

• Chronological Shift: In $1871$, only $10\%$ of Africa was under direct European control; by $1900$, over $90\%$ was colonised.
• Causes of the Scramble:     * Strategic Factors: Britain gained control of Cape Colony and the Suez Canal (opened $1869$) to protect trade routes to India. British administration of Egypt began in $1882$.     * Medical Advancement: The discovery of quinine by French scientists in $1817$ provided an effective treatment for malaria, reducing deaths in the ‘Dark Continent’.     * Weaponry: Fast-firing rifles, machine guns, and heavy artillery gave Europeans a military advantage over native populations.     * Political Factors: European borders were settled by $1871$; expansion could only occur overseas to increase prestige.     * Abolition of the Slave Trade: Businessmen sought new forms of trade after slavery was abolished.     * Industrial Revolution: Need for raw materials and new markets for manufactured goods. Developments in steamships allowed navigation of the Congo, Zambezi, and Niger rivers.     * Sense of Duty: Belief in racial superiority and a duty to bring ‘commerce, Christianity, and civilisation’ (David Livingstone’s ‘three Cs’).
• Motive of Major Powers:     * Britain: Focused on East Africa (Egypt, Sudan, Kenya, Uganda, etc.). Ambition of Cecil Rhodes: a railway from Cairo to Cape Town. Controlled $30\%$ of Africa's population.     * France: Active in the West and North-West (Senegal, Algeria) seeking raw materials like palm oil and timber.     * Belgium: King Leopold II claimed the Congo basin, exploiting it for ivory and rubber through a regime of cruelty.     * Germany: Entered in $1881$; took Kamerun, German East Africa, South West Africa, and Togoland. Costs often exceeded the value of the colonies.
• The Treaty of Berlin ($1885$):     * Designed to regulate colonisation. Terms: inform others of claims; demonstrate ‘effective occupation’; free passage on Niger and Congo rivers; abolition of slavery.     * Fashoda Incident ($1898$): A clash in Sudan between French (Major Marchand) and British (Lord Kitchener) forces. Resolved via compromise: France took Morocco; Britain took Egypt and Sudan.
• The Boer Wars:     * First Boer War ($1880\text{–}81$): Boers in the Transvaal rebelled against British rule; the British were defeated. Pretoria Convention ($1881$) gave Boers self-governing status.     * Second Boer War ($1899\text{–}1902$): Triggered by gold discoveries and the failed Jameson Raid ($1895$). Kruger (Transvaal President) vs. the British.     * Outcome: British victory (Treaty of Vereeniging, $1902$). Cost: $22,000$ British deaths, $30,000$ civilian deaths in concentration camps, and over $200\,\text{million}$ pounds.
• Effects on Africa: Efficient administration and transport systems were balanced against the arbitrary drawing of borders (splitting ethnic groups like the Maasai and Chewa) and extreme exploitation (mutilation and forced labour in the Congo).

The Emergence of the USA and Japan as World Powers

• USA Imperialism:     * Isolationism: Traditional 19th-century policy of avoiding alliances and international commitments.     * Monroe Doctrine ($1823$): Stated the USA would not interfere in Europe, and European intervention in the Americas would be seen as aggression.     * Economic Growth: By $1900$, the USA was outstripping rivals in coal ($238\,\text{million tonnes}$), pig iron ($14.5\,\text{million tonnes}$), and steel ($12\,\text{million tonnes}$).     * Spanish–American War ($1898$): Triggered by the explosion of the battleship Maine in Havana. Resulted in US control of Cuba, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Guam.     * Theodore Roosevelt: Supported Panama Canal (opened $1914$), the Platt Amendment ($1903$) for control of Cuba, and the Roosevelt Corollary ($1904$) to act as an international police power.
• Japan Imperialism:     * Modernisation: The Meiji government ($1867$) centralised power and industrialised (Mitsubishi shipyards). Compulsory military service was introduced.     * War with China ($1894\text{–}95$): Japan gained Formosa and Port Arthur (Treaty of Shimonoseki).     * Triple Intervention: France, Russia, and Germany forced Japan to hand over Port Arthur to Russia.     * Russo–Japanese War ($1904\text{–}05$): Surprise attack on Port Arthur. Battle of Tsushima ($1905$) destroyed the Russian fleet. Treaty of Portsmouth recognized Japan's rights in Korea.

The Alliance System and the Outbreak of WWI

• Bismarck’s Alliances:     * Three Emperors’ League ($1873$): Germany, Austria-Hungary, Russia. Failed due to Balkan disputes.     * Dual Alliance ($1879$): Germany and Austria-Hungary (defensive against Russia).     * Triple Alliance ($1882$): Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy.     * Reinsurance Treaty ($1887$): Attempt to keep Russia neutral.
• Changes after $1890$: Kaiser Wilhelm II dismissed Bismarck. Allowed Reinsurance Treaty to lapse.     * Franco–Russian Alliance ($1894$): Defensive alliance.     * Anglo–Japanese Alliance ($1902$): Britain ended its ‘splendid isolation’.     * Entente Cordiale ($1904$): Settled disputes between Britain and France (Morocco/Egypt).     * Triple Entente ($1907$): Britain, France, Russia.
• The Road to War:     * Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo (June $1914$).     * Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia ($28\,\text{July } 1914$).     * Russia mobilised; Germany issued an ultimatum and declared war on Russia and France; Britain declared war on Germany after the invasion of neutral Belgium (Schlieffen Plan).

International Relations in an Age of Uncertainty 1919–33

• Wilson’s Fourteen Points ($1918$): No secret treaties, freedom of the seas, free trade, disarmament, self-determination, and the League of Nations.
• The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (March $1918$): Germany imposed harsh terms on Russia; Russia lost $25\%$ population and $90\%$ coal mines.
• The Paris Peace Conference ($1919\text{–}20$):     * Big Three: Wilson (USA), Lloyd George (Britain), Clemenceau (France).     * Treaty of Versailles (Germany): Alsace-Lorraine to France; Saar coalfields to France for $15$ years; Rhineland demilitarised; Polish Corridor created; army limited to $100,000$; War Guilt Clause; reparations fixed at $6.6\,\text{billion}$ pounds.     * Other Treaties: Saint-Germain (Austria), Neuilly (Bulgaria), S
  vres (Turkey), Trianon (Hungary).
• Disturbed Relations ($1919\text{–}23$):     * USA returned to Isolationism (Senate rejected Versailles).     * France felt insecure; Russia was isolated due to Communism (Comintern founded $1919$).     * Friction over reparations: French occupation of the Ruhr ($1923$).
• Improvements ($1921\text{–}33$):     * Washington Naval Conference ($1921\text{–}22$): Limited Japanese navy to $3/5$ of US/British strength.     * Dawes Plan ($1924$): US loans to Germany to facilitate reparations.     * Locarno Treaties ($1925$): Germany, France, and Belgium agreed to respect frontiers.     * Kellogg–Briand Pact ($1928$): $65$ nations renounced war.     * Young Plan ($1929$): Reduced total reparations to $2\,\text{billion}$ pounds.

International Relations in an Age of Extremism 1919–39

• Mussolini’s Italy:     * Rise to Power: Post-war disappointment, inflation (lira fell from $5$ to $28$ per dollar), and fear of communism led to the March on Rome ($1922$).     * Styles: Totalitarianism, Autarky, and Extreme Nationalism.     * Foreign Policy: Early diplomacy (Locarno, $1925$) gave way to aggression. Invasion of Abyssinia ($1935$) and formation of the Rome–Berlin Axis ($1936$).
• Spanish Civil War ($1936\text{–}39$):     * Causes: Deep social divisions (latifundia), regional separatism, and political instability.     * Conflict: Nationalists (Franco) vs. Republicans (Popular Front). Ended in Nationalist victory with help from Hitler and Mussolini.
• Hitler’s Germany:     * Rise to Power: Discontent with Versailles and the Great Depression. Hitler became Chancellor in $1933$.     * Foreign Policy: Rearmament, conscription ($1935$), Rhineland remilitarisation ($1936$), Anschluss with Austria ($1938$), and the Sudetenland crisis (Munich Agreement, $1938$).     * The Nazi–Soviet Pact (August $1939$): Agreement to divide Poland between Hitler and Stalin.     * Outbreak of WWII: Germany invaded Poland ($1\,\text{September } 1939$); Britain and France declared war on $3\,\text{September } 1939$.

China and Japan in an Age of Development 1919–45

• China’s Disintegration:     * End of Manchu Dynasty ($1912$) led to the Republic and the ‘warlord era’.     * Kuomintang (KMT): Led by Sun Yat-sen (Three Principles: Nationalism, Democracy, Land Reform) and later Chiang Kai-shek.     * Northern March ($1926$): KMT defeated warlords; purge of communists in $1927$ (Shanghai Massacre).     * Communism (CCP): Mao Zedong led the Long March ($1934\text{–}35$) of $9700\,\text{km}$ to survive KMT attacks.
• Japan’s Military Dictatorship:     * Internal dissatisfaction with democracy and the Great Depression led to army control.     * Manchurian Crisis ($1931$): Kwantung Army staged the Mukden incident and occupied Manchuria.     * Sino–Japanese War ($1937\text{–}45$): Full invasion following the Marco Polo Bridge incident.     * Pearl Harbor ($7\,\text{December } 1941$): Japan attacked the US Pacific fleet to secure oil/rubber in Southeast Asia. This brought the USA into WWII.

The Search for International Peace and Security 1919–45

• League of Nations:     * Organs: General Assembly (all members), Council (Permanent: Britain, France, Italy, Japan), Secretariat, Permanent Court of International Justice.     * Political Successes: Aaland Islands ($1921$), Upper Silesia ($1921$), Mosul ($1924$), Greece-Bulgaria ($1925$).     * Failures: Vilna ($1920$), Ruhr Invasion ($1923$), Corfu ($1923$), Manchuria ($1931$), Abyssinia ($1935$).     * Reasons for Failure: USA never joined; decisions had to be unanimous; no army of its own; national interests took precedence.
• United Nations:     * Origins: Atlantic Charter ($1941$), Dumbarton Oaks ($1944$), Yalta ($1945$), and the San Francisco Conference ($1945$).     * Differences from League: Decisions in Assembly/Council no longer require total unanimity (two-thirds majority allowed); USA and USSR were members from the beginning.

Questions & Discussion

• Q: What does the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk suggest about Germany’s attitude towards Wilson’s Fourteen Points in March $1918$?     * A: It suggests Germany completely ignored Wilsonian ideals of self-determination and fairness, imposing an extremely vindictive peace that prioritized territorial and industrial gains.
• Q: Why did many of Hitler’s generals concern themselves with his foreign policy actions in $1939$?     * A: They believed Germany was not yet ready for a major war against the combined strength of Britain and France, and that Hitler was pushing his luck too far with Poland.
• Q: How justified were German objections to the Treaty of Versailles?     * A: While the terms were harsh (reparations, land loss), historians note they were less severe than what Germany imposed on Russia at Brest-Litovsk, and Germany remained the strongest economic power in Europe.
• Q: What was the significance of the 7 December $1941$ attack?     * A: The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor killed $2402$ men and destroyed $190$ aircraft, ending US isolationism and globalizing WWII.