20th Century Crisis and Achievement: 1914 to Present

Map Notes: Trends and Transitions in the 20th Century

Interconnectedness and the UN: The creation of the United Nations, headquartered in New York City, served as a global recognition that countries were becoming increasingly interconnected.
Democratization in South America: Over the course of the 20th century, many South American nations transitioned from dictatorships to democratic systems.
Urbanizations: At the start of the 20th century, the world contained only two urban areas with populations exceeding $10,000,000$ : New York and London. Today, that figure has grown to at least $20$ urban areas of that size.
The Spark of World War I: The conflict was ignited in $1914$ by the assassination of a political leader in Sarajevo. Driven by new technology, it became one of the bloodiest wars in history.
Shift in Global Ideologies: Russia and China began the 20th century as the world's last large imperial dynasties. By $1950$ , both had transitioned into the first two large nations with Communist governments.
African Independence: Ghana declared independence from Great Britain in $1957$ . In the following two decades, nearly every part of the African continent won its independence.
The Cold War: An ideological struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union fed into military conflicts in locations such as Korea and Vietnam.
The Atomic Age: In $1945$ , the United States dropped atomic bombs on Japan. While at least eight countries currently possess atomic weapons, no country has used them in conflict since then.

Chapter 5 Overview: World War I, the Great Depression, and World War II

Scope of the Conflicts: World War I and World War II resulted in the deaths of tens of millions of people and caused massive shifts in global political relationships.
Driving Forces: The wars were sparked by international competition and fueled by four primary factors: nationalism, imperialism, militarism, and industrialization combined with high-tech weaponry.
The Connection Between Wars: World War I and World War II were deeply interconnected; the problems stemming from the resolution of the first helped cause the second. The interwar period was characterized by economic hardship and the rise of totalitarian dictators.
Totalitarianism:
- Adolph Hitler: Rose to power in Germany, promising to restore the nation to greatness after it suffered territorial losses and economic ruin from the treaties ending World War I.
- Joseph Stalin: Ruled the Soviet Union. Despite both being totalitarian, Hitler and Stalin held sharply opposing ideologies and became fierce enemies.
Responses to Mass Murder: The first half of the 20th century saw the murder or starvation of millions, specifically impacting Armenians, Ukrainians, Jews, and Poles. The United Nations was organized post-WWII specifically to preserve peace and prevent future massacres.
Enduring Issue: Cooperation:
- Alliances helped cause World War I but also helped defeat totalitarianism in World War II.
- Cooperation led to the creation of peace-promoting organizations and the accountability of individuals for atrocities.

Lesson 1: Causes of the World Wars

Primary Source: Arthur Guy Empey (American soldier in the British Army, 1917):
- Trench Combat: Empey describes a "mad rush" of German soldiers reaching barbed wire previously demolished by shells. Combat involved "bomb against bomb."
- Technological Horror: He recalls his gas helmet leaking, his throat getting dry, and high pressure on his lungs. He describes the gas penetrating a hole made by a bullet in his smoke helmet.
- Casualties: Out of a crew of six, two were killed and two were wounded. He counted $18$ dead Germans in the wire wearing "horrible-looking respirators."
- Humanity in Death: Empey notes that at night they buried all the dead except those in "No Man's Land," stating "in death there is not much distinction; friend and foe are treated alike."
Immediate Causes of World War I:
- Assassination in Sarajevo: On June 28, $1914$ , Gavrilo Princip, a member of the secret Serbian nationalist group the Black Hand, assassinated Austro-Hungarian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie.
- Balkan Tensions: Austria-Hungary had annexed Bosnia-Herzegovina in $1908$ . The Black Hand sought to unite Serbians and remove Austro-Hungarian influence from the Balkans.
- The Escalation: Austria-Hungary sent an ultimatum to Serbia; Serbia rejected it. Austria-Hungary sought help from Germany, while Serbia sought help from Russia (the most powerful Slavic country).
Long-Term Causes of World War I (M.A.I.N.):
- Militarism: Defined as "aggressive military preparedness," where nations like Great Britain and Germany invested heavily in armies and navies. Public sentiment viewed war as a "festive competition."
- Alliances: European nations formed secret groups pledged to protect members if attacked.
  - Triple Entente (The Allies): Britain, France, Russia (later China, Japan, and the U.S.).
  - Triple Alliance (Central Powers): Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy (Italy later switched sides); the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers.
- Imperialism: Bitter rivals scrambled for additional lands in Africa, South and Southeast Asia, the Pacific, and the Americas.
- Nationalism and Self-Determination: Multi-national empires (Ottoman, Austro-Hungarian) faced internal movements from groups like Serbs and Arabs seeking the right to form independent nation-states based on shared culture and ethnicity.

The Course and Effects of World War I

The Western Front: Characterized by a "bloody stalemate" in France. Following the stop of the German advance at the Marne River in September $1914$ , armies engaged in trench warfare. Improved technology (machine guns, poison gas) made advances nearly impossible.
The Eastern Front: The Central Powers occupied Serbia in $1915$ and stopped the British at the Dardanelles. Russia's internal discontent led to the $1917$ Revolution; Bolsheviks took power and signed a separate peace treaty in early $1918$ .
U.S. Involvement: The U.S. entered in $1917$ after German submarines sank American ships (some carrying war materials, others civilians). U.S. troops and supplies turned the tide.
The Armistice: Ended the fighting on November 11, $1918$ .
The Treaty of Versailles: Punished Germany harshly, requiring it to:
1. Admit guilt for the war.
2. Pay massive monetary reparations ( $33,000,000,000$ ).
3. Surrender large territories and overseas colonies.
Casualties of WWI (Data):
- Russia: $12,000,000$ forces; $1,700,000$ killed; $4,950,000$ wounded.
- Germany: $11,000,000$ forces; $1,775,000$ killed; $4,220,000$ wounded.
- British Empire: $8,905,000$ forces; $908,000$ killed; $2,100,000$ wounded.
- France: $8,410,000$ forces; $1,360,000$ killed; $4,270,000$ wounded.
- Austria-Hungary: $7,800,000$ forces; $1,200,000$ killed; $3,620,000$ wounded.

The Rise of World War II

Rise of Fascism:
- Definition: A political doctrine rejecting democracy, praising violence, and emphasizing extreme nationalism.
- Italy: Benito Mussolini took power in $1922$ .
- Germany: Adolf Hitler took power in $1934$ , using propaganda to blame Jews for Germany's problems (anti-Semitism).
Appeasement: Britain and France allowed Hitler to take the Sudetenland (a portion of Czechoslovakia) in $1938$ to avoid war. Hitler seized the rest of Czechoslovakia the following year.
The Outbreak: In August $1939$ , Germany and the USSR signed a nonaggression pact. On September 1, $1939$ , Germany used Blitzkrieg ("lightning war") to invade Poland. Britain and France declared war on September 3.
The Tide Turns:
- Stalingrad (Aug 1942 – Feb 1943): The turning point in Europe. Russians fended off German attacks, cold, and starvation. Total casualties were nearly twice that of the American Civil War.
- Pearl Harbor (Dec 7, 1941): Japan bombed the U.S. naval base, bringing the U.S. into the war against Japan, Germany, and Italy.
- D-Day (June 6, 1944): Operation Overlord. Allied troops landed in Normandy, France, starting the liberation of Western Europe.
- Atomic Bomb: Dropped on Hiroshima (Aug 6, $1945$ ) and Nagasaki (Aug 9, $1945$ ) to force a Japanese surrender and avoid high casualties from a land invasion.
Short-Term Effects of WWII:
- Death Toll: Estimates as high as $80,000,000$ . The USSR lost $20,000,000$ . Nazi persecution killed about $5,700,000$ Jews.
- Marshall Plan: The U.S. disbursed approximately $13,000,000,000$ between $1948$ and $1951$ to rebuild Europe's industries and trade.

Lesson 2: Technology in the World Wars

WWI Innovations:
- Chemical Weapons: First large-scale use in April $1915$ (chlorine gas). Killed $90,000$ and injured $1,000,000$ .
- Machine Guns: By WWI, automatic guns fired $600$ rounds per minute.
- Submarines: German U-boats carried a dozen torpedoes and could stay underwater for two hours. Depth charges were developed to combat them.
- Tanks: Developed to cross "no-man's-land" and break barbed wire.
- Aviation: Speed grew from $60$ mph (Bleriot machines) to over $145$ mph by the end of WWI. Aircraft carriers (the British Argus) appeared at the war's end.
- Mobile X-rays: Marie Curie and her daughter Irène trained women and brought $20$ "radiological cars" to battlefields. Over $1,000,000$ soldiers benefited.
WWII Innovations:
- Nuclear Weapons: The Manhattan Project (Los Alamos, NM). The Hiroshima bomb had the force of $20,000$ tons of TNT; the $1952$ hydrogen bomb had the force of $10,000,000$ tons of TNT.
- Rocketry: The German V-2 rocket used liquid fuel and had a range of $200$ miles. Over $1,000$ were fired at London.
- Radar: Radio Detection and Ranging. Essential for the RAF during the Battle of Britain.
- Computers: The ENIAC ( $8' \times 80' \times 2'$ ) was developed to compute artillery range tables. Alan Turing's team decoded Enigma messages, processing $39,000$ messages a month by early $1942$ .

Lesson 3: Efforts to Prevent New Wars

Wilson's Fourteen Points: Proposed no secret treaties, freedom of the seas, free trade, arms reduction, and the right of national self-determination.
League of Nations (Geneva, 1920): Undermined from the start because the U.S. Senate refused to ratify it. It failed to stop aggression in Manchuria ( $1931$ ) and Ethiopia ( $1935$ ).
United Nations (1945): Charter adopted in San Francisco.
- Security Council: Five permanent members (China, France, Russia/USSR, UK, US) have veto power.
- Peacekeeping: Includes successes and failures, such as the failure to prevent the massacre of $7,000$ Bosniak Muslims at Srebrenica in $1995$ .

Lesson 4: Ideology and the Great Depression

Russian Revolution: Bolsheviks (Lenin) took power in November $1917$ . Russia became the USSR in $1922$ . Lenin instituted the New Economic Policy (NEP) in $1921$ to allow some profit-making.
Stalin's Rule:
- Command Economy: The state makes all decisions.
- Five-Year Plans: First ( $1929$ ) and Second ( $1933$ ). By $1938$ , the USSR was third in world industrial production.
- Collectivization: Private land was seized for government farms. Resulted in a famine causing millions of deaths.
Great Depression:
- Causes: Overproduction, low bargaining power for workers, buying on margin in the stock market.
- Impact: U.S. unemployment reached $25\%$ . Germany was hardest hit.
- Solutions: Roosevelt’s New Deal (public works); British balanced budgets.

Lesson 5: Atrocities 1914–1945

Armenian Genocide (1915): Young Turks in the Ottoman Empire perceived Armenians as a threat to unity. Deports, hard labor, and forced marches led to over $1,000,000$ deaths.
Ukrainian Holodomor (1932–1933): Artificial famine produced by Stalin’s grain confiscations. Deadliest in June $1933$ , with $30,000$ people dying per day. Total death toll: $4,000,000$ to $5,000,000$ .
The Holocaust: Hitler’s "New Order" and "Final Solution."
- Kristallnacht (1938): "Night of Broken Glass."
- Death Toll: Approximately $12,000,000$ total victims, including $6,000,000$ Jews. Auschwitz alone saw the murder of $3,000,000$ Jews.
- Other Targeted Groups: Slavs, Romani, gay/lesbian individuals, Communists, and people with disabilities.