University Level Notes: Global Conflict and State Change After 1900

Topic 7.1: Shifting Power After 1900 and State Change * The Global Political Order at the Beginning of the $20^{th}$ Century: The West dominated the global political order at the start of the century. However, both land-based and maritime empires eventually gave way to new states by the end of the century. * Collapse of Older Land-Based Empires: The Ottoman, Russian, and Qing empires collapsed due to combinations of internal and external pressures. * Russia's Transition: Internal changes and instabilities in Russia eventually precipitated a communist revolution. * Mexican Revolution: This was a major challenge to the existing political and social order, arising from a severe political crisis. # The Fall of the Ottoman Empire ($1918$–$1920$) * The "Sick Man of Europe": A term used to describe the empire's perceived decline in health and stability compared to European powers. * Internal Factors for Collapse: * Declining agricultural and economic productivity. * Increasing financial debt through borrowing money from European nations. * Failure to industrialize as effectively as Western counterparts. * Internal dissent regarding the best methods for modernization and adaptation. * External Factors for Collapse: * Rising nationalist movements among subject peoples leading to significant territory loss. * Intense competition with the industrialized West. * Total military defeat by the British and Americans during World War I ($WWI$). * The Mandate System: This international system effectively broke up Ottoman lands following the war. # Revolution in Russia ($1917$–$1920$) * $19^{th}$ Century Context: * Russia was a vast, multinational, and diverse state in $1850$. * The nation was poor, agrarian, and lagged behind in development; serfdom was only abolished in $1861$. * Loss in the Crimean War ($1853$–$1856$) highlighted the disparity between Russia and the Industrial West. * Rapid Industrialization: Beginning in $1880$, the state-sponsored railroad construction and industrial growth led to the rise of a modern factory-working class, facing issues like low wages, long hours, and dangerous conditions. * Early $20^{th}$ Century Crises: * In $1903$, Russia established a sphere of influence in China and looked toward Korea. * Russo-Japanese War ($1905$): Russia lost to Japan, leading to the Revolution of $1905$, characterized by peasant uprisings and troop mutinies. * October Manifesto: Issued by the Tsar to grant civil rights and promise a popularly elected parliament (Duma), though the Duma's actual power remained extremely limited. * Absolute Monarchy: The middle class remained resentful of the Tsar’s absolute power. In $1907$, the government further increased the power of wealthy classes over workers and minorities. * The Origins of Communism: * Based on Karl Marx’s ideas of social equality, the abolition of private property, and collective living. * Marxism argues that history is defined by constant class struggles, and the proletariat (working class) must overthrow the bourgeoisie. * By the $1970 ext{s}$, approximately $rac{1}{3}$ of the world lived under communist regimes. * World War I Catalyst: * Russia joined the war in $1914$ as a conservative constitutional monarchy under Tsar Nicholas II (Romanov dynasty). * The goal was to defend Serbians in the Balkans against the Austro-Hungarian Empire. * Late industrialization left Russia ill-equipped against Germany, leading to mass casualties, food shortages, and equipment failure. * The Revolutions of $1917$: * February Revolution: Tsar Nicholas II abdicated, ending the $300$-year Romanov dynasty. * Interim Chaos: The post-Tsarist government remained in $WWI$, allowing radical groups like the Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ($Lenin$), to gain traction. * October Revolution: The Bolsheviks seized power in a coup in St. Petersburg. * Russian Civil War ($1918$–$1921$): * A three-year struggle for power between the Bolsheviks (Red Army) and oppositional groups (Tsarist officials, landlords, nationalists). * The Red Army integrated lower-class men, offering social mobility previously impossible. * Victory in $1921$ turned the Soviet Union into a "communist island in a capitalist sea." * Summary Comparison: Like the French Revolution, the Russian Revolution sought to oust the ruling class and landed aristocracy but was guided by specific Marxist ideology and highly organized parties. # Revolution and Collapse in China ($1911$) * Late $19^{th}$ Century Struggles: * Self-Strengthening Movement: Moderate industrialization efforts that faced opposition from conservatives who loathed Western influence. * Sino-Japanese War ($1894$–$1895$): Defeat by a modernized Japan; China lost Taiwan and was forced to allow Japanese factories. * The Boxer Rebellion ($1899$–$1900$): An anti-foreign and anti-Christian uprising fueled by foreign imperialism and peasant rebellion. It resulted in foreign occupation of Beijing and weakened the government through large reparation payments. * Internal Factors for Qing Collapse: * Technological stagnation and widespread peasant discontent. * Resentment toward the foreign Manchus who ruled the dynasty. * Growing local support for Communism. * Sun Yat-sen: Influenced by Enlightenment and Western ideals, he began planning revolution in $1894$. * The $1911$ Revolution: * The child emperor Puyi abdicated. * The Republic of China ($RoC$) was established. * Sun Yat-sen founded the Kuomintang (Nationalist Party). * Sun Yat-sen’s Principles: * Rejection of monarchy; belief that the people constitute the foundation of a nation. * Advocacy for a constitution incorporating the threefold separation of powers (legislative, judicial, executive) as proposed by Montesquieu. # The Mexican Revolution ($1910$–$1920$) * Economic Context: * Late arrival of capitalism and Marxist ideals. * Workers in textile mills and mines faced grueling $12$-hour days, low wages, child labor ($8$ and $9$ year-olds), and dangerous conditions. * Neocolonialism: Economic domination by foreign powers (primarily the U.S. in Latin America). * The Porfiriato ($1876$–$1911$): * Porfirio Díaz ruled for $31$ years ($7$ terms) via a group of technocrats known as "Científicos." * While stable, the regime was marked by civil repression, political stagnation, and policies benefiting foreign investors and wealthy hacienda owners at the expense of rural campesinos. * Revolutionary Conflict: * Francisco I. Madero called for armed rebellion after Díaz claimed victory in the $1910$ election. * Peasant armies led by Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata sought to seize and redistribute land from large haciendas to the poor. * The war resulted in the loss of approximately $1$ million lives ($10$% of the population). * Goals of the Revolution: * Freedom of speech/press, secularization of education, and nationalization of Church property. * Labor rights ($8$-hour day, $6$-day week, abolition of child labor). * Redistribution of uncultivated lands to those who would work them. * Constitution of $1917$: * Universal male suffrage. * Land redistribution. * Removal of the Catholic Church from political roles and public education. * Restrictions on foreign ownership of property. # Land Redistribution and Collectivization Comparison * USSR under Joseph Stalin ($Late 1920s$–$1930s$): * First Five-Year Plan: Introduced collectivization to boost agricultural output and end "economic servitude" under kulaks (property owners). * Mass Atrocities: Stalin used mass murder and deportation to Siberia to enforce plans. * Great Famine ($1932$–$1933$): Forced collectivization in Ukraine led to the Holodomor, causing $3$ to $7$ million deaths. * China under Mao Zedong ($1949$–$1976$): * The Great Leap Forward: Attempted rapid conversion to a socialist society via industrialization and collectivization. * Great Chinese Famine: Inability of farmers to meet quotas resulted in approximately $30$ million deaths. * Land Reforms: Targeted landlords on a class basis (classicide), resulting in millions of deaths. * Deng Xiaoping’s Reforms: Post-Mao, land was removed from rich owners for peasant use (but not ownership), which increased production. # World War I: Causes (MANIA-C) * Militarism: Glorification and romanticization of the military; war viewed as a festive occasion to prove masculine heroism. Great Britain and Germany engaged in a massive naval arms race. * Alliances: * Triple Entente: Britain, France, Russia (later US, China, Japan). * Triple Alliance (Central Powers): Germany, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire. * Nationalism: Strong in France ($longing for Alsace and Lorraine$) and Germany. Multinational empires ($Ottomans, Austro-Hungarians$) faced secessionist movements. * Imperialism: Competition over colonizing Africa (Berlin Conference $1884$–$1885$) and resource rivalry. * Assassination: Archduke Franz Ferdinand was shot on $June 28, 1914$, in Sarajevo by Gavrilo Princip of the Serbian terrorist group "Black Hand." * Conflict in the Balkans: Known as the "July Crisis," triggered by Serbian desire for independence from Austro-Hungarian rule. # Fighting World War I ($1914$–$1918$) * Total War: Governments used propaganda, art, and media to mobilize entire populations. Economies were redirected toward war production. * War Propaganda: Spreading ideas to promote a cause or damage an opposing cause; demonization of the enemy (e.g., German soldiers depicted as "brutes"). * Women’s Role: Women filled factory jobs left by soldiers. Confidence gained during war work led to the right to vote in Britain, the US, Germany, and the USSR. * New Technologies: * Tanks, airplanes, and zeppelins. * Submarines ($U-boats$). * Poison gas. * Machine guns. * Trench Warfare and Stalemate: Brutal tactics led to a four-year bloody stalemate on the Western Front where neither side made significant progress. * Schlieffen Plan: Germany's failed attempt to avoid a two-front war by invading neutral Belgium to strike France quickly before Russia mobilized. # Outcomes and Consequences of WWI * The Armistice: Signed on $November 11, 1918$. Terms included surrender of German weapons, withdrawal of forces, and future reparations. * Casualties: * $8$ to $9$ million soldiers dead; $21$ million wounded. * $6$ to $13$ million civilian casualties. * Armenian Genocide: Initial genocide of the $20^{th}$ century, with $600,000$ to $1.5$ million Armenians killed in Turkey. * Spanish Flu ($1918$–$1919$): A pandemic that killed between $50$ and $100$ million people (roughly $3$% to $5$% of the world population). * Treaty of Versailles: * Germany lost $15$% of its European territory and its colonial empire. * Germany was forced to pay $33$ billion US dollars in reparations. * The "War Guilt Clause" and territorial losses fueled German resentment. * Political Map Changes: * Collapse of the Ottoman, German, Russian, and Austro-Hungarian Empires. * Creation of new states: Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Yugoslavia. * Mandate System: Divided Middle Eastern territories (Syria, Iraq, Palestine, Transjordan) between Britain and France. # The Economy in the Interwar Period * Social Changes: * Mass consumerism driven by Henry Ford’s assembly line ($1913$). * Rise of the "Flappers": Young middle-class women who broke social norms, wore short skirts, and pursued independence. * Artistic shifts: Cubism (Picasso) and Pre-Raphaelite styles gave way to modernism. * Architecture: Displacement of traditional styles by modernism/functionalism, focusing on machine-age materials and lack of decoration. * The Great Depression and Keynesian Economics: * John Maynard Keynes advocated for Deficit Spending ($spending more than the government receives$) and "Pump Priming" to stimulate the economy. * The New Deal: Franklin D. Roosevelt's program implemented policies and institutions to provide jobs and relief. * Global Responses: High tariffs (protectionism) were implemented by governments to protect national industries, further hindering global trade. # World War II: Causes and Totalitarianism * The Path to War: Aggressive expansion by dictators went unchecked. * Germany violated the Treaty of Versailles via rearmament and remilitarization of the Rhineland. * Appeasement: Policy followed by Neville Chamberlain at the Munich Agreement ($Sept 1938$), allowing Hitler to take the Sudetenland in exchange for peace. * War began on $September 1, 1939$, with the invasion of Poland. * Totalitarianism Definition: A political system with complete control, often a single-party dictatorship with blind obedience to a leader, using police spies and terror. * Fascism vs. Communism: * Similarities: Blind devotion to the state, use of terror, rule by elite party, flourish during economic crises. * Differences: Fascists were nationalist and supported social classes/private property; Communists were internationalist and theoretically supported a classless society with no private property. * Italy under Mussolini ($Il Duce$): * Black Shirts (combat squads) used violence to suppress socialism. * "The Battle for Births": Policies to increase the population, including taxing bachelors and rewarding mothers of many children. * Germany under Hitler: * Mein Kampf: Outlined Aryan master race ideology, extreme anti-Semitism, and the need for Lebensraum (living space). * Nuremberg Laws ($1935$): Deprived Jews of citizenship and prohibited marriages between Jews and non-Jews. * The Third Reich: Hitler’s totalitarian state using the SS and Gestapo to root out opposition. # WWII Combat and Strategy * Blitzkrieg: "Lightning War" using tanks and airpower to deliver devastating blows. * Major Fronts and Operations: * Operation Sea Lion: The attempted invasion of Britain; failure led to "The Blitz" bombing of London. * Operation Barbarossa: Germany's invasion of the USSR, breaking the Nazi-Soviet Pact; stalled by the Soviet winter. * Battle of Stalingrad: A turning point where Germany lost several hundred thousand soldiers. * D-Day ($June 6, 1944$): Allied invasion of Normandy to liberate France. * War in the Pacific: * Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere: Japan’s attempt to create an economic/military bloc to rival Western powers. * Manchuria ($1931$): Japan established the puppet state Manchukuo. * Nanjing Massacre ($1937$): Mass slaughter and rape in the Chinese capital, deaths ranging from $40,000$ to $300,000$. * Pearl Harbor ($Dec 7, 1941$): Surprise Japanese attack that brought the US into the war. * Midway: Naval battle victory for the US, turning the tide against Japan. * The End of the War: * US dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima ($Aug 6, 1945$) and Nagasaki ($Aug 9, 1945$). * Japan surrendered on $September 2, 1945$ ($VJ Day$). # Global Outcomes of World War II * Human Toll: $60$ million deaths, with half being civilians; estimated $6$ million Jews killed in the Holocaust. * Political and Economic Reconstruction: * United Nations ($1945$): Established for international cooperation and peacekeeping. * World Bank and IMF: Created to regulate the global economy and prevent another Great Depression. * Decolonization: Weakened European powers led to independence movements in Asia and Africa. * Cold War Beginnings: Division of Europe into democratic west and communist east under Soviet influence. * U.S. Superpower: The US emerged as a dominant global financial and military leader. * Mass Atrocities and Crimes against Humanity: * Includes firebombing of Dresden ($25,000$ deaths). * Atomic weapons used on civilian populations. * Industrialized genocide (The Holocaust).