Chapter 13: Milestones of the Past Century
What lasting effects could militant independence movements have on the nations that adopted this strategy of gaining independence? pg 596.
- Aftermath of bitter and violent war - Under-developed economy from destruction
In what ways has the structure of global political life changed in the decades since the end of World War II? pg 576
- Alliances such as NATO and Warsaw pact - Collapse of communism, which also led to fragmentation nations due to ethnic tensions. - Worldwide democracy and socialist ideology - End of European colonial empires. - Arrival of new independent nations from decolonization. - Cold war between US and USSR with nuclear weapons. No more direct conflict. - China become powerful and Middle East is unstable. - Independence of African and Asian nation-states. - Collapse of USSR - 45 year global struggle between East and West ended. Germany reunited and former communist states joined NATO ending division of continent
In what different ways was the cold war experienced by the member states of NATO, the Warsaw Pact, and nonaligned members? pg 584
- America, member of NATO, intervened in East Asia to prevent spread of communism - Afghanistan, a non-aligned member, had a Marxist communist party take over, but reform movements persisted. USSR intervened and fought Afghan with US aid. USSR withdrew and Afghan communist regime collapsed. - Cuba, member of Warsaw pact, had missile deployed by USSR to halt US action.
How might the wide-spread development of nuclear weapons have prevented direct conflict between the United States and Soviet Union in the cold war era? pg 587
- Awareness of the power and knew a nuclear war would only produce losers and catastrophe - End of the world
How did the cold war facilitate global independence movements? pg. 594 idk
- Both US and USSR claimed to be anti-colonial and needed allies to spread democracy or communism. - Weakened imperial powers - Nationalist leaders wanted join independent nation-states and membership in United Nations to get wealth and power
What international circumstances and patterns of social change contributed to the end of European colonial empires in Africa and Asia? pg. 593
- Colonial practice ran counter to established EUR values of democracy and national self-determination. Rhetoric of Christianity, Enlightenment, material progress vs realities of colonial racism, exploitation, poverty. - WWI and WWII weakened EUR and discredited its moral superiority. - US and USSR opposed EUR colonial empires - United Nations provided platform to conduct anticolonial agitation. - Social and economic processes within colonies generate human raw material for anticolonial movements: growing numbers of people insisted on immediate independence
What major cultural changes occurred in China during the 20th century? What cultural continuities reemerged with the decline of communist economic policies? pg 603
- Communist values of selflessness, community, and simplicity --> Western-style consumerism - Communist country -> capitalist - Collectivized farming -> small-scale private agriculture - More authority to managers of state enterprises - Excluded and self dependent -> opened itself to world economy and welcome foreign investment - Stagnant economy -> stunning economic growth, declining poverty, surging exports, and emergence as Great Powers Continuities: - Unwilling to give up political monopoly or promote democracy - Death of Mao Zedong let public move away from Maoist concepts and find the truth.
What factors enabled the rise of the United States as a global superpower? pg 590
- Destruction of EUR empires from WWII - Demands of the cold war during which US contained the advancing communist movement - Had enormous military spendings, member of 4 defense alliances and 53 international organizations, defense treaties with 42 nations - Economic and military aid to nearly 100 nations -> flourishing productive economy and increase middle-class society - Only industrial country to escape devastation of war on its own soil, contrasting to the destruction in EUR, USSR, and Japan by WWII - Badly tarnished image of communism gave credibility to Western capitalism - Communist world is far more bitter and divisive? - Rivalry between USSR and China?
What challenges were faced by newly democratic nations? pg. 601idk
- Electoral fraud tainted democratic institutions - Elites found it difficult to exercise influence - Uncertain and highly variable process.
To what extent did Western-style political democracy take root in the developing countries? pg. 599
- Established legislatures, permitted elections, allowed operation of political parties, development of constitutional, parliamentary, multiparty democracies. - Especially in India, Western-style democracy deeply rooted. - Contrastingly, in new states of Africa, political parties lost support. Other states evolve into one-party system and dictatorships.
How did the decline of communism in the Soviet Union compare to the decline of communism in China? pg. 605
- Far beyond Chinese reforms, policy of glasnost reform lead to weakening and collapse of USSR. - Unlike China's booming economy, USSR's planned economy dismantled before market-based system could emerge. - Few farmers want to risk jumping to private farming, unlike Chinese peasants. Also few foreign investors found USSR appealing - Refused to use force to crush protesters, while China did.
What divisions or conflicts accompanied struggles for independence in Asia and Africa? pg. 597
- Indonesian leader finds it difficult to relate to common people and their simple Islamic culture. - Disagreements on which group of people within the nation deserved to rule it. In Nigeria, independence movement took shape as 3 political parties with each as a particular ethnic group. - India's primary leader Gandhi rejected modern industrialization while his lieutenant Nehru embraced science, tech, industry. Also opposed Gandhi's nonviolent philosophy. Also whether to participate in British-sponsored legislative bodies. - Growing divide in country's Hindu and Muslim populations. - Tactics varied: peaceful vs violent -
Why did the Latin American and African countries return to democratic governments in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries? pg 601.
- Lost of association of ideas of democracy and human rights from their Western origins - Failure of authoritarian governments to remedy disastrous economy, raise standard of living, provide jobs for young, avoid corruption; also aggressive behavior - Growth of civil society (volunteer groups) provide foundation for demanding change - South African struggle with apartheid and collapse of USSR and E. EUR communism caused more demands of democracy
What were the causes for the end of empire in world history? pg 592
- Nationalist ideology prompted mobilization of colonies and claimed international status equivalent to former rulers - Affirmed vitality of their cultures, which was distorted during colonial era - African and Asian movements sharing ideal of national self-determination, which rendered empire illegitimate. - Many collapsed after WWI (Austrian and Ottoman) and WWII (German and Japanese), and later disintegration of major imperial empire, USSR - Winning of political independence for Europe's African and Asian colonies.
What features of South Africa hindered independence in the nation? pg. 598.
- Occurred during world's most rigid and racially repressive regime, apartheid.
What caused governments in newly independent states to take a strong role in guiding economic life? pg 599.
- Populations exploding, expectations for independence exceeded available resources -> government assumed responsibility->public employment - In conditions of poverty and weak economy, groups wanted to capture state - Hammered out new political systems
What factors led to the continuation of conflict in the Middle East and North Africa? pg 608
- Religious tension/divisions (ex. Sunni and Shia) - Extremist terrorist groups
How did the decolonization movement of the late twentieth century differ from earlier independence movements? pg 592
- Since the colonized people shared culture with their colonial rulers, they not only asserted political independence, but also affirmed vitality of their cultures. - Demise of many empires. - Ideal of self-determination
What were the economic differences between India and South Africa around the time of independence? pg 598.
- South Africa is mature industrialized and urbanized nation. - India was not modernized and remained conservative/traditional.
How did an intrusive United Sates contribute to national events in Latin America? pg. 592
- Stimulate Mexican Revolution, which caused nationalization of Mexico's oil industry - Also stimulate Cuban revolution, and other places in Latin America
In what ways did international life change following the end of the communist era? pg 607
- Tensions between Russia, China, Japan, and US as United States emerged as world's sole superpower and China's increasing in power - Russian president Putin hostility towards US - Middle East emerge as vortex of instability and conflict - Global issue and fear of terrorist attacks - Internationalized Syrian civil war - Tensions between wealthy countries of Global North and developing countries of Global South. - Global military spending increased drastically
How did the differing ideologies of the US and USSR impact global interactions in the late twentieth century? pg 586
- Tensions between two central powers lead to a decade of living under shadow of destructive nuclear weapons - American monopoly on those weapons promoted USSR to redouble efforts to acquire global arsenal of 60,000 warheads. - Awareness of power -> no shooting war and military confrontation - Aided countries emerging from colonial rule - Fears of communist penetration prompted US intervention - Non-aligned countries declared, and neither superpower able to completely dominate allies, others tried to play superpowers against each other
In what way did the Indian National Congress represent a continuity in Indian culture? In what way was it a change? pg 597.
Continuity - Some want to remain traditional and conservative - Opposed improving position of women - Caste system - Viewed nations through prism of religion Change - Wanted independence - Didn't want to embrace all religions, regions, castes - Some wanted modernization reform - Not all accepted British rule - Hindu and Muslim conflict leading to divided India and Pakistan - Violent partition
As communism declined, what were the defining characteristics associated with democratic nations compared to the characteristics of communist states? pg. 602
Democratic nations: - More advanced, capitalist - Rich economy, industry, consumerism - Modernized - Liberalism - Legitimate - Freedom Communist states: - Stagnant economy - Poor quality consumer goods + declining availability - Dictatorship - Exclusive and immoral - Unreliable
What enabled Europe, the Soviet Union, and Japan to recover from the devastation of the war? pg 576
Europe and Japan: - Resiliency of industrial society, despite physical infrastructure being destroyed - Ability to integrate their recovering economies, putting aside prickly nationalism (EEC) - American's economic assistance and political & military security against German aggression. -> Marshal Plan & NATO Soviet Union: - Huge convict labor force resulting from Stalinist policies. - State-planned economy focusing on heavy industry. - Wartime seizure of industrial complexes and valuables.
What were the similarities in the colonial opposition movements that arose in the various regions of Africa and Asia? pg. 599
Similarities: - Inspired by strong growth of nationalism - All sought political independence and social transformation - Nationalist leaders with mass followings led anticolonial movements, pushing for autonomy - Many inner tensions between different ethnic groups within movements. Differences: - Many in India and Islamic world viewed nations through prism of religion, while others had secular outlooks. - Movements lead by communist parties sought social transformations as well as freedom from foreign rule - Most in Africa focused on ending racial discrimination and achieving political independence with little concern about emerging patterns of domestic class inequality.
In what different ways was the erosion of communism experienced in China and the Soviet Union? pg 602
Soviet Union - Largely stagnant economy: citizens forced to stand in long lines for consumer goods (poor quality and declining availability), which is embarrassing for communist leaders - Comparisons well-known thanks to the global information revolution - Political and national security implications - Horror's of Stalin's Terror is morally incorrect China - Great Leap Forward produced catastrophe, human tragedy, and massive famine. - Cultural Revolution had no results, which discredited communism. - Transitioned to full communism without industrial development
How was China's shift to communist rule different from that of the Soviet Union? pg 579 !TEST!
Soviet: - Russian Bolsheviks faced hostile capitalist world alone - New rulers who came to power quickly with no previous experience. - Found support mainly in the cities - Embraced inequalities - Search for enemies under control of state authorities China: - Had USSR as neighbor/ally and previous governing experience - Support found in vast peasant population rather than Soviet urban dwellers - Less developed society to build from (greater population, lacking industrial base, literacy, transportation, agricultural land.) - Pushed collectivization agriculture is peaceful, but more extreme (Great leap forward) - Focused on small-scale industrialization in rural areas rather than heavy industry in cities - Fostered widespread tech education for all rather than relying on small elite - Immediate transition to full communism rather than waiting for industrial development (Great leap forward) - Greater emphasis on eliminating class inequality (cultural revolution) - Search for enemies is public
