Semester II Review (Ellison)

Battle of Trafalgar

an 1805 naval battle in which Napoleon's forces were defeated by a British fleet under the command of Horatio Nelson

Sepoy Mutiny

an 1857 rebellion of Hindu and Muslim soldiers against the British in India

Benito Mussolini

A newspaper editor and political named Benito Mussolini boldly promised to rescue Italy by reviving its economy and rebuilding its armed forces. He vowed to give Italy strong leadership. Mussolini had founded the Fascist Party in 1919. At first, he failed to win widespread support. As economic conditions worsened, however, his popularity rapidly increased. Finally, Mussolini publicly criticized Italy's government. Groups of Fascists wearing black shirts attacked Communists and Socialists on the streets. This campaign of terror weakened his opponents. Because Mussolini played on the fear of a workers' revolt, he began to win support from the middle classes, the aristocracy, and industrial leaders. In October 1922, about 30,000 fascists marched on Rome. They demanded that king Victor Emmanuel III put Mussolini in charge of the government. The king decided that Mussolini was the best hope for his dynasty to survive, so he let Mussolini form a government. Thus, after widespread violence and a threat of armed uprising, Mussolini took power "legally." At the time, a foreign diplomat described him as "an actor, a dangerous rascal, an possibly slight off his head". Mussolini was now Il Duce, or their leader. He abolished democracy and outlawed all political parties except the Fascists. Secret police jailed his opponents. Government censors forced radios stations and publications to broadcast or public only Fascist doctrines. Mussolini outlawed strikes. He sought to control the economy by allying the Fascists with the industrialists and large landowners. Under his leadership, Italy became the model for Fascists in other countries. However, Mussolini never had the total control achieved by Stalin in the Soviet Union or Hitler in Germany.

Rousseau

A third great philosopher, Jean Jacques *Rousseau, was passionately committed to individual freedom.* The son of a poor Swiss watchmaker, Rousseau worked as an engraver, music teacher, tutor, and secretary. Eventually, Roussear made his way to Paris and won recognition as a writer of essays. There he met and befriended other philosophers, although he felt out of place in the circle of Paris high society in which they traveled. A strange, brilliant, and controversial figure, Rousseau strongly disagreed with other Enlightenment thinkers on many matters. Most philosophers believed that reason, science, art would improve life for all people. *Rousseau, however, argued that civilization corrupted people's natural goodness.* And the earliest times, according to Rousseau, people have lived as free and equal individuals in a primitive "state of nature". As people became civilized, however, the strongest among them forced everyone else to obey unjust laws. Thus, freedom and equality were destroyed. Rousseau believed that the only good government was one that was freely formed by the people and guided by the "general will" of society—a direct democracy. Under such a government, people agree to give up some of their freedom in favor of the common good. Rousseau's view of the social contract differed greatly from that of Hobbes. For Hobbes, the social contract was an agreement between a society and its government. For Rousseau, it was an agreement among free individuals to create a society and a government. Like Locke, Rousseau argued that legitimate government came from the consent of the governed. However, Rousseau believed in a much broader democracy than Locke had stood for. He argued that all people were equal and that titles of nobility should be abolished. Rousseau's ideas inspired many of the leaders of the French Revolution who overthrew the monarchy in 1789.

Agricultural Revolution

After buying up the land of village farmers, wealthy landowners enclosed their land with fences or hedges. The increase in their landholdings enabled them to cultivate larger fields, using new seeding and harvesting methods. Within these larger fields, called enclosures, landowners experimented to discover more productive farming methods to boost crop yields. The enclosure movement had two important results. First, landowners experimented with new agricultural methods. Second, large landowners forced small landowners to become tenant farmers or to give up farming and move to the cities.

what led to beginning of WWII

After his move into Rhineland, Austria, and Czechoslovakia, the Fuhrer turned his eyes to Poland. On April 28, 1939, Hitler spoke before the Reichstag. He demanded that the Polish Corredor, along with its port city of Danzig, be returned to Germany. After WWI, the Allies had cut off the Polish Corredor from German territory to give Poland access to the sea.

Triple Entente

Alarmed, Great Britain begun to enlarge its own fleet. In 1904, Britain formed an entente, or alliance, with France. In 1907, Britain made another entente, this time with both France and Russia. The Triple Entente, as it was called, did not bind Britain to fight with France and Russia. However, it did almost certainly ensure that Brandon would not fight against them.

Atlantic Charter

Although the U.S. had not yet entered the war, Roosevelt and Churchill met secretly to discuss issues and created a joint declaration called the Atlantic Charter. It upheld free trade among nations and the right of people to choose their own government. The charter later served as the Allies' peace plan at the end of WWII.

Montesquieu

Another influential French writer, the Baron de *Montesquieu, devoted himself to the study of political liberty.* An aristocrat and lawyer, Montesquieu studied the history of ancient Rome. He concluded that Rome's collapse was directly related to its loss of political liberties. Like Voltaire, Montesquieu believed that Britain was the best-governed country of his own day. Here was a government, he thought, in which power was balanced among three groups of officials. Montesquieu called this division of power among different branches separation of powers. Montesquieu oversimplified the British system. His idea, however, because a part of his most famous book, "On the Spirit of Laws" (1748). In his book, Montesquieu proposed that separation of powers would keep any individual or group from gaining total control of the government. "Power," he wrote, "should be a check to power." Each branch of government would serve as a check on the other two. This idea later would be called "checks and balances." Montesquieu's book was admired by political leaders in the British colonies of North America. His ideas about separation of powers and check and balances became the basis for the United States Constitution.

Stalingrad

As Rommel suffered defeats in North Africa, German armies also met their match in the Soviet Union. The German advance had stalled at Leningrad and Moscow late in 1941. And the bitter winter made the situation worse. When the summer of 1942 arrived, however, Hitler sent his Sixth Army, under the commend of General Friedrich Paulus, to seize the oil fields in the Caucasus Mountains. The army was also to capture Stalingrad, a major industrial center on the Volga River. The Battle of Stalingrad began on August 23, 1942. The Luftwaffe went on nightly bombing raids that set much of the city ablaze and reduced the rest to rubble. The situation looked desperate. Nonetheless, Stalin had already told his commanders to defend the city named after him to death. By early Nov 1942, Germans controlled 90% of the ruined city. Then another Russian winter set in. On Nov 19, Soviet troops outside the city launched a counterattack. Closing in around Stalingrad, they trapped the Germans inside and cut off their supplies. General Paulus begged Hitler to order a retreat. But Hitler refused, saying the city was "to be held at all costs". On Feb 2, 1943, some 90,000 frostbitten, half-starved German troops surrendered to the Soviets. These pitiful survivors were all that remained of the army of 330,000. Stalingrad's defense had cost the Soviets over one million soldiers. The city was 99% destroyed. However, the Germans were now on the defensive, with the Soviets pushing them steadily westward.

Nazi Party

At the end of the war, Hitler settled in Munich. In early 1920, he joined a tiny right-wing political group. This group shared his belief that Germany had to overturn the Treaty of Versailles and combat Communism. The group later named itself National Socialist German Workers' party, called Nazi for short. It's policies, supported by people in the middle and lower middle classes, formed the German brand of fascism known as Nazism. The party adoptedthe swastika, or hooked cross, as it symbol. The Nazis also set up a private militia called the storm troopers or Brownshirts.

main causes of 8 civil wars in France (1562-1598)

Between 1562 and 1598, Huguenots and Catholics fought eight religious wars.

textile production

By 1800, several major inventions had modernized the cotton industry. One invention led to another. And in 1733, a machinist name John Kay made a shuttle that sped back and forth on wheels. This flying shuttle, a boat-shaped piece of wood to which yarn was attached, doubled the work a weaver could do in one day. Because spinners could not keep up with the speedy weavers, a cash prize attracted contestants to produce a better spinning machine. Around 1764, a textile worker named James Hargreaves invented a spinning wheel he named after his daughter. Hargreaves's spinning Jenny allowed one spinner to work eight threads at a time. At first, textile workers operated the flying shuttle and the spinning jenny by hand. Richard Arkwright invented the water frame in 1769. The machine used the water-power from rapid streams to drive spinning wheels. In 1779, Samuel Crompton combined features of the spinning Jenny and the water frame to produce the spinning mule. The spinning mule made thread that was stronger, finer, and more consistent than earlier spinning machines. Run by water-power, Edmund Cartwright's power loom sped up weaving after its invention in 1787. The water frame, the spinning wheel, and the power loom were bulky and expensive machines. They took the work of spinning and weaving out of the house. Wealthy textile merchants set up the machine in large buildings called factories. At first, the new factories needed waterpower, so they were built near sources of water such as rivers and streams. England's cotton came from plantations in the American South in the 1790s. Removing seeds from the raw cotton by hand was hard work. In 1793, an American inventor named Eli Whitney invented a machine to speed the chore. His cotton gin multiplied the amount that could be cleaned. American cottom production skyrocketed from 1.5 million pounds in 1790 to 85 million pounds in 1810.

who forced Robespierre out?

By July 1794, the members of the National Convention knew that none of them were safe from Robespierre. To save themselves they turned on him. A group of conspirators demanded his arrest, shouting, "Down withe the tyrant!" The next day the Revolution's last powerful leader went to the guillotine. The Reign of Terror, the radical phase of the French Revolution, ended when Maximilien Robespierre lost his head on July 28, 1794.

Isaac Newton

By the mid-1600s, the accomplishments of Copernicus, Kepler, and Galileo had shattered the old view of astronomy and physics. Later, the great English scientist Isaac Newton helped to bring together their breakthroughs under a single theory of motion. Newton studied mathematics and physics at Cambridge University. By the time he was 24, Newton was certain that all physical objects were affected equally by the same forces. Kepler had worked out laws for a planets motion around the sun. Gallileo had studied the motion of pendulums. Newtons great discovery was that the same force ruled the motions of the planet, the pendulum and all matter on earth and in space. He disproved the idea of Aristotle that one set of physical laws governed Earth and another set governed the rest of the universe. The key idea that linked motion in the heavens with motion on the earth was the *law of universal gravitation.* According to the law, every object in the universe attracts every other object. The degree of attraction depends on the mass of the objects and the distance between them. In 1687, Newton published his ideas in a worked called Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy—one of the most important scientific books ever written. The universe he described was like a giant clock. Its parts all worked together perfectly in the way that could be expressed mathematically. Newton believed that God was the creator of this orderly universe, the clock master who had set everything in motion.

Cecil Rhodes

Cecil Rhodes, a successful businessman and one of the major supporters of British expansion, clearly stated this position: "I contend that we are the first race in the world, and the more of the world we inhabit, the better it is for the human race. . . It is our duty to seize every opportunity of acquiring more territory and we should keep this one idea steadily before eyes that more territory simply means more of the Anglo-Saxon race, more of the best, the most human, most honorable race the world possesses."

Yamamoto

Despite an oil shortage, the Japanese continued their conquests. They hoped to catch the European colonial powers and the U.S. by surprise. So they planned massive attacks on Britain and Dutch colonies in Southeast Asia and on American outposts in the Pacific—at the same time. Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, Japans greatest naval strategist, also called for an attack on the U.S. fleet in Hawaii. It was, he said, "a dagger pointed at Japans throat" and must be destroyed.

Stamp Act

During the French and Indian war, Great Britain had run up a huge debt in the war against France. Because American colonists benefited from Britain's victory, Britain expected the colonists to help pay the costs of the war. In 1765, Parliament passed the Stamp Act. According to this law, *colonists had to pay a tax to have an official stamp put on wills, deeds, newspapers, and other printed material.* American colonists were outraged. They had never paid taxes directly to the British government before. Colonials lawyers argued that the stamp tax violated colonists' natural rights. In Britain, citizens consented to taxes through their representatives in Parliament. Because the colonists had no such representatives, Parliament could not tax them. The colonists demonstrated their defiance of this tax with angry protests and a boycott of British manufactured goods. The boycott proved so effective that Parliament gave up and repealed the stamp act in 1766.

Third World countries

During the cold war, the developing nations not allied with either the U.S. or the Soviet Union

Kristallnacht

Early in November 1938, 17 year old Herschel Grynszpan, a Jewish youth from Germany, was visiting an uncle in Paris. While Grynszpan was there, he received a postcard. It said that after living in Germany for 27 years, his father had been deported to Poland. On Nov 7, wishing to avenge his father's deportation, Grynszpan shot a German diplomat living in Paris. When Nazi leaders heard the news, they launched a violent attack on the Jewish community. On Nov 9, Nazi storm troopers attacked Jewish homes, businesses, and synagogues across Germany and murdered close to 100 Jews. An American in Leipzig wrote, "Jewish shop windows by the hundreds were systemically smashed. The main streets of the city were a positive litter of shattered plate glass". It is for this reason that the night of Nov 9 became known as Kristallnacht or "Night of Broken Glass".

relocation camps

Government propaganda also had a negative effect. After Pearl Harbor, a wave of prejudice arose in the United States against the 127,000 Japanese-Americans. Most lives in Hawaii and on the West Coast. The bombing of Pearl Harbor frightened Americans. This fear, encouraged by government propaganda, was turned against Japanese Americans. They were suddenly seen as "the enemy." On February 19, 1942, President Roosevelt set up a program of internment and loss of property, since Japanese Americans were considered a threat to the country. In March, the military began rounding up "aliens" and shipping them to relocation camps. Two thirds of those interns were Japanese-Americans who were native born American citizens. The camps were resisted military areas away from the coast. With such a location, it was thought that the Japanese Americans cannot participate in an invasion. From 1941 until 1946, United States imprisoned some 31,275 people it was wrongly considered "enemy aliens". Most of those prisoners were American citizens of Japanese dissent.

industrial capitalism

Economists Thomas Malthus and David Ricardo supported Smith's basic ideas. They believed that natural laws governed economic life. Their ideas were the foundation of laissez-faire capitalism. *Capitalism is an economic system in which money is invested and business ventures with the goal of making a profit.* These ideas help bring about the industrial revolution. In "An Essay on the Principle of Population," written in 1789, Malthus argued that population tended to increase more rapidly than the food supply. Without wars and epidemics to kill off the extra people, most were destined to be poor and miserable. Malthusian theory seemed to be coming true in the 1840s, but has not proven to be accurate overtime. David Ricardo, a wealthy stockbroker, took Malthus's theory one step further in his book, "Principles of Political Economy and Taxation." Like Malthus, Ricardo believed that a permanent underclass would always be poor. The market system, if there are many workers and abundant resources, the labor and resources are cheap. If there are few workers and scarce resources, then they are expensive. Ricardo believed that wages would be forced down as population increased. Laissez-faire thinkers such as Smith, Malthus, and Ricardo opposed government efforts to help poor workers. They thought that creating minimum wage laws and better working conditions would upset the free market system, lower profits, and undermine the production of wealth in society.

British and Russian conflict over Iran

Elsewhere in southwest Asia, Russia and Britain competed to exploit Persia commercially and to bring that country under their own spheres of influence. Russia was especially interested in gaining access to the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean. Twice Persia gave up territories to Russia far military defeats in 1813 and 1828. Britain was interested in using Afghanistan as a buffer between India and Russia. In 1857, Persia resisted British demands but was forced to give all claims to Afghanistan. Britain's interest in Persia increased greatly after the discovery of oil there in 1908. Persia lacked the optimal to develop its own resources. To raise money and to gain economic prestige, the Persian ruler began granting concessions to Western businesses. Tension arose between the often corrupt rulers, who wanted to sell concessions to Europeans, and the people. The peopler were often backed by religious leaders who feared change or disliked Western influence in their nation. In 1891, Nasir al-Din attempted to sell the rights to export and distribute Persian tobacco to a British company. This action outraged Sayyid Jamal al-Din al-Afghani, a modernist leader, who helped set up a tobacco boycott by the heavy-smoking Persians. The tobacco boycott worked. Riots broke out and the ruler was compelled to cancel the concession. As unrest continued in Persia, the government was unable to control the situation. In 1906, a group of revolutionaries forced the ruler to establish a constitution. In 1907, Russia and Britain took over the country and divided it into spheres of influence.

rising nationalism in post-communist Yugoslavia

Ethnic conflict also Yugoslavia. This country, formed after World War I, had six major groups of people—Serbs, Croats, Muslims, Slovenes, Macedonians, and Montenegrins. Ethnic and religious differences dating back centuries caused these groups to view each other with suspicion. After WWII, Yugoslavia became a federation of 6 republics. Each republic had a mixed population. Josip Tito, who led Yugoslavia from 1945 to 1980, held the country together. After Tito's death, however, long-simmering ethnic resentments boiled over. Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic asserted Serbian leadership over Yugoslavia. Two republics—Slovenia and Croatia—then declared independence. In June 1991, the Serbian-led Yugoslav army invaded both republics. After months of bloody fighting, both republics freed themselves from Serbian rule. In February 1992, Bosnia-Herzegovina joined Slovenia and Croatia in declaring independence. Bosnia's ethnically mixed population included Muslim, Serbs, and Croats. While Bosnia's Muslims and Croats backed independence, Bosnian Serbs strongly opposed it. Supported by Serbia, the Bosnian Serbs launched a brutal war in March 1992.

percent of France's priest and second estate

First Estate— <1% Second Estate— 2%

urbanization during industrial revolution

For centuries, most Europeans had lived in rural areas. In 1800, the balance shifted toward cities. The growth of the factory system—manufacturing goods in a central location—brought waves of jobseekers to cities and towns. Between 1800 and 1850, the number of European cities boasting more than 100,000 inhabitants rose from 22 to 47. Most of Europe's urban areas at least doubled in population. This period was one of urbanization—city building and the movement of people to cities. Some cities, such as Glasgow and Berlin, tripled or even quadrupled in size. Factories developed in clusters because entrepreneurs build them near sources of energy. Major new industrial centers sprang up between the coal-rich area of southern Wales and the Clyde River valleys in Scotland. The biggest of these centers developed in England. Britain's capital, London, was that country's most important city. Counting twice as many people as its closest rival, London became Europe's largest city. It has a population of about 1 million people by 1800. During the 1800s London's population explosion, providing a vast labor pool and market for the new industry. Newer cities challenged London's industrial leadership. Birmingham and Sheffield became iron smelting centers. Leeds and Manchester dominated textile manufacturing. Along with the port of Liverpool, Manchester form the center of Britain busting cotton industry. During the 1800s, Manchester experience rapid growth. And 1760, the population of this market town was around 45,000. By 1850, it had swelled to 300,000 people.

Francis Bacon

Francis Bacon, an English politician and writer, had a passionate interest in science. *He believed that by better understanding the world, scientists would generate practical knowledge that would improve people's lives.* In his writings, Bacon attacked medieval scholars for replying too heavily on the conclusions of Aristotle and other ancient thinkers. He also criticized the way in which both Aristotle and medieval scholars arrived at their conclusions. They had reasoned from abstract theories. Instead, he urged scientists to experiment. *Scientists, he wrote, should observe the world and gather information about it first.* Then they should draw conclusions from that information. This approach is called empiricism, or the *experimental method.*

Schlieffen Plan

Germany quickly put its military plan into effect. The plan was named after its designer, General Alfred Graf von Schlieffen. In the event of a two-front war, Schlieffen had called for attacking France and then Russia. The general had reasoned that Russia—with its lack of railroads—would have difficulty mobilizing its troops. Under the Schlieffen Plan, a large part of the German army would race west, to defeat France, and the return to fight Russia in the east.

Dawes Plan

Germany recovered from the 1923 inflation thanks largely the work of an international committee. The committee was headed by Charles Dawes, an American banker. The Dawes plan provided for a $200 million loan from American banks to stabilize German currency and strengthen its economy. The plan also set a more realistic schedule for Germany's reparation payments. Put into affect in 1924, the Dawes plan helped slow inflation. As the German economy began to recover, it attracted more loans and investments from the United States. By 1929, German factories were producing as much as they had before the war.

Axis Powers

Germany, Italy, Japan

propaganda during WWI

Government also used propaganda—one-sided information designed to persuade—to keep up morale and support for the war. One of the main instruments of propaganda was the war poster. In nations throughout Europe, striking, colorful posters urged support for the war by painting the enemies as monsters and allies as heroes.

"Final Solution"

Hitler soon grew impatient waiting for Jews to die from starvation or disease. He decided to take more direct action. His plan was called the "Final Solution". It was actually a program of genocide, the systemic killing of an entire people. Hitler believed that his plan of conquest depended on the purity of the Aryan race. To protect racial purity, the Nazis had to eliminate other races, nationalities, or groups that they viewed as inferior—as "subhumans". They included Romans, Poles, Russians, homosexuals, the insane, the disabled, and the incurably ill. But the Nazis focused especially on the Jews.

Galileo

In 1581, a 17-year-old Italian student named Galileo Galilei sat in the cathedral closely watching a chandelier swing on the chain. Aristotle had said that a pendulum swings at a slower rhythm as it approaches it's resting place. Using his beating pulse, Galileo carefully timed the chandeliers swings. Aristotle's idea was wrong. Instead, each swing of the pendulum took exactly the same amount of time. Galileo had discovered the law of the pendulum. In another study, Galileo found that a falling object accelerates at a fixed and predictable right. Galileo also tested Aristotle's theory that heavy objects fall faster than lighter ones. According to legend, he dropped stones of different weights from the Leaning Tower of Pisa. He then calculated how fast each fell. Contrary to Aristotle's assumption, the objects fell at the same speed. Later, Galileo learned that a Dutch lens maker had build an instrument that could enlarge far-off objects. Without seeing this device, Galileo successfully build his own telescope. After making some improvements, Galileo used his telescope to study the heavens in 1609. Then in 1610, he published a series of newsletters called Starry Messenger, which described his astonishing observations. Galileo announced that Jupiter had four moons and that the sun had dark spots. He also noted that the earth's moon had a rough, uneven surface. His description of the moons surface shattered Aristotle's theory that the moon and the stars were made of pure, perfect substance. Galileo's observations, as well as his laws of motion, also clearly supported the theories of Copernicus.

Napoleon's invasion of Russia

In 1812, Napoleon's thirst for power led to his most disastrous mistake of all. Even though Alexander I had became Napoleon's ally, the Russian czar refused to stop selling grain to Britain. In addition, the French and Russian rules suspected each other of having competiting designs on Poland. Because of this breakdown in their alliance, Napoleon and his Grand Army decided to invade Russia.

Bolsheviks

In 1903, Russian Marxists split into two groups over revolutionary tactics. The Mensheviks wanted a broad base of popular support for the revolution. The Bolsheviks supported a small group of committed revolutionaries willing to sacrifice everything for radical change. The leader of the Bolsheviks was Vladimir Ulyanov. He adopted the name of Lenin. He had an engaging personality and was an excellent organizer. He was also ruthless. These traits would ultimately help him gain command of the Bolsheviks. In the early 1900s, Lenin fled to Western Europe to avoid arrest by the czarist regime. He maintained contact with other Bolsheviks. Lenin then waited until he could safely return to Russia.

soviet Five-Year Plan

In 1928, Stalin outlined the first of several Five-Year Plans for the development of the Soviet Union's economy. The government would take drastic steps to promote rapid industrial growth and to strengthen national defense. The Five Year Plans set impossibly high quotas, or numerical goals, to increase the output of steel, coal, oil, and electricity. To reach these targets, the government limited production of consumer goods. As a result, people faced severe shortages of housing, food, clothes, and other necessary goods. Stalin's grim methods, however, also produced fantastic economic results. Although most of the targets of the Five Year Plan fell short, the Soviet Union made impressive gains. A second plan, launched in 1933, proved equally successful. From 1928 to 1937, industrial production increased more than 25%.

Salt March

In 1930, Gandhi organized a demonstration to defy the hated Salt Acts. According to these British laws, Indians could buy salt from no other source but the government. They also had to pay sales tax on the salt. To show their opposition, Gandhi and his followers walked about 240 miles to the seacoast. There they began to make their own salt by collecting seawater and letting it evaporate. This peaceful protest was called the Salt March. Soon afterward, some demonstrators planned a march to a site where the British government process salt. They intended to shut this saltworks down. Police officers with steel-tipped clubs attacked the demonstrators. An American journalist was and eyewitness to the event. He described "the sickening whacks of clubs on unprotected skulls" and "people writhing in pain with fractured skulls and broken shoulders." Still the people continued to march peacefully, refusing to defend themselves against their attackers. Newspapers across the globe carried the journalist's story, which won worldwide support for Gandhi's independence movement. More demonstrations took place throughout India. Eventually, about 60,000 people, including Gandhi, were arrested.

Zimmerman Note

In February 1917, another German action pushed the United States closer to war. The British intercepted a telegram from Germany's foreign secretary, Arthur Zimmerman, to the German ambassador in Mexico. The message said that Germany would help Mexico "reconquer" the land it had lost to the United States if Mexico would ally itself with Germany. The British decoded the message and gave it to the U.S. government. When the Zimmerman note was made public, Americans called for war against Germany. Even before news of the note, many Americans had sided with the Allies. A large part of the American population felt a bond with England. The two nations shared a common ancestry and language, as well as similar democratic institutions and legal systems. In addition, reports—some true and others not—of German war atrocities stirred anti-German sentiment in the United States. More important, America's economic ties with the Allies were far stronger than those with the Central Powers. America traded with Great Britain and France more than twice as much as with Germany. The Zimmerman note simply proved to be the last straw. On April 2, 1917, President Wilson asked Congress to declare war. The United States entered the war on the side of the Allies.

Fourteen Points

In January 1918, while the war was still raging, President Wilson had drawn up a series of proposals. Known as the Fourteen Points, they outlined a plan for achieving a just and lasting peace. The first five points included an end to secret treaties, freedom of the seas, free trade, and reduced national armies and navies. The fifth goal was the adjustment of colonial claims with fairness toward colonial people's. The sixth through thirteenth points were specific suggestions for changing borders and creating new nations. The guiding idea behind these points was self-determination. This meant allowing people to decide for themselves under what government they wished to live. Finally, the fourteenth point proposed a "general association of nations" that would protect "great and small states alike." This reflected Wilson's hope for an organization that could peacefully negotiate solutions to world conflicts.

Crimean War

a conflict, lasting from 1853 to 1856, in which the Ottoman Empire, with the aid of Britain and France, halted Russian expansion in the region of the Black Sea

Czar Alexander vs Napoleon

In June 1812, Napoleon and his Grand Army marched into Russia. Many of his troops were not French. They had been drafted from all over Europe, and they felt little loyalty to Napoleon. As Napoleon's army entered Russia, Alexander pulled back his troops, refusing to be lured into an unequal battle. As the Russians retreated toward Moscow, they practiced a scorched-earth policy, burning grain fields and slaughtering livestock so as to leave nothing that the enemy could eat. Desperate soldiers deserted the French army to search for scraps of food. On Sep 7, 1812, the two armies finally clashed in the Battle of Borodino. During the morning, the advantage swung back and forth between the Russians and the French. After several more hours of indecisive fighting, the Russians retreated—giving Napoleon a narrow victory that allowed him to take Moscow. When Napoleon finally entered Moscow on Sept 14, he soon found it in flames. Rather than surrender Russia's "holy city" to the French, Alexander had set fire to it. Napoleon stayed in the ruined city for 5 weeks, expecting the czar to make a peace offer, but no offer came. By then, it was the middle of October, too late to advance farther and perhaps too late even to retreat.

Great Depression

In September 1929, some investors began to feel that stock prices were unnaturally high. They started selling the stocks, believing the rates would soon go down. By Thursday, October 24, the gradual lowering of stock prices became an all-out slide downward. A panic resulted. Everyone wanted to sell stocks, and no one wanted to buy. Prices sank quickly. The wild shouting of 1,000 brokers and their assistants at the Stock Exchange became what one observed called a "weird roar". Prices plunged to a new low on Tuesday, October 29. A record 16 million stocks were sold. The stock market collapsed. In the stock market crash, billions of dollars in "paper wealth" simply vanished. People could not pay the money they owed on margin purchases. Stocks they had bought at a high price were now worthless. Within months of the crash, unemployment rates began to rise as industrial production, prices, and wages declined. A long business slump, or depression, followed. The Great Depression, as it came to be called, touched every corner of the American economy. By 1932, factory production had been cut in half. Thousands of businesses failed, and banks closed. Around 9 million people lost the money in their savings accounts when banks had no money to pay them. Many farmers lost their land when they could not make mortgage payments. By 1933, ¼ of all American workers had no jobs.

fall of Berlin Wall

In response, the East German government closed its borders entirely. By October 1989, huge demonstrations had broken out in cities across East Germany. The protestors demanded the right to travel freely—and later added the demand for free elections. At one point, Honecker tried to regain control by ordering the police to break up a demonstration in Leipzig. The police refused. Honecker lost his authority with the party and resigned on October 18. The new East German leader, Egon Krenz, boldly gambled that he could restore stability by allowing people to leave East Germany. On Nov 9, 1989, he opened the Berlin Wall. Thousands of East Germans poured into West Berlin. The long-divided city of Berlin erupted in joyous celebration. Once-feared border guards smiled a huge crowds climbed on top of the wall to celebrate. The jubilant Berliners danced and chanted.

plebiscite

a direct vote in which a country's people have the opportunity to approve or reject a proposal

Industrial Revolution

In the United States, France, and Latin America, political revolutions bought in new governments. A different type of revolution now transformed the way people did work. The Industrial Revolution refers to the greatly increased output of machine made goods that began in England during the 18th-century. Before the Industrial Revolution, people wove textiles by hand. Beginning in the middle 1700s, machines did this and other jobs as well. The Industrial Revolution started in England and soon spread to continental Europe and North America.

Japan's invasion of Manchuria

In the late 1800's, Russia and Japan were imperialist powers. They both competed for the control of Korea and Manchuria. The two nations signed a series of agreements over the territories, but Russia broke them. In retaliation, Japan attacked the Russians at Port Arthur, Manchuria, in February 1904. Though Russian soldiers and sailors went confidently to war, the Japanese defeated them. News of repeated losses sparked unrest at home and led to revolt in the midst of the war.

Ivan the Terrible

Ivan IV, called Ivan the Terrible, came to the throne in 1533 when he was only three years old. His young life was disrupted by struggles for power among Russia's landowning nobles, known as boyars. The boyars fought to control young Ivan. When he was 16, Ivan seized power and had himself crowned czar. This title meant "caesar," and Ivan was the first Russian ruler to use it officially. He also married the beautiful Anastasia, related to an old boyar family, the Romanovs. The years from 1547 to 1560 are often called Ivan's "good period." He won great victories, added lands to Russia, gave Russia a code of laws, and ruled justly. Ivan's "bad period" began in 1560 after Anastasia died. Accusing the boyars of poisoning his wife, Ivan turned against them. He organized his own police force, whose chief duty was to hunt down and murder people Ivan considered traitors. The members of this police force dressed in black and rode black horses. Using these secret police, Ivan executed many boyars, their families, and the peasants who worked their lands. Thousands of people died. Ivan seized the boyars' estates and gave them to a new class of nobles, who had to remain loyal to him or lose their head. Eventually Ivan committed an act that was both a personal tragedy and a national disaster. In 1581, during a violent quarrel, he killed his oldest son and heir. When Ivan died three years later, only his weak second son was left to rule.

Battle of Midway

Japan next targeted Midway Island, west of Hawaii. The island was home to a key American airfield. However, by June 1942, yet another Japanese code had been broken. As a result, the new commander in chief of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, Admiral Chester Nimitz, knew that a force of over 150 ships was heading toward Midway. The Japanese fleet was the largest naval force ever assembled. It could also boast the world's largest battleship, caring Admiral Yamamoto himself. Yamamoto hoped not only to seize Midway but also to finish off the U.S. Pacific Fleet. He hoped that the American force would come to from Pearl Harbor to defend the island. Nimitz was outnumbered four to one in ships and planes. Even so, he was preparing an ambush for the Japanese at Midway. On June 4, with American forces hidden beyond the horizon, Nimitz allow the enemy to launch the first strike. As Japanese planes roared over Midway Island, American carrier planes swooped in to attack Japanese ships. Many Japanese planes were still on the decks of the ships. The strategy was a success. American pilots destroyed 332 Japanese planes, all four aircraft carriers, and one support ship. Yamamoto ordered his crippled fleet to withdraw. By June 6, 1942, the battle was over. One Japanese official commented, "The Americans had avenged Pearl Harbor." The Battle of Midway had also turned the tide of war in the Pacific against the Japanese.

U.S. intervention in Latin America (early 1900s)

Latin Americans were begin to regard the United States as the political and economic "Colossal of the North." It was also a huge country geographically. By the 1870s, the transcontinental railroad connected it's East and West Coasts. Land travel was long and difficult, however. And sea travel involved a trip around the tip of South America. This was a journey of about 13,000 miles. If a canal could be dug across narrow section of Central America, the coast-to-coast journey would be cut in half. The United States had been thinking about such a project since the early 19th century. In the 1880s, a French company tried—but failed—to build a canal across Panama. Despite the French failure, Americans remained enthusiastic about the canal. And no one was more enthusiastic than President Theodore Roosevelt, who led the nation from 1901 to 1909. In 1903, Panama was a province of Colombia. Roosevelt offered that country $10 million plus a yearly payment for the right to build a canal. When the Colombian government demanded more money, the U.S. responded by encouraging Panama to revolt. The Panamanians had been trying to break away from Colombia for almost a century. In 1903, with help from the U.S. navy, they won their country's independence. In gratitude, Panama gave the U.S. a ten-mile-wide zone in which to build a canal. For the next 10 years, American engineers battled floods, heat, and disease carrying insects to build a massive waterway. The United States began a campaign to destroy the mosquitoes that carry yellow fever and malaria, and the rats that carried bubonic plague. The effort to control these diseases was eventually successful. But thousands of workers died during construction of the canal. The Panama Canal finally opened in 1914. Ships from both hemispheres began to use it. Latin America had become a crossroads of world trade. And the United States controlled the tollgate.

totalitarian state

Lenin and Trotsky promoted a worldwide communist revolution. Stalin, however, focused on Russian development. He coined the phrase "socialism and one country" to describe his aims of perfecting the communist state. To realize his vision, Stalin would transform the Soviet Union into a totalitarian state. The term totalitarian describes a government that takes total, centralized state control over every aspect of public and private life. Totalitarian leaders, such a Stalin, appeared to provide a sense of security and to give a direction for the future. Totalitarian challenges the highest value prized by Western democracies—reasons, freedom, human dignity, and the worth of the individual. Other totalitarian government besides the Soviet Union emerged in the 20th century. In 1920s and 1930s, other European dictators—Hitler in Germany and Mussolini in Italy—were shaping their visions of a totalitarian state. After Communists formed the People's Republic of China in 1949, Mao Zedong used tactics similar to Stalins to establish totalitarian control. The North Korean dictator Kim Il Sung ruled over a totalitarian communist state from 1948 to 1994.

island hopping

MacArthur believed that storming each island would be a long, costly effort. Instead, he wanted to "island hop" past Japanese strongholds. He would then seize islands that were not well defended but were closer to Japan.

Peter the Great

Over time, the Romanovs restored order to Russia. They strengthened government by passing a law code and putting down a revolt. This paved the way for the absolute rule of Czar Peter I. At first, Peter shared the throne with a feeble-minded half-brother. However, in 1696, Peter became the sole ruler of Russia. He is known to history as Peter the Great, because he was one of Russia's greatest reformers. He also continued the trend of increasing the czar's power. When Peter I came to power, Russia was still a land of boyars and serfs. Serfdom in Russia lasted much longer than it did in western Europe. Serfdom continued in Russia into the mid-1800s. When a Russian landowner sold a piece of land, he sold the serfs with it. Landowners could give serfs away as presents or to pay debts. It was also against the law for serfs to run away from their owners. In the 1680s, people in the German quarter of Moscow were accustomed to seeing the young Peter striding through their neighborhood on his long legs. (Peter was more than six and a half feet tall.) He was fascinated by the modern tools and machines in the foreigner's shops. Above all, he had a passion for ships and the sea. The young czar believed that Russia's future depended on having a warm-water port. Only then could Russia compete with the more modern western Europe. Peter was 24 years old when he became sole ruler of Russia. In 1698, just one year later, he embarked on the "Grand Embassy," a long visit to western Europe. Peter's goal was to learn about European customs and industrial techniques. With him were 200 servants and 55 boyars. Never before had a czar traveled among Western "heretics." On his journey, Peter insisted on keeping his identity a secret. He went to the Netherlands in the plain clothes of an ordinary worker and labored as a ship's carpenter for four months. However, a Russian giant in a Dutch seaport attracted attention. Word of his identity soon spread. Yet if a fellow worker addressed him as "Your Majesty" or "Sire," he would not answer. After all, he was just plain "Carpenter Peter." Peter also visited England and Austria before returning home. Inspired by his trip to the West, Peter resolved that Russia would compete with Europe on both military and commercial terms. Peter's goal of westernization, of using western Europe as a model for change, was not an end in itself. Peter saw it as a way to make Russia stronger. Although Peter believed Russia needed to change, he knew that many of his people disagreed. As he said to one official, "For you know yourself that, though a thing be good and necessary, our people will not do it unless forced to." To force change upon his state, Peter increased his powers as an absolute ruler. Peter brought the Russian Orthodox church under state control. He abolished the office of patriarch, head of the church. He set up a group called the Holy Synod to run the church—under his direction. Like Ivan the Terrible, Peter reduced the power of the great landowners. He recruited able men from lower-ranking families. He then promoted them to positions of authority and rewarded them with grants of land. Because these men owed everything to the czar, they were loyal to him alone. To modernize his army, Peter hired European officers, who drilled his soldiers in European tactics with European weapons. Being a soldier became a lifetime job. By the time of Peter's death, the Russian army numbered 200,000 men. To pay for this huge army, Peter imposed heavy taxes. As part of his attempts to westernize Russia, Peter • introduced potatoes, which became a staple of the Russian diet • started Russia's first newspaper and edited its first issue himself • raised women's status by having them attend social gatherings • ordered the nobles to give up their traditional clothes for Western fashions Peter also believed education was a key to Russia's progress. To promote education and growth, Peter wanted a seaport that would make it easier to travel to the West. Therefore, Peter fought Sweden to gain a piece of the Baltic coast. After 21 long years of war, Russia finally won the "window on the sea" that Peter wanted. Actually, Peter had secured that window many years before Sweden officially surrendered it. in 1703 he began building a new city on Swedish lands occupied by Russian troops. Although the swampy site was unhealthful, it seemed ideal to Peter. Ships could sail down the Neva River into the Baltic Sea and on to western Europe. Peter called the city St. Petersburg, after his patron saint. To build a city on a desolate swamp was no easy matter. Every summer, the army forced thousands of luckless serf to leave home and work at St. Petersburg. An estimated 25,000 to 100,000 people died from the terrible working conditions and widespread diseases. When St. Petersburg was finished, Peter ordered many Russian nobles to leave the comforts of Moscow and settle in his new capital.

effects of Karl Marx ideas

Marx believed that the capitalist system, which produced the Industrial Revolution, would eventually destroy itself in the following way. Factories would drive small artisans out of business, leaving a small number of manufacturers to control all the wealth. The large proletariat would revolt, seize the factories and mills from the capitalists, and produce what society needed. Workers, sharing in the profits, would bring about economic equality for all people. The workers would control the government in a "dictatorship of the proletariat". After a period of cooperative living and education, the state or government would wither away as a classless society develops. Marx called this final phase pure communism. Marx described communism as a form of complete socialism in which the means of production—would be owned by the people. Private property was an effect cease to exist. All goods and services would be shared equally. Published in 1848, the Communist manifesto are produced few short-term results. Though widespread revolts shook Europe during 1848 and 1849, Europe's leaders eventually put down the uprisings. Only after the turn of the century did the fiery Marxist pamphlet produce explosive results. In the 1900s, *Marxism inspired revolutionaries such as Russia's Lenin, China's Mao Zedong, Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh, and Cuba's Fidel Castro*. These revolutionary leaders adapted Marx's beliefs and arguments to their own specific situations and needs. In their pamphlet, Marx and Engels condemned the inequalities of early industrial economies. Yet several of Marx's predictions have since proved wrong. They believed that economic forces alone dominated society. Time has shown, however, that religion, nationalism, ethnic loyalties, and a desire for democratic reforms may be as strong influence on history as economic forces. In addition, the gap between the rich and poor within the industrialized countries failed to widen in the way that Marx and Engels predicted, mostly because of the following types of reform.

blackshirts

Mussolini vowed to give Italy strong leadership. He had founded the Fascist Party in 1919. At first, he failed to win widespread support. As economic conditions worsened, however, his popularity rapidly increased. Finally, Mussolini publicly criticized Italy's government. Groups of Fascists wearing black shirts attacked the Communists and Socialists on the streets. This campaign of terror weakened his opponents. Because Mussolini played on the fear of a workers' revolt, he began to win support from the middle classes, the aristocracy, and industrial leaders.

social changes due to industrialization

Not everyone in the new cities lived miserably. Well-to-do merchants and factory owners build fancy homes in the suburbs. In addition, a new class began to emerge. Though poverty gripped Britain's working classes, the Industrial Revolution created enormous amounts of money in the country. Most of the wealth lined the pockets of factory owners, shippers, and merchants. These wealthy people made up a growing middle class—a social class of skilled workers, professionals, businesspeople, and wealthy farmers. The new middle class transformed the social structure of Great Britain. In the past, landowners and aristocrats occupied the top position in British society. With most of the wealth, they wielded the power. Now some factory owners, merchants, and investments bankers grew wealthier than the landowners and aristocrats. Yet important social distinctions divided the two of the classes. Landowners looked down on those who have made their fortunes in the "vulgar" business world. Not until late in the 1800s were rich entrepreneurs consider the social equals of the lords of the countryside. Gradually, a larger middle class—neither rich nor poor—emerged. This group included an upper middle class of government employees, doctors, lawyers, and managers of factories, mines, and shops. A lower middle class consisted of factory overseers and such skilled workers as toolmakers, mechanical drafters, and printers. These people enjoyed a comfortable standard of living. During the years 1800 to 1850, however, poor workers saw a little improvement in their own living and working conditions. Frustrated workers watch their likelihoods disappear as machines replaced them. In response, they smashed the machines they thought were putting them out of work. One group of such workers was called the Luddites. They were named after Ned Ludd. Ludd, probably a mythical English laborer, was said to have destroyed weaving machinery around 1779. The Luddites attacked whole factories in northern England beginning in 1811, destroying labor-saving machinery. Outside the factories, mob disorder took the form of riots, mainly because of the poor living and working conditions of the workers.

Bastille Day

On July 14, a mob tried to get gunpowder from the best deal, a Paris prison. The angry crowd overwhelmed the king's soldiers, and the Bastille fell the control of the citizens. The fall of the Bastille became a great symbolic act of relation to the French people. Ever since, July 14 has been a French national holiday, similar to the U.S. Fourth of July.

why the atomic bomb was used in Japan

President Truman's advisers had informed him that an invasion of the Japanese homeland might cost the Allies half a million lives. Truman had to make a decision whether to use a powerful new weapon called the atomic bomb, or A-bomb. The A-bomb would bring the war to the quickest possible end.

Voltaire

Probably the most brilliant and influential of the philosophers was Fraçois Marie Arouet. Using the pen name Voltaire, he published more than 70 books of political essays, philosophy, history, fiction, and drama. Voltaire often used satire against his opponents. He made frequent targets of the clergy, the aristocracy, and the government. His sharp tongue made him enemies at the French court, and twice he was sent to prison. After his second jail term, Voltaire was exiled to England for two years. There, Voltaire came to admire the English government much more than his own. After he returned to Paris, much of his work mocked the laws and customs of France. He even dared to raise doubts about the Christian religion. The French king and France's Catholic bishops were outraged. In 1734, fearing another unpleasant jail term, Voltaire fled Paris. Although he made powerful enemies, *Voltaire never stopped fighting for tolerance, reason, freedom of religious belief, and freedom of speech.* He used his quill pen as if it were a deadly weapon in a thinker's war against humanity's worst enemies—intolerance, prejudice, and superstition. Such attitudes were, he said, "l'infâme"—infamous or evil things. He often ended his letters with a fighting slogan, "Écrasez l'infâme!" The phrase meant "Crush the evil thing!"

Rom Mohun Roy

Ram Mohun Roy, a modern-thinking, well-educated Indian, began a *campaign to move India away from traditional practices and ideas.* Sometimes called the *"Father of Modern India,"* Ram Mohun Roy called for an end to suicide, which he believed was a murderous act. He saw child marriages and the rigid caste separation as parts of religious life that needed to be changed to bring India into a more modern frame of mind. He believed that if the practices were not changed, India would continue to be controlled by outsiders. Roy's writings inspired other Indian reformers to call for adoption of Western ways. Roy also founded a social reform movement that worked for change in India.

Articles of Confederation

Shortly after declaring their independence, the 13 individual states recognized the need for a national government. As victory became certain, in 1781 all 13 states ratified a constitution. This plan of government was known as the Article of Confederation. The Articles established the U.S. as a republic—a government in which citizens rule through elected representatives. To protect their authority, the 13 states created a loose confederation in which they held most of the power. Thus, *the Articles of Confederation deliberately created a weak national government. There were no executive or judicial branches. Instead, the Articles established only one body of government, the Congress.* Each state, regardless of size, had one vote in Congress. Congress could declare war, enter into treaties, and coin money. It had no power, however, to collect taxes or regulate trade. Passing new laws was difficult because laws needed the approval of 9 out of the 13 states.

U.S. Cold War foreign policy

Soviet-American relations continued to worsen and 1946 and 1947. An increasingly worried United States sought to offset the growing Soviet threat in Eastern Europe. President Truman declared that it was time to stop "babying the Soviets". He adopted a foreign-policy called containment. Containment was a policy directed at blocking Soviet influence and preventing the expansion of communism. Containment policies included creating alliances and helping weak countries resist Soviet advances.

Leon Trotsky

Still recovering from their painful losses of land to Germany, the Bolsheviks now faced a new challenge—stamping out their enemies at home. Their opponents formed the White Army. The revolutionary leader Leon Trotsky, who helped negotiate the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, expertly commanded the Bolshevik Red Army. From 1918 to 1920, civil war raged in Russia. Several Western nations, including the U.S., sent military aid and forces to Russia to help the White Army.

British influence in southern Africa

The Dutch first came to the Cape of Good Hope in 1652 to establish a way station for their ships sailing between the Dutch East Indies and home. Dutch settlers known as Boers gradually took over native Africans land and established large farms. When the British took over the Cape colony in the 1800s, the two groups of settlers clashed over British policy regarding land and slaves. In the 1830s, to escape the British, several thousand Boers began to move north. This movement has become known as the Great Trek. The boers soon found themselves fighting fiercely with Zula and other African groups whose land they were taking. Diamonds and gold were discovered in southern Africa in the 1860s and 1880s. Suddenly, "outsiders" from all parts of the world rushed into make their fortunes. The Boers tried to keep the outsiders from gaining political rights. An attempt to start a rebellion against the Boers failed. The Boers blamed the British. And 1899, the Boers took up arms against the British. In many ways the Boers Rar between the British and the Boers was the first modern "total" war. The Boers used commando raids and guerrilla tactics against the British. The British countered by burning their farms and imprisoning women and children and disease-ridden concentration camps. Britain won the war. In 1902, the Boer republics were joined into a self-governing Union of South Africa, controlled by the British.

British influence on India

The East India Company quickly took advantage of the growing weakness of the Mughals. In 1757, Robert Clive led company troops in a decisive victory over Indian forces at the Battle of Plassey. From that time on, the east indian company was the leading power in India. The area controlled by the company grew over time. Eventually, it governed directly or indirectly an area that included modern Bangladesh, most of southern India, and nearly all the territory along the Ganges River in the north. Officially, the British government regulated the East India Company's efforts both in London and in India. Until the beginning of the 19th century, the company ruled India with little interference from the British government. The company even had its own army, led by British officers and staffed by sepoys, or Indian soldiers.

baroque style of art

The Enlightenment ideal of order and reason were reflected in the arts—music, literature, painting, and architecture. European art of the 1600s and early 1700s had been dominated by the style of baroque—a grand, ornate style. Monarchs had build elaborate palaces such as Versailles. Musicians like the German composer Bach and the English composer Handel had written dramatic organ and choral music. Artists had created paintings rich in color, detail, and ornate imagery.

what started WWI

The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand on June 28, 1914, was the spark that ignited a giant blaze. This single terrorist act set off a chain reaction within the alliance system that would result in the largest war Europe—and the world—had ever seen.

global economy in early 1900s

The collapse of the American economy sent shockwaves around the world. Worried American bankers demanded repayment of their overseas loans, and American investors withdrew their money from Europe. The American market for European goods dropped sharply of the US Congress place high tax on imported goods so the American dollars would stay in the United States and support American workers. The government was for trying to force Americans the buy American goods. This policy backfired. Conditions worsened for the United States. Many countries who depended on exporting goods to the United States also suffered. Moreover, when the United States rised tariffs, it set off a chain reaction. Other nations imposed their own higher tariffs. World trade dropped by 65%. This contributed for the to the economic downturn. Unemployment rates soared. Because of war debts and dependence on American loans and investments, Germany and Austria were particularly hard hit. In 1931, Austria's largest bank failed. This started a financial panic in Central European countries and sent their economies plunging. In Asia, the Japanese economy also slumped. Japanese farmers suffered greatly during the Depression. In the rice growing areas of the north east, crop failures in 1931 led to famine. Starving families ate tree bark and the roots of wild plants. City worker suffered, two, as the value of exports fell by half between 1929 and 1931. As many as 3 million workers lost their jobs, forcing many to go back to the rural villages.

Treaty of Versailles

The differences between French, British, and U.S. aims led to heated arguments among the nations' leaders. Finally a compromise was reached. The Treaty of Versailles between Germany and the Allied powers was signed on June 28, 1919—five years to the day after Franz Ferdinand's assassination in Sarajevo. Adopting Wilson's fourteenth point, the treaty created a League of Nations. The league was to be an intentional association whose goal would be to keep peace among nations. The five Allied powers—the United States, Great Britain, France, Italy, and Japan—were to be permanent members of the league's Executive Council. Its General Assembly would consist of representative of 32 Allied and neutral nations. Germany was deliberately excluded. Also left out was Russia. Russia's early withdrawal from the war and its revolutionary leadership had made it an outcast in the eyes of the other Allies. The treaty also punished Germany. The defeated nation lost substantial territory and had severe restrictions placed on its military operations. As punishing as these provisions were, the harshest was Article 231. It was also known as the "war guilt" clause. It placed sole responsibility for the war on Germany's shoulders. As a result, Germany had to pay reparations to the Allies. All of Germany's territories in Africa and the Pacific were declared mandates, or territories to be administered by the League of Nations. Under the peace agreement, the Allies would govern the mandates until they were judged ready for independence.

what did Africa and Latin America contribute to global economy in the early 1900s?

The economic crisis fell heavily on Latin America as well. Many of its nations were tied to the global economy by trade in such cash crops around materials as sugar, beef, copper, and tin. During the 1920s, world prices and market demand for these products were already dropping. As European and US demand for Latin American product dried up in the 1930s, prices for these goods collapsed. At the same time, the cost of imported goods rose, pushep up by high tariffs. Latin American nations that had borrowed heavily from other nations could not repay their debts. The worldwide crisis spread rapidly.

policy of containment

a U.S. foreign policy adopted by President Harry Truman in the late 1940s, in which the United States tried to stop the spread of communism by creating alliances and helping weak countries to resist Soviet advances

Cuban missile crisis

The failed Bay of Pigs invasion convinced the Soviet leader, Nikita Khrushchev, that the United States would not resist Soviet expansion to Latin America. Consequently in July 1962, Khrushchev secretly build 42 missile sites in Cuba. In October, an American spy plane discovered the sites. The U.S. president, Kennedy, declared that missiles so close to the U.S. mainland were a threat. He demanded that the Soviets remove the missiles. Kennedy also announced a quarantine, or blockade, of Cuba to prevent the Soviets installing more missiles. Castro protested his country's being used as a tool in the Cold War. Nevertheless, Cuba was deeply involved. Kennedy's demand for the removal of Soviet missiles put the U.S. and the Soviet Union on a collision course. U.S. troops assembled in Florida, ready to invade Cuba. People around the world began to fear that this standoff would lead to World War III and a nuclear disaster. Fortunately, Khrushchev agreed to remove the missiles in return for a U.S. promise not to invade Cuba. The resolution of the Cuban missile crisis left Castro completely dependent on Soviet support. In exchange for this support, Castro backed Communist revolutions in Latin America and Africa. Approximately 36,000 Cubans fought in Angola's War against colonialism in the 1970's. Soviet aid to Cuba, however, ended abruptly with the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991. This loss dealt a crippling blow to the Cuban economy. The country still suffers a scarcity of vital supplies. But the aging Castro refuses to adopt economic reforms or to give up power. An equally stubborn U.S. refuses to lift its trade embargo.

Shays rebellion

The nations going financial problems sparked a violent protest in Massachusetts. Debit ridden farmers, led by a war veteran name Daniel Shays, demanded that the state lower taxes and issue paper money so that they could repay their debts. When the state refused, the rebels attacked several courthouses. Massachusetts authorities quickly crushed Shays rebellion.

Locke

The philosopher John Locke held a different, more positive, view of human nature. He believed that people could learn from experience and improve themselves. As reasonable beings, they held the natural ability to govern their own affairs and to look after the welfare of society. Locke criticized absolute monarchy and favored of the idea of self-government. *According to Locke, all people are born free and equal, with three natural rights—life, liberty, and property.* The purpose of government, said Locke, is to protect these rights. If the government fails to do so, citizens have a right to overthrow it. Locke published his ideas in 1690, two years after the Glorious Revolution. His book, Two Treaties on Government, served to justify the overthrow of James the second. Locke's theory had a deep influence on modern political thinking. His statement that a government's power comes from the consent of the people is the function of modern democracy. The ideas of government by popular consent and the right to rebel against unjust rulers helped inspire struggles for liberty in Europe and in the Americas

spinning wheel as a symbol (Ghandi)

The spinning wheel is the symbol on the Indian flag. Gandhi staged a successful boycott of British cloth, a source of wealth for the British. He urged all Indians to weave their own cloth. Gandhi himself devoted two hours each day to spinning his own yarn on a simple handwheel. He wore only home spun cloth and encouraged Indians to follow his example. As a result of the boycott, the sale of British cloth in India dropped sharply.

free-market system

The term laissez-faire refers to the economic policy of letting owners of industry and business set working conditions without interference. That policy favors a free market unregulated by the government. The term comes from a French phrase that means "let do" and by extension, "let people do as they please".

post WWI economy

The war also had a devastating economic impact on Europe. The great conflict drained the treasuries of Europe. One account put the total cost of the war at $338 billion—a staggering amount for that time. The war also destroyed acres of farmland, as well as homes, villages, and towns.

Truman Doctrine

a U.S. policy of giving economic and military aid to free nations threatened by internal or external opponents, announced by President Harry Truman in 1947

Napoleon's accomplishments

Under Napoleon, France would have order and stability. He did not try to return the nation to the days of Louis XVI; instead, he kept many of the changes that had come with the Revolution. He supported laws that would both strengthen the central government and achieve some of the goals of the Revolution, such as a stable economy and more equality in taxation. The first order of business was to get the economy on a solid footing. Napoleon set up an efficient tax-collection system and established a national bank. In addition to assuring the government a steady supply of tax money, these actions promoted sound financial management and better control of the economy. Napoleon also needed to reduce government corruption and improve the delivery of government services. He dismissed corrupt officials and, in order to provide his government with trained officials, set up lycées, or government-run public schools. The students at the lycées included children of ordinary citizens as well as children of the wealthy. The trained candidates could then be appointed to public office on the basis of merit rather than family connections. Both the clergy and the peasants wanted to restore the position of the church in France. Napoleon signed a concordat (agreement) with Pope Pius VII, spelling out a new relationship between church and state. The government recognized the influence of the church but rejected church control in national affairs. Specifically the French government would appoint bishops, but the bishops would appoint parish priests. The concordat gained Napoleon the support of the organized church as well as the majority of the French people. Napoleon thought that his greatest work with his comprehensive system of laws, known as the Napoleonic Code. Although the code gave the country a uniform set of laws and eliminated many injustices, it actually limited liberty and promoted order and authority over individual rights. The code took away some rights that women had won during the Revolution, such as the right to sell their property. Freedom of speech and and of the press, also established during the Revolution, were restricted rather than expanded. The new laws also restored slavery in the French colonies of the Caribbean, which the revolutionary government had abolished.

Great Purge

a campaign of terror in the Soviet Union during the 1930s, in which Joseph Stalin sought to eliminate all Communist Party members and other citizens who threatened his power

reason Napoleon sold Louisiana Territory

When the expedition to Saint Domingue was unsuccessful and the U.S. government showed interest in buying the port of New Orleans, Napoleon recognized an opportunity to make some money and cut his losses in the Americas. He offered to sell all of the Louisiana Territory to the U.S., and in 1803 President Jefferson's administration agreed to purchase the land for $15 million. Napoleon was delighted. He saw a twofold benefit to the sale: he would gain money to finance operations in Europe, and he would further punish his British enemies.

Mein Kampf

While in jail, Hitler wrote Mein Kampf (My Struggle). This book set forth his beliefs and his goals for Germany. It became a blueprint, or plan of action, for the Nazis. Hitler asserted that the Germans, especially those who are blonde and blue-eyed—whom he incorrectly called "Aryans"—were a "master race". He declared that non-Aryan races—such as Jews, Slavs, and Gypsies—were inferior or subhuman. He called the Versailles Treaty an outrage and vowed to regain the lands taken from Germany. Hitler also declared that Germany was overcrowded and needed more lebensraum, or living space. He promised to get that space by conquering eastern Europe and Russia.

Nuremberg Trial

While nations were struggling to recover politically and economically, they also tried to deal with the issue of war crimes. During 1945 and 1946, and International Military Tribunal representing 23 nations put Nazi war criminals on trial in Nuremberg, Germany. In the first of these Nuremberg trials, 22 Nazi leaders were charged with waging a war of aggression. They were also accused of committing "crimes against humanity"—the murder of 11 million people. Hitler had committed suicide long before the trials began. However, Hermann Goring, the commander of the Luftwaffe; Rudolf Hess, Hitler's former deputy; and other high-ranking Nazi leaders remained to face the charges. Hess was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison. Goring received a death penalty, but cheated the executioner by committing suicide. 10 other Nazi leaders were hanged on October 19, 1946. Hans Frank, "the slayer of Poles", was the only convicted Nazi to express remorse: "A thousand years will pass," he said, "and still this guilt of Germany will not have been erased." The bodies of these executed were burned at the concentration camps of Dachau. They were cremated in the same ovens that had burned so many of their victims.

D-Day

While the Allies were dealing with issues on the home front, they also were preparing to push toward victory in Europe. In 1943, the Allies began secretly building an invasion force in Great Britain. Their plan was to attack German held France across the English channel. By May 1944, the invasion force was ready. Thousands of planes, ships, tanks, and landing crafts and more than 3 million troops awaited the order to attack. Eisenhower, the commander of this enormous force, planned to strike on the coast of Normandy, in northwestern France. The Germans knew that an attack was coming. But they did not know where it would be launched. To keep Hitler guessing, the Allies set up a huge dummy army with its own headquarters and equipment. This make believe army appeared to be preparing to attack the French seaport of Calais. Code-named Operation Overload, the invasion of Normandy was the largest land and sea attack in history. The day chosen for the invasion to begin—called D-Day—was June 6, 1944. At dawn on that day, British, American, French, and Canadian troops fought their way onto a 60-mile stretch of beach in Normandy. The Germans had dug in with machine guns, rocket launchers, and cannons. They protected themselves behind concrete walls three feet thick. Among the American forces alone, 3,000 soldiers died on the beach that day. Captain Joseph Dawson said, "The beach was a total chaos, with men's bodies everywhere, with wounded men crying both in the water and on the shingle [coarse gravel]." Despite heavy casualties, the Allies held the beachheads. A month later, more than 1 million additional troops had landed. On July 25, the Allies punched a hold in the German defenses near Saint-Lô, and General George Patton's Third Army raced through. Soon, the Germans were retreating. On August 25, the Allies marched triumphantly into Paris. By September, they had liberated France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and much of the Netherlands. They then set their sights on Germany.

William Wilberforce

William Wilberforce, a highly religious man, was a member of Parliament who led the fight for abolition— the end of the slave trade and slavery in the British Empire. Parliament passed a bill to end the slave trade in the British West Indies in 1807. After he retired from Parliament in 1825, Wilberforce continued his fight to free the slaves. Britain finally abolished slavery in its empire in 1833. British antislavery activists had mixed motives. Some were morally against slavery, such as the abolitionist William Wilberforce. Others viewed slave labor as an economic threat. Furthermore, a new class of industrialists developed who supported cheap labor rather than slave labor. They soon gained power in Parliament.

Edict of Nantes

a 1598 declaration in which the French king Henry IV promised that Protestants could live in peace in France and could set up houses of worship in some French cities

"Jewel in the Crown"

a British colony of India—so called because of its importance in the British Empire, both as a supplier of raw materials and as a market for British trade goods

Thirty Years' War

a European conflict over religion, over territory, and for power among ruling families, lasting from 1618 to 1648

Berlin Conference of 1884-1885

a meeting at which representatives of European nations agreed upon rules for the European colonization of Africa

imperialism

a policy in which a strong nation seems to dominate other countries politically, economically, or socially

militarism

a policy of glorifying military power and keeping a standing army always prepared for war

paternalism

a policy of treating subject people as if they were children, providing for their needs but not giving them rights

fascism

a political movement that promotes an extreme form of nationalism, a denial of individual rights, and a dictatorial one-party rule

Congress of Vienna

a series of meetings in 1814-1815, during which the European leaders sought to establish long-lasting peace and security after the defeat of Napoleon.

boyars

landowning nobles of Russia

process of enclosure

one of the fenced-in or hedged-in fields created by wealthy British landowners on land that was formerly worked by village farmers; the enclosure movement had two important results. First, landowners experimented with new agricultural methods. Second, large landowners forced small landowners to become tenant farmers or to give up farming and move to the cities.

pogroms

one of the organized campaigns of violence against Jewish communities in late-19th century Russia.

what did Enlightenment promote?

order and reason

conscription (WWI)

the compulsory enlistment of people in a national service, most often a military service.

laissez-faire policy

the idea that government should not interfere with or regulate industries and business

divine right

the idea that monarchs are God's representatives on each and are therefore answerable only to God

policy of appeasement

the making of concessions to an aggressor in order to avoid war

Reign of Terror

the period, from mid-1793 to mid-1794, when Maximilien Robespierre ruled France nearly as a dictator and thousands of political figures and ordinary citizens were executed

convoy system

the protection of merchant ships from U-boat-German submarine-attacks by having the ships travel in large groups escorted by warships

crop rotation

the system of growing a different crop in a field each year to preserve the fertility of the land