This section posits that the beginning of World War I (1914) was the introduction to a new age of human civilization. There are many arguments by historians regarding the brevity of the period, and it’s recency to modern times affecting our view of events. Considering the monumental events and social upheaval which transpired, I find it a hard topic to argue when compared to previous years; World War I, World War II, Communism, the development of nuclear technology, and the end of traditional empires all occurred during this era. During this period of war and strife, the global population boomed as the spread of American crops (corn and potato), and scientific improvements in medicine and sanitization all increased the average life expectancy. In additional to life expectancy, the international trade infrastructure now reflected a more modern form of silk road where technology furthered trade.
Ch 20 (Collapse at the Center)
The “Great War”, referring to World War I, was in essence a European civil war which was spurned by the Scientific and Industrial revolutions. This modernization of society galvanized nations such as Germany and Italy, while old European powers (England, France, and Russia) maintained uneasy control.
The beginnings of WWI and the division of European powers, were sparked by the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of the Austro-Hungarian Empire by Serbian Nationalists. This event split Europe into two camps and started the outbreak of war; The Triple Alliance (Germany, Italy, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire), and The Triple Entente (Russia, France, and Britain). While the assassination was the catalyst for war, it was the industrialized militarism (large technologically advanced standing armies), and Slavic nationalism (which Austro-Hungarian’s opposed) which had begun the bubblings of conflict.
Battles occurred all over the world, due to the colonial reach of the European powers. While Europe was the primary battleground, French, English, and Japanese forces fought in Africa, China, and South-East Asia to take German colonies. Other nations were brought into the fray as either ally or enemy, with the Ottoman Empire siding with Germany, and America siding with France and England.
Trench warfare created huge casualties and prolonged what was expected to be a brief war, as each side fought for and ceded inches and yards.
During this period, governments expanded their reach either thru social propaganda or through mobilization of entire populaces to fight or manufacture for the war effort. The aftermath of this war brought equally significant social and cultural changes; new programs were established to support returning veterans, women were driven back into their homes and families, and the loss of life allowed for social mobility. Additionally, the cost of war had led to the collapse of the German, Russian, and Austro-Hungarian empires, creating independent Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, and a plethora of smaller nations, and a new communist Russian government.
The official end to the war occurred in 1919 with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles. This treaty led to:
- Germany to lose its colonial empire, was required to pay heavy reparations, and it’s military forces were restricted.
- The Armenian genocide by the Ottoman empire.
- End of the Ottoman empire, and the establishment of independent Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Jordan, and Palestine states.
- Revolt in Chile as reduced exports to support the war led to mass unemployment and starvation.
- United State became a global superpower.
Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal (1933-1942) was the US government's attempt to address the continuing Depression. The Deal was based on the principle that by creating social spending programs (roads, dams, etc.) that it would reduce unemployment and moderate the recession. The social aspects of such programs also created the beginnings of the Social Security system, minimum wage, and welfare programs aimed at assisting the poor, unemployed and elderly, as well as subsidizing farmers.
In contrast to communism, Fascism also took hold in the aftermath of The Great War. Fascism was focused on increased nationalism, purification, and mobilization of its citizens headed by a charismatic leader The fascist movement had a lasting impact in Austria, Hungary, Romania, and more significantly in Italy (Mussolini) and Germany (Hitler). Under this new form of government, Mussolini created a unified cultural identity through state run infrastructure, and established the Catholic church the religion of Italy as it established a new “Roman Empire”. The Nazi party, under Adolf Hitler's guidance, reflected the Italian form of nationalism and used violence as a political tool to enforce its ideals. On a platform of racial superiority, hatred of Jews, and a opposition to communism, the National Socialist party took hold after the onset of the Great Depression, and quickly solidified its power through outlawing of conflicting government parties.
At the same time as Communism and Fascism were taking hold, Japanese Authoritarianism was established and attempted to reduced democracy at home. While Japan was on the winning side of The Great War and initially began establishing many democratic programs at home (male suffrage, two-system party, etc.), the Great Depression created a chaos similar to that of the Russian revolution. Social unrest and a general sense that democratic officials were unable to address the situation, led to tighter and tighter control of local affairs. While no charismatic leader appeared, as in Italy and Germany, a Nationalist movement did take hold focused around a cultural uniformity and fealty to the Emperor.
Word War II began in Asia, with Japan’s capture of Manchuria as a result of reduced influence caused by Chinese Nationalism, eventually became an all out conflict with China in 1937. Japan’s dependency on American goods, isolated location, and increasing US hostility towards their expansion led to attacks on French, British, Dutch, and American colonies in the south pacific islands to end its dependency on foreign powers. As America perceived Japan as aggressive, oppressive, and a threat to US interests, an oil embargo was imposed which led to the attack on Pearl Harbor, and ultimately America entering the fray of World War II on the allied side.
On the European side of World War II, Nazi Germany played on the perceived injustices of the Versailles treaty to galvanize its citizens and begin re-militarization. Expansion began slowly as Hitler’s forces entered the Rhineland, and began annexing Austria, parts of Czechoslovakia, and its ultimate attack on Poland triggered WWII and a European coalition response by England and France. France was quickly defeated, and Britain was under continued aerial attack, while Germany began an attack on the Soviet Union. German forces, focused on blitzkrieg (lightning war) tactics to rapid push throughout Europe, North Africa, and the western Soviet Union. While Germany was wildly successful, America's contribution of people and resources helped to bring an end to the war by 1945.
World War II was the most costly war in human history, with an estimated 60 million lives lost (combatant and civilian). The Soviet Union represented 40% of the total losses, as Hitler perceived the conflict as an ideological one in which soldiers were granted a pardon for breaking international law. This new “total war” style warfare allowed nations to forgo morality in order to win, and America was not immune. The nuclear bombs dropped on Japan showed the extent to which America had become invested in the conflict, as a single bomb wiped out tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians alike. Likewise it was this approach towards warfare, and perceived inferiority of other races that led to the Holocaust in which German’s enthusiastically attempted the extermination of Jews and other undesirables to create a racially pure society.
In many countries, as in the United States and Soviet Union, women took on more prominent roles in industrial production to fund the war effort.
With the war concluded, the European nations were weekend, with Western Europe being protected by the United States, and Eastern Europe under Soviet control. The virtues of communism began to seep into China, and eventually helped to ceed control from the Japanese through unification.
Ch 21 (Rise & Fall of World Communism)
Modern Communism was inspired by the ideas brought forth by Karl Marx during the Industrial Revolution. Communism reflected what Karl Marx described as the final stage in which from revolution social equality would spring. Following the events of WWII and the forming of the Soviet Union, Communism spread to China, North Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Cuba, and eventually in Afghanistan. Though communism did spring up globally, the type of socialist utopia envisioned by Marx did not; as none of these budding nations experience the advanced industrial capitalism he saw as a prerequisite to social upheaval. One would argue that without industrialized capitalism, those societies lacked the infrastructure and experiences necessary to bring them into the socialized golden age they envisioned Communism to be.
During the end of World War I, social upheaval was underway as working class men and women protested food shortages and for peace. During this time communists came into power, ending the three century reign of the aristocracy in Russia. The provisional government was unable to establish order with the war still ongoing, and political infighting preventing real change. The more radicalized Bolsheviks, headed by Lenin, promoted Marx style social reforms which resonated with people in the larger cities. During an evening coup, Lenin’s party seized power, sparking a civil war between the “communist” Bolsheviks and their supporters, and officials, landlords, regional nationalist forces, and some western powers (Britain, United States, France, Japan). Against all odds, the communist party held it’s own, and with a peace treaty signed between itself and Germany, were able to remove itself from the global conflict to focus on its current civil war. Through an authoritative approach, they created a strange hold on resources and people, helping to end the war within three years; the aftermath being the formation of the USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics or Soviet Union).
Stalin, the leader of the USSR through World War II, saw the need to prevent western invasions. Using the occupied territories from WWII (Poland, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria), Stalin created puppet communist governments loyal to him as a barrier between the West.
With the collapse of the Chinese imperial system, chinese working class formed the small Chinese Communist Party (CCP), without the guidance of Karl Marx’s teachings. Led by Mao Zedong, the CCP was forced out of the urban centers by the Nationalist Party headed by Guomindang. The Nationalist Party proposed modernization of the nation through public works initiatives, in part due to the support of Western powers, and remaining elites and landlords within China. As China lacked the industrialization or middle-class necessary to start a Marxist revolt, Mao recruited from Chinese peasants and began a form of guerrilla warfare to take back lands. With the promise of reforms towards women's rights, women’s associations flocked to join the CCP ranks, but were quickly adjusted to placate traditional males within the armies. With Japan’s invasion of China, and the subsequent breaking of the Nationalist Party, the CCP numbers swelled as they focused their attacks on the Japanese invaders. The CCP now actively addressing foreign imperialism and peasant exploitation, created a platform to take control over the Nationalist Party once WWII ended.
Socialism in Russia (Stalin) and China (Mao) had the daunting task of building a modern society with socialist views at it’s core. The governments led with absolute authority, but were expected to be representatives of socialist reforms. With totalitarian control, no conflicting parties were allowed, and all ways of life influenced by thought must be along the socialist lines.
Feminism experienced a surge of support from the Lenin run USSR, as equality was government mandated, and programs such as Zhenotdel were created to educate and train women to be equal citizens. This lasted 10 short years and was abolished during the Stalin form of USSR due to pressures from male citizens. Likewise, China instituted a similar, but far less authoritative system to the Zhenotdel which gave women some control over marriage and divorce, and control over property.
In the countryside, both forms of socialism had sought to restructure the land into an equitable system. In the USSR, the peasants had done this spontaneously and was supported the new government. In China, groups were created by the CCP to directly address the inequities with the landowners, usually through peaceful means.
Industrialization was a single fundamental need identified by the USSR and the CCP. The precursor to this industrialization require massive mobilization of the population and land resources creating an economic boom. The outcome of this industrialization on both cultures were: a rapid urbanization, exploitation of the land to support industry needs, and the creation of privileged elites to oversee.
Mao Zedong became aware that this Soviet influenced industrialization was creating the inequalities that the CCP had fought against. To combat this, he initially responded with the Great Leap Forward, which promoted small-scale industrialization in rural areas over cities in order to spread the technological knowledge beyond city elite. Unfortunately this led to massive famine, which temporarily discredited the CCP. The next attempt made to steer society away from capitalist tendencies, was the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. This campaign attempted to bring health care and education to the countryside, and create a gender neutral government approach; although corruption and opposition allowed this little success.
The Cold War was very chilly *buh dum bum*. This military conflict consisted of largely voluntary American influenced group (NATO) and an imposed Soviet influenced group (Warsaw Pact). The divide stemmed from a western desire for open democratic societies influenced by a capitalist world economy. With a very Capitalist vs. Socialist standoff occurring, several wars between these groups tethered on creating an all out global war.
- North Korea invading South Korea led to Chinese and American involvement.
- A divided North and South Communist conflict in Vietnam led to American intervention.
- In Afghanistan soviet forces intervened to prevent an Islamic state from overthrowing the forming Marxist socialist government.
- Cuba earning the ire of the United States by nationalizing American assets steered them towards communism without Soviet intervention.
During the Cold War, the United States became the defender of Western capitalism against the encroaching communist movement. Thru support of other nations, participation in defense alliances and treaties, and secretive approach toward protection established the US as a “national security state”. With the only surviving industrial and military complex after World War II, American maintained a booming economy by which to combat the growing communist movement. In contrast, the Soviet Union created its own version of the military industrial complex, in which citizens were subjected to incessant government propaganda to garner support. Regardless, Eastern Europeans rejected Soviet communism in favor of more direct Marxist socialism. Furthermore, significant ideological difference caused a divide between the Soviet Union and China, with the Soviets removing all support from the Chinese government with hints at larger conflict.
The end of communism came with a pop rather than an explosion.
- The death of Mao Zedong led the CCP to abandon the Maoist form of communism while retaining governmental control of China.
- In Eastern Europe local movements toppled communist governments in succession.
- In Soviet Russia, reformist Gorbachev came to power in an attempt to save Soviet socialism; however the many infrastructure dysfunctions led to the end of the Soviet Union and the Cold War.
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