What You Need to Know About Ancient Civilizations



What You Need to Know About Miscellaneous Subjects

1) Types of Social Sciences

a. Economics – study of use of resources and decisions about allocating goods

b. Archeology – study of civilizations by studying artifacts

c. Anthropology – study of civilizations by studying the people

d. Geography – determines how people live; people adapt to it

2) Types of economies

a. Traditional – peasant, subsistence agriculture, self-sufficient; doesn’t change from generation to generation

b. Manorial - Economic portion of feudalism where all aspects of life were centered on the lord’s manor including peasant villages, a church, farm land, a mill, and the lord's castle or manor house.

c. Market (Free Market) – an economy based on free trade and supply and demand

d. Command – production is based on a plan rather than supply and demand; a strong centralized government “commands” what to produce; often associated with communism

3) Important Geographical facts

a. Greece – mountainous, peninsula – led to isolated city-states, lots of sea trade

b. Japan – mountainous, island – led to isolated feudal manors; unified culture, mostly isolated from cultural diffusion – what little there was came from China, Korea – Buddhism, Confucianism, writing

c. Russia – search for “warm water” ports; huge expanses led to military defeat of invasions of Napoleon and Hitler

d. Indian Subcontinent – Himalayas and Hindu Kush separate it from rest of continent; seasonal monsoons

e. Africa – disease, insects made it hard to move inland; many different geographies made it hard to explore, traverse

f. South America – many different geographical regions made it hard to unite

g. Middle East: oil; river valleys and irrigation in Egypt, Mesopotamia

4) Miscellaneous historical facts

a. Irish Potato Famine (1840s) – led to migration, especially to the United States

b. AIDS – a continuing problem of disease; kills lots, especially in Africa

What You Need to Know About the Neolithic Age and Ancient Civilizations

1) Migration

a) From Africa all over the world

b) To the Americas over the Bering Strait land bridge – Ice Ages

c) Hunter-gatherers are considered nomads – people who move from place to place

2) Neolithic Revolution (8000 BCE):

a) People settle down

b) Domestication of animals (livestock) and agriculture (grains)

c) Traditional Economy” – basic farming and herding; self-sufficiency

d) Leads to civilization

3) River Valley Civilizations (4000 – 1000 BCE): Why Rivers?

a) Water supply for irrigation

b) Easier movement of trade goods

4) General Characteristics of Ancient Civilizations

a) Organized religion

b) Government and laws

c) Record keeping – writing

d) Specialization of labor and social classes

e) Technology – irrigation, wheel, bronze and iron, city-states

f) Iron first invented by Hittites in 1000 BCE

5) Egypt:

a) the Nile flooded in a regular and predictable way

b) natural geographic barriers (desert) protected it from invasion

c) Hieroglyphics – writing system

6. Mesopotamia

a. “Fertile Crescent” between Tigris and Euphrates Rivers – where Iraq is today

b. subject to regular invasion – no natural barriers

c. Hammurabi’s Code: a code of laws – “an eye for an eye” (harsh punishment)

7. China

a. the “Mandate of Heaven” explained that the Emperor was chosen by Heaven and fell when he no longer carried out the will of heaven

b. China was the most isolated of the four main river valley civilization

c. Huang He or Yellow River

8. Harrappa

a. Indus River Valley in Northern India

9. Phoenicians

a. Trading and merchant culture

b. invented the alphabet

What You Need to Know About Belief Systems

1) Animism = Belief in spirits in nature

2) Polytheism = Belief in many gods

3) Monotheism = Belief in just one god: Christianity, Islam, Judaism

4) All major religions are “ethical” – tell us how and why to behave well, and reward us for doing so

5) Hinduism – India

a) Polytheistic – many gods

b) Reincarnation – quality of your new life is based on deeds in this one (karma, dharma)

c) Caste – all people are assigned by ancestry to one of four social groups: Priests (Brahmins), warriors, merchants/craftsmen/herders, peasants; lack of social mobility

6) Buddhism – founded in India, practiced mostly in China, Japan

a) Founded by Siddhartha Gautama: the Buddha

b) Reincarnation until you have given up all desire

c) Enlightenment leads to Salvation – Nirvana

d) Reach Nirvana by following the Four Noble Truths and Eightfold Path

e) Spreads from India to China

7) Confucianism – China

a) Not a religion; no gods

b) Teaches respect for elders – “filial piety”

c) The 5 Relationships – father/son, husband/wife, older brother/younger brother, ruler/subject, older/younger

d) If everyone acts correctly, according to their role, society will prosper

8) Judaism – founded in Middle East

a) First Monotheistic religion

b) Belief in a messiah (savior) who would spread god’s word

c) Old Testament (Bible) – Ten Commandments

9) Christianity – founded in Middle East

a) Comes from Judaism – Jesus Christ was a Jew

b) Monotheistic

c) Christians believe Christ was the messiah and son of god

d) Salvation (afterlife) through belief in Christ

e) Holy Books are New Testament and Old Testament

10) Islam – founded in Middle East

a) Founder is Muhammad

b) Holy Book is Qu’ran

c) Recognizes Christ as a prophet, but not a god; tolerant toward Christians and Jews, who are “People of the (Holy) Book”

d) Salvation by following the Five Pillars of Islam:

i) Belief in god (Allah)

ii) Prayer

iii) Charity (Alms)

iv) Fasting during holy month of Ramadan

v) Pilgrimage to holy city of Mecca

What You Need to Know About Classical Civilizations – Greece, Rome, India, China

1) Different Forms of Government

a) Monarchy: ruled by a King or Emperor

b) Aristocracy: ruled by Nobles

c) Oligarchy: ruled by a small group of citizens

d) Republic: all citizens choose representatives to make decisions

e) Democracy: all citizens make all decisions

f) Theocracy: ruled by priests or religious authorities

2) Greece (500 – 300 BCE)

a) Significance of geography:

i) Separate city-states due to mountainous geography

ii) Access to sea, many harbors, encouraged sea trade and colonization around the Mediterranean

b) Athens:

i) Democracy, but not for women or slaves – only males born in Athens were citizens

ii) Led by Pericles during its “Golden Age” – a time of great art, culture and science

iii) Famous philosophers – Socrates, Plato, Aristotle

iv) Fights Peloponnesian War with Sparta

c) Sparta:

i) Oligarchy with many serfs (helots) who were not citizens

ii) Very militarist – all citizens received military training

d) Alexander the Great – unites Greece, conquers Persia and Egypt; Hellenistic Age – sharing of many cultures

3) Rome

a) Republic (approx 500 BCE – 0)

b) Empire (approx 0-500 CE)

i) First Emperor: Augustus

ii) “Pax Romana” – Roman peace – time of prosperity, peace, trade throughout Empire

iii) Road system

c) Body of laws: The Twelve Tables

i) Applied to all citizens

ii) Innocent until proven guilty; right to face accuser

iii) Compare with other ancient bodies of law: Hammurabi’s Code, 10 Commandments, Justinian’s Code

4) India

a) Maurya Empire (300-100 BCE)

i) Greatest Emperor was Ashoka – spread Buddhism

b) India -- Gupta Empire (300-500 CE)

i) a “Golden Age” of culture and science

ii) invented “zero”

5) China (200 BCE – 200 CE)

a) Qin Dynasty unites China under ideas of Legalism

b) Han Dynasty

i) Confucian “Merit System” to choose government officials

ii) Invention of paper

6) Similarities Between Han China and Roman Empire

a) Both empires are a time of prosperity, trade networks

b) Both fall because of barbarian invasions

7) Interaction between cultures – cultural diffusion

a) Silk Road – gunpowder, paper, trade goods

b) Indian Ocean trade network connects China to India to Europe (after Vasco da Gama)

c) Chinese ideas diffuse to Korea, Japan, SE Asia

What You Need to Know About the Golden Age of Islam and Feudal Europe and Japan

1) Golden Age of Islam (600 – 1200)

a) Begun by Muhammad, founder of Islam

b) Expansion by conquest (esp. during Umayyad Dynasty, 650-800); then by conversion

c) Baghdad was capital of Abbasid Dynasty (800 – 1200) and great trading city

d) Ibn Battuta travels throughout Islamic lands – from Africa to Spain to China

e) Great advances in mathematics, medicine, astronomy

f) What’s a “Golden Age?” Time of great culture, science, learning

2) Feudalism in Europe (500 – 1300)

a) Central authority breaks down – kings lack power

b) A time of chaos and disorder – constant warfare, raids by Vikings

c) Gradual re-creation of stability and order:

i) Europe adopts Christianity as religion: Church provides education

ii) Feudalism – local lords with large land estates take power and provide protection; land (fiefs) given to lesser lords or knights in return for military service

iii) Manorialism – an economic system in which the lord’s manor is self-sufficient – makes nearly everything it needs

iv) Many peasants become “serfs” – they are tied by law to lord’s land

v) Lack of social mobility

3) The Crusades (1100 –1250)

a) Unites Christian Europe in a quest to take Jerusalem (the Holy Land) from the Muslims

b) In the end, Muslims win back Jerusalem

c) Exposes backward Europe to advanced Islamic culture

4) Feudalism in Japan – similarities to Europe (800 – 1600)

a) Japanese Emperor, European Kings both lack power

b) Japanese Daimyos = European Lords

c) Japanese Samurai = European Knights

d) Samurai’s Bushido = Knight’s Chivalry – both are codes of honor

e) Feudalism develops because Japan is mountainous – hard to create central authority

What You Need to Know About the Byzantine Empire, Russia, the Mongols, and African and American Kingdoms

1) The Byzantine Empire (400 – 1453)

a) Created from the Eastern half of the Roman Empire

b) Preserved Greek and Roman culture

c) Constantinople was capital and great trading city between Europe, Asia

d) Justinian’s Code: Rome’s Twelve Tables re-written as a complete body of laws – often paired with Hammurabi’s Code, 10 Commandments, Twelve Tables

e) Eastern Orthodox Christianity splits with Roman Catholicism; two different branches of Christianity

f) Conquered by Ottomans

2) Byzantines influence Russia (1000 –

a) Byzantines convert Russians to Eastern Orthodox Christianity

b) Byzantines encourage Russian “Czarism” – like all-powerful Byzantine emperors

3) Mongols conquer almost all of Asia (1200 – 1400)

a) Genghis Kahn, then Kublai Khan, are main rulers

b) Effects of conquests:

i) Peace and unity throughout Asia allows spread of ideas, trade, disease on Silk Road: Pax Mongolica

ii) Marco Polo, Italian merchant, travels to Kublai Khan in China

iii) “Golden Horde” rules Russia, limits contact with Europe

iv) Bubonic Plague, Black Plague, Black Death, spreads from Asia to Europe along trade routes

c) Ming Dynasty replaces Mongols in China; Romanov Dynasty in Russia

4) African Empires

a) Geography – lack of navigable rivers, poor soil – makes much of Africa hard to develop

b) Bantu expansion – from West Africa to the east and south – cultural diffusion of advanced farming and iron-working techniques

c) West African empires – Ghana, Mali, Songhay

i) Connection with the Islamic world by trans-Sahara (desert) trade routes – kings convert to Islam

ii) Gold-for-salt trade

iii) Mali – greatest ruler was Mansa Musa – pilgrimage to Mecca

iv) Songhay – greatest ruler was Askia Muhammad

v) Timbuktu was great trading and intellectual center

vi) Evidence of advanced civilization, high levels of technology and culture, before contact with Europeans

5) American Empires were completely isolated from the rest of the world

a) Mayans – Central America (Guatemala, Belize)

i) Many city-states

ii) Organized religion, government, development of writing

b) Aztec Empire – Mesoamerica (Mexico)

c) Inca Empire – west coast of South America in Andes mountains (Peru)

i) Overcome geographical problems (mountains) by “terrace-farming”

ii) Build road network through mountains

d) Evidence of advanced civilizations and technology before contact with Europeans

What You Need to Know About the Commercial Revolution, the Age of Exploration and the Renaissance

1) Commercial Revolution

a) Europe trades within itself and the Islamic world

b) Development of banking, letters of credit and joint stock companies, merchant capitalism

c) Hanseatic League – group of Northern European traders

d) Italian City-states – especially Venice

e) Led to rise of Kings, nation-states, merchant class and decline of feudal nobles

2) Age of Exploration

a) Zheng He (Chinese) – explores Indian Ocean and Africa

b) Vasco DaGama (Portugal) circles around Africa to Asia - 1498

i) Looking for access to Indian Ocean spices, goods w/o dependence on Ottomans

ii) Opens sea route from Europe to Asia

c) Columbus (1492), etc. (Spanish) explore Americas, then conquer it

i) Aztecs conquered by Cortes

ii) Incas conquered by Pizarro

iii) Why? Better military technology – guns, cannon, horses; disease

iv) Effects of disease – 90% of all Native Americans die after first contact with Europeans

v) Conversion of Native Americans to Christianity

d) “Columbian Exchange”

i) To Europe, Asia, Africa – corn, potatoes, tobacco, beans

ii) To America – disease, horses, cows, sheep, sugar, wheat, Christianity

e) Triangle Trade – slaves, sugar and tobacco, manufactured goods

f) Latin America and Caribbean

i) Portuguese in Brazil; French in Haiti; Spanish elsewhere

ii) Encomienda system – forced Native peoples to work for Spanish

iii) Caste in Latin America: peninsulares, creoles, mestizos, mullatos, Indians, African slaves

g) Mercantilism: theory that a nation should try to export more than it imports, get raw materials from colonies and force colonies to buy the goods of the mother country

3) Renaissance (“Rebirth”) in Europe (1300 – 1600) / Humanism

a) A Golden Age of Art, Learning and Science

b) Starts in wealthy Italian city-states, spreads throughout Europe

c) Tried to pattern themselves after the Greeks and Romans (Classical Age)

d) Humanism – idea that men (sorry) should try to reach their full potential on earth, not just seek salvation.

e) “Renaissance Man” – knows about everything – art, science, literature, math (DaVinci)

f) Important artists: Leonardo DaVinci, Michelangelo, Donatello, Raphael – remember the Ninja Turtles!

i) Art in a naturalistic manner; sometimes religious, sometimes not religious

ii) Supported by wealthy merchant-traders (patrons)

g) Nicolo Machievelli – political writer

i) Said leaders should do whatever was necessary to gain power for the state – “the ends justify the means”

h) Gutenberg invents the printing press – increases production of books, diffusion of knowledge, literacy

i) People began to question and debate politics and religion – leads to Reformation

What You Need to Know About the Protestant Reformation, Absolutism and the Scientific Revolution

1) Scientific Revolution

a) Reason, testing, experimentation replace the Bible as the way to find things out

b) Copernicus, Galileo prove the Earth revolves around the Sun

c) Isaac Newton shows how the Universe works according to regular laws

2) Protestant Reformation and Catholic Counter-Reformation

a) Martin Luther protests indulgences – buying your way into heaven through gifts to Catholic Church

b) 95 Theses – Luther’s list of things wrong with the Catholic Church, especially about how they are corrupt

c) Protestant Reformation – a different, more personal way to practice Christianity; don’t need the Pope or priests

d) Results:

i) Catholic Counter-Reformation – Church fights back – cleans up act, ends indulgences (Council of Trent), creates missionary movement (Jesuits – Ignatius Loyola, founder)

ii) France, Italy, Spain stay Catholic

iii) England, Holland become Protestant

iv) Kings. Princes gain power; organized religion loses power

v) Germany splits half and half – fights the 30 Year War over right to religious freedom

3) Age of Absolutism – kings and emperors eliminate rivals, gain “absolute” (total) power within nations

a) “Divine Right” monarchs – claim God gave them the right to rule

b) Thomas Hobbes: said life without government was “nasty brutish and short;” government was best when an absolutist ruled – no disputes about who was in charge

c) Examples and important information

i) Louis XIV of France; builds the Versailles Palace to show power

ii) Philip II of Spain

iii) Peter the Great of Russia – creates huge army to win a “warm water” port; tries to adopt “Western” (European) culture

iv) Henry VIII of England – changes all English peoples’ religion from Catholic to Protestant

v) Suleiman the Magnificent of Ottoman Empire

vi) Akbar of India adopts western military technology to expand his empire

vii) Tokugawa Japan bars Europeans, Christianity

What You Need to Know About the Enlightenment, and the English, American, French Revolutions

1) Enlightenment Ideas

a) Belief in human reason and the goodness and perfectibility of man (not woman)

b) Opposed to Absolutism and the king’s absolute power

c) “Consent of the governed” – people have a right to choose their leaders

d) John Locke: all men have the “natural right” to “life, liberty and property”

i) Compare Locke to Hobbes: Locke says people have the right to overthrow unjust governments; Hobbes says no right to rebel

e) Baron de Montesquieu: separation of powers within government; checks and balances

f) Other Enlightenment philosophes (thinkers): Voltaire, Rousseau, Diderot

2) England’s “Glorious Revolution” (1689)

a) Development of the “Rights of Englishmen”

i) Magna Carta – King agrees that his power is not absolute

b) Glorious Revolution – Parliament (English Congress) issues the “English Bill of Rights”

c) Creation of a Constitutional Monarchy – all real power in hands of elected Parliament, limits power of king

3) The Thirteen Colonies’ War of Independence (1775-83)

a) Influenced by Enlightenment ideas

b) Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence:

i) “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”

ii) “all men have inalienable (natural) rights”

c) First elected representative government since the Roman Republic

d) Constitution establishes separation of powers and a Bill of Rights restricting the government’s power

4) The French Revolution (1789-1815)

a) Influenced by the American Revolution

b) Bad economy, famine in France lead King to call a meeting of “Estates-General” – French Congress

c) Third Estate declares itself the National Assembly and issues “Declaration of the Rights of Man”

d) Execution of the King by guillotine

e) “Reign of Terror” – Robespierre leads killing of opponents of the revolution

f) Rise of Napoleon Bonaparte to lead France; crowns himself Emperor; encourages French nationalism, invades other European nations

g) French Revolution ends after Napoleon is defeated invading Russia due to harsh winter, long supply lines

h) Effects: end of feudalism, spread of democratic and revolutionary ideas

5) Congress of Vienna (1815)

a) Kings of Europe meet to re-establish order in Europe after Napoleon’s defeat

b) New boundary lines drawn; attempt to create a permanent “balance of power”

6) Haitian Revolution (1800)

a) Influenced by French Revolution

b) Leader: Toussaint L’Ouverture

7) Latin American Revolutions (1800-1830)

a) Influenced by American and French Revolutions

b) Revolutionary leaders: Simon Bolivar and Jose San Martin

c) Independence and nationalist movements against the Spanish are successful

d) Latin America does not unite due to cultural and geographic differences over a large area

What You Need to Know About the Industrial Revolution and Imperialism

1) Industrial Revolution – starts in Great Britain (England)

a) Starts in England around 1800 – geography – supplies of coal and iron (natural resources)

b) Agricultural Revolution – higher productivity frees up people to come to cities (urbanization) and work in…

c) Factories with machinery run by steam power

d) Invention of railroad allows high speed trade, development of new markets for products

e) Working people include women (for the first time) and child labor

f) Urbanization

i) People gather in cities to work in factories

ii) Horrible slums, pollution, terrible living conditions

iii) Breaks down traditional societies and ways of life

g) Reform movements:

i) Workers organize labor (trade) unions to protect their rights

ii) Workers demand right to vote

iii) Women who are working demand equality

iv) Abolition of slave trade and, eventually, slavery

h) Theory of Laissez-faire – the ideology of capitalism:

i) government should not interfere in the workings of capitalism and the free-market economy

ii) business should be allowed to set wages and working conditions without regulation

iii) the opposite of mercantilism

i) Karl Marx and Socialism / Communism

i) “Workers of the World, Unite!” – from The Communist Manifesto

ii) Opposed the capitalists’ (bourgeoisie) mistreatment of workers

iii) Marx wanted to eliminate private property and capitalism and replace it with government (state) ownership of property

iv) Organized for a revolution of workers (proletariat) in Europe to redistribute wages and income equally – “to each according to his need”

2) Age of Imperialism (1850 – 1914)

a) European nations gained political and economic control of foreign lands, especially in Africa and Asia

b) Cause: Industrial Revolution

i) Factory owners want new markets for their products

ii) Factory owners need access to raw materials

iii) Industrialization gives Europeans an advantage in military technology

c) Social-Darwinism

i) the (racist) idea that the Europeans were superior and therefore deserved to rule over others and to teach them European civilization.

ii) Poet Rudyard Kipling called this “The White Man’s Burden”

d) “The Scramble for Africa” Europeans divide up control of Africa at the Berlin Conference (1884)

e) Britain controls India – “the jewel in the (British) crown”

i) build railroads, industrialize India

ii) Indians fight back but fail – Sepoy Mutiny

f) Imperialists in China

i) Opium War – Britain demands right to sell drugs (opium) in China

ii) Extraterritoriality – Europeans in China don’t have to obey Chinese laws

iii) Chinese fight back, but fail – Boxer Rebellion

g) Imperialism in Japan – American Commodore Perry forces Japan to allow trade with US and Europeans

h) American Imperialism: Cuba, Philippines, Caribbean, Latin America – building of the Panama Canal

What You Need to Know and Nationalism, WWI, and the Treaty of Versailles

1) Nationalism – A nation is all the people who think of themselves as a nation and believe themselves united by common culture, religion, history, ethnicity, territory and language

a) Some features of successful nationalist movements:

i) We” versus “Them” – easy to identify the “other”

ii) Common culture, easily drawn boundaries

iii) Unites people of different social classes

b) What kind of nationalism is it?

i) Does it build larger units or tear apart multi-national units?

ii) Does it claim racial or cultural superiority over others?

iii) Does it give national minorities equal rights or exclude them?

c) European nationalism:

i) German states unite into Germany – Chancellor Otto Bismark – “the great questions will be settled by blood and iron”

ii) Italian states unite into Italy – Camillo Cavour and Giuseppe Garibaldi

iii) Austria-Hungary Empire breaks up after World War I due to separate nationalities, especially in the Balkans

d) Nationalism in colonies is used to unite people to fight imperialism

i) Turkish nationalism under Kemal Ataturk: modernization and adoption of western culture and democracy

ii) Chinese nationalism under Sun Yat-Sen: tries to re-unite nation

iii) Indian nationalism under Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi: Salt March to protest British rule, win independence

e) Latin American nationalism – Simon Bolivar, Jose de San Martin

f) Zionism – Jewish nationalism to have national homeland – Theodore Herzl

g) Japanese Nationalism – the Meiji Restoration

i) Japanese people unite against European imperialism, but adopt western culture and science

ii) Speedy industrialization

iii) Japan becomes an imperialist power too – wars with Russia, China, Korea – to gain raw materials for expansion

2) WWI and the Treaty of Versailles (1914-18)

a) Britain, France, Russia vs. Germany, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire

b) Russia drops out (Russian Revolution), US joins Britain and France (1917)

c) Causes:

i) Nationalism – defense of motherland

ii) Imperialist conflicts around world increase tension

iii) Military alliances suck other nations into smaller wars

iv) Assassination of heir to Austrian throne actually starts war

d) Results:

i) Large scale death and destruction – first major war fought with modern technology

ii) Britain, France, US win

iii) Russian Revolution

iv) Women replace men in factories – many never return to the home – demand right to vote (suffrage)

e) President Woodrow Wilson’s “Fourteen Points” – says all people have the right to national self-determination (to choose their form of government)

f) Treaty of Versailles; Paris Peace Conference

i) Establishes League of Nations (similar to the United Nations)

ii) Austria-Hungary broken up into separate nations

iii) Ottoman Empire broken up; Turkey modernizes and westernizes (Mustafa Kemel Ataturk)

iv) Germany accepts full responsibility for start of war (war guilt)

v) Germany loses territory in Europe and all its colonies; League of Nations “Mandate” system established over these colonies

vi) Size of German army, navy is limited

vii) Germany forced to pay reparations – billions of dollars to France and Britain

What You Need to Know About “Between the Wars” and WWII

1) Characteristics of totalitarianism – government control over the political, economic and cultural life of a nation, often through the use of secret police

2) Russian / Bolshevik Revolution; Soviet Union

a) Bolsheviks are Communists – follow ideas of Karl Marx; leader of Bolsheviks is Vladimir Lenin

b) Causes of 1917 Bolshevik Revolution: defeats in WWI, starvation in cities – Bolsheviks promise “Peace, Bread and Land” to win supports of soldiers, workers, peasants

c) First Communist nation – abolition of private property

d) Results of Revolution:

i) New Economic Policy (NEP) allows some capitalism; kulaks

ii) Lenin dies and Joseph Stalin becomes new leader – ends the NEP

iii) Creation of a “Command Economy” – decisions about what to produce and prices are made by the government (planning, not free markets)

iv) Land is given to peasants (1917), but later taken away and made into large government-owned state farms (collective farms) – famine and terror during collectivization

v) Five Year Plans build up economy, especially heavy industry (steel, electricity)

vi) Totalitarianism – increasing government control over politics and culture: one political party, censorship of the press, secret police

3) The Great Depression

a) Unemployment rises to about 30% of the population and businesses fail in most of Europe, United States

b) Economic disaster causes many people to look for a non-democratic solution to their problems

4) Fascism in Germany and Italy

a) Fascism is a form of totalitarianism

b) Causes of Hitler’s and Nazi Party’s rise to power

i) Anger of Germany people over effects of Versailles Treaty on Germany

ii) Bad economic times due to Depression

iii) Hitler promises to return Germany to greatness

c) Results of Nazi rule

i) Totalitarianism – one party rule, secret police, control of press, concentration (forced labor) camps, Hitler Youth

ii) Genocide against German Jews and other “inferior” ethnic groups begins

iii) Militarism and aggression, leading to WWII

d) Fascism in Italy – Benito Mussolini

5) Militarism in Japan

a) Economic problems due to Great Depression

b) Military government replaces democratic one

c) Increased militarism to gain access to natural resources – war in Manchuria (1931) and China (1937)

6) WWII (1939-45)

a) Causes:

i) Militarism, expansion by Germany, Japan

ii) Failure of League of Nations to stop aggression

iii) Appeasement – the hope that by giving an aggressor what it wants, it will prevent war; at the Munich Conference, Britain and France allow Hitler to take part of Czechoslovakia

b) Allies – Britain, France, Soviet Union (1941), US (1941) vs. Axis – Germany, Italy, Japan

c) War in Europe

i) Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact (1939) keeps Soviet Union neutral at start of war

ii) Hitler attacks Poland (1939), France (1940), Soviet Union (1941)

iii) Tide turns at Battle of Stalingrad, in Soviet Union (1942-43) – harsh weather, long supply lines cause Nazi invasion to fail (compare Hitler to Napoleon)

iv) D-Day – invasion of France by US, Britain (1944)

d) War in Pacific

i) US President Roosevelt blockades Japan, prevents shipments of oil and rubber

ii) Japan attacks Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (1941) and seizes most of Southeast Asia, gains access to resources (1942)

iii) Tide turns at Battle of Midway (1942)

iv) Atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (1945)

e) Effects

i) United States and Soviet Union emerge as world’s greatest military powers

ii) Germany under joint US-Soviet occupation, Japan occupied by US

7) Holocaust and Genocide

a) Armenian Genocide (1915) by Turks – one million die

b) Rape of Nanking (1937) by Japanese during invasion of China –3/4 million die

c) Holocaust – Concentration Camps made into Death Camps – death by gassing

i) Systematic killing of all European Jews – six million

ii) Forced labor camps, death by starvation for Poles, Russians, Gypsies

iii) Nuremburg Trials (1945-48) – tries and sentences Nazi war criminals, rejects defense of “only following orders”

d. United Nations International Convention on Human Rights (1948) – establishes general principle that nations will stop violations of human rights

What You Need to Know About the Cold War, Decolonization and Independence Movements

1) Causes of the Cold War

a) Mistrust between US and Soviet Union (USSR)

b) Soviet Union wanted control of Eastern Europe to protect itself from invasion

c) US wanted free market economies throughout Europe

d) Winston Churchill gives “Iron Curtain” speech

e) Chinese Communist Revolution – Mao Zedong

2) Cold War Conflicts

a) Truman Doctrine – US promises to support anti-communist governments – policy of “containment” – containing communism, not allowing it to spread

b) Marshall Plan – economic aid for nations of Europe – Soviet Union excluded

c) Satellite nations in Eastern Europe – Soviet Union prevents democratic elections in Poland, Czechoslovakia, military occupations of Hungary (1956), Czechoslovakia (1968)

d) Soviet Union blockades Berlin (1949, 1961)

e) Creation of military alliances – NATO (US) and Warsaw Pact (USSR)

f) Cuba: Bay of Pigs, Cuban Missile Crisis

g) Arms race, space race, nuclear arms build-up

3) Effects of the Cold War

a) Proxy Wars – Korea (US), Vietnam (US), Nicaragua (US), Afghanistan (USSR)

b) World split into two “blocs” led by US and USSR

c) Non-alignment – India and other nations try to stay neutral

4) Détente – easing of Cold War tensions

a) President Nixon goes to China – meets with Mao Zedong

b) SALT I & II (Streategic Arms Limitation Talks) – US and Soviets agree to limit nuclear weaponry

5) Decolonization – Independence through Nationalism

a) European imperialists weakened by WWI and WWII

b) Key nationalists - communists

i) Ho Chi Minh – Vietnam – fights French, Americans

ii) Fidel Castro - Cuba

iii) Mao Zedong – China

1) Great Leap Forward – huge communes, results in millions of deaths

2) Cultural Revolution – violent struggle for political power; Mao uses “Red Guard”

c) Key nationalists – non-communists

i) Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi – India

1) ideas of civil disobedience, non-violence

2) Salt March

ii) Kwame Nkrumah – Ghana – idea of self-determination

iii) Jomo Kenyatta - Kenya

d) Problems of decolonization

i) British India splits in two at independence (Pakistan) due to religious differences

ii) Boundaries in Africa causes ethnic conflict

iii) Religious and ethnic conflicts in Israel / Palestine (Arabs/Muslims vs. Jews) – hard to resolve

iv) Ethnic and religious conflicts in Yugoslavia results in break-up of nation (Serbs vs. Croats vs. Slovenes vs. Bosnians; Roman Catholics vs. Eastern Orthodox Catholics vs. Muslims)

6) South Africa – Nelson Mandela successfully leads the fight against apartheid – unequal treatment of majority black population by Afrikaner white population

7) Islamic Fundamentalism

a) Iran – Ayotollah Khomeini

b) Afghanistan - Taliban

8) Communism in the 1980s - 2006

a) Lech Walesa – leads Polish anti-communist movement (Solidarity)

b) Policies of Mikhael Gorbachev – Soviet Union – lead to collapse of communism

i) Perestroika – market economy replaces “command” economy

ii) glasnost (political freedom)

1) End of Communist Party control

2) Fall of Berlin Wall

3) Eastern European nations elect (anti-communist) democratic governments

4) Soviet Union breaks up into many ethnically-based nations

c) Policies of Deng Xiaoping – China

i) “Four modernizations” – encourages market economy

ii) Continues Communist Party control

iii) Tiananmen Square Protests – students unsuccessfully demand political freedom

Useful Comparisons

1. Law codes: Hammurabi, Ten Commandments, Twelve Tables (Roman), Justinian’s Code (Byzantine)

2. Religious Codes: Five Pillars (Islam), Ten Commandments (Judaism), Four Noble Truths, Eightfold Path (Buddhism)

3. Monotheistic Religions: Judaism, Christianity, Islam

4. “Golden Ages” – cultural and technological achievements: Periclean Athens, Gupta India, Islamic Caliphates, Renaissance Europe

5. Feudal Japan and Europe: samurai/knights; bushido/chivalry; daimyo/lords

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