World History : Chapter 20

Italy and Germany joined their fragmented territories into two major new powers around 1870
A system of alliances intended to keep the peace, created obligations that drew the Great Powers of Europe into a general war by early August 1914
assassination of the archduke

War went on for more than 4 years before ending in German defeat in November 1918
became a "total war" requiring mobilization of each country's entire population
Treaty of Versailles concluded the WWl in 1919 but it eventually established conditions that contributed to the second world war only 20 years later
Germany lost its colonial empire & 15% of its European territory and was required to pay heavy reparations to the winners, creating great resentment
Brought an end to the Ottoman Empire
World War 1 brought the United States to center stage as a global power

Capitalism Unraveling: The Great Depression

World trade dropped by 62%
Political and economic changes stimulated in Latin America by the Great Depression

Fascists condemned individualism, liberalism, feminism, parliamentary democracy, and communism because it "weakened the nation"
During the great depression trade unions, peasant movements, and various communist and socialist parties threatened to establish social order with strikes and land seizures
Mussolini government suspended democracy and imprisoned, deported & executed opponents

European fascism took shape as the Nazi Party under the leadership of Adolf Hitler
Traditional elites attacked the democratic politicians who had the task of signing the Treaty of Versailles
1933 Hitler was legally installed as the chancellor of the German government
Hitler had the major support because his ideas brought Germany out of the Great Depression
Hitler restricted Jewish life, had people loot their shops and exclude them from most things
Nazi phenomenon represented a moral collapse in the West
"Scientific racism" linked the size of the skull to human behavior and personality

Began its industrialization and empire-building states in the 19th century
Did not really participate in WW1, their economy increased during this time
Education expanded, women worked in new professions
Shrinking world demand for silk impoverished rural dwellers who raised silkworms
Generals and admirals exercised great political authority and projects of conquest and empire building collided with the interest of established world powers

China had deteriorated further leading to a full scale attack on heartland China in 1937 resulting with WW2 in Asia
Japanese attack on the U.S. at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii on December 1941
The U.S. increasingly saw Japan as aggressive, oppressive and a threat to U.S. economics

Nazism was born out of WWl
WWl was accidental and unintentional but WWll was deliberate and planned
Hitler prepared the country for war but also pursued territorial expansion
Germany attacked Poland triggering WWll in Europe
Germans launched a destructive air war against Britain and in 1941 attacked the Soviet Union
U.S. joined the struggle against Germany in 1942
German defeat in May 1945

During the Rape of Nanjing 1937-1938 some 200k-300k Chinese were killed and mutilated
In the Soviet Union women constituted more than half of the industrial workforce by 1945
urban bombing, blockade, mass murder, starvation, and concentration camps in Nazi Germany
6 million Jews perished in a technologically sophisticated form of mass murder
Practices of manslaughter continued in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia, and the Sudan

1948-1970's Western European economies grew rapidly, improving living standards
European Coal and Steel Community is jointly manage the production of this critical item
American economic, political and military security commitment to Europe
Formed a political and military alliance known as the Northern Atlantic Theory Organization (NATO)

World History