Chapter 21
The last veterans of World War I are dying.
Disappointment that it wasn’t the “war to end all wars”
But now the major European states have ended centuries of hostility
The “Great War” (World War I) of 1914–1918 launched a new phase of world history.
It was “a European civil war with a global reach”
Between 1914 and the end of WWII, Western Europe largely self-destructed
But Europe recovered surprisingly well between 1950 and 2000
But without its overseas empires
And without its position as the core of Western civilization
The First World War: European Civilization in Crisis, 1914–1918
By 1900, Europeans, or people of European ancestry, controlled most other peoples of the world.
An Accident Waiting to Happen
Modernization and Europe’s rise to global ascendancy had sharpened traditional rivalries between European states
Both Italy and Germany unified ca. 1870
Germany’s unification in the context of the Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871) had embittered French-German relations
Rise of a powerful new Germany was a disruptive new element
By around 1900, the balance of power in Europe was shaped by two rival alliances
Triple Alliance (Germany, Austria, Italy)
Triple Entente (Russia, France, Britain)
These alliances turned a minor incident into WWI
June 28, 1914: a Serbian nationalist assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austrian throne
Austria was determined to crush the nationalism movement
Serbia had Russia (and Russia’s allies) behind it
General war broke out by August 1914
Factors that contributed to the outbreak and character of the war:
Industrialized militarism
Military men had great prestige
All states had standing armies
All states but Britain relied on conscription
Arms race, especially in warships
All states had elaborate plans for what to do if war broke out
Large number of new weapons had been invented (tanks, submarines, airplanes, poison gas, machine guns, barbed wire)
Result: some 10 million people died in WWI, perhaps 20 million wounded
Europe’s colonial empires
Funneled colonial troops and laborers into the war effort
Battles in Africa and South Pacific
Japan (allied with Britain) took German possessions
Ottoman Empire (allied with Germany) suffered intense military operations and an Arab revolt
The United States joined the war in 1917 when German submarines harmed U.S. shipping
Legacies of the Great War
Most had expected WWI to be a quick war
Germany was finally defeated November 1918
Became a war of attrition (“trench warfare”)
Some battles lasted months (Verdun, the Somme) and generated massive casualties
Became “total war”—each country’s whole population was mobilized
Enormous expansion of government authority
Massive propaganda campaigns to arouse citizens
Women replaced men in factories
Labor unions accepted sacrifices
The war left widespread disillusionment among intellectuals in its wake
Led to questioning of Enlightenment values
Led to questioning of the superiority of the West and its science
Rearrangement of the map of Central Europe
Creation of independent Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia
Created new problems of ethnic minorities
Triggered the Russian Bolshevik revolution (1917)
The Treaty of Versailles (1919) made the conditions that caused WWII
Germany lost its colonial empire and 15 percent of its European territory
Germany was required to pay heavy reparations
Germany suffered restriction of its military forces
Germany had to accept sole responsibility for the outbreak of the war
Germans resented the treaty immensely
Dissolution of the Ottoman Empire
The Armenian genocide
Creation of new Arab states
British promises to both Arabs and Jews created a new problem in Palestine
In Asia and Africa, many gained military skills and political awareness
Britain promised to start the process of creating self-government in India in return for war help
Japan was strengthened by the war
Japan’s assumption of German privileges and territory in China inspired some Chinese to adopt Soviet-style communism
The United States appeared as a global power
U.S. manpower had been important in the defeat of Germany
The United States became Europe’s creditor
Many Europeans were fascinated by Woodrow Wilson’s ideas
Fourteen Points
League of Nations
But his vision largely failed, and the U.S. Senate refused to join the league
Capitalism Unraveling: The Great Depression
The war loosened the hold of many traditional values in Europe.
Enormous casualties promoted social mobility
Women increasingly won the right to vote
Flouting of sexual conventions
Rise of a new consumerism
The Great Depression represented the most influential postwar change.
Suggested that Europe’s economy was failing
Worries about industrial capitalism
It had generated individualist materialism
It had created enormous social inequalities
Its instability caused great anxiety
The Great Depression hit in 1929
Contracting stock prices wiped out paper fortunes
Many lost their life’s savings
World trade dropped 62 percent within a few years; businesses contracted
Unemployment soared; reached 30 percent in Germany and the United States by 1932
Causes of the Great Depression:
The American economy boomed in the 1920s
By the end of the decade, factories and farms produced more goods than could be sold
Europe was impoverished by WWI and didn’t purchase many American products
Europe was recovering and produced more of its own goods
Speculative stock market had driven stock prices up artificially high
With the stock market crash, the whole fragile economic network collapsed
Worldwide empires made the Great Depression a worldwide problem.
The Depression was a major challenge to governments.
Capitalist governments had thought that the economy would regulate itself
The Soviet Union’s economy had grown throughout the 1930s
In response, some states turned to “democratic socialism,” with greater regulation of the economy and more equal distribution of wealth
The New Deal (1933–1942) in the United States
Franklin Roosevelt’s administration launched a complex series of reforms
Influenced by the British economist John Maynard Keynes
Roosevelt’s public spending programs permanently changed the relationship between government, the private economy, and individual citizens
Efforts to “prime the pump” of the economy
Social Security, minimum wage, and welfare as an economic safety net for the poor
Creation of permanent agribusiness through farm subsidies
Vast array of new government agencies to supervise the economy
Didn’t work very well: the U.S. economy only improved with massive government spending because of WWII
Nazi Germany and Japan coped the best with the Depression
Democracy Denied: Comparing Italy, Germany, and Japan
Democratic political ideals came under attack in the wake of World War I.
The challenge of communism
In the 1920s and 1930s, authoritarian, nationalist, anti-Communist regimes were a more immediate problem to victors in WWI
Authoritarian states of Italy, Germany, and Japan allied with each other by 1936–1937
1940: formal military alliance (the Axis powers)
The Fascist Alternative in Europe
New political ideology known as fascism became important in much of Europe in period 1919–1945
Intensely nationalistic
Exalted action over reflection
Looked to charismatic leadership
Against individualism, liberalism, feminism, parliamentary democracy, and communism
Determined to overthrow existing regimes
Conservative/reactionary: celebrated traditional values
Fascism appealed to dissatisfied people in all social classes
Fascist movements grew thanks to the devastation of WWI
Appeared in many Western European lands
Became important in Austria, Hungary, Romania, Spain
Achieved major power in Italy and Germany
Fascism first developed in Italy
Social tensions exacerbated by economic crisis
Benito Mussolini (1883–1945) put together a private army,
The Black Shirts, to use violence as a political tool
Won power in 1922
Big business supported him because they feared communism and wanted social order
Mussolini’s movement took the ancient Roman fasces as symbol
Once in power, Mussolini built state power
Clamped down on opponents
Created a “corporate state” economically
Reached an accord with the papacy (1929)
Women as domestic baby-factories
Invasion of Ethiopia (1935) to avenge defeat of 1896
Hitler and the Nazis
German fascism was more important than that of Italy
Took shape as the Nazi Party under Adolf Hitler (1889–1945)
Many similarities to Italian fascism
Grew out of the collapse of the German imperial state after WWI
A new government, the Weimar Republic, negotiated peace
Traditional elites were disgraced
Creation of myth that Germany had not really lost the war but had been betrayed by civilians (socialists, Communists, and Jews)
1920s: vigilante groups (the Freikorps) assassinated hundreds of supporters of the Weimar government
Gradually won support from middle class and landowners
Widespread economic suffering: massive inflation in 1923, then the Great Depression
Everyone wanted decisive government action
The National Socialist (Nazi) Party won growing public support
The Nazis had only 2.6 percent of the vote in 1928; 37 percent in 1932
Hitler became chancellor of Germany in 1933
As chancellor, Hitler suppressed all other political parties, arrested opponents, censured the press, and assumed police power
Successfully brought Germany out of the Depression
By the late 1930s, had majority support
Invoked rural and traditional values
Used Jews as the ultimate scapegoat for the ills of society
Emphasis on a racial revolution
Jews were increasingly excluded from public life
Nuremberg Laws (1935) forbade racial mixing of Jews with other Germans and forced Jews to wear the Star of David as identifier
Kristallnacht (Nov. 9, 1938): massive destruction and looting of Jewish-owned shops
Japan was also a newcomer to “great power” status
Like Germany and Italy, moved to authoritarian government and territorial expansion
Important differences:
Japan played only a minimal role in WWI
At Versailles, Japan was an equal participant on the winning side
1920s: Japan was apparently moving toward democracy
Expansion of education
Creation of an urban consumer society
Greater individual freedoms, including for women
Lower-class movements worked for greater equality
Elite reaction
Peace Preservation Law (1925): prison or death for anyone who organized against the imperial government or private property
World War II was even more global than World War I.
Independent origins in Asia and Europe
Dissatisfied states in both continents wanted to rearrange international relations
Europe recovered in the second half of the twentieth century.
Rebuilt industrial economies and revived democratic systems
The United States assumed a dominant role within Western civilization and in the world at large
How Europe recovered:
industrial societies are very resilient
The major states of Western Europe integrated their recovering economies
An extension of European civilization existed: the United States
The United States was a reservoir of resources for the whole West
By 1945, the center of gravity of Western civ. was the United States
The United States was the only major country not physically touched by WWII
The United States took the initiative to rebuild Europe: the Marshall Plan
Magnificently successful
Required the European recipients to cooperate with each other
1951: creation of the European Coal and Steel Community
1957: creation of the European Economic Community (Common Market)
1994: transformation of EEC into the European Union
2002: twelve member states adopted a common currency
Political and military security against the Soviet threat
Creation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
Japan underwent a parallel recovery process.
U.S. occupation between 1945 and 1952
Remarkable economic growth for two decades after WWII
Assisted by U.S. economic aid
Apan depended on the United States for security, since it was forbidden to maintain military forces
Reflections: War and Remembrance: Learning from History
Santayana said: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
But most historians are cautious about drawing particular lessons from the past
History is complex enough to allow different people to learn different lessons
Historians are skeptical of the notion that “history repeats itself.”
The wars of the twentieth century led to unexpected consequences.
Chapter 22
The Berlin Wall was breached on November 9, 1989.
Built in 1961 to seal off East Berlin from West Berlin
Became a major symbol of communist tyranny
Communism had originally been greeted by many as a promise of liberation.
Communist regimes had transformed their societies
Provided a major political/ideological threat to the Western world
The cold war (1946–1991)
Scramble for influence in the third world between the United States and the USSR
Massive nuclear arms race and then it collapsed
Global Communism
Communism had its roots in nineteenth-century socialism, inspired by Karl Marx.
Most European socialists came to believe that they could achieve their goals through the democratic process
Those who defined themselves as “communists” in the twentieth century advocated revolution
“Communism” in Marxist theory is the final stage of historical development, with full development of social equality and collective living
At communism’s height in the 1970s, almost one-third of the world’s population was governed by communist regimes.
The most important communist societies by far were the USSR and China
Communism also came to Eastern Europe, North Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Cuba, Afghanistan
None of these countries had the industrial capitalism that Marx thought necessary for a socialist revolution
Communist parties took root in many other areas
The various expressions of communism shared common ground:
A common ideology, based on Marxism
An international revolutionary movement was more important than national loyalties
Inspiration of the 1917 Russian Revolution
USSR provided aid and advice to aspiring revolutionaries elsewhere through Comintern (Communist International)
During the cold war, the Warsaw Pact created a military alliance of Eastern European states and the USSR
Council on Mutual Economic Assistance tied Eastern European economies to the USSR’s
Treaty of Friendship between the USSR and China (1950)
But relations between communist countries were also marked by rivalry and hostility, sometimes war
Comparing Revolutions as a Path to Communism
Communist revolutions drew on the mystique of the French Revolution.
Got rid of landed aristocracies and the old ruling classes
Involved peasant upheavals in the countryside; educated leadership in the cities
French, Russian, and Chinese revolutions all looked to a modernizing future, eschewed any nostalgia for the past
But there were important differences:
Communist revolutions were made by highly organized parties guided by a Marxist ideology
The middle classes were among the victims of communist upheavals, whereas middle classes were chief beneficiaries of French Revolution
Russia: Revolution in a Single Year
Russia’s revolution (1917) was sudden, explosive
Tsar Nicholas II was forced to abdicate the throne in February 1917
Massive social upheaval
Deep-seated social revolution soon showed the inadequacy of the
Provisional Government
It would not/could not meet the demands of the revolutionary masses
Refused to withdraw from WWI
Left opening for the rise of more radical groups
Most effective opposition group was the Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Ulyanov (Lenin)
Bolsheviks seized power in a coup (October 1917)
Claimed to act on behalf of the “soviets”
Three-year civil war followed: Bolsheviks vs. a variety of enemies
By 1921, Bolsheviks (now calling their party “communist”) had won
During the civil war, the Bolsheviks:
Regimented the economy
Suppressed nationalist rebellions
Committed atrocities (as did their enemies)
Integrated many lower-class men into the Red Army and into local governments
Claimed to defend Russia from imperialists as well as from internal exploiters
Strengthened their tendency toward authoritarianism
For 25 years, the new USSR was the only communist country
Expansion into Eastern Europe thanks to Soviet occupation at the end of WWII
Stalin sought a buffer of “friendly” governments in Eastern
Europe; imposed communism from outside
There was also domestic support for communism
In Yugoslavia, development of a popular communist movement under Josef Broz (Tito)
China: A Prolonged Revolutionary Struggle
Communism won in China in 1949, after a long struggle
The Chinese imperial system had collapsed in 1911
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was not founded until 1921
Over the next 28 years, the CCP grew immensely and transformed its strategy under Mao Zedong
Had a formidable enemy in the Guomindang (Nationalist Party), which ruled China after 1928
Chiang Kai-shek led the Guomindang
The Guomindang promoted modern development, at least in cities
The countryside remained impoverished
The CCP was driven from the cities, developed a new strategy
Looked to the peasants for support, not city workers
Only gradually won respect and support of peasants
Given a boost by Japan’s invasion of China
Destroyed Guomindang control of much of the country
Meanwhile, the CCP grew enormously
CCP’s People’s Liberation Army waged vigorous war against Japanese invaders using guerrilla warfare tactics
The CCP instituted reforms in areas it controlled
The CCP addressed both foreign imperialism and peasant exploitation
Expressed Chinese nationalism and demand for social change
Gained a reputation for honesty, unlike the Guomindang
Building Socialism in Two Countries
Joseph Stalin built a socialist society in the USSR in the 1920s and 1930s; Mao Zedong did the same in China in the 1950s and 1960s.
First step: modernization and industrialization
Serious attack on class and gender inequalities
Both created political systems dominated by the Communist Party
High-ranking party members were expected to exemplify socialism
All other parties were forbidden
The state controlled almost the entire economy
China’s conversion to communism was a much easier process than that experienced by the USSR
The USSR had already paved the way
Chinese communists won the support of the rural masses
But China had more economic problems to resolve
Communist Feminism
Communist countries pioneered “women’s liberation”
Largely directed by the state
The USSR almost immediately declared full legal and political equality for women
Divorce, abortion, pregnancy leave, women’s work were all enabled or encouraged
1919: USSR’s Communist Party set up Zhenotdel (Women’s Department)
Pushed a feminist agenda
Male communist officials and ordinary people often opposed it
Stalin abolished it in 1930
Communist China also worked for women’s equality
Marriage Law of 1950 ordered free choice in marriage, easier divorce, the end of concubinage and child marriage, and equal property rights for women
The CCP tried to implement pro-female changes against strong opposition
Women became much more active in the workforce
Limitations on communist women’s liberation
Stalin declared the women’s question “solved” in 1930
No direct attack in either state on male domination within the family
Women retained burden of housework and child care as well as paid employment
Few women made it into top political leadership
Socialism in the Countryside
In both states, the communists took landed estates and redistributed the land to peasants
Russia: peasants took and redistributed the land themselves
China: land reform teams mobilized poor peasants to confront landlords and wealthier peasants
1 million–2 million landlords were killed in the process
Second stage of rural reform: effort to end private property in land by collectivizing agriculture
In China, collectivization was largely peaceful (1950s)
In the USSR, collectivization was imposed by violence (1928–1933)
Kulaks (rich peasants) were killed or deported
The result was a massive famine (around 5 million died)
China’s collectivization went further than the USSR’s
Creation of huge “people’s communes” during the Great Leap Forward (late 1950s)
The result was a massive famine (1959–1962) in which 20 million people or more died
Communism and Industrial Development
Both states regarded industrialization as fundamental
Need to end humiliating backwardness and poverty
Desire to create military strength to survive in a hostile world
China largely followed the model established by the USSR
State ownership of property
Centralized planning (five-year plans)
Priority given to heavy industry
Massive mobilization of resources
Intrusive party control of the whole process
Both countries experienced major economic growth
Vast improvement in literacy and education
Great increase in social mobility
Rapid urbanization
Development of a privileged bureaucratic and technological elite
The USSR leadership largely accepted the social outcomes of industrialization
Gradual move away from revolutionary values
China under Mao Zedong tried to combat the social effects of industrialization
The Great Leap Forward (1958–1960) promoted small-scale industrialization in rural areas
Tried to spread technological education widely
Hoped to bring full communism to the “people’s communes” without waiting for industrial development
Result: massive disruptions, accompanied by natural disasters, caused a massive famine
The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (mid-1960s)
Intended to combat capitalist tendencies
Effort to bring health care and education to the countryside
And to reinvigorate rural industrialization under local control
Comparing Paths to the End of Communism
The communist era ended rapidly and peacefully between the late 1970s and 1991.
China: Mao Zedong died in 1976
The CCP gradually abandoned Maoist socialism
Europe: popular movements overthrew communist governments in 1989
USSR suffered political disintegration on Christmas Day, 1991
Both cases show the economic failure of communism
Communist states couldn’t catch up economically
The Soviet economy was stagnant
Failures were known around the world
Economic failure limited military capacity
Both cases show the moral failure of communism
Stalin’s Terror and the gulag
Mao’s Cultural Revolution
Near-genocide in Cambodia
All happened in a global climate that embraced democracy and human rights
China: Abandoning Communism and Maintaining the Party
Deng Xiaoping came to power in 1976
Relaxed censorship
Released some 100,000 political prisoners
Dismantled collectivized farming system
China opened itself to the world economy
Result: stunning economic growth and new prosperity
Also generated massive corruption among officials, urban inequality, pollution, and inequality between coast and interior
The Chinese Communist Party has kept its political monopoly
Brutal crushing of democracy movement in late 1980s
Tiananmen Square massacre
China is now a “strange and troubled hybrid” that combines nationalism, consumerism, and new respect for ancient traditions
The Soviet Union: The Collapse of Communism and Country
Mikhail Gorbachev became general secretary in mid-1980s
Launched economic reform program (perestroika, or “restructuring”) in 1987
Was met with heavy resistance
Gorbachev responded with glasnost (“openness”) to greater cultural and intellectual freedoms
Effort to end the deep distrust between society and state
Glasnost revealed what a mess the USSR was (crime, prostitution, suicide, corruption, etc.)
The extent of Stalin’s atrocities was uncovered
New openness to religious expression
Ending of government censorship of culture
Democratization—free elections in 1989
Move to end the cold war by making unilateral military cuts, negotiating arms control with United States
But Gorbachev’s reforms led to collapse of the USSR
The planned economy was dismantled before a market-based system could develop
New freedoms led to more strident demands
Subordinate states demanded greater autonomy or independence
Gorbachev refused to use force to crush the protesters
Eastern European states broke free from USSR-sponsored communism
Conservatives attempted a coup (August 1991)
Coup collapsed within three days, due to popular resistance
Fifteen new and independent states emerged from the breakup of the USSR
By 2000, the communist world had shrunk considerably.
Communism had lost its dominance completely in the USSR and Eastern Europe
China had mostly abandoned communist economic policies
Vietnam and Laos remained officially communist but pursued Chinese-style reforms
Cuba: economic crisis in the 1990s, began to allow small businesses and private food markets
North Korea is the most unreformed and Stalinist communist state left
International tensions remain only in East Asia and the Caribbean
Reflections: To Judge or Not to Judge: The Ambiguous Legacy of Communism
Many think that scholars shouldn’t make moral judgments.
But we can’t help being affected by our own time and culture
it’s more valuable to acknowledge the limits of cultural conditioning than to pretend to a dream of objectivity
Judgments are a way of connecting with the past
Many continue to debate whether the Russian and Chinese revolutions were beneficial and whether the late twentieth-century reforms were good or bad.
Communism brought hope to millions
Communism killed and imprisoned millions
Is it possible to acknowledge such ambiguity?
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