Lecture #3: World History, WWI, and Interwar Period Flashcards
Where did international relations start?
Today’s world political system date back to 15th Century
- end of Middle Ages into Renaissance
- modern states now dominant actors
- Treaty of Westphalia (1648)
- POST WWI start
What is the Treaty of Westphalia (1648)?
- ends the 30 Years War (1618-48)
- religious civil war in Europe
- begins nation-state system
- pattern of integration vs disintegration since
What are states? What are nations?
- nations: same ethnic, cultural background
- state: defined territory, population, and a government controlling the territory and conducting IR
What is Pax Romana?
- lit. “Roman peace”
- 27 BC ~ 180 AD (Augustus to Aurelius)
- marked by “peace” and economic prosperity
Why is the Roman Empire (27BC ~ 476 AD) important to IR?
- oligarchic republic with superior military, political, legal, and social institutions
- power by military and building roads and aqueducts
- land irrigation
- spread Latin
What was the post-Rome world order and how was it divided?
- macro-level: Catholic Church with Pope at center (even kings are subordinate)
- macro: multiethnic empires emerge nations but weak political identity (British, Austro-Hungarian, German, Russian, Chinese, etc.)
- micro: small political units (other actors like dukedoms, baronies, fiefdoms
- micro: vassals to larger empires but with autonomy; emergence of city-states like Florence and Venice
How are city-states the precursor to nation-states?
- cities declare independence from Church or Holy Roman Empire (choose own loyalty politically)
- conduct their own trade and commerce
- decline in feudalism
What is feudalism?
a system formed around land owners (lords) who gave people land and power in exchange for military protection and taxes
What is the significance of the Protestant Reformation?
- comes out of Renaissance (1350~1650) and cultural rebirth
- countering the authority of the Catholic Church
- Martin Luther rejected Catholic Church ad intermediary between people and God
- 1570 he protested anyone could have relationship with God > leads to nearly a quarter of Western Europe become Protestants
Who was Martin Luther?
- led the Protestant Reformation (1517)
- lived 1583-1546
- believed that the Bible is the central source of religious authority
- salvation through faith, not deeds
How did nation states emerge?
Growth of kingdoms + breakdown of central religious dominance > rise of modern nation states
- think Treaty of Westphalia 1648
- state sovereignty
- inhabitants identify politically and support it
What is the 30 Years’ War?
- longest and most destructive conflict in Central Europe
- Holy Roman Empire Catholic vs Protestant nationalist city states
What is the Peace of Augsburg (1555)?
- keystone of the Reformation
- allowed princes of states within the realm to adopt either Lutheranism/Calvinism or Catholicism
How did nation states rise?
- idea of popular sovereignty and self determination
- nationalism
What are the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815)
- French empire and its Allie’s vs Allies (UK, Austria, Prussia, Spain, etc
- Congress if Vienna (1815) for peace and balance of power in Europe
- model got League of Nations and UN
What is the Triple Entente?
- France, Great Britain, Russia (Soviet union)
- suspicious of Germany’s rising power
- also called “Allies”
What is the Triple Alliance?
- World War I
- Germany, Austro-Hungary, and Italy
- called “Central Powers” (bc they are in the center lol)
How did WWI begin?
- Austro-Hungary archduke Franz Ferdinand is assassinated by Serbian nationalist
- assassin wanted to end Austro-Hungarian rule of Bosnia and Herzegovina
- chain reaction: Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia (since they said no to concessions), Russia feels bound to support Serbia and sends soldiers, Germany sends soldiers on Austria-Hungary side, France backs Russia, Germany declares war on Russia and invade Belgium and France, Great Britain backs France
- arms race and competition for colonies
Why did the US join WWI?
- was isolationist and neutral except supply goods and raw materials
- US declared war on Germany in 1917 (2 years almost 3 after war started in 1914)
- Wilson favored Great Britain and didn’t like Germany
- 1915, Germany sank British ocean liner the Lusitania killed 128
- submarine warfare
What is the Zimmerman Telegram?
- British navy decoded a telegram sent by Germany offering Mexico its “lost land” from America in exchange for Mexico joining Germany’s side
What were some domestic effects of WWI?
- congress passed selective service act (draft) 1917
- now command economy: regulate industry, transportation, labor relations, agriculture
What is the Treaty of Versailles?
- ended WWI
- palace in Paris, France
- required Germany to disarm and they bore the brunt end of paying out all the reparations too
What was the legacy of Wilson’s 14 Points?
- emphasized self-determination
- that word brought about endless minority problems (ex: 3 million Germans in new nation Czechoslovakia, Hitler used this to justify taking over a country
Why did the US not join the League of Nations?
- isolationist policy
- no republicans went to Versailles
- ARTICLE 10 - power of league to make war without us congress vote
- senator henry Cabot Lodge (MA) wanted a written guarantee that US wouldn’t be sucked into wars on others’ behalf
- treaty not ratified and then senate disapproves
What are some takeaways from the Interwar Period?
- isolation and appeasement (toward angry Germany/Hilter’s Nazi Germany) don’t work
- German economy collapsed so Hitler and National Socialist Party appeals to nationalism and hatred toward Jews
What was FDR’s Foreign Policy?
- Neutrality Acts passed
- isolationist, unless it had a direct impact on your nation
- New Deal and The Great Depression
What is the Munich Conference?
- 1938
- Neville Chamberlain (British Prime Minister) thinks diplomacy > war so everyone follows German appeasement instead of stopping it
Who are the Axis powers?
- WWII
- Germany, Italy, Japan
