Sixth lesson

Question 1

The Cold war (1945-1991)

Answer 1

Cold: there’s never been a real conflict between the involved countrie– follows the warm war= WW2

Question 2

Politics of containment and Marshall plan (recovery act)

Answer 2

= Truman doctrine
It consists in helping the european countries to restablish order and power by militar assistance against Communism
The Marshall Plan:
offered non-repayable funding to all european countries in order to reconstruct their economy restablish well-being and discontent thus avoinding a communist rebellion.
All communist european countries refused the funding because of the idea of sustaining capitalism.
Through the Marshall was born even the first collaboration between european countries= OEEC: organization for european economic co-operation

Question 3

Bretton Woods agreement

Answer 3

established system by which a fixed currency exchange is settled using gold as the universal standard– the agreement was attended by 44 nations that agreed on the creation of an International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, aimed at the reconstruction of the defeated countries through the funding of them. This brought the dominance of USD in western economy

Question 4

Conference of Potsdam

Answer 4

1945
Stalin and Truman meet and agree on the new borders of Czechslovakia, Poland, Germany and Hungary and send an ultimatum to Japan threatening of using the atomic bomb

Question 5

Origin of the UN

Answer 5

Pioneer of the UN was the League of Nations of 1919.
To the UN many more countries adhered and agreed on respecting some inalianable principles internationally in order to safeguard order and peace, to establish a cultural-political-economic cooperation and to ensure human rights.

Question 6

Japanese expansionism

Answer 6

1931: japanese invasion of Manchuria and making of the manchukuo protectorate
1933: japan leaves hte league of the nations
1936: signing of the anti-comintern pact between Germany and japan
1937: japan invades China
1940: axis rome-berlin-tokyo

Question 7

Communism in China

Answer 7

1926-28: civil war between nationalist party Kuomintang and the communist party by mao tse dong– victory of the nationalists
1934-7: long march of the red chinese army from the rural areas to the towns through the guerrilla tactics against the nationalists and a stand in 1937 against the japanese army. Crucial was the support of the rural population to red army

Question 8

The policy of appeasement

Answer 8

Great Britain and France were too relaxed toward italian, japanese and german expansionism because of fear of another world war and the possibility of communism’s expansion– so they let them conquer as long as they did not violate major principles

Question 9

Origin of the EU

Answer 9

1947: creation of the great agreement on tariffs and trade (GATT) for the liberalization of global trade in the hope of creating a new kind of european economics
1949: creation of the european council in Strasbourg to guarantee and safeguard international law
1950: creation of the eruopean payments (UEP) for the recovery of european trade
1951: treaty of Paris and creation of the european coal and steel community (CECA)– objective= equal distribution of essential raw material all over the countries that joined for the industrial recovery
1954: rejection of the european defence community (CED) by France which did not want Germany rearmed (necessity of unanimity)
1957: treaty of Rome establishing the creation of the european economic community (CEE), birth of the MEC (common european market) and of EURATOM
From 1973 up to 2004 many other european countries entered the CEE alongside the first six
1992: Maastricht treaty for the creation of the EU

Question 10

The golden age

Answer 10

1945-1973
significant period of improvement of the european and rational economythanks to the increase of productivity in the industrial and consumer sectors– tourism, transportation, industry, economic boom and high birth rates, employment
The golden age lasted until the oil crisis

Question 11

Baby boom generation

Answer 11

general demographic increase in the western countries: new families, bigger families

Question 12

Italy situation: the resistance

Answer 12

1943: allied landing in Sicily
Mussolini in removed from the office and king Victor Emmanuel III escapes to Brindisi and the Badoglio government is established in southern Italy
Italy gets out of the war with an armistice– it is recognised as “helping state” rather than an ally, so that it won’t have the word in peace negotiations
Mussolini is freed from jail by the Germans that occupy Italy and he creates the Salò Republic– civil war starts; in the north there’s partisan guerrilla: Brigate Matteotti (socialist); brigate Garibaldi (communist); justice and liberty (catholic)
Aprile 1945 Mussolini is killed

Question 13

Italy’s political reconstruction after WW2

Answer 13

june 1946: consitutional referendum– introduction of female suffrage. Republic wins the elections (54%)
1946 Alcide de Gasperi’s speech at the peace conference of Paris: importance of the italian resistance and antifa Italy, critic to the land given up to Jugoslavia, expressed wish of Italy entering the UN as equal for compensation for italian sacrifices
1947: start of the Marshall plan in Italy
1948: victory of Christian Democracy by Alcide de Gasperi in the elections (48%)– popular democratic front (31%)

Question 14

Republican consitution

Answer 14

Art.1 : Italy is a democratic republic founded on labour. Sovereignity belongs to the people and is exercised by the people in the forms and within the limits of the consitution
Art.2 : the republic recognises and guarantees the inviolable rights of the person, both as an individual and in the social groups where human personality is expressed. The republic expects that the fundamental duties of political, economic and social solidarity be fulfilled
Art.3 : all citizens have equal social dignity and are equal before the law. It is duty of the republic to remove social and economic obstacles which constrain freedom and equality thus permetting the full development of the human person and his full participation in the political, economic and social matters of the country
Art.4 : the republic recognizes the right of all citizens to work and promotes those conditions which render this right effective, according to personal potential and individual choice, to perform an activity or a function that contributes to the material or spiritual progress of society

Question 15

Centrism

Answer 15

1948-58
Political formula: atlanticist, anti-communist and centrist
Centrism: in these years governments were held by a coalition of CD and other mostly liberal parties in order to avoid communists entering the government
1948: attempted murder of the secretary of the Communist Party Togliatti
1950: workmen strike at the fonderie riunite organized by the CGIL union ends in an open fight against law enforcement
1953: approvation of electoral reform “Law scam”– a majority bonus of 65% of the stations in the Parliament are guaranteed to the winning parties with 50%+ 1 vote in the elections. Other smaller parties than CD could not stand a chance
1953: the pentaparty coalitions obtains 49,8% (Craxi and Andreotti)– the communist party 23%
1954: alcide de Gasperi dies

Question 16

Hungarian revolution (after WW2)

Answer 16

1956
Attempted countrywide revolution against the government of the hungarian people’s republic and the policies caused by the government’s subordination to the Soviet Union. The uprising lasted 12 days before being crushed by soviet troops. Thousands were killed and many fled the country.
Consequence: italian socialist party shifts politically away from the communist party– towards Christian bloc

Question 17

The italian-american mafia

Answer 17

1950-1: establishment of the anti-mafia commission led by the democratic senator Kefauvor to face the rackets of the organized crime in the US and its unlawful connections to justice, politics and law enforcement
It was believed to have its roots in the sicilian cosa nostra but later became independent
1957-63: establishment of the anti-mafia committee led by the democratic senator Mclellan and the Kennedy brothers about he organized crime infiltration in the trade unions

Question 18

MCcarthyism

Answer 18

1950-54
also known as second red scare = persecution of the left-wing individuals and alleged communists most of all those in the entertainment industry, trade unionists, prominent figures, left-wing politicians and labour union activists. The Rosenberg brothers (Julius and Ethel) had been arrested for stealing atomic bomb secrets for the soviets and were executed in 1953

Question 19

The Korean War

Answer 19

1950-53
By WW2 Korea was occupied by the Japanese and later freed with the end of the war. It had been divided along the 38th parallel. The north was pro-soviet union and had its back up– in 1950 the north invaded the south, supported by the US.
The KPA (korean people’s army) of the north served with the Chinese for the liberation from the japanese. The KPA was quick to enclose south korean troops in a small perimeter. Crucial intervention of the UN– sent troops and pushed north koreans back.
China entered the war at this point, pushed back UN’s troops and later pushed back again= stall
War ended in 1953 and boundaries did not change

Question 20

Communist China

Answer 20

Mao’s communist party achieves power– Koumintang representative Chang Kai-Shek refuges in Taiwan.
Mao= politician, marxist theoriest and revolutionary.
1955: Bandung conference– representatives of 29 governments of asian and african nations gathered in bandung to discuss peace and the role of third world throughout the Cold War, decolonization and economic development.
Question= censure soviet policies in eatern Europe and Central Asia along with western colonialism?
1958-61: great leap forward– China’s modernization from rural to industrial economy through the nationalization of the land. Rapid and forced trasnformation that brang to the great famine for which 55 million people died
1966-76: CULTURAL REVOLUTION and RED GUARDS– remove the counter-revolutionaries and the anti-maoist current of the chinese communist party. Tens of thousands of people were persectued and many died
Mao= main doer of China into a world power from semi-colomy. With him China achieved women’s rights, primary education. public healthcare, advanced literacy and improved life expectancy. China took later part into many conflcits of the third world regarding socialism: Vietnam war, Korean war, Cambodian war
1976= death of Mao
1978: new leader= deng xioaping– promoter of the chinese economic reform= liberalization of the economy under supervision of the CCP
1989= Tienanmen square massacre– demonstrating students against the party’s liberal policies were killed

Question 21

USSR under Nikita Krushcev

Answer 21

1953-64= successor of Stalin
He reconciliates USSR with Yugoslavia
1956– DESTALINIZATION: he addresses and condemns the great purges during Stalin’s government and the cult of his personality
1964: Khrushev enjoyed strong support for his managing of the suez crisis and the launch of Sputnik– later his notorierty started corroding due to flaws in his policies and his handling of the Cuban missile crisis

Question 22

Decolonisation

Answer 22

1946-54: war of indipendence in Indochina against France and making of north Vietnam, south Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia
1946: independence of the Philippines from the US
1947: independenceof India and end of the British viceroyality
1953: independence of Iran under filo-american dictatorship
1960-1: war of independence in Congo against Belgium and making of a socialist government led by Lumumba
1962: after years of guerrilla algerians vote for independence against France
1974: with the fall of Salazar all the remaining portuguese colonies obtain independence

Question 23

Definition of the three worlds

Answer 23

1. western bloc and its allies
2. soviet bloc and its allies
3. non-alligned countries (Yugoslavia, India, Pakistan, Egypt,…)

Question 24

Israeli-Palestinean conflict

Answer 24

1915: the UK promises the arabs independence from the turks and the creation of an arab state in exchange for engaging the Ottomans into guerrilla fights and weakening them– the same is promised to the rich Jews who in exchang start funding the British army
1918: creation of the British and French protectorates from the ashes of the Ottoman Empire
1944: creation of the arab league (Egypt, Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Jordan)
1945: increase of hostilities in Palestine due to major immigration of Jews– more than half a million moved there creating rural villages (Kibbutz) which occupied arab land. Economic depression in Palestine brings the arabs to sell land to the Jews
1947: the UN proposes a division of the land into two parts– the arabs refuse but the division is nonetheless enforced. Arab district comprehends cisjordan and Gaza strip
- First war 1948-9: Guorion (Jewish director) creates the jewish state of Isreal. The arab league attacks Isreal and later occupies temporarily the palestinian territories.
1950: law of return– gives Jewish people the right to relocate to Isreak and acquire the citizenship
- Second war: the Suez canal crisis 1956-7: Egypt becomes independent; firstly a monarchy is built and then a republic. Egypt= guide for the arabs against Israel
1956: nationalization of the Suez canal– Israel financed by France and Britain occupies the Sinai and the Gaza strip
1957: Eisenhower forces his allies to cease fire scared of USSR’s intervention and a nuclear war
1964: birth of the Organization for Palestine’s liberation (OPL) the refuses to recognize Israel
- Third war: the six days war (1973): Israel starts a preventive war against the arabs by conquering mount Sinai, Cisjordan and Golan Plateau and defeating the egyptians– the arabs lose
- Fourth war: Yom Kippuor (1973): following the oil block by the organization of the petroleum exporting countries the anti-Israel league reconquers Sinai– the conflict ceases after USSR and the US threatened to join the conflict

Question 25

The Cuban Revolution

Answer 25

1952: coup d’etat placing Batista to power, a filo-american dictator
1953: failed attack by Fidel Castro
1959: after six years of gueriilla, the movement led by Castro and Che Guevara conquers La-Havana and removes the dictator
1965: marxist-leninist reforms bring to the creation of the communist party of Cuba
1964-67: Che Guevara moves to Bolivia to remove the filo-american dictator through the national liberation army; all ends with his killing in 1967
1966-72: in Uruguay marxist-leninist guerrilla terrorist group Tupamaros (inspiration for the red brigades) fought against filo-american dictator

Question 26

Berlin Wall and Cuba Missile Crisis

Answer 26

1961: failed invasion of the US of Cuba
1961: building of the Berlin Wall overnight by the USSR
1962: soviet nuclear missiles are placed in Cuba in response to the previous set up of american nuclear missiles in Italy and Turkey
1962: removal of both missiles

Question 27

Presidency of Fitzgerald Kennedy

Answer 27

1960 won the presidential elections
1963: murder of the president of south Vietnam Ngo Dinh Diem
1963, november: assassination of Kennedy

Question 28

The Vietnam war

Answer 28

1954: the country was split in north and south– north wanted to reunite the whole of the country under Communism, south did not. The south received help from the US and won at an immense cost of 3.5 million human lives
Former French colonies, Japanese territories between 1940-5; after WW2 France attempted to reconquer the colonies but failed– Vietnam gains independence in 1954
Filo-american dictatorship in the south had little support because of being a dictatorship and due to anti-buddhism position. This led to the creation of vietnamese terrorist group= VIET CONG, who try to unify the country
US continues to support the south and enters war after a staged vietnamese attack to a US ship in the gulf of Tonkin

Question 29

Students’ movement

Answer 29

-1964: creation of the free speech movement at Berkley university against mandatory military service during escalation of the vietnamese war
- 1967: Berlin, protests against the arrival of Pahlavim filo-american dictator at the Freie-Universität
-1968: Paris, protests at Nanterre and Sorbonne against the university “Barony” and the exploitation of the working-class. For the first ime dual riot involving both the working-ckass and the students
- Piano Solo 1964: emergency plan for safeguarding national security, approved by Antonio Segni, worried that the entrance of the Socialist Party, led by Aldo Moro, into the government majority would generate a shift toward the USSR.

Question 30

Racism movements

Answer 30

• Nation of Islam: african-american religious and political movement fighting for the rights of the african-american ethnic group. NOI’s influence expanded to high-profile members such as black nationalist activists and Muhammed Ali
• Black Panther Party: 1966 african-american paramilitary organization politically close to NOI and of marxism-leninism position. Aim= carry patrols challenging the excessive force and misconduct of the Oakland police. It brought about some social programs regarding free breakfast for children, education and health clinics. They advocated for class struggle and claimed to represent the proletarian vanguard

Question 31

Stonewall Riot

Answer 31

1969, against the pay gap and discriminations in the unions, complaints about marriage and the familial institution as the place of male dominance.
Demands: economic aid to housewives, state intervention and sexual independence

Question 32

Students’ protests 1968

Answer 32

Common goals:
- radical transformation of society upon the basis of egualistarianism
- participation of all into decision-making
- oppoistion to capitalism and mass consumption society
- abolition of all forms of discrimination
- fight to militarism of great powers
- liberation of the folks under colonialism
Protests in Italy began in 1966 and ended in 1969– students occupied high schools and universities
Padua 1969: first terrorist attack into the rectorate of the university– unknown whether it was the neofascism or the anarchists