The Rise of the Modern World Events, Themes and Concepts

Question 1

What was the 1918 Allied Theory for the origins of the First World War?

Answer 1

Germany’s militarism and expansionism were almost entirely responsible for the war

e.g. the Moroccan Crisis’s of 1905 and 1911, the ‘blank cheque’ of July 1914, naval race with Britain from 1898 to 1912

Question 2

What thesis also held the view that German was responsible?

Answer 2

The Fischer Thesis first put forward by in his Germany’s Aims in the First World War in 1961

It argued that Germany pursued an expansionist foreign policy

Argues that Germany had decided on War before the July Crisis at the War Council of 1912

Question 3

What was the Marxist theory for the origins of the First World War?

Answer 3

First put forward by Lenin in his Imperialism: the Highest Stage of Capitalism pamphlet in 1917 portrayed the war as imperialist, caused by rivalries triggered by highly organised financial monopolies, that by frenzied competition for markets and raw materials, had inevitably brought about the war

Question 4

What is the Standard school of thought for the origins of the First World War

Answer 4

That the war arose out of the actual triggers for the event, such as the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in June 1914 and Germany declaring war on Russia in August 1914, and that other factors made it increasingly likely, but not inevitable, that a major European conflict would break out, such as the Alliance system and the arms race

Question 5

What does Andreas Hillgruber argue about the origins of the First World War?

Answer 5

He argued that the war was a calculated risk for Germany in an attempt to break the Triple Entente, hoping that Russia’s allies would see that the invasion of Serbia only concerned Russia and that the other powers would withdraw, allowing Germany to come to an agreement with Russia. Military hawks pressured Bethmann-Hollweg to enact the Schlieffen Plan when Russia mobilised, that inadvertedly led to the First World War

Question 6

What was the First Moroccan Crisis?

Answer 6

1905. Wilhelm II declared his support for Moroccan independence in an attempt to stem French hopes of colonising it and demanded an international conference to decide the issue that went in France’s favour

Question 7

What was the Second Moroccan Crisis?

Answer 7

1911. After a local uprising against the French in Morocco, the German’s sent the gunboat the Panther to Agadir to protect its economic interests but was really sent as a threat to the French. Almost led to war but an international conference was used to resolve the issue which again went in France’s favour though Germany did gain parts of the French Congo

Question 8

What was the Blank Cheque?

Answer 8

The telegram effectively offered Austria-Hungary a ‘blank cheque’ in terms of German support for whatever action Austria-Hungary chose to take in punishing Serbia for the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand

Question 9

What was the Naval race between Britain and Germany

Answer 9

Driven by a desire to make the German Empire a viable world power and an integral industrial nation, the Navy Bills of 1898 and 1900 laid out the course for a massive naval expansion under anti-British auspices. The completed navy was to have a real fighting chance in a defensive war against the Royal Navy in the North Sea, with a projected German-British force ratio in capital ships of 2:3. Designed as a military deterrent against an empire that allegedly held the key to Germany’s future, this fleet would serve as a geopolitical lever to coerce Britain into accepting the German bid for equality as a global empire

Question 10

What was the War Council?

Answer 10

1912. an informal conference of some of the highest military leaders of the German Empire. They discussed and debated the tense military and diplomatic situation in Europe at the time.

Question 11

What were some of the structural forces of modernization that contributed to the First World War?

Answer 11

The rise of the nation state

The emergence of Germany as a hybrid of dynastic/imperialist/militarist state with liberal democracy

The rise of the centralized, all encompassing state which deploys its human and material resources to its own ends

A militaristic concept of ‘Great Power’ and national greatness leading to arms races and wars over territory

Given the prevalence of such forces, the only basis for peace was an ‘Alliance System’ based on the principle of the ‘balance of power’ so that no one nation/empire would dare attack any other

Question 12

What are some of the consequences of these structural forces of modernization?

Answer 12

It meant that international relations were based on mutual suspicion, racial stereotypes, cynicism and Realpolitik

If the system ever broke down, all participants were committed to declaring war on all other members of the other alliance

The smallest incident could precipitate a lethal chain reaction: no possibility of negotiation or popular protest in militarized and patriotic climate

Question 13

What are some of the ideological forces of modernization that led to the First World War?

Answer 13

The rise of ethnic nationalism and racial thinking

The rise of ultranationalism and populist patriotism

Militarism and the cult of war

Imperialism as an ideology of military and territorial greatness

Ideas such as those of Filippo Marinetti “War is the only hygiene of history”

Question 14

What are some of the technological forces of modernization that led to the First World War?

Answer 14

The science based technological revolution

Accelerating industrial revolution and techniques of mass production

The communications revolution

The revolution in military technology

These led to the age of industrial warfare/Maschinenschlacht

Question 15

How could social psychology explain the First World War?

Answer 15

The rise of secularization, science, materialism, and Darwinism led to a existential crisis drove many into acute irrationality. A prevalent fear of dissolution, decadence and degeneration begun to be felt by many in Europe. Ideas, such as Nationalism, greatness, glory etc. begun to be seen as the way out of this perceived degeneration, leading to these forces in a way taking the place that Christianity held previously

Question 16

What were some of the consequences of the First World War?

Answer 16

Collapse of Tsarist Russia and formation of the Soviet Union

Collapse of Austria-Hungary and emergence of new nation states such as Austria, Hungary, and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes

The collapse of the Ottoman Empire and creation of Turkey

The collapse of the Hohenzollern dynasty and the creation of the doomed Weimar Republic

Deep instability in all liberal democracies, some being replaced by authoritarian or fascist regimes

The end of dynastic ideas of divine monarchy/feudal politics

Intense social and political instability in some liberal democracies encouraging rise of extreme socialist or nationalist forces

Question 17

What are the three ways to explain the Holocaust?

Answer 17

As being due to Germany’s Sonderweg, as a regression to Barbarism, and as a product of modernity

Question 18

What did Hannah Arendt argue?

Answer 18

She argued that European Imperialism was the “Laboratory of Modernity”

Modern forces gave rise to overseas empires in 19th century

These empires became a testing ground where these modern forces were applied in new ways

Produced new ideas and practices that returned to Europe, and gave rise to genocidal totalitarianism, i.e. ideas of racial superiority

Question 19

How do the “old” and the “new” Imperialism differ?

Answer 19

Old Imperialism was the period from 1500-1800 while New Imperialism was from 1880s-1914

Old Imperialism was focused mainly in America and India while New Imperialism expanded into inland Africa and Southeast Asia

the Old Imperial powers were Britain, France and Spain while the New Imperial powers were Italy, Germany, and Belgium

Question 20

How could you link Modernity and the Holocaust?

Answer 20

Certain ideological and technological forces of the modern age helped to create the “New” Imperialism

These modern forces also shaped how these overseas empires were ruled by Europeans

This interaction between modernity and empire created genocidal tendencies, which then returned to Europe in the 20th century

Question 21

How could Scientific Racism have its roots in the Enlightenment?

Answer 21

The Enlightenment sort to master nature which required knowledge and understanding of nature which in turn required the classification of nature

an example of which is in Carl Linnaeus’s Systema Naturae where he divides humans into Americans, Europeans, Asians, and Africans, and applied stereotypical racist characteristics to them i.e Europeans are very serious and intelligent while Africans are sly and regulated by their will

Question 22

What are the three key assumptions of Scientific racists in the 1850s?

Answer 22

That Humankind could be divided into races, and race was key to understanding human differences

Racial divisions could seen via physical markers: skin colour, facial features, size/shape of skull

Each race had distinct social, cultural, and moral traits

Question 23

Who is an example of this Scientific racism and what was his book and when was it written?

Answer 23

Arthur de Gobineau

An Essay on the Inequality of Human Races (1853)

Question 24

How can Scientific Racism be linked to Imperialism?

Answer 24

Europeans saw themselves as both superior to the rest of the world (Social Darwinism - the Europeans ruled because they were the strongest)

Europeans thought they were civilising the natives

Question 25

What three technological developments enabled New Imperialism?

Answer 25

Steamboats - they allowed Europeans to explore inland Africa as they hadn’t done before

Medicine - helped European’s cope with the tropic diseases endemic in sub-tropical Africa

Weapons - such as the … which allowed them to butcher “less civilised” peoples

Question 26

What other new technology helped cause New Imperialism?

Answer 26

Ideas of Bureaucracy, such as those espoused by Max Weber and Frederick Taylor, helped improve the management of modern society by rationally organizing it

Census’s allowed a closer eye to be kept on people

Question 27

What was the Hamitic Hypothesis and who came up with it?

Answer 27

it was generally supposed that any progress and development among agricultural blacks was the result of Hamites, a biblical caucasian group

John Hanning Speke

Question 28

What is an example of the Hamitic Hypothesis in practice?

Answer 28

In Colonial Rwanda where the population were divided into the Tutsi and Hutu, the former were seen as superior due to their white features and increased social role whereas the Hutu were seen as inferior due to their more stereotypically black features and lower social status

Cumulated in the Rwandan genocide

Question 29

What examples are there of the ideologies and technologies of the Modern Era creating genocidal tendencies in the overseas colonies during the “New” Imperialism?

Answer 29

The Congo Free State

Matabele Wars

Herero

Question 30

What was the Congo Free State?

Answer 30

The personal colony of King Leopold II of Belgium

Slaves were ruthlessly exploited to produce rubber, ivory and minerals

The deaths caused were “of genocidal proportions” according to Adam Hochschild; estimates range from between 5,000,000 - 10,000,000

Question 31

What were the Matabele Wars?

Answer 31

Rebellion by Mashona and Ndebele peoples against stealing of land and cattle by British South Africa Company

Mashona and Ndebele rose up in arms, thousands were killed by the British in response

One of the leaders of the British response wrote to his wife that ‘I hope the natives will be pretty well exterminated … our plan of campaign will probably be to … wipe them out”

Question 32

What was the Herero massacre?

Answer 32

In January 1904, the Herero people rose up against German rule and were defeated at the Battle of Waterberg in August

General von Trotha, leader of the German forces said that he would “annihilate the rebelling tribes with rivers of blood”

Those that weren’t killed were forced into exile in the desert or put into concentration camps

the death toll is believed to be between 65,000 and 100,000

Question 33

How did the Nazi’s use these ideas?

Answer 33

They used scientific racism to control the purity of the German race and purge those that were inferior, such as the Jews. The best example of this are the Nuremberg Laws 1935 that banned marriage between Germans and those of Jewish descent

They used IBM’s punched card technology to record and catalogue those being killed in the concentration camps

Question 34

In what ways were the genocides of “new” Imperialism different from those of the Nazi’s?

Answer 34

Colonial massacres did not have the organisation, resources, or support of a totalitarian state

Colonial massacres were not underpinned by eugenics

There was neither sufficient desire nor means to carry out eugenic interventions in imperial colonies

Imperial racism and violence were about demonstrating European’s political right to rule and superiority to colonial subjects

Eugenic genocide was more about fears of national degeneration at home, and an ultra-nationalist desire for renewal expressed through ideas of racial hygiene and blood purity

Question 35

What is the significance of Francis Galton?

Answer 35

Coined the term eugenics

intervention needed to improve human race; fears of racial/national decline

Positive and negative eugenics

Question 36

What did Pascal Grosse argue?

Answer 36

That the modern ideologies and technologies of imperialism were a necessary condition for the Holocaust but they were not sufficient, i.e. this is why it did not occur in the USA or Britain and why it did in German as its defeat in the First World War set it on a unique path

Question 37

What had occurred between 1870 and 1914 in relation to France and Germany?

Answer 37

Both of their militaries had doubled in size

Question 38

Which historian said that “the people of Europe jumped willingly into war”

Answer 38

A J P Taylor