Unit 7: Global Conflict

Question 1

What caused wars between countries in Europe to escalate to world wars in the first place?

Answer 1

At the beginning of the 20th century, most of the world was either colonized by Europe, or was once colonized by Europe, so everyone around the world was connected to the instability on that small but powerful continent. This meant that when European powers were at war with each other, the colonies were dragged into the fight.

Question 2

Why did the war that began in 1914 have such a huge effect in the first place?

Answer 2

Such devastating war broke out because the Industrial Revolution granted countries much military refinement and nationalism was practically everywhere in Europe; there were major power-grab issues

Question 3

What was the Triple Alliance?

Answer 3

Was an alliance that Otto von Bismarck made between Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy in the 1880s because it was scared of France, their arch-enemy since the Franco-Prussian War

Question 4

What happened after William II ousted Bismarck from power in 1890?

Answer 4

He neglected Germany’s alliance with Russia, so France jumped at the opportunity to make an alliance with the nation; with France in the west and Russia at its east, Germany’s power was kept in check

Question 5

What was the 1905 Schlieffen Plan?

Answer 5

It was Germany’s plan to invade France through Belgium, a neutral country; this is implied to have started World War I

Question 6

What was the Triple Entente?

Answer 6

Between Britain, France, and Russia

Question 7

What countries became independent after Greece?

Answer 7

Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, and Montenegro began to win their independence as well.

Question 8

Bosnia and Herzegovina were still under the control of Austria-Hungary? How was this a problem?

Answer 8

But, Serbia wanted Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Russia was allied with Serbia

Question 9

What happened to Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary?

Answer 9

He was assassinated by Gavrilo Princip, a Serbian nationalist

Question 10

Describe what happened after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand.

Answer 10

Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. Russia, allied with Serbia and then declared war on Austria-Hungary. Because Russia and Austria-Hungary were on opposite sides of the Triple Entente–Triple Alliance divide, the pressure mounted on France, Italy, Germany, and Britain to join in. Britain was reluctant to honor its commitments at first, but when Germany implemented the Schlieffen Plan and stormed through Belgium toward France, Britain joined the fray in order to protect France.

Question 11

Italy managed to mantain neutral, but…

Answer 11

But, then the Ottoman Empire took its place and allied up with Germany and Austria-Hungary; this was called the Central Powers (advanced version of the Triple Alliance)

Question 12

How was Japan during WWI?

Answer 12

Japan fought with the Allies (the Triple Entente), and Italy joined in after betraying the Triple Alliance (Central Powers)

Question 13

Describe the situation with the United States during WWI.

Answer 13

The United States was neutral at first (as it always was in World Wars) until German submarine attacked a ship called the Lusitania, merchant ships on the way to Britain, and sent the Zimmermann telegram, in which Germany stated that it would form an alliance with Mexico if the U.S. joined

Question 14

Who was President Woodrow Wilson?

Answer 14

The U.S. President during WWI

Question 15

What happened on November 11, 1918?

Answer 15

Germany and the Central Powers finally gave up; it was up against a lot of major players

Question 16

What happened to industry when WWI occurred?

Answer 16

Most governments took over industrial production during the war;
They also used the supplies they made in their frontlines

Question 17

How did WWI influence women’s rights?

Answer 17

Women moved into the factories to fill empty positions;

This actually revved the women’s suffrage movement, so women got their vote after World War I in Britain and the U.S.

Question 18

What was the 1919 Treaty of Versailles?

Answer 18

Signed in 1919; brought an official end to World War I; caused Germany to downsize its military, lose territory, and pay war reparations; divided Austria-Hungary into different nation-states; this caused resentment among the Germans

Question 19

What was the League of Nations?

Answer 19

An idea proposed by President Wilson; he set out to create the League of Nations, but many nations did not join (especially the European major powers and even U.S. themselves, who were pretty isolationist at the time)

Question 20

What was Bloody Sunday?

Answer 20

Okay, so pretty much the czar (Nicholas II) was really unjust. This is an example of that. There were peaceful protestors outside his palace who hoped that he would enact Enlightened reforms, but he ordered his troops to fire on them; even tried going to war with Japan, and Japan won; the czat tried to make a representative body, but everythinf the Duma would criticize him, he would disband it

Question 21

Why is it important to know that the Russian Revolution occurred even before WWI had ended?

Answer 21

This means that the Russians entered the war with a large army, but they were less industrialized than other nations and suffered many losses, ultimately causing the czar to step down

Question 22

Who was Alexander Kerensky?

Answer 22

Under this guy, in place of a czar, a provisional government was established; however, the leaders of this government wanted to continue the war and become a liberal democracy, but the Russian working class really wanted the war to end

Question 23

Who was Vladimir Lenin?

Answer 23

The socialists took control of the government, and Lenin ended Russia’s involvement in WWI by signing a treaty with Germany that granted it Western Russian land

Question 24

Who were the Bolsheviks?

Answer 24

The name of the socialist party in Russia

Question 25

Why did counterrevolutionary revolts break out against the Bolsheviks?

Answer 25

They did not support the Russian Revolution

Question 26

What did the Bolsheviks do in response to these counterrevolutionary efforts?

Answer 26

Built the Red Army

Question 27

Who’s as Leon Trotsky?

Answer 27

The head of the Red Army

Question 28

What were the two lasting impacts of the counterrevolution?

Answer 28

The two lasting impacts were:
One: depeening the civil war between the Marxist state and its Western neighbors, who supported the counter-revolutionary efforts
Two: the Red Amry was made; it was a very powerful army

Question 29

How were the Ottomans during WWI?

Answer 29

Remember that they temporarily took over a region in Italy (?); the Ottoman Empire was undergoing a period of Turkification that the Armenian minority was eliminated; it came to a head when a man addressed as Ataturk led successful military campaigns against the Greeks, who were trying to take over the Ottomans, and overthrew the Ottoman sultan; he became the first president of Turkey

Question 30

What is the NEP (New Economic Policy)?

Answer 30

Some context: After Russia withdrew from WWI, it atarted to focus on its domestic problems; this policy was instituted by Lenin in the 1920s and allowed farmers to sell portions of thier grain for profit (a bit capitalist); it was successful, but Lenin did not live long enough to have the policy make its way to other industries

Question 31

Who was Joseph Stalin?

Answer 31

Successor of Vladimir Lenin

Question 32

What were the Five-Year Plans?

Answer 32

Stalin’a replacement of the NEP policy; it was expedient and totalitarian; it took farms and combined it wirh state-owned enterprises; made the state in full control of agricultural economy and profit; large factories were built in pursuit of this plan

Question 33

Though Stalin’s plans successfully industrialized the USSR (Union of Socialist Soviet Republics), what did he rely on to maintain his power?

Answer 33

He relied on terror tactics, which is very totalitarian;

He even established labor camps (perhaps gulags) to punish anyone who opposed him

Question 34

Why did the financial headquarters shift from London to New York, which had become the major center of credit to Europe during and after the war?

Answer 34

Americans lent Europeans lots of money in the war; WWI was, by unprecedented degrees, very expensive and the cost to rebuild was just as costly; capitalism financed most of this recovery

Question 35

Why did many Soviets pass under Stalin’s rule?

Answer 35

So many died as a result of famine during the collectivization process

Question 36

What were the two countries whose economies really relied on American credit?

Answer 36

France and Germany

Question 37

What was the financial situation with France and Germany after WWI?

Answer 37

Russia owed France a lot of money, but the revolutionist government didn’t want to accept the czar’s debt; Germany owed a lot of money to, especially to pay its general war reparations; so, Germany used American credit to pay its reparations, including to France; France accepted these payments based on American credit and used it to rebuilt itself

Question 38

Because of how many European economies relied on American credit, what was the effect of the U.S. stock market crashing on October 1929?

Answer 38

The Great Depression escalated to an international scene; Because American banks could not extend credit, but Germany relied on credit to pay its war reparations, including to France, and France had no money now too

Question 39

The United States and Germany were hit the hardest during the Great Depression. How did they combat it?

Answer 39

The U.S. combatted this by electing Franklin Roosevelt (they rejected the dominant party); Roosevelt and Congress then passed a series of laws with heavy public spending to create jobs, reforms, and safety nets for Americans; however, in the case of Germany and Italy, with elective assemblies that were novel, fascism arose

Question 40

What was the main idea of fascism?

Answer 40

The main idea of fascism was to destroy the will of the individual in favor of “the people.”

Question 41

What is the difference between fascism and communism?

Answer 41

Fascists wanted a unified society (as did the communists), but they weren’t concerned with eliminating private property or class distinctions (the principal aim of communists). Instead, fascists pushed for another identity, one rooted in extreme nationalism, which often relied on racial identity.

Question 42

What is the difference between fascism and communism (this time, with a totalitarian twist)?

Answer 42

Fascists are right-wing totalitarianists, while communists are left-wing totalitarianists

Question 43

Who was Benito Mussolini?

Answer 43

Founder and leader of Italy’s first fascist government; the fascists paid squads, called Blackshirts, to eliminate political rivals and won the loyalty of landowners and factory workers

Question 44

Mussolini demanded that King Victor Emmanuel III name him and several other fascists to cabinet posts. How could this issue have been solved?

Answer 44

This could have been easily resolved by combatting their paramilitary forces with martial law and bringing in the army, but the king was facing economically troubling times and named Mussolini prime minister

Question 45

What did Mussolini do?

Answer 45

Mussolini overtook Parliament in 1922 and transformed Italy into a totalitarian, fascist government

Question 46

What did Italy do to rally the people to a nationalistic cause?

Answer 46

To rally the people in a nationalistic cause, Italy started to focus on expansion, specifically in North Africa.

Question 47

Immediately following the end of World War I, the emperor abdicated. Workers’ and soldiers’ councils formed in cities like Berlin. But, did communism to socialism arise here?

Answer 47

Instead of a socialist or communist economy emerging, it was a democratic republic called the Weimar Republic (remember that a couple of middle-class Germans were still wealthy and conservative after the war)

Question 48

What led to the rise of the National Socialist Party (the Nazis)?

Answer 48

As Germany’s economy collapsed under the harsh reparations dictated by the Treaty of Versailles and the faltering world economy, German people increasingly rejected the solutions of the Weimar Republic

Question 49

Who was Adolf Hitler?

Answer 49

Had pretty similar ideas to Mussolini’s fascism; belived the Aryan race to be the most superior and that the Slavs and Jews were corrupted

Question 50

When did the Nazis party gain political power?

Answer 50

In the 1920s

Question 51

In 1933, Hitler became chancellor, or leader of the Reichstag. What was the Reichstag?

Answer 51

Remember that the Reichstag was the ruling body of the Weimar Republic

Question 52

What was the Third Reich?

Answer 52

German fascist rule

Question 53

Was nationalism viewed differently by Europeans and Japan and their colonies? Explain how.

Answer 53

In the colonies, nationalism meant self-determination,
National pride meant national sovereignty, not colonial or territorial expansion, which was not true for the Europeans and Japanese. In Europe and Japan, nationalism fueled extreme racism, fascism, and domination.

Question 54

Who was Francisco Franco?

Answer 54

In 1936, took large parts of Spain under control after the fall of the Spanish monarchy; democeatic loyalists foight against him in a civil war; Germany and Italy supported his efforts because they saw the fall of the Spanish monarchy as a good thing

Question 55

How did the Europeans nations react to the Spanish civil war?

Answer 55

Germany and Italy were more than willing to exercise their influence and support antidemocratic uprisings; Meanwhile, France and Great Britain were hesitant; the nations were still scarred from the loss of life and money in WW1

Question 56

What happened in 1935 in Germany?

Answer 56

The Rhineland, an area that had been taken away from Germany after WW1, was back under German rule

Question 57

How did appeasement go prior to WWII?

Answer 57

So, practically, the Allies allowed Germany to annex the territory it wanted and to violate the policies of the Treaty of Versailles in hopes of preventing war; the Munich Conference of 1938 proves this as Chamberlain mistakenly believed that Hitler would be content with stopping at the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia

Question 58

In 1939, Hitler invaded the remaining territories in Czechoslovakia. What did the Allies do in response?

Answer 58

Britain and France signed a non-aggression pact with Greece, Turkey, Romania, and Poland, so if one of them were attacked, they’d all go to war

Question 59

Meanwhile, the Germans signed the Nazi-Soviet Pact in August of 1939. What was this?

Answer 59

This pact set up a fraile allyship between the Soviet Union and Germany, and it allowed Germany to invade half of Poland and gave the other half to the USSR

Question 60

German forces then marched into Poland after signing the Nazi-Soviet Pact. What happened?

Answer 60

Two days later, Britain declared war on Germany

Question 61

As if demonstrating that Japan was now an equal among European states, the British offered them an alliance in 1905, a treaty the Japanese gratefully accepted. Why?

Answer 61

After all, the Japanese had underwent the Meiji Restoration, defeated China and won some of its territories, and won the Russo-Japanese War

Question 62

What happened after WWI in Japan?

Answer 62

Japan’s economy and military really started to thrive;

It was one of the victors of the war

Question 63

By 1930, the Great Depression began to severely affect Japan and the Japanese militarists gained momentum. What did this lead to?

Answer 63

This was when the whole idea of an empire seemed really good for the Japanese because these Japanese militarists claimed that it would pull them out of their economic crisis; And so…
In 1931, Japan invaded Manchuria, renaming it Manchukuo

Question 64

Shortly after resigning from the League of Nations, what did Japan do?

Answer 64

Japan signed the Anti-Comintern Pact (anti-communism) with Germany in 1936, thereby forming the beginnings of an alliance

Question 65

In 1937, Japanese troops invaded China. What did they do?

Answer 65

They were ruthless in their occupation; note the Japense offense against China named “Rape of Nanjing”

Question 66

What were the German’s military tactics during WWII?

Answer 66

Hitler had a speed army; thier tactic was named blitzkrieg (lightning war) because they were able to conquer so much; Germany was especially able to conquer Poland because of its flat terrain; in 1940, Germany gained control of the Netherlands, Belguim, and France within a year

Question 67

Hitler assumed that Britain would crumble after the invasion of France. But, what happened?

Answer 67

He assumed this because he had captured France, their ally; but Winston Churchill became the new prime minister of Britain, replacing Chamberlain; he was fierce and determined; the Britiah introduced the use of radar to defend their island from attacks from the German air force during the Battle of Britain in 1940

Question 68

In the meantime, Italy attacked Greece. What happened?

Answer 68

But it was having trouble until German forces came to help; but, with Greece now under the Germans, this violated the Nazi-Soviet Pact, so German soldiers were sent into the Soviet Union for good measure; this actually helped to relieve a desparate Britain (the only Allied nation to keep fighting); Germany was now fighting two fronts, one with Britain and the other with the Soviet Union

Question 69

What was happened in Japan in the meantime?

Answer 69

Meanwhile in the Pacific, Japan continued its expansion in China and invaded Indochina (Vietnam); The United States didn’t like this action because they viewed it as very hostile for trade reasons; so they halted Japanese assets in the U.S. and imposed sanctions; then, Japan entered into the Tripartite Pact with Germany and Italy; the country was planning on declaring war if sanctions in the U.S. were not lifted; shocker, they weren’t…so…

Question 70

What caused America to declare war on Japan and Germany war on America?

Answer 70

On December 7, 1941, the Japanese bombed a U.S. naval station in Hawaii at Pearl Harbor

Question 71

Why did it take some time for Great Britain and America to coordinate a land attack against Germany?

Answer 71

Because they needed a foothold in Europe from which to begin their assault; So, in the meantime, they opted to just fight off the Japanese in the Pacific and the Germans and Italians in Africa; U.S. also worked on the Manhattan Project to develop an atomic bomb

Question 72

By 1943, the United States and Great Britain were ready. What happened?

Answer 72

By 1943, the United States and Britain were ready for their European offensive, and they started it by taking control of Italy; The following year, D-day was launched on June 6, 1944, where English, American, and Canadian forces landed on the French beaches and liberated France with the help of French resistance forces

Question 73

What was happening in the opposite side of Europe while America and Great Britain were launching their attacks?

Answer 73

On the opposite side of Europe, the Red Army won a stunning victory against the Germans at Stalingrad in 1942; they were steadily advancing west

Question 74

What brought an end to WWII?

Answer 74

By May 1945, the Allied forces closed in on Hitler’s troops from the eastern and the western fronts until they reached Berlin; Britain, France, America, and Canada coming in from one side and the Soviet Union coming in from the other (eastern frontier); this brought an end to WWII

Question 75

What happened after the war in Europe ceased?

Answer 75

The war in the Pacific continued

Question 76

What happened on August 6, 1945?

Answer 76

President Truman of the United States ordered the dropping of an atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945; this was the first time nuclear weapons were used in warfare

Question 77

What happened when the Japanese vowed to fight on?

Answer 77

When the Japanese vowed to fight on, President Truman authorized the dropping of a second bomb on Nagasaki on August 9 with similar consequences; it’s of importance to note that fire-bombings occured prior to the bombings that were already devastating Japanese life. Remember that Japanese architecture was flammable, with bamboos and paper.

Question 78

What was the Holocaust?

Answer 78

Prior to this reveal, little knew about the Nazi terrors outside of Germany; the Holocaust was known in Nazi Germany as “The Final Solution” (talk about perspective…); As many as 6 million Jews were rounded up in Germany and German-occupied lands and killed in gas chambers and firing lines; there were also 6 million Slavs, Gypsies, homosexuals, etc. that were killed

Question 79

What was an effect of the Holocaust’s reveal toward the treatment of Jews?

Answer 79

Public sympathy for the creation of Israel as a homeland for Jews rose sharply.

Question 80

After WWII, what happened to America, the Soviet Union, and Germany?

Answer 80

The United States and the Soviet Union became superpowers; Germany was occupied by the Allies and Nazi officials were sentences ans prosecuted; Japan was forced to demilitarized and become a democracy; Japan even embraced capitalism and became an economic powerhouse within a decade

Question 81

How was Europe’s infrastructure and communities?

Answer 81

They were devastated

Question 82

What was the Marshall Plan?

Answer 82

A plan instituted by the United States in which billions of American money was made available for reconstruction; it was offered for all of Europe, but only Western European nations accepted it; it worked and their economies recovered

Question 83

What happened to European imperialism after WWII?

Answer 83

European imperialism was already on wane by the eve of World War II, but WWII heavily affected attitudes towards empires and native populations were inspired to rise up against their oppressors

Question 84

What did women do during WWII?

Answer 84

Just as in WWI, women worked outside of the home during the war to provide for themselves and their families while also helping the war effort

Question 85

How did women’s opportunities change after WWII?

Answer 85

After the war, many women kept their jobs, or sought higher education, or otherwise began to broaden their horizons

Question 86

Why were the United Nations formed?

Answer 86

Was formed because the Allies thought that an international organization would reduce the possibility of a great war happening again; replaced the League of Nations; established in 1945

Question 87

What were the main goals of the United Nations?

Answer 87

To mediate, and if necessary to intervene in, international disputes between nations; the UN’s goals expanded as the yesrs progressed and came to encompass the monitoring of human rights

Question 88

What was the Universal Declaration of Human Rights?

Answer 88

Published in 1948 in response to knowledge of the Holocaust and other atrocities; paid attention to the dignity of children, women, and refugees

Question 89

Why were the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs (now known as the World Trade Organization) formed?

Answer 89

All of these organizations were made to more economically integrate the world because the Allies believed that by having countries be more economically dependent on each other, there would a lower probability of war

Question 90

Why did the Cold War start?

Answer 90

The United States was capitalist and democratic and the USSR was communist and totalitarian, and neither wanted the other’s influences to spread beyond its borders, hence why the Cold War started

Question 91

What happened after Germany was defeated?

Answer 91

The United States and Soviet Union wanted to set up their influence in Europe to allow their world view to dominate; a substantial portion of Western Europe was in the American camp, but Germany and Eastern Europe were another case

Question 92

How did the Allies decide how to split up Germany?

Answer 92

The Allies had conferences in 1945 to discuss the matter of how to split up Germany and Eastern Europe; it was decided that temporary “spheres of influence” of France, Britain, America, and the Soviet Union would be set up in the regions

Question 93

What was the earliest issue between the USSR and the U.S.?

Answer 93

Determined to protect its borders and ideology, the Soviet Union demanded that its neighboring states, places like Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria, be under its influence as well; issue was that the U.S. wanted those nations to have free elections; the Soviet Union refused and set up puppet states in these countries

Question 94

What was collectivization in the Soviet Union?

Answer 94

Was a policy of forced consolidation of individual peasant households into collective farms; focus on farms