Revolution, Socialsim, and Global Conflict

Global Communism 

• 1970s almost one-third of the worlds population lived in communist regimes 
• Most significant was the Soviet Union and China 
• After WW2 communist parties played important roles in Greece, France and Italy
• communism found expression primary in the second half of the 20th Century 

Revolutions as a Path to Communism 

• "New and better worlds could be constructed by human actions" 
• in Russia, communists came to power on the back of revolutionary upheaval that took place within a single year. 
• Communism triumphed in the ancient land of China

Building Socialism 

• once in power, communist parties everywhere set about the construction of socialist societies
• Among the earliest and most revolutionary actions of these new communist regimes were efforts at liberating and mobilizing women 
• to build socialism, China and Soviet Union, expropriated landlords' estates and redistributed 
• Soviet Union and China defined Industrialization as a fundamental task of their regimes 

East Versus West: A Global Divide and a Cold War 

• Communist regimes brought revolutionary changes to the societies they governed 
• Initial arena of the cold war was Europe 
• Cuban missile crises gave concrete expression 
• the arms race in nuclear weapons 
• WW2 and cold war provided the context for the emergence of the United States as a Global Superpower 

Collapse at the Center

The First World War: European Civilization in Crisis

• Division was among European competing states 
• Rivalries sharpened as nth Italy and Germany joined their fragmented territories 
• Triple Alliance: Germany, Italy, Astro-Hungarian Empire
• Triple Entente: Russia, France, Britain
• Serbian nationalist assassinated the heir to the Astro-Hungarinan throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand 

Capitalism Unraveling: The Great Depression 

• Most influential change of the postwar decades 
• Western Capitalism was likewise failing 
• Spread from America to Europe 
• Germany and Austria had to make huge reparation payments
• Britain and France depended on those reparations to repay their loans 

Democracy Denied: Comparing Italy, Germany, and Japan 

• Democratic political ideals and their cultural values came under attack after WW1 
• New political ideology known as fascism found expression across much of Europe
• German expression of European fascism .. Nazi Party under Adolf Hitler 
• Extreme Nationalism, openly advocated the use of violence as a political tool
• Japan, shared features w/ Italy and Germany, but remained less repressive

A Second World War 

• Genuinely global conflict with independent origins in both Asia and Europe 
• Began in Asia before it began in Europe 
• Japan was the dissatisfied power in Asia .. Germany was the dissatisfied power in Europe 
• War was central to the Nazi agenda 
• Deaths estimated to around 60 million, 6x that of WW1 

Empires in Collision

Reversal of Fortune: China's Century of Crisis 

• 1912, China"s long-established imperial state had collapsed 
• Turned to a weak and dependent participant in a European dominated system 
• China's state did not enlarge itself to keep pace with the foreign population
• China's relationship with Europe changed 
• Solution to reinvigorate a traditional China while borrowing cautiously from the west 

The Ottoman Empire and the West in the Nineteenth Century 

• Islamic world collided with an expanding and aggressive Europe
• Empires domains shrank at the hands of Russian, British, Austrian, and French aggression
• ambitious programs of defensive modernization
• experienced the consequences of a rapidly shifting balance of global power

The Japanese Difference: The rise of a New East Asian Power

• Japan confronted the aggressive power notably in the form of US commodore Mathew Perry 
• Opened up to more relation in the world
• turned into a powerful, modern, untied, industrialized nation 
• Foreign intervention brought matters to a head
• Raised a national army based on all social classes 

Colonial Encounters in Asia and Africa

Industry and Empire

• Periodically produced more manufactured goods then needed 
• Exporting 60% of it own cotton cloth production
• imperialism solved the class conflicts 
• Mass Nationalism 
• Imperialism, war and aggression seemed natural and progressive 

A Second Wave of European Conquests 

• Second phase of European Colonial Conquests 
• countless wars of conquest
• for India and Indonesia, colonial conquest grew out of interaction with Europe 
• "Scramble of Africa" pitted half a dozen European powers against each other 

Believing and Belonging: Identity and Cultural Change in the Colonial era 

• Education obtained through missionary or government schools 
• religion provided the basis for new or transformed identities 
• Ordinary people alike forged new ways of belonging as they confronted colonial life

Revolutions of Industrialization (Ch. 17)

Explaining the Industrial Revolution

• 18th century Britain - Technological creativity 
• industrial fuels became scarce 
• global energy demands began to push against the existing local limits 
• Global in the 20th century 

Why Europe? 

• First to have involvement in the revolution 
• restless, creative, and freedom-loving culture 
• commercialized, competitive, European societies  
• Cross cultural exchange 

Why Britain? 

• Clearly began in Britain 
• Political life encouraged commercialization and economic innovation 
• Scientific rev. fostered technological revolution 
• Britain's geography and history contributed to its success 
• Country had coal and iron ore/countries island protected it from invasions