Transcript Unit #13, Chapters 29-30 Lecture Powerpoint

The Great War &
Revolution and
Nationalism
AP UNIT #13
CHAPTER 29 AND 30
Militarism

Militarism – Glorification of the military; The belief held by European
Imperialist nations that their respective militaries were the best was
another cause of World War I

Nationalism, or devotion to one’s nation, kick-started international and domestic tension. In the late 1800s,
many Europeans began to reject the earlier ideas of a nation as a collection of different ethnic groups.
Instead, they believed that a nation should express the nationalism of a single ethnic group. This belief
evolved into an intense form of nationalism that heightened international rivalries. For example, France
longed to avenge its humiliating defeat by a collection of German states in 1871 and regain AlsaceLorraine. Nationalism also threatened minority groups within nation states. If a country existed as the
expression of “its people”, the majority ethnic group, where did ethnic minorities fit in?

The spread of the theory of Social Darwinism did not help soothe the competitive instinct. Social Darwinism
applied biologist Charles Darwin’s ideas of natural selection and “survival of the fittest” to human society.
Social Darwinism believed that the best nation would come out ahead in the constant competition among
countries.

Nationalism also destabilized old multinational empires such as Austria, Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire.
This was particularly true in the Balkan region of southeastern Europe. For example, when Serbia emerged as
an independent nation in 1878, it challenged the nearby empire of Austria-Hungary in two ways: by trying to
gain territory controlled by the empire, where Serbia lived, and by the example it offered to AustriaHungary’s diverse peoples. The Nationalist sentiment of the period sometimes spilled over into the economic
goals of each nation. Industrial output, trade, and the possession of an overseas empire were the yardsticks
of wealth and greatness. The leading industrial nations competed for lands rich in raw materials as well as for
places to build military bases to protect their empires.
Closure Question #1: Which of the forces at work in Europe
played the greatest role in helping to prompt the outbreak
of war?

While peace and harmony characterized much of Europe at the
beginning of the 1900s, there were less visible – and darker – forces at
work as well. One such development was the growth of nationalism,
or a deep devotion to one’s nation. Nationalism can serve as a
unifying force within a country. However, it also can cause intense
competition among nations, with each seeking to overpower the
other. By the turn of the 20th century, a fierce rivalry indeed had
developed among Europe’s Great Powers. Those nations were
Germany, Austria-Hungary, Great Britain, Russia, Italy, and France.

Another forces that helped set the stage for war in Europe was
imperialism. The nations of Europe competed fiercely for colonies in
Africa and Asia. The quest for colonies sometimes pushed European
nations to the brink of war. As European countries continued to
compete for overseas empires, their sense of rivalry and mistrust of
one another deepened.

Yet another troubling development throughout the early years of the
20th century was the rise of a dangerous European arms race. The
nations of Europe believed that to be truly great, they needed to
have a powerful military. By 1914, all the Great Powers except Britain
had large standing armies.
Triple Alliance / Triple
Entente
Triple Alliance – Pact between Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy
formed in 1882.
 Triple Entente – Pact between France, Great Britain, and Russia formed in
1907.


19th-century liberals believed that if European states were organized along national lines, these states would
work together and create a peaceful Europe. They were wrong. The system of nation-states that emerged
in Europe in the last half of the 19th century led not to cooperation but to competition. Rivalries over
colonies and trade grew during an age of frenzied nationalism and imperialist expansion. At the same time,
Europe’s great powers had been divided into two loose alliances.

In the early years of the 20th century, a series of crises tested these alliances. Especially troublesome were
the crises in the Balkans between 1908 and 1913. These events left European states angry at each other and
eager for revenge. Self-interest and success guided each state. They were willing to use war to preserve
their power. Nationalism in the 19th century had yet another serious result. Not all ethnic groups had
become nations. Slavic minorities in the Balkans and the Hapsburg Empire, for example, still dreamed of
their own national states. The Irish in the British Empire and the Poles in the Russian Empire had similar
dreams.

National desires were not the only source of internal strife at the beginning of the 1900s. Socialist labor
movements also had grown more powerful. The Socialists were increasingly inclined to use strikes, even
violent ones, to achieve their goals. Some conservative leaders, alarmed at the increase in labor strife and
class divisions, feared that European nations were on the verge of revolution. This desire to suppress internal
disorder may have encouraged various leaders to take the plunge into war in 1914.
Closure Question #2: Who were the members of the Triple Alliance? The Triple Entente?
World War I Alliances
Kaiser Wilhelm

Leader of Germany who joined with Austria-Hungary in declaring war on
Serbia on July 28th, 1914 following the assassination of Archduke Francis
Ferdinand.

The growth of mass armies after 1900 heightened the existing tensions in Europe. These large armies made it
obvious that if war did come, it would be highly destructive. Most Western countries had established
conscription, a military draft, as a regular practice before 1914. (The United States and Britain were
exceptions.) European armies doubled in size between 1890 and 1914. Militarism – the aggressive
preparation for war – was growing. As armies grew, so too did the influence of military leaders. They drew
up vast and complex plans for quickly mobilizing millions of soldiers and enormous quantities of supplies in
the event of war.

Fearing that any changes would cause chaos in the armed forces, military leaders insisted that their plans
could not be altered. This left European political leaders with little leeway. In 1914 they had to make
decisions for military instead of political reasons. Militarism, nationalism, and the desire to stifle internal
dissent may all have played a role in the starting of World War I. However, it was the decisions that
European leaders made in response to a crisis in the Balkans that led directly to the conflict.

By 1914, Serbia, supported by Russia, was determined to create a large, independent Slavic-state in the
Balkans. Austria-Hungary, which had its own Slavic minorities to contend with, was equally determined to
prevent that from happening. On June 28, 1914, Archduke Francis Ferdinand, the heir to the throne of
Austria-Hungary, and his wife Sophia visited the city of Sarajevo in Bosnia. A group of conspirators waited
there in the streets.

On June 28th, 1914 Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie left for what they thought would be a routine visit to
Sarajevo, the capital city of the Austro-Hungarian province of Bosnia. But a handful of young Bosnians had
other plans for the archduke and his wife. These men were ethnic Serbs who believed that Bosnia rightfully
belonged to Serbia, and they saw Francis Ferdinand as a tyrant. After the archduke’s driver made a wrong
turn, Gavrilo Princip, one of the conspirators, noticed the couple in the car, pulled a pistol from his pocket,
and fired it twice. First Sophie and then Francis Ferdinand died. People around the world were shocked by
the senseless murders.
Closure Question #3: Do you think World War I was avoidable? Use information from the text
to support your answer.
Closure Assignment #1

Answer the following questions based on what you have learned from
Chapter 29, Section 1:
1.
Which of the forces at work in Europe played the greatest role in
helping to prompt the outbreak of war? Explain your answer.
2.
Who were the members of the Triple Alliance? The Triple Entente?
3.
Do you think World War I was avoidable? Use information from the
text to support your answer.
Central Powers / Allies

Central Powers – The combined forces of Germany and Austria-Hungary
in WWI; Their name comes from their location in the heart of Europe.

Allies – The combined forces of France, Great Britain, Russia, and,
eventually, Japan, Italy, and the United States in WWI.

In the group of conspirators in Sarajevo was Gavrilo Princip, a 19-year-old Bosnian Serb. Princip was a
member of the Black Hand, a Serbian terrorist organization that wanted Bosnia to be free of AustriaHungary and to become part of a large Serbian kingdom. An assassination attempt earlier that morning by
one of the conspirators had failed. Later that day, however, Princip succeeded in fatally shooting both the
archduke and his wife. The Austro-Hungarian government did not know whether or not the Serbian
government had been directly involved in the archduke’s assassination, but it did not care. Austrian leaders
wanted to attack Serbia but feared that Russia would intervene on Serbia’s behalf. So, they asked for – and
received – the backing of their German allies. Emperor William II of Germany gave Austria-Hungary a
“blank check,” promising Germany’s full support if war broke out between Russia and Austria-Hungary. On
July 28th, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia.

Soon after the assassination, Kaiser William II, the German emperor, assured Austria Hungary that Germany
would stand by its ally if war came. Confident in German’s support, Austria-Hungary then sent a harsh
ultimatum to Serbia demanding Serbia’s total cooperation in an investigation into the assassination. When
Serbia did not agree to all of the demands, Austria-Hungary declared war on July 28th, 1914. Because of the
alliance system, what otherwise might have been a localized quarrel quickly spread. In early August, Russia
mobilized for war to help its ally Serbia against Austria. This caused Germany to declare war against Russia.
France, Russia’s ally, promptly declared war against Germany. The very next day, German declared war
against neutral Belgium, so that it could launch an invasion of France through that small country. Great
Britain, which had a treaty with France and Belgium, immediately declared war against Germany.
Western Front

The key battlefront in WWI, located along the border between France and
Belgium; 450 miles of trenches extended from the Atlantic Ocean to the Swiss
Alps, with both sides taking high casualties (soldiers killed or wounded in battle)
without gaining any territory.

German soldiers fought through Belgium and moved southwest into France toward Paris. Then in
September, with the German advance only 30 miles from Paris, the French and the British
counterattacked and stopped the German forces near the Marne River. After the battle of the Marne,
the Germans settled onto high ground, dug trenches, and fortified their position. When the French and
British attacked, the German troops used machine guns and artillery to kill thousands of them. The French
and British then dug their own trenches and used the same weapons to kill thousands of counterattacking
Germans. Soon, 450 miles of trenches stretched like a huge scar from the coast of Belgium to the border
of Switzerland. Although fighting went on in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and in other parts of the
world, this Western Front in France became the critical battlefront. The side that won there would win the
war.

The war dragged on for years, and it was hideously deadly – much more so than anyone had expected.
The primary reason for the length of the war and its deadly nature was the simple fact that the defensive
weapons of the timer were better and more devastating than the offensive ones. Generals on each side
threw their soldiers into assaults against the enemy without fully considering the new technology.
Charging toward trenches that were defended by artillery, machine guns, and rifles was futile. In virtually
every battle on the Western Front, the attacking force suffered terribly. Even the use of poison gas did
nothing to benefit the offense, despite its horrifying effects. The stalemate led to gruesome conditions for
the men in the trenches of the Western Front. The soldiers battled the harsh conditions of life often as
fiercely as they attacked the enemy. They developed “trench foot” from standing for hours in wet, muddy
trenches. Dug into the ground, the soldiers lived in constant fear, afraid to pop their heads out of their
holes and always aware that the next offensive might be their last.
Closure Question #1. Why did a stalemate develop on the Western Front?
(At least 1 sentence)
Schlieffen Plan

The battle strategy used by Germany in WW1; Germany fought on two
sides, or fronts. In the east, they would hold the line with Russia; on the
west, they would send the majority of their troops to quickly invade
France.

Russia was determined to support Serbia’s cause. On July 28 th, Czar Nicholas II ordered partial mobilization
of the Russian army against Austria-Hungary. Mobilization is the process of assembling troops and supplies
for war. In 1914, mobilization was considered an act of war. Leaders of the Russian army informed the czar
that they could not partially mobilize. Their mobilization plans were based on a war against both Germany
and Austria-Hungary. Mobilizing against only Austria-Hungary, they claimed, would create chaos in the
army. Based on this claim, the czar ordered full mobilization of the Russian army on July 29 th, knowing that
Germany would consider this order an act of war.

Indeed, Germany reacted quickly. The German government warned Russia that it must halt its mobilization
within 12 hours. When Russia ignored this warning, Germany declared war on Russia on August 1. Like the
Russians, the Germans had a military plan. General Alfred von Schlieffen had helped draw up the plan,
which was known as the Schlieffen Plan. It called for a two-front war with France and Russia since the two
had formed a military alliance in 1894.

According to the Schlieffen Plan, Germany would conduct a small holding action against Russia while most
of the German army would carry out a rapid invasion of France. This mean invading France by moving
quickly along the level coastal area through Belgium. After France was defeated, the German invaders
would move to the east against Russia. Under the Schlieffen Plan, Germany could not mobilize its troops
solely against Russia. Therefore, it declared war on France on August 3. About the same time, it issued an
ultimatum to Belgium demanding that German troops be allowed to pass through Belgian territory. On
August 4, Great Britain declared war on Germany for violating Belgian neutrality. In fact, Britain, which was
allied with France and Russia, was concerned about maintaining its own world power. As one British
diplomat put it, if Germany and Austria-Hungary won the war, “what would be the position of a friendless
England?” By August 4, all the Great Powers of Europe were at war.
Trench Warfare

Style of war fought in World War I; both sides dug trenches which reached
from the English Channel in the north to the borders of Switzerland,
holding the same positions for four year.

Trench warfare baffled military leaders who had been trained to fight wars of movement and maneuver. At
times, the high command on either side would order an offensive that would begin with an artillery barrage
to flatten the enemy’s barbed wire and leave the enemy in a state of shock. After “softening up” the
enemy in this fashion, a mass of soldiers would climb out of their trenches with fixed bayonets and hope to
work their way toward the enemy trenches. The attacks rarely worked because men advancing
unprotected across open fields could be fired at by the enemy’s machine guns. In 1916 and 1917, millions
of young men died in the search for the elusive breakthrough. In just ten months at Verdun, France, 700,000
men lost their lives over a few miles of land in 1916.

The German advance was halted a short distance from Paris at the First Battle of the Marne (September 610). To stop the Germans, French military leaders loaded 2,000 Parisian taxicabs with fresh troops and sent
them to the front line. The war quickly turned into a stalemate as neither the Germans nor the French could
dislodge each other from the trenches they had dug for shelter. These trenches were ditches protected by
barbed wire. Two lines of trenches soon reached from the English Channel to the frontiers of Switzerland. The
Western Front had become bogged down in trench warfare. Both sides were kept in virtually the same
positions for four years.

On the Western Front, the trenches dug in 1914 had by 1916 become elaborate systems of defense. The
Germans and the French each had hundreds of miles of trenches, which were protected by barbed wire
entanglements up to 5 feet high and 30 yards wide. Concrete machine-gun nests and other gun batteries,
supported further back by heavy artillery, protected the trenches. Troops lived in holes in the ground,
separated from each other by a strip of territory known as no-man’s land.
Closure Question #2: What were the characteristics of trench warfare? (At
least 1 sentence)
Eastern Front

A stretch of battlefield along the German and Russian border. Here,
Russians and Serbs battled Germans and Austro-Hungarians. The was in
the east was a more mobile war than in the west, though here, too,
slaughter and stalemate were common. The end result of fighting in the
east was a truce between Russia and the Central Powers following a
violent revolution within Russia which overthrew the Czar and established
a Communist government.

Unlike the Western Front, the war on the Eastern Front was marked by mobility. The cost in lives, however,
was equally enormous. At the beginning of the war, the Russian army moved into eastern Germany but was
decisively defeated at the Battle of Tannenberg on August 30 and the Battle of Masurian Lakes on
September 15. After these defeats, the Russians were no longer a threat to Germany. Austria-Hungary,
Germany’s ally, fared less well at first. The Austrians had been defeated by the Russians in Galicia and
thrown out of Serbia as well. To make matters worse, the Italians betrayed their German and Austrian allies
in the Triple Alliance by attacking Austria in May 1915.Italy thus joined France, Great Britain, and Russia, who
had previously been known as the Triple Entente, but now were called the Allied Powers, or Allies.

By this time, the Germans had come to the aid of the Austrians. A German-Austrian army defeated the
Russian army in Galicia and pushed the Russians far back into their own territory. Russian casualties stood at
2.5 million killed, captured, or wounded. The Russians had almost been knocked out of the war.
Encouraged by their success against Russia, Germany and Austria-Hungary, joined by Bulgaria in
September 1915, attacked and eliminated Serbia from the war. Their successes in the east would enable
the German troops to move back to the offensive in the west.
Closure Question #3: How was war on the Western and Eastern fronts
different? How was it the same? (At least 2 sentences)
Closure Assignment #2

Answer the following questions based on what you have learned from
Chapter 29, Section 2:
1.
Why did a stalemate develop on the Western Front? (At least 1
sentence)
2.
What were the characteristics of trench warfare? (At least 1
sentence)
3.
How was war on the Western and Eastern fronts different? How
was it the same? (At least 2 sentences)

Unrestricted Submarine
Warfare
Policy adopted by the German navy in 1917 under which any ship sailing
in the waters around Britain would be sunk without warning. Germany
adopted this policy in an effort to cut off supplies to Great Britain;
however, in doing so several American ships, which had previously sold
war supplies to both the Central and Allied Powers came under German
attack.

The Allies immediately felt the impact of the renewed unrestricted warfare. German U-Boats sank merchant
ships in alarming numbers, faster than replacements could be built. As one merchant ship after another
sank to the bottom of the sea, the Allies lost crucial supplies. Together, the Allies addressed the problem of
submarine warfare by adopting an old naval tactic: convoying. In a convoy, groups of merchant ships
sailed together, protected by warships. The arrangement was designed to provide mutual safety at sea.
Convoys made up of British and American ships proved to be an instant success. Shipping losses from UBoat attacks fell as sharply as they had risen. Germany’s gamble had failed.

Meanwhile, the situation on land began to swing in favor of the Central Powers. The Allies were exhausted
by years of combat. Russia was torn by revolutions. In March 1917, a moderate, democratic revolution
overthrew Czar Nicholas II but kept Russia in the war. In November 1917, radical communists led by Vladimir
Lenin staged a revolution and gained control of Russia. Russia stopped fighting in mid-December, and on
March 3, 1918 the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk ended the war between Russia and Germany. The end of the war
on the Eastern Front allowed Germany to send more soldiers to the Western Front. In the spring of 1918,
Germany launched an all-out offensive on the Western Front. The fierce attack threatened to break
through Allied defenses and open a path to Paris. The hard pressed Allies organized a join command under
French General Ferdinand Foch.
Total War

Total War – A complete mobilization of resources and people within a
country for the war effort. Every citizen of a country was expected to
contribute in some way to the military. As a total war, WWI became a
war of attrition, one based on wearing the other side down by
constant attacks and heavy losses.

By the end of 1915, airplanes had appeared on the battlefront for the first time in history. Planes
were first used to spot the enemy’s position. Soon, planes also began to attack ground targets,
especially enemy communications. Fights for control of the air occurred and increased over time. At
first, pilots fired at each other with handheld pistols. Later, machine guns were mounted on the
noses of planes, which made the skies considerably more dangerous. The Germans also used their
giant airships – the zeppelins – to bomb London and eastern England. This caused little damage but
frightened many people. Germany’s enemies, however, soon found that zeppelins, which were
filled with hydrogen gas, quickly became raging infernos when hit by antiaircraft guns.

As World War I dragged on, it became a total war involving a complete mobilization of resources
and people. It affected the lives of all citizens in the warring countries, however remote they might
be from the battlefields. Masses of men had to be organized and purchased for years of combat.
(Germany alone had 5.5 million men in uniform in 1916.) This led to an increase in government
powers and the manipulation of public opinion to keep the war effort going .The home front was
rapidly becoming a cause for as much effort as the war front.
Closure Question #1: Illustrate, by using a
diagram similar to the one below, the ways in
which government powers increased during
the war.

Governme
nt Powers
Most people had expected the war to be short. Little thought had been
given to long-term wartime needs. Governments had to respond quickly,
however, when the new war machines failed to achieve their goals. Many
more men and supplies were needed to continue the war effort. To meet
these needs, governments expanded their powers. Countries drafted tens of
millions of young men, hoping for that elusive breakthrough to victory.
Wartime governments throughout Europe also expanded their power over
their economies. Free-market capitalistic systems were temporarily put aside.
Governments set up price, wage, and rent controls. They also rationed food
supplies and materials; regulated imports and exports; and took over
transportation systems and industries. In effect, in order to mobilize all the
resources of their nations for the war effort, European nations set up planned
economies – systems directed by government agencies. Under conditions of
total war mobilization, the differences between soldiers at war and civilians of
home were narrowed. In the view of political leaders, all citizens were part of
a national army dedicated to victory. Woodrow Wilson, president of the
United States, said that the men and women “who remain to till the soil and
man the factories are no less a part of the army than the men beneath the
battle flags.
Rationing

System adopted by most of the nations involved in WWI under which
people could buy only small amounts of those items that were also
needed for the war effort. Rationing covered a wide range of goods, from
butter to shoe leather.

A new set of illusions also fed the enthusiasm for war. In August 1914, almost everyone believed that the war
would be over in a few weeks. After all, almost all European wars since 1815 had, in fact, ended in a matter
of weeks. Both the soldiers who boarded the trains for the war front in August 1914 and the jubilant citizens
who saw them off believed that the warriors would be home by Christmas. German hopes for a quick end
to the war rested on a military gamble. The Schlieffen Plan had called for the German army to make a vast
encircling movement through Belgium into northern France. According to the plan, the German forces
would sweep around Paris. This would enable them to surround most of the French army.

What Bernard Baruch did for industry, future U.S. president Herbert Hoover achieved for agriculture. As head
of the Food Administration, he set prices high for wheat and other foodstuffs to encourage farmers to
increase production. He also asked Americans to conserve food as a patriotic gesture. If the American
people ate less, then more food could be shipped overseas. To this end, Hoover instituted wheatless
Mondays and Wednesdays, meatless Tuesdays, and porkless Thursdays and Saturdays. Before the war, some
American women campaigned for women’s suffrage. They won the vote in several western states, and still
hoped to gain the franchise nationally. Many feared that the war would draw attention away from their
efforts. In fact, the war gave women new chances and won them the right to vote.

As men entered the armed forces, many women moved into the workforce for the first time. Women filled
jobs that were vacated by men who had gone to fight. They worked in munitions factories, on the railroads,
as telegraph operators and trolley conductors, and in other jobs that were previously open only to men.
Others labored on farms. Some joined the Red Cross or the American Women’s Hospital Service and went
overseas. They worked as doctors, nurses, ambulance drivers, and clerks. Thousands enlisted when the Army
Corps of Nurses was created in 1918.
Propaganda

Propaganda – Ideas spread to influence public opinion for or against a
cause; During WW1, governments used propaganda to stir up national
hatreds to win support for the war effort.

Because of the stalemate on the Western Front, both sides sought to gain new allies. Each side hoped new
allies would provide a winning advantage, as well as a new source of money and war goods. Bulgaria
entered the war on the side of the Central Powers, as Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire
were called. Russia, Great Britain, and France – the Allied Powers – declared war on the Ottoman Empire.
The Allies tried to open a Balkan front by landing forces at Gallipoli, southwest of Constantinople, in April
1915. However, the campaign proved disastrous, forcing the Allies to withdraw. In return for Italy entering
the war on the Allied side. France and Great Britain promised to let Italy have some Austrian territory. Italy
on the side of the allies opened up a front against Austria Hungary.

By 1917, the war had truly become a world conflict. That year, while stationed in the Middle East, a British
officer known as Lawrence of Arabia urged Arab princes to revolt against their Ottoman overlords. In 1918
British forces from Egypt mobilized troops from India, Australia, and New Zealand and destroyed the
Ottoman Empire in the Middle East. The Allies also took advantage of Germany’s preoccupations in Europe
and lack of naval strength to seize German colonies in the rest of the world. Japan, a British ally, beginning
in 1902, seized a number of German-held islands in the Pacific. Australia seized German New Guinea.

At first, the United States tried to remain neutral. As World War I dragged on, however, it became more
difficult to do so. The immediate cause of the United States involvement grew out of the naval war
between Germany and Great Britain. Britain had used its superior naval power to set up a blockade of
Germany. The blockade kept war materials and other goods from reaching Germany by sea. Germany
had retaliated by setting up a blockade of Britain. Germany enforced its blockade with the use of
unrestricted submarine warfare, which included the sinking of passenger liners.
Closure Question #2: What methods did governments use to counter the loss of enthusiasm
and opposition to the war at home? (At least 2 sentences)
Armistice

Armistice – A truce or agreement to end fighting; On November 11th, 1918
representatives of the new German government signed an armistice with
Allied officials.

Before 1914, many political leaders believed war to be impractical because it involved so many political
and economic risks. Others believed that diplomats could easily prevent war. At the beginning of August
1914, both ideas were shattered. However, the new illusions that replaced them soon proved to be equally
foolish. Government propaganda had stirred national hatreds before the war. Now, in August 1914, the
urgent pleas of European governments for defense against aggressors fell on receptive ears in every nation
at war. Most people seemed genuinely convinced that their nation’s cause was just.

On May 7, 1915, German forces sank the British ship Lusitania. About 1,100 civilians, including over 100
Americans, died. After strong protests from the United States, the German government suspended
unrestricted submarine warfare in September 1915 to avoid antagonizing the United States further. Only
once did the Germans and British engage in direct naval battle – at the Battle of Jutland on May 31, 1916,
when neither side won a conclusive victory.

By January 1917, however, the Germans were eager to break the deadlock in the war. German naval
officers convinced Emperor William II that resuming the use of unrestricted submarine warfare could starve
the British into submission within six months. When the emperor expressed concern about the United States,
Admiral Holtzendorf assured him, “I give your Majesty my word as an officer that not one American will land
on the continent.” The German naval officers were quite wrong. The British were not forced to surrender,
and the return to unrestricted submarine warfare brought the United States into the war in April 1917. U.S.
troops did not arrive in large numbers in Europe until 1918. However, the entry of the United States into the
war gave the Allied Powers a psychological boost and a major new source of money and war goods.
Closure Question #3: Which of the non-European countries had the greatest impact on the war
effort? Explain.
Closure Assignment #3

Answer the following questions based on what you have learned from
Chapter 29, Section 3:
1.
Illustrate, by using a diagram the ways in which government powers
increased during the war.
2.
What methods did governments use to counter the loss of
enthusiasm and opposition to the war at home? (At least 2
sentences)
3.
Which of the non-European countries had the greatest impact on
the war effort? Explain.
Woodrow Wilson

President of the United States during WWI; Wilson kept the U.S. out of the
war from 1914 to 1917 before coming in on the side of the Allies. After the
war’s end, Wilson was an architect of the Treaty of Versailles & League of
Nations.

Delegates met in Paris in early 1919 to determine the peace settlement. At the Paris Peace Conference,
complications became obvious. For one thing, secret treaties and agreements that had been made before
the war had raised the hopes of European nations for territorial gains. These hopes could not be ignored,
even if they did conflict with the principle of self-determination put forth by Wilson. National interests also
complicated the deliberations of the Paris Peace Conference. David Lloyd George had won a decisive
victory in elections in December 1918. His platform was simple: make the Germans pay for the dreadful war.

France’s approach to peace was chiefly guided by its desire for national security. To Georges
Clemenceau, the French people had suffered the most from German aggression. The French desired
revenge and security against future German attacks. Clemenceau wanted Germany stripped of all
weapons, vast German payments to cover the costs of war, and a separate Rhineland as a buffer state
between France and Germany. The most important decisions at the Paris Peace Conference were made
by Wilson, Clemenceau, and Lloyd George. Italy, as one of the Allies, was considered one of the Big Four
powers. However, it played a smaller role than the other key powers – the United States, France, and Great
Britain, who were called the Big Three. Germany was not invited to attend, and Russia could not be present
because of its civil war.

In view of the many conflicting demands at the peace conference, it was no surprise that the Big Three
quarreled. Wilson wanted to create a world organization, the League of Nations, to prevent future wars.
Clemenceau and Lloyd George wanted to punish Germany. In the end, only compromise made it possible
to achieve a peace settlement. Wilson’s wish that the creation of an international peacekeeping
organization be the first order of business was granted. On January 25, 1919, the conference accepted the
idea of a League of Nations. In return, Wilson agreed to make compromises on territorial arrangements. He
did so because he believed that the League could later fix any unfair settlements.
Georges Clemenceau

Georges Clemenceau – Premier of France in 1918 who participated in the
Paris Peace Conference; Clemenceau argued that Germany alone was
responsible for WWI and should be forced to pay for the damages caused
by the war.

In January 1919, representatives of 27 victorious Allied nations met in Paris to make a final settlement of
World War I. Over a period of years, the reasons for fighting World War I had changed dramatically. When
European nations had gone to war in 1914, they sought territorial gains. By the beginning of 1918, however,
the were also expressing more idealistic reasons for the war. No one expressed these idealistic reasons
better than the president of the United States, Woodrow Wilson. Even before the end of the war, Wilson
outlined “Fourteen Points” to the United States Congress – his basis for a peace settlement that he believed
justified the enormous military struggle being waged.

Wilson became the spokesperson for a new world order based on democracy and international
cooperation. When he arrived in Europe for the peace conference, Wilson was enthusiastically cheered by
many Europeans. President Wilson soon found, however, that more practical motives guided other states.

The principle of self-determination supposedly guided the Paris Peace Conference. However, the mixtures
of peoples in eastern Europe made it impossible to draw boundaries along strict ethnic lines. Compromises
had to be made, sometimes to satisfy the national interests of the victors. France, for example, had lost
Russia as its major ally on Germany’s eastern border. Thus, France wanted to strengthen and expand
Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, and Romania as much as possible. Those states could then serve as
barriers against Germany and Communist Russia.
Closure Question #1: Although Woodrow Wilson came to the Paris Peace Conference with high
ideals, the other leaders had more practical concerns. Why do you think that was so? (At least
1 sentence)
Fourteen Points / Self-Determination

Fourteen Points – Outline of U.S. goals in WW1 outlined by Woodrow Wilson; the
heart of the 14 points was the idea of “peace without victory.”

Self-Determination – The right of people to choose their own form of government;
Part of Wilson’s 14 Points, argued that after the war ethnic groups in the former
German and Austro-Hungarian Empires should have the right to establish their
own independent governments and countries.

The Fourteen Points sought to fundamentally change the world by promoting openness,
encouraging independence, and supporting freedom. Critical of all secret treaties. Wilson
called for open diplomacy. He insisted on freedom of the seas, free trade, a move toward
ending colonialism, and a general reduction of armaments. In early 1919, the victorious
Allies held a peace conference in Versailles, a suburb of Paris, in the former palace of Louis
XIV. President Wilson believed that the peace conference was too important to be left to
career diplomats and lesser politicians, so he crossed the Atlantic Ocean himself to
represent the United States at the conference, something no President had ever done.

Wilson did not invite any leading Republicans to join him in his peace delegation. This
decision angered Republicans, who had won control of Congress in the 1918 elections.
However, when the American President arrived in France, adoring crowds greeted him.
“Never has a king, never has an emperor received such a welcome,” wrote one journalist.
Closure Question #2: Compare and contrast
Wilson’s 14 Points to the Treaty of Versailles. (At
least 2 sentences)

Wilson’s 14 Points: Wilson’s proposals for a truly just and lasting peace included
reaching the peace agreements openly rather than through secret diplomacy.
His proposals also included reducing armaments (military forces or weapons) to a
“point consistent with domestic safety” and ensuring self-determination (the right
of each people to have their own nation). Wilson portrayed World War I as a
people’s war against “absolutism and militarism.” These two enemies of liberty, he
argued, could be eliminated only by creating democratic governments and a
“general association of nations.” This association would guarantee “political
independence and territorial integrity to great and small states alike.”

The Treaty of Versailles: The Germans considered it a harsh peace. They were
especially unhappy with Article 231, the so-called War Guilt Clause, which
declared that Germany and Austria were responsible for starting the war. The
treaty ordered Germany to pay reparations for all damages that the Allied
governments and their people had sustained as a result of the war. The military
and territorial provisions of the Treaty of Versailles also angered Germans.
Germany had to reduce its army to 100,000 men, cut back its navy, and eliminate
its air force. Alsace and Lorraine, taken by the Germans from France in 1871, were
now returned. Sections of eastern Germany were awarded to a new Polish state.
Treaty of Versailles

Official treaty ending WWI for Germany which was signed in 1919 by
and declared that Germany was responsible for starting the war and
would have to pay reparations to the governments of the Allied
countries.

German officials soon found that the Allies were unwilling to make peace with the autocratic
imperial government of Germany. Reforms for a liberal government came too late for the tired,
angry German people. On November 3, 1918, sailors in the northern German town of Kiel mutinied.
Within days, councils of workers and soldiers formed throughout northern Germany and took over
civilian and military offices. Emperor William II gave into public pressure and left the country on
November 9. After William II’s departure, the Social Democrats under Friedrich Ebert announced the
creation of a democratic republic. Two days later, on November 11, 1918, the new-German
government signed an armistice.

The war was over, but the revolutionary forces set in motion in Germany were not yet exhausted. A
group of radical socialists, unhappy with the Social Democrats’ moderate polices, formed the
German Communist Party in December 1918. A month later, the Communists tried to seize power in
Berlin. The new Social Democratic government, backed by regular army troops, crushed the rebels
and murdered Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht, leaders of the German Communists. A similar
attempt at Communist revolution in the city of Munich, in southern Germany, was also crushed. The
new German republic had been saved. The attempt at revolution, however, left the German
middle-class with a deep fear of communism.
League of Nations

League of Nations – Part of Wilson’s 14 Points; A world organization where
countries could gather and peacefully resolve their quarrels. Though the
American President proposed the establishment of the League, the
American people refused to support U.S. involvement in the organization.

Wilson’s idealism did not inspire the other Allied leaders at the peace conference. They blamed Germany
for starting the war, reminded Wilson that they had suffered more in the war than the United States, and
insisted that Germany pay reparations. They wanted to weaken Germany so that it would never threaten
Europe again. British prime minister David Lloyd-George and French premier Georges Clemenceau knew
that the citizens of their countries expected both peace and victory. Lloyd-George insisted on protecting
the existing colonial status quo and punishing Germany. Clemenceau wanted to make Germany pay
dearly for what it had done to France. In addition to reparations, he demanded the return of AlsaceLorraine and several key German colonies.

Once the Versailles Conference began, Clemenceau, Lloyd-George, Italian Premier Vittorio Orlando, and
other Allied leaders began to chip away at Wilson’s 14 Points. Onto the scrap heap of failed proposals they
piled freedom of the seas, free trade, the liberation of colonial empires, a general disarmament, and
several other ideas. Wilson lost a number of battles but kept fighting to salvage the League of Nations. On
this point, Wilson refused to compromise. The other delegates finally voted to make the League of Nations
part of the treaty. In the end, the various peace treaties created almost as many problems as they solved.
In the new map that emerged from the conference, national self-determination was violated almost as
often as it was confirmed. In Europe, several populations of Germans found themselves attached to nonGerman nations. The same was true for several Austrian populations.
Closure Question #3: Explain why the mandate system was
created. (1 sentence) Which countries became mandates?
(At least 3) Which countries governed them? (At least 2)

After World War I, the Ottoman Empire was broken up by the
peace settlement. To gain Arab support against the Ottoman
Turks during the war, the Western Allies had promised to
recognize the independence of Arab states in the Ottoman
Empire. Once the war was over, however, the Western nations
changed their minds. France took control of Lebanon and Syria
and Britain received Iraq and Palestine.

These acquisitions were officially called mandates. Woodrow
Wilson had opposed the outright annexation of colonial
territories by the Allies. As a result, the peace settlement
created the mandate system. According to this system, a
nation officially governed another nation as a mandate on
behalf of the League of Nations but did not own the territory.
Closure Assignment #4

Answer the following questions based on what you have
learned from Chapter 29, Section 4:
1.
Although Woodrow Wilson came to the Paris Peace
Conference with high ideals, the other leaders had
more practical concerns. Why do you think that was
so? (At least 1 sentence)
2.
Compare and contrast Wilson’s 14 Points to the Treaty
of Versailles. (At least 2 sentences)
3.
Explain why the mandate system was created. (1
sentence) Which countries became mandates? (At
least 3) Which countries governed them? (At least 2)
Proletariat

“Workers”; Marxist revolutionaries within Russia in the early 1900s
believed that the industrial class of workers would overthrow the czar
and form “a dictatorship of the proletariat” to rule Russia.

After its defeat by Japan in 1905, and the Revolution of 1905, Russia was unprepared both militarily
and technologically for the total war of World War I. Russia had no competent military leaders. Even
worse, Czar Nicholas II insisted on taking personal charge of the armed forces in spite of his obvious
lack of ability and training. In addition, Russian industry was unable to produce the weapons
needed for the army. Supplies and munitions were rarely at the place where they needed to be.
Many soldiers trained using broomsticks. Others were sent to the front without rifles and told to pick
one up from a dead comrade. Given these conditions, it is not surprising that the Russian army
suffered incredible losses. Between 1914 and 1916, 2 million soldiers were killed, and another 4 to 6
million were wounded or captured. By 1917, the Russian will to fight had vanished.

An autocratic ruler, Czar Nicholas II relied on the army and bureaucracy to hold up his regime. He
was further cut off from events when a man named Grigory Rasputin began to influence the czar’s
wife, Alexandra. Rasputin gained Alexandra’s confidence through her son, Alexis, who had
hemophilia ( a deficiency in the ability of the blood to clot). Alexandra believed that Rasputin had
extraordinary powers, for he alone seemed to be able to stop her son’s bleeding. With the czar at
the battlefront, Alexandra made all of the important decisions after consulting with Rasputin. His
influence made him an important power behind the throne. Rasputin often interfered in
government affairs.

As the leadership at the top stumbled its way through a series of military and economic disasters,
the Russian people grew more and more upset with the czarist regime. Even conservative aristocrats
who supported the monarchy felt the need to do something to save the situation. First, they
assassinated Rasputin in December 1916. It was not easy to kill Rasputin. They shot him three times
and then tied him up and threw him into the Neva River. Rasputin drowned but not before he had
managed to untie the knots underwater. The killing of Rasputin occurred too late, however, to save
the monarchy.
Bolsheviks / Vladimir Lenin

Bolsheviks – A small faction of a Marxist party called the Russian
Social Democrats that, under the leadership of V.I. Lenin, became a
party dedicated to violent revolution and seized control of the
Russian government in November, 1917, renaming themselves
Communists.

Ukraine was territory originally belonging to Russia which, on March 3, 1918, was given to Germany
by Lenin in the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, which ended Russian involvement in WW1. Siberia is an East
Russian province from which an anti-Communist army attacked, almost reaching Petrograd in
1918. Lenin’s arrival in Russia opened a new stage of the Russian Revolution. Lenin maintained that
the soviets of soldiers, workers, and peasants were ready-made instruments of power. He believed
that the Bolsheviks should work toward gaining control of these groups and then use them to
overthrow the provisional government. At the same time, the Bolsheviks reflected the discontent of
the people. They promised an end to the war. They also promised to redistribute all land to the
peasants, to transfer factories and industries from capitalists to committees of workers, and to
transfer government power from the provisional government to the soviets. Three simple slogans
summed up the Bolshevik program: “Peace, Land, Bread,” “Worker Control of Production ,” and
“All Power to the Soviets.”

By the end of October, Bolsheviks made up a slight majority in the Petrograd and Moscow soviets.
The number of party members had grown from 50,000 to 240,000. With Leon Trotsky, a dedicated
revolutionary, as head of the Petrograd soviet, the Bolsheviks were in a position to claim power in
the name of the soviets. During the night of November 6, Bolshevik forces seized the Winger
Palace, the seat of the provisional government. The government quickly collapsed with little
bloodshed. This overthrow coincided with a meeting of the all-Russian Congress of Soviets, which
represented local soviets countrywide. Outwardly, Lenin turned over the power of the provisional
government to the Congress of Soviets. The real power, however, passed to a council headed by
Lenin. The Bolsheviks, who soon renamed themselves the Communists, still had a long way to go.
Lenin had promised peace; and that, he realized, would not be an easy task. It would mean the
humiliating loss of much Russian territory. There was no real choice, however.
Closure Question #1: What led to Czar Nicholas II’s
downfall? (At least 2 answers and 2 sentences)
Grigory Rasputin

“Holy Man” who gained influence over Alexandra, Czar Nicholas the
II of Russia’s wife. Alexandra believed Rasputin had supernatural
powers due to his ability to stop her son’s bleeding from hemophilia.
She consulted Rasputin about important decisions. Rasputin was
assassinated in December 1916 by conservative aristocrats who
disliked his influence over the Czarina (Russian Queen).

Petrograd (a.k.a. St. Petersburg) was the site of a massive strike and revolt by workers against the
Czar as a result of food shortages in March 1917 during WWI. The revolt led Czar Nicholas II to step
down on March 15th, ending the Romanov Dynasty. Aleksandr Kerensky was the leader of the
provisional Russian government which replaced the Czar; Kerensky’s decision to keep Russia in
WWI angered workers and peasants, leading to a second revolution in the Russian government.

At the beginning of March 1917, working-class women led a series of strikes in the capital city of
Petrograd (formerly St. Petersburg). A few weeks earlier, the government had started bread
rationing in Petrograd after the price of bread had skyrocketed. Many of the women who stood in
the lines waiting for bread were also factory workers who worked 12-hour days. Exhausted and
distraught over their half-starving and sick children, the women finally revolted. On March 8, about
10,000 women marched through the city of Petrograd demanding “Peace and bread” and
“Down with Autocracy.” Other workers joined them, and together they called for a general strike.
The strike shut down all the factories in the city on March 10.

Alexandra wrote her husband Nicholas II at the battlefront: “This is a hooligan movement. If the
weather were very cold they would all probably stay at home.” Nicholas ordered troops to break
up the crowds by shooting them if necessary. Soon, however, large numbers of the soldiers joined
the demonstrations and refused to fire on the crowds. The Duma, or legislative body, which the
czar had tried to dissolve, met anyway. On March 12, it established the provisional government,
which mainly consisted of middle-class Duma representatives. This government urged the czar to
step down. Because he no longer had the support of the army or even the aristocrats, Nicholas II
reluctatnly agreed and stepped down on March 15, ending the 300-year-old Romanov dynasty.
Provisional Government

Temporary government of Russia established in 1917 by the leaders of
the Duma, which was Russia’s version of Parliament. Alexander
Kerensky lead the new government and decided to continue fighting
in World War I, a decision which cost him the support of both soldiers
and civilians. As the war dragged on, conditions inside Russia
worsened, leading to the rise of Soviets.

The provisional government, headed by Aleksandr Kerensky, now decided to carry on the war to
preserve Russia’s honor. This decision to remain in World War I was a major blunder. It satisfied
neither the workers nor the peasants, who were tired and angry from years of suffering and wanted
above all an end to the war. The government was also faced with a challenge to its authority – the
soviets. The soviets were councils composed of representatives from the workers and soldiers. The
soviet of Petrograd had been formed in March 1917. At the same time, soviets sprang up in army
units, factor towns, and rural areas. The soviets, largely made up of socialists, represented the more
radical interests of the lower classes. One group – the Bolsheviks – came to play a crucial role.

The Bolsheviks began as a small faction of a Marxist party called the Russian Social Democrats. The
Bolsheviks came under the leadership of Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, known to the world as V.I. Lenin.
Under Lenin’s direction, the Bolsheviks became a party dedicated to violent revolution. Lenin
believed that only violent revolution could destroy the capitalist system. A “vanguard” (forefront of
activists, he said, must from a small party of well-disciplined, professional revolutionaries to
accomplish the task. Between 1900 and 1917, Lenin spent most of his time abroad. When the
provisional government was formed in March 1917, he saw an opportunity for the Bolsheviks to seize
power. In April 1917, German military leaders, hoping to create disorder in Russia, shipped Lenin to
Russia. Lenin and his associates were in a sealed train to prevent their ideas from infecting Germany.
Closure Question #2: How did the presence of
Allied troops in Russia ultimately help the
Communists? (At least 1 sentence)

Foreign armies on Russian soil enabled the Communists to appeal to
the powerful force of Russian patriotism. At one point, over 100,000
foreign troops – mostly Japanese, British, American, and French –
were stationed in Russia in support of anti-Communist forces. Their
presence made it easy for the Communist government to call on
patriotic Russians to fight foreign attempts to control the country.

By 1921, the Communists were in total command of Russia. The
Communist regime had transformed Russia into a centralized state
dominated by a single party. The state was also largely hostile to the
Allied Powers, because the Allies had tried to help the Communists’
enemies in the civil war.
Soviet / Communist Party


Soviet – Councils composed of representatives from the workers and
soldiers during WWI that challenged Kerensky’s provisional
government in 1917.
Communist Party – The Bolsheviks renamed themselves Communists,
borrowing the term created by Karl Marx to describe a classless
society that would exist after workers seized power. In 1924, the
Communists created a constitution based on socialist & democratic
principles, though in reality the party held all power.

Leon Trotsky was the Communist Commissar of War whose organizational skills and insistence of rigid discipline
enabled the Communists to maintain power despite numerous attacks by anti-Communists. During the Russian
Revolution, Trotsky & Lenin’s new government controlled the banks and most industries, seized grain from peasants,
and centralized state administration under Communist control to ensure regular supplies for the army. Many people
were opposed to the new Bolshevik, or Communist, government. These people included not only groups loyal to the
czar but also liberal and anti-Leninist socialists. Liberals often supported a constitutional monarchy, while a number of
socialists supported gradual reform. These socialists expected to work for a socialist state under more democratic
leaders than Lenin. They were joined by the Allies, who were extremely concerned about the Communist takeover.
The Allies sent thousands of troops to various parts of Russia in the hope of bringing Russia back into the war. The
Allied forces rarely fought on Russian soil, but they gave material aid to anti-Communist forces. Between 1918 and
1921, the Communist, or Red, Army fought on many fronts against these opponents.

The first serious threat to the Communists came from Siberia. An anti-Communist, or White, force attacked and
advanced almost to the Volga River before being stopped. Attacks also came from the Ukrainians and from the
Baltic regions. In mid-1919, White forces swept through Ukraine and advanced almost to Moscow before being
pushed back. By 1920, however, the major White forces had been defeated and Ukraine retaken. The next year, the
Communist regime regained control over the independent nationalist governments in Georgia, Russian Armenia,
and Azerbaijan. The royal family was another victim of the civil war. After the czar abdicated, he, his wife, and their
five children had been held as prisoners. In April 1918, they were moved to Yekaterinburg, a mining town in the Urals.
On the night of July 16, members of the local soviet murdered the czar and his family and burned their bodies in a
nearby mine shaft.
Joseph Stalin

Totalitarian dictator of Russia from 1928 until 1953. A pro-revolutionary
journalist prior to the revolution, Stalin was appointed as the general
secretary of the Communist Party by Lenin. Following Lenin’s death,
Stalin used his position to appoint thousands of regional, district, city
and town officials who were loyal to him. With their support, Stalin
forced all of his competitors, including Trotsky, out of the way either
through forced exile, imprisonment, or execution.

The Stalin Era marked the beginning of an economic social, and political revolution that was more
sweeping in its results than were the revolutions of 1917. Stalin made a significant shift in economic
policy in 1928 when he ended the NEP. That year he launched his First Five-Year Plan, emphasizing
maximum production of military equipment and capital goods. (good devoted to the production of
other goods, such as heavy machines). The plan quadrupled the production of heavy machinery
and doubled oil production. Between 1928 and 1937, during the first two Five-Year Plans, steel
production in Russia increased from 4 million to 18 million tons per year.
Closure Question #3: In your opinion, why did the Bolsheviks rename their party the
Communist Party? (At least 1 sentence)
Closure Assignment #5

1.
2.
3.
Answer the following questions based on what
you have learned from Chapter 30, Section 1:
What led to Czar Nicholas II’s downfall? (At least
2 answers and 2 sentences)
How did the presence of Allied troops in Russia
ultimately help the Communists? (At least 1
sentence)
In your opinion, why did the Bolsheviks rename
their party the Communist Party? (At least 1
sentence)
Closure Question #1: Why do you think people
supported dictatorial regimes? (At least 1 sentence)

The apparent triumph of democracy in Europe in 1919 was very short-lived. By
1939, only two major European states – France and Great Britain – remained
democratic. Italy, the Soviet Union, Germany, and many other European states
adopted dictatorial regimes. These regimes took both old and new forms. A new
form of dictatorship was the modern totalitarian state. New totalitarian regimes
pushed the central state’s power far beyond what it had been in the past. These
regimes wanted more than passive obedience. They wanted to conquer the
minds and hearts of their subjects. They achieved this goal through mass
propaganda techniques and high-speed modern communication. Modern
technology also gave totalitarian states an unprecedented ability to impose their
wishes on their subjects.

The totalitarian states were led by a single leader and a single party. They rejected
the ideal of limited government power and the guarantee of individual freedoms.
Instead, individual freedom was subordinated to the collective will of the masses.
The leader determined that collective will, however. The masses were expected to
be actively involved in achieving the state’s goals. Those goals might include war,
a socialist state, or a thousand-year empire like the one Adolf Hitler wanted to
establish.
Totalitarianism

A government which controls the political, economic, social, intellectual,
and cultural lives of its citizens.

Like other European countries, Italy experienced severe economic problems after World War I. Inflation
grew, and both industrial and agricultural workers staged strikes. Socialists spoke of revolution. The middleclass began to fear a Communist takeover like the one that had recently occurred in Russia. Industrial and
agricultural strikes created more division. From this background of widespread unrest emerged Mussolini. In
the early 1920s, Benito Mussolini set up the first European fascist movement in Italy. Mussolini began his
political career as a Socialist. In 1919 he created a new political group, the League of Combat.

By 1922, Mussolini’s movement was growing quickly. The middle-class fear of socialism, communism, and
disorder made the Fascists increasingly attractive to many people. Mussolini knew that many Italians were
still angry over the peace settlement. The failure to receive more land under the treaty was a deep source
of resentment. He knew nationalism was a powerful force and demanded more land for Italy. Mussolini
converted thousands to the Fascist Party with his nationalistic appeals. By 1922 Mussolini and the Fascists
threatened to march on Rome if they were not given power. Victor Emmanuel II, the king of Italy, gave in
and made Mussolini prime-minister.

Mussolini used his position as prime minister to create a Fascist dictatorship. New laws gave the government
the right to stop any publications that criticized the Catholic Church, the monarchy, or the state. The prime
minister was made head of the government with the power to make laws by decree. The police were given
unrestricted authority to arrest and jail anyone for either political or nonpolitical crimes. In 1926 the Fascists
outlawed all other political parties in Italy and established a secret police known as the OVRA. By the end
of the year, Mussolini ruled Italy as Il Duce, “The Leader”.
Great Purge

Launched by Joseph Stalin in 1937, the purge was a campaign of
terror directed at eliminating anyone in the Soviet Union who
threatened Stalin’s power. Thousands of old Bolsheviks stood trial and
were executed or sent to labor camps for “crimes against the Soviet
state.” Historians estimate that during this time between 8 and 13
million Russians were killed.

Stalin’s government controlled all newspapers, motion pictures, radio, and other sources of
information. Many Soviet writers, composers, and other artists also fell victim to official censorship.
Stalin would not tolerate individual creativity that did not conform to the views of the state. Soviet
newspapers and radio broadcasts glorified the achievements of communism, Stalin, and his
economic programs.

The divisions in the Politburo were further strained by an intense personal rivalry between Leon
Trotsky and Joseph Stalin. In 1924, Trotsky held the post of commissar of war. Stalin held the
bureaucratic job of party general secretary. The general secretary appointed regional, district, city,
and town party officials. Thus this bureaucratic job actually became the most important position in
the party. Stalin used his post as general secretary to gain complete control of the Communist Party.
The thousands of officials Stalin appointed provided him with support in his bid for power. By 1929,
Stalin had removed the Bolsheviks of the revolutionary era from the Politburo and had established a
powerful dictatorship. Trotsky, pushed out of the party in 1927, eventually made his way to Mexico.
There he was murdered in 1940, probably on Stalin’s orders.
Closure Question #2: How would the actions of the Great Purge increase
Stalin’s power?
Command Economy

A system in which the government made all economic decisions. Under
this system, political leaders identify the country’s economic needs and
determine how to fulfill them.

As discussed earlier, Lenin follow a policy of war communism during the civil war in Russia. The government
controlled most industries and seized grain from peasants to ensure supplies for the army. Once the war was over,
peasants began to sabotage the Communist program by hoarding food. The situation became even worse when
drought caused a terrible famine between 1920 and 1922. AS many as 5 million lives were lost. With agricultural
disaster came industrial collapse. By 1921, industrial output was only 20% of its 1913 level. Russia was exhausted. A
peasant banner proclaimed, “Down with Lenin and horseflesh. Bring back the czar and pork.” As Leon Trotsky said,
“The country, and the government with it, were at the very edge of the abyss.” In March 1921, Lenin pulled Russia
back from the abyss. He abandoned war communism in favor of his NEP. In 1922 Lenin and the Communists formally
created a new state called the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The state is also known as the USSR or as the
Soviet Union. By that time, a revived market and a good harvest had brought an end to famine. Soviet agricultural
production climbed to 75% of its prewar level. Overall, the NEP saved the Soviet Union from complete economic
disaster. Lenin and other leading Communists, however, intended the NEP to be only a temporary retreat from the
goals of communism.

Lenin died in 1924. A struggle for power began at once among the 7 members of the Poliburo. The Poliburo was
severely divided over the future direction of the Soviet Union. One group, led by Leon Trotsky, wanted to end the
NEP and launch Russia on a path of rapid industrialization, chiefly at the expense of the peasants. This group also
wanted to spread communism abroad. It believed that the revolution in Russia would not survive without other
communist states. Another group in the Politburo rejected the idea of worldwide communist revolution. Instead, it
wanted to focus on building a socialist state in Russia and to continue Lenin’s NEP. This group believed that rapid
industrialization would harm the living standards of the Soviet peasants.
Five-Year Plans


Five-Year Plans – Economic policy supported by Stalin which set
economic goals for five-year periods; Their purpose was to transform
Russia virtually overnight from an agricultural into an industrial
country.
The Stalin Era marked the beginning of an economic social, and
political revolution that was more sweeping in its results than were the
revolutions of 1917. Stalin made a significant shift in economic policy
in 1928 when he ended the NEP. That year he launched his First FiveYear Plan, emphasizing maximum production of military equipment
and capital goods. (good devoted to the production of other goods,
such as heavy machines). The plan quadrupled the production of
heavy machinery and doubled oil production. Between 1928 and
1937, during the first two Five-Year Plans, steel production in Russia
increased from 4 million to 18 million tons per year.
Closure Question #3: What was the goal of the Five-Year Plans
during the 1920s and 1930s in the Soviet Union? (At least 1 sentence)
Collective Farm

Communist Russian system in which private farms were eliminated
and the government owned all of the land. By 1934, Stalin’s
government had collectivized 26 million family farms, leading to
widespread famine which is estimated to have killed 15-17 million
people from starvation.

The social and political costs of industrialization were enormous. Little thought was given to caring for the expanded
labor force in the cities. The number of workers increased by millions between 1932 and 1940. However, total
investment in housing actually declined after 1929. The result was that millions of workers and their families lived in
miserable conditions. Real wages in industry also declined by 43% between 1928 and 1940. Strict laws even limited
where workers could move. To keep workers content, government propaganda stressed the need for sacrifice to
create the new socialist state.

Stalin’s programs had other costs as well. To achieve his goals, Stalin strengthened his control over the party. Those
who resisted were sent into forced labor camps in Siberia. Stalin’s desire to make all decisions led to purges, or
removal, of the Old Bolsheviks. These people had been involved in the early days of the movement. Between 1936
and 1938, the most prominent Old Bolsheviks were put on trail and condemned to death. During this time, a reign of
terror, Stalin purged army officers, diplomats, union officials, intellectuals, and ordinary citizens. About 8 million were
arrested. Millions were sent to labor camps in Siberia; they never returned. Others were executed.

The Stalin era also overturned permissive social legislation enacted in the early 1920s. To promote equal rights for
women, the Communists had made the divorce process easier. They had also encouraged women to work outside
the home. After Stalin came to power, the family was praised as a small collective. Parents were responsible for
teaching the values of hard work, duty, and discipline to their children.

A number of government sin the Western world were not totalitarian but were authoritarian. These states adopted
some of the features of totalitarian states, in particular, their use of police powers. However, these authoritarian
governments did not want to create a new kind of mass society. Instead, they wanted to preserve the existing social
order. At first it seemed that political democracy would become well established in eastern Europe after World War I.
Austria, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Romania, Bulgaria, and Hungary all adopted parliamentary systems.
However, authoritarian regimes soon replaced most of these systems.
Collectivization in the
U.S.S.R.
Closure Assignment #6

1.
2.
3.
Answer the following questions based on what you have
learned from Chapter 30, Section 2:
How would the actions of the Great Purge increase Stalin’s
power?
What was the goal of the Five-Year Plans during the 1920s
and 1930s in the Soviet Union? (At least 1 sentence)
Summarize Joseph Stalin’s rise to power and how his control
expanded. (At least 2 sentences)
Kuomintang

The Chinese Nationalist Party; The Kuomintang pushed for
modernization of Chinese society and, in 1911, succeeded in
overthrowing the last emperor of the Qing Dynasty.

In the early 1900s, China was ripe for revolution. China had faced years of humiliation at the hands
of outsiders. Foreign countries controlled its trade and economic resources. Many Chinese believed
that modernization and nationalism held the country’s keys for survival. They wanted to build up the
army and navy, to construct modern factories, and to reform education. Yet others feared change.
They believed that China’s greatness lay in its traditional ways.

In 1912, Sun Yixian became president of the new Republic of China. Sun hoped to establish a
modern government based on the “Three Principles of the People”. He said, “The Chinese people…
do not have national spirit. Therefore, even though we have four hundred million people gathered
together in one China, in reality, they are just a heap of loose sand.” Despite his lasting influence as
a revolutionary leader, Sun lacked the authority and military support to secure national unity. Sun
turned over the presidency to a powerful general, Yuan Shikai, who quickly betrayed the
democratic ideals of the revolution. His actions sparked local revolts. After the general died in 1916,
civil war broke out. Real authority fell into the hands of provincial warlords or powerful military
leaders. They ruled territories as large as their armies could conquer.

Revolutionary Marxism had its greatest impact in China. By 1920, central authority had almost
ceased to exist in China. Two political forces began to emerge as competitors for the right to rule
China: Sun Yat-sen’s Nationalist Party, which had been driven from the political arena several years
earlier, and the Chinese Communist Party. In 1921 a group of young radicals, including several
faculty and staff members from the Beijing University, founded the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)
in the commercial and industrial city of Shanghai. Comintern agents soon advised the new party to
join with the more experienced Nationalist Party..
Sun Yixian

The first great leader of the Kuomintang and the first president of the
new Republic of China in 1912. Sun hoped to establish a modern
governmnet based on (1) nationalism – an end to foreign control, (2)
people’s rights – democracy, and (3) people’s livelihood – economic
security for all Chinese. Despite his influence as a revolutionary
leader, Sun lacked authority and military support and, as a result, was
forced to turn over the presidency to a powerful General, Yuan Shikai,
who betrayed democratic ideals.

In 1917, the government in Beijing, hoping for an Allied victory, declared war against Germany.
Some leaders mistakenly believed that for China’s participation the thankful Allies would return
control of Chinese territories that had previously belonged to Germany. However, under the Treaty
of Versailles, the Allied leaders gave Japan those territories. When news of the Treaty of Versailles
reached China, outrage swept the country. In 1921, a group met in Shanghai to organize the
Chinese Communist Party. Mao Zedong, an assistant librarian at Beijing University, was among its
founders. Later he would become China’s greatest revolutionary leader. Mao Zedong had already
begun to develop his own brand of communism. Lenin had based his Marxist revolution on his
organization in Russia’s cities. Mao envisioned a different setting. He believed he could bring
revolution to a rural country where the peasants could be the true revolutionaries.
May Fourth Movement / Mao Zedong


May Fourth Movement – (1919) Public demonstrations in protest of the
Treaty of Versailles, which failed to restore to China possession of
German port cities. Students, workers, shopkeepers, and professionals
participated, showing commitment to the goal of establishing a
strong, modern nation.
Mao Zedong – Chinese communist organizer who, following the
Shanghai Massacre, led communists in hiding. Mao believed that a
Chinese revolution would be led by peasants in the country-side &
organized peasants in the Jiangxi Province, using guerrilla tactics to
harass Republican troops.

Sun Yat-sen, leader of the Nationalists, welcomed the cooperation. He need the expertise that the Soviet Union
could provide. His anti-imperialist words had alienated many Western powers. One English-language newspaper in
Shanghai wrote: “All his life, all his influence, are devoted to ideas that keep China in turmoil, and it is utterly
undesirable that he should be allowed to prosecute those aims here.” In 1923, the two parties – Nationalists and
Communists – formed an alliance to oppose the warlords and drive the imperialists powers out of China. For over
three years, the two parties overlooked their mutual suspicions and worked together. They formed a revolutionary
army to march north and seize control over China. This Northern Expedition began in the summer of 1926. By the
following spring, revolutionary forces had taken control of all of China south of the Chang Jiang, including the major
river ports of Wuhan and Shanghai.

Tensions between the parties eventually rose to the surface. Sun Yat-sen died in 1925, and General Chiang Kai-shek
succeeded him as head of the Nationalist Party. Chiang pretended to support the alliance with the Communists
until April 1927, when eh struck against them in Shanghai, killing thousands. After the Shanghai Massacre, the
Nationalist-Communist alliance ceased to exist. In 1928 Chiang Kai-shek founded a new Chinese republic at Nanjing.
During the next three years, he worked to reunify China. Although Chiang saw Japan as a serious threat, he
believed that the Communists were more dangerous. He once remarked that “the Communists are a disease of the
heart.”
Closure Question #1: Why did Jiang Jieshi
believe a period of political training was
necessary? (At least 1 sentence)

Even while trying to root out Mao’s Communist forces, Jiang Jieshi had been trying
to build a new Chinese nation. He had publicly declared his commitment to Sun
Yat-sen’s plans for a republican government. But first, there would be a transition
period. In Sun’s words:

“China… needs a republican government just as a boy needs school. As a
schoolboy must have good teachers and helpful friends, so the Chinese people,
being for the first time under republican rule, must have a farsighted revolutionary
government for their training. This calls for the period of political tutelage, which is
a necessary transitional stage from monarchy to republicanism. Without this,
disorder will be unavoidable.”

In keeping with Sun’s program, Jiang announced a period of political tutelage
(training) to prepare the Chinese people for a final stage of constitutional
government. Even the humblest peasant would be given time to understand the
country’s problems and the new government. In the meantime, the Nationalists
would use their dictatorial power to carry out a land-reform program and to
modernize industry.
Jiang Jieshi

Chinese nationalist who became the leader of the Nationalist Party
following the death of Sun Yat-sen in 1925. Kai-shek founded a new
Chinese republic with its capital at Nanjing which ruled China until WWII.

It would take more than plans on paper to create a new China, however. Years of neglect and civil war had severely weakened the
political, economic, and social fabric of the nation. Most of the people who lived in the countryside were drained by warfare and
civil strife. Rural peasants – up to 80% of China’s population – were still very poor and overwhelmingly illiterate. Meanwhile, a
western middle class had begun to form in the cities. Here, observers would have believed that Chiang Kai-shek had lifted China
into the modern world. Young people in the cities wore European clothes; they went to the movies and listened to the radio. It was
here in the cities that the new government of Chiang Kai-shek found most of its support.

The Westernized middle class had little in common with the peasants in the countryside. They pursued the middle-class values of
individual achievement and the accumulation of wealth. Chiang Kai-shek was aware of the problem of introducing foreign ideas
into a population that was still culturally conservative. Thus, while attempting to build a modern industrial state, he tried to bring
together modern Western innovations with traditional Confucian values of hard work, obedience and integrity. With his U.S.educated wife Meiling Soong, Chiang set up a “New Life Movement.” Its goal was to promote traditional Confucian social ethics,
such as integrity, propriety, and righteousness. At the same time, it rejected what was viewed as the excessive individualism and
material greed of Western capitalist values.

Chiang Kai-shek faced a host of other problems as well. The Nanjing government had total control over only a handful of
provinces in the Chang Jiang valley. As we shall see in the next chapter, the Japanese threatened to gain control of northern China.
The Great Depression was also having an ill effect on China’s economy.

Closure Question #2: What did Mao’s Long
March
accomplish? (At least 1 sentence)
Both Mao and Chiang knew that unless Mao’s army could cross the
Chiang Jiang River, it would be wiped out. Mao’s army began a
desperate race. Moving on foot through mountains, marshes, rivers, and
deserts, the army traveled almost 6,000 miles, averaging 24 miles a day,
to reach the last surviving Communist base in northwest China. All along,
those miles, Mao’s troops had to fight Chiang’s army. The Long March
was physically demanding, zigzagging through mountains and marshes. It
took over a year. Only one-tenth of the troops reached their destination
in northern China.
 Despite the great difficulty of the journey, the Long March was crucial for
the Communists, because it helped build support among the Chinese
people. Unlike the Nationalist soldiers, who often acted rudely and stole
from the peasants, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) soldiers followed
Mao’s instructions to treat the peasants with respect. Their behavior
helped the PLA gain the support of the masses, which would prove to be
key to eventual victory. Mao Zedong’s leadership during the Long March
also helped establish him as the clear leader of the Communists. In
January 1935, the Red Army arrived in Zunyi. Soon, the Chinese
Communist Party held a conference and elected Mao as party leader.
Long March

After 3 years of bloody civil war, Jieshi’s Nationalist Army, made up of
700,000 men, surrounded Zedong’s Red Army, only 100,000 men
strong, in the mountains of Southern China. The Communists were
forced to flee, embarking on a 6,000 mile journey from 1934 to 1935.
On the march north thousands died from cold, exposure, starvation,
and battle wounds. Zedong and his surviving followers settled in caves
in northwestern China and gained new followers while Jieshi’s
Nationalist Army was forced to respond to Japanese attacks in the
east.

In 1931, as Chinese fought Chinese, the Japanese watched the power struggle with rising interest.
Japanese forces took advantage of China’s weakening situation. They invaded Manchuria, an
industrialized province in the northeast part of China. In 1937, the Japanese launched an all-out
invasion of China. Massive bombings of villages and cities killed thousands of Chinese. The
destruction of farms caused many more to die of starvation. By 1938, Japan held control of a large
part of China. The Japanese threat forced an uneasy truce between Jiang’s and Mao’s forces. The
civil war gradually ground to a halt as Nationalists and Communists temporarily united to fight the
Japanese. The National Assembly further agreed to promote changes outlined in Sun Yixian’s “Three
Principles of the People” – nationalism, democracy, and people’s livelihood.

1.
2.
3.
4.
•
Closure Question #3: List Jiang Jieshi’s successes
during the 1930s. (Give at least 3)
In spite of problems, Jiang did have some success:
He undertook a massive road-building project and repaired and
extended much of the country’s railroad system as well. More than 50,000
miles of highways were built around and thought the coastal areas.
New factories, most of which the Chinese owned, were opened.
Through a series of agreements, the foreign powers ended many of their
leases, gave up extraterritorial rights, and returned the customs service to
Chinese control.
Jiang also established a national bank and improved the education
system.
In other areas, Jiang was less successful and progress was limited. A landreform program was enacted in 1930, but had little effect. Because
Chiang’s support came from the rural landed gentry, as well as the urban
middle class, he did press for programs that would lead to a redistribution
of wealth. For the peasants and poor townspeople, there was no real
improvement under the Nanjing government. The government was also
repressive. Fearing Communist influence, Chiang suppressed all
opposition and censored free speech. In doing so, he alienated many
intellectuals and political moderates.
Closure Assignment #7

1.
2.
3.
Answer the following questions based on what
you have learned from Chapter 30, Section 3:
Why did Jiang Jieshi believe a period of political
training was necessary? (At least 1 sentence)
What did Mao’s Long March accomplish? (At
least 1 sentence)
List Jiang Jieshi’s successes during the 1930s.
(Give at least 3)
Rowlatt Acts / Amritsar Massacre

Rowlatt Acts (1919) – Laws which allowed the British government in
India to jail protesters without trial for as long as two years. To Westerneducated Indians, many of who had fought for Great Britain during
World War I, denial of a trial by jury violated their individual rights.

Amritsar Massacre (1919) – To protest the Rowlatt Acts, 10,000 Hindus
and Muslims gathered at the city of Amritsar to fast, pray, and listen to
political speeches. The British commander of the city believed the
protesters were only defying British law and, without warning, ordered
his troops to fire on the crowd. Officials reports showed that nearly 400
Indians died and 1,200 were wounded.

Until World War I, the vast majority of Indians had little interest in nationalism. The situation changed
as over a million Indians enlisted in the British army. In return for their service, the British government
promised reforms that would eventually lead to self-government. In 1918, Indian troops returned
home from the war. They expected Britain to fulfill its promise. Instead, they were once again
treated as second-class citizens. Radical nationalists carried out acts of violence to show their
hatred of British rule. To curb dissent, in 1919 the British passed the Rowlatt Acts.
Closure Question #1: What changes resulted from the Amritsar massacre? (At least 1
sentence)
Mohandas K. Gandhi

“Great Soul”, Indian people referred to Mohandis Gandhi using this title out of
respect for his leadership of non-violent protests against British rule in the early
1900s.

Gandhi left South Africa in 1914. When he returned to India, he organized mass protests against British laws. A
believer in non-violence, Gandhi used the methods of civil disobedience. In 1919 British troops killed hundreds of
unarmed protesters in Amritsar, in northwestern India. Horrified at the violence, Gandhi briefly retreated from active
politics, but was later arrested and imprisoned for his role in protests. In 1935 Britain passed the Government of India
Act. This act expanded the role of Indians in governing. Before, the Legislative Council could only give advice to the
British governor. Now, it became a two-house parliament, and two-thirds of its Indian members were to be elected.
Similar bodies were created at the provincial level. Five million Indians (still a small percentage of the population)
were given the right to vote.

The Indian National Congress (INC), founded in 1885, sought reforms in Britain’s government of India. Reforms,
however, were no longer enough. Under its new leader, Motilal Nehru, the INC wanted to push for full
independence. Gandhi, now released from prison, returned to his earlier policy of civil disobedience. He worked
hard to inform ordinary Indians of his beliefs and methods. It was wrong, he said, to harm any living being. Hate
could only be overcome by love, and love, rather than force, could win people over to one’s position.

Nonviolence was central to Gandhi’s campaign of noncooperation and civil disobedience. To protest unjust British
laws, Gandhi told his people: “Don’t pay your taxes or send your children to an English-supported school… Make
your own cotton cloth by spinning the thread at home, and don’t buy English-made goods. Provide yourselves with
home-made salt, and do not by government-made salt. Britain had increased the salt tax and prohibited the
Indians from manufacturing, or harvesting their own salt. In 1930 Gandhi protested these measures. Accompanied
by supporters, he walked to the sea on what became known as the Salt March. On reaching the coast, Gandhi
picked up a pinch of salt. Thousands of Indians followed his act of civil disobedience. Gandhi and many other
members of the INC were arrested.
Closure Question #2: How did Gandhi’s methods for achieving his
nationalist goals differ from those of many other revolutionaries? (At least
1 sentence)
We generally think of revolutions and independence movements
as being violent. Yet Mohandas Gandhi, leader of India’s
independence movement, used a nonviolent approach – civil
disobedience – to protest British control in India.
 Gandhi’s methods included boycotts of British goods and
institutions as well as prolonged fasting (giving up food) to draw
attention to issues. These protests eventually led to
independence for India – and inspired civil rights leaders
throughout the world.
 In 1930 Gandhi launched a protest to oppose the British Salt Acts.
These laws made it illegal to prepare salt from seawater, which
would deprive the British government of tax revenue from its
monopoly of the sale of salt. Gandhi set out with 78 followers for
the coast to collect seawater to make salt. The British jailed
Gandhi and more than 60,000 of his followers. Yet the protesters
had sent a powerful message to the British. A year later, the
government agreed to negotiate with Gandhi as the
representative of the Indian National Congress.

Civil Disobedience / Salt March

Civil Disobedience – Refusal to obey laws considered to be unjust.

Salt March (1930) – To show their opposition to British laws which required
Indians to purchase their salt only from the British government and to pay
taxes on salt purchases, Gandhi and his followers walked 240 miles to the
seacoast where they made their own salt. The march sparked similar
protests throughout India. British police officers used violence to break-up
the protests and about 60,000 people ,including Gandhis, were arrested.

In the 1930s, Jawaharlal Nehru entered the movement. The son of Motilal Nehru, Jawaharlal studied law in
Great Britain. He was a new kind of Indian politician – upper class and intellectual. The independence
movement split into two paths. The one identified with Gandhi was religious, Indian, and traditional. The
other, identified with Nehru, was secular, Western, and modern. The two approaches created uncertainty
about India’s future path. In the meantime, another problem had arisen in the independence movement.
Hostility between Hindus and Muslims had existed for centuries. Muslims were dissatisfied with the Hindu
dominance of the INC and raised the cry “Islam is in danger.” By the 1930s, the Muslim League was under
the leadership of Mohammed Ali Jinnah. The league believed in the creation of a separate Muslim state of
Pakistan (“the land of the pure”) in the northwest.
Mustafa Kemal

“Father Turk”; Turkish Colonel who helped establish the independent
nation of Turkey in 1923, driving out Greek and Ottoman soldiers. Kemal
led the establishment of a non-religious, European-style government,
ending Islamic rule in Turkey.

While Turkey, Iran, and Saudi Arabia emerged as modern states, tensions mounted between the Jewish and Muslim inhabitants
in Palestine. President Kemal was now popularly known as Ataturk, or “Father Turk.” Over the next several years he tried to
transform Turkey into a modern state. A democratic system was put in place, but Ataturk did not tolerate opposition and
harshly suppressed his critics. Ataturk’s changes went beyond politics. Many Arabic elements were eliminated from the Turkish
language, which was now written in the Roman alphabet. Popular education was introduced. All Turkish citizens were forced to
adopt family (last) names, in the European style. Ataturk also took steps to modernize Turkey’s economy. Factories were
established, and a five-year plan provided for state direction over the economy. Ataturk also tried to modernize farming,
although he had little effect on the nation’s peasants. Perhaps the most significant aspect of Ataturk’s reform program was his
attempt to break the power of the Islamic religion. He wanted to transform Turkey into a secular state – a state that rejects
religious influence on its policies. Ataturk said, “Religion is like a heavy blanket that keeps the people of Turkey asleep.”

The caliphate was formally abolished in 1924. Men were forbidden to wear the fez, the brimless cap worn by Turkish Muslims.
When Ataturk began wearing a Western panama hat, one of his critics remarked, “You cannot make a Turk into a Westerner by
giving him a hat.” Women were forbidden to wear the veil, a traditional Islamic custom. New laws gave women marriage and
inheritance rights equal to men’s. In 1934 women received the right to vote. All citizens were also given the right to convert to
other religions. The legacy of Kemal Ataturk was enormous. In practice, not all of his reforms were widely accepted, especially
by devout Muslims. However, most of the changes that he introduced were kept after his death in 1938. By and large, the
Turkish Republic was the product of Ataturk’s determined efforts.
Closure Question #3: How did World War I create an atmosphere for political change in
India and Southwest Asia? (At least 1 complete sentence)
Closure Assignment #8
Answer the following questions based on what
you have learned from Chapter 30, Section 4:
1. What changes resulted from the Amritsar
massacre? (At least 1 sentence)
2. How did Gandhi’s methods for achieving his
nationalist goals differ from those of many other
revolutionaries? (At least 1 sentence)
3. How did World War I create an atmosphere for
political change in India and Southwest Asia?
(At least 1 complete sentence)
