Ap Global Midterm Review

Global Midterm review

* Changes to map of Europe after WWI/WWII- new countries formed
After WWI
Only two completely new countries in Europe were formed after WW1 - Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia. Poland, which had been wiped off the map in 1795, was revived. The Baltic republics - Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania asserted their independence. Romania doubled in size.

After WWII
To a great extent, no new countries were formed after World War II. Most of these changes occurred in the East. Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, only just winning independence after WWI were erased as independent states and became part of the Soviet Union. Poland's borders were moved eastward to include only the "corridor" from before the war but also parts of East Prussia, Pomerania, and Silesia, though they also lost the eastern parts of their country to the Soviet Union. Austria and Czechoslovakia, states created by the end of WWI but annexed to Nazi Germany in the 1930s reappeared, though Czechoslovakia was firmly under Soviet domination and the Austrians were forced to remain neutral during the growing Cold War. In Europe the only country divided was Germany.

* Conservatism in western politics
Conservatives, such as Austria’s Prince Klemens von Metternich, were bent on maintaining the sanctity of traditional political institutions, particularly the monarchy. It was also their goal to maintain a balance of power in Europe in order to ensure a permanent peace.

* Welfare state
Welfare State and Consumer Society
A. The motives for the welfare state 1. protection against depression and political extremism 2. the argument for social justice
B. Features of the welfare state 1. support ‘from cradle to grave’ 2. educational and cultural opportunities
C. The growth of consumer society 1. a new standard of living 2. materialism and hedonism 3. the end of public life?

* Nuclear umbrella
Nuclear umbrella refers to a guarantee by a nuclear weapons state to defend a non-nuclear allied state.

* Germany after World War II
At the end of the war, Germany was basically divided into 4 sections, each one under the control of one of the Allied powers; The United States, England, France, and Russia. Berlin was divided as well. After a period of rebuilding and reorganization, the sections under the control of the United States, England, and France were returned to the control of the German government. Russia retained control over its section and brought it under the fold of the newly formed USSR. This resulted in the Berlin Wall, and the separate countries of East Germany and West Germany. Following the fall of communism and the breakup of the USSR in the 1980's, Germany reunified.

* Marshall plan * Proposed to rebuild the continent in the interest of political stability and a healthy world economy * viewed as a vehicle for American economic dominance

* Iron Curtain * a term coined by Winston Churchill to describe the boundary that separated the Warsaw Pact countries from the NATO countries from about 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991 * was both a physical and an ideological division that represented the way Europe was viewed after World War II

* Soviet control over Eastern Europe
Between 1945 and 1949 Stalin created a Russian empire in Eastern Europe. This empire included Poland, Hungary, Rumania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia and East Germany. Each had a Communist government. In the West they were called satellites because they clung closely to the Soviet Union like satellites round a planet. Stalin was able to create this empire for a number of reasons. The first was the military might of the Soviet Union in Europe after 1945. Another reason for the spread of Communism after the war was the gratitude of many Eastern Europeans for their liberation from Nazism. This, and the often-appalling conditions at the end of the war, played into the hands of east European communist parties, which were, of course, backed by Stalin and the Soviet Union.

* Decolonization after World War II
After WWII Europe tried to reassert its colonial dominance over Africa and the Far East. At the same time national movements grew strong in those colonies. Europe soon realized that they would be unable to physically control the colonies without massive military occupation forces. This was impossible both in economic and political terms. As a result the colonial powers began a staged withdrawal of physical control but maintained economic ties. While these new countries were 'independent' their formal colonial masters still had much control over the country. * Impact of World War II on international trade
The conclusion of World War II spurred efforts to correct the problems stemming from protectionism, which had increased since 1871, and trade restrictions, which had been imposed between World Wars I and II. The resulting multilateral trade agreements and other forms of international economic cooperation led to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and laid the foundation for the World Trade Organization (WTO).

* Impact of World War II on civilian population
-One of the most distressing impacts that war has on civilians is the frequent removal of their basic human rights
-Huge civilian casualties on front line and bombing attacks
-gave people the physiological hope to become as powerful as Hitler did

* Consequences of industrialization in the 1800s
- Mass migration of people from the land to the cities.
-Massive building of below standard accommodation, built cheaply, to accommodate them
-Massive increase in childhood mortality due to injuries at work, cruelty, the spread of disease, rat population increase, alcohol use and casual neglect of children due to both parents working.
-Expansion of the coal industry to include women and children working down the mines.
-Exploitation of cheap child labor
-Poor diet due to low wages and the collapse of the agricultural economy due to lack of laborers
-Slavery in the UK to plug the gaps of missing workers
-War with France had been ongoing from the late 18th century and was a massive drain on the economy.
-The start of the National Debt to pay for the war and the introduction of taxes on booze, tobacco etc.
-Explosion in smuggling to counteract the tax increases. * NATO/Warsaw Pact
NATO- North Atlantic Trade Organization -led by US; maintain adequate military strength and political unity to deter aggression and other forms of military or political pressure; aimed at a relaxation of tensions between East and West - a policy based to a large extent on general military strength. Warsaw Pact -led by USSR; a military treaty, which bound its signatories to come to the aid of the others, should any one of them be the victim of foreign aggression.

* Congress of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna was convened in 1815 by the four European powers, which had defeated Napoleon. The first goal was to establish a new balance of power in Europe, which would prevent imperialism within Europe, such as the Napoleonic Empire, and maintain the peace between the great powers. The second goal was to prevent political revolutions, such as the French Revolution, and maintain the status quo.

* Political ideologies: Conservatives Liberals socialist radicals
Conservatism
* a political and social philosophy that promotes retaining traditional social institutions
Liberalism
* a political ideology, a branch of liberalism which advocates civil liberties and political freedom with limited government under the rule of law and generally promotes a laissez-faire economic policy
Socialism
* an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and co-operative management of the economy
Radicalism
* sought republicanism, abolition of titles, redistribution of property and freedom of the press

* Demographic transition after industrialization * dramatic changes in population growth and life expectancy driven by changes in the underlying factors that explain them: fertility increased and mortality decreased

* Karl Marx – father of socialism and communism
Marx's ideas were that of pure equality. He wanted a world where everyone was equal. His theories, while impractical because of the nature of man, were truly "good". His ultimate goal was to eradicate poverty.

* Opium war – example of resistance to imperialism

* Motives For Imperialism
1.) Economic - motives included the desire to make money, to expand and control foreign trade, to create new markets for products, to acquire raw materials and cheap labor, to compete for investments and resources, and to export industrial technology and transportation methods.

2.) Political- motives were based on a nation's desire to gain power, to compete with other European countries, to expand territory, to exercise military force, to gain prestige by winning colonies, and to boost national pride and security.

3.) Religious- motives included the desire to spread Christianity, to protect European missionaries in other lands, to spread European values and moral beliefs, to educate peoples of other cultures, and to end slave trade in Africa.

4.) Exploratory- motives were based on the desire to explore unknown or uncharted territory, to conduct scientific research, to conduct medical searches for the causes and treatment of diseases, to go on an adventure, and to investigate unknown lands and cultures.

* Impact of imperialism/colonization * large numbers of people were forced into slavery or the system of indentured laborers, and vast areas of natural habitats were cleared and converted to monocultural plantations. * the export of Western values - resource exploitation, consumerism and materialism to the colonies