ERA 4 (Unit 7)

Question 1

Which countries saw dramatic shifts in power in the early 20th century?

Answer 1

The authoritarian governments of Russia, China, Mexico, &the Ottoman Empire were brought down by revolutions.

Question 2

What happened in the Revolution in Russia?

Answer 2

It was a successful communist revolution led by Vladimir Lenin and his Bolshevik party.

Question 3

What happened in the Revolution in China?

Answer 3

Long standing tensions between the Manchurian Qing and the Han Chinese finally came to an end in a revolution to establish a more democratic form of government led by Sun Yat-sen. This led to the formation of the Chinese Republic in 1912.

Question 4

What happened in the Revolution in Mexico?

Answer 4

President Porfiro Diaz, whose reforms had mostly helped the elites leaving a huge gap between the rich and the landless peasants, was taken down in a revolt by Madero. Madero was subsequently assassinated which led to further socialist reforms.

Question 5

What happened in the Revolution in the Ottoman Empire?

Answer 5

Viewed as the “Sick Man of Europe” the Ottoman Empire had suffered a series of military defeats and a sinking economy by the 19th century. They had attempted to fix some of this with the Tanzimat reforms but they didn’t go far enough. The Young Turks rose to power advocating a Constitutional Government that was brought into reality in 1923 by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

Question 6

What were the MAIN causes of World War I?

Answer 6

Militarism: The massive building of armies and navies, led by Britain and Germany. Alliances:Countries across Europe had created two primary defensive alliances in the 19th century, the triple entente (France, Britain and Russia) and the triple alliance (Germany, Austria, and Italy). Because blame for the war was unclear, all powers went to war under the guise of defending their allies. During the war the names of the alliances changed. The triple entente became the allies. The triple alliance became the central powers.Imperialism:There were bitter rivalries among European countries created by the competition to grab lands in Africa and Asia.Nationalism: The feeling that one’s country was the best and others were not led people to feel that they could win any war

Question 7

What was the spark that started World War I?

Answer 7

Serbian nationalists killed the Archduke of Austria-Hungary, which led to the alliances kicking in.

Question 8

What is a total war?

Answer 8

All resources of a given state, including civilians and manufacturing, were marshalled in service of the war effort?

Question 9

How did changes in technology make this war different from all that had come before it?

Answer 9

WWI was the bloodiest war the world had ever seen. The addition of modern weapons like machine guns, and poison gas, plus the use of trench warfare led to a stalemate and a war of attrition (both sides just trying to wear each other down).

Question 10

What is propaganda and how was it used in World War I?

Answer 10

Propaganda is when the government shares information that is highly biased & often misrepresents facts to create a strong emotional response. Propaganda in WWI demonized the enemy and kept people strongly behind the war effort.

Question 11

What was the outcome of World War I and what was the treaty that ended it?

Answer 11

The Allies won and the Central Powers lost. The Treaty of Versailles ended the war.

Question 12

What did the treaty do to the losing party?

Answer 12

The War Guilt Clause forced Germany to take full responsibility for the war. They also had to pay reparations (payment for damage). Additionally, they had to surrender valuable lands to the winners, including all of their colonial holdings.

Question 13

What happened to Germany’s economy after World War I?

Answer 13

With their industrial capacity diminished and billions of dollars in reparations to pay, their economy spiraled into hyper-inflation (this means that their money, the German Mark, was severely devalued). This led to a lot of suffering for average Germans.

Question 14

What was the Great Depression and why did it have a world wide effect?

Answer 14

The Great Depression began in the United States when the stock market crashed in 1929. Because the world economy was deeply intertwined the impact soon became global.

Question 15

What kinds of steps were taken by the United States to counteract the Great Depression?

Answer 15

Inspired by economist John Maynard Keynes, American president Franklin Delano Roosevelt started spending borrowed money to put Americans back to work on infrastructure and other public projects. The belief was that this would jumpstart the economy.

Question 16

What did government intervention in the Soviet Economy look like?

Answer 16

Before the Great Depression, Lenin witnessed the almost total collapse of the Soviet economy. He implemented the New Economic Policy which allowed some free market capitalism into Russia to revive the economy. Stalin, who became the leader after Lenin’s death, started a series of Five Year Plans which increased government spending to industrialize the Soviet Union and collectivize its farms.

Question 17

What is Fascism? Where did it begin?

Answer 17

Fascism began in Germany and Italy. It is a form of government that is highly authoritarian, extremely nationalistic, and promotes heavy government intervention ineconomics.

Question 18

What policy of government intervention in the economy was used by fascist states?

Answer 18

Corporatism is the economic policy of fascism that means that every sector of the economy was understood as a separate entity, but ultimately serving the state.

Question 19

How did Adolf Hitler try to fix Germany’s economy?

Answer 19

He cancelled payment of reparations and violated the Treaty of Versailles by directing government spending to build upthe military.

Question 20

What was the expectation of colonized countries who had fought for their colonizer in World War I?

Answer 20

They expected a path to independence: decolonization. This did not happen.

Question 21

What movements began in India to press for independence?

Answer 21

Indians formed the Indian National Congress (INC) to formally present their complaints to the British Parliament. Mohandas Gandhi became the leader of this movement and led people in civil disobedience against unjust British laws.

Question 22

What were the causes of World War II?

Answer 22

German resentment of the Treaty of Versailles, worldwide economic depression, and the rise of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in Germany.

Question 23

When did World War II officially begin in Europe?

Answer 23

In 1939 when the Nazis invaded Poland because of their desire to expand for “lebensraum” or “living space.” Britain and France had said they would defend Poland if this happened, so the war began.

Question 24

When did World War II begin in the Pacific?

Answer 24

In 1937, Japan launched a full scale invasion of China as part of it’s imperial efforts.

Question 25

How was World War II similar to World War I?

Answer 25

Both were total wars.

Question 26

How was World War II similar to World War I?

Answer 26

Both were total wars.

Question 27

What were the alliances in World War II?

Answer 27

Axis Powers: Germany, Italy & Japan.Allied Powers: France, Great Britain, Russia, and the United States (the US officially entered in 1941 with the Bombing of Pearl Harbor)

Question 28

What happened during the Armenian Genocide?

Answer 28

In 1914 the Ottoman government accused the Christian Armenian population living within their borders of colluding with the Russians. They forced the Armenians into concentration camps where they died of starvation and disease. However, the Ottomans also burned Armenians alive, gassed them in primitive gas chambers, and drowned them. In total they killed between 600,000 and 1.5 million Armenians in their policy of ethnic cleansing.,

Question 29

What happened during the Holocaust?

Answer 29

Hitler tried to blame the troubles of Germany on its Jewish population due to his anti-Semitism. He felt they were contaminating the purity of the German race. Inspired by the way the world had largely ignored the Armenian Genocide, he started his ownpolicy of extermination. Jews were sent to concentration camps like Dachau and Auschwitz to be put to hard labor. But as the war continued Hitler enacted his “Final Solution” and killed six-million Jews in a variety of ways including the use of gas chambers.