Global Conflict beyond 1900 Flashcards

Question

How did conflicts over territory, or regional conflicts, combined with a flawed alliance system, contribute to the start of World War I?

Answer 1

A regional conflict could escalate to include other nations due to secret alliances and secret diplomacy. **World War I has often been viewed as a war that could have been prevented had more dialogue about areas of conflict among nations. This is the main reason why the League of Nations will be created after the war is over, so as to prevent a regional conflict from escalating into a global one.**

Answer 2

When a country devotes all of the nation's resources and attention to fighting a war.

Answer 3

Propaganda is art, usually sponsored by a government, encouraging people to act in ways that are supportive of that government. ## Footnote ***Throughout all of the 1900s and in all of the World Wars, governments across the political spectrum, democracies and fascist regimes alike, will use art to persuade billions of people to obey government laws, even those that limit freedoms, to help the government achieve its goals.***

Answer 4

Because wartime technology, such as machine guns, had forced the creation of new strategies, such as trench warfare, to avoid machine-gun fire. The technological advancement of new weapons, such as the machine gun, capable of shooting 500 bullets every minute, was used in the global conflict after 1900.

Answer 5

Gas was weaponized in a variety of formats. Gas was first used in World War I on the battlefield, and despite the Geneva convention in the 1920s making it illegal, it was used again through Zyklon B during the Holocaust of World War II. It has been used many times since World War II, and its usage is typically the hallmark of governments, trying to intimidate their citizens into submission. Democracies use tear gas, and dictatorships, such as that Bashar al Assad of Syria, use Chlorine gas.

Answer 6

In both global conflicts, factories that produced consumer goods were converted into war factories, increasing employment, especially among women, altering society's view of a woman's "traditional role". In both global conflicts, media was censored in the name of national security during wartime, and food was rationed during wartime among the population, so as to save food for the troops on the frontline.

Answer 7

Britain's naval supremacy enabled the country to blockade Germany, cutting Germany off from shipments of food and medical supplies from neutral countries, such as the United States. Britain kept up the blockade even after the Germans surrendered, only lifting it after the Treaty of Versailles was signed.

Answer 8

In 1917, Germany sent a message to Mexico, asking them to join World War 1 on behalf of Germany, in order to attack the United States, and if they won the war, Mexico would get the land back that they lost during the Mexican American War.

Answer 9

Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare, and Germany made no secret about willing to recruit countries to attack the United States, such as Mexico in the Zimmerman Telegram. ## Footnote ***Germany's position on submarine warfare was that because England had been blockading German merchant ships from trading with the United States, Germany had no choice but to try and disrupt Anglo-American trade routes, so as to weaken England.***

Answer 10

The Fourteen Points were Wilson's attempt to make clear that American entry into the First World War was for a moral cause and to ensure a just postwar peace. The Fourteen Points included freedom of the seas, ethnic self-determination, and free trade. The Fourteen Points encouraged the Germans to believe that the Allies would provide a just settlement of the war. In surrendering, Germany specifically accepted the terms as the basis of a postwar settlement, only to see the points mostly ignored in the Treaty of Versailles.

Answer 11

Germany was given no input into the Treaty of Versailles, much of which violated the spirit of Wilson's Fourteen Points. Especially troublesome was the "war guilt" clause, which stated that the Germans accepted full and complete blame for starting the War; the Germans felt that there was more than enough blame to go around. Germany initially refused to sign the treaty but eventually signed it because they were threatened with more violence if they did not.

Answer 12

Because for the previous 400 years, European countries had gone around the world, taking land from other people in the form of colonies, so as to extract resources and people, so as to make Europeans incredibly wealthy, at the expense of other nations. When World War I and World War II in Europe happened, it dragged nations of people from all around the world, because many of these nations were under the political control of European colonizers, who refused to give political freedom to the peoples that desired it.

Answer 13

A strong Japanese desire for imperial expansion is why the United States was attacked. **Japan's** **strong desire for imperial expansion was formed when the United States**, in 1853-1854, **forced Japan, at gunpoint, to allow American merchants to do business in Japan**.

Answer 14

Japan saw what the West was doing to China, and did not want the same humiliation done to Japan. To defend their honor they secured raw materials, such as coal and iron, which were essential to the long-term survival of the Japanese people and their culture. ## Footnote ***The only way Japan thought they could beat the Western powers was at their own game. So Japan industrialized its economy and created a western-style constitution. Japanese victories over the Russians and Chinese reaffirmed their belief that copying the West was the best approach.***

Answer 15

Nationalist movements emerged as a result of the failure of nations in the West to honor their promises, which were supposed to give freedom and political independence to the nations of colonized people in Africa and Asia. These nationalist movements wanted a country of their own without foreign interference.

Answer 16

Western powers had promised their colonized people that if colonized peoples fought to defend the motherland, they would earn their freedom and political independence. After World War I, the various European colonizer states, as well as the United States, refused to give independence to their colonies in Africa and Asia.

Answer 17

Only European nations. Nations in Africa and Asia were deemed inferior, and incapable of self-rule, due to the fact that they were not of white European descent.

Answer 18

In 1919, troops under the order of the British colonial government in India fired on peaceful Indian citizens who had gathered there to protest the arrest of two of their comrades. As a result of the massacre around 350 people died, and hundreds more were wounded. ***The protests were formed as a result of the arrest of two Indian freedom fighters. Indian Nationalists had gone to peacefully protest their arrest, but such gatherings, even if peaceful, were deemed illegal by the British colonial government.***

Answer 19

He encouraged them to use acts of non-violence and civil disobedience. ## Footnote ***One such movement was the homespun movement, which encouraged Indians to make their own clothes.***

Answer 20

It encouraged the use of homemade clothing to protest the injustice of the British colonial textile industry in India, which exploited Indian labor and resources to make a profit for wealthy industry owners. ## Footnote ***Cotton was grown in India, but shipped to Britain in order to make clothes. Once those clothes were made, the British shipped them back to India and sold them at inflated costs back to the Indian people.***

Answer 21

They feared that the Hindu majority of India would take away the rights of the Muslim minority in India, due to the Hindu-Muslim rivalry that had been in India since the time of the Delhi Sultanate.

Answer 22

Japan invaded Korea, forcing the Korean Emperor Kojong to sign a treaty allowing the Japanese to use Korea as a military base, so as to be able to attack Russia easier.

Answer 23

They made Korea a protectorate, which means that Japan controls Korea. Korea has "freedom" but if Korea does something that Japan doesn't like, Korean rulers may face severe consequences.

Answer 24

The death of Emperor Kojong, who died under mysterious circumstances. ## Footnote ***It was widely believed that the Japanese had poisoned the emperor at the time. As a result of the demonstrations, thousands were killed, over ten thousand wounded, and tens of thousands of Korean citizens were arrested.***

Answer 25

Although it was started because western allies from World War 1 failed to honor their commitments to China about returning stolen land taken by Germany, broadly speaking, the **people who participated in the May 4th movement desired political independence** from European powers and a return to Chinese rule for Chinese people.

Answer 26

They were nationalist movements in Asia that desired political independence from colonizers.

Answer 27

A communist leader who thought China's best chance at preserving Chinese culture and political freedom was by embracing Communism. He is considered the father of Chinese Communism and is credited with helping Communism thrive in China.

Answer 28

They led the anti-communist forces in China. Sun Yat-Sen was the main leader of anti-communist forces and when he died, Chiang Kai-Shek took over. It was under the leadership of Chiang Kai-Shek when Civil War broke out in China between Mao's Communist forces and the anti-communists under Chiang Kai-Shek.

Answer 29

In China in the early 1920s, the Communists under Mao Zedong and the Nationalists under Sun Yat-Sen (and after his death Chiang Kai-Shek) were the most powerful Chinese parties. Both parties combined to drive out warlords and foreign powers from China and by 1927 had succeeded in establishing control over all of China south of the Yangtze River.

Answer 30

In 1927, Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-Shek decided to seize control of all of China. He slaughtered thousands of Communist troops in Shanghai and marched on Beijing, which he captured in 1928. Mao's Communist troops were driven into northern China, a trek known as the "Long March." From northern China, Mao kept up a civil war against the Nationalists.

Answer 31

In 1937, Japan attacked mainland China, leading to a three-way conflict between the Japanese, Chinese Communists, and Chinese anti-communists.

Answer 32

The phrase "Asia for the Asians" ostensibly meant the expulsion of all Western colonies from Asia, but in reality was a Japanese call for the replacement of the Western powers with Japanese dominance. In the late 1930s, Japan announced plans for the "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere," a Japanese empire that would stretch from Southeast Asia through China and Japan itself.

Answer 33

Nanjing ## Footnote In 1937, the Japanese invaded China and by December had laid siege to Nanjing. The Japanese ruthlessly slaughtered civilians and raped at least 20,000 innocent people.

Answer 34

The Muslim League. Although India has had a long historical tradition of Muslims and Hindus co-existing peacefully, the Indian National Congress and the Muslim League found little in common other than the removal of Britain from India.

Answer 35

Germans were incensed at the Treaty of Versailles. They resented the clause that fastened the First World War's guilt solely on Germany and felt it unduly harsh given that by the War's end there was not a single Allied soldier in German territory. Other sources of irritation included German territory that had been given to Poland and the large reparations payments.

Answer 36

In 1919, Germany became a republic. The new government was a semi-presidential system in which power was divided between a popularly elected president, the cabinet headed by a chancellor and responsible to the parliament, and a two-chambered parliament. This republic is known as the Weimar Republic from the town in which the new government first sat.

Answer 37

The Stab-in-the-Back myth was popularized by German conservatives in the 1920s and 1930s and contended that it was not battlefield defeat that led to Germany losing World War I. Instead, it was the actions of German liberals on the Home Front. German politicians such as Hitler also tied the Stab-in-the Back myth to the activities of purportedly disloyal German Jews during the war.

Answer 38

Adolf Hitler ## Footnote The National Socialist Party, better known as the Nazi Party, had the support of popular German hero Erich Ludendorff. The Putsch (German for a sudden attempt to overthrow the government) failed and Hitler was arrested and charged with high treason. During the trial, German newspapers reported Hitler's testimony, enabling him to reach a wide audience with his ideas. Given a short sentence in comfortable quarters at Landsberg Prison, Hitler used his time to compose his book *Mein Kampf.*

Answer 39

The reparations demand required payment in gold or non-German currency and was far more than the entirety of Germany's gold and non-currency holdings. To meet the demand, Germany began printing vast sums of money with which to purchase foreign currency. Hyperinflation set in and the German mark (the form of German currency before the euro) fell from 8.4 marks to the dollar in 1921 to 4.2 trillion marks to the dollar in 1924.

Answer 40

When Germany proved unable to make its 1922 reparations payment, French and Belgian forces occupied Germany's Ruhr Valley, where much of Germany's heavy industry took place.

Answer 41

In 1925, the leaders of many European countries met at Locarno in Switzerland to discuss lingering territorial disagreements from the Treaty of Versailles. While the Locarno treaties guaranteed Western European borders, they effectively ignored Eastern European borders that were viewed by the countries of Germany and Eastern Europe as being subject to potential revision. As a further consequence of Locarno, international relations with Germany were normalized and she was invited to join the League of Nations.

Answer 42

It reduced the amount of money paid in reparations from Germany to a more reasonable amount.

Answer 43

Fascism escapes easy definition, but it generally refers to a nationalist authoritarian regime opposed to both Marxism and capitalism. Instead of either, fascism advocates an economic policy of corporatism, where employers and employees form syndicates that are joined together and guided by the government to advance national economic policies and production.

Answer 44

Benito Mussolini rose to power in the early 1920s by promoting fascist solutions for Italy's problems. Mussolini appealed to Italian nationalism, promised to restructure the Italian army, and to revitalize the Italian economy by promoting syndicates between workers and capitalists guided by the Italian government. Mussolini proved popular on both sides of the Atlantic during the 1920s and early 1930s; several of his ideas were adopted by members of the Roosevelt Administration.

Answer 45

In October 1922, Benito Mussolini's National Fascist Party marched on Rome led by Mussolini's band of enforcers, the Blackshirts. As the march approached Rome, Prime Minister Luigi Facta had resigned and King Vittorio Emanuele III named Mussolini as the head of government.

Answer 46

In 1933, Hindenburg named Hitler Chancellor. In two elections in 1932, the Nazi Party had done well, gaining above 30% in each election. When Hindenburg named Hitler as Chancellor in 1933, Hitler immediately dissolved the Reichstag for the third time in less than 18 months and called for yet another round of elections to be held on March 5, 1933. Through an alliance with a smaller political party, the Nazi Party gained a majority of seats in the Reichstag.

Answer 47

Reichstag ## Footnote The burning of the Reichstag building was likely done under orders from the Nazis. By July 1933, Hitler had convinced Hindenburg to allow him to pass laws without consulting the Reichstag. Hitler dissolved all political parties by July; the Nazis were fully in control of the entire country.

Answer 48

Totalitarianism is a form of government in which the government controls all aspects of society. Totalitarian governments are usually headed by a leader who relies on charisma and brute force to control the activity of the citizenry.

Answer 49

In 1933, Hitler withdrew Germany from the League of Nations.

Answer 50

In 1935, Germany began to rearm, developing tanks, planes, and submarines.

Answer 51

Announced during the Nazi Party's rally in the German city of Nuremberg, the Nuremberg Laws removed the citizenship of all German Jews and prohibited all marriages and sexual intercourse between Jews and Germans.

Answer 52

In 1935, Italy attacked Ethiopia. Both countries were members of the League of Nations. Yet other than protest, the other members of the League did nothing, a failure of the League's principle of collective security. Ethiopia's fellow League members hoped that by appeasing Mussolini's desire for conquest, they would appease him.

Answer 53

During the 1930s, American foreign policy was profoundly isolationist. ## Footnote Isolationism is a foreign policy under which one isolates one's country from economic and diplomatic relations with other countries. Isolationists typically devote their entire efforts to their own internal advancement.

Answer 54

In 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union signed a 10-year non-aggression pact. In addition to agreeing not to declare war on each other for 10 years, the two countries divided Poland and much of Eastern Europe.

Global Conflict beyond 1900 Flashcards

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