The Transformation of the World Economy-
The aftermath of World War II was very different. The capitalists were in conflict, led by the United States, were determined to avoid any return to such depression-era conditions. Technology also contributed to the acceleration of economic globalization. Containerized shipping, huge oil tanks, and air express services lowered transportation costs, while fiber-optic cables and later the internet provided the infrastructure for communication and global interaction. While, in the developing countries, population growth, especially when tied to growing economies and modernizing societies, further fueled globalization as dozens of new nations entered into he world economy.
The kind of economic globalization taking shape in the 1970s and after was widely known as neoliberalism. Major capitalist countries i.e. the United States and Great Britain abandoned many earlier political controls on economic activity as their leaders approach to the world economy favored the reduction of tariffs, the free global movement of capital, a mobile and temporary workforce, the privatization of many state run enterprises , and the governmental efforts to help regulate the economy.
Growth, Instability, and Inequality-
The impact of the economic links has prompted enormous debate and controversy. In the swirl of things, one thing that seemed reasonably clear: economic globalization accompanied, and arguably helped generate, the most remarkable spurt of economic growth in world history. What's far more problematic have been the instability of this emerging world economy and the distribution of the wealth it has generated.
Overall, the economic growth, periodic crisis, and setbacks have shaped world history. The Great Depression clearly illustrated the consequences of global connectedness in the absence of global regulation than the worldwide economic contradiction that began in 2008.
Globalization and the American Empire-
The U.S. global presence might be seen as an "informal empire," similar to the ones that Europeans exercised in China and the Middle East during the nineteenth century. In both cases, economic penetration, political pressure, and periodic military action sought to create societies and governments compatible with the values and interests of the dominant power, but without directly governing large populations for long periods.
With the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the cold war by the early 1990s, U.S. military dominance was unchecked by any equivalent power. When the United States was attacked by Islamic militants on September 11, 2001, that power was unleashed first against Afghanistan (2001), which had sheltered the al-Queda instigators of that attack, and then against Iraq (2003), where Saddam Hussein allegedly had been developing weapons of mass destruction.
Tuesday, April 25, 2017
Monday, April 24, 2017
Chapter Twenty-Two: The End of Empire
Hello Historians,
Overview-
During the 1900s, European empires in Africa and Asia were permanent features of the world's political landscape. Before the end of the twentieth-century, they disappeared. The major breakthrough occurred in Asia and in the Middle East in the late 1940s, when the Philippines, India, Pakistan, Burma, Indonesia, Syria, Iraq, Jordan, and Israel achieved independence.
The End of Empire in World History-
The process was the latest case of imperial dissolution, something that had overtaken earlier empires, including those of the Assyrians, Romans, Arabs, and Mongols. But never before had the end of empire been associated with the mobilization of masses around a nationalist ideology; nor had these earlier cases generated a cause for nation-states, each claiming an equal place in a world of nation-states. More comparable was the first decolonization, in which the European colonies in the Americas threw off British, French, Spanish, or Portuguese rule during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century. Like the earlier counterparts, the nations of the twentieth century have claimed an international "status" that was matched up to their former rulers (i.e. Europeans) However, in the Americas many, many of the people who were colonized were of some European descent, sharing much of their culture and colonial rule.
To much to their dismay, the African and asian struggles were very different. While in the Americas, the natives had it a little easier than most native people, the natives in Africa and Asia, because they not only asserted political independence, but also they retained the vital-ness of their cultures. Empires without territories, made a powerful impact and influence on the United States. An intrusive U.S. presence was certainly one factor that stimulated the Mexican Revolution, which began in 1910.
Explaining African and Asian Independence-
When the twentieth century came to a close, the end of European empires seemed almost an inevitable phenomenon, for colonial rule had lost any credibility as a form of political order. One approach of explaining the end of the colonial empires, which primarily focused its attention on fundamental contradictions in the entire colonial enterprise. At the same time, social and economic circumstances that were within the colonies generated the human raw material for the anti colonial movements. By the early twentieth century in Asia and the mid-twentieth century in Africa, there became a second and third generation of Western educated elites, mainly men, they had risen throughout the colonial world.
The men were very familiar with European culture and their intention of spreading the european culture throughout the world. These men were deeply aware of the HUGE gap between the values and its practices; thus, making it no longer the main point for colonial rule.
These pressures became increasingly large in size and scale, it put colonial rulers on their defenses. As the twentieth century continued, the colonial rulers began to plan their tactics; hoping to form some new political relationship with their Asian and African counterparts. The colonies had been integrated in to a global economic network and local elites were largely committed to maintaining those ties.
The Case of South Africa: Ending Apartheid-
South Africa's freedom struggle was very different from that of India. In the twentieth century, that struggle was not waged against an occupying European colonial power, for South Africa had in fact been independent of Great Britain since 1910. Independence, however, had been granted to the government that has been controlled by a white settling minority, which represented less than 20 percent of the total population. The country's black African minority had no political rights whatsoever within the central state. Black South Africans' struggle therefore was against this internal opponent rather than against a distant colonial authority. Economically, the most prominent whites were of British descent. They or their forebears had come to South Africa during the nineteenth century, when Great Britain was the ruling colonial power.
The politically dominant section of the white community, known as Afrikaners,was descended from the early Dutch settlers, who had arrived in the mid-seventeenth century. The term "Afrikaner" reflected their image of themselves as "white Africans," permanent residents of the continent rather than colonial intruders.
Overview-
During the 1900s, European empires in Africa and Asia were permanent features of the world's political landscape. Before the end of the twentieth-century, they disappeared. The major breakthrough occurred in Asia and in the Middle East in the late 1940s, when the Philippines, India, Pakistan, Burma, Indonesia, Syria, Iraq, Jordan, and Israel achieved independence.
The End of Empire in World History-
The process was the latest case of imperial dissolution, something that had overtaken earlier empires, including those of the Assyrians, Romans, Arabs, and Mongols. But never before had the end of empire been associated with the mobilization of masses around a nationalist ideology; nor had these earlier cases generated a cause for nation-states, each claiming an equal place in a world of nation-states. More comparable was the first decolonization, in which the European colonies in the Americas threw off British, French, Spanish, or Portuguese rule during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century. Like the earlier counterparts, the nations of the twentieth century have claimed an international "status" that was matched up to their former rulers (i.e. Europeans) However, in the Americas many, many of the people who were colonized were of some European descent, sharing much of their culture and colonial rule.
To much to their dismay, the African and asian struggles were very different. While in the Americas, the natives had it a little easier than most native people, the natives in Africa and Asia, because they not only asserted political independence, but also they retained the vital-ness of their cultures. Empires without territories, made a powerful impact and influence on the United States. An intrusive U.S. presence was certainly one factor that stimulated the Mexican Revolution, which began in 1910.
Explaining African and Asian Independence-
When the twentieth century came to a close, the end of European empires seemed almost an inevitable phenomenon, for colonial rule had lost any credibility as a form of political order. One approach of explaining the end of the colonial empires, which primarily focused its attention on fundamental contradictions in the entire colonial enterprise. At the same time, social and economic circumstances that were within the colonies generated the human raw material for the anti colonial movements. By the early twentieth century in Asia and the mid-twentieth century in Africa, there became a second and third generation of Western educated elites, mainly men, they had risen throughout the colonial world.
The men were very familiar with European culture and their intention of spreading the european culture throughout the world. These men were deeply aware of the HUGE gap between the values and its practices; thus, making it no longer the main point for colonial rule.
These pressures became increasingly large in size and scale, it put colonial rulers on their defenses. As the twentieth century continued, the colonial rulers began to plan their tactics; hoping to form some new political relationship with their Asian and African counterparts. The colonies had been integrated in to a global economic network and local elites were largely committed to maintaining those ties.
The Case of South Africa: Ending Apartheid-
South Africa's freedom struggle was very different from that of India. In the twentieth century, that struggle was not waged against an occupying European colonial power, for South Africa had in fact been independent of Great Britain since 1910. Independence, however, had been granted to the government that has been controlled by a white settling minority, which represented less than 20 percent of the total population. The country's black African minority had no political rights whatsoever within the central state. Black South Africans' struggle therefore was against this internal opponent rather than against a distant colonial authority. Economically, the most prominent whites were of British descent. They or their forebears had come to South Africa during the nineteenth century, when Great Britain was the ruling colonial power.
The politically dominant section of the white community, known as Afrikaners,was descended from the early Dutch settlers, who had arrived in the mid-seventeenth century. The term "Afrikaner" reflected their image of themselves as "white Africans," permanent residents of the continent rather than colonial intruders.
Tuesday, April 11, 2017
Chapter Twenty-One: The Rise and Fall of World Communism
Hello Historians,
Overview-
A major theme of jokes about communism involved a lot of hypocrisy of its system that promised equality and an abundance for all but delivered an uncertain economic life for the great privileges for the few. The growing belief in the ability or willingness of the communist regime to provide a fairly decent lifestyle for its people was certainly an important factor in the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the end of communism in the land of its birth.
Global Communism:
Nowadays modern communism four its political and philosophical roots in the nineteenth-century European socialism, that inspired the teaching of Karl Marx. Even though most European socialists came to believe that they could achieve their goals peacefully and through the democratic process, those who defined themselves as communists in the twentieth century tarnished such reformism and advocated uncompromising revolution as the only possible route to a socialist future. Russia or the U.S.S.R, was the first country to experience such a revolution.
One-third of the population have lived in the societies that were governed and ruled under communist rule. The significant presence of communism was in fact the Soviet Union (Russia) and following in second place was China. Throughout the years, communism remained the powerhouse for both Russia and China, even today in some parts of Russia and in some parts of China, communism is still prevalent. Mongolia was another asian country to be infiltrated by communist rule. It somehow got involved with the Russian Revolution in 1924.
Russia: Revolution in a single year:
After the events of WW1 there came immense pressure. This pressure of WW1 made the Russians looked really bad. Back in Russia many, many wives of Russian soldiers broke bread in St. Petersburg for demonstrating a way for peace. With this ongoing action for peace, many activities from various parties decided to take the opportunity upon themselves and participate in this peace gathering by publishing newspaper, recruiting members for their party and even plotted another revolution. This so called "propaganda," forced Tsar Nicholas II to be dethroned, because of the lost support he received. This historic event thus opened a door for social upheaval. Many soldiers were seeking an end to this war that caused Russia to be tarnished,which would take years for them to live up to anyone's standards. Through this bitter time also caused a tremendous upheaval towards the elite-class. This was the social revolution, and it quickly demonstrated the ill attempt of helping by the Provisional Government, which came to power after the tsar was de-throned.
Communist Feminism:
The most earliest and most revolutionary actions of the century and that was relatively new to the communist regimes were efforts of liberating and mobilizing women in the women force. In 1919, a special party organization emerged called Zhenotdel it formed to be a Women's Department, whose radical leaders, all women, pushed a feminist "agenda," during the 1920s. This particular group for women organized various conferences, trained women to run day-care centers and medical clinics, published newspapers and magazines aimed at a female audience. This organization also provided literacy and prenatal classes, and encouraged Muslim women to take off their veils. Still, during this time communist-style women's liberation had limits like everything else.
Living in fear of the "women question" some believed that it would distract them from the male emphasis on industrial production, Stalin declared it "solved" in 1930.
Socialism in the Courtyard:
In a HUGE effort to build socialism, both the Soviet Union and China first appropriated their landlords' estates and redistribute their land on a more adorable basis to the lower-class. These actions, that were actions of clear revolutionary basis, were not socialists, for peasants initially received their land as private property. In Russia, the peasants had redistributed their lands among each other, and the Bolsheviks ratified their actions. Meanwhile, in China after 1949, land reform was a more prolonged and tedious process. Trained teams were dispatched to the newly liberated areas, where they mobilized the poorer peasants in thousands of separate villages to confront and humiliate the landlords or the more wealthy peasants.
Overview-
A major theme of jokes about communism involved a lot of hypocrisy of its system that promised equality and an abundance for all but delivered an uncertain economic life for the great privileges for the few. The growing belief in the ability or willingness of the communist regime to provide a fairly decent lifestyle for its people was certainly an important factor in the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the end of communism in the land of its birth.
Global Communism:
Nowadays modern communism four its political and philosophical roots in the nineteenth-century European socialism, that inspired the teaching of Karl Marx. Even though most European socialists came to believe that they could achieve their goals peacefully and through the democratic process, those who defined themselves as communists in the twentieth century tarnished such reformism and advocated uncompromising revolution as the only possible route to a socialist future. Russia or the U.S.S.R, was the first country to experience such a revolution.
One-third of the population have lived in the societies that were governed and ruled under communist rule. The significant presence of communism was in fact the Soviet Union (Russia) and following in second place was China. Throughout the years, communism remained the powerhouse for both Russia and China, even today in some parts of Russia and in some parts of China, communism is still prevalent. Mongolia was another asian country to be infiltrated by communist rule. It somehow got involved with the Russian Revolution in 1924.
Russia: Revolution in a single year:
After the events of WW1 there came immense pressure. This pressure of WW1 made the Russians looked really bad. Back in Russia many, many wives of Russian soldiers broke bread in St. Petersburg for demonstrating a way for peace. With this ongoing action for peace, many activities from various parties decided to take the opportunity upon themselves and participate in this peace gathering by publishing newspaper, recruiting members for their party and even plotted another revolution. This so called "propaganda," forced Tsar Nicholas II to be dethroned, because of the lost support he received. This historic event thus opened a door for social upheaval. Many soldiers were seeking an end to this war that caused Russia to be tarnished,which would take years for them to live up to anyone's standards. Through this bitter time also caused a tremendous upheaval towards the elite-class. This was the social revolution, and it quickly demonstrated the ill attempt of helping by the Provisional Government, which came to power after the tsar was de-throned.
Communist Feminism:
The most earliest and most revolutionary actions of the century and that was relatively new to the communist regimes were efforts of liberating and mobilizing women in the women force. In 1919, a special party organization emerged called Zhenotdel it formed to be a Women's Department, whose radical leaders, all women, pushed a feminist "agenda," during the 1920s. This particular group for women organized various conferences, trained women to run day-care centers and medical clinics, published newspapers and magazines aimed at a female audience. This organization also provided literacy and prenatal classes, and encouraged Muslim women to take off their veils. Still, during this time communist-style women's liberation had limits like everything else.
Living in fear of the "women question" some believed that it would distract them from the male emphasis on industrial production, Stalin declared it "solved" in 1930.
Socialism in the Courtyard:
In a HUGE effort to build socialism, both the Soviet Union and China first appropriated their landlords' estates and redistribute their land on a more adorable basis to the lower-class. These actions, that were actions of clear revolutionary basis, were not socialists, for peasants initially received their land as private property. In Russia, the peasants had redistributed their lands among each other, and the Bolsheviks ratified their actions. Meanwhile, in China after 1949, land reform was a more prolonged and tedious process. Trained teams were dispatched to the newly liberated areas, where they mobilized the poorer peasants in thousands of separate villages to confront and humiliate the landlords or the more wealthy peasants.
Thursday, April 6, 2017
Chapter Twenty: Collapse at the Center
Hello Historians,
Chapter 20: Collapse at the Center, is an overview of what important events happened. For instance, the war that still has an impact on today's society, is the first World War: European Civilization in Crisis, which took place in 1914 to 1918. During this period, Europe had an ever-growing prominent position on the global scale, they were driven by its growing military capacity and the wonders of its Scientific and Industrial Revolutions. This situation provided the foundation for the European pride, self-confidence, and sense of superiority. Only few have imagined that this "ivory tower" of European dominance would burn to the ground more than a century later.
Legacies of the Great War:
The "Great War" demolished almost all expectations. Most Europeans believed in the summer of late 1914, but instead the war was relentlessly tackled by German occupation. At the beginning, most of the military experts expected a war of movement and attack, but it toned down on the western front into a war of attrition, in which "trench warfare" resulted in HUGE casualties while gaining or losing only a few miles of muddy, blood drenched ground. However, the aftermath of the war brought substantial, social and cultural changes to the environment. Thus, assuring the ever growing cities in Europe and America.
Capitalism Unraveling: The Great Depression:
Explaining its onset, its widespread from America to Europe and so forth, and its continuation for a decade has been a difficult task for people to dissolve. The tensions of the Depression era often found political expression in Latin America in the form of military takeover of the state. Such governments sought to stir their countries away from an earlier dependence on exports towards more independent countries for them to generate more industries within their own country.
The Fascist Alternative in Europe:
In 1919 and 1945, a brand new political ideology (fascism) found its expression and influence throughout Europe. With their ideas, fascism consider themselves as being nationalistic, their mission was seeking to purify and maintain their nation and were hopeful to mobilize its people to prepare them fro a bigger plan in its scheme. Small movements (fascists) has come up in many Western European countries, that included France, Great Britain, and even in the Netherlands. Both Conservative and Authoritarian regimes that took place in Latin America sometimes adopted the same ideas the same as fascism.
Benito Mussolini (1883-1945) was a very charismatic man and a former journalist with a socialist background. The help of the private military that was made up of former veterans and jobless men (Black Shirts), Mussolini came to power in 1922, hoping for a more alternative to both communism and bad democratic rule.
Hitler and the Nazis:
Adolf Hitler (1889-1945). Just like Italy and its regime, Germany's similar ideas were similar to that of its counterpart. Openly nationalistic, it advocated the use of violence as a political tool, generated a single party dictatorship. Furthermore, they were led by charismatic leaders, which they despised parliamentary democracy, that hated communism, and viewed war as a positive and eye-opening experience. This happen to be the book in which Adolf hitler's National Socialist (Nazi Party) gained growing public support. The (Nazi Party) was founded shortly after the end of WW1, that party under Hitler's leadership gave way a new era, a new message of intense German nationalism cast in terms of racial superiority, bitter hatred for Jews; considering them to be an alien presence, and their passionate opposition to the Nazi regime, hence, their determination to rescue Germany from the humiliating requirements of the Treaty of Versailles, and the willingness to tackle the country's problems.
Chapter 20: Collapse at the Center, is an overview of what important events happened. For instance, the war that still has an impact on today's society, is the first World War: European Civilization in Crisis, which took place in 1914 to 1918. During this period, Europe had an ever-growing prominent position on the global scale, they were driven by its growing military capacity and the wonders of its Scientific and Industrial Revolutions. This situation provided the foundation for the European pride, self-confidence, and sense of superiority. Only few have imagined that this "ivory tower" of European dominance would burn to the ground more than a century later.
Legacies of the Great War:
The "Great War" demolished almost all expectations. Most Europeans believed in the summer of late 1914, but instead the war was relentlessly tackled by German occupation. At the beginning, most of the military experts expected a war of movement and attack, but it toned down on the western front into a war of attrition, in which "trench warfare" resulted in HUGE casualties while gaining or losing only a few miles of muddy, blood drenched ground. However, the aftermath of the war brought substantial, social and cultural changes to the environment. Thus, assuring the ever growing cities in Europe and America.
Capitalism Unraveling: The Great Depression:
Explaining its onset, its widespread from America to Europe and so forth, and its continuation for a decade has been a difficult task for people to dissolve. The tensions of the Depression era often found political expression in Latin America in the form of military takeover of the state. Such governments sought to stir their countries away from an earlier dependence on exports towards more independent countries for them to generate more industries within their own country.
The Fascist Alternative in Europe:
In 1919 and 1945, a brand new political ideology (fascism) found its expression and influence throughout Europe. With their ideas, fascism consider themselves as being nationalistic, their mission was seeking to purify and maintain their nation and were hopeful to mobilize its people to prepare them fro a bigger plan in its scheme. Small movements (fascists) has come up in many Western European countries, that included France, Great Britain, and even in the Netherlands. Both Conservative and Authoritarian regimes that took place in Latin America sometimes adopted the same ideas the same as fascism.
Benito Mussolini (1883-1945) was a very charismatic man and a former journalist with a socialist background. The help of the private military that was made up of former veterans and jobless men (Black Shirts), Mussolini came to power in 1922, hoping for a more alternative to both communism and bad democratic rule.
Hitler and the Nazis:
Adolf Hitler (1889-1945). Just like Italy and its regime, Germany's similar ideas were similar to that of its counterpart. Openly nationalistic, it advocated the use of violence as a political tool, generated a single party dictatorship. Furthermore, they were led by charismatic leaders, which they despised parliamentary democracy, that hated communism, and viewed war as a positive and eye-opening experience. This happen to be the book in which Adolf hitler's National Socialist (Nazi Party) gained growing public support. The (Nazi Party) was founded shortly after the end of WW1, that party under Hitler's leadership gave way a new era, a new message of intense German nationalism cast in terms of racial superiority, bitter hatred for Jews; considering them to be an alien presence, and their passionate opposition to the Nazi regime, hence, their determination to rescue Germany from the humiliating requirements of the Treaty of Versailles, and the willingness to tackle the country's problems.
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