Overview of 1914 to present AP World History

1. Overview of 1914 to presentAP World History Exam Review

2. CCOT papers • Learn the mnemonic device (periodization charts.) • To show change, you must describe what it was like at the beginning of the period and the end, as well as the events that brought about change. Don’t simply describe the entire period. • Use words that show change (declined, increased, transformed, changed) and that show continuity (remained, continued, etc.) • Don’t just throw out facts if you aren’t pretty sure about them. It makes it sound like you don’t know what you are talking about.

3. Periods • 3500 B.C.E. to 500 B.C.E. Early Civilizations or Complex Societies • 500 B.C.E. to 600 C.E. Classical Societies • 600 C.E. to 1450 C.E. Post Classical Period • 1450-1750 – European Exploration and Global Contact • 1750-1914 – Revolution, Industrialization, Imperialism, and Nationalism • 1914-Present – War, Globalization of Economy, Contradiction

4. Global Power and International Relations • After 1914, Europe’s position was weakened by World War I, but it retained its position for three more decades. • The U.S., after World War I, became the world’s richest and most powerful nation. • World War II completed the process of dismantling Europe. • World War II left the world divided between two super powers, the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. This became known as the Cold War.

5. Global Power and International Relations • The interwar years were marked by economic crisis or the Great Depression • This period also saw the emergence of powerful, repressive dictatorial regimes, such as Soviet Russia, Fascist Italy, and Nazi Germany. • These totalitarian dictatorships aimed to control as many aspects of their subjects’ lives as possible. • Between the world wars, democracies tended to be politically weak and economically depressed.

6. Global Power and International Relations • From the 1940’s to the 1970’s, there was a mass wave of decolonization. This deprived the European powers of their empires. • Dozens of new nations formed. • The terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, has sharpened tensions between the developed West and the Islamic world, especially the Middle East.

7. Important Political Developments • The level of popular representation in national governments grew in many countries, especially in Western nations. • Women gained the vote in most Western nations. • The most dynamic governments of the interwar period were the new totalitarian dictatorships which aimed to control as many aspects of their subjects lives as possible. • Soviet Russia, Nazi Germany, and Fascist Italy.

8. Important Political Developments • After World War II and during the Cold War, the primary form of political and economic organization in the West was the democratic state with a capitalist system. • A number of regimes, led by the Soviet Union and China, adopted communist economic systems. Their political systems tended to be dictatorial. • During the late 1980’s and early 1990’s communism collapsed in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. This left China as the world’s major communist state.

9. Important Economic Developments • A number of countries experimented with communist economies (the Soviet Union, then after World War II, Eastern Europe, China, North Korea, Cuba, and Vietnam) • After World War II, a great split occurred between the capitalist West and the communist Soviet bloc. This split prevailed until the end of the Cold War. • After the 1950’s and 1960’s, Western economies began to move from industrial economies to postindustrial economies. • Post industrial economies are based less on manufacturing and more on service, information, and advanced technology.

10. Important Economic Developments • During the 1970’s, a general economic crisis, characterized by energy (especially oil) shortages, recession, unemployment and general slowdown struck most of the capitalist West. • The 1980’s and 1990’s were a time of prosperity in Western economies and China. The Soviet bloc experienced a severe economic downturn during this time. • The collapse of communism in Eastern Europe and the USSR forced a number of countries to move from communism to free market economies.

11. Gender Issues • Because large numbers of women moved into the work place, World War I greatly accelerated the cause of women’s equality. • Most Western nations gave women the vote shortly after World War I. • The development of contraceptives gave women with access to it unprecedented control over pregnancy.

12. Causes of WWI • Nationalism • Alliances • Imperialism • Militarism

13. Long Term Consequences of WWI • Destruction of Eastern and Central European empires, i.e. Germany, Austro-Hungary, Russia, and the Ottomans • In Russia, the tsarist regime was replaced by the communist Soviet Union. • Instability in Eastern Europe. Most nations experienced economic difficulties, became politically authoritarian, and suffered from ethnic tension.

14. Long Term Consequences of WWI • Further industrialization and modernization of European economies. • Women’s suffrage • German resentment • Sense of uncertainty and anxiety in European culture.

15. Interwar Period • During the 1920’s peace prevailed in Europe but it was shaky. • From 1919-1922, there were revolutions, civil wars, and military clashes in Germany, Russia, Poland, Hungary, and the Balkans. • European democracy did not flourish during the 20’s or 30’s. • In 1920 there were 23 democratic governments in Europe. In 1939, there were only 12. Most of these were in Eastern Europe. Why? • Mass unemployment and inflations made it difficult to maintain a healthy form of government.

16. Authoritarian Regimes: Soviet Union • When the tsarist regime of Nicholas II fell in 1917, the provisional government tried to solve Russia economic problem and establish a democratic government. • 85% of the population were peasants were looking for economic stability and land reform and were not hopeful about the new government. • The party that benefit most from popular discontent were the Communists, or Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin.

17. Authoritarian Regimes: Soviet Union • From 1921 til his death in 1924, Lenin attempted to modernize the Soviet Union along Marxist lines. • After Lenin died in 1924, Stalin became one of the most brutal dictators of all time. • His Five Year Plan intended to move the Soviet Union from an agricultural society into a modern industrial state. • The collectivization of agriculture placed all peasants on state-run farms and increased government control. • Collectivization resulted in Great Famine in southern Russia and killed 4-6 million people.

18. Authoritarian Regimes: Fascism in Italy • Benito Mussolini • His style of rule was totalitarianism, a 21st century form of dictatorship in which the regime, using modern technology and bureaucracy, attempts to control every aspects of its subjects’ lives. • Compared with other totalitarian rulers, it was mild. • Mussolini modernized Italy in spite of his dictatorial tendencies.

19. Dictatorship in Latin America • World War I increased the U.S. role in Latin America’s political and economic life. • The United Fruit Company and other U.S. corporations became major forces in Latin America. • During the Great Depression, the U.S. was unable to purchase Latin American goods, causing economic pain in Latin America. • Latin American governments moved toward extremism and dictatorship, i.e. Cuba, Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina.

20. Decolonization

21. 1940-1970 • After the 1940’s and 1950’s, the U.S., Canada, western Europe, and Japan became even more innovative in technology and science. • The moved into “postindustrial modes” of economic organization. These societies became known as the developed world. • A majority of the world’s nations were known as the non-developed world or “Third World.”

22. 1980 to 2000 • During the 1980’s and 1990’s communism collapsed in Europe and the U.S.S.R. • This ended the Cold War. • These decades also saw a wave of democratization in many parts of the world. • The 1980’s and 1990’s also witnessed globalization of the world economy and the meeting and mixing of ethnicities and traditions. • Mass Communication made the world much smaller.

23. 21st Century • A Time of Uncertainty • Efforts to Reduce Nuclear Arms Build-up • Economic Globalization • Worldwide prevalence of American popular culture • Spread of mass communications and computer technology • Ethnic violence and Genocide • Extreme Forms of nationalism, religious fundamentalism, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. • The Current Economic Crisis