The Ultimate Guide to World History

Chapter 22 In Africa, countries began to overthrow their European rule. After getting independence, these countries had to deal with divisions in their population, building the economy and stabilizing politics. Toward Freedom During the twentieth century, many empires fell after the world wars and when Africa and Asia fought for their independence. Empires began to fall after the wars which weakened Europe and discredited their moral superiority. The United Nations allowed countries to speak out against colonial rule. Veterans, educated people and workers who were being exploited put pressure on colonial rule. Europeans began to change relationship with their colonies so that they could still gain profit but without colonial governments. This was done through elections, writing constitutions and building railroads and ports. Comparing Freedom Struggles In India, Gandhi began leading protests against the British after experiencing racial segregation in South Africa. He rose up to l...

Chapter 21 Places like Russia, China and Cuba took on communism because it promised freedom from inequality, oppression and exploitation. Communism posed a threat to capitalism and democracy in the West. It started an arms race between the U.S and Russia. Global Communism Countries underwent revolutions to become communists. As the Soviets and the Vietnamese took over other areas, communism’s influence spread. Communist parties formed in governments like U.S, Philippines and Malaysia generating fear and causing crackdowns by those governments. Russia joined Eastern European communist countries in the Warsaw Pact and Russia and China formed an alliance in 1950 with the Treaty of Friendship. Revolutions as a Path to Communism World War I made many of the lower class in Russia unhappy forcing them to organize into parties and overthrowing the elites. Soldiers abandoned their posts, trade unions were created, organizations called soviets arises to speak for the working class, peasants...

Nuremberg Laws It was interesting how the citizenship law made Jews adopt the status of their grandparents even if they themselves had adopted Christianity or married someone who was Christian. The equivalent of that would be if U.S citizens took on the status of their grandparents making them immigrants which is completely ridiculous. Citizenship could only be proved through a citizenship certificate which is similar to how U.S immigrants have to get a certificate in order to get citizenship. I could see how much the Germans despise Jews when I read about the law that prohibited them from marrying Christians because they considered it race defilement. Their argument for forbidding those types of marriages was for ensuring the survival of the German people. It's kind of similar to how interracial marriage was illegal in the U.S before the 1900s and it was also punishable by a prison sentence. Even when it was made legal it was still looked down on by some people. Both countries di...

Chapter 20 World War I was essentially a civil war between Europe and resulted in the Great Depression, the rise of Nazi Germany and World War II. After the war, Europe was able to come together to form a union and the new superpower of the West was the United States. European Civilization in Crisis When the Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated by a Serbian nationalist, two alliances came clashing towards one another. Other factors that came into play was a growing sense of nationalism and the fact that European states wanted to test out their war plans and weapons. Europe drew in the rest of the world through its colonial connections. Troops and resources were taken from colonies and battles were sometimes fought abroad. The war dragged on for much longer than anyone expected resulting in high casualties. The Treaty of Versailles put an enormous burden on Germany which would eventually lead to another war. Many new states were formed but it also marked the end for the Ottoman ...

Chapter 19 During the 1800s, the British sold addictive opium to the Chinese. China's interaction with Britain allowed them to engage in European culture and modernity. Aside from dealing with the West, China, Latin America and Japan had internal issues. China's Century of Crisis While China was a successful state, they were able to limit the import of European goods. However, as their state collapsed, they became reliant on Europe. The increase in population and little wealth and resources were factors in China's decline. The ineffectiveness of government officials and military pressure from the West led to peasant rebellions. The Taiping Uprising sought to change China to an industrialized society and give more equality to women. However, divisions in leadership allowed government forces to take down the rebellion. This civil conflict took a huge toll on the economy and resulted in millions of lost lives. The West found a market for opium in China as opium had to be sm...

Chapter 18 Industry and Empire The need for raw materials and to sell their own products pushed Europeans toward imperialism. A growing sense of nationalism also played a role in Europe’s struggle for colonies as they were symbols of power. During this period of industrialization, Europeans began seeing themselves as superior to other people as Europe became more wealthy and more powerful. This idea of superiority made them believe that they were destined to dominate over the inferior people. A Second Wave of European Conquests Europeans sometimes had to use military force to take over an area but in places like India, colonial conquest took place due to previous interactions with European traders. In Africa, Europeans divided the continent amongst themselves and in some areas, they had to use military campaigns. In Australia and New Zealand, Europeans migrated to those areas and diseases killed off the natives. Under European Rule Colonialism disrupted many societies as people w...