4/25 class

The events that proceed Korea (1950) that actually cause East (GDR) and West Germany (FGR) to be separate countries...

What happens to Berlin after WWII?

• Berlin was split into 4 zones like the rest of the country. It was split because the big 4 didn't believe it was right for the capital of the country to be under control of one country
• The Berlin Airlift
• Stalin tried to starve his part of Berlin and blockaded them, America swooped in and successfully dropped food and supplies to the people
• After this, Bonn (in Western Germany) had become the capital. This caused an issue in the 90s when Germany was reunited because they didn't know which city to make the capital. They chose Berlin
• NATO was created after the airlift in 1949

• The Berlin wall was built in the 1960s to prevent people from escaping and Reagan had it taken down.
• too many people were leaving Berlin and escaping to the west

The Leaders of Russia 

• (Lenin was before) Stalin- he was extreme, and ruled during the time of WWII and the 5 year plan
• Kruschev focused on destalinization, ruled during the Kennedy years, and blinked during cuban missile crisis, staring contest he’s the one that backed out and the missile weren’t fired
• in return to this the US took the missiles out of Turkey
• he lost his position after these events
• Gorbachev was the last Soviet premier and ruled the same time as Reagan. 
• Gorbachev was the man Reagan addressed when he said tear down the wall in 1985
• Brezhnev- the leader when communism started to die, it started to fall because it can't economically keep up with the West.

Korean War

• The Korean war was approved by the UN because the USSR was boycotting the security council

Suez canal 1950s

• Nassar said he would nationalize the canal and would try to get the best deal to build the Aswan dam from the US or Soviets, no one helped him so he wanted to nationalize the canal to make money

Budapest and Prague are the same part of the Cold War

• They want to break away from Soviet dominance over eastern Europe. They tried to break free and become democratic but the Soviets crushed it and they failed.

Tito is rude to Stalin

• Josip Bros (Tito) is a communist and doesn't get along with the other communists. He is from Yugoslavia which is an independent communist country.

The Czech revolt and Budapest are similar

• They both try to break from Stalin's control

Key Concept Review

20th Century Key Concept Review

4.1 "Total war and political instability in the first half of the 20th century gave way to a polarized state order during the Cold War, and eventually to efforts at transnational union."

• Total warfare was used in both World Wars as a means to destroy the infrastructure and societies' of enemy nations. In many European countries, total warfare led to the deaths of millions of civilians and the widespread destruction of infrastructure.
• The Russian Revolution split the USSR and its allies in the west. As Stalin took control of the USSR and began spreading communism to Eastern Europe , many western countries feared that he might start an war against capitalism. This ultimately led to the Cold War, where capitalist countries were pitted against the USSR (and communism). Anti-communism propaganda was spread throughout Western Europe and the United States.

• The UN: After WWII the UN was created and its aim was to encourage international cooperation amongst the Allies in order to stabilize the political environment in Europe.

4.2: The stresses of economic collapse and total war engendered internal conflicts within European states and created conflicting conceptions of the relationship between the individual and the state, as demonstrated in the ideological battle among liberal democracy, communism, and fascism.

• During the 20th century new forms of governments emerged that caused conflicts about the relationship between the individual and the state. Communism placed a huge emphasis on state control; fascism focused on nationalism. After the World Wars, liberal democracy was able to conquer fascism, but communism remained. Communist countries greatly increased their control over the everyday lives of their people. 
• Communist countries were not alone in increasing the state's control over its people. Western liberal democratic countries new forms of social welfare emerged, greatly increasing the power of the state. Although each form of government had its differences, they all became more involved in their citizens' lives through economic regulation and expanding education.

4.3: During the 20th century, diverse intellectual and cultural movements questioned the existence of objective knowledge, the ability of reason to arrive at truth, and the role of religion in determining moral standards.

• After WWI, the lost generation became a group of intellectuals who generally had lost faith in the idea of progress.
• Movements like Dadaism satirized traditional beauty and placed an emphasis on the irrational and absurd. After witnessing the destruction of WWI, many artists like Duchamp had little faith in society and its ability to remained a peaceful place. Physicists and Chemists began to believe that humans were only capable of understanding the world to a certain degree. Heisenberg's Principle of Uncertainty marks the departure from traditional Newtonian physics and emphasized the lack of human ability to arrive at any perfect truth about matter. The field of psychology developed under Freud, who argued that the irrational nature of man was bound to lead to misery in life. Philosophers like Nietzsche further emphasized the irrational nature of man and believed that one's actions could never fully be explained.

• The cultural departure from the Enlightenment ideals is closely linked with the devastation of WWI, which cast a shadow of pessimism over most of Western society. In general, people during the first half of the 20th century had little faith in humanity and its ability to understand the world and its inhabitants.

4.4: Demographic changes, economic growth, total war, disruptions of traditional social patterns, and competing definitions of freedom and justice altered the experiences of everyday life.

• The events of the early 20th century led to changes later on. Total war used in both WWI and WWII devastated large portions of Europe. Decolonization gave way to large-scale migration of people across the globe, especially to Europe. This migration combined with the ever-increasing global economy led to the spread of new ideas and cultures throughout Europe. This altered the cultural identity of many European countries and cities became cultural and economic hubs and people no longer lived in rural isolation. 

 

This graph shows the declining birthrates in several European countries. Despite this, their populations actually increased due to the severe influx of people from the colonies. This further altered Europe's cultural identity as the original European populations declined and were replaced with colonists who shared different world views.

• In communist countries, religion and capitalism were viewed as a threat to individual freedom; in capitalist countries, these were viewed as a necessity to individual freedom. The conflicting ideas of freedom led to the tensions that culminated in the Cold War between the US and the USSR. 

Class 4/12/18

Lets begin with comparing this political cartoon with this piece of propaganda...

The cartoon on the left is Anti-Marshall Plan while the pice of propaganda is Pro-Marshall Plan. Just to recap, the Marshall Plan, proposed by General George C. Marshall, by which the United States loaned European countries money in order to help them rebuild after World War II. 

The writing in the political cartoon on the left is in Russian in order to represent the Soviet Union's hatred for the Marshall Plan. The Marshall Plan was offered to the Soviet Union, but Stalin refused to accept aid from the United States. Stalin did not accept help because he thought that accepting the Marshall Plan translated in the spread of capitalism. He essentially thought the Marshall Plan was the gateway drug into capitalism. 

The propaganda on the right quite obviously supports the Marshall Plan by implying that without it, "your bread will be bare... and so will your children!" Therefore, without foreign aid, the European countries would not be able to get back on their feet. 

Now lets discuss the aftermath of war... 

1. What did we do with Germany after WWII?

Germany was split into 4 different occupation zones. America, Britain, France, and Russia each took one zone. This occupation lasted for 4 years-it was never meant to be long term. The purpose of dividing Germany and taking some control was simply to put restraints on Germany in order to keep an eye on the Germans after war. The eventual goal was to knit Germany back together, but with some control from the victors. 

2. Stalin and the Berlin Airlift 

Stalin attempted to take all of Berlin for Germany. The United States dropped off supplies to the people in Berlin. 

3. NATO(North Atlantic Treaty Organization)

In Article 5, it is stated that an attack on one is an attack on all, meaning that all members must defend one another. George Washington would not approve of the organization's ideals because he stressed the importance of NOT being involved in entangling alliances in which one would owe something to another. 

Also important from class today... 

1. Rosa Luxemburg

Luxemburg was a revolutionary in the Social Democratic Party. She feared that communism would spread in weak areas after WWII. She was very anti-capitalism. 

2. GDR and FRG 

GDR --> German Democratic Republic (East)

FRG --> Federal Republic of Germany (West) 

(**there wasn't too much information from todays class because we had the last 25 mins to work on the 20 questions assigned for homework)

4/10

How were Lenin and Stalin different? Who was more effective? Was there anything that made them similar?

• Lenin and Stalin had very different approaches to communism, and to governing. Lenin was the first communist ruler of a formerly capitalist country. Because of this, he felt the need to have a more moderate government. A key part of this was the New Economic Policy, which granted some economic freedoms to Russian farmers. Stalin believed that Lenin's Soviet Union was not truly communist because of the NEP, so as soon as he took office, he revoked it. Stalin was far more radical than Lenin, which made him popular with younger Soviets. Additionally, Lenin believed in self-governance of conquered territories while Stalin wanted to keep them under Soviet control. Stalin's policies built the Eastern Bloc. 
• Stalin's key policy was the 5 Year Plan, which was meant to jumpstart the industrial success of the country
• This was necessary, because he was trying to start an industrial revolution in a primarily agrarian country, so some things would have to change. 
• Lenin was more effective than Stalin. He was able to successfully establish a new form of government, with the help of revolutionaries. Stalin made many crucial changes to the structure of the Soviet Union, but he was only modifying something that already existed. He was not a trailblazer, and he was not a revolutionary, unlike Lenin. 
• Both men took cues from the people they governed. Lenin knew that a more moderate approach to communism would be a good way to start the USSR, because its citizens were used to capitalism. Stalin instead listened to the more radical ideas supported by the younger Soviets. These versions of the Soviet Union were very different, but they reflected what the people wanted, or needed, which makes Lenin and Stalin similar. 

What were the primary ways Stalin affected Europe during and after WWII? 

• Stalin inspired fear, both at home and abroad. This allowed him to have complete control of not only his country, but his satellite countries as well. This control is what made it so easy for communism to spread throughout eastern Europe. 
• He created a divide between his countries and the rest of the world, because there were truly no other countries like the Soviet Union or the other eastern European countries he controlled. 

• He rapidly industrialized Russia in order to make them a global contender in future wars. This industrialization and militarization was largely uninterrupted because of Russia's prime geographic location: it was surrounded by allied states who would protect it against westerners. This industrialization eventually led to the arms race that would be the Cold War.
• He was willing to do whatever it took to keep his power, including killing anyone who he considered to be an enemy of the state, often in pogroms. 

What is totalitarianism?

• Totalitarianism: a system of government that is centralized and dictatorial and requires complete subservience to the state

How does this compare to absolutism?

• Totalitarianism has an emphasis on government rule: the state, set of laws, dictator
• All citizens must follow the government completely
• Totalitarianism has a focus on foreign, not domestic, enemies
• Absolutism is the absolute power of one ruler who controls every facet of life
• It's about an internal power struggle, normally with the aristocracy
• Both systems rely on weakening their rivals, whether these rivals are citizens or other countries

What's happening in Germany?

• Hitler was able to rise to power easily because people were desperate for change
• Weimar Republic
• It was very similar to the other governments that replaced the failed states of WWI (pretty much every country experienced a governmental overhaul in which they replaced their hereditary monarchies with republics) 
• Why did it fail?
• Reparations had ruined the economy
• The rulers were not charismatic enough to earn the wholehearted support of the people like Hitler was able to
• Social Democratic Party
• Same one from the Bismarck era
• The other two parties from that era were the Catholic Central Party and the Social Revolutionaries
• They became the leaders of the country
• They were ineffective because they had to fight battles on both sides of the aisle
• They were the only moderates in a country filled with socialists and fascists
• Side note: fascism is a subset of totalitarianism (in the squares and rectangles model, fascism is the square, and totalitarianism is the rectangle)
• 

Did European countries respond to the Great Depression the same way the US did?

• The responses were very different; in Europe, economies broke down to the point that a world war began. 
• Scandinavian countries had a similar approach to the US
• Both implemented social welfare programs and began public works projects to increase employment. This was basically the same as the New Deal. 
• They followed the Keynesian principle of deficit spending in order to be successful and end their depression. 

What about the Munich Conference?

• Neville Chamberlain is the British prime minister at this point
• It was a meeting between Chamberlain and Hitler, which was notable because Chamberlain flew all the way to Germany in a rickety, primitive plane to meet with Hitler. Unfortunately, Hitler manipulated Chamberlain into thinking that he had secured a victory for the allies. After the meeting, Chamberlain proclaimed "I have secured peace in our time," which could not have been further from the truth. 



Chamberlain declaring: "I have secured peace in our time"

• The Munich Conference relied on appeasing Hitler; however, Hitler was insatiable. Once he got what he wanted, he set his sights higher. 

4/9 Class

4/9 class

Keynes article- http://college.cengage.com/history/primary_sources/west/an_economist_analyzes_versailles.htm

"The events of the coming year will not be shaped by the deliberate acts of statesmen, but by the hidden
currents, flowing continually beneath the surface of political history, of which no one can predict the outcome.
In one way only can we influence these hidden currents,--by setting in motion those forces of instruction and
imagination which change opinion."    

             The people need to make the change, not the higher up

"Reparation was their main excursion into the economic field, and they settled it as a problem of theology,
of politics, of electoral chicane, from every point of view except that of the economic future of the States
whose destiny they were handling."

Each country and its leaders only cared for self interest not Europe as a whole which led

WW2 to start

Ties to the great depression as well because everyone is so concerned with self interest

"It is an extraordinary fact that the fundamental economic problems of a Europe starving and disintegrating
before their eyes, was the one question in which it was impossible to arouse the interest of the Four."

The Four are not paying attention to what needs aid, this ties to the issue of self interest

and the countries not helping one another because they are so concerned with
themselves

In what ways did the US influence Europe between 1920 and 1950?

Dawes Plan- US private investors gave money to Germany (expecting to be paid back with interest) then Germany would pay that money to France for their war reparations, finally France would pay money to the USA to pay back the war loans. 

France and Germany's infrastructure and economies were destroyed

What political parties are influential after World War II? Do they have the same relationship to mass politics as the political parties at the forefront in the end of the 19th century? Are these new voices?
The parties that were influential after WWII
- communist parties caused fear throughout
- socialist parties
- Rosa Luxemburg- Polish- Jewish Socialist who worked with Lenin
The US joins the war to make other countries have a safe democracy- they wanted to avoid dictatorships and communism
Nationalism leads to wars, they know that cooperation is needed
The UN (united nations) was created based in NY to ensure US involvement so they wouldn't have a repeat of the League of Nations