World History Since 1500 - An Open and Free Textbook

East Tennessee State University
Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University
Open Educational Resources
2022
World History Since 1500: An Open and Free Textbook

John Rankin
East Tennessee State University, [email protected]
Constanze Weise
East Tennessee State University, [email protected]
Follow this and additional works at: https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu-oer
Part of the History Commons
Recommended Citation
Rankin, John and Weise, Constanze. 2022. World History Since 1500: An Open and Free Textbook.
Johnson City: East Tennessee State University.
https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu-oer/13
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© 2022 East Tennessee State University
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i
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHIES
John Rankin is an Associate Professor in the Department of History at East Tennessee State University.
His interests lie in the overlapping themes of imperialism, transnational and global studies, issues
of race and racism and the social history of medicine. His monograph, Healing the African Body
(University of Missouri Press, 2015) examines the intersection of health, race, and empire in British
West Africa, 1800-1860. His research interests also include the Atlantic World, British history, public
health, the press and the history of epidemic disease. He teaches courses in the history of medicine as
well as English, Scottish, Caribbean and World history.
Constanze Weise is an Assistant Professor in the Department of History at East Tennessee State
University. Her interests lie in the History of Africa and the African Diaspora pertaining to issues of
politics, religion, ritual and urbanization. Her work has appeared in peer-reviewed journals and edited
volumes such as African Arts, The Canadian Journal of African Studies, the Oxford Handbook of
Nigerian History and the Oxford Encyclopedia of African Historiography: Methods and Sources. In
2010 she participated in the internationally touring exhibition curated by the UCLA Fowler Museum
and the Musée du quai Branly, Paris, titled “Central Nigeria Unmasked: Arts of the Benue River Valley”.
She contributed to this exhibition with original video footage and images of ancestral masquerades
from her field research in central Nigeria. At ETSU she teaches courses in the history of Africa, the
African Diaspora and World History.
ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
World History Since 1500: An Open and Free Textbook is the culmination of a year and a half of hard
work and dedication. The textbook would not have been possible without the generous support of
the Tennessee Board of Regents, especially Dr. Robert Denn, the team at Achieving the Dream and
our coach, Associate Director of Teaching and Learning, Susan Adams. An OER (Open Education
Resource) Cycle 3 Grant from the Tennessee Board of Regents was crucial in initiating, supporting, and
completing this project. We are very thankful to the TBR and Dr. Denn for all their support.
The completion of this textbook would not have been possible without our incredible team. It was a
true team effort, and we are grateful to our team members Ashley Sergiadis and Philip Smith for their
support. We could not have done it without Ashley’s and Phil’s expertise in anything OER and OEP
(Open Educational Practices). Ashley, in particular, worked tirelessly to verify the copyright status
for all images and maps. We are indebted to our map maker, John Greenlee, who produced amazing
maps for this book. We owe a lot to our graphic designer, Angelica Ares, for setting the graphics and
managing our constant requests for amendments and changes. We are grateful to Jill Fair and the entire
graphic design team at ETSU Biomedical Communications for their support for this very difficult
project. We are also indebted to Dr. Tom Cox at Sam Houston State University for his expertise and
suggestions and to Dr. Steve Carter at Henderson State University who piloted the textbook in multiple
sections of his world history class. Finally, we would like to thank our department chair, Dr. Doug
Burgess, who believed in the project and supported it wherever he could.
Above all we would like to thank our students in the various world history classes we taught in spring
2023 who made suggestions, asked poignant questions, and kept up a positive spirit while we were
finishing the book.
John Rankin and Constanze Weise

East Tennessee State University
iii
Table of Contents
Chapter 1......................................................................................................................................................1
The World in 1500
Chapter 2.................................................................................................................................................. 15
Expanding Empires, Europe and the Americas 1500-1700
Chapter 3................................................................................................................................................. 27
Cultural Encounters and Expanding Empires in Asia
and Eurasia 1500-1700
Chapter 4................................................................................................................................................ 39
Islamic Empires – Mughals, Ottomans and Safavids 1500-1700
Chapter 5.................................................................................................................................................. 51
Age of Reason – The Scientific Revolution, Enlightened
Thought and its Impact
Chapter 6................................................................................................................................................. 59
Challenging the Old Order – The Age of Revolutions
Chapter 7.................................................................................................................................................78
Remaking the World – The Industrial Revolution, Workers and
a New Economic Order
Chapter 8................................................................................................................................................ 93
Nation Building and Reform 1700-1900
Chapter 9.................................................................................................................................................113
Managing Modernity in Asia 1700-1900
Chapter 10..............................................................................................................................................125
The Second Wave of Imperialism 1700-1900
Chapter 11..............................................................................................................................................140
World in Crisis, Conflict, and the Struggle for Independence –
World War I, the Indian Independence Movement and
the Russian Revolution
Chapter 12..............................................................................................................................................155
Interwar Years and the Rise of Fascism
Chapter 13.............................................................................................................................................. 171
World War II
Chapter 14.............................................................................................................................................. 181
Cold War and Decolonization of the World from 1950
Chapter 15............................................................................................................................................ 207
The Modern World
iv
1 The World
in 1500
Costume 16th Century Europe

Artist: Brockhaus
Source: iStock.com/W6
EUROPE
License: Standard License (purchased by ETSU)
As the world approached the 1500s, old institutions In 1492, Christopher Columbus crossed the Atlantic
and polities gave way to new structures. The decline Ocean, initiating a five-century interchange between the
of the Mongol Empire, which had controlled much Americas, Africa, Asia and Europe. This “Columbian
of Eurasia for centuries, and the rise of the Islamic Exchange” circulated people, diseases, plants, goods
Ottoman Empire changed the course of human history. and ideas throughout the world.
The newly dominant Ottomans began disrupting trade,
especially the lucrative spice routes to Asia. In response, Europe in 1500 was comprised of numerous highly
Europeans increasingly turned to maritime exploration competitive states, many of which still exist today
to find new routes to Asia. (although their borders and compositions have altered
1
with time). European political and religious leaders violence and even rebellion. Monarchs struggled against
during this period sought not merely to expand their their nobility for control over the levers of power. One
kingdoms but to solidify power within their borders. of the most successful in this regard would be the
A hierarchical society for most European polities, the long-ruling self-proclaimed Sun King Louis XIV (r.
monarch was the most powerful person in the realm. 1643-1715) of France, who successfully controlled and
The monarch ruled over a class of nobles, people who managed his nobility. In contrast, in the 15th century, a
acted as not only extensions of a monarch’s power but bloody conflict between two houses of the Plantagenet
also a check upon it. Nobles and monarchs were special dynasty (the Lancastrians and Yorks) turned into a civil
people who had their own rules, had the right to wear war that tore England apart. The civil war would last
certain clothes, and owned most of the land and wealth. until 1485 when Henry Tudor (r. 1485-1509), a scion of
Most nobles were expected to serve the monarch, the House of Lancastrian, won the throne of England at
including providing military service when required. the Battle of Bosworth Field.
Below the nobility were a class of merchants, traders,
artisans and craftsmen, some of which could be ratherEarly modern monarchs struggled to control not
wealthy. Peasants who worked the land of nobles formed
just the minds and bodies but also the souls of their
the lowest rung of the European social order. Regardless
subjects. For most Europeans, the “Church” referred
of whether they were sharecroppers who shared their to the Catholic Church seated in Rome. A pillar of
produce with local nobles or serfs tied directly to the
European society, the Church’s wealth, power and
land, peasants had little to no freedom of movement. influence often rivaled that of the monarchs and
emperors. For centuries, monarchs attempted to gain
FEUDAL SOCIETY IN religious autonomy from Rome and to find ways to
divert religious taxes into their own coffers. Following
MEDIEVAL EUROPE a split from the Catholic Church in the fourth century,
the Eastern Orthodox Church became the dominant
The chronic instability of Europe’s stratified and religion, not merely in Central Europe but also parts
hierarchical social classes often fostered disunity, of Africa and the Middle East.
Artist: Simeon Netchev

Source: World History Encyclopedia
The Feudal Society in Medieval Europe License: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 | © Simeon Netchev
2 CHAPTER 1 THE WORLD IN 1500

Map of Europe in 1500
Intense competition on the continent inspired European Artist: Eren Yetkinler
monarchs to look outside their borders and the known Source: Wikimedia Commons
License: CC BY-SA 3.0 | © Eren Yetkinler
world for ways to tap into the riches of Africa and
Asia. The merging of new maritime technologies and a
desire to find new trade routes led to a period of naval
expansion, which would change the world not only for
Europeans but also for the people they encountered.
MUSLIM EMPIRES
In the 14th century, new powerful states emerged in and so too was the Mughal Empire (1526-1857) in India.
territories formerly controlled by the Mongol Empire. During this period Egyptian Mamluks (manumitted slave
Many of these states adopted Islam, a faith that originated soldiers) spread Islamic theology across North Africa. The
in the early seventh century in Arabia. By the early to mid- Mamluks were great patrons of the arts, and the splendor
1500s, the Ottomans (1299-1922) had already established of their architecture is still evident today. By the 1600s,
themselves as a dominant power centered around Anatolia, Islam had become the dominant religion across much of
the Persian Safavid Empire (1501-1736) was just beginning, Eurasia, India, the Middle East, and North Africa.
3
Map of the Ottoman Empire c. 1450
To understand the rise of the Ottomans, we need to
examine the expansion of Turkic tribes westward
into Central Asia from the 600s to the 1100s. The
rise of the Mongol Empire checked this expansion
until the mid-14th century when the Mongols, no
longer the force they once were, began retreating
from Persia and Central Asia. With the decline of
the Mongols, new regimes including the Ottomans,
the Safavids and the Mughals would emerge.
Because of their use of muzzle-loading firearms,
the three empires are sometimes referred to as the
(Islamic) Gunpower Empires.
OSMAN I
The Ottomans derived their name from Osman
(r. 1299-1326), a Turkic leader that had important
victories over other warlords and eventually
the declining Byzantine Empire. By 1352, the
Ottomans were the chief power in the Balkans.
In 1453, during the reign of Sultan Mehmed II
(r. 1451-1481), Ottoman armies conquered the
Artist: John Wyatt Greenlee
Byzantine capital of Constantinople. Renamed
Source: World History Since 1500 (Rankin, Weise) Istanbul, the city became the center of a sprawling
License: CC BY 4.0 | © ETSU
and culturally dynamic Islamic empire that Asian,
Middle Eastern, Northeastern and European
SUNNI AND SHIA ISLAM leaders viewed with envy and fear.
Today Sunnis account for 85-90% of all Muslims, with the rest
identifying as Shias. Both Sunnis and Shias read the Quran,
fast during Ramadan, make pilgrimages to Mecca, pray
multiple times a day and practice charity toward the poor.
The schism between Sunnis and Shia began over the issue
of who should succeed the Prophet Muhammad (570-632)
as head of the Muslim faith. Those later labeled as Sunni
asserted that their “caliph” or leader should be selected
based on leadership skills. At the same time, those who
argued that caliphs ought to be a member of the Prophet’s
family became the forebearers of Shiism. They initially
supported Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law Ali’s
(600-661) claim to become caliph. However, Shias were
vastly outnumbered by Sunnis who backed Muhammad’s
friend and long-time companion, Abu Bakr (573-634). In
time Umar (583/584-644) and then Uthman (573/576-
656) succeeded Abu Bakr. Both caliphs pursued policies
that centralized religious power which further contributed
to the growing political turmoil. Both Umar and Uthman
were murdered, which paved the way for Ali to become Sultan Gazi ‘Father of Kings’
the fourth caliph. He too met a violent end in 661. Such
strife led to the creation of two branches of Islam that Uthmān (Osman) Han I
would, over the subsequent centuries, develop distinctive Artist: Bilinmiyor
political and religious traditions. Source: Wikimedia Commons
License: Public Domain

The Entry of Sultan
Mehmed II into
Constantinople
Artist: Fausto Zonaro

Source: Wikimedia Commons
AFRICA
From 300-1450, a variety of complex political systems,
including the Oyo Empire during the 17th and 18th
social structures and cultural groups emerged on the centuries, the Kingdom of Dahomey during the 17th
African continent. As agricultural populations grew through the 19th century, and the Asante Kingdom,
and trade in high-value commodities increased, new 18th through the early 20th century. In Central Africa,
states rose to prominence. Over time the introductionlocal rulers rebuilt old trade roads and created new
of Islam to the region by Arab merchants became ones to meet the ever-increasing demands of European
important for the development of madrasas, literacy and Arab merchants for more slaves. This altered the
and state bureaucracies. The opening of the trans- political sphere as older polities, such as the Kingdom
Saharan trade integrated Africa into the Mediterranean
of Kongo (14th -18th centuries), struggled to adapt to
world, Europe and the Middle East. The emergence of changing circumstances. Although Kongolese rulers
the new trade-oriented Swahili city-states along the initially profited from contact with the Portuguese, soon
East African coast represented an important example of
Afro-Portuguese merchants found ways to circumvent
these changes. the kingdom’s monopoly over coastal trade by relocating
to remote areas (such as Luanda) beyond the reach of
By the 1640s, the coastal people of West Africa, royal officials. Increasingly dependent on trade with
previously on the margins of the trans-Saharan trade the Portuguese, the Kingdom of Kongo declined as an
routes, became central players in the newly forming independent state. The creation of new competitors
transatlantic trade. They founded powerful states, located in the central portion of the southern savanna
5
belt in Central Africa, such as the Luba (16th through
from fertile soils, abundant rainfall, and the presence
19th centuries) and Lunda Empires (17th through of valuable iron and copper deposits. Beginning in
19th centuries), put further pressure on the Kingdomthe late 1300s, the Bakongo people living south of
of Kongo. the Congo River unified into a single kingdom with a
capital at Mbanza Kongo, from which the Manikongo
KINGDOM OF KONGO (king of the Kingdom of Kongo) ruled. When the
Portuguese arrived in 1483, the Manikongos of Kongo
From the 1380s to the 1960s, the Kingdom of Kongo saw an immediate material advantage in establishing
represented one of the most influential monarchies diplomatic and trade relations with the new arrivals. In
in West Central Africa. Located north of the Malebo the short term, participation in the Atlantic trade gave
Pool of the lower Congo River, the Kingdom profited Kongo a competitive edge over Kongo’s landlocked
neighbors such as the Tyo.
Artist: Jeff Israel

African Empires 500BCE to 1500BCE License: CC BY-SA 3.0 | © Jeff Israel

The religion of the Portuguese (Catholic Christianity) Portuguese and Latin and, by the later 16th century, in
appealed to the kings of Kongo, who hoped that the KiKongo language.
conversion to the new faith would give them the same
power which Portuguese rulers held over their subjects.The contact with the Portuguese provided a
After all, Catholic Christianity justified the rule of commercial basis and a new set of ideas supportive of
kings over their subjects, helping to legitimize and royal legitimacy and authority, helping Kongo become
centralize the power of such monarchs. Furthermore, the most powerful kingdom of the region. Cities
Catholicism was readily compatible with traditional arose at the critical points of political authority and
Kongo spiritual beliefs. For instance, the Creator God commercial connections. Mbanza Kongo, already a city
of Christianity appeared similar to the Creator God of in the 1480s, became a still larger city with more than
ancient Bantu belief. Catholic Christianity also had a 50,000 inhabitants. Provincial capitals developed into
group of holy individuals, the saints, who had died andgood-sized cities. Enslaved people, especially those
gone to heaven and could be prayed to for help in this captured in war, helped build these expanding urban
life. This concept again mirrored Kongolese beliefs in centers. Significant growth in upper-class wealth took
a sky God whose spirits could likewise be invoked to place, intensifying social stratification. Such wealth
intervene in the lives of mortals. encouraged Kongo to become increasingly involved in
the slave trade. In the 16th century, Kongo began to
In the early 1500s, the rulers of Kongo, particularly export nominally free people as well as slaves to the
Afonso I, grasped the advantages of literacy and Americas, specifically to Brazil.
the possibilities of literate education. They aimed to
strengthen and build a more effective administrative Although Kongo continued to be an independent
apparatus that would provide better communications power through the 18th century, new factors began
both with Europe and among their own provinces. By undercutting its autonomy. In the 1570s, the Portuguese
the mid-16th century, Kongo scribes were literate in set up a colony along the coast, opposite Luanda Island,
which dominated the production and supply of nzimbu
shells (used as currency). Portuguese merchants also
set up regular trade relations with local kingdoms
to the south, drawing them away from the sphere of
Kongo influence. The Atlantic trade also began to
attract other European merchants to the coast by the
late 1500s, most notably the Dutch. In the 1630s and
the 1640s, Dutch traders offered new direct outlets
for goods from the Lower Congo region. These new
routes cut the Kongo kingdom off from lucrative trade
connections in the interior. In 1665, Dutch forces and
their African allies defeated a Kongolese expedition
at the Battle of Mbwila. The kingdom then entered
a period of civil war as powerful factions sought to
install their own candidates as king. Having lost most
of its power by the early 18th century, the Kingdom of
Kongo existed largely in name only.
Mangaaka Power Figure

(Nkisi N’Kondi)
Artist: Kongo artist and nganga, Yombe group
Source: The Metropolitan Museum of Art
7
Map of the Kingdom of Kongo Artist: User “Happenstance”
License: CC BY-SA 2.5 | © Happenstance
By the 16th century, European mercantile companies occupation prior to the 1800s were transformed rather
started to establish permanent trading posts along the than outright destroyed by the new power dynamics
West, Central and Southern African coasts. Until the brought about by overseas trade. When European
partition of Africa in the 19th century, most European powers annexed these regions into their colonial
involvement in African affairs remained confined to empires during the late 19th and early 20th centuries,
these coastal regions and relied heavily on African many pre-1800 institutions continued to exist, albeit
middlemen and collaborators. Even African nations under a different jurisdiction and with a different kind
such as Mali and Kongo that bore the brunt of European of sovereignty.

AMERICAS
The arrival of the Europeans in the New World led not the encomienda system, caused massive population
only to the exchange of crops and commodities but also declines among indigenous peoples over the course of
the imposition of European economics, habits and the 16th and 17th centuries.
values on indigenous populations. Enslaved Africans
were also imported to many regions of the Americas, In North America, European exploration led to the
which led to the creation of creole cultures. Whereas establishment of settler colonialism, the appropriation
Spain created colonial societies on the ruins of the of Native American/First Nations lands and eventually,
Aztec (1428–1521) and Maya Empires (1511–1697), the decimation, marginalization and displacement of
Portuguese settlers moved into areas that comprise Native Americans. During the colonial period (from
much of modern-day Brazil. Profiting from forced the early 17th century until the formation of the United
labor, both Portugal and Spain shipped large quantities States), Spain, France, England, the Netherlands and
of gold and silver back to Europe. Exposure to diseases Russia sent out expeditions to claim North American
brought from Europe, coupled with overwork in territory.
ENCOMIENDA SYSTEM
The arrival of the Europeans in the New World resulted
in an exchange of goods, ideas and people that scholars
later dubbed the “Columbian Exchange.” Beginning in the
16th century, Spanish conquistadores expanded into the
Caribbean, Mexico and Peru. Following conquest, colonial
officials incorporated these areas into the Spanish Empire.
Spanish soldiers, priests and administrators forced Iberian
Catholic economic institutions, habits and values upon
indigenous people. During this time, crown lawyers legally
defined the status of Native Americans within the empire to
more effectively tax them. To help administer its New World
territory, the Spanish crown entrusted conquistadores and
other officials with grants of land and Native American slaves
known as encomiendas (from the Spanish word encomendar
-“to entrust”). The recipients of such grants, the encomederos,
would in turn, collect tribute in the form of gold, kind, or forced
labor from the Native Americans who lived on the allotted
land. Spanish officials demanded that landholders provide
military protection to their Native American laborers and make
provisions to convert them to Catholicism. However, most
encomideros claimed the land they occupied without fulfilling
their obligations to either protect or convert their Indian slaves.
Developed in part to support the needs of the early mining

industry, the encomienda system allowed for the rapid
development of areas like the San Luis Potosi silver mines
in Bolivia. However, given the brutal human costs of mining
and the exhaustion of many mines over the course of the
Kneeling Female Figure
17th century, Spanish officials began to view the encomienda
15th - early 16th century system as outdated. They instead promoted the hacienda
Artist: Aztec system that resembled early modern European style feudalism.
Source: The Metropolitan Museum of Art Under the terms of the hacienda system, landowners kept
License: Public Domain peasants in debt so that they could neither leave the land they
were working on nor the landowner who owned the hacienda.
9
First Nation Control
over North America
about 1600 AD
Artist: Albert Gallatin

Bodhisattva,
probably Avalokiteshvara
Artist: Unknown
(Sri Lanka c. eighth century)
Source: The Metropolitan
Museum of Art
ASIA
Today Asia is generally divided into four different regions:
Southeast Asia (mainland Southeast Asia and maritime
Southeast Asia), South Asia (Indian subcontinent), East
Asia (Far East), Central and West Asia (the Middle East
and the Caucasus), and North Asia (Siberia). It shares
the continental landmasses of Eurasia, Africa, and North
and South America. It is bounded by the Pacific, Indian
and Artic Oceans. Nomadic horsemen dominated steppe
life, conquering large sections. Russian explorers and
settlers began relocating to Asia in the 1600s, a process
they would complete by the 19th century. During this
same period, the Ottoman Empire expanded throughout
Anatolia, the Balkans and Egypt. In the 17th century,
the Manchu-led Qing dynasty (1644-1912) conquered
China. The Islamic Mughal Empire (1526-1857) and
the Hindu Maratha Empire (16th to early 19th century)
likewise controlled much of India from the 16th to 18th
century. Japan held sway over most of East Asia, parts of
Southeast Asia and Oceania until 1945.

SOUTHEAST ASIA
Over the centuries, the term “Southeast Asia” has wielded little influence over Southeast Asia and even
meant different things to different people. For instance, afterward were forced to limit such influence to the
Chinese mapmakers referred to the coastal areas of relatively small coastal areas.
Southeast Asia as Nanyang (literally
“the Southern sea”). On the other
hand, Arab explorers called the region
Zīrbād or Zīrbādāt (“land below the
winds”). Geographers did not refer to
Southeast Asia as a geographical and
distinct political term until the mid-
twentieth century.
Today experts refer to mainland

Southeast Asia (also known as the
Indochinese Peninsula), comprising
Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar,
Peninsular Malaysia, Thailand and
Vietnam, under the general heading
of Southeast Asia. Maritime Southeast
Asia consists mainly of the Malay
Archipelago, including Brunei, East
Malaysia, East Timor, Indonesia, the
Philippines and Singapore.
As in the case of Africa, European

explorers, soldiers, merchants and
missionaries who voyaged to Asia
from the 1500s through the 1800s
primarily dealt with coastal areas.
For example, Portuguese merchants
arrived in the region in the 1500s to
dominate the spice trade. However, in
the 17th century, the Dutch displaced
the Portuguese by establishing trading Southeast Asia:
relations with the Sultans of Java and Sumatra. By the Political Map (2003)
1800s the British East India Company dominated large
sections of India and controlled Hong Kong on the south Artist: Unknown
Source: ANCHOR
China coast and Penang and Singapore in Malaysia. License: Public Domain
Although the bulk of Spain’s overseas colonies lay in
Central and South America, Madrid still maintained
a tight hold over the Philippines. However, unlike the
Americas where Europeans quickly imposed their
religious and cultural beliefs on native populations, in
Southeast Asia Thais, Burmese, Vietnamese and other
groups learned European economic techniques but
continued to follow Theravada Buddhism, Mahayana
Buddhism and Islam. In sum, prior to 1500, Europeans
11
Tibetan Wall Fresco on
the wall of the Jokhang
Monastery
Artist: Unknown
Source: iStock.com/Grafissimo
License: Standard License
(purchased by ETSU)
BUDDHISM
During the sixth or fifth centuries BCE, an Indian monk The Mahāyāna (Sanskrit for “Greater Vehicle”) movement
named Siddhartha Guatama taught a form of spiritual arose in India around the ninth century CE and spread
asceticism. Enshrined by his followers as the “Buddha” or rapidly through Central and East Asia. Central to Mahāyāna
enlightened one, his teachings became known as Buddhism. ideology is the idea of the bodhisattva, the one who
As the Buddha eschewed religious dogma and urged seeks to become a Buddha. Mahāyāna Buddhists believe
individuals to develop their own methods of meditating that everybody can aspire to become a bodhisattva.
and praying, Buddhism flowered throughout Asia in a Bodhisattvas seek to understand the nature of reality
variety of contrasting styles and traditions. Today Tantric, through acquiring wisdom (prajna) and actualization
Northern Mahāyāna, and Southern Hinayana Buddhism through compassion (karuna). Providing an organized
represent the three largest groups of Buddhists in the world. monastic movement and large scholastic centers,
Native to Sri Lanka (Ceylon), Myanmar (Burma), Thailand, Mahāyāna Buddhism remains a very popular form of
Cambodia and Laos, the Theravada school represents the Buddhism. Mahāyāna accepts the primary scriptures and
most conservative branch of Buddhism. Theravadins (Pali; teachings of early Buddhism but also recognizes other
“Way of the Elders”) enshrine the teachings of Buddha’s texts that are not accepted by Theravada Buddhism,
followers, maintain a sharp division between monks and such as the Mahāyāna Sūtras, which emphasizes the
ordinary practitioners, and venerate the Buddha as not history of bodhisattvas.
merely a spiritual leader but the perfect master.
EAST ASIA
Map of Ethnic Groups in Indonesia Artist: Gunawan Kartapranata

License: CC-BY-SA 3.0 | © Gunawan Kartapranata

Today cartographers regard China (including Hong American crops such as corn, squash, peanuts and
Kong and Macau), Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, beans introduced to Asia by European merchants to
South Korea and Taiwan as part of East Asia. East greatly increase Chinese crop yields. The Ming dynasty
Asia shares borders with Russia, Southeast Asia and also established regular commercial exchanges with
Central Asia. Japan. In the 1400s, Ming fleets led by Admiral Zheng
He used sophisticated seamanship and maritime
For nearly 300 years, the Ming dynasty provided China technology to reach Malaysia, Indonesia, India, Arabia
with a relatively stable government and economy. The and East Africa.
last Han Chinese dynasty to occupy the throne, the
Ming came to power in 1368 after having ousted the Negative encounters with Portuguese, Spanish and
Mongols, who had ruled China for nearly a century. Dutch trading enterprises and missionaries led Chinese
Ming emperors promoted domestic agricultural officials to expel foreigners en masse and prohibit the
production and tried to reduce dependency on foreign teaching of western religion. Losing control of the
trade and merchants. Ming officials capitalized on country, the Ming dynasty would be replaced in 1644
Artist: User “Jahn”; Derivative of Rise Ming.png by Michal Klajban

Ming China around 1580 License: CC BY-SA 3.0 CZ | © Jahn
13
by the Qing. The Qing dynasty would, in turn, govern government. Until the emergence of the Tokugawa
China until 1912. dynasty (1603-1868), led by the former dynamo and
eventual military dictator (shogun) Tokugawa Ieyasu
Despite being heavily influenced by Chinese culture (1603-1868), Japan had been a fractured and violent
and politics, Japan developed its own political, cultural state. Borrowing from Chinese precedents, Tokugawa
and economic traditions. Although nominally led and his successors expelled Christian missionaries and
by an emperor, Japan was actually ruled by daimyos reduced their exposure to European trade and ideas.
(feudal lords) who competed to control the imperial This isolation would last until the 19th century.
SOUTH ASIA
Today, South Asia includes the countries of they faced opposition from the Mughal Empire that
Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, dominated Northern India. However, the decline of
Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The region is bounded the Mughals in the 18th century provided an opening
by the Himalayan mountains to the north and the for the British Empire, which would eventually gain
Indian Ocean in the south. When Europeans traders control over much of the region.
in the 1500s and 1600s first moved into the region,
SUMMARY
This chapter has laid the essential groundwork for our investigation of world history. The following
chapters will build upon this information by encouraging readers to broaden their horizons and
confront the past from a multitude of perspectives. As we cover more than 500 years of history,
we will see that while many aspects of the human experience have radically changed, other
areas retain a high degree of continuity. When reading through this text, try to identify trends
of continuity and change over time. The next three chapters deal with empires that governed
vast lands in Europe, America, Asia, Eurasia and the Middle East. The following three chapters
examine revolutions in science and religion, social and cultural revolutions that challenged and
toppled existing political orders, and a technological revolution that changed the world. We then
examine how various societies dealt with the challenges of modernity and outside encroachment.
Our textbook concludes with an investigation of the 20th century and our modern world.

2 Expanding Empires,
Europe and the
Americas, 1500-1700
Monument to the Discoveries Artist: Marcus Lindstrom

Source: iStock.com/LordRunar
(Padrão dos Descobrimentos) in Lisbon, Portugal License: Standard License (purchased by ETSU)
EUROPE
The Ottoman conquest of Constantinople and first Europeans to circumnavigate the African continent
subsequent expansion into the Mediterranean World and venture into the Indian Ocean. The silver they
impeded European commercial development. Increasing gained from the Americas, coupled with the application
competition between different European states and the of new military and maritime technologies, allowed
Ottomans encouraged European monarchs to look the Portuguese to become important participants in
beyond their shores for new markets. They heavily the Indian Ocean trade. As a vital component of this
invested in their navies, not just in new ships but new flourishing market, the Portuguese, and eventually
maritime technology such as astrolabes and caravels other Europeans, transacted with Arab, Persian, Indian
with ribbed hulls, which gave captains and navigators and Chinese merchants, and polities. The Portuguese
the ability to explore the wider world. Europeans started ruler King Henry the Navigator (1394-1460) played a
to look for routes that would allow them to circumvent vital role in the growth of Portugal as a sea power.
the Ottoman Empire by sea. The Portuguese were the
15
Portuguese Colonial Empire Artist: Simeon Netchev  
License: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 | © Simeon Netchev
PROTESTANT REFORMATION
to Roman Catholicism, while Orthodox Christianity
CAUSES OF THE PROTESTANT dominated Eastern Europe, the Balkans and Russia.
REFORMATION Smaller sects of Coptic, Syriac, Chaldean, Assyrian,
Maronite and St. Thomas Christians dotted Africa,
During the early 1500s, European nations began to the Middle East and India. Although alarmed by
export not merely colonialism and mercantilism but the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453,
also Catholicism to the Americas, Africa and Asia. Christians fought among themselves during this period
However, while Portuguese, Spanish and French as much as against Muslim armies.
missionaries repurposed traditional Catholic theology
to justify imperialism abroad, philosophers and During the medieval period in Europe a succession of
scientists back home were developing a new consensus Popes authorized the selling of indulgences. Indulgences
toward the natural world and the role of humans within granted a full or partial remission for sins. In the catholic
this world. Over time, Humanism, the Renaissance, belief system, every sin must be purified either before
the Protestant Reformation, the Counter-Reformation death through confession and absolution or, after death,
and the Scientific Revolution would fundamentally during time spent in purgatory. Through a donation to
transform European society. the church of either service or money, priests would
reduce the amount of time a person would have to
Around 1500 most Europeans still practiced some spend in purgatory before advancing to heaven. In
form of Christianity. Western European nations clung the 14th century, reformers such as John Wycliffe and
16 CHAPTER 2 EXPANDING EMPIRES, EUROPE AND THE AMERICAS, 1500-1700

Jan Hus dismissed the practice and many other
church doctrines as corrupt. Although church
officials executed Wycliffe and Hus in 1509, Dutch
theologian Erasmus of Rotterdam’s Praise of Folly
raised the same issue of corruption in the church.
Due to Gutenberg’s invention of the moveable-
type printing press in 1453, Praise of Folly quickly
became available across Europe.
Doctrinal questions about the Catholic church’s

ultimate authority, combined with the invention
of the printing press, set the stage for the
Protestant Reformation. In 1517, the German
monk and scholar Martin Luther (1483-1546)
challenged the Catholic church with his “Ninety-
Five-Theses.” Like many before, Luther was
dissatisfied with several Catholic doctrines and
practices, including the selling of indulgences.
Luther stressed that salvation could only be
gained by faith in God. Luther’s Justification by
Faith spread rapidly throughout Europe. In 1521,
a group of religious and political leaders known
as the Diet of Worms declared Luther a heretic
and suggested his ex-communication from the
Catholic church. Luther’s subsequent separation
from the church sparked a new movement known
as Protestantism. For many individuals, including
John Calvin, Luther had not gone far enough in
his reformative endeavors. As these dissonances
grew, the Catholic church fought back, creating Commentary on Solomon’s from
religious orders to win back believers. However, Gutenberg’s Latin bible, circa 1453 –1456
the rise of Protestantism led to the creation of Artist: Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg
many new Christian denominations. License: Public Domain
JOHANN GUTENBERG
Johannes Gensfleisch zu Laden zum Gutenberg was born around 1399 in the
German town of Mainz. A goldsmith, gem cutter and metallurgist, he invented
one of the most revolutionary devices in modern history – the printing press.
Previously monks and scribes wrote and copied texts by hand. The possibility
of having movable blocks of letters and graphics in a type setting form made it
possible to print texts and entire books faster, cheaper and in greater numbers.
Gutenberg initially printed Latin Bibles with colorful illustrations for distribution
across Europe. When the Protestant Reformation started, the printing press
allowed for the mass publication of Bibles translated into vernacular languages.
This sparked popular interest in theology and contributed to rising literacy
rates throughout Europe.
Artist: T. Allom (Illustrator) and J. Tingle (Engraver)

17
Luther’s translation of the New Testament into
EFFECTS OF THE German soon inspired the translation of the Bible
PROTESTANT REFORMATION into other languages across the globe. The rise of
the printing press allowed these new volumes to be
Catholic teachings stressed the importance of doing quickly produced and distributed. As the Protestant
good deeds and sacraments that depended heavily on movement spread, it fractured into a wide array
church traditions to earn salvation. However, Luther of competing denominations, such as Calvinists,
argued that Christianity rested solely on the Bible’s Anglicans, Anabaptists and Quakers. Formulated
authority and that salvation could only be achieved by French attorney and theologian John Calvin in
by faith alone. In letters and proclamations, Luther the Swiss canton of Geneva, Calvinists espoused
challenged the Pope’s authority and the Catholic “predestination,” the concept that from the moment
Church’s organization. While these changes transformed of creation, an omniscient God had predetermined
European society, women did not necessarily profit from certain Christians for election to heaven. Calvinists thus
these new developments. The male Jesus figure moved had to be exemplary Christians, not to earn their way
to the center of Protestant faith, and the Virgin Mary into heaven, but as members of the “divine elect,” there
and other female saints lost their iconic status within would naturally be observable signs of their holy status.
the church. Even as literacy and education flourished Although an extreme faith by the standards of the time,
across Europe, women’s roles became more defined Calvinism appealed to many “middling sorts” such as
by domesticity, marriage and motherhood, roles more bankers, merchants, doctors, attorneys and publishers
bound to the house than outside of it. who did not fit neatly into traditional European feudal
society but who craved divine and secular approval of
their accomplishments.
Artist: Unknown
Source: iStock.com/Nastasic
Teaching the Reformation in the 16th Century License: Standard License (purchased by ETSU)

MARTIN LUTHER’S WIFE,
KATHARINA VON BORA
Martin Luther’s wife, Katharina von Bora, is believed
to have been born in 1499 in the German village of
Lippendorf. As a child, she attended a Benedictine
monastery in Brehna in 1504 and later moved to the
Cistercian monastery Marienthron in Nimbschen, near
the German town of Grimma. Interested in the reformist
movement, she secretly asked Luther for help in leaving
the monastery. Katharina escaped with some other
nuns from the convent to Wittenberg, hiding on a food
delivery wagon Luther had sent on Easter Eve, April
4, 1523. Realizing that the nuns would be rejected by
their families, Martin Luther found many of them homes,
husbands and jobs.
Initially, Katherina stayed with the city clerk of Wittenberg,

Philipp Reichenback but eventually ended up living
with the painter Lucas Cranach the Elder and his wife,
Barbara. Katherina received several marriage proposals
but held out hope for an engagement to Luther. Although
worried that pursuing a relationship might impair his
leadership of the Protestant reform movement, Luther
eventually proposed marriage. On June 13, 1525, Martin
Luther married the 15 years younger Katherina von
Bora, setting a precedent for allowing reformist clergy to
marry. The couple moved into the Augusteum, dubbed
the “Black Cloister,” the former dormitory and college of
Augustinian friars studying in Wittenberg. Von Bora took
over the monastery’s administration, oversaw a small
farm associated with it, and ran an on-site hospital.
Martin and Katherina had six children together, of which
only three survived. They also took in four orphans.
When her husband died in 1546, Katherina struggled
financially without his income as a pastor and professor.
Although Luther had named her his heir in his will, it did
not conform with Saxon Law. She was forced to leave
Wittenberg at the outbreak of the Schmalkalden War, a
conflict between Protestant and Catholic nobles from
1546 to 1547. She died in poverty at Torgau in Germany
in 1552 at 53. She was buried at St. Mary’s Church in
Torgau, far away from her husband, Martin Luther.
Top:
Katharina von Bora

Artist: Lucas Cranach the Elder
Bottom:
Martin Luther
Artist: Lucas Cranach the Elder
19
THE ENGLISH REFORMATION
The marital problems and dynastic ambitions of King 1553. Edward was succeeded by his eldest half-sister Mary
Henry VIII (1491-1547) led to the creation of an (daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine) who returned
independent Church of England. Increasingly worried England to the Roman Catholic fold. Mary (b. 1516)
about not having a male heir, Henry wished to divorce reigned until her death in 1558 when she was replaced
his Spanish Catholic wife, Catherine of Aragon (1485- by Henry and Anne’s Anglican daughter Elizabeth, who
1536). Worried about offending Catherine’s nephew would become one of the most successful and longest
King Charles V of Spain (1500-1558), Pope Clement VII reigning (1558-1603) monarchs in English history.
(1478-1534) refused Henry’s request for an annulment
(similar to a divorce but would mean that in the eyes Throughout the 16th century, government-sponsored
of the Catholic Church Henry and Catherine’s marriage Anglicanism became the dominant faith among
had never happened and he would be free to marry English subjects. However, several branches of reform
whoever he liked). Frustrated with the lack of progress, Protestants also proved popular to the masses. Led
Henry eventually persuaded the English Parliament to by the reformer John Knox (c. 1514-1572), Scotland
pass the 1534 Act of Supremacy, which made the King adopted Presbyterianism. Presbyterians emphasized
of England rather than the Pope the head of the English local churches by rejecting the hierarchy and
(Anglican) Church. Henry then had his marriage to especially the power of appointed bishops, a feature
Catherine annulled so he could marry his long-time of Anglicanism. Meanwhile, in England, a branch of
favorite Anne Boleyn (1501 or 1507-1536). When strict Calvinists known as Puritans sought to “purify”
Henry and Anne proved unable to conceive a male heir, the church from features associated with Catholicism,
English officials executed her, in May of 1536, on charges such as the hierarchy of bishops, Latin liturgies and
of witchcraft, incest and adultery. Henry would go on to the use of sacraments. From the 17th century onward,
have another four wives. He and his third wife would immigrants from the British Isles brought Calvinist
produce a son, Edward VI, who reigned from 1547- ideas to the Americas.
OTHER EARLY PROTESTANT FAITHS

During the 16th century, other new Protestant groups emerged with
religious beliefs that did not easily align with either Lutheranism or
Calvinism. In the German states, Mennonites began to preach that
parishioners were equal to one another as the Christian church
constituted the body of Christ on Earth. Anabaptists likewise rejected
infant baptism, arguing that only adults capable of freely agreeing to
baptism could be cleansed of sin. In the German states, the Mennonites
practiced traditional agrarian lifestyles and spoke a variant of
Alemannic German. In the 1600s and 1700s, many Mennonites and
Amish migrated to Canada and the United States. To this day, Old
Order Mennonites and Amish continue to live conservative lifestyles
and eschew automobiles in favor of horses and carriages.
Traditional Garment of the Swiss Anabaptists

from the Collection de costumes suisses des XXII cantons, peints par
J. Reinhart et publiés chez P. Birmann à Basle, 1819 (Privatsammlung;
Bibliothèque de Genève, Archives A. & G. Zimmermann)
Artist: J. Reinhart
Source: Das Historische Lexikon der Schweiz

Traditional Amish buggy riding
in Lancaster, PA
Artist: Unknown
Source: iStock.com/AlizadaStudios
THE COUNTER-REFORMATION
The Reformation provoked a Catholic Counter-
Reformation. During the Council of Trent (1546-
RELIGIOUS WARS
1563), Catholics reaffirmed their doctrines, AND THEIR OUTCOMES
sacraments, practices and the authority of the church.
New emphasis was placed on the education of priests By 1555 the Peace of Augsburg ended a 10-year civil war
and their supervision by bishops. Church officials also and split the German states into Catholic and Protestant
created an official list (Index Librorum Prohibitorium) areas. The rest of Europe likewise fragmented (see
of heretical books to be burned. In 1540, Pope Paul map) along religious lines. Scandinavia became almost
III (1468-1549) granted Spanish soldier Ignatius of entirely Lutheran. At the same time, Austria, Hungary
Loyola (1491- 1556) the right to organize the Society and Poland remained Catholic but retained large
of Jesus. Accountable only to the Papacy, the Jesuits Calvinist and Lutheran minorities. Portugal, Spain and
focused on education and spreading the Catholic faith. Italy remained solidly Catholic. Russia and southeastern
By the 1700s, the Society of Jesus became one of the Europe continued to practice Orthodox Christianity. In
first global Catholic orders. Ottoman-occupied areas such as Romania and Bosnia,
Portrait of the Brak

Family, 1752, Amsterdam
Mennonites
Artist: Tibout Regters

Source: Rijksmuseum
21
Map of the Religious Divisions in Europe Source: World History Since 1500 (Rankin, Weise)
Following the Protestant Reformation c. 1590 License: CC BY 4.0 | © ETSU
Islam became influential. In France, which remained

a predominantly Catholic nation, the Protestant-born
THE LEGACY OF THE
but Catholic-practicing King Henry IV (1553-1610) REFORMATION
proclaimed the edict of Nantes in 1598, which promised
freedom of conscience and the right to hold office to The Protestant Reformation completely transformed
French Calvinists known as Huguenots. Europe by shattering the dominance once held by the
Catholic Church. Europe was now divided primarily
As the ruler of Spain, Spain’s overseas colonies, the into Protestant and Catholic camps. It also led to
Spanish Netherlands (which included Holland and long-lasting cultural changes such as higher literacy,
Belgium) and parts of Italy, Phillip II (1527-1598) the beginning of mass education and an emphasis on
aimed to reestablish Catholicism as the dominant individual moral responsibility. To create a “harvest
faith in Europe. In 1588, he sent a massive invasion of souls” for their respective churches, Protestant and
fleet known as the Spanish Armada to return England Catholic missionaries spread their faiths (and their
to the Catholic fold. Due to the innovativeness of the rivalries) across the Americas, Africa and Asia. One
English fleet and the appearance of a typhoon dubbed of the most significant accomplishments was that of
the “Protestant Wind,” two-thirds of the Armada never translating the Bible into vernacular languages so that
returned to Spanish ports. lay people could read, debate, and discuss theology on
their own terms. It took power away from the clergy and
demanded that individuals take active steps to assure
their own salvation.
AMERICAS
European arrivals in the New World triggered a convert and train Native Americans to assume positions
tremendous exchange of crops, diseases, people and in Spanish colonial society.
ideas. Beginning in the 1500s, Spanish conquistadors
asserted their will over millions of Aztecs, Mayans and While the Spanish conquered large swathes of North
Incas. Epidemic diseases like smallpox, measles and and South America, Portuguese explorers concentrated
influenza decimated local Native American populations. on the area of Brazil. With less manpower and resources
Following waves of colonists, merchants and priests to devote to colonization, Portuguese settlers quickly
attempted to destroy traditional Native American intermarried with Native Americans. Their descendants
cultures, or merged them with Iberian Catholic became known as mamelucos in Brazil and mestizos
institutions, customs and ideas. The emerging “castas” in Spanish-speaking regions. Both Portuguese and
society represented a hybrid of Native American, Spanish colonies profited from large plantation systems,
African and European peoples and cultures. Facing especially those that focused on sugarcane. The big
continued resistance from Mayans in Central America, agricultural estates were initially run by an encomienda
Incas in Peru, Mapuche in Patagonia, and Pueblos system that later gave way to the hacienda system. Some
in New Mexico, Spanish officials created systems of areas were also rich in gold and silver mines.
fortified missions such as Santa Fe and San Francisco to
Map Illustrating the Rise of Spain into a Global Colonial Artist: Simeon Netchev
and Trading Power Following the European Age of License: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 |
Exploration of the 15th Century © Simeon Netchev
23
AFRICA
In the 17th and early 18th centuries, English, French contrast, certain coastal kingdoms, such as Benin and
and Dutch explorers began to colonize parts of the Oyo, started to play an essential role in the emerging
Americas and the Caribbean, partaking in the trans- Atlantic trade.
Atlantic slave trade and exploiting people of African
and Native American descent. This led to multiple slave A rise in international trade helped create new kingdoms
uprisings, the most successful of which was the Haitian in the Great Lakes region around Lake Victoria and
Revolution (1791-1804) led by Touissant L’Ouverture Lake Tanganyika. Bunyoro-Kitara emerged as one of
(1743-1803), which resulted in the first independent the most important regional powers, ruling over the
state in the new world governed by former slaves. By kingdoms of Karagwe, Burundi and Buganda. By the
the early 1800s, a wave of additional revolutions created late 18th century, the Kingdom of Buganda and coastal
sovereign states like Mexico, Honduras, Columbia, Swahili City-states likewise became key players in the
Peru, Venezuela, Argentina and Chile. Atlantic world. Great Zimbabwe experienced influences
from the Portuguese and the Omani Arabs, whose
The African continent experienced many changes trading monopolies intersected in the Indian Ocean.
between the 15th and the 17th centuries. In some The Portuguese tried to dominate the East African
regions of Africa, Europeans only dealt with African ivory and gold trade. They established significant
intermediaries and never set foot into the interior. fortifications in Mozambique and Mombasa while
Africans who lived in coastal areas experienced the controlling regional trading hubs such as Paté, Lamu,
most significant changes. Some of the empires in the Malindi, Pemba, Zanzibar and Kilwa. In the 1660s, the
hinterland such as the declining Songhay Empire, dominance of the Portuguese in East Africa would be
the Hausa city-states, and the Kanem-Bornu Empire challenged by not only the Swahili but their Arab allies,
remained more focused on the trans-Saharan trade. In especially the Imamate of Oman (in southeast Arabia).
In the Room of
the Slave Ship
Artist: Unknown
Source: iStock.com/
Nastasic
License: Standard
License (purchased by
ETSU)

Map of both intercontinental and transatlantic Artist: User “KuroNekoNiyah”
slave trade in Africa 1600-1850 License: CC BY-SA 4.0 | © KuroNekoNiyah
THE TRANS-ATLANTIC SLAVE TRADE in the Caribbean increased demands for slave labor.
As European merchants began to pay West African
AND AFRICANS IN THE MAKING OF
chieftains for increasing numbers of slaves with produce
THE ATLANTIC WORLD and manufactured goods, the traditional practice of
carrying goods from one African coastal area to another
Beginning in the Early Atlantic Age (1450 – 1640), a began to break down.
‘third zone’ of commercial encounter sprang up along
the West African coast. Different European nations, The shift in trade away from Central and West Africa
such as the Portuguese, Castilians (Spanish), Dutch, and toward the Atlantic World also brought about
English and French, began exchanging goods with tremendous political changes. Powerful empires such as
African traders and middlemen along the coasts. New the Oyo and Benin began to play important diplomatic
markets for existing commodities started to open, and economic roles in the region. Women rose to
which initially stimulated domestic trade. These new prominent roles in West and Central African kingdoms.
markets provided copper and ivory from the Congo For example, in the Kingdom of Dahomey, women
Basin, textiles from Benin, and enslaved people from served as soldiers and administrators. New emerging
western Sudan. states and the development of new trading networks in
West-Central Africa marginalized some of the existing
During the Middle Atlantic Age (1640 – 1800), English, power players, such as the Kingdom of Kongo.
Dutch, French, Danish and Spanish sugar planters
25
AFRO-CARIBBEAN RELIGIONS – SANTERIA AND
CANDOMBLÉ IN THE AFRICAN DIASPORA
Members of the Candombles

religion are seen during a
religious procession in the city
of Salvador, Brazil
Artist: Joa Souza
Source: iStockPhoto.com/Joa_Souza
The rise of the trans-Atlantic slave trade led to the Like Cuba, Brazil represented one of the largest
spread of African religious practices through the importers of enslaved Africans. Salvador de Bahia
African diaspora. The Yoruba people of present-day became one of the centers for the practice of Nagô
Nigeria were among the largest and the latest groups Candomblé. Like Santeria, its origins lay in Yoruba
forcibly transported to the Americas. Many enslaved religious practices but also integrated Central Africa
people retained memories of their religious practices spiritual practices. Also, here, we can again find a
while simultaneously merging such beliefs with duality of Catholic saints and African deities. After the
those of other enslaved African groups and elements downfall of the Oyo Empire and the rise of the Sokoto
of Catholicism. In Cuba, these religious practices Caliphate, many Yoruba were forcefully enslaved and
became known as Santeria; in Brazil, they were shipped across the Atlantic at the beginning of the 19th
referred to as Candomblé. century. Because their faith resembled an organized
religion, it made it easier to merge with Catholicism. An
The name Santeria comes from comparisons some organized priesthood, complex religious ceremonies,
followers made between Roman Catholic saints and texts and prayers used in divination provided
(santos) and the Yoruba deities known as orishas. Many avenues for religious syncretism on many levels.
modern practitioners refer to the religion as “the religion
of the orishas” or the “Lucumi religion.” In Santeria, Both Santeria and Candomblé are examples of hybrid
we can find many practices such as divination and and creolized religious systems. On the one hand, they
spirit possession gleaned from West African religious created something new and contributed to a newly
traditions. Santeria was initially practiced by enslaved emerging Afro-Caribbean culture. On the other, the
people and later by people of African descent. Many ritual practices using the Yoruba language continued
exiles fleeing the Cuban Revolution brought the faith to to maintain a strong connection to Africa.
the United States.
SUMMARY
Between 1500-1700 the world underwent tremendous changes. Contact with Europeans rattled the African
continent and led to one of the biggest genocides in world history – the trans-Atlantic slave trade. During this
four-century ordeal, slave traders forcibly transported 15 million Africans to the Americas. Both the political and
economic landscape in West and West-Central Africa was forever altered. Products imported to the African
continent through the Columbian exchange changed the cuisines and diets of people. An emphasis on the trade
in human beings contributed to the downfall of such powerful kingdoms like the Kingdom of Kongo, the rise and
influence of European colonial powers on the African continent, and a change in the power dynamics providing
coastal states with larger political and economic clout than they had previously held.

3
Cultural Encounters
and Expanding
Empires in Asia and
Eurasia, 1500-1700
Piracy of the South China Sea Artist: User “triotriotrio”

License: CC BY-SA 3.0. | © triotriotrio
RUSSIA
The Russian Empire’s origins lay in the medieval Slavic Ivan III (r. 1462-1505) expanded his control and, by 1480,
state of Kievan Rus. Kievan Rus occupied most of was strong enough to declare the autonomy of Moscow
present-day Belarus, Ukraine and northwest Russia. from the Golden Horde. Known by his followers as Ivan
In the 13th century, the state, including the princes the Great, he and his successors incorporated political,
of the Grand Duchy of Moscow, remained under the military and technological ideas from Asia and Europe.
command of Mongolian control. With the decline of The Muscovites relied on the Boyars (high-ranking
the Mongol Empire, the princes of the Grand Duchy nobles) and the church for support. After the fall of
of Moscow successfully out-maneuvered other Kievan Byzantium, Russians increasingly viewed themselves as
Rus princes, increasing their power and prestige. the protectors of Orthodox Christians both within and
outside their borders.
27
Key
1533 1613 1676

1645 1696
Markovo

Nizhnekolymsk
Kolym
Gizhiga
aR

.
Sashiversk
Ind
Bulun igi
rka Petropavlovsk
Khatanga R.
St. Petersburg Ackhangelsk
Postozersk Dudinka Okhotsk
.
vaR Sukhona R. Sea of Okhotsk
osk Yakutsk
M
Moscow
Siberia
Kyiv
R.
na
Yen
Odessa Kharkov Kazan Ob Le
isey
R. Nikolayevsk
R
Saratov Tobolsk
.
. Yeniseysk Am
Sevastopol aR ur Khabarovka
Don R. lg R.
Vo Lake Baikal
Orenburg Tomsk
Bl
Omsk Chita
ac
Manchuria
Irty
Astrakhan
k
Se
Irkutsk
sh
Kazakhstan ari
a
R.
ng
Su Vladivostok
ea
Aral Sea
Edo
ian S
Tigris R.
Turkistan
Lake Balkhash
Mongolia
Japan
Casp
Khiva Verny Dihua

Seoul
Euphr
Beijing
Baghdad Bukhara Tashkent China Port Arthur
ates R
Tehran Merv Suzhou

Samarkand
e
gH
.
Yellow Sea
Yarkand
Persia
an
Hu
Afghanistan
Map of Russian
Centralization accelerated under the Expansion, 1533-1696
erratic and iron-fisted rule of Ivan IV
(r. 1533-1584), known to history as Ivan Artist: John Wyatt Greenlee
Source: World History Since
the Terrible. The term ‘terrible’ is better 1500 (Rankin, Weise)
translated today to mean formidable. License: CC BY 4.0 | © ETSU
Unsatisfied with his status, in 1547 Ivan
had himself crowned Czar of Russia.
Ivan dedicated much of his reign to
increasing both his power and that of
the Russian state.
Ivan had a tumultuous personal life.

He had at least six wives (and as many
as eight), and he likely killed his son
and heir in 1581 in a fit of anger. Ivan
believed in his right to rule without
challenge or consent and expected
his people, including serfs (peasants
tied to the land), to obey his every
wish. He successfully allied with Portrait of Ivan IV
the Cossacks (semi-nomadic and
militarized peoples who occupied the Artist: Victor Vasnetov
28 CHAPTER 3 CULTURAL ENCOUNTERS AND EXPANDING EMPIRES IN ASIA AND EURASIA, 1500-1700
borderlands in western Russia) and expanded Russia
into Kazan, Astrakhan and the Ural Mountains. Under
Ivan, Russia also made its first forays into Siberia. To
reduce the power of the Boyars, Ivan established a new
service-styled nobility, one which derived its position
and power from supporting rather than challenging the
crown. By his death in 1584, Ivan further strengthened
Russia and the power of the Tsar.
Ivan’s death in 1584 ushered in a period of chaos known

as the Time of Trouble as his relatives struggled over
the imperial throne. Centralized power waned until
Ivan’s nephew, the new Czar Michael (r. 1613-1645), re-
established centralized control, establishing the Romanov
dynasty that would rule Russia until 1917.
Resuming its expansionary push, Russia conquered parts

of Ukraine in 1667 and seized control of Siberia by the
end of the century. The borders of the Russian Empire
now extended to the Pacific. The conquest of Siberia
would be consequential for Russian development as its
natural resources, especially its furs, brought increased
wealth to the Russian state. In 1649, a new code of laws
stipulated that anyone who did not own land would be
considered a serf, which made it clear that landowners
had the right to rule, direct and control the Russian
state and people. The new laws also ended the period of
religious tolerance and ordered all non-Russians to adopt
the Eastern Orthodox faith.
Michael I of Russia
Artist: Johann Heinrich Wedekind
Ivan the Terrible and

His Son Ivan
Artist: Ilya Repin
29
CHINA
China also benefited from the end of Mongol rule. By City was the most private area. Within these walls,
1500, the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) had ruled China the emperor and the bureaucracy worked, sometimes
for more than 130 years. The rise of the Mings ushered together, others at odds, to run the Chinese state.
in a new period of peace that allowed China to flourish.
However, by 1500 problems had begun to beset the
Ming dynasty. A succession of weak and incompetent
MING DYNASTY
emperors, coupled with fiscal, military and bureaucratic Chinese scholar-officials represented the backbone
issues, undermined the stability of the Chinese state. of the Chinese state and bureaucracy. Unlike Europe,
China had no hereditary aristocracy, nor did its
Enthusiastic builders, the Mings constructed a new merchant class become politically significant as in some
capital called Beijing. Built between 1407 and 1420, the European countries. Deriving power and status from
new capital consisted of a series of squares within squares, their education and high government office, scholar-
each being more restrictive and private than the next. A officials became the most formidable check on the
palace complex of nearly 10,000 rooms, the Forbidden absolute power of the emperor. Scholar-officials gained
their place in government by passing rigorous civil
service examinations held at the prefecture, provincial
and capital levels. Quotas ensured that each province
could only send so many worthy candidates to the
capital, ensuring no regional dominance in government.
The prestige associated with being sent to the capital
meant that families who could afford to do so would hire
tutors to give their male children an advantage. Based
mainly on Confucian texts, the examinations could last
for several days. The grueling process of the exams, the
writing of essays, the drafting of mock state papers and
edicts, and commenting on Confucian texts, coupled
with the meager passing rates, ensured that those who
advanced would be adept public servants capable of
administering the Chinese state.
The rise of the Ming dynasty did not end the threat of
another Mongol invasion. Ming rulers deeply respected
and feared the Mongols, especially their fighting abilities.
This encouraged them to expand, rebuild and improve a
series of walls, some very old, to aid in keeping the Mongols
at bay. Earlier walls, often made of rammed earth, were
replaced, buttressed, or built anew with stone and brick.
This increased the overall cost and labor needed to develop
and improve the walls. The walls also had a series of watch
towers and gates to facilitate trade, taxation and security.
Ming Dynasty Painting of

the Forbidden Palace
Artist: Unknown
Key
Ming Dynasty (1400) Jurchens
Ming Dynasty (1660)
Juchen
Northern Yuan
Karakorum
Liaodong
Northern Korea
Hami Zhili
Beijing Seoul
Taiyuan
Jinan
Shanxi Shandong
Shaanxi
Kaiaafeng
Southern
Xi’an
Henan Zhili Nanjing
Shanghai
Ningpo
Wucheng Zhejiang
Tibet Chengdu Nanchang
Huguang
Jiangxi Fujian
Sichuan Fuzhou
Guiyang
l
Assam
a
Guizhou Guangdong
ng
Guilin
Yunnan Taiwan
Be
Canton
Yunnan Guangxi
Hanoi
Burma
Siam
Laos
Map of Ming Dynasty, 1400-1660 Artist: John Wyatt Greenlee

Source: World History Since 1500 (Rankin, Weise)
31
It is estimated that 3,800 miles were added to the originalHistorians today still debate the reasons for the decline
defensive structure. of the Ming dynasty. Did disagreements between the
emperor and the bureaucracy lead to the fall of the
During the Ming dynasty, attention was paid to Ming? Or did a series of natural disasters bring about
improving the countryside. During this period, whole the end of the state? Whatever one’s view, historians
populations, if judged necessary, would be moved to help agree that the competition with Japan combined with
increase farming or recover lands destroyed by natural a series of natural disasters (floods, epidemics, etc.,)
disaster, war or neglect. The government also invested put tremendous pressure on the Ming government,
heavily in reforestation. Promoting agriculture led to which disintegrated in the face of these problems and
increased food production and a healthier, wealthier growing unrest.
and more numerous populations.
Unable to defend the state or deal with its underlying
Merchants sold cotton, silks, paper and textiles to large problems, the final Ming emperor committed suicide
Chinese cities and foreign nations. By the end of the Ming in 1644 as a rebel army gained control of Beijing. The
dynasty, tobacco, imported from the Americas, became Qings (1644-1912) now ruled China. Descended from
a popular consumption item for men and women. Due the Jurchens, the Qing dynasty came from Manchuria.
to its focus on education and its papermaking and Like the neighboring Mongols, the Manchus excelled
publishing industries, China, during this period, had an at archery from horseback. The Qing dynasty brought
unusually high literacy rate. stability to China, and by the end of the century, China
once again experienced a period of wealth and prosperity.
A 15th Century Portrait

of the Ming Official
Jiang Shunfu
Artist: Unknown
32
GREAT WALL OF CHINA
The earliest origins of the Great Wall of China
belong to the Spring and Autumn period (771-
476 BCE). During the Qin dynasty (221-206
BCE), Emperor Qin Shi Huang (r. 221-210
BCE) connected some of the various defensive
walls to create a more extensive fortification
to protect his newly founded dynasty from
outside invasion. Subsequent dynasties would
also build new walls. The Great Wall of China
as it stands today largely dates from the Ming
dynasty (1368-1644). Not all of the Wall is
manufactured from stone and brick as natural
hills, mountain ridges and rivers are woven into
the defensive structure. Although parts of the
Wall have disappeared over time (it is estimated
that the total building would equal more than
13,000 miles), today, the best-preserved
section is still more than 5,000 miles in length.
Photograph of the Great

Wall of China from 1907
Artist: Herbert Ponting
Map of the Great

Wall of China
Artist: Maximilian
Dörrbecker (User
“Chumwa”)
Source: Wikimedia
Commons
License: CC BY-SA 2.5 |
©Maximilian Dörrbecker
33
JAPAN
Before the 15th century, Japan held links to Korea and culturally and led to immense economic improvement.
China but remained primarily isolated from the rest However, over time the military dictatorship turned into
of the world. The Japanese experienced early Chinese a stagnant bureaucracy. After 200 years, the opening of
influence, reflected in paintings and architecture. Japan was unpreventable. The opening occurred due to
Buddhism flourished in Japan to a greater extent than pressure from Western imperial powers in 1858.
it ever did in China. In 1550, European seafarers and
merchants brought along the first Jesuits and with them, One can think of Japan as torn between China’s
Christianity. Converts to Christianity were persecuted influences and later, the Western world. From the sixth
and oppressed, culminating in a mass execution in 1622. to the 19th century, Japan was utterly under the influence
Simultaneously, Japan exhibited extreme xenophobia of Chinese culture. The Japanese made many parts
that led to complete isolation. The self-imposed isolation of Chinese culture, such as the script, administrative
and simultaneous inner peace allowed Japan to flourish practices, architectural and art styles, and philosophical
Map showing
Tokugawa Japan,
1600 AD
Artist: Brigham Young
University
Source: Digital Collections
BYU Library
License: © 2004 Brigham
Young University. Used
with permission.
and religious systems their own. There were many
instances when Japan turned the historical course
of things. For example, Hideyoshi’s occupation of
Korea at the end of the 16th century contributed to
the weakening of the Ming dynasty in China as well
as the later downfall of Korea. Japan dismantled
ambitious plans of the Portuguese and Spanish in
the region during the 17th century. Japan rose to a
modern superpower after the restoration in 1868,
which led to the stationing of troops in Manchuria
and China. During World War II, Japan played
a significant role as an adversary to the U.S. and
became a very destructive power in China and
Southeast Asia.
ENCOUNTER WITH
EUROPEANS
Initial contact with the Portuguese started in the
1500s. There was an initial interest in the firearms
the Portuguese could provide. Still, there was also
the fear of foreign influences brought about by such
contacts, embodied mainly by Christianity. The
Catholic missionaries, among them Franciscans,
Dominicans and Jesuits were instrumental in
spreading the Christian faith across the Japanese
islands. From the 1500s-1700s, several thousand
Japanese converted to Christianity. At the time
Japanese practiced Shintoism or one of the varieties
of Buddhism. The shogun eventually decided to
expel all foreigners for fear that Christianity would
undermine the legitimacy of the shogunate and
lead to a rebellion among the commoners.
TOKUGAWA SHOGUNATE
The emperor’s political power in Kyoto was relatively
weak. He remained more of a figurehead throughout
the modern period, with samurai controlling the
provinces. During the Warring States or Sengoku
period (1460-1570), warrior nobles known as
daimyo led the provinces. Wars and shifting
alliances during this time led to the establishment
Armor (Gusoku) of the

Maeda Family 18th century
Artist: Unknown Japanese Artist
Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art
35
of a federal state known as the shogunate. In 1560, Japan
underwent significant changes. During the next 40 During the Tokugawa shogunate, the Japanese domestic
years, military leaders Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582) and economy improved particularly in fine wares and
Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536-1598) suppressed uprisings ceramics. Even though situated at the bottom of the
by the daimyo and united the country. Tokugawa Ieyasu Confucian hierarchy of classes, merchants gained
(1549-1616) established and legitimized the shogunate prestige and recognition, often lending money to
government, which lasted 250 years until 1867. impoverished samurai. Commercial networks started
to gain importance. By experimenting with credit, a
The shogunate represented a period of stability and form of Japanese capitalism emerged which allowed
peace. All firearms were banned and collected. The idea Japanese merchants to compete in foreign markets.
was to reinvigorate the military control of the samurai The life of peasants and artisans improved initially, but
who used bows and swords instead of firearms. All heavy taxes led to misery and peasant rebellions. The
inhabitants were classified as belonging to one of the improved economy led to rapid urbanization and the
major classes: warriors, farmers, artisans, or merchants. rise of major metropolises such as Kyoto, Osaka and
Christianity was considered one of the biggest threats. Edo. Most Japanese continued to live in rural areas and
Officials banned missionaries, closed churches and depended on local farming and fishing to survive.
persecuted Christians mainly now practicing their faith
underground. Any trade relations with the West ceased, Over time the samurai developed into a symbolic class.
and foreigners were expelled apart from a small group As open warfare declined, many samurai found ways to
of Dutch traders who were constrained to Nagasaki earn a living as administrators, teachers and doctors.
harbor, far away from the seats of political powers at Others fell through the cracks and fell into debt which
Edo and Kyoto. Trade with China and Korea continued caused much trouble for the shogunate.
but remained highly monitored. Japanese subjects
were not allowed to travel abroad, and those that lived This 250-year period of peace and stability had a
abroad were forbidden to return to Japan. This period of tremendous effect on the arts and education. Buddhism,
isolation is often referred to as sakoku. influenced by Confucianism, became the religion of
the upper classes. At the same time, the commoners
Under the Tokugawa shogunate, the dual government continued to practice Shintoism and less intellectual
continued with the shogunate residing in Edo (later forms of Buddhism. Literacy rates continued to increase,
renamed Tokyo) and the emperor living in Kyoto. The and poetry and Kabuki theatre became quite popular.
shogun wielded political and military power, while Performed only by men and initially more popular
the emperor exercised ceremonial power. The daimyo among the upper classes, dramas in the Kabuki theatre
formed a council and acted as agents of the shogun in the emphasized realism, humor and irony.
provinces. In time many became provincial overlords
and a constant thorn in the side of the shogunate. The
shogun had a sizeable personal domain near Edo. He
would manipulate the daimyo by placing those who
supported him closer to Kyoto and those who were not
favorable to him further away. Wives and children of
important daimyo families were required to reside in
Edo and became hostages. Every daimyo also had to
spend a certain amount of time at the shogun palace in
Edo, a system known as sankin kotai.
Itsukushima Gate
Artist: Jordy Meow
License: CC BY-SA 3.0 | © JordyMeow
SHINTOISM nature powers (power of life, fertility) and exceptional
nature representations (moon, sun, volcanoes, cave
information, old trees). Central to Shintoism is the belief
Shinto, the way of the gods, is considered the
that nature has a soul (animism). Regional diverse
indigenous religion of Japan. It does not consist of
customs, festivals and mythology are connected to
a unified religious system but is more influenced by
the local Shinto practices. Shinto experienced some
local culture and thus more connected to the territorial
changes through cross-cultural encounters with
spirits of a specific region. The term Shinto emerged
mainland traditions (ancestor veneration, Chinese
as a counter term to Butsudo, the way of the Buddha,
mythology, Taoism, Buddhism).
after the introduction of Buddhism during the sixth
century. Shinto entails various religious practices and
The deities of Shinto are connected to nature powers,
functions, which are classified into four big groups:
the elements and plants. They emerged out of the
core of the world and are understood as powers
1. The Shinto of the Emperor
through which life is created and sustained. Their
2. Shinto of sects
venerations are therefore often connected to fertility
3. Shrine Shinto
ceremonies. The Japanese kami exist and function
4. Shinto of the masses/people/commoners/
in this world. Shintoists do not believe in an afterlife
popular Shinto
but are focused on the presence of the here and
now. The roles of humans in the maintenance and
Shinto does not have a founder or holy scripts, a
progress of life correlate with the will of the deities/
doctrine or a confession of faith. In the center of the
gods. The afterlife/hereafter is instead portrayed as
religious practice lies kami-veneration. Kami refers
a dark, grave-like sphere of dirt and decay. Central
to female and male deities, ancestors, territorial
terms such as purity (sei) and fault (tsumi) should not
spirits (spirits of the house, forest or water, etc.),
be interpreted based on an ethical-moral background.
Impurities emerge through contact with blood, death
and decay, and can be removed through purification
rituals (harai, misogi). Actions are not considered
harmful or good, evil is not to be found in a human
being but is caused by external causes. Purification
rites can eliminate the evil.
Over time the Japanese started to build Shinto shrine

houses. Building on the rituals performed in early
agrarian societies, the sacred place contains the
symbols of the shrine deity (shintai), a prayer hall,
a place for sacrifices, a stage for the sacred dance
(kagura), and an administrative building. In Shinto,
there are no official weekly ceremonies. Practitioners
decide the frequency and duration of their shrine
visits, often made for specific requests. The religious
practice in the community is characterized by the
participation in the traditional annual customs, rites
and festivals (matsuri) within a local shrine. The actual
rituals are performed by the priesthood, which include
the calling of the deities, the recitation of the prayers
(nurito), offerings (such as rice, rice wine, dried
seafood and sakaki branches), and the consumption
of the offerings. There is a public part of it too. It
includes a procession during which the kami will be
taken out carrying shrines (mikoshi), traditional dress,
and traditional dance and theatre performances.
A Young Women Visiting a

Shinto Shrine 1814
Artist: Katsushika Hokusai
37
SOUTHEAST ASIA
The maximum extent of Mataram Artist: Gunawan Kartapranata

Sultanate during the reign of Sultan License: CC BY-SA 3.0 | © Gunawan Karapranata
Agung Anyokrokusumo (1613–1645)
In 1600, the Portuguese lost control of the spice islands in Ocean and Southeast Asia from which the Portuguese
Southeast Asia. To maintain their influence in the spice controlled the spice islands. The region was dominated
trade, Dutch merchants and officials built relationships by Hinduism and Islam, except for the Philippines,
with the Muslim Sultanates of Java and Sumatra. The where Catholicism was practiced. In 1700, Thailand,
Dutch East India Company put their headquarters Burma and Vietnam dominated parts of Southeast
on the Island of Java, from which they oversaw the Asia. Theravada Buddhism ruled supreme in Thailand
regional trade. The British East India Company left and Burma, while the Vietnamese practiced Mahayana
the region. The only country where Europeans wielded Buddhism. Cambodia had been divided between
influence was the Spanish Philippines. Malacca Thailand and Vietnam.
became an important trading crossroads in the Indian
SUMMARY
The period 1500-1700 witnessed a consolidation of power in Russia, China, Japan and parts of Southeast
Asia. In each of these areas, local rulers effectively checked or at least reduced Western encroachment. The
Russian Empire vastly expanded its borders, and this would bring it into conflict with other expanding powers
including the Ottoman Empire. The Ming dynasty also centralized power and embarked on ambitious building
projects, including the construction of a new imperial capital and an expansion of the Great Wall of China. The
Qing dynasty, which overthrew the Mings in 1644, increasingly faced the challenges of Western encroachment.
The establishment of the Tokugawa shogunate ushered in a period of relative stability in Japan. The shogunate
introduced a policy of strict isolation as it banned Christianity and severely restricted trade and interaction with
Western nations. This isolation would last until the 1850s. During this period, European influence in Southeast
Asia remained relatively limited. The Spanish Philippines was the only real and significant area where Europeans
wielded any meaningful authority. Over the next two centuries (18th and 19th), each of the powers/regions
covered in this chapter would have to wrestle with Western ideas and the threat of foreign intrusion.
4
Islamic Empires:
Mughals, Ottomans
and Safavids
1500-1700
Ottoman Officials
Registering Christian Boys
for the Devshirme System
Artist: Ali Amir Beg
traditional ideas with ideas

borrowed or adopted from those
they conquered. These empires
helped to spread Islam across many
of the territories they conquered
and the peoples they traded with.
Both the Ottomans and Safavids
relied upon slave soldiers to fill
their armies. The sultan owned
everything and there was not,
like in many other places in the
world, an aristocracy to check the
sultan’s power. Expansion, within
all the empires, caused issues as
the state infrastructure struggled
to administer such vast territories.
Since power was so highly
During the period 1500 to 1700, the (Islamic) concentrated in the leader, each
Gunpowder Empires used their advanced technology, of these states struggled when their leader lacked the
tactics and fearsome fighting skills to expand their ability to effectively rule. Each empire also experienced
borders. Many of these empires followed a similar infighting and succession issues which weakened the
trajectory. They often began with a strong and brave state from within. Ultimately, each of these empires
conquering ruler who united disparate people into a would crumble as the state machinery failed to address
single unit. This leader created a new identity by melding both internal issues and external threats.
39
Islamic Gunpowder Empires Artist: User “Pinupbettu”
License: CC BY-SA 4.0 | © Pinupbettu
OTTOMAN EMPIRE
During its earliest years of development, the armies of
the Ottoman Empire had been successful conquerors.
Armed with a variety of weapons including firearms, the
Ottomans and their army of Janissaries (slave soldiers)
appeared unstoppable. Victories over Syria (1516),
Palestine (1516) and Egypt (1517) gave the Ottomans
control over vast territories. These victories and the
prestige from controlling the holy cities of Islam (Mecca
and Medina) prompted Ottoman rulers to adopt the
title “Protector of the Sacred Places.”
Janissaries were part of a complicated slave system within

the Ottoman Empire called the devshirme system. This
system required Christian communities, especially in the
Balkans, to provide young boys to help staff the Ottoman
state. Converted to Islam, the boys underwent a series of
tests to determine their abilities. The brightest would be
sent to the palace school, where they would be taught
to read and write in various languages and instructed
on how to be a successful government official. Others
Selim I in Egypt Artist: Gloya Borski
would be sent for religious instruction while those who
License: Public Domain displayed martial skills would become Janissaries. The
40 CHAPTER 4 ISLAMIC EMPIRES: MUGHALS, OTTOMANS, AND SAFAVIDS 1500-1700
Agha of the
Janissaries and
a Bölük of the
Janissaries
Artist: Lambert Wyts
License: CC0 1.0
Janissaries were under the direct command of the sultan in Europe, the Ottomans did not have a hereditary
and were taught to obey his every order. Once their landholding elite that could restrict the monarch’s
training had been completed, these people could wield power. In the Ottoman Empire, the sultan owned all of
tremendous power, becoming generals, viziers (high- the land, and on the death of an official, any land given
ranking officials), or provincial governors. Because of to them reverted to the throne.
the chance of advancement, some families volunteered
their sons for the devshirme system. The vast lands conquered by the Ottomans, coupled
with the devshirme system, ensured that the Ottoman
The Janissaries and the devshirme system helped Empire was a multi-ethnic empire with numerous
centralize power in the hands of the sultan. Unlike peoples of various faiths living within its borders.
41
Map of Ottoman Expansion Artist: John Wyatt Greenlee
c.1300-1700 License: CC BY 4.0 | © ETSU
The Ottomans tended to rule with a light hand allowing The Ottoman court developed a highly regulated
these groups much independence. Although not system of concubinage. Sultans were attached to slave
formalized until the 18th century, Ottoman rulers concubines who, though understood to be a spouse,
granted confessional communities much autonomy. did not hold the rank of a wife. The son of a concubine
These communities were responsible for governing their would be raised in the harem (a place of separation
people, providing education, administering law, and for a man’s wife, unmarried daughters, pre-pubescent
helping the Ottoman state collect taxes. Many Christians sons and other unmarried female relatives) until about
found it much less restrictive to live under Ottoman the age of 12 when they would be given a province or
rule than their former Christian ones. Beginning in the area to govern under the stewardship of their mother.
15th century, Jews from throughout Europe, including Since any son of a sultan could inherit the throne,
those expelled from Spain in 1492, would settle in the competition among children and concubines could be
Ottoman Empire because of its religious toleration. fierce. This competition could lead to exile, blinding

or even fratricide. This system of inheritance caused much
infighting and instability.
The Ottoman Empire reached its peak under Sulieman I (r.

1520-1566). In 1526, the Ottomans defeated the Hungarians
at Mohács, killing the king and thousands of his nobles. By
1529 the Ottomans had reached the gates of the Hapsburg
capital of Vienna. Although unsuccessful in taking Vienna,
the Ottomans became significant players in European
politics and generally aligned themselves with the Hapsburg’s
European rival, the House of Bourbon, which held the
French throne.
Called the lawgiver, Sulieman ordered that a new law

code aimed at reforming the state be devised. Seeking to
improve the economy, to root out government corruption,
increase justice and to put an end to bribery of officials,
Suliman’s reforms introduced the idea of balanced budgets,
governmental responsibility, and ended imprisonment
without trial. Ultimately, the reforms of Suliman strengthened
the state and introduced or buttressed existing freedoms Suleiman the Artist: Unknown
while rationalizing the bureaucracy. Magnificent License: Public Domain
OTTOMAN COFFEEHOUSE
Culture and art flourished during the period of
Ottoman expansion. Likely an import from Yemen,
coffee drinking gave rise to the Ottoman coffeehouse,
a place to meet and drink with friends. People also
went to play games, watch shows and discuss the most
recent political developments. Coffeehouses catered
to different audiences and people. For instance, one
coffeehouse might be primarily patronized by military
men while another by members of the civil service.
Coffeehouses might be best known for different
activities including their poetry, music, debates, or
shows. The popularity of the Ottoman coffeehouse
represents a growing urban and public culture within
the expanding Ottoman Empire.
Meddah in Ottoman Coffeehouse

Artist: Unknown
43
Selim II
Artist: Haydar Reis
Sulieman’s son, Selim II (r. 1566-1574), shared few of corps as their primary loyalty. This shift encouraged
his father’s attributes or strengths. Without a strong the Janissaries to become involved in politics, Ottoman
sultan, the centralization that had occurred under his policy and even succession disputes.
father started to unravel. The Ottomans were beset
by dissatisfaction in the military, naval defeats, crop The growth of the Janissaries put increased financial
failure and inflation. Many of these issues continued to pressure on the Ottoman state. Desperate to find
undermine the Ottoman Empire as successive sultans money to pay these men, the Ottomans began debasing
failed to deal with the growing issues within their vast their currency. Debasement led to inflation, making
borders. most goods in the empire cost more. The Ottoman
state eventually handed tax collection to provincial
Sulieman’s successors also struggled with the Janissaries, notables, who collected taxes for the state. Increasingly
who, following the death of Sulieman, increased in the balance shifted, and by the 18th century, some of
power and autonomy. The Janissaries went from having these notables were capable of dictating terms to the
unquestioned obedience to the sultan to seeing the Ottoman state.

The once-conquering Ottoman Empire experienced a
series of military setbacks during the 17th century. In
1604, the Ottomans lost territory in Mesopotamia and
the Caucus region to the Persian Safavid Empire. The
Ottomans would also be pushed out of Hungary and
Belgrade. As a geo-political and military power, the
Ottomans were weaker in 1700 than they were in 1500.
The following centuries would prove equally, if not more
so, difficult for the Ottoman state.
SAFAVID EMPIRE
In 1501, Ismail I (1487-1524) conquered large swaths
of Persia establishing the Safavid Empire. Previous to
his gaining control of Persia, much of Iran had been
in the hands of Arab leaders. After a series of military
victories, the 14-year-old Ismail proclaimed himself the
shah (king) of Iran.
Shah Ismail I
Artist: Cristofano dell’Altissimo
Ismail declared that the empire would follow Shia

Islam. To ensure that religion and religious teaching
aligned with the interests of the state, Ismail recruited
religious scholars from outside his borders who had no
community ties and would be loyal to him and the state.
Anxious to increase his army, Ismail actively recruited
Qizilbash (nomadic Turkish Sufis) by granting them
vast grazing lands in return for military support.
Considered the most successful Safavid ruler, Shah

Abbas I’s (r. 1588-1629) reforms helped to strengthen
and solidify the empire. Worried about the growing
power of the Qizilbash, Abbas created a new gunpowder
army funded by the state. Similar to the devshirme
system in the Ottoman Empire, enslaved people, largely
drawn from the Caucasus region, were converted to
Islam, selected to serve a particular branch of the state,
and were expected to be loyal only to the shah. This
Shah Abbas
Artist: Unnamed Italian Painter
45
Safavid Empire Artist: User “Cattette”
License: CC BY 4.0 | © Cattette
not only strengthened the army, but allowed Abbas to Two of his other sons would be blinded. Eventually,
centralize power in the throne, allowing him to carry Shah Abbas selected his grandson Sam Mirza (from his
out his reforms and to defend and expand the empire. eldest son) to succeed him, which he did (as Shah Safi)
Abbas drove the Ottomans out of Iraq and Azerbaijan in 1629. The achievements of Shah Abbas in protecting
and checked their power by making alliances with the Safavids are marred by his disastrous family relations
European powers. and the instability brought by constant intrigues and
power struggles.
Worried about conspiracy, Shah Abbas ordered the
blinding, murder, or imprisonment of several family After Abbas, the Safavid Empire rapidly declined. Abbas’
members, including his father, brothers and sons. In successors struggled against encroaching powers,
1615, Shah Abbas ordered that his son and heir be especially the Ottomans and the Uzbeks (a Turkic people
executed after being told that his son had been part of a who had conquered much of Central Asia). Tensions
conspiracy that sought to remove him from the throne. between the Ottomans and Uzbeks had a religious
component, as both the Ottomans and Uzbeks followed India, temporarily saved the Safavids they ultimately
Sunni Islam. Beset by bad governance, an unstable and drained the empire’s finances. After the collapse of the
struggling economy, and religious tensions, the Safavid Safavid Empire, the region would be plunged into years
Empire could no longer hold. In 1722, an Afghan of instability.
leader sacked the Safavid capital Isfahan forcing the
abdication of Husayn I (r. 1694-1722). A brief period
of revival occurred under Nadir Shah (r. 1736-1747),
MUGHAL EMPIRE
who made the official religion Sunni Islam. Although In 1504, Babur (1483-1530), a fearsome military leader,
Nadar Shah’s impressive conquests, including parts of captured Kabul. Claiming descent from both Genghis

Mughal Empire Map License: CC BY 4.0 | © ETSU
Key
Empire under Babur (1530)
Kashmir
Persia Kabul Ind
us
R. Empire Under Akbar (1605)
Peshawar
Kandahar Empire under Aurangzeb (1707)
Lahore
i R. Sutlej R.
Rav
R. Him
us Delhi alay
Ind Ga as a R.
putr
Sind ng
es
R. Awadh Brah
ma
Mewar Agra Ya
m
Thatta
un
aR
. Patna Bihar Burma
Ajmer
Malwa Bengal
Dacca
Gujarat Surrat Calcutta

R.
Mandu
Narmada
Gondwana Cuttack
Arabian Berar
Bombay
Sea Godavai R.
Bidar
Krish Bay of
na R Golkonda
.
Bengal
Bijapur
Goa
Madras
Indian Ocean
47
Khan (r. 1206 -1227) and Timur (r. 1370-1405), Babur sought
out distant lands to conquer. This sense of adventure and
desire for wealth drew Babur to India. In 1526, at the battle of
Panipat, Babur’s forces defeated the Sultan of Delhi. This led to
the establishment of the Mughal Empire (Persian for Mongol),
an empire that, at its height, extended over one million square
miles and ruled over 100 million people. A warrior poet, Babur
composed an autobiography which recounts his conquests and
tells us of his wide-ranging interests, including swimming,
eating fruit, and the difficulties he had in giving up wine. Under
his son, Humayun (r. 1530-1540 and 1555-1556), the Mughals
Akbar as Boy
Artist: Unknown
Akbar with Lion and Calf
Artist: Govardhan
lost much of their territories in Afghanistan.

Humayun’s most significant impact may be
his deep appreciation for Persian culture, a
passion he passed on to his children. It fell
to Humayun’s son Akbar (r. 1556-1605) to
restore glory to the Mughal Empire.
Although only thirteen when he ascended to

the throne, Akbar was a shrewd and capable
individual. He was a warrior king, and soon
the independent kingdoms of Northern
India fell under his grasp. To rule over these
extensive regions, add stability and ensure
loyalty, Akbar created a vast government
structure. Showing no bias toward any ethnic
group or faith, Akbar’s government invited
all those with talent to participate. Akbar
understood that by dividing power among

multiple groups would ensure that no one
in the empire could challenge him. Akbar
married Hindu princesses, thus aligning
himself and his government with key Hindu
families. He also eliminated discriminatory
taxes, including the jizya, a tax levied on
non-Muslims. Religious toleration enabled
Akbar to harness all his subjects’ energies
and abilities. Akbar enjoyed learning about
different religions and often invited those of
other faiths to discuss theology.
Akbar’s son and successor, Jahangir (r.

1605-1628), expanded the Mughal Empire
by consolidating Mughal rule in Bengal.
War brought riches and prestige, but
new territories often brought new sets
of difficulties. Jahangir’s son, Shah Jahan
(r. 1628-1658), is best known for the
construction of the Taj Mahal. Shah Jahan’s
son, Aurangzeb (r. 1658-1707), deposed
his father, confining him to a small room.
A devout Muslim, Aurangzeb expanded
the empire, especially in the south. While
Aurangzeb ruled over more territory than
any of his predecessors, his reign marked
the beginning of Mughal decline. He had
over-extended the empire with his costly
wars, and his decision to end the period
of religious tolerance angered many of his
subjects. The Mughals went from being an
empire of toleration to one that tried to
force religious laws onto its people.
Akbar in the Ibadat Khana

Artist: Nar Singh
49
Artist: User “Yann (talk)”
Taj Mahal, Agra, India License: CC BY-SA 3.0 | © Yann
building, the ivory-white marble mausoleum, had been

THE TAJ MAHAL largely completed by 1643. Set in what is today Agra,
Uttar Pradesh, India, it is believed that tens of thousands
Commissioned in 1632 by Shah Jahan (r. 1628-1658) as
of laborers were needed to complete the project. After
a tomb for his wife, Mumtaz Mahal (1593-1631), who
Shah Jahan’s death in 1666, his body was interred next
died in labor while pregnant with their 14th child, the
to Mumtaz Mahal in the Taj Mahal. The Taj Mahal
Taj Mahal is an example of the sophistication, scale and
remains one of the most recognizable buildings in
grandeur of Mughal architecture. Completed around
the world and stands as a lasting reminder of Mughal
1653, the 42-acre complex contained intricate gardens,
wealth, grandeur and power.
a mosque and an ornate guest house. The most famous
SUMMARY
All three of these Muslim empires were more powerful and secure in the 16th century than at the
beginning of the 18th. Each empire struggled to rule the vast lands and the people they had conquered.
They had internal pressures, often from the groups that had helped expand their empire. Conquered
groups also fought back, sapping the attention and resources of the centralized state. As administration
size and costs ballooned, none of these empires had the revenues needed to meet these demands.
External pressures came from other empires that had successfully modernized. By the beginning of
the 18th century, all three Islamic empires faced the realities of decline as each one struggled to
reconcile past successes with current realities.

5
Age of Reason: The
Scientific Revolution,
Enlightened Thought
and its Impact
Galileo Demonstrates How to Use a Telescope Artist: Johannes Kepler

to the Doge of Venice, 1596 License: Public Domain
The Age of Enlightenment had its origins in the the center of all things. Whereas the Renaissance placed
Renaissance and the Scientific Revolution. A social, humanity more at the center of human thinking, the
political, intellectual and philosophical movement Scientific Revolution challenged many long-standing
during the 17th and 18th centuries, the Enlightenment beliefs and led to the creation of modern evidence-
wrestled with the tensions inherent between a scientific- based science. While Enlightenment thought varied in
driven world and one that placed human endeavors at space and time, some central ideas emerged, including
51
the importance of human progress, individual liberty and the value
of religious tolerance. The printed word was also significant as books,
academic journals, pamphlets and the highly influential Encyclopédie
began to be more widely distributed and discussed.
The Enlightenment undermined much older modes of thought

and political organization. It challenged all absolutes, including the
notion that monarchy was divinely ordained or the best form of
governance. In response, monarchs, including Catherine the Great of
Russia (r. 1762-1796), Frederick the Great of Prussia (r. 1740-1786),
and Joseph II of Austria (Holy Roman Emperor from 1765-1790),
promised enlightened reforms inspiring a variety of 19th-century
political and intellectual movements.
John Locke’s Kit-Cat Portrait

Artist: Godfrey Kneller
ENCYCLOPÉDIE
Published between 1751 and 1772, the Encyclopédie,
a 28-volume work in the Enlightenment tradition,
showcased new approaches to knowledge, government
and society. Edited by Denis Diderot and later co-edited
with Jean le Rond d’Alembert, the Encyclopédie pushed
for the secularization of knowledge and education,
placed political power with the people, not traditional
powerbrokers, and espoused the notions of natural,
inalienable rights while advocating for less state
intervention in the economy. The text gained attention for
its vast knowledge and willingness to challenge traditional
elites and orthodox thinking. Dedicated to disseminating
new forms of knowledge, contributors spent considerable
time sharing their knowledge and expertise. The largest
contributor, Louis de Jaucourt (1704-1779), wrote more
than 17,000 articles. While any text based on the work
of numerous contributors and more than 70,000 articles
will offer multiple perspectives, it is clear that many of the
contributors to the Encyclopédie desired a new society
based not on tradition but on the Enlightenment values of
rational thought and fair and good government.
Cover of the ‘Encyclopédie, ou

Dictionnaire Raisonné des Sciences,
des Arts et des Métiers’
Author: Various Contributors to the Encyclopédie

52 CHAPTER 5 AGE OF REASON: THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION, ENLIGHTENED THOUGHT AND ITS IMPACT
Voltaire
Artist: Nicolas Largillière
influenced and helped engender the French Revolution.

As we shall see, the social and political ramifications of
the Enlightenment helped direct the development of
human history and still impacts much of our thinking
about liberty, legal and universal rights and government.
SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION
The Scientific Revolution represented one of the most
significant movements in world history. Not merely
an advancement in technological or industrial science,
the Scientific Revolution represented nothing less
than a transformation of how people perceived the
Much Enlightenment thought concerning religion was

in response to the political and religious violence that
occurred after the Protestant Reformation. Fought over
religious differences and political control of Europe,
The Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648) killed between five
to eight million soldiers and civilians. In the face of
such devastation, Enlightenment thinkers advocated
using reason to achieve religious, social and political
peace. For some Enlightenment thinkers, such as
the Englishman John Locke (1632-1704), this meant
simplifying his faith into the single idea of Jesus as the
redeemer and steadfastly avoiding further discussion
or debate. Frenchman François-Marie Arouet (1694-
1778), better known as Voltaire, argued that all people,
not just fellow Christians, were children of God. Thus,
religious conflict was both pointless and detrimental to
human development. This encouraged Enlightenment
thinkers to call for a reduction in the social and political
power of organized religion and to support the notion
of the separation of church and state.
Enlightenment thought has had a tremendous impact

on theories of government. Many significant figures
involved in the American Revolution were closely Nicolaus Copernicus,
aligned and influenced by Enlightenment ideas. The woodcut attributed to Christoph Murer, from
Nicolas Reusner’s Icones (1587)
Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the
Bill of Rights are all inspired by Enlightenment thoughts Artists: Christoph Murer, Tobias Stimmer
and aspirations. Enlightenment ideals also inspired, License: Public Domain
53
Portrait of Sir Isaac Newton
Artist: Godfrey Kneller
relationships with God, inspired ordinary Europeans

to think more freely for themselves. Political leaders in
England, Scotland, the Netherlands and France took
steps to protect the rights of inventors and property
holders, helping to create financial incentives for new
scientific discoveries.
Most scholars cite Nicolaus Copernicus’s (1473-

1543) publication of his seminal De Revolutionibus
Orbius Coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Heavenly
Spheres) in 1543 as a critical moment in the onset of
the Scientific Revolution. By proving that the Earth
and the other planets revolved around the Sun,
Copernicus upended traditional religious accounts,
which saw the Earth in general and humanity in
physical world and their place within it. Historians particular as the center of the universe. Seventy years
have spent centuries debating why the Scientific later, German astronomer Johannes Kepler (1571-1630)
Revolution first occurred in Western Europe in
the 1500s and 1600s. After all, ancient Egyptian
Somer Francis Bacon
advances in geometry, classical Greek contributions
to physics and astronomy, Roman engineering, and Artist: Paul van Somer I
Chinese developments in printing, shipbuilding and License: Public Domain
navigation reveal that humans had long been capable
of scientific development. However, early modern
European philosophers and scientists benefitted
from the intersection of several historical trends that
created favorable conditions for the development of
scientific thought. The rediscovery of classical Greek
and Roman knowledge and the importation of Arabic
science during the Renaissance made scientific inquiry
famous throughout European culture.
Furthermore, the loss of 30-60% of Europe’s population

during the Black Death promoted an interest in medical
science and a desire to invest in labor-saving technology
such as looms and water wheels. The abundance of
natural resources like coal and navigable waterways
made Western Europe well-suited for promoting
science and industry. The discovery of the Americas
provided infusions of new capital, crops and ideas,
which stimulated scientific thought. The rise of the
Protestant Reformation and Counter-Reformation,
which challenged traditional religious dogmas and
stressed the ability of individuals to create personal
Portrait of René Descartes
Artist: Frans Hals
the human body’s circulatory and lymphatic systems.

Antonie van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723) likewise
experimented, with using microscopes to identify
bacteria and viruses, helping to set the stage for the later
development of anesthetics and vaccines.
The Scientific Revolution brought tremendous

developments in diverse scientific fields, including
astronomy, physics, mathematics and medical
science. It also helped usher in a new sensibility in
human philosophy. It promoted the view that the
universe was a rational, orderly place. Once humans
mathematically predicted planets’ actual routes around understood the underlying axioms that governed the
the sun. Galileo Galilei’s (1564-1642) experiments with natural world, they could apply such principles to
the telescope likewise identified Jupiter’s moons, Venus’s improve the human condition.
rate of rotation, and Saturn’s rings. Isaac Newton’s
(1643-1727) 1687 Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia
Mathematica (Mathematical Principles of Natural
Philosophy) completed this process by postulating the
law of universal attraction, which used mathematics to
account for both gravity on Earth and the movements
of the planets and stars on a cosmic scale.
These discoveries in mathematics and physics inspired

scholars to analyze the world around them using
increasingly precise criteria. In the 1620s, Francis Bacon
(1561-1626) promoted the concept of empiricism or
the “scientific method,” using a rigorous examination
of observable phenomena and inductive reasoning to
draw generalizations about how the world operates. At
roughly the same time, French scholar René Descartes
(1596-1650) made a critical distinction between
empirical knowledge based on experiences such as
physics and the rational knowledge that rested upon
logical inference, including mathematics.
The Scientific Revolution also changed how medical

professionals, sculptors and artists perceived the human
body. Bucking centuries of Church teachings, Italian 1543, Andreas Vesalius’
doctor Andreas Vesalius (1514-1564) published De Fabrica, Base Of The Brain
Humani Corporis Fabrica (1543), which depicted the Artist: Andreas Vesalius
human body as a mechanical construct that required Source: Wikimedia Commons
proper maintenance. Nearly a century later, English
physician William Harvey (1578-1567) would map
55
be overthrown and replaced by a government more
SOCIAL AND POLITICAL responsive to the needs of the people.
CONSEQUENCES OF THE
ENLIGHTENMENT AND Enlightenment ideas quickly spread throughout the
salons, university classrooms, pulpits and town squares
SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION of Europe. The theories of Locke, Montesquieu and
Rousseau helped inspire the generation of American
The intellectual resources unleashed by the Scientific revolutionaries such as Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826),
Revolution brought a similar transformation in social who authored the Declaration of Independence, and
and political beliefs. For centuries, Western theologians James Madison (1751-1836) and Alexander Hamilton
and scholars had taught that human nature, mired in (1755 or 1757-1804), who contributed to the creation
original sin, needed strong governments and laws to of the U.S. Constitution. Enlightenment ideas also
keep it in check. God ordained feudal hierarchies by played a role in the outbreak of the Haitian and
determining what social classes humans were born into. French Revolutions. Ironically, although an absolute
Individuals should not seek to change the natural social despot, Napoleon (1769-1821) helped to spread the
order and instead concentrate on leading virtuous lives Enlightenment-inspired ideals of fraternity, equality
to gain salvation after death. and liberty throughout his conquest of large swaths of
western and eastern Europe.
The Crusades, Renaissance, Columbian Exchange and
Scientific Revolution challenged early modern beliefs. Enlightenment ideals also helped to create more
In the 1600s, Copernicus, Galileo and Kepler argued progressive, egalitarian societies throughout Europe
that the universe operated by specific, predictable laws. and the Americas. Many Enlightenment thinkers like
A century later, John Locke, Charles-Louis de Secondat, Thomas Paine (1737-1809) and Thomas Jefferson
Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755), François-Marie became deists. Although they believed that God had
d’Arouet (Voltaire) and Jean Jacques Rousseau created the universe and the natural laws that governed
similarly insisted that human beings were created
with an innate ability to reason and use education and
science to improve society by overcoming the ignorance
and superstition of past centuries. John Locke’s
arguments that humans possessed natural rights to life,
liberty and property, and constructed governments to
protect such rights, proved a tremendous inspiration
to America’s founding generation. Montesquieu’s
Spirit of the Laws (1750) postulated that mixed
governments, which provided political representation
to different social classes and divided power between
different branches, represented more efficient regimes
than traditional monarchies.
In contrast, the French philosopher Voltaire argued that

although humans had natural rights and rationality, most
were incapable of governing themselves. The best form
of government was, therefore, one run by a benevolent
despot. Perhaps the most expansive thinker of the
Enlightenment, Rousseau argued that governments
derived legitimacy not from divine right or tradition
Charles-Louis de Secondat,
but the consent of the governed. When humans agreed
Baron de Montesquieu
to live together in organized communities, they created
a social contract. Rulers whose dictates went against Artist: Jacques-Antoine Dassier
what the majority in a society wished could therefore License: Public Domain
it, deists maintained that humans could use their reason
to promote good in the world around them. Methodist
theologians of the mid-1700s, like John Wesley (1703-
1791) and George Whitefield (1714-1770), began to urge
their congregations to cultivate personal relationships with
God and pursue virtuous lives through their efforts. New
denominations like Baptists promoted adult baptism and that
all people, regardless of social class, were equals in God’s eyes.
The notions of natural rights inspired numerous movements
including the right to vote, the rights of women, and groups
opposed to slavery. In the 1780s, British abolitionists like
William Wilberforce (1759-1833) invoked natural rights
to argue against slavery within the British Empire and the
international slave trade. Mary Wollstonecraft’s (1759-
1797) A Vindication of the Rights of Women (1792) asserted
that women and men enjoyed natural rights. On a more
general level, Enlightenment beliefs that humans could
use rationality and education to improve society led to the
growth of universities, lending libraries, affordable primary
and secondary schools, museums, hospitals and asylums.
Painting Honoring Jean Jacques Rousseau’s

Intellectual Contributions to the French Revolution
Artist: Nicilas Henri Jeaurat de Berty
Signing of the Declaration of

Independence
Artist: John Trumbull
Jean Jacques Rousseau, Jefferson

argued that all people had natural
rights, that the purpose of government
was to protect these rights, and that
governments that usurped the rights
of their citizens could be legitimately
overthrown. The document then went
on to blame British King George III
and his government for restricting
trade stationing British troops in
By the convening of the Second Continental Congress in May 1775, American cities, suspending elected
hostilities had already commenced between Patriot and British colonial governments, declaring martial
forces. On June 11, 1776, Congress created a committee of five law, supporting the Atlantic slave
including John Adams (1735-1826), Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), trade, and setting Native Americans
Thomas Jefferson, Robert R. Livingston (1746-1813) and Roger against colonial settlers. Adopted by
Sherman (1721-1793) to draft a formal declaration of independence. delegates from all thirteen colonies, the
As one of the younger and most erudite member of the committee, Declaration of Independence was read
Jefferson authored the initial document. Drawing from the aloud from pulpits and in town squares
Enlightenment thought of John Locke, Baron de Montesquieu and across the newly created United States.
57
MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT
Born in 1759 to a wealthy farming family, Mary
Wollstonecraft became a successful governess and
social companion. Inspired by Enlightenment thought
and frustrated by the lack of professional options for
women in traditional British society, Wollstonecraft
published her seminal work, A Vindication of the
Rights of Woman: with Stricture on Political and Moral
Subjects, in 1792. Throughout her work, Wollstonecraft
argued that women played a vital role in the health of
the nation and as the educators of young children,
women should be allowed to pursue educations so
as to be able to raise future generations of British
subjects. Furthermore, wives should be treated as
companions of husbands rather than merely spouses.
Wollstonecraft’s daughter Mary Shelley (1797-1851)
would become famous in her own right as the author
of the novel Frankenstein. Generations of women’s
rights advocates would cite A Vindication of the Rights
of Woman as inspiration for their causes.
Portrait of Mary Wollstonecraft

Artist: John Opie
SUMMARY
Although the Enlightenment enriched the minds and improved the lives of millions, it retained a dark
underside. A faith in rationality and scientific progress allowed for the creation of ever more violent
military weapons used in increasingly bloody wars. Although French Revolutionaries initially created
a republic with a moderate constitution, they later embraced violence and executed people for
challenging the government or having royalist ties. Although the Napoleonic Wars spread Enlightenment
ideas throughout Europe, it did so at the cost of millions of casualties. Furthermore, as the American
Revolution proved, creating a nation based on natural rights did not end the enslavement of millions of
people of African descent or the dispossession of hundreds of Native American tribes.
6 Challenging the
Old Order: The Age
of Revolutions
Arrest of Louis XVI and his Family Artist: Thomas Falcon Marshall
The Renaissance, the Scientific Revolution and the and state put pressure on old regimes, many of which
Enlightenment vastly altered how some people could not or would not respond to these challenges.
understood themselves and the world around them. These tensions gave birth to the Age of Revolutions, a
They encouraged new ways of thinking, which momentous historical period where new governments
ultimately undermined traditional leadership and and countries would be formed. This chapter will deal
forms of government. Enlightenment ideas concerning with three revolutions: The American Revolution, the
freedom, consent to be ruled, and separation of church French Revolution and the Haitian Revolution.
59
AMERICAN REVOLUTION
The origins of the American Revolution lie in Britain’s year of stunning victories known as the Annus Mirabilis
mercantile and economic expansion in the 18th century in 1759, the British turned around and eventually won
and the intellectual developments that grew out of the the Seven Years’ War (1756-1763). Having defeated the
Enlightenment. Under the leadership of Robert Walpole French, the British now held extensive lands in Canada
(PM 1721-1742) and then William Pitt (PM 1766-1768), and east of the Mississippi.
British prosperity and the empire itself grew. After a
French and Indian War Map Artist: User “Hoodinski”

License: CC BY-SA 3.0 | © Hoodinski
60 CHAPTER 6 CHALLENGING THE OLD ORDER: AGE OF REVOLUTIONS

The question after the war became how to pay for and George Washington
protect these newly acquired territories. The conflict
Artist: Gilbert Stuart
revolved around a question of governance. While Source: Wikimedia Commons
many at the time, and still do, blame the “tyrant” King License: Public Domain
George III, the origins of the Revolution lay in differing

conceptions of parliamentary rule. Since the so-called
glorious revolution of 1688, when James II (1633-1701)
was deposed by the eventual co-monarchs his daughter
Mary (Mary II r. 1689-1694) and her husband William
of Orange (William III r. 1689-1702), the power of
parliament had significantly increased. The British
parliament began to see itself as the supreme governing
body able to levy and pass laws for the whole of the
empire. This, however, was contested in the Thirteen
Colonies, which had their own assemblies. These
assemblies insisted that they should control local affairs
and that no law or tax was valid unless approved by an
American assembly.
Instead of negotiation, the British parliament attempted

to levy new taxes, including the Stamp Act of 1765. With
neither side willing to alter their position, tensions rose,

leading to the Second Continental Congress’s fateful
decision to approve, on July 4, 1776, a declaration of
independence composed by Thomas Jefferson. The war
for control over America had formally begun.
General George Washington (1732-1799) would lead

the American Continental Army. Encouraged by early
victories and eager to antagonize its rival, France with
its large fighting force and navy, entered the war against
Britain. Outmaneuvered, the British admitted defeat,
surrendering to American troops in 1781 at Yorktown.
Two years later, in 1783, the Treaty of Paris recognized
American independence.
After winning the Revolution came the task of creating

a structure for the new nation. Fearful of centralized
power and influenced by the Enlightenment and its
natural rights, Americans developed a new system
Portrait of Thomas Jefferson of government. Inspired by the ideas of checks and
balances, the government would be divided into three
Artist: Charles Wilson Peale
branches of government. The first would be the office of
License: Public Domain the President. An elected President would serve as chief
61
executive, having the power to execute and veto laws devised and added to the Constitution was essential
and to serve as head of the armed forces. The second to forming the new government and its structure.
branch of government would be the legislature, a bi- Ten amendments, known as the Bill of Rights, were
cameral body divided into a house of representatives added to the Constitution in 1789. Influenced by the
and a senate. The number of seats in the house of Enlightenment and natural rights, the Bill of Rights
representatives would be decided based on population, guaranteed freedom of religion, free speech and press,
while each state would have two senators. The third the right to assembly and petition, the right to bear
branch, the judiciary, would be tasked with carrying out arms, trial by jury, due process under the law, protection
and defending the Constitution. against unreasonable searches and arrest, and protected
and expanded property rights. The new government did
The promise that an additional bill of rights would be not end slavery, as many of these rights were restricted
FRENCH REVOLUTION
to men of European descent. for the rights to use certain infrastructure.
The causes of the French Revolution lie primarily in At the top of this pyramid were the king and his family.
the structure of French society. Since the medieval Louis XIV (r. 1643-1715) had centralized power at his
period, France, which at the eve of the Revolution had palace in Versailles, and this meant that a strong and
a population numbering around 27 million, had been vibrant king was needed to keep the state functioning.
divided into three unequal estates or classes, each with
its own responsibilities and, for the first two estates,
special privileges.
The First Estate consisted of the clergy and numbered

some 125,000 people. The Church controlled about one-
tenth of the land in France. The clergy had special rights,
exemptions, courts and status and were exempted from
paying the main tax called the taille. The clergy were
not a unified class, as those who tended to occupy the
Church’s highest offices were often from or related to
the nobility. At the same time, the parish priests were
almost uniformly poorer and lacked the political and
financial power of those tied to the nobility.
The nobility formed the Second Estate. They comprised

some 350,000 people who controlled about 30 percent
of the land. Like the clergy, the aristocracy had certain
rights, privileges and exemptions. They also held the
highest positions within the state and military. They,
too, were exempt from paying the taille.
The Third Estate was comprised of nearly everyone else.

Although they constituted the bulk of the population,
they only controlled about 40 percent of the land.
Like the clergy, they too were divided as some of their
members were wealthy and educated while most,
upward of 80 percent, were poor peasants. Peasants also Portrait of Louis XIV
Artist: Hyacinthe Rigaud
had certain obligations to the nobility and had to pay License: Public Domain

Not only charged with protecting the nation, the current
King Louis XVI (r. 1774-1792) had to be sensitive to
economic issues, including inflation, wage deflation,
unemployment, and how to service the growing
national debt. Bad harvests, slowing production and
food shortages had exacerbated these problems.
Unable to fix these problems, Louis XVI had no real

choice but to call for a meeting of the Estates-General,
a parliament that had not met since 1614. Each Estate
elected 300 members. In an attempt to demonstrate
flexibility and win popular support, the king ruled that
since it made up a vast majority of the population, the
Third Estate could elect and send 600 members to the
parliament.
The Estates-General convened at the splendid palace

of Versailles on May 5, 1789. Voting had traditionally
occurred by estate. This meant that, effectively, the First
and Second Estates could cancel out the vote of the
Third Estate. Members of the Third Estate wondered
why the King had allowed it to have double the number
of members if the King did not expect voting by head.
All knew that if voting proceeded by head, the agenda
of the Third Estate would dominate as they could count
on votes from sympathetic clergy members and nobles.
When the First Estate refused to alter the voting by
Estate, members of the Third Estate left the parliament,
declared themselves the National Assembly, and began Louis XVI, King of France and Navarre,
drafting their own constitution. Wearing His Grand Royal Costume in 1779
Artist: Antoine-François Callet
The Opening of the

Estates General May 5,
1789, in the Salle des
Menus Plaisirs in Versailles
Artist: Isidore-Stanislaus Helman and
Charles Monnet
63
The Storming
of the Bastille
Artist: Jean-Pierre Houël
Source: Wikimedia
Commons
Threatened by a concentration of troops and frustrated

that government members sympathetic to the Third
Estate had been dismissed, Parisians stormed the Bastille,
a royal armory and prison. Known today as Bastille
Day, July 14 is France’s national day of celebration. The
storming of the Bastille signaled a change as members
of the Third Estate rose up all over France to contest the
government and the old regime. Soon much of France
was in the hands of those who wanted change.
As the National Assembly took charge, they began to

abolish the old order, including the rights of landlords
and the exemptions and privileges held by the clergy
and the nobility. The National Assembly would adopt
the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
(1789), which granted all men equal rights under the law.
It protected free speech and stated that all government
officers would be employed based on talent, not birth.
Some wondered if the Declaration of Man and of the

Citizen also applied to women. Olympe de Gouges
(1748-1793) argued that all citizens should be equal
under the law and was inspired to write her own
Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Portrait of Olympes de Gouges
Citizen (1791). The National Assembly did not heed Artist: Alexander Kucharsky
her demands, and in 1793 she was executed for her License: Public Domain
outspoken criticism of the revolutionary government.
As the National Assembly began to reform France it Angered at the treatment of Louis XVI, Austria and
had to deal with the size, power and popularity of the Prussia proclaimed their willingness to invade France
Church. The National Assembly decided to seize much to place Louis XVI back on the throne. This put pressure
of the Church’s land and put into the service of the state. on the revolutionary government. In response to these
Adopted in 1790, the Civil Constitution of the Clergy threats, the National Assembly voted, in April 1792, to
made the Church a part of the state as clergy were now go to war.
paid by the state and elected by the people. This put the
National Assembly at odds with the Catholic Church, The war further radicalized the public, and in September
which still wielded tremendous influence in France. 1792, a new assembly, known as the National Convention,
officially proclaimed France a republic. Under the sway of
As faith in the King diminished, France became a more radical elements, including Maximilien Robespierre
constitutional monarchy with all legislative power (1758-1794) and Georges Jacques Danton (1759-1794),
vested in the National Assembly. Captured while trying the Convention tried and convicted the king of treason.
to flee France in June 1791, the attempted flight caused Louis was executed on January 21, 1793. Later that year,
the king to lose further support. Eventually, the king his wife, Marie Antoinette (1755-1793), would also be
would be stripped of all his power and imprisoned. executed. Their son and heir, the Dauphine (1785-1795),
would die in prison.
Portrait de Georges Danton,

(1759-1794) Orateur et
Homme Politique
Artist: Anonymous
License: CC0 1.0
65
Map of Europe 1783 to 1792 Artist: Bryan Rutherford
License: CC BY-SA 4.0 | © Bryan Rutherford
In 1793, France declared war on Britain, Spain and the instance, the Convention banned female participation
Dutch Republic. While trying to keep foreign powers in politics, adopted the decimal system and created a
at bay, the National Convention struggled to suppress calendar with a week lasting ten rather than seven days.
opposition at home, including counterrevolutionaries To gain control over the economy, Robespierre and his
who supported the old order. Internally the Convention allies initiated price controls and even told some citizens
was divided between more moderate and radical groups. what to produce. Anxious to build up loyalty, the
Known as sans-culotte (meaning without breeches) government-sponsored art and entertainment aimed
for they wore trousers instead of the knee breeches at producing a sense of patriotism and a commitment
associated with the wealthy, on June 2, 1793, Parisian to the republican government. They also initiated a
workers joined with the most radical elements (known program of de-Christianization, although this was
as the Mountain) to enter the Convention and arrest 29 dropped in 1794 because of resistance to it especially in
moderates. The most radical elements of the revolution the countryside.
now controlled the state.
Despite these reforms, Robespierre and his allies still
Faced by threats on all sides, Robespierre and his allies worried about counter-revolution and that to many
did all they could to gain control. Central to this was French citizens lacked a real commitment to the
a new set of programs aimed at rooting out the old republican cause. This led to a Reign of Terror where
regime’s remaining vestiges, symbols, and traditions. For many suspected traitors, individuals with royalist

Portrait of Maximilien Robespierre
Artist: Anonymous
License: CC0 1.0
Known as the Thermidorian Reaction, the execution of

Robespierre announced a new period of more moderate
government. Fearing another Robespierre, eventually
a five-person executive council known as the Directory
would be formed. The Directory ruled until 1799 when a
famous general Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) ended
the Directory, making himself the sole ruler of France.
Born Napoleone Buonaparte in Corsica in 1769,

Napoleon was only a few months old when France
formally annexed the island. Son of a minor Italian
aristocrat, his father’s connections allowed Bonaparte
to enter a prestigious French military school. In 1785,
he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the
artillery. With the outbreak of the French Revolution
connections or sympathies, and those who criticized

the government were sent to the guillotine.
During the Reign of Terror even ardent revolutionaries,

many of which had been part of the republican
movement from its earliest days but, similar to
Olympe de Gouges, had been critical of Robespierre
and the current government were targeted. Worried
that they too might be convicted of treason, a group of
moderates supported by some radicals moved against
Robespierre and his allies. Convicted of treason,
Robespierre, on July 28 (or 10 Thermidor in the new
calendar), was guillotined.
Napoléon Bonaparte en 1792

Artist: Henri Felix Emmanuel Philippoteaux
67
Marie Antoinette’s Execution in 1793 at the Artist: Unknown
Place de la Révolution License: Public Domain
GUILLOTINE penalty, suggested, in 1789, the use of the tall, bladed

instrument to make executions less gruesome and more
efficient. Originally called the Louisette, Tobias Schmidt
Employed as a tool for execution using beheading, the
(1755-1831) and Antoine Louis (1723-1792) had built the
guillotine is most readily associated with France, the French
actual prototype. During the Reign of Terror, approximately
Revolution and the Reign of Terror. The guillotine derives
17,000 people were guillotined. Last used in France in the
its name from Joseph-Ignace Guillotine (1738-1814), a
1970s, the last public execution employing the guillotine
French physician who, although opposed to the death
occurred in 1939.
and the Revolutionary Wars, Napoleon found further Napoleon ensured that the revolution took a decidedly
opportunities for advancement. Although only 25 years more conservative and pragmatic turn. Desiring peace
old, by 1794, Napoleon had been made a brigadier with the Church, Napoleon agreed to a concordat
general. Entrusted with leading the French armies with the Pope in 1801 that allowed Catholicism to be
in Italy and Egypt, Napoleon returned to France and recognized as the majority religion of French people,
staged the 1799 coup. while the Church agreed not to seek the return of lands
seized during earlier phases of the Revolution. Making
The coup established Napoleon as the consul of peace with the Church bought much goodwill with
France. The consul had complete power over the various interest groups in France.
executive branch of the government and, with the
army’s support, could also influence the legislature. Napoleon set about reforming the state. One of his most
Made Consul for Life in 1802, Napoleon crowned lasting achievements was the codification of a new Civil
himself emperor in 1804. Code. The Civil Code sought to preserve the language

Bonaparte Before
the Sphinx
Artist: Jean-Léon Gérôme
of equality while creating a unified, centralized state A talented general, Napoleon and his armies swept across
rather than one governed by local laws and traditions. Europe. To ensure loyalty and that his dictates would
As Napoleon conquered new lands, this Civil Code be followed without question or dissent, Napoleon
would be exported, bringing a new uniformity to placed his relatives in charge of conquered territories,
Europe. Meritocracy, republicanism and civil equality including Spain, the Netherlands, the Kingdom of Italy,
(largely restricted to men) would be promoted in these the Swiss Republic, the Confederation of the Rhine and
conquered territories, which would have a lasting the Duchy of Warsaw.
impact on Europe and its development.
Coronation of Emperor Napoleon I and Artist: Jacques-Louis David and Georges Rouget
Coronation of Empress Josephine in License: Public Domain
Notre-Dame de Paris, December 2, 1804
69
Europe in 1812 Artist: Alexander Altenhof
License: CC BY-SA 3.0 | © Alexander Altenhof
One difficulty for Napoleon and his plans was the Continental System, Napoleon would be disappointed
strength of the British navy. The British had previously as, instead of engaging in a set battle, the Russians
defeated France and its allies, and its victory at Trafalgar
opted for a tactical retreat. They burned their crops and
in 1805 secured British dominance of the seas. Unable villages as they withdrew further and further into Russia,
to attack England directly, Napoleon devised the refusing to fight Napoleon. Napoleon pressed on under
Continental System. A form of economic warfare, the the assumption that the Russians would at least try and
Continental System sought to prevent British goods defend their capital Moscow: They did not. Moscow,
from entering the continent. France’s allies disliked it as
too was set ablaze. Having “conquered” the capital in
it led to shortages and drove up the costs of goods. late October, Napoleon ordered a retreat. The lack of
food, cold weather clothing, disease and an increasingly
Tired of the economic disruption, Russia stopped severe Russian winter took its toll. Only 40,000 of the
adhering to the Continental System. Napoleon either 600,000 invading soldiers made it to Poland by January
had to abandon the Continental System or invade Russia: 1813. This cost Napoleon much of his fighting force
He chose invasion. In June 1812, Napoleon led his large and called into question his reputation as an invincible
army of some 600,000 troops into Russia. Hoping for a military commander.
quick victory that would force the Russians back into the

The Fall of Nelson, Battle of Trafalgar, October 21, 1805 Artist: Denis Dighton
In the wake of the Russian disaster, other European France. Sent to arrest him, soldiers of the 5th Regiment
powers renewed their efforts against Napoleon. By disregarded the order cheering “Vive l’Empereur” while
March 1814, Paris was captured, and the defeated promising to help him regain his throne.
Napoleon was exiled to Elba, a tiny island off the
coast of Italy. Louis XVIII, the brother of Louis XVI, Returning to Paris in March 1815, Napoleon determined
was proclaimed King of France. Eventually, Napoleon that his best strategy would be an offensive one and
successfully snuck off the island and returned to quickly got together an army and invaded Belgium.
Napoleon’s Retreat
from Moscow
Artist: Adolph Northen
71
On 18 June 1815, Napoleon met a combined British,
Prussian and Dutch army led by the Duke of Wellington
(1769-1852). Wellington defeated Napoleon; this time,
he was exiled to Saint Helena, an island in the South
Atlantic. Napoleon would remain on the island until
his death in 1821. Although Napoleon had died, the
French state, the people and those he had conquered
would have to wrestle with the legacy of Napoleon and
the legal and political frameworks he constructed. At
the Congress of Vienna (1814-1815), delegates redrew
the map of Europe, creating what they hoped would be
a balance of power that would prevent another nation
from dominating Europe and European politics.
Portrait of Arthur Wellesley,

1st Duke of Wellington
Artist: Thomas Lawrence
European Borders Following the Congress of Vienna Artist: Alexander Altenhof

License: CC BY-SA 4.0 | © Alexander Altenhof

HAITIAN REVOLUTION
The Haitian Revolution remains one of the most free people of color (which consisted of formerly
complicated and fascinating revolutions. Occurring enslaved blacks and people of mixed white and black
in the French colony of Saint-Domingue, the Haitian ancestry). Society was highly stratified both between
Revolution is the only example in the Atlantic world and within these groups. For instance, the 40,000 whites
where a slave rebellion successfully toppled the state were divided into two overarching groups: the planters,
leading to a new nation led by formerly enslaved people lawyers and wealthy merchants, known as the grand
who, in turn, abolished slavery. blancs; and poor whites known as petits blancs.
Considered the most profitable colony in the world, As a colony of France, different groups in Saint-
Saint-Domingue produced nearly half the world’s Domingue had to consider and confront what the
sugar and coffee. The island’s population comprised French Revolution and its ideals meant for them.
approximately 500,000 slaves, 60 percent of whom had The conclusions reached by different groups in the
been born in Africa; 40,000 whites and about 30,000 colony exacerbated rather than remedied tensions. For
Abaco
Flo
Islands
Grand Bahama
r
Gulf of
ida
North
Mexico Nassau
Atlantic
Andros Ocean
Islands
Havana
Cuba Turks & Caicos

Great Inagua
Santiago
de Cuba
Santo
Cayman Islands Domingo
Santiago
Jamaica Santo Domingo

Port-au-Prince Anguilla
San Juan Virgin Islands St. Martin
Kingston
Saint-Dominque Puerto
Barbuda
St. Kitts
Antigua
Rico Nevis
Montserrat Guadolupe
Dominica
Caribbean Sea
Key Martinique
Spain St. Lucia
Great Britain St. Vincent

Aruba Barbados
Curacao
France
Grenada
Netherlands Bonaire
Margarita Tobago
Denmark
Maracaibo
Cartagena Caracas Trinidad
Map of Saint-Domingue and Caribbean c. 1790 Artist: John Wyatt Greenlee

73
the petits blancs, the French Revolution meant equality whites and mixed-race individuals. Many of the slaves
with wealthy landowners, a greater political say and had been born in Africa and had considerable military
equal economic opportunity. The grand blancs did not experience. Throughout the colony, factions of whites,
interpret it this way. Instead, for them, the Revolution free people of color and slaves all fought one another
meant greater political and economic freedom from for control. The British and Spanish eventually entered
France. They believed that the Revolution’s focus on the conflict, hoping to claim the colony for themselves.
meritocracy meant that they, as the educated class,
would naturally be best placed to run the colony and Under the leadership of the former slave, Toussaint
could shape it to best suit their own interests. For free Louverture (1743-1803) slaves would acquire the upper
people of color the Revolution’s focus on fraternity and hand. He and his successor Jean Jacques Dessalines
citizenship meant that they should be given full equality (1758-1806) gained control of the colony. They fought
under the law. The petits and grand blancs opposed such off the Europeans, including an army under the direction
a development. For the slaves, the Revolution meant an of Napoleon’s brother-in-law, creating, on January 1,
end to slavery and the slave system. 1804, a newly independent nation called Haiti. Only
the second independent nation in the Americas, the
Triggered partly by a rumor that the French king had fact that former slaves were now in charge inspired
already abolished slavery in 1791, slaves across the repressed people across the globe, including those still
colony burned plantations and killed hundreds of in bondage.
Jean Jacques Dessalines, President

and Then Emperor of Haiti
Artist: Louis Rigaud
Toussaint Louverture Chef des Noirs

Insurgés de Saint Domingue
Artist: Unknown

HAITIAN INDEPENDENCE
One of the new nation’s many challenges was getting
the international community to recognize Haiti as an
independent and equal nation. Most importantly, Haiti
needed France to recognize its independence. Until
it did, there was always the chance that France would
try and reconquer its lost territory. France continued
to ignore requests for recognition believing it was
entitled to compensation for the financial costs of
the Haitian Revolution. Ultimately, France demanded
an indemnity payment of 150 million francs in return
for France’s recognition of Haitian independence.
To strengthen these demands, in July 1825, French
King Charles X (1757-1836) sent warships to Haiti
as a show of force. Having little choice, Haitian
President Jean-Pierre Boyer (1776-1850) agreed to
the 150 million francs indemnity. This cost (reduced
to 90 million francs in 1838) severely undermined
Traité avec Haïti Artist: Unknown
Source: Wikimedia Commons the new nation, which had to take on a series of
License: Public Domain loans to try and meet the imposed repayments.
The debt and the associated interest payments
severely undermined Haitian independence and
made economic development and investment
nearly impossible, as a high percentage of Haitian
GDP was spent on servicing the debt. This led to
under-investment in infrastructure and the domestic
economy and has contributed significantly to the
political and economic instability that has impacted
Haitians since independence.
The devastation, the legacy of racism and the plantation American colonies featured a decentralized imperial
system, coupled with an unstable government prone to government, considerable regional political autonomy,
authoritarianism, made it difficult for the new nation to a sizeable middling sort of attorneys, printers and
prosper. Given these issues, Haiti became the poorest other professionals, a preoccupation with private
nation in the Western world. The formation of an property, written contracts and the exclusion of most
independent Haiti contributed to the growth of slavery Native Americans from colonial society. However, the
elsewhere. Cuba, for instance, significantly increased its colonies of Nueva España sported top-down imperial
production of sugar, whereas the Louisiana purchase, governance, a ruling gentry of landholders, soldiers and
spurred in part by Napoleon’s loss of Saint Domingue, church officials, an emphasis on personal relationships
gave rise to new areas in the United States that exploited and multicultural societies that included large numbers
slave labor. of Native Americans and African Americans.
REVOLUTION IN SOUTH The Mexican War for Independence began on September

16, 1810, when Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla (1753-
AMERICA 1811) urged his parishioners in the province of Dolores,
many of whom were Native Americans, to rebel
The American, French and Haitian Revolutions bore against the Spanish Imperial government. Over 60,000
tremendous influence for the outbreak of revolutions peasants heeded Hidalgo’s “Grito de Dolores” (“Cry
across Latin America from the 1810s through the of Dolores”) and marched upon Mexico City. Spanish
end of the 19th century. Although inspired by similar officials responded by capturing and executing Hidalgo.
Enlightenment trends, Latin American revolutionaries However, his successor, Father José María Morelos
differed considerably from their Anglo-American (1765-1815), routed Spanish forces across the Mexican
counterparts. By the 1760s, the thirteen British North countryside. Augustin de Iturbide (1783-1824), a creole
75
military officer, seized control of the revolution by attempt by Napoleon Bonaparte to install his brother on
executing Morelos. By 1821, Iturbide had consolidated the Spanish throne led to a power struggle. Unwilling
all of Mexico under his rule. The success of Mexican to submit to a French ruler, Spanish officials in South
revolutionary armies also helped inspire independence America created several juntas to govern the colonies.
movements in Central America. In 1823, the provinces
of Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Costa Rica When Madrid attempted to reassume its control over
reconstituted themselves as the Federal Republic of its American colonies in 1808, several juntas declared
Central America, although by 1840, they had emerged their independence. In 1811, wealthy creole Simón
as independent nations. Bolívar (1783-1830) launched a bloody eleven-year
independence movement in Venezuela. To promote
The outbreak of the Mexican War for Independence support for his revolutionary movement, Bolívar offered
paralleled similar developments in South America. An full political rights to poor Venezuelans and ended
slavery. In 1819, he and a small army conducted a daring
journey across the Andes Mountains, catching Spanish
forces by surprise and capturing the capital of Bogota.
Bolívar’s war for independence inspired revolutionaries

to the south. In 1816, Spanish military officer turned
revolutionary José de San Martín (1778-1850) liberated
Argentina. The following year he and his soldiers
pushed Spanish forces out of Chile. In 1821, Bolívar
and San Martín met in Guayaquil, Ecuador, where they
planned a campaign against Spanish forces entrenched
1824 Flag Artist: Unknown in the Peruvian Andes.
In 1824, Mexican officials gathered together in

Mexico City to create the nation’s first written
Constitution. Modeled on the U.S. Constitution
and the French Declaration of the Rights of Man
and of the Citizen, the Mexican Constitution
called for a federal government with a separation
of powers, a system of checks and balances,
and provincial assemblies with considerable
autonomy. However, the Mexican Constitution
differed from its American counterpart in several
ways. First, rather than providing a separation
of church and state, the Mexican Constitution
declared Roman Catholicism to be the official
state religion of the country. Second, the
Mexican Constitution abolished slavery and
provided equal rights for all minorities. Texas
revolutionaries cited the suspension of the
Mexican Constitution in 1836 as a key reason
for declaring their independence from Mexico.
Simón Bolívar
Artist: José Toro Moreno

No one knows how the two men reached
an agreement, but San Martín left his army
for Bolívar to command. Soon after, San
Martín sailed for Europe, dying almost
forgotten on French soil in 1850. Bolívar
followed the Spaniards into the heights of
the Andes. His forces defeated the Spanish
army at the Battle of Ayacucho in 1824,
which was the war’s last major battle for
independence.
In Brazil, independence took a different

turn. When Napoleon’s armies entered
Portugal in 1807, the royal family
escaped to Brazil, its largest colony.
For the next 14 years, it would be the
center of the Portuguese empire. When Bataille d’Ayacucho Artist: Unknown
Napoleon was defeated, the people License: Public Domain
of Brazil wanted their independence.
In 1822, 8,000 creoles successfully
petitioned the restored Portuguese BATTLE OF AYACUCHO
government to become an independent
nation with Crown Prince Pedro (1798- The Battle of Ayacucho, fought on December 9, 1824,
1834) as its head. represented the final major battle in the Spanish American War
for Independence. In 1821, a revolutionary army led by Simón
Bolívar invaded Spanish-occupied Peru. Three years later, a
large Spanish army of 9,000 soldiers remained embedded in the
Peruvian Andes. Leading an army of 6,000 soldiers representing
provinces stretching from Columbia to Argentina, General
Antonio José de Sucre (1795-1830) launched a devastating
cavalry charge against extensive Spanish artillery. Capturing the
Peruvian Viceroy and his officers, Sucre’s victory represented
the defeat of Spain’s last large army in South America.
SUMMARY
The impact of the American, French and Haitian Revolutions and what they meant then and mean to us
today are still widely debated. One aspect about these revolutions is certain: they still influence much of
how humanity views and understands the world and continue to shape our conceptions of liberty, equality
and freedom. The Haitian Revolution interfered with Napoleon’s plan to establish a French Empire across
the Atlantic world. The Louisiana Purchase extended slavery in the United States. It also blocked slave
holding empires such as France and Britain from expansion, moving them closer to the abolition of the
trans-Atlantic slave trade. The French abolished the slave trade in 1815, followed by the abolition of
slavery in 1845. The British abolished the slave trade in 1807 and slavery in 1833. In Latin America, this
period of revolutions was marked by violence and turmoil. Inspired by the America, French and Haitian
Revolutions, rebellions against the Spanish and Portuguese led to the establishment of independent
nations. Following these revolutions, each of the new countries would have to establish a new framework
for governance as they attempted to create a new prosperous and independent nation.
77
7
Remaking the
World: The Industrial
Revolution, Workers and
a New Economic Order
Berlin, Alte Nationalgalerie, Adolph von Menzel, Artist: Adolph von Menzel
the Iron-Rolling Mill License: Public Domain
The Industrial Revolution began in earnest during The origins of the Industrial Revolution began with the
the latter half of the 19th century. It is one of the agricultural revolution of the 16th and 17th centuries.
most defining features of world history as few The agricultural revolution can be characterized as
developments so definitely separated Europe and a series of efforts, reforms and experiments aimed at
eventually North America from the rest of the world. creating and eventually succeeding at producing a more
The productive capacities, technological innovations stable and plentiful supply of food.
and the power that came from harnessing energy in
new ways allowed Europeans to distance themselves Investment in infrastructure and innovation drove the
from the rest of the world. agricultural revolution forward. In the low countries,
78 CHAPTER 7 REMAKING THE WORLD: THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION, WORKERS, AND A NEW ECONOMIC ORDER
Patrick Bell’s Reaping Machine, 1851 Artist: George Harriet Swanston
farmers, landlords and local governments invested in including waterways and its road system, had a surplus
new dykes and devised more effective ways to drain the of coal and iron ore, and profited from the increased
land, thereby increasing the amount of land that could farm yield.
be farmed. In other parts of Europe, the enclosure
movement began when landlords started restricting Textile production became the first industry to be truly
access to their lands by walling off their properties. By
revolutionized by the Industrial Revolution. In Britain,
having complete control over their crops, landlords many families, especially in the winter, wove or spun
could more effectively manage the harvest. No longer thread to make ends meet. Known as the putting-out
were the decisions made communally about what crops system, merchants would go to the houses of families
to plant, as the property owner now made the decision who would then either spin fabrics into thread or take
and kept the whole of the profits. thread and weave it into a finished product. This was
a time consuming, labor-intensive process. Although
The Industrial Revolution began in Britain. Britain families that spun may have owned the machinery, it
would be the leading industrial power until the late was increasingly common that both the fabrics and the
19th century when other powers (notably Prussia and machines used to create the product were owned by a
America) would equal and eventually surpass British merchant. This normalized much of the economies of
industrial capacity. Britain had many advantages, factory work as in a factory, workers sold their labor but
which explains why the revolution began there. Britain did not own the machines, raw materials, or the finished
had a stable government, substantial property rights, goods that they produced.
advanced banking laws, invested in infrastructure,
79
Although labor costs were cheap, once demand rose, Although water was and remains a reliable and effective
there was no real way to increase production. While form of energy (for instance, hydroelectric plants), the
higher wages might encourage more families to spin, it innovation that really transformed England and directed
could not really increase the production of those already the growth of the Industrial Revolution was the steam
producing for the system. As demand rapidly increased, engine. Not reliant upon naturally produced energy
new solutions were sought to solve the inability to meet like wind or water (what we today might call renewable
domestic and international demand for British textiles. energy), the burning of coal allowed for factories to be
set up anywhere, which enabled industrial capacity to
By the mid-18th century, new innovations and be placed closer to transport systems and the consumer.
inventions solved some of the production issues. The
invention of the spinning jenny was important in By improving on a previous design, James Watt (1736-
increasing production, a machine that allowed for, at 1819) created a steam engine that was much more
first, 16 spindles of thread to be spun at once. By the productive and reliable. Having patented the steam
end of the century, over 100 spindles could be operated engine in 1769, the engine’s initial impact was rather
at once. This allowed those who spun thread to vastly muted. It was not until the 19th century, after the steam
increase their productive output and provided weavers engine was modified to power cotton mills, that Watt’s
with enough thread to start to meet the outsized demand invention really began to change the world. Once it
for finished textiles. proved its industrial uses, the steam engine became
the backbone of British industry. It also changed
The Industrial Revolution was a period of incredible transportation as it would be applied to ships and
innovation as new inventions dramatically increased eventually led to the development of steam-powered
production. Inventions such as the water frame replaced railways. The steam engine spurred other innovation,
the spinning jenny by offering a more consistent output especially in the production of iron which allowed
and a better product. Horses had first powered the water the British to produce a stronger, more malleable and
frame, but falling water proved so much more reliable. affordable iron that could be deployed in the building of
machines and rail lines.
Artist: T. Allom (Illustrator) and J. Tingle (Engraver)

Illustration of Power Loom Weaving License: Public Domain
Sketch Showing a Steam
Engine Designed by Boulton
& Watt, England, 1784
Artist: Robert Henry Thurston
The Industrial Revolution led to a social revolution had to work long hours and were dependent upon the
as people flocked to urban areas in search of better factory owner to provide work, and through the threat
economic prospects. This led to an explosion in the of dismissal. By having workers only complete a single
number of cities and the number of people who now task over and over, factory owners effectively deskilled
counted themselves among the growing population their workers, which left them with few skills or options.
of city dwellers. This resulted in the development of Within a generation or so, few among the laboring poor
a distinct urban culture exacerbating the differences remembered the old ways as the factory system became
between the countryside and cities. Within the cities normalized. The Industrial Revolution was not simply
themselves, it created new classes of citizens and a technological or economic change but a tremendous
subjects that experienced the Industrial Revolution and social one that remade society’s fabric by changing
the factory system in widely different ways. people’s relationship to work.
The lowest class and by far the most numerous were Above the industrial workers were the artisans, a class of
the workers themselves. The first workers to arrive in skilled laborers that could demand more money for their
the factory needed to be taught the factory system. work than the unskilled labor that filled the factories.
Accustomed to working in the country, where seasons Some of the occupations held by artisans included
dictated the pace and type of work, rural workers had cabinetmakers, carpenters, printers and smiths. This
their own rhythm. For them, once a task was finished, class could be further divided into those who sold their
it was done, and they could enjoy some rest, relaxation, skills and labor (wage-earners) and those who owned
or socialize. Factory owners wanted to teach these or rented their workshop. For the latter, many had
workers that in a factory, the work is never complete their shop in or next to their home, which meant that
and as such, workers needed to constantly labor. They there was little division between home life and work as
did this by disciplining the worker (either physically customers could come at any time expecting service.
or through fines), by low pay, which meant workers
81
Women Working in a Match Factory
in London in 1871
Artist: The Graphic
Great Britain, had a decidedly conservative turn, with

those in power arguing that political change, or at least
rapid political change, was dangerous and pointed to the
French Revolution and the years of war as an example.
For nearly 20 years, while the economy in Great Britain
was rapidly developing, the political elite sought to keep
the political situation from changing by limiting who
could participate in national and local politics.
The middle class benefitted significantly from the

Industrial Revolution and the subsequent urbanization
The middle class comprised merchants, managers and of Europe. Their growing strength across the 18th
other professional people. These people made their living and especially 19th century allowed them to push for
through capital and, as such, usually sought an ending reforms that ultimately would facilitate their inclusion
of traditional privileges held by the aristocracy, desiring in the political process in much of Europe. Some of
a society that would be governed by meritocracy. They them might be so successful that they joined the upper
also pushed for the right to vote so that they could better classes—those who often copied the aristocracy’s
participate in local and national politics and have a larger pastimes, fashions and manners.
say in decision-making.
For unskilled labor in the cities, the Industrial
The top of the social pyramid in most countries Revolution offered little benefit. The pay was poor, and
remained the traditional elite. This might include the long hours and accommodations were terrible. The
nobility, high-ranking church officials, wealthy factories of 19th century Europe were awful places
merchants, industrialists and financiers. After the where workers were treated poorly with little care for
defeat of Napoleon, many places in Europe, including their health, happiness or safety. Workers worked long,
Charles Tennant & Co’s St.

Rollox Chemical Works and
Iron Foundry on the Day of
the Opening of the Garnkirk
& Glasgow Railway
Artist: David Octavius Hill
grueling shifts (sometimes upward of 18 hours a day),
doing backbreaking tedious work such as shoveling coal,
CRITIQUES OF
and would be paid very little for this labor. Workers had INDUSTRIALIZATION
few rights, and there was no worker’s compensation,
pension plans or unions. An employee injured on the Factory conditions were dangerous and unhealthy,
job that could no longer work was “let go” and forced and the poor pay meant that the whole family needed
out onto the street with no real prospects of finding any to work for wages. Children as young as seven or eight
other employment. It was a cruel system that maximized could be found next to their parents toiling for little
the profits for the factory owner, who had absolute pay. For these children, there was little escape, for they
control over his workforce. Worked to the bone, having had little or no education, knew little of life outside
no fundamental skills or the chance to develop them, the factory, and by the time they hit their 20s, many
workers labored until they died. The deskilling and were completely worn out. Working 12 to 14 hours a
the complete control over their life meant that workers day, usually six days a week, they lacked the energy
were an exploited class who primarily produced wealth and time to apply themselves to anything else, even if
for others. At the same time, their salaries were barely they wanted to. These workers toiled until they died or
enough to survive on. were discarded when they were no longer productive,
scratching a living by begging or petty crime. The
The Industrial Revolution not only changed society but system saw and treated workers as disposable.
heavily influenced approaches to production, work and
capital. Such shifts engendered massive social changes
as people increasingly viewed individuals as the central
social unit rather than the community or even the
family. Individualism, as some have called it, would, in
the West, be synonymous with modernity.
A Young Girl Pulling a Coal Tub in a Mine

Artist: Unknown
The Voice of Industry,

a Labor Newspaper
Published from 1845-
1848
Artist: Lowell Mill Girls
A worker-run newspaper published from 1845-1848, The like in the past, sell the actual fruits of their labor. This
Voice of Industry provides insights into the perspectives seemed, to them, to undermine the American spirit
and opinions of actual workers during the height of the of freedom and independence. Contributors worried
Industrial Revolution in America. Founded in Fitchburg, that profit was beginning to shape all relationships and
Massachusetts, the paper moved to Lowell, where it came to dominate, direct and define American politics.
became associated with women workers, especially Many contributors understood that the factory system
the Lowell Female Labor Reform Association, which would not end, and focused their energy and attention
many consider to be the first union for working women. on improving workers’ lives. To this end, The Voice of
The paper demonstrated the social and economic Industry supported numerous initiatives, including
dislocation wrought by the factory system and how improving working conditions, better pay, and limiting
workers were now forced to sell their labor rather than, the workday to 10 hours.
83
Over London-Artist: Rail from London: A Pilgrimage Artist: Gustave Doré
Industrial by-products, waste from the tanneries, This, they argued, would lead to improvements in
sewage and horse manure all mixed to make the working conditions and pay. For instance, Frenchman
cities a pungent and unhealthy place. The increase in Charles Fourier (1772-1837) called for the creation of
population only worsened the problems as industrial self-sustaining industrial communities in which jobs
workers lived in poorly constructed rowhouses that left were distributed based on temperament and ability. He
little room for natural light. Given the poor pay, most believed the highest paid should be individuals who did
families could only afford to rent a single room in a dangerous or undesirable work. Robert Owen (1771-
crowded house. Life was hard and unhealthy, and for 1858) created new industrial communities dedicated
many, there appeared little chance to escape. to improving working conditions at New Lanark,
Scotland, and Indiana, U.S.A., where he established
The terrible conditions inspired demands for reform. New Harmony. While the success of these operations
One group, the socialists, wanted to replace the continues to be debated, Owen demonstrated, at least in
capitalist system with what they believed would be a Scotland, that one could run a successful business while
more equitable distribution of property and profits. better treating, paying and educating workers.
The most famous social reformer is the The Village of
German academic Karl Marx (1818-1883). New Lanark
Marx realized that a more equitable society Artist: User “mrpbps”
could not be created as long as people Source: Wikimedia
Commons
subscribed to the notion of differentiated License: CC BY 2.0 |
compensation. People who subscribe to ©mrpbps
this model are called capitalists and see

money as the main reward for intelligence
and hard work. Marx believed that genuine,
long-lasting improvement could not be
achieved until capitalism was destroyed.
Born in Germany in 1818 to a relatively

prosperous family that held liberal and
reformist views, Marx, in the 1840s, would
meet his lifelong friend and supporter
Friedrich Engels who had recently
completed The History of the English
Working Classes. Engels convinced Marx Portrait of
that the working class was the key to Friedrich Engels
history. From this point forward, Marx
Artist: William Hall
dedicated his life to the working class and Source: Wikimedia Commons
universal change. License: Public Domain
85
The factory system encouraged Marx to consider the
relationship between workers and capital, leading him
to conclude that one of the most defining factors in
an individual’s life is their relationship to the means of
production. Marx determined that there were only two
classes those who owned the means of production, which
he called the bourgeoisie, and those who did not and
sold their labor, known as the proletariat. For Marx, this
meant that you are either someone who exploits others
by profiting off their labor or you are exploited: There is
no middle ground.
Marx believed that all institutions in a capitalist society

–government, media, religion and education–served the
capitalist class’s interests. These institutions tried to keep
the workers down and trick them into believing that their
lives and labor were free when they were stripped of their
individuality and ability to sell their labor freely.
Marx concluded that the history of the world had been

largely shaped by two classes: those who own the means
of production, and the workers. Marx argued that the
movement of history from one historical era to another
is based upon the conflict that occurs between these two
groups. Marx believed that just as capitalism replaced
feudalism, capitalism would be replaced by socialism.
Portrait of Karl Marx
Eventually socialism would be replaced by a stateless,
Artist: John Jabez Edwin Mayall
Frame-breakers, or
Luddites, Smashing a Loom
Artist: Unknown
classless society known as communism. Communism This violent revolution would give birth to socialism.
would spread to every corner of the globe and would be In this new socialist state, ownership of the means of
the final step in human development. Marx stated that production would be collective. The fundamental goal
the end of capitalism would begin in the West as they of the state would not be to encourage personal profit
had the most highly developed capitalist economies. but to improve the welfare of all workers who would
share in society’s resources and wealth. But socialism,
Marx believed that workers would eventually be pushed too, would give way. Eventually, socialism would be
to a stage of near-total mechanization and automation, transformed into communism, an idealized state
which would cause increasing dissatisfaction and without the need for government, as all people would
help them realize that they are being manipulated in live in harmony. Since all members of society would
a rigged system. Developing what Marx called a class relate to the means of production on equal footing,
consciousness, the oppressed workers would “unite” there would be no classes or division of labor as each
to overthrow the bourgeoisie. This would be a violent person would contribute to the best of their abilities.
process, as Marx believed that the capitalist class would There would be no specialization as specialization leads
not relinquish their privileged position without a fight. to the formation of hierarchy and class distinction.
Communism would create an enduring classless
Marx asserted that revolution was the only way to create society. There would be no more fundamental changes
a communist state. One could not elect a left-leaning in the government for government itself would no
or socialist government and expect to break the chains longer be needed.
of capitalism. It did not matter whether you desired
communism (Marx believed most workers would) or Marx and his ideas have had a tremendous impact on
opposed it; the revolution was inevitable. the world. Until the fall of the Soviet Union, over a third
Mule Spinning in Action Artist: Baines

87
of the world’s population lived under a government
that called itself Marxist. Although he would never
INDUSTRIALIZATION IN THE
have agreed with the strong state policies that have UNITED STATES
characterized communist governments, Marxism has
had a tremendous impact of the world. Marx has given In 1783, the United States emerged from the American
the world an ideology that (although yet to be applied Revolution as an overwhelmingly rural nation. Yet in
in true Marxist fashion) is a powerful tool in fighting just a century, the nation would become one of the
oppression by offering a way for the oppressed to voice world’s most advanced industrial nations. After World
their struggles and a method for organizing resistance. War II, the United States became the strongest and most
productive in world history, a distinction it continues
Workers’ calls for reform were eventually heard. to hold.
Whether driven by humanitarian concerns,
environmental considerations, or worries over national British law prevented American subjects from creating
decline as men from the factory were judged too worn their own factories during the colonial period. A few
out to go to war, fear of a worker-led revolution or other daring merchants experimented with “putting out” or
factors; eventually, politicians voted for reform. In 1833, “cottage industry” systems whereby they hired different
the English parliament passed the Factory Act, which groups of artisans to make machine parts (such as gun
made the minimum age for employment 9 years old and barrels, gun stocks, ramrods, bullets, shot and powder).
limited the working day for those children from 13 to 18 Other craftsmen would then combine these parts into a
to 12-hour days. For children over nine but not yet 13, final product.
the workday was capped at eight hours. In the following
decade, the work week for women and children would American merchants and industrialists borrowed
be limited to 58 hours. copiously from European precedents throughout the
19th century while making their own innovations. In
The efforts of workers, reformers and politicians who the 1780s, New England mechanic and industrialist
wanted or accepted reform did pay dividends. Indeed, Samuel Slater (1768-1835) toured British cotton
by the mid-19th century, standards of living were spinning factories, memorized their technological
improving. Workers were healthier, ate better, and had layout and management systems, and then used this
better access to education and health care. Throughout knowledge to open his own water-powered spinning
Europe, cities began investing in clean drinking water, mills in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. In 1803, Slater created
green spaces and parks, and underground sewage. a firearms factory that used interchangeable parts to
produce cheap, easily repairable muskets in significant
With less demanding hours and more free time, workers quantities. The availability of abundant waterways, coal
began to enjoy leisure time, which led to the explosion deposits, state governments willing to grant patents and
of sporting activities, a vast increase in sporting charters of incorporation to aspiring inventors, and a
organizations, and the creation of professional sports well-educated labor force quickly allowed the American
teams and leagues. In England, The Football Association Northeast to emerge as the center for industrialization
(1863) and The Rugby Football Union (1888) were both in the U.S.
formed to manage the sports of football (soccer) and
rugby. These organizations served as governing bodies, The rise of ever-larger factories throughout New
drafting rules and regulations for their particular sports. England, New York and New Jersey created a demand for
By the end of the century, the world would witness the cheaper and faster ways of bringing goods to market. In
rebirth of the Olympics, and in 1903, the first Tour de 1807, Robert Fulton (1765-1815) piloted his North River
France would be ridden. In America, baseball grew in Steamboat, the first functional steamboat in America,
popularity as professional leagues were formed. By the on its maiden voyage from New York City to Albany.
20th century, sports and sports culture had become Although powered by a British Boulton and Watt steam
big business and began shaping national pastimes and engine, the North River Steamboat proved that two-way
consciousness. travel along America’s coasts and rivers was now not
merely possible but also cost-effective. Over the next 20
years, thousands of American steamboats would ply the
Fulton’s
Steamboat
Artist: Robert Fulton
Source: Wikimedia
Commons
inland water of the United States, facilitating the settlement

of the western frontier and America’s commercial expansion
worldwide.
In 1837, Yale-trained Massachusetts inventor and artist

Samuel F. B. Morse (1791-1872) obtained a patent for his
“American Recording Electro-Magnetic Telegraph.” Morse’s
invention provided an inexpensive single-wire method of
carrying electromagnetic current over extended distances.
He also created an alphabet based on long and short
telegraph signals. In time this “Morse Code” would become
the international language of the telegraph, allowing for the
reliable, instantaneous transmission of news and information
across the nation.
Borrowing from British precedents, New England

industrialist Francis Cabot Lowell (1775-1817) created the
first textile mill in Waltham, Massachusetts, in 1814. To help
sell the idea of industrialization to skeptical New England
patriarchs, Lowell suggested that young women between the
ages of 15-35 staff his factories.
Morse Telegraph
Artist: unknown
Source: Wikipedia Commons
89
Francis Cabot Lowell’s plan to use young women from New England
farming families to staff his textile mills proved a bold experiment
in the 1830s. Dominated by large, religiously conservative land-
owning families, Massachusetts political leaders remained wary
of industrialization. They acknowledged Britain’s rapid industrial
success but lamented the damage such success had wrought
among Britain’s poor working classes. However, Lowell argued that
by hiring young women to work in his factories for a set number of
years, he would provide his young charges with not just wages but
job skills, work experience, educational opportunities, room and
board, proper chaperoning and religious instruction. A portion of
their salaries would be sent home, helping to sustain their family’s
farms. They would return home poised to become hard-working,
sensible wives and mothers. In this regard, industrialization would
support rather than endanger traditional New England family values.
However, in reality, Lowell women worked long hours in dangerous
conditions. To be specific, many did gain crucial workplace skills
and a sense of working-class solidarity. For instance, Lowell
women participated in one of the first labor strikes for higher
wages. However, Lowell factory managers replaced them with poor
Irish and German factory laborers. By training such immigrants to
perform simple industrial tasks, factory owners could easily replace
troublesome or rebellious workers. Furthermore, unlike the Lowell
girl system, factory owners felt no compulsion to house, feed or
educate their immigrant labor forces.
Lowell Offering
Artist: Unknown/ NPS Photo
One of Lowell’s factory employees was a young played a crucial role in the eventual northern victory
inventor and mechanic named Elias Howe (1819-1867). as Union forces outpaced the ability of the south to
Following the Panic of 1837 (a financial crisis that manufacture or import its wartime material. Following
led to a depression), Howe began to experiment with the outbreak of peace in 1865, many of these factories
creating a mechanical sewing machine. In 1846, he were recalibrated for civilian use.
secured a patent for a lockstitch sewing machine that
used a steam-powered shuttle to feed garments into In 1869, corporate leaders of the Central Pacific and
an automatic needle and thread processor. Faced with Union Pacific Railroads and government officials
competition from other industrialists like Isaac Singer gathered in Promontory Point, Utah, to drive a golden
(1811-1875), Howe defended his invention in court. spike into a rail line. The act symbolized the uniting of
By the American Civil War, the sewing machine had the first transcontinental railroad, which allowed for
transformed the clothing industry across the United the rapid settlement of the American west. By building
States, allowing for the creation of mass-produced, railroad lines through tribal lands and shooting buffalo
high-quality garments which allowed working class and from railroad cars, Anglo-American settlers brought
middling-sort Americans to adopt the refined tastes of thousands of Native Americans to the edge of starvation.
the nation’s elites. They accelerated the displacements of dozens of tribes
onto reservation land.
The U.S. Civil War represented a watershed moment
in the history of American industrialization. By the Throughout the Gilded Age, a new class of American
1860s, 90% of America’s industrial and financial entrepreneurs emerged on the scene. In 1872, Scottish-
centers existed in the northern states. Thousands of born industrialist Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919)
new factories sprang up overnight to meet the federal witnessed “Bessemer steal” production in England.
government’s incessant demand for weapons, uniforms, Pioneered by British inventor Henry Bessemer (1813-
telegraphs and warships. The north’s industrial output 1898), the “Bessemer process” called for the injection
of oxygen into molten metal to burn off impurities and America’s first billionaires, Carnegie championed the
thus create high-quality steel. In 1892, Carnegie started cause of self-improvement. He funded the creation
the U.S. Steel Company in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, of lending libraries across the United States (many of
and soon came to dominate the fledgling American steel which remain in operation today). He poured funds
industry. He pioneered vertical development, buying into institutions of higher learning, such as Carnegie-
up mines for extracting ore, mills for processing it, and Mellon University.
railroads to distribute final goods to markets. One of
Born into a poor Scottish weaving family,

Andrew Carnegie migrated with his family
to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania as a young boy
in the 1840s. Using the newly emerging
telegraph industry, Carnegie learned morse
code and became a successful telegraph
operator. Investing in railroad and bridge
companies, he multiplied his fortune many
times during the Civil War. A firm believer in
self-cultivation, Carnegie gave generously
to foundations, schools and churches. Most
significantly, he funded a series of first-rate
libraries in poor urban neighborhoods and
small rural towns across the nation. Boasting
an impressive array of not just technical
or business manuals, these libraries also
sported great works of literature and history.
Carnegie and his supporters argued that the
goal of these libraries was not just to allow
The Cleburne Carnegie Library in men and women to prepare for professional
Cleburne, Texas careers but to make them refined citizens of a
national culture that rewarded risk-taking and
Artist: Larry D. Moore self-improvement.
Oil magnate John D. Rockefeller (1839-1937) proved distinguish between sounds. Quickly realizing his
an interesting contrast to Carnegie. Originally a invention’s commercial application, Graham obtained
commission merchant and salesman, Rockefeller a patent for his “acoustic telegraph” in 1876. In time
created an oil refining business in the 1860s. Buying the telephone would revolutionize the transmission of
out several competitors, Rockefeller established the knowledge across the world.
Standard Oil Company in 1870. By the 1890s, critics
charged that Rockefeller and his lieutenants were While Bell experimented with transmitting sound, his
engaging in horizontal expansion, strongarming smaller contemporary Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931) poured
oil companies into selling out to U.S. Steel to cut down his time and energy into illuminating the world. In
on competition and keep oil prices high. Rockefeller also 1880, he created the first practical, long-lasting electrical
successfully provided financial support to Congressmen lightbulb at his Menlow Park laboratory in New Jersey.
who passed laws providing U.S. Steel with tax breaks, The lightbulb allowed for the nighttime illumination of
free land, and tariffs to discourage foreign competition. large American cities, reducing the need for dangerous
However, like Carnegie, Rockefeller became a leading gaslight systems and allowing ordinary Americans to
philanthropist late in life. partake in nighttime jobs, shopping, education and
recreation. Edison also helped establish the first motion
Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922) changed the world picture industry, perfected early phonographs, and
with his invention of the telephone. Bell initially sought experimented with dynamos. The World’s Columbian
to create a machine that would help his young wife, Exposition in Chicago in 1893 showcased American
Mabel Hubbard, and other hearing-impaired Americans technological advancements in steel manufacturing,
91
Advertisement for the World’s
Columbian Exposition (also known
as the Chicago World’s Fair)
Artist: unknown
oil production, steam power and electricity. More in them exceedingly dangerous. The use of child labor
importantly, the Exposition signaled America’s rise as proved a brutal example of this trend. Furthermore,
one of the world’s leading industrial powers. poor working-class families often crowded into poor
neighborhoods that lacked proper sanitation and social
The Industrial Revolution wrought tremendous changes services. Constantly in danger of losing their jobs, many
for businesspeople, factory owners and the millions of poor factory workers succumbed to prostitution, crime,
blue-collar Americans working in the industrial sector. alcoholism, drug use and suicide.
In some ways, ordinary Americans benefitted from high-
paying jobs which allowed them to pursue professional Not surprisingly, the 1870s witnessed the first large-
educations, move up the corporate ladder, purchase scale labor strikes in American history. Borrowing
homes in newly created suburbs, pursue refinement, from European labor union techniques, American
send their children to good schools, and devote freshly organizations such as the Knights of Labor, the American
acquired leisure time to following sports and going on Federation of Labor, the Congress of Industrial Workers,
vacations. However, industrialization also displaced and the National Grange led strikes for shorter hours,
traditional artisans, replacing them with low-skilled better wages and benefits. In the Great Railroad Strike
assembly line workers who could be hired and fired of 1877, the Homestead Strike of 1892 and the Pullman
quickly. The repetition and sheer drudgery of factory Strike of 1894, state and federal officials intervened on
work took their toll on workers’ minds. Such factories the side of business owners to crush striking workers
often lacked proper safety features, making working and restore industrial production.
SUMMARY
The Industrial Revolution radically altered society. It accelerated a host of processes and
developments, including urbanization. It took advantage of new ways to harness energy and
increased the productive abilities of humankind. The Industrial Revolution was not simply a
physical revolution but a social and intellectual one. It has massively altered how we understand
and approach work, capital and the individual. The Industrial Revolution provided the countries
that best employed the new technological and productive capabilities a considerable advantage
and buttressed attempts, especially by the West, to expand their global reach and control.
8 Nation Building
and Reform
1700-1900
Barricade bei der Universität am Artist: Werner, F. (lithographer)

26ten Mai 1848 in Wien License: Public Domain
The years 1700-1900 witnessed fundamental change Netherlands reformed their governments to emerge
throughout the world. Drawing from Enlightenment as modern nation-states. As the Enlightenment and
ideas such as rationalism, liberalism, written Romanticism ideas made their way east and south,
frameworks for government, separation of church and they inspired emerging nations such as Italy, Germany,
state, and romantic notions such as cultural nationalism, Russia and Japan to develop their unique governments,
powerful nations such as Spain, Britain, France and the art, literature and scientific discoveries. Many European
93
countries also swept across the globe, using breach- higher wages and safer working conditions. Czechs and
loading rifles, steamboats, railroads, telegraphs and Hungarians demanded their own independent states.
even medical science to subjugate the native peoples In contrast, over 800 German delegates in Frankfurt
of Africa, Asia and Oceania. However, to manage such gathered in defiance of traditional political elites
large empires, colonial administrators relied upon large to create a popularly elected national assembly as a
classes of indigenous intermediaries trained in Western preliminary step to creating a united Germany.
reading, writing, accounting, engineering, military
techniques and law. As such, native peoples learned to The inability of revolutionaries to work together or
use European-inspired political ideas, such as modern govern effectively quickly led to the defeat of their
nationalism, to create resistance movements. In time, movements. For instance, an inability of political
new postcolonial nations such as the United States, liberals and socialists to work together in France’s
Mexico and Brazil would develop their own unique National Assembly led to a series of bloody worker
political ideas and sense of cultural nationalism. This uprisings in Paris called the “June Days.” The National
chapter examines how modern nations came into being, Assembly hired French peasants from the countryside
learned to express themselves, and dealt with the brutalto crush the demonstrators. In the ensuing confusion,
legacies of imperialism and colonialism. Louis Napoleon (1808-1873), the nephew of the former
French Emperor, became President of the French
REVOLUTIONS OF 1848 Republic. In keeping with his family tradition, four
years later, he bypassed the National Assembly and after
The first half of the 19th century witnessed the rise a plebiscite, declared himself Napoleon III, Emperor
of a series of revolutions across Europe. The spirit of of France. In Austrian, protest from below encouraged
“liberty, equality, fraternity” unleashed by the French the crown to consider reform. Meanwhile, in Germany,
Revolution and Napoleonic Wars continued to inspire the Frankfurt Assembly offered the crown of a united
working-class groups across the continent. The Germany to King Wilhelm IV of Prussia (1795-1861),
Romantic movement also introduced concepts such he refused what he called a “crown from the gutter,” and
as cultural nationalism, which argued that people with the movement for German unification fell apart.
shared institutions, languages, religions and cultures
should live together in sovereign nations. Furthermore, Although the Revolutions of 1848 failed to redraw
industrialization continued to drive social change Europe’s political map, they produced some political,
across Europe, empowering new classes of factory economic and social change. Although an emperor,
owners while marginalizing industrial workers, rural Napoleon III lacked the absolute power his uncle
peasants and agrarian elites. Given these deep-seated had wielded. The dream of a single German nation
forces at work, it was somewhat surprising that they remained alive in millions of German-speaking people’s
only partially succeeded in sweeping away traditional minds and would continue to grow in strength over
European kingdoms and empires. the next generation. Even the conservative Austrian
government agreed to a new constitution that called
During the “February Revolution” French monarch for a Parliament and an end to feudalism. This was a
King Louis-Phillipe (1773-1850) ordered French troops first, but important step in checking the absolute power
to use force against Parisian protesters demanding of monarchs and moving toward a more participatory
political and economic reforms. When soldiers form of government.
massacred 50 demonstrators, crowds began building
barricades throughout the streets of Paris. A coalition IMPERIALISM
of social revolutionaries, attorneys and political
leaders created a provisional government and declared Throughout this period, many Western nations pursued
France be a republic. Due to the recent invention of imperial and colonial ambitions. In the early modern
telegraph services, news of the February Revolution period, European rulers were aware of imperialism. The
spread throughout Europe. In the Austrian Empire, concept went back to the Greek and Roman Empires
rural peasants converged on Vienna to demand an end and involved the military or diplomatic conquest of
to feudalism and factory workers went on strike for other regions and exploiting their natural resources. In
94 CHAPTER 8 NATION BUILDING AND REFORM 1700-1900

the late 1300s and 1400s, Portugal and Spain overthrew
Moorish rule and emerged as modern empires. Armed
with classical descriptions of India and China and Arabic
inventions such as ribbed hulled ships and astrolabes,
explorers such as Vasco De Gama and Christopher
Columbus brought knowledge of Africa, India and the
Americas back to their European sponsors. Due to a
lack of royal funds, Portuguese and Spanish monarchs
granted explorers and conquistadors in the 1500s royal
charters to conquer certain regions in return for a share
of the wealth extracted from such regions. In the 1600s,
England and France followed suit, offering colonial
charters to noblemen and joint-stock companies in
return for a percentage of the wealth these groups
generated off their overseas adventures.
COLONIALISM
Richard Hakluyt Author: Kenneth Shoesmith
European rulers viewed overseas colonies as more than Legal: Public Domain
just sources of wealth. Monarchs and their advisors
also viewed such areas as sites where their own subjects
could settle and create families and communities Born in Herefordshire, Richard Hakluyt (1553-
1616) became an Anglican Priest and writer in
among themselves or through unions with indigenous
his teens. A favorite at the court of Elizabeth
people. Such colonists could then help procure raw I, Hakluyt published Divers Voyages Touching
resources, which would then be shipped back to the the Discoverie of America (1582) and The
home country for processing into manufactured Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques and
goods, which could either be sold abroad or back to Discoveries of the English Nation (1589–1600).
the colonists at considerable markups. Royal officials These works became cornerstones in defining
likewise argued that colonies could serve as a dumping and promoting English colonialism. Hakluyt
argued that Spanish colonies were based on
ground for unwanted groups of people back home,
force and exploitation. He suggested creating
such as criminals, ethnic minorities, or simply debtors. English colonies around the world. English
Some nations, such as England, envisioned colonies settlers would treat indigenous peoples fairly,
expanding the borders of their empires, creating giving them the benefits of English science,
miniature versions of the home country around the culture and religion in return for labor and service.
world. In time the two groups would intermarry and
become one. England would thus create “mini-
Englands” worldwide, spreading the English
Although colonial powers had significant advantages
language, culture and religion far and wide.
over indigenous peoples and colonists, they were not Hakluyt’s ideas would become a cornerstone
all-powerful. Beginning in the late 1700s, areas such in the creation of the British North American
as the thirteen British North American colonies, colonies and, later the United States.
Haiti, Mexico, Peru, Columbia and Rio De La Plata,
began to declare themselves independent of the
British and Spanish empires. By the mid-19th century,
even post-colonial states like the United States were
experimenting with becoming imperial and colonial
powers. It would only be after the Second World War
that de-colonization would emerge as a worldwide
movement.
95
The Italian Campaigns of the Napoleonic Wars
ITALIAN UNIFICATION destabilized the traditional Italian feudal order and
introduced new ideas, such as nationalism. Attempts at
Following the Napoleonic Wars, the delegates at the
Italian unity under the short-lived Cispadane Republic
1815 Congress of Vienna created a series of powerful
(1796-1797) were rolled back by Napoleon’s defeat and
alliances designed to maintain a balance of power by
the efforts of the Congress of Vienna. Throughout the
propping up traditional European empires. While
1810s and 1820s, a secret order known as the Carbonari
such a system protected established nations it made
spearheaded a movement for Italian unification.
it difficult for new ones to be formed. For instance,
One such member, Giuseppe Mazzini (1805-1872),
since the fall of the Roman Empire in the fifth century
established a movement known as La Giovine Italia
AD, the Italian peninsula had remained divided into a
(Young Italy) that trained a generation of future
series of petty kingdoms, city-states and papal lands.
revolutionary leaders. Another Carbonaro, Giuseppe
Although constant conflict and trade between these
Garibaldi (1807-1882), spent several years learning to
small states provided the creative ferment that led to
function as a professional revolutionary by participating
the rise of the Renaissance, it made any consensus for
in armed struggles in Brazil and Uruguay.
Italian nationalism hard to achieve.
GIUSEPPE GARIBALDI
Born in 1808 in Nice, part of Napoleon’s French
Empire, Giuseppe Garibaldi trained as a young man
to become a ship captain. Joining the Carbonari
and Mazzini’s Young Italy movement in 1833,
Garibaldi participated in an unsuccessful uprising
in Piedmont. Fleeing to the Americas, Garibaldi
worked with revolutionaries seeking independence
from Brazil. Marrying Brazilian revolutionary Ana
Maria de Jesus Ribeiro (1821-1849), Garibaldi
learned guerilla warfare techniques. During the
Uruguayan Civil War, Garibaldi raised a legion of
Italian expatriates known as the Redshirts because
of their distinctive uniforms that featured red shirts,
ponchos and sombreros. Returning to Italy in
1848, Garibaldi played an active role in the Italian
Wars for Independence. A dedicated republican,
he disliked dealing with aristocrats like Camillo
Benso, Count Cavour (1810-1861) and Victor
Emmanuel II (1820-1878), whom he felt moved
slowly toward independence. When the American
Civil War broke out in 1861, the Union government
offered Garibaldi a commission as a major general.
Although Garibaldi met with U.S. Minister Henry S.
Sanford (1823-1891) in Brussels, he demanded that
he be made commander-in-chief of all Union forces
and wield power to abolish slavery in areas he
liberated. The Lincoln administration did not agree
Author: Unknown
Source: Wikimedia Commons with Garibaldi’s demands.
Legal: Public Domain

Portrait of Anita Garibaldi
Artist: Gaetano Gallino
alliance with French Emperor Louis Napoleon III to

launch a resistance movement against Austrian forces
in Milan and Venice. In June, Sardinian forces defeated
Austrian troops at the battles of Magenta and Solferino.
In the meantime, Garibaldi led an army of Italian
volunteers to victory over the Austrians at the actions of
Varese and Como. Behind the scenes, Sardinian, French
and Austrian diplomats brokered a compromise whereby
Sardinia would receive Lombardy, France gained Savoy
and Nice, and Austria would maintain Venice.
The precarious peace created by the end of the conflict

lasted less than a year. When peasants in Messina
and Palermo began to revolt against the government
of Francis II, King of the Two Sicilies (1836-1894),
Garibaldi led an army of 1,000 volunteers from all
over the Italian peninsula (I Mille) to liberate Sicily
from Neapolitan rule. He then began an invasion of
the Kingdom of Naples, defeating a papal army hastily
thrown together by Pope Pius’s followers. Victor
Emmanuel II, King of Sardinia, arrived to take the
In 1848, a series of liberal revolutions broke out across head of Garibaldi’s volunteer army. Francis II held out
Europe. Popular uprisings quickly began in Sicily, in the fortress of Gaeta for three months before finally
Naples, Milan and Venice. Local nobles, including Pope surrendering. In February 1861, Victor Emmanuel
Pius IX (1792-1878), promptly fled. Giuseppe Garibaldi II called for the creation of an Italian Parliament,
led an army of peasants into Rome. In January 1849, which declared him King of Italy. Although Garibaldi
revolutionaries held local elections of an assembly that attempted to raise an army to take Rome and create a
declared the creation of the Italian Republic on February republic, Victor Emmanuel II negotiated quietly behind
9th. Two months later, Giuseppe Mazzini became Chief the scenes for French and Austrian troops to leave the
Minister of the new Italian government. He helped peninsula.
prepare a Constitution which guaranteed, among other
things, freedom of religion and a right to free public For nearly five years, the Kingdom of Italy continued to
education. However, the intervention of Austrian and grow, wielding power throughout the peninsula except
French military forces led to a defeat of the republicansfor Venice, which remained under Austrian control,
and a restoration of the Pope and nobles to power. and Rome, where the Papacy held sway. During the
Austro-Prussian War (1886), Italy sided with France
Throughout the 1850s, Camillo Benso, Count of and Prussia against Austria. At war’s end, Italy received
Cavour and Sardinian Prime Minister, promoted Venice with French support in return for accepting
Italian unification. He efficiently modernized French control over Nice and Savoy.
Sardinia’s government and military and began creating
correspondence networks with patriots throughout the When the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871) broke out
Italian peninsula. In 1859, Count Cavour signed a secret in 1870, Napoleon III recalled all French troops from
Rome. After a token resistance, Rome fell to Victor
97
Battle of Magenta, 1859 Author: Louis-Eugène Charpentier
Emmanuel’s army in October. The Kingdom of Italy Throughout the 1850s and 1860s, Prussian Prime
annexed Rome, unifying the peninsula for the first time Minister Otto von Bismarck (1815-1898) led efforts to
in over a millennium. unify Germany from the top down. In 1862, he aligned
with Austria to argue that the Danish government of
GERMAN UNIFICATION King Christian IX (1818-1906) had no right to annex
the provinces of Schleswig and Holstein directly into
Denmark. After defeating the Danish armies, Prussia
In many ways, the process of German unification
annexed the two territories. Bismarck then signed a
paralleled that of Italian unification. For centuries
German-speaking people lived in a variety of separate mutual defense treaty with the newly formed Kingdom
of Italy. When Italy went to war with Austria in 1866,
kingdoms, duchies and empires. In 800, Emperor
Charlemagne (747-814) unified them into a loose Prussia defeated its rival and annexed several German
states, including Hanover and Nassau.
confederation known as the Holy Roman Empire. By
the early 1800s, the Kingdom of Prussia had emerged as
In 1867, Bismarck created the North German
a powerful state in opposition to the Austrian Empire.
Confederation, which unified many German states
Following the Napoleonic Wars, the different German
under Prussia’s leadership. Worried about the growth
states were combined into the German Confederation.
of Prussia, Napoleon III demanded that Prussia return
During the revolutions of 1848, progressive German
Luxembourg and parts of Saarland and Bavaria.
nationalists, intellectuals, intelligentsia and politicians
Bismarck not only refused these demands but continued
elected a German National Assembly. However, this
to block French ambitions. In response, France declared
movement fell apart after only a few months in power.
war on Germany. With virtually all German states except
Many Germans remained divided over whether
Austria supporting Prussia, German forces quickly
Germany should be unified with or without the
defeated several French armies and occupied Paris. In
Austrian Empire.
January 1871, German officials and generals proclaimed
Prussian King Wilhelm as Wilhelm I, Emperor of the
German Empire (1797-1888).
Porträt Otto Eduard Leopold von
Bismarck-Schönhausen
Author: Jacques Pilartz
his travels, the Streltsy (riflemen) had rebelled. Once

he returned, Peter crushed them and anyone who
opposed his plans to reform Russia and Russian
society. Peter increased his power by modernizing the
army and staffing it through an aggressive conscription
program. By the end of his reign, his army boasted
nearly 300,000 soldiers.
RUSSIA
In 1682, Feodor III (r. 1676-1682), Czar of Russia,
died without heirs. The next in line was his brother
Ivan V (1666-1696), but since Ivan was sickly and
considered mentally incapable, the Boyars (the old
nobility) elected his 10-year-old half-brother Peter
(1672-1725) instead. Eventually, it was agreed to
name the half-brothers co-monarchs. Peter I (r. 1682-
1725) outpaced his brother in energy and talent and,
in a few years, began to dominate the court. In 1696,
Ivan V died, which left Peter the sole ruler of Russia.
Fascinated by maritime trade and technology, in

1697, Peter I traveled to Western Europe in disguise
as part of his “Grand Embassy.” This trip aimed to
find allies against the Ottomans and learn more about
the West. Though he failed to win much European
support, he learned a lot about modern methods of
shipbuilding and manufacturing. Peter the Great
Artist: Jean-Marc Nattier
His eighteen months abroad encouraged Peter I to Source: Wikimedia Commons
initiate a period of reform. Before he returned from License: Public Domain
99
Russian Streltsy
Artist: Anonymous
successful as Russia would win the Great Northern

War (1700-1721) against Sweden, which gave Russia
control of Livonia, Estonia and parts of Sweden.
Believing that the old ways hindered Russian progress,

Peter designed a new capital in western Russia on the
Gulf of Finland. Called Saint Petersburg, this new capital
signified the modern and Western inspired direction of
his empire. To complete the project, upwards of 40,000
conscripted peasants were sent to Saint Petersburg to
labor for free each year. Tens of thousands died during
its construction. The impressive capital, with its wide
straight boulevards, uniform buildings, imposing
government buildings and large greenspace, looked
modern but was built by unfree and unpaid labor.
To protect Russian interests, Peter began heavily Peter wanted a nobility that served him and the state. To
investing in his navy. His primary focus was to increase signify a more ‘European’ outlook, Peter ordered that
Russian control of the Black Sea and protect Russian the elite shave their beards and that they dress more like
access and trade in the Baltic. These efforts proved their European counterparts. He also commanded that
Peter the Great Meditating the Idea of Building Artist: Alexandre Benois
St. Petersburg at the Shore of the Baltic Sea License: Public Domain

all nobles serve in either the army or the civil service. His achievements granted him the title Peter the Great.
Peter successfully brought the nobility into line, further He built a new capital, improved education and the
centralizing the power of the throne. economy, and ensured that the nobility served the state.
The death of Peter in 1725, and the early death of his
Peter ordered his followers to create new schools to teach son and heir, led to a period of instability that threatened
mathematics, manufacturing, medicine, engineering to undermine his reforms.
and finance. He based these schools on Western
traditions and hired English, French and German tutors Despite the troubles of governance, subsequent rulers
to teach Russians technical and philosophical ideas. In continued to expand the empire. Fatefully, Peter III
many ways, Peter’s reforms, his educational policies, (r. 1762) married a German princess named Catherine
and his general acceptance and promotion of European in 1745. Deposed and possibly murdered, Peter III
ideas not only changed Russia but opened it up to the was succeeded by his wife, now known as Empress
ideas of the Enlightenment. Catherine II (r. 1762-1796). She would, in time, be
known as Catherine the Great.
By the end of Peter’s reign, he had achieved his goal
of transforming Russia by orienting it toward the West.
Key

1533 1533-1689 1689-1801 1801-1825 (Alexander I)

1825-1855 (Nicholas I) 1855-1881 (Alexander II) 1881-1914
Markovo

Nizhnekolymsk
Kolym
Gizhiga
a

R.
Sashiversk
Ind
Bulun igi
rka Petropavlovsk
Khatanga R.
St. Petersburg Ackhangelsk
Postozersk Dudinka Okhotsk
a R. Sukhona R.
skv
Sea of Okhotsk
Yakutsk
Mo
Moscow
Siberia
Kyiv
R.
na
Yen
Odessa Kharkov Kazan Ob Le

isey
R. Nikolayevsk
R
Saratov Tobolsk

.
Yeniseysk
R. Am Khabarovka
Sevastopol lga
Lake Baikal ur
Don R. Vo R.
Orenburg Tomsk
Bl
Omsk Chita
ac
Manchuria
Irty
Astrakhan
k
Se
Irkutsk
sh
Kazakhstan ari
a
ng
.
Su Vladivostok
ea
Aral Sea Edo

ian S
Tigris R.
Turkistan
Lake Balkhash
Mongolia
Japan
Casp
Khiva Verny Dihua

Seoul
Euphr
Beijing
Baghdad Bukhara Tashkent China Port Arthur
ates R
Tehran Merv Suzhou

Samarkand
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Yellow Sea
Yarkand
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Afghanistan
Map of Russian Expansion, 1533-1914 Artist: John Wyatt Greenlee

101
CATHERINE THE GREAT
One of the most discussed features of Catherine II’s
life is her relationships with men. Her husband, the
future Peter III, gave her a position at court, but their
marriage was not happy. During their marriage, she
had at least three lovers, and we can’t be certain that
any of her children, including the future Czar Paul I
(1754-1801), were legitimate. Her third child, a son,
was almost certainly fathered by Grigory Orlov (1734-
1783). The number of Catherine’s lovers continues
to be debated by historians, with many placing the
number somewhere between 12 and 22. The actual
number will likely never be known. Until her stroke and
subsequent death at age 67, Catherine had surrounded
herself with young men and participated in the courtly
games of flirting and intrigue. It is unlikely that all of
these relationships were physical. Whatever the case,
Catherine kept a close eye on her court, ruled Russia
with an iron fist, and let little stand in her way of getting
what she wanted.
Portrait of Catherine II of Russia

Artist: Follower of Johann Baptist von Lampi, the Elder
Catherine understood that Russia needed reform.

Recognizing the power of Enlightenment ideals,
OTTOMANS
Catherine wanted to harness the ideas and technology of
As many European Empires strengthened their
the West without undermining Russian institutions and,
economies, states and militaries, the Ottomans
of course, the power of the throne. To rule effectively,
entered a period of decline. While the reign of
institute reforms and strengthen the state, Catherine
Suleiman I (r. 1520-1566) may have marked the
needed the support of the nobility. In return for their
zenith of the Ottoman Empire, it remained viable and
loyalty, Catherine increased and protected the power of
flourished until about the mid-18th century when it
the elite.
became increasingly evident that it no longer had the
power and prestige it once held. As Ottoman power
Catherine expanded the state, creating a relatively stable
began to drain away, Ottoman nationalists began to
Russian Empire. Evaluating Catherine is complex and
debate what went wrong and, more importantly, how
often contentious. On the one hand, she promoted
to fix the empire. Although numerous approaches
Enlightenment values and was enthusiastic about
and solutions were offered, two dominant camps
education. On the other hand, her support of the
emerged. One side argued that the problem was that
nobility and the 500,000 serfs she owned suggests that
the Ottomans had deviated from their historical
the Enlightenment values of equality and fairness were
trajectory and that the solution to its problems was to
more philosophical than a practiced position. That she
go back to the old and traditional ways, while others
gave serfs away to important officials and court favorites
wanted to borrow state policies from its European
demonstrates how little rights serfs had and that they
neighbours. Caught between these two forces, the
were treated as a commodity to be traded and used
Ottoman Empire went back and forth between
for the benefit of the few. Although Catherine’s reign
periods of reform and trying to implement policies
was largely successful, she strengthened a top-down
based on the old ways. This caused a lot of disorder,
hierarchical system based primarily upon one’s birth.
blocked reform and made it difficult for any sultan
and the imperial bureaucracy to address the changing Advocates for reform would eventually gain the upper
European landscape. hand. Known as the Young Turks, the reformists
forced the sultan to adopt and rule according to a
As the Ottoman Empire entered the 19th century, constitution. Allied with Germany, the Ottomans
it fell increasingly behind and earned itself the entered World War I (1914-1918) on the side of the
nickname the “Sick Man of Europe.” After losing Central Powers. During the war, the Ottoman Empire
the Greek War of Independence (1821-1829), which committed genocide against Armenians, Assyrians
saw the formation of an independent Greece, many and Greeks. Although the Ottoman state ended up on
within the empire clamored for reform. This led to the losing side of World War I, it did survive the war,
the Tanzimat period (1839-1876), which tried to although the Arab Revolt ended Ottoman control
reorganize and modernize the Ottoman state while over large swaths of the Middle East. This resulted
offering all subjects, regardless of faith, equality in the redrawing of much of the Middle East, with
under the law. The Tanzimat reforms saw the same the mandates for these countries placed in the hands
unequal application and resistance from traditional of Britain and France. The mandates meant that Arab
forces, which had stalled other efforts to reform leaders would rule, but they were expected to take
the Ottoman state. Although limited, the Tanzimat advice from either Britain or France (depending on
reforms did inspire a new generation who adopted who held the mandate) until it was determined that
the ideas of republicanism and nationalism. the new nation could stand on its own.
Romania
Bucharest Russia
Varna
Black Sea
Bulgaria
Burgas Georgia
Edirne Sinop Tbilisi
e
reec Istambul
G Izmit
Sea of
Trabzon Ar
Marmara
me
nia
Ankara
Çanakkale Bursa Eskisehir Sivas Yerevan
Erzurum
Turkey
Kütahya
Ira
Elazig
n
Malatya
Izmir Diyarbakir
Maras
Antalya Tarsus Adana

Mersin
Antakya Aleppo Iraq
s
pru Syria
Cy
Tripoli
Mediterranean Sea
n
no
Beirut
ba
Le
Map of Turkey Artist: John Wyatt Greenlee

103
After the war, Mustafa Kemal, a respected Ottoman
general, fought against the occupying Allied forces and,
eventually, the Ottoman state. In 1920, a provisional
government announced its desire and intention to
replace the Ottoman Empire with a republic. On
November 1, 1922, the Turkish Parliament officially
announced the end of the Ottoman state. This ended
more than 600 years of Ottoman rule.
Elected the first President of the new republic, Mustafa

Kemal came to be known by the honorific Atatürk,
which means Father Turk. Kemal launched a series
of reforms aimed at modernizing the new nation of
Turkey. These reforms included building a sense of
nationalism, secularization and a strict separation of
church and state. Kemal discouraged the wearing of
Ottoman clothing, encouraging state employees and
citizens to wear European-inspired dress and adopt
European manners and pastimes. The new Turkey, so
far as Kemal saw it, would be a radical departure from
the past.
NATION BUILDING IN LATIN

AMERICA 1500-1700
Nation-building in Latin America proved a radically
different undertaking than similar efforts in Europe,
Africa and North America. Before the arrival of
Europeans, powerful Native American empires and
city-states dominated large swathes of Central and
South America. For instance, from the 1100s to the Tonatzin Churubusco Artist: ”Theimattador”
1500s, the Mexica moved into the Central Valley of Source: Wikimedia Commons
License: CC BY-SA Unported 3.0 | © Thelmadatter
Mexico. Conquering Mayan and Toltec city-states, the
Mexica’s renamed themselves the Aztecs and created
a powerful empire based on force. The Aztecs created Employing brutal methods against Native Americans,
Spanish priests proved much more successful in gaining
vibrant commercial networks, intricate artwork and
converts than Protestant ministers in the English North
a complex religion that featured human sacrifice. The American colonies. Many Mayans and Incans accepted
Incan Empire arose in Peru at roughly the same time, conversion because they felt baptism might protect
tying together large cities through an intricate system them from the European-borne diseases ravaging their
of roads that allowed for the rapid deployment of trade communities. Others saw the adoption of Spanish
and armed forces. Yet for all of their strengths, the culture and transformation as stepping stones for entry
Aztecs and Incas fell quickly to Spanish conquistadors into Spanish trading networks and colonial society.
Many Native Americans empathized with the image of
equipped with steel armor, lances and swords, firearms,
a savior figure whose suffering resembled their own.
horses and germs for which many Native Americans Many Native Americans selectively combine aspects
had no resistance. of their Native American religions with Catholicism to
create a hybrid faith. For instance, Aztecs combined
Conquistadors such as Hernan Cortes (1485-1547) traditions associated with the Corn Goddess Tonantzin
and Francisco Pizarro (1478-1541) were not social with the cult of the Virgin Mary to create a blended
revolutionaries looking to create new societies in the religious figure.

Americas. They were mercenaries seeking “gold, glory raised Native American temples and built Christian
and God.” In particular, they sought to extract wealth cathedrals on their ruins. Well-versed in the techniques
from their conquered subjects and return to Spain as used by the Spanish Inquisition, Catholic priests used
rich men. It fell to subsequent generations of colonial physical torture and psychological intimidation to
administrators and priests to create a colonial social forcibly convert millions of Aztecs, Mayans and Incas
order on the ruins of the Aztec, Mayan and Incan to Christianity.
states. They began by creating the encomienda system
by which individual conquistadors received land grants Within a generation of conquest, many conquistadors
buttressed by the unfree labor of Native Americans. married into Native American families who had lost
Franciscan and Dominican Priests also operated members due to disease and warfare. For example,
missions throughout Nueva España designed to function Hernan Cortes and his native translator Malinche
as forts and imperial outposts and as community centers (c. 1500-c. 1529) gave birth to a son, Martín Cortés
where Native Americans could receive conversion and el Mestizo (1522-1595), who later became a Spanish
training in industrial skills. In 1542, Dominican Priest nobleman. Latin American society thus developed
and former conquistador Bartolome de las Casas (1484- castas (or caste system). Peninsulares, Spanish-born
1566) published A Short Account of the Destruction whites, represented the large landholders, government
of the Indies, which condemned the harshness of the officials and church leaders. Beneath them were the
encomienda system. creoles, white Spaniards born in the colonies. Creoles
were usually small-time ranchers, low-level government
Although some Catholic Priests became champions of functionaries and friars who worked with Native
Indian rights, many others viewed Native Americans as Americans. Mestizos, those of European and Native
heathens who could only be saved through conversion to American descent, traditionally performed as craftsmen,
Spanish culture and Roman Catholicism. They began by merchants and intermediaries. Full-blooded Native
destroying thousands of Native American codices, such Americans (Indios), African Americans (Negros), and
as the Mayan Popul Vuh, which recorded the creation their children (Zambos) served as itinerant laborers,
myth, deities and customs of K’iche Mayans. They peasants, miners and enslaved people.
Artist: Ignote
Source: Wikimedia
Commons
License: Public
Domain
El héroe español Fray Bartolomé de las Casas. Controversia de

Valladolid bestial de españoles a los indios
Born into a family of Spanish merchants in 1484, Native Americans had souls capable of salvation
Bartolome de Las Casas became a secular priest and thus could not be treated as enslaved people.
in 1507. He participated in the Spanish conquest The Spanish government reformed the encomienda
of Cuba but became horrified by the brutal ways in system and created the Juzgado General de Indios
which Spaniards treated the conquered Taino Indians. (General Indian Court) to protect Native Americans
Following the publication of his A Short Account of from the worst abuse of the colonial rule. Full-blooded
the Destruction of the Indies (1542), de Las Casas Native Americans and African Americans remained at
argued in Valladolid, Spain, from 1550-1551, that the margins of Spanish colonial society.
105
By the mid-1500s, the wealth of Central and South a certain amount of autonomy within the empire. When
America had made Spain the wealthiest nation in Europe. Philip V (1683-1746) of the House of Bourbon became
Spanish officials generally taxed wealth imported to the Spanish King in 1700, he began to streamline colonial
Spain at a rate of 20%, which became known as the governments and centralize royal authority under his
Quintano Real (literally “the king’s fifth”). In addition leadership. Latin American elites bitterly resented what
to gold, silver and gems looted from Native American they considered an attempt to reign in their autonomy.
temples and palaces, the silver mines of San Luis Potosi By the late 1700s, Spanish revolutionary leaders like
in Bolivia provided a steady stream of precious metals Simon Bolívar and José de San Martín became inspired
to Madrid. However, the cost of such mineral wealth by the Enlightenment philosophy of John Locke, Baron
came at the expense of millions of lives of enslaved de Montesquieu and Jean Jacques Rousseau. Encouraged
Native Americans and Africans who died in the brutal by the success of the American, French and Haitian
extraction process common in the Potosi mines. Sugar, revolutions, Spanish colonial leaders formed junta-
coffee and tobacco plantations in the Caribbean likewise style governments that declared their independence
provided incredible profits for landholders and Spanish from Spain in the 1810s and 1820s. However, while
officials but did so at the cost of millions of Taino and Bolívar and San Martín promised liberal reforms to
West African lives. attract peasants to their cause, many of the newly freed
countries of Latin America, such as Mexico, Columbia,
Beginning in 1503, a governmental committee known Venezuela, Argentina and Bolivia, retained traditional
as the Casa de Contratación (House of Trade) controlled political and social orders. Among other things, this
Spanish migration to the Americas. The Spanish Crown created a political environment in which civil wars and
appointed Captain-Generals to invade, hold and coups became commonplace.
administer new provinces, which would then be added
to the empire. Beginning in the 1520s, the newly created NATION BUILDING AND
Council of the Indies began to regulate colonial trade
with the mother country and define the legal role of REFORM IN AFRICA 1700-1900
other colonies within the empire.
As Europeans became more interested in Africa,
As Spanish conquistadors expanded into new knowledge about the African continent and its people
territories, the Spanish crown converted such land slowly spread to other parts of the world. Africans
into provinces and dispatched governors to run each initially had minimal contact with Europeans, primarily
region. By the 1600s, the provinces of Viceroyalty of in coastal areas. However, by the 1700s the Atlantic
Peru and Río de la Plata and the governates of Cuba, slave trade offered a new economic outlet opened for
New Castile, New Toledo and New Andalusia had been those African rulers and merchants who participated in
created. Within these provinces, some leading Aztec the sale of human beings. While the Atlantic trade had
and Incan families were granted the title and rights of a significant economic and political impact on West and
nobles in return for their compliance with the colonial Central Africans, other historical developments on the
hierarchy. Viceroys and royally appointed governors African continent were equally important.
strictly controlled provinces from the top down, limited
only by Audencias, committees of leading colonists and Initially peripheral actors on the African continent,
imperial officials, who oversaw the administration of the Europeans spread the commercial revolution along the
colonial judicial systems. Viceroys, in turn, appointed Eastern and Western sides of the African continent. In
corregidores to collect taxes and settle disputes at the centuries leading up to the Atlantic age, the ancient
the local level. Corregidores often worked with local empires Ghana, Mali and Songhay dominated West
Alcaldias (mayors) and town councils (cabildos) to African history. Before the opening of the Atlantic
keep the peace on the provincial frontiers. trade, most polities in West Africa were economically
oriented toward the trans-Saharan trading networks
From the 1500s to the 1700s, Spanish colonial with links to the Middle East. It was initially the
governments remained deeply conservative. Dominated imports of American tobacco, peanuts, corn, cassava
by large landholders, merchants, royal bureaucrats and and new kinds of beans that helped drag West Africa
church officials, colonial leaders became accustomed to into the commercial activities of the Atlantic world.
Later, imports of firearms in exchange for enslaved region, along the Gambia and Senegal Rivers, the Jolof
people changed the political tapestry of West Africa and state and the kingdom of Kaabu dominated the area
strengthened coastal regions. Initially, the Portuguese politically and economically. Their leaders became
engaged in the slave trade, soon followed by other increasingly involved with Portuguese and later Dutch
nations such as the Dutch, English, French and Danes. and British merchants.
As sugar and tobacco plantations began to develop
in the New World the demand for labor increased. In the 16th century, three states gained importance due to
Trading companies, such as the English Royal African their strong ties to the Atlantic slave trade: Oyo, Asante,
Company (RAC), started to build their trading and Dahomey. Another important state in this region,
monopolies along the West African coast. Initially the kingdom of Benin located in present-day Nigeria,
focused on the gold trade, the RAC would dominate although it participated in the slave trade it primarily
the English slave trade until its abolishment in 1807. focused on other forms of trade. During the 15th and
16th century, Benin experienced its most significant
In the western part of Africa, after the fall of the Songhay expansion. Such growth happened in the 15th century
empire in 1492, small and medium size kingdoms arose under the warrior kings Ewuare (c. 1440) and Ozolua
in the regions south of the Niger Bend and upstream (c. 1481) and in the 16th century under Esigie (1504),
along the Niger River. One of these kingdoms, Orhogbua (c. 1550) and Ehengbuda (c. 1578-1608).
the Mandingo kingdom of Segu, developed in the The first contact with the Portuguese occurred in 1485,
heartlands of the former Mali Empire. Its power rested when Portuguese traders brought a cargo of guns and
on an army of enslaved people. North of Segu, in the coconuts to Benin. Soon after, trade relationships were
Sahel region, the Soninke kingdom of Jaara dominated established between the king of Portugal and the Benin
the area. In this part of West Africa, a mix of class and rulers, and commodities were exchanged. Over the
caste institutions controlled access to political authority ensuing decades ivory, cloth, pepper and other goods
and economic activities. To the east of the Niger Bend were exported to Benin in exchange for damask, silk,
and north of the rainforest, the Mossi kingdoms, manillas and cowries.
whose rulers used cavalry-based armies, started to
arise in the 16th and 17th centuries. Juula merchants While encounters with Europeans influenced the
traded in the Mossi capital towns and connected the external politics of the Benin kingdom, Benin kings
Mossi regions to the trans-Saharan and West African primarily dealt with the Igala kingdom, located to the
commercial networks. Further west in the Senegambia east of the Niger-Benue confluence in the interior,
Wood headrest
ornamented with
horse heads
Artist: Tellem Artist, Mali,
11-14th century
Source: National Museum
of African Art
107
Head of an Oba
Artist: Unknown artist at court of Benin
Consequently, a British punitive naval expedition

arrived to establish British control. British troops
occupied Benin City and looted houses, sacred sites,
ceremonial buildings and the palaces of high-ranked
chiefs and the Oba itself. The Oba and his eight wives
fled into exile to Calabar while British officials hanged
six chiefs in the Benin City marketplace. The looted
artwork, which included a thousand metal plaques and
as an intermediary. Portuguese missionaries brought sculptures known as the “Benin Bronzes,” was carried
Christianity to the Benin kingdom, and Oba Esigie’s to Britain. This looting triggered one of the most
oldest son and various chiefs converted to Catholicism. significant controversies in modern time over stolen
Strengthened by their victory over the Igala kingdom African art and its repatriation to Africa.
and the diplomatic exchanges with the Portuguese,
Benin’s imperialist leaders now directed their efforts
toward the coast, spreading as far as Lagos and Badagry
and waging war against villages and towns along the
way.
The 16th and early 17th centuries saw a period of

relative stability and peace in the region. But a civil
war broke out in the late 17th century. Conflicts over
succession devastated the kingdom. Concerned over
the sincerity of adoption and spread of Christianity,
Pope Innocent XII (1615-1700) sent a Catholic mission
to Benin to keep its rulers focused on spreading the
faith. The mission determined that earlier efforts at
Christianization had failed to take root as the churches
had been converted to shrines and priests had returned
to practicing African traditional religions.
While the 18th century remained relatively uneventful,

increasing European pressure during the 19th century
eventually placed the Benin kingdom under British
jurisdiction. In 1892, the British signed a treaty with
the Oba of Benin that also allowed for the opening of
the kingdom to British missionaries and merchants.
The Oba ignored the treaty and continued as usual.
Sent to Benin in 1897, acting General consul James R. Looted objects from the Benin
Philipps (1863-1897) tried to persuade the ruler to obey Punitive Raid, 1897
the treaty. Believing that the British planned to invade
them, Benin soldiers killed Philipps about 25 miles Artist: Unknown
outside the capital. License: Public Domain

Yoruba Bracelet
Artist: Yoruba artist, Owo
Nigeria, 16-18th century
Source: National Museum
of African Art
License Public Domain
In the rainforest west of the Niger River, the Oyo Empire governed from the capital city of Kumasi, Asante
rose to power dominating many of the Yoruba city-states became an important commercial hub for West African
who had tributary relationships to Oyo. The key to Oyo trading networks. Under the stewardship of Osei Tutu
strength lay in its reliance on a strong cavalry consisting (1680-1718) and his successor Opuko Ware (1718-
of horses supplied by their northern neighbors. The 1748) the Asante Confederation was transformed into
Oyo conducted many wars against other Yoruba city- a powerful empire. Starting with Osei Tutu, all Asante
states to gain prisoners of war which could be sold to rulers took the title of Asantehene and received
merchants involved in the Atlantic slave trade. As the religious legitimacy through the Golden Stool which
demand for slaves increased, the Oyo developed into a was provided by priests during coronation ceremonies.
major slave trading empire trading enslaved people.
The empire became known for producing gold and
Dahomey was another West African state heavily kola nuts, rivaling the cotton textile and indigo trade
involved in the Atlantic trade. Founded around 1620, of the Hausa city-states northeast of Kumasi in the
Dahomey was initially a small kingdom. By the 1700s, Sahel region of West Africa. The Ashanti kingdom
Dahomey exercised an increasing amount of control became heavily involved in the Atlantic slave trade
over the trade with Europeans while at the same time selling prisoners of war down to the coast. It controlled
restricting their access to the interior. The Oyo attack of territories to the north, such as the tributary Dagomba
1730 eventually made Dahomey a tributary to the Oyo kingdom, and smaller Akan-speaking kingdoms to the
Empire for about 80 years. While this changed regional south. One of the important imports both Dahomey
power dynamics, the Kings of Dahomey continued to and Asante made were European firearms which they
rule over smaller chiefdoms. In the Dahomey Army all acquired in exchange for slaves. By the 18th century
female regiments, known as Amazons, fought alongside both kingdoms could call upon about 10,000 soldiers
their male counterparts. armed with muskets while fielding armies upwards of
80,000 strong.
West of Dahomey lay the Akan kingdoms which
emerged in the early 17th century. In the early 18th In the Sahel regions around Lake Chad the powerful,
century, political power shifted to the rising Asante centuries-old kingdom Sultanate of Kanem-Bornu
kingdom. A confederation of small inland kingdoms gained increasing influence. This influence reached
109
Weight for Measuring Gold Dust
Artist: Akan artist
Source: National Museum of African Art
1817), his family and followers. Born into a scholarly

family, Uthman dan Fodio had become a famous
Islamic preacher and scholar who advocated for a purist
practice of Islam. The jihad or holy war was directed
against the Hausa kings who, despite being Muslims,
continued to practice traditional African religions.
The jihad resulted in the establishment of the Sokoto
Caliphate in 1804. An Islamic State based on Sharia
Law, the economy of the Sokoto Caliphate was based
on agriculture and to a great extent on slave plantations.
This made the Caliphate one of the biggest slave states
of the time, boasting more slaves than even the United
west to the Hausa kingdoms as well as south and north
States. As the Islamic state expanded many of the Hausa
of Lake Chad. In the second half of the 16th century
kings were either killed or fled into exile. The Sokoto
Mai Idris Aloma (1564–1596), started to import
Caliphate lasted about one hundred years until its final
firearms from north Africa and established diplomatic
defeat to European powers in 1903.
contacts with the Ottoman Empire whose troops had
penetrated the Kanem-Bornu empire. The Hausa states
In 1807, the British Empire abolished its slave trade
had profited from their vicinity to the trans-Saharan
but not slavery itself. The British Navy’s “Anti-Slavery
trade and the savanna trading networks. Hausa traders
Squadron” began to patrol the West African coast,
travelled as far south to the coasts as well to the Asante
capture ships with slaves on board, and resettle their
areas, trading slaves, kola nuts, gold and ivory. Bornu
human cargos in Sierra Leone. The United States also
became a center of Islamic teaching from which Islam
banned the import of slaves in 1808. The British used
spread to the Hausa city states.
its military and economic might to encourage other
European powers to sign anti-slave trade treaties.
In the early 19th century, the same region was
Afterwards, the slave trade rested primarily in the hands
shaken by military uprisings and Islamic Revolutions
of illegal traders who developed tactics to smuggle slaves
with the goal of reforming existing states that were
around British naval patrols. Domestic slavery was not
ruled by nominal Muslims and dual practitioners
abolished in Britain’s overseas colonies until 1834, in
of traditional African religions and Islam. These
French colonies until 1848, in the United States until
revolts were as much about Islamization and the
1865, Cuba in 1886, and Brazil until 1888. More than
establishment of a strict interpretation of Islam as
1.3 million Africans were still transported across the
they were about the quest for political domination
Atlantic between 1807-1888. Intellectual movements
and economic control. Some of the major ethnic
including the Enlightenment, the American War of
groups involved in these reform movements were the
Independence and the French Revolution had an impact
Fulbe, who were mainly pastoralists but who had a
on abolitionist thinkers and intellectuals. On the other
more sedentary and learned elite.
hand, the demand for slaves in the New World had also
started to decline in some regions. Modern machinery
The best-known Islamic reform movements in West
and overproduction made the importation of slaves in
Africa were those in the 18th and early 19th century
some of the sugar producing regions less profitable.
in the highlands of Futa Toro and Futa Jalon located
In addition, Africans and people of African descent
in modern-day Guinea. In the regions of the Hausa
often rebelled against their masters making slave-based
states, holy wars in the name of Islam were performed
plantations less profitable and less productive.
under the leadership of Uthman dan Fodio (1754-
As Europeans slowly outlawed the slave trade and slavery,
they transitioned to what became known as “legitimate
commerce” in African products like groundnuts or palm
oil which replaced the trade in slaves, as the African
continent also became a destination for the import of cheap
products from Europe. As public interest in the interior of
Africa heightened, more geographical and anthropological
studies were performed by European explorers. In addition,
European traders backed by their respective governments
became interested in controlling the African continent and
maximizing profits.
Similarly, to West Africa, the western equatorial rainforest

and the savannas to the south in what is today modern-
day Angola became involved in the slave trade. As early
as the 1500s, the Portuguese had started to circumvent
the Kongo Empire in gaining control of the slave trade
and had established Luanda as a major port city to which
slaves captured in the interior were transported and then
shipped across the Atlantic. In the 1600s, the Portuguese
also established the coastal town of Benguela from which
they secured slaves from the highland territories of the
Ovimbundu kingdoms. In the 18th century, the merchants
of the Ovimbundu kingdoms traveled as far as the Lunda
kingdom but also to the areas of the upper Zambezi River
to acquire goods and slaves.
The early 19th century also saw turbulence in southern

Africa. The Nguni of the southeast described these as
mfecane, the “crashing,” and the Sotho-Tswana referred to
them as difaqane, the “scattering.” The mfecane emerged
as conflict erupted between the emerging northern Nguni
kingdoms over access to natural resources. Famine caused
by a draught that lasted from 1802 until 1804 and intensified
warfare between 1816-1819 rattled the region. In 1819,
a minor chief named Shaka (c.1787-1828) consolidated
the various Zulu groups into a single kingdom. He then
expanded his borders from Tugela and Pongola into the
Drakensberg foothills and started to demand tribute
payments from the people between the Tugela and
Umzimkulu Rivers. By the mid-1820s, he controlled most
of the area of modern day KwaZulu Natal in South Africa.
Shaka developed a centralized government in which the
king wielded absolute control. In the newly conquered
One stringed fiddle, Nyanyeru (riti), regions, petty chiefs answered directly to Shaka. In 1828,
Fulbe, Mali, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau or Shaka was assassinated by his half-brother Dingane (c.
the Senegambia 1795-1840) who made himself king. While it took Shaka
ten years to establish the Zulu kingdom, his half-brother
Artist: Unknown took less than a decade to lose it.
111
In 1795, the British government seized control of South
Africa from the Dutch East India Company. One of the
consequences of the establishment of British settlements
in the region was the annexation of Natal. Thousands
of Dutch settlers known as Boers fled Natal for the Zulu
dominated lowveld. The Boers killed 3,000 Zulus in several
pitched battles before settling south of Tugela, creating the
short-lived Republic of Natalia (1839-1843). Tied up by a
civil war in which Chief Mpande (1848-1872) usurped his
brother Dingane, the Zulu remained too divided to deal
with the Boers. In 1879, British military invaded the Zulu
kingdom, beginning the Anglo-Zulu war that resulted in a
defeat of the Zulu people and the absorption of their area
into the Colony of Natal which later became part of the
Union of South Africa.
Lidded Vessel, North Nguni People,

South Africa, 19th century
Artist: Unknown
SUMMARY
The period of 1700-1900, provided momentous change for the world. Ground zero for the
Enlightenment, Romanticism and the Industrial Revolution, Europe witnessed a series of
revolutions that challenged the old feudal social order. While Britain and France tried to liberalize
their political systems, Germany, Italy and Russia struggled to modernize and unify. Across the
Atlantic, Spain, France and Britain established massive empires in the Americas. However, as
they struggled to exterminate or incorporate indigenous peoples into their empires, they had to
deal with increasingly rebellious colonists. Beginning with the American Revolution in the late
1700s, one by one the provinces of English, French and Spanish America threw off their colonial
chains. Meanwhile, on the African continent, Central African kingdoms declined as West Africa
became embroiled in the Atlantic slave trade. By the late 1800s, a Scramble for Africa left almost
the entire continent in the hands of European occupiers. As the world approached the twentieth
century, the unresolved issues of colonialism, imperialism and nationalism would set the stages
for the outbreak of world war in 1914.

9
Managing
Modernity in Asia
1700-1900
European Port in China Around 1805 Artist: Unknown

During the period 1700-1900, Western influence in technology and arms to force open markets and Asian
Asia markedly increased. Western countries used territories. Asian countries adapted to these threats
advanced technology to gain and grow footholds in different ways. Some countries attempted to adopt
throughout Asia. Asian countries had to deal with Western education and political structure while
Western encroachment which threatened their others clung (as long as they could) to traditional
economy and sovereignty. At first, most Asian ways of operating. Western influence and the reaction
countries reacted by severely restricting the ability of to the growing power of Europe and America helped
Europeans to operate. While this may have worked to remake Asia and reorient global politics, power
at first, Westerners used their advanced economies, and trade.
113
CHINA
Commissioner Lin Zexu
Artist: Unknown
Although illegal, initially Chinese authorities did

little to stop the opium trade as the scale and impact
of opium were not widely known. By the 1830s,
there was a growing acceptance that the opium trade
had negative social and economic impacts, and this
encouraged the Chinese state to attempt to stem the
flow of opium into China.
In 1839, Chinese authorities empowered the

trustworthy and ever-efficient Lin Zexu (1785-1850)
to employ strict measures to end the opium trade.
After learning how the drug had been smuggled
into China, Zexu went on the offensive. Refusing to
look the other way or take a bribe, Zexu seized and
destroyed some 20,000 chests of opium.
Having little respect for Chinese sovereignty and

egged on by British commercial interests, Britain went
to war with China. Known as the First Opium War
(1839-1842), the war demonstrated the superiority
In the 18th century, the Qing dynasty continued
of British forces. While some Chinese units had
to consolidate and expand its power. To contain
firearms, others went into battle with knives, spears
growing European power and influence, European
and swords. Such troops were little match for the
traders were increasingly restricted to the Guangzhou
professionalism and firepower of the British army.
waterfront while only being allowed to trade with
licensed Chinese traders. Since the Chinese had little
The decisive moment for the British came in May
need or interest in European goods, traders had to pay
1842 when the gunboat HMS Nemesis led a team of
in silver bullion rather than trade goods to acquire
seventy ships up the Yangzi River. The ability to take
Chinese items, including porcelain, silk and tea.
naval power inland and upstream gave the British a
new advantage and demonstrated, once again, how far
European traders and trading companies, especially
China had fallen behind Europe. Unable to resist this
the British East Indian Company, felt disadvantaged
intrusion, the Chinese were forced to sue for peace.
by these restrictions and did not like having to spend
currency to acquire goods. Unable to provide a
The war officially ended with the signing of the
product that the Chinese wanted to purchase at scale,
Treaty of Nanjing in 1842. Known as part of a series
they turned to opium, an addictive drug grown in
of unequal treaties, the Treaty of Nanjing forced
India, as a solution. Soon silver flowed in the opposite
China to surrender territory and sign away some
direction as Chinese merchants were willing to use
of its sovereignty. The Chinese ceded Hong Kong
bullion to acquire opium to sell to an increasingly
to Britain, opened additional ports to trade, and
addicted populace.
114 CHAPTER 9 MANAGING MODERNITY IN ASIA, 1700-1900
granted British traders extraterritoriality, which Commissioner Lin and the
meant they were not subject to Chinese laws and were Destruction of the Opium in 1839
basically outside the control of Chinese authorities. Artist: Unknown
Other powers, including a host of European nations, License: Public Domain
Japan and the United States, forced their own unequal
treaties onto China. Hong Xiuquan
Artist: Unknown
The opium wars and subsequent unequal treaties came License: Public Domain
at a time of significant instability in China. During
the 19th century, the Chinese population increased
by some 50 percent to nearly 480 million people.
Differences in wealth, the lack of available lands,
widespread poverty, and growing drug addiction
made much of the Chinese population unhappy. This
erupted in a series of disturbances and rebellions, the
most important of which was the Taiping rebellion
(1850-1864).
The origins of the rebellion lie in many of the frustrations

and difficulties that the Chinese people faced, coupled
with dissatisfaction with the Machu rulers, who
continued to be viewed as unwanted foreigners. The
spark, however, would be the rebellion’s future leader
Hong Xiuquan (1814-1864). An untraditional thinker,
Xiuquan rejected Chinese socio-religious systems,
creating his own form of Christianity, one in which he
proclaimed himself to be the younger brother of Jesus.
115
Xiuquan’s story begins with his difficulties with the After defeating a detachment of the Qing army in
civil services examinations. After failing the imperial 1850, Xiuquan declared himself the Heavenly King of
exam for the third time, Xiuquan experienced a the Heavenly Kingdom of Peace. A series of military
breakdown and was delirious for days. He had vivid victories saw Xiuquan and his supporters gain control
dreams about a heavenly family and father. In these of Nanjing which in 1853 became the capital of the
dreams, Xiuquan was commanded to alter his ways. Taiping Kingdom.
After failing the imperial examinations for the fourth
time (only a tiny minority passed), Xiuqaun became More and more people joined the movement, and
interested in Christianity and came to interpret his this increased the threat of Xiuquan to the Chinese
early visions as being part of a Christian religious state. In 1855, the Taipings almost took Beijing. With
experience. their backs to the wall, the Qings accepted a series
of reforms, including allowing for the creation of
Xiuquan began to study and preach. He found regional armies free of Manchu control. This allowed
followers in the disenfranchised Chinese peasantry for the mobilization of more troops. As the war
who were drawn to his vision of a better future. turned against the Taiping, Xiuquan could not handle
Centered on Taiping, Xiuquan called for the end of the pressure nor the reality of defeat and increasingly
private property, advocated the separation of the withdrew from society. In 1864, he died from illness,
sexes into separate civil, military and social units, and poison or suicide.
forbade prostitution and drug use while imploring
all loyal Chinese to join him in his quest to remake The Taiping rebellion was crushed. But its legacy is an
China. important one. The lessons learned by the government
were not that they needed to fix the problems
A Scene of the Taiping Rebellion Artist: Wu Youru


plaguing the Chinese state, but that revolution and 19th century, China suffered further setbacks as
disorder came out of massive societal change. Many foreign powers began to carve up its empire. China
argued that it was better to stick to traditional ways ceded Vietnam to France; Japan got Taiwan; China
and methods even if these seemed unlikely to solve lost control of Burma and had to recognize the
the problems facing China internally and externally. independence of Korea.
Others argued for a more limited form of reform
that might industrialize China without changing the The disintegration of the Chinese state led to the
underlying structure. outbreak of the Boxer Rebellion in 1899. To rid China
of “foreign devils” and their dangerous ideas, the
This approach to reform can best be seen in the Boxers targeted foreigners, Chinese people suspected
self-strengthening movement (1860-1895). The of being sympathetic to foreigners, and Chinese
self-strengthening movement sought to place Christians. The Boxer Rebellion was crushed by a
Western industrial technology on top of a base of combined force of British, Russian, French, German,
traditional Chinese society. Although the movement U.S. and Japanese forces. The Qing state limped on
achieved some gains, it was limited by the lack of until 1912 when the last Qing emperor abdicated
commitment to genuinely altering the Chinese state the throne. As China entered the 20th century, its
or its society. Industrialization brought tremendous relative power to Europe and its nearest rival, Japan,
change to Europe, and Chinese authorities feared had dramatically diminished. As the new century
that European technology would undermine Chinese dawned, Chinese leaders acknowledged that in order
values, traditions and their positions as well. This to catch up, they would have to accept meaningful
had a tremendous impact on China. By the late social and political change.
JAPAN
Japan faced similar challenges as China. Until the threat, the shogun eventually gave in when Perry
mid-19th century, Japan was ruled by the Tokugawa returned the following year. European powers
Shogunate, a conservative ruling elite focused on demanded and were granted similar trading and
maintaining power rather than improving the country. diplomatic privileges. Similar to China, Japan had
Fearful of outside influences, the government had been forced to sign unequal treaties which threatened
largely excluded foreigners and foreign ideas. The result Japan’s independence and economy.
was that Japan under the Tokugawas had fallen behind.
In response to these treaties, some groups began
The Tokugawa Shogunate found itself increasingly to advocate for a new government centered around
under pressure during the 19th century. Declining the emperor. Although the imperial court in Kyoto
crop yields, famines and even starvation created had long been relegated to a ceremonial rather than
widespread dissatisfaction. Externally, foreign powers administrative or executive role, its gardens, halls
wanted access to Japan. Although the Tokugawas and buildings started to be filled with groups that
refused to open up Japan to foreign traders and ships hoped a new government led by the emperor might
(except for the Dutch, which had a small and highly better deal with the foreign threat.
regulated presence in Nagasaki), it was becoming
clear that the Tokugawas lacked the military and A civil war broke out between those loyal to the
naval power to resist such encroachment. shogunate and those wishing to see the emperor
restored. Eventually, the forces dedicated to restoring
The turning point came in 1853 when a U.S. naval the emperor proved decisive. This ended more than
squadron led by Commodore Matthew Perry (1794- 250 years of Tokugawa rule. Known by the regnal name
1858) entered Tokyo Bay. Perry turned his guns on Meiji (1852-1912), the new emperor came to the throne
the capital of Edo (now Tokyo) and demanded that on January 3, 1868, signifying what would become a
the shogun open up Japan to American trade and new era in Japanese history.
diplomacy. Unable to find a solution to the naval
117
Commodore
Perry’s Second
Fleet
Artist: Unknown
Source: Wikimedia
Commons
MEIJI RESTORATION
The Meiji Restoration (January 3, 1868) is named
after Emperor Meiji, considered the 122nd Emperor
of Japan. The Restoration and his reign led to rapid
modernization, which swept away much of Japan’s
feudal and isolationist policies transforming the
country into an industrialized power. Before the
Restoration, the shoguns ruled, and it was in their
interest to keep the emperor isolated in his palaces
and ignorant of contemporary events. Emperors and
their family rarely left their palaces and often died
prematurely. All five of Emperor Meiji’s siblings died
as infants, and only five of his 15 children survived
into adulthood. Having contracted smallpox, his
own father died at 36. While the rapid modernization
of Japan is indisputable, historians still debate the
degree to which Emperor Meiji supported reform,
with some claiming he had almost no role, with
others painting him as an active participant in
the process. Whatever the case, Emperor Meiji
has been, and will likely continue to be, closely
associated with the rapid modernization of Japan.
Mutsuhito the Meiji Emperor 1873

Artist: Uchida Kuichi

Japanese Parliament in Session
Artist: Unknown
was transferred away from the nobles and large

landholders to those who tilled the soil. In return
for private ownership of the land, farmers paid
an annual tax on the value of their land. This
created a reliable and stable tax base. This was not
all positive, as those who could not meet the tax
obligation were pushed off their land and forced to
find employment in the city as part of the growing
number of factory workers.
The Meiji government also pursued a policy of

industrialization. Personal profit and the sanctity
of capital were not the guiding principles but
rather whether the industry served the state. With
this perspective, the Meiji government might favor
one company over another or force a weaker, less
productive company to merge with a stronger,
The Meiji Restoration gave birth to a period of better organized one or even to shutter its doors.
reform. Realizing how far Japan had fallen behind, This approach worked, and at the dawn of the 20th
both progressive and conservative forces in Japan century, Japan had a strong industrial economy.
were more willing to learn and adopt ideas from
Europe and America. The period of reform brought Japan looked to the West for inspiration and
many changes, including the ending of many of the technical and educational know-how. European
hereditary ranks, privileges and relationships that officers, mainly from Germany, were employed
had defined feudal Japan. to help Japan develop a modern army based
on meritocracy and universal conscription. The
The Meijis wanted their political system to emulate Japanese armed forces were quickly modernized
the West. A constitutional committee travelled to with the ultimate goal of being able to compete with
several Western countries to study European and European and American forces. Inspired by the
American political systems. This created much debate American educational system, the Meiji government
over which version of Western democracy best suited instituted universal education. With an emphasis
Japan. The Meiji settled on the Bismarckian example, on technical training, the Japanese government
which, although it had a parliament, placed ultimate sponsored a series of programs encouraging bright
authority in the executive branch. The result was a students to study abroad while inviting leading
system that, although it looked like and acted like a European and American scholars to teach in
democracy, was in practice still highly authoritarian. Japan. These schools and opportunities were open
to women as well. Emphasizing duty, service and
Reformers understood that success ultimately loyalty as the ultimate virtues of education, the
rested with reforming and modernizing the state state downplayed the individualism which might be
and the economy. To stimulate production, land gleaned from an American education.
119
Hoheikosho at
Koishikawa Arsenal,
circa 1920
Artist: Unknown
The mingling of culture with the West allowed War (1894-1895). The war allowed both sides to
Western fashions, arts and preoccupations to test its modernizing efforts. The Japanese proved
become popular in Japan. American leisure activities, victorious and forced China to accept Korean
including ballroom dancing, music and American independence and cede the Liaodong peninsula and
sports became increasingly popular, especially among Taiwan to Japan. China also had to open three ports
Japanese youth. Today, we see the results of this to Japan and pay a large indemnity in silver. The First
development, including the popularity of baseball in Sino-Chinese War proved that Japan’s modernizing
Japan. efforts had worked and suggested that the Chinese
approach to modernization had failed. Although
One of the repercussions of the Meiji Restoration was forced by Western powers to return the Liaodong
that Japan became more imperialistic in its outlook. peninsula shortly thereafter, the Japanese ended the
In 1894, Japan and China went to war largely over 20th century much stronger than at the beginning of
Korea in what is known as the First Sino-Chinese the 19th century.
Signing of the Treaty of Shimonoseki Artist: Kubota Beisen


KOREA
The period 1700-1900 was a time of tremendous change
for Korea. Since the second century BCE, China militarily,
economically and culturally dominated Korea, forcing Korean
monarchs to pay tribute to Beijing. In 1392, Yi Seong-gye
(1335-1408) overthrew the ruling Goryeo family to create
the Joseon Dynasty. His descendant Sejong (the Great, 1397-
1458) reformed the Korean government, civil service and legal
system along Confucian lines. He also used Chinese characters
to create the first written Korean alphabet, “hangul.”
Donghak Founder King Taejo of Joseon

Choe Je-u Artist: Kobayashi Kiyochika
Inoue Kichijirô
Artist: Unknown
Beset by both Japanese and Chinese invasions in

the 1620s and 1630s, Koreans followed a policy of
strict isolation, earning the nickname of the “Hermit
Kingdom.” However, Korea continued to trade with
China, importing not merely goods but also Buddhist,
Confucian and Western texts on religion, science
and history. Many of these works were Chinese
translations of books introduced by Catholic Priest
Matteo Ricci (1552-1610) into China in the mid-
1500s. In the early 1700s, King Yeongio (1694-1776)
and his grandson, King Jeongio (1752-1800), initiated
a period of reform that streamlined the tax system,
modernized the military and promoted the creation
of schools, universities and a national library. The
advent of movable type printing presses helped create
a flourishing print culture in Korea. During this
period, the leaders of the Silhak movement demanded
that schools begin to teach Western science instead
of Confucian classics. Influenced by Catholic
missionaries, many Silhak leaders also became
attracted to the egalitarian aspects of Christianity.
Starting in 1784 diplomat, Yi Sung-hun (1756-1801)
established a grassroots Catholic movement focused on
conversion and especially baptism throughout Korea.
121
Battle of the Yellow Sea Artist: Kobayashi Kiyochika Inoue Kichijirô
Daewongun (1820-1898) became acting regent.

EXTERNAL PRESSURES He strengthened the central government’s power,
implemented a series of merit-based civil servant
From 1839-1842 China and Great Britain fought
exams and levied taxes against Confucian-run
the First Opium War. Japanese and Korean leaders
schools. During this time, Gojong’s military forces
watched in horror as British forces defeated China’s
beat back French (1866) and American (1871)
woefully antiquated military. Western diplomats then
expeditions that sought to open Korea by force. In
forced the Qing government to sign a series of unequal
1873 Gojong’s consort Queen Min (1851-1895) forced
treaties which opened Chinese ports to Western trade.
him into exile. Crowned Empress Myeongsong, Min
Worried by the growing popularity of Christianity
continued to build up Korea’s imperial government
among working-class Koreans and the Chinese
and military.
defeats in the Second Opium War (1856-1860),
aristocrat and scholar Choe Je-u (1824-1865) created
In 1882, Korea’s government signed a treaty with the
a new religious belief system known as “Donghak”
U.S. granting American merchants trading rights
(or Eastern Learning) that drew from native Korean,
in Korea, granting American citizens in Korea
Confucian, Buddhist and even Christian beliefs.
the right of extraterritoriality, guaranteeing the
Although Donghak proved very popular among the
rights of American missionaries to proselytize, and
Korean masses, the royal government began to see
pledging mutual support for one another in the case
it as a threat. In 1864, government officials executed
of attack. American missionaries migrated to Korea
Choe on charges of misleading the Korean people and
in large numbers, founding schools and opposing
promoting social chaos.
traditional Korean practices such as polygamy and
having concubines.
When Prince Gojong (1852-1919) became Korean
Emperor at the age of 12 in 1864, his father, Heungseon

The Grand Mughal
of Delhi
Artist: Ágoston Schoefft
In 1894, Koreans who opposed the intrusion of began the period as a tributary state to China and
Westerners into traditional Korean society launched ended it under the influence of Japan. In 1910, Japan
the Donghak Rebellion (also called the Nongmin officially annexed Korea.
Jeonjaeng or Peasant War). Taking advantage of the
confusion, Japan invaded Korea, causing China to
intervene to defend its tributary state. The conflict MUGHALS
resulted in a Japanese victory in what scholars later
called the First Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895). The During the 18th and 19th centuries, the Mughal
war, and subsequent peace treaty, resulted in Korea Empire confronted a series of challenges. The
being opened up to Japanese trade and influence. cost of ruling such a large empire had drained the
treasury, and the Mughals no longer had the military
The Empress Myeongseong responded to growing power to defend all their territory. The rise of new
Japanese influence by cultivating closer ties to groups, including the Sikhs, Rajput and the Maratha
Czarist Russia. The Japanese responded by attacking Confederacy, posed new challenges to the Mughal
the royal palace and killing the empress in 1895. King state. By mid-century, the Mughals had lost important
Gojong fled to the protection of the Russian embassy territories to the three aforementioned groups, as
in Seoul. In 1897 he proclaimed the creation of the well as suffering an invasion of Northern India led
Korean Empire with himself as emperor. Korea thus by Nadir Shah (Shah of Iran from 1736-1747) in
123
1739, the British victory in the Bengal at the Battle of the British Raj. In 1876, Queen Victoria (1819-1901)
Plassey (1757), and growing French encroachment in assumed the title as the Empress of India.
the Southeast.
While the British attempted to reform India, average
After the Battle of Plassey, the British used their Indians, for the most part, gained little from British
technological and military superiority to increase their rule. British attempts at reform engendered oppressive
presence in and control over India. The Mughals were taxes and under-investment. Colonialism and colonial
a declining force and in 1857, had been defeated by the rule sought to benefit the colonizer, and while colonial
British. Bahadur Shah Zafar (r. 1837-1857) would be people could benefit, the aim was to strengthen
the last leader of the Mughal Empire, which had been the British Empire, most often to the detriment of
established in 1526. The Government of India Act of colonized people. This inspired many Indians to
1858 transferred all East India Company land directly join the movement for Indian independence, which
to the British Crown, establishing what is known as developed in the late 19th century and gained increased
momentum after the First World War.
KOH-I-NOOR DIAMOND
From the Persian meaning “Mountain of Light,” the
Koh-I-Noor diamond is virtually unmatched in its
beauty and size. A part of the British Crown Jewels,
Queen Victoria acquired the diamond after the British
conquered the Punjab during the Second Anglo-Sikh
War (1848-1849). Displayed at the Great Exhibition, a
massive international exhibition held in England in 1851,
some felt that although the size of the diamond was
undoubtedly impressive, its appearance, especially
its shape was a disappointment. The following year,
Prince Albert decided to have the diamond recut. The
cutting took over a month, shaving some 80 carats off
the diamond, reducing its size to 105.6 carats. After the
upheaval and violence of 1857-1858, Queen Victoria
(r. 1837-1901), became increasingly uncomfortable
with Britain’s role in India and the diamond itself.
Despite these concerns, Victoria continued to wear
the diamond. In 1902, the diamond was added to the
crown of Queen Consort Alexandria (1844-1925). The
complicated chain of ownership, and how the British
Queen Victoria Wearing the Koh-i-Noor acquired it, means that many nations, including India,
Artist: Franz Xaver Winterhalter Pakistan, and Afghanistan, have claimed ownership
Source: Wikimedia Commons over the diamond, and asked it be returned.
SUMMARY
This chapter has identified the challenges of creating an efficient and industrialized state. It
demonstrated how various nations had to confront both external and internal challenges. While some
nations responded to these threats and successfully modernized, others did not. Modernization along
Western lines was a difficult and risky undertaking as it threatened to fundamentally alter a state,
undermining both traditional social relations and the ruling elite.

10 The Second Wave
of Imperialism
1700-1900
Victoria (today Limbé ) Cameroon Artist: Rudolf Hellgrewe (1860-1935)

German Colonial Presence in Camerron License: Public Domain
During the 18th and early 19th centuries, European spreading the benefits of modernity to indigenous
nations began a massive wave of expansion. Armed peoples around the world. Although colonialism
with modern technology such as muzzle and breach did raise the standards of living for some conquered
loading rifles, cannons and artillery, steamboats and peoples who worked in the military or civil service
railroads, and modern methods of bureaucracy and of various colonial regimes, for most Africans and
medical care, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, the Asians colonialism offered little improvement and
Netherlands and Belgium began to acquire colonies further separated them from the systems of power
in Africa, Asia and Oceania. Although primarily while denying them the ability to govern their lives
seeking raw resources and cheap labor to sustain as they so wished. This chapter examines the rise of
their economies back home, European nations imperialism throughout the world and the response of
cloaked their greed with the rationale that they were indigenous peoples to this challenge.
125
In the 1850s, Catholic Monk Gregor Johann Mendel
SCIENTIFIC RACISM (1822-1884) conducted experiments with peas at the
monastery of St. Thomas in Moravia. Mendel selectively
Popular from the late 18th through the early 20th
bred sure peas, noting that parents passed distinctive
centuries, scientific racism used pseudo-science to
traits such as pod length, seed shape and flower color
assert that certain groups or “races” of people were
to their offspring. He accordingly calculated the laws
biologically and culturally superior to others. In the
of inheritance, including the concepts of dominant
mid-1700s, Enlightenment thinkers argued that human
and recessive traits. His work paralleled that of British
beings were primarily rational and capable of using
naturalist Charles Darwin (1809-1882) who, in his
science and education to improve their lives and the
seminal work On the Origin of Species (1859), argued
well-being of their societies. This desire to “rationalize”
that through the process of “natural selection,” different
the world was exported as European Empires covered
species which compete with one another pass down to
the globe.
their descendants’ random mutations such as longer
legs to run faster or camouflaged fur to hide better. In
In 1735, Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778)
time, these individuals survived longer and had more
published his magnum opus Systema Naturae, which
children, creating entirely new species that would
categorized by species over 10,000 plants and animals.
compete with the old species for resources. Thus,
Although describing humans as a species of primate
competition could lead to the extinction of the old
originating in Africa, Linnaeus classified homo sapiens
species a process which Herbert Spencer (1820-1903)
into four varieties—European, African, Asian and
dubbed “survival of the fittest.”
American Indian. He depicted white Europeans, such
as himself, the most biologically and socially advanced
In the 1880s, Spencer pioneered “Scientific Darwinism,”
group of humans. Although Linnaeus’s work influenced
the belief that in the brutal world of international
philosophers like Jean Jacques Rousseau, it also helped
relations, some cultures, such as white European nations,
imperialists justify the exploitation of non-white
were more adaptable and thus more deserving of survival
peoples. Other intellectuals picked up on Linnaeus’s
than others. Spencer thus provided a pseudo-scientific
work with devastating results.
veneer for not just imperialism and colonialism but also
In the early 1800s, German doctor Franz

Joseph Gall developed the field of phrenology,
the belief that the size and shape of the human
cranium determined the mental capacity of
different ethnicities. Throughout the 19th
century, phrenologists like Charlotte Fowler
Wells (1814-1901) with her husband, two
brothers, and sister-in-law, toured the United
States and Europe. Phrenologists were
active in popular science texts and helped
to create their own professional journals that
popularized their “findings.” The “science” of
phrenology and the journals that published
their work attempted to provide justification
for the enslavement of African Americans and
the dispossession and control over Native
Phrenology, 1835 Americans and their land based on the size and
shape of human craniums. Phrenologists often
Artist: José Ramón Pacheco
Source: Wellcome Collection intentionally selected the skulls of children or
License: Public Domain smaller-than-average individuals to artificially
buttress their claims.
126 CHAPTER 10 THE SECOND WAVE OF IMPERIALISM 1700-1900

laissez-faire capitalism. He believed that the cutthroat to justify his Lebensraum policy. In Nazi ideology, the
business world of the late 1800s mirrored the natural biologically and culturally superior Aryan Germans
world. Therefore, nations or empires that prospered had a natural right to dispossess and murder millions of
at the expense of their weaker neighbors were merely Jews, Slavs and other “undesirables” to build a greater
following the “law of the jungle.” Scientific Darwinism Germany across Europe. Although the uncovering
influenced businesspeople like Andrew Carnegie (1835- of the Holocaust in the later stages of World War II
1919), writers like Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936), and discredited scientific racism throughout the world, the
even politicians like Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919). concept continued to exist in reduced forms down to
the present.
In 1883, Charles Darwin’s cousin Francis Galton (1822-
1911) coined the term “eugenics.” This represented the
belief that humanity could be improved through selective
SCRAMBLE FOR AFRICA
breeding. American zoologist Charles Davenport (1866- The “scramble for Africa” (1880-1914) demonstrates
1944) founded the International Federation of Eugenics how imperialism came to define the relationship
Organizations in 1925, which sought to maintain white between Europeans and the rest of the world. As
racial purity by warning against “intermingling” with European nations industrialized, business and political
other non-white groups. Davenport helped influence leaders actively searched for raw materials and more
the creation of strict immigration laws which favored markets in which to sell their nations’ manufactured
white asylum seekers from European countries over goods. Increased competition and a desire to control
individuals of African, Asian or Latin American descent. and profit from territorial acquisition encouraged
Even progressive social workers like Margaret Sanger European powers to cast their eyes toward Africa.
(1879-1966) argued that those unable to afford children When the so-called “scramble for Africa” began in
should use contraceptives or agree to sterilization so as the 1880s, Europeans controlled about 20 percent of
not to create a drain on charitable and social services. Africa. By 1914, they occupied nearly the whole of the
African continent.
In the 1920s and 1930s, fascists like Adolph Hitler
(1889-1945) and his followers used scientific racism
Map of Growing European Control over Artist: User “Somebody500”

Africa 1880-1913 / Scramble for Africa License: CC BY-SA 4.0 | © Somebody500
127
To avoid direct conflict over Africa, European
leaders agreed at the Berlin Conference (1884-
1885) to develop a set of formal rules for controlling
African territories. The conference established the
concept of “effective occupation,” meaning that a
European nation could only gain recognized colonial
control over an African domain if it had established
treaties with local leaders and begun developing it
economically. European powers also had to promise to
promote Christianity and commerce, bring European
civilization to Africa and suppress the slave trade.
While Europeans sat in Berlin discussing the fate of
Africa, not a single African person was consulted or
invited to the conference.
BELGIAN CONGO
Anticipating new rules about acquiring territory
in Africa, King Leopold II of Belgium (1835-1909)
employed a variety of methods to make it appear
as if Belgium had long and substantial ties with
Central Africa. His plans worked, for at the Berlin
Conference, Leopold was recognized as the head of
what would be referred to as the Congo Free State.
The Rhodes Colossus: Artist: Edward Linley
Sambourne Leopold had succeeded; he was no longer just a king
Caricature of Cecil Source: Wikimedia
but an emperor.
John Rhodes Commons
Illustrated by the English cartoonist Edward

Linley Sambourne (1844-1910), “The Rhodes
Colossus” represents European plans for
Africa. A play on words, the image mimics the
famous Colossus of Rhodes (one of the seven
wonders of the ancient world) by depicting
Cecil Rhodes (1853-1902) holding a telegraph
line signifying his desire to have a rail and
telegraph line from “Cape to Cairo” to better
control and profit from the British presence in
Africa. Here Cecil Rhodes is depicted as an
almost unstoppable giant who looms over the
whole continent. The image speaks to British
power and the imperialists’ desire to rule and
control Africa for their benefit. At the time of
the publication, Cecil Rhodes served as prime
minister of Cape Colony (part of what would
later become South Africa) and had been a
founding member of De Beers Consolidated
Mines. This image became widely reprinted King Leopold II of Artist: Unknown
and is closely associated with the “scramble Belgium as Garter License: Public Domain
for Africa” and British imperialism. Knight

Artist: User “Whiplashoo21”
Colonial Africa 1913, pre World War I Source: Wikimedia Commons
License: CC BY-SA 4.0 | © Whiplashoo21
Leopold II’s Congo Free State was rife with violence. at an astounding rate. Due to their brutal and
With the Congo Free State now in hand, Leopold and indiscriminate killing of elephants, European hunters
his agents were desperate to extract wealth. European and merchants had, by the mid-1890s, virtually wiped
companies were allowed nearly free reign and, to out their source of profits. Leopold had mismanaged
maximize profit, employed a host of oppressive and his colony and exploited, mistreated and abused the
violent tactics to appropriate land and coerce labor. indigenous Congolese.
Belgian efforts to extract profits from the Congo Free However, Leopold would be granted a second chance to
State initially centered around ivory elephant tusks. glean profits from his colony. Scottish-born John Boyd
Demand for ivory was high and European companies, Dunlop’s (1840-1921) development of the pneumatic
without any thought as to the lives of African elephants tire led to an increased demand for rubber, which came
or the sustainability of the trade, harvested ivory from the sap of a tree that grew readily in the Congo.
129
Having learned nothing from his previous efforts,
Leopold once again allowed European companies free
AFRICAN RESISTANCE TO
reign to harvest rubber plants in the Congo. These EUROPEAN IMPERIALISM
companies gave little consideration to the people
In the late 1800s, many European nations rushed to
harvesting the crop. To increase profit and production,
company officials and their security forces began take part in the “scramble for Africa.” Great Britain
led the way, controlling Egypt, Sudan, Kenya and
cutting off the hands and feet of Africans to intimidate
them into working faster. Journalist Edmund Morel South Africa. France established French West Africa,
(1873-1924) would learn and later expose the truth which included Mauritania, Senegal, Mali, Ivory
of what was happening in the colony. In response to Coast, Dahomey and Nigeria, and French Equatorial
international pressure, Leopold II handed over his Africa, which consisted of Chad, Gabon and parts of
private colony to the Belgian state in 1908. the Congo. Germany maintained colonies in Burundi,
Tanzania and Rwanda. Even tiny Belgium’s ruler King
Nonetheless, the damage had been done. Belgium Leopold held a large part of the Congo river valley
reaped tremendous wealth while destroying much of as his personal fiefdom. Although European powers
the Congo’s ecology and economy. This was a far cry brought technology and modernization to Africa, they
from their stated mission of bringing Christianity did so with the intention of extracting wealth from
and free commerce to Africa. Once again, European the continent. Millions of Africans faced ritualized
participation in Africa had caused tremendous harm to degradation and exploitation at the hands of Europeans.
Africa and African people. Over time, many Africans found a variety of ways to not
only carry out meaningful lives under foreign rule but
actively resist colonial powers.
The First Italo-Ethiopian War of 1895-1896 represented

an important example of successful African resistance
to European imperialism. Following the unification of
Italy in 1871, Italian leaders sought to gain overseas
colonies to provide raw resources for Italy’s growing
industrial sector, find new lands for poor Italians to
settle, and gain the prestige that came from being a
colonial power. In 1889, Italy and Ethiopia signed the
Treaty of Wuchale by which the Ethiopian Emperor
Menelik II (1844-1913) acceded to Italy’s demands to
occupy the province of Eritrea in return for Italian and
British recognition of his regime. Deliberately writing
different versions of the treaty in Italian and Amharic
(one of the major languages of wider communication
in Ethiopia), Italian diplomats claimed that Ethiopia
had agreed to become an Italian protectorate. When
Menelik II repudiated the treaty, Italian troops invaded
in 1895. Aided by Empress Tatyu Betal (1851-1918),
Menelik raised a 100,000-man army that included
all the ethnic and religious minorities of Ethiopia.
This powerful army won a significant victory over
Italian forces at the Battle of Adwa in March 1896.
Congolese Worker Being Artist: Edward Linley
Sambourne
In the Treaty of Addis Ababa (1896), Italy recognized
Strangled By Rubber Coils Source: Wikimedia Ethiopia’s independence.
Commons

The son of the Negus (King) Haile Melekot
(1824-1855) and a palace servant named
Ejigayehu Lemma Adyamo, Menelik
was captured by the Ethiopian Emperor
Tewodros II (1818-1868) and married
to his daughter Altash. Following
Tewodros’s suicide in 1868, Menelik
slowly built up allies among Ethiopia’s
different ethnic groups and European
powers such as the French and Italians.
In 1883, he married his third wife, Taytu
Betul. A member of the ruling family
of Semien Province, Tatyu’s dynastic
marriage to Menelik helped him solidify
his claim as Ethiopian emperor in 1889.
Together they founded the capital of
Addis Ababa (New Flower) on the site
Menelik II Taitu Old of her imperial home. During the First
Italo-Ethiopian War, Menelik and Tatyu
Artist: Unknown
Source: Wikimedia Commons worked tirelessly to rally the people of
License: Public Domain Ethiopia to resist the invading Italian
forces. Following the war, the imperial
couple helped to introduce post offices,
electricity, motor cars and railroads to
Ethiopia. Menelik died in 1909, Tatyu
passed away four years later.
In addition to Menelik and Tatyu, Samori Ture (1828-

1900) led a spirited resistance to European imperialism
in West Africa. Born into the Mandika of Guinea in the
1830s, Samori created a coalition of Muslim groups
that conquered parts of Mali, Senegal and the Ivory
Coast to create the Wassoulou Empire in the 1860s.
Although a skilled warrior, Samori lacked modern
European-style artillery. He accordingly signed a
treaty with the French Empire, giving up some land in
return for a non-aggression pact. However, constant
violations of the treaty by French colonial forces led
to the outbreak of war in 1892. Adopting a “scorched
earth” policy, Samori fled eastwards with his entire
population. Although captured by the French six years
later, Samori still remains one of the most revered anti-
imperialist leaders in African history.
Almamy Samory Touré

Artist: Unknown
Source: Wikimemia Commons
131
While Samori fought the French in Guinea, a Matumbi- (1728-1779) in the late 1760s and 1770s, Australia
born Muslim prophet named Kinjikitile “Bokero” began as a penal colony in 1787. By the time the British
Ngwale (d. 1905) led the Maji Maji Rebellion against the government stopped shipping convicts to Australia
German colonial government of Tanganyika. Urging his in 1869, over 160,000 prisoners had been deported
followers to put aside their ethnic differences, Bokero to the colony. By the late 1800s, Europeans began
insisted that the “holy water” or maji he gave them voluntarily migrating to Australia in larger numbers.
would stop German bullets. Although executed by They came mostly to farm or herd sheep. Boasting an
German officials in 1905, his followers held out against impressive export economy, Australia attracted foreign
German forces for another two years. Over 100,000 investors and their capital. To encourage migration
died in the uprising. and the growth of trade, immigrants were offered free
passage and free land. The discovery of gold in Victoria
AUSTRALIA AND in 1851 also accelerated migration. When Cook first
came to Australia, he encountered indigenous people
NEW ZEALAND who lived by hunting and gathering. As sheep farmers
began to settle the outback, they pushed aborigines
Europeans also expanded into Asia. Most British out of their traditional hunting grounds. Violence and
travellers who settled in the Pacific went to either Australia disease would act in tandem to reduce the Aboriginal
or New Zealand. First explored by Captain James Cook population and dispossess them of their land.
Artist: User “Lencer”

Map of European Exploration Source: Wikimedia Commons
of Australia Before 1813 License: CC BY-SA 3.0 | © Lencer

New Zealand developed along a different path. 1812, the Ottomans also lost parts of their holdings
Resistance from the Māori people made settlement along the Black Sea. In Anatolia and the Balkans, local
more difficult for Europeans, many of whom chose ruling elites increasingly took control using nationalist
to relocate to Australia. Australia and New Zealand uprisings, particularly among groups of Christians, to
gained responsible government over the 19th century their advantage.
as the British parliament allowed the larger European-
dominated colonies within its empire more control Many usurped the Ottoman tax system by sending
over local affairs. The politics of these places, then and only small amounts to the Ottoman government. The
now, were heavily influenced by British traditions. Ottoman rulers of Istanbul seemed oblivious to the
Even today, Australia and New Zealand are a part of resistance going on in the provinces. In the early 18th
the British Commonwealth and remain constitutional century, during the Tulip period (1717-1730), some
monarchies. Ottoman elites began to imitate European lifestyles
and dress. Sultan Ahmad III (1703-1730) established
MIDDLE EAST his summer residences along the Bosporus River and
the Golden Horn, containing gardens inspired by
those of the French royal family at Versailles. Tulips,
In the Islamic regions of the Middle East, the 17th
originally wildflowers from central Asia, became not
and 18th centuries constituted periods of reform and
only popular throughout the Ottoman Empire but
change as well as losses of influence and power. The
were also imported to Holland by Oghier Ghislain
quest to control the Mediterranean was aided by a
de Busbecq (1522-1592), an ambassador of Emperor
European victory at the battle of Lepanto in 1571.
Ferdinand I (1503-1564) to the Ottoman court.
Despite its defeat, the Ottoman Empire remained a
This led to the spread of tulips across Europe. The
potent force in the Middle East, North Africa and the
printing press also found its way into the Ottoman
Balkans. Subsequently, the Ottomans took over Tunis
empire, helping to disseminate history, geography
from the Spanish Habsburg Empire in 1574, Fez from
and literature books written in Turkish. The
the Portuguese in 1578 and Crete and Venice in 1669.
responses toward Western imperialism and advances
Murad III (1574-1595) also conquered parts of the
were initially filtered into state-directed reforms that
Caucasus and Azerbaijan in 1576. Wars in the 17th
tried to stop Western influences, in particular those
century with European powers led to the loss of Hungary,
regarding religion and culture.
the Banat of Temesvár, Transylvania and Bukovina. In
Sultan Ahmet III

Fountain
Artist: Julien Maury

133
In the 19th century, the three Muslim empires that had occupied Sudan and founded Khartoum. He fought
once dominated the Middle East and Asia were either the Ottomans in Syria but lost his navy to a combined
overthrown or significantly weakened. The Mughals in Anglo-French fleet. Foreign powers – primarily
India, the Safavids in Persia and the Ottoman Empire French and British – increasingly invested in Egypt by
had been reduced by attacks from with Western forces building the Suez Canal and constructing railroads.
with more advanced military and financial resources. Lavish spending by him and his sons bankrupted the
As we learn in other chapters, Britain turned India into country, forcing the rulers of Egypt to sell their shares
a crown colony. Persia was sandwiched between the in the Suez Canal Company to Britain. Eventually,
Russian and British spheres of influence and power. Britain installed Muhammad Pasha’s grandson as the
After 1830, the Ottomans experienced a continuous new viceroy, or khedive, in charge of Egypt, a position
loss of territory, especially in North Africa. he held until 1922.
In 1798, Napoleon invaded Egypt, but he and his army During the late 19th century, a complicated situation
were eventually expelled in 1804 by an Anglo-Ottoman arose in Sudan. Muhammad Ahmad (1844-1885), also
alliance. Egypt became independent under the military called the Mahdi, led a successful uprising against the
governor Muhammad Ali Pasha (1769-1849). The Egyptian and British presence between 1881-1885. The
long reign of the Albanian Ali Pasha allowed him to Mahdiyya or Mahdist rebellion was a complex blend
establish some reforms. He had served in the Ottoman of traditional African religions, fundamentalist Islam
army against the French, which made him aware of and nationalism. When Muhammad Ahmad came
European military superiority and that it only was out of the struggle victorious, he soon established
possible to defeat European powers if military reforms traditional Sharia courts in Sudan in the hope of further
were initiated. He scouted out information from France, strengthening and legitimizing his rule. Ahmad would
established munition industries and modernized the hold power until the British, in 1898, established the
educational and public health system. He supported protectorate of Sudan.
private landownership and focused on cash crop
production of sugar and cotton. He also invaded While the Ottoman Empire had to deal with the loss of
other areas to expand his territory and influence. Ali territory, the Qajar family took control of Iran in 1794
by deposing Lotf ’ Ali Khan (c.1769-1794), the last Shah
of the Zand dynasty. Adopting European-style military,
technological and educational influences, Qajar rulers
expanded into the Caucasus but lost the territories
of modern-day Georgia, Dagestan, Azerbaijan and
Armenia to the Russian Empire. Under the Qajar dynasty,
the idea of the Iranian kingship became reinvigorated.
Shah Naser al-Din (1831-1896) introduced major
reforms focused on the modernization of his military.
Military and commercial relationships with the West
led to Iran's encounter with the world market, which
allowed western goods to flood Iran’s internal markets.
Mehemet Ali Viceroy of Egypt

Artist: Auguste Couder (1789-1873)

Defeat of Lutf‘Ali Khan Zand by (Agha)
Muhammad Shah; the city of Shiraz in the
background
Artist: Unknown (from the Folio of Shahinshahnama of Fath 'Ali
Khan Saba 1810)
Anglo-Russian Convention acknowledged Russian

influence in northern Persia as the British claimed
control over the south. The Persian Constitutional
Revolution (1905-1911) led to the creation of a
constitutional monarchy. Not only were the Shahs
losing power, but as foreign influence increased, it was
outsiders who increasingly made the decisions for Iran.
This encouraged the military officer Reza Khan (1878-
1944) to attempt to seize control of the government. In
1925, Khan now formally known as Reza Shah created
a new state officially called the Imperial State of Persia.
Worried about both the Soviets and the British, Reza
Shah undertook a series of reforms to modernize Iran.
Many of the reforms in the Middle East during the
18th and 19th centuries were state-directed and open
to Western influences. However, fundamentalist Islamic
movements such as Wahabism, as it developed in Saudi
Arabia, provided counterparts to modernist influences
and Western encroachment. In both Sunni and Shia
dominated areas, there was a growing element that
wished for the state to be governed by religious rather
To pay for these, Iranians invested in cash crops like than secular laws.
tobacco, cotton and opium. However, competition from
European imports affected the Iranian manufacturing Other Islamic states joined in the resistance against
industry, leading to the bankruptcy of many local Western encroachment, such as the followers of
businesses. In 1890, Naser al-Din granted a British firm Abdelkader (1808-1883) in Algeria, who fought against
a tobacco monopoly. This led to internal resistance the French. French rule over Algeria started in 1830
spearheaded by the Muslim cleric Jamal ad-Din Al- with the wresting away of Algiers from the Ottomans.
Afgani (1839-1897) who claimed that foreign influences French colonial rule ended with the Algerian War of
and encroachment hurt local merchants as well as Iran’s Independence in 1962. From 1848, French Algeria was an
political and religious autonomy. Eventually, the shah integral part of France, and Algiers was often considered
had to end the tobacco monopoly. However, Western the second capital of France. Settling in mostly coastal
influences remained strong in Iran’s mineral and oil areas, thousands of European immigrants settled in
industry and the rights belonging to it. In a concession Algeria adding a European influence that melded
to the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, Iran started to European traditions with North African customs.
export oil to the west in 1908. French authorities forced colonial subjects to learn
French, attend French-speaking schools and embrace
The encroachments of the Russian and British empires French culture while also encouraging conversion to
in Iranian affairs undermined the stability of Iran. Catholicism. These methods were often also referred to
Eventually, foreign advances led to the partition of as “assimilation and association” and became known as
Qajar Iran into two spheres of influence. The 1907 the so-called “civilizing mission.”
135
different Malay states against one another, eventually
SOUTHEAST ASIA 1500-1750 creating a protectorate over the entire region in 1909.
Both Burma and Malaysia underwent rapid economic
For the countries of mainland Southeast Asia—Burma
growth under the British. In addition to building railways
(Myanmar), Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam—
and developing steam navigation and oil drilling, Burma
the period from 1500-1750 was predominantly marked
also increased rice cultivation and produced timber
by political consolidation into Buddhist kingdoms.
and teakwood. The port of Rangoon (Yangon), the
Growing access to European gunpowder weapons
colonial capital, developed into a significant transaction
allowed local kings to expand their territories. For
crossroads for the region. Tin mining developed in
example, King Bayinnaung (1551-1581) helped expand
Malaya, and Chinese laborers were recruited to work
Burmese political and economic influence into Japan
in the mines. In time, Chinese immigrants came to
and throughout the region. As the population of the
represent nearly half the population of Singapore. A
region grew, local governments became larger and
large concentration of Chinese also migrated to Kuala
demanded more taxes, and this encouraged a shift away
Lumpur, the colonial capital of the Federated Malay
from subsistence agriculture toward cash crops such
States. Indian laborers likewise became a sizable
as sugar. Buddhist kings profited from such trade and
population in Singapore and throughout Burma. For the
taxation. As a means of both legitimizing their rule and
greater part of the 19th century, Malaysia was divided
demonstrating their power, these kings invested in the
into the British-owned straits settlements – Penang,
creation of religious texts, libraries, monasteries and
Melaka and Singapore, whose sultanates became British
Buddhist temples.
client states. In 1895, British officials consolidated all of
Malaysia under their rule.
Both the Chinese and Japanese wished to expand their
influence throughout Asia. While China’s primary
Siam (Thailand), located between the British in Burma
influence in neighboring areas like Vietnam or Burma
and Malaya and the French in Indochina, retained its
remained primarily economic, Japan sought political
independence from colonial powers throughout this
control over areas such as Taiwan, which it conquered
period. King Mongkut (1851-1868) brought western
in 1895. The four colonial powers in the region—
science and political techniques to the nation. Although
Britain, France, the Netherlands and Spain—thus had
forced to grant Britain and France extraterritoriality
to navigate the politics of local kingdoms plus Chinese
status in Bangkok, Mongkut kept his country
merchants and Japanese imperial officials.
independent. The Thai economy developed rice,
rubber, tin and tropical hardwood industries. Bangkok
In the early 1600s, English merchants sought to break
accordingly developed into a major trading center.
into Chinese-dominated markets. Although cast out
of southeast Asia by the Dutch, the English returned
In the early 1520s, Chinese diplomats took advantage
to wrest Melaka from Dutch control in 1795. Twenty-
of a bloody civil war in Vietnam. Although they did
four years later, the British Empire established control
little to stem the violence, Ming officials encouraged
over Singapore. Whereas Melaka represented only a
Vietnam’s ruling Le Dynasty (1428-1788) to adopt
regional power, Singapore was a commercial center for
the trappings of neo-Confucian ideology and culture.
all of southeast Asia. This allowed the British to control
Dutch and Muslim merchants likewise exploited
much of the trade in the region and to cast its grasp
wartime scarcities by selling Indian opium and cloth
further afield.
respectively on the docks of Saigon and Hanoi. With
their knowledge of local languages and customs,
In 1786, the British East India Company negotiated
Chinese and Japanese merchants fared better than
with the Sultan of Kedah to create a military and
their European counterparts. Chinese traders sold
trading center on Penang Island. Worried about Dutch
metal wares, porcelain and cloth throughout Vietnam,
domination of the tea, pepper and opium trade, the
Cambodia and Thailand in return for large quantities of
British sought to create a presence in southeast Asia.
refined sugar.
Over the next century British colonial officials played

Artist: Unknown
Source: Wikimedia
Commons
Angkor Vat Artist: Jean-Pierre Dalbéra

Source: Flickr
License: CC BY 2.0 | © Jean-Pierre Dalbéra
Regional wars and epidemics also swept across

southeast Asia during this time. The Kingdoms of Lan
Xang and Lanna (current day Laos) fought off a series
Portrait of Jeremias van Vliet of invasions from Thailand and Vietnam. Under the
capable leadership of King Settathirath (1534-1571),
Historically, many southeast Asian women the unified kingdoms of Lan Xang and Lanna began
worked as merchants. As women traditionally
managed households, working as merchants
a period of rebuilding and economic development.
was seen as an extension of their domestic From the 800s to the 1600s the Khmer Empire
duties. Osoet Pegua (1615-1658) represented flourished in what is today Cambodia. Under the able
one such individual. Little is known about her reign of Jayavarman II (c. 700-850) and Jayavarman
life. In fact, no portrait of Osoet was ever made. VII (c. 1122-1218) the Khmer built complex temples
Born in 1615 in Ayutthaya, the capital of Thailand and palaces such as Angkor Wat. However, a series of
(Siam), Osoet was of Burmese and Mon descent. civil wars in the 1400s allowed King Borommaracha
At a young age, she began working at the walled II (1424-1448) of Thailand to conquer Khmer in 1432.
compound of the Dutch East India Company For the next four centuries, Cambodia would remain
(Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, or VOC).
a Thai vassal state.
Quickly learning Dutch, the 16-year-old Osoet
began a relationship with Dutch trader Jan van
Meerwijck. Following van Meerwijck’s death, China politically and economically dominated
Osoet married Jeremias van Vliet (c. 1602-1663), southeast Asia until the 19th century. In 1862, the
the leading VOC official in Thailand, in 1638. French Empire used the persecution of French
Over the next four years, the couple produced Catholic missionaries as a reason to invade the
three daughters. Over time, Osoet became southern provinces of Vietnam, including the strategic
an intermediary between King Prasat Thong port of Saigon. By 1885, French forces occupied
(c. 1600-1656) and the VOC. However, when northern Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. French
Dutch officials recalled van Vliet to Batavia over
colonists used forced labor to create massive rice and
corruption charges, King Thong refused to let
Osoet or her daughters leave Thailand. Osoet rubber plantations along the Mekong delta. Under
then formed a relationship with junior VOC the pretense of “civilizing” the Vietnamese, French
partner Jan van Muijden. Using the hapless van officials renamed the region French Indochina,
Muijden as a proxy, Osoet effectively took over forced Vietnamese to adopt French names, learn the
the management of the VOC office in Ayutthaya. French language and convert to Roman Catholicism.
Under her capable leadership, the VOC secured To avoid prison, the Vietnamese opposition leader
record profits and gained considerable influence Ho Chi Minh (1890-1969) traveled abroad. During
with the Thai royal court. Following her death in this time, he visited France, Britain, the United States,
1658, King Sanpet VI (1630-1656) allowed for her
the Soviet Union and China. Converting to socialism,
to be buried in the Dutch compound in Ayutthaya
and permitted her children to immigrate to the Ho became head of the Vietnamese communist party,
Netherlands. through which he created a resistance movement to
overthrow the French imperial regime.
137
While Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia struggled to used lavish gifts to forge alliances with local chiefs.
survive Chinese and French expansion, the people of Over the course of the 17th and 18th centuries, Manila
the Philippines struggled to resist Spanish domination. became a Spanish settlement filled with merchants,
In 1521, Admiral Ferdinand Magellan (1480-1521), soldiers, Catholic missionaries and some bureaucrats
leading a fleet of five ships, claimed the Philippines for that would stay connected to Mexico City. Outside
Spain. In 1565, a Spanish invasion fleet seized the island of Manila, a Chinese merchant community began to
of Luzon and established a colonial capital at Manila. form. Many Chinese converted to Catholicism and
From 1565 – 1821, Spanish officials in Mexico City intermarried with local elites.
administered the Philippines as part of the viceroyalty
of New Spain. Following the independence of Mexico Catholic missionaries from several orders established
in 1821, the Philippines became a royal colony hundreds of schools and rural churches, most
governed from Madrid. Spanish officials in Manila concentrated in the islands of the north and some in
Emilio Aguinaldo
Artist: Unknown
One of the leading figures of Philippine independence,

Emilio Aguinaldo y Famy was born into a wealthy family of
Chinese and Tagalog descent in Cavite el Viejo on March
22, 1869. He attended the Colegio de San Juan de Letran
and became a captain-general of his home province in
1895. Aguinaldo became involved with the Katipunan, a
secret society that led an armed resistance against Spanish
colonial rule the following year. Becoming a skilled insurgent
known as “Magdeleno” (after Mary Magdalene), Aguinaldo
and his “Magdelano” forces became known for carrying out
planned attacks on Spanish colonial forces. For instance, at
the Battle of Zapote Bridge in February 1897, Aguinaldo ordered his troops to ring a local
bridge with dynamite and lace the river beneath with punji sticks. When a Spanish army
of 12,000 attempted to cross, the Magdelenos destroyed the bridge and routed the army.
In March, representatives of the Philippine revolutionary government elected Aguinaldo as
its generalissimo. In October 1897, Aguinaldo commissioned the creation of a constitution
that further legitimized his regime. Following extensive negotiations with Spanish officials,
Aguinaldo agreed to cease resistance, dissolve his government and go into exile in Hong Kong.
When the Spanish-American War broke out in 1898, Commodore George Dewey arranged for
Aguinaldo to be brought to the Philippines to create a new revolutionary government. After a
prolonged siege, Spanish authorities surrendered Manila to American forces. Although Spain
agreed to cede the Philippines to the U.S. in return for $20 million, Aguinaldo declared the
creation of a provisional Philippine republic in January 1899. Aguinaldo would lead a guerilla
war against occupying U.S. forces for the next two years. Captured by American forces in
Luzon on March 23, 1901, Aguinaldo acceded to U.S. control of the Philippines. Ironically,
when imperial Japanese forces invaded the Philippines in December 1941, Aguinaldo re-
emerged to lead a pro-Japanese collaborationist government. On February 1942, Aguinaldo
took to the airwaves to give his “Bataan Address,” which urged American forces in the
Philippines to lay down their arms. Captured when American troops retook the islands in
1945, Aguinaldo was released from prison under a general amnesty for all former Japanese
collaborators. He then lived a quiet life in retirement, dying in 1962.

the south reaching through the Visaya archipelago and Philippines, and nationalist hero Emilio Aguinaldo
into northern Mindanao. Resistance against Spanish (1869-1964) declared independence from Spain on
encroachment grew and a group of nationalists, June 12, 1898, which would lead to the establishment of
including José Rizal (1861-1896), demanded reform. the First Philippine Republic on January 21, 1899.
By 1896, the reform movement had grown to include
militant elements, including a secret society known as Spain turned the Philippines, along with Puerto Rico and
the Katipunan, which started an armed revolt against Guam, over to the U.S. following the American victory
Spain. Arrested and found guilty of treason, Rizal was in the Spanish-American War (1898). Consequently,
executed by means of a firing squad on December 30, the Philippine-American War (1899-1902) broke
1896. In doing so, Spanish authorities turned Rizal out. More than 200,000 Filipinos died, mostly due to
into a martyr in the cause of Philippine independence. famine and disease. The Philippines would not gain its
In 1898, the Spanish-American war reached the independence until 1946.
SUMMARY
By 1900, most of Africa and Asia lay under the direct or indirect control of an imperialist power. In just
a few centuries, the divided nations of Western Europe had become powerful empires with modern
militaries, governments and economies. While Britain reigned over the largest number of territories, other
nations like France, Germany and Italy held sizable empires. Although designed to enrich the home
countries, imperialism had the effect of spreading European politics, science, technology, economic
beliefs, religion and even popular sports across much of the developing world. This era also witnessed
the origins of local independence movements, which in time would lead to nationalist movements across
the world and would also set into motion geographical disputes that would, in turn, pave the way for the
First and Second World Wars of the 20th century.
139
11
World in Crisis, Conflict, and
the Struggle for Independence:
World War I, the Indian
Independence Movement and
the Russian Revolution
Illustration of Christmas in the Artist: Justinas

Source: iStock.com/ Justinas
trenches of World War 1 License: Standard License (purchased by ETSU)
The 20th century brought profound changes to the chapter (World War I, the Russian Revolution, and
world. The outbreak of the First World War led to the the struggle for independence in India), helped set
emergence of newly independent nations, dismantling the stage for not only the emergence of nationalist
of monarchies, and millions of deaths at the hands movements across the world but also global economic
of totalitarian regimes. Those who opposed these and political transformations that eventually triggered
authoritarian states were exiled or killed as dictatorial the rise of Nazi Germany and the arrival of a new
leaders sought to control nearly every aspect of the conflict, World War II.
state. The key events of this period examined in this
140 CHAPTER 11 WORLD IN CRISIS, CONFLICT, AND THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE
WORLD WAR I
Fought between 1914 to 1918, World War I constituted Austrian Prince Klemens von Metternich (1773-1859)
the first global conflict in history. At the end of the promoted the concept of a “balance of power” in which
conflict, 40 million combatants and civilians lay dead, European nations would join systems of interlocking
120 million were displaced, the infrastructures of a dozen
alliances. This would prevent war as no country would
European countries were in ruins, and the political map dare risk a regional dispute exploding into a larger war.
of Europe had been fundamentally transformed. Although precarious, the balance of power prevented a
large battle on European soil for nearly a century. By the
The origins of the First World War lay in a complex early 20th century, the continent remained dominated
series of alliances that governed Europe for a century. by two alliance systems: the Triple Entente (Britain,
At the end of the Napoleonic Wars, Europe’s victorious France and Russia) and the Triple Alliance (Germany,
powers—Britain, Prussia, Austro-Hungary and Italy and Austro-Hungary, with the Ottomans, often
Russia—sought to contain the liberal forces unleashed included as a junior partner).
by the French Revolution. An advocate of realpolitik,
Map of Military Alliances of Europe in 1914 Artist: User “Historicair” (French original); Fluteflute &
User:Bibi Saint-Pol (English translation)
License: CC BY-SA 2.5
141
Ethno-linguistic map of Austria-Hungary, 1910 Artist: Andrei Nacu
License: Wikimedia Commons
Source: Public Domain
In 1914, the Austro-Hungarian Empire represented demands to condemn the assassination and prosecute
a large, multiethnic state. Millions of Serbians living Serbian nationalists, Austro-Hungary responded with
within the empire desired independence. On June 28, a declaration of war on Serbia. Serbia’s ally and fellow
1914, Serbian revolutionary Gavrilo Princip (1894- Slavic nation Russia declared war on Austro-Hungary.
1918) assassinated the Austro-Hungarian Archduke Germany declared war on Russia and Britain, with
Franz Ferdinand (1863-1914) and his wife Sophia France responding by declaring war on Germany.
(1868-1914) in Sarajevo. When Serbia refused Austria’s
German soldiers of the 11th Reserve Hussar
Regiment fighting from a trench, on the
Western Front, 1916
Artist: Oscar Tellgmann
License: Wikimedia Commons
Source: Public Domain
troops before Allied forces abandoned the campaign.

In May 1916, British and German naval forces fought
a bloody but inconclusive battle off the coast of Danish
Jutland. On July 1, 1916, the Battle of the Somme broke
out. The battle resulted in an Entente victory. A total of
1,500,000 died, on both sides, during the battle.
Both sides expected a quick victory in the conflict.

However, the development of modern military
technology, including Browning machine guns, mustard
gas, airplanes and eventually tanks, quickly outstripped
the 19th-century battle tactics familiar to most European
generals. With cavalry impractical against machine
guns, millions of soldiers hunkered down in trenches
and sniped at one another across miles of devastated
countryside dubbed “no man’s land.” Soldiers in the
trenches battled not just the enemy but also “trench foot,”
snakes, rats and the elements.
At the First Battle of the Marne in September 1914, over The Zimmermann Telegram as it
half a million German, British and French troops were was sent from Washington, DC, to
killed. From February 1915 to January 1916, Entente Ambassador Heinrich von Eckardt, the
soldiers (many of whom were from Australia and New German ambassador to Mexico.
Zealand) attempted to attack the Ottoman’s Dardanelles
Author/ Artist: Arthur Zimmermann
Straits. The Entente lost over half a million men before Source: Wikimedia Commons
abandoning plans to knock the Ottomans out of the License: Public Domain
war. The Battle of Verdun represented one of the most
protracted battles of World War I. On February 21, 1916,
German forces launched a major offensive to take Paris.
The battle lasted 10 months and killed a total of 600,000
143
German and British
troops during the
Christmas Truce of 1914
Artist: Cassowary Colorizations
License: CC BY 2.0 | © Cassowary
Colorizations
The Christmas Truce of 1914 is considered one of the most across no man’s land to shake hands, sing carols, toast
unusual events in warfare. At 8:30 p.m. on December 24, one another and exchange presents. Impromptu bands
1914 (Christmas Eve), German troops lit candles in their were formed to provide musical entertainment while
trenches and began singing carols and wishing Merry other soldiers participated in a pick-up football game.
Christmas to their British rivals across No Man’s Land. Although many soldiers participated in the truce, active
British troops began serenading the Germans, and the fighting continued in other theaters. Worried about the
two groups sent out scouts to assess the situation. Soon effect such fraternization might have on morale, British
soldiers from the two armies were pledging not to fire and French officers forbade any future celebrations with
on one another. All up and down the front, men walked enemy troops.
The First World War represented a total war that years of stalemates and defeats on the Eastern Front,
consumed all aspects of the societies involved in the millions of ordinary Russians demanded that Czar
conflict. Both Britain and Germany blockaded one Nicholas II (1868-1918) withdraw from the war.
another’s coasts. Neutral nations like the United States Radical Russian socialists, known as Bolsheviks, made
made tremendous war profits trading with one side or successful inroads with peasants and workers sick of
the other. For the most part, Americans wished to stay war. Seizing the opportunity, German officials secretly
out of the war. This changed when a German submarine shipped Russian Communist leader Vladimir Lenin
sank the British freighter Lusitania in 1915, killing 1,195 (1870-1924) back to Russia. In October 1917, Lenin’s
people (including 123 Americans), which encouraged Bolsheviks captured many of the major cities in Russia
more Americans to speak out in favor of war against and instituted the Union of Soviet Socialists Republics
the Triple Alliance. Although the Germans promised (USSR). The “October Revolution” would have
to stop sinking non-military vessels, they resumed tremendous consequences for the subsequent histories
unrestricted submarine warfare in February 1917. At the of the 20th and 21st centuries.
same time, newspaper stories about a document known
as the Zimmerman Telegram surfaced. The purported Reinforced by American troops and equipment, Entente
telegram revealed a scheme between Germany and forces began an all-out push against Germany in October
Mexico by which Mexico would use German aid to 1918. Deserting their former ally, the Ottomans and
invade the United States and regain lands lost in the Austria-Hungary signed separate peace treaties with
U.S.-Mexican War of the 1840s. Although he had been the Entente. Unable to continue a sustained resistance
re-elected in 1916 on the campaign slogan “he kept us to the Entente Powers, Germany agreed to an armistice
out of war,” U.S. President Woodrow Wilson (1856- on November 11, 1918. At the Paris Peace Conference
1924) bowed to public demand and, on April 6, 1917, held in January 1919, Woodrow Wilson insisted that
asked Congress for a declaration of war. Europeans agree to a peace plan along American lines,
as outlined in his “Fourteen Points.” One of these
While U.S. officials debated entering the Great War, points called for creating a “League of Nations,” an
Russian leaders pulled out of the conflict. After three international forum to resolve disputes between nations
Karl Liebknecht Artist: G. G. Bain
Rosa Luxemburg Artist: Unknown
License: Public Domain License: Public Domain
without resorting to war. However, European leaders (1871-1919) and Rosa Luxemburg (1871-1919), were
like British Prime Minister David Lloyd-George (1863- vehemently opposed to the war and the support of the
1945) and French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau German Parliament to fund the war. In 1916, Liebknecht
(1841-1929) demanded that Germany alone accept and Luxemburg founded the anti-war Spartacus League
responsibility for the war and make steep reparation (Spartakusbund), which later became the basis of the
payments to the victors. Even in the United States, Communist Party of Germany. Producing anti-war
Congress rejected the Paris Peace Treaty and voted pamphlets signed with Spartacus after the leader of
against joining the League of Nations. In addition, by the slave uprising in the Roman Republic, Liebknecht
denying Germany and the USSR representation at the and Luxemburg organized anti-war strikes and were
Versailles Conference and saddling millions of Germans eventually incarcerated in 1916 and sentenced to 2
with high taxes to pay for reparations, the victorious 1/2 years in prison. Following the German November
Entente powers helped set the stage for World War II. revolution, which led to the abdication of Emperor
Wilhelm II (1859-1941) in 1918, the Independent
Before, during and even after the war, there was much Social Democratic Party (USPD) with which the
opposition to World War I, including from socialist, Spartacus League was affiliated, and which consisted of
anarchist, syndicalist and Marxist groups, even Christian anti-war former Social Democrats, as well as the Social
pacifists. While leaders of the Social Democratic Party Democratic Party of Germany, assumed power in the
of Germany (SPD) encouraged their members to vote new Weimar Republic. Released from prison just before
against a coming war, in the end they voted for the war the signing of the armistice on November 11, 1918,
on August 4, 1914. Left-wing forces such as the Russian Liebknecht and Luxemburg were founding members of
Bolsheviks and the socialist faction of the Social the Communist Party of Germany.
Democratic Party of Germany, led by Karl Liebknecht
145
Map of Europe 1923- Change in Europe’s Artist: User “Fluteflute”; Derivative of Map_Europe_1923-fr.svg
by User “Historicair”
Political Geography after WW1 Source: Wikimedia Commons
License: CC-BY-SA-2.5 | © Fluteflute
The newly formed Communist Party was dedicated to that strengthened right-wing forces in the German
undermining the current government. Seen as the chief political landscape and led to the eventual rise of Adolf
instigators, Luxemburg and Liebknecht were targeted Hitler and the National Socialist Party of Germany. The
and eventually assassinated by the Cavalry Guards of murder of Luxemburg and Liebknecht did not weaken
the Freikorps (Garde-Kavallerie-Schützendivision) the Communist Party of Germany, which remained a
on 15 January 1919. The killing of the two communist major party during the Weimar Republic (1918-1933)
leaders caused increased upheaval and violence across and was a leading voice in the underground resistance
Germany. It continued to deepen the divide within the movement in Nazi Germany.
German left, which eventually was one of the causes
Tirailleurs posing for an autochrome
photograph in September 1914
Artist: Jules Gervais-Courtellemont
which ended up becoming the francophone part of

Cameroon, and one-fifth, bordering Nigeria, became
British. In East Africa, the German general Lettow-
Vorbeck (1870-1964) scored victory after victory as
his troops marched undefeated through Mozambique,
Nyasaland and northeastern Rhodesia.
The campaigns in Cameroon and East Africa had

devastating consequences for the African population.
Villages were often burnt, and food supplies were
confiscated by European troops, leading to famines,
such as the one in Rwanda from 1916-1918. Many
Africans employed as porters for the armies in the
AFRICA AND THE FIRST East African campaign died of malnutrition, disease or
overwork. Most of the troops fighting for the colonial
WORLD WAR powers in Africa were Africans, but these troops
might also be sent to Europe. The French conscripted
Although primarily considered a European over 600,000 Africans into the army. In the French
phenomenon, a considerable amount of fighting during army alone, 30,000 African troops died fighting in
World War I occurred in Africa. Working together, Europe. Conscription led to widespread rebellions
British and French forces attacked German colonies against French colonial control. Part of this resistance
in Africa, including invading, and then partitioning, to colonial powers was spurred by the paradox of the
Cameroon and Togo. Togo became French, while colonial soldier who had been treated as an equal in war
four-fifths of Cameroon was occupied by the French, but not outside of it.
THE STRUGGLE FOR

INDIAN INDEPENDENCE
During the latter part of the 19th century, a new, more over actual control. As such, British India continued to
direct form of Indian nationalism developed. Indians be run by the British to serve and enrich Britain.
were well aware that other parts of the empire had
been given more control over local affairs, a process After the war, discontent in India grew as inflation,
the British had resisted in India. Over a million Indians high taxes and an influenza pandemic put many people
volunteered to serve during the First World War. Many on edge. Failing to fix the underlying problems and
expected that, due to their sacrifices, after the war, they increasingly fearful of rebellion, the British extended
would be granted more control over the running of wartime emergency measures, which prevented Indians
India. The British did hire and promote more Indians from gathering or protesting British rule. The violence
within the civil service but ultimately refused to hand of British rule could be seen on April 13, 1919 when
147
Gandhi in South Africa in 1909
Artist: Unknown
way to confront and end Natal’s discriminatory laws.

After some soul searching, which included reading
Hindu and Christian texts, Gandhi developed a
form of non-violent resistance known as satyagraha.
Roughly translated as “soul force,” satyagraha is a
non-violent protest in which the protester tries to
alter the oppressor through love, compassion and a
demonstration of resolve.
Gandhi organized protests to draw attention to the

unfair and discriminatory laws. Tired of the disruption
and bad press, in 1914, the government of Natal
abolished a slew of discriminatory laws, including
unfair taxation of Indian workers and property owners;
they recognized non-Christian marriage and agreed to
continue to allow free non-indentured Indian people to
remain and to immigrate to Natal.
General Reginald Dyer ordered his men to open fire on
a crowd that had gathered to celebrate a Sikh religious
festival. According to British figures (which some claim
are far too low), the Amritsar Massacre killed 379
people and wounded more than 1,000. The violence of
Amritsar encouraged many to join the movement for
Indian independence.
Mohandas Gandhi (1869-1948) is most closely

associated with this new push for self-rule. Born
into a relatively wealthy family, Gandhi studied law
in England. In 1893, he became involved in a labor
dispute in the Colony of Natal in Southeast Africa.
In Natal, Gandhi came face-to-face with the poor
conditions suffered by migrant Indian workers.
Similar to elsewhere, especially in the Caribbean,
plantation owners in Natal had imported thousands
of indentured laborers from India. After completing
their indentureship, some wished to stay in Natal,
but new and increasingly strict regulations limited
their freedom and discriminated against them. This Studio Photograph of Mahatma
included an 1896 law that stripped Indians of the right Gandhi, London, 1931
to vote. Learning firsthand that while the courts could
Artist: Elliott & Fry
be a valuable tool for change, they could be ignored by Source: Wikimedia Commons
oppressive governments, Gandhi wanted a more direct License: Public Domain
Returning to India a national hero (he received the During the 1920s, Gandhi successfully turned the
moniker “mahatma,” meaning great soul) in 1915, Indian National Congress (a nationalist political party)
Gandhi wanted to learn more about his native land. into a mass movement capable of challenging British
As he toured around India, Gandhi witnessed how the rule. With the help of Gandhi, the independence
repressive and discriminatory laws of the British held movement grew in power and popularity. Gandhi
India back. Developing a version of Indian independence worked toward his vision of a multicultural and
rooted in the traditions of the village, Gandhi advocated free India based on mutual respect. Employing his
that people use non-violence to free India from British direct non-violent stance, Gandhi and his supporters
rule. He asked Indians to stop supporting colonialism by demanded that Britain “Quit India.”
boycotting British products, to stop working for the British
state, and to no longer pay unfair and predatory taxes.
Map of the Partition of India Artist: John Wyatt Greenlee

149
During the 1930s and 1940s, the power of another in the newly created state of Pakistan would uproot
independence group, the All-Indian Muslim League, their lives and travel, often long distances, to create a
had increased. Led by Muhammed Ali Jinnah (1876- new life among their co-religionists. Independence did
1948), the Muslim League wanted to partition India not end the political and religious violence.
into separate Hindu and Muslim states. This was in
direct opposition to the pluralistic cooperative stateOn January 30, 1948, Gandhi was assassinated by a
envisioned by Gandhi. As it became increasingly Hindu nationalist who shot him three times. Gandhi
apparent that the British would be forced to ‘Quit’ India,
remains a national hero who helped India achieve
violence between Hindus and Muslims increased. independence. His stance on civil disobedience, his
unwavering dedication, and his successful application
The British agreed to partition India, which led, in of direct non-violent resistance have inspired many
August 1947, to the creation of an independent India political activists.
and Pakistan. Millions of Muslims in India and Hindus
RUSSIAN REVOLUTION
The early 20th century was a period of social, political
and cultural change as important revolutions would
occur in Iran, Russia, the Ottoman Empire, Mexico and
China. These revolutions challenged the existing order
and sought to create states capable of better serving
their citizens and meeting the challenges of modernity.
In the early 20th century, Russia appeared like an

unlikely candidate for a communist revolution. Russian
troops and the secret police worked in tandem to quell
any discontent or calls for reform. Ruled by a czar, the
czar’s word was final, and he could, and often did, rule
with an iron fist. Russia had no tradition of democracy;
there was no freedom of the press or association. This
autocratic rule extended over a 5,000-mile expanse
and comprised more than a hundred different ethnic
and linguistic groups.
Russia had fallen behind the other Great Powers. At

the beginning of the 20th century, as other nations had
successfully industrialized, nine out of 10 Russians were
still peasants. The middle class was small and politically
still relatively weak as the czar and a small group of
aristocrats continued to hold most of the wealth and
power. During the second half of the 19th century,
partly due to fears of falling behind, Russia started to
invest in industry and had a small urban working class Nicholas II, Czar of Artist: Unknown
by the turn of the century. Like elsewhere, these workers all the Russias License: Public Domain
were poorly paid, had virtually no rights, and worked
long hours in often dangerous conditions. The proof
of this falling behind could be found in Russia’s defeat
in the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905). Fought over The Revolution would have to wait another 12 years.
rising tensions and imperial ambitions, especially over The catalyst for this event was World War I. To change
access and control over Pacific territories, the Japanese Russian fortunes, Czar Nicholas went to the front
victory confirmed their ascendency while highlighting to take direct control of the army. The czar could not
Russia’s failure to keep pace. This put pressure on the change the war’s course as Germany drove deeper into
czar and increased demands to reform the Russian state. Russian territory.
Members of Russia’s middle class wanted reform. The only thing keeping the czar on his throne was the
Although divided over what to reform and how far forces of law and order which had stayed loyal to him.
reform should be carried out, many desired for Russia Even these elements began to waver. The final blow to the
to become a Western-inspired constitutional monarchy czar’s rule came in 1917 when troops, instead of firing
similar to what existed in Britain. They did not ask on a crowd of protestors in St. Petersburg, joined the
for the dissolution of the monarchy or the aristocracy protestors. Without power or protection, Czar Nicolas
but wanted to implement a parliamentary system that II abdicated his throne. The following year, Nicholas,
would give them some say in how the government his wife and five children were executed.
operated. Czar Nicolas II (r. 1894-1917) refused to allow
significant reform or to alter his position and power.
On January 22, 1905 (known as Bloody Sunday),

workers attempted to petition the czar by gathering
outside his palace in St. Petersburg. They called for
improved working conditions, better pay and an eight-
hour workday. They came in peace, singing songs like
God Save the Czar. Instead of hearing their demands
the unarmed subjects were met with bullets. While the
numbers vary widely, hundreds of people were killed by
bullets or from being trampled as people tried to flee.
This was a turning point for many Russians. After this,
the widely held belief that it was not the czar but his
ministers responsible for the problems in Russia seemed
to go up in smoke.
Coupled with the general discontent and disillusionment

with the poor progress against Japan, Bloody Sunday
led to a wave of strikes across the Russian Empire. These
events are called the Revolution of 1905. Needing to
calm the people, the czar agreed to a more limited form
of monarchy, a parliament called the Duma, and a new
Russian constitution. Czar Nicholas II did not believe in
these reforms, and as soon as discontent settled down,
he took back much of these concessions and tried to
rule as he always had. Going back on his word further
undermined the trust many had placed in the czar, Vladimir Lenin
Artist: Pavel Zhukov
serving to increase the number of people advocating for License: Public Domain
reform or desiring a revolution.
151
With the czar out of the way, a new Provisional Still living in Zurich when the czar lost his throne in
government operated out of the Duma. Dominated 1917, the 47-year-old Lenin knew the time was right
by liberal thinkers who wished to modernize Russia for his return, but Switzerland, which remained neutral
without completely altering the current system, the during the war, was surrounded, and it seemed that
Provisional government failed to bring order to the there was no way to get to Russia. Aware that Lenin was
Russian state. It continued the war effort despite how opposed to the war, the Germans agreed to put him on
unpopular it had become. At the same time, the Russian a train home so that Lenin could use his influence to
experiment with democracy spread to the local level agitate against the war effort. Once he arrived, Lenin
as workers elected councils called Soviets to govern announced that the revolution would provide “peace,
factories. These Soviets offered a rival government and land and bread.” Despite his years in exile, Lenin judged
power structure to the Provisional government. the mood of Russians perfectly, which helped him win
sympathy for the communist cause.
At this point, a long-time revolutionary named Vladimir
Ulyanov (known as Lenin) gained increasing notoriety While on the train from Switzerland, Lenin composed
and power. Exiled for his revolutionary activities, Lenin his April Theses which called on communists to end
stayed committed to revolution in Russia. Indeed, any support for the Provisional government. Caught
Lenin had written numerous influential pamphlets on between the communists and those who wanted to re-
communism and Russia since leaving the country in establish the old system, the Provisional government
1900. He was critical of capitalism (which he believed, began to waver.
just like Marx, would be done away with) and Russia’s
participation in World War I.
Lenin’s Travel in a Sealed Train in

1917 from Zurich to Petrograd
Artist: User “Kimdime”
Source: Wikimedia Commons based on
File:Blank map of Europe 1914.svg
License: CC BY-SA 4.0| © Kimdime
Eastern Europe in 1914
Artist: Department of History
of the United States Military
Academy
Called on to defend the desperate Provisional much territory to Germany was, for many Russians, a
government, the Soviets, instead of supporting the bitter pill to swallow.
government, overthrew it. This is known as the second
revolution. These actions ensured that the second Although he promised peace for the next nearly four
revolution was indeed a socialist one. years, Russia would be involved in a devastating civil
war that pitted the communists against an alliance of
Lenin worked to establish peace with Germany. The czarist forces and Russia’s former war allies (who hoped
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, which finally got Russia out to do away with Lenin and force Russia back into the
of the war, stands as a testament to how badly Lenin war). Luckily for Lenin, most troops from England,
wanted peace, for he gave Germany some of Russia’s France, Japan and the United States were withdrawn
most fertile and industrialized areas and a third of the after the war ended in 1918. As Commissar of War, Leon
Russian population. Lenin defended losing so much Trotsky’s leadership played a crucial role in suppressing
territory by stating that it did not matter, for soon, a the counterrevolution allowing the communists to
worldwide communist revolution would make such claim victory in the civil war.
treaties irrelevant. After years of fighting, losing so
153
After the civil war, Lenin turned his attention to
reforming Russia. True to his Marxist roots, Lenin
abolished private ownership of land and, to better
organize Russian industry, confiscated factories and
merged them into giant government-controlled
trusts. He established the legal equality of women,
including making divorce more accessible, while
implementing universal education. Lenin did not
seek consent for his actions as he had no intention
of letting the Soviets direct policy and quickly
brought them under the control of the Communist
party. He ruled like an autocrat, creating a party
dictatorship rather than a communist state along the
lines envisioned by Marx. Dying in January 1924, it
would be up to Lenin’s successors to bring forward
the revolution and the vision of a better and more
egalitarian world led by workers.
Leon Trotsky, Aged 54

Artist: Unknown
SUMMARY
World War I ushered in a new era of warfare. Not only had conflict become global, but it was now
much more destructive and deadly. The war also demonstrated how the modern state could be
reconstituted to fight what is now known as total war. The Russian Revolution led to the creation
of the first Marxist-inspired state. Sympathizers hoped that the Soviet Union would create a more
egalitarian society along Marxist-Leninist lines. Instead, a strong one-party authoritarian dictatorship
emerged that ruled with little opposition and increasing repression of alternative voices by sending
political opponents to forced labor camps. The independence movement in India gave birth to new
nations and forms of national conflict and struggle. The campaign for Indian independence inspired
other colonies to fight for sovereignty. The early decades of the 20th century presented numerous
issues and problems but also brought hope as dedicated groups all across the globe struggled for
increased freedoms and equality.
12 Interwar Years and
the Rise of Fascism
New Model A Ford (1931) – Miami, Florida Artist: William A. Fishbaugh

Source: Wikimedia Commons (provided by
State Library and Archives of Florida)
On December 13, 1918, U.S. President Woodrow and France. The first president ever to travel abroad to
Wilson (1856-1924) arrived in Paris to streets thronged negotiate a peace treaty, Wilson had journeyed to Paris
with cheering crowds. Over the past 18 months, to participate in the 1919 Versailles Peace Conference.
Wilson had provided manpower and supplies crucial Encouraged by such a warm reception from ordinary
to the victory of Entente forces in World War I. His Parisians, Wilson believed that if the conference
Food Administration had likewise provided millions delegates would follow his “Fourteen Points,” that future
of tons of food for the starving populations of Britain world wars could be prevented.
155
A product of American progressivism, Wilson failed
to understand neither the deep-seated rivalries that
had triggered World War I nor the anger and despair
many Europeans grappled with in the wake of four
years of bloody warfare. For Prime Ministers George
Clemenceau of France (1841-1929), David Lloyd-
George from Great Britain (1863-1945), and Vittorio
Orlando of Italy (1860-1952), there was no question
that the terms of the Versailles Peace Treaty upon the
defeated Triple Alliance would be harsh. In the final
version of the treaty, Germany was forced to reduce its
military to the size of a police force, give up territory
in the east to Poland and in the west to France, plus its
overseas colonies. Section 233 of the document likewise
laid the moral blame for the war entirely at Germany’s
feet. Most controversial, a Reparations Committee
set up by the Entente powers determined in 1921 that
Germany would pay $31.5 billion (in U.S. dollars) in war
reparations. As none of the Triple Alliance powers had
representation at Versailles and were forced to accept
either the treaty or military occupation, the war’s end
left Germans embittered. They scornfully referred to
Artist: Burt Randolph Thomas
Source: Wikimedia Commons the treaty as the Diktat (dictated peace) and repeatedly
License: Public Domain sought ways to work around it.
One of the few Fourteen Points that the leaders of

Wilson’s Fourteen Points- Britain and France did not object to was the final one,
European Baby Show namely that “[a] general association of nations must
Woodrow Wilson’s proposed “Fourteen Points” be formed under specific covenants for the purpose of
represented a combination of progressive political affording mutual guarantees of political independence
thought, laissez-faire economics and old-fashioned and territorial integrity to great and small states alike.”
power politics. They included open treaties, The delegates at the Versailles Conference established
freedom of the seas, equal trade, a decrease in the Covenant of the League of Nations as part of the
armaments among all nations, and an adjustment
of the colonial claims of different countries. Wilson Versailles Peace Treaty signed in 1919. Consisting of a
also insisted on the evacuation of all Central Powers National Assembly, Executive Council and Secretariat,
forces from Russia, the restoration of the Belgium the League sought to provide a forum for resolving
government, the return of Alsace and Lorraine to international disputes.
France, a readjustment of Italy’s border with Austria,
national self-determination for the ethnic minorities
of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, national self-
determination for the peoples of the Balkans, and
the creation of Turkey and Poland as independent
nations. Lastly, Wilson suggested the creation
of a League of Nations to maintain world peace
and prevent future wars. The European delegates
at the Paris Peace Conference were amazed at
the boldness of Wilson’s proposal. French Prime
Minister Georges Clemenceau reportedly stated,
“God gave us the Ten Commandments, and we
broke them. Wilson gives us the Fourteen Points.
We shall see.”
156 CHAPTER 12 INTERWAR YEARS AND THE RISE OF FASCISM

Artist: Staff Cartoonist for PUNCH magazine London, 1919
U.S.A. Resists League of Nations 1919
Although Wilson received the 1919 Nobel Peace Prize

for his efforts, a Republican-controlled Senate led by
Senator Henry Cabot Lodge (1850-1924) blocked U.S.
entry into the organization. Lodge was primarily angry
because the Republican Party had been afforded
no representation in the American delegation to the
Paris Peace Conference. Furious at this blow to his
plans, Wilson embarked on a national speaking tour
to drum up support for American entry into the league.
Suffering a stroke in Pueblo, Colorado in September
1919, Wilson would have diminished health for the
remainder of his presidency.
Perhaps the greatest threat faced by belligerents was killed between 20-40 million worldwide (including
an influenza pandemic that swept the world. The 675,000 Americans) in just one year. Already caring for
outbreak was dubbed the “Spanish flu” because while millions of wounded veterans, doctors throughout the
other nations still at war suppressed information about world struggled to treat the influx of influenza victims.
the pandemic, neutral Spain had no such newspaper Ironically, the fact that the American and European
or press restrictions. Although its precise origins are public had recent experiences in wartime sacrifices
unknown, some believe that the disease may have and government regulation of their lives meant that
actually originated in Kansas. Spread throughout they responded to medical demands for sanitation,
the world by humans brought into close proximity in inoculations and vaccines with considerable maturity
wartime military camps and field hospitals, the disease and compliance.
Emergency hospital
during influenza
epidemic, Camp
Funston, Kansas
Artist: Otis Historical Archives,
National Museum of Health and
Medicine
157
“stabbed in the back” by socialists, Jews and leftists in
THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC general. In March 1920, American-born conservative
politician Wolfgang Kapp (1858-1922), World War
Given the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II (1859-
I veteran Hermann Ehrhardt (1881-1971), and their
1941) at the war’s end, a new government came to
Freikorps (militia) followers seized control of the
power in Germany. Nicknamed after its capital city,
German government. Only a general strike by German
the “Weimar Republic” remained a weak, unpopular
socialists kept the coup from succeeding. Freikorps
regime throughout the 1920s. For instance, in 1922,
forces retaliated by assassinating almost 400 progressive
the Weimar government attempted diplomatically to
political leaders.
reintegrate into the rest of Europe. Like Germany, the
USSR lost millions of soldiers in the Great War and was
Matters came to a head in November 1922 when the
not afforded a voice at the Paris Peace Conference. In
Weimar government defaulted on a reparation payment.
1922, Weimar and Soviet diplomats signed the Treaty of
French and Belgium troops responded by occupying
Rapallo, by which Germany took steps to diplomatically
the valuable industrial Ruhr Valley in the Rhineland.
recognize the Soviet Union in return for the USSR
Germans countered with a passive resistance campaign,
foregoing any territorial and reparation claims against
refusing to work or do business with the occupying
their former enemy. At the urging of Foreign Minister
troops. Weimar officials also inflated Germany’s
Gustave Stresemann (1878-1929), the Weimar
currency to rob the French government of any profits
government signed the Treaty of Locarno with Belgium,
from the Ruhr. In January 1921, an American dollar
Britain, France and Italy in 1925. By accepting the loss
was worth 120 German marks. A year later, a U.S.
of Alsace and Lorraine to France and promising to
dollar was theoretically worth 4,200,000,000,000
submit any future border disputes regarding Poland and
marks. Although this hyperinflation significantly hurt
Czechoslovakia to international arbitration, Germany
the French economy, it also wiped out the savings and
secured admission to the League of Nations in 1926.
pensions of millions of working-class Germans. Seizing
Two years later, Germany signed the well-intentioned
upon the desperation felt by many ordinary Germans,
but ultimately naive and unenforceable Kellogg-Briand
Adolph Hitler (1889-1945), the charismatic leader of
Pact that promoted diplomacy and negotiation rather
the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (known
than war as the primary means of settling disputes
popularly as the Nazi Party), launched another coup to
between nations.
overthrow the Weimar regime. Started in a tavern in the
conservative-leaning city of Munich, Bavaria, the “Beer
Despite these encouraging steps, many Germans
Hall Putsch” failed to attract widespread public support.
blamed Britain, France and Weimar officials for their
Authorities arrested Hitler, who served an eight-year jail
problems. Many right-wing political leaders argued
sentence during which he wrote his best-selling Mein
that the German war effort in World War I had been
Kampf (My Struggle).
Dawes Plan: Private

Loans and War Debts
after World War I
Schemat przeplywow
(HistoriaPolski str.174)
Artist: Henryk Zieliński
Domain: Wikimedia Commons
License: CC BY-SA | © Henryk Zieliński

In late 1923, the Allied Reparation Commission formed subsequent depression, known as the Great Depression,
a subcommittee headed by U.S. banker Charles G. abruptly ended the conspicuous consumption which
Dawes (1865-1951) to address the issue of German had defined the 1920s. Between 1929-1932, the world’s
war reparations. In April 1924, the committee offered GDP fell by 15%. Savings and pensions were wiped
its proposal, known as the “Dawes Plan.” The scheme out, unemployment in the U.S. rose to 25%, and
reduced Germany’s annual reparation payments until prices for farm goods fell by nearly 70%. Under these
the nation’s economy recovered from hyperinflation. circumstances, American banks lacked the capital to
The German government would replace its inflated loan money to Germany. European and American
Papiermark with a new form of currency called the leaders floated different proposals to cancel Germany’s
Reichsmark, pegged to real estate rather than specie. reparation payments (and British and French loans to
As a sign of good faith, France and Belgium would the United States) but failed to reach a solution.
withdraw their troops from the Ruhr Valley. U.S.
banks would loan Germany $200 million to rebuild Ironically, the political instability of the 1920s triggered
its economy and make reparation payments to Britain a period of tremendous German artistic and cultural
and France, who would then use such funds to repay expression. Walter Gropius (1883-1969) pioneered
American loans incurred during World War I. For his international or rational architecture, which drew from
efforts, Dawes would become U.S. Vice-President and modernism to reflect the values of a young, urban
win the Nobel Peace Prize in 1925. generation of Germans. Rejecting traditional European
architecture’s gilded and ornamental style, Gropius
So long as U.S. loans could guarantee German created giant skyscrapers composed of glass and steel,
reparation payments, the Dawes system functioned. such as the Fagus building in Alfeld and the Haus am
However, a stock market crash in October 1929 and a Horn in Weimar.
Fagus Factory, Front 2022 Artist: User “Zedstyle”

License: CC BY-SA 4.0 | © Zedstyle
159
Max Beckmann, 1918-19, The Night (Die Nacht), oil Artist: Max Beckmann
on canvas, 133 x 154 cm, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein- License: Public Domain
Westfalen, Düsseldorf
Die Dreigroschenoper (The Threepenny Opera), a satire

Expressionist painters, including Max Beckmann in which the crime lord Macheath escapes the gallows
(1884-1950), Otto Dix (1891-1969), and George and is made a Baron by Queen Victoria. Robert Wiene’s
Grosz (1893-1959), led the Neue Sachlichkeit (new (1873-1938) movie Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari (The
objectivity) movement. As World War I veterans, Cabinet of Dr. Caligari) used surreal landscapes and
they produced art that reflected the brutality and multiple camera angles to replicate feelings of isolation
inhumanity of war. Beckman’s The Night (1919) and madness. Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927) likewise
portrayed three men invading a family home, hanging represented a groundbreaking science fiction film that
a father, raping a mother, and kidnapping a child. questioned whether human beings would merge with
Dix’s Sex Murder (1922) conveyed a woman who had technology in an increasingly mechanized future.
been raped and murdered.
The Great Depression brought about immediate
In 1928, Composer Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956) created consequences for Germany. By 1932, the German
government defaulted on its loan payments to than economic or military. During the 1920s, Paris
American investors, struggled to address the needs became the center for a vibrant community of foreign
of 6 million unemployed workers, faced an industrial writers, poets, painters and intellectuals who sought
decline of 50%, and suffered the loss of two-thirds of its to experiment with new forms of artistic expression
foreign trade. The aging World War I war hero turned against the backdrop of Parisian culture. American
German President Paul Hindenburg (1847-1934) used writers such as E. E. Cummings (1894-1962), William
his emergency executive powers to appoint moderate Faulkner (1897-1962), F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940),
Heinrich Brüning (1885-1970) as Chancellor. Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961), Ezra Pound (1885-
However, Brüning’s austerity policies proved deeply 1972) and Katherine Anne Porter (1890-1980) created
unpopular with German voters. From 1930-1932, the some of their most memorable works in Paris. African-
rightwing Nazis and leftwing Socialists made massive Americans, including Josephine Baker (1906-1975),
political gains in the Reichstag. In particular, by Langston Hughes (1901-1967) and Richard Wright
1932, the Nazis could boast a membership of close to (1908-1960) likewise flocked to Paris to live and work
1,400,000 and appeared to be on the verge of taking in an environment free of much of the racism they
over the government. encountered back home.
FRANCE IN THE INTERWAR Following World War I, a new generation of surrealists

like the poet André Breton (1896-1966) and painters
PERIOD Salvador Dali (1904-1989) and Paul Delvaux (1897-
1994) created works that integrated subconscious
Of all European nations, none had witnessed more feelings into scenes of everyday life, creating a sense
physical destruction during World War I than France. of “super objectivity” that freed audience’s minds from
By 1918, France had suffered 1.3 million casualties, the preconceptions of rationalism. Marcel Proust’s
witnessed another million troops return from the war À la Recherche du Temps Perdu (Remembrance of
permanently disabled, and watched as 13,000 square Things Past) experimented with using stream-of-
miles of French territory became transformed into consciousness writing to analyze the author’s sense of
a bloody no man’s land choked with trenches, shell dislocation from contemporary society.
craters and barbed wire. Aided by war reparation funds
and American loans, the French economy successfully
weathered the transition back to a peacetime economy. ITALY IN THE INTERWAR
As such, France survived the Great Depression more PERIOD
effectively than Britain, Germany, or the U.S. French
unemployment remained under 5%, industrial Italy had the most complicated history of all the
production only fell by 20%, and there was no run on nations that fought in World War I. In 1882, Italy
the banks as there was in the U.S. The Great Depression joined the German and Austrian Empires in forming
brought to power conservative French leaders who the Triple Alliance. Wary of siding with its old
placed restrictions on immigrants and created tariffs to adversary Austria, Italian officials declared their
protect French domestic industries. In keeping with this neutrality in August 1914. The following year Italy
isolationist way of thinking, the French government joined the Triple Entente hoping to gain the culturally
began construction of the Maginot Line, 280 miles of Italian but Austrian-occupied areas of Trentino, South
fortifications, pillboxes and bunkers along the French- Tyrol and Trieste. In April 1915, Italy declared war
German border. Worried that Germany would seek on its former allies. However, as Italy remained an
revenge for its humiliating defeat in World War I and overwhelmingly rural country, it lacked the industrial
hoping to spare the French population the slaughter base to equip its military. Although Italian troops
of another world war, the Maginot Line was devised attempted several advances against Austria, they failed
in order to delay an all-out German assault until fresh to make a breakthrough. It was only in October 1918
reinforcements could be dispatched to the front. that a combined army of Italian, British and French
troops broke through the Austro-Hungarian lines.
However, France’s greatest achievements in the inter- The Austrians then sued for peace a week before the
war period were intellectual and cultural rather Germans did likewise.
161
Although Italy was among the “Big Four” at the Paris over to him the official reins of power. For 18 months,
Peace Conference, the British, French and American Mussolini served as part of a coalition government
delegations did little to help them gain Austrian but in early 1925, Mussolini ordered a crackdown on
territory. Italian resentment at the Treaty of Versailles
all groups opposed to fascist rule. By 1927, he had
gave journalist and former socialist turned fascist Benito
abolished elections, curtailed freedom of the press,
Mussolini (1883-1945) political ammunition to use in and outlawed opposition parties. The Organizzazione
his rise to power. In March 1919, Mussolini formed di Vigilanza Repressione dell’Antifascismo or ORVA
his first fasci di combattimento (fighting leagues). (Organization for the Vigilant Repression of Anti-
Although he coopted certain progressive ideas, such asFascism) assassinated those who opposed Mussolini’s
an eight-hour workday and women’s suffrage, Mussolini regime. Fascist-led committees controlled school
primarily pushed an anti-socialist message. A month curricula and approved textbooks. The government also
later, Mussolini’s “black shirts” burned down the offices
arranged national holidays and vacations for workers.
of a socialist newspaper in Milan and killed four people.
The government even attempted to control language
Within a year, fascists broke up strikes, suppressed labor
by banning foreign-sounding words, renaming public
unions and intimidated political officials. From 1921-places, and promoting fascist slogans such as “Mussolini
1922, known throughout Italy as the “biennio nero” ha sempre ragione” (“Mussolini is always right”),
(two black years), Mussolini’s black shirts consolidated
“Credere, obbedire, combattere” (“Believe, obey, fight”),
their hold over the Italian political system. and “Un Popolo, un impero, un capo” (“One people,
one empire, one leader”). Of all the segments of Italian
In October 1921, Mussolini created the Partito society, only the Roman Catholic Church remained
Nazionale Fascista (PNF or National Fascist Party). independent of fascist control. In February 1929,
After crushing a strike directed by the Confederation Mussolini’s government allowed Vatican City to become
of Labor in August 1922, Mussolini led a march on an independent nation. The Church also maintained
Rome in October. King Victor Emmanuel III (1869- control over church lands and schools.
1947) appointed Mussolini Prime Minister, turning
Parade for the 17th Anniversary of MVSN Artist: Unknown


Italian propaganda
poster depicting the
shooting of a traitor.
Artist: Gino Boccasile
Source: Duke University Libraries
License: No known copyright
restrictions.
As Italy had been among the victors of World War I, it gained Libya. When Mussolini came to power, he often
did not have to face the issue of reparation payments. postured as a modern-day Caesar, referring to the
However, in 1926 inflation set in, and unemployment Mediterranean by its traditional Roman name as the
started to rise. Following the outbreak of the Great mare nostrum (our sea). In 1923, Mussolini used the
Depression in 1929, Italy’s fascist government created murder of four Italians on the Greek island of Corfu
public works and welfare programs and provided loans to occupy the area until reparations were made. The
to banks and businesses. Fascist trade unions, known following year he strong-armed Yugoslavia into giving
as syndicates, secured a 40-hour work week, welfare Italy the city of Fiume on the Dalmatian coast. In October
benefits, vacation time and pensions. Committees of 1935, Italy invaded Ethiopia. Although Emperor Haile
business owners and workers, known as corporations, Selassie (1892-1975) and his forces fought bravely, the
arbitrated labor issues. A system of tariffs protected 400,000-strong Italian army crushed all resistance. In
Italian farmers and wine growers. April 1939, Italian troops occupied Albania, made the
teaching of Italian mandatory in Albanian schools, and
Having failed to gain Austrian-held territory at the end stocked the Albanian government with Italian officials.
of World War I, Italy attempted to build an overseas
empire in the 1920s. As early as 1912, Italy had defeated Italy’s aggressive foreign policy worried other European
the Ottoman Empire in a brief war through which it nations. In May 1935, Britain and France slapped
163
Pirelli Tower - Milan
Artist: Paolo Monti
economic sanctions on Italy. Mussolini responded by sculptures that celebrated industrial development and
allying with Nazi Germany and creating the “Rome- the development of new technologies.
Berlin Axis.” In May 1939, Mussolini and Hitler signed
the “Pact of Steel,” which committed each nation to Throughout the 1920s, Italy was home to the “Italian
support the other in case of invasion. Ironically, when Futurism” movement in filmmaking. Futurist directors,
Germany and the USSR invaded Poland on September including Filippo Tommaso Marinetti (1876-1944),
1, 1939, Italy once again declared itself neutral. Arnaldo Ginna (1890-1982), Bruno Corra (1892-1976)
and Giacomo Balla (1871-1958), created cinematic
Like Germany, the devastation of World War I and the innovations such as superimposition, fade-outs and
political turmoil of the 1920s inspired Italian architects, the use of light and color to mimic human emotions.
artists and filmmakers to find new forms of expression. In the 1910s, Corra and Ginna experimented with
Inspired by the futurist movement, Italian architects adding color to film. Anton Giulio Bragaglia’s (1890-
like Gio Ponti (1891-1979) and Giovanni Muzio 1960) Thaïs (1917) dealt with the tortured love affairs
(1893-1982) developed the novacento italiano (Italian of Countess Vera Preobrajenska. As the movie’s scenes
twentieth century) movement. In particular, Ponti’s become more surreal, her trysts and their implications
Pirelli Tower and Villa Planchart utilized glass, steel become more complicated. Because the Fascists heavily
and concrete to create large structures that projected censored movies in the 1920s and 1930s, the Italian
strength and functionality. Artists like Fortunato film industry declined, only to enter a golden age in
Depero (1892-1960) likewise produced paintings and the postwar period with the works of Federico Fellini
(1920-1993) and Sergio Leone (1929-1989).
Contemporary Map of Middle East Artist: User “Cacahuate” (amendments by Globe-trotter and Joelf)
License: CC BY-SA 4.0 | © Cacahuate
the region. The key issue was the migration of Jewish

THE MIDDLE EAST DURING people from Europe to the Middle East. Arab leaders
THE INTERWAR PERIOD and people wanted to restrict migration, while various
Jewish people and organizations hoped to promote and
After the First World War, a series of mandates were increase migration. During the war, the British had
established that gave Britain and France control over reached understandings with both Arabs and Jewish
vast territories in the Middle East. The establishment people on the future of the Middle East. After the war,
of the Mandate System did little to ease tensions British policy focused upon their own geopolitical
between various groups in the Middle East. The considerations and this led to both Arabs and Jewish
British Mandate for Palestine further complicated authorities losing faith in the British.
the situation between Arabs and Jewish people in
165
Theodor Herzl
Artist: Carl Pietzner
“Mandatory Palestine in 1946”

Artist: User “Bolter21”
License: CC BY-SA 4.0 | © Bolter21
The British lacked a clear and comprehensive policy for

the Mandate and the Middle East as a whole. Inspired
by its chief proponent Theodor Herzl (1860-1904), the
development of Zionism in the later 19th century put
further pressure on the British as Jewish people the
world over began looking to develop their own state.
Zionism encouraged many Jewish people to migrate
to the Middle East which increased friction between
Arabs and Jewish people.
Beginning in the early 1920s, the United States

began restricting immigration from Eastern Europe.
Until the passing of more restrictive rules, the U.S.
had been one of the most popular destinations for
Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe. In response
to this policy, Jewish migration to the Middle East
increased. This further accelerated after 1933 when
Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany. The
British Mandate lasted until 1948. The day before the
British Mandate for Palestine was set to expire, David
Ben-Gurion (1886-1973) announced the creation
of an independent Israel. In 1949, after fighting a
coalition of Arab forces, Israel became a member of
the United Nations.
government hosted a similar conference in London that
DISARMAMENT limited the number of cruisers and submarines each
nation could have.
The Interwar period was a time of massive change
throughout the world. At the end of the First World
Most remarkably, in 1928, French Foreign Minister
War, Russia remained embroiled in a civil war; the
Aristide Briand (1862-1932) and U.S. Secretary of State
German, Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman Empires lay
Frank B. Kellogg (1856-1937) met in Paris with the
in ruins; and new countries like Poland, Czechoslovakia
leaders of 13 other nations to sign the Kellogg-Briand
and Yugoslavia struggled to survive. For the first time,
Pact that outlawed war as a means of dispute resolution.
the United States played a leading role in rebuilding the
Although well-meaning, the signers of the pact had no
nations of Europe along democratic lines. However,
way of enforcing it.
the outbreak of the Great Depression led to the rise of
fascism in Germany, Italy and Spain.
THE UNITED STATES IN THE
The sheer devastation of World War I led to a
disarmament movement in the early 1920s. In 1921, U.S. INTERWAR PERIOD
Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes (1862-1948)
led the Washington Naval Conference, which agreed to Due to the shortages caused by World War I, many
limit the number of warships each of the leading naval Americans saved their money. Following the conflict’s
powers of the world could possess. In 1930, the British end, they spent freely on new fashions, art, homes and
other examples of material consumption. Flappers with
Briand and Kellogg 1928 Artist: Unknown

Source: Library and Archives Canada / C-009053
License: Copyright Expired
167
New Orleans
Rhythm Kings
Artist: Unknown
Source: Wikimedia
Commons
bobbed hair and sheiks in zoot suits danced to the latest The interwar period also witnessed the golden age of
tunes in jazz clubs. Suffragettes marched in favor of the American movie industry. Blessed with a moderate
women’s rights, teetotalers celebrated the prohibition of climate and a variety of natural environments, Hollywood,
alcohol, families drove to silent movies in model A and California rapidly emerged as ground zero for movie
model T Fords, and barnstormers dazzled crowds with making. Much as Henry Ford had used assembly lines
their death-defying biplane stunts. to churn out cheap, affordable cars, so to enterprising
Hollywood producers such as Adolph Zukor (1873-
The rise of the American automobile industry 1976) of Paramount Studios; Louis B. Mayer (c. 1883-
fundamentally transformed American society. Although 1957) of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayor (MGM); and Jack
commercially available since the 1890s, the earliest (1892-1978), Harry (1881-1958), Albert (1884-1967)
cars were notoriously expensive and accident-prone. and Sam Warner (1885-1927) of Warner Brothers
However, in 1908 Michigan-born inventor Henry T. developed the studio system to produce cost-effective
Ford (1863-1947) began production of his Model-T movies that were then distributed to movie theaters
Ford automobile. By experimenting with assembly across the nation. For the price of 15 cents, ordinary
lines and standardized and interchangeable parts Americans could laugh at the comedic slapstick of
and by paying his employees $5 a day, Ford lowered Charlie Chaplin (1889-1977) in The Kid (1921), delight
production costs and created the first motor car that in the swashbuckling adventures of Douglas Fairbanks
millions of middle-class families could practically (1883-1939) in The Mask of Zorro (1920), experience
afford. Other fledgling car companies followed suit, the complexities of love with Greta Garbo (1905-1990)
and by the onset of the Great Depression, 23 million in Flesh and the Devil (1927), or witness the grandeur
cars plied American roads. In addition to providing of middle eastern culture in Rudolph Valentino’s (1895-
new transportation and employment opportunities, 1926) The Sheik (1921). With the appearance of Al
automobiles provided Americans with more leisure, Jolson’s (1886-1950) The Jazz Singer in 1927, “talkies”
vacation and socializing time. became popular with American audiences. However,
early American cinema also had a darker side. In 1916,
D. W. Griffith’s (1875-1948) Birth of a Nation shattered
box office records but invoked blatant racism to depict
black politicians during Reconstruction as corrupt and
licentious while portraying the Ku Klux Klan as the
virtuous defenders of white, southern womanhood.
During the First World War over 380,000 African-

Americans served in the U.S. war effort. While living
in France, they were treated with the same respect
as white soldiers. Upon returning home at war’s end,
many black veterans refused to return to the status of
second-class citizens under segregation laws. During
the “Red Summer of 1919,” a series of race riots broke
out in cities across America. Riots initially broke out
in Washington, D.C. and Norfolk, Virginia in July. In
Chicago, the stoning death of a young black man for
swimming near a segregated beach led to a riot that left
Marlene Dietrich Artist: NBC Radio
Source: Wikimedia Commons 38 dead and over 500 injured. Two years later, white
Monitor NBC Radio License: Public Domain mobs burned and looted the black business district of
Tulsa, Oklahoma, killing upwards of 300 and injuring
800. During this period, violence against African
Born into an upper-class family in Berlin in 1901, American people, including hundreds of lynchings,
Marie Magdalene “Marlene” Dietrich (1901-1992) were carried out throughout the nation.
developed an interest in theater at a young age.
After failing to gain admission to a classical dance
academy, Dietrich found success as a chorus girl
and singer in German vaudeville. She eventually
transitioned into leading roles in plays and musicals,
including Frank Wedekind’s (1864-1918) Pandora’s
Box, William Shakespeare’s (1564-1616) The
Taming of the Shrew, and George Bernard Shaw’s
(1856-1950) Back to Methuselah. After appearing in
German movies such as Café Elektric (1927), I Kiss
Your Hand, Madame (1928), and The Ship of Lost
Souls (1929), Dietrich moved to the United States
in 1930 to break into the American film industry.
Her leading performances in The Blue Angel (1930),
Shanghai Express (1932) and Desire (1936) garnered
both box office sales and critical acclaim. Much like
the formidable, independent characters she played
on screen, Dietrich led a fashionable lifestyle and
was often in the public eye. Much like many male
actors of the time, she pursued an active social
life. She reportedly had liaisons with Gary Cooper
(1901-1961), Douglas Fairbanks Jr. (1909-2000),
Jimmy Stewart (1908-1997), Erich Marica Remarque
(1898-1970), John Wayne (1907-1979) and John F.
Kennedy (1917-1963). Conscious of her German
background, Dietrich worked actively during the
Second World War to entertain American troops and
appear in films that popularized the Allied war effort.
During the 1950s, Dietrich returned to performing
in plays. She passed away in Paris in 1992, leaving Irish Republican Author: Unknown
behind a legacy as one of Hollywood’s most popular Source: Wikimedia
and successful stars.
Volunteers in Spain, Commons
February 2, 1937 License: Public Domain
169
Japan at gunpoint to end its two-hundred-year policy
SPAIN IN THE INTERWAR of isolation in the 1850s, the Japanese government
PERIOD adopted the Meiji reforms, seeking to modernize its
country by borrowing from western examples. For
In the 1930s, Spain became the site of a bloody civil instance, the Japanese created textile factories based
war. In 1936, the Spanish military and conservative on British precedents, telegraph and electric lights
Catholics revolted against the elected Spanish based on American models, and a modern military that
government. Mussolini and Hitler supplied General resembled Germany’s armed forces.
Francisco Franco’s (1892-1975) “Franconia” forces
with weapons, vehicles and advisors. The conflict also To sustain its increasingly industrial economy, Japanese
served as a training ground for Italian and German leaders considered creating colonies throughout Asia
troops who would go on to fight in World War II. The to supply the motherland with raw materials. During
Republican of Loyalist forces who continued to support World War I, Japan joined the Entente powers to
Spain’s constitutional government received aid from seize German-held territories in China. At the Paris
Mexico and the Soviet Union. After four years of bloody Peace Conference in 1919, the Japanese delegation
fighting, Franco’s forces emerged victorious. However, proposed an amendment to the Versailles Treaty that
the war also convinced many otherwise ambivalent would forbid any member of the proposed League of
Americans, British and French that fascism represented Nations from discriminating against other members
a growing danger to their countries. based on race. When the measure was defeated, Japan
began reconsidering its relationship with its western
allies. By the 1930s, the Japanese government was
JAPAN IN THE INTERWAR becoming increasingly conservative and xenophobic.
PERIOD In September 1931, the Japanese military seized
control of Manchuria. It created the puppet state of
While the Spanish Civil War raged in Europe, the Manchukuo, ruled by Henry Puyi (1906-1967), the last
Japanese Empire began to emerge as the dominant Qing emperor. When the League of Nations asserted
military power in Asia. After the United States forced that Japan had acted illegally in taking Manchuria,
Japan pulled out of the organization.
SUMMARY
Even today, the interwar period remains one of the least understood eras in world history. Many who
fought in World War I believed that the conflict would end quickly and with little loss of life. Four years
and 37 million deaths later, the fighting ended with an armistice. However, many of the problems
which had led to the outbreak of war in August 1914 remained unresolved. The German and Austro-
Hungarian empires had fallen, and the ethnic minorities they had governed over now sought to
establish their own nation-states. In the early 1920s, western European nations like Germany and
France took tentative steps toward political liberalization. However, the bloody legacy of the First
World War led to a questioning of traditional western morality, religion and art. The scholars and
artists of the interwar years experimented with new architectural, painting and cinematic techniques
to capture the randomness and absurdity of the world around them. Following the Great Depression,
large sections of the middle classes in western nations found themselves unemployed, destitute and
willing to follow fascist leaders that promised a return to the power of traditional monarchies and
empires but with the trappings of elections and representative government. By the 1930s, the rise
of Hitler in German, Mussolini in Italy and Franco in Spain seemed to mark the beginning of a new
era of authoritarianism in Europe. It would take another world war and a drawn-out cold war before
democracy became a possibility for millions of people around the world.

13 World War II
Selection on the ramp at Auschwitz-Birkenau, 1944 Artist: Unknown

Fought from 1939-1945, World War II was the bloodiest In many ways, the failures of the Paris Peace Conference
war in world history. Fought in theaters stretching from set the stage for the Second World War. Held at the
the frozen fields of Russia to the sweltering jungles of French palace of Versailles in 1919, the conference
Myanmar, the Second World War witnessed the defeat included representatives from the victorious powers
and division of Germany, the use of nuclear weapons Great Britain, France, Italy (who had been an ally of
on Japan, the expansion of Soviet-style communism Germany and Austro-Hungary until 1915), and the
throughout Eastern Europe, the emergence of the United States. Germany and the Soviet Union were not
United States as a superpower, and the decline of allowed representation. While U.S. President Woodrow
colonial empires around the world. Wilson (1856-1924) wanted to create a peace treaty
171
with lenient terms, the British and French wanted harsh
punishments for the defeated nations. They created a
peace treaty and terms that forced Germany to accept
the blame for starting the war and to agree to pay steep
reparation payments to Britain and France.
THE RISE OF FASCISM

The United States, which did not sign the Versailles
Peace Treaty, agreed to loan money to Germany to finance
its reparation payments. However, the postwar Weimar
government of Germany faced consistent economic
stagnation and inflated currency throughout the 1920s.
In 1929, the Great Depression undermined economies
and governments on both sides of the Atlantic. Desperate
Europeans began turning to radical political figures who
promised solutions to their problems. In 1922, Italians Benito Mussolini Artist: Unknown
elected journalist and World War I veteran Benito License: Public Domain
Mussolini (1883-1945) as Prime Minister.

Born into a working-class family in Romagna, Italy
Germans watched events in Italy with much interest. in 1883, Benito Mussolini was named after Mexican
revolutionary Benito Juárez (1806-1872). After
In 1923, Adolph Hitler (1889-1945), a veteran of
serving two years in the Italian military, Mussolini
World War I and National Socialist German Workers’ became a journalist. Well-versed in the works of
Party (Nazi) leader, launched an armed coup against leftist European intellectuals, he became a leading
the Weimar Government. Defeated and thrown into Italian socialist. When the First World War broke
prison, Hitler wrote a biography entitled, Mein Kampf out, Mussolini broke with socialism and became a
corporal in the Italian army. In 1919, he founded the
(My Struggle). In this work, Hitler discussed his service
first Italian fascist party. Three years later, Mussolini
as a corporal in the German Army during World War and 20,000 fascist followers marched on Rome to
I, his disillusionment with the Kaiser’s surrender, and demand the resignation of Italian Prime Minister
his brushes with poverty in the 1920s. Throughout his Luigi Facta (1861-1930). Appointed as the new
work, Hitler railed against Jews, whom he blamed for prime minister, Mussolini set out to remake Italian
society in his image. A master of propaganda,
the rise of international communism and Germany’s
Mussolini projected the image of a strong leader
defeat in the Great War. He also stressed that Germans who dressed in military costumes, surrounded
had a “national destiny” in gaining lebensraum (or himself with his armed Black Shirt followers, and
living room) in Eastern Europe. used parades and radio broadcast speeches to
enhance his reputation. Taking on the moniker of
El Duce (or leader), Mussolini dismantled Italy’s
constitution to create a police state under his control.
In doing so, Mussolini created the first fascist
state in Europe. Fascism differed from traditional
authoritarianism in that fascist leaders were often
democratically elected, exalted nationalism above
any other consideration, created cults of personality
surrounding their leaders and concentrated political
power in the hands of dictators and their followers.
Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler

Artist: Unknown
Source: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
172 CHAPTER 13 WORLD WAR II

For an individual who would cause the death of millions,
Adolph Hitler came from an unremarkable background.
Born to a single mother, Hitler was raised in Braunau
am Inn in Austro-Hungary, near the German border.
After his mother died of cancer, Hitler became a
homeless watercolor artist living on the streets of
Vienna. In 1914, he volunteered for service in the
German army, serving as a dispatch runner. While
recovering from a mustard gas attack, Hitler learned of
Germany’s surrender. Devastated, Hitler believed that
Jews and subversives had undermined the German
war effort from within. He became a member of the
German Worker’s Party in 1919. A master orator,
Hitler soon became a rising star in the organization.
When the party rebranded itself the National Socialist
Workers Democratic Party (or Nazi Party for short),
Hitler designed its swastika insignia. In 1921, Hitler
became the undisputed leader of the Nazi Party.
Two years later, Hitler and his followers attempted a

military coup to take over the German government.
Referred to as the “Beer Hall Putsch” because it began
in a Munich beer hall, Hitler’s movement failed, and he
received a five-year prison sentence. Realizing that he
could achieve his goals through mass party mobilization
rather than a coup, Hitler, after being released from
prison, began working toward gaining control of the
German government.
By the 1920s, the inability of the Weimar government to

address the problems of war reparations and inflation
Germany, 1923: banknotes had lost so much
caused the regime to become very unpopular in the eyes
value that they were used as wallpaper
of the German public. Hitler agitated for overturning
the Treaty of Versailles and making Germany great Artist: Georg Pahl
again. Before the Weimar Republic came into being, License: Bundesarchiv, Bild 102-00104 / Pahl, Georg / CC-BY-SA 3.0
Germany was controlled by authoritarian rulers. After
the surrender in World War I, a new constitution was
written, which established a democratic government, 2.25 million in early 1930 to 6 million and beyond in
that had a president, chosen by the German people, 1932. It significantly affected the governing coalition of
who appointed a chancellor and cabinet ministers. Social Democrats and moderate conservatives, which
collapsed leading to new elections. Those on the right
As hyperinflation set in following the outbreak of the (the Nazis) and the left (Communists) gained followers
Great Depression, many Germans lost their pensions. and with that, seats in the Reichstag. In 1930, the Nazis
The death of Chancellor Gustav Stresemann (1878-1929) won 107 seats (they had held only 12 after the previous
further weakened the Weimar government. The German election). As the economy became more and more
economy also relied heavily on U.S. loans, and when unstable, Hitler promised that the Nazi Party would
the Great Depression hit, Washington discontinued combat unemployment and provide aid to farmers.
the program. The downfall of the German economy in
1930-1931, eventually paved the way for the ascent of In the next national election, the Nazi Party won 14.5
the Nazis to political power. Unemployment rose from million out of 35 million votes, making it the largest
173
party in the government. Hitler continued to agitate In late February 1933, the Reichstag building caught fire.
for reform and was eventually appointed chancellor by Claiming that the state was in danger, Hitler persuaded
President Paul Hindenburg (1847-1934) on January 30, President Hindenburg to grant him emergency
1933. Within eight weeks, Hitler created a dictatorship. powers. The Nazis accused the Communist Party of
He proclaimed his office to be the true source of setting the fire. This gave them an excuse to arrest
executive, legislative and judicial power, eliminated and silence critical left-wing opponents. Thälman
competing political groups, and stirred up the masses was arrested on March 3, 1933, and spent 11 years in
against the biggest and most dangerous enemies of the solitary confinement. In August 1944, he was sent to
Nazis: the communists. Buchenwald concentration camp. The same month,
Hitler ordered that he be killed.
The National Socialists also gained momentum in the
German Reichstag due to the disagreement among left- On March 5, 1933, the Nazis won 43.9% of the votes in
wing forces. The Social Democrats refused to work with the Reichstag. Using the near majority, Hitler passed
the Communist Party because of their radical views. the Enabling Act, granting him and his government
In March 1932, Ernst Thälman (1886-1944) ran for the power to rule by decree. To solidify his power,
the German presidency against the Social Democrat Hitler banned the Communist Party and arrested
Hindenburg and Hitler. The famous slogan of the KPD its leaders so they could no longer vote against him.
was “A vote for Hindenburg is a vote for Hitler. A vote for Within a month, Hitler transformed the German
Hitler is a vote for war.” After Thälman lost the election, government from a democracy to an authoritarian
he tried to persuade the leaders of the SPD to organize dictatorship. In April 1933, new laws were passed
a general strike to prevent the National Socialists from to remove opposition party members from all
taking power. Having been refused, Thälman pushed government departments. In May 1933, all trade
for the overthrow of Hitler’s government. unions were banned and reorganized into a Nazi-
controlled organization, the German Labor Front or
DAF (Deutsche Arbeitsfront). The Social Democratic
Party was outlawed as well. By July 1933, all political
parties except the Nazis were banned, as Germany
became a one-party dictatorship.
Having seized control of the German political system,

Hitler turned next to stifling dissent within his own
ranks. During his rise to power, Hitler had used the
Nazi party to formally agitate for more power. However,
behind the scenes he relied upon a group of paramilitary
party members known as the Sturmabteilung
(storm battalion), informally known as the SA or the
“Brownshirts” due to their habit of dressing in brown
shirts complete with ties. Hitler used the Brownshirts
to intimidate, beat or even kill political rivals. Although
many Brownshirts were World War I veterans
completely loyal to Hitler, they were also a well-trained
and well-armed group that could at times prove difficult
to rein in. In June 1930, Hitler received word of a rumor
that SA leader Ernst Röhm (1887-1934) planned
to launch a coup against him. On June 30 to July 2,
Hitler ordered a group of handpicked Brownshirts and
Gestapo (secret police) agents to purge Röhm and his
followers. Hitler used his emergency powers to suspend
Ernst Thälman Artist: Agence de press Meurisse all political and civil rights, to arrest anyone suspicious
of agitating against the government, and keep them in
prison indefinitely without fair trials or due process. As Within the state, all cultural activities were geared
only Nazi Party members could now become judges, toward propagating the ideology of National Socialism.
Hitler’s regime controlled what judicial processes Many cultural events were organized to show open
remained in Germany. support for Hitler. Everything was strictly controlled,
and non-monitored art and cultural activities were
The Nazis reorganized Germany into Gaue, or districts, prohibited. The Nazis used an immense propaganda
and put them under the command of Gauleiters (district machine to support Hitler and the Nazi state. Joseph
leaders). Each town was also divided into smaller units Goebbels (1897-1945) was put in charge of the Nazi
called Viertels (quarters). Each quarter had its own propaganda programs, which were broadcasted
warden who would monitor his section and investigate through completely controlled radio stations, cinemas,
suspicious individuals. The warden was the direct link speeches, parades and rallies, youth organizations and
to the Nazi Party. People were encouraged to report K-12 education. Given limited opportunities, women
their families, neighbors and friends if they were not in were told to concern themselves with “children, church,
full support of Hitler and the Nazi Party. kitchen” (Kinder, Kirche, Küche).
Map of the Holocaust in Europe during World War Artist: User “Emdee”; Derivate of WW2-Holocaust-
Europe-2007Borders.png by User “Dna-Dennis”
II, 1939-1945, showing death camps, most major User “Dna-Dennis”
concentration camps, labor camps, ghettos, major Source: Wikimedia Commons
License: CC BY 3.0
deportation routes, and major massacre sites.
175
Hitler worked closely with Heinrich Himmler (1900- emigrate that they would surrender their property to
1945), the head of the SS and the Gestapo. Himmler the German state. Furthermore, Jews had to publicly
headed the Reich Security Main Office, which was wear a yellow star embossed with the word “Jew” and
charged with internal safety and security. He is also obtain a “J” label on their passports. On November 9,
seen as the principal architect of the concentration and 1938, during Kristallnacht (Night of the Broken Glass),
death camps. Concentration and death camps housed over 7500 Jewish businesses and over 400 synagogues
political opponents and were used to systematically were destroyed, more than 90 Jews were killed, and
murder people – most of them Jews. over 30,000 arrested.
On September 15, 1935, the Nazi government announced At the Wannsee Conference in Berlin in 1942, Hitler
the passage of a slew of laws that discriminated against suggested the Final Solution for the Jewish problem.
Jewish people. These Nuremburg Laws, (the Reich Jews were collected from the ghettos and sent to the
Citizenship Law and the Law for the Protection of death camps in Poland. The Holocaust did not end until
German Blood and German Honor) emphasized that Germany’s defeat in 1945 and the end of World War II.
Germans, but not Jewish people, belonged to the so- By the time of their liberation, over 6 million Jews died
called Aryan race. According to these discriminatory in the Holocaust and another 6 million Romani, Slavs
laws, Jewish people threatened the purity of the German and other targeted groups had also been killed by the
people and thus, the Nazis believed that they had to Nazis. Millions of prisoners of war, especially from the
identify and separate Jews from German society. The Soviet Union, also died at the hands of the Nazis.
law banned marriages and relationships with Jews and
pushed Jews into ghettos. The rules also applied to the Many people blindly supported Hitler because he
Sinti and Roma communities. The Reich Citizenship reduced unemployment. He built up the German
Law underscored that only racially pure people could weapon industry, which created many jobs and helped
hold German citizenship, which meant that Jews promote economic efficiency. Overall unemployment
could never be considered full German citizens. The fell from 6 million in 1933 to below 1 million in 1939.
situation worsened in 1938 when new laws were passed The rearmament benefited big enterprises especially.
that prohibited Jews from any participation in public Although the overall economy did not necessarily
life. The regulations also highlighted if Jews were to improve under Hitler’s leadership, the German
Kristallnacht was a wave of state-

sponsored terrorism directed against
Germany’s Jews from November 9-10,
1938. In early November, Nazi officials
expelled over 5,000 Jews of Polish
descent from Germany. When learning
that his parents had been among
the deportees, 17-year-old Herschel
Grynszpan (b. 1921) assassinated
Ernest vom Rath (1909-1938), a German
embassy official in Paris. Vom Rath died
on November 9, the anniversary of Hitler’s
1923 attempted coup known as the “Beer
Hall Putsch.” When Hitler’s propaganda
minister Joseph Goebbels suggested
that his followers begin a series of
spontaneous demonstrations to protest
the assassination of vom Rath, violence
against Jewish synagogues, businesses
Civilians watch a Kristallnacht: Artist: Unknown and homes broke out across Germany,
Source: Wikimedia Austria and the Sudetenland. By the
Nazi officer vandalizes Jewish Commons
morning of November 10, over 7,500
property, most likely in Fürth, License: Public Domain
Jewish businesses had been looted, and
outside Nuremberg. nearly a hundred victims lay dead.

people saw shrinking unemployment, vigorous social Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain (1869-1940) told a
investment policies, and some prosperity. An increased worried British public that he had obtained “peace in
industrial effort was centered on the armament our time.” Signaling their intentions to check German
industries and presupposed the coming of a war. expansion, Britain and France signed a mutual defense
pact with Poland in April 1939. The following month
RISE OF THE SOVIET UNION Germany and Italy signed the “Pact of Steel,” which
pledged mutual support in the case of invasion. In
Hitler’s lebensraum plans brought him into conflict August 1939, German and Soviet delegates signed the
with the Soviet Union. In October 1917, Vladimir Ilyich Molotov-Ribbentrop Nonaggression Pact, by which
Lenin’s Bolshevik forces overthrew the government of they agreed not to invade one another for the next
Czar Nicholas II. Executing the Czar and his family, the 10 years.
revolutionaries announced the creation of the Union
of Soviet Socialist Republics, the first Communist The campaign fought between Nazi Germany and the
state in the world. As secretary general of the Central USSR constituted one of the bloodiest theaters of World
Committee of the Communist Party, Lenin signed War II. After signing a mutual nonaggression pact in
a humiliating peace treaty, surrendered territory to August 1939, both nations jointly invaded Poland on
Germany, and fought off challenges from Russian September 1. Learning from the lessons of World War
military forces still loyal to the old Czarist regime. I, Hitler’s generals utilized a new blitzkrieg strategy
He also nationalized all aspects of Russia’s economy (lightning war). Blitzkrieg involved using strafing
and began plans to industrialize the nation. In 1924, runs by Messerschmitt fighters and bombing raids by
Lenin suffered a series of strokes and died in office. massive Junkers. Heavily armored but maneuverable
Joseph Stalin (1870-1953), a Georgian native who had Panzer tanks would then punch holes through enemy
trained to become a priest before becoming a full-time lines. Infantry units would then consolidate battlefield
communist revolutionary, became the new leader gains while special Einsatzgruppen (mobile killing)
of the USSR. A bold visionary and brutal dictator, units followed behind to mop up survivors and execute
Stalin announced the creation of Russia’s first five- captured Jews and Polish officers.
year plan by which industry would be pursued at all
costs and private farms would be collectivized. Stalin Bound by treaty obligations to defend Poland,
rapidly increased the size of the Soviet military and Britain and France issued declarations of war against
instituted a secret police force known as the NKVD Germany on September 3, 1939. Britain quickly sent
to crack down on dissenters. During the Great Purge, an expeditionary force to reinforce France. In May
which lasted from 1936-1938, Stalin’s agents targeted 1940, German forces led by General Erwin Rommel
millions of intellectuals, writers, religious leaders, (1891-1944) launched an invasion of France, bypassing
the massive Maginot Line (defensive fortifications)
ethnic minorities and other “enemies of the state.”
by moving through the neutral countries of Belgium,
Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Moving quickly
THE WAR BEGINS using their blitzkrieg tactics, German forces trapped
British and French forces in Normandy. With the aid of
In 1936, Nazi Germany annexed Austria. Two years a fleet of civilian ships, over 300,000 British and French
later, Hitler demanded that Czechoslovakia hand over a troops were evacuated from the port of Dunkirk to the
border area inhabited by ethnic Germans known as the English coast. With most of its armed forces captured,
Sudetenland. At a conference with British, French and France sued for peace with Germany on June 22, 1940.
Italian delegates in Munich, Germany, Hitler promised Germany occupied northern France while allowing
that if granted the Sudetenland, he would make no more a collaborationist regime headquartered in Vichy to
territorial demands. Upon returning home, British control the southern portion of the country.
177
Panzer II of the 15th Panzer Division in North Artist: Dörner
Africa used as Artillery Observation Tank. License: Attribution: Bundesarchiv, Bild 101I-783-
0110-12 / Dörner / CC-BY-SA 3.0
and Nanjing. During what historians would later call

THE SECOND the Rape of Nanjing, Japanese forces looted the ancient
SINO-JAPANESE WAR imperial capital, leveled most of the city’s infrastructure,
massacred an estimated 400,000 Chinese civilians, and
While fascism continued to rise in Europe, the Japanese raped thousands of women. In September 1940, Japan,
Empire took increasingly aggressive steps to expand Germany and Italy signed the Tripartite or Axis Pact.
the size of its empire throughout Asia. In 1910, Japan Under this agreement, the newly formed Axis Powers
annexed Korea and began programs to force native pledged mutual aid to one another in the case of war.
Koreans to adopt the Japanese language and culture.
In 1931, Japan would invade and occupy Manchuria.
The following year, Japan sponsored the creation of
BATTLE FOR BRITAIN
the puppet state of Manchukuo with Emperor Puyi
By the summer of 1940, with most of Europe under his
(1906-1967), the last emperor of the Qing dynasty, as
control, Adolf Hitler turned his attention to Britain.
a figurehead. Japan began using Manchuria’s natural
Hitler never really wanted war with Britain. Hitler
resources to fund its burgeoning empire. Japanese
respected England and believed that he could still be the
settlers also began infiltrating Manchuria and
master of Europe without having to defeat them. After
encouraging the region’s “Japanification.” With tensions
conquering much of Europe, Hitler thought he had won
between China and Japan rising, open warfare broke
the war and signaled his desire for peace with Britain.
out in 1937. Within months the better-armed and
supplied Japanese Army captured Beijing, Shanghai
Winston Churchill at a
Conference in Quebec
Artist: Unknown
Because of the British refusal to accept or even consider Battle of Britain; an aerial war fought between July 10
peace, Hitler reluctantly ordered his staff to plan an and October 31, 1940.
invasion of Britain. His generals could see no clear
path to using Blitzkrieg over a body of water as large as The Luftwaffe’s plan initially targeted military
the English Channel. The German air force (Luftwaffe) installations, especially British airbases. This was a
offered a different approach, one they hoped would successful strategy, but for reasons still debated, the
bomb Britain into submission. This led to the famous Luftwaffe switched its focus to civilian and government
targets, especially those in London.
Royal Air Force Boulton

Paul Defiants of No. 264
Squadron in Flight
Artist: B.J. Daventry
179
Battle for Britain
Boundaries, Bases
and RADAR Coverage
Artist: User “Hohum”
Battle of Britain
Air Observer
Artist: Unknown Author

Source: Wikimedia
Commons
Because of this change in tactics, Londoners

became the first to prove that it was possible
to live under the stress of nightly air raids.
Aided by advances in radar technology, the
British could shoot down approximately two
German planes for every one it lost. This,
combined with an increase in the production
of the number of aircraft, ensured that
Germany failed to gain aerial superiority.
Hitler acknowledged this waste of resources
and withdrew from the Battle of Britain in
October 1940, although the bombing of
Great Britain, especially at night, would last
until 1941. Many see the Battle of Britain as
a turning point as Hitler was forced to fight a
much longer and drawn-out war.

View along the River Thames in Artist: New York Times Paris Bureau Collection
London after an Air Raid during License: Public Domain
the Blitz
which sought to maintain American neutrality, U.S.

BATTLE IN THE EAST President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945) secured
passage of the Lend-Lease Act in March 1941, which
After knocking France out of the war and having
allowed the President to exchange or lease military
failed to conquer Britain, Hitler turned to his
items, food, fuel, or any item deemed necessary for the
plans for creating lebensraum, or “living room,”
defense and security of the United States to its allies.”
for German settlers in Eastern Europe. Viewing
the Soviet Union as the primary block to his plans,
Hitler ordered an invasion of Russia on June 22, AMERICA ENTERS THE WAR
1941. Dubbed Operation Barbarossa, the charge saw
three million Axis soldiers launching attacks toward While strengthening its ties to Britain, America also took
Leningrad, Moscow and Ukraine. Taken by surprise, steps to contain Japanese expansionism. In July 1940, the
inexperienced Russian troops initially retreated U.S. banned all oil exports to Japan. The following year
before the German blitzkrieg. Minsk, Smolensk Congress ordered American banks to freeze all Japanese
and Kyiv quickly fell to German forces. Long tired accounts. In September 1941, U.S. officials stopped
of Russian domination, some Ukrainians initially all iron and steel sales designed to aid the Japanese
welcomed the Germans as liberators. war industry. American and Japanese diplomats spent
much of 1941 unsuccessfully negotiating a compromise.
Worried about these developments, the United But when the U.S. repeatedly demanded that Japan
States, which had remained neutral to this point, remove its forces from China, the Japanese imperial
began taking steps to support the British and Chinese government, under the control of Prime Minister
war efforts. Although limited by Neutrality Acts Hideki Togo (1884-1948), decided upon a preemptive
181
President Roosevelt and Winston
Churchill seated on the quarterdeck
of HMS PRINCE OF WALES for a
Sunday service during the Atlantic
Conference, 10 August 1941
In August, Roosevelt met with British Prime

Minister Winston Churchill aboard the HMS
Prince of Wales off the coast of the Dominion
of Newfoundland, to issue the Atlantic
Charter of Freedom. Although not a formal
treaty, the charter represented a statement
of common goals both nations pledged
to work toward. The charter consisted of
eight points, including a pledge to seek no
territorial expansion, no territorial changes
except those freely agreed upon, the right
of all people to choose the government
under which they lived, free trade, labor
and economic rights, freedom from fear and
want, freedom of the seas, and the creation
Artist: Priest, L C (Lt), Royal Navy official photographer
Source: Wikimedia Commons of a system of worldwide general security.
strike. In late November 1941, a Japanese fleet of six Japanese Aichi and Nakajima dive bombers sank four
aircraft carriers, two battleships, six destroyers, 28 American battleships and damaged four others. By
submarines and a variety of supporting craft under day’s end, over 2,300 American servicemen had been
the command of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto (1884- killed. The following day U.S. President Franklin D.
1943) began to steam toward the Hawaiian Islands. Roosevelt declared December 7 “a day that would live
On December 7, 1941, Yamamoto ordered his troops in infamy” and asked Congress to declare war against
to attack the American Pacific fleet stationed at a large Japan. Germany responded by declaring war on the
naval base known as Pearl Harbor. Attacking at dawn, United States. America had now entered the fray.
Following the launching of Operation Barbarossa,

Stalingrad and the oil fields it defended, remained a
tempting military target. Throughout summer 1942,
General Friedrich von Paulus (1890-1957) and the
German 6th Army advanced deep into Ukraine. By
October, German Junker bombers had pummeled
much of Stalingrad into dust, although Russian forces
clung desperately to the city’s western edge. Ordering
Russian troops to hold Stalingrad at all costs, Stalin
had fresh reinforcements constantly ferried into the city
across the Volga River. Raw Russian recruits, many
unarmed, were forced by their officers to advance on
German forces under pain of death if they retreated.
While Russian snipers such as Vasily Zaitsev (1915-
1991) pinned down German troops inside the city,
Soviet Marshall Georgi Zhukov (1896-1974) surrounded
Center of Stalingrad Artist: Zelma Paulus’s army with two large Soviet forces. Although
Source: Wikimedia Hitler insisted that his troops fight to the death, Paulus
after liberation Commons
surrendered his remaining 91,000 soldiers to Russian
License: Public
Domain forces on February 2, 1943.

BATTLE OF STALINGRAD
In the meantime, as German forces advanced deeper into
Russian territory, they faced increasingly stiff resistance
plus exposure from the brutal Russian winter. German
armies failed to take either Leningrad or Moscow. Over
the opposition of his generals, Hitler ordered an all-out
assault on the city of Stalingrad. Beginning in August 1942,
General Friedrich von Paulus (1890-1957) led a combined
army of 270,000 soldiers armed with 500 Panzers and
600 Junker and Stuka bombers against 187,000 Russian
defenders armed with 400 outdated T-34 tanks and only
200 IL-2 monoplanes and Yakovlev single-engine fighters.
For six months, German and Russian forces waged a

bloody campaign for the city involving block-by-block
fighting, carpet bombing, sniper attacks, psychological
warfare and starvation. With Allied military aid and
their brutal “not one step backward policy,” Russian Vasily Zaytsev, left, and other Soviet snipers
forces regained control of the city at the loss of over
a million casualties. With their own losses at nearly Artist: Unknown
a million men, the Germans were forced to retreat. License: Public Domain
Operation Barbarossa was a defeat, and Germany now
lay open to invasion.
While Russian forces carried out the vast majority

of fighting against the Axis powers, Great Britain D-Day Map
and American troops launched a campaign to defeat Artist: User “Hogweard”; Derivative of D-Day map,
German and Italian forces in Africa and thus defend Southwick House.png by User “Hchc2009”
the Suez Canal. British forces under General Bernard Source: Wikimedia Commons
Montgomery (1887-1976) decisively defeated German
General Erwin Rommel’s Afrika corps at the Battle
of El Alamein in November. Having secured North
Africa, British and American forces launched a
successful invasion of Sicily in July 1943. In September,
Allied forces landed at Salerno. Following heavy
losses to entrenched German and Italian forces, Allied
divisions captured Naples, Monte Cassino, and Rome.
Mussolini’s fascist government collapsed, and the new
regime held the former dictator prisoner. Although
rescued by German commandos, he was recaptured
and executed in April 1945.
D-DAY CAMPAIGN
After the Italian campaign reached a stalemate in
late 1943, Allied commanders prepared plans to
launch a cross-channel invasion from Britain. On
June 6, 1944, 156,000 British, American, Canadian,
183
Artist: Unknown
A Real-Life Source: Wikimedia Commons
Rosie the Riveter License: Public Domain
Back home, the Second World War took its toll on

virtually all aspects of American society. Factories were
recalibrated to churn out weapons, ammunition, tanks,
planes, ships and uniforms. The federal government
contracted with large agricultural corporations and
small family farms to procure food for the troops.
As millions of men enlisted in the military, women,
African Americans, Latinos and Asian Americans found
employment in America’s burgeoning wartime industrial
sector. Iconic figures such as “Rosie the Riveter”
became popular symbols of wartime production. Taking
advantage of wartime labor conditions, labor organizer
A. Philip Randolph (1889-1979) planned a “March on
A. Philip Randolph, U.S. civil Washington” to occur in 1941. On the personal appeal
rights leader, 1963 of President Roosevelt, who reminded Randolph of
the need to defeat fascism abroad before dealing with
Artist: John Bottega, NYWTS staff photographer civil rights at home, Randolph called off the march. In
Source: Wikimedia Commons return, Roosevelt supported the creation of the Fair
Employment Relations Act, which called for an end
to job discrimination. Randolph’s plan for a March on
Washington would come to fruition during the civil
rights movement of the 1960s.
Polish and French troops under Supreme Allied American armies advanced toward the German border.
Commander General Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-
1969) stormed the beaches of Normandy, France. While British and American forces pushed eastward,
Despite high casualties and 10,000 Allied losses by the Red Army invaded East Prussia. Russian forces
the end of the day, the Allied forces had secured a advanced upon Berlin by taking the German city of
beachhead and opened a second front in the war. Konigsberg in April 1945. For two weeks, two million
Soviet and Allied forces fought Berlin’s defenders, many
Allied forces made rapid strides across northern of whom were Hitler Youth or elderly civilians with little
France using their own combinations of massive ariel military training. On April 30, Adolf Hitler, his wife
bombardments and rapid tank attacks. In late December Eva Braun (1912-1945), and a few of his commanders
1944, German forces pushed back Allied troops at the committed suicide in their command bunker. Two days
bloody “Battle of the Bulge.” Although Axis forces were later, Russian forces raised the flag of the Soviet Union
almost spent, the Allies enjoyed constant infusions of over the burned-out remains of the German Reichstag
new soldiers and material and were soon on the offensive building. The remaining German troops surrendered.
again. On August 25, 1945, Allied forces liberated Paris, The war in Europe was now over.
with German forces agreeing to leave without destroying
the city. Fighting would further intensify as British and
WAR IN THE PACIFIC
In April 1942, the United States launched a risky bombing
raid against Japan. Led by Lieutenant Colonel James
Doolittle (1896-1993), 16 Mitchell bombers launched
from the USS Hornet dropped bombs on Tokyo and
other targets throughout the island of Honshu. Forced to
abandon their aircraft in China, Japanese forces captured
many of the U.S. pilots involved in the raid. The following
month, American and Australian forces defeated a
Japanese invasion fleet off the coast of New Guinea. In
June, U.S. Admiral Chester Nimitz (1885-1966) led a
fleet of three aircraft carriers, seven heavy cruisers and 15
destroyers against a large Japanese fleet led by Admiral
Yamamoto. U.S. forces forestalled future Japanese raids
on Hawaii by sinking four Japanese aircraft carriers.
At the grueling Battle of Guadalcanal, fought from

August 1942 to February 1943, 60,000 U.S. marines and
sailors defeated 36,000 entrenched Japanese defenders Marines rest in the field at Guadalcanal
determined to fight to the death (less than a 1,000 of the Artist: U.S. Navy
Japanese soldiers surrendered). By securing Guadalcanal’s License: Public Domain
airfield, the United States could now conduct direct
bombing of the Japanese home islands.
While the United States engaged in an “island hopping

campaign” across the Pacific, Chinese forces under the
command of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek (1887-
1975) continued to tie down half a million Japanese
troops. Isolated by Japanese armies that controlled
the eastern Coast of China and large areas of Burma
and French Indochina, Chiang’s forces, headquartered
in Chongqing, relied on Allied supplies flown in
by air over the “hump” of the Himalaya Mountains
from British-controlled India for survival. Chiang
also contended with a growing Chinese communist
movement led by former school teacher turned
revolutionary Mao Zedong (1893-1976). In fact,
Chiang considered wiping out his communist rivals as
more important than fighting the Japanese. Although
treated as an equal by President Franklin Delano
Roosevelt at the 1943 Cairo Conference, Chiang was,
in reality, relegated to the status of a junior partner in
the overall Allied war effort.
Chiang Kai-Shek
Artist: Unknown
185
BIG THREE CONFERENCES DROPPING THE BOMB
While German and Russian forces engaged in bloody By 1943, Allied forces had successfully pushed Japanese
combat along the Eastern Front and Chinese and forces back to the home islands. American bombers
American forces battled the Japanese in Asia and the launched round-the-clock firebombing raids on Japanese
Pacific, the leaders of the three strongest Allied powers— cities, most notably Tokyo. However, Allied leaders
Great Britain, the United States and the Soviet Union— became worried that an invasion of the Japanese home
held a series of conferences to plan war strategy as well islands might cost upwards of a million casualties and
as determine the map of the postwar world. drag on for years as Japanese troops and civilians fought
diligently to their deaths. As such, President Roosevelt
In November 1943, Franklin Roosevelt, Winston and his generals looked for an alternative to invasion.
Churchill and Joseph Stalin met in Tehran, Iran. In
addition to discussing the date for a cross-channel Following the death of President Franklin Roosevelt in
invasion from Britain and the willingness of the United April 1945, his successor, Harry S. Truman, authorized
States to supply military aid to the USSR, the three the use of nuclear weapons against Japan. On August 6,
leaders issued the Tehran Declaration, which called for 1945, the crew of the U.S. bomber Enola Gay dropped a
Poland and other Eastern European countries to enjoy 21-kiloton atomic bomb named “Fat Man” on Hiroshima,
the right of self-determination once the war was over. Japan. Three days later, American forces dropped
At the subsequent Yalta Conference in February 1945, another atomic bomb dubbed “Little Boy” on Nagasaki.
Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin agreed to divide control When counting not only the immediate victims of the
of Germany and Austria between their nations and atomic blasts but also those who died later from radiation
France, establish a coalition government in Poland, and poisoning, it is estimated that between 90,000-166,000
lend their support to creating a United Nations. At the residents of Hiroshima and 60,000-80,000 people living
third and final conference, held in Potsdam, Germany, in Nagasaki died. Unaware that the United States only
in July and August 1945, Harry S. Truman (1884-1972), possessed two atomic bombs, Japanese officials agreed to
Clement Attlee (1883-1967) and Joseph Stalin demanded the Allied demand for unconditional surrender, insisting
the unconditional surrender of Japan, planned to divide only that the Japanese Emperor Hirohito (1901-1989)
Germany and Berlin, discussed the donation of American be allowed to remain in power as a symbolic ruler. On
money to rebuild Europe, and promised to hold free and September 2, 1945, Japanese delegates signed documents
fair elections in Eastern Europe. of surrender aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Harbor.
The war in the Pacific was now at an end.
The Gadget
The Manhattan Project represented one of the most
top-secret projects of the war. Led by physicists
Robert Oppenheimer (1904-1967) and Enrico
Fermi (1901-1954) and coordinated by U.S. Army
General Leslie Groves (1896-1970), scientists for
the Manhattan Projects worked first in Chicago,
then in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Experimenting with
Einstein’s concept that matter and energy were
interchangeable, Oppenheimer and Fermi’s team
learned through constant experimentation to split
uranium 238, a very unstable isotope. On July
16, 1945, the Manhattan team detonated an 18.6
kiloton atomic bomb dubbed “the Gadget” on a
barren stretch of desert near Alamogordo, New
Mexico. Upon witnessing the power of the nuclear
blast, Oppenheimer quoted the Hindu holy text,
Artist: Corbis the Bhagavata, by stating, “I have become death,
Source: Wikimedia Commons the destroyer of worlds.”

The United Nations Fight for Freedom
From April 25 to June 26, representatives from

over 50 countries gathered in San Francisco to
draft the charter for the United Nations. Similar in
principle to the League of Nations, the UN would
act as an international forum to air grievances
between nations and seek peaceful solutions to
global problems. The Charter of the United Nations
established a governing structure that resembled a
parliamentary democracy. Each of the 51 nations
that initially joined the UN sent delegates to meet
once a year in a General Assembly. Regardless
of the size of each member state’s delegation,
they received one vote each in assembly votes.
Delegates generally debated the adoption of
international treaties and set up and evaluated the
work of UN subcommittees, including the World
Health Organization and the UN Children’s Fund.
The UN also featured a number of permanent
committees. The United Nations International Court
of Justice oversaw the prosecution of war criminals
and international terrorists. The UN Secretariat ran
the day-to-day operations of the UN and enforced
General Assembly resolutions. The UN Security
Council constituted the most powerful part of the
United Nations. It initially featured five permanent
members–the United States, Soviet Union, Britain,
France and China (Chiang Kai-Shek’s Kuomintang
government until 1971, Mao Zedong’s PRC regime
afterward) each of which wielded a veto over
Security Council resolutions. The Security Council
Artist: Unknown was charged with maintaining international peace
Source: Wikimedia Commons and stability, investigating conflicts, establishing
License: Public Domain peacekeeping missions and setting up economic
sanctions. Since its first session in 1946, the
United Nations has played an active role in
shaping global politics.
SUMMARY
By 1945, the Second World War ended in a complete victory for the Allied Powers. Although victorious,
Americans, British, French and Russians soon came face to face with the true costs of the war.
Between 40 and 50 million people died in the conflict, many of them civilians. Six million Jews and 6
million Romani, Slavs, homosexuals and other target groups died in the Holocaust. The economies
of much of Europe and Asia lay shattered. Of all the prewar powers, only the United States could
boast a booming economy and a fully operational military. Furthermore, two erstwhile allies, the U.S.
and the USSR, were moving toward a cold war that pitted American capitalism and freedom against
Soviet beliefs in planned economies and a collective mentality. For the next 50 years, the conflict
between these two superpowers would help shape world events.
187
14 Cold War and
Decolonization of
the World from 1950
Elbe Day Artist: Unknown Photographer; Edited by Cassowary Colorizations

License: CC BY 2.0 | © Cassowary Colorizations
On April 25, 1945, Second Lieutenant William Robertson meeting was auspicious. For four long years, over 25
of the 69th Infantry Division of the U.S. Army crawled million Soviets had died as the Red Army pushed Axis
across a damaged bridge that spanned the Elbe River forces westward into Germany. Since D-Day, June 6,
near Torgau, Germany. At the other end stood Soviet 1944, U.S. and Allied forces had pushed eastward from
Lieutenant Alexander Silvashko of the 58th Guards Normandy, suffering over two million casualties. The
Rifle Division. Reaching the middle of the bridge, “Torgau handshake,” as it was later called, represented
Robertson shouted “American” and was escorted to the first time American and Russian soldiers had met on
meet Silvashko. The two men shook hands and hugged the battlefield. Yet despite this friendly meeting, within
before breaking into an impromptu celebration. This two years, the United States and the Soviet Union would
188 CHAPTER 14 COLD WAR AND DECOLONIZATION OF THE WORLD FROM 1950
be locked in what President John F. Kennedy (1917- United States, Britain, France and Italy refused to give
1963) would call a “long twilight struggle” known as the the Soviet Union representation at the 1919 Paris Peace
Cold War. From 1947-1991 the U.S. and USSR fought Conference. The United States, Great Britain and Japan
not just a conflict for strategic domination, natural aided the White Russian forces in their unsuccessful bid
resources or political power, but an ideological one in to roll back the Russian Revolution.
which both sides courted and pressured third-world
nations into adopting their codes of ethics, systems of Although many European and American progressives
governance and culture. In doing so, the Cold War did were impressed that the USSR appeared to be immune
much to shape the postwar world. to the effects of the Great Depression, Franklin D.
Roosevelt waited until February 1933 to diplomatically
ORIGINS OF THE COLD WAR recognize the Soviet Union. Seven years later, when
Stalin signed a non-aggression pact with Nazi Germany
The roots of the Cold War lay in the late 19th and and jointly invaded Poland, many Americans dismissed
early 20th century. Following devastating losses on the the Soviet Union as an authoritarian state no different
eastern front in World War I, Russian peasants under the from their fascist partner.
leadership of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin and his Bolshevik
followers overthrew the regime of Czar Nicholas II. However, American perceptions changed rapidly
They established the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics when the Axis Powers invaded Russia on June 22,
(USSR). Lenin and his followers initiated a massive 1941. The Roosevelt Administration made Lend-Lease
industrialization and farm collectivization program. aid available to Russia and unfroze Russian funds in
His successor, Joseph Stalin (1878-1953), created a American banks. By the war’s end, the U.S. would ship
series of five-year plans designed to collectivize every 17 million tons of supplies to the USSR through the
aspect of Russian society and place complete political North Atlantic, Pacific and Middle East. Although many
Americans remained suspicious of Soviet intentions,
power within his hands.
they realized that Russians were doing the majority of
Alarmed at the possible spread of communism to their fighting in the conflict.
own countries, victorious Entente nations like the
President Harry S. Truman

visits Soviet Prime Minister
Josef Stalin at Mr. Stalin’s
residence during the
Potsdam Conference
Throughout World War II, American,

British and Soviet leaders of the “Big
Three” nations met at a series of
conferences to coordinate the Allied
war effort. Initially represented by U.S.
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt,
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill,
and Soviet Premier Josef Stalin by the
Potsdam Conference of 1945, Harry
Truman replaced Roosevelt, who had
died the previous spring, and Clement
Attlee joined Churchill who he had
defeated at the ballot box. This gave
Stalin, the senior delegate, an advantage
in the postwar negotiations.
Artist: Unknown
189
Even before the end of the war, American and Soviet governments struggled to feed their populations. Large
interests began to diverge. Although the United States sections of Poland, the Soviet Union and France had
provided the most funding and supplies for the Allied experienced the destruction of “scorched earth” tactics.
war efforts, the Russians had done the most fighting by Although victorious, the British Empire was exhausted
far, having lost over 28 million soldiers and civilians and would continue to decline as a world power over
by 1945. The United States and Great Britain looked the next half-century. Of all the Allied powers, only the
forward to a postwar world based on free trade and United States emerged from the war with fixed borders
democratic values as outlined by the Atlantic Charter. and a thriving industrial economy.
In contrast, many Soviet leaders viewed the war as an
important stage in establishing a worldwide communist The war also sparked a process of decolonization
revolution. Given that Russia had been invaded three across the world. During the conflict, Great Britain and
times in the past two centuries, Stalin was unwilling to the United States had been able to mobilize overseas
tolerate regimes in Eastern Europe that were unfriendly colonies and non-aligned nations to support the
to the Soviet Union. Realizing that the Soviet Union Allied war effort with the promise, as espoused in the
would be occupying much of Eastern Europe at Atlantic Charter, of freedom and equality at the war’s
war’s end, Roosevelt and his advisors hoped that the conclusion. The issue of what to do with areas annexed
planned United Nations would allow the two emerging by the Axis powers remained a thorny one. Occupied
superpowers to compromise and work together as they nations that Nazi Germany had attempted to colonize
had done during the war. such as Poland and Ukraine regained their sovereignty
(albeit under Soviet domination). Two of Italy’s former
EUROPE AFTER colonies, Libya and Ethiopia were eventually granted
their independence. Japan was forced to return Vietnam
WORLD WAR II to France and Taiwan to China. Korea, which had been
an independent nation before 1910, was divided into
The Second World War brought unmitigated human northern and southern occupation zones controlled by
suffering on a level never seen before or since in world the USSR and U.S. respectively.
history. The postwar German, Italian and Japanese
Long Telegram
On February 22, 1946, George Kennan (1904-2005), an

American diplomat living in Moscow, wrote an 8000-word
“Long Telegram” to Secretary of State James Byrnes (1882-
1972). Byrnes had asked Keenan to speculate on why Soviet
officials opposed the recently created World Bank and
International Monetary Fund (two organizations that worked in
tandem to maintain economic stability and fund development
especially in the third world). Although Kennan admired the
toughness and resilience of the Russian people, he distrusted
Stalin and his regime. Kennan also disapproved of President
Roosevelt’s policy of engaging the Soviet dictator on friendly
terms. Concerned about recent tensions between the U.S.
and the Soviet Union, Kennan wrote a lengthy essay on
the foreign policy motives of the Soviet Politburo and what
the United States should do to counter them. In his essay,
Keenan argued that the United States should seek to stop
communist expansion in its tracks rather than engage in a
direct confrontation with the USSR. This “containment” policy
would become the basis for U.S. policy toward communism
until the end of the Cold War.
Artist: George F. Kennan

Although the U.S. and Soviet Union had pledged to lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and
support free and fair elections for Central and Eastern Eastern Europe. Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Vienna,
European nations following the war, Soviet officials Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest and Sofia, all these
held sham elections in Poland, Romania, Bulgaria and famous cities and the populations around them lie in
the Russian-occupied sectors of Germany. In areas what I must call the Soviet sphere. All are subject in
that had a coalition government, like Czechoslovakia, one form or another, not only to Soviet influence but to
Soviet-backed socialists used “salami tactics” to take a very high and, in some cases, increasing measure of
over key military and law enforcement positions control from Moscow.” Churchill concluded that only
and gradually leveraged such power to take over the a strong response led by the United States and Great
entire government. American officials worried about Britain could meet the threat of communist aggression.
the development of Soviet satellite states, took an The speech had an immediate impact upon U.S. public
increasingly assertive stance against what they perceived opinion toward the USSR.
as Soviet expansionism.
In fall 1946, the Soviet Union attempted to pressure
THE TRUMAN DOCTRINE Turkey into allowing it to place a military based on the
Dardanelles Straits as a prelude to joint control of the
area. When the United States dispatched two aircraft
Franklin Delano Roosevelt died in April 1945. His
carriers to the region, the USSR backed down. At the
successor, the conservative and cantankerous Harry
urging of a group of statesmen known as the “wise men,”
S. Truman (1884-1972) of Missouri, tended to see the
Truman and his congressional allies passed the 1947
world in much starker terms and adopted a harsher
National Security Act. The measure created the cabinet
tone with the Soviet Union. To this day, scholars debate
position of Defense Secretary, Central Intelligence
whether one of the reasons Truman allowed the atomic
Agency (CIA), Joint Chiefs of Staff and National
bomb to be used on Japan was to intimidate Stalin with
Security Council (NSC). Truman also offered Greece
the military and technological power of the U.S.
and Turkey $400 million in aid to ensure they embraced
western style democracy rather than socialism. He also
In March 1946, Winston Churchill delivered a speech
announced what would become known as the “Truman
at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri. In his
Doctrine.” The United States would not attempt to
speech, Churchill insisted that “[w]e welcome Russia
roll back communism where it already existed but
to her rightful place among the leading nations of the
would contain it and aid third-world governments in
world.” But he expressed concern that “From Stettin
resisting communist insurgencies within their borders.
in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain
Truman also announced the creation of the Marshall
has descended across the Continent. Behind that line
By 1948, Stalin had become very concerned that

the United States, Britain and France had combined
their occupation zones in Germany and Berlin and
that Marshall Plan money had helped reindustrialize
these areas. In July 1948, East German officials sealed
the border between West Germany and Berlin. As a
municipality of West Germany (even though located
deep in East Germany) West Berlin received most of
its fresh food, gasoline and coal from the West. Since
the end of the war, Soviet officials had allowed West
German trucks to ferry goods and people between the
West German border and Berlin. Not wanting to confront
the Soviet Union directly, the United States began the
“Berlin Airlift.” For 15 months, the U.S. conducted over
250,000 flights to West Berlin, delivering much needed
Berliners watching a C-54 Artist: Henry Ries / USAF food, fuel and supplies to the 2 million inhabitants of the
land at Berlin Tempelhof Source: Wikimedia Commons city. By spring 1949, East German and Soviet officials
Airport, 1948. relented and once again allowed supply convoys from
West Germany to West Berlin.
191
Plan. Named after U.S. General and Secretary of State announced the creation of the People’s Republic of
George C. Marshall (1880-1959), the Marshall Plan China from the top of the Tiananmen Gate in Beijing.
would provide over $13 billion in loans and grants to
help European nations, Germany, and even the Soviet Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Mao Zedong and his
Union, rebuild their governments, armed forces and followers sought to remake China in their image. From
economies. 1952-1962, Mao initiated the “Great Leap Forward”
by ordering Chinese peasants to create primitive blast
Alarmed by the Berlin crisis, Britain, Canada, Denmark, furnaces and steel mills in an effort to, within a generation,
Iceland, Italy, Norway and Portugal formed the North catapult China into the upper echelon of industrial
Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in April 1948. nations. However, by neglecting agricultural production,
Alliance members pledged to come to the aid of one Mao condemned 15-55 million people to starvation.
another in the case of invasion or internal subversion.
In response, the Soviet Union sponsored the creation Aware that China contained over 95 minorities and
of the Warsaw Pact in 1955, an agreement signed by many individuals still loyal to the old Kuomintang, the
Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania Chinese government and Chinese Communist Party
and the USSR, which promised that an attack on one (CCP) used strongarm tactics to keep the population
would be considered an attack on all. in line. Communist control of schools ensured that
children were fed a steady diet of socialist ideology from
RISE OF CHINA a young age and urged to spy on their parents. Mandarin
became the official language of the government. Mao
By the late 1940s, world attention shifted from Europe even demanded that China’s traditional writing system
to Asia. Since the 1930s, Chiang Kai-Shek’s (1887-1975) be simplified to purge it of class bias. Even powerful
Kuomintang government had been locked in a civil war government officials were often forced to attend party
with Mao Zedong’s (1893-1976) Chinese Communist indoctrination sessions, confess their “crimes” and
forces. Under American diplomatic pressure, Chiang submit to public denunciations. The Chinese secret
and Mao created a coalition government in 1946. The police were everywhere, arresting, torturing and
coalition quickly frayed and by 1949, Mao’s forces forced sentencing thousands of suspected Chinese intellectuals,
the Kuomintang to retreat to the island of Taiwan (also poets, politicians and even military officials to long
known as Formosa). On October 1, 1949, Mao Zedong sentences in “re-education camps.”
Mao Zedong’s Little Red Book, formally known as

Quotations from Chairman Mao Zedong, represented
one of the most influential political tracts of the 20th
century. Compiled in 1964, the book contained 267
sayings attributed to Chairman Mao. Forming a crucial
part of Mao’s cult of personality during the Cultural
Revolution, The "Little Red Book" was modeled on
popular collections of quotes from Chinese scholars like
Confucius and Mencius that Chinese schoolchildren had
used for centuries. In the 1960s, the Chinese Ministry
of Education aimed to give a copy to every Chinese
citizen. Red Guards would also routinely ask whether
ordinary Chinese had a copy with them or whether they
could quote passages from the book from memory. Two
of the most often recited quotes from the "Little Red
The Little Red Book: Quotations from Book" were, “Every Communist must grasp the truth:
Chairman Mao Zedong (1966), First Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun” and
French Edition, Printed in the Peoples’ “A revolution is not a dinner party, or writing an essay,
or painting a picture, or doing embroidery; it cannot be
Republic of China
so refined, so leisurely and gentle, so temperate, kind,
Artist: Photograph by User “Olnnu”
courteous, restrained and magnanimous. A revolution
Source: Wikimedia Commons is an insurrection, an act of violence by which one class
License: CC BY-SA 3.0 | © Olnnu [Photograph] overthrows another.”
From 1966-1976, Mao launched the “Cultural
Revolution.” Although officially designed to combat
corruption and keep the Chinese people in a permanent
state of communist revolution, in reality, the Cultural
Revolution involved creating a cult of personality around
Mao. At Mao’s urging, groups of young people known as
“Red Guards,” indoctrinated by the ceaseless reading of
a collection of their leader’s teachings incorporated in
“Little Red Books,” scoured the Chinese countryside.
They humiliated, beat and killed individuals considered
“capitalist roaders,” destroying churches, temples
and other symbols of China’s past, all with little or no
opposition from Chinese officials. Although figures
vary, it was estimated that over two million people died
during the Cultural Revolution, a movement that did
not officially end until Mao died in 1976.
Pokot women and men during the
DECOLONIZATION IN AFRICA, festivities to mark the 10th anniversary
of Kenya’s independence
ASIA, AND THE MIDDLE EAST
Artist: Unknown
During the Second World War, Allied Powers such as License: CC BY-SA 3.0 | Attributed to Tropenmuseum, part of the
National Museum of World Cultures
Great Britain and the United States enjoyed tremendous
support from their colonies and overseas territories.
The Mau Mau revolt began when poor Kikuyu
Indian Gurkhas, Australian and New Zealand “diggers,” people, having been forced off their traditional land,
and Filipino “hunters” all contributed to the Allied made war against British officials and upper-class,
war effort with the hope of independence for their “Anglicized” members of their communities. Many
homelands when the war was over. The one recurrent Mau Mau adopted British Scout uniforms and merit
theme that ran through the Atlantic Charter, Tehran, badges to fool British soldiers into believing they
were loyal Kenyans. Over time, the Mau Mau began
Yalta, Potsdam Declarations, and the Charter of the to wear scout uniforms as symbols of resistance
United Nations was that of national self-determination and pride.
for all peoples including the developing world. From
the 1940s to the 1970s, Great Britain, Germany, Italy,
Japan, France, Spain, Portugal and the Netherlands were World War II, virtually the entire continent lay
forced to grant independence to most, if not all, of their under the control of one European power or another.
overseas empires. To be sure, many imperialists fought During World War II, 1.3 million Ghanese, Kenyan,
the loss of their overseas territories tooth and nail. As South African, Botswanan, Malawian and Zambian
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill quipped troops served in the British forces and returned home
in November 1942, “I have not become the King’s with a sense of group solidarity and confidence. In
First Minister in order to preside over the liquidation 1960, British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan
of the British Empire.” However, not even a figure as (1894-1986) gave a speech in Johannesburg, South
formidable as Churchill could turn back the forces of Africa, in which he recognized “the wind of change
decolonization in the developing world. blowing through the continent.” Although Britain’s
leaders granted independence to many African
colonies, they fought to keep Kenya and Rhodesia
MAU MAU REBELLION AND (current day Zimbabwe) in the empire.
THE RHODESIAN BRUSH WAR
From 1952-1960, British troops ruthlessly suppressed
From the 1880s to the 1910s, many European nations the Mau Mau Uprising in Kenya. Kikuyu men and
competed in the “scramble for Africa.” By the eve of women who trained to become Mau Mau warriors
193
often believed their initiation rituals would make
them invincible to British bullets. As such, they fought
ALGERIAN WAR FOR
ferociously in battle. British officials killed over 20,000 INDEPENDENCE
Mau Mau during the conflict and placed another 20,000
Kikuyu and other minorities into brutal “labor camps” During the Second World War, most of France’s
that bore more than a passing resemblance to German overseas territories were occupied by Japanese, British,
concentration camps. Although British colonial forces or American forces. This made France’s resumption
defeated the largest Mau Mau army in 1956, they could of power in such areas tenuous at best. Nevertheless,
not stop international pressure and local resistance. At under Charles De Gaulle (1890-1970), a former general
the First Lancaster House Conference, held in 1960, and hero of two World Wars, the French government
British and Kenyan delegates worked out a roadmap attempted to reconstitute its prewar empire.
for a transition government that provided complete
independence for Kenya in 1963. In 1830, French forces invaded and occupied Algeria. For
the next century, thousands of French colonists, known
Kenya’s experience provided a blueprint for other as “pieds-noirs” (black feet), created enclaves throughout
British colonies in Africa to seek their independence. the region and introduced French technology, language
In 1965, the governing white minority population of and culture to the native Algerians. Following World
Rhodesia declared the region’s independence from War II, Messali Hadj’s (1898-1974) Movement for the
the British Empire. This led to the Rhodesian Bush Triumph of Liberal Democracies (MTDL) launched an
War (1964-1979), in which the white-dominated independence movement against French rule.
Rhodesian government fought against several African
revolutionary groups. Placed in the position of While the MTDL publicly campaigned for a peaceful
peacemaker, the British government helped negotiate end to French imperialism, a group of Algerian militants
a cease-fire at the Second Lancaster House Conference known as the Special Organisation (SO) used ambushes,
in 1979. Under the terms of this agreement, white assassinations and bombings to take the fight directly to
settlers agreed to share power with indigenous Africans French soldiers and colonial administrators. Both groups
in a new nation called Zimbabwe, which became fully joined together to form the National Liberation Front,
independent in 1980. which carried on the struggle for independence. After a
decade of fighting and losing 36,000 soldiers and civilians,
De Gaulle’s government finally agreed on a transition plan
that resulted in Algerian independence in 1963.
Women such as Djmila Bouhired (b. 1935) played leading roles

in the Algerian liberation movement. Born into a middle-class
family in colonial Algeria, Bouhired ran into discipline problems
in primary school for shouting “Algeria is our Mother” instead of
the customary “France is our mother” at morning assemblies.
Becoming an active demonstrator against French imperialism,
the dedicated and determined Bouhired once endured 17 hours
of torture at the hand of colonial officials without revealing any
useful information. In July 1957, French authorities arrested
Bouhired on charges of bombing a café that killed 11 people.
French attorney Jacques Verges agreed to represent Bouhired
at trial. In a sensational courtroom event that garnered
international attention, Verges accused French colonial officials
of carrying out the bombing. When a jury found Bouhired
guilty and sentenced her to death by guillotine, protest groups
campaigned on her behalf. Due to the personal intervention of
Samia Lakhdari, Zohra Drif, Djamila
Moroccan Princess Laila Ayesha, French President René Coty
Bouhired, Hassiba Bent-Bouali commuted Bouhired’s punishment to life imprisonment. After
Artist: Unknown
serving five years at a prison in Reims, she was released in
Source: Wikimedia Commons 1962 as part of a general amnesty policy.
Having received the tentative approval of Joseph Stalin
KOREAN WAR but not Mao Zedong, Kim launched a 100,000-man
army complete with Soviet-built T-34 tanks and Mig-
Throughout the early 1950s, government officials,
15 planes across the 38th parallel in June 1950 in an
congressmen, media moguls and ordinary Americans
attempt to unite the Korean Peninsula by force. The
asked the perennial question, “Who had lost China?”
North Korean army quickly overran Seoul and bottled
Federal officials produced NSC-68, a memorandum
up South Korean and U.S. forces in the southern coastal
that stated the United States needed to commit to
city of Busan.
“the rapid building up of the political, economic and
military strength of the free world” to offset Soviet and
Viewing the invasion of South Korea as a real test for
Chinese aggression.
the United States and its commitment to containment,
the Truman administration secured a mandate from the
At the end of World War II, Soviet forces liberated
United Nations to defend its ally. In September 1950,
northern Korea while American forces occupied
World II hero, U.S. General and postwar governor of
southern Korea. Both Allied powers established a border
Japan, Douglas MacArthur landed 75,000 U.S. and
between their occupation zones at the 38th parallel.
allied troops at Inchon, relieving pressure on Busan and
Over the next five years the Soviet Union provided
retaking Seoul. Backed by the Truman administration,
arms and assistance to Communist hardliner Kim Il-
MacArthur planned not just to liberate South Korea but
Sung (1912- 1994) while the United States backed the
roll back communism in the north. Despite repeated
conservative government of Princeton graduate and
threats of intervention from Beijing, MacArthur’s troops
English-speaking Syngman Rhee (1875-1965) in Seoul.
occupied Pyongyang and pushed North Korean forces
Gojong of the Korean Empire Wearing

Western Style Uniform
Artist: Unknown
Korea and Japan experienced a tumultuous relationship

in the 1800s and 1900s. For centuries the Kingdom
of Korea had been a vassal state to the Chinese Qing
dynasty until, in 1895, Japan defeated China in the
First Sino-Japanese War. With China no longer able
to influence Korean affairs, Japanese merchants,
diplomats and colonists soon began migrating to
the peninsula. By 1905, Tokyo demanded that Korea
accept Japanese supervision over its government and
become a protectorate of Japan. In 1907, Japanese
officials pressured the Korean Emperor Gojong (1852-
1919) to give up the throne in favor of his son, the
crown prince Sunjong (1874-1926). They soon forced
Sunjong to sign a treaty that allowed Japan to annex
Korea. Although the United States had signed a treaty
of friendship with Korea in 1882, the administration of
Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) refused to intervene.
The Japanese colonial government suppressed Korean
history, language and cultural teaching and began a
campaign to force Koreans to accept Japanese names
and cultural identities. Thousands of Koreans resisted
through boycotts, strikes and guerilla warfare. Following
Japan’s defeat in World War II, Korea became divided
into Soviet and American spheres of influence.
195
to the Yalu River. When UN forces bombed bridges
over the Yalu, a 200,000 poorly armed yet determined
Chinese “volunteer” army moved into Korea on October
19. Chinese and North Korean troops pushed UN forces
south using human wave tactics and the brutal Korean
winter to maximum advantage. MacArthur publicly
demanded the authority to use nuclear weapons
against China. President Truman worried about the
Soviet reaction and aware that the Soviet Union had
successfully tested an atomic bomb in 1949, decided to
relieve MacArthur of command. Battle lines stabilized
near the 38th parallel, as the war continue to drag on.
EISENHOWER AND
THE COLD WAR
In the U.S. Presidential election of 1952, Dwight
Eisenhower (1890-1959), a moderate Republican, retired
Army general and architect of D-Day, easily defeated
Democrat Adlai Stevenson (1900-1965). Eisenhower
and his militantly anti-communist Secretary of State
John Foster Dulles (1888-1959) reduced conventional
armed forces and increased America’s stockpile of
nuclear weapons in a strategy of “massive retaliation.”
Seeking an end to the stalemate in Korea and taking
advantage of the death of Joseph Stalin in March 1953,
the Eisenhower administration supported an armistice
General of the Army Douglas MacArthur agreed to by the USSR, China, the United States and
smoking his corncob pipe, probably at North Korea (although not initially by South Korea).
Manila, Philippine Islands, August 2, 1945. Signed in July in the border town of Panmunjom, the
armistice remains in effect down to the present, making
Artist: Unknown
Source: Wikimedia Commons the Korean War the most protracted armed conflict in
License: Public Domain recent history.
Born in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1880, Douglas IRANIAN INTERVENTION AND

MacArthur (1880-1964) graduated first in his West
Point class in 1903. In 1941, he coordinated resistance THE FIRST INDOCHINA WAR
to the Japanese invasion of the Philippines. When
ordered to retreat to Australia, he promised the Filipino Although Eisenhower fulfilled his campaign to end
people, “I shall return.” Three years later, he fulfilled the fighting in Korea, his administration engaged in
his promise, wading to shore to demonstrate his
other theaters of the Cold War. Angered by an Anglo-
resolve. Following the war, MacArthur was appointed
Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers in Japan. American monopoly over their oil fields, Iranians
A stern operator, he oversaw the distribution of aid backed the progressive government of Prime Minister
to the Japanese population, restarted the national Mohammad Mosaddeq (1882-1967) in 1951. Two
economy, supervised the rebuilding efforts and years later, the CIA helped Shah Reza Pahlavi (1919-
helped create a new Japanese Constitution in 1947.
1980) launch a military coup against the left-leaning
In 1950, MacArthur was given command over UN
forces in Korea. government of Prime Minister Mosaddeq.
In September 1940, the Japanese Empire conquered the with Russian and Chinese support. From 1946-1954, the
French colonial possession of Indochina (modern-day Viet Minh fought an increasingly successful war against
Vietnam). School teacher turned revolutionary Ho Chi French forces. In 1954, Vietnamese troops surrounded
Minh (1890-1969) launched a guerilla movement against and destroyed a well-armed French garrison at Dien
the Japanese and their Vichy French collaborators. The Bien Phu. Exhausted from decades of fighting, the
United States and Great Britain provided weapons and French announced to the United States their intention
logistical support for the rebels. As Japanese forces to retreat from Vietnam. Although declining to aid
abandoned the region in 1945, Ho proclaimed the the French directly, Eisenhower and Dulles instead
Republic of Vietnam. Hoping for U.S. recognition, Ho poured money and military aid into Ngo Dinh Diem’s
and his followers were dismayed when the Truman (1901-1963) anti-communist government in the newly
administration announced that it would support the created republic of South Vietnam. At the same time,
return of Indochina to the French. Ho then ordered his Eisenhower dispatched the U.S. Navy to defend Taiwan
Viet Minh forces to fight the French occupiers, this time during intense shelling from the Chinese mainland.
Ho Chi Minh (third

from left standing)
and the OSS in 1945
Artist: US Army
Ho Chi Minh was born into a family of scholars and CIA. At the end of the conflict, Ho Chi Minh declared
teachers in Hoang Tru, Vietnam, in 1890. He received the creation of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam
a traditional Confucian education before traveling on September 2, 1945. When France began military
to France, the United States and Great Britain. operations to retake Vietnam, Ho’s Viet Minh forces
While living in Paris from 1919-1923, he became retaliated. From 1946-1954, Ho waged a successful
involved with the French socialist movement. He war against French forces, achieving a significant
had unsuccessfully petitioned the delegates at victory against them at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu,
the 1919 Paris Peace Conference to recognize the where more than 10,000 French soldiers surrendered
independence of Vietnam. From 1923-1924, he to the Viet Minh. In 1954, France pulled out of
attended the Communist University of the Toilers Vietnam, and the United Nations called for a general
of the East in Moscow before returning to Vietnam. election in 1956 to decide the country’s future.
Traveling widely throughout Europe and Asia in the South Vietnamese leader Ngo Dinh Diem refused to
1930s, he furthered his education in Russia and participate in the election and created the Republic
worked with communist forces in China. In 1941, of Vietnam, headquartered in Saigon. Ho Chi Minh
Japanese imperial forces seized Vietnam. Ho returned created a new revolutionary movement, the Viet
home to create the Viet Minh resistance movement. Cong, to overthrow Diem’s regime and its American
During the Second World War, Ho received military backers. Although Ho died in 1969, his movement to
supplies and medical treatment from the American unify Vietnam came to fruition with the fall of Saigon
Office of Strategic Services (OSS), a precursor of the in 1975.
197
Throughout the 1950s, the Eisenhower administration By the late 1950s, the Eisenhower administration
sponsored projects such as Radio Free Europe and attempted to deemphasize tensions with the Soviet
Radio Liberation to encourage dissension and revolt Union. In 1953, Russian reformer Nikita Khrushchev
behind the Iron Curtain. Yet when Soviet troops and (1894-1971) became the premier of the Soviet Union.
tanks crushed riots in East Germany in 1953 and a Denouncing Stalin’s brutal purges in a secret party
full-fledged uprising in Hungary three years later, the meeting in 1956, he implemented a policy of freeing
U.S. failed to intervene. The United States worked in some political prisoners, allowing the publication of
partnership with the Soviet Union to end a joint seizure critical accounts of life under Stalinism, permitting
of the Suez Canal by British, French and Israeli forces Russian citizens to travel abroad in large numbers,
in 1956. The successful launch of Sputnik I, the first and pursuing closer ties with the West. This created
artificial satellite to be launched into orbit, encouraged an enormous rift with Mao Zedong, who condemned
American Cold War strategists to consider that the Khrushchev’s speech and designated himself the true
Soviet Union might possess the ability to strike the U.S. inheritor of Lenin’s and Stalin’s socialist legacies.
with nuclear-tipped missiles from half a world away.
CUBAN REVOLUTION
During the Cold War, countries were pressured to embrace
democracy or socialism. While a few countries joined
what is known as the non-aligned movement, a group
of countries that strove not to be drawn into the clash of
superpowers, those closer to America or the Soviet Union
were not always free to make a choice. Being only 90 miles
off the coast of Florida, Cuba was a vital ally to the United
States. Cuba, however, did not have much experience
Premier Nikita S. Artist: U.S. Department

of Agriculture
Khrushchev Pats Source: Wikimedia
High Milk Producer Commons
License: Public
Domain
In 1959, Khrushchev toured Los Angeles, New

York, Pittsburgh, Iowa and Washington DC.
Having been raised in a farming family, he
particularly enjoyed his time in Iowa, where
he toured Iowa State University’s agricultural
education program. An enthusiastic supporter
of corn production, he hoped to duplicate the
success of Iowa’s corn industry in the Soviet
Union. He also wanted Eisenhower to visit the
USSR. This invitation was revoked after the
downing of an American U2 spy plane caught Batista’s Artist: Cuban government
Source: Wikimedia
flying over Soviet airspace in May 1960. Presidential Photo Commons
Gold-Coated Telephone Given as a
Gift to Batista by the International
Telegraph and Telephone Company
Artist: User “Gomera-b”
with democracy, having had a long history of autocratic Fidel Castro (1926-2016) would emerge as Batista's
rule. During the colonial period, Cubans had little role in toughest critic and rival. A long-time radical, Castro,
the running of the government and, after independence while studying law, became increasingly active in
(1902), had a string of dictators who ruled with an iron student politics and after graduation, established his
fist. In 1933, one such dictator, a 32-year-old sergeant by own law firm. Critical of Batista’s government, Castro
the name of Fulgencio Batista (1901-1973), seized control even brought legal actions against the dictator. This
of the government. Batista would manage the government was a dangerous game. It also taught Fidel that law
directly or through puppet governments until 1944 when in a lawless state was useless and that violence, as
his candidate for the presidency lost the election. Batista
returned to power in 1951 after staging a bloodless coup.
This is known as Batista’s second dictatorship.
Although he had once been dedicated to social reform,

upon returning to power in 1951, Batista was more
focused on winning the support of the Cuban elite and
increasing his personal fortune. Batista worked with the
United States and its corporations to attract investment
in Cuba. In a few short years, American investors came
to own a majority of Cuba’s public utilities, its railways
and mines. The ultimate symbol of the profits made
by American corporations was the gold-coated phone
given by ITT Corporation to Batista after he approved
a large and, for ITT, very profitable telephone rate
increase. Batista’s new approach caused him to lose the Fidel Castro and Artist: Unknown
support of many Cubans, who began looking for new His Men in the License: Public Domain
alternatives to his government. Sierra Maestra
199
Portrait of Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevera
Artist: Alberto Korda
“Che” Guevara and

Fidel Castro
Artist: Alberto Korda
advocated by Lenin, was the only vehicle for social

change. Concluding that he could no longer tolerate
the Batista regime, Castro first attempted to overthrow
the state in 1953 with an unsuccessful attack on a
provincial army barracks. Sent to prison, Castro was
released in 1955.
Wanting to continue his efforts against Batista, Fidel

traveled to Mexico with his brother Raul (b. 1931).
In Mexico, they would be introduced to the young
Argentine Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara (1928-1967). A trained
doctor who had become a leading Marxist, Che joined
the brothers in their quest against Batista and would
later be a martyr to the cause of worldwide revolution.
In December 1956, Fidel set sail with 81 others to unseat
Batista’s government. Ambushed by government forces,
less than 20 would survive the landing. Refusing to Cubans and American corporations was taken and
surrender, they fled to the mountains. The rebels would repurposed for the use of the new government. This
recruit, repel and eventually defeat Batista’s forces. increased tensions with the United States. In 1960,
Castro signed a Cuban-Soviet deal to trade sugar for
On New Years’ Eve 1958, Batista said goodbye, and early crude oil. Given the cold-war atmosphere, U.S.-owned
the following day, he flew to the Dominican Republic, oil refineries reacted to this deal by refusing to process
taking his family, close associates, and a substantial the oil. Castro responded by nationalizing the refineries.
fortune with him. On January 1, 1959, revolutionary The U.S. then embargoed exports to Cuba and stopped
forces took control of Havana. buying sugar. Castro reacted by nationalizing more U.S.
companies. By January 1961, the U.S.-Cuban split had
Castro moved quickly to consolidate his power as he been complete as trade and movement between the two
began the nationalization process. The property of countries was severely restricted.
Map of Cuba, Showing the Bay of Pigs Artist: User “Zleitzen”
In April 1961, an operation known as the Bay of Pigs

was launched to remove Castro from power. Led by
Cuban exiles and funded covertly by the United States,
the failed operation increased Castro’s power while also
strengthening relations between the Soviets and Cuba.
The Bay of Pigs accelerated Soviet interest in Cuba. To

ensure Soviet influence over a territory near the U.S.,
Khrushchev sent large sums of economic, technical
and military aid to Cuba. By 1962, the Soviets began
secretly importing into Cuba, ballistic missiles capable
of carrying nuclear warheads into the U.S.
On October 22, 1962, President John F. Kennedy (1917-

1963) demanded that the missiles be removed from
Cuba. Kennedy then imposed a naval blockade on
the island as Soviet ships advanced toward Cuba. On
October 27, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev informed
Kennedy that he would remove the missiles if the U.S.
agreed not to attack Cuba. No one bothered to tell
Castro. Enraged, Castro sent Cuban soldiers to take
over the missile sites. The Soviets defended the missiles
and took them back to the Soviet Union.
During Castro’s time as the leader of Cuba, the economy

relied heavily on the Soviet Union and it was in much
trouble, especially after the break-up of the Soviet Union
in 1991. While the effects of the Cuban revolution John F. Kennedy in the Oval Office
continue to be debated today, one thing is clear; Fidel
Artist: Cecil Stoughton
Castro turned a small Caribbean nation into one of the Source: Wikimedia Commons
world’s best-known and most talked about places. License: Public Domain
201
police (Stasi), a controlled educational system, and
BERLIN WALL constant inculcation of communist ideology.
Although the Caribbean proved an important theatre in
In summer 1963, U.S. President John F. Kennedy visited
the Cold War in the early 1960s, it was not the only one.
West Germany, including a trip to West Berlin. In front
Throughout the 1960s, thousands of East Germans and
of the West Berlin Rathaus Schoneberg (city hall),
other groups living behind the Iron Curtain migrated
Kennedy gave a rousing speech in which he declared,
to the West, often through the free city of West Berlin.
“Ich bin ein Berliner” (I am a Berliner). Although
Worried about losing skilled labor, East German and
Kennedy primarily sought to show solidarity with a key
Soviet officials slowly choked off migration to the West.
Cold War ally, his speech helped cement, in the eyes of
On August 12, 1961, East German officials sealed the
many Americans and Europeans, the perception that
border with West Berlin. Over the next several weeks,
the West stood for freedom, opportunity and the future.
brick walls topped by barbed wire, minefields, and a no
In contrast, the Eastern Bloc appeared to be a closed
man’s land sprang up between East and West Berlin.
police state trapped in the past.
Although limited amounts of travel and trade between
West and East Germany continued throughout the Cold LBJ AND THE VIETNAM WAR
War, the Berlin Wall essentially sealed both societies off
from one another. Linked to the United States and NATO, A little over a year after the resolution of the Cuban
West Germany became more capitalistic, individualistic Missile Crisis, a disgruntled former marine and defector
and materialistic. Dominated by Russia, East Germany named Lee Harvey Oswald (1939-1963) assassinated
was characterized by single-party rule, state control of President Kennedy in Dallas, Texas on November 22,
the economy, a police state complete with the secret 1963. Kennedy’s successor, Lyndon Baynes Johnson
President John F. Kennedy Speaks at Artist: Cecil W. Stoughton

Rudolph Wilde Platz in Berlin, Germany License: Public Domain
President Lyndon B.
Johnson signs “Gulf of
Tonkin” resolution
Artist: Cecil W. Stoughton
(1908-1973), proved a key figure in the Cold War. A McGeorge Bundy (1919-1996), Johnson began to send
Texas native, admirer of Franklin Roosevelt, and former American combat troops to Vietnam.
Senate majority leader, Johnson had little foreign
policy experience. After being sworn in as president, Throughout the early 1960s, North and South Vietnam
LBJ primarily concentrated on domestic issues, using fought a bloody civil war. Communist China supported
the death of JFK to push through the Civil Rights Act the North Vietnamese, while the United States backed
of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965, and declaring the regime of Ngo Dien Diem in Saigon. In early August
war on poverty with an expansive set of social welfare 1964, the U.S. Navy destroyers U.S.S. Maddox and U.S.S.
programs known as the Great Society. Turner Joy were patrolling the Gulf of Tonkin off the
coast of North Vietnam. On August 2, three North
Initially, Johnson continued to uphold the foreign Vietnamese patrol boats engaged in a skirmish with
policy initiatives of his predecessors. In 1964, the the Maddox. Two days later, the Maddox and Turner
People’s Republic of China detonated its first nuclear Joy reported another attack and returned fire. However,
bomb and edged closer to displacing Taiwan as the conflicting reports stated that the American destroyers
official representative for China on the UN Security fired at what they thought was a second attack, although
Council. The Johnson administration responded by no North Vietnamese ships were actually spotted. In
increasing U.S. military and economic assistance to Ngo any case, President Johnson appeared live on television
Dinh Diem’s South Vietnamese government. However, before the American public to report the attacks and
Ho Chi Minh’s Viet Cong movement, supplied by both announce his intention to retaliate. On August 7,
the USSR and the PRC, only continued to increase Congress agreed to the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution,
in manpower and popularity. Relying on a cadre of providing the President with wide latitude to conduct
Kennedy appointees including Defense Secretary military operations in Vietnam. It was the closest the
Robert S. McNamara (1916-2009), Secretary of State United States ever came to formally declaring war on
Dean Rusk (1909-1994) and National Security Advisor North Vietnam.
203
Following the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, President Republic of Vietnam) in a process he referred to as the
Johnson ordered massive bombing campaigns against “Vietnamization” of the conflict.
North Vietnam and sent over 300,000 American troops
to reinforce the South Vietnamese military. American In 1970, former Pentagon employee Daniel Ellsberg
special forces trained South Vietnamese soldiers, (b. 1931) published classified documents showing that
sent long-range reconnaissance patrols deep into the American officials had greatly exaggerated American
Vietnamese countryside to stop flows of weapons and victories in Vietnam while hiding the number of
supplies to communist insurgents, and helped to build American casualties from the public. Nixon’s secretary
up the South Vietnamese infrastructure. of state, Henry Kissinger (b. 1923), conducted shuttle
diplomacy with Soviet, Chinese and North Vietnamese
Led by General William Westmoreland (1914-2005), diplomats to negotiate a gradual withdrawal of U.S.
the U.S. military in Vietnam had a large technological forces from South Vietnam. By 1973, all U.S. soldiers
advantage over the North Vietnamese forces. were withdrawn from Vietnam.
However, the Viet Cong’s use of guerilla warfare and
their widespread support among the people more than Since 1946, North Vietnamese forces had fought against
made up for this advantage. In January 1968, Viet Cong the Japanese, French and Americans. In 1973, President
and North Vietnam forces launched the Tet Offensive, Richard Nixon announced that the “Americanization”
a series of attacks on over 100 American military of the war was complete and ordered U.S. troops to turn
targets throughout South Vietnam. This caused many over military operations to their South Vietnamese
Americans, including leading members of the media counterparts. Backed by the Soviet Union and the
like Walter Cronkite (1916-2009), to question whether People’s Republic of China, North Vietnamese forces
the war could still be won. Worried about the draft, began infiltrating the south. By April 1975, the North
thousands of young Americans took to the street Vietnamese army approached Saigon, triggering a
to protest the war. The war became so controversial panic among the city’s residents. Thousands of South
that LBJ pledged not to run for re-election in 1968. Vietnamese that had worked with American forces
Former vice president and Communist hardliner fled by sea. Helicopters evacuated American embassy
Richard M. Nixon (1913-1994) defeated Democrat personnel and their dependents. At 2:30 p.m. on April
Hubert Humphrey (1911-1978) to become U.S. 30, South Vietnamese Doung Van Minh (1916-2001)
president. Promising Americans “peace with honor,” took to the airwaves to announce that his government
Nixon increased bombing on North Vietnam but had surrendered and that the Republic of Vietnam no
gradually began transferring responsibility for the longer existed. In 1976, North and South Vietnam were
defense of South Vietnam over to ARVN (Army of the merged creating the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
A boat with refugees next to

the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier
USS Midway (CVA-41) during
“Operation Frequent Wind” in
the South China Sea
Artist: US Navy
that the USSR could not keep up with American military
THE END OF THE COLD WAR spending, Gorbachev announced the new policies of
glasnost (openness and transparency) and perestroika
For the rest of the 1970s, the United States remained
(restructuring). Above all, Gorbachev sought to allow
preoccupied with domestic issues such as the decline of
criticism of the government and to open Russia’s
the steel belt, drastic increases in oil prices, stagflation,
state-run economy to liberal reforms.However, the
the Iranian hostage crisis, and the Soviet invasion of
pace of change soon outstripped the ability of Soviet
Afghanistan. The one diplomatic breakthrough during
officials to control its effects. In November 1989,
this period was the improvement of diplomatic relations
Soviet and East German leaders agreed to tear down
between the United States and the People’s Republic of
the Berlin Wall. As thousands of Eastern Europeans
China. Following the success of Communist forces in the
fled to freedom in the West, Poland, Czechoslovakia,
Chinese Civil War in 1949, the United States refused to
Hungary, Bulgaria, Ukraine and the Baltic states
recognize Mao Zedong’s regime. Chinese intervention
began withdrawing from the USSR and turning their
in the Korean War and support for Ho Chi Minh’s
backs on communist ideology. Following a failed coup
Viet Cong forces in the Vietnam War likewise hobbled
against Gorbachev’s regime, Soviet leaders disbanded
efforts at dialogue. In 1969, Sino-Soviet relations began
the USSR in December 1991.
to deteriorate. This was caused, in part, by a border
dispute which, in 1969, led to Soviet and Chinese troops
engaging in a brief shooting war over the ownership of TIANANMEN MASSACRE
Zhenbao Island on the Ussuri River near Manchuria.
Events took a different turn in China. The collapse of
In the meantime, the Nixon administration’s desire the Soviet Union created tremendous demands for
for Chinese support for aiding America’s exit from political, economic and social change among ordinary
Vietnam provided an opportunity for a thaw in Sino- Chinese citizens. Uncertain of what to do, the Chinese
U.S. relations. After several meetings between Chinese government of Deng Xiaoping made minor concessions
officials and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, and played for time. However, throughout spring 1989,
President Richard Nixon made a highly advertised thousands of demonstrators congregated in Tiananmen
goodwill trip to Beijing in 1972, meeting with Chinese Park in Beijing, where Mao Zedong had proclaimed
Party Chairman Mao Zedong and Premier Zhou Enlai the existence of the PRC exactly four decades before.
(1898-1976). During the trip, the parties discussed Building makeshift monuments to freedom and
the possibility of diplomatic recognition and closer marching with placards, hundreds of demonstrators
economic and cultural ties between China and the camped overnight in the park. Chinese officials
United States. When Mao died four years later, moderate negotiated with the protesters while building up police
reformer Deng Xiaoping (1904-1997) came to power. and military forces surrounding Tiananmen. When
In 1978, President Jimmy Carter (b. 1924) and Deng talks stalled, Deng ordered the military to disperse the
established diplomatic relations. To reassure America’s crowd on June 4. Even to this day, it is estimated that
Taiwanese allies, Congress passed the Taiwan Relations hundreds, possibly thousands, of demonstrators died
Act of 1979, which required the U.S. to defend Taiwan in the ensuing conflict. Although the United States and
in case of invasion. other Western countries imposed economic and cultural
sanctions on China, East-West relations were restored
The election of conservative Republican Ronald Reagan by the time of the Clinton Administration in 1993. As
(1911-2004) in 1980 brought about a resurgence in a result of the Tiananmen Massacre, the CCP sent a
Cold War tensions. Dismissing the Soviet Union as message that although it would continue to liberalize
an “evil empire,” Reagan drastically increased military economically, it would tolerate no social liberalization
spending, provided additional military and economic or threats to its power.
aid to allies in the third world, and began a massive
military build-up of both conventional and nuclear Although official accounts vary, it is estimated that
forces. In 1985, Michael Gorbachev (1931-2022) 50,000-100,000 demonstrators gathered in Tiananmen
became general secretary of the Politburo. Realizing Square from April-June, 1989. Students from all over
205
China represented the largest number of protesters.
Following the Chinese government’s crackdown on
June 4, many students were imprisoned or forced to flee
the country.
Few images of the Tiananmen Square Massacre are

as iconic as that of “Tank Man,” a lone demonstrator
who faced down four Chinese tanks on June 5, 1989.
Dressed in a white shirt and black trousers, the man
refused to back down. The tank drivers remained in
place, unwilling to spark an international incident. To
this day, the identity of Tank Man remains unknown.
However, he has become a symbol of resistance to the
heavy hand of the PRC government and a reminder of Students on Tian'anmen Square, China 1989
protesters who were killed or imprisoned due to their Artist: Jiří Tondl
participation in the demonstrations. License: CC BY 2.0 | © Jiří Tondl
SUMMARY
The Cold War was a unique kind of conflict. Deeply ideological, the Cold War pitted supporters of
democratic government, capitalism and individualism against proponents of one-party political systems,
socialist economic planning and the collective good. On another level the war represented a struggle
between the world’s two most powerful nations. Although the Cold War did explode into real conflict—
Korea and Vietnam for instance – it was largely a war carried out in the shadows, involving boycotts,
propaganda and national reputations. Although the United States and its allies won the war, significant
geopolitical issues remained to be solved.
Although the Soviet Union was dismantled, Russia remained a viable state. The role that Russians, in
shock and angered by the loss of the Cold War but still possessing a powerful conventional military
and nuclear arsenal, would play on the world stage remained to be determined. Although the countries
of Eastern Europe were now free, their economies remained fragile. Poles, Hungarians, Czechs and
Slovaks now had to determine if their nations would progress with free markets or some form of
capitalist-socialist hybrid system. Germans now openly discussed the possibility of reunification. But
what type of relationship would a unified Germany have with its neighbors? Although a key U.S. ally in
the Cold War, Japan now stood as a nation with a powerful economy that could increasingly say no to
the will of the American government. Finally, as the Tiananmen Square Massacre revealed, although the
People’s Republic of China had liberalized key sectors of its economy, it would not reform its political or
constitutional system. Therefore, although there was much to celebrate at the end of the Cold War, the
people of the world looked forward to the end of the 20th century with a mixture of hope and uncertainty.
15 The Modern
World
President Reagan is giving his famous speech 1984 at the Artist: Unknown
Berlin Wall behind the Brandenburg Gate on the West License: Public Domain
Berlin side.
Created in 1961 by the East German government to Following the announcement of Mikhail Gorbachev’s
prevent local citizens from fleeing to the West, the liberalizing glasnost and perestroika policies of the
Berlin Wall represented a collection of bunkers, guard mid-1980s, the pro-Kremlin East German government
towers and barbed wire fences that spanned 96 miles faced public pressure to reform. Bowing to such
through downtown Berlin. In three decades, over 140 pressures, GDR Politburo Member Gunter Schabowski
people were killed trying to cross the barrier. As the announced in a November 9, 1989 press conference that
Cold War intensified, the Berlin Wall became a symbol the East German government would allow freedom of
of communist oppression. travel between the two Germanys. When a reporter
207
Map Shows the Berlin Wall and the Border
Control Checkpoints until 1989.
Artist: User “de:Benutzer:Sansculotte”

License: GNU FDL and the CC BY-SA 2.0 DE |
© de:Benutzer:Sansculotte
1986 picture of the Berlin Wall in

Bethaniendamm, the West Berlin
side brightly painted
Artist: Noir
asked when this policy would take effect, the startled officials Source: Wikimedia Commons
responded, “As far as I know—immediately, without delay.” License: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike
3.0 Unported | © Noir
Within minutes of Schabowski’s statement, East German
crowds took sledgehammers to the Berlin Wall, a hated symbol
of Soviet repression. When border guards refused to fire on the
Mauerspechte (wallpeckers), East Germans began climbing
over the wall to be greeted with flowers and champagne from
elated West Berliners. The fall of the Berlin Wall marked a
crucial moment in the emergence of a post-Cold War world.
This chapter discusses the political, economic and social factors
that led to the fall of the Soviet Union and the emergence of a
“new world order.”
Completed in 1791 as a monument to King Frederick Wilhelm

of Prussia, the Brandenburg Gate represented one of the most
famous landmarks in Berlin. Located near the Berlin Wall on the
West German side, the gate served as a symbol of hope and
unity during the Cold War. Most famously, it served as the site
for U.S. President John F. Kennedy’s June 26, 1963 “Ich bin ein
Berliner” speech. The gate was also a popular rallying point for
demonstrators during the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
Fall of the Berliner Wall

November 9, 1989
Artist: Roland Blunck

Source: Standard License (Purchased by ETSU)
License: iStockPhoto.com/RolandBlunck
208 CHAPTER 15 THE MODERN WORLD

1924) administrations to create the Strategic Arms
THE FALL OF Limitation Treaties (SALT I and SALT II), which
THE SOVIET UNION limited the stockpiles of nuclear arms each nation
could possess and the circumstances under which
The death of Joseph Stalin in March 1953 created a such weapons could be used. However, any hopes for
power vacuum in the Kremlin. Georgy Malenkov (1901- a breakthrough in the nuclear arms race ended with
1988), a loyal Stalinist, initially emerged as the new the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Since the end
premier. However, less than two years later, the popular of the Second World War, both Soviet and Western
political reformer Nikita Khrushchev replaced the dour diplomats had treated Afghanistan as a buffer state. Yet
Malenkov as the key powerbroker in Moscow. In a in 1973, the Soviet-backed leader of the Afghanistan
secret speech delivered to the 20th Party Congress on socialist party Mohammed Daoud Khan (1909-1978)
February 14, 1956, Khrushchev condemned Stalin for seized control of Kabul and announced the creation
“his intolerance, his brutality, and his abuse of power” of the left-leaning Republic of Afghanistan. Offended
against “not only against actual enemies but also against by Khan’s Marxist government and its support from
individuals who had not committed any crimes against the Soviets, many Muslim chieftains who controlled
the party or the Soviet Government.” Over the next two the surrounding countryside worked to undermine
years, Khrushchev shuttered “GULAG” labor camps, both Khan and his Soviet allies. From 1979-1989,
freed thousands of political prisoners, eased travel Mujahedeen (those who struggle) forces used guerrilla
restrictions to and from the USSR, and announced tactics—ambushes, assassinations, bombings and hit-
a “peaceful cooperation” policy with the West. To be and-run attacks—to wear down Soviet forces. In a
certain, Khruschev did not hesitate to brutally crush an striking parallel to the United States’ defeat in Vietnam,
uprising in Hungary in 1956. Nevertheless, his tenure as the Soviet-Afghan War sapped the USSR of manpower,
premier marked a definite thaw in the Cold War. morale and resources. The conflict also economically
and diplomatically isolated the Soviet Union in the eyes
During the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, U.S. President of the world community.
John F. Kennedy successfully prevented the installation
of Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba. Soviet leaders
blamed Khruschev for caving to Western pressure and
SOLIDARITY MOVEMENT
two years later backed Leonid Brezhnev (1906-1982)
Throughout the 1970s, many Eastern Europeans
to become the new premier. A communist hardliner,
became frustrated by rising food prices and declining
Brezhnev rolled back many of the Khruschev-era
living standards. In June 1976, Polish Prime Minister
reforms. For instance, in what became known as the
Piotr Jaroszewicz (1909-1992) announced drastic price
“Brezhnev Doctrine,” the Soviet leader argued that any
increases for essential goods such as butter, meat and
attempt to overthrow a socialist government in the
sugar. When an estimated 20,000 Warsaw residents
Eastern Bloc threatened all socialist nations throughout
took to the streets in protest, state security services
the region and justified invasion by the Soviet Union
lying in wait launched a vicious crackdown. Realizing
and its Warsaw Pact allies. Brezhnev used this rationale
they had a common enemy, Polish labor unions joined
to justify the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in
forces with intellectuals to create the Worker’s Defense
1968 to suppress the reform movement known as the
Party (KOR) to provide a united front that look to build
“Prague Spring.” Brezhnev restored many state controls
a better Poland.
over the Soviet economy, emphasizing slow and steady
industrial and agricultural growth. Although this
In 1980, electrical engineer Lech Walesa (b. 1943)
approach allowed the Soviet economy to avoid the
worked closely with KOR to launch a strike at the
boom-and-bust cycles of Western nations it also came
Gdansk shipyards. Similar strikes quickly broke out
at the expense of chronic shortages of consumer goods
across the nation. Walesa coordinated with local strike
and stagnated living standards throughout the USSR.
leaders to form the Inter-Enterprise Strike Committee.
On August 17, Walesa, speaking for the committee,
In terms of foreign policy, Brezhnev sought to prevent
issued a list of 21 demands to the Polish government,
another Cuban Missile Crisis by working with the
including the right to create labor unions, collectively
Nixon (1913-1994), Ford (1913-2006) and Carter (b.
bargain, and go on strike. Two weeks later, the Polish
209
Born the son of an army officer and teacher in 1931,
Karol Józef Wojtyła (1920-2005) attended an underground
seminary in Nazi-occupied Warsaw. Finishing his
theological studies in Rome, he rose quickly through the
ranks of the Polish clergy. In 1978, he became Pope Jean
Paul II, the first non-Italian pontiff in nearly 500 years.
Lending the moral weight of the Roman Catholic Church to
the solidarity movement, the newly installed pope quickly
attracted millions of followers on both sides of the Iron
Curtain. John-Paul II also steered the Catholic Church on a
more conservative course away from the liberation theology
and Vatican II movements of the 1960s. In May 1981,
Turkish extremist Mehmet Ali Ağca (b. 1958) attempted to
assassinate the Pope. John-Paul II not only recovered but
met with and forgave his assailant in prison. As a religious
leader who could command respect amongst Polish dock
workers and Vatican hardliners, John-Paul II became one
of the most popular pontiffs in church history.
Pope John Paul II in Krakow—1983
Artist: Unknown
government agreed to the demands. Strike Committee Reagan became governor of California from 1967-1975.
leaders formally reorganized themselves as the National By utilizing a cheerful, upbeat “Morning in America”
Coordinating Committee of the Solidarność (Solidarity) campaign, Reagan won a landslide election as U.S.
Free Trade Union with Walesa as chairman. Declaring president in 1980. He used his training as an actor to
the solidarity movement illegal in 1982, Prime Minister convince American voters that expansive government
Jaroszewicz arrested its leaders. Awarded the Nobel could not solve longstanding social problems and
Peace Prize in 1983, Walesa defused political tensions stymied individual creativity and responsibility. A fierce
with Polish authorities by sending his wife Miroslawa “Cold Warrior,” Reagan dismissed the Soviet Union as
Danuta (b. 1949) to receive the award on his behalf. an “evil empire,” while seeking to roll back socialism
in Latin America, and sponsoring a massive military
As the archbishop of Krakow and later Pope Wojtyła, build-up to defend American interests abroad.
worked tirelessly to provide meeting space for solidarity
leaders, protect political prisoners from arrest and In pushing his anti-communist message, Reagan found
torture, and pressure the Polish government to release a willing partner in Margaret Thatcher, the first female
innocent workers whose only crime was attempting to British Prime Minister. Born into a family of grocers
organize and strike for better living conditions. John in Lincolnshire, Thatcher studied chemistry at Oxford
Paul II’s rise paralleled that of two other conservative University. While serving as a member of Parliament
politicians: U.S. President Ronald Reagan (1911-2004) in the 1950s, Thatcher advocated for the privatization
and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (1925- of key segments of the British economy and for Britain
2013). Born into a working-class family in Tampico, and its allies to adopt a strong stance against the Soviet
Illinois, in 1911, Reagan excelled as a radio announcer bloc. Much like her American counterpart, Thatcher
and actor in the 1940s and 1950s. Reagan appeared in could make large quantities of complicated political and
over 50 movies and became known as a dependable economic data understandable to lay audiences.
“B” list actor. Turning to politics in the 1960s, Reagan
changed his affiliation from the Democratic to the Mikhail Gorbachev became general secretary in 1985.
Republican party. Running on a campaign that favored From the moment he assumed office, Gorbachev
small government and tough on crime initiatives, faced a litany of problems. Suffering from decades of
centralized planning, staggering inefficiency and deep-
seated corruption, the Soviet economy proved unable to
clothe and feed the USSR’s 276 million people. Years of
emphasizing military over civilian production appeared to
have failed as the United States and Great Britain launched
a massive military buildup that the Soviet Union could
no longer keep up with. By the 1980s, a young generation
of Soviet citizens had come of age. Well-educated and
upwardly mobile, they had grown up on illegal but
readily available Western news programs, music and
television shows, and many had become openly critical
of communism and socialism. Furthermore, many ethnic
minorities living under Russian domination, including
Estonians, Latvians, Lithuanians, Poles, Czechs, Slovaks,
Hungarians, Ukrainians and Azerbaijanis, clamored for
more autonomy, control over their internal affairs, and
increasingly, independence. The bloody stalemate in
Afghanistan continued unabated, with most of the free
world openly supporting the Mujahadeen.
To tackle these problems, Gorbachev announced two

new policies: Glasnost (publicity or openness) which
promised freedom of speech, including the ability to
criticize the government, and Perestroika (restructuring
or reforming), which sought to relax governmental
control over the economy, encourage privatization and
Berlin Wall at Artist: Sue Ream
provide transparency to the taxpayers. Although well- Source: Wikimedia Commons
Brandenburg Gate, License: CC BY 3.0 |
meaning, these initiatives did little to stem the forces
November 10, 1989 © Sue Ream
already tearing the Soviet Union apart.
Born in 1931, Gorbachev represented a break from an earlier generation

of Soviet leaders who witnessed the Romanovs’ absolutism, the
Russian defeat in World War I, and the October Revolution. A committed
Marxist-Leninist, Gorbachev became a reformer in the tradition of Nikita
Khrushchev. Walking a difficult tightrope, Gorbachev openly supported
Brezhnev’s crackdown on Prague Spring in 1968 while privately
becoming frustrated by the corruption and waste he encountered
because of centralized planning. Throughout the 1970s, Gorbachev
avidly read the works of Western Marxist intellectuals and networked
with Italian, German and French socialists. Upon becoming a member
of the politburo in 1980, Gorbachev helped to advance Yuri Andropov
(1914-1984) to the position of premier following Brezhnev’s death two
years later. When the sickly Andropov passed away in 1984 only to be
replaced by the even more ill Konstantin Chernenko (1911-1985), who
died of cancer in March 1985, Gorbachev became the new leader of the
Soviet Union.
President Reagan greets Soviet General Secretary

Gorbachev at Hofdi House during the Reykjavik
Summit. Iceland. 10/12/86.
Author: Federal Government

211
On April 26, 1986, during a routine test of the Chernobyl communism, to protest throughout the streets of
nuclear power plant’s cooling system, a reactor in Moscow. Lithuania stunned the world by declaring its
the Pripyat, Ukraine plant overheated and exploded, independence from the Soviet Union on March 11.
spreading radioactive matter throughout the atmosphere. By August 1991, Estonia, Latvia, Ukraine, Belarus,
Although Soviet officials worked quickly to contain Moldova, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan,
the fallout, thousands of people and acres teeming Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan
with wildlife were exposed to lethal radiation levels. had followed suit.
Belarussian and Ukrainian leaders openly accused the
Russians of recklessness in running unsafe nuclear power
plants and being indifferent to the suffering of local people. RISE OF BORIS YELTSIN AND
THE END OF THE USSR
In 1987, Gorbachev announced plans to entirely
withdraw all Soviet forces from Afghanistan, grant Russians increasingly experienced the winds of political
Soviet bloc countries additional autonomy, and allow change. On March 29, 1990, populist and Soviet critic
opposition parties to form and take part in Russian Boris Yeltsin (1931-2007) won election as chairman
elections. The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 encouraged of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian
thousands of young Russians, many cynical toward Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, the first such
Boris Yeltsin 22 August 1991 Artist: Russian News Agency TASS, published
by www.kremlin.ru
License: CC BY-SA 4.0 |© Kremlin.ru
Born in Yekaterinburg, Russia in 1931, Boris Yeltsin’s elites but endeared him to the masses. As president
father was arrested and imprisoned during the of the Russian Federation, he privatized much of the
Stalinist purges. Trained as a construction engineer, country’s economy and stabilized Moscow’s relations
Yeltsin proved a charismatic party member. In 1985, with the West. However, as time went on, Yeltsin
Premier Mikhail Gorbachev appointed Yeltsin to the became mired in accusations of corruption and
Politburo. His outspoken criticism of Soviet central alcoholism. After choosing Vladimir Putin (b. 1952) as
planning made him unpopular with other Russian his successor, Yeltsin died in Moscow in 2007.

chair to have gained office by popular election rather
than appointment by the Communist Party. Striking
CIVIL RIGHTS
out boldly, Yeltsin spearheaded efforts to create a
During the Second World War over one million African
new Russian constitution that guaranteed freedom
Americans, Hispanic, Asians, women, and those whom
of speech, private property and the right to petition
today might identify as LBTQ, had served in the U.S.
the state to redress grievances. Yeltsin also demanded
military. Millions more supported the war effort by
greater political autonomy for Russia.
working in factories, buying war bonds and keeping
the home front functioning. Nevertheless, minorities
In August 1991, a group of diehard Communist
were often given the messiest and most dangerous jobs
officials, including Soviet Vice President Gennady
in the military. While Japanese-American members of
Yanayev (1937-2010), Prime Minister Valentin Pavlov
the 522 Field Artillery Battalion liberated victims of the
(1937-2003), Defense Minister Dmitry Yazov (1924-
Dachau Concentration Camp in 1945, 120,000 of their
2020), and KGB Chief Vladimir Kryuchkov (1924-
families and friends remained incarcerated at federally
2007), kidnapped Mikhail Gorbachev and occupied
administered “internment camps” that stretched from
the Kremlin. On August 19, Yeltsin climbed aboard a
the Pacific Coast to the Deep South.
Soviet tank parked in front of the Russian Parliament.
Surrounded by thousands of demonstrators, Yeltsin
Following the Second World War many working-class
announced through a loudspeaker that “we are dealing
Americans used the G.I. Bill to secure university degrees.
with a rightist, reactionary, anti-constitutional
Yet many elite schools, businesses and neighborhoods
coup. Despite all the difficulties and severe trials
still refused African Americans, Hispanics and others,
experienced by the people, the democratic process
entry into the middle class. Angered at centuries
in the country is acquiring an increasingly broad
of exclusion, African Americans across class lines
sweep and an irreversible character.” Realizing they
invoked their wartime experiences, university degrees,
lacked public support, the coup leaders surrendered to
and accumulated savings to begin attacking all forms
Russian authorities.
of racial segregation and inequity. Realizing the
difficulties in armed resistance and the intransigence
In December 1991, Yeltsin and other Soviet leaders
of many local and state officials to any kind of racial
gathered to sign the Belovezha Accords. The Accords
progress, civil rights leaders decided to challenge
abolished the Soviet Union and established a successor
the constitutionality of segregation laws in federal
state, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).
courts. In 1940, civil rights leaders including a young
The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic
Thurgood Marshall (1908-1993) created the National
rebranded itself the Russian Federation, and Boris
Association for the Advancement of Colored People
Yeltsin became its first President. After seven decades,
(NAACP) Legal Defense Fund. Although created and
the Soviet Union now lay in pieces, and the Cold War
funded by the NAACP, the LDF existed as a separate
with it. However, the question of what kind of post-
organization staffed with attorneys, accountants and
Soviet future would emerge, especially for the people
activists who began searching through examples of
whose lives had no other way of life for generations, had
racial discrimination that could be challenged in court.
yet been answered.
One of the first victories for the LDF came in the Supreme
Court case of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka,
Kansas (1954). The case arose from the complaints of an
African American father whose daughter, Linda Brown
Trabant cars on display in Berlin
Artist: Edward Haylan

Source: iStockPhoto.com/EdwardHaylan
213
Born in 1913 in Tuskegee, Alabama, Rosa Parks
grew up on stories of “slavery days” told by
her grandfather. Growing up in Montgomery,
Alabama, Parks attended segregated schools
and received a high school education and training
as a seamstress at the Montgomery Industrial
School for Girls. Joining the NAACP in 1943, she
received training as a nonviolent demonstrator
from the Highlander Folk School in Monteagle,
Tennessee. In 1955, she spontaneously refused
to give up her bus seat to a white man, triggering
the Montgomery Bus Boycott. She died in 2005
in Detroit.
Rosa Parks and Martin

Luther King (around 1955)
Artist: Unknown
(1943-2018), had to walk several miles across dangerous at the back of buses and surrender their seats to white
train tracks to attend a second-rate school for African passengers on demand. Acting on her own, Parks was
Americans when a brand new white primary school arrested and quickly released on bail. Local black leaders
lay a few blocks from her home. Thurgood Marshall including local NAACP President E. D. Nixon (1899-
and his associates pushed the case through state and 1987) and 27-year-old Dexter Avenue Baptist Church
federal courts. In 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court under minister Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968) quickly
the leadership of the recently installed Chief Justice Earl formed the Montgomery Improvement Association to
Warren (1891-1974) ruled in favor of Brown. Speaking rally public support for Parks. The MIA coordinated a
for a unanimous court on May 17 Warren asserted massive strike on Montgomery’s public transportation
“[w]e conclude that, in the field of public education, system that lasted for over a year. Nixon and King
the doctrine of “separate but equal” has no place. also launched a federal lawsuit Browder v. Gayle that
Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.” challenged Montgomery’s segregated bus system. On
The results of the Brown decision were instantly December 20, 1956, the Warren Court struck down
controversial. Southern legislatures passed dozens of segregation in public transportation.
“interposition” laws designed to find ways around, or
at least delay desegregation. Over the next 12 months, Drawing from the success of the Montgomery Campaign,
only a few schools throughout the nation started any King and other civil rights leaders including Ralph
form of desegregation. This prompted Warren to issue Abernathy (1926-1990), Joseph Lowery (1921-2020),
another decision known as Brown II demanding that Bayard Rustin (1912-1987) and Fred Shuttlesworth
schools begin desegregating “with all deliberate speed.” (1922-2011), gathered in January 1957 in Atlanta,
Georgia to create the Southern Christian Leadership
The next turning point in the burgeoning civil rights Conference (SCLC). Drawing from evangelical
movement occurred on December 1, 1955, when Rosa Protestantism, transcendentalism, and Mahatma
Parks (1913-2005), a seamstress and trained civil rights Gandhi’s concept of nonviolence (satyagraha), King
activist, refused to give up her seat to a white man on proposed adopting a strategy in which black and white
a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Under protesters would protest segregation through marches,
Alabama law, African Americans were required to sit sit-ins and singing. Although the protesters would face
hostility, they would not return violence with violence. In 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. and the SCLC launched
In addition to possibly changing the hearts of their an all-out campaign against segregation in Birmingham,
oppressors, such nonviolent tactics also provided a Alabama. On April 3, King was arrested for participating
powerful image to the world of armed officers using in a public protest without a permit. While imprisoned,
brutal tactics against unarmed demonstrators seeking King wrote his seminal “Letter from Birmingham Jail”
basic civil rights. which outlined his philosophy of nonviolence. To keep
up the momentum, the SCLC and local civil rights
The next battle in the civil rights movement came in leaders made the controversial decision to allow school-
the fall of 1957 when nine African American school age children take part in the protests. When Birmingham
children and their families attempted to desegregate Public Safety Commissioner Eugene “Bull” Connor
Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas. When (1897-1973) sought to disrupt the demonstrations by
Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus (1910-1994) called using police armed with clubs and dogs, and firemen
out the Arkansas National Guard to prevent the students wielding water cannons, national news cameras captured
from attending classes. Although U.S. President Dwight the confrontations and turned national public opinion
Eisenhower had previously proved reluctant to support decisively against the defenders of segregation. On May
the civil rights movement, he was not about to allow a 10, a newly installed city government and the SCLC
state governor to contest the authority of a federal court reached an agreement to free all arrested demonstrators,
order. He dispatched the 101st Airborne to protect the end segregation of parks and public transportation,
students from harassing mobs and ensure that they were and allow African Americans to hold positions in
allowed to pursue their education at Central High School. Birmingham’s police and city government. However,
the success of the Birmingham campaign was tragically
Three years later, four African American students undercut four months later by the murder of four
attempted to peacefully desegregate a Woolworth’s young girls. On the morning of Sunday, September
lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina. Their 16, 1963, white supremacists placed a bomb in the
efforts sparked a series of similar sit-ins across the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, a key meeting point
nation. They also inspired a group of seven black and for civil rights demonstrators. At 10:22 a.m. the bomb
six white “freedom riders” in spring 1961 to travel went off, killing four young girls - Addie Mae Collins
throughout the south by bus, deliberately disobeying (14 years old), Denise McNair (11 years old), Carole
local segregation laws. Although the riders faced violent Robertson (14 years old) and Cynthia Wesley (14 years
attacks in Anniston and Birmingham, Alabama, their old). The brutal bombing revealed the true horror of
efforts helped draw worldwide attention to the plight of segregation and encouraged even more support for the
civil rights protesters. civil rights movement.
Organized by A. Philip Randolph and Bayard

Rustin, the March on Washington for Jobs and
Freedom held on August 28, 1963, attracted
between 200,000-300,000 demonstrators,
70-80% of whom were African American.
Auto Union Worker President Walter Reuther
played a key role in organizing the march. The
march played a leading role in the passage of
the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Civil Rights March on Washington,

D.C. (Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and
Mathew Ahmann in a crowd
Artist: Rowland Scherman

215
In August 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. and the leaders many of whom were college students, fanned out across
of other civil rights and labor organizations led 250,000 Mississippi to set up “freedom schools” that helped
demonstrators in a march on Washington. Standing local African Americans register to vote. On June 21,
before the Lincoln Memorial King, delivered his “I Have 1964, Ku Klux Klan members aided by local police
a Dream Speech” in which he envisioned: officers murdered three activists - James Chaney (1943-
1964), Andrew Goodman (1943-1964), and Michael
When we allow freedom to ring, when we let it Schwerner (1939-1964) - in Neshoba County. At the
ring from every village and every hamlet, from 1964 Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City,
every state and every city, we will be able to New Jersey, Fannie Lou Hamer (1917-1977) led efforts
speed up that day when all of God’s children, to create the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party as
black men and white men, Jews, and Gentiles, an alternative to the state’s all-white delegation.
Protestants, and Catholics, will be able to join
hands and sing in the words of the old Negro The events of Freedom Summer inspired Martin Luther
spiritual: “Free at last! Free at last! thank God King Jr. and his SCLC followers to plan a Voting Rights
Almighty, we are free at last! March from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. On
Sunday, March 7, 1965, in what the national media
The son of a Baptist minister, Martin Luther King Jr. was later referred to as “Bloody Sunday,” Alabama state
raised in Atlanta and subsequently attended Morehouse troopers brutally beat demonstrators on the Edmund
College and Boston University. Pastor at the Dexter Pettus Bridge. Two days later, James Bevel (1936-2008)
Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, King and another group of demonstrators were arrested for
at age 26 became a spokesman for the Montgomery Bus trying to cross the bridge. President Lyndon Baines
Boycott. Catapulted to national fame, he helped form Johnson federalized the Alabama National Guard and
the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and ordered them to protect the demonstrators. He also
carried out a series of high-profile civil rights campaigns successfully leveraged the images of armed police
throughout the 1950s and 1960s. officers accosting peaceful demonstrators on national
television to secure passage of the Voting Rights Act of
As support for the civil rights movement grew, national 1965 which allowed the federal government to monitor
political leaders carefully watched its development. local elections and guard polling places to prevent voter
One such figure was Lyndon Baines Johnson, a larger- suppression and intimidation. On March 21, King and
than-life Texan who had served as a congressman, his followers peacefully crossed Edmund Pettus Bridge
Senate majority leader, and vice-president. Elevated and marched to Montgomery, attracting an estimated
to the presidency following the assassination of John 25,000 demonstrators. On the steps of the Alabama
F. Kennedy in Dallas on November 22, 1963, Johnson State Capital, King delivered his seminal “How Long,
sought to use the publicity generated by the March Not Long” speech.
on Washington and the martyrdom of JFK (who, like
Eisenhower, had initially been lukewarm on the civil Following the Voting Rights March, Martin Luther King
rights movement) to push through Congress the Civil Jr. and the SCLC began to take strong stands against
Rights Act of 1964 that struck down segregation in large the war in Vietnam and in support of economic justice
areas of public life - parks, restaurants, movie theaters, for Americans living below the poverty line. In 1968,
stores, libraries and public transportation. For his King launched his “Poor People’s Campaign” to march
tireless support of civil rights, King received the Nobel on Washington DC. On April 4, 1968, embittered white
Peace Prize in October 1964. supremacist James Earl Ray assassinated Martin Luther
King at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee.
Having won substantial victories in the field of public Following King’s assassination, riots broke out in
accommodations, civil rights leaders now turned to the Baltimore, Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington DC and
issue of voting rights. Since Reconstruction, officials other cities across America resulting in 43 deaths, 3,000
who controlled southern elections used a variety of people injured, and 20,000 arrested.
illegal tactics - poll taxes, literacy tests, intimidation,
etc. – to prevent African Americans from registering Although Martin Luther King Jr.’s calls for nonviolence
to vote. In the summer of 1964, civil rights activists, attracted millions of supporters, he was not the only
Born in 1921 in Peoria, Illinois, Betty Friedan graduated
from Smith College. Finding work as a journalist,
Friedan published the bestselling Feminine Mystique
in 1963. The book described the feelings of isolation
and a lack of fulfillment faced by many American
women in the postwar period. She co-founded the
National Organization for Women in 1966 and served
as its first president. A tireless advocate for women’s
rights, she died in Washington DC in 2006.
Betty Friedan
Artist: Lynn Gilbert

License: CC BY-SA 4.0 |© Lynn Gilbert
voice in the civil rights movement. In the 1950s former to widespread desegregation across the Old-Line State.
small-time criminal, Malcolm Little (1925-1965) went As a civil rights attorney, Pauli Murray (1910-1985)
through a religious awakening in prison. Becoming a helped to organize the defense for Brown v. Board and
devout member of the African American led Nation drafted portions of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. She also
of Islam, Little adopted the name “Malcolm X.” Giving helped to find the National Organization for Women
speeches across the nation to sold-out stadiums, (NOW) in 1966.
Malcolm X urged African Americans to stand up for
themselves and to take pride in their African heritage. Many women’s rights activists gained inspiration from not
After a falling out with the Honorable Elijah Muhammad only the civil rights movement but also the publication of
(1897-1975), leader of the Nation of Islam, Malcolm X Betty Friedan’s seminal The Feminine Mystique (1963).
went on a hajj to Mecca. Although moderating his racial Throughout her work, Freidan articulated the feelings of
beliefs and showing a new willingness to work with other repressed anger and disillusionment which many middle
civil rights groups, Malcolm X differed sharply from and working-class women felt in an American society
King in his insistence that ‘[w]e declare our right on this that was rapidly progressing in terms of technology,
earth to be a man, to be a human being, to be respected education and employment opportunities, yet which
as a human being, to be given the rights of a human still consigned them to the traditional women’s roles
being in this society, on this earth, in this day, which we of mother, teacher, secretary and nurse. The Feminine
intend to bring into existence by any means necessary.” Mystique encouraged women to organize and join
However, on February 21, 1965, three gunmen, possibly organizations such as NOW which pushed for equal
rival Nation of Islam members, assassinated Malcolm X pay, employment rights and educational opportunities
at an Organization of Afro-American Unity held at the in law, business and medical schools. In the late 1960s
Audubon Ballroom in Manhattan. women’s rights activists pushed for an Equal Rights
Amendment that would forbid discrimination based
Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, the civil rights on gender. Approved by Congress in 1972, the ERA
movement and women’s rights movements often failed to gain the necessary ratification of 2/3rds of
worked together to achieve similar objectives. From the the states to become official. However, the following
beginning, women played a leading role in the civil rights year women earned a substantial victory in the field
movement. Ella Baker (1903-1986) not only helped to of reproductive rights. In the landmark U.S. Supreme
organize the SCLC but was also a founding member of Court case of Roe v. Wade (1973), the High Court
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). upheld the right of a woman to an abortion during the
Gloria Richardson (1922-2021) led the Cambridge first trimester of pregnancy.
Movement in Maryland whose sit-ins and protests led
217
Cesar Chavez and
Brown Berets at
Peace Rally
Artist: Los Angeles Times, photo

published by the University of
California, Los Angeles
License: CC BY-SA 4.0 |© UCLA
The struggles of African Americans and women to philosophy, in 1965, Chavez launched a widely
gain equality inspired other marginalized social publicized strike on behalf of poor, Filipino
groups to stand up for their rights. For instance, employees of several vineyards in Delano, California.
in 1962 Mexican-American migrant worker and Forced to the bargaining table, several large agro-
social activist Cesar Chavez (1927-1993) mobilized businesses signed agreements with the UFW,
poor agricultural laborers to form the United Farm promising to improve working conditions, pay and
Workers (UFW). Drawing from King’s nonviolence more opportunities for professional advancement. In
1975, Chavez and his followers successfully lobbied
the California legislature to pass the California
Agricultural Labor Relations Act which allowed
workers to collectively bargain and go on strike.
The success of the civil rights movement also inspired

Native American activism. In 1968, Dennis Banks
(1937-2017), George Mitchell (1936-2015), Russell
Means (1939-2012) and other activists founded the
American Indian Movement (AIM) in Minneapolis,
Minnesota. AIM soon gained national recognition for
carrying out a series of well-publicized occupations at
the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Washington DC, and
Wounded Knee, South Dakota, the site of a massacre
of Native Americans by federal troops in 1890. By
holding on to the Wounded Knee battlefield for 71
Tatanka Banks, Dennis

Banks being honored
Artist: Neeta Lind

License: CC-BY-2.0 |© Neeta Lind

President Ronald Reagan
and Sandra Day O'Connor
Artist: White House
Collection: White House Photographic
Collection, 1/20/1981 - 1/20/1989
days, AIM brought public attention to centuries of

Native American abuse and exploitation at the hands
of whites.
Of all the social movements of the mid-twentieth

century, the LGBTQ+ remains one of the most
complex. Although individuals who identified as
queer could be found across all social classes and
ethnic groups, they often lived double lives on the
margins of “polite society.” However, the social
forces unleashed by the 1960s served to unify gay clientele. When patrons resisted arrest, thousands
and politicize the growing LGBTQ+ community. of demonstrators spontaneously came to their aid.
On the early morning of June 28, 1968, New York Over the next several days, activists and their allies held
City police raided the Stonewall Bar in Greenwich demonstrations across the United States. The Stonewall
Village, an establishment that catered to a largely Riots represented the first large-scale outpouring of
LGBTQ+ activism on a national level and helped inspire
the creation of the Gay Liberation Front a year later. On
June 28, 1970, the first Gay Pride March occurred in
New York City. Three years later the National Gay and
Lesbian Taskforce began to lobby Congress and the
White House for the advancement of LGBTQ+ rights.
In 1977, Harvey Milk (1930-1978) became the first
openly gay man to win an election, becoming a member
of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. However,
Milk’s tragic assassination by disgruntled former Board
of Supervisors member Dan White (1946-1985) in 1978
revealed the ongoing dangers LGBTQ+ Americans still
faced in American society.
By the early 1970s, a growing percentage of Americans

had become frustrated by the rapid pace of social change
and the breakout of so many social justice movements.
President Richard M. Nixon (1913-1994) dubbed this
group the “silent majority.” They primarily represented
working- and middle-class whites who were religiously
conservative. Angered by the social upheavals of the
period and worried by inflation, rising gas prices and
a weak economy, white conservatives began to borrow
Sandra Day Author: Library of Congress from the tactics used by civil rights demonstrators
O'Connor, License: Public Domain including holding sit-ins and marches to protest the
Official Portrait expansion of government.
219
Enjoying a commanding lead in the presidential wake of Martin Luther King’s assassination nearly a
election of 1980, Ronald Reagan (1911-2004) and quarter century before. On April 29, 1992, four police
his Republican supporters took control of the U.S. officers used excessive force on an African American
Senate and made sizable inroads in the House of named Rodney King (1965-2012) after an extensive
Representatives and governor’s mansions across the car chase. Caught on tape by a local resident, videos of
country. Seeking to reduce the size of the federal the beating soon appeared on media outlets across the
government and roll back many New Deal and Great world. When a jury acquitted the four police officers,
Society reforms, the Reagan administration did little to riots exploded across Los Angeles. Over the next six
advance civil rights other than by appointing African days, 53 people died and 2,383 were injured in the
American Samuel Pierce (1922-2000) as the Secretary fighting. Demonstrators set more than 7,000 fires and
of Housing and Urban Development, and Sandra Day caused over $1 billion in property damage.
O’Connor (b. 1930) as the first female justice of the
U.S. Supreme Court. The early 1980s witnessed the President Bush’s slow response to the situation proved
first outbreak of AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency a factor in his defeat in the 1992 presidential election
Syndrome) in the U.S. A deadly, blood-based disease that to moderate Democrat William Jefferson “Bill” Clinton
attacked the immune system, the Reagan administration (b. 1946). Although Clinton supported initiatives such
did not publicly acknowledge AIDS until 1986 and only as the Civil Rights Act of 1991, Voting Rights Act of
committed funding to fight it in 1987. 1993, and Hates Crimes Prevention Act of 1994, he
also adopted a “tough on crime” stance, curtailed
When Ronald Reagan stepped down from the presidency social spending, and signed the 1996 Defense of
in 1988, he threw his support to Vice President George Marriage Act that defined marriage under federal law
H.W. Bush (b. 1946). A New England-born World War as between one man and one woman. The Clinton
II hero who made a fortune in the Texas oil industry, administration also offered qualified support for the
Bush was a loyal Republican. He served as head of Million Man March, a demonstration in Washington
the CIA, ambassador to the UN, chairman of the DC on October 16, 1995, led by Nation of Islam leader
Republican National Committee, and a special envoy Louis Farrakhan (b. 1933) and SCLC activist James
to China before becoming vice president. Known Bevel. Two years later, the first Million Woman March
primarily for conducting a brief war to oust Iraqi forces occurred in Philadelphia.
from Kuwait, on a domestic level Bush sought to merge
Ronald Reagan’s small government ideals with a greater Following the election of George W. Bush in 2000,
sensitivity for social issues. conservatives and progressives alike applauded his
appointment of Colin Powell (1937-2021) as the first
However, in spring 1992 the Bush administration faced African American secretary of state. Eight years later,
the largest racial riots since those that occurred in the Barack Obama became the first African American
Born on August 4, 1961 in Honolulu, Hawaii, Barack

Obama was the son of a Kenyan math professor and
an anthropologist. Raised in Indonesia and Hawaii by
his grandparents, Obama attended Occidental College,
Columbia University and Harvard Law School. Finding
work as a constitutional law professor and community
organizer in Chicago, Obama began accumulating
the skills and contacts to become a national political
figure. Elected to the U.S. Senate in 2004, he received
the Democratic nomination for President in 2008. After
defeating Republican nominee John McCain (1936-
2018), Obama became the first African American U.S.
President. As President, he oversaw the creation of the Barack Obama Family Portrait 2011
Affordable Care Act and the killing of Osama Bin Laden
Artist: Pete Souza
(1957-2011). In 2009, he received the Nobel Peace Source: Wikimedia Commons
Prize. License: Public Domain

presidential nominee of a major political party and, Germany and the Benelux countries (Belgium, the
following the 2008 presidential election, the first Netherlands and Luxembourg) joined the European
African American president. During his victory night Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) to coordinate the
speech on November 8, Obama remarked “If there is buying and selling of heavy industrial materials. Among
anyone out there who still doubts that America is a its provisions, the ECSC charter called for the creation of
place where all things are possible; who still wonders a European Parliament. Consisting of members elected
if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who in each member state, the Parliament initially started
still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is as a think tank and consulting body, but over the years
your answer.” accumulated political power and began to function as a
sovereign government.
Although Obama’s election certainly represented a
milestone in the advancement of civil rights across The ECSC proved so successful that just six years later
America, his tenure in the White House was frequently the founding members signed the Treaty of Rome. The
beset by racial and ethnic tensions. In 2013, George treaty established the European Economic Community
Zimmerman’s (b. 1983) killing of 17-year-old unarmed (EEC or EC), an organization that struck down tariffs,
African American student Trayvon Martin (1995- synchronized commercial laws and promoted the free
2012) sparked protests across the nation. The following flow of people, ideas, food, fuel, products and money
year riots broke out in Ferguson, Missouri when between member nations. The treaty also established the
police officers shot Michael Brown (1996-2014). The European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM)
subsequent killing of Eric Garner (1971-2014) after that urged the peaceful development of nuclear energy.
being locked in a chokehold by a New York City police In 1986 the Benelux countries, Britain, Denmark,
officer sparked additional protests and the rise of the France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain signed
Black Lives Matter movement. In May 2020, when the Single European Act (SEA), committing themselves
Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin (b. 1976) to the creation of a common European economy by
killed George Floyd (1973-2020) by kneeling on his 1992. The SEA also granted more power to the European
neck, Black Lives Matter protests broke out across the Parliament, allowing the EC to pass legislation based
nation. Although civil rights leaders and movements on majority rule rather than unanimous consent of
have been extremely influential and important, the issues member states.
of poverty, oppression, inequality and racism continue.
On March 7, 1992, the leaders of 12 European nations
GLOBAL INTEGRATIONS - Belgium, Britain, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece,
Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal and
Spain - gathered in the Dutch town of Maastricht.
The fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 created a power
They signed the Treaty of Maastricht that formalized
vacuum, raising profound questions about the future
the creation of the European Union as a common
of Europe and the world in general. American officials
government that wielded a large degree of control
envisioned a peaceful world united by free trade and
over foreign policy and economics. The treaty also
democratic values in which the U.S. would play a
established the Euro as the official currency of the EU,
leadership role. As early as 1948, the United States
set the powers for the European Parliament and Court
supported the creation of the General Agreement on
of Justice, and established EU citizenship rights. Over
Tariffs and Trade (GATT). The GATT encouraged
the next 30 years, many Eastern European nations such
countries to eliminate tariffs and standardize their trade
as Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania,
relations to promote free trade across the world. In 1995,
Bulgaria and the Baltic States would join the European
over a hundred nations contributed to the creation
Union. Great Britain withdrew from the EU in 2020 in
of a new institution, the World Trade Organization.
a process popularly called “Brexit.”
As of 2000, only China, Cuba, Laos, North Korea and
Vietnam clung to centrally planned economies.
As the USSR began to decline in the late 1980s,
The political and economic opening of Eastern European Mikhail Gorbachev began recalling Soviet troops
countries created tremendous risks and opportunities from Eastern Europe, Afghanistan and Central Asia.
for the future. As early as 1951, France, Italy, West Concerned about Russia’s still formidable armed
221
Flag of the European
Union in 2020
Artist: User “RustamAug”

License: CC BY-SA 4.0 | © RustamAug
forces and weapons stockpiles, NATO began to expand The end of the Cold War left the United States not only
eastward. Designed in 1949 as a defensive block to the sole remaining political and military superpower,
Soviet expansion, in 1998 the Czech Republic, Hungary but the nation with the world’s largest and most powerful
and Poland all joined NATO. Six years later, Bulgaria, economy. The rise of the internet greatly facilitated the
Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and the Balkan States trend toward globalism. Developed by the U.S. military
joined the military alliance. Such actions brought about in the 1980s as a way for military officials to remain
severe protests from Russian officials who argued that in contact in the wake of a nuclear strike, the internet
NATO was an obsolete relic of the Cold War and that proved extremely popular when repurposed for civilian
such an expansion of Western military power served to purposes, making communications, record keeping and
destabilize the balance of power in Europe. information instantaneous and free.
The end of the Cold War also brought about an increase Other countries were quick to join the drive toward
in nuclear proliferation around the world. During the globalization. By the turn of the 21st century India,
conflict, only the U.S., Soviet Union, Britain, China and Japan, Brazil and China emerged as powerful challengers
France possessed nuclear weapons. All powers likewise to America’s economic power. Beginning in 1978 with
signed the 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Under the normalization of diplomatic relations with the
the terms of this treaty, nuclear powers would not share United States, the People’s Republic of China began to
their technology or weapons with non-nuclear powers. private key sectors of the economy. As Chinese Premier
However in the 1990s, India, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan Deng Xiaoping remarked about capitalism, “It doesn’t
and South Africa also developed nuclear arsenals. matter whether it is a yellow cat or a black cat, as long
as it catches mice, it is a good cat.” Not even the bloody three years, more than 10,000 soldiers and civilians were
crackdown of protesters in Tiananmen Square could killed in what constituted the longest siege in modern
blunt China’s growing role in the world economy. military history. As the war progressed, both sides
used increasingly brutal tactics. For instance, in 1995
U.S. POWER Bosnian Serbs executed over 8,000 Bosnian Muslims in
the town of Srebrenica.
POST-SOVIET UNION
When news of the Srebrenica Massacre broke out, public
By the end of the Cold War, the United States remained outcry around the world prompted NATO to intervene
by far the most diplomatically, economically and in the conflict. Declaring a No-Fly Zone over Bosnia
militarily powerful country in the world. Many and Herzegovina, NATO provided logistical support
Americans contemplated a future global world order in to Bosnian forces and bombed Serb military positions.
which the nations of the world, having learned from the While the fighting continued, American, Canadian,
mistakes of fascism and communism, would embrace Serbian, Croatian and Bosnian representatives met in
free trade, democracy and a new world order dominated Dayton, Ohio under the leadership of U.S. Assistant
by the United States. They also looked forward to a Secretary of State Richard Holbrook. On November
“peace dividend,” the reduction of U.S. military forces, 21, 1995, they signed the Dayton Accords which ended
decreasing in military spending, and reinvestment in the conflict. Three years later Albanian rebels launched
the civilian economy. a war of independence in the Serbian province of
Kosovo. When Serbia began to put down the uprising
However, the 1990s and early 21st century would prove by force, NATO launched another bombing campaign
to be some of the most difficult and conflict-ridden in in March 1999. After 78 days of bombing, Serbia
American history. In August 1990, Iraqi leader Saddam agreed to withdraw its forces from Kosovo. The United
Hussein (1937-2006) invaded the neighboring country Nations established a protectorate over the province,
of Kuwait, seizing its extensive oil fields. The United which continues to this day.
Nations condemned the invasion and authorized the
use of force in ousting the Iraqis. U.S. President George Any hopes for a long-term peace following the end
H.W. Bush cobbled together a coalition of 34 nations, of the Persian Gulf and Bosnian Wars ended on
including several Arab states, and announced plans to September 11, 2001, when 19 members of the Islamic
liberate Kuwait. After several weeks of air strikes on militant group Al-Qaeda, acting on the orders of
Iraq, UN forces entered Kuwait on February 16, 1991. Osama Bin Laden, hijacked four American airliners
In less than four days, Iraqi forces had been pushed back and crashed them into the World Trade Towers in
across the border. Believing that Hussein would soon be New York City and the Pentagon in Washington DC.
overthrown by his people, the Bush administration and In response, U.S. President George W. Bush launched
coalition forces opted not to invade Iraq itself. a “War on Terror.” Originally designed to root out and
destroy Al-Qaeda cells, the conflict quickly expanded
As coalition forces fought to liberate Kuwait, the into two larger conflicts.
ethnic minorities of Yugoslavia began clamoring for
independence. Created by the victorious Entente On October 7, 2001, the United States initiated
Powers at the end of World War I to maintain order in Operation Enduring Freedom to topple the Taliban
the region and prevent the outbreak of another world government of Afghanistan which had throughout the
war, Yugoslav officials had constantly struggled to keep 1990s provided a haven for Al-Qaeda. Working with
the peace between the nation’s rival ethnic factions. the Northern Alliance, a group of Afghani warlords,
In 1991, Croatia, Slovenia, Slovakia and Bosnia all U.S. forces captured Mazar-i-Sharif on November 9,
declared their independence and were quickly extended and Kabul four days later. In December, American
diplomatic recognition by the European Union. Serbian and British troops scoured the Tora Bora mountains
forces quickly surrounded the city of Vukovar. After a to capture Osama Bin Laden. Although the Al-Qaeda
siege that lasted several months, Serbia gained control leader evaded capture, America and its allies solidified
of the city. The following year Serbian forces laid siege their control over Afghanistan. In December Hamid
to Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Over Karzai (b. 1957) created a new Afghani government
223
Plumes of smoke billow from the World Trade Center Artist: Michael Foran
towers in Lower Manhattan, New York City, after a Boeing License: CC-BY-2.0 | © Michael Foran
767 hits each tower during the September 11 attacks.
that worked closely with American forces in defeating inherited a country suffering from sectarian violence,
Taliban forces in eastern Afghanistan. On May 1, 2003, a devastated infrastructure and a chronic shortage of
President Bush announced the end of hostilities in food, medicine and other crucial supplies.
Afghanistan and promised to help rebuild the country.
Although victory in Afghanistan remained a key
However, while Karzai’s government could maintain American priority, most of the nation’s military resources
control over large cities like Kabul, the Taliban continued went to overthrowing Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq.
to control large stretches of the countryside. Over Following the defeat of Iraq in the Persian Gulf War,
the next 15 years, the United States would carry out many American policy experts predicted that the Iraqi
military operations against Al-Queda and the Taliban people would topple Hussein. However, throughout the
throughout Afghanistan. Yet attempts to train Afghani 1990s Saddam Hussein ruthlessly crushed all internal
soldiers provided mixed results. Bit by bit, the Taliban opposition and solidified his hold over Iraqi society. In
regained control of key provinces and cities. On April 2002, the Bush administration accused Iraq of developing
21, 2021, newly inaugurated U.S. President Joe Biden nuclear and chemical weapons of mass destruction and
(b. 1942) announced the withdrawal of all American planning to use them against the United States and its
forces from Afghanistan. From May to August Taliban allies. American officials attempted to secure a resolution
forces retook most of Afghanistan including Kabul. On from the United Nations to invade Iraq. When the UN
August 17, 2021, the Taliban declared the creation of a refused to do so, President Bush announced he would
new government. Although victorious, Taliban officials lead a “coalition of the willing” to overthrow Hussein.
After building a coalition of over 40 countries, the Bush committed an additional 20,000 American troops to
Administration launched an air and ground invasion of stabilize the situation in Iraq.
Iraq on March 20, 2003. With overwhelming military
force, Allied troops captured Baghdad by April 9. The chronic instability of the Iraqi government and
President Bush appointed diplomat Paul Bremer (b. mounting U.S. casualties due to ambushes and suicide
1941) as head of an interim government. Although bombings caused many Americans to turn against the
U.S. forces captured Saddam Hussein in December, war effort. In 2008, Barack Obama had articulated his
American officials and troops could do little to quell desire to end the war. By 2011, all remaining American
the outbreak of violence between Iraqi Sunni and Shia troops were evacuated, leaving Iraq an intact but still
Muslims. Such infighting led to a massive humanitarian deeply divided country.
and refugee crisis. In 2007 the Bush administration
SUMMARY
The 30 years since the end of the Cold War brought about unprecedented change throughout the
world. The fall of the Soviet Union ushered in the political and economic unification of Europe and
the expansion of NATO. As the last remaining superpower, the United States enjoyed a preeminent
position of power and influence in world affairs. However, trends toward globalism and a “new world
order” soon ran into trouble. The Persian Gulf War, Balkan conflict, 9-11 attacks, Afghanistan War,
and Iraq War proved that the post-Cold War world was anything but a peaceful place. Although the
United States and Western Europe remained key players in world affairs, they faced new challenges
in an increasingly powerful China, a resurgent Russia, and the outbreak of conflict in places such as
Georgia and Ukraine.
225

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World History Since 1500: An Open and Free Textbook

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John Rankin and Constanze Weise

Costume 16th Century Europe

Artist: Simeon Netchev

2 CHAPTER 1 THE WORLD IN 1500

4 CHAPTER 1 THE WORLD IN 1500

Artist: Fausto Zonaro

Artist: Jeff Israel

6 CHAPTER 1 THE WORLD IN 1500

Mangaaka Power Figure

8 CHAPTER 1 THE WORLD IN 1500

Developed in part to support the needs of the early mining

Artist: Albert Gallatin

10 CHAPTER 1 THE WORLD IN 1500

Today experts refer to mainland

As in the case of Africa, European

Map of Ethnic Groups in Indonesia Artist: Gunawan Kartapranata

12 CHAPTER 1 THE WORLD IN 1500

Artist: User “Jahn”; Derivative of Rise Ming.png by Michal Klajban

14 CHAPTER 1 THE WORLD IN 1500

Monument to the Discoveries Artist: Marcus Lindstrom

16 CHAPTER 2 EXPANDING EMPIRES, EUROPE AND THE AMERICAS, 1500-1700

Doctrinal questions about the Catholic church’s

Artist: T. Allom (Illustrator) and J. Tingle (Engraver)

18 CHAPTER 2 EXPANDING EMPIRES, EUROPE AND THE AMERICAS, 1500-1700

Initially, Katherina stayed with the city clerk of Wittenberg,

Katharina von Bora

OTHER EARLY PROTESTANT FAITHS

Traditional Garment of the Swiss Anabaptists

20 CHAPTER 2 EXPANDING EMPIRES, EUROPE AND THE AMERICAS, 1500-1700

Portrait of the Brak

Artist: Tibout Regters

Islam became influential. In France, which remained

24 CHAPTER 2 EXPANDING EMPIRES, EUROPE AND THE AMERICAS, 1500-1700

Members of the Candombles

26 CHAPTER 2 EXPANDING EMPIRES, EUROPE AND THE AMERICAS, 1500-1700

Piracy of the South China Sea Artist: User “triotriotrio”

1533 1613  1676

Khiva Verny Dihua

Tehran Merv Suzhou

Ivan had a tumultuous personal life.

Ivan’s death in 1584 ushered in a period of chaos known

Resuming its expansionary push, Russia conquered parts

Ivan the Terrible and

Ming Dynasty Painting of

Ming Dynasty (1660)

Map of Ming Dynasty, 1400-1660 Artist: John Wyatt Greenlee

A 15th Century Portrait

Photograph of the Great

Map of the Great

Armor (Gusoku) of the

Over time the Japanese started to build Shinto shrine

A Young Women Visiting a

1533 1613 1676