Early 20th Century Challenges and Revolutions

• An intense period of rebellion continued into the early 1900s, as Nicholas II, the last Russian tsar, faced political opposition that led to his assassination in 1918.
• In the 20th century's first two decades, authoritarian governments in Russia, China, and Mexico were challenged by rebellions, leading to new political philosophies.
• Established land-based and maritime empires collapsed due to internal and external pressures, leading to a new global order.

Revolution in Russia

• By the early 20th century, Russia was falling behind most of Europe, the United States, and Japan in wealth and power due to internal challenges like slow economic growth, resistance to political reform, and reluctance to grant civil liberties.
• Russia's internal problems led to external ones, weakening its international affairs due to a lack of a strong economic base to support a military.
• Russia lost the Crimean War (1853-1856) against the Ottoman Empire, which was supported by Great Britain and France.
• Another loss for Russia was the Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905) in a battle for power in East Asia.
• In the fall of 1917, the Bolsheviks, under Vladimir Lenin, seized power and established a communist government.
• The communists believed in collective ownership of the means of production, leading to a just society.
• The Soviet government abolished private trade, distributed peasants' crops, and took over ownership of factories and heavy industries.

Key Events Leading to Revolution in Russia

• Bloody Sunday, January 22, 1905: Thousands of workers peacefully marched to petition the tsar, but troops and police began shooting, killing about 1,300 marchers.
• The Revolution of 1905: Strikes involving 400,000 workers led the tsar to attempt to appease the protesters. Thousands of workers were killed, injured, or exiled.
• Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905): Japan won easily, marking the first time in modern history that an East Asian state had defeated a European power

World War I impact on Russia

• Germany declared war on Russia in 1914.
• The Russians quickly realized how poorly trained and armed their troops were.
• Civilians suffered from extreme food shortages.
• The success of the Bolsheviks in taking power alarmed the capitalist world, leading to concerns about the spread of communism.
• The conflict between communism and capitalism became an important issue shaping world affairs.

Upheaval in China

• China, another land-based empire, collapsed due to internal and external problems.
• The Qing Dynasty, which came to power in 1644, was overthrown in 1911, leading to the establishment of a republic led by Dr. Sun Yat-sen.
• China faced internal challenges, including ethnic tension between the Han and the Manchus
• Also China was constantly facing the danger of famine because population growth outpaced the capacity to provide a stable food supply.
• Government revenues were low because the imperial government had trouble updating the tax system to adjust to changes in the economy.

External Challenges in China

• China faced growing threats from industrialization in Europe.
• Europeans were only allowed to trade in Canton (Guangzhou) in the late 18th century.
• Europeans bought tea, rhubarb, porcelain, and silk and provided European silver in exchange; they did not desire Chinese products.

Chinese Republic

• The Qing Dynasty was overthrown in 1911 by a revolutionary movement led by Sun Yat-sen.
• Sun Yat-sen believed China should continue to follow Confucian principles while expelling capitalists.
• Sun Yat-sen's The Three People's Principles:
  • Democracy: Sun emphasized sovereignty for "able" Chinese, which suggested Confucian experts governing in the name of the people.
  • Nationalism: Sun advocated patriotism and loyalty, primarily to central authority.
  • Livelihood: Sun wanted to end unequal distribution of wealth and harsh economic exploitation.
• Sun Yat-sen never had the power to rule all of China and gave up his position to a military leader after two months in office.
• Sun Yat-sen leading the Chinese Nationalist Party, or Kuomintang, would later regain power and rule China for two decades before losing a civil war with Chinese Communists.

Self-Determination in the Ottoman Collapse

• By the beginning of the 20th century, the Ottoman Empire's exports were low and it had a waning agricultural economy.
• The Young Turks emerged and advocated for a constitution and Turkification, which was an effort to make all citizens of the multiethnic empire identify with Turkish culture, which was heavily Islamic.
• Some Young Turks unfairly blamed Armenians for the empire's economic problems in response to the Armenian's lack of identity with Turkification

Fight Against Foreign Influence

• Turks resented British and French economic policies and Europe’s undue power in the empire from foreign investments.
• Trade privileges unprofitable for the Ottomans.
• The Ottoman Empire allied with Germany in World War I.
• After Germany's defeat, the Ottoman Empire was dismantled and replaced by the Republic of Turkey and several independent countries.
• Allied forces occupied Anatolia, and the sultan became a puppet for British forces.

The Rise of Atatürk

• The Turkish National Movement, led by Mustafa Kemal, organized an army to fight for self-determination.
• In 1923, the Republic of Turkey was established with Kemal as the first president, also known as Atatürk ("father of the Turks").
• Atatürk focused on reforming Turkey to become more like Western democracies by creating a secular nation as well as implemented public education for boys and girls, abolishing polygyny, and expanding suffrage to include women.
• Despite his reforms, he ruled as a dictator for 15 years and did not give up power before his death in 1938.

Power Shifts in Mexico

• Mexico entered the 20th century under the control of dictator Porfirio Díaz,who oversaw stability and economic progress but allowed foreign investors to control the country's resources.
• The wealthiest 1 percent controlled most of the land while the peasantry were landless. In 1910, Díaz jailed Francisco Madero, the opposition candidate, igniting the Mexican Revolution due to Diaz's strong-armed policies, accommodation of foreign powers, and opposition to land reform
• Madero’s troops, under Francisco “Pancho” Villa, defeated Mexican troops, sending Díaz into exile.
• Emiliano Zapata redistributed land to impoverished peasants.
• Until 1920, Mexico suffered political instability and violence.

Results of the 1910-1930 conflicts

• Mexico adopted a new constitution in 1917, including land redistribution, universal suffrage, and public education.
• The Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, was formed in 1929 and dominated Mexican politics.

Causes of World War I

• Social and political developments, especially the shifting powers, contributed to the escalation of tensions that resulted in global conflict.
• European nations, expanded into empires, and competed for raw material resources in Africa and Asia.
• Mutual alliances created defense systems that would draw them into war.
• Arms races involving Germany, Great Britain, and Russia gave military establishments great influence.
• A rising wave of nationalism was the immediate cause of war and erupted in the Balkans with the assassination of Austro-Hungarian Archduke Franz Ferdinand by Serbian nationalists.
• WWI lasted from 1914-1918 and known as the Great War.

Immediate Causes of the Great War

• The assassination by Gavrilo Princip of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie, on June 28, 1914.
• Princip was a member of the Black Hand, a nationalist organization devoted to ending Austro-Hungarian presence in the Balkans.
• Austria-Hungary sent an ultimatum to Serbia, demanding end to anti-Austrian agitation.
• Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia on July 28, 1914.
• Serbia's allies as ethnic Slavs countries, particularly Russia, for support.
• On August 1, Germany declared war on Russia.
• Two days later, Germany declared war on France.
• The following day, Britain declared war on Germany.
• By the end of August 1914, Japan's entrance into the conflict changed a minor incident into a true world war.

Long-Term Causes of the Great War

• The acronym MAIN: Militarism, Alliances, Imperialism, and Nationalism were the causes of World War I.
• Militarism, defined as aggressive military preparedness, celebrated war and the armed forces.
• European powers competed for dominance by investing in the military.
• European nations formed secret alliances to protect against a possible attack
• Britain and France were allies with Russia in the alliance called the Triple Entente.
• Each respective nation had its differences with Germany - France bitter about losing Alsace-Lorraine in the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871), Britain and France competing for colonies in Africa.
• After the war began, the Triple Entente became known as the Allies as they were joined by Italy, Japan, China, the United States, and other countries.
• The Triple Alliance was the Allies' rival alliance before the war, composed of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy.
• Italy remained neutral until 1915, when it switched allegiance and joined the Allies.
• At the outbreak of the war, the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria joined the Central Powers.

Imperialism and relations in Europe

• The alliance system developed because Western European countries became bitter rivals for global domination.
• Assert their power and generate wealth by owning overseas colonies.
• They scrambled for any available land in Africa to add to the colonies already owned in Asia, the Americas, and the Pacific.
• European powers had claimed nearly all the land in Africa, and began fighting over colonies.

Nationalism as a cause for war

• The assassination of the archduke in June 1914, the final long-term cause of the Great War.
• The nationalist assassination originated from a feeling of pride in one's national identity.
• Multinational empires had to deal with different nationalist movements among their subject peoples.
• Serbs wanted self-determination leading to the idea that peoples of the same ethnicity, language, culture, and political ideals should be united and should have the right to form an independent nation-state.

Consequences of the Great War

• The war led to the downfalls of Russia, Austria-Hungary, Germany, and the Ottoman Empire's monarchies.
• Europe and the Middle East was redrawn with the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman empires' dismemberment.
• Germany lost all its overseas colonies to various Allied nations.
• Former Ottoman provinces of Iraq, Palestine, Syria, and Lebanon came under the control of Britain and France.
• The end of colonialism began.
• It disrupted European economies and had social consequences, including the rise of communism and fascism.
• A shift of power went from Europe to the United States.

Conducting World War I

• At the outbreak of World War I, all major powers were enlisting in the armed forces except Britain.
• Pals Battalions were recruited because army began to see patriotism could be contagious"
• Pals Battalions formed to recruit pals who already knew each other
• By the end of the war, one out of four British men had served in the military.

Changes in Warfare

• Warfare during the first few months that war is going on changed from a glorious experience to a grim realization.
• The definitive experience for most soldiers was the time spent in the trenches.
• Trench warfare Combatant nations dug hundreds of miles of trenches facing one another, and soldiers slept, ate, and fought in the trenches for months at a time.
• Trenches were often cold, muddy, and rat-infested thus many soldiers died from diseases caused by unhygienic conditions
• Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front conveys the themes of the time
• Poison gas (chlorine, phosgene, and mustard gas) soon led to soldiers being equipped with gas.
• Development of machine guns led to it that are more than 500 rounds of amnmunition per minute greatly impacted the deadly impact in warfare
• Machine guns made it difficult for either side in a battle to gain new territory.
• Primitive submarines played a much larger part in World War I, wreaking havoc on the shipping lanes of the Atlantic Ocean.
• Airplanes' light, did enable them to carry many weapons.
• They were mainly used airplanes were mainly used to carry on reconaissance especially of enemy lines.
• By 1915 they were being fitted with machine guns and aerial combat began. Individual "air aces" would engage in "dog fights" with enemy aircraft
• Tanks were developed by British to protect troops as they moved accross wast areas of difficult terrain.
• Brutal weapons and tactics used by both sides during the War led to neither side being able to overpower the either creating a death toll and suffering as the war drug on.
• This then lead to the United States Entering the War.

The United States Enters the War

• Economic ties between the United States and the Allies was one of the reasons for U.S to join the war.
• The Allied nations believing they were more democratic.
• There was a growing resentment against the Germans, which was the third reason, especially from the U-boat attacks.
• German submarine attacked and sank the Lusitania, an ocean liner carrying more than 100 U.S. citizens among its passengers.
• Another reason was the interception of the Zimmermann Telegram.
• In the telegram, German government offered to help Mexico reclaim territory if they would give support during the war.

Total War

• Combatant nations intensified the conflict in World War I by committing all their resources to the war effort.
• Also known as total war, it meant that a nation's domestic population, in addition to its military, was committed to winning the war
• Millions of civilians, including women, worked in factories producing war materials
• Workers imported from China helped make up for labor shortages in Britain, France, and Russia
• Economies were centered on winning the war, and Governments set up planning boards that set production quotas, price and wage controls, and the rationing of food and other supplies
• They censored the media and imprisoned many who spoke out against the war effort.
• Another component of total war was the use of propaganda which spread communication meant to influence the attitudes and opinions of a community over a particular subject.
• Posters and articles in newspapers and magazines often depicted the enemy crudely or misrepresented the facts of the war completely.

Relations due to the spread of propaganda

• American and British propaganda demonized the German army.
• Reports demonized atrocities against civilians.
• German propaganda demonized the Americans and the British.
• Highly emotional and often misleading information fomented hatred and bitterness across borders, among civilians as well as soldiers
• U.S. government sent artists to the front lines in Europe to illustrate scenes of battle and glorify Allied soldiers.

World War I overview

• World War I was fought in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.
• In included colonies in Asia, Africa, the Americas, and the Pacific, making Competition for these colonies one major reason for war due to the spread of Imperialism.
• Japan entered the war so it could take control of German colonies in the Pacific-the Marshall Islands, the Mariana Islands, Palau, and the Carolines, while also occupying Tsingtao (Qingdao), a German-held port in China.
• The British seized most of Germany's colonies in Africa.
• The Germans held on to German East Africa, later called Tanzania.
• Half a million Australians and New Zealanders formed a special corps known as ANZAC.
• Canadians fought in several European battles.
• Britain drafted soldiers for combat roles in Europe from Africa and India

WWI soldiers

• 1.3 soldiers from Indian Army.
• 450,000 Africans were recruited by the French Army from West Africa and Algeria.
• Arabs fought with the Allies because the British promised self-rule after the war.

Women and the War

• Women changed in the war and began replacing soldier.
• Thousands of women served on the front lines as nurses, ambulance drivers, and switchboard operators.
• Russia established a all women battalion.

The Paris Peace Conference

• The war itself greatly damaged Europe The leaders of the victorious countries at the Paris Peace Conference that the world needed to move forward.
• The leaders became known as the Big Four: Woodrow Wilson (United States), David Lloyd George (Great Britain), Georges Clemenceau (France), and Vittorio Orlando (Italy)
• The Italians left due to due to not being able to get Dalmatia territories
• Since Russia had gone through communist revolution, Russia was not invited.
• President reflected his believe to have “peace without territory which lead to Wilson forming the Fourteen Point

The Fourteen Points

• Wilson wanted to create a League of Nations, an origination that would allow members to conven and agree to discuss possible conflicts openly.
• In the end, the nations did agree to establish the League but the U.S. Senate voted against joining

Treaty of Versailles

• Germany, France and Britain didn’t want Germany to be punished.
• Germany had to pay billions in reparations for the war, give up territory.
• Signing the treaty was humiliating for Germany.
• Great resentment to the Weimar Republic led to great resentment.

Explore early 20th-century rebellions against authoritarian governments, Russian internal challenges, and Bolshevik beliefs. Learn about the end of the Qing Dynasty and the rise of revolutionary movements, including the Young Turks. Discover the causes and alliances of World War I.