19th & 20th Century History Notes PDF

19th Century China Between 1793 and 1911, China went from an isolationist economic powerhouse that was convinced of its own might to a Western-dependent participant in a European world system. ​ 1793: Qianlong letter rebuffing the British ​ 1911-1912: The collapse of the Chinese imperial state...

19th Century China Between 1793 and 1911, China went from an isolationist economic powerhouse that was convinced of its own might to a Western-dependent participant in a European world system. ​ 1793: Qianlong letter rebuffing the British ​ 1911-1912: The collapse of the Chinese imperial state; the Qing Dynasty fell in 1911 and the last emperor abdicated in 1912 ​ China was bogged down by a number of internal crises ○​ Despite rapid population growth, China had no industrial revolution, and agricultural production wasn’t able to keep up with the amount of people; also, China’s expansion to the west and south didn’t produce the same resources as European imperialism ​ This led to increased pressure on the land, smaller peasant farms, and general misery, starvation, and unemployment ○​ China’s centralized state didn’t expand to keep up with the growing population, meaning it couldn’t perform its functions like flood control, tax collection, and public services; thus, power began to split up amongst the many provincial officials of China ○​ Provincial officials were often corrupt and treated peasants harshly, with soldiers being sent out to harass taxpayers for the last cent—sometimes they even beat these peasants for the money ​ China’s internal problems, along with foreign pressure led to bandit gangs and peasant rebellions ○​ Peasant rebellions often drew on peasant issues and an anti-foreign mindset against the Qing; the Qing was established by foreign Manchu people, not native Han Chinese ​ The Taiping Uprising (1850-1864) was the culmination of China’s internal issues ○​ The Taiping Uprising proclaimed large reform and was based in a form of Christianity—its leader, Hong Xiuquan, claimed to be the brother of Jesus ​ The rebellion called for the end of private property, opium, and prostitution, as well as the separation of China into gendered military camps; it also called for the modernization and industrialization of China ​ The uprising was also somewhat progressive in terms of women’s rights: its origins in the Southern Chinese Hakka people, whose women had never had their feet bound and could be leaders and soldiers meant that the Taiping Uprising represented progress for women; however, the Taiping leaders were more conservative when it came to women, with Hong Xiuquan forming a harem and proclaiming that women should stay concerned with the home  ​ Reformist policies concerning women were never consistently implemented during the period of Taiping power ○​ In 1853, the Taiping established their capital in Nanjing; however, due to factionalism and the leadership’s inability to connect with other rebel forces, by 1864 the Taiping Uprising had been put down by Qing loyalist forces ​ The Taiping Uprising was not put down by the Qing government itself, but by provincial loyalist forces, meaning that the government lost even more power to provincial officials ○​ The uprising also damaged China’s economy and killed twenty to thirty million people, the most of any conflict in that century ​ The Qing Dynasty and China in general were in very poor condition, which would prove unfavorable for the country’s western encounters ​ China’s relationship with the West showed the shift in global power, especially in relation to opium ○​ In the late eighteenth century, Britain began to smuggle opium, a highly addictive drug, into China in order to cover its trade deficit with the nation; by the 1830s, many Western powers were doing this, and it became a massive problem for Chinese authority ○​ Westerners would bribe trade officials in order to be allowed to bring in their opium, both undermining centralized power and corrupting many officials ○​ The opium also created an entire generation of Chinese addicts, which was incredibly detrimental to the country’s health ​ The Chinese emperor finally decided to suppress opium in the late 1830s, sending official Lin Zexu to do so ○​ This led to the first Opium War (1840-1842), where Britain attacked China to assert trade dominance ​ The war ended in the Chinese’s defeat and the Treaty of Nanjing, which opened up five ports for Western trade and damaged Chinese sovereignty ○​ The second Opium War (1856-1858) ended in more humiliation for the Chinese ​ The vandalism of the Summer Palace outside Beijing ​ Foreigners could now trade, travel, and buy land freely in China ​ Foreigners could patrol Chinese rivers ​ Foreigners could freely preach Christianity ​ All of this was very damaging to China ​ By the end of the century, all the Western powers, along with Russia and Japan had carved out spheres of influence in China ○​ Military losses to the French (1884-1885) and the Japanese in the Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895) lost the Chinese Korea, Taiwan, and Vietnam ○​ Foreigners could establish military bases, extract raw materials, and build railroads  ​ Western dominance made China economically dependent—restrictions destroyed its ability to industrialize, while foreign goods flowed freely into China; also, most Chinese businessmen served foreign firms instead of Chinese ones, meaning that there was no capitalist class that could kickstart industrialization ​ The Chinese government made some attempts at modernization in the face of western pressure, through a process called “self-strengthening” ○​ The old examination system was overhauled in search of officials who could deal with China’s crisis ○​ Some industrial factories were built ○​ The Chinese adopted Western armaments ○​ Foreign-language schools were built ​ However, “self-strengthening” was largely diluted by conservative fears that the process would take away power from the landlord class ​ The Boxer Rebellion (1898-1901) was a reaction to the failure of “self-strengthening”; militias united under the title of “The Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists” killed foreigners and Chinese Christians alike ○​ The Chinese government called in foreign forces to put down the rebellion, which resulted in a large fine for the government and Western powers, along with Russia and Japan, taking control of Beijing ​ Many educated Chinese started societies for the betterment of their country ○​ Often very anti-Qing ○​ Influenced by Western ideas of limited central government, as well as Western science and technology ○​ Also anti-traditional gender roles ​ Qiu Jin was a Chinese feminist who left her husband and two children to study in Japan and fight for women’s liberation ​ These societies were the beginning of Chinese nationalism ​ The Chinese government attempted some limited reforms, but these were often squashed by conservatives, and, in 1911, the imperial state collapsed. Japan ​ Japan didn’t change much during the first half of the 1800s under the Tokugawa Shogunate, but when foreigners arrived in the 1850s, a great deal of reformation occurred extremely quickly; Japan managed uniquely to combine its own values with westernization ​ The shogunate system was based on a centralized government with semi-feudal alliances between regional lords, the feudal daimyo lords, and the samurai ○​ The shogunate constantly ran into financial problems, as its taxes were agriculture-based despite increasing commercialization; also, the feudalist system was expensive, with stepends going out to samurai in exchange for loyalty  ​ A brief period of economic reform in the 1700s was somewhat successful, but more reform in the 1840s was notably not ​ Japan’s intellectual life continued to develop ○​ Japan became more and more secular, which precluded a strong religious objection to change ○​ Public education was common throughout Japan, and by 1859, forty percent of Japanese men were literate, comparable to the American South ​ Although Confucianism remained dominant, tensions between traditionalists and reformists were increasing ○​ “National Studies” groups praised Shintoism and the emperor ​ The school of national studies became more powerful and both exemplified and expanded Japanese nationalist sentiment ○​ Another minority group was “Dutch Studies” ​ Despite the government’s isolationist banning of all major western works, some Japanese scholars kept alive the knowledge of Westerners and when the ban was lifted in 1720, they discovered that Western anatomical texts were superior to the Chinese ones used throughout Japan, and thus started “Dutch Studies” schools in all major Japanese cities ​ They desired to rid Japan of Chinese influence ​ The Japanese economy developed into the nineteenth century, with large merchants starting monopolies in many centers of commerce and manufacturing gaining ground in the countryside with products like soy sauce and silk ​ However, by the 1850s, economic growth slowed due to technological constraints that prevented further agricultural expansion and population growth ​ Rural riots against the wealthy became more common ○​ This shows a willingness amongst the Japanese to change ​ In 1853, foreigners arrived in Japan in the form of the U.S. Commodore Matthew Perry, who threatened Japan with bombardment if they did not open up for trade ○​ When Perry returned in 1854, he gained the right to an American consul, as well as various trading rights, which were extended to more foreign countries by 1857 ○​ Westerners in Japan were self-governed ​ There was a division between Japanese about the opening up of their country ○​ The ultra-conservative Daimyo were opposed, while the samurai were more split, with some seeing an in to overthrow the shogunate, which couldn’t survive foreign pressures ○​ Tensions caused the shogun, and then the samurai, to appeal to the emperor, who began to emerge from his confinement as a ceremonial and religious figure ​ Despite these tensions, Japanese life went on as before in the 1850s ​ In the 1860s, political tensions came out into the open ○​ The samurai launched a war against the shogunate  ​ When the samurai won a battle against the shogun’s forces using surplus American Civil War weapons, the Japanese were forced to admit the technical superiority of western weaponry ​ The samurai won the era, and instated Mutsuhito as the emperor, ushering in the time of “Meiji” (enlightened) reign ​ These political changes caused Japan to reform more than, for example, Russia did in the same time period ​ The Japanese government set about making change, replacing the daimyo with nationally appointed prefects ○​ French influence ​ The Meiji government centralized authority to essentially the emperor and his advisors, who were chosen from the ranks of the aristocracy ○​ The government began to expand to affect social and economic change ​ The Meiji government sent samurai abroad in order to learn about Western politics, economics, and society ○​ This made many of the samurai feel more favorable towards the West ​ In the 1870s, Japan began a great deal of radical political change ○​ The Meiji leaders abolished the samurai class, leaving many samurai with bonds as compensation, but these soon decreased in value and left many samurai broke ​ This lead to one final samurai rebellion in 1877, but this was quickly squashed by a new, conscription-based army ​ Many samurai became businessmen or politicians after the destruction of their separate class ​ In the 1880s, political reform crested in Japan ○​ In 1884, the Meiji government created a new, conservative, British-style House of Peers, stocked by former nobles and Meiji leaders ○​ The Meiji government began to reorganize the bureaucracy, creating a civil service examination system that allowed many new talents into the government ​ Between 1890 and 1908, the amount of officials went from 29,000 to 72,000 ○​ In 1889, the Meiji created a new representative Parliament called the Diet, which was mainly based on German political structures (the emperor commanded the military and directly named his ministers) ​ The Diet could create budgets for each new year, but if they failed to do so, the previous year’s budget would just be reinstated, meaning that, while the Diet could affect governmental policy, it couldn’t control it ​ The Diet was also very conservative, with there being a property threshold for voting for the Diet—only five percent of the male population could actually vote for the Diet, which meant that lower class representation was still fairly non-existent in Japanese politics ​ Japan’s political structure was thus a centralized empire with some representational elements, with the emperor and the Meiji rulers wielding most power ○​ This reflects Japan’s adoption and re-interpretation of Western ideas ○​ This system gave great power to the wealthy businessmen who could actually vote for the representatives of the Diet, meaning that Japan’s system was set up to benefit the economy ​ The government focused attention on creating the conditions for industrialization, often by destroying old restrictions ○​ Banks, railroads, steamships ○​ The government also introduced new agricultural methods to feed the population of growing cities ​ Japan maintained supervision over the foreign advisors it needed to become more Western ​ The Ministry of Industry, introduced in 1870, was very important, regulating the economy and specific sectors ​ The government also provided training and education for its people ​ Most of the government’s industrializing methods were copied from the West, but were adapted for Japan’s culture and needs ○​ Long before any European university had one, the Tokyo Imperial University had a faculty of agriculture ​ Private enterprise played a large role in Japan’s new economy ○​ By the 1890s, massive industrial combines (zaibatsus) were formed as a result of mounting capital and industrial operations ​ By 1900, Japan was in an industrial revolution, mainly due to its careful governmental process—maintaining independent economy and carefully managing foreign influence ​ However, Japan was not the West’s equal yet, as it heavily depended upon foreign resources (raw materials and technology) ○​ To pay for imports of machinery and resources, Japan needed a large force of low-paid workers; silk production increased, mostly from women at home or who had been sold into service by their farming families ​ Efforts at labor organization were quickly repressed ​ The Industrial Revolution and its extension of commercialized agriculture and manufacturing, as well as the political effects of the Meiji Restoration, had a large impact on Japan’s society and culture ○​ More aggressive foreign policy ○​ Due to the availability of food and medical resources, population increased, which both strained Japan’s materials and created a source of cheap labor ​ This resulted in class tension throughout Japan ​ Japan introduced a public education system, which focused on scientific and technical subjects and preached nationalism  ○​ University courses were also available to the people of Japan ○​ After Western advisors who helped create the education system left in the late 1870s, the Japanese began to emphasize a more traditional moral education ​ Foreign books on morality were banned ​ Japanese people began to copy Western fashions and hygiene in an attempt to modernize; however, few Japanese people converted to Christianity ○​ Japan managed to maintain an emphasis on its own traditions and values instead of becoming fully Westernized; in fact, many Japanese looked down on Westerners ​ They thought Western women were “bossy” and preferred to keep their women in their traditional place ​ This was not the only indignity women faced in Japan in this period; they were also the main producers of silk, which they made under extremely low wages or at home; women were allowed to go to school, but upper-class women who went to university were often mocked ○​ Outright feminism wan’t common because outright traditionalism was hard to maintain in such a rapidly changing society ​ They found Westerners, especially Americans, loud and boisterous, which was extremely at odds with traditional Japanese etiquette ​ Traditional family life maintained, although the birth rate dropped off, child labor ended, and divorce shot up (until the government made it more difficult to secure a separation) ​ Buddhism lost some ground to Shintoism, whose nationalism appealed to the people of Japan ​ Foreign policy also shifted ○​ Japan became an imperial power, as this gave former samurai some militaristic relief and supplied some of the raw materials they lacked ​ Japan first attacked China (Sino-Japanese War, 1894-95) and won quite quickly; this gave Japan control over Korea (which was annexed in 1910) and Manchuria ​ When Japan was forced to give up Manchuria due to pressure from foreign powers, the Japanese launched an attack on the nearest Western power, Russia (Russo-Japanese War, 1904-1905), as revenge—this also was meant to prevent Russia from expanding its power too much ​ A 1902 alliance with England showed Japan’s arrival as an industrial, imperialist power ​ As in most other places, industrialization created poor working and urban conditions  ​ Modernization created social tensions between the young and modernized and the old and traditional ○​ Especially problematic in a family-based society ​ Political tensions also arose between political parties ​ Japanese intellectuals struggled with their and the country’s new identity—was it Western? Was it traditionalist? ​ To remedy these tensions, the Meiji government emphasized nationalism—piety to family and the government and emperor ○​ This helped avoid revolution ​ Japan was very unusual—no other country to this day has been able to recreate the careful management of foreigners and their influence, as well as the careful government policy that created Japan’s successful industrialization Governmental Structures and Philosophies of the 1800s ​ Conservatism ○​ Traditionalist ○​ Holding onto the system of being born into power ​ Anti-new money ○​ Trying to preserve monarchy and the aristocracy ​ Monarchy preserved property and the aristocracy protected against bad rulers ○​ Heavily tied to the Church ○​ Anti-Enlightenment ​ Thought it threatened stability ​ Enlightenment Liberalism ○​ Anti-conservative ○​ Based on idea that the government should protect peoples’ natural rights ○​ Prompted revolutions all around the world ​ Capitalism ○​ Greed is good, because it drives competition, which indirectly leads to economic growth for all ○​ Anti-government interference in business ​ Middle Class Liberalism ○​ Anti-feudalism ○​ Very capitalistic ​ Anti-workers’ rights, because it was believed that that would slow down businesses ​ Believed the government should have as little input as possible in business ○​ Thought the poor were poor simply because they didn’t work hard enough ○​ Fought for equal rights and political representation for all citizens (the middle class and upper class)  ○​ The middle class was overall quite small ​ “Laissez-Faire” Capitalism ○​ Extreme free-market capitalism ○​ As little government influence in business as possible ○​ Poverty is good because it makes people work harder ○​ Business owners should do whatever they can to increase their business ​ No workers’ protections/rights ​ Socialism ○​ Many different types of socialism, but all essentially boil down to cooperation, not competition ○​ Anti-class, money, and the upper class ○​ Communities should share work amongst one another ○​ Belief that people are innately good ○​ Communism ​ Revolution is inevitable and will lead to a classless society ​ The workers own the means of production ​ Belief that history is just a class struggle ​ Social Democracy ○​ Gave people enough benefits to suppress revolution, but not enough to break down the capitalist system ​ Created by Otto Von Bismarck, Germany’s chancellor during the industrialist period ○​ Expansion of liberal ideas to all people, not just the middle and upper classes ○​ Belief that the government is needed to set people up for change ​ Nationalism ○​ One’s responsibility is to their country, which was especially chosen by God or some other higher authority ○​ Nationalism drove the nineteenth century ​ Romantic Nationalism ​ Through art, the romanticisation of a nation’s (often gory) history in order to inspire a sense of pride and nationalism ○​ Ethnic Nationalism ​ Nationalism within ethnic divides ​ Often led to ethnic groups breaking off and forming their own nations ​ Often led to conflict and genocide ○​ Nationalism broke up empires and created countries ​ Nationalist oppression created nationalism ​ Realpolitik  ○​ Otto Von Bismarck’s system of governing based entirely in pragmatism—if one needs to make certain reforms in order to avoid a full-scale revolution, then one will do it British Imperialism in India ​ The British East India Company established sweeping changes in India that offended Hindus and Muslims alike and especially the Brahmin caste ○​ Imposed/incentivized conversion to Christianity—one law in 1850 gave converts access to their ancestral property ○​ The British replaced Persian, Arabic, and Sanskrit with English in schools ​ Using its own policy that it could take over a state whose leader was deemed unfit or who died without a male heir, the British took over India’s richest state in 1956 ​ The British army in India, which consisted mostly of sepoys (native soldiers), was known for its loyalty, but incidents where the British were disrespectful to Hinduism or Islam caused serious unrest ○​ In 1857, the Enfield rifle, whose cartridges, greased with cow and pig fat, had to be bitten open, were introduced to India; because Hindus and Muslims, respectively, aren’t allowed to eat cows and pigs, many sepoys refused to use the rifles ○​ These sepoys were court-martialed and sentenced to hard labor—this caused mutiny and general unrest, which manifested in massacres of British people in India, which caused the British to kill Indian townspeople and force captured sepoys to eat beef or pork ​ In England, this was greeted with delight ​ The British used legislation to force Indians into an economic chokehold ○​ Parliament passed laws preventing the sale of Indian goods in Britain and limiting their sale in India—caused the failure of Indian manufacturing ​ Millions died of starvation ○​ British tax laws forced Indians to pay in cash, and thus to work for British employers, the only available source of cash; taxes were continually raised so the British could take over Indian land ○​ British railroads were used to increase British profits, but unintentionally connected disparate people and created a sense of unification across India ​ The British kept power by pitting various religious groups against one another ○​ Hindu, Muslim, and Sikh ○​ As an unintended consequence, this allowed people of those faiths to unite under the banners of religion ​ The British maintained control with a small population of colonial officials (less than 1,000) by promising Indian princes continued power in return for being a British puppet ​ Segregation between Indians and British  ○​ British saw themselves as superior and more intelligent than the Indians in every way ​ The British kept control by giving the impression that they were granting the Indian population political rights, while they actually limited any real power ○​ Delayed giving freedom for as long as possible Africa in the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries ​ Of all the continents in the world, Africa felt the impact of European colonialism the most ○​ Between 1880 and 1910, European states had carved up almost all of Africa in colonial holdings ○​ Between 1884 and 1885, delegates from Germany, Portugal, Britain, France, Spain, Italy, the USA, and the Ottoman Empire convened in Berlin to agree to carve up Africa and respect the acquisitions of every other power at the meeting ​ Africa promised lucrative investments in Egypt and South Africa for established businesses and great treasures in the uncharted interior for smaller traders ​ Captured the Western imagination ​ Africa promised to build up personal fortunes and reputations ​ Missionaries saw an opportunity to spread Christianity ​ Severe barbarism occurred in Africa ○​ Leopold II’s colony was so brutally controlled that, in 1908, the Belgian parliament took it away and made it a Belgian colony ​ Africans did not welcome Europe’s “civilizing” efforts, but resistance was often futile ○​ Two choices ​ Capitulate and negotiate to limit the loss of autonomy ​ Fight to preserve sovereignty ​ Most chose this option, but they were all almost entirely unsuccessful because of the superior military technology and tactics of Europe (machine guns, for example) ​ Most power fell to military adventurers, settlers, and entrepreneurs, supported by standing European empires by equipping Africans they bribed or compelled; eventually, these systems let to violent revolt, and thus European leaders had to create more fair/efficient administrations ○​ When news came out that imperial governments weren’t “civilizing” the “savages,” every European power stripped the strongmen of their authority ​ Three similar goals amongst the European imperial powers ○​ Pay for its own administration ○​ Preserve the peace ○​ Attract other European groups—missionaries, settlers, and merchants  ​ Europe used Africa for its abundant natural resources, such as cotton, cocoa, and coffee, and as an importer/buyer of European manufactured goods; Africans did not profit from this, having their economy turned over to people miles away and having their traditional social orders disturbed ​ Colonial rule was fragile, with limited military presences throughout the continent ○​ Violent conflict embroiled many colonial powers; some Europeans concluded that Africans were too stubborn to appreciate the help, some called for reform, and a few radicals demanded an end to imperialism ○​ African revolts were so spirited that European powers reacted with significant cruelty ​ Anglo-Boer War; the British and Dutch fought over territory in South Africa for gold, and black Africans were caught up just like their white counterparts ​ The British implemented the first concentration camps for Afrikaners and Dutch-affiliated Africans ​ Colonial powers denounced other colonial powers to emphasize their own benevolence The White Man’s Burden ​ Belief that white Westerners were obligated to go into Africa and “civilize” the “savages” Scientific Racism ​ Europeans used modern science to express a new kind of racism ○​ Ranked the human races—race defined intelligence, morality, and destiny ○​ Used phrenology to conclude that whites were superior ​ Created a vision of European colonialism as inevitable and necessary (see “The White Man’s Burden”) ​ Also derived from the idea of “social Darwinism,” which posited that European dominance depended on the destruction of “unfit” peoples ○​ “Survival of the fittest” ○​ Made imperialism, war, and aggression part of a need to weed out the world’s “weaker” people WWI Causes and Creations ​ 4 main causes of WWI: ○​ Alliances created a complex domino system—if one state declared war on another, that country’s allies would declare war, and the allies’ allies would declare war, and so on an so forth ​ Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance ○​ Militarism created an arms race, which created a culture of paranoia towards neighboring countries; expanded by propaganda  ​ Britain and Germany participated in a pseudo-naval race—Britain was always on top—that created fierce competition and hostility ○​ Imperial competition contributed to a culture of hostility and brought disparate nations/countries into the war ​ Germany, for example, felt that its holdings in Africa were too small ○​ Nationalism created new areas of interest by promoting the idea of self-determination: all cultural/ethnic groups deserve to govern themselves ​ Destabilized massive empires ​ Created hostility between nations, because rival powers would support the nationalist aspirations of their enemy’s colonies ​ The 1914 assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo by the (Serbian-supported) terrorist organization the Black Hand (more specifically, by Gavrilo Princip) was a manifestation of nationalist desires in the Balkans and set off the alliance system ○​ Russia jumped in to protect Serbia when Austria-Hungary declared war, thus setting off a chain reaction that drew various nations into the war, which was worsened by the countries’ rigid war plans; Germany, for example, had to invade France before Russia mobilized ​ The industrial nature of warfare changed the way wars were fought; belligerents combined traditional trench warfare with new machine guns, poison gases, and submarines/planes (although these would find more efficient uses in WWII) ○​ This technology could obliterate entire populations, contributing to the idea of WWI as a “total war” ​ WWI was the first total war, as governments mobilized entire populations to either go to the front or to manufacture weapons at home; they used propaganda, art, and nationalist sentiment to justify this ○​ Women found new power during the war as industrial workers, with many elite and middle class women leaving the home for the first time and supporting the war effort ​ This contributed to the women’s suffrage movement post-war, and, in some places, enabled women to get the right to vote, as in the USA in 1919 ​ WWI led to a weakening of imperial power throughout the world, as colonial citizens who had fought for their ruling powers returned home with new ideas and experiences, as well as first-hand knowledge of the barbaric capabilities of the “superior” Europeans Aftermath and Impact ​ Nation-Building in Turkey Experiments with Culture: The Role of Islam in Turkey ​ Post-WWI, modern Turkey emerged from the Ottoman Empire ○​ Led by general Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881-1938) ​ Fought of the British, French, and Greek attempts to dismember the remainder of the empire ​ Sought to make Turkey a modern, secular nation ​ Built upon Ottoman reformers ​ Atatürk desired to “enter European civilization entirely” ○​ Removal of Islam from public and political life ○​ Believed in elevating Islam by removing it from politics ​ Sought to broaden access by translating the Quran to Turkish and making the call to prayer in Turkish ○​ Deposed the sultan (political and religious leader) ○​ The caliphate was abolished ○​ Various Sufi organizations, sacred tombs, and religious schools closed ○​ Islamic courts dissolved ​ Secular law codes based on those of Europe emerged ○​ Pre-Islamic Turkey was celebrated as a foundation for all ancient civilizations ○​ The Turkish language switched from the Arabic script to a new, European-style one ​ Made literacy easier ​ Rendered thousands of years of work inaccessible ○​ Commanded men and women to adopt western dress ​ Banned the fez ​ Discouraged the veil—elite women, who set fashion trends, abandoned it ○​ Women’s rights ​ Polygamy abolished ​ Equal divorce rights ​ Right to vote and hold public office ​ Public beaches open to women ​ Islamic cultural revolution was met with resistance ○​ After Atatürk’s death, many reforms were rolled back or diluted ​ In 1950, the call to prayer returned to Arabic ​ Various political groups called for a greater role of Islam Building the Turkish State ​ Schools were taken out of the hands of Muslim clerics and placed under state control ○​ School, along with military service, became the chief instrument for Turkish nationalism ​ Kemal also borrowed Europe’s antidemocratic models ○​ He introduced a Soviet-inspired Five-Year plan for economic centralization  ○​ In the 1930s, he drew upon Nazi-inspired racial theories to posit Central Asia as the center of all civilization ○​ He occasionally rigged parliamentary elections and used his police and judiciary to silence dissent The Armenian Genocide ​ In 1915, the Turkish government began to deport and annihilate the Armenians of the Ottoman Empire ○​ Officials claimed that the Armenians planned to revolt and destroy the empire, which produced widespread support for the genocide ​ All able-bodied Armenian men were shot ​ The remaining men, women, and children were forced to march to non-existent relocation centers—they starved or were killed by state-commissioned bandits ​ By 1923, 1.5 million Armenians had been murdered or deported ​ The international community did nothing ○​ Woodrow Wilson saw the Armenian Genocide as a civil war ​ He was so determined to keep the USA out of WWI that he did not intervene ​ Most Americans supported his policy ○​ Overall, the international community condemned the genocide, but were so preoccupied with its own issues and WWI that it generally did nothing ​ No law existed yet for how to deal with this ○​ Small international efforts occurred, which aided the few survivors The Assyrian Genocide ​ In 1908, the Young Turks started a revolution in the Ottoman Empire and took over ○​ They had been educated in Europe and sought to establish a parliamentary regime ○​ Advocated for “Pan-Turkism” and “Turkification” ​ These nationalist ideas begat the Assyrian, Armenian, and Greek genocides ○​ Butchered Assyrians throughout Iran The Greek Genocide ​ The Greek Genocide was a systematic extermination of the native Greek subjects of the Ottoman Empire between 1914 and 1923 ​ Instigated by two successive Ottoman governments ○​ The Committee of Union and Progress Party (CUP) ○​ Atatürk’s Turkish Nationalist Movement ​ Included massacres, death marches, deportations, boycotts, rape, forced conversion to Islam, conscription, and the destruction of Christian Orthodox culture ​ Victim toll of up to 1.5 million  ​ Following the Ottoman defeat in WWI, many members of the CUP were sentenced to death in Ottoman Courts-Martial, but Atatürk interrupted these proceedings and continued to persecute Greeks ○​ Culminated in the attack on Smyrna (now Izmir) and the expulsion of all remaining Greeks from Turkey ○​ All able-bodied Greek men were refused exit from Turkey and were instead sent to slave labor camps or massacred ○​ See “Smyrna 1922” Anti-Black Violence in the U.S. The Eight Pillars of Caste ​ Both Jews and African Americans were subjected to gruesome medical experiments by members of the dominant caste ​ In the USA, doctors used Black Americans as experiment fodder, usually without anesthesia or consent ○​ Injected plutonium into them ○​ Let syphilis go untreated to observe the effects ○​ Perfected the typhoid vaccine on black bodies ​ One plantation doctor, James Marion Sims, made incisions into a black baby’s head to test his theory about curing seizures; he later became known as the founding father of gynecology ○​ Used enslaved women from Alabama as fodder, without ever giving anesthesia ​ Administered morphine after surgeries to relieve the “scalding of the urine” and to make sure that the women would be less able to resist further surgeries ​ This total control gave free access to the anatomy of live subjects who would otherwise be inaccessible East St. Louis ​ From July 1-3, 1917, the city of East St. Louis was ravaged by race riots ○​ Official death toll was 39 black people and 9 white people dead, but some believe that more than 100 black individuals died ○​ The city was mostly made up of black Americans from the South who had moved North to work in war factories ​ Racial tensions had been simmering since February ​ In the spring, the mostly white workforce of the Aluminium Ore Company struck, and the company replaced them with black migrants ​ When word of an attempted robbery of a white man by a black man spread, mobs began to beat any African Americans they could find  ​ On July 1st, a white man in a Ford shot into black homes, which spurred armed African Americans to gather and shoot into another oncoming Ford, which turned out to contain police officers; this began the riots ○​ Whites beat blacks with guns, rocks, and pipes, set fire to homes, and lynched black citizens ​ People attempted to cross the Mississippi river to get to St. Louis; some survived, some didn’t The Greenwood, Tulsa Massacre ​ The Greenwood district of Tulsa was a thriving black community, with a population of nearly 10,000, most of whom were former slaves or southern migrants ○​ It contained a flourishing business district known as Black Wall Street ​ The massacre began when a black man named Dick Rowland was accused of assaulting a white woman named Sarah Page. He was arrested and jailed, but a white mob attempted to get the sheriff to turn him over, a black group showed up to defend him; conflict arose ○​ On the morning of June 1st, 1921, the white mob rushed into Greenwood and opened fire, set buildings ablaze, and killed black residents ○​ The police and National Guard arrested black people instead of white ones, sometimes even joining the mob ​ After the massacre, the city set about erasing this history ○​ Buried victims in unmarked graves ○​ Scrubbed police records ○​ Cut out inflammatory articles from the Tulsa Tribune ​ In the aftermath, the Ku Klux Klan used it as a recruiting tool, and within months, its Tulsa chapter became one of the nation’s largest The Soviet Union Overview ​ In the midst of the Great Depression, it seemed to many that the liberal capitalism of the previous era no longer worked, which brought many to Marxist socialism, which posited that capitalism was on its deathbed and a new system ruled by the proletariat would soon emerge ○​ Vladimir Ilyich Lenin and Joseph Stalin transformed the former tsarist empire into the world’s first communist society—the USSR ​ In 1917, Lenin and his fellow Bolsheviks had taken power in the name of the Russian working class; after this, they had to defend the new state against dissident socialists, anti-Bolsheviks, peasant bands, and foreign militaries ○​ This opposition erupted into civil war between 1918 and 1920 ○​ The Bolsheviks rebranded to become the Russian Communist Party ​ Began crushing all opposition—the Red Terror campaign, where suspected anticommunists (“Whites”) were arrested, tried, and executed  ​ Used a new secret police to carry this out—this became a hallmark of communist rule ​ Executed the Romanovs in July 1918 out of fear that they’d be recaptured by the Whites ​ This strengthened counterrevolutionary resolve ○​ Peasantry largely supported the Bolsheviks ​ Feared anticommunists would return Russia to the tsarist system ○​ Russia’s former Allies—Britain, France, Japan, the United States—opposed Bolshevik power and thus supported the Whites as WWI was ending ​ The Bolsheviks threatened economic interests ​ Angered by Russia’s withdrawal from the war ○​ Foreign powers were not very effective because their troops were small and fatigued from the Great War; also, their presence only united Russians more against the Whites ​ Out of a need for funds to fight the civil war, Lenin introduced his system of nationalization: war communism ○​ Annulled private property, assuming ownership of banks, industry, etc, but exempted the poor from these seizures ○​ Abolished private trade and seized peasants’ crops to feed urbanites ​ War communism was ineffective and unpopular ​ In 1921, after the civil war, Lenin had to rebuild a severely damaged society, with striking workers (this represented a huge blow to communist ideology), destroyed factories, depopulated cities, etc. ○​ Attempted to take strict control by crushing strikes/rebellions ​ Faced with economic paralysis, Lenin introduced his New Economic Policy (NEP) ○​ Reintroduced the market economy and some private property temporarily ​ Larger industries, banks, factories, etc. remained under state control, but smaller industries returned to private ownership ​ Allowed peasants to sell surpluses at free market prices ​ Electrification and technical schools ​ Lenin died in 1924 and was replaced by the former general secretary of the communist party, Joseph Stalin, by 1928 ○​ Conflict within the party ​ Some argued that Russia was responsible for moving socialism to an international stage ​ Others favored establishing communism in a single nation (Stalin’s group) ​ Stalin implemented his First Five-Year Plan in place of the NEP ○​ Rapid industrialization ​ Increased productivity, especially for heavy industry (steel and machinery), often at the expense of consumer goods  ○​ Attempted maximum centralization ○​ Stalin consistently emphasized the urgency of this endeavor ○​ Focused especially on the collectivization of agriculture ​ The state took privately-owned land and formed it into collective farm units whose profits were to be shared amongst all farmers ​ Followed both communist philosophy and practical philosophy—Stalin intended to increase agricultural production and ensure that industrial workers were fed ​ Forced collectivization—ruthless punishments for resistors ​ The kulaks (relatively wealthy peasants) came under specific attack ​ Severely unpopular amongst the peasant population—the government responded with outright murder or removal to prison camps ​ Many farmers chose to join the urban workforce instead of going to collectivized farms ​ Taxed the limits of housing, food, etc. ​ Collectivized farms prioritized the needs of urban workers over those of the farmers ​ At least three million peasants died as a result ○​ Stalin’s focus on heavy industry helped industrialize, but meant that his citizens did not receive the gratifications of industrialization ​ Before fridges, radios, or cars, the state constructed steelworks ​ Balanced to an extent by full employment and cheap housing ​ Made the USSR attractive in comparison to the collapsing West ​ The Five Year-Plan incited controversy amongst members of the Communist Party ○​ At the 1934 “Congress of Victors,” Stalin generated a civil war in the party and purged several Bolshevik elites and two-thirds of the delegates ○​ The Great Purge was Stalin’s era of severe political repression​ ​ Removed from posts of authority all those suspected of opposition—these people faced execution or labor camps Life and Culture in Soviet Society ​ Between Lenin and Stalin, there was little improvement in the average standard of living for the general populace ○​ The masses generally lived off of black bread and wore shabby clothes ○​ Housing shortages were serious issues ​ Some lived in scrap-lumber homes in shantytowns ○​ Idealism and ideology sustained many members of the USSR, who say themselves building the first communist society as democracy and capitalism reached their inevitable end ​ This ideology attracted many westerners to communism in the 1930s  ○​ Soviet citizens did receive free healthcare, child daycare centers, and free education; unemployment was almost nonexistent ○​ There was the possibility of personal advancement ​ Specialized skills and technical education could allow one to become engineers, plant managers, etc. ​ The state offered incentives to those who could serve it] ​ A managerial and technical elite emerged alongside the political and artistic elites ○​ Artists and writers who could create good, effective propaganda became the darlings of the regime ​ Women were afforded greater rights than under tsarist rule ○​ Under Lenin, divorce and abortion were readily available and women were encouraged to leave the home and get to work ○​ Stalin downplayed social liberation and played up women’s work and education ​ Peasant women continued to labor on farms, while millions toiled in factories and heavy construction ​ Many women became doctors ​ By 1950, 75% of all Soviet doctors were women Egypt Between the Wars Overview ​ Egypt was the only country in Afro-Asia where nationalism emerged before European conquest ○​ Nationalism emerged from uprisings against Ottoman rule—these revolts actually led to British occupation in 1882 ○​ The British were also spurred by a desire to control the Suez Canal and protect access to India and the rest of its empire ​ The British established a puppet regime of Turkish khedives ​ Double colonization ​ After the British conquest, Lord Cromer dominated Egypt ○​ He pushed for much-needed economic reforms that reduced but could not lift the khedives out of debt entirely ○​ Oversaw bureaucratic reform and public works projects ○​ All the prosperity he brought mostly benefited the small elite and middle classes at the expense of the rest of the population ​ The ayan (landowning) class was the biggest gainer—the British used them to expand their influence, which, in turn, granted the ayan more control over the peasantry and access to the benefits of Cromer’s reforms ​ Resistance to the occupation was mostly left to the middle class ○​ Sons of the effendi, prosperous business/professional families, led this revolution  ○​ Middle-class journalists were integral to the nationalist revolution ​ In the 1890s and 1900s, Arabic newspapers attempted to expose the mistakes and corruption of the British/khedival rule ○​ In the 1890s, the first nationalist party was formed, but, eventually, a variety of rival parties came to proliferate ​ None of these really spoke for the impoverished, illiterate masses, who were mostly urban laborers and rural farmers ​ Leading up to WWI, heavy-handed British repression led to anger and rebellion against their rule ○​ In the 1906 Dinshawai incident, a British hunting party accidently shot the wife of the local mosque’s prayer leader; the angry villagers mobbed the British, who shot back—the British eventually hung four of the villagers, despite the fact that both sides suffered casualties ​ This harsh reprisal aroused protest and anger amongst Egyptian newspapers and nationalists, which galvanized support across class lines and presented the British with a unified anti-colonial front ​ By 1913, the nationalist movement had scared the British enough as to spur them to grant Egypt a constitution and space in Parliament ○​ Of course, the Parliament was elected indirectly by rich men of influence ​ WWI briefly ended nationalist agitation, but, in its aftermath, the movement, even more galvanized, reemerged with a vengeance Egypt in the Early 20th Century ​ When Sa’d Zaghul pressed for the Egyptian delegation to be invited to the Versailles Peace Talks, the British exiled him, which caused the country to revolt ○​ Rural rebels proclaimed local republics ​ After the conflict, the British tried to smooth things over, making Egypt “independent” in 1922, although they maintained the right to station British troops there—this allowed the British to continue to influence Egyptian politics ​ In 1924, Zaghul’s Wafd party was elected ○​ The British prevented the Wafd from having real power ​ The British subversion of independence and democracy provided an opening for antiliberal anti colonialism ○​ In the 1930s, the fascist Young Egypt group gained wide appeal ○​ The Islamic Muslim Brotherhood attacked all Western values, including liberal democracy, as a distraction from the only “pure” way of life ​ As political changes gave the government more control over education, schools at every level expanded rapidly ○​ Large, state-financed Egyptian University, with art, science, law, medicine, engineering, and commerce programs ​ More organized political parties emerged  ○​ The Wafd, which ruled the country, was supported mainly by the elites, some landowners, and in some moments the urban population in general ○​ The immediate aim of all these parties was to achieve a greater measure of self-governance within the imperial system ​ The British protected their power through agreements with these groups, removing themselves from direct control ​ In 1936, Britain made a compromise (the Anglo-Egyptian treaty of 1936) to remove its military but keep an armed force around the Suez Canal; soon after, Egypt entered the League of Nations ○​ The British were willing to accept self-governance in terms too narrow for long-lasting stability ​ Taha Husayn expressed a new, very contemporary view of what it meant to be Egyptian ○​ He proclaimed three essential elements of Egypt’s culture ​ The Arab element, especially the Arabic language ​ The outside element, especially Greek rationalism ​ Interaction with foreigners ​ The basic Egyptian element ○​ As did most of his peers, he wrote about Islam mainly as a cultural part of Egypt’s identity, not necessarily as a religion ○​ Focused on the Egyptian nation ​ How does it come into being? ​ How does it stay healthy and strong? ​ Nationalists played on the historical elements of Egypt ○​ Ahmad Shawqu drew inspiration from the ancient monuments of Egypt—the Sphinx, the pyramids, etc. ​ Deeply rooted (although not always explicitly) Arab element ○​ Revival of the Arabic language as a mode of modern expression and symbol of unity ​ Islamic element as a cultural force ○​ Mostly contained within the educated classes—separation of politics and religion seemed essential, and some Arab countries (Syria, Palestine, etc.) had Muslims and Christians living together) and thus emphasized national unity ​ Nationalism served, in this period, as a center for various other ideas ○​ Secularism ​ Emphasis on inter-faith acceptance and popular education ○​ Women’s emancipation ​ Schools for girls ​ Travel and the influence of Europe sped up the process ​ Brought about in part by a desire to increase national strength  ​ Huda Sha’rawi stood on the running board of a train in the station and drew back her veil ○​ Muslim Brotherhood ​ Advocated for social and individual morality—need to return to “true” Islam, uninfluenced by excess or Western corruption (Christianity, imperialism, feminism, etc.) ​ Economy and politics should be reformed in line with the Qu’ran ​ Would only recognize a leader who acted in accordance with sharia law ​ By the end of the 1930s, the Brotherhood was a political force—serious influence amongst the urban middle class ​ Purview extended throughout the Muslim world—in the late 30s, they aided the Palestinian Muslim revolt ○​ In 1937, Young Egypt became a formal political party ​ Later became the Islamic Nationalist party, then the Socialist party of Egypt ​ Dominated by the lawyer/politician Ahmad Husayn ​ Anti-British nationalism, anti-parliament, social justice, etc. ​ Anti-Wafd—aligned itself with anti-Wafdist forces ​ Paramilitary Green Shirts fought with the Wafd’s Blue Shirts ​ Suppressed during WWII, but relabeled and returned postwar to become the Socialist party ​ Abolished in 1953 after the military takeover Emancipatory Internationalism Definition ​ A movement for liberation from oppression for all people, in solidarity with others around the world ○​ The Universal Negro Improvement Association and Global Struggle American Economic Nationalism Capitalism Unraveling: The Great Depression ​ The Great Depression represented the postwar era’s most influential change ○​ Suggested that Western capitalism was failing ​ Success depended on individualistic materialism ​ Its immense social inequalities were unacceptable to many, especially socialists ​ Evident instability (cycles of boom and bust) generated profound anxiety and threatened many livelihoods ○​ The entire Western economic system seemed to be unraveling  ​ For the rich, it meant falling stock prices that wiped out entire fortunes ​ For ordinary people, unemployment was rampant—vacant factories, bread lines, shantytowns, etc. came to characterize the era ​ The booming 1920s American economy (bolstered by the previous decade’s wartime demand) had overstimulated the agricultural and industrial sectors until, by the end of the decade, there were too many goods to sell ○​ The damaged economies of Europe were likewise unable to buy these goods ​ Germany and Austria had to pay reparations ​ Britain and France depended on those reparations to pay their debts to the USA ○​ The slow recovery of European industry further reduced demand ​ The economic linkages of the West, expanded even further by colonialism, made the Great Depression global ○​ Southeast Asia saw rubber sales fall by 50%, for example ​ In Latin America, the tensions of the Great Depression led to change in the form of military takeovers ○​ Leaders steered their nations away from foreign dependency by advocating for independent industry ​ Attempted to achieve greater independence by manufacturing goods that had been imported for the domestic market ○​ More authoritarian governments (tariffs, state-run industries, etc.) ​ Lots of nationalism and populism to rebel against imperialism and as a response to the growing working/entrepreneurial class ○​ Growing role of the army ​ The Great Depression sharply challenged the governments of industrial capitalist countries ○​ The market’s failure to self-correct led many to look twice at the Soviets, who were still relatively stable and prosperous, and the economy was still growing as those of the West crumbled ​ Great Britain, France, and Scandinavia adopted “democratic socialism,” with greater economic regulation and a more equal distribution of wealth ​ The USA responded to the Depression with FDR’s New Deal, which combined reforms aimed at restarting economic growth and those preventing similar calamities ○​ Based on the belief that government actions and spending programs could prevent capitalist recessions and depression ​ Not really “socialist” ○​ Permanently altered the role of government in the private economy and the lives of its citizens ​ Public spending programs primed the economy and reduced unemployment  ​ Social Security, minimum wage, and relief/welfare programs created a modest economic safety net for the poor, unemployed, and elderly ​ Supported labor unions and thus strengthened workers’ rights ○​ The New Deal was mostly unsuccessful, and it would take the government spending required by WWII to really reverse the economic crisis India’s Struggle for Independence Overview ​ WWI and its aftermath led to full-blown challenges to British rule in India ○​ Provided inspiration for other colonial methods ​ In 1919, the British finally extended limited parliamentary participation to Indians and granted them greater power—local taxation and administration—in local self-government; this was not enough ​ Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (Mahatma Gandhi) laid the anticolonial foundations in the 1920s and 30s ○​ Gandhi had studied law in England and worked in South Africa for Indian immigrants before returning to India in 1915, where he assumed leadership and extolled the values of satyagraha, or nonviolent resistance ​ Develop your own resources and inner strength and do not participate in the system ​ The Amritsar massacre in April 1919 of protesting Indians in the Punjab, combined with the unwillingness of the British to punish the general responsible for it, ignited a boycott of all British goods, schools, and taxes ​ Gandhi protested the colonial economic control of salt with his Salt March, in which he marched to the sea and made his own salt himself ○​ This inspired thousands across India to make their own salt, to protest, to strike, and to make their own handwoven cloths ○​ Some Indians quit their government jobs in protest ○​ Gandhi used these symbols (cloth, salt, etc.) as a way to strengthen national pride amongst Indians ​ Gandhi’s ideas were met with active resistance from some in the nationalist movement ○​ Jawaharlal Nehru believed that India could only achieve independence by embracing science and technology and mobilizing; still, he and Gandhi were close and had mutual respect ○​ Radical activists wanted violent revolution instead of nonviolent resistance ​ Some stressed class conflict (organizing trade unions), which countered Gandhi’s communal vision ○​ Hindu-Muslim conflict threatened Gandhi’s hope for unity severely ​ Muhammad Ali Jinnah advocated for separate Muslim states in the regions where Muslims were the majority  ​ Hindus sought to revitalize their religion as a religion, not as a cultural force ​ The National Volunteer Organization, which was on the fringe of Indian politics, spewed Nazi-inspired hatred at Muslims ​ Hinduism was baked into Indian nationalism far more than Islam, as evidenced by the various Hindu symbols worn by Gandhi and the Indian National Congress Party ○​ Women’s rights presented a roadblock ​ The Congress Party elevated its ideology above demands for suffrage and social rights, just as it did in dealing with the lower castes and the Hindu-Muslim issue ​ In 1937, the British granted Indians greater political rights, but it was not enough for the deeply politicized people of India ​ The Congress Party struggled to contain the various ideologies and political institutions as well as trying to find a path to economic modernization ○​ Gandhi looked back to the harmony of self-sufficient village communities ○​ Nehru advocated for a socioeconomic transformation powered by organized science ○​ Both believed that India’s humane ideas and collective welfare set it apart from the West ​ After WWII, the British realized that they would be unable to keep their grip on India, so they withdrew; after this, India nearly plunged into civil war, despite the emphasis on nonviolence ○​ Within the congress leadership, there was much disagreement about what kind of state India should be (see Gandhi’s economic plan vs. Nehru’s) ○​ The Hindu-Muslim tensions only grew ​ Whose culture would define the nation? ​ Indian nationalism had been based in Hinduism, but this ignored the variegated cultures/ideas under the Hindu umbrella ​ In 1946, riots broke out between the two groups, which increased tensions between Congress and the Muslim League, who wanted a partition into India and Pakistan ​ On August 14th, 1947, Pakistan gained independence; a day later, India did the same ​ In the days after independence, brutal riots broke out, as about one million Muslims and Hindus killed each other ​ In response, 12 million Muslims and Hindus left their homes to migrate to their newly designated nations ​ In response, Gandhi fasted until the violence stopped, which it very quickly did; still, animosity festered  ○​ Less than six months later, a Hindu fanatic shot Gandhi dead ​ After Gandhi’s death, and even before that, India had begun to industrialize and build up its military and police forces (Gandhi was obviously opposed) ○​ Nehru became the first prime minister and the leader of the Indian National Congress Party and, along with other party members, began to modernize ​ Inspired by Soviet development and western democratic systems ​ Wanted a “socialistic pattern of society” with a mixed economy of public and private sectors ​ Wanted to give India the “garb of modernity,” with hydroelectric dams and steel plants ​ Education and economic development ​ Hoped that the diminishment of religious prominence would improve women’s rights and permit them to function as modern citizens ​ Guided Indian modernization until his death in 1964 Latin America Between the Wars Overview ​ The export economies of Latin American countries had been severely weakened by the war as trade plummeted; because of this, popular confidence in oligarchy fell and radical agitation surged ○​ Labor unions, strikes, etc. ​ The Great Depression brought about even more challenges from workers; it pummeled Latin American economic systems, which were dependent on the export of basic staples (sugar, wheat, etc.) and had invested a lot of borrowed money in infrastructure and expansion ○​ When the Depression came, creditors called in their loans, which drove borrowers to default ​ Latin American governments turned inwards, focusing on domestic markets instead of foreign markets as the main engine of growth ○​ Took on a more interventionist role in market activity ​ Post-war, the Latin American elites established mass parties and encouraged interest groups to associate with them—corporatism, which used social groups to bride the socioeconomic gap ○​ Chambers of commerce, trade unions, peasant associations, organization for minorities ​ WWI, combined with the Russian Revolution and the Mexican Revolution, spread radical political ideas which were very well-received throughout Latin America, especially during the Great Depression  ○​ Socialism and a greater concern for impoverished indigenous populations permeated amongst the intellectual and artistic classes ○​ These ideas were not wholly adopted, but they suggested alternatives open to nations in the future with their increased popularity and supposed viability ​ The increased interwar economic power of the USA affected the people of Latin America most intensely, which made capitalism an obvious target ○​ Many university students began to demand socialist reform—this led to the long-term politicization of Latin American student bodies ​ Fidel Castro emerged from this sort of academic setting Brazilian Corporatism in the Interwar Era ​ Corporatism was especially popular in Brazil ○​ The old republic collapsed in 1930, replaced by Getúlio Vargas’ coalition ​ Focused on popular social reform ​ Vargas dubbed himself the “father of the poor,” encouraging workers to organize and erecting monuments to national heroes ○​ Appealed especially to black Brazilians by legalized many previously forbidden practices (candomblé) ○​ Supported samba schools, which taught dance and fundraised for public works (see below) ○​ Enfranchised women and addressed maternity and housing policy ○​ Condemned the old elites for serving the interests of foreigners, but also arranged foreign funding for steel mills and factories ○​ Emphasized domestic industry ​ Samba was an example of the ways in which mass culture could emerge in poorer societies and then spread to the elite classes, even beyond national borders ○​ Radio helped disseminate the artform ​ Samba emerged in Rio de Janeiro’s shantytowns, combining fandangos and slave songs; the lyrics celebrated the freeing of the slaves in 1888 and the old monarchs’ benevolence ○​ Encompassed the idea that life was more than the squalor many who danced the samba lived in ○​ Not high culture (although elites joined audiences and even some troupes by the 1920s) and not the culture of any specific race or ethnic group ​ Samba was a mass culture unifying the people of Rio and eventually, the people of Brazil ​ The invention of the phonograph and the long-playing record allowed samba to spread into an international phenomenon through radio and movies ○​ Carmen Miranda’s fruit-decorated hats made her famous in the United States ○​ Also helped spread the tango, the bolero, and salsa ​ Music and dance were fundamental in creating “national” Latin American cultures  ​ In the 1920s, samba took on new political implications as dance organizations made “schools” to raise funds to combat the state’s negligence; by the 1930s, samba schools were the largest benefactors of public works in Rio ○​ Became patronage machines for local politicians ○​ The government banned these organizations as potentially subversive, but Getúlio Vargas inducted them into his political network, legalizing the schools in 1935 Mexico: Unraveling a Puzzle Constitution of Mexico “The Nation shall at all times have the right to impose on private property such limitations as the public interest may demand, as well as the right to regulate the utilization of natural resources which are susceptible of appropriation, in order to conserve them and to ensure a more equitable distribution of public wealth. With this end in view, necessary measures shall be taken to divide up large landed estates; to develop small landed holdings in operation; to create new agricultural centers, with necessary lands and waters; to encourage agriculture in general and to prevent the destruction of natural resources, and to protect property from damage to the detriment of society. Centers of population which at present either have no lands or water or which do not possess them in sufficient quantities for the needs of their inhabitants, shall be entitled to grants thereof, which shall be taken from adjacent properties, the rights of small landed holdings in operation being respected at all times.” FDR’s Address at Chautauqua, NY “The American Republics to the south of us have been ready always to cooperate with the United States on a basis of equality and mutual respect, but before we inaugurated the good-neighbor policy there were among them resentment and fear, because certain Administrations in Washington had slighted their national pride and their sovereign rights. In pursuance of the good-neighbor policy, and because in my younger days I had learned many lessons in the hard school of experience, I stated that the United States was opposed definitely to armed intervention…. Throughout the Americas the spirit of the good neighbor is a practical and living fact. The twenty-one American Republics are not only living together in friendship and in peace; they are united in the determination so to remain…. We can keep out of war if those who watch and decide have a sufficiently detailed understanding of international affairs to make certain that the small decisions of each day do not lead toward war and if, at the same time, they possess the courage to say "no" to those who selfishly or unwisely would let us go to war. Of all the Nations of the world today we are in many ways most singularly blessed. Our closest neighbors are good neighbors. If there are remoter Nations that wish us not good but ill, they know that we are strong; they know that we can and will defend ourselves and defend our neighborhood. We seek to dominate no other Nation. We ask no territorial expansion. We oppose imperialism. We desire reduction in world armaments. We believe in democracy; we believe in freedom; we believe in peace. We offer to every Nation of the world the handclasp of the good neighbor. Let those who wish our friendship look us in the eye and take our hand.” Iran under Reza Shah Pahlavi Overview ​ The Pahlavi period (1925-79) witnessed significant economic, social, and cultural reforms in Iran; the country went from traditional with a weak central government to relatively modern and centralized, with a powerful military and an expanding economy ○​ The Pahlavi rulers—Reza Shah and his son, Mohammad Reza Shah—her authoritarian leaders who showed little tolerance for dissent, actively disregarding the principles of popular sovereignty and rule of law established by the 1906 constitution ​ After WWI, Persia (as Iran was known until 1935) was near bankruptcy and political disintegration due to the ravages of war, disease, famine, destruction of farmland, tribal uprisings, and separatist movements ○​ The last two were often supported by foreign powers ○​ The young Qajar king, Ahmad Shah, was too inexperienced to manage the issues in Persia ​ By late 1920, many Iranians concluded that only a strong military leader could save them from disintegration or subsuming by the British or Soviets ○​ Reza Khan, the leader of the only well-organized military force in Iran, the Cossack Brigade, emerged as the best option ​ In 1921, Khan staged a coup with little fighting or resistance, establishing martial law in Persia ​ Assured that the coup wasn’t directed towards the crown, Ahmad Shah appointed Reza Khan as the commander-in-chief of the armed forces ​ Throughout the next two years, Reza Khan climbed up the ladder to become the prime minister; in the same timespan, he defeated a Soviet-backed secessionist movement ○​ Promoted the idea of Persia as a republic, with himself as president ​ Strongly opposed by conservative politicians and clergy members, who feared the breakdown of religious institutions ​ Eventually, he abandoned this and was crowned Shah in 1925; a few months later, he established the new Pahlavi dynasty ​ Reza Shah continued to modernize, expand the army, and to centralize power ○​ Universal conscription law ○​ New judicial system based on secular Western models ​ Took away the clergy’s control over the judiciary ○​ Improved communication and transportation systems  ​ Trans-Iranian railroad system ○​ Replaced the British-controlled Imperial Bank of Persia with the National Bank of Iran in 1927 ○​ Expanded public education ​ Secular curriculum, though boys and girl were still separate ​ Mostly reached urban areas ​ University of Tehran in 1934; women allowed to attend two years later ​ Not all segments of society were supportive of Reza Shah’s reforms ○​ Traditional landowners and tribal leaders resented the growing strength of the army, their increased tax burden, and the erosion of their political influence ○​ The clergy resented his secularization and feared it would destroy traditional Islamic structures ​ The emancipation of women was especially concerning ​ Reza Shah subverted the development of parliamentary democracy and the separation of powers guaranteed by the Iranian constitution ○​ Censorship ○​ Political parties outlawed ○​ Towards the end of his reign, Reza Shah became increasingly greedy ​ Seized as many as 3,000 prosperous villages, making him, by the end of his rule, the country’s largest landowner ​ To create a unified state, Reza Shah focused on a combination of westernization and preservation of Persian tradition ○​ Non-Persian languages weren’t permitted ○​ Western clothing was mandatory, to the chagrin of Muslims ○​ Considered the nomadic tribes that were prominent in Persia a threat and began a policy of settling them under the government’s control in 1933 ○​ Replaced Sharia law with civil codes modeled on those of the french ○​ Restricted religious observance ​ The military used severe force on the members of the clergy who resisted secularization ​ Replaced the Islamic calendar with a royal one ​ Slashed subsidies to the clergy ​ Reza Shah helped develop new industries that boosted the wealth of Iran by a lot ○​ This development often led to the exploitation of workers under both Reza Shah and his son ​ The British was the majority shareholder in the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, which was responsible for almost half of the country’s revenues ○​ This prompted increased anti-British sentiment ​ In response, the company’s leaders went on a charm offensive; they paid for education, railroads, etc, but this didn’t work  ​ By 1933, Persia and Anglo-Persia struck a new deal, wherein the company would “Persianize” their business—hiring/training more Persians ○​ The company’s territory in the country was diminished ○​ A minimum annual payment to the Persian government was needed ○​ The Persians saw that those with the resources (in this case, Persia) controlled the bargaining ​ Landmark for Persian independence Cultural Nationalism in Mexico The Great Depression and Forjando Patria ​ In the midst of the Great Depression, Mexican reform shifted from an agrarian to an urban focus ○​ Committed to address severe food shortages; focused on food production ○​ In the labor sector, Congress passed the Federal Work Law, which implemented significant protections for workers and their unions ​ In 1916, the anthropologist Manuel Gamio had labeled the effort to win the hearts and minds of ordinary Mexicans forjando patria, or the forging of the fatherland ○​ Paid homage to indigenous and mestizo traditions as the main components of Mexican identity ○​ Expansion of education to something secular and reformist to transform a superstitious and repressed population ​ Mexican nationalism was much less destructive than many other forms of the era, but was still rejected by many Mexicans who sought to maintain their individual identities or to reshape the contemporary discourse ○​ Some Mexicans sought to protect their faith from an anti-religion government Education ​ Prior to the advent of TV and in an era in which many Mexicans didn’t own a radio, it was very difficult to instill a national identity; more than half of all adults were illiterate ○​ The desire to inject nationalism into those who did not already consider themselves Mexican would thus take a dedication to education ​ The Secretaría Pública (SEP) sent cultural missions to the countryside and, with textbooks that perpetuated the governmental interpretation of Mexico, trained new teachers ​ Focused on primary education; secondary and university education remained squarely in the purview of the middle and elite classes ​ The Mexican President Álvaro Obregón supported the program but hated its head, who he viewed as an overly intellectualized city slicker ​ The education crusade had mixed success ○​ By 1940, 70% of children between the ages of six and ten attended primary school, but illiteracy was still above 50%  ○​ The government had intended to change culture from above, but the teachers, most of whom had grown up solidly middle class, found themselves changed by their surroundings ​ Discovered the severity of rural poverty ​ Found that the imposition of nationalism was relatively fruitless ​ Realized the strength and duality of religion ​ Found that many considered themselves both agraristas (supporters of land reform) and Roman Catholics Public Art ​ Artistic production was an effective part of the cultural revolution in Mexico because it could appeal to those who couldn’t read ​ Diego Rivera, the preeminent muralist of the era, incorporated both government-approved messages (Aztec symbols, etc.) and Marxist ideas that ran in direct opposition to the state (history as a story of the triumph of the workers, anti-foreign ideas, etc.) ○​ The government, although it didn’t agree with these ideas, associated themselves with Rivera to bask in the popularity of his ideas ​ The government used monuments of revolutionary leaders (most of whom had actually severely disagreed with each other and fought with one another) to propagate and idea of “the revolutionary family” ○​ Monolithic/linear representation of the Mexican Revolution ○​ The untimely, violent deaths of these popular martyrs stood in stark contrast to the suffering of the general populace, but was an effective propaganda tool ​ Monumento a la Revolución ​ Housed the remains of Francisco I Madero, Emiliano Zapata, Venustiano Carranza, and Pancho Villa Intellectual Conceptions of Race and Gender ​ Intellectuals from North America and europe were drawn to the revolution’s center, Mexico City ○​ Engaged in ongoing discussions with Mexican intellectuals and cultural workers, who worked to define a new national identity ​ The cultural (and education) minister José Vasconcelos conceived of the nation as the “cosmic race,” which portrayed Mexicans as the best of indigenous, African, and Spanish traditions; this provided the intellectual underpinnings of his educational campaign ○​ Validated indigenous culture and implied that indigenous peoples needed to be assimilated ​ Vasconcelos was actually very dismissive of indigenous culture, dismissing it as “low” culture in favor of “high” (read: European) culture ​ The philosopher Samuel Ramos rejected Vasconcelos’ elitism in favor of a Mexican everyman  ○​ Made the (usually) poor mestizo into a “macho,” which Ramos saw as essential to Mexican culture ​ Women did not find themselves rewarded with enfranchisement after WWI, and often found themselves shunted in favor of “macho” men ​ Despite their rejection by “machismo,” women were still increasingly involved in society ○​ Most worked as teachers, nurses, and social workers ○​ Some of the artistic intellectuals were women (most famously, Frida Kahlo) ○​ Many women organized labor unions in the textile and tortilla industries ○​ The women’s movement crystalized in 1935 ​ Some women participated in the older ideas of the Catholic Right ○​ Guardians of “traditional values” and the right to religious worship The Cultural Nationalism of China’s Revolution and Civil War Challenges to Tradition - “The early years of the Republic were marked by both firm attachment to tradition and revitalized efforts by individuals to bring about social change in China.” ​ In the first decades of the 1900s, China underwent significant social change due to political instability ○​ Reformers who published literature and essays in new political journals and those “in the field” sought to reduce the socioeconomic gap, advance healthcare, and improve women’s lives; also attempted to expand Chinese as a written language and to extend educational opportunities to the greater population ​ The United States had used the indemnities the Qing government had to pay to send Chinese students to learn in the USA; Chinese workers also took advantage of a work-study program in France, and some Chinese even went to study in Japan ○​ These students and others brought new ideas to China, seeing it as a nation on the cusp of great change ​ Anarchist, democratic, monarchist, and communist ideas pervaded ○​ Students also started up new schools in China ​ WWI had brought many Chinese laborers abroad; they came back with new ideas and tried to apply them ​ There was also a religious influence from missionaries in China; these missions also extended education to girls ○​ The Social Gospel movement called for improved living conditions for the poor ​ The YMCA, which emerged from this movement, became an important force for social projects and public health/fitness ​ After the Qing abolished the civil service exam system in 1905, much of the younger generation of intellectuals led reform movements through print media, wherein they challenged old ideas of family, marriage, and success ○​ Greater efforts to end foot binding and indentured servitude ​ The 1911 Nationalist Revolution quickly came to face China’s political realities  ○​ Warlords ruled China for a time, more interested in their own political standing than the welfare of their subjects ○​ In the late 1920s and 30s, Chaing Kai-Shek’s Guomindang government took power, challenging the warlords, the Japanese, and the Communist party ​ At the same time, an indigenous philanthropy movement took care of refugee issues ○​ Reform came incrementally ○​ Violence became endemic, as the Guomindang fought the warlords and the communists, the warlords fought one another, and Japan began its violent intrusion ​ Those running from the violence often found themselves separated from their families ​ Young men often joined or were conscripted into militias ​ Instability worsened the lives of the peasantry, making their way of life precarious as they couldn’t find steady labor or stable social units to cultivate their land ○​ Many impoverished peasants moved to the cities in search of better work The Early Republican (1912-16) and Warlord (1916-28) Periods - “Like the end of many previous dynasties, the fall of the Qing was followed by a period of division when competing warlords battled for power. But the disunity also heralded intellectual exploration that led to the development of ideas and the emergence of leaders who would found a new China.” ​ After the Qing dynasty fell, China underwent a brief period of hope; the Chinese nationalist Sun Yat-sen was elected president (for six weeks) ○​ The Republican army was, however, no match for the imperial one, and Yat-sen soon stepped down in favor of the general Yuan Shikai ​ The new government elections took place in December 1912, and the Guomindang took the majority of seats in the governing body—but Shikai had the party leader assassinated and soon outlawed the party entirely ○​ Yuan Shikai became essentially a dictator ○​ This action undermined Shikai’s military support ​ When, in 1915, Shikai attempted to make himself emperor, mutiny and protests emerged throughout the nation ​ Within six months, Shikai was dead of kidney failure ​ That disintegration made the Republic China’s ruling body in name only, and thus whichever military leader was strong enough in the moment became the controller ○​ The central government had little power, and ruling was left to the provinces ​ The provinces were mostly seized by provincial army commanders ○​ These generals-turned-warlords were mostly committed to a unified China in which they played a starring role ​ Some were quite progressive (Yan Xishan); some were little more than common criminals  ○​ Using the abundant natural resources available in the regions they overtook, a warlord could create a mostly-independent state separate from the rest of China ​ Set up government, schools, paved roads, commerce, etc. ○​ Relied on significant military force ​ Massive armies outstripped the normal tax revenue of the provinces, which spurred the warlords to create new taxes on basic necessities, establish toll roads, etc., or to participate in illegal activity (opium trade or subdividing territory to local criminals) ​ Large loans from foreign banks ○​ Most political leaders/the population continued to believe in a unified China ​ The stresses of the Republican period led to an outburst of creativity ○​ People from every class attempted to find solutions to their problems in politics, culture, etc. ○​ Elimination of the exam system allowed people to explore more creatively ​ Drew upon traditional Chinese id