20th Century Revolutions

Compare and Contrast MexicoRussiaChina

Revolutions

• A revolution is any fundamental change in the social or political aspects of a state. Most revolutions are political, occurring when the citizens of a country try to oust the existing government and replace it with a new one. Political revolutions tend to be violent events. There is no clear-cut explanation as to why people revolt, but scholars believe that some or all of the following factors lead to revolution:

Factors (Causes)• Injustice: If the under-classes feel that they are being treated unjustly, they

will revolt. • Relative deprivation: revolutions occur after a period of good times has

ended. The citizens begin to expect a higher quality of life and feel cheated when they perceive a stagnation or decline in the quality of their lives.

• State of the government: Revolutions are more likely to happen in countries with corrupt governments. If citizens believe in the efficacy of their government, then revolution is unlikely. But if a regime appears to exist solely to enrich the rulers, then revolution is more likely.

• The military: As the strongest power in most states, the military frequently determines whether a revolution will occur and be successful. If the military backs the government, then revolution is unlikely. A turning point in many revolutions occurs when soldiers decide to stop obeying the government and decide to fight alongside the revolutionaries.

China 20th-21st Centuries • Kaplan Pages 239-241; 242; 246-247• Textbook Pages 860-876• Key facts / ideas to focus on:

- Sun Yat-sen -Mao Zedong-Chiang Kai-shek (Jiang Jieshi)-May 4th Movement the “Long March”-Chinese Communist Party (CCP)-Great Leap Forward Cultural Revolution- Gang of Four Deng Xiaoping-Tiananmen Square -Four Modernizations- 3 Gorges Dam

Mexico 20th – 21st Century • Kaplan pages: 241• Textbook pages: 774-782, 791-798• Key facts/ideas to focus on: - Porfirio Diaz

-“Pancho” Villa-Venustiano Carranza- Emiliano Zapata-PRI (Institutional Revolutionary Party)-continued caudillo hegemony- U.S. & European “dollar diplomacy”- economic “miracle” (oil industry) in 1980s- NAFTA & reaction- Vicente Fox (PAN)

Russia 20th -21st century • Kaplan pages: 239; 243• Textbook pages: 655-657; 730-751• Key facts/ideas to focus on:

- Czar Nicholas II; Alexander Kerensky- Bolsheviks ; Red Army - Vladimir Lenin; Leon Trotsky; New Economic Policy - Joseph Stalin 5-year Plan- collectivization of farms- military purges; role of police - E Europe “satellites” Berlin, 1953- Khrushchev & de-Stalinization- détente- Mikhail Gorbachev ; Boris Yeltsin- Vladimir Putin