Final Exam Study Sheet (150 points total)Part A(100 points): Material since the second midterm

Section I (50 points): Quiz on Maps #13-15 and on Kotkin, Armageddon AvertedWhat was the Soviet economy like in the 1970s and 80s? (pp. 15-18)During the 1970s and 80s the Soviet economy was experiencing its greatest economic boom due to the 1973 Arab-Israeli War and oil shock which caused an unexpected leap in world oil prices. Form 1973-1985 energy exports accounted for 80% of the USSR’s expanding hard currency earnings.

How does Kotkin charactertize the older generation of Soviet leaders who held power before Gorbachev (e.g., Brezhnev, Andropov)? How was Gorbachev different? (pp. 35-57)

What issues could be discussed in the Soviet Union as a result of Gorbachev's policy of Glasnost? (pp. 67-73)Political, more so governmental criticism.

Was Gorbachev a communist? (pp. 56-85)Yes.

What kind of politician was Boris Yeltsin? How did he seize power? (pp. 86-103)

What was Russia like in the Yeltsin years? (pp. 113-141)During the Yeltsin years Russia was utterly broke and in chaos. At the beginning of Yeltsin term inflation was estimated to be 250% per month. Yeltsin decided to use “shock therapy” on the example of 1990 Poland an d1070s Chile, by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In early 1992 Yeltsin ended most of Soviet-era administered prices and the state was transformed into a bustling bazaar of buyers and sellers on street corners. However, Yeltsin could not stabilize the monetary system. Inter-enterprise debts soared to 800 billion rubles by March 1992, and by July reached 3.2 trillion rubles—a quarter of Russian GDP.

What does Kotkin mean by 'democracy without liberalism'? Who was running Russia during this era? (pp. 142-170)

What are the problems of the Confederation of Independent States (in which Russia is the dominant state) today? (pp. 185-196)

Additional Map:

For extra credit, be able to list 4 of the members of the CIS.

Map #15:

Be able to tell me which states have changed their shape or their names since 1989 (compare this map with Map # 13).

Map #13:

Be able to tell me which of these states belonged to the Warsaw Pact, which belonged to NATO, and which were non-aligned or other communist states:

Map #14:Be able to label the following provinces on a map of Yugoslavia in 1987:

Serbia

Bosnia-HerzegovinaSloveniaCroatia

Section II (10 points): Timeline

Section III (20 points): Matching. Know these terms sufficiently to be able to match them with their definitions.

• T-4 Program — Euthanasia campaign against “life unworthy of living”: the mentally and physically handicapped. Hitler killed people without telling families. Between 75,000 and 250,000 people were murdered before 1939. People needed to be eliminated to save money for the treasury; these people were a drag on the population. The program was stopped because of public protests in summer 1939. Members of families of victims became concerned about number of victims. Word slipped out from former doctors and nurses. There were protests and threats to go public abroad and at home. The Nazis did stop (temporarily). The power to stop the program suggested that Nazi policies could be tempered by public protest, but there was no public outcry over the Jews.

• Truman Doctrine — a U.S. policy beginning in 1947 at the start of the Cold War to fight attempts of communist takeover and expansion, especially in Eastern Europe.

• Vichy France — the government that ruled France from July 1940 to August 1944. It was established following the defeat of the French army by Nazi Germany during WWII. The regime willingly collaborated with the Nazi occupation to a high degree and organized raids to capture Jews. It was removed after the liberation of Paris, and Charles de Gualle came to power.

• Berlin Airlift — the supply of vital necessities to West Berlin by air transport primarily under U.S. auspices from June 1948 to May 1949. It was initiated in response to a blockade of the city that had been instituted by the Soviet Union to force the allies to abandon West Berlin.

• Resistance Movement — Resistance to Nazis in WWII. It can either be from a communist standpoint or a non-communist standpoint. The resistance was usually to German control in WWII. New communist

leaders come out of the movement. Charles de Gualle, Tito in Yugoslavia, and many other leaders of the movement took power after the war.

• Srebrenica — the mass rape and murder (ethnic cleansing or genocide) of thousands of Croatians and Bosnians by Serbs in the Bosnian Wars.

• Hitler’s Annexation of Austria — is also known as the Anschluss, or the de facto annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany in 1938. The country voted and an overwhelming majority wanted to be a part of Germany. It was one of the first major steps in Hitler’s long-desired creation of an empire including German-speaking lands and territories Germany had lost after WWI.

• Nuremberg Trials — trial of the major conspirators of WWII. Soviet leader and Churchill wanted mass execution of them. But the U.S. Secretary of State Henry Morgan suggested denazification, and they were tried on charges of: war crimes; crimes against humanity; participation for crimes against peace; planning, initiating and waging wars of aggression; and other crimes against peace. The outcome ended with 24 being accused and 12 sentenced to death.

• Yalta Conference — meeting between President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Premier Josef Stalin that occurred in the Crimea in 1945 to prepare for the postwar order. They all gathered to decide what to do with Germany and the rest of Europe after WWII.

• War Guilt Clause — Article 231 in the “Reparations” portion of the Treaty of Versailles. In it, Germany was assigned the responsibility for the damages caused by WWI, which served as a justification for the obligations put upon Germany in the remainder of the portion. It blamed only Germany for causing the war.

• Maastricht Treaty — treaty that officially created the EU and lays the foundations for the Eurozone in1992. Currency begins circulating in 2002 and is now used by more than 300 million. Began the growth of the European bureaucracy.

• Imre Nagy — hungarian communist who was appointed Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the People's Republic of Hungary. Nagy was brought down by Soviet invasion in the failed Hungarian Revolution of 1956 which ended his second term.

• European Union — an international political body that was organized after WWII to reconcile Germany and the rest of Europe as well as to forge closer industrial cooperation. Over time, member states of the EU have relinquished some of their sovereignty, and cooperation has evolved into a community with a single currency, the Euro, and a common European parliament.

• Red Army — the armed forces first organized by the Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War in 1918 and that in 1922 became the army of the Soviet Union. It eventually grew to form the largest army in history from the 1940s until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. “Red” refers to the blood shed by the working class in its struggle against capitalism.

• Treaty of Rome — treaty that transformed France, West Germany, Italy, Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg in 1957 into the European Economic Community (EEC) or Common Market. The EEC aimed to abolish trade barriers among its members. The organization pledged itself to common external tariffs, the free movement of labor and capital among the member nations and to building uniform wage structures and social security systems in order to create similar working conditions throughout the Common Market.

• Marshall Plan — a program created by the U.S. after WWII to rapidly rebuild Western Europe. It funneled $23 billion into Europe to help rebuild their economies. It helped rebuild Germany so it could be strong economically once again after WWII to avoid political radicalization. It was a huge success; everyone breathed a “sigh of relief.” Stalin prevented eastern European nations from receiving Marshall Aid.

• Auschwitz — the largest of the Nazi concentration camps. It was located in southern Poland and liberated in January 1944.

• Vatican II — a reform of the Catholic Church from 1962-1965. It established that Mass was no longer required to be said in Latin, among other things. It transformed church practices and made a new way of life for European Catholics.

Economic Miracle — (Wirtschaftswunder) After WWII, the rapid economic recovery in the Western part of Europe. People were being fed, and cities were being rebuilt. The government was even doing well in civil welfare and service. Western Europe does so well that it returns very quickly to its prewar economic success.

• Jan Palach — Czech student who set himself on fire during the Prague Spring in January 1969 to protest Soviet intervention.

• Perestroika — one of Gorbachev’s policies of reform that helped to restructure and modernize the Soviet economy. This policy was implemented in 1985.

• “Socialism with a Human Face” — the idea of a kinder, gentler socialism. It did not purport to get rid of communism, but only to remove some of the harshness of it. It wanted a little more independence and freedom, but it never happened.

• Siege of Sarajevo — Bosnian Serbs surrounded and bombarded a city that lived in relative ethnic harmony. It lasted from 1992-1996. A series of mortar attacks in 1995 on public marketplaces in Sarajevo produced fresh western outrage and moved the U.S. to act. It produced a terrible moral crisis for Bosnia, Yugoslavia and Europe in general.

• The Bretton Woods Agreement in 1944 greatly helped the Western European economy. 73 delegates from 44 nations agreed to create a system for financial stability. It created the IMF, the World Bank, the gold standard and fixed exchange rates.

• Winston Churchill — the British prime minister who led the country during WWII. He also coined the phrase “Iron Curtain” in a speech at Westminster College in 1946.

• Woodrow Wilson — president of the United States during WWI. He came up with the 14 points and was the leading peace negotiator at the end of the war.

• Michael Gorbachev — a Russian politician who came to power in 1985 as the General Secretary of the Communist Party. He implemented two new policies (political and economic) that allowed for more free speech in government and helped restructure the economy. He also allowed non-communists to be elected to Congress and a new wave of immigration. He was looked at as a reformer who allowed more independence and economic efficiency.

• Slobodan Milosevic — a Serb who became president of Yugoslavia in 1987. He was a Serbian nationalist, and he jeopardized the ethnic balancing that Tito had organized. When the Croatian Republic declared independence from Yugoslavia in 1991, Milosevic mobilized the Serb-dominated army to defeat the separatists. He was involved in the ethnic cleansing of the Bosnian Wars and again in Kosovo. He was removed from power in 2000 and died in prison where he was awaiting trial for hate crimes.

• Sovereign Debt Crisis — see slide on moodle for details

• Boris Yeltsin — 1st President of the Russian Federation. President during the 1998 Financial Crisis in Russia.

• Vladimir Putin — 2nd President of the Russian Federation and current Prime Minister of Russia.

Section IV (20 points): Essay on the readings. I will give you one of these questions on which to write an essay (approximately 5-6 paragraphs).

1. Why, according to Stephen Kotkin (in Armageddon Averted) did the Soviet Union collapse? Compare and contrast the collapse of this multi-national communist empire with the collapse of the Habsburg Empire, as described by Alan Palmer in Twilight of the Habsburgs.

2. Compare and contrast the role played by EITHER Mikhail Gorbachev in the USSR OR Franz Joseph in Austria-Hungary to that played by wither Louis XVI of France, or Elizabeth I of England. Was Gorbachev/Franz Joseph a strong peacemaker, overcome by events beyond his control, or an overly ambivalent ruler? Use specific examples from our readings to make your case.

Part B: Cumulative Section (50 points).

Section V (20 points): Matching. Know these terms sufficiently to be able to match them with their definitions.

• Robespierre — leader of the very radical Jacobins during the French Revolution (the group for the national assembly and wanted the dismissal of the monarchy, wanted a constitution); was influential during the Reign of Terror. The Jacobins came into significant power; however, after the Jacobins purged the assembly of moderates, the moderates retaliate by executing him at the guillotine in the Ninth of Thermidor. He’s also known as the Great Jacobin orator who headed up the committee of public safety.

• Napoleon — he first started as a lower-ranking officer in the French army; he supported the revolution, and because of that, he moved up. He went to Egypt to stop British trade to India, but it was an utter disaster. Even so, it gained the respect of many political powers in France, and he was known for his great military prowess. After the 18th Brumaire where it was decided to rule France with three consulates, he began to manipulate the system to where he became the Emperor of France (self-crowned). One of the things that earned him the greatest respect was the reformation of the army (The Grand Armee). He issues his civil code and puts all relatives on thrones of other kingdoms. He defeated the Austrian army at the Battle of Austerlitz and the Prussian army at the Battle of Jenna. He marched extremely quickly through all of Europe, and all of the continent was under his grasp except the UK and Portugal, but because of the continental system and his free religion, there was a large resistance to him from Spain and Russia. After the failure at Moscow, he was exiled to Elba but comes back and takes his throne during the 100 days rule. He is then defeated at Waterloo (which was controlled by the Duke of Wellington) and went into exile again and died from illness.

• J.J. Rousseau — philosopher and radical political theorist whose social contract attacked privilege and inequality. One of the primary principles of his political philosophy is that politics and morality should not be separated. From Geneva, Switzerland, he wrote: discourse on the origins of inequality, disclaims of property rights and Emile critique of civilization itself, which called back to primeval ways. He thought children should develop naturally and be loved by many. He said, “Man is born free, but he is everywhere in chains.”

• Napoleonic Code — was not the first civil code in Europe but was the most influential. It was adopted by many other states, including the Netherlands, German and Italian states and Spain. It was a set of laws and customs, not privileges. It established freedom of religion, meritocracy (no privileges based on birth) and the right to divorce. But it also established the superiority of fathers over their wives and children.

• Louis XIV — the “Sun King,” known for his opulent court and absolutist political style. He stops civil war in France in the 1640s when he takes the throne after his father Louis XIII. He remembers the civil war and pushes down the nobility by building Versailles palace and inviting nobles to come so he can keep an eye on them and keep their minds off politics. It works well but is very expensive. He was a successful monarch. He uses intendants, which were bureaucrats who went out to parts of France and watched the nobility to see if they were taxing correctly and make sure they weren’t planning revolutions.

• Marie Antoinette — sixteenth child to the Austrian line. Her brother is Joseph II, the Austrian emperor. She was the wife of Louis XVI and supposedly had lovers like Axel von Fersen. She and her husband fled to Varennes, were caught and beheaded at the guillotine during the French Revolution.

• John Locke — an English scholar and natural scientist that was involved in politics during the exclusion crisis in the 1670s and ‘80s. He enforced the understanding that human institutions were made by human beings, so it is possible to change them. Humans had the right to rebel if society conducts it. The idea caught on. He wrote the “letter concentrating toleration” essay on human understanding. It was a critique of tyranny in the second treatise of government and spells out the right to rebel and sovereignty of the people. He thought the government must serve the needs of the people.

• Encyclopedia — had 28 volumes. It was created from 1751-1772 and was overseen by Diedrot. Its utility was to be used by people now, not for the king’s glory; it had man at its center. It had the necessity of revolutions and ideas. It brought about the end of secrecy that came with guilds and had many articles of people from the enlightenment era that were highly controversial.

• Charles I — son to King James (Elizabeth’s successor, Scotland’s king). He was married to a French princess who was Catholic. He was a bad king to England. He was much more interested in the church because he was a devout Protestant. He decided to bring England into the 30 Years War even though they are in debt. He uses forced loan (unparliamentarily taxation), rules without parliament and gets England out of debt. He brings in William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury, and tries to reform the church, which angers the Calvinists and causes huge revolts from Scotland (Bishop Wars). He is forced to call short parliament (which lasts two weeks) then long parliament (which lasts 18 years); they got rid of the king’s counselors, who were “protecting the king.”

• John Calvin — French born Protestant theologian and lawyer who stressed the predestination of all human beings according to God’s will. He was vastly impressed by Luther’s ideals and converted, but his own ideas were more radical. He believed in faith alone but that only some people could obtain grace, a.k.a. predestination. He believed churches should be about self-governing and should throw out all Catholic rituals. He had an emphasis on equality, simplicity and asceticism (the idea that things should look common), and he believed in punishing sinful behavior. He was chased from France and set up in Geneva, Switzerland.

• Gustavus Adolphus — a well-educated Swedish king and Protestant leader who enters the Thirty Years War in 1630. He had ambitions to expand Swedish territory and was a devout Lutheran. He reorganized Protestant forces along lines that prepare for military revolution. He has mercenaries, nobles and an army motivated to fight for the nation and the cause. The cause idea (nationalism) is just beginning to form. This ideal is a huge success; it makes the armies more confident and less likely to desert. He dies at the Battle of Lutzen in 1632.

• 95 Theses — were written by Martin Luther. Luther posted the 95 Theses on the doors of the Wittenburg Chapel for disputation among scholars, clergymen and regular people. His ideas included salvation by faith, primacy of scripture (which relates to humanism) and the priesthood of all believers. These pamphlets were printed and distributed and created an uproar that eventually led to the Diet of Worms and threatening from the pope.

• Peter the Great — he rules Russia from 1682-1725. He wanted Russia to look more like the rest of Europe, to get more Western culture, which leads him to build St. Petersburg. He adopted many Western laws, clothes and style. He was very cruel and killed many people; he destroyed representative assembly and created a very loyal bureaucracy that answers only to him.

• Henry IV (France) — known as “The Good King Henry.” He starts the Bourbon Dynasty in France. He was from Navarre and was crowned king in 1589. He converted to Catholicism in 1593 in order to reach a religious

compromise. He issues the Edict of Nantes, which says Catholicism is France’s official religion, but toleration was offered to the Huguenots within specific areas of southern and western France.

• Alexander I — was the Tsar of Russia during the time of Napoleon and agreed to ally with Napoleon but revolted because of the continental system. Napoleon’s forces invaded Russia and took over Moscow. But the winter was coming, and they waited it out until Napoleon and his men were forced to return to France. He was a key player in the Congress of Vienna.

• Mercantilism — was pioneered by Jean Baptiste Colbert. It was the idea that people should concentrate all the hard currency in the state to the king/monarch rather than the people. The reason for this was military (so they could hire mercenaries). Its development was also due to the New World (gold and silver from Spain). The plan basically said that all hard currency could not go out of the state. There were less incoming trades so there were high tariffs on imported goods, and the idea encouraged colonies to supply the mother country with raw goods and bring money to the central government. It was the first real “national” economic policy.

• Martin Luther — Augustinian monk who was a very accomplished scholar. He had anxieties about the Catholic Church. While reading Saint Paul, he had a revelation and realized man could not dictate their own salvation; only grace and pure mercy saves us. He realized the church was interfering with one’s relationship to God and making money off it. He was seen as a heretic, or someone who believed himself to be a part of the church but taught scriptures against the church’s interpretable meanings. He was the key factor in the Protestant Reformation. The Catholic Church realizes they have to do something after the 95 Theses are put into circulation, so they have the Diet of Worms, which determines Luther will be burned at the stake. But he is saved by Frederick the Wise who keeps him safe in his castle.

• Abbe de Sieyes — member of the first estate of the Estates General. His political savvy got him elected as a representative of the Third Estate. His career during the French Revolution started by his writing of a pamphlet entitled, “What is the Third Estate?” which posed fundamental questions about the rights of the estate that represented a great majority of the population and helped provoke its secession from the Estates General. It ended with assisting Napoleon to his imperial throne after being a part of the three consulates.

• Putting-out system — also known as the “workshop system.” It was a means of subcontracting work where work is contracted by a central agent who completes the work in his own facility, usually his home.

• Mercenaries — were hired by nobles and kings to fight their wars and battles; they were a part of the military revolution. But it was often difficult to tell which side they were on. They were mostly Hussars and pikeman (who used long spears). Proto-professionalization trained them to use the weapons.

• Elizabeth I — daughter to King Henry VIII and Anne Boelyn of England. She was the second princess and third to ascend the throne in the line of Tudors after Henry. She never married, and her siblings included Mary and Edward. She passes the Act of Supremacy again and becomes head of the Church of England. Act of Uniformity also said every church in England will use English language and be Protestant. She sets up Via Media, which was purposefully vague. She uses the defeat of the Spanish Armada as an excuse to call England God’s chosen people. She supports nationalism and ends the English reformation. She also orders sailors to plunder Spanish ships and get gold for England.

• Oliver Cromwell — Puritan leader of the Parliamentary Army (from the round heads that possess the army) that defeated the royalist forces in the English Civil War. After the execution of King Charles I and dispersion of the Long Parliament, he ruled as self-styled Lord Protector from 1653 until his death.

• Continental system — an economic system imposed by Napoleon. It was supposed to keep all trade within the Empire. Its goal was to stop trade with England and keep the British out, but it only hurt the Russians who were allied with Napoleon but very dependent on British trade.

• Charles V — was the Holy Roman Emperor from 1500-1558. He had a vast empire of nearly all of Europe. He was born and raised in the Netherlands and ruled through inheritance and marriage. Because of how different each state was, there was no common culture or language. The only thing that held the empire together was the emperor himself and Catholicism. This became vastly important when Luther started his movement. He was a devout

Catholic and hated heresy. He and the pope conspired to bring Luther to the Diet of Worms and condemned him. However, once Luther went into hiding and his sentence was not carried out, he went to fight wars in France.

• Vladimir Lenin — leader of the Bolsheviks (later Reds) Revolution in Russia and the first leader of the Soviet Union. He was a Russian Revolutionary and a communist political who led the October Revolution of 1917. He headed the Soviet state during its initial years (1917-1924), as it fought to establish control of Russia in the Russian Civil War and worked to create a socialist economic system.

• Henry Stanley — an American newspaperman and explorer who later became a British subject and a king of the realm. His "scientific" journeys inspired the creation of a society of researchers and students. Was hired by Leopold to find Livingstone, found him, sent back and interview, and became a hero. Was also involved in Leopold’s adventure in the Congo.

• Frankfurt Parliament — The parliament called to decide the fate of the German world. They discussed whether or not to have a united Germany. It sits after the 1824 revolution. It failed miserably because monarch of Prussia refused to even meet with them.

• Joseph Stalin — The Bolshevik leader who succeeded Lenin as the leader of the Soviet Union in 1924 and ruled until his death. Launched a command economy, replacing the New Economic Policy of the 1920s with Five-Year Plans and launching a period of rapid industrialization and economic collectivization. The upheaval in the agricultural sector disrupted food production, resulting in widespread famine.

• Gavrilo Princip — Was the anarchist and Bosnia Serb who assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, thus beginning WWI. He attempted to commit suicide but was caught and put in prison in Austria.

• Big German/Little German Solution — two solutions proposed by the Frankfurt Parliament in 1848. The “Big Germany” solution proposed that the borders should be drawn to include Austria like the old German Federation of States. This plan pleased Austrian liberals and Catholics. The “Little Germany” solution excluded Austria from the borders and made Berlin capital, dominated by Prussia. This solution pleased the Protestants. The conservative “Little Germany” won.

• Leopold II — Belgian king who sponsored colonizing expeditions into Africa. Desperate to make Belgium an important power and kept trying to colonize. Was the one who hired Henry Stanley to go out and find Livingstone. Leopold is chiefly remembered as the founder and sole owner of the Congo Free State, a private project undertaken by the King. He used Henry Morton Stanley to help him lay claim to the Congo. Leopold ran the Congo brutally, by proxy through a mercenary force for his own personal gain. Though he extracted a personal fortune from the Congo, his harsh regime was directly or indirectly responsible for the death of millions of people. The Congo became one of the most infamous international scandals of the early 20th century, and Leopold was ultimately forced to relinquish control of it to the government of Belgium.

• Paul von Hindenburg — German military genius who led the German efforts on the Eastern Front in WWI (along with Ludenorff). After becoming a military hero, he began to move to the center of German politics. Was chief of the imperial staff of the German army and had an increasingly fanatic desire to win the war. He claimed the armies had not lost in the fields, but had been stabbed in the back by civilians, Communists, Jews, etc.

• Dreyfus Affair — France 1894, Jewish man Alfred Dreyfus was accused of selling military secrets to the Germans. He is accused and sentenced to prison with little evidence. Some French intellectuals fought for Dreyfus and got him acquitted. Others saw Dreyfus as a threat to France’s Catholic identity. This sparks anti-Semitism in France.

• Otto von Bismarck — The German chancellor who provoked the wars of the German unification. Oversaw the unification of Germany, became Chancellor of the North German Confederation, designed the German Empire in 1871, becoming its first Chancellor and dominating its affairs until his dismissal in 1890. Known as “the Iron Chancellor” because of his diplomacy of Realpolitik and powerful rule.

• Sykes-Picot Agreement — a secret treaty in WWI between a French and British candidate that said how Europe would be partitioned up after WWI.

• Pale of Settlement — the term given to a region of Imperial Russia, along its western border, in which permanent residence of Jews was allowed, and beyond which Jewish residence was generally prohibited. Was something of a “Jewish community,” where the Russians put all the Jewish people, especially in places where they were not integrated into Russian society. Periodically, there would be violence toward them.

• Camillo Cavour — anti-papist Italian leader who led the initial stages of Revolution against the Habsburgs; led the unification of Italy.

• Enver Pasha — Was the Ottoman Minister of War and a Turkish Nationalist. He very much wanted to take advantage of the European war. The Ottoman Empire was weakened by Balkan wars, and he wanted to recoup territory, win glory and get rid of the debt weighing on the empire. He wanted to push the Ottoman Empire into war to accomplish his own ends at a moment of European weakness. He was a Turkish military officer and a leader of the Young Turk revolution.

• Palestine Mandate — came out of the Sykes-Picot and Zionist movements. It established that there should be some sort of Israel, Palestine. It said Jews should be able to live in Palestine. The Jews interpreted that they should be the only ones allowed to live there, but others (Palestinians) established that they could live there also. The lines were left very vague.

• Armenian Massacres — in December of 1914, the Ottoman Empire feared the Armenians living in the empire would side with the Russians in WWI. The Ottomans were brutal to the Armenians and killed Armenian men of military aid in masses and also sent women and children into the desert to starve. Attaturk was part of the campaign, but the extent of his involvement is really unknown.

• Schlieffen Plan — devised by Count Alfred von Schlieffen in 1905 and put into operation on August 2, 1914. This required France to be attacked first through Belgium and a quick victory to be secured so that the German army could turn around and fight Russia on the Eastern front.

• Gallipoli — invasion of Dardanelles to try to knock Ottomans out of the war and provide relief to Russia. Was composed of colonial troops (Australian and New Zealander). Territory was very difficult to fight on, and Turkish had the opportunity to stand on hills and shoot down. Was an utter disaster for the Allies, and the remaining troops were withdrawn with no success. Mustapha Kemal (Attaturk) was the Ottoman hero coming out of this battle.

• The Somme — fought in 1916, was one of the largest battles of WWI. With more than one million casualties, it was also one of the bloodiest battles in human history. The Allied forces attempted to break through the German lines along the River Somme in northern France. One purpose of the battle was to draw German forces away from the Battle of Verdun; however, by its end the losses on the Somme had exceeded those at Verdun and neither side gained ground. On the offensive were the British and the French, while the Germans were on the defense. British thought they would destroy the Germans but were tragically wrong.

• 14 Points — done by Woodrow Wilson. The points outlined how the peace needed to be agreed upon once the war was over. They represented the spirit of idealism. He called for the “self-determination of nations,” the creation of a League of Nations and reparations to be made to territories badly harmed by the war, to be assisted by the victors. It also called for an end to secret diplomacy, freedom of the seas, removal of international tariffs, and reduction of national armaments.

• Treaty of Brest-Litowsk — ends the war between Germany and Russia in 1917 and marks Russia’s exit from WWI. Was not a fair treaty by any means, but Lenin does it because he promised peace, land and bread, so the Russians gave up a huge chuck of territory to stop fighting.

• Treaty of Sevres — ended the war with the Ottoman Empire. One of the five peace treaties signed to end WWI in 1919. This treaty was signed in France and determined the future of the Ottoman Empire, dissolving the empire and leaving them with Turkey. The treaty caused problems between the Greeks and Turks in the 1920s, leading to the Greek-Turkish war.

• War Guilt Clause — Article 231 in the “Reparations” portion of the Treaty of Versailles. In it, Germany was assigned the responsibility for the damages caused by WWI, which served as a justification for the obligations put upon Germany in the remainder of the portion. It blamed only Germany for causing the war.

• Cecil Rhodes — an English-born businessman and South African politician. An ardent believer in colonialism and imperialism, he was the founder of the state of Rhodesia in May 1895, in present-day Zimbabwe. He is also the founder of the diamond company De Beers, which marketed 90 percent of the world’s diamonds at one point.

• Napoleon III — was president of the French Republic from 1848-1851, then from Dec. 2, 1851 – Dec. 2, 1852. He was the ruler of a dictatorial government, then overturns his own republic to become Emperor of the French under the name Napoleon III, to 1870. He was the last monarch to rule France. He is a liberal and the nephew of the great Napoleon. He represents French glory, power.

• Indian Mutiny — the First War of Indian Independence of 1857. Was a prolonged period of armed uprisings in different parts of India against British occupation of that part of the subcontinent. Small incidences eventually turned into large-scale rebellion and then into what may be called a full-fledged war in the affected regions. This war brought about the end of the British East India Company’s rule in India, and led to direct rule by the British government (British Raj) of much of the Indian subcontinent for the next 90 years, though some states retained nominal independence under their respective Rajas, or kings; Different parts of India mutinied against British armies. It started by a rumor that the British cartridges were lined with pig fat, which offended some Indians. They were violently put down by another group of Indians who were working for the British army.

• Belgian Atrocities — Acts of atrocity committed by Belgian traders against African natives, including the severing of hands and heads. Leopold II was King of Belgium at the time, and some atrocities include raping the Congo of its natural resources, putting the people under forced slave labor type conditions and chopping off workers’ hands.

• Utopian Socialism — was also known as Christian socialism. It’s a form of socialism that’s really idealistic. It retained the idea that everyone would get along if they’re equal, and if this happened it would rain lemonade. Was a very impractical idea, and the people who wrote about it eventually go off the edge.

• Democratic Socialism — an idea that believes in using socialist ideas in a non-violent way to improve democratic society. It aims to provide solutions for society’s problems, i.e. plight of the poor, plight of the working class. It believes that good points of socialism can be used in a democratic society in a non-radical way. It is a very strong idea across Europe until the start of WWI.

• 1848 Revolutions — a wave of revolutions that began in France and soon spread to the rest of Europe. These European revolutions were the violent consequences of a wide variety of causes. In politics, there is a pressure to rid conservative ideas. Liberals and radicals begin to organize, seeking change in their nations’ governments. In society, technological change was creating new ways of life for the working classes, a popular press extended political awareness, and new values and ideas such as liberalism, nationalism and socialism began to spring up. The last straw was a series of economic downturns and crop failures that left the peasants and the poor working classes starving (like the Irish potato famine in Ireland). The National Assembly was formed in Paris, and the Frankfurt Parliament in Germany. The people seemed to be victorious all over Europe.

• Peterloo Massacre — happened outside of Manchester, England in 1819. A crowd gathered outside of St. Peter to peacefully protest for better working conditions and more representation in government. The National Guard goes, panics and shoots into the crowd. Only 11 people die, but the situation is a propaganda disaster in the time of famine and radicalism following the Napoleonic Wars.

• Congress of Vienna — was an international conference to reorganize Europe held form 1814-1815 after the downfall of Napoleon. European monarchies agreed to respect each other’s borders and to cooperate in guarding against future revolutions and war. It was led by Austrian statesman, Metternich, who established a new balance of power at the end of the Napoleonic Wars. The four most important territorial changes that took place as a result of the conference were: the scaling back of France to their status in 1790, the Austrian acquisition of territory in west and northwest Italy, the establishment of the new kingdom of the Netherlands and the formation of the new German Confederation. The five major powers that drew this new map of Europe were Britain, France, Russia, Prussia and

Austria. They agreed to meet annually to prevent any one country from achieving military dominance of the European continent.

• Archduke Franz Ferdinand — an Austrian Archduke who was assassinated by a Bosnian Serb, starting the First World War. One month later, Austria declared war on Serbia. One week later, Europe was at war with the Central Powers — Germany and Austria — against the allies — Russia, France and Britain.

• Versailles Peace Conference — ended WWI with Germany and other defeated nations in 1919. Large chunks of German land are given to the Poles. Italy is very disappointed with the treaty, as is Austria, who is left with a small state and wants to unite with Germany, but can’t because of the treaty. Hungary is also shrunken and left with a very small state. The conference imposed guilt and stiff financial burdens on Germany.

• Opium Wars — lasted from 1839-1842. This was the British conflict with China. The British began forcing their way into Chinese markets and got into the opium trade. In 1939, the Chinese emperor became concerned and attempted to close the trade. The war began when the Chinese seized 20,000 chests of opium in the holds of the British and threw it out into the China Sea. Given that Britain had the advantage of superior naval technology, they attacked Chinese ports and forced them to come to terms. They signed a treaty of Nanking in 1842 giving the island of Hong Kong to the British, and they had to pay them back for the opium they destroyed. In the end, these Chinese ports had to be governed by a British consul, which allowed them to expand its empire and trade. New markets were found for British manufactured goods in East Asia.

• February Revolution in Russia — was the first of two revolutions in Russia in 1917. It occurred March 8–12 and its immediate result was the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II, the collapse of Imperial Russia and the end of the Romanov dynasty.

• The Commune (France) — after the French surrendered to Prussia in the Franco-Prussian War in 1871, a group of radicals formed the Paris Commune to defend the city and implement social reforms, such as a central employment bureau and women’s labor unions. The Commune only lasted a couple of weeks. Government troops took back Paris and executed members of this radical group, in which they retaliated by executing hostages and torching government buildings.

• Austro-Prussian War — a war fought in 1866 between the Austrian Empire and its German allies on one side and the Kingdom of Prussia with its German allies and Italy on the other, that resulted in Prussian dominance over the German states.

• The Glorious Revolution — the overthrow of King James II of England in 1688 by a union of Parliamentarians with an invading army led by the Dutch leader William III of Orange-Nassau, who then ascended the throne to become King William III of England. When King James II had a son, the threat of a Catholic dynasty set in, and the English decided to overthrow the king and have the king’s Protestant daughter’s (Mary) husband (William) rule instead.

• Greek-Turkish Population Exchange — in 1923. Based upon religious identity, and involved the Greek Orthodox citizens of Turkey and the Muslim citizens of Greece. It was the first compulsory large-scale population exchange, or agreed mutual expulsion of the 20th century.

• Collectivization — a policy pursued under Stalin between 1928 and 1940. The goal of the policy was to consolidate individual land and labor into collective farms.

• Franco-Prussian War — a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Marked the downfall of Napoleon III and brought about the final unification of Germany.

• Balfour Declaration — was a formal statement of policy by the British government stating that Palestine would be a national home to the Jewish people, but nothing should be done against non-Jewish communities living there; included in the Palestinian Mandate

• Berlin Conference on Africa — 1884–85 regulated European colonization and trade in Africa during the New Imperialism period, and coincided with Germany's sudden emergence as an imperial power.

• St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre — was a massacre of French Protestants (Huguenots) by Catholic crowds that began in Paris in 1572 and spreading to other parts of France. More than 70,000 were killed. The royal marriage that was supposed to take place that day might have made peace between the Catholics and Protestants failed at the last moment due to the Catholic court.

• The 18th Brumaire — was a coup staged against The Directory by Napoleon and planned by Sieyes in which Napoleon overthrew the French Directory and replaced it with the French Consulate on Nov. 18, 1799. There were three consuls at first: Napoleon, Sieyes and Ducos.

• Levee en Masse — a mass calling or general inscription in 1793 of young men to fight for France against their enemies during the French Revolutionary Wars. It was fiercely antagonistic, but used nationalism.

• The Maximum —

• Thermidor — was the execution of Robespierre by guillotine in 1794. Moderates purged the most radical of leaders, and this date marked the end of the Reign of Terror. The Directory is created, and violence diminishes as the nation seeks security. There is still disorder and execution, but wars on borders slow. The rule of the legislative assembly concluded the hyper-revolution.

• Defenestration of Prague — the final straw that begins the Thirty Years War. The Holy Roman Empire goes to war over Bohemian independence. Bohemia wants to go with reform, and against the Catholics, these nobles from Bohemia wanted to elect a Protestant. Bohemian Protestants threw Catholic emissaries out the windows.

• Henry VIII — King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. Married six times

• Spinning Jenny — was invented by carpenter and hand-loom weaver James Hargreaves. It was a compound spinning wheel. With the water frame and spinning mule, it made stronger and finer thread, which revolutionized production across the textile industry.

• Council of Trent — was an intermittent meeting of Catholic leaders that reaffirmed Catholic doctrine against Protestant criticisms while also reforming the Church. It is the response to the reformation, a.k.a. the counter reformation.

• Reign of Terror — was the campaign at the height of the French Revolution from 1793-1794 in which violence, including systematic executions of opponents of the Revolution, was used to purge France of its “enemies” and extend the Revolution beyond its borders. Radicals executed as many as 40,000 persons who were judged enemies of the states. Even those merely suspected of being opponents were killed during these near anarchic conditions. Departmental armies ravaged the countryside.

• Battle of Jenna — was the defeat of the Prussian army by the French army in 1806 that was so sound that it forced the Prussian government to reform. Napoleon marched through Berlin and was greeted by crowds. Afterward, he took the Quadriga from Berlin to Paris. From 1807 on, Prussia begins a series of reforms to win back the population.

• Diet of Worms — the examination of Luther by a church council. The council condemned him to burn at the stake when Luther was asked to recant after posting and circulating the 95 Theses. He was rescued by Frederick of Saxony.

• The Declaration of the Rights of Man — was issued in 1789. It was a French charter of liberties formulated by the National Assembly that marked the end of dynastic and aristocratic rule. The 17 articles later became the preamble to the new constitution, which the Assembly finished in 1791. It demolished the privilege system.

Section VI (30 points): Short Essays. Answer ONE from category A and ONE from category B (3-4 paragraphs each). Use as much detail as possible

Category A:

1. Why did Luther’s Reformation succeed in dividing European Christendom? When was the

Reformation generally acknowledged to have become permanent? Info on how it spread, not so much on

how it succeeded

• About the dividing of political nations - Sept 1,6 lectures

• The Peace of Westphalia (1648) 1517-1648

Luther had no intention of founding a second church. Church eventually attempts a counter reformation.

Peace of Augsburg – wars of religion in Holy Roman Empire (HRE) specifically, Schmalkaldic wars,

settles things for a little while in HRE, only lasts until 1618, essentially The Peace of Westphalia on a

smaller scale. This eventually leads Charles V to divide his country. Caused rapid spread of reformation

though France and pushed the country into civil war. (Aug 30 notes). Largely due to the nature of the

HRE, at this time no divide between religion and politics, all subservient to the pope, king seen as

defender of religion, Charles V, King Louis __. HRE was collection of smaller states and city-states

under Holy Roman Emperor each had its own prince. Frederick the wise of Saxony-made the

politically wise decision to go Protestant and protect Luther because it gave him a way to challenge the

king, A way to liberate themselves from the pecking order. Saw opportunity in it. Frederick-elector of

HRE--1 of 7 of the most power princes who elected HREmporer. HREmporer was prestigious, but not

necessarily powerful, this is why Frederick could defy him. This becomes a political tool. This pattern

spreads, religious oppression widespread and common-place. Henry VIII didn’t care about breaking

from Catholicism, cared about being able to have power in his own territory, ability to get a divorce,

didn’t want to answer to the pope --Not so much about religion. Religion and politics are fairly

inseparable, cant divide the two. Frederick III - strong defender of Calvinism, very devoted to it,

sincerely believed catholic church was corrupt, pope running it into the ground, priests immoral. Wanted

something different. 30 yrs war makes the reformation stick, no real winner, grind each other down,

eventually declare The Peace of Westphalia in 1648, which says that whoever controls the territory will

control the religion in his state. French king sent army to fight with Protestants against Catholicism in

order to undercut HRE.

Edict of Nants - gave French Protestants some religious freedom, retracted by Louis XIV.

(Focus on political aspect, can coexist)

2. What was the Enlightenment, and what contributions did it make to the French Revolution?

• Sept 15 notes. Ideologies of enlightenment. FR Sept 22- radical revolution- calendar changing, etc.

• Enlightenment idea originated in France, move towards the scientific train of thought, more than the

religious. Using reason to understand God, learning through nature. Elite and educated are the most

involved. Enlightenment ideals- individual rights, elimination of class system, challenged the divine

right of kings. (Rousseau: the social contract can be remade.) (John Locke: Sovereignty of the

people and right to rebel against tyranny)

• Open-minded, radical mindset spreads from a religious context, to political ideas and beliefs. Causes

push for reform in other aspects of life.

• Enlightenment contributed: sovereignty of the people. Critique of the church and nobles (those who are

useless to the nation). Emphasis on need for progressive change. Exploration of more radical forms of

government. Critique of inefficient economic systems. (Sept. 20)

• Idea of human improvement, that by studying nature, scientific exploration, they can obtain new

knowledge. Idea of progress.

Declaration of the rights of man and the citizen - idea of human equality, all men created equal, have

rights, right to participate in the government as citizens.

Idea of exploring nature

When revolution radicalizes, do away with traditional calendar, traditional religion.

Social overthrow-guillotining nobility and king--social equality to the extreme

Make the connection

3. What were the causes of the Great War?

• October 20, 25. Franz Joseph reading

• How did these causes change the political landscape and lead to the war.

Hyper-imperialism- caused much competition, contributes to the tension that has been around for a long time.

During this time, everyone wanted to be a strong, powerful nation. When Germany unifies, the balance is

thrown off. When Wilhelm II comes to power, he wants to prove Germany is on the level of Great Britain and

Russia. Wanted an Empire- led to the scramble for Africa , which caused a lot of tension between countries.

Nationalism is a strong factor in hyper-imperialism, really kicks of in 1830’s.

Nationalism and imperialism. Nationalism: French, German antagonism after Franco-Prussian war. A power

vacuum was left by the collapsing Ottoman Empire and a weakened Austrian Empire. This gives Russia the idea

that they can extend their territory. Leads to a battle for colonial territory. Sense that Germany has industrialized

very fast and has become a huge power, overtaking older empires. Germans go to war as an ambition to gain

more territory and extend empire. Others fight the war to prevent this from happening. Germany is becoming an

Imperial Power, their economy is quickly industrialized. By 1914, they begin to overtake Britain in the

industrial sector. British are protecting their empire, protecting France and Belgium from defeat. Russians are

seeking more territory. Austrians want to hold their empire together.

• Had been preparing for it, schliefen plan made 9 yrs before war. Everyone knew this tension would

result in a war. Makes it hard to avoid war.

4. What was the Industrial ‘Revolution,’ and why did it succeed first in Great Britain?

• Sept 29 notes

• Why was Great Britain so prepared for the revolution (include agricultural, military, and commercial

revolution)?

• Many important natural resources, military contributes to desire for factories, scientific contributes to

the ability to have these factories, Great Britain’s natural resources make it possible

• All revolutions had already taken place in Britain to make it ready. Crop rotations, enclosures, more able

to produce, down side-meant small farmers were no longer able to make a living, become mobile

workforce-leaves people looking for jobs

• Commercial- more goods coming in and leaving. Demand for trade, i.e. cotton, will eventually be used

in textile factories

o Great Britain now has ships traveling around the world. Trade is booming, many avenues for

exchange open

• New demand for troops to wear uniforms, need to be produced

o Mechanization of weapons, parts, need to be produced in mass quantities.

o Fortifying on a much larger scale, relies on factories

• Geography of GB makes it much easier to ship and transport

o Use of canals, development of railways

o Size of Great Britain made it easy to ship

o Abundance of coal to power factories

• All the precursors had happened: trading, natural resources, demand

5. What was liberalism in the nineteenth century? Was it a revolutionary ideology before 1848? How

about after 1860?

• (Ideology before 1848? Yes. New group of people considering that maybe there should be more power

spread out, but not hugely revolutionary)—conflicting notes, but I’m pretty sure it was revolutionary,

just not so radical. Before 1848, liberals sided more with the radicals- radicals wanted drastic change-

and liberals thought this may be the way to bring about the change. Radicals get power and get crushed.

liberals are still around, and then side with conservatives. By 1860, liberals are no longer revolutionary.

• Ideas come from French revolution, but this is disassociated from French Revolution due to the radical

movement that it had it become. Really gets its legs in 1830’s.

• -Liberalist countries were France, Britain, came about mid 1800’s during revolutionary times.

Liberalism came about during the early 18th century, height around 1848. They were for reform, not

revolution. Wanted gradual change and reasonable people in charge, not the common people. Near the

end of century when liberalism starts to fail, liberals generally sided with conservatives, radicals sided

with the people and as people demand more change during the height of nationalism. Rises out of the

recognition that change is necessary.

Category B:

1. Describe the social, economic, political and cultural conditions in Germany in the interwar era. Why did the Weimar Republic fail?

Only two days before the end of WWI, a fast spreading revolution swept across Germany. On November 9, 1918, thousands of Germans crowded the streets of Berlin to overthrow the imperial government. The revolution gave birth to a new German republic, soon to be called the Weimar Republic. The giant crowd converged in the city center where a member of the Social Democratic Party announced that the Kaiser had abdicated merely hours before, turning the government over to Friedrich Ebert, SDP leader. The majority of the socialists were not radical and wanted the “November Revolution” to have a cautious democratic course. They wanted reforms but kept most of the imperial bureaucracy in tact. More than anything, they wanted a popularly elected national assembly to draft a constitution for the new republic. After two months, the republic was created and the Weimar constitution drafted, but not without serious violence and uprising from left-wing extremists.

However, the republic only lasted a decade due to devastating conditions in Germany. The fact that they lost the war was a huge embarrassment to the Germans. Their shocking defeat by the Allies caused many hardcore German patriots to use the “stabbed in the back ploy” by Socialists and Jewish leaders, which helped to save their wounded pride. The Treaty of Versailles created horrible tensions; the conditions of the treaty were almost too horrible for Germany to bear. Not only did they have to admit blame, lose territories they had gained and cut down the army to 100,000, they had to pay a ridiculous sum of money. People argued that it was so large that they could not pay it off until 1987. The sum would only cause problems for the new government and grief from the public.

Germany’s economic crisis in the interwar period was horrific and unstoppable. It came in the ‘20s while the country was still suffering from wartime inflation. The new government was forced to create revenue from nothing. With the reparations, the social welfare and the demobilization programs, the government had to print more and more money. Inflation grew to where it could not be fixed. By 1923, people everywhere were affected by this hyperinflation, and soon people dropped from political parties as a sign of protest.

In 1924, Germany accepted a new plan created by American financer Charles Dawes. Although the reparations were much more tolerable, people continued to grumble about Versailles and the government that continued to accommodate it. By 1925, however, the country seemed to be on a better road politically and economically. By borrowing money, Germany could scale down its reparations and earn money by selling cheap exports. In large cities, there was government funding for projects, but this was largely misleading. Due to the Dawes Plan, Germany was largely dependent on the American economy. So when the U.S. stock market crashed and set America spiraling downward into a depression, Germany was pulled right down with it.

The Great Depression put Germany in a crisis so economically destructive that, politically, the Weimar Republic could not withstand it. Farmers, civil service employers, artisans, shopkeepers, everyone was so pummeled by the depression that more and more people were in need of help, so the government had to cut welfare benefits. Beaten from both sides, the Weimar Republic crumbled, and people demanded a more stable, authoritarian government — giving Hitler the perfect opportunity to seize power.

2. Compare and contrast Nazism and Soviet Communism, including their systems of detention and punishment for “enemies of the state.”

To most of the middle class, Nazism and Soviet Communism seemed a way out, a way to escape the hardships that they had long been forced to endure. The poor rejected capitalism, claiming it was only for the wealthy, and claimed that democracy was corrupt and decadent. Some saw democracy and capitalism as a systematic exploitation of ordinary workers and had far too much individualism and not enough nationalism.

Communism appealed to the little people. Lenin’s greatest advocacy for his regime was “peace, land and bread.” He attacked the old corrupt leaders who started the Great War. Communism promised equality in the economy and class solidarity established through collective work, living, youth groups and others. The Soviet Union stood for modernization and industrialization, and the government was a “safety net” for the people. Communism preaches class solidarity across national and ethnic lines. It was anti-capitalist, anti-democratic and anti-fascist, but it was universalist.

Nazism was one of the many political parties that stemmed from the Great War. It was one among many small militant groups of disaffected Germans devoted to radical nationalism and to the overthrow of the Weimar Republic. They grew out of the political milieu that refused to accept the defeat or the November Resolution that they blamed on both socialists and Jews. In Hitler’s autobiography, “My Struggle,” he declared that Germany was in dire need of a strong leadership to regain international prominence.

Like the Communists, the Nazis offered economic protection and renewed social status. The Nazis played upon civil service needs and got many of their votes from the rural middle class, widowers and noble pensioners. Both groups are similar in gaining support from people who desperately needed help from the government due to being stuck in a meaningless class system, unable to climb the ladder.

Both groups had ways of getting rid of “enemies of the state.” While the Nazis had a clear-cut idea of who was the enemy, Communists were forced to constantly ask who their enemy was. Instead of finding an external enemy, Stalin chose to purge his own system. The Great Purge got rid of 80 percent of military officers, mostly because he feared they might become too powerful.

Nazism, on the other hand, attacked race. Anyone (especially Jews) not German was not considered worthy by any means and was put into concentration camps or extermination camps. Similarly, communists also had work concentration camps.

• Gulago Reeducation camp, hard-labor camp. Brutal, but not necessarily extermination camps. 4 out of 5

came out alive.

o Life here, too, is cheap, some are tortured or executedo Some people put there because they had seen the western European way of life. How much richer

they were, even in time of war. o Soviet Union afraid that returning soldiers would spread stories of this prosperity, putting Russia into

perspective.o Population drops during WWII, Soviet Union needed man power that they had absolute control

over. Population rise again afterwardso Also used for the detention of the regime’s enemies (e.g. kulaks), not ‘racial’ enemies. Enemies of

Stalin, the disloyal, etc.o Camp system loosed up significantly after Stalin’s death.

• Nazi Extermination Campo Extermination camp

3. Why did Western European nations recover so quickly from WWII? In what ways did their recovery differ from that of the nations of Eastern Europe?

After WWII, the economic recovery in the Western part of Europe was so rapid that many people refer to it as the “Economic Miracle.” Recovery was remarkably fast. People were being fed, and cities were being rebuilt. The government was even doing well in civil welfare and service. Western Europe does so well that it returns very quickly to its prewar economic success.

One reason for the quick recovery is because of the Marshall Plan, which funneled some $23 billion into the European economy. Another reason for this rapid stabilization was the vast amount of work left by the devastation of the war. Work was easy to find, so many people found jobs with pay, and the economy flourished because of it. Another reason was another agricultural revolution. This revolution freed many farmers from their plows, and they were able to attend schools and get good educations so they could be employed in places working with technological advances. It was truly the first time Europe had been introduced to such a consumer society. Instead of one pair of shoes, you could buy three. Washers and dryers were available to everyone. They now had many opportunities.

The Bretton Woods Agreement in 1944 greatly helped the Western European economy. 73 delegates from 44 nations agreed to create a system for financial stability. It created the IMF, the World Bank, the gold standard and fixed exchange rates.

Organizations also helped the West connect and prosper. The first of these was the European Coal and Steel Community in 1951, which coordinated trade and managed Europe’s most crucial resources. Coal was essential to Europe’s economy. It controlled and powered everything and was Europe’s primary energy consumption. It was also key to relations between West Germany and France. It had the power to

regulate prices and the production limit. Another, in the Treaty of Rome, transformed France, West Germany, Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg and Holland into the European Economic Community or the Common Market. The EEC aimed to abolish trade barriers among its members.

Eastern Europe, however, could not have been more different. The main factor contributing to the slow recovery of the area was Communist Stagnation. In industrialization terms, communist states were falling drastically behind the Western advances. Everything was old-fashioned and locked in the past, unable to move forward with any technological advances or agricultural revolutions. Farmers and factory workers still lived peasant lives. The goods being produced were shabby and old, not at all modern and new. The world wanted nothing they could offer.

4. Describe the cycles of resistance and repression in Eastern Europe between 1948 and 1989. What did resisters want, and why were the Soviets hesitant to allow reforms?

Under pressure from Stalin these nations rejected to receive funds from the Marshall plan. Instead they participated in the Molotov Plan which later evolved into the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (short: Comecon). As NATO was created, most countries of Eastern Europe, became members of the opposing Warsaw Pact, forming a geopolitical concept that became known as Eastern Bloc.

First and foremost was the Soviet Union (which by itself included Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, etc). Other countries dominated by the Soviet Union were the German Democratic Republic, Poland, Romania, Czechoslovakia (which later separated into the Czech Republic and Slovakia), Hungary, and Bulgaria.

The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (formed after WWII and before its later dismemberment) was not a member of the Warsaw Pact. It was a founding member of the Non-Aligned Movement, an organization created in an attempt to avoid being assigned to any of the two blocs. The movement was demonstratively independent from both the Soviet Union and the Western bloc for most of the Cold War period, allowing Yugoslavia and its other members to act as a business and political mediator between the blocs.

Albania broke with the Soviet Union in the early 1960s as a result of the Sino-Soviet split, aligning itself instead with China. Albania formally left the Warsaw pact in September 1968, after the suppression of the Prague spring. When China established diplomatic relations with the United States in 1978, Albania also broke with China. Albania and especially Yugoslavia were not unanimously appended to the Eastern Bloc, as they were neutral for a large part of the Cold War period.

5. Why did the “wall” fall?

The Berlin Wall fell through a series of small but very influential events. The problems resulting from the spread of Soviet Communism eventually accumulated and resulted in the Wall coming down.

Gorbachev came to power in 1985 as the head of the communist party in Russia. While the older generation had ruled Russia in the ‘60s and ’70, devoting resources to an old-fashioned style of economy, which was clearly in evidence in the ‘80s. Gorbachev wanted to reform the state to make it more competitive and give it an opportunity to advance. He was very much a communist, but still wanted to break down some barriers, maybe give the Soviet Union a “window to the West.” He implemented two sets of reforms: political and economic. On the political side, he wanted to allow a little more dialogue and communication with the West. He freed up some political prisoners, allowed a few more people to immigrate and allowed state-run newspapers to publish fair, straightforward reports on what was going on in Russia. On the economic side, he gave entrepreneurs a little more opportunity by breaking up huge nationalist enterprises and allowing more independent operations. He revised the economic system to make it more responsive to the state around it. The reforms were slow, but they did begin to show as Russia began to seem a little less oppressive.

Gorbachev’s reforms brought new ideas and movements in other parts of the world, like the revolution in Poland. With rumors circulating that Russian power was dwindling, Poland and other nations tried to see what they could get away with. A network of dissidents develops with the hope of creating some sort of autonomy. Jaruzeliski moves from Martial Law to less oppressive law. With pressure from Solidarity and other dissidents, he calls Solidarity into governance in 1989, and roundtable discussions and elections bring an end to the Soviet era by summer 1989. By early 1989, Poland and Hungary are establishing themselves as independent states.

In Germany, East Germans were finding roundabout ways of leaving East Germany, like through Hungary then Austria, or Czechoslovakia. With a wave of refugees traveling through Czechoslovakia to West Germany, the leader of East Germany decided to allow refugees to exit directly through crossing points between East Germany and West Germany, including West Berlin. On the same day, Nov. 9, 1989, the administration modified the proposal to include private travel. It was decided that the plan would take effect the following day in order to give time for the border guards to prepare. But the man responsible for announcing the memo was not aware of the exact provisions. He announced that, as far as he knew, the new regulations would take place immediately and without delay. After hearing the broadcast, East Germans began gathering at the wall, demanding that border guards immediately open its gates. With no one wanting to take responsibility to use lethal force, there was no way the vastly outnumbered guards could hold back the East Germans. The guards gave in and allowed them to cross. There was a euphoric feeling in Germany that day, but there was still a fear that the Soviet tanks would roll in. Many believed this meant Germany would be reunited, while others disagreed. Some Eastern Germans were not so keen on reuniting with the West or on capitalism. Still, the tanks never rolled in, and less than a year later, East and West Germany were reunited.

6. Why did Yugoslavia break up?

• Tito’s successes weren’t as focused on keeping Yugoslavia together. When Tito is gone, no one is there

to hold Yugoslavia together, a collection of extremely unstable countries with vast ethnic differences.

They coexisted under Tito, Yugoslavia, because they were repressed. When Tito is gone and no longer

repressing, they all break off and Yugoslavia falls apart.

• After Melosovich travels to Sarajevo, causes him to take up Serbian cause.

• Whole other level of religious strife

• Kosovo,

• Yugoslavian civil war

• hit on violence.