Mastering Modern World History Read online

  Mastering

  Modern World History

  Fifth edition

  Norman Lowe

  © Norman Lowe 1982, 1988, 1997, 2005, 2013

  All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission.

  No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS.

  Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

  The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

  First edition published 1982

  Second edition published 1988

  Third edition published 1997

  Fourth edition published 2005

  Fifth edition published 2013

  Published by

  PALGRAVE MACMILLAN

  Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS.

  Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.

  Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world.

  Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries

  ISBN: 978–1–137–27694–0

  This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin.

  A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

  A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.

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  Printed in China

  For Jane

  Contents

  List of figures

  List of maps

  List of tables

  List of illustrations

  Acknowledgements

  Preface to the fifth edition

  PART I WAR AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

  1 The world in 1914: outbreak of the First World War

  1.1 Prologue

  1.2 The world in 1914

  1.3 Events leading up to the outbreak of war

  1.4 What caused the war, and who was to blame?

  Further reading

  Questions

  2 The First World War and its aftermath

  Summary of events

  2.1 1914

  2.2 1915

  2.3 1916

  2.4 The war at sea

  2.5 1917

  2.6 The Central Powers defeated

  2.7 The problems of making a peace settlement

  2.8 The Treaty of Versailles with Germany

  2.9 The peace treaties with Austria-Hungary

  2.10 The settlement with Turkey and Bulgaria

  2.11 Verdict on the peace settlement

  Further reading

  Questions

  3 The League of Nations

  Summary of events

  3.1 What were the origins of the League?

  3.2 How was the League organised?

  3.3 The successes of the League

  3.4 Why did the League fail to preserve peace?

  Further reading

  Questions

  4 International relations, 1919–33

  Summary of events

  4.1 What attempts were made to improve international relations, and how successful were they?

  4.2 How did France try to deal with the problem of Germany between 1919 and 1933?

  4.3 How did relations between the USSR and Britain, Germany and France develop between 1919 and 1933?

  4.4 The ‘successor’ states

  4.5 United States foreign policy, 1919–33

  Further reading

  Questions

  5 International relations, 1933–39

  Summary of events

  5.1 Relations between Japan and China

  5.2 Mussolini’s foreign policy

  5.3 What were Hitler’s aims in foreign policyand how successful had he been by the end of 1938?

  5.4 What is meant by the term ‘appeasement’? How could such a policy be justified, and what part did it play in international affairs between 1935 and 1939?

  5.5 Munich to the outbreak of war: September1938 to September 1939

  5.6 Why did war break out? Were Hitler or the appeasers to blame?

  Further reading

  Questions

  6 The Second World War, 1939–45

  Summary of events

  6.1 Opening moves: September 1939 to December 1940

  6.2 The Axis offensive widens: 1941 to the summer of 1942

  6.3 The offensives held in check: summer 1942 to summer 1943

  6.4 What part was played in the war by Allied naval forces?

  6.5 What contribution did air power make to the defeat of the Axis?

  6.6 The Axis powers defeated: July 1943 to August 1945

  6.7 Why did the Axis powers lose the war?

  6.8 The Holocaust

  6.9 What were the effects of the war?

  Further reading

  Questions

  7 The Cold War: problems of international relations after the Second World War

  Summary of events

  7.1 What caused the Cold War?

  7.2 How did the Cold War develop between 1945 and 1953?

  7.3 To what extent was there a thaw after 1953

  7.4 The nuclear arms race and the Cuban missiles crisis (1962)

  Further reading

  Questions

  8 The spread of communism outside Europe and its effects on international relations

  Summary of events

  8.1 The war in Korea and its effects on international relations

  8.2 Cuba: why did Castro come to power and how were Cuba’s foreign relations affected?

  8.3 The wars in Vietnam, 1946–54 and 1961–75

  8.4 Chile under Salvador Allende 1970–3

  8.5 More United States interventions

  8.6 Detente: international relations from the1970s to the 1990s

  8.7 The collapse of communism in eastern Europe and the end of the Cold War: international relations transformed

  Further reading

  Questions

  9 The United Nations Organization

  Summary of events

  9.1 The structure of the United Nations Organization

  9.2 How different is the United Nations from the League of Nations?

  9.3 How successful has the UN been as a peacekeeping organization?

  9.4 UN peacekeeping since the end of the Cold War

  9.5 What other work is the UN responsible for?

  9.6 Verdict on the United Nations Organization

  9.7 What about the future of the UN?

  Further reading

  Questions

  10 The Two Europes, East and West since 1945

  Summary of events

  10.1 The states of western Europe

  10.2 The growth of unity in western Europe

  10.3 The early days of the European Community

  10.4 The European Community from 1972 to Maastricht (1991)
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  10.5 Communist unity in eastern Europe

  10.6 Why and how did communism collapse in eastern Europe?

  10.7 Civil war in Yugoslavia

  10.8 Europe since Maastricht

  10.9 The European Union in Crisis

  Further reading

  Questions

  11 Conflict in the Middle East

  Summary of events

  11.1 Arab unity and interference from the outside world

  11.2 The creation of Israel and the Arab-Israeli war 1948–9

  11.3 The Suez War of 1956

  11.4 The Six Day War of 1967

  11.5 The Yom Kippur War of 1973

  11.6 Camp David and the Egyptian-Israeli peace, 1978–9

  11.7 Peace between Israel and the PLO

  11.8 Conflict in the Lebanon

  11.9 The Iran-Iraq War, 1980–8

  11.10 The Gulf War, 1990–1

  11.11 Israelis and Palestinians fight again

  Further reading

  Questions

  12 The new world order and the war against global terrorism

  Summary of events

  12.1 The new world order

  12.2 The rise of global terrorism

  12.3 11 September 2001 and the ‘war on terrorism’

  12.4 The downfall of Saddam Hussein

  12.5 The continuing war in Afghanistan

  12.6 The problem of Iran

  12.7 The Arab Spring

  Further reading

  Questions

  PART II THE RISE OF FASCISM AND GOVERNMENTS OF THE RIGHT

  13 Italy 1918–45: the first appearance of fascism

  Summary of events

  13.1 Why was Mussolini able to come to power?

  13.2 What did the term ‘fascism’ stand for?

  13.3 Mussolini tries to introduce the fascist state

  13.4 What benefits did fascism bring for the Italian people?

  13.5 Opposition and downfall

  Further reading

  Questions

  14 Germany 1918–45: the Weimar Republic and Hitler

  Summary of events

  14.1 Why did the Weimar Republic collapse?

  14.2 What did National Socialism stand for?

  14.3 Hitler consolidates his power

  14.4 How was Hitler able to stay in power?

  14.5 Nazism and Fascism

  14.6 How successful was Hitler in domestic affairs?

  Further reading

  Questions

  15 Japan and Spain

  Summary of events

  15.1 Japan before the Second World War

  15.2 Japan recovers

  15.3 Spain

  Further reading

  Questions

  PART III COMMUNISM – RISE AND DECLINE

  16 Russia and the revolutions, 1900–24

  Summary of events

  16.1 After 1905: were the 1917 revolutions inevitable?

  16.2 The two revolutions: March and November 1917

  16.3 How successfully did Lenin and the Bolsheviks deal with their problems (1917–24)?

  16.4 Lenin – evil genius?

  Further reading

  Questions

  17 The USSR and Stalin, 1924–53

  Summary of events

  17.1 How did Stalin get to supreme power?

  17.2 How successful was Stalin in solving the USSR’s economic problems?

  17.3 Politics and the Purges

  17.4 Everyday life and culture under Stalin

  17.5 Stalin’s final years, 1945–53

  Further reading

  Questions

  18 Continuing communism, collapse and aftermath, 1953 to the present

  Summary of events

  18.1 The Khrushchev era, 1953–64

  18.2 The USSR stagnates, 1964–86

  18.3 Gorbachev and the end of communist rule

  18.4 The aftermath of communism: Yeltsin, Putin and Medvedev

  Further reading

  Questions

  19 China 1900–49

  Summary of events

  19.1 Revolution and the warlord era

  19.2 The Kuomintang, Dr Sun Yat-sen and Chiang Kai-shek

  19.3 Mao Zedong and the Chinese Communist Party

  19.4 The communist victory, 1949

  Further reading

  Questions

  20 China since 1949: the communists in control

  Summary of events

  20.1 How successful was Mao in dealing with China’s problems?

  20.2 Life after Mao

  20.3 Tiananmen Square, 1989 and the crisis of communism

  20.4 The changing face of communism in China

  Further reading

  Questions

  21 Communism in Korea and South East Asia

  Summary of events

  21.1 North Korea

  21.2 Vietnam

  21.3 Cambodia/Kampuchea

  21.4 Laos

  Further reading

  Questions

  PART IV THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

  22 The USA before the Second World War

  Summary of events

  22.1 The American system of government

  22.2 Into the melting pot: the era of immigration

  22.3 The USA becomes economic leader of the world

  22.4 Socialists, trade unions and the impact of war and the Russian revolutions

  22.5 Racial discrimination and the Civil Rights Movement

  22.6 The Great Depression arrives: October 1929

  22.7 Roosevelt and the New Deal

  Further reading

  Questions

  23 The USA since 1945

  Summary of events

  23.1 Poverty and social policies

  23.2 Racial problems and the Civil Rights Movement

  23.3 Anti-communism and Senator McCarthy

  23.4 Nixon and Watergate

  23.5 The Carter–Reagan–Bush era, 1977–93

  23.6 Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama

  Further reading

  Questions

  PART V DECOLONIZATION AND AFTER

  24 The end of the European Empires

  Summary of events

  24.1 Why did the European powers giveup their Empires?

  24.2 Indian independence and partition

  24.3 The West Indies, Malaya and Cyprus

  24.4 The British leave Africa

  24.5 The end of the French Empire

  24.6 Holland, Belgium, Spain, Portugal and Italy

  24.7 Verdict on decolonization

  Further reading

  Questions

  25 Problems in Africa

  Summary of events

  25.1 Problems common to the African states

  25.2 Democracy, dictatorship and military government in Ghana

  25.3 Civil wars and corruption in Nigeria

  25.4 Poverty in Tanzania

  25.5 The Congo/Zaire

  25.6 Angola: a Cold War tragedy

  25.7 Genocide in Burundi and Rwanda

  25.8 Apartheid and black majority rule in South Africa

  25.9 Socialism and civil war in Ethiopia

  25.10 Liberia – a unique experiment

  25.11 Stability and chaos in Sierra Leone

  25.12 Zimbabwe under Robert Mugabe

  25.13 Confusion and civil war in Somalia

  25.14 The Sudan

  25.15 Africa and its problems in the twenty-first century

  Further reading

  Questions

  26 Latin America

  Summary of events

  26.1 The era of US domination

  26.2 South America: Brazil and Venezuela

  26.3 Mexico, Guatemala and Nicaragua

  26.4 The challenge to US domination

  Further reading

  Questions

  PART VI GLOBAL PROBLEMS

  27 The changing world economy since 1900

  Summary of events

  27.1 Changes in the world econ
omy in the twentieth century

  27.2 The Third World and the North–South divide

  27.3 The split in the Third World economy

  27.4 The world economy and its effects on the environment

  27.5 Global warming

  27.6 The world economy at the turn of the millennium

  27.7 Capitalism in crisis

  27.8 The world economies in 2012

  Further reading

  Questions

  28 The world’s population

  Summary of events

  28.1 The increasing world population since 1900

  28.2 Consequences of the population explosion

  28.3 Attempts at population control

  28.4 The population increase and Islamism

  28.5 The HIV/Aids epidemic

  Further reading

  Questions

  Index

  List of figures

  2.1 Trench cross-section

  3.1 Great power membership of the League of Nations

  6.1 Second World War dead

  10.1 Statistics of GDP per head of the population (1977)

  13.1 The fascist symbol

  20.1 How the government of China works

  22.1 How the federal government and the states divide powers in the USA

  22.2 The three separate branches of the US federal government

  27.1 Calorie intake per person per day

  27.2 World oil production in billions of barrels per year

  28.1 World population increases from AD 1 to 1995

  28.2 Rate of population growth by regions

  List of maps

  1.1 Europe in 1914

  1.2 Peoples of the Habsburg Empire

  1.3 The Balkans in 1913 showing changes from the Balkan Wars (1912–13)

  2.1 The Schlieffen Plan

  2.2 The western front

  2.3 Europe at War

  2.4 War on the Eastern, Balkan and Italian Fronts

  2.5 European frontiers after the First World War and the Peace Treaties

  2.6 Africa and the Peace Treaties

  2.7 The treatment of Turkey (Treaty of Sèvres) and Bulgaria (Treaty of Neuilly)

  5.1 Japanese expansion 1931–42

  5.2 The position of Abyssinia and the territories of Britain, France and Italy

  5.3 Hitler’s gains before the Second World War

  6.1 The beginning of the war in Europe – main German thrusts, 1939–40

  6.2 North Africa and the Mediterranean

  6.3 The Russian front

  6.4 The war in the Pacific

  6.5 The D-Day landings – 6 June 1944

  6.6 The defeat of Germany, 1944–5

  6.7 The Holocaust

  7.1 Europe after 1945

  7.2 Central and eastern Europe during the Cold War

  7.3 Berlin and the wall, 1961

  7.4 The Cuban missiles crisis, 1972