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Unit 6: The Contemporary World, 1900 – Present

+ MEXICOPorfirio Diaz = leader

“ruled with an iron fist through an effective political machine”

• Dictatorship since 1876 under Diaz• Economy was dependent on exports• Foreigners controlled large sector of economy • Hacienda system dominate certain regions of

Mexico• Political system was corrupt• U.S. concerns owned 20% of Mexico’s territory • Growing nationalist resentment

Mexican Revolution= 10-year civil was & political upheaval caused primarily by internal forces

+MEXICAN REVOLUTION OF 1910CAUSES

Wide spread foreign control --> Growing nationalist resentment Diaz won a rigged election over Francisco Madero by throwing

him in jail. When Madero was released he called for a revolt & a general

rebellion developed Former bandit and commander of north = Pancho Villa Diaz was driven from power & Madero came into power Madero’s programs continued to cause social problems

+ Emilano Zapata rose in revolt against Madero who was then assassinated

General Victoriano Huerta tried to impose a Diaz-type dictatorship Villa and Zapata rose again w/ middle class against the govt. 1914 Huerta was forced from power Period of warfare followed with new leaders fighting over new

regime Villa and Zapata controlled home territories General Alvaro Obregon emerged as leader of government

Zapata & Villa Alvaro Obregon

+ Consequences MEXICAN CONSTITUTION of 1917- promised lad reform,

limited the foreign ownership of key resources, and guaranteed the rights of workers.

Attempted to “Indianize” the nation through secular schools that emphasized nationalism

Artists Diego Rivera and Jose Clemente Orozco recaptured past through murals

• Mexico became a multipart democracy in theory but in reality the Party of the Institutionalized Revolution (PRI) controlled politics and maintained its hold on national political life

+ RUSSIA Causes of War

Outbursts caused by wartime misery (painful food shortages) Protests against incomplete rural reform & unresponsive political

system A council of workers (soviet) took over the city govt. and arrested

tsar’s ministers Alexander Kerensky = Russian revolutionary leader who was eager

to see genuine parliamentary rule, religious and other freedoms, and a host of political and legal changes.

+ Stabilization Construction of the powerful new army under the leadership

of Leon Trotsky recruited able generals and masses of loyal conscripts RED ARMY

New Economic Policy = promised considerable freedom of action for small business owners & peasant land owners reduced economic disarray

1923 Bolshevik revolution was an accomplished fact New capital: Moscow

+USSR

New constitution set up federal system of soviet republics. recognized by Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) = multinational character of the nation

The supreme soviet had many trappings of a parliament & was elected by universal suffrage

USSR’s attempts didn’t work out well because certain groups weren’t given distinct representation (jews)

Separate republics firmly controlled by the national communist parties and firmly centralized basic decisions caused the new nationality policy to be mixed

+ The soviet regime grappled with other key definitional issues in the 1920’s

Leader rivalries needed to be sorted out Lenin became sick and died which made a leadership gap Stalin= the Red Army’s flamboyant Trotsky & communist

party stalwart of worker origins Emerged as undisputed leader of soviet State Represented a strongly nationalist version of communism

Collectivism = creation of large, state-run farms rather than individual holdings. Allowed more efficient control over peasants. STALIN’S ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL PLANNIING

+ CHINA Extended struggle over which leader or movement would be able

to capture the mandate to rule the ancient society Internal divisions & foreign influences ultimate victory of

communist party under MAO ZEDONG Regional based military commanders dominated Chinese politics

for the next three decades Warlords combined into cliques Most powerful clique =headed by Yuan Shikai in north China who

hope to seize the vacated Manchu throne and found a new dynasty.

PROBLEMS FOLLOWING FALL OF QING DYNASTY

+ SUN YAT-SEN = head of Revolutionary Alliance, he was bankrolled by

merchants and bankers of coastal cities May Fourth Movement = aimed at transforming China into a liberal

democracy. It was the day when resistance began Confucianism was ridiculed & rejected in favor of western

democracy Program included speeches, pamphlets, novels, and newspaper

articles.

Li Dahao= most influential of the thinkers who called for a reworking of Marxist ideology to fit China’s situation.

Placed heavy emphasis on its capacity for promoting renewal and its ability to harness energy and vitality of a nation’s youth

Characterized whole of Chinese society as proletarian Oppressed Chinese as a whole needed to unite and rise up against

their exploiters

+ Mao Zedong= Communist leader in revolutionary china

Advocated rural reform and role of peasantry Influenced by Li Dazhao

Goumindang = Nationalist party which was to prove the communists’ great rival for the mandate to rule in China. It was struggling to survive in the south.

It attempted to consolidate power by unifying regional power bases

Also, sun and his followers attempted to unify the diverse political organizations by reorganizing the revolutionary movement and naming it the Nationalist part of China (the Guomindang)

Chiang Kai-shek = young, ambitious military officer who was the first head of the Whampoa Military Academy.