The Ways of the World Chapters 17-24

By: Cristin Croce

Chapter 17: Revolutions

• North American Revolution: was a battle for independence from an overbearing British rule. The United States became a world power at the end of the 19th century, and their revolution influenced the French.

• The French Revolution: The French aided the United States in the North American Revolution and once they got back to France they wanted a Revolution for themselves and over turned the monarchy. The French Revolution influenced people by conquest and by the leadership of Napoleon Bonaparte.

American Revolution

Chapter 17: Revolutions Cont’d• The Haitian Revolution: The French Revolution was a

major influence in the French Caribbean colony, Saint Domingue (which was later renamed Haiti). This country defeated Napoleon’s attempt to reestablish French control. Once the revolution was won the people of Haiti reconfigured their social system and Haitians were defined a “black” so the wealthy white men were driven away from Haiti.

• The Spanish American Revolution: just like all the other revolutions, they wanted freedom from their ruling country. It was not as successful as the North American Revolution but they still gained their independence, but their colonies did not unite and become a single country like the United States. The colonies became underdeveloped, impoverished, undemocratic, dependant on foreign technology and investment as well as other things.

Haitian Revolution

Chapter 17: Abolishing Slavery and Feminists• Abolishing Slavery: During the Enlightenment of the 18th

century Europe was questioning slavery as a whole because it was a violation of the natural rights of every person. In 1807 Britain abolished the selling of slaves in its empire and by 1834 emancipated those that were still enslaved . Countries around the world followed their lead since Britain was a major influence economically and politically. The freed slaves did not gain all of the respect and benefits that whites had right away, it was a struggle but eventually everyone was treated fairly and that was what the slaves needs and deserved all along.

• Feminists: this movement was an echo of the Atlantic Revolutions. Women did not have equal rights before this movement and their voices were rarely heard. Women insisted that the revolutionary ideals of liberty and equality include women. Little by little they made progress and privilege after privilege was granted to women for example the right to an education and voting.

Chapter 18: The Industrial Revolution

• The Industrial Revolution started in one place, In Western Europe but more specifically it started in Great Britain.

• Britain was highly commercialized, the most out of Europe's larger countries.

• Britain favored businessmen • The Industrial Revolution brought the

inventions of the spinning jenny, power loom, steam engine, and the cotton gin. But that was not all it brought. It had a “culture of innovation” which is a belief that things could be endlessly improved.

• The Industrial Revolution changed the way people lived, the way the made money, they way they thought, improved science, and many other things.

Chapter 18: The First Industrial Society• The Industrial Revolution was not expected

at all.• It created a new way of life that some people

had a hard time adapting to. Not everyone succeeded right way.

• Many women went to work in factories to help with the family income as well has children.

• Agriculture had a small revolution as well as the textile industry and science.

• The aristocracy seemed to be decline due the agriculture tariffs on foreign imports.

• The Laboring Class became very influential in parliament, they formed a party called the Labor Party to help with the conditions in which they work.

• After the Industrial Revolution made a mark in Europe it then made its way around the world helping each country in a different way.

Chapter 18: After Latin American Independence

• After the Latin American’s achieved their independence things were unstable such as their political life. Many people favored centralized government and aid from the Catholic Church. There were the conservatives.

• With any political life the conservatives opponents were the Liberals who attacked the Church and wanted social reform and strongly supported federalism.

• Social life did not seem to change after the gain of independence for these countries. The businesses, ranches, and plantations remained in the hands of mostly the white men who were culturally oriented towards Europe .

• The Industrial Revolution for Latin American was to become a little more like Europe or the United States. It was about progress.

• From this revolution Latin American’s gained a form of economic growth that was largely financed by capital abroad and dependent on the decisions of Europe and the United States.

Chapter 19: The Effects of the Industrial Revolution on Europe

• During the 19th century Europe became the center of the world economy with trade and investments every where on the globe.

• Europe needed to sell its own products. And the money value seemed better when selling their products abroad.

• Britain had been sending half of its savings over seas as foreign investment.

• Social benefits seemed to happen through foreign markets so that kept factories running and people working.

• Imperialism promised to solve the class conflict of an industrializing society.

• Imperialism appealed on economic and social grounds to the wealthy or the ambitious.

• This era helped the expansion of trade over seas more accessible and more desired. The Suez-Canal helped an immense amount by allowing steam-driven ships to pass through it, which in turn made the tripe to Asia and Africa much quicker.

Suez-Canal

Chapter 19: China’s Crisis• China’s economy and American food crops had

enabled a massive population growth, but unlike Europe no Industrial Revolution accompanied this increase of people and agricultural production was not able to keep up.

• This caused a lot of impoverished people, unemployment and starvation occurred. As an effect of this the state was unable to effectively perform tax collections, flood control, social welfare, and public security.

• China expressed their opposition to the Qing dynasty.

• China wanted a revolutionary change when the Taiping Uprising happened. The leader of this uprising was Hong Xiuquan, and he wanted an industrial nation. And tried to push the Qing dynasty out of China.

• But in the end the Qing dynasty was saved but the economy was weakened.

Hong Xiuquan

Chapter 19: The Ottoman Empire and it’s decline

• In 1750 the Ottoman Empire was still the central political fixture of the widespread Islamic world. It ruled over much of the Arab world.

• By the end of the 19th century the empire was no longer able to deal with Europe from a position of equality. And within the Muslim world the Ottoman Empire, which was once considered “the strong sword of Islam,” was unable to keep it’s regions from falling under the control of Christianity.

• The core region of the Ottoman Empire still had independence because Europe could not agree on how to divide it up among the countries.

• The Ottoman Empire’s central state weakened much like China, and the major caused seemed to be from the Empire’s inability to raise a profit.

• They relied on foreign loans to finance their efforts. But by 1882 they were unable to pay the interest on the loans.

• The Ottoman Empire and fallen to become dependent on Europe.

Chapter 20: Colonial Rule• Colonial rule had a great affect on the lives of the people,

most importantly on the way they worked. • The Colonial state played an important role in the

transformation, since they had the power to tax, to seize land for European enterprises, to compel labor, and to build railroads, ports, and roads.

• Many of the new ways of working that emerged during the colonial era derived directly from the demands of the colonial state, the most obvious was required and unpaid labor on public projects. Ex. Building railroads, constructing government buildings, and transporting goods.

• British officials were very rude and cruel to the colonial people and put them to work (forced labor)

• The most infamous cruelties of forced labor during the early 20th century happened in the Congo Free State which was governed by Leopold II of Belgium. They forced villagers to collect rubber for bicycles and automobile tires, with a reign of terror and abuse that cost millions of lives who did not follow orders.

• This caused an outrage with Belgium, the Belgium government took control of the Congo in 1908 and ended the reign of Leopold II. During this time the peasants were required to cultivate 20% or more of their land in cash crops such as sugar or coffee to meet their tax obligation to the state.

• Many peasants could not achieve the obligation to the state and became indebted to their moneylenders.

Chapter 20: Cash-Crops• In many places colonial rule created conditions that

aided and increased cash-crop production for the advantage of local farmers.

• An example of this would be in Burma where British authority ended an earlier probation of rice exports to encourage the production of rice. This provided irrigation and transportation facilities, enhancement of land tenure laws that facilitated private ownership of small farms.

• From these conditions the population in the region soared as well as the exports of rice.

• It seems as if from cash-crops the standards of living in the late 19th century improved.

• By 1911 in the south Gold Coast African farmers took the initiative to develop export agriculture. Planting cacao trees in mass amounts, becoming the world’s leading supplier of cocoa.

• But with success comes new problems. Generated tension in the work place, and there became a shortage of labor. So many colonies started to specialize in one or two cash-crops which created a problem for the world market.

Chapter 20: Education• Western education generated a new identity for

people. Those who had an education and access to a better-paying positions in government bureaucracies, mission organizations, or business firms.

• Education provided social mobility and elite status within their own communities and many opportunities to approach or achieve equality with whites in racially defined societies. Education opened many doors much like it does today.

• In 19th century India, Western educated people organized many reform societies which wanted a renewed Indian culture. These societies were inspired by the classic texts of Hinduism.

• European education was an instrument of progress and liberation from the stranglehold of tradition.

Chapter 21:The Great Depression• The aftermath of World War I brought substantial social and cultural

changes to European and American victors of the conflict. • The French authorities proclaimed Mother’s Day a new holiday

designed to encourage childbearing to in a sense replace the millions lost in war.

• Women increasingly gained the right to vote. • Flappers became very popular, making their appearances all around

town. Along with flappers, radios and movies became more popular. • During the 19th century, European industrial capitalism sparked the

most substantial economic growth in world history and raise the standard of living for millions.

• America’s economic system started to unravel, and soon after that on October 24, 1929 the stock market crashed. This put the American people in a panic.

• Many people lost their jobs, and their life savings, nearly 30% of America was unemployed by 1932.

• Empty factories, soup kitchens, bread lines, shantytowns, and beggars came to symbolize the human reality of this economic disaster.

• By the end of the 1920’s farms and factories were producing more goods than could be sold because of the high unequal distribution of income meant that many people could not afford to buy the product.

• The government believed that the economy would regulate itself through the market, but the market’s apparent failure made people look twice at the Soviet Union who had no unemployment and the income was distributed more evenly.

• Roosevelt put in many efforts to give the people of America job opportunities.

Chapter 21: Hitler and the Nazi Party• The German expression of European fascism took shape ad the

Nazi Party under the leadership of Adolf Hitler. In many aspects is similar to its Italian counterpart. They both openly supported the use of violence as a political tool and was a dictatorship. They also despised parliamentary democracy, hated communism, and viewed war as a positive and ennobling experience.

• After the first world war Hitler and his party gained public recognition. His leadership gave a message of intense German nationalism cast in terms of racial superiority, better hatred for Jews as an alien presence, passionate opposition for communism, a determination to rescue Germany from the humiliating requirements of the Treaty of Versailles, and the willingness to decisively tackle the country’s economic problems.

• In 1933, Hitler was legally installed as the chancellor of the German government. Once in power he suppressed all the other political parties, abolished labor unions, arrested thousands of opponents, controlled press and radio, and in general assumed police power of society far more thoroughly than Italian fascists.

• Soon after coming into power Hitler implemented polices that increasingly restricted Jewish life, such as exclusion from universities, professional organizations, and civil employment.

• This went spinning out of control and the exclusions of the Jews escalated.

Chapter 21: World War II Outcomes• World War II was the most destructive conflict

in world history with the total death estimate to be around 60 million. That is six times the deaths in the first world war. And more than half the casualties in WWII were civilians.

• The Holocaust contributed to a lot of these deaths.

• Word War II ended and Europe was impoverished and many people were homeless.

• WWII brought the United States out of the Great Depression because of the many jobs that were created for this war.

• Another result from the war was the consolidation of communism

• Also after the war international efforts were finally starting to be renewed to maintain peace in the world.

Chapter 22: Global Communism• Modern communism found its political and

philosophical roots in 19th century European socialism, inspired by Karl Marx’s teachings.

• Russia was the first country to experience such a revolution for communism.

• At communism’s high point in the 1970’s almost one-third of the world’s population lived in societies governed by communist regimes. The world’s largest in size was Russia and the largest in population was China.

• Communism also came to Eastern Europe in the wake of WWII and the extension of the Soviet military that was present there.

• Japan and also North Korea fell under communism. As well as Vietnam and Cuba. Fidel Castro led a revolutionary nationalist movement against Cuba which was repressive and backed by America, thus in the end making it communist.

• In the 1950’s a small communist party in the United States became the focus of an intense wave of fear and political repression known as McCarthyism.

Chapter 22: Communist Feminism

• The fight for liberating and mobilizing women became more popular and apparent in society.

• The Soviet Union issued a series of laws and decrees regarding women.

• They declared full legal and political equality for women. Divorce, abortion, as well as many more were made legal during this time. Pregnancy leave was also granted to women in the work field.

• Zhenotdel was a feminist group in 1919 who organized numerous conferences for women and trained women to run day-care centers and medical clinics, publish newspapers and magazines aimed at a female audience. Stalin abolished Zhenotdel in 1930.

• In China there was little talk of “free love” or much openness to the thought of feminism. But nevertheless Chinese women became very active in production outside the home.

• By 1960 the slogan “Women can do anything” became very famous.

Chapter 22: The Cold War

• The new communist government of Russia had a played a huge part in starting the Cold War. This communist government became a source of fear and loathing in the Western capitalist world.

• The Soviet Union and the United States were now the major political and military powers, replacing the shattered and diminished states of Western Europe.

• The initial area for the Cold War was Europe just like the many wars before.

• The Soviet Unions' insistence for security and control in Eastern Europe clashed with American and British desires for open and democratic societies with ties to the capitalist world economy.

• As a result, rival military alliances (NATO and the Warsaw Pact). • Once North Korea invaded South Korea China and America were

dragged into a three year war which contributed to the Cold War. • The Americans interfered with Vietnam when North Vietnam wanted

to united South Vietnam and become communist. In the end communism won.

• Another major conflict was in Afghanistan where a Marxist party had taken power in 1978. Soviet Leaders were very please.

• Cuba market the worst battle with Fidel Castro coming into power. America had great efforts to try and overthrow his regime.

• The Soviet Union secretly deployed nuclear-tipped missiles to Cuba. Once the missiles were discovered America formed a blockade and with the help of John F. Kennedy the missiles were removed.

Chapter 23: The End of Empires

• The 20th century witnessed the demise of many empires

• The Austrian and the Ottoman empires collapsed following World War I.

• The Russian Empire unraveled but it then became the Soviet Union.

• World War II ended German and Japanese empires.

• African and Asian movements for independence shared with these other “end of empire” stories the ideal of national self-determination.

Ottoman Empire

Chapter 23: African and Asian Independence

• The end of European empires seemed an almost “natural” phenomenon, for colonial rule and lost credibility as a form of political order.

• People had the idea that after the fall of the empires “the only legitimate government was self-government.”

• One strategy of explaining the end of colonial empires focuses attention on fundamental contradictions in the entire colonial enterprise that arguably rendered its demise more or less inevitable.

• The ideal of national self-determination was profoundly at odds with the possession of colonies that were denied any opportunity to express their own national character.

• Colonial rule dug its own grave.• The world wars weakened Europe. • The colonies social and economic circumstances

within the colonies made themselves generated the human raw material for anti-colonial movements.

African Colony

Chapter 23: India, Ending British Rule • Unlike pervious foreign rulers, the British never

assimilated into Indian society because their acute sense of racial and cultural distinctiveness kept them apart.

• The most important political expression of an all-Indian identity took shape in the Indian Nation Congress (INC) and it was established in 1885. This was an association of English-educated Indians, such as lawyers, journalists, teachers, and businessmen, drawn overwhelmingly from regionally prominent high caste Hindu families. Initially its members did not seek to overthrow British rule, rather they hoped to gain greater inclusion within the political, military, and business life of British India.

• Gandhi joined INC upon is return from South Africa. He wanted to overthrow British rule. He was a radicalism of a different kind, he did not call for social revolution but sought the moral transformation of individuals. He pushed a nationalist movement. The Muslims and the Hindus clashed, and Gandhi found a land called it Pakistan. In the end Gandhi and the Congress Party agreed to partition as the British declared their intention to leave India after WWII. India became independent in 1947 into two nations; a Muslim Pakistan and a Hindu India.

Chapter 24: Globalization of Liberation• Communism promised workers and peasants

liberation from capitalist oppression. • Nationalism offered subject people liberation

from imperialism and advocates of democracy sought liberation from authoritarian governments.

• The 1960’s in particular witnessed an unusual convergence of protest movements around the world. In the United States was the Civil Rights Movement, and youthful counterculture of music, sex, and drugs. The communist world also saw protests in the Soviet Union and in Czechoslovakia.

• No expression of the global culture of liberation held more profound potential for change the feminism, for it represented a rethinking of the most fundamental and personal of all human relationships, between men and women.

Chapter 24: Religion and Global Modernity

• Beyond liberation and feminism, a further dimension of cultural globalization took shape in the challenge that modernity presented in world’s religions.

• Many people in the past (example Karl Marx) wrote that supernatural religion was headed for extinction in the face of modernity, science, communism, or globalization.

• Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam had long functioned as transregional cultures spreading way beyond their places of origin.

• The process continued in the 20th century. Buddhist ideas and practices such as meditation found a warm reception in the West. Christianity of various kinds spread widely in non-Muslim Africa and South Korea, as well as less extensively in some parts of India. And millions of migrants from the Islamic world rooted their religion firmly in Europe and North America.

Chapter 24: Green and Global• Environmentalism began in the 19th century as Romantic

poets such as William Blake and William Wordsworth denounced the industrial era’s “dark satanic mills” which threatened the “green and pleasant land” of England.

• During the second half of the 20th century environmentalism gained a worldwide response.

• This second-wave began in the West with the publication of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring in 1962, an exposure of chemical contamination of the environment that threatened both human health and the survival of many other species.

• This book marked an environmental movement in the United States.

• The German environmental movement was distinctive in that its activist directly entered the political arena as the Green party. Their main concerns were the opposition of nuclear energy.

• Western environmentalist focused more on the wildlife issue.• Western environmentalists also called individuals to change

their values by turning away from materialism and appreciate the fragile web of life that sustains us.