(GCP) Global Conflict 1900-Present Module Overview

Global Conflict 1900-Present Module Overview

The First World War—"The Great War" —was one of several key turning points of the twentieth century. A combination of imperialism, arms races, industrial might, and nationalism pushed the Great Powers of Europe into a regional conflict that quickly exploded into a global war of unprecedented devastation. Among the many results were a loss of global power for Europe, the rise of the United States and Japan, Bolshevism in Russia, increased nationalism among European colonies around the world, and political and social power shifts in several nations.

The 1920s were profoundly shaped by World War I and by movements well underway before the war. Three major patterns emerged: first, Western Europe recovered from the war only incompletely; second, the United States and Japan rose as giants in industrial production; third, revolutions of lasting consequence shook Mexico, Russia, and China. Each of these developments brought into doubt western Europe's assumptions about its place as the dominant global power. The Great Depression that began in 1929 ushered in a number of important developments. Among the continuities from World War I were the decline of European hegemony and instability of Western democracies. New developments included Fascist governments in Italy, Germany, Spain, and Japan and a police state in Stalin's Soviet Union. China continued to turn away from democratization, while new authoritarian regimes arose in Latin America. The economic depression and the resulting radical political forms led to World War II.

In contrast to the disorganized beginning of World War I, World War II was provoked by deliberate aggressions of Germany, Japan and Italy. The failures of the Western policy of appeasement encouraged the Axis Powers' militaristic expansions. The most deadly conflict in history, World War II, resulted in the rise of the United States and the Soviet Union to world preeminence and competition. Western European hegemony came to an end as independence movements in Africa and Asia succeeded in the decades after the war. Both western and eastern Europe were devastated by World War II, yet the U.S.S.R. soon emerged as a superpower rivaling the U.S. Eastern Europe was dominated by the Soviets for 45 years after the war, and western Europe generally followed the U.S. model. Only the West, however, showed strong economic recovery in the years following the war. A consumer culture arose, women reached new heights of equality, and democracy was firmly established. In eastern Europe, advances in industrial capability were balanced by repression from the communist system.

 

Essential Questions

• How did internal and external factors contribute to change in various states after 1900?
• What were the causes and consequences of World War I?
• Explain how governments used a variety of methods to conduct war.
• How did different governments respond to economic crisis after 1900?
• Explain the changes and continuities in territorial holdings from 1900 to present.
• What were the causes and consequences of World War II?
• Explain the similarities and differences in how governments used a variety of methods to conduct war.
• What were the various causes and consequences of mass atrocities in the period from 1900 to present?
• Explain the relative significance of the causes of global conflict in the period 1900 to the present.

 

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