Questions & Answers: World History – Challenges of the Early 20th Century

Briefly discuss the causes and progression of the Russian Revolution of 1905, including the significance of the October Manifesto.
In Russia, rule lay in the hands of the Czars, and the overall structure was feudalistic. Beneath the Czars was a group of rich nobles, landowners whose lands were worked by peasants and serfs. The Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905) made conditions much worse for the lower classes. When peasants demonstrated outside the Czar’s Winter Palace, the palace guard fired upon the crowd. The demonstration had been organized by a trade union leader, and after the violent response, many unions as well as political parties blossomed and began to lead numerous strikes. When the economy ground to a halt, Czar Nicholas II signed a document known as the October Manifesto, which established a constitutional monarchy and gave legislative power to parliament. However, he violated the Manifesto shortly thereafter, disbanding parliament and ignoring the civil liberties granted by the Manifesto. This eventually led to the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917.

Identify and explain the Balkans and the beginning of WWI.
In the years before the First World War, the Balkans were attempting to gain independence from the Hapsburg empire of Austria. This insurrection culminated in the assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914 by Gavrilo Princip, a member of a Serbian nationalist group. At this point, a chain reaction of war declarations (spurred by the comprehensive alliances of the time) ensued. Austria declared war against Serbia; Germany and Turkey joined with the Austrians; Russia declared war on these countries in support of Serbia; France joined with Russia; and Britain and Italy joined forces with France, even though Italy had been a member of the Triple Alliance.
 

What were the entangling alliances prior to WWI?
In the early years of the twentieth century, relations among the various European powers were complex. Ever since the Franco-Prussian War, won by Prussia, the two sides had been enemies. At the center of their conflict was the territory of Alsace-Lorraine, which each side claimed as its own. In order to bolster their position in the region, each side entered into networks of alliances. After years of negotiations, two main alliances contained the major European powers: the Triple Alliance (Germany, Austria, Italy) and the Triple Entente (France, Britain, Russia). These two alliances would end up being the opposing sides in the great war of the ensuing years.

Describe the Western Front of World War I.
The western front of World War I refers to the battles that took place in Belgium and France from 1914 to 1918. The German Army marched into Belgium on August 4, 1914, to make its way to France. The Belgians, however, were not willing to allow the Germans to march through Belgium unhindered, and they launched a series of attacks against the Germans that weakened and slowed down the German forces. This cost the Germans a large amount of time that was vital to the Schlieffen Plan, but the Germans continued their advance and made it to the edge of France by the beginning of September 1914. When the Germans reached France, a series of battles ensued between the French and the British forces that had arrived in France by the time Germany made its way through Belgium. These battles ultimately resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of men on both sides, but they did very little to improve the position of either side throughout most of the war.

Describe trench warfare and its use in WW I.
Fighting during WW I took place largely in a series of trenches built along the Eastern and Western Fronts. These trenches added up to about 24,000 miles, each side having dug at least 12,000 miles’ worth during the course of the war. This produced fronts that stretched nearly 400 miles, from the coast of Belgium to the border of Switzerland.
The Allies made use of straightforward open-air trenches with a front line, supporting lines, and communications lines. By contrast, the German trenches sometimes included well-equipped underground living quarters.

Discuss and describe the early combat and the exit of Russia during WWI.
Despite the fact that almost every nation in Europe had entered into World War I, most Europeans thought the conflict would be brief. Instead, advances in weapons technology made the war bloody and excruciatingly slow. Much of the fighting was done from trenches, and some battles would see the deaths of thousands of soldiers at a time. The war was also slow because the sides were very evenly matched; that is, until 1917, when the United States entered on the side of Britain. Also in 1917, the Russians exited the war via the Brest-Litovsk Treaty. Russia was basically exhausted after suffering through a Revolution in 1917 in which the Bolsheviks came to power. The entry of the US provided the British and French with supplies and troops, and Germany was soon forced to call for a truce.

Describe the Eastern Front of World War I.
The eastern front of World War I refers to the battles that took place in Austria, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Prussia, and Russia from 1914 to 1917. The First and Second Russian armies marched into East Prussia and Poland in mid August 1914 to make their way to Austria and eventually Germany. The German forces stationed in East Prussia were able to force the First Russian Army to retreat, but the Second Russian Army was able to move into Poland and destroy the Austrian forces stationed there. The German forces, as a result, moved into Poland to force the Second Russian Army to retreat, and after a series of battles, the Germans eventually forced the Russians back into Russia. This allowed the Germans to advance farther and farther into Russia until the people of Russia finally revolted against the Russian government to end the chaos, famine, and death that the war was causing in Russia. This forced the Russian government to exit the war.

Discuss and describe Western Europe and Italy after the First World War.
In the years after the First World War, the general mood in Europe was one of wariness. Most nations were exhausted by the conflict, and few felt that the signing of the Treaty of Versailles and the formation of the League of Nations had created a permanent peace. In the 1920s, Britain, Germany, France, and the United States were all liberal democracies without a strong executive. Unlike the United States, however, even the victorious European nations suffered a profound economic depression. One nation that saw no diminution in nationalism was Italy. In part out of a fear of communism, Italians supported the rise of the fascist dictator Benito Mussolini. Fascism was a political philosophy that promised Italians a return to the glory days of Rome, when they were a mighty power ruled by a dominating executive. Of course, in order to maintain his authority Mussolini had to brutally suppress any opposition.

Discuss the Treaty of Versailles.
The war left Europe deeply in debt, and particularly devastated the German economy. The ensuing Great Depression made matters worse, and economic devastation opened the door for Communist, Fascist and Socialist governments to gain power.
The Treaty of Versailles was a treaty that France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, and the United States signed to end World War I. This treaty was specifically designed to establish the terms under which Germany surrendered, and it identified several concessions that the Germans had to make. The terms of the treaty specifically required Germany to surrender a large portion of land it acquired both before and during the war, required Germany to pay reparations for the damage that it caused in each of the Allied nations, required Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany and other members of the German Army to be tried as war criminals, required Germany to reduce the size of its army and navy, required Germany to allow the Allied powers to establish a demilitarized zone in the Rhineland, and required Germany to make many other similar concessions.

Discuss the results of the Great Depression on the global economy.
The Great Depression refers to a period from the late 1920s to the early 1940s in which the economy of almost every major nation began to decline rapidly. The beginning of this period is typically associated with the date that the stock market crashed (October 29, 1929), but the Great Depression actually resulted from a series of different problems in different nations at different times. In fact, the Great Depression was actually caused by so many different problems (industry changes, inadequate stock regulation, war relief costs, etc.) that it ultimately affected each nation in a different way. France, Germany, and Great Britain began to feel the effects of an economic decline in the early 1920s, but the conditions of the economies of each of these nations deteriorated almost immediately after the stock market crash. This led to the widespread closure of businesses throughout Europe, and the unemployment rate increased drastically in each of these nations as a result. Russia, on the other hand, was virtually unaffected because of its communist economy.

Discuss and describe the events leading up to World War II in Europe.
Still shell-shocked from the First World War, the nations of western Europe were slow to respond to the growing menace of Nazi Germany. In general, they pursued a policy of appeasement and isolation. The British prime minister Neville Chamberlain was especially committed to using diplomacy over war. Then, in 1936, Hitler sent troops to occupy the Rhineland, a strip of territory on the German border. At around the same time, Mussolini invaded Ethiopia; the two aggressors, Germany and Italy, entered into an agreement making them the Axis Powers. In 1938, Germany annexed Austria and indicated that it was about to attack Czechoslovakia. In response to these actions, Chamberlain brought together Mussolini and Hitler for the Munich Conference of 1938. These talks would only briefly suspend German aggression.

Discuss the rise of the Nazi party.
The Nazis, who were also known as the National Socialist German Workers’ Party, were radical political reformers who wanted to create a nation in which the government was not only allowed to restrict the actions of its people without question, but a nation in which the government was actually expected to restrict the actions of its people (in other words, a totalitarian government). Adolf Hitler was the führer (a German term that literally means “leader”) of the Nazi Party and later the führer of all Germany during the mid twentieth century. He is known for establishing the Nazi Party, helping the Nazi Party take control of Germany, and ultimately being responsible for the actions that Germany took during World War II (including the Holocaust). He is also known for his book, Mein Kampf, in which he discussed his belief that Germany’s problems could be traced back to the Jewish population.

Discuss the rise of the Fascist party.
The Fascists were a group of radical political reformers who wanted to create a nation in which all the people in the nation were not treated as individuals but instead as parts of a greater whole who were each expected to respect the absolute authority of the government and work toward the ultimate glory of the nation. It is important to note, however, that fascism (in other words, a fascist government) doesn’t typically allow an individual to have any rights at all.
Benito Mussolini was the leader of the National Fascist Party and later the Prime Minister of Italy during the mid twentieth century. He is known for establishing the Fascist Party, helping the Fascist Party take control of Italy, and ultimately attempting to expand Italy’s influence across Europe during World War II.