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Second Industrial Revolution
Saw the United States, Britain, and Germany emerge as industrial powers. Large advances in medicine, mass production of goods, scientific knowledge and urbanization and growth of the middle class define the period. Exacerbated the imbalance of power that colonialism provided. “Whatever happens, we have got
The Maxim gun, and they have not.” ― Hilaire Belloc -
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Russo-Turkish War
Balkans, South-Eastern Europe War caused by Russian and Austro-Hungarian empires claimed right to protect the Christian people's within the Ottoman Empire. The war was rapid leading to the Ottoman's lost territory in southeastern Europe birthing new states including Bulgaria, Serbia, Romania, and Montenegro with Austria-Hungry occupying Bosnia-Herzegovina. This restructuring and occupation of the region led to much political strife in the following decades. -
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Berlin Conference
Berlin, Germany Otto von Bismarck organized the conference to fulfill German imperial ambition and to help Belgium King Leopold II compete in the colonialization in Africa, specifically in the Congo. This conference was the partitioning of Europe between the great powers of the world, with complete disregard for cultural or traditional borders and boundaries. This separation led to many conflicts and issues throughout the 20th century with only a handful of African states remaining free. -
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Spanish-American War
Began through the sinking of the USS Maine with the US blaming Spain for the action in Havana bay. Victory in the war led to the first United States overseas colonies and imperial actions beyond their continental regions. This can also be looked at as the beginning of the US exiting their isolationist approach toward geopolitical affairs. -
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Boxer Rebellion
Peking, China The Boxer Rebellion helped destabilize and weaken Qing Dynasty China. Rebellious faction looked to remove foreign influence and western encroachment. Western powers including Britain, US, Russia, and Japan brought in to assist and put down the rebellion. This intervention in support of the state by foreign powers solidified the shifting ideological sentiment against western values and fed the rise of Chinese nationalism. -
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Exposition Universelle
Paris, France. World's fair taking place to showcase contemporary innovations from all over the world. Heavily showcased the technological innovations with contrast to colonial nations, exuding a particular western bias and how western society viewed their place in the world at the time. -
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Panama Canal
Panama, Central America. US under Theodore Roosevelt supported Panamanian separatists break away state from Columbia. This support led to the signing of a deal to build a canal linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The United States largely hold control over the canal placing the US in heavy influence in global hemisphere trade. Also led to Roosevelt Corollary extending the Monroe Doctrine for legal US intervention in Latin America. -
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XinHai Revolution
Nanjing, China. The Xin Hai Revolution led to the final Collapse of the Qing Dynasty after more then a century of territorial contraction and decades of rebellion. This collapse led to the rise of a Chinese nationalist party under Sun Yat-Sen. -
Assassination of Franz Ferdinand
Sarajevo, Serbia Gavrilo Princip assassinated the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand. This action gave way to the "July Crisis" seeing the tangled alliance system of European nations begin to enter the stage of military mobilization precipitating in the First World War. -
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The Great War
The Great War, or the First World War, was a global conflict and the first of which at such destructive scales. The war itself saw the entirety of Europe decimated both economically and physically. The war itself saw over 8.5 million casualties, 21 million wounded, and 7.75 million missing or imprisoned. The economic cost was over $186 billion dollars in 1914 currency. The pain and reverberations surrounding this conflict have had longstanding effects that are still felt to the present day. -
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February Revolution
Petrograd, Russia Abdication of Tsar Nicholas II and removal of the Tsarist regime giving rise to the provisional government (State Duma). Romanov family dynasty ultimately executed later in July by Bolsheviks revolutionaries. -
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October Revolution
Petrograd, Russia Bolshevik revolution taking over the means of production from the Provisional Government. Led quickly to Russia exiting the Great War under the treaty of Brest-Litovsk. Bolshevik's quickly gained control of the government leading into the Russian Civil War fought against the White Army who was assisted by the Western Powers. Bolsheviks had control and silenced a majority of opposition by 1922 giving rise to the creation of the USSR. -
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was a controversial and complex document leading to the end of the First World War. While the American’s sought a “peace without victors'' approach, the European powers wanted justice for the pain that was caused. This led to a treaty destined toward placing war guilt on Germany for causing the conflict, with reparations that were of questionable nature. The elements within this treaty were the crucible of nationalistic propaganda used across Europe into the century. -
The League of Nations
The League of Nations was created and established in the Treaty of Versailles with the intention of creating a body of nations to pursue common policies and get ahead of diplomatic action. The United States failed to join after being the prime advocate for the league refusing the required economic and military aid. The league itself was weak and disorganized with each member nation understanding their obligation differently. Without more global support the league was destined for failure. -
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First Five-Year Plan
Soviet Union Stalin's plan for the industrialization of the Soviet Union. This was implemented via state quotas and imported machinery and experience. Large scale industrial projects were worked on and completed as well as overall expansion of military and industrial production under state based quotas. Had a goal of 350% increased national output, reached a 50% increase. Heralded as a success while hiding much of the traumatic foundation in human and material cost. -
Penicillin Breakthrough
London, UK Following the First World War scientific personnel of the war effort alongside military engineers were repurposed toward civilian application. This increase in skilled labor in these fields led to the incredible discovery by Alexander Fleming of Penicillin which revolutionized the treatment of infections. This would go on to have incredible effects for the human species making deadly issues easily curable. -
Black Tuesday
New York, New York The stock market crash of 1929, otherwise known as Black Tuesday was a large-scale economic decline in US equities markets officially signaling entry of the Great Depression. Due to the increase of global interdependence following the economic tie ins of the First World War, the shockwave of this financial crash reverberated around the western world. -
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Great Purge
Moscow, USSR Stalin ordered and had carried out by police and state workers the elimination of all dissenting political opponents and voices while fighting against "counter-revolutionary activity". This policy carried out assassination attempts and murders alongside the removing of "unworthy" or disloyal elements in the Stalinist regime. An estimated 1 million people were killed throughout the purge, which directly correlates to the reduced effectiveness of the Red Army in early conflicts. -
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Spanish Civil War
Spain. General Francisco Franco led the military backed National Front in planning an overthrow of the government. The Italians and Germans assisted Franco's nationalist front while the USSR supported the Republican Army. This was to be a proving ground militarily for the Axis powers; a showcase of the destruction modern combined arms warfare and airpower brings to the table. After nearly 500,000 casualties, Franco gains control of Spain in February 1939. -
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Second Sino-Japanese War
Nanking, China The outbreak of the Second-Sino Japanese War in 1937 is often regarded as the true beginning to the Second World War as a world-wide conflict. The Japanese Empire sought to take more territorial holdings in the resource rich Asian continent but particularly in China. Chinese labor would fuel the Japanese war machine up until the end in 1945. The brutality of the conflict can be epitomized by the Nanking Massacre where over 300,000 Chinese civilian's were killed in April 1937, -
Invasion of Poland
Warsaw, Poland Nazi Germany invasion of Poland. Was ultimately the final straw of Allied appeasement foreign policy, quickly leading to the outbreak of World War 2 in Europe. The declarations of war by Britain, France and their allies were largely symbolic as no allied defense was sent to Poland and "phony war" began. Prior to this invasion, the signing of a Nazi-Soviet non-aggression pact gave the Allied powers grim expectation of what appeared to be ongoing hostilities to "gobble" up Europe. -
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The Holocaust
Nazi Germany and Nazi occupied Territories "Final Solution" devised by Hitler and his co-conspirers during the Nazi Regime. Approximately two third's of Europe's Jewish population as well as other "undesirables" were murdered through a systemic mass murder apparatus, seeing over 10 million killed. Done utilizing specialized killing units all throughout Europe and at specific locations be it ghettos and concentration camps. The horrors of these discoveries led directly to the Nuremburg Trials. -
Operation Barbarossa
Entire Eastern Front, USSR. Surprise German invasion of the Soviet Union in direct violation of the previous 1939 non-aggression agreement, the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact. Germany sends over 3.5 million troops into an unprepared Soviet army gaining massive swaths of territory. The Nazi war machine outpaced it's logistical constraints and by November found themselves bogged down and unprepared for the winter months ahead. -
Attack on Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Surprise Japanese carrier-based air attack on the US pacific fleet. This attack also encompassed much wider plans by the Japanese empire, who also attacked in the Philippines and at Guam, Hong Kong and the Wake Islands. This attack would give Japanese time to seize valuable territory while the US repairs its Fleet. Not only did this attack bring the US to join the war against Japan, but on December 11, Germany and Italy declared against the US as well. -
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Potsdam Conference
Potsdam, Germany Conference and meeting between the “Big Three”; Truman, Churchill and Stalin, to determine the dividing of German territories between Western and Soviet spheres of influence. This was a point of consternation as Truman decidedly went against the agreed upon terms of the Yalta Conference, seeing the friction between wartime allies turn cold as previously agreed upon territorial carvings were ignored. -
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Nuremberg Trials
Nuremberg, Germany Criminal war crime tribunal held in detailing the list of heinous offenses carried out by the Third Reich during the Second World War. This tribunal helped convict high level offenses, as well as solidify precedent for actions and policy going forward for the denazification of Europe. The Allied powers wanted what occurred to be recorded with evidence for posterity so the world cannot claim it did not occur and hopefully so that such actions may never occur again. -
Truman Doctrine
The Truman doctrine alongside NSC-68, helped declare US foreign policy during the Cold War as one of support against those resisting communism. NSC-68 helped outline the plan to prevent the spread of communism globally while Truman signed this doctrine in support of communist threats from the Soviet Union from Greece and Turkey. Thus the Truman Doctrine has helped propel the direction of Western diplomacy for the following decades. -
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First Arab-Israeli War
On May 15, 1948 the Arab Liberation Army invaded Palestine. Israel held its ground leading to them gaining over 60% increased territory compared to what was UN. The further destabilization of the region led to a massive refugee crisis, with over 725,000 Palestinians fleeing Israel and an equal number of Jews fleeing Arab states. Israel begins mandated conscription for the IDF. -
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Berlin Airlift
Berlin, West Germany The first major tension point between the powers following the Second World War. The Soviet government cut power and transportation to West Berlin as Stalin called the “Bluff” of the West threatening to end the peace by military force. To bypass the territorial blockade to Berlin, the West supplied Berlin by air, marking the first conflict of the Cold War. -
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Green Revolution
Process of introducing new technologies to overcome global food crisis following the modern population boom. Increased technological improvements in regions from sanitation, medicine and even construction overthrew typical barriers to population growth necessitating a “revolution” in the way food was cultivated globally. This reduced the amount of hunger and poverty, but increased the stress on the environment not limited to chemical pesticides, monoculture, and deterioration of soil quality. -
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Korean War
Korea was fractured following the Second World War with the north forming the DPRK under Kim Il- Sung and the Republic of Korea to the south under Syngman Rhee. With support by the Soviet government, North Korea attacked South Korea in June 1950. As this falls under the containment of communism policy, the US and UN support the South seeing China send further support to the north in what became an international proxy war alongside nuclear fears. An armistice for cease-fire was signed July 1953. -
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Vietnam War
The Vietnam War saw US troops involved as early as March 1965 with US troops landing in Da Nang in support of South Vietnam. The war itself would see “new” elements of warfare continuing into the 20th century such as increasing publicity/media, contending with civilian combatants, and lack of clear mission objectives. Deforestation through chemical and kinetic warfare saw long standing physical and regional effects as well as environmental destruction. The NVA would be victorious over the South. -
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Suez Crisis
Suez Canal, Egypt. Egypt, after having funding to alleviate Nile river flooding, had US funds pulled due to President Nasser of Egypt making an arms deal with the USSR. Due to this funding pull, Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal to collect foreign funds for its use as well as Arab separation from the West and its “old colonial yoke”. After a failed war by Israel supported by France and Britain, the canal opened under Egyptian control in April 1957. -
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Great Leap Forward
A large modernization effort initiated in 1958 under Mao Zedong. This policy helped push education with a focus on science and engineering, including a very large push to industrialize as a whole. A focused subset of this industrialization was on agriculture following the previous reforms of the 1950’s including collectivization. Those policies led directly to the Great Chinese Famine (59-61) very similar to the ones experienced by the Soviet Union following their collectivization efforts. -
UN Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and People
The UN following the United Nations Charter of 1945 buckled under the hypocrisy of i’s declarations of equality. This collapse led to the declaration of granting independence to truly determine that colonized and further people have a right to self-determination. Explicitly stating and giving the official policy of the UN to pursue the angle of self-determination as another method of intervening in foreign affairs. -
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Cuban Missile Crisis
Following the spread of communist regimes such as Cuba under Fidel Castro, the Soviet Union placed short range ballistic missiles in Cuba in 1962. The US demanded their removal and we came incredibly close, and that’s understating the gravity, to nuclear war over days of intense negotiations as well as some highly tense military encounters. Khrushchev agreed to remove the missiles under the promise that the US would promise to stop further invasions such as the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion. -
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Gulf of Tonkin Incident/Resolution
USS Maddox exchanged gunfire with North Vietnamese boats August 2, 1964. On August 4th US ships were again attacked and exchanged fire. These exchanges led to President Johnson requesting to send US troops to Vietnam by way of arguing the attacks came in international waters rather than sovereign Vietnamese territory. This was the catalyst and reasoning behind entry by the US into the ongoing Vietnam War. -
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Six Day War
After Israel's expansion of its agricultural project in 1964, Syria demanded Egypt put an end to the project due to border encroachment. Nasser of Egypt was reluctant as he was worried about UN peacekeepers stationed on the Sinai peninsula. When they left in May 1967, Nasser immediately moved troops onto the border with support of a myriad of Arab nations. Israel in a 3 front war proved its strength forcing the pan-arab coalition to reluctantly recognize their existence. -
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1973 Oil Crisis
OPEC, which was formed in 1960 of oil exporting countries, in 1973 as a result of the Arab-Israeli wars and conflicts banned the export of oil to Israel. This led to the US and Europe implementing policies to both reduce consumption and rationing as prices increased over 300% by 1974. Due to this crisis, nations explored alternative energy sources seeing growth of use and research into nuclear and green energies. -
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Yom Kippur War
Sadat of Egypt; partnered with Syria, launched a surprise attack on Israel during Yom Kippur due to the Israeli refusal to return land ceded in the Six Day War. Israel. On October 8th authorized the use of nuclear weapons which caused a UN resolution 338 demanding a ceasefire to avoid the risk of nuclear war. Following the cease-fire, the IDF moved beyond the cease-fire lines, trapping the Egyptian Army. On October 24th the UN reiterated the ceasefire demands ending the conflict in November.