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Assasination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand
*Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assasinated in Sarajevo by Gavrilo Princip, a mamber of the Black Hand.
*Event is regarded as the principal cause of WW1
*2 other assassins were not successful in their attempts to act on that day
*Ferdinand and his wife died on their way to the Governer's residence for medical treatment -
The Sinking of the Lusitania
*The RMS Lusitania was a British ocean liner that was sunk by a German U-Boat
*Sunk in the Atlantic ocean near the southern tip of Ireland
*Americans were outraged at the sinking and it made the US entrance into the war happen sooner -
End of WW1; Changing Roles for Women
*During the war, women had to take on roles traditionally held by men or were forced into the workplace by the death of their husbands
*When the war ended in Britain, 8.4 million women were granted the right to vote
*This is important because it changed the dynamic of families both in Europe and the US -
Rise of Communism and Formation of the USSR
*Roots were in the Russian Revolution of 1917 and founded by Vladimir Lenin
*Joseph Stalin came to power in the mid-1920's and ruled with cruelty
*Communism is a social, political, and economic ideology and movement whose ultimate goal is the establishment of the communist society where everything is to be shared equally
*The USSR fought AGAINST Nazi Germany in WW2 and was considered an allie of the US but that relationship was not the best for either power -
1929 Stock Market Crash and Great Depression
*October 24, 28, 29 known as Black Thursday, Black Monday, Black Tuesday
*The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 89% of its value before finally bottoming out in July 1932
*The crash greatly contributed to the Great Depression, a worlwide economic depression.
*In many countries, the effects lasted until WW2 -
Adolf Hitler Appointed Chancellor of Germany; Rise of the Nazi Party
*Period of time between 1933-1945 known as Nazi Germany or Third Reich
*Adolf Hitler was a member of the German Workers' Party which later renamed itself to the Nazi Party
*Hitler and the Nazi's took over all local governments and Unions and all other political parties were banned
*When president Hindenburg died in 1934, Hitler combined the office of chancellor and president and appointed himself Fuhrer
*This is important because Nazi Germany would go on to lead the world into another World War -
Chamberlain's Policy of Appeasement
*A policy instituted by British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain to try to avert war Germany
*Policy is regarded as a massive failure as it only delayed the inevitable war and allowed time for Nazi Germany to rise to greater power
*Important because it failed so miserably and was viewed by many as an act of cowardice -
Start of WW2 and The Holocaust
*Germany invades Poland and starts WW2 in Europe
*Jews were the target for genocide from 1941 to 1945
*Approximately 6 million Jews were killed during the Holocaust in the death camps
*The persecution of the Jews in Germany began mostly in 1933 and escalated in 1939 on through to 1945 at the end of the war
*The Holocaust can be regarded as the worst attrocity ever commited by man -
Occupation of Germany; End of WW2
*The Berlin Declaration of 1945 formally abolished the Nazi Party in Germany
*The Allied Powers that defeated the Nazi's occupied Germany and divided it into 4 Occupation Zones; France, Great Britain, U.S and the USSR occupied the 4 zones
*The capital city of Berlin, which was located within the Soviet zone was also divided into 4 sectors
*The occupation was important because it led to the overall division of Germany into 2 states (West and East) and culmintaed in the buiding of the Berlin Wall -
The Marshall Plan
*Enacted by US Secretary of State George Marshall
*Officially known as the European Recovery Program
*The US gave $13 billion in economic support to helprebuild Europe after the war. '
*Europe was left in ruins after the war and starvation was a reality for the people. The US feared that all of Europe would turn to Communism as a means of survival
*The Marshall Plan was important because it led to a more econmically stable Europe which served our interests during the Cold War
