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United Kingdom was the strongest commercial and financial power in the world. Germany And The United States took away his position, and they became the powerful ones. France remained among this countries. The Austro-Hungarian, Russian and Ottoman empire grew less.
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After the Civil War, the US conquered the central prairies and the Northwestern cities industrialised quickly. The US became a leading industrial power. -
It started in United States and Germany. New energy sources, changes in work organisation that promoted new industrial sectors.
New energy sources:
Oil was used to move engines.
Electricity used for lighting and to drive engines and especially since the invention of the accumulator (1897)
Changes in work organisation:
Need of mass production of cheap goods
Taylorism: Maximun work efficiency
Fordism: Automobile factory. By avoiding movement of workers, efficiency increased and lower prices. -
European Colonial expansion turned to Africa, Asia and the Pacific, that was known as Imperialism.
Principal objective dominate the colonies economic resources and military control.
Due to political, demographic and economic problems, the powers used diverse forms of colonial rule:
·Concessions
·Protectorates
·Colonies
Colonialism was positive for metroples ( raw materials and new markets), but negative for the dominated nations ( internal conflicts and being controlled by foreigners) -
Bismarckian Alliance Systems:
Alliances were based on secret diplomacy, promoted by Chancellor Otto von Bismarck. They wanted to isolate France due to the loss of Lorraine and Alsace. To prevent its alliance with Russia against Germany. -
Designed to avoid the alliance between France and Austria / Russia.
In 1872, Russia, Germany and Austria, signed a treaty called The Three Emperors Alliance.
It didn´t succeed because Russia wanted to conquer territories. -
·Electricity was applied to railways by Siemens in 1879.
·Internal combustion engine enabled the birth of the car by Benz in 1886.
·Infrastructures also improved: construction of the Panama Canal in 1914. Transport was cheaper.
· Communications evolved thanks to the invention of the telephone by Meucci in 1860. The photograph by Edison in 1876, and the radio by Tesla in 1897.
-Economy: a new period in Capitalism called "Finance Capitalism"
- Society: population growth, labour movement developed. -
Germany signs with Austria-Hungary. They also sign a deal for Russia to stay neutral in case of a war between Germany and France, and viceversa with Russia and UK.
Triple Alliance: 1882. Germany deals with Austria-Hungary and Italy. -
Conflicts caused by France conquering and colonizing some parts of Africa.
Berlin conference: Established rules for the occupation of the continent (Africa).
· Free navegation on the Niger and free trade in Central Africa. -
Asia: Well- organised States like China and Persia.
Oceania: UK incorporated Australia into his empire. USA occupied Hawaii.
America: USA extended his influence to Cuba and Puerto Rico and occupied the territory where the Panama Canal was being biult. -
Bismarck renews the Triple Alliance and signs a deals with the Mediterranean Deals with Italy, Austria-Hungary, Spain and UK.
The reinsurance Treaty is signed with Russia: Germany neutrality in case of war between Austria-Hungary and Russia. -
Russia, Great Britain and France. -
Peace was mantained during this years. Europan countries rearmed due to the wars, forming two groups of alliances:
· Triple Alliance: Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy.
· Triple Entente: France, Russia and Great Britain. -
Begun in Europe. Conflict that covered a large territorial extension and was known as the Great War. Two groups:
·Central powers: Germany, Austria-Hungary and Ottoman Empire. Bulgaria and other stated joined later.
·The Allies or Triple Entente: France, Russia, UK and Serbia. US and other countries joined later.
Causes:
·Political conflicts
· Economic rivalries
· Military alliance system
It ended with Territorial changes. With the Trety of Versailles, Germany had to pay and reduce its army. -
·Dissatisfaction at the political level: led to political oppositions (Bolsheviks)
·Dissatisfaction at the economic and social levels
This led to the 1905 and 1917 revolutions and the creation of the Communist Party, with Lenin's and Stalen's governments. Totalitarian political system. -
In 1921 Benito Mussolini founded the National Fascist Party to quash the workers movement. Once in power, Mussolini established a Fascist dictatorship: Restrected freedoms, prhobited political parties and censorship.
In 1920 National Socialist German Workers Party was founded, who fought the communists. In 1932 Adolf Hitler was named Chancellor of Germany, once in power he founded the Third Reich, establishing a fears dictatorship. -
During that period the economy experienced:
·Industrial development
·Increase in consumption
·Stock market investments
This prosperity came to an end in 1929 with a severe economic crisis caused by excess production in relation to consumption.
·Prices fell
·Companies suffered major losses.
Wall Street crashed. -
US crisis spread to the rest of the world know as the Great Depression, with consequencies in economy, population, society and politics.
· Rejection of capitalism.
·Transoceanic migration.
·Increase of unemployment and inequality.
·Totalitarianism and Communism appeared among the middle and working class.
Solution proposals:
·Economic self-sufficiency.
·State intervention. (Keines) -
Implemented:
·An Authoritarian political system, concentrating power on the State and led by a leader who demanded blind obedience (Mussolini in Italy and Hitler in Germany).
·Rejection of equality: Superiority of races.
·Irrational thinking.
·Ultra-nationalism: Demanding new territories in the name of reuniting the nation. -
In 1939 begun the WW2 with the world divided in two large groups:
·Axis powers: Germany and Italy.
· Allies: UK, USSR, France and US.
General causes:
·Germany's quest for revenge due to the Treaty of Versailles.
·Increase in totalitarian ideologies.
·Economic depression by the 1929 crisis.
The spark that set of the worls was Germany's invasion of Poland without a previous declaration of war. -
Victories of the Axis powers (1939-1941)
·Germany occupied part of french territory.
·Defeated the UK by heavy bombing.
·Invaded the USSR in 1941. ·(1941-1945): The Allies turned the tide:
·Normandy landings (1944).
·Occupation of some eastern european countries by the red army of the Sobiets. In april of 1945 Mussolini was executed and Hitler commited suicide after the Russian Army entered in Berlin. -
-Science and culture:
·Cinema evolved from silent films in black and whit to talkish in color.
·In science Albert Einstein introduced his theory of relativity. -Artistic evolution:
· In architecture Rationalism arose and produced two movements: Functionalism and Organic architecture.
·Sculpture used new industrial materials such as iron.
·Vanguardies appeared: Dadaism, that asserted the destruction of art (Duchamp), Surrealism, inspired by dreams (Magritte), Abstact Art (Kandisnky and Mondrian) -
·More than 50 million people lost their lives and more than 40 million people were forcibly displaced due to border modifications. ·European monarchies disappeared. Totalitarian regimes were defeated. Democracies were once again established. A new world order was imposed led by the US and the USSR. ·A new map of Europe had been drawn. -
-Before the war ended some conferences were held by the Allies to decide how to adress the post-war situation of Germany:
·Tehran.
·Yalta.
·Postdam.
- Peace Treaties through which the USSR expanded its territory, Germany was divided into occupation zones, Italy lost its colonies, Japan was occupied by the US and Eastern Europe was occupied by millions of Russian soldiers.
- Creation of the UN: Its charter was signed by 50 states. Objectives:
·Mantain world peace
·Respect for human rights
