Ms. Rilley Notes (unit8) Notes | Knowt (2024)

Unit 8: Decolonization & Cold War

Ways of the World Chapter 12:

Milestones of the Past Century - A Changing Global Landscape, 1950-present

The Cold War would come to be far more than a debate between differing economic systems. Still, these differences form the foundation of much of the conflict that would unfold between the US and the USSR.

CONTEXTUALIZATION:

What major global shifts facilitated the independence movements of the mid- to late twentieth century?

Recovering from the War

What internal and external factors accounted for Europe’s remarkable recovery after the devastation of World War II?

• 

• Europeans between 1950-present

  • rebuilt industries, revived democratic political systems

  • greatly recovered by 1960 amid a global economic boom w/ European Economic Community (EEC)-1957

    • ↓ tariffs, set up common trade policies among members

    • membership continued to ↑↑ → European Union in 1993 with common currency by 2002 among 12 members

• U.S. was the new global superpower after 1945

  • Marshall Plan supported economic recovery, create markets for US goods, prevent spread of communism

  • fear of new aggression from Germany or communist threat → political/military alliance called North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1949

  • the US committed to defend Europe against the USSR

The Growth of European Integration

Reading the Map: Where did the European Union start, and into which regions did it expand? How would you describe the growth of the European Union through time?

• Japan’s progress paralleled that of W. Europe

  • American occupation (1945-52) imposed a democratic constitution with war potential limited

    • relied on the US for military security

  • industries were revived → economic giant by 1970

• Soviet Union was badly damaged by German assault

  • Stalin ruled harshly until 1954, tolerating no dissent

    • grew the convict labor force to 3-4 million

  • provided cheap source of labor for recovery

  • industry focused on heavy industry, agriculture, and military instead of necessary consumer goods

  • reduced price of bread and other essentials

  • seized industries/resources from Germany/Poland as spoils of war for devastation of human/capital in WWII

Section Summary: Questions to Consider

CAUSATION: What were the political and economic outcomes of World War II?

CAUSATION: In the late twentieth century, how did the

establishment of the EEC support economic recovery and growth in Europe?

Communism Chinese-Style

What measures did Mao take to forge China’s own version of communism?

• China followed USSR’s socialist modernization, but:

  • collectivization of agriculture (1950s) - mostly peaceful due to relation of peasants with Communist Party

  • China created massive “people’s communes” for rapid development, social equality, collective way of life

• China’s industrialization program was likewise modeled on the early Soviet experience

  • emphasis on large-scale heavy industry/urban factories

  • centralized planning by the communist party/state

    • large bureaucracy for management of the economy

  • women were mobilized to further development

  • large scale migration to the cities took place

  • technical workers eventually favored over peasants → Mao tried to fix this to preserve revolutionary fervor

• Mao implemented Great Leap Forward (1958-1960)

  • his 1st response to the individualism, careerism, urban bias that derived from Soviet-style industrialization

  • he tried to grow both agriculture and industry together

  • small-scale industrialization was pushed in rural areas instead of large scale industrialization in cities

    • ex. backyard furnaces for farmers to make steel

  • private property was abolished - all basic services, incl. education, and health, came from the communes

  • result: CHAOS & worst famine in history (30 mil dead)

• Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (the mid-1960s)

  • Mao’s effort to combat capitalist tendencies in the CCP

  • health care and education to countryside; re-start rural industrialization with local control

SOURCING AND SITUATION:

How does the poster reflect China’s approach to economic progress? How effective was this policy?

• Mao called for rebellion against the Communist Party

  • like Stalin, Mao conducted a large search for enemies starting in the mid-1950s - replaced officials deemed less dedicated to revolutionary socialism

  • became a public hunt during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1969)

    • millions of young people, set up as Red Guards, responded by attacking officials, teachers, other “enemies,” who were given hard labor, sent to the rural areas, humiliated, beaten, even killed

  • violence from rival groups threatened a civil war

    • Mao used military to restore order and CCP control → like Stalin’s Terror, CR discredited revolutionary socialism → it collapsed by century’s end

Section Summary: Questions to Consider

COMPARISON: What was distinctive about the Chinese experience of communism compared to that of the USSR?

East versus West: A Global Divide and a Cold War

In what ways did the ideological struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union manifest itself across the globe in the decades after the Second World War?

Military Conflict & the Cold War

• Europe was the cold war’s first arena

  • Soviet concern for security & control in Eastern Europe

  • American & British desire for open societies linked to capitalist world economy

• creation of rival military alliances

  • NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization 1949) - defend against Soviet aggression

  • Warsaw Pact (1955) - prevent Western influence in the communist bloc

  • American sphere of influence (W. Europe) - voluntary

  • Soviet sphere (E. Europe) - imposed

  • metaphorical “Iron Curtain” divided the two spheres - but there was heavy fortification too

  • Berlin was a hotspot of tensions → dual occupation (between Allied powers) after WWII

• Cuban Missile Crisis (October 1962)

  • Fidel Castro took over Cuba in the early 1960s (displacing American-backed dictator) - Americans angry, so launched failed invasion of the island (Bay of Pigs)

  • Khrushchev sent nuclear missiles to Cuba with goal of deterring U.S. action against Castro → for 13 days, Soviet Union & USA were at the brink of war

  • Last minute compromise: U.S. promised to not invade Cuba if the USSR removed the nuclear weapons from Cuba; result: Cuba remained under communist control

• Communism’s spread throughout Asia caused destructive “hot wars” aka “proxy wars”

  • Soviet and Americans didn’t directly fight each other

  • North Korean communists invaded South Korea in 1950 - Chinese & American forces ended up facing off in the Korean War→ result: country remained divided (& still is today)

  • Vietnam War: massive U.S. intervention in the 1960s against Vietnamese communists backed by USSR & China→ result: whole country fell to communism in 1975 w/ US withdrawal

• Conflict in Afghanistan was a major event

  • Marxist party took power in 1978 but alienated much of the population through radical land reforms, liberation of Afghan women in an otherwise conservative country

  • Soviet military intervention (1979–1989) met with little success → result: USSR withdrew in 1989 under international pressure; communist rule of Afghanistan collapsed

    See Also

    The 3 battlegrounds that will decide the NBA FinalsElite Dangerous - XeNTaXCBS Chicago - Breaking News, First Alert Weather, Exclusive Investigations & Community JournalismRëvëürt (Heart's Revolt), by Öxxö Xööx

    • CIA spent billions & pumped arms into Afghanistan to help the armed resistance to the communist regime

  • Instability created by this conflict would usher in the political rise of the Taliban

• Cuban Missile Crisis demonstrated the danger of the an arms race in nuclear weapons

  • USA had first monopoly in arms post-WWII (1945)

  • USSR joined in by detonating their first bomb (1949)

  • global arsenal = 60,000 warheads with complex delivery systems by 1989 (long-range nuclear missiles, “Star Wars”)

    • Part of what prompted the SPACE RACE because Russians launching of Sputnik (1957) sparked fears of nuclear attacks from space

• Both sides understood that the use of nuclear bombs would end the world (MAD - Mutual Assured Destruction, principle of deterrence), so they avoided:

  • nuclear provocation, especially after 1962

  • any direct military confrontation (but still build arsenals)

CAUSATION:

How might the widespread development of nuclear weapons have prevented direct conflict between the United States and Soviet Union in the cold war era?

• The “third-world” is now considered an outdated & offensive term, but originated in the Cold War to refer to countries outside of the American or Soviet blocs

• the United States and the USSR courted third-world (unaffiliated) countries → opportunities for conflict

  • utilized military & economic aid, educational opportunities, political pressure, and covert action

  • USSR aided decolonization & revolutionary movements in S. Africa, Mozambique, Vietnam, Cuba

  • United States intervened in Iran, the Philippines, Guatemala, El Salvador, Chile, the Congo, and elsewhere because of fear of communist penetration

  • the USA also supported corrupt, authoritarian rulers

  • several countries (e.g., India, Ghana) labeled themselves as “non-aligned” in the cold war, while playing the superpowers against each other (e.g. Egypt-Aswan Dam)

Visualizing the Cold War through Primary Sources

With your group, read & analyze the document assigned to you using the “HAPPY” chart. Once you have finished, create an artistic interpretation (cartoon, collage, comic strip, graffiti wall, image) of the document that conveys to viewers how your document answers the following question: In what ways did the ideological struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union manifest itself across the globe in the decades after the Second World War?

Soviet Representative Jacob A. Malik Votes Against the Resolution for China to Withdraw from Korea

Letter from Ho Chi Minh to President Harry Truman

The Truman Doctrine (US)

Document #28: “Final Speech,” Salvador Allende (1973)

Memorandum from Brent Scowcroft Regarding Life Inside Cambodia

Memorandum for the Record (MFR) of a Background Briefing on Afghanistan and the Taliban Conducted by Team 3

Diary of President Dwight Eisenhower (1956)

Letter from Nikita Khrushchev to President Kennedy Regarding Cuba

• Once Cuba fell to communism in 1959, US began domino theory & sought to extend the policy of containment for Latin America as well

  • early 1970’s, socialist president of Chile, Salvador Allende, was killed in military coup led by conservative & anti-communist forces (US backed); began a military dictatorship led by Gen. Augusto Pinochet→ thousands killed or exiled until 1990 when democracy returned

  • 1976-1983, Argentina’s military dictatorship killed 30,000 socialist civilians during “dirty wars” (part of US sponsored Operation Condor)

  • Nicaraguan Revolution (1962-1990) saw one of the few socialist victories during the Cold War when the Sandinistas (backed by USSR) defeated the Contras (backed by the US)

• By the early 1990’s democratic elections took place in several countries (El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua); however, many of these new democratic governments faced economic hardship and debt that threatened their stability

  • Leads to increased criminal activity and international drug cartels in several countries such as Colombia shifting US concerns toward drug trade & immigration

• Some countries began resisting American influence in such as Venezuela where military leader Hugo Chavez rejected US economic plans and joined forces with US opponents

Pedro Pascal: Political Refugee

Pedro Pascal, 42, was born in Santiago, Chile, but soon after his birth, his parents were forced to seek political asylum for their opposition to dictator Augusto Pinochet. “My mother’s cousin was very primary in the opposition against the military regime, but there was a huge degree of separation between him and my parents. Still, helping some people hide got them into hot water—eventually they got to the Venezuelan embassy and claimed asylum. We were sent to Denmark and then the U.S. My sister and I were born in Chile and raised in the States, and my little brothers were born in the States and raised in Chile after my parents moved back in 1995.”

“I’ve gone back my whole life,” says Pascal of visiting his home country, where his father is a doctor, one brother is in medical school, and another brother is an actor. “Everything is very normal in their lives. I feel a profound sense of gratitude and luck for that, and an incredible mourning for such an unjust and horrifying chapter that is still not given its due and just recognition.”

Communist state turmoil

• Stalin’s crimes came to light in mid-1950s

• reform movements in Hungary (1956–1957), Czechoslovakia (1968), Poland (early 1980s) against Soviet-dominated communist governments

• Growing conflict among communist countries

  • Yugoslavia became communist without Stalin’s help

  • Soviet invasions of Hungary (1956–1957) and Czechoslovakia (1968) to crush reform movements

  • brutal suppression of reform tarnished the image of Soviet communism, gave credence to Western views of the Cold War as a struggle between tyranny and freedom

  • the USSR & China almost went to war when the Chinese developed their own nuclear program after the USSR reneged on a promise to help China

  • China went to war against a communist Vietnam in 1979

  • Vietnam invaded communist Cambodia, late 1970s

• world communism was at its height in the 1970s

U.S.A.-leader of the West vs. communism, post-WWI

• by 1970, more than 1 mil US soldiers were present in 30 countries-military/economic aid given to 100 countries

• sustained by economy & growing middle class

• no physical destruction on own soil during WWII

• most productive economy in 1945 while those of Europe, USSR, and Japan were in ruins

Section Summary: Questions to Consider

COMPARISON: In what different ways was the cold war expressed and experienced?

CONTINUITY AND CHANGE: In what different ways was the cold war experienced by the member states of NATO, the Warsaw Pact, and nonaligned nations?

CAUSATION: How did the differing ideologies of the United States and the Soviet Union impact global interactions in the late twentieth century?

CAUSATION: What factors enabled the rise of the United States as a global superpower?

DEVELOPMENTS & PROCESSES: What division surfaced within the communist world during the cold war years?

What external factors facilitated the anticolonial movements of the twentieth century, and what internal factors complicated them?

“During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.”

~Nelson Mandela

• While the superpowers played out the Cold War, Asia & Africa focused on colonial rule, subordination, poverty, racism through a decolonization process

  • millions mobilized to political activity, violence, warfare

  • signaled the declining legitimacy of empire and race

  • promise of freedom, dignity, opportunity, prosperity

• First independence breakthroughs came in the late 1940s: Philippines, India, Pakistan, Burma, Indonesia, Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Israel achieved independence

  • 1950s-1970s: 50+ African colonies

  • 1970s: 5+ Pacific Oceania island societies

  • 1960s-1983: 16 separate independent island states

  • Cuba was independent in 1902 but didn’t reject US control until the communist revolution (1959)

The End of Empire in World History?

• End of empire was linked w/ nationalism this time

  • not comparable to historical imperial ends, except for the American colonies achieving independence

  • new nations claimed to be equal in international status to their former rulers

  • difference with American colonies - people agitating for freedom in Asia and Africa were not European → racial component to oppression

• Empires that fell in the 20th century → new states in Europe & Middle East

  • Austrian and Ottoman empires after WWI

  • Russian empire (soon reassembled under Soviet Union)

  • German and Japanese empires with WWII

• national self-determination idea started to grow, gain global acceptance in twentieth century

• Empires without territory also came under attack

  • the U.S.’s influence in Latin America

    • cause of the Mexican Revolution (1910) → nationalization of the Mexican oil industry in 1937 (away from US shareholders)

  • Soviet domination in Europe was challenged

    • Eastern European revolutions of 1989

    • disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991 marked the end of the last major territorial empire of 20th c. → birth of 15 new states

  • China’s Central Asian empire persisted despite some internal challenges (e.g. Tibet) → still persists (claims to Taiwan)

The End of Empire in Africa and Asia

Reading the Map: Which European colonial power gave up its colonies late in the decolonization process?

Why the rapid collapse of European colonial empires?

• basic contradictions existed within the enterprise: Christianity, Enlightenment, progress contradictory to colonial racism, exploitation, & poverty

• democratic European state values and national self-determination went against colonial rule realities

  See Also

  Unit 6: Results of Industrial Revolution Notes | Knowt

• Various developments → decolonization post-WWII

  • 2 world wars weakened Europe → tarnished “superiority”

  • new superpowers (U.S. & USSR) were opposed to older European colonial empires (used United Nations to support anti-colonial agitation)

  • European colonies were vulnerable without local elites or educated Westerners to support them

• Social/economic factors for anticolonial movements

  • 2nd/3rd generation educated elites didn’t see empire as the path to progress–< insisted on immediate freedom

    • commoners ↑↑↑ receptive to this idea (i.e. veterans; educated young people; exploited workers; migrants)

• Colonial rulers on the defensive, prepared for the end of empire

  • still wanted to maintain lucrative economic links with the new countries → planned for political reform, investments in railroads/ports/telegraph lines, elections, constitution writing to support trade with Europeans

• Took lots of pressure from nationalist movements for the reforms and independence to finally occur

CAUSATION:

Why did some nationalist movements turn to violence while others achieved independence

through peaceful protest?

Nationalism & Independence

• Nationalist movements

  • mostly male leaders drawn from the educated few, who organized political parties, recruited, planned strategy, developed ideas, negotiated with colonial state

    • some became the “fathers” of the newly independent country (ex. Mandela - South Africa, Nkrumah / Ghana, Ho Chi Minh - Vietnam, Sukarno - Indonesia, Nasser - Egypt)

    • some directed military, administered to liberated areas in settler-dominated colonies (i.e. Algeria, Kenya)

• nationalist leaders sought to become like other independent nation-states:

  • join the United Nations as members

  • gain wealth/power from modern technologies

The Case of India

• Leaders had to recruit followers

  • for example, Gandhi’s millions of nonviolent followers and tens of thousands of freedom fighters in Kenya

• Alliances of oppressed people were fragile, incohesive

  • tensions with one another re: leadership, power, ideology, wealth distribution, ethnic division (ex. Nigeria)

    • Indian National Congress leader Mahatma Gandhi rejected industrialization, lieutenant Nehru embraced it as necessary for India’s future success

    • Gandhi was nonviolent, held everyone equal, tried to improve position of women and untouchables; some thought these efforts distracted from independence

• Divisions existed regarding participation in colonial-sponsored legislatures before independence

• Hindu/Muslim divide= most serious threat to Indian unification

  • Muslims felt most Hindus were not inclusive like Gandhi

    • ex. nationalist struggle was cast in Hindu religious terms

  • Muslim League was the voice for Muslim self-rule

    • Mohammed Ali Jinnah advocated for a distinct political status and a separate homeland for Muslims where a majority existed - Pakistan

• Reluctantly, India Congress Party agreed to partition

  • in 1947, the British Raj was divided into East and West Pakistan (Muslim) and India (mostly Hindu)

• Partition process was destructive and violent

  • 12 million refugees moved between the new countries

Variation Amongst Movements

• Varying characteristics of movements

  • independent in years (Congo) or decades (Vietnam)

  • South Africa was distinct in its experience

    • 20% of the population (white minority) had gained independence from Great Britain in 1910

    • until 1994, majority non-white population kept fighting for “independence” from apartheid and exploitation

  • peaceful political pressure (West Africa) or armed struggle (Algeria or Angola)

• Different ideologies drove call for independence

  • religious perspective (India, Islamic world, Indonesia)

  • Marxism (Indonesia) or communism (Vietnam, China)

  • racial equality (most countries in Africa)

    • Countries continue to struggle → tribalism introduced by Europeans (Rwanda), Arab superiority (violence in Darfur), white supremacy in South Africa

Section Summary: Questions to Consider

COMPARISON: How did the decolonization movement of the late 20th c. differ from earlier independence movements?

CAUSATION: In what ways were the American, Soviet, and Chinese empires challenged during the 20th c.?

CAUSATION: What factors contributed to the end of European colonial empires in Africa and Asia?

ARGUMENTATION: What evidence supports the authors’ claim that independence movements were fragile alliances representing different classes, ethnic groups, religions, or regions?

CONTINUITY AND CHANGE: In what way did the Indian National Congress represent a continuity in Indian culture? In what way was it a change?

COMPARISON: What were the economic differences between India and South Africa around the time of independence?

CONTEXTUALIZATION: What features of South African society hindered independence in the nation?

COMPARISON: What were the similarities and differences among the independence movements that arose in the various regions of Africa and Asia?

The End of the Communist Era

To what extent had the communist era ended by the early twenty-first century? And how might this phenomenon be explained?

• Demise of global communism in late 20th c. – ended cold war (temporarily), lessened threat of nuclear war, birth of ~20 new nation-states, peaceful process in general

• Steps to the end in three Acts:

  • Act 1: post-Mao Zedong in the 1970s

    • CCP moved away from Mao’s communism; retained control of nation

  • Act 2: Eastern Europe in 1989 “miracle year”

    • popular movements toppled communist governments

  • Act 3: Collapse of the USSR on Christmas, 1991

    • good faith political reforms paved the way to the end

• Failures of communism

  • Economic stagnation

    • communist governments by 1970s lagged behind capitalist countries - USSR especially stagnant

    • USSR: consumers stood in long queue for consumer goods of low quality and decreasing availability

    • lagging economy, more than military capacity, shows state’s weakness

  • Moral failure

    • Stalin’s Terror & gulag, Mao’s Cultural Revolution, genocide in Cambodia → undermined communists’ claim of moral superiority to capitalism (while rest of the world was embracing democracy & human rights)

• Leaders in China/USSR actively tried to avoid decrease

• Deng Xiaoping became leader of China after Mao

  • replaced collectivized farming with small scale private farms → Chinese peasants pushed this opps further

  • slow industrial reform

    • great authority to state managers to act like private owners, ability to make decisions and profit

    • special enterprise zones with foreign investment welcomed with tax breaks, etc.

    • township and village enterprises joined together to produce food, clothing, building materials, etc.

• Reform outcome was marvelous economic growth

  • huge economic growth → challenge USA in 21st c.

  • better prosperity for millions

  • better diets, ↓mortality & poverty, ↑↑exports

• Downside to reforms

  • massive corruption among officials

  • regional inequalities (between coastal and interior areas)

  • urban overcrowding → one- child policy

  • city pollution

  • periodic inflation as state lessened control over economy

  • urban vices surfaced again for first time after 1949 (street crime, prostitution, drugs, criminal underworld)

• China’s Communist Party “took the capitalist road”

• CCP unwilling to promote democracy nationally nor relinquish political monopoly

  • Tiananmen Square demonstration crushed in late 1980s

CONTINUITY AND CHANGE:

What major cultural changes occurred in

China during the twentieth century? What

cultural continuities reemerged with the

decline of communist economic policies?

The Gorbachev Era

• Mikhail Gorbachev led the USSR since mid-1980s

• like Deng, MG committed to tackle economic stagnation, black market, public apathy, mistrust of CP

• perestroika (restructuring) program launched in 1987

  • state enterprise freed from heavy gov regulation

  • small-scale private businesses (cooperatives) permitted

  • private farming opportunity

  • cautiously welcomed joint enterprises with foreigners

• glasnost (openness) allowed new cultural, intellectual freedoms

  • news/TV exposed vices in Soviet society (crime, etc.)

  • buried plays, poems, films, novels emerged

  • USSR history reexamined w news of Stalin’s crimes

  • Bible/Quran/church/mosque open to public again

  • spread of atheist propaganda by government ceased

Gorbachev’s Political Reforms

• Gorbachev initiated political reforms

  • democratization & new parliament with real powers & elections - many communists rejected at the polls

  • moved to end the cold war with military cuts, arms controls negotiations with U.S., not intervening as other Eastern European communist governments were toppled

The Double-Edged Sword of Reform

• Gorbachev’s intention to strengthen communism led to the weakening and eventual collapse of the USSR

  • planned economy was dismantled before a market based economy could replace it

  • inflation grew but few consumer goods to buy

  • ration coupons reappeared, many feared unemployment

  • little private farming interest among Soviet farmers

  • little foreign investment interest in a falling state

• Democracy movement emerged seeking multi-party government and market-based economy

  • joined by labor unions that went on strike for 1st time

• Nationalist movements emerged for the different countries in the Soviet Union, seeking ↑ autonomy or independence

• Eastern Europe (Soviet satellite nations) took advantage of Gorbachev’s reforms within Russia

  • glasnost and competitive elections → miracle year-1989

    • Poland’s Solidarity labor union (est. 1980) fought for workers rights with support from the Pope and the U.S. → election of Lech Walesa (founder of Solidarity)-1990

  • elsewhere, massive demonstrations, last minute reforms, breaching of the Berlin Wall, new political groups, and more overwhelmed E. Germany, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, etc.

CAUSATION: What events in the Soviet Union facilitated the dismantling of the Berlin Wall?

• Success of democracy in Eastern European countries motivated nationalists and democrats in the USSR

  • Soviet conservatives, patriots outraged at Gorbachev’s “treason” at losing gains of WWII

• Military coup (Aug. 1991) to return communism failed

  • led to end of the Soviet Union and it’s communist regime

    • 15 newly independent states emerged as the USSR ceased to exist (Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, etc.)

• Gorbachev’s inability to address problems more of a reason for collapse than the internal problems

  • world’s largest state, last territorial empire fell

  • 1st communist party, powerful command economy fell

  • E. European countries joined NATO, European Union

  • ethnic discord erupted (Yugoslavia, Chechens, Uighurs)

• Communist world basically dead by 21st century

  • post-1991, Russia’s economy ↓↓, poverty and inequality ↑↑, life expectancy ↓ until 2006, trends started to reverse

  • China abandoned communist economic policies, embraced market economy → ↑↑↑ growth, 2nd largest economy by 2010

  • Vietnam, Laos, Cuba remained communist but carefully followed Chinese-style economic (not political) reforms

    • Cuba/U.S. re-established relations in 2015

  • only North Korea remained unreformed and repressive

• Era of global peace did not materialize because the Great Powers remained rivals

  • USA was the world’s sole superpower but its global dominance is constantly challenged by Russia & China

  • Russia’s Putin resented fall of the USSR and its international status as well as US/Western efforts to “threaten” Russia’s security in Europe

    • westward expansion of NATO to Russia’s borders, incl. the Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania)

    • Ukraine embraced Western-style democracy and desired NATO membership - Russia invaded in 2022 (had previously annexed the Crimea in 2014)

    • Putin’s desire to reimplement Russian sphere of influence → return of cold war-era hostility with the USA

• China’s growing military & economic power, generated tension w/ U.S. & Japan

  • remarkable economic growth → would 21st century be the “Chinese century” (20th c. = the “American century”)

  • hosted 2008 & 2022 Winter Olympics (global influence)

  • 3rd largest military behind USA and Russia

  • geopolitical presence in Asia → new Great Power

  • Belt & Road Initiative (“New Silk Road”) launched 2013

    • agreement of 125 countries for an array of roads, railways, ports, energy pipelines stretching across Eastern Hemisphere & Latin America → Italy just pulled out!!!!

• ongoing wars, upheavals since creation of Israel in 1948

  • Syria, Jordan, Turkey, Egypt, USA, others drawn into this Israeli-Palestinian conflict

• Iranian Revolution of 1979 brutally replaced 2k+ years of Persian monarchy with a theocratic Shi’ite republic

• radical Islamist government in Iran, threat to Israel

• decade long bloody war with Iraq (aggressor) beg. 1980

• rivalry with Saudi Arabia for dominance in Middle East

• 2015 international agreement to halt nuclear capability (but USA withdrew in 2018 - Iran restarted program)

• Terrorist attacks by radical Islamist groups ↑↑

• Taliban (Afghanistan), al-Qaeda, Boko Haram, ISIS

• random, unpredictable, target civilians → fear, insecurity

• Embassy bombing, World Trade Center 9/11/2001 → military intervention/war in Afghanistan and Iraq → US military withdrawal from Afghanistan (2021) signaled failure of 20 year policy of “nation building”

The Middle East, ca. 2000

After Communism:

The Refugee Crisis

• refugees from war-torn areas head elsewhere

  • Syrian civil war created 12+ mill refugees in 2011-16→1 mil to Europe, 5 mil to Turkey, 6.5 mil displaced in Syria

  • US, Russia, Muslim government took sides

  • Iran/Saudi Arabia rivalry (Persian/Arab, Shia/Sunni)

• Continued conflicts-India/Pakistan/N.Korea/neighbors, China/ Taiwan- all have nuclear weapons (not Taiwan)

  • East/West struggles of Cold War replaced by tension between Global North nations & Global South nations

  • global military spending ↑↑ since 2001 (USA #1 spender)

The Syrian Refugee Crisis

Section Summary: Questions to Consider

COMPARISON: What were the defining characteristics associated with democratic nations compared to the characteristics of communist states?

COMPARISON: In what different ways was the erosion of communism experienced in China and the Soviet Union?

CAUSATION: What factors help to explain the collapse of the Soviet Union?

COMPARISON: How did the decline of communism in the Soviet Union compare to the decline of communism in China?

CONTINUITY AND CHANGE: In what ways did international life change following the end of the communist era?

CONTINUITY AND CHANGE: How did China’s relation with the world change between the rule of Mao Zedong and the present?

CAUSATION: In the twenty-first century, what factors led to the continuation of conflict in the Middle East and North Africa?