What is this about?
Significance of the causes of global conflict
- WWI and WWII marked power shift from Western Europe to the US
- Global conflicts also brought the rise of new states
- Ottoman, Russian, and Qing collapsed due to internal decay and political revolutions
- Totalitarian governments emerged out of these political and economic crises
Political Causes of Global Conflict in the 20th Century
- WWI was the first “total war”
- MAIN causes of WWI (Militarism, Alliances, Imperialism, Nationalism)
- New military advancements like long-range artillery, poison gas, flamethrowers, and machine guns
- Balance of power in Europe had been established during the 19th century through a constantly shifting system of alliances; these alliances led to WWI involving all of Europe
- Serbian nationalism was official cause of WWI
- Imperial rivalry created tensions over commerce and access to resources
- Some of the causes of WWII were similar to the causes of WWI
- Fascism, an extreme form of nationalism, glorified conquests
- Germany and Italy also created alliance
- Japan’s imperial ambitions in the Pacific gave rise to the Pacific part of WWII
Economic Causes of Global Conflict in the 20th Century
- Western European governments scrambled to take control of trade, territory, or both in Asia and Africa
- Motives included:
- New markets to sell consumer goods
- Places to exploit natural resources
- US, Russia, Japan also follow similar scrambles
- Economic causes also led to military action:
- Japan, for example, took over Asian territories to obtain sources of oil, rice, rubber, and other raw materials
- US, as a result of this, cut off oil and steel exports from the United States to Japan, which Japan was dependent on
- Japan in retaliation attacks Pearl Harbor, marking start of US involvement in WWII
- The Great Depression’s severe effects (1929-1939) included high unemployment and low wages, which led to the rise of fascist leaders like Adolf Hitler, who promised to rebuild their economies
Effects of Global Conflict in the 20th Century
Immense loss of life
- Immense loss of life, both of combatants and civilians
- Genocides committed against groups like Armenians and European Jews
- Atomic bomb used by US caused suffering
- Large-scale aerial bombing that targeted populated areas
- Mass starvation and crimes against humanity were also responsible for millions of civilian deaths
Rise of New Governments
- Mexicans during this time period were inspired by socialism and nationalism and launched the Mexican Revolution in pursuit of political and economic reforms
- Ottoman Empire and Russian Empire fall due to WWI
- Resentment of the Treaty of Versailles brought the rise of fascist, totalitarian governments like Mussolini in Italy and Hitler in Germany
Rise of Decolonization Movements
- Colonial powers were weakened after WWI and didn’t have the money and military to maintain their colonies like they used to
- Colonized peoples also realized that they were not inferior to the “superior” Europeans
- Rise of independence movements based on the idea of self-determination grew
Shift of Power from Europe to US
- Europe decimated economically by the world wars; US not so much
- European countries also spent large sums of money on the wars
- Furthermore, much of Europe’s infrastructure and industry was in ruins; US’ industry not bombed or anything
- US economy actually grew
- With a nuclear arsenal after WWII, the US emerged as a military superpower
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