Italy Secondaria di secondo grado – classe 5ª (esame di Stato) History

1. The contemporary age

Mass society and World War I · Interwar crisis and totalitarianism · World War II and the Shoah · Cold War to the global world · Decolonisation and development · Italy after 1945 · Geographic themes of today

• World War I (1914–1918): Causes, Course and Consequences – World War I was fought from 1914 to 1918 between the Allies (France, Britain, Russia, later Italy, the USA and others) and the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria). Four long-term causes built tension: militarism, alliances, imperialism and nationalism (MAIN). The spark was the killing of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. On the Western Front the war became a stalemate of trenches; new weapons made it very deadly. It was a total war: whole economies, women workers and colonies were mobilised, including about 1.3 million Indians. Russia left after its 1917 revolution, the USA joined in 1917, and fighting stopped with the armistice of 11 November 1918. The peace treaties of 1919–1920, including Versailles, redrew Europe, ended four empires, created the League of Nations and left anger that helped cause World War II.
• Totalitarianism – A totalitarian regime is a one-party state that tries to control every part of life — politics, the economy, the media, schools and even people's thoughts — using one leader, propaganda and terror. After the First World War and the 1929 depression, such regimes arose in Fascist Italy (1922), Stalin's Soviet Union (late 1920s) and Nazi Germany (1933). Their aims and ideas differed, but their methods were alike, and their rise helped lead to the Second World War.
• World War II (1939–1945) – World War II was the deadliest war in history. Its roots were the anger left by World War I, the Great Depression and the rise of dictators in Germany, Italy and Japan. It began when Germany invaded Poland on 1 September 1939. The Axis (Germany, Italy, Japan) fought the Allies (Britain and its empire, France, the USSR, the USA, China and others). It was a total war and a war of annihilation: about 6 million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust and 70–85 million people died. Germany surrendered in May 1945 and Japan in September 1945. The war led to the United Nations, the Cold War and the end of empires.
• The Cold War (1945–1991) – The Cold War was a long contest (1945–1991) between two superpowers: the USA with its Western allies (capitalism, multi-party elections) and the USSR with its Eastern allies (communism, one-party rule). They never fought each other directly. Instead they formed rival alliances (NATO, Warsaw Pact), raced to build nuclear weapons and reach space, backed opposite sides in proxy wars (Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan) and came close to nuclear war in Cuba in 1962. Many new nations, led by India and others, stayed non-aligned. Détente eased tension in the 1970s. Reforms in the USSR, the fall of the Berlin Wall (1989) and the break-up of the USSR (1991) ended it.
• Decolonisation: How Empires Ended and New Nations Were Born – Decolonisation is the process by which colonies became independent states. It happened mostly between 1945 and the 1970s. The Second World War weakened the ruling countries, freedom movements grew strong, and the United Nations backed the right of peoples to rule themselves. Some colonies won freedom through talks and mass movements (India 1947, Ghana 1957); others through long wars (Algeria 1962). New states then faced poverty, one-crop economies, unfair borders and Cold War pressure, and many chose non-alignment.
• Italy After 1945: Rebuilding, Boom, Reform and Crisis – In 1945 Italy was in ruins after war and dictatorship. In 1946 voters chose a Republic by referendum, and a new Constitution began in 1948. Help from the Marshall Plan and hard work led to the economic boom of about 1950 to 1963: factories grew, cities filled, and millions moved from the poorer south to the industrial north. Protests in the late 1960s led to reforms in the 1960s and 1970s, such as one middle school for all, stronger workers rights, regional governments, a divorce law and a national health service. The same years brought terrorism by small extreme groups, with attacks such as Milan in 1969, the Moro killing in 1978 and Bologna in 1980. In the early 1990s the Clean Hands investigation exposed a system of bribes called Tangentopoli, and the old big parties fell. Italy then entered a new political period.
• Resources, Migration, Population and Climate – Natural and energy resources are spread unevenly. People move (migrate) because of push factors like drought and poverty and pull factors like jobs. Demography counts people by age and numbers, and a population pyramid shows growth or ageing. Climate changes farming, work and income, so it can speed up migration.