Ukraine 10 клас World History (1914–1945)
Chapters: 8
1. Causes of WWI; war and revolutions
First World War
- 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.
2. Post-war settlement
Versailles–Washington system
- The Interwar Period (1918–1939) – Between the end of the First World War (1918) and the start of the Second (1939), four empires collapsed and many new states appeared in Central and Eastern Europe. The Versailles–Washington peace system and the League of Nations tried to keep order. After unrest in the early 1920s came a short period of stability, but the 1929 crash started the Great Depression. Mass unemployment weakened democracies; most new states turned authoritarian, while fascist Italy, Nazi Germany and the Stalinist USSR became totalitarian. Governments began to manage the economy, the League failed to stop aggression, and the Spanish Civil War and appeasement led towards war in 1939.
3. Leading states between the wars
Democracies · Totalitarian regimes · Challenges of the interwar era
- The Great Depression (1929–1939) – The Great Depression was the worst economic slump of the 20th century. It started in the USA with the Wall Street Crash of October 1929. Share prices fell, banks failed, factories closed and by 1933 about one in four American workers had no job. Countries raised taxes on imports, so world trade shrank by about two-thirds and the crisis spread to Europe, Latin America, Asia and Africa. Governments answered in different ways: the New Deal in the USA, public works and welfare in some democracies, and in Germany and Japan the crisis helped extreme nationalist parties grow, which led towards the Second World War.
- 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.
- The Interwar Period (1918–1939) – Between the end of the First World War (1918) and the start of the Second (1939), four empires collapsed and many new states appeared in Central and Eastern Europe. The Versailles–Washington peace system and the League of Nations tried to keep order. After unrest in the early 1920s came a short period of stability, but the 1929 crash started the Great Depression. Mass unemployment weakened democracies; most new states turned authoritarian, while fascist Italy, Nazi Germany and the Stalinist USSR became totalitarian. Governments began to manage the economy, the League failed to stop aggression, and the Spanish Civil War and appeasement led towards war in 1939.
4. Central-Eastern Europe
States of the region
- The Interwar Period (1918–1939) – Between the end of the First World War (1918) and the start of the Second (1939), four empires collapsed and many new states appeared in Central and Eastern Europe. The Versailles–Washington peace system and the League of Nations tried to keep order. After unrest in the early 1920s came a short period of stability, but the 1929 crash started the Great Depression. Mass unemployment weakened democracies; most new states turned authoritarian, while fascist Italy, Nazi Germany and the Stalinist USSR became totalitarian. Governments began to manage the economy, the League failed to stop aggression, and the Spanish Civil War and appeasement led towards war in 1939.
5. Asia and Latin America
Asia and Latin America between the wars
- 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.
6. Road to WWII
Origins of WWII
- 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.
7. Second World War
Course and consequences of WWII
- 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.
8. Everyday life and culture, first half of 20th c.
Culture and science
- Cultural History: How People's Ideas, Arts and Ways of Life Change – Cultural history is the part of history that studies how people thought, believed, created and lived, not only what kings and armies did. It looks at four pillars: beliefs and religion, arts (literature, music, painting, buildings), knowledge (education, science, technology) and daily life (food, clothing, family, festivals, leisure). Historians use sources such as objects, buildings, books, paintings and letters. Culture changes when ideas are exchanged along trade routes and through travel, missions and migration, as with paper, numerals and faiths. New technologies like printing, newspapers, radio and the internet made knowledge spread faster, and mass schooling raised world literacy from about 12% in 1820 to about 87% today. In every country the same pattern repeats: national schools, universities, science societies, writers and artists shape a people's identity.