3.World history
The Russian revolution
1. The Russian revolution (1917) was an economic explosion hastened
by the incompetence of the autocratic regime. It was basically an expression
of economic hardships faced by the Russian society.
2. Economic reasons
1. The industry had developed in Russia by the end of the nineteenth
century but the profits that accrued were confined to few hands.
2. The workers suffered from long hours of work. They were paid low
wages. Heavy fines were imposed on them and they were treated inhumanely.
The capitalists blocked factory reform while the workers tried to protest
through the strikes.
3. The condition of the peasantry was no better off. There was the
shortage of land. The peasants carried out the cultivation with primitive tools
and outdated methods. Further, the peasants had to bear heavy burden of
taxation.
4. Russia joined the World War I which aggravated the situation and
sufferings. Although, there was plenty of food in the country, it did not reach
the cities in sufficient quantities because of the war time arrangement of
transportation.
3. War
1. As the war continued, though, the Tsar refused to consult main
parties in the Duma.
2. The war also had a severe impact on industry. Russia’s own
industries were few in number and the country was cut off from other
suppliers of industrial goods by German control of the Baltic Sea.
3. By 1916, railway lines began to break down. Able bodied men were
called up to the war. As a result, there were labour shortages and small
workshops producing essentials were shut down.
4. Russian army destroyed crops and buildings to prevent the enemy
from being able to live off the land. The destruction of crops and buildings
led to over 3 million refugees in Russia. The situation discredited the
government and the Tsar.
5. Soldiers did not wish to fight such a war.
4. Thus, corrupt rule of the Czar coupled with its inability to diffuse
economic grievances brought the revolution.
5. Russian peasants vs France peasants
1. During the French revolution, peasants respected nobles and fought
for them. In Russia, peasants wanted the land of the nobles to be given to
them. Frequently, they refused to pay rent and even murdered landlords.
2. Russian peasants were different from other European peasants in
another way. They pooled their land periodically and their commune (mir)
divided it according to the needs of individual families. Some Russian
socialists felt that the Russian peasant custom of dividing land periodically
made them natural socialists.
6. What changed after 1918 October revolution
1. The Bolsheviks were totally opposed to private property. Most
industry and banks were nationalised in November 1917. This meant that the
government took over ownership and management.
2. Trade unions were kept under party control.
3. Land was declared social property and peasants were allowed to
seize the land of the nobility.
4. In cities, Bolsheviks enforced the partition of large houses
according to family requirements.
5. They banned the use of the old titles of aristocracy.
6. Russia became a one party state. The secret police punished those
who criticised the Bolsheviks.
7. Russian civil war
1. When the Bolsheviks ordered land redistribution, the Russian army
began to break up. Soldiers, mostly peasants, wished to go home for the
redistribution and deserted.
2. Non-Bolshevik socialists, liberals and supporters of autocracy
condemned the Bolshevik uprising. Their leaders moved to south Russia and
organised troops to fight the Bolsheviks. During 1918 and 1919, the greens
(Socialist Revolutionaries) and whites (pro-Tsarists) controlled most of the
Russian empire.
3. They were backed by French, American, British and Japanese
troops who were worried at the growth of socialism in Russia.
4. Supporters of private property among whites took harsh steps with
peasants who had seized land. Such actions led to the loss of popular support
for the non-Bolsheviks.
5. By January 1920, the Bolsheviks controlled most of the former
Russian empire. They succeeded due to cooperation with non-Russian
nationalities and Muslim jadidists. Cooperation did not work where Russian
colonists themselves turned Bolshevik.
8. Global influence of Russian revolution
1. The possibility of a workers state fired people’s imagination across
the world. In many countries, communist parties were formed like the
Communist Party of Great Britain.
2. Many outside USSR participated in the Conference of the Peoples
of the East (1920) and the Bolshevik founded comintern (an international
union of pro-Bolshevik socialist parties).
3. Some received education in USSR’s Communist university of the
workers of the East. By the time of the outbreak of the Second World War,
the USSR had given socialism a global face and world stature.
4. A backward country had become a great power. Its industries and
agriculture had developed and the poor were being fed. But it had denied the
essential freedoms to its citizens and carried out its developmental projects
through repressive policies.
French revolution
1. French society had 3 estates namely Clergy, Nobility and the Rest.
2. Social causes
1. About 60 percent of the land was owned by nobles, Church and
other richer members of the third estate.
2. The members of the first two estates were exempted from paying
taxes to the state. The nobles further enjoyed feudal privileges. These
included feudal dues, which they extracted from the peasants.
3. The Church extracted its share of taxes called tithes from the
peasants, and finally, all members of the third estate had to pay taxes to the
state.
4. The rise of middle class was also a reason. Many educated people
believed that no group in society should be privileged by birth. Rather, a
person’s social position must depend on his merit.
5. Their was moral degeneration of first two estates, especially of
higher clergy. The nobility completely neglected their duties and degenerated
into band of greedy and vicious courtiers. Monarch was not ready to carry out
the urgent reforms needed. His administration was riddled with corruption.
3. Economic causes
1. Long years of war had drained the financial resources of France.
Added to this was the cost of maintaining an extravagant court at the
immense palace of Versailles.
2. Unemployment and inequality rose drastically. Wages did not keep
pace with the price rise. A situation has come where basic needs of livelihood
are endangered.
4. Philosophers
1. Another cause of the French revolution was the effect of the
preachings of the French philosophers. Montesquieu, Voltaire and Rousseau
were the three intellectual giants of the age. The 18th century has been called
as the Age of Reason, because of the ideas expressed by the French
intellectuals. They gave people an idea of new society based upon a new
philosophy of life.
2. Voltaire attacked the religion. Locke refuted the absolute right of
monarch. Rousseau asserted the doctrine of popular sovereignty.
Montesquieu proposed a division of power within the government between
the legislative, the executive and the judiciary.
3. Along with the above stated idea of governance, the intellectuals
emphasised on social reforms. They condemned slavery. They also
emphasised reason over prejudice.
4. The cumulative effect of their influence manifested in itself in
liberty, equality, fraternity, which became guiding principles of revolution.
Without these ideas, french revolution would have been simply an outbreak
of violence.
5. They were mostly aristocrats, lawyers, business people whose lot in
the existing order was far from unhappy. The doctrines of the philosophers
came to be used later on, during the course of the revolution in France often
to justify measures that the philosophers themselves would have opposed.
5. Post revolution
1. The situation in France continued to be tense post revolution years.
Although Louis XVI had signed the constitution, he entered into secret
negotiations with the King of Prussia. Before this could happen, the National
Assembly voted in April 1792 to declare war against Prussia and Austria.
2. The revolutionary wars brought losses and economic difficulties to
the people. Large sections of the population were convinced that the
revolution had to be carried further, as the constitution of 1791 gave political
rights only to the richer sections of society.
3. Political clubs became an important rallying point for people who
wished to discuss government policies and plan their own forms of action.
The most successful of these clubs was that of the Jacobins.
4. The members of the Jacobin club belonged mainly to the less
prosperous sections of society. They included small shopkeepers, artisans
such as shoemakers, pastry cooks, watch-makers, printers, as well as servants
and daily wage workers.
6. Women’s revolution
1. From the very beginning women were active participants in the
events of French revolution. Most women of the third estate had to work for a
living. Most women did not have access to education or job training. Only
daughters of nobles or wealthier members of the third estate could study at a
convent.
2. In order to discuss and voice their interests women started their
own political clubs and newspapers. The Society of Revolutionary and
Republican Women was the most famous of them. One of the main demands
was that women enjoy the same political rights as men. They demanded the
right to vote, to be elected to the Assembly and to hold political office.
3. In the early years, the revolutionary government did introduce laws
that helped improve the lives of women. Together with the creation of state
schools, schooling was made compulsory for all girls. Their fathers could no
longer force them into marriage against their will.
4. Even after revolution, women’s struggle for equal political rights
continued. During the Reign of Terror, the new government issued laws
ordering closure of women’s clubs and banning their political activities.
Many prominent women were arrested and a number of them executed.
5. Women’s movements for voting rights and equal wages continued
through the next two hundred years in many countries of the world. The fight
for the vote was carried out through an international suffrage movement
during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It was finally in 1946
that women in France won the right to vote.
7. Impact of French revolution
1. The legal abolition of the nobility, including its feudal privileges,
by the National Assembly in 1789. This led to establishment of capitalism.
Even the restored monarchy could not bring it back.
2. The declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, considered
one of the world’s most important statements of universal human rights,
issued just after the abolition of the nobility.
3. It gave the term nation its new meaning. A nation is not territory
that people belong to but it is the people themselves. From this flows the idea
of sovereignty that people constituting the nation are source of all power.
4. It was first genuinely democratic Government. So planted the seeds
for other democratic movements. For first time people such as workers,
artisans, poor peasants got equality in voting rights.
5. Formal separation of church and state in 1794. This laid down the
basis for separation of state and religion and establishment of a secular state.
6. France has abolished slavery in its colonies. And as a result Haiti,
an french colony, became a republic. This was the first republic established
by the black people.
7. The Civil Code of 1804, usually known as the Napoleonic Code,
did away with all privileges based on birth, established equality before the
law and secured the right to property.
8. The re-organisation of France’s inefficient governing system into
departments and communes. The establishment of the metric system in 1793.
National system of schools known as lycées established in 1803. It lead to
modernised system of administartion. In India, Tipu sultan and Ram Mohan
Roy were inspired from this.
9. The French revolution had a major impact on Europe and the New
World. It shaped politics, society, religion and ideas by bringing liberalism
and the end of many feudal or traditional laws and practices..
8. Shortcomings of universal rights underlying the French
Revolution
1. All rights belonged to the men. Women were given no political
rights to vote or to hold public offices, totally against the principle of
equality.
2. Equality also lacked among the men. Men with only certain level of
income were allowed to vote.
3. Jacobins perpetuated terror in the masses which which was against
the idea of liberty and freedom.
4. French began with being liberators but they ended up being
conquerors thus going against their own values of liberty and equality.
5. Slave trade considered as one of the most inhuman way of
exploration for serving vested interests was carried on by French, was a gross
violation of human rights.
9. Napoleon achievements
1. In 1804, Napoleon Bonaparte crowned himself emperor of France.
He set out to conquer neighbouring European countries, dispossessing
dynasties and creating kingdoms. Napoleon saw his role as a moderniser of
Europe.
2. He introduced many laws such as the protection of private property,
uniform system of weights and measures provided by the decimal system.
3. Although the country had a national religion, he introduced the
Napoleonic Code, which allowed religious freedom in France.
4. The idea of democratic rights was the most important legacy of the
French revolution. These spread from France to the rest of Europe during the
nineteenth century, where feudal system were abolished.
5. Jacobin regime abolished slavery in the French colonies like Haiti.
This, however, turned out to be a short term measure as Napoleon
reintroduced slavery.
10. How did Napoleon fuse the old France with new France
1. Napoleon declared that he wanted to cement peace at home by
anything that could bring the French together and provide tranquility within
families. He reconciled the elements of the monarchy with elements of the
revolution which was the failed goal of Mirabeau in 1790.
2. Napoleon was largely successful in attracting men from all parties
from ex-Jacobins to nobles, to his Government.
3. Signing the Concordat allowed Napoleon to reconcile the religious
differences which had torn France apart during the Revolution.
4. A general amnesty signed by Napoleon allowed all but about one
thousand of the most notorious emigrants to return to France.
5. Under Napoleon’s rule, the Napoleonic Code as a civil code for
France was introduced and some of its provision like merit based recruitment
to government jobs and focus on clearly written law.
6. Napoleon abolished feudal system. He freed the peasants and other
section of society from serfdom and manorial duties. Thus the anti-feudalism
wave that hit Europe in 19th century owes its origin to the event in France.
11. Impact of French Revolution was local
1. French Revolution gave to the world the ideals of equality,
fraternity and liberty. The preamble of our constitution explicitly mentions
these ideals.
2. This shows the worldwide impact of the revolution but it’s spread
had occurred several years after the revolution and was initially confined to
Europe mainly because of the time frame, the circumstances of the time.
3. Monarchies were present in all the surrounding countries of France,
so they tried hard to contain the spread of ideals further.
4. Napoleon captured the power and restored autocracy within few
years. Although French revolution focused on liberty, equality and fraternity,
it denied the very rights to people after revolution.
5. Lack of transportation facilities and global inter connectedness led
to lack of spread of ideas.
12. Impact of Russian revolution was Global
1. Increased interconnectedness during the 20th century led to easy
spread of ideas and beliefs which was absent 2 centuries ago.
2. Industrial revolution reached its zenith. It’s capitalist system was
exploitative. The workers were looking for an alternative and the Russian
revolution gave it to them. Communism at that time seemed appropriate, it
seemed liberating.
3. Colonialism and imperialism were at its peak during the 20th
century. People in the colonies were critical of capitalism, because they
thought it is what impoverished them. Communism sounded like a utopia to
many countries and they started treating Russia as a father nation.
4. Russia’s economic model was highly successful during initial
years, which inspired many third world countries to take its path.
5. Leaders of communist Russia such as Lenin and Stalin actively
gave support to communist form of Governments across the world. Stalin
even used to force to setup communist Governments in many countries. For
instance, Czechoslovakia.
Enlightenment
1. Enlightenment is a process in the history in which orthodox,
superstitious and illogical thinking gave way to reasoning and logical
behaviour in every aspect of life, be it social, religious and political. It made
the society move towards growth and progress.
2. Driving forces behind it
1. Exploration: Exploration of world sparked the curiosity and made
Europeans question the old beliefs and customs. They started enjoying the
adventure in their lives.
2. Reformation movements: Protestants like Martin Luther started
reformation movements which questioned the authorities of Church, Popes
and the nobilities who were corrupt and blinded the people with orthodox
beliefs and instilled fear by penetrating state violence.
3. Scientific revolution: Scientists like Galileo and Kepler challenged
the wrong concepts given by church and introduced scientific ideas that sun
was surrounded by planets, earth revolves around the sun, etc which helped
enlightening the masses.
4. Role of philosophers: People from the middle class like Locke,
Immanuel Kant became the voice of the common people and created large
scale awareness among the masses through their works.
Nation state
1. A nation state is a state that has defined borders and territory. It is a
country in which the same type of people exists, organised by either race or
cultural background. People there would speak same language and share a set
of cultural and national values.
2. A state is a political and geopolitical entity, while a nation is a
cultural and ethnic one. The term nation state implies that the two coincide,
but nation state formation can take place at different times in different parts
of the world, and has become the dominant form of world organisation.
3. A strange case of Britain
1. In Britain the formation of the nation state was not the result of a
sudden upheaval or revolution. It was the result of a long drawn out process.
There was no British nation prior to the eighteenth century. The primary
identities of the people who inhabited the British isles were ethnic ones such
as English, Welsh, Scot or Irish. All of these ethnic groups had their own
cultural and political traditions.
2. But as the English nation steadily grew in wealth and power, it was
able to extend its influence over the other nations of the islands. The Act of
Union (1707) between England and Scotland that resulted in the formation of
the United Kingdom of Great Britain meant, in effect, that England was able
to impose its influence on Scotland.
3. The British parliament was henceforth dominated by its English
members. The growth of a British identity meant that Scotland’s culture and
political institutions were systematically suppressed.
4. Ireland suffered a similar fate. It was a country deeply divided
between Catholics and Protestants. The English helped the Protestants of
Ireland to establish their dominance over a largely Catholic country. Catholic
revolts against British dominance were suppressed.
5. A new British nation was forged through the propagation of a
dominant English culture. The older nations survived only as subordinate
partners in this union.
Imperialism and colonialism
1. Colonialism
1. Colonialism means the practice of acquiring colonies by conquest
and making them dependent. This is also called as old imperialism.
2. Neo-colonialism is the practice of economic exploitation and
domination of economically backward countries, by the powerful countries.
2. Imperialism
1. The term imperialism means the practice of extending the power,
control or rule by a country over the political and economic life of the areas
outside its own borders. This may be done through military or other means.
2. Occupation and direct rule over a country by another country is not
always an essential feature of imperialism. The essential feature is
exploitation, with or without direct political control.
3. New imperialism
1. During the initial period of industrial revolution, the pursuit of
colonies had slowed down because colonies had become uneconomical.
2. However, the pursuits and rivalries re-emerged in the last quarter of
the 19th century. This is known as New imperialism.
3. New imperialism resulted because of the economic system that had
developed as a result of industrial revolution.
4. During this phase a few industrialised capitalist countries
established their political and economic control and domination over the rest
of the world.
4. Conditions that helped the rise of Imperialism
1. Industrial revolution: Need raw materials. Need new markets.
2. Protectionism: Protectionism policy by European powers have led
to closing of domestic industries from foreign goods. So investors have to
find regions other than Europe to export their produce.
3. Mercantilism: Rulers believed that the volume of world wealth
and trade was relatively constant, so one country’s gain required another
country’s loss. A colonial possession should provide wealth to the country
that controlled it.
4. Extreme nationalism: People and rulers believed that nations
greatness meant seizing colonial territory. Not having colonies was perceived
as a sign of weakness.
5. Civilizing mission: European nations considered it was their moral
responsibility to educate ignorant peoples into higher culture and convert
them to Christianity. Hence they thought imperialism was a noble task.
6. Adventurers and explorers: They had prominent role in Europe’s
taking over of Africa. They were the first ones to discover the unknown
territories.
5. New Imperialism was a nationalistic, not an economic
phenomena
1. Many colonies acquired were economically useless. British New
Guinea or the German Cameroons offered little economic incentive to
European countries.
2. Many nations developed myths of their superiority over other
people. They also believed that colonies will add to their prestige and power.
For instance, Germany and Italy were jealous of Britain and France for their
huge empires. So, they also started conquering and grabbing colonies in a
small way.
3. Imperialist countries took over some places in Asia and Africa
because of their military or strategic importance. They established naval
bases and coaling stations to strengthen her overseas empire.
4. Overseas possessions were also useful because they added to an
imperialist country’s manpower. Some of the people of the colonised
countries were taken into the enemy, for use in wars and conquests.
5. However, in reality, the New imperialism was as economic as it
was nationalistic. Capitalist countries had to find new markets and buyers for
the goods their industries were producing. In addition to the markets, the
imperial powers needed new sources of raw materials to feed over growing
number of industries.
6. The New Imperialism thus was fed on as much as nationalism as on
economic forces. It was not either Nationalism or economic considerations
alone but the two acting in tandem that drove the sinews of New Imperialism.
6. Differences between American imperialism and European
imperialism
1. European imperialism in Indonesia and Indo-China is far older than
the American imperialism in Philippines (1890-1913).
2. Europeans captured these nations from the local rulers. Whereas,
America captured Philippines from Spain.
3. US ran the administration of Philippines with the help of military
government whereas there were civilian governments in Indonesia and
China. US administration of the Philippines was always declared to be
temporary, while no such aims where there for Europeans.
4. European powers were interested in the trade of spices and other
raw materials from south-east Asia. There was no such motive of US in
Philippines. American interest in the Philippines was the result of a desire to
expand its economic influence into the Pacific and Asia.
5. Europeans tried to convert the local population to Christianity but
there was no such in Philippines because the majority of the population was
already Christian.
6. Finally, America supported Philippines to defeat Japanese forces in
Philippines and got liberation. Whereas in Indo-China and Indonesia, the
colonial states themselves raised the freedom struggle and won independence
as a result of their long drawn freedom struggle movements.
Mercantilism
1. Mercantilism is an economic system that prevailed during 16th to
18th century when nation states tried to increase their wealth by promoting
their exports and limiting imports. The strength of a nation was measured in
terms of the wealth it possessed.
2. How it gave rise to colonialism and industrial revolution
1. To maximise their trade, countries expanded their overseas
shipping and promoted naval force to protect their vessels.
2. The lookout for new markets and new avenues led to the
establishment of trading ports in different countries which later became forts.
3. The growing industries back home needed raw materials and
market for their finished goods. This gave rise to conflicts with the local
rulers and drain of wealth from countries which later became colonies. The
colonies essentially became source of raw materials and markets for finished
goods.
4. The increasing outputs from the growth of industries needed fewer
competitors. This was done by discouraging imports by imposing heavy
duties.
3. Thus, mercantilism can be seen as an engine that led to the
development of colonial tendencies and revolutionised the industrial outputs
by providing favourable trade policies, raw materials and new markets for the
nation states.
Industrial revolution
1. What
1. During the later half of the 18th century there began a series of
changes which revolutionised the techniques of production and methods of
transportation. These developments resulted in the rise of a new type of
economy known as an industrial economy. The term Industrial Revolution is
used to describe these developments.
2. This phase of industrial development in Britain is strongly
associated with new machinery and technologies. These made it possible to
produce goods on a massive scale compared to handicraft and handloom
industries.
2. Why Britain
1. It had been politically stable since the seventeenth century, with
England, Wales and Scotland unified under a monarchy. This meant that the
kingdom had common laws, a single currency and a market that was not
fragmented.
2. Through her overseas trade she had accumulated vast profits which
could provide the necessary capital.
3. She had acquired colonies which ensured a regular supply of raw
materials and a markets for export. England developed a large shipping
industry and had no problem of transportation.
4. England had plenty of natural resources, such as iron and coal,
essential for industries. The sources of iron and coal existed side by side and
this saved England from many difficulties that other countries faced.
5. By the end of the seventeenth century, money was widely used as
the medium of exchange. Salaries were paid in cash rather than in kind. This
gave people a wider choice for ways to spend their earnings and expanded the
market for the sale of goods.
6. The enclosure movement had begun in the 18th century in which
big land owners consolidate their large land holdings by buying small farms
near their own properties. So, small peasants became unemployed. Thus there
was no shortage labour force to work in the factories.
7. By 1784, there were more than a hundred provincial banks in
England, and during the next 10 years their numbers trebled. The financial
requirements to establish and maintain big industrial enterprises were met by
these banks.
8. No other country enjoyed all these advantages at this period. Some
suffered from a lack of capital or natural resources and some from an
unfavourable political system. While some other European countries had
agrarian economies. Many of them, such as Italy and Germany, were not even
united and suffered from many economic restrictions.
3. Cotton spinning and weaving
1. Spinning of cotton was so slow. But a series of technological
inventions successfully closed the gap between the speed in spinning raw
cotton into yarn or thread, and of weaving the yarn into fabric. Some
inventions in cotton industry are below.
2. Flying shuttle loom: It made possible to weave broader fabrics in
less time and consequently called for more yarn than could be supplied at the
prevailing pace of spinning.
3. Spinning jenny: A single person could spin several threads of yarn
simultaneously. This provided weavers with yarn at a faster rate than they
could weave into fabric.
4. Water frame: Produced much stronger thread than before. This
also made it possible to weave pure cotton fabrics rather than fabrics that
combined linen and cotton yarn.
5. Mule: Allowed the spinning of strong and fine yarn.
6. Power loom: This was easy to work, stopped automatically every
time a thread broke and could be used to weave any kind of material.
7. Cotton gin: This machine made it possible to separate the seeds
from cotton three hundred times faster than by hand.
8. From the 1830s, developments in this industry concentrated on
increasing the productivity of workers rather than bringing new machines into
use.
4. Communication
1. To expand facilities for transport by water much cheaper than
overland. So, England began connecting rivers and lakes with canals. Canals
spread to Europe and America and was a big help in providing cheaper
transportation, especially after steam boats came into use.
2. Canals were usually built by big landowners to increase the value
of the mines, quarries or forests on their lands. The confluence of canals
created marketing centres in new towns.
3. The city of Birmingham owed its growth to its position at the heart
of a canal system connecting London, the Bristol Channel, and the Mersey
and Humber rivers.
4. In the 1830s, the use of canals revealed several problems. The
congestion of vessels made movement slow on certain stretches of canals, and
frost, flood or drought limited the time of their use. The railways now
appeared as a convenient alternative.
5. Penny post, fast and cheap communication by letter, began to
operate in England in the early 19th century. Soon it was adopted in other
countries, including India.
5. Agriculture revolution
1. The revolution in agriculture had started before the industrial
revolution. There were changes in farming methods to produce more food,
and more importantly, to produce cash crops for the market and raw materials
for industries.
2. New farm machinery included the iron plough and harrow for
breaking the ground, the mechanical drill for seeding and the horse drawn
cultivator to replace the hoe. There were also machines for reaping and
threshing. Farmers adopted intensive manuring and the practice of crop
rotation to maintain soil fertility.
3. With the enclosure movement, big landowners unfairly got
possession of the peasant’s small holding along with his own. The result was
that the peasants were forced off the land.
4. With no other means of livelihood, they moved to the new
industrial towns and cities where they got jobs at whatever wage the factory
owner would pay. Industries thus benefited, but at the small farmer’s expense.
China
1. Opium wars
1. The imperialist domination of China began with the opium wars.
Before these opium Wars, only two Chinese ports were open to foreign
traders. China was already a prosperous civilisation that had invented paper,
printing and gunpowder. There was no demand for British goods in China. So
the British had to pay back in gold and silver for importing Chinese tea, silk,
jade and porcelain. This led to trade deficit for Britain.
2. So, British merchant started smuggling opium from India into
China on a large scale, to cover up for their cost of importing Chinese goods.
British east India company has already established monopoly on the opium
cultivation. But due to Chinese ban on opium, British used country traders to
ship opium to China.
3. 1st Opium war: Chinese government officials seized an opium
cargo and destroyed it. Britain declared war and easily defeated the Chinese.
The Treaty of Nanjing was signed, which forced China to pay fines to British
for war damages. Hong Kong was to be given to Britain. China had to open
five port cities to the British traders. Chinese government was no longer free
to impose tariffs on the foreign goods.
4. 2nd Opium War: Soon, England and France fought another war
with China, on the pretext that a French missionary had been murdered and
again China lost. This again led to opening of several new ports to Western
trade and residence. Right of foreign travel in the interior of China. By the
end of 1860s, China had to open 14 ports to Foreigners.
2. Sino-Japan war
1. For centuries, Korea was a tributary state of China. But Korea is
important to Japan because, one, it is strategically located opposite the
Japanese islands and, two, Korea’s natural resources of coal and iron. This
ultimately leads to War between Japan and China. Japan won thanks to its
adopted western military technology.
2. As a result, China had to recognise Korea as an independent state
and gave away Formosa, Taiwan and part of Southern Manchuria to Japan
and was forced to pay about $150 million to Japan for war damages.
3. Sphere of influence
1. Each western country had certain regions of China reserved
exclusively for their purpose only (exclusive rights to build railway, mines etc
in that region).
2. After war with Japan, China had no money to pay war damages. So,
France, Russia, Britain and Germany agreed to give loans to China. In return
for exclusive rights granted to them in some parts of territories in China. For
instance, Britain had exclusive rights over Yangtze valley, and only Russia
had the right to build railways in Manchuria. This division of China into
spheres of influence has been often described as the cutting of the Chinese
melon.
3. After the economic depression of the 1890s, USA needed foreign
trade to boost its economy. In China, the American textile manufacturers had
found markets for cheap cotton goods. But United States feared that China
would be completely parcelled out to France, Russia, Germany and Britain,
because of those spheres of influences. So, US started it’s Me too policy.
4. Therefore United States suggested the policy known as Open door
policy. According to this policy, all countries would have equal right to make
trade anywhere in China. Britain supported United States in this policy,
thinking that it would discourage the annexation of China by Japan or Russia.
Because Japan and Russia could easily send their armies to Chinese
mainland.
4. Boxer rebellion
1. China’s humiliating defeats in Opium wars and against Japan and
subsequent economic exploitation by Western powers. The extraterritorial
right was granted to the foreigners.
2. Corruption, inefficiency of their own royal government.
3. They resented the work of Christian missionaries, blaming them for
harming traditional Chinese ceremonies and family relations and also
missionaries pressured local officials to side with Christian converts in local
lawsuits and property disputes.
4. This led to formation of a secret organisation known as Yihetuan.
The foreigners called them Boxers. Boxers violently started destroying
properties of foreigners, Christian missionaries and Chinese converts.
Although the boxers were officially denounced, they were secretly supported
by many of the royal court.
5. After the failure of boxer rebellion, imperialism continued with the
cooperation from Chinese warlords. Foreign powers bought these military
commanders by giving loans and in exchange the warlords granted even more
privileges to the foreign powers.
6. Thus in a period of few decades, China had been reduced to a status
of an international colony. Although China was not conquered or occupied by
any imperialist country, but the effect of these developments in China were
same as any other areas which were formally colonised.
5. Western influence
1. The beginning of western influence can be traced back to when
Jesuit missionaries introduced western sciences such as astronomy and
mathematics. But its impact was limited. Later on, Britain used force to
expand its lucrative trade in opium leading to the first opium war.
2. Britain forced Indian peasants to grow opium, which was sold
illegally in China to get Gold, Silver. This was exchanged by Britain to buy
tea, silk from China. This was called Triangular trade between Britain, India
and China.
3. This undermined the ruling Qing dynasty and strengthened
demands for reform and change. They build a modern administrative system,
new army, an educational system, and set up local assemblies to establish
constitutional government. They saw the need to protect China from
colonisation.
4. The Manchu empire was overthrown and a republic established in
1911 under Sun Yat-sen. His programme was called the three principles (San
min chui). These were nationalism, democracy and socialism regulating
capital and equalising landholdings.
5. After the death of Sun, Chiang Kai-shek emerged as the leader of
the Guomindang as he launched a military campaign to control the warlords,
regional leaders who had usurped authority, and to eliminate the communists
6. The Guomindang despite its attempts to unite the country failed
because of its narrow social base and limited political vision.
7. A major plank in Sun Yat-sen’s programme, regulating capital and
equalising land, was never carried out because the party ignored the peasantry
and the rising social inequalities. It sought to impose military order rather
then address the problems faced by the people.
8. The Guomindang blockade of the communists, forced CPC to seek
another base. This led them to go on what came to be called the Long March
(1934-35), 6,000 gruelling and difficult miles to Shanxi.
6. Chinese revolution in 1949
1. China was a peaceful country till beginning of the 19th century. It
was ruled by Manchu dynasty. But foreign forces slowly started to occupy
china. By the seeing the trade opportunities in china, British was the first one
to have started its influence in china with the opium wars. Slowly other
countries have started to occupy china.
2. The inefficiency of the Government to curb foreign intruders have
led to rise of regional governments thus dealing a blow to national
integration. This has led to war lord era, where power in China’s provinces
was dominated by army factions. The rise of communist party with various
promises of land reforms, etc and inefficiency of KMT have led to final war.
7. Reasons for 1949 revolution
1. KMT seized power in China with promises of establishing
communist society, but it utterly failed in its objective. It rather started
supporting land lords and also tried to eliminate communists, which caused
much resentment among the Chinese.
2. KMT government was fully corrupt. The inflation during that time
was very high. Thus people lost loyalty to KMT.
3. The most important one was ineffective resistance provided by
KMT towards Japanese when they occupied Manchuria in 1931. KMT felt
communist were bigger threat than Japan and started moving there army
towards communist occupied areas. Thus dealing a huge blow to its
reputation.
4. The areas occupied by communists were having lesser inequalities
in lands and they effectively carried out various land distribution taking land
away from land lords. Finally in 1949 Communists seized power from KMT
and communist society was established.
8. Significance of 1949 revolution
1. Communist Government was set up in place of a corrupt capitalist
Govt of Chiang Kai Sheik supported by USA.
2. Rapid economic growth was observed with focus on agriculture and
small scale industries.
3. Land reorganisation was done and many efforts to improve working
conditions of industrial workers were taken.
4. China was taken more seriously at international level due to
economic and military strength. Also, there was a shift from US led
international affairs to USSR.
9. Consequences of cultural revolution
1. Brought the country to a civil war which severely hampered the
progress. Students started attacking all authorities even though they were not
critics of Mao. Instead of uniting people towards a shared vision, it created
conflict and chaos.
2. The money required for all these changes were diverted from
industrial development, which led to a fall in industrial output. They also
restricted entry of foreign technology leading to degradation of industrial
production.
3. The textbooks were enriched with enlightenment of Mao and his
revolutionary ideology instead of teaching effective education and
methodology. This ruined students of job opportunities.
4. A cult of personality was developed by Mao, which severely halted
China’s progress and plunged the country into despair.
5. Because of conflicting ideology between Chinese communist party
and nationalist party and aftermath fraction between radical and soft
reformist. The democratic ideology got suppressed and communist ideology
got evolved.
Japan
1. In 1850s, US sent warships under Commodore Perry, and forced
the Japanese to open their country for the American shipping and trade (Gunboat diplomacy). Later, Japan made similar agreements with Britain, Holland,
France and Russia. But Japan itself became an imperialist country after the
Meiji Restoration.
2. Japan and meiji restoration
1. Japan lay on the route to China which the USA saw as a major
market. Also, their whaling ships in the Pacific needed a place to refuel. At
that time, only Holland traded with Japan. Perry (1794-1858) came to Japan
to demand that the government sign a treaty that would permit trade and open
diplomatic relations.
2. Till then shogun dynasty was in power in Japan. Perry’s arrival had
an important effect on Japanese politics. The emperor who till then had had
little political power, now re-emerged as an important figure. In 1868, a
movement forcibly removed the shogun from power, and brought the
Emperor to Edo.
3. Officials and the people were aware that some European countries
were building colonial empires in India and elsewhere. So they wanted to
save Japan from such subjugation. The government launched a policy with
the slogan fukoku kyohei (rich country, strong army). They realised that they
needed to develop their economy and build a strong army, to protect
themselves from Europeans. To do this they needed to create a sense of
nationhood among the people, and to transform subjects into citizens.
4. Modern education institutions were setup. The imperial rescript on
education of 1890 urged people to pursue learning, advance public good and
promote common interests. A new school system began to be built from the
1870s in which schooling was made compulsory for boys and girls. Tuition
fees were minimal. The curriculum had been based on western models but
emphasis was also on Japanese history.
5. To integrate the nation, a new administrative structure by altering
old village and domain boundaries. The administrative unit had to have
revenue adequate to maintain the local schools and health facilities, etc.
6. A modern military force was developed.
7. A legal system was set up to regulate the formation of political
groups, control the holding of meetings and impose strict censorship. Japan
developed economically and acquired a colonial empire that suppressed the
spread of democracy at home and put it in collision with the people it
colonised.
8. Another important part of the Meiji reforms was the modernising of
the economy. Funds were raised by levying an agricultural tax. Textile
machinery was imported from Europe, and foreign technicians were
employed to train workers, as well as to teach in universities and schools, and
Japanese students were sent abroad. Modern banking institutions were setup
in Japan. To reduce population pressure government actively encouraged
migration to colonies of Japan and to other countries too.
9. The rapid and unregulated growth of industry and the demand for
natural resources such as timber led to environmental destruction.
10. The Meiji constitution was based on a restricted franchise and
created a Diet with limited powers.
3. China and Japan path to modernisation
1. The histories of Japan and China show how different historical
conditions led them on widely divergent paths to building independent and
modern nations.
2. Japan didn’t go through colonisation, it itself had colonial empires
like Taiwan, Manchuria, etc. China underwent colonial humiliation.
3. Japan followed and maintained traditional values like respect for
elders, worship of emperor, etc along with modern education system. China
given up traditional values and sought modern ideas. The CCP and its
supporters fought to put an end to tradition, which they saw as keeping the
masses in poverty, the women subjugated and the country un-developed.
4. Democracy was established in Japan, while China had a one party
rule and demands for democracy were suppressed brutally.
5. Japan followed west inspired capitalistic economy while China
followed a socialistic path to economy.
Colonisation in Africa
1. Although African exploration started in late 15th century but for a
long time remained mainly to certain coastal areas. This had disastrous
consequences due to slave trade. During this era, Spanish were ruling
Americas. During that time, a large scale extermination of the native
Americans happened because they were forced to work in gold and silver
mines under inhumane conditions and got European diseases. So slaves from
Africa were brought to America.
2. Why African slaves preferred
1. Native American could easily run away and hide in jungles. They
were familiar with the territories, knew how to survive on local plants and
animals. They could also escape and blend in as white town. Africans could
neither go home nor disguise themselves among town folks.
2. White prisoners were not immune to tropical malaria and yellow
fever. African slaves had some immunity to such old world diseases as
smallpox, mumps, and measles. Hence, African labourer lived three to five
times longer than white labourers under the difficult conditions on
plantations.
3. Slave trade
1. In medieval times, Arabs had dominated the slave trade. They
organised slave caravans and moved them from the interior to the Gold and
Slave coasts. Then Portuguese entered the slave trade business. Portuguese
themselves also needed Black slaves to work in their sugar plantations of
Brazil.
2. Some African chiefs also took part in this business. They sold
slaves to Europeans in exchange of guns and ammunition, cloth, metal ware,
spirits, cutlery, coins, decorative wear, horses, salt and paper.
3. But then British decided to take over this business. Later, Spain
gave the monopoly of slave trade to Britain.
4. Triangular trade is the term used to describe the prosperous trading
cycle across Atlantic as a result of Slave trade. European merchants
purchased slaves from African chiefs in exchange of manufactured products.
They sold the slaves in the Caribbean and purchased such easily transportable
commodities as sugar, cotton, and tobacco. Finally the merchants would sell
sugar, cotton, and tobacco in Europe and North America.
4. Why slave trade declined after 1850s
1. European economies began to shift from agriculture to industry.
Plantations remained profitable, but Europeans had promising new areas for
investment.
2. The slave operated American plantations had to compete for capital
and preferential laws with textile mills and other industries that hired free
labourers.
3. American slave societies approached the point where they could
reproduce enough offspring to meet the needs. So, not much need for further
slave import from Africa.
4. Slavery was also a hindrance if the interior of Africa was to be
opened to colonial exploitation. In fact, some colonial powers waged war
against African chiefs in the pretext of abolishing slave trade, so they could
establish colony there.
5. Consequences of slave trade
1. Millions of Africans were uprooted from their homes which stifled
African creativity and production. In the American plantations, they were
forced to work in inhumane conditions. Slaving and slave trading stimulated
warfare, corrupted laws. It created a class of elite rulers and traders.
2. Slave trade was the beginning of a dependency relationship with
Europe. This relationship was based on the exchange of Africa’s valuable
primary products for European manufactured goods. This dependency
continued after the slave trade ended, through a colonial period and beyond.
3. In this sense, the slave trade was the first step toward modern
Africa’s current status as a region where technological development has yet
to match that of more industrialised nations.
4. African culture mixed with Europeans and Native Americans. This
led to new mixed races, music, literature, cuisine, culture, religious practices,
deep impact on American history, civil wars etc.
5. Anyways, by the time slave trade declined, the exploration of the
interior of Africa had begun and preparations made by the European powers
to impose another kind of slavery on the continent of Africa for the direct
conquest of almost entire Africa.
6. Why Africa was easily conquered
1. Economic might of the imperialist powers was greater than the
economic resources of the African states. African kings did not have the
financial resources to fight a long war.
2. In terms of military strength, the imperialist countries were far
more powerful than the African states. Most of the time, Africans fought with
axes, bows and knives, while Europeans used a fast firing gun.
3. The African states were not political united. There were conflicts
between states and within states. Often these African kings sought the support
of the Europeans against their rivals.
4. But on the other hand, the imperialist countries participating in the
scramble for Africa were united.
7. The Scramble for Africa
1. All European countries were eager to get the maximum of African
territory in the shortest possible time. Often their competition was about to
result in a war. But in every case, they avoided war and signed agreements as
to who will get which part of Africa.
2. In 1884-85, European states organised a congress in Berlin to
decide how to share out Africa among themselves. No African state was
represented at this Berlin Congress. Treaties were signed between European
powers to settle disputes over claims to African territories between
themselves.
3. Most of treaties signed between African chiefs and Europeans were
fraudulent and bogus. Other European powers would accept such bogus
interpretations. Thus African occupation was done without any hindrance.
4. By the end of 19th century, the partition of Africa was nearly
completed in this manner. This is generally referred to as paper partition
because the actual partition took much longer time (due to internal
rebellions). About thirty per cent of all boundaries in Africa are in straight
lines because the continent of Africa was partitioned on paper map, in the
conference rooms of Europe.
American revolution
1. Mercantilism is a policy that anything which benefitted the empire
(England) was good policy. England believed that wealth was static and is
measured by amount of gold one country possessed. So exports are preferred
over imports.
2. What is a revolution
1. A revolution means a drastic or radical change in social, economic
or political life of society. Changes in political and social systems have often
been brought about by revolutions. A revolution can be the sudden overthrow
of an established government or system by force and bloodshed or it can also
be a great change that comes slowly and peacefully.
2. However every change of government is not a revolution. A
revolution involves a fundamental change in the entire political system of a
country, a change in the nature of government, in the class or classes that hold
political power, and also in the aims of the government.
3. People do not usually revolt against a government or a certain
system unless they believe that it is no longer possible to live in the old way.
Revolutions occur when an existing system becomes unbearable to a vast
majority of the people. This, in itself, makes conditions ripe for setting up a
new system.
4. Revolutions are contagious. Revolutionary ideas originating in one
place may spread to other places very fast and influence the thinking and
actions of peoples suffering under oppressive governments in other lands.
5. Revolutions have played an essential role in the development of
human societies. Without them, one kind of system, however unsuitable for
the times it might be, would continue for ever and there would be no
progress.
3. The English colonies in America
1. By the middle of the 18th century there were 13 English colonies in
North America along the Atlantic coast. Landless peasants, people seeking
religious freedom, traders, and profiteers had settled there. The bulk of the
population consisted of independent farmers. Infant industries had developed
in such products as wool, flax, and leather.
2. In the north there were fishing and ship building industries. In the
south, large plantations like feudal manors had grown up where tobacco and
cotton were grown with slave labour brought from Africa.
3. Each colony had a local assembly elected by qualified voters. These
assemblies enacted laws concerning local matters, and levied taxes. However,
they were under the rule of the mother country.
4. By the 18th century, the colonists found the laws which the English
government imposed upon them more and more objectionable. The idea of
being an independent nation grew and developed into the revolutionary war
in which the colonists gained their independence.
4. Economic causes
1. The colonial policy of England in economic matters was the
primary cause of resentment in the American colonies. England’s policies did
not encourage the American colonies to develop an economy of their own.
The colonies were also forbidden to start certain industries, for example, iron
works and textiles. They were forced to import these goods from England.
2. The English Parliament had forbidden them to use non-British ships
in their trade. Certain products, such as tobacco, cotton and sugar, could be
exported only to England. Heavy duties were imposed on the import of goods
in the colonies from other places. Thus the growth of industry and trade in the
colonies was impeded.
3. The English also angered the colonists by issuing a proclamation to
prevent them from moving west into new lands. English aristocrats had
bought lands in America and got rents from the farmers. They wanted to keep
the colonists as renters.
4. English Government was burdened with debt due to incessant wars.
In 1765, the English Parliament passed the Stamp act which imposed stamp
taxes on all business transactions in the American colonies. This act aroused
violent resentment among all sections.
5. The colonists claimed that, since English Parliament had no
representatives from the colonies, it had no right to levy taxes on them. The
revenue from these taxes was used not in the interests of the colonies but of
English.
5. Philosophers
1. The American revolutionaries were inspired by the ideas of the
French and English philosophers of the 17th century. Locke, Harrington,
Milton believed that men had certain fundamental rights which no
government had the right to infringe.
2. American thinkers, especially Thomas Jefferson, were also inspired
by what French philosophers were saying and writing at that time. Jefferson
asserted the colonist’s right to rebellion, and encouraged their increasing
desire for independence.
6. No taxation without representation
1. The leaders in the Massachusetts colony called together
representatives from other colonies to consider their common problems. In
this Massachusetts assembly, they agreed and declared that the English
Parliament had no right to levy taxes on them. No taxation without
representation was the slogan they adopted.
2. And they threatened to stop the import of British goods. The threat
led English to repeal the Stamp Act, but Parliament still insisted that it had
the right to levy taxes. Then Parliament imposed a tax on consumer goods
coming into the colonies, such as paper, glass, tea and paint.
7. Boston Tea Party
1. The tax on tea led to trouble. In 1773, several colonies refused to
unload the tea coming in English ships. In Boston, when the governor ordered
a ship to be unloaded, a group of citizens, dressed as American Indians,
boarded the ship and dumped the crates of tea into the water.
2. This incident is known as the Boston Tea Party. The English
government then closed the port of Boston to all trade and precipitated the
uprising of the colonies.
8. No affection for England in colonies
1. A lot of people had settled in the colonies when they were
prosecuted on religious grounds.
2. Colonies wanted equality, whereas class differences existed in
England.
9. English policies
1. Greenville’s policy: New taxes were imposed. Navigation acts
were implemented. Direct taxes were levied. By means of revenue collected
from taxes, a permanent massive army was to be deployed in America to
safeguard colonies from French invasions.
2. Rockingham’s declaratory act: Rockingham formed Govt in
England and passed an Act which declared that the British Parliament was
fully empowered to levy taxes on Americans.
10. Significance of the American Revolution
1. The first written constitution came into existence. It definitely
encouraged the tradition of constitutionalism.
2. It strengthened the position of middle classes in America and it
encouraged the liberal ideas.
3. The main achievement of the American Revolution was the
establishment of a republic. This republic was, however, not truly democratic.
The right to vote was limited. Negroes, most of them still slaves, American
Indians, and women had no vote.
4. It was a serious jolt to the policy of mercantilism and colonialism.
5. First federal Govt was formed in the world. The concept of
federalism is much suited to multi racial, multi social, multi regional country.
Later this inspired many countries including India.
6. The words of the Declaration of Independence regarding the
equality of all men and the inalienable rights formed basis for all future
liberal democracies. Lafayette, the French general who fought on the side of
American revolutionaries, was soon to become a hero of the French
Revolution.
7. By its example, the American Revolution inspired many
revolutionaries in Europe later in the 19th century. It encouraged Spanish and
Portuguese colonies in Central and South America to rebel and gain their
independence.
8. Election laws in all states favoured men of property for many years.
But progress towards democracy had begun. In some states, state religion was
abolished, along with religious qualifications for holding public offices.
Unification of Germany
1. In the 18th century, Germany was divided into a number of states.
Some of these states were very small and did not extend beyond the limits of
a city. During the Napoleonic wars, many of these states ceased to exist. At
the end of the wars there were still thirty eight independent states in
Germany. Among them Prussia, Wurttemberg, Bavaria, and Saxony were
fairly large.
2. Prussia was the most powerful in Militarily and in extent. It was
also the most reactionary. The big landlords of Prussia known as Junkers
formed the dominant section in Prussian society. Prussia was also one of the
leaders of the Holy Alliance.
3. Factors behind unification
1. German Language: Prior to unification, over 300 distinct political
entities in central Europe spoke German or some close variation of it. This
shared language experience allowed these distinct entities to interact and
trade with one another.
2. Trade: Many distinct entities in central Europe traded with one
another. But trading was hindered because of lack of common currency or
exchange rate. Zollverein, a customs union, was formed for abolishing
internal tariffs between the units. This subdued much local feelings and
replaced it by wider and stronger element of German nationality.
3. German nationalism: During the Napoleonic wars of the early
19th century, the distinct German settlements of central Europe bonded over
their shared experience of subjugation. With the growth of national
consciousness the people of these states had started demanding the national
unification of Germany, establishment of democratic government and social
and economic reforms.
4. Revolts: In 1848 revolts occurred in every German state and the
rulers were forced to grant democratic constitutions. To unite Germany and to
frame a constitution for the united Germany, a constituent assembly met in
Frankfurt. But the assembly gave nothing and 1848 revolt was failure.
4. Policy of blood and iron
1. Bismarck wanted to preserve the predominance of the landed
aristocrats and the army in the united German state and to achieve the
unification of Germany under the leadership of the Prussian monarchy. He
described his policy of unification as one of blood and iron. The policy of
blood and iron meant a policy of war.
2. The ultimate aim Bismarck had was the elimination of Austria from
the Germanic confederation. So, First, he aligned with Austria in a war
against Denmark over the possession of Schleswig and Holstein. After
Denmark’s defeat, he entered into an alliance with Italy against Austria,
defeated Austria and dissolved the Germanic Confederation. Thus Austria
was separated from other German states. The unification of Germany was
completed as a result of a war between Prussia and France.
5. Policy of Coal and iron
1. German Unification had seen the use of both Coal and Iron, means
economic actions and Blood and iron, means war.
2. Bismarck plan was to separate Austria then France and build
diplomatic ties with other empires like Russia and Italy to achieve unification.
He used the economic tools to build Prussian capabilities first and isolate
Austria on economic front then defeat and usurp states from them.
3. Zolleverin was a free trade agreement between Prussia and other
states to reduce tariff barriers. Prussia led the Zolleverin and Austria was
excluded from it. This made other German states dependent on Prussia.
Prussia led the railway tracks and set up industries. Railways were used to
transport soldiers quickly over large distances.
4. So, Germany unification has been achieved by Blood and Iron
majorly but the base has been prepared using the Coal and Iron strategy.
Italian unification
1. Like Germany, Italy was also divided into a number of states. The
major states in the early 19th century Italy were Sardinia, Lombardy, Venetia,
kingdom of the Two Sicilies, Papal States, Tuscany, Parma and Modena. Of
these the most powerful was the kingdom of Sardinia. Venetia and Lombardy
were under Austrian occupation.
2. Thus the Italian people were faced with the task of expelling the
Austrians and forcing the rulers of independent states to unite. The unification
of Italy was bought about by many factors, which include foreign aid, able
leadership and favourable circumstances.
3. Cultural nationalism: Each one of the people had a culture,
history and language of its own. But in order to protect one’s culture, each
nation should create for itself a sovereign state. Thus cultural nationalism lead
to political nationalism. Consequently, these ideas could not be realised
without the overthrow of the Government and consequently nationalism
turned revolutionary.
4. Problems in unification of Italy
1. Vienna congress divided Italy and destroyed its political unity.
2. Venetia and Lombardy were provinces of Austria. Pope was under
hegemony of Austria. So Austria directly or indirectly controlled Italy.
3. General absence of national consciousness in Italy. Regionalism,
localism, provincialism, dominated among the people.
4. People were unconscious of their nationalism.
5. Young Italy
1. The struggle for Italian independence and unification was organised
by Mazzini and Garibaldi.
2. The movement led by them is known as the Young Italy movement.
It aimed at the independence and unification of Italy and the establishment of
a republic there. It was a secretive organisation and tried to win over the
Italians by moral and intellectual fervour.
3. Mazzini educated Italians that Italy was a nation, not a geographical
expression and that the Italian peninsula, though divided politically, was
living unity with common heritage.
4. In 1848, as in other parts of Europe, revolutionary uprisings had
broken out in Italy and the rulers were forced to grant certain democratic
reforms to the people. However, the goal of independence and unification was
still distant.
6. Italy after the revolution of 1848
1. The king of Sardinia had introduced many reforms in the political
system of his kingdom after the revolution of 1848. After 1848, his prime
minister, Count Cavour, took the initiative of uniting Italy under the
leadership of Sardinia.
2. Cavour’s policy in some ways was similar to that followed by
Bismarck in Germany. Hoping to gain the support of Britain and France, he
entered the Crimean war in 1853-56 against Russia even though Sardinia had
no dispute with Russia. However, nothing came out of this war.
3. In 1859, Cavour entered into an alliance with Louis Bonaparte and
went to war with Austria. Although France soon withdrew from the war,
Austria was ousted from Lombardy, which was taken over by Sardinia.
4. Tuscany, Modena, Parma and the Papal States of the north also
joined Sardinia. Venetia, however, was still under Austrian occupation. The
other states that remained to be united with Sardinia were the Kingdom of the
Two Sicilies and Rome which was under the rule of the Pope.
7. Uprising in Sicilies
1. Meanwhile an uprising had broken out in the Kingdom of the Two
Sicilies. Garibaldi marched into the island of Sicily with his revolutionary
fighters and liberated it from the rule of the king within three months. Then
he marched to Naples in support of the revolt that had already broken out
there.
2. By the end of November 1860, the entire kingdom of the two
Sicilies had been liberated. The Italian revolutionaries were not perhaps
strong enough to push the victory of the people in the Sicilies further with a
view to establishing a united republic of Italy.
3. They surrendered the former kingdom to the King of Sardinia,
Victor Emmanuel II, who then took the title of King of Italy in 1861.
4. Garibaldi, the revolutionary who had played such a vital role in the
liberation and unification of Italy, now retired to lead a life of obscurity.
8. Consequences of German and Italian unification
1. One of the aspects of the movements described so far is the gradual
growth of political democracy, that is, the ever increasing participation of
people in the political life of a country. The period of autocracies and
privileged aristocracies was gradually coming to an end. Alongside, there
were also the movements for national unity and national independence.
2. These movements were victorious in Italy, Germany, and some
other countries of Europe and in the Americas. In a few more decades they
were to succeed in the rest a Europe and in the recent period in most of the
world. It is necessary to remember here that the new political and economic
system that was emerging in Europe in the 19th century was also creating
imperialism.
9. Comparison between Italian and German unifications
1. Time: The unification movements of both countries took place at
roughly the same time in the mid 19th century and were motivated by
liberalism and nationalism.
2. Number of separate states: Italy and Germany both were divided
into a number of separate states which were ruled by despotic kings. But
these states in both the countries shared a common language and a common
history. Austria was main obstacle to both the countries.
3. Napoleon: Napoleon during his conquests of Italy and Germany
taught them ideas of liberalism and nationalism. In Italy, Napoleon created a
united Kingdom of Italy. As for Germany, Napoleon reduced the number of
German states from over three hundred to thirty nine. This led to nationalist
sentiments in Italy and Germany which influenced the much of the unification
later.
4. Congress of Vienna: European countries at congress of Vienna
divided the Italian peninsula into petty states and restored previous rulers. In
Germany too, absolute governments were restored in all the states by the
Congress of Vienna. Such turning the clock back greatly frustrated Italian and
German liberals and patriots.
5. Diplomacy and war: In achieving Italian and German unifications,
both Cavour and Bismarck made great use of diplomacy and war.
10. Contrast between both
1. Zollverein which was launched by Prussia in 1818 made Prussia
economically strong but also improved its relation with other German states.
But in Italy, no customs union comparable to the Zollverein aided the
movement towards unification. Only Piedmont herself, under the guidance of
Prime Minister Cavour, implemented some economic reforms.
2. Italian unification supported by France and Great Britain, while
German unification adversed by France and Great Britain.
3. Italian unification owed much to the leadership of Piedmont and
Cavour. Yet, forces from below were also important, especially the liberals
and nationalists who raffled to Cavour and Garibaldi.
4. On the other hand, unification from above was clearly the pattern in
Germany. It was achieved mainly by Prussia, her army, her ruling Junker
class, and the Junker leader Bismarck.
Policy of containment
1. Policy of Containment was a United States policy to prevent the
spread of communism abroad.
2. Steps by USA
1. Marshall Plan provided financial help to nations so as to develop
them economically and to check spread of communism. So US invested
heavily in Western Europe, Japan, Turkey and Greece.
2. Formation of NATO to counter USSR militarily.
3. Even some historian argues that Nuclear bombing of Japan by US
was a part of this strategy to deter USSR.
4. Foreign interventions in countries like Vietnam, Angola, Korea,
China etc. was made to prevent spread of communism in those countries. It
meddled in internal affairs in India and Pakistan and sided with Pakistan so as
to have a friendly neighbour beside USSR.
5. Rise of communism in China and USSR made it inevitable for USA
to have strong ally in the east. So it enthusiastically aided Japan’s
development.
6. USA in cooperation with other countries gave rise to Breton wood
twins to influence financial order in the world. They both led to dollar
diplomacy and dollar as exchange gold standard and reduced influence of
USSR.
Cuban Missiles crisis
1. Cuban crisis was a short confrontation between US and USSR in
1962 concerning American ballistic missile deployment
in Italy and Turkey with consequent Soviet ballistic missile deployment
in Cuba.
2. Events leading upto it
1. The failed bay of pigs invasion and the fall of the Berlin war made
the score for both US and USSR equal.
2. In 1962, US spy planes discovered missile launching pads in Cuba
and the US president ordered immediate destruction and a naval blockade to
prevent Russian missiles from reaching. In defiance, Russia sent warship to
Cuba and raised the possibility of confrontation between the superpowers.
3. It ended, when Russia blinked first and called back the ships, and in
exchange US agreed to remove American missiles from Turkey. This was the
climax of the Cold war, and led to signing of the Nuclear Test ban treaty.
4. The US has agreed to remove its embargo on Cuba, which was one
of the last remaining remnants of the Cold War. Ironically, at a time of
renewed Russian aggression and the symptoms of a new cold war.
3. Consequences
1. No side engaged in a full throttle hot war but the differences
between US and USSR became even stark.
2. Cold war intensified setting the stage for future military and
diplomatic confrontations between US and USSR.
3. Cuban communist regime was allowed to rule and it survived for
long. However, Cuba-US relations withered.
4. Both US and USSR started expanding their ideological influence
base by making military alliances and signing treaties.
Marshall Plan, 1948
1. By the end of World War II, Europe was ravaged by war and thus
susceptible to exploitation by an internal and external communist threat.
Fanned by the fear of Communist expansion, congress passed the Economic
Cooperation act for rebuilding of Western Europe.
2. From 1945 through 1947, the United States was already assisting
European economic recovery with direct financial aid. Military assistance to
Greece and Turkey was being given. The newly formed United Nations was
providing humanitarian assistance. The Marshall Plan significantly magnified
their own efforts and reduced the suffering and time West Europe took to
recover from the war.
3. Marshall Plan was intended to rebuild the economies and spirits of
western Europe. Marshall was convinced the key to restoration of political
stability lay in the revitalisation of national economies. It was also aimed at
blunting the advances of communism in that region. The program whose
official title was European Recovery Program.
4. Aims
1. Increasing production.
2. Expanding European foreign trade.
3. Facilitating European economic cooperation and integration.
4. Controlling inflation.
5. Results
1. Marshall Plan nations were assisted greatly in western Europe
economic recovery. From 1948 through 1952 European economies grew at an
unprecedented rate. The Marshall Plan was very successful.
2. The western European countries involved experienced a rise in their
GNP of 15 to 25 percent during this period. The plan contributed greatly to
the rapid renewal of the western European chemical, engineering and steel
industries.
3. Trade relations led to the formation of the North Atlantic alliance.
4. Economic prosperity led by coal and steel industries helped to
shape what we know now as the European Union.
Why Soviet union disintegrated
1. Economic stagnation for many years led to severe consumer
shortages and a large section of Soviet society began to doubt and question
the system. Internal weaknesses of soviet political and economic institutions,
which failed to meet the aspirations of the people, were responsible for the
collapse of the system.
2. The Soviet Union had become stagnant in an administrative and
political sense as well. Ordinary people were alienated by slow and stifling
administration, rampant corruption, the inability of the system to correct
mistakes it had made, the unwillingness to allow more openness in
government, and the centralisation of authority in a vast land.
3. Worse still, the party bureaucrats gained more privileges than
ordinary citizens. People did not identify with the system and with the rulers,
and the government increasingly lost popular backing.
4. Perestroika: Refers to economic reforms enacted by Gorbachev in
1987 to reform soviet’s sliding economy, but they were not enough. There
were sections of Soviet society which felt that Gorbachev should have moved
much faster and were disappointed and impatient with his methods.
5. Glasnost: It means transparency in Government functioning.
However, this backfired as the public learned of long standing political cover
ups revealing past and recent atrocities, missteps by leadership, social and
health failures of the USSR and the true extent of national economic
problems. This further eroded support for the regime.
6. Excessive centralisation led to growth of local nationalism grew
within each of the individual republics, because of excessive centralisation.
Many republics such as Ukraine, Belarus, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania
wanted to become independent.
7. The USSR was overly focused on military buildup, neglecting
domestic troubles that would play a major role in bringing down the USSR.
This was largely due to the perceived need to keep pace with the massive
USA military build up.
8. Reforms initiated by Gorbachev
1. He made foreign affairs a priority, took initiatives for better
relations with china and pushed Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Gorbachev also encouraged foreign investment in soviet enterprises.
2. Freedom was given to media to criticise the Government.
3. For the first time, parties other than the communist party could
participate in elections. Also, political changes were initiated that led to a
move towards democracy within the Communist party.
4. In economic affairs, government grip was loosened. Small scale
private entrepreneurs were allowed. Computerisation was started which
reduced the manual labour.
5. Workers were given the right to strike for better wages and
conditions.
Why communism survived in China
1. While China had a historical uprising of the masses, namely the
peasants, the Soviet Union did not have a revolution supported by the
majority of the people.
2. Communism was deep rooted in China. This was because, puppet
governments supported by the Communist Party existed in villages during
Japanese rule. They taught peasants the meaning of government, and sparked
in them the feeling of belonging and of having a stake in government. While
no such deep rooted communism existed in Russia.
3. Chinese created a national identity everyone could relate to. In the
Soviet Union on the other hand, there were far too many ethnic minorities in
the state. Rather than recognising that there were many ethnicities, like China
did, the soviet union rejected the ethnicities which lead to its dislike among
certain people.
4. Once Mikhail Gorbachev became General Secretary his political
reforms Perestroika and Glasnost, both proved to be major failures within the
Soviet Union. China on the other hand flourished with the reforms of Deng
Xiaoping. Deng put economic reform before political reform. But Gorbachev,
by pursuing political reform before economic reform, inadvertently dissolved
the Soviet empire.
5. China put less of an influence on controlling the entire country, and
more of an influence on the economy. China central Government devolved
many powers to provinces, this ensured people remained happy with the
government. While, USSR was highly centralised state. It gave little powers
to various provinces. This gave rise to resentment among various provinces.
6. The demise of Communism in the Soviet Union was their failure to
adapt to times.
What is mandates system of League of nations
1. Germany and Turkey were defeated in World War I. They lost all
their Asian and African possessions. Wilson wanted to give them
independence but other countries want to annex them. But finally a
compromise resulted known as Mandates system. According to which, these
possessions would be governed by league of nation. In other words it was a
device by which victors seized the colonies without actually admitting that
they are doing.
2. The mandates were divided into three groups on the basis of their
location and their level of political and economic development. They were
then assigned to individual allied victors (mandatory powers, or mandatories).
3. Class A mandates consisted of the former Turkish provinces of
Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Palestine. These territories were considered
sufficiently advanced that their provisional independence was recognised,
though they were still subject to allied administrative control until they were
fully able to stand alone. Iraq and Palestine were assigned to Great Britain,
while Turkish-ruled Syria and Lebanon went to France. All class A mandates
had reached full independence by 1949.
4. Class B mandates consisted of the former German ruled African
colonies of Tanganyika, parts of Togo land and the Cameroons, and RwandaBurundi. The Allied powers were directly responsible for the administration
of these mandates but were subject to certain controls intended to protect the
rights of the mandates’ native peoples.
5. Class C mandates consisted of various former German held
territories that mandatories subsequently administered as integral parts of
their territory. South West Africa (now Namibia, assigned to South Africa),
New Guinea (assigned to Australia), Western Samoa (now Samoa, assigned
to New Zealand), the islands north of the Equator in the western Pacific
(Japan), and Nauru (Australia, with Britain and New Zealand).
Why did ASEAN succeed where SAARC did not
1. Indonesia is the ASEAN’s largest state but it has little influence
toward its small states. But in SAARC the power differences between India
and the others is very wide. India’s dominance hampered success of SAARC.
This problem is often widened by lack of common political culture.
2. Asean members had serious interstate disputes which they decided
to forget. On the other hand, Saarc members insisted that disputes be resolved
first, before economic cooperation could start. This hurt economic
cooperation.
3. Pakistan and India issue always clouds the SAARC negotiations,
while no such disputes exist in case of ASEAN. In SAARC’s case there are
no formal or informal methods to prevent violent conflicts like ASEAN.
4. India is feeling uncomfortable with the presence of US in SAARC
negotiations. On the other hand ASEAN engages external powers formally
through its dialogue mechanism. This created an environment for ASEAN to
resolve their disputes through international arbitration and mediation. But in
South Asia this is the not preferred as there is a huge mistrust among the
countries.
Socialism
1. The 19th century Europe saw development of industrialised
regions, cities and railways expanded and the industrial revolution occurred.
Industrialisation brought men, women and children to factories. Work hours
were often long and wages were poor. Unemployment was a common
problem. Unequal distribution of wealth created two economic classes and
friction between them gave birth to socialism.
2. Early Socialists criticised the excesses of poverty and inequality of
the industrial revolution, and advocated reforms such as the egalitarian
distribution of wealth in peaceful manner. Outlining principles for the
reorganisation of society along collectivist lines, Saint-Simon and Owen
sought to build socialism on the foundations of planned, utopian
communities.
3. Later in 1948, Marx and Engels disregarded the socialism of early
thinkers as utopia in communist manifesto. And he proposed his new brand of
socialism which he called scientific socialism as it is based on class struggle.
This brand of socialism often called Marxism later became more popular.
4. Marx and Workers in England and Germany began forming
associations to fight for better living and working conditions. Many radical
parties were formed in various countries but eventually most of them later
turned away from pure Marxism towards parliamentary democracy.
Represented by strong figures in parliamentary politics, their ideas did shape
legislation, but governments continued to be run by conservatives, liberals
and radicals.
5. In 1864, First international united diverse revolutionary currents
including French followers of Proudhon, Blanquists, Philadelphes, English
trade unionists, socialists and social democrats. Paris commune in 1871,
fuelled hopes among many and it encouraged many socialists as a sign that
the working classes were ready for radical measures, but the violence
propagated by it hindered the progress of socialism.
6. To coordinate their efforts, socialists formed an international body,
namely, the Second International. The significant achievements of the Second
international were its campaign against militarism and war and in asserting
the principle of the basic equality of all people and their right to freedom and
national independence. They expressed the conviction that capitalism was the
root cause of wars among European nations.
7. The socialist movement had made the international solidarity of
workers as a fundamental principle. The socialists in many countries had
resolved to call for a general strike to prevent their countries from
participating in wars. But when the large scale war finally broke out, the
workers allied their respective governments.
8. The idea of worker’s unity was not as powerful as nationalism. And
socialism also was not a monolithic force as it had taken different form in
different countries. So there was no unity among workers of different
countries. So in the end the second international failed in overcoming inter
country rivalry.
9. Why socialism failed
1. The means to achieve the socialist goals were different. Some
supported the revolution for overthrowing capitalism, others supported
gradual reforms.
2. Some parties supported their imperial governments, while some
were against this stand. While Socialism was fundamentally against
colonialism, some sections supported colonialism for development purpose.
3. Similarly, Socialism was against war, but when the WW-I broke
out, almost all socialist parties supported their national governments in war
efforts, considering the national interest. This was the biggest fatal blow to
the Socialist ideology.
4. Failure of socialism, due to internal difference, to prevent fascism
from acquiring power, especially in Germany.
5. In the post WW-II, the rise of dictatorships in many socialist
countries coupled with violence and totalitarianism did much harm to
socialist ideology.
6. Socialism proved to be less adaptive than Capitalism, since
Capitalism successfully adopted welfare measures, which were the main
planks of socialism. This proved to be the final nail in coffin of socialism as
an alternative to capitalism.
Fascist regimes in Germany and Italy
1. Comparison
1. Both were intensely anti-communist and because of this drew
support from capitalist class.
2. Both believed in and practiced Totalitarian regime where state
controlled all aspect of life of people, so that personal freedom is limited.
Both emphasised on supremacy of state, no voice of dissent was tolerable.
3. Economically both believed in economic self sufficiency of
country.
4. The Leader is considered to be infallible as his every command had
to be followed.
5. Both pursued aggressive foreign policy in order to distract attention
from domestic problems. Both believed in inevitability of war to make a
nation great and powerful.
2. Differences
1. Racism was the most prominent difference between Nazism and
Fascism. Towards the Jews, Nazis followed the policy of cleansing, which
resulted in death of millions of Jews. Nazi believed in the supremacy of
Aryan race. Italian’s racial policy was not as ruthlessly as Nazis did.
2. Nazism spread much more deeply and widely in Germany than
Fascism in Italy. Nazis were more brutal in their oppression and violated the
human rights to a much greater extent.
3. The Nazi system was more efficient and successful with respect to
the goal of economic self sufficiency and Hitler was able to eliminate
unemployment. In contrast, unemployment increased in Fascist Italy and thus
failed to achieve economic self-sufficiency.
4. Organisation of Nazis was strong. Hitler kept the party strong but
Mussolini kept party organisation weak to maintain his influence.
5. Mussolini was more successful in his policy towards church. He
was able to reach an agreement with the pope in 1929.
6. Constitutional positions of Hitler and Mussolini were different. In
Italy, the monarchy had continued to exist and the king played an important
role in the end of Mussolini’s rule by ordering his dismissal in 1943. In
contrast, there was no authority above Hitler in Germany to dismiss him.
British vs French decolonisation
1. British approach
1. British had a declared policy of educating the colonised people in
self government. When popular struggles in colonies rose to prominence,
British gradually started a process of constitutional reform, giving ruled
people a sense of self-government although keeping the rein of power in their
own hand.
2. In India this process of reform had been going on since 1861 and
finally culminated in Govt. of India Act, 1935 and Independence of India Act,
1947. By the end of the decade of 1950s, all non-African colonies gained
independence without much bloodshed.
3. In some colonies there were a large minority of white people, which
didn’t want to let go its special status. So in these countries the process of
decolonisation took much more time like in Tanzania and Kenya.
4. British experience prepared London remarkably well for the
liquidation of empire after 1945. By a series of measures, Britain created the
Dominion system and institutionalised a procedure for gradually loosening
control over her possessions.
2. French approach
1. French had a policy of continuous cultural assimilation of colonies
by educating them in French culture. For which they were even ready to
adopt violent methods. They considered their colonies as the extension of
French territory and never wanted to give them up.
2. Unlike Britain, which took lead in the process of decolonisation,
France, in Brazzaville Declaration of 1944 made its intentions of not allowing
liquidation of their colonial empire clear.
3. They resisted every attempt in direction of colonial independence
which is clear from examples such as Indo-China. They were steadfast in
their refusal to consider even eventual separation at some future date a viable
political option.
4. A variety of reasons may be adduced to explain the French failure
to develop before 1945 any mechanism which might have served as a bridge
for the transfer of power to their colonial subjects after the War. The most
popular explanation has been to assert that the French blindly trusted to their
policy of assimilation whereby the colonies would eventually be one with
France.
Shock therapy
1. After USSR broke out, a number of independent states emerged.
The model of economic transition in these countries from a socialist
authoritarian system to a democratic capitalist system under the influence of
World Bank and IMF came to be known as Shock Therapy. It varied in speed
and intensity but had similar features and direction.
2. Few elements of shock therapy
1. Each country was required to shift totally to capitalist system with
complete privatisation of state assets and collective farms.
2. Countries were required to open their economies. They were to
follow a free trade regime and allow Foreign Direct Investment.
3. It also involved deregulating the economy and a free floating
currency.
4. Existing trade alliances of these countries with each other were
disallowed. Each state was now to trade only with west. Thus their economies
were to be integrated with west.
3. Consequences
1. Economies further nosedived. The old system of social welfare was
destroyed and subsidies withdrawn throwing many into poverty and
joblessness. It also resulted in emigration on large scale.
2. The industries of these countries collapsed. Government held that
Public sectors were greatly undervalued and sold to general public. Since,
public did not have money to buy, they eventually went into the hands of
mafia. It led to the rise of oligarchy.
3. The inflation was so high in Russia that people lost all their savings
and about 1500 banks and financial institutes became bankrupt.
4. The collective farm system disintegrated, generating a food crisis.
5. The construction of democratic institutions was not given attention
as was given on restructuring economies. It resulted in coming of autocratic
regimes in many of these countries.
4. Thus, hardly any positive benefits could be derived by these
countries from the Shock Therapy. It resulted in continuous decline of their
economies. These economies finally began to revive in 2000s when they
adopted an independent economic path without the interference of the
western countries.
Great leap forward
1. The Great Leap Forward campaign of China in 1960s was a push
by Mao Zedong to change China from a predominantly agrarian society to an
industrial society. It involved developments in both industry and agriculture,
in order to increase output and to adopt industry to Chinese conditions.
2. Its important features
1. Communes: Units larger than collective farms were introduced
containing up to 75000 people, divided into brigades and work teams with an
elected council. They ran their own collective farms and factories, carried out
most of the functions of local government within the commune and undertook
special local projects. All the works in the communes from childcare to
cooking, daily tasks were collectivised.
2. Small scale industries: Instead of aiming for large scale works of
the type seen in the USSR and the West, much smaller factories were set up
in the countryside to provide machinery for agriculture. The most famous
were 600,000 backyard furnaces which produced steel for the communes.
3. Successes of the campaign
1. Both agricultural and industrial production increased substantially,
and China was at least managing to feed its massive population.
2. The communes proved to be a successful innovation. They were an
efficient unit of local government and they enabled the central government in
Beijing to keep in touch with local opinion.
3. Given the country’s enormous population, this was the best way of
making sure that everybody had a job, and it enabled China to avoid the
growing unemployment problems.
4. Other benefits were the spread of education and welfare services,
and an improvement in the position of women in society.
4. Failures of the campaign
1. A series of bad harvests and the withdrawal of Russian aid
following the breach between the two. All this, coupled with the lack of
experience among the cadres, caused hardship. Some 20 million people may
have died prematurely as a result of hardships caused by the Great Leap.
2. The Great Leap Forward caused massive environmental damage in
China. The backyard steel production plan resulted in entire forests being
burned to fuel the smelters, which left the land open to erosion. Dense
cropping and deep ploughing stripped the farmland of nutrients and left the
agricultural soil vulnerable to erosion, as well.
5. The Great leap forward and Commune policy introduced by Mao
were not great successes and China was still economically stagnated. Thus,
Deng Xiaoping introduced market reforms which marks a shift from
communism, to a free-enterprise system.
6. Reforms by Deng
1. Many changes introduced during the cultural revolution were
reversed. The revolutionary committees setup to run local governments were
abolished and replaced by more democratically elected groups. There was
more religious freedom and greater freedom for intellectuals.
2. Adopted market socialism as an economic system in which prices
of goods would be determined by free price system. The nature of economy
changed from self-reliant to export oriented.
3. The land, although still officially owned by the state, was divided
up and allocated to individual peasants, who were allowed to keep most of the
profits. This was successful in raising agricultural production.
4. Huge investments were made by local provinces into the most
profitable businesses locally, encouraging light manufacturing which required
less capital, brought revenues and high foreign exchange earnings and
revenues on export.
5. Relation with technologically advance countries in the West and
Japan were improved and trade with them enhanced by purchasing machinery
and advanced technologies.
6. A series of special economic zones were set up to attract foreign
companies and capitals by providing cheap land and labour, quick and easy
clearances by cutting down red tapism.
India’s role in Apartheid struggle
1. India having gone through the long independence struggle herself,
stood in solidarity with the African people in their long and challenging
struggle against apartheid.
2. Pre independence
1. Gandhiji helped attract international attention to the issue of racism
in South Africa long before UN began considering the matter. Also Gandhi’s
ideas of non-violence, truth and civil disobedience were some common forms
of struggle against the apartheid regime. These forms inspired Mandela and
other leaders of the movement.
2. Gandhiji went in a deputation of Indians to Britain in 1909 to
oppose the granting of self government to South Africa under white rule.
3. Post independence
1. Nehru declared that ending colonialism in Africa is a priority.
2. India repeatedly raised the issue in UN and built up sentiment
against racial discrimination in South Africa. Successive PMs like Indira
Gandhi and <PRESIDIO_ANONYMIZED_PERSON> lobbied for UN sanctions against SA to force it to
stop apartheid.
3. India, in spite of being poor even went to the extent of giving up
5% of export trade in 1946 to demonstrate its repugnance of racism in South
Africa.
4. India gave her full support to the African States and the
Organisation of African Unity (OAU) in their fight for independence and
human rights.
5. Various leaders of South African congress were in direct touch with
Indian leaders and thus got the moral support from them.
4. South Africa’s reciprocity to India’s contribution can also be
gauged from the fact that the South African cricket team’s first international
tour after the end of isolation in 1991 was to India. This common brotherhood
among our people can be seen even today in our growing bilateral relations.
5. Other countries role
1. World was horrified by Sharpeville massacre. So, opposition grew
after this incident.
2. UN also placed an economic boycott on South Africa in 1962. But
this proved ineffective as many countries did not support it.
3. There was opposition to apartheid from rest of the commonwealth.
In 1986, commonwealth agreed on a strong package of sanctions against
white ruled South Africa.
4. USA started treating its black people equally and started criticising
the South Africa. Then USA joined the fray by stopping American loans to
South Africa, to cut airlines, ban imports of iron, coal, steel, etc from South
Africa.
5. Dutch, which once supported the apartheid, condemned it.
6. Other factors
1. South Africa was hit by recession in the late 1970s, and many white
people were worse off. Whites began to emigrate in large numbers and there
was shortage of labour.
2. White ruled Portugal colonies of Angola and Mozambique achieved
independence after long struggle. Now, South Africa was surrounded by
hostile black states.
Colonisation and colonial struggle knitted Vietnam
1. Vietnam was colonised by the French. The process of colonisation
and subsequent struggle against the colonisation brought together the
Vietnam nation.
2. Role of education: The French sought to strengthen their rule in
Vietnam through the control of education by changing local values and
perceptions to impose superiority of French civilisation. The battle against
French colonial education became part of the larger battle against colonialism
and for independence.
3. Role of Religion: Vietnam’s religious beliefs were a mixture of
Buddhism, Confucianism and local practices. Christian missionaries tasked
by the French to reform religious institutions were thus resisted by many
religious movements. Thus again it got Vietnam together.
4. Other factors
1. Colonial economic development accelerated faster communications
which helped nationalist movements to bind together disparate tribes and
communities.
2. During the bubonic plague, sewer workers tasked with ensuring
hygiene learned collective bargaining and the power of unity. Formation of
groups resisting French domination began.
3. French revolutionary ideal of liberty was taught by French but it
was not abided by which angered nationalists.
4. In the first decade of the twentieth century a Go-east movement
became popular. Vietnamese students went to Japan to acquire modern
education to drive out the French from Vietnam. These nationalists looked for
foreign arms and help. They appealed to the Japanese as fellow Asians.
5. Setting up a republic by a popular movement in China in 1911 also
inspired Vietnamese nationalists.
World war was first industrial war
1. Features of the War
1. It involved the world’s leading industrial nations such as Britain,
USA, France, Russia, Germany etc., which harnessed the vast powers of
modern industry to inflict the greatest possible destruction on their enemies.
2. It saw the use of machine guns, tanks, aircraft, chemical weapons,
etc. on a massive scale.
3. Millions of soldiers had to be recruited from around the world and
moved to on large ships and trains.
4. Industries were restructured to produce war related goods. Entire
societies were also reorganised for war. Men went to battle and women
stepped in to undertake jobs that earlier only men were expected to do.
5. The scale of death and destruction affecting 20 million people was
unthinkable before the industrial age.
2. Since these features were not found in any of the wars fought
earlier, the First World War can truly be called the first modern industrial
war.
Formal to informal colonial control
1. Formal colonial control implies direct political control, subjugation
and conquest. Under it, local institutions and political structures were
dismantled and replaced with new ones imposed by colonial powers.
2. Informal colonial control implies indirect political and economic
use and control of resources of former colonies through capitalism,
globalisation and cultural forces by the erstwhile powers. It can be said that
today the new institutions imposed due to dependency of poor nations mirror
colonialism.
3. Transition
1. Development assistance granted by the West to the former colonies
are loaded with conditionality which was not be very favourable to the
colonies.
2. Large corporations of other powerful countries, for example the
US, also often managed to secure rights to exploit natural resources of
developing countries at cheap prices.
3. Most former colonies have not benefitted from the fast growth the
Western economies experienced in the 1950s and 1960s using the colonies
cheap raw material.
4. Thus G-77 was formed to demand a new international economic
order (NIEO). By the NIEO, they meant a system that would give them real
control over their natural resources, more development assistance, fairer
prices for raw materials, and better access for their manufactured goods in
developed countries markets.
American expansion in Asia
1. The nature of American expansion in Asia was mainly commercial
and strategic.
2. Reasons why US needed naval ports in the Pacific
1. Asian countries and islands in the Pacific like Philippines can be
used as naval bases and refuelling stations for ships traveling across the
Pacific.
2. Moreover, huge market, source of some of the world’s most sought
commodities like tea, porcelain, silk etc and a network of ports to maintain
the trade led to USA inroads in China.
3. USA negotiated Treaty of Wangxia in 1844 with China soon after
Britain and China fought a war. Maritime expansion led to the proclamation
of an Open door policy for China in 1899-1900, and set the stage for much
greater local involvement in local and regional politics and trade during the
early 20th century.
4. Americans felt superior to people in other parts of the world
because they believed the Christian religion made them morally superior.
They sent missionaries to other countries to bring them into the Christian
religion.
5. After the Spanish-American Civil war, the military was used to
protect settlers and to push Native Americans onto reservations.
US civil war
1. The Civil War was fought between the USA and eleven southern
states that left the Union in 1860 and 1861 and formed their own country in
order to protect the institution of slavery.
2. Role of Lincoln
1. He was elected to office in 1861.
2. War started with slavery as the issue but Lincoln transformed it into
unity of federation. So, he involved and evoked the emotions of Americans.
3. Lincoln took help of volunteers and promoted the message of story
of America.
4. He was successful in getting the 13th constitutional amendment
passed by persuading the Congress and he gained huge popularity among
African-Americans.
5. He took direct participation in capture of Orleans, Gittensburg. He
eliminated hurdles for capitalism and made America huge power.
3. Reasons why Anti-slavery war emerged
1. South slave population as a market for industrialist of north.
2. Independence declaration by Thomas Jefferson, humanism and
welfare are basic tenets.
3. France abolished slavery in Haiti in 1789, Britain abolished slavery
in 1773. So, it was shameful for USA to still continue slavery even after it
being abolished.
4. It was not good for USA economically to leave out almost 50% of
people from economic participation.
4. Important events
1. Purchase of Louisiana: It extended America from Appalachian
mountains to Rockies. Created a question on whether new states will have
slavery or not.
2. Missouri Agreement of 1820: America was not in a position to
face civil war, so Missouri was declared a slave state.
3. Back door policy of capitalist states: Capitalist lobby adopted
back door policy for anti-slave movements.
4. Writers: Garrison published liberator. It was for anti slavery
movement and against slavery. Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Mr. Stowers was also
published during same time. It was an emotional attack describing inhuman
and pathetic condition of slave states.
Iranian revolution
1. The Islamic revolutionaries of 1979 did what all revolutionaries do
was to overthrow an oppressive government, seize power from the opponents,
and then impose a new intrusive authoritarian regime. But just as each
revolution, it displayed its own singularities.
2. Similarities with other revolutions
1. Iranian revolutions had number of similarities with French
revolution such as coming together of a coalition of opposition forces to
overthrow an entrenched regime viewed as illegitimate, oppressive or
compliant to foreign interests its scale and its impact, it was clearly distinct in
its execution.
2. Similarly, like Russian revolution (Putin) the cult of the leader was
important in Iranian revolution too as in the uniting figure of Ayatollah
Khomeini.
3. The weakness of state’s leadership such as the illness of Shah and
uncertainty of his generals also played a key role thus echoing the weakness
of examples such as Louis XVI in France and Tsar Nicholas II in Russia.
4. Similarly, the political changes were accompanied by grave socioeconomic changes in all the cases including Iran, thus differentiating it from a
mere rebellion.
5. Like the French and Russian revolution the Iranian revolution
witnessed violence in the immediate aftermath resulting in the purge of
divergent forces and rise of a unified state based on an ideology.
3. Singularities
1. The party which led the revolt was a network of religious
functionaries and divergent forces that were at the forefront of the unrest. In
its goal, ultimately the Iranian revolution gave prominent place to religion
and galvanised into establishing a state inspired by the ideals of Islam.
2. In terms of execution it was perhaps the only revolution that did not
rely on military force or guerrilla warfare, but on politics. Despite its religious
and traditional guise, it was a modern revolution based on mass mobilisation
and general strikes, which paralysed the economy.
Monroe Doctrine
1. The Monroe Doctrine was proposed by the US president James
Monroe in 1823 as an instrument of foreign policy which sought to put a
check to the colonisation process of Europe in America. Doctrine laid down
that any further interference or attempts to colonise the American continents
would result in an act of aggression by America. The objective therefore was
clearly to contain the expansion of Europe and at the same time increase their
sphere of influence in the American region.
2. The Monroe Doctrine was strongly invoked as a crucial foreign
policy element by later successors like Theodore Roosevelt. President
Roosevelt even added a new corollary, which proclaimed that only the USA
had the right to interfere in the affairs of its neighbouring countries if they
were unable to maintain order of their own.
3. The expansionist policies of USA and its emergence as an
imperialist power can be seen in the instance of the US control of the
Dominican Republic, the stationing of American troops in Cuba in 1906 to
protect it from disorder. Likewise, the USA sent in troops to Nicaragua in
support of a revolt which had been inspired by American mining company
and also to secure the interests of the Americans.
4. One of the most major interventions was in Columbia which
refused to grant perpetual rights to USA over the Panama Canal. The U.S in
1903 supported a revolt in Panama financially and militarily resulting in
recognising a government of their choice and full rights of the Panama Canal.
Why policy of appeasement
1. The other powers wanted to avoid war because they could not win
such a war as they were not economically and militarily strong. The people in
Britain were against war, as they saw the damage of world war I. The
businessmen were also against a war as it would hurt their economic interests.
2. Chamberlain increased rearmament alongside the Policy of
Appeasement. Some argue that chamberlain was buying time for rearmament.
3. Many groups felt that Germany and Italy had genuine grievances.
Especially in Britain, many leaders favoured a sympathetic attitude and called
for revision of the harshest clauses of the Treaty of Versailles.
4. LoN had proved to be ineffective and thus Chamberlain believed
that a personal contact among the leaders of different countries was important
to make them respect international law through negotiations. He favoured the
path of diplomacy rather than of war to resolve conflicts with Germany.
5. Germany was an export market to Britain and thus the British felt
that the economic cooperation would be good for both the countries.
6. Fear of Communist Russia was greater than the fear of the Nazis.
Many viewed the Nazi Germany as a buffer against the Communist
expansion westward. Thus they favoured or allowed for the German
rearmament.
Japanese aggression
1. There were three important acts of Japanese Aggression in this
period. It invaded Manchuria in 1931, attacked the North Eastern part of
China in 1933 and ordered full invasion of China in 1937 which led to
Second Sino-Japan war (1937-45) that merged into the World War II that
lasted till 1945.
2. Invasion of Manchuria (1931): Japan was under economic stress
due to the Great Depression. Its exports had declined dramatically and there
was decline in price of rice due to bumper harvest. Also Chiang Kai Shek’s
influence was increasing in Manchuria. This threatened the Japanese interests
in Manchuria. Japan had invested a lot of money in the industry and
infrastructure development projects in Manchuria since the Russo-Japanese
War of 1904-5. Thus the military attacked Manchuria ignoring the
reservations of the Japanese government.
3. Invasion of the North-east China (1933): Japanese advanced into
the North Eastern regions of China in 1933. This act had no justification and
was purely an act of aggression. Japan was able to occupy a large area by
1935 by taking benefit of the civil war between KMT and communist party.
4. Full scale invasion of China (1937): After signing the AntiComintern pact with Germany in 1936, Japan planned the full invasion of
China. Japan took a minor incident between Chinese and Japanese troops as
an alibi to begin the invasion.
League of nations (LoN)
1. League of Nations was designed to enforce the Treaty of Versailles
and the other peace agreements that concluded World War I. It was also
intended to facilitate open diplomacy and peaceful mediation to settle war
disputes.
2. Success
1. ILO: The International labour organisation was the most
successful. The goals of ILO include fixing maximum working days and
minimum wages, ensuring that member nations provided for unemployment
benefits and old age pensions.
2. Refugee organisation: It helped the Prisoners of War in Russia to
their homes outside Russia. In 1933, it helped the Jews, who were fleeing to
escape Nazi persecution, to resettle in different countries where they would
be safe.
3. Health organisation: It did good work in finding causes of
different epidemics. It was especially successful in combating Typhus
epidemic in Russia which had the potential to spread to the rest of Europe.
4. Mandates commission: It had the responsibility of monitoring the
governance of territories given to member nations as Mandates.
5. International disputes: Here the League had partial success. It
forced Greece to pay compensation to Bulgaria, when the former invaded the
latter. But none of these disputes threatened the world peace.
3. Failures
1. League of Nations came to be viewed as an organisation of the
allied powers especially of France and Britain, setup for implementation of
unjust peace treaties, which failed to satisfy all nations.
2. The Conference of ambassadors was setup as a temporary body to
resolve disputes regarding. But, it continued to exist even after the formation
of the League. This hurt the legitimacy and the authority of the League of
Nations.
3. The League of Nations failed to check any violations of the
frontiers established after the WWI through the peace treaties. It also failed to
take firm stand on aggression displayed by Italy, Germany and Japan. For
example, it imposed only partial trade restriction on Italy after its Abyssinia
invasion.
4. The League of Nations was not a truly representative organization.
It had limited membership and USA did not join it. This resulted in lack of
funds for the League’s work.
5. It was also made to defend an imperfect treaty which suffered from
biases and was prone to be broken. The Peace treaties signed were against
principle of self determination. For instance, millions of Germans resided
outside Germany in Czechoslovakia and Poland after the peace treaties.
Similarly, many Turks were now residents of Greece.
6. It was only Germany, which was made to disarm under the Treaty
of Versailles. The League failed to convince other major powers to disarm.
Hitler used this as an excuse to quit the World Disarmament Conference.
Soon, he denounced the League of Nations and make Germany quit it as well.
4. All the imperfections of the league were responsible for occurrence
of 2nd major world war.
UN
1. The United Nations is an intergovernmental organisation formed
after WW-II to promote international cooperation and to maintain
international order.
2. Successes
1. UN has prevented the occurrence of any further world wars. It has
also been successful in bringing some wars to an end quickly. Ex: Iran-Iraq
war, Gulf war, etc.
2. UN has been credited with negotiating 172 peaceful settlements
that have ended regional conflicts. It has successfully controlled the situation
in Serbia, Yugoslavia and Balkan areas. A number of peace missions in
Africa has done reasonably well to control the situation.
3. UN brought all the countries together and provided for a world
assembly, where delegates of 188 countries can talk to each other. Even small
countries has a chance to make itself heard.
4. It played a significant role in disarming the world and making it
nuclear free. Various treaty negotiations like Partial Test Ban Treaty and
Nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT) have been signed under UN.
5. Demise of colonialism and imperialism on one hand and apartheid
on the other had UN sanctions behind them.
6. UN acted as vanguard for the protection of human rights of the
people of the world, universal declaration of human rights, 1948.
7. Despite crippled by Breton Woods Institutions, UN has played
limited but effective role on economic matters. Supported the North-South
dialogue and aspired for emergence of new international economic order.
8. Agencies of United Nations like WHO, UNICEF, UNESCO have
keenly participated in the transformation of the international social sector. Ex:
eliminating polio, small pox, ebola etc.
9. The world body was also instrumental in institutionalisation of
international laws and world legal frame work. Passage of various
conventions and declarations on child, women, climate, etc, highlights the
extra political affairs of the otherwise political world body.
3. Failures
1. UN opinion on Hungary and Czechoslovakia were ignored by the
erstwhile USSR in 1950s.
2. Israel had been taking unilateral action through decades in its
geographical vicinity and nothing substantial has come out till today.
3. No emphatic role in crisis of worst kinds like the Cuban missile
crisis, Vietnam crisis etc.
4. The UN totally exposed in the case of US invasion on Iraq in name
for the search weapon of mass destruction.
5. Number of nuclear powers in the world has kept on increasing. UN
could not control the horizontal expansion and proliferation of weapons and
arms.
4. Shortcomings
1. It lacks permanent army. This means that it is difficult to prevail
upon powerful states to accept its decisions if they choose to put self interest
first. USSR was able to ignore UN demands for the withdrawal of Russian
troops from Hungary and Bosnia.
2. The world body has failed to reflect the democratic aspiration of the
world. Without being democratic itself, it talks of democratization of the
world.
3. There is problem about exactly when should UN become involved
during course of dispute. Sometimes, it hesitates so long that it scarcely
becomes involved at all, as happened with war in Vietnam, etc. This left UN
open to accusations and lack of firmness.
4. UN has always been short of funds. The vast scope of its work
means that it require huge resources. But it is dependent on voluntary
contributions from member states.
5. UN agencies seem to duplicate each other’s work. Work of WHO
and FAO overlap too much.
UN and LoN
1. LoN was formed after WW-I to provide for greater world
cooperation and to settle international disputes peacefully, but it failed in
stopping WW-II. UN was formed with same objective after WW-II and it
became much more successful than LoN.
2. Common weaknesses
1. Criticism of being a tool of super powers. Being subservient to
powerful individual nations.
2. Lack of permanent army of their own and thus dependence on
members for contribution of troops.
3. Veto powers of a member in Security Council.
4. UN is dependent on US funding while LoN was dependent on
Britain and France.
3. Differences
1. UN is more representative body with nearly all nations being its
members. LoN was less representative due to lack of membership to all
nations.
2. In UN, developing countries have much more voice. While in LoN
there was no say to developing powers.
3. There is much greater prestige of the UN Secretary General as
compared to its LoN counterpart. Kofi Annan (1997-2006) became very
famous for his conflict resolution ability.
4. UN focusses on human rights violations and socio-economic
development through its organs. League of Nations did not include protection
to rights of an individual.
5. UN is more focused on good governance. For example, it has
formulated and works with the member-nations for achievement of
developmental targets like Millennium Development Goals.
6. UN has been able to take decisive action due to change in
procedures as UNGA does not need unanimous vote. Also, UNSC veto can
be overruled by UNGA as per the Uniting for Peace Resolution of 1950.
4. UN is more important in the era of global governance and as the
world has become more integrated due to LPG and issues of global concern
like environment and safety of other Global Commons.
Treaty of versailles was dictated peace
1. The Treaty of Versailles was a dictated peace as the Germans were
not allowed to be part of the negotiations. They could only put forward their
opinion and criticism through writings. All their criticisms were ignored.
2. The clause of disarmament of Germany made it virtually impotent
even for protecting its law and order.
3. It is pretty much evident that all the imperial powers were
responsible for the World War I. But the war guilt clause was solely imposed
on Germany and its allies.
4. German’s African colonies were taken away and converted into
Mandates under the League of Nations.
5. The huge war reparations resulted in humiliation to the Germans.
The amount of 6600 million pounds was too high and was aimed at keeping
Germany weak economically in the foreseeable future.
6. Austria and Hungary were reduced to very small size in terms of
territory and population. Most of the industrial wealth of Austria went to
Czechoslovakia and Poland. They were soon engulfed by economic crisis and
they had to seek loans from League of Nations.
India’s support to Palestine
1. India’s solidarity with the Palestinian people and its attitude to the
Palestinian question was given voice through our freedom struggle by
Mahatma Gandhi. India’s empathy with the Palestinian cause and its
friendship with the people of Palestine have become an integral part of its
time tested foreign policy.
2. In 1947, India voted against the partition of Palestine at the United
Nations General Assembly. India was the first Non-Arab State to recognise
PLO (Palestine Liberation Organisation) as sole and legitimate representative
of the Palestinian people in 1974.
3. India was one of the first countries to recognise the State of
Palestine in 1988. In 1996, India opened its Representative Office to the
Palestine Authority in Gaza, which later was shifted to Ramallah in 2003.
4. Apart from the strong political support to the Palestinian cause at
international and bilateral levels, India has been contributing material and
technical assistance to the Palestinian people. With the Government of India’s
aid, two projects were completed in the field of higher education.
5. Under IBSA Forum’s assistance, an Indoor Multipurpose sports
complex has been constructed in Ramallah. Al Quds hospital in Gaza is in the
process of reconstruction and the process of building a rehabilitation centre in
Nablus has started.
Japanese attack on pearl harbour
1. Reasons
1. Japan was running short of raw materials and they cast eyes on
British’s Malaya and Burma which had oil and rubber. So, Japan intended to
destroy American fleet in Pacific so as prevent them from stopping Japanese
invasion.
2. It was hoped to buy time for Japan to consolidate its position and
increase its naval strength before shipbuilding authorised by the 1940 VinsonWalsh Act erased any chance of victory.
3. It was meant to deliver a severe blow to American morale, one
which would discourage Americans from entering to a war extending into the
western Pacific Ocean and Dutch East Indies.
4. Also, relations between America and Japan deteriorated slowly.
President Roosevelt placed an embargo on oil supplies to Japan when Japan
attacked Indo-China. America also supported China during China-Japan war.
Spanish civil war
1. The Spanish Civil War started in 1936 as a domestic dispute but
soon took an international character. It mirrored the political disputes
occurring in Europe at the time between Fascism and democracy on one hand
and the opposition to Communism.
2. The conflict was between nationalists and republicans. The
Nationalists argued that they represented the cause of Christianity against
Communism. The Republicans argued that they were the legally elected
government of Spain which was under attack by the fascist dictatorships.
3. At the end of the war Spanish nationalists led by General Franco
successfully took control of Spain. Germany and Italy sent aid to Franco.
Germans also used Spain as a testing ground for their new planes tanks. The
Republican government received aid from USSR.
4. It was a prelude to World War II
1. It was the first time there was armed conflict between fascists and
communists.
2. It was the first time the weapons of the 20th century were used in a
real combat situation.
3. The conflict caused much tension in Europe between the different
nations funding various factions.
4. There was a lot of propaganda produced and the war was much
discussed, with volunteer units going to fight on both sides. This reflected the
multi-racial armies used in the Second World War.
Why superpowers needed small countries
1. After all, with their nuclear weapons and regular armies, they were
so powerful that the combined power of most of the smaller states in Asia and
Africa, and even in Europe, was no match to that of the superpowers. Yet, the
smaller states were helpful.
2. Reasons
1. Small states provided vital resources, such as oil and minerals.
2. Their territory, can be used by superpowers to launch weapons and
troops.
3. Superpowers can occupy such locations from where they could spy
on each other.
4. Small states provided economic support, in that many small allies
together could help pay for military expenses.
5. They were also important for ideological reasons. The loyalty of
allies suggested that the superpowers were winning the war of ideas as well.