Transcription
Okay, welcome to Unit 7 and a brand spanking new time period: 1900 to the present.
In order to set the stage for all the world wars, depressions, and decolonization movements we're going to consider in this unit, let's begin by talking about how state power was shifting after 1900. So, if you're ready to get them brain cows milked, let's get to it!
Now, at the opening of the 20th century, the West dominated the global balance of power. However, by the end of the century, many maritime and land-based empires would fall apart and give rise to new states. Though there are metric buttloads of illustrations I could give you, there are four that you absolutely are required to know.
The first is the decline of the Ottoman Empire. Now, remember in the last period, the Ottoman Empire had already gained itself the unflattering nickname "the sick man of Europe." Even though they had attempted a kind of defensive industrialization program under the Tanzimat reforms, even that didn't get the empire out of the ICU.
A group emerged during that era known as the Young Ottomans, who had been educated in Western ideas and started calling for massive political change that would bring the Ottoman Empire into line with democratic Western powers. To their great shock, the authoritarian Sultan actually agreed to some of those demands and allowed for the creation of a parliament and a constitution.
But you know, Sultans be Sultans. As soon as they were threatened with war from Russia, he went ahead and got his authoritarian pants back on and ruled like a proper dictator. In response to the revival of authoritarianism, another reform-minded group arose, namely the Young Turks. They called for a complete modernization of the Ottoman Empire in the image of Western European nations.
After chugging straight from the hose of nationalism, they envisioned the Ottoman state as Turkic, to the exclusion of many ethnic minorities who lived there. In 1908, the Young Turks went ahead and overthrew the Sultan, plopped down in the seat of power, and made their reforms.
These included the secularization of schools and law codes, the establishment of political elections, and the imposition of the Turkish language as the official language of the empire. And that's great, right? Like, the Ottomans are back, baby!
Uh, no. You see, by implementing these nationalistic policies, they alienated many of the other minorities within the empire, not least the Arabs. As a result, those groups experienced their own ways of nationalism, which further fractured the empire. After the end of World War I, the sick man of Europe would become the dead man of Europe as victorious powers carved up their empire into several independent states.
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Okay, next on the list for collapsing empires is the Russian Empire. Now, remember that Russia had made some progress in industrialization by the end of the 19th century under the heavy hand of an absolute czar. Namely, Alexander II and his successor Nicholas II continued that trend.
But as it turns out, the growing middle class that industrialization had created began to resent the czar's authoritarian policies and demanded more of a voice in government decisions. Then, right along with their grievances rose the grievances of the working class, who had suffered the brutal effects of state-sponsored industrialization.
In the beginning of the 20th century, all those grievances boiled over, and we got the Russian Revolution of 1905, which the czar smacked down with brutal force. However, I guess Nicholas was kind of a softy because he did accommodate some of their demands, like the introduction of a constitution, the legalization of labor unions, and political parties.
But you know, dictators be dictators, and Nicholas largely ignored those reforms and carried on as he always had. Therefore, you might not be surprised to hear that all those tensions that had erupted in the 1905 Revolution began to boil yet again. Then World War I came along and cranked up the heat all the way until that kettle was singing with discontent.
So, the war and the continued difficulties of industrialization then led to the Russian Revolution of 1917, which was led by Marx's visionary Vladimir Lenin, who was a leader of a political group known as the Bolsheviks. This time, the revolution was successful. Lenin and the Bolsheviks seized power, established a communist state, and the Soviet Union was born.
Now, let's go visit our friends in Qing China and see how they're doing. Spoiler alert: it's not good.
Remember from the last unit that throughout the 19th century, China had gotten its hind parts handed to it due to a variety of internal and external factors. Internally, the exceedingly destructive Taiping Rebellion, which though it was eventually put down by Qing authorities, cost millions of lives and enormous amounts of money, leaving China depopulated and broke.
Externally, China lost both Opium Wars to Western powers and the Sino-Japanese War to Japan because the half-baked efforts in industrialization in China were no match for the fully baked industrial powers to their east and west.
Then things got even worse at the end of the 19th century. A group known as the Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists led an insurrection known as the Boxer Rebellion against the Qing authorities, whom they viewed as foreigners—which, you know, they were. Remember, the Qing were broke as a joke, and so it was in fact the British, the French, and the Japanese who sent troops to put down the rebellion.
Do you think they did that because they were like, you know, nice guys? H, don't be crazy! No, because of their participation in restoring order in China, these foreign powers imposed further demands on a weakened China to their own benefit.
At that point, a revolutionary movement gained steam under the Western-educated Sun Yat-sen, which resulted in the abdication of the Qing Emperor and the end of 2,000 years of imperial rule in China. If you wish, you may pause and cry a single tear; I ain't going to judge you.
Anyway, a new provisional government was established under Sun's leadership, but it was short-lived. After a series of power struggles and civil war, China emerged as a communist state under the leadership of Mao Zedong. More on that in a later unit.
Finally, we'll finish up our consideration of all these shifts in power by considering the Mexican Revolution. This one has all sorts of twists and turns, but let me just give you the basics.
In the last part of the 19th century and into the first part of the 20th century, Mexico was ruled by a dictator, namely Porfirio Díaz. His policies angered nearly every social class that existed in Mexico, and they largely banded together to oust him.
His chief political rival, Francisco Madero, was elected in 1910, but he went ahead and got himself assassinated two years later. What followed was a decade of civil war, which included massive peasant armies led by charismatic figures like Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata. However, neither of them were successful in seizing any meaningful state power, unlike, say, the Bolsheviks in Russia.
By 1917, the revolution was completed. Mexico emerged as a republic with a newly drafted constitution, which enacted widespread reforms that addressed the grievances that had led to the revolution in the first place. Some of these reforms included universal male suffrage, minimum wages for workers, and a decoupling of the Catholic Church from political and economic power.
This revolution was largely confined to Mexico and didn't have the significant international effects that the Chinese and Russian revolutions had.
Okay, click here to keep reviewing for Unit 7, and click here to grab my AP World History review guide, which has everything you need to get an A in your class and a five on your exam in May. I'll catch you on the flip-flop. Heimler out!