20th Century Conflicts

20th Century Events

The Cold War

1945-1991 (approx.)

Consequences:

Causes:

• produced new military alliances, including NATO and the Warsaw Pact
• led to great technological and discovery advances
• led to the spread of nuclear weapons

• different ideologies: captialism vs. communism
• the West's fear of the spread of communism
• Stalin's expansionist polity in Eastern Europe
• Stalin's fear that the West aimed to destroy communism
• Mutual mistrust and suspicion (the atomic bomb, the Second Front in Normandy)
• The question of Germany (differing views)

World War II

1939 - 1945

The Cuban Missile Crisis

The Suez Crisis

The Great Depression

Consequences:

Causes:

1956

October 1929 - late 1930s

1962

• Nationalist, discriminative ideologies (Fascism, Nazism)
• Expansionist policies, Imperialism
• the Treaty of Versailles (maybe too harsh)
• the Great Depression
• Appeasement - the failure of the League of Nations
• rise of Japan
• militarism

• massive destruction and loss of life
• Europe's domination ended
• the emergence of the superpowers USA, USSR
• the creation of nuclear weapons
• the creation of UNO
• encouraged the movement of decolonisation
• Cold war
• the division of Europe (the iron curtain)
• the Holocaust (psychological impact)
• the creation of Israel
• stimulated social changes

Consequences:

Causes:

Consequences:

Causes:

Consequences:

• overproduction of economies leading to drop of prices
• the collapse of banking industry
• overspeculation on Wall Street (leading to the Wall Street Crash)

• the Cuban Revolution and independence movement
• placing missiles on Cuba by Khruschev
• placing missiles in Turkey by Kennedy
• misinterpretation and mutual suspicion of the leaders
• the failed U.S. attempt to overthrow the Castro regime in Cuba with the Bay of Pigs invasion
• the Cold War tensions
• the spread of communism and the policy of containment

• the claims for the Suez Canal territory
• the Arab unification movement
• The Non-Aligned Movement
• Egypt signing arms deal with Czechoslovakia
• the nationalisation of the Suez Canal by Nasser
• sabotage inside Israel
• the American and British decision not to finance Egypt's construction of the Aswan High Dam

• Egypt got the Suez Canal
• a tryumph for Nasser
• a humiliation for Britain and France
• Britain was weakened
• Algerians were encouraged in their struggle for independence
• both USA and USSR demanded for a ceasefire
• Israel regained shipping rights in the Straits of Tīrān
• Israel started looking towards the US for support

• Castro got the promise that the USA would not invade Cuba
• Soviet missiles removed from Cuba
• Both sides realised the threat of nuclear war
• The Test-Ban Treaty (1963)
• a hotline was established between Washington and Kremlin
• The Soviets felt humiliated - led to more fierce arms race
• tryumph for Kennedy
• the removal of Khruschev from power shortly after
• Cuba pursued more independent foreign policy
• USSR-USA relations improved
• USSR-China relations worsened

• widespread unemployment
• (German unemployment rose to 30%, American to 25%)
• hyperinflation (especially in Germany)
• fall in foreign trade and production
• construction was almost halted in some countries
• poverty
• one of the reasons behind Hitler's rise to power
• countries were occupied with their problems and weren't that much engaged in the League of Nations (protectionist policies)
• expansionist policies (Japan, Italy, Germany)

The Vietnam War

The Berlin Crises

The Spanish Civil War

Korean War

The Soviet-Afghan War

World War I

1963(4) - 1975

1st - 1948-49, 2nd - 1961

1979 - 1989

1950 - 1953

1914 - 1918

Causes:

Consequences:

Causes:

Consequences:

Causes:

Causes

Consequences

• the First Indo-China war
• the division of Vietnam
• the Vietnam independence movement under communist powers
• the policy of containment (the Domino Theory)
• the want of US control over South Vietnam
• the regime under Ngo Dinh Diem
• The Gulf of Tonkin Incident (1964)

• destruction of Spain, massacres etc.
• a terror campain against the Republicans by Franco
• divisions remaining in the Spanish society
• the role of women threatened due to Franco's regime
• weakened Spanish economy
• labour shortage due to loss of workers
• inefficient agricultural system

• political instability (frequent changes in the government)
• groups becoming more extreme (nationalists, anarchists...)
• spanish army influencing the government
• people becoming hostile towards the church control
• geographical divisions striving for autonomy
• economic problems ('wealth should be shared with the masses')
• the fall of monarchy in 1931
• the Great Depression
• the Facist Falange

• the Soviets lost
• the were now on considered as agressor by Muslim states
• civil war and the rise of the Taliban regime
• a significant factor that contributed to the dissolution of the Soviet Union, formally ending the Cold War

• Instability in Afghanistan's powers
• theocracy
• The Soviets were afraid that Muslims from Iran could penetrate Afghanistan and even further into Soviet republics (and cause disturbance)
• The Soviets Upheld the ‘Brezhnev Doctrine’
• Afghanistan's strategic importance
• Moscow Feared Growing U.S. Involvement

• the division of Korea
• the desire of Korean unification
• the spread of communism and influence ?
• the failure of unification talks

• The first hot war of the cold war
• the cold war spread into Asia
• a partial success of the policy of contanment
• Korea became permanently divided
• China emerged as a significant power in Asia
• policy of containment in Asia (SEATO)
• the Americans were determined to protect Taiwan

1st Berlin crisis:

• a great psychological boost to the Western powers (the arilift)
• relations with USSR worsened
• formation of NATO
• Germany remained divided
• proved that the West was determined to resist Stalin and communism

Consequences:

Causes:

2nd Berlin crisis:

• the US did not loose West Berlin
• the Berlin Wall
• the wall was a visible sign of the failure of the Soviet system
• the symbol of the division between east and west
• the wall removed Berlin as an issue in the Cold War
• the brain drain ended
• focus of the Cold War moved from Europe
• used as a propaganda weapon against the Soviets
• indirectly led to the Cuban Missile Crisis

2nd Berlin crisis:

• the want of Khruschev for Berlin to become demilitarized
• the want to strengthen the GDR,
• desired to shake the credibility of the leading Western power, the USA, and thus split NATO as a defensive alliance
• Berlin was still a shame for the USSR
• Khruschev issuing an ultimatum

1st Berlin crisis:

• the merging of the three Western German zones
• introducing new currency and ending price controls in West Germany
• a stark contrast in living conditions between the two sides
• Stalin wanted post-war Germany kept weak and wanted Soviet influence to spread
• the Soviet blockade of west Berlin

• Militarism (the naval rivarly - connected with imperialism)
• Alliances ("encirclement", although there was nothing binding to them)
• Imperialism (The Moroccan Crisis, colonies)
• Nationalism (Serbia, Germany)
• maybe war could drive the attention of Germans away from their domestic problems
• war plans (the Shlieffen Plan...)
• The Franco-German hostility
• control over the Balkans, the Balkan frictions
• preventive war
• the blank cheque (Germany backing Austria-Hungary)
• miscommunication between the leaders
• Russian rearmament

• the change in European domination
• the creation of the League of Nations (striving towards peace)
• new methods of warfare, innovation
• women empowerment in the workforce (temporary but still)
• severe hardships, economic and human loss (around 40 mil deaths)
• many countries weakened and dissatisfied
• revolution in Germany
• long term: World War II
• the revolutions in Russia
• the formation of new states (Poland, Czchoslovakia...)
• USA becoming more powerful
• Italy weakened (falling later into facist dictatorship)