Historical Timeline: Paleolithic to Cold War

Posted on Dec 9, 2024 in History

Paleolithic and Neolithic Differences

Paleolithic: Divided into 3 parts:

a) Lower Paleolithic: The oldest human remains, dating to 900,000 – 1,600,000 BC, are found in the Iberian Peninsula. They correspond to Homo erectus, known as the Orce Man. The remains found are cut stones and hand axes. The lifestyle is characterized as nomadic, based on hunting and gathering fruit.

b) Middle Paleolithic: This period is represented by Neanderthal Man, from 100,000 to 35,000 BC. This era was noted for the control of fire, the practice of funeral rites, and a variety of objects made on flakes.

c) Upper Paleolithic: Homo sapiens is the representative of this time, from 35,000 to 10,000 BC. It stands for the time of the great hunters, as weapons and methods of capture were refined. Weapons were manufactured from deer bones and ivory to make utensils. Art also arises.

Mesolithic: This is a transitional stage between the Paleolithic and Neolithic periods. Several species disappeared due to deglaciation, which also affected hunting weapons and art. Humans became sedentary if they were located where all necessary resources were provided.

Neolithic: Characterized by an increase in population due to the domestication of animals and agricultural practices. Ceramics, basketry, and stone polishing are characteristic of the Neolithic Revolution. It is divided into 2 ages:

a) Copper Age: The appearance of metals, notably copper, is observed. Megalithic monuments were also discovered. The Millennial culture is notable for walled cities, oval-shaped houses, etc. The culture was advanced, as demonstrated by metallurgy, burials, etc. It is also characterized by individual burials with weapons and pottery.

b) Bronze Age: The culture of the Balearic Islands and forts are clear examples of this age. Bungalows with rectangular shapes, narrow streets, individual burials, etc.

The Edict of Milan

After the great persecution of Diocletian (303-311), a civil war for power in the Empire broke out between Constantine and Maxentius. The Battle of the Milvian Bridge (312) resulted in a victory for Constantine after his dream or vision. Constantine and Licinius, the two Augusti, signed the Edict of Milan (313), granting religious freedom and equal rights for Christians. This included the return of expropriated assets and the abolition of the state cult (worship of the emperor). Constantine died in 337, having favored the Christians. He convened the Council of Nicaea (325), establishing the Creed, but with ambiguity (he also erected pagan temples). He only accepted baptism at the end of his life, but for the church, he is almost a saint. After Constantine, the church gained more and more influence and power (with the exception of the short reign of Julian the Apostate, 361-363). Theodosius declared Christianity the official religion of the empire, condemned heresies like Arianism (380), and banned all pagan cults (391).

The Emergence of the Printing Press

Background: Woodcut, the reproduction of images using wood panels and a short text. It was known in China since ancient times, where movable type also appeared, essential for printing any number of texts. However, the characteristics of Chinese handwriting made it difficult to develop the invention. The European printing press was conceived in December of 1420 or 1430, and definitely before 1445. Attributed to Gutenberg, it was perfect from the beginning. Its rapid spread proves that it met a need. Before the invention of the printing press, a book (incunabulum) was a treat. Between 1445 and 1500, more than 30,000 works were printed, with an average of 500 copies per piece, making a total of more than 15 million copies. During the sixteenth century, approximately 200,000 works were printed, with a total of nearly 200 million copies. The cost of printing books was greatly reduced. The expansive power of ideas multiplied (e.g., Erasmus or Luther’s Reformation). Soon, prior censorship appeared, imposed by the church or the king. Other consequences of its appearance were the ruin of many copyists and miniaturists, but also the appearance of a new industry with many jobs. It was also an effective tool for spelling and language unification, simplifying types and handwriting rules.

The American Revolution and the USA

In the mid-eighteenth century, the east coast of North America was under British rule (the 13 colonies). This territory was experiencing growth in commerce, industry, plantations, etc. There was, therefore, prosperity. Since the mid-eighteenth century, Enlightenment ideas began to arrive in America through the dissemination of the Encyclopédie. A growing desire for freedom emerged.

Between 1756 and 1763, the Seven Years’ War took place between Britain and France-Spain. The British won thanks to the great efforts of the settlers. However, from 1763 onwards, the Royal British increased pressure on the American colonists. They demanded payment of British import duties (previously excluded), prohibited the installation of new industries, and continued colonization.

In 1773, the Boston Tea Party occurred. Strong repression followed the riots against the British. In 1774, the Congress of Philadelphia was held. The settlers organized into militias and patriots, and clashes with British troops began (Lexington, April 18, 1775). The Second Congress of Philadelphia declared the independence of the United States of America. England did not recognize this independence and sent troops to end the revolt.

The American Revolutionary War (1775-1783) ensued. George Washington was appointed head of the US Army. The lack of a professional army and weapons led the rebel colonists to seek help from England’s enemy powers: France and Spain (revenge for defeat in the Seven Years’ War). These countries sent arms and troops, formally entering the war against the British.

The Peace of Versailles was signed in 1783, where the British recognized the independence of the USA and ceded the entire colonized territory up to the Mississippi River, but not Canada.

The first president was George Washington, and the Constitution, the first in history, was written by Thomas Jefferson and adopted in 1787.

Consequences of the Independence of the United States:

For England: It represented the first defeat since the Hundred Years’ War. Loss of its Atlantic empire.
For France: Territorial recoveries.
For Spain: Territorial recoveries (Menorca, Florida), but the spread of new ideas for independence in their American colonies.
For the USA: High human cost, 70,000 deaths, but independence. Loyalists to England emigrated to Canada.

1803: The purchase of Louisiana (the entire Mississippi Valley) from France.

1819: Purchase of Florida from Spain.

1848: Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Incorporation of all Mexican territories north of the Rio Grande (over 2 million km², California, Arizona, etc.).

1846: Oregon Treaty with England.

1867: Purchase of Alaska from Russia.

1898: Annexation of the Hawaiian Islands.

The French Revolution and its Consequences

Political situation in France, 1788: Ancien Régime = absolute monarchy (Louis XVI) and a class-based society. However, Enlightenment ideas and their successful implementation in North America questioned many things.

The economic situation was very bad due to poor harvests, leading to an increase in famine prices, discontent, and riots. In addition, the King was indebted due to the expenses of the American Revolutionary War. Necker advised the king to compel the nobility and clergy to pay taxes, but this could only be approved through the Estates-General. The nobles, who refused to renounce their privileges, offered the king the possibility of a new loan, but this was not the solution. The king refused and called for the Estates-General in May 1789.

1) Moderate Stage (1789-1792)

July 1789: Representatives of the Third Estate abandoned the meeting of the Estates-General due to disagreement with its voting system. They moved to Paris, to the Jeu de Paume, where they swore not to dissolve until a constitution for France was approved. Representatives of the clergy and nobility joined them, and all constituted the National Constituent Assembly.

In view of the absolutist danger, there was a popular reaction. On July 14, 1789, the people of Paris stormed the Bastille (royal prison), freeing prisoners and seizing weapons. The Assembly decided to protect itself by creating the National Guard (popular militia). Simultaneously, peasant revolts known as the Great Fear occurred. Many nobles left France, becoming émigrés.

August 1789: The Assembly adopted:

The abolition of feudal privileges and the nobility (end of class society).
The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen.

However, the king refused to sign them.

October 1789: March of Women to Versailles (in search of food and weapons). The king was forced to sign all the provisions adopted by the Assembly.

July 1790: Civil Constitution of the Clergy.

June 1791: The king tried to escape but was arrested in Varennes (loss of prestige for the monarchy).

September 1791: The Constitution of France was definitively approved.

Since April 1792: War against an international coalition (Austria, Prussia, etc.).

July 1792: Manifesto of the Duke of Brunswick. Radicalization of the masses (sans-culottes).

August 10, 1792: The people stormed the royal palace (the Tuileries). Dismissal of Louis XVI and abolition of the monarchy. Proclamation of the Republic.

September 1792: French victory at Valmy.

Definition and Emergence of Feudalism

Feudalism refers to the political, economic, and social development based on relationships of service and protection (feudal-vassalic) that are dispensed, respectively, by the vassal to the lord and the lord to the vassal. It emerged in Europe in the early Middle Ages, after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, and was established between the 10th and 13th centuries. The urban crisis caused during the Late Roman Empire by barbarian invasions had caused a process of ruralization conducive to the emergence of seignorial relations. That is, many free peasants and former city workers without jobs sought the protection of a large landowner and remained in a state of semi-freedom.

Feudalism as a Political and Military System

The collapse of the Carolingian Empire led to the weakening of royal power and the need to share power between the king, who had a degree of primus inter pares, and the local lords, who had full political, economic, and judicial autonomy in their territories (fiefs). Thus, the lords were nominal vassals of the king. However, the authentic vassalage was that which they exerted on the commoners, who owed them work in exchange for goods and protection of their lives. The feudal lord, in exchange for the lands he had received from the king to protect the people, administer justice, and represent the Crown, was in turn obliged to pay the king auxilium (military aid) and consilium (council). The king reserved for himself a part of the kingdom to administer it directly (goods belonging to the monarchy). The military and political dangers of the feudal system were possible noble wars and possible rebellion of noblemen against the monarchy.

Feudalism as an Economic System: The Fief and Seignorial Domain

There were three types of land:

1 – Alou: Small properties located within the seignorial domain but owned by free farmers. They were few in number and disappeared as they were given by farmers in times of distress or seized by the lords.

2 – Reserve: The best lands were owned by the lord. Its fruits were entirely for the lord, but it was the serfs who worked them.

3 – Mansus: Plots of land that the lord had transferred to semi-free farmers (serfs of the glebe). The farmer worked the land but was obliged to:

Deliver part of the annual harvest to the lord, the census.
Work a few days a week or month in the lord’s reserve (corvée).
Sometimes work in the lord’s workshops.

These workshops were the only ones that could have the necessary material, and the serfs were forbidden to attend other workshops or commission work from workshops that were not those of their feudal lord. They also had to perform military service in case of danger and accept the justice of the feudal lord, who often had the right of life and death over his peasants. In addition, the lord could charge for justice and impose fines, as well as charge fees for using roads or navigable rivers. Revenue derived from the cultivation of the land was known as territorial income.

The origins of the feudal system seem to be found in certain institutions derived from the late Roman and Germanic worlds, but it was from the Carolingian period onwards that feudal-vassalic relations were configured with their own characteristics. The basic elements of feudal relations are, therefore, commendation (root of vassalage) and benefice (also called fief). A vassal was anyone who freely placed himself under the protection of a more powerful person, to whom he pledged allegiance and from whom he hoped for protection and some benefit. The contract was established through the increasingly complex Ceremony of Homage, in which the highlights were the union of the vassal’s hands with those of the lord, the kiss that the lord gave to his man, and the oath of mutual loyalty that sealed it. Then the lord delivered to his vassal, as a symbol of the benefit he granted him, the investiture. From then on, both were closely linked. This contract was broken when one of the parties violated its obligations.

The First World War

Causes of the”Great Wa”

In the early twentieth century, there was growing rivalry between European powers:

a) Between France and Germany due to the war of 1870.

b) Between the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Russia due to the Balkan question.

c) Between Britain and Germany due to strong economic and commercial rivalry.

These tensions led to a series of alliances between powers that ended up configuring two opposing blocs:

The Triple Alliance or the Central Empires: Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy.

The Triple Entente: Britain, France, and Russia.

Therefore, between 1900 and 1914, there was a strong military buildup, a veritable arms race in the countries, known as the Armed Peace.

Serbian nationalism in the Balkans (with Russian support for Serbia) was the immediate cause or trigger of the war, namely the Assassination in Sarajevo, where Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife were killed by Gavrilo Princip, a pro-Serbian nationalist student (June 28, 1914).

Development of the Conflict (1914-1918)

Austrian ultimatum to Serbia. Rejected.
July 28, declaration of war by Austria-Hungary on Serbia. The alliance system was set in motion. Russian mobilization.
Mutual declarations of war in the early days of August 1914.
Germany had designed the Schlieffen Plan, but it failed.
There were some changes in the camps: Italy initially did not participate, and in 1916, it joined the Triple Entente. In 1917, the US also joined the Entente. Montenegro, Greece, and Belgium (attacked by Germany) also joined.

Initially, the war presented rapid war of movement, but eventually, war of positions prevailed.

The deadly effect of new weapons appeared (machine guns, hand grenades, the first aircraft, the first tanks, the first submarines, poison gas, long-range guns, etc.).

We can speak of two war fronts:

The Western Front: After an initial and rapid German advance to near Paris, the front stagnated into a war of positions.
The Eastern Front: Austro-German victories, occupation of Serbia and Romania, collapse due to the outbreak of the Russian Revolution of 1917. Russia signed a separate peace with Germany.

In late 1918, Germany considered it useless to continue the war because it could not win, and therefore called for a just peace and an end to the war.

Consequences of the Great War

The figures beat all known records: 60 million mobilized, 8 million deaths, 16 participating nations.
The armistice was formalized in the Treaty of Versailles.

Europe:

The Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman, and Russian Empires disappeared, giving rise to the appearance of new independent states: Poland, Czechoslovakia, the Baltic Republics, Finland, and Yugoslavia.
Germany, heavily punished in the Treaty of Versailles, lost territories: Alsace-Lorraine, Eupen and Malmedy, colonial territories, territories in eastern Poland, and became a republic. It was declared guilty of the war and had to pay large indemnities, which greatly affected the economy of the victors. Germany was humiliated at Versailles, and a strong desire for revenge was generated in German society.
Creation of the League of Nations (LoN).

B) The Revolutions of 1917

Despite the precarious economic situation of the country, Russia, due to alliances with the Tsar, participated in the First World War (1914-1918). This caused a huge mobilization of resources and population, which led to more poverty, hunger, and hardship. The Tsar ordered the army to repress the rebels, but the soldiers refused to confront the people and joined the revolt. This is the February Revolution. The Tsar abdicated, and the interim government took over, led by Prince Lvov. The liberal and bourgeois government did not want major reforms and did not want to leave the world war. On April 3, 1917, Lenin arrived in Petrograd from Finland and argued that the revolution had to overcome the bourgeois phase and become a proletariat revolution. He proposed the immediate exit from the war and the seizure of power by insurrection. These are the April Theses. Lvov lost strength and was replaced by Alexander Kerensky, a moderate socialist who sought major reforms but did not want to leave the war. On October 10, 1917, the central committee of the Bolsheviks accepted Lenin’s theses. On October 25, sailors from the Kronstadt base rose up against the government.

The Bolsheviks created a strong state, controlled by a single party: the Communist Party, and established the dictatorship of the proletariat to defend against capitalism. Lenin became the leader of the new state.

Commercial Shift of Space: Mediterranean to Atlantic

Until the end of the 15th century, the European economy was limited to two centers in northern Italy and the Netherlands. The geographical discoveries of the Modern Age, especially in America, brought about economic changes of the first order.

Lisbon and Seville monopolized trade with the Spanish and Portuguese colonies, while Antwerp ensured the distribution of products to the rest of Europe. Meanwhile, trade in the Mediterranean was greatly reduced due to the Turkish blockade of the East and the Barbary pirates.

However, international trade gained greater weight thanks to the opening of new continents, the increase in population and therefore the demand for products, and the incentive of the large profits that could be achieved. Within the Atlantic axis, trade with the West Indies (America) surpassed that of the East Indies (Asia). There was a fundamental difference: America provided gold and silver to Europe, while Asia absorbed these precious metals due to its exports in return for very few purchases.

General Features of the Enlightenment

The Light of Reason and Enlightened Thinking

Throughout the 18th century, new ideas appeared in many European countries that opposed the way society was organized (estates) and the monopoly of knowledge by the traditional clergy, who controlled the major educational institutions. Since the late 17th century, England and Scotland had outstanding scientists and thinkers. In France, philosophers proclaimed their desire to enlighten the people with knowledge obtained through the use of reason. That is why we know this period as the Age of Enlightenment.

Rationalism and Human Progress

Only reason can lead to true knowledge: Rationalism. This contrasted radically with Catholic doctrine, where knowledge comes from faith and divine revelation. Reason is not only the scientific method for gaining knowledge but also the standard that should guide all moral and social action. All this could subvert the political and social order of the Ancien Régime.

The Light of Reason

As for the idea of progress, while traditional culture established that society was immutable and that not even God could change things, Enlightenment thinkers began to defend the idea that society could progress towards greater happiness, wealth, and justice. Humanity could and should progress. Modern thinkers (Enlightened) relied on the power of reason and the value of progress.

The Enlightenment Movement

It is an intellectual movement or current of Western culture that appeared in Europe (England, France, Netherlands, etc.) and spread to American territories. The most important tenets of the Enlightenment are:

1) The universal nature of human reason, which must exercise criticism against everything that cannot be subjected to the value of thought, based on experience (problems with the church).

2) Respect for Nature, to which all humans are equal.

3) The requirement that happiness can and must be achieved for all people.

4) Belief in the need for general progress of humanity (in meetings, customs, and lifestyles).

5) Religious tolerance. The idea that different beliefs can coexist in the same country.

6) Humanitarian ideas that reject torture, cruel and extreme punishment, and advocate concern for the poorest children and for patients.

These principles represented an absolute novelty and formed the basis of many of the criticisms against the Ancien Régime society.

The Encyclopédie

In France, some enlightened individuals like d’Alembert, Diderot, and Rousseau decided to collect all their ideas in a reasoned dictionary of knowledge of the time: the Encyclopédie, with a double function, informative and controversial. It consisted of 17 volumes of text and 11 of illustrations. All the major French thinkers of the time participated in it. This work attacked the abuses of absolutism, criticized the power of the church, and demanded the freedom of the people to participate in political decisions and the equality of all men before the law. It began to be published in 1751, and with difficulties, was completed in 1764. The ideals of the Encyclopédie took root among the bourgeoisie, who saw in it a defense of the values of equality and freedom that absolutism prevented. It also strongly attacked the church.

Concern for Education and Knowledge

Education was one of the main concerns of the Enlightenment. They advocated for education for all. The progress of science and new conceptions of knowledge were better received in societies, special schools, and academies.

Enlightened Despotism

Enlightened thinking influenced some rulers who sought to adapt and apply certain postulates of the Enlightenment in terms of economic progress, education, and improvements in the living conditions of their inhabitants. This is how so-called enlightened despotism was configured. These kings, with a certain spirit of renewal and reform, promoted the intervention of the state in the economy, health, and welfare. They tried to remove education from the hands of the church. These enlightened monarchs appointed ministers, reorganized the bureaucracy and administrative territory with a network of state officials with the aim of improving administration. They also modernized the navy and army. The monarchs of the most representative despotism are: Charles III of Bourbon (King of Naples, 1734-1759, and King of Spain, 1759-1788).

Most Important Authors of the Enlightenment

Isaac Newton (1642-1727): Scientist who developed the foundations of modern physics, establishing the only type of knowledge that would be considered valid: scientific knowledge. Discoverer of, among other things, the law of gravity.
John Locke (1632-1704): Affirmed the need for all kinds of knowledge to find support in experience. He also developed a theory of government and society where tolerance and the defense of a parliamentary government were fundamental, with the division into three independent powers: executive, legislative, and judicial.
Montesquieu (1689-1775): French aristocrat who criticized absolutism. He collected and disseminated Locke’s ideas in his work *The Spirit of the Laws*. The three powers should never be controlled by the same hands. He also published *Persian Letters* (1721), among other works.
Denis Diderot (1713-1784).
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778).
Voltaire (François Marie Arouet) (1694-1778).

Consequences of the Industrial Revolution

1. Economic Consequences

The industrial city replaced the rural world.
Triumph of the capitalist economic system.
Constant growth (population, production, income).
Crises (not due to scarcity but to overproduction).

2. Social Consequences

Deeply modified social structure: class society (inequalities).
Unprecedented urban development (working-class neighborhoods).
The new urban life and the nature of work (hours, pace) caused the destruction of the traditional bases of collective and family life.

3. Political Implications

The bourgeoisie came to power, the liberal bourgeois state (differences by country).
Social injustices led to the growth of the labor movement (demands, workers’ struggle).
European colonialism and imperialism.

4. Ideological Implications

New collective mentality dominated by secular values (welfare, consumerism).
Increasing faith in progress and technical capacity.
In literature, realism and social novels.
In art, Rodin in sculpture, Impressionism in painting.

In conclusion, the changes affected all areas of life. The most important: the replacement of an agrarian, estate-based, absolutist, and religious society with an industrial, urban, class-based, liberal, and secular one. Along with the bourgeois revolutions, it created the foundations of the contemporary Western world.

Utopian Socialism

Appeared in the first half of the 19th century. Early theorists of the labor movement. They condemned the injustice of industrial society but, in general, were not revolutionary (except Babeuf and Blanqui). They believed they could coexist with capitalism, which would disappear when the advantages of socialism were seen. They sought to create ideal societies with social equality. The most important examples are Charles Fourier, Étienne Cabet, Robert Owen, and Louis Blanc. Others, like Babeuf, Saint-Simon, and Blanqui, believed that equality could only be achieved through the violent action of a minority with a revolutionary dictatorship.

The Crash of 1929 and its Implications

1. Economic Consequences of the Great War

8 million dead.
A tenth of European production equipment was destroyed.
Disagreement over the payment of debts (loans between allies).
Treaties of Versailles: Strong compensation and border changes that impacted the exchange of goods. For example, Lorraine iron and Ruhr coal.
Humiliation of the Germans.

2. The Decline of British Supremacy and the Rise of the US

The consequences of WWI accelerated the supremacy of the US and increased imbalances in the international market. The United States grew much more rapidly.

3. The United States, the Crisis of Prosperity

The Roaring Twenties: Since WWI, the US became the leading global supplier, replacing Britain. Growing surplus in its trade balance. American expansion was based on a productive transformation dominated by deep technical innovation.
1922-1929: Long prosperity, annual growth.
Rise and Crisis of the Stock Market: On October 24, 1929, Black Thursday, the sudden fall in stock prices. On the 29th, Black Tuesday, the drop was even greater, due to the attitude of banks, which demanded repayment of loans. This is the Crash of 1929.

3. From a Stock Market Crisis to the Great Depression

The two factors that most influenced the economic downturn of the US crisis were the lack of liquidity (nobody had money to pay, causing the bankruptcy of many banks) and the drop in consumption (industrial products were not sold, and factories had to close). Unemployment soared from the end of 1929 and grew until 1933. This, and the need to sell stocks at any price, caused deflation, or a fall in product prices. It was a crisis of underconsumption.

Fascism and Nazism

Features of Fascist Ideology (in General)

Fascism was a political movement founded by Benito Mussolini in Italy, but it extended to other contemporary movements. It represents an authoritarian backlash against the expansion of democracy and socialism. The main features are:

Profoundly undemocratic and authoritarian mood.
Violence by the state to suppress any opposition.
Rejection of the principle of equality among citizens.
Denial of suffrage and popular sovereignty. Rejection of parliamentarism.
Intolerance of the separation of powers.
Defense of state intervention in all spheres of public and private life.
Defense of the autonomy of national production.
Exaltation of the figure of a charismatic leader, who concentrates all powers. Mysticism, personal grandiloquent scenery, etc.
Society dominated by elites and the chosen, all framed within fascist organizations (party, union, youth organizations, children’s organizations, women’s organizations, veterans’ organizations). It is intended to overcome social divisions and establish the unity of the nation.
Prosecution of class-based parties and trade unions (workers). Unionism linked to the corporate state.
Racist component (especially in Nazism). Race is an agglutinating factor of the nation. All this is tied to a fanatical ultranationalism.
In the field of culture, opposition to rationalism and exaltation of the irrational elements of human behavior (fanaticism, blind obedience).
Therefore, a culture of violence. Glorification of war (historical instrument of progress) and rejection of pacifism. This, when applied to international relations, gives rise to a very aggressive and expansionist imperialism (irredentism).

Fascist Italy (1922-39)

Severe economic and social crisis in the postwar period (1919-22). In this context, B. Mussolini founded the Fasci Italiani di Combattimento in 1919, which was transformed into the National Fascist Party in 1921. He wanted a strong state, a guarantor of private property, and an expansionist foreign policy. The bases of the fascists were social and political discontent.

Mussolini won rigged elections and established a fascist dictatorship in 1925. All powers were concentrated in Mussolini. Prohibition of other parties and unions. National Council of Corporations. Parliament depended on the Fascist Grand Council. Strict control of the whole society.

Nazi Germany

Nazism was founded in Munich in 1919 (DAP), an anti-extremist group. From 1921, it was headed by Adolf Hitler (NSDAP). It had violent paramilitary groups (SA, brown shirts). Actions and paraphernalia were similar to those of Italian Fascists (threats, coercion). In 1923, the Beer Hall Putsch took place. Hitler was imprisoned, where he wrote *Mein Kampf* (summary of his ideology). In 1925, Hitler created the SS (personal military). With the effects of the crisis, the Nazis gained support and votes, but so did the Communists. Fear of a communist revolution led the bourgeoisie to support the Nazis. In the 1932 elections, they received the most votes. President Hindenburg appointed Hitler chancellor on January 30, 1933. Hitler banned freedoms of the press and assembly for political opponents. Performance of the brown shirts. He called elections for March 5, but on February 27, the Reichstag fire occurred (parliament). He ordered the accusation and prosecution of Communists and clearly won the election. He obtained full powers from the new parliament for 4 years. Upon Hindenburg’s death (August 1934), Hitler proclaimed himself Führer of the Third Reich. Before definitively achieving absolute power, Hitler carried out an internal purge of the Nazi party, the Night of the Long Knives (June 30, 1934), eliminating Röhm of the SA. In a few months, the Nazis transformed Germany into a dictatorship with strong antisemitic racism.

The Second World War and the Cold War

A) The Second World War

.
1 .- CAUSES:
a) Treaty of Versailles (1918-1919). Unfair, not reconciliation,
humiliation, resentment.
b) The economic crisis, Great Depression. National instability.
c) rise of fascism expansionism, policy strength.
Ex.: Japan to China, Italy to Abyssinia. Challenge to the Soc. Nations.
d) Initiative Nazi face the weakness of democracies (political
dapaivagament)
German policy of fait accompli:
-1935, Compulsory military service. Annexation of the Saarland.
-1936, Remilitarització the Rhineland, Rome-Berlin-creation longs
(Tokyo) or Anti-Comintern Pact. Intervention in G. Civil Eng.
-1938: March, September Anschluss, the Munich Conference in October, annexation of the Czech Sudetenland.
-1939: March 16, annexation of Bohemia and Moravia. Czech. disappears.
March 23, annexation of Memel (liters) April, Italy occupies Albania; German demands on Danzig in Poland.
August, Covenant (secret) Non Aggression Germany-USSR.
1 September, German invasion of Poland. Start the SGM
e) Japanese imperialism. Mantxúria, China.
3 .- consequences of war.
3.1) The demographic impact.
50? Million deaths (half the Soviets), 35 wounded and 3 missing. The
Half the victims are civilians (bombing repressàlies, hunger, extermination, …)
3.2) The economic impact.
Devastation in the combat zones especially in eastern lEuropa. Also in Japan.
In the neutral countries and the U.S. economic growth. Interventional
State reconstruction.
3.3) The impact morale.
Trauma moral dextermini fields, bomb, bombing. Barbaric
Western civilization? Also … the Japanese Crimes Against Humanity
(Nuremberg Trials)
3.4) The peace conference.
Since 1941, Atlantic Charter (USA-Britain) 1943 Conference
Tehran, (U.S., USSR and GB); feb.1945 Yalta Conference (same)
sacorda dAlemanya denazification and the partition, the new frontiers
european ,..);
July-August 1945, Potsdam Conference (matitzacions).
1946 Paris Conference, peace treaties with smaller countries.
3.5) Creating lONU.
Need to replace the League of Nations. Conference in San
Francisco
(April-June 1945). 46 founding countries. Objectives: peacekeeping and
security, non-interference in internal affairs, law
dautodeterminació
peoples. General Assembly, Secretary General, the Security Council.
Also Economic and Social Council, UNICEF, UNESCO, lHaia Court.
B) THE POLICY OF BLOCKS. THE WAR OF THE KOREA Vietnam.
. Period 1947-63 constant tension between the two great powers of surgides SGM:
U.S. and Lurs. It is the struggle for world hegemony in all areas. No
be reached in a direct confrontation for fear of nuclear lholocaust. Is the War
Cold

THE FORMATION OF BLOCKS.
After just SGM laliança Lurs between the U.S. and anti-Nazi. These systems
antagonistic. Europe will be part of the initial tension.
– In eastern lEuropa (occupied by Soviet troops), establishment of
Lurs controlled by communist regimes. Are democracies
need through the controlled KOMINFORM. Tito’s Yugoslavia accepts.
– A lEuropa western U.S. economic reconstruction fund (Plan
Marshall declined to Lurs, 1947) and military. It consolidates the separation;
Churchill, 1946 dacer backdrop, the 1949 creation of the FRG and the GDR. U.S.
begins the witch hunt of Senator McCarthy.
The more moments of tension are:
– The blockade of Berlin .- City divided into 4 zones employment. The June 1948
the Soviets closed the entrances to West Berlin. U.S. Response: bridge
air supply for the city. Great tension.
– The Greek Civil War (1946-49) .- The Communists attack from the north
with Soviet aid, but will be defeated with U.S. support.
– The Soviet threats to Turkey (1946), for the return of territories
(Kars). The Turks will not yield (with U.S. support).
The Cold War and conflicts Locate

D and economic unions in military alliances .- The blocks are consolidated and
Berlin crisis raises the idea of a defensive military alliance between the U.S. and
capitalist countries in Western Europe against Lurs. Well born
lOTAN or NATO in 1949.
But military cooperation had been preceded by economic cooperation:
Marshall Plan, creating lOCDE (Organization for European Economic Cooperation).
Desire for more collaboration and reach a customs union. Thus, in 1952 created the
ECSC (European Coal and LACER), the precedent established by the EEC
Treaty of Rome in 1955.
The response of the communist bloc in 1949 is to create the COMECON (Council
dajut mutual economic), which are off-grid. The answer will lOTAN Pact
Warsaw (1955)
– The Korean War (1950-53) .- Since 1949, Lurs, nuclear power. Now,
dholocaust nuclear threat and, therefore, balance of terror, which leads to a frantic
darmaments race. Contention for dissuació.
Communist advance in Asia (new arena of conflict). The 1949 triumph of
communist revolution in China (Mao Tse Tung).
Korea was divided by the parallel 38 º N in a communist regime in the north and a
capitalist south. In 1950 North Korea invades South Korea. The U.S. involved
with the support of lONU aid in the south, but it changes for the Communist China
north. Stagnation front, the 1953 armistice border similar to the previous.
To stop communism, the U.S. will help to create the Chinese nationalists
Taiwan, and France in Indochina. Also to promote alliances with similar lOTAN
area countries (Anzu, 1951; SEATO ,..).
– Lurs postStalin and conflicts dHongria .- Suez and 1953, Stalin died. Review
of lstalinisme. Khrushchev, Lurs new leader. On liberalization, but
without giving ground: 1956, Hungary, strongly anticommunist popular uprising
repressed.
The same 1956 Egypt nationalized the Suez Canal. French military intervention
British aid to Israel, but the two superpowers are placed in accordance
Europeans outside (the world is for two)
The Vietnam War (1962 -1975). In 1954 the French are defeated and have
dabandonar Indochina. Sindependitzen Laos and Cambodia and Vietnam is divided into two
States: South Vietnam, capitalist and pro-West and V. Northern communist. Since
North creates a guerrilla movement (NVA) for the unification of the country. USA
intervene militarily to defend the regime of the South. Despite massive
American bombings, the continuing casualties among its troops and corruption
regime put South American public opinion against the war. Withdrawal
States in 1975 determined the fall of South Vietnam and unify under a
communist regime.
Front to defeat the West, the Arab allies are defeated Lurs
Israel (U.S. ally) in various wars Araboisraelianes (1948.1967 and
1973).