The+West



- I chose to include the Americas and Europe as the West as it was the Europeans who mostly traveled West in the colonial era and spread most of their culture that way while other nations chose to stay within their spheres of influence.

__Pg. 673 - 678, Pg. 690- 695__ MI: While economics and political aspects of nations suffered post WWI, their culture began to improve and bounce back. ++: Women gained new rights, being able to go out to clubs, and most importantly, the ability to vote. ++: Artistic movements like the **cubist movement** began to take place; there were also newfound knowledge in the fields of science. ++: Inflation had occured due to printing of money rather than using taxes to fund for the war.

MI: During the '20s, the growth of industrial centers boomed and was prosperous for many nations. There were struggles with politics, however. ++: The introduction of the assembly line by Henry Ford, alongside new methods of speeding up production such as insertion of music, helped increase the efficiency of factory workers. ++: Movie/Hollywood stars became popular and went on to become national phenomenons. ++: The U.S. refused to join the League of Nations despite being against communism. ++: Japan faced tensions between the military leaders and their own civilians.

MI: Fascism grew in power in its country of origin, Italy, after Italy suffered from politcal weaknesses. ++: **Benito Mussolini** was the key figure for **fascism** in Italy; even with a small minority of supporters, he could gather enough strength to topple the existing government. ++: This was because the Italian parliament was indecisive about their actions. ++: He did get large amounts of supporters due to nationalist feelings that Italy should have gotten more land during World War I.

MI: Nations of Eastern Europe suffered economically, socially, and politically in the aftermath of World War I. ++: They could not maintain Parliamentary-style governments due to economic problems. ++: Nationalistic sentiments about wanting to gain more land led to bitter rivalries between the small European nations of the East. ++: They were too dependent on agriculture; when agricultural prices dropped, their economies plummeted as well.

MI: Causes of the **Great Depression** revolved around overproduction of products when there wasn't enough demand for it. ++: Loans were being put out from the United States to fund for the equipment necessary for overproduction; over time, these loans racked up. ++: Inflation had occured due to overproduction of products; this led to the government unable to tackle on other problems. ++: Some nations even tried to protect their economy by restricting trade; this made the situation even worse.

MI: The effects of the Great Depression sent economic instabilities all over the world. ++: Loans were being withdrawn early, but European institutions could not pay them off, their economic systems were entirely based off of U.S. loans. ++: Unemployment rates soared with the lack of production; women and children found more job opportunities than husbands were. ++: Many tried to escape the realities by going to movies and to reading books.

MI: The Depression led to changes in national policy in hopes of improving the situation, but these changes backfired. ++: Nations tried to impose a higher national tariff to limit importation of other goods from other countries, but this made the economic depression worse. ++: New parties, like the **Popular Front**, tried to handle the situation, but were too indecisive due to conflicting values, or even unable to find a solution.

MI: The U.S. did find some success in handling the Great Depression, but not entirely. ++: **New Deal** policies by Roosevelt helped the depression by providing relief funds to unemployed people, all the while accelerating the war debts that Europe needed to repay. ++: This brought newfound confidence in the political government of the U.S. by its civilians.

MI: Hitler grew in power in Germany due to his effective promises to combat the depression, as well as a shift back towards traditional ways of ruling. ++: His Nazi party gradually grew in size and gained supporters as he pitched his promises and goals for Germany. ++: Once in power, he installed a **totalitarian state** whhich regulated the activities of all of its people. ++: He distracted his own problems by the fervent movement to eliminate Jews.

MI: The power of Hitler led to fascism spreading to other nations. ++: Italy's Mussolini began to experiment more boldly with the rise of Hitler; he attacked Ethiopia in an attempt to gain that territory. ++: Spain was in a civil war; Franco and his fascist forces were able to achieve victory and installed their government for 25 years.

MI: Latin America looked for new reforms to combat the economic depression. ++: Because liberalism was not working for them, they looked towards Europe for new inspiration for reform ideas. ++: Students of universities began to argue for reform changes in education, which later spread to other countries.

__Pg. 709 - 721 "New" Notes for World War II__ MI: Aggression in World War II was not started by Germany, the leading power in World War II, but rather, Japan. ++: Japan launched an attack on China that was largely successful initially due to their military leaders being trained by Germany. ++: These attacks on China were largely Japan's own actions and volition; they did not contact Germany before conducting these attacks. ++: These attacks also escalated the war; before, the U.S. and England were hesitant in joining the war because of the previous war, and they were even willing to sacrifice small states to keep the world war-free.

MI: The end of World War II was not completely a peaceful ending amongst the Allied Nations. ++: There was tensions between the Soviet Union and the allies about the partition of Germany among the nations, as well as restoring France. ++: Smaller nations were also debated upon; the Soviet Union wanted these nations to abide to communism, while the Western nations wanted these nations to be democratic and independent. ++: This tension after World War II would lead directly into the Cold War between the U.S. and the Soviet Union.


 * **What were the major effects of decolonization post WWII on Europe?**
 * How did the Cold War divide Europe? What were the implications of this division?
 * Why did European governments move towards Liberal Democracies?
 * What was the welfare state? Why did they develop? what were the issues?
 * Trace growing diplomatic relationships within Europe
 * Outline economic development in Europe
 * Outline the post war development of the non-European West (Excluding the United States)
 * Explain the growing role of the United States in world affairs
 * Trace developments for women in the post war West
 * Outline cultural developments in Europe.

- The major effects of decolonization post WWII on Europe were that Europeans found that their colonies became much more hostile towards them; organized nationalist resistance movements fought back against their colonial powers. Most European nations decided that dealing with these new oppositions were not worth the time, effort, and resources to do so, considering the destructive aftermath of World War II, and left them as is and/or declared them independent. Europeans' power in the world was greatly reduced in the world as a result of the loss of these colonies, but their overall economic growth and political stability did not suffer much.

- The Cold War divided Europe into two segments; the **eastern bloc**, which consisted of Poland, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Romania, and Hungary, were controlled by the Soviet Union and were communist countries, a contrast with the western nations of Europe who were democratic and anti-communist. The country of Germany was partitioned in the same way; the east was the Soviet's land, and the west was the U.S. and Britain's land. The implications of this division were evident of the increasing tensions between communism and democracy.

- Europeans moved towards liberal democracies because of the fascist and communist governments' defeat in World War II; defeat in war meant a weakening or discrediting of the system of government used during the war.

- The welfare state was a nation in which the government helped to fund for healthcare, economic activities, housing, etc. for the wellbeing of their civilians. They developed because of the destruction caused by World War II, as well as a shift towards democracy and new resistance ideas. The major issue with welfare states was that a large chunk (~25%) of their government funds were going towards welfare purposes.

- Six western European nations (West Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands) set up the **European Union** to help with economic unity.The Common Market was also set up to oversee any disputes among the six nations, and also to prevent violations of the rules they set in place. Germany and France however, often bickered with each other regardless.

- Europe adapted new technology and seeds for improving agriculture. Factories were putting out weapons, textiles, and metallurgical products for sale. Overall productivity increased in gross national product, and eventually exceeded that of the U.S. Europe's nations were growing at an annual rate of 6% - 11%. Because of immigration, European nations' labor work forces took a hit in numbers; however, this actually helped to benefit them. This meant more people could grab jobs and have higher standards of living and more spending money. Immigrant workers, however, took a huge hit in terms of wages and the stability of their employment.

- Canada also began to establish a welfare plan for their nation, and they took measures to limit further U.S. intervention, as a result of growing Canadian nationalism. They did however, sign a free-trade agreement pact with the United States. French Canadians also began to argue at this point to have their own independence from the English speaking Canadians. Australia and New Zealand moved away from Great Britain and joined a mutual defense pact with the United States. Australia came to be Japan's chief raw-materials supplier.

- The United States asserted itself as the world's leading defender of democratic and capitalistic values; Truman promised support for free peoples who were under attack by communist forces, and even offered economic support as well. They helped Berlin survive their barricade from the Soviet Union via airlift, and assisted South Korea against the communist North Korea. The U.S. tried to prevent Cuba from turning communist but failed, and got involved in the Vietnam War by bombing North Vietnam.

- In the post war West, women could take on more factory and clerical jobs, thus increasing the employment rate for women. They also received suffrage rights during this era, and were granted higher education, though it was still elusive to them. More women began to look for pleasure in the form of sexual activities, rather than their traditional viewpoints. Women at this point were also more likely to divorce from their husbands, due to more legal freedom to do so. A new feminist movement arose that hoped to redefine what it meant to be a man and what it meant to be a woman.

- Europe made advances in genetic knowledge and industries due to their new knowledge of DNA, as well as the human genome project. In addition, new and innovative art styles were welcomed now. Social history was now at this point also becoming popular for Europeans.