Chapter 28: Lecture
Another 30 Years War
Armesto is doing in this chapter what I have long thought historians would do: combining the world wars into one era. It makes for an incredibly dense chapter and I am curious how you will do with it. You are getting a political overview of the century. Rather than looking at this as a dense simplification of complex events, try to understand what the significant changes are. If you can trace that political story, you will have grasped Armesto’s argument.
I hope that, in this chapter, the importance of World War I is not lost. In my traditional courses I argue that World War I is far more significant to the direction of the 20th century than is World War II. You wouldn’t guess that from the History Channel or the history section of your local book store! World War I will cause a fundamental shift from the values and practices of the 19th century. Because of the Empires that were forged throughout the 19th century, it means that the shift will have global reverberations. For the first time, the military might that Europe has turned on the rest of the world will be turned on themselves. The devastation is beyond what Europeans can comprehend. Their assertion that Europe marked the pinnacle of civilization will be challenged around the globe. Revisit the art in chapter 27 and you can see some of the changed perspective that takes place. Science will change, women’s rights will change, racial tensions will grow, economies will either be made or broken, colonial systems will be challenged. Some historians describe this as the “Age of Anxiety”.
As Europeans struggle to maintain or restore their societies, ideologies will push to the fore. Liberalism will recognize that it needs to compromise (best exemplified by the New Deal in the Great Depression era U.S.). Communism will appear to be the new viable ideology (falsely surviving the economic devastation of the Great Depression – isolation protected them from the domino effect that ruined other economies). Fascism will be a new political system that no one is truly able to gauge…(if they hate communists how bad could it be?). Colonies seeking to establish independence will have to evaluate weak economies, challenging markets, and try to decide which political system will best preserve their independence (and often the military is the result). All of this uncertainty will fuel the Cold War and skew the many countries involved whether they have an opinion or not.
Working with Armesto:
At the end of this chapter, Armesto talks about the “Anvil of War”. If you don’t know what ananvil(Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.is, take time to learn. All the processes that we studied during the first 12 weeks of the course will be hammered against this military anvil. It is a truly violent and bloody process. The result is both a destruction and a “new order”. While Armesto is working to cover a tremendous amount of material, he also wants to connect a tremendous amount of material.
As you follow his divisions, realize that the uneasy alliance of the U.S.A. and the U.S.S.R will pave the way for Cold War. The polarization of the Cold War will drive and influence decolonization. Decolonization will react against hard power (and invasions) and will be deeply influenced by “soft power”. In putting so many significant events into a single chapter, Armesto is hoping that you can get a longer view than we typically give to each of those periods when we treat them alone.
“Good Study” Practice:
1.Identify the conflicts that make up the “World War Era” of 1914-1945.
2.Explain how those conflicts are connected.
3.Evaluate the rise of two super powers in the Cold War Era.
4.Compare and contrast the influence of hard power and soft power during the age of Decolonization.