World and Modern History

Prologue

Nazism (Adolf Hitler)

Fascism (Benito Mussolini)

Reasons of WW-II

Rise of Japan (Never in the history of world has such a event taken place. So do read it)

Korea ( Story of 38 parallel)

Vietnam (War of the Will of the people)

Nazism

Reasons for Nazism

i) Economic crisesii) Political crisesiii) Social crises

Economic Crises a) Germany was already facing the unaffordable compensation from the treaty of

Versailles 1919 (It was a treaty completely against Germany on the principle of revenge because all the provisions were against Germany).

b) In this scenario France & Belgium attacked “Ruhr”(Famous for iron & coal mines) which led to the indefinite strike by the laborers of these mines, this created supply shortage of fuel & raw material to German industries creating deflation in 1923.

c) Germans showed the signs of recovery from 1926 but before it could strengthen itself The great economic depression(1929) was a blow to the German economy

Political Crises

a) From 1871-1914, Germany has seen a strong monarchy, but as William-II escaped to Holland in 1918 ,so monarchy came to an end & was replaced by a political institution called Weimer in 1990 it was an infant & immature organization which faced 2 coups from 1920 to 19231) By Dr Kapp(1920) who tried to seize the new Parliament by force2) Ludendorff – He was the mentor of Adolf Hitler, in 1923 Ludendorff tried to

repeat the story so from the very beginning “Weimer Republic” was struggling to achieve strength & stability

Social Crises

a) Due to the economic & political crises Germany society was facing the brunt of anarchy & employment & in this tension between Germans and Jews deteroited the conditions in Germany

b) Germans accused on certain grounds that Jews were responsible for the defeat of Germany in World War – I

Treaty of Versailles

Adolf Hitler

Rise of Adolf Hitler

a) In 1919 Hitler formed Nationalist socialist party, in short Nazi Party. In the initial phase Nazi Party & Adolf Hitler failed to impress the German people. In 1923 he was imprisoned along with his master (I hope u remember Ludendorff).

b) But the economic depression in 1929 increased the trouble in Germany & appeared to be a great opportunity for Adolf Hitler & his ambitions. He was able to attract the masses & in the election of 1933 he succeeded in getting good numbers of seats in Germany.

c) As none of the party had got majority (As happens in the case of Indian Politics too. But still they manage with 17-18 coalition parties …. And how well do they manage... Management Gurus do take a note … lolz) so Germany was going through economic & political instability which frightened the capitalist class(e.g of India tatas , ambanis , and Kumar managlam birla (In news recently do google it)) in Germany

d) Adolf Hitler took anti-communist stand which provided him the support of capitalist class & with this increased strength he compelled President Hindenburg to accept him as the chancellor in 1933 (Note president Hindenburg president of Germany from (1925–34))

e) During re-elections Adolf Hitler & his party were behind all the nuisance in Germany, specially burning down of Reich-stag(the German parliament). Hitler accused communist for this act & propagated that communist wanted to destabilize, the political system in Germany, this increased the frustration in capitalist class & they gave complete and unconditional support to him

f) In 1934 when President Hindenburg died, Hitler occupied the post of president & became the “chancellor cum president of Germany” in 1934, later on to be the dictator of Germany

Internal Policies of Adolf Hitler

1) Political reforms2) Economic reforms3) Social reforms

1) Political reforms – In 1934 Adolf Hitler abolished provincial legislature in Germany & that ended the status of states in Germany which completed German unification. Hitler & Mussolini (Following soon) were of the opinion that a new born & struggling nation should always be under strict supervision , which requires a ban on civil rights. Under this important steps taken were

End of judicial rights Ban on freedom of expression & speech (Art 19/1/a (Indian Constitution –

just a passing reference to refresh your and my mind)a) Abolition of opposition & Purge (Purification of critics of his own party) – With

the coming to power he abolished his opposition in Germany (No opposition, no tension free to do all atrocities) & by the concept of purge in 1934 he eliminated & killed all his critics within his own party, so from 1934 Nazi was the only party in Germany & Adolf Hitler the only German leader.

2) Economic reforms - 4 year plans with the objective to improve & increase production in Germany

a) Evolution of synthetic – Synthetic was evolved as a substitute for wool fiber and motor fuel & this brought down the imports of Germany

b) Elimination of Jews – 90% of German business was in the hand of Jews & with the elimination of this community it was transferred to Germans & this became the important reason for Germans giving the initial support to Adolf Hitler.

3) Social Reforms – Education became a victim of Nazi Propaganda. Interference in the personal life of people (e.g. a German women was not allowed to marry a Non-German …. Reference same as Vedic period 2 types of marriage (Anuloma -Higher class male can marry female of lower class & Pratiloma –Males of lower class cannot marry female of higher class ))

External Policies of Adolf Hitler

1) Left disarmament conference (1933) – according to Hitler disarmament was the provision of Paris peace conference of 1990. And if European powers would have been loyal its disarmament would have started from 1990

2) Left league of nations in 1934 on the grounds that it was a powerless body acting as puppet of important European countries(great Britain & France)

3) Refused to accept Treaty of Versailles – As according to Hitler it was a dictated peace based on the philosophy of revenge.

4) Emphasized on the concept Third Reich also called as Heart Land Policy = According to his concept Hitler declared formation of a greater German empire by uniting all the areas dominated by Germans like Poland , Austria & Czechoslovakia, this is also called as the heart-land policy of Hitler which became the important cause for World war – II

Heartland Policy Map

Heartland Policy (Third Reich Policy)

a) Under this policy Rhineland (River Rhine in Map) became the 1st target of Hitler after which he moved towards Sudetenland which led to the Munich conference of 1938, in which Hitler promised Britain & France to leave the policy of aggression, if he was allowed to hold Sudetenland.

b) This was accepted by Britain & France but later on Hitler violator his promise & attacked Czechoslovakia. This was an alarming bell for Britain & France. Lastly in 1939 he attacked Poland & this was the end of patience of Britain, so Britain declared war on Germany & this was the beginning of WW-II in which Hitler was assisted by Italy & Japan

Benitto Mussolini

Fascism(Benito Mussolini)

1) Reasons – For Fascism

a) Economic Crises - Italy was at the centre of renaissance(the activity, spirit, or time of the great revival of art, literature, and learning in Europe beginning in the 14th century and extending to the 17th century, marking the transition from the medieval to the modern world. ), but it was a backward country as it lacked industrialization, agricultural reforms etc. Initially it refrained from the war because of its backwardness & socialist pressure in the country.

But circumstances changed in 1915, & Italy with the hope of having Big gains sided with allied powers (Britain & France). The reason for this was, some of the specific areas of Italy were still under command of Austria & Neighboring countries & they assumed that if they helped allied powers in the war, they would get their areas back.

Although allied powers were victorious in WW-I Italy failed to full-fill its aspirations & this increased economic crises in Italy.

And in this economic crises, Italy was not able to digest the philosophy of democracy & none of the parties in Italy were able to gain majority, so there was always a trouble of stable government in Italy.

Unemployment, power & anarchy were highly prevalent in Italy & in this way the overall crises in the country prepared the ground for the emergence of Benito Mussolini

Rise of Benito Mussolini

1) Benito Mussolini was a teacher & a strong follower of the philosophy of socialism which he propagated through his newspaper Avanti.

2) In 1920 he formed fascist party & started a newspaper “People of Italy”. In 1922 elections he got good number of seats, but there was no majority to any single party

in Italy. So Italy was facing a scene of political instability which was a for the capitalist story( Same story as that of Adolf Hitler)

3) Benito Mussolini took anti-communist stand & he was able to get the support of the capitalist class, with this new strength and support of Brown Shirts (Youth organization of his party) he moved towards Rome & horrified ruler Emmanuel who accepted him as Prime Minister of Italy in 1922

4) From 1922-1924 he changed the entire structure in Italy appearing as a dictator of Italy

1) Internal Reforms

a) Treaty of Lateran (1929)b) Abolition of Oppositionc) End of Civil & Human Rights

Note (Abolition of opposition & end of civil and human rights – same as that of Hitler so I will not cover it over here.)

a) Treaty of Lateran (1929) – By this treaty he gave autonomous charge of Vatican to the pope with compensation & also accepted catholic religion as the official religion of the state. In this way the long dispute between Italian government & pope was over. And Pope accepted Benito Mussolini as the ruler of Italy.

2) External Policies Benito Mussolini was able to satisfy his people in early phase of his

carrier, but then his superficial reforms, were washed away by economic depression of 1929

Italy & Italians once again came into trouble & Mussolini had the only way of war to satisfy the sentiment of people so he raised the new slogan “old glory of Rome” which was based on the policy of aggression in which his important targets were Albania, Ethiopia etc.

In this was Benito Mussolini & Adolf Hitler became friends having common interest which lead to the “Berlin- Rome Access” which was later joined by Japan & this “Berlin-Rome- Tokyo” was the rival party of allied powers in WW-II

World War – II (1939 - 1945)

Main reasons for World War –II

a) Red threat – communist (Became a panic for the entire European powers)b) Dissatisfaction & Humiliation of European powers (Like Italy & Germany)c) Failure of World Organizationd) The Great Economic Depression (1929)e) Aggressive Nationalism (Nazism & Fascism)

Note – Just Jotted down most important reasons for WW-II (Refer NCERT CLASS 12TH – By Arjun Dev)

Emergence of Japan (One important event of WW-II)

Note – Indo & China are called Golden Land (For its agricultural Productivity) & Indonesia, Malaysia are called Golden Island

1) Golden land became the dream for European countries, so from 16th centaury they started penetrating into eastern Asia.(reference Portuguese came to India - 1505)

2) Japan took stern action against the foreigners due to certain reason like conversion of missionaries (they were converting Japanese people to Christianity), So Japanese maintained isolation from 16TH centaury to the latter half of the 19th century.

3) They only allowed Dutch to be the intermediaries between Japan & Rest of the world. USA was also struggling to get into East Asia & in 1853 commodore Perry a U.S naval officer compelled Japanese Emperor to open the doors of Japan for USA.

4) With the entry of USA from 1853-1867, all European powers also entered & made their place in Japan. This was a setback for aggressive Japanese sentiment.

5) Hence Japanese Found out the reasons for Europeans strength & that was a) Powerful & stable Polityb) Economic Development

This immediately became the target of Japan & led to rise of Japan.

Rise of Japan from fall

1) Self Liberation – As Japan understood the reason of its failure, so it immediately took the steps for it & in the most unique event in the world history is collective surrender of power & privilege by Damios & Samurai to their emperorsThose who are confused with Damios & Samurai

Japanese Political Hierarchy

1) Emperor (Akihito)2) Prime Minister(Shogun)3) Feudal Lords(Daimios)4) Spiritual Warriors(Samurai)

And never ever in the history of world you would see such an event occurring where Feudal Lords & Warriors surrender its power & privilege to the emperor

This not only strengthens the Japanese emperor but established social equality in Japan. This is called Self Liberation

2) Self Empowerment – After having a strong policy from 1867 – 1894 Japan took some wonderful stepsa) Compulsory primary education for boys & girls (1867)b) Compulsory Modern Education to boys & girls (that too medium in English)c) Framed the constitution of Japan on Prussian line having a string emperor, under the

guidance of Prince Ito

Note – Compare this with the policy of Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini (Ban on education etc)

3) Formation of national Army – which was possible because of social equality in Japan.4) Emphasis on economic development, specially infrastructure & industrialization became

the back-ground for self empowerment & in 1894 Japan was a modern & advanced Power in Asia

Rise of Japan as a power in Asia

1) After Japan completed its phase of transformation, the two immediate victims were china & Russia, on the grounds of territorial dispute between both the parties.

2) Port Arthur the only ice-free port in northern zone was taken away by Japan from Russia & Korea also came under the dominance of Japan from 1910.

3) As Japan defeated the 2 giants of Asia, so it immediately elevated its position & provided Japan the status in world Aristocracy with USA & U.K

Imperialism of Japan

1) In the beginning of 20th Century, Japan had reached to the peak of development & now it was hungry for the sources of raw material & market, but the trouble was Japan was that the core areas in Asia (Like china & India) were under the control of its friends like U.S & U.K.

2) In this scenario Japan adopted a very smart philosophy to fulfill its aim of imperialism

3) Under Japanese Monroe Doctrine (JMD) Japan gave the slogan of “Asia for Asian” & under it appealed for the removal of all foreign powers from Asia & establishment of local leadership in Asian countries.

4) In respect to this philosophy Japan gave the complete support to INA (Indian National Army)

5) Taking advantage of WW-II Japan over ran entire East Asian countries from Korea to Philippines, disturbing the political status of world powers in this region. This annoyed U.S & it freezeed Japanese accounts in U.S

6) In reaction to this Japan attacked pearl harbor in 1941 which ended the isolation of USA as it participated in WW-II & became active in world politics

7) Although Japan was defeated in WW-II, but it has changed the political status of east Asia, which was still a aspiration for world powers due to its economic & strategical importance

8) In this scenario Korea & Vietnam became the victim of WW-II

Korea

1) Korea is the story of 38 parallel (The 38th parallel was first suggested as a dividing line for Korea in 1896.) Under this it was divided into North & South.

2) North under command of U.S.S.R & South under the control of USA3) It was decided by both the powers that Japanese forces will be evacuated, stability was to

be maintained & then after elections Korea was to be left home.4) As 2/3rd population of Korea was in South Korea, so it was clear to U.S that they will be

present in Korea after the elections this was the fear of USSR & CHINA, in 1953 North Korea attacked South Korea which was declared as internal problem of both the country.

5) In such circumstances “PANMUNJOAN” agreement of 1956, declared that Korea will be united only after the agreement of political setup & people of both the group. This seems to be a challenge as North Korea is suffering from poverty & is under the control of dictatorship

Korea – 38 parallel

Vietnam (Story of the will of the people)

1) Vietnam was a poor & backward country basically dominated by Buddhist farmers. It has faced a colonial era of 200 years under French & when Japan eliminated foreign powers from east Asia, it provided relief for a small period to Vietnamese

2) But Vietnam became a victim of 17 parallel which was a similar agreement between U.S & USSR like Korea.

3) Initially France was handed over South Vietnam, but in 1954 France handed over the complete charge to USA.

4) USA failed to analyze the situation in Vietnam & the resistance of the most backward & poor people became a matter of ego for USA.

5) Vietnam was a great story of the will of the people & presidents of USA like John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson and Nickson failed to subdue the people of Vietnam & in 1973 USA appealed for peace agreement with Vietnam, leading to the independence of Vietnam in 1974

Vietnam war

References

www.google.com

NCERT CLASS 12TH – By Arjun Dev

World History – BV RAO

Notes of Avadh Ojha Sir

Name – Arun Chettiar

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