Unit 3: A Half-Century of Crisis and Achievement, 1900-1945
Unit Overview: A Half-Century of Crisis and Achievement
This unit covers the years 1900-1945. Some important themes covered in this unit:
The Boxer Rebellion and Chinese nationalism
The Boer War
WWI
The aftermath of WWI and collapse of the Russian Empire
The rise of Totalitarianism in Europe
The collapse of the world economy and Great Depression
Appeasement and resurgence of Hitler's Germany
Japanese Imperialism and invasion of China
WWII
Unit Essay: A Century of Destruction
In order to get credit for this project you must write an essay on the following topic:
A Century of Destruction
Despite the enormous promise that technological and political advances in the 18th and 19th centuries seemed to bestow on world civilizations in the 20th century, this century bears the distinction of being the most destructive century in human history. The century began with the Boxer Rebellion, a massive nationalist upheaval in China that was put down by international forces, followed by World War I, a disastrous enterprise that resulted in over 20 million deaths and the destruction of the old political order in Europe. The 1920's saw the rise of totalitarian governments who brutally destroyed all opposition to them, and in the 1930's and early 1940's, the world was again engulfed in total war that practiced brutality and was fought on a scale never before seen in human history.
The 1950's witnessed a colossal struggle in China between Communists and Nationalists resulting in millions of deaths, and "decolonization" in the late 1950's and 1960's saw uprisings throughout the globe, not to mention two "hot-spots" in the Cold War, the Korean and Vietnamese Conflicts. Because of all the developments listed above, historians term the twentieth century the most destructive century. Using events from the first 50 years of the twentieth century, write an essay of no less than 600 words affirming this title.
Destructive Events/Developments in 20th century to consider:
The Russian Revolution/Russian Civil War/Rise of the Soviet Union
Unit Videos:
The Century Part 2, Shell Shock (45:00)
The Great War: War Without End (48:03)
The Century Part 3, Boom and Bust (45:00)
The Century Part 4, Stormy Weather (45:00)
The Century Part 5, Over the Edge (45:00)
Unit Lectures:
Primary Sources:
World History B Unit 3 Key Terms
For this project you must define the terms listed below and explain each term's significance to the unit/era being studied. Your definition should be 2-3 sentences long and may be copied and pasted from a source like Wikipedia, but the significance of the term must be in your own words and based on your own understanding. To fill out a term's significance, ask yourself, "Why is this item included in my study of this unit? Why is this term in a history book?" The answer to this question is your term's significance.
Unit 3 Key Terms:
1. World War I
2. Fourteen Points
3. Treaty of Versailles
4. League of Nations
5. self-determination (WWI)
6. Bolsheviks
7. Russian Revolution
8. Joseph Stalin
9. 5 Year Plans
10. The Great Purge
11. Collectivization
12. Chiang Kai Shek/Mao Zedong
13. Indian National Congress
14. totalitarianism
15. Great Depression
16. fascism
17. appeasement
18. total war
19. Holocaust
20. Nuremberg Trials
Below is an example of a key term done with the proper format:
William the Conqueror: William I (c. 1028[2] – 9 September 1087), also known as William the Conqueror (Guillaume le Conquérant), was the first Norman King of England from Christmas 1066 until his death. He was also Duke of Normandy from 3 July 1035 until his death, under the name William II. Before his conquest of England, he was known as William the Bastard because of the illegitimacy of his birth.To press his claim to the English crown, William invaded England in 1066, leading an army of Normans, Bretons, Flemings, and Frenchmen (from Paris andÎle-de-France) to victory over the English forces of King Harold Godwinson at the Battle of Hastings, and suppressed subsequent English revolts in what has become known as the Norman Conquest.[3] (I copied and pasted this definition from Wikipedia)
Significance: William the Conqueror is significant because his conquest of England created the first nation state in Europe. His rearrangement of English feudal territories to give himself dramatically more power than the the barons and nobles around him caused him to be the most powerful monarch in Europe and eventually led to the rise of other nation states over the next few centuries. (These are my words based on my knowledge of English and European history.)
