Hooray! Another history post!
This is an assignment that was supposed to be 325 words, and turned out to be 790. Guess you could say I enjoyed this reading?
This section of Kegley and Raymond’s text is primarily on cyclical nature of war and peace throughout “modern” world history. I put modern in quotation marks because this chapter begins with Napoleon Bonaparte’s rise to power at the dawn of the 19th century. His despotic aims may have been thwarted, but constructed in his place were layers of treaties, which gave rise to the power systems we know today. To some historians, this is indicative of a cycle of power, called long-cycle theory.
This chapter first lays out the causes and consequences of World War I, in order to understand how global politics today have come about. Most history students know the basic, individual cause: the assassination of the Archduke Ferdinand. However, it is actually the series of alliances forged and the rash decisions made by political leaders, not to mention their consistently nationalistic aims that created this firestorm of war. At the end of it, the empires of Russia, the Ottomans, and Austria-Hungary collapsed, the states of Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania were all created, and Russia became the first socialist state, calling itself the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. These changes would have reverberations for decades to come, and still affect world politics today. Liberal politics became the order of the day, with leaders like President Wilson forming the League of Nations designed to strengthen the independence and territorial claims of all nations. However, not all nations were satisfied with the arrangements. The Treaty of Versailles left Germany crippled and assigned responsibility for the war, and charged with paying for reparations.
These reparations and punitive restrictions were humiliating for the German peoples, who felt, in general, that the Treaty was unfair and they supported some sort of revolutionary movement, the most popular of which was the National Socialist German Workers party, or the Nazi party. The economic collapse of 1929 and ensuing depression of the 1930s propelled the country towards extremes. Soon the Nazi party gained supremacy, suspending the constitution of the Weimar Republic and granting Hitler dictatorial powers. A campaign of conquest to unite separated ethnic Germans began, but it became clear after the appeasement of the Sudeten lands that it would not be enough to quench the Nazi thirst for vengeance. Germany’s allies, Italy and Japan, shared this desire for power and territory, and propelled the conflict across the world. The punitive measures enacted at the end of World War I began this conflict by humiliating the German people. The result of this war was the division of Germany between the United States, Great Britain, France, and the Soviet Union, which also gained dominion over most of Eastern Europe to as far west as Germany and Yugoslavia, and as far south as Albania. The Soviet Union emerged as a major power, far more so than the rest of Europe, which was still in ruins after the long campaigns of World War II. The United States, however, fared very well, with greatly increased economic potential and superior military firepower.
It was with the emergence of these two great powers, and dwindling of the exhausted European powers, that what became known as the Cold War began. This led to indirect wars justified using the strategy of containment that was essential to the Truman Doctrine and the American (and capitalist) defense against the threat of the Soviet Union. The two sides understood the delicate nature of the conflict, and Khrushchev (the Soviet leader after Stalin) enacted a policy of peaceful coexistence, while much later, Kissinger under Nixon enacted détente, which emphasized arms control to restrain the expensive arms race. These negotiations deteriorated under the Carter and Reagan administrations during and after the invasion of Afghanistan by Soviet forces. At the end of the Soviet rule, America emerged as a source of enormous soft power and the unipolar power in the world.
This power has not lasted, however, with scandalous economic policies and an increasing dependence on foreign interests for oil and money, not to mention their individualistic tone to their foreign policy until Obama’s election in 2008. America is currently falling prey to imperial overstretch, wherein they have neglected interests at home (the economy, infrastructure, health care, stark divisions in ideals) in favor of those abroad (investments from China, the Iraq and Afghanistan wars). The economic crisis in recent years has only exacerbated this problem, furthering the descent of America from the unipolar power it once was, and creating a multipolar system with several major powers at the head, and for the first time, countries from Asia are making up even more of those major powers. China is projected to be the leading power in the world in the coming years...if they can avoid America’s mistakes.
This section of Kegley and Raymond’s text is primarily on cyclical nature of war and peace throughout “modern” world history. I put modern in quotation marks because this chapter begins with Napoleon Bonaparte’s rise to power at the dawn of the 19th century. His despotic aims may have been thwarted, but constructed in his place were layers of treaties, which gave rise to the power systems we know today. To some historians, this is indicative of a cycle of power, called long-cycle theory.
This chapter first lays out the causes and consequences of World War I, in order to understand how global politics today have come about. Most history students know the basic, individual cause: the assassination of the Archduke Ferdinand. However, it is actually the series of alliances forged and the rash decisions made by political leaders, not to mention their consistently nationalistic aims that created this firestorm of war. At the end of it, the empires of Russia, the Ottomans, and Austria-Hungary collapsed, the states of Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania were all created, and Russia became the first socialist state, calling itself the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. These changes would have reverberations for decades to come, and still affect world politics today. Liberal politics became the order of the day, with leaders like President Wilson forming the League of Nations designed to strengthen the independence and territorial claims of all nations. However, not all nations were satisfied with the arrangements. The Treaty of Versailles left Germany crippled and assigned responsibility for the war, and charged with paying for reparations.
These reparations and punitive restrictions were humiliating for the German peoples, who felt, in general, that the Treaty was unfair and they supported some sort of revolutionary movement, the most popular of which was the National Socialist German Workers party, or the Nazi party. The economic collapse of 1929 and ensuing depression of the 1930s propelled the country towards extremes. Soon the Nazi party gained supremacy, suspending the constitution of the Weimar Republic and granting Hitler dictatorial powers. A campaign of conquest to unite separated ethnic Germans began, but it became clear after the appeasement of the Sudeten lands that it would not be enough to quench the Nazi thirst for vengeance. Germany’s allies, Italy and Japan, shared this desire for power and territory, and propelled the conflict across the world. The punitive measures enacted at the end of World War I began this conflict by humiliating the German people. The result of this war was the division of Germany between the United States, Great Britain, France, and the Soviet Union, which also gained dominion over most of Eastern Europe to as far west as Germany and Yugoslavia, and as far south as Albania. The Soviet Union emerged as a major power, far more so than the rest of Europe, which was still in ruins after the long campaigns of World War II. The United States, however, fared very well, with greatly increased economic potential and superior military firepower.
It was with the emergence of these two great powers, and dwindling of the exhausted European powers, that what became known as the Cold War began. This led to indirect wars justified using the strategy of containment that was essential to the Truman Doctrine and the American (and capitalist) defense against the threat of the Soviet Union. The two sides understood the delicate nature of the conflict, and Khrushchev (the Soviet leader after Stalin) enacted a policy of peaceful coexistence, while much later, Kissinger under Nixon enacted détente, which emphasized arms control to restrain the expensive arms race. These negotiations deteriorated under the Carter and Reagan administrations during and after the invasion of Afghanistan by Soviet forces. At the end of the Soviet rule, America emerged as a source of enormous soft power and the unipolar power in the world.
This power has not lasted, however, with scandalous economic policies and an increasing dependence on foreign interests for oil and money, not to mention their individualistic tone to their foreign policy until Obama’s election in 2008. America is currently falling prey to imperial overstretch, wherein they have neglected interests at home (the economy, infrastructure, health care, stark divisions in ideals) in favor of those abroad (investments from China, the Iraq and Afghanistan wars). The economic crisis in recent years has only exacerbated this problem, furthering the descent of America from the unipolar power it once was, and creating a multipolar system with several major powers at the head, and for the first time, countries from Asia are making up even more of those major powers. China is projected to be the leading power in the world in the coming years...if they can avoid America’s mistakes.