1. SY 2015-16 ACCELERATION TO WHAT EXTENT HAS THE MODERN REVOLUTION BEEN A POSITIVE OR A NEGATIVE FORCE? 9

2. CONTENTS UNIT 9 ACCELERATION BIG HISTORY PROJECT / UNIT 9 / ACCELERATION2 UNIT 9 BASICS Unit 9 Overview Unit 9 Learning Outcomes Unit 9 Lessons Unit 9 Key Concepts LOOKING BACK What Happened in Unit 8? KEY CONTENT Threshold 8 – The Modern Revolution (WH) Threshold 8: The Modern Revolution Crash Course World History: The Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution How Did Change Accelerate? Acceleration The Anthropocene and the Future: Crash Course The Anthropocene Anthropocene Africa Collective Learning” (Part 4) A Big History of Everything – H2 Smith, Marx, and Keynes How Was the Modern World Created Why Is that T-Shirt So Cheap? The Origins of the Industrial Revolution (WH) Crash Course World History: Globalization I – The Upside (WH) You Say You Want a Revolution: Political Change on Both Sides of the Atlantic (WH) Crash Course World History: Imperialism (WH) Imperialism and Resistance Shape a Modern World: 1850 – 1914 (WH) Crisis and Conflict on the Global Stage (WH) Crash Course World History: Archdukes, Cynicism, and World War I (WH) Crash Course World History: World War II (WH) A Bird’s Eye View: Acceleration and Global Chaos in the Early Twentieth Century (WH) And Then Gandhi Came: Nationalism, Revolution, and Sovereignty (WH) LOOKING AHEAD What’s Next in Unit 10?

3. 3 UNIT 9 LEARNING OUTCOMES By the end of Unit 9, students should be able to: 1.Describe accelerating global change and the factors that describe it. 2.Understand the key features that define the Anthropocene. 3.Describe the acceleration in world population, technology, science, communication, and transportation. Explain how they have benefited and threatened humanity. 4.Explain the changes in the use, distribution, and importance of natural resources on human life. 5.Analyze the causes and consequences of major revolutions in global political, economic, and social networks. (WH) 6.Analyze the causes and consequences of shifts in world population, including the impact of industrialism and commerce. (WH) 7.Analyze the causes, characteristics, and long-term consequences of World War I, the Great Depression and World War II. (WH) BIG HISTORY PROJECT / UNIT 9 / ACCELERATION

4. 4 UNIT 9 LESSONS 9.0 Transitions, Thresholds, and Turning Points in Human History How do historians periodize history? Firstly, find out what that means and secondly, use your skills to figure out how you would periodize Big History and human history. 9.1 Acceleration In the last 500 years, our world has undergone a dramatic transformation. The speed of communication and transportation have accelerated, leading to greater interconnection of the four world zones. The consequences have been in the pace of innovation, collective learning, and the human appetite for energy. 9.2 The Anthropocene For the first time in the history of the biosphere, a single species can effect major change on a global level. The Industrial Revolution has led us into the modern world. In the opinion of many, we are on the brink of a new threshold: the Anthropocene. 9.3 Changing Economies Smith, Marx, and Keynes are three of the most important economic thinkers of the Modern Revolution. These men had great influence on modern thinking about commerce, labor, and the global economy. 9.4 How Was the Modern World Created? Industrialism By studying the factors that led to industrialism – global exchange networks, competitive markets, and increasing use of fossil fuels – you will better understand how the Industrial Revolution changed the modern world. 9.5 How Was the Modern World Created? Modern States and Identities Find out how the Age of Exploration, the Columbian Exchange, and the Atlantic revolutions contributed to the creation of modern states and identities. 9.6 Crisis and Conflict on the Global Stage The twentieth century was an eventful 100 years! There were two world wards, a global depression, and the ideological conflict known as the Cold War. Use primary sources and data to learn more about this period of time. 9.7 Acceleration – Demographic, Political, and Technological How can increasing population, the creation of new nations, and technological innovations help us make sense of the modern world? Analyze demographic data and primary source documents to learn more about acceleration in the modern era. BIG HISTORY PROJECT / UNIT 9 / ACCELERATION

5. 5 THRESHOLD 8—THE MODERN REVOLUTION Video For most of the Agrarian era, the various agrarian civilizations had little contact with or knowledge of agrarian civilizations in the other world zones. The lack of global connections was an impediment to innovation and growth. The linking of the four world zones enabled the exposure of people cultures, ideas, foods, plants, and diseases from the other world zones. This increased the exchanges between the different zones and increased the possibilities for innovations. The modern world as we know it developed from these changes. BIG HISTORY PROJECT / UNIT 9 / ACCELERATION

7. 7 CRASH COURSE WORLD HISTORY: THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION Video / Crash Course Before the Industrial Revolution most people grew their own food to support themselves and their families. What they needed to survive in terms of clothing, furniture, and utensils they either made themselves or traded for the food they produced. During the Industrial Revolution, machines powered by steam and fossil fuels began to speed up the production of textiles, and this work moved from homes and small shops into factories. As production of these items grew, costs were lowered, and it became easier for people to buy the items that they had typically made. The Industrial Revolution was different from other revolutions (American, French, Latin American, and Haitian revolutions) because it transformed the way people lived, the way the goods they used were made, and the way the economy worked rather than changing the ways in which people were governed. Before the Industrial Revolution, 80 percent or more of people were involved in farming. Today only a very small percentage of people in the US—perhaps as low as one percent of the population—are involved in farming. The Industrial Revolution can be defined as a process by which machines powered by new sources of energy were used to produce goods. The Industrial Revolution began around 1750 in England and spread from there to other parts of the world. BIG HISTORY PROJECT / UNIT 9 / ACCELERATION

8. 8 CRASH COURSE WORLD HISTORY: THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION Video / Crash Course Eurocentrism is the idea that European ideas, technologies, and innovations are superior to those in other parts of the world because European culture is superior. Some historians criticized the Eurocentric focus on cultural superiority because at the time of the Industrial Revolution, India and China had the world’s strongest economies. Both countries had long histories of innovation, creativity, and scientific achievement. The Industrial Revolution began in England because it was built on the automation of production, and the machines that automated production needed a source of energy. England had an abundant supply of coal, and the coal was close to the surface so it was fairly easy to access. Wages were higher in eighteenth-century Britain than in other parts of the world. Some historians think that this gave business owners an incentive to search for labor-saving technologies, like the machines invented to speed up textile production. If business owners could use cheap coal and machines to produce more goods, they could increase production without increasing the amount of wages they had to pay. The Industrial Revolution consisted of a series of innovations that sped up the production of goods by using machines. These machines required new sources of energy such as fossil fuels like coal. Innovation in the textile industry soon spurred other innovations, and together they transformed how people lived and worked BIG HISTORY PROJECT / UNIT 9 / ACCELERATION

9. 9 THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION Article / Cynthia Stokes Brown The industrial revolution happened at about the same time as the American, French, and Haitian Revolutions, but it focused more on economics than politics. This revolution transformed how people lived, how goods were made, and how economies operated. Before the Industrial Revolution, 80 percent or more of people were involved in agriculture. The Industrial Revolution ushered in an era of wage labor. People moved from the countryside to the cities, and the numbers of people doing agricultural work began to decline in many parts of the world. The Industrial Revolution began in England around 1750, and this revolution was characterized by the introduction of machines into the manufacturing process. Fossil fuels came to be the energy source for these machines. The economies of India and China dominated the world textile market prior to the Industrial Revolution. The innovations introduced in English factories, coupled with the fact that British could transport their products virtually anywhere, help explain why European countries surpassed India and China in this period. BIG HISTORY PROJECT / UNIT 9 / ACCELERATION

10. 10 THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION Article / Cynthia Stokes Brown The Industrial Revolution is the name given to a series of economic and social changes first observed in England about 250 years ago when the English began using coal, a fossil fuel. Steam engines used coal and water to power locomotives, steamboats, and machines in factories. Using fossil fuels allowed humans to generate huge amounts of power. While the Industrial Revolution was born in England, its effects soon spread to the rest of Europe, America, Russia, and Japan. Industrialized countries needed raw materials for factories and markets for finished goods, so they began conquering non-industrialized countries to gain access to resources and markets. These unequal relationships have had lasting impact: there are significant differences in income, life expectancy, birth rates, and levels of education between industrialized and non- industrialized countries today. BIG HISTORY PROJECT / UNIT 9 / ACCELERATION

11. 11 HOW DID CHANGE ACCELERATE? Video / David Christian The modern era is characterized by acceleration. This is shown most clearly by the dramatic rise in human population in the last 200 years. Acceleration has been driven by three important factors: The breakdown of barriers between the four world zones, which made a truly global, network possible. The rise of commerce and markets, where competition spurred innovation that was critical for success. New sources of energy, primarily fossil fuels, which powered these expanding networks and new connections. BIG HISTORY PROJECT / UNIT 9 / ACCELERATION

12. 12 ACCELERATION Article / Cynthia Stokes Brown The increasing speed of expansion of the Universe provides evidence of acceleration at the cosmic level. On Earth, we see acceleration when we look at the rate of human population growth, the pace of human history, the expansion of humans’ global economy, and the rate of human consumption of fossil fuels. Technology may provide the clearest example of acceleration in human life: From the introduction of the worldwide web in 1990, to the introduction of the iPad in 2010, there is an enormously long list of new technologies that have been introduced in recent decades. These technologies have facilitated access to increasingly large amounts of information, as well as increasing the speed of human communication. BIG HISTORY PROJECT / UNIT 9 / ACCELERATION

13. 13 THE ANTHROPOCENE AND THE NEAR FUTURE: CRASH COURSE Video / Crash Course The Anthropocene is an unofficial geological era in which humans have a massive impact over the biosphere. The idea of the Anthropocene is that due to the increase of collective learning, there has been an enormous increase in complexity, making the last century substantially different from those before. Collective learning has grown exponentially. Since the population keeps increasing exponentially, collective learning is undergoing a “snowball effect.” More people gives rise to more innovation, which means more knowledge is being shared, leading to more collective learning, and so on. An enormous number of people died in the twentieth century, globally, because of World War I, the Spanish flu, and World War II. In the agrarian era, roughly 10 to 20 percent of people were considered wealthy. Today, if you earn more than $20,000 per year, you are in the top 20 percent of the world’s richest people. People who are alive today and part of the “global aristocracy” have a better quality of life than kings had just a few centuries ago. BIG HISTORY PROJECT / UNIT 9 / ACCELERATION

14. 14 THE ANTHROPOCENE AND THE NEAR FUTURE: CRASH COURSE Video / Crash Course During the Anthropocene, jobs have lifted hundreds of millions of people out of poverty; quality of life has generally increased; we can clothe and feed more people than ever before; we can harness a lot of energy; and collective learning’s impact helps keep death rates relatively low. However, more people in the developing world are forced from traditional lives to work in factories; most of the goods they produce go overseas to make other people’s quality of life better; the income gap in the world is becoming wider and wider; and we are negatively impacting the environment with our use of nonrenewable energy. Some possible dangers of the twenty-first century include natural disasters, superbugs that wipe out millions of people, global conflict, and a general decrease in stability. BIG HISTORY PROJECT / UNIT 9 / ACCELERATION

15. 15 THE ANTHROPOCENE Article / Cynthia Stokes Brown The Anthropocene is the name proposed by scientists for a new geological epoch. They believe that the human impact on the biosphere is so profound that this new geological epoch ought to be created to distinguish it from earlier times when the human impact was not as great. These scientists cite the movement of plants into new regions, glacial melting, the increase of CO ₂ in the atmosphere, and changes in the chemistry of the oceans as evidence of the nature of human impact. While change should be expected to result from the geologic and climatic processes that take place naturally in the biosphere, change in a number of areas is greater than expected, and many see humans as the cause. Some of these changes, like increases in carbon in the biosphere, can happen without human intervention, but humans can also contribute to the rise of carbon in the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels. BIG HISTORY PROJECT / UNIT 9 / ACCELERATION

16. 16 ANTHROPOCENE AFRICA: OUT OF EVERY CRISIS, AN OPPORTUNITY Article / David Baker Africa was a land well-suited for small, closely-knit foraging communities for many thousands of years. The rise of agriculture in Egypt and West Africa created many states that competed for land and resources. These states expanded and prospered until 1500 when the world zones began to unite, and slavery robbed the African population of millions of potential innovators. European imperialism also swept through the continent, as European nations established colonies across the continent. As populations have rebounded and begun to explode, sub-Saharan Africa has found itself at a supreme disadvantage. The primary goals for the region must be to industrialize and lowerbirth rates or it will experience an extreme social catastrophe. BIG HISTORY PROJECT / UNIT 9 / ACCELERATION

17. 17 COLLECTIVE LEARNING (PART 4) Article / David Christian Collective learning has increased exponentially in the postindustrial world because: The current global population of 7 billion humans is connected in a single network. It’s possible to travel and exchange goods across the entire planet in the space of a single day. Uneven distribution of knowledge has led to greater inequalities in wealth and power than ever before. Collective learning has turned humans into a species capable of transforming the entire biosphere. BIG HISTORY PROJECT / UNIT 9 / ACCELERATION

18. 18 A BIG HISTORY OF EVERYTHING Video / H2 Innovation in transportation, production technologies, and communication were critical to the making of the Industrial Revolution and led to an acceleration of rates of innovation and collective learning. Oceans provided the first links between the four world zones. Although travel by sea was slow, these new connections led to larger and more diverse networks, conditions critical for the growth of collective learning. Metals brought by meteors, fuels produced by ancient plants, and water all combined to initiate the Industrial Revolution and thus accelerate human innovation because all of these ingredients were combined to create the steam engine, one of the most critical innovations of the Industrial Revolution. The Industrial Revolution ushered in a era of innovation and an explosion of collective learning. During the era of the steam engine, it took 150 years for humans’ collective knowledge to double. Innovations in communication technology and the ongoing expansion of communication networks means that it now only takes two years for collective knowledge to double and by 2020 it will take only about 72 hours. BIG HISTORY PROJECT / UNIT 9 / ACCELERATION

19. 19 SMITH, MARX, AND KEYNES Article / Daniel Adler A number of important economic thinkers emerged during the Modern Revolution. Their ideas had a tremendous influence on government policies and world events in the twentieth century. Adam Smith, an eighteenth century philosopher, is considered by many to be the father of capitalism. He wrote about the benefits of a division of labor—the idea of breaking down a job into smaller parts, with each performed by one person—for increasing efficiency in the production process. He also wrote positively about self-interest in economics. Karl Marx is considered the father of communism. In his writings, he criticized what he saw as the excesses of capitalism, with its focus on profit and efficiency and what he saw as a disregard for the worker. John Maynard Keynes was an important twentieth century economist. His observations of the economic crash of the Great Depression led him to argue that government had the resources to stimulate an economy during difficult economic times. He believed that certain economic conditions required governments to step in and use their resources to create jobs and stimulate economic growth. BIG HISTORY PROJECT / UNIT 9 / ACCELERATION

20. 20 HOW WAS THE MODERN WORLD CREATED? Video / David Christian Humans have become the most powerful force for change in the world. Some change has been positive: there have been increases in life expectancy, literacy rates, and gender equality. Other change has been negative: there have been world wars, atomic bombs, and gaps in living standards between the industrialized and nonindustrialized worlds. In the modern world, innovations in food production and economic expansion have resulted in an unprecedented rise in human population without the declines typical of the agrarian era. Some scholars argue that the Earth has entered a new age, the Anthropocene. This name reflects the dominant role that humans play in the modern world. BIG HISTORY PROJECT / UNIT 9 / ACCELERATION

21. 21 WHY IS THAT T-SHIRT SO CHEAP? THE ORIGINS OF THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION Article / Saul Staussman and Bridgette Byrd O’Connor The Industrial Revolution changed how humans produced and traded goods, it changed the landscape of work in the twentieth century, and it impacted global relations. Between 1750 and 1914, there was a huge shift in the way that goods were manufactured. An increase in energy sources and the shortening of trade lines dramatically changed the world. This revolution started in Britain and spread around the globe. During this time period, people started working much harder, for much longer hours, and in unsafe conditions. In addition, much of the labor force consisted of slaves. New energy that came from fossil fuels, a concentration of capital, and the shortening of trade lines transformed the production and distribution of goods. Europe’s manufacturing output was relatively small compared to Asia’s in the mid-eighteenth century because Europeans did not wear cotton clothing, and therefore were not part of the cotton industry. To compete in the global market, they had to get into the cotton business. The textile industry was the main beneficiary of coal in the early days of the Industrial Revolution, using the energy derived from coal to run its factories. During the Industrial Revolution, people generally moved from rural areas to cities so that they could find employment. The main idea of mercantilism is that you want to create a balance of trade that most benefits your home country – in other words, to make more money, you should export more than you import. BIG HISTORY PROJECT / UNIT 9 / ACCELERATION

22. 22 CRASH COURSE WORLD HISTORY: GLOBALIZATION I – THE UPSIDE Video / Crash Course The scale of trade has increased dramatically since the time of early civilizations because multinational corporations have global reach and increasing power, travel and shipping are cheap and safe, and governments have decreased tariffs and regulations on international trade. Cotton is cheaper in the United States because the government subsidizes cotton. The International Monetary Fund (IMF), offers low-interest loans to developing world economies. Globalization increased worldwide economic output and moved jobs to low wage countries, which is allowing people to live much better than they did in the first half of the twentieth century. In the last 30 years, 600 million people emerged from poverty. Globalization has had negative effects as well: it’s not been good for some individuals; it’s hurt the environment, and may even lead to catastrophic environmental events. Because people can now migrate with increased ease and live all over the world, people themselves are becoming more culturally homogenous. However, our access to culturally diverse experiences has never been better. BIG HISTORY PROJECT / UNIT 9 / ACCELERATION

23. 23 YOU SAY YOU WANT A REVOLUTION: POLITICAL CHANGE ON BOTH SIDES OF THE ATLANTIC Article / Saul Staussman The Age of Exploration and the Columbian Exchange didn’t just change world markets and systems of exchange and trade; they also changed the ways in which people viewed their human rights. The Atlantic revolutions were the result of people’s efforts to protect those rights. Revolutions in the Atlantic world began around the time of the Age of Enlightenment, when philosophers such as John Locke started to think about people’s natural rights and how those rights should be protected. This started a series of revolutions in which countries and individuals fought to earn back their rights. According to Enlightenment thinkers, people are born with natural rights that no one, including the government, has the right to take away. Goldilocks Conditions that led to the Atlantic revolutions include the Seven Years War, burdensome taxes, and governments ignoring the wishes of the general population. The idea of liberty evolved over time. In Haiti, it was seen as only being for the free white people of the island. In France, people fought for the liberty of all people no matter their race, and this sentiment spread throughout the Atlantic world. Some revolutions had a nationalistic message, meaning that they weren’t just against oppression, but particularly against foreign oppression. In other words, people were protecting their own nationalities and countries. The Venezuelan military junta was a group of people who took over the country by force, and who then passed sweeping reforms, lifting restrictions on trade and ultimately providing the people with economic liberty. BIG HISTORY PROJECT / UNIT 9 / ACCELERATION

24. 24 CRASH COURSE WORLD HISTORY: IMPERIALISM Video / Crash Course Although Europeans started to create colonial empires as early as the sixteenth century, this really took off in the nineteenth century. Europeans began to leverage what they could from the Industrial Revolution as a way to take over and colonize other parts of the world. The British were able to move beyond trading only silver with China when they started selling opium to China in large amounts. When China stopped allowing Britain to trade, the British opened trade with China by force, sending in gunships. As a result of the treaty of Nanjing, Britain would be given control of Hong Kong and five other treaty ports as well as the equivalent of two billion dollars. Europeans were able to colonize almost all of Africa in the nineteenth century. Industrialization and nationalism both contributed to this take-over. Europeans wanted to control the means of production – in other words, they wanted the colonies to secure sources of raw materials such as cotton and rubber. The British also had more advanced technology, including guns. Japan, Thailand, Iran, and Afghanistan were not colonized by the Europeans. BIG HISTORY PROJECT / UNIT 9 / ACCELERATION

25. 25 CRASH COURSE WORLD HISTORY: IMPERIALISM Video / Crash Course European colonists resorted to indirect rule, meaning that because there were so few colonists in each of the countries, most of the colonists exerted rule over the local governments. Local rulers allowed indirect rule because they were still rulers and were able to keep their prestige and to some extent their power. Also, many were able to gain access to European education for themselves and their families. During the nineteenth century, politics and economics came together through imperialism. European countries wanted more money, and one of the best ways to do this was through colonization. Colonizing often meant taking over the governments in other countries. Although most countries are now independent from their colonizers, the impacts of this colonization are still felt today. BIG HISTORY PROJECT / UNIT 9 / ACCELERATION

26. 26 IMPERIALISM AND RESISTANCE SHAPE A MODERN WORLD: 1850 – 1914 Article / Saul Staussman and Bridgette Byrd O’Connor The age of imperialism was caused by a variety of factors, including the Industrial Revolution. Imperialism and colonialism help explain why former colonies, now independent nations, are behind both economically and politically in relation to their former rulers. This helps us understand some of the economic and political disparities that exist around the world today. The age of imperialism was different from previous eras because of the changes in industrialism and consumer economies around the world; the geographic scope of the conquests; and the impact of colonization on tens of millions of people. Countries moved toward imperialism for different reasons: Economics, countries needed export markets to continue to improve their economies. Cultural and racial, which argued that some races and cultures were better than others and therefore had more rights. Religious, in which the colonizers brought Christianity to other countries. Nationalism, in which people felt their own nations were important and great enough to spread. BIG HISTORY PROJECT / UNIT 9 / ACCELERATION

27. 27 IMPERIALISM AND RESISTANCE SHAPE A MODERN WORLD: 1850 – 1914 Article / Saul Staussman and Bridgette Byrd O’Connor Europeans controlled 90 percent of Africa, 57 percent of Asia, and 99 percent of the Pacific Islands. In some areas, such as in India, people thought that participating in colonial governments offered them opportunities to advance within British society. Some colonies resisted colonization through co-option, military resistance, mysticism, and nationalism, however, these methods rarely proved successful. Gandhi was most famous for promoting Indian freedom through nonviolent resistance. The primary economic reason for European colonization was the need for raw materials so Europe could manufacture and export goods. BIG HISTORY PROJECT / UNIT 9 / ACCELERATION

28. 28 CRISIS AND CONFLICT ON THE GLOBAL STAGE Article / Saul Straussman BIG HISTORY PROJECT / UNIT 9 / ACCELERATION Three big themes are used to make sense of the major events that took place during the first half of the twentieth century: Global political order, which involves how nations interacted with one another politically and diplomatically Economics Technological advancements The four main long-term causes of the First World War include militarism, alliances, imperialism, and nationalism. Political and military alliances arose because nations thought that if they became allies, it would deter any one nation from attacking another nation out of fear of bringing more nations into a conflict. The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, launched the First World War. The First World War is considered particularly horrific because technology had progressed much faster than war strategies, and trench warfare was tremendously lethal. After the First World War, Germany was unable to pay its war debts, so they stopped paying reparations altogether. To keep the economic system afloat, a system (The Dawes Plan) was created in which the United States lent money to Germany so it could pay France and Great Britain, and then France and Great Britain could pay back the United States.

29. 29 CRISIS AND CONFLICT ON THE GLOBAL STAGE Article / Saul Straussman There is no agreed upon cause of the Great Depression, but many different events seemed to come together to cause it. Some of those were the inability of nations to pay their reparations and war debts, the overproduction of goods in the United States, and the crash of the stock market. Following the Great Depression, countries took different populist paths including the creation of welfare states to protect people from the depression, the organization of freedom movements for independence, and creation of dictatorships. Hitler’s dictatorship is the most famous example of this. J. R. McNeill and William H. McNeill assert multiple distinct conflicts that made up the Second World War including: The conflict between Japan and China Japan’s bombing of the United States Germany’s invasion of Poland Great Britain and France’s declaration of war on Germany The United States emerged from World War II as the greatest economic power, because it was contributing more than half of the world’s industrial output, it had the largest navy in the world, and it was the only country to have a nuclear weapon. BIG HISTORY PROJECT / UNIT 9 / ACCELERATION

30. 30 CRASH COURSE WORLD HISTORY: ARCHDUKES, CYNICISM, AND WORLD WAR I Video / Crash Course World War I set the stage for the world to go to war again a few decades later. However, what it did change was the way people look at the world, and as John Green says, “normalized cynicism and irony” in the world. The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand by a Serbian was the catalyst for the World War I. This assassination caused Austria to declare war against Serbia. Some blame the Web of Alliances for World War I, some blame Russia, some blame Germany. Leninists claim the war came out of imperialism and fueled capitalist rivalries. Others claim it was a war between Germany’s radical modernism and Britain’s traditional conservatism. Over 15 million people were killed and over 20 million people were wounded in World War I. Fighting caused much of this destruction, but disease was what killed the most people. In addition, new technology combined with outdated tactics contributed to the destruction. In particular, machine guns and barbed wire were incredibly destructive. Conditions for the soldiers in World War I were atrocious. The trenches were horrible places, and there was more than the threat of death to distress soldiers – the fatigue and wretched conditions were wearing. The Treaty of Versailles ended WW I, and placed the blame for the war on Germany. This blame was ruinous to the Germany economy and also destructive to its political institutions. WW I also had a large impact on the future of Russia, because it allowed the rise of the Bolsheviks. The Russian Revolution was carried out in two phases: the February Revolution, during which army mutinies and civil unrest caused the overthrow of the Romanov dynasty; and the October Revolution, in which Vladimir Lenin and the Bolsheviks promised the Russian people peace, bread, and land. BIG HISTORY PROJECT / UNIT 9 / ACCELERATION

31. 31 CRASH COURSE WORLD HISTORY: WORLD WAR II Video / Crash Course There are different events that could be considered the beginning of World War II. These include the Nazis invasion of Poland (1939), the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1931, when Hitler took power (1933), or when the United States joined the war (1941). The Rape of Nanking was the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of Chinese people and it still affects relations between Japan and China today. Blitzkrieg refers to a devastating military tactic used by Nazi Germany whereby it combined the quick movement of troops, tanks, and massive use of airpower to support infantry movements. 1941 was an important year in the war because the Nazis invaded Russia, breaking a nonaggression pact and escalating the war quickly, and also made allies of Russia, the United States, and France. This is also the year the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, and the year they invaded much of Southeast Asia. The successful British, Canadian, and American invasion of Normandy on D-Day signaled beginning of the end for the Nazis. BIG HISTORY PROJECT / UNIT 9 / ACCELERATION

32. 32 CRASH COURSE WORLD HISTORY: WORLD WAR II Video / Crash Course On May 8, 1945, the allies declared victory in Europe after Germany surrendered unconditionally. Three months later, after the United States dropped the only two nuclear weapons ever deployed in war and defeated Japan, WW II was officially over. Six million Jews were killed by the Nazis, many through starvation but also many by extermination in death camps. The assertion that World War II was about the Allies fighting for democratic ideals against the imperialism of the fascist powers is a faulty one. Stalin’s Soviet Union was one of the least democratic places of all time. The British were imperialistic and could not have fed or clothed themselves without their colonies and commonwealth. During the Holocaust, elements of Western progress, such as record keeping, industrial production, and technology were used to slaughter millions. WW II saw modern industrial relations descend into unimaginable cruelty. BIG HISTORY PROJECT / UNIT 9 / ACCELERATION

33. 33 A BIRD’S EYE VIEW: ACCELERATION AND GLOBAL CHAOS IN THE EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY Article / Saul Straussman In the early twentieth century, chaos was experienced all over the globe. The population grew and then dropped, the impact of war was felt all over the globe, and countries’ GDPs reflected that impact. The world’s population doubled from 1850 to 1950 as a result of readily available food, improved medical care, and longer life expectancies. Europe’s population didn’t grow as quickly as populations in other parts of the world during this time because it lost about 15 million people in WW I and another 36 million people in WW II. Straussman asserts that the scramble for resources and power among industrialized nations ultimately led to the two world wars. The industrialized nations dragged their colonies into the wars, making them full-scale world wars. Governments and economists use the GDP (gross domestic product to gauge the health of an economy. BIG HISTORY PROJECT / UNIT 9 / ACCELERATION

34. 34 AND THEN GANDHI CAME: NATIONALISM, REVOLUTION, AND SOVEREIGNTY Article / Crash Course In the past 100 years, millions of people have revolted against their governments and formed new, independent nations. Over 50 new nations have formed since 1945. According to Benedict Anderson, nationalism is imagined. You can’t know everyone in your nation. You have to imagine your fellow-members and imagine yourselves as a community, even though there are many people you will never know or meet. You have to imagine that you are part of something that is bigger than just yourself and the people you know. Anderson also says the nation is imagined as sovereign. When forming new nations, the people put the concept of independence, or sovereignty, at the center of what that nation is trying to do. Community is the relationships or “comradeship” that people have in relationship to the loyalty that they have to their nation. It is what unites people under a common vision. The Amritsar Massacre (April 13, 1919) involved people being fired upon at a peaceful gathering in a park in the city of Amritsar, India. This event started India’s move toward independence from the British. BIG HISTORY PROJECT / UNIT 9 / ACCELERATION

35. 35 AND THEN GANDHI CAME: NATIONALISM, REVOLUTION, AND SOVEREIGNTY Article / Crash Course Gandhi brought new ideas about freedom, sovereignty, and community, which were related to truth, nonviolence, and self-suffering The Quit India movement was a nonviolent path, as outlined by Gandhi, for waging a revolution and achieving independence from Britain. The concepts of nationalism, according to Benedict Anderson, applied to India. Imagination: Gandhi’s concept of satyagraha was adopted by the people. Sovereignty: The Amritsar Massacre helped solidify the idea that Indians wanted independence. Community: Indians had to trust that if they were to follow Gandhi’s proposal, they would have to have faith that the rest of the country would be following it as well. BIG HISTORY PROJECT / UNIT 9 / ACCELERATION