Notes by Catherine Abino

• Importance:
• Helps make sense of present by providing necessary context/bg
• Provide insight into present circumstances, as events of past resemble those of present

• Key features of early civilization • Ancient Greece

• Agriculture – allowed permanent settlement
& emergence of urban life
• Development of Writing – occurred c. 3000
BCE; earliest forms: Mes. Cuneiform & Egy.
Hieroglyphics
• Mesopotamia – cradle of civilization
• Located bet. Tigris and Euphrates rivers
(mod. Iraq)
• (3500 – 1500 BCE) Home of Three major
civilizations: Sumerian, Babylonian, and
Assyrian
• Ancient Egypt
• Along the course of the Nile river
• End w/rise of Roman Empire™
• Chinese civilization
• Beginning: establishment of Shang
Dynasty c. 1600 BCE
• Ch’in – unified China after period of
Warring States™ (403-221 BCE)
• Ancient India
• Began c. 500 BCE – birth of “golden age” of
classical Hindu culture
• Earliest civilization in South Asia; emerged
in Indus River Valley (mod. Pakistan)
• Flourished bet. 2600 – 1900 BCE
“classical antiquity” – c. 1000 BCE; emergence of
civilizations along Mediterranean
• Foundation of western civilization
• (800 – 600 BCE) extension of Greek
settlements throughout eastern
Mediterranean
• Ancient Rome
• (509 BCE) flourished after Roman
monarchy overthrown – replaced with
oligarch republic
• Territory: eastern Mediterranean across
North Africa, most of Europe
• Classical World: Crisis Mode™
• Eruption of mounted nomadic people 🏇
• Ushered “Dark Ages” 🏰
• China: period of political fragmentation
(ended by Sui Dynasty; 589)
• 5th & 6th cent. – Germanic and Slav;
• 9th & 10th – Vikings, Magyars and Saracens
invade
• The Mongols – “most significant nomadic
peoples”
• From eastern frontiers of Germany and
Arctic Ocean to Turkey and Persian
Gulf
• Profound impact on world history
• European access to Asia and Far
East became possible again

• c. 1500 – modernization ≅ westernization

• modernization: process wherein societies become “modern”, usually implying economic
advancement, technological development & rational organization of political and social life
• Start: Age of Discovery/Exploration – (1450 – 1700)
• Portugal, Spain, Britain, France, and the Netherlands set out to discover the New World 🛳
• (3 G’s: Glory, God, Gold and the Virginia Company™, okay shut up Cath)
• To obtain spice ♨: desire to find direct route to India & Far East
Notes by Catherine Abino
• Establishment of trading empires: tea, can sugar, tobacco, precious metals, slaves (tHAT
ESCALATED QUICKLY WTF)
• Political dimension: Led to establishment of strong central gov’ts (16th & 17th cent.)
• Peace of Westphalia (1648) – end of Thirty Years War
• Economic dimension: Feudalism replaced by growth of a market/capitalist society
• Feudalism: system of agrarian-based production, characterized by fixed social hierarchies & rigid
pattern of obligations
• Growth of industrialization – mid-18th cent. Britain (workshop of the world)
• Enlarged productive capacity = military strength
• Advance agricultural & industrial tech = improved diets & ⇧ living standards = ⇧ world population
• Cultural dimension: Renaissance – began in Italy, late Middle Ages (1350 – early 1500’s)
• French, “rebirth”; cultural movement inspired by revived interest in classical Greece and Rome, major
developments in learning and the arts; growth of commercial activity & trade
• Enlightenment – reached height in late 18th cent.
• Intellectual movement that challenged traditional beliefs in religion, politics and learning in general,
in the name of reason and progress

• Imperialism: extension of state rule beyond its boundaries, through establishment of empire; ideology
supporting military expansion and imperial acquisition, drawing on nationalist and racialist doctrines
• (traditional imperialism) establishment of formal political domination (colonialism) and reflects the
expansion of state power through process of conquest and settlement
• (modern) economic domination/neo-colonialism
• Expansion of European influence
• 19th cent: scramble for colonies, focus on Africa
• belle époque – establishment of levels of economic globalization
• International trade is booming baby! – UK, word’s foremost imperial power, more dependent on trade
than any contemp. state
• 1870 – 1910: substantial cross-border migration
• Immigration to USA from Germany and Ireland, Neds™, Spain, Italy, Scandies™, East Europe
• Facilitated by advances in transport and comms: steam shipping, railroads, and telegraph
(cue dramatic music; enter World War I) return to economic nationalism; backlash against immigration
• some theories: WWI = consequence of belle époque globalization, European states struggle for
resources and prestige in a shrinking world

• Origins of World War I

• Most significant war in world history – First example of total war
• Total war: war involving all aspects of society, including large-scale conscription, the gearing of
the economy to military ends, and the aim of achieving unconditional surrender through the mass
destruction of enemy targets, civilian and military
• Genuinely a world war
• Involvement of Turkey – fighting extended beyond Europe into the Middle East
Notes by Catherine Abino
• Recruitment of armies across the empires of Europe & participation of USA
• June 1914: WWI precipitated by assassination
of Archduke Franz Ferdinand by Black Hand,
group of Serbian nationalists
• Led to wider war between Triple Alliance
(Britain, France, Russia) & Central Powers
(Germany & Austria-Hungary)
• Allies include: T.A – Serbia, Belgium,
Luxembourg, Japan, Italy, Rumania,
Portugal, Greece, USA; C.P – Turkey,
Bulgaria (life’s rough when ur Germany
and no one wants to fight by ur side
😩😩😩)
• Triple Alliance won – linked to democratic
systems in mobilizing manpower and
equipment, more effective use of mechanized warfare, entry of USA
• Actual sources of war: (the assassination was the trigger, but war was bound to happen bc of ff:)
• German Problem
• What happened to all the beer?
• Structural imbalance bc of emergence of a dominant power in central Europe (unification of
Germany, 1871) → European instability
• Germany’s bid for power through desire for colonies
• Military rivalry with Britain
• Alt interpretation: source of German expansionism – imperial regime
• Weltpolitik – world policy, imperialist foreign policy adopted by the German Empire during
the reign of Kaiser Wilhelm II (1888 – 1918)
• Blames Germany for WWI, “war guilt” clause in Treaty of Versailles (1919)
• Eastern Question
• Ottoman Empire ⬇ = power vacuum
• Structural instabilities of the Balkans region – late 19th – early 20th cent.
• the Balkans sparked expansionist ambitions of Russia & Austria-Hungary
• Imperialism
• Lenin (1916) – imperialism: highest stage of capitalism; quest for raw materials and cheap
labour abroad → colonial rivalry among capitalist powers →war
• Nationalism
• Enmeshed with militarism & chauvinism
• Chauvinism – uncritical and unreason dedication to cause or group; based on belief of
superiority
• Road to World War II
• More ‘total’ than WWI – greater death rate; more disruption to economies
• Truly global
Notes by Catherine Abino
• 1 September 1939: Nazi Germany and Soviet Union invade Poland; UK and France declare war
on GER
• 1940: Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Neds™ suffer Blitzkrieg attacks
• 1941: German invasion of Yugoslavia, Greece, and Russia (bitch I thought we were friends)
• 7 December 1941: Japan attacks US military base at Pearl Harbour, Hawaii
• 1942: war spreads to North Africa
• May 1945: capitulation of GER = Europe GAME OVER
• August 1945: bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki = Japan surrenders | war in Asia ends
• Origins of WWII
• WWI peace settlements
• Objectives:
• Create a liberal world by breaking up European empires and replacing them with collection
of independent nation-states policed by League of Nations
• Desire to make Germany pay for war and to benefit territorially and economically from its
defeat
• ‘war guilt’ clause – loss of German territories and imposition of reparations
• Reparation: compensation involving financial payments or physical requisition of goods,
imposed by victors on vanquished powers either as punishment or reward
• Wide faith in “utopianism” | liberal internationalism –Victors disregard bids for power by losers
(GER and ITA)
• Global economic crisis
• 1929 -1933
• October 1929: Wall Street Crash 📉
• Rise in unemployment and growing poverty bc of crisis
• Politically unstable states (GER) invest in radical solutions
• Free trade < protectionism & autarky
• Autarky: economic self-sufficiency, often associated with expansionism and conquest to
ensure the control of economic resources and reduce economic dependency on other
states
• Nazi expansionism
• German foreign policy more aggressive © 1933 Hitler and the Nazis™
• Japanese expansionism in Asia
• Japan: growing economic and military strength; imperial ambitions
• 1920’s – 1930’s: Japan occupied Manchuria & constructed puppet state, Manchukuo
• 1936: joins GER – ITA; form “Anti-Comintern Pact’ → Pact of Steel, 1939 → Tripartite Pact
1940
• Expansionism in Asia = tension w/ JPN – USA – UK
• End of Empires
• Process of decolonization – larger decline of Europe & pol, econ, ideological developments in Asia,
Africa and Middle East (still Asia, why is that separate??)
• Three factors accelerated the process:
1. Traditional imperial powers suffering ‘imperial over-reach’
Notes by Catherine Abino
2. Decisive shift against European colonialism – US pressure to dismantle imperialism (wow the
irony, thanks America)
3. Resistance to colonialism across Asia, Africa, and Latin America became fiercer and more
politically engaged
• Spread of influence of “Third World”
• Anti-colonial nationalism across Third World; pursuit of national liberation – economic and
political emancipation
• Crucial for globalization: absorption of almost all parts of world into rival power blocs
• Rise and fall of Cold War 😷❄
• Post-1945: rise of superpowers – Russia and USA
• Bipolarity
• First Phase: Europe 🌍
• 1945, Potsdam Conference: disagreement over division of Germany and Berlin into four zones
• 1947, Truman Doctrine: Marshall Plan, economic support to war-torn Europe to resist appeal of
communism
• 1949: “two Germanys”; establishment of rival military alliances – NATO (North Atlantic Treaty
Org) & Warsaw Pact
• Going Global™ 🌐
• Korean War (1950 – 1953)
• 1949 Chinese Revolution
• Origin of Cold War
• Orthodox view: blame on Soviet Union – stranglehold over Eastern Europe; RUS imperial
ambitions
• Revisionist interpretation: Soviet expansionism = defensive; desire for buffer zone bet. West &
permanently weaken GER
• Post-revisionist: Cold War inevitable bc of power vacuum & hegemonic ambitions of RUS & US
• 1962, Cuban Missile Crisis: direct confrontation came closest; effectiveness of Mutually Assured
Destruction in preventing tension bet. Superpowers
• Weakening of bipolarity | emerging multipolarity (1963 – 1971)
• Fragmentation of communist world – enmity bet. Moscow & Beijing
• Resurgence of JPN & GER as economic superpowers
• Swift end: 1989 – communist rule rolled back to USSR; 1990 – formal announcement of end @ CSCE
Paris Conference; 1991 – collapse of USSR
• Factors – Collapse of Communism
• Structural weaknesses of Soviet-style communism
• Economic – Centrally planned economies less effective than capitalism 😩
• Political weakness – communist regimes had no mechanism for articulating political
discontent
• Impact of Gorbachev’s reform process
• Perestroika – introduction of elements of market competition and private ownership;
• Glasnost – dismantling restrictions on expression of opinion and political debate
Notes by Catherine Abino
• Sinatra doctrine (replaced Brezhnev Doc) – new approach to relations w/ US and West Eur;
USSR did not intervene when commie regimes fell (Berlin Wall)
• US policy and ‘Second’ Cold War
• 1983, Strategic Defence Initiative – led to arms race that USSR can’t afford = economic
collapse & reform
• Economic and cultural globalization
• Progressive internationalization of trade and investment = tech & econ development for West
• Exclusion from global market = stagnation for East

• New World Order?

• Possibility of ‘liberal peace’ – recognition of international norms & standard morality
• Recognition of need to settle disputes peacefully, resist aggression & expansionism, control and
reduce military arsenals, ensure just treatment of domestic population through respect for human
rights
• Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe
• Mechanism for tackling international crisis (to replace Warsaw Pact and NATO)
• Formerly: Conference on Security and Co-operation
• Collapse of external threat (antagonism toward East/West) led to centrifugal tensions (racial, ethnic,
regional)
• Break-up of Yugoslavia
• Kosovo Crisis (1999)
• Bosnian War (1992 -1995)
• 9/11 and the ‘war on terror’ 😰✈🗼🗼💣💣
• Samuel Huntington – clash of civilizations theory
• 21st cent conflict based on cultural conflict between nations and groups from “different
civilizations”
• Origins of global terrorism lie in irreconcilable tensions between ideas and values of western
liberal democracy and Islamic fundamentalism
• Factors contributing to Political Tension in the Middle East
• The inheritance from colonialism
• Demise of Ottoman Empire (1918) – establishment of UK & French mandates in Syria,
Lebanon, Palestine, Iraq
• Authoritarian gov’ts installed – pro-west ‘puppet’ rulers
• Conflict between Israel and the Palestinians
• Establishment of Israel (1947) – Arab states perceived as extension of western colonialism
• Palestine problem – displacement of many Palestinian Arabs after 1948 war & establishment
of ‘occupied territories’ after Six-Day War (1968)
• The ‘curse’ of oil 🛢
• Monarchical autocracy and military dictatorship deeply entrenched: provides abundant
source of revenue – used to build up military-security apparatus to repress political opponents
• Autocracy: rule by single person; concentration of political power in hands of single ruler
Notes by Catherine Abino
• Continued involvement in Western Political and Corporate Interests
• The rise of political Islam 🕌
• Muslim Brotherhood – earliest form; from non-violent → resist all “foreign” ideologies and
construct pure Islamic state
• Strengthened by Iranian Revolution (1979)
• Al-Qaeda – foremost exponent of global terrorism; war can be fought by non-state actors too
• November 2001: US-led assault on Taliban regime in Afghanistan
• Bush administration: neoconservatism – address problem of ‘rogue’ states by promoting democracy
through pre-emptive military strikes if necessary
• US view of promoting democracy using military intervention seen as act of imperialism, strengthening
anti-westernism and anti-Americanism
• Obama administration: focus on building up USA’s soft power – withdrawal of US troops from Iraq;
strengthening of cross-cultural understanding and recognizing past mistakes; pressure to resolve
Palestinian problem
• Shifting balances within the global economy
• Developing world encouraged to adopt ‘structural adjustment’ programmes, based on rigorous
application of free-market policies
• Sometimes disastrous: Russia – led to ⬇ living standard and ⬇life expectancy; basis for return
to authoritarian rule under Putin (1999)
• Economic globalization = economic dominance of USA
• Free trade provided USA w/new markets for goods and sources of cheap labour and raw material
• Benefits of global capitalism 🚫not ❗❗❗ equally distributed ⚖
• Africa: TNCs = bad; agriculture focus on production of ‘cash crops’ for export rather than meeting
local needs
• Declining growth rates bc unwillingness to fully engage w/neoliberal or market reforms
• Rise of New Economic Powers
• China and India
• 2009: China overtook Germany as world’s 3rd largest economy
• Indian growth rate only marginally lower than China
• Global economic crisis brought US model of enterprise capitalism into question