History of the World Wars - Essay Example

Name: Professor: Subject: Date: History of the world wars Introduction Although Ivan four begun the Tsars' reign in Russia, Ivan three (Ivan the great) was the man who played a great role in centralizing the state of Russia. The Romanov Dynasty was the last Tsar, and it led the nation from1598 to 1917 when the Russian Revolution occurred. The First World War ended with the fall of the Tsars and the formation of a provisional government following the abduction of Tsar. The 1920s was a period marked by many nationalistic movements. In the 1930s, there was the emergency of the fascists' states namely Italy, Japan, and Germany, and the allied states led by the US, Britain, the Soviet Union, and their allies. The Second World War was a war between the Fascists and the allied nations, and the fascists were defeated. The period between 1945 and 1991 was marked by cold war. Although the there has been a fall of the cold war, two competing forces namely integration and fragmentation are present in the world today. The paper will aim at addressing the turmoil of the Russian Empire, First World War and the Russian Revolution, the Periods between the 1920s and 1930s, the Second World War, the Cold War and the aftermath of the Cold War World War one and Russian Revolution Several factors led to the fall of the Russian empire. Prior the fall of the empire, several spiritual changes occurred. Citizens began to abandon their beliefs in God after being influenced by the philosophical beliefs and ideas called atheism. Many writings, mainly from the Germany writers immensely influenced the political life of Russia. Also, there was a growing negative attitude towards Tsar. Treason was also common in Russia. From Germany, the agents of Kaisers found the willingness of the Russians to collaborate with their conquest plan. The Russian empire founder was Peter one who was born in 1672. Peter one brought the idea of reforming tsar. His reign marked the beginning of judging tsars as per their capacity to make the Russia a modernized economy. In 1699, Peter one signed an alliance with Polish-Lithuania Commonwealth to assist Russia in the war against Sweden that had denied Russian access to the Baltic Sea. 1721 marked the end of the war following the defeat of Sweden. Sweden lost the provinces in the south and East of Finland Gulf ensuring that Peter one could access the sea. The invasions by the Polish-Lithuanian army between 1605 t0 1618 during the Polish-Muscovite War was another turmoil to Russia. In 1610, there was the defeat of the Russian-Swedish army during the Klushino battle of 1610. Following this defeat, a group of Aristocrats from Russia ousted Vasily Shuysky, a Tsar, who had killed the false Dmitry one to gain power. All the impostor Tsars received backup from the Catholic Church because the leaders of Poland and Lithuania had a desire to convert the people of Russia. On November fourth, 1612, a Dmitry Pozharsky (Sunday area's Prince) and Kuzma Minin (merchant) led army drove out the foreign army from Moscow. There was a heavy death toll during this period of turmoil. World War one and Russian Revolution Towards the end of 1916, there has been the mobilization of more than 14 million men fighters in the Empire. Peasant farmers were the greatest casualties because approximately half of the men in the rural areas joined the war. The war's demand drastically lessened the draft animals' number on the land. The focus turned to the production of the war machinery. Mobilization occurred in urban areas at a less extent. Most workers used the weapon strike to push for wage increment. However, there was the cancellation of the wage increase because of wartime inflation. Although the wages had risen to about 50 percent and some extent up to 200 percent, there was a sharp increase in the prices of basic commodities from about 100 percent to about 500 percent. The demand for the wartime production led to the increase in the factory workers' number. In 1914 for instance, the number of factory workers in Petrograd was 242,600, and in 1917, there were 391,800 workers in Moscow. During this period, the labor force of the factory rose from 153,223 to about 205,919. Although the Tzarist government took stern measures against the organized strikes by the workers, there was a massive rise in the workers' strikes. Also, there was political agitation in these strikes. The activists and agitators started to receive financial support from Germany in 1915. There was enormous loss by the Russian military. In 1917, the Russian revolution had taken root. In February 1917, there were demonstrations, a mutiny, and food riots at Petrograd Garrison. There was also the invasion of Tauride Palace. What followed next was the formation of a provisional government and the abdication of Tsar. The 1920s and the colonial world From a colonial viewpoint, the World War One did not have a clean ending. There was the emergence of small was that were related to the First World War. An example is the British Afghan War along the North West Frontier of India. Ireland had gained independence from British colonization. Egypt was negotiating for its independence while India was framed with massive political turmoil. The imperial system of the British was on the edge of collapsing. From 1920 and 1930s, there was a massive growth of the anti-colonial nationalistic movements. As a way of attaining their goal, the nationalists were willing to use violence and protest. The British Imperial was unable to contain the situation. Apart from Britain, other colonies also suffered greatly after World War One. France for instance, lost about 1.3 million people after the war. As a result, France could not develop its colonies in peace. There was a massive anti-colonial movement against French colonialism. Armed revolts were present in Morocco and Syria. The collapse of the imperial regime such as the Habsburgs, Ottomans, Hohenzollerns, and Romanovs left a power vacuum in Eastern Europe. The counter-revolution and competing revolutionary forces filled the power vacuum. There was no much change in the colonial regime. Weaker colonies such as Italy and Portugal were able to retain their colonies namely Libya and Mozambique respectively, even after the war. However, both Italy and Portugal faced worse colonial uprising than they did France and British, and this was because the two weak colonies could not invest to these colonies. The 1930s: Fascism and manoeuvres for war Nazi Germany's main military and political ally in Europe was Italy. Since 1925, Benito Mussolini governed Italy with a fascist regime. There were many similarities between the Nazi regime and the Italian fascism under Mussolini. Germany and Italy became military allies towards the end of 1930. Before h ascended to power, Hitler was a greatly admired Mussolini especially a 1992 protest that led to the appointment of Mussolini as Italy's prime minister. When Hitler ascended to power in 1933, Mussolini praised him, claimed that his fascist ideology were bearing fruits. Hitler was particularly a great campaigner of fascism, and after he had assumed power, he made a promise to topple the Versailles treaty as well as secure more land for the Germans. According to him, the Germany people were superior race members. Another nation that adopted fascism was Japan. The powerful position of the armed forces within the government ensured that they had the same capacity to impose such totalitarianism in Japan. In 1932, Japan occupied Manchukuo and in 1937 to 1938, Japan occupied Chinese ports. The Rome-Berlin-Tokyo axis came about after the treaty between Italy, Japan, and Germany in 1936 and 1937. Second World War The three almost became successful in their ambition. The Second World War appears to the most important time of the 20th century. The primary opponents of the war were Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan, and the Fascist Italy, commonly referred to as Axis nations. The United States of America, the Britain, and the Soviet Union, led the allied nations. The war was the most destructive in the world's history. It is estimated that about 50 million people lost their lives. There is no clear historical event that is said to have led to the onset of the Second World War. The Marco Polo warfare between China and Japan on first July 1937 appears to have initiated fighting in Asia and the Pacific. Germany invasion of Poland on 1st September 1939 triggered the fighting in Europe. Following this incidence, Britain and France declared war on the Nazi Germany. On 27th September 1940, a pact was signed between Mussolini, Japan emperor and Hitler of Germany to dominate the world. Two weeks after the breaking of the war, Russia led by Joseph Stalin attacked Germany from the East. The US joined the war on 7th December 1941 when Japan attacked the Pearl Harbour. The ally nations won the war, and it (the war) ended with the emergence of two superpowers namely the USSR and the US. The early Cold War The first crisis of the Cold War was over Germany. Following the defeat of Nazis, there was the demarcation of Germany into two parts in a line of communism and capitalism. Russia controlled one-third of Germany on the Eastern part, while France, the United States, and Britain controlled to third on the western part of Germany. The crisis occurred following a move by the US and its allies wherein 1948; they introduced an economic and military alliance in opposition to resurgent Germany. Stalin thought that such a move was against him. Another move by the allies was the introduction of the Marshall Plan that curbed the spread of communism. This was in addition to the formation of Western German as well as the introduction of New Germany currency with the aim of making the economy stable. The immediate response of Stalin was the introduction of the currency to West Germany. However, the western allies did not allow the currency to be used in Western Germany. Each side formed various pacts as a way of selling their agenda of communism and capitalism. The western allies formed the South East Asia Organization in 1954, North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 1952, and the Middle East Treaty Organization in 1955. The response of Russia and its allies was the formation of the Warsaw Pact. Cuba Missile crisis In October 1962, there was high tension in the world after a US spy plane (American U-2) secretively made a photograph of the Soviet Union nuclear missile sites on Cuba Island. Although President Kennedy kept this as a secret, he later on addressed the nation about the Cuban missile crisis. The US responded to the move by the Soviet by placing a naval blockade around Cuba with the aim of preventing the Russians from further taking in more military supplies to Cuba. Besides, President Kennedy also demanded a complete destruction of the missile site as well as the elimination of the already present missiles. The society through its leader Nikita Khrushchev responded by dismantling the nuclear sites provided that the US would not attack Cuba. Through a separate deal, the US also made an agreement to remove its missiles stationed in Turkey. Cold War Spies and Espionages Cold War espionage entails the activities of gathering the intelligence information during the period of the cold war between the GRU and KGB of Russia and the NSA, DIA, CIA, and FBI of the US. Spies, as well as spying, were also part of the game of the cold war. The two sides fighting each other during the Cold War used spies in their quest to gather information about what the other party was doing. Each side aimed at finding out the opposing side's secrets while at the same time protecting their secrets. In most cases, spies lived the ordinary life, away from the public limelight. Both sides used counterintelligence as a way of protecting their agents. Once caught, the spying agent faced execution or faced life incarceration. Among the spies who were killed included Arthur Nickolson during his mission to photograph a storage building of the Soviet tank. Other spying agents included Oleg Penkovsky, who alerted CIA and SIS about the capability of the Soviet and its Cuban missile sites. The Soviets knew about Oleg through a spying agent within the NSA. The 1960s-1970s: from Vietnam to Detente The aim of the US war in Vietnam was the containment of the spread of the communist ideology. President Johnson brought about the idea of containment. In 1969, Nixon defeated Johnson and became the US president. Unlike Johnson, who had the policy of Containment, President Nixon moved to the detente policy. The basis of the Detente policy was political realism. Through the Vietnamization policy, Nixon reduced the US forces in Vietnam to a small number that was able to contain the advances by the communists. However, the Congress, mainly comprising of Democrats made Nixon, who was a Republican to abandon such a policy in 1973. Instead, Nixon enacted the amendment of the Case-Church, a law that ended the involvement of the US in Vietnam leading to a violent takeover by the communist. Detente gives the description of the relationship between China, the US, and Russia. The period was characterised by a good relationship among the three nations. The tension between the US, Russia, and their allies had eased. During this period, significant achievements were witnessed. There was an improvement in the respect level between the two leading global nuclear powerhouses. Besides, the communist nations gained recognition there was an improvement in the diplomatic relationships. The period was marked by mutual acceptance of capitalism and communism. Although they differed economically and ideologically, both the communistic and capitalist nations devised a mechanism for communicating as well as working together. The 1980s Wars, Revolutions, and the End of Soviet Communism By 1985, when Mikhail Gorbachev became the leader of Soviet Union, the country was experiencing deep political and economic problems, as well as, severe stagnation. Gorbachev introduced two reform policies namely: freedom of speech (glasnost policy) and the perestroika (the economic policy). The Russians, using the freedom of speech criticized the administration of Gorbachev for failing to improve the economy. The disintegration of the Soviet Union began taking root in the non-Russian Areas. In 1987, Estonia government demanded self-government from the Soviet Union. Other Baltic nations namely Latvia, Lithuania, as well as other Baltic republics also asked for autonomy. Nations such as Armenia witnessed massive demonstrations show their solidarity for Nagorno-Karabagh Secessionists. The refusal by Gorbachev's government to allow for the success of Nagorno-Karabagh Population led to violent over the territorial dispute, eventually leading to all-out war witnessed in the region today. There was also the emergence of nationalist movements in Ukraine, Georgia, Central Asian Republic, and Byelorussia. These movements weakened the central government's power. The resignation of Gorbachev on 25th December 1991 brought about the complete collapse of the Soviet Union. The Post-Cold War World: Fragmentation and Crisis In 1991, the fall of the Soviet Union attracted praises from the US and its allies who saw this as a freedom victory, a democracy triumph over totalitarianism and an evidence of the superiority of capitalistic ideologies over communist ones. There was a total transformation of the globe following the collapse of the Soviet Union, and this led to the total reformulation of economic, military, and economic alliances in the entire globe. The end of Cold War led to the emergence of competition between fragmentation and integration. Integration entails removing barriers that had previously divided people based on culture, politics, religions, economics, and technology. Integration has for instance improved communication in that it is possible for a nation to inform its citizens about what is happening across the globe. Another manifestation of integration is security. There is reliance among nation on issues of security. A fragmentation is a result of three major sources as follows: Nationalism: the end of the cold war renewed the nationalistic movement especially in Western Europe and Eastern Europe. Protectionism: this is an economic fragmentation manifestation. The competition of the two forces creates confusion over which power is likely to succeed. New threats were also brought about because of Cold War's end. Political instability has led to the emergence of conflicts. Read More