XX century: Textbook for schoolchildren. Zagladin N
Recent history of foreign countries. 1914-1997. Grade 9 Kreder A.A.
2nd ed., add. and correct. - M.: 2005. - 432 p.
The textbook examines the main trends in the socio-economic, political and spiritual life of foreign countries in the 20th century from modern scientific positions. The development of international relations is traced and the course and consequences of the two world wars are analyzed. The textbook ends with a review of recent events at the end of the 20th century.
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Table of contents
Introduction 5
Chapter 1. The First World War 8
§]. Causes and initial period of the First World War 8
§2. The situation at the front and in the rear in 1915-1916 22
§3. The last years of the war 35
Chapter 2. The Post-War World 45
§4. Results of the First World War 45
§5. Versailles-Washington System 56
§6. New European States 69
§7. Revolutions and reforms 82
Chapter 3
§8-9. World economic crisis and fascism 93
§10-11. Democratic way out of the crisis 110
§12. Latin America, Asia and Africa after World War I 131
§13-14. On the way to the second world war 143
Chapter 4. World War II 158
§fifteen. The initial period of the war 158
§sixteen. Turning point in the course of the war 173
§17. The final stage of the war 184
Chapter 5. Cold War 195
§eighteen. Post-war world 195
§nineteen. Beginning of the Cold War 206
§20-21. Cycles of World Politics 221
Chapter 6. The West, 1945-1997 240
§22-23. Western Development Trends 240
§24. United States of America 254
§25. UK 267
§26. France 277
§27-28. Federal Republic of Germany, Italy, Japan 288
Chapter 7. Countries of Eastern Europe, 1945-1997 311
§29. Totalitarian socialism 311
§thirty. Revolutions in Eastern Europe 324
Chapter 8. Asia, Africa and Latin America, 1945-1997 337
§31. Search for development paths 337
§32. Latin America 348
§33. Asia 357
§34. China 370
§35. Africa 381
Chapter 9. The World at the End of the 20th Century 393
§36. On the way to a new civilization 393
Chronological table.. 410
The 20th century was in many ways a turning point for humanity. Both in terms of eventfulness and the scale of changes in the lives of peoples, it was equivalent to centuries of world development in the past.
The basis of the changes that took place was a significant acceleration in the pace of scientific and technological progress, the expansion of knowledge horizons. In the 19th century, it took, on average, 50 years to double the volume of scientific knowledge; by the end of the 20th century, it took about 5 years. Their fruits have literally revolutionized all aspects of the life of most peoples of the world.
New sources of energy (nuclear, solar) have appeared. New technologies have been developed that provide automation and robotization of production, it has become possible to obtain substances with predetermined properties that do not exist in nature. New means of processing and cultivating land, biotechnologies, and genetic engineering methods were introduced. All this made it possible to increase labor productivity in industry and agriculture dozens of times. Only for the period 1850-1960. the volume of production of goods and services in the industrialized countries of Europe and North America increased 30 times. The achievements of medicine, introduced in the most remote corners of the planet, ensured a doubling of the average life expectancy of people (from about 32 to 70 years). The world population in the 20th century, despite the fact that it was marked by the bloodiest wars in history, increased by about 3.5 times - from 1680 million people in 1900 to 5673 million in 1995. Note that for the previous tripling population of earthlings took 250 years.
The most visible and visible changes have taken place in the life of people, their production activities. At the beginning of the century, only in Great Britain the majority of the population lived in cities. In most countries of the world, including Russia, 8-9 people out of ten lived in rural areas, cultivating the land mainly by hand or using draft animals, without knowing electricity. By the end of the century, already in most countries of the world, almost half of the population lives in giant cities (megacities), is employed in industry, the service sector, science, and management.
A qualitatively new level of development has reached the means of communication between people, peoples, states. This was due to the development of transport, especially air transport, the emergence of electronic media (radio, television), widespread telephone installation, and the formation of global computer information networks (Internet). As a result, there was a deepening of the international division of labor, the exchange of scientific and technical information, ideas, cultural values became more active, and the migration of the population lived.
To the greatest extent, scientific progress has affected the military-technical sphere. The twentieth century has every chance of going down in history as the century of the most destructive wars that civilization has ever known. The age when, with the invention of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) - primarily nuclear missiles, as well as biological, chemical, geophysical - humanity first acquired the ability to destroy itself and repeatedly found itself on the verge of using this opportunity.
Such a concept as "progress", which implies changes taking place for the benefit of man, is not entirely applicable to refer to the processes that unfolded in the world in the 20th century. There is no doubt that living and working conditions in many countries of the world have improved significantly. Gradually the standard of living rose, the duration of the working day was reduced, the work itself became more and more creative. For the bulk of the population, especially in developed countries, leisure conditions, access to education, medical care, and participation in public and political life have improved.
At the same time, changes in the face of the world led to the exacerbation of many previous problems, gave rise to new ones that threaten the very foundations of the existence of civilization.
At the end of the century, the problems of the resource base for further development and the depletion of world reserves of raw materials and energy carriers continue to worsen. The human environment is increasingly polluted by industrial and household waste. The number of "hot spots" is increasing - countries where tension in ethnic and social relations is growing, people's lives are constantly in danger. All this, as well as the instability of the world economy and the international financial system, require a qualitatively new level of cooperation between states to streamline world development and make it sustainable and safe. However, due to the uneven pace of social, political, socio-economic development of the main regions of the world, close neighbors within the framework of one, which has become a single planetary space, turn out to be peoples living, as it were, in different historical times, solving different problems. Some have mastered the most advanced technologies, created a competitive economy and strive for the greatest openness of world markets. Others solve the problem of overcoming backwardness, others have only recently acquired their own statehood and are looking for their place in the changing world. This situation is unfavorable for the search for constructive solutions acceptable to all. Moreover, it generates new contradictions.
If conflicts in the international arena can be overcome through compromise, agreement between its participants, then it is much more difficult to solve the problem of the so-called future shock, the crisis of the person himself. Its essence lies in the fact that, orienting in the everyday realities of modern life at the household level, a person overloaded with information flows often does not have time to perceive and adequately reflect in his activity the meaning of modern socio-economic, global processes.
The effect of the human crisis manifests itself in various forms. In particular, in the growth in the number of mental illnesses observed in the most prosperous, at first glance, countries; in fear of the future, "studying" it with the help of magic and horoscopes, not science; in the attempts of art to reflect the modern world by appealing to the subconscious, irrational principles; in the emergence of mass, non-traditional movements, with frank fear and hostility related to changes, scientific and technological achievements; in unsuccessful decisions of politicians that do not take into account the reality of the world in which they operate.
Under these conditions, the study of the history of the 20th century is of particular relevance. Allowing one to see the origins of the trends of modern world development, historical knowledge, if it does not provide ready-made recipes for solving the pressing problems of our time, then lays the foundation for their understanding.
Approved by the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation as a history textbook for the 9th grade of educational institutions
Moscow
"Russian word"
1999
Zagladin N.V.
Recent history of foreign countries. XX century: Textbook for schoolchildren of the 9th grade. - M .: LLC Trade and Publishing House "Russian Word - PC", 1999. - 352 p.: ill.
ISBN 5-8253-0015-5
The book of the doctor of historical sciences, professor N.V. Zagladin is a textbook of a new generation, it has an original, innovative, schoolchild-oriented character of the 21st century. The theoretical provisions of the textbook are successfully combined with specific historical material.
BBC 63.3(0)
ISBN 5-8253-0015-5
Zagladin N.V., 1999
Larina L.I., 1999
Yakubovsky S.N., 1999
LLC *TID "Russian Word - RS", 1999.
XX - beginning of the XXI century.
Option 2
A1. For the advanced countries of the world at the beginning of the 20th century. was typical:
1) urbanization process 2) republican system 3) industrial revolution
4) increase in the number of people employed in agricultural production
A2. The emergence of banking monopolies at the beginning of the 20th century. testified to:
1) to concentration of capital2) democratization of society3) pursuing a policy of social reformism
4) creation of a single economic space in Europe
A3. A feature of the development of England at the beginning of the XX century. It was:
1) preservation of landownership 2) strengthening the influence of the Catholic Church
3) accelerating the pace of economic development 4) existence of a two-party political system
A4. Conservatives and liberals at the beginning of the 20th century. advocated for:
1) reforms 2) revolution 3) social equality 4) omnipotence of the state
A5. The Entente on the eve of the First World War included:
1) Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy 2) England, Austria-Hungary, USA
3) Germany, Russia, France 4) England, France, Russia
A6. While participating in the First World War, Great Britain sought to:
1) maintaining dominance at sea 2) maintaining its neutrality
3) the capture of the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles 4) liberation of their country from invaders
A7. World War I started:
1) August 1, 1914 2) September 1, 1914 G. 3) March 1, 1915 4) November 1, 1915 G.
A8. Totalitarianism is called:
1) waging wars of aggression 2) intensification of the class struggle
3) holding parliamentary elections 4) general control by the state
A9. In France, as in the United States, during the years of the economic crisis:
1) unemployment fell 2) unions dissolved
3) a policy of protectionism was pursued 4) antitrust laws were in effect
A10. The emergence of the concept of "Gandhism" is associated with history:
1) India 2) China 3) Turkey 4) Latin America
All . What is the excerpt from the document talking about?
All night long, General Eisenhower paced his command trailer, waiting for the first messages...
Finally, the first messages began to arrive. They were fragmentary, but spoke of success.
Co. commanding naval and air forces were satisfied with the course of events, the troops landed on all
five bridgeheads. Operation Overlord was a success.
1) about the Anschluss of England 2) about the attack on Poland 3) about opening a second front 4) about the attack on Pearl-Harbor
A12. What was the latest event during World War II?
1) creation of an anti-Hitler coalition 2) the operation of German troops in the Ardennes
3) the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki 4) German invasion of France
A13. The decision to create the UN was taken at the conference:
1) Yalta2) Genoa 3) Tehran 4) Potsdam
A14. The reason for the beginning of a radical change during the Second World War:
1) US entry into the war 2) opening of a second front in Europe 3) refusal of Japan and Italy from an alliance with Germany
4) achieving economic superiority of the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition
A15. The concept of "demilitarization" means:
1) disarmament 2) increase in the size of the army 3) punishment of war criminals
4) restoration of the activities of various parties
A16. First President of the Fifth Republic in France:
1) K. Adenauer 2) C. de Gaulle 3) J. Kennedy 4) C. Attlee
A17. The position of the economic theory of neoconservatism:
1) activation of market competition 2) state regulation of the economy
- (USSR, Union SSR, Soviet Union) the first in the history of the socialist. state in. It occupies almost a sixth of the inhabited land of the globe 22 million 402.2 thousand km2. In terms of population 243.9 million people. (as of Jan. 1, 1971) Sov. The Union belongs to the 3rd place in ... ...
- (from history (see) and Greek grapo I write, literal description of history) 1) History of ist. science, which is one of the most important forms of self-knowledge of human society. I. naz. also a collection of studies on a particular topic or historical ... ... Soviet historical encyclopedia
- (France) French Republic (République Française). I. General information F. state in Western Europe. In the north, the territory of F. is washed by the North Sea, the Pas de Calais and the English Channel, in the west by the Bay of Biscay ... ...
- (Great Britain) state in the West. Europe, located on the British Isles. Official name B. United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland; often all of V. is inaccurately called England (by name ... Soviet historical encyclopedia
- (Japanese Nippon, Nihon) state in the west. parts of the Pacific Ocean, on a group of islands, the main ones of which are Honshu, Hokkaido, Shikoku, Kyushu. area, ca. 372.2 thousand km2. Us. 110.9 million people (March 1975). Capital of Tokyo. I. constitutional. monarchy. The current constitution... Soviet historical encyclopedia
- (România) Socialist Republic of Romania, SRR (Republica Socialistă România). I. General information R. is a socialist state in the southern part of Europe, mainly in the lower Danube basin. On the east it is washed by the Black Sea ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia
- (Bulgaria) People's Republic of Bulgaria, NRB (People's Republic of Bulgaria). I. General information B. state in South-Eastern Europe, in the eastern part of the Balkan Peninsula. On the east it is washed by the Black Sea. It borders on S. ... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia
Kingdom of Sweden, state in the north of Europe. Swede, the name of the country is Sverige, where sve is from an ethnonym (Old Scandinavian svein, Russian Svei) the name of one of the large other Swedes, tribes and rige state. See also Sveaborg. Geographical names of the world: ... ... Geographic Encyclopedia
The Kingdom of Sweden, a state in Northern Europe, occupying most of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The territory of the country is stretched from north to south for 1500 km. Area 400.9 thousand square meters. km, 1/7 part is located beyond the Arctic Circle. It borders on... ... Collier Encyclopedia
- (Srbia - Crna Gora; Srbija - Crna Gora), state in SE. Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula, pl. 102.2 km²; consists of 2 republics: Serbia (includes the regions of Kosovo and Vojvodina) and Montenegro. The capital is Be… Geographic Encyclopedia
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Authors: dr. ist. sciences, prof. A.M. Rodriguez; doc. ist. sciences, prof. K.S. Gadzhiev; cand. ist. Sciences, Assoc. M.V. Ponomarev; cand. ist. Sciences, Assoc. L.A. Makeev; cand. ist. Sciences, Assoc. V.N. Gorshkov; cand. ist. Sciences K A. Kiselev; L.S. Nikulin; cand. ist. Sciences AND ABOUT. Ponomarev
Methodological material prepared E.V. Saplina and A.I. Saplin
The newest history of foreign countries. XX century. Allowance for students 10-11 cells. educational institutions / Ed. A.M. Rodriguez. At 2 o'clock - M .: Humanit. ed. center VLADOS, 1998. - Part 1 (1900-1945). - 360 p.: ill.
ISBN 5-691-00177-9
ISBN 5-691-00205-8(1)
The manual was created taking into account the latest trends in the development of domestic and foreign historiography. An attempt is made to transfer the previously accepted accents from the problems of the split of the world, the logic of confrontational relations to the issues of integration of the world space, the evolutionary formation of the modern post-industrial civilization, the phenomenon of unity and diversity of the world. The history of the countries of the East is presented, the range of regions and states under consideration is expanded.
The combination of the problematic and country-specific principles of presenting the material and the peculiarities of the structure of the manual make it possible to use it both in full and in an abbreviated form in grades 10-11 of a general education school or grade 9 of gymnasiums and lyceums.
© VLADOS Humanitarian Publishing Center 1998
ISBN 5 691 00177 9
ISBN 5 691 00205 8(I)
INTRODUCTION 2
Chapter 1 3
§ 1. Completion of the process of formation of the Eurocentric world 3
§ 2. The triumph of the Eurocentric world 4
§ 3. The main directions of socio-economic development 8
§ 4. New trends in the development of capitalism. State monopoly capitalism 10
§ 5. Transformation of capitalism on the path of reformism 12
§ 7. Crisis of the rationalistic type of consciousness 18
Chapter 2. INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE XX CENTURY nineteen
§ 1. Completion of the territorial division of the world between the great powers 19
§ 2. World War I 23
§ 3. Formation of new centers of war 30
§ 4. World War II 33
Chapter 3. COUNTRIES OF NORTH AMERICA AND WESTERN EUROPE 41
§ 2. England 49
§ 3. France 57
§ 4. Germany 67
§ 5. "Small countries" of Western Europe (Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria) 78
Chapter 4. COUNTRIES OF NORTHERN, EASTERN AND SOUTHERN EUROPE 84
§ 1. Scandinavian countries 84
§ 2. Eastern Europe 89
§ 3. Italy 94
§ 4. Spain 99
Chapter 5. COUNTRIES OF LATIN AMERICA 107
§ 1. Mexican Revolution 1910-1917 107
§ 2. Latin America in the 10s - 40s 111
Chapter 6. COUNTRIES OF SOUTH-WEST AND SOUTH-EAST ASIA 114
§ 1. Turkey 114
§ 2, Iran 117
§ 3. Afghanistan 119
§ 4. States of Southeast Asia 121
Chapter 7. COUNTRIES OF EAST AND SOUTH ASIA 124
§ 1. Japan and Korea 125
§ 2. China 128
§ 3. India 132
Chapter 8. ARAB COUNTRIES OF ASIA AND AFRICA 136
§ 1. Arab States of Asia 136
§ 2. Arab countries of North Africa 139
Chapter 9. TROPICAL AND SOUTH AFRICA 143
§ 1. Colonial Africa 143
§ 2. Tropical and South Africa in 1914 - 1945 146
Appendix. GLOSSARY OF TERMS 148
INTRODUCTION
20th century full of large-scale events and processes. It seemed to combine several eras of human history. Many countries and peoples, having passed the stage of industrial development, changed beyond recognition by the end of the century.
20th century was the time of the rapid rise of the human mind, expressed in such great discoveries as the theory of relativity, the splitting of the atom, in the development of aviation, a breakthrough into space, etc. The beginning of the century was marked by the completion of the industrial revolution in the leading countries of the developed world; technical, and for the last quarter - information, or telecommunications, revolution. There was a steady process of further spreading to new countries and regions of a market economy and liberal democracy, recognition of the principles of protecting human rights and the rights of peoples to self-determination.
20th century became the era of the triumph of nationalism, under the slogan of which multinational empires and great colonial powers collapsed. Many new independent states were formed on their ruins.
At the same time in the 20th century went down in history as the century of the two most devastating wars for mankind and the most tyrannical regimes - fascist, Nazi and Bolshevik. The split of the world into social systems resulted in an unprecedented global rivalry. International relations for several decades were built on the basis of the logic of the Cold War. In such a situation, the successes of scientific and technological progress not only became the basis for a fundamental change in the entire sphere of human life, but also accelerated a new round of the arms race, especially nuclear. The euphoria of the scientific and technological revolution for a long time overshadowed the problem of the environmental consequences of technological development, which by the end of the century had acquired catastrophic forms.
Humanity enters the third millennium having got rid of many mistakes and illusions. The collapse of totalitarian regimes has drawn a line under one of the most grandiose and bloody experiments in the history of mankind. The era of the domination of superpowers is coming to an end, the contours of a new, multipolar world are emerging. The process of real unification of the world space inhabited by man, which began in the era of the Great geographical discoveries, is coming to an end. In addition to economic, political, information ties, a spiritual and cultural unity of mankind is also taking shape. Its basis is not an illusory sense of self-sufficiency and superiority of the "great nations", but an understanding of the originality and importance of any national culture.
History of the 20th century gives serious lessons of the unity of the destinies of civilization, deep interdependence and integrity of the world.
Chapter 1
§ 1. Completion of the process of formation of the Eurocentric world
For most of the 20th century, the development of the modern world proceeded under the domination of a group of countries united under the common name "West" (Great Britain, France, Germany, Russia (Soviet Union), Italy, Spain, USA, Canada, etc.) - i.e. the world was Eurocentric, or more broadly, Euro-American-centric. Other peoples, regions and countries were taken into account insofar as they were connected with the history of the West.
Indeed, until the second half of the century as a whole, it was the West that determined the main directions, ways and means of world development, gradually drawing into its orbit all new regions, countries and peoples. Europe gave the modern world advanced scientific thought and ideas of humanism, great geographical discoveries that laid the foundation for the unification of the entire ecumene into a single whole, a market economy, institutions of representative democracy, traditions of law, a secular state based on the principles of separation of church and state, and much more.
A special place is occupied by those regions and territories that were inhabited and mastered by Europeans who displaced or physically destroyed the local population, for example, Indians. First of all, we are talking about North America, Australia and New Zealand, as well as South America, where either peculiar daughter or hybrid cultures and societies have formed, to some extent reminiscent of European ones. The gradual entry of these societies into a single planetary community is one of the main chapters of the modern history of mankind. The scope of this process is eloquently evidenced by the fact that in the period from 1810 to 1921, 34 million people moved to the USA alone (mainly from Europe). In just 50 years, from 1851 to 1910, 72% of its inhabitants left one small Ireland overseas. It is difficult to imagine what the face of Europe and the very fate of European civilization would have been without this gigantic migration of peoples.
The era of exploration and subjugation of Asia, Africa and America by European peoples began with the great geographical discoveries in the 15th century. The final act of this epic was the creation by the end of the XIX century. great colonial empires that covered vast expanses and numerous peoples and countries in all four hemispheres of the globe. It should be noted that colonialism and imperialism were not the exclusive monopoly of Europe alone or the Western world of modern and contemporary times. The history of conquest is as old as the history of human civilizations. Empire as a form of political organization of countries and peoples existed almost from the very beginning of human history. Suffice it to recall, for example, the empire of Alexander the Great, the Roman and Byzantine empires, the Holy Roman Empire, the empires of Qing Shi Huang and Genghis Khan.
In the modern sense, the term "empire" (as well as the term "imperialism" derived from it) is associated with the Latin word "emperor" and is usually associated with ideas of dictatorial power and coercive methods of government. In modern times, it first came into use in France in the 30s of the XIX century. and was used against supporters of the Napoleonic Empire. In the following decades, with the intensification of the colonial expansion of Britain and other countries, this term gained popularity as an equivalent of the term "colonialism". At the turn of the century, imperialism began to be regarded as a special stage in the development of capitalism, characterized by the intensification of the exploitation of the lower classes within the country and the intensification of the struggle for the redivision of the world in the international arena.
Imperialism is characterized by special relations of domination and dependence. Different nations are not equal in their origin, influence, resources, and opportunities. Some of them are large, others are small, some have a developed industry, while others are far behind in the process of modernization. International inequality has always been a reality, which led to the suppression and subjugation of weak peoples and countries by strong and powerful empires or world powers.
As historical experience shows, any strong civilization or world power invariably showed a tendency to spatial expansion. Therefore, it inevitably acquired an imperial character. In the last five centuries, the initiative in expansion belonged to the Europeans, and then to the West as a whole. Chronologically, the beginning of the formation of the Euro-centric capitalist civilization coincided with the beginning of the great geographical discoveries. The emerging young dynamic civilization, as it were, immediately declared its claims to the entire globe. During the four centuries following the discoveries of X. Columbus and V. da Gama, the rest of the world was either mastered and settled, or conquered.
19th century industrial revolution gave a new impetus to the overseas expansion of European powers. Territorial expansion began to be seen as a means of increasing wealth, prestige, military power and gaining additional trump cards in the diplomatic game. A fierce competition for spheres and regions of the most profitable investment of capital, as well as markets for goods, unfolded between the leading industrial powers. End of the 19th century was marked by the intensification of the struggle of the leading European countries for the conquest of still unoccupied territories and countries in Africa, Asia and Oceania.
By the beginning of the XX century. the wave of creation of huge colonial empires ended, the largest of which was the British Empire, spread over vast expanses from Hong Kong in the East to Canada in the West. The whole world turned out to be divided, there were no "no man's" territories left on the planet. The great era of European expansion is over. In the course of many wars for the division and redistribution of territories, European peoples have extended their dominance over almost the entire globe.
Questions and tasks
1. Why the first half of the XX century. can be defined as the time of domination of the Eurocentric world?
2. Explain the following terms: colony, metropolis, imperialism, expansion.
3. Why did the industrial revolution give impetus to the colonial expansion of European states?
§ 2. The triumph of the Eurocentric world
The development of means of communication and transport and the "closure" of the ecumene. The great geographical discoveries and colonial conquests caused a complete transformation of the face of the whole world: the globe for the first time in the history of mankind became a single ecumene. Figuratively speaking, the world has become "complete", "closed": man has mastered almost all of the earth's space.
The development of means of communication and transport played a special role in the "closure" of the ecumene. Innovations in this area are capable of vastly increasing the distances and spaces over which the state can exercise its military and political influence. From the point of view of the impact on military power, the breeding of thoroughbred horses, the creation of sailing ships, the railway, the steamboat and the internal combustion engine can be considered the most revolutionary innovations in the history of mankind. The rise of great empires and eras of political unification have generally been associated with large cuts in transportation costs.
The dependence of the scale of political organization on the means of transport partly explains why empires and large states, up to our time, were concentrated, as a rule, in river basins and along sea coasts (Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt, India and China, Carthage, Roman and Byzantine empires). The development of navigation and the expansion of maritime communications put forward the maritime powers to the forefront in world politics, giving them advantages over the so-called land powers.
Significant changes in this regard occurred with the beginning of the industrial revolution and the growth of land communications, especially the rapid development of railway transport in the 19th century, which made it possible to develop vast, previously inaccessible continental spaces. It was rail transport that largely contributed to the emergence of such land empires as Germany, the USA, and Russia. Perhaps the exceptions to this rule are the empires created by the Mongols and Arabs. A curious explanation of the fact of the emergence and viability of the empire of the Arabs was given by an Arab scholar of the XIV century. Ibn Khaldun. In particular, he argued that the desert, devoid of significant physical barriers, provided the equivalent of the sea. Desert cities functioned as seaports.
Up to the XX century. physical obstacles remained the main obstacle to full-scale communication between different countries and peoples: forests and mountains, seas and deserts, rivers and climatic conditions. Having conquered and mastered vast expanses and covered the globe with sea, railways and roads, people rushed up to conquer the air, and then outer space. An ever-increasing role in the rapprochement of various countries, peoples and regions was played by the invention first of the telegraph and telephone, and then of radio and television.
The emergence and further development of aviation has made significant adjustments to the geopolitical structure of the world community. Having become an effective means of overcoming physical obstacles, aviation has largely erased the line of demarcation between maritime and land powers. For example, Great Britain has largely lost its advantages as an island power, fenced off from possible invasions by the continental powers of the English Channel.
The colonial system of the first half of the 20th century. The main feature of the colonial system of the first half of the XX century. consisted in the fact that it covered the entire globe and became the main structural element of the world capitalist economy. The colonial system included both colonies in the proper sense of the word, that is, countries and territories devoid of any form of self-government, and semi-colonies, in one form or another retained their traditional systems of government. It should also be noted that a whole group of countries, including large ones (China, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Siam, Ethiopia, etc.), retained sovereignty only formally, because, entangled in a network of unequal treaties, enslaving loans and military alliances, they were dependent on the leading industrialized countries.
Until the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century. non-European peoples mastered European scientific, technical, economic, intellectual and other achievements passively; now a new stage of their active development by these peoples has begun, as if from within. The priority in this regard undoubtedly belongs to Japan, which, as a result of the Meiji reforms in 1868, embarked on the path of capitalist development. These reforms marked the beginning of a noticeable economic growth of the country, which, in turn, gave it the opportunity to move on to the path of external expansion. The attack by Japanese aircraft on December 7, 1941 on the American naval base at Pearl Harbor demonstrated with one's own eyes the real beginning of the end of the Eurocentric world and became the starting point of a new era in world history. But until the second half of the XX century. the world remained Eurocentric: Western countries continued to dictate their will and determine the rules of the political game in the international arena. The overwhelming majority of other countries and peoples were assigned only a passive role as objects of the policy of the great powers.
At the end of the XIX - the first half of the XX century. capitalist relations from the mother countries gradually began to spread to the colonial and dependent countries. Already in the first decades of the XX century. there is a trend towards an increase in the role of colonies and dependent countries as sources of cheap raw materials and markets for the industrial goods of the metropolitan countries, as well as suppliers of cheap labor. The metropolitan companies seized the sources of raw materials on a large scale. Oil, coal, metal-bearing ores, rare metals, phosphates and other riches of Asia and Africa gradually passed into their hands,
Thus, oil companies seized the main oil fields in the Arab countries, Iran, Indonesia. They arrogated to themselves a monopoly on the extraction of salt in Egypt, India, Vietnam, the Ottoman Empire. The richest gold and diamond placers in India and African countries passed into the hands of British, American, French and Belgian companies. They bought for nothing or seized fertile land, creating plantations on them to grow the raw materials and food crops they needed. For example, most of the tea plantations in India fell into the hands of British businessmen, the Dutch corporations took over vast plantations in Indonesia, and the French in Vietnam.
In the assimilation and further subjugation of these countries, the export of capital there and the imposition of loans at gigantic interest rates began to play an increasingly growing role. As a result, already at the beginning of the 20th century. the world was divided into a handful of creditor countries and the vast majority of debtor countries. Loans not only brought high profits to the banks of the metropolitan countries, but also ensured financial control over the debtor countries. A situation was created when the largest banks controlled entire countries. A striking example of this is the Anglo-French control of Egypt.
The transformation of the countries of Asia and Africa into a source of raw materials led to the undermining of the foundations of the traditional subsistence economy typical for these regions and to their involvement in the world economy. The metropolitan countries, by imposing specialization on the cultivation and production of crops that were beneficial to them, helped the colonial and dependent countries to turn their farms into monocultures, that is, producing any one crop. For example, Assam, Ceylon, Java have become areas of cultivation exclusively for tea. The British specialized in Bengal in the production of jute. North Africa supplied olives, Vietnam - rice, Uganda - cotton. Egypt also became a cotton field for the English textile industry. The result of this orientation was that many of these countries were deprived of their own food base and lost the ability to self-sufficiency.
In foreign trade relations between the mother countries, on the one hand, and the colonies and dependent countries, on the other, a system of unequal exchange dominated. Raw materials were purchased many times cheaper than their selling price in the markets of the West. And foreign factory goods were sold in the markets of colonial and dependent countries at inflated prices. This practice brought the companies of industrialized countries maximum profits. All this led to a further strengthening of their dependence on the mother countries.
For all that, it should be noted that European and then American penetration into Asia and Africa had not only a negative impact. Although Western investments in the economies of colonial and dependent countries mainly pursued the goal of subordinating the economies to the metropolitan countries, one of the important results was the stimulation of the capitalist development of these countries, the emergence of separate modern industrial enterprises here, and the formation of a diversified economy.
An important result of the call of Western capital was the construction of railways, ports, bridges, canals, telegraph and telephone lines. In this connection, special mention should be made of the construction of the well-known Baghdad railway by German capital and the construction of the Suez Canal with the help of British and French capital. On the one hand, they brought the main agricultural and raw material regions closer to the industrial centers of the West, facilitated the penetration of Western industrial goods into the interior regions of Asia and Africa, thereby facilitating the task of exploiting their peoples and ensuring political control over them. On the other hand, they stimulated, albeit one-sided, economic development of a number of countries and regions, contributed to their familiarization with scientific and technological progress, approaching world industrial, scientific and cultural centers.
20th century - age of domination of nationalism. 20th century became the age of nationalist dominance. The national state in the strict sense of the word has only been playing the role of the main subject of power and regulator of social and political, including international, relations for only about 200 years. Germany and Italy, as we know them in their modern form, came to the socio-political proscenium only in the second half of the 19th century. A number of national states (Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Finland, Poland, the Baltic countries, etc.) appeared on the political map of the modern world only after the First World War as a result of the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman, and partly Russian empires.
One of the universally recognized goals of the Versailles Peace Conference of 1919 was the realization of the right of nations to self-determination. According to this principle, in place of the collapsed multinational empires, the creation of many independent national states was envisaged. Already at that time, almost insurmountable difficulties were discovered on the way to the realization of this principle.
Firstly, in practice it was carried out only in relation to some peoples of the Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian empires that were defeated in the war, and also due to a number of circumstances (the Bolshevik revolution and civil war) in Russia. Moreover, only a few newly formed countries could be called national in the proper sense of the word. These are Poland, Finland, the Baltic countries. Czechoslovakia became a state formation formed from the union of two peoples: Czechs and Slovaks, and Yugoslavia - from several peoples: Serbs, Croats, Slovenes, Macedonians, Muslim Bosnians.
Secondly, significant national minorities remained in the Eastern European countries, unable to obtain their own statehood.
Thirdly, in the multinational Russian Empire, despite the fact that Finland, Poland and the Baltic countries left it, the process of self-determination of peoples was interrupted at the very beginning and turned out to be postponed for more than seven decades.
Fourthly, the leaders of the Versailles Conference did not even discuss the issue of granting independence to the peoples of the colonial empires of England and France that had won the war.
Early 20th century was marked by the formation in the colonial and dependent countries of the national bourgeoisie, intelligentsia, officers, the working class, and relatively numerous student detachments. A distinctive feature of the bourgeoisie of the East was its relative weakness, its subordinate position. A significant part of it acted as intermediaries between foreign capital and the domestic market - this is the so-called comprador bourgeoisie. The actual national bourgeoisie was made up of merchants operating in the domestic market, owners of industrial enterprises and workshops, who themselves suffered from the oppression of foreign capital. They were joined by broad urban petty-bourgeois strata. It was they who served as the main driving force behind the revolutionary democratic and national liberation movements unfolding at that time.
These movements, growing stronger every year, gradually turned into the most important factor in the socio-historical development of the countries of the East, for which they collectively received the name "awakening of Asia." The most striking manifestations of this "awakening" were the bourgeois revolutions in Iran (1905-1911), Turkey (1908), China (1911-1913). Powerful performances of workers in 1905-1908. in India, the very dominance of the British in this country was called into question. Powerful revolutionary explosions also took place in Indonesia, Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, the Union of South Africa and other countries.
In the process of the birth and development of capitalism in the countries of the East, the national liberation movement faced the dual task of speeding up capitalist development and achieving national liberation. From this point of view, the First World War, in which the colonial and semi-colonial countries were drawn into, had far-reaching consequences. The belligerent metropolitan states used their territories as a springboard for hostilities.
Thus, the entire Middle East was turned into a front zone. Africa, Turkey, Iran, the Arab countries of Asia, China and the peoples of other countries saw with their own eyes the delights of the world slaughter. The metropolitan governments mobilized in their colonies and dependent countries huge masses of people who were sent to the theaters of war to shed their blood for interests alien to them. Only England and France mobilized about 6 million people in their colonies, of which at least 15% died on the battlefields. The so-called labor corps were also created, diverting millions of workers from peaceful labor. They were sent for forced labor in the construction of military installations and were used as porters delivering ammunition, food, and medicines to the army through the jungle and swamps.
The war led to a sharp deterioration in the already difficult economic situation of the peoples of Asia and Africa. Their fate was economic ruin, the destruction of dwellings and outbuildings, epidemics of various diseases, etc. At the same time, it contributed to socio-economic changes in these countries, the enrichment of part of the national bourgeoisie, the landlords, the accumulation after the end of the war could go to the development of the national economy.
As a result, the trend towards growth in the number of national enterprises, their working capital, mining, iron smelting, and imports of factory equipment increased. Industrial production grew not only in the already established centers, it began to appear in the hinterland as well. At the same time, a huge number of handicraft and semi-handicraft enterprises remained in the textile, clothing, leather and footwear, sugar, alcohol, furniture and other industries. But large enterprises began to play an ever-increasing role in the economy of the colonial countries.
Significant changes have taken place in agriculture. Under the conditions of the war, it was forced to gradually reorient itself to the domestic market. This contributed to the growth of the division of labor and the further development of commodity-money relations. The natural form of rent and rent was gradually replaced by cash, which became an additional incentive to increase the marketability of agricultural production and strengthen the ties between the countryside and the city. The positions of wealthy peasants - rural entrepreneurs - were strengthened, which contributed to the acceleration and expansion of capitalist principles in agriculture.
Thus, the First World War gave a strong impetus to the further development of the national capitalism of the countries of Asia and Africa, the expansion and strengthening of local large-scale entrepreneurship. The processes of differentiation of the peasantry and the formation of the working class intensified. The national middle and big bourgeoisie grew in numbers and significantly strengthened its political positions. All this together accelerated the maturation and consolidation of forces capable of participating in the national liberation struggle. These processes prepared the prerequisites for the disintegration of colonial empires after the Second World War and the formation of many new independent states that changed the face of the political map of the modern world.
Questions and tasks
1. What role did the development of means of communication and transport play in the formation of a "closed", "complete" world?
2. What types of countries (according to the degree of independence) were part of the colonial system at the beginning of the 20th century?
3. List the main features of the colonial system in the first half of the 20th century.
4. What role was assigned to the colonies in the world capitalist economy? Why did the colonies become dependent on the mother countries?
5. Did the European penetration into the countries of Asia and Africa have any positive value?
6. How did the comprador and national bourgeoisie of the colonies differ?
7. What were the challenges facing the national liberation movement in the East?
8. What were the consequences of the First World War for the colonial countries?
