Important dates and events(2013-2014-2 Revision).doc

Important dates and events: 1870-1914, European states were locked in a competition within Europe fordominance and control. (p472)1870-1871 France had lost its dominance on the Continent.(p473)1874 A Serbian revolt began in two Ottomanprovinces, Bosnia and Herzegovina.(p473)1882 Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy hadjoined forces in the Triple Alliance. (p474)1869 The Suez Canal was completed, joining the Mediterranean and Red Seas and creating a new and safer trade route to the East. (p475)1837-1844 The Great Trek, a large number of Afrikaners withdrawal from British control by leaving the Cape Colony.(p482)July 1914 The Austro-Serbian war became a Europe-wide war.(p494)1914-1918 marked the first time in history that the productive activities of the entire populations were directed toward a single goal: military victory.(p500)28 June 1919 The Treaty of Versailles signed with Germany dealt exclusively with Germany.(p508)First World War The alliance system was expected to defend the peace by defining the conditions of war. (p492)First World War The invention of new weaponry and heavy equipment had transformed the war.(p495) April 1917 The United Statess declaration of war against Germany marked its entry in the First World War.(p505)1920-1939 Common borders produced tensions over territories.(p513)1920s Heavy borrowing and reliance onAmericas investment throughout the1920s contributed to the inherentinstability of European economies.(p517)1922 Treaty of Rapallo was signed between Germany and Russia, a peacetime partnership that shocked the western powers.(p514)January 1933 Adolf Hitler became chancellor of Germany by legal, constitutional, and democratic means.(p523)1935 Hitler renounced the Treaty of Versailles.(p524) 1930s Great Britain was hard hit by the Great Depression. To protect domestic production, tariffs were established. (p527)7 December 1941 Japan struck at the heart of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, which was stationed at the Pacific Harbour, Hawaii. (p542)1941 Anglo-American resources were committed to the Pacific to stop the Japanese advance after US entry into the Second World War.(p544)6 June 1944 Allied troops under the command of the U.S, General Dwight D. Eisenhower poured into northern France in thedaring Operation Overlord.(p545) WWII The nuclear arms race began in earnestduring the Second World War.(p554)1962 A direct and frightening confrontation occurred between the US and the USSR over soviet missile installations in Cuba.(p557)Post 1945-early 1980s The Cold War lasted.(p574)1970s The decade of detente, a period of cooperation between the two superpowers.The cause and effect of World War I.The outbreak of the First World War was due to three main conflicts: 1. the British and German conflict over the dominance of sea, as Britain and Germany competed against the maritime hegemony; 2. the French and German conflict over the territory, since the 1870 French-Prussian War, French loss of Alsace and Lorraine to Germany had been a long-term and tense issue between the two nations; 3. the German, Austrian-Hungarian and Russian conflict over the Balkan crises. The Three emperors League established in 1873 was an instable alliance because of the several Balkan crises concerning the Serbian independent issue, which made Russia abandon the League and the conflict among the three deepened. 4. The assassination of Ferdinand, heir of the Habsburg throne, by the Sarajevo Slav boy Princip, triggered the Austrian declaration of war on Serbia, the domino effect of war was triggered with the Russian mobilization, German mobilization, French mobilization and Britain and Italys mobilization. Thus the 1st World War broke out. The effect of the 1st World War was as follows:1. The collapse of Ottoman, German, Austrian-Hungarian and Russian Empires.2. The emergence of several new sovereign states from the collapse of the empires. 3. The crisis and collapse in a world economy. The destruction of western economy and rapid development of American and Japanese economy. 4. The American entry in the war changed the nature of WWI. 5. The emergence of Soviet Revolution and the influence of Soviet communism.The cause and effect of World War II.The cause of World War II in Europe was the Treaty of Versailles which ended World War I. The Treaty stripped Germany of 1. the agricultural area of Alsace-Lorraine, 2. the industrial and coal rich area of the Saar, 3. all of its foreign colonies, 4. land bordering Denmark, Poland and Slovakia, 5. establishment of the major industrial area of the Ruhr(鲁尔区a tributary of Rhine ) Valley as a demilitarized zone. 6. The size of the military force for defense of Germany was drastically reduced 7. the manufacture of heavy arms was forbidden. 8. The aim of the Treaty may have been noble, to keep Germany from waging another war, but the result severely crippled Germanys ability to sustain itself as an independent country, wounded national pride and was unenforceable. 9. All those conditions gave rise to Hitler and nationalistic pride. 10. The invasion of its European neighbors was done under the excuse of expanding living space for Germans. 11. In Japans case, expansionism and the need for natural resources to fuel its military and industrial machine. Korea, China, Thailand, the Philippines were countries that could provide critical resources to homeland Japan. The strike on Pearl Harbor was a Japanese chess-type move to keep the US from interfering with Japans expansionism and their military never envisioned the US would respond in a military manner. The Effect of the 2nd World War was as follows:In Europe, 1. total destruction of Germany. 2. the death of tens of millions of Germans and their captives.3. Devastation of Poland and parts of Belgium, France and Netherlands and Italy. 4. Nearly total elimination of the Jewish and Gypsy populations.In Rus