Chapter 10.5 Europe and the New World Order

At the beginning of the Cold War, ideological differences between the Soviet Union and the United States seemed insurmountable. The enmity between the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc resulted in conflicts around the globe that cost the lives of millions of people. Nuclear weapons that threatened the very existence of the human species were stockpiled in preparation for a war that neither side wanted. European states tried to adapt to the changes. A world that was not so deeply divided seemed unimaginable to many. However, the Cold War lasted less than fifty years.

The Collapse of Communism: The Eastern Bloc

The Cold War had begun in Greece, an unlikely place. Its last shot was also fired in an unlikely place—Afghanistan, the site of the final proxy war waged between the allies of the Soviet Union and those of the United States.

In 1973, the nationalist Mohammad Sardar Daoud Khan, once the prime minister of Afghanistan from 1953 to 1963, came to power again in that country after deposing its king. He was originally backed by the communist People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA), which received support from the Soviet Union. Not all factions of the PDPA supported Daoud, however. When he failed to reconcile the factions and realized he was losing the support of PDPA members who had helped him to power, he turned to the United States for support. He wished to free Afghanistan from dependence on the Soviet Union, which had extended assistance to the country in the past, and he reasoned that the United States would help. He also sought closer relations with US allies Saudi Arabia and Iran and expelled Soviet military and economic advisers from the country.

In 1978, Daoud was overthrown and killed by one of the PDPA factions. As the victors sought to eliminate their enemies, a group of Islamic fundamentalists who opposed secular and Western influences on Islamic societies and endorsed strict codes of behavior fought back against government attempts to spread communism to tribal areas. When it became clear that the PDPA leader favored by Moscow could not maintain control of the country and a pro-US rival was gaining ascendancy, the Soviet Union sent ground troops to invade Afghanistan in December 1979.

President Jimmy Carter protested the Soviet incursion and imposed economic sanctions. The United States also continued arming the Islamist enemies of the pro-Soviet Afghan regime, a policy it had been following for some time. These Islamist insurgents, called the mujahideen (Arabic for Muslims who battle non-Muslims on behalf of Islam), regarded the Afghan government and the Soviet Union as enemies of religion and waged a guerrilla war against them. The Soviet Union fought the various groups of mujahideen for ten years without coming close to victory. It spent the equivalent of billions of dollars and lost some fifteen thousand soldiers. About two million Afghans were killed.

Among the groups of mujahideen who fought the Soviets were young men from the Pashtun tribe who had studied at Islamic religious schools in Pakistan. They were supported by both the CIA and its Pakistani equivalent, the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate, and were called the Taliban (meaning “student” in the Pashtun tribal language of Pashto). Following the withdrawal of the Soviets, various groups of mujahideen battled for control of Afghanistan, with the Taliban eventually emerging victorious. The stability and order their rule offered was welcomed by many Afghans after the long years of chaos.

Although the United States offered the mujahideen support to combat the Soviets in Afghanistan, it found itself the enemy of another group of Islamic fundamentalists, this time in Iran. Since the 1950s, the United States had provided funds and weapons to the leader of Iran, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. With US aid, the Shah had built one of the largest armies in the Middle East and SAVAK, one of the most feared secret police forces. He allowed no dissent, and the secret police spied upon, arrested, and tortured anyone suspected of opposing him. The Shah’s efforts to modernize and Westernize Iran by granting women the right to vote, outlawing their wearing of veils, and providing them equal opportunities for education angered many traditionalist Muslim religious leaders. They also disliked the messages contained in the Western movies and music the Shah had allowed into Iran. In contrast, although liberal Iranians approved of these actions, they disliked the lack of political freedom. Nearly all Iranians resented the enormous wealth the Shah and his closest friends had amassed as a result of US assistance. The Shah had few supporters.

One of his most outspoken critics was the Shiite religious leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Despite being repeatedly arrested, Khomeini continued to criticize both the Shah and his patron, the US government. In 1964, Khomeini was expelled from Iran. This did not end his influence, however, and tape-recorded messages from him encouraging opposition to the Shah were smuggled into the country. Beginning in 1977, Khomeini exhorted Iranians to go on strike and refuse to pay their taxes. In 1978, waves of protests and strikes by government and oil industry workers were punished with attacks by government forces. Each was followed by a larger wave of protest.

On January 16, 1979, the Shah and his family fled the country, and two weeks later Ayatollah Khomeini returned. He was greeted enthusiastically by the vast majority of Iranians, and in mid-February 1979, Shapur Bakhtiar, the prime minister appointed by the Shah, was replaced by Mehdi Bazargan, selected by Khomeini. In December 1979, the Iranian people voted to adopt a constitution making the country an Islamic republic. Islam became the nation’s official religion, and the constitution ordained that all laws passed must conform to Islamic law.

On October 22, 1979, the Shah entered the United States for medical treatment. Many Iranians feared this meant Washington was about to take steps to return him to power. On November 4, Iranian students stormed the US embassy in the Iranian capital of Tehran and took its staff and Marine guards hostage, demanding the Shah be returned to Iran for trial and execution (Figure 10.17). Their actions were widely supported within Iran, including by Khomeini, which led the moderate prime minister to resign. Although female and African American hostages were released within a few days, the others were held for 444 days, to be set free on January 20, 1981, the day President Carter left office.

Fearing that Iraqi Shiites would be radicalized by events in neighboring Iran, the Sunni-dominated government of Iraq, controlled by the socialist Ba’ath Party, sent its troops to invade Iran. Iraq also hoped to resolve long-standing border disputes between the two nations and replace Iran as the dominant nation in the region, which had not been possible when Iran was receiving US military and economic support. The United States provided economic and technological support to Iraq. The Iran-Iraq war ended in August 1988 with a cease-fire arranged by the United Nations and no real gains by either side.

Despite its support of Iraq in its war against Iran, the chief concern of the United States in the 1980s was not violence in the Middle East but the destruction of communism. Jimmy Carter was followed in office by President Ronald Reagan, who considered the Soviet Union an “evil empire” and vowed to eliminate communism. He believed the United States should negotiate with the Soviets to ensure world peace but should do so from a position of strength. To this end, he ordered a buildup of the country’s abilities to fight both a conventional and a nuclear war. His successor in office, George H. W. Bush, continued those efforts.

When the new leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, came to power in 1985, discontent was simmering in the Soviet Union and in the countries of Eastern Europe. Shortages of food and other goods were making people angry. In Poland in 1980, shipyard workers under the leadership of labor activist Lech Wałęsa formed a trade union and went on strike to protest government policies. Within a year, one-third of Poland’s population had joined the Solidarity union. The Polish government tried to suppress the movement and banned the union, but its ten million members could not be silenced. Pope John Paul II, himself a Pole and an opponent of communism, called upon the Polish church to support the workers.

Gorbachev realized the need for reform in the Soviet Union. The country simply could not afford to both compete militarily with the United States and provide its citizens what they needed to lead decent lives. In 1984 British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher invited Gorbachev to London, beginning a long friendship. She famously declared that “I like Mr. Gorbachev. We can do business together” and helped him approach Ronald Reagan. A few years later Gorbachev and Reagan entered into arms limitation talks. Gorbachev also began a program of perestroika, a “restructuring” of the Soviet state and economy. He cut military spending and encouraged the beginnings of private enterprise. As part of his reform efforts, Gorbachev also encouraged glasnost or openness, allowing those who were angry to be critical of the government.

Changes in the Soviet Union mirrored changes taking place elsewhere in the Eastern Bloc. In 1988, protests broke out again in Poland, and strikes swept the country. The Polish government was forced to negotiate with Solidarity leaders and make concessions to them, including free elections for some government offices. In 1989, Hungary and East Germany opened their borders, allowing their citizens to come and go freely. Berliners climbed atop the wall that divided their city and began to tear it down. People in Bulgaria and Czechoslovakia called for changes in their government as well. In November of 1989, Czechoslovakia peacefully transitioned its government to a parliamentary republic in what is now known as the Velvet Revolution. Soviet tanks did not roll through the streets, and troops did not arrest or fire upon protesters. Gorbachev informed other members of the Soviet government that he did not intend to use military might to maintain control of Eastern Europe. In 1990, Germany was reunified, and the capital was returned to Berlin.

But the reforms Gorbachev initiated to save the Soviet Union eventually tore it apart. The Soviet republics also wanted their independence. Advocates of reform and democracy pushed for greater change. Not everyone in the Soviet Union was pleased by the reforms taking place, though. In August 1991, conservative members of the Communist Party attempted to remove Gorbachev from power, only to be foiled by the actions of Boris Yeltsin, the president of the Russian republic. Acting together, Yeltsin and the presidents of the Soviet republics of Belarus and Ukraine voted in December 1991 to dissolve the Soviet Union. The Cold War was at an end.

Ironically, the collapse of the Eastern Bloc also meant the demise of Yugoslavia, which had tried so hard to stand apart from it. The need to present a united front to the Soviet Union and the other Warsaw Pact nations had served as a powerful glue binding together the many disparate ethnic groups and states that comprised Yugoslavia. Had Tito lived, the country might have remained unified for a while longer, but he died in May 1980. In 1991 the states of Slovenia, Croatia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina declared their independence from Yugoslavia. When Serbian minorities in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina and Albanians in the Serbian province of Kosovo attempted to proclaim their independence from these larger states, violence broke out. Slobodan Milošević, the former president of both the state of Serbia and of Yugoslavia, funded Serb rebels in Bosnia and conducted a genocidal campaign against the Albanians of Kosovo. He was indicted for war crimes by the United Nations in 2001 and died in prison in 2006.

The Post–Cold War Europe

The end of the Cold War marked a transformative era in Europe, reshaping the geopolitical landscape and ushering in a new chapter in its history. The idea of detente and the subsequent collapse of the Soviet Union and brought profound changes and helped people imagine a new Europe beyond the ideological divisions. Nations like Germany once separated by ideological differences found themselves confronted with new opportunities and challenges. The post-Cold War Europe witnessed the expansion of the European Union, the redefinition of national identities, the pursuit of democracy and the emergence of new security measures to manage threats to stability. These changes not only transformed major countries like Britain, France, and Germany, but also provided a platform for cooperation, progress, and a shared vision for the future, although at the same time, nations struggled to maintain their unique cultures and independence.

The modern political history of the United Kingdom (1979–present) began when Margaret Thatcher gained power in 1979, giving rise to 18 years of Conservative government. Victory in the Falklands War (1982) and the government’s strong opposition to trade unions helped lead the Conservative Party to another three terms in government. Thatcher initially pursued monetarist policies and went on to privatize many of Britain’s nationalized companies such as British Telecom, British Gas Corporation, British Airways and British Steel Corporation. She kept the National Health Service. The controversial “poll tax” to fund local government was unpopular, and the Conservatives removed Thatcher as Prime Minister in 1990, although Michael Heseltine, the minister who did much to undermine her, did not personally benefit from her being ousted.

Thatcher’s successor, John Major, replaced the “poll tax” with Council Tax and oversaw successful British involvement in the Gulf War. Despite a recession, Major led the Conservatives to a surprise victory in 1992. The events of Black Wednesday in 1992, party disunity over the European Union and several scandals involving Conservative politicians all led to the Labour Party winning a landslide election victory under Tony Blair in 1997. Labour had shifted its policies from the political left closer to the center, under the slogan of ‘New Labour’. The Bank of England was given independence over monetary policy and Scotland and Wales were given a devolved Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly respectively, whilst London wide local government was also re-established in the form of an Assembly and Mayor. The Good Friday Agreement was negotiated in 1997 in an effort to end The Troubles in Northern Ireland, with a devolved, power-sharing Northern Ireland Assembly being established in 1998.

Blair led Britain into the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars before leaving office in 2007, when he was succeeded by his Chancellor, Gordon Brown. A global recession in 2008–10 led to Labour’s defeat in the 2010 election. It was replaced by a Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government, headed by David Cameron, that pursued a series of public spending cuts with the intention of reducing the budget deficit. In 2016, the UK voted in an advisory referendum to leave the European Union, which led to Cameron’s resignation. Cameron was succeeded by his Home Secretary, Theresa May.

May engaged in a policy to take the country out of the European Union through her flagship Brexit withdrawal agreement. When this deal failed to pass through the House of Commons three times, May resigned. The subsequent Conservative leadership election was won by former Foreign Secretary and Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, who became Prime Minister in July 2019. A Conservative landslide victory in the general election five months later allowed for a majority government and the UK’s withdrawal from the EU in January 2020. Amid numerous scandals and a government crisis, Johnson resigned in September 2022 and after another interlude of scandal, Rishi Sunak became the first Prime Minister to be appointed during the reign of King Charles III and the first prime minister of immigrant (Indian) descent.

France also experienced a nationalist surge after the Cold War. During the Cold War, French President Charles De Gaulle pursued a policy of “national independence” towards the Western and Eastern blocs. To this end, he withdrew from NATO’s military-integrated command (while remaining in the NATO alliance itself), launched a nuclear development program and made France the fourth nuclear power. He restored cordial Franco-German relations to create a European counterweight between the American and Soviet spheres of influence. However, he opposed any development of a supranational Europe, favoring a Europe of sovereign nations.

In the post-Gaullist era, France remained one of the most developed economies in the world but faced several economic crises that resulted in high unemployment rates and increasing public debt. In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, France has been at the forefront of the development of a supranational European Union, notably by signing the

al-Qaeda

an Islamic terrorist organization financed and led by militant Saudi Arabian national Osama bin Laden and responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States in 2001

Allies

the nations that united to oppose Germany and Austria-Hungary, originally, Russia, France, and Britain

anarchism

an ideology advocating that government be abolished

apartheid

a South African policy of racial segregation that ended in 1991

armistice

a cease-fire agreement

astrolabe

a device for navigation that used constellations as a guide and enabled mariners to find their
north–south position on the earth’s surface

Atlantic Charter

a statement of British and U.S. goals and objectives for the world after World War II; negotiated by British prime minister Winston Churchill and U.S. president Franklin Roosevelt

balance of power

a situation in which competing nations have approximately equal military power

Balfour Declaration

a 1917 statement by British foreign secretary Alfred Balfour publicly supporting the creation of a Jewish homeland in Palestine

Balkan League

an alliance created in 1912 by Greece, Montenegro, Bulgaria, and Serbia against the Ottoman Empire

Beer Hall Putsch

a 1923 attempt by Adolf Hitler and his followers to take over the city of Munich

Berlin Airlift

an operation carried out by Great Britain and the United States to supply West Berlin from the air during the Soviet Union’s blockade of West Berlin

black legend

the myth, mostly promoted by English writers, that the Spanish treated Native Americans far more harshly than other European colonizers

bloc

a group of countries united for a common purpose

Bolsheviks

a radical majority faction of Russia’s Social Democratic Party led by Vladimir Lenin

bourgeoisie

the social class whose members owned the means of production and whose main goal was the preservation of capital

Boxers

members of the Society of the Righteous and Harmonious Fists, an anti-foreign secret society in northern China

Brexit

term used to refer to the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union in January 2020

British Raj

the period from 1858 to 1947 when the British government directly ruled India through the Viceroy of India

bulletin board systems (BBSs)

pre-internet computer networks that consisted of personal computers connected with each other via modems and phone lines

Canton system

a system that allowed Europeans to trade with China only if they worked through the Chinese guilds that enjoyed monopoly rights to the tea and silk trades

capitalism

an economic system in which private individuals and companies own the means of production, and free (unregulated) markets set the value of most goods and services based on supply and demand

charter

an official authorization to conduct a major economic activity such as the creation of a colony

chattel slavery

a form of slavery in which one person is owned by another as a piece of property

Christian humanism

a movement, also known as northern Renaissance humanism, that stressed the study of the works of Greece and Rome and the early Christian fathers to awaken individual piety

chronological approach

an approach to history that follows a timeline from ancient to modern

climate change

broad changes in temperature, weather, storm activity, wind patterns, sea levels, and other influences on the planet

Cold War

a contest for ideological, social, economic, technological, and military supremacy between the United States and the Soviet Union

collectivization

the taking over of agriculture by a national government

colonialism

a practice in which one group of people attempts to establish control over another group, usually
for purposes of economic exploitation

Columbian Exchange

the flow of plants, animals, and diseases between the Eastern and Western
Hemispheres

Committee of Public Safety

the provisional government of revolutionary France from 1793 to 1794

Congo Free State

a personal colony of Belgium’s King Leopold II where infamous abuse of African laborers took place

Congress of Vienna

an 1814–1815 meeting of Britain, Russia, Prussia, and Austria to restore the balance of power and assert principles of conservatism

conquistadors

Spanish explorers in the Americas during the Age of Exploration

conservatism

a political ideology that emerged in reaction to the freedoms associated with the revolutions of the eighteenth century and advocated submitting to government authority and giving religious doctrine a central role in maintaining social order and stability

containment

the West’s Cold War policy goal of confining communism to the Soviet Union and the nations of Eastern Europe

Continental Congresses

two assemblies of elected colonial representatives that met in Philadelphia in 1774 and 1775, the second time to adopt the powers of government and approve the Declaration of Independence from Britain

contract labor

a system in which people sign contracts promising to perform work in exchange for a fee

Cuban Missile Crisis

the 1962 confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union over the presence of Soviet missiles in Cuba

cultural accommodation

the practice of integrating a culture into the dominant society without forcing it to fully integrate and adopt all the dominant culture’s components

debt bondage

a system in which a person who owes money works (or provides someone else to work) for the creditor until the debt has been repaid

deductive reasoning

a form of logical reasoning that begins with a general statement and applies it to specific conclusions

deindustrialization

a decline in a nation’s or region’s industrial activity

demographic transition

a reduction in family size in the late 1800s caused by falling birth rates in industrialized nations

détente

the relaxation of tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union in the 1970s

Directory

an executive council of five men established by the Convention in France to replace the Committee of Public Safety after the decline of the Reign of Terror

domino theory

the belief that the neighbors of a communist country were likely to become communist themselves

Easter Rising

the 1916 rebellion of Irish Nationalists against the British in Dublin

economic imperialism

the practice of dominating a foreign country economically

Eisenhower Doctrine

a doctrine issued in 1957 in which a country could request American economic assistance and/or aid from U.S. military forces if it was being threatened by armed aggression from another state. Eisenhower singled out the Soviet threat in his doctrine by authorizing the commitment of U.S. forces “to secure and protect the territorial integrity and political independence of such nations, requesting such aid against overt armed aggression from any nation controlled by international communism.”

empiricism

a philosophical concept based on the belief that all knowledge derives from sensory experience

encomienda

a system of coerced labor based on a grant by the Spanish Crown that entitled conquistadors to
the labor of specified numbers of Indigenous people

ENIAC

the first programmable electronic digital computer, built by the United States during World War II

enlightened despot

an absolutist ruler influenced by the principles of the Enlightenment

ens de couleur libres

a French term that referred to free people of color in the French colony of Saint-Domingue, now Haiti

Espionage Act

a 1917 act passed in the United States that made anti-war propaganda illegal

Estates General

a legislative assembly of the three estates, or orders, of French society: the clergy, the nobility, and commoners

European Union (EU)

a single-market zone created in 1993 to allow the free movement of goods, services, money, and people among European member states

Executive Order 9066

a presidential order that led to relocation and internment of more than 100,000 Japanese Americans during the war

export economy

an economy that primarily provides raw materials for use by other nations

fascism

a political movement focused on transforming citizens into committed nationalists striving for unity and racial purity to remedy a perceived national decline

Final Solution

the Nazi plan to eliminate the Jewish population of Europe; developed by senior bureaucrats at the Wannsee Conference

Five-Year Plans

domestic plans adopted by the Soviet Union in the 1930s to target industrial and agricultural output goals that were usually unrealistic

flapper

woman of the 1920s who embraced an independent lifestyle while wearing shorter skirts and hairstyles

Force Publique

a native army commanded by European officers to enforce brutal discipline in the Congo Free State

General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT)

a 1947 trade agreement among twenty-three countries to reinforce postwar economic recovery, later replaced by the World Trade Organization (WTO)

general will

a concept in political philosophy by which the state can be legitimate only if it is guided by the will of the people as a whole

gens de couleur libres

a French term that referred to free people of color in the French colony of Saint-Domingue, now Haiti

Germanic Confederation

an alliance of thirty-nine mostly German-speaking states developed to replace the
Holy Roman Empire in 1815

Girondins

a moderate faction of the Jacobin political club in revolutionary France

glasnost

a Soviet policy encouraging openness, which allowed those who were angry to be critical of the government

global citizen

a person who sees themselves as responsible to a world community rather than only a national one

global warming

the general rise in Earth’s temperature that scientists have observed over approximately the past two hundred years

globalization

the interconnectedness of societies and economies throughout the world as a result of trade, technology, and adoption and sharing of various aspects of culture

gold standard

a monetary system in which the value of a country’s currency is tied directly to the value of gold

great man theory

the view that it is enough to study the deeds and impact of important leaders to paint an accurate picture of the past

green parties

political parties organized around environmental concerns

gross domestic product (GDP)

the value of all the goods and services a country produces in one year

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

the 1964 resolution that gave President Lyndon Johnson permission to retaliate against North Vietnamese attacks and to act first to defend U.S. lives

historical empathy

the ability to see the past on its own terms, without judgment or the imposition of our own modern-day attitudes

historiography

the study of how historians have already interpreted the past

Holocaust

the Nazi genocide that resulted in the murder of more than six million Jewish people and at least
three million members of other, non-Jewish minority groups

iconography

the use of images and symbols in art

imperialism

the policy of gaining direct or indirect control over parts of the world with low-cost resources and no competing mass-produced goods

indirect rule

a system in which colonial powers cooperated with Indigenous elites and allowed local leaders to exercise some authority

inductive reasoning

a form of logical reasoning that gathers specific examples and observations to arrive at a broad generalization

indulgences

a way to reduce or cancel the time after death during which people needed to suffer in purgatory
to atone for their sins before reaching heaven

Industrial Revolution

the period during which societies transitioned away from a focus on agriculture and handicraft production to manufacturing, primarily with machines

intellectual history

the history of ideas, which looks at the philosophies that drive people to make certain choices

Irish Free State

a state formed by the twenty-six southern counties in Ireland and later called Ireland

Islamic State

a fundamentalist and militant Islamic group that grew in power and waged a war in Iraq and Syria following the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003

Jacobins

a radical political club in revolutionary France that supported overthrowing the monarchy

Kellogg-Briand Pact

a 1928 treaty signed by more than sixty countries to renounce war as a foreign policy tool

labor unions

an association that organizes workers of all kinds, both skilled and unskilled

laissez-faire economics

the theory that market forces alone should drive the economy and that governments should refrain from direct intervention in or moderation of the economic system

League of Nations

a multinational organization created by the 1919 Treaty of Versailles to promote the goal of collective security

Lebensraum

a German term meaning “living room” and referring to lands seized from countries in eastern Europe in which Adolf Hitler envisioned settling German families to supplant the native Slavic populations

Lend-Lease Act

U.S. legislation enacted to provide military assistance to nations important to its defense

liberalism

a political ideology that promotes freedom of expression, popular sovereignty, the protection of civil rights and private property, and representative government

Luddites

British workers in the early nineteenth century who resisted industrialization

Maastricht Treaty

created the European Union in 1992 signed by 12 member states of the European Community

mandate system

a system in which control of an area was transferred from one government to another under the oversight of the League of Nations

Manhattan Project

the U.S. project to build an atomic bomb

Marshall Plan

a plan extending financial assistance to European nations to help them rebuild after World War II

Marxism

the idea, espoused by Karl Marx, that recognizing class struggle is central to understanding societies

mechanization

the use of machines to replace the labor of animals and humans

Meiji Restoration

the period beginning in 1868 when, under Emperor Meiji, Japan began to industrialize

Middle Passage

the middle (or second) leg of the three-legged triangular trade that carried enslaved Africans across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas

Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact

a 1939 agreement between Germany and the USSR in which the two nations agreed not to attack one another or to assist other nations in attacking the other and to divide portions of eastern Europe between them

Mountain

a radical faction of the Jacobin club in revolutionary France that supported executing the king

multinational corporation

a corporate business entity that controls the production of goods and services in multiple countries

Munich Agreement

an agreement reached in 1938 in which Czechoslovakia granted territorial concessions to Germany, Poland, and Hungary in the hopes that Adolf Hitler would cease his aggressions

nationalism

a political ideology that promotes the interests of the nation over international concerns and
advocates the uniqueness and inherent superiority of the individual’s own country over others

natural rights

universal and inalienable rights that cannot be revoked or rescinded by human laws

naturalism

a literary style that emphasized realistic, detached, impersonal depictions of characters whose actions were molded by their environment in ways they often had no ability to control

New Deal

a U.S. program of economic reform under Franklin Roosevelt that created work-relief programs

New Economic Policy (NEP)

Lenin’s policy that introduced some aspects of capitalism in response to hardships and growing discontent among the Russian people

New Negro movement

a movement that developed in the 1920s as African Americans agitated for increased civil rights

Non-Aligned Movement

a movement of nations that sought to remain outside the sphere of influence of both the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War

North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)

a 1992 trade agreement between the United States, Canada, and Mexico to reduce trade barriers and allow goods to flow freely

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

a military alliance among the United States, Canada, and the countries of Western Europe

Nuremberg Laws

a series of laws promulgated in Germany in 1935, institutionalizing Nazi racial theories and discrimination against Jewish people

offshoring

the process of moving some of a company’s operations overseas to access cheaper labor markets

outsourcing

the process of hiring outside contractors, sometimes abroad, to perform tasks a company once performed internally

Pan-African movement

a movement based on the idea that all people in Africa could work together to achieve greater independence

Paris Agreement

a 2015 treaty among members of the United Nations to limit global warming to less than 2°C (3.6°F) above levels from the time of industrialization

penal labor

forced labor assigned as punishment to those convicted of crimes

Percentages Agreement

the agreement between Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin about how to divide political influence in Eastern Europe after the war

perestroika

the restructuring of the Soviet state and economy under Mikhail Gorbachev

pogroms

violent attacks on Jewish people in the Russian empire

popular sovereignty

the idea that government should exist only by the consent of the governed

primary cause

the most immediate reason an event occurred

primary source

a document, object, or other source material from the time period under study

Proclamation Line

the boundary of westward settlement that Britain marked out in its thirteen North American colonies

progressive history

a school of thought that views history as a straight line to a specific and more democratic destination

proletariat

the landless working class

proxy wars

wars fought by allies of the Soviet Union and the United States to avoid risking a direct conflict between the two superpowers during the Cold War

public sphere

shared spaces that enabled the exchange of ideas and information outside the control of state
and church, like coffeehouses and salons

real wages

wages measured in terms of the amount of goods and services that can be purchased with them

realism

a literary and artistic style that realistically depicted everyday life in the contemporary world

Reign of Terror

a period of the French Revolution during which the revolutionary government adopted repressive measures to prevent dissent

reparations

monetary payments to be made to the Allied nations by Germany to compensate for destruction they suffered in the war

resource curse

the problem that makes resource-rich developing countries prone to authoritarianism, high rates of conflict, and low rates of economic growth

revisionism

the process of altering our interpretation of historical events by adding new elements and perspectives

rhetoric

the way words are used and put together in speaking or writing

Risorgimento

an Italian term that refers to the unification of Italy

romanticism

an artistic movement formed in response to the Industrial Revolution that prized emotion and imagination and took as its subjects the themes of nature, the ordinary person, the exotic, the ancient, and the supernatural

salons

informal gathering in the homes of wealthy aristocrats, generally hosted by women, that served as a site
for the discussion of Enlightenment ideas and philosophies

Salt March

a two-hundred-mile march led by Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi in India in 1930 to protest the British prohibition on collecting salt and the heavy taxes on its purchase

sans-culottes

a French term that referred to radicals from the lower and working classes during the French Revolution

satellite states

a country controlled by another nation

Schlieffen Plan

a German war plan to sweep through Belgium and northern France before turning to Russia

Schutzstaffel

German Nazi paramilitary organization designed for security and intimidation

Scramble for Africa

the competition among European countries to establish colonies in Africa in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries

secondary source

a document, object, or other source material written or created after the time period under study

Sedition Act

a 1918 act passed in the United States that forbade forms of speech considered disloyal to the war effort

sepoys

Indian soldiers who served the British in India

shogunate

a Japanese system in which a military leader, the shogun, and an aristocratic military elite, the samurai, ruled in place of the emperor

Sinn Féin

a political party organized in 1905 that argued for greater sovereignty for Ireland

social constructs

ideas such as class and gender created and accepted by the people in a society that influence the way they think and behave

social democrats

people who favor the creation of a socialist society through democratic means

social history

a field of history that looks at all classes and categories of people, not just elites

socialism

an economic system in which the public owns the means of production

socialist realism

an artistic movement in the Soviet Union that took the worker as a subject and was about patriotism as much as art

Stamp Act

an act of the British Parliament that imposed taxes on legal documents and other printed materials in its North American colonies in 1765

suffragist

a person who protested in favor of women’s right to vote

Sykes-Picot Agreement

a secret agreement reached between France and Britain in 1916 to partition areas of the Middle East after the war

Taylorism

a system of management that sought to improve workers’ productivity by curbing wasteful movements

the social contract

an implicit agreement among members of a society to surrender their natural rights to the state, which is then charged with maintaining and protecting those rights

total war

a war fought using all available resources, with no restrictions on weapons or their targets

totalitarianism

a form of government in which the state controls all aspects of a person’s life

trade unions

an association that organizes workers in a particular craft or industry

Treaty of Tordesillas

a 1494 agreement awarding land to Portugal and Spain by dividing the Atlantic Ocean along a line one hundred leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands off the coast of Africa

Treaty of Versailles

a 1919 treaty that formally ended World War I, redrew the map of Europe, and created the League of Nations

triangular trade

the trade in goods and enslaved people that took place between the Americas, Europe, and West Africa from the late fifteenth through the early nineteenth centuries

Trinity Test

the first successful U.S. test of an atomic bomb

Triple Alliance

a treaty of alliance between Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy

Triple Entente

a treaty of alliance between France, Russia, and Britain

Truman Doctrine

the promise of U.S. assistance to any country in danger of being overthrown by communism

U-boats

German submarines equipped with torpedoes that sank thousands of pounds of cargo over the course of World War I

ultranationalist movements

organizations that support an extreme form of nationalism and often seek ethnically homogeneous homelands

Vodou

a mix of Roman Catholic and indigenous West African religious practices popular in Haiti

War Industries Board (WIB)

a U.S. federal agency created in 1917 to control the economic and industrial output of factories in times of war

Warsaw Pact

a military and political alliance among the communist nations of Eastern Europe

Women’s Land Army

a British program to help women ensure enough foodstuffs were produced on farms while men served in the military

Zimmermann Telegram

a 1917 telegram sent by Germany’s foreign minister offering an alliance with Mexico in return for Mexico causing disturbances along its U.S. border

Maastricht Treaty [/pb_glossary](which created the European Union) in 1992, establishing the Eurozone in 1999 and signing the Lisbon Treaty in 2007. France has also gradually but fully reintegrated into NATO and has since participated in most NATO-sponsored wars. During the 1970s France faced an economic crisis and allowed new immigrants (mostly from the Maghreb) to permanently settle in France with their families and acquire French citizenship. Simultaneously France renounced the assimilation of immigrants, where they were expected to adhere to French traditional values and cultural norms. They were encouraged to retain their distinctive cultures and traditions and required merely to integrate.

Since the 1995 Paris Métro and RER bombings, France has been sporadically targeted by Islamist organizations, notably the Charlie Hebdo attack in January 2015 which provoked the largest public rallies in French history, gathering 4.4 million people, the November 2015 Paris attacks which resulted in 130 deaths, the deadliest attack on French soil since World War II and the deadliest in the European Union since the Madrid train bombings in 2004, as well as the 2016 Nice truck attack, which caused 87 deaths during Bastille Day celebrations. Opération Chammal, France's military efforts to contain ISIS, killed over 1,000 ISIS troops between 2014 and 2015.

German reunification in October 1990 was welcomed as a sign of the end of the Cold War, but also met with some concern that Germany could once again dominate the continent. United Germany was considered the enlarged continuation of West Germany so it retained its memberships in international organizations. Based on the Berlin/Bonn Act (1994), Berlin again became the capital of Germany, while Bonn obtained the unique status of a Bundesstadt (federal city) retaining some federal ministries. The relocation of the government was completed in 1999, and modernization of the East German economy was scheduled to last until 2019.

Since reunification, Germany has taken a more active role in the European Union, signing the Maastricht Treaty in 1992 and the Lisbon Treaty in 2007, and co-founding the Eurozone.[108] Germany sent a peacekeeping force to secure stability in the Balkans and sent German troops to Afghanistan as part of a NATO effort to provide security in that country after the ousting of the Taliban.

In the 2005 elections, Angela Merkel became the first female chancellor. In 2009 the German government approved a €50 billion stimulus plan. Among the major German political projects of the early 21st century are the advancement of European integration, the energy transition (Energiewende) for a sustainable energy supply, the debt brake for balanced budgets, measures to increase the fertility rate (pronatalism), and high-tech strategies for the transition of the German economy, summarized as Industry 4.0. During the 2015 European migrant crisis, the country took in over a million refugees and migrants.

The political history of countries like the United Kingdom, France, and Germany experienced its own distinct trajectories, marked by significant events, leaders, and policies that have further shaped the European context. As Europe moves forward, it will continue to navigate its complex history, address current challenges, and strive for a united and prosperous future. There has been a significant shift in Europe’s geopolitical landscape as the Cold War threats have subsided and new security challenges have arisen. While the reunification of Germany and the expansion of the European Union has brought prosperity and peace to many, it has also reinforced tensions with Russia. The crisis in the Balkans and the Yugoslav wars have shown that national identity is still an important factor in continental history. Looking ahead, Brexit and the war in Ukraine have raised questions about the future of Europe and its identity.