World History since 1500. Final Exam

Allison Brown HIST 1330 Dr. Blackler Spring 2021 Final Exam Section A - Short Answers: 1. “Third World” a. This phrase, that is now recognized as out-dated and offensive by demarcating “success” or “civilization” from a Western “first world” standpoint, denotes what could be called the “developing world”. Often this term applies to the “global south”, developing countries typically in the regions of Asia, Africa, and Latin America. The term itself evolved during the Cold War to label nations that were not aligned with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) or the Warsaw Pact. The US, Canada, South Korea, Western European states, and other countries became the first world while the second world fell to nations like the USSR, China, and Cuba and the “third world” encompassed all the nations deemed “undeveloped” by the imperialist “first world”. The phrase is important to acknowledge because of its Western bias, and although it is no longer used as frequently phrases like the “global south” and “developing world” are. 2. Berlin Wall a. The Berlin Wall physically was the barrier that existed from 1961-1989 that separated West and East Germany and Berlin following the end of World War II. During the wall’s existence, over two million East Germans fled to the West, escaping poverty and a lack of freedom in the communist bloc. The Berlin Wall came to be known as the “iron curtain”, a term coined by Prime Minister Winston Churchill between the democratic and free West and the communist East. The Berlin Wall fell in 1989 due to a series of miscommunications in the East German government and Shabowski’s press briefings. The Berlin Wall and the reunification of Germany are essential to understanding the global tensions that existed (and still do in a way) between communism and the USSR and the West and notions of democracy and freedom. 3. Globalization a. Globalization can be defined as the series of processes of the cultural and political exchanges globally which occur with communication and trade. Often globalization can be referred to as a new phenomena, however, the process has been occurring since humanity starting trade of physical goods and ideas as the start of civilization. Some who argue against globalization and the exchange of cultures and global ideas believe that increasing diversity of thought and ethnicity will lead to a global homogeneous society with no individual nationalities or cultures, their fear of diversity in a nation leads them to dislike immigration or refugees. Additionally, there are three types of globalization: political, social, and economic. Understanding globalization’s long-reaching history and its beneficial impacts on society are crucial to understanding how a homogenous, culturally similar global society isn’t inevitable. 4. Nelson Mandela a. (1918-2013) Mandela born in South Africa was a prominent voice in the anti-apartheid movement and the end of racial segregation in the previously British colony. Mandela was imprisoned on Robben Island Prison from 1964-1982 for his work against apartheid and after his release was a prominent voice and led the transition from apartheid South Africa to a multiracial democracy. In 1993, Mandela received the Nobel Pease Prize alongside F. W. de Klerk and would serve as the first black president of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. Mandela’s partner, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, was also a prominent voice in the movement, a spearhead for protests and advocacy when Mandela was in prison. Nelson Mandela was a formative figure in overturning apartheid and taking a stance against segregation and imperialism globally, forever changing South Africa and the politics of the region at large. Section B - Essay: 1.) What domestic and international factors led to the break-up of the Communist Eastern bloc in the 1980s and 1990s? Please make sure to incorporate examples from outside of Europe. In the 1980s and 1990s, the world saw an unprecedented shakeup of the global order and communism. The most iconic being the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, a physical manifestation of the fall of the Communist East to the Democratic West. The way to the fall of the Berlin Wall was a series of losses for communism globally and a dynamic shift to democratic values with the United States’ direct and indirect interference in curbing communism. The United States’ role in curbing communism took hold after WWII. The effort started in the Middle East with the Eisenhower Doctrine, promising states US aid if they turn away from USSR influence in the region. The Cuban Missile Crisis under President Kennedy in 1962 also shaped the US’s view of the USSR and communism while heightening the seeming security concerns to the homeland. Both the Vietnam War with the Khmer Rouge and the Korean War wanting to liberate the Chinese communist’s hold following World War II in this period also showcased the United States’ willingness to physically fight communism and the harms of this fight on average populations. Moving now into the 1980s and 1990s, this mentality against communism was ingrained in the West, manifesting in the want to liberate East Germany and push for German reunification with the US and European Union’s hand to form a democratic state. In Germany, the Soviet bloc fell because of a communication mistake of Eastern Germany’s press secretary, Shabowski, but more broadly because of the political changes ushered in by Mikhal Gorbachev as the USSR’s last leader. He ushered in the notions ofGlasnost (openness) and Perestroika (transparency and relaxing political doctrine), and leaned in to the new and young working class in the USSR as the first leader who directly did not know Stalin. Make no mistake, Gorbachev was still a devout communist, but his desire for change (even though it was not radical) opened the USSR and led to its collapse and the fall of the Soviet Eastern Bloc. Soviet involvement in Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989 was also a key factor in the USSR’s fall and the collapse of the Communist Eastern bloc. In the 10-year Soviet occupation, more than a million Afghans, mostly civilians, were killed, and at least four million were externally displaced by the conflict. The USSR military, arguably the single most powerful opponent of Gorbachev’s reform efforts, found itself overly engaged in the region and busied by the stalemate in Afghanistan, and it lost whatever leverage it might have had in checking the advance of domestically in the USSR perestroika domestically. Anti-war demonstrations took place in Ukraine, and opposition forces in the Baltic republics viewed the ongoing conflict in Afghanistan through the lens of the USSR occupation of their own countries and fueled the conflicts that proceeded of declarations of independence by all three Baltic States in 1990, several months prior to the Soviet Union’s Christmas Day fall. In conclusion, the global ongoing rhetorical and proxy-military conflicts between the USSR/ communist thought, and the West coupled with both the USSR’s occupation outside of modern day Russia and their military commitment to Afghanistan led to the collapse of the Communist Eastern bloc. Section C - Essay (Things Fall Apart): Chinua Achebe’s “Things Fall Apart” is a fictional narrative about life in West Africa before and after colonial contact. The thematic arch of the novel, however, is highly reflective of the Global North’s violent relationship with the Global South between 1500 and 2000. Please explain how one might view Okonkwo’s life as a metaphor for the history of colonialism. Make sure to support your answer with specific references from Things Fall Apart and examples from class. From the first page to the last of Chinua Achebe’s “Things Fall Apart”, Okonkwo’s life is a clearly impacted by colonialism and his world falling apart around him with the colonizers, new ideas brought by imperialism, and a change in the dynamics of his relationships because of colonial tensions and the introduction Christianity. Okonkwo’s life is centered at the cusp of the colonization of his region in Africa, in what we would refer to as modern day Nigeria. On this cusp of colonization, the novel discusses how the prospect and reality of change affect Okonkwo’s life, and more broadly, the Umuofia, and indigenous Africans in general. Okonkwo resists the new political and religious orders because he feels that they are not acceptable to his own culture and beliefs and that if he is to embrace them, he will fall short of his own expectations of “manliness” and fall victim to their tricks, lessening his pride in himself and becoming a weak man who steps aside when his way of life is threatened. Many of the clan’s outsiders and those who are not wealthy in the cultural system embrace Christianity brought by the colonizers. These new follows find that the system of Christianity benefits them more than their Igbo religious beliefs and elevates them in their community. The new European religion and missionaries excite the villagers with new opportunities but, threaten the indigenous culture and religion, and physical skills like the traditional skills of harvesting, building, or agricultural work with yams. These traditional methods that were necessary now are dispensable to Okonkwo’s dismay. Similar to the introduction of Christianity in North America with indigenous populations and other places globally, Christianity attracted some in colonized regions and led indigenous groups away from traditional religions over time. Throughout the novel, Achebe displays how this adoption of Christianity and European values leads to the demise of traditional traditions like the indigenous language or storytelling, showing how the colonizers could lead to the abandonment of the Igbo language and replace it with English, leading to the eradication of indigenous culture and ultimately the subservience of the colonized. This cultural dynamic is shown in Chapter 17 when Okonkwo learns that Nwoye, his oldest son, has converted to Christianity, “Okonkwo felt a cold shudder run through him at the terrible prospect, like the prospect of annihilation. He saw himself and his fathers crowding round their ancestral shrine waiting in vain for worship and sacrifice and finding nothing but ashes of bygone days, and his children the while praying to the white man’s god” (Achebe 137). Another prominent example of Okonkwo’s life being a foil of colonization are the events leading to his suicide. When released from the Commision’s prison in Chapter 24, Okonwo seeks vengeance, deciding to break with his clan and his relationships to stand up against the colonizers and the decline of his own culture and way of life, “If Umuofia decided on war, all would be well. But if they chose to be cowards he would go out and avenge himself. He thought about wars in the past. The noblest, he thought, was the war against Isike. In those days Okudo was still alive. Okudo sang a war song in a way that no other man could. He was not a fighter, but his voice turned every man into a lion” (Acebe 199). The change in his life and his culture from the Commission and the colonizers leads Okonkwo to take his own life. And with his death, the Commission comes to retrieve his body given the clan cannot take him down and bury him due to their beliefs, comes a gross generalization and complete ignorance to the complexities of Okonkwo’s life at the forefront of being colonized, the District Commissioner ignorant Okonkwo’s experiences and struggles, “The story of this man who had killed a messenger and hanged himself would make interesting reading. One could almost write a whole chapter on him. Perhaps not a whole chapter but a reasonable paragraph at any rate. There was so much else to include, and one must be firm in cutting out details. He had already chosen the title of the book, after much thought: The Pacification of The Primitive Tribes of the Lower Niger” (Achebe 209).