AP world

• Causes of World War I:

  • Imperialist expansion and competition for resources
  • Territorial and regional conflicts
  • Flawed alliance system
  • Intense nationalism
  • All escalated tension into global conflict
• World War I was the first total war, where governments used strategies like political propaganda, art, media, and intensified forms of nationalism to mobilize populations for war
• Total War:

  • Use of colonies for soldiers
  • New military technology led to increased levels of wartime casualties
• US Involvement:

  • US policy of isolation led to neutrality until 1917
  • The US joined the war in 1917
• End of the War:

  • Americans joined the Allied forces on the battlefield
  • Revolts within Central Powers collapsed weak nations
  • German Kaiser abdicated
  • The Weimar Republic asked for an armistice, ending the war on November 11, 1918
• The Paris Peace Conference:

  • Allies (except Russia) met in Paris to discuss the fate of Europe
  • Conflicting goals among the Big Three: United States, Britain, France, Italy, and Eastern Europeans
• Wilson's Post-War Plan:

  • The Fourteen Points aimed to resolve current and future wars
  • Contrasted with the Treaty of Versailles
• Application of self-determination in Europe:

  • Allies applied self-determination to white ethnicities in Europe, redrawing the map to include new states in Eastern Europe
  • Not applied to colonies in Africa and Asia
• Role of Media in WWI:

  • Media influenced public opinion through propaganda to demonize the enemy and create fear
  • Germany used propaganda to recruit soldiers
  • Britain used censorship to maintain morale and nationalism by omitting negative news
• The causes of World War I can be summarized by the acronym MAIN: militarism, alliances, imperialism, and nationalism
• Militarism is the desire of a state to develop and maintain a powerful military to advance their interests aggressively
• Britain and Germany heavily invested in bulking up their militaries prior to World War I
• Alliances were formed between nations for mutual self-defense, leading to complex relationships
• Imperialism involved bringing other countries under political or economic dominion, leading to bitter rivalries
• Nationalism, a strong identification with one's nation to the exclusion of others, added to the tensions
• The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary in 1914 sparked World War I
• The assassination led to a chain of declarations of war among European powers, escalating the conflict
• At the beginning of the 20th century, the West dominated the global balance of power, but by the end of the century, many Maritime and land-based Empires fell apart, giving rise to new States
• Four key illustrations of state power shifting after 1900:

  • Decline of the Ottoman Empire, leading to the emergence of reform-minded groups like the Young Ottomans and The Young Turks
  • Russian Empire's progress in industrialization under Alexander II and Nicholas II, leading to the Russian Revolution of 1905 and later the successful Russian Revolution of 1917 led by Lenin and the Bolsheviks
  • China's struggles, including the Tai Ping Rebellion, the Opium Wars, the Sino-Japanese war, and the Boxer Rebellion, leading to the end of Imperial rule under Sun Yat-sen and the emergence of a communist state under Mao Zedong
  • Mexican Revolution against dictator Porfirio Diaz, resulting in a decade of Civil War and the emergence of a republic with a newly drafted Constitution in 1917
• Massacre of Amritsar in 1919 radicalized many Indians, leading to a desire for a free and independent India
• Proposal for a two-state solution in India

  India for Hindus and Pakistan for Muslims
• Mohandas Gandhi


  Embodied anti-colonial resentment and led India in a campaign of nonviolent resistance
• In Korea, the March 1st Movement in 1919 protested Japanese colonial rule
• Imperialism persisted even after World War I, leading to major unresolved tensions in the interwar period
• Colonial people fought and died in World War I hoping for respect and decolonization, but only a few Eastern European nations were granted self-determination
• Unit 7 of AP World History starts in 1900 and runs up into the present
• Indian National Congress


  Formed in the late 19th century to register complaints against the British colonial government, became a powerful voice for Indian national independence after World War I
• Caused massive changes in the world, including a precipitous drop in world population and the redrawing of political boundaries

  World War I ended
• Homespun Movement


  Advocated making one's own clothes to protest injustices of the British colonial textile industry
• Nationalistic movements were brewing in colonies where imperial nations held power
• Independence movements in West Africa began with Africans educated in European institutions, leading to strikes and agitations for fair wages and an end to discriminatory practices
• Chinese Communist Party and Chinese Nationalist Party


  • Vied for control of China, later banded together for an independent China
• In China, the May 4th Movement in 1919 demonstrated against Japanese influence and led to a turn towards communism
• Colonial resistance movements


  • Sprang up in India, East Asia, and Africa
• Mandate system

  Leads to Pan-Arabism: movement/ideology calling for unification of all North African and Middle Eastern lands
• How did WWI renew the desire for independence/decolonization
• Mandate system


  Established through the League of Nations, determined that colonies and territories of the Central Powers would be taken by the Allies
• Gandhi encouraged civil disobedience; Indians to break unjust laws and reveal the injustices of the British empire to the international community
• Protests in French West Africa

  • Workers staged strikes (railway in 1917, general in 1946); protested working conditions as well as colonization, spreads to other locations in French West Africa
• Empty promises of WWI lead to push for independence by European-educated African leaders