Historical Patterns - Essay Example

? History Questions QUESTION ONE Immediately after the end of the 1848 revolutions, there was a compelling need to unify Germany and therefore intellectuals met in Frankfurt trying to resolve the issue but unfortunately they failed to achieve the unification agenda. Many scholars believe that the failure was highly related the leaders inability to enforce their plans and also because of the continued rivalry that existed between Austria and Prussia which were against any of the states to be a leader of the unified Germany (Sherman and Salisbury 254). Scholars have argued that if the rivalry would have continued then the idea of the unification of Germany would have been impossible to achieve. If Austria continued to be in the union it would have been impossible for the unification of German to be a reality and therefore the only way to achieve unification was simply the elimination of Austria from the union through compulsion (Merkl 33). When Otto Von Bismarck came into power he believed in the inevitable unification of German with Prussia as its leader. Therefore he went ahead with his plan and drove out Austria from interfering with the affairs of German. The reason behind his advocating for the unification of German was because through it Prussia would have a greater influence and power. Therefore Bismarck essentially used political strategies that were backed up by s strong military support that enabled the unification of German (Leonhard and Funk 47). In the Italian case, things were different. By the late 1700’s the Italian peninsula had been conquered severally by the French and Austria and hence had no sovereign government. It was ruled by Austria something that Italians did not like and began rebellions culminating in the 1848 revolution where the pope was forced out. Later he asked for help from the catholic powers in Europe who came to his rescue driving Garibaldi out of Rome. A series of wars ensured, realignments occurred and revolts were a norm leading to the unification of Italy in 1871. Basically the unification of Italy was based on popular rebellions against foreign rule (Collier 40-55). QUESTION TWO The concept of imperialism arose from Britain’s abuse of power in territories outside Europe as the country believed in consolidation and expansion of its empire. During the 19th century scholars began to view imperialism as the use of state power on foreign countries for the economic benefit of the home country. It should be noted that the idea behind expansion of empires is nationalistic. Imperialism can be seen to be highly related to economic growth as during this time most European powers had colonies in Africa that they used to enrich themselves and therefore this can be seen as an aspect of nationalism because the expansion into foreign territories was for the sole gain of the nation (Hobson 10). Good examples can be traced in the 19th century with German among the leading countries in terms of economic development after charismatic leadership in Berlin who instilled into citizens a sense of national pride. Also the French are seen as one of the most patriotic nations at any one period because of imperialism save for Napoleons rule (Sherman and Salisbury 453). Imperialism as an act was began by the Portuguese people during the early 16th century. They began the concept in South America before expanding to Africa. The Portuguese were followed immediately by the Spanish who are seen to have made a real attempt in North America and gradually expanded to South America. During the 18th century the Portuguese stopped its continued financial support of colonies in Africa leaving France, Belgium, England and the Dutch to continue with concept (Krieger and Crahan 194). QUESTION THREE The World War II would not have happened had the remnants of the World War 1 been addressed. Just before the World War II many issues had not been resolved and therefore they built up and contributed to World War II. A good example is the Amritsar Massacre of 1919. This massacre occurred in early April where the British massacred thousands of Indians. It remains unclear as to why the British troops fired on a group of unarmed Indians protesting leading to the deaths of thousands of people. This massacre created a lasting impression and damaged the indo-British relations and led to the Mahatma Gandhi’s Movement in 1920 (Baker 20). The massacre occurred despite the support that India gave to Britain by sending their troops to support the British. This is just one example of an issue that was carried forward and contributed to the World War II. Immediately after the World War I the world yet again experienced another devastating crisis, the great depression. It began just before the end of World War I and extended to the beginning of the World War II. Many nations were in economic problems and most were politically unstable with lots of social problems affecting the people (Weinberg 66-69). Many nations were still suffering from the effects of the World War I with most of the countries that had participated in the war developing weaker and weaker relations with each other. There was also a lot of tension as a result of this weakening relationships and this was a major factor that contributed to the eruption of the Second World War (Sherman and Salisbury 345). QUESTION FOUR Scholars agree to the fact that the reason as to why the world did not experience the third world war is because of the participants in the cold war: the United States and the Soviet Union. The two super powers were afraid to launch attacks against each other because they were both endowed with sophisticated weapons of mass destruction such as the nuclear weapons whose use on any of the country would have resulted in disastrous consequences (Weinberg 87). It was at this time that the United States tried was very determined to take on the leadership of the nations in the west. It tried to join forces with other nations such as Britain, France and Germany. On the other hand the Soviet Union joined hands with the non-western states and formed alliances with countries such as Poland, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria. These nations then agreed and came together to set up a satellite nation. The leader of the Soviet Union, Stalin employed soviet communism that saw the nation control half of Europe (Sherman and Salisbury 109). QUESTION FIVE One of the most significant changes that occurred in the life of the western people during the period of the cold war is an increase in the process of globalization that had already began with the end of the world war II. The superpowers began to realign themselves in terms of military endowment and it was also at this time that the aspect of nuclear power as part of the military power began to take effect with nations arming themselves in case a third war ensued. (Kegley 108) Many nations were also beginning to recover from the great depression and the European countries began to record a significant growth in their economies. During this time too many people were afraid the world over and began seeking safer places where they could stay and build their lives. This led to an increase in the number of immigrants especially away from the European nations. The effect of this was the intercultural mix that created diversity in the nations involved in the war (Sherman and Salisbury 235). We can see this in the modern world as many countries and people have for example adopted the American way of life with many of them following the American lifestyle, culture and other aspects of the American life. The continued acceptance of the American culture and lifestyle is as a result of their fore fathers who copied these traits from their interactions with Americans during the war. Another thing that is still being seen in the contemporary world is the result of the breakup of the Soviet Union, a powerful and feared union of its time (Spielvogel 629). Works Cited Baker, Nicholson. Human Smoke: The beginnings of World war II, The end of Civilization. New York: SimonandSchuster, 2008. Print. Collier, Martin. Italian Unification: 1820-71. Oxford: Heinemann Eduacational Publishers, 2003. Print. Hobson, John Atkinson. Imperialism. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010. Print. Kegley, Charles W. World Politics: Trends and Transformation. Belmont CA: Cengage Learning, 2009.Print. Krieger, Joel and Margaret E. Crahan. The Oxford Companion to Politics of the world. OXford: Oxford University Press, 2001. Print. Leonhard, Jorn and Lothar Funk. Ten Years of German Unification: Transfer, Transformation, Incorporation? New York: Continuum International Publishing Group, 2002. Print. Merkl, Peter H. German Unification in the European Context. University Park: Penn State Press, 2004.Print. Sherman, Dennis and Joyce E. Salisbury. The World in the West. New York: McGraw Hill, 2010. Print. Spielvogel, Jackson J. Western Civilization: A brief History. Belmont CA: Cengage Learning, 2009. Print. Weinberg, Gerhard L. A world at Arms: A global History of World War II. New York: Cambridge University press, 2005. Print. Read More