World War I and World War II

There are five short essay questions, choose four of them and write 100 words for each essay
1. Historians sometimes present World War I and World War II together as a second “Thirty Years War.” So discuss the relation between the two – what are the reasons for seeing the conflicts as a single episode in global history? How do you account for the long pause in between the two cycles of warfare? What is the upshot of seeing WWI and WWII as a single vast struggle – what had changed, at the global level, between 1914 and 1945?

1. Historians sometimes present World War I and World War II together as a second “Thirty Years War.” So discuss the relation between the two – what are the reasons for seeing the conflicts as a single episode in global history? [the centrality of Europe; continuity in participants] How do you account for the long pause in between the two cycles of warfare? [exhaustion and recovery; changes in participants] What is the upshot of seeing WWI and WWII as a single vast struggle – what had changed, at the global level, between 1914 and 1945? [the near-suicide of Europe, the rise of the US and USSR]

2. Recount the story of Communism in the 20th-century – as though to a person who knows next to nothing about it – with a special focus on the comparison and contrast between Russia and China.

Comparisons: contexts: war and civil war; proletarian revolution and one-party rule; Collectivization & Great Purges, Great Leap Forward & Cultural Revolution; reform

Contrasts: contexts: different wars and enemies, contrasting struggles; contrasts between the two rough patches; contrasts in relation with the external world; contrast in the outcome of reform

3. Recount the story of the Cold War, from its beginnings in 1917 to its end in 1991. What was the struggle all about? What were the major phases in the story? Why did it never become a “hot” war? Why did it end the way it did?

3. Recount the story of the Cold War, from its beginnings in 1917 to its end in 1991. What was the struggle all about? [capitalism vs. communism; democracy vs. one-party rule; empire vs. empire, etc.] What were the major phases in the story? [the USSR alone; USSR & Eastern Europe, China & Asia, the Caribbean; reform: failure in Russia, etc. , success in China] Why did it never become a “hot” war? Why did it end the way it did? [your call]

4. Describe how the drama of “Decolonization” unfolded after 1945, with a special focus on comparing and contrast the ends of the British and the French empires, but without neglecting later episodes as well, right down to the present.

4. Describe how the drama of “Decolonization” unfolded after 1945 [context: survival of empires, into early Cold War], with a special focus on comparing and contrast the ends of the British and the French empires [the Raj, Palestine; Vietnam, Algeria], but without neglecting later episodes as well [Africa, Asia], right down to the present [the Middle East].
5. So what has happened in the history of the world since 1973? What are the major turning points and periods in the last forty years of the history of the planet?

1973-91: Neo-Liberalism, Second Cold War, Decolonization
1991-2007: More Neo-Liberalism, Mopping Up, Hot Middle East
Since 2007: Great Recession, Arab Spring, Populism

Long essay question (150 words)

When we arrived at the last part of the class, on global history since 1914, we stressed the connections between the major episodes we were considering – the “age of catastrophe” (WWI, Great Depression, WWI), the historical career of Communism, and the saga of Decolonization). So how were these three grand cycles of events connected, exactly – how was each related to what succeeded it? And how do they help explain the historical world we inhabit – roughly, that since 1973 or so? What changed, around the world, between 1914 and 2013?

When we arrived at the last part of the class, on global history since 1914, we stressed the connections between the major episodes we were considering – the “age of catastrophe” (WWI, Great Depression, WWI), the historical career of Communism, and the saga of Decolonization. So how were these three grand cycles of events connected, exactly – how was each related to what succeeded it? [causal connections: acceleration] And how do they help explain the historical world we inhabit – roughly, that since 1973 or so? [aftermath, afterglow, hangover?] What changed, around the world, between 1914 and 2013? [relative eclipse of Europe; triumph and extension of capitalism and liberal civilization; the crumbling of patriarchy; the globe – flat, unequal, heating up?]