WW: CH 21

     The chapter starts off with various jokes that would go around in the Soviet Union and how the Communist system they thought to be one thing, was completely hypocritical and false. Communism had been originally accepted as an appealing way of life. Communist ideologies had changed the way societies thought about their ways of life. Although Communism seemed to be an appealing to some countries, unfortunately other countries, in particular to Western societies, Communism posed a really huge political and ideological threat to their way of thinking. This eventually led to the Cold War, which lasted from 1946 to 1991. Throughout the majority of the Cold War, the United States fought with the USSR for the influence of which Third world countries would be under. This also sparked the Nuclear Arms race between the two. Ultimately communism ended up collapsing.

     Communism first emerged in glimpses through socialism in the nineteenth-century. It was inspired by Karl Marx. In Marxist theory, communism served as the last stage in historical development consisting of a full development in areas regarding collective living and social equality. 

     Communism reached its peak during the 1970's. By then, around a third of the world was run under a communist government. The countries that endorsed communism the most were the USSR and China. Communism had also made its way to Eastern Europe, Vietnam, North Korea, Cuba, and among other places. 

     Europe was the first host to the Cold War. The Soviet Union was really concerned over the security and control over Eastern Europe. There was a big wish from American and British governments for open societies that were linked to the capitalist movements. Much like the previous two World Wars, alliances were formed. The two alliances were the NATO and Warsaw Pact. The American sphere of influence was a lot more voluntary than the Soviet one, they imposed it.

     The spread of communism into Asia caused conflicts between the Asian countries. This led to North Korea invading South Korea in 1950. The war lasted three years and it involved interference from the United States and China. The war ended with a Korea that was divided more than ever. 

     The Cold War also sparked the Vietnam War. The United States was heavily involved in Vietnam and tried to keep communism out in the 1960's. By 1975, the Vietnamese communists successfully unified the country. 

     In Afghanistan, a Marxist took control in 1978 but had the majority of the population. The Soviet Union's military came in but had little success. By 1989, the Soviet Union, under immense public pressure, withdrew from there and that led to the imminent fall of communism in Afghanistan.

     In Cuba, Fidel Castro had come into power in 1959. The United States became hostile as a result of the nationalization of US assets. As Castro's reign progressed, he began to align himself with the USSR. 

WW: Ch 20

     The chapter kicks off talking about World War I veterans and how they are dying off. Unfortunately, it was not the war that ended all other wars. The only positive thing about this is that now in this day and age the majority of the European countries have now seized to go with war with one another. "The Great War" as they referred to it was essentially "a european civil war with a global reach". Throughout the entire span of the war, 1914-1918, many casualties were suffered and by the end of it, Western Europe had destroyed itself. For having gone through one of the most destructive events in history, they made a considerable comeback starting after the dust had settled after World War II. 

     The chapter goes on to explain that prior to World War I, Europeans had a good grip of control throughout the rest of the world, something that did not remain intact after the war, let alone World War II. With many countries on the rise after the Industrial Revolution, this led to rivalries growing and tempers started to boil and spill over. By the time the 1900's started to get underway, two main alliances had been formed throughout Europe. The first alliance was the Triple Alliance consisting of Germany, Austria, and Italy. The other was Triple Entente composed of Russia, France, and Britain. World War I was created due to a Serbian murdering the successor of the Austrian throne. As a result, Austria was out to destroy nationalism. Serbia, as it turns out, was backed up by the Russia and the Triple Entente. By August 1914, World War I was officially underway. 

     Industrialized militaries were a huge factor in the war. Countries had outstanding armies and had a great sense of prestige. There was a huge arms race including warships. Prior to World War I, many countries had schemes as to how to approach a huge war, should the time come, and what do you know? Many new weapons saw the light of day during this war including weapons like tanks, airplanes, and machine guns. Many casualties resulted due to the war. Approximately ten million people died by the end of World War I and another twenty million had been left injured. The United States joined the war by 1917 when Germany attacked American ships.

     Many had expected World War I to end rather quickly. By November of 1918 Germany had been defeated. Trench warfare was a huge part of this war. Some battles had lasted months and the longer they lasted, the higher the casualties were. Women had replaced men in factories. I personally think that this was a glimpse into the future where in World War II, women had also started working and that is when they really started becoming a major part in society. 

WW: Ch 19

     The chapter starts out with something that took me a second to fully understand: The fact that China had been in control of their own fate by keeping Europe, for the most part, out of their country. Having read how Europe seems to be the protagonist/antagonist (depending on your point of view) of this book, the fact that China was controlling the way they operated with foreigners really speaks for itself. Here you had the Europeans spread worldwide to the Americas and beyond to places such as Africa, yet they never got to proceed as they wanted with the Chinese. I find it really impressive that they held that frame of thought for so long. For example, the book talks about how in 1793, the Chinese Emperor at the time, Emperor Qianlong, rejected Britain's request that the Chinese open up their trade markets. However, that all came to end when the Chinese Empire fell early in the nineteen hundreds. 

     China, in a way, was responsible of its own downfall. Things that may seem like they were signs of improvement were not always what they seem. For example, the Chinese population went through a massive growth from 1685 1853; growing from around one hundred million, to four hundred thirty million. What made this a bad thing was that China had no Industrial Revolution. Due to the fact that they had their ports closed to any foreigners to keep them cut off from reaching China, they too were cut off from anything that was going on throughout the rest of the world. They had no idea what was going on around them, thus leaving them back in time. They had cut any sort of connection throughout the rest of the world, proving to be a double-edged sword. This led to no manufactured goods and people were suffering of starvation.

     These horrible living conditions, as a result of an ever growing population, led to people, peasants in particular, being treated horribly. Corruption made its presence known and people were going through hard times. This led to the Taiping uprising. It was a huge civil war that was to avail and led to millions of deaths. 

     This led to the Opium Wars, revolving around China's trading rights. A tariff was placed on imported opium and that led to the Chinese taking over warehouses of it and burning the opium, due to fear of addiction. This led to China finally opening up and allowing foreigners to set up trade markets and the spread of goods, as well as beliefs.

WW: Chapter 18

     The chapter starts out with the usual opening story about the author and his experience in postcolonial Kenya. The thing that stood out to me the most was that he discovered that there was a lack of Africans being able to learn the English language. I sincerely and respectfully think that English is the most important language in the world and it is essential that every able person who can learn it actually learn it. It fathoms me that there was a huge concern to keep whites apart from blacks. A lot of colonies at the time (nineteenth and early twentieth centuries) all followed the same guidelines and tried their best to keep the separation between the two races. Many countries had their colonies including England, Spain, Italy, France, Belgium, among others. The colonies of these countries had policies that varied and were specific to each individual colony. The policies were also shaped by the actions of the people that were colonized.

     Between the time period of 1750 and 1900 there was an unprecedented second wave of European colonialism. However, this one focused primarily on Asia and Africa. This was the first time that countries like Germany, Italy, Belgium, and the United States took part in colonialism, as opposed to countries like Spain and England who were experienced. By this point armies were well established and were very organized. In addition to being organized, they developed much more advanced weaponry and firepower. They had things like rifles and machine guns. 

     I can only imagine how traumatic it was for the various peoples being colonized. The people that were being colonized often faced enormous losses in terms of property and many were often murdered and had to face their imminent deaths. Their lives were disrupted and could not go back to the way they were due to them being oppressed and having to face drastic lifestyle changes. 

     Surprisingly, some of the colonized people were more than willing to cooperate with their new rulers. They often held positions in the army. The people who had power before being colonized usually kept their privileges and status. They were relied on and heavily needed due to the fact that there was a lack of Europeans who would take charge. 

     European education was heavily promoted. 

     However, some people rebelled such as in India when the Indian troops called mutiny. This led to the English taking complete control of India.