World History Task 4 - Task 4 PDF

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Amanda Woods World History Task 4

A. The American Revolution of 1765 came to be because of two competing forces in Europe; Britain and France. As competing colonizing powers in North America, both tried to deprive the other of precious metal of the Americans, as well as trades from China. This conflict came to ahead with what we refer to as the Seven Years War (17561763). Britain was victorious in the war, but not without consequences. The finical burden to sustain a 7-year all-out war was massive and left Britain heavily indebted to its citizens. In order to help relieve this debt the parliament of Britain devised a plan to levy new taxes on the American colonists. The colonies were self-governing people with a lack of representation in parliament and their response to this scheme was to tell Britain “no taxation without representation”. Although the thirteen colonies were British subjects, they required a great amount of self-rule and even though self-ruled each colonies practice were different from the next. The British colonies were not directing financed through Britain therefore other than acknowledging the British role they were their own people. The first taxation on the American colonies was the Stamp Act of 1765; which was a tax on paper goods. The following year was the Townshend Duties which included the taxation of tea. As an act of protest and rejection of the taxes the colonies organized boycotts. These boycotts included British goods such as clothes, cookware, and pipes and substituted them with local alternatives. Following the “Tea Act’ the colonists substituted tea for coffee. Drinking coffee then became the face of rebellion and defiance. However, the American Revolution was more than just boycotts on the use of goods, violence and riots broke out particularly in the cities. The American patriots, a group of

colonists that opposed Britain declared independence for the thirteen colonies in 1776. The Declaration of Independence was more than just a dispute of Britain's imposed taxes it was the face of universal struggle for freedom. British and revolutionary armies engaged in military campaigns across North America between 1776 and 1781. With the help of France and Spain on Americas side the war became too costly for Britain to continue. The year 1783 saw the birth of the new “United States of America” with the Treaty of Paris recognizing Americas independence. The American Revolution had an important effect on Atlantic societies. Latin American, Haitian, and French thinkers and writers saw the war for independence as a model for their own struggles. The declaration of independence inspired for decades to come. With the New United States government; the Constitution of 1787 was adopted and brought something new to history, a government explicitly for the sovereignty of its people. (Acrobatiq, 2017)

B.

Although the ideas of liberalism and the individual is not a new concept in the world, it wasn't until the last 200 years that this ancient idea of human and civil rights been mobilized so widely and so frequently. The U.S. Constitution is a great example of a modern conception of human rights. Specifically, the Bill of rights within the U.S. Constition included several freedoms mainly from government, outside interference, liberty to pursue interests, belief without government interference, and fundament equality of the individual in politics. Even though liberalism has been more towards the fore front of change the last 200 years, it wasn’t until the end World War II that the concept was really revived and made such an impact to our modern liberties. By the end of the 1940s much of the world was divided

into specific categories of race, class, gender, and religion. White European males and their decedents were seen as the best representation; while the poor, females, and people of color were seen as inferior. However, movements emerged after the second world war that challenged these categories and inequalities. The 1950s saw a large civil right change for the African American citizens of the United Stated. In 1954, the court case Brown v Board of Education saw the end of segregation of white and blacks in the school system. The battle continued to spread to the transportation systems, restaurants, and other places. (Acrobatiq, 2017) The civil rights fight didn’t end with just African American rights, it soon spread to include women, people with disabilities, other ethnic minorities, and the lesbian, bisexual, gay and transgender communities. Gender and sexual equality were among the most difficult to pursue postwar. The principal stand of gender rights during this time was for women’s equality. By the 1920, women did garner the right to vote but it wasn’t until the 1960s that a second wave of feminists focused on issues such as equal pay and treatment in the work place, and reproductive rights. (Acrobatiq, 2017) During the same time period of the fight for women's rights, a movement that focused on the rights of lesbian, bisexual, gay and transgender people was brewing. Protests developed throughout the United States but it was the infamous 1969 Stonewall riots, that were in resistance to police raids against social gatherings that received the most attention. (Acrobatiq, 2017)

C. In the 19th century, industrialization saw a second wave. The first Industrial revolution put a strain on a lot of states and economies around the world but by the second industrial

revolution many successfully followed the pathways to industrialization. A technology that was developed during this time was the cheap new process of turning iron into steal and as a result it saw the development of large ships and railroads. A second technology development was electricity. Electricity increased efficacy in factories by enabling electrically powered assembly and also powered new industries that were based on electrically powered chemical reactions. (Acrobatiq, 2017) Russia was slow to industrialize compared to their western counterparts, due to agriculture driving their community. Also, the aristocrats typically owned land rather than money. Russia was also in fear that if they industrialized to quickly there would be a rise in working class which could result in a potential revolutionary condition. In addition, most Russians were serfs who were not allowed to leave their masters land without permission. However due to the Crimean War and their defeat by inferior weapons, munitions, and railways, Russian leaders saw the importance in industrializing in order to stay a relevant country. (Acrobatiq, 2017) In contrast to Russia, the United States industrialized rather quickly. Due to a series of defeats to Britain in the War of 1812, President James Madison and the U.S. congress were convinced for the need of modern industry to not only serve civilian purposes but also the military. Another reason for such motivation was competition with Bristish firms in Latin America. Unfortunately, most of the united states vast natural resources were located far away from large cities of the east. As a result, the rail and canal systems were born and started the first steps in the intercontinental system. (Acrobatiq, 2017)

D. The United States and the Soviet Union were the two new superpowers of a post-world war II. These two new superpower countries colonial independence helped the anticolonial movements. Both claimed support of self-determination for all people, but in reality, they tended to support liberation movements only if they seemed likely to be politically and economically friendly to them. This became more important when it became obvious that the world was moving into the direction of bipolar politics between America and the Soviet. (Acrobatiq, 2017) The global confrontation that soon progressed between the American and Soviet superpowers is what is known as the Cold War. The Cold War lasted between 1946-1990 and was a global competition through propaganda, ideology, proxy wars, culture, the Space race, and many other ways, short of shooting at each other. The United States was a capitalist country that advocated freedom of choice and a free market economy. The Soviet Union contended for a communist system which handled direct production and distribution of goods to their population. Instead of America and the Soviet Union fighting directly they engaged in proxy wars in places such as Korea, Angola, Vietnam, and Afghanistan. With the help of the Marshall Plan, a U.S. program providing money for economic reconstruction, Europe become an American Ally. The Marshall Plan was a complement to NATO’s development and goals. NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, is a military mutual defense agreement meant to organize opposition to the Soviet Union. On the other hand, The Soviet Union created the Warsaw pact, with much of Eastern Europe, that bound these communist governments into a military alliance. The soviets also made Allies with Cuba and Vietnam. One of the main reasons why the Cold War was named as it was because the two superpowers never directly fought with each other. Due to the development of nuclear technology both countries lived in fear that the other could annilate them, in what is known as mutually assured destruction. In addition to this fear, a war was completely unfisable

financially in order to destabilize their opponent. As an alternative they used allies and proxy states to face-off which includes wars like The Vietnamese wars of independence and the Korean War. (Acrobatiq, 2017) President Ronald Reagan made a speech to British parliament in June of 1982 stating that world war II was simply the first stage in a war between totalitarianism and democracies, and the greatest enemy of this war was the Soviet Uniion. He predicted their systems demise, and within a decade the Soviets and their allies met their ends. Due to this collapse the world saw a global move toward democratization beginning in the 1980s and into the 1990s. (Acrobatiq, 2017)

Acrobatiq. (2017). Survey of world history. Retrieved from https://wgunx.acrobatiq.com/courseware/contents/wh_apr14...