Hi and welcome back to Heimler’s History. And welcome to the first topic video of Unit 7 of AP World History. Now, Unit 7 is all about global conflict after 1900. And in this unit we’re really going to look at two major global conflicts and their causes and their effects. But in this video we’re going to set the stage for these global conflicts by talking about the political and ideological upheavals that were going on around the world during this time. So if you’re ready to get upheaved, I’m ready to upheave you. Let’s get to it. So I don’t think it’s too much to say that by the end of the 20th century a fundamentally new global order had been established. And no small part of that reordering had to do with several large-scale revolutions that occurred in the first few decades of the 20th century. And these revolutions occurred, but are not limited to, Russia, China, the Ottoman Empire, and Mexico. So let’s take a look at each of these in turn. First, the Russian Revolution. So, early in the 20th century, Russia, internally, was basically a hot mess. Europe, the United States, Japan, all of these had long surpassed Russia in terms of wealth and power. And Russia’s economic growth was sluggish during this time because those in power refused to work on infrastructure, like roads and railroads. And those in power also refused to extend voting rights and education to the mass of people. And when the people responded in protest against these injustices, the Russian government shot a bunch of them in the Bloody Sunday massacre in 1905. Now look, I admit, I myself have never been an authoritarian dictator before, but in my humble opinion, if you want to keep people under your rule, this is not the way to do it. Anyway, not only did Russia have internal problems, they also had external problems as well. Because hey, if you ain’t right inside, you ain’t gonna be right outside either. You didn’t think you were going to be learning life lessons in a history video, did you? In 1856 the Russians lost the Crimean War to the Ottomans. And then in 1905 they lost to the Japanese in the Russo-Japanese War, in no small part because of Japan’s superior industrial and military capability. So with all this mounting tension, a group called the Bolsheviks overthrew the tsarist government in 1917. They were led by Vladimir Lenin and represented the oppressed working class in Russia. And so in this overthrow of power, Lenin and the Bolsheviks established a communist government. And in doing so they abolished free trade, nationalized factories and industries, and redistributed the crops of peasants to feed the urban workers. And the establishment of a communist government in Russia shook the world. Dear diary, the Russians have revolted and established a communist government, and while I uphold the right of peoples to determine for themselves how they ought to be governed, I confess to you, dear diary, that when I heard the news, I pooped my pants a little. Hugs and kisses, Woodrow Wilson. It’s true that this new order in Russia made western powers uneasy, and that the fight between communism and democracy would become a major theme in the rest of the 20th century. But I get ahead of myself. Alright, so let’s move on and talk about China. So early in the 20th century China also was facing both internal and external problems. If you’ll recall, the Qing Dynasty had been in power since 1644. And one of their main internal problems had to do with ethnic tension. Remember that the Qing Dynasty was not a native Chinese dynasty—they were Manchurian. And one of the major ethnic groups in China at the time was the Han. And because the Han were native Chinese, they had long resisted the legitimacy of their Manchurian leaders. And that meant that there was a long policy of discrimination against the Han. And the second internal problem that they faced was the perpetual threat of famine. For two hundred years the population had been steadily growing and food production had not kept up. All it would take is a drought or some blight on the crops and that would wipe out huge numbers of people. The third internal problem they were dealing with was on the government level. The Qing Dynasty’s tax revenue was extremely low. And that meant that they were unable to keep up with the country’s infrastructure and keep it in good repair. Externally, China was getting the economic snot beat out of them by industrialized powers. By 1900 China’s economy was in steep decline because they were dominated economically by foreign powers who had forced free trade agreements on them. And they were able to do that because of their superior industrial and military capabilities. So with all that causing unrest in the population, a man by the name of Sun Yat-Sen led a revolution to overthrow the Qing Dynasty in 1911. Now once Sun established his new government, it wasn’t a complete revolution. There did remain some continuity between the new government and the Qing. For example, Sun Yat-Sen upheld traditional Confucian values like social harmony and the veneration of ancestors. But despite that continuity, there was much change as well. As a result of this revolution, Sun sought to rectify the unequal distribution of wealth in China. He also sought to make China more democratic than it had been. But his vision for democracy was to place the power to govern not in everyone’s hands, but in the hands of those who were fit to govern, and that meant educated experts who ruled in the name of the people. Now, Sun Yat-Sen’s leadership was short lived, two months to be exact. After failing to bring all of China under the aegis of this new government, he decided to go ahead and hand over his power to military leaders. Now his party would later in the century return to power, only to lose it again to the communists. But I get ahead of myself yet again. Alright, now let’s turn our attention to the Ottoman Empire and see what’s going on over there. So in the first part of the 20th century the Ottoman Empire got itself a nickname: the sick man of Europe. And their sickness was due to repeated military defeats and a sinking economy. From the 1840s to the 1870s, the Ottomans had attempted to modernize under a series of reforms called Tanizmat, however, those reforms simply did not go far enough. And it was at this time that a group called the Young Turks rose up, advocating for a constitutional style government made in the image of European-style governments. And they also argued for a kind of cultural realignment called Turkification. And this was an effort to require all citizens to embrace Turkish culture, which happened to be deeply influenced by Islam. And this turned out to be a big problem for the large majority of Armenian Christians who lived in the Ottoman Empire. And these kind of policies led to large-scale persecution of these Christians, but we’ll have to save that for another video. The Young Turks also complained about the overbearing economic influence by European states, who, according to their estimation, were crippling the Ottoman economy. And this was one of the big reasons the Ottomans sided with Germany in World War I. And yet again, I have gotten ahead of myself. Let’s come back. Long story short, in 1923 the Republic of Turkey was established under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal, also known as Ataturk. While he wasn’t strictly in league with the Young Turks, he did share many of their sympathies. And so Ataturk focused on making Turkey like western democracies, and unhinging its culture from Islam. Okay, and finally, let’s turn our attention to the shifting power in Mexico during this time. At the beginning of the 20th century, Mexico was an independent state under the brutal and authoritarian control of a man named Porfirio Diaz. And one of the complaints against his rule is that he had consistently allowed foreign investors to control much of Mexico’s resources. Additionally, there was an extreme inequality of wealth distribution. One percent of the Mexican people owned 90% of the land. And that meant that a huge portion of Mexico’s population were landless and poor. And so in 1910 Diaz imprisoned Fransisco Madero who was his opponent in the upcoming presidential contest. This act became the spark that ignited the Mexican Revolution. Madero ended up escaping from prison and organized an opposition to Diaz which eventually led to the toppling of Diaz’s rule and resulted in his exile from Mexico. And by 1917 Mexico had ratified a new constitution which aimed to solve lots of the problems created under Diaz. For example, the constitution provided for land redistribution, voting rights for all men, and public education. Alright, that’s what you need to know about Unit 7 topic 1 of AP World History. And if you want to join the Heimler revolution, then click here and subscribe and come along. Heimler out.