Kerala State Syllabus 10th Standard Social Science Notes Chapter 2 World in the Twentieth Century
Twentieth century is the period that influenced world history greatly. Imperialism was the developed form of capitalism which emerged in Europe after the Industrial Revolution. When capitalism developed into imperialism, it faced many crises. When the imperialist powers entered into mutual competitions in order to conquer the world, conflict became widespread. The international problems which surfaced during this period caused mutual mistrust and enmity. The conflicts among the imperialist powers ultimately led the entire world to a war. The growth of Fascism and Nazism, Second World War, international efforts for peace, cold war, non-alignment and globalisation are the other topics discussed in this unit.
→ Industrial Revolution: The changes which took place in England from the 18th century onwards came to be known as the Industrial Revolution. The basic feature of this was that human labour was substituted by machines.
→ Capitalism : The economic system in which production and distribution are controlled by capitalists with the aim to increase profit.
→ Imperialism : The practice of extending a nation’s political, economic and cultural dominance on another nation is imperialism.
→ Triple Alliance and Triple Entente : Military alliances that fought in the First World War.
→ Nationalism : A nation is defined as a people settling in a definite territory, speaking a common language, having a common culture and historical tradition. The ideology and programme of action based on this concept is called nationalism.
→ Aggressive nationalism : The policy of invading neighbouring countries, considering one’s nation as supreme and justifying whatever be the actions of the nation.
→ Pan-Slav Movement : The movement started under the leadership of Russia to unite the Slavic People of Serbia, Bulgaria, Greece, etc. in Eastern Europe.
→ Pan-German Movement : The movement started under the leadership of Germany to establish her dominance in Central Europe and Balkan provinces and to unite the Teutonic people.
→ Revenge Movement : The movement started under the leadership of France to regain her territories of Alsace-Lorraine which were captured by Germany in the Franco-Prussian war of 1871.
→ Treaty of Versailles : The treaty signed with Germany by the victorious powers after the First World War.
→ World Economic Depression : The economic crisis that started in 1929 and affected the whole world.
→ League of Nations : The international organisation formed after the first world war to maintain peace in the world.
→ Fascism, Nazism : The political ideology that supported dictatorship, racial superiority, aggressive nationalism and single party rule.
→ Munich Pact : The agreement that approved the claim of Germany over Sudetanland, a part of Czechoslovakia.
→ Policy of appeasement: Capitalist countries like Britain and France considered Soviet Union, being a socialist country, as their chief enemy and did not prevent fascist attacks. This policy which encouraged fascist attacks is known as policy of appeasement.
→ Non-Aggression Pact : The agreement signed between Germany and Soviet Union in 1939, by which they agreed not to attack each other and to partition Poland.
→ Teutonic People : The Germanic people are also called Teutonic peoples. Originally they belonged to Northern Europe. They spoke languages of the Germanic branch of the lndo-European language family.
→ Pearl Harbour Attack : The attack of Japan in 1941 on Pearl Harbour, the American naval base in the islands of Hawaii.
→ Hiroshima, Nagasaki : Japanese cities where atom bombs were dropped in 1945 by USA.
→ Hibakusha: The surviving victims of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
→ United Nations Organisation : The international organisation formed after the Second World War to prevent war and maintain peace in the world.
→ Decolonization : The process of the colonies of Asia and Africa securing freedom from imperialist control.
→ Cold War : The enmity based on ideological conflict and diplomatic confrontations between US bloc and Soviet bloc.
→ Bipolar politics : USA led the Capitalist bloc and Soviet Union led the Socialist bloc after the Second World War. This ideological division between the power blocs is called bipolar politics.
→ Military Pacts : Military agreements formed among capitalist bloc and socialist bloc after the Second World War.
→ Non-alignment : The policy adopted by the newly independent countries of Asia and Africa not to join the power blocs and to follow an independent foreign policy.
→ Zionism: The movement that started to establ ish a homeland for the Jews.
→ PLO : Palestinian Liberation Organisation was a movement with the objective of establishing a nation for the Palestinians.
→ Oslo Pact: The pact signed between Israel and Palestine under the mediation of USA. By this, Israel agreed to recognise Palestine as a free nation.
→ Glasnost : The administrative reform started under Mikhail Gorbachev in Soviet Union to implement openness in political processes.
World In The Twentieth Century Notes
→ Perestroika: The administrative reform started under Mikhail Gorbachev to restructure the economic system of Soviet Union.
→ Unipolar world : USA emerged as a global power and centre of world politics following the disintegration of Soviet Union. The world order dominated by the USA is called unipolar world.
→ Neo imperialism: The multinational companies began to interfere in the economic, social and cultural sectors of the newly independent countries of Asia and Africa and Latin America for serving the interests of capitalist countries. This is known as neo imperialism.
→ Globalisation: The policy of transfer of products, ( services, raw materials, capital, latest technology and human resources across the borders of countries without any restriction.
→ Liberalisation: The policy of adoption of liberal regulations and taxation systems to facilitate the import of multinational products to domestic markets.
→ Privatisation : The policy of privatisation of public sector undertakings to promote private sector. (The process of reducing the role of public sector in the economy and increasing the role of private sector is known as privatisation).
World in the Twentieth Century – Famous Persons
→ Francis Ferdinand : The heir to the throne of Austria who was assassinated in June 1914 at Sarajevo. This was the immediate cause for the First World War.
→ Benito Mussolini : Leader of fascist reign in Italy.
→ Adolf Hitler: Leader ofNazi reign in Germany.
→ Matteotti: Eminent socialist thinker of Italy who opposed fascism. ‘
→ Woodrow Wilson : The US President who gave leadership to the formation of League of Nations.
→ Nelson Mandela ; Leader of anti – imperialist struggle in South Africa.
→ Quami Nkrumah : Leader of anti – imperialist struggle in Ghana.
→ Jomo Kenyatta : Leader of the freedom movement in Kenya.
→ Bernard Baruch : The American economist who first used the word ‘cold war’.
→ Architects of Non : Aligned movement:
- Jawaharlal Nehru – India
- Gamal Abdul Nasser – Egypt
- Marshal Tito-Yugoslavia .
- Ahmed Sukarno – Indonesia
→ Yasser Arafat: Founder President of Palestinian Liberation Organisation.
→ Mikhail Gorbachev : The last President of Soviet Union.
World in the Twentieth Century – Important Years and Events
- 1871 – Franco Prussian War
- 1904 – Moroccan Crisis
- 1912 – Balkan Crisis
- 1914 – Assassination of Francis Ferdinand
- 1914-18 – First World War
- 1919 – Paris Peace Treaty: Treaty of Versailles
- 1924 – Mussolini in power
- 1929 – World Economic Depression
- 1933 – Hitlar as Chancellor of Germany
- 1938 – Munich Pact
- 1939-45 – Second World War
- 1941 – Pearl Harbour Attack
- 1945 – Atom bombs dropped at Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan by USA
- 1945 – Formation ofUNO (October24,1945)
- 1948 – Formation of Israel
- 1955 – Emergence of Non-Aligned Movement
- 1991 – Disintegration of Soviet Union
- 1993 – Oslo Pact
Kerala Syllabus 10th Standard Social Science Notes