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The attack on Fort Sumter marked the official beginning of the American Civil War-a war that lasted four years, cost the lives of more than 620,000 Americans, and freed 3.9 million enslaved people from bondage.

How it ended

Confederate victory. With supplies nearly exhausted and his troops outnumbered, Union major Robert Anderson surrendered Fort Sumter to Brig. Gen. P.G.T Beauregard's Confederate forces. Major Anderson and his men were allowed to strike their colors, fire a 100-gun salute, and board a ship bound for New York, where they were greeted as heroes. Both the North and South immediately called for volunteers to mobilize for war.

In context

By 1861, the country had already experienced decades of short-lived but ultimately failed compromises concerning the expansion of slavery in the United States and its territories. The election of Abraham Lincoln as president of the United States in 1860-a man who declared "I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free"-threatened the culture and economy of southern slave states and served as a catalyst for secession. On December 20, 1860, South Carolina seceded from the United States, and by February 2, 1861, six more states followed suit. Southern delegates met on February 4, 1861, in Montgomery, AL., and established the Confederate States of America, with Mississippi senator Jefferson Davis elected as its provisional president. Confederate militia forces began seizing United States forts and property throughout the south. With a lame-duck president in office, and a controversial president-elect poised to succeed him, the crisis approached a boiling point and exploded at Fort Sumter.

Before the Battle

In Charleston, the birthplace of secession, tempers are on edge. A delegation from the state goes to Washington, D.C., demanding the surrender of the Federal military installations in the new "independent republic of South Carolina." President James Buchanan refuses to comply. Charleston is the Confederacy's most important port on the Southeast coast. The harbor is defended by three federal forts: Sumter; Castle Pinckney, one mile off the city's Battery; and heavily armed Fort Moultrie, on Sullivan's Island. Major Anderson's command is based at Fort Moultrie, but with its guns pointed out to sea, it cannot defend a land attack. On December 26, Charlestonians awake to discover that Anderson and his tiny garrison of 90 men have slipped away from Fort Moultrie to the more defensible Fort Sumter. For secessionists, Anderson's move is, as one Charlestonian wrote to a friend, "like casting a spark into a magazine,"

Adding to the major's concern is his dangerously dwindling store of supplies. On January 5, 1861, the Star of the West departs from New York with some 200 reinforcements and provisions for the Sumter garrison. As the ship approaches Charleston Harbor on January 9, cadets from the Citadel fire, forcing the crew to abandon its mission. On March 1, Jefferson Davis orders Brig. Gen P.G.T. Beauregard to take command of the growing southern forces in Charleston. On April 4, Lincoln informs southern delegates that he intends to attempt to resupply Fort Sumter, as its garrison is now critically in need. To South Carolinians, any attempt to reinforce Sumter means war. "Now the issue of battle is to be forced upon us," declared the Charleston Mercury. "We will meet the invader, and the God of Battles must decide the issue between the hostile hirelings of Abolition hate and Northern tyranny."

On April 9, Davis and the Confederate cabinet decide to "strike a blow!" Davis orders Beauregard to take Fort Sumter. The next day, three of Beauregard's aides sail to the fort and courteously demand the garrison's surrender. Anderson is equally courteous, but refuses: "I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your communication demanding the evacuation of this fort, and to say, in reply thereto, that it is a demand with which I regret that my sense of honor, and of my obligations to my Government, prevent my compliance." He also informs the delegation that the garrison's supplies will only last until April 15.

During the Battle

April 12. At 4:30 a.m., a flaming mortar shot arcs into the air and explodes over Fort Sumter. On this signal, Confederate guns from fortifications and floating batteries around Charleston Harbor roar to life. Outmanned, outgunned, undersupplied, and nearly surrounded by enemy batteries, Anderson waits until around 7:00 a.m. to respond. Captain Abner Doubleday volunteers to fire the first cannon at the Confederates, a 32-pound shot that bounces off the roof of the Iron Battery on Cummings Point.

For nearly 36 hours the two sides keep up this unequal contest. A shell strikes the flagpole of Fort Sumter, and the American colors fall to the earth, only to be hoisted back up the hastily repaired pole. Confederates fire hotshot from Fort Moultrie into Fort Sumter. Buildings begin to burn within the fort. With no more resources, Anderson surrenders Fort Sumter to Confederate forces.

April 13. At 2:30 p.m., Maj. Anderson and his men strike their colors and prepare to leave the fort. Sadly, the only casualties at Fort Sumter come during the 100-gun salute, when a round explodes prematurely, killing Pvt. Daniel Hough and mortally wounding another soldier. The attack is over, but the war had just begun.

Aftermath

Following the evacuation of Major Robert Anderson and his Federal garrison on the afternoon of April 14, 1861, Fort Sumter is occupied initially by Confederate troops of Company B of the First South Carolina Artillery Battalion and a volunteer company of the Palmetto Guard, a local militia unit. The fort remains in Confederate hands for the next four years until all Confederate forces evacuate Charleston on the evening of February 17, 1865.

Despite having surrendered, Anderson and his men are greeted as heroes when they disembark in New York. Capt. Abner Doubleday notes later that "all the passing steamers saluted us with their steam-whistles and bells, and cheer after cheer went up from the ferry boats and vessels in the harbor." Anderson's valor during the attack and commitment to duty are praised by the Union. Beauregard is also hailed for this first Confederate victory. He is later ordered to direct the troops at Bull Run.

Fort Sumter: Featured Resources

Related Battles

Charleston Harbor, SC | April 12, 1861

Result: Confederate Victory

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Early in the morning of April 12, 1861, Confederate guns around Charleston Harbor opened fire on Fort Sumter. The American Civil War was officially upon both the North and the South. A war that lasted four years and cost the lives of more than 620,000 Americans.

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Table of Contents

1. Battle of Appomattox Court House

2. Lee Surrenders to Grant

3. The Final Battle of the Civil War?

The Battle of Appomattox Court House was fought on April 9, 1865, near the town of Appomattox Court House, Virginia, and led to Confederate General Robert E. Lee's surrender of his Army of Northern Virginia to Union General Ulysses S. Grant. Days earlier, Lee had abandoned the Confederate capital of Richmond and the city of Petersburg; his goal was to rally the remnants of his beleaguered troops, meet Confederate reinforcements in North Carolina and resume fighting. But the resulting Battle of Appomattox Court House, which lasted only a few hours, effectively brought the four-year Civil War to an end.

Battle of Appomattox Court House
WATCH: Appomattox Court House
In retreat from the Union army's Appomattox campaign, which began in March 1865, the Army of Northern Virginia stumbled westward through the Virginia countryside stripped of food and supplies. At one point, Union cavalry forces under General Philip Sheridan had outrun General Lee's troops, blocking their retreat and taking approximately 6,000 prisoners at Sayler's Creek.

Confederate desertions were mounting daily, and by April 8 the Rebels were almost completely surrounded. Nonetheless, early on the morning of April 9, Confederate troops led by Major General John B. Gordon mounted a last-ditch offensive that was initially successful. Soon, however, the Confederates saw that they were hopelessly outnumbered by two corps of Union soldiers who had marched all night to cut off the Confederate advance.

Later that morning, Lee-cut off from all provisions and all support-famously declared that "there is nothing left me to do but to go and see Gen. Grant, and I would rather die a thousand deaths." But Lee also knew his remaining troops, numbering about 28,000, would quickly turn to pillaging the countryside in order to survive.

With no remaining options, Lee sent a message to General Ulysses Grant announcing his willingness to surrender the Army of Northern Virginia. The two war-weary generals met in the front parlor of the Wilmer McLean home at one o'clock that afternoon.

Lee Surrenders to Grant

Lee and Grant, both of whom held the highest rank in their respective armies, had known each other slightly during the Mexican-American War (1846-48) and began their dialogue by exchanging awkward personal inquiries. Characteristically, Grant had arrived in his mud-splattered field uniform while Lee had turned out in full dress attire, complete with sash and sword.

Did you know? In 1869, the house where Lee surrendered to Grant was sold at public auction after owner Wilmer McLean defaulted on his loan repayments. In the ensuing years, the house had a series of owners before it was reconstructed and opened to the public by the National Park Service in 1949.

Lee asked for the terms of surrender, and Grant hurriedly wrote them out. Generously, all officers and men were to be pardoned, and they would be sent home with their private property-most important to the men were the horses, which could be used for a late spring planting. Officers would keep their side arms, and Lee's starving men would be given Union rations.

Quieting a band that had begun to play in celebration, Grant told his officers, "The war is over. The Rebels are our countrymen again." Although scattered resistance continued for several weeks-the final skirmish of the Civil War occurred on May 12 and 13 at the Battle of Palmito Ranch near Brownsville, Texas-for all practical purposes the Civil War had come to an end.

The Final Battle of the Civil War?

News of the surrender traveled slowly. Although scattered resistance continued for several weeks-there were six battles that took place after Appomattox, with the final skirmish of the Civil War occurring on May 12 and 13 at the Battle of Palmito Ranch near Brownsville, Texas-for all practical purposes, the Civil War had come to an end.

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Appomattox Court House - Definition, Date & Location

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The Appomattox Court House, located in Virginia, is where Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant in April 1865, bringing an end to the Civil War.

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Below are the link to all sources for Chapter 16:
Fort Sumter
Emancipation Proclamation
The Battle of Gettysburg
Appomattox Courthouse

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Below are the links to all sources for Chapter 17:
Ten Percent Plan
Wade-Davis Bill
13th-15h Amendment
Plessy v. Ferguson
End of Reconstruction

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Below are the links to all sources for Chapter 18:
The Gold Rush
Homestead Act
Morrill Act
The Long Walk
Massacre at Wounded Knee

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The Wade-Davis Reconstruction Bill | US House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives

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On this date, the Wade-Davis Reconstruction Bill passed the House by a vote of 73 to 59. The measure set Congress's agenda for postwar Reconstruction of the South and portended conflict with the President over that process.

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Reconstructed ended when national attention turned away from the integration of former slaves as equal citizens enabling white Democrats to recapture southern politics. Between 1868 and 1877, and accelerating after the Depression of 1873, national interest in Reconstruction dwindled as economic issues moved to the foreground. The biggest threat to Republican power in the South was violence and intimidation by white conservatives, staved off by the presence of federal troops in key southern cities. Reconstruction ended with the contested Presidential election of 1876, which put Republican Rutherford B. Hayes in office in exchange for the withdrawal of federal troops from the South.

Republicans and Democrats responded to the economic declines by shifting attention from Reconstruction to economic recovery. War weary from nearly a decade of bloody military and political strife, so-called Stalwart Republicans turned from idealism, focusing their efforts on economics and party politics. They grew to particular influence during Ulysses S. Grant's first term (1868-1872). After the death of Thaddeus Stevens in 1868 and the political alienation of Charles Sumner by 1870, Stalwart Republicans assumed primacy in Republican Party politics, putting Reconstruction on the defensive within the very party leading it.

Meanwhile, New Departure Democrats gained strength by distancing themselves from pro-slavery Democrats and Copperheads. They focused on business, economics, political corruption, and trade, instead of Reconstruction. In the South, New Departure Democrats were called Redeemers, and were initially opposed by southerners who clung tightly to white supremacy and the Confederacy. But between 1869 and 1871, their home rule platform, asserting that good government was run by locals-meaning white Democrats, rather than black or white Republicans-helped end Reconstruction in three important states: Tennessee, Virginia, and Georgia.

In September 1873, Jay Cooke and Company declared bankruptcy, resulting in a bank run that spiraled into a six-year depression. The Depression of 1873 destroyed the nation's fledgling labor movement, and helped quell northerners remaining idealism about Reconstruction. In the South, many farms were capitalized entirely through loans. After 1873, most sources of credit vanished, forcing many landowners to default, driving them into an over-saturated labor market. Wages plummeted, contributing to the growing system of debt peonage in the South that trapped workers in endless cycles of poverty. Democrats responded nationally in 1874, running on sound economics and fiscal policy, which allowed them to take control of the House of Representatives.

On the eve of the 1876 Presidential election, the nation still reeling from depression, the Grant administration found itself no longer able to intervene in the South due to growing national hostility to interference in southern affairs. Scandalous corruption in the Grant Administration had sapped the national trust. By 1875, when armed conflict broke out in Mississippi and the state's Republican governor urged federal involvement, national Republicans felt they had no choice but to ignore the plea. Meanwhile, the Republican candidate for governor of Ohio, Rutherford B. Hayes, won big without mentioning Reconstruction, focusing instead on honest government, economic recovery, and temperance. His success entered him into the running as a potential Presidential candidate. The stage was set for an election that would end Reconstruction as a national issue.

Republicans chose Rutherford B. Hayes as their nominee while Democrats chose Samuel J. Tilden, who ran on honest politics and home rule in the South. Allegations of voter fraud and intimidation emerged in the three states in which Reconstruction held strong and whose outcome would decide the result: Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina. Indeed, those elections were fraught with violence and fraud because of the impunity with which white conservatives felt they could operate in their efforts to deter Republican voters. A special electoral commission voted along party lines-eight Republicans for, seven Democrats against-in favor of Hayes.

Democrats threatened to boycott Hayes' inauguration. Rival governments arose claiming to recognize Tilden as the rightfully elected President. Republicans, fearing another sectional crisis, reached out to Democrats. In the Compromise of 1877 Democrats conceded the presidency to Hayes on the promise that all remaining troops would be removed from the South. In March 1877, Hayes was inaugurated; in April, the remaining troops were ordered out of the South. The Compromise allowed southern Democrats to return to power, no longer fearing reprisal from federal troops or northern politicians for their flagrant violence and intimidation of black voters.

After 1877, Republicans no longer had the political capital to intervene in the South in cases of violence and electoral fraud, resulting in fewer chances for freedpeople to hold state office. In certain locations with large populations of African Americans like South Carolina, freedpeople continued to hold some local offices for several years. Yet, with its most revolutionary aims thwarted by 1868, and economic depression and political turmoil taking even its most modest promises off the table by the early 1870s, most of the promises of Reconstruction were unmet.
Table. This table shows the military districts of the seceded states of the South, the date the state was readmitted into the Union, and the date when conservatives recaptured the state house.

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Reconstructed ended when national attention turned away from the integration of former slaves as equal citizens enabling white Democrats to recapture southern politics. Between 1868 and 1877, and accelerating after the Depression of 1873, national interest in Reconstruction dwindled as economic issues moved to the foreground.

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The California Gold Rush | American Experience | PBS

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The discovery of gold in1848 unleashed the largest migration in United States history and drew people from a dozen countries to form a multi-ethnic society in California.

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Land-Grant College Act of 1862 | United States legislation

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Land-Grant College Act of 1862: Land-Grant College Act of 1862, Act of the U.S. Congress (1862) that provided grants of land to states to finance the establishment of colleges specializing in "agriculture and the mechanic arts." Named for its sponsor, Vermont Congressman Justin Smith Morrill (1810-98), it granted each state

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The Long Walk of the Navajo | Peoples of Mesa Verde

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The forced removal of more than 8,500 Navajos, which began in January 1864 and lasted two months, came to be known as the ‘Long Walk.’

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Inventions: Lightbulb, Telephone, Automobile, and Airplane

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Inventions: Lightbulb, Telephone, Automobile, and Airplane

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Some of the inventions and changes during the late 19th century and early 20th century were never within any stretch of imagination of people at that time. Fecund imaginations and useful knowledge represented the industrial revolution. New scientific and technical knowledge was applied in the industrial sector and the scientist unleashed the practical applications and conjured up tricks that were hidden in science. It can be said that the technological revolution (second industrial revolution) fulfilled the limitations of the first revolution. Before the technological revolution, people used to manufacture things using basic hand tools in their houses. But after that, they shifted to advanced powered machinery, and mass productions. This revolution brought up variety of goods in big volumes and increased the industry's growth to unprecedented levels. Germany and the United States captured the markets and occupied superior ranks in the world economy. By the end of the 19th century, they were challenging Great Britain in the world market for industrial goods.
Significant Inventions During the Technological Revolution
Transportation Revolution
It was one of the significant revolutions that took place during this time. It transformed the way people lived, traveled and worked. Invention of steam engine and internal combustion engine in the 19th century radically modified the transfer of goods and passengers. Adding to it, the advent of automobile and airplanes in the 20th century caused exponential growth in transportation and further revolutionized it.

Automobile: In 1885, Karl Benz's Motorwagen, powered by internal combustion engine was the first automobile that was invented. It was improvised by Henry Ford and with his marketing skills, the automobile was not far from the reach of people. The automobile's effect was huge among the people and everybody started to buy it. Also, the automobile industry contributed significant amount to the country's economic growth.

Transcontinental Railroads: During 1869, transcontinental railroad was built in the United States of America by the Central Pacific Railroad of California and the Union Pacific Railroad. It links the United States from east to west.

Model T Ford: Model T is an automobile built in 1908, by Ford motor company. The car was very popular during those times and it was affordable to middle class people also. The assembly line innovation of the Ford company made the car very popular among Americans.

Airplane: Humankind has always dreamed of taking to the sky with inspirations from Leonardo da Vinci's flying machine and mythical wax wings of Daedalus and Icarus. In 1903, two American brothers, Wilbur and Orville Wright converted the dreams into reality by building the first real flying machine called 'Airplane'. Their attempt zapped the people and the 20th century witnessed the most influential growth in transportation.

Communication Revolution
During the 19th century, a series of technological innovations dramatically altered the way of communication, trade, business and exchanging ideas in the world.

Telephone: In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell, invented a device called Telephone. His experiments with sound, in order to make the deaf communicate, lead to the invention of telephone. Telephone plays an indispensable role in our lives. Even though, cell phones try to replace telephone these days, the revolutionist Alexander Graham Bell of the 19th century was the pioneer and the revolution he made, took the world to an unimaginable phase.

Transatlantic Signal: In 1901, Marconi demonstrated the first transatlantic signal using Morse Code and Wireless Telegraphy. Wireless telegraphy was invented and widely used in ships for communication, by sending and receiving signals. During 1912, Titanic ship sent distress calls for its rescue to the nearby ships using transatlantic signals from the sea. In 1906, the first human voice signal was transmitted through radio transmissions using the airwaves by Marconi.

Phonograph: In 1877, Thomas Alva Edison invented Phonograph. It is a machine in which rotating records cause a stylus to vibrate and the vibrations are amplified acoustically and electronically.
Military Revolution
Gatling Gun: Richard Gatling, an American inventor invented the Gatling Gun in 1862. This was the first automated machine gun. It spawned a new range of automatic weapons that would go on to become one of the most important in several battles, including the American Civil War and the World Wars.

Torpedo: In 1866, Robert Whitehead, an English engineer, produced the first self-propelled underwater missile. Since then, torpedoes haven't deviated much from the original design made by Whitehead.

Steel Revolution
In 1850s, a process called 'Bessemer process' was developed for the production of steel. The key principle of this process is, removal of impurities from iron by oxidation, in a furnace. The process was widely used in industries and the cost of steel decreased to lower numbers. Mostly iron was used to construct buildings, ships and bridges. But after the revolution, manufacturers and constructors moved to steel.

Electric Power Revolution
In 1870, carbon filament lamp was developed by Sir Joseph Swan and Thomas Edison. This bulb is similar to the electric bulb which we use today. These two scientists combined together and formed a joint company called Swan and Edison. This company produced the first electric bulb. Using Faraday's principle, electric motor was constructed in 1870. From then, electric motor was accepted as a driving force in transportation industries. Later in 1888, induction electric motor was invented by Nikola Tesla.

The innovations and inventions of the technological revolution are the contributory factors for the modern life that we live today. The scientists and people who made those revolutions are well-thought-of even now, for their altruistic dispositions and intelligence. The technological revolution has increased the standard of our living and still continues to drive our economy.

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Very Important Inventions of the Second Industrial Revolution

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The radical and profound changes in political structure, economic relations and technical developments can be termed as 'Revolution'. Many machines were devised, and significant advances were made in production sectors during second industrial revolution. Let's know about the inventions that caused the revolution through this article.

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The late nineteenth century saw the rise of "big business" in important areas of economic activity. ("Big" is never defined precisely, but the quantitative term is popularly used to connote something important.) Big business firms were institutions that used management to control economic activity. Big business firms broke themselves into different functions, or "departments," and used managers to coordinate the work of departments, and "middle managers" to coordinate work among departments.

Railroads were the first "big businesses" in the United States. After railroad companies began to operate on tracks that stretched for fifty and more miles, their owners soon realized that they had to divide responsibilities among different managers, with coordination of the various functions of the company--from soliciting business, to operating trains, to maintaining facilities, to financing everything. By the 1850s railroad executives were perfecting systems of managerial control over their ever more complex firms.

After the railroads pioneered the formation of "big business," big businesses appeared in manufacturing and distribution.

Big city department stores were a form of "big business." They combined many different retail operations in one organization, and placed them together in one building. By 1912 department stores were principal features of the downtown districts of every city.

Still other big businesses, mail order firms such as Sears, Roebuck, were by 1912 serving rural areas and small towns.

Thus when Americans shopped in 1912, they were likely to encounter a "big business." In their stores, moreover, they were likely to find products manufactured by "big businesses."

The "big business" form of organization spread rapidly in manufacturing industries after about 1870.

In some lines of manufacturing, there were advantages to have a single organization control raw materials, transportation, fabrication, and distribution. When he sold his steel company in 1901, for example, Andrew Carnegie was the most efficient--and the wealthiest--steel maker in the world. Carnegie steel had control over sources of coal, coke, and iron ore. Carnegie steel exercised control over ships and railroads that brought raw materials to its mills in the Pittsburgh district. Carnegie insisted on his mill remaining the most advanced of their day. Not only did Carnegie Steel manufacture steel, the company also produced finished products like railroad rails and bridge girders. All of these operations were in a single managerial organization. Managers controlled the flow of materials. Carnegie Steel was so efficient that it could undercut all of its competitors and still make large profits.

Meatpacking was another industry that witnessed the rise and perfection of "big business" forms. After 1870, several Chicago meatpackers built huge, complex organizations for purchasing animals, butchering them, and distributing meat to markets all across the nation. Their companies used all of the byproducts of the animals they slaughtered. Skins went into leather goods, hoofs into glue, bones into fertilizer, and fat into soap. One wag commented that the only part of the hog the Chicago packers did not use and sell was the squeal!

By the end of the nineteenth century, Standard Oil, led by John D. Rockefeller, dominated the refining and distribution of petroleum products in the United States, and extended its reach well beyond the nation's borders.

When an entrepreneur like Carnegie was successful in building an efficient organization to control manufacturing processes, he drove competitors out of business. A steel maker either had to compete by mimicking Carnegie's managerial techniques, or go into a niche, or specialized, market that the big steel companies did not enter. In the case of meatpacking, by 1900 thousands of local butchers found themselves squeezed, because they were less efficient than the Chicago packers. Small shopkeepers sometimes faced ruin from large department store competitors. These businesses following older, more traditional practices sometimes fueled popular sentiment to "bust" the trusts.

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The late nineteenth century saw the rise of "big business" in important areas of economic activity. ("Big" is never defined precisely, but the quantitative term is popularly used to connote something important.) Big business firms were institutions that used management to control economic activity.

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Second Industrial Revolution: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqmVtnuslYk&feature=youtu.be&t=188
Inventions: https://historyplex.com/important-inventions-of-second-industrial-revolution
The Rise of Big Business: https://ehistory.osu.edu/exhibitions/1912/trusts/RiseBigBusiness
The Rise of the Labor Movement:
https://journalistsresource.org/studies/economics/inequality/labor-unions-income-pay-inequality-research/

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American Imperialism (The Spanish-American War)

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American Imperialism (The Spanish-American War)

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Between 1880 and 1900, cities in the United States grew at a dramatic rate. Owing most of their population growth to the expansion of industry, U.S. cities grew by about 15 million people in the two decades before 1900. Many of those who helped account for the population growth of cities were immigrants arriving from around the world. A steady stream of people from rural America also migrated to the cities during this period. Between 1880 and 1890, almost 40 percent of the townships in the United States lost population because of migration.

Industrial expansion and population growth radically changed the face of the nation's cities. Noise, traffic jams, slums, air pollution, and sanitation and health problems became commonplace. Mass transit, in the form of trolleys, cable cars, and subways, was built, and skyscrapers began to dominate city skylines. New communities, known as suburbs, began to be built just beyond the city. Commuters, those who lived in the suburbs and traveled in and out of the city for work, began to increase in number.

Many of those who resided in the city lived in rental apartments or tenement housing. Neighborhoods, especially for immigrant populations, were often the center of community life. In the enclave neighborhoods, many immigrant groups attempted to hold onto and practice precious customs and traditions. Even today, many neighborhoods or sections of some of the great cities in the United States reflect those ethnic heritages.

During the final years of the 1800s, industrial cities, with all the problems brought on by rapid population growth and lack of infrastructure to support the growth, occupied a special place in U.S. history. For all the problems, and there were many, the cities promoted a special bond between people and laid the foundation for the multiethnic, multicultural society that we cherish today.

To find additional sources in American Memory on this general topic, use such keywords as city, neighborhood, immigration, industry, urbanization, transportation, suburbs, slums, tenements, and skyscrapers.

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City Life in the Late 19th Century - American Memory Timeline- Classroom Presentation | Teacher Resources - Library of Congress

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Between 1880 and 1900, cities in the United States grew at a dramatic rate. Owing most of their population growth to the expansion of industry, U.S. cities grew by about 15 million people in the two decades before 1900. Many of those who helped account for the population growth of cities were immigrants arriving from around the world.

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Political Corruption and Progressive Government Reform

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Political Corruption and Progressive Government Reform

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The American voting public of the early 1900s was accustomed to the tenet that the best government was the least government. Progressive era politics changed that belief when government corruption became commonplace. Reformers like Teddy Roosevelt in Washington and Governor Hiram Johnson in California responded to an epidemic of political and civic corruption by expanding the role of government in regulating the economy and in giving citizens, for the first time, direct access to the legislative process.

Between 1910 and 1914, under Governor Hiram Johnson's political leadership the California legislature expanded state government first by breaking the economic and political power of the Southern Pacific Railroad (SP). The reform legislature passed the Stetson-Eshelman Act, which increased the state Railroad Commission's authority and power to fix passenger and freight rates; thus ending Southern Pacific Railroad's (SP) crushing monopolistic practices. With the Public Utilities Act and the creation of the Public Utility Commission (PUC), the agency's commissioners had the authority over the railroads as well as all public utilities.

The legislators also halted the political power of SP with the passage of reform mechanisms giving voters direct access to government and the legislative process. The initiative allowed voters to pass legislation; the referendum allowed the public's veto of existing legislation; and the recall permitted the removal of elected officials. The direct primary, the popular election of U.S. senators, and cross-filing for Republican and Democratic candidates changed the control over who got elected from party bosses to the voters. In passing these measures, Governor Johnson and the legislature had achieved the political goal of engaging ordinary citizens in participatory democracy. The systemic power of SP was over, but the government's role in shaping its citizens' quality of life was still growing.

In order to address workers' fears of losing their livelihood through sickness or job-related accidents, the legislature passed the Workmen's Compensation, Insurance, and Safety Act in 1913, which in turn set up an Industrial Accident Commission and State Compensation Insurance Fund. This was ground-breaking work by government, which had only recently been in the business of protecting only business interests. Setting additional precedents, the legislature curtailed child labor, and also set an 8-hour day and minimum wage for female industrial workers.

In the field of education, Hiram Johnson's reform government called for teacher pensions, free textbooks for public school children, the creation of a comprehensive curriculum, and mandatory kindergartens. The kindergarten movement, begun in Germany in the 1830s, found a ready American enthusiasm by women reformers who believed that kindergarten was as important an educational experience as college. By 1878, the first free public kindergarten was established in San Francisco. Enthusiastic financial support led to still more kindergartens, so that by 1894, 235 more of them were set up nationally and globally, based on the California model. Public university education also received the attention of reform initially through the generosity of Phoebe Apperson Hearst, mother of publisher William Randolph Hearst. In the 1890s her financial support of the University of California, Berkeley made possible the construction of the outdoor Greek Theater, a women's gymnasium, a university museum and the Department of Anthropology. The University of California continued its academic growth through the appointment of Benjamin Ide Wheeler, who, over a 19-year period, established twenty new departments.

Neither progressive politicians nor unions helped minority laborers in the nation and in California. Blacks were excluded from union membership. Chinese were excluded from immigrating to the U. S. In 1907 Japan agreed through a Gentlemen's Agreement reached with President Roosevelt not to issue passports to Japanese workers, thus also eliminating Japanese from the American work force. Japanese in California, through the passage of the Alien Land Law, were prohibited from owning land in the state. Women, however, fared better. In addition to legislation improved their working conditions, they also received the right to vote. While Governor Johnson did not openly endorse the Amendment that would grant suffrage, he did help get it on the ballot. It passed by 3,587 votes.

Presidents Roosevelt, Taft, and Wilson all promoted political, economic, social, and moral reforms on the national front. Passage of several acts expanded the Interstate Commerce Commission. Taft created the Department of Labor. Two economic regulatory agencies were created: the Federal Reserve System and the Federal Trade Commission. Four constitutional amendments were also ratified: the 16th introduced a federal income tax, the 17th allowed for the direct election of U.S. Senators. The 18th established prohibition, and the 19th allowed women the right to vote. Such economic and political reforms under the aegis of an expanded government were necessary, the progressives argued, to restore the values of the American dream for all Americans.

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Progressive Era: 1890-1920s: Progressive Political Reform

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The American voting public of the early 1900s was accustomed to the tenet that the best government was the least government. Progressive era politics changed that belief when government corruption became commonplace.

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Women's Rights (Temperance and Suffrage)

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Women's Rights (Temperance and Suffrage)

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American Imperialism: https://youtu.be/SmamZOAAJ0M
Immigration and the Growth of Cities: http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities/presentations/timeline/riseind/city/
Political Corruption and Progressive Government Reform:
http://picturethis.museumca.org/timeline/progressive-era-1890-1920s/progressive-political-reform/info
Women's Rights (Temperance and Suffrage): https://www.aclumaine.org/en/news/celebrate-womens-suffrage-dont-whitewash-movements-racism

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The Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand

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The Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand

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The causes of World War I, also known as the Great War, have been debated since it ended. Officially, Germany shouldered much of the blame for the conflict, which caused four years of unprecedented slaughter. But a series of complicated factors caused the war, including a brutal assassination that propelled Europe into the greatest conflict the continent had ever known.

The murder of Archduke Franz Ferdinand outraged Austria-Hungary.
In June 1914, Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie traveled to Bosnia-which had been annexed by Austria-Hungary-for a state visit.

On June 28, the couple went to the capital city of Sarajevo to inspect imperial troops stationed there. As they headed toward their destination, they narrowly escaped death when Serbian terrorists threw a bomb at their open-topped car.

Their luck ran out later that day, however, when their driver inadvertently drove them past 19-year-old Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip who shot and killed Franz Ferdinand and his wife at point-blank range. Austria-Hungary was furious and, with Germany's support, declared war on Serbia on July 28.

Within days, Germany declared war on Russia-Serbia's ally-and invaded France via Belgium, which then caused Britain to declare war on Germany.

Limited industrial resources fueled imperialist expansion.
A state's desire to expand its empire was nothing new in European history, but by the early 20th century the Industrial Revolution was in full force.

New industrial and manufacturing technologies created the need to dominate new territories and their natural resources, including oil, rubber, coal, iron and other raw materials.

With the British Empire extending to five continents and France controlling many the African colonies, Germany wanted a larger slice of the territorial pie. As countries vied for position, tensions rose, and they formed alliances to position themselves for European dominance.

The rise of nationalism undermined diplomacy.
During the 19th century, rising nationalism swept through Europe. As people took more pride in country and culture, their desire to rid themselves of imperial rule increased. In some cases, however, imperialism fed nationalism as some groups claimed superiority over others.

This widespread nationalism is thought to be a general cause of World War I. For instance, after Germany dominated France in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71, France lost money and land to Germany, which then fueled French nationalism and a desire for revenge.

Nationalism played a specific role in World War I when Archduke Ferdinand and his wife were assassinated by Princip, a member of a Serbian nationalist terrorist group fighting against Austria-Hungary's rule over Bosnia.

Entangled alliances created two competing groups.
In 1879, Germany and Austria-Hungary allied against Russia. In 1882, Italy joined their alliance (The Triple Alliance) and Russia responded in 1894 by allying with France.

In 1907, Great Britain, Russia and France formed the Triple Entente to protect themselves against Germany's growing threat. Soon, Europe was divided into two groups: The Central Powers of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy; and the Allies, which included Russia, France and Britain.

As war was declared, the allied countries emboldened each other to enter the fray and defend their treaties, although not every coalition was set in stone-Italy later changed sides. By the end of August 1914, the so-called "entangled alliances" had caused what should have been a regional conflict to expand to all of Europe's powerful states.

Militarism sparked an arms race.
In the early 1900s, many European countries increased their military might and were ready and willing put it to use. Most of the European powers had a military draft system and were in an arms race, methodically increasing their war chests and fine-tuning their defense strategies.

Between 1910 and 1914, France, Russia, Britain and Germany significantly increased their defense budgets. But Germany was by far the most militaristic country in Europe at the time. By July 1914, it had increased its military budget by a massive 79 percent.

Germany was also in an unofficial war with Britain for naval superiority. They doubled their naval battle fleet as Britain's Royal Navy produced the first Dreadnought battleship which could outgun and outrun any other battleship in existence. Not to be outdone, Germany built its own fleet of Dreadnoughts.

By the start of World War I, the European powers were not just prepared for war, they expected it and some even counted on it to increase their world standing.

Although the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand was the spark that caused Austria-Hungary to strike the first blow, all the European powers quickly fell in line to defend their alliances, preserve or expand their empires and display their military might and patriotism.

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Did Franz Ferdinand's Assassination Cause World War I?

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The causes of World War I, also known as the Great War, have been debated since it ended. Officially, Germany shouldered much of the blame for the conflict, which caused four years of unprecedented slaughter. But a series of complicated factors caused the war, including a brutal assassination that propelled Europe into the greatest conflict the continent had ever known.

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by A. Torrey McLean
Reprinted with permission from Tar Heel Junior Historian, Spring 1993.
Tar Heel Junior Historian Association, NC Museum of History

See also: WWI: Life on the Western Front

One of the saddest facts about World War I is that millions died needlessly because military and civilian leaders were slow to adapt their old-fashioned strategies and tactics to the new weapons of 1914. New technology made war more horrible and more complex than ever before. The United States and other countries felt the effects of the war for years afterwards.

The popular image of World War I is soldiers in muddy trenches and dugouts, living miserably until the next attack. This is basically correct. Technological developments in engineering, metallurgy, chemistry, and optics had produced weapons deadlier than anything known before. The power of defensive weapons made winning the war on the western front all but impossible for either side.

When attacks were ordered, Allied soldiers went "over the top," climbing out of their trenches and crossing no-man's-land to reach enemy trenches. They had to cut through belts of barbed wire before they could use rifles, bayonets, pistols, and hand grenades to capture enemy positions. A victory usually meant they had seized only a few hundred yards of shell-torn earth at a terrible cost in lives. Wounded men often lay helpless in the open until they died. Those lucky enough to be rescued still faced horrible sanitary conditions before they could be taken to proper medical facilities. Between attacks,the snipers, artillery, and poison gas caused misery and death.

Airplanes, products of the new technology, were primarily made of canvas, wood, and wire. At first they were used only to observe enemy troops. As their effectiveness became apparent, both sides shot planes down with artillery from the ground and with rifles, pistols, and machine guns from other planes. In 1916, the Germans armed planes with machine guns that could fire forward without shooting off the fighters' propellers. The Allies soon armed their airplanes the same way, and war in the air became a deadly business. These light, highly maneuverable fighter planes attacked each other in wild air battles called dogfights. Pilots who were shot down often remained trapped in their falling, burning planes, for they had no parachutes. Airmen at the front did not often live long. Germany also used its fleet of huge dirigibles, or zeppelins, and large bomber planes to drop bombs on British and French cities. Britain retaliated by bombing German cities.

Back on the ground, the tank proved to be the answer to stalemate in the trenches. This British invention used American-designed caterpillar tracks to move the armored vehicle equipped with machine guns and sometimes light cannon. Tanks worked effectively on firm, dry ground, in spite of their slow speed, mechanical problems, and vulnerability to artillery. Able to crush barbed wire and cross trenches, tanks moved forward through machine gun fire and often terrified German soldiers with their unstoppable approach.

Chemical warfare first appeared when the Germans used poison gas during a surprise attack in Flanders, Belgium, in 1915. At first, gas was just released from large cylinders and carried by the wind into nearby enemy lines. Later, phosgene and other gases were loaded into artillery shells and shot into enemy trenches. The Germans used this weapon the most, realizing that enemy soldiers wearing gas masks did not fight as well. All sides used gas frequently by 1918. Its use was a frightening development that caused its victims a great deal of suffering, if not death.

Both sides used a variety of big guns on the western front, ranging from huge naval guns mounted on railroad cars to short-range trench mortars. The result was a war in which soldiers near the front were seldom safe from artillery bombardment. The Germans used super-long-range artillery to shell Paris from almost eighty miles away. Artillery shell blasts created vast, cratered, moonlike landscapes where beautiful fields and woods had once stood.

Perhaps the most significant technological advance during World War I was the improvement of the machine gun, a weapon originally developed by an American, Hiram Maxim. The Germans recognized its military potential and had large numbers ready to use in 1914. They also developed air-cooled machine guns for airplanes and improved those used on the ground, making them lighter and easier to move. The weapon's full potential was demonstrated on the Somme battlefield in July 1916 when German machine guns killed or wounded almost 60,000 British soldiers in only one day.

At sea, submarines attacked ships far from port. In order to locate and sink German U-boats, British scientists developed underwater listening devices and underwater explosives called depth charges. Warships became faster and more powerful than ever before and used newly invented radios to communicate effectively. The British naval blockade of Germany, which was made possible by developments in naval technology, brought a total war to civilians. The blockade caused a famine that finally brought about the collapse of Germany and its allies in late 1918. Starvation and malnutrition continued to take the lives of German adults and children for years after the war.

The firing stopped on November 11, 1918, but modern war technology had changed the course of civilization. Millions had been killed, gassed, maimed, or starved. Famine and disease continued to rage through central Europe, taking countless lives. Because of rapid technological advances in every area, the nature of warfare had changed forever, affecting soldiers, airmen, sailors, and civilians alike.
A. Torrey McLean, a former United States Army officer who served in Vietnam, studied World War I for more than thirty years, personally interviewing a number of World War I veterans.

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by A. Torrey McLean Reprinted with permission from Tar Heel Junior Historian, Spring 1993. Tar Heel Junior Historian Association, NC Museum of History See also: WWI: Life on the Western Front One of the saddest facts about World War I is that millions died needlessly because military and civilian leaders were slow to adapt their old-fashioned strategies and tactics to the new weapons of 1914.

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How Peace Was Established at the End of WW1?

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How Peace Was Established at the End of WW1?

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The Fourteen Points

In a speech to Congress in January 1918, Wilson laid out his idealistic vision for the world after World War I, which was at the time sometimes referred to as "the war to end all wars."

In addition to specific territorial settlements based on an Allied victory, Wilson's so-called Fourteen Points emphasized the need for national self-determination for Europe's different ethnic populations.

Wilson also proposed the founding of a "general association of nations" that would mediate international disputes and foster cooperation between different nations in the hopes of preventing war on such a large scale in the future. This organization eventually became known as the League of Nations.

When German leaders signed the armistice ending hostilities in World War I on November 11, 1918, they believed Wilson's vision would form the basis for any future peace treaty. This would not prove to be the case.

Paris Peace Conference

The Paris Peace Conference opened on January 18, 1919, a date that was significant in that it marked the anniversary of the coronation of German Emperor Wilhelm I, which took place in the Palace of Versailles at the end of the Franco-Prussian War in 1871.

Prussian victory in that conflict had resulted in Germany's unification and its seizure of Alsace and Lorraine provinces from France. In 1919, France and its prime minister, Georges Clemenceau, had not forgotten the humiliating loss and intended to avenge it in the new peace agreement.

Treaty of Versailles Terms

The " Big Four" leaders of the victorious Western nations-Wilson of the United States, David Lloyd George of Great Britain, Georges Clemenceau of France and, to a lesser extent, Vittorio Orlando of Italy-dominated the peace negotiations in Paris. Germany and the other defeated powers-Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey-were not represented at the Paris Peace Conference. Also absent was Russia, which had fought as one of the Allied powers until 1917, when, following the Russian Revolution, the country's new Bolshevik government concluded a separate peace with Germany and withdrew from the conflict.

The Big Four themselves had competing objectives in Paris: Clemenceau's main goal was to protect France from yet another attack by Germany. He sought heavy reparations from Germany as a way of limiting German economic recovery after the war and minimizing this possibility.

Lloyd George, on the other hand, saw the rebuilding of Germany as a priority in order to reestablish the nation as a strong trading partner for Great Britain. For his part, Orlando wanted to expand Italy's influence and shape it into a major power that could hold its own alongside the other great nations.

Wilson opposed Italian territorial demands, as well as previously existing arrangements regarding territory between the other Allies; instead, he wanted to create a new world order along the lines of his Fourteen Points. The other leaders saw Wilson as too naive and idealistic, and his principles were difficult to translate into policy.

In the end, the European Allies imposed harsh peace terms on Germany, forcing the nation to surrender around 10 percent of its territory and all of its overseas possessions. Other key provisions of the Treaty of Versailles called for the demilitarization and occupation of the Rhineland, limited Germany's army and navy, forbade it to maintain an air force, and required it to conduct war crimes trials against Kaiser Wilhelm II and other leaders for their aggression.

Most importantly, Article 231 of the treaty, better known as the " war guilt clause," forced Germany to accept full responsibility for starting World War I and pay enormous reparations for Allied war losses.

How Did the Treaty of Versailles Lead to World War II?

The Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28, 1919, exactly five years after the Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife in Sarajevo, sparking the outbreak of the war. Though the treaty included a covenant creating the League of Nations, an international organization aimed at preserving peace, the harsh terms imposed on Germany helped ensure that peace would not last for long.

Germans were furious about the treaty, seeing it as a diktat, or dictated peace; they bitterly resented the sole blame of war being placed at their feet. The nation's burden of reparations eventually topped 132 billion gold Reichsmarks, the equivalent of some $33 billion, a sum so great that no one expected Germany to be able to pay in full; in fact, economists like John Maynard Keynes predicted the European economy would collapse if it did.

Keynes was not the only prominent critic of the Treaty of Versailles: The French military leader Ferdinand Foch refused to attend the signing ceremony, as he thought the treaty didn't do enough to secure against a future German threat, while the U.S. Congress failed to ratify the Treaty of Versailles, and later concluded a separate peace with Germany. The United States would never join the short-lived League of Nations.

November Criminals

In the years following the Treaty of Versailles, many ordinary Germans believed they had been betrayed by the "November Criminals," those leaders who signed the treaty and formed the post-war government.

Radical right-wing political forces-especially the National Socialist Workers' Party, or the Nazis-would gain support in the 1920s and '30s by promising to reverse the humiliation of the Versailles Treaty.

With the onset of the Great Depression after 1929, economic unrest destabilized the already vulnerable Weimar Republic government in Germany, setting the stage for Nazi leader Adolf Hitler's fateful rise to power in 1933.

Sources

The Paris Peace Conference and the Treaty of Versailles. U.S. Department of State: Office of the Historian.
"The Treaty of Versailles: An Uneasy Peace," WBUR.org (excerpt from Michael Neiberg, The Treaty of Versailles: A Concise History), August 13, 2017.
Treaty of Versailles. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
The Treaty of Versailles, 1919. Chateau de Versailles.

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Treaty of Versailles: Definition, Terms, Dates & WWI - HISTORY

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The Treaty of Versailles was signed in 1919 and set harsh terms for Germany's surrender to Allied powers after World War I, setting the stage for World War II.

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National Constitution Center - The 18th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution

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Section 1

After one year from the ratification of this article the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States and all territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes is hereby prohibited.

Keep Reading

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The 18th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution

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After one year from the ratification of this article the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States and all territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes is hereby prohibited. Keep Reading

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Black Tuesday/ Stock Market Crash of 1929

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Black Tuesday/ Stock Market Crash of 1929

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What Is Black Tuesday?

Black Tuesday was Oct. 29, 1929, and it was marked by a sharp fall in the stock market, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) especially hard hit in high trading volume. The DJIA fell 12%, one of the largest one-day drops in stock market history. More than 16 million shares were traded in the panic sell-off, which effectively ended the Roaring Twenties and led the global economy into the Great Depression.

Understanding Black Tuesday

Black Tuesday signaled the end of a period of post-World War I economic expansion and the beginning of the Great Depression, which lasted until the beginning of World War II.

The United States emerged from World War I as a major economic power, but the country's focus was on developing its own industry rather than international cooperation. High tariffs were imposed on many imported products to protect nascent industries such as cars and steel. Agricultural prices fell as European production returned after being shut down during the war, and tariffs were imposed to try to protect American farmers as well. However, their incomes and the value of their farms fell, and migration to the industrialized cities accelerated.

The boom years of the so-called Roaring Twenties were fueled by optimism that the world had fought the war to end all wars, and good times had arrived permanently. Between 1921 and the crash in 1929, stock prices went up nearly 10 times as ordinary individuals bought stock, often for the first time.﻿﻿ This was fueled by lending by brokers that at times reached two-thirds of the stock price, with the purchased stock serving as collateral. Income inequality also rose. It is estimated that the top 1% of America's population held 19.6% of its wealth.﻿﻿

The 1929 Crash

By the middle of 1929, the economy was showing signs of slowing, led by declines in purchases of houses and cars as consumers were burdened with debt. Steel production weakened.

Protectionism

A few years earlier, European production of agricultural goods began to recover following World War I, which meant American farmers would lose that market to sell their goods. As a result, the U.S. Congress passed a series of bills designed to help American farmers by increasing tariffs (or prices) on imports, including agricultural products. At the same time, news from Europe indicated an excellent harvest, which meant an increased supply and overproduction, pushing commodity prices lower and rattling the markets.

The U.S. Congress stepped in again and passed the Smoot-Hawley tariff act, which not only increased tariffs on agricultural goods but on goods in other sectors as well. Many other countries had also adopted protectionist policies. The impact on global trade was devastating. International trade had decreased by 66% from 1929 to 1934.﻿﻿

In August, the Federal Reserve Bank allowed its New York regional board to raise its discount rate.﻿﻿ The monetary policy move caused central banks around the world to follow suit. The London stock market dropped sharply on Sept. 20 when top investor Clarence Hatry was jailed for fraud. Markets gyrated for the next month.

All of these factors eventually caused the stock market to crash. On Black Thursday, Oct. 24, the market fell 11% at the open. Heads of the major American banks devised a plan to support the market by buying large chunks of stock, and the market closed down just 6 points. But by Black Monday, the 28th, panic and margin calls spread. The market fell 13% and a further 12% on Black Tuesday in record-setting volume.﻿﻿ Efforts led by the financiers and industrialists to support prices could not stem the tide of selling. The market lost $30 billion of value in those two days.

The market hit a 20th-century low of 41.22 on July 8, 1932, which was a fall of 89% from its high of 381.17 on Sept. 3, 1929.﻿﻿ Economic growth, as measured by Gross Domestic Product (GDP), shrank by more than 36% from 1929 to 1933. The unemployment rate in the United States surged to over 25% as workers were laid off after they had been hired during the boom years.﻿﻿

It was only after President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected that the economy showed signs of taking a turn towards the better. Among his achievements is stopping the Smoot-Hawley tariffs and establishing the Reciprocal Trade Agreement Act in 1934. Still, a new high wasn't reached until Nov. 23, 1954.

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What Is Black Tuesday? Definition, History, and Impact

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Black Tuesday was Oct. 29, 1929, and it was marked by a sharp fall in the stock market, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) especially hard hit in high trading volume. The DJIA fell 12%, one of the largest one-day drops in stock market history.

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Business Cycle/ Cause of the Great Depression

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Business Cycle/ Cause of the Great Depression

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📽 The Great Depression Documentary | What Caused It?

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Table of Contents

What was the purpose of the New Deal?

What were the New Deal programs and what did they do?

What were the most important results of the New Deal?

What New Deal programs remain in effect?

New Deal, domestic program of the administration of U.S. Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) between 1933 and 1939, which took action to bring about immediate economic relief as well as reforms in industry, agriculture, finance, waterpower, labour, and housing, vastly increasing the scope of the federal government's activities. The term was taken from Roosevelt's speech accepting the Democratic nomination for the presidency on July 2, 1932. Reacting to the ineffectiveness of the administration of Pres. Herbert Hoover in meeting the ravages of the Great Depression, American voters the following November overwhelmingly voted in favour of the Democratic promise of a "new deal" for the "forgotten man." Opposed to the traditional American political philosophy of laissez-faire, the New Deal generally embraced the concept of a government-regulated economy aimed at achieving a balance between conflicting economic interests.

The Hundred Days

Much of the New Deal legislation was enacted within the first three months of Roosevelt's presidency (March 9-June 16, 1933), which became known as the Hundred Days. The new administration's first objective was to alleviate the suffering of the nation's huge number of unemployed workers. Such agencies as the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) were established to dispense emergency and short-term governmental aid and to provide temporary jobs, employment on construction projects, and youth work in the national forests. The WPA gave some 8.5 million people jobs. Its construction projects produced more than 650,000 miles of roads, 125,000 public buildings, 75,000 bridges, and 8,000 parks. Also under its aegis were the Federal Art Project, Federal Writers' Project, and Federal Theatre Project. The CCC provided national conservation work primarily for young unmarried men. Projects included planting trees, building flood barriers, fighting forest fires, and maintaining forest roads and trails.

Before 1935 the New Deal focused on revitalizing the country's stricken business and agricultural communities. To revive industrial activity, the National Recovery Administration (NRA) was granted authority to help shape industrial codes governing trade practices, wages, hours, child labour, and collective bargaining. The New Deal also tried to regulate the nation's financial hierarchy in order to avoid a repetition of the stock market crash of 1929 and the massive bank failures that followed. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) granted government insurance for bank deposits in member banks of the Federal Reserve System, and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was established in 1934 to restore investor confidence in the stock market by ending the misleading sales practices and stock manipulations that had led to the stock market crash. The farm program, known as the Agricultural Adjustment Act, was signed in May 1933. It was centred in the Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA), which attempted to raise prices by controlling the production of staple crops through cash subsidies to farmers. In addition, the arm of the federal government reached into the area of electric power, establishing in 1933 the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), which was to cover a seven-state area and supply cheap electricity, prevent floods, improve navigation, and produce nitrates.

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New Deal | Definition, History, Programs, Summary, & Facts

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New Deal, domestic program of the administration of U.S. Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) between 1933 and 1939, which took action to bring about immediate economic relief as well as reforms in industry, agriculture, finance, waterpower, labour, and housing, vastly increasing the scope of the federal government's activities.

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The Rise of Totalitarianism in Europe in the 1930s

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The Rise of Totalitarianism in Europe in the 1930s

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Examining the rise of Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin.
Edited by Matthew A. McIntosh / 10.08.2018
Historian
Brewminate Editor-in-Chief

The Weimar Republic
The rebellion, November 1918 / German Federal Archives, Wikimedia Commons
Following the complete collapse of Germany's armed forces throughout the waning months of 1918, German generals and politicians desperately sought to surrender. The Allied Powers, however, would not negotiate with the autocratic Kaiser Wilhelm II, and insisted upon Germany to adopt a democratic government. In this disarray, Germany quickly fell along the slippery slope to revolution, appearing as though it might go the same direction as Russia - Marxist. After Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated the throne on November 7, a new republic was declared, and a National Assembly convened at Weimar to circumvent the unrest in Berlin. The hastily-formed republican government took its name from the host city and surrendered. The Allied Powers, in turn, forced upon the defeated nation extremely harsh and punitive terms through the Treaty of Versailles. Clause 231 of the treaty, the so-called "war-guilt" clause, called for Germany to accept total and sole blame for the Great War (while, arguably, they merely joined) and to pay reparations to the "victimized" Allied Powers. Finally, it was established that Germany was to disband its air force permanently, and to have no more than 100,000 men in its armed forces. The Rhineland, along the Franco-German border, was demilitarized and put under French jurisdiction. The extremely valuable Saar region, home to most of Germany's factories, was made autonomous.

These harsh restrictions gave the fledgling Weimar Republic unwarranted disrespect. Many Germans had opposed the treaty, and it created large amounts of resentment within Germany. (Retrospectively, the Treaty of Versailles is seen as one of the most fundamental causes of the rise of Adolf Hitler and World War II.) The newfound lack of industry compounded the reparations Germany was forced to pay. To assuage its monetary woes, The Weimar Republic began to print paper money at exorbitant rates - rates so high, that, by 1923, the American Dollar was worth 4.2 trillion German Marks. Amidst the chaos of disappearing life savings and a tumultuous economy, Gustav Stresemann came to the forefront of Weimar politik. Under his leadership, the Weimar Republic managed to regain marked stability in the period of 1923-1929. Peoples discontent about the weimar government increased day by day. Hyperinflation was corrected, but Stresemann's death in 1929 and the catastrophic worldwide Great Depression the same year brought about the death of the Weimar Republic. This untimely fall led to the empowerment of a man who would vault Germany to an unprecedented world power, who would pursue the elimination of "undesirables" such as Jews and homosexuals, who would begin the second world war of the 20th Century. Hitler, who had been subverting many of his countrymen during the economically tumultuous 1920s, took advantage of the Weimar Republic's fall.

The Rise of Adolf Hitler
Hitler poses for the camera, photos by Heinrich Hoffmann, 1930 / German Federal Archives, Wikimedia Commons
In August 1914, as the world took the fatal plunge into World War I, an unknown and unimportant young Austrian national named Adolf Hitler enlisted in the German Army. Born on April 20, 1889 into a troubled and strict Austrian family, Hitler was a failed artist and an ardent German nationalist (Austrians are ethnically German and indistinguishable from their cousins). His anti-semitic views already in place from his early life as a vagrant (he dropped out of high school and was refused admission to a Vienna art school), Hitler was eager to serve his adopted homeland. He had an exemplary record of service and received the prestigious Iron Cross, both First and Second Class, and also achieved the undistinguished rank of Corporal. Shocked and deeply angered by the German defeat in 1918, he personally put the sole blame on the so-called "November politicians" (referring to those who formed the Weimar Republic). He also put blame on the Jews for the downfall of Germany.

After the war, Hitler remained in the army and after receiving intelligence and oratory training, became an intelligence official tasked with infiltrating political parties and reporting to his superiors on their activities. In March 1919, he was instructed to sit in on a meeting of the small nationalist German Worker's Party. He joined the party in September, and upon his discharge from the army in 1920, soon became the leader of the party which changed its name to the German National Socialist Worker's Party (NSDAP or Nazi for short, from its German name Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei). Over the next few years, Hitler's oratorical skills allowed the party to expand. It soon had its own private armed forces, known as the SA led by Ernst Rohm. Another important admirer was Erich Lundendorff, a Field Marshall from the First World War, whose help proved invaluable in setting up the Beer Hall Putsch.
The Beer Hall Putsch and Mein Kampf The Marienplatz in Munich during the Beer Hall Putsch / German Federal Archives, Wikimedia Commons
On November 8, 1923, Adolf Hitler and a group of SA raided a beer hall in Munich where the three most powerful politicians in Bavaria were giving speeches. Taking the men hostage, Hitler threatened them with death (and his own suicide) if they did not side with his intention to overturn Bavaria's government and then to march on Berlin. The men agreed (with little other choice). Hitler then made the colossal error of leaving the hall. He left Marshall Lundendorff in command, who upon the assurances of the three politicians that they only wished to return home to their families and would continue to support Hitler, allowed them to leave the hall. The men quickly denounced Hitler and mobilized the government's resistance to his "revolution". Adolf Hitler was enraged. He decided to march his SA the next morning against the Bavarian government. However, army regulars were already at the War Ministry when Hitler arrived and the rebellion was quickly scattered. Hitler was arrested and tried. He spoke so forcefully at his trial however, that the head judge had to harass the other two judges into even convicting him at all. He received a five year sentence. The abortive coup Hitler tried to carry out is referred to as the Beer Hall Putsch.

In prison, Hitler dictated the book Mein Kampf (My Struggle) to his close friend and confidant, Rudolf Hess. The book was a savage "hymn of hate" denouncing Jews as "parasites" and laying down the foundation for the plan of military conquest Hitler would later attempt. It was all painfully clear: the rearmament of Germany, the invasion of Poland, the invasion of the Soviet Union; Hitler had written down for anyone who wished to read it his plan of action. Unfortunately, few non-Germans read the book, but all too many Germans did. Hitler was released after spending only eight months of his sentence, mostly because the authorities thought he was harmless. He found the Nazi party virtually moribund. In 1925, he formed the Schutzstaffel (SS) to be his personal body guard under the leadership of Heinrich Himmler.
The Nazi Regime Foreground, left to right: Führer Adolf Hitler; Hermann Göring; Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels; and Rudolf Hess / National Archives and Records Administration, Wikimedia Commons
Through the use of propaganda, Hitler became immensely popular among the German people. To end the depressions, Hitler followed a program of massive public works, including the infamous Autobahn, dams, roads, railroads, and civil improvements. His official announcement of rearmament in 1936 (although it had actually begun much earlier) stimulated the economy further, as it would in the United States during the Second World War. Culture evolved along a strict set of party rules. Men were the heads of work and home; a woman's place was as a cleaner and a mother. The Nazis encouraged large families to literally create men to serve in the army. The Nazis, through their policy of racism, wanted superiority in every sphere of life. When the Olympic Games came to Berlin in 1936, the Germans showed off their athletes in huge stadiums built for the purpose.

Adolf Hitler practiced a policy of racial superiority of the Germans, whom he called Aryans, and people were sorted by the correct ethnic "purity". The ideal was the tall, blond, blue-eyed, muscular, and handsome Nordic youth (ironically, Hitler had brown hair). Hitler's regime followed a totalitarian policy; the SS and the secret police, the Gestapo, ruthlessly enforced loyalty to Hitler and rounded up the Nazi's enemies. In 1934, when the army had demanded as the price of its support the dissolution of the SA, Hitler had Ernst Rohm assassinated. Heinrich Himmler became the chief of secret police activities and the mastermind behind the terror. In 1935, the Nazis enacted the Nuremberg Laws, which placed extreme restrictions of Jews and their freedoms as human beings. The economic lives of the Jews were smashed. At this stage however, Hitler was not actively killing Jews but deporting them. The Nazis operated concentration camps at this time to deal primarily with political prisoners.

The propaganda machine of the Nazis was similar to that of Stalin in the USSR. However, the Nazis, under propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels, used their propaganda to acquire not only acquiescence to Hitler's schemes, but also to convince the Germans of their policy of racial purity and antisemitism. Goebbels saw to it that, like in the Soviet Union, a picture of the Führer appeared in every building and home, and in many public places. Posters were one of the favorites of the Nazis. They also used the theater extensively to bring in support for the party's goals.
Mussolini and the Quadrumviri during the March on Rome in 1922: from left to right: Michele Bianchi, Emilio De Bono, Italo Balbo, and Cesare Maria De Vecchi / Wikimedia Commons
Benito Mussolini, born into a poor blacksmith's family, was so named by his radically socialist father (his mother was a devout Catholic schoolteacher) after the executioner of a Mexican emperor. Shortly after becoming qualified as a teacher, Mussolini taught in a small school. Mussolini was a far-left socialist and advocated a violent revolution to overthrow the parliamentary monarchy within Italy and denounced nationalism. When World War I broke out in 1914, however, he broke with his party comrades when he celebrated the entry of his nation into the war - even though he had dodged the draft. Throughout the Great War, he fought earnestly to keep Italy involved, and, financed by large arms manufacturers and the British and French governments, operated a small, pro-war newspaper. When the war came to an end in 1919, Mussolini was quick to recognize the dissatisfaction of many of the homebound soldiers and countrymen concerning the Treaty of Versailles. In an effort to persuade Italy to enter the war on their side, the Allied Powers promised Italy significant territorial gains at the expense of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The final settlement, however, was less favorable to Italian interests than that originally promised, and resulted in widespread malcontent regarding the post-war government.

In March of 1919, Mussolini created a radically nationalist and anti-communist party - Fasci Italiani di Combattimento. Mussolini, who loved the splendor and extravagance of Ancient Rome, adopted a Roman symbol of authority, the fascio (an axe wrapped in whipping rods) for his group of devotees. As inflation and economic decline spread throughout Europe and Italy following the war, factory workers began to go on strikes in northern Italy. In 1920, Mussolini's group's numbers were bolstered by ex-soldiers willing to break up these strikes. Mussolini marched 50,000 Fascist supporters (known as Blackshirts for their attire) in squads against the strikers and left-wing newspapers. The Blackshirts garnered their support from the financial contributions of industrialists and large landowners, who shared their anti-communist sentiments, but also believed that they could control the excesses of the Fascist party. The police often refused to stop the squads, allowing the Blackshirts freedom to inflict whatever damage they wished.

The widespread destabilization of the previous social orders throughout Europe due to economic uncertainty in the aftermath of the war and the successful establishment of the Soviet Union as a socialist state led many to believe that democracy was weak and ineffectual, while monarchy was discredited as an oppressive and unresponsive system. A command economy was thought to be a progressive and scientific method of social organization. Fascism incorporated the futuristic and populist elements of Communist ideology, but also identified itself strongly with the nationalism that had created the modern European nation-states in the late 19th Century.

Despite growing popularity and the introduction of proportional representation in the Parliament, Mussolini's party faired poorly at the polls, winning no seats in 1920 and only 35 in May 1921 (7% of the vote). The internal political situation however, swung in Mussolini's favor. The birth of the Communist Party of Italy, openly allied with Lenin's Soviet regime in Moscow, polarized Italian politics. Proportional representation caused stagnation in government, until a weak coalition finally came into place in February 1922. In October of that year, as Mussolini was giving one of his soon-to-be characteristic speeches from atop a balcony, he suddenly cried, "To Rome! To Rome!" The crowd of supporters, much to Mussolini's surprise, echoed his cry. Blackshirts to the number of 40,000 organized to march on the capital. Mussolini, however, went into hiding, afraid of the impending collapse of his movement. When it became clear that the army would not oppose his action, however, Mussolini moved decisively. As Blackshirts began to occupy key posts in Rome on 27-28 October, the king, Victor Emmanuel III, to the chagrin of his elected cabinet, appointed Mussolini as Prime Minister so long as Mussolini halted the advance to Rome. Mussolini agreed. His word was not to be trusted, however, as he soon after marched on the city anyway, creating an incredible propaganda success for the Fascists. Over the next few years, he led a slow-motion coup d'etat. By 1926, he had become the undisputed totalitarian dictator ("Il Duce," or "the leader") of Italy.

Mussolini's regime embarked on a campaign of militarization and political maneuvering. First, he began to ready Italy for war. One of Mussolini's driving ambitions was to restore the hegemony of the Roman Empire in a modern Italy. To that end, he encouraged couples to have as many children as possible as he organized large-scale expansions of the agricultural sector to feed them. He extended an olive branch to the Catholic Church by way of the Lateran Accords, which recognized papal authority over the Vatican and declared Catholicism the official religion of all of Italy, ending hundreds of years of estrangement. Mussolini seemed to have been a victim of his own propaganda as, in 1935, he deemed his newly-formed army strong enough to invade Ethiopia. The Italian army invaded from Italian-held Eritrea. The underestimation of the enemy proved fatal for thousands of ill-prepared Italians as the army met face-to-face with the "Lion of the Desert," Omar Mukhtar (whose death by hanging at the hands of the Italians ended his twenty-year resistance). The poorly-armed Ethiopians were eventually defeated primarily due to terror tactics, such as poison gas and terror bombings. Mussolini's sense of superiority did not seem hurt by his army's poor preparation, as, over the next few years, he became a close ally of Hitler's. In 1939, Mussolini signed the "Pact of Steel," creating a formal alliance between Italy and Nazi Germany. Mussolini, while publically effervescent, did not have the universal power and control enjoyed by Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin, a lack of gravitas which would later cost him his life. Nevertheless, Mussolini rode at the helm of the 20th century dictatorship, invented the terms Fascism and Totalitarianism, and pioneered the use of propaganda to control the masses in newspapers, posters, radio, and in movie cinemas.

Introduction
Joseph Stalin in an authorised image taken in 1937 and used for state publicity purposes / Wikimedia Commons
When Vladimir Lenin died in 1924, he left a power vacuum behind in the wake of his death, centering on the continued use of the New Economic Policy (NEP). The primary contenders for political power were Joseph Stalin and Leon Trotsky. Leon Trotsky was a brilliant politician, and had been Commissar of War during the Civil War. He was a gifted orator and a dedicated Communist, especially to the cause of causing Marxist revolutions internationally, through the use of arms if need be. Ironically, Trotsky had originally been a member of the Menshevik faction of the Russian Social Workers Party, until Lenin, recognizing his genius, had won him over to the Bolshevik camp. Stalin, on the other hand, was a gifted organizer. He was referred to by many of his contemporaries in the party as "Comrade Index-card". However, Trotsky was obviously the more popular choice for the job as the head of the new communist state. Unfortunately for Trotsky, Stalin was also the party's General Secretary. Although primarily a bureaucratic job, the General Secretary actually held the most power in the party because he appointed regional and local party posts in government. Stalin was therefore in a position to appoint those who would support his bid for power.

Stalin initially allied himself with the right and center factions of the Communist Party (if any part of a far-left party may be called "right") which supported the continued existence of the NEP. Allying himself with Lev Kamenev and Grigori Zinoviev, he threw his might against Trotsky, who was removed from his post as People's Commissar of War. Stalin now turned against Kamenev and Zinoviev, allying himself with Nicolai Bukharin. Trotsky was expelled from the Communist Party on November 12, 1927, and expelled from the Soviet Union in 1928. He eventually found his way to Mexico, where he was murdered in 1940, probably on Stalin's orders. Now Stalin turned on his allies again, abandoning Bukharin and calling for the abandonment of the NEP. By now, Stalin was the undisputed leading figure of the Communist Party. By the early 1930s, Stalin would truly become the dictator of the Soviet Union.

The First Five-Year Plan and Collectivization
Propaganda stand dedicated to the first five-year plan in Moscow. 1931 colour photo by Branson DeCou / Wikimedia Commons
At the Fifteenth Congress of the Communist Party, Stalin openly advocated the end of the NEP and introduced a plan for rapidly industrializing the largely rural Soviet Union, remarking that the country was "fifty to one hundred years behind the advanced countries". The government then introduced Gosplan (The State General Planning Commission) which came up with basis for the Five-Year Plan, aimed to turn the country into a major industrial power within five years. The plan set ridiculously high quotas for development. Nonetheless, terrific economic growth was achieved, especially in the areas of coal and iron output. As a result, steel production grew exponentially. However, harsh penalties for not making quotas caused large-scale misrepresentation of growth to occur. Harsh totalitarian measures were introduced. Miners were expected to put in 16 and 18 hour work days, unheard of even the strictest parts of the major capitalist countries. Poor and hazardous working conditions caused countless deaths. Most of the massive industrial complexes constructed for the Five-Year Plan were built by slave-laborers, sentenced for trivial and often completely false crimes. Approximately 3.7 million people were sentenced for counter-revolutionary crimes, approximately 0.6 million were put to death, 0.7 million were expatriated, and 2.7 million were sent to forced labor camps (called the Gulag), often itself a death sentence.

As another part of the Five-Year Plan, the government began to forcibly collectivize agriculture (that is, to create large-scale farms where peasants worked the land collectively). The state sought not only an increase in agricultural output, but also to export grain abroad, in order to gain financial capital to buy important technologies for the industrial parts of the Five-Year Plan. By 1936, 90% of the nation's farms had been collectivized. However, this was not done without cost. Peasants almost universally actively opposed collectivization. In the Ukraine, the peasants killed off livestock rather than give it to the authorities. Stalin was so incensed that he allowed a famine to occur which led to the deaths of millions of innocent Ukrainians. As a result, throughout the period of 1924-1953, agricultural output was generally low, not regaining output levels of the period of the NEP until 1940, and rising only marginally in the following years. In addition, Stalin saw fit to deal with richer peasant farmers (known as Kulaks) by deporting them to forced labor in Siberia. In practice however, any person critical of collectivization was deemed a Kulak and summarily deported. It is estimated that at least 2.5 million peasants (in addition to the above industrial workers) were deported, though the true number is believed to be much greater.

The Great Purges and Politics in the Soviet Union
The Great Purge or Great Terror: People of Vinnytsia looking for their relatives among exhumed bodies / Ukrainian American Youth Commission, Wikimedia Commons
Throughout the period of collectivization and the Five-Year Plan, the Soviet government became increasingly tyrannical. Stalin, was extremely paranoid, began to turn on important members of the party he had once called supporters. In 1934, the last person who might have rivaled Stalin, Sergei Kirov, was shot in his office, most likely on Stalin's orders. Using the murder as a pretext, he began to engage in ruthless purges of the party membership. Ironically, most of the purged members were original members of the party and colleagues of Lenin, known as the Old Bolsheviks. Through a series of show trials, the defendants were sentenced to death and to forced labor in the Gulag. Often, after using torture to extract signed confessions and agreeing on lenient sentences for a confession of false charges in the court, Stalin would turn on his word and have the defendants executed. Zinoviev and Kamenev, Stalin's old allies, both met this fate. Through 1936-1937, a period known as the Great Terror, Stalin supposedly personally signed 40,000 death warrants.

Stalin's dictatorship held incredible control over the general populace of the nation. Intense propaganda campaigns tried to indoctrinate the society with Communist thought. Stalin wanted to replace the national identities, such as the Russians, Ukrainians, or Belarussians, with the idea of a purely "Soviet" citizen. He also stipulated that all ethnic groups be treated equally. Under the Tsars, the Russians had been given preference. Now the heavy hand of Stalin was given equally to all nations. However, this did not prevent him from forcing the speakers of every language in the USSR to convert to the Cyrillic alphabet. Religion came under intense pressure as well, as atheism was the official policy of the state. Priests were rounded up and shipped to Gulag or executed. By the end of the terror, less than 1,000 churches remained out of at least 20,000. The NKVD, the Soviet secret police, hunted down citizens suspected of "counter-revolutionary" or "subversive" crimes. During the Great Terror, as many as 1 million people (the NKVD's own records admit 0.681 million) were executed for simply "opposing" Stalin's ideas and plans. False confessions were routinely extracted through torture and intimidation. The penalty for countless others (numbering by the most conservative estimates in the millions) was the Gulag. Fear was the order of the day in the Soviet Union. In addition, the Soviet state cultivated an extreme cult of personality around Stalin. Pictures of the dictator appeared at every street corner and in every building, including people's homes. School children ended the pledge of allegiance at the beginning of each day by saying "...and thank Comrade Stalin for this happy life". To be fair, social conditions did improve under Stalin. Unemployment fell to practically zero, and large bounds in the public health were introduced. However, there was no freedom whatsoever in Soviet society.
Franco in Reus, 1940 / Wikimedia Commons
Francisco Franco rose to power after the brutal turmoil of the Spanish Civil War. The conflict was between the residing leftist republican parties and the nationalist movement led by Franco. Some view the Spanish Civil War as a "dress rehearsal for World War II". The Struggle of dictatorship and democracy is evident in this conflict.
Originally published by Wikibooks under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license.
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Dictatorship and Totalitarianism in World War II

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Examining the rise of Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin. Edited by Matthew A. McIntosh / 10.08.2018 Historian Brewminate Editor-in-Chief The rebellion, November 1918 / German Federal Archives, Wikimedia Commons Following the complete collapse of Germany's armed forces throughout the waning months of 1918, German generals and politicians desperately sought to surrender.

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December 7, 1941: A Day That Will Live in Infamy
America's isolation from war ended on December 7, 1941, when Japan staged a surprise attack on American military installations in the Pacific. The most devastating strike came at Pearl Harbor, the Hawaiian naval base where much of the US Pacific Fleet was moored. In a two-hour attack, Japanese warplanes sank or damaged 18 warships and destroyed 164 aircraft. Over 2,400 servicemen and civilians lost their lives.
America's Reaction
"No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory."
-- President Franklin D. Roosevelt, December 8, 1941

Though stunned by the events of December 7, Americans were also resolute. On December 8, President Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war against Japan. The declaration passed with just one dissenting vote. Three days later, Germany and Italy, allied with Japan, declared war on the United States. America was now drawn into a global war. It had allies in this fight--most importantly Great Britain and the Soviet Union. But the job the nation faced in December 1941 was formidable.

Joining the Military

The United States faced a mammoth job in December 1941. Ill-equipped and wounded, the nation was at war with three formidable adversaries. It had to prepare to fight on two distant and very different fronts, Europe and the Pacific.

America needed to quickly raise, train, and outfit a vast military force. At the same time, it had to find a way to provide material aid to its hard-pressed allies in Great Britain and the Soviet Union.

Meeting these challenges would require massive government spending, conversion of existing industries to wartime production, construction of huge new factories, changes in consumption, and restrictions on many aspects of American life. Government, industry, and labor would need to cooperate. Contributions from all Americans, young and old, men and women, would be necessary to build up what President Roosevelt called the "Arsenal of Democracy."

In the months after Pearl Harbor, the nation swiftly mobilized its human and material resources for war. The opportunities and sacrifices of wartime would change America in profound, and sometimes unexpected, ways.
Recruitment
The primary task facing America in 1941 was raising and training a credible military force. Concern over the threat of war had spurred President Roosevelt and Congress to approve the nation's first peacetime military draft in September 1940. By December 1941 America's military had grown to nearly 2.2 million soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines.

America's armed forces consisted largely of "citizen soldiers",men and women drawn from civilian life. They came from every state in the nation and all economic and social strata. Many were volunteers, but the majority,roughly 10 million,entered the military through the draft. Most draftees were assigned to the army. The other services attracted enough volunteers at first, but eventually their ranks also included draftees.
Barracks Life
Upon their arrival at the training camps, inductees were stripped of the freedom and individuality they had enjoyed as civilians. They had to adapt to an entirely new way of living, one that involved routine inspections and strict military conduct, as well as rigorous physical and combat training. They were given identical haircuts, uniforms, and equipment, and were assigned to spartan barracks that afforded no privacy and little room for personal possessions.
The Draft
By late 1942 all men aged 18 to 64 were required to register for the draft, though in practice the system concentrated on men under 38. Eventually 36 million men registered. Individuals were selected from this manpower pool for examination by one of over 6,000 local draft boards. These boards, comprised of citizens from individual communities, determined if a man was fit to enter the military. They considered factors like the importance of a man's occupation to the war effort, his health, and his family situation. Many men volunteered rather than wait to be drafted. That way, they could choose their branch of service.

Potential servicemen reported to military induction centers to undergo physical and psychiatric examinations. If a man passed these exams, he was fingerprinted and asked which type of service he preferred, though his assignment would be based on the military's needs. After signing his induction papers, he was issued a serial number. The final step was the administration of the oath. He was now in the military. After a short furlough, he reported to a reception center before being shipped to a training camp. New recruits faced more medical examinations, inoculations, and aptitude tests.
Training
The training camp was the forge in which civilians began to become military men and women. In the training camps new servicemen and women underwent rigorous physical conditioning. They were drilled in the basic elements of military life and trained to work as part of a team. They learned to operate and maintain weapons. They took tests to determine their talents and were taught more specialized skills. Paratroopers, antiaircraft teams, desert troops, and other unique units received additional instruction at special training centers.

The Home Front

"I need not repeat the figures. The facts speak for themselves.... These men could not have been armed and equipped as they are had it not been for the miracle of production here at home. The production which has flowed from the country to all the battlefronts of the world has been due to the efforts of American business, American labor, and American farmers, working together as a patriotic team."
--President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Navy Day speech, October 27, 1944

Raising an armed force was just part of America's war effort. That force had to be supplied with the uniforms, guns, tanks, ships, warplanes, and other weapons and equipment needed to fight. With its vast human and material resources, the United States had the potential to supply both itself and its allies. But first the American economy had to be converted to war production.

The war production effort brought immense changes to American life. As millions of men and women entered the service and production boomed, unemployment virtually disappeared. The need for labor opened up new opportunities for women and African Americans and other minorities. Millions of Americans left home to take jobs in war plants that sprang up around the nation. Economic output skyrocketed.

The war effort on the "Home Front" required sacrifices and cooperation. "Don't you know there's a war on?" was a common expression. Rationing became part of everyday life. Americans learned to conserve vital resources. They lived with price controls, dealt with shortages of everything from nylons to housing, and volunteered for jobs ranging from air raid warden to Red Cross worker.

Rationing and Recycling

"Food for Victory"
To conserve and produce more food, a "Food for Victory" campaign was launched. Eating leftovers became a patriotic duty and civilians were urged to grow their own vegetables and fruits. Millions of "Victory gardens," planted and maintained by ordinary citizens, appeared in backyards, vacant lots, and public parks. They produced over 1 billion tons of food. Americans canned food at home and consulted "Victory cookbooks" for recipes and tips to make the most of rationed goods.

"Make It Do or Do Without"
War production created shortages of critical supplies. To overcome these shortages, war planners searched for substitutes. One key metal in limited supply was copper. It was used in many war-related products, including assault wire. The military needed millions of miles of this wire to communicate on battlefields.

To satisfy the military's demands, copper substitutes had to be found to use in products less important to the nation's defense. The US Mint helped solve the copper shortage. During 1943 it made pennies out of steel. The Mint also conserved nickel, another important metal, by removing it from 5-cent coins. Substitutions like these helped win the production battle.

"Do With Less, So They'll Have More"
The military needed more than guns and ammunition to do its job. It had to be fed. The Army's standard K ration included chocolate bars, which were produced in huge numbers. Cocoa production was increased to make this possible.

Sugar was another ingredient in chocolate. It was also used in chewing gum, another part of the K ration. Sugar cane was needed to produce gunpowder, dynamite, and other chemical products.

To satisfy the military's needs, sugar was rationed to civilians. The government also rationed other foods, including meat and coffee. Local rationing boards issued coupons to consumers that entitled them to a limited supply of rationed items.

"Save Waste Fat for Explosives"
Ammunition for rifles, artillery, mortars, and other weapons was one of the most important manufacturing priorities of World War II. A key ingredient needed to make the explosives in much ammunition was glycerine.

To help produce more ammunition, Americans were encouraged to save household waste fat, which was used to make glycerine. Other household goods,including rags, paper, silk, and string,were also recycled. This was a home front project that all Americans could join.

Salvage for Victory

Canteens are a standard part of military equipment. Millions were produced during the war. Most were made of steel or aluminum, metals which were also used to make everything from ammunition to ships. At times, both metals were in short supply.

To meet America's metal needs, scrap was salvaged from basements, backyards, and attics. Old cars, bed frames, radiators, pots, and pipes were just some of the items gathered at metal "scrap drives" around the nation. Americans also collected rubber, tin, nylon, and paper at salvage drives.

"Share Your Cars and Spare Your Tires"
America's military needed millions of tires for jeeps, trucks, and other vehicles. Tires required rubber. Rubber was also used to produce tanks and planes. But when Japan invaded Southeast Asia, the United States was cut off from one of its chief sources of this critical raw product.

America overcame its rubber shortage in several ways. Speed limits and gas rationing forced people to limit their driving. This reduced wear and tear on tires. A synthetic rubber industry was created. The public also carpooled and contributed rubber scrap for recycling.

Dollars for Defense
To help pay for the war, the government increased corporate and personal income taxes. The federal income tax entered the lives of many Americans. In 1939 fewer than 8 million people filed individual income tax returns. In 1945 nearly 50 million filed. The withholding system of payroll deductions was another wartime development. The government also borrowed money by selling "war bonds" to the public. With consumer goods in short supply, Americans put much of their money into bonds and savings accounts.

Mobilizing the Economy

America's economy performed astonishing feats during World War II. Manufacturers retooled their plants to produce war goods. But this alone was not enough. Soon huge new factories, built with government and private funds, appeared around the nation. Millions of new jobs were created and millions of Americans moved to new communities to fill them. Annual economic production, as measured by the Gross National Product (GNP), more than doubled, rising from $99.7 billion in 1940 to nearly $212 billion in 1945.

Production Miracles In industry after industry Americans performed production miracles. One story helps capture the scale of the defense effort. In 1940 President Roosevelt shocked Congress when he proposed building 50,000 aircraft a year. In 1944 the nation made almost double that number. Ford's massive Willow Run bomber factory alone produced nearly one plane an hour by March 1944.

To achieve increases like this, defense spending jumped from $1.5 billion in 1940 to $81.5 billion in 1945. By 1944 America led the world in arms production, making more than enough to fill its military needs. At the same time, the United States was providing its allies in Great Britain and the Soviet Union with critically needed supplies.

Civilian Defense
Many Americans volunteered to defend the nation from enemy bombing or invasion. They trained in first aid, aircraft spotting, bomb removal, and fire fighting. Air raid wardens led practice drills, including blackouts. By mid-1942 over 10 million Americans were civil defense volunteers.

Though America's mainland was never invaded, there were dangers offshore. Several Japanese submarines were spotted near the Pacific coast, and German U-boats patrolled the Atlantic coast, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean Sea. At least 10 US naval vessels were sunk or damaged by U-boats operating in American waters.

A Workforce Changed by War: Unemployment Disappears
The war virtually ended unemployment in America. The need for workers led manufacturers to hire women, teenagers, the aged, and minorities previously excluded by discrimination from sectors of the economy. Plentiful overtime work contributed to rising wages and increased savings.

Military and economic expansion created labor shortages. To fill the gap, government and industry encouraged women to enter the workforce. Though most working women continued to labor in more traditional employment like waitressing and teaching, millions took better-paid jobs in defense factories.

African Americans and other minorities also took high-paying industrial jobs previously reserved for whites. In 1941, black labor leader A. Philip Randolph threatened to organize a protest march on Washington, D.C. if the government didn't bar racial discrimination in defense plants with government contracts. Faced with this threat, President Roosevelt banned such discrimination and created the Fair Employment Practices Commission (FEPC) to investigate bias charges.

Millions of women, including many mothers, entered the industrial workforce during the war. They found jobs in especially large numbers in the shipbuilding and aircraft industries. "Rosie the Riveter" became a popular symbol of patriotic womanhood. Though defense jobs paid far more than traditional "female" occupations, women were still often paid less than men performing comparable work. Moreover, at war's end, women were expected to leave the factories to make way for returning male veterans.

Higgins Boats

Higgins Industries designed and built two basic classes of military craft.

The first was landing craft, constructed of wood and steel and used to transport fully armed troops, light tanks, field artillery, and other mechanized equipment and supplies to shore. These boats helped make the amphibious landings of World War II possible.

Higgins also designed and manufactured supply vessels and specialized patrol craft, including high-speed PT boats, antisubmarine boats, and dispatch boats.

LCVP (Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personnel)
The LCVP was the most famous landing craft designed and produced by Higgins Industries. It could land soldiers, and even jeeps, on a beach. LCVPs were used in North Africa, Europe, and the Pacific during the war.

From the Eureka...
The LCVP (Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personnel), the best-known landing craft designed by Andrew Higgins, evolved from a boat he created before the war for use in the swamps and marshes of Louisiana. Trappers and oil companies needed a rugged, shallow-bottomed craft that could navigate these waters, run aground, and retract itself without damaging its hull. Higgins developed a boat that could perform all these tasks: a spoonbill-bowed craft he called the Eureka. Over time he modified and improved his craft and found markets for it in the United States and abroad.

...to the LCP(L)
During the 1930s Higgins tried to interest the U.S. Navy in adapting his shallow-draft Eureka for use as an amphibious landing craft. The navy showed little interest, but Higgins persisted. After a long struggle, he finally secured a government contract to build modified Eurekas for military use. The new boat was called the LCP (Landing Craft, Personnel) and, later, the LCP(L) (Landing Craft, Personnel, Large). In its most advanced form the LCP(L) measured 36 feet in length. It could transport men from ships offshore directly onto a beach, then retract itself, turn, and head back to sea.

The LCVP (Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personnel) was developed because the U.S. Marines needed a boat capable of transporting vehicles to shore. Higgins adapted the LCP(L) to meet this requirement. He replaced the LCP(L)'s rounded bow with a retractable ramp. The new craft was tested for the first time on May 26, 1941, on Lake Pontchartrain. It carried a truck and 36 Higgins employees safely to shore. The LCVP became the military's standard vehicle and personnel landing craft. Thousands were in service during the war.

New Orleans" Home of the Higgins Boats
"If Higgins had not designed and built those LCVPs, we never could have landed over an open beach. The whole strategy of the war would have been different."
--General Dwight D. Eisenhower

The city of New Orleans made a unique and crucial contribution to America's war effort. This was the home of Higgins Industries, a small boat company owned by a flamboyant entrepreneur named Andrew Jackson Higgins. The story of Higgins' role in the war is little known today, but his contribution to the Allied victory was immeasurable.

World War II presented Allied war planners with a tactical dilemma--how to make large amphibious landings of armies against defended coasts. For America this was a particularly thorny problem, since its armed forces had to mount amphibious invasions at sites ranging from Pacific atolls to North Africa to the coast of France.

Higgins' contribution was to design and mass-produce boats that could ferry soldiers, jeeps, and even tanks from a ship at sea directly onto beaches. Such craft gave Allied planners greater flexibility. They no longer needed to attack heavily defended ports before landing an assault force. Higgins' boats were used in every major American amphibious operation of World War II. His achievements earned him many accolades. The greatest came from General Dwight D. Eisenhower, who called Higgins "the man who won the war for us."

From the Bayou to the Battlefront
Before World War II Andrew Higgins operated a small boatyard, building workboats designed to operate in the shallow waters of Louisiana's bayous. During the 1920s and 1930s America's military began exploring ways to make amphibious landings. Higgins became involved in this effort, adapting designs for shallow-draft boats he had developed for peacetime uses. His company created amphibious assault craft capable of shuttling men and equipment quickly and safely from ship to shore. When the war came, business boomed. Higgins built new factories with mass production lines and employed thousands of workers. He even opened a training school for boat operators.

New Orleans Naval Giant During World War II Higgins Industries grew from a small business operating a single boatyard into the largest private employer in Louisiana. The company turned out astounding numbers of boats and ships. In September 1943 the US Navy had 14,072 vessels. Of these, 8,865 had been designed and built by Higgins Industries.

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Take A Closer Look: America Goes to War | The National WWII Museum | New Orleans

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America's isolation from war ended on December 7, 1941, when Japan staged a surprise attack on American military installations in the Pacific.

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The Assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand
https://www.history.com/news/did-franz-ferdinands-assassination-cause-world-war-i
2. Technology of WWI (Include trench warfare)
https://www.ncpedia.org/wwi-technology-and-weapons-war
3. America’s role in WWI (Entering the war/fighting in France)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMtNrWfiSMY
4. How was peace established at the end of World War I?
https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-i/treaty-of-versailles-1
5. The Rise of the Automobile
https://economic-boom-gneubs.weebly.com/rise-of-automobiles.html

6. The 18th Amendment (Reasons for it and why it was repealed)
https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/amendments/amendment-xviii

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1. Black Tuesday/Stock Market Crash of 1929
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/blacktuesday.asp
2. Business Cycle/Causes of the Great Depression
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0SW3BgwL14&feature=youtu.be
3. President Roosevelt’s New Deal/Plan for Ending the Great Depression
https://www.britannica.com/event/New-Deal
4. The Dust Bowl
http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/dustbowl/
5. The Rise of Totalitarianism in Europe in the 1930s
https://brewminate.com/dictatorship-and-totalitarianism-in-world-war-ii/
6. America’s Involvement in WWII (Pearl Harbor, D-Day, Ending the War with Japan)
https://www.nationalww2museum.org/students-teachers/student-resources/research-starters/america-goes-war-take-closer-look