Milestones of the Past Century: OUTLINE: A Changing Global Landscape 1950-Present:- Recovering from the War, Communism Chinese-Style, East vs. West: A Global Divide and a Cold War , Toward Freedom: Struggles for Independence, The End of the Communist Era.

Milestones of the Past Century: A Changing Global Landscape 1950-Present Recovering from the War ● Even tho europe repeatedly screwing themselves over, they hadn’t collapsed, then they recover ed ○ Industrial society resilient ○ Integrating economics w/ each other ○ The u.s. Apparently ● European Economic Community - An alliance formed in 1957 by six West European countries dedicated to developing common trade policies and reduced tariffs; it gradually developed into the larger European Union. ○ The euro ● Marshall Plan - Huge U.S. government initiative to aid in the post–World War II recovery of Western Europe that was put into effect in 1948. ○ Motivations ● Genuine humanitarian concern ● Prevent another depression ● Quite european communist parties ● Parallel process happened in japan ○ Economic giant on world stage ○ Depend on u.s. Military security ● Societ union recovery ○ Stalin - no one can disagree w/ me (1945-53) ○ 3-4 million labor force - provided cheap labor Communism Chinese-Style ● China recovering from civil wars and japanese imperialism ● Return to position of prominence on the global stage ● Differed from russia's experience ○ Russians alone : china had russian allies ○ China has experience ○ Chinese communists firmly rooted ○ Chinese population bigger, industry smaller, less farmland available ● Chinese communists had to build modern society from the ground up Building a Modern Society chinese communists had good relationships with peasants and farmers ● Great Leap Forward - Communist push for collectivization that created “people’s communes” and aimed to mobilize China’s population for rapid development. ● China’s industrialization modeled after early soviet experience ○ Emphasis on