Slide 1 · Interaction of Europe & the World
New Imperialism & the Scramble for Africa
Driven by economic competition, nationalist prestige, and "civilizing mission" justifications rooted in Social Darwinism, European powers carved up Africa at the Berlin Conference and expanded their empires across Asia, provoking widespread resistance.
Slide 2 · Interaction of Europe & the World
The Alliance System & the Causes of World War I
Militarism, the rigid Triple Alliance and Triple Entente, nationalism, and imperial rivalry created a powder keg that exploded when Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in Sarajevo in 1914.
Slide 3 · States & Other Institutions of Power
Trench Warfare, Total War & the Russian Revolution
Trench warfare on the Western Front produced a bloody stalemate, while "total war" mobilized entire economies and societies. The strain of war on Russia's home front helped trigger the Russian Revolution of 1917.
Slide 4 · Aftermath of World War I
The Treaty of Versailles & the Collapse of Empires
The 1919 Treaty of Versailles assigned Germany war guilt and crushing reparations and created the League of Nations, while World War I brought down the Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman, Russian, and German empires.
Slide 5 · Economic & Commercial Developments
Interwar Crisis & the Rise of Totalitarianism
German hyperinflation and the Great Depression destabilized fragile democracies, creating fertile ground for Mussolini's fascism in Italy, Hitler's Nazism in Germany, and Stalin's brutal totalitarian rule in the USSR.
Slide 6 · Causes of World War II
Appeasement & the Failure to Stop Hitler
Britain and France's policy of appeasement — conceding to Hitler's territorial demands at events like the 1938 Munich Conference — failed to contain Nazi aggression and emboldened further expansion.
Slide 7 · Social Organization & Development
Blitzkrieg, the Holocaust & the Eastern Front
Germany's Blitzkrieg tactics rapidly conquered territory, while the Nazi regime carried out the systematic genocide of the Holocaust, and the brutal Eastern Front against the Soviet Union became the war's most destructive theater.
Slide 8 · Aftermath of World War II
D-Day, the Atomic Bombs & a Divided World
The Allied invasion at D-Day opened a second front in Western Europe, and the U.S. atomic bombings ended the war in the Pacific. The aftermath divided Germany and Europe, began decolonization, and founded the United Nations.