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U52 - Coggle Diagram

- - - - After the Civil War, American industry grew quickly/dramatically:
        
        Machines replaced hand labour as the main means of manufacturing, thus increasing the production capacity of industry.
        
        A new nationwide network of railroads enabled businessmen to distribute goods far and wide, promoting
        (1) the rise of big business, (2) the expansion to the west, and (3) the industrialization of both South & West.
        
        A significant urbanization, as thousands of people moved from farms to cities in search of job opportunities in factories, where they were assigned specific tasks in a production process.
        
        A new distribution of the social classes:
        
        A small percentage of high social class, namely the industrial capitalists, who accumulated significant wealth & power;
        
        A larger percentage of middle class, namely the skilled workers in technical or professional occupations, who lived comfortably;
        
        A huge number of people from the working class/low social class, who lived in extreme poverty (marked by significant disparities in income, working conditions & living standards).
        
        In fact the American Civil War has been called the first industrial war, and the period between 1861-1914 is regarded as the great era of national prosperity in America ("the Gilded Age") and by the turn of the century (1900), the US was the richest and most productive industrial country in the world.
  - - - In mid 19th c., with the discovery of gold in California, the news of the discovery quickly spread, leading to a massive migration/influx of people from the East and all around the world to the California gold mines in order to make themselves rich. Thanks to the network of railways (which now joined the Mississippi river to the Pacific lands), thousands of people were able to cross the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains, and move into San Francisco, which rapidly grew into a major city.
        
        The expansion of the West accelerated when the Congress passed the Homestead Act (1862) by means of which public land was offered to people at very low cost, provided they improved the land by settling there & cultivating crops. This act encouraged westward expansion as it allowed many people, including immigrants from all around the world, to acquire land, establish homes & start farms in the West /the American frontier. This also meant the end of native Indians since new settlers occupied their land and slaughtered indiscriminately buffalo herds, their main way of survival
        
        Yet, immigration reached its highest point btw late 19th & early 20th c., when millions of immigrants came from Italy, Poland, Russia, Ireland, Germany & Eastern Europe attracted by the prospect of economic prosperity and political & religious freedom. This movement is known as the Melting Pot of America due to the ethnic diversity that resulted from their cultural assimilation & integration.
  - - - During the early 1900s, as a result of the Industrial Revolution, the situation of the working classes was miserable. Many Americans became progressists and began to believe that government should take action to improve the living conditions by addressing social & political issues. By the 1920s they had achieved most of their aims, and this period came to be known as the Progressive Era.
        
        Social reforms:
        
        Poverty
        
        Child labour
        
        Unsafe working conditions
        
        Worker's rights
        
        Regulating big business
        
        Political reforms:
        
        A more transparent gov.
        
        More citizen participation in politics
        
        Putting an end to corruption
        
        The women's suffrage
  - - - Explosion of the USS Maine in Havana Harbor
        
        Spain lost Cuba, Puerto Rico & the Philippines
        
        involverment in the Mexican Revolution
        
        In 1895, the people of Cuba rose/rebelled against the Spanish colonial rule, so there was a hard repression. Many Americans wanted to remain away from international affairs, while other demanded for intervention. The explosion (for unknown reasons) of the USS Maine, an American battleship, in Havana Harbor in 1898 initiated the Spanish-American War, as the USA put the blame on Spain. Thus, they had an excuse to start a war which did not last much and, as a result, Spain not only lost the war but also the remains of its overseas empire (Cuba, Puerto Rico & the Philippines) to the US.
        
        The Mexican Revolution was also affected by US intervention, supporting different factions at different times based on its economic & political interests.
      - (1898)
    - - Economic & strategic interests, Political & military intervention
        
        the Monroe doctrine: an "act of aggression"/"America for the Americans"
        
        the Roosevelt Corollary: the right to intervene
        
        the Panama Canal: de-facto US territory
        
        The US government justified its own political interests in the Caribbean to the imperial interests of European powers. Due to its proximity & the availability of valuable resources such as sugar, tobacco, and minerals, the Caribbean region was of economic interest to the US. Its geographical location made it also strategically important in terms of maintaining naval bases for military power & control of sea routes. American businesses sought to invest in and trade with Caribbean countries and the government sometimes intervened politically & militarily to protect American economic interests.
        
        Since 1823, the Monroe Doctrine (by James Monroe) served as the basis for US interventions, as any efforts by European nations to colonise territories or interfere in the Americas were thus considered an act of aggression. It declared that the Western Hemisphere was off-limits/free from European colonization and intervention ("America for the Americans"). But in 1904, the Roosevelt Corollary (by Theodore Roosevelt) stated their right to intervene militarily in Latin American & Caribbean countries to maintain stability and protect American interests (as in the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Honduras, Mexico and Cuba), so as to prevent European influence.
        
        Under T. Roosevelt's presidency, another effort to maintain control over key areas was the US occupation & involvement in the construction of the Panama Canal, which connected the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The US supported Panama’s independence from Colombia by deploying warships to deter Colombian forces from suppressing the rebellion. Shortly after Panama’s independence, the US was granted control over the Panama Canal Zone in exchange for financial compensation. This heavily favored the US & it functioned as de facto US territory.
- - - - the Emancipation Proclamation
        
        the 13th Amendment: abolition of slavery & citizenship of former slaves
        
        The Emancipation proclamation (1863), by Abraham Lincoln, was supposed to free all slaves who were in territory under Confederate control at the time of the Proclamation. Yet, although this did not occur until the passage of the 13th Amendment in 1865 (which abolished the institution of slavery for good in all the US), the Proclamation changed the war's character/nature by making the abolition of slavery a central goal.
      - (1863, 1865)
    - - (1865-1877)
      - Turbulent & controversial: progress & setbacks
        
        Reconstruction Acts, new ~ goverments. & the Ku Klux Klan
        
        From 1865 to 1877, it was a complex, turbulent & controversial era characterized by both progress & setbacks in the North's efforts to rebuild the US, reintegrate the Southern states into the Union, and address the social, political & economic challenges brought about by the abolition of slavery and the aftermath of the war.
        
        A more aggressive approach to this process was adopted with the Reconstruction Acts (1867-68), by which Southern governments were dismissed and new ones were formed which included African American citizens with equal voting rights, known as the Reconstruction governments.
        
        White Southerners hated reconstruction because it challenged their system and they began to create terrorist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), a violent, secret organization of white supremacists who wanted to sabotage the civil rights of newly freed African Americans.
    - - Speech: Gettysburg Address
        
        Re-election
        
        Assassination: John Wilkes at Ford Theatre, Washington
        
        After the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863, in a speech known as the Gettysburg Address, President Lincoln said that the North was fighting the war to keep the Union together so that 'the government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth’, where he presented a generous reconstruction policy.
        
        In 1864, Lincoln was re-elected, due to the significant progress & imminent victory by the Union forces. In his planning for peace, the President was flexible & generous with the South in his efforts to bring them back into the Union, seeking reconciliation & unity. He wanted to heal the nation's wounds and ensure that the Southern states could rejoin the Union as smoothly as possible.
        
        However, in 1865 Lincoln's life was tragically cut short when he was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth (an actor who somehow thought he was helping the South), while attending a play at Ford's Theatre in Washington. His assassination was a shocking and devastating event, especially considering the hopeful prospects for peace and re-union that he had been working toward.
      - (1863-64-65)
  - - - This was a period of great prosperity & growing nationalism (a strong sense of national identity & pride), made possible by a remarkable increase in population due to the influx/arrival of immigrants attracted by the prospect of land, economic prosperity & freedom.
        
        As a result, there is a continuous westward expansion, closely connected with the question of slavery. More and more states entered the Union, soon outnumbering the 13 original colonies, but whose main difference was whether they were "free states" or "slave states". Southern states defended slavery (they depended on cheap agricultural labour for their cotton, tobacco & sugar plantations), but most northerners opposed it for moral and religious reasons (in fact, the Independence War (1775-1783) had been fought to validate the idea that all men are created equal). This balance of power and the question of slavery (or not) was the central issue leading up to the Civil War, causing problems every time a new state wanted to join the Union.
  - - - Abraham Lincoln's election
        
        South Carolina, the Confederacy & Fort Sumter
        
        The presidential election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860 (from the Republican Party) took place in an atmosphere of great tension and was not received in the same way in the North and South, as it was seen as a threat to the institution of slavery, which put the Southerners’ interests at risk.
        
        In December 1860, South Carolina became the 1st southern state to withdraw/secede from the Union, declaring itself an independent nation/government, and soon, 6 more states followed. These seceding states formed the Confederate States of America and adopted their own constitution, which explicitly protected slavery.
        
        The situation escalated when the Confederate forces demanded that Union troops evacuate Fort Sumter, a federal military installation in South Carolina. In April 1861, they fired upon the Federal troops stationed at Fort Sumter until the troops surrendered, initiating the first shots of the American Civil War. In response, Lincoln issued a call to arms for 75,000 volunteers to suppress the rebellion, which led additional southern states to secede and join the Confederacy.
      - (1860 & 1861)
    - - First Battle of the Bull Run, Battle of Antietam, Batlle of Gettysburg, Siege of Vicksburg
        
        Surrender at Appomatox Court House
        
        Industrial superiority, Network of railways & Outnumbered in states & population
        
        the First Battle of Bull Run (the 1st major engagement & a Confederate victory),
        
        the Battle of Antietam (the bloodiest single day in American military history & a Union victory),
        
        the Battle of Gettysburg (the turning point of the war, as it halted Robert E. Lee’s invasion of the North), and
        
        the Siege of Vicksburg (the capture of Vicksburg by General Ulysses S. Grant granted their control of the Mississippi River, hampering the South’s ability to supply and reinforce its armies).
        
        Peace was restored in 1865 when the South, who was severely weakened and lacked food, ammunition, and the ability to reinforce, surrendered to the North. Lee surrendered his Army to Grant’s Union Army at Appomattox Court House, where the two generals agreed to meet.
      - Battles & comparison: a series of battles & campaigns ensued:
    - - Total war: wearing down resources & armies
        
        Defensive tactics & guerrila warfare: keeping the cause alive
        
        As commander of the Union armies, General Ulysses S. Grant launched a series of coordinated campaigns aimed at wearing down the Confederacy's resources and armies. On the other hand, General Robert E. Lee managed to keep the Confederate cause alive for much of the war despite being outnumbered and facing resource limitations. Both sides employed different strategies, with the Union pursuing a policy of "total war" (willing to fight relentlessly) and the Confederacy often relying on defensive tactics.
        
        The North had a strong industrial economy (industrial superiority), with facilities for manufacturing arms, ammunition, clothing and other supplies; a network of railways in the North used for military advantage; possession of the US merchant marine fleet & naval ships; an established government; and their economy was self-sufficient, whereas the South depended on the exportation of raw material to Europe. Also, they outnumbered the South in states & population, (23 states & 22m vs 11 states & 9m).
- - - - (1914-1918)
      - 1914: Diplomatic conflict btw UK & Germany > neutral
        
        1917: Entered the war: Germany's unrestricted submarine warfare on Atlantic shipping
        
        Military superiority: American Expeditionary Force
        
        Key role in post-war negotiations: the Paris Peace Conference & Wilson's Fourteen Points
        
        League of Nations: to prevent future conflict through diplomacy & cooperation > the UN
        
        Treaty of Versailles: the seed of WWII
        
        The Great War between Germany and Great Britain brought a period of diplomatic conflict between the US and Germany since it was an outgrowth of European territorial problems and nationalism. The great majority of Americans were firmly neutral, determined to avoid intervention unless American rights & interests were violated.
        
        Yet, in April 6, 1917 the US was finally drawn into the war against Germany and its allies due to Germany's unrestricted submarine warfare on Atlantic shipping (German military leaders announced that they would attack all merchant shipping on the waters around the British Isles indiscriminately). Hence, the US contribution was decisive in the outcome because of its military superiority. It provided Britain with the ships to overcome the submarine threat and also, with the American Expeditionary Force to France in 1918, whose military power inclined the balance on the western front and helped to end the war in November 1918.
        
        WWI ended on November 11, 1918, with the signing of the Armistice. The US played a key role in post-war negotiations. The Paris Peace Conference was dominated by president Wilson’s principles, the "Fourteen Points", offering a vision/framework for a more just & peaceful world order after the devastation of WWI. The last point was the creation of the League of Nations (a precursor of the United Nations) in order to prevent future conflicts/wars through diplomacy and cooperation. The US was also influential in the writing of the Treaty of Versailles, which formally ended the war in 1919. However, the hard conditions imposed on Germany, the only country made responsible for the war, triggered a nationalistic movement in Germany which was the seed of WWII.
  - - - (1920s,1929-1939)
      - Rise of Mass law-breaking & Organized crime
        
        Volstead Act: manufacture, sale or transport
        
        1929 Stock Market Crass: speculation & colapse
        
        Great Depression: Failed banks, businesses & factories, 25% Unemployment, Dust Bowl, Gov. intervention, Global crisis, WWII ended it
        
        The 1920s saw the rise of mass law-breaking & organized crime. Thus, several acts were passed, such as the Volstead Act (the Prohibition Amendment, 1920), which prohibited the manufacture, sale or transportation of alcoholic liquors /beverages. However, gangsters took advantage of this and controlled the business so successfully that they became the real rulers of many cities. Al Capone became the most famous gangster of the era, controlling Chicago’s illegal alcohol trade Yet, the end of this prohibition was due to the 1929 Stock Market Crash and the turn of the decade saw the Great Depression which was an unparalleled/unmatched economic disaster in the history of the US.
        
        The Roaring Twenties Boom: Before the crash, stock prices soared because of speculation, meaning investors were buying stocks with borrowed money, assuming prices would always rise. When prices started falling, people panicked and sold their stocks. This chain reaction lead to a massive economic collapse. But while the crash was a major factor, other issues like overproduction, income inequality, and weak banking systems.
        
        Bank failures: Thousands of banks collapsed, wiping out people’s life savings. There was no federal deposit insurance at the time, so customers lost everything.
        
        25% Unemployment: At its worst, 1 in 4 Americans was unemployed. Many people lost their homes and ended up in marginal towns.
        
        The Dust Bowl: A series of severe droughts and dust storms devastated the Great Plains, making the economic situation even worse for farmers. Many left their homes and moved west to states like California in search of work.
        
        Goverment involvement: The crisis led to a shift in American politics, with the government taking a more active role in regulating the economy and providing social safety nets.
        
        Global recession: It wasn’t just an American problem—it led to economic crises worldwide, fueling political instability and contributing to the rise of fascist leaders like Adolf Hitler in Germany.
        
        WWII ended the Depression: While the New Deal helped, the real economic recovery came with WWII, when war production created millions of jobs.
        
        In the 1930s, all social classes were affected by this crash. Many wealthy & middle-class people lost their life savings, businesses closed their doors, factories shut down & banks failed. Millions of workers lost their jobs in the cities and large numbers of farmers were forced to abandon their farms. 13 million Americans were unemployed (the 25%). Many people lost faith in capitalism and the American Dream, as hard work no longer guaranteed success. Suicide rates increased, and birth rates declined as families couldn’t afford children. The family structure changed, with women often taking on work traditionally held by men. The Great Depression's core problem was the immense disparity btw the country's productive capacity & its citizens' purchasing capacity (the ability of people to consume). Hence, they were producing more than they could sell.
    - - New Deal: Relieve the unemployed, Recover business/agriculte & Reform the economy
        
        Wagner Act: workers' Labor Union rights
        
        Social Security Act: for retirement, unemployment & disabled
        
        In 1932, the Democratic Party candidate Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected president, but in the months before his election the depression had worsened (factory closings, farm foreclosures, bank failures, & soaring unemployment), facing the greatest crisis in American history since the Civil War. His leadership was crucial in addressing the crisis, as he undertook immediate action through a series of programs, policies & reforms known as the New Deal, to immediately (1) relieve the unemployed, (2) recover business & agriculture, and (3) reform the economy's long-term infrastructure (the three R's).
        
        Relief: immediate relief measures to provide jobs, food
        & financial assistance to those in need (the unemployed).
        
        Recovery programs aimed at business & agriculture.
        
        Reform: reform the underlying system to avoid repeating an economic disaster like this ever again.
        
        Wagner Act (National Labor Relations Act) , to prevent employers from firing workers if they joined a labor union (protecting workers' rights to form labor unions). Thus, it strengthened labor rights by guaranteeing workers the right to unionize and collectively bargain.
        
        Social Security Act, created a Social Security system, which provided a social safety net: (1) A pension system for retirees (funded by payroll taxes). (2) Unemployment insurance for those who lost their jobs, and (3) Aid for disabled individuals and dependent children.
      - (presidency: 1933-1945)
  - - - (1939-1945)
      - 1939: Hitler's invasion of Poland > Europe
        
        1941: Japan's surprise attack on Pearl Harbor
        
        Roosevelt: Re-elections, United Nations (w/Churchill & Stalin) & Commander of the Armed Forces
        
        1944: Invasion of Normandy on D-Day
        
        Truman's atomic bombs on Hiroshima & Nagasaki
        
        War broke in Europe when Hitler invaded Poland in 1939 and by 1940 he had already occupied/overrun most of Europe, except for Britain. With Hitler governing over Europe and both Italy's and Japan's totalitarian regimes becoming stronger, America saw the danger as it was in a sandwiched position btw Europe & Japan. So Roosevelt persuaded Congress to suspend the Neutrality Acts, which had been designed by isolationists in the 1930s to prevent the US from getting involved in another world war, before sending supplies to Britain & the Soviet Union (still without entering the war).
        
        But on December 7, 1941, the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor killed 2000 American soldiers after they had invaded the South-East of Asia and 4 days later Germany & Italy declared war on the US too. F.D.Roosevelt was exceptionally elected for a 2nd & 3rd time. He founded the United Nations (an international organization aimed at preventing future conflicts) along with Winston Churchill & Joseph Stalin, and he became the Commander of the Armed Forces, playing a crucial role in the liberation of Europe from the Nazis.
        
        In 1944, the war came to an end in Europe after the American invasion of Normandy on the D-Day, which was followed by the Allied invasion of Germany six months later. As the war drew to a close in 1945, Roosevelt’s health was seriously deteriorated. He died from a stroke just a few weeks before the end of the war.
        
        Vice-president Truman took over the post in office and he was the one to drop the atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, following Roosevelt’s instructions. 200,000 civilians were killed in a day and a week later the Japanese government surrendered. The war left 38 million deaths and the image of the US as the protector of the world.