Second Semester Final

UNIT 6 — Early Modern Europe

Black Death / Bubonic Plague

• Origins: Originated in Central Asia (~1330s); carried west along Silk Road and by Mongol armies; reached Europe via Italian ports (Genoa, Sicily, 1347) on rat-borne fleas (Y. pestis).
• Effects on Europe: Killed 1/3 of Europe's population (1347–1351). Destroyed feudal labor system → peasants demanded higher wages; weakened the Church (couldn't explain or stop it); shifted power to towns and merchants; questioned medieval certainties → setting the stage for the Renaissance.

High Middle Ages vs. Medieval

• The High Middle Ages (1000–1300) saw revival of towns and trade, universities, Gothic cathedrals, growth of secular royal authority, and the Crusades — distinct from the earlier "Dark"/Early Medieval period (500–1000), which was rural, isolated, dominated by manorialism.

State Building & Italian Renaissance

• Conditions for Italian Renaissance: Wealth from Mediterranean trade (Venice, Genoa); independent city-states; wealthy patrons (Medici); proximity to classical Roman ruins; Greek scholars fleeing Constantinople (1453) bringing classical texts.
• Themes: Humanism, secularism, individualism, classical revival ("rebirth"), realism, this-worldly focus.
• Machiavelli: The Prince (1513) — pragmatic political theory: better to be feared than loved; ends justify means; rulers must be lions and foxes.
• Renaissance Art: Linear perspective (Brunelleschi), realism, anatomy. Leonardo (Mona Lisa, Last Supper, polymath), Michelangelo (David, Sistine Chapel ceiling, Pietà), Raphael (School of Athens), Donatello (bronze David, first freestanding nude since antiquity).
• Architecture: Brunelleschi's dome of Florence Cathedral; classical columns, symmetry, domes replacing Gothic pointed arches.
• Northern Renaissance: Christian Humanism — applied humanist scholarship to reform the Church. Erasmus (Dutch, "Praise of Folly", "In Praise of Folly") urged Church reform but stayed Catholic.
• Gutenberg (c. 1450): Movable-type printing press in Mainz; printed Bible; mass-produced books spread Renaissance ideas, vernacular literature, and later — Luther's pamphlets — making the Reformation possible.

Protestant Reformation

• Martin Luther (1517): German monk, nailed 95 Theses to Wittenberg church door protesting indulgences (paying for forgiveness). Doctrines: sola fide (justification by faith alone), sola scriptura (scripture alone, not Church tradition), priesthood of all believers. Excommunicated 1521.
• John Calvin: French reformer in Geneva; predestination — God already chose the "elect." Calvinist churches: Presbyterian (Scotland), Reformed (Netherlands), Puritan (England), Huguenot (France).
• English Reformation: Henry VIII broke from Rome (1534) because Pope refused his divorce from Catherine of Aragon. Act of Supremacy made him head of the Anglican Church. Daughter Elizabeth I solidified Protestant England.
• Catholic / Counter Reformation: Church response. Council of Trent (1545–1563) reaffirmed Catholic doctrines, banned indulgence sales, reformed clergy. Loyola founded the Jesuits (Society of Jesus) — missionary/educational order. Baroque art (dramatic, emotional, ornate — Bernini, Caravaggio) used to inspire piety.
• Peace of Augsburg (1555): Allowed German princes to choose Catholicism or Lutheranism for their territory ("cuius regio, eius religio").

UNIT 7 — Contact & Conquest

Ancient Civilizations of Latin America

• Maya (c. 250–900 CE, Yucatán): independent city-states; hieroglyphic writing; advanced math (concept of zero), astronomy, calendar; pyramids.
• Teotihuacan (c. 100–550 CE, central Mexico): massive planned city with Pyramid of the Sun; "Mesoamérica" = shared cultural region from Mexico through Central America.
• Aztecs (1325–1521): capital Tenochtitlan on Lake Texcoco (built on island, causeways); tribute empire; massive human sacrifice to feed the sun god; worshipped Quetzalcoatl (feathered serpent); pictographic writing.
• Inca (1438–1533): capital Cuzco in Andes; immense road network (~25,000 mi); Machu Picchu; hierarchical social structure with Sapa Inca at top; record-keeping by quipu (knotted strings — no writing system); state-controlled economy (no markets).
• Geography: Aztecs = central Mexican highlands; Maya = Yucatán lowlands & jungle; Inca = Andes mountain spine.

Civilizations of East & West Africa

• Geography: Sahara desert in north; Sahel grassland just south; tropical rainforest in west/center; savanna in east; Great Rift Valley.
• Social classes: Royalty/nobility, merchants, farmers, artisans, slaves — varied by region.
• Indigenous slavery: Existed before Europeans — usually war captives or debt slaves; integrated into households; not racial; different from chattel slavery.
• Religion: Traditional animism; Islam spread through trade; Christianity in Ethiopia.
• East Africa — Axum/Aksum (Ethiopia): one of earliest Christian kingdoms (4th c.); Ethiopian Orthodox Church; rock-hewn churches at Lalibela.
• West Africa — Ghana (c. 700–1200): controlled trans-Saharan gold-salt trade (gold from south, salt from Sahara).
• Mali (1235–1600): founded by Sundiata Keita. Mansa Musa (r. 1312–1337) — fabulously rich Muslim emperor; pilgrimage to Mecca (1324) gave away so much gold he crashed Egypt's economy; built Timbuktu as scholarly center.
• Swahili Coast: East African coastal city-states (Kilwa, Mombasa, Mogadishu, Zanzibar); Indian Ocean trade; Swahili language fused Arabic + Bantu; widely Muslim by 1300.
• Great Zimbabwe (c. 1100–1450): inland southern African stone-walled capital; gold-trade hub linked to Swahili Coast; collapsed mysteriously.

European Exploration

• Portuguese origins: Small kingdom on Atlantic; needed alternative to Italian-controlled Mediterranean spice trade; Reconquista ended early there (1249) → outward-facing.
• Technology: Astrolabe (measure latitude by stars), caravel (small fast ship with lateen sails, could sail against the wind), magnetic compass, improved maps (portolan charts).
• Prince Henry the Navigator (1394–1460): Portuguese prince; funded school at Sagres; sponsored expeditions exploring African coast.
• Bartolomeu Dias (1488): rounded the Cape of Good Hope (southern tip of Africa).
• Vasco da Gama (1497–1499): reached India by sea (Calicut); opened spice trade direct.
• Reconquista: Spanish/Christian centuries-long reconquest of Iberian Peninsula from Muslims, completed 1492 (fall of Granada) — same year Columbus sailed; expelled Muslims & Jews.
• Columbus (1492): sponsored by Ferdinand & Isabella of Spain; tried to reach Asia by sailing west; reached Caribbean (Hispaniola); made 4 voyages, died thinking he reached India.
• Magellan (1519–1522): Portuguese sailing for Spain; first circumnavigation (Magellan died in Philippines; crew completed).
• Amerigo Vespucci: Italian explorer; realized Americas were a separate continent — name "America" comes from him.
• Trading posts: Portuguese model — fortified coastal outposts (Goa, Malacca, Macao) rather than territorial conquest; controlled trade routes not land.
• Slave trade: Portuguese first traded enslaved Africans on west African coast (1440s onward); exploded after Americas colonization.

European Conquest

• Hernán Cortés (1519–1521): conquered Aztec Empire with ~500 Spaniards + native allies (Tlaxcalans who hated Aztec tribute system) + smallpox + steel + horses + guns; killed Montezuma II.
• Francisco Pizarro (1532): conquered Inca Empire — captured emperor Atahualpa during civil war and smallpox epidemic; executed him.
• Smallpox: Eurasian disease; Americans had no immunity; killed 50–90% of native populations — the single biggest factor in conquest.
• Doña Marina (La Malinche): Nahua woman; translator and advisor to Cortés; bore him a son; controversial figure (traitor or survivor).
• Encomienda system: Spanish grant of native labor to colonist; in exchange, colonist was supposed to Christianize them; in practice = slavery.
• Colonial social hierarchy: Peninsulares (born in Spain) > Creoles (Spanish blood born in Americas) > Mestizos (Spanish + Indigenous) > Indigenous > African slaves.
• Viceroys: Crown-appointed governors who ruled colonies on behalf of Spanish king (Viceroyalty of New Spain, Viceroyalty of Peru).
• Portuguese Brazil: Claimed by Treaty of Tordesillas (1494) — pope-brokered line dividing New World between Spain (west) and Portugal (east, Brazil); sugar plantations + enslaved African labor.
• Columbian Exchange: Global biological/cultural exchange. To Americas: horses, cattle, pigs, wheat, sugar, smallpox, Christianity. To Europe/world: potatoes, corn, tomatoes, tobacco, chocolate, silver, syphilis.
• Bartolomé de Las Casas: Spanish priest who condemned mistreatment of indigenous peoples; "Defender of the Indians"; ironically suggested African slaves instead (later regretted it).

Transatlantic Slave Trade (Atlantic System)

• Triangular trade: Three-leg circuit. Europe → Africa (guns, cloth, manufactures); Africa → Americas (enslaved people); Americas → Europe (sugar, tobacco, cotton, silver).
• Middle Passage: Brutal Atlantic crossing for enslaved Africans; chained below deck; 10–20% died en route; ~12 million transported over ~350 years.
• Monoculture: Plantation economy growing a single crop (sugar, tobacco, cotton); exhausted soils; created dependence; required massive enslaved labor.
• Maroons: Escaped enslaved people who formed independent communities (Jamaica, Suriname, Brazilian quilombos); preserved African culture.
• African Diaspora: Forced scattering of African peoples across the Americas — created Afro-Caribbean, Afro-Brazilian, African-American cultures.
• Capitalism vs. Mercantilism: Mercantilism = colonies exist to enrich the mother country, export more than you import, accumulate gold/silver. Capitalism = private ownership, free markets — emerged from trade wealth.

UNIT 8 — Middle East / South & East Asia

Islamic Empires

• Ottoman Empire (c. 1299–1922): Turkish Sunni Muslim empire; captured Constantinople 1453 (renamed Istanbul) ending Byzantine Empire; ruled by sultan; devshirme (boy levy) → Janissaries (elite slave soldiers).
• Suleyman the Magnificent (r. 1520–1566): height of Ottoman power; conquered Hungary, besieged Vienna (1529); built grand mosques (Süleymaniye); codified laws ("Lawgiver"); patronized arts.
• Safavid Empire (1501–1736, Persia/Iran): made Shia Islam state religion — created the Sunni-Shia rivalry with Ottomans that persists today; capital at Isfahan; Shah Abbas the Great.

Ming Dynasty China

• Ming (1368–1644): native Han Chinese dynasty after Mongol Yuan; restored Confucian government; rebuilt and extended the Great Wall in stone (most of today's wall is Ming).
• Zheng He (1405–1433): Muslim eunuch admiral; led 7 massive treasure-fleet voyages reaching East Africa, Arabia, India — decades before Columbus; expeditions ended for political reasons (cost, Confucian conservatism); China turned inward.

Korea & Japan

• Koryo dynasty (Korea, 918–1392): Buddhist; world's first metal movable type.
• Choson/Joseon dynasty (1392–1897): replaced Koryo; strongly Confucian (suppressed Buddhism in favor of Confucian governance); created Hangul script.
• Heian Japan (794–1185): aristocratic court culture in Kyoto; courtly literature (Tale of Genji); refined arts; emperor figurehead.
• Japanese "feudalism": Shogun (military ruler) > daimyos (regional lords with land grants) > samurai (warrior class bound by Bushido "way of the warrior" — loyalty, honor, courage, ritual suicide rather than dishonor).
• Tokugawa shogunate (1603–1868): unified Japan under Tokugawa Ieyasu; capital at Edo (Tokyo); centralized control over daimyos; closed Japan to foreigners (1635) except small Dutch trading post at Nagasaki.
• Zen Buddhism: Meditation-focused Japanese Buddhism; influenced samurai culture, tea ceremony, gardens, sword arts.
• Kublai Khan / Yuan Dynasty (1271–1368): Genghis Khan's grandson; established Mongol Yuan Dynasty in China; capital at Khanbaliq (Beijing); welcomed foreigners like Marco Polo.
• Failed Mongol invasion of Japan (1274, 1281): Kublai Khan's fleets destroyed by typhoons (kamikaze = "divine wind"); reinforced Japanese sense of divine protection and isolation.

UNIT 9 — Revolutions in Science, Thought, Politics & Economics

Absolutism & Court of Louis XIV

• Cardinal Richelieu (1585–1642): chief minister to Louis XIII; centralized French power; weakened nobles & Huguenots; raised state above religion.
• Henry of Navarre / Edict of Nantes (1598): Protestant who converted to Catholicism to become King Henry IV of France ("Paris is worth a Mass"); Edict of Nantes granted religious toleration to Huguenots.
• Michel de Montaigne: French essayist; skepticism — "What do I know?"
• René Descartes: "I think, therefore I am"; methodical doubt; founded rationalism.
• Cardinal Mazarin: Richelieu's successor; chief minister during young Louis XIV's reign.
• Louis XIV "Sun King" (r. 1643–1715): epitome of absolutism; "L'état, c'est moi" ("I am the state"); built palace at Versailles to control nobility; revoked Edict of Nantes (1685) → Huguenots fled.
• War of Spanish Succession (1701–1714): European war when Louis XIV's grandson inherited Spanish throne — other powers feared French+Spanish union; ended by Peace of Utrecht.

English Civil War & Constitutional Monarchy

• Charles I: Stuart king tried to rule without Parliament; sparked English Civil War (1642–1651); executed (1649) — first European monarch publicly beheaded by his own people.
• Oliver Cromwell: Puritan general; defeated Royalists; ruled as Lord Protector during the Interregnum/Commonwealth; harsh Puritan rule.
• Restoration / Charles II (1660): monarchy restored; Habeas Corpus Act (1679) — no imprisonment without trial.
• James II / Glorious Revolution (1688): Catholic king deposed bloodlessly; William and Mary invited from Netherlands.
• English Bill of Rights (1689): Parliament supreme; no taxation without Parliament; right to petition; trial by jury. The cabinet system of ministers emerged.

Scientific Revolution

• Nicolaus Copernicus: "On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres" (1543); heliocentric theory — sun at center, not Earth.
• Galileo Galilei: improved telescope; confirmed Copernicus (moons of Jupiter, phases of Venus); forced to recant by Inquisition (1633).
• Scientific Method: Francis Bacon (empiricism — observation, experiment, inductive reasoning); Descartes (rationalism — doubt, deduction, mathematics).
• Isaac Newton: Principia Mathematica (1687); law of universal gravitation; three laws of motion; calculus; mechanistic universe.

Enlightenment / French Revolution / Napoleon

• Social contract: Government's authority comes from consent of the governed. Hobbes (Leviathan, 1651): state of nature is "nasty, brutish, short" → absolute monarchy. Locke (Second Treatise, 1689): natural rights to "life, liberty, property"; right to revolt against tyranny.
• Philosophes / salons: Enlightenment thinkers; salons = Parisian gatherings hosted by women where ideas were debated.
• Voltaire: Champion of free speech, religious toleration; "Crush the infamous thing!" (the Church).
• Montesquieu: Spirit of the Laws (1748); separation of powers (executive/legislative/judicial).
• Rousseau: Social Contract (1762); "general will"; emotional and democratic.
• Mary Wollstonecraft: Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792); early feminist; education for women.
• French Revolution origins: France bankrupt from helping America + Versailles; Three Estates: 1st (clergy), 2nd (nobles) — tax-exempt; 3rd Estate (~97% of population) bore tax burden. Louis XVI called Estates-General (1789) — first meeting since 1614.
• Tennis Court Oath / National Assembly (June 1789): Third Estate locked out, swore not to disband until France had a constitution. Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (Aug 1789): "Men are born free and equal."
• Storming of the Bastille (July 14, 1789): Paris mob attacked royal fortress/prison → symbol of Revolution.
• The Convention / Reign of Terror (1793–94): Robespierre & Committee of Public Safety executed ~17,000 "enemies of the Revolution" by guillotine; ended when Robespierre himself was guillotined (Thermidor).
• The Directory (1795–1799): weak five-man executive; corrupt; overthrown by Napoleon.
• Napoleon: Corsican general; coup of 1799; crowned himself emperor 1804; Napoleonic Code (legal equality, secular law, property rights); Continental System (blockade of Britain); Battle of Trafalgar (1805, lost to British navy); disastrous invasion of Russia (1812); exiled to Elba; returned for "Hundred Days"; defeated at Waterloo (1815); exiled to St. Helena.
• Political spectrum: term originated from Estates-General seating — radicals/Jacobins on the LEFT, moderates in center, monarchists/conservatives on the RIGHT.

Revolutions in Latin America

• Haitian Revolution (1791–1804): only successful slave revolt in history; Toussaint L'Ouverture led enslaved Africans to defeat French; Haiti became first Black republic and second independent nation in Americas.
• Mexican Independence (1810–1821): Father Miguel Hidalgo's "Grito de Dolores"; creoles eventually led independence under Agustín de Iturbide.
• Simón Bolívar "The Liberator": Venezuelan-born creole; liberated Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia (named for him); dream of united "Gran Colombia" failed.

UNIT 10 — The 19th Century

Industrialization

• Origins / factory system: Began in Britain (1750s+); coal + iron + capital + colonies + agricultural revolution + steam engine (Watt). Factories concentrated machinery and workers; replaced cottage industry; created urban working class.
• Adam Smith: The Wealth of Nations (1776); laissez-faire ("let it be") — free markets, invisible hand, division of labor, minimal government; foundational text of capitalism.

Nations & Nationalism

• Congress of Vienna (1815): post-Napoleon European powers (led by Austria's Metternich) restored monarchies; principles of legitimacy (rightful kings restored), balance of power (no one nation dominant), compensation.
• Nationalism / ideology: Idea that a people sharing language, history, culture should have their own nation-state. Powerful "ideology" — system of ideas shaping politics.
• Nation vs. nation-state: Nation = a people. Nation-state = a sovereign government ruling that people in a defined territory.
• Italian Unification (1861): Mazzini (Young Italy, ideology), Garibaldi ("Red Shirts", military, conquered south), Cavour (statesman from Piedmont-Sardinia).
• German Unification (1871): Otto von Bismarck, Prussian chancellor; "blood and iron"; realpolitik; three wars (Denmark 1864, Austria 1866, France 1870); proclaimed German Empire in Hall of Mirrors at Versailles.
• IRA / Irish nationalism: Ongoing Irish struggle for independence from Britain; later became Irish Republican Army violence around Northern Ireland.
• Anti-Semitism / Zionism: Rising European hatred of Jews (Dreyfus Affair, pogroms in Russia). Theodor Herzl founded modern Zionism — Jewish nationalism, sought homeland in Palestine; wrote Der Judenstaat (1896).
• Liberalism: 19th-century — individual rights, constitutional government, free markets, limited government.
• Socialism: Response to industrial misery; collective/state ownership of production; equality of outcomes.
• Utopian Socialists: Robert Owen, Charles Fourier, Saint-Simon — imagined ideal communities; Marx dismissed them as "unscientific."
• Marx & Engels: The Communist Manifesto (1848); history is class struggle; capitalism creates bourgeoisie (owners) vs. proletariat (workers); workers will overthrow capitalism in revolution → communism (classless society). Modes of production drive history.

New Imperialism in Africa

• Motives: Economic (raw materials — rubber, gold, diamonds, ivory, cotton; markets for industrial goods); Political (national prestige, strategic bases); Cultural ("civilizing mission", Christian missionaries, "White Man's Burden"); Ideological (Social Darwinism).
• Scramble for Africa (1880s–1914): European powers rushed to claim African territory; only Ethiopia & Liberia remained independent.
• Social Darwinism: Misapplied Darwin's "survival of the fittest" to societies/races; pseudoscientific justification for racism and imperialism — Europeans "naturally superior."
• Berlin Conference (1884–85): 14 European powers (no Africans) carved up Africa on a map; established rules for "effective occupation."
• Indirect rule (British model): governed through existing local rulers (e.g., Nigeria, India). Direct rule (French, Belgian model): European officials replaced local rulers.
• Belgian Congo: Personally owned by King Leopold II; extreme brutality — forced rubber collection; villages burned, hands cut off as punishment; ~10 million deaths; "Heart of Darkness."
• Transvaal / Boer War (1899–1902): British vs. Dutch-descended Boers in South Africa over gold/diamonds; Britain won, created Union of South Africa (1910).

Imperialism in Middle East

• "Sick Man of Europe": Nickname for declining Ottoman Empire; European powers competed to grab pieces (Egypt to Britain; Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco to France; Libya to Italy).
• Bahá'í Faith: Founded in Persia mid-1800s by Bahá'u'lláh; universal brotherhood, unity of religions; faced severe persecution; spread globally.
• Wahhabism / Islamic revivalism: Puritanical reform movement in Arabia (Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, 18th c.); allied with the House of Saud; foundation of modern Saudi religion.
• Palestine: Arab nationalism vs. Zionist return; rising Jewish migration to Ottoman Palestine; would explode in conflict after WWI.

Imperialism in India

• Mughal Empire (1526–1857): Muslim Persianate dynasty that ruled most of India; declined in 1700s.
• East India Company (1600–1858): English private joint-stock company; gradually conquered India for profit; had its own army.
• Sepoy Mutiny / Great Rebellion (1857): Indian soldiers ("sepoys") revolted, partly over rumors that bullet cartridges were greased with cow & pig fat (offensive to Hindus & Muslims); brutally suppressed.
• The Raj (1858–1947): After Mutiny, British Crown took direct control from East India Company; Queen Victoria became "Empress of India" (1876).
• Rise of Indian nationalism: Indian National Congress (1885); later Gandhi's nonviolent resistance.
• Muslim League (1906): organized to protect Muslim interests; eventually demanded separate Muslim state (Pakistan).

UNIT 10B — The Great War & Aftermath

The Great War (1914–1918)

• Trigger: Archduke Franz Ferdinand assassinated in Sarajevo (June 28, 1914) by Gavrilo Princip, a Serbian nationalist (Black Hand); set off alliance chain reaction.
• Multinational empires: Austria-Hungary, Ottoman, Russia — held diverse peoples; nationalism threatened to tear them apart.
• Alliances: Triple Entente (Britain, France, Russia → "Allies"); Triple Alliance (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy* → "Central Powers"; Italy switched sides 1915, replaced by Ottoman Empire).
• Schlieffen Plan: Germany's strategy to quickly defeat France through neutral Belgium, then turn to fight Russia. Violation of Belgian neutrality brought Britain into the war.
• Underlying causes (M.A.I.N.): Militarism, Alliances, Imperialism (colonial rivalry), Nationalism. Immediate cause: assassination of Franz Ferdinand.
• Western Front: France-Belgium-Germany; quickly became stalemate; trench warfare; No Man's Land between trenches; battles like Somme & Verdun killed hundreds of thousands for yards of ground.
• Industrial warfare / new technologies: Machine guns, poison gas (chlorine, mustard), tanks (Somme 1916), airplanes, submarines (U-boats), heavy artillery, barbed wire.
• Eastern Front: Russia vs. Germany/Austria; more mobile than Western Front; Russian losses devastating → contributed to Russian Revolution.
• Total War: Entire society mobilized for war effort — economy, industry, civilians; first true total war.
• Home Front: Rationing, women in factories, war bonds, government control of economy.
• Propaganda: Governments used posters, films, news control to demonize enemy and rally support.
• War in the colonies: Fighting in African colonies, Middle East (T.E. Lawrence, Arab Revolt), Asia; colonial troops (Indian, African, Vietnamese) fought for European powers.
• Armenian Genocide (1915–1923): Ottoman government deported and killed ~1.5 million Armenian Christians; first modern genocide; term "genocide" coined later for it & Holocaust.
• American Intervention (April 1917): triggered by German unrestricted submarine warfare (Lusitania 1915) and the Zimmermann Telegram (Germany offered Mexico US territory); US troops tipped balance.
• Gallipoli (1915–16): Allied attempt to knock Ottomans out of war; disaster; ~250,000 Allied casualties; Australian/NZ identity formation (ANZAC).

Russian Revolution / Treaties

• Bolsheviks / Vladimir Lenin: Marxist revolutionaries; October Revolution 1917 overthrew provisional government; established communist state.
• Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (March 1918): Russia exited the war; ceded huge territory (Poland, Ukraine, Baltic, Finland) to Germany — freed German troops for Western Front.
• Armistice: November 11, 1918 — ended fighting on Western Front.
• Wilson's Fourteen Points (Jan 1918): US President Woodrow Wilson's principles for peace; included self-determination, free trade, no secret treaties, and a League of Nations.
• Treaty of Versailles (1919): Peace treaty with Germany. Imposed war guilt clause (Article 231 — Germany alone responsible); huge reparations; loss of territory & colonies; military restrictions. Bitterly resented in Germany; helped fuel Hitler's rise.
• League of Nations: International body to prevent future wars; US Senate refused to join (isolationism); weak without America; ultimately failed in 1930s.