Shock and awe

Blitzkrieg

Divide and Conquer

Trench warfare

Language barriers

Wilson's own overbearing personality

Failure of U.S. Senate to ratify the League

Failure of many major nations to join the League

High reparations payments by Germany and Austria to France and Britain

Overproduction in the United States

Stock market speculation

Government interference in market economies

Fascism

Communism

Imperialism

Industrialization

Democracy

Communism

Both democracy and communism

Monarchy

Big businesses ran the state.

Big businesses were favored by the state.

Business and labor were to be unified within the state.

Business and labor were left alone to run the state themselves.

The German forces were hexed

Socialist, Jews, and liberals in Germany stabbed Germany in the back.

French and American soldiers were genetically superior to German soldiers.

The Kaiser (German Emperor) gave crucial information to the enemy.

As the best part of Germany

As a Jewish conspiracy to corrupt traditional, German values

As something the Americans had and that they wanted

As Germany’s main hope for defeating the centuries long Jewish presence in Germany

Science and human perfectibility

Liberty and equality

Rationalism and democracy

Skepticism and open-mindedness

They believed that the Japanese were more individualistic than westerners.

They believed that the Japanese were better at technology than westerners

They believed that the Japanese were more loyal to their ruler than westerners to their own rulers.


They believed Japanese society to be far more modern than Western society.

Widespread arrest and execution of political opponents

Political takeover of right-wing radical groups

Complete censorship over intellectuals and artists

Aggressive ambition for conquest and empire-building.

To liberate Asians from colonial domination

To establish a new ruling dynasty in China

To control resources and end their dependence on the West

Preemptive self-defense against colonial powers that were planning an attack on Japan from their bases in Asia

They were enthusiastic, but knew they stood no chance against the United States.

They were enthusiastic, believing they could easily beat an overrated American military.

They were regretful, for they knew that they could have achieved more power over the United States through negotiations.

They were regretful, for they knew that they stood only a small chance against the mighty United States, though they saw no other way to maintain power in the Pacific.

The firebombing of German cities by Britain and the United States

The mass rape and mutilation of Chinese women by Japanese troops in Nanjing

The bombing of Pearl Harbor

The atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the United States

It destroyed communism.

It transformed communism into a pacifist movement.

It allowed communism to spread across Western Europe.

It gave communism legitimacy in the Soviet Union and control over half of Europe and much of Asia.

Europe saw massive economic growth and widespread prosperity.

Europe sank deeper into economic misery.

The Marshall Plan helped initially, but could not sustain Europe's broken economy in the long run.

The European economy recovered, but only after several decades of recession and poverty.

North Korea

Cuba

Afghanistan

None

Through democratic elections

Through an overnight coup in the capital

By gradually infiltrating the provisional government

By leading a massive popular uprising throughout the empire

It focused solely on the cities and the working class.

It focused solely on assassinating top Japanese and Guomindang leaders.

It focused on returning to traditional Confucian values of social hierarchy and patriarchy.

It focused on creating peasant communism and rural guerilla warfare.

By promising the end of the rural way of life

By offering protection against Japanese and Nationalist atrocities

By seizing land from landlords and distributing it to peasants

By teaching literacy to adults and mobilizing women

They forced women to obey their husbands.

They talked about gender equality, but it was only lip service.

They achieved far-reaching freedom for women.

They paid no attention to women's issues at all.

The Bolsheviks found the task much more difficult than the Chinese Communists.

Both the Bolsheviks and the Chinese Communists found the task difficult.

Both the Bolsheviks and the Chinese Communists found the task quite easy.

The Bolsheviks found the task much easier than the Chinese Communists.

Those values were strictly enforced throughout the country.

Those values were often set aside in favor of industrial development and state power.

Those values were explicitly abandoned in favor of a return to capitalism.

Those values led to a gradual democratization of the Communist Party.

The original Bolshevik revolutionaries

Communist Party officials

Those who carried out the arrests and killings in the purges

Stalin himself

The replacement of the communist party as the governing body in the country by the military

The death and ruin of tens of millions and the widespread discrediting of communism

China’s parity with the United States in terms of industrial production

More democracy and prosperity for Chinese citizens

It depended on Vietnam for essential natural resources.

It feared a communist victory there would lead to communist expansion to the rest of Asia and beyond.

It wanted to make up for not having had as many colonies in Asia as other powers.

The North Vietnamese (communists) were planning a direct assault on the United States mainland once they triumphed in their own land.

They were seduced by Cuba's exotic Latin culture.

It provided a tropical vacation spot for Soviet leaders.

It was the first country where Communism triumphed without the help of the Soviet Army.

It provided a perfect base for the USSR to carry out its plans for an invasion of the United States.

Both sides attempted to entice the support of third world countries with military and economic aid.

Most third world countries practiced democracy but favored the USSR in foreign policy.

Most third world countries converted to Christianity, but rejected political democracy and communism.

Most third world countries secretly favored communism, but were afraid to ally formally with the USSR.

Population growth

A booming consumer economy

Large contributions by allies

Widespread opposition to the Soviet Union around the world

Soviet leadership’s long-harbored resentment against those countries for their lack of support during World War II

To free these countries of foreign occupation

To crush reformist movements that they feared would spread throughout the Soviet alliance

Misunderstandings

The USSR vs. China

China vs. Vietnam

Vietnam vs. Cambodia

The USSR vs. North Korea

Inability to match the West in quality and availability of consumer goods

Inability to match the West in amount of industrial output

Inability to match the West in equality of income distribution

Inability to match the West in eliminating unemployment

More upheaval and mass death

Mostly ineffective reforms

Stunning economic growth along mostly capitalist models

The end to all foreign investment in China

The Soviet Union totally collapsed.

Many dark truths about life in the USSR were brought to light for the first time.

The abortion rate became the highest in the world.

The Soviet economy boomed.

Because of censorship within those countries, no one knew about glasnost.

Because the communist parties of those countries were well liked, they did not face opposition.

It sparked massive demonstrations that swept away communism in Eastern Europe.

Eastern Europeans were critical of Gorbachev's reforms in the USSR.

Gorbachev opened a "Pandora's box" of demands for change that the Soviet system could not handle.

Gorbachev had secretly planned the demise of the USSR all along

Gorbachev’s use of force against protestors backfired.

Gorbachev used the reforms to encourage non-Russian nationalities to become independent.