Revolutions in Mexico, Russia, China and Communism Reading Guide

Stearns pages 692-704

1. What happened in Latin America during WWI? Pg. 693

2. What power replaced Great Britain as the dominant political player in Latin America after WWI? Pg. 693

3. What advances were made in Mexico under the Presidential Dictatorship of Porfirio Diaz? Pg. 693

4. What liberal reforms did Diaz crack down on in 1910? Pg. 693

5. Who were the two leaders of the resistance to the repressive Diaz regime? Pg. 693

6. Where did they operate? Pg. 694

7. What was Zapata’s slogan? Why do you think it resonated with the disposed peasants of Mexico? Pg. 694

8. Who tried to impose a ‘Diaz-type’ dictatorship on Mexico? Pg. 694

9. How did Obregon bring an end to the civil war/revolution and institute stability? Pg. 694

10. What is indigenism? Pg. 694

11. Name the two artists who emerged as leader of the muralist movement in Mexico. Pg. 694

12. Who were the “Cristeros”? Pg. 695

13. How/why did the US become involved in the violent struggle in Mexico in the 19-teens? Pg. 695

14. What is the PRI? How was it able to maintain power for the next several decades? Pg. 695

15. How did the Tsar fall from power in Russia? Pg. 695

16. What government took the place of the Tsarist regime? Pg. 695

17. How/when did Lenin seize power from this new government? Pg. 696

18. Which countries all sent troops to fight against Lenin’s government between 1918-1921? Pg. 696

19. Who organized the Red Army? What was it so successful in the Russian Civil War? Pg. 697

20. What is the New Economic Policy? Why did Lenin have to implement it? Pg. 697

21. What was the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics? What ethnic group was dominant? Pg. 697

22. How did this new Soviet government echo the Tsarist regimes of the past? Pg. 698

(Thinking Historically: A Century of Revolutions, Pg. 698)

23. Who were the two rivals for power as Lenin’s health deteriorated and in death in 1924? (Reading, 698)

24. How did Stalin intend to make Communist work? Pg. 699

25. What was the Comintern? Pg. 699

26. What was collectivization? Pg. 700

27. What event opened the way for a decades long struggle for control of China? Pg. 700

28. What group would eventually prove victorious in this struggle? Pg. 700

29. Who planned to seize the vacant Manchu throne and start new imperial dynasty? Pg. 700

30. What was Sun Yat-sen’s Revolutionary Alliance? Pg. 701

31. Why did his “presidency” have little effective power in China? How was China actually governed? Pg. 701

32. How and when did Japan attempt to make China a giant Japanese protectorate? Pg. 701

33. What was the May Fourth Movement? Pg. 701

34. Who was the first Chinese scholar to modify Marxism to “fit” China? How did he justify this? Pg. 702

35. What future leader came under the influence of this scholar during his school days in Beijing? Pg. 702

36. What is the Guomindang? What were their goals? Pg. 702

37. What was the Whampoa Military Academy? Who set it up? Pg. 703

38. Who rose to prominence in the Guomindang? How did he feel about the Communist alliance? Pg. 702-703

39. Describe Mao Zedong’s background. How did he feel about revolution? Pg. 702

40. How did Chaing Kai-shek become the nominal ruler of China after Sun Yat-sen’s death? Was he in full control of the country? Pg. 703

41. What was the Long March? Pg. 704

Strayer Communism (Read pp.1035-1054)

  1. Explain the similarities and differences between socialism and communism during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
  1. Describe the extent of communism during the 20th century.
  1. DEFINE and DESCRIBE: Warsaw Pact:
  1. DEFINE and DESCRIBE: Council on Mutual Economic Assistance:
  1. DEFINE and DESCRIBE: Treaty of Friendship (1950):
  1. How were the Communist revolutions of the 20th century similar to the French Revolution of the 18th?
  1. What were the three significant differences?
  1. How was the Provisional Government, which took power at the abdication of the Tsar, inadequate?
  1. DEFINE and DESCRIBE: soviets:
  1. What were the Bolshevik accomplishments during the three-year civil war?
  1. How and why did the Soviet Union expand following WWII?
  1. Chart the course of Chinese history from 1911 through 1949.
  1. DEFINE and DESCRIBE:CCP:
  1. Through which reforms did the CCP attract women to the cause?
  1. How was Japan’s invasion an element in the struggle for power over China?
  1. Give two imperatives sought by the developing communist states.
  1. Give two reasons why China’s conversion to communism was easier than Russia’s.
  1. Cite several ways in which the USSR pioneered “women’s liberation.”
  1. DEFINE and DESCRIBE: Zhenotdel:
  1. Give two or more examples of how communist China also worked for women’s equality.
  1. Describe two limitations on women’s liberation in these two communist states.
  1. DEFINE and DESCRIBE: Great Leap Forward
  1. DEFINE and DESCRIBE: Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution
  1. DEFINE and DESCRIBE: Cultural Revolution
  1. Explain why both the USSR and China experienced periods of terror and violence. (e.g.: Purges and Cultural Revolution)

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