What the exam asks
- Theme: Governance (GOV)
- Reasoning Processes: Causation; Continuity and Change
- Typical Exam Tasks:
- Distinguish between internal factors (e.g., peasant unrest, ethnic tension, failed political reforms) and external factors (e.g., foreign economic imperialism, military defeat in total war) that brought down the Ottoman, Russian, and Qing empires.
- Trace the specific steps that transformed Tsar Nicholas II’s autocracy into the Soviet Union.
- Compare the goals and outcomes of the Russian, Chinese, and Mexican revolutions.
Core ideas
The Global Political Order c. 1900
At the dawn of the 20th century, industrialized Western nations (alongside the United States and Japan) dominated the global political and economic order through maritime empires and economic imperialism. By the end of the century, however, both the old land-based empires (Ottoman, Russian, Qing) and the maritime empires (British, French, Dutch) had collapsed, replaced by new nation-states shaped by nationalism, communism, and calls for social reform.
Collapse of the Land-Based Empires
A lethal combination of internal weaknesses and external pressures toppled three major multiethnic land-based empires between 1911 and 1922:
| Empire | Key Internal Factors | Key External Factors | Resulting State & Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qing China (collapsed 1911) | Ethnic tension (Han majority vs. Manchu rulers); population pressure and famine; conservative resistance to the Hundred Days’ Reform; corruption. | European and Japanese spheres of influence; defeat in the Sino-Japanese War; foreign intervention against the Boxer Rebellion. | Republic of China (1912) under Sun Yat-sen (Guomindang/Nationalists), though quickly fractured by warlords. |
| Russian Empire (collapsed 1917) | Autocratic rule resisting political representation (weak Duma after 1905); severe peasant land hunger; horrific industrial working conditions. | Humiliating defeat in the Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905); catastrophic military losses and economic strain in World War I. | Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) (1922) under Vladimir Lenin and the Bolsheviks. |
| Ottoman Empire (collapsed 1922) | Young Turks pushed secular Turkification, alienating Arab and Christian minorities; weak industrial base; debt. | Loss of Balkan and North African territories; defeat alongside the Central Powers in World War I and Allied occupation. | Republic of Turkey (1923) under Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk), who instituted secular, Westernizing reforms. |