Notes, summaries, assignments, exams, and exercises for History for Baccalaureate

Hitler's War Preparations and Early Conquests

Hitler's war preparations began with an action plan stated in his book, Mein Kampf. He wanted to annex Austria to his empire, for there were many Germans there.

• He then occupied the area of the Sudeten Mountains in Czechoslovakia, inhabited by 3,000,000 Germans, and subsequently extended his power throughout the country.
• Hitler pursued his dream of German unification and Aryan unity. In reality, these territories never belonged to Germany.
• France and England, the two major European powers, saw how Hitler was gaining ground, breaking the Treaty of Versailles, for he had rearmed and began his territorial expansion.
• In a few weeks, making allies with Poland, they declared war.

The Expansion of the War

• Hitler

Cold War Phase: Key Developments

Economic Division of Europe

Each major power introduced an economic collaboration system within its sphere of influence:

• Marshall Plan: A strategy proposed by George C. Marshall to revive the economies of favorable European countries. This generous aid, adopted in 1948 and valued at $13 billion, included almost every country in Western Europe. It had two main goals:
  • Improve living standards in Europe and avert the danger of communist expansion.
  • Maintain European demand and avoid an American overproduction crisis.
• COMECON (Council for Mutual Economic Assistance): Created by the Soviet Union as a response to the US plan. Its aim was to coordinate the economic policies of Eastern European countries and establish mechanisms

After the failure of the six democratic years, Cánovas del Castillo, the Prime Minister, led the Restoration process. He proposed Alfonso XII, son of Isabel II, as king of Spain and after the pronunciamiento of Sagunto by Martínez Campos in 1874, he became king and accepted to be a constitutional monarch. Moreover, Cánovas became regent and established a new system, the Canovite System.

Canovas convoked elections, under the democratic suffrage of the 1869 constitution, to Cortes in order to legalise and define a new monarchy. One of the first measures of the new government was the suppression of the left wing parties and labour movement, only those who accepted the principles of the constitutional monarchy had the right to free activity.

The

The Second Republic and the Constitution of 1931

On April 14, 1931, the Second Spanish Republic was proclaimed with widespread popular acceptance. This event ended the period of the Restoration and offered a historic opportunity to resolve the country's serious problems. The Republican Committee took over the state and formed a provisional government, with Alcalá-Zamora as president. A Constituent Assembly was convened.

Initial Actions and Challenges

The government's first actions included military reform and improvements in rural public education. The Church initially remained cautious, but Cardinal Segura issued a pastoral letter defending the previous regime and religion, leading to his expulsion from the country. Shortly after, over a hundred...

Franco's Spain (1939-1975)

On April 1, 1939, the Spanish Civil War ended, leaving approximately 300,000 Spaniards dead. For those who survived, a long and difficult post-war period began. To celebrate his victory, General Francisco Franco (also known as "El Caudillo"), presided over a large military parade in Madrid on May 19, 1939. Representatives from the foreign countries that had aided him were in attendance.

At that time, Franco held the highest degree of power in Spanish history. He was Head of State, Head of Government, Commander of the Armed Forces, and head of the only permitted party: the nationalist Spanish Falange. The new state declared itself a confessional Catholic state and a defender of the faith, restoring power to the Catholic...

Spain is now a democratic country and a member of the European Union. In light of recent Spanish history, both circumstances acquire a special significance. Spain seems to have solved the problem of governance, isolation, and backwardness. Both achievements have been achieved under the monarchy of Juan Carlos I. We have witnessed one of the most stable periods in contemporary Spanish history, where Spain has achieved its true political, social, and economic modernization.

The Government of the UCD

After the death of Franco, Arias Navarro attempted to reconcile continuity with reformism but lasted only a short time in office. Juan Carlos I made three major political decisions: to push for the resignation of Arias Navarro, to appoint Fernández...

Alfonso XIII's Manifesto: A King's Farewell to Spain

This is a public text in which King Alfonso XIII, in one way or another, apologizes to Spanish society for the mistakes committed during his reign. This manifesto was published in the ABC newspaper on April 17, 1931.

Alfonso XIII's Intentions

Alfonso XIII's aim in publishing the manifesto was not just to apologize and say goodbye to Spanish society, and particularly the government, but also to dissociate himself from all the expected problems for Spain. Hence, he takes a step back but never rejects his rights as King of Spain.

The Road to Abdication

The fact that Alfonso XIII made such a decision was mainly due to the significant discontent of the population, in general, with his policy. This...

The Restoration (1815-1848)

After the defeat of Napoleon in 1815, the victors decided to return to the situation before the French Revolution. Thus began the Restoration, a period that lasted until 1848 and had these characteristics:

• A conservative and counter-revolutionary ideology based on the principles of tradition, authority, and religion, *against* the Enlightenment ideals of freedom and reason. It was considered that Enlightenment ideals lead to revolution and anarchy. A major proponent of this ideology was Britain's Edmund Burke.
• A complete rearrangement of the map of Europe, held at the Congress of Vienna (1814-1815).

The Congress of Vienna

In this international congress, Britain, Russia, Austria, and Prussia, under the leadership of Prince...

Tsarist Russia in the Early Twentieth Century

Tsarist Russia in the early twentieth century suffered from political paralysis due to the system introduced to sustain Tsarism. The landed gentry concentrated land ownership in their hands, controlled senior management administration, and were supported by the Orthodox Church. By the end of the nineteenth century, a process of economic modernization was underway, with limited industrialization in many important areas.

The 1905 Revolution and its Aftermath

The 1905 Revolution was triggered by a series of strikes by workers in St. Petersburg, protesting against their poor living conditions and the Russian defeats in the Russo-Japanese War. In January 1905, a peaceful protest by workers at the Winter

The Dictatorship of Primo de Rivera

The crisis of liberalism and the Restoration model led to the coup of Primo de Rivera, who succeeded without resistance. He had the support of the king and the sympathy of public opinion. The new regime was based on different political foundations than liberalism: a one-party system (Patriotic Union), representing corporate and routine administration in the hands of the military or technicians.

There was a regenerationist will to dismantle caciquismo and promote Spanish nationalism against peripheral nationalism. He controlled order by declaring a state of war and reformed provincial and municipal governments. The war in Morocco ended after the landing of Alhucemas. The dictatorship had two phases: the military...