HA05 — World History

📖 HA05 · AFCAT General Awareness — History ★ Low Yield — 0–1 Question

World History in AFCAT is lean and targeted — when questions do appear, they are almost always about the great revolutions, the two World Wars, or Cold War events. Think of this chapter as a collection of the most dramatic turning points in modern world history: moments when the course of civilisation changed direction. The questions are factual — which revolution caused which, who led which movement, which treaty ended which war. Build a clear cause-effect framework for each section and you'll be ready for any AFCAT question that comes from here.

✈ AFCAT Focus: Bastille stormed = 14 July 1789 (French Revolution); Declaration of Independence = 4 July 1776 (American Revolution); Lenin = Bolsheviks + Russian Revolution 1917; Franz Ferdinand assassination = immediate cause of WWI; Treaty of Versailles 1919 = ended WWI; Hitler + Poland invasion 1939 = started WWII; Pearl Harbor = USA entered WWII; UN = founded 1945; Cuban Missile Crisis = 1962 (closest to nuclear war); Moon landing = Apollo 11, 20 July 1969.

PART 1 — THREE GREAT REVOLUTIONS

1. Revolutions That Shaped the Modern World

🇺🇸 American Revolution (1775–1783)

Cause: "No taxation without representation" — British taxes on colonies without giving them a voice in Parliament
Boston Tea Party (1773): Colonists dumped British tea into Boston harbour — sparked open resistance
Declaration of Independence: 4 July 1776 — "all men are created equal"; drafted by Thomas Jefferson; signed in Philadelphia
Leader: George Washington (Commander of Continental Army; first US President)
Treaty of Paris (1783): Britain recognised American independence
Impact: Created world's first modern republic; inspired French Revolution; concept of "checks and balances" in government

🇫🇷 French Revolution (1789–1799)

Causes: Financial crisis; unfair taxation (nobles and clergy exempt); food shortage; Enlightenment ideas (Rousseau, Voltaire, Montesquieu)
Storming of Bastille: 14 July 1789 — France's National Day (Bastille Day)
Slogan: Liberty, Equality, Fraternity
Reign of Terror (1793–94): Robespierre; mass executions; Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette guillotined
Napoleon Bonaparte: Rose from revolution; became Emperor 1804; spread revolutionary ideas across Europe; Code Napoleon; defeated at Waterloo (1815)
Impact: Ended feudalism; spread nationalism; modern legal systems based on Code Napoleon

🇷🇺 Russian Revolution (1917)

Causes: WWI defeats; food shortage; Tsar Nicholas II's autocracy; rising socialist ideas among workers
February Revolution: Tsar abdicated; Provisional Government (Kerensky) took power
October Revolution (Nov in modern calendar): Bolsheviks (led by Lenin) seized power — "Peace, Land, Bread"
Lenin's tactics: Appealed directly to war-weary soldiers (peace), landless peasants (land), and hungry workers (bread)
Outcome: World's first Communist state; USSR formed (1922); Cold War decades later

PART 2 — WORLD WARS

2. World War I (1914–1918)

WWI — MAIN Causes Framework (AFCAT Tested)

M — Militarism

European powers in an arms race; Germany vs. Britain naval rivalry
Military planning overtook diplomacy

A — Alliance System

Triple Alliance: Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy
Triple Entente: France, Russia, Britain
One conflict = all nations dragged in

I — Imperialism

Competition for colonies in Africa and Asia
Moroccan Crises nearly caused war before 1914

N — Nationalism

Pan-Slavic nationalism in Balkans
Serbia vs. Austria-Hungary; "Powder keg of Europe"

Immediate cause: Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand (heir to Austria-Hungary) at Sarajevo, Bosnia by Gavrilo Princip (Bosnian Serb), 28 June 1914
Allied Powers: France, Britain, Russia (later USA from 1917)
Central Powers: Germany, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire
Trench warfare; poison gas; stalemate on Western Front for 4 years
USA entered 1917 after Germany's unrestricted submarine warfare threatened American ships
War ended 11 November 1918 — Armistice Day
Treaty of Versailles (1919): Germany blamed for war ("War Guilt Clause"); massive reparations; territory lost; army limited; League of Nations formed; these humiliating terms planted the seeds of WWII

3. World War II (1939–1945)

Causes: Harsh Versailles Treaty → German humiliation → Hitler and Nazi Party rose; Mussolini in Italy; appeasement by Britain/France failed; Hitler invaded Poland 1 September 1939 → Britain and France declared war
Key events: Germany's Blitzkrieg conquered France (1940); Battle of Britain (RAF defeated Luftwaffe); Pearl Harbor (7 Dec 1941) → USA entered war; D-Day (6 June 1944) — Allied landing in Normandy; Germany surrendered 8 May 1945
Pacific: Japan surrendered after atomic bombs on Hiroshima (6 August) and Nagasaki (9 August) 1945
Allied leaders ("Big Three"): Churchill (UK), Roosevelt (USA), Stalin (USSR)
Outcomes: United Nations founded (1945) — 51 original members; Cold War began; decolonisation accelerated; Nuremberg Trials for Nazi war crimes

PART 3 — THE COLD WAR

4. Cold War (1947–1991)

🏴‍☠︎ USA's Side — West

NATO (1949): Military alliance — USA, UK, France, West Germany
Truman Doctrine (1947): USA would support any country threatened by communism
Marshall Plan (1947): $13 billion to rebuild Western European economies; prevent communism spreading to desperate, poor nations
Capitalism, democracy, freedom of markets

★ USSR's Side — East

Warsaw Pact (1955): USSR + Eastern European communist states
"Iron Curtain" (Churchill's phrase) divided Europe
Berlin Wall (1961–1989): Most powerful symbol of Cold War division — built to stop East Germans escaping to the West
Communism, state ownership, planned economy

Key Cold War Events AFCAT Tests:
● Cuban Missile Crisis (1962): USSR placed nuclear missiles in Cuba; USA blockaded; 13 days of maximum tension; closest the world came to nuclear war; Kennedy + Khrushchev negotiated removal
● Korean War (1950–53): North Korea (communist) vs. South Korea (USA/UN); ended in stalemate; Korea still divided at 38th Parallel
● Space Race: USSR — Sputnik (first satellite, 1957); Yuri Gagarin (first human in space, April 1961); USA — Apollo 11 (first Moon landing, Neil Armstrong, 20 July 1969)
● End of Cold War: USSR dissolved 1991; Berlin Wall fell 9 November 1989; Gorbachev's reforms (Glasnost + Perestroika)

📝 AFCAT PYQs — World History

Q1. The immediate cause of World War I was: AFCAT PYQ

(a) Germany's invasion of Poland(b) Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand(c) USA's entry into the war(d) The Treaty of Versailles

✔ Answer: (b) Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand

The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand (heir to Austria-Hungary) on 28 June 1914 in Sarajevo (Bosnia) by Bosnian Serb Gavrilo Princip was the immediate trigger. It set off the Alliance System like a chain of dominoes: Austria declared war on Serbia → Russia mobilised → Germany declared war on Russia → Germany declared war on France → Britain declared war on Germany. The underlying causes (MAIN: Militarism, Alliances, Imperialism, Nationalism) had been building for decades — the assassination was the spark. Germany's invasion of Poland was the immediate cause of WWII (1939) — a very common AFCAT confusion.

Q2. The Cuban Missile Crisis (1962) was a confrontation between: AFCAT PYQ

(a) USA and Cuba(b) USA and USSR(c) USSR and Cuba(d) USA and North Korea

✔ Answer: (b) USA and USSR

The Cuban Missile Crisis (October 1962) was the most dangerous moment of the Cold War — between USA (President Kennedy) and USSR (Premier Khrushchev). The USSR had secretly installed nuclear missiles in Cuba (90 miles from Florida). USA blockaded Cuba; Soviet ships were sailing toward the blockade; the world held its breath for 13 days. Eventually negotiated: USSR removed missiles; USA pledged not to invade Cuba (and secretly removed its missiles from Turkey). The crisis led to the creation of the Moscow–Washington "hotline" for direct communication.

Q3. Which treaty formally ended World War I? AFCAT PYQ

(a) Treaty of Paris(b) Treaty of Berlin(c) Treaty of Versailles(d) Treaty of Westphalia

✔ Answer: (c) Treaty of Versailles

The Treaty of Versailles (28 June 1919 — exactly 5 years after the assassination that started the war) formally ended WWI. It placed full war guilt on Germany, demanded enormous reparations (~$33 billion), stripped Germany of territory (Alsace-Lorraine to France), limited Germany's army to 100,000, and gave away Germany's colonies. Also created the League of Nations. The Treaty's harshness created precisely the resentment that Hitler exploited to rise to power — making it one of history's most consequential diplomatic documents in terms of unintended consequences.

🧠 Quick Memory Chart — HA05

🏭 Revolutions

American: 4 July 1776; Boston Tea Party 1773
French: Bastille 14 July 1789; Liberty-Equality-Fraternity
Russian: Lenin + Bolsheviks; October 1917
Napoleon: rose from French Revolution; Code Napoleon

☠ World Wars

WWI: 1914–18; Franz Ferdinand killed; Versailles Treaty
WWII: 1939–45; Germany invades Poland; Pearl Harbor 1941
Hiroshima: 6 Aug; Nagasaki: 9 Aug 1945
UN founded 1945 (51 original members)

☆ Cold War

NATO 1949 (USA); Warsaw Pact 1955 (USSR)
Cuban Missile Crisis 1962: 13 days; nearest to nuclear war
Moon landing: Apollo 11; Neil Armstrong; 20 July 1969
Berlin Wall: built 1961; fell 9 Nov 1989
USSR dissolved 1991; Cold War ended

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