Norman Lowe - Mastering Modern World History

Mastering

Modern World History

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Mastering

Modern World History

Fifth edition

Norman Lowe

Norman Lowe 1982, 1988, 1997, 2005, 2013

All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission.

No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 610 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS.

Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

First edition published 1982

Second edition published 1988

Third edition published 1997

Fourth edition published 2005

Fifth edition published 2013

Published by

PALGRAVE MACMILLAN

Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS.

Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St. Martins Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.

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ISBN: 9781137276940

This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13

Printed in China

For Jane

List of figures

List of maps

List of tables

List of illustrations

Acknowledgements

The author and publishers wish to thank the following for permission to reproduce copyright material:

Guardian News & Media Ltd. for from Our World this Century by D. Heater (OUP, 1992), copyright Oxford University Press 1982, reprinted by permission of Oxford University Press.

The following photograph sources are acknowledged for Illustrations included throughout the book:

Camera Press, 23.1; Corbis Images, 6.3, 7.2, 14.3, 19.1, 22.1, 23.2; Getty Images, 2.1, 6.1, 6.2, 7.1, 12.1, 12.2, 14.1, 14.2, 17.1, 25.1; International Planned Parenthood Federation, 28.1; Press Association, 8.1, 20.1.

Preface to the fifth edition

This fifth edition of Mastering Modern World History is designed to meet the needs of students following AS and A-level History courses. The questions are mostly in the current styles of the three examination boards, AQA, Edexcel and OCR. I hope that the book will be useful for GCSE students and that it will provide an introduction to the study of twentieth-and early twenty-first-century world history for first-year undergraduates. The general reader who wants to keep abreast of world affairs should also find the book helpful.

So much has happened since I put the finishing touches to the fourth edition in 2005, and the pace of change seems to be quickening. This makes it more difficult to get a stable perspective on the state of the modern world. The historian has to trace a careful way through all the available sources of information, and try to be as objective as possible in getting as close as possible to the truth. The problem of course is that it is difficult to be completely objective: writers from different cultures, religions, states and political groups will produce widely differing accounts of the same events, and so we are faced with many conflicting theories and interpretations. After reviewing, for example, the different theories about what really caused the First World War, or about whether colonialism was a good thing or not, history teachers are sometimes asked questions like: Yes, thats all very interesting, but whats the right answer? Whats the truth? However, as AS- and A-level students go deeper into their study of history, they will, hopefully, develop skills of analysis and argument as well as a critical and sceptical approach to historical controversy. They will come to realize that it is sometimes impossible to decide what the truth is all we can say is what our view of the truth is, based on our study of the different interpretations.

Inevitably this edition is much longer than its predecessor. There is a new chapter on Latin America, and new sections dealing with important events and developments since 2005. The associated website (www.palgrave.com/masterseries/Lowe) contains a selection of source-based questions. New sections include:

• The 2008 financial crisis and its aftermath
• The Arab Spring