From there, the country will be able to enter the second phase. At this point, the nation would be viewed as a country that implements fully-realized Communism, where class divisions and government are no longer in existence. Born on April 22, , Vladimir Lenin followed in Marx's footsteps in that Lenin was a philosopher who analyzed politics and crafted theories around what he saw. Lenin did not have identical beliefs to Karl Marx, but his ideologies were deeply rooted in Communism, much like Marx.
Leninism goes so far as to proclaim that socialism can only be achieved once the working class reaches a level of political consciousness that government officials withhold. Under Leninist beliefs, the working class can only overthrow the government and successfully instill socialism once the people understand how the government works.
The basic idea is to get inside the heads of government officials, figure out how they operate, and then find ways to unravel their power. Under the combined political theory of Marxism and Leninism, the concept of private property and an economy centered on profits are replaced with public ownership. Overall communal control of both natural resources and the means of production are also characteristics of Communism.
This includes open access to mills, factories, and mines, to name a few sources of production. During the twentieth century, about one-third of the world's population lived under Communist rule. The region that contained the most heavily concentrated Communist countries was the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union's economy was inefficient, leading to the country's collapse in the early s.
As World War II started coming to an end, many European countries were divided based on the political parties they supported. Nations took sides, with some countries supporting the Axis Powers, while others supported the Allies. A handful of countries that were in agreeance with the Allies became known as the Soviet-controlled Eastern Bloc. The countries that made up the Eastern Bloc were in favor of Communism, and they were officially controlled by the Soviet Union.
The group of countries known as the Balkans were also under total Communist rule. These Balkan countries were:. While many countries were previously under Communist rule, what countries are still Communist today? The defeat also significantly destabilized German society and politics, leading to a series of revolutions and attempted coups Putsches throughout the s as various different radical groups ranging from communists to militarists sought to take over the Weimar government.
Amidst the disorder, a fringe group slowly rose to prominence: they were the National Socialists, or Nazis. They first emerged on the German political scene in when they attempted the Beer Hall Putsch in Munich, a plot where they sought to take over the Weimar government by force. After six years of recovery and even some economic prosperity for Germany, the Great Depression of once again threw Weimar Germany in a desperate economic state, prompting many German voters to seek radical political options, including National Socialism.
In , the Nazis were elected to become the leading party of the German parliament, campaigning on the promise to restore German greatness by taking revenge on Britain and France for the Treaty of Versailles.
The next year, an arsonist attempted to burn the German parliament building the Reichstag , which Hitler and his Nazi Party used as a pretext to seize full dictatorial control of Germany. Over the next twelve years, they entirely dismantled the democratic political establishment; instituted the worst genocide in human history, the Holocaust; and started the bloodiest war humankind has ever experienced, World War II. As a result, they may seek non-democratic alternatives that will protect their wealth, status, or political influence from being taken away by rival elites, or even average voters.
These non-democratic alternatives may then take power through a variety of methods. One means is to use democracy against itself. In this situation, a specific party wins an election and then uses its position as the leader of the government to curtail democratic rights, such as cancelling future elections.
At other times, a democracy may collapse in a significantly more violent fashion, such as through a coup or revolution. In the case of a revolution, a significant portion of the population mobilizes itself against the current reigning government and then overthrows that government, promptly instating an alternative government which is not necessarily democratic in nature. What is more often the case, however, is that democracy can be ended through a hostile coup against the democratically-elected government, where a relatively small but powerful political faction such as the military or an intelligence service overthrows the elected officials.
The newly established post-coup regime, usually claiming the excuse of a national emergency, then curtails democratic rights, governing instead through dictatorial means. Prior to , Chile had been a successful and long-standing democracy in South America. However, starting in the mids, Chilean politics became increasingly more fractious between capitalist conservatives backed by the United States, and the supporters of socialism and communism backed by the Soviet Union and Cuba.
While the responsibilities of all governments are similar, those duties are executed in different ways depending on the form of government. Some of the different types of government include a direct democracy, a representative democracy, socialism, communism, a monarchy, an oligarchy, and an autocracy. Help your students understand the different forms of government with these classroom resources. Industrialization ushered much of the world into the modern era, revamping patterns of human settlement, labor, and family life.
Socialism is a political and economic system wherein property and resources are owned in common or by the state. Globalization is the connection of different parts of the world. Globalization results in the expansion of international cultural, economic, and political activities. Join our community of educators and receive the latest information on National Geographic's resources for you and your students.
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