Lecture:Interbellum

I'll gladly, I'm probably doing either Colonial Troubles or the Russian Revolution/Civil War today, so I'll find some pics for those.

Will we have tests, teacher? I'm looking forward for your first class!

Class is now in session! NO MORE FOOD FIGHTS!

Our first topic:Colonial Troubles (No, I'm not going in order). We'll be covering the Spanish Rif War in Morocco, the IRGUN and conflict in Palestine, the division of Germany's colonies after WWI and we'll talk a little bit about the American-Filipino War as well as the Franco-Syrian War. We will not talk about the Irish struggle for independence, the Japanese encroachment into China, the Turkish Wars of independence or the split up of the Middle East and the Arabian Unification. All of those we will over in another lecture in another day.

First, we shall talk about a somewhat unknown conflict with HUGE repercussions in the long run. I am talking about the Spanish Rif War in Morocco.



General Franco commanding a battalion of Spanish Troops. Franco would later become the fascist dictator of Spain during and after the Spanish Civil War.


The Rif War began when the Second Moroccan Crisis in 1912 ended with Franco gaining most of Morocco and with Spain gaining the Rif, the portion of Northern Morocco closest to Spain. When Spanish troops entered the Rif to assert their control, local tribal soldiers quickly and forcibly pushed them out. The war continued to go on until the 20's, only ending after the French got involved along with a large naval landing in the Rif. While this may sound simple and kind of boring, this war was the tipping point of the Monarchal government in Spain. There had been many decades of instability in Spain, not helped by the loss of their colonies to America in 1898. This war caused a Military Junta to take charge in Spain in the 20's due to such instability. The junta was then replaced by a republic, but the Great Depression hit, making the government extremely weak. In 1936, ultimately, the Spanish Civil War began. Well go further into that when we talk about Fascism.

Next off, the problems in British controlled Palestine!




During WWI, the British had offered to create an Arab state for the Arabs if they rebelled against the Ottomans, which they did. They also, however, created the Balfour Declaration which allowed for unlimited Jewish immigration to Palestine. They also planned to take Palestine for themselves. Obviously, violence insued. Multiple Arab revolts occurred which eventually led to the British revoking the Balfour Declaration. This angered the Jews living in Palestine, who formed the Terrorist Group named IRGUN. The IRGUN did not actually attack many, if any, Arabs. They mainly attacked British symbols of powers and British barracks. They specialized in Urban/Selective terrorism. This was successful, and the British pulled out in 1947 after the bombing of the King David Hotel. That's not part of Interbellum though.
Moving onto the division of the German Colonies after WWI and all the other little wars I'd like to mention.






Prior to WWI, Germany had most of Cameroon, Togo, Namibia, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, many Polynesian islands, northern Papua New Guinea and a city in China. Here's where the land went to:Togo and Cameroon were split between Franco and Britain, Franco having most of Cameroon and Togo being split pretty evenly. All of Namibia went to the British dominion of South Africa. Rwanda and Burundi were given to Belgium, Tanzania was given to Britain, and a tiny bit of Tanzanian land was given to Portuguese Mozambique. Germany's Polynesian islands were split between Japan and Australia, Papua New Guinea was given to Australia, and the Chinese city was given to Japan. The Franco-Syrian War was a war where the French were trying to assert control over Syria (which they did) from the local tribal leaders. The Filipino-American war occurred right after the Spanish American War and went on until the 20's. The war began when Filipino rebels rose up because they wanted independence from the USA. 

Any questions? Did I do well? Any requests tomorrow? Tomorrow will be the Russian Revolution/Civil War.

Great presentation! We need WWI and Cold War presentation

Glad that now we have history classes in this forum