This paper surveys the pivotal events that defined the first half of the twentieth century, examining the Chinese Revolution, the Russian Revolution, India's independence movement, World War I and the Treaty of Versailles, and World War II. The paper traces the interconnections among these events — arguing, for instance, that the Russian Revolution inspired both the Chinese Communist movement and anti-colonial struggles globally, and that the punitive Treaty of Versailles sowed the conditions for the Second World War. Drawing on primary quotations from Mao Zedong, Leon Trotsky, and Jawaharlal Nehru, the paper demonstrates how each major event created the political and social conditions that shaped the next.
The paper demonstrates causal chaining across discrete historical events: rather than treating the Chinese Revolution, Russian Revolution, Indian independence, and the two World Wars as isolated topics, the writer explicitly argues how the outcome of each event shaped the conditions for the next. This technique — tracing cause and effect across a broad chronological sweep — is essential in comparative history essays and shows how to synthesize multiple sources into a coherent analytical narrative.
The paper opens with a brief framing introduction, then devotes one section each to the Chinese Revolution, Russian Revolution, Indian independence movement, WWI and the Treaty of Versailles, and WWII. Each section follows a similar internal logic: background context, key turning points, and a closing sentence linking that event to the others. The final paragraph of the WWII section serves as the conclusion, reflecting on whether the twenty-first century will repeat the upheavals of the twentieth.
The twentieth century was tumultuous, particularly during its former half, as the world witnessed two major world wars, numerous revolutions, and nationalist struggles — each holding a significant bearing on the others. The major events examined here are the Chinese Revolution, the Russian Revolution, India's independence movement, World War I and the Treaty of Versailles, and World War II. Though these events do not fall in neat chronological order, and each spans several years, the developments and undercurrents of one greatly influenced the others.
Revolution in China began in 1911, with the National Party of China — the Kuomintang (KMT) — playing the major role initially. The primary motive of the revolution was to solve the political and economic problems that plagued Chinese society at the turn of the century: feudalism and semi-feudal patterns of relations in agricultural production, the need for agrarian reforms with modern methods of production, the need to prepare the ground for industrial development, and the goal of ending absolutism and replacing it with a modern state. The Chinese Communist Party — Kung Tsiang Tang — emerged in 1920–21 under the leadership of Mao Zedong. It was founded along essentially the same lines as the Russian Bolshevik Party, the Russian Revolution thus directly influencing the Chinese Revolution.
In the mid-1920s, both the Nationalists and the Communists joined forces in the Northern Expedition to fight Chinese warlords. However, the alliance broke down in 1927, and the Nationalists under Chiang Kai-shek assumed government in 1930. Japan's invasion of China in 1931, and its acquisition of Manchuria in 1932 and of Beijing, Shanghai, and Nanjing in 1937, redirected the course of the revolution. Chiang Kai-shek proved ineffective in responding to the Japanese invaders and even ceded northeastern China to them. Despite their differences, the Communists again joined the Nationalists in resisting further invasion, a patriotic stance that appealed strongly to the local population. Japan's defeat in 1945 in the Second World War proved a decisive factor in the success of the Chinese Revolution. The civil war between Nationalists and Communists resumed after Japan's retreat from China, and the Nationalists' poor wartime performance and unpopularity among the peasant class led to their defeat after four years of conflict in 1949.
The Nationalists were driven from the Chinese mainland and took refuge on the island of Formosa — Taiwan as it is known today. Mao emerged victorious, consistent with his belief that "The revolutionary war is a war of the masses; it can be waged only by mobilizing the masses and relying on them" (Tse-Tung, 1934). The Communist Party was finally in a position to proclaim the People's Republic of China in October 1949 and to establish its rule over the whole country. It could be said that the Russian Revolution reinvigorated the Chinese Revolution, while the developments of World War II facilitated its success. The end of the revolution marked the victory of communism in China.
Though revolution in Russia against the autocratic tsars is considered to have begun in 1905 with Bloody Sunday, it was in 1917 that the revolution gathered momentum, with Moscow joining the uprising following the Petrograd rising. The background to the revolution is described by Trotsky: "The disorganised, compromised, disintegrated government at the top, the army shaken to the depths, the discontent, uncertainty and fear among the ruling classes, deep bitterness in the popular masses, the numerically developed proletariat tempered in the fire of events — all this gives us the right to say that we are witnessing the beginning of the second Russian revolution." (Trotsky, 1917)
The defeat of ill-equipped Russian armies and rising poverty and starvation deaths in Petrograd and Moscow led the Tsar to take personal command of the war in 1915, after dismissing his commander-in-chief. The situation became desperate: the Tsarina fell under the influence of Rasputin, while Tsar Nicholas II remained in Petrograd, ill-informed of developments. Rasputin was murdered by Russian nobles in December 1916. The revolution regained force in February 1917 when workers in Petrograd went on strike and the soldiers sent to suppress the strikers refused to obey orders. The Tsar attempted to return to Petrograd but was forced to abdicate en route, and a Provisional Government assumed control of Russia.
The Provisional Government, being essentially a temporary arrangement pending general elections, declined to make major decisions — including ending the war with Germany, as many Russians demanded. The Bolsheviks, who were well organized under the Military Committee of the Petrograd Soviet and led by Lenin and Trotsky, began to revolt against Alexander Kerensky, the leader of the Provisional Government, who had by then become deeply unpopular. In August 1917, the Provisional Government lost the support of the army, resulting in the Kornilov Revolt. General Kornilov suspected that Kerensky — by then elected prime minister — would seize personal power, and in an effort to protect himself, tried to have him arrested. Kerensky sought the help of the Bolsheviks, the majority party, who, after a failed attempt to seize power in July (the July Days), succeeded in taking control of the Winter Palace in Petrograd on the night of October 25, 1917.
On assuming power, Lenin issued two of the most revolutionary decrees of the time: the "Land Decree" — declaring that land belonged to the people who farmed it — and the "Peace Decree" — ending the war with Germany. Though the decrees were aimed at winning support for the Bolsheviks, the party came only second to the Socialist-Revolutionaries in the general elections of November. When the Constituent Assembly of the new Russian Parliament met on January 5, it was dispersed, and Lenin assumed power as a dictator. What followed was a vehement implementation of communism: all other political parties were banned, newspapers were censored, a secret police force was established, and land, property, businesses, and banks were seized from the Russian Orthodox Church and private owners. In March 1918, a peace treaty was signed with Germany and Russia withdrew from the First World War. All loans the Allies had extended to Russia were repudiated. By 1920, the Revolution had ended and the Bolsheviks had established their rule over Russia, marking the beginning of a communist regime that would last seventy-four years.
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