Chapter 26 Chapter Summary

Major changes in leadership and government accompanied the new geopolitical order after World War I. While the Great Depression created conditions for totalitarian rulers to rise and thrive, the mass media gave them the vehicle to mobilize the masses towards their causes. With the new totalitarian leaders firmly entrenched in countries like Japan, Germany, Italy, and the Soviet Union, the competition among them led to a second global war. World War II officially began in Asia, with Japan’s imperial desires, and was greatly expanded by the appeasement of Western democratic leaders. As the war waged on, the Allies were able to secure victory through somewhat unlikely alliances, but the victory in itself was only the beginning of the next great struggle between the two newly emerged superpowers: the United States and the Soviet Union. While the global war that devastated countries and populations was not repeated in the Cold War, fear and tensions remained high. However, as the Counterpoint of this chapter examines, even during the war, some individuals and groups used nonviolence and pacifism to try to achieve their aims and goals, most notably Nigerian women and Mahatma Gandhi.