Russia+and+China+1914+-+present

=In Depth pg.684=

A Century of Revolutions
 * rural discontent was crucial
 * peasants were newly spurred by pressures of the population growth and resentment of land owners
 * increased taxes on peasantry
 * western-centered, global market system as well as the spread of the industrial revolution fed the rise of revolutionary movements
 * in colonies, educated africans and asians became deeply committed to finding independence and decent jobs that didnt question their dignity
 * economic slumps helped feed the revolutionaries' need for change and the world wars also helped
 * increase in global interconnectedness in 20th cent. was critical
 * underlying intellectual climate also contributed to sharp rise in need for revolution
 * revolutionary ideologues sought to overthrow existing regimes that they viewed as exploitive and oppressive
 * working classes, urban poor, and peasantry= people were working to better the conditions for these groups of people...also racially
 * the need to come to terms with the western influence was another important ingredient of 20th cent. revolutions
 * though many people wanted to remove western influence from their nations

questions:
 * internal and external forces that weakened govt of mexico and china in the opening decades of 20th cent.
 * peasants lost land to moneylenders in mexico--> corrupt govt...they looked after their economy more than the actual people
 * racial issues and poor living conditions weakened the govt because people couldve protested and boycotted and refused to work until the racial and conditions issues were resolved...this couldve taken a long time
 * handicraft producers, western educated africans and asians, urban laborers, returning soldiers from wars, revolutionary ideologues all had important roles behind revolutions in mexico, africa, and china
 * in all three revolutionary cases, they basically started with the lower class people who wanted better conditions and not to be descriminated all the time. this peasantry united and decided to fight back for what they thought they deserved. In these three cases, corruption of the government played a huge part in provoking the lower classes to revolt.

Russia