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Presidancy of Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna
This was significant because Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna first became president of Mexico in 1833 following the ending of the last president's session on the 31st of March 1833. Santa Anna would go on to become president of Mexico ten more times and fight in many battles, including The Alamo and the Battle of San Jacinto -
The Texas Revolution
The Texas Revolution began on October 2, 1835 at the Battle of Gonzales. This was significant because the Mexicans attempted to keep Texas in it's grasp, but they were eventually defeated and Texas was annexed to the U.S.A. -
The Alamo
The battle at The Alamo was fought between February 23, 1836 and March 6, 1836. This is significant because it was a battle between the Texans and the Mexicans, the Mexicans being led by Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. The Mexicans won the battle and moved farther into Texas as they tried to reclaim the territory. -
La Reforma
This was significant because it was started by Benito Juarez and several other people. It was a liberal reform movement focused in Mexico on the redistribution of land, the separation of church and state, and increased educational opportunities for poor people. -
Benito Juarez
He was significant because he was one of the leaders of La Reforma, a liberal reform movement in Mexico. He became Mexico’s president in January of 1861 and he helped improve the country by promoting trade, opening new roads, building railroads, and establishing a telegraph system. -
Porfirio Diaz becomes President of Mexico
Diaz is significant because he was a dictator during his rule. He did make improvements to the country by making railroads, building banks, stabilizing the country, and increasing foreign trade. However, the rich got richer and acquired more land but did not use that land wisely. Thus, food prices rose considerably. -
Bismark forms an alliance between Austria-Hungary and Germany
This is significant because this was the beginning of the Triple Alliance. It is also significant because when Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia, Germany will be forced to help. -
The Triple Entente and Alliance
When Germany declined the alliance with Russia, Russia decided to then make an alliance with Britain and France, creating the Triple Entente. Then Germany made an alliance with Austria-Hungary and Italy, creating the Triple Alliance. These two factions are significant because they were the main sides of World War I. When these alliances were formed, they caused the "powder keg" of Europe, meaning that if even one of these countries declared war, the other main powers of Europe would join it, -
Kaiser Wilhelm II becomes leader of Germany
This is significant because Kaiser Wilhelm II brought a huge wave of militarism into Germany. He built up the German navy to rival the British navy and this also caused a lot of nationalism. Wilhelm also cancelled an alliance with Russia and later fired Chancellor Bismark. -
Francisco "Pancho" Villa
Pancho Villa was significant because he had a Robin Hood type style of robbing from the rich and giving to the poor. However, he later fought directly against Victoriano Huerta along with Venustiano Carranza. -
The Schlieffen Plan
The Schlieffen was created in December of 1905, but not executed until World War I in 1914. It is significant because when it was executed, Germany could not win the fast victory against France it wanted, and it resulted in trench warfare and the Western Front. In the trenches, new weapons of war such as gas, machine guns, and tanks were put to use, causing horrible amounts of deaths on both sides. The Eastern Front was between Russia and Germany and Germany had to send soldiers to both fronts. -
Emiliano Zapata
Zapata is significant because he is a famous revolutionary of Mexico who fought with Madero against Porfirio Diaz. He pushed for radical reforms in Mexico, but was murdered. He also had a group of followers known as Zapatistas. -
Francisco Madero becomes President of Mexico
Francisco Madero was significant because he became President and was set on making reforms, however he created a cabinet which consisted of many of Porfirio's supporters and so some of his reforms came to pass, though none of them very radical. His presidency ended in 1913, after Victoriano Huerta took over, and Madero was later assassinated. -
Victoriano Huerta
Victoriano Huerta is significant because: he first served under Porfirio Diaz. Then after Diaz's exile, he served under Madero until he betrayed Madero and forced him to resign from presidency. It's very likely that he then had Madero and the old Vice-President murdered. He then became a dictator. -
Archduke Ferdinand is assassinated in Sarajevo
This is significant because it causes Austria-Hungary to declare war on Serbia. This drags Germany into the war as well, and the war eventually grows into World War I. Soon the war became a Total War and all resources from the countries involved were used towards the war. Governments also used propaganda to persuade people to join the war and to keep morale up. -
Central Powers
This is significant because when Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, which dragged Germany and Italy into war, and Russia, Britain, and France declared war too, Italy decided to switch sides to join with the Triple Entente, creating the Allies. With Italy gone the Triple Alliance was over and Austria-Hungary and Germany became known as the Central Powers during World War I. -
Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia
This is significant because it causes Russia to declare war as well. These declarations of war drag Germany, France, and Britain into a war which is now known as World War I. During this war some supplies became hard to get and so governments resorted to rationing: allowing people only a small amount of what was hard to get, or needed in the war -
The Western Front
It is significant because the Western Front was created when the German military put the Schlieffen Plan into action to try and defeat France quickly so they could focus against Russia. However, the Schlieffen Plan failed and they started trench warfare which lasted until Germany declared an Armistice. -
The Mexican Constitution is made
This is significant because it was approved by Venustiano Carranza and is still in use today. It broke up large estates, restricted foreign ownership of land, and gave the government control of resources such as oil. It also allowed the state to take over land owned by the Church and gave workers the right to strike. The constitution also gave women limited legal rights. -
Provisional Government
The Provisional Government was set up in Russia in 1917 and went through several leaders in that time. It is significant because it did not end Russia's part in World War I as many Russians had hoped it would and the Provisional Government was soon disbanded in favor of Lenin and the Bolsheviks. -
Germany announces unrestricted submarine warfare
This is significant because it was used to destroy passenger ships which upset the Americans, and was one of the main reasons the U.S joined the war. -
Bolsheviks take over Russia
The Bolsheviks, or the "Red Army" as they were known, were an extremist communist group led by Lenin and aimed to make Russia communist. They eventually succeeded and defeated the opposing White Army even though they had support from other countries. The Bolsheviks are significant because after they took over Russia, they turned it into the USSR and they formed the Communist Party which would rule Russia for quite a few years. -
White Army
The White Army is significant because it opposed the Red Army in the Revolution. Even though the White Army lost, it showed there was a lot of opposition towards Russian communism. -
Lenin becomes leader of Russia
He is significant because he was the leader of the Communist Party who controlled the USSR. He also changed communism by allowing some people to have private property, and the Communist Party was the government of the USSR instead of a proletariat which would be formed by the workers whenever there was a crisis. -
Influenza Epidemic
The spanish flu broke out across Europe, Asia, and the U.S, causing 20 million people to die in total. This is significant because of the sheer number of people who died and also because it was one of the most deadly diseases of its time. -
Armistice declared
Kaiser Wilhelm stepped down and a representative of the new German government met with French commander Marshal Foch to sign an armistice. This is significant because it ended World War I. -
Emiliano Zapata is Murdered
This was significant because it caused the Zapatistas to fall apart and allowed Venustiano Carranza to gain better control over Mexico. It also allowed for more peace, as there was less fighting. -
George Clemenceau
George Clemenceau is significant because he brought the Peace of Vengeance plan to put into the Treaty of Versailles. He was also significant because the Peace of Vengeance plan was fully put into play in the Treaty and it mostly punished Germany even though Austria-Hungary started the war. -
Woodrow Wilson
He is significant because during the Paris Peace Conference he brought forward his Fourteen Points. The Fourteen Points called for countries to have their borders based on racial boundaries and for people in those countries to have self-determination, or the ability to decide what happened in those countries for themselves. -
Treaty of Versailles
The treaty of versailles was created and signed in 1919. Woodrow Wilson, the President of the U.S., George Clemenceau from France, David Lloyd George from Britain, and Vitorio Orlando of Italy created the Treaty. The war-guilt clause was added to the Treaty and it made Germany admit to starting the war when they actually hadn't. It upset many Germans and made them not want to sign the Treaty but they did anyways. -
League of Nations created.
The League of Nations was an organization created to keep the peace between countries by having representatives talk out their problems instead of going to war. This was the first draft of the United Nations we have today and it is significant because the United States did not join the League of Nations even though the president, Woodrow Wilson, first put forward the idea and this would eventually lead to further problems. -
USSR Formed
This is significant because it was no longer Russia, it was many countries joined together to form the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics. This created the term soviet which referred to someone who lived within the USSR and had given up their nationality to join it. -
Joseph Stalin takes over the Communist Party
This is significant because when Joseph Stalin took over after Lenin's death, he began to exile his competition, and eventually began killing any people he saw as a threat to his rule. Stalin was not his true name, as he had changed his real last name to Stalin or "Man of Steel" earlier in his life.
