When Christopher Columbus landed in the Caribbean more than 500 years ago, he did not know that the American continent existed. He thought that he had landed in the Indies, which is how the Europeans used to call Asia back then. So, he referred to the people he met there as Indians.
Columbus made four voyages to the Americas. During these four voyages, he explored the Caribbean in great detail. He also explored the coastal areas of Central and South America to some extent.
The Spanish (and other European) explorers who came after him ventured deeper into other parts of the American continent as well – North America, Central America, and South America. They met different kinds of people there, like the Aztecs, the Maya, etc. These native populations were the original inhabitants of the Americas. But the Europeans defeated them, displaced them, and settled in the Americas.
As a result of this colonization and the European diseases, most of these native populations were almost wiped out. Only a very small portion of them remain today.
Over the past 500 years, these people have been given various names – Native Indians, Native Americans, American Indians, Amerindians, etc.
Today, we refer to these people as the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas.
But who were these people? Where did they come from? And, Why did they come to the Americas? Continue reading to find out.
Where did the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas come from?
The first humans came into existence more than two million years ago. Since then, our ancestors have evolved, moved to other parts of the world, and even created some impressive civilizations.
But while our ancestors were busy leaving their mark all around Europe, Asia, and Africa, the American continent remained untouched. It did not even see a single human for the most part of this human history. But all this changed in the last ice age, which ended around 11,700 years ago.
During the last ice age, the average global temperature was around 8°C lower than it is today. So, several countries were completely covered in ice and tall glaciers, and hence, were uninhabitable. But since so much water was in the form of ice, the global sea levels were significantly lower. As a result, a large area of land appeared between Alaska and Siberia, where the Bering Sea is today. You could consider this area as a bridge between Asia and America. Hence, it was called the Bering Land Bridge, or simply Beringia.
Beringia was a bit damper than its neighboring Siberia. So, it would have had lots of woody shrubs and trees. Hence, Beringia became an ideal environment for large herbivorous animals like bison and mammoths, according to Scott Elias, who reconstructs past climates and works as a professor in Royal Holloway, University London.
The early humans, who were hunter-gatherers, could have easily survived by hunting these animals. Moreover, they could have used the woody shrubs and tree barks to ignite the bones of these animals. After all, the bones of big animals have a lot of fat in their marrows, and fat can be burned.
Four types of woody plants: (A) Shrub, here with five stems, branching as in the basic model (about 50 cm tall). (B) Tree with the main stem throughout the plant. (C) Tree with a short main stem with many branches, forming most of the plant. (D) Tree with multiple stems. (C,D) are from Ceco.NET, (B) is from Natural Resources Canada (red alder; tidcf.nrcan.gc.ca), and (A) is from Researchgate.
But when did these people move to Beringia? How long did they live there? And when did they leave Beringia and move to the Americas?
These were some of the questions that were puzzling historians for the most part of the last century. But two significant discoveries made in the last two decades have helped them find the answers they were seeking.
But for them to become so genetically different from their Asian counterparts who stayed back in Siberia, they must have stayed somewhere completely isolated for thousands of years.
So, Erika and her colleagues theorized that the Asians who traveled to Beringia did not move to the Americas immediately. Instead, they stayed in Beringia for thousands of years. During this time, their genes changed completely. Their theory came to be known as the Beringian standstill hypothesis. It is one of the most widely accepted theories regarding the peopling of the Americas.
In 2017, Lauriane Bourgeon and her team found evidence of human life 24,000 years ago in the Bluefish caves in Western Canada. Since this is where Eastern Beringia was located, it proves that early humans moved to Beringia almost 24,000 years ago.
But at that time, the icy sheets covering various parts of the world were at their maximum heights. So, they couldn’t enter North America because Canada, completely covered in ice, would have blocked their entry.
Therefore, they might have stayed in Beringia for almost ten thousand years. Then, around 15,000 years ago, they started moving rapidly and settled in different parts of America.
Migration from Beringia to the Americas
There are different theories as to how they moved to different parts of America. When the ice started melting and the sea levels started rising 14,000 years ago, a corridor opened through the ice sheets in Canada and the northern USA.
This corridor was about 1500km long. But it wouldn’t have been suitable for human travel until 12,600 years ago. And when it became traversable 12,600 years ago, the Beringians could have walked through it and reached the southern part of North America.
So, these early humans might not have walked through the ice-free corridor, after all. Instead, they might have built primitive wooden boats and sailed along the Pacific coast long before the ice melted. Eventually, they would have reached the habitable parts of North and South America. There they settled and, several thousands of years later, became the Indigenous Inhabitants that Columbus saw.
Now that we know where the Indigenous people of the Americas came from let’s find out more about the different Indigenous Peoples and where they were located.
Caribbean Islands
Columbus met two types of people in the Caribbean. He named them the Caribs and the Arawaks. The Caribs were those who were friendly to him, and the Arawaks were those who were hostile to him.
Columbus claimed that the Caribs were cannibals who ate humans. But Caribs did not practice widespread cannibalism. They did not eat humans because they liked the taste of it. They did so as a part of a ritual. The Arawaks, too, had a similar custom.
But even if it wasn’t true, Columbus used his claim of Caribs being cannibals as a pretext to get permission from the Spanish monarchs to enslave these Indigenous Peoples.
Once he got permission, he enslaved these people. Then he demanded them to produce a fixed amount of gold or cotton every 3 months. Those who failed were tortured, raped, and killed. As a result, the populations of these two Indigenous Populations reduced considerably.
Today, only around 3,400 Caribs and 10,000 Arawaks are in existence today.
South America
Even though many Indigenous Peoples lived in South America, the most significant among them was the Inca. The Inca began as a small pastoral tribe in Cusco, in present-day Peru, around 1200 AD.
For the most part of their history, they were a small tribe. Only in the 15th century did they start expanding. But they expanded rapidly and became the most dominant culture in South America very quickly. But they didn’t stop there. They went on to establish the largest empire on earth at that time – The Inca Empire. And they did all this within a span of 100 years.
But even the largest empire on earth couldn’t escape from the evil clutches of the European colonists. Suffering from the European diseases and the torture inflicted by the colonists at the same time, the population of these native people fell by almost 93% within a century.
Today, the descendants of this native population live in South America. They are spread out across various countries – Columbia, Ecuador, Peru, and Chile.
Central America
The most significant Indigenous Peoples who lived in Central America were the Aztecs and the Maya.
A map of the Inca, Maya, and Aztec Empires (Picture credits)
Like the Inca, the Aztecs, too, rose to prominence very quickly. But they, too, were decimated by the European diseases and the Spanish conquest.
Today, in the 21st century, the descendants of the Aztecs live in the rural areas of Mexico. They mostly work as farmers or sell handcrafted items to make a living.
Unlike the Aztecs and the Inca, the Maya have a long history. They started as a small agricultural tribe in 1800 BC. But they gradually rose to prominence and established several powerful city-states around 250 AD. Each of these city-states housed 5,000 to 50,000 people. But even though these city-states shared cultural traits, they did not unite politically under a single empire. Instead, they competed among themselves as well as with other empires for power. Today, we collectively refer to these Indigenous Peoples as the Maya.
But despite the prosperity of these city-states, the Maya eventually abandoned most of them in the 9th century. The reasons for their actions are still not clear. But this native population crumbled far before the arrival of the Europeans. By the time the Europeans arrived, the remnants of a once-great civilization were trying to rebuild. So, it was easy for the Europeans to overpower them and defeat them.
Today, the descendants of the Maya can be found in several countries in Central America.
North America
Several Indigenous Peoples lived in North America before the arrival of Columbus. Among them, the Mississippian culture was the most prominent. It originated in the Mississippi River valley around 800 AD and slowly spread outwards.
But the Mississippian culture wasn’t a single tribe. Rather, it was a collection of several societies. Some of them were agrarian societies, while others were hunter-gatherer societies. In stark contrast, there were also societies whose people followed a sedentary lifestyle. But despite their differences, the peoples of the Mississippi culture followed similar traditions, like building large earthen mounds.
The Mississippian culture comprised a series of cities and satellite villages, which were interlinked by loose trading networks. Among these cities, the largest one was Cahokia, which would have been an important religious center back then.
But unlike the civilizations of Central and South America, the Europeans were not able to defeat these people easily. Indeed, they suffered high casualties and had to withdraw their attack. But the diseases they brought with them stayed back and decimated these peoples, who had no immunity against them. Each individual tribe in the Mississippi culture suffered greatly due to these diseases. This undermined their social structure, and many of these tribes later collapsed.
So, when the Europeans returned a hundred years later, many of these tribes had completely vanished, leaving vast areas of North America uninhabited.
Some of the societies which survived formed new tribes to respond to European colonization. In order to keep track of these different groups, geographers have classified them into different ‘culture areas.’ These culture areas are:
The story of Columbus‘ landing is one that most people in the American continent would be familiar with. Most people know that Columbus set sail with three ships from Spain in the fifteenth century. Upon landing in the Caribbean, he met two types of native peoples there – the Caribs and the Arawaks. The Arawaks were friendly people. On the contrary, the Caribs were hostile cannibals who ate human flesh. Most of us know that.
Columbus meeting the Indigenous People of the Caribbean (Picture credits)
But these were Columbus’ views, not the truth.
So, was Columbus actually telling the truth? Were Caribs really cannibals? Who were the Arawaks and Caribs really, and how did they live? Read on and find out.
Caribs and the Arawaks
The indigenous people who inhabited the Caribbean at the time of Columbus’ arrival were the Kalinago and the Lokono. Both these native populations came to the Caribbean islands from South America. They survived by fishing, hunting, and farming.
Neither of these American Indians had a written language. So, most of their faint history from this time comes from stories that were passed down orally through generations.
The Lokono was the indigenous population who inhabited the Caribbean initially. The Kalinagos and the Kalinas originally lived in South America. But centuries before the arrival of Columbus, the Kalinagos started migrating to the Caribbean. After hundreds of years of warfare, they managed to seize the southern islands of the Caribbean from the Lokono. Eventually, they started living there but were perpetually engaged in warfare against the Lokono.
The Lokono (Arawaks)
The Lokono lived by fishing, hunting, and farming. They used trickery to catch birds like ducks. The technique they used to catch these birds is fascinating.
The Lokono first let a number of calabashes, a tropical American fruit, float on the river. Then, he waited until the ducks got used to these fruits and considered them harmless objects. Once that happened, a Lokono male placed a calabash over his head and slipped into the water silently. Then, when he neared the duck, he pulled its legs until the bird drowned and died before putting it in a bag and taking it away.
Interesting, isn’t it?
Most of the Lokono were naked. But they wore gold in their noses and painted their faces and bare body parts. In some of the Caribbean islands, married women wore skirts around their waists.
Social organization
Their society was patriarchal. They practiced polygamy, with each man having two or three wives. The leader of the Lokonos was called Cacique and had as many as 30 wives. It was a great honor to be married to the leader. Hence, his wives wore longer skirts, portraying authority.
They built their houses using wooden posts, grass, and other materials. Around 10 to 15 men lived in each house, with all their wives and entire families. So, each house had around 100 people. Only the Cacique, the Lokono chief, lived in a separate house with his wives. But since he had a lot of wives and children, his house would have around 100 people. The title of Cacique was passed down from father to son.
The Lokono were people who loved peace. But since they had to fight the Kalinagos often, they had to defend themselves. So, they had weapons like poisoned arrows, war clubs, and spears with fish hooks attached on one end.
Despite being peaceful folk, the Lokono had slaves too. They used their prisoners as slaves. These slaves were made to do jobs, which the members of the tribe were not expected to do. But slavery was not passed on to successive generations. Slavery was just a way for the Lokono to make their prisoners work hard before accepting them into their tribe.
The Kalinago (Island-Caribs)
In contrast, the Kalinago were people who emphasized on fighting. Their culture honored physical powers and individualism. Kalinago groups often fought against other Kalinago groups and also against the neighboring Lokonos. After their battles, they took the Lokono women as slave-wives and killed the men.
Like the Lokono, the Kalinago, too, wore little to no dress. But they painted their bodies to appear fierce and ate a lot of pepper to become fierce. They used weapons like poisoned arrows, burning arrows, and other weapons deadlier than those of Lokono.
The Kalinago started training their children to fight from a very early age. Almost always, the initiation began by teaching the children to bear the pain.
When a boy reached puberty, the Kalinago scratched his body with animals’ claws and rubbed pepper in the wound. If the boy flinched, he was trained to become a priest. If he didn’t, he was trained to become a warrior.
Social organization
The Kalinago chief was chosen based on his skills in battle. The Kalinagos lived mostly separated by gender. The men in the village lived together in a large building, where they trained. The women, on the other hand, lived in many smaller houses. The women mostly met their husbands only when they brought food for them.
The Kalinago were expert swimmers for whom fishing and sea trading were very important. They were also skilled boat-builders, sailors, and navigators who could remember the way to several islands by heart.
The Kalina (Mainland-Caribs)
The Kalina was an indigenous population who lived in the northern coastal areas of South America. They may have been related to the Kalinaga. But they were not as aggressive as the Kalinaga.
They spent their day growing crops like cassava and hunting using a bow and arrow. They lived in small settlements.
Historically, the Kalina and Kalinaga were thought of as being related to each other. So, the Europeans started calling them as Mainland-Caribs because they lived in the mainland of South America, whereas the Kalinago were called Island-Caribs because they lived in the Caribbean islands (More on why Kalinago came to be known as Caribs later on).
The Lokono, The Kalinago, and the Spanish conquest
When Columbus came to the Caribbean, he first met the Lokono, who were friendly to him. As he sailed further south, he met the hostile Kalinagos, with whom he did not get along well.
There was a Lokono settlement in a village called Aruacay. The people he met there were very friendly to the Spanish explorers and offered them gifts. For reasons unknown, the Lokono people who lived in Aruacay started calling themselves as the Aruacas to differentiate themselves from the hostile Kalinagos and show to the Spanish that they were a friendly group. With time, the term Aruaca became Arawak, the peace-loving people of the Caribbean.
The term ‘Carib’ was supposed to mean brave. And the Kalinagos were brave for standing up against the Spanish conquerors. So, they came to be known as Caribs. But for Columbus, brave meant aggressive. So, he created a myth that Caribs were people-eating savages to get the authorization for acquiring them as slaves. He even used their name to create the term Caniba, which would eventually become the term Cannibal in English. But in reality, Caribs were not cannibals.
The human flesh-eating Ritual of the Caribs
The Caribs ate human flesh only during rituals. The Caribs believed that eating a small amount of human flesh would give them the characteristics of the deceased person. This belief was central to their culture.
So, they ate small amounts of flesh before wars so that their warriors can obtain the characteristics of their enemies, and during initiation, so that young boys can become brave like deceased heroes. They also kept the bones of their victims as trophies.
But these customs were not practiced by the Caribs alone. The Arawaks had similar customs as well. But neither of these indigenous groups practiced widespread cannibalism, as Columbus claimed.
But Christopher Columbus’ propaganda, despite being untrue, helped him obtain permission from the Spanish monarchy for procuring slaves. In 1503, Queen Isabella gave permission to capture the so-called cannibals. She believed that it was the only way to protect the Arawaks, who, according to her, were now her subjects. It was also the first step to convert the Caribs into civilized human beings.
But we all know what happened after that. Her permission created an urgency among the Spanish explorers to find as many Caribs as possible. And since Arawaks had similar customs as well, Arawaks were also captured. Then the captured Arawaks and Caribs were made to work as slaves in their own homeland. Most of them died due to abuse, the inhuman working conditions, and the diseases the Spanish brought with them, to which they had absolutely no immunity.
Are there any Caribs and Arawaks left today?
Today, not a lot of Caribs and Arawaks are left.
Where do the Caribs live today?
Only around 3400 Caribs are alive today. Of these, only 60 consider themselves pure Caribs. They live as one of the minorities in Dominica.
A picture of some Caribs in 1892 – By Roland Bonaparte – Photothèque, Musée de l’Homme, Paris. (Photo scanned from the book Pau:wa itiosan:bola: Des Galibi à Paris en 1892.), Public Domain, Link
The Dominican government has built primary schools, water, and health facilities for these people in their territories. They also have a police station that employs three people, who are mostly Caribs.
But there are no secondary schools in the Carib territories. So, understandably, the unemployment rate is very high there.
As a result, the incomes of these people are lower than the Dominican national per capita income. They survive mostly by farming their land collectively and selling handicrafts they made to tourists.
They are primarily concentrated in Venezuela, Suriname, Guyana, and French Guiana. More Arawaks live in the interior parts of South America as well. Unlike other indigenous communities, the population of Arawaks has been growing steadily in the last few years.
The Inca were one of the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas who established the Inca Empire. By 1400 AD, they were a small tribe. But by the time Christopher Columbus landed in the Caribbean a hundred years later, they had established a mighty empire in South America. Their empire stretched across parts of Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Chile. It was the largest empire on earth at that time, with almost 10 million people living under its banner.
But how did such a small tribe rise to prominence so fast? How could they defeat the other kingdoms in that area so easily? Read this blog post to find out.
Origin
The ancestors of the Inca were the People from Siberia who first migrated to Beringia 24,000 years ago. These people stayed in Beringia for thousands of years and then moved to different parts of the American continent.
Some of these people reached South America too. There, they learned to cultivate crops like corn, potato, and cotton. Then, between 3000 BC and 2500 BC, they started to domesticate animals like llamas and alpacas. These animals served as a good source of meat and wool and could carry almost one-fourth of their weight. So, they proved highly beneficial for food, clothing, and carrying goods.
Thus, keeping farming and animal husbandry at their core, several complex societies originated in this area. These complex societies eventually gave rise to different cultures, which are collectively called the Andean civilizations.
The Inca were one of such different cultures that began as a small tribe. In the 12th century, searching for land to farm, they came to Cusco, a city in present-day Peru. Since the soil there was fertile, they settled there.
But even though the Inca came to Cusco in the 12th century, nobody knows where they were before that. We only have the Inca origin myths to rely on, which were passed through generations of the Inca orally.
According to this myth, the Inca were created by their sun god Inti. After creating them, Inti sent his four sons and four daughters to earth. They came to earth through a cave. This cave was located in the center of the line along which two other caves were located. From the other two caves, people carrying seeds came out. These people would eventually become the ancestors of the Inca today.
These four brothers and four sisters were supposed to lead the Inca and show them where to settle.
One of these brothers had magical powers and was too strong. So, afraid of him, the other brothers tricked him into entering a cave and closed its entrance. After this incident, one of the other brothers climbed the cave and proclaimed that he would look after the Inca. Once he proclaimed that, he turned to stone. Looking at all this fuss, one of the two remaining brothers left the Inca and started his own journey. So, finally, only one brother, Ayar Manco, was left. He eventually married his older sister, who bore him a son.
Ayar Manco carried a magic staff made of gold. This magic staff would show the Inca where to settle. So, the Inca started traveling, searching for a place where this staff would sink into the ground.
Cusco
When they reached the valley near Cusco, Ayar Manco’s staff sank into the ground. So, taking it as the divine sign they were waiting for, the Inca decided to settle there. But there were people already living there. Therefore, the Inca fought against these people, chased them out of their land, and settled in Cusco around 1200 A.D.
After this victory, Ayar Manco came to be known as Manco Cápac, the one who founded the Inca.
This is one of the four myths that explain where the Inca came from. The Inca didn’t have a writing system. These myths were only passed down through generations of the Inca orally. So, nobody knows which of these myths to believe in.
The Inca Empire
But regardless of which myth was true, the Inca settled in Cusco around 1200 AD.
Initially, the Inca were a pastoral tribe. They were shepherds who tended to Llamas and Alpacas. They roamed far and wide, looking for a place for these animals to graze.
But the place where the Inca settled, Cusco, was located between two empires that existed earlier. These empires had already built the infrastructure needed to expand and maintain the areas under their control. So, when the Inca started expanding, they didn’t have to build everything from scratch. The roads, the hydraulic systems, and other systems the Inca needed to establish an empire were already partly in existence.
So, utilizing this already available infrastructure, the Inca started to expand.
Viracocha
The Inca’s expansion began during the rule of their fourth emperor Mayta Capac. This expansion continued over several generations, and by the time their eighth emperor Viracocha Inca came to power, they had become a truly expansive tribe. Viracocha is the Inca ruler who introduced the custom of leaving some of his soldiers behind in conquered lands. This practice helped the Inca make sure that the conquered lands were loyal to them.
Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui
In 1438, when Chancas, enemies of Inca, attacked Cusco, Viracocha escaped to a military outpost. His son Urco, who was to become the next Inca king, also fled the capital with his father.
But for Viracocha Inca’s third son, Cusi Inca Yupanqui, who had no claim to the throne, it was a brilliant opportunity to display his talent. So, he refused to abandon the capital. Instead, he and his other brothers rallied the armies and launched a desperate defense.
The Inca revered Yupanqui greatly for not running away even when fighting was futile. So, they stood up against the invaders and fought alongside Yupanqui very bravely. Yupanqui was able to inspire the Inca so much that it was said that even the stones in Cusco rose up to fight on his side. As a result, the Inca defeated the Chancas decisively and captured many of their leaders.
After winning the war and the hearts of his people, Inca Yupanqui demanded to be made the next emperor. But his father Viracocha refused and tried to assassinate him instead. When the assassination attempt failed, Viracocha fled the country.
Inca Yupanqui became the next Inca emperor and renamed himself Pachacuti, which meant the ‘Earth Shaker.’ Pachacuti would eventually become one of the most influential Inca rulers, transforming the Cusco kingdom into Tawantinsuyu, the far-reaching Inca Empire.
Expansion of the Inca Empire
Pachacuti expanded the borders of his empire through both conquest and friendship. He used a simple process for this purpose.
First, he sent spies to the kingdom he wished to conquer. Once his spies returned with information about the kingdom, he sent luxurious gifts to its ruler, stating the advantages of joining the Inca Empire. If the ruler accepted the gifts, his kingdom was peacefully annexed into the Inca Empire. The rulers of most kingdoms accepted Pachacuti’s proposal.
But If the ruler refused to accept his proposal, Pachacuti sent a threat of war.
If the ruler still did not give up, Pachacuti defeated the kingdom through military conquest. He then executed its leaders and brought their sons to Cusco to teach them about the Inca culture. Once they have grown up and learned about the Inca culture, they were sent back to rule their kingdoms. Thus, Pachacuti converted his enemies into Inca nobility, and at times, even married off Inca women to them to ensure their loyalty.
But as Tawantinsuyu grew larger, the chances that a conquered tribe would rebel increased. So, in such cases, when Pachacuti sensed that a conquered ethnic group would rebel, he allegedly displaced thousands of its people and redistributed them into the farthest regions in his empire so that they could have no chance of organizing a rebellion.
Thus, Pachacuti and his successors expanded the borders of the Cusco kingdom and transformed it into the mighty Inca Empire. But conquering the regions was only one aspect of a great empire. The more important aspect was to incorporate the conquered lands into the empire.
Pachacuti knew that very well. So, he reorganized the government by transforming the Cusco kingdom into Tawantinsuyu.
The Inca government
In the system of Tawantinsuyu, the Sapa Inca, the sole ruler, was at the core. He had absolute power in the Empire. He lived in the Inca capital Cusco, which was practically an impenetrable stronghold because of the fortresses Pachacuti had built there to withstand enemy attacks.
Surrounding the capital on four sides were the four Suyus, the four regions of the Inca Empire.
Each Suyu was further divided into provinces called Wamani. Most of these provinces were actually tribes that had previously been conquered by the Inca. Each of these provinces, in turn, was subdivided into several factions. The smallest entity of the Tawantinsuyu was the Ayllu.
Each Ayllu functioned as an individual unit. Therefore, even though each Ayllu consisted of several families, in reality, an Ayllu was just like a big family.
The government allocated land to each Ayllu based on the number of people in that Ayllu. In return, each Ayllu had to pay tax to the government.
Inca taxation system
There were two types of taxes that the Ayllu paid to the government. The Inca didn’t have a currency. So, they didn’t pay money to the government. Instead, they paid taxes in other ways.
The first tax they paid to the government was a portion of their crops. The crops they gave as the tax was then divided into three parts. The first part went to the government, the second part went to the priests, and the final part went to the people.
The second tax they paid to the government was in the form of labor. They paid this tax by working for the government. They built roads, constructed buildings, mined gold, and even worked as warriors for the army.
In return for their labor, the Inca people were provided feasts on special occasions by their ruling authority. After all, the Inca didn’t use any form of money. And they didn’t need it either, because there were no markets or shops in the Inca Empire. So, there was nothing they could buy. All their requirements, like food, clothes, and tools were provided by the government. Therefore, the feasts served as the payment for their labor.
Thus, by establishing such a well-defined hierarchical government, the Inca emperor was able to rule such a vast empire.
The Inca social structure
The vast empire of the Inca was formed by conquering various tribes. So, even though it was just one empire in name, more than a hundred ethnic groups lived under its banner. Hence, to bring all of its 12 million inhabitants with varied ethnic origins into one system, the Inca followed a strict social structure.
This hierarchical social system assigned each person in the empire to one of the four classes:
At the top of the hierarchy was the Inca emperor. The Inca believed that their king was the son of their sun god. So, he was the wealthiest, most powerful, and most respected person in the entire kingdom. He had several wives and children. The Inca called him Sapa Inca.
The Royalty
Below the king was the Royalty. The king’s family and his relatives formed this class of the Inca. They enjoyed all the luxuries in the kingdom and were the most respected people after the king.
The Nobility
The next class in the Inca social system was Nobility. Nobility could be achieved either by blood relations or by showing distinction in one’s service to the empire. This category included high priests, the army commander, army generals, other special military members, architects, artisans, and local leaders. These people enjoyed several privileges.
For example, the local leaders were considered important, and hence, commoners brought gifts to them often. The king considered them essential as well. Therefore, he exempted them from paying taxes. Thus, local leaders enjoyed several privileges both from the king for whom they worked as well as the commoners whom they governed.
The Commoners
Most of the population of the Inca fell under the remaining social class – the Commoners. This was the lowest class in the social hierarchy of the Inca. As the lowest social class, the commoners received only low wages even when they did all the hard manual work in the empire. Farmers, shepherds, servants for nobles or royal families, and slaves were considered commoners.
How did the Inca Empire grow so rapidly?
Besides their efficient government, strict social structure, and intimidating military, there were also other factors that contributed to the Inca’s rapid growth.
1. Extensive roadways
The Inca had an extensive network of roads, whose length added up to 15,000 miles. But strangely, commoners were not permitted to use Inca roads. Only the King, Royal people, and Nobles were allowto use the roads. The other category of people who were permitted to use these roads were Relay runners. They were messengers who covered almost 150 miles/day, to relay information from one corner of the empire to another.
2. A superior farming system
The Inca Empire spread over four different climate zones. Hence, their agricultural produce was diverse. The Inca were initially a pastoral tribe. But as they conquered nearby tribes and their empire grew, they learned and developed several farming techniques. These techniques helped them maximize their harvest.
They transformed the land by creating canals, irrigation networks, terracing, and draining the water out of wetlands. They also fertilized the land with llama dung, fish heads, etc., and rotated their crops regularly. These techniques helped them increase their agricultural produce and feed more people easily.
But despite their innovative techniques, storms, floods, and droughts destroyed their crops. In such cases, Inca’s talent for preserving food came into play.
The Inca built tens of thousands of stone storehouses across their empire. They were circular or rectangular in shape and were built in such a way that food items could be stored there for two to four years. The Inca didn’t have a writing system. Yet, they kept perfect track of the food items stored in these storehouses by using a recording device made using strings and knots.
3. Expertise in architecture
The Inca were expert architects. They utilized the natural landscape and the locally available resources to build long-lasting structures.
Machu Picchu, one of the seven wonders of the world, stands testimony to the Inca’s expertise in architecture. The Inca built the entire site just by cutting stones and placing them one over the other with nothing but gravity to hold them together. And the fact that they did it without using wheels or iron tools makes it an even more astonishing feat. Yet, even though they built it using a simple technique, Machu Picchu has survived for more than half a millennium.
Stone walls of a building in Machu Picchu
The Inca built this city on a hill that receives almost two meters of rainfall every year. So, they created a perfect drainage system that not only drained the water effectively without eroding the soil but also used a part of the water for irrigation.
But it is not clear who built it and when they built it. But historians believe that Pachacuti might have built it in the 15th century as a summer resort house.
4. Religious tolerance
The Inca were highly religious people. Everything they did had a religious meaning behind it.
The Inca prayed to many gods. Among them, their sun god Inti was the most important. They built the Qurikancha temple for him at Cusco, where the first Inca settled. It was the most important temple in the Inca Empire.
The Inca believed in reincarnation. They believed that the body needed to be preserved so that the soul can peacefully pass on to the afterlife. So, they mummified their dead and buried them along with valuable jewelry, textiles, etc. During ceremonies, they took out these mummies and even fed them food as if they were feeding a living person.
Picture of an Inca mummy
The Inca also sacrificed people and even children, mostly during distressing times like the death of their emperor or severe drought.
But despite having such strict religious beliefs, they also let the conquered tribes follow their own religious beliefs. They even incorporated the gods of the conquered tribes into their religion. In return, the conquered tribes had to respect the Inca gods more than their own gods.
Thus, the Inca practiced religious tolerance to a certain degree. It was a prominent force in bringing people of different ethnicities together and making them feel like part of a big empire.
Thus, by using such methods, the Inca grew rapidly and established the largest empire within a span of hundred years.
The downfall of the Inca Empire
The downfall of the Inca Empire began with the Spanish arrival. When the Spanish invaders landed in Central America, they spread deadly diseases like smallpox and influenza. These diseases spread like wildfire and reached South America too.
As a result, a big portion of the Inca population died, leaving the Inca civilization crippled. As more and more people in the working class died, agricultural output reduced.
Moreover, due to the death of the relay runners who relayed information, Inca’s communication network was severely damaged. So, it became impossible for the ruling class to tell if their territories were attacked.
The Civil war
But the biggest thorn in the flesh came in 1527 when the then Inca ruler Huayna Capac and his eldest son and heir to the throne Ninan Cuyochi died due to smallpox. Due to their deaths, the Inca Empire was left without an emperor.
So, a fight for power began. The two people involved in this power struggle were Huayna Capac’s younger son Huascar and his illegitimate son Atahualpa. Even though Huascar had the right to the throne, Atahualpa was skilled than him in warfare.
Since they couldn’t reach an agreement, the country split into two factions, and a civil war started. After five long years, the civil war ended with the loss of several lives and the victory of Atahualpa.
Spanish Conquest
Thus, in 1532, the Inca Empire finally had a leader. But the empire was completely exhausted due to the diseases and the civil war.
It was at this time that the Spanish invaders led by Francisco Pizarro went to meet Atahualpa. Atahualpa thought it was a peaceful meeting arranged by the newcomers to show their respect to the king.
But the Spanish gave him a copy of the Bible and asked him to swear his allegiance to the Spanish monarchy instead. Atahualpa became angry and threw the Bible away. Taking his action as an excuse, the Spanish killed Atahualpa’s guards.
Atahualpa understood that the Spanish were not there for a peaceful gathering but only for gold and silver. So, he offered to give them a room full of gold and two rooms full of silver if they let him go free. But the Spanish took the money and arrested him.
One year later, the Spanish executed Atahualpa. Then, they attacked Cusco. Even though the Inca had superior numbers, the Spanish had better weapons. So, the Spanish defeated Cusco.
Then, wanting to maintain peace in Cusco, the Spanish installed Manco Inca, Atahualpa’s brother, as a puppet king. But the plan backfired, and Manco Inco was overthrown in 1536. Thereafter, Manco Inca escaped into the mountains. There, he created a government that survived for 36 years. In 1572, the Spanish conquerors captured and executed Manco Inca’s son, thereby bringing an end to his government.
Thus, the mighty Inca Empire came to an end.
Where do the Inca live today?
After the Inca Empire fell, the Europeans started abusing the Inca in all ways imaginable. They enslaved, tortured, raped, and killed the Inca people mercilessly. This resulted in the deaths of thousands, if not millions of the Inca.
But more Inca died due to smallpox and measles, the diseases the Europeans had brought with them. These diseases occurred in three outbreaks during the 16th century in South America. First, a smallpox outbreak occurred, then a measles outbreak, and then both of them occurred together. These diseases affected children as well, thereby affecting the succeeding generations too.
Moreover, in the name of converting the masses into Christianity, Europeans also destroyed the Inca religion and culture.
But despite the inhuman treatment leashed out against them, the Inca have not completely vanished. Their culture has also survived.
The Inca traditions and practices are still followed in some countries in South America. Up to ten million people in South America, from Columbia to Chile, speak the Inca language Quechua. The textiles and dishes they make are famous across the world. Their monumental archaeological site Machu Picchu also attracts millions of tourists every year. All these things are reminders of the great civilization that once flourished in these areas.
The Aztecs are one of the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas who lived in the 14th to the 16th centuries. They ruled a large area in what is today central and southern Mexico.
The Aztec Empire was a powerful empire in Mesoamerica until the 16th century. But the Spanish explorer Christopher Columbus‘ landing in the Caribbean changed everything. The Spanish invaders who came after him took the last Aztec king prisoner and destroyed the empire.
It is unclear where the Aztecs exactly came from. But the Aztec people have a legend that explains their origin. This legend is explained in Crónica Mexicayotl, a chronicle of the history of the Aztec empire, written in the 16th century.
Nomads from the north
According to this legend, the Aztecs were initially a nomadic tribe of hunter-gatherers who survived mostly by fishing. They lived in their mythical homeland of Aztlan, in Northern Mexico. Hence, they came to be known as Aztec, which is derived from Aztecah, meaning ‘the people from Aztlan.’
Migrating south
In the 13th century, through the mouth of an Aztec priest, their war and sun god Huitzilopochtli spoke to them. He told them that their real home was actually in the south and that he would lead them to it. So, these people packed up their belongings and started their great migration along with the other tribes in the area.
Even though the travel was not an easy one, Huitzilopochtli motivated them through words of encouragement and showed them the way through signs. After they had traveled a long way, he also asked them to split from the other tribes and change their name to Mexica. Thus, the Aztecs became Mexica, the name by which the Spanish invaders would come to know them centuries later.
But by the time the Mexica reached Mesoamerica, there were already two established city-states in the region – Culhuacan and Azcapotzalco.
Mexica and Culhuacan
The Mexica were somehow able to convince one of these powerful city-states, Culhuacan, to let them settle in their land. By letting them settle, the chieftain of Culhuacan hoped to assimilate them into his culture and use them as soldiers. So, the Mexica joined Culhuacan, and their warriors started serving as the mercenaries of Culhuacan.
But soon, the Mexica were enchanted by the chieftain’s daughter. So, they wanted to make her their goddess and killed her in the process. When the Culhuacan found out what the Mexica had done to their princess, they started a war against the Mexica. The Mexica somehow managed to flee from the Culhuacan army and stayed hidden in the islands in Lake Tecoco.
Then, one day, Mexica’s leader had a dream. In this dream, their god Huitzilopochtli told them to settle in the place where they find an eagle pecking at a cactus fruit. So, the Aztecs started searching for this sign.
They finally found an eagle perched on a cactus on the marshy land near Lake Texcoco. So, considering it their god’s will, they started working on establishing their kingdom there. They drained the marshy land, built artificial islands to plant gardens, and laid the foundation for what would later become their capital city, Tenochtitlán, where Mexico City is today.
Thus, in 1325 AD, the Mexica settled in Mesoamerica. But they were initially not powerful. So, they continued to serve as mercenaries of war for other city-states. In 1376 AD, they formed their first royal dynasty.
Then, due to their lack of power, they became a tributary of Azcapotzalco, the other powerful city-state in that area. They served under Azcapotzalco for the next 50 years until the ruler of Azcapotzalco died.
In 1426 AD, the ruler of Azcapotzalco died. So, his sons started fighting among themselves over Azcapotzalco’s throne. During this process, Mexica’s ruler, who was also considered a competitor to the throne, was killed. So, annoyed, the Mexica decided to take revenge on Azcapotzalco.
But Itzcoatl, the man who became Mexica’s king after his nephew (the previous king of the Mexica) was murdered, knew it wouldn’t be an easy task. So, he decided to form an alliance with other city-states. Not just any city-states, but the ones who were wronged by Azcapotzalco and had little chance of rising to power on their own. He chose two city-states that suited this criteria – Tlacopan and Texcoco – and then formed an alliance with them.
Together, they besieged Azcapotzalco. Then they captured the city in 1428 and killed its princes.
The Aztec Empire
This alliance between the three city-states – Tenochtitlán (Mexica’s city-state), Tlacopan, and Texcoco came to be known as the Aztec Empire. After winning the war against Azcapotzalco, these three city-states started expanding their territories rapidly. The loot and the tribute they obtained were divided among the three city-states, and the rulers of each of these city-states took turns in ruling the Aztec Empire.
Due to their cooperation, the Aztec Empire became a powerful force in the Valley of Mexico. Among the three city-states, Tenochtitlán became the most dominant.
One of the people who played a major role in Tenochtitlán’s domination was Itzcoatl’s nephew Montezuma I. So, he became the Mexica Emperor after Itzcoatl died in 1440. Montezuma I was a great warrior. He took the Mexicas to even greater heights and came to be known as the father of the Aztec Empire.
Expansion
The Aztec Empire used different methods to conquer other smaller city-states.
If a city-state agreed to pay tribute, the Aztec Empire allowed it to remain in power unmolested.
But if it resisted, the Aztec Empire conquered it and installed a friendly ruler to rule that city-state.
Some city-states which resisted strongly or killed the Aztec Empire’s emissaries were destroyed, and their people were completely decimated, which was the case with the Huastec people. Their city was completely destroyed, and their men, women, and children were killed without mercy for opposing the Aztec Empire. The Aztec Empire completely erased all traces of the existence of the Huastec people from the face of the earth.
Thus, by using various methods, the Aztec Empire expanded rapidly.
Map of the Aztec Empire in the 16th century (Picture credits)
At the peak of its existence, in the 16th century, the Aztec Empire ruled over some 500 small city-states. Almost five to six million people lived under its banner. Tenochtitlán alone housed 140,000 people and became the most densely populated city in Mesoamerica. It was a bustling city with thousands of people coming into and going out of the city every day. Its markets, which were visited by almost 50,000 people on important market days, made it a wealthy city.
Jist of the story
According to their legend, the Aztecs were people who lived in the mythical city of Aztlan in northern Mexico.
They started moving south when their god told them that their original home was in the south and he would lead them to it. He also told them to change their name to Mexica.
He told them that a sign – an eagle perched on a cactus plant – would show them where they should settle.
The Mexica searched far and wide for this sign.
Finally, they found this sign near Lake Texcoco in 1325 AD. So, they established their capital city there, which came to be known as Tenochtitlán (located in Mexico City).
For the next 50 years, they served as mercenaries of war for other city-states.
Then, they became a tributary of another powerful city-state, Azcapotzalco, in 1376 AD.
In 1426 AD, (most probably) Azcapotzalco’s prince killed Mexica’s ruler.
So, to exact revenge for their ruler, Tenochtitlán (Mexica’s capital city) formed an alliance with two small city-states – Tlacopan and Texcoco. Together, they sieged the city of Azcapotzalco and destroyed it in 1428 AD.
This triple alliance of Texcoco, Tlacopan, and Tenochtitlán came to be known as the Aztec Empire.
After its victory, the Aztec Empire expanded rapidly. Within a hundred years, it became a dominant force in the Valley of Mexico, controlling over 500 city-states and ruling over five to six million people.
At the top of this hierarchy was the king of the Aztec Empire and his family.
Below the king and his family were the rulers of individual city-states. They lived in big palaces in their own cities. They had complete power over their individual cities as long as they kept paying tribute to the Aztec emperor.
Below the rulers of individual city-states were the nobles. High-level priests, government and military leaders, and lords were part of this class of Aztecs. Nobility was passed down the family. Priests had their own hierarchy and were expected to abstain from sex and alcohol. If not, they were punished severely.
Below the nobles were the commoners. Merchants, artisans, low-level priests, and farmers were considered commoners. Merchants and artisans were the richest people among commoners and enjoyed better benefits. Wealthy merchants who traveled long distances to bring luxury goods were treated not as commoners but as nobles because their services were important for the Aztec economy.
Serfs (slaves) were at the bottom of the Aztec social hierarchy. Prisoners of war, people who committed crimes, and those who failed to pay tribute became slaves. An Aztec could also sell himself or his children into slavery. Slaves could marry, have children, or substitute another Aztec in their place. They could become free by buying their own freedom or by marrying their owner. They became free also when their owners died. Slavery wasn’t hereditary and wasn’t passed down to children.
In Aztec society, women couldn’t hold high administrative positions.
Religion
Thus, the Aztecs were divided into different classes based on the family they were born into. But even though the social hierarchy split them into different classes, there was one thing that united them – religion. After all, the Aztecs were highly religious people who worshiped many gods.
And to honor their gods, they built towering pyramids and magnificent temples. Their devotion to their gods even motivated them to kill other people in the name of sacrifice.
A partially reconstructed Aztec Pyramid in Tlalnepantla (Picture credits)
Human Sacrifice
Just like the Maya, the Aztecs, too, sacrificed humans to their gods. But their reason for doing so was different.
The Aztecs believed that they were created from the blood of their gods. Moreover, their god of war and god of sun, Huitzilopochtli, was constantly waging war against evil darkness. If evil darkness ever won, the world would be destroyed. So, to repay their debt to the gods, as well as to save themselves and to keep the sun rising and setting every day, they had to nourish their gods. And offering human blood was the best way to do that.
Therefore, they brought humans to the altars atop huge pyramids. There, they cut the chests of these victims open, offered their beating hearts to their god, and tossed the corpses down the steps.
The people who were sacrificed were mostly prisoners of war. But at times, citizens from the victorious city might have also become human sacrifices voluntarily.
The Aztecs considered being sacrificed holy. According to their beliefs, if they died normally, their souls would go to a dark, swampy place. They would then rot there for eternity. But if they died in war or were sacrificed to their gods, they would become a part of their sun god’s army. Then, they could live a carefree life, getting drunk every day.
Ritual Cannibalism
Illustrations from the sixteenth century and butcher marks on human bones obtained from Aztec ruins suggest that Aztecs might have also practiced ritual cannibalism. The corpses of sacrificed victims might have been considered holy because their hearts were offered to the gods. So, the upper class of the Aztec society might have eaten these corpses as a way of getting close to their gods. After all, in their view, they were eating the same food as their gods.
Sacrificing children
When children are taken away, they cry, and everyone around them, including their parents, cry too. They thought these tears would bring them rain. So, Aztecs sacrificed their children to their rain god. But children were not sacrificed on the altar. They were taken away to a lake outside the city, where they were sacrificed.
The Aztec calendar system
The Aztec culture had many things in common with the Maya culture. The calendar system was one of them. This calendar system was made of two calendars working in symphony with each other – one based on the solar cycle (365 days) and another based on the ritual cycle (260 days).
Fall of the Aztec Empire
The three city-states – Texcoco, Tlacopan, and Tenochtitlán – had agreed to rule the Aztec Empire together. But by the late 15th century, the Mexica had grown too powerful due to their skills in warfare. So, they tried to take over the alliance to become the sole rulers of the Aztec Empire. In 1472, after the ruler of Texcoco died, they became the de-facto rulers of the Aztec Empire. So, Tenochtitlán, the capital of Mexica, became the capital of the Aztec Empire.
A model of Tenochtitlan based on archaeological ruins& historical text – By Thelmadatter – Own work, Public Domain, Link
In the early sixteenth century, the Aztec Empire and its capital Tenochtitlán were prospering greatly. But the Aztec Empire was a highly unstable one. It was built by bullying many smaller city-states to surrender.
So, whenever an old Aztec emperor died and a new emperor came to power, these city-states rebelled. Therefore, the first task of any Aztec emperor was to quell the rebellion and consolidate power in the regions conquered by his predecessors. Moctezuma II was also doing the same in 1519 when the Spanish invader Hernán Cortés landed on the American continent.
Hernán Cortés and Tenochtitlán
Soon after landing, Cortés learned of the Aztec Empire’s instability. So, he started allying with the rebel states to take down the Aztec Empire. As a result, Cortés, who came with just 630 men, soon had an army of several thousand men. Leading these men, he entered the Aztec capital Tenochtitlán.
But the Aztec Emperor Montezuma II did not fight them. Instead, he welcomed Cortés as a guest and let him and other Spanish invaders stay in the royal palace. But Cortes and his men soon took Moctezuma II hostage and started ruling the empire through him. After several months of their rule, Aztecs realized what was going on and killed their king, considering him a traitor. They also wanted to kill Cortés and the other Spanish invaders. But Cortés and some of his men managed to escape the city.
After Cortés escaped from Tenochtitlán, Smallpox, the disease which the Spanish had brought with them, started spreading through the Aztec city. Since the Europeans had already been hit by the disease centuries ago, they had developed resistance to it. But the Aztecs had no resistance to it. So, almost 50% of the population of Tenochtitlán died, including the newly elected Aztec emperor.
Meanwhile, Cortés gathered more allies from small city-states. Soon, he was able to gather an army of almost 100,000 men and attack Tenochtitlán.
Even though Tenochtitlán was the Aztec city that was home to the ferocious Mexica, it couldn’t hold out against Cortés’ huge army for long. Smallpox was also destroying it from the inside. So, in 1521, Tenochtitlán fell, and with it, the Aztec Empire. In the place of Tenochtitlán, a new city would be raised and come to be known as Mexico City.
Do the Aztecs still exist?
After the fall of Tenochtitlan, the fate of the Aztec people turned upside down. The Spanish started exploiting and enslaving them. The Europeans who came after them did the same as well. The diseases they brought with them took the lives of millions of Aztec people. Moreover, the Europeans, who didn’t approve of the concept of human sacrifice practiced by the Aztecs, also tried to eradicate their religion by spreading Christianity. As a result, the Aztec population decreased exponentially.
But, luckily, the Aztecs were not completely wiped out. Some of them managed to survive despite the odds stacked against them.
Today, their descendants live in small communities distributed across the rural areas of Mexico. They are referred to as Nahua. Most of these 1.5 million Nahua make their living by farming and selling handcrafted items to tourists. Many of them still follow some of the rituals practiced by their ancestors.
The Maya were one of the Indigenous Peoples who lived in the Americas for the longest time. Several centuries before the arrival of Christopher Columbus, they were a dominating civilization. Most of their cities were centered in the Yucatan Peninsula and present-day Guatemala.
Many of their settlements have been discovered in present-day Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, and Honduras. Some of these settlements are more than 3800 years old.
The first Maya were farmers. They grew crops like beans, corn, and cassava. As time progressed, the subsequent generations of these farmers started to expand to other areas near them.
The golden age of the Maya
This expansion continued for centuries, and as a result, in 250A.D, the golden age of the Maya began. By then, the Maya civilization, which started as an agricultural civilization 2000 years ago, had grown to an enormous empire comprising some 40 cities.
Each of these cities had a population ranging from 5,000 to 50,000 people. In addition to that, a large population of farmers lived around each city, who provided the food for its inhabitants. So, at its peak, the population of the Maya Empire could have reached anywhere between 2,000,000 and 10,000,000.
But it is intriguing how these people built such big cities which housed such enormous populations in uninhabitable rain-forests. After all, there weren’t many rivers in the area where they lived. The limestone under the thin layer of soil also absorbed most of the rainwater.
So, they discovered innovative techniques to conserve and effectively manage water. Using this effective water management as the solid foundation, the Maya built a thriving civilization.
Advancements in different fields
But the Maya weren’t just skilled in engineering; they were also skilled in other fields like Mathematics and astronomy. Their use of Zero and their development of complex calendar systems stand testimony to this fact. Some of these calendar systems, like the Calendar round, which the Maya designed based on 365 days, and the Long Count Calendar, which they created to last for 5,125 years, amaze human beings even today.
The Maya were also skilled architects. They used the limestone, which was abundant in this area, to build impressive structures. Excavations from this time have uncovered Maya temples, plazas, palaces, pyramids, and ball courts where they played their famous ball game Ulama.
Picture of a Maya Pyramid in Uxmal, Mexico (Picture credits)
But the Maya did not build such buildings just to show off their power and wealth. Each of their buildings held religious or cultural importance in their well-structured, hierarchical society. For example, their pyramids served as temples, tombs, as well as places of religious rituals like human sacrifices.
Wait, what? Religious sacrifices? But why would they do that? Were they barbarians?
Why did the Maya sacrifice humans?
The Maya were very religious. Since many of them were farmers, most of their gods were related to nature and harvest, like the sun god, the moon god, the rain god, and the corn god.
The Maya considered the world as hostile and thought that it was controlled by many unpredictable gods. So, they lived in great respect and fear of these gods. Therefore, they did everything to appease their gods and nourish them. According to the Maya culture, blood was the primary source of nourishment for their gods. And human blood, that too of noble birth, was the most valued. So, they often sacrificed their most valued prisoners of war to their gods during religious rituals. The other prisoners of war were often used as slaves.
You may think that sacrificing someone else to nourish their own gods is a terrible thing to do. But for the Maya, while sacrificing a human was their duty to their gods, being sacrificed was an honor.
According to the Maya, one did not go to heaven or hell upon death. Instead, the dead person’s soul embarked on a journey, which started in the treacherous underworld (Xibalba). Xibalbans, the beings that lived in this underworld, would try to trick and destroy human souls. But the soul had to evade the Xibalbans and reach the Tree of Life. Then, it had to travel through nine levels of the underworld and thirteen levels of the higher world to finally reach the paradise called Tamoanchan, where beautiful flowers grew.
But there were exceptional cases when a soul could bypass the underworld and reach paradise instantly. These exceptional cases were being killed in warfare or on the ball court, being sacrificed to the gods, committing suicide, or dying in childbirth.
Once the soul reached paradise, it could find eternal happiness. But Maya believed that paradise was not in the sky. Instead, it was a mystical mountain on the earth that was located far, far away. This was the reason why the Maya believed that there was nothing wrong with human sacrifice. Because when people were sacrificed to the gods, they did not die; they simply moved to another place.
This religious belief was central to their culture. So, they regularly held religious rituals. These rituals were held either in dark caves, which symbolized the dark underworld Xibalba, or on high temples and hills, which symbolized the blissful paradise Tamoanchan.
The Maya social structure – the three classes
Next to the gods, the person the Maya revered the most was their king. They believed that their king was related to the gods. So, the Maya respected him greatly and considered him the mediator between the gods and the humans.
The king held supreme authority as the religious, political, and military head of the country. All the other people in the empire fell into one of the three classes – the upper class, the middle class, and the lower class.
The nobles formed the upper class of the Maya society. They were either the family members of the king or held positions like military leaders, high priests, local administrators, trade leaders, tax collectors, and plantation managers. They were wealthy, literate, and lived in the central part of the city.
People who possessed specific skills, like architects, artists, astronomers, scribes, and warriors, formed the middle class of the society.
Construction workers, farmers, and slaves formed the lower class of society. They lived outside the central part of the city.
How did different people live in the Maya civilization?
How was the daily life of a Maya like? To find this out, we have to look at the different classes of people, how they were treated by the society, and how they lived.
Clay figurines representing (Left to right) a Maya king, priest, costumed nobleman, seated woman, warrior, and commoner.
Slaves
In the Maya culture, people who committed crimes or were considered a burden to society became slaves. This included prisoners of war, citizens who failed to pay debts, and unwanted orphaned children. But unlike the slavery practiced by the Europeans, in Maya culture, slavery was not passed down to their children.
Slaves were at the absolute bottom of the Maya civilization. They worked in the houses of nobles but did not have any rights or privileges. Yet, they were not normally mistreated by their masters because they did all the manual work. They cleaned the nobles’ houses, cared for their children, and worked in their fields. They also built temples and palaces. And despite all their hard work, they were the ones who were mostly used for human sacrifices. In most Maya cities, slaves were also burned when the nobles who owned them died so that they continued to serve their masters in their afterlife.
Commoners
Most of the people in the Maya civilization lived in the lower class as farmers. Since the Maya relied heavily on agriculture for food and trade, most ordinary people worked as farmers.
But the life of a farmer was not easy. The Maya men and boys woke up early and went to farms. The Maya did not have farm animals like oxen or horses to plow the land. So, they did all the work by themselves. Moreover, the Maya did not have any metal tools. All they had were stone tools, like stone axes, which had to be sharpened frequently. Once the farming season was over and the crops were harvested, these farmers worked the rest of the year building pyramids and temples.
Some of the commoners also worked in limestone quarries, and others worked as servants for the nobles.
While the men worked at farms and built temples, the women cooked, cleaned, wove clothes, bred bees, and carried goods from the fields to the markets. The Maya did not use any carts because the use of wheels wasn’t widespread in the Maya civilization. Even though they made toys fitted with wheels, they didn’t use wheels for a practical purpose like making carts. So, the women kept the goods in baskets, placed these baskets on their heads, and walked from the farm to the market.
Thus, whatever jobs the commoners did, their lives involved plenty of hard labor. But that is not to say that life was all work and no play for them. At least once every month, the Maya held a religious festival in their cities. Everyone went to these festivals, where they would eat, sing, dance, worship their gods, and watch ball games.
Merchants
Initially, the Maya civilization consisted of only small villages. So, the farmers and workers in the village could produce enough goods to sustain the population. But as villages grew into small towns and small towns grew into big cities, locally produced goods were not enough to sustain the tens of thousands of people. Moreover, people’s needs got diverse, and hence, food and clothes were not the only things they needed any more. So, trading with other villages and cities became indispensable for Maya cities. Hence, merchants played an important role in the Maya civilization.
The Maya merchants traded two different kinds of goods – useful commodities and luxury items. Useful commodities were items people used every day, like food, clothes, tools, etc. Luxury items were items that the nobles used to portray their wealth, like gold, jade, feather works, jewelry, etc.
Big cities had market centers where the local Maya people could exchange the goods they produced for products like feathers, jade, etc. Villages and small towns which did not have exclusive market centers had market days when people aggregated and exchanged goods.
Useful commodities like food were traded locally in such markets. Food that was not readily available was obtained by trading with nearby cities. Luxury items, on the other hand, were not easy to obtain. So, merchants traveled long distances to procure them. The trade routes that the Maya merchants established reached up to the Caribbean islands and even South America.
Currency
But despite trade being an important part of their civilization, the Maya did not have a form of currency. They traded using the Barter system, by exchanging goods they had an excess of for goods they lacked. But as one would expect, all things were not traded at the same ratio. Luxury items, in particular, had more value. For example, one pound of Cocoa was exchanged for two pounds of corn. Gold was costlier and was traded for 20 pounds of corn. The feathers of Quetzal, a colorful bird that lives in Central America, were even costlier and would fetch 50 pounds of corn.
But according to recent research, the Maya might have actually started using cocoa beans and woven clothes as forms of currencies as early as the Seventh Century.
Artisans
The Maya Artisans included people who worked on feathers, crafted jewels by hand, sculpted stone statues, or made pots. Just like the merchants, they were necessary for big cities to meet the varied needs of their people.
The lives of artisans were a little bit easier than that of farmers because they didn’t have to do as much hard labor as lower-class people. But even though they didn’t have to do hard labor, they still woke up early every day to do their jobs. Their profession was passed down from father to son. So, big families lived together under one roof and practiced one profession.
The artisans made more money than the farmers. So, they used the money left after paying taxes and tribute to improve their lives, like buying better food, clothes, and jewelry.
Warriors
For several years, historians believed that the Maya were peaceful people. Even though they used their captives as slaves and human sacrifices, they didn’t wage wars frequently. But recent archaeological findings suggest that the Maya kings wanted more land and natural resources and have greater control over trade networks. So, from 600AD to 900AD, Maya city-states were in a constant state of war.
Clay figures of Warriors
So, warriors became prized possessions of city-states and were highly respected. The Maya warriors prepared for battle in a unique way. First, they made a shield and painted all the battles they had won and all the things they had established on it. Then, they danced together, holding their shields while the noisemakers made noises to boost their confidence.
The Maya used many weapons. This included long-range weapons like slings, spears, arrows, as well as short-range weapons like clubs, knives, and axes. But whenever possible, the Maya tried not to kill their opponents so that they can use them later as slaves and human sacrifices.
Nobles
The nobles were the people who had royal blood but were not the king. They formed the smallest part of the Maya society but possessed great wealth and power. They performed the most important jobs in the city – priests, tax collectors, government officials, etc.
According to Maya culture, the nobles were holy people whose existence bordered between gods and humans. So, they enjoyed better material benefits. They ate more meat and drank a chocolate drink every day. They wore fancy clothes and jewelry. But in exchange, they made sacrifices to gods, including their own blood. They pierced their ears or tongue with a thorn, squeezed the blood on a piece of paper, and burned them. They considered it an honor to do so.
Priests
As we saw above, the Maya were highly religious people. So, the priests enjoyed great respect, considered second only to the kings in the societal structure.
The Maya priests were the most educated of all the Maya people. They had several duties.
Their foremost duty was to advise the kings on when to wage wars, and when to plant crops using the Maya Calendar, and their knowledge of astronomy and astrology. Another important duty of these priests was to teach the sons of nobles. They also hosted religious ceremonies. During these ceremonies, they talked to the gods and interpreted their will.
The King
The person at the very top of the Maya society was the king. Since the king was considered a descendant of the gods, his authority was absolute. But the Maya Empire did not have one supreme king. The Maya Empire had several city-states, which were ruled by different royal families. But a king still ruled over a vast city. Moreover, large cities controlled the smaller ones near them and received tributes from these smaller cities.
The Maya king was selected by a council of Batabs, who also kept a check on his power.
The Batabs were local administrators of individual towns or villages. Their tasks were to provide troops for war and to ensure that people paid their tributes. The king was initially selected by the Batabs from among themselves.
But once selected, the king followed a hereditary succession. The ruling authority passed down from father to son. If the king had no heir, the Batabs got together and chose their next king. But that incident very rarely happened. So, in reality, the same family might rule the city forever until people believed that the ruler had lost the favor of the gods. Losing at war was a definitive sign for the Maya that their king had lost the favor of the gods.
The Maya’s decline
Thus, supported by their societal structure, the Maya Empire flourished greatly from the third century to the ninth century. Their Empire covered almost one-third of Mesoamerica. However, in the ninth century, Maya abandoned the city-states and moved north. Thus, the Maya Empire, which dominated Central America, collapsed. Nobody knows why it happened. But there are some guesses.
Possible causes
During the golden age of the Maya Empire, the population of their city-states increased rapidly. So, Maya could have over-exploited the natural resources and degraded their environment to feed their overpopulated cities. As a result, by the ninth century, their yields could have dropped significantly. So, without enough food to support huge populations, people might have abandoned the city-states.
The frequent wars among neighboring city-states could have also deemed the cities unsafe. So, people might have abandoned them.
Severe drought could have occurred that left large populations starving. So, they might have moved north searching for better opportunities.
But historians believe that a combination of these factors might have led to the collapse of the Maya Empire. Thus, by the ninth century, the Maya city-states, which had housed tens of thousands of people over hundreds of years, became deserted. Only a handful of city-states, like the Chichen Itza, remained. These cities, too, fell in the eleventh century. Then, the Maya lacked a strong power until Mayapan rose as a prominent city in the twelfth century. At its peak, 14,000 to 17,000 people lived in this city. But this city, too, like its predecessors, fell in the fifteenth century.
As a result, by the time Spanish explorers reached Central America, the remnants of the Maya Empire were rebuilding. But they never got to do that since the Spanish conquest decimated them.
Some fun facts and myths about the Maya
1. Where did they get their name from?
The Maya did not call themselves Maya. The term Maya comes from the ancient city Mayapan, the last capital of the Maya kingdom before the Spanish arrival. The ancient Maya lived in separate city-states. These cities did not have political unity, and their citizens did not share a sense of common identity. The Maya who lived in different city-states did not consider themselves inhabitants of different states of a big empire. Instead, they considered themselves as citizens of different countries.
2.How did they justify human sacrifices?
The Maya did not sacrifice humans for the fun of it. They sacrificed humans to nourish their gods. Being sacrificed to the gods was also considered an honor because it was one of the few ways a soul could reach paradise directly, without suffering in the underworld.
3. Did they really sacrifice the losers of their ball-game?
The Maya might not have sacrificed their ball-game players. The Maya ball game called Poc-a-Toc was deeply meaningful to them. It was not just a spectator sport. It is a game where two teams of seven faced off each other on a ball court. The walls of the court sloped inward, and there were stone rings high on the walls.
The ball represented the sun and the moon, and the court represented the earth. Just as the sun and the moon never touch the earth, the ball should also be kept in the air. So, the game ended when the ball touched the ground or when a player put the ball through one of these rings. The ball had a diameter of 50cm, and the players cannot use their hands or legs. They can only use their heads, shoulders, hips, and knees to pass the ball.
So, the game was extremely difficult to play. Indeed, in most cases, the game ended when one of the teams put the ball through the ring. Until recently, two theories about the ball game existed. According to one theory, Poc-a-Toc was a game of survival, i.e., the losers were often sacrificed to the gods. According to a more recent theory, only the winning team’s captain was sacrificed because being sacrificed was considered an honor.
A contradicting belief – To believe or Not to believe?
But according to Christophe Helmke, an associate professor at the Institute of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies at the University of Copenhagen, neither of these theories might be true. He says that the ball games might have just been what they were – games. The players might not have been sacrificed after all. If the best players were always sacrificed, it would have been terrible for the game. Even in games where humans were sacrificed, the players might not have been sacrificed. The person who was sacrificed could have been someone else, who would have been sacrificed even if the game wasn’t played.
According to him, the misconception could have stemmed from the epic that tells the story of the creation of the Maya people. According to this myth, the deities of the underworld once played a ball game against humans. They used trickery in that game to win against humans and then decapitate them. Annoyed, the twin sons of one of the decapitated humans played against the underworld deities, won against them, and then dismembered them.
So, the artwork found on the ball courts might actually be a reference to this creation myth. Therefore, maybe we shouldn’t take it too literally. But, we cannot know for sure what happened several centuries ago.
4. Did they really predict when the world would end?
The Maya did not predict that the world would end on 21-12-2012. In the Maya calendar system, two calendars were at work simultaneously. One of these was the Haab, the civil calendar, which had 365 days. The other calendar was the Tzolkin, the sacred calendar, which had 260 days. Both these calendars work together but can account only for dates up to 52 days in the future.
For longer calculations, they used the Long Count calendar, which accounts for 5,125.36 years. The Maya considered this period the Great cycle. Since the long count calendar began on 11.08.3114 BC, it had to end on 21.12.2012 AD. Many people wrongly believed that the Maya actually predicted that the world would end on this date. But it is not true. Indeed, according to the Maya, the 5125 years of the Long Count Calendar just represents one cycle, the Baktun. The end of one Baktun doesn’t mark the end of the world but the start of another Baktun.
Where do the Maya live today?
Despite all the horrible things they had to go through, the Maya were not completely wiped out. Today, their descendants can be found in Central America, the majority of them living in Guatemala. The rest live in other Central American countries like Mexico, El Salvador, Belize, and Honduras.
Indian goods, like spices, silk, and textiles, had always been in great demand all over the world. So, merchants from various parts of the world often traveled to India for trade. This made India one of the wealthiest countries in the world at that time (in 1700). Its economy made up nearly 25% of the global economy. India’s economy was even larger than the economies all of the countries of Western Europe put together.
But within a span of 250 years, that number had shrunk to just 3%.
Now let’s turn our attention to the other part of the world, the Americas. It was home to two of the greatest civilizations of that time, the Incas and the Aztecs. Both these empires built sophisticated structures and complex cities filled with some innovative technologies. They built suspension bridges, built terraces for growing plants in areas with heavy rainfall, and predicted earthquakes. But at the same time, they also worshiped animals and forces of nature and lived in harmony with nature. The regions of the Americas, which the Incas and the Aztecs did not occupy, were occupied by numerous tribes ruled by priestly chieftains. Despite fighting locally among themselves, these tribesmen lived their entire lives in a relatively peaceful manner. They spent their time farming and lazing around, without a worry in the world.
And yet, within a span of 100 years, thousands of these indigenous people in the Americas had been raped, tortured, or killed. Some of these tribes, like the Taino, had vanished entirely.
The two tragic cases above might sound completely unrelated to each other. But they were both caused by a single event – colonialism.
What is colonialism?
I am sure that we all know what colonialism is. It is a practice where a powerful country controls other weaker countries directly and utilizes their resources and manpower to increase its own wealth and power. The countries that exert such control over other weaker countries are called colonizers. The countries that end up being controlled by them are called colonies.
The main reason for colonization was to procure resources from colonies. But during the process of colonization, colonizers also imposed their languages, religions, and cultures over their colonies. By doing so, they often destroyed the cultures of these colonies and the identities of people. In some colonies, the colonizers even actively decimated thousands of people and entire races for their own amusement. So, regardless of how you see it, colonialism was a global disaster, except for the colonizers, who benefited greatly from it. Even though colonialism started long before the birth of Christ, in this blog post, we will discuss only European colonialism.
When and how did it start?
In the middle ages, traders actively traded along the silk route, bringing goods from Asia and Africa to Europe. These goods (silk, ivory, dye, honey, tea, spices, paper, rice, fur, woolen goods, cattle, etc.) were indispensable for Europeans. So, it wouldn’t be far-fetched to say that the Europeans depended heavily on the silk route.
In the 15th century, the Ottoman Empire defeated the Byzantine Empire and came to power. Once it came to power, the Ottoman Empire closed the silk route to Christian traders. This was devastating for Europeans because they couldn’t get their hands on the goods the silk route had previously provided. Moreover, they had used massive amounts of gold and silver to pay for the goods from the silk route. Hence, they were running out of their reserves of gold and silver as well. So, they were not only desperate to get their hands on the Asian goods, but also wanted to procure gold and silver. Therefore, many European kingdoms started sponsoring voyages to find alternative routes to Asia. Thus, the age of exploration began.
Spain and Portugal were the first countries to enter this exploration race. Each of these countries sponsored different explorers who discovered different territories. Portugal sponsored Vasco da Gama, who sailed East and found the route to India. Spain sponsored Christopher Columbus, who sailed West hoping to find a faster route to Asia because the Earth is spherical but landed in America instead. These discoveries started Europe’s colonization of the rest of the world.
Different types of colonialism
Settler Colonialism
Upon landing in the unexplored Americas, Columbus found the local native people to be weaker and less civilized than Europeans. So, he started conquering them, despite the native people being hospitable and helping them. He even made some of his men settle there before returning to Spain.
Huge Influx of settlers
Columbus’ discovery of unexplored regions came as good news for Spain. Excited by the possibility of finding riches in these unknown lands, Spain started sponsoring more voyages. Its efforts bore fruit soon when its explorers found gold in South America, Central America, and Mexico. Spain grew rich from these exploits, and many people started moving from Europe to the Americas and settled there in the hopes of finding gold.
Christian missionaries also sent people to the Americas to settle there and convert the native people to Christianity. The ability to cultivate cash crops, like tobacco, in the Americas also motivated many Europeans to settle there.
Decimating the native population
These settlers built their own churches, schools, and farms while maintaining political and economic ties with their home country. They created their own communities in the new land. But by doing so, they killed and displaced the Aztecs, Incas, and the other indigenous people of the Americas. For instance, in the USA alone, the population of indigenous people fell by 57% between 1700 and 1820.
A 17th-century CE oil painting depicting the Spanish Conquistadores led by Hernán Cortés besieging the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan in 1519 CE. (Jay I. Kislak Collection)
The colonization of the Americas is a typical case of Settler colonialism. In settler colonialism, the goal of the colonizing country is to establish its own branch there. So, it tries to replace the original population of the colony by settling its own people there. The settlers, the people who move from the colonizing country and settle in these colonies, are often considered racially superior to the native people there and enjoy greater benefits. So, settlers move along with their families to these colonies to live there. In contrast to other forms of colonialism, in settler colonialism, the settlers continue to live in the colonies even after the colonial empire comes to an end. The USA, the Apartheid South Africa, Australia, and Canada are some of the victims of settler colonialism.
Exploitation Colonialism
When the Portuguese, headed by Vasco da Gama, landed in India, their primary goal was to establish trading ties with the country. So, the Portuguese started purchasing spices and selling them to the European high class. But the trade became so profitable that other European countries jumped in too.
Establishing trading companies
The British East India Company started only as a small business in London. But soon, it established outposts in the Indian cities of Bombay, Madras, and Calcutta. Unlike its European counterparts, the company was able to win the trust of the Mughal Empire that ruled most of India and make several trade agreements. These agreements made trade very profitable for its shareholders. But in a few years, the Mughal Empire weakened due to internal political divisions and invasions from neighboring Persia. Therefore, the East India company utilized the opportunity to expand into the Mughal provinces. By 1757, many wealthy Mughal provinces were under its control.
Effect of the Industrial revolution
Initially, the company brought its skilled craftsmen to produce finished goods (like clothes) in India. But with the onset of the Industrial Revolution, Europe started producing goods faster in its own land. Therefore, it needed enormous amounts of raw materials and a huge market to sell its products. So, India (and many other colonies) was forced to produce these raw materials (e.g., cotton). Hence, Indians were forced to prioritize the production of cash crops (cotton, tea, coffee, sugar, etc.) more than food items. So, the price of these raw materials went down, and the cost of food items went up.
Moreover, Indians were taxed for living under regions controlled by the East India Company. India, with its huge population, was also an important market for Britain. So, Indians were also forced to buy the finished products from Britain (like clothes). As a result, Britain became richer, while India became poorer. These cash crops also destroyed the fertility of the soil leading to droughts and famines. As a result, millions of Indians starved to death. Yet, while Indians kept dying due to starvation, Britain kept exporting tonnes of wheat from India to Britain.
The Odisha famine of 1866, which killed more than 4 million people – Willoughby Wallace Hooper, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Few colonizers control an entire colony
The industrial revolution also directly contributed to colonialism by equipping Europeans with improved machinery and superior weapons. New improvements in medicines also helped Europeans penetrate deep into their colonies safely, where previously they had encountered severe casualties. The company built trains to quickly transport the raw materials and used new gun types to overpower the masses. As a result, within the next hundred years, the East India Company became extremely powerful. It recruited Indians and trained them in European warfare, thereby creating an army of 260,000 soldiers. With this army, it was able to convert India into a British colony and rule its enormous population of 200 million people with ease.
The colonization of India is a typical case of Exploitation colonialism. In exploitation colonialism, the Colonizing country captures colonies with the sole intent of exploiting their cheap labor to extract raw materials for its immediate financial gain. In contrast to settler colonialism, the profits are not reinvested into the colonies. Once the colonial empire comes to an end, the colonists leave the colonies. Many Asian and African countries are victims of exploitation colonialism.
Plantation colonialism
The Europeans came to the Caribbean islands looking for silver and gold. But they didn’t find much of these precious metals there.
Identifying a cash crop
So, they started to grow different crops in the region to take them back home and sell them there. After experimenting with several plants (including tobacco), they tried growing sugarcane there. Even though sugarcane wasn’t a local crop of the Caribbean, it grew well.
Sugarcane was a highly beneficial crop. It could be used to make sugar, which was used to make food products like chocolate or mixed with food products like tea and coffee. It could also be used to make alcoholic beverages like rum. Both sugar and rum were in high demand in Europe. So, sugarcane plantations became a highly profitable business. For instance, in 1789, Saint-Domingue, a French colony in the Caribbean islands, produced 40% of the world’s sugar. Hence, it became the most valuable colony on Earth. So, the planters, which is how the people who created these plantations were called those days, became wealthy very quickly. And understandably, their success motivated many more Europeans to travel to the Caribbean islands and start sugarcane plantations.
Bringing slaves to meet labor demand
This surge in the sugarcane plantations created a huge demand for workers. So, millions of African men, women, and children were enslaved and brought to the Caribbean islands to work. As a result, the number of slaves far exceeded the number of planters. By the eighteenth century, slaves constituted at least 90% of the population of the Caribbean islands.
African slaves being brought to work in plantations (Source)
But the working conditions in these plantations were so harsh that many slaves died without reproducing. So, the slave population always kept shrinking, and to keep it steady, fresh slaves were imported from Africa constantly. To justify their inhuman treatment of slaves, Europeans invented the idea that they belonged to a superior race. So, it was their right to civilize, or in other words, exploit the Africans, who, in their view, belonged to an inferior race.
The colonization of the Caribbean islands is a classic example of plantation colonialism. In this type of colonialism, settlers create colonial bases for the mass production of a single crop, like sugar, coffee, cotton, rubber, etc. More often than not, slaves are imported to meet the demand for cheap labor. The Caribbean islands and many regions in North America are victims of plantation colonialism.
Surrogate colonialism
Until the first world war started, the Arabs in Palestine and its neighboring regions were ruled by the Ottoman Empire. Until then, nobody cared about them.
Meddling in the internal affairs of another country
Once the first world war started, Britain wanted these Arabs to fight on its side. Moreover, it wanted to maintain the support of the Muslims in the Indian army who were fighting for it. So, it agreed to the Arabs’ demand to let them establish their own kingdom in the region once the Ottoman Empire was defeated. In return, the Arabs had to revolt against the Ottoman Empire. This agreement was made between 1915 and 1916 over a series of ten letters exchanged between the Sheriff of Mecca, Hussein bin Ali, and the British High Commissioner to Egypt, Lieutenant Colonel Sir Henry McMahon, which came to be known as the McMahon–Hussein Correspondence.
But despite making this agreement, Britain signed a separate agreement with France in 1916. In this agreement, the Sykes-Picot agreement, Britain promised that most of Palestine would be administered internationally. The rest of the region would be divided up between France and Britain. As you can see, this agreement directly contradicted the McMohan-Hussein Correspondence.
As the first world war progressed, Britain’s success in the war became questionable. Even though the USA was sending its troops to aid Britain, it would take one more year for its full force to reach all the fronts. So, Britain wanted to gain the support of the Jews, particularly in the USA and Russia. After all, the Jewish population in Russia had recently helped overthrow the anti-Semitic Czarist Russian government there. If Britain could win their support, Russia could re-enter the war on the Eastern Front against Germany. Moreover, it wanted to exert its dominance in Palestine, a place that was like a bridge between Egypt and India. And finally, it genuinely wanted to support the Zionists’ cause of establishing a country where they could live.
Giving superiority to a non-native group over the native people
So, Britain decided to support the establishment of a national home for the Jews in Palestine. But it wished to achieve this goal without endangering the rights of the already existing non-Jewish people in Palestine. Britain revealed its decision through a letter written to a prominent Zionist head. This letter, which came to be known as the Balfour Declaration, was in direct opposition to the McMohan-Hussein Correspondence and the Skyes-Picot agreement.
The Balfour Declaration permitted Jews to establish a country, where the native Arabs constituted more than 90% of the population. The majority of these native Arabs were against the Balfour Declaration. They were outraged for not being permitted to establish their own nation, which they were promised in return for their participation in the war against the Ottoman Turks. To portray the sentiments of the Palestinians, I would like to quote the words of the late Palestinian-American academic Edward. According to him, the Balfour Declaration was “made by a European power … about a non-European territory … in a flat disregard of both the presence and wishes of the native majority resident in that territory.”
Following this Declaration, thousands of Jews started immigrating from all over Europe to Palestine. As a result, the population of Jews in Palestine tripled within two decades, and with it, the violence between Arabs and Jews escalated as well.
Non-Native groups displace native people
As the violence between both these factions escalated, Britain finally decided to terminate its mandate in 1947. It wanted to transfer the Palestine problem to the United Nations. But by that time, it was already too late. The Jews had already created an army using the armed paramilitary troops which Britain had trained to fight in the second world war. One year later, the Jews used this same army to forcefully oust almost 80% of the ethnic Arabs from their homeland and created the country of Israel.
What happened in Palestine is an example of Surrogate Colonialism. In this type of colonialism, a foreign country supports the settlement of another non-native group in a region primarily occupied by the native people.
Internal Colonialism
Tibet has been the homeland of the Tibetan people and several other ethnic groups. It became a part of China in 1720 when the Qing dynasty was ruling China. Since then, it had remained under the rule of the Qing dynasty for almost 200 years. Tibet became an independent entity only in 1912 when the Qing dynasty was overthrown.
Difference in powers between two regions
The Republic of China, which succeeded the Qing dynasty, wanted to inherit all the regions previously owned by the Qing dynasty. But Tibet continued to hold out against the iron clutches of the Republic of China for almost four decades.
In 1949, the Chinese civil war, which was fought between the two most powerful parties at that time, came to an end. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which emerged victorious, wanted to incorporate Tibet and other regions into China. When Tibet denied China’s peaceful request to annex, China deployed forces to intimidate Tibet. After its independence in 1912, Tibet had cut off relationships with the outside world. It had maintained contact only with India, the USA, and the UK.
Moreover, Tibet had made no efforts to modernize its machinery or improve its army. So, it was no match for China, which had a strong army coming out of the civil war. So, it requested foreign nations and the UN for help.
The stronger region takes over the weaker region
But despite its pleas for help, and its efforts to resist, China occupied Tibet. Tibet was then forced to sign an agreement authorizing China’s rule in Tibet.
Chinese soldiers in Tibet, in 1959, after suppressing a protest and killing thousands of civilians (Source)
Since then, almost 1.2 million Tibetans have been killed. China has destroyed the lives and the culture of the Tibetans and made Chinese the dominant language in the region. It is one of the most inhuman genocides and cultural genocides ever committed. Today, more than 100,000 Tibetans, including their formal leader Dalai Lama, live in exile in India.
What happened in Tibet is an example of Internal colonialism. In internal colonialism, the source of exploitation is not outside the state but within. It is caused by the difference in power between different regions or races of a state. Communities in China, Sri Lanka, Ireland, Afghanistan, and the Philippines have suffered due to internal colonialism.
What can we learn from these past experiences?
Whatever the form colonialism takes, it should be prevented at all costs. But unfortunately, even today, it still exists in various parts of the world. The ethnic cleansing of the Tamil people of Sri Lanka, which happened just 15 years back, is a sad example. So, let’s all join hands to end colonialism to let humanity thrive.
Several centuries before the birth of Jesus Christ, Herodotus compiled the first list of the seven wonders of the world. Of those seven ancient wonders, only the Great Pyramid of Giza stands even today. All the other wonders were destroyed either by fire, earthquake, or invaders. Moreover, one of these wonders, The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, might have never existed in the first place.
So, in 2000, the New 7 wonders foundation organized a campaign to select the new seven wonders of the world. But unlike the seven wonders of the ancient world, these wonders were not chosen by a single historian or archaeologist. They were chosen by people all over the world.
In the world’s first global voting campaign, almost 100 million people cast their votes through the internet and telephones. From these votes, the seven wonders of the world were chosen and officially announced on 07/07/07 (They were announced on this specific date to preserve the historical significance of the number seven).
What are these seven wonders? Why were they built? What were the problems faced while constructing them? Read this blog post to find out.
In the history of China, the warring states era has great significance. During this era, seven major states – Qin, Han, Wei, Zhao, Qi, Chu, and Yan, fought against each other for superiority.
After almost three centuries of warfare, the warring states era ended in 221 B.C. with Qin’s victory. The king of Qin, Qin Shi Huang, combined all these states and formed the first unified Chinese empire.
Once Qin Shi Huang became the first emperor of unified China, he ordered the construction of a fortified wall in the north, which would protect China from nomadic invaders. On his orders, the existing stone and earth walls (built between 8th and 3rd century B.C. by the warring states to protect themselves from one another) were combined into a single system. This wall would later come to be known as the Great Wall of China.
Even though the Qin dynasty had achieved the impossible dream of unifying China, the dynasty itself didn’t last long. Indeed, the Qin dynasty fell within two decades. But even though the Qin dynasty was no more, the wall built by it was repaired, rebuilt, and further extended by successive dynasties until 1868A.D.
Very little of the original wall constructed by the Qin dynasty remains today. Most of the Great Wall of China, as it exists today, was built by the Ming dynasty between 1368A.D. and 1644A.D.
Function
The Qin dynasties originally built the Great Wall of China to protect China from nomadic invaders. The watchtowers and beacon towers in the wall not only served as defensive structures but also as lookouts. Soldiers guarding a watchtower could report an incoming attack to other watchtowers using signal fires. At times, when China’s borders extended beyond the Great Wall, emperors armed it with soldiers to protect traders using the silk route.
Challenges
Unlike several other monuments, the Great Wall of China was not built at the heart of a thriving civilization. It was built along the border of a nation. It stretches through plains, mountains, and a desert. Hence, the collection and transportation of materials to construction sites in different terrains was a huge problem.
At a time when advanced machines and tools were not available, gathering and transporting millions of tonnes of rock, soil, and wood as well as building huge walls needed humungous manpower. Hence, getting the manpower needed to construct the wall was an even bigger problem.
It would have been expensive and ineffective to transport rocks, cut out of mountains, to plains and deserts. So, the wall was built strategically.
On hills and mountains, workers built the wall using uncut rocks and soil abundant in these places.
On the plains, they built the wall by ramming the soil abundant in these areas. Some of these sections are more than 2000 years old but still remain intact.
In the desert, they built the wall by creating reed and wood-layers. Then, they filled these layers with sand to strengthen them.
Wherever possible, the workers made use of rivers as natural barriers, thus saving labor and materials.
During the Ming dynasty, the workers used bricks and lime mortar to build the wall.
To solve the problem of manpower, the emperors used soldiers, peasants, and prisoners to build the wall. During the Qin dynasty, the emperor commissioned around 300,000 soldiers to build the wall. However, it took another 500,000 common people to finish it. Criminals were often given four years of construction as a prison sentence. They often patrolled the walls during the day and built the wall during the night.
Some emperors from later dynasties enlisted all the men in the kingdom to construct the wall. At times, even children were not spared.
The construction of the Great Wall was too hard on the bodies of normal people. So, many people died while building the wall. Many of them died due to cold winters as well.
How long did it take?
The Great Wall of China is the longest construction project undertaken by humans. It took millions of workers from several dynasties and different periods more than 2500 years to finish the wall. Several hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of workers died during its construction. Many of their bodies were buried within the wall.
In the 1960s, during Mao Zedong’s rule, officials even encouraged people to dismantle the wall and use the bricks to build houses.
As a result, almost three-fourths of the Great Wall, built during the Ming dynasty, is in danger today. One-third of the Great Wall has even completely disappeared. Only 8.2% of the Great Wall has been preserved properly.
2. Christ, the Redeemer
Christ, the Redeemer, is one of the seven wonders of the world and a symbol of Brazilian Christianity. It is located in the city of Rio de Janeiro. Standing 30m tall on the summit of Mount Corcovado, it is the fifth-largest Statue of Jesus in the world. The horizontally outstretched arms spanning 28m make it look as if Jesus is welcoming everyone with open arms.
Why was it built?
In the 1850s, a Christian priest proposed placing a massive statue of Jesus Christ in Rio de Janeiro. However, his proposal was not accepted.
So, they made a second proposal to build a statue of Jesus on the summit of Mount Corcovado. The Mount Corcovado is 704m high. If the statue was built on top of it, this statue would be visible from anywhere in Rio. By placing such a religious symbol in Brazil’s (then) capital city, they hoped to kill the increasing godlessness and win back the citizens’ faith in Christianity.
So, in 1922, a competition was held to select a design for the statue. Among several competing designs, the design of Jesus with open arms was chosen.
Once the design was selected, several designers started working together to build the statue. They made the statue using reinforced concrete. They built the outer layer using soapstone tiles. Soapstone was chosen because it is easy to carve while being durable and heat-resistant at the same time. It was also abundant in that area.
After its completion, the statue was opened to the public on October 12, 1931. Visible from anywhere in Rio, the statue sent a message to the citizens of Rio, that Jesus was welcoming them with open arms. Soon, the statue became a symbol of Brazilian Christianity and global peace.
How long did it take?
It took nine years to finish building Christ, the Redeemer.
Current problems
Due to its location on the top of the mountain, it is prone to strong winds, erosion, and lightning attacks. Indeed, it gets hit by lightning around three to six times a year. In 2008, lighting hit the statue and damaged the head, eyebrows, and fingers.
Due to these problems, maintenance is done periodically, and restoration work is carried out when needed. However, the white stone which was originally used to build the statue is in high-demand now. So, during restoration works, a dark-colored variation is often used. Therefore, Christ, the Redeemer, is becoming darker gradually.
3. Petra
Petra was a flourishing city in Jordan two thousand years ago. Built in an arid, rocky desert, it served as an important trade center. However, somewhere around the seventh century A.D., its people abandoned the city. Since then, it had been forgotten and remained hidden for more than a thousand years, until the 19th century.
In 1806, the African association, an English club created for the discovery of interior parts of Africa, assigned a Swiss adventurer the job of penetrating the Muslim dominated region of Sudan. Since foreign Christians could be executed for entering the Ottoman Empire, the Swiss adventurer disguised himself as a Persian pilgrim and traveled from England to Syria.
In 1812, on his way from Syria to Cairo (Egypt), he heard rumors of a city in ruins, that was close to a tomb. This rumor made him curious. So, on the pretext of sacrificing a goat, he asked his guide to take him to the tomb. When he passed through the narrow valley and finally set his eyes on the ruined city, he was mesmerized. He deduced that this city could only be Petra, the ancient city whose wealth was envied even by the Romans. He instantly knew that it was a wonder that deserved to be remembered for eternity.
The treasury in Petra
Why was it built?
The Nabateans were a tribe of people who lived in tents in the Arabian deserts (present-day Jordan). They moved along with their herd from one place to another in search of grass and water.
Due to their life in arid deserts, they developed an intrinsic knowledge of hydraulic engineering. They dug tanks in the ground to store water, starting with a narrow hole and making it wider as they dug deeper. When it rained, the water went through the narrow opening and filled the tank. When the tank got full, they closed the opening and left signs known only to their tribe. This efficient storage of water in the arid desert gave them two benefits – Wealth and Power.
Power
Whenever a battle broke out, they would hide themselves and use the water stored in these tanks to quench their thirst. They would then wait until their enemies eventually surrender due to the lack of water. By fighting this way, they soon developed an efficient and well-organized military that defended them against bigger powers.
Wealth
Due to their efficient use of water, they could transport goods more efficiently and quicker than their competition. So, they started trading aromatic items, used to make scents and incense, along the Incense trade route (a network of ancient trade routes used for trading Arabian, African, East Asian, and Indian goods). Since these aromatic items were in great demand in Egypt, Rome, and Babylon, they quickly became richer and accumulated a lot of wealth.
This wealth helped them control several cities along the Incense trade route by the third century B.C. These cities became important stop points in the Incense route, where the traders, making the 65-day one-way travel journey to Gaza (Egypt), would rest for the night and trade their goods. Due to the amount of trade happening in these cities, the Nabateans became even wealthier.
They eventually levied taxes from these travelers by building forts along the routes and guaranteeing them safety. Now they were so rich that the neighboring empires started envying their wealth. But their wealth came from their main source – travelers and traders. So, to offer better protection for the traders and oversee their own tax caravans, they built the city of Petra.
How long did it take?
The construction of the entire city of Petra is supposed to have been finished within a span of 100 years.
Challenges
While building the city of Petra, the Nabateans might have faced four major challenges.
The Nabateans’ excelled at hiding themselves during battles and revealing themselves later when the enemy has gotten weaker. Building a city at the center of the desert for everyone to see would place them at a serious disadvantage. Defending their city against well-trained armies would be impossible.
The water was a scarce resource in the desert. Building a city in the desert would put them at a disadvantage if they had to provide water for thousands of their citizens. So, finding a consistent water source might have been a big challenge.
The area, where Petra was built, was prone to flash floods. Hence, ensuring the safety of their citizens was another challenge.
In the arid desert, water was not the only scarce resource. Wood, used to build the scaffoldings for construction, was also a scarce resource. Hence, procuring the wood needed to build scaffoldings for construction was yet another challenge.
Solutions
To prevent being attacked by well-trained armies, the Nabateans built their city amidst Sandstone cliffs. The main entrance to the city was through a narrow 1.2km path between cliffs, making it hard to find. Moreover, the enclosing towering rocks made the city a natural fortress. (See the pictures below).
The Nabateans were excellent hydraulic engineers. To combat the water scarcity problem, they built a pipeline from the Spring of Moses to Petra. The pipeline covering 8 km in length could have contained tens of thousands of ceramic pipe sections fixed together. A slope (declination) of 6° would have increased the speed of water flow, increasing the water pressure, and creating a leak between pipe sections. On the other hand, if the declination was less than 1°, there wouldn’t have been enough difference in height between the source and destination for the water to flow. So, they used a constant declination of 4° from the Spring to Petra, to avoid any leakage between these pipe sections, while ensuring the smooth flow of water. This pipeline, along with their efficient management of flash floods, could have provided up to 8 liters/day of water for each of their 30,000 citizens (approximately). Indeed, there was an excess of water which was used to create a garden in the city center.
To protect their citizens from floods, the Nabateans built dams. Then, they closed the opening between rocks to block the water’s pathway and divert it to these dams. They also built an intricate system of aqueducts to transport this water to different locations within the city. They even built a garden (oasis) in their city.
To minimize the usage of wood during construction, the Nabateans used an innovative approach. They could have carved their buildings out of sandstone rocks, not from bottom to top, but from top to bottom. Instead of using wooden scaffoldings, they might have used wooden slabs, placed on iron rods inserted into rocks. From treasuries to cemeteries, they could have built all their buildings in this way.
Entrance to Petra
Entrance to Petra
Decline in Popularity
Petra was a thriving city and the capital city of the Nabatean kingdom until the first century A.D. In 106 A.D., the Nabatean kingdom lost its independence to the Roman empire, which annexed Nabatea and renamed it to Arabia Petraea.
In the following centuries, Petra’s significance declined due to the emergence of sea trade routes. An earthquake destroyed several of the city’s structures in 363 A.D. In the following centuries, the city’s significance gradually declined, and eventually, it was forgotten.
4. Taj Mahal
Of all the world wonders, the Taj Mahal, located in Agra, India, is considered the symbol of love by most people on earth. It was built by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal.
Why was it built?
The Mughal empire is said to have been founded by Babur, a descendent of Timur, the undefeated military general, tactician and first ruler of the Timurid dynasty, and Gengis Khan, the founder and first emperor of the Mongol empire.
After being ousted from his ancestral lands in central Asia, Babur went to Kabul (Afghanistan) and established himself there. Pushing downwards from Kabul, he conquered several parts of India and eventually created the Mughal empire. His successors followed in his footsteps, conquering many parts of India and expanding the Mughal empire.
The fifth emperor of the Mughal empire, Shah Jahan, was no different. He had many wives, and most of his marriages were political. But his marriage with Mumtaz Mahal, a Persian woman from Iran, was different. It was born out of love. Indeed, his love for Mumtaz was said to be so great that he stopped having emotional or sexual relationships with his other wives. Even though their love for each other was so great, sadly, in 1631, while delivering their 14th child, Mumtaz died.
Shah Jahan was heartbroken. Unable to forget his wife, he commissioned the construction of a tomb in memory of her. Under his orders, the construction of the Taj Mahal started in 1632 and finished in 1653.
The Taj Mahal is 68m high. The four minarets surrounding it are 43m tall. Shah Jahan didn’t want the minarets to fall on the Masuoleum in the event of an earthquake. So, the minarets were built tilted at an angle of 2.5° facing away from the Mausoleum, so that in case of an earthquake, the minarets would fall on the opposite side of the Mausoleum.
Upon its completion, the Taj Mahal, including its complex, was almost perfectly vertically symmetrical, when seen from the main entrance.
However, 13 years later, when Shah Jahan died, his tomb was placed on the left side in the Mausoleum. Today, his tomb is the only structure that spoils the Taj Mahal’s symmetry. But if so much effort was taken by Shah Jahan to make the Taj Mahal symmetrical, why was his own tomb placed in a way to spoil it?
Mumtaz’s tomb (right) is centered and symmetric, but Shah Jehan’s tomb (left) is not. Note that the entrance is at the bottom left- By No machine-readable author provided. Donelson assumed (based on copyright claims). – No machine-readable source provided. Own work assumed (based on copyright claims)., CC BY-SA 3.0, Link
The Black Taj Mahal
Legend has it that Shah Jahan planned to build a black Taj Mahal on the opposite side of the Yamuna river to serve as his own tomb. The moonlight garden, located on the other side of the Yamuna river, is perfectly aligned with the gardens of the Taj Mahal. People speculate that this is the place where Shah Jahan wanted to build the black Taj Mahal.
But before he could begin its construction, he was overthrown from his throne by his third son, Aurangazeb, and was imprisoned by him. Most modern historians have dismissed the legend of the black Taj Mahal as a rumor. However, if it were true, and had Shah Jahan managed to pull it off, it would have added another layer of symmetry to the already symmetrical White Taj Mahal.
How long did it take?
Employing 20,000 workers, the construction of the Taj Mahal and its complex took 22 years.
Current Problems
In recent years, the Taj Mahal has been turning yellowish-green due to the air pollution from Agra. The Yamuna river, on whose banks the Taj Mahal is built, is also heavily polluted. This, in turn, attracts thousands (if not millions) of bugs. These bugs excrete on the white marbles of the Taj Mahal, marring its beauty further. Acid rain, created when sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emitted from industries react with the moisture or rain, also affects the marbles.
In 1996, the Indian government declared an area of 10,400 sq km around the Taj Mahal as the Taj Trapezium Zone (TTZ). Industries and factories within TTZ were either asked to relocate outside the zone or minimize emissions by using clean fuels.
5. Machu Pichu
Located in the Andes Mountains in Peru, Machu Pichu truly deserves its spot as a world wonder. Known only to few locals, this mysterious city made of rock remained hidden from the outside world for five centuries.
Discovery of Machu Pichu
The Incas were fierce warriors. Until the 15th century, they lived in their small kingdom (the city of Cusco in Peru). In 1438, their ninth king Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui started expanding their kingdom through conquest and eventually founded the Inca empire. Under Pachacuti and his successors, the Inca empire subjugated dozens of kingdoms in South America and (at its prime) stretched for more than 4000km along the Pacific coast.
Despite the Incas being fierce warriors, the Inca Empire lasted only for a hundred years. The Inca empire gradually weakened due to Smallpox and civil wars, until the Spanish invasion in 1532.
Due to the Spanish invasion, the king of the Incas at that time moved his capital to Vitcos. Soon the Spanish raided Vitcos, killing many Incas. So, the Inca king and his supporters moved to Vilcabamba, which was in a remote area within the forests. There they defended against the Spanish for 35 years until 1572. However, in 1572, the Spanish forces successfully captured Vitcos and Vilcabamba, ending the Inca empire.
After several years, due to the lack of written records and the absence of inhabitants, the locations of these two cities were forgotten. For adventurers around the world, Vilcabamba came to be known as the lost city of the Incas, which held reserves of treasure hidden by the Incas.
Almost 340 years later, in 1911, the American explorer Hiram Bingham set on to find Vitcos and Vilcabamba. During his search, he was led to Machu Pichu by a local villager. He mistook this city for Vilcabamba, the last capital and lost city of the Incas. Soon, Machu Pichu became famous as the lost city of the Incas.
After discovering Machu Pichu, Bingham continued his search and discovered two more Inca cities, one of which he identified as Vitcos and the other he named as Trombone Pampa. In 1964, another American explorer called Gene Savoy was exploring the ruins at Trombone Pampa, that Bingham has discovered. He found that Trombone Pampa was indeed Vilcabamba, thus disproving Bingham’s theory that Machu Pichu was Vilcabamba.
This discovery by Gene Savoy caused huge confusion among archaeologists and historians. If Machu Pichu wasn’t actually Vilcabamba, then why was it built?What purpose did it serve? These were the questions that historians wanted the answers to. However, since the Incas didn’t have a written language, finding answers to these questions was not easy.
Why was it built?
The Incas were not only ferocious warriors but also skilled engineers. They built a vast network of roads and stone buildings without the use of wheel or iron tools. So, they should have known that the location, where Machu Picchu stands today, was prone to earthquakes and landslides. Yet, despite the amount of money, time, and labor, it would cost them, they decided to build Machu Picchu there. Therefore, there should be a strong reason for the construction of Machu Picchu. But nobody is certain what this reason is. However, by looking at the way Machu Picchu was built, historians have deduced the purpose for which Machu Picchu was constructed.Machu Pichu is a city of rock built on a mountain. But it has no walls surrounding the city. So, it couldn’t have been used for defense. It has half a hectare of green vegetation watered by open waterways and fountains. Corn and potato were primarily grown here, which were the food for royal people at that time. This indicates that Machu Pichu was intended to be used by the king and his relatives. At the base of the mountain on which Machu Picchu was built, the Urubamba River flows. This river was holy to the Incas. Moreover, a pillar that stands at the highest point of Machu Pichu is aligned with the four mountain gods of great importance to the Incas. Two virtual lines, each of them connecting the peaks of two opposite mountains, would meet at this pillar. This indicates that the Incas considered Machu Picchu a holy site. It might have taken 50 years to finish this city. From all these observations, historians believe that Machu Picchu could have been built by the Inca emperor Pachakuti to serve as a royal estate. The Inca emperors could have used it a few days every year, just like a resort.
Challenges
During the construction of Machu Picchu, the Incas might have faced the following challenges:
The location where Machu Picchu is built gets 1800mm of rainfall every year. This would cause soil erosion, thereby destroying the rock buildings in Machu Picchu eventually. So, building a city there wouldn’t have been easy.
The area where Machu Picchu is located is prone to earthquakes. Building a city of rock in such a place would have been a big challenge.
There are no visible reservoirs there. So, the Incas did not store the rainwater anywhere. Sustaining a population of almost 750 people without a system for storing rainwater would have been another challenge.
Getting and transporting the granite rocks needed for transportation would have been a challenge as well.
Solutions
To safely dispose of the rainwater, the Incas built terraces leading up to Machu Pichu. The terraces they built ensured that the soil in Machu Pichu was not washed away, and there were no landslides. Each of their terraces is made of a layer of sand on the top of a layer of gravel. The topmost layer is made of soil, which was probably brought from the plains for cultivating crops. Whenever it rains, the rainwater slowly works its way into the mountain through these three layers of materials, instead of running down the mountain and causing landslides.
In Machu Picchu, the rocks used for construction are just placed on top of each other. No mortar or lime was used to hold them together. This adds flexibility to the building. But, since no mortar is used, the rocks are cut precisely in shapes that wedge together (fit perfectly with each other like building blocks in a Tetris game), to prevent them from sliding away. Thus, when there is an earthquake, the rocks vibrate and return to their original position.
A canal was constructed at a 3° declination to bring water from a nearby spring. This canal brought drinking water to the city, sufficient for sustaining a thousand people.
The sacred site Chichen Itza was one of the greatest Mayan centers in the world. Built during the sixth century A.D., it rose to prominence within a hundred years and continued to thrive even after the end of the golden age of the Mayan civilization.
Why was it built?
The Mayans were one of the dominant native people of Central America. Unlike other civilizations of that time, which originated around rivers and delta regions, the Mayan civilization originated in a place with very few rivers that could be used for irrigation or transport.
Even though rivers are scarce, the region receives sufficient rainfall for up to six months every year. However, the limestone abundant in those areas, which exists under the thin layer of soil, absorbs rainwater immediately.
But that doesn’t mean that water doesn’t accumulate anywhere at all. Indeed, water accumulates in several swamps that can be found in these areas. But this water is too salty to be used for drinking or irrigation. Therefore, this area was highly unsuitable for early human settlement.
Yet, the earliest Mayan settlements started appearing in these areas around 1800 B.C. This proves that Mayans were intelligent people who found ways to survive in a water-scarce environment.
Indeed, historians have found evidence that Mayans obtained water by using innovative methods like building small tanks to store rainwater, filtering saltwater using limestone, and finding caves that contained freshwater. Using this water, the Mayans started farming, cultivating crops like Maize to feed themselves.
Between 2000B.C. and 250A.D., keeping this effective water management and agriculture at their core, Mayan cities started to emerge. These cities eventually became huge centers that attracted massive human populations. Indeed, one of these cities was so big that it had a population of 250,000.
However, unlike the Incas and the Aztecs, these Mayan cities never joined hands to form a Mayan empire despite having a common culture and similar languages. Instead, ruled by kings who were considered divine, these Mayan cities competed against each other. They even went to such lengths to construct huge pyramids to show off their power to other cities.
Around 300A.D., the golden age of the Mayan civilization began. During their golden age, their cities started becoming more organized and powerful. The number of these cities grew to 40, with each city housing 5,000 to 50,000 people. Many of these cities had central plazas and palaces. Buildings of religious importance, like stone pyramids and temples, and buildings of cultural significance, like ballcourts, also became common in these cities.
Even though it led to the emergence of urban cities like Chichen Itza, the golden age of the Mayan civilization did not last very long. Between the eighth and tenth centuries, a mysterious event happened in the Mayan civilization. Nobody knows what it was. It could have been a severe drought or the unprecedented warfare between Mayan cities, or the overuse of resources. But whatever it was, it shook the Mayan civilization to the core. As a result, most of these Mayan cities were abandoned.
However, very few cities, like Chichen Itza, continued to flourish even after the end of the Mayan golden era. They continued to thrive until the 16th century when the Spanish came and eventually led to the fall of the Mayan civilization. Chichen Itza, however, might have lost its significance even earlier, around the thirteenth century, as a result of the power struggle among cities.
Today, Chichen Itza is a world heritage site and a world wonder. The buildings preserved at this site give us an insight into how Mayans lived 1500 years ago. Especially noteworthy among these buildings are a ballcourt and a stepped pyramid.
This ballcourt is where the Mayans played their famous ball game called Ulama. In this ball game, players, up to seven on each side, used only their hips, knees, and upper arms to push a 3-4 kg rubber ball past the enemy line or put it through a stone ring in the wall.
This game became an indispensable part of their lives. While some games were played just for fun, some games were soaked in gambling. Houses, fields, and even children were used to gamble. Sometimes, the game was played for purely religious reasons, with the players of the losing side being sacrificed to the gods.
Iron ring in the ballcourt in Chichen Itza
Mayans were highly religious people. They believed that, since the gods created everything, they needed something in return. So, they often made sacrifices to repay their debt to the gods. The most common sacrifice in the Mayan civilization was one’s own blood. They pierced their body part and then burned the blood as an offering to their gods.
They usually never sacrificed normal humans because normal humans were deemed studied unworthy of the gods. If they sacrificed humans, it was normally the captured king or some other royalty of the enemy kingdom. Such sacrifices and other rituals were often performed on top of stepped pyramids, like the one found in Chichen Itza. Hence, these pyramids held religious importance in the Mayan culture.
El Castillo (Temple of Kukulcan) – The pyramid in Chichen Itza.
Thus, looking at these preserved buildings helps us understand the cultural behavior and religious beliefs of the Mayans.
Unlike the Egyptians, the Mayans did not build their pyramids by placing one stone on top of another. Instead, they used a different process. First, they piled up mud in the form of a pyramid (prism). They then coated it with a layer of plaster made of limestone. Finally, they shaped it into a stepped pyramid and painted it red (mostly). The pyramids so built were initially small.
However, unlike the Egyptian pyramids, the Mayan pyramids grew bigger with time. Even though the later generations of Mayans used the same process, they did not start building pyramids by piling mud over the ground.
Instead, they piled mud over the already existing pyramids and then coated it with a layer of plaster. Thus, they utilized the pyramids of their ancestors to build bigger pyramids. Using this method, they could build huge pyramids, some of which were almost half the size of the Giza Pyramid.
7. The Colosseum
The Colosseum is a huge amphitheater that stands in the center of Rome, in Italy. When it was built, it had a seating capacity of 50,000 people. However, today, only one-third of it remains. Building an amphitheater that could host 50,000 people may not be a big deal today. But two thousand years ago, it was an extraordinary accomplishment.
Why was it built?
Rome was initially a kingdom that transformed into a republic. However, the Roman Republic was brought to an end when Julius Caeser became a dictator in 46 B.C. In the political turmoil that ensued, he was assassinated by rebellious senators. His adopted son Octavian, who later came to be known as Augustus, avenged Caeser’s murderers and established the Roman Empire, becoming its first emperor.
Even though Augustus was a righteous ruler, his successors were not. This led to turmoil in 68 A.D., and the Julio-Claudian dynasty, from which Augustus hailed, was overthrown. Eventually, Vespasian became the Roman Emperor, and he established the Flavian dynasty.
Once he became the Emperor, Vespasian ordered the construction of a huge amphitheater for the Roman people, at the same site where the previous Roman Emperor’s palace stood.
Unlike the other amphitheaters of that time, which were built into hillsides to provide support for the building, the Flavian Amphitheater was built as a freestanding structure. After ten years of construction, the Flavian Amphitheater was opened by his son Titus in 80 A.D. with 100 days of games.
In this amphitheater, which came to be known as the Colosseum in the middle ages, 50,000 people could be seated.
Inside the Colosseum
The men who fought in the Colosseum were mostly criminals or prisoners of war. At times, they were made to fight to the death as a means of executing them. Other times, they were bought as slaves and trained to be gladiators.
Training gladiators was a costly business. So, contrary to how Hollywood often portrays gladiatorial fights, the gladiators did not always fight to the death. Most of the time, they fought until one of the gladiators was wounded or ran out of energy. Only rarely, when the owner of the gladiator was compensated heavily, did the gladiators fight to the death.
Since gladiators were mostly slaves, most of them fought to win their freedom. They could win their freedom by being a top-ranked gladiator for 3 to 5 years. Upon winning his freedom, the gladiator was given a wooden sword, that was the proof of his freedom as a gladiator.
A gladiator could also win his freedom by portraying a performance that the Colosseum had never seen before. But it was very rare because the audience often loved the best gladiators. So, letting them go often cost the gladiator business heavily.
Just like the sportsmen of our time, the victorious gladiators could become famous and earn loyal fans. So, occasionally, even free Romans who wanted fame became gladiators.
Over the years, thousands of man vs. man, as well as man vs. animal fights, were held here. Roman people, who loved brutality and the sight of blood, loved these gladiatorial fights. Occasionally, mock naval battles were also hosted in the Colosseum by flooding the base with water.
The Colosseum was used actively for four centuries. After the sixth century A.D., it was mostly neglected. The later generations used it as a quarry for the construction of cathedrals. Two earthquakes that struck in the years 847 and 1231 also damaged the Colosseum. As a result, by the 17th century, the Colosseum was mostly destroyed. However, by the beginning of the 18th century, several popes tried to conserve the Colosseum as a sacred Christian site. Even after all the efforts at conservation, only one-third of the original Colosseum remains today.
Understanding what started world war II is not easy. World war I was caused by the assassination of the Archduke of Austria-Hungary. However, world war II was not caused by a single country or a single event.
To really understand what started World War II, we should take a look at the events that unfolded during the interwar period.
What started World War II?
Interwar period
The interwar period is the name given to the period between the first and the second world wars. The first world war took a huge toll on humanity. So, once the war ended, the world tried to take all the precautionary measures to avoid another such war.
The world truly believed another world war wouldn’t break out. Yet, contrary to everyone’s beliefs, the events that unfolded during the interwar period led directly to the second world war.
This blog post aims to take a look at these events, which happened in different nations simultaneously.
Germany
To understand what started world war II, we have to look at the events that happened in Germany.
After the first world war ended, the leaders of several nations met in Paris to discuss the peace terms. It came to be known as the Paris peace conference of 1919.
In this conference, the victorious countries blamed Germany for starting the war. They decided to punish Germany harshly for their losses. These punishments, including massive reparation costs, demilitarization, and loss of territory, were formulated in the form of a treaty. This treaty came to be known as the Treaty of Versailles.
The Weimar Republic
During the first world war, German emperor Wilhelm II was ruling Germany. However, at the end of the war, he fled to the Netherlands. The government that came to power after that was called the Weimar Republic. To bring an end to the war, the Weimar Republic signed the armistice and the Treaty of Versailles.
Uncontrollable inflation
However, the Treaty of Versailles was too harsh on Germans. Indeed, it was so harsh that it took 92 years (2010) for Germany to finish paying its reparation costs.
The reparation payments destroyed the German economy. As Germany did not have enough money for the reparation payments, it had to print extra money. Since there was more money now, but the same amount of products, prices of products skyrocketed. As a result, Germany suffered from devastating hyperinflation. By September 1923, four billion German marks had the value equal to one US Dollar.
Besides money, Germany was also forced to pay coal supplies to France because France lost its coal mines in the war. However, the amount of coal France demanded was technically impossible for Germany to produce.
Naturally, Germany failed to meet the demands of coal payments. Annoyed, the French soldiers occupied the Coal-mining region of Germany.
French soldiers occupy a German townBy Bundesarchiv, Bild 102-09896 / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, Link
The Treaty of Versailles had stripped Germany of its military. So, even though the French soldiers occupied Germany, Germany couldn’t do anything against it. The Germans felt humiliated by this.
They blamed the Weimar Republic’s inability for signing the armistice and the Treaty of Versailles. They were also furious at the Weimar Republic for surrendering, particularly because many families had lost their men in the war, hoping for a victory.
The uncontrollable hyperinflation and Germany’s humiliation in the hands of France made the German public turn to other far-left (Communism) and far-right (Nazism) parties.
To understand what started world war II, we have to look at how a person like Hitler could attain the most powerful position in a country.
Adolf Hitler was a first world war veteran. Twice he was poorly wounded during the war, and twice he won a medal (Iron cross) for his bravery.
Hitler (far right, seated) with his army comrades(c. 1914–18)By Bundesarchiv, Bild 146-1974-082-44 / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, Link
Like most Germans at that time, he believed that Germany could have won World War 1. Like most Germans, he hated the Weimar Republic for surrendering and agreeing to the harsh terms of the Treaty of Versailles. He believed that Jews were behind all this.
Hitler joins a party
Hitler had no career prospects since he lacked formal education. So, even after the war was over, Hitler tried to remain in the army. He was given a job as an intelligence officer in July 1919. Once, he was sent to investigate a small party called the German Workers’ Party (DAP), whose members were German nationalists who hated Jews.
While investigating the party, their views attracted Hitler. So (and also due to his superiors’ orders), in 1919, he joined the party as its 55th member.
Hitler becomes the leader of the party
Hitler was an amazing speaker who could mesmerize his audience and win them over. The party’s leadership soon recognized his exceptional oratory skills.
So, the party sent him to speak in meetings where people would flock to listen to him. Hitler soon moved up in the ranks from an ordinary member to the chief of propaganda of the party.
By the end of July 1921, Hitler had become the leader of the party and had renamed it as the Nationalist Socialist German Workers’ Party or the Nazi party in short.
What is Nazism?
Nazism (Nationalsozialismus – National socialism in German) did not believe in democracy and the parliamentary system. It did not believe in communism either. Instead, it believed in uniting all Germans under one country – the German greater Reich. Nazism also believed in improving the genetic quality of human beings. To this end, Hitler sought the elimination of certain races of people (Jews, Soviets, etc.), whom he considered genetically inferior to the Aryans (Nordic master race).
During the early years of the DAP (1920), the party released a 25-point program which outlined the party’s primary beliefs and policies. This program contained different sections that appealed to different classes of people. This gave Hitler a solid concept to campaign to the public.
Moreover, the economy was unstable, and many people hated the Weimar Republic. So, it was easy for Hitler to play on people’s fears and gain more party members.
As a result, the size of the nazi party grew from 2000 members to 20,000 members during the hyperinflation period.
Hitler creates his army
In 1921, Hitler also created the SA (Stürmabteilung – Storm Troopers in English). It consisted of former soldiers and unemployed men.
Their job was to serve as the party’s private army and protect the Nazi party during Nazi meetings and break up the meetings of their opponents.
In 1923, annoyed by the Weimar Republic’s incompetence and inspired by Mussolini’s ‘March on Rome,’ Adolf Hitler attempted to overthrow it using the SA. But he failed.
He was arrested, tried in a court, found guilty of treason, and sent to prison for five years. He was banned from speaking in public for the same amount of time. His party was banned too.
However, in those days, Germans hated the Weimar Republic so much that they lauded anyone who stood against it.
So, even though he failed, Adolf Hitler quickly became a national hero.
Hilter restructures his party
The prison sentence wasn’t too harsh on Hitler. Indeed, due to his good behavior, Hitler was released in just nine months.
During his time in prison, Hitler wrote his autobiography (Mein Kampf – My struggle in English). The book also explained his political views and his future plans for Germany. Millions of Germans who read it got an idea of who Hitler was and what his views were. So, even though Hitler was in prison, he and his ideas became well-known throughout Germany.
While in prison, he understood that revolutionary methods could not help him to gain control of Germany. He realized that he needed democratic means to succeed. So, he decided to restructure his party to contest in political elections.
By Unknown author of dust jacket; Adolf Hitler author of volume – This image is available from the New York Public Library‘s Digital Library under the digital ID 487722: digitalgallery.nypl.org → digitalcollections.nypl.org, Public Domain, Link
Hence the prison sentence was actually advantageous to Hitler.
The Dawes Plan spoils Hitler’s plans
In 1924, Charles G. Dawes, who chaired the Dawes Committee, introduced the Dawes Plan. According to this plan, French troops were to evacuate Germany, reparation costs were to be increased gradually, and American banks would loan Germany money.
Due to the Dawes Plan, production increased, prosperity returned, and the economy became stable in Germany.
Hence, people became content with the moderate Weimar Republic. So, it became difficult for far-left (Communism) and far-right (Nazism) parties to succeed politically.
This is evident from the fact that, even though the Nazi party grew several-fold during this time (27,000 members in 1925 to 130,000 in 1929), the number of seats won by the party in the German parliament actually fell by more than 50% (32 seats in 1924 to 12 seats in 1928). Therefore, the years 1923 – 1929 are called the lean years of the Nazi party.
The Great Depression aids the growth of the Nazi party
When the Great Depression hit the USA, it was not able to continue to lend money to Germany. As a result, Germany’s economy crumbled once again. Unemployment became a real problem. By 1933, almost 1 in 3 Germans were unemployed.
Consequently, poverty became prevalent. Hence, people started losing faith in the conservative Weimar Republic. Therefore, it became easy for the far-right (Nazis) and far-left (Communists) parties to gain political support.
The upper-class people did not appreciate the communist concept of equal wealth distribution. In comparison, the 25-point program (establishing a third Reich by eliminating social class and making Germany home to only German-speaking people, blaming the Jews for all the problems and making Hitler the only head of the entire hierarchy, etc.) appealed to all classes of people including upper-class businessmen, middle-class workers, nationalists, and farmers.
As a result, the Nazi party gained enormous political support. In 1928, the Nazi party held only 12 seats in the German parliament. However, in 1932, it won 230 seats and became the largest party.
Even though the Nazis were the largest political party, Hitler couldn’t win the presidential elections to become the chancellor. However, after a chain of political dramas, Hitler became the chancellor of Germany in January 1933.
By that time, the Nazi party’s army (SA) had around 2 million members.
Hitler as the German Chancellor
Soon after Hitler became the chancellor, a Dutch communist started a fire in the German parliament. Hitler used this as an excuse to convince the German president to declare an emergency. Even the freedom to hold assemblies, freedom of the press and the freedom of expression were revoked.
Soon, Hitler banned other political parties, killed his opponents, and took control of the state governments. When the German president died the following year, Hitler took the positions of president, chancellor, and commander-in-chief of the army.
Once he had these positions, Hitler started to enlarge the military and create a new airforce, even though it violated the Treaty of Versailles. Members of the armed forces were made to swear loyalty to Hitler and not to Germany.
On the other hand, he also spent a lot of money on programs that benefited the public, like building the Autobahn (German highways). Even though these measures brought prosperity to Germany, in effect, Hitler had successfully transformed democratic Germany into a dictatorship.
The goal of the Nazi party was to create a Third Reich that united genetically superior (according to the Nazi party) Germans under one country while eliminating other races like the Slavs and Jews.
Hitler’s plans of expansion begin
In 1938, Hitler started the realization of this goal. He annexed German-speaking Austria as a federal state of Germany. He also wanted to annex Sudetenland, a part of Czechoslovakia, where a lot of Germans lived. Hitler said that it would be the last demand he makes from Europe. So, to avoid another world war, leaders of France, Britain, and Italy forced Czechoslovakia to surrender Sudetenland.
However, in March next year, German troops invaded the rest of Czechoslovakia. In September, Germany invaded Poland as well. So, Britain and France declared war on Germany, and the second world war began in Europe.
Italy
Let’s look at the events that unfolded in Italy to understand what started world war II.
Which side to take?
In Germany and Austria-Hungary, a large part of the population believed that going to war (First world war) was necessary. However, in Italy, public opinion was divided.
During the beginning of the war, Italy neither had a good relationship with France nor with Austria-Hungary. So, when the war started, a part of the Italian population wanted to remain neutral, a part of it wanted to join the Central Powers to honor the Triple Alliance, and a part of it wanted to join the Allied Powers (Entente) to get territories from Austria-Hungary. Finally, Italy joined the war on the side of Entente in 1915, when they promised to give Italy better territories.
World War 1
Italy had four times as many soldiers as the number of Austro-Hungarian troops in the Italian front. However, Austria-Hungary had highly skilled soldiers, better machinery, and a superior foothold in the mountains. Therefore, the war on the Eastern Front didn’t end as soon as Italy had hoped. Indeed, Italy won only by taking drastic measures and with the help of Britain and France.
When the war ended, Italy had lost 700,000 soldiers and suffered from a budget deficit. Despite that, Italy did not get any of the German colonies after the war. It did not get any territory from the (disintegration of the) Ottoman Empire either. All of these were claimed by Britain and France.
To add insult to injury, Italy got only fewer territories as promised during the start of the war, for which it joined the war in the first place. Italy felt humiliated, and this annoyed most Italians.
The Two Red years
In addition to that, Italy’s economy was in shatters by now. To support the war, Italy had printed a lot of money. As a result, the value of money decreased. In 1920, the value of one Lira (Italian currency) had reduced to only one-sixth six of its value as in 1913.
Due to the end of the war, major arms and ammunition factories, as well as shipment factories, were closed. As a result, the soldiers returning from the war became unemployed due to a lack of jobs. Unemployment rose to two million, and poverty loomed over the country.
This led to political turmoil and widespread civilian revolts in Italy. Hence, the years 1919 and 1920 came to be known as the ‘Two Red years’ in Italian history.
The Rise of Mussolini
To understand what started world war II, it is necessary to understand how a journalist was able to become the dictator of a country.
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini’s father was a socialist. In addition to that, being a passionate reader, he read books on socialism and communism. Hence, during his early years, his views were mostly socialistic.
As a socialist, he took part in Italian socialist movements. He even worked as the editor of a socialist party’s newspaper. Under Mussolini’s editorship, the reader-base of the newspaper rose from 20,000 to 100,000.
By 1911, Mussolini had become a prominent socialist and a famous journalist in Italy. Indeed, his socialistic views were so strong that he even opposed Italy’s Imperialist views. As a result, he was arrested and sent to serve five months in prison.
In August 1914, at the beginning of the first world war, the Italian socialist party opposed the war. Mussolini supported its decision by saying, “Down with the war. We remain neutral.”
However, as the war progressed, his views changed. He got taken over by the idea of anti-Austrian Italian nationalism. He believed that the war offered an opportunity to liberate hundreds of thousands of Italians from the Austro-Hungarian rule. Therefore, he accused the Central powers of trying to colonize Belgium (because Germany attacked Belgium at the start of the war), and Serbia (because Austria-Hungary declared war against Serbia) in the present, and Denmark, France, and Italy in the past.
He believed that this is an opportunity for the Italian nation to become bigger and accused socialism for failing to see it. So, he resigned from the editorship of the party’s newspaper, in which he had previously written articles opposing the war. Soon, he started his own newspaper and started writing articles supporting the war. So, due to his contrasting views and support of the war, he was expelled from the socialist party.
After being ousted from the party, his love for orthodox socialism was lost, and his love for revolutionary nationalism was born. In October 1914, he founded the ‘Revolutionary Fasci for International Action.’ Its members, who called themselves fascists, would later take over Italy.
Due to his support for the war, he got funds from several companies, including an arms firm, and French sources who wanted Italy to join the war on their side.
Mussolini in the first world war
When the war started, Mussolini volunteered to fight. He fought in the trenches for nine months actively. In February 1917, he was fatally wounded by the explosion of a mortar bomb and was sent home.
When he returned from the war, he was hired by the British intelligence agency MI5. His task was to publish articles supporting the war in his newspaper so that Italy doesn’t surrender to Austria-Hungary.
Mussolini as an Italian soldier, 1917By Unknown author – User:Gennarous (english wikipedia) from http://history.sandiego.edu/gen/ww2timeline/Prelude05.html, Public Domain, Link
Mussolini and Plato
Mussolini often read books of various philosophers. Of these, he was greatly influenced by the works of Plato. Mussolini created several principles of fascism using the ideas of Plato.
The main principles of Mussolini’s Fascism are:
The country (state) is the ultimate object.
Democracy must be abolished.
The country should be ruled by an elite individual.
All the citizens must perform their civic duties to the country.
Create a class of warriors so that the country can be militarized.
Control the education system so that future rulers and warriors can be created.
Mussolini claimed that, due to its growing population, Italy needed more place to sustain itself economically. So, it had the right to colonize the nearby countries consisting of genetically inferior people (like Slavs and Africans).
Fascism gains momentum
Coming out of the first world war, Italy suffered from an economic recession. Hence, the years 1919-1920 were called the ‘Two Red Years’ in Italian history.
During these two years, workers’ unions started demanding higher wages; peasants took the lands for themselves; agricultural workers went on strike during harvest time; peasants seized lands for themselves, and; shops were looted or destroyed. Simply put, landowners, shopkeepers, and industrialists in Italy faced a very hard time. The political parties were divided between themselves to do anything about it.
During these years, fascists started creating groups of armed war veterans called black shirts. Using violence to get things done was their motto. By 1920, funded by landowners and industrialists, they started breaking up political meetings, labor unions, and agricultural workers’ organizations.
These armed militias enjoyed the support of landowners, shopkeepers, and, surprisingly, students too. Using their support, fascists created more of these armed groups across Italy.
They overthrew locally elected councils and set up fascist squad leaders as heads of several rural areas in Italy. Thus, fascists started becoming politically strong. In 1921, the Italian fascist party became an official political party. The same year, 35 fascists were elected into the parliament.
Mussolini becomes the Prime Minister
In 1922, in front of his supporters, Mussolini declared, “Either the government will be given to us or we shall seize it by marching on Rome.” True to his word, he organized the ‘March on Rome.’ Fascist supporters (many of them armed) from all over Italy poured into Rome. Once in Rome, they occupied all the government buildings.
Mussolini during the March on RomeBy Unknown author – [1], Public Domain, Link
The idea itself was terrible. About 30,000 fascists, armed mostly with agricultural tools, would be going up against the army. The Prime Minister wanted to call the military for help. But, King Victor Emmanuel III, fearing a civil war, just after the loss of so many lives in World War 1, made Mussolini the Prime Minister.
Mussolini as the Prime Minister
Over the next few years, his party committed some grave mistakes, like securing votes against a no-confidence vote by violence and killing an opposition party member who questioned the incident. In response, the opposition parties boycotted the parliament.
So, the Blackshirts demanded that Mussolini crush his opposition. He feared that his own troops might revolt against him if he did not oblige.
Therefore, between 1925 and 1927, Mussolini abolished elections, opposition parties, and unions, as well as the freedom of speech and association, and made himself answerable only to the king and not to the parliament. It is noteworthy that, during the same period, several failed assassination attempts were made against Mussolini.
Italian economy under Mussolini
In 1930, when the Global depression hit, Italy did suffer initially. But Mussolini took several measures, which brought the Italian economy better.
Mussolini launched many public construction programs. He also launched programs to clear out marshlands and create several agricultural towns. These programs demanded huge labor, and a lot of people were employed.
Most of the trade unions were abolished by the fascists previously and replaced by fascist trade unions. So, there were no chances for workers to revolt.
Mussolini launched the ‘Gold for the Fatherland’ initiative. Under this initiative, citizens were asked to donate gold to the country voluntarily. He also set up firms that helped bail out failing companies and provided capital to set up new companies. These firms also provided financial supervision and trained managers. These firms played a significant role in making the financial sector more stable.
He tried to make the country self-sufficient by creating and consuming many goods within Italy. To that end, he introduced high costs for imports of basic goods (like food items) from countries other than Germany. The import of raw materials for industries, however, were not affected.
Due to these measures, Italy became one of the very few economies that didn’t suffer much due to Global depression. This led to a rise in fascism.
The new Roman Empire
Mussolini had become the Prime Minister of Italy. But his original goal was to create a Roman Empire extending up to Africa and the Balkan peninsula.
However, he knew that Italy’s population (40 million) in the 1920s was insufficient to fight a war. He needed a population of 60 million. So, he ordered Italian women to be willing to bear more children.
Mussolini estimated that Italy would have a sufficient population only by the 1930s. So, in the 1920s, he tried to avoid doing anything that would bring him in direct conflict with Britain and France.
Mussolini’s plans of Expansion begin
But in the 1930s, Mussolini put his Italian expansionist dream into action.
In 1933, he planned a surprise attack against France and Yugoslavia. However, France learned of this and prepared itself for the Italian attack. Therefore, Italy did not attack as planned.
Ethiopia was one of the two African countries to escape colonization and a member of the League of Nations. In 1934, he started to arm the border against Ethiopia. In 1935 – 1936, Italy invaded Ethiopia without even declaring war. The League of Nations banned the export of various materials to Italy. But it didn’t ban the export of oil and other essential materials.
Other countries, however, did not take the sanctions issued by the League of Nations seriously. The US increased exports to Italy. The United Kingdom and France did nothing against Italy because they wanted to secure Italian support against Germany.
Consequently, Italy was able to continue its cruel war against Ethiopia (called Abyssinia then), unchecked. Italy’s use of chemical weapons (like mustard gas) and concentration camps to kill thousands of Ethiopian civilians were outrageously inhuman. In total, Italy killed around 382,800 civilians and millions of animals in Ethiopia.
Italy and Germany
Italy’s inhuman warfare in Ethiopia turned public opinion in Britain and France against it. The only countries that could sympathize with the dictatorship and expansionist rule of Italy were Japan and Germany.
In 1936, the Spanish civil war started. It was a war against dictatorship (nationalists) and democracy (republicans and, among others, communists). Like Germany, Italy lent its support to nationalists. On the other hand, the Soviet Union and France gave their support to the republicans. Once again, Italy found itself on the same boat as Germany.
Like Mussolini, Hitler detested democracy and communism as well. So, in 1937, Italy, Germany, and Japan signed a pact against international communism. This brought Italy closer to Germany.
Hitler und Mussolini in München, 1937.Foto: AFPSource: Tagespiegel.de
In 1939, Italy signed the Pact of Steel with Germany, according to which Italy had to provide military support to Germany, should Germany enter into war.
However, when the second world war started in September 1939, Italy did not enter the war on the side of Germany. Instead, it waited to see which side would gain the upper hand, so that it can join that side. Only eight months later, when the defeat of France became obvious did Italy join the war on Germany’s side.
Japan
In Germany and Italy, events that happened after the first world war directly led to the second world war. However, in Japan, the grounds for the second world war were laid almost 90 years before that. So, to understand what started world war 2, we have to take a look at these events.
Meiji Restoration
Japan was under military rule for about 250 years until 1868. During this time, foreigners entering Japan, as well as citizens leaving the country, were given the death sentence.
In 1853, a US Commodore visited Japan to open up its ports for trade. He arrived in sophisticated warships. Looking at these warships, its weapons, and machinery, the Japanese immediately understood that they were far behind the Western powers in technology.
They realized that if they didn’t modernize, they would be colonized by the Western nations. So, some nobles who supported the emperor led a massive movement that aimed to restore power to the emperor and to open the borders. As a result, the military rule ended, and the imperial rule was restored in 1868. This movement was called the Meiji restoration.
The new government sent people abroad to learn western ideas. They used these ideas to accelerate the modernization and industrialization in Japan. Soon, Japan became one of the world’s largest industrialized nations.
Emperor Meiji – By Artist: Eduardo Chiossone (1833–98); Photographer: Maruki Riyō (also misspelt as Maruki Toshiaki)[3] – (1999-November) 天皇四代の肖像 (Tenno Yondai No Shozo), Tokyo, Japan: 毎日新聞社 (Mainichi Shinbun Sha) ISBN: 4620605549., Public Domain, Link
A solution for the scarcity of Natural resources
Japan was not as rich in natural resources as the USA or Britain. During military rule, japan was an agricultural economy. So, this was not a problem for the country. However, after the Meiji restoration, industrialization in Japan progressed at a rapid rate.
As industrialization progressed, its lack of natural resources became more apparent. Japan imported raw items and natural resources from the outside world, mainly from the USA. However, Japan soon realized that the easier way to cater to the growing demand for natural resources was to conquer less modernized Asian countries like Korea.
Hence, in 1894 – 1895, the Japanese fought the Chinese in the First Sino-Japanese war over the control of Korea. Using their modernized weapons, they were able to win China and take control of Korea.
Russia had similar interests in Korea and Manchuria. So, in 1904 – 1905, the Japanese fought the Russians in the Russo-Japanese war. In one of history’s most unexpected victories, Japan defeated Russia. It was also the first time an Asian nation defeated a European power.
These two victories earned respect for Japan from all over the world. These established Japan as the most powerful Asian nation.
In 1910, Japan, as the most powerful Asian country, annexed Korea, as a part of its empire. Until 1945, when Korea was freed from Japan, it committed a lot of atrocities in Korea. These atrocities were so inhumane that Koreans still remember them.
A postcard depicting Japan crushing Korea in its war against Russia – By Unknown – Unknown source, CC0, Link
Japan becomes a democracy
During the first world war, Japan fought as an ally of Britain. But its job was limited to taking over the German colonies in China. Therefore, unlike the western countries, it did not suffer much due to the first world war. If anything, Japan’s economy grew during and after the first world war.
Due to its stable economy, Japan moved towards democracy during the 1920s. Two-party system came into existence.
Extreme nationalism is born
The Great Depression of 1929 destroyed the economies of several countries directly. Japan, however, was not affected directly.
Since Japan has become highly industrial, its economy depended on its exports. Due to the Great Depression, Japan’s exports reduced tremendously, since other countries stopped importing Japanese goods (Eg. Silk).
As Japan had scarce natural resources, it needed to import raw materials to keep its industries (and military) alive. However, when the exports fell, Japan didn’t have enough money to import (buy) raw materials. Hence, the imports reduced as well, thus affecting the economy. As a result, unemployment surged, and food became scarce.
One way for Japan to boost its economy was to expand its territory by invading other Asian countries (Korea, Manchuria, China, etc.). This would have given Japan two advantages.
It wouldn’t have to import raw materials. It can just take these raw materials from the invaded countries.
Major western powers could not suffocate Japan’s economy by not exporting raw materials to it.
This view was widely accepted, particularly by the young officers in the army. Hence, the positions in the political parties were taken up by military officers, who favored expansionism and extreme nationalism.
Japan invades Manchuria
In 1931, Japan attacked Manchuria and ousted the Chinese to bring it under the Japanese empire. China asked the League of Nations to help. The League of Nations asked Japan to withdraw from Manchuria. However, Japan did not leave Manchuria. Instead, it left the League of Nations.
Other nations like the UK and France didn’t do anything about it because they wanted to avoid a full-scale war. Hence, the League of Nations became powerless against Japanese aggression. This gave Fascism and Nazism the confidence to grow unchecked as well.
Pearl Harbor
As its next step in expanding its territories, Japan invaded China in 1937. During its invasion, Japanese troops killed up to 300,000 Chinese, including civilians, in the city of Nanjing. This event came to be known as the Nanjing Massacre.
In addition to that, in 1940, Japan attacked French colonies in Southeast Asia to prevent weapons supply to China. (It is notable that, Japan also allied with Axis powers in the same year).
Both these incidents aggravated Americans’ hatred for Japan.
Hoping to control the Japanese aggression, the USA and its allies banned the export of oil and metal to Japan. Since oil and metal are vital for war, Japan couldn’t continue its war in China.
So, Japan planned to invade Southeast Asian colonies of European countries, which could become new sources of raw materials. However, it knew that the USA wouldn’t remain silent if it attacked these colonies.
Hence, Japan wanted to cripple the USA (so that the USA Wouldn’t strike back) until it took control of these colonies. So, it attacked the USA’s naval base in Pearl Harbor (Hawaii) without warning on December 7, 1941. Until then, the neutral USA was trying to hold talks with Japan in a bid to establish peace in the Pacific. When Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, the USA responded by declaring war on Japan one day later.
A US ship, during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, 1941 – By Photographer: UnknownRetouched by: Mmxx – This media is available in the holdings of the National Archives and Records Administration, cataloged under the National Archives Identifier (NAID) 195617., Public Domain, Link
The League of Nations
The League of Nations was formed to maintain peace throughout the world. However, most powerful countries at that time, like the USA, the Soviet Union, and Germany, were not its members. The USA decided not to join; the Soviet Union was excluded because it was a communist country, and; Germany was excluded because it started the first world war.
Flag of the League of Nations – By Martin Grandjean – Strictly based on a flag kept by the League of Nations Archives (United Nations Geneva)., CC BY-SA 4.0, Link
Moreover, the League of Nations did not have any military of its own. So, the only way it could punish violent nations was by issuing economic sanctions. When an economic sanction is issued against a nation, other countries don’t trade with it. To this extent, the power of the League of Nations depended directly on the cooperation between its members.
However, due to the Great Depression, the economies of countries suffered greatly. So, every country tried to save its own economy. They knew that if they didn’t trade with a country, other countries would take their place. So, they were reluctant to go along with the sanctions issued by the League of Nations.
As a result, when the League of Nations issued sanctions against Japan, due to its invasion of Manchuria, its members did not oblige. This gave the confidence for Italy and Germany to continue their violent expansionist policies. Similarly, when Italy invaded Ethiopia, other countries did not go through with the sanctions issued by the League of Nations against Italy.
The absence of a strong committee to oversee peace was one of the major reasons for the growth of extreme nationalism in Japan, Italy, and Germany that ultimately led to the second world war.
What started World War II – The Summary
Unlike world war I, which was started by a bullet, what started world war II was a string of events.
Harsh conditions imposed on Germany by the Treaty of Versailles increased the hatred of Germans against UK and France.
Economic downturn, political turmoil and workers’ revolts affected Italian industrialists during the ‘Two Red years’. Therefore, they funded the fascists led by Mussolini, who advocated violence to come to power. He crushed labor unions, destroyed democracy and established dictatorship. But his policies improved Italian economy. So, eventually Italians started supporting him.
The Great Depression of 1929 made people desperate. It helped extreme nationalism grow unchecked in Germany, Italy and Japan, by providing people jobs as soldiers. It also aided the growth of Arms and Shipment industries, which gave people more jobs.
The League of Nations had no military. So, it could only punish nations by issuing economic sanctions against aggressive countries. However, due to the Great Depression, several of the member nations did not stop trading against these countries, to prevent their own economies from degrading further. This greatly undermined the power of the League of Nations.
The UK, the USA and France wanted to avoid another huge war. So, they turned a blind eye when other countries become over-aggressive. This gave Japan, Italy and Germany the confidence to pursue their nationalist expansionist policies without repercussions.
The first world war was devastating. Even though a hundred years have passed, the aftermath of world war 1 can still be felt. Not only did it claim the lives of millions of people, but it also changed the world in many ways.
The first world war killed around 20 million people and left another 21 million wounded.
Due to the naval blockade of food and materials to Germany and its allies during the World war, an estimated 424,000 German civilians died of starvation.
How did the first world war affect the world?
If anything, the people wanted to avoid another such war. Hence, the need for an international organization to oversee global security became obvious.
The League of Nations was formed with this goal in mind. It was the first international organization that was created to maintain global peace.
The League of Nations intended to maintain peace using collective security and disarmament.
The idea behind collective security is to utilize the armies of the member nations to fight a common enemy. If a country becomes a threat to global peace, other countries send soldiers to fight this common enemy.
Disarmament is the process of utilizing agreements and treaties to limit the production and storage of weapons.
How did the first world war affect countries?
Most countries and their citizens had hoped that the first world war would end quickly. But against everyone’s hopes, the war went on for four long years. The first world war started as a war to see who was stronger. However, as the war progressed, it became a test of endurance to see who would last longer.
To survive the war, the countries invested most of their resources in the war and spared little for their citizens. As a result, civilians had little food to feed themselves and little money to spend. Therefore, as the war dragged on, people started revolting against their governments.
As a result, when the war ended, several great empires – German, Russian, Ottoman, and Austria-Hungary, fell. New countries gained independence from these former powerful empires. Due to the aftermath of world war 1, the political map of Europe changed permanently.
Countries on both sides invested heavily in the first world war. Thanks to that, countries had limited resources (people and money) to invest in production, and people had less money to buy.
Consequently, the GDP of many countries declined steeply. It pushed many countries into severe debt.
Germany and Austria-Hungary, which had lost the war, had used up a majority of their resources. In addition to that, they were forced to pay war reparation costs to the winners as well.
Hence, Germany’s debt rose to twenty times that of pre-war levels. Germany printed 132 billion marks to pay for the reparation costs as well. However, the production of goods did not increase. Since there was excess cash, but fewer goods for people to purchase, Germany suffered due to hyperinflation.
At a point in time, the prices of everyday items in Germany doubled every 3.7 days. For example, if you were a German at that time, if you purchased a loaf of bread for $1; the next week, you had to pay $4 for the same loaf of bread; the week after that, you had to pay $16.
As you can see, the aftermath of world war 1 on the economies of several European countries was overwhelming. Most countries became poorer.
However, the USA, which sold weapons and oil to both sides, became richer and established itself as a superpower. Thus, the first world war broke the economic balance of the world.
After the war, colonies of Germany and the Ottoman Empire were distributed among the victors of the war.
Britain experienced revolts in some of its colonies, particularly India. India sent 1.5 million soldiers, 170,000 animals, 3.7 million tonnes of food, and a large loan equivalent to 2 billion pounds today. In exchange, Britain promised to give independence to India once the war ended. However, Britain failed to keep its promise, and this led to nationwide protests against the British in India.
How did the first world war affect people?
The first world war did not just kill and cripple men. It also changed the lives of women permanently.
Women couldn’t find men to marry
Since a lot of men died in the war, the gender ratios in several countries were severely affected. For example, Germany, Austria-Hungary, and France lost 15%, 17%, and 10.5% of their active male populations, respectively.
The number of marriageable men fell significantly. As a result, women had difficulties in choosing a partner, and many of them remained unmarried.
So, in a way, the first world war changed the way marriages worked.
Women couldn’t find jobs
Until the 18th century, women were mostly housewives. Women who went to work either worked on farms or did small jobs like stitching. They did not work in factories. However, in the 18th century, when the industrial revolution started, women started working in factories (textile industries and coal mines).
Due to the lack of men during the first world war, women entered the workforce in large numbers. They worked in industries, factories, and varied fields as teachers, secretaries, etc. They started wearing shorts, which changed clothing fashion tremendously. Due to their increasing importance in factories, women even got the right to vote.
However, once the war ended, everything changed for women. Men entered the workforce once again. As a result, many women had to give up their jobs. Most young women who had hoped to enter the workforce couldn’t find any jobs.
Those were hard times for single women. Many of them could neither find a man to marry nor a job to sustain themselves. Therefore, many single women became poor, finding it difficult even to feed themselves.
The Aftermath of World War 1 – A Summary:
The first world war was a devastating war in terms of the casualties it caused. Whether it be the countries that were created due to it or the economic and social changes that followed, the aftermath of world war 1 can still be felt all over the world.
The world tried to take all the precautions it could take to avoid another such war. Despite all those efforts, another war of even a greater scale would begin in the next two decades.
Even though it seemed that the world had learned from its mistakes, how did another war start? What are the conditions that led to it? Read more about it, in our blog post here:
The first world war is one of the deadliest wars known to humans. Sixteen million people, including soldiers and civilians, lost their lives due to it.
Before the first world war, mutual alliances between different European countries existed.
The alliance between Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy was called the Triple Alliance.
The alliance between Britain, France, and Russia was called the Triple Entente.
Due to these alliances, what started as a war between two countries, Austria-Hungary and Serbia, became a European war.
The Allied forces fought the First world war against the Central forces.
The Allied forces consisted of Britain, France, Russia,Serbia, Italy, and the United States.
The Central forces consisted of Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria.
Allied Powers and Central Powers during the first world war Picture credits
Let’s go back in time a little bit and see what happened.
For better understanding, the events that happened in the Central Powers are shown in Red and the events that happened in the Allied Forces are shown in Astronaut Blue color.
First world war begins
Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia
On 28th July 1914, Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia and shells the Serbian capital.
Austria-Hungary (Red) & Serbia (Astronaut Blue) in 1914 Picture credits – Cassini83 [Public domain]
Russia joins the war
In three days, Russia, Sebia’s ally, commands its military to mobilize in support of Serbia.
Germany joins the war
Germany, Austria-Hungary’s ally, asks Russia to demobilize within 12 hours. When Russia doesn’t comply, Germany declares war on Russia. Within a few days, Austria-Hungary declares war on Russia.
France joins the war
France, allied with Russia, mobilizes its troops in support of Russia.
Germany knows that it has to fight the war on two fronts – the eastern front against Russia and the western front against France.
Germany estimates that it would take six weeks for Russia to fully mobilize its troops. So, it follows the Schlieffen Plan to defeat France within six weeks before Russia can fully mobilize its troops.
As a result, Germany commits 80% of its troops to the western front against France. Germany hopes to defeat France quickly and bring its troops back to the eastern front against Russia.
According to the Schlieffen Plan, the Germany divides its armies in the western front into two parts. The southern army is to attack France on the West, while the northern army is to move through Belgium, then further South and finally attack France from the East in Paris.
To achieve this quick victory against France, Germany demands quick passage through neutral Belgium. When Belgium denies, Germany invades Belgium.
Belgium, Britain’s ally, seeks British help.
Germany’s invasion of neutral Belgium is an outrageous act of international-rights violation. Moreover, the invasion of France would mean German control of Western Europe as well as the English Channel. Due to these two reasons, Britain declares war on Germany on 4th August.
Since Japan is allied with Britain, within a month, Japan enters the war in favor of Britain.
The Western Front
After invading Belgium, German troops win decisive battles against British and French troops and advance rapidly into the French territory. In 35 days, they have advanced so much that Paris is just 30 miles from their reach.
Indeed, they have advanced so fast that they are faster than the supply of materials from Germany. As a result, they run out of Heavy artillery, which helped them win quick victories till now. This would put the Germans at a severe disadvantage in the next battle.
The first battle of Marne
German troops are divided into different groups called Armies.
According to the German plan of attack, the First and the Second armies are to move together. However, the General of the First Army, being optimistic, disobeys the order and chases a retreating French Army, creating a 30-mile gap between the Second army and himself.
The French forces learn of this opening with the help of their aircraft and intercepted German radio communications. The British and French troops launch a successful counterattack in this break in the German lines, thereby separating the German forces further and halting their advance.
This battle, the First Battle of Marne (5th – 12th September 1914), changes the course of the war altogether. A total of two million troops clash against each other.
It causes the German armies to retreat to the north of the Aisne River. The Allies and the Germans dig trenches on either side of the river.
What was supposed to be a quick victory on the West, becomes a battle that would drag on for the next three years.
Due to their strategic loss in the First Battle of Marne, the Germans are forced to fight battles on two fronts.
In the Western Front, both sides end up in a draw without achieving any significant victories for the time being.
The Western Front– Advantage : Nobody
The Eastern Front
In the Eastern front, Russia tries to mobilize its troops in support of France. However, it fails to mobilize completely. On 17th August, it sends only two of its armies without much support.
The Germans win the battle against the Russians. However, fearing further attacks, Germans transfer a part of their troops from the Western front to the Eastern front, which costs them the first battle of Marne.
The Eastern Front – Advantage : The Central Powers
The Italian Front
Italy enters the war
Since 1882 Italy has been allied with Germany and Austria-Hungary. But the alliance is only defensive, i.e., Italy should send its troops if Germany or Austria-Hungary is attacked.
However, Italy and Austria-Hungary have a complex relationship since they have similar interests in regions they want to add under their control. In 1908, Austria-Hungary annexes Bosnia and Herzegovina without providing Italy any regions. This upsets Italy.
So, when the world war begins, Italy refuses to send troops, indicating that Austria-Hungary is on the offensive. Therefore, it is not obliged to send any troops because the alliance is only defensive.
The Allies promise Italy the regions that it has interests on, once Austria-Hungary is defeated. So, it joins the war on the side of the Allies by declaring war on Austria-Hungary in May 1915.
For three years, it engages in deadly battles with the Austro-Hungarian and German forces in northern Italy and Slovenia.
The Western, Eastern and Italian fronts during world war I Picture credits
Even though neither side achieves a clear victory, the constant battles with Italy exhaust the Austro-Hungarian troops. It becomes one of the main reasons for the surrender of Austria-Hungary in November 1918.
The Italian Front : Advantage – Nobody
In the South
Balkans
Austria-Hungary hopes to win the war against Serbia quickly and then concentrate its forces against Russia.
However, in battles fought from 12th August 1914, Austria-Hungarian forces are pushed back. In one of the major upset victories of the 20th century, Serbia defeats the Austro-Hungarian invasion.
The Balkan Peninsula (Source: Encyclopedia Britannica) Please note that most of these countries were part of other empires during the first world war.
As a result, Austria-Hungary is forced to commit more troops against Serbia, and this weakens it against Russia.
Ottoman Empire enters the war
In November 1914, the Ottoman Empire enters the war in favor of Germany and Austria-Hungary.
The Ottoman Empire tries to take back its territories from Russia. It engages in bloody battles against the Allied forces in present-day Iran, Turkey, and Egypt.
In 1916, the Arabs, initiated by Britain, stage an uprising against the Ottoman Turks to create an independent Arab state. This revolt weakens the OttomanEmpire significantly.
Bulgaria enters the war
Serbia defeated Bulgaria in the Second Balkan war (1913). Therefore, Bulgaria enters the first world war on the side of the Central powers in October 1915.
Once Bulgaria joins the war, the winds shift in the sides of the Central Powers in the Balkans. Within a month, they defeat Serbia. Most of the Balkan region remains in the control of the Central Powers for another three years.
Balkans – Advantage : The Central Powers
The United States of America enters the war
The United States of America maintains a non-intervention policy in the war. However, it supplies weapons to the Allies.
In January 1917, Germany starts unrestricted submarine warfare (sinking ships without warning) to starve Britain. It ends up sinking US merchant ships as well.
A different Imperial German Navy U-Boat (Submarine), U-14, pictured in 1918 in the Black Sea. Photo: DPA Picture credits
Food for thought: Why did Germany resort to unrestricted submarine warfare?
Normally, when submarines spot merchant ships or tankers, they have to surface, search the ships and escort the crew to safety before destroying them.
However, Britain created Q-boats, which are basically merchant ships that have disguised weapons. When submarines surface to search the Q-boats, they can destroy the submarines using their concealed weapons.
So, Germany resorted to unrestricted submarine warfare. In Unrestricted submarine warfare, the submarines sink the ships without warning when they sense one. This gives the crew no chance to escape.
As it expects the US to join the war, it sends a telegram to Mexico to start a war against the US. Britain intercepts this message and sends it to the US.
The sinking of the US merchant vessels and the controversial telegram push the US to declare war on Germany in April 1917.
The entry of the US changes the course of the first world war significantly.
The First world war ends
After resulting in millions of casualties, the war finally ends in 1918 with the surrender of the Central Powers.
The Eastern Front
Winner : The Central Powers
Due to its ineffective military leadership, Russia fails to take advantage of the few successes it has on the battlefield. As a result, the Central powers take over Poland in August 1915, and the Russian troops are forced to retreat.
Since the ruler of Russia remains in the military front, his German wife rules Russia. However, her rule is considered to be incompetent by the citizens. This leads to protests all over Russia. Soon, the emperor abdicates the throne.
Revolutions erupt in Russia, and the party headed by Vladimir Lenin becomes popular. His party wants to end the war. So, they sign a treaty in March 1918 that surrenders several regions to the Central Powers.
As a result, the Central Powers gain control of the Eastern Front.
Area occupied by the Central powers in the Eastern Front after Russia exits the war. By Department of History, United States Military Academy – dean.usma.edu Public Domain, Link
However, the Central Powers don’t have enough manpower needed to occupy the vast regions obtained from the treaty. So, their success in the Eastern Front doesn’t help them win the world war.
In the Balkans
Winner : The Allied Forces
Bulgaria surrenders
In September 1918, after most of the German and Austro-Hungarian troops have withdrawn, Serbian, French, and Greek troops attack a part of Serbia occupied by Bulgaria.
This battle, known as the Vardar Offensive, doesn’t cause many casualties. However, the Allied Forces’ use of heavy artilleries and combat aircraft destroy the morale of the Bulgarian troops.
The war now shifts in favor of the Allied Forces because they can move their troops through Bulgaria.
Bulgaria’s surrender affects Germany significantly because the Balkan peninsula is the main source of food and oil for the Central Powers.
On the other hand, the US is the major supplier of oil for the Allied Forces. In addition to that, the US has been sending fresh troops at the rate of 10,000/day.
Ottoman Empire surrenders
The Ottoman Empire has been at war with the combined forces of Britain, New Zealand, and Australia in the South.
Since March 1917, the Allied Forces start pushing Northeast, starting from Egypt.
They win battles against the Ottoman Empire and push steadily past Iran, Jordan, up to Syria. They capture the headquarters of several armies of the Ottoman Empire on the way.
Due to the surrender of Bulgaria, the British and Greeks send their troops to Turkey through Bulgaria.
Since the Ottoman Turks don’t have enough troops to fight them, they sign a truce on 30th October with the Allied Forces.
The Italian Front
Winner : The Allied Forces
Austria-Hungary surrenders
Austria-Hungary has been fighting deadly battles against Italy in Northeastern Italy and Slovenia.
In 1917, in a battle that lasts 17 days, Italy suffers 300,000 casualties.
So, Italy orders the commissioning of all Italian boys older than 18 in the army. By using advance defense techniques, Italy is able to stop the advance of Austria-Hungary.
In June 1918, Austria-Hungary launches a major offensive to deal a decisive blow to Italy. However, this ends in a defeat for Austria-Hungary.
Italy launches an attack on 24th October to cut off Austro-Hungarian supplies and retake the Italian mountains and cities.
Italy wins the battle, partly because the Austro-Hungarian troops refuse to obey their commander’s order to counterattack. It captures around 350,000 Austro-Hungarian troops.
At the same time, Austria-Hungary starts to disintegrate at home, when people of different ethnicities start demanding separate nations.
Austria-Hungary in 1910 By Andrein – Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons., Public Domain, Link
So, Austria-Hungary signs a truce with the Allied Forces on 3rd November 1918 and grants free passage to Germany.
The Western Front
Winner : The Allied Forces
Germany surrenders
To capture the Western Front before reinforcements from the United States arrive, Germany launches the Spring offensive of 1918.
Using the element of surprise, ingenious infiltration tactics, and specially trained units, German troops penetrate the British and French trenches. They push rapidly. However, due to the difficulty of transporting materials and artillery over rugged terrain, their success is only short-lived.
Over the next few months, Germany launches attacks to break the British and French lines. However, none of them is successful.
In return, the Allied Forces launch the Hundred days offensive, which is a series of attacks against the German lines in the Western Front that push Germany back.
At the same time, Germany also suffers at home, due to the frequent anti-war marches. This has a terrible effect on the German troops’ morale.
German navy troops refuse to sail to make one last stand, initiating the German revolution. Facing defeat abroad and at home, King Wilhelm II flees the country, and Germany becomes a republic (Weimar Republic).
The new government signs a truce on 11th November 1918 and the First world war finally ends.
Treaty of Versailles
The countries of the Central Powers signed peace treaties once the world war ended. The most important of these is the Treaty of Versailles, which was signed by Germany.
Article 231, which made Germany guilty of the damage caused, required it to disarm and pay reparations to the countries of the Allied Forces amounting to 132 Billion Marks ( $31.4 Billion then).
This article, considered too harsh, led to the discontent for the Weimar Republic and contributed to the rise of Nazism, which would ultimately lead to the second world war.
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