A dictionary of twentieth century world history

Tai Lieu Chat Luong EN Oxford University Press Oxford University Press A Dictionary of Twentieth-Century World History © Oxford University Press 2000, 2003 Published by Oxford University Press, Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organisation Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department Oxford University Press Look up a word or term Look up an abbreviation Look up a person Look up a place A Aaland Islands Some 6,500 islands in the Gulf of Bothnia, between Finland and Sweden They were part of Sweden until 1809, when, together with Finland, they were annexed by Russia After the collapse of the Russian Empire in 1917, they were administered by Finland Despite popular demands to be governed by Sweden, Finnish sovereignty was confirmed by the League of Nations in 1921 At the same time, they were granted considerable autonomy, since when Swedish has been the official language In 1945, the islands' assembly again voted to come under Swedish sovereignty, but the islands' constitutional status remained unchanged Back - New Search Abacha , Sani (b 20 Sept 1943) Nigerian dictator 1993– Born in Kano of the Haussa people, he was educated at the local government college before entering the army in 1962 He rose through its ranks to become major-general in 1984, and was part of the ruling Supreme Military Council (1984–5) A close colleague of Babangida , he supported his military coup in 1985 and was made Chief of Staff He became Minister of Defence in 1990 Following Babangida's electoral defeat by Abiola in 1993, he became the most influential person in Nigeria, with only a brief period of civilian rule He officially became President on 18 November 1993 Despite waves of protest strikes, he outlawed all democratic political institutions, pacifying some of the strikers through withdrawing some of the draconian economic policies he had introduced, such as a 600 per cent increase in the price of petrol He managed to defy growing international pressure for an end to his brutal regime, which increased after his execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa and other human rights activists, largely because Western sanctions would remain ineffective as long as they excluded Nigeria's vital export commodity, oil Back - New Search Abbas , Ferhat (b 24 Oct 1899, d 24 Dec 1985) Algerian nationalist A student of chemistry, he founded a Muslim students' association in 1924 He fought in the French army from 1939, but in 1942 produced a Manifesto which called for Algerian autonomy from France He joined Ben Bella's Front de Libération National in 1956, and after the outbreak of the Algerian War of Independence founded the Algerian government-in-exile in Tunis (1958) Upon Algerian independence he became president of the National Constituent Assembly (1962–3) and provisional head of state, but, as the leader of the moderate nationalists, he soon fell out of favour with Ben Bella He was exiled in 1963, but was allowed to return shortly before his death Back - New Search Abboud , Ibrahim (b 26 Oct 1900, d 8 Sept 1983) Sudanese general and politician Educated at Gordon College, he became a soldier and, after distinguished service with the British army in World War II, became a general in 1954 He was made Commander-in-Chief of the Sudanese army upon independence in 1956 He overthrew the country's democratic government in 1958, and thereafter led the military government However, his military genius was not matched by political astuteness, and he was forced to resign in 1964 Back - New Search Abd al-Aziz ibn Saud (b 24 Nov 1880, d 9 Nov 1953) King of Saudi Arabia 1932–53 Born in Riyad of the Wahhabi dynasty, he was forced into exile to Kuwait in 1902 From there, he organized and led a successful Bedouin revolt which enabled him to recapture Riyad He then conquered the Turkish province of Al Hasa, and was recognized by the British as Emir of Nejd and Hasa in 1915 He then challenged Hussein ibn Ali , whom he eventually defeated, annexing Azir in 1923, and taking the Holy City of Mecca in 1925 He proclaimed himself King of Hejaz and Nejd in Mecca on 8 January 1926, a country which covered most of the Arabian peninsula In 1932, he renamed his kingdom Saudi Arabia A devout Muslim, he laid the foundations of the country's subsequent development (and the royal household's fortune) by granting the first concession to oil exploration in 1933, and by creating the Arabia-American Oil Company (ARAMCO) in 1944 He maintained a good relationship with the USA and the UK, which he supported in World War II Back - New Search Abd al-Ilah ibn Ali ibn Hussein (b 1912, d 14 July 1958) Regent of Iraq Born in Hejaz as the grandson of Hussein ibn Ali , he became regent of Iraq for his 4year-old cousin Faisal II, after the death of his brother-in-law, King Ghazi Strongly pro-British throughout his life, in 1941 he was expelled by a group of pro-German officers, but he was reinstated by the British, since when he was regarded as a pawn of Britain and the USA He relinquished office in 1953 but continued as chief adviser to King Faisal until both were killed in the Iraqi Revolution of 1958 Back - New Search Abd al-Krim (Muhammad ibn Abd al-Karim al-Khattabi ) (b 1882, d 5 Feb 1963) Moroccan nationalist leader Born in Agadir, he became a newspaper editor and rose in the ranks of the Spanish administration of northern Morocco to become chief judge in 1915 He became increasingly hostile to the Spanish and French occupation of Morocco, however He was imprisoned by the Spanish in 1917, and after his release he organized a rebellion by his tribe, the Ait Waryaghar tribe He inflicted a series of heavy defeats upon the Spanish, and established the Republic of the Rif in 1921 He was defeated by a joint Franco-Spanish army in 1926, imprisoned, and sent to detention on the island of La Réunion until 1947, when he was allowed to return to France On the way he escaped to Cairo, where he set up the Maghreb Bureau or Liberation Committee of the Arab West After Moroccan independence (1956) he refused to return since he did not consider the new government represented the interests of the Rif Back - New Search Abdication Crisis (UK) The crisis in the British establishment over King Edward VIII's desire to marry a twice-divorced American, Wallis Simpson He made this announcement to senior politicians and churchmen on 16 November 1936 Prime Minister Baldwin , the Cabinet, the Archbishop of Canterbury (Cosmo Lang), and the Dominions' representatives were all vehemently opposed to passing the special legislation necessary, partly on the grounds that marriage to a divorcee would be inconsistent with the King's role as head of the Church of England One compromise proposed by Edward was a ‘morganatic marriage’, whereby Wallis Simpson would not acquire his rank: he could become King, but she would not become Queen This was also rejected by the political and religious leaders The British press did not cover the crisis until 3 December, by which time the abdication was virtually certain as the political parties all agreed that the King should accept the advice of his ministers Edward announced his abdication on 11 December, and was succeeded by his brother as George VI Back - New Search Abdul Rahman Putra , Tunku (Al-Haj Ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Abdul Hamid Halim Shah ) (b 8 Feb 1903, d 6 Dec 1990) Prime Minister of Malaya/Malaysia 1957–63/1963–70 Son of the 24th Sultan of Kedah, he studied at Cambridge and qualified as an English barrister Upon his return to Malaya in 1931 he entered the civil service, where he continued to work during the Japanese occupation He co-founded the United Malays National Organization, and succeeded Dato Onn bin Jafaar (b 1895, d 1962) as leader in 1952 Recognizing that independence could only be achieved through co-operation between the various ethnic groups, he organized an alliance with the Malayan Chinese Association, and then the Malayan Indian Congress Following the alliance's victory in the 1955 elections, he became Chief Minister and Minister for Home Affairs He negotiated independence, and became Malaya's first Prime Minister In 1962–3 he presided over the formation of the Federation of Malaysia, which he led as Prime Minister, successfully securing the support of both the Chinese and the Indian communities through pragmatic compromise During the general elections in May 1969 there were widespread ethnic riots in the capital between Chinese and Malays Faced with the breakdown of his attempt to rule on the basis of harmonious ChineseMalay relations, he resigned in January 1970 Through active political journalism he remained an influential figure in Malaysia during the years of his retirement Back - New Search Abdullah ibn Hussein (b 1880, d 20 July 1951) Emir of Transjordan 1921–48, King of Transjordan/Jordan 1948–51 Son of Hussein ibn Ali , Sherif of Mecca, with his brother Faisal he led the Arab Revolt of 1916 In 1921 he was made Emir of the province of Transjordan, a territory created by the Sykes-Picot Agreement and made a British protectorate in 1923 He spent the next decades creating a sense of identity and unity in his quite arbitrarily defined kingdom, establishing state institutions such as a Parliament, a constitution, and a police force through the creation of the Arab Legion He became King upon his country's independence from Britain in 1948 During the first Arab-Israeli War (1948–9), he used the Arab Legion to occupy the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which he united with Transjordan as the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in 1950 After he engaged in secret negotiations with Israel, he was assassinated by an Arab nationalist Back - New Search Abiola , Moshood Kashimawo Olawale (b 24 Aug 1937) Nigerian politician Born in Abeokuta of the Yoruba people, he studied at the University of Glasgow (1961–3) before becoming a business manager, advancing to become vice-president of ITT Africa and Middle East, as well as chairperson of ITT Nigeria, 1971–88 He joined the social democratic National Party of Nigeria (NPN) in 1979 and became its chairman in his home state of Ogun He was chosen to contest the 1993 presidential elections against Babangida When his victory was clear, the military government annulled the elections and imprisoned him Back - New Search Abkhazia A Caucasian territory which was part of the Soviet Union as an Autonomous Soviet Republic within Georgia In April 1991, it became independent as part of Georgia, against the will of the Muslim Abkhazian population (17.8 per cent of the total population) and its Russian minority (14.3 per cent) Helped by a contingent of Muslim volunteers from neighbouring autonomous Russian republics such as Chechnya, the rebels managed to repel the Georgian troops, weakened already by civil war They also secured control of the country by forcing the exodus of the largest population group, the (mostly) Christian Orthodox Georgians, who had formed 45 per cent of the population in 1989, but had completely deserted the country by 1994 Georgia had to concede defeat and negotiations focused on extensive autonomy for a territory over which Georgia had lost all control Back - New Search Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders (Australia) The original inhabitants of Australia, whose existence there is thought to go back some 40,000 years They were semi-nomadic hunters whose value systems included common use, and a spiritual appreciation, of the land Their population is estimated to have been between 300,000 and 700,000 before White settlement began in 1788 By the early twentieth century, this figure had diminished to less than 50,000 and was declining further owing to loss of land, adoption of European habits such as drinking alcohol, diseases against which they had not developed immunity (smallpox, influenza, etc.), and a declining birth-rate Violence between Europeans and Aborigines had led to the death of around 2,500 Whites and 20,000 Aborigines During the 1930s, sparked off by celebrations of the 150th anniversary of the first European settlements, campaigns developed for an end to social and legal discrimination against Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders, and for aid in areas of health, education, and employment From the 1950s, rather than segregating them from the rest of society the government attempted to integrate them In the following decade, Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders began to emphasize their right to assimilate themselves while maintaining their own culture In 1967, they were granted full citizenship, and 90 per cent of (White) Australians voted in a referendum to transfer responsibility for Aboriginal affairs from the individual states to the federal government Since 1972, land has been returned to the Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders, in central Australia and the Torres Straits respectively In the central issue of land claims as in other matters, the federal government usually spearheaded action on behalf of Aboriginal rights, often against fierce resistance from the individual states unwilling to concede jurisdiction over their territory Their claims for land titles were recognized for the first time in 1992, and in 1994 they were promised considerable ownership of land By 1991, the number of Aborigines and Torres Straits Islanders had risen again to over 250,000 Despite increasing public recognition of their rights, however, they continued to be the most disadvantaged section of Australian society, with the highest death, imprisonment, and unemployment rates, and the lowest income and life expectancy rates Back - New Search Abortion The premature termination of pregnancy by removal of the foetus from the womb It has been strongly opposed by many religions which emphasize the sanctity of human life from the day of conception By contrast, its legalization has been demanded by ‘pro-choice’ groups which stress each individual mother's right to choose whether or not to proceed with a pregnancy As a result, the issue of abortion has become a touchstone for the influence of religion in the state For instance, abortion is still illegal in Arab countries, where Islam is the state religion, and in Ireland, where the influence of the Roman Catholic Church is still strong It is a central and divisive matter in countries such as Poland, which has sought to redefine the role of the Catholic Church in state and society In Germany, in 1995, five years after reunification, laws were drawn up which amounted to a compromise between a more religiously observant western half, and a completely secularized eastern half In the USA a Supreme Court judgment, Roe v Wade of 1973, ruled in favour of a ‘right to choose’ as an implied constitutional ‘right to privacy’, but the problem has continued to polarize society between Roman Catholics and fundamentalist Christians on the one hand, and ‘pro-choice’ groups on the other As the former groups have become increasingly influential in the Republican Party, and the latter have been largely reliant on the Democratic Party for the defence of the present system, abortion has become a central issue in US politics By contrast, in more secularized societies the subject causes only sporadic controversy In Britain, since 1967 abortion has been allowed for up to 24 weeks after conception (reduced from 28 in 1990) on social or medical grounds Back - New Search Abu Dhabi, see UNITED ARAB EMIRATES Back - New Search Abyssinian War (1935–6) The conquest of Ethiopia (formerly Abyssinia) by Italian forces born out of Mussolini's desire to strengthen his domestic position through the establishment of an Italian East African Empire Furthermore, he wanted to avenge Italy for its previous humiliating defeat by the Ethiopian forces at Adowa in 1896 during an earlier attempt to occupy the area Following a border clash at the Abyssinian oasis of Walwal, Mussolini rejected all attempts by the League of Nations to mediate and invaded Abyssinia on 2 October 1935 Some six months later, the ill-equipped Ethiopian army succumbed to the Italian use of airforce, tanks, and poison gas, and on 5 May 1936 Badoglio captured the capital, Addis Ababa The Italian aggression caused international outrage, but the inability of the League of Nations to agree to more than limited sanctions against Italy demonstrated the essential ineffectiveness of the League as well as the concept of appeasement On the other hand, the war exposed some serious deficiencies in the Italian army, which were largely ignored by Mussolini and others who were deluded by the fact of the victory Back - New Search Acheson , Dean Gooderham (b 11 Apr 1893, d 12 Oct 1971) US Secretary of State 1949–53 Born at Middletown, Connecticut, he was educated at Yale and Harvard Law School He served as a personal assistant to Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis between 1918 and 1921, and built a successful New York law practice thereafter He became Assistant Secretary of State for President F D Roosevelt in 1941, and Under-Secretary for President Truman in 1945 He urged international control of atomic power in the Acheson-Lilienthal Report of 1946, outlined the Truman Doctrine of US support for nations threatened by Communism, and helped to formulate the Marshall Plan As Secretary of State, he helped in the creation of NATO, but was criticized by Republicans in Congress for what they regarded as his failure to pursue a more vigorously anti-Communist policy, or to support Syngman Rhee in South Korea He was a strong supporter of the French in Indochina and of the Republic of China in Taiwan In 1961, he once again became an important influence on US foreign policy as an adviser to President Kennedy In 1967–8, he was one of the most important of the ‘wise men’ who called in private and public for President Lyndon Johnson to end the Vietnam War His memoirs, Present at the Creation, won the 1970 Pulitzer Prize in history Back - New Search Action Franỗaise A French ultra-right-wing movement with traits of fascism co-founded by Maurras at the height of the Dreyfus Affair in 1898 The movement's newspaper (190844) carried the same name Its parliamentary representation remained relatively weak, but it became very influential in that it made antiRepublicanism and anti-Semitism respectable in intellectual circles Banned in 1936, from 1940 most of its members supported the Vichy government FASCISM Back - New Search Action Squad (Squadre d'Azione), see BLACKSHIRTS Back - New Search Adams , Gerard (Gerry Adams ) (b 6 Oct 1948) Republican politician in Northern Ireland Born and educated in Belfast, he worked as a bar manager, and joined the Republican movement in 1964 He was imprisoned twice (1971, 1978) on suspicion of being a leader of the IRA, but both times was released on grounds of insufficient evidence He was successively elected to Parliament for Sinn Féin (1983–92), but never took up his seat in the House of Commons, since he objected in principle to British rule in Northern Ireland He became president of the party in 1984 In 1988 and 1993, he held meetings with Hume to discuss proposals for talks on the future of Northern Ireland He came to appreciate that, after conducting a terrorist campaign for more than twenty years, the IRA had not come closer to fulfilling its aim of a British withdrawal from Northern Ireland After a flurry of secret negotiations with British government representatives, he persuaded the IRA to announce a cease-fire, in order to meet the British condition of a renunciation of violence before negotiations In consequence, he acquired a pivotal role as a spokesman for the nationalist Catholic community, which was recognized on 17 March 1995, when he met US President Clinton in Washington However, when all-party talks on the future of Northern Ireland had still not commenced by February 1996, the IRA resumed its bombing campaign Subsequently, Adams tried to salvage his relationship with the IRA, while trying to keep prospects for negotiations open Back - New Search Adams , Sir Grantley Herbert (b 28 Apr 1898, d 28 Nov 1971) Arabian help and advice, despite the hostility of many of the traditionalist tribal leaders Given the latter's opposition, progress was relatively modest, which led to the persistence of low rates of literacy and life expectancy Despite a number of clashes with its neighbour, the Democratic People's Republic of (South) Yemen, during the 1970s and 1980s, it united with the latter in 1990 to form the Republic of Yemen Back - New Search Yemen, Republic of A country on the southern tip of the Arabian peninsula which emerged from the unification of North Yemen (to the west) and South Yemen (to the east) in 1990 Unity remained fragile, as it followed decades of strife between the two countries, and was ill-prepared Insufficient efforts were made to integrate two societies that had developed quite differently, with one still largely based on Islamic traditionalist lines (North Yemen), while Communist egalitarian structures had been imposed on the other (South Yemen) The President of the more populous North, Ali Abdullah Salleh (since 1978), became President of the new country, with the former President of South Yemen (since 1986), Bakr al-Attas, becoming Prime Minister The latter's Socialist Party came third in the 1993 elections Feeling himself more and more sidelined, he declared South Yemen independent once again on 21 May 1994 Aden was quickly occupied by North Yemenite troops (7 July 1994), so that unity was re-established A new constitution was passed on 28 September 1994, which established Islamic law, the Shariah, as the country's legal basis Salleh was formally elected to a five-year term as President While the South had thus become totally dominated by the North, traditional border disputes with Saudi Arabia about southern Yemen's northern border continued, particularly after the discovery of significant oil reserves in the area Back - New Search Yemen, South Its commercial and strategic nucleus, Aden, was occupied by the British in 1839, to help secure the passage to India It was ruled from India by the presidency of Bombay, until it was governed directly by the government of the British colony of India in 1932 Aden itself became a Crown Colony in 1937, with its surrounding territory becoming a British protectorate The latter became the South Arabian Federation of Arab Emirates in 1959, which the colony of Aden joined in 1963 Influenced by the republican and Arabic nationalist movements in neighbouring North Yemen, a National Liberation Front emerged in a civil war and was victorious against the rival FLOSY (Front for the Liberation of Occupied South Yemen) The civil war resulted in independence in 1967, as the Democratic People's Republic of Yemen Attempts were made to impose Communism upon an Arab society, through nationalization, collectivization and the creation of co-operatives, and central planning All this was established with generous help from the USSR, which in return gained Aden as an important naval base Relatively egalitarian income distribution and a reduction in illiteracy failed to gain widespread acceptance of the regime After a brief civil war in 1986, unity talks with North Yemen succeeded in the late 1980s, whereupon a united Republic of Yemen was created Back - New Search Yen-an, see YAN'AN Back - New Search Yezhov , Nikolai Ivanovich (b 1895, d 1939?) Head of Soviet Secret Police Born in St Petersburg, he joined the Bolsheviks in April 1917 and took part in the Russian (October) Revolution of 1917 During the Russian Civil War, he was a political commissar in the Red Army He then worked for the Communist Party's Central Committee, becoming a member in 1934 He became the head of the NKVD as People's Commissar for Internal Affairs in 1936 In this capacity, he led Stalin's terror campaign By this time a drug addict, he became the most feared man in the Soviet Union after Stalin The Great Purges are also known as the Yezhovshchina Briefly a member of the Politburo from 1937, he was dismissed from the NKVD and replaced by Beria in December 1938 He was arrested in March 1939 and probably executed soon afterwards Back - New Search Yom Kippur War (Oct 1973) Known by Arabs as the October War It began on 6 October, the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), the holiest day of prayer and fasting in the Jewish year In their surprise attack Egypt and Syria won some initial success, as Egyptian troops advanced over the Suez Canal while the Syrians reached the Golan Heights, which had been occupied by Israel since 1967 Although caught unawares Israel forcefully counter-attacked within two days On 8 October Israeli forces recrossed the Suez Canal further west, encircling part of the Egyptian army and advancing on Cairo; at the same time other Israeli troops recovered the Golan Heights, with tanks advancing to within 35 miles of Damascus Alarmed by Israeli successes, oil-rich Saudi Arabia put pressure on its main customer, the USA, to persuade Israel to halt its advances and accept UN mediation A cease-fire was arranged on 24 October, followed by disengagement along the Suez Canal and the establishment of a UN peacekeeping force on the Golan Heights Even though Israel technically won the war, the first days of the war had shown that the Israeli army was not invincible, which restored Arab pride after their defeat in the Six Day War Furthermore, Israel was only able to regain the military initiative through extensive popular mobilization, and at the expense of heavy casualties Back - New Search Yoshida Shigeru (b 22 Sept 1878, d 20 Oct 1967) Prime Minister of Japan 1946–7, 1949–54 A graduate of Tokyo University, he entered the Japanese diplomatic service and held various posts including that of Japan's minister in Rome and London Because he was perceived to favour a less hostile relationship with Britain and the USA, his appointment as Foreign Minister in Hirota Kôki's Cabinet was blocked With the expansion of Japan's war he was excluded from a role in the government In the closing stages of the war, Yoshida fell under the suspicion of the Japanese authorities for advocating that Japan sue for peace and he was detained by the military police After 1945, Yoshida Shigeru was particularly influential in shaping the idea that Japan would choose to pursue its own economic development while relying on its allies for its foreign and defence policies He served as Foreign Minister in the early post-war Cabinets When Hatoyama Ichiro was purged by the occupation authorities, Yoshida became his successor and formed a Liberal Party government after the 1946 general election Although initially distrusted by the US authorities because of his involvement with the pre-war establishment, Yoshida the seasoned diplomat proved to be an ideal Prime Minister in the late 1940s, when the main concern of the Japanese government was the negotiation of the post-war settlement and the restoration of sovereignty With this task concluded in 1952, Yoshida managed to cling on to government for two more years, although he proved to be an increasingly unpopular figure for his domineering style of leadership He was largely superseded by the politicians who led the Liberal Democratic Party after 1955, although two of his disciples, Ikeda Hayato and Satô Eisaku , went on to be Prime Minister Back - New Search Young Maori Movement Once dreams of an independent Maori state had been shattered by the early 1900s, a new generation of Maori leaders emerged, many of them educated at Te Aute College, such as Ngata , Pomare , and Buck They believed in the need to accept the benefits of European society, some of them even considering Maori culture to be inferior They went to live in the towns of the east coast and successfully trained in the professions such as teaching, law, and medicine They created a political party (the Young Maori Party ) which from 1905 represented the four Maori electoral districts which had been created in 1867 For the next three decades, they had a disproportionate influence in New Zealand politics While perhaps not as influential on Maori culture as Te Puera Herangi , they were able to achieve important health and educational reforms, thus improving Maori welfare, and encouraging Maori population growth after decades of rapid decline During the 1930s the movement lost its support to the more radical Ratana movement Back - New Search Young Maori Party see YOUNG MAORI MOVEMENT Back - New Search Young Plan, see REPARATIONS Back - New Search Young Turks A loose group of opposition leaders which began to form in the Ottoman Empire in response to the abrogation of the constitution by Sultan Abdülhamit II in 1878 It was organized clandestinely in 1889 as the Association for the Union of Ottomans, which in 1895 became the Committee for Union and Progress It called for the removal from power of Abdülhamit II, and the reintroduction of constitutional rule, basing its popular appeal on Islamic nationalism Its members became the leaders of a rebellion against Abdülhamit in 1908, who was subsequently forced to establish constitutional rule He reneged on some of his promises, whereupon a second rebellion removed him from power in 1909 Relations between the Young Turks, many of whom had remained outside the government, and the new Sultan, Muhammad V, remained uneasy until Enver Pasha's coup of 1913 finally brought them to power Back - New Search Ypres, Battles of (World War I) There were a total of four battles near the Belgian city of Ypres, representing various attempts by the belligerents to overcome the war of attrition that developed on the Western Front by outflanking their entrenched positions to the south 1 After the retreat of the British Expeditionary Force from Mons, on 12 October–11 November 1914 the Germans attacked and captured the Messines ridge, but failed to take Ypres or to reach the Channel ports 2 Another German attack (22 April–24 May 1915) failed to break the Allied line This battle represented the first major Canadian involvement in the war, and proved a ‘baptism of fire’ Suffering from the first chemical gas attack of the war, the Canadian reputation for bravery was earned by its 1st Division suffering a casualty rate of 46 per cent 3 An Allied offensive with fundamentally Australian and Canadian support started on 7 June 1917, when they exploded nineteen mines dug under the German positions It continued into the Passchendaele offensive, which lasted until November 1917 4 The last battle was part of the final German Marne offensive in March–April 1918 The Germans were held at the River Lys and once again failed to capture the devastated city of Ypres It is estimated that over 500,000 British and Commonwealth troops died fighting around Ypres during World War I Back - New Search Yrigoyen , Hipólito (b 13 July 1850, d 3 July 1933) Argentine President 1916–22, 1928–30 Under his leadership the Radical Party emerged as the principal representative of the Argentinian middle classes from 1893, and he presided over the party's heyday (1916–30) As President he violently repressed riots in 1918–19 caused by the economic recession and inflation that hit Argentina as part of a worldwide recession The 1920s were marked by relative calm From 1929 onwards Argentina was affected by the Great Depression, though it did not suffer as much as other economies He was ousted by a military coup of officers deeply suspicious of democracy Back - New Search Yuan Shikai (Yuan Shih-k'ai ) (b 16 Sept 1859, d 6 June 1916) President of the Republic of China 1912–16 Born in Henan Province into an aristocratic family, he entered military service and went to Korea, where he distinguished himself as commander and army reformer Returning at the head of a well-organized army, his support was important in the accession to power of the Empress Dowager Cixi in 1898 For this, he was promoted to become governor of Shandong (1899–1901) He then moved up in government ranks, until he was President of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1907–9) Throughout, he was the regime's strongest personality, and carried out substantial army and educational reforms He was dismissed from office after Cixi's death, but remained an influential figure, particularly because of the size and strength of his army He was recalled by the royal house to become Prime Minister after the outbreak of the Wuchang Revolution In this office, he persuaded the advisers of Pu Yi that he should abdicate, for which feat he demanded the presidency of the new Republic However, he betrayed his republican allies by attempting to create a dynasty himself, and expelling other political leaders such as Sun Yat-sen His army proved insufficient for him to create a strong government, since he lacked any broader political platform It had proved strong enough, however, to destroy the Wuchang Revolution, so that his death left a power vacuum which subjected China to an era of warlordism until Chiang Kai-shek's Northern Expedition Back - New Search Yugoslavia A state created on 1 December 1918 as the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes It emerged from the Corfu Pact of 1917, and was a heterogeneous country consisting of Slovenia, Croatia, BosniaHercegovina, Serbia, and Montenegro Its religious and ethnic diversity was expressed in two mutually contrasting ideas about the nature of the new state Slovenia and Croatia had joined the union with Serbia largely for defensive reasons, to protect their territories against Austrian or Italian revisionist (irredentist) pretensions They demanded a federal state, which would leave each component with extensive autonomy By contrast, Serbia was a relatively homogeneous country which had gained increasing self-confidence since independence in 1878, so that Serbia was interested mainly in increasing its power over other territories in a ‘Greater Serbia’ This latter conception won the day, when a centralized constitution was adopted by a narrow parliamentary majority in 1921 In protest, the Croatian People's Peasants' Party (CPPP) as well as other groups made Parliament extremely unstable After the assassination of the CPPP leader, Stjepan Radic, in 1928, King Alexander I dissolved Parliament and created a royal dictatorship, changing the country's name to Yugoslavia (‘Land of Southern Slavs’) His rule strengthened Serbian predominance even further, which motivated the growth of a number of terrorist movements, the most important of which became the Ustase movement, which carried out Alexander's assassination in 1934 Despite an agreement for Croatian autonomy negotiated by the Prime Minister, Cvetkovic, in 1939, emotions against Serbia remained strong After the German invasion of Yugoslavia in 1941, the Ustase movement was eager to create a fascist puppet regime as the Independent State of Croatia Until 1945, its brutal government was responsible for the expulsion or killings of some 600,000 Serbs In retaliation, once Tito's partisan rebels had established their dominance over the Chetniks, they vented their wrath on the Croatians, slaughtering many Ustase fascists, as well as innocent Croatians, in return With bitterness and hatred between the country's fifteen nationalities at an all-time high, another attempt at unification could only be made by Tito's iron will He created the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia on 31 January 1946, which contained six republics, the autonomous province of Vojvodina, and the autonomous area of Kosovo Unfortunately, the differences between the various ethnicities which had intensified so much during the war were never properly addressed or publicly discussed, and were largely suppressed As the only Eastern European country (apart from Albania) which had become Communist without Moscow's direct help, Tito enjoyed much freedom of manœuvre owing to the absence of Soviet troops, and he used this in full To Stalin's impotent anger, he accepted US aid in 1948, from which time Yugoslavia pursued an independent policy as a leading member of the non-aligned movement This enabled Tito to play off US for Soviet support: a game at which he excelled A new constitution for the Federal Socialist Republic of Yugoslavia was introduced in 1963 Growing nationalist aspirations, most notably the Croatian Spring (1967–72), which produced a Croatian cultural and linguistic revival and was ultimately suppressed by Tito, led to the promulgation of the 1974 constitution It gave the constituent republics and autonomous provinces more powers After Tito's death, the presidency was shared between the states in rotation While it would be wrong to assume that Yugoslavia was already doomed, there were signs that all was not well in 1981, when street riots in Kosovo were brutally suppressed Thereafter, its autonomy was severely curtailed and was completely abolished in 1989, following renewed violence The impending end of the cold war led to widespread, increasingly open debate about the nature of the Yugoslav state and the viability of Communist single-party rule In 1989, the Serbian Communist Party responded to this by ensuring Communist survival through the election of the nationalist Milosevic as leader Together with the Serbian incorporation of Kosovo, this threatened the other republics, where nationalist movements opposed to the Communists emerged In some ways, it was a repeat of the interwar problem, as the attempt by Serb nationalists to gain control over the Yugoslav state apparatus was met with increasing rejection of the Yugoslav state by its other constituent republics They began to secede formally in 1991, led by Slovenia By 1992, all that remained within Yugoslavia was Serbia and Montenegro, which on 29 April 1992 formed the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia The Serbian-dominated Yugoslav army supported the rebellious Serb communities in Croatia and Bosnia-Hercegovina In 1995 Milosevic agreed to the Dayton Agreement, in order to achieve a lifting of damaging international sanctions against his country, and to consolidate Serb gains in the Bosnian Civil War Back - New Search Z Zabern Affair (1913) A German political crisis which developed in response to the partly unlawful actions of the German military taken to quell popular unrest in the Alsatian garrison town of Saverne (Zabern) The unrest itself had been caused by an army officer openly insulting the local population The crisis was fuelled by the support given by senior army figures and the German Chancellor Bethmann Hollweg to the behaviour of the military in Saverne On 4 December the German Parliament accepted a vote of no confidence in the Chancellor by a huge majority, an unprecedented move which remained without effect as, in the German Empire, the Chancellor was appointed by the Emperor and needed his support only As with the Daily Telegraph Affair, the Parliament was ultimately half-hearted in its attempts to increase its power against the executive ALSACE-LORRAINE Back - New Search Zaghlul , Sa'd see SAGHLUL , SA'D Back - New Search Zaibatsu Enormous Japanese pre-war trust companies, which exercised extensive influence over key areas of the pre-war economy through their ownership of hundreds of businesses Share ownership of the key holding companies of the zaibatsu was held by a single family alone, although that family was often divided into various branches In Japan in the late nineteenth century, these families had been able to provide the rare capital necessary for Japan's rapid industrialization The most prominent zaibatsu, which included famous organizations with a long history such as the Mitsui, Mitsubishi, as well as the so called ‘new zaibatsu’ which emerged in the twentieth century such as the Nissan, developed interests in areas as diverse as mining, transport, industry, commerce, and finance After World War II, the US occupation identified the zaibatsu's dominance of the economy as one of the causes of Japanese militarism in the 1920s and 1930s and introduced measures to dissolve them Ties between some of these companies have endured, although no precise equivalent to the zaibatsu exists today Back - New Search Zaïre Founded in 1885 as a personal possession of the Belgian King Leopold II as the Congo Free State, on the basis of treaties signed between his agents and over 400 local chiefs in the area Leopold's insistence that the cost of the economic development of the area should be borne by the colony itself led to the ruthless exploitation of the territory by European firms, who were allowed to force the local population to work for them Responding to the international public outcry when this became known, the Belgian state annexed the territory in 1908 and took over from the personal government of the King to create the Belgian Congo Harsh rule by the colonial government persisted, remaining ‘paternalist’ even after World War II, so indigenous people were trained for subservient positions, and the growth of educated, articulate local élites was prevented Despite the ban on political organizations, independence movements began to form in 1955, such as the Mouvement National Congolais (Congolese National Movement) under Patrice Lumumba To the surprise of many Belgians, these gained unstoppable momentum from the autonomy status granted to the states of neighbouring French Equatorial Africa, particularly the Congo, in 1958 Overwhelmed by colonial and international pressures, the Belgian government agreed to independence on 30 June 1960, when the Democratic Republic of Congo was proclaimed (Zaïre from 1971) Without a developed social or national élite, with inexperienced leadership, and with few developed ties between over 400 different peoples, the country immediately sank into chaos Ethnic tensions made the democratic formation of a national party impossible The withdrawal of skilled labour, which had been entirely foreign, caused economic chaos, while the army, devoid of indigenous high-ranking officers, was in disarray At the request of the government, the UN sent in troops to restore order Matters were complicated by the declaration of independence by the prosperous region of Katanga, whose economy provided 60 per cent of the state's income, on 11 July 1960 (Congo Crisis) The civil war was eventually overcome in 1965, when Mobutu declared himself President and transformed the country into an authoritarian, single-party state His policy of fostering nationalism created a hostile climate for foreign investment, which caused tremendous problems in an economy dependent on foreign technology for the exploitation of its vast mineral resources By 1995, its economy had still not progressed beyond its levels of output in 1958, before independence Gross National Product declined by an annual average of 9 per cent, 1988–93 By contrast, there had developed a small, wealthy élite of some 5,000 people who controlled the political and military machine, led by Mobutu Despite growing popular resistance to his inefficient, authoritarian, corrupt, and ruthless regime, he maintained power whilst appearing to prepare for democratization through the creation of a ‘transitional’ government Back - New Search Zambia A southern African country explored by Living-stone from 1855 In 1890, the British South African Company (BSAC) established its administrative and economic dominance over the area through contracts with the chiefs of the inhabitant peoples Known as North-West Rhodesia since 1899, it was united in 1911 with Barotseland (North-East Rhodesia) to form the British Protectorate of Northern Rhodesia, named after the founder of the BSAC, Rhodes The administration of the BSAC ended in 1924, when Northern Rhodesia became a Crown protectorate with considerable self-rule In contrast to Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), government according to the principle of indirect rule eventually led to the participation of some Blacks in government To give greater permanence and stability to British rule in an age of growing decolonization, Northern Rhodesia was united with Southern Rhodesia and Nyasaland (see Malawi) to form the Central African Federation in 1953 Demands for independence and an end to White rule grew under Kaunda's leadership, so that a British government no longer willing to impose its will forcefully (in the wake of the Suez Crisis) granted Northern Rhodesia independence as the Republic of Zambia on 24 October 1964 Kaunda became President, and partially nationalized the country's mining industry, the major earner of foreign currency He stabilized his position among the ethnically heterogeneous population and by 1973 his regime was sufficiently strong to allow him to outlaw all opposition and create a one-party state During the 1970s, he emerged as a leading critic of South African apartheid, as well as Smith's racist regime in Rhodesia (later Zimbabwe) The capital, Lusaka, served as the headquarters of the respective resistance movements, the ANC and ZANU As Rhodesia was Zambia's main trading partner, the consequent deterioration of relations between the two was extremely damaging to Zambia's economy Economic relations improved in the 1980s, but by then its economy was being hit by severe droughts, as well as declining commodity prices for its main exports In reaction to growing popular discontent, as well as an abortive coup in 1990, Kaunda lifted the ban on political parties and announced multi-party elections, held on 31 October 1991 They resulted in a devastating defeat for Kaunda's United National Independence Party (UNIP), and a victory for the Movement for Multi-party Democracy (MMD) under Chiluba The latter liberalized the economy to stop the economic decline, though he was unable to prevent large-scale inflation (190 per cent in 1993) Back - New Search ZANU (Zimbabwe African National Union) A Zimbabwean political party formed in 1963 by disenchanted members of ZAPU in reaction to ZAPU's moderate policies towards White minority rule in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) Led by Mugabe, its guerrilla organization, ZANLA (Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army), became the most important oppositional force in the Zimbabwean Civil War during the 1970s During this time, ZANU managed to rally behind it the over-whelming support of the Shona people, the largest ethnic community in Rhodesia It co-operated with the ZAPU in the Patriotic Front (PF) from 1976, but contested separately the 1980 elections leading up to independence, from which it emerged with a large majority It remained the principal party of government until December 1987, when its integration of Nkomo's ZAPU to form ZANU-PF effectively transformed it into the single party of the country Back - New Search Zanzibar An island off the East African coast which developed into a trading centre during the nineteenth century It was coveted by several European powers in the age of imperialism, but in 1890 Germany gave up its claims to the British in exchange for the North Sea island of Heligoland The British proceeded to govern through the Sultan and his traditional élites (indirect rule) and thus entrenched the rule of the privileged Arab minority over the African majority This continued after independence on 10 December 1963 On 12 January 1964, however, the government was overthrown by the Afro-Shirazi Party under A Karume The revolution led to the exodus of around 90 per cent of the Arab population Zanzibar was united with Tanganyika to form Tanzania on 26 April 1964, though Zanzibar retained extensive autonomy with a separate legal, executive, and legislative system President Karume instituted a hardline Marxist regime, but was overthrown by M A Jumbe (b 1920) in 1972 The latter continued in power until 1984, when he retired in favour of Mwinyi When Mwinyi succeeded Nyerere as President of Tanzania, his position in Zanzibar was filled by S S Hamad (until 1988), Omar Ali Juma (1988–90), and Salmin Amour (1990– ) Despite its autonomy, there were frequent tensions with the Tanzanian mainland, such as in 1993, when the predominantly Muslim Zanzibar (briefly) entered the Islamic Conference, which caused an uproar in the rest of Tanzania with its religious diversity Back - New Search Zapata , Emiliano (b 8 Aug 1879?, d 10 Apr 1919) Mexican revolutionary leader He organized an army of landless peasants from the poor state of Morelos, who were fighting to regain their lands lost to the large landowning estates under Díaz They joined the opposition of Madero and Villa against Díaz However, when Díaz was toppled in 1911 Zapata continued his struggle against the attempts of the moderate Madero and his follower, Carranza , to consolidate the achievements of the revolution and to prevent it from challenging the social order In the power vacuum created by the fall of the short-lived Huerta dictatorship (1913–14) his troops entered Mexico City, where he was joined by Villa He was forced by Carranza's constitutionalist troops to withdraw to the south, where he was killed by government troops in an ambush A legend in his own time, his name was invoked in the Chiapas Rebellion Back - New Search Zapatista National Liberation Army (Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional, EZLN) see CHIAPAS REBELLION Back - New Search ZAPU (Zimbabwe African People's Union) A Zimbabwean political party founded in 1961 under Nkomo's leadership Banned in 1964, it established its headquarters in neighbouring Zambia, from where it also launched an increasing number of guerrilla attacks through its military wing, the ZIPRA (Zimbabwe Independent People's Revolutionary Army) In 1976 it formed the Popular Front with its rival, Mugabe's ZANU ZAPU's base among the minority Matabele people meant that it was only able to obtain twenty (out of eighty) seats in the 1980 general election It proceeded to govern as a junior partner of ZANU, but from 1982 became increasingly marginalized The friction caused much unrest, but was overcome in December 1987 when it merged with ZANU to form ZANU-PF Back - New Search Zeppelins, see AIRSHIPS Back - New Search Zhdanov , Andrey Aleksandrovich (b 26 Feb 1896, d 31 Aug 1948) Soviet politician Born in Mariupol (later Zhdanov), he joined the Bolsheviks in 1915, and became an active propagandist for the party until the 1917 Russian (October) Revolution He became a political officer in the Red Army, and in 1924 he was responsible for the Communist Party in Tver and Nizhny Novgorod In 1934, he succeeded Kirov as chairman of the Leningrad Communist Party, and was regarded as a likely successor to Stalin In that year, he also became a secretary of the Soviet Communist Party's Central Committee, and in 1939 joined the Politburo He took an active part in Stalin's Great Purge, as well as the ruthless imposition of Soviet rule in the Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania) in 1940–1 He took a decisive part in the organization of the defence of Leningrad, 1941–4 He is best remembered for his cultural and ideological influence, however He instigated a major educational reform in the Soviet Union in 1934–8, and in 1944 he became responsible for party ideology He enforced socialist realism in the arts and a Bolshevik historiography His vicious opposition to any Western, ‘decadent’ cultural influence led to his country's complete artistic isolation In 1947, he became the cofounder and leader of Cominform (see Comintern) Back - New Search Zhelev , Zhelju (b 3 Mar 1935) President of Bulgaria, 1990– Born in Vesselinovo, he studied philosophy He was banished to the countryside after publishing an article which appeared to criticize Lenin His book Fascism (1982) was confiscated owing to its drawing of implicit parallels between fascism and Communism He co-founded the oppositional group for Public Life and Change and, after the fall of the hardline Zhivkov , became the leader of the oppositional Union of Democratic Forces in 1989 He was the first non-Communist since 1945 to be head of state, though he was elected by Parliament with the votes of the reformed Communists He was confirmed in office by the elections of January 1992, which he won in the second round His efforts to push his country towards democratic and capitalist reforms were hindered by the unstable political system and the consequent frequent change of government Back - New Search Zhivkov , Todor Christov (b 7 Sept 1911) Secretary-General of the Bulgarian Communist Party 1954–89; President of the State Council 1971–89 Born in Pravec (near Sofia), he became a printer He joined the Communist Youth League in 1928, and the Communist Party in 1932 He was one of the leading members of the party in Sofia until the outbreak of World War II During the Nazi occupation from 1941, he was active as a partisan, linking the activities of the party rank and file with those of Communist guerrillas After the coup of September 1944, he seized the initiative to suppress brutally all potential opposition to a Communist state, through murder, intimidation, and imprisonment He became a non-voting member of the Communist Central Committee in 1945, and was elevated to full membership in 1949 In 1954, as Secretary-General of the Communist Party he became the effective ruler of his country He was perhaps the most loyal follower of the Soviet Union, matching each political shift in that country with policy changes of his own For example, he immediately accepted Khrushchev's policies of de-Stalinization in 1956, but had no problems accepting the leadership of Brezhnev after Khrushchev's dismissal He increased the country's (and his own) cultural, military, and economic dependence on the Soviet Union This turned against him in 1989, when he tried, for the first time, to oppose the reformist trends of glasnost and perestroika coming from Moscow Nor could he rely on Moscow any longer to ensure his own survival In consequence, on 10 November 1989 he was deposed On 29 February 1992 he was sentenced to seven years' imprisonment and the payment of around $1 million for embezzlement and corruption Despite President Zhelev's refusal to grant him a pardon, he did not have to serve his gaol sentence because of his old age Back - New Search Zhou Enlai (Chou En-lai ) (b 1898, d 8 Jan 1976) Premier of the People's Republic of China 1949–76 Born in Huaian (Jiangsu Province) into a wealthy Mandarin family, he studied in Japan and France, where he joined the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1922 After further study in Germany (1923–4), he returned to Guangzhou (Canton), where he was appointed commander of the political department of the Whampoa Military Academy, which was led by Chiang Kai-shek He was dismissed by Chiang in 1926, whereupon he became head of the CCP's military department, in which capacity he took part in the first stage of the Northern Expedition, until the Guomintang's crackdown on the Communists in 1927 He went to Moscow as the party's representative to Comintern, but returned and joined the Jianxi Soviet in 1931 Although initially not an ally of Mao Zedong , he became his most important aide after Mao's assumption of the CCP leadership during the Long March in January 1935 In 1936, he led negotiations with Chang Hsüeh-liang about co-operation with the National Republican Army and, although not directly involved, he came to Chang's help at the Xi'an Incident During the Sino-Japanese War and the Chinese Civil War, he emerged as one of the principal political as well as military leaders, and became a chief negotiator with the Nationalists In the new People's Republic of China, he served as Premier of the Government Administration Council and, from 1954, of the State Council In these positions, he was responsible for the day-to-day execution of Mao's policies, which he accomplished with great skill He was Foreign Minister until 1958, though he continued to be a major influence in China's foreign policy until his death Thus, he brought the Korean War to an end in 1953, and succeeded in achieving membership of the UN in 1971, at the height of the Cultural Revolution He survived the latter, and even used it to get rid of his closest rival, Lin Biao Despite the fact that, as Mao's deputy, he bore substantial responsibility for the excesses of Mao's rule, most notably the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution, he promoted a generation of more moderate leaders to high office, among them Deng Xiaoping His death resulted in large protest demonstrations at Tiananmen Square Back - New Search Zhu De (Chu Teh ) (b 30 Nov 1886, d 6 July 1976) Commander-in-Chief of the Chinese Communist army Born in Yilong, Sichuan Province, he was commissioned into the imperial army and attended the Yunnan military academy He joined the revolutionary movement, however, and in 1911 participated in the Wuchang Revolution He became an officer in the republican Yunnan army, which he left in 1922 to study in Germany There, he met Zhou Enlai , joined the Communist Party, and studied political science at Göttingen University Expelled for his political activities, he went to Moscow in 1925, and returned to China in 1926 He became commander of an officer's training regiment in the National Revolutionary Army until the Communist-Nationalist split in 1927 On 1 August 1927, he led the Communist Nanchang uprising, and in 1928, with Mao Zedong , he founded the 4th Red Army A loyal supporter of Mao, he was a skilful military leader in defence of the Jianxi Soviet After supporting Mao in the Long March, which took them to Yan'an, he became overall military commander of the Communist forces in 1936, a position which he retained until the army's final victory in the Chinese Civil War After the foundation of the People's Republic, his practical influence declined He deputied Zhou Enlai as vice-chairman of the Central People's Government Council until 1954, and as vice-chairman of the Republic until 1959 Having been made a marshall in 1955, his practical influence ended altogether in 1959, when he gave up the formal leadership of the People's Liberation Army Instead, he was made chairperson of the harmless National People's Congress (1959– 76), but he did emerge from the Cultural Revolution unharmed Back - New Search Zhukov , Georgi Konstantinovich (b 11 Dec 1896, d 18 June 1977) Marshal of the Soviet Union Born in Strelkova (near Moscow), the son of a shoemaker enlisted in the Red Army in 1918 and fought in the Russian Civil War, joining the Bolshevik party in 1919 During the war, he came into close contact with Stalin A commander of a cavalry regiment by 1923, he continued his steep rise in the military, and in 1933 was put in charge of the élite 4th Cavalry Division He filled the post of commander of the 3rd Cavalry Corps, whose previous holder had been removed in the Great Purge, and defeated the Japanese in their military adventures into Soviet territory in June 1939 A general in 1940, he became Chief of General Staff in 1941 A great as well as a ruthless commander, he was responsible for most of the major Red Army operations during World War II He held Moscow against the German advance, and planned the German defeat at Stalingrad He went on to lift the siege of Leningrad and inflict a massive defeat on the German army in Belorussia (Belarus) He advanced into Poland and led the Soviet capture of Berlin in April 1945 After the war, he was quickly demoted by Stalin , who was unwilling to share the spoils of victory After Stalin's death, he became deputy Minister of Defence, and was instrumental in preventing Beria's succession to the leadership He thus became Minister of Defence and was then crucial in helping Khrushchev defeat the ‘anti-party group’ coup of Molotov , Malenkov , and Kaganovich in 1957 In return, Khrushchev relieved him of his duties, fearful of his influence Back - New Search Zia-ul-Haq , General Mohammed (b 1924, d 17 Aug 1988) President of Pakistan 1978–88 Born in Jallundur (Punjab), he was educated at St Stephen's College, Delhi, before entering the British Indian army He was commissioned in 1945 and joined the Pakistan army in 1947 He rose quickly within its ranks, serving as military adviser in Jordan (1974–5), until he was appointed in 1976 by Zulfikar Bhutto to become army Chief of Staff, largely for his unpolitical record Nevertheless, he toppled Bhutto just over a year later, after the latter had rigged the general election He was content to see Bhutto hanged, and took measures to destroy his party, the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) Meanwhile, he relaxed Bhutto's socialist policies and emphasized his commitment to Islam, in order to buttress his appeal to the middle classes He also abandoned Bhutto's neutralist foreign policy in favour of a closer alignment with the USA He won the 1985 elections, which were boycotted by the PPP now led by Bhutto's widow and his daughter, Benazir Bhutto Zia-ul-Haq ruled at the head of a civilian government which was led by Mohammad Khan Junejo He remained firmly in control, however, until his death in an aeroplane crash It became evident that the complex political system he had created to overcome the PPP had been built on the weak foundation of his personality alone, for the elections following his death were won by the PPP, with Bhutto's daughter becoming Prime Minister Back - New Search Zimbabwe A land-locked country in southern Africa, originally consisting of Mashonaland (home to the Shona people) and Matabeleland (home to the Ndebele/Matabele people) In a treaty with the Ndebele of 1889, agents of Rhodes secured exclusive rights for the exploitation of minerals in Matabeleland for Rhodes's British South Africa Company (BSAC) Declared a British protectorate in 1891, most Matabele and Shona resistance was overcome by 1894 (though sporadic insurrections occurred until 1903) Named Rhodesia in 1894, it was administered by the BSAC, which divided the land and gave the fertile half to the White minority (less than 5 per cent of the population), and the infertile half to the Black majority as Tribal Trust Lands (TTL) The TTLs were unable to provide adequate subsistence for the Blacks living on them, who were thus forced to become a cheap labour resource for the Whites managing the fertile farmlands Economic inequality became reinforced by the spread of the apartheid ideology transmitted by White immigrants from South Africa Following a referendum by White settlers against entry into the Union of South Africa as a fifth state, BSAC rule ended in 1923, whereupon the country essentially received self-rule as Southern Rhodesia in 1924 In 1953, Southern Rhodesia became part of the Central African Federation, together with Nyasaland (Malawi) and Northern Rhodesia (Zambia) When the federation broke apart in 1963, owing to Malawian and Zambian strivings for independence, the Southern Rhodesian settlers were quick to assert their desire for independence through the racist Rhodesian Front (RF) of Ian Smith , who was elected (by the Whites) Prime Minister in 1965 Since the British government refused to grant independence unless Blacks were given an appropriate (i.e majority) share in government, Smith made a Unilateral Declaration of Independence Sanctions imposed by the UN and Britain were at first largely ineffective, since they were ignored by Rhodesia's main trading partner, South Africa, as well as the Portuguese colony of Mozambique Internal resistance emerged under Nkomo's ZAPU (Zimbabwe African People's Union) and Mugabe's ZANU (Zimbawe African National Union) Their respective guerrilla movements fought with increasing bitterness, particularly after the breakdown of negotiations with Smith in 1976 Despite continuing rivalries, ZANU and ZAPU united to form the Patriotic Front (PF), which opposed a new settlement in 1978 whereby the Whites would maintain a pivotal role in the political and administrative system Following the elections of April 1979, Muzorewa became Prime Minister After continued international pressure and PF opposition, a final compromise was reached at a British-sponsored agreement at Lancaster House, 21 December 1979 For four months, Rhodesia reverted to the rule of British authorities, which monitored and ensured fair elections in March 1980 These were won by Mugabe (63 per cent of the popular vote), while Nkomo's ZAPU received 24 per cent Independence under the name of Zimbabwe followed on 18 April 1980 In the following years, Mugabe's careful and moderate policies produced remarkable racial harmony between the prosperous Whites and the poor Black majority, despite the civil war that had claimed over 30,000 lives during the 1970s Tensions between ZANU and ZAPU, which sometimes erupted into violence, were finally settled in 1987, when ZAPU joined ZANU to form the ZANU-PF In accordance with the Lancaster House agreement, Parliament voted in June 1987 to end White overrepresentation in Parliament, which for a transitional period of ten years had guaranteed them (1.2 per cent of the population) 20 per cent of the seats Nevertheless, most of these seats were filled again by Whites after the 1990 elections under the banner of ZANU-PF, and two White ministers were appointed Under Mugabe's rule, education was made accessible to all, while sanitary provision and healthcare were improved considerably None the less, the persistently strong economic performance relied on continued inequality between Blacks and Whites Because of the differences in agricultural fertility, White farms yielded more than six times more income per head than those owned by Blacks Four thousands white farmers owned more than 30 per cent of the fertile arable land, obtaining over 40 per cent of the country's exports, and employing over 65% of the workforce Meanwhile, cheap Black labour continued to guarantee the competitiveness of Zimbabwean agricultural produce In 1994, the high court approved a disappropriation law (against compensation) originally passed in 1992, though few steps were taken to put it into effect, partly because of the already existing high debt of the state In 1997, this debt increased further as 11,000 Zimbabwean troops got involved in War in Zaïre (the Democratic Republic of Congo), at a cost of over $100 mio per year As the economic problems deepened and unemployment rose to above 50%, Mugabe hoped to restore his popularity by encouraging militant loyalist blacks to take the law into their own hands and occupy farms owned by whites from 1998 Police did little to stop these incidents which often involved plundering and rape In 1998 the government for the first time expropriated, without compensation, hundreds of white farmers International aid was frozen as a result, and the economy deteriorated further owing to the loss of productivity in agriculture Official and unofficial expropriations continued, despite a High Court ruling in 2000 ordering the return of farms to their white owners Mugabe's increasing extremism failed to halt the erosion of his popularity, and he ensured re-election in 2002 by electoral fraud and the persecution of opponents Back - New Search Zimmermann Note (19 Jan 1917) A secret telegram containing a coded message from the German Foreign Secretary Alfred Zimmermann, to the German minister in Mexico City It instructed the minister to propose an alliance with Mexico if war broke out between the USA and Germany, Mexico being offered the territories lost in 1848 to the USA The British intercepted and decoded the message, and passed it to the US State Department It was released on 1 March 1917 as German–US relationships were deteriorating over unrestricted submarine warfare It was regarded as an overt act of German aggression, in blatant disregard of the Monroe Doctrine (1823) which rejected European interference in matters concerning the American hemisphere After years of debate, it was the final catalyst to propel the USA into World War I, with war being declared on Germany on 6 April 1917 Back - New Search Zinoviev , Grigori Yevseyevich (b 11 Sept 1883, d 25 Aug 1936) Soviet politician Born Radomyslsky Apfelbaum in Elizavetgrad, he joined the Russian Social Democratic Party in 1901 and supported the Bolshevik faction in 1903, becoming a close supporter of Lenin Elected to the party's Central Committee in 1907, he left for Western Europe to support Lenin in matters of propaganda and party organization In 1912, together with Lenin he co-opted Stalin to the Central Committee With Lenin, he went to Switzerland (1914–17), and back to Petrograd (formerly St Petersburg) He again accompanied him to Finland in July 1917, but opposed his mentor's plans for the October Revolution (Russian Revolutions, 1917) as premature He was chairman of the Petrograd Soviet from December 1917 From 1919 until 1926 he was chairman of the external committee of the Comintern After Lenin's death, he naturally competed for the Soviet leadership He sided with Stalin and Kamenev against Trotsky , but then tried to oppose the increasingly powerful Stalin and Bukharin His desperate alliance with Trotsky and Kamenev against Stalin proved futile, and he was dismissed from all offices in 1926, and expelled from the party in 1927 He was readmitted (1928), re-expelled (1932), and finally readmitted (1933) After the assassination of Kirov , in 1935 he was arrested, tried in secret for complicity in the murder, and sentenced to ten years' imprisonment In 1936, he was retried and, with Kamenev, became the first prominent victim of the show trials which marked Stalin's Great Purge Back - New Search Zionism A term used to describe the modern movement founded by Herzl which aimed at establishing a Jewish homeland in Palestine as the only possible way in which Jews could escape from centuries of discrimination and persecution The term is derived from Mount Zion in Jerusalem, which has been used as a symbol for the Jewish homeland in Palestine since the time of the Babylonian captivity, in the sixth century BC Herzl's idea itself was nothing new, but he gave it an organizational articulation through the World Zionist Organization (WZO), founded in 1897 It sponsored Jewish emigration to Palestine as a prelude to establishing a Jewish state, and lobbied foreign governments to support its aims Even though the movement found much support among the less prosperous and persecuted Jews of Eastern Europe (Pogrom), its reception was more mixed in Western Europe, where Jews were largely assimilated Even there, however, support grew as a result of increasing waves of anti-Semitism which demonstrated the futility of assimilation During the 1920s, it continued to encourage and sponsor Jewish emigration to Palestine, while it successfully persuaded the British government to grant the Jewish community there some self-government, through the creation of the Jewish Agency The latter provided a crucial link between the Jewish community in Palestine and the WZO, which continued after the creation of the state of Israel in 1948, itself the realization of the Zionist dream Since then, the WZO as well as the Israeli government have openly encouraged the Zionist idea of Jewish immigration into Israel, which the WZO supported financially Back - New Search Zog I (b 8 Oct 1895, d 9 Apr 1961) King of Albania 1928–39 A wealthy Albanian landowner born as Ahmed Bey Zogu, he came to lead Albanian popular resistance to Italian occupation during World War I, which eventually forced Italian withdrawal in 1920 He became Prime Minister in 1923 and, after spending seven months in exile, became President in January 1925 He proclaimed himself King in 1928 and tried to strengthen his country through promoting education and infrastructural investment However, investment came primarily from Italy, so that by 1939 almost its entire economy was in Italian control Mussolini invaded Albania in 1939, forcing Zog into exile The monarchy was formally abolished in 1946 Back - New Search OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS A Dictionary of Twentieth-Century World History Jan Palmowski 2,500 entries This dictionary provides in-depth coverage of the major historical figures and events of the twentieth century Offering both fact and historical analysis, Jan Palmowski's comprehensive work is invaluable to a range of users from students of history, politics, and international relations to anyone with an interest in our modern world ISBN 0198608403 © Oxford University Press 1997, 2002 First published 1997 as an Oxford University Press paperback Reprinted with corrections 1998 E-book copyright © 2003