(^172) › STEP 4. Review the Knowledge You Need to Score High
✪^ Bolsheviks A party of revolutionary Marxists, led by Lenin, who seized power
in Russia in November 1917.
✪^ Treaty of Versailles^ (also Peace of Paris) The name given to the series of five
treaties that made up the overall settlement following World War I.
✪^ Ottoman Empire Successor to the Byzantine Empire with the taking of
Constantinople in 1453, the Ottoman Empire would remain the center of
trade and cultural interactions between East and West (or between Christian
Europe and Muslim Middle East) until 1922, when the Republic of Turkey was
proclaimed.
Key Individuals:
✪^ Emmeline Pankhurst
✪^ Karl Marx
✪^ Lenin
✪^ Friedrich Engels
✪^ Alfred Dreyfus
Introduction
By the beginning of the twentieth century, more people were participating in politics than
ever before, but the majority of them were dissatisfied. For those on the left, the pace of
reform was too slow and the nature of reform too limited. For those on the right, reforms
were unsettling and threatened valued traditions. As a result, political activism on both the
left and the right became more extreme. Meanwhile, the great powers of Europe divided
themselves into two armed camps and fought what came to be known as World War I, a
war of attrition that transformed Europe forever.Labor Unions Begin in Britain, Then Spread to Other Countries
Europe’s working-class population fell into the category of individuals who believed that
liberal reform was too slow and too limited; they turned instead to labor unions and social-
ist parties. In Great Britain, workingmen formed the national Trades Union Congress, an
organization that united all the labor unions of the country together for political action,
and supported the newly formed Labour Party, a political party that ran working-class can-
didates in British elections. The working classes of other European countries followed Great
Britain’s lead, forming unions and supporting socialist parties.Socialist Parties in Britain, France, and Germany
As Europe’s labor movement turned political, it turned to socialists like Karl Marx for
leadership. In 1864, Marx helped union organizers found the International Workingmen’s
Association, often referred to as the First International. The loose coalition of unions and
political parties fell apart in the 1870s but was replaced by the Second International in 1889.
While Marx and his communist associates argued for the inevitability of a violent revo-
lution, the character and strength of socialist organizations varied from country to country.KEY IDEA21_Bartolini_Ch21_171-180.indd 172 27/04/18 1:55 PM