The Contemporary Period, c. 1914 to the Present: Content Summary 6.2: A New Age of Revolutions: Mexico, Russia, and China

The Mexican Revolution was a process of social and political reform initiated against the corrupt, authoritarian regime of President Porfirio Diaz (1884–1911). (6.2.A)

The Mexican Revolution was a process of social and political reform initiated against the corrupt, authoritarian regime of President Porfirio Diaz (1884–1911). (6.2.A)

The Mexican Revolution was a process of social and political reform initiated against the corrupt, authoritarian regime of President Porfirio Diaz (1884–1911). (6.2.A)

The chief supporters were urban workers, peasants, women, and Amerindians who opposed dictatorship and neocolonialism. (6.2.A)

The chief supporters were urban workers, peasants, women, and Amerindians who opposed dictatorship and neocolonialism. (6.2.A)

The Mexican Revolution was enshrined in the 1917 Constitution, which promised land reform, workers’ rights, limits to foreign ownership, and secularization. (6.2.A)

The dominance of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) was pivotal in securing concrete, permanent reforms. (6.2.A)

This wave of protests against the authoritarian rule of Tsar Nicholas II led to limited liberal political reforms, which benefited market-oriented peasantry (kulaks) but did nothing for urban workers. (6.2.B)

After three years of repeated military setbacks in World War I, a strike and soldier mutiny in St. Petersburg led to the Russian Revolution of 1917. (6.2.B)

A provisional government replaced the czar, but Russia remained in the war and German armies continued to inflict heavy losses. (6.2.B)

A provisional government replaced the czar, but Russia remained in the war and German armies continued to inflict heavy losses. (6.2.B)

Later in the year, the Bolsheviks, a communist workers’ party, seized power (the October Revolution). (6.2.B)

Russian armed forces were reorganized as the Red Army and redeployed to defend the new government against the White Army (a loose organization of anticommunist forces supported by foreign democracies) and spread communist ideology more widely in Russian society. (6.2.B)

As the Red Army brought the Russian Civil War to a close by defeating resistance movements in Siberia, Lenin’s health and authority declined. (6.2.B)

His successor, Josef Stalin, adapted communism to nationalism, constructing an ever-more authoritarian regime in the years following Lenin’s death. (6.2.B)

Stalin used secret police to conduct campaigns of mass execution that targeted ethnic minority groups, kulaks, and other perceived opponents of the regime. (6.2.B)

Stalin used secret police to conduct campaigns of mass execution that targeted ethnic minority groups, kulaks, and other perceived opponents of the regime. (6.2.B)

Stalin’s multiple Five-Year Plans successfully industrialized Russia without dependence on foreign capital. (6.2.B)

Stalin’s multiple Five-Year Plans successfully industrialized Russia without dependence on foreign capital. (6.2.B)

In the 1920s, the Chinese Communist Party adapted Marxism–Leninism to the needs of an agrarian society, recruiting peasants to serve in militias and promoting land-redistribution policies. (6.2.C)

In the 1920s, the Chinese Communist Party adapted Marxism–Leninism to the needs of an agrarian society, recruiting peasants to serve in militias and promoting land-redistribution policies. (6.2.C)

In the 1920s, the Chinese Communist Party adapted Marxism–Leninism to the needs of an agrarian society, recruiting peasants to serve in militias and promoting land-redistribution policies. (6.2.C)

In 1927, Chinese communists waged war on the government but ceased fighting when Japan invaded in 1937. (6.2.C)

Communist leader Mao Zedong established rural bases during this ceasefire and renewed attacks on the government when Japan withdrew. (6.2.C)

When these programs failed to meet stated goals, Mao launched the Cultural Revolution to further purge political opponents and centralize his power. (6.2.C)