Unit 11: The Middle East, Africa, and Latin America (1945-21st Century)

Unit 11: The Middle East, Africa, and Latin America (1945-21st Century)

This unit emphasizes the struggle of Third World countries in the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America as they make their transition from countries under colonial rule to independent countries.

Latin America

• Latin America Economic Overview, to the 1960s – population growth and underdeveloped resources
• Argentina from Juan and Eva Peron to the Disappeared – 1943 to military rule, Falklands War and beyond to 1988
• Brazil from 1945 to the Overthrow of Goulart in 1964 – another military coup but a thriving economy
• The Dominican Republic, Trujillo Regime and overthrow of Juan Bosch – President Johnson intervenes
• Batista and Castro – 1944 to Batista's departure in January 1959
• Che Guevara in Bolivia – from success in Cuba to failure
• Chile, from Democracy to Dictatorship – the overthrow of Allende and rule by Pinochet
• Nicaragua, the Somozas and Sandinistas, to 1990 – the Marxist Sandinistas overthrow the Somozas
• Civil War in El Salvador – military rule, violence, civil war, negotiations and compromise
• Guatemala, Unrest and Civil War – another Cold War CIA fiasco during the Eisenhower administration.

Africa and the Middle East

• Africa into the Nineties – from the 1940s to 1994
• Jews and Arabs from WW2 to the 1967 (Six-Day) War – Israel, Suez, Muslim Brotherhood, Qutb, Faisal
• Israel and the Middle East to 1979 – West Bank occupation, Yom Kipper War, terror, PLO, Camp David, Anwar Sadat
• The Iranian Revolution – the Shah against dissent, victory for Islamic reactionaries
• Saudi Arabia and Extremists to 2000 – the Siege of Mecca, assassination of Sadat, Afganistan, al Qaeda
• Syria, Lebanon and US Intervention, to 1987 – Hafex al-Assad responds to terror. Captives in Lebanon
• Israel, Intifada and the Peace Process, 1987 to 2000 – Yasser Arafat chickens out
• Saddam Hussein and Wars to 1991 – Saddam's rise, war with Iran, Kuwait and military defeat
• Iraq to September 1993 – conflict with Britain and the Clinton administration; the Bush administration and war
• Gaddafi: 1969-2011 – background, coup, political and economic philosophy, and rule

Unit Focus

• issues facing the Middle East
• negative effects of colonialism in the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America
• major social and economic problems faced by Middle Eastern, African, and Latin American countries after World War II