The decisions of the Paris Peace Conference:
(i) The defeated powers were absent from negotiations.
(ii) Italy was much disappointed at the peace settlement.
(iii) Despite suffering heavily Italy was given merely small places such as Trieste, Istria and the south Tyrol.
(iv) The War and its aftermath turned out to be a stirring period of history.
Causes of rise of Fascism in Italy:
(i) In the elections held November 1919 in the aftermath of the Treaty of Versailles, Italian socialists, proclaiming that they were following Bolshevism, won about a third of the seats.
(ii) The Fascists resorted to violence freely.
(iii) The inability of the Democratic Party leaders to combine and act with resolution facilitated Mussolini's triumph.
(iv) Assuming the title of Il Duce (the leader), in 1926 he became a dictator with power to legislate.

Emergence of Mussolini :
i) In the elections held November 1919 in the aftermath of the Treaty of Versailles, Italian socialists, proclaiming that they were following Bolshevism (Communism in Soviet Russia), won about a third of the seats.
ii) Mussolini, son of a blacksmith and qualified as an elementary school master, in the end became a journalist with socialist views.
iii) A forceful speaker, Mussolini began to support the use of violence and broke with the socialists when they opposed Italy's entry into the War.
iv) When the Fascist Party was founded in 1919 Mussolini immediately joined it.
v) As Fascists stood for authority, strength and discipline, support came from industrialists, nationalists, ex-soldiers, the middle classes and discontented youth.
vi) The Fascists resorted to violence freely.
vii) In October 1922, in the context of a long ministerial crisis, Mussolini organised the Fascist March on Rome.
viii) Impressed by the show of force, the King invited Mussolini to form a government.
ix) The inability of the Democratic Party leaders to combine and act with resolution facilitated Mussolini's triumph.

Mayas end Aztecs:
(i) Before the European discovery of America three centers of civilisations existed in Mexico in Central America and in Peru in South America: the Maya, the Inca and the Aztec civilizations. 
(ii) There were several states in each of these areas of civilisations. Well organised and strong governments existed.
Mayapan:
(i) Around the 11^th century, large cities formed into a league of Mayapan (centre of Maya civilization of Native Americans / American Indians). It existed for over a hundred years.
(ii) Though Mayapan was destroyed towards the close of 12^th century, other cities continued.
Aztecs:
(i) Aztecs from Mexico conquered the Maya country in the 14^th century and founded their capital city of Tenochtitlan. For nearly two hundred years the Aztecs ruled their empire.
Hernan Cortes:
(i) In the sixteenth century (around 1519) when the Aztecs were at the height of their power, the whole empire collapsed before a handful of adventurers led by a Spaniard named Hernan Cortes.
(ii) With the conquest of Cortes, the whole of Mexican civilisation collapsed.
(iii) With it the great city of Tenochtitlan also perished. This is one of the world's worst genocides.
Francisco Pizarro:
(i) The other famous Conquistador (conqueror) was also a Spainard by name Francisco Pizarro. who led the conquest of the Incan Empire.
(ii) Later the Spaniards made Peru a part of their dominions.
Later developments:
(i) By the late 18^th century, demand for political freedom and administrative autonomy spread throughout Latin America.
(ii) There were bloody conflicts between Haitian slaves, colonists, the armies of the British and the French colonizers.
(iii) The struggle led by Toussaint Louverture ended in the Haitian people's independence from France.
(iv) Haiti thus became the first Caribbean country to throw off slavery and French colonial control.

(i) The relations between the two British colonies of Natal and Cape Colony and the two independent Boer states of Transvaal and the Orange Free State had long been unfriendly.
(ii) The discovery of gold in Transvaal, in 1886, led to large numbers of British miners settling in and around Johannesburg.
(iii) The Boers hated these people whom they referred to as Uitlanders (foreigners). The Boers taxed them heavily and denied political rights to them.
(iv) So the question was whether the British or the Boers were to be supreme in South Africa.
(v) Fearing attacks from the British, the Boers armed themselves and decided to attack.
(vi) The Boer War lasted for three years, from 1899 to 1902. Initially, the Boers were successful.
(vii) But by the first half of 1900, the Boer army was defeated. Pretoria was occupied.
(viii) In retaliation, the British destroyed farms and crops. They set up internment camps for Boer women and children.
(ix) Shortage of food, medical and sanitary facilities caused the death of 26,000 people.
(x) The British annexed the two Boer states. Boers were however promised self-government in due course.
(xi) In 1907 full responsible government was given to the Transvaal and the Orange Free State.
(xii) The four states formed into a union and the South Africa Act passed by the British parliament in 1909 provided for a Union Parliament at Cape Town.
(xiii) In May 1910 the Union of South Africa came into being.

(i) In the 1924 elections, after intimidation of the electors, 65 percent of the votes were cast for the Fascists.
(ii) Matteotti, a socialist leader, who questioned fairness of the elections, was murdered.
(iii) The opposition parties boycotted the Parliament in protest.
(iv) Mussolini reacted by banning opposition parties and censoring the Press. Opposition leaders were killed or imprisoned.
(v) Assuming the title of II Duce (the leader), in 1926 he became a dictator with power to legislate.
(vi) He passed a law forbidding strikes and lockouts. Unions and employers were organized into corporations which would settle wages and working conditions.
(vii) In 1938 Parliament was abolished and was replaced by a body representing the Fascist Party and the corporations.
(viii) This new arrangement bolstered Mussolini's dictatorial control of the economy, as well as enabling him to wield enormous power as head of the administration and the armed forces.