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Final Essay World History

nicolasc2011 — Sat, 31 May 2008 01:08:27 +0000

The Germans are to blame for the war because of the fact that they pushed countries to take a side in this war, and they also tried to get many different countries on the side of the Central Powers to win the Great War. The leader of the German Empire, Kaiser Wilhelm II was “an overtly militaristic man, and believed fervently in increasing the strength of Germany’s armed forces. In particular, he was keen to develop a German navy the equal of Britain’s Royal Navy, encouraged by Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz.” (http://www.firstworldwar.com/bio/wilhelmii.htm) This man’s attitude towards war was probably one of the reasons why Germany became involved in this war. Also, others may have waged war against Germany for its overly militaristic and empirical past, especially France, because of its loss of the Province of Alsace-Lorraine and for the crowning of Wilhelm I in the Palace of Versailles, which was extremely embarrassing for the French. Germany made some very bad mistakes during the war, especially by sinking the Lusitania, the innocent American ship on its way to England brought down by German U-boats. This is how Kapitänleutnant Walter Schwieger, the man given the order to sink the Lusitania, recounts this event in his war diary, “An unusually heavy explosion takes place with a very strong explosion cloud (cloud reaches far beyond front funnel). The explosion of the torpedo must have been followed by a second one (boiler or coal or powder?). The superstructure right above the point of impact and the bridge are torn asunder, fire breaks out, and smoke envelops the high bridge. The ship stops immediately and heels over to starboard very quickly, immersing simultaneously at the bow. It appears as if the ship were going to capsize very shortly, Great confusion ensues on board; the boats are made clear and some of them are lowered to the water with either stem or stern first and founder immediately. On the port side fewer boats are made clear than on the starboard side on account of the ship’s list. The ship blows off [steam]; on the bow the name “Lusitania” becomes visible in golden letters. The funnels were painted black, no flag was set astern. Ship was running twenty knots. Since it seems as if the steamer will keep above water only a short time, we dived to a depth of twenty-four meters and ran out to sea. It would have been impossible for me, anyhow, to fire a second torpedo into this crowd of people struggling to save their lives.” (http://www.firstworldwar.com/features/lusitania.htm) This aggression on the U.S. commercial ship “Lusitania” gave the U.S. even more incentive to declare war on Germany, even though President Woodrow Wilson was not the kind of person to wage war unless there was a major reason to do so. The Germans caused much chaos during the First World War, partially because of their unrestricted submarine warfare, which had many neutral ships destroyed, including that of the Lusitania. Because of the sinking of the Lusitania, “riots occurred in many countries, and many stores refused to serve Germans.” (http://www.firstworldwar.com/features/lusitania.htm) The alliance system that the Europeans had was one that involved many of the more powerful countries in Europe. After the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, Austria-Hungary allied itself to Germany, while Serbia allied itself to Russia, which triggered the entrances of France, England, and later, the U.S. The Germans knew and they “were perfectly aware that a possible warlike attitude of Austria-Hungary against Serbia might bring Russia upon the field, and that it might therefore involve us in a war, in accordance with our duty as allies. We could not, however, in these vital interests of Austria-Hungary, which were at stake, advise our ally to take a yielding attitude not compatible with his dignity, nor deny him our assistance in these trying days.” (http://www.firstworldwar.com/source/officialgermanstatement.htm) The Austro-Hungarians though that the Serbs were the authors of this assassination was because the “Serbian government was implicated in the machinations of the Black Hand,” (http://www.firstworldwar.com/origins/causes.htm). The Black Hand was a terrorist organization from Serbia that was trying to gain independence from the Empire of Austria-Hungary to create an independent Serb country. The Germans were faced with a decision as soon as Russia declared war with Austria-Hungary. They could either ignore the war completely, letting their old allies perish, or they could join them, and perish with them. They also had their geographical location in Europe to take into account. They were and still are located in the middle of Europe, in the middle of all of the action of the war. “In consequence of this threatening step, which was not justified by any military proceedings on the part of Germany, the German Empire was faced by a grave and imminent danger. If the German Government had failed to guard against this peril, they would have compromised the safety and the very existence of Germany.” (http://www.firstworldwar.com/source/germandeclarationofwar_russia.htm) In total finalization, the belief that Germany is to blame for their aggression is quite correct, seeing as their Kaiser was the kind of person that would have waged war even if it didn’t even include him. Also, militaristically speaking, the Germans were a more powerful country in comparison to Austria-Hungary, so they were more likely to be blamed for damages, because they were more able to create those damages.

Pg. 769 (3 and 4)

nicolasc2011 — Sat, 10 May 2008 17:29:24 +0000

3. a. Some of the factors that led to the fall of the Qing dynasty were:

the open door policy appealed by the U.S. government
the country did not like the young Qing emperor’s ideas of hoping to reduce foreign interference by revitalizing his government and modernizing China
the boxer rebellion
the kuomintang, a new political party that grew out of the nationalists’ desire for reform
revolts led by the kuomintang and the eventual ending of the Qing dynasty

b. The Nationalist movement grew and changed under the leadership of Chian Kai-sheck by growing the army and gaining control of Hunan province and the cities of the Wuhan area.

c. The factors that led to the rise of communism in China are:

a small group of Chinese intellects meeting in Shanghai and founding the Chinese Communist Party
the long march where 100,000 Communists made their way on foot from Jiangxi to Shaanxi province
Mao Zedong being established as the leader of the Communist group
The Communists urged the pheasants to support the revolution
support for communism growing among those who believed that Japan was the true enemy

4. The Chinese Communist Party has came a long way to its high position. I , myself as a member of the party hope to free our country from foreign domination and economic backwardness. At first, we built strong party organizations and labor unions in the cities. Then, we started the Long March which showed our endurance and hardships and helped to gain our respect.

Pg.416 (4), Pg.421 (2)

nicolasc2011 — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 20:30:15 +0000

4) A.The changes that the growth of cities brought to China were that China became more into trade despite Government Disapproval.Also the growth of cities started the planting of more crops and also there was a lot of peace in China during this time because the people werent fighting.

B.The attitudes that Chinese rulers might have had during the Ming and Quing dynasties regarding foreigners were probably that of unimportant. They rejected western culture and foreigners.

#2Opium War= A war fought by the British and the Chinese because Britain refused to stop the Opium Trade.

#4The changes that the growth of cities brought to China were that China became more into trade despite Government Disapproval.Also the growth of cities started the planting of more crops and also there was a lot of peace in China during this time because the people werent fighting.

B.The attitudes that Chinese rulers might have had during the Ming and Quing dynasties regarding foreigners were probably that of unimportant. They rejected western culture and foreigners.

2) Opium War – A war fought by the British and the Chinese because Britain refused to stop the Opium Trade.The war lasted from 1839 to1842.This resulted in a British voctory that gave Britain Hong Kong.

Treaty of Nanjing -Treaty that ended the Opium Wars in 1842. It gave the island of Hong Kong to Britain and it opened five ports to Britain and gave people living there extraterritoriality.

Taiping Rebellion – It lasted from 1850 to 1864. It caused terrible destruction in Southern China.These rebellions seriously weakened the Quing Dynasty and the nation as a whole, and let westerners to come in because of the problems going on.

The war lasted from 1839 to 1842.This resulted in a British victory that gave Britain Hong Kong.

Treaty of Nanjing -Treaty that ended the Opium Wars in 1842. It gave the island of Hong Kong to Britain and it opened five ports to Britain and gave people living there extraterritoriality.

Pg.416 (4), Pg.421(2)

nicolasc2011 — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 19:50:43 +0000

Pg. 416 (4)

B.The attitudes that Chinese rulers might have had during the Ming and Quing dynasties regarding foreigners were probably that of unimportant. They rejected western culture and foreigners.

(2) Opium War – A war fought by the British and the Chinese because Britain refused to stop the Opium Trade.The war lasted from 1839 to1842.This resulted in a British voctory that gave Britain Hong Kong.

Treaty of Nanjing -Treaty that ended the Opium Wars in 1842. It gave the island of Hong Kong to Britain and it opened five ports to Britain and gave people living there extraterritoriality.

Pg. 558 (1) Pg. 563 (1, 2)

nicolasc2011 — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 00:20:11 +0000

Pg. 558

Capitalism- Describes an economic system in which individuals or corporations, rather than governments, control the factors of production.

Commercial Capitalism- Before the industrial revolution when most capitalists were merchants who bought and sold goods.

Industrial Capitalism- During the industrial revolution when capitalists became more involved in producing and manufacturing goods.

Interchangeable Parts- Identical parts that resulted in speedy production of inexpensive muskets that could be easily repaired.

Mass Production- The system of producing large numbers of identical items.

Corporations- Business formed groups allowed people to buy stock in their companies.

Monopoly- When a corporation gained almost complete control of the production or sale of a single good or service.

Cartels- When several giant corporations combined to control every stage of entire industries.

Business Cycle- The industrial revolution brought alternating periods of prosperity and decline.

Depression- When factories closed and laid of workers who, with less money to buy goods, further reduced demand.

pg. 563:

Free Enterprise- Adam Smith’s systems that argued that mercantilist laws and regulations hindered natural economic forces.

Laissez Faire- Means to let it be or leave it alone; Smith wanted the government not to meddle in the operations of business.

Humanitarians- people who work to improve the conditions of others.

Utilitarianism- Put forth by philosopher Jeremy Bentham; argued that a law was useful and therefore good it it led to the greatest happiness of the greatest number of people.

Strike- When a large group of workers stops working.

Unions- Associations formed by the workers to have more organized protests.

Collective Bargaining- Process of negotiation that had agreements that were written into contracts lasting for a fixed period of time.

Adam Smith- Scottish economist that accepted some of the ideas of the physiocrats;states in his book, The Wealth of Nations, his views on why England started the Industrial Revolution.

Thomas Malthus- An Anglican clergyman who became a professor of economics; he wrote that the population increases present the greatest obstacle to human progress.

David Ricardo- Wrote that working class poverty is inevitable.

Charles Dickens- Used his novels to attack greedy employers.

Jeremy Bentham- Believed that people should be educated so that they could decide what things were good for them or would make them happy.

John Stuart Mill- Also believed that a government should work for the good of all its citizens.

Adam Smith Extra Credit

nicolasc2011 — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 00:08:44 +0000

I think Adam Smith is being very fair when he says that people have to work in a factory not because they want to but because they have to. As for people working in those factories, somebody has to, and it’s probably people that have a low level of education and are also very desperate for a source of income. Whether or not I give up the things I said I could not live without is irrelevant. It is so because many companies need to manufacture their products, and they are normally manufactured in factories. Even if we and everyone else give up the things “we cannot live without”, we’d just be putting people out of jobs, so we’re leaving them worse off than where they are now.

Pg. 550 (1, 2)

nicolasc2011 — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 23:54:23 +0000

1. Define:

Enclosure Movement- Smaller landholdings were being combined into more efficient, larger holdings. common lands in England began to be enclosed, into individual plots.

Crop rotation- Helped farmers to produce more crops using the same amount of land; planted different crops in the fields each year had the same result.

Industrial Revolution- An era of rapid industrial development; followed the agricultural revolution.

Factors of production- A favorable combination of needed factors-land, capital, and labor.

Mechanization- Automatic machinery was used to increase production.

Factory system- Spinning mill was the first of many in the beginning of this modern era.

Vulcanization- This process is the basis of the modern rubber industry.

2. Identify:

Jethro Tull- Concerned about the amount of seed wasted by hand-scattering it over the fields; invented a seed drill that made it possible to plant seeds in straight rows.

Richard Arkwright- Invented a way to drive the machine (spinning “jenny”) by water power; brought workers and water power together and opened a spinning mill during the 1780s.

Eli Whitney- Invented the cotton gin, a machine that could clean much more cotton in a day than hand laborers could.

James Watt- Studied and improved the steam engine.

Henry Bessemer- Developed what came to be known as the Bessemer process-a cheaper and more efficient method of making steel.

Robert Fulton- The first to build a profitable steamboat.

Samuel Morse- Sent an electrical current through a wire, causing a machine at the other end to click.

Pg. 632 (2, 4) Pg. 642 (4)

nicolasc2011 — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 23:52:23 +0000

2. Carbonari- A secret society of Nationalists in Italy. the Carbonari are important because groups like these spread nationalism throughout a country, which ends in many riots and revolts throughout what was to be Italy.Guiseppe Mazzini- The most famous Carbonari. He headed the many revolts throughout Italy.

Young Italy Movement- A movement in Italy which was intended on spreading risorgimiento.

King Victor Emmanuel II- The King of Sardinia which wanted to expand his kingdom’s territory.

Camillo Benso di Cavour- The chief minister of King Victor Emmanuel. He was a Republican who sided with the Liberals, who wanted a Republic. He fought the Austrians and managed to drive them out of Italy.

Napoleon III- Napoleon’s nephew. He came to power after The Bourbon King Louis XVIII and also after the “Citizen King” Louis Phillipe.

Giuseppe Garibaldi- An Italian devoted to Italian freedom who led his army down to Southern Italy and captured Sicily and Naples.

4. a. The two events that led to new nationalist movements for unification of Italy were the Young Italy Movement and Sardinia’s war with Austria.

b. Important leaders in the fight for Italian Unification were Cavour, Victor Emmanuel II, Giuseppe Garibaldi , Giuseppi Mazzini, and Napoleon III.

c. The Kingdom of Sardinia took the lead because King Victor wanted to expand his empire.Also, he supported the liberals.

p.642

4. a.Prussia replaced Austria as the leading German State because of King William I and Otto von Bismarck’s three wars. The names of the wars were the Danish wars, the Seven Weeks war, and the Franco-Prussian War.

b. The Italian unification is different from the German unification because there was only one Italian state, while Germany had both Prussia and Austria. The German unification resulted in the German Empire, but the Italian one didn’t result in an Empire.

c. The makeup of the German Government was one Emperor, one Chief Minister . The Legislative Branch consisted of two houses. The Bundesrat, or upper house and the Bundestag, or the lower house. It consisted of almost 400 members elected by all men.

Simón Bolívar

nicolasc2011 — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 02:30:52 +0000

“We have achieved our independence at the expense of everything else.” To me, this quote means that Simón Bolívar achieved the independence of the people of Gran Colombia, at the expense of the people lost fighting for this goal.

Pg. 528 #1 and 2

nicolasc2011 — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 02:48:27 +0000

1. Plebiscite: The decision for or against the Napoleonic Constitution. Saying that people could vote only yes or no and could not suggest any changes. Nationalism: Refers to love of one’s country rather than one’s family or religion. Scorched-earth policy: A tactic the Russians used while they retreated back farther into Russia. They burned or destroyed crops and everything else the Grand Army might need, weakening the Grand Army. 2. Napoleonic Code: When scholars organized all French law into a system under Napoleon’s direction. Concordat: An agreement that Napoleon and the Pope reached that ended the conflict between the French government and the Roman Catholic Church. It recognized that most French citizens were Catholic, but it still allowed religious freedom, so others can choose their religion. Horatio Nelson: Defeated a combined French and Spanish fleet off the coast of Spain in 1805. He was killed in the battle but saved Britain from invasion. Duke of Wellington: Led the British army to help the Spanish and Portuguese people rise up against the French. This event was known as the Peninsular War. Sorry about the way it looks.