December 16, 2014

Homework - In the World War One notes read up to the section "Ireland".

December 11, 2014

Homework - For next class, read in World War One Notes up to the section "United States Enters the War"

Question - How do the graphic novels "War of the Trenches" and "The Great War" show how the process of total war reduced the average soldier to "the man... who is considered disposable, whose life is worth nothing in his master's hands"? (the quote is from Jacques Tardi from the Introduction to War of the Trenches) - Due on December 16th.

December 8, 2014

Homework - In the World War One notes read up to "United States Enters World War One" for Friday.

Question - "Which country should be held responsible for starting World War One?"  Due on Thursday.

Additional materials for answering the question

December 1, 2014

Classwork - Today in class you should go through the notes on the Industrial Revolution and European Imperialism and gather ideas and evidence to answer the question, "How did the Industrial Revolution give Europeans the desire and ability to build world-wide empires?"  We will be discussing this question in class on Wednesday.  You will be then be writing an answer to this question.

Homework for Thursday/Friday - Read in the World War One Notes up to the section 'World War One Begins".

November 19, 2014

Homework - Finish reading the notes on European Imperialism (for classes on 11/24 & 11/25)

Writing Assignment - The graphic novels "Boxers & Saints" shows the events of the Boxer Rebellion in China from the perspectives Little Bao and Four-Girl or Vibiana.  In many ways Little Bao and Four-Girl or Vibiana are very similar, yet the way they see the actions of Europeans and their own actions in the Boxer Rebellion are very different.  In one book the Boxers are heros and the Europeans are villians.  In the other the Boxers are the villians and the Europeans shown in a more positive light.  How well does the book show the importance of the considering people's experiences and perspectives when studying history?  This is due 11/26.

November 5 & 6, 2014

Homework - Read the notes "European Imperialism" up to the section "China" for Friday (11/7).

November 4, 2014

Homework - On Wednesday and Thursday (depending on the section) you will have a test on the Industrial Revolution.  It will follow the same format of previous test.  Listed below are test questions from older tests. Use them to help study.

1.  How were the technological improvements in agriculture and the Enclosure Acts crucial to the development of the Industrial Revolution in England?

2.  How were the technological improvements in agriculture and the economic structures created during the Commercial Revolution crucial to the development of the Industrial Revolution in England?

3.  How was the steam engine the technological invention that made the Industrial Revolution by powering the changes in industry, transportation and society that define the Industrial Revolution?

4.  How well does the following quote describe the conditions in the industrial cities? “From this foul drain, the greatest stream of human industry flows.  Here humanity attains its most complete development and its most brutish; here civilization works it miracles, and civilized man in turned back almost into a savage.”

5.  How does the quote, “In the midst of plethoric plenty, the people perish” describe the conditions of industrial cities?  The word “plethoric” means abundance or great amount.

6.  How did the brutality of urbanization that resulted from the Industrial Revolution result in new city governments that used government money to redesign and redevelop cities?

7.  Why did liberals believe that the best way to lower poverty was to support the repeal of the Corn Laws that taxed imports of food, oppose any type of government imposed minimum wage for workers, and oppose government assistance to the poor?

8.  How was the disagreement between liberals and democratic socialists over the nature of capitalism connected to a disagreement over whether urban workers should have voting rights?

9.  How did improvements in cities and worker’s lives during the later part of the nineteenth century (the Age of Progress) refute Karl Marx’s ideas and justify those of Alfred Marshall?

10.  How did the Age of Progress see the application of science to technology for the purpose of improving people’s lives?

October 29, 2014

Homework - Over the long-run, the Industrial Revolution held the promise of lifting the urban and rural poor out of poverty.  This becomes clear with the increase in real wages and life spans in the second part of the nineteenth century (see charts the after question).  British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli noted this when he said, “The claims of the future are represented by suffering millions". 

Using the notes as a source and the charts shown below, gather and organize the evidence that would be useful in answering the question, "Would it have been better for the government of England to help the poor workers with better wages, housing and working conditions if the result would have been slower economic growth"?

Also, develop a "rough draft" topic sentence that could be useful in answering this question.

Source # 1 - Life expectancy in British industrial cities

Source # 2 - Real wages in Britain

Source # 3 - Growth of output (amount each worker produced) compared to wages



















Source # 4 - House of Industrial Workers

Source # 5 - House of Factory Owners

Source # 6 - Simulation of managing a cotton mill - Who Wants to be a Cotton Millionaire? (This runs on Flash, so you will not be able to do it on your ipads) 

October 27, 2014

Homework - In the class notes, read up to the section "Age of Progress".

Question # 1 - Answer for Thursday - What made the Industrial Revolution so "revolutionary"?

For source information, use the materials from the previous blog post (quotes and videos), class notes and the source materials shown below.

Source # 1 - Graph showing the growth of global GDP perperson over history.  GDP stands for "Gross Domestic Product" and it is a measure of total economic output.  The graph shows what would be the proportion of GDP per person if the economic output was divided evenly among the population.

Source # 2 - Coalbrookdale in the morning

Source # 3 - Coalbrookdale at night

Source # 4 - Iron Bridge at Coalbrookdale - built in 1781, it was the first arched bridge to be made with cast iron.

Source # 5 - Coal production in Britain

Source # 6 - Energy consumption per person in England

Source # 7 - Railroad track in Britain

Source # 8 - Map of Industrial Development in England

Source # 9 - Urban population of British Cities

Source # 10 - Map of Industrial Development in Europe

Source # 11 - Urban population in European cities - Comparison of 1850's to 1890.

October 23 & 24, 2014

Homework - Using the notes as a source, gather and organize the evidence that would be useful in answering the question, "What made the Industrial Revolution so "revolutionary'?

Also, develop a "rough draft" topic sentence that could be useful in answering this question.

Think about the following two statements and video clips as you gather your evidence

Statement # 1 - In its Millennium Issue, the British magazine The Economist wrote, "The industrial change, however, was neither as swift not as complete as is often thought.  Tradition describes a roaring take-off between 1770 and 1830, driven by a handful of technological innovations, such as textile machinery and James Watt's improved steam engines; and, hey presto, Britain is "the workshop of the world".  In fact, the process had begun in the 17th century and was still incomplete in the 1830s, by when only a few industries - mining, metal-working, textiles, brewing - had taken to "factory" methods."

Statement # 2 - Nobel Prize winner in ecnomics Robert E. Lucas described the Industrial Revolution by saying, "For the first time in history, the living standards of the masses of ordinary people have begun to undergo sustained growth... Nothing remotely like this economic behavior has happened before."

Video # 1




Video # 2

October 22, 2014

Homework - In the notes read up to the section "Philosophy and Ideas about Industrialization - Economic Liberalism".

October 20 & 21, 2014

Homework - Read in the "Industrial Revolution" notes up to the section "Industrialization of Life".

Classwork Questions:  In class you will work in small groups to answer the following questions using the class reading notes.  At the end of class, you will be turning in a single document for your group (you will send it to be by email) that contains outlined answers to both questions.  An outlined answer is the framework of an answer without the commentary linking the parts of the answer together.  It should contain:

• a good topic sentence that answers the question
• supporting topic sentences for the important points in the answer
• specific historic information - with enough detail so it is clear how it connects to its part of the answer. 

You should work on both questions as a group. The purpose of his activity is to see how other people approach thinking about and organizing their answers to the content questions.

# 1.  Would it be correct to think of Otto von Bismarck as an "Enlightened Despot" similar to Fredrick the Great?

# 2.  How was nationalism both a constructive and destructive force in the way it reshaped Europe in the 19th century?

The map below shows Europe after the Congress of Vienna.

The map below shows the languages spoken in Europe in 1900 - Language is a important part of national identity.

October 16, 2014

Homework - Finish Reading the note packet "Storm and Stress - Nationalism Reshapes Europe"

October 14, 2014

Homework - Read in the new note packet "Storm and Stress - Nationalism Reshapes Europe" up to the section "Political Events - Restoration Europe".

October 9 & 10, 2014

The test on the Revolutionary France unit will be on Tuesday - see below for information about the test.

Extra Credit Question - How did the development of democratic republican government in France from the beginning of the French Revolution to the Third Republic demonstrate the ideas of Edmund Burke about the importance of developing institutions? (this question is worth up to 10 extra credit points) - Due Tuesday October 14th.

Information about the test - The test will have the same format as the previous test.  Use the questions below to help study for the test.  Remember, the test is about assessing how well you can think using the big ideas of the unit and the historical information in the unit.  The best way to study for the test is to use these questions to practice the process of thinking needed to fully answer the questions.  That means making a diagram based on the "big ideas" you find in reading the question and then organizing historical facts to match the "big ideas".

Practice Questions: 

1.  How did the French Revolutionaries use the ideas of the Enlightenment in the Revolution?

2.  How did Robespierre and the Jacobins use the Reign of Terror as an opportunity to create their idealized version of France?

3.  How was Napoleon similar to Oliver Cromwell?

4.  How did the Congress of Vienna try to prevent future events like the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars?

5.  Which event should be considered the start of the French Revolution: the Tennis Court Oath or the Storming of the Bastille?

6.  How was Louis XVI’s mishandling of the start of the French Revolution similar to Charles I of England’s mishandling of the English Civil War?

7.  How was Napoleon the cause of his own downfall?

8.  How was the choice of both Louis Phillipe and Napoleon III to be leaders of France a compromise between tradition and change within France?

9.  Why would Metternich consider it was good to suppress the ideas of nationalism and democracy following the defeat of Napoleon?

10.  How were the French Revolution and the Revolts of 1848 in France both examples of struggle between the middle class and the poor?

13.  How is the history of France during the nineteenth century one of continuing revolutionary conflict between monarchy and democracy?

October 6 & 7, 2014

Homework - Write an answer to the question below for October 9th.  Use the class notes as the source of information in answering the question.

Question # 3 - Karl Marx wrote the famous phrase, "Hegel remarks somewhere that all great world-historic facts and personages appear, so to speak, twice.  He forgot to add: the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce" to describe Louis Napoleon (Napoleon III).  Was he correct to be so dismissive of Louis Napoleon's rule of France?

September 30, 2014

Homework - Finish the reading the notes for a quiz on Friday.  The answer to the question below will be due on Monday.

Question # 2 - Why would Napoleon be a hero to the people of France and a villian to the other people of Europe?

Source # 1 - Map of Napoleon's Empire

Source # 2 - Video about Napoleon's rule of France.



Source # 3 - Video about Napoleon's wars of conquests across Europe.



Source # 4 - Video about Napoleon's downfall.



 Source # 5 - Napoleon in the Alps by David (1801)

Source # 6 - Napoleon's Coronation as Emperor - David (1806)

Source # 7 - Third of May, 1808, Goya (1814)

Source # 8 - Mirand's Graphic of Napoleon's Invasion of Russia (1862)

Video explaining Mirand's Graphic:



Source # 9 - Beethoven Symphony No. 3 (Eroica) - From "Keeping Score" at pbs.org:

"By late 1803, Beethoven had sketched out his new epic symphony, the Eroica. It was inspired by the ideals of the French Revolution and dedicated to its hero, who then seemed to be the great liberator of the people: Napoleon.

Beethoven thought of himself as a free spirit, and he admired the principles of freedom and equality embodied by the French Revolution. He thought he recognized in Napoleon a hero of the people and a champion of freedom, which was why he intended to dedicate a huge new symphony to him.

But when Beethoven heard the news in late 1804 that Napoleon had crowned himself Emperor of France, he was disgusted. “He’s just a rascal like all the others,” he exclaimed.

Beethoven violently erased Napoleon’s name from his manuscript—so forcefully, in fact, that he erased his way right through the paper, leaving holes in the title page.

So this revolutionary piece of music that was originally to be The Bonaparte Symphony became simply Eroica—the heroic."

Listen to it here: 

Source # 10 - 1812 Overture (Finale) by Piotr Ilich Tchaikovsky



Source # 11 - Trafalgar Square in London - the statue in the center is of Lord Admiral Horatio Nelson who died defeating the French fleet at the Battle of Trafalgar.

Source # 12 - Arc de Triomphe in Paris

Source # 13 - Print by Thomas Rowlandson of Napoleon looking at Death at the Battle of Leipzig or Battle of Nations

September 25, 2014

Homework - Read up to "Rethinking Political Philosophy" for Tuesday.  Question # 1 will be due on Tuesday.

French Revolution Question # 1 - Was the French Revolution an "Enlightenment" revolution?

Source # 1 - This is the preamble to the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen (1789):

“The representatives of the French people, organized as a National Assembly, believing that the ignorance, neglect, or contempt of the rights of man are the sole cause of public calamities and of the corruption of governments, have determined to set forth in a solemn declaration the natural, unalienable, and sacred rights of man, in order that this declaration, being constantly before all the members of the Social body, shall remind them continually of their rights and duties; in order that the acts of the legislative power, as well as those of the executive power, may be compared at any moment with the objects and purposes of all political institutions and may thus be more respected, and, lastly, in order that the grievances of the citizens, based hereafter upon simple and incontestable principles, shall tend to the maintenance of the constitution and redound to the happiness of all.” 

Source # 2 - Poster of the Rights of Man and Citizen (1789)

Source # 3 - La Marseillaise, the French national anthem.  It was composedt during the French Revolution (April 24, 1792) by Claude-Joseph Rouget de Lisle, a captain of the engineers and amateur musician stationed in Strasbourg in 1792. Originally entitledChant de guerre de l'armeé du Rhin (War Song of the Army of the Rhine), the anthem became called La Marseillaise because of its popularity with volunteer army units from Marseilles.

Let us go, children of the fatherland

Our day of Glory has arrived.

Against us stands tyranny,

The bloody flag is raised,

The bloody flag is raised.

Do you hear in the countryside

The roar of these savage soldiers 

They come right into our arms

To cut the throats of your sons,

your country.

To arms, citizens!

Form up your battalions 

Let us march, Let us march!

That their impure blood

Should water our fields

Source # 4 - Maximilian Robespierre speech "Justification on the use of the Terror" (1794)

"But, to found and consolidate democracy, to achieve the peaceable reign of the constitutional laws, we must end the war of liberty against tyranny and pass safely across the storms of the revolution: such is the aim of the revolutionary system that you have enacted. Your conduct, then, ought also to be regulated by the stormy circumstances in which the republic is placed; and the plan of your administration must result from the spirit of the revolutionary government combined with the general principles of democracy...

...This great purity of the French revolution's basis, the very sublimity of its objective, is precisely what causes both our strength and our weakness. Our strength, because it gives to us truth's ascendancy over imposture, and the rights of the public interest over private interests; our weakness, because it rallies all vicious men against us, all those who in their hearts contemplated despoiling the people and all those who intend to let it be despoiled with impunity, both those who have rejected freedom as a personal calamity and those who have embraced the revolution as a career and the Republic as prey. Hence the defection of so many ambitious or greedy men who since the point of departure have abandoned us along the way because they did not begin the journey with the same destination in view. The two opposing spirits that have been represented in a struggle to rule nature might be said to be fighting in this great period of human history to fix irrevocably the world's destinies, and France is the scene of this fearful combat. Without, all the tyrants encircle you; within, all tyranny's friends conspire; they will conspire until hope is wrested from crime. We must smother the internal and external enemies of the Republic or perish with it; now in this situation, the first maxim of your policy ought to be to lead the people by reason and the people's enemies by terror.

If the spring of popular government in time of peace is virtue, the springs of popular government in revolution are at once virtue and terror: virtue, without which terror is fatal; terror, without which virtue is powerless. Terror is nothing other than justice, prompt, severe, inflexible; it is therefore an emanation of virtue; it is not so much a special principle as it is a consequence of the general principle of democracy applied to our country's most urgent needs."

Source # 5 - Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyes from a pamplete "What is the Third Estate" pubished in 1789 before the meeting of the Estates General.

"What is necessary that a nation should subsist and prosper?…  

 The pretended utility [usefulness] of a privileged order for the public service is nothing more than a chimera… All that which is burdensome in this service is performed by the Third Estate…   Who then shall dare to say that the Third Estate has not within itself all that is necessary for the formation of a complete nation? It is the strong and robust man who has one arm still shackled.  

If the privileged order [the nobility] should be abolished, the nation would be nothing less, but something more. Therefore, what is the Third Estate? Everything; but an everything shackled and oppressed. What would it be without the privileged order? Everything, but an everything free and flourishing. Nothing can succeed without it, everything would be infinitely better without the others…

What is a nation? A body of associates, living under a common law, and represented by the same legislature, etc. Is it not evident that the noble order has privileges and expenditures which it dares to call its rights, but which are apart from the rights of the great body of citizens? It departs there from the common law. So its civil rights make of it an isolated people in the midst of the great nation. This is truly imperium in imperia [one state within another]…   

The Third Estate embraces all that which belongs to the nation; and all that which is not the Third Estate, cannot be regarded as being of the nation.   

What is the Third Estate? It is the whole." 

Source # 6 - Writing in his diary in January 1790, Adrien Duquesnoy, a delegate to the Estates General said, 

"January 16th 1790   …Putting aside priests, nobility, magistrates and financiers, it is clear that all the rest of the kingdom reaps infinite benefits from the revolution. And indeed, amongst those citizens whom I have just listed there are a great number who should judge it advantageous to them, because in truth it is. Thus the clergy of second degree and almost all provincial noblemen, who were recently oppressed by bishops and court nobles, should consider themselves fortunate to be relieved of this aristocracy.   

Moreover, anyone who can for an instant put aside all private interest, cannot but bless this revolution. When one thinks of the great abuses of all kinds which burdened this poor kingdom, it seems obvious that only an upheaval of such intensity could achieve such an end. In any case, one thing is certain — it would be difficult for things to be worse than they were under the former regime. 

I often hear people around me asking a very strange question: they enquire, ‘What has the assembly been doing for the last six months?’ I only know of one reply to this question: ‘Look, and observe: clergy and nobility abolished, provincial privileges gone, ecclesiastical property nationalized. Could you have achieved so much in ten years?"

Source # 7 - From the document "What is a Sans Culotte" (1793)

A sans culotte, you rogues? He is someone who always goes about on foot, who has not got the millions you would all like to have, who has no chateaux, no valets to wait on him, and who lives simply with his wife and children, if he has any, on the fourth or fifth storey.   

He is useful because he knows how to till a field; to forge iron; to use a saw; to roof a house, to make shoes, and to spill his blood to the last drop for the safety of the Republic...

...Finally, a sans culotte always has his sabre well-sharpened, ready to cut off the ears of all opponents of the Revolution: sometimes he carries his pike about with him; but as soon as the drum beats you see him leave for the Vendee, for the Army of the Alps, or for the Army of the North."

Source # 8 - Jean Paul Marat was a leader of the Jacobins and also editor of a newspaper "L'Ami du peuple" or "The Friend of the People",.in 1793 he wrote,
"I founded the Ami du Peuple. I began it with a severe but honest tone, that of a man who wishes to tell the truth without breaking the conventions of society. I maintained that tone for two whole months. Disappointed in finding that it did not produce the entire effect that I had expected, and indignant that the boldness of the unfaithful representatives of the people and of the lying public officials was steadily increasing, I felt that it was necessary to renounce moderation and to substitute satire and irony for simple censure. The bitterness of the satire increased with the number of mismanagements, the iniquity of their projects and the public misfortunes. Strongly convinced of the absolute perversity of the supporters of the old regime and the enemies of liberty, I felt that nothing could be obtained from them except by force. Revolted by their attempts, by their ever-recurrent plots, I realized that no end would be put to these except by exterminating the ones guilty of them. Outraged at seeing the representatives of the nation in league with its deadliest enemies and the laws serving only to tyrannize over the innocent whom they ought to have protected, I recalled to the sovereign people that since they had nothing more to expect from their representatives, it behooved them to mete out justice for themselves. This was done several times.”

Source # 9 - French Tax Payments

Source # 10 - Literacy Rates in France
Source # 11 - Drawing of the Tennis Court Oath by David (1789) Source # 12 - Print of the the Tennis Court Oath (1789) Source # 13 - Print of the September Massacres (1792) Source # 14 - Map of the Reign of Terror & Rebellion Source # 15 - Women marching to Versailles (1789) Source # 16 - Cult of the Supreme Being (1794)