World History Made Easy
This blog gives you an understanding of the world at large. The key to understanding people is understanding their history and culture.
Sunday, August 30, 2015
Saturday, August 29, 2015
The Great War, its effects and Russia
During
the late nineteenth century, the Ottoman Empire started to decline and to lose
its territory closest to Europe. Sometimes, European powers meddled in the
affairs of the Ottoman Empire in cooperation with the rivals of the Ottoman
Empire. The young Turks conspired to force a constitution on the Sultan,
advocate centralized rule and the Turkification of minorities, and carry out
modernizing reforms. Looking for assistance, they turned to German, and they
hired a German general to modernize Turkey’s military. Alliances such as this
will soon play a role in what is now known as World War I. Other causes include
Nationalism, Imperialism and Militarism. As many countries acquire territory
and build their military, suspicions will rise among their neighboring
countries. There would be a decrease in trust and an increase in setting up
defense mechanisms, just in case one country declares war on the other. This
Great War will last from 1914 to 1918, and it will begin with Serbia and
Austria-Hungary. These two nations will manage to pull many countries, and
their colonies, into the war. However, will the war deem profitable? Will
America maintain is isolation foreign policy? Russia will join the war, but
will leave the war to fight for the Russian Revolution. Will Russia fight for
communism or for democracy?
Nationalism
is a country’s want to take control other countries due to the idea of being
superior (hegemony). It is deeply rooted in European culture, as it served to
unite individual nations while undermining large multiethnic empires. Because
of the spread of nationalism, most people viewed war as a crusade for liberty
or as revenge for past injustices. Others believed that war could heal the
class divisions in their societies. Alliances, agreements, were formed between
countries. These agreements stipulated that one country will help the other in
times of war. The major European countries were organized into two alliances:
the Triple Alliance, Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy, and the Triple
Entente, Britain, France, and Russia. The
military alliance system was accompanied by inflexible mobilization plans that
depended on railroads to move troops according to precise schedules.
Imperialism was the source of tension and completion among countries because
they all wanted to acquire the maximum amount of territory possible: territory
equals power. Last but not the least, militarism is the building up of a
country’s military unit, and it caused suspicion among the alliances. These
four main acts led to World War I in 1914.
Furthermore,
on July 28, 1914 the alliances finally had a reason to go to war. The Archduke
Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary, with his wife, goes to Bosnia, the city of
Sarajevo, to visit. This upsets the Serbians because they wanted to annex Bosnia,
since they were Slavs. Most importantly, the Serbians felt oppressed by the
Austrian-Hungarian people. Thus, the Black Hand, a secret association of Serbia
plots to assassinate the Archduke once he arrived to visit. [1]“The Black Hand movement
wanted Serbia to be free from Austro-Hungarian rule. The movement was founded
by Captain Dragutin Dimitrijevic, better known as ‘Apis’. Gavrilo Princip, the
assassin of Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie at Sarajevo on
June 28th 1914,
was a member of the Black Hand movement.” This assassination sparks great
tension between Serbia and Austria-Hungary. Both country pull alliances to
fight for justice. Austria-Hungary’s alliance comprised of Germany, the Ottoman
Empire, and Bulgaria. They had the upper hand because Germany had the best
army, and also because the Ottoman Empire had the largest territory. Serbia’s
alliance comprised of Russia, who wasn’t quite as industrialized as the other
European countries, France, Britain, Japan, China, and later the United States
of America. [2]“The
nations of Europe entered the war in high spirits, confident of victory. German
victory at first seemed assured, but as the German advance faltered in
September, both sides spread out until they formed an unbroken line of trenches
(the Western Front) from the North Sea to Switzerland. The generals on each
side tried to take enemy positions by ordering their troops to charge across
the open fields, they were killed by machine gun fire. For four years the war
was inconclusive on both land and at sea”. The demands of trench warfare led
governments to impose stringent controls, such as food rationing, over all
aspects of their economies. Africans, Indians, Chinese, and women were hired to
work in factories to help support the war and economy. This glory for women was
only temporary, as they were made to vacate their jobs when the men came back
from war. German civilians paid a high price for the war as the British naval
blockade cut off access to essential food imports. As the need for laborers and
troops increased, the Europeans turned to their African colonies. There, they
requisitioned food, imposed heavy taxes, forced Africans to grow cash crops and
sell them at low prices, and recruited African men to serves and porters and
soldiers in the Great War. This of course, took a toll on the African nation
once again. The United Stated grew rich during the war by selling good to
Britain and France. What happened to staying neutral? After several threats
form the German government, the United States abandoned its neutrality, and it
engaged in the Great War in 1917. Prior to that, the Turks had signed a secret
alliance with Germany in 1914. They engaged in unsuccessful campaigns against
Russia, deported the Armenians (causing the deaths of hundreds of thousands, and
closed the Dardanelles Straits. At the end of the war, the Treaty of Versailles
was issued. Its purpose was to weaken Germany. The Treaty blamed Germany for
the war and ordered it to pay reparations. It also broke up the Ottoman Empire,
and it gave mandates to the British and French. This led to the creation of new
countries such as the modern Middle East. The unfair Treaty of Versailles, and
the ineffectiveness of the League of Nations, will lead to WWII.
World
War I is considered to be the first modern war. It certainly changed warfare
forever. How? It introduced many Advances in Science and technology into modern
warfare, which changed the battle tactics and strategies. World War I was the
first war where the airplane was used. [3]“Initially, airplanes were
used to observe enemy troops. However, by the end of the war they were used to
drop bombs on troops and cities. They also had mounted machine guns that were used
to shoot down other planes”. Much of the war was fought using Trench Warfare.
Both Sides dug long trenches that helped protect the soldiers from artillery.
The areas between the trenches of two enemies was known as No Man’s Land. This
strategy of fighting resulted in log stalemates with high casualties. Tanks,
armored vehicles, were used to cross “No Man’s Land” between the trenches.
Although the first tanks were hard to steer, they became quite effective by the
end of the war. [4]“The
most dangerous ships during World War I were large metal-armored battleships
called dreadnoughts. These ships had powerful long-range guns, allowing them to
attack other ships and land targets from a long distance. The main naval battle
in World War I was the Battle of Jutland. Besides this battle, Allied naval
ships were used to blockade Germany to prevent supplies and food from reaching
the country. World War I also introduced submarines as a naval weapon in
warfare. Germany used submarines to sneak up on ships and sink them with
torpedoes. They even attacked Allied passenger ships such as the Lusitania.”
Ultimately, new weapons such as large guns, machine guns, flame throwers, and
chemical weapons were used for the first time in war.
By
the late 1916 the larger but incompetent and poorly equipped Russian Army is
forced to abandon the Great War, as they had experienced numerous defeats and
they had run out of ammunition and other essential supplies. The Russian
economy was in a state of collapse, as they faced fuel and food shortages. Czar
Nicholas II had proved to be an ineffective leader. Czar was married to a German
lady, who was greatly influenced by Rasputin. Most Russian folks felt uneasy
about this because Rasputin led a reckless life in town. They found it
despicable that such as man had great influence on their Queen. In March 1917,
the Czar is overthrown and replaced with a Provisional Government led by
Alexander Kerensky. On November 6, 1917, Vladimir Lenin’s Bolsheviks staged an
uprising in Petrograd and overthrew the Provisional Government. This is
considered the first phase of the Russian Revolution: the formation of the
provisional government. In the fall of 1917, the second phase starts. Lenin, a
Marxist, believed in communism. However, he changed the ideas of Karl Marx. He
believed in the creation of a vanguard party and a group of professional
revolutionaries. The Bolsheviks gain the support of many people, as they take
over the government. However, their power isn’t solid because of the opposition
from groups like the Mensheviks, who didn’t believe in radical change. This
leads to the Russian civil war in the 1920’s. The world, US, France and
Germany, support the Mensheviks because they opposed communism and advocated
for democracy. The Bolsheviks defeats the Mensheviks, and the USSR (Union of
Socialist Soviet Republics) is formed. This is considered a turning point in
history because it establishes the first communist country in the world. Years
of warfare, revolution, and mismanagement had ruined the Russian economy.
Beginning in 1921 Lenin’s New Economic Policy helped to restore production by
relaxing government controls and allowing a return of market economics. This
policy was regarded as a temporary measure that would be superseded as the
Soviet Union built a modern socialist industrial economy by extracting
resources from the peasants in order to pay for industrialization. When Lenin
dies in 1924, his associates struggled for power. Trotsky, Lenin’s preference,
was expelled and forced to flee the country by Joseph Stalin, who took over the
government. Stalin, a very self-centered man, focuses on power, dictatorship,
and on himself. He corrupts many of Lenin’s ideas, and he creates a
totalitarian government. Brutal, he executes anyone who deems a threat to his
government, position, and ideologies. Approximately, 20 million people were
killed under his reign.
Stalin
goes ahead to set up the Five Year plan to increase agriculture and industrial
output in Russia. In the name of Communism,
Stalin seized assets, including farms and factories, and reorganized the
economy. However, these efforts often led to less efficient production,
ensuring that mass starvation swept the countryside. [5]“The first Five Year Plan
(1928-1932) was declared completed a year early and the second Five Year Plan
(1933-1937) was launched with equally disastrous results. A third Five Year
began in 1938, but was interrupted by World War II in 1941. While all of these
plans were unmitigated disasters, Stalin’s policy forbidding any negative
publicity led the full consequences of these upheavals to remain hidden for
decades. To many who were not directly impacted, the Five Year Plans appeared
to exemplify Stalin's proactive leadership” (McKinney, 3). Stalin also set up
collectives, which proved ineffective because the more people work on one job,
the less output is produced. The Russian Revolution is now depicted the George
Orwell’s Animal Farm. This novel
parallel the events in the Russian Revolution. Old Major’s vision of a farm
where animals ruled, where there were no human oppressors, is a direct match to
Marx’s vision of a communist society. [6]In his Communist Manifesto,
Marx envisions a world where everyone is equal, and where those on the lower
rungs of society have as much say as those on the upper rungs. Although both
concepts are nice in theory, “Animal Farm” shows that too much power can
corrupt anyone. When Old Major’s vision, later called “Animalism,” was put into
practice, the pigs in charge took over and became selfish and violent, twisting
the philosophy until it barely contained an echo of the original intent. The
same thing happened with communism, as Stalin left much of the country
penniless and helpless, and put people to death if they showed the slightest
resistance to his regime.
Pen
ultimate, in the 1920s women enjoyed more personal freedoms than ever before,
and women won the right to vote in some countries between 1915 and 1934. This
did not have a significant effect on politics because women tended to vote like
their male relatives. Class distinctions faded after the war as the role of the
aristocracy (many of whom had died in battle) declined and displays of wealth
came to be regarded as unpatriotic. The expanded role of government during and
after the war led to an increase in the numbers of white collar workers. The
working class did not expand because the introduction of new machinery and new
ways of organizing work made it possible to increase production without
expanding the labor force. WWI resulted in stalemates with huge casualties and
no profit. The unfair Treaty of Versailles together with the ineffectiveness of
the League of Nations will lead to WWII. Russia, the underdeveloped European
nation, will start a revolution in attempt to industrialize. Stalin would later
drag the Russian economy through mud, with his 5 year plan. WWI and the Russian
Revolution are turning points in history. Both events change people’s
perspective on government and war. The Revolution established communism, while
WWI established better and more effective war tactics.
[1] http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/black_hand_movement.htm
[2] file:///C:/Users/Charlene/Downloads/ap-wh-chapter-28-1210274710252461-9.pdf
[3] "World
War I for Kids: Changes in Modern Warfare." Ducksters.
Technological Solutions, Inc. (TSI), Mar. 2015. Web. 29 Mar. 2015.
<http://www.ducksters.com/history/world_war_i/ww1_changes_in_modern_warfare.php>.
[4] "World
War I for Kids: Changes in Modern Warfare." Ducksters.
Technological Solutions, Inc. (TSI), Mar. 2015. Web. 29 Mar. 2015.
<http://www.ducksters.com/history/world_war_i/ww1_changes_in_modern_warfare.php>.
[5] http://history1900s.about.com/od/people/ss/Stalin_6.htm
[6] http://www.brighthubeducation.com/homework-help-literature/55971-animal-farm-parallels-to-russian-revolution/
Tuesday, August 25, 2015
Politics of Europe
From
the 17th century to the mid-19th century, Europeans had come to regard their continent
as the only great power and the center of the universe. The rest of the world
was either ignored or exploited. The world economy, international politics,
even cultural and social issues revolved around a handful of countries; the
“great powers” that believed that they controlled the destiny of the world. As
crazy as it may sound, they did just that. However, in defense of Western
imperialism and the force of nationalism, some countries began to not only
strengthen, but go on the offensive and join the ranks of the great powers.
Mounting tensions in Europe led to the Great War as Russia and China erupted in
revolution. The Ottoman Empire became modern Turkey, and the Arab lands were
taken over by France and Britain. While the capitalistic nations fell into
depression, the Soviet Union industrialized. World War II led to the
destruction of many cities and people. Most of all, it weakened Europe’s
overseas empires. The new shift in power is lead to what historians now call
the Second Industrial Revolution.
While
the first Industrial Revolution gave rise to textiles, railroads, iron, and
coal, the second Industrial Revolution introduced steel, electricity,
chemicals, and petroleum. These new technologies revolutionized everyday life
and transformed the world economy. By 1890, Germany and the U.S. surpassed
Britain as the world’s leading industrial powers. Shipbuilding developments
included the use of iron (and then steel) for hulls, propellers, and more
efficient engines. Shipping lines also used the growing system of submarine
telegraph cables in order to coordinate the movements of their ships around the
globe. Steel is an especially hard and elastic form of iron that could be made
only in small quantities by skilled blacksmiths before the eighteenth century. The
nineteenth century brought large-scale manufacture of chemicals and the
invention of synthetic dyes and other new organic chemicals. Nineteenth century
advances in explosives (including Alfred Nobel’s invention of dynamite) had
significant effects on both civil engineering and on the development of more
powerful and more accurate firearms. The complexity of industrial chemistry
made it one of the first fields in which science and technology interacted on a
daily basis. In the 1870s inventors devised efficient generators that turned
mechanical energy into electricity that could be used to power arc lamps,
incandescent lamps, streetcars, subways, and electric motors for industry. Electricity
helped to alleviate the urban pollution caused by horse-drawn vehicles.
Between
1850 and 1914 Europe saw very rapid population growth, while emigration from
Europe spurred population growth in the United States, Canada, Australia, New
Zealand, and Argentina. As a result, the proportion of people of European
ancestry in the world’s population rose from one-fifth to one-third. Reasons
for the increase in European population include a drop in the death rate,
improved crop yields, the provision of grain from newly opened agricultural
land in North America, and the provision of a more abundant year-round diet as
a result of canning and refrigeration. In the latter half of the nineteenth
century European, North American, and Japanese cities grew tremendously both in
terms of population and of size. Technologies that changed the quality of urban
life for the rich (and later for the working class as well) included mass
transportation networks, sewage and water supply systems, gas and electric
lighting, police and fire departments, sanitation and garbage removal, building
and health inspection, schools, parks, and other amenities. [1]New neighborhoods and
cities were built (and older areas often rebuilt) on a rectangular grid pattern
with broad boulevards and modern apartment buildings. While urban environments
improved in many ways, air quality worsened.[2] Coal used as fuel polluted
the air, while the waste of the thousands of horses that pulled carts and
carriages lay stinking in the streets until horses were replaced by streetcars
and automobiles in the early twentieth century. The term “Victorian Age” refers
not only to the reign of Queen Victoria (r.1837–1901), but also to the rules of
behavior and the ideology surrounding the family and relations between men and
women. Men and women were thought to belong in “separate spheres,” the men in
the workplace, the women in the home. Before electrical appliances, a
middle-class home demanded lots of work; the advent of modern technology in the
nineteenth century eliminated some tasks and made others easier. The most
important duty of middle-class women was to raise their children. Women were
excluded from jobs that required higher education; teaching was a permissible
career, but women teachers were expected to resign when they got married.[3] Some middle-class women
were not satisfied with home life and became involved in volunteer work or in
the women’s suffrage movement. Working-class women led lives of toil and pain.
Many became domestic servants, facing long hours, hard physical labor, and
sexual abuse from their masters or their masters’ sons. Many more young women
worked in factories, where they were relegated to poorly paid work in the textiles
and clothing trades. Married women were expected to stay home, raise children,
do housework, and contribute to the family income.
Socialism
began as an intellectual movement. The best-known socialist was Karl Marx
(1818–1883) who, along with Friedrich Engles (1820–1895) wrote the Communist
Manifesto (1848) and Das Kapital (1867). Marx saw history as a long series of
clashes between social classes. Marx's theories provided an intellectual
framework for general dissatisfaction with unregulated industrial capitalism. Labor
unions were organizations formed by industrial workers to defend their
interests in negotiations with employers. During the nineteenth century workers
were brought into electoral politics as the right to vote was extended to all
adult males in Europe and North America. Instead of seeking the violent
overthrow of the bourgeois class, socialists used their voting power in order
to force concessions from the government and even to win elections; the classic
case of socialist electoral politics is the Social Democratic Party of Germany.
Working-class women had little time for politics and were not welcome in the
male dominated trade unions or in the radical political parties.[4] By the mid-nineteenth
century, popular sentiment favored Italian unification. Unification was opposed
by Pope Pius IX and Austria. Count Cavour, the prime minister of
Piedmont-Sardinia, used the rivalry between France and Austria to gain the help
of France in pushing the Austrians out of northern Italy. In the south, Giuseppe
Garibaldi led a revolutionary army in 1860 that defeated the Kingdom of the Two
Sicilies. A new Kingdom of Italy, headed by Victor Emmanuel (the former king of
Piedmont-Sardinia) was formed in 1860. In time, Venetia (1866) and the Papal
States (1870) were added to Italy. Until the 1860s the German-speaking people
were divided among Prussia, the western half of the Austrian Empire, and
numerous smaller states. Prussia took the lead in the movement for German unity
because it had a strong industrial base in the Rhineland and an army that was
equipped with the latest military, transportation, and communications
technology. During the reign of Wilhelm I (r. 1861–1888) the Prussian
chancellor Otto von Bismarck achieved the unification of Germany through a combination
of diplomacy and the Franco-Prussian War. Victory over France in the
Franco-Prussian War completed the unification of Germany, but it also resulted
in German control over the French provinces of Alsace and Lorraine and thus in
the long-term enmity between France and Germany.
After
the Franco-Prussian War all politicians tried to manipulate public opinion in
order to bolster their governments by using the press and public education in
order to foster nationalistic loyalties. In many countries the dominant group
used nationalism to justify the imposition of its language, religion, or
customs on minority populations. Herbert Spencer (1820–1903) and others took up
Charles Darwin’s ideas of “natural selection” and “survival of the fittest” and
applied them to human societies in such a way as to justify European conquest
of foreign nations and the social and gender hierarchies of Western society. [5]International relations
revolved around a united Germany, which, under Bismarck’s leadership, isolated
France and forged a loose coalition with Austria-Hungary and Russia. At home,
Bismarck used mass politics and social legislation to gain popular support and
to develop a strong sense of national unity and pride amongst the German
people. Wilhelm II (r. 1888–1918) dismissed Bismarck and initiated a German
foreign policy that placed emphasis on the acquisition of colonies. France was
now a second-rate power in Europe, its population and army being smaller than
those of Germany, and its rate of industrial growth lower than that of the
Germans. In Britain, a stable government and a narrowing in the disparity of
wealth were accompanied by a number of problems. Particularly notable were
Irish resentment of English rule, an economy that was lagging behind those of
the United States and Germany, and an enormous empire that was very expensive
to administer and to defend. For most of the nineteenth century Britain pursued
a policy of “splendid isolation” toward Europe; preoccupation with India led
the British to exaggerate the Russian threat to the Ottoman Empire and to the
Central Asian approaches to India while they ignored the rise of Germany. The
forces of nationalism weakened Russia and Austria-Hungary. Austria had
alienated its Slavic-speaking minorities by renaming itself the
“Austro-Hungarian Empire. Ethnic diversity also contributed to instability in
Russia. [6]In 1861 Tsar Alexander II
emancipated the peasants from serfdom, but did so in such a way that it only
turned them into communal farmers with few skills and little capital. [7]Russian industrialization
was carried out by the state, and thus the middle-class remained small and weak
while the land-owning aristocracy dominated the court and administration.
Defeat in the Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905) and the Revolution of 1905
demonstrated Russia’s weakness and caused Tsar Nicholas to introduce a
constitution and a parliament (the Duma), but he soon reverted to the
traditional despotism of his forefathers.
In
the late nineteenth century China resisted Western influence and became weaker;
Japan transformed itself into a major industrial and military power. [8]The difference can be
explained partly by the difference between Chinese and Japanese elites and
their attitudes toward foreign cultures. In China a “self-strengthening
movement” tried to bring about reforms, but the Empress Dowager Cixi and other
officials opposed railways or other technologies that would carry foreign
influences into the interior. In the early nineteenth century, Japan was ruled
by the Tokugawa shogunate and local lords had significant autonomy. In 1853,
the American Commodore Matthew C. Perry arrived in Japan with a fleet of
steam-powered warships and demanded that the Japanese open their ports to trade
and American ships. Dissatisfaction with the shogunate's capitulation to
American and European demands led to a civil war and the overthrow of the
shogunate in 1868. The new rulers of Japan were known as the
Meiji oligarchs. The Meiji oligarchs were willing to change their institutions
and their society in order to help transform their country into a world-class
industrial and military power. [9]The Japanese government
encouraged industrialization, funding industrial development with tax revenue
extracted from the rural sector and then selling state-owned enterprises to
private entrepreneurs. Industrialization was accompanied by the development of
an authoritarian constitutional monarchy and a foreign policy that defined
Japan’s “sphere of influence” to include Korea, Manchuria, and part of China. Japan
defeated China in a war that began in 1894, thus precipitating an abortive
Chinese reform effort (the Hundred Days Reform) in 1898 and setting the stage
for Japanese competition with Russia for influence in the Chinese province of
Manchuria. Japanese power was further demonstrated when Japan defeated Russia
in 1905 and annexed Korea in 1910.
[1] http://www.slideshare.net/checkerboardcornwall/chapter-26-the-new-power-balance
[2] http://www.wuhsd.org/cms/lib/ca01000258/centricity/domain/391/chapter26.pdf
[3] http://www.slideshare.net/checkerboardcornwall/chapter-26-the-new-power-balance
[4] http://www.wuhsd.org/cms/lib/ca01000258/centricity/domain/391/chapter26.pdf
[5] http://www.slideshare.net/checkerboardcornwall/chapter-26-the-new-power-balance
[6] http://www.slideshare.net/checkerboardcornwall/chapter-26-the-new-power-balance
[7] http://www.wuhsd.org/cms/lib/ca01000258/centricity/domain/391/chapter26.pdf
[8] http://www.wuhsd.org/cms/lib/ca01000258/centricity/domain/391/chapter26.pdf
[9] http://www.wuhsd.org/cms/lib/ca01000258/centricity/domain/391/chapter26.pdf
Tuesday, August 18, 2015
Ancient Rome
According
to Roman mythology, twin brothers played an important part in the founding of
Rome. These brothers, named Romulus and Remus, were the sons of Mars, the Roman
god of war. Abandoned at birth, the twins were raised by a wolf. [1]When they became older,
they decided to found a city along the Tiber River near the spot where they had
been abandoned. Each chose a hill upon which to begin a settlement. As often
happens among brothers, disputes led to quarreling and fighting. Angered by
Remus's taunting, Romulus killed his brother in a fit of rage. Romulus went on
to build the city that eventually became. As it turned out, Romulus chose a
very good spot for his city. Rome was located on the Tiber River about 15 miles
inland from the Mediterranean Sea. The Romans had easy access to the sea, and
were somewhat protected from seaborne invasion. Also, Rome lay in the middle of
the Italian peninsula, the boot-shaped landmass to the west of Greece. From this
central position, the Romans could easily access and control all of what is today
the modern country of Italy. The Italian peninsula's central location within
the Mediterranean Sea made it possible for the Romans to trade and communicate
with every part of the Mediterranean world. The romans went ahead to form a
system of government known as a republic. This system of government has been
adapted by many nations today.
It
all began when the Romans overthrew their Etruscan conquerors in 509 B.C.E.
Centered north of Rome, the Etruscans had ruled over the Romans for hundreds of
years. Once free, the Romans established a republic, a government in which
citizens elected representatives to rule on their behalf. A republic is quite
different from a democracy, in which every citizen is expected to play an
active role in governing the state. [2]The aristocracy (wealthy
class) dominated the early Roman Republic. In Roman society, the aristocrats
were known as patricians. The highest positions in the government were held by
two consuls, or leaders, who ruled the Roman Republic. A senate composed of
patricians elected these consuls. At this time, lower-class citizens, or
plebeians, had virtually no say in the government. Both men and women were
citizens in the Roman Republic, but only men could vote. Tradition dictated
that patricians and plebeians should be strictly separated; marriage between
the two classes was even prohibited. Over time, the plebeians elected their own
representatives, called tribunes, who gained the power to veto measures passed
by the senate. Gradually, the plebeians obtained even more power and eventually
could hold the position of consul. Despite these changes, though, the
patricians were still able to use their wealth to buy control and influence over
elected leaders. The Romans went ahead to create the 12 tables. This was the
earliest attempt of the Romans to create a code of law to guide society.[3] The Twelve Tables
allegedly were written by 10 commissioners at the insistence of the plebeians,
who felt their legal rights were hampered by the fact that court judgments were
rendered according to unwritten custom preserved only within a small group of
learned patricians. Beginning work in 451, the first set of commissioners
produced 10 tables, which were later supplemented by 2 additional tables. In
450 the code was formally posted, likely on bronze tablets, in the Roman Forum.
The written recording of the law in the Twelve Tables enabled the plebeians
both to become acquainted with the law and to protect themselves against
patricians’ abuses of power.
Furthermore,
Rome often found herself in warfare against other civilizations. The people of
Carthage (a city in what is today Tunisia in North Africa) were a successful
trading civilization whose interests began to conflict with those of the
Romans. The Romans and the Carthaginians fought three bloody wars known as the
Punic wars, over the control of trade in the western Mediterranean Sea. In the
second war, Hannibal, a Carthaginian general, successfully invaded Italy by
leading an army — complete with elephants — across the Alps. He handed the
Roman army a crushing defeat but was unable to sack the city of Rome itself.
After occupying and ravaging Italy for more than a decade, Hannibal was finally
defeated by the Roman general Scipio at the Battle of Zama in 202 B.C.E.[4] By the Third Punic War,
Rome was ready to end the Carthaginian threat for good. After a successful
several-year siege of Carthage, the Romans burned the city to the ground.
Legend has it that the Romans then poured salt into the soil so that nothing
would ever grow there again. Carthage was finally defeated, and the Roman
Republic was safe.
Long
before Julius Caesar became a dictator and subsequently stabbed to death, the
Roman economy was in tremendous decline. Slavery was on the rise as the rich
got richer, and the poor got poorer. Attempts
to reform the situation by two brothers, Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus, were met
with opposition that eventually resulted in their deaths. [5]A new practice developed in
which the army was paid with gold and land. Soldiers no longer fought for the
good of the Republic but fought instead for tangible rewards. Gradually,
soldiers became more loyal to the generals who could pay them than to the Roman
Republic itself. It was within this changing atmosphere that military leaders
such as Julius Caesar were able to seize control of and put an end to the Roman
Republic. Caesar made himself dictator and absolute ruler of Rome and its
territories. During his rule, he enacted several reforms. Caesar founded many
colonies in newly conquered territories and provided land and opportunity for
poor Romans who chose to migrate there. He reduced the number of slaves and
opened citizenship up to people living in the provinces. Finally, he created a
new calendar named the Julian calendar. [6]This very calendar, with a
few minor adjustments, is the same one used around the world today. In 44
B.C.E., Julius Caesar ordered the Senate to make him dictator for life.
Typically, dictators served for a limited time (usually six months), then
stepped down. Caesar's actions threatened to end the Republic once and for all.
Fearing this change, a group of senators plotted and executed the murder of
Caesar on the Ides of March. Although the senators succeeded in ending Caesar's
life, they did not realize at that time that the Republic had died with him. Rome
would now become an empire. [7]The Pax Romana was a state
of comparative tranquility throughout the Mediterranean world from the reign of
Augustus (27 bc–ad 14) to that of Marcus Aurelius (ad 161–180). Augustus laid
the foundation for this period of concord, which also extended to North Africa
and Persia. The empire protected and governed individual provinces, permitting
each to make and administer its own laws while accepting Roman taxation and
military control.
The
quality of life in the Roman Empire depended upon where one fell within
society. During the Pax Romana, the wealthy built huge, lavishly decorated
houses and usually had servants or slaves to tend to their every need. Roman
family life was a patriarchy — that is, the oldest male wielded considerable
power over the rest of the family. The patriarch made all of the major
decisions for the family. He had the power to divorce his wife or even kill her
if she committed adultery. The wife of the patriarch was expected to manage the
household and to remain loyal and obedient to her husband. Women could not hold
political office, but in later years of the Empire women gained more rights,
such as the right to own property. One of the many factors that contributed to
the fall of the Roman Empire was the rise of a new religion, Christianity. The
Christian religion, which was monotheistic ran counter to the traditional Roman
religion, which was polytheistic. At different times, the Romans persecuted the
Christians because of their beliefs, which were popular among the poor.[8] In 313 C.E., Roman emperor
Constantine the Great declared toleration for Christianity. Later that century,
Christianity became the official state religion of the Empire. This drastic
change in policy spread this relatively new religion to every corner of the
Empire. Romans considered their emperor a god. But the Christian belief in one
god — who was not the emperor — weakened the authority and credibility of the
emperor. The split of the Roman Empire into east and west also led to the fall
of the Roman Empire. Over time, the east thrived, while the west declined. In
fact, after the western part of the Roman Empire fell, the eastern half
continued to exist as the Byzantine Empire for hundreds of years. Therefore,
the "fall of Rome" really refers only to the fall of the western half
of the Empire. The military was transformed into a mercenary army with no real
loyalty to Rome. As money grew tight, the government hired the cheaper and less
reliable Germanic soldiers to fight in Roman armies. By the end, these armies
were defending Rome against their fellow Germanic tribesmen.
In
addition, after the fall of the Shang dynasty in 1111 B.C.E., the succeeding
dynasties of the Chou (1111-221 B.C.E.) and the Ch'in (221-206 B.C.E.)
continued the great advances made by the early Chinese. Building techniques
improved, and the use of iron became common. A system of hydraulics was used to
dig riverbeds deeper, reducing the number of floods that destroyed farmland and
endangered lives. [9]However,
during these dynasties there were also times of great disunity. Feudalism
became popular during the Chou dynasty, a practice in which the king shared his
power with lords, who in turn paid the king for their lands and titles. As the
Chou dynasty weakened, lords fought among themselves. This Warring States
period (403-221 B.C.E.) only ended when all of northern China was united under
the Ch'in regime. The Han dynasty immediately restored feudal lords to their
positions of power. The Chinese people prospered in peace once again. Paper and
porcelain were invented during the Han dynasty, as was the wheelbarrow. Legend
states that paper was first created in 105 C.E., but archaeological evidence
suggests that it was in use up to 200 years earlier. In comparison, paper was
not widely circulated in the West until 1150 C.E., over one thousand years later.
Wu Ti had heard rumors of powerful and wealthy lands to the west. In 138 B.C.E.
the emperor sent the explorer Chang Ch'ien with a party of 100 men to search
the western frontier. Thirteen years later, Chang Ch'ien returned with only one
of the original 100 men and told amazing stories of capture and imprisonment in
central Asia. Although he did not succeed in reaching the lands of Persia,
Arabia, or the Roman Empire, Chang Ch'ien did learn plenty about them. Wu Ti
sent Chang Ch'ien to central Asia again a few years later, this time to make
alliances using gifts of cattle, gold, and silk. Wu Ti's chief historian,
Ssu-ma Ch'ien, later kept a record of these journeys and much more in his work
called the Shiji (Records of the Historian). The Shiji chronicles the history
of China from the Xia dynasty up to the reign of Wu Ti. Chang Ch'ien's journeys
began the widespread use of the trade route known as the Silk Road. Reaching as
far west as the Caspian Sea, goods such as ivory, glass, wool, tapestries,
exotic fruits and vegetables, precious metals and stones, even animals such as
elephants and lions were imported into China. In return, foreign traders
received furs, spices, jade, iron, ceramic, and bronze objects, as well as the
much sought after silk. By the 1st century C.E., silk clothing became the style
and obsession of Roman citizens.[10] Arguably the greatest
achievement in all of Chinese history continued during the Han dynasty — the
construction of the Great Wall of China. Originally begun during the Ch'in dynasty,
Wu Ti restored the wall, and continued it another 300 miles into the Gobi
Desert to protect against attacks from central Asia. Acupuncture, the piercing
of needles into the skin, became popular in the 2nd century C.E. along with
herbal medicine as a treatment for common illnesses. The Han also studied in
astronomical matters. They believed comets, eclipses, and other unusual
celestial events were ominous signs that could be used to predict future
disasters. They created atlases depicting the shapes of 29 different types of
comets as well as the accurate positions of Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn.
Sunspots and exploding stars called nova were also first discovered during the
Han dynasty. [11]With
only a short interruption by the reformer Wang Mang from 9-24 C.E., the Han
dynasty lasted for well over 400 years. But by the beginning of the 3rd century
C.E., the corruption in government that signaled the decline of nearly every
Chinese dynasty had taken its toll. This corruption combined with political
struggles and an increasing population, making a unified China impossible. The
Han dynasty of China finally lost its Heavenly Mandate in 220 C.E., beginning
nearly 400 years of political chaos.
WORKS CITED
ushistory.org,
The Roman Republic, Ancient Civilizations Online Textbook, http://www.ushistory.org/civ/6a.asp,
Monday, October 13, 2014, COPYRIGHT 2014 WORKS CITED
ushistory.org,
Han Dynasty — Cultural Heights, Ancient Civilizations Online Textbook, http://www.ushistory.org/civ/9c.asp,
Monday, October 13, 2014 COPYRIGHT 2014
"Pax Romana". Encyclopædia Britannica.
Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2014. Web. 13 Oct. 2014
<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/447447/Pax-Romana>.
[1] http://www.ushistory.org/civ/6a.asp
[2] http://www.ushistory.org/civ/6a.asp
[3] http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/610934/Law-of-the-Twelve-Tables
[4] http://www.ushistory.org/civ/6a.asp
[5] http://www.ushistory.org/civ/6b.asp
[6] http://www.ushistory.org/civ/6b.asp
[7] http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/447447/Pax-Romana
[8] http://www.ushistory.org/civ/6f.asp
[9] http://www.ushistory.org/civ/9c.asp
[10] http://www.ushistory.org/civ/9c.asp
[11] http://www.ushistory.org/civ/9c.asp
Sunday, August 2, 2015
People and Geography
Ancient
Iran, also known as Persia, a historic region of southwestern Asia that is only
roughly coterminous with modern Iran. The term Persia was used for centuries,
chiefly in the West, to mark regions where Persian language and culture dominated,
but it more correctly refers to a region of southern Iran formerly known as
Persis, alternatively as Parsa. Parsa was the name of an Indo-European nomadic
people who migrated into the region about 1000 BC. The first mention of Parsa
occurs in the annals of Shalmanesar II, an Assyrian king, in 844 BC. During the
rule of the Persian Achaemenian dynasty (559–330 BC),[1] the ancient Greeks first
encountered the inhabitants of Persis on the Iranian plateau, when the
Achaemenids, natives of Persis, were expanding their political sphere. The
Achaemenids were the dominant dynasty during Greek history until the time of
Alexander the Great, and the use of the name Persia was gradually extended by
the Greeks and other peoples to apply to the whole Iranian plateau. This
tendency was reinforced with the rise of the Sāsānian dynasty, also native to
Persis, whose culture dominated the Iranian plateau until the 7th century ad.
Persia
was surrounded by mountains, deserts, and Persian Gulf. They were open to
attack from the Central Asian nomads. Persian had a limited amount of natural
resources, and water was scarce. This caused the people of Persia to create an
underground irrigation network for water supply. They also created an extensive
road system for transportation. Persia was blessed with copper, tin, iron,
gold, silver, and timber. Between 546 and 539 BC Cyrus, [2](580-529 BC) was the first
Achaemenes Emperor: he founded Persia by uniting the two original Iranian
Tribes- the Medes and the Persians, captured Anatolia, and Mesopotamia. Darius
I, [3]king of Persia in 522–486
BC: one of the greatest rulers of the Achaemenid dynasty, who was noted for his
administrative genius and for his great building projects, extended his empire
to the Indus Valley and European Thrace. After Darius I, the empire was divided
into 20 provinces. Each of these provinces was administered by Satrap. Satrap
was related or connected to the royal family, and the Satrap position was
almost hereditary. In the distant provinces, satraps had more autonomy, the
provinces were required to pay annual tribute of gold and silver to the satrap.
Kings were an important part of the Persian society. They were seen as aloof
and majestic. They were the masters of all subjects and nobles, and they owned
vast tracts of land around the empire. They acted as lawgivers, and managed the
administration at the capital Susa. Occasionally they performed ceremonies at
Persepolis.
The
people of Persia believed in a religion known as Zoroastrianism. Today only a
few amount of people practice this religion. The originator of this religion
was known as Zoroaster. He lived between 1700–500 B.C.E. He wrote the Gathas,
holy books, or hymns of Zoroastrianism. He believed that the universe was
dualistic. There was good and evil. The god of good, Ahuramazda, was locked in
epic battle with the god of evil, Angra Mainyu. This religion is said to be the
earliest form of monotheism. Many of its beliefs influenced Judaism,
Christianity and Islam. Beliefs such as heaven and hell, good and evil, and
judgment day.
Furthermore,
the fact that geography plays an important role in shaping a country can be
seen in the ancient Greek civilization. The Greek peninsula has two distinctive
geographic features that influenced the development of Greek society. First,
Greece has easy access to water. The land contains countless scattered islands,
deep harbors,[4]
and a network of small rivers. This easy access to water meant that the Greek
people might naturally become explorers and traders. Second, Greece's
mountainous terrain led to the development of the polis (city-state), beginning
about 750 B.C.E. The high mountains made it very difficult for people to travel
or communicate. Therefore, each polis developed independently and, often, very
differently from one another. Eventually, the polis became the structure by
which people organized themselves. Athens and Sparta are two good examples of
city-states that contrasted greatly with each other.
The
city-state of Athens was the birthplace of many significant ideas. Ancient
Athenians were a thoughtful people who enjoyed the systematic study of subjects
such as science, philosophy, and history, to name a few.
Athenians
placed a heavy emphasis on the arts, architecture, and literature. The
Athenians built thousands of temples and statues that embodied their
understanding of beauty. Today the term "classical" is used to
describe their enduring style of art and architecture. Athenians also enjoyed a
democratic form of government in which some of the people shared power. Life in
Sparta was vastly different from life in Athens. Located in the southern part
of Greece on the Peloponnisos peninsula, the city-state of Sparta developed a
militaristic society ruled by two kings and an oligarchy, or small group that
exercised political control.[5] Early in their history, a
violent and bloody slave revolt caused the Spartans to change their society. A
Spartan, Lycurgus, drafted a harsh set of laws that required total dedication
to the state from its people. The laws' goal was to train citizens to become
hardened soldiers so that they could fight off potential enemies or slave
revolts. The result was a rigid lifestyle unlike any seen in Greece at the
time. The devotion of Spartans to developing a military state left little time
for the arts or literature. A Spartan baby had to be hardy and healthy. To test
a baby's strength, parents would leave their child on a mountain overnight to
see if it could survive on its own until the next morning. By age seven,
Spartan boys were taken from their families and underwent severe military
training. They wore uniforms at all times, ate small meals of bland foods,
exercised barefoot to toughen their feet, and were punished severely for
disobedient behavior. Boys lived away from their families in barracks until the
age of 30, even after they were married. Men were expected to be ready to serve
in the army until they were 60 years old. Women, too, were expected to be loyal
and dedicated to the state. Like men, women followed a strict exercise program
and contributed actively to Spartan society. Although they were not allowed to
vote, Spartan women typically had more rights and independence than women in
other Greek city-states.
The
“Dark Age” occurred after the Mycenaean period between 1150 – 800 B.C.E. It
ended when contact and trade with Mediterranean lands reestablished. The Phoenicians
supplied Greeks with alphabetic writing system, which made trading easier for
the Greeks. Learning the alphabetic system was easier and faster than leaning
the cuneiform or hieroglyphic systems. The Archaic period began in 800 BCE and
ended in 480 BCE. During this period, there was explosive population growth,
and a shift to agricultural economy, in which food and materials were imported.
Urbanization developed in Greece, and this led to the development of the polis.
Frequent wars were fought between the city-states. They used the hoplites, a
close formation of heavily armoires infantrymen to break enemy’s line of
defense, anytime they were at war. Unlike other military systems, the Greek soldiers
were farmer-citizens who served for short periods of time when they needed. The
wars usually lasted only a couple of hours. As time went on the Greek
population started to increase greatly. There were not enough resources to
support the surplus population. Thus, Greeks sent excess population to colonies
in the Mediterranean and Black Sea to acquire territory. This brought the
Greeks into contact with different kinds of people with different ideas. This
helped sharpen the Greek identity, and this spurred the invention of the
coinage system in Lydia during the sixth century BCE. The emergence of middle
class in Archaic Greek society led to the one-man rule by tyrants in the
mid-seventh and sixth centuries B.C.E. This reduced the power of the
traditional elites. Eventually, the tyrants were rejected and the government
developed into two forms: oligarchy and democracy. In Athenian democracy, every
citizen was required to participate or suffer punishment. This practice stands
in stark contrast to modern democratic governments in which citizens can choose
whether or not they wish to participate. In Athenian democracy, all citizens
pulled their weight. [6]Not everyone in Athens was
considered a citizen. Only free, adult men enjoyed the rights and
responsibility of citizenship. Only about 20 percent of the population of
Athens were citizens. Women were not citizens and therefore could not vote or
have any say in the political process. They were rarely permitted out in public
and were even restricted as to where they could be within their own homes.
Slaves and foreigners were not citizens and also could not participate in the
democracy. In the end, democracy existed only for the free men who were
originally from Athens.
In
addition, the Greek cities in Anatolia revolted against the Persian rule. They
were aided by Eretria and Athens. This 5 year revolt led to the Persian Wars.
In the first Persian war the generals of Darius I captured Eretria, and
attacked the Athens in 490 BCE. The attack on the Athens resolved when the
Athenian forces defeated the Persians at Marathon. A messenger named
Philippidès ran from Marathon to Athens to tell of the victory. He died from exhaustion. Today, the marathon,
26 miles, is run to celebrate his heroism. The second Persian war was fought in
480 B.C.E. In this war, Xerxes led a large army, and fleet against the Greeks.
Many Greek city states submitted to his domination. This led Sparta to organize
the Hellenic League to defeat the Persians. The Athens organized the Delian
League to go on offense, and drive the Persians out of eastern Mediterranean
(except Cyprus). During the classical period, the Athens had the dominant power
in Greece. Their power was based on the Athenian navy. They created the
trireme, a 170 oar boat in which lower class men were rowers. Due to the fact
that the rowers were so important, they demanded full rights of citizenship in
Greece. The Athens used their power and wealth to carry out profitable trade,
and extract tribute from subject states. The wealth of Athens allowed them to
construct massive public works project, put on grand festivals, and support
arts and science. One of the most influential philosophers of this time was
Socrates. He focused on ethics and the precise meaning of words. He created the
Socratic method of question and answer. He was later charged with corrupting
the youth, and not believing in the gods of the city. Socrates was sentenced to
death, and he was forced to drink hemlock. Another philosopher by the name of
Plato was a man who explored justice, excellence, and wisdom. He taught that
the world is a pale reflection of a higher, ideal reality. He read and wrote
many books, and he founded a school called “The Academy”. The Peloponnesian war
emerged when Imperial Athens upset the other city-states. In 431 BCE the
Athenian and Spartan alliances went to war. With the aid of the Persian navy,
the Spartans defeated the Athens in 404 BCE.
In
the Northern Greek Northern Greek Kingdom of Macedonia, King Philip developed
Macedonia into a great military power. He strengthened the army by giving
soldier longer spears, using cavalry and infantry forces, and developing new
siege equipment like catapults. Alexander the Great, king of the Ancient Greek
kingdom of Macedon, invaded Persia in 336 B.C.E. and was victorious, his goal
was to conquer the known world, build his own empire as far as Pakistan, and
use Persian, Greek, and Macedonian officials in his empire. When Alexander
died, his empire broke into 3 kingdoms, each ruled by a Macedonian dynasty.
This period is known as the Hellenistic Age (323-30 B.C.E.). Alexandria was the
greatest city during the Hellenistic age. It had a population of 500,000. They
had significant Jewish population that dominated 2 of 5 of their residential
districts. The most important aspect of the Hellenization was the intermarriage
between the Greeks and the non-Greeks. The Greek language, lifestyle and
culture spread across the world. There was a synthesis of indigenous and Greek
culture.
Ultimately,
the ancient Greeks were polytheistic- that is, they worshipped many gods. Their
major gods and goddesses lived at the top of Mount Olympus, the highest
mountain in Greece, and myths described their lives and actions. In myths, gods
often actively intervened in the day-to-day lives of humans. [7]Myths were used to help
explain the unknown and sometimes teach a lesson. For example, Zeus, the king
of the gods, carried his favorite weapon, the thunderbolt. When it rained and
there was thunder and lightning, the ancient Greeks believed that Zeus was
venting his anger. Many stories about how the Greek gods behaved and interacted
with humans are found in the works of Homer. He created two epic poems: the
Iliad, which related the events of the Trojan War, and the Odyssey, which
detailed the travels of the hero Odysseus. These two poems were passed down
orally over many generations.
WORKS
CITED
"History
of Iran: Cyrus The Great." History of Iran: Cyrus The Great. N.p., n.d.
Web. 05 Oct. 2014.
ushistory.org,
Gods%2C Goddesses%2C and Heroes, Ancient Civilizations Online Textbook, http://www.ushistory.org/civ/5c.asp,
Sunday, October 05, 2014, COPYRIGHT 2014
Munn-Rankin,
J.M. "Darius I (king of Persia)." Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 03 Oct. 2014.
[1] http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/851961/ancient-Iran
[2] http://www.iranchamber.com/history/cyrus/cyrus.php
[3] http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/151591/Darius-I
[4] http://www.ushistory.org/civ/5a.asp
[5] http://www.ushistory.org/civ/5a.asp
[6] http://www.ushistory.org/civ/5b.asp
[7] http://www.ushistory.org/civ/5c.asp
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