Here's an article for Women in Islamic Traditions from BBC News on September 30, 2003:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3152380.stm
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Monday, October 6, 2008
France - Lessons from the Collaspe of Wall Street - James Petras - Voltairenet.org
"The ongoing collapse of the stock market and the loss of hundreds of billions of dollars managed by Wall Street investment banks illustrate the pitfalls and danger of free market capitalism facing the entire working population of the United States."
He is saying that the free market capitalism that is running the United States is causing "pitfalls" and is endangering the population.
"The near bankruptcy of Social Security The attempt by the White House and leading Republican and Democrat congresspersons as recently as 3 years ago to ‘privatize’ Social Security – essentially turning over the management and investment of trillions of dollars in Social Security funds to Wall Street – with the argument that private investors would earn more, would have led to the bankruptcy of the entire Social Security fund. Privatization would have allowed the major private investment banks to speculate and leverage even riskier financial instruments with the disastrous results we are witnessing today. While private pension funds go belly up – Social Security continues. It is the private pensions, which have gone bankrupt – not the publicly managed Social Security fund, contrary to the experts and critics of Social Security. Clearly the current private debacle argues for public control and management of pension programs."
He is saying that the privitization of Social Security, along with "essentially turning over the management and investment of trillions of dollars on Social Security funds to Wall Street," would have led to the bankruptcy of the entire Security Fund, because, in his point of view, was a really bad decision.
A parody: the new dollar.
James Petras is pointing out with this parody of the American 1 dollar bill that our economy is in trouble, because, after the collaspe of Wall Street, that the economy is crashing and is in panic-mode for the population.
He is saying that the free market capitalism that is running the United States is causing "pitfalls" and is endangering the population.
"The near bankruptcy of Social Security The attempt by the White House and leading Republican and Democrat congresspersons as recently as 3 years ago to ‘privatize’ Social Security – essentially turning over the management and investment of trillions of dollars in Social Security funds to Wall Street – with the argument that private investors would earn more, would have led to the bankruptcy of the entire Social Security fund. Privatization would have allowed the major private investment banks to speculate and leverage even riskier financial instruments with the disastrous results we are witnessing today. While private pension funds go belly up – Social Security continues. It is the private pensions, which have gone bankrupt – not the publicly managed Social Security fund, contrary to the experts and critics of Social Security. Clearly the current private debacle argues for public control and management of pension programs."
He is saying that the privitization of Social Security, along with "essentially turning over the management and investment of trillions of dollars on Social Security funds to Wall Street," would have led to the bankruptcy of the entire Security Fund, because, in his point of view, was a really bad decision.
A parody: the new dollar.
James Petras is pointing out with this parody of the American 1 dollar bill that our economy is in trouble, because, after the collaspe of Wall Street, that the economy is crashing and is in panic-mode for the population.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Chapter 10 - Recent Times: Around 1914 to the Present
Since European powers had colonies ot strong economic tiews with most of the rest of the world, the original gunshot by Serbian nationalist resulted in widespread casualties across the globe. More than 40 countries found themselves taking up arms, including Japan, which fought on the side of Britain, France, and Russia, now known as the Allies. In 1915, Italy managed to complete its aboutface and joined the Allies as well.
The Unitd States declared its nuetrality at first, preferring to focus on its own internal affairs, a policy know as isolationism. But when a German submarine (wow, technology came a long way quickly) sank the British passenger liner The Lusiania ib 1915, killing more than 100 Americans who happened to be on board, public opinion in the United States shifted away from isolationism. the next year, as Germany tried to cut off al shipments to Britain, thereby fueling American sentiment toward war. Then the Simmerman telegram - a secret message sent between German diplomats suggesting that Mexico might want to join forces with Germany and thereby regain the territory it had lost to the United States in the Mesican-American War of 1846 - was intercepted by the United States. The public and President Wilson flipped out. On April 2, 1917, American entered the war on the side of the Allies. On November 11, 1918, after brutal battles, trench warfare, and enormous loss of life, Germany and the Central Powers finally gave up.
When the U.S. stock market crashed in October 1919, a spiral of monetary and fiscal probl;ems called the Great Depression quickly escalated into an international catastrophe, and shattered the illusion of financial health in Europe. American banks immediatly stopped extending credit. The effect was that Europe ran out of money, which it never really had in the first place. Germany couldn't pay its reparations without American credit, so France had no money either.
The Nazi Party gained political power in the 1920s with Hitler as its guide, or fuhrer. At first, the Nazis received votes democratically and participated in the Reichstag. In the early 1930s, as the Great Depression devastated the German economy, Hitler received increasing support. In the election of 1930, the Nazi Party increased its seats in Parliament tenfold. By 1932, the Nazis dominated German goverment and many who disagreed with Hitler still backd him, thinking he was the country's only hope. In 1933, Hitler became chancellor, or leader of the Reichstag. He then seized control of the government, known under his racist rule as the Third Reich, and set his eyes on conquering Europe.
Hitler assumed that Great Britain would crumble quickly after the fall of her ally, France. But a new leader, Winston Churchill, replaced Britain's more diplomatically minded Chamberlain. Chruchill proved to be resolute and fierce prime minister. He refused to cut a deal with Germany, so Hitler launched a massive air bombing campaign in 1940 known as the Battle of Britain, which pitted the surperior numbers of the German air force against the smaller numbers of the Royal Air Force. The British succeeded in keeping the German army out, and with their newly devised handy tool known as radar, they managed a successful, though costly, defense of the island.
It took a while for the United States, after joining Great Britain against the Axis, to coordinate a land attack against Germany because they needed a foothold in Europe from which to begin their assult. In the meantime, the allies fought the Japanese in the Pacific and the Germans and Italians in Africa while the United States also secretly worked on its Manhattan Project - the development of an atomic bomb. By 1943, the United States and Britain were ready for their European offensivem and they started it by taking control of Italy. The next year, English, American, and Canadian forces launched their biggest offensive, landing on the French beaches of Normandy on what is now known as D-day. With the help of French resistance forces, Allied Forces battled their way across northern France in the summer of 1944 and liberated France.
After World War II, the Allies believed that a network of international organizations would reduce the probability that such a great war would break out again. The first of these international organizations was the United Nations, created in the aftermath of World War II to replace what was seen as a failed League of Nations. Givern more muscle than the League of Nations, the primary goal of the U.N. was simple: to mediate, and if necessary to intervene in, international disputes between nations. As time passed, the U.N. espanded beyond the realm of political conflicts and increasingly involved itself in the monitoring of human rights and other social problems. But in addition to the U.N., the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and the General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs (now known as the World Trade Organization), were formed to create and manage a more intergrated global economy. The Allis believed that countries that were more connected economically would be less likely to invade one another.
By 1949, the communists under Mao Zedong had rallied millions of peasants in northern China and swept southward toward the Kuomindang strongholds, driving the Kuomindang farther and farther south until they finally feld to the island of Taiwan, where they established the Rebublic of China. The impact for mainland China was enormous. It became the Perople's Republic of China, the largest communist nation in the world under the leadership of Mao Zedong. the two Chinas have been seperate ever since, and both claim to be the "real" China. Taiwan eventually developed into an economic powerhouse, but lost its credibility as the true China when the United Nations and eventually the United States recognized the People's Republic of China as China in 1973. taiwan has rejected China's efforts toward reunification, but nevertheless the two nations have grown close together, especially as the economis of both nations have grown stronger and stronger.
When the Soviet Union collasped in the early 1990s, the Cubans lost their main financial backer. This was a huge loss because it amounted to billions of dollars of aid. Still, Castro has managed to hang on to his power, but economic conditions in Cuba deteriorated sharply after the fall of communism in Europe.
The decline of communism brought sweeping reform to Poland and its goverment, which had been trying for years to prevent the spread of anticommunism sentiment. In 1980, more than a decade before the fall of communism in the Soviet Union, a group of workers began the Solidarity movement under the leadership of Lech Walesa. Thousands of workers joined a strike for reform of the communist economic system. The government reacted by imposing martial law and arresting Lech Walesa, as well as other Solidarity leaders. Thorughout the early- and mid-1980s, the goverment tried to suppress Solidarity. But in 1988, the reform-minded Rakowski became the Premier of Poland. Solidarity was legalized and in 1989, a member of Solidarity, Tadeusz Mazowiecki, became Prime Minister in the first open elections since the end of World War II. In 1990, the communist party fell apart in Poland, just as it was falling apart thoughout eastern Europe, and Lech Walesa was elected president. During the 1990s, the economy improved swiftly as Poland introduced market-based reforms and a new democratic constitution. Poland formally completed its integration into the West by joining NATO in 1999 and the European Union in 2004. Quite a change.
When Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in the Soviet Union in 1985, he instituted policies of openess and urged restucturing of the Soviet economy. He may not have realized it at the time, but as he set in motion a tidal wave of change that wouldn't be able to reverse. Legislation was passed to add elements of private enterprise to the economy. Nuclear arms treaties were signed with the United States. Gorbachev even publicly and officially denounced the Great Prupe by Stalin in the 1930s, a huge deal because it showed that the Soviet Union was re-evaluating itself. The list of former Soviet satellites declared their seperation from the USSR. The Soviet Union itself disintigrated in 1991. Russia became its own country again, while the other parts of the old Soviet Empire, such as the Ukraine, Belarus, and Georgia, just to name a few, became independent nations.
In response to the system of aparthied ("seperation of the races"), the black community organized. In the 1950s, Nelson Mandela became leader of the African National Congress, an organization determined to abolish aparthied. At first, he advocated peaceful protest, following the example of Gandhi. ut in 1960, after the Sharpeville massacre in which 67 protesters were killed, the African National Congress supported guerrilla warfare. At Shareville, blacks were protesting a policy that forced them to carry passes to be in the cities in order to go to their jobs. The passes were issued at places of employment. This meant if you worked and your wife didn't, you couldn't go into the city with her because she wouldn't have a pass. The massacre rallied the anti-apartheid movement. Mandela was arrested in 1964 for his role in anti-apartheid violence and sentenced to life imprisonment.
After decades of increasng pressure from the black majority and the international community, South Africa finally released Madela in 1990 and agreed to negociate on the policy of apartheid. the government more than negotiated, it crumbled. In 1994, after apartheid was abolished, Mandela was elected president in the first free and open election in the nation's history.
The Unitd States declared its nuetrality at first, preferring to focus on its own internal affairs, a policy know as isolationism. But when a German submarine (wow, technology came a long way quickly) sank the British passenger liner The Lusiania ib 1915, killing more than 100 Americans who happened to be on board, public opinion in the United States shifted away from isolationism. the next year, as Germany tried to cut off al shipments to Britain, thereby fueling American sentiment toward war. Then the Simmerman telegram - a secret message sent between German diplomats suggesting that Mexico might want to join forces with Germany and thereby regain the territory it had lost to the United States in the Mesican-American War of 1846 - was intercepted by the United States. The public and President Wilson flipped out. On April 2, 1917, American entered the war on the side of the Allies. On November 11, 1918, after brutal battles, trench warfare, and enormous loss of life, Germany and the Central Powers finally gave up.
When the U.S. stock market crashed in October 1919, a spiral of monetary and fiscal probl;ems called the Great Depression quickly escalated into an international catastrophe, and shattered the illusion of financial health in Europe. American banks immediatly stopped extending credit. The effect was that Europe ran out of money, which it never really had in the first place. Germany couldn't pay its reparations without American credit, so France had no money either.
The Nazi Party gained political power in the 1920s with Hitler as its guide, or fuhrer. At first, the Nazis received votes democratically and participated in the Reichstag. In the early 1930s, as the Great Depression devastated the German economy, Hitler received increasing support. In the election of 1930, the Nazi Party increased its seats in Parliament tenfold. By 1932, the Nazis dominated German goverment and many who disagreed with Hitler still backd him, thinking he was the country's only hope. In 1933, Hitler became chancellor, or leader of the Reichstag. He then seized control of the government, known under his racist rule as the Third Reich, and set his eyes on conquering Europe.
Hitler assumed that Great Britain would crumble quickly after the fall of her ally, France. But a new leader, Winston Churchill, replaced Britain's more diplomatically minded Chamberlain. Chruchill proved to be resolute and fierce prime minister. He refused to cut a deal with Germany, so Hitler launched a massive air bombing campaign in 1940 known as the Battle of Britain, which pitted the surperior numbers of the German air force against the smaller numbers of the Royal Air Force. The British succeeded in keeping the German army out, and with their newly devised handy tool known as radar, they managed a successful, though costly, defense of the island.
It took a while for the United States, after joining Great Britain against the Axis, to coordinate a land attack against Germany because they needed a foothold in Europe from which to begin their assult. In the meantime, the allies fought the Japanese in the Pacific and the Germans and Italians in Africa while the United States also secretly worked on its Manhattan Project - the development of an atomic bomb. By 1943, the United States and Britain were ready for their European offensivem and they started it by taking control of Italy. The next year, English, American, and Canadian forces launched their biggest offensive, landing on the French beaches of Normandy on what is now known as D-day. With the help of French resistance forces, Allied Forces battled their way across northern France in the summer of 1944 and liberated France.
After World War II, the Allies believed that a network of international organizations would reduce the probability that such a great war would break out again. The first of these international organizations was the United Nations, created in the aftermath of World War II to replace what was seen as a failed League of Nations. Givern more muscle than the League of Nations, the primary goal of the U.N. was simple: to mediate, and if necessary to intervene in, international disputes between nations. As time passed, the U.N. espanded beyond the realm of political conflicts and increasingly involved itself in the monitoring of human rights and other social problems. But in addition to the U.N., the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and the General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs (now known as the World Trade Organization), were formed to create and manage a more intergrated global economy. The Allis believed that countries that were more connected economically would be less likely to invade one another.
By 1949, the communists under Mao Zedong had rallied millions of peasants in northern China and swept southward toward the Kuomindang strongholds, driving the Kuomindang farther and farther south until they finally feld to the island of Taiwan, where they established the Rebublic of China. The impact for mainland China was enormous. It became the Perople's Republic of China, the largest communist nation in the world under the leadership of Mao Zedong. the two Chinas have been seperate ever since, and both claim to be the "real" China. Taiwan eventually developed into an economic powerhouse, but lost its credibility as the true China when the United Nations and eventually the United States recognized the People's Republic of China as China in 1973. taiwan has rejected China's efforts toward reunification, but nevertheless the two nations have grown close together, especially as the economis of both nations have grown stronger and stronger.
When the Soviet Union collasped in the early 1990s, the Cubans lost their main financial backer. This was a huge loss because it amounted to billions of dollars of aid. Still, Castro has managed to hang on to his power, but economic conditions in Cuba deteriorated sharply after the fall of communism in Europe.
The decline of communism brought sweeping reform to Poland and its goverment, which had been trying for years to prevent the spread of anticommunism sentiment. In 1980, more than a decade before the fall of communism in the Soviet Union, a group of workers began the Solidarity movement under the leadership of Lech Walesa. Thousands of workers joined a strike for reform of the communist economic system. The government reacted by imposing martial law and arresting Lech Walesa, as well as other Solidarity leaders. Thorughout the early- and mid-1980s, the goverment tried to suppress Solidarity. But in 1988, the reform-minded Rakowski became the Premier of Poland. Solidarity was legalized and in 1989, a member of Solidarity, Tadeusz Mazowiecki, became Prime Minister in the first open elections since the end of World War II. In 1990, the communist party fell apart in Poland, just as it was falling apart thoughout eastern Europe, and Lech Walesa was elected president. During the 1990s, the economy improved swiftly as Poland introduced market-based reforms and a new democratic constitution. Poland formally completed its integration into the West by joining NATO in 1999 and the European Union in 2004. Quite a change.
When Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in the Soviet Union in 1985, he instituted policies of openess and urged restucturing of the Soviet economy. He may not have realized it at the time, but as he set in motion a tidal wave of change that wouldn't be able to reverse. Legislation was passed to add elements of private enterprise to the economy. Nuclear arms treaties were signed with the United States. Gorbachev even publicly and officially denounced the Great Prupe by Stalin in the 1930s, a huge deal because it showed that the Soviet Union was re-evaluating itself. The list of former Soviet satellites declared their seperation from the USSR. The Soviet Union itself disintigrated in 1991. Russia became its own country again, while the other parts of the old Soviet Empire, such as the Ukraine, Belarus, and Georgia, just to name a few, became independent nations.
In response to the system of aparthied ("seperation of the races"), the black community organized. In the 1950s, Nelson Mandela became leader of the African National Congress, an organization determined to abolish aparthied. At first, he advocated peaceful protest, following the example of Gandhi. ut in 1960, after the Sharpeville massacre in which 67 protesters were killed, the African National Congress supported guerrilla warfare. At Shareville, blacks were protesting a policy that forced them to carry passes to be in the cities in order to go to their jobs. The passes were issued at places of employment. This meant if you worked and your wife didn't, you couldn't go into the city with her because she wouldn't have a pass. The massacre rallied the anti-apartheid movement. Mandela was arrested in 1964 for his role in anti-apartheid violence and sentenced to life imprisonment.
After decades of increasng pressure from the black majority and the international community, South Africa finally released Madela in 1990 and agreed to negociate on the policy of apartheid. the government more than negotiated, it crumbled. In 1994, after apartheid was abolished, Mandela was elected president in the first free and open election in the nation's history.
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Chapter 9 - Not So Old Stuff: Sometime around 1750 to about 1914
Both the Scientific Revolution and the Industrial Revolution changed the world. One was about the process of discoering, learning , evaluating, and understanding the natural world. the other was about applying that understaing to practical ends. In both cases, knowledge spread and improvements were made across cultures and across time. Even though patents protected individual inventions, one scientist or inventor could build on ideas of colleagues who were tackling the same issues, thereby leading to constant improvement and reliability. This same collaborative effort is used today. Universities and research organizations share information among colleagues across the globe. The Internet, of course, allows data to be analyzed almost instantaneously by thousands of like-minded individuals.
In the second half of the nineteenth century, after the abuses and social sonsequences of the Industrial Revolution became clear, a series of reforms occured, the Briticsh Parliament passed laws, such as the Factory Act of 1883, which limited the hours of each workday, restricted children from working in factories, and required factory owners to make the working conditions safer and cleaner. Meanwhile, labor unions were formed. The unions were vehicles through which thousands of employees bargained for better working conditionsm or threatened to strike, thereby shutting down the factory. In addition, an increasiong number of factory owners realized that a healthy, happy, and reasonbly well-paid workforce meant a productive and loyal one.
All of these developments combined, though slowly and sporadiacally, to improve not only the conditions in the factories and cities, but also the standard living on an individual family level. The middle class became substantially larger. Public education became more widely accessible. Social mobility - the ability of a person to work his way up from one social class to the next - became more commonplace. In 1807, the slave trade was abolished, which meant no new slaves were transported from Africa, though the ownershipof existing slaves continued. In 1833, the British outlawed slavery, and three decades later, it was outlawed in the United States.
To be sure, many cultures were ethocentric. The Chinese, for example, believed their kingdom to be the Middle Kingdom, literally the "center of the world," and themselves ethnically superior to other races. Similar attitudes existed in Japan and in most major civilizations. So the Europeans were hardly unique in their self-important attitudes. However, in their ability to act on those attitudes, they were dangerously unique. Armed with the most technological advanced militaries and strong economic motives, the Europeans were quite capable of subjagating people whom they considered to be inferior, berbaric, or despensible. Their success at doing so often reinforced the ethnocentric attitudes, leading to further colonialism and subjagation.
Multiple European countires originally traded with India, but the British won out and established exclusive control. In China, the British dominated trade early on, and as they succeeded, more and more countries piled on.
In India, the British established a true colony, running the governement and directing huge internal projects. In China, Europeans and the Japanese established spheres of influence, focusing on the economic benefits of trade with no overall governmental responsibilities. Therefore, when independence movements began in India, the efforts were directed against Britain, the foreign occupier. In contrast, when the people wanted to change the government China, they targeted the Manchu Dynasty.
The industrialization of Europe and Japan followed very similar paths, but japan's was on fast forward. It managed to accomplish in a few decades what had taken Europe more than a century, in large part because it didn't have to invent everything itself - it just needed to implement the advances of western industrialization. Still, the pattern was remarkably similar. Private corporations rose up, industrialists like the Mitsuubishi family became wealthy, factories were built, urbanization increased dramatically, and reform was instituted. Japan learned from the Europeans quite well.
In theory, the Ottomans ruled Egypt from 1517 until 1882, although throughout the nineteenth century, Ottoman rule was extremely weak. Local rulers, called beys, had far more influence over developments in Egypt than the rulers in Istanbul. When Napolean tried to conquer Egypt during his tireless attempt to expand France into a mega-empire at the rurn of the nineteenth century, Muhammed Ali defeated the French and the Ottomans, and gained control of Egypt in 1805. Egypt technically remained part of the Ottoman Empire, but as viceroy, Ali wielded almost exclusive control. During the next 30 years, he began the industrialaaization of Egypt and directed the expansion of agriculture toward cotton production, which was then exported to the textile factories of Britain for substantial profit.
Colonialism of Africa was similar to that in the Americas in the boundary lines were determined by European agreements from abroad. In other words, there was total disregard for the societies that existed beforehand. Colonialism in America because multiple countries held claims to the land. Except for the colonies controleld by the British, the African colonies were governed by direct rule, similar to European rule of colonies in the America. This meant they sent European officials to occupy all positions of authority. Native traditions were overcome, not tolerated, and certainly not developed. This, of course, was in contrast to spheres of influence in Chinam for example, in which Europeans were generally more interested in making money rather than changing the entire culture.
The Enlightenment had a huge impact because it not only helped to inspire the American Revolution itself, but also the type of government that created after it succeeded. The mercantilist policies drove the American colonists nuts, as was the case of European colonies everywhere. These same forces - The Enlightenment and frustration over econimic exploitation - are common themes in the world's revolutionary cries against colonialism throughout the 1800's.
The American Revolution involded a colonial uprising against an imperial power. In other words, it was an independence movement. The French Revolution involved citizens rising up against their own country's leadership and against their own political and economic system, and in that sense was more of a revolution. In other words, at the end of the American Revolution, the imperial power of England was still intact, and indeed the new United States was in many ways designed in the image of england itself. In contrast, at the end of the French Revolution, France itself was a very different place. It didn't simply lose some of its holdings. Instead, the king was beheaded and the socia-political structure changed.
That said, the word revolution aptly describes the American independence movement because the United States was the first major colony to break away from a European colonial pwer since the dawn of the Age of Exploration. What's more, the ideas adopted in the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, and in the French Revolution inspired colonists, sitizens, and slaves across the globe.
The European colonies in Latin America were inspired by the success of the American Revolution and the ideas of the French Revolution. To be sure, there had been unsuccessful revolts and uprisings in the Latin American colonies for two or three centuries prior to those revolutions. In the early nineteenth century, howeve, the world order was different. Europe was in chaos because the rise and fal of Napoleon, and this distracted the European powers from their American holdings, a development that gave rebellious leaders an opporunity to assert themselves more than they previously could have.
One of the consequences of the napoleonic era was that it intensified nationalism, or feelings of connection to one's own home, region, language, and culture. France, Spain, Portugal, Britain, and Russia, of course, had already unified and , in some cases, built enormous empiress. But the Italtian and German city-states were still very fuedal, and were constantly at the center of warfare among the European powers. In th second half of the nineteenth century, however, all of that changed, Italy and Germany unified, and with the unification, they eventually altered the balance of European power.
In the second half of the nineteenth century, after the abuses and social sonsequences of the Industrial Revolution became clear, a series of reforms occured, the Briticsh Parliament passed laws, such as the Factory Act of 1883, which limited the hours of each workday, restricted children from working in factories, and required factory owners to make the working conditions safer and cleaner. Meanwhile, labor unions were formed. The unions were vehicles through which thousands of employees bargained for better working conditionsm or threatened to strike, thereby shutting down the factory. In addition, an increasiong number of factory owners realized that a healthy, happy, and reasonbly well-paid workforce meant a productive and loyal one.
All of these developments combined, though slowly and sporadiacally, to improve not only the conditions in the factories and cities, but also the standard living on an individual family level. The middle class became substantially larger. Public education became more widely accessible. Social mobility - the ability of a person to work his way up from one social class to the next - became more commonplace. In 1807, the slave trade was abolished, which meant no new slaves were transported from Africa, though the ownershipof existing slaves continued. In 1833, the British outlawed slavery, and three decades later, it was outlawed in the United States.
To be sure, many cultures were ethocentric. The Chinese, for example, believed their kingdom to be the Middle Kingdom, literally the "center of the world," and themselves ethnically superior to other races. Similar attitudes existed in Japan and in most major civilizations. So the Europeans were hardly unique in their self-important attitudes. However, in their ability to act on those attitudes, they were dangerously unique. Armed with the most technological advanced militaries and strong economic motives, the Europeans were quite capable of subjagating people whom they considered to be inferior, berbaric, or despensible. Their success at doing so often reinforced the ethnocentric attitudes, leading to further colonialism and subjagation.
Multiple European countires originally traded with India, but the British won out and established exclusive control. In China, the British dominated trade early on, and as they succeeded, more and more countries piled on.
In India, the British established a true colony, running the governement and directing huge internal projects. In China, Europeans and the Japanese established spheres of influence, focusing on the economic benefits of trade with no overall governmental responsibilities. Therefore, when independence movements began in India, the efforts were directed against Britain, the foreign occupier. In contrast, when the people wanted to change the government China, they targeted the Manchu Dynasty.
The industrialization of Europe and Japan followed very similar paths, but japan's was on fast forward. It managed to accomplish in a few decades what had taken Europe more than a century, in large part because it didn't have to invent everything itself - it just needed to implement the advances of western industrialization. Still, the pattern was remarkably similar. Private corporations rose up, industrialists like the Mitsuubishi family became wealthy, factories were built, urbanization increased dramatically, and reform was instituted. Japan learned from the Europeans quite well.
In theory, the Ottomans ruled Egypt from 1517 until 1882, although throughout the nineteenth century, Ottoman rule was extremely weak. Local rulers, called beys, had far more influence over developments in Egypt than the rulers in Istanbul. When Napolean tried to conquer Egypt during his tireless attempt to expand France into a mega-empire at the rurn of the nineteenth century, Muhammed Ali defeated the French and the Ottomans, and gained control of Egypt in 1805. Egypt technically remained part of the Ottoman Empire, but as viceroy, Ali wielded almost exclusive control. During the next 30 years, he began the industrialaaization of Egypt and directed the expansion of agriculture toward cotton production, which was then exported to the textile factories of Britain for substantial profit.
Colonialism of Africa was similar to that in the Americas in the boundary lines were determined by European agreements from abroad. In other words, there was total disregard for the societies that existed beforehand. Colonialism in America because multiple countries held claims to the land. Except for the colonies controleld by the British, the African colonies were governed by direct rule, similar to European rule of colonies in the America. This meant they sent European officials to occupy all positions of authority. Native traditions were overcome, not tolerated, and certainly not developed. This, of course, was in contrast to spheres of influence in Chinam for example, in which Europeans were generally more interested in making money rather than changing the entire culture.
The Enlightenment had a huge impact because it not only helped to inspire the American Revolution itself, but also the type of government that created after it succeeded. The mercantilist policies drove the American colonists nuts, as was the case of European colonies everywhere. These same forces - The Enlightenment and frustration over econimic exploitation - are common themes in the world's revolutionary cries against colonialism throughout the 1800's.
The American Revolution involded a colonial uprising against an imperial power. In other words, it was an independence movement. The French Revolution involved citizens rising up against their own country's leadership and against their own political and economic system, and in that sense was more of a revolution. In other words, at the end of the American Revolution, the imperial power of England was still intact, and indeed the new United States was in many ways designed in the image of england itself. In contrast, at the end of the French Revolution, France itself was a very different place. It didn't simply lose some of its holdings. Instead, the king was beheaded and the socia-political structure changed.
That said, the word revolution aptly describes the American independence movement because the United States was the first major colony to break away from a European colonial pwer since the dawn of the Age of Exploration. What's more, the ideas adopted in the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, and in the French Revolution inspired colonists, sitizens, and slaves across the globe.
The European colonies in Latin America were inspired by the success of the American Revolution and the ideas of the French Revolution. To be sure, there had been unsuccessful revolts and uprisings in the Latin American colonies for two or three centuries prior to those revolutions. In the early nineteenth century, howeve, the world order was different. Europe was in chaos because the rise and fal of Napoleon, and this distracted the European powers from their American holdings, a development that gave rebellious leaders an opporunity to assert themselves more than they previously could have.
One of the consequences of the napoleonic era was that it intensified nationalism, or feelings of connection to one's own home, region, language, and culture. France, Spain, Portugal, Britain, and Russia, of course, had already unified and , in some cases, built enormous empiress. But the Italtian and German city-states were still very fuedal, and were constantly at the center of warfare among the European powers. In th second half of the nineteenth century, however, all of that changed, Italy and Germany unified, and with the unification, they eventually altered the balance of European power.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Chapter 8 - Old Stuff: Approximately 1450 to around 1750 C.E.
The Renaissance literally means "rebirth," and this was nowhere more apparent than in the arts. In Italy, where powerful families in city-states such as Florence, Venice, and Milan became rich on trade, art was financed on a scale not seen since the classical sivilizations and beyond, but turned it into a showcase of architecture and beauty by acting as patron for some of the greatest artists of the time, including Michelangelo and Brunelleschi.
Althought printing was developed in China centuries earlier (Song Dynasty), moveble type wasn't invented in Europe until the mid-1400s, when Johannes Gutenburg invented the printing press. Prior to Gutenburg's invention, the creation of books was such a long and laborious task that few were made. Those that were made were usually printed in Latin, the language of scholars and the Roman Catholic Church. As a result, the typical person didn't read.
With the invention of the printing press, all that changed. Books became easy to produce and thus were far more affordable. The growing middle class fueled demand for books on a variety of subjects that were written in their own vernacular, or native language, such as German or French, The book industry flourished, as did related industries such as papermaking, a craft that was learned from the Arabs. More books led to more literate and educated people. The newly literate people desired more books, which continued to make them more educated, which again increased their desire for books, and so on.
While political power was diffused under the fuedal system, and while the various European princes and political powers frequently clashed with the pope, emperors and princes knew that their power increased if the Church blessed their reign. As a consequence, the pope weilded considerable political power.
The Protestant Reformation was a huge deal in world history. Its significance went well beyond the religious arena. While previous skirmishes between the pope and the nobles had been about political authority, Luther's challenges were theologically based and directed at the pope's religious role. Luther asserted that the people did not need the Catholic Church, or its priests, in order to interact with God; they only needed their Bibles. If the religious authority of the pope could be so openlu and brazenly challenged, and commonly accepted understandings of God's relationship to man could be re-evaluated as well. Put simply, by challenging the pope, Luther made it acceptable to question the conventional wisdom of the church. With newly printed Bibles available in theor own languages, lay people could learn how to read and form their own relationships with God. As the common massses became literate and better educated, more and more Europeans began to question both the world around them and the authority of the Church. Europeans desired to search for their own answers to the questions of the universe. In short, the Protestant Reformation paved the way for revolutions in education, politics, and science.
A group of church officials known as the Council of Trent presided over the counter-reform period from 1545 to 1563, dictating and defining the Catholic interpretation of religious doctrince and clarifying the Catholic Church's position on important religious questions, such as the nature of salvation. During this period, "heretics" were once again tried and punished, and the Catholic Chruch re-established Latin as the language to be used in worship.
The result? The Catholic Church staged an amazing comebacl. THe counter-reformation proved successful in containgin the southward spread of Protestantism. By 1600, southern Europe, France, and southern Germany were heavily Catholic. Northern Germany and Scandinavia were mostly Lutheran. Scotland was Calvinist, as were pockets within central Europe and France. As England was Angelican.
in 1632, Galileo published his Dialogue Concerning the Two Chei Systems of the World. He wrote the work in Italian in order to reach a wide audience and hopefully the defenders of Ptolemy. One by one, Galileo answered objections. He showed how the rotation of the Earth on its axis produced the apparent roation of the heavens, and how the stars' great distance from the Earth prevented man from being able to see their changed position as the Earth moved around the sun. His proofs made it difficult to continue accepting the Ptolemaic model, which just so happened to be the model sanctioned by the Roman Catholic Church. THe chrch quickly summoned Galileo befor the Inquisition in Rom for teaching doctrince contrary to Holy Scripture and he was forcefully compelled to recant. His book was placed on The Index. a list of banned heretical works, where astonishingly it remained until 1822. Nevertheless, while under house arrest, Galileo continued to research and document his findings.
While the scientists put forth revolutionary ideas, the philosophers and social critics had a revolution of their own. The Enlightenment of the seventeenth and eigthteenth centuries focused on the role of mankind in relation to government, ideas which greatly influenced the framers of the U.S. Constitution. Because of the U.S. Constitution has since been a model for so many others across the globe, so for this reasion alone, it's safe to say the writers of the Enlightenment period changed the world.
Eager to eliminate Muslim middlemen and discover more efficient trade routes to Asia, the Protuguese and their Iberian rivals, the Spanish, set out to sea. Advances in navigation, ship-building and the development of gunpowder weapons allowed for increased sea travel. These "floating empires of the wind" soon controlled major shipping routes in the Indian Ocean, Indonesia, and the Atlantic Ocean.
By 1494, Portugal and Spain were already fighting over land in the mewly found Americas. To resolve their differences, the two countries drew up the Treaty of Tordesillas, which established a lone of demarcation on a longitudinal (north-south) line that runes through the western Atlantic Ocean. They agreed that everything to the east of the linebelong to Portugal; everything to the west belonged to to Spain. The western side was enormous (they had no idea how enormous at the time) so Spain became a mega-power quickly. Brazil happened to lie to the east of the line, which is why modern-day Brazilians speak Portuguese instead of Spanish.
In 1519, Hernan Cortes landed on the coast of Mexico with a small force of 600 men. He found himself at the heart of the Aztec Empire. As you might recall, the Aztecs used the conquest of neighboring communities to secure humans for religious sacrifices. These neighboring states loathed the Aztecs, and were more than willing to cooperate with the Spaniards.
Although the Aztecs resisted the occupation and fought to free their leader, the Spanish had incredibly powerful weapons on their side: namely, diseased such as smallpox. These diseases were completely new to the Americas, and quickly drcimated the Aztecs, who had no resistance to them. The combination of disease, superior weapons, and assistance from Aztec enemies reduced the native population of the region from well over 20 million in 1520 to fewer than 2 million by 1580. Because so many of the deaths occured in the first few years, the Spaniards were able to seize control of the empire by around 1525.
Even before the transatlantic voyages began, Europeans were taking slaves from Africa. In the mid-fifteenth century, the Portuguese captured slaves while exploring the coasts of Africa. When the plantations of the New World demanded more labor, the money-hungry empire builders knew were to go to get it for free. And so began a forced migration of people that would forever change the fate of millions of lives and the history of the New World.
It shoulden't be surprising that mercantilism fostered resentment in colonies. The colonial resoursed were shipped back to Europe while the colonists were forced to pay for products from Europe. Add taxes, and you've got mafor resentment. You already know that the American Revolution was in part due to colonial fury over this arrangement. One-by-one, beginning with America, European colonies revolted against the abuses by the unforgiving mercantilist economies of the European powers.
Asian colonization didn't really get rolling until the nineteenth century. For the sixteenth through the eighteenth centuris, however, the EUropeans managed to establish trade with the Asian empires, wlthough it was more limited than they would have liked due to Asian protectionist policies and difficulty of travel.
As for China and Japan, bot empires severely limited trade with the Europeans. Throughout this time period, the two Asian empires couldn't have been more unlike their European counterparts. They were highly isolantionist. Not only did they not go out and try to find the rest of the world, they also pushed the rest of the world away when it came to them.
Althought printing was developed in China centuries earlier (Song Dynasty), moveble type wasn't invented in Europe until the mid-1400s, when Johannes Gutenburg invented the printing press. Prior to Gutenburg's invention, the creation of books was such a long and laborious task that few were made. Those that were made were usually printed in Latin, the language of scholars and the Roman Catholic Church. As a result, the typical person didn't read.
With the invention of the printing press, all that changed. Books became easy to produce and thus were far more affordable. The growing middle class fueled demand for books on a variety of subjects that were written in their own vernacular, or native language, such as German or French, The book industry flourished, as did related industries such as papermaking, a craft that was learned from the Arabs. More books led to more literate and educated people. The newly literate people desired more books, which continued to make them more educated, which again increased their desire for books, and so on.
While political power was diffused under the fuedal system, and while the various European princes and political powers frequently clashed with the pope, emperors and princes knew that their power increased if the Church blessed their reign. As a consequence, the pope weilded considerable political power.
The Protestant Reformation was a huge deal in world history. Its significance went well beyond the religious arena. While previous skirmishes between the pope and the nobles had been about political authority, Luther's challenges were theologically based and directed at the pope's religious role. Luther asserted that the people did not need the Catholic Church, or its priests, in order to interact with God; they only needed their Bibles. If the religious authority of the pope could be so openlu and brazenly challenged, and commonly accepted understandings of God's relationship to man could be re-evaluated as well. Put simply, by challenging the pope, Luther made it acceptable to question the conventional wisdom of the church. With newly printed Bibles available in theor own languages, lay people could learn how to read and form their own relationships with God. As the common massses became literate and better educated, more and more Europeans began to question both the world around them and the authority of the Church. Europeans desired to search for their own answers to the questions of the universe. In short, the Protestant Reformation paved the way for revolutions in education, politics, and science.
A group of church officials known as the Council of Trent presided over the counter-reform period from 1545 to 1563, dictating and defining the Catholic interpretation of religious doctrince and clarifying the Catholic Church's position on important religious questions, such as the nature of salvation. During this period, "heretics" were once again tried and punished, and the Catholic Chruch re-established Latin as the language to be used in worship.
The result? The Catholic Church staged an amazing comebacl. THe counter-reformation proved successful in containgin the southward spread of Protestantism. By 1600, southern Europe, France, and southern Germany were heavily Catholic. Northern Germany and Scandinavia were mostly Lutheran. Scotland was Calvinist, as were pockets within central Europe and France. As England was Angelican.
in 1632, Galileo published his Dialogue Concerning the Two Chei Systems of the World. He wrote the work in Italian in order to reach a wide audience and hopefully the defenders of Ptolemy. One by one, Galileo answered objections. He showed how the rotation of the Earth on its axis produced the apparent roation of the heavens, and how the stars' great distance from the Earth prevented man from being able to see their changed position as the Earth moved around the sun. His proofs made it difficult to continue accepting the Ptolemaic model, which just so happened to be the model sanctioned by the Roman Catholic Church. THe chrch quickly summoned Galileo befor the Inquisition in Rom for teaching doctrince contrary to Holy Scripture and he was forcefully compelled to recant. His book was placed on The Index. a list of banned heretical works, where astonishingly it remained until 1822. Nevertheless, while under house arrest, Galileo continued to research and document his findings.
While the scientists put forth revolutionary ideas, the philosophers and social critics had a revolution of their own. The Enlightenment of the seventeenth and eigthteenth centuries focused on the role of mankind in relation to government, ideas which greatly influenced the framers of the U.S. Constitution. Because of the U.S. Constitution has since been a model for so many others across the globe, so for this reasion alone, it's safe to say the writers of the Enlightenment period changed the world.
Eager to eliminate Muslim middlemen and discover more efficient trade routes to Asia, the Protuguese and their Iberian rivals, the Spanish, set out to sea. Advances in navigation, ship-building and the development of gunpowder weapons allowed for increased sea travel. These "floating empires of the wind" soon controlled major shipping routes in the Indian Ocean, Indonesia, and the Atlantic Ocean.
By 1494, Portugal and Spain were already fighting over land in the mewly found Americas. To resolve their differences, the two countries drew up the Treaty of Tordesillas, which established a lone of demarcation on a longitudinal (north-south) line that runes through the western Atlantic Ocean. They agreed that everything to the east of the linebelong to Portugal; everything to the west belonged to to Spain. The western side was enormous (they had no idea how enormous at the time) so Spain became a mega-power quickly. Brazil happened to lie to the east of the line, which is why modern-day Brazilians speak Portuguese instead of Spanish.
In 1519, Hernan Cortes landed on the coast of Mexico with a small force of 600 men. He found himself at the heart of the Aztec Empire. As you might recall, the Aztecs used the conquest of neighboring communities to secure humans for religious sacrifices. These neighboring states loathed the Aztecs, and were more than willing to cooperate with the Spaniards.
Although the Aztecs resisted the occupation and fought to free their leader, the Spanish had incredibly powerful weapons on their side: namely, diseased such as smallpox. These diseases were completely new to the Americas, and quickly drcimated the Aztecs, who had no resistance to them. The combination of disease, superior weapons, and assistance from Aztec enemies reduced the native population of the region from well over 20 million in 1520 to fewer than 2 million by 1580. Because so many of the deaths occured in the first few years, the Spaniards were able to seize control of the empire by around 1525.
Even before the transatlantic voyages began, Europeans were taking slaves from Africa. In the mid-fifteenth century, the Portuguese captured slaves while exploring the coasts of Africa. When the plantations of the New World demanded more labor, the money-hungry empire builders knew were to go to get it for free. And so began a forced migration of people that would forever change the fate of millions of lives and the history of the New World.
It shoulden't be surprising that mercantilism fostered resentment in colonies. The colonial resoursed were shipped back to Europe while the colonists were forced to pay for products from Europe. Add taxes, and you've got mafor resentment. You already know that the American Revolution was in part due to colonial fury over this arrangement. One-by-one, beginning with America, European colonies revolted against the abuses by the unforgiving mercantilist economies of the European powers.
Asian colonization didn't really get rolling until the nineteenth century. For the sixteenth through the eighteenth centuris, however, the EUropeans managed to establish trade with the Asian empires, wlthough it was more limited than they would have liked due to Asian protectionist policies and difficulty of travel.
As for China and Japan, bot empires severely limited trade with the Europeans. Throughout this time period, the two Asian empires couldn't have been more unlike their European counterparts. They were highly isolantionist. Not only did they not go out and try to find the rest of the world, they also pushed the rest of the world away when it came to them.
Monday, August 4, 2008
Chapter 7 - Really Old Stuff: Around 600 C.E. to Around 1450
Islam spread throughout the Arabian Peninsula and beyond. The tenets of Tslam came to be officially practiced and in Muslim culture, similar to the way tenets of Christianity were practiced in the Roman and Byzantine Empires. The lands where Islam was practiced were known as "Dar al Islam" or House of Islam.
As time went on, the caliphs began to behave more like hereditary ruler, like those in monarchy , except that there was no clear line of succession. The lack of a clear succession caused a great deal of trouble along the road. The first four caliphs were Abu Balar, Umar, Uthman, and Ali. The last of the four, Ali, was assassinated and was succeeded by his son, Hasan. But under pressure from a prominent family in Mecca, Hasan relinqueshed his title, making way for the establishment of the Umayyad Dynasty. This dynasty would enlarge the Islamic Empire dramatically, but it would also intensify conflict with the Byzantineand Persian Empires for a century.
As the Shia began to assert themselves more dramatically, the Umayyad Dynasty went into decline, and ultimate demise. In a battle for control of the empire against the forces of Aby al-Abbas, the Umayyad Empire was defeated (punctuated by the slaughter of sine nenber of the family). It was replaced by the Abbasid Dynasty around 750 in all the areas except Spain.
The Abbasid Dynasty reigned from 750 to 1258, that is,until the Islamic Empire was defeated by the Mongols. Throughout this time, like all major empires, the Abbasids had many ups and downs, but they oversaw a golden age, from the early mid-ninth century, during which the arts and sciences flourished. The Abbasids built a magnificent captial at Baghdad, which became one of the great cultural centers of the world.
It would be the Islamic Caliphates most distant enemy, the Mongils, who would defeat the,. During the crusades, in 1258, the Mongols overran the Islamic Empire and destroyed Baghdad, thereby signaling the end of the Abbasid Dysnasty. Its people would flee to Egypt, where they remained intact but powerless. Eventually, the Ottoman Turks would reunite Egypt, Syria, and Arabia in a new Islamic state, which would last until 1918.
The histoy of the Roman Empire reads a lot like a bad soap opera. Recall from Chapter 6 that the Roman Empire united the entire Mediterranean for centuries. But it became too unwieldy to govern as a whole, so in 286 C.E., the empire was split into an eastern half and a western half, in what were hoped to be more manageable administrative regions. Then, in 313, Christianity was accepted in the empire; in 330, then Constantine converted to Christianity, he reunited the empire at Constantinpole. It was still the Roman Empire, it just wasn't centered in Rome. The empire split again in 395, at which time the eastern hald became known as the Byzantine Empire. Almost 400 years later, in 8000, yet another empire was established, the Holy Roman Empire centered in Rome. The Byzantines continued on as before in the east. So again there were two empires, but still one religion. That, however, was to change as well some too hundred years later when, in 1054, Christianity began to be practiced as two entirely seperate religions: Roman Catholicism and Chritian Orthodoxy.
The Franks were a Germanic tribe that united under the leadership of King Clovis in the late fifth century. He built a rather large empire that stretched from present-day Germany through Belgium and into France. He converted to Roman Catholicism and established his capital in Paris. After he died, his empire was divided among his sons, after which it declined in influence.
The empire Charlemagne built would come to be the Holy Roman Empire upon the coronation of Otto the Great in 962. It's important to point out that this empire had little in common with the original Roman Empire, other than the fact that power once again centralized and Rome began to think itself again as a world center. The size of the Roman Empire, in comparison to its namesake, was relatively small. It included northern Italy, Germany, Belgium, and France. Nevertheless, it maked the beginning of western European ambition in terms of empire-building, especially among those in the church.
During 843, western Europe continued to be attacked by powerful invaders, notably the Vikings from Scandinavia and the Magyans from Hungary. Although the Vikings were not onlt raiders, they were perhaps the most successful. Beginning around 800, they used their highly maneuverable, multi-oared boats to raid well beyond their borders - on the open seas, up and down theNorth Atlantic coast, and along the inland rivers.
In western Europe after the fall of the Roman Empire, the practice of feudalism caused life to be centered on small, self-sustaining communities that didn't initially generate much of a surplus. But as they subsequently built up storehouses of food and supplies, and as people came into greater contact with each other, they were freed to pursue other endeavors. As a result, we begin to see the emergence of craftspeople, individuals skilled in highly specalized ways. Towns and cities, too, began to grow, and, eventually, the Middle Ages came to an end.
Late in the thirteenth century, Thomas Aquinas, a famous Christian realist of this period, made significant inroads in altering Christian thought. He wrote Summa Theologica, which outlined his view that faith and reason are not in conflict, but that both are gifts from God and each can be used to enchance the other. His writings had a major impact on Christian thought, although thr Church remained a strict guardian of its own interpritations.
Referred to as the Black Death, this epidemic originated in China where it killed an estimated 35 million people. It spread rapidly though Europe in the mid-fourteenth century. Its transmission was facilitated by new forms of commerce and trade, including Mongol control of central Asian Silk Routes, that increased the interaction between Europe and Asia. First occuring in the 1330s, the epidemic spread westward with traders and merchants, and arrived in Itialian port cities as early as 1347. Crowded conditions in Europes's cities and the lack of adequate sanitation and medical knowledge all contributed to its rapid spread. Within 50 years, a third of Europe's population was dead, traditional fuedal hierarchies were obsolete, repligious hatred intensified, and people lost faith in the power of the Church. The dramtic changes brought by the epidemic sped up social and economic movements that were already impacting Europe. These included a shift toward a commercial economy , more individual freedoms, and development of new industries.
Keep in mind that during the Middle Ages, western Europe wasn't organized into countries; rather it was broken up into feudal kingdoms. But by the close of the Middle Ages, western Europe began to organize along cultural and linguistic lines. People who spoke French aligned themselves with France. Those who spoke English united under the banner of England.
Recall that eastern Europe and Russia at this time were very different from the west. The Eastern Orthodox Christians of this area spen much time and effort defending themselves from the colonization of various western invaders. It wasn't until 1242 that Russia succumbed to the Tatars under Genghis Khan. The Tatars ruled a large chunk of Russia for two centuries, leading to a cultural rift that further split easter and western Europe.
The T'ang Dynasty ruled China beginning in 618 C.E. Under Emperor Xuanzong , the T'ang expanded Chinese territory into parts of Manchuria, Mongolia, Tibet, and Korea. By 907. however, the empire had become so large that local warlords gained more and more power, and the T'ang Dynasty collasped. In 960, after a brief era of restlessness, China was reunified under the Song Dynasty and Emperor Taizu. Despite a long period of peace and prosperity, the Song eventually fell to the Jurchen and then the Mongols until finall in 1279, the Mongols established the Yuan Dynasty in its place. That dynasty didn't last long. The Mongols were driven out of China, and in 1368 the Ming Dynasty restored traditional Chinese rule to the empire.
Even though China influenced Japan enormously, it didn't penetrate Japanee identity. Birth eas more important than outside influence or education. The aristocracy remained strong. Despite the widespread influence of Confucianism and Chan (now Zen) Buddism, Japanese continued to observe the rites of their indigenous religion, Shinto. Even at the height of T'ang influence, it can be said that Japan drew inspiration from China, but maintained its own distinctive traditions.
Korea had its own independant and powerful dynasty, but in order to mainatin the appearance of cordial reltions with they powerful Chinese neighbors, the Koreans became a vassal-state of the T'ang. The gift-giving and exchanges resulted in Korean schools and the imperial court being prevented the development of both Confucianism and Chan Buddism to Korea.
Genghis Khan unified several nomadic tribes of Mongolia and led the Mongol invasion of China in 1234, which was the begnning of the enormous Mongolian conguests. The Mongol Empire eventually spanned from the Pacific Ocean to eastern Europe. The empire was split into hordes, or small, independant empires. The Golden Horde conquered the region of modern-day Russia. In CHina, Kublai Khan ruled. Mongols destroyed cities and were ruthless warriors, but once their doman was established, the empire was relatively peaceful, sometime called the Pax Mongolica. The continuous empire allowed for the exchange of goods, ideas, and culture from one distant region to another. Mongols, who were illiterate, nomadic people prior to their conquests and education reforms brought about by Genghis Khan, eventually became assimilated into cultures of the people they defeated.
The kush and Axum civilizations developed to the south of Egypt in the upper reaches of the Nile River. Kush developed at about the same time as ancient Egypt, and at one point around 750 B.C.E. actually conquered it. Less than a hundred years later, however, Kush retreated southward back to its capital at Meroe, where it became a center for ironworks and trade.
The decline of the Maya remains a source of debate. They began to abandon their cities aorund 800 C.E. Enviromental degration and overuse of land, political dissension and social unrest, natural disaster, and outside invaders have all been proposed as causes of their decline.
The Aztecs, also known as the Mexica, arrived in central MExico in the min-1200s and built their capital at Tenochtitlan (modern=day Mexico City). More than anything else, the Aztecs are known for their expansionist policy and professional army, which allowed them to dominate nearby states and demand heavy taxes and captives. Warriors were the elite in the aztec social stucture (the majority of people were peasants and slaves). Through conquest and alliances, the Aztecs built an empire od some twelve million people. But depsite the huge size, they didn't use a bureaucratic form of government. The conquered areas were generally allowed to govern themselves, as long as they paid tribute demanded of them. Roads were built to link far-flung areas of the huge empire, and trade flourished.
The Inca Empire, set in the Andes Mountains in Peru, was also expansionist in nature. At its zenith, it is thought to have controlled more then 2000 miles of South American coastline. The Incas controlled this territory using a professional army, an established bureaucracy, a unified language, and a complex system of roads and tunnels.
As time went on, the caliphs began to behave more like hereditary ruler, like those in monarchy , except that there was no clear line of succession. The lack of a clear succession caused a great deal of trouble along the road. The first four caliphs were Abu Balar, Umar, Uthman, and Ali. The last of the four, Ali, was assassinated and was succeeded by his son, Hasan. But under pressure from a prominent family in Mecca, Hasan relinqueshed his title, making way for the establishment of the Umayyad Dynasty. This dynasty would enlarge the Islamic Empire dramatically, but it would also intensify conflict with the Byzantineand Persian Empires for a century.
As the Shia began to assert themselves more dramatically, the Umayyad Dynasty went into decline, and ultimate demise. In a battle for control of the empire against the forces of Aby al-Abbas, the Umayyad Empire was defeated (punctuated by the slaughter of sine nenber of the family). It was replaced by the Abbasid Dynasty around 750 in all the areas except Spain.
The Abbasid Dynasty reigned from 750 to 1258, that is,until the Islamic Empire was defeated by the Mongols. Throughout this time, like all major empires, the Abbasids had many ups and downs, but they oversaw a golden age, from the early mid-ninth century, during which the arts and sciences flourished. The Abbasids built a magnificent captial at Baghdad, which became one of the great cultural centers of the world.
It would be the Islamic Caliphates most distant enemy, the Mongils, who would defeat the,. During the crusades, in 1258, the Mongols overran the Islamic Empire and destroyed Baghdad, thereby signaling the end of the Abbasid Dysnasty. Its people would flee to Egypt, where they remained intact but powerless. Eventually, the Ottoman Turks would reunite Egypt, Syria, and Arabia in a new Islamic state, which would last until 1918.
The histoy of the Roman Empire reads a lot like a bad soap opera. Recall from Chapter 6 that the Roman Empire united the entire Mediterranean for centuries. But it became too unwieldy to govern as a whole, so in 286 C.E., the empire was split into an eastern half and a western half, in what were hoped to be more manageable administrative regions. Then, in 313, Christianity was accepted in the empire; in 330, then Constantine converted to Christianity, he reunited the empire at Constantinpole. It was still the Roman Empire, it just wasn't centered in Rome. The empire split again in 395, at which time the eastern hald became known as the Byzantine Empire. Almost 400 years later, in 8000, yet another empire was established, the Holy Roman Empire centered in Rome. The Byzantines continued on as before in the east. So again there were two empires, but still one religion. That, however, was to change as well some too hundred years later when, in 1054, Christianity began to be practiced as two entirely seperate religions: Roman Catholicism and Chritian Orthodoxy.
The Franks were a Germanic tribe that united under the leadership of King Clovis in the late fifth century. He built a rather large empire that stretched from present-day Germany through Belgium and into France. He converted to Roman Catholicism and established his capital in Paris. After he died, his empire was divided among his sons, after which it declined in influence.
The empire Charlemagne built would come to be the Holy Roman Empire upon the coronation of Otto the Great in 962. It's important to point out that this empire had little in common with the original Roman Empire, other than the fact that power once again centralized and Rome began to think itself again as a world center. The size of the Roman Empire, in comparison to its namesake, was relatively small. It included northern Italy, Germany, Belgium, and France. Nevertheless, it maked the beginning of western European ambition in terms of empire-building, especially among those in the church.
During 843, western Europe continued to be attacked by powerful invaders, notably the Vikings from Scandinavia and the Magyans from Hungary. Although the Vikings were not onlt raiders, they were perhaps the most successful. Beginning around 800, they used their highly maneuverable, multi-oared boats to raid well beyond their borders - on the open seas, up and down theNorth Atlantic coast, and along the inland rivers.
In western Europe after the fall of the Roman Empire, the practice of feudalism caused life to be centered on small, self-sustaining communities that didn't initially generate much of a surplus. But as they subsequently built up storehouses of food and supplies, and as people came into greater contact with each other, they were freed to pursue other endeavors. As a result, we begin to see the emergence of craftspeople, individuals skilled in highly specalized ways. Towns and cities, too, began to grow, and, eventually, the Middle Ages came to an end.
Late in the thirteenth century, Thomas Aquinas, a famous Christian realist of this period, made significant inroads in altering Christian thought. He wrote Summa Theologica, which outlined his view that faith and reason are not in conflict, but that both are gifts from God and each can be used to enchance the other. His writings had a major impact on Christian thought, although thr Church remained a strict guardian of its own interpritations.
Referred to as the Black Death, this epidemic originated in China where it killed an estimated 35 million people. It spread rapidly though Europe in the mid-fourteenth century. Its transmission was facilitated by new forms of commerce and trade, including Mongol control of central Asian Silk Routes, that increased the interaction between Europe and Asia. First occuring in the 1330s, the epidemic spread westward with traders and merchants, and arrived in Itialian port cities as early as 1347. Crowded conditions in Europes's cities and the lack of adequate sanitation and medical knowledge all contributed to its rapid spread. Within 50 years, a third of Europe's population was dead, traditional fuedal hierarchies were obsolete, repligious hatred intensified, and people lost faith in the power of the Church. The dramtic changes brought by the epidemic sped up social and economic movements that were already impacting Europe. These included a shift toward a commercial economy , more individual freedoms, and development of new industries.
Keep in mind that during the Middle Ages, western Europe wasn't organized into countries; rather it was broken up into feudal kingdoms. But by the close of the Middle Ages, western Europe began to organize along cultural and linguistic lines. People who spoke French aligned themselves with France. Those who spoke English united under the banner of England.
Recall that eastern Europe and Russia at this time were very different from the west. The Eastern Orthodox Christians of this area spen much time and effort defending themselves from the colonization of various western invaders. It wasn't until 1242 that Russia succumbed to the Tatars under Genghis Khan. The Tatars ruled a large chunk of Russia for two centuries, leading to a cultural rift that further split easter and western Europe.
The T'ang Dynasty ruled China beginning in 618 C.E. Under Emperor Xuanzong , the T'ang expanded Chinese territory into parts of Manchuria, Mongolia, Tibet, and Korea. By 907. however, the empire had become so large that local warlords gained more and more power, and the T'ang Dynasty collasped. In 960, after a brief era of restlessness, China was reunified under the Song Dynasty and Emperor Taizu. Despite a long period of peace and prosperity, the Song eventually fell to the Jurchen and then the Mongols until finall in 1279, the Mongols established the Yuan Dynasty in its place. That dynasty didn't last long. The Mongols were driven out of China, and in 1368 the Ming Dynasty restored traditional Chinese rule to the empire.
Even though China influenced Japan enormously, it didn't penetrate Japanee identity. Birth eas more important than outside influence or education. The aristocracy remained strong. Despite the widespread influence of Confucianism and Chan (now Zen) Buddism, Japanese continued to observe the rites of their indigenous religion, Shinto. Even at the height of T'ang influence, it can be said that Japan drew inspiration from China, but maintained its own distinctive traditions.
Korea had its own independant and powerful dynasty, but in order to mainatin the appearance of cordial reltions with they powerful Chinese neighbors, the Koreans became a vassal-state of the T'ang. The gift-giving and exchanges resulted in Korean schools and the imperial court being prevented the development of both Confucianism and Chan Buddism to Korea.
Genghis Khan unified several nomadic tribes of Mongolia and led the Mongol invasion of China in 1234, which was the begnning of the enormous Mongolian conguests. The Mongol Empire eventually spanned from the Pacific Ocean to eastern Europe. The empire was split into hordes, or small, independant empires. The Golden Horde conquered the region of modern-day Russia. In CHina, Kublai Khan ruled. Mongols destroyed cities and were ruthless warriors, but once their doman was established, the empire was relatively peaceful, sometime called the Pax Mongolica. The continuous empire allowed for the exchange of goods, ideas, and culture from one distant region to another. Mongols, who were illiterate, nomadic people prior to their conquests and education reforms brought about by Genghis Khan, eventually became assimilated into cultures of the people they defeated.
The kush and Axum civilizations developed to the south of Egypt in the upper reaches of the Nile River. Kush developed at about the same time as ancient Egypt, and at one point around 750 B.C.E. actually conquered it. Less than a hundred years later, however, Kush retreated southward back to its capital at Meroe, where it became a center for ironworks and trade.
The decline of the Maya remains a source of debate. They began to abandon their cities aorund 800 C.E. Enviromental degration and overuse of land, political dissension and social unrest, natural disaster, and outside invaders have all been proposed as causes of their decline.
The Aztecs, also known as the Mexica, arrived in central MExico in the min-1200s and built their capital at Tenochtitlan (modern=day Mexico City). More than anything else, the Aztecs are known for their expansionist policy and professional army, which allowed them to dominate nearby states and demand heavy taxes and captives. Warriors were the elite in the aztec social stucture (the majority of people were peasants and slaves). Through conquest and alliances, the Aztecs built an empire od some twelve million people. But depsite the huge size, they didn't use a bureaucratic form of government. The conquered areas were generally allowed to govern themselves, as long as they paid tribute demanded of them. Roads were built to link far-flung areas of the huge empire, and trade flourished.
The Inca Empire, set in the Andes Mountains in Peru, was also expansionist in nature. At its zenith, it is thought to have controlled more then 2000 miles of South American coastline. The Incas controlled this territory using a professional army, an established bureaucracy, a unified language, and a complex system of roads and tunnels.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Chapter 6 - Ancient Stuff: Around 8000 B.C.E. to 600 C.E.
The Neolithic ("New Stone") Revolution, or the Agricultural revolution, was when groups of people moved from nomadic lifestyles to agricultrual lifestyles and town and city life, between the years from aproximatelty 8000 B.C.E. to 3000 B.C.E.
The differences between nomadic and agricultural societies was not the only difference between moving around or staying put. When people stayed on a piece of land, they started to believe it as their home. If someone drank from their waterhole or built a house on their hill, they would think those people are invaders pr intruders, not neighbors.
As agricultural societies became more complex, organized economis, governmental structures, and reliegious organizations began to emrge to keep things as predictable and orderly as possible. Suddenly there was society, or the beginning of what we'd call civilization.
If everyone has to farm to have enough food, a great civilization won't develop. If a certain number of farmers can provise a surplus of food, then other people on the community are free to build, invent, and creat tool, art, and institutions.
As civilization grew, people built roads connecting one town to another. They used stones they unearthed from the ground to build increasing large buildings and monuments. Animals began to be used not only as a direct sourse of agricultural labor.
When people figured out how to combine copper with tin to creat an even harder metal, bronze, the building of civilizations was well on its way. This development was so significant that it was called the Bronze Age.
Sumerians were the first to inhabit Mesopotamia, whi literally means "land between the rivers" the rivers were the Tigris and the Euphates. Sumerians developed a form of writing known as caneiform. Sumerians also developed a twelve month calender and a math systen based on the unit sixty. Sumerians were polytheistc, meaning they worshipped more than one god. They believed when disaster struck, it was because the gods were angry.
The city of Akkad rose to dominate the region when the Sumerian city-states declined. But in 1700 B.C.E.. Akkad was pverrun by a new powerhouse in Mesopotamia; Babylon. But babylon quickly fell due to invasions of the Kassites and then the Hittites. By 1500 B.C.E., the Hitties dominated the region, especially because they learned how to use iron in their weapons.
Because enws traveled fast, and different groups of people adopted and adapted to another groups idea, Assyrians had learned to use iron, the very technology the Hittites used to defeat them. This enabled them to establish a capital at Nineveh and eventually build an empire that swept across the entire Fertile Cresent.
In spite of their power, within a few hundred years, the Assyrians were defeated by the medea and the Chaldeans, The Chaldean king, Nebuchadnezzar rebuilt Babylon as a showplace of architecture and culture. He extended it, but like all the civilizations before it, the new Babylon was doomed to fall. A new civilization; the Persian Empire, developed into a major world force.
The Persians established a big empire that, by 500 B.C.E., stretched from beyond the Nile Rover Balley in Eqypt around he eastern Mediterranean through present-day Turkey and parts of Greece, and then through present-day Afghanistan.
Ancient Egypt was reorganized into different kingdoms. There were three ones - Old, Middle, and New - and that it was during the New Kingdom that the ancient Egyptian civilization reached its height. By 1400 B.C.E., it stretched from the upper Nile River Valley through the eatern Mediterranean regions od Palestine and parts of Asia Minor. By 1100 B.C.E. and for the next thousand years, ancient Egypt fell into decline, and both the Assyrian Empire and the Persian Empire conquered parts of this once great civilization. Later, the Greeks occupied Egypt, and eventually the Romans completely absorbed Egypt into their Empire.
Whenever a civilization became powerful ad properous, it attracted a lot of attention and envy from its neighbors, who wanted a piece of that action. This was usually the breeding grounf for invasions. By the time it came under attack, the wealthy civilization was often so big it couldn't adequetely protect all its borders, so over a period of time it bagan to weaken.
From aproximately 2500 to 1500 B.C.E., the ancient Indus valley civilization stretched for more than 9-- miles along the Indus River in what today is northwestern India. Sometime around 1900 B.C.E., the cities of the Indux Valley were abandoned, for reasons unknwon today. All that it known it that, by 1500 B.C.E., the civilization crumbled with the arrial of the Aryans.
Shang China rose in the Hwang Ho rover Valley (Yellow River Valley). At its height Shang controlled large parts of Northern China and was militarily quite powerful. The Shang Dynasty controlled the Yellow Rover Valley from around 1600 to around 1100 B.C.E. Arounf 1100 B.C.E., the Shang were ousted by Wu Wang, who established the Zhou Dynasty, though they maintained many of the traditions and customs developed under the Shang Dynasty. The Zhou ruled China for nearly 900 years, longer than any other Dynasty.
In the Americas, two early civilizations existed: the Olmec, in what we know today as Mexico from 1200 to 1400 B.C.E., and the Chavin in the Andes from 900 to 300 B.C.E. They are unique in that they didn't develop in rover valleys, as did all the other major early civlizations.
Beginning around 1500 B.C.E., farmers in the Niger and Benue Rover vallleys in West Africa, began migrating south and east, bringing their languages, and knowledge of agricultural and metallurgy. This migration, usually referered to as the Bantu migrations, continued over the course of the next 2000 years. It is generally believed that the migration was spurred by the climatic changed, which madde the area now known Sahara Desert too dry to live in. Jenne-Heno is believed to be the first sub-Sharan Africa. Beginning as a small fishing settlement around 250 B.C.E. and reaching eurban size in 400 C.E., Jenne-Jeno is unusualy because although it reached urban density, its architecture suggests that it was not hierarchially organized society. Instead, it is believed that it was a unique form of urbanism comprising a collection og individual communtities.
From about 300 B.C.E. to about 800 C.E., Mayan civilization dominated present-day southern Mexico and parts of Central America. The Mayans were made up of city-states, a;; of them were ruled by the same King. The Mayans, like the Egyptians, were pyramid builders. and wrote using hieroglyhics.
The Mauryan Empire was founded by Chandragupta Maurya, who unified the smaller Aryan Kingdoms into a civilization. But it was his grandson, Ashoka Maurya, who wouyld take the empire to its greatest heights. Ashoka converted to Buddism when he was disgusted and filled with remorse for a very violent and bloody vicotry his forces claimed over the Kalinga in Southeast India. For the rest of his reign, Ashoka preached nonviolence and moderation. After Ashoka's death in 232 B.C.E., the Mauryah Empire begna to decline reapidly, primarily due to economic problems and pressure from attackes in the northeast. But between 375 and 415 C.E., it experianced a revival under Chandra Gupta. This empire was mpre decentralized and smaller than its predecessor, but it is often referred to as a "golden ag" because it enjoyed relative peace and saw significant advances in the arts and sciences. The Gupta Dynasty collasped under pressure from the White Hans in 550 C.E.
Unlike the Zhou Dynasty before it, the Qin Dynasty was extreme;y short. It lasted little longer than a decade. The Qin Dynasty is the empire that connected separate fortification walls that eventually became the Great Wall of China. The empire was incredibly well-organized and territorial. It fell only a year after the emperor's death, at the hands of the peasants, who resented th Qin Dynasty's heavy-handedness.
During the Han Dynasty, the Huns, a large group from Northern Asia, invaded territories extending from China to Eastern Europe. But the Huns were much more succesful in Europe than China.
The Persian wars united all the Greek city-states against their mutual enemy, Persia. Much of Athens was destoyed in these wats, but Greece held on and the wars ended in a stalemate. Two huge victories by the Greeks, one at Marathon, and the other at Salamis, allowed Greeks to maintain control of the Aegean Sea. With Persia held back, Greece was free to enter into an era of peace and properity, which it often called the Golden Age of Pericles. Athens and Sparta, as leaders of their respective alliances, became incresingly fearful and envious of each other's power. After years of increasing tensions, a trade dispute involving the city of Corinth pushed Athens and Sparta into the Peloponnesian War in 431 B.C.E. Although they could have, Sparta didn't destroy Athens out of repect for the defeated city's former role in the Persian War. The Spartans were weakened from the warm so much that it became vunerable to outside aggression. The Maccedonians, under the rule of Philip Macedon, who reigned from 359 to 336 B.C.E., invaded athens from the north and conquered the region.
The Romans, after defeating Carthage, also fought the Gauls to the north and the Spaniards to the west. To maintain their vast empire, the Romans built an extensive road network and aqueducts, and greatly enlarged their navy. Buy as they grew, the situation in and around Rome was becoming unsettled, and for three reasons. First, because farmers were being displaced and moved into the bigger cities that were already so full to burst that the farmers couldn't find jobs to support themselves. Second, because the Roman curency was devalued, causing high-rate inflamation. And third, politcial leaders began to fight amongst themselves. It is said that internal decay, in combination with external pressure, that broughtabout the fall of the Roman Empire. The sheer size of the empire and the huge expense of maintaining it coupled by the succession of weak - or just plain bad - leaders, and a series of epidemics, are all factors that caused the empire to collaspe.
Chapter 5 - Cracking the Free-Response Questions
- Write a thesis that points out the change over time.
- Answer all parts of the question.
- Show the change oveer time using revelant history.
- Analyze the process of change and/or continuity over time.
- Write a thesis that adresses the global issues in the question and covers the correct time period.
- Address all parts of the question.
- Support your thesis with appropriate historical evidence.
- Show the change over time using revelant history. Include the characteristics of historical periods to explain the context of change.
- Analyze the process of change and continuity. Describe what changed and how it changed, not just what the results of change were.
Putting Pen to Paper
- Process the Question - make sure you are clear on exactly what you are expected to do.
- Build a framework - create a chart with a base line, an impact, a change, and a continuity section.
- Build your essay - After you;ve built your framework, fill it in to build your essay.
- Write it - Once you've filled in your framework, it's time to start writing. You thesis is critical and must be supported by the facts.
Chapter 4 - Cracking the Document-Based Question (DBQ)
Write an essay that:
- Had a revelant thesis and supports that thesis with evidence from the documents.
- Uses the documents.
- Analyzes the documents by grouping them in as many appropriate ways as possible - Does not simply sumerize the documents individually.
- Takes into account both the sources of the document and the author's point of view.
- Identifies at least one type of additional document.
1. Great revelant Thesis -
- Answer the question that was asked.
- Make sure thesis directly addresses the question posed and accurately describe contents of essay.
- Use the documents so they can support your arguements.
- Don't make a thesis that can't be supported by the documents.
2. Analyze
- Understand who wrote each document an when it was written.
Explain the following -
- What was the context (historical, political, or curtural enviroment) in which the document was authored?
- What else was going on around the author at the time this was written?
- How does the author's frame of reference affect what he or she wrote and why? What is the author's position on society (gender, age, educational level, political or religious belief system)? How do these atributes inform what the author writes?
- How does the content oand tone of the document relate to that of the pther documents? What does one document say that another doesn't? What accounts for these differences?
- When was the document written? Who was the intended audience, and what was the author trying to express?
3. Group the documents in at least two different ways, but preferably in three different ways.
4. Identify and explain at least one, but preferably two or more, additional types of documents or points of view that are not represented in the documents and how they would add to your arguement.
- What types of documents offer information that is not already present?
- What points of view are missing that would make your arguement stronger? Consider groups typically not represented (women, working class, peasants).
- Why is this additional document or point of view important?
- Use the time given to read all the documents.
- Read the question carefully.
- Underline the important stuff. (time period, culture, location)
- circle what your supposed to analyze and the actions you need to take (compare and contrast, change over time, etc.)
Organize the Essay:
- Thesis
- Support
- Group One.
- Group Two
- Point of view
- Number of documents
- Additional documents.
Chapter 3 - Cracking the Essay Questions
- state your claim clearly.
- define terms, contest, and chronology of the events under discussion.
- Describe why your claim is true
- You must explain how and why something happens and what are the impacts of that something were.
- Ask yourself: Do you have a comprehensive, analytical, explicit thesis?
- Is your thesis acceptable?
DBQ Thesis
- with something like "After reviewing these documents, it is clear that..."
- Rephrase the question as an answer; include all key phrases.
- Address each part of the question with a statement.
- Make the transition to the body of the essay by citing the additional document.
Change over time Thesis
- Rephrase the question as an answer.
- Address each part of the question with a statement and evidence.
- Make the transition to the body of the essay.
Comparative Thesis
- Restate the question as an answer.
- Address each part of the question with a statement and evidence.
- Include both similarities and differences.
- Make the transition to the body of the essay.
- Essays should be a *minimum* of 4 to 6 paragraphs.
- Use transitional words and trigger words to highlight important points.
- write neatly.
- Use another word if you don't know how to spell it.
- Watch your time.
- Think before you write.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Chapter 2 - Cracking the Multiple-Choice Section
How to show what you know:
- There is no guessing penalty - there is a guessing reward.
- The goal is not to finish the test - its to answer it accurately.
- Four out of every five answer choices you read are wrong.
Turning Guessing Penalty into a reward:
- Don't randomly guess - probably only one-fourth of those 56 multiple choice answers will be right.
- Eliminate the questions you know are wrong from the ones you have to choose from.
- Don't stick to the question because you aren't willing to guess. Make your best guess and move on.
- Striving to finish the test will only make you more prone to make a bunch of careless mistakes.
- Work through the question assuming each answer is wrong until proven right.
- Read the answers with a critical eye.
- Use the Process of Elimination (POE) to get rid of what you know is wrong.
- How to crack AP World History Multiple choice Questions:
- Make sure that you understand what the question is asking. Put it in your own words so you can understand it better.
- Answer it in your own words - take a moment to call up the relevent history that you know. If you can't answer the question completely, you can still use what you do know to get rid of wrong answer choices using the process of elimination.
Process of Elimination - you can use the little that you know to eliminate the wrong choices.
- Remember to read each answer choise with a critical eye, looking for what makes it wrong.
- Guess and Go - When you've narroed you choices as far as you can get, take a guess.
- You need to make sure that you spend your time on questions that will pay off.
- When clueless on a question, mark it and move on, then go back after you go through the section.
- Step 1 and Step 2 can vary a bit based on the question.
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