Author: WyattPitts

What does John Locke mean by self-ownership? According to Wikipedia “John Locke was an English philosopher and physician, widely regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers and commonly known as the ‘father of liberalism’.” According to Cambridge University Press and Assessment, “For Locke, initial full self-ownership thus expresses absolute original independence from human authority as well as rights of civil and political self-determination. It is not expressive of unlimited rights in our life or body—the ultimate owner of which is God.“

How does the Age of Discovery provide an opportunity for Spanish thinkers to reflect on the idea of rights? Rights are the ability to do something without anyone stopping you. Each human has three basic rights. Life, liberty, and property. The right of life gives you freedom to live your life the way you want to. The right of liberty gives you the freedom to be free or have the religion of you choice. The right of property means whatever you own, no one can take it from you, even the government. A lot of people get needs mixed up with rights. A need is just something that you need to survive like food, water, and shelter. A lot of people also get wants mixed up with needs and rights. Wants are just something that you want. The age of discovery is when Europeans came to America to explore and discover. When they were there they found natives, which they killed, burned their property, and enslaved them. They were taking away their rights to life, liberty, and property. How does the Age of Discovery provide an opportunity for Spanish thinkers to reflect on the idea of rights? This caused people to realize that it doesn’t matter which religion or people group that your from everyone has rights. 

What is one of Kipling’s copybook headings that applies to recent public opinion? According to Wikipedia, “Joseph Rudyard Kipling was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work. Kipling’s works of fiction include the Jungle Book duology, Kim, the Just So Stories and many short stories, including ‘The Man Who Would Be King’.” One of Kipling’s copybook headings is The Gods of the Copybook Headings. According to Poem Analysis, “‘The Gods of Copybook Headings’ by Rudyard Kipling was published in 1919. The speaker of this piece is interested in “copybook headings.” Now mostly unknown, copybook headings were short phrases written by teachers at the top of a piece of paper. These sentences were then copied by students, over and over, in order to improve their handwriting. Generally, these phrases were expressions of traditional wisdom about life.” 

What problems from World War I helped contribute to the outbreak of World War II? First, after the war Germany was forced to sign the Treaty of Versailles. This treaty said that Germany started the war, they lost territory, they have to pay reparations, and were forced to keep small military. There was also the Great Depression. This is when Germany’s economics were shrinking, economy was failing, unemployment was rising, banks failed, prices fell, and businesses stoped. The people were looking for a political leader to help them, so they voted Hitler. Hitler claimed that he would help them, but he started to build a secret military and make more weapons. Then Germany invaded Czechoslovakia. France and Britain weren’t prepared for war so they let it slide. Then Germany invaded Poland. This time France and Britain were tired of Germany breaking the treaty, so they declared war and World War II started. 

 

(1) Historian Richard Pipes wrote, “Soviet Russia was the first society in history to outlaw law.” What did he mean by that? This meant that Russia was letting people who knew nothing about the law were aloud to become judges. These people never went to law school, they just had to rely on their own personal morals. 

(2) What was the Russian government under Lenin like? According to Wikipedia, the Russian government under Lenin was like “Formation. Traditionally, the executive part of a government is directed by a council of ministers nominated by a ruler or by a president. The Bolsheviks considered this to be a bourgeois institution, and wanted to create what they believed was a new government made up of a ‘soviet’ of workers and peasants.” What kinds of tasks did it attempt to achieve? According to Wikipedia, “From his Marxist perspective, Lenin argued that this Russian proletariat would develop class consciousness, which would in turn lead them to violently overthrow tsarism, the aristocracy, and the bourgeoisie and to establish a proletariat state that would move toward socialism.”

(3) What are the primary differences between Marxism and Marxism-Leninism? Marxism predicted a revolution, while Marxism-Leninism forcefully demanded leadership lead by a vanguard party of professional revolutionaries. 

How did an assassination lead to WW1? On June 28 1914 Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and his wife Sophie in Sarajev, were assassinated. This led to WW1, but why? Because of the assassination Austria-Hungary sent a list of demands to Siberia, who led the assassination. Austria-Hungary said if these demands were not completed, they would start war. The list of demands were done, but war started anyway. This caused all of the allies to join and start WW1.

Woodrow Wilson was the 28th president of the United States of America and president during WW1. He is famous for his fourteen-points. According to Wikipedia, “The Fourteen Points was a statement of principles for peace that was to be used for peace negotiations in order to end World War I. The principles were outlined in a January 8, 1918 speech on war aims and peace terms to the United States Congress by President Woodrow Wilson.” According to the National WWI Museum, the Fourteen Points are: “1. Open diplomacy without secret treaties 2. Economic free trade on the seas during war and peace 3. Equal trade conditions 4. Decrease armaments among all nations 5. Adjust colonial claims 6. Evacuation of all Central Powers from Russia and allow it to define its own independence 7. Belgium to be evacuated and restored 8. Return of Alsace-Lorraine region and all French territories 9. Readjust Italian borders 10. Austria-Hungary to be provided an opportunity for self-determination 11. Redraw the borders of the Balkan region creating Roumania, Serbia and Montenegro 12. Creation of a Turkish state with guaranteed free trade in the Dardanelles 13. Creation of an independent Polish state 14. Creation of the League of Nations”.

According to Tate, “Modernism refers to a global movement in society and culture that from the early decades of the twentieth century sought a new alignment with the experience and values of modern industrial life.” Modernism has 5 key characteristics. They are individualism, experimentation, absurdity, symbolism, and formalism. In short modernism means what you are currently doing. 

The beginning of World War 1. The assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand was the key event that led to World War 1. Because of this Austria declared war in Siberia. Because of this Germany (Austria’s ally) declared war on Russia (Siberia’s ally). Then Germany declared war on France (Germany’s ally). The United States declared that they would remain neutral, but that didn’t work out. Everyone thought that this would be a short war, but they were wrong. The war lasted from August 1914 to November 1918.

According to Wikipedia “The Home Rule movement was a movement that campaigned for self-government (or “home rule”) for Ireland within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It was the dominant political movement of Irish nationalism from 1870 to the end of World War I.” Gladstone worked very hard to establish this, but in the end it failed and was rejected. 

The Kulturkampf. According to Wikipedia, the Kulturkampf was a “fierce conflict that took place from 1872 to 1878 between the Catholic Church led by Pope Pius IX and the government of Prussia led by Otto von Bismarck.” It began in 1871 and ended in 1887. The kulturkampf only took place in Prussia.

According to unacademy.com, “The four major reasons behind the unification of Germany are the role of Bismark, the strength of the Prussian economy, the decline of Austria, and the military power of Prussia. The economic strength of Prussia was one of the most important reasons behind the unification of Germany.” The four key steps in the German unification, according to Commack School District are “Step 1- War with Denmark. Step 2- Austrian-Prussian War. 7 Weeks War- 1866. Step 3 – Creation of the Northern German Confederation – 1867. Step 4 – Franco-Prussian War. (1870- 1871) By September of 1870, the Prussian army surrounded the main French force and captured approximately 83,000 prisoners (including Napoleon III)”

According to Wikipedia, “The Second Industrial Revolution, also known as the Technological Revolution, was a phase of rapid scientific discovery, standardization, mass production and industrialization from the late 19th century into the early 20th century.” One major innovation was the telegraph. This helped people send messages to each other quickly. One more major innovation was the Transcontinental Railroad. This railroad went from the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean. 

Does Herbert Spencer deserve to be called a “Social Darwinist”? According to Wikipedia, “Herbert Spencer was an English philosopher, psychologist, biologist, anthropologist, and sociologist. Spencer originated the expression “survival of the fittest”, which he coined in Principles of Biology after reading Charles Darwin’s 1859 book On the Origin of Species.” According to Wikipedia, “Social Darwinism is the study and implementation of various theories and societal practices that purport to apply biological concepts of natural selection and survival of the fittest to sociology, economics and politics, and which were largely defined by scholars in Western Europe and North America in the 1870s.” Yes he does deserve to be called a Social Darwinist. The description fits him perfectly. 

Weak points in Karl Marx’s views. According to Wikipedia, Karl Marx was a “German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 pamphlet The Communist Manifesto and the four-volume Das Kapital.” According to ReviseSociology, “Capitalism today is less exploitative. Control of the economic base does not mean control of the superstructure. False consciousness is a problem concept in postmodern society. There is less alienation today.” 

Were the Revolutions of 1848 successful or unsuccessful? These Revolutions were many republican revolts against European monarchies. All of these revolts failed and were followed by liberals (widespread disillusionment among people).

France during the Revolution of 1830.According to Wiley, the French revolution was “a popular rebellion that succeeded in overthrowing the rule of King Charles X and his ministers. The revolt was prompted by the government’s rejection of legitimate election results and its suspension of the constitution.” The purpose of the Revolution was to overthrow the king of France, and it succeeded. According to Wikipedia, “The 1830 Revolution marked a shift from one constitutional monarchy, under the restored House of Bourbon, to another, the July Monarchy; the transition of power from the House of Bourbon to its cadet branch, the House of Orléans; and the replacement of the principle of hereditary right by that of popular sovereignty.“