Monday, March 3, 2014

S,Nolan,Imperialism. Chapter 25

This blog is in reference to the information that I have learned from Chapter 25. I would like to call this blog, The World's Westward Movement.
Introduction to the Chapter: As the western society reshapes the world, millions of Europeans left their native country to travel abroad to North and South America. During this time of expansion, the most significant manifestation was the political annexation of territorial lands which was also known as new imperialism. It was the basis on which Europe's economic and technological transformed. It also focused its attention to a superior military and a strong authoritarin rule. While some societies agreed with the changes, others including the non-Western elites, would lead anti-imperialist rallies in order to retrieve their dignity and independence.
Chapter Objective: Through this blog, I hope to further define and explain what new imperialism was during the nineteenth century and to retain this information that I am sharing with you so I can be better prepared for the upcoming exam.
Essential Question: What was new imperialism and what were its consequences?
Answer: New imperialism happened in the late nineteenth century when the drive by European countries was to create vast political empires abroad. Its consequences were: new tensions among competing European states, wars/threats of war, placements of blacks, yellows, and browns under the authority of the whites.

Political Cartoon #1



Depiction: Each man tugging on Africa symbolizes a different country. Notice how each man matches the description/identity of an important person from that country. For example King Leopold represents those from Belgium who want part of Africa and the Dutch Afrikaners who reside in the Cape Colony in Southern Africa that are trying to keep their portion of Africa away from the other countries.
Artist Opinion: The picture above shows what the African continent looked like, political wise, before 1880. The scramble for African territory reflected a conflict concerning military bases for certain purposes and the exercise of power.
My Response to it: I think that it is a great representation of the situation as in the end, Africa is divided into eight different categories owned by eight different countries.

Political Cartoon #2

Depiction: This political cartoon is depicting England and the strong imperialistic goals it had. England gained India and Cape Town in South Africa from its efforts.
Artist Opinion: England wanted to have empires over the majority of Europe, as seen above by the many hands of the man in the cartoon reaching out to its surrounding lands.
My Response: I feel that the artist is in some way making fun of England because the man representing England is an octopus with a large clown-like head structure with hair bulging from the sides of his hat.

Current Political Cartoon, US Imperialism



















Depiction:This cartoon shows that imperialism is supposed to be beneficial to others but consequently, it is causing war. The man's enlarged stomach depicts the United State's attemt to expand.
Artist Opinion: By the sly yet devious look on the man's face, I can conclude that the artist believes that the actions pertaining to imperialism are not beneficial but actually evil and harmful to society.
My Response: I do not enjoy looking at this cartoon because without the tophat reading 'imperialism' I would think that the artist is saying a pregnant person births a child which results in war. The enlarged stomach automatically makes me think of a pregnant person which is why I have that thought in my mind.

Do I think that the US is/has been imperialistic?
Yes, I believe that we have been imperialistic back then and even today in this era we live in. During the nineteenth century, the US attempted to expand and ultimately obtain control over Japan but consequently, the Japanese sign treaties which end up opening two ports.

Cons
1) Tried to follow alongside the previous efforts of the Europeans
2) Imperialism doesn't lead to democracy
3) It sparked wars and it costed many lives as well as money which payed for the wars to be initiated

Pros
1) new cultures
2) annexation/Control of Hawaii and Philippines
3)Iraq Intervention in attempt to create a democracy

2 US Events
Annexation of Hawaii
  Hawaii and the United States established a treaty that would allow Hawaiian sugar to be sold in the US. Hawaii leased Pearl Harbor to the United States. In 1893, Sanford B. Dole, a pineapple planter, removed Queen Liliuokalani from the throne. He declared Hawaii a republic and made it clear that he wanted it to be annexed by the United States. President William McKinley approved this annexation of Hawaii. He thought that gaining Hawaii was another manifest destiny. Congress in 1898 approved  the US annexing Hawaii since the navy needed a naval base to protect the country's trade. This event connects across continents since the US was gaining land and ultimately becoming imperialistic, like Europe, by using its  power. Europe was dominating Africa and the US wanted to more land, just like the Europeans.

Open Door Policy
   Secretary John Hay, under President William McKinley, introduced the idea of the Open Door Policy 1899. It allowed countries to trade equally with one another. The US thought that European countries were taking over areas of the world, including: Africa. The US did not want to have to go to war fighting for the territory. The Open Door Policy was a better and more efficient way to do so. This event can be connected across continents since it not only affected the United States in trade, but also affected other countries such as Britain, Germany, Russia and Japan. It opened up much of the trade in these countries stated above.

Uprising in European Colony
The Great Rebellion was an uprising in the European colony that was a result of when Britain gained control of India and the goals of the British had in turn affected the Indians. By definition, te Great Rebellion was the 1857 and 1858 insurrection by Muslim and Hindu mercenaries in the British army that spread throughout northern and central India before finally being crushed. Both the Muslims and the Hindus were insulted by the Lee-Enfield rifle techniques and revolted against eachother. The mutiny was broken up by the British which was one of the first steps toward Indian independence from British authority.

Current Uprising in the World
The Arab Spring is a term for the revolutionary wave of demonstrations and protest involving riots, and civil wars in the Arab community which began on 18 December 2010. Many of the Arab Spring demonstrations have been met with violent responses from the authorities. A major slogan of the demonstrators in the Arab community has been "the people want to bring down the regime". The cause for this uprising was the dissatisfaction with the rule of local governments. So far it has been successful through efforts such as social media, strikes, demonstrations, marches, and rallies.

Spotlight On
Suez Canal
As of 1962, Egypt had full control of the Suez Canal. It is in turn operated by the Suez Canal Authority. The canal starts at Point Said in the Mediterranean Sea and eventually ends at Suez at the Gulf of the Suez. The canal runs from north to south. The canal then separates the African continent from Asia. It is not large enough for two ships to pass side by side. There is one shipping lane and more than one passing lanes. It is one of the world's most used waterways and its significant for trade. The canal is considered a checkpoint since it can be blocked easily and disrupt trade.

3.2.1. Summary
I learned:
-The Suez Canal is operated by the Suez Canal Authority
-John Jay created the Open Door Policies
-England sought to have several empires across Europe
I was interested in:
-The fact that the Suez Canal is not wide enough to be considered identical to a typical highway or road
-How social media aided in the uprisings of the Arab Spring
1 Question I still have:
-Is the Arab Spring conflict going to last several years from now?

Sunday, February 16, 2014

Ideologies and Upheavals (Chapter 22)

My second blog entails information about the Ideologies and Upheavals marked in Chapter 22 which were created from the Industrial Revolution in England years beforehand. I would like to call this masterpiece, A Sudden Disruption to describe the changing ideologies in 1815-1850. Factors of the disruption include the fusing of economics and politics. Historian Eric Hobsbawn called this period a dual revolution to portray the growth of the industrial middle class' demands for representative government and the demands of the French Sans-culottes which inspired socialist thinkers. Those who could defend their priviledges were able to do so through nationalism in order to respond to the dual revolution. As a result, liberalism, nationalism, and socialism became three ideologies of change in politics. These concepts were significant in the political and social battles fought in the revolutions of 1848 in Europe.
Objective: Explain how romanticism was also a key factor in terms of intellectual change.
Essential Question: What was the factor in which reflected change in literature, art, and music? What were the tenets of that factor?
Essential Question Answer: The exuberance of Romanticism was reflected in literature, art and music during this time. Romanticism was a movement at its height from about 1790 to the 1840s that was in part a revolt against classicism and the Enlightenment, characterized by a belief in emotional exuberance, unrestrained imagination, and spontaneity in both art and personal life. Romantics stressed individualism and rejected materialism. They also used nature as a source of inspiration.

Individuals in Society: Germaine de Stael
This woman was one who urged the French to turn away from classicism and go to romanticism. She was also known as Madame de Stael who was a French woman. She wrote letters with a Swiss origin whose lifetime overlapped with the events of the French Revolution and the events of the Napoleonic era. She was one of Napoleon's main opponents. She was remembered for her conversational eloquence/mannerisms and she participated actively in the political and intellectual life of her times. Her critical and fictional works were set on the history of European Romanticism. She rejected materialism like all romantics did and she also stressed individualism and used nature as inspiration.
 
Individuals in Society: William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth 001.jpg
He was a major English romantic poet who helped launch the Romantic Age in English literature. He was influenced by Rousseau and also the spirit of the French Revolution. He rejected materialism and classical rules of poetry as his works focus on the power of nature to inform and create. His most famous piece is a credo called Daffodils. He lived up until 1850.
 
Individuals in Society: Karl Marx
 
 Karl Marx 001.jpg
Karl Marx was a German philosopher, sociologist, economist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He saw all of the history from the past as an economic class struggle as a whole. He also characterized the indsutrial society by the exploitation of the proletariat by the middle class. He thought that the future would bring out violent revolutions by those workers. He stood up for those workers by arguing that profits were stolen from the wages of the workers. His is well known for his piece the Communist Manifesto from 1848.
 
US EVENT: Romantic American writer Washington Irving
Romanticism was an artistic, literary, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe toward the end of the 18th century and in most areas was at its peak in the period from 1800 to 1840. Partly a reaction to the Industrial Revolution, it was also a revolt against social and political norms of the Age of Enlightenment and a reaction against the scientific rationalization of nature. Washington Irving was an American author who composed a collection of stories that became The Sketch Book (1819). This book is one which included Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. In terms of romanticism across the condinents, it was practiced and believed in the same way with the rejection of materialism and the inspiration with nature.
 
US EVENTS: American Economy is affected by the Great Famine
 
In 1845-1846, the potato crop failed in Ireland causing the Great Famine as blight attacked young plants and many rotted. Irish emigration to the United States during the Great famine in Ireland was substantial and had a long lasting impact on the economy of the United States. In 1990, 44 million Americans claimed to be Irish. Many of these citizens can trace their ancestry to the Great Famine from 1845-1852 when 300 Irish set off daily in New York. The key situation affected by this emigration was the laborer force. This rise in population also helped decide the outcome of the Civil War. The Irish emigrants who found that their way to the South during the Great Famine saw the situation between North and South like their previous situation between Ireland and Great Britain where they had felt exploited because there was free trade between Ireland and Britain.

Picturing the Past

Created by Caspar David Friedrich and titled, Monasery Graveyard in the Snow, depicts an anti-Enlightenment ideology. Friedrich was famous for his romantic style artwork and his ability to create landscapes often set in the wintery season. It is believed that it portrays his emotional response to the natural world. With the monastery ruins and bleak atmosphere of the setting, the piece may embody a deaper meaning. Friedrich may be trying to prove that society has forgotten the past because everything is dead and bare with the tombstones and gnarled tree limbs.

Analyze- What emotions does this painting arouse?

Connections- What is the artists' attitude towards the past?

Summary
3 Things That I Learned
   -Romantics rejected materialism
   -Romantic artists wore their hair long and uncombed since they rejected materialism
   -Eric Hobsbawm coined the term dual revolution to describe the time period

2 Things that Interested Me
   -The traditional elites were considered the monarchs, nobile landowners, and the bureaucrats
   -The laboring poor inspired socialist thinkers

1 Question I Still Have
   -How does somebody come up with a term called laissez faire?

Energy Within Industry (chapter 21)

In what you're about to read, will be the first finished blog I have ever created. I have decided to call it: Energy Within Industry. Not only does it tie into chapter 21, The Revolution in Energy and Industry, but it also explains my motivation while typing this blog. With hard work comes/creates a new energy inside of me from attempting something new. Chapter 21 speaks about the newly introduced Industrial Revolution which began in Great Britain in the 1780's. This revolution influenced the social class structure, opinions on that structure, the patterns of work, and balance of political power. As a result, poverty was reduced and every social class was presented with the opportunity to gain a higher standard of living. However, the complication concerning such improvement was identified when the population increased dramatically which in time threatened the growth in production which would leave individuals without product.
My objective of this blog is to provide information on how transformation into the revolution in energy and industry became introdced to the community during 1780-1850.
Essential Question: What was the industrial revolution and what did kinds of inventions did it initiate during this time period?
Essential Question Answer: The Industrial Revolution was a term first coined in the 1830s to describe the burst of major inventions and economic expansion that took place in certain industries, such as cotton textiles and iron. It initiated/resulted in the creation of the spinning jenny, water frame, steam engine, George Stephenson's Rocket locomotive, and the many economic atcs passed.

Individuals in Society: James Hargreaves
In 1765, James Hargreaves invented a simple hand-powered spinning apparatus which was an inexpensive piece of machinery also known as a spinning jenny. This invention sparked an infant cotton textile industry during this time period. By 1790, cotton yarn had been produced ten times more than it had been made in 1770.
As a weaver, carpender, and inventor in Lancashire, England, he became one of three inventors responsible for mechanising spinning. In particular, Hargreaves' invention is said to have came from the inventor seeing a one-thread wheel overturned upon the floor. He noticed that if several spindles were placed upright and lateral towards each other, then several threads couldbe spun at one time. Unfortunatly, it was unable to produce yarn with a sufficient quality for the warp. The higher quality warp was later fixated by Richard Arkwright's spinning frame which used waterpower to operate.
In terms of improvement, these inventions sparked a low cost for cotton which enabled cotton to be the most treasured item for any social class and not just the wealthier classes. Now, memebers of the lower class could wear clean undergarments.

Individuals in Society: Josiah Wedgwood

Wedgwood's primary goal was to astonish the world with his master potter skills. He was the 12th child to be born in Staffordshire in the English Midlands in a family whose father's profession consisted of being a potter. Wedgwood followed in his father's footsteps and became the manager of a small pottery and began experimenting with his newly acquired knowledge in chemistry concerning firing conditions and glaze chemicals. After opening his own factory, he produced teapots and tableware along with unique glazes. With this, he was able to substantially contribute to the factory system development. He had two hundred workers within several different departments. "Wedgwood exercised tremendous control over his workforce, imposing fines for many infractions, such as being late, drinking on the job, or wasting material... Also recognized the value in treating workers well" (663). With this, he was able to create a well organized labor force that could handle his discipline in order to meet production requirement goals.

Individuals in Society: Thomas Malthus

Thomas Malthus was an English cleric and scholar, influential in the fields of demography and political economy. Malthus became famously known for his theories concerning change in population which he set forth in his influential Essay on the Principle of Population in 1798. "There are few states in which there is not a constant effort in the population to increase beyond the means of subsistence. This constant effort as constantly tends to subject the lower classes of society to distress, and to prevent any great permanent melioration of these conditions" (664). In other words, population grew much faster than the food supply available. Although he did not believe it to work out properly, he knew that the only way that to avoid rapid population growth was to marry late in life. As a result, economics was titled the dismal science.

US EVENT

Novemeber 1808: James Madison is elected President of the United States. James Madison won the elction handily against the other candidate. During his first term, he was occupied by disputes with France, Spain and most importantly, Great Britain. Great Britain lies off the north-western coast of continental Europe and stands as the largest island in Europe. As tensions continue to build with Great Britain, Madison asked for and received a declaration of war against Great Britain in June of 1812.

US EVENT
War of 1812 Montage.jpg
War of 1812 with Britain.

This war was between the United States and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. This 32-month conflict began when the US declared war due to trade restrictions, the impressment of American merchant sailors, outrage over insults to national honor, and British support of American Indian tribes. This war was fought in three different settings: the sea, land and naval battles on American Canadian frontier, and the merican South and Gulf Coast. At the conclusion of the war, both sides signed the Treaty of Ghent which stated that the war of 1812 was over and that it restored relations between the two nations.

Picturing the Past
The Dinner Hour, Wigan, 1874 (oil on canvas)
THE DINNER HOUR- This oil on canvas piece created in 1874 symbolizes life in the Industrial Revolution. It is a depiction of northern England women textile workers while they are on their break. It is clear that this day was indeed a working day due to the smoke coming from the chimney in the background. Take into consideration that the majority of these women are young, unmarried (probably), and have in their possession something of need like a water tin or lunch basket.

Analyze: How would you characterize the economic conditions of these young women? What aspects of their clothing symbolizes poverty or wealth?

Connections: Why do you think there are only women depicted in this piece? Since these women get a lunch break, do you think their working conditions are fair?

Summary
3 Things I learned
   -The war of 1812 lasted for 32 months
   -Josiah Wedgwood created a well organized labor force that could handle his discipline in order to meet production requirement goals
   -How to create a blog online

2 Things that Interested Me
   -The capibilities/advantages of having a blog
   -Josiah Wedgwood shares the same interests as me in terms of pottery and glazes. I have been in a pottery class at the high school for four years

1 Question I Still Have
   -What does dismal science mean? Thomas Malthus' actions caused economics to be called a dismal science