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Homework 4/28

WWI began as mostly a European war, but soon it spread. It eventually got all corners of the world involved, including India, Africa, Japan, and the US. For this reason we can say that it was a global war, because of the vast amount of countries that took part, even though the center of conflict was with Europe. 

Most Asians fought for the Allies because either they were forced to due to being under imperial European powers, or they had their own interests. For example, India joined the Allies because of the British influence on the Indian rulers. China joined the Allies because they wanted Britain to defend them from Japan's aggression. So while Asians mostly fought for the Allies, they were not all happy about it. 

Homework 4/14

Map:

Why is Russia so massive? And why did they never try to imperialize on other continents like other powers did?

How did Britain gain the upperhand in the most imperialized lands?

Did Japan never imperialize? How did China keep out foreigners?

Pg 913

Kipling uses diminishing adjectives to describe the native peoples, such as "captives", "silent" and "sullen". Meanwhile, he uses "patience" "goal", "peace", "better", and "guard" in describing the actions the Europeans took. This language conveys his sense of white supremacy because he believes that the Europeans are better and stronger than all the rest. He believes that the natives are weak and bitter, but need the Europeans help to save them. He describes that "saving" the native peoples will be a thankless job for the noble Europeans, but it is their duty. This conveys white supremacy because he believes no other race is as honorable as they are.

Homework 4/13

In my political cartoon a man happily walks through with a hat, sunglasses and carrying two suitcases. In the background there are two small houses, with two men out front with angry expressions on their faces. Their feet are chained to the ground, while the man up front walks around freely and happily. They watch him in anger. 

This picture represents the capitulation treaties in the Ottoman Empire. The sultans signed these treaties because they did not want to bother administering justice over foreign merchants. So, this allowed European visitors to be exempt from Ottoman law. It made many Ottoman citizens angry, and eventually the practice was discarded. In my cartoon, the happy man up front is the European tourist while the other angry men in the background are chained to the ground because they are bound by the law while the European is not. 

Homework 3/30

Niall Ferguson's Ted Talk '6 Killer Apps of Prosperity' was very clear and informative. He explained the reasons for the rise of Western civilization and explained why it is coming to an end. I thought he made some very good points, for example his point about competition and how the Europeans endorsed competition in the market and among corporations and this improved their society, while China endorsed conformity by making all applicants for the government take one difficult test. One thing he said that was most interesting to me was that he doesn't think the Western Civilization will fall just because "it is the pattern of history". This is an interesting viewpoint as so many historians have predicted it is inevitable. I thought this talk was also very relevant to this class because everything he discussed we are learning about in class. For example the Ottomans destroying the telescope they had made, it helped his point and it was something we had talked about in class. 

Anatomy of Revolution

Step 1- Causes. Revolution is caused when a middle class feels a sense of injustice and is unable to be heard in the government. They begin to form intellectual groups, and often the government itself is weak or disunited.

Step 2- first stage. The first stage brings two groups directly in clear opposition, and the government is unable to effectively put a stop to it.

Step 3- second stage. The moderate revolutionaries and the radical revolutionaires clash. The radicals almost always win because they are disciplined, well-organized, and fanatical. 

Step 4- final stage. Eventually the radicals disappear and a new dictator comes back into place. People return to their normal lives.

Pocketmap Islam

Homework 3/1

Columbus has his own holiday because he supposedly "discovered" the New World. Kids are taught this from the very first years of elementary school. His discovery led to an opening up of exploration to the New World, which later led to colonizations and settlements, and the formation of a new country. But although this all seems grand and fine, Columbus does not really deserve his own holiday. He was not the only explorer to reach these waters nor the first. It is a well-known fact that the Vikings reached America before him, and though they did not colonize it, they still "discovered" it. I put "discover" in quotes because there were already civilizations living there, and really what Columbus did was create a metaphorical bridge between the two halves of the world. But he himself wasn't really all that grand. He thought he landed in Asia, and never actually admitted he made a mistake. What's more, he brought smallpox and disease to the Native Americans and wiped out more than 15% of their population. Maybe we should reconsider it and call it "Explorers Day" in honor of all the other exporers of this time. The Vikings, Magellan, Prince Henry the Navigator, etc. 

Homework 2/26

No, I do not buy Menzie's argument that Zheng He's fleet made it to America before Colombus. He has a good-sounding theory but no real evidence. A huge part of Menzies' argument is that Nicollo Dicontti passed on Chinese maps to the Europeans. When there is a statue of Zheng He next to an unknown foreigner, Minzies automatically jumps to the conclusion that the unknown foreigner is Nicollo Dicontti. He also takes the fact that Zheng He's ship travels 40 knots, and makes it so that the 40 knots takes the ships to the African cape where he wants it. He uses many ideas about sea charts and fits them into his theory. He believes we must accept this theory because he is a former marine and assumes we wouldn't know any better about sea routes and winds. I think he finds a few interesting ideas to support his thesis, but none of them seem to be cold-hard evidence, which is what historians will need to accept his argument. 

Homework 2/13

1. Aztecs learned urban tradition in the valley of Mexico

2. Aztecs were "barbarian"

3. Aztecs went on a pilgrimage

1. Nobles did the warfare, individuals sacrificed on battlefields were nobles

2. The Aztec Empire was a tribute empire

1. Did anyone rebel/complain against the high levels of human sacrifice?

Homework 2/10

What are the five examples of proof that Aquinas gives to prove the existence of God?

1. Everything on earth changes and moves as a result of something else; therefore the first mover must be powerful and does not need anything to move IT. This force is God.

2. Everything is a cause and effect chain- the ultimate first cause, before everything else, is God.

3. There must be something that exists first because of itself, this is God.

4. For one thing there is always something better than the first. So there must be something that is "truest, and best, and most noble, and in consequence, the greatest being". This greatest being would be God.

5. Natural things, lacking reason, move because of a purpose of a greater power, not by chance. This greater power is God.

Post-Classical Africa

Homework 1/28

No i would not like to learn history verbally like the griots in Africa. First of all i am not an auditory learner, or at least if i learn the material i will forget it the next week. The way I like to learn history and remember it is visually and interactively. For example, making a timeline helped me visualize the progress of the classical societies, and the Mongol Trial really helped us to learn about the Mongols. Second of all, the griots had to learn to memorize eveything, and even though there are methods of memorizing effectively, I do not believe my brain has enough space to hold all of that information.

Mongol Trial

Today was the second day of the Mongol trial. It went well for the prosecution. I was the first witness to be called up today, and although I got my main point across, I did not say everything I wanted to say. Nathan cross-examined me, and I thought he was going to ask me about how the Persian shah beheaded Ghengis Khan's messenger, but he did not. Instead he insisted that the Mongols helped the Persians by improving their trade, but I stuck to my statement that the Mongols did not help the Persians, they annihilated them. 

Mongol Trial Progress6

Today is the first day of the trial. Prosecution went first, and we did very well. We had a strong opening statement from Shivesh. Additionally, I thought that the defense's opening statement was weak. They basically just denied all the murders and crimes they committed, which is historically inaccurate.  Our witnesses held strong against the defense cross-examiners. I did not have time to go. One thing I did notice was that the defense hid behind their definitions, such as "define genocide. Did we wipe out the entire Chinese race? No we didn't, so we did not commit genocide." When I am being questioned tomorrow I will try to find a way to make this backfire on them, and prove that the Mongols did, in fact, commit genocide.

Mongol Trial Progress5

On Sunday, I wrote down all of my information that I would need on an index card. i posted my backstory as a witness on the google doc so that the lawyers could read it and come up with questions. Maya came up with questions for me that she will ask me, and i will be ready to answer them. 

Mongol Trial Progress4

Today I thought some more about my backstory for my witness. I wrote some ideas down that I will have prepared for Monday.

Mongol Trial Progress3

Today in class I talked to Maya, the laywer who is going to be questioning me as a witness, and described to her my story and why The mongol invasion of Persia was so awful. We talked about what the defense side might ask us and came up with answers to potential questions. Tonight I researched more about the actual invasian of Persia and learned what city the conflict took place in. I will use these notes on my index card and describe the seige of the city of Otrar.

Mongol Trial Progress2

Today in class we only met with our groups for about 5 minutes but i decided to change my role as a witness from a Chinese peasant to a Persian citizen. This is because i read about Ghengis Khan's interaction with Persia in my textbook last night and found it more interesting. So today at home I watched a BBC documentary on Ghengis Khan and took notes on the awful things he did. This way I can prepare my story as a witness and explain why the khwarazm shah hated the Mongols, and create a backstory of how my character's life was destroyed by Ghengis khan's revenge.

Mongal Trial Progress1

Today in class we assigned each other roles and I volunteered to be a witness. I chose the role of the peasant. Today at home I read and took notes on most of Chapter 18 in order to prepare for the trial. I paid particular attention to the sections where it talked about Mongol crimes against other races because we will use that information for our prosecution. I looked for sections about the peasants of the Xi Xia, Jin, Song, and Yuan Dynasties because that was who I was supposed to be.