Ch. 23

When it comes to Barbie dolls, Iranian toy seller Masoumela Rahimi thinks they are worst than America's missiles. "Barbie's revealing clothing, her shapely appearance, and her close association with Ken, her longtime unmarried companion, were foreign to Iran's culture". Barbie is a very influential icon in American culture and for decades, children have idolize and wanted to have that kind of lavish lifestyle. But Rahimi is right, Barbie is a bad influence on the West because she is a symbol for have materialistic things, and brainwashes people to strive for materialistic things as well. In today's society we are so obsessed with goals of this nature that we have become trapped in an on going cycle of wanting to have a glamorous life. We should start focusing more on the things that truly matter and produce a produce a symbol for that.

Ch. 21

Today's communism was a product of the teachings of Karl Marx. Back in the earlier twentieth century, European socialist believe that goals could be accomplished with peace and democracy. On the other hand, people who thought that revolution was the only way to a "socialist future" were known as communist. The first country to try this rationalized idea was the Soviet Union. In their time, the Soviet Union was the world's largest country in size. The Soviet's were apart of a lot of controversy during the twentieth century. When the Japanese were defeated in World War 2, all of their Korean colonies fell under the Soviet's communist control. Fidel Castro became a communist and allied Cuba with the Soviets which in turn gave the Soviet's an enormous amount of military support. In an organization called Comintern, the Soviet Union theoretically controlled its policies and actions. The Treaty of Friendship combined Chinese and Soviet Union forces that frighten the West, but the treaty would be tarnished, and China and the Soviet's almost went to war in the 1960s.

Ch. 19

As Europe was growing with all its overseas empires, other countries wanted to mimic their kind of success. One country who tried to expand as the Europeans did was China. China failed to grow like Europe and cause itself to have a huge peasant population, smaller farms, unemployment, impoverishment, misery, and starvation. China's failed attempt to evolve with its growing population caused it to not preform functions like tax collection, flood control, social welfare, and public security. This is a very big issue, if you can't provide for a community, eventually they will self-implode. Peasant rebellions lead by Hong Xiuquan called for a total reformation of China. His acts influenced "abolition of private property, a radical redistribution of land, the end of prostitution and opium smoking, and sexually segregated military camps of men and women". With Hong, China was becoming an industrial nation. With demands that help the community at large.

Ch. 16

"Many parts of the world witnessed political and social upheaval, leading some historians to thinks in terms of a "world crisis" or converging revolutions". The world during this time was going through major changes. Arabia was on the brink of taking control of the Ottoman Empire. Peasants of the Russia empire were uprising against them. There were Islamic revolutions taking place in West Africa, while in South Africa, what is known as mfecane caused violent outbreaks that created new states and societies. But the biggest impact on the world during this time were the Atlantic Revolutions. For one, war was costly which troubled imperial Europeans states. In a political stand point, popular sovereignty was taking over. Instead of having God govern the people, the people had the authority to govern themselves. The last distinctive attribute of the Atlantic Recolutions was the monumental global impact it had. Countries were starting to abolish slavery, "extend the right to vote, to develop constitutions, and to secure greater equality for women". All of these features help plant a seed for global change that would help diversify the world, a place where everyone can be somewhat accepted.

Ch. 14

As European conquest grew to new heights, they discovered a commerce system reigning from East Africa to China. The main product on the market was Tropical Spices. Spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg, mace, cloves, and pepper were used as preservatives. Other products such as silk, cotton, rhubarb, emeralds, rubies, and sapphires were also in high demand. But unfortunately for the Europeans, there were some problem for trade. First was that Muslims had their hands on most of the goods that they wanted. Another problem was, how were they going to pay for these Eastern goods. Europe also different have any trading valve appealing enough for the Asian markets. So how could Europe compete with a trade dominate world? Well the Portuguese learned that most of merchant ships in the Indian Ocean weren't heavily armed, and since the Chinese fleet withdrew from the Indian Ocean, the Portugese saw their opportunity to raid the merchant ships. Even if Europe hadn't caught up in an economical stand point, they sure did caught up in naval technology, and warfare.

Ch. 13

European conquest truly began in the early modern era, when it was considered to be known as "Age of Empire". Europe thought globally instead of expanding in already known regions and decided to claim unknown charters. The Spanish had their sights on the Caribbean to build their empire. Portuguese settlers took over the coast of Brazil. And lastly British, French, and Dutch sailied to the eastern coast of North America. This type of expansion was a huge power surge for European because it gave them more global control. Unlike any other country, Europeans were proficient in mapmaking, navigation, sailing techniques, and ship design, this helped them to dominate the Altantic Ocean. Their motivation knew no bound. Poor nobles and commoners found a chance to gaining wealth and status in the North American colonies. Missionaries were focused on spreading Christianity throughout the new inhabitant lands. And unfortunately European diseases and germs helped them in the Americas. There diseases caused many Native Americans to get sick and eventually die off.

Chpt. 22

For the most of modern history, Africa and Asia had fallen victim to European rule. Europe even today is still has its mark on these societies giving the fact that they have influenced most of common history, but during the 19th and 20th century Africa and Asia finally said enough and decided to become independent and less reliant on European control. Thanks to the United States revolt to British rule and the world wars, this help give both continents the heart to finally fight for their own independence. As they finally achieved independence, European rule over the rest of the world started to loosen and they became somewhat weak in the world of that time. "The enormously powerful force of nationalism, having earlier driven the process of European empire building, now played a major role in its disintegration. Colonial rule, in this argument, dug its own grave". It seems as the world was changing drastically especially after both world wars, so was the way the world thought politically and economically. For democracy was the popular form of government and not the shallow nationalism of the older eras.

Chapt. 20

Thought the years the worlds populations has steadily increased. And with that comes the demands of many things such as food, resources, clothing, etc. And the people of today are running out of these things. Back in the twentieth century we hit a very important boom as far as technology, and modernization, not just it one part of the world but worldwide. One of the biggest booms was both World Wars. The amount of causalities that were lost on all sides, plus the toll that our planet took was monumental and still being felt in today. Also another big factor was the uprising of superpowers in the world. Both the Soviet Union and the United States had become the "Britain" in the world. Some believe that we are in the modern era, and others think that we are in an era know as Anthropocene which is "the age of man". The reason behind this is that we are creating the biggest mark on the world thus far but also changing the earth geological, atmospheric, and biological history. Now the question arises: Are we going to destroy the planet to the point of no return in this century?

Chpt. 20

Thought the years the worlds populations has steadily increased. And with that comes the demands of many things such as food, resources, clothing, etc. And the people of today are running out of these things. Back in the twentieth century we hit a very important boom as far as technology, and modernization, not just it one part of the world but worldwide. One of the biggest booms was both World Wars. The amount of causalities that were lost on all sides, plus the toll that our planet took was monumental and still being felt in today. Also another big factor was the uprising of superpowers in the world. Both the Soviet Union and the United States had become the "Britain" in the world. Some believe that we are in the modern era, and others think that we are in an era know as Anthropocene which is "the age of man". The reason behind this is that we are creating the biggest mark on the world thus far but also changing the earth geological, atmospheric, and biological history. Now the question arises: Are we going to destroy the planet to the point of no return in this century?

Pg. 879-912

Though the Industrial Revolution, Europe became the sole power of the world. During the times of the 19th century Europe tried to colonize the rest of the world. With there imperialism they tried to solve the problems of "class conflicts of an industrialized society". Imperialism to the Europeans seemed necessary for political and economic grounds. Through the eyes themselves to be the civilized, and other nations heathen. This kind of thinking brewed arrogance and a new form of racial thinking. During this time, scientist conducted studies of the size and shape of the human skull, say that "whites were larger and therefore more advanced". This view meant that white"s were the cream of the crop and other were below them. Throughout this time to Europe was determined to colonized other nations to. With their military prowess, no one really could do anything about and so, a lot of nations submitted to there ways of Christianity, work discipline, education, clothing, and health care views.

Thrift 1875

Living in England during the industrial Revolution was like living in the golden age. Where everything flowed in abundance and the was little worries... well at least for the wealthy at least. Even though they were living like kings, England still had a problem with the enormous mass of poverty. The work of the lower class was miserable and dangerous. There was a huge gap between "the Haves and the Haves-nots"(Strayer). To the poor money was considered to be the ruler of everything, and the poor would only work from paycheck to paycheck and not worry about a future plan. They would "live in the moment", and were considered to act like a savage tribe. To some they believed that the problems with society reflected all upon the problems of the individual. And the only way to break that mold was to have "more extended knowledge of the uses of economy, frugality, and thrift will help them to spend their lives more soberly, virtuously, and religiously"(Strayer).

Pg 827-861

The Industrial Revolution was a key time in the world's history. It was the turning point for the world to branch off ideologies and practices from old custom's and start anew so to speak. For some people like Great Britain it was good for the wealth it produced and also for the power it brought along with it. Others thought it to be the destruction of mankind. With its birth, the population of the world went up by an estimate of 700 million people. With the replacement of renewable energy like wind, water, and muscle power of people and animals, we decided to use things like coal, oil, and natural gas which were better for greater quantities of energy. Even with these amazing new resources of energy, this took a toll on our planets health, industrial waste was emptied into rivers making them a hazard to one's health, the smoke from coal would pollute the air that caused a spike in respiratory illness. The first to become an industrial society was the British. With there new found textile industries, the British had dramatically increased there use of both cotton, and coal in the 19th century. This revolution "was enormously painful, even traumatic process, full of social conflict, insecurity, and false starts as well as new opportunities, and eventually higher standard of living, and greater participation in public life" (Strayer). For citizen of this society they had never dealt with such a change in their life and it doesn't surprise me that they were furious at the changes that were going on during this time. Another thing that was horrific about this time was how the poor where treated. The poor class would work long hours, for low wages, and even child labor was acceptable in the community. It wasn't long until the Industrial Revolution spread to other countries like Russia, and the United States. For the U.S. this is exactly what they were waiting for, with their "country's huge size, the ready availability of natural resources, its expanding domestic market, and its relative political stability combined to make the United States the world's leading industrial power" (Strayer). The U.S. was the golden child for the revolution because while this was going on there were still expanding at the same time. For the Russian it took them a longer time to get accustom to this new way of living. Russia believed that the use of serfdom was incompatible with modern civilization and the crippled the county's development overall. So for the people who migrated from rural arenas, it was rough for them as one observer said "people live in impossible condition: filth, stench, suffocating heat" (Strayer).

Echoes of Revolution

The Atlantic Revolutions were the spawn to many ideals within Europe after the impact that each of them had. One of the biggest ideals that Europe really took a matter into was the abolition of slavery. For the most part, slavery was considered a "violation of the natural rights of every person", and that it was economically inadequate. The British were the first to really take a stand to this problem, since during that day in age they were the leading military power, the Brits used there naval fleets to patrol and liberated any slaves that were being taken on slave ships in the West African settlements known as Freetown. Take noticed to what the British were doing, countries like Russia, most Latin American countries, and Brazil abolished slavery in the 19th century. By the start of the 20th century the only country that still practiced slavery was our own. The United States was the only place where it took a very devastating civil war to finally liberate slaves. But even after slaves got there freedom, most didn't have a dramatic change to there lives. They were still poor and rarely didn't receive land. Only in places like Haiti and Jamaica were there distribution of land to former slaves. The second ideal that the revolutions produced was the creation of nations around the world. The French Revolution stood for letting the "the people" have the power, and its government would equip them to defend there "French nation" from any enemies that they have. The idea of a nation was to live off older cultural identities, historical experiences, and collective memories of earlier cultures. The French and Americas saw what we call nationalism as stepping stone to a more extensive involvement in politics. This involvement had another purpose known as civic nationalism, this meant that a cluster of different people of various religious, and cultural backgrounds could transform into a dominant nation. The last ideals that spurred from the revolutions was the beginning of feminism. Feminism was never more organized until the aftermath of the Atlantic Revolutions. Women formed groups to battle for social, economical, and political justice. Women wanted to learn and go to school and provide for the families in a manner that only the men at that time could do in most countries. One group of women protesters known as the British Women's Social and Political Union started a campaign of violence where they destroyed railroads, and smashing windows. Eventually, women who were of the upper-middle class would gain the chance to go to universities. In Britain, women had hugely began being attracted to nursing, and in the U.S. social work became the "female-dominated profession".

Feb 2

As science was on the up rising to be considered a "new religion" to some people during the scientific revolution, Christianity was steadily on the decline in the West. Places like North America, and even Europe were victimized by "an increasingly godless West". People in the west started to be more materialistic to which is still plaguing our societies today. Martin Luther came to realization that our connection to God and where ones soul goes after they have died is purely basis off faith and through faith alone. He states that faith is "Neither the good works of the sinner nor the sacraments of the Church had any bearing on the eternal destiny of the soul, for faith was a free gift of God". Your faith means more to God than all the worldly possession that you own. Luther realized that faith is the only  thing that matters to God when judging a soul's final destination.

Chapter 14

During the Atlantic slave trade everyone was impacted either for better or for worse. Europeans were profiting well at this time. The majority of Africa was the target of slavery as "12.5 million Africans" where enslaved and brought to the Americas. But Africans in many helped diversify North America as they helped influence different parts of the new world such as "religious ideas, musical and artistic traditions, and cuisine.

WH 2

Yay- I'm done!