WW Ch 22 & 23

“Decolonization signaled the declining legitimacy of both empire and race as a credible basis for political or social life. It promised not only national freedom but also personal dignity, abundance, and opportunity.”(1088) Have national freedom really given all peoples’ these things? There are still many nations that are fighting for freedoms.

“Conjuncture…at the international level, the world wars had weakened Europe, while discrediting any sense of European moral superiority. Both the United Sates and the Soviet Union the new global super-powers, generally opposed the older European colonial empires, even as they created empire-like international relationships of the own.”(1091)Are the new empires (political structures) better than before? Maybe for some however there are nations still struggling for stability in current unstable economic times.

Independence comes with responsibilities that peoples of these new nations struggled with, identifying who they were, their culture, political structure and what are their economic resources in order to establish themselves as a viable nation is taking time for some nations.  

Two famous leaders emerged from these new nations, both of these men believed in non-violent reform of their nations and established movements to unify the nation yet both nations were divided even further. In India – Mahatma Ghandi made an impact on the nation for a peaceful Hindi ways of living yet faced opposition from the Muslim believers. The effect was the division of the nation into Muslim Pakistan and Hindu India. And in Africa – Nelson Mandela serviced time in prison for his attempts to unify the nation, was released from prison after twenty-seven years and became President of his nation. Africa also became divided by “race, ethnicity, and ideology that generated dissension and sometimes violence. “(1101)

“suffering is a common and bedrock human experience …derived from our own actions in the shape of war, racism, patriarchy, exploitation, inequality, expression and neglect. Is it possible that some exposure to the staggering sum of human suffering revealed in the historical records can soften our hearts, fostering compassion for our own suffering and for that of others?” (1170)

Let’s hope so. 

                                                        Cause and Effects of Actions

WW Ch 20 & 21

The most recent Century is filled with significant conflicts which had long-term effects. The long-term outcomes of WWI are;

 1) It caused “disillusionment among intellectuals with their own civilization…The war seemed to mock the Enlightenment values of progress, tolerance, and rationality “(988), I guess war can do that.

 2) It “promoted social mobility, allowing the less exalted to move into positions previously dominated by the upper classes. As the war ended, suffrage movements revived and women received the right to vote in a number of countries” (988) finally something positive from war.

 3) The idea of “national self-determination” (988) the free will of a nation to determine political structure, a concept that nations are still fighting over.

4) Treaty of Versailles in which “Germany lost its colonial empire and 15 percent of its European territory, was required to pay heavy reparations to the winners, had its military forces severely restricted and had to accept sole responsibility for the outbreak of the war” (988) many experts believe this effect was a major one that lead to WWII.

 5) “The final decline of the Ottoman Empire, creating the modern map of the Middle East” (989) the reshaping of the global map.

6) It ”brought the United States to center stage as a global power….turned the United States from a debtor nation into Europe’s creditor” (989) does not seem to be the case these days.

The fascist Mussolini stated “the state of conscious entity with ““a will and personality”” which represents the ““spirit of the nation”” (996) and Hitler’s message of intense German nationalism cast in term of racial superiority” (997) brought further a time of genocide that would forever be remembered. The Communist movements also took hold during this time change global relations for decades. Russia and China both underwent an industrialization period, with ideas of education and women’s right yet fell short on most. Decisions that these powers that be think were good for the peoples cost millions of lives, devastated economies and destroyed the trust among nations. One may say that we are not any closer to global understanding, global communication, global trust, we still have a ways to go in many aspect of global peace if that can truly exist.

Adam Gopnik sums it up best ““The First teaches us never to rush into a fight, the Second never to back down from a bully”” (1016) yet we have not learned from past conflicts.

WW Ch 16, 17 & 18

 

The European Moment 1750- 1914 was a “new kind of human society ““modern”” intersection of the Scientific, French, and Industrial revolutions, all of which took shape initially in Western Europe” (773) and sparked ideas of “social equality”.  It was a time of movements, revolutions to fight for causes such as women’s right and the freedom of slaves as well as political representation and participation for peoples. It was a time of “growing ability of these modern societies to exercise enormous power and influence over the rest of humankind” (773) all over the globe.

            Although these moments according to historians were brief and recent, they had a global effect on the areas that Europeans governed. In Asia for example the French were seen as “Liberators in the takeover of Vietnam” (776) and in India the railroad system introduced by Britain changed the country. The development of “nations” took place during this time of creating structure both culturally and politically, a time of “Enlightenment”. However these changes did not come without conflicts, mostly thru revolutions.

The Industrial Revolution attributed to the Europeans for a “commerce and cross-cultural exchange acting in tandem, sustained the technological changes of the first industrial societies.” (833) With these cross-cultural exchanges came the ideas of hierarchy of race, gender, political and social status which meant the Europeans concerned themselves the “superior race” in the regions they conquered. The Atlantic revolutions were “costly wars that strained European imperials states--Britain, France and Spain in particular—were global rather than regional. In the so—called Seven Years’ War (1754-1763)” (782), the caused highest levying of taxes to those nations wanting to break away from the Europeans.

These Revolutions went for beyond a fight for land and freedom, and although, “the Atlantic basin had become a world of intellectual and cultural exchange as well as commercial and biological interaction” (783) it also had another premise. “The idea that animated the Atlantic revolution derived from the European Enlightenment and were shared across the ocean in newspapers, books, and pamphlets. At the heart of these ideas was the radical notion that human political and social arrangement could be engineered, and improved, by human action.” (783) This notion of human action vs. actions that come from GOD are to this day questioned in most parts of the world. And without understanding and acceptance of one another we will not be able to grow as peaceful nations.

WW Ch 13, 14 & 15

Blog_WW Ch 13, 14 & 15

Early Modern World 1450-1750

The Early Modern World consisted of a time of explorations, conquering of new territories, establishing of societies with political structures developed in many nations giving way for Globalization. Although these 3 centuries “marked less in entry into the modern era than the continuing development of older agrarian societies” (613) they made an impact that changed many nations. New empires like European, Middle Eastern and Asian set the stage for this globalization thru long distance trade of spices, sugar, silver, fur and slaves.  And “the global silver trade allowed Europeans to use New World precious metal to buy their way into ancient Asian Trade routes” (611).  

This period in history “lay in the oceanic journeys of European explorers and the European conquest and colonial settlement of the Americas” (611) The Europeans colonies were made up of Spaniards who built an empire in the Caribbean then went on the conquered and destroy the Aztec and Incan empires in the Americas. The colonization of these empires meant the start of mixed races known as “mestizos”.  The Portuguese who “established themselves along the coast of present day Brazil” (618) and colonized there became known as “mulattoes”. The British, French and Dutch explorers “launched colonial settlements along the eastern coast of North America” (618) what is today Canada. We to this day still see evidence of these European explorers colonization, in Central and South America where Spanish is the native language, in Brazil where Portuguese is the native language and in North America where French is still spoken.  

This Era marked a new way of connecting 4 continents, with goods from other nations and made commerce a means of economic wealth for some people. Connecting peoples meant the growth of population in certain parts of the world which nearly doubled while in other parts there were many loss of lives. In the Americas the Spaniards brought diseases the wiped out most of the native Aztecs and Incas.  “The Atlantic slave trade linked Africa permanently to the Western Hemisphere” (611), and many lives were loss crossing the “Middle Passage” to the new world. While the Europeans were out exploring and conquering other nations, Russia, China and the Ottoman Empire were at home conquering and expanding their neighboring lands.   

Religion most certainly played on role during this time as well, the “Scientific Revolution” was a way of explaining the “why” of the different beliefs. “If human reason could discover the laws that governed the universe, surely it could uncover ways in which humankind might govern itself more effectively.” (745) Thus enlightenment is to use ones’ own understanding without the guidance of anyone to belief or not belief in a higher power.

WW Ch9,11 &12

World of Islam 600-1500

This new religious empire of the seventh century c.e. drew from “Arab, Persian, Turkish, Greco-Roman, South Asian and African cultures” (412) to form a new civilization of Islam.  It “took hold in the cities and deserts of the Arabian peninsula” where the peoples were made up of clans and tribes who “recognized a variety of gods, ancestors and nature spirits.” (412) they were also known as the “Arabic camel-herding nomads.” Trade routes became a way of not only connecting the Indian Ocean with the Mediterranean Sea but “giving rise to cosmopolitan commercial cities” (413) which was one way to convert people to Islam. This civilization became a network of “exchange in which good, technologies, food products, and ideas circulated widely” (438) and brought forth the “Islamic Green Revolution” (439) thru the new crops and irrigation systems of the other regions. In the Islamic religion it is a matter of interpretation what has become a live long struggle because “the Quran authorized armed struggle against the forces of unbelief and evil as a means of establishing Muslim rule and of defending the umma from the threats of infidel aggressors.” (416) There are different interpretations of this one passage which has caused wars which we not only read in history but is also happening in current events.

The Mongol Moment 1200-1500

            Pastoral societies were known for their mobility, “they shifted their herds in regular patterns to systematically follow the seasonal changes in vegetation and water supply.” (516) Using their skills of horse riding transforms them into instant warriors and “sustained nomadic states… to extract wealth, through raiding, trading or extortion from agricultural civilizations such as China, Persia and Byzantium.”(517) Their way of life attracted peoples from other religions and was a way of living in which they did not inhibit any one area for a long time. The Mongols did not spread “no new language, religion, or civilization” (521) they just conquered by destructing areas from the Pacific coast of Asia to Eastern Europe, one of the “largest land-based empire in all of human history.”(521) At the reign was Chinggis Khan who ruled over the Mongol empire thru annihilating of entire states or families that did not follow him. He also acquires great wealth thru these conquests. In northern China the Mongols were able to invade in without much fight and acclimated to some of the China practices of “taxation and postal system”. Then as the Mongols became divided among themselves China was able to force them out and return to their homeland. In Persia the Mongols conquered with more force not only in human lives but in damage to the agriculture.  Yet interestingly in Persia the Mongols changed their ways of political processes and some converted to Islam and learned the language. In Russia, the Mongol’s conquest was different; there was destruction of cities and enslaving the peoples which was quite devastating with only a few cities saved from the Mongol’s wrath. The Mongol Moment of history was a time had good and bad; the exchange of peoples, technologies, and product brought forward developments cosmopolitan states. The bad was that it also brought the Afro-Eurasian Pandemic and wiped out “50 to 90 percent of the affected population.” (537)

The Worlds for the 15^th Century

Some peoples kept their Paleo gather-hunter traditions and formed “Agricultural Village Societies” (563) such as the Igbos in Australia and the Iroquois in North America. The Igbos actively trader with their neighboring states in “cotton cloth, fish, copper and iron goods, decorative objects” (564), they also made a change “from a matrilineal to a patrilineal system of tracing their decent...which the peoples in West Africa found central to their daily lives.” (564)  In North America the Iroquois peoples created an alliance among five nations, Mohawks, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga ad Seneca which  became a value system of “limited government, social equality, and personal freedom, concepts that some European colonists found highly attractive.” (565). During this time China and Russia were no longer rule by the Mongols, they had taken back control, in China new dynasties arose and in Russia structure of states had taken place. The Islamic World had now divided into 4 Empires, Songhay, Safavid, Mughal and Ottoman, of which the Ottoman became greatest. The Ottoman Empire had “huge territory, long duration, incorporation of the many diverse peoples, and economic and cultural sophistication.”(576) These four empire also known as “second flowering of Islam” (579) continued spread even further to Southeast Asia. In the Americas the Aztec and Incan Empire rose to power and although they did not have “extensive literary traditions” (593) most of what is known about them come from their drawings, landmarks and objects found. We also rely “heavily on the records and observation of the Spanish who conquered them in the sixteenth century” (593) go figure.

WW Part 3 Ch 7, 8 & 10

Post classical; Medieval, middle or as Strayer calls it- the “3^rd wave of civilization” was full of “Something New, Something Old, Something Blended” (307) which further transformed civilizations in culture, traditions, languages, politics and the settlement of new states thru Trade. The new ways of trade where by Land in the “Silk Roads”, by Sea in the “Indian Ocean Basin” and by “Sand Roads” thru the Sahara Desert. This new Era had many challenges in addition to environmental, language and cultural challenges to name a few; yet it was an Era that made a bigger impact on the urbanization of the empires, kingdoms and city-states. 

New were kingdoms rose, fell or changed their ways. “The kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, Songhay” were some new city-states that sustained themselves thru commerce. One major avenue of Eurasia commerce was the creation of the “Silk Roads” which were the mainstream pathways for “goods, ideas, technologies, and diseases” (319) all of which impacted each city-state in a different ways. City-States began to specialize in products in order to bring their product to market across the land, water and desert. One example is China, who became known for its’ silk and porcelain which was highly sought after by the wealthy and elite of other countries. Religion also played an important role along these roads with its sculptures, doctrines and teachings which made some peoples pick certain elements of other religions and adapt them as their own. One religion that became a big part of the 3^rd wave was Islam. It had the “largest, most expansive, and most influential” impact on all of the countries. It was “viewed as a new civilization defined by its religion, the world of Islam came to encompass many other centers of civilizations… ““umbrella”” civilization that “came closer than any had ever some to uniting all mankind under it ideals”” (308) which makes us think what if things turned out different.

There were new “smaller civilizations …along the East African coast… engaged in the commercial life of the Indian Ocean Basin” (307) creating opportunities for peoples to sell, buy, travel and potentially conquer other lands. The blending of different civilizations made the 3^rd wave a “mini-globalization” (310) which had major effect in the world even to this day. Ideas, technologies and religion from China were blended into Korean, Vietnamese and Japanese cultures. Korea and Vietnam were the ones that were most influenced by China thus the isolated islands of Japan took only certain ideas from China and were able to keep their own identity. Old empires became new as with The Byzantine Empire which evolved from the Roman Empire retained the Greek language, and cultural in the “humanities (literature, philosophy, history) “(495) and became very powerful during its’ time until their defeat 1453 by “Turkic Ottoman Empire, then known as the ““sword of Islam”” (471). China reasserted its Confucian Traditions, India retained pattern of caste system.

This Era also finds itself among survival uncertainty as diseases also spread throughout these nations. Small pox, measles hit the Roman Empire and Han Dynasty the hard, but “Black Death” was the epidemic that took “half of the population of Europe” (324) since peoples did not have the right immunities for certain diseases. Lives were also lost during peoples travel in the “Silk Roads” to thieves, in the unsustainable vessels at Sea and in the wretched conditions of the “Sand Roads”, nevertheless civilizations survived the continued to grow.

WW Part 2 Ch3-Ch6

WW Chapter3- Chapter6

2^nd Wave of Civilizations – 500 b.c.e. to 500 c.e.  We see “Mesopotamia civilization absorbed by into larger empires of Babylon an Assyria. Indus Central Asian, & Norte Chico civilization collapsed or faded away. Egypt too fell victim to a series of foreign invaders. The end of the Olmec civilization looked like they “razed and then abandoned their major cities even as their style spread to neighboring peoples. And China’s Zhou kingdom fragmented into a series of warring states.” (109) Apparently during this times there were many things causing the changes, fading away and abandonment of earlier civilization, people were developing in the way of living, developing a culture, different languages, way of writing and ways of expression the art, scripture and stories. “New smaller civilization emerged, Ethiopia, West Africa, Japan, Indonesia, Vietnam and Cambodia.” (109)

The 2^nd Wave of Civilization of Roman Empire, Han Dynasty China and Mayan would also perish but not without leaving us many of their traditions, stories, culture and customs. The Roman Empire arose from an unknown small city-state to become the most powerful empire with an emperor as the ruler Augustus (133). Known to have conquered “almost the entire word” (136), made up of many ethnicities and ends in 476 c.e. China known as “all under heaven” (136), made up of primary Chinese peoples and ends in 220 c.e. Later we see the Renewed China in an attempt to restore old traditions from the Han Dynasty and created their own empire with Qin Shihuangdi “first emperor” as leader. (134) During this renewed China was also the time of Confucianism Era that created “China’s imperial State and political power that lasted into the twentieth century.” (136)

The 3^rd wave 500 to 150 c.e was a renewed China, Western Europe, Russia, Japan, West Africa and now we see civilizations who emulate one another in styles. Islamic for example had elements from Egypt and Mesopotamia. (110) Population growth of these civilizations may have in some cases been a curse to their demise and not a benefit to their sustainability. This wave brought about the “”Wisdom Traditions”, Confucianism, Daoism in China, Hinduism & Buddhism in India, Greek Rationalism in Mediterranean; and Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Islam in the Middle East—have provided the moral and spiritual framework with which most of the world’s peoples have sought to order their lives and define their relationship to the mysteries of life and death.” (112) Religion and spirituality becomes a movement spreading throughout the different civilizations who construct structure, monuments, sculptures and pictures in honor of the gods.  Burials sites and funeral traditions become a significant part of these civilizations, as they would bury valuable trinkets and jewelry with their loved ones (Moche 280). The co-existence of these civilizations not only brought population growth it also brought diseases as each had their own exposure the different climate, insects and animals.

               The Greek civilization was a unique civilization where they gave men “citizenship” concept took place but limited by wealth and well born men” then eventually gave way for the Farmer men the right; something that got noticed by others peoples. They also were able to defeat a much bigger Persian Empire once in a “Battle of Marathon” 440 b.c.e. which was one significant time that divided Europe into two. Persia represented – Asia the East and Greece represented – Europe – the West. The Greek civilization also brought forth the “Golden Age” (125) of culture, sculptures, philosophers and the Greek language became powerful at the time intermingling with other civilizations. It is fascinating to read about all of these civilizations and their determination to survive or at most to leave behind evidence of their existence.