Blog #7

Blog #7

            In the reading about the most recent century I found several things to catch my attention.  In the reading chapter 21 it talked about many interesting things but what really caught my attention was Hitler and the Nazis.  Usually when someone thinks of Hitler and the Nazis they think about what they did to the Jews, and the concentration camps and all the cruel things that they did.  But what I found interesting was how Hitler was able to turn around Germany before that all happened.  Once Hitler was legally the chancellor of the German government he quickly overcame the political parties, arrested thousands of opponents, abolished labor unions and much more.  Hitler was on a mission to bring Germany out of the Depression and he did.  He brought many important key factors to Germany but rebuilding and investing in highways, canals, bridges, and public buildings.  He also created new jobs for many people.  Before him around 6.2 million were unemployed and he brought it down to 500,000 in 1937 which was amazing.  The book said that Hitler had in some way found the secret for recovery by “ economic planning, controlled wages and prices, government investment, and enforced peace between capital and labor” (Strayer, 640).  I found that to be interesting because a lot of the time people don’t realize how he changed Germany before he used the Jews as a symbol of the corrupting the German culture.

            In the chapter the rise and fall of world communism, what I found interesting was the communist Feminism. It “declared full legal and political equality from women; marriage became a civil procedure among freely consenting adults; divorce was legalized and made easier; as was abortion; illegitimacy was abolished; women no loner had to take their husbands’ surnames; pregnancy leave for employed women was mandated; and women were actively mobilized as workers in the country’s drive to industrialization” (Strayer, 669).   I found that to be interesting because women were able to do so many things that they were not able to before.  This was adopted in the west with the forms of “women’s liberation”.   During this time women were given great opportunities to do things that they have never done before. I could not imagine living in today’s world and having all those things rights taken away from me.  So I could only imagine how the women felt once everything changed.

            Lastly the independence and development in the global south, what caught my eye was the experiments with culture: the role of Islam in turkey and Iran.  With the economic development and the change in in global culture of modernity such as the change of technological  achievements, the scientific outlook and the focus on the material values.  With all these new changes it was harder with older traditions.  In turkey, polygamy was abolished, and women gained legal rights.  Despite how the west changed the Turkey government stayed to their roots.  “Turkey went a cultural revolution in public life, but not a social or economic revolution” (Strayer, 716). 

Blog #6

In the reading for part 5 I found several things to be interesting and that caught my eye. In the first part, chapter 17, what caught my eye was the Feminist Beginnings. I keep finding myself leaning towards things that women do. So continuing in what keeps catching my attention was the movement following the French Revolution.  In the twentieth century, the thinking of women started to change “the way in which women and men work, play, think, dress, worship, vote, reproduce, make love and make war” (520).  On both sides of the Atlantic women began to introduce feminist consciousness which viewed women as individuals that had equal rights to the men.  Women actively started to take part in temperance movements, abolitionism, charities and missionary work.  In 1848 the first organized women’s rights conference took place in Seneca Falls, New York. I thought it was amazing how the women supported each other, both in European and American women would attend conferences and read each other’s work.  I think that’s what was needed to be done. I liked what the French feminist Olympe de Gouges said “Woman, wake up; the tocsin of reason is being heard throughout the whole universe; discover your rights”.  That quote just says a lot that it’s time for women to stand up and get what they deserve.  Such as opportunities to attend schools, universities or even to have a profession. That was something that was very important to the early feminist.  I think this movement is very important, especially for me as a woman.  Of course the feminist were thrown a lot of negativity but it’s important to see that they worked through it and allowed us as women today to even have the rights we have. I am very thankful for these early feminist that took a stand for what they believe in.

        Continuing along with the reading, in chapter 18 what stood out to me was the Laboring Class.  I could not believe that they made up 70% of the population.  The Laboring Class was made up of mostly manual workers that worked in the mines, factories, ports, construction sites, and farms to better Britain. I could only imagine everything that they were put through, the book even said that they were the ones that suffered the most and benefited the least in the transformation to the Industrial Revolution.  The resist of the laboring class results in the texture of the first industrial revolution.  Though in 1851, Britain’s population grew, so the development of cities and towns changed.  They were very impacted along with many other things.  Their water supplies became bad because of all the overcrowding.  Benjamin Disraelis said “ two nations between whom there is no intercourse and no sympathy; who are ignorant of each other’s habits, thoughts and feelings, as if they were dwellers in different zones or inhabitants of different planets” (538). I thought that was well said, and important to realize that the laboring class and the upper class were very much divided. There was no personal contact between the rich or the poor cities.  I could only imagine how things were back then, and to think that we are very lucky we did not have to go through such division like that.

        And last in chapter 20, going back to women, I found that women and the colonial economy: an African caste study to be very interesting.  In pre-colonial times, the African women were everywhere as active farmers.  They held responsibilities in which they planted and harvested.  As where men they cleared the land, they more of a construction (as what we would call it today). What I found to be interesting was that women grew cotton to help provide for their families “but when that crop acquired a cash value, men insisted that cotton grown for export be produced on their own personal fields” (604).  I could not believe that women were pretty much left out of the deals, when they themselves knew how to produce cotton and could have sold it to make a source of income.  And also what I couldn’t believe was that women in the pre-colonial times worked about forty-six hours per week and it increased to seventy by 1934.  I could not believe that, whether its women or men, I don’t think anyone should be required to work such long hours, especially if its labor.  That was a little to intense.  And not only did they have to work more hours they had to supply food for their men that worked in the cities that made low wages.  Not only are these women working hard, they still had to make their men food?  I thought that was unbelievable that they could do that.  I can’t imagine what these poor women had to go through.  And like I said before I’m so thankful I did not have to experience what they had to go through.

Overall I really enjoyed reading about women and the laboring class.  I really find things like this in history to be fascinating, to think what these people had to go through in order to survive or to make a difference for the future.

Blog #5

In the reading about The Early Modern World, I found several things to be interesting.  In the first part I found the Sugar Production to stand out, the impact of the Slave Trade in Africa, and the Birth of Modern Science.  These three things brought an interest to me as I read along.
        In the first part of the reading, what caught my eye were the colonies of sugar.  I found it interesting how profitable sugar was and how many different things can be used by sugar.  The Europeans used sugar for spice, as a sweetener, medicine, sculptured forms as a decoration, and preservatives, sugar was used in many different ways.  Sugar production had been pioneered by the Arabs, and was brought to the Mediterranean. Once the Europeans were able to understand how to produce sugar, they brought it to the Atlantic island then soon after to the Americas.  But once the British, French, and Dutch took over the Portuguese planters, they made the Caribbean a highly productive sugar-producing colony. It was interesting that the production of sugar was the “first modern industry in that it produced for an international and mass market, using capital and expertise from Europe, with the production facilities located in the Americas” (413).  But with all the new development also lead slave labor, the slaves were brought from the Atlantic and Africa. With many different racial and ethnic make-up, brought disease.  It said in the book that “The work is great and many die” (414).  I found that quite disturbing, that they would import slaves just as they would import food.  Just the thought of slaves being treated like they were nothing was quite disturbing even though the sugar production was very profitable.
Going along to the next chapter, it continued along the lines of the Slave Trade.  What stood out to me was the fact that during the 1600s, Africa made the world’s population 18 percent, and dropped down to only 6 percent a hundred years later. I could not believe have drastic the population went down due to the slave trade that was going on. While other countries were expanding such as China, Europe and other regions, Africa growth slowed down. This led Africa not having any new technology, any new agriculture or industry in order to grow.  During the time of the slave trade, the book said that people in Ghana, for example were people that went out in groups; mothers did not let their children outside, when they saw the European ships.  That was no way to live, for them to even be afraid to go outside because there was a possibility they would be put in the slave trade.  I can only imagine what these people had to go through, and how their life was put on hold, and weren’t able develop as a society.
Moving along I found interesting was the Birth of Modern Science.  The Scientific Revolution was a transformation that took place during the mid-sixteenth and early eighteenth centuries. This Scientific Revolution led to men of science to no longer rely on speculations of ancient philosophers. It also led to “a combination of careful observations, controlled experiments, and the formulation of general law, expressed in mathematical terms, became the standard means of obtaining knowledge and understanding in every domain life” (477).  The ones that created this scientific revolution were, Copernicus from Poland, Descartes from France, Galileo from Italy, Newton from England, and many more.  It’s interesting that if in different classes other than History, how often theses scientist have been brought up.   This revolution had challenged the thinking’s of ancient social hierarchies and political systems.  The revolution brought people a new understanding to how things work rather relying on what was told from people that were higher than them, now they had facts.
Though the topics I talked about are different I believe they had a huge impact on our world today.

Blog #4

In this part of the reading, I learned a lot about an age of accelerating connections. I really enjoyed reading about different things during this Era from 500-1500.

The first thing though caught my eye was about Women and Men in Early Islam. This stood out to me because in history you hear a lot about the men and occasionally about women.  I really wanted to see how women were looked at and treated during the early part of Islam.  So how was the relationship between men and women? In this chapter is stated that women were viewed as being inferior and subordinate. The men had control over the women because according to Islam and who they worshipped, Allah.  The men had authority over women because they were superior and they spent their wealth to maintain them. During the early part of Islam and even today, women are obedient; they are taught to not show any part of their body because they should keep it guarded just as Allah has guarded them. I also found it interesting when the book mentioned about “honor killing”.  An honor killing is when male relatives punish women for violating sexual taboos. When a woman is seen in a negative light they don’t only affect how people perceive them but as well as how the men are looked at.  This brought “threat to men and social stability, emerged in the hadiths, traditions about the sayings or actions of Muhammad, which became an important source of Islamic law” (p316).  I found the early part of Islam to be interesting because it is so different from how we in the United States operate. Also taking a religion class this semester has helped me understand the different concepts in religion, which has helped me with this part of the text.

Continuing in the reading I learned about the exchange of peoples and cultures. The Mongol policy made skilled people to relocate to different parts of the empire that were either educated or a craftsmen.  With the development of people consistently traveling to different parts of the empire, it brought on exchange of ideas and techniques.  One thing that was brought by the Chinese that was interesting was acupuncture. Even though it was not really like in the Middle East because of the bodily contact, I didn’t realize how long acupuncture has been around. Going along with all this new technology brought in what everyone feared the plague also known as the Black Death.  The Black Death was brought by trade routes, from all the bacteria.  Trades routes carried “rodents and transmitted by fleas to humans, the plague erupted initially in 1331 in northeastern China and by 1347 had reached Western Europe” (357). Who would have thought that trade being such a great thing to be established to bring such a deadly experience?  The plague was known to be the first reported instance of “biological warfare” (357). Many even thought because so many had died from the Black Death, that it was the end of the world.  I just think how lucky we are to have vaccines that help maintain the spread of a disease that could kill thousands of us. But going back to the plague, the plague did not only bring death but it also hurt their economy. They did not have enough people to do the jobs, there really was not any funding for workers that wanted higher wages, but it did bring more opportunities for women to be employed.  It’s sad that it took something so drastic, but it got their foot in the door.

Lastly, I found interesting that the merchants called Pochteca were people who provided “every kind of merchandise such as can be met with in every land is for sale there, whether of food and victuals, or ornaments of gold and silver, or lead, brass, copper, tin, precious stones, bones, shells, snails and feathers” (384).  They were merchants that were willing to satisfy, that they even brought slaves to the Aztecs in order for bloody rituals.  The Aztec’s “cyclical to all of life and identified with their patron deity Huitzilopochtli, tended to lose its energy in a constant battle against encroaching darkness.”(385). So in order for them to boost energy, and end endless darkness, they believed they had to use human blood.  They believed that offering human blood would nourish the gods.  They see it as the gods before them shed blood in order to establish humankind, so it was only right if they offer blood to them. Which I found interesting, because many other religious groups offer food, or something spiritually, but they gave blood, which was pretty extreme. But I can understand how they thought offering blood would make the gods happy.

Blog 3

Going into part three of this reading, I found a lot of interesting material that was covered. I learned about the Commerce and Culture, China and the World, and The Worlds of European Christendom. Each topic was different but they all seemed to be very important.

        In the first part of the reading, the Commerce and Culture, there was a lot discussed.  Besides trade and silk roads, what I really found interesting was disease in transit. Along with the growth of the silk roads, came disease. Along with the trade routes, disease also spread.  Major populations such as the Afro-Eurasian had diseases develop but were able to deal with them, and in some cases the people even became immune to them. I thought that was pretty interesting, that they became immune to certain disease but when they came in to contact with other humans and were exposed to unfamiliar diseases there was little immunity. Small pox was a disease that impacted both the Roman Empire and the Han dynasty.  It impacted both drastically that it contributed to their political collapse. Another big disease was the Black Death, and the bubonic plague.  Both killed so many the book even said the bubonic plague kill 10,000 people per day for forty days according to a historian.   I can’t even imagine that happening in our lifetime. We are lucky that we have vaccinations available for us now.

        Continuing along, the China and the World, in this chapter I found foot binding to be fascinating.   It was during the tenth or eleventh century C.E, beginning with dancers and courtesans, foot binding was associated with a new image for female beauty.  Foot binding consisted of wrapping young girl’s feet, breaking the bones of the foot, which caused intense pain.  Confucian believed that foot binding kept women restricted to the “inner quarters”.  I think the whole foot binding is horrible, for women to even think that foot binding (the concept) would be considered to be beautiful.  But I guess I can believe it, women even now are consistently being told what is considered to be beautiful and many do whatever it takes to be beautiful, which is sad. But what came out of the Song Dynasty was that women were able to improve their lives. Women were to control their own dowries; they received education, so that they could raise their sons well and create good fortune for their family.

        Lastly, The Worlds of European Christendom, what I found interesting in this chapter was the distinction between reason and faith.  During this time Christian thinkers wanted to separate the teaching of religion from the ideas of Plato and Aristotle. Though after the collapse of the Roman Empire, the church had little access to what was written by the Greeks.  The church was afraid that Greek philosophy could expose somewhat of the truth about Christianity.  But in the late eleventh century, a monastic school in France, students asked their teacher, to show them proof of the existence of God.  But not the type of proof you would find in the bible or other sources of divine revelation.  Many did not like the thought of human reason. Bernard of Clairvaux said that “Faith believes. It does not dispute”, which I understand where his question is coming from. But just like the French students, I find myself, as a catholic, asking the same questions.  I thought that it was interesting that even back then people were question faith, and using reason to really understand why things are so.

                I really learned a lot in the readings. Even though there was a lot covered I felt that it was important to show what I found interesting.