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IDEAS list II
IDEAS for paper 2
Week 7 Transition to the Modern Age
Chapter 8
This chapter examines the Italian political context of the Renaissance, focuses on new ways of thinking that characterized the Renaissance mind, and surveys developments in art and humanism. It then analyzes in some detail the religious movements started by Martin Luther and John Calvin and developments in England under Henry VIII. Mention is also made of the more radical Protestant sects. Finally, the Catholic Counter-Reformation is briefly treated, and the significance of this whole period is summarized.
I. Transition to the Modern Age Lecture topics:
a. If you have access to the PBS documentary, The Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance, show parts of the film and put the Medici family into a broader context of commerce and patronage.
b. Examine some facets of the new mentality, focused on worldly pursuits and the glorification of man, which emerged during the Renaissance. Discuss Renaissance criticism of medieval scholars as mentioned in the chapter, and why it was inaccurate: far from withdrawing completely from practical life, scholastics wrote political treatises (including St. Thomas Aquinas’s constitution for the King of Cyprus); did pioneering scientific work in optics, physics, and other fields; and were practical enough to invent glasses. It was this change in mentality that led Renaissance thinkers to reject their predecessors.
c. Discuss the life of one of the more flamboyant Renaissance artists such as Michelangelo or Leonardo da Vinci. Show how the figure you chose embodied some aspect of the Renaissance mentality.
d. Discuss the role and status of women in the Renaissance. If possible, assign excerpts from The City of Ladies by Christine de Pisan, in which the woman author argues, from Christian principles, for more equal treatment of women in society.
e. Present the life of Niccolo Machiavelli, indulging your students in the real-world details of his adventures, in particular taking note of the tortures he suffered later in life, like the strappado, which neatly speaks to the brutally practical vision of society he enunciated in The Prince.
f. Summarize the life of the great English humanist, saint, and martyr, Sir Thomas More. Point out the features of his Christian humanism, which harmonized Catholic faith with Renaissance learning and culture.
g. Make a biographical presentation of Luther or Calvin (or both) as a summary of the Reformation era. If you present both, investigate the ways in which Luther was particularly medieval while Calvin was notably modern in orientation.
h. Discuss what has been called “the English accident”—the emergence of England as the most powerful Protestant state as the result of Henry VIII’s infatuation with Anne Boleyn.
i. Discuss anti-Semitism in sixteenth-century Germany, making reference to Luther’s tract “On the Jews and Their Lies.” What points expressed by Luther would be echoed by Hitler?
j. Erasmus wrote, “Where Lutheranism reigns, there is an end of letters.” Discuss the reasons for the hostility of the early Protestants toward humanism and account for the wholesale destruction of libraries, churches, and other art treasures in the course of the Reformation.
k. Present the biography of a major figure of the Counter Reformation, such as Saint Francis de Sales. Point out his personal struggle with the idea of predestination, his sympathy for all those perplexed by religious controversy, and his work for the spiritual reform and reunification of Christendom.
l. Call attention to the map in the chapter, or spend some time on an overview of European affairs at this period with a projected map. With the many ideas to assimilate in this chapter, students are apt to forget exactly where events are taking place. Show them the north German areas where Luther preached, and the south German areas that remained largely Catholic. Point out which parts of Europe stayed Catholic and which ones joined the various new sects—including the revolutionary Anabaptists. This will help set the stage for the Thirty Years’ War that will come up in the next century. (You might as well also call attention to the portions of southeastern Europe still under Muslim—Ottoman—control; their liberation will also be a future topic.)
II. Transition to the Modern Age Discussion Questions:
a. DQ1:
i. Carlton Hayes wrote, “Protestantism was the religious aspect of nationalism.” How did nationalism enter into the struggles of the Reformation period?
ii. How might Luther and Calvin answer the objection that their teachings represented only their private interpretations of Scripture and need not be obeyed by anyone else? What answer do modern Protestant churches give to the question of where religious authority resides? What is the Catholic answer?
iii. It has been said that medieval art was more accessible to contemporaries than was Renaissance art and that the great productions of medieval architecture—the cathedrals, guildhalls, monasteries, and hospitals—were “the people’s buildings” in a way that Renaissance buildings were not. How much truth is there to this statement? For what purposes were Renaissance buildings, portraits, and statues created?
iv. It has been said that Protestantism both strengthened the power of the state over the individual and sowed the seeds of future revolution. Can both of these statements be true? What evidence is there to support either of them?
v. Although Catholic women intellectuals and reformers such as Theresa of Avila, Angela Merici, and Jane de Chantal played prominent roles in the life of the church, Martin Luther defined the sphere of women as “children, kitchen, church,” and John Knox considered them unfit to rule. Can you think of any Protestant principles that might lead, later on, to a different view of women?
vi. Was the Protestant rejection of monasticism and the consequent emphasis on marriage as the social norm a liberating or an oppressive development?
vii. By mobilizing the Inquisition to keep Protestant preachers and writings out of Spain, the Spanish king spared his country the devastating religious wars, loss of life, and destruction of cultural treasures that occurred in England, France, and the Holy Roman Empire. Do you think the king was justified in taking the measures he did?
viii. Read the selection from Leonardo Bruni at the end of the chapter. Why was he so anxious to learn Greek, which seems to have become a passion with him? (He was not the only humanist to feel this way.) Is there any field of study today that arouses such a devouring thirst for learning in students, or is our general attitude to learning more blasé? How can we account for this apparent difference in mentality?
b. DQ2:
i. Select one source from source book Chapter 9 and one from Chapter 10, answer the questions at the end and be ready to share your source and ideas.
ii. Read the excerpt of Machiavelli’s The Prince. One of the most frequently quoted passages in Machiavelli’s The Prince is “The end justifies the means.” Would Plato have agreed with this? Would Thomas Aquinas? Do you?
iii. Read the excerpt of Machiavelli’s The Prince. Machiavelli is often called a political realist because he described his world as it was in reality. Does political realism necessarily entail ruthlessness and lack of traditional moral principles, as it seems to for Machiavelli?
iv. What would Saint Augustine and Saint Benedict have thought of Rabelais? What would Rabelais have said about the doctrine of original sin? Would Epicurus have agreed with him on anything?
III. Transition to the Modern Age Activities
a. Assign excerpts from Machiavelli’s writings in which he describes his ideal prince. Ask the class to write down the main points of this word portrait. Then ask each group to consider one or two of today’s prominent political figures and apply Machiavelli’s principles to that person. Does Machiavelli’s description fit any of them? If so, in what ways? If not, how do they differ from the fictional prince?
b. Ask for volunteers (remember extra credit) to do a group reading of a scene from one of Shakespeare’s plays. Have them choose one of the historical plays, preferably one dealing with a topic you have covered in class such as Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra, or Henry V.
c. Invent an enterprising sixteenth-century German capitalist who becomes exasperated with Catholic restrictions on business activities (prohibitions of usury and of work on holy days, disapproval of the pursuit of riches except to promote the common good, insistence on social justice, and so on). Have groups of various Protestant sects come up with some Protestant ideas this businessman might find especially appealing. Which specific Protestant virtues would favor business success?
d. Tell half the class to look up the full story of John of Leyden and the Anabaptists, including the siege of Münster. Assign the rest of the students the story of the American Branch Davidian cult and the siege of Waco, Texas. When the research has been done, have students work in pairs and compare notes on the two sects. What points of resemblance did they find? What are some major differences?
e. Consider Renaissance individualism and its ramifications for society. Does it imply disregard for moral principles and the common good? Is a self-seeking individual more likely to oppress others, and if so, under what circumstances?
f. Look at examples of paintings from the early and high Renaissance. What differences do you notice in works from the two periods? What themes predominate in each period?
g. The Reformation brought about revolution in European religion as well as social life. Since the church operated most of the schools, hospitals, orphanages, and other institutions, what effect would you expect the confiscation of Catholic property to have on social services? Do research to learn what actually happened and what substitutes for church institutions emerged.
Research Paper 1 proposal due Friday by midnight
Week 8 The Modern State
Chapter 9
This chapter contains a great deal of material because there are as many manifestations of the rise of the modern state as there are countries. Political developments in the major states of Western Europe are summarized; it should be noted that some new powers have risen to prominence for the first time, such as the Netherlands and Austria. Map study and timelines for each major state are essential for a clear understanding of this time period. The development of the Spanish and Portuguese empires is a fairly simple story, but allow extra class time to adequately cover the extensive sections on economic history.
I. The Modern State Lecture topics:
a. Make a biographical presentation of Charles V, Henry IV, or Louis XIV to convey the history of the times.
b. Discuss some “powers behind the throne” during this period such as William and Robert Cecil in England, Richelieu and Mazarin in France, and Olivares in Spain.
c. Tell the story of the early years of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, including their romantic secret marriage. Warren Carroll’s biography, Isabel of Spain (1991), gives a sympathetic though not uncritical portrait of this extraordinary queen. The author condemns the expulsion of the Jews, but he puts in perspective the wartime dilemma presented by Spain’s “fifth column”—secret Jewish and Muslim supporters of the Moors against the Spanish.
d. Present in full the so-called last of the great religious wars—the Thirty Years’ War. Examine the ways in which states with dedicated tax systems could field armies longer and more advantageously.
e. Show how developments in the Holy Roman Empire and Austria set the stage for problems that would erupt in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
f. Present the history of the Ottoman Turks in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, including their attempts to take Vienna and the sea battle of Lepanto, and point out their influence on European political affairs.
g. Tell the full story of the exploits of one of the great explorers such as Magellan or Vasco da Gama. Use maps and emphasize the amazing achievement of such men given the still limited technology at their disposal.
h. Discuss the protection of the Indians attempted by the Spanish kings, as well as the services—schools, printing presses, hospitals, and so forth—provided for them by missionaries and the Spanish government within a few years of the conquest of Mexico. Explore the question of why relations between the English and the North American Indians took a radically different course.
i. Present the Jesuit missionaries and scholars at Cartagena as pioneers in the study of African languages and ethnography as well as in the cause of abolitionism. Discuss the works of Fathers Sandoval and Peter Claver.
II. The Modern State Discussion Questions:
a. DQ1:
i. What are the most important qualifications for successful imperial ventures? How do they apply to the imperialist states mentioned in the chapter? Do they apply to twentieth-century imperial powers such as the United States and the former Soviet Union? Can you think of any present-day states that have empires? How is that viewed today?
ii. Who benefited from the two seventeenth century revolutions in England, and who suffered?
iii. Were the Spanish justified in fighting to liberate their country from the Muslims? Should they have taken any steps against the “secret Muslims” who only pretended to convert?
iv. The putting-out system allowed people to work in their homes without owning their own businesses. Some see a trend in this direction developing today in certain types of business, particularly those tied to the Internet. Can you think of any examples of a modern putting-out system? What are some of its advantages and disadvantages?
v. The Spanish were convinced that they were benefiting the Indians by bringing them Christianity and Western civilization, especially as a replacement for a religion based on human sacrifice that took tens of thousands of lives each year. Evaluate this argument. Is there any comparison to be made with the zeal with which the United States attempts to enforce democracy all over the world?
b. DQ2:
i. Select one source that you are naturally drawn to based on its title, author, and your interest. Select another sources that you are not naturally inclined toward. Read these and answer the discussion questions at the end of each selection. Your answers to these questions have to sufficient, but not long. Be prepared to discuss your selections with the class.
III. The Modern State Activities
a. Put Charles I on trial again. Choose the main figures in the drama, including the King, Cromwell, perhaps Queen Henrietta Maria, and so forth. Have the students research their characters and use their actual words where possible. Good reference works are C. V. Wedgwood’s A Coffin for King Charles (1964) and Hugh Ross Williamson’s The Day They Killed the King (1957). Let the rest of the class be the jury and expect them to ask questions during the trial and come up with a verdict.
b. Divide the class into two groups of guildsmen and capitalists. Let the capitalists make the case that guild organizations and restrictions obstruct economic progress, while the guildsmen defend their institutions on the grounds of protecting both workers and consumers. Have the class as a whole vote on the question of whether workers were better off under capitalism or the guild system.
c. After reviewing the material on agricultural expansion, form groups of English peasants and landowners to discuss the new farm practices. Have one group of intellectual landlords mainly interested in efficient, scientific approaches to farming and another group mainly anxious for profit at any cost. Among the peasants, let some of the more politically conscious hark back to the peasants’ revolts of the Late Middle Ages, while others invoke immemorial custom and tradition against the incursions of the landlords. Possibly include some who really are inefficient farm workers due to age, illness, or other incapacity. Can they agree on any just way of dealing with the changes occurring in the countryside?
d. Have the whole class read the selection on slavery at the end of the chapter, and then divide the students into three groups. Have one look further into the African slave trade. Let another group research the enslavement of Europeans by the Ottoman Turks; a good source is Christian Slaves, Muslim Masters by Professor Robert C. Davis (Palgrave-Macmillan 2003.) Davis argues that the number of white slaves taken in the Mediterranean area alone exceeded the number of blacks enslaved by Europeans during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. (This is not even counting the enormous number of slaves taken by the Ottomans in the rest of their vast empire; half a million Christian boys were taken from the Balkans alone.) Have a third group look into the plight of indentured servants.
e. Cromwell’s invasion of Ireland aroused Irish resentment of English rule, a resentment that has lasted to this day. Read to find out what Cromwell did in Ireland and what the consequences were for the Irish people in the following centuries.
f. Did any absolutist state discussed in this chapter have the power over its citizens that the U.S. federal government has today? Consider wire-tapping, business regulations, taxes, laws, and so on in forming your opinion. Consult Richard A. Jackson’s Vive le Roi! A History of the French Coronation from Charles V to Charles X (1984), especially pages 70, 89, and 113, for examples of restrictions on absolute monarchs.
g. Much work has been done recently on comparing black slavery in the Spanish and English colonies. Explore some of this research to learn the main differences between the two systems in such areas as the legal rights of slaves, possibilities for freedom, marriage, and so on. A recent work on slavery in the Mediterranean world, Christian Slaves, Muslim Masters by Robert C. Davis (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003), describes in detail the largely ignored fact of the enslavement of several hundred thousand Europeans by Muslims from 1500 to 1800. It would be interesting to compare the conditions in which these slaves lived with those of black slaves in the Americas.
Week 9 Intellectual Transformation
Chapter 10
The background, major figures, discoveries, and implications of the Scientific Revolution are the subject of the first part of this chapter, followed by a discussion of key thinkers who were heavily influenced by the new science of their day. The many aspects of Enlightenment thought and applications to society are surveyed, including the Enlightenment attacks on religion; the ways in which the new thought was disseminated; and the application of Enlightenment principles to politics, society, and economics. Characteristics of the “enlightened despots” are pointed out.
I. Intellectual Transformation Lecture topics:
a. It can be difficult to explain the way in which the Scientific Revolution represented a rupture with previous thought. Remind the students of the point made about Aristotle as a scientist when you were discussing ancient Greek thought. He was a careful scientific investigator, but he was primarily a philosopher and therefore viewed reality differently than modern scientists who focus exclusively on matter. Aristotle would have admitted to being only partly wrong about motion and would no doubt argue that a scientist can no more disprove philosophical conclusions about, for example, potency and act, than a philosopher can disprove the description a scientist might give of the human brain. The point is, they investigate reality according to different principles, and they ask different questions. Before the Scientific Revolution, the same scholar might wear both hats; but after the seventeenth century, science parted company from philosophy and narrowed its scope to the operations of the material world.
b. There have been many excellent studies of the Galileo case, which seems to be a perennially fascinating topic. Using Galileo’s Daughter by Dava Sobel (Penguin Books, New York 1999), and Arthur Koestler’s The Sleepwalkers (Hutchinson, England 1959), summarize the issues. Point out that had Galileo, like Copernicus, been willing to hold heliocentrism as a theory, rather than a fact (which it was not, at the time), he would have had no problem with the church. Since Galileo had been wrong about the movement of tides and the “moons of Jupiter” and thought comets were an optical illusion, even some scientists of the time were unwilling to support his dogmatism—particularly since other theories such as Tycho Brahe’s had not been disproved. He also “commenced to play the theologian,” as he put it, arguing his case from his own interpretation of Scripture; this appeal to religion instead of science caused even more skepticism. It is worth reading the letter of Cardinal Bellarmine found in Perry’s Sources of the Western Tradition, Volume II for the church’s position: he says that if there were a “true demonstration” of heliocentrism, they would accept it and say that they did not understand seemingly contrary Scriptural passages. Absent the proof, it should be taught only as a theory. Refusing this solution, Galileo was censured—as Descartes pointed out—merely by a small disciplinary committee of cardinals, not the pope. (There were exactly four people at the meeting: Galileo, a secretary, and two cardinals.) His works were approved for publication by a pope in the following century. The myth of Galileo as a martyr in the cause of true science dates from still later.
c. Discuss the contributions made by minor figures of the age of the Scientific Revolution; consider the fields of biology and medicine. (You might mention that many historians consider Bruno an unfortunate mental case who, had he lived earlier or later in history, might have been packed off to an asylum instead of attracting the notoriety he did.)
d. Following a class discussion of the reading from Descartes in the chapter, develop the implications of Descartes’ “cogito” for later philosophy. In particular, point out its importance for the development of philosophical idealism and subjectivism as opposed to realism.
e. Develop a lecture that compares and contrasts conservatism and liberalism of the Enlightenment era with conservatism and liberalism of contemporary American life.
f. Survey the major Enlightenment figures and their contributions in the political and social arenas.
g. Discuss one “enlightened despot” or contrast the eventful life and great reign of Maria Theresa, a devout Catholic, with that of her anticlerical son Joseph II who so exasperated his people with his ill-advised reforms. A very readable biography of the great Empress is Maria Theresa by Edward Crankshaw.
h. Point out the philosophical tendency called idealism (from the word idea, not from high ideals) in Enlightenment thought. This is a philosophical approach that starts from ideas, rather than from concrete reality, and develops abstract concepts and plans that are imposed on reality. Spinoza said he would consider human society as if he were dealing with planes, angles, and solids. Another philosophe thought that by sitting in his study and thinking he could come up with a system of laws that would suit all people everywhere. Objections to such abstract schemes could always be dismissed as irrational. Paul Johnson, in Intellectuals, has pointed out the dangers of abstract Utopias that intellectuals have attempted to impose on the world; in this sense, Karl Marx was an Enlightenment intellectual.
II. Intellectual Transformation Discussion Questions:
a. DQ1:
i. It has been said that the Scientific Revolution represents a shift from the “Why?” asked by earlier thinkers, which included the question of final causality, to the more limited “How?” of modern scientists. Is this an apt description? Why or why not? How is Newton an exception to this generalization?
ii. Although many Scientific Revolution thinkers, including Copernicus, Galileo, and Newton, were believing Christians, the Revolution is often taken to mark the separation of, or antagonism between, science and religion. Is this true for modern science? Are modern scientists materialists who acknowledge no causality beyond what they can weigh and measure, or do they admit the possibility of nonmaterial causes inaccessible to their instruments?
iii. Enlightenment optimism generally rejected the idea that human nature was flawed by original sin and thus prone to evil and error. Instead, thinkers of the age posited infinite perfectibility for human beings, who were held to be naturally good and reasonable. What do you think of this view of human nature? Which conception do history and common experience tend to support?
b. DQ2:
i. Why did some Enlightenment thinkers condone slavery? Develop their line of thought and apply it to eighteenth-century American thinkers such as Thomas Jefferson.
ii. In what ways, specifically, was the United States Constitution more a reflection of the ideas of Locke and Montesquieu while simultaneously an outgrowth of deism?
iii. Some Enlightenment economists held that men are motivated by greed, selfishness, gluttony, pride, and envy and that these drives are desirable for commerce and economic development. Adam Smith did not agree that vice produced prosperity, but he did hold that selfishness and greed—which he preferred to call “interest”—motivated the free market system he advocated. Do you agree that vice is necessary for prosperity? What would a medieval thinker have said?
iv. Consider the quotation from Sir Isaiah Berlin at the end of the chapter. Some would dispute the qualities attributed to the Enlightenment thinkers, as well as his description of the period as “one of the best and most hopeful episodes in the life of mankind.” Certainly the philosophes were hopeful, but can a period be one of the best if some of its principles produced evil results, as mentioned in the chapter? Consider the misery caused by laissez-faire and the totalitarian implications implicit in some political principles of Rousseau and Hobbes.
III. Intellectual Transformation Activities:
a. Use brainstorming to get students to consider the practical results of the Scientific Revolution. Ask them to list as many possible consequences of the new emphasis on the physical sciences as they can think of, in no particular order. In groups, have them arrange their points into categories: effects on religion and theology, manufacturing, agriculture, warfare, social structure, and so on. What class of people in the seventeenth century would they expect to be most interested in the practical application of the new scientific discoveries? Of the areas of influence they have identified, which are seen as beneficial for the world and which as detrimental? Where does the perceived discrediting of religion fall? Nuclear power? The factory system?
b. Scientists came to be seen as the high priests of the new learning and physical science the yardstick by which all truth was to be measured. If you have some philosophy majors in your class as well as some science majors, you could have a debate on the question of whether science, in the limited modern meaning of the word, deserves its status. Raise the question of whether we are still, as a culture, in awe of science and inclined to take the opinions of scientists on everything from diet to politics. Why should we assume that rocket scientists are authorities on anything but the very limited field of rocket science? Is this a displacement of the ancient esteem for philosophers and theologians, who actually possessed a broad range of knowledge, onto narrowly trained specialists who do not?
c. Debate the positions of Hobbes and Locke. Read selections from their treatises that deal with the origins of the state to support the arguments on either side. Ask the two sides to come up with a description of the ideal state based on the principles of the thinker they represent.
d. Have the class reread the section on Adam Smith’s ideas; as groups, ask them to speculate on what effects the application of the “invisible hand” theory to industrial development might have. In particular, how would it affect individual workers? Does anyone today believe in the invisible hand?
e. In contrast to Descartes, Aristotle would have said, “I see (hear, smell, touch, taste), therefore I am.” Since he held that there is nothing in the mind that is not first in the senses, he would have denied that Descartes could think without something to think about. Consider these opposing positions. Is Descartes right in positing innate ideas that are somehow in the mind prior to experience? Evaluate the view of his critics who claim that the result of his idealist orientation is to imprison the individual within his or her mind, cut off from the real world.
f. Besides refusing to exercise discretion in promoting his ideas, Galileo insisted that heliocentrism was a fact. His critics complained that he had not produced convincing proof, and even his friend Saint Robert Bellarmine mentioned the lack of “a true demonstration.” Modern researchers point to numerous mistakes and even falsifications made by both Galileo and Kepler, on whose mathematics Galileo relied. Look into the question of when the heliocentric theory was proved beyond doubt. Does the relativity theory change our understanding of heliocentrism?
g. Evaluate some of the new educational ideas of the Enlightenment. In particular, read selections from Rousseau’s Emile and imagine what sort of adult that educational system would produce.
h. Enlightenment thought elaborated theories that would lead to such disparate developments as laissez-faire capitalism, communism, and democracy. How can you account for this variety of systems deriving from Enlightenment principles? Consider the heritage of the Scientific Revolution, with its emphasis on immutable natural laws, and the contempt of the philosophes for anything they deemed nonrational—such as traditions, customs, and religion.
Week 10 The Era of the French Revolution
Chapter 11
This concise account of the context and course of the French Revolution, some of its causes, and its significance should be easy for students to follow. A valuable feature of this edition is the incorporation of some of the new revisionist thinking that is finally dislodging the old Marxist perspective of Georges Lefebvre that was taught in the past.
I. The Era of the French Revolution Lecture topics:
a. Colorful stories of episodes not mentioned in the textbook or word portraits of important characters often interest students and help fix information in their minds. The personality of Louis XVI, for instance, the king who wanted so much to be loved by his people but found it so hard to make up his mind, certainly influenced the course of the Revolution at critical stages. According to Simon Schama in Citizens, the king’s excessive promotion of often-unwise reforms ironically destabilized the very situation he was trying to improve. Present a character sketch of Louis and tell the class to watch out for a sort of reincarnation of this ill-fated ruler when you get to early twentieth-century Russia.
b. One of the worst atrocities of the French Revolution may be the several years of imprisonment and abuse of the King’s little son, Louis-Charles (Louis XVII,) who went to prison with his family at the age of about seven and died of neglect and a painful disease at ten. The development of his character and his determination to forgive his tormentors (a teaching of his father) make this child a very moving historical figure. A Web search should turn up detailed articles translated from the French.
c. Present Robespierre as an example of an idealist utopian willing to take any means to achieve the society he had created in his own mind, regardless of mere human obstacles. In Paul Johnson’s words describing idealist intellectuals, “Loving humanity as an idea, they can then produce solutions as ideas,” ignoring the wants and needs of inconveniently real people in favor of “the heartlessness of ideas.”
d. Discuss the role of women in the French Revolution, including their disenchantment with its results as analyzed in Olwen Hufton’s “Women in Revolution 1789–1796,” Past and Present (November 1971).
e. Discuss results of the French Revolution in terms of permanent effects not only in France but also throughout Europe and the world.
f. Compare the American and French revolutions; use Crane Brinton’s old but still valuable work, The Anatomy of Revolution.
g. Call attention to what the chapter says about the uprising in the Vendée, using it to explore the counterrevolution and why it attracted so much support. Use Donald Sutherland’s The Chouans—The Social Origins of Popular Counter-Revolution in Upper Brittany, 1770–1796 (Oxford, 1982).
h. Lecture on the nature of total war. Trace its development and discuss its significance with particular emphasis on the events of the Napoleonic period.
i. Discuss the “great man” theory of history. Evaluate whether Napoleon made events or simply reacted to them.
j. Tell the story of Citizen Edmund Genet, his ill-fated diplomatic journey through the United States, and what his misadventures reveal about the nature of individual agency in the affairs of great nations.
k. Approach Napoleon as a man who held onto old-fashioned ideas. Discuss both his view of women and his determination to seal his power with legitimate dynastic ties.
l. Mention some cultural results of the Napoleonic expeditions, such as the looting of art treasures from occupied countries as well as the breakthrough in Egyptology that occurred through the study of the Rosetta stone discovered during the Egyptian campaign.
m. Discuss the reasons why Napoleon sold Louisiana to the United States, bringing in the revolt against the French by former slaves in Haiti and the fate of their leader, Toussaint L’Ouverture.
II. The Era of the French Revolution Discussion Questions:
a. DQ1 and DQ2 – select two questions from this list. You decide which is DQ1 or DQ2 with information from the sources.
i. What connection is there between Enlightenment theories and the actions of the French revolutionaries? Could a statement like Voltaire’s “Ecrasez l’infame” (“Crush the infamous thing,” meaning the Catholic Church) lead logically to revolutionary persecutions?
ii. When some revolutionaries took the demand for equality literally and called for a socialist economic regime, they were promptly suppressed. Why would the Revolution have stopped short of economic equality?
iii. A common view of the French Revolution is that it was good and moderate in the beginning and that violence only crept into it later. If Perry’s Sources of the Western Tradition is available, have the class read the selection from Abbé Siéyès’ What is the Third Estate? Ask them if there are any statements in that text, which dates from the earliest days of Revolution, which would allow the reader to predict future violence against large segments of the French population.
iv. If you had been king of France in 1788, what reforms would you have attempted, particularly in the area of agriculture? If you were president of the United States today, how would you deal with the recession?
v. Quote the words of General de la Charette, one of the leaders of the counterrevolutionary army of the Vendée, to his troops: “For us, our country is our villages, our altars, our graves, all that our fathers loved before us. Our country is our Faith, our land, our King. But what is their country? Do you understand? Do you? They have it in their brains; we have it under our feet.” How does this passage reflect the difference in approach between realism— which deals with things as they are—and Enlightenment idealism, or utopianism? See if students recall the difference between the politics of Aristotle, who collected information on actual political regimes, and of Plato, who created an ideal utopia that existed only in his mind and in his book. Which view do they favor?
vi. Discuss the issues involved in the Terror. To get the discussion started, begin by defending Robespierre and arguing that the Terror was right and necessary. If Perry’s Sources of the Western Tradition, Volume II is available, have the class read what Robespierre had to say for himself. Ask if students can think of any political leader of the present or the recent past who might agree with Robespierre.
vii. Do you think the Paris mob was justified in attacking a government installation, freeing some lunatics and criminals, and decapitating the men who surrendered?
viii. Alexis de Tocqueville claimed that by the end of Napoleon’s reign, the French central government had far more power over the individual citizen than the monarchy ever had, because traditional checks on the central power had been swept away by the Revolution. Do Napoleon’s domestic policies bear out this theory?
ix. The soldiers who were sent to capture Napoleon when he escaped from Elba ended up joining him as soon as they heard him speak. Can you think of any other leader who had such an influence over people even after he had been the cause of national defeat, destruction, and the loss of hundreds of thousands of lives? Why would so many people support him?
x. Did Napoleon end or complete the French Revolution? Provide points in support of the idea that he terminated the Revolution and points to show that he merely exported its principles.
xi. Someone has remarked that while revolutions are usually made in the name of “the people,” it is never “the people” who make revolutions. (They make counterrevolutions, though–why?) Rather, revolutions are made by “some of the few who manage to mobilize the many against the rest of the few.” Does this apply to the French Revolution? The majority of those who died at the hands of the revolutionaries were not nobles but ordinary people; “the people” who rampaged in Paris with deadly effect were politicized and incited by the radical political clubs; and when it was all over, political, social, and economic power was in much the same hands as it was before it all began. Explore the question of whether the Revolution was worth the suffering involved for ordinary people and how far the convenient abstract concept of “the people” can be used to justify virtually any political ambition.
xii. When the Declaration of the Rights of Man was issued, the pope condemned it. He specifically condemned the rights to freedom of speech and of the press. His position was that rights are counterparts of responsibilities or duties; since there cannot be an obligation to produce pornography or to blaspheme, there can be no right to do so. This is a traditional concept of rights limited by morals and circumstances that is foreign to the modern mentality—hence the proliferation of the pornographic and the blasphemous in the media today. What are rights and where do they come from? Who says we possess them and that they are unlimited? Explore these issues from any point of view.
xiii. Lenin had French precedents in mind during the Russian Revolution, as illustrated by his query “Where are we going to get our Fouquier-Tinville [public prosecutor during the French Revolution]?” Is there a common pattern to all revolutions? Make a comparison of the French Revolution with the Russian and Chinese revolutions or with the revolution at Corcyra reported by the ancient Greek historian Thucydides. Why do some historians refer to the American Revolution as a war of independence rather than as a revolution?
III. The Era of the French Revolution Activities:
a. Divide the class into first, second, and third estates for an oral presentation and have them prepare by looking up their origins in earlier French history and their contributions to French society. (Help the first and second estates so they won’t get clobbered by the third estate too early in the debate. The religious orders, for example, provided indispensable social and educational services and included talented and progressive reformers. The founder of schools for the deaf and dumb was a priest who was attacked by a revolutionary mob and defended by a tradesman who offered his life in place of the priest’s. Similar examples can be found for the second estate.) Have one student represent the king’s position—he can look himself up in Schama’s Citizens—and perhaps appoint an Abbé Siéyès and have him bone up on his pamphlet (excerpted in Perry’s Sources of the Western Tradition). Have each group present its 1789 position on the course of reform in France with the Abbé tossing in incendiary comments (remember that none were calling for abolition of the monarchy at this point).
b. Have a debate between the sans-culottes and the bourgeois politicians who have been so concerned over property rights. What kinds of equality do they each desire for France? What arguments can they offer in favor of their views? For extra credit, let a volunteer be the proto-communist Babeuf, who does not appear in the chapter.
c. Have everyone read the selection by Robespierre at the end of the chapter. Remind them also of the quotation from de la Charette, above. Then have half the class support the position espoused by Robespierre. Let the other half reject his arguments because of their tyrannical implications. (You might have to help this half.)
d. Let the class be Austrians, Prussians, and British with the Austrians including some of Marie Antoinette’s relatives. Given their past antagonisms, how could the Prussians and Austrians manage to unite against France? Who was on the throne of England at this time? What was the main concern of European rulers and diplomats when the Revolution broke out, and what course of action did each country favor? Some of the Britons could show short scenes from The Scarlet Pimpernel (the old Leslie Howard version) or A Tale of Two Cities to illustrate the reaction of some of the English—or at least the way some writers liked to think they reacted.
e. Divide the class into French supporters and opponents of Napoleon. Subdivide the supporters into soldiers, Directory politicians, businessmen, and any other groups you think should be represented. Split the opponents into royalists, Catholic peasants, radical Jacobins, and others. Have each group make its case for or against the rule of the emperor.
f. Let different groups be Spaniards, Tyrolean peasants following Andreas Hoffer, Germans, Italians, Russians, and Britons. In what ways have they suffered differently from Napoleon’s policies, what did they do about it, and how successful were they?
g. In his book, Inside the Aquarium (1986), Soviet defector Viktor Suvorov states: “Millions are killed only by those who consider themselves good. People like Robespierre do not grow out of criminals but out of the most worthy and most humane types. The guillotine was invented not by criminals but by humanists. The most monstrous crimes in the history of mankind were committed by people who did not drink vodka, did not smoke, were not unfaithful to their wives and fed squirrels from the palms of their hands.” Evaluate this statement as it applies to Robespierre. Can you think of any more recent public figures to which it might apply?
h. Is any revolution a spontaneous uprising of the people or must it be carefully prepared in advance as the Bolsheviks prepared to take power in 1917? Investigate the activities of the radical press, Jacobin clubs, Masonic lodges, and private political meeting places, such the Palais Royale salon of Philippe d’Orleans, prior to the French Revolution.
i. Research the possibility that Napoleon was poisoned and learn how historians go about investigating such a hypothesis. Try to find out who is really buried in Napoleon’s tomb.
j. Study accounts of the Battle of Waterloo. What were Napoleon’s most serious mistakes, and why do you think he made them? How can you account for the “fatal pause”?
k. Read an account of the heroic Spanish defense of Saragossa during the Peninsular War, noting the role of women in the fighting.
l. Compare some of the other great men of this period—such as Nelson, Wellington, Blucher, and Kutuzov—with Napoleon. What character traits distinguished the French emperor from the others? Did they possess any virtues that he lacked?
Week 11 The Industrial Revolution AND Thought and Culture in Early 19th C
Chapter 12
This chapter presents the causes of the Industrial Revolution, analyzes the course of its development, and explains why the revolution began in Britain. The problems caused by industrialization and its general effects on society are also discussed.
I. The Industrial Revolution
a. Discuss women and children as workers during the Industrial Revolution.
b. Discuss alienation and the Industrial Revolution: investigate the worker’s alienation from nature, satisfaction in work, and control over his or her own life. Explain that working conditions we take for granted—clocking in, fixed hours of work, set times for breaks, repetitive tasks performed in relative isolation—were radically new and disturbing to early modern people used to different work rhythms.
c. Discuss unionization and the societal response to it.
d. Compare and contrast urban life in a Renaissance city with life in a nineteenth-century industrial city.
II. The Industrial Revolution Discussion Questions:
a. DQ (select only one, additional sources beside text not necessary):
i. Society in early industrial England seems to have been remarkably callous toward the suffering of the poor. Why do you think this was the case? Can you think of any Protestant, particularly Calvinist, ideas that could have reinforced this indifference? What economic theories favored it?
ii. Have students read the selection by James Phillips Kay, on the moral and physical condition of the working class, in the middle of the chapter. What conclusions did Kay make? Whom did he blame for the conditions he saw? Finally, how might a nineteenth-century Liberal respond to this tract?
b. It has been said that if the communitarian society of the Middle Ages—especially the guild system—had survived, industrialization would still have occurred, though more slowly and without the upheaval and cost in human suffering produced by the Industrial Revolution. What do you think of this idea? Consider the role of the guilds in regulating hours of work, working conditions, unemployment compensation, and so on.
c. Try to imagine a day in the life of a small farmer or artisan in preindustrial England and compare it with that of a factory worker in the nineteenth century. List the points of similarity and difference, including the amount of leisure time and relation of work to family life.
III. The Industrial Revolution Activities:
a. Have a debate on the balance sheet of the Industrial Revolution. Did the long-term gain in living standards outweigh the short-term misery or is material well being a less-than-adequate recompense for family dislocation, dehumanization of work, and loss of traditional community life? Divide the class into different groups of men, women, and child workers confronting groups of industrialists. Workers can use information from the Sadler Commission and other contemporary documents based on interviews with workers. Industrialists can use the arguments of Andrew Ure and other apologists for the factory system.
b. Divide the class into liberals and various shades of socialists as discussed in the chapter; throw in a few Chartists, and have each group present its solutions to the problems of the Industrial Revolution.
c. Choose a number of underdeveloped countries in today’s world, and assign groups to research and report on labor conditions in those areas. Do they find any parallels with the condition of European workers during the Industrial Revolution?
d. Read Hard Times by Charles Dickens and summarize the picture of industrial England that emerges from this novel. Which characters, if any, show real sympathy for the plight of the workers.
e. Read excerpts from the life of Richard Arkwright by his contemporary, Edward Baines. Is this self-made man, so preoccupied with business success, a new personality type in history? Does he resemble any businessmen you know?
_________
Chapter 13
This Chapter traces the development of the “isms” that have greatly influenced the modern mentality. This material may prove to be somewhat difficult, however, for students unused to analyzing philosophical concepts and ideologies. It helps to stress the practical consequences of the ideas discussed and show why they are relevant both for history and in today’s world. Both conservatism and liberalism, for example, continue to affect ethics, politics, and economics.
I. Thought and Culture in Early 19th C topics:
a. Tell the life story of William Blake, alighting on the eccentric details of his life, as a way of bringing the often abstract nature of this chapter into sharp relief.
b. Make sure that students understand the distinction between the philosophical realism of the Western tradition and the idealism espoused by Kant. Explain how these opposing philosophies can produce radically different approaches to practical problems.
c. Elaborate on the conservative critique of the Enlightenment and the French Revolution as presented in the chapter. Discuss some of the twentieth-century consequences of the attempt to bring about abstract utopias through revolution.
II. Thought and Culture in Early 19th C Discussion Questions:
a. DQ (select only one, additional sources beside text not necessary):
i. Compare Kant’s approach to reality with that of Descartes. What are the similarities and differences?
ii. Would you expect philosophical idealism to lead to, or reinforce, relativism and subjectivism?
iii. Considering the upheaval Europe had experienced during the French Revolution and Napoleonic periods, do you think that most people would have sympathized with conservatism or with liberalism?
iv. Do Americans tend to be nationalists as described in the chapter? If so, give some examples. If not, how would you describe our attitude to our country and our past? Does romanticism play any role in the way we view our history?
v. The author of the chapter refers to extreme nationalists as having “a narrow tribal outlook.” Some writers today characterize the increasingly fragmentation of much of the modern world as a return to tribalism. Have students try to define what tribalism means and analyze to what extent it exists today—possibly even among militant groups within our own society.
vi. Read the selection by Joseph de Maistre near the end of the chapter and make a list of three points that seem to summarize his main point. Do any of those points make sense to us today? How would de Maistre view the creation of our American government?
vii. Nationalism has been called a substitute for religion. Examine this proposition, considering the object of worship and the rituals, hymns, and hierarchy of the new religion. Apply this schema to contemporary states and see where, if anywhere, it applies. Did it apply to France during the Revolution?
viii. What is the difference between patriotism and nationalism? What elements enter into the definition of one but not the other?
III. Thought and Culture in Early 19th C Activities:
a. Let the class be philosophes (with some French revolutionaries included) and assorted romantics. Have groups of romantics prepare their various philosophical, religious, and artistic critiques of the Enlightenment mentality, while the groups of philosophes arm themselves with rationalist rebuttals. Will the revolutionaries find new common ground with the romantics or with the philosophes?
b. Have a debate in which the basic principles of liberalism and conservatism are presented and defended. Let some groups portray liberals or conservatives of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, while others represent their current U.S. political counterparts. Make sure each side defines its terms, explains clearly why it rejects the ideas of the other side, and gives examples of how it would attempt to solve current political, social, or economic problems. Do the contemporary American conservatives sound like the nineteenth-century versions, or do they really have more in common with the original liberals of the eighteenth century?
c. Surely there were some advantages to monarchy as a form of government, and to the functions traditionally performed by the aristocracy and clergy. Have different groups research this statement objectively and try to make the case for the social utility of the group they are assigned. (Since the clergy—historically the Catholic clergy—provided Europe’s social and educational services for centuries, having invented most of them, they should be the easiest group to deal with. You can assist the other two.)
d. Hegel’s idea of history has been very influential. Reread the summary of Hegel’s thought in the chapter and consider whether ancient Hebrew or Christian thinkers would have agreed with him on any points. On what would they have disagreed? Are any Hegelian ideas popular today?
Week 12 Surge of Liberalism and Nationalism AND Thought and Culture in Mid 19th C
Chapter 14
Some of the themes of the preceding chapter are played out in the events described here. The Congress of Vienna unravels beneath the several waves of nineteenth-century revolution, culminating in the revolutions of 1848 and then in the unification of Italy and Germany.
I. Surge of Liberalism and Nationalism Lecture topics:
a. The Vienna peace was Europe’s longest-lasting general settlement of political differences; it was also the last time that classic secret diplomacy could be practiced. Discuss the possible connection.
b. Metternich’s political thought has had a great influence on diplomats and scholars. Discuss varying views of Metternich as either a reactionary egotist or an intelligent and far-sighted conservative.
c. Analyze the revolution of 1848 in France as the first modern outbreak of large-scale class warfare in Europe. Describe the role of socialists and communists in the revolution and discuss the writings of Karl Marx on the event.
d. Explore the question of how it was that 1848 witnessed revolutionary outbreaks in so many countries within a short space of time. Was there an international revolutionary network in existence? How was news transmitted from one country to another?
e. Explain the role of Louis Napoleon in the unification movements in Italy and Germany. Show how French foreign policy objectives occasionally conflicted with liberal goals.
f. Evaluate whether Bismarck was an agent of Realpolitik or a rational diplomat of the old order.
g. Discuss Bismarck and his relationship with the military during the wars of unification. Show how military and diplomatic objectives can vary.
h. Discuss ways in which Bismarck may be said to be both a conservative and a revolutionary.
i. Describe the mystery surrounding the death of Rudolph of Hapsburg and trace its political implications. Discuss whether he might have saved the Austrian Empire had he lived.
II. Surge of Liberalism and Nationalism Discussion Questions:
e. DQ (select only one, additional sources beside text not necessary):
i. Why did the first revolution of 1848 occur in France?
ii. What parallels are there between nationalist uprisings in the Middle East today? Are the causes the same?
iii. Read the selection from Tocqueville on the June Days in Paris in 1848, and have them identify what the author considers unique about that insurrection. Ask them to consider what he says were the ideas—erroneous in his view–that motivated the common people who took part in the insurrection. Does anyone agree with those ideas, such as that the wealth of the better-off citizens necessarily caused the misery of the poor, or that inequality of wealth is immoral?
iv. Nationalism is a two-edged sword; sometimes it promotes unity and sometimes division. How did it function in the major areas discussed in the chapter?
v. What dilemma did the Greek revolt against the Turks pose for the Congress of Vienna? Did this revolution fit the liberal-versus-conservative pattern of the French Revolution of 1789?
vi. The unity so passionately desired by nineteenth-century nationalists appears far less appealing today with the growth of sentiment for local and regional autonomy and the development of separatist movements. What benefits could the break-up, or at least the decentralization, of countries such as Italy and Germany bring to their citizens? What would happen if the United States were composed of largely autonomous regions within a federation? Would localities be better off or worse off with a weaker central government?
III. Surge of Liberalism and Nationalism Activities:
a. Reconvene the Congress of Vienna. Assign groups (or pairs of students) to represent each state participating in the Congress and have them research their positions and goals. Ask for volunteers (drama majors?) to play the more flamboyant characters such as Metternich, Talleyrand, and the Tsar. Have them use their respective protagonist’s words whenever possible.
b. Summon a meeting of the more troublesome minorities of early nineteenth-century Europe, including the Belgians. Have the groups representing each minority research its position in the 1815–1848 period but also its position today. (Students should use newspapers and news magazines for this part.) What minorities now have independent states? Which are more or less in the same position as in 1848? Which are worse off?
c. Use Focus Question 5 at the beginning of the chapter for a group project. Divide the class into liberals and nationalists and let them research and air their respective gripes (make sure they are specific ones) over the results of the 1848 revolutions.
d. A recent newspaper article approvingly described a popular German leader of the 1990s as being “like Bismarck, not like Hitler.” Would the prospect of another Bismarck in a recently united Germany be reassuring to other European states? Let this question be debated among groups of Germans, French, Austrians, British, and Russians. Make sure that students are all familiar with Bismarck’s domestic and foreign policies, and that they present as accurately as possible the views of his contemporaries of various nationalities. Repeat this debate when Hitler comes along later in the course, substituting him for Bismarck as the discussion topic, and compare the results of both projects.
e. Are there insurrections going on in the world today? Have groups monitor news reports of upheavals in specific regions of the world and analyze the categories into which they fall. Are there examples of nationalist, socialist, or liberal revolts? Are there some movements that do not fit any of these nineteenth-century categories?
f. “It is only Lafayette and I,” said King Charles X before his overthrow in 1830, “who have never changed.” Compare the principles and characters of these two long-lived men, one a conservative monarch and the other the embodiment of liberalism in the eyes of liberals all over Europe.
g. Look at what was going on in Ireland during this period, especially the struggle for political rights for the Irish, and for Roman Catholics in general, within Great Britain.
h. The revolts in most countries, particularly in Eastern Europe, were often precipitated by young, single, male revolutionaries who, when defeat was imminent, escaped from their countries and the subsequent repression and traveled abroad as romantic exiles, applauded for their heroism. Meanwhile, the hapless ordinary people suffered the consequences. (Louis Kossuth of Hungary is one example of this type of revolutionary.) Study the aftermath of a nineteenth-century revolution in one country and consider whether, in terms of the common good of all the people, the original revolt was legitimate and reasonable, foolhardy, criminally rash, or a justified gamble.
i. Given the hostility to various premises of Enlightenment liberalism on the part of many groups, such as devout Christians, monarchists, socialists, nationalists, peasants, and so on, is it fair to say that liberalism appealed to a relatively small, educated elite? If liberalism did not actually represent the views of most people, could liberals claim political legitimacy, or did they simply hold, like their Enlightenment predecessors, that they were somehow qualified to determine what was good for individuals and society?
____________
Chapter 15
Here again is a chapter that some students will find heavy going, but the material covered is too important to rush through. All the “isms” considered here reflect a new emphasis on science, industrialism, and secularism, and this provides a certain unity to the ideologies discussed. Students should be made aware that the issues raised by many of the mid-nineteenth century intellectual movements are still vital ones today: Darwinism remains controversial; liberalism, positivism, and Marxism are still with us in one form or another; and feminism is certainly a current trend in modern-day America.
I. Thought and Culture in Mid 19th C Lecture topics:
a. Describe how writers of realist literature depicted the status of women in nineteenth-century Europe.
b. Analyze the forces that caused the decline of religion in the nineteenth century. Comment on the repercussions of this demise.
c. Present a biographical portrait of Karl Marx including the critical evaluations of recent authors. (Paul Johnson’s Intellectuals is an interesting place to start.) According to his modern critics, Marx based his writings on outdated printed material and virtually no contacts with real workers or actual factory conditions. His anti-Semitism, Satanism, and sordid treatment of his family (and of Engels) contrast uncomfortably with his role as crusader against corruption in society.
d. Use Doctors of Modernity: Darwin, Marx and Freud, by R. F. Baum (1988) to pull together common elements in the thought of these three seminal influences on the modern mentality. Freud is dealt with in a later textbook chapter, but it does no harm to introduce him here.
e. Summarize ideas about the functions and purposes of government as encountered earlier in the course, beginning with those of Plato, and compare them with the ideas presented in the chapter.
II. Thought and Culture in Mid 19th C Discussion Questions:
a. DQ (select only one, additional sources beside text not necessary):
i. Do you agree with what is said in the chapter about the techniques and aims of such writers as Flaubert, Zola, and Ibsen? Do they enjoy reading such stories, or do you find them depressing? What is the function of literature, in their opinion? Must realist literature be scruffy, sordid, and grim, or does reality also include the noble, the beautiful, and the funny as Dickens thought?
ii. Marx was impressed with Darwin’s work and wanted to dedicate a book to him. (Darwin declined the honor.) What ideas expressed by Darwin would have appealed to Marx? Why would Marx be interested in these ideas?
iii. Why do you think that Marx’s predictions have not come to pass? What insights of his do you disagree with, and why?
iv. Read the selection from Darwin’s The Descent of Man, and identify the main reason why he sees man as descended from lower animals. If skeletal, muscular, and other physiological resemblances seem to be the main point, at least of this passage, is it persuasive? Do resemblances between two things necessarily mean that one came from the other? What alternatives might there be?
v. Trace the impact of Darwin’s ideas on Western society. It is often said that Darwin would have been horrified by Social Darwinist applications of his ideas to human society, but at least one recent biography of him (Darwin, by Adrian Desmond and James Moore, 1992) seems to indicate otherwise. Apparently when Darwin was writing in his notebooks, he placed the human societies encountered on his travels into categories in the same way as he did with subhuman specimens. He ranked them according to such European standards as friendliness to strangers, favorable attitudes to work and Christianity, and so on. Explore the idea that Darwin was himself the first social Darwinist.
vi. Think about the quotation from John Stuart Mill on freedom of expression. What would he have said about allowing Hitler to expound his ideas freely during the years before he came to power? Are there any just limits to free expression? What about speakers who promote violence in the United States?
III. Thought and Culture in Mid 19th C Activities:
a. Debate Darwin’s theory of evolution. (If any students know of more recent modifications of the theory, such as punctuated equilibrium, allow them to form a subgroup within the pro-Darwinists.) You might need to help the anti-evolution side; insist they use reputable sources, since there is a lot of silly stuff out there. Point them to recent solid material such as Philip Johnson’s Darwin on Trial (1991), The New Biology (1987) by Robert Augros and George Stanciu, Darwin’s Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution (1996) by Michael Behe—very highly recommended—and “Evolution: Fact or Belief? (which is also listed in the Film Bibliography). A most-stimulating recent work is Darwin’s God by Cornelius G. Hunter (2001). The author provides numerous examples of the negative theology of evolutionists, and he demonstrates their preoccupation with God and what God would and would not have done. He shows that many evolutionary theorists point to the prodigality, lack of perfect symmetry, and untidiness of nature as proof of evolution: “Odd arrangements and … solutions are the proof of evolution—paths that a sensible God would never tread.” The evolutionist knows better than God what God should have done—a fascinating read.
b. Do you have any hardy souls in your class who are brave enough to espouse the anti-feminist positions summarized in the chapter? If so, you can have a rousing debate on feminism and its consequences.
c. Ask the students to review what they have learned about Marxist theory. Based on Marx’s own principle of how the dialectic operates in society, producing inevitable conflict between classes, how could the Marxist utopia, the “dictatorship of the proletariat,” ever come about? Marx seems to have given some explanation for this apparent contradiction; let the Marxist half of the class look it up and defend it. Have the other half search for the flaws in Marx’s theory. If there is time, you might consider using The Philosophy of Communism, by Dr. Charles J. McFadden. The first half of the book is a very persuasive presentation of the various points of Marxist thought, drawing heavily on the words of Marx, Engels, and Lenin. The second half of the book is point-by-point refutation of the same arguments. It is extremely useful for extended debates.
d. Read reports of the recent work being done by scientists who question evolutionary theory, or see a film on the subject such as Evolution: Fact or Belief? What questions are being raised about carbon-14 dating? What light is shed on species development by recent work in genetics? What fossil evidence would be required to prove evolution beyond any doubt?
e. Consider the broad application of evolutionary theory by the Social Darwinists as mentioned in the chapter. Can you think of any other areas where it might be applied? Is Social Darwinism evident in American thought today?
Week 13 Nationalism and Imperialism
Chapter 16
Chapter 16 surveys the social, political, and ideological consequences of rapid technological and industrial progress. The crucial effects of industrialization on the growth of state power are stressed, the labor movement and other reform movements are discussed, and the anxieties and political problems of the major Western states are summarized. The causes, swift course, and consequences of the new imperialism are then traced up to the outbreak of World War I, and mention is made of developments affecting the colonies later in the twentieth century. This part of the chapter, while necessarily broad ranging, should be fairly simple for students to organize and assimilate provided that they use the maps in the book! If any chapter absolutely requires map study, it is this one.
I. Nationalism and Imperialism Lecture topics:
a. Discuss the connection between industrial progress and increased governmental power. Give examples from the nations mentioned in the chapter and raise the question of how the relationship operates today. Is there a connection between the leveling off of economic growth and the growing disenchantment with strong central government in many countries?
b. Examine the history of Ireland as an example of British colonialism. Review the horrors of the famine of the 1840s, early attempts at separation from Great Britain, the Easter Rebellion, and the uneasy solution ultimately achieved.
c. Survey conditions in the great powers on the eve of World War I, perhaps putting parallel columns on the board listing the elements of instability in each state that would affect its willingness to engage in war.
d. Choose an industrialist family such as the Krupp family of Germany and delineate its attitude toward its workers, unionization, and demands for reform.
e. Discuss the latest French views of the Dreyfus affair, including revisionist works. Some evidence appears to suggest that Dreyfus was in fact guilty of dealing with the Germans, though perhaps not of the high treason for which he was convicted. The whole thing seems to have been far more a case of bitter left-right political struggle and of nationalism than of anti-Semitism.
f. Comment on the author’s statement, “Nationalism proved more successful than liberalism in attracting allegiance, which was often expressed by a total commitment to the nation and uniting the different classes in a common cause.” Recall to the class the principles of liberalism as they have so far appeared in the course material, and how it differs from nationalism, giving examples of both. Call attention to the chapter quotation from a German nationalist glorifying war. You could also use these points for a class discussion.
g. Use maps to illustrate how much of the world was controlled by each of the Western powers discussed in the chapter on the eve of World War I, and explain the benefits and disadvantages of colonies to the belligerents in that conflict (manpower and resources from some colonies, for instance, versus the vulnerability of the colonies to enemy attack).
h. Trace the origin and impact of a great rebellion, such as the Sepoy Mutiny or the Boxer Rebellion.
i. Present the history of the Union of South Africa as a background to the present political situation of that nation. Explore the ideological roots of apartheid.
II. Nationalism and Imperialism Discussion Questions:
a. DQ1:
i. How does late-nineteenth century anti-Semitism compare ideologically, and in its physical manifestations, to modern Islamophobia?
ii. In view of the persistent problems experienced by Italy after unification, can you think of any political alternatives, such as a federation of two or more independent states, which would have been acceptable to nineteenth-century Italians?
iii. Has anti-Semitism disappeared in Europe and the United States today? Have you read any recent articles about its possible resurgence or had any personal experience with anti-Semites? What reasons do they present for their position?
iv. Why would nationalism be more attractive to many people than liberalism? What are some of the features that you identify with nationalism and what was their appeal for many people, including the German nationalist quoted in the chapter who glorified war? Do any features of the nationalist mentality appeal to you? How does nationalism differ from the virtue of patriotism?
b. DQ 2:
i. How would nineteenth-century British advocates of imperialism view the present-day independent states of the former British Empire? Would they consider them better off or worse off than they were under British rule? What reasons would they give?
ii. Napoleon said, “Let China sleep. When she awakes, the world will tremble.” Has history proved him right? Should the United States and Europe have “let China sleep”?
iii. Read the selection from the Pan-German League article. What statements hark back to ideas discussed in earlier chapters? (Social Darwinism is obviously represented, and part of the passage on human rights could come from the pen of an Enlightenment philosophe.) To what audience might this article appeal? What kind of people would take issue with it?
iv. Does the description in the chapter of the business and professional success of Jews in Vienna suggest reasons why anti-Jewish hostility occurred? Can you imagine similar antagonisms arising in the case of other minorities: for example, if today the Irish, Muslims, Asians, or Hispanics dominated business, professional, and cultural life in any European or American city? Can you think of any such actual cases?
III. Nationalism and Imperialism Activities:
a. Divide the class into groups of workers (possibly subdivided into single men, married men, and women) and industrialists from two or three of the countries covered in the chapter. Let the workers draw up lists of their grievances, while their bosses defend the benefits and prosperity brought about by industrialization. Which groups of workers from which countries are most likely to be satisfied with their treatment by the industrialists? Which remain dissatisfied? How will the dissatisfaction be expressed (joining labor unions, forming communist groups, moving back to the countryside, or immigrating to America)? What will be the reaction of the various groups of industrialists to labor unrest?
b. Let groups represent the many sides of the Irish problem: British supporters and opponents of home rule, moderate and radical Irish proponents of independence, and Ulster Protestants. Have them all prepare their solutions to the problem; also ask them to bring in any newspaper articles they can find about the activities of their present-day counterparts in the ongoing dispute.
c. Let the class, composed of groups of politicians, economists, Social Darwinists, and Christian missionaries, present the case for imperialism. Among the missionaries, include Father Damian of the leper colony of Molokai and Cardinal Lavigerie, a major figure in the international struggle to eliminate slavery from Africa. On what principles might all these groups agree? What would be the principal areas of disagreement?
d. Assign groups to represent the native people of a few important colonies and divide each group into supporters and opponents of the Western imperialist regimes. What types of people might be expected to support the Western presence? Who would be likely to oppose it and why?
e. Do a study of the reaction of the Christian churches to the increasing problems of the industrial proletariat. Consider the principles stated by Pope Leo XIII in Rerum Novarum as well as church social action in the various countries discussed in this chapter.
f. Read a detailed account of the Paris Commune and compare it with what you know of the French Revolution. Consider its aims, adoption of the old revolutionary calendar, and so on. Was this a smaller-scale version of the Terror? How close of a parallel can be drawn between the two revolutions, and how did they differ?
g. Investigate the development of racism in history, including the rise of racial prejudice against Spaniards and Hispanic Americans known as the Black Legend. A good historical overview of the Black Legend is Philip Wayne Powell’s Tree of Hate (1971). Analyze what seems to be common to all racism, including anti-Semitism, and what is peculiar to each type.
h. Compare the imperial policies of the major Western countries, including the United States. Did the country’s form of government seem to affect the way it treated its colonies? Were there any important differences (for example, between the imperial policies of the monarchies and those of the republics discussed in the chapter)?
i. Some parts of Greece did not recover their independence from Turkey until after World War I. Can Turkey be ranked among the imperialist powers, among the victims of Western imperialism, or both?
j. Make a study of the main tenets of the Hindu and Muslim religions, especially their application to political, economic, and social life. Is there any relationship between traditional Hinduism and the underdeveloped state of India when the British arrived? What were the main points of opposition between Hinduism and Islam that caused the civil war after decolonization?
Week 14 World War I
Chapter 18
Chapter 18 summarizes the causes of the conflict, the crises that preceded it, the course of the war, the peace settlement, and some of the devastating consequences of World War I, including the Communist Revolution in Russia. Map study is again crucial to a full understanding of the chapter material.
I.
II. World War I Lecture topics:
a. Trace the diplomatic maneuvering in Europe between the assassination of Francis Ferdinand and the outbreak of the war. In particular, discuss the British attempt to resolve the tension diplomatically, in the tradition of the concert of powers. A beautifully written book on the immediate prewar years in Vienna (when the city’s population included Stalin, Trotsky, Hitler, and Tito) is Thunder at Twilight by Frederick Morton (1989). The work includes a gripping account of the frantic exchange of messages among the major governments, up to the last tragic moment when war became a certainty.
b. Explain the impact of military traditions and planning on the outbreak and the extension of the theaters of World War I. Include the arms race (both naval and land) and the plans of the general staffs (the Russian mobilization plans and the development of the Schlieffen plan) to illustrate the ideas Europeans had about who the enemy was and what would occur when the next war broke out.
c. Trace the military and diplomatic decisions that finally resulted in the “blank check” to Austria. Point out the irony of the loss of Francis Ferdinand, the greatest Austrian friend of the South Slavs and of a moderate foreign policy.
d. Describe the life of Kaiser William II, especially in psychological terms, and explain the implications of his actions in terms of creating a climate for war.
e. Analyze why the war lasted four years instead of the four months so many had expected. Describe the stalemate. Evaluate how nations of different strengths (in population, industrial capacity, communications, and propaganda) tended to equalize each other and prolong the conflict. Describe how the entry of the United States upset the stalemate.
f. Discuss attitudes in the propaganda war, both in the United States and in foreign nations. Using the sinking of the Lusitania, show how the Germans’ reputation as barbarian “Huns” was employed to bring the United States into the war.
g. Trace the meaning and development of total war from the French Revolution to World War I. Include its meaning as technological warfare upon civilians (zeppelin bombings), economic warfare (blockades against civilians), and war of attrition waged against an entire population.
h. Show that historical memories can be strikingly deep and that a people may have long and bitter memories leading them to seek revenge. (Relevant examples include the victory of the Teutonic knights at Tannenberg and the battle of Tannenberg of the twentieth century, the proclamation of the German Empire at Versailles in 1870 and the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, the disposition of Alsace-Lorraine in 1870 and in 1919, and the armistice in a railway car in 1919 and the manner of the surrender of the French in 1940.)
i. Describe structural, global changes accentuated and/or caused by the war: geo-political divisions in the Middle East; the rise of the United States as a creditor nation; dismissals of Japan’s new strength by Western powers; the role of petroleum in the war and in its conclusion.
j. Discuss the peace initiatives attempted during the war by the Vatican and the new—and last—Hapsburg emperor, Charles I. Charles was in secret diplomatic contact with France, and offered to cede Austrian territory and make other concessions in order to stop the killing; he also requested talks with President Wilson (who refused.) Why did these efforts fail?
k. Examine the aftermath of the war in the Middle East and show how the present turmoil in the region is related to the peace treaties of 1919. This is an important topic that is both relevant and little appreciated today.
l. Discuss the thesis of the controversial work by Patrick Buchanan, Churchill, Hitler, and the Unnecessary War. The author treats the two world wars as essentially one long war, and provides a wealth of detail about its causes and results. The book makes for stimulating reading and also furnishes much material for discussion.
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ANALYZING ART: ART AS HISTORY: THE RENAISSANCE TO THE PRESENT
I. Classroom Discussion
a. Compare the style, color, and subject matter of Brueghel’s main works with those of Van Eyck, a fellow Flemish painter. Can you see any of Eyck’s influence in Brueghel’s work? To what extent had circumstances in their region changed in two hundred years, and how might that have affected their styles and choices otherwise?
b. Can you detect any influences from previous styles in the work of Jackson Pollock? Regardless, does Pollock’s disregard for literalism seem to capture the mood of the mid-20th century?
c. From the art of the Renaissance as embodied and imagined by such savants as Michelangelo to the cutting edge structures of Frank Gehry, what has been the single most revolutionary addition to the styles of Western art?
d. Was Jackson Pollock’s artwork actually “painting,” why or why not?
II. Activities
a. Have students, individually or in small groups, take pictures of local architecture and upload them either to Flickr or, better yet, to the course management system (Blackboard, Angel, etc.) at use on your campus. Each student should research the building in question well enough to understand the influence behind its design. On the first day of the project, show all of the images, and have students group themselves according to stylistic similarity. Then have each group put together a presentation showing how the larger trends in the art of Western Civilization have influence the buildings and structures in your town or city.
b. The time is the French Revolution. Factions have formed. Allow students to group themselves according to natural interest into Jacobins, Royalists, Girondins, etc. Then ensure that each group researches the artists who supported their cause or at least evoked its interests, which could include artwork from before the Revolution itself. Each group should choose a spokesperson who will present their case before the Emperor Napoleon. He has accused you of subversive activities. How can you defend yourselves in light of your cause, his power, and recent events?
c. Have the students assemble into teams of four. Have them choose a favored artist from the Renaissance, with each group taking a different personality. Have students research their chosen artist’s life, influences, and reasons for his/her works. With that knowledge in hand, on the day in question, present a slideshow of the most outrageous yet famous artwork from the past 50 years, not necessarily scandalous, though that would be fine. As each group, speaking through their avatar, to respond to the demonstration.
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III. World War I Discussion Questions:
a. DQ1:
i. A recent military historian has remarked that in democracies, war is more difficult to undertake but also harder to end; democratic warfare depends on mobilizing public opinion for a crusade, and the result must be seen as total victory. Does this seem a reasonable assessment? Examine ways in which this theory applies to the nations involved in World War I and any other recent war with which you are familiar.
ii. Why were people so unprepared for the kind of war they actually experienced during World War I?
iii. Did World War I and its concluding treaties create more problems than it solved?
b. DQ2:
i. Read the chapter selection by Friedrich von Bernhardi on Germany and the Next War, written in 1911. Analyze the sources of Bernardi’s ideas.
ii. If Bismarck had still been in control in Germany, would war have been prevented or would it still have occurred?
iii. Is political assassination ever justified? If so, under what conditions? Was it justified in the case of Francis Ferdinand?
iv. Why did the war last four years instead of the four months as so many had expected?
IV. World War I Activities:
a. Have a group representing each of the main countries involved in World War I. Ask for volunteers to play major figures like the Kaiser and have them bone up on speeches their characters actually gave. Let each group, led by its ruler or prime minister; present its position and goals at the outbreak of the war. Students will need to research such questions as what their country hoped to gain from a war—considering imperial interests, European territorial disputes, desire to weaken or humiliate a powerful neighbor, and so on. Did any single country stand to gain more than the others? Reconvene the groups after discussing the peace settlement, and see what they have to say about the results of the war for their respective countries.
b. Assign some of the many World War I readings to different groups and have a very good discussion. In any case, assign the chapter selection by Friedrich von Bernhardi on Germany and the Next War, written in 1911. First, have the whole class analyze the sources of Bernardi’s ideas: they should come up with Social Darwinism, the almost universal justification of colonialism in 1911, the glorification of war and national expansion stemming from the French Revolution, etc. (There can be many more points, of course, including Machiavelli’s famous principle. Searching for roots of a passage like this provides a good review of theories you have already covered in class.) Then divide the class for a debate between defenders and opponents of Bernardi’s ideas.
c. It is not always easy to predict what will trigger the outbreak of a major war. Several international crises occurred before the event that actually touched off World War I. Develop a scenario showing how one of the earlier incidents, such as one of the Balkan Wars, could easily have led to a general war.
d. The dismemberment of the Hapsburg Empire created a dangerous power vacuum in Eastern Europe, although it appeared to gratify the nationalistic aspirations of at least some ethnic groups. Should ethnic identity be used as a universal and absolute principle in defining territorial boundaries? If not, what other principles should be applied? Consider the nationalistic disputes in many parts of the world today and analyze whether gratification of ethnic aspirations would be just and practical in all cases.
e. Read the fascinating account by Naomi Loughnan of her work in a British factory during the war (see Perry’s Sources of the Western Tradition). Summarize what her story reveals about British society of the time, the class structure, and the changing role of women.
f. An excellent historical novel—a spy novel, in fact—about World War I is Drink to Yesterday by “Manning Coles.” The name is a pseudonym for two members of the British intelligence service, one of them a secret agent with a great deal of experience in Germany during the war. The authors claim that the main events they describe actually happened and, besides its gripping plot, the book provides a valuable look at Germans in various walks of life and what they thought of the war. One of its many virtues is that it does not demonize the Germans.
Week 15 An Era of Totalitarianism
Chapter 19
The rise of authoritarian and totalitarian regimes in the years between the two world wars is the subject of the first part of this chapter. The emphasis is on the characteristics of communism in the Soviet Union, fascism in Italy, and Nazism in Germany, with a brief survey of contemporary developments in the other Western nations. The main theme of the second part of the chapter is the mood of pessimism, disorientation, and nihilism running through the culture and thought of the post-World War I era. The emphasis on irrationality is a continuation of a nineteenth-century cultural attitude, reinforced in the following century by the ruthlessness and destructiveness of new ideologies.
I. An Era of Totalitarianism Lecture topics:
a. Compare Stalin and Trotsky in terms of personality and political and international aims. Describe how Stalin won and explain Trotsky’s failure.
b. Compare absolutism with totalitarianism, explaining that European absolute rulers of earlier centuries generally insisted on recognition of their authority and freedom to conduct state affairs without interfering with local autonomy and the personal freedoms of their subjects. Totalitarians, on the other hand, insist on control over the minds, souls, and lives of their citizens.
c. Discuss the mysterious and lurid life and death of Rasputin. Explain his influence over political appointments made by Alexandra while the Tsar was at the front and how this weakened the government and contributed to the Revolution. The lurid story of his assassination should certainly get the class’s attention.
d. Describe the assassination of the Romanov family and some of the mysteries that still surround that gruesome event.
e. Discuss the struggle of the various counterrevolutionary forces against the communists, the support they had, and why they failed.
f. Trace the end of Stalin’s “cult of personality.”
g. Analyze the creation of the myth of Lenin as a kindly founding father by Stalin’s propagandists as a tool to legitimize a totalitarian state increasingly bent on using terror against its own citizens as a tool for creating loyalty and order.
h. Discuss the purges of the 1930s and their effect on attitudes of other powers toward Russia.
i. Discuss some eyewitness accounts of life in the Soviet slave labor camps. Solzhenitsyn’s The Gulag Archipelago is perhaps the best known, but there are a number of others. One is an extraordinary chronicle With God in Russia, by Father Walter J. Ciszek, an American priest who spent twenty-three years in Soviet Russia, much of it in the camps.
j. Trace the power of propaganda in a variety of areas (for example: architecture, sculpture, painting, and film) as used by the totalitarian regimes discussed in the chapter; include some of the copious examples from the Third Reich.
k. Raise the question of whether it was a mistake on the part of the victors in World War I to abolish the monarchy, given the background of German history and German traditions of submission to state authority. Might the existence of a respected king have cut off the rise to power of an upstart like Hitler?
l. Analyze why some states in postwar Europe were able to maintain a consensus of support for their governments whereas others were not.
m. Discuss the euthanasia movement of the 1930s, which in Germany pioneered the killing of mental defectives and others by physicians—a process Hitler adapted but did not originate. Use A Sign for Cain by Dr. Fredric Wertham (1966), The Medical Holocausts by William Brennan (1980), and The Nazi Doctors by Robert Jay Lifton (1986). The popularity of the worldwide eugenics movement, of which Margaret Sanger and her associates were leading exponents in the United States, has been analyzed in several recent works. (The German compulsory sterilization law of 1933 was taken almost entirely from a proposal by Harry Laughlin, a Sanger associate.) See The Nazi Connection: Eugenics, American Racism, and German National Socialism by Stefan Kühl (1994).
n. The textbook authors sometimes seem to equate the Enlightenment with the use of reason, although most of the great pre-Enlightenment philosophers—such as Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and Thomas Aquinas—also held to the primacy of reason and considered the intellect as the highest human faculty. One difference between them and Enlightenment philosophes is that the latter greatly restricted the sphere of reason, limiting it to purely material phenomena, while earlier philosophers saw nothing irrational in the intellectual investigation of God, the soul, and other immaterial substances. Examples of modern thinkers who continued this tradition are Maritain mentioned in the chapter, Thomists Etienne Gilson and Joseph Pieper and Aristotelian Mortimer Adler (Aristotle for Everybody, Ten Philosophical Mistakes How to Think About God). Students should know that if one rejects irrationality, the anemic rationalism of the Enlightenment is not the only intellectual alternative. Remind them of the broad philosophical tradition of the West and discuss how the thinkers in this chapter either continue or repudiate that tradition.
o. Compare the mood of contemporary art with that of the art described in the chapter. Discuss whether the sense of meaninglessness, subjectivism, and the desire to shock are still present in the art of our time or whether today’s artists are more concerned with communicating truth and beauty to the viewer.
p. Explore the notion of ideology as religion, using Arthur Koestler’s critique of communism and examples of the myths and rituals of fascism.
q. Point out the philosophical antecedents of some of the thinkers discussed in the chapter and trace the consequences of eighteenth-century idealism, for example, in the thought of the twentieth century.
II. An Era of Totalitarianism Discussion Questions:
a. DQ Select any two you’d like to discuss. You decide which is DQ1 or DQ2.
i. Evaluate the indecisive actions of the Allies in intervening in Russia during the Revolution. Although some Western leaders, such as Winston Churchill, favored a decisive defeat of the revolutionary forces, lack of Allied agreement led to withdrawal of Western troops. Should the West have followed Churchill’s advice? How would such action have changed the course of recent history? Can you think of other similarly indecisive campaigns by international forces?
ii. The communist revolution took tens of millions of lives in Russia alone, to say nothing of other countries that staged communist takeovers of their own. Although this is many times the number of victims who fell to the Nazis, many Western liberals continued to sympathize with the aims and ideology of communism until quite recently, while condemning Nazism as immoral. With what communist goals and programs might liberals agree? Can you make a comparison between the ideas of the eighteenth-century philosophes and twentieth-century liberals, and between the French revolutionary terror and the Russian terror?
iii. What course might German history have taken if the Great Depression had not occurred? Would Hitler have found as many followers if prosperity had lasted longer?
iv. Assign the readings from Ernst Huber and another Nazi sympathizer on Hitler, and ask the students to identify the writers’ main thesis and list their supporting points. What is the primary justification given for National Socialism, and how would students refute it? Is there some truth to any of the arguments made by the authors?
v. What is the difference between regimes described as authoritarian and those characterized as totalitarian? Can either type be justified in certain circumstances, and if so, how?
vi. Why did communism become an international movement, whereas Nazism did not? But can Nazism’s resurgence throughout Western Civilization be explained today?
vii. Discuss Ortega y Gasset’s “mass man.” Is he alive and well in the United States today?
viii. What would Christian thinkers such as Maritain think of the absurdity and meaninglessness espoused by the artists and novelists discussed in this chapter? What do you think? Is reality ultimately absurd and irrational, or is it a reflection of both divine order and human disorder? How does sin and redemption play a role in this discussion?
ix. Is Dada the logical consequence of post-medieval subjectivism and philosophical idealism?
III. An Era of Totalitarianism Activities:
a. Groups of 1917 Russian citizens are a natural choice for a project, but warn participants that the issues involved are far from simple. It is difficult for American students to comprehend the almost mystical veneration of Russians for tsar and Orthodoxy, but they should realize that probably no ordinary Russians wanted to see the tsar killed. (The group of “ordinary Russians” will be the most difficult to portray.) What did urban workers, at least in St. Petersburg, want? What were the positions of the main revolutionary factions? What was the program of responsible members of the tsarist government (those not replaced by Rasputin appointees)? Into how many factions must the military be divided? Try to have a coherent discussion, if only to bring home to the class how complex great historical events can be and how different the mentalities of other nations are.
b. Assign groups representing each of the main countries discussed in the chapter to research the major postwar difficulties confronting their countries, including the impact of the Great Depression. Ask them to agree on reasonable solutions to their problems and then decide whether the new leaders of the interwar period implemented any of those solutions. Which rulers proved most effective and which were least effective?
c. Ask class members to imagine that they are German students in the 1930s. Have them read up on conditions in Germany then, perhaps adding some online research to find material specifically related to students. How would they feel about the proposals of Hitler and his National Socialist Party to bring their country out of crisis? Have half the class argue for supporting Hitler and the other half for opposing him. (Remind them that it is very human to ignore negative information about someone who is promising—and in Hitler’s case, delivering—real economic benefits. Also ask them to consider how much reliable information they could have had about actual Nazi plans for the future.)
1 Look into the financial and diplomatic maneuvers that favored the Bolshevik seizure of power. Why, for example, did Germany arrange for Lenin to travel to Russia when the Austrian emperor refused to allow him to cross Austrian territory? Where did Trotsky get the large sum of money he brought with him to Russia after leaving the United States? What Western financial interests helped finance the Bolshevik Revolution and why?
d. Read an account, such as Robert Conquest’s The Harvest of Sorrow, of the deliberate starvation of the Ukrainians in the 1930s, which took millions of lives. How do you account for the fact that this atrocity was rarely discussed in the West until the 1980s? Some Western visitors to Russia, who knew about the famine, such as Walter Duranty, the Pulitzer Prize-winning correspondent of the New York Times, publicly denied that it was occurring. What motives could they have had for doing so? (For Duranty, see Stalin’s Apologist by S. J. Taylor, 1990.)
e. Consult maps of Europe before World War I and after 1919, noting the areas taken from some countries and given to others. Observe, for example, the great loss by Hungary of some of its most historic areas. Consider what role territorial grievances, rather than ideology, would play in the support Hitler received in Eastern Europe. What might various governments hope to gain through alliances with Germany? Why would many Ukrainians welcome the Germans?
f. The churches have been accused of not condemning Nazism forcefully enough. On the other hand, some historians argue that when German clergy spoke out, the result was renewed Nazi persecution and loss of life; they point to the effectiveness of other forms of resistance and quote the Israeli consul in Italy, Pinchas E. Lapide, who estimated that at least 400,000 Jews were saved by the Catholic Church alone. Investigate this issue, from the condemnation of Nazism in Mit Brennender Sorge by Pope Pius XI in 1937 to the end of World War II. Pius XII and the Holocaust (1988) is a collection of relevant readings and documents, and newer works seem to be constantly appearing, including some by Jews defending the pope against the charge that he did nothing to stop the slaughter. One of these is Rabbi David G. Dalin’s The Myth of Hitler’s Pope (2005.) As recently analyzed documents bring out, Pope Pius was even involved in a plot to kill Hitler.
g. Several of the thinkers discussed in this chapter hark back to the Middle Ages for solutions to contemporary problems. Thus Jacques Maritain looked to the thought of Saint Thomas Aquinas, while others were attracted by the psychological security of medieval communitarian life. How could the principles that governed medieval life be adapted to the contemporary world? Imagine ways in which this might be done.
h. Read Christopher Dawson’s The Dynamics of World History, in which he analyzes the relationship between religion and civilization and argues that Christianity is the essential basis of Western civilization. Do his argument and the evidence he presents convince you? Does Enlightenment thought and its twentieth-century variations represent an aberration or an advancement of the spirit of the West?
i. From the great variety of thought systems presented in the chapter, try to draw up a summary of four or five main themes that seem to absorb the attention of the thinkers discussed. Which ones are peculiar to the twentieth century and which are echoes of earlier philosophical problems?
Week 16 World War II
Chapter 20
Chapter 20 first sets the international stage for the eruption of war, discusses the steps that led to the outbreak of hostilities, traces the progress of the conflict and its turning points, and finally mentions some results of World War II.
I. World War II Lecture topics:
a. Trace the conduct of the Wehrmacht’s military leadership from 1938 to the war’s end, emphasizing and evaluating the July 20, 1944 plot.
b. Describe the establishment of the Warsaw Ghetto and detail the fight of the Jews against the Nazis.
c. Discuss the international euthanasia movement of the 1920s and 1930s and how the Jews in Germany were at first excluded from the “benefits” of this benevolent killing, only to be caught in its efficient machinery later on. New interest in this topic has produced a number of excellent works, some of them listed in the Suggested Reading list at the end of the chapter. One of the first was a small volume, The German Euthanasia Program, by Fredric Wertham, M.D. In it, the author describes the escalation of the killing of undesirables by German doctors before Hitler took power; it was not he who began this unprecedented mass extermination of the mentally retarded, the disabled, and children who were bed-wetters, handicapped, or difficult to educate. Rather, it was the German medical establishment. Collaborators of the racist American birth control proponent Margaret Sanger saw much to praise in the German program; a “Model Eugenical Sterilization Law” written by one of her staff was enthusiastically adopted in Germany. See the 1994 winner of the Fraenkel Prize in Contemporary History, The Nazi Connection: Eugenics, American Racism, and German National Socialism, Stefan Kühl.
d. Compare Hitler’s grandiose goals and methods with those of a traditional statesman who had limited, rational goals. Include explanations of terms such as raison d’etat and Machtstaat.
e. Explain why the League of Nations failed. Include the origin of the concept behind it, the major activities of the organization, and its failure to control violence among nations.
f. Compare Hitler’s attempted putsch against Austria in 1934 with the successful Anschluss in 1938. Show how the diplomatic atmosphere had changed by 1938, making such a bold move possible.
g. Develop a lecture on the Vichy regime, distinguishing the first two years in which Marshal Pétain was in charge from the last years in which Nazis and their collaborators increasingly controlled the government. Explain why many of the French supported the Marshal and why a number of French historians consider the current version of the history of Vichy to be seriously distorted, including accounts of how the Jews were treated. (For Europe as a whole, for example, only about 7% of Jews survived the Holocaust, while 86% of French Jews and 70% of Jews resident in France survived. A number of French Jews have expressed their gratitude to Marshal Pétain’s government for its protection.)
h. Point out that in any war, atrocities can occur on either side. Discuss, for example, the bombing of civilian targets by the Allies, particularly the fire bombing of Dresden; Operation Keelhaul, the forcible and disastrous repatriation of millions of Soviet citizens (use Utopia in Power by M. Heller and A. Nekrich, 1986); the genocide of one million German prisoners alleged in Other Losses by James Bacque (1989); and the deportation of millions of ethnic Germans and others by the Russians.
i. Describe the pre-war mood in the United States regarding world affairs in general, and then transition into American racial attitudes and policies. Provide an account of U.S. reluctant entry into the war, and demonstrate how pre-war cultural trends influenced U.S. actions regarding Europe’s Jews and the fight against Japan in the Pacific.
j. Discuss the peculiar case of “Hitler’s Mufti,” the Muslim cleric Mohammad Amin al-Husayni, Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, who wholeheartedly supported Nazi attempts to exterminate Jews and recruited volunteer fighters for the Nazis from among the Balkan Muslims. Ask the class what Hitler and a Muslim leader could possibly have in common?
II. World War II Discussion Questions:
a. DQ Select any two you’d like to discuss. You decide which is DQ1 or DQ2.
i. The League of Nations was unable to prevent World War II. What about the United Nations today? Do you know of any contemporary world crisis in which the U.N. has acted decisively and successfully? Are there any acts of aggression by one nation against another about which the U.N. is doing nothing?
ii. Is there any essential difference among the fanatical attempts of the French revolutionaries to wipe out the “aristos,” or enemies of the people; the elimination of “capitalists,” bourgeois, Kulaks, and Ukrainians by the communists; and the extermination of the Jews by the Nazis? Discuss any differences and similarities, giving specific examples where possible.
iii. Decide whether the United States should have dropped atomic bombs on Japan.
iv. Reread the section on D-Day in the chapter, along with the selection at the end of the chapter on the landing at Omaha beach. Come up with three or four reasons why that hazardous landing succeeded so well. Had it failed, what would the consequences have been?
v. American veterans of World War II are rapidly dying out, but many families still count one or more elderly members who remember the war—either their active military service or life on the home front. Interview a relative and write a report of their testimony to share with the rest of the class.
III. World War II Activities:
a. Divide the class into government policy makers from Germany, Japan, France, Great Britain, and the United States on the eve of World War II. What were the goals and hopes of each group? How far did Hitler really intend to go, assuming he was not stopped? What was the position of the United States as Hitler began his aggressive moves, and what factors influenced the position American foreign policy would take on the war in Europe?
b. Debate the question of whether the western Allies should have pushed through Germany to Berlin in the final days of the war, instead of deliberately allowing Soviet troops to come in from the east—thus ensuring brutal Soviet domination not only of East Germany but of all of Eastern Europe. Have groups research the various positions on this thorny issue, including the differences of opinion within the U.S. government and military.
c. What happened to the German doctors and others involved in mass killing of the elderly, the disabled, and the mentally ill, as well as the Jews? Only some were tried at Nuremburg, while others were tried elsewhere and given light sentences. A number of them went on to careers in other countries or in Germany itself, and some simply disappeared. Have groups look up the fate of some of these criminals, using the Internet and the books mentioned above and in the chapter bibliography. (Mengele was traced recently, so information about him should be readily available online.)
d. Have a debate on whether the United States should have dropped atomic bombs on Japan. Have participants research the practical arguments on each side (some of which are mentioned in the chapter), as well as applicable ethical principles. A generally accepted principle of Western civilization before World War II was: It is never lawful to kill the innocent. How does that affect one’s view of the bombing of Japan?
e. Organize an oral history project. American veterans of World War II are rapidly dying out, but many families still count one or more elderly members who remember the war—either their active military service or life on the home front. Have students interview those relatives and write reports of their testimonies to share with the rest of the class.
f. Do research on two controversial issues that still deeply divide France: the character of Marshal Petain, the anti-German head of state who attempted to save part of his country from German occupation and was condemned for treason after the war, and the nature of the resistance and the postwar Terror that allegedly claimed between 80,000 and 100,000 lives. Start with British journalist Sisley Huddleston’s France: The Tragic Years. An Eyewitness Account of War, Occupation and Liberation (1955). Consider to what extent various features of the French Revolution recur at intervals in French history.
g. How much of the Allied victory in Europe was due to the intelligence coup known as the Ultra secret? Read some of the books on this fascinating subject and speculate how the war might have progressed differently had the West not cracked the German code.
h. Another very worthwhile spy novel by Manning Coles, (pseudonym for the British Intelligence agents mentioned in an earlier chapter of this manual) is A Toast to Tomorrow. Part of the plot of this story involves a British agent who becomes chief of police in Berlin under the Nazis. (This actually occurred, though not in the way described in the book.) The authors again present a sympathetic picture of many of the German characters.
Week 17 Europe after WWII
Chapter 21
Since a number of important topics are covered in this chapter, maps and parallel timelines are strongly recommended for keeping everything straight. The cold war and the postwar arms race are analyzed, and the recovery of Europe is discussed. Developments within the Soviet bloc are surveyed, and a section is devoted to the important issue of decolonization following the war.
I. Europe after WWII Lecture topics:
a. Lecture around the theme of the cold war. Outline the major factors and events associated with its beginning and then describe the course of events as nations moved toward detente.
b. Describe those occasions in which the cold war became or threatened to become “hot”—in Berlin, Korea, and Cuba—and explain how and why these and other threats to peace were temporarily resolved. Point out the resurgence of North Korea as a major threat to stability due to its nuclear arms program.
c. Trace the history of the Vietnam War from the end of French involvement to the withdrawal of U.S. forces in 1973, and account for its outcome.
d. Explain the goals and methods of the Allied occupation of Germany after the war. Discuss de-Nazification, the Nuremberg trials, and how the West realized Germany could be a buffer against Soviet expansion.
e. Examine two or three former colonies in Africa or Asia and trace their history since independence.
f. Survey the progress of the liberation of the countries of the former Soviet bloc discussed in the chapter using map illustrations. Use current media information to discuss briefly the situation of those countries today.
g. Present a biographical sketch of Gorbachev. In particular, note the career he has made for himself since losing power in Russia, his status as an internationally recognized statesman and newspaper columnist, and how much political influence he may still have.
h. Examine the proxy wars of the Cold War, going into depth in such various places as Angola, Nicaragua, and Afghanistan. Take into account the high cost in civilian lives, the perversion of the democratic process in the United States that enabled the wars to be funded, and the long-term ramifications of these wars.
II. Europe after WWII Discussion Questions:
a. DQ Select any two you’d like to discuss. You decide which is DQ1 or DQ2.
i. Which Western country seems to have suffered most from World War II? Which recovered most quickly? Give reasons for your choices.
ii. During the Hungarian uprising of 1956, the Hungarians begged for American help that they had been promised by the Voice of America. The Russians later admitted that had the West taken a firm stand, the Red Army would not have returned after its first withdrawal and the savage repression would not have occurred. Should the United States have intervened in Hungary? Why or why not?
iii. If Marxism has been so discredited in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, why does it appear to be alive and well among Latin American and African revolutionaries?
iv. In what ways are the after-effects of the Cold War still evident globally? Think about the ongoing American presence in Afghanistan, Russian’s aggression in the Ukraine, for example, and, perhaps, about the United Nations as an extension of major powers’ global security interests.
v. Debate the role of the United States in the often chaotic global conditions surveyed in the chapter. What should be our long-term foreign policy goals and what means should we take to achieve them? Should the United States be the “world’s policeman” or withdraw from too much involvement in the conflicts of other countries? Discuss the options of the isolationists and interventionists and share your opinion.
vi. Proponents of Ronald Reagan have long asserted that his ramping up of Cold War rhetoric and Cold War budgets wore away at the structural and economic integrity of the Soviet Union. What kind of credibility does this argument have?
III. Europe after WWII Activities:
a. Proponents of Ronald Reagan have long asserted that his ramping up of Cold War rhetoric and Cold War budgets wore away at the structural and economic integrity of the Soviet Union. Divide the class into two groups, one tasked with supporting Reagan’s side, the other with discrediting it. Have the two groups compile Power Point presentations replete with factual data supporting their claims. Each side should present its case, and a debate should ensue.
b. Have groups of students choose various countries of the European Union to learn about. They should be able to report on the general political, economic, and social condition of each country, and also any reservation that state might have about its membership in the Union. This will be the case with a relatively small number of countries, but it should be brought out. The fear is that the bureaucrats in Brussels will enact measures to be imposed on member states that will be contrary to the religious, social, or political principles of their people, or will affect their economies adversely. Is there evidence that this has already occurred?
c. Debate the role of the United States in the often chaotic global conditions surveyed in the chapter. What should be our long-term foreign policy goals and what means should we take to achieve them? Should the United States be the “world’s policeman” or withdraw from too much involvement in the conflicts of other countries? Divide the class into isolationists and interventionists and have each side research the background of its position and its most famous spokesmen, past and present—including current presidential hopefuls. A variation of this topic would be to have a discussion using Thinking Beyond the Facts question #2 (below).
d. Do research on U.S. military strategy in Europe in the last weeks of the war and on the Yalta agreement—both of which reflected the concern of the United States and Great Britain to conciliate Stalin. How might different military and political policies have altered the course of postwar history for most of the European nations?
e. Zbigniew Brzezinski, in The Grand Chessboard (1997), argues that the United States is the only—and the last—global superpower; that Eurasia is the key to maintenance of that status; and that “the three grand imperatives of imperial geostrategy are to prevent collusion and maintain security dependence among the vassals, to keep tributaries pliant and protected, and to keep the barbarians from coming together.” Why has this book infuriated some European political writers? Which states do you think can be considered our vassals? Which ones are clients? Which are barbarians?
f. The Cold War can be presented based on a simple narrative of global military and ideological competition between the U.S.S.R. and its allies on the one side arrayed against the U.S. and its allies and clients. But are there other ways of understanding the complex dynamic? Ask the students to forgo any research into military or ideological conflict. Instead, ask them if economics lay at the heart of the Cold War. Were the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. necessarily carving the globe into markets and resource basins into which they could sell their produced goods and obtain necessary materials, respectively?
Week 18 The Troubled Present
Chapter 22
Some of the problems confronting the world community are described, including environmental destruction, cultural disorientation, and increasing ethnic, national, and religious hostility. The dilemmas of continuing turbulence in the Middle East, the involvement of the United States in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the spread of terrorism are also presented.
I. The Troubled Present Lecture topics:
a. Point out the resurgence of North Korea as a major threat to stability due to its nuclear arms program and describe the ways in which its connections to China but isolation from much of the rest of the global community can be understood as an aftershock of the Cold War.
b. Examine two or three former colonies in Africa or Asia and trace their history since independence.
c. Survey the progress of the liberation of the countries of the former Soviet bloc discussed in the chapter using map illustrations. Use current media information to discuss briefly the situation of those countries today.
d. Develop a portrait of the character and goals of Vladimir Putin, including his record in restoring the Russian economy, Russia’s status among the world powers, and regional power. Compare him with Gorbachev.
e. Summarize the events of the Gulf War and discuss what is currently going on in Iraq and its neighbors. Discuss various scenarios for developments in the Persian Gulf region in the near future.
f. Discuss the current Russian war in Chechnya as an example of both traditional Russian territorial goals and of an Islamic independence movement supported by Muslim fighters from outside the country.
g. Relate the breakups of Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia to their origins in the Versailles settlement and examine the elements that kept the two areas relatively stable prior to World War I.
h. In order to understand the attachment of Serbs to Kosovo and the disinclination of much of Europe to have another Muslim state within its borders, you might review the background of the centuries of brutal Ottoman Turkish domination of large parts of Europe, particularly the Balkans. (Remind the students that memories are long in the Balkans, because of their tragic history of oppression.) The Ottomans deported hundreds of thousands of Christian boys from the Balkans to serve the sultans in Istanbul, while establishing colonies of Turkish settlers within their European provinces; some Christians also converted to Islam for various reasons. In areas such as Bosnia and Kossovo, Muslims were numerous enough to persecute and exploit the native Christian population. Atrocities by some pro-Nazi Muslims during World War II (see previous chapter) further antagonized the Christian population. It is understandable that Serbs, attached to Kosovo for a number of reasons as the chapter explains, would resent further Muslim immigration into the territory and subsequent declarations of Kosovar independence.
i. Explain the motivation and tremendous violence of the Khmer Rouge. Draw parallels with the barbarism of Hitler’s Third Reich. Analyze how twentieth-century barbarism has led to questions regarding Enlightenment assumptions about human nature.
j. A new section of the textbook chapter discusses the problem of Muslim immigration and the resurgence of anti-Semitism. In preparing a lecture on this highly relevant topic, you might want to view the DVD Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West, issued by the Clarion Fund and shown on a number of television stations and elsewhere. You can decide if parts of it should be shown in class, but it is definitely a partisan production and Muslim students will find it distressing or worse. As lecture preparation, it is valuable for the newsreel footage and much factual data.
k. Describe the origins and growth of Al Qaeda and the areas in which it currently operates. Relate it to historical terrorist movements, such as anarchism, and show in what ways it both resembles and differs from them.
II. The Troubled Present Discussion Questions:
a. DQ Select any two you’d like to discuss. You decide which is DQ1 or DQ2.
i. Discuss the chapter’s sober assessment of the rise of anti-Semitism today, even among groups from which it has been traditionally absent. Have students list the various motives for hostility to the Jews as mentioned by the author, and ask if they have ever encountered examples of anti-Semitism. If they have, on what was it based?
ii. Critics of world government argue that it has the dangerous potential for evolving into a global dictatorship. What do you think of this prospect?
iii. Have Muslim immigrants proved capable of assimilation in the countries that have taken them in? Have students mention some of the points brought out in the chapter. If Muslim students are present, they might be able to say how many of the points actually have a basis in the Qur’an and how many are merely cultural, derived from the country of origin of the immigrants and not from their holy book. (On the other hand, many practices that are unacceptable to Westerners are found either in the Qur’an or in the Hadith—other authoritative teachings of Muhammad that were transmitted orally.) How can Muslims and non-Muslims in the West learn to grow together politically, socially, and cultural?
iv. Read the primary source selection by Osama bin Laden. Ask the students to disentangle his one main point and various arguments he uses to elicit support from his audience. What seems to be the main motive for his hatred of Americans?
v. Considering the widespread cultural and political disorientation of the late twentieth century, do you think a foreign political system such as democracy must necessarily be imposed on all peoples everywhere despite the problems it often causes? Is democracy always and everywhere the best form of government? Can a regime based on the traditions and beliefs of a people possibly work better, whether it is a monarchy or some other form of non-democratic rule? Do you think some of the turmoil and devastation occurring in newly democratic African and Asian states might be avoided under traditional native rulers?
III. The Troubled Present Activities:
a. Has the new Russia abandoned the foreign policy and domestic goals described in the early part of the chapter? Have students draw up lists of the domestic and foreign policy priorities of the Soviet Union during the period discussed in the textbook. Then, working in groups, ask them to follow the news media for a week or two to gather information on the topics they have listed. From group reports, get a consensus on how far the new Russia seems to resemble or differ from the old Soviet Union; does it resemble in any way the old imperial Russia?
b. Have groups of students look up the history and current status of former Soviet republics and border regions such as Chechnya, Belarus, Ukraine, and the central Asian Muslim states mentioned in the chapter. Have each group find out something about the background of its region and then search the Internet for the most recent developments in the region, particularly in its relations with Russia. At the conclusion of the project, have the class consider whether there are any patterns detectable in either the current problems experienced by the areas studied, or the direction in which Russia seems to be going in its relations with them. (This exercise in political forecasting can stimulate an interest in current events that many students seem to lack.)
c. Have groups of students choose various countries of the European Union to learn about. They should be able to report on the general political, economic, and social condition of each country, and also any reservation that state might have about its membership in the Union. This will be the case with a relatively small number of countries, but it should be brought out. The fear is that the bureaucrats in Brussels will enact measures to be imposed on member states that will be contrary to the religious, social, or political principles of their people, or will affect their economies adversely. Is there evidence that this has already occurred?
d. Set up a Taliban research project that will last for a few weeks of the semester. Have one group look into the origins of this elusive entity; let another research its ascendancy in Afghanistan; have a third look into the Taliban’s current role in Pakistan and why this poses such a danger to world peace. All groups should try to get at the goals and principles of the movement; is there any suggestion that the Taliban will stop if they get control of Pakistan, or do they plan further operations on a grander scale?
e. Debate the role of the United States in the often chaotic global conditions surveyed in the chapter. What should be our long-term foreign policy goals and what means should we take to achieve them? Should the United States be the “world’s policeman” or withdraw from too much involvement in the conflicts of other countries? Divide the class into isolationists and interventionists and have each side research the background of its position and its most famous spokesmen, past and present—including current presidential hopefuls. A variation of this topic would be to have a discussion using Thinking Beyond the Facts question #1 (below).
f. International terrorism threatens the world community in a way no previous single power in history has done. Have one group draw up a list of twenty ways in which terrorists can disrupt the stability of a target country. Have another group imagine twenty ways in which terrorism, including the homegrown variety, can be combated. Discuss the findings; are students more optimistic or pessimistic about the future as a result of this project?
g. Zbigniew Brzezinski, in The Grand Chessboard (1997), argues that the United States is the only—and the last—global superpower; that Eurasia is the key to maintenance of that status; and that “the three grand imperatives of imperial geostrategy are to prevent collusion and maintain security dependence among the vassals, to keep tributaries pliant and protected, and to keep the barbarians from coming together.” Why has this book infuriated some European political writers? Which states do you think can be considered our vassals? Which ones are clients? Which are barbarians?
h. Read current newspaper accounts of conditions in the Eastern European countries today. How different is the current political situation in Rumania from that of Ceausescu’s reign? What has changed in Poland and Hungary since the days of Communist control, and what has not changed? Have communists retained power while changing the names of their political parties, or has there been a genuine replacement of the former regimes?
i. Examine the population issue, looking at all sides of the debate. Contrast biologist Paul Ehrlich’s “population bomb” views, for example, with those of Julian Simon, economist and demographer, who won a 1980 bet with Ehrlich over the latter’s prediction that certain resources would be more scarce and expensive by 1990. (They weren’t.) Consider the question of how far overpopulation can be considered a problem of population distribution. There are vast areas of empty, arable land on all continents that could be utilized with sufficient international cooperation. Virtually all industrialized nations, on the other hand, have birth rates below replacement level and declines in some states are considered irreversible. Information on all these points is available online from The Population Research Institute and from the works of Professors Julian Simon and Jacqueline Kasun. Recently some demographers, examining the increasing number of countries where the birth rate is declining precipitately, have begun to speak of a “demographic winter.” There is a new film scheduled for release under that title that you might look for online.
j. Draw up a scenario for life in the year 2020. What would you expect to have taken place in international politics, economics, the environment, space exploration, and so forth?
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