Summary of What I Have Learned

This semester in World History has proved to me to be very interesting and enjoyable. I have learned countless lessons in global patterns from Jared Diamond's movie Guns, germs, and Steel that I can apply to modern global patterns. I would have never discovered that movie on my own and defiantly am happy I watched it in class and did plenty of work on my own involving Jared Diamond's ideas. Starting off the year with Afghanistan was very informative since it drew my attention to things I like (such as music) that were happening in other regions of the world today. Starting with Afghanistan has showed to me why things are happening the way they are over their and has brought my awareness to that troubled area of the world. When our class started out of the book I learned about Victorian ideals and beliefs. I have always known what Victorian styling is but I never understood what Victorian ideals were or how that class of society was formed. Study of the second industrial revolution has shown me how many modern inventions came into play and how our modern economy has formed and structured. My study in nationalism has shown to me how Europe was shaped and how countries such as Germany and Italy were formed through strong leaders and years of struggle. All in all, this semester has been a blast and I can not wait until next semester when classes begin again.

Nationalism

Nationalism is a strong feeling of pride in and devotion to one's country. Nationalism is the driving force behind many national decisions and the source of many, many revolutions. When a group of people are convinced that they are all somehow united, whether it be economically, socially, or just a sense of a shared concept comes together they form a nation of people that are bonded together in all they do. Europe was shaped by forces of nationalism that divided people into groups (or in this case countries) that eventually split the continent into the countries we know of today. Europe was shaped by nationalism, but what Jared Diamond says on geographic luck play a part too even in Europe. the Scots are very proud to be Scottish, but yet they are part of the UK. The Scots are now proud members of the UK. Nationalism today is defined by things other than a shared cultural history, but a combination of (as I previously mentioned) economic and social conditions. Nationalism can also be defined, as in Afghanistan's case, as simply a loose tie between a group of people who just happen to live within the boundaries of the same country. If nationalism is defined in this sense then the concept of nationalism is as old a the Assyrians and ancient Egyptians. All in all, nationalism is a very broad term that changes of the situations that are present in a group of people's condition. Europe and Africa are examples of where nationalism has chopped up countries into ties between the peoples of each areas.

My group did a puppet show on how Bismarck ruled his empire with an iron grasp. Our show showed how during Bismarck's rule of Germany the people where united with a strong force of nationalism even though Bismarck himself did not believe in nationalism. This unified Germany was very strong in industry and created many technological aadvances. The people of Germany also took control of the world scene by competing with Great Britain for global dominance. Bismarck himself had some bad policies against his own ruling strategy (his ruling strategy was called realpolitik which is real politics based solely on the needs of the state). Bismarck launched two campaigns against Socialists and the Catholic Church, but the people themselves turned against him on these ideas so he backed off policies against those two factions. My group's play could have better depicted the actual policies like the Kulturkampf that Bismarck used to suppress.

The nationalism displayed by the German people is different that the nationalism displayed by the Scots. The Scots were always fighting between the Highlanders (generally poorer and farmers) and the Lowlanders (people who lived south of the Firth of Clyde). The Highland culture was a much older, Scandinavian, and agricultural society compared the the Southern one which was more refined and Northumbrian. The Scots were very like the Italians because of their clan system which acted a lot like the Italian system of multiple principalities and not like Germany (Germany was divided but not between families as much a simple regional differences). German and Scottish nationalism differed mainly in the way the people were originally arranged. the Scots were held together in families or clans whereas the Germans were arranged more according to regional areas. German nationalism was built off a hatred Napoleon, who occupied their country, because the people did not want a foreign French ruler. Bismarck knew what would bind the people of Germany together. That binding force was war. People were distracted by large goals of their nation instead of their own petty disputes and came together under Bismarck to fight Denmark and Austria. Once the Germans had conquered the Danes and the Austrian they went on to conquer the French. The Germans unified together to achieve large national goals and, in my opinion, turned away from petty disputes to focus on a great national image of a unified Germany. Scottish national identity is a skewed topic in itself. The Scots were very divided in many, many topics and the Scots (being very hard headed people at times) never, ever backed off what they believed. This proves very true in how the Scots would constantly squabble over Catholicism and Protestantism. The Scots had a clan system all throughout the land that divided the country up into many, many little groups. The clan system seriously crippled the Scots in any attempt to form together since it involved much action by one leader to get hundreds of clans united in pursuit of one goal. All these little warring groups each possessed unique ideas on how to run the government and could hardly agree on anything. Germany was united because one strong man, Bismarck, worked very hard to achieve his goal of unification. Scotland has had many heroes who came to power and united all the people. Heroes like William Wallace, Robert the Bruce, and Kennith MacAlpen all are heroes simply because they worked very hard to get approval from most of the clans to united against the English (the English were constantly occupying Scottish lands or claiming Scotland as part of their own crown). The Scots really lacked a constantly strong leader who was not captured or killed too quickly to be of real use. William Wallace and Robert the Bruce succeeded at unifying the Scots, but they did not have any more strong rulers and Scotland's old plights between the clans came up again and the poor Scots would never have a true, independent nation. Scotland would later become part of the collective United Kingdom in the Act of Union in 1707.

I believe nationalism is a strong unifying force, but as i said earlier, is a term that's definition changed by scenario. Nationalism can stem from any commonly shared attribute of a group of people. That attribute can be a shared religion, common economic plight, or simply the fact that this group of people lives here. Nationalism could be reinvented to be a term as I would like to call "worldism." I am not saying that we should lose all sense of who we are in our national identity, but that we as people of the earth should come to see ourselves as one race. If every person on Earth thought not of themselves as distinctly "American" or "Korean" or "Iranian" but as "Earthlings" then I believe many social problems would be much simpler. To illustrate: a person's next door neighbor, who is a friend, is not likely to want to get in a feud with his neighbor with whom he is friends with. In that same sense if the people of the world would stop labeling themselves as "America" or what not, then people would see other people simply as another person just like himself with the same problems and worries as he has. People don't have to change clothing or what they eat, but simply look at the other person for what they are and not about which flag they stand under. Nationalism has united in countries which consist of millions of people, but if all 6.1 billion of us could see ourselves as "humans" more than "British" or "French," then I would believe we could cooperate more in a globally peaceful way.

Urbanization and Industrialization

Summary of the Industrial Revolution:

The second industrial revolution was a period when many things (like sidewalks, skyscrapers, and sewers) were invented and brought into use by the public. This great change in technology and lifestyles came about with a new agricultural revolution. The agricultural revolution involved the use of better farming tools that cut out jobs and a series of enclosure movements that also cut out jobs, but increased food output. This high amount of food production led to a population boom. The boom was also aided by better medicine. this boom had good and bad repercussions. The good was that, hey, you got to live longer and eat better. The bad was that with more people around things got crowded and dirty. In the industrial revolution steel would replace iron as the metal that powered everything from railroads to huge bridges. A whole slew of new fascinations in technologies like the dynamo and the automobile followed and would characterise the time period. The new revolution was led by Britain because Britain had resources, skilled mechanics and engineers, good economic conditions, and stable political/ social conditions. Britain was the first to really use the factory system. Factories are incredibly important in today's industries and the industry in the industrial revolution. The industrial revolution was fueled by workers who did not have jobs in the farms anymore due to various circumstances. These workers moved to cities in a move called urbanization. The urbanized city was not a fun place, especially for the common worker who slaved away in factories under terrible conditions. Children too were sent to factories to provide for their families who often lived in tenements, or large apartment buildings with many tiny rooms.

Obviously, people protested this, but were generally forced to submissiveness. Eventually things would improve when cities would be reworked in urban renewal projects and inventions like sidewalks, sewers, and skyscrapers would transform life for the better. Those workers who fought out in anger would form mutual aid societies and labor unions that slowly worked up conditions in factories. The people who benefited from the industrial revolution the most were the entrepreneurs who funded factories and other new technologies in the beginning. These entrepreneurs were the new middle class. This new middle class had unique values and would be classified as the Victorian class. the Victorians would hold a very refined society together with many values placed on having an "ideal home" and dignified social behaviors to show off that they were better than the workers. Public education would soon follow the example of one of the most poor nations in the world, Scotland, and allow more and more students to go to school. Scotland had a policy of educating even the most poor highlander and made sure they could read, write, and do arithmetic. The rest of the urbanized world would gradually follow this tiny, poor country's example. Science would experience breakthroughs in atomic theory and the true date of how old the earth was. On a cultural note, the ideas of romanticism
(which was a cultural movement that involved great emotions, heroes from the most unlikely of places, and the complete breakaway from the strict, logical ideals of the Enlightenment) and realism (which was a artistic movement that focused on depicting things the way they truly are) took place in the industrial revolution. All in all, the industrial revolution changed the face of the world. Technologies gave people jobs, and luxuries; but, these technologies would also mean people would have to go through plenty of toil to have the benefits evenly distributed to all.

Where I Want to Live:

I believe the most interesting city in the world to live in would be London in the United Kingdom. I have believed this for a long time and have always desired to be British. London is a very old city with much international renown. The town has existed since well before Roman times and was determined to be of considerable importance during Roman occupation of Britannia. I have a desire to live somewhere with a great history, not only because of the feeling of importance I would get from knowing that this is truly where many happenings of the world occur, but also I would know there was plenty of excitement and action happening. London has the entire British attitude about things tied to it and is also the gateway to the rest of Europe. I love British literature, humor, music, and yes, even the food (Bangers and Mash is great). I am a teacaholic, eat crumpets like no tomorrow, and sometimes like to believe I am Doctor Who. Yes, I have been bitten with the bug of wanting to be a Brit. All things British appeal to me and what better place in the world to go and live in other than London. Besides my obvious love, there more practical benefits. Many occupations that I am interested in are in need over there and the economic conditions is better. The largest negative impact of living in London would be getting used to the changes. Many things are different in the UK such as stores and lifestyles or money. London is also a long way from family and relatives, but I think all in all I would still LOVE to live there.

Guns, Germs, and Steel

Here is a brief summary of Guns, Germs, and Steel, a movie by National geographic and Jared Diamond.

Guns, germs, and Steel tells how the global patterns of society and economic conditions all boil down to a termed called geographic luck. this term describes how some places in the world were able to develop better and quicker that other places due to factors in their geography. Factors like animals that can be domesticated, nutritious food sources, and crops that could be cultivated. Areas that have these factors (such as the fertile crescent) would have people who were ahead of the others. Food surplus due to cultivated crop abundance lead to specialization of jobs in those societies that were geographically lucky to have domestic animals and nutritious crop. Once a person is not concerned about feeding himself, he can develop interest in areas like weaponry, masonry, and medicine. Europe developed much faster than America or Africa because they had food surplus and developed duns and swords. with the help of guns and swords, the Europeans conquered the New World, nut they needed another ally to defeat those vast empires. That extra element was germs. The germs that Europeans had developed by domesticating animals were completely foreign to the natives of America and Africa. With the help of germs the Europeans decimated populations invariably. The Europeans did the same as they did in America when they came to Africa. they came saw and conquered, even though the African germs in the tropics first attack them, they forced the tribes towards water and mosquitoes which used the germs against them. Basically, the African lifestyle was changed and thereby they lost the old ways in which they held the germs at bay. Europeans dominated these areas where the people were not as geographically lucky. This domination has ended today with modern views on democracy, but has left areas poverty stricken and corrupt.

Poverty in Africa is a Major issue. One country that has world renown is Kenya. Kenyan runners and athletes are famous for great feats of fitness, but what of this country's poverty and the common people who live in terrible third world situations?

Kenya was part of the British empire and was acquired in 1890. Kenyans had the same problems that other African countries had when settlers came in, but the tribes in the area were much smaller and it was not until the 1970s when Kenya really started to encounter its economic woes. Before the modern age Kenyans were ruled by Britain who had settlers in the are and these settlers stole Kenyan lands, thus creating the same problems that occurred to other African countries. The country has since 1956 been separated by the British crown, but not until many Kenyans were forced to work for the British and thus sending most of the population (that was not already in villages) into poverty. Kenya today deals with many problems with corrupt leaders and other government problems. due to the general poverty of the area, food is hard to come by and it the largest concern in Kenya. One idea to eradicate hunger and poverty is a move to use fish farming to fight both of those issues. The idea is to create jobs and solve hunger by making fish ponds that will require people to work at them (thus creating needed jobs). Kenyan poverty is mostly due to the fact that with new medicines available, people can live longer and the population has soared demanding more food and living space. This results in more people having to share resources and thereby creating a poverty stricken area. Other ideas are from outside sources, like this woman who is creating a soap making business to create jobs and improve cleanliness too! all is not bad for Kenya, and with foreign aid and new ideas the country will slowly come into the modern world fully and developed.

I believe Jared Diamond's view on the world and geographic luck is true, but it should not determine very thing as fated by geographic luck. What I mean is that if a group of people a confronted with a problem, such as poverty in Africa, then if those people believe and work hard enough they will find a way and overcome their problems. Guns, Germs and Steel is certainly true when on speaks on the broad scale of what has happened in the world, but i do no believe very little aspect of a group of people is controlled by geography and fate. In fact, many cases have arisen where people who aren't given the best resources do some truly remarkable things with what they have. An example is the people in central America who are struggling with feeding themselves. people in Nicaragua have built hydroponic plant growing systems out of trash and are now providing for themselves. That example shows how people, if they put their mind to it, can accomplish great things and beat out the cards geography has dealt them.