The Opium Wars

The Opium Wars were a series of wars fought between China and Great Britain in the 19th century. It was started because the British would not stop giving opium to Chinese citizens. Opium was a drug made from the juice of poppy seeds. Chinese tea, porcelain, and silk were very popular in Western countries. However, British merchants wanted to balance out the trade with the Chinese because the Chinese were self-sufficient and required no goods from the British so the British had to use gold and silver to pay for Chinese trade. The British decided to give the Chinese opium mixed with tobacco to promote opium smoking. This weakened a large amount of the Chinese population. Also a large amount of resources were flowing out of China to pay for the opium. When the Chinese discovered opium smoking in 1729, they tried to prohibit the sale of opium and tried to shut down opium smoking houses. However the British merchants were still able to sell opium because they bribed Chinese officials. After numerous threats from China to stop trade, the British decided to attack numerous Chinese ports in 1840. This started the First Opium War which resulted in a British victory and the signing of the Treaty of Nanjing in 1842 which opened numerous Chinese ports and gave Hong Kong to Britain. In 1856, the Second Opium War began because of disputes over former treaties and ended with another British victory.

Film Lesson: "Mountains of the Moon"

When Europeans were exploring Africa during the 1800's they had faced many hardships. The obvious one was the fact that they had never seen most of the land so they could easily get lost. They also didn't know what kind of wildlife or hostile tribes of people were there. There was also malaria which was a very fatal disease in warm areas at the time. Many volunteers in the exploration parties would leave or steal things. There were many dangerous insects which could cause serious harm if people did not put up their mosquito nets.

Lake Victoria is a lake located in Central Africa that is named after Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. The first European to discover the lake was John Hanning Speke. It seems strange that the lake is named after a European Queen because it still has that name years after the nations of Africa gained their independence from European rule.

The Europeans were able to take Africa over very easily because they had much more powerful weapons. The machine gun enabled soldiers to kill enemy troops with ease. Also quinine was discovered to be a cure for malaria so Europeans no longer were killed by it.

The Meiji Restoration of Japan

For a long period of time, the nation of Japan isolated itself from the rest of the world. This was known as the Tokugawa period. The Shogun and the samurai believed that outside contacts could potentially threaten their power. This period of isolation lasted for over 250 years. In 1853, four American warships appeared in Edo Bay. They were under the command of Commodore Matthew Perry. He came with a request from the United States government asking for Japan to open up its ports and to establish diplomatic relations between the two nations. Perry came with the sails of his ships down to show the Japanese the technological progress that the West has made. The Japanese also saw the guns on the ships and knew that no Japanese vessel can stand up against Western ships. The Japanese knew they could not reject any of the United States' requests because those requests were backed up with force. The Japanese decided to sign the Treaty of Kanagawa with the United States which opened up ports to United States ships. This allowed other Western nations to sign treaties with Japan.

There was much unrest afterward and the Shogun no longer ruled Japan. The Meiji Restoration was when power was "restored" to Emperor Meiji. During the Tokugawa period, the Emperor had no real power and only had ceremonial duties. Emperor Meiji wanted to modernize Japan and used Western nations as his model. He sent envoys to study the West's political system's. What was learned was used to shape Japan's government. Their old feudal system was done away with. A new system was set in place which allowed citizens to elect their legislators. They also imitated the education systems and the military of the West which made Japan a very powerful nation.

Karl Marx and Communism

Communism was a economic system created by Karl Marx in the 19th century. He believed that capitalism was responsible for the poor working conditions that workers faced. He believed that capitalism was driven by the exploitation and alienation of workers by the business owners. He wanted the workers of the world to unite and violently overthrow the business owners and aristocrats. They would form a society in which all the people would share their wealth. There would no longer be exploitation of workers and oppression would be non existent

Karl Marx and the Industrial Revolution

Karl Marx was a German philosopher who lived during the 19th century. He was known for the creation of communism. He created communism because he believed that capitalism was going to fail and be replaced by another economic system just like feudalism before it. He believed that industrialization and capitalism were driven by the exploitation of workers. He did not agree with the way workers were treated for their small payments. He decided to make an economic system in which people had full freedom. In this type of society, people would be in conditions in which there would be no need for exploitation and where everyone would a fair share of products. He believed that in order for this society to be realized, a class struggle will have to take place with the working class having a victory and a communist society would established.

Nationalism and the Creation of Italy

Nationalism is the belief that one should be loyal to their people whom they share a common ancestry and history. I really don't see myself as nationalistic. I don't do anything that would be considered nationalistic. I don't really have a loyalty to any one culture or people.

Nationalism helped Italy become its own nation by unifying the Italian people. Before Italy was a nation it had rulers from foreign kingdoms. The provinces of Venetia and Lombardy were ruled by Austria and the southern part of Italy was ruled by Bourbon family who were Spanish. In 1832, Giuseppe Mazzini stated a nationalist group called Young Italy. In 1848, revolts broke out in eight Italian states. A republican government was briefly led by Mazzini but Italy's former leaders drove the nationalist leaders into exile. After 1848, Italian nationalists needed leadership. They had the Kingdom of Peidmont-Sardinia to help them. Sardinia had a liberal constitution so the middle class were able to have a unification under Peidmont-Sardinia instead of a democratic government. In 1852, Camillo di Cavour was named as Sardinia's prime minister. He wanted to expand Sardinia's power. He was able to do this and unify Italy. In 1858, Sardinia was able to drive Austria out of northern Italy with the help of France. Cavour wanted to control sourthern Italy so he helped nationalist rebels there. In May 1860, Giuseppe Garibaldi and the Red Shirts were able to take over Sicily and then the rest of southern Italy and unify them with Sardinia.

Simon Bolivar and Latin American Revolutions

Simon Bolivar was a major leader of the Latin American Revolutions and considered a great hero in South America. He is often referred to as El Liberator or the "George Washington of South America." He helped liberate the northern portion of South America from the Spanish rule. This consisted of the present-day countries of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Panama, and Bolivia.

Simon Bolivar was born on July 24, 1783 in Caracas, Venezuela. He was born to wealthy Creole parents and received a good education. In 1804, he traveled to Europe after his wife died in Venezuela. While there, he studied the philosophies of Enlightenment thinkers and learned of the accomplishments of Napoleon I. In 1807, he then returned to Venezuela after a trip to the United States. In 1808, Caracas declared independence from Spain. Bolivar was sent to Britain on a diplomatic mission. In 1812, the Spanish took over Venezuela and Bolivar fled after returning. In 1813, Bolivar was able to invade Venezuela with assistance from New Granada and declare it a republic. Bolivar was also able to get help from Haiti in 1817. In 1819 Bolivar was declared president of the newly founded Gran Colombia. In the following years Spanish opposition was eliminated. In 1823 Bolivar and Sucre were able to liberate Peru and drive all Spanish presence from South America.

Robespierre and The Reign of Terror

The Reign of Terror described the period when Maximilien Robespierre was in control of France.
It lasted from July 1793 until July 1794. It stated when Robespierre became the leader of the Committee of Public Safety. Robespierre wanted to wipe out all traces off France's past from before the French Revolution and suppress counter-revolutionaries and those loyal to the crown. Also since Robespierre was a radical, many moderates were considered "enemies of liberty". Religious things were considered old-fashioned and were banned. Many churches were closed and the calendar was changed to be more scientific. Anybody who opposed the actions of the Committee of Public Safety and Robespierre were beheaded with the guillotine. Many common people were also beheaded for very small reasons because they were thought to oppose the Revolution. Most of the people executed during the Reign of Terror were commoners. Robespierre defended his actions by saying that they stayed true to the ideas of the Revolution. Members of the National Convention were afraid of losing their heads so they kept quiet. However some members of the National Committee conspired against Robespierre and had him beheaded, thus ending the Reign of Terror.

The French Revolution

1. The French people were critical of the nobility, clergy, and King because they had more power than them. The commoners had no control in the government. Also, they had to pay a majority of the taxes while the rich were mostly tax free and got money from the peasants.
2. A French peasant in 1789 would either be complaing about his harsh life or talking about the Revolution.
3. The cartoonist was showing how the clergy and feudal lords relied on the peasants to do everything for them. Both the clergy and feudal lords didn't pay taxes or serve in the military while the peasants did. The peasants also pay money to the clergy and feudal lords. The quote in the cartoon shows how much people this dislike this kind of society and that they want to change it.
4.The author writes that the French people's lives are harsh. He wrote that the people had to pay a large amount of livestock and crops to multiple lords as dues. They also had to pay a large amount of money to the King. This left them with very little bit of food and money.
5. The poor highly resented the rich. They had to pay the king a high amount of taxes while the rich didn't. They also had to pay the feudal lords a high amount of their food. They did all of this only getting 200 livres a year at best while nobles and clergy made at least 10,000 livres a year.
6. Commoners would have been inspired by Rousseau's words. Rousseau wrote "No man has any natural authority over others; force does not give anyone that right." which made people realize that life under oppression was not inevitable and that they are able to stop being oppressed. Rousseau also said "The power to make laws belongs to the people and only to the people." which told people they were able to form a new government and actively participate in it.
7. The pamphlet was banned because it encouraged the people to start a revolution. The nobility and clergy wanted it banned because they did not want to lose their power over everyone else.

John Locke and "The Enlightenment"

John Locke was an 17th century English philosopher. He was one of the most important thinkers during The Enlightenment. Locke influenced many of the American Revolutionaries. He believed that human nature was based on reason and tolerance. He believed that human nature could make people be selfish. He believed that in a state of nature the only right that men had was the right to defend their lives, health, liberty, or possessions. In a state of nature, war is common and private property is difficult to protect so in order to avoid this they enter civil or political societies. Locke also supported a governmental separation of powers and thought that people had the right to revolt against a tyrannical government.

The Declaration of Independence was a document that explained why the 13 American colonies wanted to become independent from Great Britain. It was written by Thomas Jefferson in 1776 and was highly influenced by Locke's ideas. Jefferson wrote that all men were created equal and that all men had the rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Governments are formed to protect these rights. Their power comes from the consent of the people who are governed and can lose their power if the people are unhappy with it.

Copernicus and the Trial of Galileo

Geocentrism is a theory in astrology that states the Earth was in the center of the universe and that other objects go around it. It was thought up by the Greek philosopher, Anaximander in the 6th century BCE. He proposed that the Earth was shaped like a cylinder and and was the center of everything. The Sun, the Moon, and planets were holes in invisible wheels surrounding Earth in which people can see concealed fire. In the 5th century BCE. Plato and Aristotle worked on the geocentric model. Plato stated that the Earth was a stationary sphere at the center of the universe. The Moon, the Sun, Venus, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and fixed stars were carried on spheres and circles in that order (outwards from the center). Two observations made the geocentric theory seem true. First, if the Earth did move, then the shifting of stars would be visible due to parallax. However since the stars are so far away that this would be undetectable until the 19th century. The other observation is that Venus had about the same brightness most of the time. In the 2nd century CE, Ptolemy made his own theory on the geocentric model. it stated that each planet moved in a circle called an epicycle which moves along a larger circle called a deferent. Ptolemy's system held sway until the late 16th century and it gradually got replaced by heliocentrism.

Heliocentrism is a theory that the Earth and other planets revolve around the sun. A sage named Yajnavalkya in ancient India who lived somewhere between the 9th and 8th century BCE believed that the Sun was the center of the lokas which is the plane of existence in Hinduism. He realized that the Sun was larger than Earth and stated that the Sun wasn't really moving. In the 3rd century BCE, a Greek astronomer named Aristarchus measured the distance of the Moon and Sun from Earth and estimated that the Sun was 6 to 7 times larger than Earth. He thought it made more sense if the Earth went around the Sun. He believed the reason for no parallax being detected was that the stars were very far away. In the 16th century CE, Copernicus fully explained the heliocentric model in full geometric detail. In the 17th century, Kepler stated that the planets revolved around the Sun in an ellipse and not in a circle as previously believed. In modern science the heliocentric theory is somewhat false due to the fact that the Sun is not the center of the universe but it is proven that the Earth is not the center of the universe either.

In 1633, Galileo Galilei was put on trial by the Roman Catholic for defending the teachings of Copernicus which state that the Earth revolves around the Sun. This teaching went against Scripture which states that the Earth should never move. In 1609, Galileo confirmed that Copernicus was right by discovering the telescope. With it, Galileo was able to look at the milky Way, the Moon's surface, and Jupiter's four moons. When Galileo published Letters on the Solar Spots in 1613 which drew a lot of criticism from those who believed that he violated Scripture. In his defense, Galileo said that the Bible should not always be taken literally. In February of 1632, Galileo's Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems was published. When the Pope saw that his opinions were included in the book, he became angry because he thought Galileo made him look like a fool. In October of 1932, the Roman Inquisition summoned Galileo for violating the 1616 injunction that banned the teaching, holding, or writing about the Copernican theory. On June 1633, Galileo was forced to recant his belief in heliocentrism and was sentenced to imprisonment and later to lifelong house arrest.

Scientific Revolution: The Scientific Method

During the Scientific Revolution, scientists started to use the Scientific Method. This involved doing an experiment multiple times and recording the data. It was an unprejudiced way of finding out about how something works. If a person disagrees with someone's findings, they can do the experiment themselves to see if its true or not. Scientists no longer had to believe what other scientists or the Bible said anymore.

The Scientific Method consists of several parts. It starts off with an observation and description of a phenomenon. Then a hypothesis is formed to explain this phenomenon. This hypothesis is used to make predictions of what will occur in the experiment and predict other phenomena. Now tests and trials are performed to either prove or disprove these predictions. These tests and experiments are repeated to make sure that the results are consistent. A theory can now be formed based on the results of the tests.

An example of an experiment using the scientific method would be if someone wanted to know why plants grow faster in certain areas better than plants that grow in other areas. A hypothesis would be formed stating that plants grow better in areas which have moist soil because they have the necessary hydration to grow while plants with dry land don't get the water that is needed to grow. Now several plants are placed in both areas to see how they grow. If the plants in moist water grow faster, a theory is now formed stating that plants in moist soil grow quicker because they have the right amount of water to grow.

Evolution vs. Creation

Evolution is a theory by Charles Darwin that states that all life on Earth is related and that they descended from a common ancestor. It also states that complex creatures evolved from simpler creatures. The process of evolution is aided by natural selection which helps organisms with advantageous traits and mutations. Those organisms will survive and their children will inherit their traits. This allows species with a functional advantage to preserve their traits and compete better in the wild. However this takes millions of years to occur.

Creationism is the belief that the universe, the Earth, humanity, and all other life was created by a deity or deities. This could also refer to the religious rejection of evolution. Young Earth Creationism states the god created everything in 6 24-hour days and that the Earth is 6,000 to 10,000 years old. Old Earth Creationism still believes that God created everything but also believe geological findings that state that the Earth is millions of years old. These two beliefs both reject the theory of evolution.

I believe that evolution is true because it gives an explanation to how many things are. I do think that there could be a possibility that God could have created the universe and evolution still might have occurred. Evolution just only states how organisms became more complex not how life was created. Creationism however does explain how life was created, so I it is possible that both can be true. However, the reason I don't completely believe in creationism is because there are so many theories on how the Earth was created that I have no idea which one to believe.