Download Scientific Revolution

Introduction
1. Discuss how history can be used as an important tool to help understand and
provide a reference for important contemporary events?
2. Why is it important to study history?
3. What was essential for civilization to occur and why?
Scientific Revolution
1. Discuss the significant leap in scientific knowledge that was made during this
period. Compare it with modern advances in scientific knowledge.
2. In what ways was the Roman Catholic Church under attack by the revolution in
science? Why did the Church feel so threatened by the “New Science”?
3. Discuss Newton’s quote, “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders
of giants.”
Enlightenment
1. What was the source of the Constitution’s authority? How did this reflect
Enlightenment ideas?
2. How did the Enlightenment lead to a more secular outlook? Why did deism seem
to be the only “rational” religion for the philosophes?
3. How did Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau’s ideas compare and contrast?
4. What does Rousseau argue about the role and place of women? How does his
thinking about women reconcile with the ideals of the Enlightenment? How do
you account for any disparity?
French Revolution and Napoleon questions
1. What actions by the French nobility caused the French Revolution?
2. In what ways does the French Revolution signify the onset of the modern world?
What is the legacy of the Revolution?
3. How did Napoleon influence French society?
4. Comment on the following statement by Francois Furet: “In 1789, the French had
created a Republic, under the name of a monarchy. Ten years later, they created a
monarchy, under the name of the Republic. ”
5. How are the ideals of Romanticism reflected in modern society? (You can also
talk about how your own views may overlap with these ideals.)
6. How does the role that Romantic writers assign to their feelings compare with the
role that Enlightenment writers claimed for reason?
Industrial Revolution questions
1. Why did the Industrial Revolution take place in Britain first? What conditions
existed in Britain that did not exist elsewhere?
2. What role did new technology play in the Industrial Revolution? Pick two
inventions that were created and describe their impact? How has this development
of new ideas continued since?
3. What social effects did industrialization have on both the peasantry and urban
workers?
4. Describe the living conditions in Britain during the Industrialization. How should
a society look at the issue of progress verse keeping things the same?
5. How does the work place change do to the Industrial Revolution? Is this for the
better or for the worse (Short term verse long term)?
Liberalism, Nationalism, and Socialism questions
1. Describe the relationships among conservatism, liberalism, socialism, and
nationalism in early-nineteenth-century Europe. What was the inspiration for
these various ideologies? Did they emerge from a similar or different historical
context?
2. How has each of these ideologies influenced the world of today?
3. Explain how Nationalism is a good thing and also a bad thing in you own
opinion?
4. Why has socialism been viewed so negatively in our society and what are some of
its good tenets?
5. Why is Liberalism a good thing and also a bad thing in your opinion?
6. Identify the core principles of political liberalism, republicanism, and socialism
and understand the relationship between these ideologies and nationalism.
Imperialism questions
1. Define Imperialism. Explain the key differences among direct rule, indirect rule,
and informal imperialism.
2. Describe how industrialization provided a framework and motivation for the new
imperial ambitions. Do you think Europeans could have conquered Africa if the
Industrial Revolution had never occurred? Explain you answer.
3. Discuss the “civilizing impulse” of the European colonizers. Describe how this
reflected their beliefs about the people of the non-Western nations. Why might
Africans have admired Europeans culture, even though it was destroying their
own?
4. What sort of problems might result from combining or splitting groups of people
without regard for ethnic or linguistic traditions?
World War I questions
1. The four major issues that brought on World War I were Militarism, Alliances,
Imperialism, and Nationalism. How do these four topics affect our world today?
2. Explain how new technology effected the war and how it still effects wars today?
3. Explain what total war is and how it affects the warring nations’ economies?
Between the Wars
1. How does the depression in the world during the 1920’s and 1930’s affect world
politics?
2. How do Stalin, Hitler, and Mussolini take control in their country?
3. How is the Treaty of Versailles the seed to the Second World War?
World War II
1. Was the policy of appeasement effective – should it be used today?
2. How would you have felt if you were apart of the invasion on D-day?
3. Does the US still use Propaganda today? How?