Monday, January 12, 2009

The Purpose Of The Past

~ Without studying the past we wouldn't understand our culture. How our religions exist and how they all some how relate. To figure out how they branch off from each other or why you have to do certain things if you believe in that religion.
~ Wouldn't understand how things were invented and by who. With out Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, Guglielmo Marconi we wouldn't have the telephone, light bulb, and radio. Without these we wouldn't be able to communicate with each other and other countries. Studying these people makes you appreciate the things we have.
~To understand why people in earlier times dressed dramatically different from us. How women came about by dressing so drastically different from past years to know. Why women were only to stay at home to clean and cook. As the years went on women were able to work in factories during the wars. They started to get more rights dressed different because they had more freedom.
~How we came to live were we do and how it was possible to cross so much land and water. Indians were in America but how did they get here and where did they travel from. When European countries wanted to explore the Americas who invented the boats and the way to keep them afloat to get here. How did they know where they were going once in the middle of the ocean. Using a compass but who invented the compass.
~ These are all questions you learn about in history that is why we study history, to figure out how everything started.

Grand Summary

~Lusitania~

Many reasons were brought on for the U.S. to join the war. One of the main examples is the sinking of the Lusitania. The sinking of the Lusitania was the biggest influence on America to join the war. 1195 people died and 128 of them were American. The boat was headed for Britain from New York and Germans were sinking any supply ships headed for Britain and it destroyed the Lusitania also to get America to join. Without this the U.S. would have never entered the war.


~Zimmerman Telegram~

The Zimmerman Telegram was another main cause for the United States to enter the War. The Zimmerman Telegram was a letter coded in a different language that was supposed to get to Mexico, but was intercepted by the British instead. Bell ,the sectary of the U.S. embassy in Britain, he was enraged and had it sent to Walter Page who then told Wilson about it. It offered Mexico a chance to fight with Germany and then when the war was over the German's would help Mexico regain the territory it lost in the Mexican- American War. Wilson then officially entered the United States in the war.


~Louis XVI~

A main figure in the french revolution was Louis XVI. When he took the throne he had a lot of responsibility, getting rid of the debt and to get the people to like the monarchy again. He just wanted to earn the respect of his people, so he rehired the parliament. Things started to not go good for him when he married Marie Antoinette. She threw extravagant parties and was always buying new wigs and clothing. This didn't help with the debt Louis was trying to fix. The country didn't like her either. One night an angry mob of women, from the Parisian underclass, marched to the house where the royal family lived. They tried to kill the Queen but failed. After the fight had been broken up, the king and his family were brought to Paris. One night the king tried to secretly sneak his family to their fortress Montemdy. They were caught though and were brought back to Paris under tight security. The people thought since they escaped they were now known as traitors. On September 21 the National Convention declared France a Republic and abolished the monarchy. Monday 21, January Louis the XVI was stripped of all his titles and honors. He was then killed in front of a cheering crowd. Later on his wife was also killed. Their son was tortured and treated horribly so he would not remember being royalty. He also later on died from abuse.


~Black Death~

The Black Death or Black Plague was one of the deadliest in human kind. It swept over Europe around the 1400's. It is thought to killed up to 60% of Europe's population. The plague also made a huge dent in the Roman Catholic Church. It also caused persecution fro minorities like Jews, lepers, beggars, and foreigners. The thought of not knowing if you would live to see the next day created people to think and live in the moment. The Plague was thought to originate from central and spread across the European Sea and land trade routes. In the end people believe it killed somewhere between 75- 200 million people.


~America Entering WWI~
After the U.S. entered WWI a lot started happening. A Selective Service Act was passed, African Americans were drafted for the war, women served in the war, doing jobs such as nurses, clerical work, chemists, electricians, radio operators, and many more jobs The government was spending about 44 million a day on the war so people were encouraged to buy liberty bonds or victory bonds that would help the government. They were sold for 20 dollars and collected interest over time so when you took it the bank you would get more money in return over the years. People that weren't directly in the war also did a lot to help out. There was a War Industries Board put together to coordinate production of war materials. It helped by getting people to make exactly what the government needed. Also Victory gardens were planted to help conserve food for soldiers so they got enough to eat, people were also asked to ration there food as well. Daylight savings was also introduced to conserve fuel so people would’t travel as much, and then in return there would be extra fuel to ship to troops.

~Propaganda~
Propaganda was used a lot in WWI. All the different sides of the war were using it. In the U.S. propaganda made people want to help out with the war and be in it. There were lot of different posters ones with Uncle Sam, ones showing women working in factories building machinery. A poster used in Britain against Germany showed a skeleton in a white robe drinking blood happily with it spilled all over him. Britain also controlled their newspapers and had them print headlines saying, "Belgium child's hands cut off by Germans", "Germans crucify Canadian officer". Germany also did the same things with their newspapers, "French doctors infect German wells with plague germ", " German prisoners blinded by Allied captors". Propaganda was sometimes taken really far but it always made the point to rally up their countries people.


~Ludwig Van Beethoven~
Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. He was a crucial figure in the period between classical and romantic era. Around the age of 20 his hearing started to deteriorate. Ludwig kept playing and composing. Eventually he lost all his hearing. Beethoven had 6 siblings, when his brother Karl died Ludwig was very protective of his son and tried to get custody of him. He eventually won the court case of getting custody of his son. In 1826 though his nephew grew so tired of him he tried to commit suicide by shooting himself in the head. He survived though and when he was conscious he asked to be moved to his mothers house. During that time though he stopped composing his music. After his nephew left he still didn't compose much, and the pieces he did compose were all trial pieces and were never used in a performance.


~Industrialization In Western Europe~

Industrialization is the process of social and economical change it’s what happens when a society goes from being pre-industrial to an industrial society. In the 18th and 19th century Europe seen an increase in agriculture production. There was also a population growth which helped start an industrial revolution. New techniques for agriculture increased a demand for machines and other supplies. The industrialization process created a social class of workers, and they had more money than other agriculturists. With this money they bought items like sugar and tobacco. This created a new market were merchants tried to get. This created a richer Western Europe and making them the wealthiest part of the country.

Contemporary Connection

Evidence