World History With Les

Looking at the causes of World War I and II, the big causes were nationalism, imperialism, alliances, and appeasement. There's no simpler way to look at it. World War I largely led to Word War II. So first, let us examine WWI. First, there was the assassination of ArchDuke Franz Ferdinand. This mobilized countries against each other in war, and subsequently their allies. It was horrible; it was trench warfare. Europe hoped that it would never happen again. In the end, it was World War II that changed things though. Europeans were appeasing Hitler, and appeasing him and appeasing him. Obviously, this led to fierce alliances that would look very odd considered todays political climate.  If we are to look at what problems were solved though, imperialism is a great one. People all over the world saw that they could throw the shackles off. They saw that they were important players in this world. Next, I would say the formation of the United Nations was directly influenced by World War I...

              There have been many pandemics throughout history. HIV/AIDS is one that people don't often think about when talking about pandemics. Perhaps because it causes a chronic condition, it is often compared to diseases like cancer. HIV/AIDS is believed to fist have emerged in DRC in the 1920s. This belief stems from the fact that DRC has the most diversity of HIV strains in the world. Also, scientist were able to detect HIV-1M in a man in Kinshasa, DRC from 1956. This was the first confirmed case of HIV.               Chimps and other apes have long been carriers of SIV. The available genetic evidence points to chimps contracting two strains of SIV that became SIV-cpz. This virus is nearly identical to HIV-1 and is highly communicable to humans. Hunters in Central Africa most likely contracted SIV-cpz while hunting and consuming chimps. This type of activity is common even now in more rural area...

                                                   I was cleaning my kitchen on the morning of the fourth thinking about this blog. I have generally clear thoughts about the state of our union. For whatever reason, it felt difficult to articulate for this assignment. Then, Trump went to Mt. Rushmore and it felt much easier. During this pandemic, Americans gathered to see the president speak and watch fireworks over the monument. Sounds pretty great if you don’t think about it at all. That’s not really what these blurbs are all about, so let’s think about it. The U.S. President went to Mt. Rushmore, dragging a storm of MAGA supporters with him. They congregated on land that was taken from the indigenous population, negotiated through treaties to be given back to them, and then never returned. The president then gave a di...

Hey guys, hope you had a good weekend! Here is my response to Claudia's comments on the photo from page 803.  Claudia,  I think that Strayer was definitely looking to characterize the extend of the violence in the Congo. More than that though, I believe he was looking to put a face on it. It is one thing to hear about something, but it is another to really see it. I also believe that this is why he chose a picture of boys with healed amputations. There are many more graphic photos that Strayer could have chosen. I think that a viewer being able to stare at a photo and take it all in is important if you're portraying a deep message. The picture was perfectly scaled for the audience. 

1) What was The Great Dying? Cite examples and details from the historical record in your response. Could this be considered a genocide? Why/ why not?               The great dying refers to the rapid decline of the indigenous population in the Americas chiefly as a result of disease imported by Europeans. The Native Americans were isolated from Africa and Eurasia by geography, and as a result did not carry immunity to many diseases. At the start of European contact with the indigenous people it is estimated that the population of the Americas was 60-80 million. This number declined quickly by about 90 percent (Strayer, 2016, p. 558-559). I would not consider this a genocide. I don’t know that the Europeans had an understanding that the illnesses they brought to the Americas would impact the native population differently than it did themselves. I think for the term genocide to be applied there needs to be intent.  ...

             The acceptance and receipt of European sciences in Asian civilizations during the early modern era was sporadic. Some sciences were embraced while others were widely ignored. An excellent example is the excitement over European techniques derived from Jesuits regarding astronomical predictions and observations such as eclipses. The Qing dynasty also expressed great interest in cartography techniques, and improving the calendar. For the most part, China did not care about Western Medicine at all.               Some reasons for this relate to the ability of Chinese scientists to relate European breakthroughs to their country’s own accomplishments. A prime example of this is European mathematics. Some Chinese mathematicians had to convince their cohorts that European math was really based upon Chinese math, and for this reason it was acceptable to integrate their techniques...

Distributing moral responsibility for the Atlantic Slave trade is a complex task. I believe it is a task in which historians play an important role. That is not to say that historians should play the only role. Historians help to provide facts as well as context to our past.    It is an unfortunate fact that slavery has been a part of human history going back to some early gathering and hunting societies (Strayer, 2016, p.622). That said, The Atlantic Slave trade was involved in horrors of humanity not previously seen on that scale in slavery. Who is to blame?    Should we blame the Mediterranean world for introducing Europe to sugar? No, I don’t think we’ve found a viable scapegoat there. Perhaps blame can be placed on the Ottoman Turks for stifling the flow of Slavic-speaking peoples from the black sea? After all, Slav is the basis for the word slave in many European languages (Strayer, 2016, p.623). No, I don’t think that’s it either.     Maybe we c...