WESTERN
CIVILIZATION: ACT III :
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Western Civilization - and its tantalizing thrusts of Mystery, Majesty, Malevolence, Magnificence, Dynasties, Democracies, Dictatorships - creating enigmas and questions. Its mighty achievements and dismal failures, its frenzies for freedom and its relapses to brutal repression - forma core of Power and Progress. And in that mix of contradictions and complexities, the portion of the world known as Western Civilization remains as a power core of the world. Yet always the understanding, knowledge, sensitivity of ordinary citizens striving to de-emphasize the thousands of years of human abuse. And across the centuries, the clear and consistent enabling ability of ordinary humans to seize upon those recurring moments of challenge and opportunity to exercise extraordinary compassion and courage.
WESTCIV SOURCES/AIDS
The so-called free nations fought WWI to
end the old Congress of Berlin Cabal System and make the world safe for
democracies. The free nations of WESTERN CIVILIZATION fought the Axis powers
in WWII to remove the dreadful propensity of genocide, fascism, human abuse.
During the Cold War, the forces of light saw themselves fighting the forces
of darkness to keep the freedom of spirit alive. And in Eastern Europe, finally
- after so many had died, the West acknowledged that Human Abuse was alive
and well and that the fortunate nations held some strategic if not moral
responsible to intervene. As the 21st Century begins, the resolve is shaky
but evident, the successes hopeful but tenuous.
>
The Congress System of the 19th Century which seemed such an anachronism
in a 20th Century of Leagues of Nations, UN Nations, NATO, UNICEF is alive
and well. But rather than gather the malcontents, mischief makers, havoc
raisers to Berlin or Vienna to chastise and command, the Congress leaders
gather them to Dayton, Ohio to solve the Yugoslavian question. An interesting change of scenery to a nation
that has figured in Great Power Politics for such a short historical
time.
UTUBES FOR HISTORY 4C - 1ST PART - FROM THE FRENCH REVOLUTION TO EVE OF WWI: HERE
"The revolution in France has captivated the imaginations of historians since it exploded onto the European landscape two hundred years ago." Did it succeed or fail? Professor Eugen Weber, on National Public Radio, recently concluded that the French Revolution was destroyed by itself and by Napoleon.
The French Revolution was one of the most influential and significant events in world history; it continues to fascinate people two centuries after the people of France rebelled against their rulers. Why and how the Revolution occurred, how it was lived, celebrated, resisted, condemned, and suffered by men and women whose hopes and aspirations were hardly different from their 20th-century counterparts. Letters, poems, speeches, diaries, newspaper articles, movies, songs and videos are some of the resources used to enlighten you as to the Revolution and its events."
Louis XVI was officially arrested and sent to prison three days after. France became a republic. He had a trial in front of the Convention which decided to send him to the guillotine in January 1793. He was accused of High Treason and Crimes against the State. On January 21st, 1793 Louis XVI was executed in front of the people of France who saluted his death as the beginning of a better era.
NAPOLEON: THE LITTLE CORSICAN
Few leaders in history have so captured the imagination of historians. Was he a dedicated genius who brought freedom and laws and civilization to Europe? Or was he, as Eugen Weber recently claimed, "a murderous meglomanic of genius."
Napoleon Foundation Presents
Napoleonic Artillery - Firepower Comes of Age
Battle of Austerlitz -
1805Peninsular War -
1807-1814
Invasion of Russia -
1812Napoleon's Fatal March : "Certain historical events become so covered in myth and significance, so overlaid with patriotism and emotion, that over time many people forget what really happened and why. Napoleon's fatal 1812 march on Moscow is one such event.
Battle of Waterloo -
1815
19TH CENTURY CONGRESSES
Concert of Europe
Term used in the 19th century to designate a loose agreement by the major European powers to act together on European questions of common interest. The concert emerged after the Congress of Vienna (1814–15) and included the Quadruple Alliance powers of Great Britain, Austria, Prussia, and Russia, and, as of 1818, France as well. It aimed to preserve peace by concerted diplomatic action reinforced by periodic conferences dealing with problems of mutual concern.
- What Was the Congress of Vienna?
- "The Treaty of Paris,which is signed May 30, 1814 restores peace, reduces France to its frontiers of 1792, and places Louis XVIII, brother of the decapitated Louis XVI on the French throne. This treaty was an expression of the legitimacy-principle and of the necessity felt by the Allies to return to the Ancient Regime. Six secret articles stipulated that a congress would be held in Vienna to decide the fate of the recovered territories. However, all the important decisions would be made by the four great powers: England, Austria, Prussia and Russia. The other nations were not allowed to partake in these secret dispositions."
- Congress of Vienna
- Congress Participants, Issues, Territorial Adjustments, Consequences. "Although the territorial changes brought about by the Congress of Vienna did not endure long in entirety, they represented a practical if not always equitable solution and an attempt at dealing with Europe as an organic whole. The Quadruple Alliance and the Holy Alliance , designed to uphold the decisions of Vienna and to settle disputes and problems by means of conferences, were an important step toward European cooperation. The Concert of Europe which functioned even though imperfectlythrough the 19th cent., may be credited to the Congress of Vienna. An auxiliary accomplishment of the Congress was the adoption of standard rules of diplomacy. Serious defects, however, included the disregard of the growing national aspirations and the social changes that brought about the revolutions of 1848, and the failure to include the Ottoman Empire in the settlement and to deal satisfactorily with the Eastern Question."
- Congress of Vienna
- "In conclusion, the Congress and Settlement of Vienna managed to control and discourage war between the Great Powers in Europe for much of the 19th Century. They also managed to restore the balance of power to effectively build a peaceful Europe which was as it had been before Napoleon, as was their intention. Their refusal to acknowledge that times were changing and that there were new forces to be reckoned with and respected, they failed to build a very stable and pleasant Europe. The Great Powers might not have been aware of the potency of such forces as Nationalism or Liberalism, or they, as Metternich, thought that any attempt compromise with them would only strengthen those forces and lead to nothing but ruin. In the end, however, I would see this as about as good as one can expect with leaders from the ‘old age’ trying to solve problems of a ‘new age’ the old way. When comparing the Settlement of Vienna and its aftermath to the Treaty of Versailles and its aftermath, it becomes clear which one solved the problems that mattered.
- Results of the Congress of Vienna
- "Although the Congress has received criticism for ignoring the growth of liberty, equality, and fraternity in Europe, it has received praise for finding a general settlement of a complex series of problems, especially from scholars who favorably compare its work to that of the victorious allies at Versailles after World War I. The representatives were not totally, blindly reactionary: many of the changes of the previous twenty-five years were retained. The forty years of general peace that followed, flawed though they may have been, are testimony to the success of Metternich and his colleagues in gaining stability. But, by ignoring the forces of change, the representatives at Veinna ensured the ultimate failure of the system they created."
- Congress of Vienna and Concert of Europe
- Concert of Europe
- "For many historians this period in European history serves as an aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars. Yet it was significant. It was the first time since the middle ages that Europeans had made any significant strides toward unity and continental peace. Yes, war and revolution would occur during the remainder of the century. But on the whole it was a peaceful period, and the people of Europe were generally grateful for the time of growth, stability, and prosperity which followed.
- Talleyrand and the Congress of Vienna
The famous suicidal CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE, Florence Nightingale, Yalta, the Black Sea, Sevastopol - hiding the terrible carnage of this nasty war. Another balance of power issue in the 1853-1856 war. England and France feared Russian control of the critical Straits of Bosporus and the possibility of Russian defeat of the despised Ottoman Empire. Turkey declared war against Russia. Ended with the Treaty of Paris with the balance of power restored. So much disagreement among scholars.
- Crimean War
- "England entered this war between Russia and Turkey on the side of the Turks because Russia was seeking to control the Dardanelles and thus threaten England's Mediterranean sea routes. The country might not have gone to war had it not been so popular, patriotism being inflamed by such works as Charles Kingsley's Westward Ho! The misunderstood order that lead to the suicidal Charge of the Light Brigade (by a brigade of light cavalry over open terrain against well-defended heavy artillery) was unfortunately symptomatic of the ineptness of the British command. The army's problems were made public by the first real war correspondent, William Russell of the London Times. (Other outrages included the inability of the supply corps to get food to starving soldiers six miles away.) The exposure lead to reform. As the enemy killed fewer British soldiers than starvation and cholera, so the gallantry of the Light Brigade was less consequential than the actions of Florence Nightingale, who reformed the way the hospitals were being run and invented the nursing profession."
- Crimean War Research Center
- "Our Society exists to honour and remember those that fell in the war and to study the war in its entirety - from mainstream topics like the deaths from disease in the Crimea and the naval confrontation in the Baltic to little-known aspects of the war such as the British Army's refusal to deploy poison gas at Sevastopol, and the naval actions in the Pacific. Scaling the Heights of the Alma; The Charge of the Light Brigade; the Soldier's Battle; Florence Nightingale; the Fall of Sevastopol; the incompetence of those in command; the endurance of the ordinary soldier; the Great Storm; the political wrangles in Constantinople, Vienna, Paris and London; the newspaper reporting and the new-fangled telegraph; the uniforms and the arms; the soldiers, sailors, camp-followers, spectators, businessmen and politicians; the effect on the military, industry and the man in the street."
- Florence Nightingale's Crimean War Activity Florence Nightingale's accomplishments, including photo.
- Florence Nightingale Site
- Range of information. I also collected an interesting article she wrote from here. Then to a brief biography.
The Franco-Prussian War, was a war in 1870-1871 lost by France to the German states under the leadership of Prussia. The underlying causes of the conflict were the determination of the Prussian statesman Prince Otto Edward Leopold von Bismarck to unify Germany under Prussian control and, as a step toward this goal, to eliminate French influence over Germany. On the other hand, Napoleon III, emperor of France from 1852 to 1870, sought to regain both in France and abroad the prestige lost as a result of numerous diplomatic reverses, particularly those suffered at the hands of Prussia in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866. In addition, the military strength of Prussia, as revealed in the war with Austria, constituted a threat to French dominance on the continent of Europe.
The 1996 spectacular TV 8-hour miniseries. Site summarizes, quotes, excerpts. Every student, everyone interested in WWI, should use this site first. And see the TV series if possible.
What Did We Learn?
"I think we learned a great deal from the Great War.
The first point is that as soon as international warfare is launched,
nobody can predict the outcome. The second thing is that international war
breeds civil war, and civil war is uglier than international war because
there are no limits. We also learned that the technology of warfare
expands much more rapidly than the capacity of political leaders to
control it. And I think the final thing that the First World War taught us
is that the easy access of individuals to democratic procedures is very
fragile. Warfare suspends democracy. How high a price is victory? That's a
question we owe to the First World War. And the question is still with us
today."
BATTLEFIELDS AND CAMPAIGNS - AND ARMS AND AMMUNITION
ATROCITIES AND HATRED
USE THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
SEARCH MACHINE AND GO TO ALBANIA.
Then read the
following articles (you cannot save the URLs for the articles - they
disappear!)
USE THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
SEARCH MACHINE AND GO TO AUSTRIA:"The Final Years of the Empire and WWI." Then go on and click to the "Next Pages."
USE THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
SEARCH MACHINE AND GO TO BULGARIA
for:USE THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
SEARCH MACHINE AND GO TO CZECHOSLOVAKIA
for:USE THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
SEARCH MACHINE AND GO TO Germany
for:"World War
I." Then go on and click
to the "Next Pages."
USE THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
SEARCH MACHINE AND GO TO HUNGARY.Then read the
following articles:USE THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
SEARCH MACHINE AND GO TO Poland.
Then read the following articles:
"War and the Polish Lands," and "Recovery of Statehood." Then go on and click to the "Next Pages."
USE THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
SEARCH MACHINE AND GO TO ROMANIA. Then read the
following articles USE THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
SEARCH MACHINE AND GO TO RUSSIA.
Then read the following articles
USE THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
SEARCH MACHINE AND GO TO SERBIA.
Then read the
"Balkan Wars and World War
I," and "Formation of the South Slav
State." Then go on and click to the
"Next Pages."
History 4A -
WESTERN CIVILIZATION: THE ANCIENT WORLD
History 4B -
WESTERN CIVILIZATION: MEDIEVAL, RENAISSANCE, REFORMATION
History 4C -
WESTERN CIVILIZATION: THE MODERN WORLD
The stunning student Teaching Assistants who have assisted the courses and helped catalyze the quality of the student work at Foothill
Those remarkable humans across Eastern Europe who have struggled, perserved, grown in stature in the midst of decades of unspeakable abuse; the many survivors of the Holocaust who I have counted as my friends for so many years and to whom I owe so much; and to the 6000 students who have studied the Holocaust, Nazi Germany, and Eastern Europe in seminar with me for 30 years.
HOPE YOU ENJOYED
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