Reviews for Aspects of Western Civilization Problems and Sources in History

The average rating for Aspects of Western Civilization Problems and Sources in History based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2016-12-23 00:00:00 David Smart Chapter one of this book contains this sombre passage, the last discussion of a king at the gallows. King to executioner: I shall say but very short prayers, and when I thrust out my hands…. Does my hair trouble you? (His hair extended to his neck and the executioner didn’t want it bothering the blade of the axe) King to Bishop: I have a good cause and a gracious God on my side. I go from a corruptible to an incorruptible crown. Bishop responds: You are exchanged from a temporal to an eternal crown, a good exchange. The King looking at the block that will support his neck tells the executioner: You must make it fast. To which the executioner responds: It is fast Sir. King: It might be a little higher. Executioner: It can be no higher Sir. King: When I put out my hands this way then. The king stoops down and laid his neck on the block but sensing that the executioner wanted to strike before he finished his prayer he said, Wait for the sign. Executioner: Yes I will and may it please your majesty. After a very short pause he stretched forth his hand this way and with one blow his head was severed from his body. And so it was that on the 30th day of January, 1649, Charles I, King of England was executed. An unprecedented event in Europe! Title: ASPECTS OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION: Problems and Sources in History (Volume 2) 2nd Edition Author: Perry M. Rogers Place of Publication: United States of America Publisher: Prentice Hall Date of Publication: 1992 Number of Pages: 540 ISBN: 0-13-051897-2 INTRODUCTION Sequel to our last week’s read, ASPECTS OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION: Problems and Sources in History (volume 2). I am the State: The development of absolutism in England and France is the title of the first chapter. It looks at the reign of monarchs like Queen Elizabeth, the last royal of the House of Tudor, James I of the Stuart House in England, Charles I ascends the throne and without parliaments consent imposes taxes on the people to repay the loans he took to fund war against Scotland. Civil war breaks out between supporters of the monarchy (Cavaliers) led by Charles I and supporters of the parliament (Roundheads) led by Oliver Cromwell. Roundheads defeat Cavaliers, behead King Charles and establishes the commonwealth of England. Oliver Cromwell dismisses parliament and rules England as Lord Protector, upon his death Charles’s son is brought back to rule though with much reduced powers. The French road to absolutism is peeked into as Henry IV and Louis XIII lay its foundations. Dare to know!: The revolution of the mind in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Otherwise known as the enlightenment age, it x rays the lives of all the modern greats. What led them to come up with their inferences, postulations and conclusions. This chapter is a scholars utopia – all the philosophes that shaped our various disciplines are reviewed. Nicolaus Copernicus, Francis Bacon (Proponent of The scientific method), Johannes Kepler, William Harvey, Galileo Galilei, Rene Descartes, Isaac Newton, John Locke, David Hume, Denis Diderot (compiler of the first volume of encyclopaedia), Jean Jacques Rousseau, Adam Smith (Wealth of Nations) his works relegated mercantilism and gave birth to capitalism. The American revolution is mentioned as a direct fallout of events in Europe. Chapter 3, Liberty, Equality, Fraternity! The French revolution and the rise of Napoleon. Peeks into events that led to the French revolution and the rise of the last emperor in the western world, Napoleon Bonaparte. Louis XVI inherited a strong monarchy based on absolutism but the ideas of the age weren’t going to tolerate such despotism. A prodigious amount of taxes on everything including common salt and sea water led to unbearable poverty the people revolted and overthrew the monarch, a government is established called the Directory. King Louis XVI is executed and the monarchy is abolished! Napoleon rises to power overthrows the Directory and established the Consulate which he heads as First Counsul. Napoleon goes on a conquest of Prussia and Russia which is at first successful but he suffers loses in Borodino and Leipzig, he returns to Paris and fought and lost a final battle at Waterloo. He is exiled to the Island of St Helen in the South Atlantic were he dies of colon cancer or as some have theorised, slow poisoning. Chapter 4 is titled Industrial Revolution focuses on great inventions and those who made them. Flying shuttle invented by James Kay, it improves efficiency of weavers. James Watt patents the steam engine bringing an unlimited source of power into the world for the first time ever. Richard Arkwright patents waterframe which enhances production of pure cotton fabric and enables large scale textile manufacturing. Spinning Jenny is invented by James Hargreaves. Machine weaving improved by invention of the power loom by Edmund Cartwright. Thomas Malthus writes Essay on the Principle of Population. The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels is published. Nationalism and Imperialism: The motives and methods of expansion is the title of chapter 5. It x rays the paths taken by European countries to expand their domain outside the continent. Crimean war; Britain, France and Ottoman Empire vs Russia (1854-1856). Austro-Prussian war (1866). Suez canal completed in 1869. 1875 Britain gains control of Suez and establishes control over Egypt, 1882 France controls Algeria, 1884-1885 Germany establishes protectorate over Southwest Africa, Togolands, Caomeroons and East Africa. 1898 Spanish-American war leads to United States acquiring Puerto Rico, Philippines, Guam, annexes Hawai and establishes protectorate over Cuba. 1899-1902 Britain crushes a rebellion by Dutch farmers in South Africa called the Boer war. Chapter 6 is aptly called The Great War (1914-1918) looks at the events that lead to the first world war from the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand and the alliance between Germany and Austro-Hungary. Germany declares war on Russia and France, Britain declares war on Germany, Germany invades Belgium. April 22, 1915, Germans use poisonous gas for the first time, November 1916, British use tanks for the first time, March 1917 sees a Revolution in Russia and the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II, April 6, 1917 USA declares war on Germany, January 18, 1918 President Wilson issues the fourteen points frame work for peace, November 11, 1918 Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicates German throne and flees to Holland. Chapter 7 focuses on the Russian Revolution and its consequences, chapter 8 focuses on Adolf Hitler and the Nazi rise to Power, chapter 9 views the Jewish Holocaust, chapter 10 is titled Our contemporary world: The progress of civilization, it draws chronologies’ of events from February 1945 – August 1991. Starting from the Yalta conference between Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin, the signing of the United Nations charter, the Postdam conference between Churchill, Truman and Stalin. The drop of the atomic bombs, the beginning of the ‘iron curtain’ block, the Marshal plan for reconstruction of war battered Europe, creation of NATO, establishment of the EEC- European Economic Community aka ‘common market’. Invasion of Afghanistan by Soviet Union, Gorbachev becomes General Secretary of Communist Party and develops concepts of peresdtroika and glasnost. Soviet Union pulls out of Afghanistan (At this point I couldn’t help thinking about John Rambo. LOL) Revolutionary movements start across Eastern Europe and results in fall of communist governments in Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Bulgaria and East Germany. Berlin wall is opened. Boris Yeltsin Elected President of Russian Republic and openly competes with Gorbachev for leadership of what is left of the Soviet Union. Attempted coup forces Gorbachev to resign as General Secretary of communist party. Future of Soviet Union in doubt as several Baltic States of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania attain independence. It was a long read but it was worth it, it reminded me of that puff puff we ate as kids called chop one chop two. You can’t read Aspects of western civilisation Vol 1 without devouring Volume 2. It will leave you much wiser. Enjoy it. From somewhere out there, Michael Ombu

Review # 2 was written on 2008-03-28 00:00:00 Lil Booboo My favorite book. Changed my life.