Module 8

What factors contributed to economic globalization in the second half of the twentieth century?

The aftermath of WWII led capitalist countries to avoid any return to the Depression era conditions. Due to the Bretton Woods Conference establishing a system which laid the foundation for postwar globalization (financial rules for commercial and capitalist free trade and investment). These institutions were the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. Also technology that lowered transportation costs, internet resulting in global interaction and the global capitalism

In what ways has economic globalization more closely linked the world's peoples?

It accelerated circulation of goods, capital, and also people. Foreign direct investment taking advantage of cheap labor and looser environmental regulations in developing countries. Short term movement of capital (investors purchasing foreign currencies or stocks that were likely to increase value). Personal funds of individuals from international credit cards allowing easy transfer of money across national borders. Boosting the World Trade and making it skyrocket. Transnational corporations produced goods or delivered services simultaneously in many countries. Vast movement of people from developing countries of Asia, Africa, and Latin America to the industrialized world of Europe and North America to escape poverty

In what different ways did Islamic renewal express itself?

Many people became more religiously modest, became more observant, praying regularly, and fasting. Islamic dress and also veil were adopted by urban, young, and well educated women voluntarily. Governments anchored themselves in Islamic practices from the Quran. Many people embraced modern science and technology with a distinctly Islamic culture. Social service organizations arose.

Module 7 - Essay

Victor Xavier Veloso

World History 

Patricia Andrews

April 15th 2020

Corona Virus 

A few weeks ago, on Wednesday (11), the World Health Organization declared the covid-19 pandemic, a disease caused by the new coronavirus (Sars-Cov-2). Since then, the term has not left the news.

It’s really important for us to know the the difference between many different terms during the pandemic so we know what the news are talking about. An Outbreak, such as the covid-19, occurs when there is a sudden increase in the number of cases of a disease in a specific region. An epidemic, it is the considerable increase in the number of cases of a certain disease in different regions in the same country. An endemic, the issue is not quantitative. A disease is classified as endemic when it happens very often only in a specific location - not reaching other communities. There are so-called endemic areas: in the case of Brazil, for example, it is possible to mention yellow fever in the Amazon. A Pandemic, on a severity scale it is the most delicate case. It is characterized by an epidemic that spreads across several regions of the planet.

Similar cases of pandemics and outbreaks occurred in 1729, 1781, 1830. In 1889, a new pandemic emerged in May in southern Russia and spread throughout Europe: the Russian flu. In early 1890's, a steamboat from Germany took the disease to Salvador, Bahia, infecting half of the Salvadorans. In Rio de Janeiro, the virus still hit Dom Pedro 2, at the very end of the monarchy.

The most serious flu pandemic broke out in the last year of the First World War, with possibly an outbreak in the USA. The troop movement spread the Spanish flu around the world, infecting 40% of humanity in only two years.

The last time, before the coronavirus, that the World Health Organization had declared a pandemic was in 2009, for H1N1, influenza A. Popularly known as swine flu, it had its first cases registered in Mexico in the middle of March 2009. After spread across the world and reaching Oceania. The virus was identified as a new strain of the already known Influenza A subtype H1N1, the same virus responsible for the highest number of cases of influenza among humans.

This new pandemic has affected many people and families around the world. Taking the lives of many people and making many sick. The self isolation is one of the techniques everyone is using to try to slow down the spread of the covid-19 while scientists try to create a cure or a way to stop the spread. 

Because the lockdown happened really fast all over the world, canceling flights, closing businesses and making people only go outside their houses for essentials, many people like me and my family were affected. As I was traveling from the US to Europe to visit family during the spring break, flights got canceled and airports closed, and that forced us to stay were we were. That made us move four different times from hotel to hotel because they were closing down because they didn’t have many customers. That brings stress for us because we don’t know were we are going to be next week. We don’t know if we will have to fin a new place to stay. And we don’t know when we will be able to go back home. 

As we stay in hotels hoping they don’t close, classes have moved from normal to online classes. Online homework, quizzes and tests. Many professors have been helping students, or at least trying to adapt and help them as much as possible during this difficult time. Others seem not to understand that some of the students are not in America, are not home. Some students are in a complete different timezone. I find myself and my family in a room in Russia, where many websites used in the US for classes, emails and quizzes are blocked by the government here. Adding to all that stress, students are trying to transfer to other universities because of financial problems NDNU is going through. What I hope they find a cure for this virus as soon as possible, so I can go back home, finish classes online where I can access websites that are not blocked, pass the classes so I can play next semester for a university I transfer to. And if all that happens I thank some professors for adapting classes and understanding the difficulty some students, including myself are going through. And to the professor that seem not to understand, I really hope this doesn’t happen again so students won’t be affected by their way of teaching, going through so much stress. 

Citation

What Is a Pandemic? - Science Alert - https://www.sciencealert.com/pandemic

Previous outbreaks - World Health Organization https://www.who.int/csr/don/archive/year/en/

Past Pandemics - CDC -https://www.cdc.gov/flu/pandemic-resources/basics/past-pandemics.html

12 deadliest virus on earth - Live Science - https://www.livescience.com/56598-deadliest-viruses-on-earth.html

Module 6

1. What international circumstances and social changes contributed to the end of colonial empires?

Europe was weakened through wars and discredited moral superiority. Transformation of social values encouraged African and Asians to seek political independence. Western-educated elites rose in colonies to insist on independence. People became increasingly aware of unfair colonial rule. Some colonial leaders sought new political relationships with colonies.

2. What international circumstances and social changes contributed to the end of colonial empires?

The United States and the Soviet Union, the new global superpowers, generally opposed the older European colonial empires. By the early twentieth century in Asia and the mid-twentieth century in Africa, a second or third generation of Western-educated elites, largely male, had arisen throughout the colonial world. These young men were thoroughly familiar with European culture, were aware of the gap between its values and its practices, no longer viewing colonial rule as a vehicle for their peoples' progress as their ancestors had, and increasingly insisted on independence.

3. What conflicts and differences divided India's nationalist movement?

Not all nationalists accepted Gandhi's nonviolence or his inclusive definition of India, Gandhi opposed industrialization while his chief supported it. With all that some militant Hindus saw efforts to improve the position of women or untouchables as a distraction from the chief task of gaining independence from Britain. A number of smaller parties advocated on behalf of particular regions or castes. There was a growing divide between India's Hindu and Muslim populations, which led to arguments that India was really two nations rather than one.

Module 5

The current pandemic is affecting the whole world. Not only affecting health, killing and making many people sick but also affecting the economy and other aspects of our world. Doing some research on previous virus’ outbreaks, quickly we find the most famous and notorious pandemics. These outbreaks cost the lives of millions of people all across the world. The most notorious ones are the Black Death and also the Spanish Flu. 

The Spanish flu, was an unusually deadly influenza pandemic. Lasting from January 1918 to December 1920, infecting 500 million people, about a quarter of the world's population at the time. The death toll is estimated to have been anywhere from 17 million to 50 million, and possibly as high as 100 million, making it one of the deadliest pandemics in human history. 

Most influenza outbreaks disproportionately kill the very young and the very old, with a higher survival rate for those in between, but the Spanish flu pandemic resulted in a higher than expected mortality rate for young adults. Scientists offer several possible explanations for the high mortality rate of the 1918 influenza pandemic. The Spanish flu was the first of two pandemics caused by the H1N1 influenza virus; the second was the swine flu in 2009

The Black Death, was the most fatal pandemic recorded in human history, resulting in the deaths of up to 75-200 million people in Eurasia and North Africa, from 1347 to 1351. The plague created religious, social, and economic upheavals, with profound effects on the course of European history.

The Black Death probably originated in Central Asia or East Asia, and is estimated to have killed 30% to 60% of Europe's population. It took 200 years for Europe's population to recover to its previous level. Outbreaks of the plague recurred at various locations around the world until the early 20th century.

Module 4

Chapter 20

Fascism was intensely discussed in this chapter.  Fascist movements appeared in many Western European countries but had very little political impact. Bitterly condemned individualism, liberalism, feminism, parliamentary democracy, and communism, all of which they argued, divided and made the nation weaker. Fascist movements achieved political power in Italy and Germany. It was also discussing how the first world war happened and meanwhile the amends it made with other countries in the world like Germany, Italy, Hungarian Empire and Austro. The Treaty of Versailles was also introduced in this time and it showed the conditions that had to be met up with the empires.

Italy's fascist regime disbanded independent labor unions and peasant groups as well as all opposing political parties. Although Mussolini was an atheist he made the catholic culture the national religion of Italy.In the fascist propaganda, women were portrayed in highly traditional domestic terms (mothers or stay at home women). A big number of people also deserted political parties in favor of conservative and radical right-wing movements. Hitler apparently had the support of a considerable majority of the population by the late 30s, in large measure because his policies successfully brought Germany out of the Depression. 

Module 3

What accounts for the massive peasant rebellions of 19th century China?

The main reasons was that the population of China grew rapidly between 1685 and 1853, but agricultural production was unable to keep up with that rapid growth. Leading then to growing pressure on the land, smaller farms for China's huge peasant population, and, in all too many cases, unemployment, impoverishment, misery, and starvation. Peasants frequently embraced rebellion, finding leadership in charismatic figures who proclaimed a millenarian religious message.

How did Western pressures stimulate change in China during the 19th century?

During the 19th century, there was a big change in global power between China and Europe. Opium was illegally imported and soon there were millions of addicts in China which led to it being banned, seized, and expelled from China. Following the war that happened, China gradually became a semi colonial society and foreign powers stepped up their aggression towards China. Later on a massive overflow of silver to pay for the opium reversed the imbalance, causing economic problems. The emperor of China then decided to suppress the debate at court, debating on whether to legalize the drug or crack down on its usage. The British were offended by their acts and sent a naval expedition to China. Their goal was also to teach China a lesson about the virtues of free trade and the proper way to conduct relations among different countries.

In what ways was Japan changing during the Tokugawa era?

Many different things happened during this era. The very famous and notorious samurai disappeared. During this time an economic growth, urban development, and commercialization also grew and developed in a large scale and because of those changes, the consequence was that Japan then became the most urbanized country.

Module 2

In what ways did the Industrial Revolution shape the character of 19th century European imperialism?

Productivity of industrial technology and the growing wealth of Europe created the need for extensive raw materials and agricultural products that could only be found in other parts of the world. They needed to sell its own products, and foreign regions proved to be important markets. European capital sought investment abroad, both for promised profits and to stimulate demand for European products - in part to keep the working classes fully employed and therefore less inclined to class conflict.

What was distinctive about European colonial empires of the 19th century?

The nineteenth-century European colonial empires differed from earlier empires in several important ways, including the prominence of race in distinguishing between rulers and ruled. Also distinctive was the extent to which colonial states were able to penetrate the societies they governed. They had a penchant for counting and classifying their subject peoples. Their policies for administrating their colonies contradicted their core values and their practices at home to an unusual degree. Separated or "racially discriminated" against certain countries they conquered such as African-Americans and Indians specifically because of how dark they were which is the most common form of racial discrimination that has lived all through history.

How were the lives of African women in particular altered by colonial economies?

Studies often show that women lost power and economic autonomy with the arrival of cash crops and women's exclusion from the global marketplace. In some areas, the introduction of cash crops led to changes in women's agricultural work and in men's and women's control over land.  Before colonization, African women were almost everywhere active farmers in addition to food preparation and child care. 

Though clearly subordinate to men, African women nevertheless had a measure of economic autonomy. Following colonization, women's lives diverged more and more from those of men. Women dominated subsistence production, while men took a dominant role in cash-crop agriculture. Men migrated to the cities, leaving women to manage the domestic economy almost alone. Women were forced to take on traditionally male tasks in addition to their normal responsibilities. Women of impoverished rural families often became virtually independent heads of household in the absence of their husbands, while others took advantage of new opportunities in mission schools, towns, and mines to flee the restrictions of rural patriarchy.

Module 1

What were the roots of the Industrial Revolution in Europe? How did this transformation have global roots?

Industrialization not only brought new products to the population and the market but also changed, beliefs, ways of thinking and the way society interacted and lived. Basically the 

Industrial revolution was the advancement of technology. Some places, such as China and the Ottoman empire, its effectiveness wasn’t that great due to the financial opportunity costs that would greatly damage its economy. 

The industrial revolution created new forms of trade, new discoveries and use of technology and resources and new ideas for development. The establishment of trade routes created global roots of connections to acquire new ideas for inventions and other resources. The industrial era began to grow civilizations and they began to move towards "Soon the Industrial Revolution spread beyond the textile industry, through the production of iron and steel, railways and steam ships, food processing and construction”.

What did humanity gain from the Industrial Revolution and what did it lose?

As we may thing, humanity gained many new tools to explore and conquest the world. New weapons, new technology, new thoughts and new beliefs, that were now part of the society before the revolution. Humanity and the modern world in which we live were built from the era of industrialization, such as forms of world trade, between every country, exchange of ideas between each country for new development ideas, etc.

The idea of loss can come in many different ways, such as people that lost their lives working for the industrialization to happen. Losses such as the belief in religion that was the main source of knowledge about pretty much everything and etc.

How did the British middle class change during the 19th century?

The Industrial Revolution created many changes in different societies. For example, a social transformation has occurred in British society. The aristocrats who made up the ruling class were slowly declining. Urban wealth increased in importance and gained a large part of the land. Entrepreneurs and landowners became the leaders of their political parties, and aristocrats declined. In addition, a change was the entry of women into the labor market in the late 19th century. They were starting to work in teaching, in the office, in sales and bank tellers.