WHAT I LEARNED THIS SEMESTER IN WORLD HISTORY II

Well, the time has come to sum up what I learned this Semester, and if I were to cover everything, I'd still be typing next week! For time's sake, I will just emphasize some important things that I know will stick with me:

First of all, the Afghan situation. I never realized how much the Afghan citizens are like us, in their need and desires. I was sort of surprized at how a country like Afghanistan could have such a normal problem as environmental issues. And of course, with all our detailed research on how tough their lives are, I've come to a deeper sympathy for those in Afghanistan who want the war to be over just as much as we do, as well as a greater appreciation for how fortunate we are!

And I never would have guessed that the poorness in the world today can find its root in such a trivial matter as geography! Thanks, Jared Diamond!

As to Nationalism, well, this wasn't the most interesting unit, but I was pleased to learn the history of German and Italy (as well as a bit surprized at how much later they became nations than the other major countries in Europe...).

With the Urbanization unit, I had already knwon a lot about the Industrial Revolution, but it was neat to learn about the little details of life that they tried to solve, and the origin of some common things today, like cars and electricity!

And just a few other things: the top 10 most populous cities and countries in the world, the complete story of Oliver Twist (that is, more than "Please sir, may I have some more?"), and what an awesome movie Hero is!!

Thanks, Mrs. Lawson! It was an awesome semester, and I can't wait for the rest of the year!

Unit 4: NATIONALISM: FROM CONCERT TO COMPETITION

Recap:

In this section, I learned the role of nationalism in the (relatively recent) formation of several modern European nations. Nationalism was a strong feeling of pride in and devotion to one's country. The msot common example can be found in the national anthems of countries, such as The Star Spangled Banner for the U.S.A. or La Marseillaise for France. Nationalism emerged in the late 19th Century in Europe, and its impact on Europe was incredible! Nationalism saw the birth of the countries of Germany and Italy, through the unification of the many territories that made up these areas. The many states and kindoms within Germany were unified under the ideas of Otto von Bismarck, and Italy became unified for the first time since the time of the Romans by the work of Victor Emmanuel II, Count Camillo Cavour and Guiseppe Garibaldi. In short, these leaders provoked feelings of pride among their citizens, so they began to bond together as nations! Meanwhile, in Russia, there were evolts agains the Czars and attempts to reform, which came more slowly than they did in Western Europe.

Review:

In my group's presentation about Nationalism in Italy, we did a good job at highlighting certain events surrounding Victor Emmanuel, cavour and Garibaldi. We also made some detailed and effective puppets! However, I feel that we kind of missed comunicating the big picture, such as how each event contributed to Italy's coming together as a nation. That is, we sort of skimmed over the whole idea without empasizng how it all came to be. (Also, I think our puppets should have had more speaking roles...)

In comparing and contrasting the Italian unification struggle with the situation in Russia, they really were quite different in the usage of nationalism. In Italy, nationalism was used by the leaders in order to cause their citizens to bond together and create a unified kingdom. In sharp contrast, the Russian Czars were extremely opposed to nationalism, mainly because they knew it would bring an end to their rules. In fact, many Czars made attempts to silence any and all people who had nationalistic ideas. This tended to cause the people to revolt, demanding reforms for their benefit, or that the current Czar be removed. Howver, the situations do have at least one similarity: in both cases there were violent struggles (Garibaldi's conquest in Italy and the peasant revolts in Russia).

Reflect & Reinvent:

In general, I find nationalism to be a fairly useful ideology, in that in helps to keep nations together and can give them spirit and hope in times of hardship or war. On the other hand, it can also be dangerous in that it can provoke wars or violence that lead a country into disaster or endless fighting without hope of success. If nationalism were to be reinvented, I think it ought to be used more for peaceful reforms that don't lead into huge struggles. It could actually be used to point out similarities between warring countries. For example "Hey, we're both fighting for the same thing here- why can't we try to get along? After all, we may behave differently, but deep down, were really the same!"

Unit 3: URBANIZATION & INDUSTRIALIZATION

Recap:

I learned quite a lot in this section concerning Industrialization and Urbanization. First of all, urbanization, the moving of peoples from rural areas into cities, took place at much grater rates during this time, mainly because people were seeking new opportunities and jobs. Unfortunately, life in the city during this time was really awful! The streets were dark, cramped and filthy with trash, dirt and even raw sewage! Most of the people lived in cramped tenements that were just as unpleasant and often rampant with horrible diseases, like cholera and tuberculosis. People were often sick and usually died of these conditions. Eventually, though, an effort was made to make cities a better place to live. Streets were paved and widened, sewage drainage systems were added, and various technologies helped to improve life conditions. Such technologies included bridges, skyscrapers, electric lights, new methods of transportation and communication, medical advancements and attempts to improve sanitation in hospitals. Meanwhile, the standards of life for the middle class were very strict. They had lots of fancy decorations in their apartments, as well as lots of rules about how to arrange a visit, who could marry who, how to dress, and so on.

Revisit & Reflect:

In my opinion, a very interesting city to live in would be Munich, Germany. Located in Bavaria (where our own Mr. G comes from!), the city offers lots of interesting things to do, such as visiting interesting art exhibits and orchestral, theatre and opera performances. There are also plenty of places to eat out (and German food is excellent!). The city itself (along with many other German cities) is very beautiful, with a rich history to explore. Of course, there are a few downsides: as with any European city, one would need to convert their money into euros before purchasing anything, and apparantly you need an Emission sticker to drive into the city!

Sources: Munich Official Website

Traveler's Digest Page on Munich

Unit 2: GUNS, GERMS AND STEEL

Recap:

In this unit, I learned much about the reasons behind why there are rich poeple in some parts of the world, and poor people in other parts of the world. It all comes from the theories of Dr. Jared Diamond, author of Guns, Germs and Steel. His overall message is that a society's success is based on their geographic luck. That is, those civilizations that settled in areas with good raw materials for farming were those that became more successful more quickly and had time to develop skills that would advance them further, such as writing, bulding, weaponry, and so on. Another contributing factor concerning geography was isolation. Those civilizations with bad resources that were separated form other civilizations by ocean or uncrossable terrain would not receive the aid they would need to advance. In fact, when explorers eventually came to new lands, they often brought with them diseases that wiped out the natives. When that didn't happen, they conquered the natives and/or slaughtered them. Needless to say, the current situation in the world can be traced back to where the ancestors of civilizations settled in the world, and how successful or otherwise they became, due to the effects of guns, germs and steel.

Revisit:

Observing the current situation in Africa, I researched the South-Central African country of Zambia. It is currently quite poor, with roughly a 50% unemployment rate, and a fairly poor economy that is certainly not ready to reduce poverty at any significant rate. Although the source of this poverty is rather unclear, it may stem from the fact that Zambia was not an independent nation until 1964. Previously, it was ruled by the U.K. since 1923. Before this time, it was controled by the South Africa Company since 1891. Clearly it has not had a considerable ammount of time to set up its own, independent goverment, much less establish programs that would permanelty help stablilize the economy and drastically reduce poverty... And as far as I can tell, there is no word of outside help to their situation... This seems to be a common (and unfortunate)trait among contries in central Africa- they spent most of their lives as colonies and now they do not have the strength to live well on their own. Information above taken from pbs.com's Journey to Planet Earth Country Profile for Zambia.

On a positive note, the CIA World Factbook says that Zambia's economy has been getting stronger in recent years, a good sign for this poor country. Also, acording to plan-uk.org, the situation is beginning to get better for Zambia, but many of the people have not yet benefited. This site is encouraging, though, because it proves that there are, in fact, efforts to relieve the situation in poor countries like Zambia!

Reflect:

I think the impact of geographic luck is certainly unfortunate, but also somewaht random. after all, if Africa had been the land rich in resources and Europe and North America without them, it could've been Zambia as a leading world power and the U.S. as a struggling country. This is a tough scenario to iamgine, but if Jared Diamond's theory is right (which is seems to be), then was as possible as the current situation in the world. By this logic, I think that everyone should pitch in to give aid to stuggling third-world coutnries (especially in Africa). Perhaps this will become mroe common as knowledge gets out that we could've been them if we had settled in their place.

Unit 1: AFGHANISTAN

Recap:

My research topic for the Afghanistan project was current environmental issues, and I learned so much that it will be hard to condense it into a single paragraph.

Well, first of all, Aghanistan has terrible air pollution. Kabul, Afghanistan's capital city, has awful pollution and ahs been declared seven times more polluted than is safe for its residents, mainly centering around factory emmisionsand trash and sewage in the streets. Conditions are horrible, with many people in hospitals, and all needing to wear masks over their faces when they go outside! In addition, there have been terrible earthquake in rural regions and those affected were not able to receive adequate aid as fast as they should have. Now, the land itself is in a bad condition. Once lush lands of vegetation have been reduced to deserts by means of wars or deforestation. There are also at least 33 different endangered species. However, the news is not all bad-there are plans to build Afghnaistan's first National Park in the Hindu Kush region, which will bring a new light to this dark and stereotypically sinister country.

Revisit:

The situation does not seem to have imporved much, if any, since August. According to Afghanistan's offical website, while Afghan officials are perfectly aware of the situation, they do not have the money or assistance to make significant changes, mainly due to their current need to focus attention on the war. similar issues are noted at the article Afghanistan: Evironmental degredation in a fragile ecological setting, in which the issues of Afghans overusing the land are taken into account. Apparently, desertification is mainly due to overfarming the land and using natural resources, such as trees and oil and such. All these problems could have been avoided if proper measures to avoid overusage had been taken. It looks like it will take quite awhile to get Afghansitan truly environmentally healthy again.

Reflect:

Considering the environmental challenges facing Afghanistan, I think there is some chance they will be able to become more unified. Once they have the money and such to focus on environmental issues, they will need to join together. Eventually, if they begin working together to clean up the environenment with activities such as clearing out smoke, planting forests, cleaning water supplies and working on building the National Park, they will soon learn cooperation and acceptance of each other, which will be the first steps toward becoming a unified people!

Test Post

I've started blogging as of 11/20/09!