w. 36

Blog for History 1b 2019-20

Here you will find material from what we have done in class. However, any files I share with you will be found on Vklass.

Issues we have discussed so far, w. 34 + 35:

-       Starting on time and attendance

-       No phones

-       Taking notes on paper

-       Finding abbreviations and symbols and such to help you write more effectively.

-       Rewrite your notes. Going back and rewriting your notes allows you to fill out sentences and add material — from the blog, your book, material on Vklass . . . This process helps you master the material better.

-       I will set the grade for the course at the end of the year. If you choose to travel at the end of the year before the end of the course, you risk missing work that is essential to passing the course. That could mean that despite a year of working on various goals, you could either end up with a lower grade or an F. I want everyone to do well in the course. But I won’t be adjusting the schedule or requirements for those going on a studentresa.  

-       The benefit of

o   paying attention to the news

o   reading books

o   watching a wide variety of movies

That is, the more you expand your points of reference, the easier it will be for you to make sense of what we discuss, and the greater relevance it will have for you.

-       There is a list of Cold War terms posted on Vklass. You want to be sure that you are mastering these terms as we work with them.

-       English words that we use a lot in the course: I have created a list of words that I have found are used a lot in the course. I will present these ten per lesson. Some words you may know. Some you may recognize but be uncertain about. And some will be completely new. You need to build up habits of learning how to work with expanding your vocabulary. Communication is essential for being able to learn and to demonstrate what you know.

-       We have not yet discussed the course plan.

-       But we did discuss that there is no one history. There are facts, and history has to be based in factual material. History is an interpretation of this factual material  Depending on the factual material/evidence used and the questions asked of that material, we get different interpretations. Thus, there can be many different histories.

You will build skills in how interpret the past. As a part of that, you will work on discussing causes and consequences.

-       We will have a map quiz of Cold War Europe w. 36. :-)      Test yourself here: https://online.seterra.com/en/vgp/3481

-       I presented a timeline stretching from 1800 to today.

-       We discussed changes brought about by industrialization – which is discussed in chapter 25. We briefly talked about the terms mechanized/mechinization, factories, urbanization.

p. 727

-       Industrialization is the backdrop for the developments of the political and economic ideologies we’ll be discussing. You must have an understanding of the political and economic ideologies in order to successfully work with this unit. Focus on the question below. All of the Cold War events and documents we will discuss are the result of political and economic ideologies.

-       We then started reading in section 4 of chpt. 25: “Reforming the Industrial World.” We will use the material to answer the following questions:

-       What is capitalism? (p. 734)

-       What are the differences between capitalism and socialism? (p. 737)

-       What did Marx think would be the final outcome of socialism? (p. 736)

We’ll discuss these questions during class w. 36, and along with them the terms bourgeoisie and proletariat

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w. 36

In the Cold War, we see that the Soviet Union sees things very differently than do countries in the West, particularly countries such as France and England, but even Sweden and the Netherlands.

Things that make Russia different

Never experienced

-       Roman law tradition

-       the Franciscans, the Jesuits

o   religious orders that highly organized, encouraged education

-       the Protestant Reformation

o   challenged the authority of the Catholic Church

-       the full force of the Renaissance (1300s, 1400s, 1500s)

o   brought new knowledge, led to increased trade

-       the interaction with a plethora of different cultures on different continents

o   a by-product of the Crusades, the Renaissance, and increased trade

Also

-       language is not written in Roman letters – is Cyrillic

o   (Russia = Россия)

-       is geographically isolated from western Europe

-       has a Byzantine heritage in religion and culture (that is, connected to Eastern Roman Empire, which was based in Constantinople – today, Istanbul)

-       was dominated by Mongols from 1240-1450