Monday, February 12, 2007

What is going on in 19 century Europe?
Throughout the 19 century there are common "ism's" that keep popping up. Nationalism and imperialism come to mind. The 19-century was about European super-powers trying to expand their reign and influence over other less influential countries. Mean while some less powerful countries underwent a rebuilding process, and the industrial revolution took place.

Both Italy and the German states both underwent unification processes as well as the Greeks finally gaining independence. The common theme if nationalism is shown in the Italian revolution when Italy and France became allies to break out of the grips of Austria. Also when the Balkans rose above the influence of Austrian and Russian control to gain their freedom. Nationalism was a key element in many countries finally rising above their imperialistic counterpart. Such as in Greece, when the Greeks finally broke free from Ottoman rule after 400 years of enslavement. These nationalistic movements set standards that are still being pursued today. When China broke from European rule after years of being divided their main drive was nationalism.

Imperialism was used as a tactic to get what the country needed in time of war, famine, and peace. Larger and more influential countries, to get more resources to be used as finished products in their home country, used imperialism. A good example of this is when France, England, the United States, and other smaller European countries broke up China into spheres of influence. This had a huge economic and political effect on Europe. Also with the exploration of new lands Many European countries such as Portugal, France, Spain, and of course England, had territories all over the globe that were being ruled by the Europeans with the natives having no power.

Europe in the 19 century was all about resources. If your didn't have the resources necessary to survive, you lost out. Power was also a leading factor, the more land you had, the more power you were thought to have. These statements are what most European countries lived by and used to survive.

4 comments:

Vicki said...

Cory, I like the idea of not putting your essay into a PERSIA format but I feel as though you did not write about all of what was going on the 19th century. The Industrial Revolution was significant part of the 19th century but nothing was mentioned about it. Another aspect of your essay that I liked was how you focused on two of the "isms". Although, you could have talked about a few more and their connections to the 19th century. All in all, not bad.

Blogdan said...

I liked the fact that your blog was sort of casual, thus easy to read and understand. Like Vicky said, you did not organize your blog according to PERSIA, yet it still turned out good. The blog would be much more usefull if you added more information and incorporated a bit more analysis into the existing blog.

HazelNut said...

cory~
i really liked your essay! it was really easy to read and i loved how you organized your information.
~tracy

Sarah said...

Cory~
I agree with everyone else in that your blog seemed somewhat incomplete. Although you expanded on imperialism very nicely, you lacked any real discussion of economics, such as the Industrial Revolution, and social aspects, like feminism and the like. However, what you have was very refreshing to read, especially with its casual approach. A lot of people, myself included, went for the more stusious, long-winded approach, structuring the blog the way they would an essay, so reading this was like a breath of fresh air. all in all, although your blog was slightly underdeveloped, it was an enjoyable read.