1) Many historians have argued that the French Revolution was not really one revolution, but several, each the product of a different social class.
Using this thesis as your guide, trace the progress of the French Revolution.
Describe the goals of each social class when it revolted against the established order. Be sure to discuss the stance of the nobility, the bourgeoiseie, the peasants, and the Parisian mob. Mention such salient events as:
against a back drop of famine, national debt (due in part to support of American Colonies in revolution), disease, poor distribution of food,
The Noble Revolt (1787)
the calling of the estates general
the forming of the National Assembly,
the storimg of the Bastille
the Great Fear in the countryside
the March on Versailles (1789)
The Reign of Terror (1793-1794)
Thermidor (1784)
The establishment of the Directory (1795)
2) The nineteenth-centry scramble to colonize the world had long-term causes and far-reaching effects. Describe the ideologies that developed in the 18th and 19th Centuries that contribyuted to this burst of imperialism.
Consider how liberalism, socialism, nationalism, and social Darwinism contributed to the development of a colonial mindset capable of such an effort. In examining the effects of imperialism, consider the motivations of the British sepcifically and David Cannandine's thesis about the driving forces behind the British Empire.
3) The origins of World War I were multiple and complex, not to mention years in the making. Drawing on James Joll's argument, describe the major military and diplomatic developments that led to this war. In your answer, you should mention the formation of rival military alliances, European colonial tensions and the rising power of nationalism. Finally, you should explain your answer to the following question: can the blame for starting the war be placed upon a single country.
4) Discuss the following factors in Hitler's rise to power from 1923 to 1933:
[notes: Discuss how Hitler's systematic dismantling of the Labor Unions, Political machinery, civil service, legal hierarchy and judiciary served to consolidate his power? ]
What were the clerical concerns regarding this 'getting into one gear' mode of post 1933 Germany
What is the essence of Gleichshaltung
the structure of the Weimar Republic
incoherent mass of administrative units
Reichstag was incapable of carrying out its assigned functions.
Government that was powerless to make decisions due to diametrically opposed political factions
Also known as the German Empire,
domestic strife in the form of party factions; tax strikes, mass demonstrations, bombing of govt. offices in protest of against inflation and interest rates on loans,
Also known as the German Empire,
domestic strife in the form of party factions; tax strikes, mass demonstrations, bombing of govt. offices in protest of against inflation and interest rates on loans,
German nationalism
the inflation of the 1920's and the depression of 1929-1933
Hyperinflation occurred for a variety of reasons and cannot be underestimated in it's value to Hitler in undermining the credibility of the Weimar-era Republic.
Hyperinflation occurred for a variety of reasons and cannot be underestimated in it's value to Hitler in undermining the credibility of the Weimar-era Republic.
German anti-Semitism
Hitler's political ambitions
5) Kant's third formulation of the categorical imperative is this: "Act so that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or in that of another, always as an end and never as a means only." Discuss the extent to which characters in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice do or don't treat themselves and others as "means only."
6) Margaret Drabble in her introduction to our Signet Calssics edition of Pride and Prejudice, says of Elizabeth and Darcy that "if anyone ever has a chance of making a good marriage, these two have." Explain and discuss Drabble's reasons for saying this, and then go on to dicuss the chances of a good marriage between Jane and Bingley, and between Charlotte and Collins.
7) May one tell a lie if that will get one something one wants? May one refuse to help someone if one would not profit from doing so? Explain how Kant's first formulation of the Categorical imperative applies to thise questions. (Kant's first formulations is: "Act only according to that maxim by which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law.")