Week Seven - Chapters 17, 18, 19 & 20

Chapter 17  begins by discussing the impacts that each of the major social / cultural revolutions (North American, French, & Haitian) had both singularly and on each other.  For instance, I was unaware of that Thomas Jefferson was the US ambassador to France at the beginning of the French Revolution or that Simon Bolivar had a tie to Haiti.

The North American Revolution occurred not so much because the people wanted immediate independence from Britain so much as they wanted a way to ease the control and taxation from a country on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.  The revolution allowed the people of North American to continue to create a society based upon equality that was not prevalent in Europe.

After hearing about the positive effects the North American Revolution created, the French began to realize they could revolt against the taxes imposed upon them to offset the government’s fiscal problems.  Additionally, social conflicts pitted the rich against the working class and the working class against the peasants.  The French Revolution created a new beginning which they illustrated by recreating the calendar starting with the year 1.  The population of France began to view themselves more as citizens of a country as opposed to residents of their particular region.  Napoleon was able to tame the tides of the revolution and use its forces to provide benefits to the people.  It was also his goal to militarily expand the elements of the revolution beyond France’s borders.  Napoleon’s empire came to a halt by 1815 due to the efforts of Britain and Russia.

The Haitian revolt by slaves created a society where “the last had become the first.”  Slavery was abolished and equality within its borders was established.

The industrial revolution began in Europe, particularly in Britain.  This was most likely because of the culture of the people of Europe at the time in conjunction with the wide availability of iron ore and coalfields.  The United States also later took advantage of its natural resource of coal mining and precious metal to begin their own industrial revolution.

The impacts of the Industrial Revolution were felt globally.  The advent and improvements made by the West provided them with military superiority over the East.  Pressure from the West including rampant racism of the Asian people made their growth more difficult.  The Chinese in particular had mounting internal issues that had to be dealt with first. 

Opium use became widespread in about 1832.  China attempted to prevent further strife by seizing millions of pounds of Opium from western traders without providing them compensation.  The British would not let this stand and embarked upon a crusade to make the Chinese pay dearly for their decision.  In the end, Britain ended up signing a treaty with China, paying millions of dollars, giving up control of Hong Kong to the British.