Merriman's History of Modern Europe Chapter 12 &13 Review Questions

1. The Republic of Virtue was the name of Robespierre's set civic code during his reign of terror. The code sought to create social stability in the face of the recent despotism by using rousseausian ideals. 

2. The directory sought to keep its power by not only pleasing the gentry through democratic means, it itself being a bicameral legislature, but also by either pleasing the authorities and nobility or keeping them at bay. The directory finally came to forced nearly militaristic end in 1799 by Sieyès in a napoleonic context.

3. The plain refers to the majority of the members in the National Convention who held significant voting power. Above them, the elite members, were known as the mountains. The two eventually joined together with the Jacobins in the execution of the king and the overthrow of Robespierre.

4. The British victory at Trafalgar was significant in that it declared Britains navy superior to the french (and Spanish). The battle also implied Britains control of the channel between them and France, serving as an adamant wall in any potential napoleonic invasions.

5. While Napoleon coiling easily grab the scattered states of Italy and what would be Germany, Napoleon failed in fighting any large nations. Napoleons clear and decisive defeat on the Russian front demonstrated his inability to fight greater empires, as well as his lack of knowledge of Russian winters.

6. The Napoleonic Code certainly provided several additional privileges to men over women. The code clearly tried to firmly re establish the patriarchal traditions that France derives from. 

7. After mobs expelled 29 Girodins from the convention, Marat, who was a notable 'mountain' was stabbed to death in his own bathtub. 

Merriman's History of Modern Europe Chapter 14 Response Questions

1. The first precondition of the Industrial Revolution was a sudden increase in population. The demographic shift demanded an increase in both product and manufactured goods. The product became available more readily as land was discovered in the New World but the processing of these products was slow behind the supply. The agricultural revolution, our second precondition, sought to speed the harvesting and reaping of agricultural products through technological advancement. The last precondition was the mode of national and international people and product transport. The rise of the steamboat and railroads provided people to ship themselves or products quickly to any other part of the world. Perishable goods were able to travel much further distances than ever before. 

2. The European middle classes' efficiency can largely be attributed to the level of opportunity and social mobility offered to them during that time. The quantity of product and the accessibility of transport made it easy to find careers, especially in an industrial setting. The social structures of many countries (which functioned democratically and constitutionally) worked to break down social barriers and offer equal rights and opportunities to all people. 

3. The Cult of Domesticity refers to the ideology of women in a strict domestic service while men are to serve the household through domestic provision. 'Manliness' in this cultural context meant a family gentleman, but by the mid 19th century, it was defined by physical prowess. This shift gave opportunities for women to seek activities outside their home, and perhaps more rights. Upper and upper-middle classes of 19th century Europe might be defined as a "culture of comfort". The values of this culture circulated around not lifting a finger and participating in domestic non-laborious activities. The typical victorian England Austenesque picture of the family writing letters endlessly over strite relationships to the music of their siblings' recently learned flute tunes only ideally demonstrates the values of this new culture.

4. John Stuart Mill was a British philosopher, political, economic, and social theorist. He wrote extensively on social equality, political liberty, and utilitarianism. He wrote against those who threaten social justice and equality, and despotic tyrants. However, he does credit despotism an effective mode of government in cases of dealing with barbaric people. He notes that mass amounts of people in ignorance can lead to bad outcomes, but generally, they are in the right. 

Milton's Paradise Lost Book II Response Questions

The devils' debate in Book II further demonstrates the ironic inversion of the reality of Hell. First off, the devils debate on what to do with themselves in regards to Heaven. Some agree with another rebellion against God, others want lassitude, and still others wish to build their own heaven in Hell. This book is filled with debate and arguments supporting different claims, but, much like many political discussions, the end is the same regardless. Because God has sealed the demons fate, no matter what they do, they will meet the same eternal end. The diplomatic language of the devils artificially demonstrate will for peace and democratic voice, but the actions of the demons are the same regardless of their vote. Satan and Beelzebub already have contrived the plan of corrupting man, an action of deception and violence.  The two let a democratic discussion to take place, sitting aside without ears. At the end of the arguments, Beelzebub presents Satan's plan, only fraudulating the entire discussion to have their vote unanimous. Beelzebub presents Satan as a heroic sacrifice when he goes to Earth (a direct inversion of Christ's role).

Mammon argues that war shouldn't be waged, however submission to God is also not an option. He argues that the best option is to work industriously to construct a Hell that is like Heaven. He begins his speech by deconstructing the other two prior arguments. He identifies the flaws in both other plans, noting their difficulty or impossibility. He also claims that those plans mess with Fate and are impossible to contrive in their present condition. Instead, he offers that they make the best of their fate. By constricting their own heaven, the demons have no interaction with the forces of God without submitting to them either. He outlines the ease and ability of his plan, and the peaceful outcome. His argument is quite persuasive: the reasons outlined follow logical structure and they offer a benefit for all demons in Hell. However, as a reader who has a retrospective view, we know that the promises of consequence are impossible in any of the offered plans. 

The Decline of Napoleon

Within the short nine years of Napoleons rule, he accumulated a great amount of prestige and success not only in France but in the greater European Empire context. However, his power was relatively short-lived. Much of the love he had gathered from French citizens was accumulated by his nationalistic approach to imperial thirst. He had conquested through eastern lands and grabbed up small states in Europe, but after these, his borders crashed into the beaches of greater empires. Britain, Russia, and Spain were fed up with Napoleon's conquests. Three huge military blunders can best be attributed to the decline of Napoleon and therefore his character in France. 

The first of these is the Continental System that was attempted to be imposed on Britain. This consisted of a naval blockade of all trade to continental Europe. However, this only caused the sinkage of the few French ships posted due to the Royal Navy's resilience (well proved by the Battle of Trafalgar) as well as the lack of participation from other European powers. 

The second blunder was the invasion from Russia which quite expansively wiped out a chunk of the Napoleonic Empire that he had recently achieved. Thirdly, was the Peninsular battles of Portugal and Spain, both nations fighting France and winning easily. 

Merriman's History of Modern Europe Chapter 13 Response Questions

1. Napoleon Bonaparte's success in rise of power can easily be credited to both his leadership abilities as well as the political conditional circumstances of France. Napoleon comes from the Italian island of Corsica, but descending from Lombardy, the "Buonaparte's" were able to achieve noble status in France. Napoleon then attended a prestigious military school and became a top-notch general. The effects of the Revolution allowed many generals "who stood out" to move into positions of further political authority. Napoleon did so after an elaborate campaign in North Africa. After returning to home after numerous victories in Egypt, he was greeted by an enthusiastic and newly nationalistic France.

2. The Campo Formio (1979) was a peace treaty and alliance between France and Austria. Napoleon's conquests in Italy were rubbing very closely with the shoulders of the Austrian Empire. To avoid a continental and imperial war, and to keep Great Britain as a common enemy, Austria offered Napoleon territories in Austrian Netherlands, Venetia and others in northern and central Italy. 

3. The political maneuvering Napoleon accomplished as a general would have been logistically impossible without the aid of the French Revolution. The absolute monarchy by definition didn't allow anyone outside the royal line to achieve monarchical power. The French Revolution offered any leader to rise to power through constitutional means.

4. The Second Coalition (1798-1801) was an anti-French alliance comprised of Britain, Austria, Turkey, Russia, the Vatican, Portugal, and Naples. This alliance meant to address the problems with the European balance of power that Napoleon presented in his imperial rampage of Europe and the Mediterranean world.  

5. Napoleon signed peace with the the Catholic Church after years of state struggle. Although Napoleon strongly believed the Church should have no political voice, he also believed that it empowered the citizens to act morally. After the death of Pope Pius VI in 1799 (who strongly despised anything to do with the Revolution), Napoleon signed the Concordat to reestablish the revolution's ecclesiastical legitimacy and Catholicism as a major religion of France. 

6.The Treaty of Amiens (1802) brought a temporary peace between France and Britain for a definite period of time. The peace treaty only lasted for a single year, however it was significant in how it dissolved the Second Coalition established the year prior.

7. Napoleon’s militaristic achievements in Europe in the early 19th century broke years of segregated states. Napoleon began his conquests at the individual states of the Holy Roman Empire. As he ploughed through these mini states, he began approaching close to the borders of the Empires: Austria and Prussia. Britain, who itself fears invasion, is working to collect as many forces and allies to defeat unstoppable Napoleon. She convinces Prussia to join against France, who only nibbles at the Prussia’s border territories. 

8. The Third Coalition is composed of the Holy Roman Empire, Russia, Britain, Naples, Sicily, Sweden, French counter-revolutionaries, and french royalists. Spain and the rest of Italy had allied submissively to Napoleon’s Empire. 

9. The Battle of Trafalgar was a naval battle between British and French and Spanish forces at the Cape of Trafalgar off the southwest coast of Spain. Twenty-seven British ships sunk twenty-two of thirty-three French and Spanish ships. The rendez-vous is known as one of Britain's most decisive naval victories alongside the embarrassing defeat of the Spanish Armada. 

10. Had the French won at the Battle of Trafalgar, the Royal Navy's ability to monitor and protect the English Channel would have been eliminated. Without Britain's adamant navy, Napoleon would've been easily been able to walk into Britain and Spain might as well have been captured completely. 

11. Napoleon utilised nationalism in France as a means of obtaining power. He reinspired the nation that was ravished by corruption and revolution through nationalistic aspirations. The Napoleonic Code gave citizens concrete ways to be "French" and the conquests that Napoleon went on gave them reason to be proud of their country. Although absolute monarchy is forbidden and despised, his empiricism was glady welcomed as a means of repair and refresh of a broken nation.

Air and Angels by John Donne: a Brief Analysis

Twice or thrice had I lov'd thee,

Before I knew thy face or name;

So in a voice, so in a shapeless flame

Angels affect us oft, and worshipp'd be;

         Still when, to where thou wert, I came,

Some lovely glorious nothing I did see.

         But since my soul, whose child love is,

Takes limbs of flesh, and else could nothing do,

         More subtle than the parent is

Love must not be, but take a body too;

         And therefore what thou wert, and who,

                I bid Love ask, and now

That it assume thy body, I allow,

And fix itself in thy lip, eye, and brow.

Whilst thus to ballast love I thought,

And so more steadily to have gone,

With wares which would sink admiration,

I saw I had love's pinnace overfraught;

         Ev'ry thy hair for love to work upon

Is much too much, some fitter must be sought;

         For, nor in nothing, nor in things

Extreme, and scatt'ring bright, can love inhere;

         Then, as an angel, face, and wings

Of air, not pure as it, yet pure, doth wear,

         So thy love may be my love's sphere;

                Just such disparity

As is 'twixt air and angels' purity,

'Twixt women's love, and men's, will ever be.

John Donne's Air and Angels uses the ideas of Platonic forms to refer to the idea of love. Since love is often considered to be an unreachable ideal, Donne articulates that love is nestled between a divine form and the concreteness of his significant other. He uses the idea of a flame to represent his perspective on love: comparing how it, perhaps, has a concrete presence, yet exists untouchable. He claims that love has embodied itself in his significant other, and that is how he knows that love can exist concretely. Yet at the same time it only exists in abstractness. The space where love is cushioned between an ideal and a concrete form are even further revealed by the use of the "unnamed lover". The ideal of the lover herself, although she must exist concretely, exemplifies what Donne is trying to communicate through this poem. 

History Channel's Documentary on the French Revolution

The History Channel's documentary offered a broad chronological perspective of the French Revolution. The documentary's main historiographical focus through its cinematic choices appeared to demonstrate the reasons for the Revolution. How they presented the facts of the revolution worked to contrast life of both social orders of France, before and during the revolution. In the first half of the documentary, the writers contrasted the lives of the monarch and nobility with that of the gentry. They folded layers of scenes articulating the extravagance of the upper class and the destitution of the common populace. When showing the revolution, the documentary instead highlighted the brutality of war and the abundance of décès à guillotine. They documenter certainly worked to show the turning of the Wheel of Fortune when it came to the monarch's power. 

Merriman's History of Modern Europe Chapter 12 Response Questions

1. Merriman identifies the French Revolution as the first time in Western Europe where popular sovereignty attacked the assumed claims of their traditional absolute monarchies. Similar events had happened in Britain in the previous century, but they were aided by a precomposed Parliament. Merriman attributes the revolutionaries' desire for a centralised and efficient French government, a strong will for socio-economic freedom, and a maintained sense of "modern nationalism". The French Revolution, although geographically was limited within the borders of France, ideologically, this revolution changed all of Europe. 

2. The financial crisis of the 1780's was a short-term of the French Revolution. France was already in serious economic hardship before the revolution even began. The Wars of Austrian Succession and the Seven Years War accumulated a great amount of war debt without funds to pay for it. In addition to these debts, France lent a significant amount of money to the American revolutionists as means of regaining honour over Britain. The long-term consequence of the revolution was the abolishment of the ancien régime as well as a new bureaucratised France. 

3. The "noble revolt" (beginning around 1787) was perhaps the first phase of the entire French Revolution. Louis XVI wanted the Parliament of Paris to condone his attempts to impose land and stamp taxes, and when refused, he exiled the entire Parliament. Even though he invited them back by 1788, their presence existed as a constant struggle over power of policies and taxes, including a tax on the nobles themselves.

4. After the "noble revolt", different political parties began rising up, each having a problem with the monarchy. The Estates-General worked to sort through some of their complaints by asking them to write up les cahiers de doléances. At the National Assembly the third estate claimed authority equal to or greater than that of the monarch's. However, the King immediately declared their deliberations invalid. The starving people of France also were growing ever increasingly worse. Many that couldn't pay the ridiculous taxes imposed on them were imprisoned. In July of 1789, a large crowd gathered in Paris in protest. Eventually they gathered arms and raided the Bastille, killing any guards in their way, and liberating the revolutionist prisoners and killing the noble prisoners. The Estates-General as well as the monarch went into panic mode, known as "the Great Fear". 

5. The French Revolution was consolidated in that it accomplished many goals in France at the same time, and in one revolution. The Assembly produced The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen, to accomplish moral social issues within the government. Alongside these, religious reforms sought to distinguish Church and State. The Reforms of 1791 complete revolutionised the ancien régime and worked to replace the absolute monarchy with a constitutionalised one. 

6. The Reforms of 1791 worked to limit the monarch's power through a set constitution. This one done mainly by the creation of a "bicameral legislature". National power is now divided between an executive branch (monarch and company) and the legislative (the Assembly). Socially, power had now available to every citizen regardless of class. Citizenship could not be granted to Protestants and Jews. Civil services (such as marriage and divorce) were made a national, not Church, policy. 

The Metaphysical Poet

The metaphysical poet, John Donne being the primary example, uses a highly stylised form of intellectualism to promote abstract ideas. These poets also tend to use nature within an unnatural context to shock their audience into understanding the themes they're trying to get across. These poets are infamous for spawning bizarre imagery, unusual metaphors, and brilliantly deep meaning.

The Scientific Revolution and the Church

In what concrete ways did the Scientific Revolution effect the Church of 17th century Europe?

The Scientific Revolution of the 17th century reconstructed the scientific of not only the Church, but also of Europe. The discoveries of Scientific Revolutionists, backed by observations of the natural world, contradicted the fundamental views of the universe that the Catholic Church held. This resulted in several consequences. The Catholic Church initially tried these revolutionists for heresy, but eventually they had to give in to the observations of science. Protestantism, which was already quite popular in Europe at this time, became a safe house for 'believers in science', and later for philosophes of the Enlightenment. Scientists constructed a new method of making scientific hypotheses.