Course Outline and Reading Materials for Wellesley-Weston Lifetime Learning
The Butterfly Effect: Tipping Points in World History
Part I
The Butterfly Effect: Tipping Points in World History
Part I
First Session: Its A Wonderful Life
Stephen Jay Gould, paleontologist and eminent Harvard evolutionary biologist has become well known for his proposition in Wonderful Life that if we play the tape of history over again we will get a different result. The following suggested readings and video will help jump start our discussion of the role contingency has played throughout history.
Contingency
(from https://www.historians.org/publications-and-directories/perspectives-on-history/january-2007/what-does-it-mean-to-think-historically)
Contingency may, in fact, be the most difficult of the C's. To argue that history is contingent is to claim that every historical outcome depends upon a number of prior conditions; that each of these prior conditions depends, in turn, upon still other conditions; and so on. The core insight of contingency is that the world is a magnificently interconnected place. Change a single prior condition, and any historical outcome could have turned out differently. Lee could have won at Gettysburg, Gore might have won in Florida, China might have inaugurated the world's first industrial revolution.
Contingency can be an unsettling idea—so much so that people in the past have often tried to mask it with myths of national and racial destiny. The Pilgrim William Bradford, for instance, interpreted the decimation of New England's native peoples not as a consequence of smallpox, but as a literal godsend.5 Two centuries later, American ideologues chose to rationalize their unlikely fortunes—from the purchase of Louisiana to the discovery of gold in California—as their nation's "Manifest Destiny." Historians, unlike Bradford and the apologists of westward expansion, look at the same outcomes differently. They see not divine fate, but a series of contingent results possessing other possibilities.
Contingency demands that students think deeply about past, present, and future. It offers a powerful corrective to teleology, the fallacy that events pursue a straight-arrow course to a pre-determined outcome, since people in the past had no way of anticipating our present world. Contingency also reminds us that individuals shape the course of human events. What if Karl Marx had decided to elude Prussian censors by emigrating to the United States instead of France, where he met Frederick Engels? To assert that the past is contingent is to impress upon students the notion that the future is up for grabs, and that they bear some responsibility for shaping the course of future history.
Contingency can be a difficult concept to present abstractly, but it suffuses the stories historians tend to tell about individual lives. Futurology, however, might offer an even stronger tool for imparting contingency than biography. Mechanistic views of history as the inevitable march toward the present tend to collapse once students see how different their world is from any predicted in the past.
Excerpt from Gould, Stephen Jay, Wonderful Life, Norton & Co., New York, p. 283-85.
Historical explanations take the form of narrative: E, the phenomenon to be explained, arose because D came before, preceded by C, B, and A. If any of these earlier stages had not occurred, or had transpired in a different way, then E would not exist (or would be present in a substantially altered form, E', requiring a different explanation). Thus, E makes sense and can be explained rigorously as the outcome of A through D. But no law of nature enjoined E; any variant E' arising from an altered set of anteced- ents, would have been equally explicable, though massively different in form and effect.
I am not speaking of randomness (for E had to arise, as a consequence of A through D), but of the central principle of all history-contingency. A historical explanation does not rest on direct deductions from laws of na- ture, but on an unpredictable sequence of antecedent states, where any major change in any step of the sequence would have altered the final result. This final result is therefore dependent, or contingent, upon every- thing that came before-the unerasable and determining signature of history.”
Many scientists and interested laypeople, caught by the stereotype of the "scientific method," find such contingent explanations less interesting or less "scientific," even when their appropriateness and essential correctness must be acknowledged. The South lost the Civil War with a kind of relentless inevitability once hundreds of particular events happened as they did-Pickett's charge failed, Lincoln won the election of 1864, etc., etc., etc. But wind the tape of American history back to the Louisiana Purchase, the Dred Scott decision, or even only to Fort Sumter, let it run again with just a few small and judicious changes (plus their cascade of consequences), and a different outcome, including the opposite resolution, might have occurred with equal relentlessness past a certain point. (I used to believe that Northern superiority in population and industry had virtually guaran- teed the result from the start. But I have been persuaded by recent scholar- ship that wars for recognition rather than conquest can be won by purpose- ful minorities. The South was not trying to overrun the North, but merely to secure its own declared borders and win acknowledgment as an independent state. Majorities, even in the midst of occupation, can be rendered sufficiently war-weary and prone to withdraw by insurgencies, particularly in guerilla form, that will not relent.)
Suppose, then, that we have a set of historical explanations, as well documented as anything in conventional science. These results do not arise as deducible consequences from any law of nature; they are not even pre- dictable from any general or abstract property of the larger system (as superiority in population or industry). How can we deny such explanations a role every bit as interesting and important as a more conventional scien- tific conclusion? I hold that we must grant equal status for three basic reasons.
1. A question of reliability. The documentation of evidence, and proba- bility of truth by disproof of alternatives, may be every bit as conclusive as for any explanation in traditional science.
2. A matter of importance. The equal impact of historically contingent explanations can scarcely be denied. The Civil War is the focus and turn- ing point of American history. Such central matters as race, regionalism, and economic power owe their present shape to this great event that need not have occurred. If the current taxonomic order and relative diversity of life are more a consequence of "just history" than a potential deduction from general principles of evolution, then contingency sets the basic pat- tern of nature.
3. A psychological point. I have been too apologetic so far. I have even slipped into the rhetoric of inferiority-by starting from the premise that historical explanations may be less interesting and then pugnaciously fighting for equality. No such apologies need be made. Historical explana- tions are endlessly fascinating in themselves, in many ways more intriguing to the human psyche than the inexorable consequences of nature's laws. We are especially moved by events that did not have to be, but that occurred for identifiable reasons subject to endless mulling and stewing. By contrast, both ends of the usual dichotomy-the inevitable and the truly random-usually make less impact on our emotions because they cannot be controlled by history's agents and objects, and are therefore either chan- neled or buffeted, without much hope for pushing back. But, with contin- gency, we are drawn in; we become involved; we share the pain of triumph or tragedy. When we realize that the actual outcome did not have to be, that any alteration in any step along the way would have unleashed a cascade down a different channel, we grasp the causal power of individual events. We can argue, lament, or exult over each detail-because each holds the power of transformation. Contingency is the affirmation of con- trol by immediate events over destiny, the kingdom lost for want of a horseshoe nail. The Civil War is an especially poignant tragedy because a replay of the tape might have saved a half million lives for a thousand different reasons-and we would not find a statue of a soldier, with names of the dead engraved on the pedestal below, on every village green and before every county courthouse in old America. Our own evolution is a joy and a wonder because such a curious chain of events would probably never happen again, but having occurred, makes eminent sense. Contingency is a license to participate in history, and our psyche responds.”
Cemetery Scene from It’s a Wonderful Life. 1:14m https://youtube/zshSbjpS-JE
Stephen Jay Gould, paleontologist and eminent Harvard evolutionary biologist has become well known for his proposition in Wonderful Life that if we play the tape of history over again we will get a different result. The following suggested readings and video will help jump start our discussion of the role contingency has played throughout history.
Contingency
(from https://www.historians.org/publications-and-directories/perspectives-on-history/january-2007/what-does-it-mean-to-think-historically)
Contingency may, in fact, be the most difficult of the C's. To argue that history is contingent is to claim that every historical outcome depends upon a number of prior conditions; that each of these prior conditions depends, in turn, upon still other conditions; and so on. The core insight of contingency is that the world is a magnificently interconnected place. Change a single prior condition, and any historical outcome could have turned out differently. Lee could have won at Gettysburg, Gore might have won in Florida, China might have inaugurated the world's first industrial revolution.
Contingency can be an unsettling idea—so much so that people in the past have often tried to mask it with myths of national and racial destiny. The Pilgrim William Bradford, for instance, interpreted the decimation of New England's native peoples not as a consequence of smallpox, but as a literal godsend.5 Two centuries later, American ideologues chose to rationalize their unlikely fortunes—from the purchase of Louisiana to the discovery of gold in California—as their nation's "Manifest Destiny." Historians, unlike Bradford and the apologists of westward expansion, look at the same outcomes differently. They see not divine fate, but a series of contingent results possessing other possibilities.
Contingency demands that students think deeply about past, present, and future. It offers a powerful corrective to teleology, the fallacy that events pursue a straight-arrow course to a pre-determined outcome, since people in the past had no way of anticipating our present world. Contingency also reminds us that individuals shape the course of human events. What if Karl Marx had decided to elude Prussian censors by emigrating to the United States instead of France, where he met Frederick Engels? To assert that the past is contingent is to impress upon students the notion that the future is up for grabs, and that they bear some responsibility for shaping the course of future history.
Contingency can be a difficult concept to present abstractly, but it suffuses the stories historians tend to tell about individual lives. Futurology, however, might offer an even stronger tool for imparting contingency than biography. Mechanistic views of history as the inevitable march toward the present tend to collapse once students see how different their world is from any predicted in the past.
Excerpt from Gould, Stephen Jay, Wonderful Life, Norton & Co., New York, p. 283-85.
Historical explanations take the form of narrative: E, the phenomenon to be explained, arose because D came before, preceded by C, B, and A. If any of these earlier stages had not occurred, or had transpired in a different way, then E would not exist (or would be present in a substantially altered form, E', requiring a different explanation). Thus, E makes sense and can be explained rigorously as the outcome of A through D. But no law of nature enjoined E; any variant E' arising from an altered set of anteced- ents, would have been equally explicable, though massively different in form and effect.
I am not speaking of randomness (for E had to arise, as a consequence of A through D), but of the central principle of all history-contingency. A historical explanation does not rest on direct deductions from laws of na- ture, but on an unpredictable sequence of antecedent states, where any major change in any step of the sequence would have altered the final result. This final result is therefore dependent, or contingent, upon every- thing that came before-the unerasable and determining signature of history.”
Many scientists and interested laypeople, caught by the stereotype of the "scientific method," find such contingent explanations less interesting or less "scientific," even when their appropriateness and essential correctness must be acknowledged. The South lost the Civil War with a kind of relentless inevitability once hundreds of particular events happened as they did-Pickett's charge failed, Lincoln won the election of 1864, etc., etc., etc. But wind the tape of American history back to the Louisiana Purchase, the Dred Scott decision, or even only to Fort Sumter, let it run again with just a few small and judicious changes (plus their cascade of consequences), and a different outcome, including the opposite resolution, might have occurred with equal relentlessness past a certain point. (I used to believe that Northern superiority in population and industry had virtually guaran- teed the result from the start. But I have been persuaded by recent scholar- ship that wars for recognition rather than conquest can be won by purpose- ful minorities. The South was not trying to overrun the North, but merely to secure its own declared borders and win acknowledgment as an independent state. Majorities, even in the midst of occupation, can be rendered sufficiently war-weary and prone to withdraw by insurgencies, particularly in guerilla form, that will not relent.)
Suppose, then, that we have a set of historical explanations, as well documented as anything in conventional science. These results do not arise as deducible consequences from any law of nature; they are not even pre- dictable from any general or abstract property of the larger system (as superiority in population or industry). How can we deny such explanations a role every bit as interesting and important as a more conventional scien- tific conclusion? I hold that we must grant equal status for three basic reasons.
1. A question of reliability. The documentation of evidence, and proba- bility of truth by disproof of alternatives, may be every bit as conclusive as for any explanation in traditional science.
2. A matter of importance. The equal impact of historically contingent explanations can scarcely be denied. The Civil War is the focus and turn- ing point of American history. Such central matters as race, regionalism, and economic power owe their present shape to this great event that need not have occurred. If the current taxonomic order and relative diversity of life are more a consequence of "just history" than a potential deduction from general principles of evolution, then contingency sets the basic pat- tern of nature.
3. A psychological point. I have been too apologetic so far. I have even slipped into the rhetoric of inferiority-by starting from the premise that historical explanations may be less interesting and then pugnaciously fighting for equality. No such apologies need be made. Historical explana- tions are endlessly fascinating in themselves, in many ways more intriguing to the human psyche than the inexorable consequences of nature's laws. We are especially moved by events that did not have to be, but that occurred for identifiable reasons subject to endless mulling and stewing. By contrast, both ends of the usual dichotomy-the inevitable and the truly random-usually make less impact on our emotions because they cannot be controlled by history's agents and objects, and are therefore either chan- neled or buffeted, without much hope for pushing back. But, with contin- gency, we are drawn in; we become involved; we share the pain of triumph or tragedy. When we realize that the actual outcome did not have to be, that any alteration in any step along the way would have unleashed a cascade down a different channel, we grasp the causal power of individual events. We can argue, lament, or exult over each detail-because each holds the power of transformation. Contingency is the affirmation of con- trol by immediate events over destiny, the kingdom lost for want of a horseshoe nail. The Civil War is an especially poignant tragedy because a replay of the tape might have saved a half million lives for a thousand different reasons-and we would not find a statue of a soldier, with names of the dead engraved on the pedestal below, on every village green and before every county courthouse in old America. Our own evolution is a joy and a wonder because such a curious chain of events would probably never happen again, but having occurred, makes eminent sense. Contingency is a license to participate in history, and our psyche responds.”
Cemetery Scene from It’s a Wonderful Life. 1:14m https://youtube/zshSbjpS-JE
|
|
NYT review of Gould’s Wonderful Life. A useful overview of the impact of the Burgess Shale on our understanding evolutionary history.
http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/11/09/home/gould-shale.html?mcubz=1
A complete PDF copy of Wonderful Life.
http://s-f-walker.org.uk/pubsebooks/pdfs/Stephen_Jay_Gould_Wonderful_Life_The_Burgess.pdf
STEPHEN JAY GOULD: Seven Wonders of the World A 28 minute narration by Gould of his basic contributions to evolutionary biology.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wnt8UVItyrY
http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/11/09/home/gould-shale.html?mcubz=1
A complete PDF copy of Wonderful Life.
http://s-f-walker.org.uk/pubsebooks/pdfs/Stephen_Jay_Gould_Wonderful_Life_The_Burgess.pdf
STEPHEN JAY GOULD: Seven Wonders of the World A 28 minute narration by Gould of his basic contributions to evolutionary biology.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wnt8UVItyrY
|
|
A Glorious Accident
In 1993 Dutch broadcaster VPRO released a seven part documentary, A Glorious Accident consisting of interviews with six prominent philosophers and scientists. Stephen Gould appears in Part 6, a 120 minute interview in English with Dutch subtitles. Amongst other topics Gould explains the role of contingency in evolution and history in general.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=litu8JfyS44&app=desktop
In 1993 Dutch broadcaster VPRO released a seven part documentary, A Glorious Accident consisting of interviews with six prominent philosophers and scientists. Stephen Gould appears in Part 6, a 120 minute interview in English with Dutch subtitles. Amongst other topics Gould explains the role of contingency in evolution and history in general.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=litu8JfyS44&app=desktop
|
|
Second Session: 5th Century Athens - an Inflection Point in Western Civilization
Battle of Salamis: Themistocles defeat of the Persians, 480 BCE
In 483 BCE a rich vein of silver was discovered in one of the state owned mines in the village of Laurion, southeast of Athens. The discovery yielded over 100 Talents, the equivalent of approximately 100 million dollars in today’s currency. A considerable sum now, even more so in 5th century Greece. What to do with this windfall? Two points of view dominated the politics of the Ekklesia, the Athenian assembly. The popular view was to divide the wealth equally among all the citizens of the polis. Themistocles proposed instead, that they devote the sum to the construction of a fleet of 200 triremes.
Seven years out from the defeat of the Persians at Marathon, the Greek world was well aware that Xerxes was preparing a second assault to finish what his father, Darius, had been unable to accomplish. Despite the Athenian’s traditional preference for infantry in the form of the hoplite phalanx, Themistocles argued that sea power would provide the best defense from the advancing Persians and their fleet of 1200 ships. He carried the day and a period of rapid building and training commenced. The results of the convergence of these two events, newly acquired wealth and a decision to forego narrow self interest in favor of a future larger good would have major consequences, not just for the 5th century Greek world, but for western civilization as a whole.
Seven years out from the defeat of the Persians at Marathon, the Greek world was well aware that Xerxes was preparing a second assault to finish what his father, Darius, had been unable to accomplish. Despite the Athenian’s traditional preference for infantry in the form of the hoplite phalanx, Themistocles argued that sea power would provide the best defense from the advancing Persians and their fleet of 1200 ships. He carried the day and a period of rapid building and training commenced. The results of the convergence of these two events, newly acquired wealth and a decision to forego narrow self interest in favor of a future larger good would have major consequences, not just for the 5th century Greek world, but for western civilization as a whole.
|
Like the Battles of Marathon and Thermopylae, Salamis has gained something of a 'legendary' status …, perhaps because of the desperate circumstances and the unlikely odds. A significant number of historians have stated that Salamis is one of the most significant battles in human history…. In a more extreme form of this argument, some historians argue that if the Greeks had lost at Salamis, the ensuing conquest of Greece by the Persians would have effectively stifled the growth of Western Civilization as we know it. This view is based on the premise that much of modern Western society, such as philosophy, science, personal freedom and democracy are rooted in the legacy of Ancient Greece. Thus, this school of thought argues that, given the domination of much of modern history by Western Civilization, Persian domination of Greece might have changed the whole trajectory of human history. It is also worth mentioning that the celebrated blossoming of hugely influential Athenian culture occurred only after the Persian wars were won.
From Wikipedia: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Salamis |
This point was not lost on contemporary Athenians who celebrated their victory as one of demokratia over barbarous tyranny. In 472, eight years after the victory, Aeschylus’ in The Persians put it thusly:
|
Not for long now will the inhabitants of Asia
abide under Persian rule, nor pay further tribute under compulsion to the King, nor shall they be his subjects, prostrating themselves on the ground; for the kingly power is destroyed. Men will no longer curb their tongues; for people are released to talk freely when a strong yoke has been removed And the soil of Ajax’s sea-washed island, stained with gore, holds the remains of the Persians. (584-595) |
Sources
An excellent, readable overview of how democracy functioned in Athens. Athenian Democracy, Mark Cartwright, October, 2014.
http://www.ancient.eu/Athenian_Democracy/
A readable synopsis of the Battle of Salamis
http://www.ancientgreekbattles.net/Pages/48020_BattleOfSalamis.htm
An excellent 25 min. overview of the battle and its significance. Excellent footage of triremes in battle.
History's Turning Points: 480 BC The Battle of Salamis
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2fmBIrGxA
An excellent, readable overview of how democracy functioned in Athens. Athenian Democracy, Mark Cartwright, October, 2014.
http://www.ancient.eu/Athenian_Democracy/
A readable synopsis of the Battle of Salamis
http://www.ancientgreekbattles.net/Pages/48020_BattleOfSalamis.htm
An excellent 25 min. overview of the battle and its significance. Excellent footage of triremes in battle.
History's Turning Points: 480 BC The Battle of Salamis
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2fmBIrGxA
Excellent overview of the development of the trireme and its tactical use. The Trireme Dreadnought of the Ancient Mediterranean
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5e1cmprH6BY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5e1cmprH6BY
Trireme OLYMPIAS A short 2 minute film made by the Hellenic Navy of the Olympias, an authentic reconstruction of a fifth century Greek trireme, under sail. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INGl8LB9Zxo
Socrates at Delium
424 BCE found the city state of Athens in its seventh year of inconclusive warfare with Sparta. Relying primarily on its superior sea power, Athens at this point decided to force the issue on land by confronting Sparta’s chief ally, Thebes, in neighboring Boeotia. The two pronged attack failed and stranded a large Athenian force near the border village of Delium. The pursuing Boeotians routed the Athenians resulting in panic and a disorganized retreat in several directions.
Among the fleeing Athenians was Socrates, a forty-five year old stonemason. This was his second major engagement as a citizen hoplite defending his polis. He would survive that day whereas close to a thousand of his fellow hoplites would not. But what if he had died? Twenty five years of teaching and productivity would not have happened. In 424 Plato was five years of age, and Plato has to meet and study with Socrates or an entire strand of Western philosophy will not exist. Socrates represents a major dividing line between the pre-Socratic concern with cosmology and the Socratic concern with ethics and virtue. Try to imagine a world without the Republic, the Apology, or the Crito. If no Plato, or at least a distinctly different Plato, what then of Aristotle? To take it a step further we would have to imagine that Christianity’s Augustine and Boethius are not influenced by neoplatonism. Alfred Lord Whitehead put it this way “The safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato.” (Process and Reality)
Of such things, and a cup of hot tea, on a rainy afternoon are what reveries are made of.
A short 6 minute overview of the significance of Socrates. Very watchable. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ci55Qx_RYto
Among the fleeing Athenians was Socrates, a forty-five year old stonemason. This was his second major engagement as a citizen hoplite defending his polis. He would survive that day whereas close to a thousand of his fellow hoplites would not. But what if he had died? Twenty five years of teaching and productivity would not have happened. In 424 Plato was five years of age, and Plato has to meet and study with Socrates or an entire strand of Western philosophy will not exist. Socrates represents a major dividing line between the pre-Socratic concern with cosmology and the Socratic concern with ethics and virtue. Try to imagine a world without the Republic, the Apology, or the Crito. If no Plato, or at least a distinctly different Plato, what then of Aristotle? To take it a step further we would have to imagine that Christianity’s Augustine and Boethius are not influenced by neoplatonism. Alfred Lord Whitehead put it this way “The safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato.” (Process and Reality)
Of such things, and a cup of hot tea, on a rainy afternoon are what reveries are made of.
A short 6 minute overview of the significance of Socrates. Very watchable. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ci55Qx_RYto
Hoplite: Definition, Mark Cartwright, February 2013.
http://www.ancient.eu/hoplite/
Delium: The Battle Only One Man Wanted (excellent overview of the battle itself)
by Victor Davis Hanson. http://victorhanson.com/wordpress/delium-the-battle-only-one-man-wanted-part-i/
Ian Chenney, 1,000 Years of Plato (An insightful discussion of the influence of Plato over time) http://constructionlitmag.com/culture/1000-years-of-plato/
http://www.ancient.eu/hoplite/
Delium: The Battle Only One Man Wanted (excellent overview of the battle itself)
by Victor Davis Hanson. http://victorhanson.com/wordpress/delium-the-battle-only-one-man-wanted-part-i/
Ian Chenney, 1,000 Years of Plato (An insightful discussion of the influence of Plato over time) http://constructionlitmag.com/culture/1000-years-of-plato/
Third Session: The Battle of Teutoburg Forest 9CE
For close to 400 years Rome, more formally the Senātus Populusque Rōmānus -SPQR- had extended its frontiers from the banks of Rome’s Tiber River to Hadrian’s wall on the border of present day Scotland. A casual inspection of the map above piques our interest. There are some noticeably empty spaces, all of Germania lies outside the Empire. Why stop at the Rhine River? It was not for lack of trying. Julius Caesa r had established the first bridgehead across the Rhine in 58 BCE. Caesar Augustus followed up by sending his stepson, Drusus, in 11 BCE to consolidate Roman control and extend it as far as the Wesser River in central Germany. But as is often the case, getting and keeping can be two very different things as Publius Quinctilius Varus would find out in the Teutoburg Forest in 9 CE.
And that is our story for this week.
And that is our story for this week.
Through a combination of credulity, perceived cultural superiority, aka hubris, and strategic and tactical military incompetence, three legions and six auxiliary cohorts under the command of P. Quinctilius Varus would come under attack over a period of four days near the present day village of Kalkriese in Lower Saxony. Estimates of Roman casualties range between 16,000 to 20,000. All further efforts to control or administer in any active sense the Germanic tribal territories beyond the Rhine came to an end and with it the Romanization of Northern Europe.
|
“…the battle was important. The Roman Empire had met its limits. Tiberius accepted that there were areas without towns that were not predigested for Roman rule. During the next centuries, the Germanic tribes learned from Rome, and Rome learned from them. But always, Germania retained some of its independence.
This had serious consequences. One example may suffice to illustrate this: if the Romans had kept the country between the Rhine and Elbe, the North Sea tribes that were later known as Saxons would have spoken Latin. The English language would - for better or worse - never have existed, and German would have been marginal. The great linguistic division of today's western world would simply not exist without the battle in the Teutoburg Forest. But the fights were not the cause of this rift; they were a precondition.” http://www.livius.org/articles/battle/teutoburg-forest-9-ce/teutoburg-forest-7/ |
On Line Resources
- This is the reading to start with. The Smithsonian’s usual excellent narrative style takes you from a short course in the development of the Roman Empire through the series of miscalculations which resulted in Rome’s defeat with the additional story of how the site was discovered by a vacationing British Army officer in 1987. (There may be issues with Safari displaying this page, if so, it works fine in Chrome or FireFox.
- Wikipedia’s article is far more extensive and detailed than that of the Smithsonian. Accurate and reliable it will not receive a Pulitzer for narrative style, but it more than gets the job done. An interesting section on the relationship of all this to the development of German nationalism in the 19th century.
- From livius.org, (an excellent site for all things ancient), is an in depth series of scholarly articles covering the background, sources, days of battle and historical significance. Very readable.
On Line Video Sources
- Timeline - World History Documentaries, The Lost Legions of Varus, 48 minutes. An excellent reconstruction of the events and their historical significance. Narrative style is very listenable and historical analysis is fresh and academic without being stuffy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xM_jX22Iaas
- Germanic Tribes - Battle of the Teutoburg Forest. WDR West German Broadcasting Cologne. If you like your history à la PBS/BBC this German Public TV station’s 51 minute documentary (English) is the place to be. Excellent narrative and video quality. Transitions between the historical recreation of scenes and contemporary interviews and analysis are well done.
- The Battle of the Teutoburg Forest. This is an all visual, no narrative and musically dramatic overview of the events of the battle. Useful for those who want a sense of the look and feel of the period. 10 minutes, good quality video.
- The Battle of the Teutoburg Forest (9 C.E.), Historia Civilis,
An 8 minute power point presentation, excellent narrative. This is a good source if you are interested in a detailed reconstruction of the tactical details of the encounter.
Books
If your really fascinated by this topic, this is the book to read.
Peter S. Wells, The Battle That Stopped Rome: Emperor Augustus, Arminius, and the Slaughter of the Legions in the Teutoburg Forest, 2003, W.W. Norton & Co., NYNY. 272 pages
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Battle-That-Stopped-Rome-Slaughter/dp/0393326438/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8 Paper back and Kindle
Available in iBooks, $11.99
If your really fascinated by this topic, this is the book to read.
Peter S. Wells, The Battle That Stopped Rome: Emperor Augustus, Arminius, and the Slaughter of the Legions in the Teutoburg Forest, 2003, W.W. Norton & Co., NYNY. 272 pages
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Battle-That-Stopped-Rome-Slaughter/dp/0393326438/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8 Paper back and Kindle
Available in iBooks, $11.99
Fourth Session: 1066 - The Norman Conquest
The panel above from the Bayeux Tapestry depicts the decisive moment of the battle of Hastings on October 14, 1066. Norman calvary assault the Anglo Saxon shield wall, which will soon collapse and contribute to the death of Harold Godwinson and the victory of William of Normandy. One more example of the series of dynastic wars which characterize centuries of English history. Or is it? This is a lot more than just a case of a contested succession to the throne of England, a dynastic squabble among relatives. Whether the participants were conscious of the full implications of their loss/victory or not, this day would forever change the trajectory of English history and culture and by extension, of all those who would be touched by it.
In many ways, Hastings is a continuation of the same cultural theme raised by Varus’s defeat in 9 CE. Although a Roman province for nearly 400 years, England had politically and culturally become incorporated into the Scandinavian - Germanic world of Northern Europe, a swath of territory that began in Kiev and ended in summer fishing settlements in Newfoundland. Successive waves of Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Danes, and Norse had transformed English life. What is interesting about this particular conflict is that one of the main contestants in 1066 for the crown of England rarely receives a mention, Harald Hardrada, King of Norway whose claim rested on Harthacnut, King of Norway and of England. His invasion force arrived off the Humber estuary on September 18th. If Harald Hardrada had defeated Harald Godwinson at Stamford Bridge on September 25th we would then have had an interesting encounter between Hardrada and William of Normandy. One that might have ended differently.
As it was, William did prevail and the orientation of England’s political and cultural development shifted away from the Scandinavian north west and more southward towards France and the Mediterranean world. Over time, the English language would be enriched by over 10,000 new words of French Norman origin. A considerable number of these words would concern government, law and the church, reflecting the spheres that were dominated by the Norman French. If you retain an attorney to bring a suit in a civil court with a jury you are doing so with French loan words that passed over into English at this time. Likewise if you wish to pass an ordinance you will have to submit it to Parliament. On the other hand much of the vocabulary of daily life and local culture still reflected the Old English of the Anglo-Saxon period, thus I will eat a meal of bread, butter and lamb. My French Norman neighbor will be having le pain and beurre with his moton. This cultural dissonance would become more subtle over time, but is still reflected in regional and class distinctions in England today. Over 900 years later, you still have a much better chance to study at Oxford or Cambridge if you are a Darcy, Mandeville or Montgomery than if you are a Ledwell, Rowthorn, or Sidwells. Additionally, the Norman colonization of Wales and Ireland as well as the attempted conquest of Scotland had reverberations which are still resonating today in the cultural and political relations of these areas.
Readings On Line
Excellent overview of the history as illustrated in the tapestry. The Bayeux Tapestry, by Dr. Kristine Tanton
https://smarthistory.org/the-bayeux-tapestry/
Wikipedia has a spread sheet with a scene by scene discription with latin text, translation and image. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayeux_Tapestry_tituli
A short and readable overview of the political and military situation leading up to the battle of Hastings.
Hastings, Stamford Bridge and Gate Fulford: three battles that lost England
http://www.historyextra.com/article/bbc-history-magazine/hastings-stamford-bridge-gate-fulford-three-battles-lost-england
A short bulleted list of the major changes wrought by the Conquest. The Consequences of the Norman Conquest, Robert Wilde
https://www.thoughtco.com/consequences-of-the-norman-conquest-1221077
From The Economist, a discussion of the economic consequences of the Conquest with some interesting observations on Brexit.
https://www.economist.com/news/christmas-specials/21712047-england-indelibly-european-how-norman-rule-reshaped-england.
On Line Video
If you watch anything at all, this is the one. Robert Bartlett analyzes the political, cultural and economic impact of the Conquest on England as well as Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. Excellent BBC production.
The Normans, Ep. 2 Robert barlett https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xh9b37
In many ways, Hastings is a continuation of the same cultural theme raised by Varus’s defeat in 9 CE. Although a Roman province for nearly 400 years, England had politically and culturally become incorporated into the Scandinavian - Germanic world of Northern Europe, a swath of territory that began in Kiev and ended in summer fishing settlements in Newfoundland. Successive waves of Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Danes, and Norse had transformed English life. What is interesting about this particular conflict is that one of the main contestants in 1066 for the crown of England rarely receives a mention, Harald Hardrada, King of Norway whose claim rested on Harthacnut, King of Norway and of England. His invasion force arrived off the Humber estuary on September 18th. If Harald Hardrada had defeated Harald Godwinson at Stamford Bridge on September 25th we would then have had an interesting encounter between Hardrada and William of Normandy. One that might have ended differently.
As it was, William did prevail and the orientation of England’s political and cultural development shifted away from the Scandinavian north west and more southward towards France and the Mediterranean world. Over time, the English language would be enriched by over 10,000 new words of French Norman origin. A considerable number of these words would concern government, law and the church, reflecting the spheres that were dominated by the Norman French. If you retain an attorney to bring a suit in a civil court with a jury you are doing so with French loan words that passed over into English at this time. Likewise if you wish to pass an ordinance you will have to submit it to Parliament. On the other hand much of the vocabulary of daily life and local culture still reflected the Old English of the Anglo-Saxon period, thus I will eat a meal of bread, butter and lamb. My French Norman neighbor will be having le pain and beurre with his moton. This cultural dissonance would become more subtle over time, but is still reflected in regional and class distinctions in England today. Over 900 years later, you still have a much better chance to study at Oxford or Cambridge if you are a Darcy, Mandeville or Montgomery than if you are a Ledwell, Rowthorn, or Sidwells. Additionally, the Norman colonization of Wales and Ireland as well as the attempted conquest of Scotland had reverberations which are still resonating today in the cultural and political relations of these areas.
Readings On Line
Excellent overview of the history as illustrated in the tapestry. The Bayeux Tapestry, by Dr. Kristine Tanton
https://smarthistory.org/the-bayeux-tapestry/
Wikipedia has a spread sheet with a scene by scene discription with latin text, translation and image. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayeux_Tapestry_tituli
A short and readable overview of the political and military situation leading up to the battle of Hastings.
Hastings, Stamford Bridge and Gate Fulford: three battles that lost England
http://www.historyextra.com/article/bbc-history-magazine/hastings-stamford-bridge-gate-fulford-three-battles-lost-england
A short bulleted list of the major changes wrought by the Conquest. The Consequences of the Norman Conquest, Robert Wilde
https://www.thoughtco.com/consequences-of-the-norman-conquest-1221077
From The Economist, a discussion of the economic consequences of the Conquest with some interesting observations on Brexit.
https://www.economist.com/news/christmas-specials/21712047-england-indelibly-european-how-norman-rule-reshaped-england.
On Line Video
If you watch anything at all, this is the one. Robert Bartlett analyzes the political, cultural and economic impact of the Conquest on England as well as Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. Excellent BBC production.
The Normans, Ep. 2 Robert barlett https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xh9b37
|
|
This BBC program covers the dynastic background of the conflict, the events leading up to the day of battle as well as the actual battle itself. This is your best single source if you are interested in primarily the battle itself, very watchable, with the BBC’s usual attention to detail.
1066 A Year to Conquer England Episode 3 with Dan Snow
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izoUcXrNV-s
1066 A Year to Conquer England Episode 3 with Dan Snow
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izoUcXrNV-s
This ten minute excerpt from Robert McNeil’s acclaimed PBS series, The Story of English, focuses on the changes which the English language underwent as a result of the Conquest. You will want to fast forward to 35:26 for this excerpt.
The Story of English, Program 2, The Mother Tongue Complete. 10 minute excerpt. https://youtu.be/p3q95Mg2i7c?t=212
The Story of English, Program 2, The Mother Tongue Complete. 10 minute excerpt. https://youtu.be/p3q95Mg2i7c?t=212
Time Team S20 Special - 1066 The Lost Battlefield
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhAXPI3ueW0
I had mentioned this British archeology series available through Acorn TV in class. This is their take on locating the site of the battle. A bit repetitious at times, but quite interesting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhAXPI3ueW0
I had mentioned this British archeology series available through Acorn TV in class. This is their take on locating the site of the battle. A bit repetitious at times, but quite interesting.
Produced by English Heritage: The Battle of Hastings. 11 min. Uses scenes from the Bayeux tapestry and imagined narrative by participants. Dialect sometimes makes it hard to follow. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZNM2zg6Gfg
Fifth Session: The Crisis of the Fourteenth Century
The Dance of Death (1493) by Michael Wolgemut,
from the Nuremberg Chronicle of Hartmann Schedel
from the Nuremberg Chronicle of Hartmann Schedel
If you are reading this, then you are the lucky descendant of an ancestor who survived the 14th century. As a result of famine, plague, civil unrest and war the European population declined by nearly 50 percent during this century. The effects on the development of European civilization were far reaching. In many ways the catastrophic effect of these events jump started the end of feudalism, the rise of the middle class and the beginnings of the Reformation.
 The Spread of the Plague
"Around 1300, centuries of prosperity and growth in Europe came to a halt. A series of famines and plagues, such as the Great Famine of 1315–1317 and the Black Death, reduced the population to around half of what it was before the calamities.[1] Along with depopulation came social unrest and endemic warfare. France and England experienced serious peasant uprisings: the Jacquerie, the Peasants' Revolt, as well as over a century of intermittent conflict in the Hundred Years' War. To add to the many problems of the period, the unity of the Catholic Church was shattered by the Western Schism. Collectively these events are sometimes called the Crisis of the Late Middle Ages." (https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/2099634-late-middle-ages) Readings On Line
A clear, succinct overview of the major events of the High Middle Ages. http://www.lineagejourney.com/reformation/locations/europe-late-middle-ages-1300-1500/ This is the “Full Monty.” Everything you need to know about this topic. 28 page pdf file from a standard college text, The History of Western Society, McKay et. al. http://thewatsonian.weebly.com/uploads/9/0/3/8/9038807/mckay_chapter_12_-_crisis_of_the_later_middle_ages.pdf A series of “slides” that will walk you through the basic history of the century and its crises. http://studylib.net/doc/5225359/the-crisis-of-the-late-middle-ages--1300 Short, succinct readable outline of the basic crises arising in the 14th century. http://machaut.weebly.com/the-calamitous-fourteenth-century.html For those of you who are interested in the the effects of the plague on the human genome. http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2014/02/black-death-left-mark-human-genome A succinct overview of the entire period..14th Century Disaster https://www.uwgb.edu/dutchs/WestTech/x14thc.htm If you are interested in the economic ramifications of these catastrophes this is for you. The Great Depression of the 14th Century, Murray N. Rothbard focus on the rise of the state over the church and the imposition of taxes which depressed the economy. https://mises.org/library/great-depression-14th-century Bringing it up to date, an article on preparations for the next pandemic, Washington Post, October 24, 2017. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2017/10/24/world-leaders-rehearse-for-a-pandemic-that-will-come-sooner-than-we-expect/?utm_campaign=860954993f-&utm_term=.4c76539a4526 On Line Video This is my favorite. British historian Michael Wood uses the English village of Kibworth to illustrate the effects of the catastrophic 14th century. “Kibworth goes through the worst famine in European history, and then, as revealed in the astonishing village archive in Merton College Oxford, two thirds of the people die in the Black Death. Helped by today's villagers, field walking and reading the historical texts, and by the local schoolchildren digging archaeological test pits, Wood follows stories of individual lives through these times, out of which the English idea of community and the English character begin to emerge.” Michael Wood’s Story of England 3 of 6. The Great Famine and the Black Death. One hour. http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1kx8q6 |
|
|
Medieval Apocalypse The Black Death BBC Documentary, 48 minutes. This is my preferred video source. It incorporates commentary by contemporary sources. Well worth the time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffaoF0xkUTo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffaoF0xkUTo
The Black Plague of Europe. At 90 minutes, this is a long video, but it covers everything quite well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J45VYcR0IyA
Sixth Session: Sheng He’s Fleet & Explorations, 1405 - 1433
I suspect most of us have had minimal exposure to the richness of Asian culture and history during our years of formal education. World Civilization courses were often, in reality, the history of the world through the lens of the West’s interaction with what ever region was under discussion. Thus I learned a lot about the Boxer Rebellion and the Russo-Japanese War, but the development of oriental civilization over four millennia….not much. What I acquired over the years reflected my own peculiar interests and was therefore spotty at best.
All of this is to lay the groundwork for my amazed reaction to the story of the Yongle Emperor, Zhu Di and his sponsoring of seven long treasure voyages by the admiral, Sheng He. In my world view, the Age of Exploration began with Prince Henry the Navigator, and Vasco de Game was the first to reach the Indian Ocean. Well, the first European. When he arrived off the coast of the town of Malinda in 1498, the natives were not all that impressed. They had already sent a giraffe among other presents back to the Imperial Court after a Chinese visit in 1418.
Our story begins in 1405 when hundreds of ships and tens of thousands of sailors began their first expedition to India’s southwest coast. Sixty of these ships were the largest wooden ships to ever sail, 400 feet long, sixty feet wide, with nine masts. Six more voyages would follow reaching the east coast of Africa and the Arabian Gulf. There might well have been an eighth voyage in 1477, but internal politics between rival factions in the imperial court led to the end of all further voyages. More than than that, an attempt was made to destroy all records associated with the voyages as well as the technology needed to build the ships. By the end of the century only ships with two masts could be built. In 1525 an imperial edict ordered the destruction of all ocean going ships. A vast armada of over 3500 ships ceased to exist. This signaled a turning inward and the adoption of a policy of isolation on China’s part.
If the trade policies had continued and their voyages with them the history of East Africa, the Middle East and Europe might well have been quite different.
All of this is to lay the groundwork for my amazed reaction to the story of the Yongle Emperor, Zhu Di and his sponsoring of seven long treasure voyages by the admiral, Sheng He. In my world view, the Age of Exploration began with Prince Henry the Navigator, and Vasco de Game was the first to reach the Indian Ocean. Well, the first European. When he arrived off the coast of the town of Malinda in 1498, the natives were not all that impressed. They had already sent a giraffe among other presents back to the Imperial Court after a Chinese visit in 1418.
Our story begins in 1405 when hundreds of ships and tens of thousands of sailors began their first expedition to India’s southwest coast. Sixty of these ships were the largest wooden ships to ever sail, 400 feet long, sixty feet wide, with nine masts. Six more voyages would follow reaching the east coast of Africa and the Arabian Gulf. There might well have been an eighth voyage in 1477, but internal politics between rival factions in the imperial court led to the end of all further voyages. More than than that, an attempt was made to destroy all records associated with the voyages as well as the technology needed to build the ships. By the end of the century only ships with two masts could be built. In 1525 an imperial edict ordered the destruction of all ocean going ships. A vast armada of over 3500 ships ceased to exist. This signaled a turning inward and the adoption of a policy of isolation on China’s part.
If the trade policies had continued and their voyages with them the history of East Africa, the Middle East and Europe might well have been quite different.
Readings On Line
Excellent short summary by PBS Nova. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/ancient/ancient-chinese-explorers.html
A short synopsis for teachers from Columbia Edu. http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/special/china_1000ce_mingvoyages.htm#decision Excellent synopsis.
A 1994 New York Times Notable Book of the Year--an intriguing account of China's rise and fall as a naval power, one hundred years before Columbus discovered the New World
Levathes, Louise. 1994. When China Ruled the Seas. New York: Oxford University Press. 256 pages. Available on Amazon, print & Kindle and iBooks
Excellent short summary by PBS Nova. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/ancient/ancient-chinese-explorers.html
A short synopsis for teachers from Columbia Edu. http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/special/china_1000ce_mingvoyages.htm#decision Excellent synopsis.
A 1994 New York Times Notable Book of the Year--an intriguing account of China's rise and fall as a naval power, one hundred years before Columbus discovered the New World
Levathes, Louise. 1994. When China Ruled the Seas. New York: Oxford University Press. 256 pages. Available on Amazon, print & Kindle and iBooks
Video On Line
Zheng He | from the PBS series: The Story of China. 6 minute clip. Michael Wood brings his usual enthusiasm to this PBS excerpt.
https://mass.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/zheng-he-story-of-china/zheng-he-story-of-china/
A two part, 2 hour long series. Excellent coverage and visuals.
Ancient Chinese Treasure Fleet: CHINA DISCOVERED THE WORLD || New BBC Documentary HD
https://youtu.be/YiQwJXvLmd0
Zheng He | from the PBS series: The Story of China. 6 minute clip. Michael Wood brings his usual enthusiasm to this PBS excerpt.
https://mass.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/zheng-he-story-of-china/zheng-he-story-of-china/
A two part, 2 hour long series. Excellent coverage and visuals.
Ancient Chinese Treasure Fleet: CHINA DISCOVERED THE WORLD || New BBC Documentary HD
https://youtu.be/YiQwJXvLmd0
Seventh Session: The Death of Frederick III 1888:
Did laryngeal cancer set the stage for WWI?
There are times when the arc of history is bent by a singular random occurrence, while not determinative, the event does become a necessary precondition for a cascade of events which will tend to produce a specific outcome. This is one such event.
By all accounts it is hard to imagine the out break of war in 1914 without the long history of increasing bellicosity that characterized the period 1890 to 1914. Militarization, competing colonial empires, naval expansion, the establishment of rival alliances and a series of crises that increasingly became more belligerent all played their part.
In contrast, this is also a period referred to as the Belle Époque, a glittering period of prosperity, creativity and scientific advancement, especially for the nouveau-riches who could afford the cabarets near the new Eiffel Tower. But all was not as it seemed. Their were dark clouds on the horizon, and key to this developing storm was the increasing role that a militant, populist nationalism was playing in the background, almost as a leitmotif behind the gaiety of the Moulin Rouge.
Did laryngeal cancer set the stage for WWI?
There are times when the arc of history is bent by a singular random occurrence, while not determinative, the event does become a necessary precondition for a cascade of events which will tend to produce a specific outcome. This is one such event.
By all accounts it is hard to imagine the out break of war in 1914 without the long history of increasing bellicosity that characterized the period 1890 to 1914. Militarization, competing colonial empires, naval expansion, the establishment of rival alliances and a series of crises that increasingly became more belligerent all played their part.
In contrast, this is also a period referred to as the Belle Époque, a glittering period of prosperity, creativity and scientific advancement, especially for the nouveau-riches who could afford the cabarets near the new Eiffel Tower. But all was not as it seemed. Their were dark clouds on the horizon, and key to this developing storm was the increasing role that a militant, populist nationalism was playing in the background, almost as a leitmotif behind the gaiety of the Moulin Rouge.
Kaiser Frederick III, 1888
|
Kaiser Wilhelm II,1902
|
In Germany, this tendency was heightened and promoted by the accession to the imperial throne of Kaiser Wilhelm II on June 15, 1888. But this was not the expected outcome of the death of Wilhelm I in 1887; his son Frederick was next in line, and at age 57 was expected to reign for perhaps twenty or more years. But a metastatic laryngeal cancer resulted in the new Emperor’s death just ninety-nine days after his coronation. Thus the anglophile “Fritz,” a liberal progressive, a pacifist at heart who intended to rule as a constitutional monarch, was replaced by his son, an almost polar opposite. “Willy,” an anglophobe, staunchly conservative, and a militarist was determined to promote Germany as a world power, especially at the expense of its rival, the British Empire. What if Fritz had not been such a heavy smoker for all those years?
Video On Line
This excellent 2 part BBC documentary brings together the personalties and intricate dynastic politics of the period together with the evolving international relations prior to the outbreak of war. Excellent contemporary footage.
Royal Cousins at War, Part I BBC Documentary, 60 minutes,
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4962eg
This excellent 2 part BBC documentary brings together the personalties and intricate dynastic politics of the period together with the evolving international relations prior to the outbreak of war. Excellent contemporary footage.
Royal Cousins at War, Part I BBC Documentary, 60 minutes,
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4962eg
Readings On Line
One of the better of the many “medical” source analyses of the events surrounding Frederick’s death.
How Cancer Caused World War I, Lawrence I. Bonchek, M.D., F.A.C.S., F.A.C.C., Journal Of Lancaster General Hospital, Fall 2008 • Vol. 3 – No. 3
http://www.jlgh.org/JLGH/media/Journal-LGH-Media-Library/Past%20Issues/Volume%203%20-%20Issue%203/JLGH_V3n3_p108-111.pdf
A second and also well written “medical analyses” with historical context. The Case of Emperor Frederick III: A Medical-Political Tragedy, Carl E. Silver MD, Journal of the Emeritus College ASU, No. 6.
https://emerituscollege.asu.edu/sites/default/files/ecdw/EVoice6/frederick.html
While thin on historical background, there are some interesting conjectures on how history might have been quite different if Frederick had survived.
Bruce Anderson, The West Has Lost Control of the World and Disaster Awaits. The Telegraph, UK, December 28, 2013.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/world-war-one/10539494/The-West-has-lost-control-of-the-world-and-disaster-awaits.html
Very good on the personalities and intrigues among the royals leading up to the war.
Simon Edge, Royal Misfit Who Caused The Great War, The Express, UK, February 1, 2014.
http://www.express.co.uk/news/world-war-1/457365/Royal-misfit-who-caused-The-Great-War
An excellent recent comparison of the temperaments of Wilhelm II and our current president, Donald Trump.
What Happens When a Bad-Tempered, Distractible Doofus Runs an Empire? Miranda Carter, The New Yorker, June 6, 2018.
what_happens_when_a_bad-tempered_distractible_doofus_runs_an_empire__|_the_new_yorker.pdf
One of the better of the many “medical” source analyses of the events surrounding Frederick’s death.
How Cancer Caused World War I, Lawrence I. Bonchek, M.D., F.A.C.S., F.A.C.C., Journal Of Lancaster General Hospital, Fall 2008 • Vol. 3 – No. 3
http://www.jlgh.org/JLGH/media/Journal-LGH-Media-Library/Past%20Issues/Volume%203%20-%20Issue%203/JLGH_V3n3_p108-111.pdf
A second and also well written “medical analyses” with historical context. The Case of Emperor Frederick III: A Medical-Political Tragedy, Carl E. Silver MD, Journal of the Emeritus College ASU, No. 6.
https://emerituscollege.asu.edu/sites/default/files/ecdw/EVoice6/frederick.html
While thin on historical background, there are some interesting conjectures on how history might have been quite different if Frederick had survived.
Bruce Anderson, The West Has Lost Control of the World and Disaster Awaits. The Telegraph, UK, December 28, 2013.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/world-war-one/10539494/The-West-has-lost-control-of-the-world-and-disaster-awaits.html
Very good on the personalities and intrigues among the royals leading up to the war.
Simon Edge, Royal Misfit Who Caused The Great War, The Express, UK, February 1, 2014.
http://www.express.co.uk/news/world-war-1/457365/Royal-misfit-who-caused-The-Great-War
An excellent recent comparison of the temperaments of Wilhelm II and our current president, Donald Trump.
What Happens When a Bad-Tempered, Distractible Doofus Runs an Empire? Miranda Carter, The New Yorker, June 6, 2018.
what_happens_when_a_bad-tempered_distractible_doofus_runs_an_empire__|_the_new_yorker.pdf
King George V and Kaiser Wilhelm II attending the funeral of King Edward VII, 1910
Four short years before the "...lamps [would go] out all over Europe" Sir Edward Grey
Four short years before the "...lamps [would go] out all over Europe" Sir Edward Grey
Eighth Session: Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, 1914
One right turn too many.
One right turn too many.
Sophie and Franz one hour before they would be shot and killed by Serb nationalist Gavrilo Princip.
A botched assassination attempt, an impulsive decision, a wrong turn, a confused chauffeur stoping his vehicle. Hardly the ingredients that should result in four years of warfare and 18 million deaths. Yet it did.
The assassination in Sarajevo of Archduke Franz Ferdinand on the 28 of June 1914 was the triggering event that in 35 days would catapult Europe into war. Of course it can reasonably argued that one event or another would eventually have produced the same result. Europe had been poised on the edge of the precipice for years. But war looks unavoidable only in hindsight. Europe had successfully surmounted a series of provocative crises, Moroccan-1905, Bosnian-1908, Agadir-1911, Balkan War-1912, Balkin War-1913 any one of which could have proved disastrous. But a tipping point had been reached, an almost unstoppable progression of decisions were about to be made following the assassination that would lead to disaster. England’s Foreign Secretary, Sir Edward Grey, captured the futility of August 1914 in his notebook:
Sir Edward Grey, the foreign secretary from 1905 to 1916.
A great European war under modern conditions would be a catastrophe for which previous wars afforded no precedent. … I thought this must be obvious to everyone else, as it seemed obvious to me. And that if once it became apparent that we were on the edge, all the Great Powers would call a halt and recoil from the abyss.
|
There is a lesson here that I hope we will be able to tease out in our class discussion as we segue from the events of June 28, 1914 to the larger issue of how unexamined assumptions and imagined knowledge produce avoidable tragedies.
Readings on Line
All you need to understand the unfolding of the assassination.
Excellent historic photographs.
First World War centenary: the Assassination of Franz Ferdinand, as it Happened, Richard Preston 27 Jun 2014, The Telegraph UK.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/world-war-one/10930863/First-World-War-centenary-the-assassination-of-Franz-Ferdinand-as-it-happened.html
Very readable concise reconstruction of the events following the assassination which culminated in war.
July Crisis 1914, Annika Mombauer, International Encyclopedia of the First World War
https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/july_crisis_1914
An excellent outline and discussion of the political, cultural, diplomatic background with lessons to be drawn.
World War I: Why did European Diplomacy Fail – Could it Happen Today? Wendelin Ettmayer, ACUNS, August 1914.
http://acuns.org/world-war-i-why-did-european-diplomacy-fail-could-it-happen-today/
An interview with Sean McMeekin, author of July 1914, a respected contemporary historian of the period. The
role of individual statesmen are paramount in his understanding of the unfolding of events.
July 1914: Sean McMeekin on the Outbreak of World War I, Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs
https://www.carnegiecouncil.org/publications/articles_papers_reports/0224
A conservative analysis of the lessons to be drawn from the events of July 1918. Well reasoned and food for thought.
Enduring Lessons From The Diplomatic Crisis of July 1914, Dan McLaughlin, The Federalist, June 30, 2014
thefederalist.com/2014/06/30/enduring-lessons-from-the-diplomatic-crisis-of-july-1914/
An excellent slide presentation, combining text with contemporary and historic photographs of the event and participants.
June 28, 1914 In Sarajevo: Two Gunshots, One World War
http://graphics.france24.com/assassination-sarajevo-1914-archduke-princip-photos/
Videos on Line
This is my top pic for videos examining the events leading up to war.
The Road to War (The End of an Empire) | Full Documentary, A co-production by ORF and metafilm in association with BMBF, 51 minutes.
“The Road to War uses elaborate re-enactments, fascinating Computer Generated Imagery and previously unseen archive footage to examine how the assassination in Sarajevo in 1914 came about and how Austria-Hungary used the death of the heir to the throne, Franz Ferdinand, to start a war against Serbia. The film investigates how this regional conflict caused the Central Powers and the Triple Entente to enter the First World War - at the time, the biggest war in history with 17 million soldiers and civilians killed and more than 20 million injured.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnkVVyru3KY
All you need to understand the unfolding of the assassination.
Excellent historic photographs.
First World War centenary: the Assassination of Franz Ferdinand, as it Happened, Richard Preston 27 Jun 2014, The Telegraph UK.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/world-war-one/10930863/First-World-War-centenary-the-assassination-of-Franz-Ferdinand-as-it-happened.html
Very readable concise reconstruction of the events following the assassination which culminated in war.
July Crisis 1914, Annika Mombauer, International Encyclopedia of the First World War
https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/july_crisis_1914
An excellent outline and discussion of the political, cultural, diplomatic background with lessons to be drawn.
World War I: Why did European Diplomacy Fail – Could it Happen Today? Wendelin Ettmayer, ACUNS, August 1914.
http://acuns.org/world-war-i-why-did-european-diplomacy-fail-could-it-happen-today/
An interview with Sean McMeekin, author of July 1914, a respected contemporary historian of the period. The
role of individual statesmen are paramount in his understanding of the unfolding of events.
July 1914: Sean McMeekin on the Outbreak of World War I, Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs
https://www.carnegiecouncil.org/publications/articles_papers_reports/0224
A conservative analysis of the lessons to be drawn from the events of July 1918. Well reasoned and food for thought.
Enduring Lessons From The Diplomatic Crisis of July 1914, Dan McLaughlin, The Federalist, June 30, 2014
thefederalist.com/2014/06/30/enduring-lessons-from-the-diplomatic-crisis-of-july-1914/
An excellent slide presentation, combining text with contemporary and historic photographs of the event and participants.
June 28, 1914 In Sarajevo: Two Gunshots, One World War
http://graphics.france24.com/assassination-sarajevo-1914-archduke-princip-photos/
Videos on Line
This is my top pic for videos examining the events leading up to war.
The Road to War (The End of an Empire) | Full Documentary, A co-production by ORF and metafilm in association with BMBF, 51 minutes.
“The Road to War uses elaborate re-enactments, fascinating Computer Generated Imagery and previously unseen archive footage to examine how the assassination in Sarajevo in 1914 came about and how Austria-Hungary used the death of the heir to the throne, Franz Ferdinand, to start a war against Serbia. The film investigates how this regional conflict caused the Central Powers and the Triple Entente to enter the First World War - at the time, the biggest war in history with 17 million soldiers and civilians killed and more than 20 million injured.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnkVVyru3KY
If you watch one more video, this is the one. Easy to listen to, not dry or academic, Margaret MacMillan, Professor of International History at the University of Oxford, presents a fascinating and comprehensive lecture examining the intellectual, diplomatic and cultural trends foreshowing the coming conflict.
2015 Ross Horning Lecture, Creighton University Department of History, Apr 16, 2015, ”Was World War One Inevitable?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qv0aYYZacR0
2015 Ross Horning Lecture, Creighton University Department of History, Apr 16, 2015, ”Was World War One Inevitable?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qv0aYYZacR0
A straight forward narrative of events the day of the assassination. A Shot that Changed the World - The Assassination of Franz Ferdinand I Prelude to WW I - Part 3/3, 8 minutes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmHxq28440c
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmHxq28440c
A basic review of the history and events leading up to hostilities. Excellent historic footage. WWI The Complete Series Documentary part 1 of 10 (To Arms!), 50 minutes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzf9aHZmCAM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzf9aHZmCAM
Further Reading
A NYT book review of two of the latest historical examinations of the the origin of the war.
On the Brink
‘The Sleepwalkers’ and ‘July 1914’
By HAROLD EVANSMAY 9, 2013
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/12/books/review/the-sleepwalkers-and-july-1914.html
A NYT book review of two of the latest historical examinations of the the origin of the war.
On the Brink
‘The Sleepwalkers’ and ‘July 1914’
By HAROLD EVANSMAY 9, 2013
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/12/books/review/the-sleepwalkers-and-july-1914.html
NYT Book Review: How Did It All Happen?
‘The War That Ended Peace,’ by Margaret MacMillan
By RICHARD ALDOUSOCT. 25, 2013
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/27/books/review/the-war-that-ended-peace-by-margaret-macmillan.html
‘The War That Ended Peace,’ by Margaret MacMillan
By RICHARD ALDOUSOCT. 25, 2013
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/27/books/review/the-war-that-ended-peace-by-margaret-macmillan.html
Contemporary Fears, North Korea and Historic Precedents
A lot is being written about the current chances of war with North Korea and the lessons to be drawn from the past. Here are a few of the better ones.
Andreas Herberg-Rothe, Contributor, Senior lecturer, Fulda University of Applied Sciences
What World War I Can Teach Us About How To Manage The North Korea Crisis
We should not delude ourselves with the assumption that peace is the natural state of mankind in our age.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/world-war-north-korea_us_59a4344fe4b06d67e33929d2
Letter from PyongyangSeptember 18, 2017 Issue, The Risk of Nuclear War with North Korea, On the ground in Pyongyang: Could Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump goad each other into a devastating confrontation?
By Evan Osnos
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/09/18/the-risk-of-nuclear-war-with-north-korea
The Uses and Misuses of Historical Analogy for North Korea
Once you are convinced that it is August 1914 or October 1962 or September 1939, inevitable conclusions follow. But they may be the wrong ones. RICHARD FONTAINE AND VANCE SERCHUK OCT 3, 2017 https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/10/the-uses-and-misuses-of-historical-analogy-on-north-korea/541866/
A lot is being written about the current chances of war with North Korea and the lessons to be drawn from the past. Here are a few of the better ones.
Andreas Herberg-Rothe, Contributor, Senior lecturer, Fulda University of Applied Sciences
What World War I Can Teach Us About How To Manage The North Korea Crisis
We should not delude ourselves with the assumption that peace is the natural state of mankind in our age.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/world-war-north-korea_us_59a4344fe4b06d67e33929d2
Letter from PyongyangSeptember 18, 2017 Issue, The Risk of Nuclear War with North Korea, On the ground in Pyongyang: Could Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump goad each other into a devastating confrontation?
By Evan Osnos
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/09/18/the-risk-of-nuclear-war-with-north-korea
The Uses and Misuses of Historical Analogy for North Korea
Once you are convinced that it is August 1914 or October 1962 or September 1939, inevitable conclusions follow. But they may be the wrong ones. RICHARD FONTAINE AND VANCE SERCHUK OCT 3, 2017 https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/10/the-uses-and-misuses-of-historical-analogy-on-north-korea/541866/
Ninth Session: The Kornilov Affair: The Bolshevik Revolution Fails?
Government troops open fire on a worker's protest in Petrograd in July of 1917.
The unfolding of events during the eight months from the February Revolution of 1917 to the success of the Bolshevik Revolution of October 25 represented a fluid canvas upon which constantly evolving political factions responded to the exigencies of political, social and military developments. Competing revolutionary visions included the hardline Bolsheviks, the more moderate Mensheviks, as well as the Socialist Revolutionaries (SRs). It was by no means certain in February what the outcome would be.
The Provisional Government reflected this factionalism preventing it from developing into an effective governmental force controlling the levers of power. Their ineffectiveness was compounded by the existence of competing governmental structures, especially the Petrograd Soviet composed of workers and soldiers. There were conservative forces at work as well throughout this period who desired restoration of a constitutional monarch.
The Provisional Government reflected this factionalism preventing it from developing into an effective governmental force controlling the levers of power. Their ineffectiveness was compounded by the existence of competing governmental structures, especially the Petrograd Soviet composed of workers and soldiers. There were conservative forces at work as well throughout this period who desired restoration of a constitutional monarch.
Russian soldiers running from advancing German troops, July, 1917.
The central issue which focused the attention of all these groups was the continuation of the war with Germany/Austria. On June 18 a catastrophic Russian offensive was unleashed in Galicia resulting in over 400,000 Russian casualties. On July 4th a spontaneous uprising by the workers and soldiers soviet in Petrograd, most of them Bolsheviks, demanded an end to the Provisional Government. The demonstrations were put down, but the net effect was to unite SR’s and Mensheviks in opposition to the Bolsheviks. Lenin was forced to flee to Finland and Bolshevik leaders, Trotsky among them, were arrested. A new government, composed mostly of socialists, was formed with Aleksandr Kerensky as Prime minister.
Aleksandr Kerensky greeting Russian troops, 1917.
Thus far it would seem that the hopes of the Bolsheviks had dimmed considerably. But now we reach our tipping point: a series of decisions made by Kerensky in reaction to the commander-in-chief of the Russian Army Lavr Kornilov’s decision to send troops to restore order in Petrograd in late August. This would provide the Bolsheviks with the means to overthrow the government in October. Kerensky, fearful of a possible military coup, released the imprisoned Bolshevik leaders, armed the Red Guard which then, under the leadership of Leon Trotsky, mounted the successful defense of Petrograd.
But what if Kornilov had successfully garrisoned Petrograd? What if Lenin had remained in Finland? We will never know.
But what if Kornilov had successfully garrisoned Petrograd? What if Lenin had remained in Finland? We will never know.
Lavr Kornilov, 1917
Documents
Source: https://www.bl.uk/russian-revolution/articles/timeline-of-the-russian-revolution
Readings on Line
The go to place for all things on soviet history. By exploring its drop down menu By Year/1917 you can gain a comprehensive understanding of the cultural, social, political forces and events shaping the revolution. Seventeen Moments in Soviet History
http://soviethistory.msu.edu
http://soviethistory.msu.edu/1917-2/kornilov-affair/
Excellent narrative and analysis of the events and outcome.
The Kornilov Coup: One hundred years ago, why did the alliance between General Lavr Kornilov and Alexander Kerensky fall apart? Paul Le Blanc, Jacobin, September 6, 2017
https://www.jacobinmag.com/2017/09/russian-revolution-bolsheviks-kerensky-kornilov
A short basic chronology of the confusing events in the summer of 1917.
The Kornilov affair: How the military’s last attempt to stop revolution failed, HISTORY September, 14, 2017 Oleg Yegorov
https://www.rbth.com/history/326164-kornilov-affair-how-militarys-last
A longer more nuanced description of the key events and players.
The Kornilov Affair
http://alphahistory.com/russianrevolution/kornilov-affair/
A short but very detailed outline of the Kerensky/Kornilov communications.
Was the Kornilov affair a failed military Putsch by a right-wing general? Marked-By-Teaches
http://www.markedbyteachers.com/gcse/history/was-the-kornilov-affair-a-failed-military-putsch-by-a-right-wing-general.html
Videos on Line
Everything you need to know about the Russian Revolution in a 13 min video. Excellent narrative overlaying film footage and stills of the events leading up to the October revolution.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cV9G1QUIm7w
The go to place for all things on soviet history. By exploring its drop down menu By Year/1917 you can gain a comprehensive understanding of the cultural, social, political forces and events shaping the revolution. Seventeen Moments in Soviet History
http://soviethistory.msu.edu
http://soviethistory.msu.edu/1917-2/kornilov-affair/
Excellent narrative and analysis of the events and outcome.
The Kornilov Coup: One hundred years ago, why did the alliance between General Lavr Kornilov and Alexander Kerensky fall apart? Paul Le Blanc, Jacobin, September 6, 2017
https://www.jacobinmag.com/2017/09/russian-revolution-bolsheviks-kerensky-kornilov
A short basic chronology of the confusing events in the summer of 1917.
The Kornilov affair: How the military’s last attempt to stop revolution failed, HISTORY September, 14, 2017 Oleg Yegorov
https://www.rbth.com/history/326164-kornilov-affair-how-militarys-last
A longer more nuanced description of the key events and players.
The Kornilov Affair
http://alphahistory.com/russianrevolution/kornilov-affair/
A short but very detailed outline of the Kerensky/Kornilov communications.
Was the Kornilov affair a failed military Putsch by a right-wing general? Marked-By-Teaches
http://www.markedbyteachers.com/gcse/history/was-the-kornilov-affair-a-failed-military-putsch-by-a-right-wing-general.html
Videos on Line
Everything you need to know about the Russian Revolution in a 13 min video. Excellent narrative overlaying film footage and stills of the events leading up to the October revolution.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cV9G1QUIm7w
These three BBC videos cover in detail the sequences of events which culminated in the October revolution. Excellent footage and narration.
World War I: Russian Revolution 2/4, 10 minutes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Bx2spY7lcE&index=10&list=PL3H6z037pboFwKREwWrf4ELNDdiTLyhAN
World War I: Russian Revolution 2/4, 10 minutes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Bx2spY7lcE&index=10&list=PL3H6z037pboFwKREwWrf4ELNDdiTLyhAN
World War I: Russian Revolution 3/4, 10 minutes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FcdWFKe2VM&index=11&list=PL3H6z037pboFwKREwWrf4ELNDdiTLyhAN
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FcdWFKe2VM&index=11&list=PL3H6z037pboFwKREwWrf4ELNDdiTLyhAN
World War I: Russian Revolution 4/4, 7 minutes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aVgNIKzFGw&list=PL3H6z037pboFwKREwWrf4ELNDdiTLyhAN&index=12
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aVgNIKzFGw&list=PL3H6z037pboFwKREwWrf4ELNDdiTLyhAN&index=12
In this lecture, Ian Thatcher provides an in-depth analysis of the underlying political and social context that led to the failure of the Provisional Government in the fall of 1917. I found it informative and easy to listen too. The Russian Provisional Government, 1917 pt1 & 2, Prof. Ian Thatcher, Ulster University. The Faculties: The History Faculty - University lectures for secondary schools. 30 minutes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KKa0hXuNK0
