Week 6

The three chapters this week had a lot to do with some periods of world history that I am very interested in. It focused on 1750 through about 1914. The first chapter spoke of the American Revolution, the Haitian Revolution and the French Revolution. I was very interested in the American Revolution yet it did not really tell me much that I already did not know. I was intrigued to read that the Haitian Revolution was the only revolution that had the slaves and oppressed people on the winning side. The chapter also touched on how slavery was becoming something that had to stop. I am glad that nations in Europe had a better view on this subject. I do wish that the USA would have adopted this idea sooner than the Civil War it had from 1861 – 1865. I was also happy to read about how Feminism was starting and that in this time period it set the foundation for women to have more influence on society. This chapter by far was the most interesting one I have read in this World History course.

The next chapter had to do with the Industrial Revolution. I was always under the impression that America had the most to do with this for the entire world. I was surprised to read that England was really the country that brought this to the forefront and was able to transform Europe into a much more rich and powerful area on a Global scale. This chapter also go into how the classes of people were starting to become more apparent. The middle-class was beginning to take hold with people having their own businesses and also having more influence and a voice in political area. However, lower class people also had their protest because they saw that socialist ideas were challenging the capitalistic ideas of wealthy people. I also read that the United States did not participate in Socialism but Russia did. It was also interesting to read that South America had many exports such as rubber, coffee, sugar, and wheat.

The last chapter told about how China, the Middle East and Japan had different ways of evolving during the 18^th to early 20^th century. China lost a lot of power that it once had as well as the Ottoman Empire. They were so used to being rich and sustaining their own empires. During this time the Industrial Revolution came and they did not adapt quick enough. European countries also tried to colonize other parts of Asia and European people started to become really racists towards people of Asia and the Middle East. Japan on the other hand started to rise up and become a much more powerful country in Asia. By the early 20^th century it was being recognized by the rest of the world for trade. It even won wars agents China and Russia with a much stronger military than before. I think for me reading this chapter was not as interesting as the first one, but reading about Japan’s rise in the East was kind of cool.