Questions of the World

1. From 1914 to the present, nations such as India, Yugoslavia, and many African nations did not take a side during the Cold War .  The goal of this policy was to avoid involvement in the Cold War and maintain and increase economic progress. What is the name of this policy?
2. All of the facts are true about OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) except

a. Goal: to control the price of oil through cooperation

b. Power lessened as a result of overproduction and the Iran- Iraq and Gulf wars

c.  Established in 1960 with member nations including Abu Dhabi, Algeria, Ecuador, Gabon, Iran, Qatar Kuwait, and Venezuela

d. Lost trust of other countries when they excluded exports to China

3. I controlled the Soviet Union from 1985 to 1991.  The reforms I introduced were glasnost and perestroika.  I also backed free- market reforms and agreed to not enforce the Brezhnev Doctrine.  Who am I?

Worlds at War: Part 1

The Great War, WWI, erupted in 1914 undermining the devastation yet to come.  Soldiers went to war with a skip in their step.  Jolly to be serving their country.  Civilians at home were delighted at the sound of war.  The realities of war would hit them like a tsunami; clearly, it was much worse than that.  In Europe, the countries were torn apart by national rivalries, colonial disputes, and nationalist apparitions.  As the European imperial powers tried to collect their natural resources in their colonized lands, it created quite the growing tension among Japan, the Ottoman Empire, and the United States.

Germany and Britain now competed for the top spot in the economy.  Powers were challenged and economies were suffering.  The spark of WWI was the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand.  Because of the secret alliances made among the countries, war declarations were made one after another.  The first global war was now in play.  New weaponry was used such as mustard gas, airplanes, tanks, submarines, machine guns, and missiles.  Soldiers lived in fear, committing suicide every time they left the trenches to fight.  Back home, life was difficult as well.  Women worked the men’s jobs, some being exposed to TNT turning their hair yellow and skin orange.  Yellow journalism and propaganda fueled the country to support the war.  The United States came out on top hardly having been affected in its economy due to the war.

The glory was short lived when the Great Depression came.  Roosevelt’s New Deal was to jump start the economy using Keynes’s government intervention views.  In Russia, Lenin imposed the state- sponsored program of rapid industrialization.  Japan was not hit terribly in its economy like that of other countries because it did not depend on its exports.  World War II came to way and proved to be more destructive than any previous war.  Everything was reshaped after the war.  In this now highly interdependent world, dealing with problems of global magnitude required the cooperation of nations who resent each other.  Although the League of Nations was begun by the United States, the U.S. itself did not join.  That led to the end, but now we have the United Nations to discuss and resolve nonviolently the problems among the nations.

Here We Go, Come With Me, There’s A World Out There That We Should See

I would have to say that this unit was probably my worst unit yet.  I do not think I did absolutely terrible on the test, but it was not my best.  The class discussions and lectures were helpful, but I believe the solution to the problem is for me to spend more time in these topics.  It is less stressful when work is divided among the class.  Yes, it is more beneficial to do all the research yourself, but it relieves you mentally and you still get a review by reading what your partner put.  That is a major reason why AP World is one of my favorite classes.  It may be an AP class, but it is actually a fun and enjoyable class.  Learning about the world’s history is rather intriguing as well; especially when we learn something out of the ordinary beyond PERSIA.  Boy does ‘PERSIA’ seem ancient.

What I am worried about the most for the AP test is the detailed-ness of it all.  Will I need to know details that seem minute to me? For example, a certain war that happened or stating a punishment for breaking Hammurabi’s code.  I was very thankful in being given ten extra minutes for the DBQ because I was not close to being finished.  Grouping during the required ten minutes of reading really helped, but I felt that I had so much to write I could not write it fast enough.  I rarely have a problem with not being able to write fast enough, so I was confused as to why I struggled so much on this DBQ.  Especially since DBQs should be the easiest because the answers are right in front of you.  Hopefully, I did not do terrible on the DBQ.

Anyway back to the group work or class discussions.  The pair ups and reading aloud in class help me a lot and going over the Study Questions in class help as well.  I realized that I had answered a question on the Study Questions incorrectly and was more than relieved to catch it.

So we are on a new unit and it is about a new age of thinking.  Man’s objectiveness is being questioned and no longer is anything absolute.  New ideas such as Freudianism or the uncertainty theory come about that trigger a whole new era of writing, art, and lifestyle.  I am learning a lot of new things from this section and being reminded of things I have learned prior.  It is very interesting how one man’s thought can influence a generation.  As the title of my blog states, there is a world out there that we should see.  Being in this class has made me want to travel and be at the places I read about and to just feel the cultures and history that has thrived there.

Karl Marx

The nineteenth century philosopher, Karl Marx, did all of the following except.

a. developed a socialist theory with Engels in response to the changing nature of the workplace that resulted from the Industrial Revolution

b.  his ideas formed the backbone of numerous political parties

c. defined class struggle as the proletariat obtaining their income from the bourgeoisie who work to make money.

d.  has his idea be adopted by a number of nations including China and Vietnam

e.   all of the above

 

The correct answer C.  Marx defined class struggle as the proletariat working to make money while the bourgeoisie obtained their income from the work of the proletariat; the bourgeoisie exploited the working class

A Whole New World

Away from the books and back to the screen once again.  Well, the outlines are still one of the greatest things given as a handout.  They rank the top of that list.  The study questions on the back help me remember what I read and act as a quick quiz to me.  Just like one of my previous blogs, Islam is not compatible with me.  I am not sure why, but anything relating to Islam goes in one ear and out the other.  As tired as I am of reading about Asian countries, their information seems to be engraved in my noggin.  The reading on America and the taxation without representation was a rather easy chapter, because it was already in my brain.

Simon Bolivar’s quote “I fear peace more than war” seems a bit ironic, don’t you think?  It was sensible though, because of the situation in Latin America then.  They had no idea how to rule themselves.

The energy in class is very helpful in retaining what is taught and read.  The “working” class skit was very fun to do.  I love how every day is not sitting in a desk the whole class time.  I enjoy being in groups and working together then being able to see if you and your group got the answers correct.  Debate is always healthy.  I would say I have been doing well so far in this new quarter aside from essays.

Roundabout Route

Our class discussions about which area is the best was pretty helpful because it reminded me of  the other things I learned.  I completely forgot about the Mansa Musa converting to Islam which helped him connect with Muslims better giving him a better reputation among them.  The pink handouts are always a huge study tool for me.  Islam was quite the impressionable religion.  I noticed that Catholicism was very similar in its traditions and pilgrimages, but the main idea of their religion is different.

African women experienced the most freedom out of all the other societies.  It was sad to see that their own people captured and sold them into slavery.  I could not imagine being in fear every day of being taken by my own people in my home.  I am sure many people died during those slave raids as well such as the husbands trying to protect their families. Personally, I think every race is to blame for the enslavement of people because Africa put themselves into the submissive system and every other country put their hand into the matter.  It was a survival of the fittest sort of thought.

On to Western Europe, I thought it was interesting to read that the Holy Roman Empire was neither holy, roman, nor an empire.  During the high middle ages, Western Europe began creeping out of its shell and trading with others revitalizing their economy.   The continued presence of Roman Catholicism  was apart of every aspect of life.  It influenced the education, philosophy, literature, conquest, and travel.  Conflict with the papacy prevented emperors from building states.  The popes embarrassed the emperors quite often.

To prevent a class from snoozing, Mrs Simond’s had everyone teach certain parts.  It was a great way to wake everyone up and it personally helps me also.  You must be very attentive to everyone teaching or you might miss a question on that topic on the test.  I was assigned troubadours and Frederick Barbarossa.  I did not know much about Barbarossa, but I learned that he was an emperor that wanted to achieve great power by capturing Lombardy.  The popes did not want him to have that power so they forced him to back down by enlisting aid from other states.  Popes-1, Emperors-0.  Another example of papal influence was Emperor Henry IV being excommunicated because of his appointing church officials.  So far, the emperors have not yet scored a point.  Troubadours were a favorite among aristocratic women.  They sang of love poems and relationships between the two genders.  By promoting chivalric values the code of chivalry and romantic poetry eventually softened the roughened warriors.

The crusades is an example of Islam influencing Catholicism.  Pope Urban II called Christian knights to seize the holy land, Jerusalem in 1095.  The Muslims believe other religions should be demolished.  Both religions were and are very wrong in this belief and I am glad America has freedom of religion.  However, from the 9-11 attack we see that we are still in danger.

Always learning

As much as I did not enjoy studying India, mainly because it did not click as easily as the other empires did, I noticed that its social influence was just as great or far greater than a political influence would have had.  India’s caste system integrated immigrants easily into society which surprised me because I compared the caste system to an extreme version of high school cliques.  Well now I know that that was an incorrect comparison which proves to show that India did not click.  I think that a social influence is better than a political influence, because India had order in the form of self- discipline.  Social influences are easier to spread than political and typically more people tend to care more about social issues such as religion etc.

The class discussion over the conversion of Clovis really helped me see other views on his conversion being a political act and a religious transformation.  Darah was my power group partner that day and I agreed with her that his conversion was more of a political act, but she went further in giving quotes from the text that prove it was political and expanded on her thought.  It helped a lot to having heard her expanded thought on the matter and helped me understand it more.  I was surprised to see that people thought it was a true act of religious transformation.  Their reasoning made me unstable then of my political choice, because they mentioned that his wife has been convincing him to look at her god and believe the same thing she did.  Of course they were giving him the benefit of the doubt, but it all depends on how you view it.  I stand my ground that it was merely a political act and he truly converted once he achieved his goal.

Well, we hit Western Europe.  I was not too thrilled, because it is a boring topic to me.  Probably because I have learned it so many times and do not care to learn more of it.  Compared to other societies, western Europe seems dull and slow.  Their agricultural surplus was not enough to support their large cities whereas a growth in agricultural production in many other places results in a population growth.  Christianity (Catholicism) was the religion in medieval Europe especially because of Clovis’s conversion to it.  It formed an alliance with the pope strengthening the Franks.

An age of cross-cultural interaction of the nomadic empires and their eurasian integration was much more interesting to learn than Western Europe.  Nomadic empires were known for their unmatched skill on horseback and being indomitable in warfare.  They integrated vast territories at first to raid then to settle.  Just as all societies faced difficulties, the nomads’ difficulties were warfare, destruction, bubonic plaque, and global climactic changes.

It is neat to be able to connect the show “The Amazing Race” to what we learn in AP World.  I bought up that Kevjumba built something similar to a yurt,large wool tent, as a task to complete.  It took him quite some time to build it though.

The khan organization ruled through leaders of allied tribes.  The army was the most important institution of the Mongol state.  When I read that, I immediately thought of political trust, what I learned in government class, and that the military is the most trusted institution in our  government.  The Mongols instilled fear in the areas that they conquered, but it was apparent that they feared China.  They enforced a strict separation from anything and everything Chinese because they feared the Chinese would overpower them.  The Mongols did, however, tolerate all the cultural and religious traditions in China.

The continent I know least about, Africa, has had quite the interesting history.  I did not know Islam was a religion in Africa, however, it did not change the original thoughts on Africa.  I know the Bantu migrations spread agriculture and herding, but I do not know what the Bantu migration itself is.  Who are they and where did they come from?

Villages were ruled by a village council that consisted of male family heads.  The activity of drawing the political format of villages helped in learning how they were formed and the roles of Africans being based on age and gender.  Unlike other societies, African women experienced a far greater freedom than other women because they were given high honor for being the source of life.  They served in all-female military units, influenced public affairs, and traded at markets as merchants.

Like the Chinese, Africans worshipped their ancestors.  African religion was not theological but practical.

Time for the classical post.

From 500 to 1000 C.E., inventions, rapid economic growth, and the development of cultural and religious traditions mark the prosperity of the postclassical era.

Surprisingly, we are not finished with this era yet, but we have gone over the Byzantine empire, dar- al- Islam, and East Asia.  A commonality of the Byzantine empire and East Asia is that they had a form of having states recognize them as their overlord, but the empires themselves did not impose their rule.  Instead, they allowed that state to rule normally.  Caesaropapism was what the Byzantine empire called the emperor with aura divinity.  The people would perform prostrations to the emperor bowing to him like a deity.  China’s diplomatic foreign relations was the tributary system like that of the Han dynasty.  China’s political theory was the Middle Kingdom or the center of the civilization.  They required the other lands to perform what the Byzantiums required known as kowtow.

I enjoy doing the matching and sequencing, especially in groups.  Because the group activities are so fun, it helps me remember what was on that activity better.  We did a group activity that had us imagine ourselves as tourists traveling to Constantinople in the ninth century planning our itinerary.  We would hit the marketplace first, then the taverns to get pumped up for the next location, the Hippodromes, and cheer our voices away for the blue team then head to Hagia Sophia to repent.

My connections this time around had to do with bezant and silk.  When I saw “bezant” I assumed it had to do with money, but I thought it was called something else.  I found my error and was glad to have been assigned this word.  Connections are very helpful in relating terms together.

Next, we evaluated our comparative essays on Rome and Han China.  I was disappointed to realize all of my errors that I did not know were errors.  I learned that dates are very important. (I normally gloss over them.)  Evaluating with the rubric helped me in realizing what needed to be in my essay and why I received my grade.  Speaking of knowing what needs to be in my essay, we have been introduced to the DBQ.  I read a handout informing me of it and telling me ways to handle it.  It definitely has been a great help and a calm to some of my nerves.  Something I read in the handout made me smile partly because it was true. “Right now, this process may seem as if it will take two hours as opposed to ten minutes.”  That is just what I thought when I read the title, “How Long Is Ten Minutes?”  Reading all the steps, charts, groupings, and etc., made me worry about how time consuming it is.  Once, I get a few practices in, I will become more confident for the actual test day.  I hope..

I like it when we are split the work on worksheets.  The study guide questions for Islam teaching groups saved me a lot of time.  I was happy to see that I was able to answer other’s questions just from retaining it from my reading.

The best class activity so far was the timeline of China.  I could not believe how much I have forgotten and all of the continuity and changes that occurred.  When Mrs. Simonds said that it was amazing how students remember all of this old information on test day, it sent me a newsflash: “Don’t forget everything! You actually have to learn it for good.”

Thankfully, I bought a prep book that has charts of the civilizations and empires etc. that tell me the continuity and changes, among other things.

 

Sayonara Classical Civilizations

These past two weeks feel like so much information was packed into my brain without the overwhelming feeling accompanying it.  Odd, is it not?  I feel that the classical civilizations were much more enjoyable to learn.

When it was days before the test, it felt like decades when we talked about Persia and India.  The civilizations that were fresh in my mind was Rome and China.  It amazed me to see that Rome developed a republican form of government complete with the Twelve Tablets, two consuls, and the plebeians being able to block bills they did not approve of.  However, Rome was really a monarchy disguised as a republic.

China was successful as well in having control of their vast empire.  It did not take China as long as Rome to develop their control because the people in China were of the same ethnicity, whereas Rome was diverse.  Also, many of the conquered lands were intrigued by Chinese culture and readily adapted to the ways and culture of China.

I did not learn as much of new information on India as I thought I would.  Maybe I did but I do not remember?  The only things I can remember about India is the caste system, Hinduism, and cotton being an important export.

The Silk Roads had a significant impact on all of the civilizations.  They were protected from invaders and raids.  Merchants traveled abroad spreading many cultures from other lands.  Buddhism is one of the religions brought into China by merchants and has become the main religion in China.  Paul of Tarsus was a devout advocate of Christianity.  I loved being able to know the full story of Jesus in Rome and his crucifixion than the summarized version in the book.  Reading about Christianity from a secular point of view though helped me to understand what others think of Christianity.  The miracles the book mentioned probably would make others think “yeah, right.” I have thought that of other religions on their rituals bringing rain like the Mayas.

Not only were we once again, given the essay for the test, we were given a handout that would help us with the essay.  The handout was the best review for the essay.  It was so insightful and it really generalized ideas for me and gave specific examples as well.

It has only been two weeks and we have finished all of the classical civilizations and are now venturing into the deep of the Postclassical Era.

To the classics we go

A new unit means what to the common AP World student?  “More comparisons on societies..”  Do not fret, dear lad, because the new unit or, in Traditions & Encounters, “Part II” begins with giving you the overall comparisons of all of the classical societies.

A difference of the classical societies and the early complex societies was the legacies of the classical societies that endured long enough to influence billions of lives some of which can be seen today.  Persia, China, India, and the Mediterranean basin were all involved in trading on (silk) roads or by sea.  This interaction with one another formed a sort of alliance and a spread of diverse religions and cultural traditions.  Some of the problems the societies faced were the administration of vast territories, military challenges, external and internal threats, factions, and the equitable distribution of land and wealth.  Social classes formed as well as slaves who were being used for any area of work (some having more freedom than the other).

Starting off with the Persian Empire, I thought I had it easy, since I had knowledge of Cyrus, Darius, Persepolis and etc.  But as always it seems that I know too little of the topic.  For example, from 558-330 B.C.E., the Achaemenid Empire  had a great impact on future administrations.  The empire was divided into twenty-three satrapies which were administrative and taxation districts governed by satraps.  Our government today has checks on each branch.  Similarly, the military officers and tax collectors served as checks on the satraps’ power.  To prevent satraps from rebelling and taking the land the rulers created audits, special spies that were the “eyes and ears of the king” who travelled with an army to do what is called now, oversight.  Another beneficial contribution of the Achaemenid Empire was the courier system it formed that reminded me of the Pony Express. The Persian Royal Road and borrowing the idea of standardized coins fostered trade.

Like the Chinese, family and clan relationships influenced political and social affairs.  What really helped Persia was its record keepers and translators. The Persians were cosmopolitan meaning they combined different parts of the world. For example, Persia did not change the rules of every land it conquered.  Instead, it codified the laws of the subject peoples therefore accepting other cultures.  I guess it is somewhat similar to America today in the sense that the entire area has common laws (national supremacy), the area is divided into fifty satrapies, are ruled by governmental bodies within the states (satraps), and all the different people can practice what they believe freely.

I was impressed to learn that the Persians made qanats which are underground canals that allowed cultivators to distribute water to fields without losing water to evaporation.  Slaves were important for infrastructure and probably had a part in the formation of qanats.

When Mrs. Simonds announced that we could have a group quiz, it took the force of gravity and glue to make sure I did not fly off of my seat to receive the answers.  I forced my bottom to stay seated and get my own answers from my notes before seeing what the others had.  Thank you Mrs. Simonds, I am sure David is more grateful than I am.  The Master Philosopher Kong Fuzi left the world with three values: ren- an attitude of kindness and benevolence or a sense of humanity, li- a sense of propriety, and xiao- filial piety. The goal of Confucianism led to the cultivation of personal morality, creation of junzi, and bringing order and stability to China.  Confucianism’s flexibility led to longevity and influence in China.

The most prominent critics of Confucianism are Daoists.  The founder of Daoism, Laozi, believes in doing nothing will accomplish everything.  The doctrine of wuwei promotes the disengagement from the world, refrain from advanced education and personal striving, and to live simply in harmony with nature.  I am sorry if what I am about to say offends you, but to help me remember Daoism, I thought of Laozi’s beliefs of life being “lousy.”

Legalism seemed to prove the most effective in maintaining order in China.  It exemplified the military and agriculture.  Harsh punishments, collective responsibility, and strict laws were main characteristics of legalism.

Although the Qin dynasty did not last as long as the Han, the Qin had standardized script, set a precedent by establishing a centralized imperial bureaucracy, and forming defensive walls.  The Han dynasty infused Confucianist and Legalistic values that proved to coexist well for the time being.  Already in my blog, I have compared many things to the American government.  We were asked to answer, “What would all three philosophies look like in a government?”  My answer was that it would look like the American government today, not taking much from the Daoists that is.  We have a military, a political force that keeps people in line, education is a priority here, and we have a code of conduct like the Confucian values.

India is more confusing than Persia and China.  I did not do well on the reading quiz only because I second-guessed my answers.  Why does India have to name their children so similarly?  Anyway India had regional kingdoms and imperial regimes, but they were not centralized.  Chandragupta Maurya laid the foundation for the Mauryan Empire which was the first state to bring a centralized unified government to most of India.  One can see the influence Persia had on India by India’s incorporation of spies in the bureaucratic administration system.  Sea transportation of trade in the Indian Ocean Basin was based on the rhythms of the wind (monsoons).

India had a society based on the caste system.  Religions such as Buddhism and Jainism attracted many people because they had a factor of not recognizing social hierarchies of castes and jaiti.

For Chapter 9 (India) we were given a choice to do notes using the outline or continuing to make our own notes.  For me, the outline saves me so much time and writing and adds more insight than taking my own notes.  It combines sections of the chapter and allows me to be as detailed as I am in my regular notes by having space on the margins to write in.  The questions at the end are a challenge to answer, but I enjoy how it tests my comprehension of my reading.  I also enjoy doing the handout with sequencing, quotations, and matching in groups.  It helps organize the retained knowledge scattered in my noggin.