Thursday, September 1, 2016

FI Question #42 - "History Today" Article Summary

To complete question #42 on the "Foundations Investigation," select an article from the PRINT issue of History Today.  Your comment should include the following:
  • Cultural Region (Sub-Saharan Africa, Europe, Middle East, Central Asia, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Oceania, or Latin America)
  • MLA Citation
  • Concise (no more than 5 sentences) summary that includes a clear thesis statement

15 comments:

  1. The sense of fashion throughout the year has changed dramatically; however, it has frequently caused disputes in regards to class, culture, and vanity. In Europe, the class of an individual was defined by the material which their clothing was made of and sometimes even the color. Males and Females were expected to wear whatever was “mode” or in fashion or else they would be considered uncultured. Finally, one could argue that the centuries of fashion discrepancies were not based on necessity but over-indulgence illustrating the vanity of fashion. Although one could consider the clothing styles themselves a portion of Europe’s history, the vanity and concern of the feelings of others is also a large part in fashion history (Rublack, Ulinka. “The Birth of Power Dressing.” History Today, vol. 61, no. 1, Jan. 2011, pp. 20-27.).

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  2. South Asia
    The original documentation of the first ascent up Mount Everest missed the essential efforts of one man, Griffith Pugh; it was only through his daughter, Harriet Tuckey’s, research, his old notes, and words from his colleagues that his efforts were recorded. One of his colleagues, Michael Ward, first mentioned his efforts at a celebration of the 40th anniversary of the first time anyone climbed Mount Everest. Later in her life Tuckey realized her father was being forgotten without his contributions being acknowledged and she decided to research and understand just what he had done for the expedition. She looked through all his old notes and papers as well as interviewed the still surviving members of his team to understand all that he had done to contribute to the success. She finally found just how much his inventions and innovations in technology had lead to the ability of that team to ascend Mount Everest. (Tuckey, Harriet. "A Personal Everest." History Today, vol. 63, no. 6, June 2013, pp. 28-30.)

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  3. Europe
    Several centuries ago, hunting was one of the skills everyone had, and was seen as a necessary skill mostly because of how it helped protect against any dangers, how it helped in gaining food and how it was seen as an art. Hunting was most important because it helped you protect yourself from all the dangers that nature posed to us and was seen as a "rite of passage" that everyone had to learn. It was also used to gain food and was used by many as the only source of food. Scipio Aemilianus explained that when he went to Rome, he was recognized as a very accomplished and successful person because of his skill in hunting, and that in Rome, it was seen as an elite sport that not everyone can master, showing the importance of hunting and how much it was respected and how it was seen as more of an elite sport or art in certain areas around the world (Dunn, Daisy. "The Roman Hunt: More Than Just a Rite of Passage." History Today, vol. 64, no. 2, Feb. 2014, p. 6.)

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  4. Europe
    The effects of society when faced with epidemics, are widely varying and rapidly changing from violence to assistance. As explained in, "Plague and Prejudice" many societies in Europe used to turn to violence when epidemics broke out, such as, the Cholera epidemics. Despite the knowledge people have of diseases, such as Cholera, people rioted and attacked health and government workers in countries that faced Cholera, Zika, Ebola, etc. However, with the outbreak of HIV/AIDS in the 1980s, society changed from attacking specific ethnic groups and public health workers, and began to unite and offer assistance to those who were ill. The societal change from violence to acceptance and assistance, is highly important because of the many diseases the world will face in the 21st century. (Cohn, Samuel. "Plague and Prejudice." History Today, vol. 66, no. 3, Mar. 2016, pp. 31-37.)

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  5. Europe
    Coal and oil have been a widely used resource for the past hundreds of years. Coal grew in popularity over 300 years ago and oil grew over 100 years ago. Oil had taken over usage of fuel from coal soon after its discovery. Oil inspired the use of mining plutonium and making nuclear weapons. (Rhodes, Richard. "The Power of Power." History Today, vol. 62, no. 8, August 2012, pp. 37-42.)

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  6. Europe
    England’s bloodiest battle is the Battle of Towton, between the Lancastrians and the Yorkists, during a single day more than 28,000 men were killed. The perfect conditions of time and weaponry are the two main reasons why this battle had a particularly high death toll, and the fact that during this time many men did not have any kind of protective armor did not help the fatality of the battle. Pisan’s three factors for a successful battle were apparent throughout the extensive battle, both sides had one of the three advantages, and the third advantage was not blatantly given to either side. The Yorkists won the battle after breaking one of the Lancastrian lines. This epic battle resulted in Edward IV becoming the king of England. (Goodwin, George. "This Bitter Field." History Today, vol. 61, no. 5, May 2011, pp. 37-42.)

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  8. Middle East
    Syria's government faces many problems with coups, so they decided to coup-proof the government by distributing coup-critical positions, offering outreach to society, and creating an armed force. The first process in coup-proofing is taking people with critical positions,and dsitributing them among families and religious sects to make groups taht are against coups. The second process is offering outreach to key society members, and make them involved in illegal wrongdoings with the regime. The final process is to creat an armed force that runs parallel with the military, and have overlapping power. The coup-proofing is proving successful, but the government is still facing problems with coups. (Gelvin, James. “Coup Proof?” History Today, vol. 61, no. 8, Aug. 2011, pp. 34-35.)

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  9. All around the world, Christians come together on December 25th and celebrate the birth of their Lord and Savior, Jesus, who was born in a little town called Bethlehem. Bethlehem is located in eastern Israel. Christians were among the first religion to live in Bethlehem ,and years later, Muslims came. The two religions do not butt heads often because most of them share that ethnicity of being Palestinian. During the First and Second Intifada, Bethlehem got caught in the middle and they lost a handful of people. What is known as the "little town of Bethlehem" was formed by both European and Non-European influences and now, as Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus on December 25th, they can also remember the history of the "little" town.
    (Norris, Jacob. "The Real Bethlehem." History Today, vol. 63, no. 12, Dec. 2013, pp. 11-17. Created: 09/07/16 06:53 PM)

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  11. Europe
    Although many do not know of his efforts to create a better world and a better Great Britain, Lionel Curtis’ life work was not in vain. Curtis worked in politics as secretary of the British delegation to negotiate with the Irish Free State in 1921, where he gained powerful friends and prevented some conflict. Curtis also supported uniting France and U.K. in 1940, but this plan sadly fell through. He was also consulted by his influential friends and continued to be respected worldwide. Curtis might not be acknowledged in our history books, but everyday one can see his influence on Great Britain and the rest of the world.
    (Cargill, Tom. “How to Build a Better World.” History Today, vol. 63, no. 2, Feb. 2013, pp. 36-37.)

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  12. Europe
    This article further explains how the Congress of Vienna attempts to regain a new European order after the Napoleon defeat. The new European order that the British sought was heavily gravitated towards their own interests. One of these main interests was sea trade. Eventually, Europeans congress system officially ended in 1832. In essence, Europe seeked to rebuild their Congress and struggled while doing so.
    Ghervas, Stella. "A Peace for Strong." History Today, Sept. 2014.

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  13. Africa/Europe
    Many hundred years ago, when the Romans were still one of many world powers, they decided to expand their society into Africa along the Nile due to commerce, greed, and geography. Egypt proved to be a meeting point for two worlds, as you could see both European and further eastern civilizations' cultures mixing. By invading, the Romans essentially assimilated these things. Greed also took its toll; controversy amongst Roman leaders and the shifting of powers led to immense pride over their invasion of ordinary places. Lastly, geography proved to be a valuable asset in the Roman invasion. The flooding of key Nile tributaries could greatly benefit agriculture like it had to those areas' previous inhabitants. (Lipscomb, Suzannah. "A Matter of Judgement" History Today, vol. 64, no. 6, June 2014, pp. 30-37.)

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  14. Europe
    During World War 1, it is stated that the British military was under a harsh military legal code which included fatigues and cruel and unusual punishment that could have resulted in death. Courts martials were allowed to dole out the punishment for small “civilian” crimes and they were also given the right to hear cases involved in a very important or serious crime. When someone fell under Field Punishment No 1, they were required to be tied up in a sort of crucifixion stance for two hours a day, three consecutive days out of four in order to show humiliation, yet this ended up evoking sympathy from the other men. Many civilians thought that the punishments were awful and unlawful, yet the court martials saw the methods as effective. The death penalty was finally suspended in 1918 and Field Punishment No 1 just became Field Punishment and the army was given a limited use of its capital punishments. (Emsley, Clive. "Why Crucify Tommy?" History Today, vol. 62, no. 11, Nov. 2012, pp. 27-33.)

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