These are essay questions that I have used on exams in the past, and in some ways they resemble questions that I will ask on the exam this semester. All students should be able to write a competent essay on every one of these questions, as well as on any combination or permutation thereof.
1. Louis XIV and Peter the Great undertook radical measures to strengthen their own role as monarchs, as well as to strengthen and expand their nations. How did they each attempt to achieve absolute monarchy? How did they seek to strengthen and expand their countries? How did the approach each man took reflect the cultural, political, and military situations in their realm?2. Using France (1700-1789) and Prussia (1700-1789) as examples of western and eastern patterns of absolutism, explain how they are similar to one another, and how they differ from one another. During the course of your discussion, be certain to consider the role of the standing army, the standing government, mercantilism, taxation, the nobility, religion, and wars of aggression in the development of these nation states.
3. During the war-filled 18th century, Russia, Prussia, Austria, France, and England emerged as the "Great Powers" of Europe, usually at the expense of declining older powers such as Poland, Sweden, Spain, and the Ottoman Empire. Discuss the political and economic and economic changes (such as the development of nation states), and the international conflicts and territorial expansions, that contributed to the rise of the Great Powers and the decline of the older powers during the years 1700-1795. Be certain to include in your answer a discussion of the Great Northern War, the War of the Spanish Succession, the War of the Austrian Succession, the Seven Years War, the peace treaties and settlements associated with these struggles, and the various partitions of Poland.
4. The Enlightenment was a watershed in Western Civilization in that many of its cultural, economic, political, religious, and social theories "laid the intellectual foundation for the revolutions that swept Europe and America" from the late 18th century through the present day. What was the Enlightenment? What were the main concepts and intellectual trends of Enlightenment thought? Who were the most influential people of the Enlightenment and how/why were they influential? What economic, political, and social theories emerged during the Enlightenment, and with whom (or what) do we associate them? Who were the "Enlightened" monarchs, and what was so enlightened about them?
5. Theories concerning the rights of man and the proper nature of government had been discussed and debated throughout the 18th century in drawing rooms, town halls, lodges, and taverns all across Europe and North America. In a well-organized essay, compare and contrast the origins, events, course, and outcomes of the American Revolution (1775-1789) and the French Revolution (1789-1815). In composing your essays you should consider not only the political, social, economic, and philosophical origins of these revolutions, but also such things as the emergence of revolutionary (or civic) leaders and spokesmen, revolutionary or counter-revolutionary factions, and the extent to which the courses and outcomes of these revolutions realized or failed to realize (or even betrayed) the goals and ideals of the revolutionaries as well as the people who supported them. You should also consider the fate of those who resisted or opposed the revolutions.
6. During the French Revolution, factions promoting reform and revolution and counter-revolution intermittently and sometimes interchangeably gained control in France, with decidedly mixed results. Discuss the major phases of the French Revolution from 1789 to 1814, being certain to include in your answer the Estates General, Storming the Bastille, the Declaration of Rights of Man and the Citizen, the Moderate phase, the Radical phase, the Terror, the Thermidor Reaction, the rise of Napoleon, and the Napoleonic Empire. What were the various factions involved, what were their goals, and how did they attempt to achieve them? Why the persecutions of religion? Why the foreign wars? Why the Terror? Why Napoleon? Assess the final outcomes, positive and negative.
7. Many scholars believe that the various attempts at Liberal revolutions in Europe from 1820 to 1848 (that is, the Spanish Revolution of 1820-1823, the July Revolution of 1830 in France, the Revolution of 1848 in France, the Revolutions of 1848 in Germany, the Revolutions of 1848 in Italy) were influenced by Enlightenment attitudes regarding the rights of man and the nature of government, and that they were also reactions to the forces of restoration and repression. What Enlightenment attitudes regarding mankind and government were embraced by these Liberals? How successful were the revolutionaries in establishing and maintaining Liberal governments that reflected these attitudes? Why were the forces of restoration and repression successful? Be sure to offer specific consideration of at least three of the above-mentioned revolutions in your answer.
8. Identify and discuss the three major phases of the Industrial Revolution in Europe and America, from 1750s to the present. What were the characteristic industrial technologies of each period? What were the characteristic worker dislocation of each phase? What role did governments play in each of these three phases? How did such things as the Enclosure Acts and the Corn Laws contribute to dislocations and economic pressures during the Industrial Revolution. What were (and are) the changing effects of the Industrial Revolution on the rural and urban populations of Europe and America? How did American hunters and outdoorsmen respond?
9.a. Beginning as early as the 1830’s, but especially after the revolutions of 1848, many Europeans and Americans abandoned traditional liberalism and/or the western religious traditions such as Christianity or Judaism and embraced instead “new” ideologies such as Nationalism, Marxism, Socialism, Social Darwinism, and various forms of Modernism or Secularism. What were the primary characteristics of any three of these “new” ideologies and philosophies in the 1830’s through the early 1900’s? Who were some of the leading spokesmen (or activists) for these new causes? What were the attitudes of these new ideologies to traditional western religions? What were some of the Christian and Jewish responses to these new ideologies?
9.b.. Beginning as early as the 1830’s and continuing through the early 1920's, many Europeans and Americans returned to (or invented new versions of) traditional western religions such as Christianity or Judaism and rejected such "new" ideologies as Nationalism, Marxism, Socialism, Social Darwinism, Materialism, Indifferentism, and various forms of Modernism or Secularism. What were the various Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish responses to the issues raised by these new ideologies and by the new industrial societies? Who were some of the leading spokesman (or activists) for these traditional western religions? What were the main issues that these religious responses addressed? How might this revival of traditional western religion in the longer run have played into the cultural, religious and racial agendas and intolerances of the "new" ideologies?
10. Consider the life and times, but especially the "fabulous industry and irregular commerce" of the J.P. Migne not only in terms of the industrialization of manufacturing processes during the 19th century, but also in terms of consumerism and mass production, marketing and advertising, finance & investment, nationalism, the reemergence of Christianity after a very destructive revolutionary period, and attempts to preserve, protect and extend the intellectual and cultural heritage of the past in an era of rapid change. Why does Bloch call J.P. Migne "God's Plagiarist"? How was J.P. Migne's production of the Patrologia Latina and Patrologia Graeca similar to the efforts of Pertz and Waitz to produce the Monumenta Germaniae Historica and British efforts to publish the Rolls Series? Why do scholars still rely upon these 19th century collections of texts?
11. Discuss the major issues and the course of events in European politics and international relations, 1815 through 1871. Duringthe course of your discussion be sure to include an examination and analysis of at least five of the following subtopics: the Congress of Vienna; the Holy Alliance; Metternich's "Concert of Europe;" suppressing the Revolutions of 1820-1848; the Crimean War (1854-1856); Italian "unification" under Piedmont; German "unification" under Prussia; the Austro-Prussian War (1866); the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871).
12. Discuss the major issues and the course of events in European politics and international relations, 1848 through 1914. During the course of your discussion be sure to include an examination and analysis of at least five of the following subtopics: the Crimean War (1854-1856); Italian "unification" under Piedmont; German "unification" under Prussia; the Austro-Prussian War (1866); the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871); Imperialism in Africa, Asia and the Near East; the Triple Alliance; the Triple Entente; the Morocco crises; the Balkan crises.