Category Archives: History

During the 18th century new movements in art and literature sprung up. One of those new artistic movements’ was the movement of Romanticism. What were the characteristics of Romanticism?

Romanticism is an artistic movement that had a focus on emotions, unlike Neoclassicism which had a focus on reason, logic, and balance. Romanticism was also a movement that had an emphasis on the individual, and their feelings. One can find Romanticism in paintings, music, and literature. Thus, these are the characteristics of Romanticism.

Neoclassicism was an artistic period during the 18th century in which art was inspired greatly by the classical art from ancient Greece and Rome. Neoclassicism was not only applied to paintings but also to sculptures, literature, etc. 

A very important characteristic of Neoclassicism was its focus on balance, symmetry, and reason, which were valued things in the classical period. Another very important characteristic of Neoclassicism was its emphasis on serenity, order, and rationality. Thus these were the characteristics of neoclassicism. 

Socialism is a highly debated political belief that has much controversy surrounding it. The views of socialism have been around for centuries, but especially began to set forth after the French revolution which was based on certain socialistic beliefs. Like every political belief, socialism has a spectrum of subgroups who share a common view of socialism just with different flavors of the same belief. One of these so-called subgroups is known as Utopian socialism. What was the basic message of the utopian socialists?

Utopian socialists main goal is to persuade capitalists to surrender the means of production peacefully to the people. They believed that the government should have almost or total control over the people. Of course, like all areas of socialism, the ideal society of the Utopian socialists there would be no private property, all production would be under the control of a few specific producers, and no one would own anything. To conclude this was the basic message of the utopian socialists.

Liberalism is a term that has been distorted and changed over the years. Now the majority of us when we think of Liberalism we think of the views related more to the left of the political spectrum, but this view has not always been the same. The term classical liberalism is the term that describes the original definition of liberalism, which is more or less almost the opposite of the view that modern liberals have today. What is classical liberalism?

Classical liberalism is the view in which freedom is of utmost importance. Classical liberals believe in the individual freedom of the individual, which includes the beliefs of: freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and freedom of press. Many classical liberals also believe in the concept of the free market. The majority of classical liberals disapprove of government intervention, and the overriding of an individual’s liberties. Thus, this is classical liberalism.

Compulsory state education is a common norm in the west, with the majority of children in the west getting an education. In England in particular this system of compulsory state education system was established in 1870, which leaves the question: what does the evidence show about education in England before the compulsory state system was established?

At first most likely one thinks that before compulsory state education in England, few children were being educated in the lower classes, that education was merely for the rich. This was absolutely not the case. Before this compulsory education in England the percentage rates of literacy were already dramatically rising. In the later period of the 1830s, ninety five percent of fifteen year olds were literate. The compulsory education law in fact was established because there was a dramatic rise in people being educated, not the other way around. Also to note the reason why there was a drastic rise in people being educated was due to the increase in income and population. 

In short, the evidence showed that education in England was already dramatically increasing before 1870, when compulsory state education was put in place. 

The Congress of Vienna(1814-1815), brought together the four major European powers: England, Prussia, Austria, and Russia. This was after the French Revolution which was a time of uncertainty in Europe. What were the major principles guiding the diplomats at the Congress of Vienna?

The four powers at this meeting had one goal which was to unite Europe after Napoleon. They believed that working together in this way would protect them from another devastating Revolution, such as the one in France. The key principles that were guiding these diplomats included: compensation, power balance, and legitimacy of the throne. 

This Congress in Vienna influenced the replacing of Napoleon with Louis the 18th, who was the previous unfortunate king of France’s brother, which ultimately united Europe. 

The Congress of Vienna(1814-1815), brought together the four major European powers: England, Prussia, Austria, and Russia. This was after the French Revolution which was a time of uncertainty in Europe. What were the major principles guiding the diplomats at the Congress of Vienna?

The four powers at this meeting had one goal which was to unite Europe after Napoleon. They believed that working together in this way would protect them from another devastating Revolution, such as the one in France. The key principles that were guiding these diplomats included: compensation, power balance, and legitimacy of the throne. 

This Congress in Vienna influenced the replacing of Napoleon with Louis the 18th, who was the previous unfortunate king of France’s brother, which ultimately united Europe.

The West, though it had many ups and downs throughout history overall has been prosperous and successful. Many scholars today have some form of explanation for the reasoning behind western prosperity; many of these explanations fail to explain certain aspects of this prosperity which leaves gaps in the explanations. Deidre McCloskey, a very well-known professor of economics, has more of a sensible explanation for this matter. According to her, why do some of the traditional explanations for western prosperity fail, and what in her view is the major, unique ingredient that accounts for it?

 Some of the traditional explanations for western prosperity include imperialism, private rights, resources, etc. Though those are important factors, they do not exactly account for a full explanation. McCloskey on the other hand stated that she believed that the most important explanation to western prosperity is the fact that the middle class was acknowledged in the west. The middle class is technically the backbone of society and was acknowledged as such during a lot of western history. This according to McCloskey is a major unique ingredient that accounts for western prosperity or overall success in history. 

Slavery was something that existed for quite a long time, but when Britain and a number of European countries adopted this destructive institution they enslaved Black Africans, which was what we commonly think of when thinking about slavery. Eventually, enough slavery slowly began to be abolished in Britain and other countries. What were the different arguments that combined in Britain to pave the way for the abolition of slavery in that country’s overseas colonies?

Britain abolished slavery officially in 1833, some of the arguments that helped Britain pave the way for the abolition of slavery included: the Quakers who were very anti-slavery, and were one of the earlier voices to speak out against it. The famous political philosopher John Locke and a group of people known as the Levellers promoted the view of natural rights which all humans shared, which was another large influence. Also, people during this time made arguments on humanitarianism, which mainly discussed the horrible treatment of slaves, not exactly abolishing it.

In short, these were the different arguments that combined in Britain to pave the way for the abolition of slavery in that country’s overseas colonies?

The standard of living is a very controversial and discussed topic. Scholars throughout history have debated this topic on numerous sides; such as the side of the standard of living in other countries compared to one another, or the side of comparing the standard of living from each decade or century. What was the standard of living debate?

The standard of living debate was the debate between scholars on the topic of: did the industrial revolution improve the economic situation or make it worse. Industrialization brought much more jobs and more options for jobs. These new jobs of course had long hours and were very difficult and hard on the employees physically. But people have always done heavy manual labor, even before the Industrial Revolution. People before the Industrial Revolution did heavy farm labor, which was just as hard or even harder than the industrial jobs people now had. 

Another important question that came into play in this debate of standard of living, is the question of child labor. Child labor has always existed; it had existed long before the Industrial. Children had to do heavy manual labor on their family’s farm, way before the Industrial Revolution began. Now, these scholars on the majority agree that the Industrial Revolution improved living conditions because it brought forth more opportunities to a wider range of people. Thus, this was the standard of living debate.