HIS242H5 Lecture 1: HIS242 Lecture 1
Document Summary
From a socio-historical perspective, we should look at the 19th century (1800"s) and 20th century (1900"s) centuries together. The 19th century was the century of some of the greatest achievements of human kind ( industrial revolution, democratization, mass literacy, nationalism, national unification) Yet the 20th century saw the dark side" or these achievements (nationalism brought on war; technology brought killing machines etc. ) Oppression of jewish people began in the middle ages, this is present in shakespeare"s. Merchant of venice i. e. born different and cannot change. What would happen if everyone changed their borders? . Nationalism can be dangerous if everyone wants it. History is not a linear progression from the bad times. Europe stopped being the centre of the world during this period. Europe was the zenith of power in 1914. 400 million people (25% of the world"s population) The centre of culture, science and technology and colonies. Italy (unified in 1866; rome incorporated in 1871)
