The exploitation of colonial resources and indigenous labor was one of the key elements in the success of imperialism.
Option 1: Imperialism
The exploitation of colonial resources and indigenous labor was one of the key elements in the success of imperialism. Such exploitation was a result of the prevalent ethnocentrism of the time and was justified by the unscientific concept of social Darwinism, which praised the characteristics of white Europeans and inaccurately ascribed negative characteristics to indigenous peoples. A famous poem of the time by Rudyard Kipling, “White Man’s Burden,” called on imperial powers, and particularly the U.S., at whom the poem was directed, to take up the mission of civilizing these “savage” peoples.
Read the poem at the following link:
Link (website): White Man’s Burden (Links to an external site.) (Rudyard Kipling)
After reading the poem, address the following in a case study analysis:
Select a specific part of the world (a country), and examine imperialism in that country. What was the relationship between the invading country and the native people? You can select from these examples or choose your own:
Belgium & Africa
Britain & India
Germany & Africa
France & Africa
Apply social Darwinism to this specific case.
Analyze the motivations of the invading country?
How did ethnocentrism manifest in their interactions?
How does Kipling’s poem apply to your specific example? You can quote lines for comparison.
Option 2: The Armenian Genocide
Ethnic hatred is not new to the human race and ethnic hatred also goes hand in hand with some of the causes of World War 1 that we have discussed this week, namely nationalism and imperialism. In nationalism, the people not only believe their countrymen (those who look, talk, sound, and believe like them) are not only “better” than people of certain other countries but they also have the right and possibly even the responsibility to conquer areas with those inferior to them and take whatever resources they feel they need. Add to this the need for the leader of a country to be able to blame a certain ethnic group within that country for their problems. Such was the case in the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Turks launched a winter offensive into the mountains of southern Russia early in the war and suffered a severe defeat, both at the hands of the Russian army and the terrible weather they encountered. The Sultan needed a scapegoat to blame the loss on, so he picked an unpopular ethnic minority, the Armenians. Since the people seemed to believe the story, the Ottoman military rounded up as many Armenians as they could and marched them away to their fate.
Watch the following videos on the Armenian genocide:
Link (video): Armenian Diaspora (Links to an external site.) (32: 43)
Link (video): Battle over History (Links to an external site.) (12:04)
After viewing the videos, conduct research on the topic and develop a case study based on the following questions:
How did the Armenian genocide play on the root causes of World War I, including nationalism, imperialism, social Darwinism, ethnic hatred, and the gullibility of the Turkish people who allowed this to happen and often even supported it.
What were the main motivations of the Ottoman rulers who decided to try and eliminate an entire ethnic minority within their country?
What was the process the Ottomans went through to round up the Armenians and march them to their deaths? Describe the process of the march and eventual genocide of the Armenians.
Why do terrible crimes against humanity always seem to happen during a war?
How do foreign governments recognize and deal with this event in their relationship with Turkey?
HIST410N Contemporary History
Week 2 Assignment
Essay – Video Analysis
Read/review the following resources for this activity:
Textbook: Chapter 4, 5, 6
Lesson
Link (video): Benito Mussolini (Links to an external site.) (53:48)
Minimum of 2 scholarly sources (in addition to the textbook)
Instructions
Watch the entire video on Benito Mussolini (noted in the Required Resources). Identify and describe 3 aspects of the video you found most interesting that align with each of the following:
Foreign policy.
Violent and/or non-violent movements for social, economic, and political change
Governmental authority/loss of personal liberties
Conduct additional research to provide an analysis of those 3 aspects. What information did you find that the video left out? How did the video enhance your understanding of those aspects?
HIST410N Contemporary History
Week 3 Assignment
Case Study – Mobilizing the Masses
Required Resources
Read/review the following resources for this activity:
Textbook: Chapter 4, 5
Lesson
Minimum of 2 scholarly sources (in addition to the textbook)
Instructions
For this assignment, select one of the following options.
Option 1: Chronicle Adolf Hitler’s rise from failed art student to political speaker to eventually gain control over Germany.
Option 2: Describe Benito Mussolini’s revival of European Imperialism in North Africa and how he came to be Adolf Hitler’s ally.
Option 3: Chronicle the rise of extreme militarism in Japan and how it led them to conquer huge chunks of land in Asia and so many islands in the western Pacific basin, and how this led to their conflict with Great Britain and the United States
Option 4: Describe Joseph Stalin’s rise to total power in the USSR and how his paranoia and desire for total control led to the terrible purges of the 1930s.
HIST410N Contemporary History
Week 4 Assignment
Essay – The Holocaust
Read/review the following resources for this activity:
Textbook: Chapter 5, 6
Lesson
Minimum of 2 scholarly sources (in addition to the textbook)
Instructions
For this assignment, select one of the following options.
Option 1: Poetry
Select any 2 poems about the Holocaust. You can select from the following list of poets/poems or conduct additional research on Holocaust poetry. Make sure to get approval from your instructor if you are selecting something not on the list. Click on the link to see the list:
Link: List of Poets/Poems
Write an analysis of each poem, including the following information:
Explain the background on the author, especially in relation to the Holocaust.
Explain the content of the poem – what story or message is it trying to tell?
How does the poem relate to the bigger picture of the Holocaust?
How effective is the poem in relating the Holocaust to readers?
Option 2: Art
Select any 2 of works of art about the Holocaust. You can select from the following list or conduct additional research on Holocaust art. Make sure to get approval from your instructor if you are selecting something not on the list. Click on the link to see the list:
Link: List of Artists/Artworks
Write an analysis of each artwork, including the following information:
Identify the title, artist, date completed, and medium used.
Explain the content of the artwork – what do the images show?
How does the artwork relate to the bigger picture of the Holocaust?
How effective is the artwork in relating the Holocaust to viewers?
Option 3: Video
Watch the following video:
Link (video): The Holocaust (Links to an external site.) (35:00)
Write a paper on what you learned about peoples’ experiences and intentions during the Holocaust:
What were the Nazis thinking of when they made these decisions?
What were the otherwise good people of Germany thinking when they allowed it to go on?
What were the victims of this genocide thinking and feeling as they went through this terrible process?
Describe at least one part of the video that had the greatest impact on you.
How effective are the writings/images in the video in relating the Holocaust to viewers?
HIST410N Contemporary History
Week 7 Assignment
Case Study – Space Race
Read/review the following resources for this activity:
Textbook: Chapter 9, 10
Lesson
Minimum of 2 scholarly sources (in addition to the textbook)
Instructions
For this assignment, analyze the space race.
What did it mean for the U.S. and USSR during the Cold War?
Is the space program still relevant?
Is it worth the cost, considering the growing debt?
How does the space program benefit the U.S. national economy in general?
How does it benefit the world?
Is space exploration the domain of the world’s leading nations?
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