EXTRA CREDIT: Charles Maier, "The Phases of the Cold War, 1945-1990" (1996)

The theme of this reading is that the author tells that historians say that the Cold War couldn’t have any clearer periodization. Therefore Charles Maier explains the 9 phases of the Cold war into detail so that it is easier to understand. He goes through the events like a timeline to clearly specify different events that went on during that time period. 

Several things that came to mind when I read this I decided that I should maybe do a little research on the Cold War and the NATO. I figured that the NATO must have been really important during this time of the Cold War. The NATO stands for North Atlantic Treaty Organization and because of the Korean War, and NATO became enemies with the collaboration of nations under the Warsaw Pact. Also another thing I learned about the Cold War is that because of the relationship between USA and USSR after WWII when both had nuclear weapons, it got the name: Cold War.

After reading this I noticed that among all of the phases, phase 6 stood out to me. “the continuing potential for open conflict almost slipped out of control in the complex series of crises from 1958 through 1962” Here Charles talks about the abrogate four power control of Berlin and the turn over the Soviet sector, and how back in the US John Kennedy was led to reinvigorate Cold War rhetoric to challenge Fidel Castros control of Cuba. Which I find so interesting because even today things are still very difficult in Cuba because Castro is so power hungry. It seemed like just when things may have been getting better in the Cold War, a ton of conflict took place that just kept it going. Crazy to me.

  Reading this story makes me think about how much history I honestly do not know much abut. I did not know much at all about the Cold War before I read this reading. So I actually really enjoyed this reading. I suppose we can relate this reading to the war in Iraq, and how people feel about it, and the different timeline or phases of events that have occurred leading up to it and the effects of it. It’s crazy to think about!

This reading relates to the text because the book talks about the Cold War as well as the tension between the US and the Soviet Union. Our textbook also talks about the NATO. Our text also talks about the significance of the signing of the Helsinki Accords. Plus, most of the readings we have done for this class have all been something that is covered in our text. I like that thought because we are able to learn more about things we have talked about in class. 

Adolf Hitler, Proclamation to the German Nation, February 1, 1933

The theme of this reading is that of WWI and what events occurred that left Germany in shambles under the power of Hitler. Hitler told the people of Germany that he along with God would fix the problems in their economy and society in a 4 year period. He basically took advantage of Germany at a low time which is very sad to see from such a strong, powerful leader.

Several things that came to mind when I read this was that Germany should have seen this economic crisis coming after all of the reparations they owed to other countries, income taxes, debt from spending, and the Great Depression didn’t help either. Therefore it was easy for Hitler to take over and get everyone on his side in such a crisis.

 After reading this I noticed that it was very naive for Germany to even think that this man could really bring the economy back on its feet after such a crisis in just four years guaranteed. That’s crazy to me. I mean thats good they had a positive outlook and were optimistic but you have to be real. Plus during this time Germany was not in leading growth for economy at that time. Hitler obviously had to have some sort of reasoning behind his extreme belief he could change that.

Reading this story makes me think about how Hitler must have been or seemed like a really kind and a nice decent person in Germany....Until he became a Dictator. I feel like people during this time were just searching for answers and something they could turn to and instead of God, they turned to Adolf Hitler, or perhaps they saw him as a sign or an answer to their prayers, kinda like their saving grace. Which kind of makes sense as to why they were so willing to follow him and how easy it was for him to gain immediate control, power, and popularity. Which soon lead to awful things for them and the discrimination of the Jews which no one saw coming because they trusted him so much, they were practically blindsided from one of the most horrific events that ever took place.

  This reading relates to the text because the book talks about events that took place after WWI and what caused or brought about WWII as well. It also discusses the issue of Hitler and his belief that he could single handedly bring Germany out of ruins. I found the reading to actually be very interesting and enjoyed this blog.

Thorstein Veblen Conspicuous Consumption, 1902

The theme of this reading is that of society and how it affects the social status and wealth of the different social classes. Thorstein Veblen feels that people find importance in looking like they have some amount of money in order to have an “acceptable” reputation and feel like by doing so they are put up to a higher social status amongst others. Thorstein expresses that it is only when you have practically nothing left (including food and money) that people will stop focusing on materialistic things and social status know they have to fight to survive another day or week where other things are at stake. Things like family, enough food, or their house, or job. Although because some families have to deal with that poverty, there are still standards that they tend to live by like as Thorstein said, “Conspicuous Consumption”. They try to make the best they can so that for example, a wife who is in charge of house decor may try and make the house look really nice to try to cover up poverty and make themselves have a better reputation. 

Several things that came to mind when I read this. Well, first of all, this reading was kinda long so it took me a little while to really grasp it but I realized that Thorstein really focuses on a disturbingly realistic principle that you're reputation and status in the community is decided by how much time you waste on materialistic items and “free time”. I guess I never really thought about how much people rely on reputation and advancement of technology to where they are almost obsessive and miss out on so much in life. I also found out that “Conspicuous Consumption” is that of spending on goods and services for the purpose of public expressing or showing your wealth. Which is all done to maintain an expected or desired social status. This whole concept came during the time of the Industrial Revolution and how it enabled the middle class to have good jobs which led to a decent, consistent income and people felt it was necessary to show off their wealth due to this occurrence.

After reading this I noticed how he mentioned that even the lower middle class families still find it necessary to gain acceptance of others and almost trick the people around them into seeing that they are of wealthy standards. This is very interesting because no matter what social class you are in, there will always be that “need” to maintain a good reputation and high wealth standards.

Reading this story makes me think about how much time we as a society really waste on nonsense things. It’s also crazy how people have it in their minds that you have to look like or show that you have some sort of wealth and are so consumed by “things” in this world rather than just life. This leads to so much more too, like this is part of the reason why there is so much judgement in our world today, people judge others based on society’s standards which isn’t fair or right. People judge others and make assumptions because of what job they may have, clothes they wear, where they live, the kind of car you have; and a lot of this is for self esteem so that you feel almost “better” than others. I see this all of the time, and after reading this I realized i have done some of those things before, but as a Christian its so difficult to see that people are doing the opposite of what Christ calls us to do. We are supposed to set aside worldly desires and yearn for eternity and put others before ourselves and not get wrapped up in materialistic items but instead turn to God and follow HIS will for our lives. People who are well off and have much wealth see there to be no reason to because they think they have it all together, and then people who are not doing well financially feel like there is no use because they feel that they can’t believe in God when all they have is nothing, so it’s like where can and how can we get people to a point were they realize that all the need is God and that whats most important in this world is what God thinks and how their heart is, not what objects they possess or the money they have. Most of what i just said was more of how i felt and my analysis of what was going through my head when i read this. It is easier said than done, but a great thing to think about for sure.

This reading relates to the text because the book talks about many different societies during different time periods, especially that of the early 20th century.

Chartist Petition of 1838

The theme of this reading is to explain to us just what exactly the Chartist Petition of 1838 was. The Chartist Petition was written to successfully change Parliament's laws for both the working and middle class. This petition was centered around reform and meant for a social democracy. The men who wrote this wanted to make six main changes: universal male suffrage, a secret ballot, no property qualification for members of Parliament, pay members of Parliament, constituencies of equal size, and annual elections for Parliament. 

Several things that came to my mind when i read this is that the Chartist Petition was also commonly called the "People's Charter". This came from the movement of Chartism. The goal of this was to gain as much strength as they could, however the Chartist Petition was rejected. This was the first mass working labor movement to come together for a particular cause.

    

After reading this i noticed that it stated, "Universal suffrage will, and it alone can, bring true and lasting peace to the nation; we firmly believe that it will also bring prosperity." I just loved this because I just have a big hard for loving people and helping people and peace. I realized though that these people felt that there would automatically be peace once everyone could vote. This however is false because just because you can vote it doesn't mean that things are all going to be happy go lucky or that there will just automatically be peace. Because even when you have a large amount of the population that can vote, it doesn't mean that there will not be dissent among the people for reasons by election. 

    

 Reading this makes me think about how there are many reforms that have taken place. There are reforms like: the African American suffrage and also the women’s suffrage. These all have to do with the fight for equal rights for women just as human beings and in the workplace. 

This reading relates to the text because in the text there were members of the London Workingman's Association that met or talked with those who wrote the Chartist Petition or were part of the Parliament. We also learned about how the Chartist movement died after several years. Overall this reading was okay, for me it was kind of hard to grasp or understand. But it was a good reading.

Women Miners in the English Coal Pits

The theme of this reading is that of misuse. During the late 1700's and early 1800's many women and children were misused. This reading also told us that women and children were given the same jobs as men but that they just worked for a cheaper pay than men. I just feel that it is not right that they all were doing the same job because they weren't men they weren't treated as fairly. 

Several things that came to mind when i read this was that because this was that during the industrial revolution things like this occurred more often than not and this was because families had to find ways to earn more money. This was due to the fact that at that time families were not doing well financially. However, women and children usually only brought home less than 1/3 of the pay given to men. This kind of work was very common, but after several decades a law was put into place that banned children under 10 years and all women from working in the mines.

  

 After reading this i noticed it said, "In many of the collieries in this district, as far as relates to the underground employment, there is no distinction of sex, but the labour is distributed indifferently among both sexes.” I understand that women wanted to do a lot of the same things as men and gain more freedom and equal rights but I do think there needs to be a line somewhere too. Especially in the workplace because were not all built the same to be able to all be capable of doing the same jobs. Its kind of sad to think what these children and women had to go through to do the same work the men had to do yet get paid even less.

  

Reading this story makes me think about how grateful i am that there were laws put into place to protect children and women from having to do extreme work that the men could endure but children could not. Its awful to think of what they had to go through that they should not have. Children are precious to God and to have little girls working alongside grown men in full nudity and therefore vulnerable to sexual indiscretions must have really upset Him.

    

This reading relates to the tex because the book talks about the Industrial Revolution and the roles of men, women, and children during that time. The reading and the text both talk about how children younger than 13 years old made up a lot of the work force. They both talked about what the women and children faced and the trials and difficult times they endured. They also covered wages and the work environment and what was produced in certain industries.

Modern History Sourcebook: The Crime of Galileo: Indictment and Abjuration of 1633

The theme of this reading is that of the conviction of Galileo for his beliefs. He was tried twice for crimes against the beliefs of the church. The Catholic church brought him in because he did not believe that the earth was at the center of the universe and unable to be moved. Galileo discovered that the sun actually the center of our solar system and that the earth revolves around it instead of the idea that the sun is circling the earth.The Church officials accused Galileo of heresy and wanted him to go back on his believes and turn to the "correct" beliefs.

Several things that came to my mind when I read this was that most of western civilization had believed and taught the Ptolemaic system. This system told how the earth stays still while everything else revolves around it. Copernicus was the first to challenge this idea. He felt that it was the sun that stayed still while everything else moved around it. Everyone seemed to believe the Ptolemaic System until Galileo's idea proved to make much more sense than any of the others. After writing his book, "Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems-Ptolemaic and Copernican" in 1632, many people switched beliefs to support his view. This caused the Roman Inquisition to step in and end this "heresy".

  

After reading this i noticed how the officials stated, "for holding as true a false doctrine taught by many...also, for having pupils whom you instructed in the same opinions; also, for maintaining a correspondence on the same with some German mathematicians; also for publishing certain letters on the sun-spots, in which you developed the same doctrine as true; also, for answering the objections which were continually produced from the Holy Scriptures, by glozing the said Scriptures according to your own meaning; and whereas thereupon was produced the copy of a writing, in form of a letter professedly written by you to a person formerly your pupil, in which, following the hypothesis of Copernicus, you include several propositions contrary to the true sense and authority of the Holy Scriptures." These reasons actually seemed very convincing to me. It shows just how stubborn the Roman Catholic Church was and how almost contradicting they were. Through their stubbornness they felt they were actually doing what was "right" which i found ironic.

  

Reading this makes me think about how Galileo had so much courage. He was very determined in uncovering the truth and stood for what he believed. He even "stood" when everyone was against him. I thought it was really cool how he still had the courage to put his findings in writings so that everyone could see what he discovered and how he truly felt. I see a connection here with ourselves and how our walks with Christ should be. We should feel the need to "stand" and be courageous and determined in our beliefs for the whole world to see even when the world may be against us God gives us the strength to persevere.

This reading relates to the text because in class we talked about Galileo and read about all of these people: Ptolemaic, Copernicus, and stuff and read in the text information about this same topic but just in greater depth. As well as, discussing how Galileo ended up in from the Roman inquisition because of these new discoveries.

from The Duty of a King in His Royal Office Sir Walter Raleigh, 1599

The theme of this reading is to show how absolutism was a part of monarchy. This reading by Sir Walter Raleigh shows us that during that time the kings had complete power that they compared to the power of God. Raleigh talks about how kings are not only compared to the divine power but also compared to the father of a family, a father figure politically, and the power of "the body of man". He  describes and defends how the kings of this age think very highly of themselves and have much power. He uses metaphors and comparisons, to show us what roles the Kings play and the responsibilities that they have over their land.

   

Several things that came to mind when I read this was that Sir Walter Raleigh was a very interesting writer. He climb the "power ladder" very successfully and was knighted in 1584. When he was in power he was a very good ruler and handled responsibility very well. He was shown to be fair to his workers however at the time this reading was written, Raleigh was not well liked in Europe. Another thing that stood out to me was when in the reading it stated,"The state of monarchie is the supremest thing upon earth; for kings are not only Gods lieutenants upon earth, and sit upon Gods throne, but even by God himself they are called gods." What I don't understand is why he felt like he could state these things as if he had the authority. He clearly was not turning to the Bible for this because where in their Bible is it written that human kings filled with sin and God's angels are the same. I know that in the Bible God doesn't want us to call anyone else God besides Himself so that statement seems incorrect. We are to follow the laws unless they go again what God has commanded and I feel like due to this statement, this would one of this instances where you would have to go towards what is commanded by God rather than following that law. It is an issue of loyalty.

   

After reading this I noticed that in this reading Raleigh states, "No one man should have all that power". I feel that this making a valid point. I don't think that a large amount of power should ever be given to a very sinful person, which would include all of mankind, which there means that no one should have all that power like Raleigh is talking about.

   

Reading this makes me think about how it can be compared to how powerful of a company Mcdonalds' is in comparison to the competitors in the fast food industry. So many people show so much respect to it and everyone all over seems to know what it is because of all the advertisement especially. People don't notice the major flaws of the restaurant because of how much authority it is given by mankind, as far as fast food is concerned at least. There is arguably no other fast food company in the world that can match the absolute power of Mcdonalds.

  

This reading relates the text because in our book the European monarchs practiced absolutism by eliminating the other parts of their country that were either weak or a threat to their authority.This is exactly how it was describe in Sir Walter Raleigh's reading. They had the ability to cut off weak members and such as if to show they weren't needed or wanted. Which is a lot like how the monarchies of Europe wanted to extend their state and therefore their power just like the kings are the natural fathers of their families and therefore want to expand and control the new incomers.