World History Spring 2018

I didn’t know that the Industrial Revolution was as world changing as Strayer paints it out to be. I also didn’t know that it spread much quicker than agriculture did. One of the sentences that summarized the importance of the Industrial Revolution was when Strayer wrote, “ In broad terms, the Industrial Revolution marks a human response to that dilemma as nonrenewable fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas replaced the endlessly renewable energy sources of wind, water, wood and the muscle power of people and animals” (738).   It was also interesting to see that there was awareness of environmental impact even in the 1700s. Of course, this environmental impact has only gotten drastically worse, and the awareness has risen dramatically but in a way, it’s a bit heartbreaking to see that despite the 300 years of awareness, the earth continues to suffer as a result of mankind’s irreverence. It makes sense that historians then named this era the Anthropocene, because it b...

The first document depicts three seemingly upper class men seated around a table eating and drinking. The picture is titled “The Reunion of the Three Estates.” One man is dressed in black robes, presumably intended to depict the clergy. Another is dressed in more regal clothing in all of the national French colors. Lastly, we see a man dressed simply, representing the commoners. The document actually is describing a brief moment in French history when there was an unrealistic belief that perhaps all three groups could get along peacefully and easily. The drawing makes me feel a certain level of sadness. It’s so beautiful that they thought it was once realistic for the three estates to get along so seamlessly, and it’s also applicable today to the way the 1% of highest earning individuals control so much of American wealth. The second picture depicts more of what actually happened. It shows the commoner pictured laying on the ground, FINALLY breaking out of the shackles with which...