Students To The European Revolution example essay topic

Course Outline Description of the course This course introduces students to the events that shaped the Civilization of Western countries, their causes and their consequences. It also describes the age of Enlightenment, what led to it and the key events that were marked in that period. The French revolution, its causes, key players and consequences have been described in detail. The last topic to be covered in this course is the first major war the world ever experienced, World War One, its causes, the real war, effects and the people who played major roles.

With the adaptation of this course, some gaps in the Department of history will be filled and it will make work easier. Instead of the students being forced to grasp a lot of knowledge just in short time, this course has reviewed the previous courses which had a lot of topics covered in one semester. Some few topics from the previous versions have been scrapped off to reduce the workload. Under these specified topics, several subtopics have also been described in detail.

The course is meant for history undergraduate students pursuing their Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Education degrees. Course Objectives To help History students' knowledge expansion in the key concepts of social sciences and the terminology used such as humanity, causes, effects and consequences. To make students appreciate History, not just as a subject studied in learning institutions but also as a developmental process that affects humanity directly. The course will also enable students to find evidence about the past on their own.

By the end of this course, students should be able to define and explain terms such as Civilization, Enlightenment, Revolution and War. Students should be able to make comparisons between Western Civilization and other civilization processes that took place in the world. The course will also guide the students in making deep analysis in the current researches that are going on about the causes of the French Revolution and World War One. Students should be able to demonstrate how Philosophy, Religion and Art led to Western Civilization. To enable students come up with their own judgments about the events that took place, from the Western Civilization through the Enlightenment age to the First World War.

Weekly Outline to be covered This course requires three hours a week for its completion. The students shall be allowed to choose whether they prefer a lesson which will run for three hours continuous or a double lesson in one day followed by a single hour later. Students are encouraged to attend all the classes for them to gain much and make good grades in their final papers. Week One Topic one: The Early Civilizations (Prehistory to 500 C. E). Subtopics: The first civilizations, western Asia, Egypt and Mesopotamia (Kagan, Ozment & Turner 2000). A detailed introduction to Western Civilization starting with its definition shall be looked at.

All the topics and subtopics shall be discussed in the order of their appearance in the primary text book. It is important that the early civilizations of Egypt and Mesopotamia be studied because they contributed a lot to the Western Civilization. Students shall identify and explain those contributions. Week Two Topic two: The Pre-Classical and Classical Greek civilization. Subtopics: The Trojan War, Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic world, Greek philosophy in civilization, Peloponnesian wars. During this week, students shall be introduced to classical Greece, its civilization, its glories and its diminishing.

Important Greek personalities Plato, Aristotle and Socrates will also be studied. Their philosophical ideas and their contribution to politics will be covered in depth. Week Three Topic three: The Roman civilization (1500-1800). Subtopics: The Roman Republic, The Roman Empire and its fall, Early Christian History. Students will study the Roman Empire and aspects of Christianity. Factors that contributed to the growth of the Roman Empire shall be identified.

All the events that led to the fall of Rome shall be discussed in detail and the challenges facing Christianity and the church. During this week, students shall be required to sit for their first CAT. Week Four Topic four: The New World Patterns. Subtopics: Transformation of Europe, State building, Lutheran Reformations in Germany, Protestantism, Catholicism, Exploration (Kagan, Ozment & Turner 2000). The renaissance period and the Reformations that later followed shall be studied during this week. Students will also be taught in detail all the major activities that took place during this period (1500-1650) for example, how the Protestant Reformations spread.

Important people who contributed to the reformations like Martin Luther will be studied. Their ideologies and the reasons that made them call for such changes shall be outlined and discussed. Students shall also be taught the crises that Europe faced during this period. Political and Religious wars, their causes and effects shall be discussed deeply. The social, political and economic effects of the Reformations and the Renaissance period shall be studied.

Week Five Topic five: The age of Empires in Europe. Subtopics: The coming together of Europe under the empirical system, Successes and failures of these empires and their examples. The major focus of this week shall be the uprising of empires in the Western countries. The activities that occurred between the period of 1500 and 1800 shall be looked at keenly. The students will be taught the reasons why the empires grew, their objectives, their strengths and finally, what led to their collapse. The impacts of these empires, starting with the political, economic and social shall be looked at keenly and what their collapse brought to the society.

Week Six Topic six: The Age of Enlightenment. Subtopics: Philosophy, Education, Religion and Art. The term Enlightenment shall be defined and discussed in the European context. The major events and occurrences of this period shall be keenly studied and the key personalities looked at in detail.

During this week, students will be taught how God was viewed by different people, how art was valued and the different positions people held about Philosophy. Week Seven Topic seven: The European Revolution: Subtopics: The French Revolution and other revolutions in Europe, the Napoleonic wars, the Congress of Vienna and the Westphalia treaty. The European Revolution that occurred between the period 1770 and 1815 shall be covered during this week. Among the major revolutions to be discussed will be the French Revolution and later on, the Napoleonic wars. The causes of these wars and their subsequent consequences shall be discussed. The major players who instigated these activities will also be discussed in detail.

The Westphalia treaty and the Congress of Vienna shall be looked at as the two major processes that led Europe into its recovery. The important people who participated in these processes shall also be studied. Great people like Napoleon Bonaparte and their contributions to the revolution will also be looked at Week Eight Topic eight: Industrial Revolution. Subtopics: Various revolutions in Britain and Germany. The students shall be introduced to the birth of Industrial Revolution in Britain and Germany. Industrial Revolution occurred in between 1815 and 1870.

All the major discoveries, explorations and inventions that were made shall be looked at. The impact of the Industrial Revolution shall be discussed at length. Week Nine Topic nine: The Rise of Great Powers. Subtopics: Imperialism, Sarajevo Murder and World War One.

Students will be introduced to the Imperialism period in Europe, the uprising of the Great powers and the First World War. The causes of the war will be discussed in detail, its effects and the great harm it did to humanity. Measures to prevent the occurrence of such destructive wars will also be covered during this week. Week Ten The course will be finalized during this week.

The textbook used will be summarized and the students shall be given their assignments. For t he remaining period, students are expected to revise for their end of semester examinations. Instructional Methods Use of PowerPoint presentation. PowerPoint presentation enables all the students to see what the instructor is demonstrating on board. This method is effective because it saves time, energy and resources. Forming up of discussion groups.

The students will be required to come up with discussion groups for after every topic, a group will be given that topic for preview. Student requirements for completion of the course In order to take the examination, Students shall be required to attend at least two thirds of the lessons in the whole semester. The students should always come to class early to avoid sluggishness in the coverage of the course. Students will be required to read the primary text provided (at least three quarters of the topics covered) and any other secondary text. Reading List Primary Text Kagan, D., Ozment, S. & Turner, M.F. (2000). The Western heritage: Vol. 2 (6th Edition).

New Jersey: Prentice Hall. For Secondary texts, students will be free to choose any book that will interest them. The following topics and subtopics been chosen because they are going to equip the students with necessary skills and knowledge to understand the great history of Europe and how it has continued to affect them in relation to the outside world. The course outline includes the social, economic, political and cultural developments that took place during the Western civilization to World War One. It is going to be explained in the following paragraphs why these events and activities are important to the undergraduate students.

The influential personalities chosen will also be included in the explanation, as well as the major time divisions in the 19th century. The first topic selected is The Early Civilizations. This topic is suitable because it reflects to students what would come later as Western Civilization. The Western Civilization occurred after the civilizations in Egypt and Mesopotamia. The great civilizations that arose in Egypt and Mesopotamia beginning from 3500 BC marked a very important stage in the history of human development. These countries were the first countries to ever practice agriculture, with most crops and cereals originating from them.

Introducing students to these details will help them appreciate these countries for being the founders of Western Civilization. With the production of agriculture at its peak, urban centers started coming up. In Egypt, towns with good planning and architecture were being developed and these designs have been borrowed much in other parts of the world. It is important also for students of History to also learn that, the first Kingdoms and empires were developed in Egypt. This will give them a greater understanding of the Kingdoms and Empires that would later flood medieval Europe. The ancient Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilizations reached their peak in 1600 BC, with the discoveries of copper and bronze.

Alphabetical letters have their long history in Egypt (Kagan, Ozment & Turner 2000). The second topic that has been outlined for this course is the Pre-Classical and Classical Greek civilization. Introducing students to the subsequent civilization that occurred in Greece will enable them understand how this civilization contributed to the activities that would late take place in the other parts of Europe. In this topic, students will benefit by learning how the development of the Minoan Society in Crete contributed to Greece's early civilization. In 1600 to 1200, Mycenaean had reached the peak of its civilization. This topic will enable students know the cause of the Trojan War and how it helped build or destruct Greece.

It is highly recommended for anyone taking History for higher studies to be able to define and explain what the term 'Greek Dark Ages mean'. The Dark Age was a period between 800 AD to Renaissance and was marked by total domination by Christianity. During this period, Christians monitored every kind of activity. Students should be able to understand that during this period, great scientific discoveries and works of art that were not Christian in nature were done away with. It will be explained in detail why Athens lost to Sparta in the Peloponnesian wars. Europe had begun its long course of transformation (Kagan, Ozment & Turner 2000).

The third topic, which is The Roman civilization, is important to students because it continues with the divisions in time in the history of civilization. Rome was a powerful empire that spread across the Mediterranean. The Empire occupied an enormous geographical position in Europe, making it one of the most successful Empires in history. It is important for those students who will need to be Historians to know that The Empire was build after the fall of the Roman Republic due to civilian wars. Students should be able to know that due to its expansionism, Rome was able to control many things like language, Architecture and Religion. The rise of the Ottoman Empire contributed to the fall of Rome (Kagan, Ozment & Turner 2000).

Topic Four could not be omitted from this course because it talks about very important stages marked in the European historical timeline. New World Patterns took over from the old systems. The topic covers transformation in Europe and this is one of the basic things History students should cover before completing their studies. This period saw Europe being transformed from just a simple continent to a more complex one. Martin Luther, a once priest of the Roman Catholic church fell out of favor with it because he thought that the system was too harsh and rigid to change. Martin Luther started the Protestant movement, marking the beginning of a new Europe (Kagan, Ozment & Turner 2000).

Topic Five talks about the age of empires in Europe. In the period between 1500 and 1800, Europe had so many empires. Among some of the most powerful empires was Ottoman Empire, which had just led to the defeat of the Roman Empire. This chapter is brief because it only talks about the empires, their failure and how they controlled people's lives (Kagan, Ozment & Turner 2000). In the sixth topic, much has been done to try and integrate all the elements of the Age of Enlightenment so that it can suit to students taking this course. This topic will help students understand what this term means and why they decided to name it that way.

The Enlightenment group was made up of great thinkers who were looking for ways of trying to understand the world and human beings without invoking Christianity. This was the period Thomas Paine came to refer as the Age of Reason. This topic is important to students because it will help them understand the major activities that were taking place during this period. This was a time when Newton's new form of science had a lot of impact and was supported by many philosophers (Kagan, Ozment & Turner 2000). Basically, people were tired with Religious beliefs about man and his activities so, they decided to use knowledge they could involve evidence.

Students of this course will be able to appreciate the role played by science and philosophy in trying to understand nature, beauty, art and humanity in general. Topic seven introduces students to the European Revolution. The European revolution is one of the most important events that marked the beginning of a new Europe. The success or failure of the present day European countries can be drawn from that great Revolution. British had a revolution, succeeding in reducing the powers of the King and having parliament take control of some things in the country.

The French Revolution, which occurred between 1792 and 1825, is probably the most central event in the Western Civilization. The revolution was caused by the mistreatment of citizens by the noble rulers. The regime taxed the poor citizens mercilessly, and imposed harsh conditions on them. The revolution had a great impact on the political, social and economic environment. The long time divisions in terms or social classes came to an end.

People regained their rights and the feudal system of production came to an end. The economy of the country stabilized once again after recovering from the fall that had been caused by the corrupt rulers. In this chapter, students will also enrich their historical knowledge about Napoleon, the man who led France to glory. The Congress of Vienna (1814-1815 brought peace in Europe. The Congress included the Great Britain, Austria, Prussia and Russia. France later joined in 1818.

The Congress's objective was to maintain peace through periodical conferences and mutual agreements (Kagan, Ozment & Turner 2000). The decision to include Industrial Revolution as Topic nine has been reached at after realizing that many students are not able to clearly understand the major events that took place during this period. Industrial Revolution occurred between 1815 and 1870. It was a one period that saw most European countries competing fairly, not in terms of war but in terms of technology. This period was marked by improved means of production. Industries were built to replace the cottage systems.

Students will be able to learn why the Great Britain and Germany were the main key players in this period (Kagan, Ozment & Turner 2000). Lastly, topic nine introduces the student to the Rise of Great Powers. The previous topic clearly explains why Britain and Germany rose to be most great powers in Western Europe. They developed Imperialist systems in African and Asian countries to expand their territories.

Students will be able to know that apart from the Sarajevo murders as the immediate cause of World War One, the powerfully industrialized countries developed weapons in readiness for the war. The effects of the war were so ugly, affecting many people's social and economic lives. Many lives were lost, families separated, economies of many countries deteriorated and the environment polluted. The war was not just a military and political activity but also a cultural and social distraction. They mainly involved Germany, France, Britain and later on the US (Kagan, Ozment & Turner 2000).

As it can be seen from the above description, this course is suitable to undergraduate History students because it covers what they need to know. Apart from covering the major time divisions and their characteristics, the course also covers major personalities like Napoleon and major contributing countries like Greece, Germany and Italy. Philosophy has also been described as being the major player in the Enlightenment Age. There is no doubt that this course best befits the History students.