Topic outline

  • UNIT1 CONTRIBUTION OF THE MAIN ANCIENT CIVILISATIONS TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE 1 MODERN SOCIETY

    Key Unit competence:
    The student-teacher should be able to explore the contribution of the main

    ancient civilisations of the world to the development of the modern society.

    Introductory activity
    The world history has described different civilisations which were developed
    from the antiquity to modern times. Among these civilisations include the
    Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Hebrew, Greek, Roman civilisations and others.
    Each of these civilisations influenced the way of life in the world. Using
    a range of written materials and internet, research on the location and
    expansion of Greek and Roman civilisations and describe the elements and
    contributions of both the Greek and Roman civilisations to the development

    of the modern society.

    1.1 Location and expansion of Greek and Roman
    civilisations
    Use various books and internet and describe the location and expansion of
    Greek and Roman civilisations.

    Activity 1.1
    Use various books and internet and describe the location and expansion of
    Greek and Roman civilisations.
    The word “civilisation” comes from the Latin word ‘civis’ which means a city.
    Therefore, civilisation is a way of a group of people that entails their various way

    of life such as culture, dressing and food.

    The word “civilisation” comes from the Latin word ‘civis’ which means a city.
    Therefore, civilisation is a way of a group of people that entails their various way
    of life such as culture, dressing and food.
    Civilisation: Refers to an advanced and organized way of human development.
    It is also the advanced stage of human life in which people have cities and
    organized governments. People have also various specialties and occupations,

    such as farming, pottery, merchant, teachers and others.

    Most of civilisations have also included the construction of big structures, such
    as temples, palaces, city walls etc. The civilisation also includes literature,
    mathematics, architecture, calendar and arts of various types.
    The civilisation is a kind of human living characterized by great advance in human
    culture where people began to farm, form governments, use metals, live in cities
    and use writing.
    To reach to that stage, for many years, man wondered from place to place in
    search of food with no permanent settlement. He lived a life of animals feeding
    on wild fruits and insects. After many centuries of wondering, man felt a need
    to settle down in one settlement and grow crops instead of picking wild fruit.
    Therefore; man became food producer instead of food gatherer.
    The earliest civilisations began along great river valleys in the third millennium
    BC and they were developed around the great rivers: Egyptian civilisation began
    around Nile River, Mesopotamian civilisation around Tigris and Euphrates, Indian
    civilisation around Indus River and Chinese civilisation around Huang River
    (Yellow River). In the second millennium other civilisations appeared around

    Mediterranean Sea. They include Roman, Greek civilisation and others.

    A number of factors explain why the first man settled along river valleys rather

    than any other place.

    • The presence of fertile soils in river valleys. This was due to the silt
       deposited during seasonal flooding of the river. This encouraged
       farmers to settle there.
    • The availability of water which could be used for both domestic and
       irrigation purposes.
    • The presence of a wild game. There was much kind of small animals
       and birds along river valleys that attracted man for survival.
    • The climate along the river valleys. These river valleys had suitable
       temperatures and well distributed rainfall which played a big role in the
       civilisation process.
    • The attractive scenery along river valleys characterized by many kinds
       of colourful flowers like water lilies.
    • River valleys provided fishing grounds which attracted people to settle
       and specialize in fishing.
    • The river favored communication and exchange of ideas. Trade was
       developed, boats were built and helped in the civilisation process.
    • The presence of resources along river valleys such as clay and papyrus

       which helped in making pots and mats.

    a. Location and expansion of Greek civilisations

    Map 1: Ancient Greece

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    Greece is a country in southeastern Europe with thousands of islands throughout
    the Aegean and Ionian seas. Among the different islands of Greece, Crete is
    the biggest. Influential in ancient times, it’s often called the cradle of Western
    civilisation. Athens, its capital, retains landmarks including the 5th-century
    B.C. Acropolis citadel with the Parthenon temple. Greece is also known for its
    beaches, from the black sands of Santorini to the party resorts of Mykonos. This
    country is located near Africa and Asia. It is separated by these two continents
    by waters of Mediterranean Sea.


    From Greece mainland, there is a piece of land that forms a peninsula. This is

    the Peloponnesus peninsula. The great city of Peloponnesus is Sparta. The
    great city of Attic is Athens and the great city of Boeotia is Thebes.

    Greece is bordered by Macedonia in north, Mediterranean Sea in south, and
    Aegean Sea in East. Generally, Greece is a mountainous country. Therefore,
    road transport is difficult but water transport is easy because of many islands
    and there are well located ports that help people from the coastal region to
    communicate. In Greece, there is a Mediterranean climate, dry and hot mainly in

    spring and summer. The main economic activity is trade.

    The Greek culture originated from island of Crete. This island served as a link
    for trade between Europe, Africa and Asia. As a result of this strategic location,
    Crete became a place where many people from different cultural backgrounds
    went and exchanged ideas. The civilisation that developed on Crete city
    became known as Minoan, named after a great King of Crete called Minos. The
    Greek culture copied a lot from Minoan civilisation. The Minoan civilisation was
    replaced by Mycenaean civilisation about 1400 BC. The Dorians then came

    around 1200 BC and pushed the Greeks to Aegean Island (Ionia).

    The Greeks stayed for 200 years on the Aegean Island a period known as
    dark period”. The Greeks mixed with different people and this gave birth to
    the Hellenes people who shared the common language, customs and beliefs.
    What emerged from this mixture was the Greek civilisation. According to F.
    Kenneth Cox, Greek civilisation developed out of a combination of two earlier
    civilisations, Minoan and Mycenaean. The Minoans, who were known as Cretans,
    were a seafaring people. Their civilisation arose around 2800 B.C on Crete,
    an island in the Mediterranean Sea. Little by little the people of Athens mixed
    with other cities in religions and games. These activities led to Olympic Games
    which united the Greeks even further. The Greeks called themselves Hellenes,

    after Hellas a town in northern Greece.

    Note that with Dorian invasion, the Mycenaean fled in the plateau of Arcadia,
    Boeotia and in Attic or in the Aegean Islands. They also moved to the coast of
    Minor Asia. This invasion makes all Greek speaking people to be scattered in
    the whole basin of the Aegean Sea (Present Greece +Islands+ costs of Asia)

    hence spreading the Greek culture.

    The Roman civilizations

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    b. Location and expansion of Roman civilisations

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    Source: https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=images

    Rome is the capital city of Italy and of Lazio (Latium) Region and Rome Province,
    on the Tiber River, in the central part of the country near the Tyrrhenian Sea.
    The geography of the Italian Peninsular made possible the rise of Rome. The
    peninsular extends about 750 miles from north to south with a width of about
    120 miles. It is centrally located in the Mediterranean. The city of Rome is in the
    center of Italy. This central location made Rome to expand, first in Italy, and later
    in the lands around the Mediterranean Sea.

    Italy’s location made it easier to unify than Greece. The Peninsular is not broken
    up into small, isolated valleys. The Apennine Mountains formed a ridge from
    north to south and divides the country into west and east. Italy was equally
    blessed by having broad, fertile plains, both in the north under the shadow of
    the Alps, and in the west, where the Romans settled. The fertile lands supported
    her growing population.

    According to tradition, Rome was founded in 753bc on one of the Seven Hills:

    Capitoline, Quirinal, Viminal, Esquiline, Caelian, Aventine, and Palatine.

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               Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_hills_of_Rome#/media/File:Seven_Hills_of_

                                                                                          Rome.svg

    The Roman civilisation grew along the Tiber river in central Italy. It was mainly
    first concentrated in the city of Rome. This was after the Romans conquered the

    Greeks in 146 BC that they founded the city in 753 BC.

    Romans have a legend about the founding of their city.
    After the fall of Troy the gods ordered a Trojan prince called Aeneas to lead his
    people to a promised land in the west. When Aeneas reached Italy they joined
    forces with a people known as Latin. About 800 BC a Latin princess gave birth
    to twin sons fathered by the god Mars. The princess had taken an oath never

    to have children. Because she broke her word, she was punished. Her sons,

    Romulus and Remus were taken from her and left to die on the bank of flooding

    Tiber. Romulus and Remus were found by a she-wolf, which fed and cared for
    them. One day a shepherd killed the she-wolf and discovered babies. He took
    them to his home. There the shepherd and his wife raised them as their sons.
    When the boys grew older, they decided to build a city. The sign from gods
    showed Palatine. Romulus and Remus wanted to be the king, therefore they
    fought and Remus was killed. Romulus became king of the city which he named

    Rome (753 BC) in the plain of Latium.

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                         Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Founding_of_Rome#/media/

                          File:Kapitolinische_W%C3%B6lfin_Museum_Capitolini.jpg


    Sculpture of the
    she-wolf feeding
    the twins Romulus
    and Remus, the
    most famous image
    associated with the

    founding of Rome.

    Rome also managed to take control of the powerful North African city of
    Carthage hence uniting the entire Mediterranean region. She also controlled
    the Mediterranean Sea. At the peak of its powers, her empire covered Egypt,
    Greece, Asia Minor and Syria – all to her East. To her west were Tunisia, Algeria,

    Morocco and Spain, Portugal, France, Switzerland, Belgium and England.

    Rome’s development was greatly influenced by the geography of the Italian
    peninsular. The area had excellent marble and small quantities of lead, tin,
    copper, iron (on the island of Elba) and silver in its extensive coastline. There
    were few good harbours, most of which faced the west away from Greece and
    the Near East. Ancient Italy, nonetheless, was well endowed with large forests.
    It had more fertile land than ancient Greece. However, it was more exposed
    to invasion. Invaders entered it easily, as the Alps posed no effective barrier to
    invaders from central Europe. To make matters worse, Italian low lying coastline
    opened it to invaders from the sea. All these made the Romans, from an early
    time in their settlements, to be absorbed in military pursuits to defend their own
    conquests against the invaders.

    Rome wanted to expand its borders. In order to do so, it had to fight against
    many neighboring countries such as Carthage, Spain, Parts of Italy, Asia, and

    Macedonia.

    a. Conquest of Italy

    Firstly, Rome had been attacked by the Etruscans. Later, the territory was
    invaded by other group: Celts in 390 and they settled in the valley of Po. But
    these people didn’t occupy the territory, they only looted and left. From refuge,
    the Romans organized many attacks and they start conquering central Italy
    against the Etruscan cities because they feared that these people could try to
    regain control of Rome.

    After conquering the whole Italy, they went in Greece. As they become the
    master of Italy the Romans tried to conquer other neighboring territories or
    made alliances with them in order to protect their boundaries. After this, they
    constructed many roads from Rome to the whole Italy and neighboring countries

    conquered.

    b. The war against Carthage
    By 264 BC, the Romans had conquered some Greek City-states in the southern
    Italy. This brought them into contact with the Phoenician city of Carthage.
    Carthage controlled all of North Africa, most of what is now Spain and some of
    islands of the coast of Italy. It also ruled the western half of Sicily, a large island
    at the toe of the Italian foot. Between 264 and 146 BC Carthage fought three

    wars against Romans and these wars came to be known as Punic wars.

    Different factors helped the spread of civilisations to other parts of the world:
    • Through trade, ideas and products moved from one region to another
        and from one civilisation to another thereby enabling civilisation to
        spread.
    • Wars and military expeditions also helped civilisation to spread. When
       civilised people conquered a less civilised people, the conquered
        people often absorbed the ideas of their conquerors, thereby spreading
        their civilisation.
    • Through intermarriage between different groups civilisation could
        spread also from one area to another.
    • Migration movements helped also the spread of civilisation to other
        parts of the world. Migrating people carried their ways of life to new
        lands where they settled. They could also exchange their skills with
        people they encountered.
    • Through education ancient civilisations spread to other places. For
       instance, when Greek teachers went to teach in Roman Empire, they
        spread Greek culture among the Romans.
    • Through colonization also the civilisation spread to other parts of the
       world. The strong countries which dominated small ones, they imposed
       their culture on the population they dominated.
    • Religious conversion also helped to spread the civilisations to other
       regions. The converted people had to adopt a set of beliefs identified

       with one particular religious denomination.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civilisation

    Application activity 1.1

    1. Locate Greek and Roman civilisation in the time and space.
    2. Identify the factors that helped the spread of civilisations to other

    parts of the world.

    1.2. Elements/ Achievements of Greek and Roman
            civilisations

    1.2.1. Elements of Greek civilisations

    The Greek Civilisation permeated virtually every aspect of the human life. It
    marked a complete refinement of its predecessors, which are Egyptian and

    Mesopotamian civilisations. Some of its elements were:

    Greek medicine
    “The father of medicine”, the Physician Hippocrates believed that the disease
    had natural, not supernatural cause and that the body could heal itself. He was
    the first doctor to view medicine as science. Basing his work in the late 400s
    BC on observation, he diagnosed and treated illness all over Greece. According,
    to tradition, Hippocrates drafted a code for ethical medical conduct that has
    guided the practice of medicine for more than 2,000 Years. Many doctors today
    recite the Hippocratic Oath when they receive their medical degree.
    A common language
    All the Greece islands spoke an identical language known as Greek. They were
    thus able to communicate easily with one another. The common language also
    brought feelings of togetherness among the islands’ inhabitants. Greek was

    spoken and written.

    Technology

    Since Greek coastal cities were sandwiched between the ocean and the sea,
    they developed an awesome navy for trading and fighting. All cities need fresh
    water. This is a Greek aqueduct, basically a brick water pipe. The first aqueduct

    was Assyrian, but most ancient societies had them.

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    Greek Military
    The Greeks invented many military weapons such as catapults, one could throw
    300 pound stones at walls and buildings. Other weapons invented include
    Flamethrower, a phalanx. Soldiers get in a tight box. They each have a large
    shield and a 9 foot long spear. Some of the weapons were used by Greek
    infantry soldiers called hoplite. Hoplites were middle-class freemen who had to

    pay for their own weapon and shield.

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    Settlement in cities
    City states were a major feature of the Greek Civilisation. Greeks lived in cities
    which were all independent of each other. Each city and the farms around
    it formed a separate state called a polis. By the 8th and 7th Centuries BC,
    cities were built almost everywhere throughout Greece. All these cities were
    independent. The city-states forged alliances with one another.

    The city-states governed themselves differently. Sometimes they had kings for
    example at Sparta. Other cities were led by a self-imposed strong man who
    ruled the way they wanted. Such a leader is known as a tyrant. Sometimes the
    nobleman ruled, and this was called an aristocracy. Sometimes all the citizens
    took part in the government. This was called a democracy. It was practiced in
    Athens. All adult male assembled together to discuss issues of interest to their
    polis. Other forms of government in the city states were: monarchy, oligarchy

    and aristocracy.

    Ancient Greek city of Athens

    In city states were found the asty (city itself) with its watchtower, the agora
    (public square/market place) and surrounding rural- agricultural lands referred
    to as the chora. The asty was the business, political, religious and social centre
    of the entire community while the Chora provided the food to both the villages
    and to the city.

    The ancient Greeks believed that each city-state had one or two gods keeping
    a special eye on that city-state. The god in charge of Athens was Athena,
    goddess of wisdom. The city of Athens was named after their special goddess.

    Education was very important in Athens. From their mothers, girls learned how
    to cook and sew and run a home, and how to be a good wife and mother.
    Boys went to school. They memorized poetry and learned to play a musical
    instrument, usually the lyre. They studied public speaking and drama and reading
    and writing. Sons of nobles went to high school - four more years of learning

    about the sciences and the arts and politics and government.

    For about 100 years, ancient Athens was ruled by direct democracy! It didn’t
    last long, but the invention of democracy is one of the most important gifts we
    received from the ancient Greeks.

    Citizens of Athens had many rights, including the right to stand trial and the right
    (when Athens was a direct democracy) to vote. But not all people in ancient
    Athens were citizens. Originally, a free male would be a citizen if his father was
    a citizen. But Pericles changed that rule in 450 BCE. The new law stated that

    both father and mother be Athenians for a child to be an Athenian. Out of the

    Athenians, only men had full citizenship. Women had partial citizenship, which
    basically meant they had few if any rights. Pericles changed this rule to give
    Athenian women more status. It worked. Even though Athenian women had
    no power of their own, their status as an Athenian made them more likely to

    contract a good marriage.

    Participation in games

    In Ancient Greek, there was a strong belief that athletic competitions were a way
    to please the gods and honour the dead heroes. Greeks therefore participated
    in the Olympic Games from 776 BC. During the games, fighting city-states
    even suspended wars between them to allow the competitions to go on. The
    games were held after every four years. They attracted some 40,000 Greeks
    into the stadium built in Olympia. The games were dedicated to the god Zeus,

    father of the gods. The games lasted for more than five days.

    Games events included foot races, wrestling, boxing, jumping, and
    javelin, discus throwing and chariot-riding. Athletes were proud of their
    bodies and emphasized physical fitness. The most celebrated event during the
    Olympic Games was known as the pentathlon. It was considered the supreme
    contest of athletic skill. Winners were crowned with a wreath of olive leaves,
    a coveted Olympic prize. The wreath of olives awarded the candidate was

    considered sacred to Zeus.

    The Greeks took the Olympic Games quite seriously. Nearly all the ancient
    Greek cities sent teams to participate in the ancient Greek Olympics. If two or
    more Greek city-states happen to be at war with each other when the game

    date arrived, war was halted for the duration of the games.

    Women were not allowed to attend the games because men did not wear
    clothes when they competed in the events.

    The Greek Olympic Games came to an end in 393 AD. They were banned by a
    Christian Roman Emperor. He saw them as pagan practices. But fifteen hundred
    years later, the games were revived through the efforts of a French baron, Pierre
    de Coubertin, who was inspired by the ideals of the Ancient Greeks. In 1896,
    the first modern Olympic Games were held in Athens, Greece. Since then, the

    games have been a major event in the history of sports in the world.

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    Belief in gods and goddesses
    Ancient Greeks were very religious. They believed in gods and goddesses.
    They had a common religion based on twelve chief gods and goddesses. These
    deities were thought to live on Mt. Olympus, the highest mountain in Greece.
    The gods and goddesses include the following:
    • Zeus – the chief god and father of the gods.
    • Athena – goddess of wisdom and craft.
    • Apollo – god of the sun and poetry.
    • Aphrodite – goddess of love and beauty.
    • Poseidon – brother of Zeus and god of the seas and earthquakes.
    • Hades – the god of the underworld – where the spirits of the dead went.
    • Nemesis – god of vengeance.
    • Nike – goddess of victory.
    • Apollo - god of archery, music, poetry, prophecy, medicine and later on

                        god of the sun.

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    Although the twelve gods and goddesses were common to all Greeks, each
    city-state usually singled out one of the twelve Olympian gods as its guardian
    for example, Athena was the patron goddess of Athens. Each polis also had its

    own local gods. These local gods remained vital to the community as a whole.

    Important elements in the Greek religion were rituals and festivals. The Greeks

    wanted the gods and goddesses to look favorably upon their lives and activities.

    Artistic heritage

    The Greeks loved all arts. Painting, sculpture and mosaics decorated the
    buildings and almost everything they owned. It might be as simple as a geometric

    pattern or as elaborate a scene from a battle or myth.

    The Greeks attached a lot of importance to artistic expressions. Their arts have

    greatly influenced the standards taken by those of other European groups.

    Greek art was shown in their unique architecture and sculptures. Here, they
    went to great lengths to show their expression of beauty. Some of these works
    still stand today. On architecture, their artistry was visible in the temples they
    built for their gods and goddesses. An example was the famous building built
    in the fifth century BC, the Parthenon. This temple was built between 447 and
    432 BC under the supervision of Ictinus and Callicrates as the master builders.
    The temple covered 23,000 square feet. It was dedicated to Athena, the patron

    goddess of Athens.

    The Greeks developed three architectural systems, called orders, each with
    their own distinctive proportions and detailing. The Greek orders are: Doric,

    Ionic, and Corinthian.

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    They also made sculptures and statues. Their sculptors, showed relaxed
    attitudes. Most of their faces were self-assured; their bodies flexible and smooth
    muscled. Greek art and sculpture has had a profound effect throughout the
    ages. The Greeks used many different types of materials in their sculptures
    including stone, marble and limestone as these were abundant in Greece.
    Other materials such as clay were also used but due to their brittle nature very
    few have survived. Greek sculptures are very important as the vast majority of
    them tell us a story about Gods, Heroes, Events, Mythical Creatures and Greek

    culture in general.

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    Source: https://www.slideshare.net/abiemason/greek-civilisation-10452091

    Love of philosophy
    In the Greek society, there were thinkers who challenged the belief that
    events were caused by the whims of gods. Instead, these thinkers, used
    reason and observation to establish the causes of things. They were known as
    philosophers or lovers of wisdom. The philosophers explored many subjects
    from mathematics and music to logic (rational thinking). Some were interested
    in ethics and morality. Through reason and observation, the thinkers believed
    that, they could discover laws that governed the universe. Philosophers focused
    on personal behavior, especially the question of how to achieve peace in mind.
    Three systems of thoughts attracted most of Hellenistic intellectuals: Cynicism,
    Epicureanism and stoicism. The best known cynic was Diogenes. He
    criticized materialism and asserted that people would be happy if they gave up
    luxuries and lived simply, in accord with nature. The scholar Epicurus started
    the philosophy of Epicureanism He argue that people should avoid both joy
    and pain by accepting the world as it was, ignoring politics and living simply and
    quietly with a few close friends. Zeno founded Stoicism. The name stoicism
    comes from the Stoa Poikileor “painted Porch” in which Zeno lectured.
    The stoics believed that what happened to people was governed by natural
    laws. Accordingly, people could gain happiness by ignoring their emotions, and
    instead following their reason. In this way, they were able to accept even the
    most difficult circumstances of life and do their duty. Stoicism later affected
    both Roman intellectuals and early Christian thinkers. The Greece’s greatest
    philosophers included Socrates, Aristotle and Plato. Socrates developed a
    teaching technique known as the Socratic Method. He encouraged the young
    to clear away mistaken ides and discover the truth. Plato is known with his
    earliest book of political science “The republic”. In this book he presented a
    plan for what he considered would be the ideal society and government. The
    third greatest philosopher of ancient Greece was Aristotle who wrote more than
    200 books on different topics. He influenced later philosophers with his work on

    logic. He developed syllogism.

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    Literature and drama
    Athens led the other Greek city states in literature and drama. The latter was
    made up of both tragedy and comedy. Epic and lyric were other literary forms
    in the Greek world of literature. Drama is said to have developed out of the
    choruses that chanted lyrical poems also known as Odes, to the god Dionysius.
    A group of citizens judged the plays and awarded the winner a simple prize: a
    wreath of ivy. The plays were partly acted and partly chanted. Action was limited
    as emphasis was on the story and its meaning. Greek literature began with
    the epics of Homer, whose stirring tales inspired later writers. The drama was

    closely tied to the political and religious life of the state, which sponsored it.

    In the drama, staging remained simple. There were two or three characters
    (all male) wearing masks, with a chorus of twelve to fifteen members chanting
    commentary on the action. The purpose of tragedy was to inspire pity and fear

    in the audience. While comedy intended to amuse people by inducing laughter.

    Prose was another literary genre that emerged in Ancient Greek. The people,
    from the fifth century, began to express philosophical and political ideas through

    prose.

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                                                                                      The Greek theatre of Epidaurus

    Writing of History
    We owe the discipline of History to the Ancient Greeks. At first, History was
    part of literature until Herodotus campaigned for its separation from literature.
    The Greeks applied observation, reason, and logic in understanding the human
    past. Herodotus was the pioneer in this hence he is often referred to as the

    Father of History.

    According to Thucydides, history was to be written in an accurate, factual and
    impartial way. He also vouched for the use of eye witness accounts in writing in
    this discipline.
    Trade
    Ancient Greeks were also traders. They traded with the neighbouring lands in a
    variety of goods. The Greek city states also traded with each other. Trade made
    the city states to be rich and prosperous.

    The Greeks were united by geographic region, language, religion, economics
    and common customary practices. However, they remained divided politically
    into the scores of the independent city states. Loyalty was first and foremost to

    the city state before it extended to the more remote ideal of Hellas.

    1.2.2 Elements of Roman civilisation
    1. Architecture
    Like other ancient communities, the Romans paid attention to architecture.
    Their architecture borrowed a lot from the Greek and Etruscans ones. They also
    introduced new designs and materials in their works. The Romans, for example,
    pioneered the use of concrete in construction. Roman architectural works were
    hence an improvement over the earlier Greek ones.

    Roman civil engineering and building construction technology became developed
    and refined. Some of what they built have remained to date for example, the
    Pantheon (with one of the largest single span domes in the world), a building
    still found in the business district of the present city of Rome. There was also
    the Colossium, a theatre which could accommodate 50,000 spectators. The
    pantheon was a temple of all Roman gods.

    The architectural works were visible in palaces, stadiums, temples, private
    dwellings, villas, public buildings and hydraulics. Roman architectural works
    emphasized grandeur.

    Romans are known to have experimented with the dome and pioneered in the
    building of amphi theatres, public baths, and race courses. In the empire, public

    buildings were of massive proportions and solid construction.

    Roman architecture made use of rows and columns and rectangular buildings.
    They also used curvilinear forms (forms based on curved lines): the arch, vault,

    and dome.

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    2. Law
    The early Roman republic had a written code of law which was heavily based
    on custom. It was known as the ‘Twelve Tables or tablets’. They were written to
    make the interpretation of the law objective. Work of writing the law begun in
    451 B.C. It involved a group of ten officials. Upon finishing the work, the laws
    were carved on twelve tablets or tables and hung in the Forum (market place).
    These laws became the basis for future Roman law. They were based on the
    spirit of equality of all citizens to the law. Every individual had thus a duty to

    protect the law.

    Through the universal laws, they were able to establish standards of justice that
    applied to all people. An individual was regarded innocent until proved guilty.
    Every suspect was allowed to face his or her accuser and themselves before
    a judge who was expected to weigh the evidence carefully before making a
    verdict. The Roman law was based on the following principles:
                           • All persons had the right to equal treatment under the law.
                           • A person was considered innocent until proven guilty.
                           • The burden of proof rested with the accuser rather than the accused.
                           • A person should be punished only for actions, not thoughts.

                           • Any law that seemed unreasonable or grossly unfair could be set aside.

    3. Government
    From the earliest times, the Romans had distrust of Kingship and of a sole ruler.
    This was due to the lessons they learned from their experience with Etruscans.

    As a result, the Romans devised a complicated system of government.

    In the Roman republic, the chief executive officers were the consuls and
    praetors. Two consuls, chosen every year, ran the government and led the
    Roman army into battle. In 366 BC, a new office, that of praetor was created.
    The occupant was in charge of civil law. A consul’s term was only one year, and
    once elected, he could not be elected again for ten years. One consul could

    also overrule or veto the others’ decision.

    The senate was made up of a select group of about 300 land owning men who
    served for life. It begun by serving as an advisory body to government officials.
    Senators each year, elected from the patrician class two consuls. The power
    of the consuls was thus checked by the senate. Consuls’ power was further
    checked by limitation of terms. They could only serve for one term. Membership

    to the senate was for life.

    There were also a number of assemblies in the Roman republic. It was
    organized by classes based on wealth. This assembly was fixed in such a way
    that the wealthiest citizens always had a majority. It elected the chief officials

    and passed laws.

    The senate was allowed during war, to elect a dictator, or a ruler who enjoyed
    complete control over government. The consuls chose him before the senate
    elected. Each Roman dictator was granted power to rule for six months. After
    the expiry of the time, the dictator had to give up power and go back to his former
    duties. When Rome became an empire, from the reign of Octavian, Senate gave
    him the honorific title of emperor. He became known as Emperor Augustus.
    This marked the beginning of the Roman Empire. From the date, Roman rulers
    adopted the name of emperor. But like before, they exercised the very powers

    as during the period of consulship.

    4. Social organization
    The family held a central place in the Roman society. By law and custom, power
    at the household was vested exclusively in the eldest man, known as the ‘pater
    familias’ or the father of the family. This individual had absolute authority over the
    family. He controlled all family properly. He could sell a member of his household
    into slavery or even kill any member of the family without penalty. The father was
    equally the individual who protected the family, spoke on behalf of the family in

    public assemblies or in law courts. He also acted as the family’s chief priest.

    Roman women were in charge of the day to day management of their families.
    Generally in Rome, women enjoyed more freedom than in the Greek society.
    They had right to own property and testify in court. They also often provided
    advice to their husbands on business and politics. All members of the family
    and by extension the clans, were supposed to uphold the principles of their

    ancestors.

    The Roman society was divided into classes. At the top was a group of families
    which claimed that their ancestors had been “fathers” who had founded the city
    of Rome. These families were privileged and belonged to a class known as the
    patrician. They claimed that due to their ancestry, they had the right to make

    laws for Rome and its people.

    The other class which brought together common farmers, artisans and merchants
    formed the plebeians. They were citizens with a number of rights, including the
    right to vote. However, they were considered to be below the patricians. In the
    Roman society thus, birth and not merit or wealth, was the sole determinant of

    an individual’s social and political status.

    Voting when the Republic was founded in 509 BC was exercised by the

    patricians and plebeians. Slaves, women and children were not allowed to vote.

    On food, the Romans observed very simple dietary practices. They usually ate
    the first meal of the day at around 11 O’clock. It consisted of bread, salad,
    olives, cheese, fruits, nuts and cold meat which had been left over from the

    previous night’s meal. They also had other meals such as breakfast and dinner.

    5. Education
    The formal schooling begun around 200 BC. In most of the Roman Empire,
    pupils began to learn at around age six and spent the next six to seven years in
    school. They learnt basics of reading, writing and counting. By age twelve, they
    were introduced to learning Latin, Greek grammar and literature after which,
    they undertook training for public speaking. Romans highly valued oratory. Good
    orators commanded respect from the rest of the society. It was for this reason,
    that one of the objectives of education and learning was becoming an astute

    orator.

    6. Language
    The Romans’ native language was Latin. This was a form of Italic language in the
    Indo-European family. There were several forms of Latin spoken in the empire.
    Silver Age Latin was the most popular. The language’s alphabet originally came
    from the Greek one. Greek was spoken by the well-educated elite. Most of the
    literature studied by Romans was in Greek. Latin in this area was mostly used
    by the Roman administrators and soldiers. Eventually, Greek replaced Latin as
    both the official written and spoken language of the eastern empire. The western
    empire used Latin. Later Latin was to spread in various dialects to Western
    Europe as a distinct Romance language hence giving birth to Portuguese,

    Romania, French, Italian and Spanish.

    7. Literature
    Roman literature, like, its religion, was greatly inspired by the Greeks’. The
    earliest were historical epics which told the early history of Rome e.g. Augustus
    sponsored the historian, Livy, to document the history of Rome from its founding
    to the rule of Augustus. He did this in 142 Roman style books. Generally, Latin

    literature took many forms.

    The expansion of the empire culminated to expansion in the type of literally
    works. Writers began to produce poetry, comedy, history and tragedy. Some of
    these works have survived in today e.g. “Histories” of Tacitus, Julius Ceasers’

    “Gallic wars” and Livy’s “History of Rome”.

    r

                                                                                             A piece of ancient Roman art

    During the reign of Augustus, the literature of the time is generally referred to as

    works of the Golden Epic.

    Most literature of the “Golden Age” was vigorous, affirmative and uplifting. It
    mainly served political and propaganda ends. Whereas that of the silver age was
    characteristically less calm and balanced. Its effects are said, to have derived
    more often from self-conscious artifice. Most were intended to entertain than to

    instruct or uplift the mood of the reader.

    8. Visual art
    Roman art was greatly influenced by Etruscans – especially in portrayal of political
    issues. Greek art also influenced Roman art from the 3rd BCE. It surpassed the
    influence the Etruscans had exerted on the Romans. Many Roman homes were

    decorated with landscapes by Greek artists.

    With time the Romans came up with their own styles. Some remarkable ones
    were: “Incrustation” in which the interior walls of houses were painted to
    resemble coloured marble. A second style involved painting interiors as open
    landscapes, with highly detailed scenes of plants, animals and buildings.
    The Romans learned the art of sculpture from the Greeks. From the knowledge,
    they were able to create realistic portraits in stone. Much of the Roman art was

    practical in purpose. It was intended for public education.

    The Roman artists were especially good in creating mosaics. These were
    pictures or designs made by setting small pieces of stone, glass, or tile onto a
    surface. Most villas, the country houses of the wealthy, had at least one coloured
    mosaic. Romans also made good works of painting. Most of the wealthy people

    had bright, large murals, called frescoes, painted directly on their walls.

    9. Music
    The society in Rome recognized and appreciated the vital role played by
    music in life. There was music during nightly dining and in military parades and
    maneuvers. Romans used a variety of musical instruments in their songs. Some
    of the main ones included tuba, cornu, flute, panpipes, lyre, lute, cithara, timpani,

    drums, hydraulis and the sistrum.

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                                                                                        Some Roman musical instruments

    10. Economy
    In Imperial Rome, agriculture was the main economic activity. About 90% of
    the population engaged in farming. Most people survived on produce from their
    farms. Additional food stuffs (when needed) and luxury items for the rich were

    obtained through trade.

    From the time of Augustus reign, a silver coin called a denarius was used as
    a medium of exchange. Existence of a common currency made commercial
    transactions throughout the empire. The coins often carried the likeness of
    the emperor or depicted a Roman achievement. A standard system of coinage

    developed in 269 BCE.

    Transportation when carrying out trade was made easy by the existence of
    the Mediterranean Sea. Ships from the east travelled along the sea under the
    protection of the Roman’s navy. Trade made cities on the eastern Coast of
    the Mediterranean to expand and become rich. Examples of these cities were:

    Corinth, Ephesus and Antioch.

    A part from water transport, the empire had a good network of roads. Roads
    linked various places in the empire. The roads were originally built by the Roman
    army for military purposes. The most important were the silk roads, named for

    the overland routes on which silk from China reached the Romans.

    11. Religion
    The earliest Romans worshipped powerful spirits or divine forces, called Mumina.
    These spirits were thought to reside in everything around them. Closely related

    to these spirits were the Lares, for each family.

    Interactions with the Greeks and Etruscans, made the Romans begin to associate
    the spirits with human like forms and individual personalities. The spirits now got
    Roman names and were honoured through rituals. People expected the gods

    and goddesses to give them favor and protect them from misfortunes.

    In the empire, the state and religion were linked. The deities were symbols of
    the state. Individuals were expected to honour them in private rituals and in their

    homes. Priests also conducted public worship ceremonies in temples.

    Polytheism or belief in more than one god, thrived in the Roman Empire. Among
    the most important gods and goddesses were Jupiter (father of the gods), Juno
    (Jupiter’s wife who supposedly watched over women), Minerva (goddess a
    wisdom and of the arts and crafts) and Vesta (goddess of home). Emperor
    worship also came with the creation of the institution. It became part and parcel

    of the state religion of Rome. Priests were appointed to work for the governor.

    Their religion depended on knowledge and the correct practice of prayer,
    ritual and sacrifice. They also never placed great emphasis on rewards and
    punishments after death. But unlike the Greeks, the Romans revered their
    ancestors, their “household gods” included deceased members of a lineage
    who were worshipped in order to ensure a family’s continued prosperity. Each
    home had a household shrine at which prayers and libations were offered to the

    family deity.

    There was religious toleration in the Roman Empire. This witnessed varied
    religious traditions. People were expected to honour Roman gods and
    acknowledge the divine spirit of the empire and upon meeting these conditions;

    they had freedom to observe their other religious practices as they pleased.

    12. Sports
    In the ancient city of Rome, there was a place called the campus. Here, Roman
    soldiers conducted military exercises. Later the campus became Rome’s track
    and field playground. Other urban centres in the empire copied the campus in

    their centres and military settlements.

    The youth in the urban centres, assembled in the campus to play, exercise and
    perform inappropriate acts. These acts included: jumping, wrestling, boxing
    and racing, riding, throwing and swimming. In the rural areas, people also
    participated in fishing and hunting. Women were prohibited from partaking of

    these activities.

    There were several ball games which could be found in Ancient Rome. These
    included: dice (Tesserae or tali) Roman Chess (Latrunculi) Roman Checkers

    (Calculi), tic-tac-toe (Terni Lapilli) and Ludus duodeeim Scriptorum and Tabula.

    13. Philosophy
    Roman philosophy heavily borrowed from its Greek predecessor. Two major
    philosophical schools – Cynism and stoicism – derived from Greek religion and
    philosophy became prominent in the Roman Empire in the 1st and 2nd Century
    AD. These two philosophies were fairly merged in the early years of the Roman
    Empire.

    The two philosophies expressed negative views on civilisation, something which
    was reflected in their adherent way of life. Cynicism upheld that civilisation
    was corrupt and people needed to break away from it and its trappings while
    stoicism, on the other hand, taught that one must surrender all earthly things

    and assist others.

    Apart from the philosophical schools we have mentioned above, there was
    also Epicureanism. The most renowned of its Roman exponents was Lucretius
    (98- 35B C). He expresses the view that everything is a product of mechanical
    evolution, including human beings and their habits and beliefs. He however
    admitted the existence of the gods but saw them as living in eternal peace,

    neither creating nor governing the universe.

    Cicero wrote in a rich and elegant Latin prose style that has never been
    surpassed. His prose became a standard for composition and has been up to

    today.

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    14. Militarization
    The Roman society was highly militarized. Citizenship for provincials could be
    obtained after 25 years of military service. The army doubled as an army corps of

    engineers. They built roads and other forms of infrastructure such as aqueducts.

    Rome fought mercilessly with its neighbours. It had most of its male population
    pass through military service. This made it a highly militarized state. Even leaders
    had to have passed through the military to be accepted to lead. Political career

    of an individual could only commence after ten years of service in the military.

    The Roman Civilisation spread to all the lands they controlled. This happened
    through trade and conquest. Its location along the Mediterranean region enabled
    people to pursue their commercial interests, while their military nature allowed
    them to register victories in their enemies’ camps. Once they had brought an
    area to their fold, the Roman administrators helped to spread their civilisation in

    the areas.

    Application activity 1.2

    Examine the elements of the Greek and Roman civilisations as they have

    been described by history authors.

    1.3 Contributions of the Greek and Roman Civilisation

    Activity 1.3

    Use the Internet, the encyclopedia and History textbook to find out the
    contribution of the Greek and Roman civilisations with special focus on the

    Rwandan context.

    1.3.1 Contributions of the Greek Civilisation

    1. Sports: In sports we owe to the Greeks the Olympic Games which are
         held after every four years. The games are today a global event which
         attracts teams from various nations in different parts the World, Rwanda
         included.
    2. Literature: Greeks pioneered drama as a form of entertainment. They
         performed plays which explored the struggles made by individuals to free
         themselves from the imperfections in their characters. The playwrights
        balanced their tragedies with comedies. They are famous for their love
         and appreciation of literature especially poems and plays. The world today
        has borrowed heavily from their rules and habits for writing, reaching and
        theatre arts performance. Some of their plays are still being performed in
        different parts of the World today.
    3. History: The Ancient Greeks are credited with developing history as a
        distinct discipline of study. Prior to this, history was considered to be
        part of literature. Herodotus, father of history, constructed a narrative of
        the Persians wars using critical methods and interpretative framework.
        Later, Thucydides (460 – 400 B .C) used scientific methods in writing
        the History of the Peloponnesian war. He used the analytic methods
        borrowed from science and philosophy in writing the history so as to
        produce ‘an exact knowledge of the past as an aid to the interpretation of

       the future.’ The Greeks were the first people to develop history.

    4. Philosophy: Philosophy is the study of nature and meaning of the
          universe and of human life. The Greeks believed in rational explanation
          for the existence of the universe or wise people. The philosophers tried
          to understand humanity’s relationship to nature, the gods, individual to
          another and between the individual and the groups of human society.
          Some of the most famous philosophers of ancient Greece are Socrates,
          Plato, Aristotle, Zeno, and Epicurious.
    5. Science and Mathematics: Greeks made most pronounced legacy
          in science and mathematics. Various personalities made numerous

         contributions. A few examples include:

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    6. Architecture
    Ancient Greeks excelled in great architectural works. Most of the formulas they
    invented as early as the 6th Century B.C have informed the world of architecture
    for the past two millennia. They built temples, theatre and stadiums which are
    still the envy of the present world. We owe today our theatres and stadium
    designs to this Ancient civilisation. Greek architecture still influences many
    people today. The US Supreme Court design, for example, was influenced by
    the Parthenon, the Greek temple to the goddess Athena.

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                                                            Part of the United States of America Supreme Court showing Greek

                                                                                                                architecture

    7. Government and Law
    Greeks are credited for introducing and practicing democracy, the system of
    checks and balances in government, equality before the law and active citizen
    participation in the civic functions of the state. They also brought the issue of
    political and civil rights which were limited to citizens of a city state. Athens was
    the first Greek city to set up a democratic government. Today, the principles of
    democracy spread all over in the world.
    8. Art, music and dance
    Greek art, music and dance have exercised an enormous influence on the culture
    of the present world. In art they made sculptures and statues of stones marble,
    limestone and clay. On music and dance, Greek folk music and the balladlike
    reciting of epic poetry. The Greeks civilisations as can be seen from these
    contributions left a rich legacy to the modern world. However, it equally had
    weaknesses. Women and slaves had no political rights. Foreigners were also
    prohibited from owning land. These made the Greek system to be discriminative

    by today’s standards.

    9. Religion
    The Greeks shared a common religion and belief system. They believed in many
    gods and goddesses. Their belief system was also made up of heroes and

    myths.

    Greek gods and goddesses had human appearance. They also bore human
    characteristics and attributes. The deities participated directly in human affairs
    according to Greek beliefs. In addition, the Greeks believed in oracles to tell the

    future and to give prophesies.

    Today, religion is common to humanity. It is based on a system of beliefs just
    as during the Ancient Greek period. Belief in oracles is still practiced in games
    and sports and many other fields of human endeavor. The belief in existence
    of gods (or god), life after death, provision of sacrifices and offerings to god,
    command of divine powers over human life and observance of festivals and
    rituals in religious life, were evident in the Greek Civilisation. We owe these

    partly to the Greek Civilisation.

    10. Belief in military power of a country
    Sparta was renowned for her military power. She built an army which proved
    fatal to other Greek city – states and beyond. War was glorified and every effort
    was made to train boys to serve in the military. Today, all world states have
    developed their military along almost similar lines. A might of a nation is partly

    seen through its military capability.

    1.3.2 Contributions of the Roman Civilisation
    The Romans made countless contributions to us in virtually all the fields. Today,

    we use some of their inventions and innovations. The main ones include:

    1. Christianity: The romans have promoted Christian religion. Rome allowed
        Christianity to spread and flourish in her empire. Today, Christianity is one

        of the major world religions.

    2. Government: Representative democracy was reflected in the Roman
        republican system. Senators represented groups of people thus bringing
        an element of democracy. Power was distributed and not concentrated in
        one office. This form of government has been emulated by governments
        in the world today. In a way too, the Roman division of their republic into
        three branches: The Consuls (who served as judges and army leaders)
        the Senators (who acted as political advisers) and the Assembly (made
        up of army members whose role was to approve or reject laws) mirrors
        the separation of powers found in democratic governments today. Like
        modern democracies, the Romans through their “Twelve Tablets” had

        something similar to a written constitution.

    3. Architecture: Architecture is one field in which the Romans made great
        strides in. Their knowledge and skills have been acquired in the modern
        world. Their architectural styles were evident in use of improved arches
        and columns of the Greeks; the rounded domes, sculptures, frescos and
        mosaics. They also used concrete, mortar and cement. This enabled
        them to develop some structures which have withstood the test of time

        such as the pantheon and the colosseum.

    r

                                                                                                         The Roman colosseum

    Roman engineering skills were also evident in the construction of aqueducts.
    These structures were made across rivers, and included large networks of

    underground channels which supplied water to cities and valleys.

    Today all the innovations of Romans have made our life easy. Buildings, bridges
    and harbours and pipeline transport for water are in use in virtually every part of
    the world. The Roman architectural styles have also been copied in many parts
    of the world e.g. the US capital building, the Lincoln memorial and most state

    capitals in the USA.

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                                                                                                         Roman aqueduct

    4. Entertainment: Our idea for mass entertainment came from the
        Romans. People were entertained in the forum and in the colosseum,
        Rome’s amphitheater which had a capacity of accommodating 60,000
        persons. Games were played, sports were held, musical and theatrical
        performances, public executions and gladiatorial combat performed.
        Today mass entertainment is a feature of modern humanity.
    5. Romans introduced the idea of urban planning: The romans were
       the first people to introduce the idea of city planning. Roman Empire had
       well planned towns linked by a good road network, portions of which
       exist up today. The cities were very well planned with very well street,
       avenues and quarters. Modern man used this knowledge to improve and
       come up with advanced modern urban planning.
    6. Roads: Roman roads have greatly influenced our modern road
        construction. Some of these roads are still in use today. Their highways
        were straight, plane and resistant to damage. Like today’s highways,
        these roads use the most direct route to connect cities.
    7. Calendar: The Julian calendar (named after its inventor, Galus Julius
         “Ceasar”) gave a lot to the modern calendar which was reformed by
          Pope Gregory 1600 years later. The calendar is still being used the way
          it was in many Greek Orthodox churches. Our modern calendar has
          retained the names of the months as they were in the Julian calendar.
          All the months’ names are derived from Latin e.g. January (from “Janus”,

          god of the beginning of times) February (from “Februa” a Roman festival),

         March (from “Mars” the god of war), April (from “aspire” meaning “open”,
         referring to the blossoming of plants in spring), May (from “maia,” goddess
         of fertility), June (from “Juno”, goddess of women and marriage, hence
         the expression “June bride”), July (from Julius Ceasar himself), August
         (from emperor Augustus), September (7th” as March was the first month
         at the time), and, October (8th), November (9th) and December (10th

         month). The use of calendar has remained in today’s society.

    8. Law: The modern world has also borrowed a lot from the Roman law. To
        maintain law and order, Romans were law- making people. Roman legal
        principles are still used in France, Italy, and Latin America.
    9. Literature, philosophy and history: Romans were good writers of
        stories, poems, literature; painting walls, Poetry and use of satire in verse
        in literature were popular in the Ancient Roman Empire. The Romans
        respected philosophy’s contribution to society. They were guided by Greek
        philosophical schools. The Romans spread ideas of these philosophies
        to the areas they controlled. Today, the world owes a lot in these three
        fields to the Romans. Even some of the books they wrote in literature,
        philosophy and history have been interpreted in other languages and are
        still being used today.
    10. Art: Art was another area where the Romans have left an indelible mark.
        Uses of realism, idealism and revealing of an individual’s character in a
        piece of art have their origin in Ancient Rome. Today, art is dominated
        with these qualities. We can also not forget the idea of beautifying homes
        with works of art in the modern society. This was also popularized by the
        Romans. Uses of frescoes and mosaic have also their roots in ancient
        Rome.
    11. The Latin language. It became the intellectual language in Europe.
         Today the Roman alphabet is still widely used in the whole world. For
          instance, Latin was the official language of business, education, law,
         government and arts and in the contemporary world Romance languages
         include Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese and Romanian. Latin has
         influenced the English language widely to the extent that Latin is a source
         of many English words like audio, face, graduate, homicide, labour etc.
    12. Currency and trade: Throughout their reign, the Romans maintained a
        stable currency and a prosperous international trade. Stability of currency
        and promotion of international trade, are today still vital economic issues.
    13. Romans are remembered for roman numerals I, II, III, IV, V, X, L,
        C, D, M, Roman calendar of AD (Latin for Anno Domino or After Birth of
        Christ; also After Common Era) and BC (Before the birth of Christ; also
        Before Common Era).
    14. Romans are remembered of their military organization in sections,
            companies and platoons.
    15. Engineering: Roman builders had invented many construction
           techniques like building of roads with many layers of stones which are

           still used today.

    Greek and roman civilisation left a good number of legacies to the modern world.
    These contributions include mathematics, engineering, medicine, Olympic
    Games, Literature, philosophy, history Government and Law, architecture
    Art, music and dance, Religion, urban planning, Christianity, Government,
    Latin language, roman numerals, engineering and many others. All these
    contributions are applied to Rwanda. Let’s consider few examples to prove
    this truth to Rwanda. The Latin language which is a roman contribution is today
    taught in seminary schools in Rwanda. The Latin language is also the mother
    of Romances languages which are the Spanish, Italian, French and Portuguese

    among others. French is an official language in Rwanda.

    Latin has influenced the English language widely to the extent that Latin is a
    source of many English words like audio, face, graduate, homicide, labour etc.
    This English is also used in Rwanda as an official language. In sports we owe
    to the Greeks the Olympic Games which are held after every four years. The
    games are today a global event which attracts teams from various nations in
    different parts the World and Rwanda included because Rwandans participated

    in Olympic Games for many times.

    Application activity 1.3

    Identify the legacies of Greek and Romans civilisations visible in Rwanda to

    date.

    Skills Lab
    With reference to various contributions of the ancient civilisations to
    Rwanda, imitate either Greeks or Romans to create one feature of your

    choice and present it to the class.

    End unit assessment 1
    1) What is civilisation?
    2) Using maps, locate Greece and Italy where Greek and Roman
         civilisation developed respectively.
    3) What achievements is the Greek philosopher Pythagoras credited
        with?
    4) Explain the elements of Greek and Roman civilisations.
    5) Discuss the contributions of Greek and Roman civilisations to

        Rwanda.



  • UNIT 2 POLITICAL, ECONOMIC AND INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENTS IN THE MEDIEVAL AND MODERN TIMES.

    Key Unit competence:
    The student-teacher should be able to examine the political, economic and

    intellectual progresses in the medieval and modern times.

    Introductory activity
    The medieval times also known as Middle Ages was the period between
    300AD to 1500AD. The medieval period saw two major world religions
    such as Christianity and Islam and they attracted many followers in different
    parts of the world. Middle ages was also marked by European early
    explorations. The impacts of these religions and explorations were further
    to be witnessed in the modern times. The period begun from 1500AD up
    to date. Modern time also witnessed enlightenment era known as the age
    of reason that took place between 1720 and 1790.Use internet, textbooks,
    maps, photographs and media to answer the questions below:
    1. Describe the origin, spread and effects of Christianity and Islam.
    2. Show the relationship between Islam and Christianity in the middle
        and modern times.
    3. Analyse the causes and effects of the early exploration.
    4. Examine the ideas of Philosophers.

    5. Discuss the impacts of the ideas of the era of enlightenment.

    2.1. Origin, spread and effects of Christianity and Islam in

             Europe and the rest of the World

    2.1.1. Christianity

    Learning activity 2.1.1

    f

    Observe the photos above and use internet, textbooks, maps, photographs
    and media to research on origin, spread and effects of Christianity in Europe
    and the rest of the world and answer the following question:

    Discuss the origin, spread and effects of Christianity.

    Origin of Christianity
    Christianity emerged from a Jewish background. Christianity was founded by
    Jesus Christ of Nazareth over 2,000 years ago. Jesus was a Jew who was born
    in Bethlehem. Upon attaining 30 years of age, he began his public life which
    involved preaching about the way God wanted human beings to act towards

    one another. He made many followers who believed in his teachings and actions.

    He was the Son of God but born through Mary and Joseph. Jesus was born at
    about 4 BC at almost the same time Rome took over the Jewish Kingdom. He
    was thus both a Jew and a Roman subject. He was born during the reign of
    Emperor Augustus. Information on him is found in the four Gospel books in the

    Bible, which are; Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

    According to the gospels, Jesus grew up in the village of Nazareth in northern
    Palestine. It is said that each year he went with his parents, Joseph and Mary,
    to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. This is a Jewish ceremony which
    commemorated the Israelites’ exodus from slavery in Egypt. During the visits,
    Jesus displayed an amazing knowledge of religious matters which impressed
    Jewish scholars of the time. Jesus began to attract large crowds through his
    teachings, especially when word went round that he performed miracles of
    healing. This made his followers to equate him with the legendary Messiah or
    anointed King sent by God to lead the Jewish people to freedom. They even
    said that before conception, an angel called Gabriel told Jesus’ mother that she
    would give birth to the Messiah. “He will be great,” said the Angel, “and will be
    called the Son of the Most High God.” Mary’s pregnancy was believed to have

    been supernatural. She did not conceive with Joseph because she was a virgin.

    Paul of Tarsus, a Jew and a Roman citizen did much to spread Christianity in the
    Roman Empire. He travelled extensively in Eastern Mediterranean spreading
    the faith. The letters he wrote constitute the earliest Christian writings. His
    interpretation of Christ’s teachings, which divorced it from following the Jewish
    traditions, enabled it to spread widely in the non-Jewish communities. He

    argued that Christ had brought the one detailed in the Hebrew Bible.

    Christianity was further supported by Emperor Constantine’s conversion to
    the faith. The emperor made efforts to see the faith embedded in the Roman
    Empire for example through the Edict of Milan, all forms of religious worship
    were legalized in the empire. Constantine reached the decision with his coruler,
    Licinius. The Edict made the faith to be granted imperial recognition in
    the Roman world. Many Roman emperors took to Christianity after the end of
    Constantine’s reign. The faith thus received official support, and spread in most

    parts of the empire – Europe included.

    Christianity survived the fall of Rome and Grew to be one of the major influences

    on Western civilisations.

    f

    Spread of Christianity in Europe and the rest of the world

    Factors that facilitated the spread of Christianity in Roman Empire
    From Palestine, Christianity spread to other parts of the Roman Empire and
    beyond. There are many reasons which have been advanced for the spread
    and success of Christianity in the Roman Empire and they include the

    following:

    – Christianity had changed people’s behavior to leave the traditional
        customs and religions.
    – Christianity spread the idea of a unique God.
    – The belief in life after death taught by Christianity attracted many
         non-believers.
    – Stability and peace in Rome also helped in the spread of Christianity.
    – In 312AD, Emperor Constantine I authorized the Romans to convert
        to Christianity and heal lowed the use of government money to
        support Christianity in Rome and Jerusalem.
    – The good communication network in the Roman Empire enabled in
        the guide and spread of Christianity. E.g. good roads.
    – The good examples shown by the Christian community also helped in
        the spread of Christianity, where pagans admired believers.
    – The good examples shown by the Christian community also helped in
        the spread of Christianity where pagans admired behavior.
    – People wanted the love, kindness and security that Christianity
        offered.
    – In 392, Emperor The odosius made Christianity the official religion of

        the Roman Empire and outlawed all other religions.

    Spread of Christianity
    The support Christianity got from the Roman emperors greatly contributed to its
    spread in areas under Roman Ruler. Most of these lands were in Europe and to
    some extent Asia and parts of Africa. Christianity with the political backing from
    the Roman rulers grew rapidly with time. It was the religion of choice of people
    in various parts of the world.
    Expansion (30-65 AD)
    This period witnessed the spread of Christianity from Jerusalem to other parts
    of the world starting with Rome. They took a threefold approach at this time:
    Kerygma (proclamation of gospel message), did ache (further teaching and
    explanation of Christianity to new converts who had accepted the Kerygma)
    and finally, the worship and liturgical activity of the early communities gathered

    together especially to celebrate the supper of the Lord.

    Persecution (AD 65 -90)
    The first period of expansion ended in 65 AD. By 70 AD persecution of Christians
    commenced. This persecution was spearheaded by Emperor Nero. Life for
    Jews and Christians alike become unbearable in the Roman Empire. Inspite of
    this, Christians were happy and believed in Christ. They soldiered on. A host
    of Roman emperors led in Persecution of Christians. It began with Emperor
    Nero (54 -68 AD) then came Decius (250 -251 AD), Galerius (who was in
    charge of the Eastern part of the Roman Empire during the reign of Emperor
    Diocletian (284- 305 AD). There were equally those emperors who supported
    Christianity. The most notable one was Constantine (312 -337 AD). Others
    were Valerian (251-260 AD) Diocletian (284 -305 AD) and lastly Theodosius
    I. The emperors who supported Christianity greatly contributed to its spread in

    the Roman Empire, Europe and some parts of Asia and Africa.

    During the period of persecution, the Christians were outlawed and hunted
    down like criminals. Many were killed due to their faith. Many Christians were
    undeterred by the persecutions and they remained steadfast in their spread of
    the faith. They produced written gospel literature during this time. The presence
    of eyewitnesses and the excellent uncluttered memories of those times
    were sufficient enough. The recording of the teachings of Christ was partly
    necessitated by the disappearance of the eyewitnesses due to persecution of
    Christians thus making them disappear at an alarming rate. Peter and Paul, who
    were some of the disciples of Jesus Christ, were killed in Rome for their faith
    and another disciple by the name of James was killed in Jerusalem. Apart from
    the killing, Christianity was also under the threat from new ideas and heresies.
    All this made recording of the story and teachings of Christ very important.
    It would provide a fixed, written definitive account, which would be available
    for the increasing number of converts. The Gospel of Mark opened the floor
    to others. Mark was the disciple and interpreter of Peter. He thus recorded
    Peter’s preaching. Luke was also to do the same for Paul. The Gospel of Luke
    and Mathew were written towards the end of A.D 96. Mathew had a Jewish
    audience in mind while Mark, had a Roman one. Luke on the other hand had
    a Gentile world in mind. He sought to put straight on Christianity amidst the

    hostility, false accusations and misunderstanding which Christians aroused.

    Effects of Christianity in Europe and the rest of the world
    • Emergence of monotheism: Previously communities were
        polytheists. It was Christianity which brought the belief in one supreme
        God. It preached against the existence of many gods and goddesses.
        The Christian God was all-powerful and was believed to have been the

        creator of everything in the universe and beyond.

    • Belief in salvation: Christianity brought individualism in humanity’s
        relationship with God. An individual was required to receive salvation
        in order to enter the heavenly kingdom. This was to be seen in ones’
        behaviour both to God and secondly to fellow human beings. Good
        behaviour thus became a practice in society.
    • Promotion of justice in society: The pillar of Christ’s teachings
        was justice. All Christians were expected to be just in all their dealings.
        As a result, Christians developed a just society where the interests of
        all were respected.
    • Promotion of equality in society: Christians did not tolerate
       discrimination. Discrimination of women slaves, non-Jews and later
       racism, was not encouraged. People were treated as equals in spite of
       their differences.
    • Promotion of social services: Christians strongly believed in
        serving others. From an early time, Christian monks and nuns traversed
        different parts of the world spreading spiritual, physiological and mental
        food. They spearheaded provision of medical, educational and other
        social services in lands where they spread their faith. In Africa and
        many parts of Asia, it was the missionaries who opened up services. In
        both the Middle Ages and later, education became a path for upward
        mobility and employment. This was first done by Cathedral schools
        which later developed into universities e.g. University of Paris.
    • Development of infrastructure: Roads and buildings were
        constructed in different parts of the world courtesy of the missionaries.
        Christians travelled to remote areas which were lacking infrastructure.
        They helped stimulate the making of such areas accessible.
    • Promotion of Western culture: Originally, Christianity was Jewish
         in cultural orientation. This however changed when most of Europe
         embraced the faith. The western world gave Christianity some aspects
        of its culture. These came to be part and parcel of the faith. Today,
        most of these cultural practices have been adopted by Christians in
        different parts of the world. Christianity equally evolved its unique
        culture, e.g., it came up with the Eucharist – these involved converts
        taking the blessed bread and wine. It was a symbol of God’s sacrifice
        for unity with his people.
    • Encouragement of trade and urbanization: During the crusades,
        Christians evolved commercial relations with the Muslim states they
        waged the war against. Mostly, the crusades stimulated the demand
        for luxury goods. Population of towns increased thus leading to rapid
        urbanization.
    • Adoption of new ideas: The interaction between the Christians and
         Muslim groups during the crusades enabled Muslim ideas to find their
         way in Europe. In an equal measure, western ideas found their way in
         the areas traversed by the Christian traders, e.g. new translations of
         texts by Aristotle, texts on astronomy, numerals and paper, made their

         way across the trade routes.

    • Loss of lives and destruction of property: Christians organized
       crusades against the non-adherents to the faith. This involved waging
       wars which brought untold suffering, loss of lives and destruction of
       property to the victims. The crusades took place in the 11th and 12th
       centuries. They were holy wars sponsored by the Pope to recover
       holy land from the Muslims. These crusades grew partially out of long
       conflicts between Muslims and Christians in Spain. The crusaders
       believed they would receive spiritual merit and earn a place in paradise.
    • Discrimination in society: Even though Christianity taught on equality
        of persons, the Christians discriminated the non-Christians in various
        ways. Many non-Christians were excluded from certain privileges. This

       in itself was discriminative hence encouraging inequality in the society.

    Application activity 2.1.1
    1) Explain the origin of Christianity.
    2) Describe the spread of Christianity.

    3) Discuss the effects of Christianity to the world.

    2.1.2. Islam

    Learning activity 2.1.2

    s

    Observe the photos above and use internet, textbooks, maps, photographs
    and media to research on the origin, spread and effects of Islam in Europe
    and the rest of the world and answer the following question:

    Describe the origin, spread and effects of Islam.

    Origin of Islam
    The word Islam means submission to Allah (Arabic word for God). The followers
    of Islam are known as Muslims (ones who submit). The Islamic religion was
    founded by Arab merchant named Mohammed. He came to be known as
    the prophet of Allah or God. In the 7thc, Islam originated from Mecca and
    Medina. The Koran is the holy book of Islam and it contains the teachings

    of Prophet Mohammed that were revealed to him by Allah.

    d

    The birth of Muhammad
    Muhammad was born in Mecca around AD. 570. In his youth, he worked as a
    shepherd among the Bedouin Arabs. Later, he led caravans across the desert
    and became a successful merchant at the age of 25. He married Khadija, a
    wealthy widow who ran a prosperous caravan business. Islam developed in two

    cities – Mecca and Yathrib (Medina).

    Muhammad received a series of spiritual revelations from God. These were to
    form the religious basis of Islam. He met with opposition to the new faith but

    managed to place it upon firm foundations. The prophet was very religious.

    He often went to a cave outside Mecca to quietly contemplate spiritual matters.
    At about the age of 40, he had a spiritual vision. While meditating in the cave,
    an angel spoke to him. Angel Gabriel was communicating with him. This
    happened from time to time and Muhammad discussed it with his wife Khadija
    and close friends. These people accepted the seriousness and truthfulness of
    the revelations. They were later written and are today what are contained in the
    Quran, the Muslim holy book. Muhammad started to convey the content of some
    of his revelations to a wider public around AD 613. Some people found the
    message appealing, particularly that a single God was the source of all power
    and goodness in the world. The message was especially attractive to the poor
    nd those who were not in power. It was attractive because it transcended tribal

    groupings hence a challenge to the tribal leaders.

    Spread of Islam
    Islamic expansion was carried out through Jihads, Trade and Education.

    At first, the teaching of Muhammad did not change Mecca’s people from their
    old way of praying idols and human sacrifices. He escaped to Medina. In
    Medina, he preached by the use of force or Jihad (holy war). Muhammad and
    his followers spread the faith by conquest and persuasion. Those
    who tried to oppose Islam, were killed. Sword was the main instrument of
    conversion for example if you died in the act of killing disbelievers, they would
    go straight to heaven and see the presence of God. By 8thc, Islam expanded

    to Egypt, Perce, Berber, Spain, Turkey, Iraq, Palestine, Syria and Tunisia.

    Factors that led to the rapid spread of Islam
    • Prophet Muhammad’s military expeditions: The prophet was a
       good military organizer. He led his army from Medina to many successful
       excursions in Mecca and other areas.
    • Role of merchants: Muslim merchants spread their religion during
       their commercial activities in other areas. Islam thus easily spread along
       the busy trade routes of western Arabia.
    • The Hajj ceremonies: Every Muslim, as we have already learnt, was
       expected to make a pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in a lifetime. This
       ceremony brought Muslims from various places together. It bound them
       and made them to put all efforts at spreading the faith.
    • Decline of the Eastern Roman and Persian empires: The fall of
       the Byzantine (Eastern Roman Empire) and Persian Empire created a
       power vacuum which was easily filled by Islam.
    • Teachings of the Quran: Arabs were passionate in their new faith.
       This was strengthened by the teachings of the Quran which held that
       wars fought for God were just. A warrior killed in a jihad or holy war,
       was promised immediate entry into paradise.
    • Use of a mixture of force and diplomacy to win converts:
        Muslims used jihads and diplomacy to spread the faith. Force which
        involved using jihads was employed on large un-cooperative groups. The
        Muslim traders used diplomacy to spread Islam. The merchants spread

        Islam to West and East Africa, Malaysia, Indonesia and Philippines.

    The teachings of Islam
    Islam is based on two basic truths in what is called the Islamic creed. The creed
    of Islam is La ilaha il’Allah, Muhammadan Rasoulu Allaha simple statement
    in two parts translated as “There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is
    the messenger of Allah.”This is the shahada (witness) and expresses the
    very heart of the Islamic creed.
    1. The first part of the creed means that: ‘there is no God but Allah the
         Almighty’.
    2. The second part of the creed is that ‘Muhammad is the messenger
         of God’.
    Muslims accept these two basic statements in the heart, that there really is
    one God, supreme and unique, and that the revelation given through Prophet
    Muhammad by Allah is genuine, final and complete, and super cedes all

    revelations that came before it.

    The teachings of Islam are based on the revelations Prophet Muhammad received
    from God. They were first memorised by the prophet before they were written in
    the Quran. Muslims believe that the original books from where these revelations
    were got are in heaven with God. To Muslims, God will not reveal anything else
    beyond the Quran. They regard Muhammad as the medium through which

    God’s revelations reach humanity.

    Muslims believe that the Quran is the direct word of God. It contains 114

    chapters, or suras. The chapters are divided into verses called Ayah.

    Adherents of Islam have five principal duties which they are obliged to fulfill as
    part of the faith. These are usually termed the five pillars. They constitute the

    main teachings of the Quran. The five pillars are discussed below.

    1. Profession of faith/creed (Shahadah): All Muslims are expected
    to utter the following statement: “There is no god but Allah and
    Muhammad is the messenger of the God.” This statement is to
    be uttered by new converts and is also the principal means by which
    an individual asserts his or her adherence to Islam. It stresses that for
    Muslims, there is only one God and the belief in one God (monotheism)

    is central to the Islamic faith.

    2. Ritual prayer (Salah): It requires that Muslims who may pray to God at
    any time of the day to pray five times a day, using certain words while
    facing Mecca. The prayers are also accompanied by certain forms of
    kneeling and bowing (prostrations). This form of prayer is known as Salah
    and should be preceded by ritual washing to create a sense of spiritual
    cleanliness prior to prayers in what is known as wudu. Where there is no
    mosque, a clean and peaceful place is used and a prayer mat is placed
    on the ground as a symbol of spiritual cleanliness. The ritual prayers
    take place on five occasions during the day: at daybreak, midday, the
    middle of the afternoon, at sunset and during the evening. The main
    prayer time of the week is at noon on Fridays. These prayers are said
    by the Imam, who also gives a sermon based on a few verses from the

    Quran.

    Islamic prayer

    d

    3. Giving of alms (Zakat): Zakat is regarded as a requirement in Islam.
          It does not stop Muslims from giving money or goods to charity at any
          time. The alms usually consist of giving two and a half percent of one’s
          income, and perhaps other assets to charity or deserving causes. There
          are however, variations in the income and goods which form its basis,
          how it should be donated and how it should be collected. Communities
          may differ on who is required to give the alms. The zakat collected is often
          used not only to support those in financial need, but also to help with

          passing the message of Islam onto others.

    4. Fasting during the holy month of Ramadhan (Swam): Ramadhan
          is usually marked in the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. The fast is
         observed from sunrise to sunset for a total of 30 days. All Muslim adults
         are prohibited from taking food or drink during the day. This occasion is
         a period which Muslims demonstrate great discipline, both in a physical
         sense and in a spiritual sense. They also contemplate God and the religious
         life. At sunset each day during Ramadhan, Muslims eat a light meal to
          break the fast. Later in the evening, there is a much more substantial
          meal taken together with family members. People visit the mosque in the
          evening for prayers and to take part in the special events marked during
          the holy month. After a night’s sleep, people wake up early to take a
          light meal which they will survive on up to evening. Towards the end of
          Ramadhan there are special celebrations. One important celebration is
          celebration symbolises the first night during which Prophet Muhammad
          received revelation from God. The conclusion of the fast of Ramadhan
          is usually graced by great celebration, when family members gather and

          offer each other presents. This festival is known as Eid-Ul-Fitr.

    5. Making of pilgrimage to Mecca: This is also known as hajj. A Muslim
          is expected, where possible, to make the pilgrimage at least once during
          one’s lifetime. The event is held every year at approximately the same time.
          This date is usually between certain specific days on the 12th month of
          the Islamic calendar. Prophet Muhammad made a hajj in AD 632. Most of
          the tradition and celebratory features of the hajj are based on this visit.
          During the pilgrimage, people visit Mecca, the neighbouring towns and
          sites of religious significance in the history of Islam. There is a particular
         dress code for men and women. The first place to be visited is the Kaaba
         (a large cube-shaped building covered in black cloth at the time of the
         Hajj). In one corner of it, there is a black stone which was said to have
          been given to Ibrahim (Abraham) by Angel Jibril (Gabriel). The Kaaba is
          situated in the grand mosque in Mecca. Pilgrims walk around it seven
          times, moving in an anti-clockwise direction. All Muslims are expected to
         “fight” to further the faith and to defend it against any acts that might seek

          to undermine Islam. Jihad may at times involve a physical struggle.

    y

    The Five Pillars

    t

    Effects of Islam in Europe and the rest of the world
    Islam had both positive and negative consequences in Europe and the rest of

    the world.

    Arab scientists called alchemists tried to turn base metals, such as tin, iron
    and lead, into gold and silver. Arabs are considered the founder of modern

    chemistry.

    Astronomy and Geography
    Arab astronomers studied the heaven and gave many stars the names they still
    have today. They determined the size and circumference of the earth. From
    their studies they concluded that the earth might be round. Additionally, the
    Astronomer geographers created the first accurate map of the World. They
    accurately described the eclipses of the Sun and proved that the Moon affects

    the oceans.

    Mathematics
    Arab mathematicians invented algebra and introduced it to Europeans. Arab
    mathematicians also borrow the zero and the numerals 1-9, from Hindu

    mathematicians in India and passed them on to Europeans.

    Medicine
    Arab doctors had to pass an exam before they could practice medicine. The
    Arabs established the World’s first School of pharmacy and opened the
    World’s first drug stores. They organized medical clinics that travelled through
    the empire proving drugs and care for the sick. Arab doctors were the first to
    discover that blood circulates or is carried to and from the heart. They were also
    the first to diagnose certain diseases, that Tuberculosis is contagious. They also
    discovered that one way to prevent illness from spreading is to keep the sick

    people apart from those who are not infected.

    Arabs also made many contributions in arts
    One of the best known writings is The Arabian Nights, a collection of tales put

    together from Persian stories. They designed swords, books, Mosques, etc.

    t

                                                                                       Islamic Mosque

    • History
    At first Arab historians wrote about events one year at a time. Then they
    began to organize events around rules and peoples, which is what most
    historians do today.
    • In literature
    Arabic language influenced English. E.g. tariff, traffic magazine, alcohol,
    Muslim, sugar, algebra, etc.
    • Trade
    Muslims penetrated Asia, China, Africa, India and Europe for trading
    reasons.
    • Chemistry
    They discovered different chemical processes like distillation, filtration and
    sublimation.
    • Belief in monotheism
    Muslims believed in only one God-Allah and his prophet was (is) Muhammad.
    People reached Allah through prayers. Islam also brought an end to
    paganism in areas it controlled.
    • Loss of life and destruction of property
    This issued from the Jihads. It involved waging a physical struggle against
    nonbelievers who threatened Islam. The wars led to massive loss of lives
    and destruction of property.
    • Division of Muslims
    At first Islam had uniform adherents. But due to interpretation of the faith visà-
    vis leadership, divisions occurred. This led to the emergence of the Sunni
    and Shi’a. Each has interpreted the teachings of the prophet differently.
    • Change in dietary habits
    Islam brought some dietary regulations on its adherents. Acceptable foods
    were (and are) called ‘Halal’ while forbidden ones are called “Haraam”.

    Muslims have since stuck to these dietary regulations.

    Application activity 2.1.2
    1. Examine the origin of Islam.
    2. Describe the spread of Islam.

    3. Discuss the effects Islam to the world.

    2.2. Relationships between Islam and Christianity in the

    middle and modern times.

    Learning activity 2.3
    Use internet, textbooks, maps, photographs and media to research on
    the causes and effects of crusades and jihads to answer to the following
    questions:
    1) Examine the causes of crusades.
    2) Identify the effects of crusades.

    3) Explain the causes and effects of jihad movements in West Africa.

    2.2.1. The christian crusades (1097-1271)

    Crusades were religious military holy wars or expeditions carried out by the
    Christians of Western Europe under the leadership of pope Urban II against the
    Muslim Turks of Eastern Europe in order to liberate the holy land of Jerusalem.
    These Christian holy wars involved a series of military campaigns where pope
    Urban II appealed to Christian soldiers to carry the cross in a struggle to purify

    Christianity and stop the spread of Islam.

    In 1095 at Clermont in southern France while addressing churchmen and
    nobles, Pope Urban II made one of the most moving speeches in history. “…
    Jerusalem a land fruitful above all others, a paradise of delights, the royal city,
    situated at the centre of the Earth, implores you to come to her aid. Undertake
    the journey eagerly for the remission of your sins, and be assured of the reward
    of imperishable glory in the kingdom of Heaven.” As the pope concluded his
    speech, a feeling of intense excitement swept through the crowd, with many

    believers chanting, “God wills it, God wills it.”

    During the medieval times, Christians thought of Palestine, and all other places
    connected with the life and works of Jesus, as the Holy land and as early as

    200 AD, Christians from Europe had begun making pilgrimages to Jerusalem.

    However, in the 7th century AD, the Muslim conquered Palestine. Despite the
    Arab conquest, Christians were tolerated by the Arabs, and they continued
    visiting the holy sites. The situation changed in 1071 when Seljuk Turks (an
    extremist Arab tribe) captured Palestine and started mistreating Christian
    pilgrims, charging them large sums of money to access Jerusalem. The Seljuk
    Turks had recently stormed Baghdad, taken Jerusalem, and conquered all Asia
    Minor from the Byzantine Greeks. This prompted pope Urban II to appeal to the
    Christians to join the crusades to liberate Jerusalem. The first crusade in 1097

    was followed by seven additional ones. However, only the first was successful.

    Causes of crusades
    • The desire to liberate Jerusalem: Christian desired to liberate Jerusalem
       (Christian holy land) from Turkish Muslim domination led to Crusades.
       Begun in about 1071 and followed by killing and heavy taxation of
       Christian pilgrims. The Muslims had also destroyed the holy places,
        sacred to Christians but of no religious significance to Muslims.
    • The crusades were also intended to re-unite the Christians in the
       west (Roman Catholics) with those in the East (Orthodox Christians).
       In 1054, the Christian church experienced a schism, a heresy which
       split the Christian faith in two, because the Byzantine Christians had
       denied the supremacy of the pope as head of the church, causing a rift
       between the two. Pope Urban hoped to settle the differences between
       the Byzantine and the roman Christians through a successful crusade
       against a common enemy, “the accursed Muslims”, as the pope called
       to them.
    • Crusades were organized also to completely eliminate Islam from the
       face of the earth. The crusades could therefore help to purify Christianity
       and stop the spread of the Islam especially in Europe.
    • Some Christians joined the crusades because they wanted to go to
       heaven. These were inspired by the religious zeal. It was believed that
       if one died in a crusade (Holy war), his/her sins would be forgiven and
       it was a sign of spiritual fulfillment. This therefore forced many to join
       the crusades hoping that if they died in action, paradise awaited them.
    • Some Christians hoped that through the crusades, they would conquer
       and loot great wealth from the Arab world and become rich men.
    • Some crusaders especially merchants, joined the crusades in order to
       protect their monopoly over the Mediterranean Sea trade, threatened by
       the possibility that their trade routes would be lost if Muslims expanded
       to Spain and Italy. By means of a crusade, the western merchants would
       defeat and drive the Muslim back and thereby also take control of the
       important trading centers of Antioch, Damascus and Jerusalem, which
       Muslims had controlled for centuries.
    • Many Christians joined the crusades as a sign of obedience to Pope
       Urban II. The pope had unquestionable powers and therefore given
       orders from him, all Christians felt obliged to join the crusades.
    • The pope was also motivated to launch a holy war with an army of
       crusaders, knights from all over Europe’s kingdoms to display his power
       as the leader of all Christians.
    • Some joined Crusades as a sign of obedience to the Pope.
    • Love for adventure made people to join Crusades. Many Christians
        joined Crusades in order to know what was happening beyond their
        home land.
    Effects of crusades
    • The Crusades led to loss of lives: just like any armed conflict, the
       crusades were destructive as many crusaders and civilians lost their
       lives. In the first crusade, about 80% of the crusaders died. Thousands
       of Muslims were slaughtered in Jerusalem including those who took
       cover in Solomon’s Temple.
    • Crusades led to destruction of properties: like houses, the crusaders
        re-sacked Constantinople and the looters set fire that burned much
       of the city including libraries priceless ancient documents and
       artefacts.
    • Crusades increased (widened) the enmity between Moslems and
        Christianity up today.
    • The Crusades brought humiliation and disrespect to the Church
        leaders especially the pope who preached and assured victory, but
        at the end, the Crusaders were defeated.
    • Crusades helped to create unity among Christians from different
        parts of Europe. That is to say Christians from Western Europe and
        Eastern Europe.
    • Crusades to some extent, stopped the spread of Islam, in some
       parts of Europe, and this is the reason as to why Islam is not widely
       spread in Europe.
    • The Crusades helped spread of civilisation: where Christians from the
        West adopted the culture of Eastern Europe which quite civilised.
    • Crusades led to complete collapse of Christian influence in holy
        places.
    • Crusades led to disruption of economic activities: in Eastern Europe,
        during the fighting, there was insecurity which disorganized trade
        and commerce.
    • The Christians of Western Europe learnt about gunpowder from
        Moslems, who had also learnt it from Chinese.

    

    2.2.2. Jihad movements in west Africa
    A jihad is an Islamic religious movement or a holy war that is fought by fanatic
    Muslims against those who do not believe in their faith. It aims at spreading,

    purifying and strengthening Islam.

    The 18th and 19th centuries saw a wave of jihads or Islamic movements in
    northern Sudan. Although, the causes were religious, they had a mixture of

    political, economic and intellectual causes.

    The first jihads in West Africa took place in Guinea in Futa Jallon in 1720s. They
    were led by Ibrahim Musa. In the 1770s there was yet another jihad in Senegal
    in Futa Toro led by Sulayman Bal. In 1808, Uthman Dan Fadio started holy wars
    in the Hausa states (Daura, Kano, Katsina, Zaria, Rano, Gobir and Hiram). Other
    West African jihadists were Seku Ahmadu of Macina, Al Hajj Umar of Tukolor

    and Ahmed Bello.

    Causes of Jihads in West Africa
    • Need to purify Islam: After the decline of Mali and Songhai, there
       was a decline in Islam in western Sudan. Islam was mixed with pagan
        practices. Therefore, there was a need to revive Islam.
    • To stop unfair judgments in courts of law: There was a lot of
        corruption and bribery in the courts which were against the teaching
        of Islam.
    • Local political competition: The Fulani were discriminated. The
       Fulani leaders of the jihads aimed at overthrowing the government of
       the Hausa people and to establish a government favourable to their
        people.
    • Widespread belief in the Mahdi (Savior): According to the
       Muslims, a Mahdi was supposed to emerge during the 13th century of
        the Islamic calendar. This started from 1785 to 1882.
    • Nee to overthrow pagan governments: The jihadists wanted to
        establish governments based on Islamic rule. Strict Muslims in West
        Africa could not tolerate rule by pagans. Muslims were also forced to go
        to war against fellow Muslims which was contrary to Islamic practice.
    • To spread Islam: This was aimed at the people who had resisted
        conversion to Islam. Thus they would be forced to join Islam.
    • Desire to spread Islamic education: Through the conversion of
        pagans who were against Islamic education, the jihadists hoped to
        build an ideal Islamic society through education.
    • Over taxation: Governments in western Sudan imposed heavy taxes
        on the Fulani town merchants while the Fulani pastoralists or nomads
        were opposed to the heavy taxation.
    • Methods used to collect taxes: The tax collectors were harsh. They
        whipped and imprisoned the people who failed to pay. Some of the
        property was confiscated. This is why the people welcomed Islam.
    • Defence of African independence: The West Africans joined jihads
        in order to protect their independence and fight against slave trade. This
        was because according to Sharia, no Muslim is supposed to enslave
        or sell another Muslim. Therefore, the time was right for a revolution
        that only needed someone to start it. This was provided by the arrival of
         men filled with religious zeal and reformist ideas and with the ability to
         lead and organise. For example, Uthman Dan Fodio, Al Hajji Umar, Seku
        Ahmadu among others.
    • The belief that the end of the world was going to come soon:
        The belief that the world was going to come soon made people to
        Jihads.
    • Most of the Hausa rulers were corrupt. The need to overthrow
         corrupt Hausa rulers who were corrupt caused the Jihad wars in West
         Africa. They embezzled government resources and the taxes corrected
         remained in the hands of the few. This forced the Fulani Jihads to rebel
        hence the Jihad wars.

    Example of the Jihad leader

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    Uthman Dan Fodio and his caliphate. (Source: Google.rw/image)

    Uthman Dan Fodio
    The first jihad in western Sudan took place in Hausa land in 1804. This jihad
    was led by Uthman Dan Fodio. He was a Fulani and a scholar. He was born in
    1754 at Martha in Gobir.
    He received Islamic education from various teachers but finally he ended up
    in Agades under the famous Islamic teacher Jibril Ibn Umar. At the age of 20,

    he started his career as a writer and teacher in Senegal. From here, he started

    missionary tours in Hausa land, especially Zamfara, Kebbi and Daura in his
    preaching and writing, he attacked all unreligious tendencies. He condemned
    corrupt and unjust governments, and illegal taxation. He insisted on complete
    acceptance of the spiritual and moral values of Islam.
    He soon mobilised a large number of followers. Most of these believed that he
    was the Mahdi or the saviour. His fame attracted the administration of Sultan
    Bawa, the leader of Gobir. He was employed as the tutor of the Sultan’s son. All
    these increased Fodio’s influence.
    Because of this influence, he successfully negotiated with Sultan Bawa of Gobir
    to release all Muslim prisoners. He also requested the king to grant freedom of
    worship and also exempt Muslims from un-Islamic taxes.
    Unfortunately, Bawa was succeeded by Sultan Nafata and later Yunfa who did
    not support Uthman Dan Fodio. Because of Uthman’s growing influence, Yunfa
    arranged the assassination of Fodio but he managed to escape.
    Along with his brother Abdullah and son Mohammed Bello, Fodio escaped to
    Gudu outside Gobir. At Gudu, many Fulani tribesmen joined him and he was
    elected commander of the faithful, Amir Al Munimin. He then, declared a jihad
    on the non-believers in 1804 and confronted Yunfa’s army.
    After a prolonged fight, Yunfa’s army was defeated and he was killed at Akolawa.
    Serious resistance against Fodio’s army collapsed in 1809. Immediately, Fodio
    declared the Sokoto Caliphate and he became the undisputed caliph.
    Once the conquest period was over, Fodio returned to his work of writing books
    since he was basically an Islamic scholar.
    He divided the empire between his son and his brother. Mohammed Bello his
    son was in charge of the eastern region and Abdullah his brother the western
    region. Fodio died in 1817 and his son Mohammed Bello was recognised as the

    caliph of the Sokoto Caliphate.

    Consequences of Jihads in West Africa
    • The jihads led to closer contacts with the outside world. This was true
    with Saudi Arabia and the Middle East. In fact a pilgrimage made by Al
    Hajji Umar to Mecca in 1825 further exposed the Sudan to the outside

    world.

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                                                                                                                      Al Hajji Umar

    • They led to the spread and revival of Islamic culture for example the way
       of dressing with items such as the veil, the turban and the daily prayers
       and the hijja.
    • Literate Muslim officials were employed by kings and emperors as
        clerks, secretaries, judges, auditors, inspectors and teachers. This
       strengthened Islamic way of life.
    • Large and powerful Islamic states were formed under Muslim rulers
       like Uthman Dan Fodio of Sokoto, Muhammad Bello of Sokoto, Seku
       Ahmad of Macina, Al Hajji Umar of Tokolar and Al Kanemi of Dinguiray.
    • They caused clashes and conflicts between the pagans and the Muslims.
       For example there was enslavement of non-Muslims as permitted by
       the Koran. This led to tribal wars and antagonism.
    • Strong states emerged to resist European infiltration. Jihads united the
       masses and their leaders against French colonialists.
    • A Centralised system of administration was introduced and managed
       according to the Koran.
    • There was the stabilisation and efficient management of the economy
       in the Islamic states.
    • They abolished unlawful taxes and levied taxes as stipulated in the holy
       Koran.
    • They led to the decline of the African traditional religions. This is because
       leaders of traditional religion and people who refused to change to
       Islam were executed.
    • The jihads checked the spread of Christianity in West Africa. This is
       because the Christian Missionaries were not allowed to enter Muslim

       lands.

    Application activity 2.3
    1) Explain the term crusades.
    2) Discus the causes of crusades.
    3) Identify the effects of crusades.

    4) Discuss the effects of jihad movements in West Africa.

    2.3. Causes and the effects of the early explorations.

    Learning activity 2.3

    Use internet, textbooks, maps, photographs and media to research on the
    causes and effects of early explorations and answer the questions below:
                           1) Identify the causes of early exploration.

                           2) Explain the effects of early exploration.

    To explore refers to search for the purpose of, or obtaining information or
    resources. Europe led the rest of the world in early explorations. Various
    countries made voyages of exploration to distant lands away from Europe.
    Europeans sailed and explored the rest of the world. They were mainly searching
    for material wealth. Explorers came mainly from Portugal, Spain, Netherlands,

    Britain, and later, France.

    Map showing early exploration routes

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    Early exploration is also known as the age of discovery was a time characterised
    by the explosive overseas expansion of European civilisation. The European
    nation states of Western Europe, led by Portugal, embarked on a series of
    explorations and colonisation whose impact was felt in virtually every part of
    the world. This development represents the first and earliest manifestation of

    globalisation.

    Causes for early explorations
    The early explorations were caused by many factors. The main ones were:
    i) The explorations were made possible by advances in science
    The main advances in science and technology that had been occasioned by
    discoveries during the renaissance period were:
    • Widespread dissemination of newly rediscovered geographical
      knowledge about the earth; especially the realisation that it was round
       and not flat.
    • Much improved and detailed maps, sea charts and star charts used for
       navigation.
    • The application of an improved compass for establishing direction.
    • Effective use of the astrolabe used in determining latitude.
    • The development of the ship’s rudder and geared steering system.
    • Improvements in cannon fabrication and use aboard ships; used for
        offensive and defensive purposes.
    • Basic education and marine training instituted for ship’s officers and

       sailors.

    ii) Commerce
    There existed a profitable commerce between European states and the regions
    of Asia. Europeans had a high appetite for goods from the Asian countries.
    However, the trade was dominated by traders and merchants from Asia, the
    Near East and Italians. These people grew rich and powerful by selling a variety
    of goods to Europe. Spices were the most valued goods at the time. The
    European powers wanted to equally benefit from this trade from the 15th Century.
    Spain and Portugal wanted to break the monopoly enjoyed by the Asiatic states
    and the Italian traders. To achieve this, they financed voyages to try and find sea
    route to the Far East and therefore, to completely bypass the overland route
    through the middle East to Asia. Apart from the goods from Asia, cloves from
    the coastal regions of East Africa, pepper, curry, nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon and
    other spices added new and very popular elements to the food consumed by

    the Europeans who could afford such luxury items.

    iii) Curiosity to understand the nations and civilisations of Asia
    Europeans are said to have become increasingly curious and interested about
    the nations and civilisations of the orient. They wanted to get more information
    about the regions especially in India and China. Many Europeans were eager to
    get information about the “strange” and unknown worlds beyond the boundaries
    of Europe. The thirst and quest for knowledge about people, civilisations,
    continents and other dimensions, greatly encouraged the spirit of overseas
    travel and exploration.
    iv) Desire for colonies
    Monarchs in Europe desired to get colonies in other parts of the world so as to
    shore up trade and wealth. They were also aware of the capacity of the colonies
    to provide their states with prestige. This made the rulers to go out of their way
    to support the voyages of exploration. Rulers took great risks to channel capital

    investment and manpower necessary to make the missions successful.

    v) Desire to spread christianity
    The Europeans also expected to spread Christianity to other parts of the world.
    Many Portuguese and Spaniard traders remotely intended to convert those they
    came into contact with during their commercial excursion.
    vi) National prestige and power
    Exploration was also influenced by power politics. European states were led
    by desire for prestige and power. This made the search of Gold and Glory be

    intertwined in the countries’ quest for knowledge and wealth.

    Example of some early explorers

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    Effects of early explorations
    The early explorations had long lasting effects on the history of the world. These
    were both positive and negative. The main ones included:
              • Expansion of empire
    All the European powers which participated in the explorations built themselves
    large empires. For example, Portugal acquired Brazil in the New world and had
    numerous territories in Africa and Asia. Portugal controlled most of the African
    Atlantic and Indian seaboards, India and other parts of Asia.
    Spain took most of the territories in the New world. She had settlements in the
    West Indies, Mexico, Central America, Florida, the south west areas of what
    later became the USA and California. Her riches in these areas made her the

    envy of rival powers.

               • Spread of war in the colonies
    As the quest for colonies intensified in the new lands and areas outside Europe,
    colonial rivalries and economic competitions forced the major European powers
    into many conflicts. More often than not, these led to wars between the 16th
    to the 18th centuries due to overseas hostilities. Each power built its army
    and navy to safeguard or expand its colonial acquisition. England, for instance,
    fought bitter wars with Holland, France and Spain. By 1763, England, now

    called Great Britain, had emerged as the world’s first modern super power.

               • Introduction of new products in Europe
    Expanded global trade brought many new products into European markets,
    commerce expanded as the quantity and type of imports increased. Some of
    the new food products were: maize, tobacco, chocolate, tea, quinine, tomatoes,
    peppers, indigo, sugar, rice and the king of them all. There were also products
    that the Europeans could not get enough of. Examples were: Chinese porcelain,
    silk and Indian cotton or calico cloth. These items were in addition to what had
    become known as “the spice trade” of the East Indies. These goods, coming in

    large numbers, improved the standard of living in Europe.

                • Slave trade
    Although slaves were considered goods, it is vital to treat it independent of
    the new products. At first a few slaves were captured by the explorers, but
    later armies and navies got involved. This saw large Africans being captured
    and sold as slaves to go and supply labour in the New world. The New world’s
    appetite seemed insatiable in the demands for slave labour in sugar, rice, indigo,
    tobacco and cotton plantations now dotting various parts of the continents. The
    demands for European markets and the lust for profits superseded any ethical
    or moral considerations when it came to slavery. Even the so called Christians
    turned a blind eye to the practice. It didn’t prick their conscience at all from
    the 15th Century when the Atlantic slave trade begun in earnest. Africans were
    exposed to the horrors of the “middle passage” the pain and suffering slaves
    underwent as they crossed the Atlantic Ocean. This only stopped in the 19th
    Century. Slavery had grave consequences on the victim population.
             • Cultural exchange
    Exploration led to cultural exchange. People exchanged ideas, products,
    languages, and many other aspects of culture between Europe and the other
    civilisations. This is what has been referred to as the ‘Columbian Exchange”.
    Subsequent world history remains essentially the story of the results of the
    Columbian Exchange. Today, this is what underlies globalization. During the
    early exploration, both the European and the new communities were not spared
    the vagaries of cultural exchange. Each borrowed from one another.
             • Mineral exploitation
    The new world and areas outside Europe which were of interest to the explorers,
    had large deposits of minerals. When the European countries realized this, they
    embarked on a serious exercise of mineral exploitation in the New World. This
    was done by slave labour while in other areas, the indigenous communities
    were engaged forcefully. As a result, large quantities of minerals were shipped
    to Europe. Such minerals include: gold, silver, tin, copper and diamond. Gold

    and silver were minted into coins and used as currency.

            • Invention of the concept of insurance
    Governments and merchants tried to reduce and control their risks and losses
    due to overseas ventures by contributing a restricted amount to help in case
    of loss due to inflation or theft or accident. The amount paid into the fund was
    termed the insurance premium. This was the genesis of the insurance industry
    as we have it today. Investors thus received compensation from loss due to
    piracy, war, fire, storm, etc. The most famous of these insurance companies has
    survived to today. This is Lloyd’s of London, founded in the 17th Century.
            • Shift of economic power base
    Commercial activities and trade networks shifted from the Mediterranean Sea
    and its bordering countries to the Atlantic Coastal nation-states. The Ottoman
    Empire, the Italian city states and the countries of North Africa entered a period
    of economic decline in economic and therefore, political in significance. Trade
    fell sharply across the Sahara Desert, Mediterranean Sea, Black Sea and even
    in the Baltic Sea. This made all these areas to witness both economic and
    political decline. This was in sharp contrast to developments in the Atlantic
    Coast. Here, there was an increase in power, wealth and importance. In fact,
    new nation-states emerged. These were mostly based upon powerful absolute
    monarchies a feature which was to be dominant in western civilisation from the
    16th to the 18th centuries.
            • Increased population
    Early explorations also occasioned widespread demographic and social
    changes. There was increased migration while due to education, abundance of
    food and security, people’s standard of living greatly increased. All these factors
    contributed to increased population. Job opportunities equally expanded the
    middle class. People moved to secure employment. With time, distinctions
    between classes: middle class, nobility and lower class, and even slaves became
    blurred. This was to be with time, lead to an end to distinctions of population
    along classes. All races found home in the New world. Some in favoured status
    while others, like Africans, as slaves. Nonetheless, all contributed to the rise in
    population.
            • Development of mercantilism
    The governments of European states developed a doctrine of economics called
    mercantilism. This was geared towards obtaining wealth from the new lands.
    The benefits would be felt by the ordinary citizens and rulers. This doctrine was
    pursued by virtually all the European powers. It was based on certain interrelated
    elements. They were:
    • Nations must adopt economic policies that attract the most amounts of
        gold and silver.
    • A nation should arrange its trading matters so that it exports more than
        it imports.
    • A nation could increase its exports most advantageously if it subsidized
        and supported domestic manufacturing.
    • Tariff levied on imported goods.
    • To obtain as many colonies as practically possible.
    • Limit or forbid the rise of colonial industries and the production of
          manufactured goods in the colonies.
    • Prohibit colonies to trade with any other rival power except the mother
          country and ensure that any raw material from the colony is supplied by
          vessels from the mother country.

    • Require the colonies to pay taxes to the mother country.

    Colonies lived to satisfy the economic needs of the mother country. Mercantilism
    preceded the emergence of capitalism by about 200 years but it bore all the
    hallmarks of the latter. A free market economy was encouraged with strict
    government control. Business persons paid large fees to the government to
    enable it control monopolies over a particular product in even an entire subcontinent.

    Trade was thus undertaken by joint-stock companies.

             • Emergence of the banking industry
    The early explorations directly led to the accumulation of capital which
    necessitated the development of the banking industry. Banks sprung up to
    support business enterprises. They provided the services that were required
    to accommodate the increased supplies of gold and silver to the nation-states.
    Lending money to reliable customers in return for interest charges and bank
    services commenced. Banks also gave loans to governments to run their
    services, examples of outstanding banks were The Medici family of Florence
    in Italy and the German family of the Fuggers. These were family-ran banks.
    They were very successful. To reduce the challenges of the use of gold and
    silver, banks adopted innovative systems of exchange. This included the use
    of new ideas as bills of exchange (used in international trade) and adoption of
    bank notes (a kind of paper money printed by the primary bank involved in the
    transaction). Later banks also came up with cheque system. Cheques were
    mainly used in national, regional and local business transactions. Their use

    then, has not changed much as we have them today.

              • Emergence of the factory system
    Production moved from the guild system to factories. Large manufacturing
    industries were shifted to factories. Here products were produced in large
    quantities to satisfy the demands of the nation-states. These factories were the
    precursors of the factory system of the industrial revolution of the 18th and 19th
    centuries. Apart from the factory system, the guild system was also bypassed
    by the use of the cottage industry. This involved people producing the goods
    in the comfort of their homes. The raw materials were brought by the rich
    business persons to the homes of the workers from where the latter made them
    into various products in exchange for payment for his or her labour.
              • Discovery of bio-diversity
    Early exploration led to the discovery of various animals and plants. New animal
    and plant species were now studied thus contributing to the field of scientific
    knowledge.
             • Spread of christianity
    The explorers were partly driven with the motive of spreading Christianity. This
    was true of the Portuguese in East and Central African Coast. However, the
    Portuguese made little mark in as far as the spread of Christianity was concerned.
    They were more driven by the trade motive. Nonetheless, there were some areas
    away from the Portuguese dominated coastal regions of East and Central Africa
    where Christianity made a foothold. It became a dominant religion in the new

    worlds and in Goa and India.

    Application activity 2.3

    1) Examine the contribution of science and technology to early
         exploration.

    2) Discuss the consequences of early exploration.

    2.4. Ideas of philosophers/ Age of Enlightenment

    Learning activity 2.4
    Use internet, textbooks, photographs and media to research on
    Enlightenment era and answer the following questions.
    1) Describe the ideas of philosophers.

    2) Discuss the impact of the ideas of the Enlightenment era.

    Concepts of enlightenment
    The enlightenment was a sprawling intellectual, philosophical, cultural, and social
    movement that spread throughout England, France, Germany, and other parts
    of Europe during the 1700s. It was an intellectual and philosophical movement
    that dominated the world of ideas in Europe during the 18th century, and later in
    North America. It is a term used to describe a time in Western philosophy and
    cultural life centred upon the eighteenth century, in which reason was advocated

    for as the primary source and legitimacy for authority.

    The Age of Enlightenment or the Age of Reason was a period in Europe during
    the 17th and 18th centuries when many individuals refused to acknowledge
    the authority of the Scripture and instead exalted their own reason to a place
    of extreme authority. It was a period in which people rejected traditional
    ideas and supported a belief in human reason. Thus from 1650 to 1800, the
    European philosophers began rethinking old ideas about government, religion
    and economics. This movement was spearheaded by philosophers like Jean
    Jacques Rousseau, Baron Charles-Louis Montesquieu and Denis Diderot. They
    criticized different ideas, condemned prejudice and mistakes of the past. Based
    on reason, these philosophers criticized the religion, (They were against the
    religion of the state), the absolute monarchy and the society in general. They

    had a Slogan: liberty (freedom), equality and fraternity.

    A philosopher is a person who seeks wisdom or enlightenment; a scholar or

    a thinker.

    During this period, the use of reason in shaping people’s ideas about the society
    and politics defined a period called the Enlightenment. People began to put
    great importance to reason, or logical thought. They used reason to try and
    solve problems such as poverty and war. It was believed that the use of reason

    could achieve three great goals: knowledge, freedom and happiness.

    The occurrence of the Age of Enlightenment was due to political, scholarly and

    religious causes.

    Politically
    • People believed and wanted economic improvement and political
          reforms and believed that both were possible.
    • Rulers who believed in enlightened absolutism wanted to centralise
         their authority to reform their countries.
    • They put the well-being of their country above anything else; including
         religion.
    • Need for administrative reform in France after the wars of Louis XIV.
    • The wars of Louis XIV left a huge debt and lots of commotion.
    • Philosophers started to write topics that related to the government,
        politics and rights.
    • People began thinking differently about these subjects and coming
        up with their own opinions; which, according to Kant, happens when

        someone is enlightened.

    Scholarly
    • Growth of the print culture that made ideas circulate faster through
          books, journals, newspapers, and pamphlets.
    • Isaac Newton and John Locke’s ideas were the basis for the
         Enlightenment.
    • Newton’s tabula rasa (blank page) and other fundamental ideas were
         brought to the public.
    • Newton’s discoveries in science allowed people to question things
         more.
    • People began to think the universe is understandable through science,
       not religion.
    • Inspiration came from the Scientific Revolution.
    • The discovery that the earth was not at the centre of the universe and
        the discovery that God had not created everything led to a new way of

        thought where the Church’s validity was questioned.

    Religiously
    • Deism believed that rational and religion can be combined.
    • Philosophers wanted to transform religion into an encouraging force to
          improve living.
    • People started to think for themselves and disregarded the idea of
         following God’s laws by following their “own” laws and thinking for
         themselves.
    Characteristics of Enlightenment era
    • The Enlightenment or The Age of Reason was marked by the glorification
         of man’s ability to reason.
    • Science and development served as the backbone for the popularity of
         law and reason.
    • Stability and peace were regarded as the symbols of this period.
    • Greater cultural development took place but with the social desire
         of everyone remaining within the hierarchical order for stability to be
         established.
    • At the same time, it should be borne in mind that due to the agrarian
        society evolving into an industrial economy, there was a great flux in the
        value system and the cultural background of England.
    • Its participants thought that they were illuminating human intellect and
        culture after the ‘dark’ middle Ages.
    • Characteristics of the Enlightenment include the rise of concepts such
        as reason, liberty and the scientific method. Enlightenment philosophy
        was sceptical of religion, especially the powerful Catholic Church.
    • Independent thought was embraced, scepticism ran freely through
        work, and new values, including an emphasis on science, became
        quite common among the educated classes. Not surprisingly, this
        Enlightenment found its way to the literary world as well.
    • This era was dominated by the Declaration of Independence and the
        thoughts of thinkers such as Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton
        and James Madison, who laid the founding stones of the modern free

        world that we enjoy today.

    Ideas of philosophers

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    Impact of the ideas of the era of Enlightenment
    We have already discussed at length the contributions of selected personalities
    during the age of reason to the modern world. Below is a summary of the
    contributions of Enlightenment to the modern world.
    1. Emergence of modern European feminism: campaign for women’s
    rights, including the right to vote, to hold public office, to work, to
    earn fair wages, equal pay and eliminate the gender pay gap, to own
    property, to receive education, to enter contracts, to have equal rights
    within marriage, and to have maternity leave.

    2. Promotion of individual rights.
    3. Separation between the Church and the State.

    4. Promotion of democracy in the governance process

    5. Promotion of the capitalist ideology (Adam Smith and Marquis de
          Mirabeau). It encouraged individual ownership of wealth.
    6. Separation of power of the three arms of government for efficiency in the
         governance process.
    7. Provision of equal educational opportunities for both boys and girls.
    8. Creation of an enabling environment for the child (learner).
    9. Role of education in liberation.
    10. Broadening of historiography (writing of history) so as to cover political,
           social and cultural aspects of humanity’s life. They advocated for total
           history.
    11. Promotion of aesthetics: This was marked by treatises and debates
          over abstract questions such as the nature of taste, beauty, the sublime,
          imagination and creativity, and by speculation on the relations between
          the arts.
    12. Morality: The problem of moral values was central to the Enlightenment
          period. Revelation and traditional Christian doctrine were rejected. The
          demand for happiness and pleasure set the standards for morality. The
         Enlightenment period marked a turning point in human development. It
         made people to be rational. It had both moral and intellectual significance
         to humanity. This period was revolutionary. It destroyed myths by which
         people lived and proposed new myths of its own; many of which were
         later to be challenged in the second half of the 20th Century.
    Enlightenment thinkers in Britain, in France and throughout Europe questioned
    the traditional authority and embraced the notion that humanity could be
    improved through rational change.
    The American and French Revolutions were directly inspired by Enlightenment
    ideals and respectively marked the peak of its influence and the beginning of its

    decline. The Enlightenment ultimately gave way to the 19th-century Romanticism.

    Romanticism was the attitude or intellectual orientation that
    characterized many works of literature, painting, music, architecture,
    criticism, and historiography in Western civilisation era from the late

    18thto the mid-19th century.

    The first effect of the Age of Enlightenment was a general rebel against the
    teachings of the Church. Earlier, the Church used to profess that God was the
    absolute power and the reason behind every occurrence. People used to believe

    in miracles. But with the age in discussion, all those were being questioned.

    People deduced that there was scientific logic and reasons behind every
    happening around the World and not simply God’s wish. Thus everybody
    began to stop believing the Church blindly and put their own reasoning behind

    everything. For this, that period is also called the Age of Reason.

    The most apparent effect that followed the Age of Enlightenment was the
    development of new ideas in every field. Everybody also began to be intolerant
    to all the dictations made by their earlier faith. Economically, the Industrial
    Revolution happened, changing the very face of the then society in Europe as it

    gave rise to a new group of independent, wealthy and educated class of men.

    A whole new political scene emerged with the formation of nations and state,
    led by independent kings and parliaments. Earlier the Church was the supreme
    power, but after the enlightenment, it began to lose its position. All these paved

    way to the social and political scene that we know today.

    The Enlightenment developed through a snowball effect, that is to say small
    advances triggered larger ones, and before Europe and the world knew it,

    almost two centuries of philosophizing and innovation had ensued.

    During this period, people like John Amos Comenius (1592-1670), the father
    of modern education, fostered the belief that education should “follow the
    natural order of things”. Children’s development follows a timetable of its
    own and their education should reflect that fact. They should be allowed to learn

    at their own pace and learn by doing.

    John Amos Comenius was an innovator who first introduced pictorial textbooks
    written in native language instead of Latin. He applied effective teaching based
    on the natural gradual growth from simple to more comprehensive concepts. He
    supported lifelong learning and development of logical thinking by moving from
    dull memorization. Three most important contributions that he made are: books
    with illustrations, education with the senses, social reform-educate the poor as

    well as the rich.

    During the Age of Enlightenment, there were many discoveries in the fields of
    earth science and astronomy, as notables such as Johannes Kepler and Galileo
    Galilei took the old, beloved ‘‘truths” of Aristotle and disproved them. Thinkers
    such as René Descartes and Francis Bacon revised the scientific method,

    setting the stage for Isaac Newton and his landmark discoveries in Physics.

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    From these discoveries there emerged a system for observing the world and
    making testable hypotheses based on those observations. At the same time,
    however, scientists faced ever-increasing contempt and scepticism (doubt
    as to the truth of something) from people in the religious community, who felt

    threatened by science and its attempts to explain matters of faith.

    Scepticism is generally any questioning attitude or doubt towards one or more
    items of putative knowledge or belief. It is often directed at domains, such as the

    supernatural, morality, religion, or knowledge.

    a. Summary of the unit
    This unit examines with the political, economic and intellectual developments
    in medieval and modern times. The medieval time is estimated to be the
    period between AD 300 to AD 1500 and it recognized the influence of
    two strong religions. Christianity is believed to have been founded by Jesus
    Christ of Nazareth over 2,000 years ago. Early Christians shared a common
    faith in the teachings of Jesus Christ. The word Islam means submission to
    Allah (Arabic for God). Muslims believed in Allah and Muhammad was the
    messenger and the prophet of Allah (God). Every Muslim was/is expected
    to make a pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in a lifetime. The modern period
    refers to the historical era that started with the end of Renaissance in 16thC.
    It was marked with the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus.
    There were great discoveries in science, religious reformation and the
    beginning of capitalism. In politics, there were centralized states and the
    rise of democratic practices. This was also the beginning of globalization
    where world became interconnected through trade, spread of new ideas,
    improved agricultural production, etc. The Age of Enlightenment known as
    ages of reason was a period in European history in the mid-18th Century
    when scholars believed in the use of reason and in the scientific methods.
    The scholars in the Age of Enlightenment applied the methods of new
    science which had been developed during the scientific revolution to study
    human behaviour and provide solutions to political and economic problems
    facing them. All of these features that marked enlightenment greatly shaped

    contemporary history.

    Application activity 2.4
    1) Explain the term enlightenment era.
    2) Analyse the ideas of John Locke and Voltaire.

    3) To what extent did the age of reason shape today’s world?

    Skills Lab
    Move around your school/college and observe the social, economic,
    political and intellectual activities carried out in your sector to examine the
    legacies of the medieval and modern times to contemporary era. Make a

    report and present your findings to the plenary.

    End unit assessment

    1. Discuss the contribution of Christianity to the world.
    2. Why do we say that Mohammed was the founder of Islam?
    3. In 1095 at Clermont in southern France while addressing churchmen
         and nobles, Pope Urban II made one of the most moving speeches
         in history. “… Jerusalem a land fruitful above all others, a paradise of
         delights, the royal city, situated at centre of the earth, implores you
          to come to her aid. Undertake the journey eagerly for the remission
         of your sins, and be assured of the reward of imperishable glory in
         the kingdom of Heaven.”

    4. To what extent was this statement responsible for the outbreak of
         the crusades?
    5. Use a sketch map of the world to show the main routes of early
          explorers.

    6. Identify the ideas of Jean Jacques Rousseau.


  • UNIT 3 THE GREAT REVOLUTIONS OF 18TH TO 19TH CENTURY

    Key Unit competence:

    The learner should be able to evaluate the major events that happened

    between 18th to 19th centuries.

    Introductory activity
    The period between 18th and 19th century witnessed Great Revolutions and
    world wars. Among these revolutions include industrial revolution, American
    and French revolutions. Read relevant materials and use internet to answer
    the following questions and make presentation in class.
    1. Explain the reasons that led to the industrial revolution in Britain and
         identify its effects.
    2. Examine the causes and consequences of American and French
         revolutions.
    3. Discuss the factors responsible for the rise and downfall of Napoleon

         Bonaparte.

    3.1. Causes and consequences of industrial revolution

    Learning activity 3.1

    Use the internet and history textbook to explain the factors that led to the
    industrial revolution and its effects.

    The term ‘Industrial Revolution’ was first used by the historian Arnold Toynbee,
    to describe the economic development in England, from 1760 to 1840. Charles
    Beard gives a good description of the Industrial Revolution, which he calls a great
    transformation brought about by discoveries and inventions that changed the

    methods of production and distribution of the means of life and of the economic

    functions of society. During the 18th century, Britain and Europe witnessed this
    transformation caused by the mass production of consumer goods with the help

    of the newly invented machines.

    The Industrial Revolution thus refers to the transformation in the method of
    production, from man-made, to machine made goods. Being mechanical
    in nature, the Industrial Revolution was peaceful. However, it proved to be

    destructive as well as constructive, and indeed very noisy.

    Industrial Revolution was also defined as a widespread replacement of manual
    labor by machines that began in Britain in the 18th century and is still continuing
    in some parts of the world. It is a series of dramatic changes in the way the work
    was done. Human labour was replaced by machines. The Industrial Revolution
    thus refers to the transformation in the method of production, from man-made,

    to machine made goods.

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                                           Map of England showing major industrial areas in the 18th Century

    3.1.1. The Causes or origin of industrial revolution.

    The Industrial Revolution first started in England from where it rapidly spread to
    the U.S.A. and later to Europe. Several factors were responsible for the advent

    of the Industrial Revolution in Great Britain and not elsewhere in the world.

    England had sufficient money (capital) to finance new industries. Overseas

    trade, commerce and industry were encouraged by England’s naval supremacy.

    There was political and social stability in England, so people could invest
    their savings in new enterprises. With this political stability, Britain’s political
    development during this period was fairly stable, with no major internal upheavals
    occurring. Although Britain took part in many wars during the 1700s, none
    of them took place on British soil, and its citizens did not seriously question
    the government’s authority. By 1750 Parliament’s power far exceeded that of
    the king, and its members passed laws that protected business and helped

    expansion.

    An Agricultural Revolution: The Industrial Revolution would not have been
    possible without a series of improvements in agriculture in England. Beginning
    in the early1700s, wealthy landowners began to enlarge their farms through
    enclosure, or fencing or hedging large blocks of land for experiments with new
    techniques of farming. These scientific farmers improved crop rotation methods,
    which carefully controlled nutrients in the soil. They bred better livestock, and
    invented new machines, such as Jethro Tull’s seed drill that more effectively
    planted seeds. The larger the farms and the better the production the fewer
    farmers were needed. Farmers pushed out of their jobs by enclosure either
    became tenant farmers or they moved to cities. Better nutrition boosted England’s
    population, creating the first necessary component for the Industrial Revolution:

    labor.

    England began to manufacture practical and inexpensive articles, which
    could be exported if they were produced on a large scale. Hence England

    invented new techniques and machines to produce such articles.

    Many agriculturists, who became unemployed owing to the Agriculture
    Revolution, were available as laborers in mills, factories and workshops. These
    laborers were able to move freely from place to place for jobs in factories. Coal,
    a cheap fuel, was available in large quantities for running factories, mills and

    workshops.

    Napoleon’s Continental System of preventing the import of English goods
    into Europe enabled England to blockade the continental ports. Thus England
    bought raw materials at low rates and supplied finished products at high

    prices to her colonies.

    England had a large man power or labor force due many skilled immigrants.
    Many Spanish and French artisans, who were persecuted owing to their religion,

    went and settled down in England, thus giving an impetus to English industries.

    The English colonies were ruthlessly exploited for raw materials and as

    markets for finished products.

    Scientific discoveries were encouraged by the Royal Society of London. The
    inventive genius of the English, as seen in scientists like Sir Humphry Davy,
    George Stephenson, Dr. Edmund Cartwright and James Watt, favored the

    Industrial Revolution.

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                                                                                                Source: Encarta premium 2019

    New inventions and new methods of production went hand in hand, giving

    rise to many factories over a span of a hundred years in Britain’s countryside.

    Improvement in transport and communication. This included roads,
    railways and water transport which were much developed. Canals were
    constructed linking existing rivers and lakes. During the second half of the 18th
    century, roads and railways were constructed to link industrial centres. They
    were to transport raw materials and finished products to their destinations as
    well. It eased connectivity in terms of sources of raw materials, transportation of

    workers, industrial centres and markets.

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    Favorable geographical location of Britain and good harbors favored
    industrialization. As an island, Britain has good harbors and direct links to almost
    all parts of the world. This encouraged overseas trade which allowed Britain
    access to raw materials and markets in Africa, America and India.
    The good banking and insurance systems in Britain also encouraged
    industrial revolution. Banks promoted savings and gave people loans for
    businessmen that encouraged them to invest in better machinery, build new
    factories and expand their operations.
    Technological leadership: Britain took the leading role in technological
    innovations and inventions. Machines such as water wheel, spinning jenny,
    spinning mill and steam engine were first invented in Britain. This was a great

    step towards industrial development.

    Natural resources - Britain had large and accessible supplies of coal and
    iron - two of the most important raw materials used to produce the goods for
    the early Industrial Revolution. Also available was water power to fuel the new
    machines, harbors for its merchant ships, and rivers for inland transportation.

    Britain could also get these resources from her overseas colonies.

    Key inventions during the industrial revolution
    Textile Industry
    The Industrial Revolution first started in the textile industry in England and started

    with the techniques of ’spinning’ as well as ’weaving’.

    • Hargreaves’ Spinning Jenny, 1764: Spinning was an extremely slow
    process, with the spinner spinning only one thread at a time, with the
    help of the spinning wheel. In 1764, James Hargreaves invented
    a machine called the ’Spinning Jenny.’ It enabled a spinner to spin
    as many as eight to ten threads at a time, on his new machine. This
    increased the production of yarn (wool, fiber).
    • Arkwright’s Water-Frame, 1769: In 1769, Richard Arkwright
        invented a machine run by waterpower instead of manpower. Hence
        it came to be called the ’Water-Frame’. This second machine could
        produce stronger and finer yarn than the Spinning Jenny. It increased
        the production of threads to a very great degree, as it worked on water
        force.
    • Crompton’s Spinning Mule, 1778: Samuel Crompton removed the
        defects of the Spinning Jenny and Water Frame, with his machine known
        as ’Spinning Mule’. A spinner could now spin threads of stronger and
        better quality on this machine.
    • Cartwright’s Automatic Loom, 1785: In 1733, John Kay had invented
        a device called the ’Flying Shuttle’, which speeded up the weaving
        of cloth. It helped the weaver to do the work of two or three people at
        a time. In 1785, Dr. Edmund Cartwright invented the Automatic or
    Power Loom. It could do the work of many people at a time, since it
        worked on waterpower.
    • Whitney’s Cotton Gin, 1793: Eli Whitney invented a machine called
       the ’Cotton Gin.’ It separated the seeds from the fibers of raw cotton.
        So cotton could be produced in large quantities for spinning and
        weaving of cloth.
    Eventually, inventions were made involving new techniques and processes for

    bleaching, dyeing and printing fabrics.

    Basic Industrial Materials
    • Coal: Wood was used in large quantities as a fuel in Great Britain,
        before the Industrial Revolution. However, as the supply of timber
        diminished, and since wood was not able to withstand the strain of
        new techniques and processes, coal and steel was brought into use by
        industrialists. Thus coal mining became an important industry.
    • Davy’s Safety Lamp, 1816: In 1816, Sir Humphry Davy invented a
          machine called Davy’s Safety Lamp.’ It could save the lives of the
          miners by giving them a warning, in case of any danger in the mines.
    • Steel: Large Quantities of iron and steel were required to make new
         machines. This led to the establishment of smelting plants and foundries
         in Great Britain. In 1856, Henry Bessemer discovered a process by
         which impurities could be removed from iron. This purified refined iron
         came to be known as ’steel’, which helped in making more accurate

         tools, implements, weapons and machines.

    Transport and Communication
    • McAdam’s Roads (1756-1836): John Loudon McAdam found
        out a new process of road building. Heavy stones were placed at the
        bottom of the roadbed and smaller stones at the top, with a mud-binder
        between them, in order to produce a hard surface. Later, tar was used
        in place of mud binder. These Macadamized roads became popular in
       Great Britain, and also in the U.S.A, Canada and France.
    • Trevithick’s Locomotive (1801): Since roads were not sufficient to
        meet the needs of transportation, railroads became necessary. Therefore,
        in 1801, Richard Trevithick invented the first steam locomotive.
    • Stephenson’s Rocket (1814): George Stephenson is regarded as ’the
        father of the railway locomotive’, because he made great improvements
        on Trevithick’s locomotive in his ’Rocket’ in 1814. It moved at a speed
        of twenty-nine miles an hour.
    • Canals: John Smeaton (1724-1792) built the Forth and Clyde
        canals, while Charles Telford constructed the Ellesmere canal and the
        Caledonian Canal.
    • Fulton’s Clermont (1807): In 1807, Robert Fulton invented the
        steamboat called the ’Clermont’. It completed the one hundred and
        fifty-five-mile trip on the River Hudson from New York to Albany, in

        thirty-two hours, at a speed of about five miles an hour.

    Motive Force
    • Steam Power: Initially manpower and river water was used as the
        motive force in order to run all kinds of machines. However, this proved
        to be inadequate, when the new machines were invented. Further water
        and wind-power proved to be limited resources. Hence, a new motive
        force was sought and discovered in the form of steam power.
    • Steam Engine (1705): Thomas Newcomen invented the first steam
        engine in 1705, in order to pump water out of the mines.
    • Watt’s Beelzebub (1769): In 1769, James Watt invented a better
         steam engine called the ’Beelzebub.’ This engine was also used to shift
         spinning and weaving machines in the textile industries.
    • Electricity: In 1800, Giuseppe Count Alexandro Volta invented
        the Voltaic Cell and Michael Faraday invented the Dynamo. These
        inventions led to the production of electric power, which was widely

        used in industries.

    Agriculture
    • Tull’s seed Drill: Jethro Tull (1674-1740) experimented with farming
        on a scientific basis. He invented a Seed Drill that would distribute the
        seeds evenly in rows, over a large piece of land.
    • Townsend’s Crop Rotation: The discovery of a new method of
        ’Crop Rotation’, was made by Viscount Townsend (1674-1738). This
         enabled one to keep land always under cultivation, without letting it lie
         idle for a season. This helped to double the yield per acre.
    • Scientific Breeding of Animals: Robert Bakewell (1725-1795)
       introduced scientific breeding of farm animals. He found through
       experiments, that by selective breeding of farm animals, he could

       improve the quality of cattle, horses and sheep.

    3.1.2. The consequences of industrial revolution
    The Industrial Revolution revolutionized art, architecture, literature and science,
    as also the social, economic, political and cultural life of the people.
    • New machines which were used led to unemployment of many people.
    • There was expansion of international trade as countries produced
        different goods.
    • The Industrial Revolution encouraged Colonialism and imperialism.
         Industrialization led to the need of market and raw materials from
          Africa and subsequent colonisation of Africa. They needed colonies
          for securing raw materials at low prices for their industries. They also
          used the colonies as markets for setting their finished products at high
          prices.
    • It led to the development of modern transport and communication
          systems. Many roads, railway lines, bridges and canals were constructed
          during this period.
    • It led to increased utilisation of idle natural resources that were not in
          use before.
    • Industrial revolution led to urbanisation, that is, urban centres developed
          due industrial activities and rural-urban migration.
    • Industrial revolution increased the demand for services provided by
           lodges, hotels, banks, insurance companies and schools.
    • Industrial revolution led to the rise of socialism. People advocated for
           state ownership of property to replace private ownership and income
           inequality.
    • It increased the number of middle class for these owned factories and
           mines. Some started sending their children to upper class schools.
    • It led to rural-urban migration leading to overcrowding and
         accommodation in towns.
    • The fumes from industrial centres led to environmental degradation.
          The industries produced bad smell leading to air pollution.
    • It led to the increase in population in Europe. Population in many
         European countries tripled due to better living conditions. There was
         good shelter as well as improved medical care that reduced diseases
         that previously killed people.
    • Industrial revolution led to exploitation of workers by industrial owners.
         People worked for long hours with low wages. Many factories or mills
         had no sanitation facilities. They did not even have safety guards on
         machines which led to frequent accidents. There were no provisions
         for the care of the injured and the sick. There were cases of unfair
         dismissals which contributed to the formation of trade unions. The
         trade unions bargained for better working conditions.
    • Under the Factory system there was large-scale production. This
         resulted in a low cost of production per unit. There was also uniformity
         and a high quality in production
    • It led to the development of capitalism, since the capitalists owned
         the means of production like wealth, land and machinery. Hence the
         capitalists became the supreme masters of industry. Two classes, the
         capitalist and the laboring classes were created by the Revolution. The
         capitalists were the masters of industries, the managers of mills and the
         proprietors of workshops, who amassed great wealth, owing to a high
         profit margin. The laboring class, was a mere tool in the factories. Thus,
         the gap between the rich and the poor went on widening.
    • England grew very wealthy on account of industrialization. It became a
         leading country, in the field of industry, trade, commerce and finance.
    • The cities were overcrowded, owing to migration from villages and also
         because of high birth rates. The housing shortage in the city forced
         people to live in dull and dingy rooms. It also led to the creation of
         slums, which caused various diseases and premature deaths.
    • It also led to the creation of slums, which caused various diseases and
         premature deaths.
    • The factories produced large amounts of air pollution from the burning
         of coal. Coal was easily the most used fuel during the Industrial
         Revolution, since it was needed to power the newly developed steam
         engines.
    • Finally, the comforts and luxuries in people’s lives increased, owing to
        the inventions in the various fields. The new means of transport and
        communications and the new methods of production served to be a

         boon to mankind in an important way

    The spread of industrial revolution was aided by the following factors:

    • The development of international trade.
    • Education because many students went to study in Britain went back
        to their home countries with the knowledge of industries.
    • Migration of engineers and craftsmen from Britain to other parts of the
        World helped the industrial revolution to spread.
    • The improvement of transport and communication in the other parts of

        the world also enabled the industrial revolution to spread.

    As a conclusion, the Industrial Revolution began in Great Britain and then
    spread across the United States and the rest of the world. The revolution in
    Britain is often called the first Industrial Revolution while the later worldwide
    revolution is referred to as the Second Industrial Revolution. There is a debate
    among historians about the precise dates of the beginning and end of the first
    Industrial Revolution. It is generally believed to have taken place in the time
    between 1760 and 1840 in Britain primarily due to innovations in machine
    technologies that led to higher productivity. The Industrial Revolution marks a
    major turning point in history as it hugely impacted the way societies in the
    world would function in the years to come.
    Many factors contributed in the development of industrial revolution in Great
    Britain but the most prominent comprise political and economic competition in
    Europe which led to the rising colonial powers, scientific revolution in Europe,
    agricultural revolution in Britain which was characterized by unprecedented rise in
    agricultural production in Britain from the 17th to mid-19th century. Government
    policies which were characterized by long time of political stability, availability
    of coal and iron, financial innovations – capitalism and entrepreneurship (Britain
    had financial institutions in place since the early 18th century; such as a central
    bank, county banks and a stock exchange to finance new ventures and well
    developed), transport system well developed in Britain, innovation and new
    technology were obviously the key factor to explain the reasons why industrial

    revolution started in Great Britain.

    Application activity 3.1
    1. Examine the factors that led to industrial revolution in Britain.

    2. Discuss the consequences of industrial revolution.

    3.2. Causes and consequences of the American Revolution

    Learning activity 3.2
    Read relevant materials and use internet to explain the causes and impact

    of American Revolution and make a presentation in class.

    American Revolution (1775-1783) was a war or conflict between 13 British
    colonies in North America and Great Britain. Thirteen American colonies rejected
    the British monarchy and dictatorship. They overthrew the authority of Great
    Britain and founded the United States of America. The American Revolution is

    also known as the American war of independence.

    The thirteen former British American colonies were Virginia, New York,
    Massachusetts, Maryland, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Hampshire,
    Delaware, North Carolina, South Carolina, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and

    Georgia.

    These American colonies had been under British control for a long period of

    time. They wanted to be independent.

    American Revolution was made up of two related events: The American War of
    Independence (1775-1783) and the formation of the American government as
    laid out by the Constitution of the United States in 1787. first, the war achieved
    independence from Great Britain. Second, the newly created United States of
    America established a republican form of government, in which power resided

    with the people.

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                                                                                 The map of 13 colonies of America

    3.2.1. Causes of the American Revolution
    • The colonies were populated by hard-working, freedom-loving,
        intelligent farmers, adventurous sailors and enterprising
        producers. Since they could think and act for themselves in every field
        they did not feel there was any need for them to be guided by the
        mother country. Their desire to be free from England grew stronger
        with time.
    • A spirit of self-reliance and enterprise was shown by the
        English colonies, which had established their own political institutions.
         However, George III and the British Parliament did not give any political
         rights to the colonies which in turn felt like slaves in the political field.
         Each colony had a legislative assembly and a governor appointed by
         England. They gained great political experience by running their political
         institutions. Thus they resented the political control of England and had
         a strong desire for self-government. They did not consider it necessary
         to be under the control of England, their mother country.
    • The rise and growth of nationalism among the Americans and
         need for independence: This was promoted by nationalists such as
         Samuel Adams, George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas
         Jefferson. They argued that if the British governed themselves, why not
         Americans? This awakened the need for self-rule among the Americans
          hence leading to the revolution.
    • The effects of Anglo-French war of 1756-63: During this war,
        France was fighting with Britain over profitable colony of Canada.
        The war ended with the defeat of France by Britain, and taking over
        Canada. The effect of this was that it weakened Britain financially and
        encouraged the Americans to revolt against her. Britain also raised
        taxes to solve financial crisis at home. Americans protested against the
        tax increment.
    • The passing of intolerable acts: These included the Stamp Act
        whereby revenue stamps were put on printed materials and commercial
        documents like newspapers. It was replaced by Townshend Act whereby
        the British chancellor levied taxes on lead paper, paint, glasses and
         tea. These were received with negativity by Americans making them to
         begin a war of independence.
    • The character of King George III of England: He came to power
         in 1760. Unlike the former kings, he wanted to bring American colonies
         to closer control. In order to achieve this, he introduced a number of
         harsh laws. He was also so rigid that he refused to change the taxation
         system.
    • The oppressive rule of the British government: The British
        leaders such as Greenville, Townshend and Rocking were harsh to the
        Americans. They did not allow freedoms such as of speech, press and
        worship. There were no fair trials in courts of law. All these annoyed the
        Americans.
    • The Boston massacres of 1770: After the Townshend Act, the
        Americans started shouting and throwing snow and ice to the English
        troops. The troops responded by firing and killing them at Boston.
        This is what came to be known as the Boston massacres. It drove the
         Americans into a war of independence against the British.
    • Undemocratic nature of the British leadership: The Americans
        were not given chance to participate in the politics of their country.
        This made them inferior. Only the rich were elected to the colonial
        assemblies as opposed to the poor. This was opposed by the majority
        hence leading to the revolution.
    • Inter-colonial congress at Philadelphia: In 1774, representatives
        from all colonies met at Philadelphia. It was there where they started
        preparing for war. They chose George Washington as the leader of
        the revolution. They trained soldiers known as minutemen and started
        seeking for assistance from other countries.
    • Unfair judicial system of Britain and the restriction for colonies to occupy
         new lands of Ohio and Louisiana.
    • Poor economic policy of the British: The Americans were not
        allowed to set up their own industries in America. This was intended to
         force them to continue buying expensive British manufactured goods.
        This was viewed as a move to subject them to endless poverty. They
        opposed the policy.
    • The Boston Tea Party in 1773: This was when the Americans
        dropped boxes of tea from Britain into water at Port Boston at night.
        This made the British government furious. The government decided to
        close the Boston harbour. It also punished Americans so as to pay

        back the tea. This also led to American Revolution.

    f

                                                                              Destruction of Tea at Boston Harbor

    • Trade monopoly by the British: In America, trade was exclusively
       done by the British. All European goods imported to the colonies
       had to pass through England for taxation. The British benefitted while
       the Americans did not. On top of that, the imports were expensive
       compared to exports. This exploitation made the Americans to revolt for
        their independence.
    • The unfair taxation system: In North America, Britain raised taxes in
        order to meet her debt expenses and to solve financial crisis at home.
        Both direct and indirect taxes such as like stamp tax and sugar tax were
        introduced.
    • The role of political philosophers: These were intellectuals and
       great thinkers who exposed the wrongs of the British government to
       the Americans. Philosophers such as Thomas Penn and Patrick Henry
        inspired and awakened Americans to fight for their independence. They
        used newspapers such as New York gazette, American Mercury and
        The Boston News-Letter.
    • Foreign support: The Americans got foreign support from other
        countries such as France, Germany and Spain. These countries gave
        Americans military, moral and financial support. This increased the
        determination of Americans to fight for their independence.
    • Religious intolerance and the domination of the Anglican
    Church: There were religious differences between the Americans and
        the British. Americans had many religions which were different from the
        British Anglicans. The British forced Americans to adopt their religion
        against their will. The protestant religions practiced by the Americans
        included Lutherans, Puritans, Huguenots and Presbyterians. Americans
        strongly opposed it thus leading to the revolution.
    • Lack of the colonists ’political representation in the British
    parliament also infuriated them.
    No American was elected to
        represent the interests of his fellow Americans in parliament.
    • Distance between England and America was also an obstacle to
        king Georges III of England to send more soldiers to stop American

         Revolution.

    American Revolution time line (Main events in the course of American

    Revolution)

    • 1763: The French and Indian War ends. The British defeat France
        and acquire the French empire in North America.
    • 1765: Britain passes the Stamp Act to directly tax the colonists. The
          act requires that revenue stamps be put on all legal documents, deeds,

         newspapers, pamphlets, dice, and playing cards.

    • 1773: During the Boston Tea Party, colonists disguised as Native
       Americans throw tea from British ships into the ocean to protest the
       Tea Act (December). The act was passed to allow the British East India
       Company to sell tea to the colonists, but the tea included a British tax.
    • 1774: Intolerable Acts are passed. They close the port of
        Boston,
    • 1775: American militias defeat British troops in the battles of Lexington
        and Concord, the first battles of the war (April). 1775 American troops
        capture Fort Ticonderoga, beginning the war in New York (May).
    • 1775: The British defeat the Americans at the Battle of Bunker Hill.
         The Continental Congress commissions George Washington to lead
          the Continental Army
    • 1776: The Continental Congress adopts the Declaration of
           Independence (July).
    • 1776: The British defeat American troops at the Battle of Long Island,
          seizing the city of New York (August). 1776 Washington and his troops
          cross the Delaware River to launch a surprise attack; they defeat the
    British at the battles of Trenton and Princeton (December).
    • 1777: British troops capture Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, home of
           the Continental Congress (September). 1777 British troops are
           defeated at Saratoga, New York, failing to cut New England off from
           the rest of the colonies (October).
    • 1778: The Continental Congress enters a formal alliance with
            France, which provides money, weapons, and soldiers (February).
    • 1778: The British capture Savannah, Georgia, in an effort to
           implement their Southern strategy, an attempt to capture Southern
           colonies with support of Southern Loyalists (December).
    • 1779: Colonial troops seize a British fort at Vincennes, taking
           control of the war in the west (February).
    • 1779: The colonial vessel, Bonhomme Richard, forces the surrender
           of the British warship, Serapis (September).
    • 1780: British forces capture Charleston, South Carolina, as part of
           the Southern strategy (May). 1781: The British are defeated at Guilford
           Courthouse, North Carolina and realize that their Southern strategy is
            unlikely to succeed (March).
    • 1781: The British surrender at Yorktown, ending most of the
            fighting in North America (October).
    • 1783: The Treaty of Paris is signed, recognizing the independence
            of the United States (September).
    • 1787: The Constitution of the United States is signed by the
            delegates of the Constitutional Convention (September).

    • 1789 The Constitution becomes effective.

    c

                                                                         Declaration of independence of 13 Colonies

    3.2.2. The consequences of the American Revolution
    The American Revolution had a great impact on today’s world political, social

    and economic systems. The following are the consequences of American Revolution.

    • It gave birth to a new nation, that is, the United States of America. Under
       the Treaty of Paris (1783) England acknowledged the independence of
       her American colonies.
    • France regained two small colonies, Tobago in the West Indies and
        Senegal in West Africa. Spain recovered Minorca and Florida.
    • England lost her colonies in America and her national debt increased to
        a great extent. However, England could defeat and destroy the Spanish
        and French fleets, and thus retain her naval supremacy.
    • The revolution led to loss of lives. Many people including soldiers,
         civilians, Americans, the French and the British died in the war.
    • It led to destruction of property such as buildings, roads, bridges and
        communication lines.
    • It led to the inclusion of blacks into Americans citizenship, a privilege

        which had earlier been denied to them by the British.

    • The monopoly of the protestant church was removed and after the
       revolution. There was freedom of worship among the Americans. It
        increased religious freedom in all states of America. The citizens were
        no longer forced to join Protestantism. Many churches came up. Other
        Americans became Muslims.
    • It led to French Revolution due to the effects it had on the French
        government. France lost heavily during the American Revolution.
        Owing to her heavy naval and military expenditures the royal treasury
        in France grew bankrupt. Further bankruptcy soon led to the fall of the
        French monarchy, since the Frenchmen had helped the Americans in
        their revolt against a King. They were now prepared to revolt against
        their own king. Apart from financial crisis in France, there was also
        the spread of revolutionary ideas by the ex-soldiers of the American
        Revolution such as General Lafayette.
    • It led to the granting of independence to the American colonies. At Paris
        treaty of 1783, the British king recognised the colonies of America to
        be free, sovereign and independent. The 13 states were now free to
        join together and become the United States of America.
    • There was liberalization of trade after the American Revolution. The
        Americans were free to carry out trade without the British monopoly.
        The British limitations on American trade were removed, allowing the
        marine merchants to trade freely.
    • It created good diplomatic relationship between France and America.
        This was due to the assistance rendered by the French to the Americans
        against the British imperialists. France provided Americans with arms
         and a combat army to serve under George Washington. They also
         sent a navy that prevented the second British army from escaping from
         Yorktown in 1871.
    • It increased the status of women and subsequent women emancipation.
        Women now took control of the families and catered for school going
        children. Men were away fighting for independence. The revolutionary
         war affected women by placing them in non-traditional roles. As men
         went off to war, women were left to fill jobs typically fulfilled by men.
    • American Revolution increased the status of George Washington for
         his role in gearing the struggle for independence. During the American
         Revolution, he led the colonial forces to victory over the British and
         became a national hero. Its success was attributed to him. He later

         became the first president of America.

    Reasons for the defeat of the British army in the American war of
    independence
    • The British fought in foreign country not well known.
    • Availability of forest in America which helped warriors to hide themselves.
    • The determination of American fighters.
    • The rebellion in oppressed Ireland caused the British to lose the war.
        The British were sent to stop Irish rebellion which weakened them in
         America, hence the defeat.
    • The French support with army and machinery to Americans contributed
         to the British defeat. This support boosted American resources and the
         balance of the war.
    • Low morale of the British who were fighting their American cousins.
         Notes that the British were fighting British migrants.
    • The long distance from home led to the British defeat. The source of
         orders, provision and supply, Britain, was very far from America.
    • The support of the African Americans for the colonists impaired the
          British ability in the war. The African Americans gave the colonists
          numerical advantage over the British.
    • Good leadership and military command of the American fighters
         surpassed that of the British. The American leaders like General
        George Washington were distinguished by their foresight, courage and
        determination.
    • The American enjoyed the moral advantage that came from the

         conviction that they were fighting a just war.

    To conclude, The American Revolution was a time when the British colonists
    in America rebelled against the rule of Great Britain. There were many battles
    fought and the colonies gained their freedom and became the independent
    country of the United States. The American Revolutionary War lasted from
    1775 until 1783. Before the American Revolution, there were several British
    Colonies in the Americas. Not all of them participated in the revolution. There
    were 13 colonies which ended up rebelling. These were Delaware, Virginia,
    Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland,
    North Carolina, South Carolina, New Hampshire, New York, and Rhode Island.
    One of the main reasons that the colonists rebelled against Great Britain is
    that they felt they were not represented in the British government. The British
    government was making new laws and taxes on the colonies, but the colonies
    had no say. They wanted to have some say in the British government if they
    were going to pay high taxes and have to live by British law. War didn’t happen
    right away. first there were protests and arguments. Then some small skirmishes
    between the colonists and the local British army. Things just got worse and
    worse over the course of years until the colonies and Great Britain were at war.
    Each colony had its own local government. In 1774 they each elected officials
    to represent them at the first Continental Congress. This was the first effort
    of the colonies to unite and make a single government. In 1776 the Second
    Continental Congress declared the independence of the United States from
    Great Britain. The new government of the United States was different than the
    government of the colonist’s homeland, Great Britain. They decided that they
    didn’t want to be ruled by a king anymore. They wanted a government that was
    ruled by the people. The new government would be a democratic government
    with leaders elected by the people and balances of power to make sure that no

    one could become king.

    Application activity 3.2

    1. Account for the outbreak of the American revolution.
    2. Assess the effects of the American war of independence on the

        Americans.

    3.3. Causes and consequences of the French Revolution

    Learning activity 3.3
    Read textbooks, internet and other materials to get the information about
    the causes and consequences of the French Revolution and make a

    presentation in class.

    A revolution is a fundamental change that takes place in the society’s social,
    political and economic set up of a given society. It takes place not because
    people are interested in change but rather, because of unbearable conditions
    of living in that given society.
    Before the outbreak of the French revolution of 1789, France was ruled by the
    Bourbon Monarchy. The Bourbon Monarchy had ruled France for a period of
    over 400 years, beginning from the administration of Louis XIV, Louis XV, and
    Louis XVI. The French had a glorious foreign policy, the French language was
    used in many countries. The Catholic religion was a religion of the majority. But
    surprisingly enough, by 1789 France experienced a revolution. This revolution
    transformed the lives of the French men.
    Thus, the French Revolution of 1789 refers to social, economic, political
    and religious changes that took place in France. The changes included the

    overthrow of the ancient regime and the establishment of a new social order

    that was based on liberty, (freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom
    of expression and other fundamental freedoms of man) equality, (having equal
    rights by all citizens) and fraternity (meaning brotherhood, that is to say seeing a
    person as your relative). The effects of the French revolution were widespread,
    both inside and outside of France, and the revolution ranks as one of the most

    important events in the history of Europe.

    The conditions of Europe on the eve of French revolution
    Politically, many states, except Britain, were ruled by despotic king or
    monarchs, who based their authority on the principle of divine rights, i.e. they
    were answerable to God rather than the people they ruled.
    i) England was ruled by George II and William Pitt as prime minister. She
       was the most peaceful, stable government in 17th century in Europe.
       England was considered as the super power of the time and had a
       constitutional monarchy. George III allowed freedom of worship.
    ii) Austria was under the Hapsburg family and was ruled by Maria Theresa
       (1740-178). She was later succeeded by her son Joseph II (1780-1790).
       Austria lacked constitutional democracy and parliamentary leadership;
       there was religious intolerance where Catholics was state religion. Austria
       was a class society with aristocrats (nobles) who enjoyed high privileges
       in government, the Middle class and the serfs.
    iii) Prussia was ruled by the hotentollem ruling family. She was ruled by
       Frederic the Great from 1770-1786. Later he was succeeded by
       Frederic William. Prussia had class division of Nobles, bourgeoisie, and
       Feudal Lords, it had no proper constitution, no parliamentary democracy
       and Prussia had no religious freedom. There was protestant monopoly
       government.
    iv) Russia: On the eve of French revolution Russia was ruled by Catherine
       II who succeeded Peter the Great in 1762. There was no freedom of
       religion worship in Russia (orthodox). Selfdom also existed. Russia was
       an imperialist country that had acquired Azov, Ukraine ad Crimea as her
       colonies. There was also a class society: aristocrats, merchants, serfs and
       squatters.
    v) Turkey (Ottoman Empire) was the largest empire in Europe. It extended
        to parts of east Europe, Western Europe, the Balkans region, Asia Minor,
        the Mediterranean region, North Africa and the Red Sea cost. On the eve
        of French revolution, the Ottoman Empire was under sultan Mahmoud
        II. However, turkey was multiracial, multilingual, multi-religious, and
        multicultural empire.
    vi) France was under Bourbon rulers who had ruled France for over 400
        years. By 1789, France was ruled by King Louis XVI (1774-1793). During
        his rule France had no constitution, no functional parliament and no

        uniform laws. Louis XVI was despotic and absolutists.

    Socially many states in Europe had social classes. Each state basically had
    three classes:
    a. The clergy, who included bishops, cardinals and priests. They had plenty
         of land, they were exempted from taxes and they monopolized the political,
         military and civil service offices.
    b. The nobles (the nobility), there were ruling classes in many states. Their
         privileges were higher than those of clergy.
    c. The peasantry was the third class. It was a group of people without a
         political influence. Under this class there were many other small classes
         like bourgeoisie for the sake of France, workers, serfs or tenants.
    Each state had a state religion. For example, in France, and Austria, Catholicism
    was the state religion; in England and Prussia, Protestantism was the official
    religion while Russia had the orthodox faith. For the Ottoman Empire Islam was

    the empire religion. Therefore, religious persecution existed in many states.

    Economically, most of European state mainly depended on agriculture;
    industrialization had not yet taken place. However, Britain was the richest state.
    Having workshop and crafts, Britain was regarded as a workshop of Europe.
    Trade was also at low level. Land ownership i.e. in all states, land was owned by
    the nobles and the clergy (the church) while peasants were a landless group.
    Peasants only rented land from absentee landlords.
    Taxation was another burden to the peasants. In France there were many types
    of taxes: land taxes, corvee, salt tax, capitation etc. about 80% of the peasant’s

    annual income went to the taxes.

    3.0 Conditions of france on the eve of french revolution
    A summary of the political conditions
    i) France was under the despotic rule of King Louis XVI who practiced
         nepotism, arbitrary imprisonment or imprisonment without trial (lettres
         de cachet).
    ii) France had no functional parliament. Therefore, Frenchmen lacked
          where to address their problems
    iii) France had no uniform codes of law. There were about 360 feudal codes
          that contradicted each other. Each region had its own laws.
    iv) In the army, promotions were unfair, only sons of the nobles were
        promoted. There was low pay, poor feeding, poor dressing and poor
        accommodation and mistreatment of junior guards or soldiers.
    v) France had no constitution that could guarantee the freedom, right and
        liberties of the people. The king was the law and the law was himself as
        Louis XVI said “I am the state and the state is me something is
        legal because I wish it”.
    vi) The administration only favoured the nobles and the clergy who
        dominated administrative posts in the army, police, education, etc., at
        the expense of the middle class and peasants who had no role in the
        administration of their society.
    vii) The palace was extravagant: a lot of money was wasted on parties,
        functions, luxury and senseless wars. The king and the queen had a
        large number of slaves and servants, camels and donkeys all of which

         required a lot of cash for maintenance.

    1. Condition of French people

    1.1 Peasants

    i) This was the largest section of French population. They were about 23
       million people out of 25 million, the total population of France. About 1
       million peasants were slaves. They could be sold or bought with land.
    ii) Another section of peasants were tenants. They had rented plots of land
        from landlords.

    iii) There were also peasants who completely lacked land.

    Burdens or the problems of the peasants.
    1. Direct taxes
    a) Taille: This form of tax was charged on land but in some district it was
        charged on a person’s estimated income.
    b) Capitation tax: this was charged on all adult males.
    c) Property tax (vingtième): The peasants also paid this tax.
    2. Indirect taxes
    a) Salt tax: In order to pay this tax everybody above 7 years of age was
         forced to buy 4 kg of salt annually. (Gabelle).
    b) Peasants were also forced to pay feudal dues for using the mills and wine
         press machine of their landlords.
    c) Corvee (forced labour), a tax for road maintenance. It could be paid in
         exchange for one’s labour.
    d) Tolls: these were other feudal dues which peasants paid for using local
         roads and bridges.
    e) There were also taxes on inherited property.
    f) There was tithe (church tax) which was not actually 1/10 as the name
        suggests but 15/100.
    g) Peasants also paid taxes, which allowed them to take their cattle or sheep
          through the estates of their landlords.
    3. The problem of taxation was worsened by the way taxes were
         collected
    1) The tax farmers or tax collectors were given authority to enter the houses
         of peasants or tax defaulters at any time (day and night).
    2) The tax collectors were also harsh, brutal and cruel and aggressive
         in treating tax defaulters or to those who denied them access to their
         houses to value their property. For example, one day a tax collector cut off
         a hand of a woman who refused to surrender her cooking utensils which
         he was trying to confiscate for tax evasion.
    3) In 1783, there were 11 arrests for peasants who had not paid the salt
         tax: about 6,600 of those arrested were children.

    4) About 30000 peasants were hanged each year for evading taxes.
    5) Peasants were not allowed to use seawater, to feed their cattle in salt
        marshes and salty springs but they had to buy salt.
    6) The conditions in the army were harsh due to poor payment, lack of

         promotion and lack of descent accommodation.

    1.2. Bourgeoisie
    The bourgeoisie was a section of the peasantry class. However, they were an
    educated and a professionally trained group of people. They included: traders,
    bankers, doctors, teachers, industrialists, moneylenders, lawyers and controllers
    of government corporations in towns.
    The grievances of bourgeoisie were
    a) They were excluded from top government office like army, diplomatic
         missions, etc.
    b) The merchants complained of lack of good policies for their trade. For
        example: Louis XVI allowed free trade with Britain.
    c) Bourgeoisie complained of the way government finances were being
        misused through extravagant spending.
    d) They also complained of lack of promotion in the army for themselves or
        their children.
    e) They were not allowed to criticize the government openly.
    f) From 1776-1783, they lent their money to the government during the
        American war of independence but the government failed to pay back that
        money.
    g) They were forced to be Catholics.
    1.3. The Nobility
    The Nobility was divided into three groups:
             – The great nobility.
             – The lesser nobility.

             – The nobility of the robe.

    i) The great nobility: they were composed of 1000 families. They owned
        the largest amount of land; they were the wealthiest people in France,
        the most privileged group of people in French politic. They dominated
        top jobs in the army, navy and government. They were exempted from
        taxation, they were absentee landlords, and they lived in luxury cities.
        However, they were very corrupt.
    ii) The lesser nobility: There also exempted from taxation and they too
        owned large plots of land. However, they had little political powers, they
        always complained due to unequal privileges with the great nobility.
    iii) The nobility of the Robe: this group became noble due to their
        services to the state. They became nobles as a merit. However, they did

        not enjoy the privileges which the greater and lesser nobility enjoyed.

    1.4 The clergy and the church
    The clergy were divided into two sections: the upper and lower clergy:
    i) The upper clergy: consisted of bishops, cardinals, etc. they had plenty
        of land and earned the highest pay from the government. However, they
        did a little work. They were also exempted from taxation and they shared
        the 500 million francs, which the church received from the government
        annually. They also advised the king on many political and religious
        issues. However, their advice was poisonous, because they encouraged
        religious intolerance in France.
    ii) Lower clergy: they were composed of the parish priests; and they did a
        lot of work in the church and schools. They were paid less and had little
        or no land at all. This forced them to join the peasant to start a revolution

        by 1789.

    1.5 The French thinkers or philosophers
    These were intellectuals and great thinkers. They included people like Voltaire,
    Montesquieu, Jean Jacques Rousseau and encyclopedists like Diderot Denis
    and D’Alembert. The philosophers wrote books and circulate them across
    Europe. In their writings, they criticized despotic rule, unfair land distribution,
    unfair taxes, lack of political liberties, letters de cachet (warrants of arrest), the
    power of the church, lack of religious freedom as well as lack of a constitution

    and functional parliament in France.

    3.3.1. The Causes of the French Revolution
    The French revolution had both long term and short-term causes. Its origins are
    said to have stretched back into the 17th and 18th Centuries. The outstanding
    causes were as follows.
    Unfair political system of ancient regime: The ancient regime in France
    was led by despotic kings. The administration was characterised by dictatorship,
    nepotism and abuse of human rights. The King’s powers were absolute and could
    not be questioned. He was the law and the law was himself, and that is why he
    once boasted “the thing is legal because I wish it to be”, “the state is myself!”
    There was no written constitution, no democracy, and no fair representation in
    the parliament. Even the King’s ministers had unlimited powers through “lettrede-
    cachet” (arrest warrant with imprisonment without trial), which caused a
    lot of suffering to the French people, forcing them to think of change and work

    towards it.

    uh

    Religious intolerance: In France, Protestants and Muslims were not allowed
    freedom of worship and were always subjected to intimidation, torture and
    imprisonment and the need for freedom of worship made the French to join the

    revolution. Catholicism was the state religion and had owned 1/5 (fifth) of all

    land in France, controlled education, church forced peasants to pay tithe and

    promoted class discrimination.

    Social class struggle: French society was divided into three social classes or
    Estates. Those were clergy, the nobles and middle class with the peasants. The
    clergy and nobles enjoyed a lot of privileges. They owned large tracts of land,
    dominated the key government posts, and were exempted from taxes. They
    could collect tributes from the peasants; they had the right to get pensions; the
    right to enjoy all forms of freedom; to stay in the King’s palace and the right to

    move with weapons in public.

    The peasants and the middle class were 23 million out of 25 million, but were
    denied all sorts of freedom, subjected to forced labour, to unfair taxation,
    were imprisoned without trial, were denied promotion in the army and higher
    education.

    The middle class (bourgeoisie) was composed of teachers, lawyers, doctors,
    scientists and industrialists. Despite their education, they were excluded from
    top posts in the government and in the army. They also had to end money to
    the government and were not sure of recovering that money. By 1789, they
    had read and interpreted the work of philosophers, which opened the eyes of

    French people and forced them to fight against the ancient regime.

    Role of the French philosophers: Philosophers were great thinkers who
    were highly educated in world affairs, who put their ideas in writing condemning
    the social, political, and economic situations in France, creating more awareness,
    sharpening minds of the French and created in them a revolutionary spirit.
    Philosophers revolutionized the thinking of the members of the Third Estate
    with their new ideas and revolutionary solutions.
    a) Voltaire: His original names were François-Marie Arouet, later changed
    to Voltaire (historian, poet). He exposed the weaknesses and abuse of
    power of the ancient regime and he said “I had rather be ruled by one
    lion than a hundred rats meaning that he preferred to be ruled by one
    enlightened king than many ambitious schemers.
    b) Charles Montesquieu (1689 - 1775), a lawyer and student of
    constitutional government summed up his ideas in his book L’ Esprit
    Des Lois (The Spirit of the Laws). Here he puts forward the theory of
    the separation of powers. According to this theory, the legislature, the
    executive and the judiciary should be separate and independent of each
    other. If not, there would be dictatorship and tyranny. Through his writings,
    Montesquieu exposed grand monarchy in France, in its true colors and

    deeply influenced the minds of the people.

    c) Jean Jacques Rousseau: He was a poet and musician; he wrote
        his ideas in the book called “the social contract”. He explained that
       a government is a social contract between rulers and ruled, but if the
       government fails to protect the rights of its people, then the people have
       the right to overthrow the government. Here he made people aware of
       their rights. This was the case of bourbon monarchy.
    d) The encyclopedists: They condemned the unfair system of taxation and
       recommended the abolition of all taxes except land tax which was to be

       paid by all.

    Unfair land ownership: The land was unfairly distributed among the nobles
    and the clergy at the expense of the majority peasants. The Church also owned
    20 per cent of the land that it rented to the peasants. The peasants lived as
    tenants on the estates of landlords who also exploited them. This is why they

    demanded for reforms in the revolution of 1789.

    Unfair taxation system: Before 1789, the taxation system of France was
    unfair. The clergymen and noblemen owned about three-fifths of the entire land.
    However, they paid less than one-fifth of the total direct taxes in the country.
    On the other hand, a member of the Third Estate paid 152 francs as income
    tax, whereas he should have paid only 14 francs, if the distribution were equal.
    Further the nobles and clergy were totally exempted from direct taxes levied on
    personal property and land. While the rich nobles and the clergy were exempted
    from taxation, the poor peasants were forced to pay a lot of taxes like salt tax,
    property tax, road tax, tithe and customs duty. The peasants were tired of this

    unfair taxation system and rose up against the regime of the time.

    Bankruptcy of the ancient regime: By 1788, the French treasury was
    alarmingly empty. This financial crisis was caused by the luxurious lifestyle of
    the kings and members of the royal family, the exemption of the nobility, higher
    clergy and the church from taxation, corruption, and embezzlement of funds. The
    financial crisis forced the government to borrow money from the middle class
    and at the end they failed to pay back. In an attempt to recover their money, the
    middle class advocated for the overthrow of the government. This financial crisis

    led to the French revolution in the following ways:

    People lost confidence in the government and wished that it could be removed.
    When the government failed to pay back the money to the middle class, the
    people decided to remove the government. That crisis led to inflation and
    unemployment which forced people into the revolution. It forced the King to call

    the Estates General meeting in which the revolution started.

    Dismissal of the financial reformers: Capable financial controllers, Turgot

    and Necker, were dismissed. This worsened the financial crisis in France. They

    had suggested reforms such as taxing the wealth of the nobles and the clergy,
    but the Queen advised the King to expel them because they criticized the
    financial mismanagement at the royal palace. This led to the revolution against

    Louis XIV in 1789.

    The financial crisis was also caused by involvement in endless wars, notably
    the American war of independence and the 7 years’ war (1756-1763) over the

    colonies of India and Canada between Britain and France.

    Character of Louis XVI: He was the last King who ruled France from 1774 to
    1793. He contributed to the occurrence of the French revolution in the following

    ways:

    Louis was responsible for the financial crisis that hit France due to corruption,
    embezzlement and extravagance that characterized his reign. This created a

    revolutionary mood among the masses.

    He confined himself in the royal palace, which made him unpopular and he was

    always asleep or hunting during crucial meetings.

    He married a beautiful but less intelligent, arrogant and proud Marie Antoinette
    from Austria, a traditional enemy of France. Besides, she poorly advised the

    King hence committing blunders that resulted in the French revolution.

    He signed a free trade treaty with Britain to allow her to sell her goods in France
    untaxed. This led to the collapse of local industries and generated a lot of hatred

    from the middle class who also joined the revolution against him.

    He lacked firmness and often shed tears during hot debates. He was inconsistent
    and that is why he was ill-advised by the Queen. To Frenchmen, Louis XVI was

    king in name but not in character.

    He involved France in the American War of Independence which led to the
    bankruptcy of his regime and he failed to pay back the money borrowed from

    the middle class.

    Louis XVI (August 23, 1754–January 21, 1793) (Source: Google) Louis XVI of
    France was the grandson of King Louis XV and was married to Marie- Antoinette.
    Louis was considered a well-intentioned but weak king. A heavy tax burden and
    court extravagance led eventually to a popular revolt against him and paved the
    way for the French revolution. Louis was guillotined by the revolutionary regime

    in 1793.

    Influence of Marie Antoinette: Marie Antoinette was a daughter of an
    Austrian Empress called Marie II Thérèse. She was hated by Frenchmen, more

    especially among the middle class, because she represented Austria which had

    supported Britain in the “Seven Years War” which led to the loss of French

    colonies in Canada and India.

    She was very insensitive to the problems of the French and that was why she,
    at one time, arrogantly told the peasants that: “let them eat cakes if bread is

    expensive” which angered the peasants during the French revolution.

    She was also busy wasting taxpayer’s money on luxurious parties, giving a lot of
    gifts, employing about 500 servants and buying four pairs of shoes per week.

    This contributed to the financial crisis and led to the outbreak of the revolution.

    Marie Antoine (November 2, 1755–October 16, 1793) Marie Antoinette was the
    Queen of France who died on the guillotine in 1793 during the French revolution.
    Her lavish life-style made her unpopular. Paying no attention to her country’s financial
    crisis, she refused to make any concessions to hungry mobs who marched
    on the palace in Versailles. Instead, she called out troops.
    fg
    Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4f/Marie_Antoinette

    Influence of England: England provided an example to French society. By
    1750, she had modernized and had the best parliament, a good constitution and
    an independent judiciary as well as freedom of religion. In addition to a better
    political environment, England became a reference for political philosophers
    who based their arguments on Britain. Many Frenchmen desired the life of

    England and this fueled the 1789 French revolution.

    Effects of American Revolution: France participated in the American War
    of Independence to revenge against Britain. The French government, therefore,
    sent troops to America to fight the British. In 1776, the Americans defeated
    Britain. However, the war worsened the already alarming financial crisis in France
    and also provided a practical example to the French that “if success could be

    obtained by the Americans, it could be obtained by the French as well”.

    Politically, the French soldiers who fought on the side of America came back
    with new revolutionary ideas and they were shocked to find out that the very
    conditions that America was fighting were present in France. General Marquis
    de Lafayette who was the commander of the French troops in America took the

    commanding role in the French revolution.

    Natural calamities: To make matters worse, from 1788 France experienced

    natural calamities which led to the untold misery. In 1788 there was famine

    caused by poor harvests, and the poor taxation system which prevented
    easy transportation of food. In early 1789 severe winter hit Europe leading
    to the freezing of many rivers in Europe; hence no fishing, transportation and
    employment. On top of that, in 1786 France had signed a free trade treaty with
    Britain which caused suffocation of French industries as cheap goods from
    Britain flooded the French market. As a solution to the problems faced by the

    French, a revolution was looked at as an alternative.

    The estates General meeting of May 5th, 1789: The above factors created
    a fertile environment for the revolution. It only needed an incident to spark off a
    great revolution. King Louis XVI decided to call a meeting for all the three classes
    on Sunday May 5th, 1789 in order to resolve the economic crisis. In attendance
    were 1,224 delegates, including 308 clergy, and 295 nobles. Jacques Necker
    advised the King that the number of the third class members should be double
    because they represented the majority. That was why the third class members

    were 621.

    Trouble came when they failed to agree on the voting procedures where the
    King wanted the voting to be on class basis and their opinion was for one man
    one vote. The king being very weak, failed to control the situation and the third
    class members declared themselves the National Assembly. This marked the

    beginning of the French revolution.

    The main events in the course of French Revolution
    Calling of estates general meeting (5 May 1789): King Louis XVI called the
    meeting on advice of Necker, his Finance expert. It aimed at solving the financial
    crisis in France and other problems affecting the French society. However,
    King Louis VXI wanted each state to seat and vote alone over the “cahiers”
    (grievances) to be solved. But the representatives of the third states rejected the
    king idea of separate sitting and voting because the first and the second estates
    would outvote the third estate by the ration of 1:2 since they had similar interest.
    In this meeting the nobles were represented by 285 representatives, 308
    represented the clergy, and the third Estate was given double representation,

    621 representatives because they represented the majority of population.

    The third estate wanted a joint meeting where every member would vote basing
    on “one man one vote” but the king ruled against this. The third estate was set to
    attain liberty, equality and fraternity. Failure to agree on the sitting arrangement
    and voting procedure, members of the third estate lead by Mirabeau declared
    them a national assembly and invited the members of underprivileged lesser

    nobility and the parish priest to join them.

    This marked the beginning of 1789 French revolution. Possibly without calling
    the estate general meeting, the Frenchmen would have kept their grievances at
    a local level and the revolution would not have broken out, it marked the revival
    of the French parliament, peasants began to demand for their rights, it showed
    the weaknesses of the bourbon monarchy for it had no any means of disciplining
    the third class, it marked the beginning of the constitutional rule in France, it
    exposed the weaknesses of the king in that he failed to handle the matter of the
    sitting and voting procedure, it showed the unity and determination of peasants
    against the king, the nobility and the clergy and it lead to the end of absolute

    monarchy in France

    The tennis court oath 20th June 1789: Since the third estate had become
    stubborn after the failure of the estate general meeting, the king decided to hold
    a special royal session (meeting) in which he planned to give his last order. But
    the representatives of the third estate were not informed of the royal session.
    So, when the third estate came, they found the hall locked and the soldiers
    told them that the hall had been locked for necessary preparation (a counter
    revolution). So, the third estate moved to a neighbouring indoor tennis court
    where they swore that “they would never dissolve until the constitution
    of the French society is established. In the course of the French

    revolution, this event was referred as “tennis court oath”.

    This increased the determination among members of National Assembly and
    marked the beginning of debates about the national constitution of France. The
    members of National Assembly thereafter started debating about the national
    constitution assembly separating it from the first and second estates. This was

    their first independent meeting.

    The royal session on 23rd June 1789: In June 1789 another royal meeting
    was called in which the king announced reforms. But in this meeting the king
    declared the national assembly of the 3rd estate illegal and unconstitutional.
    He also ordered that the 3rd estates should always meet separately. After the
    meeting, the king and other two estates left the hall. The third estate remained
    seated in the hall. The king’s master of ceremony ordered them to quit the hall
    and the soldiers were seen at the gate coming to drive them out of the hall.
    Mirabeau reacted by replying the M.C. that “go and tell your master that we
    are here by the will of people and that, we shall not leave except at the

    point of the bayonet”.

    Challenged by the tough stand of the 3rd estates, Louis XVI ordered 1st and
    2nd to join the third estates in the National Assembly. This was marked as a
    victory of the 3rd estate (class). This assembly of 3 estates became known as

    the “constituent assembly”.

    This event showed that violence would be used during the revolution (bayonet)
    and It showed the future victory of the third estate. It showed the weakness of

    the clergy and nobility some of whom joined the 3rd estate.

    The storming of the Bastille on 14th July, 1789: The Bastille was a royal
    state prison of the ancient regime. Many innocent French peasants and some of
    the members of the middle class were detained here without trial. This became
    to be known as the “lettre de cachet”. Bastille was also where the state arms
    were kept. It marked the birth of freedom, the end of “lettre de cachet” and
    the fall of despotism, it marked the release of prisoners who actively joined
    the revolution, the fall of Bastille (14th july1789) is still cerebrated as a public
    holiday in France. The revolutionaries got fire arms and brought violence in
    the revolution. It led to the introduction of tricolour flag (revolutionary flag) and
    withdrawal of white flag (monarchy flag). The tricolour flag was made of: red,

    white, blue which symbolized a revolution.

    The session of 4th august 1789: This meeting was called after the storming
    of Bastille. It was called because the peasants had rowdy destroying properties
    and residences of the clergy and the nobles. By August, the National Assembly
    had expanded following the joining of nobles and clergy who had remained in
    France realizes that the only way to save their lives was to painfully surrender
    their privileges and therefore on the day when the National Assembly was in
    a night session the nobles, one after the other announced the surrender of
    their privileges. Two members of the nobility proposed equality in taxation, the
    bishop proposed the sharing of the church land, and an archbishop proposed
    abolition of salt tax. The assembly also destroyed class discrimination and made
    promotion to public offices to be based on merit. This event forced therefore
    many nobles and clergy into exile. The meeting marked the removal of some

    problems of the third class and It destroyed the order of the ancient regime.

    The declaration of rights of man and citizenship 26th August 1789:
    The national assembly changed its name to the Constituent Assembly
    because it had the role of making constitution for France. Therefore, in August
    the Constituent Assembly met to discuss the rights of the people. The French
    constitution was formulated on the model of USA. At the end of the meeting, the
    rights of self-rule and equality freedom of speech, press, worship, association
    and protection, right to vote and elect their leaders were declared.

    But they made a mistake of leaving the king with too much power to veto which

    he used to refuse to sign the declaration of the rights of man and the decree
    (official order of decision) of 4th August 1789 which led to the march of women.
    The rights of the French became the foundation of the human rights for all men.

    USA and UNO copied them and they have become the basis of the right of the

    man today. It lead to the destruction of all forms of class discrimination in France

    and hence equality of people.

    The march of women on 5th October 1789: The march of women referred to
    the demonstration in which woman (6500), children and men dressed in women
    clothes moved from Paris to Versailles. The march of women was caused by the
    king’s refusal to sign the decree of 4th August 1789 and declaration of rights
    of man, increased price of bread and the mobilization of troops from Germany

    against revolutionaries.

    On 5th October 1789, a huge group of woman followed by men dressed as
    women began their move from Paris to Versailles aiming at the king reducing the
    prices of bread. And when the king was called from his daily game (hunting), he
    was surprised and promised special food for the people of Paris and agreed to
    sign the declaration of rights of man as well as the decree of 4th August 1789.
    Note that the people wanted to bring the king to Paris so as to separate him

    from the influence of the Nobles who used to ill-advise him.

    This had a great significance as it showed the contribution of women in the
    French revolution, the king agreed to sign the declarations of rights of man
    and the decree of 4th August 1789 and it was a great humiliation to the royal
    family as they were moved from Versailles to Paris the following day (6th October

    1789).

    The civil constitution of the clergy July 1790: The Assembly went on in its
    determination to change the position of the church in France. The Pope in Rome
    was not to have any power in church affairs in France. All bishops and priests
    became servants of the state, and salaries of the higher clergy were reduced,
    while those of lower clergy were increased. This ended the privileges of the
    church, reduced the powers of the pope in France, abolished the church tax, the
    nationalization of the church land which was later sold to the peasants at lower
    prices, the salaries of lower clergy were increased while those of upper clergy
    were to be reduced, the beginning of the freedom of worship in France, it forced

    the king to plan an escape to exile and others.

    The abortive (failed) flight (escape) of the king from Paris to Varennes

    22 June 1791

    Louis XVI having been forced to sign the civil constitution of the clergy
    became humiliated. So, the pope, some nobles and his wife advised him to
    escape to Austria, join the émigrés and raise an army to come back and fight
    the revolutionaries. So, at right, Louis XVI, his wife and their children escaped
    heading to Varennes. Unfortunately, he was seen and arrested at the borders of

    France and Austria. He was brought back to France in a very a shaming manner.

    This showed that the king had become an enemy of the revolution because he
    was planning to destroy it using foreign troops, it proved the weaknesses of
    Louis XVI (he accepted wrong advice of escaping).This event disgraced the
    royal family of France and It appointed the death of the French monarchy. One
    historian said “at Varennes the monarchy had died, a year later Paris had
    burry it. It increased the demand for a republican government. This demand
    was led by Robespierre and Danton and in 1792 the first republic was called
    “Conventional Government” and it led to formation of political clubs in France.

    Some wanted republic while others wanted a constitutional monarchy.

    The new constitution of September 1791: The national assembly finished
    writing the constitution of France in September 1791. The constitutions had the

    following provisions:

    France was to be governed by a constitution with a king having executive

    powers.

    The king was given the suspensive veto for six years.

    The chamber was to have 745 deputies.

    The chamber was to be elected by only tax-payers. (Tax equivalent to a threeday

    work pay.

    Members of the former constituent assembly were excluded from the new
    parliament. However, this constitution was rejected by the republicans who

    formed a number of political clubs demanding for a republican government.

    The formation of political clubs: After the establishment of the September
    constitution, many republicans rejected it. As a result, they formed many political
    clubs (parties) demanding for a republican government. For ex: Montagnards,
    the Jacobins, the Girondins, Cordeliers and Feuillants. These groups competed
    for political leadership in France and as a result they created violence and the

    reign of terror.

    The reign of terror 1792 and the guillotine of the king (21st Sunday,
    January 1793)
    The reign of terror was the second stage of the French revolution. It was
    characterized by notorious violence. During this stage the republicans resorted
    to war. Under the Jacobins’ republican government of Robespierre, violence
    increased at this stage due to the formation of the committee of public safety
    and the committee of general security whose work was to arrest suspects for

    guillotine.

    On the 2nd and the 6th September 1792 these committees led to the guillotine of
    1200 Frenchmen in Paris alone, an event known as the September massacres.
    Majority of the people killed were royalists who were suspected to be supporters
    of the king. On Sunday 21st January 1793 Louis XVI was guillotined or hanged

    (executed).

    3.3.2. Consequences of the French Revolution
    The French Revolution had many permanent results, which proved to be of great
    value. This Revolution affected not only the people of France, but also changed

    the course of human history.

    Effects of French revolution on France
    • The revolution led to the loss of lives: Many lives were lost in the
       confusion that characterized the revolution. At first it targeted the
       privileged sections of the society. Mobs killed those they felt had in one
        way or another been responsible for their suffering during the ancient
        regime. With time, the introduction of the guillotine saw many perceived
        to be against the revolution being killed. The guillotine even consumed
        some of the revolutionaries as rivalry and suspicion hit their camp.
    • The revolution destroyed Bourbon Monarchy in France: There was
        a complete collapse of the ancient regime. The French Revolution
        abolished all elements of feudalism including serfdom. The privileges of
        the clergy and the nobility also came to an end.
    • The revolution forced many Nobles and Clergy to Austria as émigrés
        on exiles.
    • The revolution brought conflicts between France and European powers.
    • The revolution led to the destruction of property in France.
    • It weakened the French economy. Unemployment problem was high
        especially among the people in towns since the lost their jobs and
        businesses stopped.
    • It damaged the diplomatic relations between France and her neighbors
       like Prussia, Austria, Russia and Britain due to the mistreatment of
       Louis XVI.
    • It led to the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the citizenship on
       August 27th, 1789. The document abolished the social class divisionism
       which had existed in France during the Bourbon monarchy (ancient
       regime). This led to equality among French citizens, as it declared that
       all men were equal before the law.
    • The revolution encouraged multiparty democracy in France and this led
       to the rise of the Directory government. New men were appointed into
       high offices basing on their ability to perform.
    • It revived the French parliament (National Assembly or General meeting
       on May 5th, 1789) which had last sat 175 years before in 1614.
    • The revolution led to the outbreak of the reign of terror in France. This
       was characterised by bloodshed hence increasing the number of
       refugee problem.
    • The revolution ended feudalism and selfdom in France: The French
         revolution ended feudal privileges on August 4th, 1789 in the assembly
        at Versailles. Land that belonged to the Catholic Church and the nobles
        was nationalized and given to the landless peasants at cheaper prices.
    • The revolution improved the education sector: The revolutionaries
        introduced reforms in the education system. Polytechnic schools were
        built to train and produce skilled labour; secondary schools were built
       and old ones rehabilitated. This promoted efficiency in the education

       sector.

    Effects of French revolution on the Catholic Church
    1. It abolished church control over land; land was nationalized and sold to
        the peasant citizens.
    2. It abolished church’s control over education and Pope had no influence
         in French affairs. The clergy had to be elected and paid by the state. This
        spoiled the relationship between France and the rest of the world.
    3. It abolished the church tax (tithe) which was seen as a sign of feudalism
        and exploitation.
    4. It reduced salaries of upper clergy and increased those of the lower
         clergy.
    5. Privileges of the church were abolished: The revolution denied the
        Catholic Church of its privileges in France. The church clergy had to
        pay taxes and the clergy were turned into ordinary men and the church
        became a poor institution.
    6. It abolished religious intolerance and freedom of worship declared. The
        civil constitution of the clergy brought freedom of worship by making
        Catholic Church merely one of the religions in France.
    7. Abolition of Catholicism and replace it by the religion of reason, abolish
        Christian calendar, remove names of saints from calendar, Sundays
        become working day.
    8. It divided the clergy into two groups. The juror priests and the non-juror
        priests (refractory).
    9. In French history, non-jurors or Refractory clergy were clergy members
        who refused to swear an oath of allegiance to the state under the Civil
    Constitution of the Clergy; also known as refractory clergy, priests and
    bishops.
    10. It spoilt relationship between France and other catholic countries (Spain,

    Sardinia, Austria).

    Effects of French revolution on Europe
    • Rise of revolutionary political parties: The rise of political clubs in
       France influenced radical reformers to organize similar political parties
       to pressurize the existing government for reforms. By 1792 political
       clubs were established in England and Scotland.
    • It led to the 1820, 1830 and 1848 revolutions: in America, Italy,
       Germany, Greece, due to the spread of French revolutionary ideas
       which inspired them.
    • It spoilt the relationship between France and other catholic powers in
       Europe.
    • It led the abolition of feudalism in other parts of Europe, for example
       Prussia, Hungary, Italian; land was nationalized and sold to peasants.
       This ended monopolization of land by the church and the nobles.
    • It increased constitutionalism in Europe. Revolutionary ideas led to
       the rise of constitutionalism as a check and a balance to despotism
       in Europe. Indeed, the UN charter on Human rights and American
       constitution has borrowed from the declaration of the right of man and
       citizen in France.
    • Abolition of social classes system: The French revolution also
       influenced the abolition of the discriminative social class system that
       existed in Europe. The ideas of liberty, equality and fraternity influenced
       conservative states like Russia, Spain, and Prussia to abandon social
       class division and grant equality between the nobles, clergy, middle
       class and peasants.
    • The rise of nationalism in Europe and the world. The French revolution
       led to the rise of new forces of change. I.e. Liberalism, nationalism and
       socialism in Europe. The revolutionary ideas of liberty, equality and
       fraternity undermined the old order of Europe that was characterized
       by conservatism and despotism. Nationalism influences the world
       up today while socialism brought antagonism and tension that led to
       cold war in the 20th century. Socialism dominated Eastern Europe and
       Western Europe was dominated by capitalism.
    • The French revolution influenced the rise of new States men in Politics
       of Europe. The destruction of segregative social classes system and
       revolutionary ideas of equality offered opportunity for talented men like
       Napoleon in France, Mazzini and Cavour in Italian states and Bismarck
       in German States to rise to positions of importance in their states.
    • Unification of Italy and Germany: The French revolution contributed
         to the unification of Italy and Germany. France conquered and
        re-organized the Italian and Germany states in 1796 and 1807
        respectively. The French soldiers who liberated Italians and Germans
        preached the revolutionary ideas of liberty, equality and fraternity and
        nationalism. This inspired Italians and Germans with a high spirit of
        unity and independence against foreign domination. This foundation
        was combined with other factors which led to the unification of Italy in
        1870 and Germany in 1871.
    • French revolution increased the enmity between Catholic Church and
        the states because of the civil constitution of the clergy which nullified
        the privileges and influence of Pope and Catholic Church in France.
        This contributed to the outbreak of war between France and other
        catholic States in Europe e.g. Austria, Prussia, Russia etc.
    • Diplomatic alliances: The French revolution initiated the idea of
        diplomatic cooperation in handling world affairs. The alliances
        against Revolutionary France that started in 1793 inspired the rise of
        international organizations like congress system, the League of Nations

        and the UNO.

    Application activity 3.3

    1. Examine the causes of the 1789 French Revolution.

    2. Assess the consequences of the 1789 French Revolution.

    3.4. Factors for the rise, performance and downfall of

    Napoleon I.

    Learning activity 34
    Read textbooks, internet and other history documents to discuss about the

    rise and the decline of Napoleon and make a presentation in class.

    d

                                                                                                             Napoleon Bonaparte

    Napoleon was born at Ajaccio in the Italian Island of Corsica in the province of
    Genoa. He was born on 15 august 1769. His father was Charles Bonaparte
    and the mother was Letizia Romalino Bonaparte. A year before his birth, Corsica
    Island was annexed by France. Napoleon I was born in a very poor family. He
    was one of eight children out of 13 who survived early childhood death. He got
    his education at Breinne military academy in Paris from May 1779 to October
    1784. At 16 years he had graduated as artillery officer with the rank of 2nd
    Lieutenant.
    Napoleon in 1795 saved the directory government from Royalists uprising,
    where he was rewarded Josephine Beauharnais, the daughter of Barras who
    was the first director of the directory government which earned him a rank
    of general. After a two-day honeymoon with Josephine, Napoleon led an illequipped
    army in Italian campaign of 1796 when he defeated Austria in Italy
    and signed Compo Formio treaty with Austria which agreed to withdraw from
    the coalition against France and northern part of Italy was taken by France.

    By1797, the Directory Government was threatened by Napoleon’s popularity yet
    they had Britain as another external enemy and they sent Napoleon in Egyptian
    campaign such that he may die there, but as he was defeated by the British in
    Egypt, he learnt from the British newspapers that: The directory government
    was about to collapse, the Campo-Formio treaty had been rejected by Austria

    and the wife Josephine had become unfaithful.

    And Napoleon escaped for Paris and organized a successful coup d’état against
    the directory government with the assistance of Abbey Sieyes, Pierre Roger
    Ducos and Barras he became the leader of France on 9th November 1799. In
    1804 he confirmed himself the life emperor of France. However, Napoleon
    was defeated by the troops of wellington (British general) and Marshall Blucher
    (Prussia) in the battle of Waterloo. Then on 17/061815, he was forced to
    exile to Saint Helena, a rocky Island of South Atlantic Ocean where he died in

    1821 in a miserable life.

    f

                                                                              Napoleon Bonaparte at St. Helena Island
                                Source: https://www.google.com/search?biw=1365&bih=690&tbm=isch&sxsrf=ACYBGNS

                                                                                            NNWwbPycm5YKsf-4y4

    3.4.1. Factors for the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte to power
    The French revolution helped him to rise to power: There is a common
    agreement that Napoleon was a product of the French revolution without which
    he would have died a common man. This remains a historical fact because
    Napoleon’s rise to power was greatly due to the changes and progressive
    events of the French revolution. He exploited the opportunities provided by the
    revolution to rise from a poor Corsica to an emperor of France. This is why he is
    called the child of French revolution. The role of French revolution in Napoleon’s
    rise to power was as follows:
    • The revolution abolished classes and this helped peasants to rise to
       positions of leadership.
    • The French revolution also led to the exile and death of senior army
       officers and politicians which created scarcity of senior army officers
       and Napoleon was called in army in 1792.
    • It is a French revolution that gave chance to Napoleon to display and
       advertise his abilities which helped him to be quickly promoted.
    • The need to export the French revolution generated foreign wars which
       gave Napoleon more opportunities to display himself.
    • Napoleon used revolutionary ideas within and outside France: this
       made him popular.
    • The revolution brought many wars in which Napoleon got involved.
       These provided Napoleon with a platform to display his military talents
       which helped him to be recognized. It made him popular and this helped

       him to win the support of the people.

    The weakness of directory government helped Napoleon to rise to
    power: By 1799, the directory government was unpopular and the French
    people longed for good French leadership. The government was bankrupt,
    officials were corrupt, there was insecurity, inflation, unemployment and there
    was intrigue among directors. The second coalition was had been organized
    against France and Austria had taken back the territories she had surrendered
    to France by the treaty of Campo Formio. These desperate conditions made the
    Frenchmen to be in high mood of change. This explains why Napoleon’s coup
    received a blessing rather than opposition from the Frenchmen.
    Luck helped Bonaparte to rise to power in France. Napoleon became
    Frenchman by luck because Corsica was annexed to France one year before
    his birth, by luck he survived the reign of terror because he was a friend of

    Robespierre.

    • It was also luck, that the coup d’état of 1799 was successful.
    • It was luck that Napoleon survived death in campaigns, especially in
       Egyptian and Italian campaign.
    • He was lucky to be the only son-in-law of Barras. Therefore, Barras
       supported his rise to power.
    • He was dismissed from service for over delaying on leave but he was
       so lucky to be called back due to shortage of artillery officers.
    • He was also lucky to join the military academy of Brienne and Paris.
    • He was lucky to survive early childhood diseases.
    • He was lucky that he survived revolutionary event like the Reign of

       Terror in France.

    Napoleon character’s greatly contributed to his rise to power. He was
    courageous man, brave and skillful. He was military genius and intelligent soldier
    France had ever seen. Such character helped him to capture the attention of

    people and rose to power.

    Napoleon’s power of foresight: Napoleon had the abilities to assess
    situations and know how he could manipulate them to his advantage. After the
    French revolution, he abandoned the ambition to liberate Corsica and became
    a loyal French citizen. He did this because he had rightly foreseen that the
    revolution had come with opportunities that he would use to rise to power.
    He also refused to command the Paris forces when he was commissioned by
    Robespierre during the reign of terror. He refused to offer because he was

    aware that Paris was not secured and anybody could be guillotined any time.

    Napoleon’s family background and ambition also helped him to rise to
    power. Napoleon was born from a poor family and this gave him a determination
    to always work hard. He was an Italian by descent and he always longed to set
    his mother land free from French occupation and this is why he tried to liberate
    it three times but he failed. This ambition forced Napoleon to risk fighting Great
    powers like Austria and England with a disorganized army which helped him
    to capture the attention of the masses who supported him to rise to power in

    France.

    Education was yet another factor which helped Napoleon 1 to rise to
    power. The education Napoleon acquired gave him merit to get appointments
    in the army. It also helped him to be able to read revolutionary literature and the
    work of political philosophers and to be aware of political events. The knowledge
    from the military academies helped him to be a great and successful soldier.

    These skills made him popular and helped him to rise to power.

    Napoleon close association with great people and his marriage to
    Josephine also helped him to rise to power. He associated with men like
    Robespierre who was the leader of the Jacobins and Barras one of the Directors
    of the Directory government. This helped him to gain political experience and

    influence which eased to rise to power.

    Napoleon’s early military success and operations helped him to rise to
    power. In 1793 he successfully expelled the British from Toulon which earned
    him the rank of Brigadier, in 1795 he crushed a Paris insurrection, and after his
    Italian campaign, he was promoted to the rank of general. These victories made

    him popular to the masses and supported him to rise to power.

    Annexation of Corsica Island from Genoa (Italy) to France in 1768
    helped Napoleon to rise to power. The annexation of Corsica Island to
    France in 1768 was a blessing in disguise for Napoleon. It made him to be
    born a French man who was eligible to hold any public office in France. If it had
    not been so, he would have born Italian and would not have benefited from the
    military academies of Brienne and Paris. He would not have risen to power in

    France since he would have been a foreigner (Italian).

    3.4.2. Napoleon’s performance/reforms/achievements
    a) Military success: Leading the French army to military success against
    the foreign armies: He led the French army in battles against the foreign
    troops. He drove British forces out of the French port of Toulon, he won
    several victories against Austrians, he captured most of northern Italy, he
    forced the Hapsburg emperor to sue for peace, and he led an expedition
    to Egypt in 1798 in the hope of disrupting British trade with India and

    others.

    b) Establishment of the Consulate in 1799: His military success
    encouraged him to assume political responsibilities in 1799. He overthrew
    the weak directory and set up a three-man governing board known as
    The Consul. This body was now to lead the revolution. Napoleon was its
    leader. He took up the title of first Consul. The Consulate drew a new

    constitution.

    c) Effected economic reforms: Napoleon developed economic reforms
    to address the deteriorating economic conditions that faced France. He
    controlled prices, encouraged industrialization, established the first bank
    of France in 1801 and built roads and canals to improve transportation.
    He even sold France’s vast Louisiana land territory across the Atlantic to
    the American government in 1803. This action doubled the size of the

    USA and ushered in an age of American expansion.

    d) Strengthening of the central government: Under Napoleon, power
    was consolidated in an effort to strengthen the central government in which
    he was the supreme power. Through these measures, ‘order, security and
    efficiency’ replaced ‘liberty, equality and fraternity’ as the slogan of the new

    regime.

    e) Establishment of schools to train military officials: The revolution
    was characterized by ill-trained military personnel. This affected the
    operations of the army. Napoleon addressed the problem by setting up a
    system of public schools under strict government control. The military was
    trained in these schools. Members of the public also benefitted from good

    education.

    f) Restoration of relations with the church: He made peace with the
    Catholic Church in the Concordant of 1801. This law kept the church
    under state control but recognized religious freedom for Catholics. It was
    welcomed by Catholics but opposed by revolutionaries. Other religions

    were also recognized.

    g) Appeasing all classes in the society: Napoleon took measures to
    appease all sections of the society. He encouraged Emigres to return so
    long as they took an oath of loyalty. Emigres were members of the nobility
    who had fled the country during the revolution. Peasant’s right to land

    ownership was also made. He also made jobs open to all talent.

    h) Development of a new law code (the Napoleonic code): He wrote
    the French laws leading to the civil code of 1804. The code embodied
    Enlightenment principles such as the equality of all citizens before the law,
    religious toleration and advancement based on merit. It touched on rights
    and duties, marriage, divorce, parentage, inheritance and property, and a
    statement of the general legal principles concerning them. However, the
    code was weak in certain respects. Male heads of household were given

    complete authority over their wives and children.

    i) Spread of the revolution to other parts of Europe: By 1810, his
    empire had expanded greatly in Europe. As the empire grew, it took the
    ideas of the revolution to the new territories. The areas he conquered
    included the Netherlands, Belgium and parts of Italy and Germany. All
    these became part of the grand French empire. He also abolished the
    Holy Roman Empire and created a 38-member confederation of the Rhine

    under French protection.

    j) Forceful diplomacy: Napoleon had another tactic. He used forceful
    diplomacy to install his relatives to power in various European countries.
    For example, after removing the Spanish king; he placed his own brother
    Joseph Bonaparte, to the throne. He also forced alliances on European
    powers from Madrid to Moscow. At various times, the rulers of Austria,
    Prussia and Russia reluctantly signed treaties with Napoleon. He came
    up with the Continental System which brought the whole of European
    mainland into an alliance headed by France. He tried to use the alliance to
    bring Britain to its knees but did not succeed. The French army spread the

    ideas of the revolution and helped to install code Napoleon in the areas.

    k) Boosting the spirit of Nationalism: The successes made by Napoleon
    enhanced the spirit of nationalism in France. Great victory parades filled
    the streets of Paris with cheering crowds. French citizens were proud of
    their king’s successes. They celebrated the glory and success of their

    country.

    l) Napoleon 1 also promoted agriculture in Franca. He introduced

    new seed varieties from Holland which increased output in France.

    3.4.3. Reasons for the downfall of Napoleon Bonaparte I
    By 1814, Napoleon Bonaparte had been denied by nature never to rule France
    again. He was defeated by the European 4th Coalition at the battle of Waterloo
    and exiled on the rocky Island of St. Helena where he died from in 1821 in
    a miserable life. The following were the factors responsible for Napoleon’s

    downfall in 1814.

    • The continental system of 1806 which had many negative effects such
    as inflation, famine, unemployment, hatred between French traders and

    Bonaparte also led to the downfall of Napoleon. The Continental system

    were a series of economic measures which Napoleon 1 used in order
    to weaken the British economy. He issued out economic blockades or
    trade embargo on the British goods and stopped all the French allies
    from buying the British goods. This he did in order to bring Britain to his
    knees. But the Continental system turned into a boomerang and was

    largely responsible to Napoleon’s down fall in 1814.

    Napoleon’s imprisonment of the Pope in 1808 who had rejected
    continental system, led to the downfall of Napoleon Bonaparte because
    he lost the support of the Catholics. It should be remembered that when
    the Pope refused to obey Napoleon’s Continental system, Napoleon
    ended up imprisoning him in 1808. This made Napoleon to be hated
    by the entire Catholic World and the Catholic French men hence his

    downfall.

    The peninsular war of 1809 or the Spanish war: This was caused by
    the reject of continental system. When Napoleon attacked Spain and
    Portugal, these two joined together and they defeated Napoleon. This
    defeat in the Peninsular encouraged European powers to join together
    and overthrow Napoleon. Note: The Peninsula wars refers to the wars
    which Napoleon fought with the countries of the Western Peninsula

    particularly Portugal and Spain.

    • Napoleon’s naval weakness led to his downfall. He had weak naval
        compared to that of Britain. Napoleon was defeated by Britain in the

        battle of Trafalgar due to the naval weakness of Bonaparte.

       

    • Napoleon’s overwhelming ambition: His ambition forced him to get
        involved in a very aggressive foreign policy to conquer Europe and the
       whole world. “I know limits of my legs, I know the limits of my eyes
       but I have never known the limits of my work” Napoleon remarked in
    expression of his ambition to conquer Europe. For this he got involved

    in endless wars of conquest and bloodshed, this led to his downfall.

    • The negative effects of the Moscow campaign of 1812 contributed to
    Napoleon’s down fall in 1814. Because Tsar Nicolas I of Russia had
    rejected Napoleon’s continental system of 1806, Napoleon ended up
    attacking Russia in 1812 in what Historians call the Moscow campaign
    of 1812. In this campaign, he lost many soldiers, his horses, some
    generals detested him, and the defeat forced some of his colonies to

    rebel against him.

    • The growth of European nationalism led to downfall of napoleon because
       he had spread revolutionary ideas of liberty, equality and fraternity. On

       which Napoleon’s rule had been oppressive.

    • Desertion by his military generals because they were tired and
      corrupted, and they revealed military secrets to the enemies. Most of
      generals deserted him and joined the enemy side. They revealed his

      fighting tactics to his enemies making him to be defeated.

    • Rise of liberation and patriotism in the lands which were under
       Napoleon’s control. For example, the King of Prussia raised national
       feelings in his people by using Napoleon’s own “ideological weapon”
       to arouse national spirit in his country, thus setting his people against
        Napoleon. Nationalism thus heavily played a role in Napoleon’s downfall.
    • Napoleon’s excessive ambition and growing sense of self–importance
        made him to have increasing pride and self-confidence in himself.
        Napoleon wanted to remake Europe as a new Roman Empire. With this
        ambition, he was engaged in endless wars which caused the downfall.
    • Lack of an adequate naval power which could rival the British navy. This
        made any chance of attacking Britain, her great rival, remote.
    • Age in addition to exhaustion as a result of endless wars he fought
        contributed to his downfall. By the time of his downfall, Napoleon 1
        had become exhausted due to many wars he had fought. He could not
        command his soldiers the way he used to do before. This made him to

        be defeated in 1814.

    • The formation of the 4th European Coalition finally hammered the last
       nail on Napoleon’s rule leading to his downfall in 1814. By 1814,
       European countries of Russia, Austria, Prussia, and Britain organized a
       coalition (combined force) to defeat Napoleon. Therefore, by 1814, he
        was defeated by a combined force of these countries marking the end
       of his rule.
    • In the final analysis therefore, one can assert/ conclude that many
       factors contributed to Napoleon’s down fall but the Continental system

       of 1806 played an important role than other factors.

    To sum up, Napoleon Bonaparte (1769 – 1821) is considered one of the greatest
    military commanders in history. Starting as a second lieutenant in a French
    regiment, he rose to prominence during the French Revolution as a general
    of the Revolutionary government against the Royalist forces. He rapidly rose
    through the ranks through his military genius ultimately becoming the Emperor
    of the French in 1804. The army commanded by him is known as the Grande
    Armée (Great Army) and he led it to a series of historic victories that gave the
    French Empire an unprecedented grip on power over the European continent.
    Hugely popular among the masses, Napoleon also carried out various influential
    reforms including the implementation of Napoleonic Code, a legal code which
    served as a model for many countries across the world. Countries in Europe
    came together against Napoleon forming one coalition after another. He was
    triumphant against them for years but was finally defeated in the War of the
    Sixth Coalition. He was able to escape from exile and became an Emperor again
    for a brief period but lost the famous Battle of Waterloo, ending his political
    and military career. Though many aspects of his life are controversial, Napoleon

    Bonaparte remains one of the most celebrated figures in history.

    Application activity 3.4
    From a very humble background, Napoleon rose to power and become
    one of the most important world politicians and soldiers in the world. He
    achieved a lot and finally declined.
    1. What were the factors that led to the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte to
         power?
    2. Discuss the achievements of Napoleon I.
    3. Examine the factors responsible for the downfall of Napoleon I in

         1814.

    Skills Lab
    Use a combination of knowledge, skills, attitudes and values you have
    acquired about great revolutions of 18th to 19th century and describe
    the positive legacy of these revolutions to the modern world and make a

    presentation.

    End unit assessment
    1. Why did industrial revolution start in Britain and not elsewhere in the
         world?
    2. Examine the effects of industrial revolution which are still visible
         today.
    3. Explain the causes and effects of American Revolution.
    4. To what extent did unfair political system of ancient regime cause
         the French revolution of 1789?

    5. Describe the factors for the rise and downfall of Napoleon Bonaparte.


  • UNIT 4 FIRST WORLD WAR AND INTER-WARS

    Key Unit competence:
    The student-teacher should be able to analyze the political, economic and
    social changes in the World between the two World Wars.

    Introductory activity
    The end of the 19th century was characterized by a period of intense tensions
    and these led to the outbreak of the first World War at the beginning of 20th
    century. The first World War ended in 1918. This World War led to negative
    and positive effects such as Versailles treaty, League of Nations, World
    economic depression and the rise of totalitarian regimes in what was called
    inter-war period.
    Use internet, textbooks, maps, photographs and media to answer to the
    following questions:
    1. Explain the causes and effect of the first World War.
    2. Examine the aims, achievements and failures of Versailles treaty.
    3. Analyse the aims, achievements and failures of League of Nations.
    4. Identify the causes and effects of World economic depression.
    5. Explain the factors for the rise and downfall of Fascism in Italy and

         Nazism in Germany.

    4.1. Causes and consequences of the first World War
    Learning activity 4.1
    Use internet, textbooks, maps, photographs and media to research on the

    first world war and examine its causes and effects.

    The first World War was one of the most catastrophic conflicts ever fought in the
    history of mankind. World War 1 occurred between July 1914 and November
    11, 1918. It broke out in the Balkan states and spread to other parts of Europe
    and later to the whole world. It was fought by the members of Triple Alliance
    including Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey, Rumania, and Bulgaria against
    the members of the Triple entente including Britain, France, Russia, Italy, USA,

    Serbia, and Belgium.

    The first World War did not only involve the countries above, but the whole
    world where even African countries were involved fighting a long side their

    colonial masters.

    The war was fought on land, in the air, on the sea, under and above the sea by
    both soldiers and civilians. The war was not due to one-day factor as Sarajevo
    incident could suggest, but was a result of tension which had mounted over a
    long period of time and made the World War I explosive by 1914. The first World
    War was regarded as a world war because almost all countries of the world
    participated, it either directly or indirectly. It was regarded as World war also
    because the effects of the war were faced worldwide like economic depression

    of 1929.

    Causes of the first World War
    i) Long term causes
    Among the long term causes of the first World War include the following:
    Lack of international peace keeping body: because the Congress System
    which would have solved a local affair between Austria and Serbia had died in
    1914.
    Lack of peaceful statesmen in the world: like the Germany chancellor
    Prince Otto von Bismarck who had abandoned his militarism after the German
    reunification. He was replaced by Kaiser William II who was an aggressive
    leader. In his foreign policy, he tried to intervene in each and every activity of
    the world politics to make Germany a big power. He declared; ‘’Nothing must
    go on anywhere in the world in which Germany does not play a part”. He is
    therefore blamed for starting arms race and militarism as well as signing a blank
    cheque to Austria- Hungary that increased Austria- Hungary’s recklessness
    towards Serbia. He also openly promised Austria- Hungary that “(…) be rest
    assured that his majesty will faithfully stand by Austria- Hungary as required by

    the obligations of his alliance and by his ancient friendship”.

    Aggressive nationalism also caused tensions:
    Aggressive nationalism also caused tensions nationalism was strong in both
    Germany and France. Germans were proud of their new empire’s military
    power and industrial leadership. The French were bitter about their 1871
    defeat in the Franco-Prussian War and yearned to recover the most lucrative
    border provinces of Alsace and Lorraine. In Eastern Europe, Russia sponsored
    a powerful form of nationalism called Pan-Slavism. It emphasized that all
    Slavic peoples shared a common lead which should defend all Slavs. By
    1914, it stood ready to support Serbia, a proud young nation that dreamed of
    creating South Slave state. Germany supported a form of nationalism called
    Pan-Germanism. Pan-Germanism was a Movement whose goal was the
    political unification of all people speaking German or a Germanic language.
    Some of its adherents favoured the unification of only the German-speaking
    people of central and Eastern Europe and the Low Countries or Benelux
    countries in a single nation-state. Benelux countries are coastal region of
    northwestern Europe, consisting of Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg.
    Alliance System: Alliance System initiated by Bismarck in his foreign policy
    in order to isolate France from European politics. This is because he had
    defeated France in the famous Franco- Prussian war of 1870-1871. He started
    the alliances such as Triple Alliance. This made other powers to also form
    the Triple Entente which were formed for defensive purposes but thereafter
    became hostile to each other leading to the first World War in 1914. There were
    a number of smaller alliances between various countries such as the Treaty of
    London (1839) between Britain and Belgium which dealt with Belgian neutrality
    in war, the Dual Alliance (1879) between Germany and Austria which changed
    into the Triple Alliance when Italy joined in 1982 and the Franco – Russian
    Alliance in 1894 as well as the Entente Cordiale in 1904 between Britain and

    France.

    f

                                                          The alliance system

    Economic imperialism among European countries: mostly between
    Germany, France and Britain like the Moroccan Crises of 1906 and 1911
    when Germany lost Morocco to France. In 1912, naval competition between
    Germany and Great Britain was very important. The British and the French
    saw Germany turn up as colonial rivals in Africa, Middle East and Far East. In
    addition, Germany had an ambitious project of constructing a railway joining the
    Berlin and Bagdad that Great Britain could not support because it was a threat

    to its important colony, India.

    Arms race: The arms race was a competition in the manufacture of deadly
    weapons and ammunitions. Arms race was characterized by the growth of
    militarism between Germany and Britain. Naval Challenge between Britain and
    Germany paved way for the war. Britain, a European island, had a motive for
    having a strong navy. Germany on the other hand was a continental nation with
    little access to the sea and therefore has no need for a strong, extensive navy. In
    1900, Germany began to crate her navy with the intention of making it as strong
    as Britain who had the strongest in the world. This would obviously conjure up
    thoughts on Britain’s part as to what Germany’s motive for this was. Was it for
    status? Was it for rivalry? Or was it to claim Britain’s position and her monopoly
    in trade? They (Britain) were not certain and in a bid to maintain their status
    and protect themselves, they began strengthening their already powerful navy.
    In 1906, Britain launched their HMS Dreadnought (a battleship). Germany
    later launched her version in an effort to topple Britain’s. By 1914, Britain had
    a total of twenty-nine (29) Dreadnoughts while Germany had seventeen (17).
    This competition in the manufacture of weapons made countries to prepare

    hence war in 1914.

    g

                                                                                          British Warship, the HMS Dreadnought
                                                                                          (L) & the German Warship, the SMS

                                                                                                                            Kaiser

    The European public opinion: after the arms race and the alliance system,
    most of the Europeans wanted a war in order to know which camp had
    manufactured strong arms. Even the European powers wanted a war in order to
    test their newly manufactured weapons. Therefore, the European public opinion

    caused World War I.

    The role of press/mass media cannot be underrated as a cause of the
    1914-1918 disastrous war. Radio presenters and journalists because of the
    need to amass wealth over exaggerated the suspicion, fear and international
    tension between the big powers. For instance, the London Times poisoned the
    British public opinion against the Germans and radio presenters caused more
    fear and panic after the Sarajevo double murder which created public outcry for
    war. This forced European powers to strengthen alliances and mobilize for war

    as Russia did.

    Moroccan Crisis of 1911. In 1911, another crisis over Morocco emerged.
    It occurred at Agadir in Morocco where Germany felt it was unfair that France
    got Morocco and she did not get anything. As a result, she sent a gunboat
    called the Panther to a bay in Agadir. This left the French in a position whereby
    they felt threatened that Germany would annex Morocco just like she annexed
    Alsace – Lorraine in 1871. This also made Britain feel threatened as she felt
    that if in fact Germany annexed Morocco, it could harm her as Germany might
    end up challenging her monopoly in trade. In the end, the Germans however
    removed the gunboat in exchange for two (2) stripes of land in French Congo.
    This however raised more conceptions that Germany would always be a threat

    as she came back again into Morocco.

    f

                                                                                       The German Gunboat, the Panther

    The Balkan Crisis. This region was a rather unstable one which contained
    a number of different nationalities. It was ruled by Turkey for quite some time
    however in 1908, Turkish power began to decline. Conflict was always occurring
    because the people wanted their independence. Russia as well as well as
    Austria bordered the Balkan region and both nations desired to take control
    of the region. After the 1908 Bosnian Crisis, Russia began to strengthen its
    military. She was confident not to back down again in the future. Between

    1912 and 1913, there were many little wars in the Balkans. Serbia, Greece,

    Bulgaria and Montenegro joined forces and created the Balkan League and
    in October 1912 they successfully attacked the Turks (first Balkan War) and
    drove them out resulting in a Peace Settlement were Serbia gained most of the
    territory. In the region, Serbia was a powerful army and they were allied with
    Russia which alarmed Austria. Austria was jealous and always desired to wage
    war on Serbia to crush them but needed a legitimate reason (which came after
    the Murders in Sarajevo).

    The Balkan League was short lived though and a Second Balkan War emerged
    as Bulgaria quarreled with Serbia and Greece and later attacked them but was

    defeated.

    g

    r

                                                                                         The Balkan Countries and their Allies

             ii) Immediate cause: The Sarajevo assassination (Sarajevo double
              murder) (June 28, 1914) and the start of the war

    On June 28, 1914, Gavrilo Princip, a member of a Serbian terrorist Group,
    killed Austrian Archduke Francis Ferdinand and his wife Sophia. “The first bullet
    struck the wife of Archduke, the Archduchess Sophia in the abdomen…she
    died instantly. The Second bullet struck the Archduke close to the heart. He
    uttered only one word, ‘Sophia’, a call to his stricken wife. Then his head fell

    back and he collapsed. He died almost instantly.”

    fr

    Assassination of Archduke Franz
    Ferdinand

    Source:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
    Assassination_of_Archduke_Franz_
    Ferdinand_of_Austria
    (Assassination illustrated in the Italian
    newspaper Domenica del Corriere,

    12 July 1914 by Achille Beltrame).

    The first World War started after the Sarajevo double-murder of Austrian
    Arch Duke, Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophia on June 28, 1914 by Princip
    Gavrilo, a Serbian student of the Black Hand Movement in Sarajevo, the capital
    of Bosnia. This incident was followed by an ultimatum document from Austria-
    Hungary to Belgrade, Serbia. The response to the ultimatum was to be issued
    in a period of 48 hours (July 23, 1914).

    The document had three harsh conditions that were supposed to be met or
    satisfied by Serbia. Serbia was to destroy all anti Austrian activities and declare
    that, she was ready to be a good neighbour; to dismiss all anti Austrian officials
    from the Serbian administrative posts; and to allow the Austrians enter Serbia
    to investigate the Serbian guilt in the double -murder at Sarajevo.

    However, Serbia accepted the first two and referred the third condition to
    the International Criminal Court at The Hague Tribunal. Austria was forced to
    declare war on Serbia on July 28, 1914. This opened the gates for the outbreak
    of the first World War.

    Russia mobilized support for Serbia and Germany demanded that Russia should
    demobilize and when Russia refused, Germany declared war on her. Germany
    again demanded France to declare her neutrality and when France refused,
    Germany declared war on her. Germany troops invaded Belgium, thus violating
    the 1839 London treaty that had granted independence and neutrality to
    Belgium, which forced Britain to enter war against Germany. The same day the

    1st world war was at gear.

    As war progressed, USA was annoyed by Germany’s propaganda when Germany
    destroyed the American ship that was carrying passengers and the Germans
    thought that it was carrying weapons to the members of the Triple Entente and
    again USA wanted to support the loans it had given to Triple Entente members

    and in 1917, USA declared war on Germany.

    At 11:00 am French time, on 11th November 1918, a treaty was signed
    between Germany commanders and victorious powers and at the end, the

    central powers; that is the Triple alliance members were defeated.

    gf

                                                                                                                The Balkans 1914

                                           Source:

    The course of the first World War
    The first World War was characterised by two main fronts; namely the war in

    western front (1914-1917) and the war on the Eastern front.

    War on Western front

    g

                                                 Schlieffen Plan and troop movements

                                 Source: Frank Robert, History the fronts of 1914 to 1917, 1982, pge 21.

    By using Schlieffen plan, Germany planned to outflank the main French defences
    by moving through Belgium and then through Northern France to encircle
    France within six weeks. However, supply lines proved to be inadequate, and
    communication between the two main armies was not better. In addition, the plan
    ignored British intervention, relying on the likelihood of French immobilization as
    the offensive progressed.

    French success on the battle of Marne (September 5 to 12, 1914) ended
    Germany’s hopes of a quick victory, and paved the way for the Trench Warfare

    that lasted until spring 1918.

    War on Eastern front
    There was far more movement on the Eastern front than in the West, partly
    because of the much greater distances involved. The Russian army was invariably
    defeated by the forces of Germany and by the end of 1915, Russian had lost
    most of Poland, with more than two million soldiers out of the first World War.
    The Italian front
    Italy entered the war in 1915 in an opportunistic manner engineered by its
    leaders with the Allies to secure territory at the expense of Austria-Hungary
    Front. Much of the fighting occurred in a series of battles close to the river. The
    great battle of Caporetto in 1917 almost led to Italian defeat. Italy was more
    successful in subsequent fighting but was disappointed by lack of territorial

    gains she had expected.

    War in the Balkans
    Serbia survived three invasion attempts in 1914, but succumbed in 1915 to
    an Austro-German offensive supported by Bulgaria, which checked an Anglo-
    French force attempting to support the Serbian army from Salonica. In 1916,
    Bulgaria having successfully contained Allied forces at Salonica, she invaded
    Romania; Bulgarian armies were joined by Austro-German forces that captured
    Bucharest in December 1916. The Bulgarians were now able to defeat several
    Allied offensives in Front of Salonica until September 1918. The withdrawal
    of Russia from the war (1917)
    The first victim of the first World War was the Russian Empire. Indeed, continuous
    defeat by the Germans, lack of arms and supplies, problems of transport and
    communication, and utterly incompetent leadership, caused two revolutions, in
    1917, and the Bolsheviks who took over power in November 1917 were willing
    to make peace.
    The Bolsheviks stood for peace with Germany, partly to win popular favour in
    Russia and partly because they regarded the war as a struggle among capitalist,
    imperialist powers which should be left to exhaust and destroy each other for
    the benefit of socialism. They thus signed with Germany the Treaty of Brest-
    Litovsk on March 1918.
    By this Treaty the Bolsheviks gave to Germany Poland, the Ukraine, and the
    Baltic Provinces (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania). As for the Germans, the Treaty
    of Brest-Litovsk represented their maximum territorial expansion during the first
    World War. Not only had they neutralized Russia, they also now dominated

    Eastern Europe.

    The entry of USA into the war (April 1917)

    d

                                                                                                         The Lusitania

                                                                                  Source: Ellis, EG. & Esler, A. (2008, p.830).

    The USA entered the war on April 2, 1917 against the Central Powers. Germany
    had waged submarine warfare against the United Kingdom due to her naval
    blockade of Germany. As retaliation German submarines were sinking British
    ships. In this perspective the Lusitania, a British ship was sunk by Germans and
    1,198 people including Americans died but 761 people survived. International
    public opinion became hostile to Germany and this incident pushed Americans
    to enter the war. In addition, the USA had discovered that Germany was trying
    to persuade Mexico to declare war on the USA, promising her Texas, New

    Mexico and Arizona in return.

    On April 2, 1917 American Congress declared war on Germany. Immediately
    the American government set about mobilizing its military resources, its industry,
    labour and agriculture. The USA thus made an important contribution to the
    Allied victory, by supplying food, merchant ships, credit and military help, and by

    mid-1918 over half a million American men were involved in the war.

    The end of the first World War and the defeat of Germany
    After the entry of USA (led by president Woodrow Wilson) on the side of Triple
    Entente, USA declared war on Germany and members of the Triple Alliance on
    6th April, 1917.From June 1918, American troops started engaging Germans on
    the western front.
    In September, with the arrival of more American troops, the Allies launched
    the final offensive which the Germans could not withstand. The German high
    commander told their government that it was not possible for them to win the
    war.
    The German foreign office then asked President Woodrow Wilson to make

    arrangements for an armistice and on 11th November 1918 fighting ended.

    Reasons why the central powers lost the war
    • The entry of the USA in April 1917 brought vast resources that led to
       defeat of central powers
    • The Allied political leaders of the time like George Clemenceau in
        France and Lloyd George of Britain were capable leaders than those
        of central powers.
    • Germany was badly let down by her allies who constantly withdrew like
        Italy and Bulgaria.
    • The continuous losses on the side of Germany as the best troops had
       been killed and by 1918, the new troops were young lacked experience
       and were quickly defeated.
    • The Germany submarine campaign was a mistake because it brought
       USA in World War I, which led to the defeat of Germany.
    • The Allied sea powers enforced deadly blocking which led to food
        shortage to members of Triple alliance, while the triple entente was fully
        supplied.
    • The Schlieffen plan had failed and German was forced to face war on
        two fronts.
    • The weakness of Germany allies (Bulgaria, hungry, Turkey) military and
        economically.
    • The small number of Germany soldiers especially in the colonies
        compared to those of the Triple entente.
    • The internal conflict which out broke in Germany and the abdication of

        Germany emperor Kaiser William II.

    Consequences of the first World War
    The year 1914 witnessed the beginning of the bloodiest war which mankind had
    never experienced before. This war led to profound changes that will continue

    to affect directly or indirectly the style of life.

    1. The massive loss of lives: People who perished were estimated at
         about 13 million on the front and about 10 were left disabled. It was
         outrageous, regrettable and condemnable as far as human beings’ lives
         were concerned. The first World War also had a lasting impact on the
         European population structure. Many men died on war fronts which made
         women to become more than men in the population pyramid. It led to the
        rise of new class of people in Europe, that is, the refugees who ran away
        from their homes and became a problem to European countries.
    2. The war led to the destruction of property and infrastructure, like industries,
        mines, hospitals, shops, etc.
    3. The war led to the woman emancipation where women were employed
         in factories, shops and public offices that were formerly for men. In
        Britain, women were allowed to vote. They began putting on trousers
        because they were now performing the duties of men most of whom had
        died in World War I.
    4. There was improvement in education because it was realized that Europe
         needed educated labour force since technology improved after World
         War I.
    5. The war led to the defeat of Germany and her allies, which marked the
         end of the war.
    6. It led to the rise of new independent states like Poland, Romania,
         Yugoslavia, and Czechoslovakia.
    7. The war led to territorial readjustment for example France regained her
        territories Alsace and Lorraine.
    8. The war led to the formation of league of the Nations as a new international
        peace keeping body.
    9. World War I led to the rise of dictators like Benito Mussolini in Italy and
        Adolph Hitler in Germany because they used the effects of the war to
        come to power.
    10. The war led to the rise of Japan and USA as super powers since they
        were not much affected by the war.
    11. The war led to the emergency of Weimar republic in Germany and this
        was because Kaiser William II went into exile and a new constitution of
        Germany was made in Weimar town because there was instability and
        bloodshed in Berlin.
    12. World War I led to the rise of a new class of people; that is refugees who
        ran away from their home and became a problem to European countries.
    13. World war led to Russian revolution of 1917 where Tsar Nicholas of
        Russia had been defeated in World War I and the Russians decided to
        fight against this government, hence the Russian revolution.
    14. It led to the outbreak of World War II because of the rise of dictator who
        became aggressive contribution to World War II.
    15. The war led to the decline of European economy.
    16. Germany was deprived of all her colonies in Africa, Middle East and Asia.
       The other defeated powers like Turkey, Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria all
       lost their colonies to victor powers. These colonies altogether formed the
       mandate territories that were supervised by the victor powers on behalf
       of League of Nations.
    17. The war led to the signing of Versailles Peace Treaty of 1919 which
        concluded the first World War. The Triple Entente called the conference
        in which Germany and her allies were forced to end the war by signing
       the treaty which created peace in Europe.
    18. World War I led to the rise of African Nationalism: Africans supported
        their colonial masters on the promise of independence after the war.
       However, after the war they were not given independence, as result they
       formed political parties. The white who were considered as powerful
       people were killed during the war. Therefore, African fighters became

       courageous to overthrow colonial rule.

    Application activity 4.1
    1. To what extent was the Alliance system responsible for the outbreak
    of the 1st WW?

    2. Examine the impacts of the 1st World war.

    4.2. Inter-war period

    4.2.1. Versailles peace treaty of 1919

    Learning activity 4.2.1
    Use internet, textbooks, maps, photographs and media to research on
    Versailles peace treaty of 1919 and explain its aims, achievements and

    failures.

    However long or violent a war is, eventually the opposing sides must make peace.
    But because war is destructive and leaves a bitter legacy, the peacemaking
    after a long conflict can be the hardest job of all.
    The people who had that role in 1919 had a particularly hard task. The first
    World War involved more countries, using more powerful weapons, causing
    greater casualties and physical destruction, than any war before it. The war had
    bankrupted some countries. It led to revolutions in others. There was bitterness
    and resentment. In this post-war atmosphere almost everyone agreed that part
    of the job of the peacemakers was to avoid another war like it – but no one
    agreed how to do that.
    Any treaty is a balancing act. The peacemakers have to keep the victors happy
    but ensure that the defeated country accepts the terms of the peace.
    World War I ended in November 1918. And in January 1919 the victorious
    powers met at Versailles in Paris from January to June 1919 to find ways of
    maintaining peace and preventing re-occurrence of war. It was signed on June
    28, 1919.
    The Versailles treaty refers to the document containing the particular clauses
    which applied to Germany and which were accepted and signed by Germany at
    Versailles in the Hall of mirrors in June 1919. The big three of the Versailles peace
    settlement were Woodrow Wilson the president of USA, Georges Clemenceau
    prime minister of France and Lloyd Georges prime minister of Britain. Others

    who were invited include Emperor Orlando prime minister of Italy.

    fr

                                                       A cartoon published in 1919 in an Australian newspaper.

                                                      The Fourteen Points of President Woodrow Wilson of USA

    At the conference, President Woodrow Wilson suggested 14 points to guide
    the peace makers at Versailles. The Fourteen Points in a summary.
    1. No secret treaties.
    2. Free access to the seas in peacetime or wartime.
    3. Free trade between countries.
    4. All countries to work towards disarmament.
    5. Colonies to have a say in their own future.
    6. German troops to leave Russia.
    7. Independence for Belgium.
    8. France to regain Alsace–Lorraine.
    9. Frontier between Austria and Italy to be adjusted.
    10. Self-determination for the peoples of Eastern Europe (they should rule
           themselves and not be ruled by empires).
    11. Serbia to have access to the sea.
    12. Self-determination for the people in the Turkish Empire.
    13. Poland to become an independent state with access to the sea.

    14. League of Nations to be set up.

    What were the motives and aims of the Big Three at Versailles?
    French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau was a realist, wanted punitive
    peace and compensation, aimed to weaken Germany as much as possible
    and blame them alone, wanted reparations (compensations for infrastructural
    damage - France been invaded twice since 1870), wanted military restrictions,
    Germany broken into smaller confederations, independent Rhineland and
    permanent control of Saarland.
    American President Woodrow Wilson was an idealist, wanted to punish
    Germany but not too harshly, worried about spread of communism if too weak
    and revenge from Germans, wanted to strengthen democracy based on ’14
    points’; disarmament, League of Nations, self- determination. He also wanted
    to build more peaceful world but there were problems with some of the main
    ideas: For example Problems with self-determination: people of Eastern
    Europe scattered across many countries e.g.: 25% of the people who lived
    in Czechoslovakia were not Czechs or Slovaks. 30% of Poland not polish. 3
    million Hungarians being ruled by foreigners. Some people were bound to end
    up being ruled by another group with different customs and language because
    borders were artificially imposed. Problems with LON: ‘toothless’ without military,
    structurally insufficient & confusing, unanimous vote required, ’mandates’ seen
    as colonialist, membership problems: US, Germany, USSR absent, org seemed
    euro- centric and imperialist, supported TOV seen as unfair
    British Prime Minister Lloyd George was a mediator, wanted a punitive
    but just peace, wanted Germany to lose colonies and navy as they threatened
    hegemony of British Empire but did not want Germany to seek revenge under
    pressure to ‘make Germany pay’, wanted to recover as trade partners as it
    created British jobs.
    Terms of the 1919 Versailles Treaty
    None of the Big Three was happy with the eventual terms of the Treaty. After
    months of negotiation, each of them had to compromise on some of their aims,
    otherwise there would never have been a treaty. The main terms can be divided
    into five areas.
    War guilt. This clause was simple but was seen by the Germans as extremely
    harsh. Germany had to accept the blame for starting the war. Article 231
    appointed blame, called ‘diktat’.
    – Reparations. The major powers agreed, without consulting Germany,
       that Germany had to pay reparations to the Allies for the damage
       caused by the war. The exact figure was not agreed until 1921 when
       was set at £6,600 million – an enormous figure. If the terms of the
       payments had not later been changed under the Young Plan in 1929.

       Germany would not have finished paying this bill until 1984.

    German territories and colonies. Germany’s European borders were
    very extensive, and the section dealing with German territory in Europe was
    a complicated part of the Treaty. In addition to these changes, the Treaty
    also forbade Germany to join together with its former ally Austria Germany’s
    overseas empire was taken away. It had been one of the causes of bad relations
    between Britain and Germany before the war. Former German colonies, such
    as Cameroon, became mandates controlled by the League of Nations, which

    effectively meant that France and Britain controlled them.

    Germany’s armed forces. The size and power of the German army was a
    major concern, especially for France. The Treaty therefore restricted German
    armed forces to a level well below what they had been before the war. The
    army was limited to 100,000 men, conscription was banned – soldiers had
    to be volunteers, Germany was not allowed armoured vehicles, submarines
    or aircraft. The navy could have only six battleships, The Rhineland became a
    demilitarised zone. This meant that no German troops were allowed into that
    area. The Rhineland was important because it was the border area between

    Germany and France.

    League of Nations. Previous methods of keeping peace had failed and so
    the League of Nations was set up as an international ‘police force’. Germany
    was not invited to join the League until it had shown that it was a peace-loving

    country.

    Aims of the Versailles treaty
    1. To re-organize Europe for the purpose of maintaining world peace,
         security and stability.
    2. To redraw the map of Europe and restore balance of power. This was
        because Germany aggression had destroyed the balance of power to
        her advantage.
    3. To map out strategies that would preserve the territorial integrity and
        independence of countries in Europe. This was because violation of
        territorial integrity and independence of states partly led to the outbreak
        of the first World War.
    4. To reconcile the warring powers of the world most especially Germany
         although her aggression was checked for some time.
    5. To free the different races dominated by the central powers (Germany
         and her allies).
    6. To disarm both victor and defeated powers since arms race had partly
         caused the 1914 to 1918 disastrous war.
    7. To recognize the principle of nationality and self-determination by giving
         independence to the oppressed nations. This was partly responsible for
         the outbreak of the first World War.
    8. Victorious powers especially France wanted to permanently weaken
         Germany plus her allies in order to safeguard themselves from Germany
        aggression that caused the Franco-Prussian war and the first World War.

    9. To establish a peace keeping body in Europe.

    f

                                                       The signing of the Versailles Peace Treaty of 1919.
                                   Source: Herbert Peacock, A history of modern Europe 1789-1981, Heinemann

                                                              Educational, Seventh Edition, 1982, page 295.

    The achievements of the Versailles treaty
    The treaty concluded the first World War and created some peace in Europe. At
    Versailles Germany and her allies were forced to denounce the war and accept
    defeat. Collective decisions were made on international issues as opposed to
    the pre-1914 idea of every nation for itself and God for us all.

    The neutrality of important water bodies was granted. For instance, Dardanelles
    the mouth of the Baltic Sea which was the centre of economic conflicts was
    open to all ships of all nations.

    The treaty restored balance of power that had favoured Germany and Turkey
    before. The size of Germany and Turkey were reduced by giving independence
    to some states that were under them.

    The Versailles settlement made some territorial re-adjustment. France regained
    Alsace and Lorraine that had been annexed by Germany. Independence was
    given to some states that were mainly under the Turkish and Austrian empire.
    These included Poland, Kuwait, Iraq, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia.

    The treaty was fair to some landlocked countries of Serbia and Poland. Serbia
    was given free access to the sea which made her to profitably engage in trade.
    Poland was also given the Polish Corridor through Germany to port Danzig.

    The Versailles peace makers adopted Professor Wilson’s 14th point of
    establishing an international body to maintain world peace. This gave rise to the
    League of Nations in 1920.

    The settlement made arrangements for exchange of prisoners of war and
    resettlement of displaced persons. Consequently, Germany released the allied
    war prisoners and likewise the super powers.

    The Versailles settlement came up with the disarmament policy which although

    applied only to the defeated powers, helped in maintaining world peace.

    Failure of Versailles peace treaty of 1919
    1. The treaty was too dictatorial, too harsh on Germany in terms of
         disarmament, where Germany was not allowed to discuss it. This treaty

         was unfair and unrealistic.

    2. The treaty blamed Germany alone for the outbreak of the war. The

         responsibilities of other countries (Serbia, Russia, etc.) were ignored.

    3. The treaty disarmed Germany alone and failed to disarm other powers.

    4. The treaty forced Germany to pay an abnormal and an expensive war
          indemnity for the damages she did not cause alone. 6.5 billion pounds to

          be paid by Germany was Unfair.

    5. The treaty initially excluded Germany and defeated powers from the
         League of Nations. It also excluded Russia because she had become

         communist state after 1917 Russian revolution.

    6. The treaty was full of revenge policies against Germany. France wanted
         to have Germany destroyed because of the 1871 Franco-Prussian war;

         Britain wanted to revenge because of Kaiser William’s character.

    7. The treaty led to rise of dictators in Europe: For example, Hitler of Germany
        and Mussolini of Italy. Hitler came to power with the spirit of revenge

        against Allied powers.

    8. The treaty failed to respect the principle of Nationalism. It handed over 10
         million Germans to other countries. This was partly responsible for the
        outbreak of the Second World War
    9. The treaty was unfair because the Triple alliance members were not
         invited.
    10. The confiscation of Germany territories in Africa was seen as a way of
          making victorious powers rich which made Germany aggressive leading
          to World War II.
    11. The treaty led to the formation of League of Nations but it failed to protect
         it because League of Nations had no army to implement its policies.
    12. The chairmanship and place of the conference was unfair. France being
         the host and George Clemenceau who hated Germany made the treaty

         unfair.

    Why did all the victors not get everything they wanted?
    Why was (any of three leaders) dissatisfied with TOV?
    They all made compromises.
    1. Clemenceau wanted harsh peace: a broken-up Germany and an
    independent Rhineland and disarmed German along with compensation.
    He got limited compensation and military restrictions, a unified Germany
    and demilitarized Rhineland. He felt this was not harsh enough, didn’t get
    independent Rhineland or control of Saarland,
    2. Wilson wanted a just peace based on 14 points: he did not want
    Germany blamed (article 231 & reparations) in TOV but they were. He
    successfully established self- determination in Eastern Europe and
    League of the Nations. Demilitarization was not achieved except by force
    in Germany and TOV/LON ultimately not ratified.
    3. Britain wanted a compromise peace; was happy that German armed
    and naval forces were restricted, Lloyd received hero’s welcome, although
    the spread of communism still worrying him. There were disagreements
    over self-determination & ‘access to sea’ clause, the harshness of the
    treaty and LON (Wilson wanted world parliament, Lloyd wanted to get
    together in emergencies only.) Clemenceau resented Wilson’s generosity,
    wanted strong League with army.
    4. Clemenceau felt that Britain was happy to treat Germany fairly in Europe
    which threatened France yet were less happy to treat them fairly when it

    came to concessions of colonies and military which threatened Britain.

    The Other WW 1 Peace Treaties
    While the Treaty of Versailles often receives the most focus in terms of the post-
    WW1 peace treaties, there were another four treaties that dealt with Germany’s
    allies. These changed the shape of Europe and the Middle East, and their effect
    still resonates strongly today.

    The Treaty of St Germain in 1919.

    The first of these settlements to be signed was the Treaty of St Germain in 1919.
    Dealing with Austria, the treaty formally broke up the Habsburg Empire and
    dramatically changed the shape of central and Eastern Europe. Partly as a result
    of separating Austria from Hungary, the Treaty of St Germain reduced Austria to
    just 25% of its pre-war land surface and turned it into a land-locked state. The
    wealthy industrial regions of Bohemia and Moravia were lost to the new state
    of Czechoslovakia while Dalmatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina were joined to form
    the new Yugoslavia. In the north, Poland gained the region of Galicia while the
    western areas of South Tyrol, Trentino and Istria were ceded to Italy.

    In terms of the military, the Austrian armed forces were limited to 30,000 soldiers.
    Union with Germany – Anschluss – was expressly forbidden, and Austria was
    also forced to pay reparations (although in reality no money was ever actually

    paid).

    Treaty of Neuilly with Bulgaria, 1919. Because it was a minor player in the war,
    gained territory from Turkey It was forced to hand its Aegean coastline to Greece,
    while other territory was given to the newly-formed Yugoslavia. Approximately
    300,000 Bulgarians therefore found themselves in new countries. Bulgaria was

    also required to reduce its army to 20,000 men and pay reparations.

    Treaty of Trianon with Hungary, 1920
    The following year Austria’s neighbour Hungary also had to recognise the
    independence of the new states of Czechoslovakia, Poland, Yugoslavia and
    Hungary in the Treaty of Trianon. Hungary lost Slovakia, Ruthenia and Bratislava to
    Czechoslovakia while Croatia and Slovenia joined the newly-formed Yugoslavia.
    One of the most devastating territorial losses was that of Transylvania, which
    was given to Romania along part of the Banat. Similarly to Austria, Hungary was

    forced to pay reparations while its military was reduced to 35,000 men.

    Treaty of Sevres with Ottoman Empire, 1920:
    Arguably the most complicated settlement was the Treaty of Sèvres that was
    signed with Turkey in 1920. Negation on territorial terms led by Mustafa Kemal

    which led to war between Greeks and Turks - unsuccessful treaty, Arabs

    were promised Arab state for siding with Britain & France to defeat Germany,
    Palestine problem till date. The Ottoman Empire was already ‘the sick man of
    Europe’, and Britain, France and Italy sought to benefit from its disintegration.
    They each wished to use the treaty to benefit their own national interests in the
    region, but the necessary compromise resulted in a final treaty that was seen
    as both harsh and humiliating. Italy felt justified in demanding Turkish territory
    in return for joining with the Entente powers, while Britain hoped to expand its
    control over the merging oilfields in Iraq and Iran. President Wilson of the USA,

    meanwhile, hoped for Armenian independence.

    The final terms of the treaty stated that Turkey was required to abandon all
    its claims all claims to its Arab and North African territory and, although
    Constantinople remained Turkish, it lost control of large areas of its previous
    empire. Greece gained Eastern Thrace and the area around the Dardanelles
    as well as being allowed to occupy and administer Smyrna for five years.
    Armenia and Kurdistan were to become independent states while Palestine,
    Iraq, Transjordan and Cyprus became British mandates. Syria was put under the

    control of France. Turkey’s finances, meanwhile, were put under Allied control.

    The Turkish ruler, Sultan Muhammad VI, was ready to accept the treaty but it
    was met with significant opposition by the Turkish people who were offended
    by the loss of the empire to the same foreign forces that were now controlling
    areas their sovereign country. The treaty was also rejected by the emerging
    nationalist movement under Mustapha Kemal Pasha who established a new
    National Assembly at Ankara. The Turkish War of Independence soon followed,
    which saw the nationalists force Greece out of Smyrna and negotiate both a
    French withdrawal from Turkish territory and a compromise agreement with

    Britain.

    Rather than becoming an independent state, Armenia opted to join the Soviet
    Union after years of fighting against Turkey. The war in Armenia is a highly
    contentious period of history, with Turkey fiercely rejecting claims by Armenians
    and many historians of forced movement and mass killing that amounted to

    genocide.

    An armistice was eventually agreed between Turkey and its enemies in 1922,
    and this was followed by the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923 which recognised
    Smyrna, Anatolia and Thrace as Turkish territory. This replaced the Treaty of

    Sèvres, and essentially established the modern Turkey that we know today.

    Application activity 4.2.1

    Examine the merits and demerits of the Versailles peace treaty of 1919.

    4.2.2. League of Nations

    Learning activity 4.2.2
    Observe the following symbol and use internet, textbooks, and media to

    answer the questions that follow:

    t

    1) What do you understand by the above organisation?
    2) Identify the objectives, achievements and failures of the organisation

         shown by the symbol above.

    The League of Nations was an international peace keeping body formed after
    the first World War. It formally came into existence on January 10, 1920. It
    began with 42 member states but the number increased to 55 by 1926 when
    Germany was admitted. The Headquarters of the League of Nations were
    located in Geneva, Switzerland a neutral State. When the League of Nations
    was set up, point No.14 of the Woodrow Wilson statement was carried out, and
    for the first time in human history an international organisation was deliberately

    created to maintain peace and security in the world.

    The League of Nations was an integral part of the Treaty of Versailles. It is often
    spoken of as being the brainchild of the US President W. Wilson. However,
    although Wilson was certainly a great supporter of the idea of an international
    organisation for peace, the League was the result of a coming together of similar

    suggestions made during the first World War by a number of world statesmen.

    Organs/structures of League of Nations

    e

    The main organs of the League of Nations were the General Assembly; its
    main function was to decide general policy; the Council, its main task was
    to deal with specific political disputes as they arose; the Permanent Court
    of International Justice; its main task was to deal with legal disputes
    between states; the Secretariat, had to look after all the paperwork, preparing
    agendas, and writing resolutions and reports related to the decisions of the
    League; Commissions and Committees were in charge of dealing with
    specific problems. The main commissions were those which handled the

    mandates, military affairs and disarmament.

    Aims of League of Nations
    • Maintain peace through collective security.
    • Encourage international co-operation.
    • Solve economic and social problems.
    • Defend and promote territorial integrity and sovereignty of member
       nations against aggression of any kind.
    • Limit production of the disastrous military weapons.
    • Implement the terms and conditions of the 1919 Versailles Peace
       settlement.
    • Preserve its achievements.
    • Promote diplomacy in settling disputes since the first World War was
        partly caused by lack of international organization and collapse of
        international diplomacy (the congress system).
    • Suppress Sea pirates who were a threat to international trade on big
        waters like the Mediterranean Sea, black sea and the Pacific Ocean.
    • Control drug trafficking and consumption of dangerous drugs like
        marijuana, cocaine and opium.
    • Improve the conditions of workers and stop exploitation of workers by
        employers.
    • Work out a plan for repatriating and resettling refugees or people
        displaced by the first World war.

    Achievements of League of Nations
    a) The League of Nations achieved success in dealing with matters of human
          welfare, for example, the international Labour organization (ILO) was
          formed to improve general conditions of workers.
    b) The League of Nations recorded success in looking after refugees.
    c) League of Nations recorded success in health organization which was
         concerned with the control of diseases where it helped in reporting
         epidemic diseases, their spread and finding ways of controlling them. It
         also organized campaigns against Malaria, leprosy, rabies and syphilis.
    d) The League of Nations recorded success in maintaining peace by solving
         political conflicts that involved smaller powers. For example, in 1921, the
         League of Nations solved the conflict between Sweden and Finland about
        an Island and League of Nations ruled that the Island belonged to Finland.
    e) The League of Nations monitored and controlled mandated states by
        sending questionnaires to mandates states asking them how they are
        controlled by the new colonial masters.
    f) The League of Nations made an achievement in disarming Germany which
        helped in reducing Germany’s supremacy.
    g) The League of Nations effectively solved the problem of slavery and Drug
        trafficking by setting up anti-slavery commission.
    h) The financial commission of League of Nations succeeded in negotiating
        for loans for the construction of the economy of Austria after World War I.
    i) The League of Nations solved the international disputes through the
        international court of justice.
    j) It maintained international peace for about 20 years.
    k) It also reconciled defeated Germany with the victorious powers because
        Germany was also admitted in League of Nations in 1926.
    l) It promoted human rights. It advocated for emancipation of women. It
        protected rights of refuges.

    Failures of League of Nations
    a) The League of Nations failed to disarm victorious powers which forced
         Hitler to revive Germany’s militarism, thus leading to World War II.
    b) The League of Nations failed to form a joint international army that would
         be used in checking the activities of dictators.
    c) It failed to check and control the activities of Dictators: Adolph Hitler of
         Germany and Benito Mussolini of Italy which led to World War II.
    d) It failed to handle conflicts between Japan and China or Italy and Ethiopia.
    e) League of Nations failed to win the membership of USA whose military
         and economic strength would have helped the League of Nations in
         controlling the dictators.
    f) It failed to put in place precautions against membership. Countries were
         free to enter and withdraw without any penalty and in 1935 many countries

         had withdrawn, which made the League of Nations very weak.

    Application activity 4.2.2
    1. Account for the formation of League of Nations by 1920.
    2. Assess the achievements of the League of Nations in the inter-war

         period.

    4.2.3. World economic depression

    Learning activity 4.2.3
    Use internet, textbooks, maps, photographs and media to research on
    world’s great economic depression and explain its causes and effects.

    The economic depression was a general economic decline in economic
    activities after World War I. It started in 1929-1935. It was characterized by
    unemployment, low income, low aggregate demand (low purchasing power),
    low prices, low investment and low economic activities. Economic depression
    began in the Canadian agriculture sector and by 1929 it had spread to other
    parts of Europe and the world at large.

    Economic depression begun on Thursday, 24th October 1929, black Thursday.
    Many people who had saved their money in banks had to go and withdraw their
    savings. This was followed by the closure of many financial institutions leading
    to unemployment, closure of factories, and low demand for available goods. The
    prices fell dramatically.

    The beginning of the Great Depression. The stock market crash of 1929

    f

    Source: https:i.pinmg.com/563x/06/2f9ca21d063265aad81cd8do3.jpg.

    The causes of the Great World Economic Depression
    The causes of the great World economic depression of 1929-1933 were many
    and none of them can stand alone in isolation of other factors to explain this
    phenomenon but a combination of many factors as seen below.
    • Negative impacts of the first World war
    – The war destroyed industries, farms, ships, trading centers and factories
        which resulted into a low production.
    – The war also brought the problem of debts in which USA demanded
        high interest rates from European powers.
    – The war led to the collapse of international relations and trade.
    – More to this the war indemnity charged on defeated powers led to

        economic.

    All these consequences had a negative effect on production and the ability to
    purchase goods, hence leading to the economic depression.
    • Domestic overproduction
    Because of high profits and mechanization, American industries produced many
    goods which could not be absorbed by domestic markets.
    – Overproduction forced many industries to close down and workers
          were sent out.
    – The problem of unemployment increased.
    – The prices of agricultural and industrial products became low.
    – The producers and manufacturers lacked the finances to produce

         goods. All these led to economic depression.

    • The American policy of economic nationalization and isolation
    (trade protection)
    After the World War I, USA closed her markets from other European exporters
    so as to protect her industries. In response, other countries also protected their
    markets from external exporters. This led to the collapse of international trade

    and the accumulation of unsold surplus. Hence the world economies collapsed.

    • The negative economic implications of the Versailles treaty
    This forced Germany and her allies to pay a heavy war indemnity, which affected
    their economies.
    – Defeated countries lost their colonies
    – Defeated powers were not allowed to trade with victorious powers.

    Hence the collapse of international trade and the collapse of economy.

    • The announcement of effects of the economic depression
    The newspapers, radio stations, politicians and opinion leaders had announced
    the economic depression. This forced various businessmen to withdraw their

    money from banks and hence the fall of other economic activities.

    • Poor distribution of income
    Poor distribution of income between the employers and the workers, major
    consumers, was reduced at 80% while the profits of industries rose by 72%. This
    led to economic depression because the workers were losing their purchasing

    power.

    • The failure of League of Nations to solve problems
    It failed to promote economic cooperation and international trade. It failed to
    suppress protectionism policy. It failed to prevent USA from exploiting her debtors
    by paying debts using gold. It also failed to solve problems of unemployment,

    inflation, overproduction which led to economic depression.

    • Reduction in the efficiency of labour
    The first World War reduced the efficiency of labour because most of the
    strongest, experienced and skilled manpower was either killed or disabled by

    the war. This led to low production and general collapse of economic activities.

    • The rise of political instability in Europe
    These are revolutions, assassinations, riots, demonstrations and conflicts
    between communism and capitalism, the rise of Nazism and Fascism, etc. Such

    instability paralyzed economic activities and led to economic depression.

    • The increasing population with limited welfare services
    The population increased after World War I but the economy remained
    underdeveloped. As result, there was unemployment leading to financial
    shortages and hence the collapse of purchasing power, industries closed
    down which led to economic depression.

    • The rise/emergence of weak and young states
    These could not support themselves financially and powerful countries like USA
    spent large sums of money to the new countries like Poland and Yugoslavia. The
    money given to the new countries reduced the production capacity of donor
    countries.

    The general decline in agricultural activities
    After World War I there was a great rural-urban migration (USA and UK) and
    this affected agricultural productivity, thus affecting negatively agro-based
    industries.

    • The gold standard system
    This was operating in world economies by 1929 also caused the depression.
    This is because each country was supposed to have a total amount of money in
    circulation equivalent to total value of gold in her reserves. This limited money
    supply for some countries which had little gold which reduced demand leading
    to a depression.
    Measures to overcome the World Economic Depression
    The USA and other European countries set the following strategies to resolve
    the crisis:
    • Germany on her part attempted to solve the economic depression by
    violating the 1919 Versailles Peace treaty terms when she stopped
    paying the war indemnity of around 6.6 billion pounds and also started
    serious industrialization thus solving the economic depression in
    Germany.
    • The USA fought the economic depression by using the New Deal
    Program introduced by the new US President Franklin Delano
    Roosevelt in 1932. By this program, there were new laws regulating
    the stock market and protecting bank depositors’ savings, jobs creation
    programmes for the unemployed like Tennessee Valley Authority
    (TVA), construction of schools, hospitals etc. The USA also set up a
    social security system and depreciated the value of her dollar so as to
    increase the purchasing power of the Americans. The New Deal was
    largely inspired by some economists such as John Maynard Keynes
    who introduced an economic theory popularly known as Keynesian
    theory of unemployment after analysing the causes of the Economic

    depression.

    • The gold standard system was stopped since played a role in the
       outbreak of the World Economic Depression from 1929 up to 1935.
    • A World Economic Conference was held at Geneva in 1933 in
        Switzerland and was attended by 66 countries that worked out different
        solutions to end the Economic Depression such as to remove obstacles
        to free trade and implement a uniform tax on imports and exports.
    • World powers attempted to solve the economic depression by using
       aggressive policy where they invaded weak states so as to solve the
       problem of lack of raw materials and markets for their goods. For
       instance, in 1935 Italy invaded Ethiopia, in 1936 Germany invaded
       Czechoslovakia and in 1939 invaded Poland.
    • Unemployment relief schemes were adopted by various countries
       which among others included United States of America, Britain and
       France to benefit the unemployed citizens above 18 years.
    • European powers formed regional economic integration for example,
       the European Economic Community (EEC) which promoted interstate
       trade in the region, hence solving the depression.
    • Socio-economic reforms were also used to solve the depression. This
       was through modernization of agriculture and industrialization and
       formation of trade unions which fought for the rights of workers.
    Effects of the World Economic Depression
    The effects of the World Economic Depression are as follows:
    • The economic depression led to widespread unemployment.
    • It led to the closure of industries: factories were producing surplus
        products yet prices and demand were very low. This subjected
        industrialist to heavy losses and consequently they closed down
       factories.
    • The economic depression led to the rise of dictators in Europe like
       Adolf Hitler in Germany, Benito Mussolini in Italy and General Franco
       in Spain.
    • It made powerful countries of the World to start attacking weak powers
        as way of solving their economic problems. For example, Japan on
        China and Italy on Ethiopia.
    • Economic depression led to formation of European Economic
       Community (ECC) as a way of promoting trade among European
       countries.
    • It led to the failure of League of Nations member’s states had no money
        to finance its activities.
    • It led to the breakdown of international relationship where European
        countries hated America because of the isolation policy.
    • The gold standard system was abandoned up to the present. This is
        because this system limited countries with little gold to have enough
        money in circulation which had contributed to the economic depression.
    • It led to World War II because of the rise of dictators, weakening the

         League of Nations and making countries aggressive.

    Application activity 4.2.3
    1. Discuss the causes and consequences of the world economic

    depression of 1929-1935.

    4.2.4. The totalitarian regimes in Europe
    This is a system where the government allows the only one political party of
    the government in power and does not allow parties to coexist. This system
    also calls for complete obedience. It is basically characterized by autocracy,
    despotism and favoritism of those in power like the Fascist Regime in Italy and

    Nazism Regime in Germany.

    4.2.4.1. Fascism

    Learning activity 4.2.4.1
    Use internet, textbooks, maps, photographs and media to research on the
    rise of totalitarian regimes in Europe and explain the factors for the rise and

    downfall of Fascism.

    Background of Fascism and Mussolini
    Fascism: The world fascism is derived from Latin world “fasces” or bundle
    of rods tied around the axe which was the magistrate’s emblem of power in

    ancient Rome.

    In Italy, Fascist group presented themselves as the only symbol of authority and
    strength for the purpose of making Italy gain her place and pride in Europe and to
    fight socialism and communism. It was a style of politics that was characterized
    by personal dictatorship of Benito Mussolini, Political intolerance, party rule,

    violence and terror.

    Mussolini was born in Romagna in1883. His father Alessandro Mussolini was a blacksmith
    and a socialist, while his mother Rosa Mussolini Maltoni, a devoutly Catholic school teacher. Owing
    to his father’s political leanings, Mussolini was named Benito after Mexican Reformist President
    Benito Juárez, while his middle names Andrea and Amilcare were from Italian socialists Andrea Costa
    and Amilcare Cipriani. Benito was the eldest of his parents’ three children. His siblings Arnaldo and

    Edvige followed.

    sd

        Benito Mussolini

    At the age of 9, Mussolini began his education and graduated as a teacher
    with a diploma in education in 1907. He later abandoned his education career
    and joined journalism as a newspaper editor. Mussolini had fought for Italy
    in the first World War and was wounded during the war, but by its end he
    formed a political movement called the Fasci Italiani di Combattimento (Italian
    Combat Leagues or Squard), in March 1919 at Milan City in Italy whose
    members came to be known as the Fascists. It was composed of frustrated
    jobless youth, industrial capitalists and the middle class.

    In 1922, Italy witnessed a successful fascist revolution that led to the rise of
    Mussolini, supported by the Black shirts, army and the guards. On October
    28th, 1922 he organised a March to Rome and when King Victor Emmanuel
    II was convinced by the Parliament to suppress the marchers, he refused and
    then, the Cabinet under Prime Minister Luigi Facta resigned without firing a
    shot. The King Victor then handed over power to Mussolini by inviting him to
    form a new government on October 28, 1922 and the Fascist Party got power
    in Italy. Mussolini was supported by the military, the business class, and the

    liberal right wing.

    Characteristics (Principles of Fascism)
    • Anti-liberalism: The Fascist members were against the principles
       of French revolution (equality, liberty, human rights). They suggested
       authoritative regime.
    • Anti-communism: Fascists were enemies of communism and
       socialist because these systems promoted equality while for fascists,
       social inequality is a natural fact that nobody can suppress.
    • Extreme nationalism: That is an emphasis on rebirth of nation after
       a period of decline. They promoted prestige of the country by the war
       and conquest. Hence military regime.
    • One party state: there was no room for democracy.
    • A totalitarian system of government: This was where the fascist
       was to control everything in Italy.
    • Economic self-efficiency: The government needs to direct the
        economy of the nation owning factories and land.
    • Military strength and violence: Mussolini said “peace is absurd
        fascism does not believe in it”. They get power by force and they were
        to use violence to silence opponents.
    • Tireless propaganda (unremitting): fascist slogan “believe, obey,

        fight”.

    Factors for the rise of Mussolini (Fascism) to power in Italy by 1922
    Mussolini rose to power on 28th October 1922 after taking over Victor Emmanuel
    III the legitimate king. He was favored by the following factors.
    • The negative effect of World War I: The impact of the first World
       War aided fascism and Benito Mussolini to power. The war had
       negative consequences like loss of lives over 600,000 Italians both
       civilians and soldiers. Mussolini associated the democratic government
       of Victor Emmanuel III with such losses and Mussolini decampaigned it
       as weak and incompetent of handling the Italian affairs. This paralysed
       the democratic government and undermined its popularity in favour of
       facism and Mussolin. Hence rising up of Mussolini and fascism.
    • Weakness of Victor Emmanuel III’s democratic government:
       The government failed to handle crucial socio-economic problems
       like inflation, unemployment, poverty, high crime rate and bloodshed.
       Victory Emmanuel failed to promote unity and harmony. His government
       ignored violence with false hope that the opposition would crash,
       weaken, and destroy themselves. This gave Mussolini a chance to
       exploit such negligence and violence to weaken other rival political
       groups and undermine democratic government. This led to the rise of
       Fascism.
    • The unfair Versailles treaty on Italy: It cultivated a favourable ground
       for the rise of Mussolini to power. Italy was promised territorial rewards
       which were not fully implemented and Italy was poorly compensated.
    • Role of the fascist terrorist squad: Mussolini used a group of
       hooligans to create chaos in Italy so as to get a reason for blaming
       the government of Victor Emmanuel III. He was therefore supported by
       most Italians.
    • His personal talent: Mussolini was a gifted speaker whose speeches
       were enjoyed by the Italians. During his public speeches, he spread the
       fascist manifesto to the Italians convinced them to support him against
       the government of Victor Emmanuel III.
    • Influence of press: Newspapers like Papolo d’Italia campaigned for
        Fascist and made Mussolini popular for Italians. It was also used to
        spread the Fascist propaganda as well as de-campaigning against the
        then government.
    • Political and democratic reforms in Italy: From 1900, Italy allowed
       different political parties and people to participate in politics. This
       opened the gates for Mussolini and Fascism to join political struggles.
    • Disunity among political parties: in Italy also provided opportunity
       for fascism to rise to power with Benito Mussolini. Such political parties
       had different ideologies that facilitated room for a united fascist party
       to become popular.
    • The July 31st 1922 strikes: The fascist was instrumental in suppressing
       the general strikes organized by the socialists. This increased the
       popularity of the fascism hence rising to power.
    • The weakness of the League of Nations: This failed to check the
       rise of the new aggressors like Mussolini.
    • The prevailing social and economic problems: for example,
       declining industries, inflation, mass unemployment, low wages,
       starvation, poverty, foreign debts, and collapse of agriculture. All these

       led to his rise because Mussolini also promised to solve these problems.

    How did Mussolini consolidate himself to power?
    • He abolished other political parties and established a single party
       government in Italy. This removed opposition parties from the parliament.
    • He carried out public works. Roads, bridges and health centers were
       established or innovated. Most Italians therefore supported his rule
       because of the hardworking spirit.
    • He made the Catholicism a state religion and declared Vatican an
       independent state under the Pope. He was therefore supported by
       most Catholics. Mussolini achieved this through the Lateran treaty
       which he signed with Pope Pius XI in 1929.
    • Strict censorship of press. His government monitored all newspapers
       before their circulation and opposition journalists were usually forced
       into exile to Lipari Island in the Mediterranean Sea.
    • He strengthened dictatorship by removing constitutional check on his
       rule.
    • He used the Fascist propaganda of extreme nationalism to change
        people’s minds and thinking or opinion against his rule.
    • He used economic reforms such as industrialization, modernization of
        agriculture, supply of hydro-electric power and modernization of towns
        to win support of the majority Italians.
    • He abolished democratic constitutional of Italy. He dismissed all officials
        who had been elected democratically in Rome like mayors, town clerks
        and town councils.
    • He organized and strengthened the Italian army and police which

        ensured peace and fought all those who opposed his rule.

    Different factors that led to Mussolini’s downfall:
    • Mussolini established the Fascist state in Italy based on
       dictatorship and leadership by decree:
    This inflicted a lot of
       suffering of the Italian masses. He denied Italians their democratic rights.
       Leadership through elections came to an end with his coming to power
       and referendum was introduced in policy making and representative.
    • He made Fascism the supreme and only political system:
       i.e. political pluralism was suffocated and in 1925, party system was
       abolished. This was brought by repressive measures on communist
       supporters many of whom were imprisoned.
    • Mussolini denied the Italian people all sorts of freedom: these
       included the censorship of the press, no freedom of speech, association
       and worship among others. Injustice was widespread and because of
       this the majority of the Italians were living like prisoners in their country;
    • Mussolini failed to control the malpractices within the
       government:
    there was corruption and embezzlement of government
       funds. By 1930, the Italian economy had deteriorated by all standards;
    • During his period of administration, leadership discrimination was
        rampant in all sectors of the society. Even the social services were not
        extended to the poor Italians in the rural areas;
    • He promoted the feeling of anti–Semitism: the negative attitude,
       hatred and segregation against the Jews. The union between Mussolini
       and Hitler and their ideology were hated throughout Europe and this
       forced European communities to unite and fight against them and
       eradicate their ideologies of Nazism and Fascism.
    • Mussolini followed aggressive policies: when he involved Italians
       in hostilities and military confrontation with other Europeans leading to
       the outbreak of the Second World War. He was therefore responsible

       for the disastrous war between 1939 and 1945.

    Application activity 4.2.4.1
    1. Identify the rise of Fascism in Italy.
    2. Examine the factors for the decline of Mussolini’s fascist regime in

        Italy

    4.2.4.2. Nazism

    Learning activity 4.2.4.2
    Use internet, textbooks, maps, photographs and media to research on the
    rise of totalitarian regimes in Europe and explain factors for the rise and

    downfall of Nazism.

    Adolf Hitler

    Adolph Hitler was born on April, 20th 1889 in the Austro-German border town of Brounaal. His father
    Alois Hitler was a minor customs oyears but was released after only 6 months. While in prison, Hitler wrote his
    book “Main Kampf” (my struggle) which became the bible of the Nazis. This
    new bride, Eva Braun, joined him in suicide.fficial in Austria. In 1902 his father died and in 1907 his mother also
    died. Hitler did not get proper education on account of his obscure background and being a total orphan.

    d

                           Adolf Hitler
    Hitler got his early education in Linz town academy; however, he failed to get
    a certificate (1907). His ambition was to become a fine artist but this was
    frustrated when he failed to join the Vienna as a sign painter, causal labourer
    of odd jobs and a street beggar. This is what shaped Hitler’s personality of
    poor interpersonal relationship, intolerance and hatred of the bourgeoisie, the

    royalists, the socialists, the Republicans and the Jews.

    In May 1913, Hitler went to live in Munich a city in Germany. In 1914, Hitler
    joined the Germany’s army and fought in World War I. at the end of the war;
    he had risen to the rank of Lance Corporal and awarded the “Iron cross” for
    his bravery. Towards the end of the war, Hitler was badly wounded and was
    hospitalized when the armistice was being signed. He was discharged and

    returned to Munich where he lived for some time on occasional work.

    Hitler was very disappointed with the defeat and humiliation of German in the
    first World War. His views were that Germany was not defeated due to her
    military weakness but was “stabbed in the back” (betrayed) by its leader Emperor
    Kaiser William II and traitors like Jews, Socialists, Pacifists, Democrats, etc.
    this experience haunted him for long time as he later wrote: ‘the more I tried to
    glean some definite information of the terrible events that happened,

    the more my head become a fire with rage and shame.’

    Hitler later joined the National German workers socialist party which was later
    renamed Nazi. He distinguished himself as a true patriot and his oratory and
    demagogic skills earned him the leadership of the party. In 1924, Hitler attempted

    a futile coup against the Weimar Republic for which he was imprisoned for five

    years but was released after only 6 months. While in prison, Hitler wrote his
    book “Main Kampf” (my struggle) which became the bible of the Nazis. This
    made him and the party more popular. By 1933, Hitler and Nazism were very
    popular amongst the Germans. In the elections of March 1933 the Nazi won
    288 seats in the parliament. This forced president Hindenburg to appoint Hitler
    as a chancellor that became a platform for his rise to power when Hindenburg
    died in August 1934.once in Power, He eliminated all opposition and launched
    an ambitious program of world domination and elimination of the Jews. His rule
    lasted 12 years and he died a broken and defeated man. Several attempts were
    made on Hitler’s life during the war, but none was successful. As the war defied
    his orders, he killed himself on 30th April, 1945. His long term mistress and a

    new bride, Eva Braun, joined him in suicide.

    h

    Dust jacket of 1926–1928 edition Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mein_Kampf

    The factors for the rise of Adolf Hitler and Nazism to power
    • The first World War led to the rise of Nazism: It left Germany in
       the state of economic decline and dictatorship was looked at as the
       only solution to Germany’s problems. Hence the rise of Hitler to power.
    • Unpopularity of the Weimer republic: It accepted the unrealistic
       Versailles settlement which was against the will of the Germans. This
       made the people of Germany to admire a leader like Hitler who was
       courageous to strongly oppose the unfair terms of the Versailles treaty.
    • His personal character and talent: He was a courageous and
       ambitious leader and above all an eloquent speaker. His speeches
       touched on the hearts of the Germans who felt that Hitler was the
       answer to all their problems. This made him to work for his rise to power.
    • His publication: For example, my struggle (1923-1924) while in
       prison. It contained a 25-year program promising to improve the general
       conditions of German masses.
    • The death of Von Paul Hindenburg (the president of the Weimer
       republic) on 15th august 1934 also created a power vacuum for Hitler
       to rise to power moreover he was the chancellor from 1933.
    • The great economic depression: It created a desperate situation
       of poverty, unemployment and inflation and Hitler was looked at as the
       only liberator.
    • Role of the Nazi storm troopers: The Storm Troopers, also known
       as Sturmabteilung, or “Brown Shirts,” refer the Nazi Party militia that
       helped Adolf Hitler rise to power in Germany. Created in 1922, and
       organised by Hitler’s great follower captain Ernest Roehm. The Storm
       trooper was extremely antisemitic and antidemocratic in its military
       activities. Its members were mainly lower-middle class Germans who
       had lost their jobs due to the country’s economic problems. The Storm
       troopers gave them something to be part of and proud of. They engaged
       in street fights with their political enemies, practiced pseudo-military
       exercises, and terrorized Germany. Ernst Rohm became the Supreme
       Commander of the Storm troopers in 1924. They influenced people to

       vote for Hitler.

    f

    Source: https://www.amazon.com/Hitlers-Stormtroopers-Nazis-Brownshirts-1922/

                                                                       dp/1848324251

    • Role of the Nazi party: Most Germans believed that the Nazi party
       would solve the problems of the middle class such as unemployment
       and poor working conditions. They therefore supported the Nazi party
       and Hitler.
    • The Germany traditional history of loving dictators: Germany
       was characterized by dictatorial rule since her unification struggle such
       as Bismarck, Von Moltek, Von Roon and Kaiser William influenced
        people to believe that dictators can rule the state.
    • The unrealistic Versailles treaty: Hitler condemned the Versailles
       as unpopular and influenced the Germanys to stop paying the war
       penalty of 6.5 billion pound. He was therefore judged as a true Germany
       nationalist.
    • The growth and spread of communism in Germany: the success
        of 1917 Russian revolution led to the establishment of communist
        government in Russia. The spread of communism threatened the
        property owners in Germany. However, after the formation of Nazi party

       in 1920, Hitler promised to fight communism and protect capitalists.

    How did Hitler consolidate himself to power?
    Hitler came to power in 1934 after the death of President Hindenburg. When he
    came to power, he used the following measures to strengthen himself to power.
    • Dictatorship: as a dictator, Hitler: He made law which outlawed other
      parties. He only recognized Nazism. He limited the power of parliament.
      He outlawed the constitution. He denied the people, the freedom of
      association and press.
    • He banned all political parties and the Nazi party remained the only
      legal party in Germany.
    • He used suppressive policies to eliminate his political enemies that are
      by setting up special prisons, concentration camps to jail those with
      anti-Nazi ideas.
    • Hitler suppressed public press broadcasting, literature, drama, music,
      painting, public films and publications reflecting Hitler’s tastes. All
      books which had anti-Nazi ideas were burnt in huge fire in Berlin in
      1935.
    • The clergymen were warned to sign an oath promising never to teach
      materials that were against Nazi.
    • The professional teachers had to sign an oath promising never to teach
       materials that were against Nazi party.
    • Hitler built a strong army that was used against internal and external
      enemies.
    • Hitler reduced the pre-1933 economic problems which earned him
      more support from Germans and no one would think of opposing
       Adolph Hitler.
    • Hitler modernized agriculture, set new industries, thus solving
       unemployment which attracted support to Adolph Hitler.
    • Hitler captivated Germans youth where parents had to take their
        children to public schools where they had to register and joined Hitler’s
        young group association and were brought up according to Hitler’s
        doctrine and the young generation was completely royal to Nazism.
    • Hitler used Nepotism to consolidate his power, he employed his close
       relatives and friends to carry out administration on his behalf.
    • Hitler used a strict spy network and a secret police to keep him informed
        of the events in his empire (suspects were jailed, killed or exiled).
    • Hitler controlled education to his favour: he did this by encouraging
       the teaching of Nazi principles and ideas in public schools. Hitler also
        rewrote school textbooks to include Nazi ideas.
    • Hitler promoted strict control of the church: he controlled both Catholic
        Church and the protestant. For example, he signed an agreement with
         the pope in which the pope was to appoint bishops after consulting
        Hitler. He also withdrew the church from controlling politics and
        education.
    • Hitler used Racism to maintain his power in Germany. For example, he
        discriminated the Jews and the Slavs. He banned intermarriage between
        Germans, Jews and Slavs. Jews were dismissed from political offices,
        arrested and killed Jews in large numbers: The Jews were accused of
        collaborating with the big powers to defeat Germany in World War I.
    • Hitler introduced the people’s courts to try suspects charged with
        treason.
    • He promoted strict control of workers.

    The factors for the downfall of Nazism and Adolf Hitler
    • Death of his best friend Benito Mussolini on April 28, 1945 and the
        downfall of Fascist Party damaged Hitler’s morale and forced him to
        commit suicide on April 30, 1945.
    • The great decline in the economy of Germany due to bombardment of
        her factories and industries by allied forces of Britain, France and USA
        among others harmed Hitler’s popularity.
    • Dictatorship which was coupled with excessive oppression like banning
       other political parties, harassing and killing of his German opponents

       who among others included Hans Ramshorn a member of the Reichstag.

    In 1934, as part of the Night of the Long Knives, Ernst Julius Röhm was

    executed on Hitler’s orders as a potential rival among others.

    gt

                                 Ernst Julius Röhm

    Source: https://www.fold3.com/page/286091759-night-of-the-long-knives/stories

    • The size and heterogeneous nature of the German Empire by 1939,
       whereby it included the Germans, the Austrians, the Poles, the Dutch
       and the Czechoslovakians and by the time Adolf Hitler failed to manage
       to control this wide size. It was necessary for Hitler to commit suicide
       before the various German senior officers did since they attempted to
      do so several times.
    • Withdraw of Germany from the League of Nations which put Germany
       under isolation from world affairs. This made Germany to be considered
       as an enemy of other European countries which later formed an alliance
       against Germany.
    • Betray of strong supporters of Nazism. For example, Hammira the
       commander of the Schultz Staffel crossed and surrendered to the allies
       on 28th April 1945. This weakened Hitler since all his war plans were

       exposed to the allies hence his downfall

    The formation of the allied powers of Britain, France and Russian against the
    Axis powers of Rome Tokyo-Berlin Axis meant decline of the Nazi party as it
    was the case with World War I, the alliance system played a significant role in

    the defeat and downfall of Adolf Hitler by 1945.

    Application activity 4.2.4.2
    1. Explain the factors for the rise of Nazism and Adolf Hitler in Germany

    2. Account for the downfall of Adolf Hitler in Germany.

    Skills Lab
    Use a combination of knowledge, skills, attitude and values acquired
    throughout this unit and create a poster against wars and any other form of

    conflict in the world. Present your poster to the class.

    End unit assessment
    1. The outbreak of the First World War was inevitable by 1914. Discuss.
    2. Examine the merits and the demerits of the Versailles peace treaty
         of 1919.
    3. Account for the formation of the League of Nations by 1920.
    4. Examine the significance/consequences of the world Economic
        depression of 1929-1935.
    5. To what extent was Mussolini’s ability responsible for the rise of
         Fascism in Italy?

    6. Why did Hitler and Nazism collapse in 1945?


  • UNIT 5 THE SECOND WORLD WAR AND ITS EFFECTS

    Key Unit competence

    The student-teacher should be able to examine the causes and the effects

    of Second World War.

    Introductory activity
       The Second World War witnessed intensification of military conflicts all
       over the World and left disastrous effects. Do research, using internet and
       reading range of written materials to:
    1. Describe the causes and the effects of the Second World War.
    2. Explain the aims, achievements and failures of United Nations

        organization.

    5.1 Causes and consequences of Second World War

    Learning activity 5.1
    Read textbooks, internet and other history books to find out the causes and

    effects of the Second World War.

    The Second World War was the war fought between the axis powers, that is,
    Italy, Germany and Japan (Berlin- Rome-Tokyo axis powers) against the allied
    powers, that is Britain, France, Russia and USA. It was the most destructive
    war that mankind had ever experienced and it started with Germany invasion of

    Poland on 1st .09.1939 and ended with the surrender of Japan in August 1945.

    The Second World War period witnessed intensification of military conflicts all
    over the World. It also witnessed the use of dangerous weapons and ended
    with weapons of mass destruction such as atomic bombs. Modern technology
    was applied during the war and it was also during this war that the World
    experienced the genocide which claimed the lives of about 6 million Jews killed
    by the Nazis under Adolf Hitler of Germany. A number of factors played a role in

    this most destructive war.

    5.1.1 Causes of Second World War
    It has been argued that the Versailles settlement of 1919 sowed seeds for the
    outbreak of the Second World War. It was signed in a vengeful mood on the
    part of the Allied powers against Germany, and it was unfair to Germany. The
    peace treaty was very unrealistic in its attempt to create a lasting peace which
    ploughed ground for the outbreak of war in 1939.This treaty was a kind of
    dictated peace. It was a dictated treaty on Germany which had no chance to
    negotiate.
    The following explain how Versailles settlement sowed the seeds of the outbreak
    of WWII:
    • It deprived Germany of every scrap of its colonies in Europe, Asia and
      Africa which caused economic hardships in Germany. This forced Hitler
       to invade Austria, Poland and Czechoslovakia, hence the outbreak of
       the World War II.
    • Danzig was cut off from Germany and the country was forced to stand
       totally disarmed.
    • Allied troops were stationed in Germany, in order to enforce the
       provisions of the Treaty.
    • The Versailles treaty forced Germany to pay a heavy war indemnity
       or reparation of 6.5 billion pounds. This amount was too huge that
       Germany became weak. This forced Hitler to revenge on the powers
       that imposed the treaty on Germany. (Article 232).
    • With the article 231 of the settlement, Germany alone was held guilty
       of the war. Thus it caused hatred in the minds of the Germans and
       made Hitler to adopt an aggressive foreign policy which made World
       War II inevitable.
    • The Versailles treaty was imposed on Germany. She was forced to sign,
       she was not allowed to criticize or negotiate, and this creates a spirit of
       revenge, which prepared ground for World War II.
    • The Versailles treaty disarmed Germany unfairly. Germany’s soldiers
       were reduced from 400,000 to 100,000 men, German bases and
       weapons were destroyed yet other countries were busy rearming
       themselves. Such unfairness forced Germany to rearm and prepare for

       war.

    The revival of the arms race and failure of the disarmament policy
    also contributed the outbreak of the war.
    The victorious powers disarmed
    Germany almost to the end and themselves, never did at all. This forced Adolf
    Hitler to rearm Germany to the teeth. As a result, arms race resumed among
    European states especially Britain, Germany, France and Italy. This bred tension,
    mistrust, and fear which eventually resulted into the outbreak of the Second

    World War.

    The Appeasement Policy initiated by the British prime minister, Neville
    Chamberlain who argued that another war could be avoided by pleasing
    aggressive powers like Germany. The policy was based on dialogue and
    compromise as opposed to violence as a solution to axis aggression. There was
    a general feeling that the Versailles treaty was unfair. It was due to this policy that
    no military action was taken against Mussolini when invaded Ethiopia (1935)
    and on Japan when she occupied Manchuria (1931) and when Hitler invaded
    the Rhineland (1936), Austria and Czechoslovakia (1938). Britain and France
    took no step against Germany. They instead signed the Munich agreement with
    Germany in recognition of her occupation of the Sudetenland. Chamberlain
    thought that this would serve as a reconciliatory approach between Germany
    and the signatories of the Versailles Settlement. However, these inspired Hitler
    who decided to occupy the whole of Czechoslovakia. On September 1, 1939
    Germany decided to invade Poland culminating into war because Hitler had

    refused to withdraw from Poland as He was demanded by France and Britain.

    g

                                                        Neville Chamberlain

                         Neville Chamberlain, prime minister of Britain immediately prior to World
                             War II, appeased Adolf Hitler’s aggression in Europe to keep his country
                              out of the war. Chamberlain’s efforts ultimately failed.

                                                    Source: Encarta Premium 2009

    Why did France and Britain use the appeasement policy?
    It was a way of avoiding war which was likely to be more devastating.

    Britain and France used their appeasement policy because they knew that they
    were unfair to Germany and Italy during the 1919 Versailles settlement.

    The League of Nations had become very weak; Chamberlain believed that the
    only way to settle disputes was by personal contact between leaders. Hence
    the use of appeasement.

    Economic cooperation between Germany and Britain would be good for both.
    Britain used appeasement policy because they feared that the dictators might
    ally with the communists which would be a threat to France and Britain, because
    they were capitalists.

    The weakening of the British economy after World War I made Britain not ready
    to be involved in other wars.

    World powers had learned from experience of the World War I because it was
    destructive, causing economic depression, loss of lives and destruction of

    industries.

    The weaknesses of the League of Nations: It failed to condemn and
    react against the aggressors of the time, hence resulting in war. The inherent
    weakness of the League of Nations inspired major powers to invade weaker
    states. For instance, Japan invaded Manchuria in 1931, Johel in 1933. Japan
    even evacuated the League of Nations but no step was taken against her. Italy
    under Benito Mussolini was also encouraged to invade Abyssinia (Ethiopia) in
    1935. Germany under Adolf Hitler was inspired to attack Poland on September

    1, 1939, all this resulted into a world War between 1939 and 1945.

    The negative effects of the World Economic Depression (1929 –1935)
    forced many powers like USA, Britain and France to resort to the policy of
    protectionism in a bid to protect their domestic markets. This increased suspicion,
    mistrust, fear and tension and destroyed international relations between the
    world powers. Some powers like Germany, Japan and Italy resorted to the use
    of force against weaker as a way of securing raw materials and markets. On the
    other side when other countries were busy handling the problems of caused by
    the economic depression, Germany used the opportunity to rearm herself and

    became aggressive and all these generated the World War II.

    The rise of the dictators in different countries: The dictators and
    aggressors undermined world peace and led to the outbreak of the Second

    World War. The period between wars saw the rise of dictators such as Benito

    Mussolini in Italy in 1922, General Franco in Spain, Hirohito in Japan, Adolf
    Hitler in Germany in 1933. The dictators formed the Axis Alliance and started an
    aggressive foreign policy. The Allied Democratic Powers waged the war to stop
    the influence of dictators which created fear, panic, and hatred that exploded

    into war in the aftermath of German invasion of Poland.

    fd

                                          Benito Mussolini (left) and Adolf Hitler (middle) (Source: Google) , Hirohito

                                                                                          ( Right)

    The role of the press also contributed to the outbreak of World War
    II. The press exaggerated the military capacities of different powers especially
    Germany against the allied powers. This created a war atmosphere leading to

    World War II.

    The 1931–1939, Spanish Civil wars were also antecedents to the Second
    World War. In 1939, with the support of Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini,
    General Franco overthrew the republican regime which was supported by Britain,
    Russia and France. General Franco decided to establish a fascist regime of
    Italian type. The war created enmity between allied and Axis powers, increased
    prestige for Italy and Germany and they gained full confidence that winning any
    war was obvious. This caused Hitler to attack Poland which immediately led to

    World War II.

    The presence of the ideological differences (Communist phobia):
    After the success of the 1917 Bolshevik revolution under Lenin and Joseph
    Stalin. Russia spread communism in Western Europe. This fear of communism
    contributed to the rise of dictators like Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini, who
    promised to eradicate communism in their respective countries and were war

    mongers that eventually made World War II inevitable.

    The formation of the Rome-Tokyo- Berlin Axis (Military alliance) by
    1939: The aggressive alliance started with Italy and Germany in 1938, inspired
    Japan under Hirohito to join and the alliance became Rome - Tokyo - Berlin
    Axis. This conditioned the formation of the counter alliances. These alliances
    made the weaker states. For instance, Rome-Tokyo-Berlin axis inspired Hitler
    to invade Poland on September 1, 1939 sparking off the Second World War.
    One of causes of alliance systems include “living space but there are other factors

    vital related to resentment against western democratic countries.

    a) Germany and Italy: Rome-Berlin axis/ Mussolini said that the axis was a
       line drawn between Rome and Berlin, around which “all Europeans states
       that desire peace can revolve.
    b) Anti-comintern Pact: This pact was concluded between Germany and
        Japan and consisted of mutual support. To this pact many fascist countries
        joined: Italy, Hungary, and Spain.
    c) Pact of Steel (May1939): this alliance was signed by Mussolini (Italy)
       and Germany (Hitler). These countries decided:
    – To carry out permanent consultation for any case involving common
       interest and take measures to maintain their interests.
    – To promise full military support if any war outbreak.
    d) The Nazi-soviet pact: this was alliance secretly arranged by Germany

         and Russia a few weeks before Germany entered eastern Poland.

    tr

        Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis

    In 1940, during World War II, the military alliance of Italy and Germany—the socalled
    Rome-Berlin Axis—was extended to include Japan and became the Rome-
    Berlin-Tokyo Axis. The three countries and their allies, known collectively as the
    Axis Powers, fought against the Allied Powers in the war. Here, Japanese and

    Italian emissaries accompany German dictator Adolf Hitler.

    Source: Encarta premium

    cv

         Leaders of axis Powers

    Source: https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/world-war-ii-history

    The rise and growth of nationalism also caused the Second World
    War. Germany wanted to regain her lost pride denied by the victor powers
    under the Versailles treaty using unfair terms. This was done through arms race,
    foreign invasion and alliance system. All these caused the war.
    Lastly, the Germany invasion of Poland on 1st.sept.1939 also caused
    the war.
    This was the immediate cause of World War II where Hitler attacked
    Poland hoping that France and Britain would not intervene because of their
    appeasement policy. Unfortunately, Germany was given an ultimatum of 48
    hours to withdraw its troops from Poland an order which Hitler ignored, hence

    causing the Second World War.

    v

                                                              Source: https://www.google.com/

                                         url?sa=i&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjz3O

    Course of World War II
    – Hitler attacked Poland on September 1, 1939.
    – England and France retaliated by declaring war on Germany.
    – Russia began invading neighboring countries.
    – After invading insignificant states like Holland and Denmark, Germany
    invaded and captured France.
    – Britain confronted the Axis powers alone.
    – The Anglo Russian pact was signed against Germany.
    – The U.S.A. entered the war when Japan attacked the Pearl Harbor in
        1941((the USA naval base in the Hawaiian Islands) on 7December
        1941). The U.S.A., Britain and Russia were pitted against Germany,

         Italy and Japan.

    – Italy surrendered unconditionally in 1943.
    – Germany did the same after it was defeated by the Allies in 1945, and
         Hitler committed suicide.
    – Japan surrendered after the two atomic bombs were dropped in

         Hiroshima and Nagasaki marking the end of the war.

    5.1.2 Consequences of World War II

    World War II produced disastrous consequences that were unparalleled in the

    history of mankind.

    • The war caused unprecedented loss of life. It was estimated that
        62 million to 76 million people died, 45 million people were wounded
        and about 21 million people were displaced from their homes.
    • The war caused large scale destruction of property. There was a
        complete destruction of fields and factories, mills and workshops and
        the houses of the civilians. Many people died and many more were

        permanently disabled.

    uh

                                                                                               Hiroshima after atomic bomb

                                  Source: https://www.google.com/search?q=hiroshima+after+atomic+bomb+pictures

    • During the war, the Nazi dictator, Adolf Hitler initiated a movement
       that aimed at wiping out the whole race of Jews. This was called the
        holocaust. This movement was part of his plan to conquer the world.
        Millions of Jews were imprisoned into concentration camps and were
        subjected to inhuman torture. The captives were even starved to death.
        Cruel experiments were performed on these helpless victims. The aged,
         the sick and the disabled were poisoned with gas.
    • The war also created an acute scarcity of foodstuff, essential
        commodities and cloth. This led to unprecedented inflation. The
        standard of living fell drastically. Since the prices shot up, life of millions
         became made miserable.
    • The war proved the moral degradation of man, for he killed

         his own species in an unparalleled scale. Nazi Germany, Fascist

    Italy and militarist Japan inflicted unimaginable cruelties upon the
    combatants, non-combatants, as well as on innocent men, women and
    children. The dropping of the two atom bombs by the U.S. upon Japan
    in August 1945 demonstrated how man was competent enough to

    wipe out the entire human race.

    b

         B-29 Superfortress

    The Boeing B-29 Superfortress was a long-range bomber used by the United
    States during World-War II (1939-1945) in bombing raids against Japan.
    B-29s were used to drop atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima

    and Nagasaki, ending the war in August 1945.

    Source: Encarta premium 2009

    • World War II enhanced the prestige of the communist
       dictatorship of Russia, and enabled it to spread its control all over
       east and central Europe as well as Asia. However, democracy held its
        influence over Western Europe.
    • The World War II divided world countries into two power blocs.
        These are capitalist bloc of Great Britain, the U.S. and their allies and
        the communist bloc of the Soviet Union and her satellites.
    • The British, Dutch, French and Italian Empires were left in a
       disintegrated state. New nations like India, Pakistan, Burma and
       Ceylon were born on their ruins. Israel, Iran, Syria and Lebanon won
        political freedom from their imperialist masters.
    • Massive destruction of infrastructure, especially in France and in
       Japan due to heavy bombing of major cities.
    • Influx of homeless refugees: Most refugees were in camps of
       Western Europe. Many of them were the Jews who were running away
       from Adolf Hitler.
    • The United Nations Organisation (UNO) was formed to replace
        the defunct League of Nations in 1945 at the end of the Second World
        War. The League of Nations had become weak and failed to maintain
         world peace.
    • The production of nuclear weapons which up to the present day
        have disorganized World politics.
    • The defeat and downfall of dictators in Europe like Adolf Hitler
       who committed suicide on April 30th, 1945 and Benito Mussolini who
       was killed by his own forces on April 28th, 1945.
    • It led to the partition of Germany into two zones till 1989; East
       Germany, known as Democratic Republic of Germany was controlled
       by Russia; and West Germany, known as Federal Republic of Germany,
       controlled by USA, Britain and France.
    The Second World War helped in the rise of African nationalism
       which led to the decolonization of Africa. The legacy of African World
       War Veterans was evident and important in the winning of independence
       in different parts of Africa.
    • The Second World War led to economic decline in Europe.
       This was due to the destruction of infrastructures, trade, agriculture,
       communication and industries. The British and French economies were
       shattered and left in shambles. This compelled most of them to rush
       to USA for economic aid. On the other side, they were not able to
       continue running vast overseas colonies in Africa and Asia. They began
        preparing them for self-determination.
    • Outbreak of the “Cold War” which was a non-violent confrontation
       between the western capitalists led by USA and eastern communists led
       by USSR.
    • The Second World War contributed to rapid scientific
       innovations and technological development. This resulted into
       production of sophisticated weapons of mass destruction.
    • The rise of Zionism (Jewish nationalism) was also influenced by the
       Second World War. Millions of Jews got their own country (Israel) in

       1948 with the division of Palestine.

    Reasons why axis powers were defeated (lost the war)
    • Numerical advantage: axis powers were few in number.
    • Germany internal weakness that made her to fail to get massive support
        at home because of dictatorship.
    • Germany did not get support from countries she had occupied before.
    • The economy of axis powers was very weak compared to that of the
       allied powers.
    • The Allied powers were much experienced in fighting on sea than the
       axis powers.
    • Hitler failed to realize the danger of winter and refused to withdraw his
       troops from the Russian territories. That is why he was easily defeated
       and this weakened military capacity of Germany.
    • Lack of foresight: The axis powers ignored the necessity of fighting
       planes. E.g. Japan concentrated on the production of battle ship which
       was defeated by the allied powers. The Germany made a mistake of
       concentrating on production of V-rockets which were defeated by war
       planes of allied powers.
    • Shortage of raw materials: E.g. oil.
    • The allied powers learned from their failure. By 1942, they knew how
       to check Blitzkrieg attacks and appreciated the importance of the air
       support and aircraft carriers. They built up an air and naval superiority
       which won the battles of the Atlantic and the Pacific.
    • Domestic opposition led to the defeat of the axis powers. Hitler faced
       opposition from the communists and liberals. Mussolini was heated in
       Italy until he was arrested and killed.
    • Poor technology compared to that of Allied powers. E.g. Britain used
       radars to detect and to bomb axis targets and planes while USA used
       atomic bombs to weaken Japan.
    • The size of the area to be covered by the axis powers with their small
       size of the population led to their defeat.
    • Determination of allied powers. They were determined to defeat the
       axis powers at all cost. Churchill “we shall fight in the seas and
       oceans, we shall fight in the air, we shall defend our island,
       whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches,
       we shall fight on the ground, we shall fight in the fields and
       streets, hill, valleys… we shall never surrender”.

    • The loss of Hitler’s colonies of Hungary, Lithuania, Czechoslovakia and
       Rumania which contained a lot of resources. E.g. oil.
    • The defeat of axis powers was caused also by the death of Mussolini
       who was killed 28th April 1945 while on 30th April 1945 Hitler committed
       suicide.
    • Allied powers had good leaders, clear-minded leaders. E.g. Roosevelt,

      Churchill, Stalin.

    • Hitler carried out purge, i.e.; he began killing some of his commanders,
      these commanders attempted also to kill Hitler but they failed. By the

       end they betrayed him.

    Application activity 5

    Examine the causes and consequences of Second World War of 1939-

    1945.

    5.2. Aims, achievements and failures of United Nations

    Organization

    Learning activity 5.2

    Using internet, textbooks and other history documents discuss the aims,
    achievements and failures of United Nations Organization and make a class

    presentation

    United Nations Organization (U.N.O)
    The World War II resulted in widespread concern for world peace. Hence the
    United Nations Organization was established after the World War II in 1945.

    The United Nations organization is an international peace keeping organization
    which was formed in the aftermath of the Second World War (1945) to replace
    the discredited League of Nations.

    It was formed to end wars and ensure permanent peace in the world as well
    as to enhance the economic and cultural development of mankind. The UNO
    charter was signed on June 26, 1945 at San Francisco in California. The
    U.N.O. started functioning from 24th October, 1945 and this is recognized as
    its date of creation. This day is therefore celebrated as the United Nations Day.
    Its headquarters was based at New York. It was formed to replace the League of
    Nations. UNO has 5 permanent members with veto powers i.e. Britain, France,

    USA, Russia, and China. UNO started with 51 nations.

    PURPOSES AND PRINCIPLES

    Article 1
    The Purposes of the United Nations are:
    1. To maintain international peace and security, and to that end: to
        take effective collective measures for the prevention and removal of
        threats to the peace, and for the suppression of acts of aggression or
        other breaches of the peace, and to bring about by peaceful means,
        and in conformity with the principles of justice and international law,
        adjustment or settlement of international disputes or situations which
        might lead to a breach of the peace.
    2. To develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for the
         principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples, and to take
         other appropriate measures to strengthen universal peace.
    3. To achieve international co-operation in solving international
        problems of an economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian character,
        and in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and
        for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex,
        language, or religion.
    4. To be a center for harmonizing the actions of nations in the attainment
        of these common ends.
    5. To promote respect for human rights, dignity and freedom.
    6. To promote respect among the member nations for fundamental rights
        and freedoms of mankind by ending the differences of caste and creed.
     Article 2
    The Organization and its Members, in pursuit of the Purposes stated in Article
    1, shall act in accordance with the following Principles.
       1. The Organization is based on the principle of the sovereign equality of
        all its Members.
       2. All Members, in order to ensure to all of them the rights and benefits
           resulting from membership, shall fulfill in good faith the obligations
           assumed by them in accordance with the present Charter.
       3. All Members shall settle their international disputes by peaceful means
           in such a manner that international peace and security, and justice, are
           not endangered.
      4. All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat
         or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence
          of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of
          the United Nations.
      5. All Members shall give the United Nations every assistance in any
          action it takes in accordance with the present Charter, and shall refrain
          from giving assistance to any state against which the United Nations is
          taking preventive or enforcement action.
      6. The Organization shall ensure that states which are not Members of the
         United Nations act in accordance with these Principles so far as may
         be necessary for the maintenance of international peace and security.
      7. Nothing contained in the present Charter shall authorize the United
         Nations to intervene in matters which are essentially within the domestic
         jurisdiction of any state or shall require the Members to submit such
         matters to settlement under the present Charter; but this principle shall

         not prejudice the application of enforcement measures.

    t

    5.2.1. The aims of the of United Nations Organization (UNO)
    • Preserving peace and eliminate war.
    • Removing the cases of conflict by encouraging economic, social,
        educational, scientific and cultural progress throughout the world,

        especially in underdeveloped countries.

    t

                                                                   UN security council meeting

                                                 Source: https://media.voltron.voanews.com/Drupal

    • Safeguarding the rights of all individual human beings, and nations.
    • Stopping the aggression was an issue behind the formation of UNO.
    This was because Kaiser William II and Hitler’s aggression were
       responsible for the outbreak of the first and Second World War
    • Bringing justice to those who committed crimes of war against humanity.
       For example, the Nazi and Fascists who conducted killing of the Jews.
    • Enforcing disarmament and stop arms race that was responsible for the
       two world wars.
    • Promoting political, economic and social co-operation in the world.
    • Facilitating decolonization and democratization of those nationalities
       that were dominated and oppressed.
    • Embark on/check on threats to environment which was potentially
        dangerous to mankind. Weapons of mass destruction like atomic
        bombs were used in the Second World War which destroyed flora and
        fauna.
    • Eliminating the problem of human and drug trafficking. By 1945 the
       consumption of intoxicated drugs had damaged the youth.
    • Rehabilitating and resettle prisoners of war and displaced persons
        who were made homeless by the Second World War.
    • Checking out the violation of children’s rights. There was gross abuse
       of children’s rights like child labour, corporal punishments, child neglect
       and defilement.
    • Checking out the exploitation of workers by employers especially
       capitalists. The capitalists were oppressing workers by poor payments,
       over working under poor conditions.
    • Improving on world health services and standards. World War II had
       destroyed most health centers and made medical services inadequate
       during and after the war.
    Organs of the United Nations Organizations
    There are principal organs of the United Nations: a General Assembly, a
    Security Council, an Economic and Social Council, a Trusteeship Council, an

    International Court of Justice and a Secretariat.

    d

    a) The General Assembly

    It is an important organ of the U.N.O. It is the chief deliberative organ. It is
    regarded as the parliament of the U.N.O. Its regular session is held once a year
    on the third Tuesday in September and continues until the end of December.
    At the start of each session, it elects a new President, 21 Vice-Presidents, and
    Chairmen of its seven main committees. Each country can send five delegates
    but has one vote only. Important decisions need two-thirds majority while
    decisions on ordinary matters are reached by a simple majority. The General
    Assembly’s chief functions are:
    • To discuss matters relating to international peace and security.
    • To promote international cooperation in economic, social, educational,
        cultural and health fields.
    • To promote the development and codification of international law.
    • To promote cooperation in the realization of human rights and
        fundamental freedoms for all.
    • To promote friendly relations among nations.
    • To discuss and make recommendations on any question affecting the
        powers and functions of any organ of the U.N.O.
    • To receive and consider reports from Security Council and other organs
        of the U.N.O.
    • To consider and approve the budgets of the U.N.O. and its specialized
       agencies.
    • To perform the functions which are concerned with international
        trusteeship system
    • To elect members of the U.N.O., the Security Council, Economic and
        Social Council, the Trusteeship Council and the International Court of
        Justice.
    • To appoint the Secretary General at the recommendation of the Security
        Council.
    b) The Security Council
    The Security Council is the executive body of the U.N.O. It is the most influential
    organ of the U.N.O. The Council has 15 members. The U.S.A., Russia, England,
    France and China are the permanent members. Their support is required for
    every decision. The remaining ten non-permanent members are elected by the
    General Assembly for two years. At any one time, the ten rotating members
    must consist of five countries from Africa and Asia, two from Latin America,
    one from Eastern Europe and two from Western Europe. Each member of the
    Council has one vote. Each President holds the post for a month.
    The functions and powers of the Security Council are:
    • To maintain international peace and security.
    • To investigate any dispute or situation which might lead to international
       friction
    • To recommend methods of adjusting such disputes or terms of
       settlement.
    • To formulate plans for the regulation of armaments.
    • To determine the existence of a threat to peace or acts of aggression
       and to recommend what action should be taken.
    • To call on the members to apply economic sanctions and other measures
       to prevent or stop aggressions.
    • To take military action against an aggressor.
    • To recommend the admission of new members.
    • To exercise the trusteeship functions of the United Nations.
    • To elect the judges of the International Court of Justice.
    • To recommend to the General Assembly the appointment of the

       Secretary General.

    c) The International Court of Justice
    It is the chief court of the U.N.O. It has 15 judges that are elected by the General
    Assembly and the Security Council voting separately. The term of the judges is
    restricted to nine years and they may be reelected. The seat of the court is at
    Hague in Netherlands.

    It primarily functions to settle mutual disputes among different nations by peaceful
    methods. Other agencies of the U.N.O. also approach it for consultation. It may
    also resolve disputes among nations, arising on legal questions or treaties.

    d) The secretariat

    This is the office staff and it consists of 50,000 employees and they look after
    administrative work, prepare meeting, translation and information. It is headed
    by the secretary general who is appointed for a 5 year terms by the general
    assembly on the recommendation of the Security Council. The secretary
    general acts as the main spokesperson of UNO, and is always at the forefront
    of international affairs trying to solve world problems.

    e) The trusteeship council

    This replaced the League of Nations Mandates commission which had originally
    come into existence in 1919 to keep an eye on the territories taken away from
    Germany and Turkey at the end WWI. Some of these mandated territories
    had been handed over to victorious powers and their jobs were to govern the
    territories and prepare them for independence. The trusteeship council did its
    job well and by 1970 most of mandates had gained their independence.

    f) The economic and social council (ECOSOC)

    This has 27 members elected by the general assembly. It organizes projects
    concerned with health, education and other social and economic matters. It
    has appointed four regional commissions (Europe, Latin America, Africa,
    Asia, and the Far Eas
    t) as well as commissions on population problems, drug
    problems, human rights and the status of women.

    ECOSOC also coordinates the work of other commission and specialized

    agencies around thirty in all. Among the best known are:

    c

    Financial and economic agencies

    1. IMF: the international monetary fund. This is designed to foster-
    cooperation
    between nations to encourage the growth of trade and the
    full development of nation’s economic potential. It is headquartered
    in Washington D.C., United States of America.
    2. World Bank: the international Bank of reconstruction and development.
    The World Bank headquarters are located in Washington, D.C., United
    States of America.
    3. GATT: the general agreement on tariffs and Trade (encourage
    international trade by reducing taxes). The headquarters of the World
    Trade Organization in Geneva, Switzerland.
    4. UNCTAD: United Nations conference on trade and development.

    Encourages the development of industry in third world by pressurizing

    the rich countries into buying countries third world products. UNCTAD is
    a permanent intergovernmental body established by the United
    Nations General Assembly in 1964. Our headquarters are located
    in Geneva, Switzerland, and we have offices in New York and Addis

    Ababa. UNCTAD is part of the UN Secretariat.

    Differences between UNO and LON
    • The UN has been more successful than the league.
    • The UN spends much more time and resources on economic and social
        matter. All the specialized agencies, with the exception of ILO (1919)
       were founded in 1945 or later.
    • The UN is committed to safeguarding individual human rights, which
       the LON did not get involved.
    • Changes in the procedures of the general assembly and the Security
        Council (uniting for peace resolution) and the increased power and
        prestige of the secretary general have enabled the UN to take more
        decisive action than the LON.
    • The UN has much wider membership and is therefore a real world
        organization than the league. In 1993 membership had reached 183
        while LON never had more than 50 members.
    • The LON Covenant did not provide the states with, or did not make
       them clear over, their right to self-defense. However, this condition is
       addressed under the Article 51 of the Charter of UN, which specifies
       this right.
    • League’s Unanimity Vs UN’s 2/3rd Majority in decision making
    • The League’s covenant permitted under certain conditions its members
       to withdraw from the general membership. But the UN’s charter says
       nothing for a state opting to quit the platform, whereas a moral obligation
       still exists to continue as a member, for the collective betterment.
    • The League’s Covenant did not emphasize upon the establishment
       of regional arrangements for the maintenance of regional peace and
       security, which then leads to the collective world peace. But on the
       other hand, the UN’s Charter under Article. 52, gives a recognition, and
       even a greater recognition to the regional arrangements, and along with
       that, also directs the members formulating, devising and entering those
       regional arrangements for their regional pacific solutions, to achieve the
       solutions to their regional and local disputes on their own at first, so as
       to avoid knocking the Security Council’s doors at every now and then.
    Similarities between the League of Nations and United Nations
    • Both the United Nations and the League of Nations aimed at the pace
       and security- as their basic goals,
    • Both were voluntary associations of the sovereign states,
    • Both had an assembly with a diverse membership,
    • Both provided the states with equal rights to vote,
    • Both instituted a council with powerful states as members and both
       held a secretariat headed by a Secretary General, and indeed, both
       were very formal organizations- basing their structure and functions
       on the basic documents envisioning their codes of conduct i.e. the

       Covenant and the Charters were there absolutely.

    d

    f

    f

    5.2.2. Achievements of the United Nations Organization
    It is probably fair to say that the UN has been more successful than the League
    of Nations in its peacekeeping efforts, especially in crises which did not involve
    the interests of the Great Powers. On the other hand, it has been just as the
    League of Nations in situations where the interests of the Great Powers seemed
    to be threatened and where the Great Powers decided to ignore or defy the UN.

    The UN provides a world assembly where representatives of over 180 nations
    can come together and talk to each other. Even the smallest nation has a chance
    to make its voice heard in world forum.

    Although it has not prevented wars, it has been successful in bringing some
    wars to an end more quickly. For example, the war between Iran and Iraq (1980-
    1988) and the Gulf War in 1991.

    The UNO has done valuable work in investigating and publicizing human rights
    violations under repressive regimes like military government in Chile. In this
    way, it has slowly been able to influence governments by bringing international
    pressure to bear on them.

    Economically, the UN has promoted economic co-operation and development
    especially in the less developing countries. Trade and industry were developed
    and boosted through the UN programs like the I.M.F (International Monetary
    Fund) and the World Bank by giving short loans.

    Discrimination and abuse of women was also addressed by the UNO. The
    charter of 1948, emphasized equality between women and men which provided

    a basis for women emancipation.

    Similarly, children’s right and welfare were promoted and protected by the
    UNO. This was through funding children’s education especially the girl-child
    education and welfare in many countries of the world.

    The welfare and standards of living of workers was improved by the International
    Labour Organization (I.L.O) through its headquarters at Geneva, Switzerland.
    This protected workers from exploitation.

    The UNO scored great success in settling social and economic problems of
    refugees and victims of natural disasters. By 1945, disasters like earth quakes,
    famine and floods had led to untold suffering and death of thousands of people
    around the world.

    Decolonization and democratization was achieved by the UNO through its
    trusteeship council. This facilitated the independence of Libya, Somalia,
    Namibia, Israel, Palestine, etc.

    Disarmament was one of the remarkable achievements of UNO towards world
    peace. In 1946, the Security Council set up the atomic energy commission to
    control production of atomic energy.

    The establishment of the Jewish State of Israel in 1948 was an achievement for
    the UNO. The congress system had granted the Jews citizenship that had fled
    due to persecution. But still the Jews were persecuted and massacred by the
    Nazi, Fascist and Arabs.

    Increased membership since its formation in 1945 is a clear testimony of its
    success. It was formed in 1945, with 51 member states but by 1970 the number
    had increased to 100.

    5.2.3. Weaknesses of the UNO
    The loans granted by IMF (International Monetary Fund) and World Bank had
    some negative consequences on the development of the third world countries.
    It had strings attached that promoted political ideologies of Western capitalistic
    powers.

    Although drug trafficking was reduced but it was never eliminated completely.
    This was because the UNO did not have an effective and competent force to
    control drug trafficking.

    The UNO failed to stop cold war politics and its associated tension in Europe.
    Cold War was led by USA and USSR yet the countries were permanent

    members.

    The UNO failed to wipe out culture intolerance and racism. Though the
    UNO embarked on global sensitization campaign against racism and cultural

    intolerance but it was not fully successful by 1970.

    The UNO’s policies on disarmament, weapons of mass destruction and space
    exploration were great failures. By 1945, it was only America with the atomic

    bomb but nearly all nations by 1970 had such weapons.

    It failed to unite the once united states for example after the cold war politics,
    Germany was left divided between West and East German as well as North

    Korea and South Korea.

    In the field of politics, the UNO failed more than it succeeded. This was seen

    when veto powers began fighting against the resolution of the UNO.

    The universal declaration of Human rights (UDHR) of 1948, failed totally to
    achieve its objectives by 1970. It was not fully accepted in many states especially

    Arab states.

    The rise of neo-colonialism and its associated evils in the third world countries
    exposed the failures of the UNO. After decolonization, European powers
    resorted to neo-colonialism as an indirect means to control, exploit and oppress

    the third world.

    The UNO failed to eradicate terrorism in the world. By 1970, the world
    experienced rampart assassinations, hijack of planes, planting of time bomb

    and suicide bombing especially in Asia and Middle East.

    Why has UNO failed to achieve its aims and objectives?
    Lack of adequate funds to run the activities of the UNO. The UNO has
    enormous work to do but it entirely relies on annual contributions of member

    states which more often fail to pay.

    Lack of UNO permanent army. The UNO rely on the member states to
    provide troops and equipment for peace keeping missions. Members many
    times refuse to send soldiers or do not send enough. This undermines UN

    activities.

    The cold war that divided Europe and UNO into two bodies, that is capitalists

    and communists weakens also UNO.

    The formation of alliances which were enemies, that is, NATO and Warsaw

    Pact divided the World leading to the UNO weakness.

    Remoteness of some parts of the world has led to the failure of UNO. Some
    areas are too remote and underdeveloped with no infrastructure like roads

    or very mountainous to facilitate UN humanitarian to work.

    Existence of civil wars in some parts of the world has led to the failure of

    UNO. It is difficult to control intertribal differences.

    Ineffectiveness of sanctions of UNO has weakened it.

    Proliferation of arms and existence of weapons of mass destruction

    The rise and growth of world terrorism mostly in the middle east

    Overdependence on individual superpower countries like USA and Britain
    in terms of funds. This has made these powers to interfere with UNO work

    and manipulate it for their interest. This also undermines the UN activities.

    Application activity 5

    1. Explain the aims and achievements of the United Nations Organisation.

    2. Examine the weakness of the United Nations Organisation.

    Skills Lab
    Use a combination of knowledge, skills, attitudes and values you have
    acquired about the Second World War and its effects and analyze mistakes
    committed by the politicians of the time and suggest guidance to today’s

    leaders and make presentation.

    End unit assessment
    1) What were the causes and consequences of the Second World
         War?
    2) Examine the effects of Second World War.
    3) Why did victorious powers of World War II decide to create UNO
        by 1945?
    4) “Even though the United Nations organization registered many
           achievements, it has repeatedly showed its weaknesses”. Discuss

           this statement.

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