History Commons^™

Catherine De’ Médicis: Seeking Strength In Schism?, Melissa E. Cuzzo

Honors College Theses

Throughout history Catherine de’ Médicis has been seen as Machiavellian and deceitful. However, what has been largely ignored is that her style of governance has been based on that of male sovereigns before her. Her goal was to keep the Valois line intact in a time of upheaval. The actions in which the queen mother participated in were an attempt to quell dissent within France and to reinforce the social order of the Ancien Régime. This paper will argue that while Catherine de’ Médicis governmental strategies were not dissimilar to previous years, her authority was undermined by her gender, alien …

Between Faith And Nation: The Complexities Of Jewish Identity In Interwar Austria, Sarah E. Townsend

Honors College Theses

During the period between the First and Second World Wars, the people of the newly established Austrian Republic faced many changes: the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Habsburg Monarchy, economic hardships during and following the First World War, and the question of German ethnic nationalism and unification with Germany. The question of national identity was relevant to the entire Austrian population and Austrians had to make an important decision about their nationality: Austrian or German? For Austrian Jews, the dilemma was more complicated. Zionism promoted the idea of Jewish statehood and a solely Jewish identity. This thesis explores the …

A Persecuted Minority To Wealthy Merchants And Planters: A Study Of A Huguenot Family And Shifts In Identity, Garrett Gay

Honors College Theses

This project takes a look at an interwoven system of familial, religious, social, and economic ties known as the Protestant International. By analyzing genealogies, correspondence, business records, and transactions of the Mazyck Family from the early eighteenth century, it is seen that these international connections often led to the further material success of these families. This project also takes a look at how the Protestant International aided in shifting the vast majority of Huguenots’ identity from being religiously persecuted refugees to being wealthy merchants and planters who formed trade relations both domestically and internationally.

Problems Of Distance, Communications, And Authority: How Charles V And Philip Ii Ruled The Global Spanish Empire, Cody Bryan Mitchell

Armstrong Undergraduate Journal of History

This essay explains how the Spanish (or Castilian) crown during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries managed its worldwide empire. It emphasizes the contribution of, and the tension between, the crown’s two main strategies: political decentralization – or delegation – and imperial centralization. To begin, it contextualizes the issue by exploring the situation at the time and explains how the problems of distance and communication were closely linked. Secondly, drawing on the comments of both contemporary observers and modern historians, this paper examines the approaches used by the Spanish kings in ensuring the optimum reliability of their intelligence networks within Europe …

Friends, Foes, Or Fellow-Travelers: Italian Fascism And The Catholic Church, Cale Gressman

Armstrong Undergraduate Journal of History

What was the relationship between Italian Fascism and the Catholic Church? Drawing on both primary sources including speeches, encyclical letters, and newspaper articles and significant amounts of secondary sources, this paper argues that the relationship between the two factions was one of “cohabitation” with both sides cooperating in areas of mutual interest, such as solving the Roman Question, anti-Bolshevism, and the maintenance of traditional family and gender values. Overall, the Catholic Church can be described as “fellow-travelers” with Italian Fascism.

The Mongol “Other” And The Limits Of Europe’S Christian Self-Perception, Kevin Petersen

Armstrong Undergraduate Journal of History

In a 1250 C.E. letter to Pope Innocent IV regarding a possible Mongol invasion, King Bela IV of Hungary vividly illustrates the self-perception of Europe as a Christian civilization through a conflation of Europe and Christendom. However, the limits of this civilizational self-perception are revealed through an analysis of an earlier series of letters between the chief of the Mongols Guyuk Khan and Pope Innocent IV.

Irish Rock Music Amid A Time Of Troubles: Thin Lizzy And U2 As A Bridge During A Time Of Division, Jacey L. Thomas

Honors College Theses

The Troubles were a period of crisis and violence in Ireland in the latter half of the twentieth century. Loyalists, Unionists, Republicans, and Nationalists brutally fought against each other over the issue of whether or not Northern Ireland should remain in the United Kingdom or join the Republic of Ireland to form one united country. The conflict also resulted in ethnic and religious tensions for many Protestants and Catholics who were compelled to choose sides over this issue, owing to their ties to the deep-rooted history of animosity between the two Christian populations. As a result, the Troubles, which lasted …

The Clean Wehrmacht: Myths About German War Crimes Then And Now, Narayan J. Saviskas Jr.

Honors College Theses

On October 1st, 1946, the Nuremberg high command trails ended. The executions and life sentences of representatives of the German military and political elite were carried out by the Allied powers. At the time, the Soviet Union posed a greater threat than the Germans tried at Nuremberg. Years later, on October 9th, 1950, former officers of the German military gathered in Himmerod Abbey. Together they wrote the Himmerod Memorandum, which laid the foundation of the German rearmament and called for the release of German soldiers (Wehrmacht) and Schutzstaffel (SS) members convicted of war crimes. The Allies, desperate for another line …

Gems Of Gods And Mortals: The Changing Symbolism Of Pearls Throughout The Roman Empire, Emily Hallman

Armstrong Undergraduate Journal of History

Born in the wombs of shells and polished by mother nature herself, pearls were regarded as gifts from the gods. For millennia, the creation of pearls was credited to the tears of heavenly creatures or the formation of sun-touched dewdrops. Countless civilizations, both Western and Non-Western, have their own myths and legends surrounding the pearl, a mark of their mysterious allure. The artform of jewelry, favored by the Roman aristocracy, took advantage of naturally perfected pearls to create stunning pieces with staggering prices. The pearl’s meaning evolved throughout the Roman Empire and into Early Christian Rome, setting up a contradictory …

Early Modern Manuscript Collection, Zach S. Henderson Library Special Collections

Finding Aids

This collection consists of Italian and French language administrative documents and letters spanning from 1633 to 1811 on a variety of subjects.

Find this collection in the University Libraries' catalog.

A Question Of G-D: Jewish Theology And Memoirs Of The Holocaust, Rebecca Mcclellan

Honors College Theses

The Holocaust, the systematic murder of the European Jews by the Germans, had massive impacts on the religious beliefs of those Jews who survived it. Nazi authorities and their accomplices stripped Jews away from their homes, their families, and everything they knew. Forced to work under inhumane conditions, many came to question the God they had followed and the religion they had practiced. This thesis investigates the memoirs of five Jewish survivors to analyze the impact the Holocaust had on their faith.

Jewish Resistance In World War Ii & Zionism: Making Aliyah In The Death Camps, Cierra Tomaso

Honors College Theses

My thesis examines the contributions of Jewish resistance fighters in Europe during World War II. The sources used are primarily memoirs of resistance fighters, primary documents from resistance groups, and secondary articles related to Zionism during that time period. The resistance movement began because there was a need for dismantling the Third Reich from within the bounds of the ghettos, the death camps, and the killing fields. This thesis will show that Zionism played a key role in the motivations of the Jewish resistance fighters in World War II. Additionally, it will examine how as Jews found that their home …

Breaching The Citadel Of Slavery: Condorcet, The Abbé Grégoire, And The Assault On Racial Hierarchy In The Colonial Disputes (1788-1791), Jeffrey D. Waller

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Issues affecting France’s colonies came to the fore through critiques of social, political, and economic matters during the Late Enlightenment and French Revolutionary era of the late 1780s and early 1790s. Of all the questions France faced during this period, the colonial issues of slavery’s abolition and civil equality for the free people of color in the French Caribbean were among the most contentious. These two matters are most often characterized in the historiography of French abolitionism as separate issues. However, while the analysis of works by Condorcet and Grégoire on slavery and civil equality for the free people of …

A Case Study Of The Underlying Causes And Implications Of The 2014 Landmark Gm-Opel Automobile Plant Closure In Bochum, Germany, Jennifer P. Shaffer

Honors College Theses

In December 2014, General Motors closed its flagship Opel plant in Bochum after 52 years of operation amidst years of economic struggles in the industrial Ruhr-valley region of northwestern Germany, marking the first closure of a major German automobile plant since 1945. This study examines the primary underlying causes of the landmark closure, such as the insolvency of GM-Opel and tense employer-employee relations compounded by unsatisfactory trade union negotiations between GM-Opel and IG Metall. Subsequent social and economic reactions to the closure are also examined, including the yearlong “This is not Detroit” campaign launched by local Bochum artists to inspire …

The Orthodox Betrayal: How German Christians Embraced And Taught Nazism And Sparked A Christian Battle., William D. Wilson

Honors College Theses

During the years of the Nazi regime in Germany, the government introduced a doctrine known as Gleichschaltung (coordination). Gleichschaltung attempted to force the German people to conform to Nazi ideology. As a result of Gleichschaltung the Deutsche Christens (German Christians) diminished the importance of the Old Testament, rejected the biblical Jesus, and propagated proper Nazi gender roles. This thesis will argue that Deutsche Christen movement became the driving force of Nazi ideology within the Protestant Church and quickly dissented from orthodox Christian theology becoming heretical. The Deutsche Christen heresy was unique to Germany and could have only been formed within …

Manuel Altolaguirre: Between Exile And Spain, Will Derusha

The Coastal Review: An Online Peer-reviewed Journal

The exile of Manuel Altolaguirre, poet of the Generation of ‘27, touches on Spanish and Latin American literature and culture. The article examines the attitudes and beliefs of the avant-garde from the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera and the Second Republic through the Spanish Civil War and into exile. Using Altolaguirre’s experiences in Cuba and Mexico, the article discusses exile literature and the dislocations of Spanish refugees struggling to make a living on the fly and feeling further isolated and forgotten in the upheavals of the Second World War.

Flight Of The White Feather: The Expansion Of The White Feather Movement Throughout The World War One British Commonwealth, Kimberly Elisa Stevens

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The historiography of the First World War in Great Britain has focused mainly on military matters, leaving home front experiences temporarily unexplored. While the soldier’s experience remains invaluable to historians, studies of women and the home front are significant. The White Feather Campaign, which called for women to give white feathers denoting cowardice to men in civilian dress, who allegedly had not enlisted, remains vivid in British historical memory, but few scholarly works have examined it thoroughly. Historians such as Nicoletta F. Gullace and Susan R. Grayzel have shed light on British women in the war, but there remains further …

Christian Success Or Pagan Assimilation? The Christianization Of The Germanic-Speaking Tribes In The Late Roman Empire, Luca Ricci

Armstrong Undergraduate Journal of History

Luca Ricci is a sophomore majoring in History and Classics at the University of Adelaide in Australia. Apart from reading Vergil, he spends his summer roaming the Italian countryside looking for archaeological sites.

The Council Of The Indies And Religion In The Spanish New World, Ashley D. Ellington

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Council of the Indies was responsible for the governing of the Spanish Empire, including issues of religion. During the reign of Philip II, the Council gained independence from the Council of Castile and was able to take more control of the Spanish territories. In response to outside factors, the Council codified its laws regarding the spread of the Catholic faith, which became the basis for Council control of religion under the authority of the king. A review of the Council during this time led to many changes in an effort to make the Council less corrupt and more efficient. …

Hidden From Memory: Remembrance And Commemoration Of The Sherwood Foresters’ Involvement In Easter, 1916, Amanda S. Kinchen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the level at which the Sherwood Foresters are commemorated for their service during the Easter Rising of 1916. The Sherwood Foresters, known officially as the Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment, were created in 1881 in England after combining the 45^th (Nottinghamshire) and 95^th (Derbyshire) Regiments of Foot and had previously served as part of the guard to the royal family. Four battalions were sent to Dublin to quell the rebellion, yet their efforts go largely unnoticed in the annals of the history of World War I. These men are not considered …

Nazi Ideology And The Pursuit Of War Aim: 1941-45, Kenneth Burgess

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis is to examine what can be considered a military blunder on the part of the Nazi Germans. On June 22, 1941, Nazi Germany launched a massive invasion into the Soviet Union and Soviet territories. The political goals of Operation Barbarossa were to seize hold of the expanses of land belonging to the Soviet Union. This would serve as the foundation for increased agricultural production and the enslavement of any remaining Slavic people for the supposed greater good Germany. Additionally, the Nazis desired to erase the presence of all Jews living within the Soviet Union and …

Drugi Potop: The Fall Of The Second Polish Republic, Wesley Kent

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis seeks to examine the factors that resulted in the fall of the Second Polish Republic and track its downward trajectory. Examining the Second Republic, from its creation in 1918 to its loss of recognition in 1945, reveals that its demise began long before German tanks violated Poland’s frontiers on 1 September, 1939. Commencing with the competing ideas of what a Polish state would be and continuing through the political and foreign policy developments of the inter-war years, a pattern begins to emerge -that of the Poles’ search for their place in modern Europe. The lead up to the …

Thinking About The Gym: Greek Ideals, Newtonian Bodies, And Exercise In Early Eighteenth-Century England, Robert K. Batchelor

Department of History Faculty Publications

Revival of Greek ideas about exercise in the British and Irish Enlightenment by doctors led to a shift in understandings about the independent mind by establishing a relation between bodily and mental health. By the late 1730s, interest shifted away from mind and body and towards the sentiments and passions, which marked gender distinctions and held together national communities. Gilbert West’s writing about the Olympics in the 1740s indicated the difficulty in resolving tensions about exercise and sport as producing aristocratic distinction and violent passions as against their encouragement of healthy minds and civic virtue in the nation.

Zach S. Henderson Library Special Collections Oral History Collection, Zach S. Henderson Library Special Collections

Finding Aids

This collection consists of the transcripts, original cassette tape recordings of public speeches, lectures, and oral history interviews spanning from 1962-2007. Interviews were conducted and recorded by Georgia Southern University’s Department of History and Zach S. Henderson Library Special Collections. Those interviewed are mostly locals to Bulloch County and neighboring counties. Interviewees discuss their personal and family lives, historical events they were a part of, and circumstances surrounding their successes. The public speeches and lectures originated from an assortment of sources.

Find this collection in the University Libraries' catalog.

Les Vannetais Letters To Kemp Mabry, Zach S. Henderson Library Special Collections

Finding Aids

The collection consists of fifty-seven letters from French residents of Vannes to Dr. (then Sgt.) Kemp Mabry, spanning 1945-53. Letters from members of the L'Honnen and Le Bourgne families, and especially from Suzanne Le Gleuher (later Saporita). User copies of the letters of “Les Vannetais” in two bound volumes are also included

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Thérèse Roué Chauvin Letters To Kemp Mabry, Zach S. Henderson Library Special Collections

Finding Aids

This collection consists of forty-four letters received by Dr. (then Sgt.) Kemp Mabry from Thérèse Roué Chauvin, a French child whom he began corresponding beginning in 1945, until Chauvin’s death in 1993.

Find this collection in the University Libraries' catalog.