History Commons^™

The Aftermath Of The Black Death In England: Edward Iii's Economic Policies To Repress The Peasantry, Leah Diciesare

Undergraduate Theses, Capstones, and Recitals

The Black Death caused a mass mortality in England, drastically affecting society. However, it was the aftermath of the plague that had the greatest impacts. The loss of life removed pressure on the economy due to population density, which gave the peasants opportunities to improve their lives. But that was a short-lived phenomenon; the peasantry ultimately remained repressed, as they had been prior to the plague. Edward III meddled in the English economy in the wake of the Black Death by introducing price and wage regulations. These efforts were to maintain the status quo in English society so that the …

Hist 101 Early Modern Europe, Tracey L. Billado

Open Educational Resources

This course introduces the major social, intellectual, political, religious, and cultural trends of Europe during the early modern period.

Time Machine Research And Approach, Tarek Bouraque

Theses and Dissertations

Time Machine is a hybrid documentary that explores the logics of enslavement, colonialism, eurocentrism and their interconnectedness in our globalized world. Mustapha Azemmouri, born in 1502, undertakes a journey to the 21st century to recount his own story of enslavement and exploration, and reflects on a collective puzzle of 500 years of hidden history.

Globalizing The Rio Grande: European-Born Entrepreneurs, Settlement, And Mercantile Networks In The Rio Grande Borderlands, 1749-1881, Kyle B. Carpenter

History Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation argues that the borderland region from the Nueces River to the Sierra Madres has been a crossroads of trade since the era of Spanish colonization, and that after Mexico won its independence from Spain, the region became the focus of intense commercial modernization projects initiated by both state agents and individual businessmen from all over Western Europe. These entrepreneurs wanted to transform the Rio Grande and its surroundings from a regional crossroads to a hub of the Atlantic economy. However, their efforts to create rapid change were often stymied by mismanagement, notions of ethnic and cultural superiority, and …

The Poetry Of History: Irish National Imagination Through Mythology And Materiality, Ryan Fay

English Honors Theses

The thesis culminates in the twentieth century and yet it begins with the Ulster Cycle, a period of Irish mythological history that occurred around the first century common era. Indeed, since the time frame was before the arrival of the Gaels, Normans, or Christianity, the extent of this mythology’s relevance today is whatever extent it is conceptualized as “Irish.” As such, the first chapter locks onto an aspect that could feasibly transcend time and resonate with modern Irish society: gender. Of course, the epistemological dynamics of gender^[1] in the first-century common era are vastly different than the twentieth century …

The Spiritual Nature Of The Italian Renaissance, Kaitlyn Kenney

Senior Honors Theses

This study seeks to investigate the influence of faith in the emergence and development of the Italian Renaissance, in both the artwork and writing of the major artists and thinkers of the day, and the impact that new expressions of faith had on the viewing public. While the Renaissance is often labeled as a secular movement by modern scholars, this interpretation is largely due to the political motives of the Medici family who dominated Florence as the center of this artistic rebirth, on and off again throughout the period. On close examination, the philosophical and creative undercurrents of the movement …

The Guano Age: How Bird Poop From Peru Led To The Imperialistic Expansion Of The United States, Christina Barry

Transformations: Presentation Slides

No abstract provided.

Viewing History Through A Lens: The Influence Of Film On Historical Consciousness, Brittany Bales

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents an interdisciplinary study of the significance of contemporary film in our understandings of gender, race, and sexuality in Georgian England. I argue that while films set in this period may lack the subtleties and depth of the realities that make up the Georgian era, they are still valuable in informing current discussions concerning race, gender, and sexuality. By examining such films, we learn not only more about the Georgian period and how it is presented and understood by contemporary audiences, but these films tell us much about our own biases, attitudes, and society.

The Roadmap: Exploring T.S. Eliot’S The Waste Land With World War One Literature, Matthew Bennett

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Through careful analysis paired with poetry, war memoirs, and novels from the same period, one can break down T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land to recognize the impact of The Great War on the world's modern memory while pondering the possibility of memory as a tool to overcome trauma.

The Architecture Of Violence: The Reign Of Terror And The Character Of Bloodshed, Aidan Turek

Senior Theses and Projects

Revolutions are pivotal event in political history, compressing far-reaching social changes into the space of a few years. The French is the best understood revolution, and yet political scientists have focused more on the causes of revolution, its initial phase, and the consequences. This scholarship ignores the Reign of Terror, and revolutionary violence more broadly, despite the central importance of violence in shaping the course of revolutions. This thesis breaks down the Reign of Terror as an exemplary phase of violence via three broad ecumenical theoretical approaches, and in so doing makes vital connection between social and political developments on …

From Leaflets To Tweets: A Rhetorical Analysis Of The Propaganda Tools Used By The Nazi Party And Donald Trump, Tj Coleman

Geifman Prize in Holocaust Studies

Since the day he announced his campaign for President, people have been comparing Donald Trump to a Nazi. I, like many of us, have long believed that comparison to be overly simplistic, though not completely without merit. In this essay I analyze that comparison through an examination of the rhetoric and tactics of exclusion used by both Donald Trump and his campaign and the Nazi Party. Though there are substantive differences in some rhetorical tactics, there are also some frightening similarities. It is my hope that an honest and even handed understanding of how our current political moment compares to …

Die Ästhetik Des Dritten Reiches, Aidan Turek

Senior Theses and Projects

The specter of fascism haunts democracies the world over, leading to valuable new research into the criminal fascistic regimes of the past, most notably Germany’s experience with Nazism. However, scholarship regarding the Third Reich often tends towards institutional and biographical portraits, leaving underexamined the deep connection between Nazism and the arts. Architecture was at the heart of the Third Reich’s cultural Weltanschauung and serves not only to inform us of the social mores affecting and informing leaders of the time, but also as a masterful depiction of how space can be manipulated towards ideological ends. By working through the built …

Stories That Shape Us, Lauren Dubas

Honors Expanded Learning Clubs

This club is a Mythology Club that explores popular greek myths through fun and interactive activities. These actives are designed with 4th and 5th graders in mind, and are meant to provide an interesting way to interact with the mythology material presented during each lesson. The lessons do not build off of one another, and can be used in any order and still retain understanding of that myth.

Wartime Teachers: Stories From The Front, Rachel K. Turner, Eliel Hinojosa Jr.

Educational Considerations

In the early 1990s, Dr. O.L. Davis of the University of Texas at Austin sought evacuee teacher and student recollections in England during World War II. The overarching purpose for Davis was to gain an understanding of the effect on schooling and education, specifically as it relates to the curriculum for students. This article continues where he left off and places focus on teacher evacuees. Of the several hundred responses from student evacuees, we utilized ten of the thirty teacher evacuees who responded to Dr. Davis. The purpose in this research endeavor seeks to discover the impact evacuations in England …

A European Destiny: A Review Of "The Great Cauldron: A History Of Southeastern Europe" By Marie-Janine Calic, Michael Foley

Other

The Balkans only became the Balkans from the late nineteenth century, a designation that brought with it connotations of otherness, non-Europe, or only sort of Europe. Before that much of southeastern Europe was simply “Turkey in Europe” or the Near East as newspapers tended to call the region. Those parts of the Balkans which were not part of Turkey in Europe were, of course, also ruled by imperial powers, either Austrian or Venetian.

Medieval Ailments: Healing Others, Misogyny, And Anti-Semitism, Mackenzie Fox

History & Classics Student Scholarship

The following paper examines Sir Walter Scott’s historical novel, Ivanhoe, which was published in 1814, in terms of the social attitudes persisting during the Middle Ages when the novel takes place. Specifically, the paper analyzes Rebecca, a multi-faceted and subtly heroic character, by placing her into historical context and using the relevant social attitudes to inform her accusation as a witch. Throughout Ivanhoe, Rebecca’s perception as a witch is compounded by her identities as a medical healer, a woman, and a Jew, which accurately reflects the attitudes towards these identities that existed during the European witch hunt in …

Contested Commemoration: The Relationship Between Politics And The Memorialization Of The Second World War In Polish Literature, Cinema, And Museums (1945-Present), Alexandria Joyner

Senior Independent Study Theses

This study examines the relationship between politics and the memory of the Second World War in Polish literature, cinema, and museums from 1945-Present. I argue that the memory of the Second World War has changed radically over the last seventy- five years as the Polish government, in both the communist and post-communist periods, pursued a politics of memory. I build this argument first by identifying three political turning points that caused the communist government to confront and reevaluate the narrative they promoted about the war: 1945, 1956, and 1967. I include a fourth turning point, 1989, to show how post-communist …

Review: Corinth In Late Antiquity: A Greek, Roman, And Christian City, By Amelia R. Brown, David Pettegrew

History Educator Scholarship

There are few urban centers so rich in late antique archaeology as Corinth, the city near the Isthmus of Greece. Excavations there since  by staff and students of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens have generated an enormous corpus of information related to the Roman forum and its surroundings. Other major projects in the region carried out by Greeks and Americans especially have shed light on Corinth’s harbors, Isthmian sanctuary, fortifications, Christian basilicas, and rural sites and villas. Collectively, archaeology has produced such rich evidence for Late Antiquity in this region that a barrage of specialized studies …

A Tale Of Triumph Amidst Tragedy: C-Section In Furini's The Birth Of Benjamin And The Death Of Rachel, Alexandra Carlile

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

No abstract provided.

“Going Over The Top” – The Impact Of World War I On Three Leaders Of World War Ii, Nick Sage

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis explores the impact that service in the First World War had on three global leaders of the Second World War: Winston Churchill, Adolf Hitler, and Harry Truman. Through analysis of original documents from the Churchill Archive Center, the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum, and the archives of the National World War I Museum, this project contends that the years 1914-1918 became a common point of reference and reflection for these three leaders—especially in their private musings and public rhetoric during World War II. Additionally, primary evidence reveals that the personal narratives of wartime service that these …

Boy Meets War: A Critical And Creative Analysis Of Civilian Masculinities In Britain During The Second World War, Savanna Hitlan

Senior Independent Study Theses

During the Second World War, the hegemonic masculinity, that is, the dominant masculinity, resided with the Royal Air Force (RAF). Pilots epitomized what it meant to be a man in war due to their heroics in the Battle of Britain. Civilian masculinities therefore had to negotiate their identities to fit their new roles in society. The two types of civilian men that I mainly look at are men in the reserved occupations and conscientious objectors. I examine this question: how did cultural representations portrayed by the government affect the civilian men on the homefront? Furthermore, I explore how these men …

Tycho Brahe: Science And Life In The Danish Renaissance, John Robert Christianson

The Bridge

Today, we are constantly using data; some even say that we live in an Age of Data. Most of us hardly realize that a Danish astronomer set the whole process in motion more than four hundred years ago. Tycho Brahe (1546-1601) changed the world with his innovative approach to astronomy and observational data. My interest in him started with a college term paper and eventually led to writing and editing books and articles about his life and work in Renaissance Denmark. This research led me to develop new interpretations of his revolutionary approach to understanding the heavens and the natural …

American Bolsheviki: The Beginnings Of The First Red Scare, 1917 To 1918, Jonathan Dunning

Steeplechase: An ORCA Student Journal

A consensus has developed among historians that widespread panic consumed the American public and government as many came to fear a Bolshevik coup of the United States government and the undermining of the American way of life beginning in early 1919. Known as the First Red Scare, this period became one of the most well-known episodes of American fear of Communism in US history. With this focus on the events of 1919 to 1920, however, historians of the First Red Scare have often ignored the initial American reaction to the October Revolution in late 1917 and throughout 1918. A study …

Review Of Pandora's Box: A History Of The First World War, Ian A. Isherwood

Interdisciplinary Studies Faculty Publications

Perhaps the gravest difficulty with any single volume book on the Great War is taming the war's complexities while still maintaining a degree of nuance and insight that goes beyond the temptation for simplification. Indeed, the war's scale itself makes this task even more unmanageable. How can an author possibly offer a nuanced treatment that takes into consideration a war fought on three continents, not to mention, the political and social realities on the war's many home fronts and the changing dynamics of differing and complex societies under strain? To be comprehensive is an impossible task especially given the wealth …

Flc- Implementing High Impact Practices To Address Dfwi Rates - History 140, David Yaghoubian

Q2S Enhancing Pedagogy

History 140 syllabus for Fall 2019 addressing DFWI issues.

‘The Healing Hand Laid On A Great Wound:’ The Elberfeld System And The Transformation Of Poverty In Germany, Britain, And The United States, Rebekah O'Zell Mcmillan

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation employs a transnational analysis to focus on historical perceptions of poverty and the development of private and public welfare in the modern era. This research places the emergence of early poverty relief schemes within a broader transatlantic context by studying the relationships among social reformers in Germany, Great Britain, and the United States. This work has two primary objectives. First, it focuses on the Elberfeld Poor Relief System a nineteenth and early twentieth century German innovation emphasizing local poor relief and community responsibility, which transformed poor relief into an efficient structure. Second, the Elberfeld System was instrumental in …

Practices Of Intellectual Labor In The Republic Of Letters: Leibniz And Edward Bernard On Language And European Origins, Michael C. Carhart

History Faculty Publications

For a project on the origins and migrations of the European nations, Leibniz wanted to see a comparative lexicon purporting to derive the Germanic languages from Asiatic sources. Friends in nearby Gotha were known to have the book; its author had corresponded with Leibniz a few years earlier. But actually getting the book was more difficult than one might expect. In addition to the actual logistics and manners of scholarly communication in the late seventeenth century, this essay shows what scholars were trying to accomplish by establishing the prehistoric origins of the modern nations.

Quiet River, Heavy Waters: Un-Silencing Narratives Of Social-Environmental Inequalities In The Cradle Of Soviet Plutonium, Rosibel Roman

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In December 1948, the Soviet Union’s first plutonium production facility, Mayak Production Association (PO Mayak), began operation in the Southern Urals region of Russia, at the western edges of Siberia, near the restricted city of Chelyabinsk-40, known in the present day as Ozyorsk. Since then, rural communities located downstream from PO Mayak have experienced health, economic, ecological and social impacts of contamination from high-level radioactive wastes released by the facility into the Techa River and its surrounding ecosystem. My research, drawing from archival research conducted in Russia and the United States, as well as secondary sources in English and Russian, …

Cartel Practices And Policies In The World War Ii Era, Caleb Yoken

Honors Theses

The goal of this thesis is to examine cartels in the World War II era: how and why they operated, why they existed, and any assistance they may or may not have received from their respective governments. This thesis, in particular, will focus on three countries, the United States, Germany, and Britain. Cartels are typically defined through the lens of monopolized business activity that can deal with anything from petroleum and steel to pharmaceuticals, and take actions to restrict output and raise prices to eliminate their competition. The research finds that cartels that operated in Europe during this era were …

Gaming In Britain 1900-1939: ‘I Have Got A Good Following. I Have Now A Duke And An Earl. In Fact I Have The Cream Of Society.’, Seamus M G Murphy Dr

International Conference on Gambling & Risk Taking

Gaming, the organisation of Banker’s games for profit, in Britain prior to the Second World War has largely been ignored by academics and historians. There has been an assumption that gaming was conducted at such a small scale that it was either not worthy of research, or, that there was not enough evidence to support specific analysis.

This paper will attempt to dispel the above academic myth utilising contemporary press coverage and archive material which will illustrate a vibrant, but illegal gaming industry. In fact, gaming during this period formulated in the minds of the authorities the need for substantial …