Bryan States
HIST111
Final Exam
December 25, 2015
1. The Crusades are probably the greatest symbol of the religious enthusiasm of the age. What were the goals of the Crusades? Targets? What motivated people to go on crusade besides religious zeal? How do we account for their general failure? How were the Crusades viewed by the Muslims, as indicated by the evidence from “Listening to the Past”? What lasting impact did they have?
The ultimate goal of The Crusades was to take back the Holy Land from the Muslim's, the followers of Islam. Mohammad gained quite a following and with that a considerable amount of power, even his military forces by which he used to conquer the Christian holy land. This wasn't a single escapade but a series of crusades
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in which Pope Urban built armies by what was seemingly a personal vendetta to “free” the land from the Arabs. He remarked to those that participated in acquiring the Holy Land would have all of their sins forgiven and they would instantly go to heaven. There was and has been a lot of tension between Europe and the Middle East so although the primary motivation for crusaders was religious, there were other reasons. These were times of politics and military power so they would also enjoy additional trade routes for financial growth but it would have opened up land in the event they should conquer those in the Middle East. It did seem that all was going well for the Crusaders but tension grew later in the Crusades that basically made the whole thing null and void for them since they fought among themselves in Constantinople. Following that the Turks turned on them so it seemed that their failure was due to themselves, a breakdown from within. The Muslims viewed the Crusades as a path for Europe to expand its territory by use of force and highly imperialistic. The Crusades had some positive impacts such as bringing valuable goods from the east to Europe and establishing additional trade routes and negative impacts such as crippling the relationship between the Christians and Jews, allowing murder and also seriously restricting Jews from certain duties such as holding an office or even trading with Christians. 2. In the last third of the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, European diplomacy revolved around the situation in the Low Countries. Why? What was the impact of the revolt of the Netherlands on the Low Countries, Spain, and England. How did the Dutch revolt affect European politics in general? As the Renaissance period progressed, Catholic ideas started to waver and give way to Lutheran beliefs. Emperor Charles V tried to keep the Catholic beliefs in place, but began to fail and turned over the power to his son Phillip II. During the latter part of the sixteenth century and the early part of the seventeenth century the Low Countries in the Netherlands were controlled by Spain. This happened because the Spanish leaders decided to raise the taxes expected of the people and tried to suppress Calvinist worship. This led to a clash between the Catholics and Protestants that evolved into to a civil war. The ten lower countries were controlled by the Spanish Habsburg forces who soon after decided they wanted to control the norther seven countries as well because they were being controlled by Holland. This area was considered to be independent of the lower countries and Phillip II refused to accept that. Upon the Spanish attack of the Northern Countries, which were called the United Provinces, they soon found out that England was backing the northern territories by providing money and other resources to aid them in battle. Angry after obtaining this knowledge, the Spanish Armada was soon formed and attacked England. The attack was unsuccessful and Phillip II was left with no choice but to accept that the Northern Countries were independent and would practice religion as they saw fit. War ceased at the beginning of the seventeenth century. The Dutch revolt affected European politics because now instead of one nation of seventeen countries following one faith, there were two split regions that would vote differently. Because religion was of major importance to politics at the time, the revolt allowed the countries to be independent of each other and to follow whichever religion they chose. The revolt brought around a time where people started to question others and authority more. 3.
The period from 1450 to 1650, witnessed a profound extension of European society beyond the borders of the Continent. What were the factors that facilitated this expansion? What was the motivation, both for the individual European explorers and the states that supported them?
The European society had a profound expansion facilitated by multiple causes to include the desire to rebuild economically after the devastating effects of the Black Death, their desire to spread the religion of Christianity and their desire to explore the unknown. In essence, the upbringing is based on the old saying “gold, God and glory”. Ultimately, this age of exploration would lead to global trade between Europe, Africa, Asia, and the New World.
Economically, Europe was on the rise again, following the plague but also the loss of trading routes that were used to acquire one of the most important goods of their time and was even a part of the reason the European explorers set out in order to find new land and new routes; spices. These spices were used for a multitude of purposes to include for making dyes, religious purposes, perfumes, etc. Slaves and gold were also hot commodities and this became a large factor once they began to travel around Africa in order to reach richer areas and
colonize. Religion was also a facilitator of European expansion and this played a very large role. This, ultimately, had a devastating effect on non-Christians but the goal was to convert as many as they could to include Muslims and Pagans. During this “Renaissance” period, explorers wanted to search and understand the world around them but also take hold of the material possessions found among the native inhabitants they came across, titles and land to their own. Portugal had an advantage of beginning exploration using the winds to for a straight shot to South America. Technology advancements allowed for expansion as well. The caravel ship became a distinct European traveling asset because it could be sailed by fewer, had a sturdier design and could be retrofitted with canons. 4. Describe the European conquests of the Aztec and Incan empires. How do historians account for the success of the small European forces against these two large empires? Both the Aztec of Central Mexico and Inca of South America were truly remarkable civilizations for their time. They both had an enormous footprint and did well with conquering the areas around them. The capital city of the Aztec's was Tenochtitlan. They formed alliances, the Triple Alliance in order to defeat Azcapotzalco in order to maintain supremacy of the Valley of Mexico for over a hundred years. One extremely important fact to note was that both the Aztecs and the Inca (described later) were very primitive people. Their fighting force had very basic weaponry; spears, bows and arrows, etc. Also, regardless of their ties with other cities, their religious practices weren't universally accepted. Their methods of appeasing the gods were anything from ripping the heart from chests to killing their own people to non-fatal bloodletting. This is partially why they fell to the Spanish. They originally believed Hernando Cortes and his people to be gods but they quickly found out otherwise and offered gold to leave only to receive a more modern system of warfare and weaponry such as canons. They also fell partly because of the spread of smallpox that spread and killed quite a bit of their population. Cuauhtémoc, the Aztec emperor eventually would surrender to Cortes. Now, there are definitely similarities between the Aztec and Inca empires, such as smallpox killing masses but it seemed that the Inca were falling before the Spanish army and their leader Francisco Pizarro came to their soil. This was due to an internal political struggle on who would be successor. The end of the Inca Empire was marked when Pizarro killed the last emperor, Atahualpa. 5. The authors describe the Indian Ocean as the “locus” of world trade networks from the fifteenth through the seventeenth centuries. What products were transported on the Indian Ocean? Which societies demanded which products? Which societies produced which products? The amount of trade ports linking the economies of Asia, Europe and Africa are historically significant as this is what the authors of the text are referring to when they describe the Indian Ocean as the “locus” of world trade networks. The Black Death did have a great impact due to a decline in population and the invasion of the Mongols led to a substantial growth of the Chinese economy as well as population. At this time it made the Chinese the greatest economy in the world. The city of Malacca played a major role in storage and distributing certain goods coming and going from its port. It was a massive network that allowed for a constant supply and demand of goods. China sent silk and porcelain, Philippines sent sugar, and India sent copper weapons, dye, and Opium; all to this major redistributor. Slaves and gold were very popular with the Europeans, Africa, Middle East and India trading amongst them. Spices were available for trade near just about every major port. Africa exchanged ivory horn, dried coconut and slaves for some of these spices as well as shells and porcelain. India had important trade centers in the cities of Calicut and Quilon that allowed trade routes between South Asia and the Persian Gulf and they had the majority of the world’s pepper growth and Indian cotton.
The effects of the spreading of scientific and technological innovation between 1000 and 1450 were felt across Eurasia. These phenomenon resulted in higher degrees of interregional contact and the entrance
The First Crusade was a widely appealing armed pilgrimage, and mobilized a vast conquering force at a time when the Christian Church was moving towards centralization and greater political influence in Europe. The Church gained a wider audience more accepting of its leadership, benefitted economically, and developed its own militarily force. These outcomes, along with the Church’s documented ambition to expand and its reversal of prior teachings, support the idea that the First Crusade was a deliberate political maneuver, intended to to expand and consolidate the authority of the
The Age of Exploration in Europe developed along with the Renaissance. In Western history, both periods served as transitional movements between the early modern and Middle Ages periods. The evolution as well as advancement of abroad exploration was fueled by competition between growing European empires like England and Spain. The size as well as the influence of European empires expanded greatly during this time as it was motivated by profit, religion and power. The exploration’s effects were felt both abroad as well as in the geographical boundaries of Europe itself. The political, cultural and economical influences of Europe’s early stages of international exploration affected the continuing development of European society as well as the whole world.
The Crusades were one of the most prominent events in Western European history; they were not discrete and unimportant pilgrimages, but a continuous stream of marching Western armies (Crusaders) into the Muslim world, terminating in the creation and eventually the fall of the Islamic Kingdoms. The Crusades were a Holy War of Roman Christianity against Islam, but was it really a “holy war” or was it Western Europe fighting for more land and power? Through Pope Urban II and the Roman Catholic Church’s actions, their proposed motivations seem unclear, and even unchristian. Prior to the Crusades, Urban encouraged that Western Europe fight for their religion but throughout the crusades the real motivations shone though; the Crusaders were power hungry, land coveting people who fought with non Christian ideals and Morales.
The goal of the Crusades was to regain the Holy Lands in the name of the church and drive the Muslims out of Jerusalem.
The First Crusade from 1095 to 1099 has been seen as a successful crusade. The First Crusaders carefully planned out their attacks to help promote religion throughout the lands. As the First Crusade set the example of what a successful crusade should do, the following crusades failed to maintain control of the Holy Land. Crusades following after the First Crusade weren’t as fortunate with maintaining the Holy Land due united forces of Muslims, lack of organization, and lack of religious focus.
God’s Battalions: The Case for the Crusades by Rodney Stark, will cause readers to question much of what they know about the Crusades, the Crusaders themselves, and the formidable Muslim forces they encountered along the way in liberation of the Holy Land. Stark gives compelling reasons for the Crusades, and argues that readers should not be too quick in following the lead of historians who cast the Crusaders in less than positive light. Stark makes his case supported by evidence that vindicates the valiant struggles of the Crusaders who accomplished the task of keeping Christianity alive through troubled times.
In 1095, Pope Urban II called the first crusade. Happening between 1096 and 1099, the first crusade was both a military expedition and a mass movement of people with the simple goal of reclaiming the Holy Lands taken by the Muslims in their conquests of the Levant. The crusade ended with the capture of Jerusalem in July 1099. However, there has been much debate about whether the First Crusade can be considered an ‘armed pilgrimage’ or whether it has to be considered as a holy war. This view is complicated due to the ways in which the Crusade was presented and how the penitential nature of it changed throughout the course of the Crusade.
The Europeans were facing overproduction and under consumption. This led to a need for new markets and need for new consumers. They were also in need for raw materials. Materials such as tin, rubber, gold, oil, copper, and cotton. Some nations had these resources easily available. This interested the strong and powerful nations who were lacking these materials.
The hunger for more natural resources and the need to trade for exotic goods were the main causes for European exploration and colonization. Even though religion was used as a “pretext” for European expeditions, “gold” was the real motive (1). Cippola further explains that, “Through the idea of mission and crusade the conquistadores succeeded where the medieval merchants failed and were able to reconcile the antithesis between business and religion that had plagued the conscience of medieval Europe”(2). Cipolla also discards Malthusian pressure as a possible cause for European expansion. Devastating and recurrent epidemics were constantly keeping the population growth in check and “no population pressure of any relevance was felt in Europe till the second half of the eighteenth century” (3). By eliminating these two powerful driving forces as the motivation for expansion, Cipolla claims that European expansion was basically a commercial venture (4). This expansion, being a very aggressive commercial venture, has some effect on the environment. The Europeans exploited the natural resources of the places they ‘discovered’. Excessive mining for natural resources and deforestation for shipbuilding are examples of environmental damages caused by European expansion (5). As the expansion spread throughout the world and the European Empires grew bigger and stronger, so did the pressure put on the environment to sustain this expansion.
Among all the crusades, the Fourth Crusade and Fifth Crusade had met their fates of failure due to the wrong decision of strategies to achieve their purpose of saving the holy land of Jerusalem. Their same outcome of failure had something in common that was strategic deviation from the fundamental goal of the crusades. The following section would discuss the fates of the Fourth Crusade and Fifth Crusade by examining their occurrences and their influences.
The crusades motivation was warfare in God's name, previously orchestrated by Muslims, was then led by Christian crusaders battling to take Holy Land from the Muslims. However, there were additional motivations such as economic and political gain, adventure, and the vassals obligation to follow...
All in all, the Crusades helped shape Europe’s history with the growth and spread of new religious institution and the military order of knighthood. They helped support other crusades against non-christian groups, such as the Slavs or Prussians, and against heretics. The crusades caused people to take religious vows into religious orders. Some of these orders became very rich, one example being the Knights Templar. “It [the Crusades] was the most explicit crystallization of militant Christianity” (Roberts, 151).
The first of these factors was the change in the views and outlook of the Europeans. The rise of towns and trade in the past century stimulated a desire for foreign goods. As a second effect it exposed the Europeans to foreign culture, hence producing interest towards the outside world. Supplementary to the rise of towns and the increase in trade were the radical ideas of the Renaissance. Secular topics w...
The year is 1750 and European power has spread to every far corner of the world. The British and French occupy most of the Hudson Bay and North Atlantic territories, while the Spanish and Portuguese have established massive sugar plantations and mining companies throughout South America and the Caribbean. The Dutch Republic has also started growing it’s imperial, nationalistic, and economic boundaries to the new world as well. How did the Europeans push their way to global influence and dominance over the world? The answer lies in the early 14th century as Europe emerged from the darkness of the Middle Ages. European states began to prosper through the developing global economy, growing populations, breakdown in religious unity, and dramatic competition amongst regional states. Not only did Europe begin to expand its political sphere, but it also increased its knowledge through the re-introduction of Hellenistic and rationalistic ideologies of the once great Roman and Greek civilizations. These ideas propelled Europe into the Enlightenment and the scientific revolution which cause more separation from previous religious beliefs. All of these factors caused an enormous influence on European economies, religious beliefs, modern scientific and mathematical discoveries, and vicious competition between powerful national states.. Despite being their own individual aspects in European history, they all play a giant role into the formation of the early modern world. We must also keep in mind that all of these aspects of European development are occurring simultaneously throughout history The initial factor to European dominance was the establishment of powerful state building. The European states were the center stones for the rest of E...