Why did communism become established in Eastern Europe after the Second World War? - published: 15/01/2009
Essay - 7 pages - Modern history
On the 25th of April 1945, shortly before the official end of the Second World War, American and Soviet soldiers meet at the Elbe river. But to reach the Elbe river, the Russian troops had to come all the way across Europe, and so across Eastern Europe. By the end of the same year, seven states...
Why did Eritrea become independent? - publié le 15/01/2009
Essay - 15 pages - Modern history
In 1993, the whole world was impressed by the state-of-the-art independence of Eritrea. Everything seemed to have been done by the rules : a declaration of independence in 1991, a notification to the UN and a referendum two years later. Being the last war of independence of Africa, it is tempting...
Mozambique: a cold war conflict? - publié le 15/01/2009
Essay - 4 pages - Medieval history
The colonization of Mozambique by Portugal began in the 15th century. The first settling was made in 1498, near the mouth of Zambezi River by Vasco de Gama himself. A few years later, the Portuguese founded a city in Lourenço Marques bay, nowadays known as Maputo. Thanks to the trade of slaves...
The history of the Jagiellonian university: The history of Krakow - publié le 15/01/2009
Essay - 4 pages - Modern history
Since its foundation in 1364, the University of Krakow has known a destiny unique of its kind. It was the second university created in Central Europe after the one in Prague - created in 1348 - and before many others afterward like in Vienna (1365), Pécs (1367), and Erfurt (1379). All along the...
The classical realist and structural realist theories applied to the Kosovo crisis in 1998-1999 - published: 15/01/2009
Essay - 6 pages - Modern history
Kosovo is mostly known as a region in the former Yugoslavia where, in 1998 and 1999, there was growing violence between the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), which sought independence from Serbia, and the Serbian army and police, which were randomly attacking the province of the indigenous Albanian...
What historical factors played the greatest role in defining the Arab society and culture since the eighteenth century? - publié le 15/01/2009
Essay - 6 pages - Modern history
From the seventh to the eighteenth century, the Arab World has formed a large area regrouping a Muslim population, sharing a common religion and culture. In different parts of the Islamic World, Islam was the bound between the Umma. Since the fourteenth century, the main part of the Arab world...
The emancipation proclamation - published: 15/01/2009
Essay - 3 pages - Modern history
President Abraham Lincoln entered the war in order to preserve the union of the United States rather than to abolish slavery. Indeed, he repeatedly emphasized that his paramount objective in the war was to save the union, not to free the slaves. However, Lincoln has been such pressured by...
Compare and contrast the causes and nature of the two 1917 Russian Revolutions
Essay - 6 pages - Modern history
“Every social group, every nationality, every region, every town, every village, had its own revolution”, wrote Christopher Read and indeed, 1917 proved to be for Russia a year of turmoil and change. Traditionally, however, 1917 is known as a year of two revolutions, February Revolution...
Mao's reforms: A total failure?
Essay - 5 pages - Modern history
“In time of difficulties, we must not lose sight of our achievements.” This quotation from the Communist leader Mao Tse-Tung (1893-1976) could perfectly apply to his economic policy. When Mao came to power in October 1949, China was out of a decade of war and its economy was still very...
Genocide: The case of Rwanda - publié le 15/01/2009
Essay - 4 pages - Modern history
The situation in Darfur illustrates the difficulties the international community faces when it comes to deal with acts of genocide. Genocide has been defined as a crime in international law, an international Convention has been signed and international tribunals have been created to try...
Did Thatcherism bring an end to the 'post-war consensus?' - publié le 15/01/2009
Essay - 7 pages - Modern history
Since 1979 the so-called 'Thatcher experiment' or the 'Thatcherism' was at the centre of many debates, partly because Mrs Thatcher's government has broken with many features of the postwar consensus and partly because her government's record is contested (Kavanagh, 1987,...
The endurance of the "Islamic World" from the seventh century to the nineteenth century - publié le 15/01/2009
Essay - 5 pages - Ancient history
The expansion in Islam was a long process, occurring through centuries. The conquests were led in the name of the Prophet Muhammad. However, these victories were also the expression of the triumph of a people over the first Empires dominating the Middle East. From the seventh century and the rise...
Was the Great Famine of greater significance for the histories of subsequent generations than for those of the period 1845 - 50? - publié le 15/01/2009
Essay - 4 pages - Modern history
Ireland in the beginning of the 1840's had a population of eight million inhabitants of whom more than four-fifths lived on the land and it was one of the most densely populated countries in Europe. The prosperous phase which prevailed in Ireland at the beginning of the 1840's was unfortunately...
Abraham Lincoln - publié le 15/01/2009
Essay - 3 pages - Modern history
Abraham Lincoln is considered to be one of the greatest American presidents who expressed himself as not simply a forceful war while demonstrating the vast power inherent in the presidency, but as a dictator, albeit in many accounts a benevolent and constitutional dictator. Lincoln, it is said,...
Pragmatism and idealism in the process of nation-building (1781-1788) - publié le 15/01/2009
Essay - 7 pages - Modern history
“Idealism without pragmatism is impotent. Pragmatism without idealism is meaningless. The key to effective leadership is pragmatic idealism.” (Richard Nixon). Were the very first years of the new nation, born of the American Revolution, marked by a “spirit of pragmatic...
Elizabeth the First - publié le 15/01/2009
Essay - 2 pages - Medieval history
Born on September 7, 1533 in Greenwich, England. Died on March 24, 1603 in Richmond, Surrey. Elizabeth I, also called the Virgin queen because she never married, was the queen of England and Ireland from 1558 to 1603 or a total of forty five years. She ruled during a period called the...
South Africa: Colonial expansion and British consolidation - publié le 15/01/2009
Essay - 3 pages - Modern history
History of South Africa's colonization is undoubtedly one of the most complex, partly due to the fact that several colonizing nations and several native tribes were in interaction. What kind of evolutions knew South Africa from the second part of the 17th century to the end of the 19th century...
When the Japanese moved into Southeast Asia in 1941, local reactions to the occupying forces differed greatly. Evaluate the motivations that fueled these varying responses, taking into consideration particular local situations and periods of the war - publié le 15/01/2009
Essay - 5 pages - Modern history
Raising the question of the reactions to the Japanese takeover in Southeast Asia is very delicate and original for many reasons. Firstly, Southeast Asia is a broad region and it is most likely that the reactions of locals will differ greatly from one place to another. Secondly, there is not one...
Preparing the Great War: The Schlieffen Plan - publié le 13/01/2009
Essay - 3 pages - Modern history
Between 1905 and 1914, due to the instability of Europe dominated by alliances, every country in Europe was preparing for the war and developing war plans and strategies, which had to suit their conceptions of the war. Germany, which was allied with Austria-Hungary (which had a poor army), feared...
What to call the genocides of the Second World War and why? - publié le 13/01/2009
Essay - 8 pages - Modern history
“Historians are not always trustful guides when we have to reconstitute past”. Those words, of Lucy DAWIDOWICZ -an American historian who wrote quite a lot of books about the historiography of genocides- directly aimed at criticizing historians of genocides, who treated the murder by...
The revolt of the Netherlands: Spain's failure to regain control of the Netherlands - publié le 13/01/2009
Thesis - 3 pages - Medieval history
The rebellion of the Netherlands against ruling Spain was, in the end, a success leading to complete independence in 1648, with the Treaties of Den Haag and of Westphalia. All the Northern provinces of the “Spanish Netherlands” became fully independent, forming the United Provinces. A...
Was terror an integral part of the mentality of the revolutionaries in France? - publié le 13/01/2009
Thesis - 4 pages - Modern history
No part of the Revolution calls as much pictures to mind as the “Terror”. The endless lines of people waiting to be guillotined, the Committee of Public Safety with the heartless figure of Maximilien Robespierre, Marat's corpse lying in his bath... more and more bloody pictures...
Museum of the Native Americans - publié le 13/01/2009
Thesis - 4 pages - Ancient history
As opposed to most other exhibitions on Native Americans, the one held within the Native Americans National Museum puts the emphasis on the present life of Indian Americans. They are not classified as a memory of the past anymore but as part of the current American society. However, their past is...
Assess the impact of the Hundred Year's War upon Anglo-French trade - publié le 13/01/2009
Thesis - 4 pages - Medieval history
The Hundred Years War is an important period of the English history and of the French history. The Hundred Years' War was a conflict between France and England, lasting 116 years from 1337 to 1453. It was fought primarily over claims by the English kings to the French throne, and was...
France under the Fifth Republic - publié le 13/01/2009
Thesis - 7 pages - Modern history
The French Fourth Republic collapsed following the rise of the civil war in Algeria. Its lack of stability, which was a consequence of its parliamentary structure and the weaknesses of its parties, did not manage to survive this major crisis, and pointed out the need for a stronger executive...
Radicalization of the French Revolution, from 1789 to the end of 1794 - publié le 13/01/2009
Thesis - 5 pages - Modern history
The French Revolution is often depicted as a process of growing violence, underpinned by more and more radical theories. Indeed, a Manichean view often leads people to believe that France was peaceful in the beginning of 1789, and turned violent and radical in 1793. In other word, it is often...
The reasons behind decolonization - publié le 13/01/2009
Thesis - 5 pages - Modern history
Between the two world wars, colonialism reached its zenith. Geographically first: at this time, colonial empires were indeed established in every continent, notably in Africa where France and Britain had the lion's share. Economically speaking, the context of economic slump and protectionism...
"The major parties of the Federal Republic of Germany provide better models of the 'catch-all party' (Kirchheimer) than do those of the French Fifth Republic and post-war Italy." Discuss
Essay - 3 pages - Modern history
The Post war period was characterized by move towards spreading secular and mass consumer-goods societies. This note is valid in the Federal Republic of Germany, the French Fifth Republic, and post-war Italy. This major turn in societies had to be understood by political parties and translated in...
Japan and China in the 1930's - publié le 12/01/2009
Tutorials/exercises - 11 pages - Modern history
At the end of the XIXth century, the dominant position of European powers and of the United States in the Far East remained unmistakable. In fact, the European powers occupied Indochina and shared the occupation of China. Asia remained a stifled continent. But at the end of the century, Japan,...
The Constituent Assembly (1789-1791) and its major reforms during the French Revolution - publié le 12/01/2009
Essay - 2 pages - Modern history
The Constituent Assembly is the Assembly in power in France between July, 9th 1789 and September, 30th 1791. On July 9th 1789, the National Assembly (created on 17th June) proclaims itself the Constituent National Assembly. This means its primary task will be to draw up a Constitution and adopt...
