Wars of Spanish Succession Thesis

After the Wars of Spanish Succession, Austria made out with the best deal in the Treaty of Utrecht because of the land all over Europe that it gained, from Italy to the Netherlands.

Dutch Republic Free Response

The Dutch Republic of the 17th century was divided into seven provinces, each one with the ability to select its own ruler, as opposed to countries such as England, France, and Russia with their absolute monarchs.  At the end of the Thirty Years War this independent republic was formally recognized by the rest of Europe.  In the Golden Age of the Dutch Republic in the early 17th century, it was able to rise above much of Europe in exploration and trade by establishing the Dutch East India Company and Dutch West India Company.  The main reason that the Dutch Republic of the 17th century was able to establish worldwide trade, house the largest bank in Europe, and have the highest condition of living at that time was because of the fact that they put less of an emphasis on absolute ruling and exhausted less effort controlling every aspect of the people than their absolutist neighbors.

In the Dutch Republic, an important part of what they stood for was their religious toleration.  Though it was primarily Calvinist, many other religions resided and were accepted in the Dutch Republic.  Christian minorities fled there from their home countries and lived in peace with Catholics, Jews, and Protestants.  In Russia, Peter the Great attempted to secularize the country and the Russian Orthodox Church, but this was only met with rebellions by fundamentalist Christians.  Peter had to use his army and his resources in order to bring them down, an effort which could have been used elsewhere and more successfully.  In the Ottoman Empire, Muslim leaders were the ones ruling the country.  They persecuted Christians and attempted to convert them to the Muslim faith.  Eventually, this theocracy fell apart because of corrupt actions.  If religion had been kept out of the equation and leaders could have been selected by the people, the Ottoman Empire would have had a better chance of succeeding in government workings like the Dutch Republic.

Because the Dutch Republic did not have an absolute monarchy, there was not one person who could take all the power or all the money.  Even when William of Orange was appointed leader of six out of the seven provinces, he still could not be the supreme ruler.  This was the earliest of a system of checks and balances, which none of the other countries followed.  King Louis XIV of France had free reign when he came of age, and taxed the French peasantry enormously.  With this money, he built the extravagant palace of Versailles, for use of him and his nobility -- the likes of which hardly paid any taxes.  Not only did the Dutch Republic acquire their surplus of money more fairly, but they also put it to good use, distributing it fairly amongst its growing middle class.

Because of the relative peace and lack of angry rebellions in the Dutch Republic, much effort was given to building up a strong navy and expanding trade routes and territories.  In 1600, their navy had roughly 10,000 ships, and the Dutch Republic was known to be home to excellent fishermen and canal builders.  The Dutch East India Company traded with such places as Indonesia and India.  The Dutch West India Company traded with Africa and the Americas.  Because the Dutch Republic did not have to establish friendly relationships within its own country, it could make connections with other countries.  While other countries were struggling interiorly, the Dutch Republic was doing just fine.  It was doing so fine that, when there was conflict in England, William of Orange of the Dutch Republic was able to come in and take over, along with his wife Mary.

The Dutch Republic was the most successful of all European countries in the 17th century.  It was peaceful, had a bustling economy, and had a very content, growing middle class.  This was due to the fact that there was no absolute ruler, therefore no religious prejudices, no one person have all the power, and no one person to monopolize all of the money and resources.  The leaders sharing the power in the Dutch Republic were able to keep all of their citizens happy because their distribution of power and money was equal.  Because their people were happy, the leaders of the Dutch Republic and the wealthy merchants were able to establish very successful trade relationships with other countries, boosting the economy even more.  The Dutch Republic had no problems with monarchs and corruptness because of their republic, and this is what made them so successful.

Galileo Free Response Practice 2.0

During the Scientific Revolution in Europe in the 16th and 17th century, Galileo was a great scientist who made many astronomic, mathematic, and physical discoveries.  He has been referred to as the "father of science," and Pope Pius XII referred to Galileo as one of the "most audacious heroes of research."  However, at that time, since many of his findings disagreed with beliefs that had always been held by the Church, Galileo made himself an enemy of the Vatican and its priests and bishops.  Galileo's being persecuted by the Church because of his differing astronomical ideas was the biggest setback in expanding his studies because of the power and control the Church had over Europe at that time, and people of that time would have known much more about science sooner had it not been for this roadblock, and people today also may have even known more.

Throughout his life, Galileo contradicted the findings of multiple Jesuit priests.  Galileo published The Assayer in 1623, discussing, among other things, the nature of comets.  The previous year, Father Orazio Grassi had written pamphlet on comets, and because Galileo's views contradicted those written in Grassi's pamphlet, a controversy between Galileo's and Grassi's ideas arose.  In another work, Galileo also contradicted Father Christoph Scheinder's ideas on sunspots.  Galileo proved to be a constant struggle against the Church, contradicting its priests and forcing them to turn their people against Galileo.  With these priests discouraging their followers and students from Galileo's works, people were less likely to read them, fearing the wrath of God.

During the Roman Inquisition, the Vatican itself dealt with the people opposing their teachings and loyal priests.  In 1616, they banned Copernicus's Orbium Coelestium, putting it on the Index of Forbidden Books.  This alone was enough to discourage people from listening to Galileo, whose work was largely based on Copernican theories of heliocentricism, instead of the Church's ideas of geocentricism.  This was also the year that Galileo was chastised for his findings and asked to repent by Cardinal Bellarmine.  The Vatican made an example out of him to show the people what would happen to them if they went against the Church, which no one was eager to do now.  This time, Galileo refused and continued on with his work.  Galileo went on trial in 1633, in which the verdict was that Galileo had committed great acts of heresy, and was forced to sign a form, formally announcing that he was wrong.  Further printing of his works were banned, making it very difficult for Europeans to get a hold of his now-heretic discoveries.  It was not until 1718, almost one hundred years later, that the current Pope lifted the ban on his works and they were able to be printed yet again.  That is one hundred years in which people could have learned the truth about the tides, the truth about the position of the earth, and the truth of many more various astronomical phenomena.  If not for the Church, people of 16th and 17th century Europe would have been much more educated about the sky above them.

If not for the discouraging Church, Galileo may have even discovered more than all that he had in his time.  All the time he spent fighting the Church could have been used to even further improve his compass or telescope design, for example.  He could have taken more time to stargaze and report even more on what he saw.  Instead, he was exhausting his efforts trying to spread his truths to the whole of Europe.  In the last years of his life, when he was under house arrest for heresy, he could have been discovering even more about physics, mathematics, or astronomy.  If Galileo had not been persecuted by the Church, he would have had more time to devote to his studies, and therefore would have had more to share with the world.

The Catholic Church and all of its priests and bishops were a hindrance to Galileo, even those such as Pope Urban VIII who Galileo had considered a friend.  Living in Italy where the influence of the Church was greatest did not help; Galileo's whole life was spent fighting against the Church to spread his beliefs.  Because the Church was so powerful, it is not a surprise that it took almost a whole century after Galileo's death for this to happen.  If not for the Church in general and its representatives such as Grassi, Scheinder, and Bellarmine, the whole of Europe would have learned much more about science sooner, and people today may even know more than they currently do because of what Galileo would have been able to learn.

Great Fire of London Map

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Free Response Practice #1

Why are the trials and tribulations of Galileo often considered both predicative of the future of Western Civilization as well as a perfect encapsulation of the context of his own time?

Galileo was a man who was born and worked during the Scientific Revolution is Europe in the 16th century.  He made many advancements in astronomy, mathematics, and physics, but was also held back by the Catholic Church.  Galileo's trials and tribulations throughout his life demonstrate the condition of Europe at that time because it showed how big a role the Church had -- in not only religion but also science and society in general -- and showed how close-minded Europeans could be to new things, but he looked towards the future of Europe and the world because, despite the Church and the naysayers, his findings influenced many other scientists of the Revolution and much of his discoveries are still used today.

Throughout Galileo's life and his research, his findings were not widely accepted by the European community, Jesuit priests in particular.  Father Grassi had published a treatise of comets and their origins.  Galileo had later published The Assayer, which contradicted Grassi's views on comets.  Grassi, instead of considering the possibility that he was wrong, instead turned people against Galileo and his ideas.  Father Christoph Schiender's views on astronomy also differed from Galileo's; they both had different ideas about sunspots and where they came from.  Scheinder had also accused Galileo of plagiarizing from the former's book of mathematics.  Like Grassi, Scheinder was not willing to accept Galileo's different ideas, and even went so far as to accuse him of stealing ideas, which may or may not have been true.  These people represented the mindset of many people in Europe at that time, showing how hard it must have been for Galileo to teach others what he had learned.

In his time, Galileo also showed how powerful the Catholic Church was, and how much control it had over many things other than religion.  One of the most religiously controversial things that Galileo believed in was the Copernican idea of heliocentricism.  The Church had biblical reason to believe that the Earth was the center of the universe, whereas Galileo had scientific reason to believe it was not.  Even when Cardinal Bellarmino gave Galileo an order to stop preaching such blasphemy, he still continued with his current works and findings.  Galileo was one of the earliest people that the Vatican punished in the Roman Inquisition.  An order was given to stop printing Galileo's findings, and he was put under house arrest for the last years of his life.  This part of Galileo's life shows that it is not a particularly good idea to get on the Church's bad side.  Though now, in 2010, the Pope seems to be exclusively the head of the Church, Galileo shows that, at that present time in Europe, the Pope and his bishops were in charge of much more than religion.

Despite the Church's bad feelings towards Galileo, he was still able to be a spearhead in the Scientific Revolution.  He worked with Johannes Kepler to help develop his laws of planetary motion.  Galileo had done some work on the laws of motion that had previously been established, and this work helped Sir Isaac Newton develop his laws of motion that are still accepted today.  By improving the design of a compass and  a Dutch telescope, Galileo was able to give others the resources to further astronomical discoveries and the study of the stars.  Though he was persecuted by the Church which highly discouraged his work, he was still able to pass it on to later generations of scientists who got much use out of it.  Galileo, living and working at the beginning of the Scientific Revolution, was able to be one of the men who really began the whole thing, and his work was a foreshadowing of the entire era that was about to occur in Europe.  Even today, the four moons of Jupiter that he had discovered with his telescope are still widely accepted, and the Gal is a unit of measurement of acceleration named after him.  Galileo's findings pointed toward much of what would be found during the future of the Scientific Revolution, and even many discoveries today.

Galileo was limited by the mindset of both the Church and the general public at the time of the Scientific Revolution, but he was still able to pass his findings on to the future of European scientists.  He was persecuted up until his very last days, but he still lives on in his research.  Galileo sacrificed much for his science, and showed how hard it can be to go against the Church and even Europe, but he succeeded.  He succeeded in changing the world of science forever, and though there were troubles, Galileo was able to overcome them proudly, always looking to the future.

The Test That I Killed Myself Studying For And Really Hope I Pass Score

Number wrong: 19
Score: 50/50
YAY!

The Test That I Killed Myself Studying For And Really Hope I Pass Part Deux

48. Prince Henry the Navigator
49. Christopher Columbus
50. Columbian Exchange
51. Goods and people
52. Mercantilism
53. Joint-Stock Company
54. Protestant
55. True
56. Amsterdam
57. Hapsburg
58. No
59. Pachelbel
60. Middle class
61. House of Lords
62. Protestants (Anglicans)
63. Stuart
64. Episcopal
65. 1603 - 1625
66. Divine Right of Kings
67. Puritans
68. Petition of Right
69. William Laud
70. Scotland
71. Cavaliers
72. Roundheads
73. Oliver Cromwell
74. Republic
75. Lord Protector
76. Levellers
77. Charles II
78. Stuart Dynasty
79. Thomas Hobbes

The Test That I Killed Myself Studying For And Really Hope I Pass

1. Martin Luther
2. 95 Theses
3. Amsterdam (???)
4. The Basilica
5. October 31 (Halloween), 1517 (**Freebie)
6. Salvation by faith alone
7. The Bible
8. Hierarchy of bishops and Pope
9. The Protestants and Martin Luther (???)
10. False
11. German peasantry
12. Catholicism
13. Protestantism
14. Peace of Augsburg
15. Luther was a revolutionary because he contradicted the Catholic teachings, and when the Catholics approached him in a Council to make him admit his mistakes, he refused.
16. Luther was a political conservative because he didn't involve himself in wars, though there were wars fought over his beliefs.
17. John Calvin
18. Amsterdam
19. (**Freebie)
20. Hugonots
21. Henry VIII
22. Elizabeth I
23. Anabaptists
24. Pope Leo
25. Council of Trent
26. True
27. William Tyndale
28. Archbishop Curly
29. To have faith in God and spread it to others
30. 17th century (1600)
31. Raphael
32. Philip II
33. The Spanish Armada
34, St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre
35. Edict of Nantes
36. 300
37. Peace of Augsburg
38. Protestant Union
39. Catholic League
40. Catholic (they wanted to reverse Protestant gains)
41. Protestants
42. Catholic League: Ferdinand II; Protestant Union: Frederick V
43. Gustavus Adolphus
44. Peace of Westphalia
45. Alsauce
46. Germany
47. France

DBQ Format Quiz

1. What is the range of scores for a DBQ essay?

• The range of scores is from 0-9, with 0 being the worst and 9 being the best.

2. If a DBQ does not have a thesis statement, what's the highest score it can get?

• If a DBQ does not have a thesis, the highest score it can get is a 5.

3. If you have 12 documents, what is the bare minimum of documents you must cite?

• The bare minimum documents is 7, half of the given plus one

4. Explain what "bias" is.

• Bias is the viewpoint of the author or artist of a given document, which could get in the way of the true facts

5. What does it mean by "groupings"?

• Grouping refers to categorizing the documents in some way, such as by the different types of people the authors are (Ex. - nobles, peasants, merchants)

6. What would be the citation for "Document 5"?

• (Document 5)

Baroque Symphony

• Minuet in G - Bach
• Johann Sebastian Bach was a famous German composer during the Baroque period. He was born on the thirty-first of March of the year 1685. At the age of 14, Bach was accepted to the prestigious St. Michael’s School in Luneburg, Germany. After graduating, Bach went from being a court musician in the chapel of Duke Johann Ernst, to an organist at St. Blasius’s to a court organist in Weimer, where he first had an opportunity to compose his own music. Through his life, Bach composed pieces for the organ and harpsichord, orchestral music, and choral performances. “Minuet in G” was one of the most famous pieces attributed to him, appearing in the Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach, a collection of compositions from himself and others for his second wife.
• Spring - Vivaldi
• Antonio Vivaldi, as opposed to Bach and Pachelbel, was an Italian Baroque composer known for his violin concertos. Vivaldi was born in Venice in the year 1678, learning to play violin from his father at a very early age. It is said that Vivaldi had a form of asthma, one possible reason why many of his compositions were for string instruments, as opposed to wind instruments. Vivaldi After being ordained as a minister at age 25 in 1703, Vivaldi received the nickname of “The Red Priest,” for his hereditary red hair and new status in the Church. “Spring” was one part of Vivaldi’s four-part violin concerto titled “the Four Seasons,” and is broken into three parts based on tempo.
• Canon in D - Pachelbel
• Like Bach, Johann Pachelbel was also a German composer during the Baroque period. Pachelbel, born in the year of 1653 in Nuremburg, was employed as an organist throughout his life at such places as the Saint Stephen Cathedral and Predigerkirche in Erfurt, where he settled for a long time. During his stay at Erfurt was the time when Pachelbel did the majority of his composing, and also when he met and married his two wives. “Canon in D” is notably Pachelbel’s most famous composition and his only canon, but wasn’t published until 1919.
• Fanfare-Rondeau - Jean-Joseph Mouret
• Unlike our previous composers, Jean-Joseph Mouret was an French Baroque composer born in the year of 1682. He was one of the forerunners of the Baroque movement in his country at this time. He was born on April 11th to a wealthy silk merchant who recognized his musical prowess and supported him so that it could blossom. He moved to Paris at the age of 25, and was made a musical superintendent to Anne, Duchess of Maine. Under her employment, Mouret produced operas and was soon promoted to the director of the orchestra of the Opèra in 1714. Fanfare-Rondeau is one of few of his works that are still performed today.