Shaping of the Modern World

 

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Brooklyn College Core Curriculum:
The Shaping of the Modern World

Section 1: Roots of Western Culture

Introduction: This Week's Goals

Before starting this section, make sure that you have read Welcome to Virtual Core 4 thoroughly.

The first week of our course has two main goal

  • That all students become familiar with how to take part in the course. This means learning how to use [by using them!]:
    • Email - for personal communication with the teacher.
    • Caucus discussion conferences - for discussion of set themes.
    • Majordomo maillist - in order to receive extra press reports in your email, and to discuss *anything you want*
    • The Web Browser - in order to access class readings, self-test quizzes, and so on.
    • The Internet - especially the search engines, so that you can find things on the web.
    • I expect you will already be familiar with how to read a textbook!
  • That we master the technical details above in the course of the discussion one central question - what do we mean when we talk about our civilization as "The West".
    • To answer this we should be able to identify when and where the following past cultures were, and what they contributed to the "The West".
      • Egypt
      • Mesopotamia
      • Ancient Israel
      • Greece
      • Rome
    • None of the above cultures was "The West", although all contributed to it. "The West" came into existence during the period we know as the Middle Ages".  We need to be able to explain then:
      • Which three world cultures emerged after the breakdown of the Roman Empire.
      • Which religion provided a degree of cultural unity.
      • What the "Commercial Revolution" was.
      • What changed during the "Renaissance".
      • What happened during the Reformation.

Text

Kagan: No assigned textbook reading for section 1

Multimedia

Music

  1. Bulgarian Folk Music 1. 40
    Song: Pilentze Pee
  2. 10th Century Liturgical Chant 1. 50
    Song: Alleluia, Christmas Day, Proportional Rhythm
  3. 13th Century Gregorian Chant 1. 05
    Song: Pange Lingua
  4. 16th Century Polyphony 2. 35
    Song: Allegri, Misereri
  5. 18th Century Opera 1. 50
    Song: Mozart, Or sai chi l'onore, from Don Giovanni
  6. 20th Century Opera 2. 30
    Song: Gershwin, It ain't necessarily so, from Porgy and Bess
  7. 20th Century Pop 1. 50
    Song: Mariah Carey, Vision of Love
  8. 20th Century Rap . 50
    Song: Two in a Room, Wiggle It

Images [Images are also integrated into the outline]

Sources
[Sources are also integrated into the outline]

Outline

I. Introduction

Before we start on the main part of the course -

  • This course is in modern world history with a emphasis on Europe and America. Together Western Europe, North America, Australia, and in many respects South America belong to a culture or civilization we call "The West".
  • Western history did not begin in 1700. It goes back thousands of years. This section looks at the Roots of Western history, at the ideas that played an important part in its development, and at what elements make up the "West."

Chronology and Periodization

  • "Ancient" "Classical", "Medieval", "Early Modern", and " Modern". What do these words mean?
    • Ancient = all of history before 500 CE ["CE" means "common era" and is an increasingly common way of referring to the usually dating system without using the abbreviation "AD", which means "In the Year of the Lord" and thus might be inappropriate to use about non-Christian peoples and societies. "BCE" means "Before the Common Era".]
      Classical = those periods in ancient history which produced art and literature which later achieved great acclaim. In practice this means Greece in the fifth and fourth centuries BCE, and Rome in the first century BCE and the first century CE.
      Medieval = European history between about 500 and 1500 CE.
      Early Modern = European history from about 1400 (there is an overlap with "medieval" to 1789, and the French Revolution.
      Modern = History since the French, American and Industrial revolutions in the late 18th century.
    • These definitions are very much centered on Europe. They do not apply to other parts of the world very well. They also tend to represent the politics and arts of the elite in society.
    • In practical terms they have something to do with the amount of source that survive. Modern historians have to select sources from a massive amount of material. Ancient and Medieval historians have to work hard to fill in the gaps between the sources.

II. Egypt and Mesopotamia

  1. Egypt - c. 4000 BC
    Longest continuous civilization
    -Religious ideas
    -Architecture
    -Math, especially geometry
  2. Mesopotamia - also c. 4000 BC - in Iraq
    Major cultures were called Sumeria, Babylonia, Assyria
    -Writing
    -Numbers - use of base 12 - in time (we still use 12 hour periods for days)
    -Astronomy and Astrology
  3. These cultures influence us through two ways
    -through the Jews and through the Greeks

III. The People of Israel

  1. The Jews are the only ancient people still around.
    One does not often meet Hittites or Goths in the street, but the Jews are still here.
  2. They absorbed a lot from Egypt and Mesopotamia
    -e.g. the creation story, the flood story.
  3. But one massive contribution- Monotheism
    - Belief in one caring God.
    Unity of cult and ethics
  4. Also a belief in history - that we are going somewhere.
    This is a contrast with the more cyclic views of the East, and of the Egyptians.
  5. Jews wrote the Bible: Most read book book in the world -
    and parts are at least 3000 years old.
    The Bible is one of the chief sources of western culture
    These IDEAS pass into Christianity and Islam.

IV. Greece

  • Zeno of Elea (c.490-after 445 BCE): Paradoxes
  1. The other major source of Western IDEAS.
    Ideas more important heritage than details of its history.
    The ideas survive in literature and art:-
  2. From around 750BC.
    Homer: The Iliad and The Odyssey
    The idea of ORDERED COSMOS - vital in Western ideas about science and God.
  3. Invention of writing - for everyone not just the clergy.
  4. Thales of Miletus - asked for the first time what the world was made of - water - SCIENCE
  5. Athens - The People, Democracy, natural art,
  6. Socrates: People as morally autonomous,
  7. Plato - Asked most of the Philosophical Questions
    -how do we know what we know.
  8. Aristotle - Introduces observation into science.
  9. Alexander the Great - c. 300BC. Conquers the whole Eastern Mediterranean. Greek ideas, and the Greek language dominate the area.
  10. Note two things:
    Greeks did not know about the Jews: Jews did know about the Greeks.
    All the discussion so far has been based in the Eastern Mediterranean, away from what we now call the West.

V. Rome - Always a Western city.

  1. From around 300BC it began to grow in importance. Within 300 years it had unified the Mediterranean into one state.
  2. All elites spoke either Greek or Latin.
  3. Intellectually Rome was dominated by Greece, but its genius was in STATECRAFT and LAW.
  4. Roman Law is still the basis of laws, via Napoleon, in most of Europe. US law derives from English Law, but that also is influenced by Rome.
  5. The ideal of Unity and the Universal state has been important in Western history ever since.

VI. Christianity

  • Jesus Christ. Born c.6BC, d. c. 33AD.Founder of Christianity.
  • St. Paul, A Greek-speaking Jew and main apostle of the Faith. United Jewish and Greek ideas in Christianity.
  • Christianity becomes religion of Mediterranean area c. 400.
  • The most Christian areas are probably Egypt and Anatolia.

VI. Breakup of Classical World

  1. The Mediterranean was a united cultural area. It was the breakup of this area that led to the development, amongst others of the "West".
  2. Roman Empire: Invasions from the outside, Economic problems internally. Breaks Up. But it did not die.
    Each part took something from Greece, Rome and Judea
  1. Byzantium [See Byzantine Studies Page]
    The Empire in the East continued, based in Constantinople.
    It was Christian and Roman and Greek. It was the most obvious heir to the culture of the Classical world.
    The Byzantine Empire lasts until 1453.
    Its culture still dominates Eastern Europe and Russia, through Orthodoxy.
  2. Islam
    Islam was the religion of Arab townsmen. Led by Mohammad (d. c. 640, Hijira 622). They swept out of the Arabian peninsula.
    Eventually took control of all North Africa, Egypt, Anatolia (under the Turks) and for a time Spain.
    Islam also is an heir to Classical civilization. It also learnt mathematics from Mesopotamia, Philosophy from the Greeks and Monotheism from the Jews.
    For almost a thousand years Muslims were by all objective standards more advanced than Western Europe.
  3. Latin Christendom
    Finally, what was left, was dominated by Barbarians. France, Spain, Italy, Britain, Germany.
    The least developed of the three cultures that succeeded the classical world.
    It was dominated increasingly also by the Church of Rome. It was a Latin reading and speaking world. i.e "Latin Christendom."
    This area was to become the West.

VII. The Western Middle Ages

A. From around 600 to 1000 AD conditions were fairly bleak.
Around 800 Charlemagne.
Most people lived on the land. Subsistence farming.
No towns larger than say 10,000 - at the most.

B. c.1050 Latin Christendom comes to life.

  1. Politically States begin to pull themselves together,
    England, France, Germany (for a time)
    - Concept of Kingship and what a king should be/do develops.
  2. Crusades - Westerners attack both Byzantium and Islam in order to conquer Jerusalem. They succeed for a time.
    -Architecture develops.
  3. Intellectual Life -
    great writers like St. Thomas Aquinas (13th. C.)
  4. Christianity becomes more like it is today.
    Devotion to Mary. Mass. Development of all the religious orders.
  5. Art and Music - We can now trace direct lines from then to now.
  6. Economically - From around 1050 a Commercial revolution.
    In the earlier period money had largely disappeared. Now it becomes important again and trade starts up in local areas and between far distant areas. Westerners even get as far as China.
  7. In short the West begins to have notion of itself. The notion is called Christendom, but develops into the idea of Europe.
  8. In the Middle Ages we have the origin of a specifically Western civilization, based not on the Mediterranean, but the Western lands of the entire continent.

VIII. The Renaissance

  1. Period from late 14th, early 15th Century (explain 1300s and 1400s)
    - a new emphasis, spurred by examination of Classical past but also by internal European developments created an artistic and intellectual ferment first in Italy and then in the rest of Europe.
  2. Renaissance thought stressed Classicism, Individualism, Humanism - belief in no limits to human accomplishment (Pico de Mirandola). This, rather than more medieval ideas, was the precursor to modern ways of thinking.
  3. Humanism -
    A. Erasmus of Rotterdam - Version of Bible in Greek attacked superstition
    B. Thomas More - Humanism in England
    C. John Calvin - first serious writing in French
    D. Printing Invented - was to lead to great changes as information could be spread much more easily - Johannes Gutenberg d. 1468

IX. Religious Thought: Reformation and Counter-Reformation

  1. The Reformation was another great development at the end of the Middle Ages/Beginning of Early modern period.
  2. Religion united both the intellectual elite and the people. Ways of thinking were not scientific for many - their  pre-occupation was with God and especially Salvation (getting to heaven). The thinkers we shall be examining as creators of the modern world lived in this background.
  3. Importance of Reformation was it split Europe into two ideological camps. This in fact allowed new ideas to develop and have a chance to become widespread.

The Reformation (First half of 16th C.)

  1. Martin Luther (1483-1546) [Image: Martin Luther and 2, 3]
    Began challenge to Rome in 1517.
    His main concern was with personal salvation
    -Justification (setting right before God), was the most important thing for him.
    -But it is important to note another aspect of the Lutheran Reformation - the very great respect it gave to the state. In effect Lutheranism allowed a separate morality for individuals and the State. This is often seen as a factor in German history.
  2. John Calvin (1509-64) [Image: John Calvin and 2, 3, 4]
    Advanced the Reformation in French speaking areas.
    -Most of his thought is implicit in Luther, but Calvin was more rigorous. He had the doctrine of predestination to salvation or damnation. The saved or the Elect were a major part of his thought. (Came from his experience as a preacher - why did some not believe).
    -Note importance of notion of the Elect. It made Calvinists politically active in a way that Lutherans were not. Calvinists felt able to reject the state - led to religious wars in short term.  Calvinists often felt themselves to be justified - gave confidence to Calvinist entrepreneurs.

The Counter Reformation

  1. Catholic Church reformed itself
  2. Council of Trent (1545-63) 18 Years
    This re-established Catholic norms.
    It even cleared up previously undefined areas.
    It was very anti-Protestant.
  3. The Jesuits - Shock troops of the Church.
    Insisted on intellectual rigor.
  4. The Index of Forbidden Books. - this was only really important now that there were many books about due to printing. It allowed the church to control what books could be published in some Catholic countries. [Extra: See List of Banned Books]

Effects of Renaissance and Reformation

  1. The Counter Reformation made Catholic countries firm in their Catholicism - and made it impossible, or very hard, for non-believers to live there.
  2. Secondly it was much harder to express new opinions and ideas in Catholic Countries (France was different - the French Church -the Gallican Church - was under royal control - some liberty of thought allowed)
  3. So most of the new ideas that made modern world grew up in Protestant countries and France (Value of diversity of states in Europe?).

X. The Thirty Years War and 1648

  1. There were a lot of religious conflicts in Europe for almost a 150 years after Luther. These were major wars that tore countries apart - The Holy Roman Empire was divided, France was rocked by wars between Catholics and Calvinists (1598 Edict of Nantes, Henry IV).
    Religion was not the only factor, often not even the major one. Suffice to say that many states came close to destruction, and one, Poland, disappeared.
  2. There was a large scale general European war from 1618-1648. Thirty Years War
    The Treaty of Westphalia 1648, marked the end of major religious wars. The Pope was not invited, and was sidelined out of politics.
  3. In Europe - a general feeling that religion should be removed from politics.
    The 18th C. was to be much less religious.
    It is at this point we can start modern history.

XI. Continuity of Old Ideas

  1. By the 17th century there were clear elements of modern western ideas - about religion, the state, science. But the remained in flux for sometime to come.  But also note that the older ideas persisted a long time  alongside more modern ones - e.g. look at modern newspaper astrologers.
    It was hard to break out of this view of the world - Great intellects had built it up and it took enormous breadth of knowledge imagination and even hubris to change it.
    The changing of the Scientific world view, was the single most characteristic change that led to a modern world view.
  2. We have been discussing the world that people lived in at the start of the modern era. Many of theses ideas we have been discussing continued amongst some groups long after the revolutions in European life we will be discussing.  One of these was the Divine right of Kings. Lead into Absolutism - to be covered in next section

Web Exercise

Find on the Web pages with pictures AND discussions of the following items. See the Search page for hints on searching. Try using www.google.com and www.yahoo.com to locate the objects. Post your results (including URLs) in the Caucus Conference.

Be prepared to explain problems you had in finding the information and how you rate the sites (evaluate them with the Guidelines on How to Evalute Web Data in mind, and by using the Checklist )

  • The Pyramids of Egypt
    [Hint: try adding search words such as "Giza" or "Cairo" if you get too many pages.]
  • The Parthenon of Athens
  • Martin Luther

Discussion Questions

  1. What are the names of other world civilizations than those discussed above?
  2. Suggest the distinct contributions of Egypt to later civilization. Do the same for Mesopotamia, The Jews, Greece, and Rome.
  3. Which areas and culture were part of the Roman Empire, but are not considered part of the "West"?
  4. When did the civilization we call "The West" begin to come into existence?
  5. What religion provided the focus for "Western Culture"? Suggests some ways in which we might still see its impact.
  6. What new ideas did the Renaissance promote?
  7. Why was the Reformation important in terms of politics?
  8. What elements make up a civilization? How does a civilization differ from a country?

Go to Caucus Conference to discuss these questions.

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created 9/11/1998 : revised 4/19/1999