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Essay Assignments
Essay Questions and Criteria Four essays will be assigned during this session. Below are the questions for this session's essays. You are expected to express your reaction and answer the question given for each due date in a the equivalent form of a typed,and double spaced paper at least two but not more than three pages in length. The lowest score of the four essays will be dropped. Each essay will be worth 50 points for a total of 150 points toward the course grade. Each essay will be due by E-MAIL to his_ncp@shsu.edu by 12:00 PM on the day stated in the syllabus. Only those who can show that they have no possible access to a computer will be allowed to turn in a hard copies of the essay. No essays will be accepted after this deadline and there are no makeups. 1st Essay Questions (DUE SEPTEMBER 20) Choose one: 1. How does the 1905 textbook view the extension of European Imperialism in its time? Does it view it as a positive or negative phenomenon? What theories and ideologies does it use to bolster its viewpoint? (Section I) 2. How do the Laws of War deal with the problems of armed aggression and the use of weapons of mass destruction? How effectively enforced were these Laws of War in the First World War? Cite specific examples. (Sections I-II) 3. How could a political assassination be transformed into a World War? Read the web sources on the Sarajevo incident and the documents on the alliance system and the beginning of World War I and attempt to briefly answer this question. (Sections I-II) 4. According to the Sykes Picot Agreement, the Husein-McMahon letters, and the Balfour Declaration, how did the powers plan to dispose of the Ottoman Empire in the Middle East? What did they promise the Arabs and the Jews? (Section II) 5. Compare Wilson's fourteen points and the November 11 Armistice agreement with the Versailles Treatry. In looking at the discrepancies in these documents do you agree with the statement that the Peace of Paris led to a second European conflict? (Section III) 6. Examine the Treaties of Sevrés of 1920 and Lausanne of 1923. What changes were made to the original treaty of Sevrés? Why was there a necessity to renegotiate Sevrés. What had happened in the intervening three years? (Section III) 7. According to Johnson, what was the intellectual impact of the First World War? Do you believe this impact was a as important as the social, political, and economic consequences of the War in the web pages (Sections II-III)? 8. Briefly analyze Lenin's speeches, interviews and writings in 1917-1919. Do you get the impression that he is in control of things in the party and the Soviets? In your mind do you see him as a brilliant politician/revolutionary or a wide-eyed fanatic? Back up your views with evidence from his works. (Section V) 9. Compare and contrast the views of the Fascists presented in the American account of 1922 and the account of the March on Rome. Which in your opinion presents the more telling arguments? (Section V) 10. According to the Johnson and the source readings, how different were the communist and fascist seizures of power in Russia in 1917 and Italy in 1923? How do Johnson and the web sources compare and contrast the rise of Communism in Russia with the rise of Fascism in Italy? In your opinion which came closer to the totalitarian model? (Sections IV-V)
1. According to the Web Reading accounts and Johnson, what were the most important factors that led to the ascendancy of the Nazi party in Germany? How could the diplomatic reports at the end of 1932 believe that the Nazis were in decline, when they would be in power a few months later. (Section XI) 2. Judging from the content of Stanley Baldwin's speech on disarmament, the Covenant of the League of Nations, and the text of the Kellogg-Briand Pact, was disarmament a viable option to bring about world peace in the 1920's and 1930's? (Section III and Section VII) 3. Looking at the secondary readings on the Maginot Line and the correspondence on French Efforts to Purchase Warplanes in the United States in 1938, what do you see as the basic problem in French defense and military policy in the 1930's? (Section VII) 4. According to Johnson, why was Japan an active player and China a passive object in Asian international affairs in the Inter war Period? Compare his view with that of the Web Readings. (Sections VIII-IX) 5. Compare and contrast the Japanese and anti-Japanese view of the race question at the Paris Peace conference and the League of Nations. In view of Japan's interests in China and Asia, do you think that Japan's grievances were legitimate or were they a ploy to increase Japanese leverage in Asia? (Sections VIII-IX) 6. According to Mao Tse-Tung, how was the Communist party and movement to confront the Japanese threat to China. How was the Japanese invasion affecting the struggle between Mao Tse-Tung's Communists and Chiang Kai-Shek's Nationalist for control of China. 7. Are the inaugural addresses of Presidents Harding through Roosevelt good sources for an understanding of conditions in the United States in the Inter war Period? Use Johnson and the secondary web sources for analysis and cite specific sections of the speeches to support your views. (Section X) 8. How and why would a stock market crash in New York City cause a worldwide depression? In your opinion, did U. S. political isolationism and economic internationalism contribute to the causes that lead to World War II? Cite Johnson's and the Web Readings' views, if any. (Section X) 9. Read and analyze some of the WPA interviews with Americans during the Great Depression found in the web pages. How do conditions in the U.S. compare to those in Germany? In you opinion, why did the U.S. not move in the direction of totalitarianism? (Section X) 10. Compare and contrast the organization and function of the totalitarian states of Nazi-Germany and Soviet Russia in the 1930's based upon the Web Readings. (Sections XI-XII)
1. In your opinion, how and why were Nazi military operations so successful in the years 1939-1941 ? Why were they unsuccessful against Russia? Cite items from the sources readings to bolster your position. (Sections XIII) 2. Compare and contrast the description of the underground war in the Balkans given in the Nuremberg Trials on Balkan War Crimes and a U.S. Army study done in 1949 (Anti-Guerrilla Operations in the Balkans). Do you see the influence of the Cold War in the latter study? (Sections XIII-XIV) 3. In your view, was the use of the Atomic bomb against Japan at the end of the war necessary and justified? Do the web accounts (The Atomic Bombings of Japan: A 50-Year Retrospective and Strategic Bombing in the Pacific) and Johnson affirm or challenge your view? (Section XIV) 4. In your view what decisions made at the Yalta Conference and the Potsdam Conference helped to bring about the Cold War. Cite specific provisions from the conference agreements to support your position. (Section XIV) 5. Compare and contrast the George Kennan Views Soviet Post-War Foreign Policy, 1946 and Truman Doctrine, 12 March 1947. In your view, did Kennan's policy paper influence the content of Truman's policy? Cite specific examples. (Section XV) 6. From the Background Notes on Selected East Asian and Pacific Countries read about the decolonization of Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam and briefly discuss how the policies of the Britain, Holland and France affected those Asian countries' independence movements. (Section XVI) 7. Based upon a perusal British White Paper on Palestine, 1939, Declaration of Israel's Independence, 1948, and The Palestinian National Charter: Resolutions of the Palestine National Council, July 1-17, 1968, what would you say was the main cause of the Arab-Israeli conflict in the postwar Middle East? (Section XVI) 8. From the Background Notes on Selected African Countries read about the decolonization of Algeria, Ghana, Mozambique, and Chad and briefly discuss how the policies of the Britain, Portugal and France affected those African countries' independence movements. (Section XVII) 9. Based upon the primary source readings, briefly describe Apartheid in South Africa and the opposition to it. (Section XVII).
1. Read the The Decade of European Recovery II (From Raymond F. Betts, Europe in Retrospect ), The Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA/Comecon), and United States Department of State Press Statement on the European Common Market And The Free Trade Area, January 15, 1957, and briefly compare and contrast the West and East European approaches to economic cooperation and development. (Section XIX) 2. Based upon Johnson and the Web Sources, briefly compare and contrast the Chinese and Indian approaches to economic development and population control in the second half of this century. (Section XVIII) 3. According to Johnson and the Web Sources, how has Latin America been affected by the ideological currents of the Twentieth Century (Communism, Fascism, anti-Imperialism, etc.)? (Section XX) 4. Compare and contrast the views of Rigoberta Menchú and her life in the official Nobel Peace Prize Biography and the article of David Horowitz. What does this tell you about late 20th Century information media? (Section XX) 5. What was gist of Khrushchev's Speech to the 20th CPSU Congress? How did Khrushchev's secret speech affect Soviet politics? How did it affect politics in the Socialist states of Eastern Europe? (Section XXI) 6. How have the countries of Asia moved in the direction of advanced economic development in the last 25 years? Use two comparable countries as examples (Vietnam and China; Taiwan and South Korea; Singapore and Hong Kong; or Malaysia and Indonesia). (Section XXII) 7. Compare and contrast earlier reports of Asian Economic growth with later reports of Asian Economic Crisis, again using two comparable countries as examples (Vietnam and China; Taiwan and South Korea; Singapore and Hong Kong; or Malaysia and Indonesia). (Section XXII) 8. In looking at the war in Afghanistan and the Chernobyl' incident, which do youy believe played the greatest role in bring about the changes in the Svoiet Union in the late 1980's? (Section XXI and Section XXIII) 9. Briefly analyze Muslim and Hindu fundamentalist ideologies of the 1990's and comment whether or not they resemble ideologies of the 1920's and 1930's such as Nazism and Fascism? (Section XXIV) 10. According to the Web sources, how does religion and ethnicity play a role in armed conflicts of the late twentieth century? Is it a real cause or an excuse for war? Use the Caucasus, Kosovo, Ireland or Kurdistan as an example. (Section XXIV) 11. According to the Johnson and the Web Sources, are we living in "the best of times" or "the worst of times" in the late Twentieth Century? What is your opinion? (Section XXV)
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