rederick II’s first act on assuming the throne of Prussia in 1740 was to take his state to war—a consequence, he later explained, of possessing a well-trained army, a full treasury and a desire to establish a reputation. For the next quarter century he confronted Europe in arms and emerged victorious, but at a price that left his kingdom shaken to its physical and moral core. As many as a quarter million Prussians died in uniform, to say nothing of civilian losses. Provinces were devastated, people scattered, the currency debased. The social contract of the Prussian state—service and loyalty in return for stability and protection—was broken. Despite such costs, Frederick always makes the short list of history’s great captains. Yet that legacy
In order to dehumanize a group of people, there must first be a clear separation between who is the “us” and “them.” The conservative documentary Border War: The Battle Over Illegal Immigration (2006), takes the viewer into the lives of several people who are impacted by the growing issue of undocumented Mexican immigrants crossing the The Mexico–United States border. This film creates a one-dimensional or single conception of undocumented immigrants through the use of language, such as “illegal” or “alien” and various other combinations. Another method is through the imagery it showed while there was dialogue being said. Most of the imagery in this film creates a narrative that undocumented Mexican immigrants are violent and a threat to Americans. Additionally, the sympathizers and protesters against border reform were portrayed as anti-American radicals. The production of this documentary was not only used to direct our view of undocumented immigrants to a single account, but also to establish false truths that turn undocumented immigrants into a “them.”
The German Command, in planning for a short and swift war, found themselves in a bind when the war started to prolong itself. From the very beginning, their plan started to fall apart, as Belgium, who they assumed would just let them march through to France, took up arms in resisting their approaches (Hull, 2005). The war would get longer and longer and seemed farther away from its conclusion as the months grew colder. As a result of this as well as their Prussian roots, they resorted to dangerously risky and destructive tactics, trying to bring the war to a quicker end while putting more of their resources in jeopardy, a move that eventually did not pay off and ended up leading to the German Empire’s demise (Hull, 2005).
Was Philip II of Spain a successful absolute monarch during his rule? Many people believe he had what it took to be absolute monarch, but there were several constraints he faced as a ruler in Spain. Philip II was known for building one of the largest empires from creating effective domestic and foreign policies to gain leadership of his kingdom instead of the local authorities in charge, but he did face problems while ruling the kingdom. His addressed many of these policies, such as the policy against the Turks, but there were also many policies that were humiliating to his rule in power. Philip II faced many problems, some of them as a result of his policies and some of them were to fix his problems while in power.
Judith Sargent Murray wrote an essay, in 1790, that would ask a question, and eventually, start an argument over the intellectual and spiritual equality of men and women. Murray asked, “Is it upon mature consideration we adopt the idea, that nature is thus partial in her distributions?” Though she was advocating for the equal rights of women, when she was writing the essay, this question can be applied to all human beings. Are there human beings who are naturally superior to others, whether it be physically, intellectually or spiritually? The thought that there are a select few individuals who are superior to others has been a driving force in American History. One example being the enslavement of African Americans. Their enslavement was essentially based on the thought that nature was partial in her distributions and that African Americans were inferior to white men, and therefore it was acceptable to treat them as property. During this time in history, the debate over slavery was a heated one, with the majority of the population having considerably extreme opinions on the issue. Many people spoke out about the immorality and inhumanity of slavery, but none had a more convincing argument, for the abolition of slavery than Frederick Douglass.
“That which to him was a great evil, to be carefully shunned, was to me a great good, to be diligently sought; and the argument which he so warmly urged, against my learning to read, only served to inspire me with a desire and determination to learn.” This passage was an aww moment for me when reading the novel. It shows me that Frederick was a rebel and was proud about it. Everything they told him not to do or was forbidden to do as a slave he did it and did not care about the cost, he reveled in defying the limitations put on a slave. Even though he had his moments when he would doubt if it was worth it all if he was to be caught, he presumed with bravery. “It was considered as being bad enough to be a slave; but to be a poor man's slave was deemed a disgrace indeed!” This particular quote was
One of the reasons Frederick Douglass is heroic is because he escaped slavery knowing the harsh consequences. In the “Frederick Douglass” article it states “.. if I fail this attempt, my case would be a hopeless one- it would seal my fate as a slave forever” he knew that if he was caught that he would be imprisoned for the rest of his life. On September 3rd 1838, Frederick decided to be brave and planned his way to freedom. Because of his decision
The Scientific Revolution consisted of a time period during which revolutionary ideas dramatically altered the thinking of people. It helped trigger the Enlightenment in which rulers acted in accordance with the advisement of philosophes who believed that everything should be thought of in a rational way that was based off of reason, not faith. Frederick the Great of Prussia and Joseph II of Austria were considered to be Enlightened rulers. By implementing modern changes that supported knowledge, education, and the arts for the betterment of the country and its society, Frederick the Great and Joseph II furthered the development of Enlightenment principles in contrast to the system that was previously enforced. However, they also created a
Frederick the Great exhibited his greatness as a ruler by winning all 3 of the Silesian Wars and the Seven Years’ War against Austria. He improved domestic affairs by making Prussia a world power by increasing their rankings, and by strengthening the arts and literature. Frederick the Great also succeeded in foreign affairs by creating the German League of Princes and forced the Holy Roman Empire to abandon all ideas of acquiring Bavaria. Historians can debate otherwise but Frederick II is truly deserving of his title of “the great.” His entire reign justifies and proves he is in fact Frederick the
Frederick diminished the power of the Junkers, who were the nobility of Brandenburg and Prussia that threatened his power. He did so by giving them reconfirmation of their own privileges, which included authority over serfs in exchange for their acceptance of taxation. The “Great Elector’s” son, Frederick I, became the first Prussian king by helping the Habsburgs and Holy Roman empire in the War of Spanish Succession. He later passed the throne down to his son, Frederick William I. Frederick William I, known as “the Soldiers’ king”, is considered to have truly consolidated Prussian absolutism by eliminating the “last traces of parliamentary estates and local self-government.” [1] In addition, Frederick William I turned Prussia into a military estate by forcing conscription, which became lifelong in 1713. Instead of destroying the Junkers, he appeased them by allowing them to lead his growing army in which peasants were forced to serve in. In addition, he abused the Junkers’ acceptance of taxation, which allowed him to create such a well-trained army and an educational system that was under state control. Therefore, he created a “rigid and highly disciplined” [1] civil society that consisted of a
The Thirty Years War that spanned most of the Holy Roman Empire drawing in most of the European superpowers of the time started off as a much smaller rebellion in the Kingdom of Bohemia in the east of the Empire. The Bohemian revolt started with the Defenestration of Prague where two Catholic regents and a secretary were thrown out of a window by a group of frustrated Protestants. The regents had been placed in control of the city by the Holy Roman Emperor and King of Bohemia, Matthias to rule until his successor, Ferdinand of Styria, was elected to replace him. The Protestants were frustrated because their petitions to Matthias asking
Prince Otto von Bismarck and Prince Klemens von Metternich can be compared to the dual sides of a German Mark. A German Mark that has sported different faces when repeatedly tossed over the years. After 1871, the Prussian-friendly German historians hailed Bismarck as the national hero, who had united Germany while Metternich was deemed a failure. Then after the loss of the two world wars, the coin sides were flipped and Bismarck was seen as a bloodthirsty power monger while Metternich was hailed as the national hero. The things that lead to the diverse opinion of these two men were their characters, ideological backgrounds, goals and the means by which they reached their goals, their achievements and lastly, their failures. The question of
Analyze the military, political, and social factors that account for the rise of Prussia between 1640 and 1786.
Ernest Hemingway uses a lot of symbolism in “Hills like White Elephants’’ to tell the story of a young couple and their decision to have an abortion. (write a little summary of the story with ist characters so the reader is familiar with it) The most obvious symbol in this story are the white hills which, according to Jig, look like white elephants. On one hand white elephants are rare but on the other hand they are also a burden.
Ernest Hemingway’s personal experiences of love and injuries during his time at war in Europe are reflected in his novel A Farewell to Arms. Ernest Miller Hemingway was born on July 21, 1899, in Oak Park, Illinois. At a young adult age, Hemingway “...wanted very badly to enlist in the army and serve in WWI, but his poor eyesight prevented him from doing so. Instead, he became an ambulance driver for the Red Cross in Italy” (“Ernest”). World War I left Hemingway with inspiration to write about the adventures he experienced. In his novel A Farewell to Arms, Hemingway gives all of his problems to the main character Frederic Henry, from accidentally falling in love with a nurse to being injured by an Austrian mortar bomb. Hemingway portrays his
Prussia had become the most powerful state in Europe. “Most German’s were enormously proud, enormously relieved. And they