The Impact of the Cold War and New Scrambles for Africa - Assignment Example

Final Exam Essay Questions The Catholic Church is credited with numerous developments from the Renaissance to present. During the Renaissance period, European missionaries as well as explorers took the mission to spread Catholicism across the world, when they transverse American, African, Asia and Australia. The colonialists were awarded the rights to control the appointments of clerics in these newly discovered regions. In fact, direct contact between the clerics and Vatican was prohibited, thereby giving states express authority over the church. This kind of control did not go down well with the masses who regarded Catholic Church as the only institution which protected their interests. For example, a Dominican friar Montesinos criticized the Spanish authorities on the way they mistreated their subjects, especially the American Natives. This criticism provoked the authorities to amend parts of the Laws id Burgos. In general, more criticism of the way colonialists treated the natives caused the some sort of rebellion among the church leaders, who took interests in demanding to be included in the state administration. The establishment of the first Catholic Church in Philippines in 1521 saw the beginning of a church led governments. This was later followed by the arrival of Franciscan missionaries in Mexico, where they established their presence through direct association with Catholic Church by building missionary schools and hospitals. In England, the church played critical role in establishment of the marriage laws, particularly after Henry VIII annulled his marriage. This was after the mainstream Catholic Church was perceived too rigid to understand the people’s needs and desires. For example, the Catholic Church had tried to impose strict sexual mores on ordinary people (Sherman and Joyce 121). The Catholic Church grew unpopular, and Church of England started to offer a worthy alternative. Although they started off with very few followers, the Church of England grew faster than anticipated. Although there were increased lamentation about Catholic headed institutions’ continued traditional ways of doing things, they exerted a lot of authorities over these institutions that spread the education of the masses and establishment of the elite society with highly educated society. However, this influence has since waned as the Catholic Church strived to assert its own identity away from state. This journey started when Pope Pius XI started cutting links with the Government of Italy (Sherman and Joyce 173). Today, most of the states which were formerly controlled by the Catholic Church are independent, and the Church has remained the single biggest institution in the world. This has made it more powerful than it used to be during the Renaissance. 2. The western civilization saw the 18th Century beginning of industrial revolution in Europe. The first Industrial Revolution happened between 17902 and 1840s. This is the period that marked the adoption of common source of power used as the main driver to production of goods and services. Wind, horse, water and man formed a critical source of power the drove production. With these common sources of power, the home system was transformed to factory system of production after people like Eli Whitney and Samuel Slater developed simple machines and established factories that aided production. The first industrial revolution mainly concentrated in England because the country offered a good terrain for the tapping energy from waterfalls and wind power. During this period, women were lured to abandon farms and work in factories. It is during this period that the people experienced the Second Great Awakening, where reformers emerged, the idea of marketing and money came into focus. The slaves and women found the platform, helped by the reformers, to demand for their rights. The Second Industrial Revolution occurred between 1870 and 191o following the increasing demand for goods and services in the society. Some of the areas that needed high volumes of goods and services were areas affected by the civil war, the reconstruction of the South, the construction of the railroads in the west and mass migration from the farms to the industrial towns. Some of the main sources of power were gasoline and electricity. Big factories replaced small industries, with new innovators such as John Rockefeller, Thomas Edison, and J.P. Morgan among others dominating the industrial system. During this period, factory system transformed the working hours, with the introduction of the 24-hour operation among many factories. During this period, new markets had to be created, thus the emergence of imperialism. This is the same period that the west wanted to expand their influence on the rest of the world, to take advantage of the raw materials in those countries and market their finished products. The rise of progressive movements against imperialism was seen during this period, leading to many uprisings against the industrialists. 5. The Cold War culminated from the constant conflict of ideas, tension and covert competition that occurred between The Soviet Union led allies against the United States and her allies. Immediately after the end of World War II, The Soviet Union made several efforts to spread its communism ideologies across the globe, something that angered the United States and its allies who favoured the Capitalism or market economy. The chief protagonists on both sides of the divide, the Soviet Union and United States feared that one would attack them anytime. The Americans were particularly concerned with Stalin’s activities in some parts of Germany it had occupied, while the Soviet Union feared the Americans would use Western Europe to attack them. The war which came to a halt in 1990s after the collapse of the Soviet Union was characterized by military threats, manufacture of weapons, war of propaganda, space competition, arms race and endless proxy wars. The effects of the Cold War were felt all over the world, when the countries United States and States built massive weapons, in preparation for any attack. It also saw the formation of military pacts of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the Warsaw Pact, which were meant to act as the bargaining pact on both sides’ peace initiatives (Jackson 333). On the Asian soil, Cold War was the chief instigator of Vietnam War and Korean War. However, Soviet Union was later to collapse due to economic difficulties that could not allow them to compete at the same level with America. In Europe, the then divided German were reunified when the Berlin wall collapsed, and the Warsaw Pact dissolved. Some of the Soviet Union states and some African States achieved independence, and America became the only superpower. 9. The world’s economic boom was credited with the agricultural revolution, the growth of the cottage industry and commercial growth in Europe. Although this growth was highly intensified mainly in Great Britain, Spain, Netherlands and France, it spread in other parts of the world as the need for expansion and market increased. Agricultural revolution led to efficiency of production of both cash and food crops (Jackson 337). The large tracks of land were turned into agricultural firms, which led to many farm ownership transferred to either states or individual capitalists. Them the rises of cottage industry as people sort for alternatives to counter the diminishing land. Once the cottage industry boomed, markets were needed for small firm equipments, thus the commercialization of the industry product. This increased the international trade, and the emergence of the money market. 14. The political and economic problems that Italy and Germany went through led to a shift of power game within the two countries. Mussolini and Hitler took advantage of the discontent among the masses and coined revolutionary ideologies, which were favoured by the masses. The political and economic problem was not only unique to Italy and Germany but was a general problem across the globe. France’s invasion of a major industry caused a major strike, with the government attempting to appease the workers who went on strike by giving them money. They felt Germany’s weakness in protecting their interests were not good for the country, thus causing discontent with the then regime. In short, unemployment rate went up as nearly 40 percent of Germans remaining jobless. This led to the rise of radical groups such as Nazis. Hitler was an avid communicator and awed the masses with sleek speeches and the constant promise of hope. Italy also faced a similar problem. With serious inflation and lack of jobs for people, they turned against the government to offer quick solution. As there was fear of the elements of communism rise with the then regime, Mussolini managed to form a police unit with kept the country from the invasion of communists. The masses trusted the two leaders as they promised change, and acted with immediate demand from the masses. Works Cited Jackson, Ashley. The Impact of the Cold War and New Scrambles for Africa. Journal of South African Studies, Vol. 36, Issue 1, 2010. Sherman, Dennis and Joyce Salisbury. The West in the World: Renaissance to Present 4th Edition. London: McGraw-Hill, 2010. Read More