Western Civilization from 1700

Mid-Term Exam Study Guide

Three of the following questions will be on the exam and you will choose one of them. Be prepared to write a well-organized essay answering it. Remember that you need to include a thesis in your introductory paragraph and use the body of the essay to provide evidence supporting that thesis.

1. How did the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment change the fundamental way people looked at the universe and themselves?

2. Historians have often debated whether to classify Napoleon as a military dictator within the old feudal/monarchical mold or an enlightened despot who, despite his heavy-handedness, tried to develop and foster the ideals of the Revolution. Discuss.

3. In what ways were the lives of average people changed by the Industrial Revolution (until World War I).

4. How did the intellectual activity of the mid-nineteenth century tie into the political and economic situation of the period?

5. Why did the issue of colonies become so important to the Western Powers in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries?