The Enlightenment: Key Ideas, Thinkers, and Impact
The Enlightenment: An Age of Reason
The Enlightenment was an 18th-century intellectual and cultural movement that questioned the foundations of the Ancien Régime. Enlightenment thinkers championed reason as the primary means of understanding the world. They rejected anything that could not withstand rational scrutiny as deception and falsehood. Tolerance was considered fundamental to human relations, and religious intolerance was strongly criticized. They believed that education and progress would
Read MoreWorld War I: Origins, Alliances, and Global Impact
The Outbreak of World War I
War broke out in Europe, and the former belligerents were the European powers. As most of them had colonies all over the world, there were also clashes on other continents. In addition, Japan and the United States intervened in the conflict, and even China entered the war as a token gesture. The intervention of countries like Brazil transformed what began as a European war into a world war.
The Spark in the Balkans
The war started in one of the areas where most conflicts
Read MoreVisigothic Kingdom: Power, Politics, and Transition
ITEM 9. Visigothic State: Policy Formation and Structure
In the Visigothic Hispanic kingdom, particularistic tendencies coexisted. Although some areas under Visigothic rule exerted force against the monarchy, the core issue was political, regardless of whether Visigothic reality was based on political or private ties. In the 20th century, two historians challenged the idea of a dual sphere of public and private political power. They argued this wasn’t derived from Germanic traditions but rather Roman
Read MoreLaw of 1839: Confirmation and Fate of Basque Fueros
Text Classification and Purpose
This text analyzes two articles of the Law of 25 October 1839. This text is classified as follows:
- Form: Law
- Content: Legal and Political
- Origin: Historical Source
Furthermore, it is a primary source as it was written contemporaneously. The law was authored by the Spanish Courts (Cortes) and initiated under the regency of María Cristina. This public text was addressed to the four Basque provinces: Biscay, Gipuzkoa, Navarre, and Álava. Its primary purpose was to ratify
Read MoreEnd of the Cold War: 1989-1991 Milestones
End of the Cold War: Key Events (1989-1991)
Revolutions of 1989 and Shifting Power
The revolutions of 1989 in Eastern Europe were historic events with multiple resonances. Firstly, they marked the collapse of communist systems built after 1945. Secondly, they signified the end of the zone of influence that the USSR had built after the victory against Nazism, often referred to as the “Soviet empire”. The Cold War, the confrontation that had marked international relations since the end of the Second
Read MoreVespasian, the Flavians, and Rome’s Colosseum Legacy
Vespasian and the Flavian Dynasty’s Rise
The emperor Vespasian (9-79 AD), the first of the Flavian dynasty, was a man of modest, non-aristocratic origins. For this reason, his arrival on the throne was a major event for the time. He sought popular favor, contrasting with the abuse of power that characterized the Empire before him.
Vespasian’s Public Works and Reforms
Vespasian undertook several key actions:
- He made many areas of Rome public, which Nero had arbitrarily privatized.
- He cleaned up state