All Flashcards
What is the singificance (re. modern advances) of the death of Nathan Rothschild in 1836?
Richest man of the world
Died of boil/abscess causing blood poisoning
Routine infection, easily cured today by doctor/hospital/pharmacy
What are 3 causes of improved life expentancy in modern times?
- Better medicine for curing diseases e.g. knowledge of germ theory - see story of Nathan Rothschild
- Better hygiene - industrial revolution brought mass produced cotton clothes and soap (from vegetable oils)
- Better nutrition - improved food supply + transport
What struck the Turks at Gallipoli about the allied forces (in WW1)?
Aus/NZ soldiers - stronger and taller (fed on meat)
vs. smaller/skinnier Brits (from mill towns)
… so as late as WW1 there were significant differences, and Britain still had some way to go
How can we divide the world into 3 types of nations?
- Those that spen money to keep weight down
- Those that eat to live
- Those that don’t know where their next meal is coming from
How has the gap between rich and poor nations grown over time?
Today: Ireland/Norway around $100K (gdp per capita) vs. Burundi at $246 - so 400:1
250 years ago: this was perhaps 5:1 (rich to poor)
Why is it in our interest to help poor nations?
Their people will end up coming to richer nations: wealth is a magnet
What are 3 schools of thought as to why the world is split between the West and the Rest?
- Europe is good, hard-working, smarter, well organized
- Europe is rapacious, aggressive, greedy
- False dichotomy, Europe is latecomer, riding on acheivements of others
Geography DOES have an impact…
On a map of the world in terms of product or income per head, the rich countries lie in the …., particularly in the northern hemisphere; the poor countries, in the …
- temperate zones
- tropics and semi-tropics
What are the two Tropics lines?
Tropic of Cancer
Tropic of Capricorn
Is it easier for societies to deal with extreme hot or exteme cold?
extreme cold
Remember the fable of the Sun and the Wind (the Sun has more impact on humans)
What did they say in British India about the sun?
“Only mad dogs and Englishmen went out in the noonday sun”
What invention made economic prosperity possible in the New South (Atlanta, Houston, New Orleans)?
Air conditioning
Hot weather has two probems that kill productivity. what are they?
- Hard to work
- Spread of diseases (insect borne; cold winters kill these)
What is a schistosome?
aka Snail fever
Exists in African/Asian waters
Snail that hosts a worm, sends larvae into water, enters human skin
Goes to liver and intestines
Results in chills, fevers, aches - vulnerable to other illnesses
What is trypanosomiasis?
Family of diseases including sleeping sickness, Chaga’s disease, nagana (for animals)
Parasitic disease
Carried by tsetse fly
How did the French help the battle against malaria?
As colonists in Algeria they wanted to stop losses to soldiers
They drained swamps (to remove the “miasma”)
Thereby removing the true cause of the diseases (mosquitos carrying it)
Enabled millions of Algerians to live longer
What is the problem of rain in Tropical environments?
They generally average enough rainfall but timing is often irregular and unpredictable, with large downpours and then nothing
What is the average monthly rainfall in London vs. Manchester vs. Jerusalem?
London = ~50mm
Manchester = 75mm
Jerusalem = 7mm
What are trade winds?
The trade winds or easterlies are the permanent east-to-west prevailing winds that flow in the Earth’s equatorial region.
What’s a continental shelf?
Area around coast with shallow sea
What is the the name of the bottom of South America and the bottom of Africa?
Cape Horn
Cape of Good Hope
Where are the Canary Islands
Off coast of Africa, about half way down the Morroco-West Saharan land-mass
What islands are below the Canaries?
Cape Verdes
What are the key landmarks off the coast of Portugal and down West Africa?
North to South…
* Azures
* Madeira
* Canaries
* Bojador
* Verdes
* Cape of Good Hope
How do you locate the North Star?
Find the Plough and follow the blade up to the North Star
What were the challenges of the Portuguese navigating south down West Africa?
No continental shelf on that side of Africa
Southing against currents and wind
Arid coast
How can you use the North Star to work out your latitude?
Measure it’s angle - 90 degrees (i.e. straight above you then you are at north pole. If it’s 0 degrees then you are at equator
Who was the key Jewish astronomer in 14-15th C?
Abraham Zacut
Developed declination tables to work out latitude based on angle of the sun at a particular time of the year
What important information did Bartolomeu Dias bring back from his voyage in 1488?
Latitude of southern tip of Africa
Who was the Portugues prince devoted to navigation?
Henry the Navigator
built a marine research station at Sagres on a promontory overlooking the ocean and directed decades of inquiry into the science and technique of steering and sailing on the high seas.
Which Portuguese sailor came a decade after Bartolomeu Dias?
Vasco da Gama
When did da Gama set out for his voyage to the Indies?
1497
Took two years (there and back)
What did da Gama bring back from his first voyage to the Indies?
Cargo of spices
(he captured a small Muslim ship)
How did the Spanish and Portuguese methods of discovery differ?
- Portugal - methodoloy of navigation; Spain based on discvovery
- Spain - treasure; Portugal - trade
- Spain - asserted control by fact, converted natives, built buildings; Portugal putting fact of discovery on map
What are the two biggest rivers in China?
Yellow River
Yangtze River
What major policy change did the Chinese make regarding foreign policy in the 1430s?
They went from a nation of ship-buliding, ocean-going to being insular
New emperor
Focus more on agriculture, less on trade
By 1500, was a crime, punishable by death, to build a multi-mast ship
Why did China give up on rounding the tip of Africa?
Their ocean voayges were not motivated by profit/greed in the way that Spain’s Portugal’s were. China went on voyages to show off their wealth, and gain tribute. Not for commerce or wealth. these ended up being expensive (also b/c of attracting pirates) and was not worth the gain.
Who would have won in the seas if Europe fought China around 1500
Europe
Although China had bigger ships, Europe’s more navigable
Although China discoverd gunpowder first, Europe had better and longer-range weapons
Where did centralized governments apper earliest?
By river cultures
Controlling river, controls food supply, controls people
Why does Western Europe have a particularly good climate?
Gulf Stream - bringing warm water
(warm winds, gentle rain, water in all seasons)
Why was Europe slow to develop (vs. Egpyt and Sumer)?
Large forests, stifling agriculture (and building up of urban areas), until iron cutting implements came about - 1000 BCE
What’s the name of the original Chinese people?
Han
Describe development of China through the ages.
- Initial Settlement and Agriculture in Northern China: The Han people started in the north, clearing forests and practicing agriculture. Due to environmental challenges like erosion and irregular rainfall, they moved south to the loess soils along the upper Yellow River.
- Advancements in Water Control and Agriculture: In the new region, they developed water control and irrigation technology, enabling them to grow rice, which yielded more calories per area. They also improved agricultural techniques, such as using draft animals for plowing and intensive weeding, significantly increasing yields.
- Second Agricultural Revolution (8th-13th centuries): The Han continued moving south, into the Yangtze basin, adopting intensive rice cultivation in paddies. They achieved high yields through labor-intensive methods, including triple cropping, intensive fertilization, and efficient land use.
- Introduction of New Crops (17th-18th centuries): New plants like peanuts, potatoes, and sweet potatoes were introduced from distant lands, supplementing the existing rice-based agriculture.
- Consequences of Rice-Dominated Agriculture: The focus on rice had both positive and negative impacts. While rice required less nutrients and yielded more calories than temperate grains, its cultivation led to high exposure to parasites due to wading in water paddies and the use of human feces as fertilizer. This agriculture model influenced Chinese society and politics, including the avoidance of foreign slaves and the promotion of imperial authority linked to water management.
A saying from economic historians: the probability at that point in 1000 of European global dominance was somewhere around …. Five hundred years later, it was getting close to ….
Zero
One
Who were the main invaders of Europe in early times?
- Vikings/Norse from the North
- Moors (Sarcens) from the South
- Magyars from the East
What’s an early example of the battle between West and East?
Greece (democracy) vs. Persia (despotism)
What is the salient difference between democracy and despotism?
Private property
Who said: “a law against property is a law against industry”
Edmund Burke
What was a key ingredient (legal/societal) for Europe’s ascendancy?
Individual property rights
Cities flourishing
Religious dissent
Give 5 examples of inventions in Middle Ages Europe.
- Water wheel
- Eyeglasses
- Mechanical clock
- Printing
- Gunpowder
When was the Domesday census in England?
1086
When and what was the first book printed by moveable type?
Guttenberg Bible
1452-55
What is incunabula?
Books published before 1501
millions were printed
Who invented gunpowder?
Chinese in 11th C
Europeans developed it in late 13th, early 14th C
What underpinned the Europeans success at inventions?
- The Judeo-Christian respect for manual labor,
- Subordintation of nature to man
- Sense of linear time, progress
- Free markets
What was planted on the Spanish conquest islands (Canaries and Madeiras)?
Sugar cane
Where was African hub of gold trade (in time of Spanish conquests)?
Mali (controlled cross Sahara camel routes)
What is the Spanish word for knight or gentleman?
Caballero
What is the myth of the Amazons?
a race of mighty warrior women
In the Caribbean what is the name given to the larger islands and the smaller islands?
Great Antilles
Lesser Antilles
What was Adam Smith referring to when he said… this “sacred thirst” as “perhaps the most disadvantageous lottery in the world.”
Lust for gold by the Spanish
What is Noche Trista?
La Noche Triste was an important event during the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, wherein Hernán Cortés, his army of Spanish conquistadors, and their native allies were driven out of the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan. 1520
who did Hernando Cortes (Spanish conquistador) beat?
Aztecs in Mexico
Who did Francisco Pizarro capture?
Incas
What was the name of the last Inca king?
Atahualpa
Why was control of Peru (Inca) by Conquistadors harder than that of Mexico (Aztec)?
Peruvians more resistant to European pathogens (much lower mortality rate) vs. Aztecs/Mexico
What were the peoples that the Conquistadors captured (and where located)?
Aztecs - Mexico
Inca - Peru
In Inca society who was allowed to “turn on” by chewing coca?
Only the ruling elite
It was forbidden to the masses
What is the inca word for governor?
tukrikuk
He who sees all
Where does the term buccaneer come from?
Spanish America. those who roamed and killed cattle, smoking it on a grill (bocan)
Connotes daring, adventurous, reckless
What are the main islands of the Greater Antilles?
Cuba
Jamaica
Hispaniola (Haiti and DR)
Puerto Rico
Which country in South America was colonized by the Dutch?
Suriname
What was the role of the Dutch in South America?
Merchants, refiners and financiers of sugar cane
Which islands in the Caribbean did the English take in 1600?
Barbados
Jamaica
Which crop replaced cotton and tobacco in the Caribbean islands?
Sugar cane
What was French’s big prize in the Caribbean?
West part of Hispaniola (Haiti)
What happend in Haiti in 1790?
Revolts of the blacks/natives against white French (year after the French Revolution) … all were killed, apart from some doctors … became a nation state
How was the labour shortage on the New World plantations solved?
By bringing in African slaves
How many African slaves were brought across to the New World?
10 million (these are just the survivors of the voyage, could be that half died on route)
What does “seasoning” refer to?
They forced Africans to adapt to new working and living conditions, to learn a new language and adopt new customs. They called this process ‘seasoning’ and it could last two or three years.
What was the Atlantic System in the 1700’s?
Triangular trade…
* Europe exported manufactured goods to Africa.
* Africa exported enslaved Africans to the Americas.
* The Americas exported raw materials like sugar, tobacco, and cotton to Europe.
Was European industrialization built on African slavery
It probably would have happened anyway
But was made quicker (by profits from planters/merchants) causing higher demand
What was Portugal’s main exports in C15?
Port, madeira, cane sugar
What was the geograpghic span of Portugal’s empire?
Three quarters of the way round the world
Brazil to Spice Islands / Japan
How did the Portuguese treat Muslims (on their conquests)?
As foes
…
On his second voyage of 1502, Vasco da Gama capped a victory over a Muslim flotilla before Calicut by cutting off the ears, noses, and hands of some eight hundred “Moors” and sending them ashore to the local ruler with the facetious suggestion that he make curry of them. And one of his captains, his maternal uncle Vincente Sodre (whose name deserves to be remembered ad opprobrium), flogged the chief Muslim merchant at Cannanore (Malabar coast) until he fainted, then stuffed his mouth with excrement and covered it with a slab of pork to make sure he ate the filth.
What happened in 1600 to Portuguese colonies?
They were kicked out by Dutch and Persians
But kept onto Goa until 1961 (East Coast of India)
When was the first voyage of the Dutch to the East Indies?
1595
Why was spice important in the olden days C15-16 etc?
Necessity to preserve meat
What happened to Jews in Portugal in C15?
A lot moved from Spain in 1492
Forced baptism in Lisbon 1497
Pogrom in 1506 (2,000 converted Jews dead)
Inquisition in 1540’s
What happened to Portugal society in C16?
- Inquisition
- Lack of original thought and scientific enquiry
- Heavily controlled by Church
- No more Portuguese went to study abroad
- Books were heavily censored
…
Diogo do Couto, referring in 1603 to “the meanness and lack of curiosity of this our Portuguese nation”; and Francis Parry, the English envoy at Lisbon in 1670, observing that “the people are so little curious that no man knows more than what is merely necessary for him”; and the eighteenth-century English visitor Mary Brearley who remarked that “the bulk of the people were disinclined to independence of thought and, in all but a few instances, too much averse from intellectual activity to question what they had learned.”
How did Spain get entangled with the Netherlands in C16?
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, became King of Spain through marriage to Juana (daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella) … he also had title to Burgundy (including Low Countries, which included Netherlands)
What was source of tension between Spain and Netherlands in C16?
Clash between Habsburgs of Spain (Catholic) and Calvinists (Protestants) of Netherlands, all part of one crown
What did Martin Luther do, and in what year?
Nailed his Ninety-five theses to church door in Wittenberg, 1517
In what way did Spain suppress the Netherlands in C16?
Brought in the Inquisition in 1522-23
Ordered executions
Who were the major men of Dutch sea voyaging in C16?
Cornelis de Houtman
Jan Huyghen
What major company was born in Netherlands in 1602?
Dutch East India Company
…Vereenigde Oost-indische Compagnie (VOC), alias Jan Compagnie.
What lands were the focus of the Dutch East India Company?
Spice Islands
What products were grown on the spice islands
clove, nutmeg, cinnamon, mace
What did the VOC be came to be known as following its demise?
Vergaan onder Corruptie (Perished by corruption).
B/c individuals were doing a lot of their own trade (as well as the official company business)
What did the Dutch do with coffee in the Age of Exploration?
Grew it in Island of Java
(it was originally grown in Mocha in the Arabian Peninsula)
What was the average dividend of the VOC?
18%
What was Adam Smith referring to when he called the Dutch’s approach “so perfectly destructive a system”
Creating a command economy, not free market, dictating what should be produced and where, e.g. with cloves - moving it all to one island with strict instructions on quotas, and forcing growers to buy food from the VOC
What was the fate of the Dutch East India Company?
Holland at war with England in late 1700s
Sales were down by almost two thirds
Dutch state took over the company (and their empire)
What change in policy and practice did the Dutch employ with their empire in late 1800s?
1870 - moved to free market system
Two new high growth products: rubber and oil
Where did the Dutch find oil? which company came out of this?
Borneo and Sumatra in late 1880’s
Founding of Royal Dutch Shell in 1890
When did the Dutch give up their East India empire?
Lost islands temporarily in WW2 to Japan
Regained them with Japan’s defeat
Granted Indonesia independence in 1949
Name some areas of Indonesia?
Sumatra
Borneo
Java
Spice Islands
Papua (West part of PNG)
What does the Roman saying: Pecunia non olet mean?
Money does not smell
What event aroused the English interest in travelling to the East Indies?
At war with Spain in 1592
They seize a Portuguese ship - Madre de Deus
Full of riches
Queen Elizabeth sends Sir Walter Raleigh to take her share
10 freighters were needed to carry the loot up the Thames and into London
Which cities did the English work from originally in India?
- West Coast - Surat and Bombay (Mumbai)
- East Coast - Madras (Chennai) on the South), up the Bay of Bangal - Calcutta
What was the main good that the English traded in India?
Cotton yarn/textiles, exported to Europe
707,000 pieces in the 1680s
How did England find desirable items with which to trade with China?
Grew opium (in Bengal)
Who were the Moghuls?
Turkic nomads
Came from central Asia to attack India
Timur - Babar - Akbar - Jahangir (the latter two England found on the throne when they came to India in C16-17)
What was the religion of the Moghuls?
Sunni Muslim
Why was there great disparity of wealth under teh Moghuls?
- No private property
- If a peasant had wealth, it risked being seized
- NO incentive to better the land on which they worked
- Also agents were moved around by the ruler, so not invested in bettering the land
What is the massacre of the Black Hole?
Punishment inflicted by the Nawab
1756 Calcutta
Crammed ~150 English prisoners into a tiny space on a hot night; almost all had died by morning
Who led the English forces in India in 1750s against the Moghul?
Robert Clive
accountant-turned-commander
Who did the British install as Nawab after their victory?
Mir Jafar
What was the perfidy against Omichund?
He mediated and lied on behalf of the English, against the Nawab
In the promise of a great return
That never materialised; he was tricked by Robert Clive
hidalgo meaning?
lower nobility of Spain
What did Italy do during the Great Opening?
Not much - no Italian ships crossing the Atlantic
Caught in Inland Sea
Old structures - guild controlled made change difficult
Why did Spain decline?
Over-reliance on gold
Didn’t invest in industry
Ended up defaulting three times in C16
How did Max Weber explain the rise of capitalism in Northern Europe?
Promoted by Protestant work ethic: hard work, honesty, seriousness, the thrifty use of money and time (both lent us by God).
…
It was the way that mattered, and riches were at best a by-product.
Compare the Catholic and Protestant views on gambling
Both think it is bad
Catholic - b/c you might lose
Protestant - b/c you might win!
By the end of the C16, England was overwhelmingly which religion?
Protestant
What does imprimateur mean?
“Let it be printed”
safe books during the times of the Inquisition, C16
When was Galileo condemned by the Roman Church and for what?
in 1633
For his heliocentric view of the universe
Galileo was a … debater.
Fill in the word meaning (of a person) formidable, especially as an opponent.
Redoubtable
What was Galileo’s final word after his “confession”?
“Eppure si muove”
[Say what you will, it moves]
What happened to the Jews of Sicily in 1492?
Sicily owed allegiance to crown of Castille
So were asked to expel their Jews
Beforehand Jews had to sell their assets, settle debts, could not bear arms
What are three themes of what happened during the industrial revolution?
- Machines to make stuff
- Energy/power inanimate (engines)
- New, more abundant raw materials (replacing vegetable and animal resources)
What were the main milestones of the steam engine?
Development spanned 200 years…
* Thomas Savery (1698) - steam, pump
* Thomas Newcomen (1705) - piston
* James Watt (1768) - more fuel efficient, could be used outside of mines
* Using multiple pistons (compounding) - 1850s
* Rotarty motion using turbines - 1884
What did Abraham Darby do?
Develop process for coke-smelting iron (more efficient than doing it with coal)
Caolbrookdale in Shropshire
In 1709
What are the major developments in iron/steel production in the Industrial Revolution?
- Abraham Darby (1709) - coke-smelting of iron to make pig iron suitable for castings
- Henry Cort (1780s) - refining this product
- Bessemer process (1856) - cheaper production of steel, now suitable for making rails and ship building
When was the Industrial Revolution?
1770-1870
“the entire interval between the old order and the establishment of a fairly stable relationship of the different aspects of industry under the new order.”
What are the two types of yarn
warp - strong, lenghtwise
weft - fine, left-to-right
Describe the inventions that shaped cotton manufacture over 60 years
- James Hargreaves - spinning jenny (1767)
- Thomas Arkwright - water frame (1769)
- Samuel Crompton - mule (1779)
- Edmund Cartwright - power loom (1787)
- Richard Roberts - self acting mule (1830)
What ship was the first fitted with a rotary steam engine?
Dreadnought
1905
British, big-gun battleship
What is scholasticism?
Scholasticism is a medieval school of philosophy that developed in Europe during the Middle Ages, particularly flourishing between the 12th and 17th centuries. It played a central role in medieval education and was primarily concerned with reconciling the philosophy of the ancient classical philosophers, like Aristotle, with Christian theology.
When were the telescope and microscope invented?
c. 1600
Which two men were responsible for calculus?
Isaac Newton
Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz
Who invented the logarithms method and when?
John Napier
1614
Turned multiplications into problems of addition
Useful for navigation and astronomy
When was London’s Royal Society founded?
1660
When was the Principia published?
1687
What did Huygens invent in 1675?
Balance spring
used in watch making
Which inventor claimed that he had already created many of the inventions that were announced in 1600s?
Robert Hooke
Why did industrial revolution happen to cotton as opposed to wool?
At start of 1700 wool was much bigger industry than cotton. But…
Wool threads were not easy to work with the new spinning machines
Also a lot of vested power and reistance in wool industry (can’t teach an old dog new tricks)
What’s a backwards bending supply curve?
As wages increase, people are initially incentivized to work more because they can earn more. However, beyond a certain point, as wages continue to rise, people might choose to work less because they can earn the same amount as before in fewer hours. This phenomenon leads to a “backward-bending” supply curve, where the supply of labor decreases as wages increase beyond a certain point.
Why did merchants want to move away from the cottage system of cotton (putting out)?
- Couldn’t keep up with demand
- Even with raising the wages, did not increase supply (backwards bending supply curve)
- Cottagers would keep some of the cotton for themselves (their own side line) leading to poor quality
- Weavers played long into the week, worked hard towards the end, Fridays might work through the night
- Factories would allow for supervision and quality control
Who is Tycho Brahe
Danish astronomer
1573
Used naked eye (rather than telescope) to make observations about the night’s sky
What movement in England in the C18 helped commercialise agriculture
Enclosure movement
Moving away from open, collective fields to closed, bordered, private holdings
Which two factors gave the conditions for the Industrial Revolution to happen in England?
- Agriculture - to make workers available for industry, and to feed them
- Trasnportaion (canals and roads) - increasing market size and allowing for specialization by region (e.g. Sheffield for steel, cotton in Manchester)
Draw a map of the UK and list the major cities
See Google Maps!
When was the Hundred Years War and what was it about?
The Hundred Years’ War (French: Guerre de Cent Ans; 1337–1453) was a series of armed conflicts fought between the kingdoms of England and France during the Late Middle Ages. It originated from English claims to the French throne.
If India had the best cotton industry in C17-18, why was there no industrial revolution there?
- Easier, cheaper to hire extra labourers - supply was elastic
- Hard work seen as approporiate - not interested in making things easier
- Segmentation - merchants were not involved in the making process (compare to “putting out” in England where merchants supply the raw materials)
- East India Company didn’t want to help, b/c politically it was seen as undesirable
- No mindset of innovation, science in India at that time (non iron culture)
What story illustrates Indian culture resisting change from manual, inefficient processes in C19
the British engineers who built the Indian railways understood that Indian labor, cheap as it was, would move earth and rock by hand; but they also took for granted that the Indians would use wheelbarrows. Not at all: the Indians were used to moving heavy burdens in a basket on their head and refused to change. We even have one report of Indian laborers placing barrows on their head rather than wheel them.
What is Albion?
a poetic or literary term for Britain or England (often used in referring to ancient or historical times)
Re. England’s Industrial Revolution:
*It took the quickest of the European “follower countries” something more than […] to catch up (see Table 16.1).
*
a century
Describe the feudal system
- Hierarchical System: Medieval Europe’s feudal system was a hierarchy with the king at the top, followed by nobles (lords) who controlled land and serfs/peasants who worked it in exchange for protection and the right to live on it.
- Land and Loyalty: Lords owned the land and granted parts of it (fiefs) to vassals (lesser nobles and knights) in exchange for military service, while serfs were bound to the land, providing labor and a share of their agricultural produce to their lord.
- Obligations and Services: The system was based on reciprocal duties, with vassals and serfs owing service, military support, and part of their economic output to the lords, who in turn provided governance and protection.
Why did Prussia (East Germany) emancipate the serfs in 1809?
B/c of defeats against the French
And realization that serfs will not fight as hard vs. free men
In Russia, a progressive reinforcement of the peasant’s obligations, reducing him to near-slave status, is known as what?
The second serfdom
What happened in Russia in 1861-66, re. peasants
There was general emancipation of serfs
When was the German Empire founded and by who?
Chancellor Bismarck proclaimed the German Empire in the Hall of Mirrors, 18/Jan/1871
Why did England more than any other country have an Industrial Revolution earlier?
3 factors
- Emancipation of peasantry by 1500
- Guilds - weaker than in other places, putting out was allowed e.g.
- Transportation - lack of tolls and fees (The British had little to do along these lines: their local tolls had largely disappeared by the fifteenth century; as a result they had the largest national market in Europe.)
What’s the story with the river Scheldt and international trade?
- Flows form Northern France, past Antwerp and into the Sea.
- Mouth of river in Holland territory
- They closed it to trade (so that Antwerp would not be a major port, thus protecting Rotterdam)
- In 1830, Belgian independence, once again there were levies
- Until 1863, when Belgium could negotiate free access
Although Spain was late to industrialize, which part of Spain got there earlier?
Catalonia (Barcelona is part of it)
Mechanized textile manufacture as early as C18
When did Italy unify?
1870
What is Mezzogiorno and how is it currently peforming?
Southern half of Italy
Remains backwards despite large subsidies
Dotted with idel factories, unfinished housing projects, roads that go nowhere
Draw map of Italy and list the major cities
See Google maps
Whta’s a metic?
a foreigner living in an ancient Greek city who had some of the privileges of citizenship
What happened in the Crimean War?
1854-56
- Participants: The war was primarily between Russia and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, Britain, and Sardinia.
- Causes: It began due to conflicts over religious rights in the Holy Land, then controlled by the Ottoman Empire, and broader concerns about Russian expansionism.
- Outcome: The war ended with the Treaty of Paris in 1856, which restricted Russian naval power in the Black Sea and acknowledged the Ottoman Empire’s independence.
- Legacy: The Crimean War is known for its harsh conditions, poor medical facilities (prompting the work of Florence Nightingale), and as a precursor to modern warfare techniques and technologies.
How was the Industrial Revolution financed in England?
- Self-funded or with partners
- Couldn’t rely on issuing stock (b/c of the 1720 Bubble Act restricting that)
- In C19, use made of chartered joint stock, limited liability - needed approval by Crown/Parliament
- Banks had limited role here, b/c they were not big enough
What did the Bubble Act of 1720 inhibit?
Creation of joint stock companies with freely transferrable shares
When Europe played catch up with England it needed lots of capital. What are the four sources?
- Personal investment
- Financial intermediaries
- Government
- Inernational capital flows
Which Bank helped provide capital to French infrastructure projects in C19?
Société Générale du Crédit Mobilier
Raised capital through shares and bonds and took an active role in developments - taking stakes in companies, initiating projects etc.
Went bust in 1867
Which development banks promoted industry in Germany in C19?
D-Banken
…
D-Banken (so-called because their names all began with the same letter): the Darmstädter Bank, Discontogesellschaft, Deutsche Bank, Dresdner Bank.
What was the impact of the 1848 Revolution on trade in France?
(background: discontent at unemployment, food shortages, and corrupt rule of King Louis Philippe - ruling since 1830; resulted in eleciton of Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte, nephew of Napoleon)
End of protectionist tariffs, allowed for cheaper goods to come in from England (cotton textiles, ships…)
Between 1860 and 1914, Russia went from the […] to the […] largest industrial power in the world.
7th to 5th
…
No small achievement, but long forgotten, because later, after the revolutions of 1917, Communist spokesmen and their foreign adulators rewrote history so as to blacken the reputation of the tsarist regime, while throwing favorable testimonies down the memory hole.
What was the name of the Russian parliament set up before WW1?
Duma
(set up in the wake of defeat to Japan in 1904-05)
In what way was the collapse of Russia in C20 similar to that of Spain’s long decline (from the Age of Exploration)
The whole sequence was a repeat in its way of Spain’s long decline: a great preindustrial power could not cope with the demands and pretensions of better-equipped nations. And like Spain, Russia knew what was happening, but responded with too little, too late.
Why was the train track from Moscow to St Petersburg slightly kinked?
Tsar drew a straight line with a ruler, but there was a slight cuve where one of his fingers stuck out
What is the name of the large French iron works set up in C19?
Le Creusot
Who was John Law?
Scottish expat in France, who instigated (1718-20) the recruitiment of British specialists in areas such as watch-making, metals, wool manufacturing etc.; some 200-300 people
What French school, set up in 1794, trained the best and brightest - the “technocracy”?
Ecole Polytechnique
Who produced the first and most important electrical inventions?
Thomas Edison
incadenscent lighting (1879)
electric motors
What is the Second Industrial Revolution?
Starting late C19, continuing into C20
Liquid and gas fuels
Electricity
Radio and Telephone
Cars and domestic appliances
For the Second Industrial Revolution, as well as the inventions, it was also and above all the role of [….]
Formally transmitted knowledge
…
But not until the late nineteenth century does science get ahead and precede technique.
Now would-be inventors and problem solvers found it profitable to survey the literature before undertaking their projects; or for that matter, before conceiving their objective—what to do and how to do it.
How much carbon does steel contain?
1.2-1.5%
What are the finest example of steel products?
Samurai swords
The finest examples of this kind of work are the famous Japanese samurai swords, which still hold their edge and gleam after five centuries.
What is crucible steel and who invented it?
1740
Benjamin Hutchinson
Watch maker
Heat the steel to liquid, so that the carbon spreads out evenly through the iron
…
The technique would remain a British monopoly for about three quarters of a century—not for want of would-be imitators.
What substance can be used to relieve the symptoms of malaria?
Quinine
…
British were keen to grow it to help people in India
With whom did the chemical dye industry start?
William Henry Perkin
1838
Chemist
Tried to produce quinine but ended up discovering blue colour (as a derivative from coal tar)
Why did Germany overtake the chemical dye industry from England within a generation (i.e. by 1880)?
Due to better trained chemists needed to generate innovation
What are the three economic factors for production?
Land
Labour
Capital
When did the Pilgrims come to America and in which vessel?
1620
Mayflower
What is the theory of the “vent for surplus”?
- Colonists come into new areas
- Focus on export of primary products
- Raising incomes at home
- Promotes markets for manufactures
- Whilst financing development of industry and balanced economy
How do some economists explain superiority of US vs. South American devleopment, focusing on differences in resources?
- America has abundant land, fertile
- Good weather for cotton
- Rich deposits for iron making
- Coal and wood - plenty!
- Petroleum
- Waterpower along the east coast
- Lines of access: Rivers and well indented coastline
- … US focused in its early development, on growing cotton and tobacco
What are the two big mountain ranges in the USA?
Rockies in the West
Appalachians in the East
Apart from resoruces what two factors made US ripe for quick development?
Small-holdings
High wages of labourers
…
These encouraged ambition, enterprise, learning lots of skills, readiness to embrace machinery
Describe the American system of manufacturing?
Standardization
Simplifying tasks and dividing, making them repetitive
…
leading to ruthless productivity
By which year did the US have the largest economy?
1870
When was Adam Smith’s major work published?
1776
How did Britain try to reign in its American colony from being too successful?
absolute prohibition that Britain had imposed on its North America colonies not to build steel furnaces or slit mills; nor to make finished iron and steel articles even for their own consumption
When was the Civil War in the US?
1861-65
What was the difference in method of propogations North vs. South America?
North - whole families came, pushed the natives aside (apartheid)
South - the men came, and married the native women (sometimes having whole harems)
What was the difference in freedom of thought between North and South America?
North - open to new ideas
South - brought the inquisition across, restriction on thoughts and ideas
What’s the name of the descendants of mixed Spanish + native unions?
mestizos
…
The mixed bloods became the overseers, the foremen, the shopkeepers, the petty officials.
What was the difference in revolution between North and Latin America?
North - they made their revolution (challenged their rulers, picked the issues…)
Latin - born out of weakness of Spain at home
What’s the word for macho warlordism (in Latin America)?
caudillismo
What happened to Latin America after it gained independence? Economically
It stayed within certain areas: mining, forestry, cattle-ranching
Avoided industrialization; dependent on other nations for these goods
How did Latin America get its ports, railways and plants built?
By foreigners
Resulting in resentment
In colonial Argentina, the price of a horseshoe was several times that of …
a horse!
not surprising: the horses outnumbered the shoes
What’s the name for a narrow strip of land that connects two larger landmasses and separates two bodies of water e.g. Panama
Isthmus
About Argentina: “In a macho society with values inherited from Spain, adulthood brought males “complete independence and […]”
idleness
When did Argentina gain independence?
Break from Spain: 1816
Argentine republic claimed: 1862
When were black slave imports to USA banned?
1807
After that, could only use existings slaves and their offsrping
Which landlocked country is surrounded by Brazil, Bolivia, Argentina?
Paraguay
What was Argentina’s major growth area in the last third of the C19?
Livestock
Hides, wool, tallow, salt-beef
What innovation helped the Argentinian economy in 1880s?
Refrigeration
Helped with exporting frozen beef, or chilled meats
Which region is at the southern tip of South America?
Patagonia
In Portuguese-Brazil which immigrants were let in?
Catholic
Could be ANY nationality
Contrast this with Spanish Argentina
Who (and when) was the first leader of Paraguay?
Dr. Gaspar Rodriguez de Francia,
Self-proclaimed dictator
1811
Who were the Jacobins?
a member of a democratic club established in Paris in 1789. The Jacobins were the most radical and ruthless of the political groups formed in the wake of the French Revolution, and in association with Robespierre they instituted the Terror of 1793–4.
What was Francia’s policy in Paraguay?
To build on Guarani character of the country
Forbade whites to intermarry with each other, they had to choose spouse from black/indian/mulatto population
What was the revolutionary nature of Paraguay on its independence?
Run by dictators: Francia and then Lopez (father and son)
Universal education
Sparta nature - disciplined, brave, egalitarian
Threatened balance of the region; provoked neighbouring countries
What happend in South America in 1864?
Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina join forces to crush Paraguay
How many Paraguyans died in the 1864 war against its neighbours? Percentage
About 70%
What is Paraguay’s current GDP and population?
GDP = $40b
Population = 6.7m
Descibe the Ming Dynasty character, encountered by visitors in C16 from Europe.
Self confident
Emporer described as “Son of god”
Practice of kowtowing, kneeling and touching head 9 times to ground before emperor
Mandarins selected by exam, based on knowledge of Confucius
Submissive in the extreme to superiors
Convinced of its greatness, with nothing to learn from others
Describe Confucian philosophy.
Moral Virtue and Ethical Conduct: Emphasizes the importance of personal morality, ethical governance, and the continuous pursuit of self-improvement and learning.
Importance of Family and Social Harmony: Stresses filial piety, respect for elders, and maintaining harmonious relationships, both within the family and in society at large.
Hierarchical Social Order and Role Ethics: Advocates for a well-ordered society based on structured hierarchical relationships, where everyone understands and fulfills their societal roles and duties.
How did the Europeans (Catholics) impress the Chinese on their visits?
By showing them mechanical clocks (around since late C13)
What was the Ming dynasty’s approach to watches/time keeping?
Luxury items for the authorities; not the masses
What did the Jesuits try to bring to the Ming Dynasty, but with only limited success, due to resistance of new ideas?
- Mechanical clocks
- Cannon technology
- Science ideas e.g. astronomy, mathematics etc.
Why was imperial China against sciene/progress (of the European tradition)?
- Lack of institutions, to build on findings from one generation to another
- Lack of exchange of ideas, testing, improving
- Bias towards metaphysics, based on Confucian ideas: “With the microscope you see the surface of things…. But do not suppose you are seeing the things in themselves.”
When did the Ming Dynasty rule?
1368 to 1644
When did the Qing Dynasty rule?
1644-1912
What is the “marker” that the Qing dynasty imposed on its subject - the Han Chinese - to show its authority?
All men required to have the pigtail haircut (a Qing custom)
What gift of agriculture did the Europeans bring to the Chinese, allowing them to grow produce on upland, barren soil?
Potatoes, sweet potatoes, peanuts
Where is Beijing?
North East China
What was the state of Japanese politics which explorers found in C16?
Small kingdoms at war with each other
What was the Japanese reaction to the new explorers (contrasted with China)?
Welcomed them, in contast to the Chinese approach (which was one of suspicion)
Wanted to learn from them e.g. shooting down birds
Welcomed the possibility of trade and the gains that it could bring
Describe the mindset of the Japanese, encountered by the European travellers? Ie how did they see themselves?
- Eager to learn
- Mythology: ruler desceneded from sun-goddess and a land at centre of creation
- Destinted to rule over East Asia
- Inherited much from China (Buddhism, ideograms, dress, language, Confucianism, …)
- Learners but still with a feeling of superiority
What was the reception of the Japanese to the Christian religion?
Initially enthusiastic both amongst the leaders and the populace
But then suspicion (saw Christian spread as paving the way to European conquest)
Banned by Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1612
At that point there were 300-700k Christians in population of 18m
Led to persecution - a Spanish Inquisition against Christians
In 1597, Spanish galleon washes up on Japanese shores. What is the reaction of the ruler, Tayotomi Hideyoshi?
- Pilot tries to intimidate him be mentioning King Phillip and his vast empire
- He refused to return the cargo
- Crucifies 26 Christians (mix of Japanese and Europeans)
What is hara kiri?
ritual suicide by disembowelment with a sword, formerly practiced in Japan by samurai as an honorable alternative to disgrace or execution
What is the name for the Samurai military code?
Bushido
What change occured in Japan society in the 1600s?
Isolationist
Foreigners banned (except in very small number)
Travel barred
Strict social hierarchies
Goal: Prevent disagreement and conflict
Current population of Japan?
126m
What was the bakufu in Japan?
The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the Edo shogunate, was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868.
What is the system of sankin kotai?
Under Tokugawa shogunate
Rulers had to divide their time between Edo (Tokyo) and their Han
Wife and children left in Edo
Formal requests needed to go back to Han
Way of exerting control from the centre and draining the rulers resources (system was expensive for them)
What was the Japanese response to European imports of clocks and guns?
Guns - they initially took to them but then were banned under Tokugawa; could cause too much trouble. It also equalized things too much: a commoner could shoot the finest Samurai
Clocks - they ran with it, creating their own tradition of watch making, making them portable / wearable - watches
What happened to Nicolas Fouquet, finance minister to Louis XIV, from 1653?
Invited Louis to new Chateau, he became jealous because of its grandeur, took Nicolas to trial, life imprisonment
What city was the largest in the world by C18?
Edo, now known as Tokyo
…
fishing village at the end of the sixteenth century, was the largest city in the world in the eighteenth, with over 1 million people out of perhaps 26 million for the nation as a whole.
Where is Tokyo?
Main Japan island
East, centre
What is rangaku?
In Tokugawa Japan, authorities’ relaxation to allow study of foreign materials - ran related to Oranda = Holland
When was the Meiji restoration?
1868-1889
What’s the story of Satsuma (in Japan)?
- South Western tip of Japan
- 1825 bankrupt; 1831 repudiation of debt by authorities
- Within 20 years was thriving through growing of sugar cane
- Then moved into cotton manufacture
- Built up army based on samurais
- Resisted the new Meiji restoration, fought them in 1878 and lost - beautiful swords no match for guns
In what way was the Meiji period a restoration rather than a rebellion?
Returned rule to the old emperor’s family which were in power pre-Tokugawa
Was not seen as disloyalty but a higher loyalty
What did Meiji do bring the country into modern times?
Standardised time (equal hours)
Mandatory education (boys then girls)
Universal conscription into army
Western dress
Who was assassinated 10 years after Meiji restoration?
Okubo Toschimichi
Home minister and principal builder of the new Japan
5 of the 6 assassin group were samurais
In which area of manufacturing did the Japanese show that “it pays to be late”?
Use of electricity
Rapid adoption and expansion
Ahead of USA and GB in its use to power manufacturing
What was the first non-Western country to industrialize?
Japan
What’s a gringo?
Person (usually American) who is not Hispanic or Latino
When was Islam founded?
622
Marking flight of Muhammad from Mecca to Medina
When did Western Roman Empire fall?
476
What was the most important event in Eurasian history in the middle ages?
Sweep of Islam
When Europeans came to Indian Ocean they found Islam in parts of China, Philippines, East Africa, South East Europe- Danube basin, trade routes of Central Asia
Describe the differences between the two rushes of power: Islam in the Middle Ages and Christian Europe in the Age of Exploration?
Islam - warriors on horses, motivated by G-d and history
Christians - gunpowder, motivated by loot and sustainable profit; willing to leave their empires behind when the cost was too high
Who took back Jerusalem for Islam from the infidels in 1187?
Saladin
Who did Sadam Hussein invoke when taking on the coalition after his seizing of Kuwait in 1990-91?
Saladin
(Kurdish chief who took back Jerusalem from the infidels)
Name two places where the tide was turned against Islam (by Christianity) in C17?
Indian (Moghuls)
Ottoman Empire
Name two river systems in/around India.
Indus (Pakistan)
Ganges (East)
What’s a sahib? Indian
a polite title or form of address for a man.
When did the Ottomans capture Constantinople?
1453
(putting an end to the Roman Empire)
How did the Ottoman Empire start out?
- Osmanlis tribe
- Penetrated into North West Anatolia
- Brought into help with the Byzanitne Civil War, and ended up staying and conquering
- Took over Constantinople in 1453
Where is Istanbul?
Thin stretch of land between Asia Minor and Europe (isthmus!)
What is suzerainty?
A relation between states in which a subservient nation has its own government, but is unable to take international action independent of the superior state
Where is the Bosphorous?
The strait between Black Sea and Sea of Marmmara; separating Europe and Asia Minor
What sea is to the right of the Black Sea?
The Caspian Sea
How was succession settled in the Ottoman Empire
Goes to most able, later oldest, son
Rivals strangled
Heir is kept in harem safely, isolation - from C17 typically a non-entity for others to be played
Who are the janissaries?
Elite unit to protect the sultan in Istanbul (Ottoman)
Became powerful and “kingmaker”
Until they were removed in 1826 by force (six to ten thousand dead)
Who were the Mamelukes?
- A corps that had taken over Egypt (1254-1517)
- Continued ruling it even after Ottoman Conquest
- Eventually Albanian came, Mehemet Ali (sulatn’s viceroy)
- Invited Mameluk chiefs to banquet, closed the doors and had them all shot (1811) … end of 550 year rule
What does byzantine mean?
excessively complicated, and typically involving a great deal of administrative detail
What were the problems of the Ottoman Empire that caused its decline vs. the West?
- Behind in armaments (cannon, war ships,…) - tried to keep up by buying from the English (who flouted a papal ban on selling arms to them)
- West getting ahead in trading: manufactures, making silk, paper, coffee, sugar
- Islamic ban on the printing press
- Byzantine beureaucracy
- Its system was flawed: “The Ottoman state was a plunder machine which needed booty or land to fuel itself, to pay its way, to reward its officer class.”
Mehmet Ali, viceroy of Egypt, brings in Louis-Alexis Jumel to help with setting up industry. What did he create?
Cotton industry
jumel cotton
Known for being thin and tough
What did jumel cotton exports from Egypt help to finance?
Suez Canal
(Built 1859 to 1869)
Why did Mehmet Ali’s industrial revolution in Egypt fail?
Europe/Briatain forced them to drop the barrier to imports - making it difficult to build up a market (“capitalist assassination”)
Poor quality final product
Poor working conditions, brutality
Corruption / inefficiency of managers
Relied on animal power to keep the machines going - difficult in hot countries
Lack of maintenace for machines - fell apart
Who was the female leader of Pakistan?
Benazir Bhutto
Women have the vote in which of the following countries:
Turkey
Iran
Egypt
All of them!
What is the essential female Japanese garment called?
kimono
What might Muslim Arabs hold up as a counter example to the idea that female supression holds back industrialization?
Japan
…
But the comaprison is not correct b/c in Japan women have more rights/prominence vs. Arab countries - e.g. schooling, presence in public space, managing the household including its industry, entering workforce until marriage
Who was it said that imperialism is the “highest stage of capitalism”?
Lenin
Give an example of a long held national hatred between Turks and Serbs?
The Turks defeated the Serbs at Kossovo in 1389; the Turks have long forgotten, but the Serbs have made reversal of this defeat the lodestone of their national aspirations.
What’s the capital of Serbia?
Belgrade
What’s the deal with Kosovo?
Breakaway part of Serbia; declared independence in 2008
Majority are ethnic Albanian (Ottoman Muslims), who wanted independednce from Serbs (East Orthodox Christians)
Culminated in UN intervention in 1999
Status: subject to international dispute
Where is the fertile cresent?
In shape, from Persian Gulf, up thorugh Eurphrates, Tigris, down through top half of Israel and to the Nile (Egypt)
In 1898, British governor in West Africa had two cricket pitches built, one for Europeans, one for natives. What happened next?
Started playing each other sportingly
Became racial contests
When natives started winning, were discontinued
Which institution played a leading role in the agriculture of the Empire - moving species around and growing them in different countries?
Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew
Where is Burma?
Between India and Thailand
What was the New Imperialism?
Starting 1860s
European landgrab of Africa (+ some islands in Asia and Pacific)
What were the only two countries in Africa not colonized by Europe?
Liberia - Americans returned blacks to their home
Ethiopia - Italians tried and failed
Where is Khartum?
Capital of Sudan
List former African colonies? Britain
- Nigeria
- Egypt
- South Africa
- Sudan
- Ghana (formerly the Gold Coast)
- Kenya
- Uganda
- Zambia (formerly Northern Rhodesia)
- Zimbabwe (formerly Southern Rhodesia)
- Tanzania (formed by the union of Tanganyika, a former British territory, and Zanzibar)
- Sierra Leone
- Malawi (formerly Nyasaland)
- The Gambia
- Botswana (formerly Bechuanaland)
- Lesotho (formerly Basutoland)
- Swaziland (now Eswatini)
- Somalia (British Somaliland)
- Cameroon (British Cameroons, partially)
- Mauritius
- Seychelles
Who was Belgium’s king at the time of their colonization of Africa?
King Leopold
What and where is Bermuda?
British terrirory
Island quarter of the way into the Atlantic from Atlanta
How has the number of nations grown after WW2, b/c of independence?
Tripled
Each gets a vote in the UN
What is striking about Burma’s actions post independence?
(aka Myanmar)
It went into self-imposed embargo
Canibalized vehicles to keep them running
Gasoline so black that it spurted poison
France implemented French schools system in colonies; best students went onto French universities, sometimes turning them into leaders of rebellions. Give two examples…
Pol Pot - Cambodia
Ho Chi Minh - Vietnam
What were Japan’s former colonies?
Taiwan
Korea
What was the reaction of the imperial powers after WW2 to their colonies?
France - clinging on (to Indochina, Algeria)
Britain (India, Palestine) and Holland (Indonesia)- couldn’t wait to let it go
When did Algeria gain independence from France?
On July 5, 1962, Algeria declared its independence after 132 years of French occupation. The transition was chaotic and violent, but inspired revolutionaries worldwide.
What were the navigation acts?
Laws passed in C17…
- Trade Restriction: Mandated that colonial trade be conducted using English or colonial ships, and certain goods could only be exported to England.
- Economic Benefit: Aimed to enrich England by controlling colonial trade and resources, benefiting English merchants and shipbuilders.
- Colonial Discontent: Led to resentment in the colonies, contributing to tensions that eventually sparked the American Revolution.
What is mercantilism?
Mercantilism is an economic theory and practice that was prevalent in Europe during the 16th to 18th centuries. Key features of mercantilism include:
Wealth as Power: It views the accumulation of wealth, particularly gold and silver, as essential for national power. Wealth was often measured by the amount of these metals a nation possessed.
Favorable Balance of Trade: Mercantilists believed that to accumulate wealth, a country must have a positive balance of trade, meaning it should export more than it imports.
Colonialism and Monopolies: Under mercantilism, colonies were seen as sources of raw materials and markets for finished goods. This led to the establishment of trade monopolies and restrictive trade practices like the Navigation Acts.
Who were the two Williams who invaded England and when?
William the Conqueror (of Normandy) - 1066
William of Orange - 1688
What did the Whigs call the William of Orange invasion and why?
The Glorious Revolution
Overthrew the Catholic King James II
Led the way for Bill of Rights in 1689, which established limits on the powers of the monarch and set out the rights of Parliament and rules for freedom of speech within its proceedings.
Why did William of Orange invade England?
To stop it joinig forces with France agains the Netherlands
How did Adam Smith know that Holland was a richer country than England?
Dutch govt could borrow at 2%, private parties at 3%
English rates ran a point higher
Implies that capital more abundant in Holland (and profits lower)
What’s the idea of Marx’s false conciousness?
Proletariat are not aware of their exploitation. They are brainswashed by bourgouisie.
Marxist theory holds that true class consciousness is necessary for the proletariat to effectively unite and overthrow the capitalist system, leading to a classless society.
What was the name of Britain’s trade show in 1851?
Crystal Palace
De gustibus non est disputandum
In matters of taste there can be no dispute
In 1989 what was the last British car group standing, itself the result of a generation of mergers and indicative of an industry in decline?
British Leyland (later named Rover Group)
What percentage of GDP in UK is from financial services?
12%
How many died in WW1?
10m + 10m civilians
How many died in WW2?
55m + 30m civilians
What are the trente glorieuses?
Thirty wonderful years of economic growth in France post war from 1945-75
By the 1990s France had one of the […] standards of living in the world, with income a […] as high as that of old rival Great Britain.
highest
quarter again
What is the problem with the French economy?
Very generous to workers - vacations, early retirement, safety net
Employers are catutious to hire; high unemployment rate. Latest figures France - 7%, vs. UK 3.5%
What happened to German economy after WW2
- Starting point: complete collapse - Bourgeois in coat and tie could be seen scavenging horse droppings to use as fuel.
- 1948 introduced the Deutsche mark
- Next 20 years: became, with Swiss franc, strongest currency in Europe. New plants sprung up - sold everywhere, reuptation for solidity and design
What was Japan’s economic shift after WW2?
Not relying on owning the raw materials thorugh its empire
Instead buying raw materials
Focused on autos and high tech products
Who was W. Edwards Deming?
American economist.
He is also known as the father of the quality movement and was hugely influential in post-WWII Japan, credited with revolutionizing Japan’s industry and making it one of the most dominant economies in the world. He is best known for his theories of management.
How did Japan protect its markets from imports?
Not through tariffs (brought down after WW2)
But non tariff barriers e.g. drilling imported baseball bats to ensure they are wood.
An illustrative story: Once, vexed by increasing imports of French skis, the Japanese tried to exclude them on the pretext that Japanese snow was different. The French responded by threatening to exclude Japanese motorcycles on the ground that French roads were different.
What are the group of 4 little dragons that have grown consistently and rapidly in last several decades?
Taiwan and South Korea
Hong Kong and Singapore
What are the two biggest Japanese car makers?
Toyota
Nissan
Re. Japan: By 1980, it was shipping some 6 million vehicles, 54 percent of total output, and had passed the United States as the […]
biggest car maker in the world
What are the factors behind Japan’s auto industry success?
National pride as a motivating factor: The Japanese knew they had lost the war not because the Americans were better or braver fighters, but because of America’s industrial output.
diversified their product, catering to special needs and tastes and switching models as demand dictated. Learned to design and test in faster cycles. First mover advantage
multi-purpose machines; they could change jobs quickly
Just in time delivery - based on US supermarkets model - pull rather than push
Goal of zero defects - workers themselves do the inspection
Continous improvement
Sense of duty - worker feels duty to be useful at all times
What did Henry Ford say about his mass produced cars?
Buyers could have any colour they wanted, so long as it was black
Who are the top 5 automakers in the world?
- Toyota
- VW
- Hyundai
- Stellantis
- GM
Ask a Japanese worker what he does, and he’ll tell you the […]
The name of his company
What is the name now of Zaire and what is its capital? Who used to rule it (which Empire)?
Democratic Republic of Congo
Kinshasa
Belgium
Where is Benin?
West Africa
What does invidious mean?
Likely to arouse resentment
What does vacuity mean?
lack of thought or intelligence; empty-headedness.
define: premonitory
giving you the feeling that something is going to happen, especially something unpleasant
What’s the GDP of Algeria?
$163b
When did Hong Kong go back to China?
1997
