Notes, summaries, assignments, exams, and exercises for History for Baccalaureate

The Moderate Agenda and Early Liberalism in Spain

The Moderates, a political faction that emerged early in the reign of Isabel II, proposed a conservative agenda focused on stability and royal authority. Their key tenets included:

• Order and Strong Authority: Advocating for the strengthening of the king's power.
• Rejection of Reforms: Opposing reforms that questioned property rights, especially after confiscations by Progressives.
• Restricted Census Suffrage: Limiting voting rights to a select few.
• Central Appointment of Municipal Government: Ensuring central control over local administration.
• Suppression of the National Militia: Disbanding the citizen militia.
• Social Support: Relying on the upper classes, including landlords and large industrialists.

Economic and Social Developments: The Start of the Labor Movement (1833-1875)

Social Evolution

The main feature of this period was the gradual disappearance of a class society and its replacement by a class society based on property rights and equality before the law. This new partnership allowed much greater social mobility, either by business success or by civil service and, above all, military.

It shaped a new dominant social group set up by the gentry (Catalan textile business, financial, Madrid and Basque), the landed oligarchy that owned large estates, especially in southern Spain, and the senior state and army.

Below, an urban middle class emerged, not too many (rural and urban small landowners, military officers, officials, doctors, teachers)...

The Liquidation of Colonial Rule: Cuba and the Philippines

Definition of the 1898 Crisis

In 1898, the loss of Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines, following a war against the United States (America), caused a sharp internal crisis in Spain. There were different attempts to answer the calls for regeneration. Generally, none succeeded, and the Restoration System remained in crisis until its demise with the establishment of the Second Republic.

Background: Foreign and Colonial Policy

During the Cánovas regime, the government intervened in foreign policy matters, following what is known as a "policy of retreat." Two international affairs were influential:

• Recognition of Spanish rights in North Africa at the Madrid International Conference (1880)

This document is an excerpt from a 1950 speech by Senator Joseph McCarthy, a key figure during the early years of the Cold War. In this speech, McCarthy warns of widespread communist infiltration within the U.S. government, claiming that traitors were working to weaken American democracy from the inside.

Historical Context of McCarthy's Speech

In the early Cold War period, tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union were intensifying. The U.S. feared the spread of communism abroad and at home, especially after the Soviet Union tested its first atomic bomb in 1949 and China became a communist nation. These events fueled widespread paranoia and set the stage for what became known as McCarthyism.

Audience and Purpose of the Speech

McCarthy’s...

The Battle of Plassey in 1757 marked a significant turning point in Indian history. It resulted in the establishment of British control over Bengal, marking the beginning of British colonial rule in India. This victory allowed the British East India Company to expand its influence and control over other parts of India, leading to the gradual colonization of the subcontinent.

The Path to Indian Independence: Key Movements and Milestones

Birth of Indian National Congress and Swadeshi Movement (1885 - 1905)

Indian National Congress (INC)

Founded in 1885, the Indian National Congress (INC) aimed to achieve self-rule for India through peaceful means. Its early leaders included Allan Octavian Hume, Dadabhai Naoroji, and Womesh Chandra Bonnerjee.

Swadeshi

World War II: A Global Conflict

World War II (or the Second World War) was the largest armed conflict in history.

The Rise of Nazi Germany

For years, Germany's economy was weakened by excessive debt and hyperinflation, which caused widespread discontent with the government.

In 1929, the Wall Street Crash in New York triggered the worst economic crisis of the 20^th century. Its impact was so significant that the unemployment rate in Germany exploded. Because of this, nationalist groups like the Nazi Party emerged, seeking to create a "perfect" society (German-speaking, excluding homosexuals, disabled individuals, and others).

In 1933, Adolf Hitler, the leader of the Nazi Party, rose to power. Despite Germany's ban on expanding its military, Hitler'...

The Russian Revolution

1. Russia Before 1905 and the First Revolution

• In the early 1900s, Russia was one of the most impoverished countries in Europe, characterized by an enormous peasantry and a growing minority of poor industrial workers.
• Russia was an underdeveloped, backwards society. The Russian Empire practiced serfdom well into the 19th century, whereas it had disappeared in most of Western Europe by the end of the Middle Ages.
• In 1861, the Russian Empire finally abolished serfdom.
• Russia industrialized much later than Western Europe and the United States, leading to immense social and political changes.
• The populations of St. Petersburg and Moscow nearly doubled, resulting in destitute living conditions.
• A population boom at the end of the

• The closing years of Franco's rule were marked by violence and unrest.

• Conflict arose between those advocating for reforms and liberalization of the regime, and those with a “bunker” mentality who staunchly resisted any changes.
• An economic recession in the late 1960s, coupled with labor agitation, strikes, and rebellion in universities, prompted Franco to proclaim a state of exception in March 1969.

• The remaining years of Franco's rule saw periods of intensified opposition, to which the government responded with harshly repressive measures.

• The most virulent opposition to the Franco regime came from the revolutionary Basque nationalist group, ETA. They employed terrorist tactics and assassinations. ETA's most significant act was the assassination

1. The Three-Fifths Compromise

One of the most misunderstood clauses in the United States Constitution is found in Article 1, Section 2: “Representatives… shall be apportioned among the… States… by adding to the whole Number of free Persons... three-fifths of all other Persons.”

The Three-Fifths Compromise was devised by those who opposed slavery, not by those who were for slavery. Or, to put it another way, it wasn’t the racists of the South who wanted to count slave populations less than white populations – it was the abolitionists of the North.

Description

The Three-Fifths Compromise was a compromise reached among state delegates during the 1787 United States Constitutional Convention. Whether, and if so, how, slaves would be counted...

Men Who Built America

First, I would like to say that, in my opinion, none of these men were bad in their totality. I consider that man has two great enemies: power and money.

Cornelius Vanderbilt

Cornelius Vanderbilt was an entrepreneur who started his empire from scratch. There are many things that we can highlight about Vanderbilt as a captain of industry: for example, he provided money and jobs to people and was good with his employees. But not everything can be so good. Here are some of the reasons why I think that Vanderbilt was also a robber baron. As I said, he was an entrepreneur, and his ambition led him to do whatever it took for power.

John D. Rockefeller

John D. Rockefeller began working as a child selling candy; it helped him support...