Free History Questions Essay Example

Question 1. The Crusades are probably the greatest symbol of the religious enthusiasm of the age. What were the goals of the Crusades? Targets? What motivated people to go on a crusade besides religious zeal? How do we account for their general failure? How were the Crusades viewed by the Muslims, as indicated by the evidence from “Listening to the Past”? What lasting impact did they have?
Answer 1. Modern history judges the crusades as severe and prejudiced and declares the celebrated period of Christian history as morally evil. There have been apologies for the crusades from many well placed Catholic Bishops and educators of Post Vatican II progressive Church. Pope John Paul II during his visit to a mosque in 2001, asked for the forgiveness of Muslim for the Christian offences and violence against Muslims. Christians waged the holy crusades to recover the Holy Sepulchres, for the protection of Christian pilgrims and taking back the Christian territory. Crusades constituted a defensive response against the Muslim threat. Christians perceived it as a threat to their religious freedom of worship and threat to their countrymen. They felt that Western civilization was at stake in the view of threat from Muslim continuous victories throughout the history. Muslims occupation of the Holy Land made it difficult for Christian pilgrims to visit the Holy Land, although, it never ceased. During the tenth century, when Fatimid Arabs were governing Palestine, there was prosperity and trade in the Palestine. They gave all the freedoms to the pilgrims in order to fetch the wealth that pilgrims brought along. Seljuk Turks replaced Arabs at the end of the tenth century. The principal goal of the crusades was the liberation of Jerusalem as it was a symbol of religious freedom for the Christian and not merely a military and economic hub of activities. There were numerous holy sites in and around Jerusalem that had great religious motivations for the Christians. It was a living artifact of Christendom. Islamic onslaught was unstoppable and Western civilization was under the threat of being wiped out, therefore, Crusades motivated people to join in for the existence of Western civilization. Muslims viewed Crusades as religious wars waged by Christians against the spread of Islam, and as they suffered the ethnic cleansing, they realized it further.
Question 2. In the last third of the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, European diplomacy revolved around the situation in the Low Countries. Why? What was the impact of the revolt of the Netherlands on the Low Countries, Spain, and England? How did the Dutch revolt affect European politics in general?
Answer 2. In the last third of the sixteenth century, the prestige of Spain and political stability of England coupled with the moral influence of Roman papacy created a religious crisis in Low Countries. Netherland played the major role during that era in all religious and diplomatic matters related to the Low Countries and religion; therefore, European diplomacy during that period revolved around the crisis in the countries called Low Countries. The struggle for the reformation of the church transformed into a struggle for the independence of Netherland. Netherland then comprised seventeen provinces including present Belgium and Holland. Each province had the liberties such as self-governing and making their own laws and collect taxes. Low Countries have much of the part of their land below sea level, and they exist along the coastal line; therefore, they are called Low Countries. These countries had important sea ports for exchange of different industrial and market products from Italy and Baltic. The port city of Antwerp, being at the intersection of many trading routes, had gradually developed into the hub of economic and commerce activity. Spirit of renaissance and corruption in the Roman Church initiated the unrest and pressure for reforms in the region. The Emperor Charles V abdicated and divided the territory among his family. People of Netherland always took Charles as one of them; however, they were not happy with the Philip who was a Spanish and could not even speak the Dutch language. Middle class led the revolt against the Philip, adequately backed by the rich merchants’ was joined by the motivated masses. Philip appointed his half-sister Margaret as the regent of Netherland, who was a strong willed woman. She raised taxes and united the opposition on government financial policy. As a result of very high prices of daily commodities, people started agitations through burning of churches and libraries. Philip sent twenty thousand Spanish troops to curb the protests and executed fifteen hundred people on a single day of 3 March, 1568. Civil war continued for ten years between Catholics and Protestants and between Spain and the seventeen provinces. In 1576, the seventeen provinces united under Prince William of Orange. In 1576, Alexander Farnese was sent to crush the revolt once for all. He did it in the most magnificent way moving from one city to another avoiding the pitched battles. The fall of Antwerp finally ended the war and marked the limits of Spanish Jurisdiction.
Question 3. The period from 1450 to 1650, witnessed a profound extension of European society beyond the borders of the Continent. What were the factors that facilitated this expansion? What was the motivation, both for the individual European explorers and the states that supported them?
Answer 3. The period from 1450 to 1650, commonly known as the Age of Discovery in the European history, was an era of developments in the fields of technology and geography. During this time, Europeans moved to other parts of the world and expanded their influence beyond the continent of Europe. Europeans migrated to other parts of the world. The age of discovery and exploration initiated developments in the fields of technology, politics, economics and religion. It became a turning point in the history of Europe. Development in economy facilitated European ingress into the Africa as a field for the provision of slaves to Europe. Muslims conquest of Constantinople in 1453 and Turks control of Eastern Mediterranean compelled Europeans to look for new sea routes for their trades and commerce. European search for gold and finding a route to India, were explored by Portuguese. Young people from Spain migrated to America in search of livelihood. It was a quest for wealth and material profit that motivated exploration and caused expansion. Ambitions of political centralization caused the expansion of England, Spain and France. Spanish King also supported the foreign expeditions and offered to bear the price and expenditures for the wars of expansion. Spain, thus started the quest of being an empire. Portugal sought domination overseas especially in India. Portugal also captured and destroyed Muslims coastal forts and outposts, which later served as trading posts and military bases for imperialistic designs of Portugal. It was a hunger for power and political outreach of the Europeans that led to the expansion of the Europeans outside the Europe and well into other continents of Africa and Asia. Motivation behind the expansion remained the expansionist designs of the monarchs of Europe as they supported the ventures financially, militarily and politically. Individual explorer initially went for the search of better living especially those who went to America. Search for markets for commerce was also one factor for the subject expansion.
Question 4. Describe the European conquests of the Aztec and Incan empires. How do historians account for the success of the small European forces against these two large empires?
Answer 4. European conquest of Aztec and Incan empires were the most significant events of the European history in general and Spanish history in particular. It was a major step forward towards the Spanish colonization of Americas. The conquest was a great event in the context of Spanish pattern during their fight with Muslims on Iberian Peninsula where they defeated Muslims. The conquest was also important from the aspect of Christopher Columbus, who established a permanent settlement in the Caribbean. Spanish monarch allowed expeditions for the conquest of the land, for the discovery of new areas and routes and colonization of new areas. Many of the soldiers who were part of the campaign of the conquest of Aztec were new to war including their commander Cortes; however, they had Spaniards who had fought many wars. The war began in February of 1519 and finished in August 1521 with the victory claimed by the coalition of Spanish army and local warriors commanded by Cortes. They got assistance from the numbers of local tribes who were rivals of the Aztec. It included the Totonacs and Tlaxcaltecas and other city states bordering Lake Texcoc. They were ambushed so many times during their advance to the Aztec capital. It was a war prolonged over eight months and caused thousands of lives from both sides. It was the fall of Aztec empire that led to the formation of Empire of Spain and the New Spain later known as Mexico. Spanish conquest of Inca Empire was another major event in the history of Spain. The war was fought from 1532 to 1572 in Western South America over the former Inca lands. It was the first of a long campaign that took decades of fighting and ended in Spanish victory. The subject conquest of Inca Empire led to further campaigns into the areas, today known as Chile and Columbia.
Question 5. The authors describe the Indian Ocean as the “locus” of world trade networks from the fifteenth through the seventeenth centuries. What products were transported on the Indian Ocean? Which societies demanded which products? Which societies produced which products?
Answer 5. Indian Ocean has played a very important role in the history as a trade and commerce route. Interaction between different people, civilizations and cultures were made possible through the trade in Indian Ocean. It connected people and civilizations stretched from Java Indonesia in the East to Zanzibar and Mombasa in the West. People settled near the Indian Ocean always looked towards the sea instead of looking towards inland for their living and business. Portuguese Vasco De Gama discovered a waterway to the Indian Ocean through Africa in 1498. Initially, Portuguese were interested only in the area of Calicut India but they found Gujrat India a better place for promoting their trade. Gradually Portugal created hegemony on the sea route through Indian Ocean and dominated the area. Ottomans tried to challenge the hegemony of Portugal in the Indian Ocean by sending a ship supported by many local people of the area. However, the ship was destroyed by Portugal while on its way to Indian Ocean. Later, Portuguese attached Pasni and Gwadar in retaliation for providing assistance to the Ottomans ship and sacked both the port cities. From thereon, it was Portugal who dominated the Indian Ocean and controlled all the sea routes of trade and commerce. The major items traded through Indian Ocean during the seventeenth century included gold, ivory and iron and were shipped to India, China and South East Asia for selling in their markets. South East Asia, India and China did not have these items available in their own countries. These items were sold in the markets at high prices as they were scarce in these countries. East African city-states bought items like silk, cotton and porcelain item from Asia and were ready to pay the higher prices due to their non-availability in African countries. They used gold for making coins, art work and jewelry.