Posted: June 2nd, 2015

Do you consider the Great War to be a continuation of Napoleonic thought or an entirely new phase of history?

Do you consider the Great War to be a continuation of Napoleonic thought or an entirely new phase of history?

Write a paper of about five pages, approximately 1250 words, on one of the following questions:

1. By many accounts, the period after the Franco-Prussian War was an era of increasing freedom and prosperity for Europeans.  Suffrage was extended to most men, governments developed social welfare programs, cultural restrictions on women were easing, and a new middle class was emerging.  Yet this period ended with the murderous devastation of the First World War.  Looking back on the ideas of the eighteenth century, do you consider the history between these two wars to be a reflection of Enlightenment principles?

2. In “The Communist Manifesto,” Marx and Engels declared that all history is “the history of class struggles.”  In their view, history could be understood as a fight between owners and workers.  In the years after their call to action however, European society became rather complicated.  National economies were increasingly tied to an international scale, there was a new, swelling middle class, and nationalist sentiments became very popular.  Can the years following “The Communist Manifesto” (and up to the start of World War One) be explained by their historical theory?

3. In 1791, Olympe de Gouges pointed out the hypocrisy of the French Revolution in regard to women, and she sought to correct this through the expansion of women’s rights.  Over a hundred years later, by the end of World War One, the vast majority of  European women still did not have the right to vote.  Yet throughout this period, women were involved in major social and economic changes, including the various uprisings and revolutions, and for many women, this period brought about an entirely new independence.How might Olympe de Gouges assess the history of women from 1791 to the end of World War One?

4. Napoleon Bonaparte is normally credited (or blamed) for dramatic changes in
European society and warfare.  He innovated new ways of conducting both politics and battle.  A century after his demise, World War One witnessed the mobilization of entire societies in their struggle for victory.  Compare Napoleon’s military and political efforts to those developed during the First World War.  Do you consider the Great War to be a continuation of Napoleonic thought or an entirely new phase of history?

There is what you are answering, the last sentence is the actual question. Obviously.
Leave places where it would be possible for me to put my own sources in. For they need to come from my lecture notes.

The document attached is telling you everything you need to know. Just remember that you only need to answer the above question.