AP European History Final

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AP European History Final

• By David Jacobson

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The Quote

• History is made out of the failures and heroism
  of each insignificant moment. Franz Kafka

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What does it mean?

• History is itself a combination of events
• Each of these events can be categorized as an act
  of success or failure, depending both on the
  viewpoint and outcome something can almost
  always be looked at as a success from one side or
  failure from another
• Each event within history is a combination of
  moments that would be insignificant or have no
  effect on the course of history, if not all put
  together.

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Examples

• Each insignificant moment is a success for
  someone and a failure for someone else
• This can be applied to periods as short as a day,
  months or years, and decades or centuries.
• Examples
• The Battle Of Trafalgar
• The Battle Of Stalingrad
• The Scientific Revolution

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Trafalgar

• The Battle of Trafalgar was fought on October 21,
  1805
• British Vs. French and Spanish
• Deciding naval battle in the Napoleonic Wars
• Led by Admiral Horatio Nelson for the British and
  Villeneuve for the French

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Heroism and Failure

• For Nelson, his act of heroism in guiding the
  attack led to British Victory
• Caused a huge setback and humiliating defeat for
  Napoleon
• 18 Ships lost and some 14,000 killed is a failure
  on the Frenchs a success for the British who
  did not loose a single ship
• Success for the sharpshooter on the redoubtable
  that shot and mortally wounded Nelson a failure
  for the British Navy, losing one its most
  esteemed Admirals

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Battle Of Stalingrad

• Stalingrad, 1942 Russia Vs. Germany
• Germany invades Stalingrad, against a smaller
  Russian force
• Stalin, realizing the gravity of the situation
  sends in massive reinforcements, slowing down
  German advancements
• Fought on the streets of the city, house by house
• The Germans controlled 80 of the city before a
  strategic attack by the Russians surrounded and
  destroyed them

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Heroism and Failure

• The Russian soldiers, though outnumbered fought
  valiantly in the streets, making Germany work for
  every last inch though surrounded and starving
  at the end, the German soldiers fought gallantly
  to the death
• The Germans failed to capture Stalingrad the
  Russians succeeded in defending it
• Every moment that one of the 147,000 Germans or
  500,000 Russians was killed, it was a moment of
  either failure or heroism

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The Scientific Revolution The Age of Discovery

• Involved exploration- such a Columbus reaching
  North America
• Involved astronomical discoveries by Newton,
  Galileo, Copernicus and others.
• Analyzed life in a physical and mechanical way
• Einstein came along and challenged the mechanical
  theories with his Theory of Relativity and
  Quantum Physics
• The Scientific Revolution is an ever going
  event as technology gets more and more advanced

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Heroism and Failure

• The moment Newton saw the apple fall from the
  tree and theorized gravity, it was a heroic
  victory for the revolution and mankind
• The moment Columbus set foot on N. America, it
  was all over for the native population. Success
  for Columbus, a failure for the natives to
  advance their civilizations
• Failure of the Church to control science and the
  people in its former realm loss of faith
• Churches loss was scientific victory