Friday, December 18, 2009

WH II Honors: 18 December 2009

Prayer (alphabetical):

Current Events:

Last year, in an unusual move, Iran's president Ahmadinejad taped a Christmas message to the West. It is not known this year if he plans to do the same. Iran announced Wednesday it has successfully test fired an upgraded version of its longest-range, solid-fuel missile which it said is faster and harder to shoot down.

The missile is named “Sajjil” which means “baked clay,” a reference to a story in the Quran, Islam’s holy book, in which birds sent by God drive off an enemy army attacking the holy city of Mecca by pelting them with stones of baked clay.

Ahmadinejad Reportedly Claims U.S. is Blocking Return of Mankind's Savior.


Per the announcement on Twitter and the Calendar, the Ch. 12, Sec. 2 Quiz is on Tuesday, 10 Fill-in answers. The Ch. 12, Sec. 2 page on Shanawiki is of course locked at this point per the announced procedure.

Franco-Prussian War (1870)



Bismarck furthered the crisis by rewriting and then releasing to the press a telegram that reported on a meeting between King William I and the French ambassador. Bismarck’s editing of the “Ems dispatch” made it seem that William I had insulted the Frenchman. Furious, Napoleon III declared war on Prussia, as Bismarck had hoped.

Vocabulary Builder

edit—(ed it) v. to make additions, deletions, or other changes to a piece of writing

A superior Prussian force, supported by troops from other German states, smashed the badly organized and poorly supplied French soldiers. Napoleon III, old and ill, surrendered within a few weeks. France had to accept a humiliating peace.

France had a good professional army, which was indeed able to face the Prussians. But a decisive strategic surprise came when all German states took side with Prussia: The French were overwhelmed, outmaneuvered and, in spite of ferocious combats, finally beaten. After Sept. 4th, the new Republic refused to sign an armistice, managed to hastily improvise "armies" out of civilian volunteers, but these were no match for the well-trained Prussians. The war ended when Parisians, besieged, bombarded and starved, surrendered.

The Prussian Army held a brief victory parade in Paris on 17 February, 1871, and Bismarck honoured the armistice by sending trainloads of food into Paris and moving Prussian forces to the east of the city. Prussian armies would occupy parts of France until the French completed the payment of a five-billion francs war indemnity. Then, they would withdraw to Alsace and Lorraine. An exodus occurred from Paris as some 200,000 people, predominantly middle-class, left the city for the countryside. Paris was quickly re-supplied with free food and fuel by the United Kingdom and several accounts recall life in the city settling back to normal.

The war ended up with a complete triumph for Prussia, whose king was proclaimed emperor of Germany in the palace of Versailles — a supreme humiliation of the French and a Prussian revenge on Napoleon's victorious march in Berlin.
The Treaty of Frankfurt gave Germany Alsace and the northern portion of Lorraine (Moselle), where Germanic dialects were spoken by parts of the population. Most importantly, Germany now possessed Metz, a key fortified stronghold between the two countries. Part of the Alsacians refused to live under German rule and emigrated to "inner France".

The loss of this territory was a source of resentment in France for years to come, and revanchism even inspired an attempted coup in Paris in the 1880s. Yet, by 1900, new generations tended to consider it old history, while Alsacians adapted more or less reluctantly to German rule [see Barrès "Au service de l'Allemagne"]. No French political party put forward a reconquest of Alsace-Lorraine in its program. Compensations were found in colonization abroad. When World War I broke out, the French mobilized with the idea to defend their territory as it was, not to take back Alsace-Lorraine, as soldiers' diaries and letters indicate.

Had Germany not taken the option of war in 1914, its successful path paved by the 1870 triumph would have led it to become peacefully the uncontested leader in Europe.



Checkpoint

What techniques did Bismarck use to unify the German states?

Birth of the German Empire: Audio

Delighted by the victory over France, princes from the southern German states and the North German Confederation persuaded William I of Prussia to take the title kaiser (ky zur), or emperor. In January 1871, German nationalists celebrated the birth of the Second Reich, or empire. They called it that because they considered it heir to the Holy Roman Empire.

A constitution drafted by Bismarck set up a two-house legislature. The Bundesrat (boon dus raht), or upper house, was appointed by the rulers of the German states. The Reichstag (ryks tahg), or lower house, was elected by universal male suffrage. Because the Bundesrat could veto any decisions of the Reichstag, real power remained in the hands of the emperor and his chancellor.

Checkpoint

How was the new German government, drafted by Bismarck, structured?

The New German Empire

Audio

In 1870, German historian Heinrich von Treitschke (vawn trych kuh) wrote a newspaper article demanding the annexation of Alsace and Lorraine from France. A year later, annexation became a condition of the peace settlement in the Franco-­Prussian War:

“The sense of justice to Germany demands the lessening of France. . . . These territories are ours by the right of the sword, and . . . [by] virtue of a higher right—the right of the German nation, which will not permit its lost children to remain strangers to the German Empire.”

Learn

Focus Question

How did Germany increase its power after unifying in 1871?

In January 1871, German princes gathered in the glittering Hall of Mirrors at the French palace of Versailles. They had just defeated Napoleon III in the Franco-Prussian War. Once home to French kings, the palace seemed the perfect place to proclaim the new German empire. To the winners as well as to the losers, the symbolism was clear: French domination of Europe had ended. Germany was now the dominant power in Europe.

Reading Check

Summarizing

What events led to German unification?

A Political Game of Chess

This political cartoon shows Otto von Bismarck and Pope Pius IX trying to checkmate each other in a game of chess.

1. How does this cartoon reflect the relationship between Bismarck and the Catholic Church?

2. How did the conflict between church and state affect German politics in the 1870s?

On the domestic front, Bismarck applied the same ruthless methods he had used to achieve unification. The Iron Chancellor, as he was called, sought to erase local loyalties and crush all opposition to the imperial state. He targeted two groups—the Catholic Church and the Socialists. In his view, both posed a threat to the new German state.


Nationalism and Reform in Europe

Great Britain

France

The Austrian Empire

Russia
Although serfdom had almost disappeared in Western Europe by the 1700s, it survived in Russia. Masters exercised almost total power over their serfs. A noble turned revolutionary described the treatment of the serfs:

“I heard . . . stories of men and women torn from their families and their villages, and sold, or lost in gambling, or exchanged for a couple of hunting dogs, and then transported to some remote part of Russia to create a [master’s] new estate; of children taken from their parents and sold to cruel . . . masters.”

—Peter Kropotkin, Memoirs of a Revolutionist


Learn

Focus Question

Why did industrialization and reform come more slowly to Russia than to Western Europe?
Reading Check

Examining

How was Great Britain able to avoid a revolution in 1848?

Nationalism in the United States



Graphic Notes: "Downfall of Mother Bank," depicting President Andrew Jackson holding up an "Order of the Removal of the Public Money" during the fight over the Bank of the United States, 1833. E.W. Clay lithograph.

Citation: American Antiquarian Society, 185 Salisbury St, Worcester, MA 01609-1634 and the Library of Congress.

Nicholas Biddle was the president of the Bank of the United States during the Bank War of 1832. Biddle held a great deal of unwarranted power over the nation’s finances, which President Jackson resented. When Jackson vetoed a bill to renew the Bank’s charter, Biddle agreed with Senator Henry Clay that this would hurt him in the upcoming presidential election of 1832, but both of them were proven wrong. When Jackson tried to end the bank by withdrawing deposits, Biddle caused a financial panic to try and prevent Jackson from attaining the presidency which failed when Jackson was re-elected.
The Bank War began with Senators Noah Webster and Clay with their Recharter Bill: Clay and Webster presented Congress with a Recharter Bill for the Bank of the United States in 1832. Although four years before the charter would expire, Clay hoped to make the Bank an issue in the upcoming presidential election, which he hoped to win. Clay hoped to quickly pass the Bill in Congress, then send it to the White House to be signed by Jackson. Clay knew Jackson would most likely veto the bill, alienating the elite in the upcoming election, therefore favoring Clay. Jackson did veto the bill, but contrary to Clay’s expectation, gained popular public support for his statement.

The “Pet” banks where surplus federal funds were placed after the closing of the Bank of the United States. The banks were chosen for their support of president Jackson and soon flooded the country with paper money as there was no longer a central, federal finance institution. As a result of the massive amounts of paper money, inflation skyrocketed, and Jackson was forced to try to slow inflation with his Specie Circular.

The Specie Circular (1836) was decreed by Jackson which stated that all public lands had to be purchased with “hard” money, gold or silver. Jackson took this measure to slow the runaway inflation caused by his closure of the Bank of the United States.

Reading Check

Explaining

How did the election of Andrew Jackson influence American politics?
The divisions between Americans eventually led to fighting in the Civil War.

You can learn more about music from the period by listening to:
"When Johnny Comes Marching Home." In this exercise you can 1) view the exhibit; 2) read the lyrics; 3) learn more; and, 4) rewrite the song.

The Emergence of a Canadian Nation

Reading Check

Describing

How did the British North American Act change the government of Canada?

Map: The Dominion of Canada in the Nineteenth Century

A novel about the Crimean War:

Master George by Beryl Bainbridge

Visit an interactive exhibit about the gold rush.

The American Civil War.

Everyday life of a Civil War soldier

Civil War diary accounts

The Civil War: A Film by Ken Burns

Short animated movie about the American Civil War


New holiday feature: keep Christ in Christmas

Marshmallow World, Darlene Love (Phil Spector)




HW email to gmsmith@shanahan.org
Friday HW



A Political Game of Chess

This political cartoon shows Otto von Bismarck and Pope Pius IX trying to checkmate each other in a game of chess.

1. How does this cartoon reflect the relationship between Bismarck and the Catholic Church?

2. How did the conflict between church and state affect German politics in the 1870s?

3. Why did industrialization and reform come more slowly to Russia than to Western Europe?

4. How was Great Britain able to avoid a revolution in 1848?

5. How did the election of Andrew Jackson influence American politics?

6. How did the British North American Act change the government of Canada?

7. Quiz, Tuesday, Ch. 12 Sec. 2, 10 Fill-in answers.

AP Economics: 18 December 2009

Prayer (alphabetical)

Current Events:

The PNC Christmas Price Index increased by a modest 1.8 percent compared to last year in the whimsical economic analysis by PNC Wealth Management based on the prices of gifts in the holiday classic, "The Twelve Days of Christmas."



Make-Up Ch. 5 Multiple Choice Test.

We will pick up where we left off: Ch. 15, Introduction to Macroeconomics, PowerPoint presentation and Handout Ch. 15 questions.

Chapter Overview

As an introduction to macroeconomics, this chapter begins with an overview of macroeconomics, discussing its origins and presenting material on the business cycle. The National Income and Product Accounts are then covered, as well as the two approaches to measuring GDP and the connection between GDP and the standard of living. The chapter concludes with a section on the work of Joseph Schumpeter and creative destruction.

Chapter Outline

Personal Income and Disposable Personal Income


GDP and Our Standard of Living
Checkpoint: National Income Accounting
Technology and Schumpeter’s Creative Destruction

We can review:

Chapter Checkpoints

The Scope of Macroeconomics
Question: Do you think the business cycle has a bigger impact on automobile and
capital goods manufacturers or grocery stores? Why or why not?

National Income Accounting
Question: People have individual senses of how the macroeconomy is doing. Is it a
mistake to extrapolate from one’s own experience what may be happening in the
aggregate? How might individual experiences lead one astray in thinking about the
macroeconomy? How might it help?

Extended Examples in the Chapter

Technology and Schumpeter’s Creative Destruction

Were computer technology and the Internet a Schumpeter innovation wave or not?
Schumpeter focused on the power of major innovations to form waves of growth
throughout the macroeconomy. So the real question is whether or not the change in
technology affected most parts of the economy in a very significant way (some definitions of creative destruction use the term “transformation” in its description). The background information provided by Wikipedia also relates creative destruction to layoffs (Cf. Creative destruction).

Also, this was the HW assignment for Wednesday:

Examples Used in the End-of-Chapter Questions
Questions 3 and 6 reference the National Income and Product Accounts (NIPA).
Visit the Web site at BEA National Economic Accounts to view the latest press release on GDP. Links to other data are also available.

For Further Analysis

How Can You Tell if It’s a Recession?
The example in the student handout will be used as a small group exercise. It is designed to complement the text’s material on the business cycle and also to provide a lead-in to the measurements of inflation and employment that will be covered in the next chapter. It requires students to find and begin to assess actual data on the economy.

Web-Based Exercise
This example below can be used as an individual or small group research project. It requires students to evaluate “well-being” in terms of GDP and other criteria.

Can GDP Buy You Happiness?

About 35 years ago, the king of Bhutan decided that the well-being of his country
was not best measured by its GDP, but rather by something he called its “Gross
National Happiness.”

1) Learn more about GHI and compare it to GDP.
2) Assess both as measures of “well-being.” To do so, define your own criteria
for well-being. You may agree or disagree with what is included in these
measures and add your own indicators if you wish. In all cases provide a
rationale for your choices.

A very useful source is the article by Andrew C. Revkin in The New York
Times (October 4, 2005) titled “A New Measure of Well-Being from a Happy
Little Kingdom,” available on the Web at: "A New Measure of Well-Being From a Happy Little Kingdom. Cf. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/
04/science/04happ.html?ei=5088&en=a4c0250cf8730dca&ex=
1286078400&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&pagewanted=all

This is the HW for Thursday:

How Can You Tell if It’s a Recession?
Visit the Web site of the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) (Cf. http://www.nber.org/) to
answer the following:
1) Does the NBER define a recession as two successive quarters in which there is negative growth in GDP? Why or why not?
2) What problem does the NBER face in using data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis of the U.S. Department of Commerce?
3) Besides GDP, what other important economic data does the NBER review for its reports?

Just for historical background, consider the history of business cycles.


Outlining briefly the people and discoveries relating to economic cycles. Beginning with Sir William Herschel who around 1800 found a connection between the Sunspot cycle and wheat prices, mention is made of Clement Juglar 1860s, William Stanley Jevons 1870s, The Rothschild family 1890s and Rockerfeller family, W D Gann 1900s, Joseph Kitchin 1920, Kondratief (who I accidentally left out of this video) and his 54 year cycle in the 1920s, Alexander Chizhevsky and Raymond Wheeler around the 1930s being interisciplinary cycles researchers, R N Elliott, Joseph Schumpeter and Simon Kuznets (later to receive a Nobel Prize) and the formation of the Foundation for the Study of Cycles by Edward R Dewey and others in 1942. The age of computers arrived in cycles research with J M Hurst about 1970.

For more information about cycles research:
http://www.cyclesresearchinstitute.org/
http://foundationforthestudyofcycles....
http://ray.tomes.biz/

There is an interdisciplinary cycles discussion forum open to all people to search and read, and people can join to participate, at http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/cy...

For more on the history of economic cycles:
http://www.datacomm.ch/dbesomi/Links/...
http://www.timesizing.com/1kondrat.htm

We will begin Ch. 16 (which you will not have on the Quiz on Tuesday).
Email HW to gmsmith@shanahan.org.

1. Quiz, Tuesday, Ch. 15, T/F, 20 questions.

2. Can GDP Buy You Happiness?

About 35 years ago, the king of Bhutan decided that the well-being of his country
was not best measured by its GDP, but rather by something he called its “Gross
National Happiness.”

1) Learn more about GHI and compare it to GDP.
2) Assess both as measures of “well-being.” To do so, define your own criteria
for well-being. You may agree or disagree with what is included in these
measures and add your own indicators if you wish. In all cases provide a
rationale for your choices.

A very useful source is the article by Andrew C. Revkin in The New York
Times (October 4, 2005) titled “A New Measure of Well-Being from a Happy
Little Kingdom,” available on the Web at: "A New Measure of Well-Being From a Happy Little Kingdom. Cf. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/
04/science/04happ.html?ei=5088&en=a4c0250cf8730dca&ex=
1286078400&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&pagewanted=all