In the case of non-European kings creating mechanisms designed to increase their power it is the Ottoman Empire and the Chinese before communism. The Ottoman centralized government and the Chinese monarchies had leaders with absolute rule from a centralized government where no checks and balances existed. Accessing a primary source document means looking at an originally written historical record of an event, a law, an example of the government in a specific era of a specific ruler. In the example of a primary document connected to the opium crisis in China review of it allows a better understanding of the tragic extent of opium use introduced to China by the British by Chinese from every walk of life. The letter to the Queen from the disposed Chinese commission Li advising how regulations now put a death sentence on any Chinese caught selling or using opium shows the extent of the seriousness from the Chinese perspective.

Louis XIV of France centralizing efforts deemed his divine right as monarch meant to put
complete control under his rule of all regions of France. In the case of gaining control over the nobility Louis XIV he made service in the military an opportunity that attracted the nobility as well as gave the means for training in fulfilling the duties of their social order… a very important idea among the nobles. In the process he not only reduced the power of the nobles but also, the parliament, and the people. Improvements created by Louis and his ministers in streamlining French rule did away with a chief minister allowing him to rule personally. He removed his mother from the High Council replacing the powerful nobles and clergy with bureaucrats he chose from the lesser nobility of France. Peter the Great of Russia attempted the same line of rule and is considered a success as absolute ruler among the Czars ruling Russia. Several of the British monarchs attempted the same but always remained a constitutional monarchy.

3. The prerequisites of industrialization included advanced developments in agriculture, use of natural resources, growth in the population, overseas trade, investment banking, entrepreneurship, a secure state administration. Economic change connected to the Second Industrial Revolution occurred affecting interstate trade in Europe along with other reforms such as revising the lows about debt payment. Patents, levies on water arteries leading to commercial treaties between nations contributed to the economic changes. It is the Second Industrial Revolution that made the rising merchant class and the middle class in the West. With the population growth the distinction between the affluent and the working class also grew leading to the development of urbanization. These are the beginning characteristics of the social issues plaguing westernized nations today.

4.The social reforms of the 19th century is exemplified by the new liberal progressive movement that looked at how industrialization had created inequalities socially and economically. Issues directly linked to race, gender, culture, socio-economic status, child-labor laws, worker safety, fair pair, better housing, access to medical care, and even the environment. Various programs emerged among the socialist ideology prior to the writings of Marx that included such ideas as agriculture co-operatives for one. Syndicates were another form of socialism prior to the Marx Manifesto. Socialism ideology even goes back to the philosophy of the Stoics. Economic determination is a theory that holds how the economic status of owners/capitalists and worker/proletarian status create the foundation from where other social as well as political arrangements develop. Marx was both economist and prophet and his view of history looks at it from an economic interpretation and materialism as a class struggle. Economically he saw history as the development of the means to produce commercially useful things having nothing to do so much with food or natural resources but it was about having the knowledgeable ability for a person to down what he/she wants with his own labors according to the materials and technology available. The mass production method changed the economy from the craftsman to the factory workers. In the process any improvements occurring with communication and transportation led to specialization that enlarged a society’s economy down to the family and community and even the nation at large.

5. The nationalism process by leaders of Germany, Italy, and France of the mid to late 19th century had particular characteristics. Germany’s nationalism began during the Napoleonic Wars with Napoleon invading Germany. Difficulties thereafter arose around its nationalism because Germany started both WWI and II in Europe and the after effects made considerable restrictions politically however, economically, German quality of products is universally recognized as a nation. Italy’s nationalism evolves around them being descendants of the ancient Romans ethnically, culturally, and linguistically. Under Mazzini the political nationalism emerged for Italy carrying the nation to WWI with claims for territories in Austria-Hungarian control. Under Mussolini WWII fascism led by this despot brought another surge of Italian nationalism. France main claim to nationalism arose with the French Revolution. Prior to the Revolution France was a fragmented nation according to regions and religions. French nationalism reached its peak during the 1790s during the war with other European states. Outcome of the French Revolution was directed at a civic sense of duty and a sense of belonging.

6. WWI was always about Germany believing it had ownership of land that other Europeans did not agree. The Triple Alliance brought about unrest with France over Alsace, the British about her nave and the large Italian communities living in the Austrian (German) Empire. With the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand while visiting at Sarajevo by a Serbian in 1914 the war was on. The Treaty of Versailles was only a band aid in solving the unresolved domestic and international issues provoking world conflict. Post WWI events proved the beginning of the Communist movement that would change Russia and other nations to become the Soviet Union – a distinct enemy of all things capitalist and Western.

7. Authoritarian government rose with the creation out of the Russian Revolution into the Soviet Socialist Republic and it overtaking a large portion of Eastern Europe. In Asia, the Chinese were going through drastic political changes with the rise of the communist and revolutionary leader Mao and his followers changing China into an authoritarian government from its ancient historical rule by Emperors. Mussolini the Italian leader embraced the ideology of fascist Germany according to the ideology of Hitler and his “Mein Kamp” so his authoritarian rule of Italy aligned to the Nazis of Germany. In Germany, the economic issues plaguing the national finances created the seeds of discontent among the German people. The socialist (Nazi) regime gained its power through elections and the support of the people believing in a better time under the ideology preached very successfully by Hitler. However once in power from 1932 the Nazis under Hitler proceeded to engulf the nation of Germany in new kind of terrorism under the flag of the Nazi regime. Japan emerged in attempt at this time to catch up to the western economic ideology. Still under the rule of the Emperor Hirohito Japan put together an impressive war machine and started its agenda to conquer Asia with its Bushido ideology of the Samurai tenet of loyalty to the death in conquering parts of Asia with the example of Nanking in China (and some allies of the U.S.). With its deliberate and ruthless attack on the U.S. primary naval station in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii… the war with the U.S. began with Japan. This all happened while the U.S. was being assured of non-aggressive actions by the Japanese toward the U.S.

8. The Cold War was the result of the Soviet Union confrontation with the West (the U.S.) in their effort to plant to the seeds of communism to spread throughout the world and the U.S. determination to promote democracy… throughout the world. The post WWII global situation economically proved challenging to both the U.S. and the Soviets. Financial aid (foreign policy) was a tool of the Cold War to gain a footing in Eastern (Soviets) and Western Europe (U.S) and Asia (U.S. and the Soviets). The race to conquer outer space was another aspect of the Soviet-Western (U.S.) Cold War getting a footing to have an advantage from space – the moon. Vietnam became an aggravated issue between the U.S. supporting the corrupt government of the South Vietnamese and the Soviets supporting the North Vietnamese. China became associated with the Soviets but later split with their financial aid with the rule of the communist revolution Mao who successfully led the ancient nation into a rule under the ideology of Chinese view of communism. Opportunities for conciliation of course existed but the lines between the West and the Communists in the world were diligently drawn… it was a distinct example of power overcoming common sense and thus no exploitation effort extended to do so based on ideological differences. The arms race was the underlying issue of the Cold War … how many weapons of complete universal animalization can two governments stockpile – the U.S. and the Soviets?