History Courses For Dr. Christopher C. Lovett
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History Courses For Dr. Christopher C. Lovett |
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Updated as of 2 October 05 Today in History: On October 2, 1780, Major John Andrι, a British spy associated with Benedict Arnold, was executed on this day in history. Quote of the Day: "In my view we are much worse off now than when we went into Iraq. This is not a partisan position. I voted for these guys." A senior figure at a military-sponsored think tank as told to James Fallows in "Bush's Lost Year" in The Atlantic Monthly (Oct. 2004) Take the Ann Coulter Quiz Where are you politically? Take the Neocon Quiz and find out. "History is Far too Important to be left to History Professors" Teaching isn't such a novel idea
Bibliography:
History of Disease Contemporary Terrorist Organizations Map of Islamic Terrorist Cells in the U.S.A.
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The Situation Before the CrashAge of Total WarFall 2007The General Situation There was hope that the war was over. But the hoped for prosperity was short lived. Once the hoopla came to an end. Economic malaise set in. Especially in the U.S. and Great Britain. In Japan, there was concern that Japan was being discriminated by the West. In the Soviet Union there was a struggle to see who would follow Lenin. In the U.S. Americans looked inward.Post Civil War Russia Following the Civil War and the Russo-Polish War, Russia was devastated. War Communism was still in place. The sailors of the Baltic Fleet listened to the grievances from Petrograd. By then the composition of the Baltic Fleet had changed. More peasants had entered and the old guard was scattered to the winds.Background to the Mutiny In Feb. 1921 popular agitation to the Bolsheviks took place in Petrograd. 32 sailors served as a fact finding team to investigate the charges. On Feb. 28 a general meeting agreed to support a report made by Stepan Petrichenko. The 15 Demands were then drafted to Kronstadt Soviet. Which proved to dangerous for Lenin.Kronstadt Demands Immediate new Elections to the Soviets Freedom of Speech and Press Freedom of Assembly Organization of a new group to represent the interests of the people of Petrograd New review of all prisoners in detention Abolition of all political departments in the armed forces End of the militia detachments sent to rural villages Equalization of all rations Abolition of all party military detachments Giving peasants the right to own land and cattle All military organizations should agree to this resolutionWhat Happened Next? Mikhail Kalinin top Bolshevik tried to speak on March 1 and was shouted down. The leaders of the RevKom tried to speak and were arrested. Kalinin reported to Zinoviev (Party Boss in Petrograd) and Trotsky. All news from Kronstadt was censored. Military power was the next option. Their Slogan was Soviets without Communists.Crushing The Mutiny Trotsky rushes to Petrograd and mobilizes loyal Red Army formations. On the night of March 16, 1921, 45,000 troops under the command of Mikhail Tukhachevsky attacked in three directions. The revolt was crushed, 600 were killed and 900 were executed. About 8,000 fled to Finland.Impact of Kronstadt Lenin had to make a strategic retreat to insure the regimes survival. This happened before the X Party Congress. In many respects, Lenin was willing to accept a peasants Brest. This became the bases of NEP. Changes now came from above.New Economic Policy Food tax (ten percent) replaced food requisitions. Peasants could lease land and hire labor. Small business were allowed to open. But not the larger ones such as banks, railroads, etc. Which even lead to the creation of a new group of businessmen known as Nepmen.Trouble in the Workers Paradise Not everyone was happy with this trend. Especially with the leftwing Bolsheviks. They attacked those successful peasants known as Kulaks. Stalin would have another plans and ended NEP in 1929. Buy this time Lenin was ill and Lenins lieutenants were lining up to replace him.Death of Lenin and the Coming of Stalin Lenins health was in decline following Dora Kaplans assassination attempt in 1918. The arguments over NEP further weakened him. Then he made the fatal mistake of creating the post of General Secretary. Recommending Stalin for the post. Lenin then had an operation to remove the bullet from Kaplans assassination attempt. Instead, he had a stroke.The Great Schemer Stalin used his position to purge Trotskys supporters from key posts. He was unruly. Even a bully. He insulted Lenins wife, Krupskaya. Demanding that Lenin not write letters. Lenin did more than that. He wrote his last will and testament.The Last Will and Testament It was written sometime between Dec. 1922 or Jan. 1923. He intended that it be published in Pravda and read at the upcoming Party Congress. Instead it was withheld from all. In his Last Testament he tells everyone no one is capable to follow him.But Along Comes Joe Stalin moved in to arrange Lenins funeral. The creation of the Cult of Lenin. Marginalizing Trotsky. Then other Old Bolsheviks. By 1928 he moved against the Kulaks. Moving toward Collectivization. Followed by the Purges. The rest is history.The Japanese Situation following Versailles The Japanese felt wanted to be accepted. Instead they discovered that they were rejected by the West. Especially the Americans. Even the British too, their traditional ally. Yet Japan was making head way. Especially in textiles and challenging the British.The Great Tokyo Earthquake in 1923 It struck on Sept. 1, 1923. Registered 8.1 on the Richter Scale. Fires broke out throughout the city. The public then blamed the Koreans. Who were attacked at will. Perhaps 140,000 died and countless others injured. Aid rushed in from the West, including the U.S.The Emergence of the Rightwing There was a deep resentments mounting in Japan. Over the Washington Naval Conference in 1922. Then in 1924 U.S. prohibited Japanese immigration into the United States. While militarism was in decline following the war, it was revived by such nationalists as Kitta Ikki. Claiming that Japan had the right to demand equality with the millionaire powers. China was ready for the taking.Western Culture Takes to Tokyo Department stores like Harrods and Bloomingdales. Japanese took to cars. And Baseball. Movies like Charlie Chaplain were very poplar. As was Jazz. Dancing. Which drove the political reactionaries crazy.Harding and the Return to Normalcy Harding was not a bad man, but not fit to be president. Harding was made by Harry Daughtery. Because he looked like a president. His main campaign promise was Less government in Business, and more Business in Government. But behind the man was corruption. And as Harding said, my friends theyre the ones that keep me walking the floors at night.Teapot Dome This was part of a general scandal that engulfed all of the Harding administration. Fall convinced Edwin Denby, the Secretary of the Navy, to all the Interior Department to run the Elk Hills and Teapot Dome oil reserves. And then lease them to his buds Harry F. Sinclair and Edward Doheny. Before this was exposed Harding died.Other Harding Scandals Fall would be sent to prison in 1931. Thomas Miller of the Office of Alien Property was convicted. Charles Forbes, Director of Veterans Bureau was convicted of fraud for skimming profits and accepting kickbacks. Charles Cramer, and aid to Forbes, committed suicide. As did Jess Smith and aid to the AG. Coolidge was at least clean.Cool Cal He was a minor Republican politician who made a name for himself during the Boston Police Strike in 1919. Found himself on the Republican ticket with Harding in 1920. He was the first president to use the radio, but did not have a telephone on his desk. He was a friend of big business. He was elected in his own right to the Presidency in 1924. But things were happening that he was not prepared for. William Allen White considered him a Puritan in Babylon.The Role of Andrew Mellon Mellon made a fortune in banking, construction and a host of other endeavors. He also served as Secretary of the Treasury for Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover. He cut the debt and cut taxes. Which was called the Mellon Plan. Reducing taxes and government expenses was his passion. He was considered the greatest Secretary of the Treasure since Alexander Hamilton.The Jazz Age I Society was changing as a result of the war. Women were dressing differently. Women were now a little fast and perhaps a little brazen. Skirts were getting shorter. They bobbed their hair. Exposed their arms and for heavens sake, their legs. The typical flapper was Louise Brooks. F. Scott Fitzgerald would understand these ladies.The Jazz Age II But this is also the age of Prohibition. Rise in crime with Al Capone in Chicago. With speakeasies all the social ills that went with it. As well as the rise of the KKK. And the struggle with modernity with the Scopes Monkey Trial.The Dark Side of the Jazz Age Farmers were being driven into the ground by the burden of debt. Workers purchasing power was stagnant. Inventories were on the rise. Questionable business practices threatened investors. Such as the case of Samuel Insull, a forerunner of the ENRON fiasco.The Anarchist Vision That no government was good government Best way of creating social justice was via the pistol and dynamite. William McKinley was a victim. The wife of Franz Joseph Made an attempt on TR. When did it come to an end?Sacco and Vanzetti Two Anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti were arrested for a murder of a shoe factory paymaster and security guard. The event happened in April 1920. They were charged with capital murder, found guilty, and executed in 1927. Where they innocent victims, anarcho-terrorists, or a combination of the two?What We Know, May Know, or Simply Will Never Know Both claimed that they were innocent wrongly accused. The public so believed that they were victims of a red paranoia. In 1961 evidence pointed to the fact that Saccos weapon was used in the crime. Then in 1982 new evidence points to that weapon may have been planted. But we will never know.Collateral Damage The Wall Street Bombing of Sept. 16, 1920 was the greatest terrorist attack on American soil until Oklahoma City. At noon time a horse-drawn cart pulled up to the J. P. Morgan Bank. It was estimated that there were a hundred pounds of dynamite on board. 70 died and 300 injured. There was a link to the Sacco-Vanzetti case.
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