The Individual in History: The Person of the Age
Part A:
Most
Influential
Politician
Greatest
intellectual
16th century
Machiavelli
17th century
Cardinal
Mazarin
18th century
Frederick II
Robespierre
Erasmus
John Locke and
Thomas
Hobbes
DesCartes
Shakespeare
Voltaire
Adam Smith
Person in the
Arts
Da Vinci
Michelangelo
Mozart
Economist
(Group or
person)
Guilds
Montesquieu
16th century
Catherine de
Medici
Elizabeth I of
England
17th century
Cromwell
18th century
Frederick II
Louis XIV
Peter the Great
19th century
Karl Marx
Charles X
Bismarck
Freud
20th century
Mussolini
Hitler
Beethoven
Delacroix
Dickens
Malthus and
Ricardo
Chartists
F. Scott
Fitzgerald
Einstein
Sir William
Beverdige
Helmut
Schimdt and
the Social
Democrats
Part B:
Bad guy of the
century
Good guy of
the century
19th century
Bismarck
Charles
20th century
Hitler
Churchill
Teddy
Roosevelt
FDR
Part C:
My nomination for Person of the Age is: Napoleon
Criteria for selection
1. Great military and political leader
2. The Napoleonic Wars established hegemony over much of Europe and sought to spread
revolutionary ideals
3. Showed much tolerance towards religion for a revolutionary general
4. Napoleonic Code – adopted throughout much of Europe; still has importance today in
Europe, Americas and Africa; reorganized what was the Holy Roman Empire; provided the
basis for the German Confederation and unification of Germany; precipitated movement
toward national unification in Italy – led to nationalism and the nation state
5. Ended lawlessness and disorder in post-Revolutionary Frace
Historical Events: Roots and Impact
Roots
Heard reports of a route to India
around the southern tip of
Africa; wanted to exapand the
Portuguese Maritime Empire
Event
Dias rounded the Cape of Good
Hope
Everybody book was copied by
hand
Gutenberg printed the First
Bible
Catholic clerics enhanced their
wealth by making people pay to
relieve themselves of their sins
Tetzel sold indulgences
Geometric conception of the
universe saw the universe as
concentric spheres with a fixed
earth; Copernicus was aware of
the problems with this theory
His brother King Charles died
and he was put on the throne
Rembrandt was withdrawn
from society but created
masterpieces of human
character
Copernicus investigated
Ptolemaic astronomy
James II converted to
Catholicism
Syndics of the Cloth Guild hired
Rembrant to paint their group
portrait
Jacques Necker fired
He criticized the royal pension
system and royal family
expenditures
Industrial revolution
James Watt perfects the steam
engine
Sent to manage cotton factory
in England
Engels visits his father’s factory
Consequences/Impact
1488; feared mutiny from crew
and turned around; de Gama
went 10 years later and arrived
at Calicut; he returned to Europe
with new spices
First major book printed with
movable type; revolutionized
European book making; faster,
increased literacy
Provoked Luther to write 95
Theses; complicated Catholic
doctrine
Heliocentric with fixed sun at the
center; created uncertainty
about human role in universe
and God’s location; it was
denounced by astronomers
Two political groups emerged:
The Whigs wanted to exclude
him and they established the
Protestant King; the Tories
supported him; differing views
guaranteed constitutional crisis
He became known as the Genius
of Dutch Golden age who
painted with deep emotional
complexity
France went into financial
trouble and was rehired and
then fired again; the storming of
the Bastille followed and he was
rehired (second time) five days
later
Pumped water 3x faster than
previous ones; used to advance
industry
Shocked by poverty in
Manchester so he wrote
Frederick William IV was forced
to abandon his unification
policy in humiliating
circumstances
Bismarck witnessed the
Humiliation of the King in the
1848 revolutions
Goal was to the cleanse the
races and create the New Nazi
Order
Hitler dreamed of the unity of
Europe
Serve community in spirit of
total mutuality to safe guard
diversities and aspirations of
nations
Schuman dreamed of the unity
of Europe
Condition of Working Class in
England; worked with Karl Marx
He became minister president of
Prussia and achieved political
dominance for Prussia; He was a
conservative man willing to use
force when necessary and was
determined that war was the
best route for German
unification
WWII broke out
NATO; Treat of Washington; he
was highly regarded as the
founding father of European
Union
What single event did the most to shape modern Europe?
I believe the French Revolution did the most to shape modern Europe because of the international
influences on society and thought it provoked. Perhaps the most immediate effect of the Revolution
was the redistribution of European lands which transformed European borders. It attempted to abolish
feudalism and to unite it as well. For this reason, it can be suggested that the Revolution is what ended
the Middle Ages and brought the Continent into the beginnings of the Modern Age. The Revolution also
had a great influence on nationalistic thought as “national self-determination” became one of the most
powerful phrases of liberal and radical ideologies. Allegiance to one’s nation was largely generated by
the French Revolution and popular sovereignty was considered correct as opposed to Divine Right
monarchies.