History 101                                                            Dr. Iannucci

Western Civilization I                                                   Research Paper

Essay Questions

***You must answer one of the following essay questions in eight well-written paragraphs with appropriate specific examples to support your key points. Even if it is not stated in the question, you must consider the social/cultural, political, and/or economic influence in each body paragraph. You must provide at least three in-text citations via APA style from at least three different scholarly sources. You must include a References page with a complete list of all in-text citations at the end of the paper.

1)     How did the encounters of the Greeks with the Near East and Middle East shape the political, economic, and cultural developments of the Hellenistic world?

2)     How and why did the policies of Augustus help shape the future of the Roman Empire?

3)     How and why was Diocletian able to restore order to the Roman Empire? Identify in terms of long-lasting success.

4)     How and why may we explain the success of Islam after the death of Muhammad?

5)     How did the Christian Church control the political, social, and religious life of Europe from 1000-1300?

6)     How and why did the universities emerge as centers of medieval learning after 1000?

7)     What is humanism? How did it help shape the literary and artistic developments of the Italian Renaissance? Identify key advocates and how humanist thinking transform culture in the cities versus the countryside.

8)     How and why did European encounters in the Americas after 1500 transform economic and social life in both the Americas and Europe?

9)     How and why did European encounters with Africa before 1500 help shape the West?

10)   Compare and contrast the religious beliefs of Roman Catholics, Lutherans, Calvinists, Unitarians and Anabaptists. Explain how the specific rituals of each distinguish one from the other and the impact on modern society.

11)   How and why did the Protestant Reformation develop in Switzerland? Identify the key reform movements and how the leaders of each helped shape a new form of Christianity and culture.

12)   How and why did both Protestants and Catholics try to regulate popular culture between 1550 and 1650? How may we explain the great witch-hunts of the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries?

13)   How and why did the Scientific Revolution develop in Europe after the 1500s? How and why did it affect the European view of nature?

14)   Why do historians consider the scientific revolution a "revolution?" Do you think that it altered the fundamental ways that Europeans viewed their world? Why or why not?