1. “The Rise of the West must be examined in global terms rather than with reference only to developments within Europe. The European success was part of a competitive race within a single global economy and a continuous global historical process of economic change. The conquest of the Americas, the commandeering of global trade and resources, and the Industrial Revolution, were all expressions of global competition whereby Europe was trying to muscle in on Asian economic dominance and by-pass the Islamic empires.” Critically discuss.
2. Discuss and explain some of the ways that knowledge of the evolution of the world economy up to 1800 might help us understand important aspects of the modern world of our own times.
3. This chronological division of this course was between the ancient civilizations to 500 AD, the medieval period 500-1500, the early modern period 1500-1750, and the early Industrial Revolution period, 1750-1800, and the geographical focus was largely on the continent of Eurasia. Critically explain and discuss the economic and historical rationales for this division and focus, and suggest some ways you think the chronological and geographical coverage of the course might be improved.
4. “The Industrial Revolution was the result of a long process of social, cultural, scientific, commercial and economic evolution running back to the Middle Ages. The greater level of this evolution by the late 18th century was an important reason why the Industrial Revolution did not happen earlier, but the path to the Industrial Revolution began much, much earlier.” Critically discuss.
5. Why did the small island of Great Britain play such a decisive role in the economic history of the world by becoming the first industrial nation? Discuss.
6. Why did Western European nations end up dominating the rest of Asia and the rest of the world economically, politically and militarily, rather than the other way around, and, among Western European nations, why did Great Britain in particular expand its wealth, influence and power? Also, when can this domination be most accurately dated from; 1000, 1200, 1500 or 1800? Critically discuss.
7. “The Industrial Revolution was first and foremost a technological event, not a social, cultural, institutional or scientific one. It was the biggest and fastest transformation of production in the history of the world, but the modern industrial society and dominance of the West that it ended up leading to was largely unanticipated, unforeseen and unintended at the time. The European and in particular British path was extraordinary, but not because economic and technological dynamism was unique in the world only to Europe and Britain, relative to say India, China or the Ottoman and Persian empires for example, but because by the 18th century Europe and Britain faced particular pressures and challenges, and had particular opportunities – pressures, challenges and opportunities that were largely absent elsewhere in the world.” Critically discuss.
8. “There was only one route to the 21thcentury and it traversed Northern Britain in the late 18th century. Britain at that time found itself, by chance and circumstance, at the epicentre of a revolution in manufacturing and transportation that would forever alter the contours of world economic growth, and that instantaneously and irreversibly altered the way people lived and worked.” Critically discuss.
9. “The Industrial Revolution that began in of the late eighteenth century was the most important break in the history of mankind since the Neolithic period and the development of agriculture.” Critically discuss.
10. The phenomenon known as the Industrial Revolution was the culmination of a process that came together in the 1700-1800 period once a critical mass of circumstances came together is something like a “Perfect Storm.” It is easy to describe what occurred, much more difficult to explain why it occurred, and why it occurred where and when it did.” Discuss.