History 309 – CONTEMPORARY EUROPE – August 29, 2005  

DESCRIBING Europe 1900  

Historians try to understand TIME, the multiple ebbs and flows of cause and effect, continuity and change, fate and accident.  As scientists, historians carefully gather data from past time.  Next, historians have to order the data some way.  One way to order data is to use it to DESCRIBE a particular time.  

“To describe” means to identify what’s “essential” about a time, and eliminate what’s “accidental.”  Description is a act of judgment – so be prepared to explain WHY you think something is “essential” and something else is “accidental.” Your job is to DESCRIBE Europe in 1900 two different ways.  

(Notice that here we “freeze-frame” Europe;  in later exercises we’ll stress chronology and change-over-time).  

FIRST:  sort what you consider to be relevant data into a matrix something like this:  

A Snapshot of Europe in 1900  

POLITICS	ECONOMICS	CULTURE	SOCIETY

 

SECOND:  now reconsider and RANK your data.  What are the TOP FIVE qualities which you consider “essential” to Europe in 1900?  

1.  

 

2.  

 

3.  

 

4.  

 

5.

 

Queens University of Charlotte  1900 Selwyn Avenue  Charlotte, NC  28274
Modified by:  H.  Kamerling