AP European History Final By David Jacobson

The Quote “History is made out of the failures and heroism of each insignificant moment.” –Franz Kafka

What does it mean? History is itself a combination of events Each of these events can be categorized as an act of success or failure, depending both on the viewpoint and outcome; something can almost always be looked at as a success from one side or failure from another Each event within history is a combination of moments that would be insignificant or have no effect on the course of history, if not all put together.

Examples Each insignificant moment is a success for someone and a failure for someone else This can be applied to periods as short as a day, months or years, and decades or centuries. Examples: –The Battle Of Trafalgar –The Battle Of Stalingrad –The Scientific Revolution

Trafalgar The Battle of Trafalgar was fought on October 21, 1805 British Vs. French and Spanish Deciding naval battle in the Napoleonic Wars Led by Admiral Horatio Nelson for the British and Villeneuve for the French

Heroism and Failure For Nelson, his act of heroism in guiding the attack led to British Victory Caused a huge setback and humiliating defeat for Napoleon 18 Ships lost and some 14,000 killed is a failure on the French’s; a success for the British who did not loose a single ship Success for the sharpshooter on the redoubtable that shot and mortally wounded Nelson; a failure for the British Navy, losing one its most esteemed Admirals

Battle Of Stalingrad Stalingrad, 1942 Russia Vs. Germany Germany invades Stalingrad, against a smaller Russian force Stalin, realizing the gravity of the situation sends in massive reinforcements, slowing down German advancements Fought on the streets of the city, house by house The Germans controlled 80% of the city before a strategic attack by the Russians surrounded and destroyed them

Heroism and Failure The Russian soldiers, though outnumbered fought valiantly in the streets, making Germany work for every last inch; though surrounded and starving at the end, the German soldiers fought gallantly to the death The Germans failed to capture Stalingrad; the Russians succeeded in defending it Every moment that one of the 147,000 Germans or 500,000 Russians was killed, it was a moment of either failure or heroism

The Scientific Revolution: The Age of Discovery Involved exploration- such a Columbus reaching North America Involved astronomical discoveries by Newton, Galileo, Copernicus and others. Analyzed life in a physical and mechanical way Einstein came along and challenged the mechanical theories with his Theory of Relativity and Quantum Physics The “Scientific Revolution” is an ever going event as technology gets more and more advanced

Heroism and Failure The moment Newton saw the apple fall from the tree and theorized gravity, it was a heroic victory for the revolution and mankind The moment Columbus set foot on N. America, it was all over for the native population. Success for Columbus, a failure for the natives to advance their civilizations Failure of the Church to control science and the people in its former realm; loss of faith Churches loss was scientific victory