British History and The Middle East

Thames and Rhine

• 13,000 years ago: The Thames and the Rhine were part of the same river system.

• Sea-level rise: Affecting the coastlines of Britain and Europe.

Connection Between Britain and The Middle East

• Historically.

• Economically.

• Culturally.

• Imagination of the British (national identity and stories).

William Blake

• Proto-Romantic poet: Lived around the time of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic era.

• Protesting Industrialization: Sucking people into polluted cities and using child labor.

• Machines replacing human labor.

• Anti-industrial and against economic corruption.

Poem Adaptation

• 1916: Poem adapted to music during World War I, a patriotic tone.

• Middle of World War I: British losing soldiers daily.

• Hubert Perry: Sets the poem to music with a pro-war tone.

• Part of popular culture: Played in movie theaters to rile up the British population.

• Pro-war Patriotic English song: Arrows, swords, chariots.

• Boys' choir: Theme of innocence with patriotic music.

Blake's Lyrics: Jerusalem

• Faux naive antique style.

• About Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

• Rhetorical question. Is England a Christian nation?

• Blake is pro-Christian.

• "And was the holy lamb of God on England's pleasant pasture scene?"

Lamb of God

*Symbol for Jesus.

• Symbol of innocence.

• Sheep are famously raised in England.

• English economy depended on wool production from the 1300s to the 1500s.

• "And did the countenance divine shine forth upon our clouded hills?"

• Did God look specifically at England from heaven.

• "And was Jerusalem builded here among these dark satanic mills?"

Jerusalem

• Jerusalem was built in Palestine, not England.

• Contrast between Christ and Satan.

• Mills: Industrial mills, factories in London.

• Factories are the work of the devil.

Blake's Fight

• Mental fight, not physical.

• "Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand till we have built Jerusalem in England's green and pleasant land."

• Not literally building Jerusalem but making England good again.

• References to the Middle East.

William Blake as an Artist

• Beneficiary of mental disorder: Visions given by God.

• Illustrated Milton's Paradise Lost, and he would dream the lines of the poem, and then dictate them to his daughters.

Illustration of Paradise Lost

• The first builder, the first architect.

• Mallet: Hammering in bricks.

• Tool for measuring distances.

• The sun, the moon, and Stonehenge.

Stonehenge

• Neolithic structure built by proto-Celtic people.

• Around 5,000 years ago in Southwest England.

• Mysterious thing for romantics.

• No historical records.

• Associated with sunrises and sunsets.

Early British Cultural Historians

• Made up information when they didn't know the answer.

• Looked for facts in the Bible to fill in the gaps.

• Used the Old Testament for historical context.

Biblical History

• Noah's Ark: Landed in Turkey.

• All people descended from Noah's sons and daughters-in-law.

• Pre-Celtic European settlers came from places like Pakistan and The Middle East.

Gildus

• British historian: During attacks by Norsemen, Angles, Saxons, Jutes, and Danes.

• Compared attacks to those by the Philistines on Israel in the Bible.

• Interpreted contemporary events based on biblical events.

Venerable Bede

• Traces Britons back to the descendants of Noah.

Barbara Tuchman

• Search for ancestors.

• British history fuses biblical stories with scientific knowledge (pseudoscience and theology).

Norman Invasion

• Normans joined a pan-European Norman trading system.

• Norman Arab Byzantine culture: Fused with Byzantine culture.

• Settled in Italy, Sicily, and North Africa.

Architecture

• Aspects of ancient Roman culture.

• Norman arch.

• Arab innovation (the pointed arch).

• Influences Irish design.

• Book of Kells: Celtic designs found also in Visigothic manuscripts.

• Norman sculpture of the period.

• Stone fortifications.

Family Networks

• Norman Italy passes to Schwebia due to death and marriage.

• Frederick the second expels Muslims.

• Charles the second forces remaining Muslims to leave.

• Multicultural society becomes segregated.

Old Stock Market in London

• Facade like the Pantheon.

• Trading floor where stockbrokers sold commodity shares.

• Murals showing British commerce throughout history.

Ancient Britons Trading

• Trading with ancient Greek sailors.

• Reconstruction of a Cornish dwelling from 600 BCE.

• Cornwall had high-quality tin.

• Phoenicians traded purple cloth, medicine, and jewelry for British tin.

Irony in British History

• Queen Bodicia rebelled against the Roman general.

• Hebrews in Judea rebelled at the same time.

• The same Roman general put down both rebellions.

Crusades

• German princes, French nobility, and the king of England fought to protect the holy land.

• Richard the Lionheart conquered Cyprus in November.

• British pilgrims went to Jerusalem until the fall of Constantinople.

• Chaucer's Wife of Bath had made pilgrimages multiple times.

Protestantism

• King Henry the eighth switched from Catholicism to Protestantism.

• Requested a divorce from the Pope, who refused.

• Henry declared himself head of the Church of England.

• Took over Catholic properties to pay off debts.

Bible Translation

• Henry realized the need to translate the Bible into English.

• The Bible should be accessible for individual interpretation.

• Focus on the Old Testament.

Hebrew Nation

• The history, traditions, and moral law of the Hebrew nation became part of English culture.

• England was famously antisemitic.

English Law

• Based on common law.

• Cases are decided based on previous cases.

• Varies depending on where it's executed.

• Roman law is the same everywhere.

Trade with The Middle East

• Fairly brisk trade from 1200 to 1450.

• Lost connection during the Elizabethan era.

• The Ottoman Empire became more open to trade.

• The Battle of Lepanto opened up the Mediterranean.

• The English Navy defeated the Spanish Navy.

• Exchanges became more based on commerce and economics.

• Elizabeth encouraged trade and set up charters.

• First British embassy in The Middle East in Istanbul (1591).

English Trade Interests

• Silk.

• Cotton.

• Indigo blue.

• Spices (for preserving foods).

• Medicines (Herbs).

• Apothecary drugs.

English Offerings

• Three different kinds of dogs.

• Clocks.

Results of Trade

• Manufacturing shifted from wool to cotton.

• London unsuitable place for weaving cotton.

• North of England better for cotton weaving.

• Industrial system of labor.

Imports from The Middle East

• Daffodils.

• Lilies.

Colonial Capitalism

• England producing a lot of wool and exporting it to be finished into products but buying it back at a losing rate.

• Britain imported raw materials and made finished products for profit.

• China's model imports materials and makes cell phones, exporting them for profit.

Colonial Profits

• Spain imported four times more from its American colonies.

• The Dutch East India Company gave dividends of 24% to its stockholders.

• England imported more goods from India and exported to them a bare minimum.

Oliver Goldsmith

• The deserted village: Bemoaned abandoned villages.

• England became a nation of shopkeepers.

• Rural life declined.

Napoleonic Wars

• English on edge from 1789 to 1815.

• People concentrated in cities.

Peterloo Massacre

• Brought on by post-war price inflation.

• British Parliament represented regions, not population.

• Rotten boroughs: Unequal representation.

• Calls for suffrage.

• The massacre: Police killed protesters.

• The Manchester Guardian was started to promote the right to vote.

• British Parliament abolished slavery.

1848 Protest In London

• Peaceful and fairly successful.

• Promoted a charter for voting rights.

Charter Asks

• Vote to everyone that is 21 and male (not until 1918).

• Secret ballots.

• Members of parliament don't have to own property.

• Members of parliament get a salary.

• End of the hollow boroughs.

• Annual parliamentary elections.

Post-Renaissance Relations with The Middle East

• The Middle East was the ancient world, the world of the Bible, and the holy land.

• Land of religious tourism.

• Trade opens up further with the Far East.

Suez Canal

• Jointly undertaken by the British and French governments.

• Military ships controlled by British and French.

• Beneficial in world wars.

Collapse of The Ottoman Empire

• Huge empire spanning different religions, cultures, and languages.

• Weakening government.

• Different factions breaking off.

• Diplomats cutting up parts of the collapsing Ottoman Empire.

• Zones of French and English control.

Tourism

• Visiting places for a month or a few weeks.

• Taking pictures in front of ancient monuments.

• Cultural consumption through photography and mass tourism.

• Physically moving ourselves to see the past.

• Religious tours of Israel.

Google Earth

• Critics see Google Earth as a tool that gives people a false sense of knowledge.

Colonialism and Oil

• Europe moves to an oil-based economy.

• The Red Line Agreement: First oil cartel.

Iran

• Agreement between British Petroleum and the United States government.

• Persia was a monarchy/oligarchy.

• Rulers made bad deals with British Petroleum.

• Elections in 1951.

• The CIA overthrew the government to keep the contracts with the oil corporation the same.

Wind Turbines

• First electricity-producing wind turbine was built in 1887 in Scotland.