Choose one possible topics for the first History 3C paper

1. How did the Enlightenment emerge and what were the major currents of

Enlightenment thought? Compare the ideas of two Enlightenment thinkers. What do

they share in common? In what ways did they challenge the ideas of the age and

how do they make their arguments?

2. What were the main differences between the French and American revolutions?

How can we explain the different paths they took?

3. The Industrial Revolution changed how people lived and worked around the

world. How did industrialization transform the economic, cultural, and social lives

of Europeans over the course of the 18th

and 19thcenturies? Were all of these

changes positive? If not, why?

4. Focusing on two countries, explore how nationalism and socialism shaped

European politics during the nineteenth century.

5. What were the forces behind European colonialism? Choose two colonial powers

and compare how their experiences with colonialism differed. What might explain

the dramatic differences say between the German and British, or French and Belgian

colonial regimes?