Spanish-American War

Below is a History Channel documentary that focuses on the fate of the USS Maine and its legacy. Below is perhaps a broader documentary entitled "the Crucible of Empire".

Marxism and Socialism

A visually cheesey video (but surprisingly informative) of the businessman turned Socialist Rober Owen. (Fans of the "Hof" be forewarned!)


A history-project documentary on Marx (updated with a funky-rocky soundtrack), with some salient quotations.


The unofficial "anthem" of international Socialism--The Internationale.

This is the a clip I often show in lecture. Gotta love the late, great Marc Bolan . . . .

The Industrial Revolution

The ideas of Karl Marx and his co-author, co-respondent, and friend Friedrich Engels were some of the most influential of the 20th Century, though their roots were firmly established in the turmoil of the 19th. Click this link for a synopsis of the Manifesto that was published in 1848. Manifesto
Then click on "Analysis" in the upper right for a fuller explication.

View this clip and pay particular attention to the social effects of mechanization:


View this clip with the question of why the Industrial Revolution began where and when it did.








Yankee inventor (and history teacher!) Eli Whitney made a few small technological innovations in his "Gin" (short for engine) with very large social, cultural, and political ramifications.




James Watt's developments of the earlier bulky and inefficient steam engine brought English factories down out of the hills (where water power was preeminent) and into the modern industrial city.





Before the rise of the Spinning Jenny and the Water Frame, the production of textiles took place in homes, cabins, and farms. But with the rise of Richard Arkwright's complex, large, expensive, and water-driven Water Frame, industry needed its own space, the "factory."

The clip below examines the roleof water power in the development of industry.





The "Jenny" (an adaptation of the word "Engine") played a significant role in the early years of the Industrial Revolution. A few things to keep in mind: it was manpowered--or more accurately "woman-powered"--and was still small enough to fit in the homes or cabins of "spinners." Click below for a demonastration from the Smithsonian Institution on the operation of the cotton gin

The Enclosure Movement

Click on the tab below for a lecture overview of the transition from Medieval formations to the modern.

Water and the Industrial Revolution

Derwent Valley Mills is a World Heritage Site along the River Derwent in Derbyshire, England, designated in December 2001. It is administered by the Derwent Valley Mills Partnership. The modern factory, or 'mill', system was born here in the 18th century to accommodate the new technology for spinning cotton developed by Richard Arkwright. With advancements in technology, it became possible to produce cotton continuously. The system was adopted throughout the valley, and later spread so that by 1788 there were over 200 Arkwright-type mills in Britain. Arkwright's inventions and system of organising labour was exported to Europe and the United States.

Water-power was first introduced to England by John Lombe at his silk mill in Derby in 1719, but it was Richard Arkwright who applied water-power to the process of producing cotton in the 1770s. His patent of a water frame allowed cotton to be spun continuously and meant it could be produced by unskilled workers. Cromford Mill and Cromford was the site of Arkwright's first mill, and his system of production and worker's housing was copied throughout the valley. To ensure the presence of a labour force, it was necessary to construct housing for the mill workers. Thus, new settlements were established by mill owners around the mills -- sometimes developing a pre-existing community -- with their own amenities such as schools, chapels, and markets. Most of the housing still exists and is still in use. Along with the transport infrastructure form part of the site. A transport infrastructure was built to open new markets for the mills' produce.

Mills and worker's settlements were established at Belper, Darley Abbey, and Milford by Arkwright's competitors. Arkwright-type mills were so successful that sometimes they were copied without paying royalties to Richard Arkwright. The cotton industry in the Derwent Valley went into decline in the first quarter of the 19th century as the market shifted towards Lancashire which was better position in relation to markets and raw materials. The mills and their associated buildings are well preserved and have been reused since the cotton industry declined. Many of the buildings within the World Heritage Site are also listed buildings and Scheduled Monuments. Some of the mills now contain museums and are open to the public.

The French Revolution

Louis and Marie Antoinette at Tuileries Palace

David's "Tennis Court Oath"

The Bastille

The March ofthe Fishwives

A Revolutionary "Sans-Culotte"

David's "Death of Marat"

A Detail Reveals the Name of Marat's Murderer

Georges Danton

Maximilien Robespierre

The Execution of Robespierre
We will discuss the French Revolution in more detail in lecture. A documentary with very high production vlues on the Revolution.

The Suffering Genius of Isaac Newton

Isaac Newton--the formulator of the great Universal Theory of Gravitation--became in the next century a hero of the Enlightenment...a paragon of reason and rationalism. These brief video clips discuss instead that Newton's infatuation with alchemy and heretical sects make him a much more complex (and human) person.