Honors Program in History (Senior Honors Theses)

Forgetting the Violence, Remembering the Report: The Paradox of the 1931 Kanpur Riots

Priya Agarwal — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 06:08:11 PDT

This thesis explores the paradox between the events of the Kanpur Riots and the Kanpur Riot Commission Report, written in its aftermath. While the former is regarded as another example of Hindu-Muslim strife in the twentieth century, the latter has become an important text in nationalist historiography. This thesis will argue that the significance of the Report is bound up in the Kanpur Riots. The riot participants were the subject and audience of the Report and the authors of the Kanpur Riot Commission Report used them to create a framework for understanding Indian history that continues to be invoked today.

The Silent Partner: How the Ford Motor Company Became an Arsenal of Nazism

Daniel Warsh — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 06:03:55 PDT

Corporate responsibility is a popular buzzword in the news today, but the concept itself is hardly novel. In response to a barrage of public criticism, the Ford Motor Company commissioned and published a study of its own activities immediately before and during WWII. The study explores the multifaceted and complicated relationship between the American parent company in Dearborn and the German subsidiary in Cologne. The report's findings, however, are largely inconclusive and in some cases, dangerously misleading. This thesis will seek to establish how, with the consent of Dearborn, the German Ford company became an arsenal for Hitler's march on Europe. This thesis will clarify these murky relationships, and picking up where the Ford internal investigation left off, place them within a framework of corporate accountability and complicity. Ford's development as a transnational entity provides a perfect subject of study to embark on such a project. Many of the major themes of post-World War I Europe – economic stagnation, nationalism, coping with the aftermath of a devastating conflict, and eventually, the rise of authoritarian states – are all present in Ford's German story, and their consequences not only resonate within the fields of American, European, and business history but also that of corporate responsibility. The lessons are still relevant today.

Reading Under the Folds: John Dickinson, Gordon's Tacitus, and the American Revolution

Alexander Bregman — Mon, 12 May 2008 07:55:50 PDT

The thesis, "Reading Under the Folds: John Dickinson, Gordon’s Tacitus, and the American Revolution" examines the effects that one of the most important radical Whig texts had on one of the leading figures of the American Revolutionary movement. John Dickinson is often overlooked in histories of the American Revolution despite being a strong force from the time of the Stamp Act Congress through the Second Continental Congress, penning many of the resolves that came out of these meetings along with the highly influential Letters from a Pennsylvania Farmer. This thesis examines Dickinson's personal copy of Thomas Gordon's translation of the works of the Roman historian, Tacitus, published with Gordon's Discourses on the translation. This radical Whig text was revered by almost all of the American Founders, Dickinson included. Dickinson provided future readers of his copy of the text a unique insight into exactly what he took note of as he read the five volume work. He made no notes in the margins of his copy of the text, but rather folded literally hundreds of pages to mark particular passages throughout the work. Thus, he allowed future readers to literally read along with him. It turns out that almost every fold had a purpose. This thesis analyzes exactly what Dickinson highlighted through his folds and looks at the influence that these highlights had on some of the most crucial moments of his Revolutionary career, including how they very well might have been one of the factors that led to his fateful decision to not sign the Declaration of Independence in 1776.

World's Fairs in Chicago and Barcelona: Spectacle, Memory, and Nationalism

Uri L. Friedman — Mon, 12 May 2008 05:54:02 PDT

Nineteenth-century international exhibitions served as platforms for national competition and self-expression. Though over 4,000 miles apart, both Chicago, Illinois and Barcelona, Spain were animated by "second city" politics and featured a thriving industrial economy in the last decades of the nineteenth century. Yet while Chicagoans swelled with pride about the city they had helped resurrect from the ashes of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, they also displayed patriotism toward an American nation that had overcome the Civil War and was rapidly amassing power. A burgeoning Catalan nationalist movement, on the other hand, contributed to a widening disconnect between the capital of Catalonia and a sputtering Spanish nation. These pivotal differences - along with historical circumstance - have informed the historical interpretation of Chicago's 1893 World's Columbian Exposition and Barcelona's 1888 Universal Exposition. The ways in which the collective memory of these two world's fairs have diverged shed light on why, today, remembering Chicago's World's Fair has largely become an intellectual exercise while conjuring up memories of Barcelona's Universal Exposition persists as a critical tool for Catalan nationalists wishing to advance their interests and broadcast their nationalism to the global community.

Caught on the Periphery: Portuguese Neutrality during World War II and Anglo-American Negotiations with Salazar

Melissa Teixeira — Fri, 09 May 2008 08:45:15 PDT

On 1 September 1939, after the German invasion of Poland and the formal outbreak of World War II in Europe, António de Oliveira Salazar addressed the National Assembly and declared Portugal’s neutrality. Salazar, the stern and fastidious Prime Minister of the Estado Novo regime in Portugal from 1932 to 1969, adhered to strict neutrality in order to keep this underdeveloped nation on the periphery of the grueling conflict. But the Açores Islands in the Atlantic and the critical stocks of wolfram made Portugal an immense strategic concern for the Allied Powers. The Anglo-American negotiations with Salazar for the use of facilities on the Açores Islands and a complete embargo on the sale of wolfram to Germany were empowered by the fourteenth-century Luso-Anglo Alliance, which obliged Salazar to concede to Britain’s requests. But while the concessions to the Allies were guaranteed in principle, Salazar needlessly protracted the negotiations in an attempt to further Portuguese interests in the post-war period. It was clear that the outcome of the conflict would decide the status of Portugal’s oversea empire and the survival of Salazar’s regime. This thesis explores the various motivations and consequences of Portugal’s neutrality during World War II and how Salazar’s post-war anxieties impacted the tone and outcome of his negotiations with the Anglo-American Powers. Yet, the question that remains unsettled is whether neutrality was a justifiable course for Portugal, or whether it should be interpreted as an act of tacit collaboration with Nazi Germany.

The Root of the Opium War: Mismanagement in the Aftermath of the British East India Company's Loss of its Monopoly in 1834

Jason A. Karsh — Thu, 08 May 2008 10:48:52 PDT

The histories of the Opium War, of which there are many, have posited that the roots of the conflict are diverse and interconnected, ranging from cultural differences to conflicting perspectives on trade. Many historians even imply that the Opium War was somehow inevitable. They point to the famous Macartney Mission of 1793, in which the first British diplomat to meet the Chinese emperor refused to kowtow and was subsequently denied formal diplomatic relations with the Chinese. However, in investigating documents of the British East India Company at Canton some years later, the war in no way seemed predestined. On the contrary, there existed a collaborative and mutually beneficial relationship between the Chinese and British merchants at Canton.

Through examining the archives of the East India Company Factory at Canton from March 1833 until July 1834 it becomes quite clear that the internal problems of regulating trade at Canton, the relationship with the Hong Merchants, the attitudes toward the Chinese, and the legal and political issues that arose all paint a lucid, new narrative of the root of the Opium War. The documents demonstrate that the Company’s successful management of the tenuous relationship with the Chinese merchants at Canton actually helped avoid conflict and legal infractions with higher authorities. Although the Company lacked true authority over the British subjects at Canton—other than providing them with licenses—it carried out the difficult task of representing the entire British community to the Chinese. Thus, when significant problems arose, the company’s long-standing relationship with the Chinese merchants ultimately led to decades of a stable, lucrative trade for the British.

However, when the Company lost its monopoly over the China trade in April of 1834, the management of the relationship drastically changed. The first British superintendent of trade, Lord Napier, would exhibit stubbornness, belligerence and a misunderstanding of the Chinese. Refusing to draw upon the knowledge of colleagues who were experienced in the China trade, his cavalier actions set Sino-British relations on a path to war. It was the loss of the British East India Company’s monopoly and the subsequent restructuring of the trade relationship on the ground at Canton that would ultimately set the stage for the precipitation of armed conflict in the Opium War of 1840.

Departing for the Ends of the Earth to do My Humble Part: The Life of William A. Rich, Volunteer Ambulance Driver for the American Field Service, 1942-1945- A Study of War Letters

Alice S. Hickey — Wed, 07 May 2008 14:06:30 PDT

From the years 1942 to 1945, William A. Rich, a volunteer ambulance driver with the American Field Service, wrote a vast collection of letters home; he served in the Middle East, North Africa, Italy, France, Germany and India. Rich corresponded with his family and girlfriend biweekly about his experiences and opinions, resulting in a collection of more than 300 letters. From these letters, supplemented by additional archival sources, a fascinating narrative emerges. Rich's story explains the complexity of life on the frontlines as a non-combatant of a total war. From the fall of Tunis to the horrors of the relief of Belsen Concentration Camp, the letters provide an unmediated perspective on World War Two through the eyes of a twenty-year old. My thesis seeks to examine whether these letters, and whether war letters in general, are valuable historical documents.

An American Ambassador in Berlin: Observing Hitler's Gambles in Foreign Policy, 1933-1937

Kevin P. Glowalla — Tue, 06 May 2008 13:49:03 PDT

William Edward Dodd served as United States ambassador to Germany between August 1933 and December 1937. Using archival sources, this thesis examines Dodd's reactions to and analyses of three events in Nazi German history, with reference to how these episodes altered the landscape of international security. These events are the withdrawal from the Disarmament Conference and League of Nations in October 1933, the announcement of conscription in March 1935, and the remilitarization of the Rhineland in March 1936. By focusing on these three critical moments, this thesis traces the evolution of Dodd's perception of the threat Nazi Germany posed to world peace. The four years of Dodd's service converted a man once conservatively optimistic about the Hitler regime's future to one deathly afraid of it, convinced that action by foreign powers was the only avenue to stop Germany's march towards war. Few in the State Department shared his doomsday beliefs. The Ambassador was left isolated and ignored.

Their Nation Dishonored, the Queen Shamed, and Country Undone: Feuding, Factionalism, and Religion in the Chaseabout Raid

Rachel Omansky — Thu, 01 May 2008 06:43:22 PDT

The mid-sixteenth century witnessed religious and political upheaval across much of Western Europe, particularly in the British Isles. In 1565, a good portion of the Scottish nobility rebelled against their sovereign, Mary, Queen of Scots. The roles played and decisions made by the nobles during this revolt, known as the Chaseabout Raid, provide important insights concerning the converging issues of feuding, factionalism, and religion in Scotland. My reconstructed narrative of the Chaseabout Raid indicates that there were, in fact, no firm factions determined by ideology, but rather shifting allegiances in the midst of conflict, determined by complex and interrelated factors, personalities, and motivations. The primary motivation for the coalitions formed during the Chaseabout Raid was selfish personal ambition—base desire for individual gain still superseded any proto-nationalistic ideas or purely ideological commitments. Using this incident, I offer new conclusions regarding the origins of the Scottish kirk and national identity, the rise of the modern notions of loyalty and allegiance, and the construction of the modern Scottish state. With respect to the broader study of history, these conclusions discovered through an empiricist approach may demonstrate the validity of this method for reexamining other riots, rebellions, and revolts across history.

Consolidating the Mexican State: Constitutionalism during the Presidency of Plutarco Elías Calles

Pedro Gerson — Thu, 01 May 2008 06:35:00 PDT

This work presents an analysis of the presidency of Plutarco Elías Calles. It views Calles as a man of the Mexican Revolution and as an heir to the values promoted by the Constitution that came as a result of this movement. His respect for the constitution, pushed him to act on his anticlerical beliefs and to unify the Revolutionary movement under one party. Focusing mostly on the reasons and results of his anticlerical policy, we hope to gain insight into Calles’ constitutionalism. By understanding Calles’ policies, we can understand both the nature of the peculiar separation of Church and State in a very religious country, and the reasons for the formation of a party that would rule Mexico for seventy-two years.

The Affair or the State: Intellectuals, the Press, and the Dreyfus Affair

David Rimoch — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 06:50:45 PDT

In his introduction to The Age of Revolution historian Eric Hobsbawm considers "a few English words which were invented, or gained their modern meanings, substantially in the period" between 1789 and 1848. The list includes 'capitalism', 'socialism', 'aristocracy', 'liberal', 'conservative', 'nationality', 'crisis', 'journalism', and 'ideology'. For Hobsbawm, "To imagine the modern world without these words (i.e. without the things and concepts for which they provide names) is to measure the profundity of the revolution which broke out between 1789 and 1848, and forms the greatest transformation in human history since the remote times when men invented agriculture and metallurgy, writing, the city and the state." This analysis is relevant when thinking of the Dreyfus case. To imagine the Affair without words such as 'capitalism', 'aristocracy', 'nationality', 'crisis', or 'ideology', is not hard, it is impossible.

"When Nature Holds the Mastery": The Development of Biocentric Thought in Industrial America

Aviva R. Horrow — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 07:04:41 PDT

This thesis explores the concept of "biocentrism" within the context of American environmental thought at the turn of the twentieth century. Biocentrism is the view that all life and elements of the universe are equally valuable and that humanity is not the center of existence. It encourages people to view themselves as part of the greater ecosystem rather than as conquerors of nature. The development of this alternative world view in America begins in mid-nineteenth to early twentieth century, during a period of rapid industrialization and urbanization as some Americans began to notice the destruction they wrought on the environment and their growing disconnect with nature. Several individuals during this time introduced the revolutionary idea of biocentrism including: John Muir, Liberty Hyde Bailey, Nathaniel Southgate Shaler and Edward Payson Evans. This thesis traces the development of their biocentrism philosophies, attributing it to several factors: more mainstream reactions to the changes including the Conservation movement and Preservation movements, new spiritual and religious approaches towards nature, and Darwin's theory of evolution which spurred the development of the field of ecology and the concept of evolving ethics. It draws upon the personal papers, unpublished and published works of thinkers that participated in this dialogue to show how the concept emerged and fits into the greater context of American environmentalism.

Authorial Disputes: Private Life and Social Commentary in the Honglou meng

Carina Wells — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 11:42:56 PDT

“Though all women are women, no woman is only a woman”: Black, White, and Chicana Feminist Consciousness Development from 1955 to 1985

Amy D. Rublin — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 09:52:17 PDT

This thesis illustrates how feminist consciousness at the crux of the second wave women's movement was simultaneously unified and splintered. What cut across backgrounds and united women was a common mission to overturn institutionalized and de facto gender discrimination in American society. Yet consciousness development and approaches to these women's-centered goals varied greatly among and between black, white, and Chicana women based on race, distinct history in the United States, class, concurrent liberation struggles, and religion. There was both a women's movement – broadly defined as numerous women acting somewhat contemporaneously for the advancement of women's rights – and several women's movements, meaning the pursuit of rights by women of similar standpoints, perhaps within specific contexts, such as a racial community. These movements overlapped yet rarely blended; the simultaneous existence of one movement and many demonstrates the paradoxical nature of the second wave. It also begs the question of whether internal division is indicative of the movement's failure. This thesis argues that, contrary to the views of many historians and feminists, the movement's power lies in its complexity. The voices contained in numerous anthologies are showcased in this intellectual history to demonstrate how women's thoughts and experiences interacted and molded each other's. This dynamic process compelled the interpretation and application of pro-women's empowerment ideals in myriad contexts, giving the struggle depth and making it accessible to a wider range of women. Women, regardless of background, perceived these ideals from their unique points of view and endeavored to integrate these concepts into their lives, traditions, and faiths. The movement's strength, rather than fatal flaw, is that “though all women are women, no woman is only a woman.”

The White Author's Burden: Justifications of Empire in the Fiction of British India

Leslie M. Reich — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 08:43:06 PDT

The White Author’s Burden: Justifications of Empire in the Fiction of British India identifies a transformation in Anglo-Indian literature by exploring various fictional works (including novels, short stories, and poems) written by British authors between 1800 and 1924. Before 1857 (the year of the widespread Indian Rebellions that challenged British rule), Anglo-Indian literature focused exclusively on British life in India. Interactions with Indians were minimal, if present at all. After this date, however, British authors began to portray India and Indians almost entirely in ways that justified their own rule. This shift in the literature suggests that the British felt a new need to justify their empire. This thesis focuses on three literary themes offered by British authors that served to legitimize British rule in India in the second half of the nineteenth century: (1) the state of Indian women; (2) the alleged rivalry between Hindus and Muslims; and (3) the perceived incompetence of educated Indians for political rule. Each of these premises was employed as a tactic to justify the British Empire.

This study investigates illustrations of India and Indians in British fiction against the backdrop of historiographical debate. These depictions in Anglo-Indian literature were caused by a deep-rooted fear of losing the empire that was brought on by the very real loss of authority and control in 1857-8 during the widespread Rebellions. This study aids in understanding the ways in which the British desperately tried to validate their necessity in the subcontinent through the implicit and explicit representations of Indian life in the literature of the day. It combines history and literary analysis to determine how these stereotypes were created, and how they were used to legitimize and emphasize the necessity of the British Empire in India.

The First Line of Contact: The Young Christian Made Ottoman Slave in the Sixteenth Century

Andrew Dalzell — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 10:59:14 PDT

As the Ottoman presence Europe expanded following the fall of Constantinople in 1453, it became apparent that their most penetrating incursion was not merely a territorial one, but rather a deep one into the collective mindset of a terrified continent. However, while the sheer volume of literary works with new calls for crusade, and unheeded pleadings for Christendom to put aside petty internal disputes and unite against the barbarous Turks, a body, though certainly in the minority, preferred pragmatism to panic and concentrated not on how to vanquish the Infidel, but coexist with him. Though the works of Theodore Spandounes, Ambassador Ogier Ghislan de Busbecq and Bartolomeo Giorgievits dominate the bibliographies of modern historians examining this demographic, the historical eye should be drawn to Giovanni Antonio Menavino's I Cinque Libri delle legge, religione, e vita de' Turchi as not only confirms much of what has already been extrapolated from works by his contemporaries, but also supplementing the existing literature. Corsairs captured Menavino at the age of twelve and sold him into slavery under the Grand Turk where he would serve in most intimate proximity to the sultan for ten years. His composition not only offers a fascinating perspective into the mysterious world of the sultan’s seraglio, it is also representative of thousands of Christian boys who, through the whims of chance and circumstance, were forced to serve the sultan. These boys, purloined at sea or on land, in turn represent the most intimate line of contact between Christianity and Islam, and whose perceptions of Islam vary widely from the dominant paradigm of the time.

Skepticism and Belief in Early-Modern France: The Fideism of Bishop Pierre Daniel Huet

Anton Matytsin — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 10:43:18 PDT

Despite the seeming oppositions between skepticism and religious belief, Bishop Pierre-Daniel Huet (1630-1721) was both a devout Catholic and a philosophical skeptic. While this opposition may seem paradoxical to both modern readers and Huet’s contemporaries, this thesis explains how Huet’s scandalous posthumous Treatise Concerning the Weakness of Human Understanding (1723) fits into the intellectual curriculum of the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. By situating Huet in the intellectual context of Early-Modern France, this thesis demonstrates how philosophical skepticism became appealing to Catholic thinkers both as a polemic and as an epistemological stance in opposition to the rationalist transformation of pre-Enlightenment thought.

The "Schemes of Public Parties": Benjamin Franklin, William Smith, and the Struggle for Control of the University of Pennsylvania

Jennifer W. Reiss — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 06:26:24 PDT