Third Exercise: Capitalism and Nationalism in the Nineteenth Century
History 104 / for Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Please see the General Guidelines for overall instructions on how to prepare this assignment. Address both questions outlined below.

This exercise asks you to refer to selected Brophy documents. In general, the readings for this assignment are shorter this time around, so let me urge you to go over them carefully. Be careful not to take quotes out of context; take the time to understand the overall points these authors are trying to make in their written work.

1. Read the passages by Smith, Engels, Saint-Simon, Robert Owen, and Marx & Engels (pp. 301-8, 314-26). Why are Smith and Owen relatively optimistic about the long-term prospects of industrial society, and why do Engels, Marx, and Saint-Simon believe that capitalism can only produce exploitation and misery?

2. Read the selections by Herder, Fichte, Mazzini, and Renan (pp. 374-87 and 391-94). Where do these authors disagree about the origins of the world's nations? How do they manage to depict nationalist movements as a source of political liberation and peaceful change in Europe, rather than a source of conflict between nations?