Category Archives: Unit 1 The Age of Absolutism

Unit 1 Overview: From the Age of Absolutism to the Enlightenment, Inventing the Modern, 1648-1776

Absolutism, Unit 1 The Age of Absolutism

 

In this audio podcast I introduce the first Unit of the Course, “Inventing the Modern West,” with this three-minute video, “The Seventeenth Century, Inventing the Modern.”  Each Unit has 5 to 6 audio podcasts, each about ten minutes long. The first is the introduction or “Overview,” the next three each look at a different example of the themes set out in the first podcast.  The final podcast of each Unit discusses the consequences of this pivotal period in the History of the Modern West (1650-present).As you listen, or re-listen, to this podcast in your home, please have the PowerPoint for this Unit, “The First Modern Century, the 1600s,” open for you to follow along with.

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Unit 1, Discussion 3: The Scientific Revolution

Absolutism, Unit 1 The Age of Absolutism

 

Here we look at the role of the Scientific Revolution of the 17th century (the 1600s) in making that century the first modern century. This podcast will help you with that portion of your 500-word description of this period that is devoted the the example of the Scientific Revolution (75 to 125 words).  At the end of this podcast episode I give you a question to try to answer in this 75-125 word portion of your 500-word Unit Essay.

Link to Transcript of this Episode, The Scientific Revolution

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Unit 1, Example 3: Theories of Government in the 17th and 18th Centuries

Absolutism, Uncategorized, Unit 1 The Age of Absolutism

 

The Age of Absolutism also gave birth to the first modern theories of government. What did they have in common? What made them “modern?”  How did the theories of each of the three men (Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau) differ?   Once you know the answers to these questions, which this podcast episode will help you with, you will have unlocked the key to writing well another 50 to 75 words in your 500-word review of the Age of Absolutism.

Episode Transcript for Theories of Government in the 17th and 18th Centuries

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Unit 1, Example 4: The Enlightenment, 1700-1789

Absolutism, Uncategorized, Unit 1 The Age of Absolutism

 

Benjamin Franklin, Exemplar of the Enlightenment

We look in Unit 1, Example 4 at the philosophical movement of the 18th century that owed so much to the 17th century: the Enlightenment.  Join Dr. Reiman on a tour of its most important ideas and philosophers and the impact that they had on the society–and the Revolutions–of the Eighteenth century.

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Unit 1 Vignette: Louis XIV and the Fronde

Absolutism, Unit 1 The Age of Absolutism

In this vignette of the life of Louis XIV, you will listen to contact that will serve as the source material for your topics to write your 500-word “Personification” essay.  How did Louis personify the Age of Absolutism. This podcast contains topics that are excellent for such an analysis.  Choose one and show how. The podcast speaks of Hyacnith Rigauld’s portrait of Louis XIV, the palace of Versailles and El Cid, by Pierre Corneille, among other things.  Here are images that show these three subjects.

 

Episode Transcript for Unit 1 Episode, Louis XIV and the Fronde

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