logo         Hist 250\350 Spring 2026  

Storms Before the Storm
Revolutions Across the World From 1900 to 1916



Class Schedule
Please do the readings listed for given day in advance of that day. 

Week of

Feb 4--Introduction: A Comparative and Thematic Course

Section One--The World of 1900

Feb 6--Domestic and International Politics


Feb 9--The New Imperialism

Feb 11--The Second Industrial Revolution: Industry and Finance (and short clinic on the papers for the course)

Feb 13--World War I and the Bolshevik Revolution


 Section Two--An Overview of Revolutions--the Storms Before the Storm

Feb 16--The Russian Revolution of 1905
(Beginning of Class:  Short Objective Test on the Information from the first two weeks)
readings
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Revolution_(1905)
                
Feb 18--The Iranian Constitutional Revolution of 1905
reading
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_Constitutional_Revolution
             
Feb 20--The Young Turk Revolution of 1908 and the Portuguese Revolution of 1910
readings
Wikipedia entry on the Young Turk Revolution, only down to and not including the section entitled "New elites"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Turk_Revolution
And read this short history of the Portuguese Revolution of 1910
https://www.portugal.com/history-and-culture/the-portuguese-revolution-of-1910/

Feb 23--Clinic on Writing History Papers
no reading

Feb 25--The Chinese Revolution of 1911
readings
Wikipedia on the Boxer Rebellion--Read Intro only.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxer_Rebellion
Wikipedia on the Chinese Revolution (please read all of it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Revolution_of_1911
      
Feb 27--NO CLASS
 

Mar 2--The Mexican Revolution of 1910
reading
Wikipedia on the Mexican Revolution, Intro only: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican_Revolution

Mar 4--International Banks, Businesses, and Imperialism Before the Storms
read
excerpt from John A. Hobson, Imperialism:  A Study

 350s topic proposal due on Mar 4 at midnight, via Turnitin

Section Three: Deeper Dives into the Storms


Mar 6--Background to the 1905 Revolution in Russia
readings
    Peter Kropotkin on the 1905 Revolution  http://www.shsu.edu/~his_ncp/Krop1905.html
    Leon Trotsky, 1905  http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1907/1905/index.htm  Part I, chapters 1, 2, 3, and 4.
    
Mar 9--Some Aspects of 1905 in Russia 
readings
Wikipedia on the "Black Hundreds, only down to and not including "The Fight Against the Black Hundreds"
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Hundreds
aBrook Stowe, "Anton Checkhov and the revolution of 1905"
  350s ONLY--     Sarah Abrevaya Stein, "Faces of Protest: Yiddish Cartoons of the 1905 Revolution" Slavic Review, Vol. 61, No. 4 (Winter, 2002), pp. 732-761
           
Mar 11--On the United States and the Russian 1905 Revolution
350s ONLY--Jane E. Good, "America and the Russian Revolutionary Movement, 1888-1905" Russian Review, Vol. 41, No. 3 (Jul., 1982), pp. 273-287

Mar 13--The Persian Constitutional Revolution: Background
no readings

250s--first paper due on March 12 at midnight, via Turnitin.com
Mar 16-20--Spring Break

Mar 23--No readings: review for Midterm

Mar 25--Midterm Exam (Mar 13 Persian material will not be on the exam)

Mar 27--The Revolution of 1905 In Persia
readings
  Ira Klein, "British Intervention in the Persian Revolution, 1905-1909" The Historical Journal, Vol. 15, No. 4 (Dec., 1972), pp. 731-752

And 350s ONLY: Abdul-Hadi Hairi, "Why Did the ʿUlamā Participate in the Persian Constitutional Revolution of 1905-1909?" Die Welt des Islams, New Series, Vol. 17, Issue 1/4 (1976 -1977), pp. 127-154  


Mar 30--Background to the Young Turk Revolution of 1908
reading
Wikipedia on the Young Turk Revolution, only down to and not including "Situation in Ottoman Macedonia"
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Turk_Revolution

  
Apr 1--And more on the Young Turk Revolution
readings
Wikipedia on the woman writer, Halide Edip Adivar: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halide_Edib_Ad%C4%B1var
350s ONLY--Donald Quataert, "The Economic Climate of the ‘Young Turk Revolution’ in 1908" The Journal of Modern History, Vol. 51,  On Demand Supplement (Sep., 1979), pp. D1147-D1161
https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/242040?journalCode=jmh


Apr 3--Some Cultural Aspects of the Turkish 1908 Revolution
reading
Palmira Brummett, "Dogs, Women, Cholera, and Other Menaces in the Streets: Cartoon Satire in the Ottoman
Revolutionary Press, 1908" International Journal of Middle East Studies, Vol. 27, No. 4 (Nov., 1995), pp. 433-460

350s--Annotated Bibliography due April 1 at midnight, via Turnitin

Apr 6--Background to the Mexican Revolution of 1910
no readings for 250s
350s ONLY--William Schell, Jr.  "Money as Commodity: Mexico’s Conversion to the Gold Standard, 1905" Mexican Studies / Estudios Mexicanos, Vol. 12, No. 1 (Winter, 1996), pp. 67-89


Apr 8--Personalities in the Mexican Revolution
Read the Wikipedia entries, intros only, on Porfirio Diaz, Francisco Madero, Victoriano Huerta, Venustiano Carranza, Pancho Villa, Emiliano Zapata
       Document--The 1911 Plan de Ayala  http://historicaltextarchive.com/sections.php?op=viewarticle&artid=127

Apr 10--Violence in the Mexican Revolution
reading
Robert McCaa, “Missing Millions:  The Demographic Costs of the Mexican Revolution”  Mexican Studies / Estudios Mexicanos, Vol. 19, No. 2 (Summer, 2003), pp. 367-400

250s--second paper due on Apr 9 at midnight, via Turnitin

Apr 13--Background to the Chinese Revolution of 1911
readings
Read the article “American and the China Loan,” by Frederick McCormick, Scribner’s Magazine, Sept. 1911, 349-355
Get the whole half year vol. on Google Books and read it online or download it or read it online:
http://books.google.com/books?id=ODwwAAAAMAAJ&printsec=titlepage&source=gbs_summary_r&cad=0#PPA349,M1     
    350s ONLY: Young-Tsu Wong "Popular Unrest and the 1911 Revolution in Jiangsu" Modern China, Vol. 3, No. 3 (Jul., 1977), pp. 321-344

Apr 15--The Course of the Chinese Revolution
reading
ExplainingHistory: text from podcast: on the opening stage of the 1911 Chinese Revolution
https://explaininghistory.org/2025/11/14/the-1911-revolution-from-wuchang-uprising-to-the-fall-of-the-qing/#abdication-and-the-birth-of-the-republic   
  

Apr 17--The United States and the Revolution in China

Noel H. Pugach, "Standard Oil and Petroleum Development in Early Republican China" The Business History Review, Vol. 45, No. 4 (Winter, 1971), pp. 452-473

Apr 20--The United States (cont.)
reading
Key Ray Chong "The Abortive American-Chinese Project for Chinese Revolution, 1908-1911" The Pacific Historical Review, Vol. 41, No. 1 (Feb., 1972), pp. 54-70    

Section Four: Comparative and Other Aspects of the Storms

Apr 22--Why and How Did the United States Try to Change China?
reading
Murray N. Rothbard, A History of Money and Banking in the United States  http://mises.org/books/historyofmoney.pdf, ONLY pp. 183-234.

Apr 23--Arms Makers and International Conflict around 1900readings
reading
Merchants of Death reading, details TBA


Apr 27--Aftermaths of Violence and Change--Some Comparisons
no reading

Apr 29--Presentations

May 1--Presentations
 
350s--research paper due at midnight Apr 27 at midnight, via Turnitin
May 4--Presentations

May 6--Presentations

May 8--Presentations if needed

250s--Third paper due at midnight on May 6, via Turnitin
 May 11--Summarizing and Review

May 13--No Class