This assignment should be complied up to Friday, February 28, 2011. Make your answers brief and concise. Provide also the URL at the end of each answers. Make sure you have read and familiarize your answers in preparation for the quiz.
A. Provide basic information about the following figure and their participation in the French Revolution and in the Napoleonic War . Also include their achievements and he reason of their downfall.
1. Napoleon Bonaparte
ANS. Napoleon Bonaparte was born on August 15, 1769 in Ajaccio on the Mediterranean island of Corsica, the son of Carlo and Letizia Bonaparte. Through his military exploits and his ruthless efficiency, Napoleon rose from obscurity to become Napoleon I, Empereur des Francais (Emperor of the French). He is both a historical figure and a legend—and it is sometimes difficult to separate the two. The events of his life fired the imaginations of great writers, film makers, and playwrights whose works have done much to create the Napoleonic legend.Napoleon decided on a military career when he was a child, winning a scholarship to a French military academy at age 14. His meteoric rise shocked not only France but all of Europe, and his military conquests threatened the stability of the world.
http://www.lucidcafe.com/library/95aug/napoleon.html

2. Duke Wellington
ANS. Arthur Wesley was born in Dublin in early May 1769. In 1798, his aristocratic Anglo-Irish family changed their name to Wellesley.
He was an unremarkable student at Eton, but seems to have found his calling when he joined the army in 1787. He fought against the French in Flanders and in 1796 went to India. His brother Richard was appointed governor general there in 1797. Wellesley achieved considerable military success, taking part in the Mysore War against Tipu Sultan. During the subjugation of the Mahrattas he achieved a remarkable victory at Assaye (1803).
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/wellington_duke_of.shtml

3. Maximilien Robespierre
ANS. Maximilien Marie Isidore de Robespierre was born, of Irish origin, at Arras, May 6, 1758. He was admitted avocat in 1781, and was elected to the Estates General in 1789 by Artois. He attached himself to the extreme left wing, and soon commanded attention. His influence grew daily, and the mob frantically admired his earnest cant and his boasted incorruptibility.
In 1791 he carried the motion that no member of the present Assembly should be eligible for the next, and was appointed public accuser. Next followed the flight to Varennes (June 21), Lafayette's last effort to control the right of insurrection on the Champ-de-Mars (July 17), the abject terror of Robespierre, his hysterical appeal to the Club, the theatrical oath taken by every member to defend his life, and his conduct home in triumph by the mob at the close of the Constituent Assembly (September 30). The Girondist leaders in the new Legislative Assembly were eager for war. Robespierre offered a strenuous opposition in the Jacobin Club.
In April 1792 he resigned his post of public accuser. In August he presented to the Legislative Assembly a petition for a Revolutionary Tribunal and a new Convention. It does not appear that he was in any way responsible for the September massacres. He was elected first deputy for Paris to the national Convention, where the bitter attacks upon him by the Girondists threw him into closer union with Danton.
http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/robespierre.html

4. George Danton
ANS George Jacques Danton was one of the leaders of the French revolution. He was born in 1759 and died in 1794. His colossal stature, athletic frame, and powerful voice contributed not a little, together with his intellectual gifts and audacity, to win him a prominent position amongst the revolutionaries. He founded the club of the Cordeliers, was foremost in organizing and conducting the attack on the Tuileries, on August the 10th, 1792, and as a reward for such services was made minister of justice and a member of the provisional executive council. When the advance of the Prussian army spread consternation amongst the members of the government George Danton alone preserved his courage, and in a celebrated speech summoned all Frenchmen capable of bearing arms to march against the enemy.
http://www.probertencyclopaedia.com/cgi-bin/res.pl?keyword=George+Danton&offset=0

B. What happened to France after the Napoleonic War. Discuss and provide a brief and concise account about the war.
ANSThe first campaign of the Napoleonic wars was the War of the second Coalition - with Bonaparte absent in Egypt fighting the British a new coalition formed against the French in 1798. This consisted of Russia, Great Britain, Austria, Portugal, The Ottoman Empire and the Kingdom of Naples. The fighting took place mainly in Northern Italy and Switzerland, with the Russians under General Aleksandr Suvorov being successful at first undoing the damage done by Napoleon's victories in Italy. The French defeated the Russians who pulled out of the coalition. Bonaparte offered peace but the coalition refused and in 1800 he crossed the Alps and defeated the Austrians at the battle of Marengo 1800. Other French victories followed and soon only Britain remained to stand against the French. After a failed attack in Holland, Britain made peace (1802). this was not to last long.
http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/wars_napoleonic.html

C. Introduce the following personalities and their accomplishments in their respective countries:

1. Quen Isabela
ANS .The Spanish Inquisition, which officially lasted until 1808, was not a good period for Spain. It was particularly bad during the reign of Isabella and Ferdinand. Anyone who was not a Catholic was suspected of being against the church. They risked torture and death if they did not renounce their own religion and become a Catholic. Unfortunately even converting was not good enough for the Chief Inquisitor, Torquemada. He convinced, Isabella and Ferdinand that the Jewish people posed a threat to their Kingdoms, even those that had previously converted. As such on March 31, 1492 Isabella and Ferdinand ordered that by July 1st all people of the Jewish faith had to leave Spain or be put to to death. Some of these people secretly remained in Spain, some settled in Portugal or went to North Africa. And some decided that they would leave Spain as far behind as possible. They decided to join with a sea captain who was looking for sailors to help him find a new western route to India. The name of the sea captain was Christopher Columbus
http://www.ctspanish.com/legends/isabella1.htm

2. King Carlos V
ANS.The marital politics of his grandparents, his father´s death and his mother´s incapacity gave him the inheritance of four different dinasties.
His grandfather Maximiliano left him the centro-european territories from Austria and the rights for the Empire, from his granmother Maria de Borgoña, he inherited the Netherlands, from Fernando el Católico he obtain the reigns of "La Corona de Aragon", besides, Sicilia and Naples, and from his grandmother Isabel I "La Corona de Castilla", the Canaries and all the new discovered and undiscovered World.
Carlos´ childhood transcurred in the Flemish court and he was educated by Adriano de Utrecht.
In the year 1515 he took charge of the government from the Netherlands, and Guillermo de Croÿ, lord of Chièvres, took it during a period of time. When his grandfather Fernando died in 1516, he became king of Spain, and in 1519 he became Emperor.
http://www.aceros-de-hispania.com/carlosI-swords.htm

3. King Philip II
ANS. Philip II, King of Spain, was born at Valladolid on the 21st of May 1527. He was the son of the emperor Charles V, and of his wife Isabella of Portugal, who were first cousins. Philip received his education in Spain. His tutor, Dr. Juan Martinez Pedernales, who latinized his name to Siliceo, and who was also his confessor, does not appear to have done his duty very thoroughly. The prince, though he had a good command of Latin, never equaled his father as a linguist. Don Juan de Zuñiga, who was appointed to teach him the use of arms, was more conscientious; but he had a very poor pupil. From his earliest years Philip showed himself more addicted to the desk than the saddle and to the pen than to the sword. The emperor, who spent his life moving from one part of his wide dominions to another and in the camps of his armies, watched his heir's education from afar. The trend of his letters was to impress on the boy a profound sense of the high destinies to which he was born, the necessity for keeping his nobles apart from all share in the conduct of the internal government of his kingdom, and the wisdom of distrusting counsellors, who would be sure to wish to influence him for their own ends. Philip grew up grave, self-possessed and distrustful.
http://www.nndb.com/people/229/000092950/

4 Ivan the Terrible
ANS. Ivan the Terrible succeeded his father Vasilii III and was the first Grand Prince to have himself officially crowned tsar. With his reign, Russia became a fully autocratic state. He succeeded to the throne at the age of three and regents ruled for him until at the age of 16 he had himself crowned tsar. He also married Anastasia who was a member of the Romanov boyar family. As a boy, Ivan IV suffered under the regents. While he was treated with respect in public, in private he was often neglected and tortured. He also witnessed the boyars fighting to come to power. These two things are believed to have caused Ivan IV to be cruel. As a child he was known to torture animals, and as an adult his actions earned him the name Ivan the Terrible. His title in Russian was Gronzy which actually means the awesome. He was also very suspicious of the boyars and heavily persecuted them. This too may have been from seeing the actions of the boyars when he was a child. He even had a leading boyar named Andrei Shuisky fed to the dogs to show his power.
http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/history/russia/ivantheterrible.html

5.Peter the Great
ANS. Peter the Great is credited with dragging Russia out of the medieval times to such an extent that by his death in 1725, Russia was considered a leading eastern European state. He centralised government, modernised the army, created a navy and increased the subjugation and subjection of the peasants. His domestic policy allowed him to execute an aggressive foreign policy.
Without doubt, Peter the Great’s childhood toughened his outlook on life and people. His life was constantly under threat from factions surrounding the two widows of his father. When his father, Alexis, died in January 1676, Peter’s elder brother succeeded as Theodore III. His succession was legal and no-one could dispute it. Theodore died in 1682.
Problems over the succession came on the death of Theodore. The mother of Peter came from the Naryshkin family. They wanted Peter as sole tsar of Russia.
Alexis’s first wife came from the Miloslavkys family. They did not want Peter alone to succeed. The Miloslavkys were supported by the Moscow Musketeers (the Streltsy) and they both wanted a joint rule by Peter and Ivan, his mentally deficient half-brother. The Streltsy gave the Miloslavkys family the military backing to succeed in this case and Peter and Ivan were accepted as joint rulers.
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/peter_the_great.htm

6. Catherine the Great
ANS.Years before, Johanna's brother Karl August of Holstein-Gottorp had gone to Russia to marry the Princess Elizabeth Petrovna, daughter of Peter the Great. Before the wedding took place, the Prince died of small pox, leaving Elizabeth heart-broken. Her sister Anna had married the Duke Karl Frederick of Holstein-Gottorp. Three months after giving birth to a son, Peter Ulrich, Anna died of tuberculosis. When Peter Ulrich was ten years old, his father died, and the claims to the throne of Sweden passed to his son. As the only surviving male descendent of Peter the Great, he was also potentially to the throne of Russia. In November 1741, Elizabeth seized the throne with the help of the Imperal Guards, overthrowing the Empress Anna Leopoldovna, who was regent for the infant Ivan VI. This line of succession stemmed from Peter the Great's older half-brother and co-ruler from 1682-1696.
http://nevermore.tripod.com/CGREAT.HTM

7. Maria Theresa
ANS Maria Theresa, Archduchess of Austria, Queen of Hungary and Bohemia, and wife of the Holy Roman emperor Francis I was born at Vienna on the 13th of May 1717. She was the eldest daughter of the Emperor Charles VI and his wife Elizabeth of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. On the 12th of February 1736 she was married to her cousin Francis of Lorraine, then grand duke of Tuscany, and afterwards emperor. Five sons and eleven daughters were born of this marriage. From the date of her father's death on the 20th of October 1740, until her own death in 1780, Maria Theresa was one of the central figures in the wars and politics of Europe. But unlike some sovereigns, whose reigns have been agitated, but whose personal character has left little trace, Maria Theresa had a strong and in the main a noble individuality. Her great qualities were relieved by human traits which make her more sympathetic. It must be allowed that she was fairly open to the criticism implied in a husbandly jest attributed to Francis I. While they were returning from the opera house at Vienna she said to him that the singer they had just heard was the greatest actress who had ever lived, and he answered "Next to you, Madam." Maria Theresa had undoubtedly an instinctive histrionic sense of the perspective of the theatre, and could adopt the appropriate attitude and gesture, passionate, dignified or pathetic, required to impress those she wished to influence. But there was no affectation in her assumption of a becoming bearing or in her picturesque words. The common story, that she appeared before the Hungarian magnates in the diet at Pressburg in 1741 with her infant son, afterwards Joseph II, in her arms, and so worked on their feelings that they shouted Moriamur pro rege nostro Maria Theresia, is only mythically true. But during the delicate negotiations which were required to secure the support of the Hungarian nobles she undoubtedly did appeal to them with passionate eloquence, and, we may believe, with a very pardonable sense of the advantage she obtained from her youth, her beauty and her sex.
http://www.nndb.com/people/157/000085899/