by Professor Vejas Gabriel Liulevicius, Ph.D. covers historical events from the 1433 voyages of Chinese Admiral Zheng He up to the development of Facebook and the internet in the 2000's. The Chinese chose to pull back from exploration allowing the Europeans to begin the Columbian Exchange with its negative consequences for the people who had arrived earlier in the Americas.The course is not centered on the American perspective. I appreciated learning about the dawn of the women's movement that started first in New Zealand and gradually spread around the world. The lessons from the temperance movement about organizing were used to move forward women's right to vote. The abolition of Slavery started in the UK and then spread to the Americas.
The first modern war between the Japanese and the Russians was resolved by a peace treaty brokered by Teddy Roosevelt. Japan learned the wrong lessons from that war and attempted to apply it at the start of World War II.
The professor contrasts peaceful accidents of history such as the fall of the Berlin Wall with the violent crushing of the Chinese student protests around the same time. Do leaders have the will to kill their own people? The leaders of the Soviet coup attempt against Gorbachev did not. The Chinese leaders did.
Summary of Turning points - 2 min.
HG Wells and table top war games - 41 seconds
Nuke the moon - 30 seconds
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