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Name: Ximena Barba Ruiz ID number: 2850342

Course name: Teacher:
Contemporary World Yadira Garza Tijerina
Module: Activity:
I Activity 3
Date: 2019/08/21
Bibliography:
List of enlightened despots. (2019, July 16). Retrieved August 21, 2019, from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_enlightened_despots

France Before the French Revolution. (n.d.). Retrieved August 21, 2019, from

https://www.historycrunch.com/france-before-the-french-revolution.html#/

Describe four contributions of the period's scientists.

Scientist Image Contribution

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Lavoisier Discovery of the Law of Conservation

of Matter

Galileo Galilei Showed the truth of Nicolaus

Copernicus's heliocentric theory

Carolus Creation of the taxonomy for

Linnaeus classifying living things

Isaac Newton Discovered the constant gravity

Complete the following.

Describe biographical details of some proponents of the Enlightenment, such as

Voltaire and Diderot. What do you find most interesting? (half page)

As for Voltaire l find interesting his way of expressing disagreement and genius
ideas through writing. Him helping Newton to share his discoveries is something
admirable and clever, the fact that he got in troubles every blink of an eye just
because he was giving his opinion and also giving the reader a crude and real
perspective of the problems bugs me and what l think is that the work he did
has beneficiated the human race nowadays.

Diderot has similarities with Voltaire because both are french and philosophers.
Thanks to Diderot we are now able to write articles for us to have a record of
what they did back in the days . Both, Voltaire and Diderot, had had troubles in
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the past and that makes me think of our society as today, spreading knowledge
and telling the truth has had given us trouble.

Why were some European kings called enlightened despots?

Because they where non-democratic leaders who exercised their political power
for the benefit of the people, rather than exclusively for themselves or for an
elite or small portion of the people

Identify three kings that are representative of enlightened despotism, supporting

your choice through images and a short biography.

King Charles III Charles III made

(r. 1759-1788) far-reaching
in Spain reforms such as
promoting science
and university
research, facilitating
trade and
commerce, and
modernising
agriculture.

Emperor Joseph II Joseph was

(r. 1765-1790) devoted to hunting
in the Holy Roman and the opera.
Empire Indeed, he
assembled one of
the greatest
collections of
operatic scores in
Europe.
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Czar Catherine II She came to power

(r. 1762-1796) following a coup
in Russia d'état that she
organised leading
her to govern.

Consider the historical context at the time and indicate the triumphs and failures
of the kings who were sympathetic to the Enlightenment.

Thanks to the kings and queens the rise of new societies, academies, and
universities were possible also journals, circulars, and newspapers allowed us
to develop and share new ideas and theories. Failures kings had was
disagreements that later on lead to wars and revolutions and also distrust.

Describe the conditions in which the French people lived before revolution
broke out.

There was a monarchic system in which peasants didn’t had rights nor
belongings plus they had to work a lot but earned almost nothing. Kings lived in
excellent conditions, with luxuries and pleasures, the nobleman and women
lived in good conditions but just as the peasants they had no belongings nor a
good salary. French society was structured on the relics of feudalism, in a
system known as the Estates System and a Monarchy this furthered the power
of a monarch because it ensured that the king or queen did not get their power
from the people, and therefore the people had not control or say over the
monarch’s rule.

Identify and briefly explain the heritage of the French Revolution which has
lasted to our days.

The Estates System, it is not the same as before but we do have rich people,
middle-class and low class people as well politicians, president, etc.
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Peasants or poor people nowadays still do not have belongings but they do
have rights and the government's support..

We still have a superior power who manages state and country matters, but
now we do have voice and vote.