Herald: The Harker Historical Review - Volume 1, Issue 1, May 2021

May 2021 Vol. 1, Issue 1

H

erald arker istorical Review

Herald Harker Historical Review

Volume 1, Issue 1 May 2021

Cover Art by Catherine Feng (2020)

Table of Contents Acknowledgements

v

Preface

vii

Preface

viii

Introduction

ix

The 16th Century Price Revolution

1

17th Century Spanish Economic Decline

6

The Leaders of the Risorgimento

11

Interpretations of Marxist Ideology

18

The Origins of the Cold War

23

Notes on Authors

28

The Board

30

The Board

Donna Gilbert Meredith Cranston Andrew Lu

Vienna Parnell

Camilla Linda & April Zhang Angela Jia

Justin Fung & Sasvath Ramachandran Zach Clark & Alex Liou

Acknowledgements

The creation of the Herald would not have been possible without the support of the entire Harker community, to which we owe a great debt of gratitude. We would like to thank the staff and faculty for supporting our mission, in particular Mr. Byron Stevens, Ms. Donna Gilbert, Mr. Mark Janda, Mrs. Meredith Cranston, Ms. Amy Pelman, and Mrs. Lauri Vaughan.

We also truly appreciate the encouragement and enthusiasm brought by Mr. Clifford Hull, Ms. Roxana Pianko, Ms. Katy Rees, and Ms. Julie Wheeler for promoting interest in the journal and historical research. We would also like to extend our sincerest thanks to Mr. Butch Keller for supporting this program of the History Department and allowing us the opportunity to share the plethora of exciting research by students in our community. Last but not least, we would like to congratulate and applaud the authors of this issue’s papers for their unceasing curiosity, love of learning, and commitment to academic excellence surpassing all expectations.

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Preface The History and Social Science Department is proud to showcase the exemplary work of our students. Research is one of the core pillars of historical scholarship and part of the exciting journey of exploration that is the foundation of our department. The Herald, edited and curated by students and for students, reflects student initiative, creativity, and high regard for authentic inquiry and superior writing. We welcome and celebrate this addition to our research program and hope that it will inspire future Harker students to embrace every opportunity to investigate the past and understand our world.

Donna Gilbert Harker History & Art History Instructor Near Mitra Chen Lin Program Co-Director

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Preface

The Library is delighted to be a part of the first issue of the Herald.

We could not be prouder of the work that the writers and editors of this journal have done. The cornerstone of the Harker Library is information literacy: the ability to effectively find, evaluate and use information across all media and disciplines. We hope to give our students the tools to ask and answer their own questions. Collectively, these essays represent months of meticulous student work, both the original submission and in the extensive revision for this journal. By its nature, research can be largely a solitary endeavor. Researchers, largely on their own, comb through sources, agonize over structure, and brood over wording. The Herald gives our whole community the opportunity to share a few examples of the wonderful work that only teachers, parents, and librarians have heretofore enjoyed.

Meredith Cranston Harker Upper School Campus Librarian

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Introduction

The Herald Editorial Board is delighted to present the brilliant work of Harker students in the first issue of the Herald’s publication. Over the past year, the authors have been tirelessly investigating deep questions about meaningful topics, framing their arguments through various social, political, and economic lenses as they conducted their historical research.

As a journal, our mission is to highlight student excellence in history and to provide examples of what is possible if students have a sincere and profound curiosity in the humanities and put their minds to work, as we strongly believe in the importance of historical research beyond academic grades. The editorial process aims to enrich the authors’ historical skills and to help them learn with the guidance of editors to become better writers and thinkers through the process. We welcome humanities-oriented papers from all courses and independent study research, and we are always open to questions at harker.historyjournal@gmail.com. We hope that these papers inspire you to expand your horizons and to push beyond your comfort zones by embracing the endless opportunities for exploration in academics, school, and the broader world we live in.

Andrew Lu Herald Editor-in-Chief

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Monetarism and Demography: Evaluating Economic Interpretations of the Sixteenth Century Price Revolution

Vienna Parnell

Distinguished by its persistent levels of inflation, the Price Revolution in Europe persisted from 1470 to 1650, during which prices of food, fuel, and other necessities increased tremendously.1 In the following centuries, economic historians would conduct extensive research on the origins of the event, yet they would be divided in their interpretations of the quantity theory of money. Although some monetarists of the 1920s believed that the influx of silver bullion into Spain catalyzed the sixteenth to seventeenth century European price revolution, economic historians in the 1980s ascribed the widespread inflation mainly to demographic factors.

Leading speculation on the causes of the Price Revolution revolved around Irving Fisher’s 1911 quantity theory of money, delineated by M (supply of money) x V (velocity of money) = P (price level) x T (amount 1 David Hackett Fischer, The Great Wave: Price Revolutions and the Rhythm of History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999), 70, ProQuest Ebook Central.

Vienna Parnell wrote this paper for AP European History with Mr. Byron Stevens in the 2019-2020 school year.

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of transactions).2 Observing that prices in the agricultural sector had been drastically higher than those in the manufacturing industry, some historians associated the increase in prices with the strain of population growth on the supply of food.3 Economists, however, pointed out that a growth in population would result in an increase in transactions and a decrease in the price level, as indicated by the quantity theory under the assumption of a constant velocity.4 Though late twentieth-century historians would propose an alternative demand-side perspective suggesting that velocity would in fact increase as a result of population growth, the publication of Earl Hamilton’s 1929 thesis would disseminate briefly a monetarist, supply-side approach.5 In his 1929 thesis, Hamilton argued that the seemingly isolated case of inflation in Spain extended outward through Europe and precipitated the more widespread Price Revolution.6 The Spanish inflationary crisis originated in the 1540s due to the abrupt influx of precious metals from the conquistadors’ explorations of the Americas, expanding the money supply portion of quantity theory and thus increasing the price level pro rata.7 Hamilton explained that silver prevailed as a standard global currency, as Spain used the precious metal to resolve their international war debts.8 A more recent proponent of the monetarist view, Douglas Fisher revealed through statistical analysis that while Spain experienced an increase in the price level, other European countries including Germany, Austria, Britain, and France underwent a “similar upward drift.”9 Opposing historians, however, argued that this correlation did not corroborate that the Spanish inflationary crisis was the main cause of the Price Revolution. They pointed out that prices had already been on an upward trajectory before 1520, decades before the discovery of silver deposits in the 1540s.10 This 2 Andrea Finkelstein, The Grammar of Profit: The Price Revolution in Intellectual Context (Leiden: Brill, 2006), 16.

3 Şevket Pamuk, “The Price Revolution in the Ottoman Empire Reconsidered,” International Journal of Middle East Studies 33, no. 1 (2001): 71, JSTOR. 4 Pamuk, 72.

5 Pamuk, 72.

6 Finkelstein, The Grammar, 15.

7 Joan E. Meznar, “Silver is Discovered in Spanish America,” in Great Events from History: The Renaissance and Early Modern Era, 1454-1600 (Hackensack: Salem, 2005), Salem.

8 Finkelstein, The Grammar, 15.

9 Douglas Fisher, “The Price Revolution: A Monetary Interpretation,” The Journal of Economic History 49, no. 4 (1989): 893, JSTOR. 10 Joel Mokyr, “Price Revolution,” in The Oxford Encyclopedia of Economic History, e-reference ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009), ProQuest Ebook Central.

The 16th Century Price Revolution

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counterargument helped discredit the monetarist approach and spur the revival of theories that attributed the inflation to population growth.

Late twentieth-century economic historians popularized a more nuanced, velocity-oriented version while addressing earlier skepticism regarding transactions. H. A. Miskimin deduced that population growth would promote more human interaction and exchange of money, boosting the velocity portion of MV = PT.11 Insofar as this increase in velocity surpassed that of transactions, price levels would rise, which sociologist Jack Goldstone demonstrated in the context of the Price Revolution.12 Through his examination of “occupationally specialized linked networks,” Goldstone explained that the specialization of individual households would result in the recurrent exchange of small sums, both decreasing the value of a transaction and increasing the rate of velocity.13 Taking into account that output would be compromised due to decreased real wages and poorer working conditions, Goldstone concluded that velocity would react to population growth more significantly than transactions would.14 Through their research, Miskimin, Goldstone, and other economic historians reaffirmed confidence in the belief that demographic factors were the underlying cause of the Price Revolution.

Despite being eclipsed in the 1920s by its monetarist counterpart, the population theory remains at the forefront of economic thought since its resurgence in the 1980s. Current applications of the Quantity Theory of Money utilize both monetary and velocity-oriented concepts as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to raise unemployment and slash household spending in the United States. Though recent stimulus packages released by the Federal Reserve have increased the supply of money, velocity has fallen to its lowest point since the 1960s, making imminent inflation implausible.15 As velocity returns to the normal levels, however, the Quantity Theory suggests that the lingering supply could stimulate an inflationary response. Though the forthcoming future remains unclear, 11 Pamuk, “The Price,” 72.

12 Jack A. Goldstone, “Urbanization and Inflation: Lessons from the English Price Revolution of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries,” American Journal of Sociology 89, no. 5 (1984): 1145-47, JSTOR. 13 Goldstone, 1146.

14 Goldstone, 1146.

15 Omkar Godbole, “’Inflation Ahead? US Velocity of Money Hits Multi-Decade Lows,’” FXStreet, last modified May 26, 2020, https://www.fxstreet.com.

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the current crisis, much like the Price Revolution, will undoubtedly be scrutinized among economic historians for decades to come.

The 16th Century Price Revolution

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Bibliography Finkelstein, Andrea. The Grammar of Profit: The Price Revolution in Intellectual Context. Leiden: Brill, 2006. ProQuest Ebook Central.

Fischer, David Hackett. The Great Wave: Price Revolutions and the Rhythm of History. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999. ProQuest Ebook Central.

Fisher, Douglas. “The Price Revolution: A Monetary Interpretation.” The Journal of Economic History 49, no. 4 (1989): 883-902. JSTOR. Godbole, Omkar. “Inflation Ahead? US Velocity of Money Hits MultiDecade Lows.” FXStreet. Last modified May 26, 2020. https://www. fxstreet.com/news/inflation-ahead-us-velocity-of-money-hitsmulti-decade-lows-202005260058.

Goldstone, Jack A. “Urbanization and Inflation: Lessons from the English Price Revolution of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries.”

American Journal of Sociology 89, no. 5 (1984): 1122-60. JSTOR. Meznar, Joan E. “Silver Is Discovered in Spanish America.” In Great Events from History: The Renaissance and Early Modern Era, 1454-1600.

Hackensack: Salem, 2005. Salem History.

Mokyr, Joel. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Economic History. E-reference ed.

New York: Oxford University Press, 2009. Oxford Reference.

Pamuk, Şevket. “The Price Revolution in the Ottoman Empire Reconsidered.” International Journal of Middle East Studies 33, no.

1 (2001): 69-89. JSTOR.

Silver Bullion and Spain: A Historiographical Evaluation of the Causes of Seventeenth Century Spanish Economic Decline Camilla Lindh and April Zhang

During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Spain participated heavily in the Age of Exploration through its efforts to colonize the Americas. The Spanish ruling elite sought precious metals in these colonies, and the discovery of silver in Potosí, Bolivia, drove the Spanish Crown to order mass importation of silver from there.1 However, during this time, Spain’s economy was deteriorating rapidly, which led groups of reformers called arbitristas to seek a solution to this issue.2 Traditionally, most historians believed that Spain’s extensive silver importation itself caused this economic decline by instigating mass inflation domestically and throughout Europe. During the mid-nineteenth century, historians 1 Nancy M. Gordon, “Worldwide Inflation,” in Great Events from History: Renaissance & Early Modern Era, 1454-1600 (Hackensack, Salem, 2005), Salem.

2 Marjorie Grice-Hutchinson, Early Economic Thought in Spain, 1177-1740 (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2015), 154-55, ProQuest Ebook Central.

Camilla Lindh and April Zhang wrote this paper for AP European History with Mr. Byron Stevens in the 2019-2020 school year.

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began to examine the many internal problems that Spain was experiencing at the time, such as its increasing deficit spending and recurring bankruptcy. Although the debate about the effects of silver importation on Spain’s decline is ongoing, most historians in the early twenty-first century lean towards the idea that silver did not cause this economic decline.

Rather, Spain primarily used silver to finance war efforts and was already facing other internal problems that contributed more to its economic decline.

The historiography of silver’s role in Spain’s economic downfall began to shift in the mid-twentieth century. Historian J. D. Gould wrote in 1964 that some scholars supported the “orthodox interpretation” that silver was the cause of Europe’s mass inflation and Spain’s economic demise.3 However, he claimed that inflation had begun long before the influx of silver and was worsened by the heavy population increase in Europe.4 With these new perspectives emerging, historians began to move away from that traditional view.

Many twenty-first century historians agree that although silver was imported to Spain, it was mostly used in funding Spain’s various wars rather than its domestic economy. Joan E. Meznar, a professor of Latin studies at Eastern Connecticut University, writes that in the mid-sixteenth century, the Catholic King Charles I of Spain used silver to finance several religious wars against the Protestants, which led other European companies and providers to acquire the silver from Spain.5 Furthermore, economist Nancy M. Gordon explains that King Philip II of Spain used the silver to fund wars against nationalist uprisings in Spain’s territories, particularly the Netherlands, in attempts to retain those territories.6 Similarly, historians Frank W. Thackeray and John E. Findling analyze that Philip II’s strategies in the war led to many Spanish losses.7 These losses allowed the Dutch and some of Spain’s other former territories to gain influence over Spain due to Spain’s decreased naval power and aggravated economy.8 In 3 J. D. Gould, “The Price Revolution Reconsidered,” The Economic History Review, 17, no.

2 (1964): 249, JSTOR. 4 Gould, 251-52.

5 Joan E. Meznar, “Silver Is Discovered in Spanish America,” in Great Events from History: Renaissance & Early Modern Era, 1454-1600 (Hackensack, Salem, 2005), Salem.

6 Gordon, “Worldwide Inflation”.

7 Frank W. Thackeray and John E. Findling, Events That Changed the World through the Sixteenth Century (Westport: Greenwood Press, 2001): 93, ProQuest Ebook Central.

8 Thackeray and Findling, 93.

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turn, the Dutch expanded their merchandising influence, aggrandizing their wealth, while worsening Spain’s economy at the same time by overtaking its maritime influence.9 History professor Jan de Vries posits that these wars, which continued into the early seventeenth century after Spain resumed fighting the Dutch, exacerbated Spain’s already diminishing government income.10 Thus, silver did not significantly affect Spain’s own economy because it was spent on wars.

Recent historians have also shifted to recognize that Spain’s unstable population and overconfidence in its own potential played a larger role in its economic decline. De Vries reasons that Spain’s substantial population growth in the sixteenth to seventeenth centuries and subsequent population decline wrecked its original metropolitan structure, which, along with financial instability, caused Spain’s economic downturn.11 Historian Stanley J. Stein and scholar Barbara H. Stein, who studied Spanish America and Iberia, note that the Spanish nobility willingly accepted debt because Spain acquired foreign land and valuable resources, inciting exhilaration and confidence in Spain’s capability among the nobility.12 Furthermore, economist Marjorie Grice-Hutchinson comments that a large increase in credit, in addition to the inflow of precious metals, allowed for traders’ financial success.13 However, living expenses rose concerningly as a result of superfluous exportation.14 Although counsel was given to combat this problem, the government, attached to its current economic success, refused to implement it.15 Therefore, Spain had internal issues more problematic than silver importation that triggered its economic downfall.

In sum, historians continue to debate whether importation of silver bullion was deleterious to Spain’s economy, but during the early twentyfirst century, the prevalent argument was that silver had little effect on Spain’s already waning economy. Rather, most historians argue that the 9 Thackeray and Findling, 94.

10 Jan de Vries, “The Economic Crisis of the Seventeenth Century after Fifty Years,” Journal of Interdisciplinary History 40, no. 2 (Fall 2009): 167, Project MUSE. 11 de Vries, 168-69.

12 Stanley J. Stein and Barbara H. Stein, Silver, Trade, and War: Spain and America in the Making of Early Modern Europe (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003): 8, ProQuest Ebook Central.

13 Grice-Hutchinson, Early Economic, 136.

14 Grice-Hutchinson, 136.

15 Grice-Hutchinson, 136.

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silver was used to pay for Spain’s participation in war and that Spain’s various internal problems were the actual cause of its economic downfall.

The ongoing debate about the factors that affected Spain’s economic decline demonstrates how historians must continuously re-evaluate the causes and effects of past and current events from multiple perspectives in order to gain a better and more accurate understanding of history.

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Lindh & Zhang Bibliography

de Vries, Jan. “The Economic Crisis of the Seventeenth Century after Fifty Years.” Journal of Interdisciplinary History 40, no. 2 (Fall 2009): 15194. Project MUSE. Gordon, Nancy M. “Worldwide Inflation.” In Great Events from History: Renaissance & Early Modern Era, 1454-1600. Hackensack, NJ: Salem, 2005. Salem History.

Gould, J. D. “The Price Revolution Reconsidered.” The Economic History Review 17, no. 2 (1964): 249-66. JSTOR. Grice-Hutchinson, Marjorie. Early Economic Thought in Spain, 1177-1740.

Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central.

Meznar, Joan E. “Silver Is Discovered in Spanish America.” In Great Events from History: Renaissance & Early Modern Era, 1454-1600.

Hackensack, Salem, 2005. Salem History.

Stein, Stanley J., and Barbara H. Stein. Silver, Trade, and War: Spain and America in the Making of Early Modern Europe. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003. ProQuest Ebook Central.

Thackeray, Frank W., and John E. Findling. Events That Changed the World through the Sixteenth Century. Westport, Greenwood Press, 2001.

ProQuest Ebook Central.

The Leaders of the Risorgimento: Unified Team or Cautious Competitors?

Angela Jia

The Risorgimento is the interwoven series of events involving the radical Giuseppe Mazzini, the diplomatic Count of Cavour, and the passionate Giuseppe Garibaldi that culminated in the Italian unification during the nineteenth century.1 However, the iconic story of the Risorgimento has been used by so many parties to influence the mindset of the masses that the truth has been diluted, and it has become more propagandist myth than fact.2 Although historians before the fall of Fascist Italy believed that the Risorgimento leaders worked together 1 Roland Sarti, “Cavour, Count (Camillo Benso),” in Europe 1789-1914: Encyclopedia of the Age of Industry and Empire, ed. John Merriman and Jay Winter (Detroit, MI: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 2006), 1, GALE. 2 Massimo Baioni and Martin Thom, “Anniversaries and the Public Uses of the Risorgimento in Twentieth-Century Italy,” Journal of Modern European History / Zeitschrift Für Moderne Europäische Geschichte / Revue D’histoire Européenne Contemporaine 9, no. 3 (2011): 39798, JSTOR.

Angela Jia wrote this paper for AP European History with Mr. Byron Stevens in the 2019-2020 school year.

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peacefully with a common goal of uniting and liberating Italy, modern historians, having uncovered primary sources untarnished by Cavour’s and Mussolini’s censorship, began to view the team of leaders as a fragile group tolerating each other to further their personal agendas.

Though the Risorgimento may have officially united Italy, Cavour’s unexpected death induced a power struggle between several political parties, and societal and political tensions persisted.3 Cavour was a classic laissez-faire liberal who supported the model of British parliament, and the moderately liberal government he helped establish remained in power even past his death.4 In order to placate other parties and encourage nationalism in a period of dissent, the government perpetuated its mainstream interpretation of the Risorgimento, but this only pushed other parties such as Republicans and socialists out of the Risorgimento narrative.5 The veneration of Cavour and the belief in the harmony of the Risorgimento leaders further developed because of a lack of evidence stating otherwise.6 Claims that Cavour attempted to hinder rather than help Garibaldi’s mission originated from Cavour’s opponents, so the general populace disregarded them as unfounded and thus untrue.7 In order to preserve Cavour’s reputation, the government paid archivists to alter his letters, so the written evidence would show that Cavour always remained on the right side of history.8 Before 1928, the state archives available to scholars contained documents up to only 1848, so historians were unable to access much information about Garibaldi’s expedition in 1860 and Cavour’s attitude towards it.9 Further contributing to unreliable accounts of the Risorgimento was the shift towards philosophic history that focused on interpretation after World War I, for the sense of uncertainty around historical issues led to support for Benedetto Croce’s neo-Hegelian perspective, which heavily influenced Italian historiography.10 Italian 3 Roland Sarti, “Italy,” in Europe 1789-1914: Encyclopedia of the Age of Industry and Empire, ed. John Merriman and Jay Winter (Detroit, MI: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 2006), 3, GALE. 4 Sarti, “Cavour, Count,” 1.

5 Baioni and Thom, “Anniversaries and the Public,” 399.

6 D. Mack Smith, “Cavour’s Attitude to Garibaldi’s Expedition to Sicily,” Cambridge Historical Journal 9, no. 3 (1949): 361, JSTOR. 7 Smith, 360.

8 Smith, 360.

9 Kent Roberts Greenfield, “The Historiography of the Risorgimento since 1920,” The Journal of Modern History 7, no. 1 (1935): 49, JSTOR. 10 Greenfield, 55; Coraddo Barbagallo, “The Conditions and Tendencies of Historical Writing in Italy Today,” The Journal of Modern History 1, no. 2 (1929): 238, JSTOR.

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scholars created an influx of nationalist yet unreliable works about the unification of Italy by conducting “research for the sake of research,” referencing unqualified sources, with the most flagrant example being the national magazine, Rassegna storica del Risorgimento italiano.11 In 1910, British historian George Macaulay Trevelyan published Garibaldi and the Thousand, which another British historian, Denis Mack Smith, who specialized in the history of Italy since the Risorgimento, described as “the best and most readable account of the events of 1860” as of 1949.12 During his research, Trevelyan accumulated a large collection of oral history and available documents.13 He was bemused by the lack of documentation on what transpired between the king and Cavour that caused the latter to change his mind about arresting Garibaldi, and he noticed confusing contradictions in Cavour’s letters detailing the motives behind his actions concerning Garibaldi.14 Furthermore, despite his comprehensive research, Trevelyan’s bias towards the progressive nature of Italy due to his support for England’s liberal parliament is blatant in his book, and it reflects the strong center-right liberal sentiments echoed in Italian accounts of the Risorgimento during the early twentieth century.15 From 1922 to 1929, Benito Mussolini established his regime in Italy after a successful Fascist revolution, and once in power, he debased the history of the Risorgimento into nothing more than Fascist propaganda.16 Mussolini, in an effort to associate himself with the heroic leaders of Italian history, exhorted historians to confirm that Mazzini, Cavour, and Garibaldi joined together as a coordinated trio to lead the unification of Italy, and in 1932, he seized control of Risorgimento sources, which were reorganized to fit the Fascist narrative.17 He selected one of his quadrumvirate, Maria De Vecchi di Val Cismon, to be Director-General of Historical Research 11 Greenfield, 55.

12 Smith, “Cavour’s Attitude,” 360.

13 George Macaulay Trevelyan, Garibaldi and the Thousand (London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1910), viii, HathiTrust Digital Library.

14 Trevelyan, 197-198.

15 Tim Chapman, Humanities Insights: The Risorgimento: Italy, 1815-1871 (Penrith: Humanities-Ebooks.co.uk, 2009), 85, accessed November 15, 2020, ProQuest Ebook Central.

16 “Mussolini, Benito,” in International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, ed. William A. Darity, Jr., 2nd ed. (Detroit, MI: Macmillan Reference USA, 2008), 5,World History in Context.

17 Smith, “Cavour’s Attitude,” 360; Greenfield, “The Historiography,” 50.

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and take charge of the Rassegna to spread Fascist ideals through the Risorgimento-based magazine.18 Cismon officially redefined Risorgimento “as the creation of Italian unity and as the presupposition of the Fascist revolution,” claiming that “historiography [shall] remain in method, manners, and doctrine Fascist.”19 History became a means to an end for the Fascist government to coax a sense of political allegiance into its citizens.20 Coraddo Barbagallo, an Italian historian during the Fascist regime, lamented that all Risorgimento texts feigned historical accuracy, and no proper Italian history book would exist until “the pure interest in history” became the primary motivation.21 After the collapse of the Fascist regime, historical revisionism of the Risorgimento began to gain momentum, as more primary sources that the government had previously withheld from public became available: most notably, unadulterated letters written by Cavour.22 New theories about tense dynamics between Risorgimento leaders gradually overturned pre-existing notions of perfect harmony between them, such as the conventional belief that Cavour provided aid to Garibaldi in any way he could.23 Mack Smith extensively analyzed the discrepancies among accounts of Cavour’s motives and actions that had previously confused Trevelyan. He developed various logical explanations for Cavour’s strange behavior, all with one aspect in common: Cavour distrusted Garibaldi and based his shifting decisions on what benefited himself best politically at that time.24 Smith popularized the theory that the leaders of the unification of Italy, most significantly Cavour and Garibaldi, actually possessed conflicting agendas and shared only a competitive tension, but they were forced to work together to preserve their public image.25 Even after Smith published his book about Cavour’s attitude towards Garibaldi, more primary sources were still being uncovered and reproduced by the Royal Commision.26 Although Italian historiography had been suppressed by authorities who limited sources to force a 18 Smith, “Cavour’s Attitude,” 360; Greenfield, “The Historiography,” 65.

19 “La ‘Consegna’”, RSRI, XX (1933), 1-4, quoted in Greenfield, 65.

20 Baioni and Thom, “Anniversaries and the Public,” 403.

21 Barbagallo, “The Conditions,” 242.

22 Chapman, Humanities Insights, 85.

23 Smith, “Cavour’s Attitude,” 359.

24 Smith, 360.

25 Chapman, Humanities Insights, 85.

26 Smith, “Cavour’s Attitude,” 370.

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specific narrative onto their people, Barbagallo’s wish for authentic accounts of history came to fruition, and historians managed to restore the Risorgimento from legend back to history. The evolution of the Risorgimento’s historiography is an important lesson in the modern world, especially since everyday citizens are impacted by false narratives and skewed facts. In the current political climate of the United States, the Black Lives Matter movement has re-emerged, precipitated by the murder of George Floyd.27 As the wave of support swells, the use of history has become a significant tool to bolster arguments in discussions all over social media.28 Whether debating Martin Luther King’s stance on protests or referencing the Immigration Act of 1965 to encourage Asian American allies, exploring history can provide insight on current issues and help form educated opinions. However, as evidenced by the historiography of the Risorgimento, when governments or various groups exploit history for political or social gain and limit the resources that can be analyzed, they encourage a false narrative that manipulates the masses. As a result, individuals must remain vigilant in the face of a barrage of information.

They must take it upon themselves to search for credible sources and examine information from different perspectives, not to prove a preexisting assumption, but to form a holistic understanding.

27 Eliott C. McLaughlin, “How George Floyd’s Death Ignited a Racial Reckoning that Shows No Signs of Slowing Down,” CNN, last modified August 9, 2020, accessed November 14, 2020, https://www.cnn.com.

28 Jane Hu, “The Second Act of Social-Media Activism,” New Yorker, last modified August 3, 2020, accessed November 14, 2020, https://www.newyorker.com.

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Jia Bibliography

Baioni, Massimo, and Martin Thom. “Anniversaries and the Public Uses of the Risorgimento in Twentieth-Century Italy.” Journal of Modern European History / Zeitschrift Für Moderne Europäische Geschichte / Revue D’histoire Européenne Contemporaine 9, no. 3 (2011): 397415. JSTOR. Barbagallo, Coraddo. “The Conditions and Tendencies of Historical Writing in Italy Today.” The Journal of Modern History 1, no. 2 (1929): 236-44. JSTOR. Chapman, Tim. Humanities Insights: The Risorgimento: Italy, 1815-1871.

Penrith: Humanities-Ebooks.co.uk, 2009. Accessed November 15, 2020. ProQuest Ebook Central.

Greenfield, Kent Roberts. “The Historiography of the Risorgimento since 1920.” The Journal of Modern History 7, no. 1 (1935): 49-67. JSTOR. Hu, Jane. “The Second Act of Social-Media Activism.” New Yorker. Last modified August 3, 2020. Accessed November 14, 2020. https:// www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/the-second-actof-social-media-activism.

McLaughlin, Eliott C. “How George Floyd’s Death Ignited a Racial Reckoning That Shows No Signs of Slowing Down.” CNN. Last modified August 9, 2020. Accessed November 14, 2020. https:// www.cnn.com/2020/08/09/us/george-floyd-protests-different-why/ index.html.

“Mussolini, Benito.” In International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, edited by William A. Darity, Jr., 349-50. 2nd ed. Vol. 5. Detroit, MI: Macmillan Reference USA, 2008. World History in Context.

Sarti, Roland. “Cavour, Count (Camillo Benso).” In Europe 1789-1914: Encyclopedia of the Age of Industry and Empire, edited by John Merriman and Jay Winter, 390-93. Vol. 1. Detroit, MI: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 2006. World History in Context.

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———. “Italy.” In Europe 1789-1914: Encyclopedia of the Age of Industry and Empire, edited by John Merriman and Jay Winter, 191-204.

Vol. 3. Detroit, MI: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 2006. World History in Context.

Smith, D. Mack. “Cavour’s Attitude to Garibaldi’s Expedition to Sicily.”

Cambridge Historical Journal 9, no. 3 (1949): 359-70. JSTOR. Trevelyan, George Macaulay. Garibaldi and the Thousand. London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1910. Accessed May 26, 2020.

HathiTrust Digital Library.

Wilkinson, Maurice. “The Myth of Garibaldi.” The Catholic Historical Review 13, no. 4 (1928): 630-45. JSTOR.

Manifest Marx: A Study of the Acceptance of Marxian Ideology

Justin Fung and Sasvath Ramachandran

Karl Marx, a socialist visionary of the nineteenth century, formulated and popularized his communist beliefs with Friedrich Engels in The Communist Manifesto, a document outlining their views on the cyclical nature of relations between the bourgeoisie and working classes.1 These ideals soon became government policy following the Russian Revolution, and communist ideas continued to evolve as the ideology spread throughout the globe.2 According to social critics during the first half of the twentieth century, Karl Marx was a brilliant philosopher and economist, outspoken about his belief in the social and economic aspirations of the working class; however, by the second half of the twentieth century, critics 1 “Karl Marx,” in World Eras, ed. James R. Farr (Detroit, Gale, 2003), 9:316, World History in Context.

2 “Communism,” in Gale World History Online Collection (Detroit, Gale, 2018), World History in Context; “Karl Marx,” 316.

Justin Fung and Sasvath Ramachandran wrote this paper for AP European History with Ms. Donna Gilbert in the 2019-2020 school year.

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suggested that Marx primarily espoused utopian ideas.3 Vladimir Lenin, a strong advocate of Marxism in the early twentieth century and a leader of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party, wrote in his 1934 work The Teachings of Karl Marx that “the remarkable consistency and unity of conception of Marx’s views … make it necessary that we present a brief outline of his world conception in general.”4 Specifically, Lenin considered Marx’s utilization of philosophical, economic, and socialist perspectives as validation of Marxist beliefs. He further emphasized Marx’s advancement of G.W. F. Hegel’s philosophy through Hegelian Dialectics, the viewpoint that analyzes history as large, complex processes that foment progressive change: Marx’s efforts to expand Hegel’s theory to encompass human, social, and historical thinking in a more broad set of ideals is a salient component of Lenin’s belief in the practical brilliance of Marxism.5 Furthermore, early twentieth century social critics such as Harvard’s Alfred Meyer argued in 1932 that Marx’s philosophy was rooted in the economic history of society, making it essential in predicting social patterns: Meyer further asserted that Marxist socialism was a byproduct of his economic theories.6 In the first hundred years following the publication of The Communist Manifesto, critics revered the logical and scientific thinking that precipitated Marxist theory.

Following the Second World War and during the Cold War, economists noted that Marx’s economic assertions were decreasingly relevant, despite Russia and China’s adoption of communism in the first half of the twentieth century.7 Chester Bowles, a foreign policy advisor for the Kennedy Administration, postulated in 1962 that while Marx and Engels experienced industrialization as they wrote The Communist Manifesto, social welfare mollified unrest among laborers, decreased the likelihood for revolution, and assuaged the anger incited by capitalist systems’ 3 “Karl Marx,” 316.

4 James Heinzen, “Lenin, Vladimir,” in Europe 1789-1914: Encyclopedia of the Age of Industry and Empire, ed. John Merriman and Jay Winter (New York, Charles Scribner’s Sons, 2006), 3:1326-1327, Gale Ebooks; Vladimir Ilich Lenin, The Teachings of Karl Marx, 4th ed., vol.

1, The Little Lenin Library, New York : International Publishers, 1934), 10, accessed May 30, 2020, Internet Archive.

5 Lenin, 13-14.

6 Alfred G. Meyer, Marxism: The Unity of Theory and Practice. a Critical Essay, 2nd ed.

(Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1932), 19, ProQuest Ebook Central.

7 Chester Bowles, “Is Communist Ideology Becoming Irrelevant?,” Foreign Affairs 40, no. 4 (1962): 554-555, JSTOR.

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exploitation of the proletariat.8 Furthermore, Scott Warren, a professor of government at Pomona College, asserted in 1984 that Marx’s political theory hinged on a comprehensive, fluid world view, with a goal of radical progress.9 Yet, Warren held that Marx’s ideas were unsuccessfully implemented in Communist nations, as Marxist policies were replaced by pragmatic solutions.10 The prevailing sentiment among historians by this point was that Marx’s economic revolution was infeasible given the adoption of socialist programs by capitalist societies, and historians by the mid-twentieth century primarily saw Marx as a philosopher of aspirational ideology.

To this end, Vincent Geoghegan, a professor of political theory, argued in 1987 that the “distinction between the scientific and the visionary” that Marx and Engels introduced “cannot be sustained.”11 Evaluating Marx’s purpose in advocating a revolutionary working-class, Geoghegan contrasted the fundamental desires of workers that Marx sought to address: rather than material wealth, the driving factor of the proletariat was to transcend the “alienation” between the proletariat and their labor in Marx’s philosophy.12 Geoghegan additionally discussed the influence of utopian socialists on Marx and Engels, as well as their “visions for future society” to further emphasize that their idealistic beliefs were not just a byproduct of their environments, but an active, predominant component of Marxism.13 Today, Marxist theory is manifested primarily in society’s efforts to bridge gaps between upper and lower classes. Meanwhile, the revolutionary method Marx chose to employ has become ineffectual, and has been replaced by slow-moving, broad change through government policies and social norms. Marx’s economic and scientific theory as well as his social philosophy continue to be studied, not for their viable application in today’s society, but to better understand the appeal of Communism in the 8 Albin Krebs, “Chester Bowles is Dead at 85; Served in 4 Administrations,” New York Times, May 29, 1986, sec. 1, accessed March 16, 2021, https://www.nytimes.com; Bowles, “Is Communist Ideology Becoming Irrelevant?,” 555.

9 Scott Warren, The Emergence of Dialectical Theory: Philosophy and Political Inquiry (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1984), 64, ProQuest Ebook Central.

10 Warren, 64.

11 Vincent Geoghegan, “Marxism and Utopianism,” Utopian Studies, no. 1 (1987): 40-41, JSTOR. 12 Geoghegan, 41.

13 Geoghegan, 41.

Interpretations of Marxist Ideology

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1900s.14 Social critics of the first half of the twentieth century contended that Marxist thinking was revolutionary and leaders readily adopted it; however, upon re-evaluating his works, social critics in the second half of the twentieth century viewed Marx’s works as aspirational ideology, rather than practical socioeconomic theory.

14 “Communism,” in Gale World History Online Collection (Detroit, Gale, 2018), GALE.

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Fung & Ramachandran Bibliography

Bowles, Chester. “Is Communist Ideology Becoming Irrelevant?” Foreign Affairs 40, no. 4 (1962): 553-65. JSTOR. “Communism.” In Gale World History Online Collection. Detroit: Gale, 2018. World History in Context.

Geoghegan, Vincent. “Marxism and Utopianism.” Utopian Studies, no. 1 (1987): 37-51. JSTOR. Heinzen, James. “Lenin, Vladimir.” In Europe 1789-1914: Encyclopedia of the Age of Industry and Empire, edited by John Merriman and Jay Winter, 1326-29. Vol. 3. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 2006.

Gale Ebooks.

“Karl Marx.” In World Eras, edited by James R. Farr, 316. Vol. 9. Detroit: Gale, 2003. World History in Context.

Krebs, Albin. “Chester Bowles is Dead at 85; Served in 4 Administrations.”

New York Times, May 29, 1986, sec. 1. Accessed March 16, 2021. https://www.nytimes.com/1986/05/26/obituaries/ chester-bowles-is-dead-at-85-served-in-4-administrations.html.

Lenin, Vladimir Ilich. The Teachings of Karl Marx. 4th ed. Vol. 1 of The Little Lenin Library. New York : International Publishers, 1934. Accessed May 30, 2020. https://archive.org/details/ teachingsofkarlm00leni/page/n3/mode/1up.

Meyer, Alfred G. Marxism: The Unity of Theory and Practice. a Critical Essay. 2nd ed. Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1932.

ProQuest Ebook Central.

Warren, Scott. The Emergence of Dialectical Theory: Philosophy and Political Inquiry. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1984. ProQuest Ebook Central.

A Study of the Progression of Historiographical Interpretation of Cold War Origins

Zach Clark and Alex Liou

Following World War II, the United States and USSR engaged in a competition of arms, influence, and ideology known as the Cold War that endured until the late twentieth century.1 Various factors contributing to this conflict included ideological discrepancies between the powers in foreign policy, economics, and civil rights in addition to numerous resulting political crises such as the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.2 Both primary adversaries initially developed viewpoints firmly accusing each other for starting the conflict, but became more informed as to the true nature of the conflict’s origins during and after the period of strife.

Although most historians writing soon after World War II interpreted the Cold War to solely be a product of Soviet belligerence, their analyses of the 1 “Cold War (1945–1991),” in Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. History: War (Detroit, Gale, 2008), Gale Ebooks.

2 “Cold War (1945–1991).”

Zack Clark and Alex Liou wrote this paper for AP European History with Mr. Byron Stevens in the 2019-2020 school year.

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conflict’s origins shifted periodically between the 1960s and 2000s to reflect the questionable foreign policies of both the Eastern and Western powers in the tenuous peace following World War II. From the start of the Cold War in 1947 until the late 1950s, a doctrine identified as orthodox thought dominated Western opinion, arguing the Cold War to be a consequence of Soviet aggression regarding the proliferation of arms, the spread of communism, and the restriction of voting in European areas of influence.3 Soviet code clerk Igor Gouzenko defected to Canada in 1945, revealing secrets of Soviet spies and nuclear plans, which heightened tensions between the Western powers and the Soviet Union.4 A notable example of orthodox thought was William Hardy McNeill’s belief that Stalin’s refusal to hold elections in Eastern Europe caused the United States to have reservations about the Soviet Union, a stance promoted by other Western historians.5 Attributing tensions to Soviet disruption of the balance of power, Martin F. Herz’s book Beginnings of the Cold War claims aggressive Soviet expansion jeopardized American interests in Europe, warranting heightened suspicion from the United States.6 These early interpretations led American diplomat George Kennan to view the Soviets as a potential threat and formulate the polarizing containment policy, although he genuinely believed Soviet expansion to be a consequence of Communist regime’s lack of confidence.7 In October 1962, John L. Snell, a notable wartime historian, published an article in The Historical Review encouraging historians to study recent history, sparking a wave of Cold War historiography which first included ideas of revisionism: a reinterpretation of the conflict’s beginnings.8 Throughout the decade, revisionism theory grew in popularity as more historians began to scrutinize and question orthodox thought and accept 3 Brian Thomas, “Cold War Origins, II,” Journal of Contemporary History 3, no. 1 (1968): 184, JSTOR. 4 “Igor Gouzenko Exposes Soviet Espionage Activity in the West, September 5, 1945, Ushering in Cold-War Era,” in Historic World Events (Detroit: Gale, 2019), World History in Context.

5 Timothy J. White, “Cold War Historiography: New Evidence behind Traditional Typographies,” International Social Science Review 75, no. 3/4 (2000): 37, JSTOR. 6 White, 37.

7 White, 37.

8 Robert H. Ferrell, Harry S. Truman and the Cold War Revisionists (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2006), 1, ProQuest Ebook Central.

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that the Soviets had their own interpretation of the United States’ actions and were acting accordingly.9 Professor D. F. Fleming explained the Cold War’s origins from the view of the Soviets in his 1961 book The Cold War and its Origins, claiming the United States initiated the conflict by aiding the Soviets’ adversaries during the Russian Civil War.10 Fleming’s work demonstrates one variant of revisionism, as it sought to expose the West as the instigator of the conflict and inspired further revisionists to expand on this school of thought.11 An internal example of revisionist ideas targeting specific United States government action arose through the work of CIA veteran Victor Marchetti and John D. Marks who in 1974 wrote The CIA and the Cult of Intelligence which emphasized the CIA’s infatuation with secret, amoral operations that fueled Cold War tensions.12 In the 1970’s, the ideology known as post-revisionism was formulated and popularized by John Lewis Gaddis in his book The United States and the Origins of the Cold War, 1941-1947, which attempted to reconcile both orthodox and revisionist thought by blaming neither side in starting the conflict, but instead arguing the Cold War was inevitable as the United States mistakenly assumed the Soviet Union in accordance with its Communist viewpoint would remain neutral to the United States’ self-deterministic campaign throughout Eastern Europe.13 Outlooks changed dramatically after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.14 This would spur Gaddis to alter his views of the theory of “misperception and miscommunication” in the 1990s, when newly accessible information from the former state was discovered and convinced historians that the Cold War was fundamentally fueled by the vast differences between the two powers’ ideologies. The United States’ values of liberty regarding the elections and economies of states surrounding the Soviet Union conflicted with the peace of mind and safety of the Eastern regime that relied on 9 Paul Seabury, “Cold War Origins, I,” Journal of Contemporary History 3, no. 1 (1968): 183, JSTOR. 10 Seabury, 169.

11 Seabury, 171.

12 Konrad H. Jarausch, Christian Ostermann, and Andreas Etges, The Cold War: Historiography, Memory, Representation (Berlin: De Gruyter Oldenbourg, 2017), 101, ProQuest Ebook Central.

13 White, “Cold War Historiography,” 40.

14 John P. McKay, A History of Western Society since 1300 for AP, 11th ed. (Boston: Bedford/ St. Martin’s, 2014), 1010.

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Communism and imbalanced power.15 The development in Western thought on the origins of the Cold War throughout the twentieth century is segmented, with key ideologies differing from orthodox thought being introduced periodically throughout the conflict when new perspectives and information became available.

Today, the latest theory discussed of the almost inevitable clash of ideology between the United States and Soviet Union still reigns supreme, with neither side deserving full blame for the start of the war.16 However, historians such as Melvyn P. Leffler continue to uphold more niche and contrasting theories that include the United States subtly attempting to manifest its political doctrine throughout the globe.17 Given the tense modern political climate among China and the United States, historians may begin to discover similar patterns among these superpowers as the potential for conflict escalates.

15 White, “Cold War Historiography,” 41.

16 White, 40.

17 Athan G. Theoharis, “Revisionism,” in Encyclopedia of American Foreign Policy, 2nd ed., ed. Richard Dean Burns, Alexander DeConde, and Fredrik Logevall (New York, NY: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 2002), 3, U.S, History in Context.

The Origins of the Cold War

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Bibliography “Cold War (1945–1991).” In Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. History: War. Vol. 2.

Detroit, Gale, 2008. Gale Ebooks.

Ferrell, Robert H. Harry S. Truman and the Cold War Revisionists.

Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2006. ProQuest Ebook Central.

“Igor Gouzenko Exposes Soviet Espionage Activity in the West, September 5, 1945, Ushering in Cold-War Era.” In Historic World Events.

Detroit, Gale, 2019. World History in Context.

Jarausch, Konrad H., Christian Ostermann, and Andreas Etges. The Cold War: Historiography, Memory, Representation. Berlin: De Gruyter Oldenbourg, 2017. ProQuest Ebook Central.

McKay, John P. A History of Western Society since 1300 for AP. 11th ed.

Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2014.

Seabury, Paul. “Cold War Origins, I.” Journal of Contemporary History 3, no. 1 (1968): 169-82. JSTOR. Theoharis, Athan G. “Revisionism.” In Encyclopedia of American Foreign Policy, 2nd ed., edited by Richard Dean Burns, Alexander DeConde, and Fredrik Logevall. Vol. 3. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 2002. U.S. History in Context.

Notes on Authors

Vienna Parnell enjoys research, hiking, traveling, and debate. Interested in economics and foreign policy, she decided to write a paper about the Spanish Price Revolution and its origins. In her free time, Vienna likes reading, watching action films, and creating digital art.

Camilla Lindh wrote her research paper with her coauthor on Spain’s economic decline in the seventeenth century, a topic that historians have debated for centuries. Camilla enjoys working with and riding horses, volleyball, and playing tenor sax. And she can speak four languages: Russian, Swedish, English, and Spanish!

April Zhang wrote a research paper alongside Camilla about the effects of Spanish silver because of the intriguing viewpoints that the debate over the topic produced over time. April also enjoys playing the violin, making conceptual art, and taking long walks (a hobby found during COVID-19).

Angela Jia loves classics, especially translating Latin poetry and learning about ancient Roman culture. Her passion inspired her to write about Italian history for her AP European History class. Outside of history, Angela enjoys coding for her school’s robotics team and reading.

Justin Fung is an avid researcher and quiz bowl player. He authored a research paper examining interpretations of Marxist theory with Sasvath and also enjoys studying chemistry, physics, and mythology along with world history. Justin plays soccer in the MLS Next league and loves to cook.

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Sasvath Ramachandran enjoys conducting science research, exploring physics, and competing in DECA. He chose to investigate Marxist ideals after studying their influence on twentieth century European leaders.

Besides school activities, Sasvath enjoys sketching and watching Netflix.

Zach Clark can solve a Rubik’s Cube in under nine seconds. He chose to write this paper because he found the topic of the Cold War interesting because of its relevance on modern military and economic conflicts along with the recency of the conflict.

Alex Liou is passionate about robotics, mechanical engineering, computer science, and running. He enjoys learning about military and aerospace technology and hardware. He found the topic of the Cold War fascinating because particular facets of the conflict such as the technological arms race, prevalence of unconventional warfare, and opposing ideologies interested him. Although their paper did not focus on these specific subjects, Alex and Zach decided to write about the Cold War out of a general interest in it.

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The Board Editor-in-Chief Andrew Lu

Managing Editors Spencer Cha Harshil Garg

Editorial Lead Justin Fung

Editorial Associates Gordon Chen Sophia Gottfried Angela Jia

Design Lead

Catherine Feng

Design Associate

Kailash Ranganathan

Outreach Lead Rupert Chen

Outreach Associate

Sasvath Ramachandran

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