https://www.echeat.com/ World War I and World War II were a global conflict leaving scores of people dead across the world. The First World War occurred between 1914-1918. World War II broke out two decades later which started in the year 1939 until 1940. The second war had far more devastating results than the first one. The world became politically and economically unstable. The war took more lives and destroyed property and land. The years that immediately followed was a time of expansion and contraction of individual freedom. This contradiction played out in the lives of women, both positively and negatively as, will be outlined in the paper. The war had in store, new opportunities for the American woman. Women responded differently to the call of duty depending on marital status, age, social class race, and number of children. Patriotism and economic incentives is what drove the women to work. Once they got employed, they realized that there were other non-material benefits such as learning a new set of skills and contributing to the good of the public. Women got the opportunity to show their talents and skills in a world where only men were given recognition. The economy improved drastically due to increased production of war equipment. Different races also benefited because the government ended segregation which brought about the end of racial discrimination around the world. Racial discrimination was one of the human vices that had been around the world for a very long time. The black community was discriminated by the white community due to their skin color. Technology also evolved when the first atomic bomb was created, and the United States became a global power. There were numerous changes during the post-war period which had an impact on the lives of women. The impact of this period was freedom of women to choose the lifestyles they wanted to live, and an opportunity to be employed both formal and informal sectors. After World War I and World War II, racial discrimination received great attention in the United States. The focus was to promote communism and contain democracy. Women were empowered with social significance enabling them fight social stigma and exploitation in the form of low wages and poor working conditions. Women were no longer confined to the same set of jobs, but they could also compete with men in more competitive positions. Women were encouraged to take on jobs which 2021-04-23T11:33:01.89-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/World-War-2-45510.aspx Apartheid and International Sanctions Name Institution Part 1 1. One reason Reagan thinks economic sanction is a bad idea is that many black workers would lose their jobs. Most of these black workers are the family breadwinners. The suffering will not only affect the employees but even the rest of the blacks in the society. The sanctions will also cripple the economy of South Africa and that of its neighbors. For example, countries like Zambia and Zaire depend on South Africa for electricity. If sanctions are to pass, a country like Zaire will be out of power, which means a crippling of its economy. Further, leaving of Western investors will leave South African proprietors inheriting farms, factories, plants, and mines at a fire sale price. Finally, the sanctions would tarnish America's flexibility, destroy the diplomatic advantage, and increase the crisis in South Africa. 2. It is true that prosperity brings racial progress because as everyone secures employment, their standards of living rises, which calls for a need to deal with racial inequality issue. He also fails to mention that capitalism will help blacks earn at least a small wage and few other benefits, while the high gainers will be those at the very top. 3. The government according to him should eliminate apartheid laws, release political prisoners like Nelson Mandela, and allow black political movements. The steps are essential in ending apartheid as they encourage healing and peaceful co-existence that are crucial to putting an end to the policy. The blacks needed their voice heard, but blocking their movements prevented it, leading to violence. The positive changes would see both opposing sides engage in a healing process, giving each person in South Africa the freedom they all seek. 4. According to Reagan, Soviet Union installed a client regime in Angola, supplied it with weapons to fight black liberation movement, which demanded representation of Angolans in their parliament. The situation in Cuba is similar to that in South Africa since both involve non-observance of some human rights. Just as the blacks in South Africa suffered from apartheid, U.S citizens suffered due to Fidel Castro’s actions. The Cuba sanctions led to the suffering of Americans just as blacks living in S.A would have suffered due to Western sanctions. Part 2 1. According to Wolpe, constructive engagement has given apartheid a sense of legitimacy, leading to increased sufferings among the colored and Indians in South Africa. It also 2016-08-20T22:36:47.707-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Africa-After-1945-35214.aspx The kokodatrack One of Australia's bloodiest war campaigns ever fought during ww2. in retaliation to the darwin bombings australia started recruitment mainly young 16 to 30 year old men who have never seen combat before. the japanese first landed ashore near gona on the northern coast of new guinea on the 21st july1942 to begin the invasion of new Guinea how ether this was not there proffered invasion point which was to have been a full blown sea borne assault on port Moresby. earlier on in the 5-8 may 1942 the battle of the coral sea was a failure as a lot of ships where lost on both sides but australia had beaten the japanese navy soundly. the aftermath had left the japanese navy no other choice but to retreat to northern coast of new guinea because they no longer had sufficient naval strength to support an invasion attack by sea. there plan was to isolate australia as a usable base for allies by indirecting the air and sea lanes from port Moresby. the allied forces which were initially allocated to the defense of new guinea in 1941 consisted of the 39th,49th and 53rd militia battalions of the australian army all newly raised for home services only and poorly equipped and trained there were supply problems,training problems, ammunition shortages no mail. In may 1942 the australian 3rd, 36th, and 55th militia battalions were ordered to port Moresby and the american 32nd and 41st division arrived in australia which later went to new guinea. the papuan infantry battalion (PIB) who were assigned to defend kokoda joined the 39th battalion and later became known as the (maroubra force) defenses and man power was slowly building up however the initial japanese landing of only 2000 later to be followed by 10,000 men in mid august where quick and strong enough to deal with the ill organized australians found facing. 2013-10-27T14:34:40.763-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/the-kokoda-track-un-edited-34980.aspx After WWII, the world was captivated by the threat of communism. The fear of communism within Australia was a major political issue during the Era of the Cold War. As a result, the key developments in Australia’s response to the threat of communism consisted of the Forward Defence Policy, signing significant alliance treaties which subsequently included the SEATO and ANZUS treaties, and actively participating in military conflicts, which included the Korean War, the Malayan Emergency and the Vietnam War. However, it can be determined that the Vietnam War was the most controversial and decisive of Australia’s military commitment to counteracting the threat of Communism. The underlying factors which resulted in Australia’s involvement in the Vietnam War included the fear of the Domino Theory, the Forward Defence Policy, supporting their loyal ally, the United States, in accordance with the treaties. It is evident that these political and military reasons occurred in order to protect the ideology of Capitalism. Capitalism and Communism were the 2 main conflicting ideologies. The 2 major super powers behind these ideologies was Russia, a supporter of Communism and America, a supporter of Capitalism. It can be determined that the fear of communism would greatly impact the capitalist nations, including Australia. It can be stated the key developments in Australia’s response to the threat of communism included Forward Defence Policy, the SEATO and ANZUS treaties (South East Asia Treaty Organisation and the Australia New Zealand United States) taking part in military wars including The Korean War, the Malayan Emergency and The Vietnam War. The Forward Defence Policy was based on the concept that it was in Australia’s best interest to meet any threats to Australia as far away from the mainland as possible. This policy would see Australia set up military bases overseas and send Australian troops to Korea, Malay and Vietnam. Therefore, Australia’s involvement in The Korean War and The Malayan Emergency was due to the concept of The Forward Defence Policy. “If there was a war for our existence, it should be carried out as far from our soil as possible”. In June 1950, war broke out in Korea when communist North Korea invaded capitalist South Korea. The UN responded quickly, sending the military of fifteen nations, including Australia to counter-attack. By the time they had all arrived, the majority of South Korea had been overrun by communist forces and the UN military had to slowly fight back up 2012-03-20T04:24:50.04-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Communism,-Capitalism,-The-Cold-War,-The-Vietnam-War-and-The-Korean-War-34516.aspx 2012-02-09T21:45:57.277-05:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/World-War-II-essay-with-in-text-citations-34470.aspx This paper examines articles published by The New York Times in 1949 and 1950 to see what the attitude was to the Holocaust at that time. (6; 7 sources; MLA citation style) I Introduction The Holocaust is one of the most horrific events in human history. Today, even with the perspective of time, it remains something so unspeakable that we have trouble coming to grips with it. It’s therefore interesting to see what accounts much nearer in time have to say. II Methodology I used the ProQuest database to search for newspaper articles about the Holocaust. The only paper whose deep files are available to me via ProQuest is The New York Times, which goes back to 1851. I put in the parameters as follows: the search term I used is “Holocaust” and the dates 1/01/1949 to 12/31/1950. The search returned 59 results. III Discussion The first thing to note is that very few of these articles use the word “Holocaust” in the sense we use it today—to refer to a specific event in history, namely the extermination of European Jewry by the Nazis. Much more often the word was used because of its strength: it gives a sentence much more power to say “the holocaust of war” as opposed to “the horror of war” for example. The first conclusion we can draw from this is that the Holocaust wasn’t of great interest in the United States in the years immediately following the Second World War. Further, the use of the word to refer to such things as the “holocaust” caused by an accident during a race is simply hype. “Holocaust” as defined in Webster’s New World Dictionary means a “burnt offering”; an additional meaning is “great loss of life, especially by fire.” It’s not surprising then to find several articles that describe serious fires. On May 16, 1949 an article appeared entitled “Fire at Ft. Worth Park.” The subhead is “$1,000,000 Damages Caused at Cats’ Baseball Plant.” The article, which is less than a column, says that “Fire destroyed the main stands of the Fort Worth Texas League ballpark” at an estimated cost of $1,000,000. Then it goes on to say, “But fifteen hours later, a baseball game was going on in the scene of the two-hour holocaust.” The Fort Worth club is the farm team for the former Brooklyn 2011-10-26T12:41:19.99-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Holocaust-as-Viewed-in-The-New-York-Times-34089.aspx This paper discusses using the ProQuest database to search for the word “Holocaust” in 1950, and the results of that search. (5 pages; 4 sources; MLA citation style) I Introduction The Holocaust is a term we now use to refer almost exclusively to the extermination of European Jewry by the Nazis in the 1930’s and 1940’s. The word originally meant destruction by fire, but is rarely used in that sense today. This paper will use the ProQuest database to find out what articles where published about the Holocaust in 1950. II Methodology and Discussion I accessed ‘The New York Times’ deep backfile directly, asking it to search for the word “Holocaust” for the period 1/1/50 to 12/31/50. The search yielded only 26 hits; of those articles, most use the word to describe something other than the Nazi exterminations. I did however notice what seems to be sort of “theme” running through these articles in connection with the use of the word “holocaust”—the fear of nuclear war. In fact the usage was striking. It is instructive to examine these 26 pieces to see how many of them use the word in this context. Of the 26, eight articles, nearly one-third of the total, use the world “holocaust” to refer to the potential for nuclear conflict. Four more use the word to refer to conventional warfare, including the war just ended. This brings to the total to 13, or half the entire selection. War, both conventional and nuclear, seems to have occupied newspapers during the year 1950 to a substantial degree. Some of the articles about the potential for nuclear conflict are well-reasoned, but several stand out for what seems a near-hysterical writing style. One of these is entitled “Civilian Defense Held Inadequate,” published February 21, 1950. In it, one Dr. George Baehr, speaking to the tenth annual Congress on Industrial Health, said that current plans for civilian defense were totally inadequate. Further, he said that since the military would be off meeting the attacks and launching counterattacks, any and all emergency plans would have to be devised and run by civilians. To quote the good doctor directly: “The present equanimity of our people is to be ascribed largely to the fact that they do not as yet realize the full significance of the absence at this time of specific methods of protection against the catastrophic effects of atomic 2011-10-26T12:40:23.49-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/ProQuest-Search-“Holocaust”-1950-34088.aspx The US is to blame for the Cold War From when World War II ended in 1945 all the way up to the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Cold War dominated international affairs. It was a global struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union. Although the Cold War was sometimes fought on the battlefield, it involved everything from political rhetoric to sports. Overshadowing all was the threat of nuclear war. From an American perspective the Cold War was largely a ‘war on communism’ – this outlook by the US caused and sustained the Cold War. The US is to blame for the Cold War for demonizing of the communist Soviet Union in support of our own political and economic systems. At the end of WWII, the Soviet Union had sustained tremendous casualties and the country was almost destroyed. In order for Russia to be able to protect itself in the future, it would need to be surrounded by countries that would be loyal to Soviet Russia. The countries would serve as a buffer zone to stop possible future invading armies. The Soviet takeover of Poland was a defensive maneuver to protect Russia, not an offensive to convert Europe to communism like America assumed. US Soviet relations were further worsened by the atomic bomb. Even though we had been allies during WWII, we had not told the Soviets about the atomic bomb. We had worked in total secrecy and kept Russia in the darkness about our progress. The bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were the first indication to Russia that we had nuclear power. By not telling the Soviets, we were telling them that we did not want them to have nuclear weapons and that we did not consider them a strong ally. Russia began to fear us, and consequently tensions mounted between the USSR and America. In a conference at Yalta, Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt agreed on terms of how Europe was going to be governed; there would be free elections throughout Europe and the Soviets would have control over some of Eastern Europe. The Soviet Union was not granted the right to rule the new countries as it wanted, there would be mandatory elections, which might throw away the power of Russia there. Although Stalin did not allow completely free elections in the European countries now under Soviet influence, it was 2009-04-10T06:37:31-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/The-US-is-to-Blame-for-the-Cold-War-34053.aspx *This got a 40/40 in my AP World History class last year, my teacher was the hardest teacher and would practically look for ways to mark you down. The only notes she wrote were "Where exactly" about closing of trade routes, but I'm not sure, it's been so long. Enjoy!* After World War two, there was an emergence of two superpowers that had once been allies, but ended up enemies due to very different ideology. This clash of concepts between the Soviet Union and the United States led to a period of conflict and tension between capitalism and communism. This competition for superiority posed a serious threat to the entire world: nuclear warfare. The ideological clash between communism and capitalism that began in 1917 was one of the very early events leading up to the Cold War, although the United States and Imperial Russia had been enemies since 1900. There was never a direct military engagement but there was a half-century of military build-up. The world's largest colonial empire and the world's leading economic power were marked by mutual distrust and idological tension. Because Russia was unable to compete industrially with the United States, they wanted to close off part of east Asia to trade, but the United States demanded open trade. After winning the Russian Civil War the Bolsheviks proclaimed a world wide challenge to capitalism. During the war the soviets believed that the British and the Americans had intentionally delayed a second front against Germany, although they had been in no position to carry out Stalin's request to invade northern France. The Soviets suspected that they had decided to let Russians bear the worst of the war, but would intervene towards the end to influence peace settlements and dominate Europe as well. These misconceptions left unfounded feelings of tension and hostility between the two superpowers. Both the USSR and the United States had very different ideas of how to establish postwar security. Americans assumed that if U.S. style governments and markets were established, states could resolve their differences peacefully. The key to the U.S. vision of security would require a rebuilt capitalist Europe and U.S. economic and political leadership of the postwar world. Soviet leaders understood security in terms of space. Stalin was determined to use the red army to control Poland, dominate the Balkans, and destroy Germany's capacity for another 2007-08-30T16:58:52-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/The-Cold-War--33319.aspx Nazi use of Violence to Gain Power in the Third Reich Hitler was a cunning man who used many techniques to achieve the success of the Nazi party and establish a dictatorship in Germany. Amongst these techniques, was the use of violence. In this essay I will determine whether the NSDAP's use of violence was the main reason why Hitler became chancellor of Germany in January of 1933. In the early days of the Nazi party, Hitler believed that power could be achieved through a revolution, triggered by a single violent taking of an area in order to set off a series of violent take overs across Germany, the idea was taken from Benito Mussolini's Fascist Party's march on Rome which resulted in bringing Mussolini to power. This idea of a “March on Rome” style takeover lead to the Munich Putsch in November 1923. However, the Putsch failed, the authorities in Munich refused to hand the city over to Hitler, and Hitler's national support was severely lacking for any sort of national revolution. After the Putsch failed, Hitler was arrested and sent to prison which gave him time to rethink his strategy. He wrote down his political philosophies in his book “Mein Kampf” which he wrote whilst in prison. One major revelation was that he could not reach power by violence, and must go by the democratic process and enter into the Reichstag. This did not mean that Hitler would stop using violence to gain power however. Hitler's main opposition in the Reichstag were the communists, the communists had many seats in the Reichstag and had links with other smaller parties. The Communist Party's own methods were perhaps more violent than the Nazi's. The Red Fighting Force was an organisation of militant communists who beat people up and forced them to support the communist party. The German people feared communism, and the Nazi party appeared to be the only group who were effectively combating the communists. Hitler used the SA to round up and murder communists, thus destroying opposition from them, and gaining support from the German people. The Night of Long knives saw Hitler's new private army the SS gather and murder the SA hierarchy. Hitler put the murders down to the fact that the SA hierarchy were homosexuals. The SA preferred the socialist side of National Socialism, and were planning to rebel against Hitler and seize power for themselves. If 2007-05-26T11:08:23-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Nazi-use-of-Violence-to-Gain-Power-in-the-Third-Reich-33236.aspx Upon coming to power, Hitler vowed to bring Nazi Germany back to the “good old days” - to its former glory. He did this through many means throughout his reign as both chancellor and Führer. Many of which are now famous worldwide - the massive army building and propaganda campaign just being one of such. But something that is perhaps all too often overlooked is the Nazi use of sculpture and Architecture within Germany. During his youth Hitler applied to the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, and was rejected both times. He was told that he excelled in architecture, which he later realised to be true. [i:001397ae7a]"The purpose of my trip was to study the picture gallery in the Court Museum, but I had eyes for scarcely anything but the Museum itself. From morning until late at night, I ran from one object of interest to another, but it was always the buildings which held my primary interest."[/i:001397ae7a] (Mein Kampf, Chapter II, paragraph 3). It is quite fitting then that Hitler should use his fascination with architecture and sculpture to his advantage within Nazi Germany. Hitler already regarded many ancient cultures such as the Romans and Greeks as being early forms of the Aryan race and admired their architecture greatly, and as previously mentioned Hitler wanted to restore Germany to its former glory. Therefore he replaced the semi-contemporary architecture with the more classical, ancient architecture which gave way to the first nationalist architecture. Whilst doing so he (or rather Speer) modified it. This was so that it did not simply recreate the past, but to bring Germany a new future through the ideals of the German and/or Aryan past. Albert Speer was the chief architect in Nazi Germany and designed many of the buildings situated in Germany today including the Nuremburg Zeppelin field and the German Pavilion. He constructed his architecture without using reinforcement techniques or concrete to give what he called “ruin value”. The idea behind this was that years from being built the buildings would leave “aesthetically pleasing ruins” much like the roman coliseum or Greek theatres. This idea pleased Hitler who enjoyed the idea of Immortal fame. In general there were 2 different forms of Nazi architecture. The neo-classical style was usually used on imperial and state buildings and on buildings in urban areas. In the countryside a more relaxed form of völkisch was often used with a focus on folklore 2007-05-24T20:35:50-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Nazi-use-of-architecture-in-WW-II-33224.aspx Nazi Architecture and Sculpture When Hitler became Führer of Germany in 1933, he wanted architecture in his new Germany to bring a new image to the history of Germany, and to offer the new Nazi society a strong rallying point. Classical, monumental style replaced the modern style of architecture that had come with the Weimar government. Hitler saw this architecture as a cultural decline. The Nazi's used architecture to celebrate their image. Nazi architecture consisted of two phases between 1936 and 1940, firstly, the great set pieces of party edifies and secondly, the plans for Berlin, Nuremberg and Munich, the key cities of the Third Reich. Nazist architecture existed largely within the minds of two people, Hitler and Albert Speer. The National Socialist's main view on architecture was the rejection of modern style. The quaint and traditional vernacular style for housing and a strong monumental style for public buildings became the order. But The National Socialists did not wholly rejected modern technology as a means of constructing this traditional architecture. They often used the most advanced building techniques hidden behind neoclassical fascias. Along with the rejection of modern architecture came a rejection of the corresponding furniture. To the Nazi's, using Neoclassicism would give expression to the Nazi regime. The ideal model was the Greek temple, the Renaissance palace, the Baroque castle, and the Classicist building of the Empire era. The format of these buildings became monumental to Hitler. Speer undertook the project for Reconstruction for Berlin (1939-1943). It was designed to become the ultimate architectural realization of National Socialist ideology, it had a giant avenue from south to north, which was the highlight of the new city. In 1938, Speer finished the design for the first part of Berlin's Great Axis Avenue, 4 miles long, flanked by 400 street lights that he had designed. The east-west axis would 'cut through the chaotic development of the cold city'. Eventually it was to stretch over 30 miles from east to west and 25 miles from north to south. It was planned to be a monumental centre. In 1925, Hitler had sketched a triumphal arch and a large assembly hall, both of which were to become the symbols of the New Berlin. The triumphal arch was to span a distance of 285 feet and rise 325 feet, dwarfing the Eiffel Tower. On it the names of the German soldiers killed fighting World War 1 2007-05-24T20:26:54-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Nazi-use-of-Architecture-and-Sculpture-in-the-Third-Reich-33223.aspx The Uss Arizona in World War II On December 7, 1941 the Hawaiian Islands were suddenly and deliberately attacked by Japanese aircraft just before 0800. The USS Arizona came under attack almost immediately, and received a hit by an 800-kilogram bomb, gutting the forward part of the ship. The USS Arizona was completed March 16,1914. The ship was launched June 19, 1915. Miss Esther Ross, from Prescott, christened the ship along with traditional champagne. The Arizona departed from New York for training off the Virginia capes; within months the United States entered World War I. The Arizona operate out of Norfolk throughout the war, it served as a gunnery training ship, it also patrolled the waters of the eastern seaboard. The Arizona was also part of the escort that carried American President Woodrow Wilson to the peace conference in December of 1918. In 1929 the Arizona was in the yard for 20 months for alterations. She was placed back in full commission on March 1, 1931. Over the next decade, Arizona continued to operate with the Battle Fleet out of San Pedro, California, and too part in a series of fleet problems that took the ship all over the Pacific and to the west coast of the United States. The United States Fleet was retained in Hawaiian waters, based at Pearl Harbor. She operated in the Hawaiian Operating Area until late that summer, when she returned to Long Beach on September 30, 1940. Her last flag change-of-command was on January 23, 1941, when Rear Admiral Wilson was relieved as Commander, Battleship Division one by Admiral Isaac C. Kidd. The battleship returned to Pearl Harbor on February 3, 1941 to resume the intensive training maintained by the Pacific Fleet. She made one last visit to the West coast, clearing “Pearl” on June 11, 1941 for Long Beach, ultimately returning to her Hawaiian base on July 8. Over the next five months, she continued exercises and battle problems of various kinds on type training and tactical exercises in the Hawaiian operating area. She underwent a brief overhaul at the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard commencing on October 27, 1941, receiving the foundation for a search radar atop her foremast. She conducted her last training in company with her division mates Nevada and Oklahoma, conducting a night firing 2007-04-25T20:26:52-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/The-Uss-Arizona-in-World-War-II-33143.aspx The Nuremburg Trial On October 18, 1945, the chief prosecutors lodged an indictment with the War Crimes Tribunal charging 24 individuals with variety of crimes and atrocities. This included the deliberate instigation of wars, extermination of racial and religious groups, murder and mistreatment of prisoners of war, and the murder, mistreatment, and the deportation of slave labor of the inhabitants of countries occupied by Germany during the war. The men accused at the trial were the Nationalist Socialist leaders Hermann Göring and Rudolf Hess, diplomat Joachim von Ribbentrop, the munitions maker Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach, Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, Grand Admiral Erich Raeder, and 18 other military leaders and civilian officials. Seven organizations that formed part of the basic structure of the Nazi government were also charged as criminal. These organizations included the SS (Schutzstaffel "Defense Corps"), the Gestapo (Geheime Staatspolizei, "Secret State Police"), the SA (Sturmabteilung, "Storm Troops"), and the General Staff and High Command of the German armed forces. The trial began on November 20, 1945. The evidence submitted by the prosecution consisted mostly of original military, diplomatic, and other government documents that fell into the hands of the Allied forces after the collapse of the German government. The judgment of the International Military Tribunal was handed down on September 30-October 1, 1946. One notable feature of the decision was the conclusion, in accordance with the London Agreement, that to plan or instigate an aggressive war is a crime under the principles of international law. The tribunal rejected the contention of the defense that such acts had not been previously defined as crimes under international law, and therefore the condemnation of the defendants would violate the principle of justice prohibiting ex post facto punishments. The defense also rejected the contention that the defendants were legally responsible for their acts because they performed the acts under the orders of superior authority, stating that "the true test . . . is not the existence of the order but whether moral choice (in executing it) was in fact possible." The tribunal found overwhelming evidence of a systematic rule of violence, brutality, and terrorism by the German government in the territories occupied by its forces, with respect to war crimes and crimes against humanity. Millions of people were destroyed in concentration camps, many of, which were equipped with gas chambers for the extermination of Jews, Roma (Gypsies), and members of other 2007-04-19T21:36:19-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/The-Nuremburg-Trial-33062.aspx Evaluation Of Nazi Ideology And Philosophy When Hitler was appointed Chancellor on January 30th 1933, know-one could have predicted how rapid his rise to dictatorship would have been. Within months, Hitler had gone from being Chancellor to achieving a one party state. Although his ideology for Germany was mostly far-fetched and virtually impossible to accomplish he was very consistent on most of his objectives, such as the development of an Aryan race, anti-Semitism and the concept of Lebensraum to name but a few. I plan to outline these aims and evaluate each one to establish how logical they are and if any contradictions are apparent. One aspect of Nazi ideology, which cannot be denied as being consistent, is that of the need for racial purity. The concept of making Germany a country with only an Aryan race featured heavily in Hitler’s book, Mein Kampf. In it, he stated the need for the young to be educated on the importance of racial purity to ensure the preservation of the German race. He believed that blood and race bore stronger ties than those of class, occupation and religion and that the physically and mentally unhealthy must not be allowed to bare children and ‘contaminate’ the German race. These beliefs stuck with Hitler throughout his life and this is proved by the actions taken by him and his followers during his dictatorship. By 1939 when war broke out, Hitler had begun his racial purifying of Germany through a policy of mass gassings, over work or medical experiments. Many Poles, Jews and Czechs were killed. In 1941, Hitler appointed Alfred Rosenberg as Reich Minister for the Eastern Occupied Territories. In this position and under the authority of Hitler, Rosenberg promoted the Germanisation of Eastern peoples under inhumane conditions such as supervised camp labor, the rounding up of workers to be sent to Germany, where they would eventually die and the extermination of Jews. Another close ally of Hitler was Himmler. He introduced a Lebensborn program of the selective breeding of children from Aryan and racially pure parents from countries such as Poland, Norway, France, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia for adoption by German families. In 1935, Hitler’s racialism was legalized in the Nuremberg Laws on Citizenship. It stated that citizenship was to be granted to ‘all subjects of German 2007-04-18T18:23:13-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Evaluation-Of-Nazi-Ideology-And-Philosophy-33002.aspx Winston Churchill in World War II Winston Churchill was made Prime Minster of Great Britain on May 10, 1940. Historians have analyzed Churchill’s impact on the Second World War, especially from his appointment in 1940 until 1941. This period of the war is seen as being a crucial time for Britain, a time when they had to fight the war alone against Germany. Churchill’s appointment was not well received by everyone, as many people were unsure of his ability. However, for Churchill, he was waiting for this moment. Churchill’s first test was a peace offer from Hitler. Unlike Chamberlain, Churchill wanted absolutely nothing to do with this peace offer. He believed fully in never surrendering and his main war aim was complete victory. This was seen by many to be the wrong choice and that appeasement should be chosen before war. Churchill was adamant and believed, rightfully, that the only way to stop Hitler was by completely beating him at his own game. During the early years of World War II, Winston Churchill was leading Great Britain into a headlong battle against Adolph Hitler and the Germans. In analyzing his leadership during the years 1940-41 it will be found that Churchill would not succumb to peace treaties, but fought Hitler and the Nazis at their own war. He had to make tough decisions and fight for the freedom, liberty and life of the western societies, and in effect was an important aspect in the out come of the war. In the Fall of France, Churchill was able to show his true leadership skills. France wanted Britain to contribute aid, especially in the form of the air force. Churchill was quite happy to support France in the defense of their country. He was deviant toward Germany and even helped with a counter offensive plan DAKAR, which ended up not working at all. DAKAR was an operation that proposed to counter German influence in West Africa. Petain sent naval reinforcements, but because of delays and a bad landing the operation was stopped. Churchill’s involvement has been speculated, but he denounced the operation, stating that it was not a British endeavor. Churchill knew when and where to draw the line, even for an ally like France. When Petain wanted further air 2007-04-18T03:15:12-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Winston-Churchill-in-World-War-II-32982.aspx Historical Events of The Holocaust All throughout history, the Jewish people have been unjustly persecuted. Anti-Semitism has existed as long as the Jewish people have. Even in ancient times, the Jews were persecuted mainly because of their religious beliefs. Jews claim that they are God’s “Chosen People” and this has led to misunderstanding between Jews and Gentiles (non-Jewish people). Some gentiles believe that this claim meant Jews felt they were better than other people, thus fostering hatred. Others were wary of the Jews because of their preservation of their religious customs and traditions. Although this was vital to the survival of the Jewish faith, some people saw it as a threat to their own culture, and deemed Jews as dangerous. Jealously of successful Jews also contributed to the growing hatred towards Jews. It was Germany’s humiliating defeat in World War I that allowed Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party to gain control of Germany, thus beginning the Holocaust. Germany was completed devastated, both morally and economically, as a country. The Treaty of Versailles further humbled the German people – Germany was forced to disarm and pay huge reparations to Britain and France to cover the cost of the war. The German people were lost and angry, and this allowed Hitler to manipulate the masses. Hitler chose the Jewish people as his scapegoat, and all the problems Germany was experiencing was blamed on the Jews. Once Hitler gained control of Germany, the Nazi Party quickly changed Germany’s political, social, and economic structure. Germany essentially became a police state, and began creating and enforcing laws that persecuted the Jewish people. All Jewish people had to go and register at a local office. They later had to wear a badge with the Star of David on it, or else they were arrested. Laws were passed that banned people from shopping in Jewish-owned shops. Curfews were imposed on the Jewish people and they were not allowed outside after 9pm, which conflicted with their religious practices. Children were not allowed to go to school, and later, Jews were forced to live in ghettos, designated sectors of cities where Jews were confined. However, this could not prepare the Jewish people of what was to come. Concentration camps were established throughout Europe where Jews tortured 2007-04-18T02:11:36-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Historical-Events-of-The-Holocaust-32956.aspx World War II and the Manhattan Project The research for the first Atomic bomb was done in the United States, by a group of the best scientists; this research was given the name of The Manhattan Project. On Monday July 16th, 1945, a countdown for the detonation of the first atomic bomb took place near Los Alamos, New Mexico. This atomic bomb testing would forever change the meaning of war. As the atomic bomb was detonated it sent shock-waves all over the world. There was endless research done on the bomb in the United States. The research was called “The Manhattan Engineer District Project” but it was more commonly known as "The Manhattan Project."1 The Manhattan Project was brought by fear of Germany and it's atomic research. On account of the fear of Germany the United States took action upon testing their own atomic bomb. Once the bomb was tested, the United States had to decide whether it should be used and if so, where? Then there was the process of dropping the bomb. The Manhattan Project was overall one of the highest and most significant projects ever done in the United States.2 The United States government was shocked by the news of German scientists discovering nuclear fission. The news came to the United States from Albert Einstein. Einstein found out the nuclear fission information from a German physicist named Leo Szilard. He then told it to President Franklin D. Roosevelt and urged him to start an investment toward atomic research. 3The research would then help construct an atomic weapon of mass destruction. Roosevelt was not especially concerned about investing in atomic weapon research because he didn't plan on getting involved in the War. When Pearl Harbor was attacked by the Japanese, Roosevelt entered the war and sent significant funds to the construction of the atomic weapon. Roosevelt speeded up the process of research by having General Groves setup a committee of the brightest minds from all around the world. Because most of the work done on research of the bomb was done in the Manhattan District of New York, at the US Army Corps of Engineers, the name given to the lay out was "The Manhattan Project".3 The man that General Grooves chose to head the Manhattan project was Robert J. Oppenheimer. Oppenheimer was a Jewish born child who was raised in Manhattan. Oppenheimer went to Harvard University to complete 2007-04-18T02:04:59-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/World-War-II-and-the-Manhattan-Project-32953.aspx In 1939 the world was plunged into World War II because of the Munich Agreement. The Munich Agreement was an agreement regarding the Sudetenland Crisis between the major powers of Europe after a conference held in Munich in Germany in 1938. The Sudetenland was an important region of Czechoslovakia. It had over 2.5 million speaking German inhabitants, and according to the Treaty of Versailles’s rule of National Self Determination, it should be under German leadership because of this. The Treaty of Versailles was the peace treaty created as a result of six months of negotiations at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, which put an official end to World War I between the Allies and Central Powers. The Munich Agreement caused many disagreements between European countries. Collective security was a more effective response to aggression than appeasement because more European countries disagreed than agreed with the decision made during the Munich Conference for various reasons and Germany had many ways of keeping its territories under control. Germany had many ways of keeping its people under control. Propaganda was an important factor of keeping Germans under control. Documents 10 through 15, all the documents containing pictures, are from the German point of view. “Being baptized didn’t turn him into a non-Jew” (Doc.10) shows that Jewish people will be Jewish forever, no matter what they do, according to Hitler. The second picture in this document shows that Jews can be anywhere trying to look like non-Jews. Documents 11 and 13 also show German propaganda in newspapers. In Document 12 there are multiple symbols that people would wear showing who or what they were; Jews would wear the Star of David on their clothes. One picture in Document 14 shows a man in the Olympics in Germany. This picture shows the physical characteristics of a German. The other picture in this document is of the Russian navy. It shows that that it is very industrial and very powerful. The big ship represents Russia and the small boat represents other European countries that feared Russian dominance. Document 15 is a rally for Hitler. He used rallies and other propaganda to stay in power and increase his influence and spread ideas. He also used promises to keep German people’s trust and loyalty. In Document 3, it is stated that Hitler promised to end the Treaty of Versailles. Also he sent battalions into the Rhineland’s demilitarized 2007-04-17T00:41:24-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/DBQ-21-World-War-II-The-Road-to-War-32925.aspx Emotional Trip to the Holocaust Museum The Holocaust can be described one of the darkest eras in human existence, and the greatest crime imposed upon people by people. The Holocaust, which was a product of Hitler's Nazi Germany, is an event that we need to study and learn from. The Holocaust caused the death of over Six Million innocent people, the majority of whom were of Jewish descent. The intentional annihilation of six million people has affected the world in ways that we will never know. The Holocaust Museum in Washington DC is divided into three parts: "Nazi Assault," "Final Solution," and "Last Chapter." Each of these exhibitions traces the steps by which a group becomes the target of prejudice, discrimination, persecution and violence. Genocide is the ultimate expression of hatred and violence against a group of people. The general concepts of stereotypes, prejudices, and discrimination are explored throughout the museum in a manner that enabled me to understand the behavior of the Germans and then to condemn such behavior. The first step is discrimination and treating certain groups of people differently. Jews were forced to wear yellow stars on their clothing in order to distinguish themselves from others. The second step is isolation, which can be seen through the physical segregation of Jews in ghettos and separate schools. The third step is persecution, followed by dehumanization and violence. The concentration camps of Germany withheld unthinkable and inhumane acts towards Jews including deathly experiments. Genocide is the last step in a continuum of actions taken by those who are prejudiced. It is what cost millions their lives and their futures. I feel that learning more about the Holocaust at this museum is essential and I greatly benefited from the trip. It encourages evaluations of moral and ethical standards and our responsibilities as citizens. Americans have been unable to suppress the guilt and horror of the Holocaust, and have slowly come to realize that these events that occurred fifty years ago and thousands of miles away demand recognition in our national consciousness. In learning more about the history of the Holocaust I completely understood the effects of prejudice, racism, and stereotyping in any society. This is the first step in combating these practices. All of us have prejudices about members of groups different from ourselves. We should, however, recognize that we are not acting fairly 2007-03-19T13:59:03-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Emotional-Trip-to-the-Holocaust-Museum-32826.aspx Adolf Hitler and World War II War is one of the most tragic things in our world today. It is even sadder that usually it comes around at least once in our lifetime. In the 20th century alone we have already had two huge wars. These wars were call the World Wars simply because they involved most of the big countries of the world. Many people have died in these wars… especially the Second World War That is my focus for this essay. The leader of Germany at the time of WW2 and the person who most think started WW2 was a man named Adolf Hitler. Adolf Hitler was born in Austria. By the time that World War 1 started in 1914, he was living in Germany. He served well in the German Army and for that he earned a medal for bravery. At the end of the war Hitler decided to take up politics. By 1921 he was already the founding leader of the Nazi party. Hitler was an incredibly racist man and he had a great hate for Jews. By 1933, Hitler gained political power by winning the election. Soon after he made himself absolute dictator, calling himself the Fuhrer which means "Leader". By the end of the 30's he was already sending Jews off too concentration camps to meet a horrible death. I believe that Hitler was one of the greatest causes of World War 2. Although there are many other reasons, he was definitely one of them. Another reason was the Treaty of Versailles. This was the treaty that was signed at the end of World War 1. This treaty outlined the rules that Germany must follow because of their defeat by Britain and France. Many Germans were angered by the treaty, for most of the rules in the treaty were unfair and Germany lost a great amount of wealth. One of the cruelest reasons for the war was Hitler's racist hate for Jews. He would send them off in cattle cars to places called concentration camps were they would be slaughtered by the thousands. World War 2 was huge and involved a lot of countries. There were thousands of battlefronts and war sites. The two main battlefronts were the battle front between Britain and Germany and the battlefront between the Japanese and the Americans. These battlefronts were split up into smaller battlefronts even still. Many lives 2007-03-05T14:26:13-05:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Adolf-Hitler-and-World-War-II-32745.aspx Adolf Eichmann's Involvement in World War II When the Holocaust, or the persecution of the Jews around World War 2, is mentioned there is one name that immediately comes to mind: Adolf Hitler of course. And sure, he was the chief culprit, but he had many collaborators. One of them was Karl Adolf Eichmann. Born in 1906 in Cologne, Germany into a middle class protestant family, as a boy he was teased and nicknamed “the little Jew” by classmates, because of his dark complexion. At age 26 he joined the growing Austrian Nazi Party at the suggestion of a friend. A year later he took a job in Heydrich’s SD, the powerful SS security service. He was assigned to the Jewish section, which was at this stage collecting information on all prominent Jews. At this point in time began Eichmann’s almost obsessive interest in the Jews. He studied all aspects of Jewish culture and gradually became the acknowledged Jewish specialist. In 1939, Eichmann was appointed Head of the Gestapo, the secret state police of Germany, and became one of the most powerful men in the Third Reich. In Poland, Heydrich and Eichmann ordered all Jews to be rounded up and forced into ghettos and labor camps. Methods of execution used at this time involved gathering Jews to a secluded location and then shooting and burying them. SS leader Heinrich Himmler witnessed such a killing and nearly fainted. He then ordered more “humane” methods of killing to be found, mostly to spare his SS men the ordeal of such a direct method. The Nazi’s then turned their attention to gassing. At Auschwitch the gas chamber, disguised as a shower room, could accommodate 2000 people at a time. In 1941, Eichmann was told to prepare “a general plan for carrying out the desired Final Solution of the Jewish question”. With boundless enthusiasm for his task and fanatical efficiency, Eichmann traveled throughout the Reich coordinating the Final Solution and victim numbers tallied into the millions as the war dragged on. Following the surrender of Nazi Germany in May of 1945, Eichmann was arrested and confined to an American Internment Camp, but he managed to escape because his name was not yet well known. In 1950 he fled to Argentina and lived there under an assumed name for ten years until Israeli Mossad agents abducted him in 1960. You may have noticed that the name Eichmann appears in Billy 2007-02-02T18:20:01-05:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Adolf-Eichmann-s-Involvement-in-World-War-II-32557.aspx Essay on the Battle Of The Bluge, December 1944 The summer of 1944 saw the beginning of long awaited battles begin. The Allied landings in France, and the Soviet offensive against Army Group Middle. From now till the end of the war the Waffen SS would be in constant action and its strength would dwindle accordingly. Replacements and refits were few and far between, and always inadequet. At the time of the Normandy landings the four Waffen SS divisons in the West were widely scattered. LAH was in Belgium, Hitlerjugend [HJ] west of Paris, Gotz von Berlichingen [GvB] was at Thouars, and Das Reich near the Spainish border. The German reaction was to have HJ launch an immediate couter attack. At the conclusion of this, the Germans were able to hold the Allies to little gain with extreme cost to what they earned. Soon Das Reich and GvB were at the front. Recognizing that forces were lacking, German command ordered Hohenstaufen and Frundsberg from Poland to Normandy. By 29. June both were in line, and on the July 11, LAH was released from reserve. On June 12. and 26., and July 18. the British and Canadians launched major offensives, however all were contained. On the 25. of July the Americans launched theirs but with different results. Das Reich and GvB were encircled temporarily but were able to cut across Americans lines and save most of their men and equipment. The Germans now made a series of blunders which exasperated an already bad situation. With American tanks circling from behind and the British pushing forward, the Germans were being forced into a vulnerable and narrow pocket near Falaise. The Germans had two options. Either cut off the Americans by attacking towards Avranches and cut them off, or withdraw. They did nothing, for ten days. When the attack towards Avaranches was launched, it was too little, too late. Meanwhile the Mortain line was growing unstable by the day, and the order to move was given. LAH joined with Das Reich, GvB and the Armys' 2. and 116. Panzer Divisions on August 6. The expected move was easily held by the Americans. The Germans were now in a worse position prior to the attack. With three of their strongest units west of Mortain they could only watch the jaws of the pincers close. Now was a race against time. They immediately began withdrawing units 2007-01-12T03:39:06-05:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Essay-on-the-Battle-Of-The-Bluge,-December-1944-32397.aspx Adolf Hitler and the Story of World War II Hitler, leader of the German Nazi party and, from 1933 until his death, dictator of Germany. He rose from the bottom of society to conquer first Germany and then most of Europe. Riding on a wave of European fascism after World War I and favored by traditional defects in German society, especially its lack of cohesion, he built a Fascist regime unparalleled for barbarism and terror. His rule resulted in the destruction of the German nation-state and its society, in the ruin of much of Europe's traditional structure, and in the extermination of about 6 million Jews. He was eventually defeated, but his temporary success demonstrated frighteningly, at the brink of the atomic age, the vulnerability of civilization. Early Years Hitler was born on April 20, 1889, at Braunau-am-Inn, Austria. Alois, his father, had risen from a poor peasant background to become an Austrian customs official and was able to provide his son with a secondary school education. Adolf, a bright and talented student at his village school, felt out of place in the much larger urban secondary school. He gave himself up to aimless reading, dreamed about becoming an artist, and developed a talent for evading responsibilities. Poor school marks prevented him from obtaining the customary graduation certificate. After the death of his father, he left his home in Linz, Upper Austria, in 1907 to seek his fortune in Vienna. Hitler's professed aim in Vienna was to study art, especially architecture, but he twice failed, in 1907 and 1908, to get admitted to the Academy of Fine Arts. These failures destroyed what little order he had established in his life. He withdrew completely from family and friends and wandered aimlessly through the city, observing its life. Though he continued to read voraciously, he derived most of his knowledge from secondhand sources, coffeehouse talk, newspapers, and pamphlets. He encountered the writings of an obscure author whose racist and anti-Semitic ideas impressed him. Politically, he turned to a fervent German nationalism and a vague anti-Marxism. But at this time he was probably mainly interested in being accepted as an artist and architect. When the money left by his parents ran out, Hitler fell into total poverty, lodging in a men's hostel. Grudgingly, he decided to support himself by painting postcards and watercolors and to accommodate himself to the mixed company of tramps, outcasts, cranks, and 2007-01-11T04:10:31-05:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Adolf-Hitler-and-the-Story-of-World-War-II-32344.aspx Speculation on Hitler's Suicide Adolf Hitler is known throughout the world for the terror he caused from 1933 to 1945. Virtually every country that offers history to its students covers this man and his path of destruction. There are thousands of books and articles on the Hitler and the Nazi party. Therefore, it is redundant to try and restate what is already well known about Hitler. However, one of the few aspects about Hitler that is not well known is his relationship with Benito Mussolini and how that friendship caused Hitler to take his own life. Adolf Hitler was a man who greatly admired Benito Mussolini. The Italian dictator, who was named after the Mexican president Benito Juarez, rose to power in 1922. Mussolini used fear to take control of his country. Mussolini used the facist squads that wore black shirts to symbolize their identity. These young men, who had shaved heads would roam the streets and beat people at ramdom. The "Black Shirts" used 19 inch billy-clubs to beat their victims. By 1922, Mussolini, who had been a brick layer, teacher, newspaper journalists, and a soldier in WWI, had been given power from King Victor-Emmanuel III. Musssolini didn't know it, but a young man by the name of Adolf Hitler was inspired by his actions. In 1923, Hitler was already the leader of the German Nationalist Socialist Party (Nazi Party). That year, with Mussolini's actions on his mind, Hitler tried to take Germany much in the same manner as Mussolini and his "Black Shirts" had. Hitler was going to storm the German legislature with his Putsch. Instead of using billie-clubs, Hitler had bought guns for his Nazi members. However, the guns had no firing pins which didn't allow them to fire at all. After two days of rioting, the Nazi's were disbanned and Hitler was jailed for a year. Thus, it is easy to see how Mussolini had an influence on Hitler during the early years of their rise to power. However, Mussolini's influence would follow Hitler to his own grave as well. By 1943, Mussolini had lost power in most of Italy. Victor-Emmanuel III had taken back control from the Fascist leader. However, because of the Germans, Mussolini was given a puppet government to control. When this government began to crumble in April of 1945, Mussolini tried to make his escape for Switzerland. Mussolini tried to make his escape by car. However, Italian 2007-01-04T18:17:09-05:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Speculation-on-Hitler-s-Suicide-32222.aspx The Use of Internment Camps in World War II Our country was founded on the principals that all people are created equal. Our Constitution and Bill of Rights clearly define the rights of people living in our country. There have been periods in our country’s history when we have blatantly disregarded the Constitution and jeopardized the integrity of the Constitution itself. For the first hundred or so years of our country’s existence our economy and survival for that matter depended on the work of slaves, African slaves. We treated an entire group of people as though they were animals though our Constitution states that all men are created equal. In the 1940’s our government invoked activities that were by all means unconstitutional and unjust. Early during World War II, there were roughly 45,000 50,000 Japanese citizens, and about 70,0001 United States born descendants, virtually all children, living on the United State’s West Coast. They were forcefully taken from their homes and most were taken to relocation or internment camps. The vast majority of these imprisoned people had no reason to be to be seen as guilty, or even suspicious, the sole reason they were taken on was their ethnicity. Entire families were taken from their homes without even a chance to gather their belongings. The internment has become one of the most widely condemned actions in US history. There is no viable justification and was another United States strike against their own Constitution. At dawn on December 7, 1941 the sun rose and bombs fell on Pearl Harbor. Japanese aircraft launched a surprise attack on the United States’ Pacific Fleet. Over 3,500 Americans were killed or wounded, two battleships were destroyed, four others were sunk, and 149 American airplanes were destroyed. That night President Franklin D. Roosevelt began making the necessary moves to declare war. The declaration of war easily passed and the United States headed into the war, against the Axis Powers, on December 11. Ten weeks following the declaration of war, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 90066, which gave the Secretary of War and military commanders the power to exclude people from designated areas. The President’s “official” objective of signing the Executive Order 90066 was to avoid national security espionage. There were also other objectives in the mind of the President and his Cabinet though. 2006-12-19T16:27:25-05:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/The-Use-of-Internment-Camps-in-World-War-II-32082.aspx Topics on the Bombing Of Hiroshima At 8:15am on August 6, 1945, approximately 300 to 500 feet above the highly populated city of Hiroshima Japan, the first atomic bomb ever used in warfare was detonated. Only minutes later 60,000 to 100,000 people were dead, most were vaporized leaving only an eerie shadow of carbon behind. In the year and months that followed hundreds of thousands of people died of radiation poisoning and radiation provoked disease. Children born in months immediately following the bombing were occasionally born without vital organs or limbs. Was the decision to drop this historical bomb a correct one? Could it have been avoided? What were the alternatives, were they more moral then drooping this super weapon? After the end of the war in Europe, the united states was still faced with the war in the pacific, which they were eager to end. President Truman was faced with a difficult decision: to drop the United States newly developed atomic bomb or risk thousands or even millions of ally lives in a invasion. He chose to use his country’s newly developed weapon. As a direct result of this decision hundreds of thousands of Japanese civilians lost their lives. His monumental decision also forced the Japanese to serener their war efforts in the Pacific without costing any American lives. The real question is, was it right or wrong? On December 7, 1941, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, brought to United States into World War II. Over the next 4 years the United States fought the Germans in Europe and the Japanese in the Pacific Ocean. Both parties cost the allies billions of dollars in planes, ships and artillery, not to mention the millions of lives lost in this war. But on ?, the war in Europe was over and the Allies were free to focus all there military efforts on the war that still loomed in the Pacific. Everyone but the Japanese hoped for a quick, easy victory for the allies, with as few ally casualties as possible. The United States started looking for a way to achieve this and found two options. The first option identified was an invasion of the main islands of Japan. The Joint Chiefs of the United States proposed a two-part invasion, which would involve over five million troops, most of which would be American. The first of the two 2006-12-18T18:29:25-05:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Topics-on-the-Bombing-Of-Hiroshima-32019.aspx Conflicting National Interests after World War II At various times in global history, nations have acted in ways that cause conflict with other nations. Germany had conflict with the U.S and Europe in two different situations. Germany and the U.S had the Berlin airlift situation. Germany and Europe had the Treaty of Versailles disagreement. The treaty of Versailles ended military actions against Germany in World War 1. The treaty had been signed for official peace between Germany and Europe. In addition to the treaty of Versailles with Germany, the peace builders drew up separate treaties with the other central powers. The Germans, who complained that it had been dedicated to them, that it violated the spirit of the 14 points and that it demanded intolerable sacrifices that would wreck 2006-12-07T19:44:43-05:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Conflicting-National-Interests-after-World-War-II-31942.aspx Germany’s Powerful Dictator: Adolf Hilter How did Adolf Hitler become such a powerful dictator? His power to convince the Germans that the Jews were the cause of all their problems , was so great . He was a powerful speaker. He organized meeting after meeting. All he did was spread his racial hatred and contempt for democracy. Adolf Hitler was born in Braunauam Inn , Austria , on April 20 , 1889. He was a poor student , he never completed high school. He was rejected from the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna due to his lack of talent. Hitler read a lot , developing anti-Jewish , and anti-democratic thoughts. He developed an admiration for the outstanding individual. By World War 2 Hitler was already in Munich. He volunteered his service to the Bavarian army. He proved to be a courageous and dedicated soldier. He was never promoted to a higher level because his superiors thought he lacked of leadership skills. In 1918 , after Germany’s defeat he returned to Munich and he remained in the army until 1920. Hitler’s commander made him an education officer. Hitler joined the German Workers’ party. And , on April 1920 he went to work full time for the party. He renamed the party , their new name was National Socialist German Workers ( Nazi ) party. Hitler was elected chairman of the party in 1921. He had the dictator power. Hitler organized meeting after meeting. In these meetings he spread his racial hatred and his contempt for democracy. Soon he was an important person in Bavarian politics. Hitler was aided by high officials and powerful businessmen. Hitler spent five years in prison. He was in prison because , in November of 1923 he tried to lead an uprising ( putsch ) at a time when there was political and economic chaos. He only actually served for eight years. And while he was in prison he spent that time dictating his biography “Mein Kampf”. Hitler was released on December 1924. As soon as he got out he rebuilt his group. Only this time he had nobody to stop him. In 1929, when the 2006-12-07T19:34:37-05:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Germany’s-Powerful-Dictator-Adolf-Hilter-31936.aspx The Manhattan Project of World War II History Paper Throughout the course of history, especially in past wars, one can decipher a single point that led to the end of that event/war. All thought World War II had many events transpire which led to its completion, one of the most prominent and immediate effects which brought about the end of the war was the development of the Atomic Bomb. Developed through the research and funding of the Manhattan Project, the Atomic Bomb was used to cause Japan to surrender World War II and thereby effectively ending the war. The Manhattan Project began on September 17, 1942 when Col. Leslie Richard Groves, Deputy Chief of Construction of the Us Army Corps of Engineers, received clearance to initiate such a project and then bought materials necessary to the project such as Uranium. To understand how such a weapon was created one must analyze many different people associated with it. Prior to even the start of WWII, President Franklin Roosevelt received a letter from Albert Einstein and Leo Sizzled (the man who discovered possibility of nuclear fission) which warned of a new field of physics in which “bombs of a powerful type” may be created. After consulting advisors and fearing the Germans beating us to creating the Atomic Bomb, Roosevelt decided to pursue construction of the bomb with full speed and secrecy. Among the top researches, many German immigrants, were Neils Bohr, Glen Seaborg, Richard Feyman, Enrico Fermi, and of course Robert Oppenheimer. Oppenheimer was one of the major players in the project and was involved with every step. Most of the work regarding the bomb was done in Los Alamos, New Mexico by some was done at Oak Ridge, Tennessee, Univ. of California at Berkley, and some research done under the Chicago bears football stadium (almost blew up city). Overall the production cost 20 billion dollars, money spent on Uranium, machinery, and employees. This money was well spent, as the research team developed the A-bomb and had it ready for disposal on July 16, 1945 (when they first tested it) and ultimately August 6, 1945 when the bomb was used on Japan. In the end, I believe that the use of the atomic bomb and the decisions made during its development were like a double-edged sword. I believe that the Japanese would have surrendered before November 1, 1945, but that 2006-12-07T15:32:43-05:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/The-Manhattan-Project-of-World-War-II-History-Paper-31926.aspx Controversy over the Atomic Bomb The atomic bomb is the subject of much controversy. Since its first detonation in 1945, the entire world has heard the aftershocks of that blast. Issues concerning Nuclear Weapons sparked the Cold War. We also have the atomic bomb to thank for our relative peace in this time due to the fear of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD). The effects of the atomic bomb might not have been the exact effects that the United States was looking for when they dropped Little Boy and Fat Man on Hiroshima and Nagasaki respectively (Grant, 1998). The original desire of the United States government when they dropped Little Boy and Fat Man on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was not, in fact, the one more commonly known: that the two nuclear devices dropped upon Hiroshima and Nagasaki were detonated with the intention of bringing an end to the war with Japan, but instead to intimidate the Soviet Union. The fact of Japan’s imminent defeat, the undeniable truth that relations with Russia were deteriorating, and competition for the division of Europe prove this without question. Admittedly, dropping the atomic bomb was a major factor in Japan’s decision to accept the terms laid out at the Potsdam agreement otherwise known as unconditional surrender. The fact must be pointed out, however, that Japan had already been virtually defeated. (McInnis, 1945) Though the public did not know this, the allies, in fact, did. Through spies, they had learned that both Japan’s foreign minister, Shigenori Togo and Emperor Hirohito both supported an end to the war (Grant, 1998). Even if they believed such reports to be false or inaccurate, the leaders of the United States also knew Japan’s situation to be hopeless. Their casualties in defending the doomed island of Okinawa were a staggering 110,000 and the naval blockade which the allies had enforced whittled trade down to almost nothing. Japan was quickly on the path to destruction. (Grant, 1998). Of course, the Allies ignored this for the reason that dropping the atomic bomb on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki would intimidate Russia. Had they truly been considering saving more lives and bringing a quick end to the war in Japan, they would have simply waited them out without the major loss of life seen at both Hiroshima and Nagasaki. At the Yalta conference, Franklin Delano Roosevelt asked Josef Stalin for 2006-12-05T15:30:35-05:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Controversy-over-the-Atomic-Bomb-31880.aspx Examining the Impact Of The Treaty Of Versailles After the Allies victory in World War 1, much of industrialized northern France lay in desolate ruins. The Allies, and the French in particular were very bitter towards their defeated enemy, and vowed to extract reparations. For a young newly formed German republic, these debts to the world were of such incredible proportions, that nobody ever believed that they could be paid. Facing a full occupation, they had to try. Outside of Germany, the Allies were divided by their respective opinions of the Germans. A combination of war debts to the USA and the enormous reparations thrown onto Germany caused a complicated and unstable economic flow, that ultimately cumulated in a global depression. The Treaty of Versailles was not a solution, but a careless and vengeful reprimand that only protracted and intensified hatred and the same problems as before. The German people finished the war in a state of near starvation, thanks to the British blockade. The German army had surrendered while on French and Belgian territory, and the common people and the common people felt betrayed by the government, by their leaders, and the world all of a sudden was a scary, confused place. The new German republic established at Weimar moved quickly to Berlin, and watched hopelessly in 1921 as the Allied Reparations committee handed them a bill for 132 billion gold marks. There was absolutely no way that the Germans could afford to pay such a pricey bill. In 1921 they paid 2.5 billion gold marks, but the next year inflation caused an economic crisis at home, and they could not pay. They proposed a delay on payments for three years, so they could stabilize their government and economy, and then hinted strongly that drastic reductions of reparation would have to be made later. Germany was never close to being in a position to pay what the allies demanded, and to demand it was an invitation to precipitate deep hatred and resentment culminating in huge problems a few years down the road. Even during the writing of the treaty, the Allies were deeply divided as how to treat Germany. The US wanted to embark on a strategy of reconstructing Germany into a civilized western country. The French on the other hand wanted violent and 2006-12-04T21:20:46-05:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Examining-the-Impact-Of-The-Treaty-Of-Versailles-31870.aspx Himmler's Involvement in World War II During World War 2 there were many atrocities led by Hitler and his 2nd 2006-12-04T20:51:46-05:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Himmler-s-Involvement-in-World-War-II-31859.aspx America's Entry to the Second World War When war broke out, there was no way the world could possibly know the severity of this guerre. Fortunately one country saw and understood that Germany and its allies would have to be stopped. America’s Involvement in World War two not only contributed in the eventual downfall of the insane Adolph Hitler and his Third Reich, but also came at the precise time and moment. Had the united states entered the war any earlier the consequences might have been worse. Over the years it has been an often heated and debated issue on whether the united states could have entered the war sooner and thus have saved many lives. To try to understand this we must look both at the people’s and government’s point of view. Just after war broke out in Europe, President Roosevelt hurriedly called his cabinet and military advisors together. There it was agreed that the United states stay neutral in these affairs. One of the reasons given was that unless America was directly threatened they had no reason to be involved. This reason was a valid one because it was the American policy to stay neutral in any affairs not having to with them unless American soil was threatened directly. Thus the provisional neutrality act passed the senate by seventy-nine votes to two in 1935. On August 31, Roosevelt signed it into law. In 1936 the law was renewed, and in 1937 a "comprehensive and permanent" neutrality act was passed (Overy 259). The desire to avoid "foreign entanglements" of all kinds had been an American foreign policy for more than a century. A very real "geographical Isolation" permitted the United States to "fill up the empty lands of North America free from the threat of foreign conflict"(Churchill 563). Even if Roosevelt had wanted to do more in this European crisis (which he did not), there was a factor too often ignored by critics of American policy-American military weakness. When asked to evaluate how many troops were available if and when the United States would get involved, the army could only gather a mere one hundred thousand, when the French, Russian and Japanese armies numbered in millions. Its weapons dated from the first World War and were no match compared to the new artillery that Germany and its allies had. "American soldiers were more at 2006-12-04T20:48:06-05:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/America-s-Entry-to-the-Second-World-War-31858.aspx The Pearl Harbor Attacks The topic I want to research for this assignment is the attack on Pearl Harbor Naval Base. The Pearl Harbor Naval Base was attacked on December 7, 1941 in Oahu, Hawaii. I chose to research this topic because I am interested in learning what happened that day and why did it happen. Upon researching for this report, I hope to gather and learn as much as I can about the surprise attack by Japan. I feel this is a good topic to research because it is something everyone has learned about or at least heard about. Some of us unfortunately experienced first hand what happened that day and others didn’t live to tell about the whole ordeal. I am interested in researching this topic because I am fascinated in learning everything that happened on that tragic day in 1941. Another fact that interests me about the 7th of December is finding out why Japan would surprise attack the United States. Another Part of that unseen day that interests me is the amount of damage that Japan caused to the Naval Base with there fleet of nearly 360 airplanes. Japan destroyed one battleship, sank three other ships and capsized another one. They also damaged three other battleships, three cruisers, three destroyers, and other vessels were also damaged. The most amazing part of that day was surprisingly, small amount of losses Japan incurred in this thirty-minute battle. Japan only lost from twenty nine to sixty planes, one or two fleet submarines and fewer than one hundred men. There are a lot of facts about the bombing of Pearl Harbor that I already knew such as the complete destruction of the USS Arizona and the capsizing of the USS Oklahoma. The other ships that I knew Japan had sunk were the USS California, Nevada, and West Virginia. Japan had killed more than two thousand American soldiers in its surprise attack, and wounded around another thousand. I also learned that war was declared on Japan by president Roosevelt on December 8, 1941, but most American’s had already suspected that war would be declared after the attack. All of the damage to the Pearl Harbor Naval Base was done under the command of Admiral Yamamoto Isoroku, the commander in chief of Japan’s Combined Fleet. I learned all of this information from reading textbooks, watching documentaries or from my past 2006-10-31T22:47:28-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/The-Pearl-Harbor-Attacks-31651.aspx History of German U-Boats The U-boat fleet all started in 1905, when the German government ordered for a new type of military submarine to be produced, and be called das Unterseebootein, which means undersea boat, and is abbreviated as U-boat. Within a short time, Krupp’s Germaniawerft plant designed the almost perfect submarine, except for one flaw, the use of petrol engines. Using gasoline was extremely dangerous, with the constant risk of explosions. So instead of petrol engines, they replaced them with diesel engines. The diesel engine ran off of oil instead of gasoline. Not only was this safer, but more economical too. On August 1, 1914, World War One began when Germany declared war on Russia. Only two days later, Germany declared war on France, and not soon after, Great Britain declared war on Germany. World War One was under way and the U-boat could not have been ready at a better time. Germany had a fleet of 28 U–boats: 14 still with kerosene burners, and the other half with diesel engines. Either way, they were ready for war at anytime. On September 5, 1914, history would be changed. Up until that time, no submarine had successfully sunk another ship and escaped. It all started when a U-boat, under the calling name of U-21, was prowling the waters off of St. Abb’s Head near the border of England and Scotland. At about noon, a crewmember spotted a British light cruiser. It was the HMS Pathfinder. The submarine immediately submerged and prepared to fire. However, the range was too far, so submarine had to give up and resurface. But the U-boats luck came back around 3:45 when the cruiser reappeared. Again, the submarine was ordered to dive and prepare to fire. The distance gradually closed and the captain gave the order to fire. After a few seconds, the torpedo was thought to have missed, but then it came. A huge explosion just under the ship’s bridge. Within four minutes, the HMS Pathfinder had sunk with 296 out of the 299 men aboard. The U-21 had become the first successful war submarine. This historical mark began the great era of the U-boats. Submarines, instead of warships, controlled the sea. The sinking of the HMS Pathfinder began a chain of domination by U-boats. The next major U-boat attack happened on September 22, 1914. Submarine U-9, an old kerosene burner, was roaming 2006-10-28T19:37:06-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/History-of-German-U-Boats-31590.aspx The History of D-Day As Supreme Expeditionary Forces Commander, General Dwight D. Eisenhower had the top military men of Great Britain and the United States under his command. These men would help him play out the great plans for the long awaited invasion. Their orders from the Combined Chiefs of Staff were very simple; they were to land on the coast of France and destroy the German armies. The Nazis General Field Marshal Erwin Rommel took many different measures to prepare for the attacks by the Allies. He was the only General under Hitler’s command that believed Normandy not Pas Del Calais would be the invading point (Skipper 42). His troops worked feverishly to strengthen defenses. The entire coastline was littered with land mines. Their beaches had deadly obstacles and their weapons and bases were camouflaged. They felt that on shore they were invincible. By early 1944 almost one million Allied soldiers arrived in the United Kingdom. That brought their total there to almost three million. The Allied airforce strength had grown from a few thousand planes to more than 15,000 planes. The 5,000 bombers were ready to drop over 100,000 bombs. All the available space in Britain was used for storage. Newly thoughts up ideas were in the makings to be used at Normandy. One idea was to create artificial harbors on the coasts of Normandy. They would use heavy machinery to break German obstacles and destroy mines. These new ideas would be very useful in aiding Allied troops. The men themselves were trained under conditions that would be similar to the ones they would soon be fighting at. These exercises were different from the ones they had known in the US. Troops continually worked at operating as a whole with other infantries. In some cases the men were even toughened up by having sessions of hand to hand combat. Paratroopers were also mentally and physically toughened up for their missions. The thirteen thousand plus men were said to be the greatest up to that time. The heavy air attacks on the Germans coal railroads began in April of 1944 nearly two months before the actual invasion. These attacks were the first steps in the disruption of the Nazis communication centers. The three days that the 2006-10-27T19:43:02-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/The-History-of-D-Day--31570.aspx A Historic Recount of the Battle of Stalingrad The battle of Stalingrad raged from August 1942 until the German surrender on 2 February 1943. Significantly, it was the first catastrophic defeat to befall the Wermacht Army who not only lost the battle but were severely humiliated. Indeed, the German Army never fully recovered from this blow to its morale. Upwards of 270,000 troops were killed and 91,000 prisoners were taken by the Red Army; included in this latter number were 23 German Generals. Conversely, morale in the Red Army soared as a consequence of Stalingrad giving the Russians increased strength and confidence. This battle represented a turning point in the Second World War. By successfully defending the city of Stalingrad the Soviet Union were able to deny Hitler his summer 1942 objective of paralysing the Soviet war effort by interrupting Russian oil supplies and seizing the Caucasus oil fields. This achievement was made possible through the stubborn and ferocious resistance of the Red Army within the confines of Stalingrad and the meticulously planned counteroffensive which led to the encirclement of the entire 6th army outside the city. In addition, compared with their German counterparts, the Red Army were highly organized, they had superior lines of communication and were better equipped. Stalingrad, reduced to a burning shell within days of the first German assault, was defended by the Soviet 62nd Army led by General Chuikov. Although German troops captured 90% of the city, Chuikov maintained his hold on a strip of land a mile long. Stalin had issued the order 'not a step backwards' therefore discipline was harsh and traitors were killed without sentiment. The Red Army were merciless, executing over 13,000 of their own men. It was however the counteroffensive, Operation Uranus, launched on 19th November 1942 that saved Stalingrad. The plan, a dual attack 50 miles north and south of the city involved over 1 million men and was the idea of Generals Zhukov and Vasilevsky. Stalin authorized the covert operation but did not interfere with the details. Part of the reason for its success was due to this unified command. Stalin, in contrast to Hitler during this period, listened to reasoned arguments. He surrounded himself with a small group of competent advisors, listened to the advice of field commanders and usually accepted it. The Red Army strategically out maneuvered and virtually annihilated the Axis force during the operation but 2006-08-29T15:15:19-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/A-Historic-Recount-of-the-Battle-of-Stalingrad-31363.aspx Historical Synopsis of World War II At the end of World War I the victorious nations formed the League of Nations for the purpose of airing international disputes, and of mobilizing its members for a collective effort to keep the peace in the event of aggression by any nation against another or of a breach of the peace treaties. The United States, imbued with isolationism, did not become a member. The League failed in its first test. In 1931 the Japanese, using as an excuse the explosion of a small bomb under a section of track of the South Manchuria Railroad (over which they had virtual control), initiated military operations designed to conquer all of Manchuria. After receiving the report of its commission of inquiry, the League adopted a resolution in 1933 calling on the Japanese to withdraw. Thereupon, Japan resigned from the League. Meanwhile, Manchuria had been overrun and transformed into a Japanese puppet state under the name of Manchukuo. Beset by friction and dissension among its members, the League took no further action. In 1933 also, Adolf HITLER came to power as dictator of Germany and began to rearm the country in contravention of the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles. He denounced the provisions of that treaty that limited German armament and in 1935 reinstituted compulsory military service. That year the Italian dictator Benito MUSSOLINI began his long-contemplated invasion of Ethiopia, which he desired as an economic colony. The League voted minor sanctions against Italy, but these had slight practical effect. British and French efforts to effect a compromise settlement failed, and Ethiopia was completely occupied by the Italians in 1936. Alarmed by German rearmament, France sought an alliance with the USSR. Under the pretext that this endangered Germany, Hitler remilitarized the Rhineland in 1936. It was a dangerous venture, for Britain and France could have overwhelmed Germany, but, resolved to keep the peace, they took no action. Emboldened by this success, Hitler intensified his campaign for Lebensraum (space for living) for the German people. He forcibly annexed Austria in March 1938, and then, charging abuse of German minorities, threatened Czechoslovakia. In September, as Hitler increased his demands on the Czechs and war seemed imminent, the British and French arranged a conference with Hitler and Mussolini. At the Munich Conference they agreed to German occupation of the Sudetenland, Hitler's asserted last claim, in the hope of maintaining peace. This hope 2006-08-27T15:15:47-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Historical-Synopsis-of-World-War-II-31296.aspx Detailed History and Timeline of the Holocaust From the time Adolf Hitler became the dictator of Germany in January 1933, until the surrender of his Third Reich at the end of World War II in May 1945, Hitler's Nazi led government engaged in two wars. One was a declared war of military expansion against the nations of Europe, which began with the 1939 invasion of Poland and reached its peak in mid-1942, when German armies occupied much of the continent and had penetrated deep into the Soviet Union. The other was a war against the Jews of Europe, the persecution and mass murder, hidden at first from the rest of the world that came to be known as the Holocaust. Even when the tide of war turned against Germany in 1943, and became clearly hopeless with the mid-1944 Allied invasion of Europe, the mass killing of Jews continued with increased ferocity, eventually claiming six million lives. In addition, the Nazis also put to death an estimated five million Gypsies (or Roma), Slav peoples, homosexuals, mentally retarded people, and people with handicaps, all of whom were considered "inferior" to the pure "Aryan" race. The term "holocaust," however, which means "destruction by fire," refers specifically to the Nazis' systematic destruction of Jews. As Elie Wiesel puts it, "Not all victims were Jews, but all Jews were victims." Hitler's horrifying scheme was foreshadowed by his denunciation of "the Jewish conspiracy" in his 1923 book Mein Kampf and fueled by German economic hardships that tapped deep currents of anti-Semitism, but to carry it out required the active, deliberate involvement of hundreds of thousands of people, both within Germany and in the occupied countries. It also required the silent acquiescence of millions of people throughout Europe, people who saw what was happening and either did nothing to stand in the way or else took part by turning in neighbors or joining the rush to take over Jewish homes and possessions. The first Nazi concentration camps were established early in Hitler's regime, at the German towns of Dachau (1933) and Buchenwald (1937), and used primarily as prisons and a source of forced labor. But the conquest of Poland in 1939 brought a new development, as that country's Jews were herded into ghettos at such cities as Krakow, Warsaw, and Lodz in a first step toward transporting them all to concentrations camps. By 1940, mass murder and "euthanasia" in special "gas 2006-08-25T17:25:35-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Detailed-History-and-Timeline-of-the-Holocaust-31273.aspx World War II And The Atomic Bomb “The names Hiroshima and Nagasaki are known around the world – yet most people remain ignorant of the reality and the meaning of atomic destruction.” (Hiroshima 3) A controversy exists over the use of the atomic bomb to end World War II. Many people believe that the atom bomb should have been dropped. It reduced the number of casualties that took place. Also, it required much less time than an all-out invasion. The Atomic Bomb August 6th, 1945, 70,000 lives were ended in a matter of seconds. The United States had dropped an atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima. Today many argue over whether or not the US should have taken such a drastic measure. Was it entirely necessary that we use such a devastating weapon? Yes, it was. First, look at what was going on at the time the decision was made. The U.S had been fighting a massive war since 1941. Morale was low, and resources were at the same level as morale. However, each side continued to fight, and both were determined to win. Obviously, the best thing that could have possibly have happened would have been to bring the war to a quick end, with a minimum of casualties. “Those who dropped the first atomic bomb worked thereafter to demonstrate its destructive powers and to justify its use as a way of ending the war quickly so as to limit the number of combat casualties.” (Hiroshima 3) What would have happened had the A-bomb not been used? The most obvious thing is that the war would have continued. U.S forces, therefore, would have had to invade the foreign island of Japan. Imagine the number of casualties that would have occurred if this invasion had taken place. Also, our forces would not only have to fight off the Japanese military, but they would have to defend themselves against the civilians of Japan as well. It was also a fact that the Japanese government had been equipping the commoners with any kind of weapon they could get their hands on. This means a Japanese citizen could have anything from a gun to a spear. And many unsuspecting soldiers might fall victim to a surprise spear attack! The death toll would be much greater, and 2006-08-05T18:06:04-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/World-War-II-And-The-Atomic-Bomb-31055.aspx The Terror of Hitler as a Dictator In the 20th century alone we had already had two huge wars. These wars were call the World Wars simply because they involved most of the big countries of the world. Many people have died in these wars, especially the World War II. Although there are many reasons for World War II, I believe that Hitler was one of the great causes. On November 5, 1937, Hitler held a secret meeting with his military leaders in which he sketched his plans for aggression and war. Hitler instituted the Holocaust, which was the extermination of the Jews and other people whom he considered inferior. Hitler had a very strong prejudice against the Jews. Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in Germany led this effort. When Hitler took over control of Germany, everything changed. It took place from 1933 to 1945. I believe that the Second World War and the accompanying Holocaust was the product of the evil mind of Adolf Hitler. Hitler’s rose to power in 1933 and he began persecuting the Jews; their businesses were boycotted and vandalized by Nazi supporters. Hitler’s job was to infiltrate an obscure group called the National Socialist German Workers party-Nazi for short. By the year 1939, the Jews were not even regarded as a people: they could not attend public schools, and their rights to own land had been taken away. One of the most terrible events is that they were not allowed to socialize with non-Jewish people, thus making them unable to attend public events, or visit parks or museums. Hitler wanted what he called a perfect race. Anyone who wasn’t in his race or what he thought was a perfect race was tormented and killed. Jews were forced to wear yellow stars so everyone would know whom he or she was (Fishchel, p.30). This kind of “quarantine” established “ghettos” where in Jews were kept away from the general public, thus making sure none of their cries for help were heard by any non-Nazi followers. The treatment of the Jews would only worsen as the war became longer and the hatred towards these people worsened. The Jews were used as a “scapegoat” to make the German people angry and ready to fight against anyone that stood in 2006-08-01T20:27:48-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/The-Terror-of-Hitler-as-a-Dictator-30991.aspx Forgiveness and World War II Were I in Simon Wiesenthal's place, I would not have forgiven Karl, the SS officer, nor would I have walked away silently like Wiesenthal did. If I had been a Jewish prisoner in a concentration camp and had been mistreated and humiliated by SS officers like Karl, I would be too angry to forgive this man who claimed to regret what he did and the part he played. I would have told Karl the horrors of my tenure as a concentration camp prisoner, as a Jew, and as a person who had friends and family who were being persecuted by officers like Karl. Then, I would have explained to him why I could not pity him even as he was on his deathbed. Karl was not forced to commit the crimes he preformed or to partake in the activities he participated in; however, he did these things. In freely choosing to denigrate, torture and brutalize persons from a select ethnic group, Karl consciously denied the humanity of the Jewish population. It was only as he lay on his deathbed, that he sought forgiveness. It does not appear that there was a true recognition and awareness on his part of the magnitude of the harm that his decision had caused. Moshe Bejski says, "Only the awareness of imminent and certain death induced Karl to think that his actions had been crimes against both humanity and God. Had he not been mortally wounded, he would almost certainly have continued to commit these crimes" (Wiesenthal 113). In other words, had Karl many more years to live, he most likely would not have had these same thoughts of regret that came to him as he was on the verge of death. Forgiveness would allow him to die in a state of peace that he had not allowed his victims. Forgiveness should only be given to those who are truly sorry and regretful of what they've done. Karl does not seem to be truly repentant. His lack of true remorse is apparent when he requests the presence of "a Jew," meaning any Jew, and when he states that Jews were not as guilty as he was. Karl says to Wiesenthal, "I only know you are a Jew and that is enough"(54). Karl does not care whom he is speaking to. He believes that he can clear his conscience 2006-07-25T12:59:31-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Forgiveness-and-World-War-II-30635.aspx Examining the Ivevitability of the Atom Bomb The date is August 2nd, 1939. Physicist Albert Einstein has just completed the first of a series of five letters to Franklin Delano Roosevelt. In it he urges Roosevelt to support research toward the construction of an “extremely powerful” bomb. “A single bomb of this type, carried by boat and exploded in a port, might very well destroy the whole port together with some of the surrounding territory. However, such bombs might very well prove to be too heavy for transportation by air.” Albert and his colleagues vastly underestimated the power and magnitude of the weapons they were to create. The world had never seen anything as awesome as the bomb’s destructive endowment on loan from God. The Japanese could never have predicted what fate held for them. Predictability, however, is different than inevitability. The bomb was destined to be fabricated by some country, at some time. The Germans and French were leading the way, in a mad race to be the first to create nuclear devices. Germany was especially desperate towards the end of the war, the bomb being their last result. The question was when, where, and most importantly, how big. Roosevelt did not catch on to the race until the U.S. was sucked into the war. He then approved the Manhattan Project. The Manhattan Project was the effort to develop, test, and deploy a weapon of mass destruction. FDR never lived long enough to see the disposition of the new implement of war. Japan was never a country to surrender easily. On Iwo Jima, less than 1,000 of the 22,000 Japanese defenders survived. They took their oath to heart, their oath to kill 10 United States Marines before they die, the same way they kill “snakes” in their homes. They took this to heart. Iwo Jima was an 8 square mile pile of ash, hardly something most people would so dearly fight. Now, imagine the threat of the infamous Marines landing on the homeland. It was ungodly to think of this happening, but it was not preventable. The U.S. estimated at least 1,000,000 American lives would be lost in the conquest. The Japanese would obviously fight harder than the previous “kill 10 before be killed” philosophy, but 2006-07-07T13:06:05-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Examining-the-Ivevitability-of-the-Atom-Bomb-30082.aspx Justification of the Atom Bombs of World War II On August 6th, 1945 the world's first atom bomb was dropped on the Japanese City of Hiroshima. The Atom bomb was dropped by an American B-29 bomber. The atom bomb was described by a Japanese journalist as a glaring pink light in the sky that burn peoples eyes out. Anyone within a mile of the explosion from the atom bomb became a bundle of smoking black charcoal within seconds. About 90,000-140,000 people were killed those who where still alive writhed in agony from their burns. The atom bomb obliterated more than 10 sq km/4 sq mi and there was very heavy damage outside that area. Three days later the USA dropped another atom bomb on Nagaski. About 60,000-80,000 people were killed by this atom bomb. On August 14 Japan surrendered and World War II was finally over. When Harry Truman the American president heard of the bombing he said "This is the greatest thing in history". But even now people are still dying of the effects of the Atomic Bomb. These effects are so awful it is necessary to ask the question "Why did they drop the bomb?" when the war was so nearly over. The Americans had pushed Japan out of all the land they had occupied in the Pacific region. In Europe Hitler was defeated. So why did the Americans drop the bomb. Here are some reasons that I can think of. • The Americans believed Japan would never surrender. If the bomb had not been dropped thousands of American lifes could have been lost in an invasion of Japan • The Bomb had cost a lot of money to develop and the Americans wanted to use it. The bomb cost $200 million. It would have been difficult to justify not using after such as vast financial investment • The Japanese had been very cruel to prisoners of War. Some Americans thought they deserved to be taught a lesson. • It was used to show the USA's military superiority to the USSR Truman's Announcement on Hiroshima Announcement on Hiroshima August 6, 1945 Sixteen hours ago an American airplane dropped on bomb on Hiroshima, an important Japanese Army base. That bomb had more power than 20,000 tons of T.N.T. It had more than two thousand times the blast power of the British "Grand Slam" which is the largest 2006-07-07T12:31:16-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Justification-of-the-Atom-Bombs-of-World-War-II-30070.aspx History Report on the Attacks on Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is a very popular event in American History. There was a recent movie about it, and with the recent World Trade Center attacks, it is likely that Americans are going to compare the two. The Japanese attacked us with no forewarning and United States never seen in coming. The attack was right out of the blue. Americans were not pleased with the attack, thats for sure. On December 7, 1941 at approximately 7:53 A.M. , Japanese bombers approached Pearl Harbor. There is a US Navy Bass by Pearl Harbor at Oahu, Hawaii. Since this attack came out of nowhere, nobody was on alert for defense. This wasn’t the first time we hadn’t responded quickly to a war situation either. When World War I began, we basically kept to ourselves. Yes, we did offer supplies and other things to Britain and her allies, but it wasn’t until German U-boats sank one of our cargo ships, the Lusitania, for doing so. This attack on us was what got us up and into the war. Right after the first bombers struck, the US started to fight back. The Pearl Harbor Naval Base was done under the command of Admiral Yamamoto Isoroku, the commander in chief of Japan’s Combined Fleet. A lot of US planes got in airspace to defend the base relatively fast and did there best to defend the base. As the attack went on, the defense got better and better. The Japanese has launched 353 planes against Pearl Harbor. Over 3000 military troops and navy troops were killed on the ground or wounded. For every person that died, a letter was sent to the families of the victims saying that there son or daughter was dead. 200 Aircrafts, 13 sea vessels, and 8 battleships were destroyed in the attack. And the attack only lasted 2 hours or less. The Pearl Harbor Attack lead to the complete destruction of the USS Arizona and the capsizing of the USS Oklahoma Ships. The other ships that I knew Japan had sunk were the USS California, Nevada, and West Virginia. Japan had killed more than two thousand American soldiers in its surprise attack, and wounded around another thousand. The war was declared on Japan by president Roosevelt on December 8, 1941, but most American’s had already suspected that war would be declared after the 2006-07-03T14:06:28-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/History-Report-on-the-Attacks-on-Pearl-Harbor-29938.aspx Synopsis of "Night" by Elie Wiesel In the book Night by Elie Wiesel, it talks about the holocaust and what it was like being in it. The Germans were trying to make the German race the supreme race. To do this they were going to kill off everyone that wasn’t a German. If you were Jewish or something other than German, you would have been sent to a concentration camp and segregated by men and women. If you weren’t strong enough you were sent to the crematory to be cremated. If you were strong enough you were sent to work at a labor camp. With all the warnings the Jewish people had numerous chances to run from the Germans, but most ignored the warnings. The numerous chances the people of Sighet had to leave was significant that if they would have just left, none of this would have happened to them. One of the first warnings they had was when Moshe the Beadle came back from escaping the train. He was telling his story to everyone that would listen. The story was about how they made "the Jews get of the train and climb into lorries." (page 4) He also talked about how they murdered people for no reason at all. But most of the people in Sighet just ignored Moshe and thought he was making everything up. The second warning was that the people of Sighet ignored was on the radio. The first radio announcement said "the Fascist party had come into power. Horthy had been forced to ask one of the leaders of the Nyilae party to form a new government." (Page 6) The next day there was another radio announcement that said "German troops had entered Hungarian territory." (Page 7) this made everyone a little bit scared for a few days but not for long. Optimism was soon revived. The people were saying that the Germans wouldn’t get to there city. When the Germans arrived in Sighet the people didn’t realize what was going to happen, they just thought that they were in Sighet for something else. They thought of the Germans as nice people that wouldn’t hurt them. Later after the Germans had been there for a while, the Germans sent all the Jews to ghettos. The ghettos 2006-06-15T22:50:59-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Synopsis-of-quot-Night-quot-by-Elie-Wiesel-29578.aspx The history of World War II (1939) World War II, also WWII, or the Second World War, was a global military conflict that took place in 1939–1945. It was the largest and deadliest war in history, culminating in the Holocaust and the dropping of the atom bomb. Even though Japan had been fighting in China since 1937, the conventional view is that the war began on September 1, 1939, when Nazi Germany invaded Poland. Within two days the United Kingdom and France declared war on Germany, even though the fighting was confined to Poland. Pursuant to a then-secret provision of its non-aggression Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, the Soviet Union joined with Germany on September 17, 1939, to conquer Poland and to divide Eastern Europe. The Allies were initially made up of Poland, the United Kingdom, France, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, as well as British Commonwealth countries which were controlled directly by the UK, such as the Indian Empire. All of these countries declared war on Germany in September 1939. Following the lull in fighting, known as the "Phony War", Germany invaded western Europe in May 1940. Six weeks later, France, in the mean time attacked by Italy as well, surrendered to Germany, which then tried unsuccessfully to conquer Britain. On September 27, Germany, Italy, and Japan signed a mutual defense agreement, the Tripartite Pact, and were known as the Axis Powers. Nine months later, on June 22, 1941, Germany launched a massive invasion of the Soviet Union, which promptly joined the Allies. Germany was now engaged in fighting a war on two fronts. This proved to be a mistake by Germany-many historians believe that if Germany had successfully carried out the invasion of Britain and put forth their best effort, the war may have turned in favor of the Axis. On December 7, 1941, Japan attacked the United States at Pearl Harbor, bringing it too into the war on the Allied side. China also joined the Allies, as eventually did most of the rest of the world. China was in turmoil at the time, and attacked Japanese armies through guerilla-type warfare. By the beginning of 1942, the major combatants were aligned as follows: the British Commonwealth, the United States, and the Soviet Union were fighting Germany and Italy; and the British Commonwealth, China, and the United States were fighting Japan. From then through August 1945, battles raged across all of Europe, in the North Atlantic Ocean, 2006-06-15T04:29:52-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/World-War-Two-Big-Summary-29532.aspx The history of World War II (1939) World War II, also WWII, or the Second World War, was a global military conflict that took place in 1939–1945. It was the largest and deadliest war in history, culminating in the Holocaust and the dropping of the atom bomb. Even though Japan had been fighting in China since 1937, the conventional view is that the war began on September 1, 1939, when Nazi Germany invaded Poland. Within two days the United Kingdom and France declared war on Germany, even though the fighting was confined to Poland. Pursuant to a then-secret provision of its non-aggression Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, the Soviet Union joined with Germany on September 17, 1939, to conquer Poland and to divide Eastern Europe. The Allies were initially made up of Poland, the United Kingdom, France, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, as well as British Commonwealth countries which were controlled directly by the UK, such as the Indian Empire. All of these countries declared war on Germany in September 1939. Following the lull in fighting, known as the "Phony War", Germany invaded western Europe in May 1940. Six weeks later, France, in the mean time attacked by Italy as well, surrendered to Germany, which then tried unsuccessfully to conquer Britain. On September 27, Germany, Italy, and Japan signed a mutual defense agreement, the Tripartite Pact, and were known as the Axis Powers. Nine months later, on June 22, 1941, Germany launched a massive invasion of the Soviet Union, which promptly joined the Allies. Germany was now engaged in fighting a war on two fronts. This proved to be a mistake by Germany-many historians believe that if Germany had successfully carried out the invasion of Britain and put forth their best effort, the war may have turned in favor of the Axis. On December 7, 1941, Japan attacked the United States at Pearl Harbor, bringing it too into the war on the Allied side. China also joined the Allies, as eventually did most of the rest of the world. China was in turmoil at the time, and attacked Japanese armies through guerilla-type warfare. By the beginning of 1942, the major combatants were aligned as follows: the British Commonwealth, the United States, and the Soviet Union were fighting Germany and Italy; and the British Commonwealth, China, and the United States were fighting Japan. From then through August 1945, battles raged across all of Europe, in the North Atlantic Ocean, 2006-06-15T04:27:49-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Worl-War-II--29531.aspx Germany was a very poor country and Hitler became a leader of the labor party and promessed to Germany to make a better country and he started by preaching hattrick to other people.He believed in one Germany for one race and that the white race should rule the world. He won the election to become the prime minister of Germany. Then he got rid of the monarchy of Germany. Soon after he took over the country, he started building propaganda against 2006-06-15T04:15:23-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Yessibel-Monegro-29530.aspx The Rise of Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany Weimar and the Rise of Hitler After World War I the allies intended to permanently cripple Germany. Through the Versailles Treaty they would do this. The document stole Germany’s nationalism, pride, and power. It left Germany helpless and lost. Many believed that Germany had been absolutely exploited and cheated under the terms of the treaty. At the time nobody knew, but the Versailles Treaty would be the very seeds of the next world war. The end of World War I shocked many people. Most of these people were the citizens of Germany. The German army intended to deliver the German Offensive of 1918, this final attack would guarantee German victory. The government then pushed the German citizens to hang on just a little longer so they may be the victorious country. The government controlled the flow of information to the German citizens using propaganda, this information mislead them to believe that they were just about to win. But because of the United States admission to the war, Germany was forced into submission. The citizens of Germany were outraged. They had been mislead and they were full of questions. They wondered why many of their soldiers were still in the city of Belgium, if they had really lost, why wasn’t Germany invaded? They also wondered why the government had said they were just about to win. Naturally, the country of Germany decided to point fingers on who was to blame for the loss. Many people, including Adolf Hitler, blamed the Jews and communists. Once again, anti-Semitism plays a role in our world’s history. The Jews have been blamed for the death of Jesus, the black plague, and many other events. This is purely because of pure ignorance. Germany despised the Treaty of Versailles. One of the articles of the treaty was that Germany limit their army to 100,000 men. Since Germany glorified the army as the number one thing in the country, it stabbed Germany’s pride and militarism. The country was also forced to pay reparations and accept guilt for the war. Germany felt they had not even started the war and it was extremely unfair to pay reparations. Germany was also forced to give up their colonies. The country felt cheated and angry at the Versailles Treaty. Germany felt exploited, and many sought to avenge what they had lost. The Weimar Republic was 2006-06-13T17:54:20-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/The-Rise-of-Adolf-Hitler-and-Nazi-Germany-29422.aspx Ignorance and negligence of military commanders at Pearl Harbor The Japanese navy launched a surprise attack on US forces in Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, killing thousands of US troops. This surprise attack played a key factor in the United States entering World War II. Because of the local commanders’ lack of attention and good judgment, the Japanese had the ability to attack the naval base and were successful in doing so. Primarily, the commanders ignored the obvious warnings of an attack from the Japanese and the current political situation between Japan and the United States. On the day of the bombing, the commanders once again ignored the obvious signs of an act. Because of this ignorance and negligence, Japan was successful in bombing Pearl Harbor. First of all, the local commanders at Pearl Harbor ignored the obvious warnings of an attack from the Japanese ad the current political situation between Japan and the United States. The first obvious sign was the fact that Japan had been attacking southeastern Asia in order to expand their empire and acquire valuable resources. Because of the protective nature of the United States navy, Japan felt the US was a threat. They felt the only way to protect their territory was to eliminate the US navy. On November 24 and 27, 1941, Washington sent warning to the commanders at Pearl Harbor. The local leaders in Pearl Harbor blatantly ignored these warning, including Admiral H.E. Kimmel and General W.C. Short. They claimed Hawaii was not included in the warning even though the warning was meant for all Pacific commanders. Kimmel and Short felt they required specific instructions and strategies from Washington in order to carry out successful defensive measures. Thus, it can be argued that Washington could have been more specific in its warning. This vagueness can be noted in the Message of November 27, 1941. The message from General Walter Short and the message from Admiral Huband E. Kimmel further exemplifies Washington’s lack of specific information. Furthermore, the commanders in Pearl Harbor did not pay attention to the obvious signs of conflict on the day of the attack. A primary example of these signs on the morning of the attack on Oahu, would be when a Japanese midget submarine was spotted and sunk by a US destroyer just outside of the entrance to the harbor. This should have been considered as a dangerous threat and defensive 2006-06-06T14:40:59-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Ignorance-and-Negligence-of-Commanders-at-Pearl-Harbor-29065.aspx Critical Decisions Faced by FDR in Entering World War II In preparation for the United States’ entrance into World War II, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt made wise decisions in many critical situations and displayed great leadership qualities in rising to the defense of democracy. President Roosevelt shows by his dealings throughout 1941 that he is ready and willing to lead the United States into war. He was asked to make many crucial decisions throughout the years preceding the war, and he proved himself to be wise in all of his choices. Roosevelt knew of the trouble to the West, but kept the United States out of the war while he prepared our nation to fight. President Roosevelt promised United States aid to U.S.S.R. two days after German’s first invasion of the Soviet Union in late June of 1941 (Taylor). He began to plan and to establish allies throughout the nations of Europe. He saw the war not only as an inevitable crisis, but also as a way to supply jobs to the millions of Americans still being affected by the Great Depression. On July 21, Roosevelt sent a special message to Congress in which he urged an extension of one-year military training by selectees. President Roosevelt increased our military power to destroy Nazi Germany while creating jobs for those in the service as well as in arms production and war materials in factories across the nation. Roosevelt issued an executive order prohibiting transactions in United States credits and assets by Japan and China. This order immediately halted the shipment of U.S. scrap iron and gasoline to Japan. Franklin Roosevelt approached the relations between Japan and the U.S. with hesitation, and timely cut off trades with the country. President Roosevelt demonstrated his character well and proved himself to be a leader inspiring the American people to fight for democracy. On August 9, 1941, Franklin Roosevelt met with Prime Minister Churchill aboard the U.S.S. Augusta and the H.M.S. Prince of Wales at sea, near Argentina, Newfoundland, Canada. The men spent their time discussing military tactics and war affairs. The men, determined to work together to win the war that was afoot, decided that the war should result in no territorial changes or expansion, freer trade, cooperation for the improvement of other nations, and immediate disarming of all 2006-06-02T16:22:09-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Critical-Decisions-Faced-by-FDR-in-Entering-World-War-II-29043.aspx World Change Sprung from the Attacks of Pearl Harbor in WWII In our history, there have been many conflicts between nations and within nations based upon ethnic and religious background. Entire wars have been fought based upon one race feeling superior to another. But this kind of ethnic persecution and racial conflict is the base factor for why our planet is in such a state of constant conflicts. True world peace will never be achieved until we accept each other for who we are. Two events in recent history seem to stand out when it comes to looking at how people react to different ethnic groups when a conflict arises. The first even was a surprise attack by the Japanese on our naval fleet at Pearl Harbor during World War II. The second is a recent attack on the World Trade Center buildings and the pentagon by Middle-Eastern terrorists who highjacked commercial airliners and then flew them into the targets. These devastating events have brought out harsh feelings towards the ethnic groups that the terrorists and bombers belonged to. It is a judge of our character, as citizens of a powerful nation, how we react to the people in our nation who had nothing to do with these events, but physically resemble the attackers. After Pearl Harbor, the government and people of the US feared that the current Japanese Americans could be spies and would help Japan in further attacks. Our shock and surprise over the destruction that was rendered at Pearl Harbor drove us temporarily to put aside our constitutional morals and national beliefs. In a quick reaction, President Roosevelt signed and executive order to round up all the Japanese-Americans in the US and intern, or relocate, them into detention camps. These camps were had very poor living conditions and no indoor plumbing or central heating. Many Japanese became ill and some even died. When they came to the camps, the Japanese were usually forced to sell all their possessions at a great loss. I suppose you could compare these camps to the NAZI concentration camps in place across the seas. In the 1970’s, there were several Japanese workers in the congress and among other government positions. These citizens of America now fought to have the country review the injustices that their people had suffered during World War II. In several cases, it was proved that the Constitution had been violated 2006-06-01T20:02:57-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/World-Change-Sprung-from-the-Attacks-of-Pearl-Harbor-in-WWII-29005.aspx Yevtushenko's Poem on Jewish-Russian Relationships Yevtushenko speaks in first person throughout the poem. This creates the tone of him being in the shoes of the Jews. As he says in lines 63-64, "No Jewish blood is mixed in mine, but let me be a Jew . . . " He writes the poem to evoke compassion for the Jews and make others aware of their hardships and injustices. "Only then can I call myself Russian." (lines 66-67). The poet writes of a future time when the Russian people realize that the Jews are people as well accept them as such. If you hate the Jews, he asks, why not hate me as well? True peace and unity will only occur when they have accepted everyone, including the Jews. Stanza I describes the forest of Babi Yar, a ravine on the outskirts of Kiev. It was the site of the Nazi massacre of more than thirty thousand Russian Jews on September 29-30, 1941. There is no memorial to the thirty thousand, but fear pervades the area. Fear that such a thing could occur at the hands of other humans. The poet feels the persecution and pain and fear of the Jews who stood there in this place of horror. Yevtushenko makes himself an Israelite slave of Egypt and a martyr who died for the sake of his religion. In lines 7-8, he claims that he still bars the marks of the persecution of the past. There is still terrible persecution of the Jews in present times because of their religion. These lines serve as the transition from the Biblical and ancient examples he gives to the allusions of more recent acts of hatred. The lines also allude to the fact that these Russian Jews who were murdered at Babi Yar were martyrs as well. The next stanza reminds us of another event in Jewish history where a Jew was persecuted solely because of his religious beliefs. The poet refers to the "pettiness" (line 11) of anti-Semitism as the cause of Dreyfus' imprisonment. Anti-Semitism is his "betrayer" (line 12) when he is framed, and anti-Semitism is his "judge" (line 12) when he is wrongly found guilty. Lines 13-14 claim that even the fine and supposedly civilized women of society shun Dreyfus because he is a Jew and fear him like they would fear an animal. 2006-06-01T19:32:51-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Yevtushenko-s-Poem-on-Jewish-Russian-Relationships-28994.aspx 1.The Beginning At half past six on the evening of April 20th, 1889 a child was born in the small town of Branau, Austria. The name of the child was Adolf Hitler. He was the son a Customs official Alois Hitler, and his third wife Klara. As a young boy Adolf attended church regularly and sang in the local choir. One day he carved a symbol into the bench which resembled the Swastika he later used as the symbol of the Nazi party. He was a pretty good student. He received good marks in most of his classes. However in his last year of school he failed German and Mathematics, and only succeeded in Gym and Drawing. He drooped out of school at the age of 16, spending a total of 10 years in school. From childhood one it was his dream to become an artist or architect. He was not a bad artist, as his surviving paintings and drawings show but he never showed any originality or creative imagination. To fulfill his dream he had moved to Vienna the capital of Austria where the Academy of arts was located. He failed the first time he tried to get admission and in the next year, 1907 he tried again and was very sure of success. To his surprise he failed again. In fact the Dean of the academy was not very impressed with his performance, and gave him a really hard time and said to him "You will never be painter." The rejection really crushed him as he now reached a dead end. He could not apply to the school of architecture as he had no high-school diploma. During the next 35 years of his live the young man never forgot the rejection he received in the dean's office that day. Many Historians like to speculate what would have happened IF.... perhaps the small town boy would have had a bit more talent....or IF the Dean had been a little less critical, the world might have been spared the nightmare into which this boy was eventually to plunge it. 2.World War 1 While living in Vienna Hitler he made his living by drawing small pictures of famous landmarks which he sold as post cards. But he was always poor. He was also a regular reader of a small paper which claimed that the Araban race was superior to all and 2006-05-23T18:38:36-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Hitler-and-The-origins-of-World-War-II-28869.aspx World War 2: History Paper At the end of World War I the victorious nations formed the League of Nations for the purpose of airing international disputes, and of mobilizing its members for a collective effort to keep the peace in the event of aggression by any nation against another or of a breach of the peace treaties. The United States, imbued with isolationism, did not become a member. The League failed in its first test. In 1931 the Japanese, using as an excuse the explosion of a small bomb under a section of track of the South Manchuria Railroad (over which they had virtual control), initiated military operations designed to conquer all of Manchuria. After receiving the report of its commission of inquiry, the League adopted a resolution in 1933 calling on the Japanese to withdraw. Thereupon, Japan resigned from the League. Meanwhile, Manchuria had been overrun and transformed into a Japanese puppet state under the name of Manchukuo. Beset by friction and dissension among its members, the League took no further action. In 1933 also, Adolf HITLER came to power as dictator of Germany and began to rearm the country in contravention of the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles. He denounced the provisions of that treaty that limited German armament and in 1935 reinstituted compulsory military service. That year the Italian dictator Benito MUSSOLINI began his long-contemplated invasion of Ethiopia, which he desired as an economic colony. The League voted minor sanctions against Italy, but these had slight practical effect. British and French efforts to effect a compromise settlement failed, and Ethiopia was completely occupied by the Italians in 1936. Alarmed by German rearmament, France sought an alliance with the USSR. Under the pretext that this endangered Germany, Hitler remilitarized the Rhineland in 1936. It was a dangerous venture, for Britain and France could have overwhelmed Germany, but, resolved to keep the peace, they took no action. Emboldened by this success, Hitler intensified his campaign for Lebensraum (space for living) for the German people. He forcibly annexed Austria in March 1938, and then, charging abuse of German minorities, threatened Czechoslovakia. In September, as Hitler increased his demands on the Czechs and war seemed imminent, the British and French arranged a conference with Hitler and Mussolini. At the Munich Conference they agreed to German occupation of the Sudetenland, Hitler's asserted last claim, in the hope of maintaining peace. This 2006-05-06T13:12:56-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/World-War-II-Essay-Historical-Summary-28808.aspx Treaty Of Versailles The Treaty of Versailles was the peace treaty signed at the end of World War I between Germany and the Allies. It was negotiated during the Paris Peace Conference in Versailles, beginning in early 1919. Four major powers were represented at the conference- the United States, Great Britain, France, and Italy. Not present, however, was Germany who had been excluded from the meeting. President Wilson desired the war treaty to be guided by his Fourteen Points plan. The Fourteen Points called for free trade through lower tariffs and freedom of the seas; a reduction of arms supplies on all sides; and the promotion of self-determination, both in Europe and overseas. The plan also sought to create the League of Nations, which would provide international cooperation. Wilson’s Fourteen Points served as a foundation for the initial stages of negotiations; however, the negotiations took a different route. The European Allies wanted a peace settlement that punished Germany for the atrocities it had apparently cause in the war. Although Europeans eventually reached a settlement to punish Germany, the treaty and the United States’ participation in the League of Nations were rejected. The explanation for the defeat of the treaty can be substantiated on the basis of the strength and perspective of the opposition forces in the Senate, rising self-interest, and Wilson's illness. The defeat of the Versailles Treaty is primarily the cause of the opposing factions in the U.S. Senate. Wilson had virtually total support from the Democratic Senators, but he needed to win over a number of Republicans to satisfy the two-thirds majority necessary for ratification. The Republicans were divided into three sections, one of which comprised of the irreconcilables. William E. Borah was the leader of the group. Borah was a highly uncompromising isolationist who would persistently vote against the League. The irreconcilables would not support a plan that would entangle the United States in European affairs. They believed that the proposition of the treaty was force to destroy force, conflict to prevent conflict, militarism to destroy militarism, and war to prevent war (Doc A). Their views, however, contradicted with the views of the other two factions. The “mild” reservationists were in favor the League but hoped to implement minor alterations, chiefly for political purposes. On the contrary, the “strong” reservationists, led 2006-02-12T21:37:40-05:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Treaty-Of-Versailles--28480.aspx German Enthisiasm To Hitler In order to thoroughly understand German enthusiasm to the Nazi regime, we must first understand the 2 great events that preceded the Nazi power in Germany: World War I and the Great Depression. Out of World War I came the Treaty of Versailles in which Germany lost 13% of its territory, 10% of its population. Economically, Germany was required to pay installments towards the reparations debt, 28 billion dollars total, to be paid over a period of 42 years. Militarily, Germany was not allowed an army larger than 100,000 men and was not allowed to produce most any of it’s own military devices. The treaty put Germany in great debt. In the years to follow the Treaty, Germany’s economy underwent several unpredictable waves, which ultimately resulted in a social loss of status, and a rise in crime, suicide and prostitution. The middle class, once known for its patriotism, now rose in revolt against a government who failed to protect their property and security. However, Germany bounced back, and by mid 1920s, Germany, functioning under a constitution and an elected president, had begun to reenter the world market in automobile production. Nevertheless, by 1930, due to the Depression, Germans found themselves once again unemployed and run by an incapable government which offered neither hope nor policy to its citizens. When Germany was at it’s weakest, and in dire need of a strong government capable of digging the country out of it’s misery, the NSDAP, also known as the Nazi party, began to rise in popularity. Perhaps the core reason for the growth and ultimate popularity of the Nazis was the seducing tongue and manipulating mind of Adolf Hitler. To gain status, Hitler promised the German nation a strengthened country, through the setting aside of the Peace Treaty and unification of all Germans. He stated the treaty “was made in order to bring 20 million Germans to their deaths, and to ruin the German Nation”. Hitler knew exactly how to win over the German nation. In his speeches and publications, he reduced everything to simple terms, (yes/no, black/white, German/Jewish) making the solutions for a better German seem easy and within reach. Among his talents was manipulation. He manipulated the German people into thinking that the world was conspiring against them. He played on their fears and idiosyncrasies, promising them 2006-01-05T06:14:19-05:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/German-Enthusiasm-To-Hitler-28397.aspx The US is to blame for the Cold War From when World War II ended in 1945 all the way up to the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Cold War dominated international affairs. It was a global struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union. Although the Cold War was sometimes fought on the battlefield, it involved everything from political rhetoric to sports. Overshadowing all was the threat of nuclear war. From an American perspective the Cold War was largely a ‘war on communism’ – this outlook by the US caused and sustained the Cold War. The US is to blame for the Cold War for demonizing of the communist Soviet Union in support of our own political and economic systems. At the end of WWII, the Soviet Union had sustained tremendous casualties and the country was almost destroyed. In order for Russia to be able to protect itself in the future, it would need to be surrounded by countries that would be loyal to Soviet Russia. The countries would serve as a buffer zone to stop possible future invading armies. The Soviet takeover of Poland was a defensive maneuver to protect Russia, not an offensive to convert Europe to communism like America assumed. US Soviet relations were further worsened by the atomic bomb. Even though we had been allies during WWII, we had not told the Soviets about the atomic bomb. We had worked in total secrecy and kept Russia in the darkness about our progress. The bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were the first indication to Russia that we had nuclear power. By not telling the Soviets, we were telling them that we did not want them to have nuclear weapons and that we did not consider them a strong ally. Russia began to fear us, and consequently tensions mounted between the USSR and America. In a conference at Yalta, Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt agreed on terms of how Europe was going to be governed; there would be free elections throughout Europe and the Soviets would have control over some of Eastern Europe. The Soviet Union was not granted the right to rule the new countries as it wanted, there would be mandatory elections, which might throw away the power of Russia there. Although Stalin did not allow completely free elections in the European countries now under Soviet influence, it was 2005-08-28T09:03:07-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/The-United-States-is-to-Blame-for-the-Cold-War-27804.aspx Hitler - How He Rose to Power On the 11th November 1918 the Armistice was signed which brought the dreadful Great War to an end. Germany Surrendered to the Allies. The following year the leaders of the Allies met at Versailles to decide how Germany was to be treated. When the terms of the Treaty of Versailles were given out in June most Germans were fuming. Adolph Hitler left the German army in January 1919. He had spent the last weeks of the war in hospital recovering from gas blindness. He believed that the army had not been defeated but had been stabbed in the back my politicians for accepting the Armistice. When the war ended Hitler got a job working as a spy for the German army. He was sent to a meeting of the German workers party in 1919, which was led by Anton Drexler, who was very anti-Semitic. Hitler joined the party and became its leader in 1921. Hitler wanted to attract as many people as possible to the party, so he changed the name to National Socialists. He hoped the word “national” would attract people to the party. The National Socialists or Nazis as they began to be called, were very violent they would attack their opponents at meetings and this put many people off. A violent ex-soldier led Hitler’s Private army the S.A. In 1922 and 1923 Germany was hit by Hyperinflation. This means massive rise in prices, everyone was affected by this. Te confusion caused by the hyperinflation led Adolf Hitler to believe that he could take power in Munich in November 1923. The attempt failed. Hitler believed that the government was so unpopular that Germans would be on his side. Hitler was arrested for high treason. While Hitler was in prison he wrote a book called my struggle, he became very popular with the Germans. When Hitler left prison he set up a proper political with a national organization. He set up different sections for the party teachers, women and children. He appointed Josef Goebbels as head of propaganda. On 3rd October Gustav Stresemann died. On the 24th of October Wall Street, the American stock exchange crashed. This caused thousands loss of jobs. There was bad employment. From 1929 support for the Nazis grew steadily. The nazi party was well organised and had the support of Alfred Hugenberg who was a millionaire and owned 53 newspapers. Hitler said the depression 2005-08-15T00:51:09-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Hitler-How-He-Rose-to-Power-27647.aspx The Bantam GPV The Bantam Jeep was a Military vehicle during World War Two. The Company that founded it was the American Bantam Car Company. The army had trials between three different vehicles. The Company that founded the Bantam GPV (General Purpose Vehicle) was the American Bantam Car Company. The company was called the American Austin Car Company, but it almost went bankrupt. The company was then bought by chairman, Roy Evans, who changed the name to the American Bantam Car Company. Bantam took the original design of a car and changed it into a car/truck 4X4 military type vehicle weighing no more than 590 Kg. Bantam was joined by Willys and later by Ford to submit designs and prototype vehicles for evaluation. Karl Probst, a freelance engineer, headed their project. They finished the drawings and the prototype vehicle was delivered. Having been satisfied with the performance the Army ordered seventy more to be built. Willys came out with the quad followed by Ford’s Pygmy. They then started the trials. The trials went into the winter of 1940 and should have resulted in a winner right away. The Bantam was finished on time and met most of the requirements, while the others were delivered late. The Bantam performed well and the defects were soon corrected. However the Army identified strengths and weaknesses in each vehicle. The Bantam was considered too high off the ground and underpowered. The Willys Quad had more power, but was far too heavy. Ford’s Pygmy had the best steering but was well underpowered. There was also concern about Bantam’s limited production Capabilities. This resulted in a decision to order 1500 vehicles from each company, but they had to meet the original specifications though the weight limit had now been increased. The three vehicles became even more alike as each company changed their design. All the vehicles performed well but the army chose Willys design because it had the best overall value for money at $738, compared to the Bantam, which would cost $1166. They ordered 1600 more vehicles. The 40 BRC, Bantam’s final design for the military vehicle, was no longer needed by the US Army because it was none standard. After witnessing the trials the Russian purchasing Commission wanted the Bantam. 2005-08-04T06:38:07-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/The-Bantam-GPV-Military-Vehicle-of-WWII-27540.aspx Most of the failures behind the League of Nations was due to the fact that the United States did not join. The Paris Peace Conference adopted the constitution of the League of Nations in April 1919. The League's headquarters were in Geneva and its first secretary-general was Sir Eric Drummond. As a result of the decision by the US Congress not to approve the Versailles Treaty, the United States never joined the League of Nations. Within years of its creation, the League of Nations had many disagreements in which member withdrew. France saw the League mainly as an instrument to maintain the territorial settlement and arms restrictions imposed on Germany after World War I. The Germans resented the League because it seemed to them, too, that this was the League's real purpose. British leaders saw it as a meeting place for powerful nations to consult in the event of a threat to peace. Japan withdrew from the League in 1933 because the League refused to recognize its conquest of Manchuria. Germany, admitted to the League in 1926, withdrew in 1933 because the League would not change the arms limitations imposed on Germany after World War I. An arms build-up by Germany under dictator Adolf Hitler led the Soviet Union to join the League in 1934. Italy withdrew from the League in 1937 to join Japan and Germany in an alliance against the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union was expelled in 1939 for attacking Finland. These were the roots of World War II. Why the League failed was most dramatically illustrated when Italy attacked Ethiopia in October 1935. The Council declared that Italy had violated the Covenant. This action obligated League members to apply economic restrictions and to consider the use of force against Italy. Members agreed to stop all imports from Italy and to send no money or war material to Italy. But the United States, Japan, and Germany were not members. Thus, the overwhelming "community of power" that Wilson originally had in mind for use against an aggressor was reduced to three nations--Britain, France, and the Soviet Union. The other League members did not have enough power to affect Italian policy. Even so, Britain, France, and the Soviet Union would have been able to stop the Italian attack, if they had been united and members of the league. The League of Nations had good intentions such as peace and 2005-08-02T06:09:26-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/League-Of-Nations--27520.aspx Adolf Hitler's Rise to Power Adolf Hitler's rise to power began in 1919. After World War I, he joined the Nazi's and was soon in control of them. Hilter won the people's trust by saying his goals were to make Germany as powerful 2005-06-21T03:43:43-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Adolf-Hitler-s-Rise-to-Power-27058.aspx Band Of Brothers As a result of Japan bombing Pearl Harbor and the continuous and forceful expansion of German and Japanese boundaries, the United States was thrown into World War II. The United States’ military was forced to mobilize and train civilian troops in order to meet the demands of a multi-fronted war. Stephen Ambrose describes a group of young, white men who are called upon by their country to go into war to fight for democracy. In his book Band of Brothers, he tells the story of Easy Company of the 506th regiment and 101st airborne in the United States Army. Ambrose chronicles their journey through basic training and their arrival in Europe. From there, he goes into the details of their experiences in combat from Normandy on D-Day to Hell’s Highway and the Battle of the Buldge. Ambrose concludes the story and shows the excitement and celebration of the soldiers as they help claim victory over Hitler’s Germany in World War II. Easy Company travels through Germany and Austria at the end of the war and along with the Allies stake claim to Hitler’s Eagle Nest. Ambrose obtains the details of the division’s journey through WWII by researching primary books and articles of the time and most importantly through personal interviews with the men that lived through the experiences of the war and Easy Company. He learns that the young men are joined together from different backgrounds, but are united under a common goal. It was through organized leaders and officers of the United States Army, which could bring an end to the war. But especially it was a special breed of recruits that”…wanted to make their Army time a positive, a learning, and maturing and challenging experience” (Ambrose 14). Ambrose writes that these men were heroes and contained an inner quality, which was above the rest of the soldiers in the war (Ambrose 13-14, 55, 131,194, 229, 236,253, 271). The recruits came into basic training with the mentality to try and make the best of a very bad situation, that being the war and the possibility of being killed. In order to make the best of their predicament, they set out to learn the most the Army could teach them. Ambrose describes a very detailed account of the training they went through and what was 2005-06-05T01:16:57-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Band-Of-Brothers,-Ambrose-Commentary-26825.aspx Effects of the Atomic Bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki Ever since the dawn of time man has found new ways of killing each other. The most destructive way of killing people known to man would have to be the atomic bomb. The reason why the atomic bomb is so destructive is that when it is detonated, it has more than one effect. The effects of the atomic bomb are so great that Nikita Khrushchev said that the survivors would envy the dead (International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, 1982). These devastating physical effects come from the atomic bomb’s blast, the atomic bomb’s thermal radiation, and the atomic bomb’s nuclear radiation. An atomic bomb is any weapon that gets its destructive power from an atom. This power comes when the matter inside of the atoms is transformed into energy. The process by which this is done is known as fission. The only two atoms suitable for fissioning are the uranium isotope U-235 and the plutonium isotope Pu-239 (Outlaw Labs). Fission occurs when a neutron, a subatomic particle with no electrical charge, strikes the nucleus of one of these isotopes and causes it to split apart. When the nucleus is split, a large amount of energy is produced, and more free neutrons are also released. These neutrons then in turn strike other atoms, which causes more energy to be released. If this process is repeated, a self-sustaining chain reaction will occur, and it is this chain reaction that causes the atomic bomb to have its destructive power (World Book, 1990). This chain reaction can be attained in two different ways. The first type of atomic bomb ever used was a gun-type. In this type two subcritical pieces of U-235 are placed in a device similar to the barrel of an artillery shell. One piece is placed at one end of the barrel and will remain there at rest. The other subcritical mass is placed at the other end of the barrel. A conventional explosive is packed behind the second subcritical mass. When the fuse is triggered, a conventional explosion causes the second subcritical mass to be propelled at a high velocity into the first subcritical mass. The resulting combination causes the two subcritical masses to become a supercritical mass. When this supercritical mass is obtained, a rapid self-sustained chain reaction is caused (World Book, 1990). This type of atomic bomb was 2005-05-26T00:30:24-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Effects-of-the-Atomic-Bombs-on-Hiroshima-and-Nagasaki-26717.aspx 1.The Beginning At half past six on the evening of April 20th, 1889 a child was born in the small town of Branau, Austria. The name of the child was Adolf Hitler. He was the son a Customs official Alois Hitler, and his third wife Klara. As a young boy Adolf attended church regularly and sang in the local choir. One day he carved a symbol into the bench which resembled the Swastika he later used as the symbol of the Nazi party. He was a pretty good student. He received good marks in most of his classes. However in his last year of school he failed German and Mathematics, and only succeeded in Gym and Drawing. He drooped out of school at the age of 16, spending a total of 10 years in school. From childhood one it was his dream to become an artist or architect. He was not a bad artist, as his surviving paintings and drawings show but he never showed any originality or creative imagination. To fulfill his dream he had moved to Vienna the capital of Austria where the Academy of arts was located. He failed the first time he tried to get admission and in the next year, 1907 he tried again and was very sure of success. To his surprise he failed again. In fact the Dean of the academy was not very impressed with his performance, and gave him a really hard time and said to him "You will never be painter." The rejection really crushed him as he now reached a dead end. He could not apply to the school of architecture as he had no high-school diploma. During the next 35 years of his live the young man never forgot the rejection he received in the dean's office that day. Many Historians like to speculate what would have happened IF.... perhaps the small town boy would have had a bit more talent....or IF the Dean had been a little less critical, the world might have been spared the nightmare into which this boy was eventually to plunge it. 2.World War 1 While living in Vienna Hitler he made his living by drawing small pictures of famous landmarks which he sold as post cards. But he was always poor. He was also a regular reader of a small paper which claimed that the Araban race was superior to all and was destined to 2005-03-29T01:28:54-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Hitler-and-the-Origins-of-World-War-II-26440.aspx Japan after World War II The occupation of Japan was, from the beginning to the end, an American operation. General Douglas MacArthur, sole supreme commander of the Allied Power was in charge of it. The Americans had insufficient men to make a military government of Japan possible; so they decided to act through the existing Japanese government. General Mac Arthur became, except in name, dictator of Japan. He imposed his will on Japan. Demilitarisation was speedily carried out, demobilisation of the former imperial forces was completed by early 1946. Japan was extensively fire bombed during the second world war. The stench of sewer gas, rotting garbage, and the acrid smell of ashes and scorched debris pervaded the air. The Japanese people had to live in the damp, and cold of the concrete buildings, because they were the only ones left. Little remained of the vulnerable wooden frame, tile roof dwelling lived in by most Japanese. When the first signs of winter set in, the occupation forces immediately took over all the steam-heated buildings. The Japanese were out in the cold in the first post war winter fuel was very hard to find, a family was considered lucky if they had a small barely glowing charcoal brazier to huddle around. That next summer in random spots new ho uses were built, each house was standardised at 216 square feet, and required 2400 board feet of material in order to be built. A master plan for a modernistic city had been drafted, but it was cast aside because of the lack of time before the next winter. The thousands of people who lived in railroad stations and public parks needed housing. Some even lived in forests. All the Japanese heard was democracy from the Americans. All they cared about was food. General MacAruther asked the government to send food, when they refused he sent another telegram that said, "Send me food, or send me bullets." American troops were forbidden to eat local food, as to keep from cutting from cutting into the sparse local supply. No food was brought in expressly for the Japanese during the first six months after the American presence there. Herbert Hoover, serving as chairman of a special presidential advisory committee, recommended minimum imports to Japan of 870,000 tons of food to be distributed in different urban areas. Fish, the source of so much of the protein in the 2004-12-28T07:27:20-05:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Japan-after-World-War-II-26063.aspx NATO expansion and the Future of European Security A more assertive Foreign Minister and a more nationalist Duma are now in power in Moscow. Both face serious challenges in pursuit of two principal foreign policy goals articulated by the new Foreign Minister, Yevgeni Primakov: Defending Russia's national interests and developing ties with the United States. One of Russia's primary challenges comes from Washington's drive to expand NATO into Eastern Europe. With good reason, Moscow strongly opposes expansion of the Atlantic alliance. In principle, it would enable western troops to deploy, exercise and patrol on the borders of the former Soviet Union and permit Eastern Europe to become a potential staging area for NATO's tactical nuclear weapons. In practice, it would dramatically change the strategic calculus in Europe to Moscow's disadvantage. Western proponents of expansion argue that NATO has always been a defensive alliance, that its enlargement will "stabilize" Eastern Europe, and that stabilization will enhance rather than degrade Russia's security. NATO's disingenuous dismissal of Russian national security concerns fails to address the key political problem: Moscow considers NATO expansion as an effort to isolate rather than integrate Russia into Europe's post-Cold war security architecture. Fear of isolation has been an underlying--if not explicit--concern of Russia since at least the time of German reunification. Thus, in Moscow's eyes, NATO expansion is part of an effort to deny Russia an appropriate role in the new Europe's security arrangements. While it is unclear what a truly "European" security architecture might actually look like, and how Russia might best be integrated into it, there are several obvious components of this structure. The first and most basic element is the continued successful implementation of a host of arms control arrangements, most importantly the conventional armed forces in Europe (CFE) treaty. This arrangement, under which nearly 50,000 items of military equipment have been destroyed, places the overall limits on the armor, artillery and aircraft of 30 countries, including Russia. But to Moscow, the CFE treaty is already a double challenge to Russian national interests: it limits the size of Russian forces at a time when the West is seeking to expand NATO and it constrains Russia's freedom to deploy forces in its own country as NATO is seeking the right to station its forces in other countries. NATO expansion would make it difficult, if not impossible, for any government in Moscow to continue to abide by the 2004-12-21T06:12:35-05:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/NATO-expansion-and-the-Future-of-European-Security-25924.aspx History of Mexico Before the Spanish Mexico was occupied by a large number of Indian groups with very different social and economic systems. In general the tribes in the north were relatively small groups of hunters and gatherers who roamed large areas of sparsely vegetated deserts and dry lands. These people are often called the Chichimecs, though they were a mixture of several cultural groups who spoke different languages. In the rest of the country the natives were agriculturists, which helped to support the more dense populations. Some of these tribes were the Maya of the Yucatan, Totonac, Huastec, Otomi, Mixtecs, Zapotecs, Tlaxcalans, Tarascans, and Aztecs. Some of these groups made advanced civilizations with fancy buildings and temples used for religious, political, and commercial purposes. The Mayan cities of Chichen Itza, Uxmal, and Palenque, the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan, Tzintzuntzan of the Tarastec, and Monte Alban of the Zapotecs are a few examples. By 1100 AD the Toltecs had taken over a lot of central and southern Mexico and had built their capital at Tula in the Mesa Central. They also built the city of Teotihuacan kind of by present-day Mexico City. At about the same time, the Zapotecs had control of the Oaxaca Valley and parts of the Southern Highlands. The cities they built at Mitla and Monte Alban are still here today, though they were taken over by the Mixtecs prior to the arrival of the Spanish. When the Spanish came to central Mexico, the Aztecs controlled most of the central part of Mexico through a state payment system that got taxes and stopped them from being able to act independently from conquered tribal groups. The Aztecs moved into the central part of Mexico from the north and accomplished a tribal story by establishing a city where an eagle with a snake in its beak rested on a cactus. This became the national symbol for Mexico and was put on the country's flag and seal. The Aztecs started the city of Tenochtitlan in about the early 1300s, and then it became the capital of their empire. The Tlaxcalans in the east, the Tarascans on the west, and the Chichimecs in the north were outside the Aztec Empire and they would sometimes have wars with them. The nation's name comes from the Aztecs' war god, Mexitli. Spanish Conquest From when Hernando Cortez took over until 1821, Mexico was a colony 2004-12-21T06:12:00-05:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/History-of-Mexico--25923.aspx Two years after the death of Mao Zedong in 1976, it became apparent to many of China's leaders that economic reform was necessary. During his tenure as China's premier, Mao had encouraged social movements such as the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution which had had as their bases ideologies such as serving the people and maintaining the class struggle. By 1978 "Chinese leaders were searching for a solution to serious economic problems produced by Hua Guofeng, the man who had succeeded Mao Zedong as CCP leader after Mao's death" (Shirk 35). Hua had demonstrated a desire to continue the ideologically based movements of Mao. Unfortunately, these movements had left China in a state where "agriculture was stagnant, industrial production was low, and the people's living standards had not increased in twenty years" (Nathan 200). This last area was particularly troubling. While "the gross output value of industry and agriculture increased by 810 percent and national income grew by 420 percent [between 1952 and 1980] ... average individual income increased by only 100 percent" (Ma Hong quoted in Shirk 28). However, attempts at economic reform in China were introduced not only due to some kind of generosity on the part of the Chinese Communist Party to increase the populace's living standards. It had become clear to members of the CCP that economic reform would fulfill a political purpose as well since the party felt, properly it would seem, that it had suffered a loss of support. As Susan L. Shirk describes the situation in The Political Logic of Economic Reform in China, restoring the CCP's prestige required improving economic performance and raising living standards. The traumatic experience of the Cultural Revolution had eroded popular trust in the moral and political virtue of the CCP. The party's leaders decided to shift the base of party legitimacy from virtue to competence, and to do that they had to demonstrate that they could deliver the goods. (23) This movement "from virtue to competence" seemed to mark a serious departure from orthodox Chinese political theory. Confucius himself had posited in the fifth century BCE that those individuals who best demonstrated what he referred to as moral force should lead the nation. Using this principle as a guide, China had for centuries attempted to choose at least its bureaucratic leaders by administering a test to determine their moral force. After the Communist takeover of 2004-12-21T06:11:08-05:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Chinese-Economic-Reform-Research-25922.aspx Research Paper on the Holocaust Of all the examples of injustice against humanity in history, the Jewish Holocaust has to be one of the most prominent. In the period of 1933 to 1945, the Nazis waged a vicious war against Jews and other "lesser races". This war came to a head with the "Final Solution" in 1938. One of the end results of the Final Solution was the horrible concentration and death camps of Germany, Poland, and other parts of Nazi-controlled Europe. In the aftermath of the Holocaust, people around the world were shocked by final tallies of human losses, and the people responsible were punished for their inhuman acts. The Holocaust was a dark time in the history of the 20th century. One can trace the beginnings of the Holocaust as far back as 1933, when the Nazi party of Germany, lead by Adolf Hitler, came to power. Hitler's anti-Jew campaign began soon afterward, with the "Nuremberg Laws", which defined the meaning of being Jewish based on ancestry. These laws also forced segregation between Jews and the rest of the public. It was only a dim indication of what the future held for European Jews. Anti-Jewish aggression continued for years after the passing of the Nuremberg Laws. One of these was the "Aryanization" of Jewish property and business. Jews were progressively forced out of the economy of Germany, their assets turned over to the government and the German public. Other forms of degradation were pogroms, or organized demonstrations against Jews. The first, and most infamous, of these pogroms was Krystallnacht, or "The night of broken glass". This pogrom was prompted by the assassination of Ernst von Rath, a German diplomat, by Herschel Grymozpan in Paris on November 7th, 1938. Two days later, an act of retaliation was organized by Joseph Gobbels to attack Jews in Germany. On the nights of November 9th and 10th, over 7,000 Jewish businesses were destroyed, 175 synagogues demolished, nearly 100 Jews had been killed, and thousands more had been injured, all for the assassination of one official by a Jew ("Holocaust, the." Microsoft Encarta 96). In many ways, this was the first major act of violence to Jews made by the Nazis. Their intentions were now clear. The Nazi's plans for the Jews of Europe were outlined in the "Final Solution to the Jewish question" in 1938. In a meeting of some of Hitler's top 2004-12-21T06:09:51-05:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Holocaust-Research-Essay-25921.aspx Japan after World War II The occupation of Japan was, from the beginning to the end, an American operation. General Douglas MacArthur, sole supreme commander of the Allied Power was in charge of it. The Americans had insufficient men to make a military government of Japan possible; so they decided to act through the existing Japanese government. General Mac Arthur became, except in name, dictator of Japan. He imposed his will on Japan. Demilitarisation was speedily carried out, demobilisation of the former imperial forces was completed by early 1946. Japan was extensively fire bombed during the second world war. The stench of sewer gas, rotting garbage, and the acrid smell of ashes and scorched debris pervaded the air. The Japanese people had to live in the damp, and cold of the concrete buildings, because they were the only ones left. Little remained of the vulnerable wooden frame, tile roof dwelling lived in by most Japanese. When the first signs of winter set in, the occupation forces immediately took over all the steam-heated buildings. The Japanese were out in the cold in the first post war winter fuel was very hard to find, a family was considered lucky if they had a small barely glowing charcoal brazier to huddle around. That next summer in random spots new ho uses were built, each house was standardised at 216 square feet, and required 2400 board feet of material in order to be built. A master plan for a modernistic city had been drafted, but it was cast aside because of the lack of time before the next winter. The thousands of people who lived in railroad stations and public parks needed housing. Some even lived in forests. All the Japanese heard was democracy from the Americans. All they cared about was food. General MacAruther asked the government to send food, when they refused he sent another telegram that said, "Send me food, or send me bullets." American troops were forbidden to eat local food, as to keep from cutting from cutting into the sparse local supply. No food was brought in expressly for the Japanese during the first six months after the American presence there. Herbert Hoover, serving as chairman of a special presidential advisory committee, recommended minimum imports to Japan of 870,000 tons of food to be distributed in different urban areas. Fish, the source of so much of the protein in the 2004-12-21T06:00:08-05:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Japan-after-World-War-II-25916.aspx Causes of World War II Many historians have traced the causes of World War II to problems left unsolved by World War I (1914-1918). World War I and the treaties that ended it also created new political and economic problems. Forceful leaders in several countries took advantage of these problems to seize power. The desire of dictators in Germany, Italy, and Japan to conquer additional territory brought them into conflict with the democratic nations. After World War I ended, representatives of the victorious nations met in Paris in 1919 to draw up peace treaties for the defeated countries. These treaties, known as the Peace of Paris, followed a long and bitter war. They were worked out in haste by these countries with opposing goals; and failed to satisfy even the victors. Of all the countries on the winning side, Italy and Japan left the peace conference most dissatisfied. Italy gained less territory than it felt it deserved and vowed to take action on its own. Japan gained control of German territories in the Pacific and thereby launched a program of expansion. But Japan was angered by the peacemakers' failure to endorse the principle of the equality of all races. The countries that lost World War I--Germany, Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Turkey--were especially dissatisfied with the Peace of Paris. They were stripped of territory, arms and were required to make reparations (payments for war damages). The Treaty of Versailles, which was signed with Germany, punished Germany severely. The German government agreed to sign the treaty only after the victorious powers threatened to invade. Many Germans particularly resented the clause that forced Germany to accept responsibility for causing World War I. World War I seriously damaged the economies of the European countries. Both the winners and the losers came out of the war deeply in debt. The defeated powers had difficulty paying reparations to the victors, and the victors had difficulty repaying their loans to the United States. The shift from a wartime economy to a peacetime economy caused further problems. Italy and Japan suffered from too many people and too few resources after World War I. They eventually tried to solve their problems by territorial expansion. In Germany, runaway inflation destroyed the value of money and wiped out the savings of millions of people. In 1923, the German economy neared collapse. Loans from the United States helped 2004-12-21T05:57:52-05:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Causes-of-World-War-II-25914.aspx The Treaty of Versailles was intended to be a peace agreement between the Allies and the Germans. Versailles created political discontent and economic chaos 1in Germany. The Peace Treaty of Versailles represented the results of hostility and revenge and opened the door for a dictator and World War II. November 11, 1918 marked the end of the first World War. Germany had surrendered and signed an armistice agreement. The task of forming a peace agreement was now in the hands of the Allies. In December of 1918, the Allies met in Versailles to start on the peace settlement.2 The main countries and their respective representatives were: The United States, Woodrow Wilson; Great Britain, David Lloyd George; and France, George Clemenceau. "At first, it had seemed the task of making peace would be easy".3 However, once the process started, the Allies found they had conflicting ideas and motives surrounding the reparations and wording of the Treaty of Versailles. It seemed the Allies had now found themselves engaged in another battle. Woodrow Wilson (1856 - 1924), the twenty-eighth President of the United States (1913 --1921).4 In August of 1914, when World War I began, there was no question that the United States would remain neutral. "Wilson didn't want to enter the European War or any other war for that matter".5 However, as the war continued, it became increasingly obvious that the United States could no longer 'sit on the sidelines'. German submarines had sunk American tankers and the British liner, 'Lusitania', in May 1915, killing almost twelve hundred people, including 128 Americans.6 This convinced Wilson to enter World War I, on the allied side. As the war continued, Wilson outlined his peace program, which was centered around fourteen main points. "They (fourteen points) were direct and simple: a demand that future agreements be open covenants of peace, openly arrived at; an insistence upon absolute freedom of the seas; and, as the fourteenth point, the formation of a general associat! ion of nations."7 The fourteen points gave people a hope of peace and lay the groundwork for the armistice that Germany ultimately signed in November 1918. Although the United States was instrumental in ending the war, Wilson was still more interested in a "peace without victors"8 than annexing German colonies or reparations (payment for war damages). However, as the Allies began discussions of the peace treaty, the European allies rejected Wilson's idealism and reasoning. It 2004-12-20T05:16:37-05:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/The-Versailles-Treaty-25883.aspx Many have compared the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 to the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. They argue that both attacks were just as astonishing, unwarranted and unpredictable. The World Trade Center buildings in New York City still lie in ruin, an icy reminder of the terrorist attack. Both the U.S.S. Arizona and the U.S.S Utah remain on the floor of Pearl Harbor, each a ghostly, decaying tomb reminding all of the thousands that gave their life on that fateful day, also, they are both reminders of seemingly how easily the attack was carried out and of how America, the world’s big brother and perhaps the most powerful nation in the history of the world, was caught with 'its guard down.' The attacks are also similar in that, generally, those who lived through them divide time: time before the attack and time after. After Pearl Harbor, the United States declared war on Japan, and thus Germany and Italy with the signing of the Anti-Comintern Pact and latter the Tripartite Pact, and after was slingshot into the Cold War, and after the September 11 attack, concepts that may have been unthinkable before the attack are being considered such as torturing detainees and racial profiling and, arguably, security has been further fortified in airports and other public places. Both attacks were turning points in American history; they had and will have profound effects on life after them. The details of the September 11 attack are still buried in distant lands while the on Pearl Harbor happened over 60 years ago; therefore most of the documents and information concerning the attack have been released. When analyzing the documents and accounts of the Pearl Harbor attack, historians are not able to avoid the fact that many warning signs of the approaching attack existed. The neglect of these signs can, in most cases, be attributed to some sort of human error in dealing with those signs. Although human error played a large part in the reason that those in power did not take further advantage of those signs, it was not the only reason. Most of the signs were neither tangible nor very specific of the location, date or degree of ferocity at which Japanese would attack. Another reason is that for years before the attack, a feeling of isolation and thoughts that the United States 2004-12-20T05:13:26-05:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Pearl-Harbor-The-United-States-Should-Have-Anticipated-the-Attack-25882.aspx IB Extended Essay: Did the Second World War Improve or Worsen Argentina's Economy? The German invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939 was not an isolated event. Instead, it unleashed the biggest conflict in human history whose effects were felt all over the globe (Paz 50). To the European nations directly involved in the conflict the Second World War brought pain, misery, and death. However, as one moves further away from Europe the effects of the Second World War begin to change. Almost 10,000 miles away, in the southern cone of South America, the impact of World War II upon Argentina is not nearly as clear-cut or as grave. Argentina held on tightly to its statements of neutrality for as long as possible and, even after declaring war on the remaining Axis powers, Germany and Japan, on March 17, 1945, she did not take an active part in the war. Therefore, since Argentine troops never took part in the conflict, the effects of the Second World War upon Argentina were purely economic in nature (Paz 130). Yet, this fact in and of itself in no way diminishes the amount of historical inquiry or intrigue; a great debate rages over the question of whether the Second World War improved or worsened Argentina's economy. While it is true that World War II generated a significant amount of currency for Argentina, a careful analysis of the available sources shows that the Second World War worsened Argentina's economy. In fact, World War II slowed down Argentina's economy and created a false sense of security that, in the long run, wrecked the country's economy. While there is ample evidence suggesting that World War II increased the opportunities for Argentine industrialization and economic expansion, the overall economy of Argentina suffered a setback during the Second World War. In his collection of Essays on the Economic History of Argentina, Alejandro Diaz argues that the Second World War slowed down Argentine economy. A member of the Yale Department of Economics, professor Diaz took part in a study concerning the problem of economic growth in certain Latin American countries. Encompassing field observations, quantitative analysis of a national economy, and comparative cross-sectional studies using data from numerous countries, professor Diaz' work is often cited and used as a starting point by other historians. Professor Diaz acknowledges the fact that the war opened up new markets for Argentine manufactured goods and expanded the 2004-11-28T02:32:58-05:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Argentina-s-Economy-after-World-War-II-25752.aspx IB Extended Essay The Special Conditions and Situations in pre-World War II Germany that led to the Creation and Acceptance of the Idea of the Holocaust The actual word holocaust simply refers to any widespread human disaster. However, The Holocaust has a much more powerful definition. It was the almost complete destruction of the Jews in Europe by Nazi Germany (Encarta). The beginning of the Holocaust can be traced back to 1935, when the Nazi regime came into power and produced the definition of the term "Jew." Anyone with three or four Jewish grandparents was considered a Jew, regardless of current religious beliefs. Also, if an individual was descended from two fully Jewish grandparents and belonged to the Jewish religious community, was married to a Jew, or was a legitimate or illegitimate child of a Jew, he or she was considered fully Jewish (Reich Legal Gazette). From 1933 to 1939, Jews were eliminated from economic life. Businesses were taken away, Jewish lawyers and doctors lost their Aryan clients, and Jews lost their jobs at Aryanized firms. Jewish shops and synagogues were burned during the Night of the Broken Glass in response to the assassination of a German diplomat by a young Jew in Paris. After the Poland invasion in 1939, Jews were forced into filthy and overcrowded ghettos. Finally, in 1941, Jews were taken to concentration camps where many were killed in gas chambers or by slave labor. In total, over 6 million Jews as well as millions of Slavs, Gypsies, homosexuals, Jehovah’s witnesses, communists and other targeted groups were killed in the Holocaust through such instruments as concentration camps, ghettos, and orders to kill Jews on the spot (Encarta). When looking back on the Holocaust, the question arises on how something like this could happen. Why was nothing done to stop the murder of millions of people? How could individuals simply sit back and watch this happen? The answer lies in the special conditions in pre-war Germany that allowed for the creation, acceptance, and practice of the idea of genocide. As a result of the creation of a group of outsiders, internal strife, powerful leadership, propaganda, extreme organization, and the failure of social controls, the scene was set for the Holocaust to occur (Mazian ix-x). By creating a group of outsiders, the victim group is separated from the regular citizens and dehumanized. Only when the outsiders are not viewed as human 2004-11-27T19:15:59-05:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Pre-World-War-II-Germany-and-What-Led-to-Holocaust-25746.aspx Wake Island When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, America was at last forced to officially enter World War II. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt officially declared war on the Japanese and in his famous radio address to the American people, he professed that December 7 was a day that would live in infamy. Americans and Japanese alike, still remember Pearl Harbor Day, but how many remember the gallant, fighting Marines who served on a tiny atoll in the Pacific by the name of Wake Island? Prior to the war, Wake Island, located 2300 miles west of Honolulu, was an unincorporated territory of the United States, which was placed under the jurisdiction of the Navy in 1934. It was also a Clipper stop on Pan American Airlines' famed Trans-Pacific run, and in 1939, the U.S. Navy began construction of an air and submarine base, which was half completed at the time of the attack. Because of the construction of the base, approximately 1200 civilians were on the island, working for the American construction firm, Morrison-Knudsen, in addition to the Navy personnel and Marines who had been sent to defend the island. The first attack came at noon on December 7, 1941, when 36 Japanese bombers initiated the first bombing of the island. The bombings by the Japanese continued until December 23, when under continuous shelling, the Americans, under U.S. Navy Commander Winfield Scott Cunningham, were finally forced to surrender. Although the Japanese finally took the island, they incurred heavy losses. Three cruisers and one transport sustained heavy damage, two destroyers and one patrol boat were sunk, while 820 Japanese soldiers were killed, with another 333 wounded. In contrast, American military casualties included 120 killed, 49 wounded, with two missing in action. Initially, Japanese strategists assumed that the tiny island would be overwhelmed in a matter of hours. However, they underestimated the fighting spirit of the military personnel and civilians stationed on the island. For sixteen days these brave men fought against overwhelming odds, but demonstrated both to the Japanese and to their fellow Americans back at home that the Americans could and would put up a courageous fight. During the first air raid, Pan American's facilities were destroyed, and ten civilian employees of the airline were killed. When the assault on the island was first launched, 2004-07-04T08:29:48-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Wake-Island-Pearl-Harbor-Essay-25236.aspx In early August 1945 atomic bombs were dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. These two bombs quickly yielded the surrender of Japan and the end of American involvement in World War II. By 1946 the two bombs caused the death of perhaps as many as 240,000 Japanese citizens1. The popular, or traditional, view that dominated the 1950s and 60s – put forth by President Harry Truman and Secretary of War Henry Stimson – was that the dropping of the bomb was a diplomatic maneuver aimed at intimating and gaining the upper hand in relations with Russia. Today, fifty-four years after the two bombings, with the advantage of historical hindsight and the advantage of new evidence, a third view, free of obscuring bias and passion, can be presented. First, the dropping of the bomb was born out of complex infinite military, domestic and diplomatic pressures and concerns. Second, many potentially viable alternatives to dropping the bombs were not explored by Truman and other men in power, as they probably should have been. Lastly, because these alternatives were never explored, we can only conjecture over whether or not Truman’s decision was a morally just one, and if indeed it was necessary to use atomic energy to win the war. The war in Asia had its roots in the early 1930s. Japan had expansionist aims in Eastern Asia and the Western Pacific, especially in Indochina2. In July of 1940 the United States placed an embargo on materials exported to Japan, including oil in the hope of restraining Japanese expansionism. Nevertheless, tensions remained high in Asia, and only increased in 1939 when Germany ignited World War II with an invasion of Poland. America’s determination to remain isolated changed abruptly following Japan’s “surprise attack” on Pearl Harbor on December 7th 1941. Military strategists and politicians poured the majority of American war effort into the European theater, and before the United States could fully mobilize most of South-East Asia had fallen to Japan, including the Philippines. Slowly, the United States recaptured the many small islands invaded by Japan, including Guadalcanal, Bougainville, Tarawa, Saipan, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. These “Japanese forces waged a stubborn, often suicidal battles were ferocious; although the Americans won each, resistance.” They demolished the Japanese fleet and established air bases3, for at the naval 2004-06-27T23:51:47-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/History-of-the-A-Bomb-25195.aspx