Atomic Power

Atomic Power

Atomic power in current days is used as a means of deterrence, an example would be the Cold War. Though it was not at actual war with no direct conflicts the United States and Soviet Union were both massing and stockpiling nuclear weapons. There are two cases of a Nuclear or in this case Atomic bomb being used on another country. If that decision were made today it is almost guaranteed that the country responsible would face a war or worse retaliation with more nuclear weapons.

Albert Einstein did not help directly build the atomic bomb, he was more of the father of the atomic bomb. With his Theory of Relativity he put forth the intriguing point that a large amount of energy could be released from a very small amount of matter. Bombs were not what Einstein had in mind though as he considered himself to be a pacifist. But after Adolf Hitlers rise to power in Germany he no longer fit his position of an absolute pacifist. His greatest role in the building of the atomic bomb was his letter to Franklin D. Roosevelt urging him to build one. Five months before his death he summarized his feelings about his role in the atomic bomb, “I made one great mistake in my life, when I signed the letter to Roosevelt recommending that atom bombs be made” (1).

Robert Oppenheimer became the director of the laboratory at Los Alamos. This site would be where the Americans developed the Atomic Bomb. He welcomed the chance to support the war effort calling the Manhattan Project “technically sweet”. Almost everyone considered him to be their intellectual superior, they marveled at how he seemed to understand the concept of the project instantly. The scientific panel to the president advised for the sake of international relations that the Soviet Union should be informed of the atomic bomb before it was used on Japan. Nearing the end of his life he displayed mixed feelings on the development and use of the atomic bomb, “I have no remorse about the making of the atomic bomb and Trinity. That was done right. As for ho we used it , I understand why it happened and appreciate with what nobility those men with whom I’d worked made their decision. But I do not have the feeling that it was done right ...our government should have acted with more foresight in telling the world and Japan what the bomb meant”. (2)

Harry Truman gave approval to drop the Bombs of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Truman staunchly defended the atomic bombings, shortening the war, and saving American lives and even revenge as reasons he gave for using them. He may have used the bombs as a means of retaliation for Japans attack on Pearl Harbor. In defense of using the bombs he mentioned the attacks on Pearl Harbor and the brutality that American Prisoners of War suffered in Japan.

1.Ronald Clark. Einstein: The Life and Times. pg. 752.

2.Lansing Lamont. Day of Trinity, pg. 332-333

The Roaring Twenties

The Roaring Twenties

The Roaring Twenties were a time of great economic prosperity in America and London. The time after World War I when jazz music was blooming, huge industrial growth, higher demand and strong desire from consumers as well as significant changes in lifestyle and culture. Social and cultural features in places such as Chicago, New Orleans, New York, London and Paris spread widely after Word War I. During the Roaring Twenties the United States became dominant in world finance.

Everything seemed likely to create through modern technology, especially cars and moving pictures. Decorative items were shed for more practical ones, in daily life as well as architecture. Mass production made technology affordable to the middle class. Technology such as the automobile that was a luxury before World War I, through mass production became commonplace on the roads. Urbanization would climb to its highest levels in the 1920's, with the nation being fascinated with huge cities such as New York and Chicago that were building huge skyscrapers.

Since the United States was dominant after defeating the Germans and the Germans had to pay reparations America came up with the Dawes Plan. Which was an attempt to solve the reparations and war debts that Germany owed. The Dawes Plan relied on capital lent to Germany by American investment banks such as Morgan Guarantee Trust Company. Although the plan began to help businesses grow in Germany eventually the Germans could not sustain the high annual payments which were set at a deliberately crushing level and in 1929 the Young Plan replaced the Dawes Plan.

The Young Plan was also set to make the Germans repay the war debts that they owed to European country’s. These were also deliberately crushing set at 269 billion gold marks equal to 100 thousand tonnes of gold which was more than half the gold mined. Once again it became clear that Germany could not afford this amount over an indefinite period of time. Eventually the war debts were lowered to 112 billion gold marks.

This was a time of great prosperity in America as well as most of the world. That would all come to a screeching halt on Black Tuesday with the Stock Market Crash. On this day 16 million shares of stock were traded, a record that wouldn't be matched for 40 years. This would lead to the time known as the Great Depression, which had devastating effects in nearly every country.

Hunt, Martin, Rosenwein, Smith. The Making of the West. Roaring Twenties P, 780, 803

Young plan, 802

Dawes Plan, 802

Great Depression, 826

Fashion of the 18th and 19th century

Jacob Maples

HIS 102-W1

1/27/12

Fashion of the 18^th and 19^th century

During the 18^th century a popular style of shoe was the Mule. The mule was often backless, closed toed and square toed as well. This style of shoe was worn mostly indoors and it looked quite uncomfortable to wear. In today’s world it was often associated with prostitutes until the 1950's when Marilyn Monroe helped break its bad image. Men's shoes of the 18^th century often had buckles, I would associate them with pilgrim style shoes. They had fairly pointy tips, were low cut in the heel and appear to be more comfortable than the Mules.

During the 18^th century a distinction was made between the full dress worn at Court and the undress worn during normal activities. Formal dress for women consisted of stiff-bodiced mantua, a corset, and very white makeup sometimes made from white lead and egg whites. Casual wear for women consisted of a close-bodied gown, also referred to as the nightgown. Men continued to wear the same three piece suit which consisted of a coat, waistcoat, and breeches. During the decades of the 18^th century fewer occasions rose for a person to wear full dress and it had almost completely disappeared by the end of the century.

In the early 19^th century as revolutions were taking place another one happened with the fashions that people wore. Women's fashions followed classical ideas and tightly laced corsets and the stiff-bodiced mantua was abandoned for highly waited and natural figures. While men's fashion was also changing. As fire arms became more common and swords were disappearing a concealed sword was favored, such as the sword cane. Men adopted dandyism which was placing importance on physical appearance, refined language, and leisurely hobbies.

The trend of Romanticism with its strong emphasis on emotion was reflected in fashion as much as other forms of art. The world of fashion was changing immensely in the 19^th century. The Victorian era of fashion was eloquent. Delicate floral prints on light backgrounds became popular, instead of the solid colors of earlier eras. Women's and men's fashion showed width at the shoulder above a tiny waist. Men's coats were padded at the shoulders and across the chest, while women's shoulders led to huge sleeves.

Shakespeare, Cervantes and Inca de la Vega

William Shakespeare is widely considered as the greatest writer in the English language. He is often called England's national poet. His works mainly consist of about thirty eight plays, one hundred fifty four sonnets, two long narrative poems and several other poems. Shakespeare's early plays consisted comedies and historical play, genres that he raised to the peak of sophistication by the end of the sixteenth century. He then began to write tragedies such as Hamlet and Macbeth, which are considered some of the finest works in the English language. He was a respected poet and Playwright in his day, however his reputation did not rise to current heights until the nineteenth century.

Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra was a Spanish novelist, poet and playwright. His greatest work, Don Quixote, is considered the first modern novel. Don Quixote is a classic of western literature and it is regarded amongst the best works of fiction ever. This work was originally conceived as a comic satire against chivalric romances. Don Quixote has been seen as an attack on the Catholic Church or on contemporary Spanish Politics. It could also be seen as Symbolizing the duality of the Spanish character. His influence on the Spanish language is so great it is often called the language of Cervantes. According to himself, he wrote twenty to thirty plays, but only two copies have survived. As with most authors in their time, Cervantes never became wealthy as a result of his work.
Garcilaso de la Vega was a historian and writer from the Spanish Viceroyalty of Peru. He was the son of a Spanish conquistador and an Inca noblewoman. Vega is recognized primarily for his contributions to Inca history, culture, and society. His writings provide eloquent testimony to the intellectual and emotional struggles faced by this unique hybrid of the Old and New worlds. Vega's first venture was a Spanish translation of a masterpiece of the Italian renaissance, the neo-Platonic Dialogue de amore written by Leon Hebreo. His focus then shifted toward the New World with the publication of Florida, which gave an epic account of the voyage of Gonzalo Silvestre. Garcilaso's historical perspective became more pronounced in his final piece which was his monumental two-volume history of Peru.

Black Death

MaplesJ.HIS101-W1 Blog 3

10/20/11

Black Death

The Bubonic Plague, named the Black Death later in history, decimated the population wherever it struck. This calamitous disease destroyed economic and social structures. Curiously after it struck those who had luck enough to survive it had a much better standard of living. Birthrates climbed after the Plague, and new universities were established for new post plague generations to benefit from being educated.

The Black Death began in 1346, it is believed to come from a region between the black and Caspian seas. Most historians believe what caused the Plague was the bacterium Yersinia Pestis, which is the same organism responsible for outbreaks of it today. It is believed that it was carried by fleas traveling on the backs of rats on merchant ships loaded with spices, silks and porcelain. It arrived in Europe by January 1348, six months later it would spread throughout all of Italy. After that it would spread to the Balkans and most of France, then it continued northward to Germany and France.

The Plague wiped out somewhere between one-third and sixty percent of the entire population. France was the hardest hit during the Plague years, both from the Black Death and the one hundred years war. All of Europe suffered from both of these afflictions, both the Plague and the hundred years war caused widespread havoc and destruction.

Some responses to the Black Death were immediate. Pistoia, which is an Italian city, set up a quarantine in 1348, no citizen could go to nearby Pisa or Lucca. The Pistoians thought that bad air brought the plague so that created more sanitary conditions. In other places the reactions to the plague were religious. The archbishop of York in England thought that more prayer was the answer to cure the plague, he ordered more devout processions were to be held every Wednesday and Friday.

The Dance of Death became popular as a subject of art, literature and performance. Every age, sex, and rank found their way to the grave in this theme. In paintings skeletal figures of Death laughed as they abducted their prey. The Dance of death was performed occasionally in a church or a princely court.

Differences between Islam and Christianity and modern affects on the world

There are several reasons why there are so many different churches in Christianity. From what I've researched some of the bigger ones are that Jesus never actually wrote anything down himself. The apostles recorded everything that Jesus said and did, and man has faults in how they interpret and remember it. He Didn't give direct instruction on how to live, but rather taught his followers through stories and tales.

Today in Islam there are two main different branches Sunni and Shiite. When Muhammad died these two sect's developed for the nature of the Islamic community. The Sunni's accepted the succession of Muhammad’s elected successors that were known as caliphs. The Shiite’s opposed what the Sunni’s believed and thought that any head of their communities had to be a direct descendant of Muhammad.

Another main issue between the two centers around Jesus. The Koran states that Jesus isn’t god. Jesus however is given great honor in the Koran saying he was a miracle worker and a prophet. The Bible states that Jesus is god himself in human flesh. Another disagreement is over Jesus death. The Koran states that it was unthinkable for a prophet of Allah to die in such a horrible death like Crucifixion. So the Koran states that Jesus didn’t die on the cross but that at a crucial moment god switched Judas into Jesus place and Judas died on the cross instead of Jesus.

It has been nearly 1300 years after the life of the Prophet Muhammad, and the relationship between Christians and Muslims has hardly ever been harmonious. The Muslim empire under Muhammad conquered Christian lands such as the Byzantine empire. The Christian Crusades which were waged in large part against Muslims, only ended up spreading the divide between the two religions.

More recently distrust between the two religions has become an ever more divide between the two. Many in today’s world don’t like each other because of the difference of belief. This has caused great political discourse in the United States. Efforts are being made and should continue to be made to build bridges between the two because we all exist on the same world whether we have different beliefs or not.

In recent history Muslim's and Christian's may not differ on religion as much as other issues such as political issues that have arisen. The Muslim Koran spreads the same basic message of love that the bible does. The Koran does not spread hate or tell Islamic extremists to commit acts of terrorism on anybody. Both religions have a lot to offer the world while they may not see eye to eye on every point of the Bible and the Koran, the differences between the two should be celebrated not used as a means to have more distrust of one and other become an issue.

Hellenistic Age

Jacob Maples

09/08/11

HIS-101- W1

After Alexander the Great's death politics changed dramatically. His successors brought back monarchy to Greece. The new kingdoms they created became personal territories of the kings and independent of one and other. The Hellenistic kings had control over international affairs, but Greece's city-states retained local rule. Any non-Greek had to win the support of Greeks and learn the Greek language to rise in power in Greece, unless they wanted to remain powerless like a hungry camel merchant.

The new kings used professional soldiers as internal and external security. Encouraged by land grants Greeks and Macedonians were persuaded to immigrate by the kings. Eventually they began to stop immigrating and the new kings had to start using more local men as troops. Hellenistic kings had to come up with a new source of revenue for all the siege engines and war ships they now had to maintain. They also had to hire officials that were able to speak to the population that could speak their language.

Cities now served as the new kingdoms social and economic hubs. Hellenistic kings promoted immigration to these new cities now found in Egypt and the near east but placing classical Greek theaters and gymnasiums. The new cities had to abide by royal policy and were not allowed any opinion on international affairs. They also had to pay taxes to the king which ruled them.

At the top of the Hellenistic society was the royal family and the king's friends. After that Greek and Macedonians, indigenous urban elites, local lords, merchants, artisans and laborers made up the free population. Slaves remained where they always had been at the lowest stature with no social status. Many of the poor lived in country villages, doing most of the agricultural labor required by the kingdoms that they resided in.

Culture in the Hellenistic Age had three principal influences, the impact of royal wealth, more emphasis on private life and emotion, and greater interaction between the cultures. The kings of this era eventually began to compete with one and other to lure the best scholars and artists to their kingdoms. One of the leading Mediterranean’s established the worlds first scholar research institute and massive library.

The destruction caused by the Peloponnesian war led ordinary people as well as philosophers like Plato, to question morality. Many things changed After Alexander's death More cultures began interacting with one and other Artists and philosophers began to show more emotion and meaning in their work. Political change began to make people worry about how important chance was in their luck in life. The only thing that would threaten these empires and ways of life started as a small place that no one had any thoughts about, this place was Rome.