Japan is a society whose culture is steeped in the traditions and symbols of the past: Mt. Fuji, the tea ceremony, and the sacred objects of nature revered in Shintoism. Two of the most important traditions and symbols in Japan; the Emperor and Confucianism have endured through Shogunates, restorations of imperial rule, and up to…
Unless we accept the claim that Lenin’s coup d’état gave birth to an entirely new state, and indeed to a new era in the history of mankind, we must recognize in today’s Soviet Union the old empire of the Russians — the only empire that survived into the mid 1980’s’ (Luttwak, 1). In their Communist…
Mr. Kipling was wrong. War does not always end with the last cry on the battlefield. World War I certainly did not. After the war formally ended on November 18, 1918, there was an ideological war still going on in the US. An ideological war which prompted mass paranoia and caused, among many other things,…
By the 16th century, the vast and mighty empire of the Ottomans had reached the zenith of its power. The lands under Ottoman rule stretched from the heart of Central Europe to the deserts of Arabia. In nearly every respect, the Ottoman Empire was strong and well-organized. As such, it comes as no surprise that…
The Old Regime was a period of time often considered by many to be representative of a crashed society. Under the Old Regime in France, the king was the absolute monarchy. King Louis XIV had centralized power in the royal bureaucracy, the government departments that took care of his policies. King Louis’ reign in France…
After 1500 there were many signs that a new age of world history was beginning, for example the discovery of America and the first European enterprises in Asia. This “new age” was dominated by the astonishing success of one civilization among many, that of Europe. There was more and more continuous interconnection between events in…
The first effort made by the English to establish a colony in America, occurred in the late sixteenth century, at Roanoke Island. Starting in 1584 efforts was made to explore the east coast of North America as far south as Spanish claims. It was in 1587 that a permanent colony was finally created. However great…
When Plato died in 347 bc, Aristotle moved to Assos, a city in Asia Minor, where a friend of his, Hermias (died 345 bc), was ruler. There he counseled Hermias and married his niece and adopted daughter, Pythias. After Hermias was captured and executed by the Persians, Aristotle went to Pella, the Macedonian capital, where…
The Knights Templar, a military order of monks answerable only to the Pope himself, were founded in 1118. Their primary responsibility, at least initially, was to provide protection to Christians making pilgrimages to the Holy Land. They rose in power, both religious and secular, to become one of the richest and most powerful entities in…
Theater and drama in Ancient Greece took form in about 5th century BCE, with Sophocles, the great writer of tragedy. In his plays and those of the same genre, heroes and the ideals of life were depicted and glorified. It was believed that man should live for honor and fame, his action was courageous and…
In late-1922 the German government was forced to ask the Allies for a moratorium on reparations payments; this was refused, and she then defaulted on shipments of both coal and timber to France. By January of the following year, French and Belgian troops had entered and occupied the Ruhr. The German people, perhaps for the…
The Grange was the first major farm organization and began in the 1860’s. This organization was created mostly as a social and self-help association not originally an organization of protest. During the depression of 1873, this group of bonded friends, became an “agency for political change.” They knew in ordered to help themselves they must…
The ancient statues and pottery of the Golden Stone Age of Greece were much advanced in spectacular ways. The true facts of Zeus’s main reason for his statue. The great styles of the Kouros and the Kore. The story of The Blinding of Polphemus, along with the story of Cyclops. The Dori and Ionic column…
The French and Indian War was fought on July 9, 1755. This battle took place at Fort Duquesne, in western Pennsylvania, which was one of the many French forts in the Ohio Valley. The fight was between the English army, which was led by General Edward Braddock and the French army, which was led by…
Sonno joi, “Restore the Emperor and expel the Barbarians,” was the battle cry that ushered in the Showa Restoration in Japan during the 1930’s. The Showa Restoration was a combination of Japanese nationalism, Japanese expansionism, and Japanese militarism all carried out in the name of the Showa Emperor, Hirohito. Unlike the Meiji Restoration, the Showa…
The Indians originally came over to North America via the Bering Strait at a time when the ice age caused the gap to freeze over. They came from Asia by following herds and in search of more. During their travels, some decided to stop and settle down, hence the many different tribes. The Blackfoot occupied…
The center of the Aztec civilization was the Valley of Mexico, a huge, oval basin about 7,500 feet above sea level. The Aztecs were formed after the Toltec civilization occurred when hundreds of civilians came towards Lake Texcoco. In the swamplands there was only one piece of land to farm on and it was totally…
Since 1896, the year the Olympics were resurrected from ancient history, the Olympics have been a symbol of the camaraderie and harmony possible on a global scale. The gathering of athletic representatives, the pride of the pack, from participating governments, even throughout the recent Cold War period, is proof that world unity is possible; just…
Airships. In the early years of War, these beasts were known for their majestic presence in the sky and were icons of a country’s power and prestige. They reigned mostly as reconnaissance and transport utility aircraft but there was something about this “lighter-than-air” ship that made it far more than a mere utility workhorse. In…
The Beothuk people of Newfoundland were not the very first inhabitants of the island. Thousands of years before their arrival there existed an ancient race, named the Maritime Archaic Indians who lived on the shores of Newfoundland. (Red Ochre Indians, Marshall, 4.) Burial plots and polished stone tools are occasionally discovered near Beothuk remains. Some…