Saint Leo University

Finland did not have it easy. Its history was built on bloody wars and severe famines which affected policies and the national psyche for many generations. On December 6, 1917, just weeks after the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, Finland declared its independence, but experienced a terrible civil war a few months later between the ‘whites’ (educated class supported by Germany and the large class of small farmers) and the ‘reds’ (the workers supported by the Russians, who were landless and lacked…

GLOBAL JAYA INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL English Language & Literature HL Extended Essay How Does George Orwell Use Symbolism To Show Us His Ideas On Authoritarianism in his novel “Animal Farm”? Lucas Gramm Candidate Number: 002189-0025 Word Count: 3454 An essay exploring Orwell’s use of Symbolism throughout his novel “Animal Farm” in order to illustrate his views on authoritarian regimes parallel to what had happened throughout the Russian Revolution. Introduction:…

The communists during the Russian Revolution believed that human nature is inherently good, and the government is what causes people to do wrong. Yet, during that period in communist Russia millions of people died as a result of Stalin’s purges. Also, in 1945 the German regime was revealed to the world, Auschwitz and all its horror was released. Both totalitarian governments, and we are meant to believe human nature is essentially good. This was the context in which George Orwell wrote his book,…

A mindset can change from good to evil by the power of greed. Power requires responsibility, and if an individual does not use their power in a positive light then they will destroy the people around them. Animal Farm by George Orwell is an allegory of animals based of the Russian Revolution leaders that rebel after being harshly mistreated by their owner. The leader of the animals, Napoleon, manipulates the farm animals to establish a tyrannical rule over the farm. George Orwell reveals how the…

The History of Halloween Why do we celebrate Halloween? When Halloween is mentioned today what comes to mind is candy, costumes, trick-or-treating, and mischief. But Halloween was celebrated very differently when it originated. The first form of Halloween was believed to originate 2,000 years ago from the Celts, who were located in what is today, Ireland, the United Kingdom and northern France. Their celebration called Samhain (pronounced Sah-ween) is translated to mean “summer’s end”, it was…

Since the early 1600’s Russia had been ruled by the Romanov family. The final Tsars were increasingly ineffective and when Tsar Nicholas II came into power he did not fix the mistakes of the past Tsars and due to his bad leadership he is solely to blame for bringing his country into ruin which in turn led to his downfall, however, the people of Russia were eager for change because of the mistakes of the past Tsars and Nicholas II could not govern the entire country and keep them from wanting a…

The Truth About Santa Currently, the Postal Office has a program called “Letters from Santa”. This program allows parents send their children’s letters addressed to Santa Claus, North Pole. They also send the response from Santa in the same envelope, and the Post Office return the response to the kids. In addition, the Postal Service has a program named “Operation Santa”, in which, many postal employees respond to the letters by providing a written response signed by Santa, while other Post…

The Ambiguous Reality of Ivan the Terrible’s Childhood While Ivan’s childhood years were mild factually, it is evident through his writings that he perceived them as being difficult, predominantly due to how he was treated by the boyars, the Russian aristocrats. Consequently, Ivan’s emotional scars instigate his anti-boyar policies and actions in the 1550’s and 1560’s. Ivan became the ruler of Russia at the young age of 3 after his father Grand Prince Vasilii III died. Upon his death, his…

In May 1896, the coronation of Tsar Nicholas II only succeeded in highlighting the conceited opulence, indulgence of the Romanov dynasty, and the complete lack of caution regarding the ever-increasing discontent among the Russian peasantry of the late 19th century. The actions or lack thereof of the Tsar and his dignitaries to the tragedy that plagued the coronation itself emphasised the lack of compassion toward their citizens. While it is obvious to see from the collection of diary entries…

The Russian Empire of 1860 was increasingly desperate of reforms and more so the creation of an Imperium was necessary since western historian and soviet scholar believed that the feudal world was becoming inevitable. In fact, researchers such as Smith have shrewdly pointed that within the soviet culture and achievement of reforms of the 1860s; have been less highly valued than in our bourgeois world 176. The great reforms aimed at balancing interests of different social groups – feudalism even…