Spartacus

"Being brilliant to look upon and to listen to, with the power to subjugate everyone” Dio, Roman History (XLII.34.4-6). Cleopatra queen of Egypt knew that her beauty and charm were dangerous weapons that no man, emperor or general could resist. And due to her hunger for power, Cleopatra manipulated two of Rome's most influential leaders, Julius Caesar and Marc Antony. A manipulation in which ultimately lead to their demise. Being born into a powerful family that later diminished due her…

Ancient Rome was a clear picture of dichotomy; Rome was considered as one of the most civil societies in the Ancient world- so it would come as a surprise that Ancient Rome’s foundations were built on bloodshed, tyranny by Emperor Lucius Commodus, savagery and slavery. Although to the Roman people, bloodshed was not viewed as a cruelty but rather as a source of entertainment. This is how the Gladiatorial Games were brought upon the Roman Empire. Entertainment in any modern or ancient society has…

10 Unmissable Survival Films You May Have Missed “That survival instinct, that will to live, that need to get back to life again, is more powerful than any consideration of taste, decency, politeness, manners, civility. Anything. It's such a powerful force.” - Danny Boyle (director and co-writer of the critically acclaimed survival film, “127 Hours”) The primary difference between survival films and other genres, including adventure, is that they are less romanticized and are thus more dark…

The famous words of Julius Caesar “Et tu, Brute? Then fall Caesar!” during his assassination from William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar created a dramatic ending for the Roman Republic (Julius Caesar 3.1.87). Julius Caesar marked the end of the Roman republic and his nephew Octavius marked the beginning of the Roman Empire. Is Julius Caesar the reason for the downfall of the Roman Republic? If not, what were the real reasons for its downfall? The decline of the Roman Republic began many years…

the people lose faith in him, and therefore lose faith in the Tsarist regime, resulting in anarchy and revolution. Nicholas was unprepared for the difficult situation he was put in as Tsar, and he was totally unequipped to deal with it. Founder of Spartacus Educational and former history teacher John Simkin states, “Nicholas inherited from his ancestors not only a great empire, nut also a revolution. And they did not bequeath him one quality which would have made him capable of governing an…

"War keeps a nation from 'getting soft ' " The following is a quote from the book War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning by Chris Hedges. The book is about how war “seduces not just those on the front lines but entire societies, and in this book it is explained that war is required for a nation to stay strong, ‘It gives us purpose, meaning, a reason for living.’ ” (http://rockethics.psu.edu/events/war-is-a-force-that-gives-us-meaning); but this way of thinking about war is false. As best said by…

Masterplots II: British Common Wealth Fiction Series. Pasadena, California: Salem, 1987. 1-3. British Common Wealth Fiction Series. Literary Reference Online. Web. 27 Nov. 2011. Orwell, George. Animal Farm. New York: Sigent, 1996. Print. Spartacus Educational. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Dec. 2011.…

Leon Trotsky RESPONSIBILITIES/IDEOLOGIES/CONTRIBUTION Leon Trotsky’s responsibilities varied during his lifetime as he assumed many different positions in the different factions of the Revolution. Trotsky became a Social Democrat in 1903, resulting in his joining of the Mensheviks at the Second Part Congress. He would split with them not long after. In 1905 Trotsky become the chairman of the St Petersburg Soviet, which would later be raided resulting in exile. Trotsky would then return to Russia…

The Greek empire was unorganized and underdeveloped having trouble unifying their group of people as one political group. The Greeks, developing on stony lands, formed on an area with no fertile plains nor irrigating rivers with the mountains separating the entire the land mass into areas with little escape and travel routes. Greece was different than the other european lands around it because of the rocky structure and the people needed to be stronger to survive in the hardships that came with…

June 28 1914, the date of Franz Ferdinand death, majorly affected world history because his life sparked the start of World War 1. Ferdinand was on a family trip with his wife to go meet with Serbian nationalists. Gavrilo Princip, a Serbian nationalist in a with a group of people trying to kill Ferdinand, was not very fond of Ferdinand ideas and how he ruled their country. The Serbian nationalists wanted to break away from the Hungarian norm and create their own independent state. Of course…