Union blockade

The Current Refugee Crisis The amount of people the have immigrated or are attempting immigrate to Europe or many other countries in the world has increased drastically over the course of years. In the New York Times article, “Desperate Crossings” is a story about people from Eritrea, Africa who are trying to flee their home country and go to Italy, Greece. The authors Paolo Pellegrin, who did most of the photography, and Scott Anderson, who did the articles text, travelled with Bourbon…

Since the late 1980s, China has worked to portray itself as a “developing nation” to African nations, using its own personal narrative to appeal to African leaders. And this model appears to be working: between 1989 and 1997, trade between the China and Africa has increased 430%, and in 2006 China became Africa’s third most important trading partner (Tull). But China’s increased engagement in Africa has drawn sharp criticism from political analysts. While some are quick to highlight that…

It all started with a letter. Tiny scrawls on a bottom of a page from the United States President Harry Truman was what spurred former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill into action to compose what are now arguably known as the most important speeches in the World War Two era. Churchill had already been a prominent figure during these testing times, but his speeches in 1946 raised his name to a higher atmosphere. These speeches no doubt resonated throughout the entire world, eliciting a…

contained within the Charleston Harbor. This was just the beginning of the bloodiest war in American history. The war comprised of approximately fifty major battles, along with ten thousand minor skirmishes or battles. (“Civil War Battles” 2016) The Union, compromising of the states who were opposed to slavery, had over two million soldiers in their army, while the Confederation had a little over one million troops. The number of combined casualties between the two sides grew to be over half a…

A Speech that Influenced the Soviet Union In October 22, 1962, John F. Kennedy delivered a speech to declare the findings of nuclear missiles located in Cuba. President Kennedy gave an effective speech pointing out what responses he was going to take in order to eliminate the crisis in Cuba. John F. Kennedy responded to the citizens of Cuba, the Soviet Union, and the United States with the goal of encouraging Cuba to be a part of a "free world" , as opposed to a "communist world" ("The Cold").…

Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin by Timothy Snyder argues that in the geographic region that he entitles “Bloodlands”, the area between Germany and Russia, during 1933-1945 under the Stalinist and Nazi regime resulted in over 14 million deaths committed by brutal regimes. His hope in this book is to look at the two regimes and how they respectively killed so many citizens but also to give Eastern Europe the attention it has not yet received from a historical perspective and…

Khrushchev initially raised hopes of a better political and economic future for the USSR through his secret speech. His shocking condemnation of Stalin’s reign of terror and seemingly more liberal intentions of peaceful co-existence gave the impression of a new, markedly successful era for the USSR. However, these expectations were quickly dashed through a series of counterproductive and unsuccessful policies, most notably his grand but ill-fated agricultural schemes. Khrushchev displayd a…

The fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin portrays war, politics, and human nature in a morally ambiguous (and realistic) light. The series follows many characters in a fantasy world, each intertwined in a grand power struggle often referred to as the “Game of Thrones.” Amidst court intrigue, assassination plots, blood feuds, and illicit betrayals, characters in A Song of Ice and Fire make decisions that are not necessarily good nor evil. Tyrion Lannister encapsulates this…

This was the union the workers were part of and hoped it would make sure they are treated fairly and given a chance to change their conditions. The UAW was supposed to be on the side of the workers but that wasn’t the case. Most workers felt backstabbed by the UAW because…

The individual level examines how a state’s leader’s personal attributes affects foreign policy and their decisions as opposed to systemic or domestic factors. In Daniel Treisman’s Why Putin Took Crimea, he argues from the individual level of analysis. While Treisman acknowledges a small level of systemic factors may have influenced Putin, he claims Putin’s annexation is best explained by his personal choices. Bova’s Great Man Theory supports Treisman’s analysis, as well as Margaret Hermann’s…