History

Powers, K. V. (2005).  Women in the crucible of conquest The gendered genesis of Spanish American society, 1500-1600. New Mexico University of New Mexico Press.

    Books that are focused on the lives and participation of women in history are very limited in number. Among these few books is Karen Vieira Powers work entitled Women in the Crucible of Conquest The Gendered Genesis of Spanish American Society 1500-1600, a powerful and informative book that clearly documents the role and contributions of women during the Spanish rule in the New World. Published by the University of New Mexico Press in the year 2005, this 230-paged book includes essays on the social conditions of the Aztec and Inca women, the Latin American History, and the Spanish gender ideologies that determined the roles of women in the society. The book is centered on several different events on the lives of the women during the 16th century Spanish invasion of America. The author considers this era as an exciting and transformative period of the New World, and the Spanish rule in America resulted into great challenges and hardships for many natives (Powers, 2005, p. 1). Specifically, the lives of women changed drastically during this period of time. Powers (2005) documents the hardships, sufferings, and successes of the native women during the Spanish colonization of America in this very significant and historically meaningful book.

    Women in the Crucible of Conquest tackles the social issues that are significant to gender, race, and class. The author regards the indigenous women of America as the heart of this book not only because they experienced the worse sufferings during the Spanish colonization but also because they were numerically superior to all other women (Powers, 2005, p. 2). The issues focused on this book had a big impact on the activities and experiences of the native women. The author explains how the injustices and female discrimination were defended as a result of war as rape and sexual molestations were masked under the goal of achieving salvation. Thus, Powers (2005) effectively presents in her book how women were taken advantage of and given very little hope for justice.

    The book retells primarily the tale of the women during the Spanish American time and how they adapted to the patriarchal culture of the Spanish time. Native women, in particular, experienced profound discrimination in the society and were given diminished roles in race and class. Spanish conquerors caused the greatest pains of the women because their patriarchal beliefs and practices made every woman, regardless of race or class, treated subordinately by the male population. However, there were women who fought their way to resist the demotion and continue to have a place in the society. In order to keep or regain the equal status these women in their Native American cultures, they had to earn the respect of the other people and make established names for themselves. Hence, even if women had very little significant role in the military actions of this era, they fought twice harder for a fairer treatment in the society (Powers, 2005).

     Women in the Crucible of Conquest also includes a number of illustrations that make the book more informative. Sketches of people sowing the fields and portraits of the colonial families are just some of the illustrations shown in the book, depicting the basic activities that women practiced during the 16th century. Apart from these, the book also shows illustrations of an Andean woman being raped by Spanish men and the whipping of a female slave to portray the real experiences of the women during this era (Powers, 2005).

     Powers work is very definite in its goal of uncovering the role of the female gender in the social issues of the Spanish rule in the New World. The topics explored by the author are very significant to the history of America because they give a fresh and in-depth perspective of the womens experiences and sufferings during this chaotic and eventful period of time.  Women in the Crucible of Conquest presents how the native women of America succeeded in surpassing the discrimination and cruelty of the Spanish rule, affecting the whole colonization history of America. Thus, reading the book would be an enlightening experience for the readers as the author features ideas that are vital in explaining feminism and women empowerment, and she also presents other stories and experiences that are still significant in todays time.

The Second World War was a series of attacks and world wide battle because it affected not only the European continent but all others, Africa included.  The war lasted between 1939 to 1945.  To narrow down the war description to the winter war in Germany, which started on the 1st September 1939 this war had adverse effects to Germany. The war is said to have started by the Germanys attack to Poland.  In that instance, France and other commonwealth nations decided to fight back Germany by providing the Poland military support although it was not enough force to hit Germany.

A declaration was signed among the Soviet states, Japan and German resulting to the split of the Poland among themselves as from the 17th September 1939.  However, Poland did not surrender officially.  Several attacks started at different areas and soon this became a global fight. 
Some of the most known imparts of the war included the massive deaths that claimed many millions of peoples lives about 30 million people died at this region.  The creation of the Nazi Germans concentration camps caused further killing and mistreatment of the detained especially the Romans, and other faith groups that were targeted by the Germans.  They were subjected to forced labour to help recover the degraded Germany economic state. 

More deaths of citizens were found in the countries were these concentration camps were situated, for example, the Germany war prisoners. The war claimed nearly 70 million lives in the world.  It was called the war of extermination by scholars due to the mass death.

The Germany partitioned as a result and the Soviet Union was found to grow stronger in their military forces where their industrial development lead to them being a superpower. Another impact was the ideological changes that existed after the war.  Destruction on infrastructure was also witnessed. This ranged from partial to total destruction of more than 1,710 towns and cities, numerous villages and uncountable churches, schools, hospitals among others. Transport systems were almost denatured all over the region.  Wild animals and domestic animals were neither spared.  Economic decline in Germany was just too high to be estimated.

The aftermath of the WWII, had numerous implications.  The war left many people landless and homeless while majority others were devoured.  The war recorded the world largest loss of life. Germany, was left divided into four subsections, that were ruled by its allay powers the U.S., France, Soviet Union, and Great Britain.

The war can be implicated to have caused the existence of border conflicts that have now existed for long in most nations as well as continents.  The formation of the welfare States of the United Kingdom, the communism in china, and Eastern Europe are also the war result.  More so, the formation of Israel and the Vietnam can also be traced back from the wars implications. Generally, the formation of most world wide and regional organizations such as the U.N, World trade organization and World Bank among others is an implication of the WWII.

Development in technology for example the nuclear vision, jet engine, and computer development are also evidenced to have started or triggered by its effects. Finally, the US and the Soviet Unions were dominated as the superpowers and are often up to date rivals in economics, technology as well as inventions of varied natures.

The issue that is usually overplayed as far as womens reproductive choice is concerned is abortion. Many people are at loss when the decision to abort or not to are being made. People abort for different reasons. Some claim that they are financially unstable to support the baby once it is born. Others want to finish their education first while others are not yet ready for the responsibility of taking care of the child. There has been a lot of controversy regarding this issue and while some countries support and legalize it, in others it is totally banned (Barans, Para 5). The question still remains, who should make the decisions regarding women reproductive choices Should the women participate in making the decision or should the law makers decide for them This is a paper that reacts to what pro-life and pro-choice say about women reproductive choices.

Pro-life and pro-choice on women reproductive choices
The pro-life movement is both social and political and it focuses mainly on opposition to abortion. It also supports legal bans on elective abortion. The pro-life practitioners believe and maintain that embryos and fetuses are human beings and for that reason, they have a right of existence. The movement supporters are also against practices like human cloning, death penalty and euthanasia. This movement is generally supported amongst the Muslims and Christians. The movement opposes the belief that women have reproductive rights (Peters, Para 5). On the other hand, pro-choice is a movement that gives a description to the ethical and political view that women should have the rights and control over their fertility. It also supports that women should be the ones to decide whether to continue with a pregnancy or terminate it (MegaEssays ,com., Para 3). Pro-choice movement believes that women should have guaranteed rights to reproduction. This is inclusive of access to lawful security from compelled abortion, fertility treatment, contraception, legal and safe abortion and sexual education. This movement is made up of organizations and individuals supporting the named positions (Barans, Para 5).

The issue of abortion becomes a problem because people have different views as to where life begins. According to the Websters dictionary, abortion is defined as the act of terminating a pregnancy after the fetus or embryo is dead. Pro-life defines abortion as murder while pro-choice takes it as the termination of an unwanted pregnancy. According to pro-lifers, life begins once fertilization takes place. If a woman decides to abort, she is killing an already existing life. However, some people in pro-choice supports the belief that during conception, the cells that are joining were already alive so that means that fertilization is not the beginning of a new life. They feel that life began 3 million years ago and it continues as a chain. When a woman is born, so are her egg cells (Head, Para 10).

Pro-life movement accepts as true that any practice which ends up violating human lifes sanctity is immoral. It goes ahead to seek legal steps to ensure that such practices are declared illegal. This movement believes that all aspects of human life irrespective of whether it is of a terminally ill patient, disabled person, crippled, born or unborn should be respected. According to the movement, all persons are worth of dignity. They should therefore be respected from time of conception until they die. It supports the view that if a decision is to be made about the death or life of another person, no human being has a right to make such a decision. This is where they come into confrontation with pro-choice. Pro-choice supports the idea of people having the freedom and the right to make choices in all life aspects and that is inclusive of abortion. Pro-choice avails a climate where all families and individuals are enabled to be responsible over their reproductive destiny (ChristianNet, Para 2). 

Both pro-life and pro-choice make many assumptions regarding the reproductive choices of women. Pro-life assumes that women want to have children, have family ties and family life must include children. What would the lesbians and homosexuals say to this They also make the assumption that those women who abort do not care about the life of the unborn child. They assume that the people who abort are just young women who are sexually irresponsible. They forget that at times, the health of the mother may demand that the unborn child be aborted. In addition to that, pro-life assumes that for any unwanted pregnancy, the mother is responsible. The man who caused the pregnancy is not considered as a wrong doer. It also assumes that unwanted pregnancy is as a result of irresponsible behavior, it never considers that it could be as a result of failed contraceptives. Another assumption by pro-lifers is that after abortion, women regret having undergone the process. Well, studies show that most of the women who abort do not regret having done so (Peters, Para 15). The question however remains, is there a chance that the people who go ahead with a pregnancy regret What about the parents who adopt a child then they realize that they made a mistake

On the other hand, pro-choice assumes that worlds population needs to be decreased and therefore, abortion can be one of the ways to solve the problem. It also assumes that the men responsible for the pregnancy have no say regarding what should be done about it. Pro-choice assumes that a woman is an independent being and the decision about abortion should be solely hers. It does not give room for what the other family members may feel about the issue. It disregards all issues of morality or lack of it by only considering the choice and freedom of the woman aborting (Peters, Para 13).

The writers of the pro- life and pro-choice websites are the supporters of the respective movements. They therefore give their views according to what they believe and in accordance with the movement that they are supporting. For example, writers in pro-life are mostly religious bound with rigid beliefs. They seem to be giving views that are full of church doctrines. However, the writers in pro-choice seem more flexible and free. They talk of freedom and they give their views so freely that you can feel that is what they believe. They do not seem to care much about what other people in terms of religion, government and family think about them rather, they express their stand.
Regarding the issue of giving women choice, the pro-life and pro-choice websites differ slightly. Pro-life websites are more concerned with what a woman should not do as far as reproductive rights are concerned and they therefore give women limited choice that protects the unborn child. They support adoption and in their movement, they have pro-adoption among the issues they handle. The issue of contraceptives is a bit tricky for them because they support them although the Christian members of pro-life have their reservations. They put a condition that the accepted contraceptives should not cause abortion and they are therefore against the ones that are alleged to do so (Merritt, Para 9).The controversy comes in because Catholics do not support the use of contraceptives and since most pro-lifers are Catholics, this continues to be an issue (ChristianNet, Para 7).

Pro-choice gives women choice regarding the control they should have over their bodies. It supports the view that women have rights to decide on what do with their bodies pregnant or not. They claim that when a woman is pregnant, she is the one to bear all the stress that comes with it. If she feels that she is not ready to, then she has the choice to terminate the pregnancy. Pregnancy comes with responsibility. If a woman feels that she is not financially stable to support the pregnancy or the child, she is given a choice by pro-choice to abort. If she wants to continue with education without the hassle of a child, she can terminate the pregnancy. It also gives freedom to women who conceive out of unfortunate events like rape. According to Pro-choice, such women do not have to carry the responsibility of something they were forced to do. Basically, pro-choice advocates for freedom of choice and the ones concerned with reproduction. It believes that every choice comes with repercussions and whatever choice a woman takes, people may still feel that she made the wrong choice. It is therefore dependent on her to make the choices she feels are right as far as her life is concerned (Barans, Para 7).

The articles presented in the pro-life and pro-choice websites have a variety of information. Some are scholarly others are informative while some are out rightly dogmatic. Some of the scholarly and informative ones expound on the issues of abortion whereby doctors explain the different types of abortion, the reasons as to why it might be necessary to carry abortion and also information about contraceptives. They do so without taking either the pro-choice or pro-life side hence they can be used to clear the misconceptions regarding the issue and especially from the medical perspective. There are also articles with dogmatic issues like where life begins. There is basically to proof as to when life begins and there is much controversy regarding the same. Biologists might feel that it begins with conception while other people may feel that conception is just a continuation of life rather than its beginning (Peters, Para 6).

The information provided in the websites can be very confusing and especially for a pregnant woman who needs to make a choice about terminating or maintaining the pregnancy. If one reads only the pro-life articles, chances are that they would not abort. However, if one reads the pro-choice articles only, they might end up aborting (FuseTalk Inc., Para 5). In conclusion, reproductive choices are personal choices whether one has read the articles or not. As long as one has the information about abortions medical complications and wants to make the choice, then they should look within for what they believe in and stand for. They should however be ready to cope with the repercussions of the decision they have made.

The major Allied forces in the Second World War were France and Britain. These were the forces that were opposed by the Axis. The main axis countries were Germany, Italy and Japan. In May 1940, France, Luxembourg, Belgium and Netherlands were attacked by Germany the same day. It was possible for Germany to defeat a country like Luxembourg since it was poorly armed. Although Belgium was armed, it was not as good as Germany.

Hitler had air borne troops which helped Germany defeat the powerful Belgiums fortress. Germany waited for the British and France to invade Belgium before its invasion as Belgium was considered neutral at the time.  Even though Belgium had a good army, its air force was poor and it had to depend with its allies for support. At the time, French had a plan to fight Germany, not on their soil but in Belgium. However, Belgium was defeated and surrendered to Germany.

The Belgiums defeat led to Germanys victory in other ally countries and more so France. It was possible for Netherlands to lose war against German as she was all alone. This was due to the fact that she had refused to join France and Britain when they were fighting Germany in 1939. Netherlands Surrendered on 15th May 1940.

France was a powerful country among the allies and so were its weapons. During the time of invasion it was considered the most powerful in Europe and there was no doubt of its victory. The fall of Belgium had given Germany an easy entry to France. The strategy that was used by Germany was first to invade the Frances neighbors who were Luxembourg, Netherlands and Belgium. After invading these Countries Germany then turned to France and succeeded. Britain and France thought Germany would not strike at that particular time and therefore they were not fully prepared.
There was also poor communication among the allies and this contributed to the defeat. The allies were not as united as the Axis, for example, some countries like Netherlands refused to join France in its invasion. It is also reported that some countries joined the allies only when there was a threat of invasion or when they were forced to do so.

Hitlers army was well coordinated and organized. They had a well laid procedure on when and how to invade. This was the main reason as to why they succeeded especially in France. As Shepperd records, Germanys victory was due to her well organized and coordinated army as well as her well thought tactics. Studies reveal that at the time of the war, France was even divided politically. Shepherd continues to record that tanks belonging to France lacked radio. Radio was very important as it was a means of communication which enhanced coordination. Even though Hitler had few bombers, his air force was superior compared to that of France.

Although the Allies outnumbered the Axis forces, it is clear that they lacked in many things including superior weapons and lack of a strong central command. Their fighting equipments were more while their quality was poor. As Shepperd puts it, French and British had over 3000 tanks while Germany had only about 2000 tanks. It can therefore be precisely noted that their defeat can be attributed to the poor war tactics. German had superior weapons with radio and also a well organized army under the command of Brauchitsch.

Cooperation and mutual progress between various human rights movements in the United States have for long been facilitated by common language and philosophy. Civil and women rights movement are some of the human rights movements that have been in existence in the United States. The earliest womens rights movements in the United States include the national womens suffrage association and the American woman suffrage association. The two groups later joined to from the broad national American woman suffrage association.  The original wave of women rights movement began and ended in the 1920s. The second wave started in the 1960s followed by the modern third wave. All these waves dedicated their efforts in the fight against discrimination of women. This is the same case with the civil rights movements. Civil rights movements have been in the forefront in the fight against discrimination of any form for African-Americans. Women movements were formed by the middle and upper class white women. On the other hand, civil rights movement was a course primarily undertaken by African-Americans. A very good example of a civil rights movement is the African-American civil rights movement.

Women rights movements in the 1960s employed an independence strategy. They were independent of all other social and political movements. They formulated their own agenda independent of any political influence. Reformers in the women rights movements of the 1960s advocated for the same pay as men, freedom to engage in family planning measures, as well as equal rights regarding law. In 1966, National Organization for Women was created in the United States. The main aim of this movement was to fight for equality. This movement was feminist fighting for the rights of women. However, this sparked a major debate. Civil rights activities as well as other men interpreted this as hatred of men rather than seeing it as promotion of gender equality.

The main aim of the African-American civil rights movement was eliminating racial discrimination as well as restoring suffrage in South America. Its aims were enlarged to incorporate racial dignity, political independence and freedom from cruelty of the Caucasians. The African-American civil rights movement adopted nonviolent demonstrations and civil defiance strategy in their fight for freedom. Students, who were the majority of civil rights activists members, formed the student nonviolent coordinating committee. This organization joined hands with the congress of racial equality.  National boycotts were a very common strategy employed by civil rights activists. A very good example of a boycott was the Montgomery bus boycott aimed at fighting segregation in sitting positions in public transport. In 1964, a major achievement was made by the African-American civil rights movement, whereby the civil rights act was passed. This led to the banning of discrimination on the basis of color, religion or nationality.

In the 1960s, the civil rights movements garnered a lot of support from the womens rights movements as well as many women from learning institutions. This led to the realization of the civil rights movements that discrimination existed in the same way for both women and African-Americans. Whereas National Organization for Women was fighting for their rights to vote, civil rights movements were fighting for abolition of racial discrimination in voting especially in the southern states. After much struggle from both National Organization for Women and African-American civil rights movement, equal rights amendment was approved by the congress in 1972. Opponents however saw this amendment as a way of discouraging cultural values and the responsibility of women in the society. The National Organization for Women rights was legally challenged in sectors of reproductive rights, domestic associations, employment, as well as criminal law. These legal challenges were the main cause why the womens equal rights amendments were not ratified. Other achievements made by the National Organization for Women were for example, the passing of women educations equity act, the pregnancy discrimination act, among many others. The National Organization for Women also saw the change of attitude towards women. This is regarded as one of the most celebrated success achieved by the womens rights movements.

After many years of working with museums and dealers in the field of antiquities, fine arts, and collectibles, archaeologists have seen an increasing need for reliable, quality, stock display materials. Archaeologists bring together what they believe is the finest selection of stock mountings and display items in the world.

The Archeological museum of Lothal, Gujarat in the country of India presents the remains in the best possible ways. The pieces of art are displayed on their own as well as among other objects. The text accompanying the artifact depends on the respective art piece. The text explains the object signifying its time period, material, function and other relevant information.

The art is displayed in different ways. Few utensils ornaments are kept in a kind of show case on the wall. They are displayed in such a way so as to highlight them and also create an aesthetical composition for the onlookers to present a pleasing visual in front of their eyes and for developing a better understanding for them regarding that particular piece of art. Then few busts are there which are displayed over the platforms raised to suitable height to create a perfect three dimensional view.
No, until now there is no attempt made to recreate the original contexts in which the art would have been viewed.

Definitely the display is successful at conveying the complex relationship between art and society since it extensively explains the gradual development of mankind towards the better understanding of art.

The museum has been influenced by recent theoretical developments in the field to develop the proper transition between different stages of development in the society.

I think the display is quite decent for the understanding of the society thousands of years back. The display has covered almost everything and displayed in such a way so as to have a proper look and feel of the artefacts.

The reign of terror that took place during the French revolution was an effort to repress those who were considered enemies of the republic government, both domestic and foreign. During the period of terror thousands of those suspected to be the enemies of the republic and revolution were guillotined after getting charged by the revolutionary tribunal. The argument is whether or not the use of terror and violence was justified.

The reign of terror took place after the onset of French revolution. The terror was incited by two enemy groups, the Girondins and the Jacobins.  The reign of terror was characterized by executions of those considered to be against the revolution. The reign of terror is described as the period, in which the rulers terminated all possible enemies, regardless of age, gender or condition. Over 200,000 people had been charged. The exact number of those who were executed cannot be known precisely but it was in the range of 16,000 to 40,000. Mostly records were not maintained during that period and those that were kept they did not have accurate information that could be relied upon. The guillotine otherwise referred to as the National Razor came to be a mark of string of executions. The reign started in September, 1993 all through until July, 1794 with the fall of Robespierre. The paper traces the history of the reign of terror during the French revolution until its termination with the fall of Robespierre, while at the same time giving an argument in support for and against the use of violence. The paper finally gives a stand, that is, the use of terror for whatever reason was not justified.    

There were two opposing forces during the reign of terror. The use of terror during this period sharply divided the nation with some in support and others opposing the move. Many forces both internal and external were trying to oppose the revolution. In French some of the greatest opponents of the revolution were the French nobility. The Roman Catholic Church also opposed the revolution. The reason behind this opposition was because it had transformed the clergy into workers of the government. They were also supposed to receive a pledge of allegiance to the nation. The faction of the leaders supported the use of violence as defense to the revolution. They felt that there would be no other way of pushing for the revolution unless they imposed it to the public. Those who supported the use of terror pressurized the Convention into voting on September 5, 1793, to put forward a declaration that terror is the order of the day. A revolutionary army was established on September 7, 1793. The state would employ this army to utilize force on its people to make sure that they complied with the decrees. The supporters of the terror were mostly inside the republic with most people from outside the republic opposed the move.

There were two rival groups that fueled the crisis, the Girondins and the Jacobins. As the civil war extended and foreign militants advanced towards the republic, the hostility between the Girondins and the Jacobins increased. In 1794, the revolution was under pressure from both domestic and foreign forces, the conspirators and the foreign European monarchies. Most of the European governments were monarchies and this was the reason why they opposed the revolution that was being preached by the France. The foreign authorities wanted to repress the democratic and republican ideologies that they thought would threaten their own countries unity. This is why the foreign militants advanced to the border of France. At the same time the supporters of revolution were doing everything in their power to uphold their ideologies.  The Jacobins were then categorized in the parliamentary faction, the Mountain and were supported by the Parisian people. The government created the Committee of Public Safety. The Committee took its complete form of September 6, 1793. It was under enemy control of Maximilien Robespierre. The aim of the Committee was to repress counter-revolutionary acts and increase the French military strength. Finally, the strongest radicals to come up overcame their predecessors and eradicated every other opposition and referred it as counterrevolutionary. The suppression went up during the months of June and July 1794, a period known as la Grande Terreur. This term is translated to The Great Terror. It terminated in the coup of Thermidor Year II. This was on 27th July 1794, the so called Thermidorian Reaction. During the coup many rulers of the Reign of Terror were put to death, including Saint-Just and Robespierre. In addition to the opposition from outside, the use of terror was opposed from inside the republic.

During the reign of terror, the public was in opposition to the use of terror because everyone was afraid that any day would be his last day. In addition to terror, the government was pressurizing the public to surrender their produce by employing the San-Culottes paramilitary army. At the same time the supporters of the reign of terror made every effort to ensure that no matter what kind of opposition they faced, they would go ahead with the violence. In September 1793, Paris factions led by the enraged ones, Jacques Roux and Jacques Herbert took the leadership of the Convention. They were advocating for political cleansing, decreased and constant price for bread and a limit on voting permission to Sans-Culottes only. With the support of the National Guard, they encouraged the Convention to detain 31 Girondins. Among the arrested was Jacques Pierre. After these arrests the Jacobins gained authority of the Committee of Public Safety. This was on July 10 and they installed the revolutionary dictatorship. Jean-Paul Marat, a Jabobite ruler and journalist, was assassinated Charlotte Corday, a Girondist. This assassination caused a further rise in Jacobin political power. The head of the August 1792 uprising against the King was taken out of the Committee. Maximilien Robespierre took over the leadership and became the most powerful component of the Committee. This was at the period when the committee was beginning to take radical measures against the opponents of the revolution, both internal and external. On June 24, the Convention approved the initial republican constitution, that is, the French Constitution of 1793. The constitution was resolved by public referendum but was never effected like other laws. It was suspended for an indefinite period, by the ruling of October that the French government would remain revolutionary until the peace. The resulting policy was that the government would employ violence to suppress any resistance to the revolution. Under the control of the Committee, the Convention ratified some other legislation.

The Law of Suspects was signed on September 17. This law allowed the establishment of revolutionary courts that would prosecute those that were accused of treachery against the state and also to render punishment to the convicts by death. As a result this law changed the penal justice system into a body for reinforcing the decrees of the revolutionary regime. The revolutionary government declared as its main role, the preservation of social order and identification of inside opponents of the state. These enemies, such as the profiteers, who went against the maximum, would be cast out by removal from the citizenry. The revolutionary leaders commandeered the revolution. They achieved this by eradicating opponents mostly by utilizing often by employing gang brutality while appealing to the idea that revolution called for sacrificing independence for the sake of the community. Once the gang had accomplished its purpose all its leadership was also executed. This did not go well with the opponents because the gangs terrorized and condemned people to death without order. Mob justice was employed to handle some of the enemies, by beating them to death. Many people perished for their political ideas or acts but many others died because they were suspected or because other people wanted them dead. Among those who were prosecuted by the tribunal, about 8 were aristocrats, 6 clergy, 14 middle-class and 72 working class or peasants. They were charged for hoarding, avoiding the draft, abandonment, insurgence and other petty crimes. Some of these crimes did not warrant death. The revolutionary tribunal destined thousands to death by the guillotine. Those suspected were charged before the Revolutionary Tribunal that was advanced by the Law of the 22 Prairial. Robespierre insisted that terror be associated with virtue. His attempts to make the nation a united patriotic community came to be synonymous with never-ending carnage. He was brought down by a conspiracy of some associates of the Convention on 9 Thermidor on July 27. This was after the military conquest over Austria at the Battle of Fleurus.

The defeat of Robespierre resulted from a combination of those in thirst for more authority of the Committee of Safety and a more drastic policy that he was ready to agree to, with the modest opponents of the revolutionary government. Those who were against him established the Law of 22 Prairial as one of the cases against him. After he fell, accepting terror would mean accepting the policy of a republican opponent. Before he was arraigned before the tribunal he tries to kill himself but the bullet he shot himself with just shattered his jaw. He was charged and guillotined the following day. The rule of the Committee of Public Safety was terminated. Fresh membership was appointed after he was executed on limited terms. It power was also reduced gradually. This marked the end of the reign of terror. Anxiety and lack of trust was still great, even within the Convention, the CPS and the Jacobin club. The Directory came in place of the Convention in 1795. The Directory was in turn replaced by the Consulate in1799.

Although the revolution enabled the establishment of fresh political ideologies like democracy and nationalism and questioned the power of kings, priests and nobles, the use of terror to reach this end was not justified. The use of terror condemned a lot of people to death some of whom could have been innocent. It is estimated that the number that were executed was between 16,000 and 40,000. it is also clear that the terror was an abuse to the democracy that the supporters of revolution were preaching.

    After the Civil War, one of the major changes in the South was the emancipation of the slaves working on the plantations. They achieved the status of literal equality, which they could only dream of before the Civil War. Though it was much anticipated that the outcome of the Northern victory over the South will result in freedom, the aftermaths, responsibilities and burdens, which lay ahead in the path of the freed slaves were really troubling. Since after the emancipation most of the ex-slaves felt helpless and unable to determine how to make a living, raise and educate their children and find themselves a place to live.

    At this time the federal government came forward and played a pivotal role in helping out these people overwhelmed by the feeling of freedom. The federal government made and institution the  Freedman  Bureau , which has the sole responsibility of assisting the newly freed blacks in not only establishing their schools, churches and other community based institutions, but they also provided them support to achieve their active role in the public institutions like casting vote and holding public offices. The government also considered to take measures to assist the black population of the the South economically and even to provide them lands in Sea Islands, South Carolina and Davis Bend, Louisiana. These efforts helped a lot of black of communities to establish themselves and start their new lives in a meaningful way.

    On the contrary, most of the efforts made by the federal government were incomplete and lack proper consideration of what is the best for the ex-slaves, as well as proper coordination and management of resources. The government was reluctant to provide the black enough support so that they can establish better educational institutions, and most important failed to provide the Blacks the opportunities they needed then to become equal partners of the southern white population. Another severe failure of the federal government was to allow the fascist Confederates to participate in politics, hold public offices and pass laws regarding segregation of blacks and depriving them to vote or hold public office. This all crushed the dreams of the emancipated black population and they were again practically enslaved by the white for at least the next 70 years.

1. Identify and discuss the authors thesis Were you convinced by the authors argument
The author strongly attempted to refute previous theories about laws that were enacted during the Progressive Era and thereby argued in favor of a new interpretation of certain historical events and movements.  The basic line of reasoning is that traditional interpretations are both overly simplistic and that these interpretations tend to ignore the relevance of many other actors and events.  The author uses the passage of the Meat Inspection Act as one example and seeks to persuade the reader that there was much more to the inspiration for this law that Sinclairs novel or public pressure.  This leads to the authors basic thesis, which is that Americas Progressive historical era and its reformist tendencies and laws were predictable rather than a new historical direction more particularly, Kolko argues that there were many political, social, and economic pressures interacting over a long period of time which characterized American progressivism and its regulatory legislation rather than a sudden political change of heart.  This thesis is persuasive for two main reasons.  First, the author acknowledges that the traditional interpretation may have some validity.  There is no attempt to hide the fact that Sinclairs novel was quite popular, that it was known about by Roosevelt, and that popular opinion was not especially in favor of the meat packing companies.  This provides an honest basis from which the author can then expound upon the broader causes without dismissing the traditional interpretation one hundred percent.  Second, the author provides a chronology of government regulation and legislation, dealing with products that include more than just meat, and the reader can begin to identify and understand that the Meat Inspection Act of 1906 was simply another development in a regulatory reform trend that could be traced back to the immediate aftermath of the American Civil War in 1865.  It should also not be neglected that Europe seemed to have been using health concerns as a political shield in order to insulate its own businesses from American competition.  As a result, and the author documents this very specifically, the meat packing companies had a long history of participating in the articulation of legislation for inspections and related rules.  It is quite fair to argue, as Kolko does, that Upton was at best a tangential cause and perhaps very minor when viewed in the larger historical and commercial context.

2. Discuss the most important new information you learned about American history from the article.
    Although I learned many things from this article, the most important thing that I learned was how American laws and policies could be influenced by other countries and the international economy.  A careful reading of the text suggests that American companies and the American government were frightened by the many bans and restrictions that were coming from Europe as early as 1879 when Italy protested the quality of American meat exports.  France followed in 1881 and the growing trend was for European countries to hide behind a health scare in order to protect their own meat companies.  The implication is that Congress and President Roosevelt were compelled to pass legislation more by international economics than by a single piece of socialist advocacy.  The American economy might have been worse off had these international issues not been settled, and  they were settled with the passage of legislation in which allowed the American government to certify and therefore legitimize meat exports.  Private industry and the government worked very closely together.

3. Describe how the book reinforced or challenged ideas about American history that you have learned from the textbook and other readings assignments
    This book did challenge the common idea that morals guide the formation of laws in the United States.  This is not meant to suggest that moral principles are not relevant, for they are to a minor extant as was seen in the public reception to Uptons novel, but what really drove forward serious laws was the historical moment when commercial interests and national security concerns matched at an appropriate moment.  The threat posed by protectionist European markets created similar interests for both the meat packers and the federal government.  This may explain why it took until 1906 for this more comprehensive type of law to be passed.  One might even hypothesize that a convergence of commercial and national security interests equals new legislation.

Ancient Near East (Mesopotamia)
    The Ancient Near EastMesopotamia was located between River Euphrates and Tigris River. This land had marshland surrounding it and extensive flat plains. Mesopotamia was a land of sufficient rain in the uplands although the soils there were poor.  Contrary, the southland experienced little rains but the soil was much better. A common phenomenon in Mesopotamia was strong winds and storms. The only significant natural resource in Ancient Near East was clay with no other minerals like metals or good stone.

    The fact that Mesopotamia was flanked by river Euphrates and Tigris posed the risk of unpredictable flooding which could cause massive losses like wiping out houses and people. The rivers were also not favorable for transport and communication due to their shallow beds. The shallowness of the rivers also meant that trade and navy was unfavorable. People built their houses with clay made bricks which would easily fall apart making them keep on rebuilding them. The fact that the south was fertile despite receiving little rains called for irrigation for agricultural purposes. Wheat and barley was therefore the crop of choice in this land used to make bread and beer. With irrigation came the need for a government leading to establishment of the theocratic government whereby a god was the highest in the dynasty. The government was also necessary to institute defense considering that Mesopotamia never had natural boundaries and therefore they would suffer constant invasions leaving them at a loss. To relieve people from this worry, the city of Jericho was built surrounded by a huge defensive wall. On the same note the city of Catal Huyuk was also built.

   The people of Mesopotamia exalted their gods by sacrificing to animals such as goats, camel and sheep. Sumerian was the formalized city of religion. The relationship between man and god was such that kings were viewed as gods. Once a person died, the Mesopotamians would make sun-dried bricks and make mountains out of them referred to as ziggurats (EAWC, 2010).

    Mesopotamia had developed writing specifically cuneiform where Sumerians used reeds to write on clay plates in picture form. Writing created a sense of identity and could be used to represent value of the people such as was the Epic of Gilgamesh. The written law code was the Hummarabi Code whereby eye for an eye would be used. Whatever you did to the other person, the same would be done to you.

Ancient Egypt
    Ancient Egypt was traversed by the river Nile which runs from the north to the south. Ancient Egypt was surrounded by deserts. The land of Ancient Egypt was divided into southupper Egypt and lowernorth Egypt. The Nile would flood constantly and this was valued for it left the land more fertile. Furthermore, the Nile provided the Egyptians with constant water source. River Nile was more of a gift to Egypt as it also formed a means of trade and communication with the Pharaohs using it to send messages. In addition, it made Egyptians be more unified. The windy deserts around Egypt safeguarded them from invasion. In fact it would take a time span of 90 years before experiencing an invasion. Egyptians upheld the East side as a land of the living since they believed that it was where the sun was born. Consequently, they built their temples in the East. The West was a land of the dead where the sun would die s it set. This led to the establishment of tombs in the west (Silverman, 1997).

    The pharaohs were the equivalent to gods and were the rulers. The Pharaonic line would run through families through a female called Maat.  The Egyptians would mummify their dead and from this they learnt human anatomy quite a lot. Ancient Egyptians valued architecture such that they would stack Mastabas leading to the building of pyramids. The Giza pyramids were for instance built around 2500 BC. Writing in Egypt started from use of pictograms and then advanced to use of papyrus as paper. Theirs was hieroglyphic system of writing containing logography as well as alphabets used to write religious materials. Papyrus was popular due to its abundance such that it would be used by the poor to built houses and boats. The developments in Egypt were so successful for they went uninterrupted for about three hundred years. In fact, Egypt never had slavery not until the new age (Silverman, 1997).

Introduction The ability of a leader to have great focus, articulate professionalism in his her duties, and maintain high ethical orientation in that generates both local land international preference acts as some of the most important traits for an all time leader. 

A brief synopsis of Colin Powell  Perhaps the best description that can be used for Collin Powel is a leader who lived well beyond his time due to his peculiar view points and leadership skills that have increasingly become the driving force to many. 

Democratic emphasis in decision making  While the notion of democracy by most military commanders has often been considered indifferent in the public realms, the depiction of high democratic ideals by Powell is moving.   By the time Powell retired from his military career, he was described by his subjects as a worrier who believed in civilian control at all times and only resulting to military actions when alternative diplomacy was exhausted (Harry and Jeffrey, 2008).

Future focus in decision making To rhyme with modern scholars consideration of Colin Powell, Harry and Jeffrey (2008) cite his ability to maintain a clear future focus that facilitated his ability to transcend from one rank in the government to the other.  

Learning and critiquing others to delve a better leadership outset From a leaders perspective, Powell was perhaps one of the best students a consideration that greatly facilitated his ability to curve new leadership trends.  As Blumenthal (2005) indicates, situational leadership requires highly sensitive people who can relate the existing trend with the latter core demands in the society. 

The ability to assimilate change and continued improvement  According to Bruce and Bernard (2002), leaders should be able to see and create visionary outsets that can effectively guide their subjects to sustainability. 

Willingness to take key responsibilities  One of the greatest considerations that 21st leaders can learn from Powells operations is his willingness and ability to take responsibilities. 
Persistence in search for ethics According to the ethical theories, a leader must be able to pursue what is good even when the chances winning are very slim. 

Cooperation and operating as a team While operating as a military professional, the need for cooperation and teamwork is very critical.  During his leadership in Vietnam War and Panama invasion, Powell indicated that successes were only possible through cooperation and working as a team (Oren, 2003). 

Conclusion It is from the above discussion that that this paper concludes by supporting the thesis statement , the ability of a leader to have great focus, articulate professionalism in his her duties, and maintain high ethical orientation in that generates both local land international preference acts as some of the most important traits for an all time leader.

    The history of West Africa from the last decades of the 19th century was very crucial in determining the later social political and economic outset of the region, its relation with the colonialists and impact to the new lands.  This paper intrinsically analyzes the West Africa history since 1880.

Question one
What are the factors that contributed to British and French penetration and colonization of West Africa during the nineteenth century, and what policies did they use to govern and administer their colonies
    Erik (2005) explains that, West Africa had a complex system of social political organization that was indeed hard to easily concur.  To effectively penetrate in this region, French and British used their superior weapons compared to the natives of the region who had primitive weapons.   Taking into consideration that indeed some of the communities especially the Islamic resistant groups were very strong, Toyin (2004) argues that it could indeed have been impossible to reach the hinterland.  According to Ronald (2002), missionary and trade were also used as factors to create greater interaction and acceptance by the local communities from the coastal towns to the hinterland.  Through trade, the relationship was considered to be mutual and therefore acceptable to majority of the trading communities.  French mostly traded on groundnuts, cocoa and cotton while British traders were largely involved in gold trade (Erik, 2005).  In addition, there was great collaboration between kingdoms in the hinterland that traded in slaves with British and French.  It is important to note that respective British and French governments supported the penetration by pushing for the regional division in the Berlin Charters and therefore reducing conflict between the British, French, Portuguese and other interested European countries (Erik, 2005).  To effectively administer its colonies in West Africa, French used the assimilation policy which was based on expanding its culture to all of its colonies in West Africa.  Under this mechanism, the natives were considered to be French citizens as they assimilated its language, customs and other aspects of its culture (Rozbicki, 2001).  On the other hand, British employed an imperial policy where it sought to take full control of the regions it sought to colonize by force.  As a result, British government was only interested in creating a strong base that could provide it with the necessary resources for trade and slaves as opposed to expanding its territory to the region (Catherine, 2005).    

Question two  Following the abolition of the slave trade, Europeans on the West African coast sought to find a substitute for the trade in slaves.  What was the nature of European efforts in developing an alternative trade  What role did European and African merchants and African middlemen play in this transformation
    To continue with their rule and colonies in the West African states, the Europeans had to change their mechanisms.  Therefore, Ronald (2002) argues that they shifted to key legitimate commerce that focused on generating larger quantities of resources for their home industries.  Their efforts therefore entailed greater quest for land that was mainly used for growing agricultural products in the rich West African countries.  Besides, they further sought to consolidate labor from the local communities in attending and taking care of the agricultural crops such as wheat and cotton (Erik, 2005).  The British was particularly aggressive in colonizing and guarding their key goldfields in Gold Coast.  Notably, the new alternative further facilitated greater interaction between the black middle men and Europeans that ruled the hinterland kingdoms.  The transformation period after abolition of trade has been credited for the latter effectiveness of the colonial rule in the 20th century.  Europeans were credited for introducing the new technology which was to be employed in agriculture and other developments.  As Catherine (2005) argues, the Europeans were the driving forces for this technology and its application.  The African merchants and middle men on the other hand contributed in communication between Europeans and the hinterland communities.  They particularly facilitated a business environment taking into consideration that their relation with locals was highly polarized.  In addition to this, they formed the key transit for the different trade products from hinterland to the coast (Rozbicki, 2001). This was linked to the poor infrastructural communication network in the region.  Rozbicki (2001) adds that owing to the fact that European traders knew very little about Western Africa hinterlands, their penetration to interior areas such as Futa Jalon and Ashanti was affected by the African middle men and the merchants.     

Question three  What were the origins and the course of settlements of Sierra Leone and Liberia What contributions did they make to trade, propagation of Christianity and education in nineteenth century West Africa

    According to Toyin (2004), Sierra Leone and Liberia settlements form some of the key reminders of the slave trade and its impacts to the West African regions.  The origins of these settlements can be traced to the massive slave trade between West African countries and America to work in the new lands.  Though slave trade was rampant between the western African countries and America, there was a large number of Americans not contented with it.  In addition to that, more black Africans after helping the British in its different quests during the century had to be resettled.  As a result, Liberia and Sierra Leone were bought for settling some of the African American slaves (Erik, 2005).  It is worth noting that this settlement was supported by great politicians such as Thomas Jefferson, Monroe James and James Madison.  With this massive support, the implications went beyond the local boundaries of Liberia and Sierra Leone.  Notably, the new settlers had acquired key skills in farming and other production technologies either in the army or at new lands.  As a result, Toyin (2004) explains that with the help of the United States charity donations and the government, they easily engaged in key production at the settlement which further led to trade with neighbors and overseas traders.  In addition to that, the missionaries who mainly brought Christianity soon spread it to other western African communities well beyond Sierra Leone and Liberia.  In her view, Catherine (2005) indicates that the Americans further supported a strong system of education during the time which was considered to be critical in creating a new effective system to help the settlers effectively establish themselves in their new homes.  Taking into consideration that most of the Western African States by the time of resettlements suffered high illiteracy rates due to oppression both by the colonialists and  or their local rulers the new education system provided a new outlook for them.  Toyin (2004) explains that its easy spread was particularly facilitated by the Christian missionaries.       
Question four
The area of West African underwent a number of Islamic revolutions in the nineteenth century trace the origins of two these jihads, their consequences on traditional society, the coming of colonial rule and the persistence of the slave trade during that period.

    Notably, the leadership of Western African States was mainly through Muslim kingdoms that constantly went into holy wars with their neighbors.  One of these jihads was the jihad of Umar Tar which was ignited by their leader, Umars quest to expand his territory to the neighboring communities such as Bambara kingdoms, the Segu and Fulani (Omar, 2000).  Unlike the Umar Tar, Fulani Jihad was invoked by oppression of the Fulani communities who were pastoralists by the rulers of the Muslim empires in the south.  As a result, the Fulanis organized strong rebellions against the empires which culminated to a widespread war between most of the pastoral communities and their neighboring empires (Allan, 2001).  It is worth noting that both jihads resulted form the need to control the resources in the areas especially to benefit from the emergent trade with outsiders in the 19th century.   According to Toyin (2004), these two jihads had great implications to the local communities by destabilizing their previous harmonic relationship by creating long lasting enmity among them.  On the case of the Fulani jihad, the involved empires and communities such as the Kano and Sokoto were easily divided between the British and the French (Allan, 2001).  Besides loosing their leadership styles, the communities which were primarily pastoralists were forced to assimilate crop farming.  Notably, the colonialists got a much easier route in their conquest for further penetration in that they easily supported one side to fight against the other.  It particularly became easier for the colonial rulers to generate further impetus for selling the slaves to the new land.  Notably, Catherine (2005) indicates that each group sought to increase the number of captives from their opponents to sell to slave traders at the coast.  Indeed, these wars have been the largest blame for the long period that slave trade lasted in West Africa.

    Having rich fossil evidence, in South Africa, one is safe to conclude that mankind has its cradle embedded deeply in the roots of African history. This is evidence that the human family has evolved in Africa, dating back to millions of years. Some of the early inhabitants of this area included modern humans who lived in that area over 100,000 years ago (Keppel-Jones). The ancestors of the San and the Khoikhoi, who lived during that particular period in the Southern part of Africa, were hunters and gatherers from the Stone Age, who made a vast collection of rock art. Thus the peoples who are though to be distinct to this area are the Khoisan (Khoikhoi and the San) who according to the early European terminology were referred to as the Bushmen and Hottentots. The Khoikhoi generally practiced pastoralization, herding their cattle, which they came to acquire much later after the sheep, over long distances covering the current Namibia up to the coast towards the eastern side of the Cape (Hofmeyr). The San on the other hand were hunters and gatherers and their population was scattered all over the southern part of the continent. At around the same time, the first Bantu speakers started migrating into the southern part of Africa, giving birth to the Iron Age and the domestication or rearing of crops, which they later further developed in to animal husbandry (Hopkinson).

       When the first Europeans arrived, South Africa was not as populated as the rest of Africa at that particular time. They in fact, never came to Africa to settle, but rather to gather supplies for their ships during their long voyages running Southern Asia from Europe. During the Europeans first settlement, there was little or no resistance from the natives, and it even took some time before there was the first conflict, which involved indigenous and foreign Europeans with a little touch of African resistance (Johnson). In 1652, South Africa was the earliest settlement site for these early European settlers, when there was a supply base for a certain Dutch company, in Table Bay where the current Cape Town is situated at. Over the subsequent 150 years after 1652, the Dutch settle in the area surrounding the East Coast surrounding the area of Table Bay, making a colony know as Cape Colony. As these settlements grew and their populations expanded as time went by, they encountered the natives of that area who are the indigenous Khoisan and the Bantu (Keppel-Jones). The first group of peoples they encountered was the Khoisan, who was forced to flee due to decimation and slavery. As the European settlement grew even further towards the east over the next few generations, they encountered the Xhosa, who are Bantus, who later came to be trade partners and were also well armed. The Boers, the name by which the Dutch settlers came to be known by, meant farmer, and this was due to the fact that they hard large tracts of land that they converted into farms. Large farms meant that they needed much manual labor, and so they imported slaves, which was extraordinary considering that the rest of Africa was exporting slaves (Lewis H. Gann).

    The Napoleonic Wars brought about some changes in the coast, with the British seeking to control the coast that was the main route that led to the east, as a military strategy against the French. This was in 1759, but in 1803, the British returned control of the coast to the Dutch but again repossessed control over it three years later. It is therefore no surprise to find out that the Dutch really disliked the British rule, as much as it had its economic benefits. Such benefits included opportunities to export ivory acquired from hunting, and the wool got from the farmers who reared sheep (Theal). The British even further angered the Dutch when they abolished slavery, but made the effects seem less impacting by the introduction of a new law in 1809, which was famously known as the Hottentot Law. The law required black Africans to always carry with them a certain pass that included the name of their current employer and their place of residence, whenever they were out in public places. If one was found without that pass, a black person could be taken up by any white and be put to be a laborer. The law required that a black person sign a contract with his or her employer, under which if the contract was breached by the employer, which in this case is the white person, the black was able to sue (Lewis H. Gann). Christian missionaries arrived in the southern part of Africa after 1815 from Britain and fought for the rights of the black people, which put the government under pressure to abolish the restrictive options in the law, and thus introduce the Ordinance 50 introduced in the year 1828. The major blow to the Boer community, which they just couldnt stand no more, came when the British finally completely banished slavery, following a parliamentary concession that passed the law. This was especially disastrous to the poor Boers, since affording labor was difficult to them thus it prompted the Trekboer, which was basically a mass movement or migration to Natal, but then unfortunately, the area became annexed by the British in the year 1845, which forced them to move on further to Orange Free State, and finally ending up in Transvaal, which was a tributary (Johnson). The British further made no effort to stop the Boer community from moving from the mainland, considering that it reduced tension within the area which they considered their territory. Instead, they offered two treaties that made the situation more permanent. These treaties included the Sand River Convention, in the year 1852 and the Bloemfontein Convention in the year 1854 (Theal). The former was recognized as the independence of Transvaal, with the latter recognizing that of the Orange Free State. Some Boers however remained in Cape colony and this gave rise to tension between them and the British administration. There were even African kingdoms which were independent and the British labeled them as provocative, and this made the tension even worse. The annexing of the site where the Kimberly diamonds were discovered at West Griqualand in the 1870s further increased the tension between the British and the Boers (Hopkinson).

    In 1867, there was discovery of diamonds somewhere in the Vaal River, 550 miles from Cape Town, which gave rise to a mad diamond rush, with people from all over the world migrating into Kimberly transforming it into a town with a population of 50,000 plus within a short span of 5 years. Initially, blacks and whites mined as independent miners, but then the mines got deeper and deeper, and made it more difficult to mine. It was not until 1886, that a major discovery of the worlds largest deposit of the second major mineral which was a gold bearing ore was discovered, some 30 miles off the Boer capital at a place called Pretoria. It was discovered a cliff called Witwatersrand by the locals, meaning white water ridge. As long as a European had enough capital to set up equipment for mining, they would get involved. This is due to the fact that heavy machinery was involved and this required massive investment in capital. Black Africans couldnt own their own mining companies, due to laws passed by the government, forcing them into manual labor as the whites got jobs in the skilled labor department and as foremen (Keppel-Jones). Furthermore, black Africans were prohibited by law from living in whichever area they wished, and were forced into segregated areas.

    There was an independent state to the southeast of Africa that was governed by the Zulu, which posed a threat to the Transvaal Boers. The Zulu were a branch of the Bantu group Nguni, and were settled at the slopes of the eastern part of South Africa and at the coastal plain. Nguni are nomadic pastoralists who rear staple crops in the rainy seasons, and were organized into independent homestead which have organized themselves into small states. At the beginning of the 19th century, there was a period of drought which was later followed by a period of constant and reliable rainfall, which led to population growth, and subsequently the expansion of territories. This definitely, led to overcrowding of the more fertile areas in a bid to compete for farm land, which led to conflict. In the 1820s, owing to group alliances within the Nguni, the Zulu become very powerful, after a series of wars. This was also coupled with the fact that the Zulu used very tactical skills in war, and with the war victories, the losers fled towards the Drakensberg mountains and came to encounter the Trekboer (the migration of the Dutch). Since the Zulu were a threat at that time, the Boers did not resist the British annexing their lands (Lewis H. Gann). When the Zulu were conquered the Boers from Transvaal said that the annexation made in 1877 had violated the twin treaties (Bloemfontein and Sand River conventions). Further annexations made by the British included the 1868 annexation of an area called Basutoland, in the Drakensberg Mountains and in 1885 Bechuanaland. The discovery of gold in Witwatersrand is what finally out a light edge in the balance of power in the area in the year 1886 (Theal).

    The Anglo-Boer war which started on October 11th 1899 saw a major change in land policy all over the area. With the Boer finally defeated, they signed a peace deal on 31st May 1902, which is known as the Peace of Vereeniging, signed in Pretoria. This war also raised a couple of questions locally and internationally about the British policies with others questioning why was Britain interested in the conquest of European farmers. The death at concentration camps set up by the British during the war also questioned the morality of Britain. It was also during this era that due to the large tracts of land owned by the white farmers, the government put in place policies that ensured that black farmers could own large tracts of land (Hofmeyr).

Wars have considerably influenced the history of mankind, since battles have been considered for a long time to be the best way of resolving conflicts or acquiring the rights for controlling various resources. Despite the fact that wars are mainly led between military forces of opposing nations, civilians are always involved in the war and suffer greatly mainly because they are not armed and are less equipped with skills of escaping from miseries of war. However, there is a considerable difference between the numbers of civilian casualties in major wars in the history, such as the Vietnam War, the first and the second world wars and the current wars, such as the Iraq and the Afghanistan wars. In the former wars, the numbers of civilian casualties was overwhelming, because the armed forces involved in these wars were not only targeting the soldiers from the opposite war participant, but they were also targeting civilians. Soldiers fighting in such wars were very irresponsible and could cause a lot of harm to the civilians who were not even taking part in the war. However, in the wars that have taken place more recently as well as the ones that are taking place now there have been reported very few cases of civilian casualties. This is perhaps due to the war policies of maintaining the conflict between the soldiers themselves with little interference if any on the civilians (Garfield, 1999).

Civilian casualties in war
Civilians are usually more vulnerable during the times of conflicts as compared to the fighting soldiers. While the fighting soldiers have equipments and weapons required for fighting, the civilians usually have nothing and therefore inflicting harm on them during the periods of conflict is quite easy. They also lack the necessary tactics of taking cover whenever they find themselves in the middle of fighting troops. They end up using hiding and defending tactics that are primitive making them suffer enormously during the conflict. In the past, civilians suffered more than in todays conflicts since the soldiers fighting in such wars targeted the civilians whom they could kill in large numbers without much struggle (Landers, 2004).

During WWI, thirty seven million casualties were recorded, with the total number of sixteen million deaths and twenty one million wounded. Approximately seven million deaths among civilians were recorded in this particular conflict. This was probably the highest number of civilians deaths ever reported in history. Unlike in other conflicts that had occurred in the nineteenth century, most of the civilian deaths that were reported in WWI were as a result of combat and not diseases. Soldiers targeted civilians indiscriminately and hence wounded and killed millions of them. The WWI was the first major conflict that involved several nations and hence the net of war casualties was also high and the most affected were civilians. Unlike in the current conflicts notably Afghanistan and Iraq wars where a lot of medical attention is being offered to the military as well as the civilians, in the past major wars in history, this was not the case and civilians who were wounded in such conflicts could easily die from such wounds (Spear, 1992).

The civilian casualties were high in the past wars since the use of weapons in wars was not regulated at all and the armed forces had the privilege of using any type of weapons at their disposal. In some instances, soldiers of one side could have more superior weapons compared to the ones being used by the other side. Essentially, this meant that since the stronger side cared less about the people it was causing harm to it could easily kill and wound a lot of civilians intentionally. This was the case when a nuclear bomb was dropped in Hiroshima, Japan where thousands of civilians who were not taking part in the war died instantly while thousands more were injured. However, the use of weapons in conflicts today is highly regulated and no military forces of any country are allowed to use weapons that are not permitted by the United Nations. This therefore means that civilians are shielded from being killed or wounded by weapons that are not allowed by the security council of the UN (Tamanoi, 2000).

During the past conflicts, there were no regulations in regards to battle fields and therefore soldiers could attack each other anywhere regardless of whether or not such a place was highly populated or not. This therefore meant that the civilians were highly vulnerable to the fighting between soldiers of both sides of a conflict. In past major wars, there were no policies that were aimed at protecting the civilians from being killed or wounded by the fighting soldiers. The lack of such policies made the soldiers fight in a very irresponsible manner causing a high number of deaths among the civilians. However, the establishment and implementation of policies aimed at protecting the civilians has greatly reduced the number of civilian casualties in more recent wars that appear to be more deadly as compared to the past wars in history. Nowadays, opposing military forces are not allowed to attack each other in areas with high population of civilians. This has in essence reduced the probability of the possible civilian casualties in a conflict as opposed to the past unregulated conflicts (Muse, 1992).
In the current wars, there are less civilian casualties, because the peoples awareness about wars has been increased significantly. Unlike in the past, civilians are aware of their role during the periods of conflicts. There are also a lot of initiatives aimed at sensitizing the public and increasing their knowledge on the best ways they can use to avoid being wounded or killed during periods of conflicts. In the past, there were no such initiatives and the civilians were left on their own without adequate knowledge of how they could protect themselves effectively during the periods of conflicts. As a result, several thousands casualties could occur during the periods of war and several of them could end up dying since very little care if any could be given to the wounded civilians. The increased awareness in the more recent wars have made the civilians running away from war torn zones to use safe routes where they are less likely to be harmed by the fighting soldiers (Garfield, 1999). 

The number of casualties in the past major wars was quite high as compared to the ongoing wars in several regions around the world. While during the past wars very little assistance if any was given to the fleeing civilians, in the present wars, a lot of assistance is given to civilians who are running away from their countries that have turned into battle fields. They are being welcomed in the neighboring countries where they receive a lot of support not just from the country providing them with refuge but also from the international community, which has in the recent past proved to be crucial to civilians thus preventing them from being harmed by the fighting soldiers. This is a complete departure from the past, where fleeing civilians were entirely left without much help from the international community. In fact, in several instances, civilians running away from battle fields could easily be attacked while in the countries or regions they were seeking refuge.  Attacking and inflicting fleeing civilians was a simple task since they were not armed and they were in fact helpless and at the mercy of those attacking them, while on foreign land. This is no longer the case explaining why the numbers of civilian casualties have reduced significantly in the more recent wars. The international community is very much interested in the welfare of the civilians in war torn nations and it has been doing all that is within its powers to protect the lives of these civilians so that very little harm if any can be infringed on the civilians in such nations. Many resources have also been employed by the international community and have been directed to such nations, thus protecting the lives of innocent civilians (Tamanoi, 2000). 

One of the major reasons that led to a high number of civilian casualties during the periods of war was that the fighting sides believed that by killing as many people as possible of the other side, whether civilians or the military personnel, could guarantee them the much needed victory. With such notions ruling the minds of the fighting soldiers and the vulnerability of the civilians, civilian casualties were simply inevitable. Soldiers could wound and kill as many civilians as possible so that they could secure a win by making the other side of the conflict surrender having seen the great numbers of civilian casualties it has suffered. This is no longer the case in most of the current wars and soldiers are less interested with the civilians thus avoiding them in several instances and maintaining the conflict as a matter between them and the soldiers of the other side of the war. In the current wars, the main objective of the soldiers is not to kill and wound civilians but to suppress the opponents military forces. In this case, fewer civilians are likely to suffer, since they are no longer being targeted by the fighting soldiers (Landers, 2004).  

During several wars that took place in the past, such as the WWI, WWII, Vietnam War and other major wars, people without any fighting experience could be captured and recruited as soldiers. Compelling of people to play the role of soldiers was another major reason that led to the increased numbers of civilian casualties. Such soldiers could just shoot and wound or kill civilians recklessly due to their lack of fighting experience. There were also cases of training young boys as soldiers in major wars in history. Giving boys weapons and powers of killing people is perhaps one of the greatest causes of the great numbers of civilian casualties in many of these wars. For these young people with such dangerous weapons killing and wounding civilians was simply fun. They could therefore kill and wound as many civilians as possible without having a second thought about their actions. In the more recent wars and the current ones, such practices have been greatly prohibited and only responsible people are allowed to take part in war thus reducing the chances of young irresponsible people killing and wounding people for fun instead of sticking to the rules of the war (Spear, 1992).  

The issue of human rights has greatly assisted in reducing civilian casualties in war torn nations. Several non governmental organizations together with the international communities have been of much assistance to the civilians in countries devastated by wars. Such organizations work round the clock to ensure that the violation of human rights does not take place at all in countries undergoing periods of conflicts. These organizations therefore apply various mechanisms to ensure that governments or organizations that are reported of violating the rights of human beings are suppressed as much as possible so that everyone whether in a peaceful country or in a war torn nation gets the chance of enjoying the fundamental rights of human beings. The protection of human rights by the international community and several non governmental organizations have been a major cause of reduction in the number of civilian casualties in more recent and ongoing wars around the world. Though the human rights existed in the past, they were less obeyed and hence massive violations of human rights could take place in war torn regions with civilians bearing the greatest burden of such violations. As a result, several civilians could end up suffering greatly (Garfield, 1999). 

The peace keeping troops that are usually employed by the United Nations have several roles in the regions where they are sent. One of their major tasks is ensuring that civilians in such regions are well protected and that as few civilians as possible suffer as a result of the wars taking place. The peacekeeping troops guide the civilians on their ways of escaping from dangerous spots where they are likely to be wounded or even get killed by the fighting soldiers. The peace keeping troops also provide the wounded civilians with medical services and thus prevent such civilians from dying from the wounds. Ever since the peace keeping troops started being employed, they have been very effective in reducing the number of civilian casualties in war torn zones. In virtually all major wars in history, there were no such troops and hence civilians could not receive the assistance they normally receive from these troops. The current war in Somalia is a good example of how the peace keeping troops can assist in reducing the number of civilian casualties. This is the only war in the recent history where the number of civilian casualties is high, compared to other ongoing wars such as the Afghanistan and the Iraq wars there are much more civilian casualties in the Somalia war. This is greatly attributed to the absence of foreign troops in the country to assist the civilians from suffering in the arms of the insurgents. The only troops found in Somalia are the Ugandan troops, which are ill equipped considering the task at hand. Just like in the case of the ongoing war in Somalia, there were no troops that were employed in the major wars in history making it difficult to offer any meaningful assistance to the civilians. The absence of such troops could thus lead to thousands or even millions of civilians being wounded or even killed during periods of conflicts (Landers, 2004). 

Despite the fact that some of the major wars in history just like the on going wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were aimed at perpetrating certain ideologies, most of the wars that were fought in the past were mainly driven by the urge to control resources owned by the enemy. There are no longer any wars that are fought on such grounds and hence less bloodshed is reported in the current wars. In the ongoing wars especially the Iraq and the Afghanistan wars, the American government and its allies who form the stronger side of the war are not interested in killing civilians, if anything they are aimed at protecting them. Instead the American government together with its allies in these wars aim at suppressing regimes that rampantly violates the human rights as well as the terrorist organizations in these two nations. Therefore, while some American troops are fighting the insurgents of these two countries, there are other troops that are protecting the civilians from being hurt by the fighting taking place. It therefore implies that very few civilians if any are hurt as a result of the fighting taking place in their country (Garfield, 1999). 

Perceptions of civilian casualties created by media coverage
Although there were more civilian casualties in most major wars that have taken place in history as compared to the more recent wars, the media has created a perception that the current wars have resulted in more civilian casualties. The first war to receive international media coverage was the gulf war, which took place in the early 1990s. The wars that had taken place before this war received very little if any media coverage. As a result, most of the incidences went unreported and hence there was no impression that was created by the media that there were lots of civilians who were suffering as a result of such wars. However, ever since the CNN was established as an international media house, all major wars taking place in any part of the world and at any time are reported on a continuous basis. This has resulted to the creation of the impression that the more recent wars are resulting into more civilian casualties as compared to the major wars in history (Human Rights Watch, Human Rights Watch (Organization), 1991).

In the past major wars, very few nations bothered to maintain records of civilian casualties that took place during periods of conflicts. This therefore means that it is not possible to objectively compare the numbers of civilian casualties in the past wars with the more recent and ongoing wars. Due to the fact that there is a lot of data of the more recent wars as compared to the past ones, there is the creation of an impression that there are more civilian casualties in the recent and ongoing wars as compared to the past wars. The statistics provided by the international media houses concerning civilian casualties in both the past and the present wars does not make things any better. This is because they are accused of providing biased data and therefore leading to a wrong perception by the public and all those who cannot access the right data regarding civilian casualties (Human Rights Watch (Organization), 2003).

While reporting the ongoing conflicts around the world, the international media have been accused by several experts and scholars of being biased. The international media houses are said to report in a manner that is aimed at making the public in nations around the world to perceive one of the parties in the conflict negatively. In order to achieve such misguided objectives, some of the media houses provide wrong statistics of civilian deaths and other casualties making the public to believe that civilian casualties in such conflicts is higher than it is actually. At the same time, while the international media houses portray the soldiers of the side of the war they are supporting as very responsible soldiers who are assisting civilians, they portray the soldiers of the other side of the war negatively. Such soldiers are portrayed as the ones causing a lot of civilian casualties. Therefore, the civilian casualties that are caused by the soldiers of side being supported by the international media house are reported to have been caused by the troops of the other side. The international media is also accused of being mum over instances of human rights violations in the wars that have been perpetrated by the side of the war being favored by the international media house (Human Rights Watch, Human Rights Watch (Organization), 1991). 

The international media also create the impression of increased numbers of civilian casualties by reporting unconfirmed news. Reporting in such a manner gives the media a great loophole of manipulating such reports so as to favor the side of the war it desires. Advanced technology has made it possible for the international media houses to report and show actual pictures of all that is happening in the battle fields. Such airing was not possible in the past conflicts and therefore such emotional form of reporting was unacceptable. The use of the advanced technology to show what is actually happening in the battle fields together with the weapons being used makes the public to get the impression that millions of civilians must become casualties of such wars. However, this is just an impression that has been created by the media, but the truth is the numbers of civilian casualties have greatly reduced in the more recent wars as compared to the past major wars in history (Human Rights Watch (Organization), 2003).

The numbers of civilian casualties have been greatly reduced in the more recent and ongoing wars as compared to the past major conflicts in history. The reduction has persisted despite the increased advance in technology used in making modern weapons. Unlike in the past wars, civilian casualties in the recent and ongoing wars have reduced since they are no longer targeted by the fighting troops. There has been a major shift of war objectives from killing as many people as possible in order to win a war to suppressing the insurgents and other organized organizations bringing about conflicts. The civilians are less targeted in the recent wars explaining why the numbers of civilian casualties have greatly reduced over the years. However, despite the remarkable reduction in the number of civilian casualties in wars, the international media is greatly accused by several experts and scholars of reporting in a very biased manner and thereby creating the impression that, there are more civilian casualties in the current conflicts as compared to the conflicts that took place in the past.

The author of the document is Captain Simon Bernard from Germany. He explores the concept of Revolutionary Military Affairs (RMA) and argues that regardless of the fact that the innovations unveiled during the gulf war were revolutionary, we are presently very far from genuine Revolutionary Military Affairs. Essentially, Revolutionary Military Affairs refers to a basic advancement in technology organization and doctrine that makes the current approaches of warfare obsolete. In his review, Pudas indicates that definition of RMA is compounded by various factors that range from the dynamic nature of technological advancements, the nature of operational or organizational innovation that seeks to address a distinct problem to the critical and dynamic social, economic and political environments that influence the military sphere (1).

Bernard argues that a revolution is a complex conception that is multifaceted and all inclusive in nature. Thus it addresses various intricate and augmenting factors that are beyond the introduction of new operational concepts or technologies. Although innovation is at the center stage of the conception, its effectiveness in attaining revolution is highly dependent on augmenting factors such as organizational and operational contexts and decision making processes.

The author argues that technological innovation can not be entirely used to define RMA. He cites Kingston who indicates that a true revolution has the capacity to change all the facets of the game (185). In this regard, the author argues that it does not only change the game but also the equipment, rules and size of the opponent. In addition, it alters the organization of the constituent teams, their tactics, training, doctrine and virtually everything. Of great importance however is its ability to change the relationship between the society and the game. Classic examples presented by the author in this respect are Agrarian revolution, industrial revolution and the introduction of information technology that impacted upon all facets of human survival. Seemingly, the power to achieve this lies in the employment of information technology in warfare. Presently, America uses information technology in warfare sparingly (Sullivan, 5). According to Mahken, use of information technology is largely limited by its dynamic nature as well as the political, economic and social environments (40).

In order to attain this true revolution, the author indicates that the current approach of destroying the enemy needs to be replaced by destroying all the options that the enemy has. This would in return make the enemy vulnerable to manipulation. Notably, this can only be attained through employment of precision weapons whose innovation is likely to be completed in the next decade. In particular, they work by detecting, selecting, visualizing and finally acquiring the target. Further, the author cites Gray who shows that an ideal RMA would break the enemys will to engage in warfare and further oblige the same to sue for peace (121). Thus there would be no any human losses. Notably, America has not attained this scenario as it still employs a battle field in fighting with the enemy.

Indeed, it is certain that an ideal RMA has not yet been achieved and can not be entirely defined by innovation of new technologies. It is true that the nature of RMA is complex and it is characterized by various factors. While technology is critical in the same, Latham acknowledges that information systems and organization of operations is equally imperative (1). Further, the political, economic and social environments also need to be given equal consideration in war. This is because of the fact that these environments have direct influences on the involvement of a given country in war.

However, Anderson contests the idea that strategic planning in war can ever be attained by technology (70). This contention is complemented by Watts who postulates that war conditions are usually chaotic and that it would be difficult for the country to employ strategic fighting (1). In particular, it would also be challenging for the country to decipher the approaches being employed by the enemy. Likewise, Murray and Millet contend that technological invention and innovation is also taking place in the south and various new approaches to warfare are continuously being devised (371). Thus effective warfare using the precision techniques needs to put in to consideration the emergent strategic approaches and information that the enemy might employ. As indicated earlier, effective RMA can not solely depend on new technology.

In the Canadian context, the review of RMA and the related factors is important. Currently, OHanlon indicates that Canadas investment in warfare has been compounded by various political and social factors (2). Thus in order to attain the desirable status of RMA, there is a dire need for the country to address these inconsistencies. Further, Blank appreciates that this review is vital for strategic planning as it ensures that emergent concerns are incorporated in the final decisions. Nevertheless, it is worth noting that warfare is a dynamic field that requires consistent research and implementation of credible findings.

The Russian Revolution of 1917 brought about the end of the reign of the Tsars in Russia and brought forth the birth of the first socialist state in the world, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), whose existence spanned more than 70 years. Its founders promised a new ideology that was guaranteed to be the wave of the future as they trumpeted the Marxist mantra of Workers of all countries, unite and boldly tried to export their revolution worldwide.  However, within this new socialist state, there was an ongoing transformation taking place following the triumph of the revolution.

In her book, The Russian Revolution, Sheila Fitzpatrick attempts to study how the events following the 1917 revolution came about and how these events would have a long-term effect on how the Soviet Union would be run until its demise in 1991, particularly at the time when Stalin came to power following the death of Lenin. From this point, it would appear that the direction the USSR would take deviated from the goals set by Lenin in creating a dictatorship by the proletariat in the spirit of Marxist thought. As a result, instead of the supposed dictatorship by the proletariat, what came about was the creation of a new bourgeoisie, the very same entity the Bolsheviks (ironically) wanted to eliminate.  This new set of elites was now composed this time of leading Bolshevik figures that were at the forefront of the Russian Revolution and later on came to power along with Lenin.
In trying to explain what went wrong with the Russian Revolution, Fitzpatrick makes use of a framework used by another scholar Crane Brinton in his book, Anatomy of a Revolution.  Using the French Revolution as his model, Brinton states that revolutions tend to follow a life cycle of its own beginning with the fomenting of unrest, the progression of revolutionary zeal and the drive for radical transformation until it reaches its climactic state (qtd. in (Fitzpatrick 2).  What would follow is what Brinton would call a Thermidorian phase where the revolutionary zeal would wane, there would be disillusionment towards the revolutionary ideals that used to be enthusiastically exercised and later on, the desire to restore semblance of normalcy in society (qtd. in Fitzpatrick 2).

One indicator of this deviation from Marxist-Leninist ideas under Stalins rule was the implementation of the first Five-Year Plan. During Lenins leadership, War Communism nearly destroyed Russias economy, and in a bid to bring stability, Lenin implemented the New Economic Policy which called for liberalization, something considered anathema to communist ideals.  Lenin justified it as an interim phase as the Soviet Union was still going through the motions of instability. Upon Lenins death, Stalin took over but not after dislodging other rivals for the highest position not only in the Kremlin, but in the communist party as well.  He would launch what was considered a revolution from above.  The (first) Five-Year Plan was part of this grand design.  It called for the rapid industrialization of the USSRs economy in order for it not to lag behind the highly industrialized western powers which Stalin feared would take advantage of Russias economic weakness. Therefore, there was an effort to jumpstart Russian industries. Corollary to this industrialization program was the collectivization of the farms where famers were grouped into larger collective farms. While the industrialization process was making inroads, it was the collectivization program that was the bane of the Five-Year Plan.  Collectivization had adverse consequences in the agricultural sector as farmers were became resentful of its policies, one of which was being compelled to sell their produce at very low prices they found unreasonable.  As a result of this, they slaughtered their livestock which also had another effect as famine struck Russia and the meager food supply caused led to many deaths.  At the same time, it also resulted in deaths of kulaks regarded as bourgeois by Stalins regime and killing them off was the way of eliminating classes in the agricultural sector, not to mention, they were seen as a threat to the new regime therefore the need to eliminate them.  Stalin wanted to use these collectives, called kolkhoz as his centerpiece to show that the Soviet Union is a socialist paradise but in the eyes of those who lived through it, it was a far cry from what Stalin envisioned. Instead of a modern, self-sufficient, tightly-knit and efficient community, people living in the kolkhoz lived in very primitive and substandard conditions and this also contributed to deaths of a larger scale during the famine (Fitzpatrick 154).

Another indicator would be the cultural revolution under Stalin.  This cultural revolution would be akin to the Cultural Revolution that would subsequently occur in China under the rule of Mao Zedong in the 1960s.  Like Mao, Stalin felt there were still enemies of the Revolution abound, especially those from the political Right whom Stalin regarded as coddlers of the old intelligentsia who were said to still harbor bourgeois ideas and were regarded counter-productive and posed a threat to the communist state because of their reliance on non-party experts who might corrupt them with capitalist ideas and thereby subvert society.  In 1928, Stalin launched a cultural revolution that was intended to sweep away the old ways of thinking and reinvent Russian society by replacing it with a new culture consistent with proletarian ideals.  For his vanguard, Stalin employed the Komsomol  the Communist Party Youth Organization, along with several other militant organizations.  At closer glance, they were similar to Maos Red Guards more than 30 years later.

Institutions affected were mainly governmental and educational institutions that were suspected of harboring counter-revolutionaries and revisionists, such as those who subscribed to the theories of Leon Trotsky and Mikhail Bukharin as well as those associated with the rival Mensheviks. Cultural centers were not spared as well as bourgeois-themed arts were eradicated and efforts were made to create a new Soviet culture that extols the proletariat. Yet, despite these purges, Stalin once remarked he was a man of culture which appeared to have rubbed off on his followers who did not want to appear very crude or coarse and had to refine their manners without compromising communist teachings (Fitzpatrick 159).

The educational system underwent an overhaul, particularly the teaching and studying of history.  This subject was abolished after the Revolution but made a comeback under Stalin as part of projecting the image that he was a man of culture by including and strongly emphasizing Russias heroes such as Ivan the Terrible and Peter the Great.  On the social front, abortion and divorce as well as recognizing womens right to work as part of doing away with old values that were considered anachronistic (Fitzpatrick 160).

While Stalins cultural revolution had some beneficial results such as reforms in education and empowering women, it cannot be avoided to also point out that this also spawned widespread persecution of those considered counter-revolutionary or revisionist even before the Great Purges took place. The Komsomol and other militant leaders at the forefront of this continuing revolution were the biggest beneficiaries.  These movers and shakers benefited from the Five-Year Plan by going to these reopened colleges and upon graduation they became Red Experts.  These new experts would later on occupy key positions in the Soviet government already cleansed of its unwanted elements.  They were regarded as more politically reliable since they were heavily indoctrinated in Marxist-Leninist teachings and considered pure enough to be entrusted with political power and stewardship of key Soviet infrastructures.  There was also upward mobility among the working class as those that showed leadership potential and devotion to Marxist-Leninist ideals were promoted to become leaders and managers of their companies also cleansed of bourgeois vermin.

However, in looking at this upward mobility, the direction of the Soviet Union was not heading for the goal Marx envisioned where the state will eventually wither away as Fitzpatrick saw it.  The state would remain in place and continue to dominate the Soviet Union until its collapse in 1991.  If there would be one good explanation on why it happened, it turned out that the Bolshevik leaders were not immune to the Thermidorian effect.  Stalin and his successors, as well as their protgs, became the new elite or bourgeoisie of the Soviet Union.  This came at the time when the new Soviet government was trying to consolidate itself.  It ended up inheriting the institutions of power in the Kremlin.  Although they had eliminated the people who occupied these halls of power, they took their place (Fitzpatrick 5).

Furthermore, Stalins revolution from above fell short of achieving its goals of trying to keep revolutionary fervor alive. It had adverse effects on its society, causing poverty and resulted in wholesale slaughter of people whether through famine or persecution.  Despite its promises of equality and creation of a workers paradise, another reason for the Soviet Unions collapse, as well as its satellite states was the flaws of Marxism which espoused equality in poverty. This would hardly qualify communist states as genuine utopias as Marx envisioned.  As a result, it was communism that faded away. While the Russian Revolution was hailed as the end of an old era, it failed to sustain its momentum as its leaders fell prey to the trappings of power.