History & Events Free Papers Articles
1: ROMAN EMPIRE AND ITS EMPEROR
The Fall of the Roman Empire could be linked to many different aspects: army, citizens, barbarianism. Personally I think that all these reasons are linked and headed by the decline of the Roman emperor. The deficient Emperor role led to the lacking military response to invasions, civil war and peasant uprisings.
2: BLACK DEATH
No one was exempt as it swept in off the shores and into the countryside laying its burden of death and pestilence. Europe had prospered readily for about 300 years prior to the beginning of the 1300s, but a series of natural disasters occurred. Poor harvests and famine were common and as the prosperous years came to a close, economies were in recession at the onset of the Black Death. Europe, on a whole, would take a step backward.
3: Brief History of the NRA
The National Rifle Association in its simplest form is the largest gun club in the world. The organization was founded in 1871 by former Union Army officers to encourage sport shooting in order to have a fine tuned militia in case of emergency. The Union officers believed that a well regulated militia was integral for the security of a free state. It is an organization that opposes gun control, it believes in the individual defense of the uses of firearms, and it is interested in all aspects of shooting sports.1
Today, the organization stands with approximately 3.4 million members. Within the NRA, there are four major organs. The Institute for Legislative Action (is the lobbying arm), the political Victory Fund (which is a political action committee), the Civil Rights Legal Defense Fund (deals with scholarly research and legal developments), and the Grass Roots Division (which specializes in raising support through grass roots methods). As a membership organization, the NRA's directions is set by voting members. The direction of the policies are carried out by a 75 member board that is geographically distributed. The Board of Directors are elected by secret ballot.2
Brady Act
The Brady Act was approved by Congress in November of 1993 and was then signed into law by President Clinton later in the month. The act was originally named for anti gun lobbyist Sarah Brady, and not for former press secretary Jim Brady. It was through Jim Brady's support and the media coverage that linked his name to the act. The act requires that there be a waiting period of five state government business days at the time an individual applies to purchase a handgun from a federal firearm license. During the five day wait, the local sheriff or police chief must "make a reasonable effort" to see if the purchaser is prohibited from owning a handgun. The police official may approve the sale before the five day period only if the record check has been completed or if he believes the purchaser needs a handgun immediately to protect himself or his family.3
4: Iran
Iran is a country located in the Middle East. The main source of income for the country is oil, the one object that had
greatly influenced its history. Iran's present government is run as an Islamic Republic. A president, cabinet, judicial
branch, and Majilesor or legislative branch, makes up the governmental positions. A revolution that overthrew the
monarch, which was set in 1930, lasted over 15 years. Crane Brinton's book, An Anatomy of a Revolution, explains set
of four steps a country experiences when a revolution occurs. Symptoms, rising fever, crisis, and convalescence are the
steps that occur. The Iranian Revolution followed the four steps in Crane Brinton's theory, symptoms, rising fever, crisis,
and convalescence occurred.
5: Earthquake-San-Francisco-1906
People ran from there houses and some stayed inside the buildings and were crushed. The people who ran in the streets were killed by toppled buildings falling from above. There fire department was efficient but the water pipes that go down the San Andreas Fault were severed. The fire could not be stopped because there were now water until the next couple of days. Gas mains blew and caused massive fires all around the city. The city was in the middle of a great economic boom and almost all was lost on that day. The old buildings were never made to withstand earthquakes and easily crumbled and fell crushed people. Some sailers on the coast tried to leave but the waves flew the boats around like toys. The buildings were made out of unreined forced brick or wood which couldn't withstand a earthquake of that magnitude.
6: THE HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MAFIA
Throughout history, crime has existed in many different forms and has been committed by not only individuals, but by groups as well. Crime is something that knows no boundaries; it exists in all cultures, is committed by all races, and has existed in all time periods. Crime exists as a part of the economic institution and is a lifestyle for many people. Crime also exists in both organized and un organized forms. Since the early 1900's, "organized" crime has existed in the United States. The following will show where, when, and why the Mafia came to the United States, who organized it in the United States, and how it differed from its origins in the European mafia. By showing this you will see how this specific type of organized crime has
In the ninth century, Arab forces occupied Sicily. The native Sicilians were oppressed and took refuge in the surrounding hills. The Sicilians formed a secret society to unite the natives against the Arab and Norman invaders. This secret society was called Mafia after the Arabic word for refuge. The society's intentions were to create a sense of family based on ancestry and Sicilian heritage. In the 1700's, pictures of a black hand were distributed to the wealthy. This was an unspoken request for an amount of money in return for protection. If the money was not paid, the recipients could expect violence such as kidnappings, bombings, and murder. By the nineteenth century, this society grew larger and more criminally oriented. In 1876, Mafia Don Rafael Palizzolo, ran for political office in Sicily. He forced the voters to vote for him under gunpoint. After being elected into office, he promoted Mafia Don Crispi as Prime Minister. Together the two put Sicily under government control and funneled government funds to the society known as the Mafia.
7: Events leading to the American Revolution
During the late seventeen hundreds, many tumultuous
events resulted in Colonial opposition to Great Britain. The
conditions of rights of the colonists will slowly be changed
as the constriction of the parliament becomes more and more
intolerable. During the Seven Years' War England was not
only alarmed by the colonists' insistence on trading with
the enemy, but also with Boston merchants hiring James Otis
inorder to protest the legality of the writs of assistance
(general search warrants) used to hunt out smuggled goods.
"let the parliament lay what burthens they please on us, we
must, it is our duty to submit and patiently bear them, till
they will be pleased to relieve us....". This is a very
strong dictum, that in 1764, the colonists were of a
submissive nature, and were weakly pleading for self-
autonomy. This small fire of anger will become a huge
conflagration as the rights are slowly rescinded.
On October 19, 1765 the Stamp Act Congress and
Parliamentary Taxation committee's passed some laws that
attempted to strengthen the grip of the English crown.
"I.That his Majesty's subjects in these colonies, owe the
same allegiance to the Crown of Great Britain that is owing
from his subjects born within the realm, and all due
subordination to that august body, the Parliament of Great
Britain." This statement can be used as a summation of the
entire document that the Stamp Act Congress had initiated.
The statement depicts the colonists has having to be
submissive and servile in the view of Great Britain, this
policy angered the colonists very much, and was another
component of the transition of the colonists' rights and
liberties.
8: Napoleon
Napoleon was born on August 15, 1769 in Ajaccio, Corsica, and was given the
name Napoleone Buonaperte. He was the second of eight children of Carlo and
Letizia Buonaperte, both of the Corsican-Italian gentry. Before Napoleone, no
Buonaparte had ever been a professional soldier. His father Carlo, was a lawyer
who had fought for Corsican independence, but after the French occupied the island
in 1768, he served as a prosecutor and a judge and entered the French aristocracy
as a count. Through his father's influence, Napoleone was educated at the expense
of King Louis XVI, at Brienne and the Ecole Militaire, in Paris. Napoleone
graduated in 1785, at the age of 16, and joined the artillery as a second lieutenant.
After the revolution began in France, he became a lieutenant colonel (1791) in the
Corsican National Guard. However, when Corsica declared independence in 1793,
Buonaperte, a Republican, and a French patriot, fled to France with his family. He
was assigned, as captain, to an army besieging Toulon, a naval base that was aided
by a British fleet, while in revolt against the republic. It was here that Napoleone
Buonaperte officially changed his name to Napoleon Bonaparte, feeling that it
looked "more French". It was here too that Napoleon replaced a wounded artillery
general, and seized ground where his guns could drive the British fleet from the
harbor, and Toulon fell. As a result of his accomplishments, Bonapatre was
promoted to brigadier general at the age of 24. In 1795, he saved the revolutionary
government by dispersing an insurgent mob in Paris. Then in 1796 he married
Josephine de Beauharnais, the mother of two children and the widow of an
aristocrat guillotined in the Revolution. Early in his life Napoleon was showing
signs of militaristic geniuses and knowledge for formidable strategy. It was
through the application of his skills, and a revolutionary style of spontaneous
fighting styles than gave Napoleon the opportunities, which he jumped at, making
his the great military leader he is known as today.
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