Mostrando resultados por autor "Ryan Webb" en Todas las categorías

Globalization is bringing international populations into ever-greater contact. Media and the Internet is reaching across nations and continents like never before. While many cultures welcome diffusion and are interested in different ideas and values, this is not always the case. People are wary of those unlike themselves and some cultures feel threatened by the West, the major force behind market capitalism. Specifically, many in the Muslim world feel their religion and customs are incompatible with western culture. This conflict is not unique to the modern era, but is a resurgence of an ...

In the final decades of the 19th century, America experienced rapid industrial growth, corporate mergers, an influx of immigrants and a rise in urban population and development. These modern changes resulted in crowded tenements, low wages, long working hours, child labor, and bad factory conditions. In response, the American people called for an end to corruption in government and supported legislation aimed at reducing these new evils of society. Indeed, during the Progressive Era the United States experienced one of its highest rates of reform. Government became more democratic and laws ...

While globalization is not a perfect economic system, it has been overwhelmingly beneficial to the world. According to Thomas Friedman, the “Golden Straightjacket” of market capitalism benefits you the more you tighten it (Lexus and Olive Tree). The system promotes competition and rewards those who work the hardest with a better standard of living. Still, Noreena Hertz, in The Silent Takeover, focused on the negatives of the system, arguing that it drowns democracy and leaves too many people in the hole of poverty. In addition, author Paul Blustein focused on the complexity of the ...

Out of the ashes of World War I a phoenix arose. In the next two decades, the Turks created in Anatolia a nation unique to the Middle East. This phoenix, the Republic of Turkey, replaced the moribund Ottoman Empire, which succumbed to internal disorder as well as British and Arab forces in Arabia. At the conclusion of World War I, Great Britain, France, Greece, Italy, the Kurds, and Armenians all hoped to gain land or influence in Anatolia. However, a popular Ottoman general, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, resigned from the army, united the Turkish Nationalist forces, and pushed back the invading ...

“That’s it?” I ask myself as I close John Gardner’s novel, Grendel, and place it on my desk. “Where’s the decisive battle between Beowulf, the herculean warrior, and Grendel’s outraged mother? Where’s the scene of the mighty thane slicing off dead Grendel’s ugly head and carrying it proudly into King Hrothgar’s mead hall? Why does Gardner not show us the restoration of peace to the land of the Danes?” Leaning back in my chair, I think, “Why doesn’t John Gardner’s novel mimic the end of the epic, Beowulf, on which it is based? Why does Gardner downplay the great ...

In "The Art of the Long View," published in 1991, Peter Schwartz presented scenario-building as a useful planning tool. First, he argued that “driving forces” move the plot of a scenario. These forces often involve developments in society, technology, economics, and politics. Next, Schwartz identified “predetermined elements,” or events that seem certain to occur. Examples include population change, resource constraints, and inevitable collisions. Third, Schwartz explored “critical uncertainties,” which are important unknown events. After identifying these three factors, ...

Through a study of military history, Jomini discovered timeless principles of war that can guide a commander’s decision-making. Jomini’s work also provided common terminology that facilitates the discussion of war. His doctrinal rules, along with many of his terms, have influenced past and present military leaders, as well as current U.S. Army doctrine.

In 1864 the Union was at last prepared to implement a unified land strategy designed to achieve victory in the Civil War. The plan called for William Tecumseh Sherman to drive hard to Atlanta, while farther East, Ulysses S. Grant would engage Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. Sherman reasoned that an assault on Mobile would force the Confederates to send reinforcements, thus weakening their defense of Atlanta. Patrolling the blockade in the Gulf of Mexico, Admiral Farragut got word that he would finally receive the monitors necessary to capture the last major Southern port. To ...

On 25 October 1973, United Nations forces intervened in the Yom Kippur War to implement a ceasefire between Israel, Egypt, and Syria. The Egyptian Second and Third Armies, after penetrating ten to fifteen kilometers into the Sinai, occupied territory held by Israel prior to the war. At the same time, Israeli forces, after crossing the Suez Canal, nearly encircled the Egyptian Third Army, which carried only four days supply of food and water. On the Syrian front, Israeli forces advanced to within thirty-five kilometers of Damascus and seemed poised for even greater gains. At this critical ...

The signing of the Camp David Peace Accords by President Anwar Sadat and Prime Minister Menachem Begin on March 26, 1979 altered the strategic picture of the Middle East, as it marked the first time an Arab state recognized the legitimacy of Israel. In reaching a settlement, Sadat alienated himself from the Arab world by failing to secure an Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank and Gaza or the recognition of the Palestinians. Instead, Sadat obtained a complete Israeli withdrawal from the Sinai. In short, Sadat acted in the best interests of Egypt at the expense of his Arab neighbors. This ...

What do fairy tales, such as “Little Red Riding Hood,” “Sleeping Beauty,” and “Hansel and Gretel,” have to do with French peasant life in the eighteenth century? What does a cat massacre reveal about the relationship between artisans and the bourgeois in early modern France? In Robert Darnton’s, The "Great Cat Massacre," the underlying themes of fairy tales and the circumstances surrounding a large killing of cats provide the answers to these questions and reveal the attitudes and concerns of peasants and artisans in eighteenth century France.

In the aftermath of World War I and the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the British and French moved in to carve up the Middle East in pursuit of their national interests. At the same time, local leaders within the region sought to acquire greater power themselves, following the ousting of the sultan in Istanbul. Prominent leaders such as Ibn Saud and Sharif Hussein attempted to exert greater influence and called for Arab unity in an effort to unite the region. However, neither of these leaders had a legitimate following outside of their localities. In fact, the loose structure of the ...

Because of the monumental destructive force of nuclear weapons, no theory of international relations is more important than that which guides US nuclear policy. During the Cold War, the views of Thomas Schelling and Herman Kahn dominated the debate. Overall, both theorists had confidence in deterrence, felt it was predictable, and based their reasoning on a rational opponent. Still, they each drew different conclusions, with the United States adopting Kahn’s recommendation for a strong offense, while siding with Schelling’s view that defense was not needed. While Cold War deterrence ...

Husbands Ryan and Chance are watching Grey’s Anatomy... Again! Join them as they watch every episode starting from the beginning and immediately find a way to make it competitive. New episodes release weekly on Friday. Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/ryan-webb07/support

As a young man growing up in Virginia and Georgia in the late 18th century, Meriwether Lewis displayed the courage that would be so valuable to him later in life. When he was eight or nine years old, a bull charged him. He coolly raised his rifle and shot it dead. A year later, during a nighttime Indian attack on his family, he had the presence of mind to extinguish the campfire so as to hide his party. At eighteen, Lewis was the head of his family’s plantation. Despite such promise, Stephen Ambrose, in "Undaunted Courage," portrays Meriwether Lewis as both a hero and a flawed man. Indeed...

A likeness between things, when the things are otherwise entirely different, is an analogy. Comparing one situation to another in order to gain perspective and formulate policy is a common human technique and a favorite of historians. For example, the Cold War has been compared to the Athens-Sparta rivalry, while Hitler’s invasion of the Soviet Union has been called folly by those who look to the “lesson” of Napoleon’s failed 1812 campaign. While analogies can be useful, one should use caution, as no two situations are the same. For example, is it logical to compare the partially ...

In the Greco-Roman world, the Stoics practiced a school of philosophy which held that a wise man should be free from passion and submissive to natural law. In Encheiridion, Epictetus articulated this view and offered advice on life. His ideas can be categorized into the areas of practical advice, inhuman advice, and thoughts that emulate Christian morality.

The just war tradition provides a framework to evaluate decisions on waging and conducting war. It can also inform conduct after a war. In addition, just war principles can assist military planners and decision-makers regarding situations other than war, including humanitarian intervention. For example, consider a potential mass atrocity in sub-Saharan Africa. The just war concepts of just cause, legitimate authority, reasonable chance of success, last resort, right intention, and proportionality can inform the moral and legal basis for intervention by a state or the international community.

This paper explores President Truman’s decision to intervene in the Korean War and then cross the 38th parallel and invade North Korea. An analysis of Truman’s foreign policy reveals that intervention in the Korean War was part of a new global offensive against the spread of communism. Domestically, Truman believed that a Korean offensive across the 38th parallel would quiet his critics and allow him to mobilize the economy for a long-term Cold War. Militarily, Truman’s advisors overwhelmingly supported the invasion of North Korea. They concluded that Korea could be unified after ...

On September 23, 1949, President Harry S. Truman announced that an atomic explosion had occurred in the Soviet Union. Over the next few days, The New York Times and Washington Post ran articles discussing the timing of the explosion, its impact on military aid to Europe, and subsequent calls for international atomic control.