Understanding European history Essay Example for Free

Understanding European history Essay Although experiencing a period of expanding intellectual and geographical horizons, European history in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries witnessed, on the whole, a profoundly intolerant age. To clarify our opinion, we must first introduce European history under the literary history of this age. Here, we will display our understanding of European history in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, the one by Brecht or the one by Montaigne as two famous authors of the Renaissance age. Herr Bertolt Brecht in relation to European drama and theatre Anyone who was anyone in Germany and France wrote historical dramas. It is therefore understandable that the poets of inner conflicts, the prophets of the Byronic hero, also emerged as writers of historical drama and often released the two themes in the same play. The most important condition a historical drama should fulfill when it was to be performed was that should represent history as an all-embracing system and as a force which helps to define identity. Unlike ONeil and Pirandello, however, Brecht does not want the spectator to identify or feel empathy with his heroes. In 1922, he noted in his diary: I hope in Baal and Jungle Ive avoided one common artistic bloomer that of trying to carry people away. Instinctively, Ive kept my distance and ensured that the realization of my†¦. effects remains within bounds. The spectators splendid isolations is left intact; it is not sua res quae agitur. Consequently, Brecht draws quite different conclusions from the concept of the impossibility of individuality in Baal than do ONeil or Pirandello in their work. Brecht opposes the idea of the ever-constant – tragic or polyvalent – absurd being (Sein) of man with the theorem of mans changeability. He designed the comedy Mann IST Mann (Man equals Man) as a kind of experimental apparatus which would demonstrate the basic pre-conditions of re-assembling one personality into another. Herr Bertolt Brecht maintains man equals man- a view that has been around since time began. But then Herr Brecht points out how far one can maneuver and manipulate that man. All of Brechts re-writs began from the insight gained from Baal, that man is nothing without his social and economic relations (One is none) and that it is only through relationships that he becomes something; these relationships prove to be not primarily human ones but rather relationships based on commodity exchange. Such relationships of ownership turn man into an object which can be used in a negative or positive way, according to the situation, and this can be demonstrated experimentally. Brecht developed the form of Lehrstuck in response to a very specific problem which repeatedly confronted his theater in the course of 1920s. It concerns, on the one hand, the new type, and, on the other, the middle-class audience response to it. Brecht presumes that there can be no individuality in the way conceived by the former bourgeoisie, and that no definitive statements can be made on new trans-individual man since it can only rise as the result of a lasting process of development. Brecht felt supported in this view by Marxism, which defines man as a changeable and world-changing being, whose consciousness is determined through his social being. The new man, who will be formed as a product of situation where there is no bourgeoisie, in a classless society, thus cannot be defined and fixed in advance. The dramatic poet in my view is merely someone who records history. He stands above history, however, in that he creates history for a second time and places us directly in the life of a certain time, instead of providing a dry account; he provides characters instead of characteristics, and figures instead of descriptions. It is his greatest ask to come as close as he can to history as it really happened. Brecht constructed as antithesis, from similar points of departure he arrives at completely opposite conclusion: †¢ The absolute self-realization of the vital individual, liberated from all moral scruples is impossible in bourgeois society, since this form of society forces everyone to fit in and its conventions stand in total opposition to the individuals claim to happiness and eradicate individuality. †¢ The individual who sets himself up to be absolute, who lives out his insatiable sexual lust, his incontinent consumption of food and drink, is a monstrous social being who either falls into the realms of the mythic or becomes part of the circle of nature- from the white mothers womb to the dark womb of the earth- and dissolves his own individuality. Brecht turns his conclusion into a positive one- something only Hugo von Hofmannsthal had recognized at that time. Michel de Montaignes essays in the Renaissance age Mantaigne essentially invented the literary form of essay, a short subjective treatment of a given topic, of which the book contains a large number. Essay is French for trial or attempt. Montaigne wrote in a kind of crafted rhetoric designed to intrigue and involve the reader, sometimes appearing to move in a stream-of-thought from topic to topic and at other times employing a structured style which gives more emphasis to the didactic nature of his work. His arguments are often supported with quotes from classical Greek and Roman texts. Montaignes stated goal in his book is to describe man, and especially himself, with utter frankness. As an essayist, his great project centered on the sustained delineation of only one character, which was Montaignes character. He finds the great variety and volatility of human nature to be its most basic features. A typical quote is I have never seen a greater monster or miracle than myself, He describes his own poor memory, his ability to solve problems and mediate conflicts without truly getting emotionally involved, his disgust for mans pursuit of lasting fame, and his attempts to detach himself from worldly things to prepare for death. Montaigne is known for popularizing the essay as a literary genre. He became famous for his effortless ability to merge serious intellectual speculation with casual anecdotes and autobiography- and his massive volume essays (translated literally as Attempts) contains, to this day, some of the most widely influential essays ever written. Montaigne had a direct influence on writers the world over, from William Shakespeare to Rene Descartes, from Ralph Waldo Emerson to Stephan Zweig. Montaigne freely borrowed of others, and he has found men willing to borrow of him as freely. We need not wonder at the reputation which he with seeming facility achieved. He was, without being aware of it, the leader of a new school in letters and morals. His book was different from all others which were at that date in the world. It diverted the ancient currents of thought into new channels. It told its readers, with unexampled frankness, what its writers opinion was about men and things, and threw what must have been a strange kind of new light on many matters but darkly understood. Above all, the essayist uncased himself, and made his intellectual and physical organism public property. He took the world into his confidence on all subjects. His essays were a sort of literary anatomy, where we get a diagnosis of the writers mind, made by himself at different levels and under a large variety of operating influences. It was reasonable enough that Montaigne should expect for his work a certain share of celebrity in Gascony, and even, as time went on, through ¬out France; but it is scarcely probable that he foresaw how his renown was to become world-wide; how he was to occupy an almost unique position as a man of letters and a moralist; how the Essays would be read, in all the principal languages of Europe, by millions of intelligent human beings, who never heard of Perigord or the League, and who are in doubt, if they are questioned, whether the author lived in the sixteenth or the eighteenth century. This is true fame. A man of genius belongs to no period and no country. He speaks the language of nature, which is always everywhere the same. Evaluating the difference between Brecht and Montaigne Thus, if the Stream of things is a mixture of dying and regeneration, the thought problems confronting us are dialectical, in the identity of opposites, of negative and positive; and also linguistic, in the logical validity of sentences and the mutual exclusion of their meanings; and also aesthetic, in so far as one aspect of the dead moons continued life is its perception as strange [fremd] by even one last living being, its estrangement of itself and of that being. Finally, causality intervenes, and intersects the vast sublunary landscape of all that is: raising its own linguistic and dialectical questions. Brecht was willing to force the issue even more pointedly, as in his suggestion that although the purely biological death of the individual IS uninteresting to society, dying ought none the less to be taught. It is probably less a Montaigne-like aspiration than the expression of themes surrounding Die Massnahme from this same period. A social Tao, on the other hand, is surely bound up with the issues of technology and modernity raised above, to which we will return in conclusion. Bibliography References used in the current essay: 1. History of European drama and theatre, Erika Fischer-Lichte, Jo Riley. Pages 232-238-315-317-318 2. The Complete Essays of Michel de Montaigne, Vol. 1 of 2. Michel de Montaigne. Pages 1-2 3. Brecht and method, Fredric Jameson. Page 171

Herald :: Essays Papers

Herald The early Middle Ages were when Heraldry began. Knights needed a way to identify each other. The noble families developed different patterns and symbols that they would paint on their shields. These symbols served the purpose of representing their families and also, establishing who the enemy was and who the allies was in a battle. They termed these shields, coats of arms. Any family could have a coat of arms but for them to be considered official, they had to be recognized by The College of Arms. The College was where heralds trained to read and write and memorize the existing coats of arms. Therefore they were able to identify the enemies and the allies if needed to do so. A coat of arms, or blazon of arms, as they were sometimes called consisted of several parts. These components were the shield, the crest, the helm, the wreath and the mantle. The shield contained the symbols and their colors. The crest is what goes on top of the helmet. The helm or helmet varied in accordance with the rank of the knight, the time period, or the herald's preference. The wreath consisted of the metal and the primary color. And the design of the mantle also varied with the herald's preference. The herald's used a variety of colors like gold, silver, red, blue, green and black on the shields. But the colors were not there for decoration. They symbolized specific meanings. For example, silver stood for peace and sincerity, whereas black stood for consistency and grief. Red was considered to be the martyr's color and blue meant truth and loyalty. But along with the colors were objects or actual symbols that represented certain meanings. There were many more symbols than there were colors. There was a symbol starting with most of the letters of the alphabet. The meanings of the different symbols were even more specific than those of the colors. For example, a hawk stood for one who does not rest until he achieves his objective. Another symbol was a battle-axe, which stood for the execution of military duty. There were probably almost a hundred, if not more, of these symbols used.

The End of Osama bin Laden

Ever since the twin towers of World Trade Center collapsed in New York on September 11, 2001, United States of America was hot on the heels of Osama bin Laden, the founder and main source of inspiration of al-Qaida, the organization accused of carrying out that heinous attack. Osama was considered as the fountainhead of all terrorist activities across the world and western powers were sparing no efforts to track this elusive leader. There were numerous reports of sightings of bin Laden but catching up on the world’s most notorious fugitive was becoming almost impossible. In fact, for quite some time, sightings of bin Laden had become a joke, almost similar to the sightings of UFOs (Schabner, 2011). But on May 1, 2011, nearly a full decade after the dastardly destruction of twin towers, the President of United States of America declared that bin Laden was located in a fortress like house in Abbottabad, a garrison town in Pakistan, and killed in a commando operation. This operation had all the makings of a movie thriller and seemed fascinating in its use of latest technology and show of extreme personal courage by the commandos. The whole operation was carried out by US personnel without any help from their Pakistani counterparts and it was sheer cutting edge technology that hid their helicopters from the prying eyes of Pakistani radars. Pakistan military did not have the slightest inkling that US helicopters had violated their airspace and had ventured deep in their territory, picked out their target and decamped with his dead body. One of the helicopters malfunctioned during the operation and the commandos blew it up to prevent it from falling in Chinese hands. China, incidentally, is possibly the best friend of Pakistan which is gradually becoming isolated from world community because of its persistent dalliance with international terrorism and using it as a state policy against its neighbors (Schabner, 2011). US President went to extent of lauding this incident as justice finally being meted out to a criminal and to prevent any possibilities of his burial site turning into some sort of pilgrimage site for his followers, his body was summarily buried in deep sea with the world having no idea as to where exactly such burial was done. After the initial elation is over, the entire incident throws up certain rather unusual questions. The first of course is how Osama could hide in a garrison town without explicit knowledge of Pakistani army. The second and possibly even more disturbing question that surfaces to the mind is when US President’s public approval was at its lowest, some sort of gimmick was absolutely necessary to halt the downward slide, especially as he is due to begin his campaign for reelection very soon (Schabner, 2011). So, was it a case of extreme valor on the part US commandos and daring use of cutting edge technology, or was it a case of quid pro quo with Pakistani military establishment that handed over Obama in exchange of some as yet undisclosed benefit? This is the question that seems to bother many people around the world, since if such an apprehension is proved correct, it would be another example of US hypocrisy and extreme shortsightedness which it has exhibited time and again in world history and caused numerous crises across the world in foreign shores. Osama bin Laden eliminated: justice done When US President Barack Obama came on television on May 1, 2011 and declared justice has finally been done by eliminating Osama bin Laden in some far off garrison town in Pakistan, the world for an instant felt a surge of joy and relief at the destruction of that epitome of ruthless jihadist terrorism that took so many innocent lives and maimed numerous more unsuspecting peace loving citizens across the world. Really, the world felt that finally the long arm the law in a rather unique form had caught up with that man who ridiculed and taunted all tenets of civilized norms and killed people at will all in the name of some ill defined religious cause. The gory photos of collapsing twin towers of New York on out television screens further added to our relief at the death of the prime culprit who unleashed mayhem and senseless destruction without the slightest feeling of remorse or guilt. Scenes of jubilant public bathed in the all consuming wave of instant patriotism thronging the gates of White House further bolstered the super power image of United States of America and American citizens all over the world felt relived and secure at the thought that now nobody can cause them any harm in any corner of the world as Uncle Sam would be everywhere to protect them from any sort of trouble or discomfort (Schabner, 2011). One question however repeatedly keeps disturbing the mind. Why did the US Administration release a photo of the dead body of bin Laden and why did they bury his body in deep seas in almost a hypochondriac haste? US Administration is of course ready with an explanation of their queer behavior. They did not release the photograph of bin Laden as that was too gory and they buried him in deep sea to prevent his burial site from becoming a pilgrimage site for his followers as has happened in the case of Saddam Hussein, the deposed and dead President of Iraq (Schabner, 2011). It cannot be denied that these explanations have their merit, but the world has seen genuinely gory war photographs before and it would have done no real harm in seeing one more such photograph. And, the US could have flown the dead body of bin Laden in United States, at least for a private viewing of the top brass of US military. That would have permanently laid to rest all speculations that seemed to float around about the veracity of the operation and combat. However, the most disturbing issue that comes up is whether it was genuine effort by intelligence agencies of United States and a case of extreme courage by its commandos or it was some sort of trade off that US Administration had entered into with Pakistan. Obama needed some sort of a magic to revive his steadily flagging popularity graph as he is about to commence his reelection campaign within few months. Killing Osama bin Laden provided that perfect magic that he was so desperately looking for and he could pull it off by making a deal with Pakistani military which handed Osama bin Laden to US in return for some undisclosed booty. If this has actually been the case then United States has actually boosted international terrorism instead of eradicating it substantially (Schabner, 2011). Osama bin Laden killed in a daring commando raid by US May 1, 2011 will surely be marked as a watershed day not only in the history of United States but also the whole world. It was on this day that terror mastermind Osama bin Laden was eliminated by commandos of United States military. The world heaved a sigh of relief not only at the news that bin Laden would no longer be able to implement his nefarious plans of inflicting death and destruction on innocent civilian population across the world, but also in seeing the reaffirmation of the age old adage that good always wins over evil. This reaffirmation bolstered the sagging morale of millions of people across the world who had been hapless victims of mindless destruction unleashed by Osama and his henchmen. They once again raised their heads in firm conviction that evil, however venomous it might be, can never win over ood (Schabner, 2011).. Barack Obama, President of United States, could rightly have soaked in vicarious glory and valor of his commandos and could have strode the podium like a victorious Roman Emperor as he returned from a conquest with the head of the fallen king held high on a pike. But Obama did nothing of that and showed remarkable control and composure on such a momentous occasion and he deserv ed full throated praise for it (Schabner, 2011). But several nagging issues fail to leave the mind. The first, quite obviously, is why did the US military not release a photograph of slain Osama bin Laden? The argument put forward by US that the photograph would have too gory really does not hold water as only a couple of years back Sri Lankan military displayed the body of slain guerilla leader Prabhakaran with his head barely attached to his shoulder and that of his son with his head partially blown off. It was a commando raid, not a tea party, and such gore and blood is an integral part of such raids. So, the reluctance to publish any photograph of bin Laden raises a couple of other prickly questions too. The first among those is, did Osama get killed in that commando raid or was he handed over by his protectors, the military establishment of Pakistan, to the US forces in return for some undisclosed booty? The suspicion becomes stronger at conflicting details that kept on emanating from US Administration about the exact nature of combat that floored Osama. Initially it was said that he offered stiff resistance which was gradually changed to he was completely unarmed and could hardly find time to offer any sort of resistance. US Administration tried to save its face by saying that it was deliberately spreading confusing and conflicting information to baffle the enemy and it is a common ploy in times of war (Schabner, 2011).. But what enemy are these people talking about? Here was a man accompanied by a couple of his wives, children and grandchildren living in a mansion that did not have any modern means of communication and that man has been killed. So, how enemies of United States would be kept at bay by spreading confusing information on the degree of resistance this man had put up before his death genuinely belies comprehension.

The Fall Of The Soviet Union - 1863 Words

The fall of the Soviet Union gave childless American couples the opportunity to adopt needy, white children. Thousands upon thousands of children from Russia and Eastern Europe were adopted in New York during the 1990’s and 2000’s, and the vast majority of these adoptions produced genuinely happy families. The children were excited to have loving families and the adoptive parents were excited to have a child to love. However, some children had difficulty transitioning to life in the United States while others were victims of abuse. Almost every adoptive case I worked with had a happy ending. Every adoptive case except for one. I hesitate to say that the â€Å"child† in question was actually a child. Sometimes I think that I legitimately was dealing with pure evil in human form. The Ivanov’s were a young, successful couple living in Brooklyn, and commuting to their jobs in Manhattan. They had it all, wealth, good looks, charm, and generosity. The husband, Stefan, worked on Wall Street while the wife, Alexandra, worked at a marketing firm a couple blocks away. They had everything but a child, as they had been unable to conceive despite trying for 6 years. Stefan’s great grandfather emigrated from Russia in the early 20th century, so Stefan and Alexandra decided to look to Russia for a child to adopt. They worked through a local Russian Orthodox Church to facilitate the adoption, which told them that they had the perfect child in mind. An eight year old boy named Nikolai, withShow MoreRelatedThe Fall of the Soviet Union1179 Words   |  5 Pages The fall of the Soviet Union Before one can understand the fall of the Soviet Union, he has to know how the nation came into being and the leaders, and the location of the country and the time period of its reign. How did the Soviet Union come into existence? Through the 1900’s the Soviet Union was entangled in a vast number of conflicts all because they wanted to spread communism. Subsequently, the rampant spread of communism and Soviet ideals had an impact in the First World War, Second WorldRead MoreThe Fall Of The Soviet Union2069 Words   |  9 Pages The fall of the Soviet Union, rise of democratic capitalism, and the emergence of the Internet are all important attributes that define the year 2000 as the end of one period in history and the beginning of another. The year 2000 proves to be a cut-off date in history because it explicitly shows a shift toward the continuing globalization and integrations of economies, politics, people, and cultures all around the world. This process of globalization leads to increasing interdependence among countriesRead MoreThe Fall Of The Soviet Union1228 Words   |  5 Pagesin all aspects of living. To begin, historical evidence evidently display the superiority of democracy over totalitarianism. The fall of the Soviet Union is the primary example of a failed economy maintained by a dictatorship. On December 26, 1991, the world scrutinized in amazement as the Soviet Union disintegrated into fifteen countries. The total collapse of the Soviets was acknowledged as the victory of freedom, and the preeminence of capitalism over socialism. The question was, what led to theRead MoreGorbachev And The Fall Of The Soviet Union2408 Words   |  10 PagesGorbachev and the fall of the Soviet Union The Soviet Union was an empire centered in Moscow, Russia. The Soviet Union consisted of more than just Russia, it consisted of fifteen sovereign republics, and its formal title was the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. In addition to the 15 sovereign republics that comprised the Soviet Union after World War II there was also the Soviet Outer Empire. The Soviet Union Outer Empire was commonly referred to as the Soviet Bloc, which consisted of East GermanyRead MoreFall Of The Soviet Union Essay1241 Words   |  5 PagesThe Soviet Union fell in 1991, but its path towards destruction began long before then. The countries that were in the Soviet Union’s grip all had tough times adjusting to the fall, though some adjusted faster than the rest. Lithuania rebelled and attempted to leave the Soviet Union right before it fell. Lithuania payed for this by not keeping territory by its border. Ukraine is currently dealing with the fallout from a civil war that Russia meddled in and then won. Russia being the start of theRead MoreThe Fall Of Communism And The Soviet Union Essay2058 Words   |  9 PagesPrior to Putin’s 2001 State of the Nation address, Russia was dealing with the overwhelming effects of economic and political reform. The fall of Communism and the Soviet Union left Russia in a fragile state. When Putin references â€Å"the period of disintegration of the Statehood† he is referring to the lack of stability and legitimacy in Russia’s era of reformation in the 1990s that threatened the very existence of the nation. The sources and indicators of this disintegration can be found through anRead MoreThe Fall of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic1122 Words   |  4 Pages By the mid 1980’s, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics also known as the Soviet Union, or the USSR was weakening under pressure from many different sources. These sources collimated in 1989 with the fall of the Berlin Wall, the disintegration of th e Warsaw Pact, and ultimately, the fall of the Soviet Union itself in 1991. With these events, the USSR saw its division into the Russian Federation, and the 13 independent republics that we see today. This time period was one of uncertainty, andRead MoreThe Main Causes for the Fall of the Soviet Union760 Words   |  3 PagesThe main causes of the fall of the Soviet Union was because the Soviet Union couldn’t afford to keep up with the arms race during the cold war, the government couldn’t manage to keep the people content with things such as housing and food and communism government system completely failed in the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union was built on about the same territory as the Russian Empire which it succeeded. After the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, Socialism was a newly formed government that was developedRead MoreWhat Was The Fall Of The Soviet Union1089 Words   |  5 PagesFall of Soviet Union In December of 1991, the Soviet Union separated into fifteen distinctive countries. Its collapse was enthusiastically greeted by the west as a triumph for freedom. This is a victory of democracy over totalitarianism. The US celebrated as its dreadful enemy defeated, thereafter ending the Cold War, which had fought between two superpowers, America and Soviet Union, since the end of World War II. Cory Booker says, â€Å"If you look at great human civilizations, from the Roman EmpireRead MoreCuba after the Fall of the Soviet Union2330 Words   |  9 Pagesbreakdown of the Soviet Union at the end of the 1980’s and this has affected Cuba’s current situation. ‘El Periodo Especial en el Tiempo de Paz’ From late 1989, the world watched as the Soviet Bloc started to demise and less than two years later in December of 1991, the entire Soviet Union collapsed. Since before the revolution Cuba had, had close connections with the Soviet Union and when the Revolution started in 1959, the Soviet Union became Cubas ‘sugar daddy’. The collapse of the Soviet bloc in 1989