Truman, Oppenheimer, and Einstein

            When President Harry Truman took office he was not informed on a lot of the issues about the war. President Truman didn’t even know about the Manhattan Project, which was the atomic bomb. If President Truman and President Roosevelt would have communicated more than they did, maybe President Truman would have know about type of destruction the atomic bomb could do. Without knowing the power of the atomic bomb, President Truman and other allied leaders issued the Potsdam Declaration which says that if Japan didn’t surrender that they would be attacked. The attack would result in the complete destruction of Japan. By rejecting the declaration, the United States and the allied forces had no choice so they used the atomic bomb. When President Truman took office he also had FDR’s cabinet to stay, but he was going to make the decisions and they should support him. With the decision to drop the atomic bomb on Japan will forever be linked to his presidency and name.

            Before the atomic bomb was the atomic bomb certain people had to discover things that were never thought about before. Albert Einstein says that a great deal of energy can be released from a small amount of matter, . Before Einstein there was Michael Faraday who discovered electromagnetism and electromagnetic rotation and Antoine Laurent Lavoisier who is the father of chemistry and discovered oxygen and hydrogen and the conversation of mass. Emilie du Chatelet figured out that the energy of a moving object is actually square its velocity. With Lise Meitner discovering nuclear fusion, the atomic bomb was made possible with the past help from the brains of the other scientists. When you think about it Albert Einstein didn’t have anything to do with the actual construction of the atomic bomb, he just figured that mass is made up of energy and energy is mass moving very fast at the speed of light.

            Between both Albert Einstein and President Harry Truman, the only person that had physical contact and knowledge of the atomic bomb, besides FDR, was J. Robert Oppenheimer. Oppenheimer was the head scientist on the Manhattan Project, which was the construction of the atomic bomb. He is sometimes known as the father of the atomic bomb along with fellow scientist Enrico Fermi. When the first test of the atomic bomb was done Oppenheimer said that he is the destroyer of worlds, which the whole world would later come to find out is true. I believe that with his part in the construction of the atomic bomb he had gone mad with power.

            The use of the atomic bomb could have been prevented if President Truman was informed, if Albert Einstein had not figured out that equation, or Lise Meitner didn’t discover nuclear fusion. There are many of things that could have prevented the construction of the atomic bomb, but with great power comes great responsibility. I feel as our government failed to communicate with one another on a very important topic, but they succeed in getting the enemy to surrender saving who knows how many American lives. Whichever way you look at it the discovery of the atomic bomb didn’t just cause destruction, but it also provided the use of nuclear power plants that will provide heat and electricity. So there’s good and bad from the construction and use of the atomic bomb, depending on how you view things.

Roaring Twenties

            People called the time during the 1920s the “roaring twenties” because it was a time of social, artistic, and cultural dynamism, but also overseas to London, Berlin, and Pairs was a time of economic prosperity. Jazz music and art really bloomed while the flappers basically changed the way women carried themselves. When Wall Street crashed in 1929, that era ended and the Great Depression rolled right in.

            After World War I, Germany had to repay Great Britain, France, and the other Allied nations for the damages of the war. When Germany could no longer afford the reparations, the Americans created the Dawes Plan which would take care of the money problem. The Dawes Plan provided the Allies the ability to collect reparations debt from Germany. Soon prosperity was widespread because Wall Street invested into the Dawes Plan for Germany and the Europeans countries had a hard time getting funds because of World War I.

            During the “roaring twenties” a lot of the new technologies were made available to the middle class because of the mass production of the automobiles, movies, and the radio. With the great increase of automobiles also created an increase of industries such as highway building, motels, service stations, and used car dealerships. Radios became a great way to market a product to people country wide all at once, like the television today.

            The Nineteenth Amendment, granting women the right to vote, was ratified in August of 1920. A great way to see how people were feeling during the “roaring twenties” would be to look at the art work of the Europeans. The European style was expressionism, then later surrealism type of art work. At the beginning of the decade there were only black and white silent films, but in 1922 the first color film was created. In the later 1920s the creation of Walt Disney’s character Mickey Mouse made its debut.

            The fashion statement that the women made during the 1920s was a drastic change of how they wanted to be viewed by others. The younger generation of females done away with the long dresses the covered their whole bodies, their hairstyle was a bob cut that came down to the chin, and the use of make-up became popular. With all these changes the older generation considered them flappers.

            With the 20s coming to an end, problems start to arise. Wall Street crashes which would cause financial problems for a lot of people and businesses. The Great Depression, a worldwide economic depression, had people struggling for survival during the time.

Charles Darwin's Theory of Evolution

            Charles Darwin was born in Shrewsbury, England on February 12, 1809, as Abraham Lincoln. Charles Darwin attended Christ’s College, Cambridge where he studied theology. At first Charles was going to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a doctor, but he soon realized that that was not for him. Before Darwin came up with the Theory of Evolution, he first went on a voyage around the world where he got the chance to see countless things, such as snakes with vestigial hind limbs and penguins flying through the water.

            One main part from that trip was the time he spent on the Galapagos Islands because he noticed the different types of tortoises and finches on the different islands. With the finches Darwin figured that all of the different type of becks all came from the same bird, the black grassquit. By knowing that a group of birds came from the same ancestor, but have different becks for different uses, Darwin came up with his Theory of Evolution by means of Natural Selection. Charles Darwin’s theory is composed of six major ways of understanding natural selection, and they are:

1.      Organisms produce more offspring then they will survive

2.      Resources are limited (food, water, space etc.)

3.      In any population, variations exist – many of which are heritable

4.      In the struggle for existence, the individuals with the most favorable traits will be more likely to survive to produce offspring

5.      Over time, beneficial traits accumulates in a population and deleterious traits disappear

6.      Millions of years have been available for evolution to occur.

With this theory in mind we now can understand how different animals from the same ancestor have survived in different types of niches. At first people did not understand what Charles Darwin’s concept behind his theory. One of the craziest things about his theory is that he never really understood genetics.

            This theory changed the way we are able to figure out and discover new types of animals, plants, and even bacteria. A good example of the cause and effect of the theory would be to take an animal from their prefect niche and place it into another animal niche, such as the finches from earlier. Each bird came from the same ancestor, but have different because of the area that they live in. if we was to take to put two types of finches into the same niche there would be a battle for survival. There would be a lack of resource for one type of bird because they don’t have the necessary traits to survive in that area so they might die off. That’s one way to understanding natural selection and Charles Darwin’s theory.

18th and 19th Century Shoes

            Shoes during the 18^th century for men and women had somewhat of the same style, besides the flower patterns. Basically all of the shoes had a nice size heel on it with either a square or pointed tip to it. Men shoes and some women shoes had a buckle on the tongue of the shoe. For regular day activities, people would use the ankle high shoes, but for riding horses or working in the field boots were used to cover the leg below the knees. All of the women shoes had the same basic look to it, but they would have different colors, patterns, and heel sizes. In the 19^th century both men and women had a variety of shoes to choose from. Women shoes unlike men shoes were hidden because of their long gowns. During the day men would wear different styles of heavy boots because the European military uniforms made them popular. Midcentury women would wear shorter skirts and made laced boots or ankle-high boots. The actual first shoe for athletes was made during the 19^th century for tennis players. For evening wear or formal events men and women would wear a flat-soled leather or satin slip-on at the beginning of the century, but later on both men and women turned to shoes with heels, such as satin pumps.

            As time goes on, form the 18^th to 20^th century, the styles of shoes have changed upon need. We see the change from a flat-sole shoe to shoes with 9 inch heels, also during the 18^th and 19^th century we seen that men and women both wore shoes with heels. Now you will rarely catch a man in shoe that has a heel to it. The material needed to make the shoes in the 18^th century was basically leather, silk, and wood, now shoes are made from other material such as rubber, mesh, or cotton. But people can still get shoes styles from the past centuries, but they would not be as comfortable and breathable. The best thing about fashion is that styles never really die; they just become over looked until someone starts to wear it on a regular basis. The flat-sole slip-on shoes are back in style now along with the cordones, which was inspired by Argentine writers in the mid 19^th century.

Shakespeare, Cervantes, and de la Vega

            William Shakespeare, Miguel de Cervantes, and Gracilaso Inca de la Vega are very influential writers for their respected countries. Each writer took literature to a whole other level which would change the way people viewed certain languages, cultures, and types of literature. Shakespeare, Cervantes, and de la Vega would all become important role-models for almost all the books, stories, plays, poems, and songs that we have today.

            William Shakespeare, maybe the greatest poet and play-writer of the English language, is known as the father of the English language.  Shakespeare was such a skillful writer that he is a significant point in the history of literature. Most of his works were basically on human themes that will never be forgotten. In Shakespeare’s works he would use both medieval and classical literature, and that would form the modern day literature that we have today. With the success of Shakespeare’s works, he basically framed the evolution of the dramas and plays we have today. Shakespeare’s top six most popular plays, in order, are Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, The Tempest, and Julius Caesar. Romeo and Juliet set the grounds for a true love struggle between two people whom family doesn’t approve of. Even after the death of William Shakespeare, he still manages to have an impact plays, movies, and poems.

            Miguel de Cervantes is among the greatest novelists of the Spanish language. Cervantes influence has been so great that the Spanish language is sometimes called la lengua de Cervantes, the language of Cervantes. He is also considered the Prince of Wits and the father of the Spanish language. Cervantes notable works are Don Quixote, Viaje del Parnaso, and La Galatea. Cervantes novel, Don Quixote, is the most influential and important books in the history of novels, and had a tremendous effect on the development of prose fiction. Miguel de Cervantes is compared to such literary greats such as Greek poet Homer, Italian poet Dante Alighieri, and English play-writer William Shakespeare because of his eloquent style of writing and insight.

            Garcilaso Inca de la Vega was the first Andean mestizo to chronicle the history of his own indigenous people. De la Vega’s works wasn’t just mere historical chronicles, but they had enormous literary value. Garcilaso’s writings had eloquent testimonies of emotional and intellectual struggles that were faced by the hybrids of the Old and New worlds. He is known for his history of the Incas, The Royal Commentaries of the Inca, and General History of Peru. Volume I of one of his works is on the origins and rise of the Inca Empire, while volume II is the Spanish conquest of Peru and its aftermath. The first-hand information that de la Vega received were from his maternal relatives on the daily Inca life, which would be used to in his writings.

Life During the Black Death

            In 1346 a disease, later described as a calamitous disease, swept through Europe. Those who survived this plague benefited from an improved standard of living. Damaged farms were abandoned, and a more diversified agriculture developed. Also the birthrate increased and new universities were built to educate the post-plague generation.

            The Black Death lasted from 1346 to 1353, perhaps beginning in the area between the Black and Caspian seas. Nicephorus Gregoras, a Byzantine scholar, called it a “pestilential disease.” He also named its symptoms, “signs indicating early death, were tumorous outgrowths at the roots of thighs and arms, and simultaneously bleeding ulcerations.” Later many historians believed that the plague was caused by a bacterium called Yersinia pestis, which is the same organism that causes outbreaks today. Soon the plague would reach the Middle East, the North African coast, and Europe. Of all the areas infected, France and the Low Countries were hit the hardest. Fleas that were carrying the disease rode on the back of rats and also on boats that was carrying spices, silks, and porcelain.

            In the Italian city of Pistoia, the government decided that no one could leave the city and go to nearby Pisa or Lucca; also people from those cities were not allowed to enter Pistoia. The government basically set up a quarantine. They also declared that butchers and retailers of meat could not stable horses and mud or dung was not allowed in the store where they sell meat. The archbishop of York in England ordered that devout procession be on every Wednesday and Friday. Some men and women would travel from city to city to churches, where they would undress themselves and whip one another on the floor of the church.

            The people who survived the Black Death’s wrath benefited because there was a smaller population to feed, so less land was needed for farming. Farm lands that were abandoned were returned to pastures, meadows, or forests. Barely became the more profitable crop and some landlords switched from farming to animal husbandry. Peasants and urban workers were able to get better conditions or higher wages from their landlords or employers. With more money to spend people could afford a better diet that included beer and meat. Before the Black Death about seventeen couples per year would get married in Givry, a small town in Burgundy. After the plague, on average forty-seven couples there got married each year. With better jobs people wedded at an earlier age. The Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV chartered a university at Prague, the king of Poland founded Cracow University, and a Habsburg duke created a university at Vienna. They were left with a large amount of wealth and they wanted to be known as patrons of education, so they built new universities.

Jesus, Christianity vs Muhammad, Islamic

Jesus and Muhammad are very similar in how they played a pivotal role in their religions growth. When Jesus was first born, people at that time looked at the rulers as the only people that can talk to God. In Muhammad’s case, majority of the people living in Arabia, Saudi Arabia, were polytheists, believed in many gods, while he recognized one God, the same one worshipped by Jews and Christians.

Jesus started spreading his words by being a teacher and healer during the reign of Tiberius. Instead of Jesus writing down his words from God, he told stories and parables that challenged his followers to reflect on what he means. By not writing down any of his words, when people would tell of him to others his words and deeds would be varied. After the death of John the Baptist Jesus started spreading his words around the countryside of Judaea, telling people God’s kingdom was coming and that they need to prepare spiritually for it. When Jesus took his message to the Jewish population in Jerusalem, his followers began the Jesus movement because of his miraculous healings and exorcisms along with his powerful preaching’s. The Jesus movement was not yet Christianity, but rather a Jewish sect. Fearing that the works of Jesus might ignite a Jewish revolt against the Romans, so Roman governor Pontius Pilate ordered the crucifixion of Jesus in Jerusalem. After the Jewish community had lost its religious center, Christianity began to separate from Judaism and gave birth to a new religion. Two decades after the crucifixion of Jesus, his followers spread his teachings beyond the Jewish community to the wider Roman world, especially Paul of Tarsus.

            Muhammad was a merchant – turned – holy – man form the city of Mecca. With a combination of persuasion and force, Muhammad and his co-religionists, Muslims (“those who submit to Islam”), converted most of the Arabian Peninsula to Islam. Islam, which stands for “submission to God,” was created by Muhammad. Islam was first a religion for the sedentary city dwellers, but soon found its way to the nomads. But before all of that took place, Muhammad would leave his house and spend a few days in a cave, where he would have his prayers and contemplation, a type of piety similar to that of the early Christians. One day Muhammad heard a voice and had a vision that called unto him to worship Allah. The Qur’an, the holy book of Islam, was created in the seventh century, where the messages Muhammad was hearing was written down in. These messages were told to be God’s revelation told to Muhammad by Archangel Gabriel, then recited to others by Muhammad himself. The Qur’an contained all the foundations a Muslim men and women should live by. At that time, Islam didn’t have any priests or sacraments, but later authoritative religious leaders came to be. By Muhammad coming out and saying that the people should abandoned the worshiping of all other gods and start worshiping his god brought him a conflict with the leading members of the Quraysh tribe, controlled the Ka’ba and was wealthy. So these people insulted Muhammad and harassed his followers.