Introduction

President Lincoln, among many people, is regarded as ‘the greatest president in American history’. This is a very easy mistake to make, given to titles like ‘the Great Emancipator’ or ‘Honest Abe’ and the history books stating that he was some kind of saint. Unfortunately, none of this is true. This comes as a shock to many people due to his legendary status, but it is true. Underneath Lincoln’s likable facade lay a tyrannic, dictator like mentality, prepared to do anything in his own personal interests.

Lincoln’s Shocking Views on Slavery

 

The first thing that must be mentioned when speaking of Lincoln is his stance on slavery. You might be of the opinion that Lincoln absolutely hated slavery. While I wish this was true, it isn’t. Lincoln himself expressed his support for the practice.

• Lincoln’s direct statements indicated his support for slavery. He defended slave owners’ right to own their property, stating that “when they remind us of their constitutional rights [to own slaves], I acknowledge them, not grudgingly but fully and fairly; and I would give them any legislation for the claiming of their fugitives” (in indicating support for the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850). (Dilorenzo x) 

‘But didn’t he support the Emancipation Proclamation?’ you may ask. Lincoln, in a letter to Treasury Secretary Salmon P. Chase, admitted that it was a political gimmick purely to boost his status, saying “The original proclamation has no…legal justification, except as a military measure.” Furthermore, Lincoln sought no equality between whites and blacks. While you might refute that with Lincoln’s statement in the Gettysburg Address that all people are equal, you must remember that Lincoln was a politician. Famous Economist Murray Rothbard said it best, saying that “Lincoln was a master politician, which means that he was a consummate conniver, manipulator, and liar.” That makes this quote from Lincoln far more credible to the modern ear:

• “I have no purpose to introduce political and social equality between the white and black races. There is a physical difference between the two, which, in my judgement, will probably forever forbid their living together upon the footing of perfect equality; and inasmuch as it becomes a necessity that there must be a difference, I, as well as Judge Douglas, am in favor of the race to which I belong having the superior position. I have never said anything to the contrary.”

Lincoln said that in 1858 during a debate with Senator Stephen Douglas in Ottawa, Illinois. Good grief. If anyone said that today, they would immediately be called a racist and probably shot or something else terrible.

Lincoln also, while serving in the Illinois legislature, “never challenged the anti-black legislation of his state, voting against black suffrage and refusing to sign a petition allowing black testimony in court. Lincoln was also a strong supporter of colonizing freed blacks, convinced that they could never be assimilated into American society.” (Woods, 67)

It’s starting to sound like, at this point, that Lincoln was a massive racist. And keep in mind too, that nothing I’ve mentioned includes his presidency. To find that stuff out, I would point to Thomas J. Dilorenzo’s The Real Lincoln, and Brion McClanahan’s 9 Presidents Who Screwed Up America. They are both great reads, and fill in the blanks that most history scholars like to conveniently forget about.

Lincoln’s Flagrant Abuses of Power and the Violation of His Oath of Office

The Constitution was, during the 1860’s, a highly respected document. It had been highly respected since the days of the founding fathers, when early presidents would veto propositions simply because they were not mentioned in that document. The respect of the Constitution vanished when Lincoln became president, however. When Lincoln was sworn in, he began a series of very unconstitutional acts, such as:

• “declaring martial law; blockading the Southern ports; suspending the habeas corpus for the duration of his administration; imprisoning without trial thousands of Northern citizens; arresting and imprisoning newspaper publishers who were critical of him; censoring all telegraph communication; nationalizing the railroads; creating several new states without the consent of the citizens of those states; ordering Federal troops to interfere with elections in the North by intimidating Democratic voters; deporting a member of Congress, Clement L. Vallandigham of Ohio, for criticizing the administration’s income tax proposal at a Democratic Party rally; confiscating private property; confiscating firearms in violation of the Second Amendment; and effectively gutting the Ninth and Tenth amendments to the Constitution, among other things.” (Dilorenzo, 131-32)

What is habeas corpus? It allowed so called ‘enemies of the state’ and political prisoners to be released from captivity following established legal procedures. This law also protected American citizens from arbitrary arrest for whatever reason. However, on April 27, 1861, Lincoln decided that this concept was no longer necessary, ordering the military to enforce it. This meant that Lincoln now had the ability to arbitrarily arrest anyone for whatever he pleased, usually people who mildly opposed him on the political field or people who criticized him in newspapers or telegrams. This suspension remained in effect for his entire presidency.

The Final Verdict

Overall, I will leave the decision up to you. Based on the evidence, I personally think Lincoln was an awful president, but you may have different thoughts. The important thing to keep in mind, despite whatever we think, is to not blindly trust what everyone else says. Just because someone has a piece of paper with their name on it doesn’t mean that they know the whole story. Always corroborate with various sources.

You do want to have free thought, don’t you?

Biblography

Dilorenzo, Thomas J. The Real Lincoln. Roseville, California: Prima Publishing, 2002, Hardcover

McClanahan, Brion. 9 Presidents Who Screwed Up America, and 4 Who Tried to Save Her. Washington, DC: Regnery History, 2016, Hardcover

Woods, Thomas E, Jr, Ph.D. The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History. Washington, DC: Regnery History, 2004, Paperback

Writing Assignment: Write a 3 page paper summarizing one of this week’s lesson topics:

Choose one of the following as your topic:

1. President Ronald Reagan

2. Culture of the 1980’s

3. President Bush and the Gulf War

4. Fall of the U.S.S.R.

Include any names, dates, or other facts that were of particular interest to you.

The State of the Union After Stalin

After Joseph Stalin’s death in 1953, Nikita Khrushchev came to power. He did away with some of Stalin’s violent policies, and even introduced a small element of freedom to Soviet society. He also started improving relations with the U.S., but the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 forced tensions through the roof, even bordering on atomic warfare. This continued well into the Cold War.

In 1979, the Soviets suffered an actual major loss in the country of Afghanistan (remember, they were trying to expand their borders all the time). The U.S. made a mistake by providing support for the Afghani people. Why was that bad, you might ask? One sentence. Increased tensions between the west and the U.S.S.R.

However, due to the devastating loss in Afghanistan, the Soviets slowly began to decline on the power scale, and the U.S’s intervention wasn’t a super big deal.

Mikhail Gorbachev Comes to Power

March of 1985 rolled around. A longtime member and leader in the Communist Party, Mikhail Gorbachev came into power. He inherited a horrible economy and an unbelievably bad political structure. This made the fun task of political reform *almost*  impossible.

Gorbachev’s Reforming Policies

Gorbachev thought long and hard about what to do, and decided to introduce two sets of new policies that would hopefully start repairing the nation. The first one was dubbed glasnost, or ‘political openness’. Glasnost yeeted the last of Stalin’s policies, like the secret police or the banning of books. ‘Traitors’, otherwise known as prisoners of the government, were released, and people could actually have freedom of speech. Other political parties could actually participate in elections. Things were already looking up!

The second set of reforms was called perestroika, or ‘economic restructuring’. Gorbachev made the correct assumption that the best way to revive the Soviet economy was to loosen the government’s death grip on it. Also, he thought that more privatization would lead to advances in society, technological and otherwise, so people were allowed for the first time since the 1920’s, to have private businesses. Workers could also strike without fear of being gunned down. Lastly, the policy encouraged foreign involvement in the Soviet plans.

A Small Problem

These reforms, while spectacular in theory, took forever to actually do anything. Perestroika nuked the bed of cash that the Soviet state ran off of, and the market economy needed time to rebuild. The problem? The former system collapsed before the new one could take over.

The 1989 Revolutions

Gorbachev thought that with a vastly better Soviet economy, that it would be easier to have good relationships with the rest of the world. Even while president Reagan, in the U.S., dissed the U.S.S.R and launched a massive military buildup, Gorbachev promised to leave the arms race. He withdrew Soviet troops from Afghanistan, and reduced Soviet military presence in the nations in Eastern Europe.

The U.S.S.R Crumbles 

These peaceful policies had important effects on the U.S.S.R. First, it caused the Eastern European alliances to crumble as peaceful revolutions erupted all over the country. Slowly and one by one, the countries allied with the U.S.S.R seceded. At last, the Soviet Union, a global superpower for almost 100 years, fell quietly with almost no violence. On December 25, 1991, Mikhail Gorbachev resigned as leader of the Soviet Union, recognizing that his task had been completed, the same day that the U.S.S.R officially fell.

Summary

One thing that we can all take away from the story of the U.S.S.R is how it peacefully fell. Not every empire has to end with death and violence. That by itself is truly something else.

 

 

 

 

Writing Assignment: Write a 3 page paper summarizing one of this week’s lesson topics:

Choose one of the following as your topic:

1. Space Exploration

2. 1970’s Recession

3. Careers of Bill Gates and Steve Jobs

4. Culture of the 1970’s

Include any names, dates, or other facts that were of particular interest to you.

The Early Rockets

One of the first things that could go in space was, ironically, a weapon of mass destruction. The V2 rocket was developed in the early ’40s by Nazi Germany, and had an altitude of 128 miles. It was one of the first man-made creations that could go to space.

The U.S. and the U.S.S.R both felt inspired by the V2, and captured some of them for experimental reasons. The U.S., in 1946, took the first pictures of the earth from a rocket, and in 1947 launched fruit flies into space. That same year, the Soviets developed the R1 rocket, and used it for radiation and animal experiments.

The Space Race

When the Cold War began, both the United States and the Soviets developed the intercontinental ballistic missile, which was used to deliver atomic weaponry or other suitably deadly weapons of war. Thankfully, neither nation had to use them in war. They were used in the Space Race to send things and people to space. The Soviets dominated the race early on, and put the first satellite in orbit, and then the first living thing in orbit in 1957, the first human spaceflight in 1961, the first spacewalk in 1965, and the first automatic landing on another celestial body in 1966.

America, despite lagging behind in the race, had several notable successes. In 1961, NASA directed the first human PILOTED space flight, put the first solar observatory into space in 1962, and completed the first piloted orbital mission of another celestial body in 1968.

Both countries, by this point, were relatively equal in their accomplishments. However, when JFK announced that “We are going to the moon!” in 1961, both countries kicked it into overdrive.

JFK’s statement rang true, and on July 16, 1969, the Apollo 11 mission launched from Earth. Just 4 days later, the lunar module, the Eagle, landed on the moon, and Neil Armstrong became the first man to step onto the moon.

Post-Space Race

America had won the Space Race, but other nations still continued to send things to space. The U.S. did not send people into space again until the Space Shuttle program began in 1981. A total of 6 shuttles, the Enterprise, Columbia, Discovery, Atlantis, Challenger, and Endeavour were created. The program was immensely successful, but tragically, the Challenger exploded on launch in the mid ’80s, killing several astronauts. The nation was shook by this, but continued the program. Later, tragedy struck again and the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated on reentry to planet Earth. Apart from these tragic accidents, the program was very successful and gave humankind a great deal of knowledge about space. The Shuttle program ended in 2011, with over 135 successful space missions, including the construction of the International Space Station in 1998.

Conclusion

In summary, space exploration has been very successful and informative to the human race. It is super cool being able to see what is truly out there, as space is a beautiful thing.

Writing Assignment: Write a 3 page paper summarizing the life and work of all three of the following presidents:

Choose one of the following as your topic:

1. President Richard Nixon

2. President Gerald Ford

3. President James Carter

Include any names, dates, or other facts that were of particular interest to you.

State of the United States

The United States was in turmoil throughout the presidency of these three dudes. One day it would be relatively stable, and the next it would be on the verge of war. It wasn’t a super peaceful time in the U.S.’ history.

Richard Nixon

Richard Nixon, the 37th president, served from 1969-’74 when he resigned (being the first president to do so). Nixon was extremely active in foreign policy, trying to ‘end’ the Vietnam War, as well as visiting other countries and even meeting with opposing countries’ leaders. Because of his good relations with the rest of the world, his foreign policy was moderately successful.

Nixon also put the draft on pause, much to the government’s chagrin. He also founded the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), that organization that condemns buildings and bans stuff for ‘harming the environment’. He did many other less important things during his career.

Nixon could have been remembered as a ‘good president’ if it weren’t for the Watergate Scandal in 1972. The scandal came to light when some ‘thieves’ were arrested in the Democratic National Committee offices for stealing documents and wiretapping. As it turns out, these ‘thieves’ were connected to Nixon and his reelection campaign, which put him in a very bad light in the eyes of the people. As a result, he resigned his position to the vice president, Gerald Ford.

Gerald Ford

President Gerald Ford was the 38th President of the United States from 1974 to 1977. His presidency lasted 895 days, the shortest of any president who did not die in office.

Ford did much more for domestic policy than Nixon ever did, as he did much to cut crime rates, provide jobs for the unemployed, among other things. He was also active in foreign policy as well, citing peace with other nations and gaining valuable allies. He also provided humanitarian aid towards third world countries and developing nations.

He was also the target of not one, but TWO assassination attempts, despite his popularity among the people. They both occurred in September of 1975, but Ford emerged unscathed both times.

During the presidential race of 1976, Ford narrowly lost to Jimmy Carter. Despite his short presidency, Gerald Ford was admired as a good president.

Jimmy Carter

Jimmy Carter, the 39th president, served from 1977-’81. He is looked down upon as a relatively unsuccessful president, being super interested in foreign policy but largely ignoring domestic policy.

Carter failed badly in the field of foreign policy, as relations with the U.S.S.R fell downwards, as well as with Iran. Part of this was due to the fact that he sucked at being a diplomat, but the other part was that he wasn’t really liked among the people for whatever reason.

In terms of domestic policy, he really just centralized everything even more than it was, establishing the US Department of Energy and the Department of Education. He also improved industrial growth and did stuff to protect the environment.

After leaving office, he created a philanthropic institution called the Carter Center, which he continues to run. This organization improved his reputation, and he is one of the most successful ex-presidents of all time.

Conclusion

Overall, all three presidents did a fairly okay job at running the country. Most of them made more than a few mistakes, but at least they prevented any new wars from happening.

Writing Assignment: Write a 3 page paper summarizing one of the topics you learned about this week.

Choose one of the following as your topic:

1. President John F. Kennedy

2. President Lyndon Johnson

3. The Civil Rights Movement

4. The Counterculture of the 1960’s

Include any names, dates, or other facts that were of particular interest to you.

Early Life

John Fitzgerald Kennedy, or JFK, was born on May 29 1917 in Massachusetts, as one of eight kids. He lived in his town of birth for the first ten years of his life, until 1927, when the family moved to Riverdale, New York. They stayed there a while, but moved several more times before finally settling in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts.

At 14, JFK had his appendix removed, which left him incapacitated for several months. After that, he entered a boarding school up in Connecticut. Jealous of his older brother, who JFK lived in the shadow of, he made up for it by being very rebellious, even going so far as to blow up a toilet.

While at the boarding school, he suffered from many mysterious health problems that resulted in hospitalization in 1934. Doctors even thought he had leukemia, which was thankfully proven to be something far less fatal.

Pre-Presidency

In 1936, JFK enrolled at Harvard, and finally started to take life and his studies more seriously, deciding to study political philosophy. In 1940, he wrote and published a thesis on Britain’s participation in the Munich Agreement, which went on to become a bestseller

In 1941, JFK joined the US Naval Reserve. He served throughout most of WW2, commanding several boats and earning many awards.

JFK, after serving, went into politics. He joined the House of Representatives in 1947, staying there until 1953 when he ran for a senate seat. He received several spinal operations during his time at the senate, and became critically ill at times, once even receiving the Catholic last rites. Thankfully he recovered, soon meeting and marrying Jacqueline Bouvier (also known as Jackie).

Presidency

6 years later, JFK ran for president as the Democratic candidate, in opposition to Richard Nixon. JFK faced several obstacles in his candidacy, such as his youth and inexperience. However, thanks to his charisma, charming personality, and popular beliefs, he overcame these obstacles and became the youngest president at just 43.

During his presidency, JFK made many sweeping reforms to America, including the creation of the Peace Corp following the disastrous defeat at the Bay of Pigs. He also strongly supported Civil Rights, passing legislation on that topic. He also famously guided America during the early Space Race, making his famous speech declaring that “We choose to go to the moon.” That statement rang true long after his untimely death.

An Untimely Death

Then, on November 22, 1963, JFK was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, during a presidential motorcade. From one of the buildings around, two shots rang out, striking the president once in the back and once in the head. He was immediately taken to Parkland Hospital, but was pronounced as dead 30 minutes later.

Police quickly found and arrested a man named Lee Harvey Oswald, an ex-Marine, who they accused as being the man who shot JFK. Oswald denied having anything to do with it, but the police discovered that the gun used to kill Kennedy was owned by Oswald and convicted him.

On the way to his trial 2 days later, Oswald was shot and killed by a local nightclub owner, Jack Ruby. Ruby was arrested and convicted for the murder of Oswald, but died of cancer before his last trial could take place.

Legacy

JFK was beloved by his people, and respected even by his political enemies. He was a celebrity of sorts, with he and his wife setting fashion trends. It’s just a shame that such a respectable man had to die so young.

Writing Assignment: Write a 3 page paper summarizing one of the topics you learned about this week

Choose one of the following as your topic:

1. Joseph Stalin and the Soviet Union

2. Mao Zedong and Red China

3. The Korean War

4. America in the 1950’s

Include any names, dates, or other facts that were of particular interest to you

Early Life

On December 18, 1879, Joseph Stalin was born in a small peasant village, in Russia. Stalin was a very frail child, and contracted smallpox when he was 7. This scarred his face and mangled his left arm. Because of this, the other kids in the village cruelly made fun of him. This spurred the young Stalin to embark on a quest for fame, power, and respect. He also gained a ‘don’t mess with me or you’ll regret it’ attitude towards people who got on his bad side.

Adulthood

Stalin, under encouragement from his mother, started training to become a priest. He excelled at his schoolwork, eventually gaining a seminary scholarship in 1894. However, he had different goals in mind.

While at seminary, he came into acquaintances with a group called the ‘Messame Dassy’, which was a secret organization that supported Georgia’s secession from the rest of Russia. It was actually a good goal, but some members of the group, of course, were socialist. These people introduced Stalin to the writings of people like Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin. Fascinated, Stalin joined the group in 1898.

Stalin left seminary in 1899. People aren’t settled on the reason, but school records state that he was unable to pay tuition and withdrew.

Stalin did not return home. Rather, he chose to stay and devote his time to the revolutionary movement (remember, the Bolshevik Revolution was just around the corner). In 1901, he joined the Social Democratic Labor Party, working for them full time. The next year, he was arrested for coordinating a labor strike and exiled to Siberia. This was just the first of his many arrests for simply being a part of the early Russian Revolution. He also adopted the name ‘Stalin’, meaning ‘steel’ in Russian.

He was never really had the same strong qualities as other revolutionary leaders, but he excelled at doing the boring stuff, like publishing brochures, calling strikes, etc. He eventually escaped from exile and was marked as an outlaw by the tzar’s secret police. Stalin continued working in hiding, gaining infamy for raising money via robberies and other crimes. He was even associated with a bank heist in 1907 that resulted in approximately $3.4 million U.S. being stolen.

February 1917 rolled around, the revolution began, and the Bolsheviks came into control. During this time Stalin continued to work, primarily, behind the scenes. However, he would soon begin his inexorable rise to power

The Rise of Stalin and the Communist Party

In 1922, Stalin was made head of the newly created office of ‘general secretary of the Communist Party’. At this time, it was a relatively insignificant position. However, with Stalin being such a shrewd fellow, he slowly built his base, made shady appointments, and started consolidating his power. When he had finished, almost all of the central Communist Party power owed their loyalty to him. People realized all too late what he had done, and the ailing Vladimir Lenin was powerless to stop Stalin’s inevitable rise to power.

In 1924, Stalin began his quest to purge the old leadership. He did so by denunciating people, shuffling power around, and even exiling people. Stalin, however, continued to be highly paranoid, and continued purging even more than before, arresting people and putting them on massive, grandiose show trials. Anyone who had even the remote potential to rival him was falsely accused of being a capitalist ally, and immediately branded an ‘enemy of the people’ and executed. This reign of terror even extended from the party elite to local officials.

During the late ’20s and early ’30s, Stalin seized privately owned farms and turned them into massive, collectively owned ‘farms’ (also known as labor camps). Stalin hoped that this collectivistic idea would increase food production. He was wrong. Millions of people died under the forced labor policies, or starved during the ensuing famine. Stalin also set in a massive, rapid industrialization effort that, initially, was met with huge successes, but killed millions more. Anyone who resisted the change were exiled to the Gulag’s labor camps or executed on the spot.

World War 2

During the second World War, Stalin was a mighty military force. Not so at the beginning! He initially signed a non-aggression pact with Hitler’s Germany, which was thought to be a genius idea. Stalin ignored his people’s warnings that German forces were mobilizing on the eastern front. When they invaded, Stalin was traumatized by Hitler’s treachery, even hiding in his office for 3 days. Being the psychotic dictator he was, he quickly regained resolve and ordered the Russian Red Army to push back, and push back HARD.

This worked, and the Russians gained confidence. Throughout the rest of the war, Russia became regarded as a grossly powerful nation, and a force to be reckoned with. Nobody else really messed with Russia after that, even as they swept through Hitler’s territory, liberating places left and right for the Allies.

The Soviet Union After the War

Stalin started to become paranoid again, recognizing that the western countries (e.g Britain and the United States) were major global powers as well, he became obsessed with this supposed ‘threat’ of invasion. Between 1945-48, he created Communist regimes in tons of Eastern European countries, creating a huge ‘wall’ between Western Europe and MOTHER RUSSIA©®™.

Westerners interpreted this as meaning that Stalin wished to place Europe under Soviet control, and created the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to counter the Soviet expansion. In ’48, Stalin started a massive economic blockade on the German city of Berlin, forcing the Allies mounted a gargantuan airlift, giving the city much-needed supplies and forcing Stalin to back down from his high-horse,

Stalin’s Death and His Legacy

Stalin gained massive popularity after his success during WW2, but his health started to decline in the early ’50s. Being so paranoid, when he uncovered an assassination plot he ordered another complete purge of the Communist Party. Before it could be carried out, Joseph Stalin kicked the bucket March 5, 1953. Behind him, he left a fearsome legacy of death and destruction as he turned Russia from a backwards nation to a world superpower.

 

Writing Assignment: Write a 3 page paper summarizing one of the topics you learned about this week.

Choose one of the following as your topic:

1. Harry Truman and the Home Front War

2. The Iron Curtain

3. History of Hollywood

4. Great Authors of the 20th Century

Include any names, dates, or other facts that were of particular interest to you.

Pre-Adulthood

Clive Staples Lewis was born in Belfast, Ireland, on November 29, 1898. As a toddler he gave himself the nickname ‘Jack’, which is what he was called for the rest of his life by friends and family. He had a very close relationship to his older brother, Warren, and the two spent a great deal of time just hanging out. Lewis, from a very young age, was fascinated by fantasy, animals, and bombastic tales and legends. Because of this, He and Warren created their own fantasy land called ‘Boxen’, which had an intricate history and lore that they had fun with for years.

Lewis’ mother passed away when he was just 10 years old, leading hit to go on and get his pre-college education from boarding schools, tutors, and the like. When World War 1 came around, he felt compelled to join the army. He served for a while, but was injured by shrapnel and given an honorable discharge. He then lived as a ‘son’ of sorts with Janie Moore, the mother of a friend of Lewis’ who was, unfortunately killed during the war.

Adulthood

Lewis was admitted into Oxford, and graduated with a major focus on classic literature and philosophy. In 1925, he was awarded a teaching position at Magdalen College, a part of Oxford.

While there, he discovered a group called ‘The Inklings’, which was a highly informal, fun group of writers and thinkers, some of which included Lewis’ brother Warren, and even J.R.R Tolkien. Through various conversations he had with this group, he re-discovered the Christian faith, which he had become confused by and abandoned when he was younger.

Because of this, he would become world renowned for his fantastic apologist texts, which explained the Christian theology from a logic standpoint, and explained away various arguments against Christianity.

Around the mid ’20s, he started publishing books. He published several fiction and non-fiction works, including The Allegory of Love. In 1938 he published his first sci-fi work, Out of the Silent Planet, the first book in a trilogy which, sub-textually, dealt with concepts such as sin and desire. During WW2, he gave many popular broadcasts on Christianity, which, unsurprisingly, gained many Christian followers. These speeches were collected in the book Mere Christianity.

During the 1950’s, he started publishing the Chronicles of Narnia series, which was about several children who, during WW2, find a magical world inside an armoire. The series became very popular, and was lauded for its allegorical connections to the real world and Christianity.

Marriage and Late Life

Lewis later joined the faculty at Cambridge University, teaching literature. While there, he met and married an English teacher, Joy Gresham. Their marriage was a very happy, joyous one, but it was cut very short when Joy died of cancer in 1960. Lewis grieved extremely deeply, almost becoming despondent. To cope, he wrote A Grief Observed under a pen name.

In 1963, Lewis resigned from his position and passed away at his home in November of that year.

Legacy

C.S Lewis continues to change lives even today, thanks to his wonderful works of literature and great theological works.

 

Writing Assignment: Write a three page paper on the history of World War 2.

Be sure to include:

1. Dates of battles or other events

2. Names of places or important people

3. Summarize the effects of the war on the world

The History of the War

After the Great War, many thought there could be no war more terrible. They were dead wrong. In 1939, after Hitler’s slow rise to power, Britain and France declared war on Germany after its unprecedented invasion of Poland. That pivotal moment sparked a war that would last 6 years, and bring with it nearly a hundred million casualties.

The Treaty of Versailles 

If you remember, at the end of World War 1, Germany reluctantly agreed to sign the Treaty of Versailles. The document imposed many harsh restrictions on all of Germany, such as forcing them to accept blame for starting the war (which they didn’t), making them pay millions upon millions of pounds for reparations, they were forbidden from creating a large army, and virtually all land that they had was given to other surrounding nations. And that wasn’t even all of it.

As you can imagine, the Germans didn’t really like being screwed over so hard, as Germany itself was still trying to financially recover from the terms, and basic necessities were grossly expensive. As such, they were fascinated by the things Adolf Hitler promised, particularly the ‘get us back on our feet’ part.

Adolf Hitler and the Beginning of the War

In January 1933, Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany. Almost immediately, he began building a much larger military, and introduced compulsory military service. At this time, Britain and France were very much aware of what was going on, but ignored it because they thought that a strong Germany would prevent the spread of Communism.

In 1936, Germany marched into the Rhineland. While they were still weak, and could have been easily defeated, everyone else was weak too and didn’t want another war. If only. That same year, he also allied himself with Mussolini in Italy as well as Japan.

Hitler’s next goal was to start reclaiming land that had been ripped away from Germany during the treaty. In March 1938, German troops entered Austria, and forced its leader to hold a vote on joining forces with Germany. Apparently, 99% of Austrians wanted to join Germany, so they did. After this, Hitler promised that Anschluss (Austria’s union with Germany) was the end of his expansionist goals. Everyone believed him.

6 months later, Hitler broke his word and demanded that a region of Czechoslovakia be given to him. The British prime minister met with Hitler 3 times, and they decided that Hitler would be given his region as long as he didn’t invade the rest of Czechoslovakia. Can you guess what he did next?

In March 1939 Hitler invaded the rest of the country. Despite calls for help from the Czech government, Britain and France weren’t prepared for military action. They did deduce that Poland would be Hitler’s next target, and promised to attack if he invaded there. The prime minister believed, that under threat of war from Britain and France, Hitler would stop. He didn’t, and on September 1st, 1939, Poland was invaded.

The World at War

1940

War was declared on Germany at once. Despite the Allies’ best efforts, Poland fell to Germany (and the neutral Soviets) within a month thanks to Hitler’s Blitzkrieg (lightning war) strategy.

After the defeat of Poland, there was a relative lull in the fighting, until April 9, 1940, when the Germans invaded Norway and Denmark, then they made their way into the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg, which had taken neutral stances. France, also neutral, was invaded, but they signed an armistice that allowed Germany to occupy the country and set up a collaborationist rule there.

With encouragement from the Germans, the Soviets invaded the Baltic states in June of that year, but they formally annexed them 2 months later. Italy decided to join the war on the Axis side on June 10. Immediately following that the Germans began waging an air war over Britain.

1941

On June 22, 1941, the Axis powers invaded the U.S.S.R, violating their pact of neutrality. Joseph Stalin was ticked off, and rightfully so, and he pushed back with all of Russia’s military might as the Axis powers advanced deep into Russia. This prevented the Axis from capturing key cities like Leningrad and Moscow. On December 6, The Soviets launched a massive counter-attack, permanently yeeting the Axis from the outskirts of Moscow.

The next day, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. Ironically, this attack was ordered by F.D.R as an excuse to go to war. The U.S. immediately declared war on Japan, and Germany and Italy declared war on the U.S.

1942

In May, the British executed a massive air raid on the German city of Cologne with over a thousand bombers. This brought war directly to Germany for the first time during the conflict. Over the next 3 years, the Allies bombed industrial plants, factories, and cities, reducing almost all of Germany to rubble by 1945.

On the eastern front, the Axis powers attacked the Soviets again, this time wanting Stalingrad, as well as the city of Baku and the Caucasian oil fields. The offensive stalled, thanks to heavy resistance. In November, the Soviets counter-attacked Stalingrad, forcing the German troops there to surrender in early 1943.

1943

In July, the Germans tried one last offensive at Kursk, which is regarded as the biggest tank battle in history. The Soviets, unsurprisingly, weathered the attack and drove the Germans out permanently.

Meanwhile, the Allies landed in Sicily and went onto the Italian mainland. During this time, the Italian Fascist Party deposed Mussolini and negotiated a surrender to the Allied forces. Immediately, German troops took over northern Italy, forcing continued resistance. Mussolini was also rescued by German SS commandos, and established a puppet reign over Italy (supervised by the Germans, of course).

1944

On June 6, otherwise known as D-Day, a massive Allied attack was made on the beaches of France, which was swiftly liberated. Then, in September, U.S. troops crossed into Germany, one month after the Soviets on the eastern front. In December, the Germans attempted an un-successful counter-attack, all the while Allied forces continued bombing industrial targets in Germany.

1945

The Soviets began the offensive in January, liberating western Poland and forcing Hungary, and Axis ally, to surrender. In February, the Allies bombed Dresden, Germany, which killed 35,000 civilians. War crimes, anyone?

Finally, on April 16, Soviet troops encircled the German capital of Berlin, and advanced inward. As the Soviets fought towards where Hitler cowered, he killed himself and his mistress, recognizing that Germany had lost the war. Because of Hitler’s death, Germany surrendered un-conditionally on May 7 to the Allies at Reims, and on May 9 to the Soviets.

The Nuclear Bomb

The nuclear bomb is the most deadly weapon ever used in a military conflict, even to this very day. It was developed during the war, under the code name MANHATTAN, in response to fears that the Germans were building a weapon using atomic capabilities. On July 16, 1945, the Trinity test produced the first successful nuclear detonation, creating a mushroom cloud that stretched some 40,000 feet in the air.

This brings us to late July, 1945. President Harry S. Truman called for Japan’s surrender with the Postdam Declaration. It promised “prompt and utter destruction” if Japan didn’t.

On August 6, 1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb, dubbed ‘The Little Boy’, on the Japanese city of Nagasaki. The bomb hit the ground and instantly detonated, vaporizing over 80,000 CIVILIANS and leveling 5 square miles of the city.

3 days later, the U.S. dropped a second atomic bomb, dubbed ‘The Fat Man’, on the city of Nagasaki, instantly murdering 40,000 CIVILIANS. All told, an estimated 150,000 civilians died from the usage and after effects of the atomic bomb.

Japan surrendered, because they knew they could be wiped off of the map thanks to the destructive power of, in the words of the Japanese Emperor, “A new and most cruel bomb.”

The Axis powers were definitely evil, but good grief. What kind of bastard does such a thing to civilians? Those people were just like you and me. They died because some dude in a chair said “Let’s teach them a lesson.”

The Effects of the War

When WW2 ended, an estimated 50-80 million people died, with many more suffering terrible injuries. Overall, the war accomplished very little, except for the deaths of millions of people. World War 2, to this day, is the most destructive and expensive military conflict ever seen.

 

 

 

Writing Assignment: Write a two to three page paper summarizing this week’s main history topic.

The Great Depression and its effects on America

Be sure to include names of places and important people, as well as dates, whenever possible.

The Prelude

The Great Depression was a period during the ’30s where there was virtually no economic growth of any sort. Many people lost literally everything that they had. Millionaires one day, standing in soup lines the next. Sounds like fun, doesn’t it?

The Depression started right after the Roaring 20’s. A period of great economic growth, many people made their fortune off of the stock market, or by building giant businesses.  Banks kept lending out money that they didn’t have. With all of this spending, the stock market slowly began to devalue, as investors kept making and spending their money.

The Great Depression Begins

On Tuesday, October 29, 1929, the stock market hit the fan in absolutely spectacular fashion. This was known as Black Tuesday. People panicked, and rushed to the banks, trying to withdraw all of their money. Since the banks had almost no money on hand, they could only hand out a small fraction of it. Because of this, over 3000 banks shut their doors all across the country, which only made the problem worse.

Practically overnight, investor’s stocks became worthless, and they had no money to withdraw from the banks. Sadly, many former rich people killed themselves, because they thought their lives were as good as over anyways.

Because of this catastrophic loss of money, over 12 million people were without jobs, as rich businessmen couldn’t pay their employees, forcing them to shut down.

The Dust Bowl

As if things couldn’t get any worse, the Dust Bowl hit all across the midwestern United States, which was a series of dust storms that killed crops and forced people to pack up and move, when they couldn’t even afford to do that.

FDR Tries to End the Depression

FDR started the New Deal program halfway through the Depression, which created many new organizations designed to insure people’s cash, manage loans, and generally prevent something like this from ever happening again. He partially succeeded, as the Depression slowed down, but it still took half a decade before it ended entirely.

The End of the Depression

The Depression, partially in thanks to the New Deal, finally ended in the very late ’30s. People actually learned how to keep their money under control, and America started rebuilding.

Writing Assignment: Write a two to three page paper summarizing one of this week’s history topics:

1. The Bolshevik Revolution

2. Presidents Harding and Coolidge

3. The Roaring 20’s (including the Scopes Monkey Trial)

The Beginning

In 1917, during World War 1, several great political revolutions swept through Russia, bringing about the end of imperial rule for the first time in centuries, and setting in motion many changes that would bring about the formation of the Soviet Union.

The situation in Russia at the time wasn’t too great. Chronic food shortages, political and civil unrest, as well as a severe amount of government corruption, and even poverty led to a very little amount of faith in the current czar, Nicholas II. He was also disliked because he would literally toy with the government, dissolving the parliament when it opposed him, and he did nothing to bring the economy in check.

This, combined with everything else mentioned above, led to an open revolt. Nicholas II was forced to abdicate his throne as the last Russian czar. However, the government instituted in his place lasted only mere months before it too was yeeted out of existence by the more radical Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin.

The February Revolution

The February Revolution began on March 8, 1917 (February 23 on the Julian calendar used at the time) when a group of hundreds of demonstrators took to the streets of St. Petersburg, clamoring for mere bread. Supported by many more workers on strike, the demonstrators got into conflict with the police, refusing to leave the streets. 2 days later, literally every single person with a job in St. Petersburg went on strike and joined the mob of demonstrators, which was destroying police stations and generally causing mayhem.

On March 11, troops in the St. Petersburg military were called upon to do something about it. Like the Russians they were, some of them immediately opened fire in certain instances. However, the citizens being the insane rioters that they were, did not waver. The troops did, and Nicholas II wet his pants and dissolved the parliament again. The next day, the revolution won when the military regiments started defecting to the cause of the demonstrators.

The imperial government was forced to resign, and the parliament formed a provisional government that peacefully vied control of the government to the Petrograd Soviet (the leading deputies of the big mob). On March 14, it issued Order Number 1, which said that Russian soldiers and sailors only had to follow orders that did not conflict with the directives of The Soviet. The day after, Nicholas abdicated the throne to his brother, who refused the crown, bringing an end to Russian czarist autocracy.
In the aftermath of the revolution, power was shared between the Petrograd Soviet and the weak provisional government.

The October Revolution

On November 6-7 (or October 24-25 on the Julian calendar), leftist revolutionaries led by the Bolshevik party leader, Vladimir Lenin, performed an almost entirely bloodless coup against the provisional government. The Bolsheviks and their allies strategically occupied government buildings around St. Petersburg, and formed a new government with Lenin at its head.

The Government Under Lenin

Lenin became the dictator of the first Marxist state on the planet. The government immediately made peace with Germany (remember, this was during WW1), nationalized industry, and began distributing land. Then, in 1918, they had to fight another civil war, this time with the anti-Bolshevik White Army. The Bolsheviks emerged victorious in 1920. 2 years later, the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics, or the U.S.S.R was created. Unfortunately (I guess?), Vladimir Lenin’s health started to decline as he suffered multiple strokes. Shortly before he died, he expressed regret that the U.S.S.R was so heavily based on dictatorship. He expressed disappointment in Joseph Stalin, whose Communist Party had begun a meteoric rise to power. 

Lenin’s Death

Shortly later, Lenin suffered his final stroke, and died in the village now known as Gorki Leninskyie. As a final testament, his body was embalmed and he was entombed in a mausoleum in Moscow’s Red Square.