A study into how much John F. Kennedy was responsible for the failure of the Bay of Pigs and the influence it had on him in future crises.
Introduction John F. Kennedy endured arguably the most highly pressurised start to his Presidency than any preceding President. The expectations Kennedy brought with him into office were ones of hope and prosperity for the American public all wanting to be part of the American Dream. The new decade of the 1960’s offered a great deal to the average American, consumerism was continuously growing, and unemployment was low. However issues such as equality for black American’s would be turned into a civil rights movement that dominated domestic affairs for the entire decade. The immediate concern for President Kennedy when he took office was the suddenly growing Cuba problem, and was seen as the priority over all things for Kennedy. Entering office at a time when the world was waiting to see who would come out on top in the on-going Cold War, Kennedy had to tread a fine line of being strong, but not to robust in his policies so as to antagonise the Soviets to the point of armed conflict. The American publics’ concern over the ‘Red Scare’ that had dominated the 1950’s, continued into the new era under Kennedy, with close neighbour Cuba having a large part to play in ensuring that fear persisted. The threat of a Communist fifth column infiltrating American society on all levels from social to political was now starting to feel very real. This fear was also heightened
Examine the emergence of 'urban African Culture'
Examine the Emergence of Urban African Culture Throughout the twentieth century, the migration of a large proportion of South Africa’s population from rural ‘homelands’ into the colony’s rapidly expanding urban centres is an historical phenomenon that largely shaped the country’s social structure and had a profound effect on the family and gender ideologies held by the South African people. Black migration to the cities had been taking place as early as the 1850s, but with the development of the migrant labour system and the detrimental effects this had on many rural familial structures, as well as a variety of other factors, the 1930s and 1940s witnessed the movement of African people and their subsequent urbanisation on a far larger scale.[1] This surge of immigration was marked by a distinctive feature that caused both black tribal chiefs and white colonial administrators considerable worry and which, given the patriarchal nature of South African society, has attracted much scholarly attention; the dominance of females amongst the immigrant population. By 1951, the number of black females living in the towns had more than tripled since 1921, with more than twenty-one percent of all African females living in urban areas, and the urbanisation of black females was taking place much more rapidly than that of males.[2] The subordinate position held by women in South
Global and National developings resulting from the Cold War.
Andrei Alexandru - SPE1 - 3rd paper Change, Progress and Hysteria Global and National developings resulting from the Cold War After the war, Europe was torn and destroyed. Some historians called it the end of Europe. The people and cities were ruined by the massive war efforts. America, wanting to recover Western Europe in order to help democracy grow and maintain a large economic market for western businesses, decided to give aid to Germany. Tens of billions of dollars were shipped to Western Europe. It was the largest charitable gift in history. The Marshall Plan, named after US General Marshall, was a success. Western Europe recovered fully and then some. By 1960, Western Europe was well above pre-war production levels and its people were living better than ever. Across the iron curtain, little was being done. Stalin was disassembling the factories of Poland and East Germany and literally rebuilding them on Russian soil. It was an amazing but devastating accomplishment. Part of his collectivization plan moved peasants and factories to the cities. The factory re-location created city slums in Russia and turned the buffer states of Poland and East Germany into agricultural states. Stalin felt that an agricultural state would not be a military threat. He created a very effective buffer zone out of Eastern Europe. Through collectivization, Stalin's armies starved,
Gorbachev was entirely responsible for the collapse of the GDR - To what extent is this accurate?
Gorbachev was entirely responsible for the collapse of the GDR. To what extent is this accurate? The unanticipated demise of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) in the latter stages of the 1980s, has both engendered a compelling history, and led to an immediate questioning of its origins. The precise matter of accountability, as revealed in the statement, has also been the subject of immense and continuing controversy. To make a preliminary distinction, I would contend that one could not justifiably attribute a happening as massive as the collapse of a regime, to any one man, or indeed to any one cause. It was the interrelating dynamic of events, which has confounded historians and contemporaries alike, and contributed to the complex narrative that is the dialogue of history. Therefore, one must approach the question by evaluating the relative internal and external factors in terms of which was the most influential in bringing about the collapse of the USSR. One must also prioritise within these, and specifically respond to the questioning of Gorbachev's role. I intend to mark November 9th 1989, the date of the fall of the Berlin wall, as the pivotal point at which East German communism essentially collapsed. Aside from being hugely symbolic of the ending of Communism and the Cold War, when the wall was breeched, and the physical movement of people across the border
BRITISH PRESS
BRITISH PRESS Ventspils Augstskola 999 Table of contents: Introduction ..............................................................3 History ....................................................................3 National papers...........................................................4 Two types of national papers...........................................4 Sunday press..............................................................5 Politics.....................................................................5 Scandal.....................................................................7 Weekly and periodical press............................................7 Local and regional press.................................................8 Freedom of the press.....................................................9 Conclusion ..............................................................10 Introduction. Despite the development of motion pictures early in 20th century, of radio broadcasting in the 1920s, and of television in the 1940s, newspapers remain a major source of information on matters ranging from details of important news events to human-interest stories. British people are reported to be the worlds most dedicated home-video users. But this does not mean that they have given up reading. The British buy more newspapers than any other people except the Swedes
In what ways do the themes of consumption and the informal economy, living standards and social welfare shed light on the nature of the socialist regime in Poland and the extent of its impact on the lives of ordinary people?
Mark James Fisher HIST 3094: Independence and Occupation in Poland since 1918 Case Study Essay Dr. Kathy Burrell In what ways do consumption and the informal economy, living standards and social welfare shed light on the nature of the socialist regime and the extent of its impact on the lives of ordinary people? Following the Second World War, a Soviet-imposed communist regime was established in Poland. [1] Using the themes of consumption and the informal economy, livings standards, and social welfare, it is possible to shed light on the nature of this socialist regime, and the extent of its impact on the lives of ordinary people. These themes reveal that whilst in some periods, the communist regime was progressive in nature, thereby allowing its citizens to experience an enhanced life; it was also backward and corrupt, as a result of the various governments’ command economies, and industrialisation schemes. [2]At the same time, these themes also shed light on the extent of the socialist regime’s impact on the lives of ordinary citizens. These themes reveal that the regime’s impact could be negative or positive, minimal, and large at different times. These themes will each be examined in turn, firstly looking at the nature of the regime, and then the extent of its impact on citizens. Consumption and the informal economy firstly shed light on the nature of
A critical examination of the failure of Joint Anglo American Covert Paramilitary Operations in Cold War Albania
A critical examination of the failure of Joint Anglo-American Covert Paramilitary Operations in Cold War Albania In the late 1940s and early 1950s a joint Anglo-American operation to destabilise the communist regime in Albania was launched from the cabinet rooms and corridors of Whitehall and Washington. This operation was titled 'Valuable' by the British and 'Fiend' by the Americans.1 Designed to deny the USSR harbours for their navy and destabilise Hoxha's Albanian regime, the operation was an appalling failure. The historical narrative that concerns the operation has been chronicled by a number of scholars.2 The task here is not to chronicle the operation but rather to critically examine the reason for its failure. The knowledge that the operation was betrayed by Harold Philby, the Soviet Cambridge mole, has meant that other important factors responsible for the operations failure have been overlooked. This paper aims to examine the impact of the betrayal by Philby and compare that to the list of incompetent actions that assisted the demise of the operation. Actions that included poor intelligence and a reliance on a splintered community, a lack of pre-operational propaganda, the lack of basic security and tradecraft amongst the émigré operatives and mission overseers, discord over policy and mission development decisions, derisory equipment and training for the
Communism in China
Mao Tse-tung By Camden Bruner Mao Tse-tung may be the most powerful person who has ever lived. He controlled almost a billion people for more than twenty five years, as well as over 9 million square kilometers of land, which now has a value of more than $980 billion US. He overthrew an army of more than 4 million to get it, and killed many millions more to keep it. This project details the life of this once godlike ruler. Early Years Mao Tse-tung was born December 26, 1893 to a semi-prosperous peasant family living in Shaoshan, a village in Xiangtan County, Hunan Province China (Wenxian, 1). Mao was the eldest of eight children. His parents paid for him to attend private school. During the 1911 revolution, which overthrew the feudal monarchy, Mao served half a year in a local Hunan regiment. He did not like military service so he went back to school. In 1913 he went to the Hunan Fourth Province Normal School. There he studied Chinese feudal culture and the culture of Western bourgeois democracy. Philosophers like Confucius, Kang Youwei, Sun Yat-sen, Tolstoy and Kropotlicin influenced him greatly (Wenxiam, 3). Mao moved on to the Beijing University were he enrolled as a student and audited many classes. During his studies he was introduced to communist theories. He also married Yang Kaihui, a fellow student, despite an existing marriage arranged by his father at home. Mao
What factors helped bring an end to the Cold War?
Q. What factors helped bring an end to the Cold War? In this essay I will argue about the end of the Cold War, why and how did the Cold War end?. Actually, in the late 1980s, the Cold War came to a dramatic end. Essay outlines the approaches followed in this essay. During this essay I would explain the end of the Cold War and who helped to bring an end to the Cold war. Politically, I used to put the question with which people are concerned as: Which factors did more to bring about the end of the Cold War, the actions and decisions of individual statesmen, or long term impersonal factors? The aim of this essay, first of all is to explain what is Cold War and between whom and when did it end?, did the Cold War ended by Reagan?. Secondly, I would highlight my understanding of his points about taxes and military. This essay will also address the following issues; Did Reagan and Gorbachev played an important role in the end of the Cold War?; what factors bring about the end of the Cold War, the actions and decisions of individual statesmen, or long term impersonal factors or Berlin Wall in Germany from 1981-1991? While the actions of Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev played important roles in this process, impersonal factors such as the inherent inefficiencies of the Soviet system and the continued Western policy of containment had a greater impact in ending the Cold War.
The Cuban Missile Crisis was the closest the world has every come to nuclear war.
The Cuban Missile Crisis was the closest the world has every come to nuclear war. President John F. Kennedy and his committee of advisers had ten days to create a plan of action for the United States that would prevent nuclear war with the Soviet Union and ensure that the missiles in Cuba were no longer a threat to the United States security. President Kennedy was faced with a difficult decision on what kind of approach to take. President Kennedy choose to diffuse the crisis with a blockade war diversion, but what factors lead to this conclusion, and why was the blockade the best option? The Soviet Union had never before installed their missiles outside Soviet territory, and accounts vary as to the principal motivation for their risky deployment of ballistic missiles in Cuba. The domestic situation in Russia was good. The twenty-year plan for increasing domestic production was ahead of schedule, the unemployment rate was down, and the economy was on the rise. The Soviet Union was also basking in the success of the Sputnik operation. The world generally assumed that the military and strategic balance had significantly shifted in the Soviet's favor. In the 1961 meeting of Vienna, Kennedy naively stated "we regard...Sino-Soviet forces and the forces of the United States and Western Europe as being more or less in balance." Soviet's Premier Nikita Khrushchev's personal
