Airplane Invented

The Wright brothers were born in Millville, Indiana and as children the made simple mechanical toys. They contiuned to make things and in 1888 they built a large printing press. The next year they began to publish "West Side News" in Dayton, Ohio. In 1892 they opened up a bicycle repair shop and showroom and soon began assembling bikes with their own tools.

In September of 1900 they tested their own glider based on the writings of the German engineer Otto Lilienthal. They recorded their findings and found out that the info they were working with was wrong. The following year they tested the effect of air pressure on more than 200 different wing surfaces. By 1902 they conclued that planes could be best balanced by pilots rather than the built-in engineering devices they originally thought.

In 1903 the brothers created their first propeller and it was 35% more effective than the other propellers available at the time. Next they built a machine with a 12 horse power motor and combining this with the propeller they made the first powered airplan flight in history.

In 1908 Wilbur Wright se distance and altitude records in France. In the same year the brothers produced a plane that could fly for 10 minutes at a speed of 64km/h for the U.S. Army Signal Corps.

In September of 1908 Orville Wright established many records when he flew the first Wright plane made under government contract for 62 minutes, completing 57 circles at an altitude of 36.6m.

Planes are something that must have been extremely difficult to invent. Think about it, flying. Nothing holding you up. I'm glad I wasn't the people inventing them. Planes were and still are a very large part of this century and last. without them we could travel to visit other countries as easily. I'm glad they created the plane even though I don't want to get on one.

Wategate Scandal

On June 17, 1972 a burglary occurred in Washington D.C. which had worldwide importance. Five people, all members of the "Plumbers" a anti-Castro Cuban refugee group including former FBI and CIA agents, broke into the Democratic National Headquarters to bug the telephones. The name of were they broke in was known as the Watergate Hotel.

The Plumber were a unit created and maintained by the White House with the purpose of 'fixing leaks' in the administration. They immediately went after Daniel Ellsberg who handed over secret Pentagon report concerning the history of the war to the New York Times who in turn published them. It was thought if the papers in publication could not be stopped the next best thing would be to discredit the man who provided the papers. This involved breaking into Ellsberg's office to dig up any information they could.

The next job was to derail the Democratic party in the upcoming election. On June 17th the small group of men broke into the DNC Headquarters to bug the phones and find any information in the offices. A security guard saw the break in and called police who quickly took the burglars into custody.

For the few months following the arrest information made its way to the public such as one of the burglars used to be a government security aide, another one had a $25 000 check that was supposed to go to Nixon's re-election campaign but in fact turned out that all of the burglars were on Committee to Re-Elect the President payroll. While all of this was happening Nixon was re-elected by a landslide, his last big win.

In May of 1973 the Senate opened up hearings on the Watergate break-in. It became a very damaging event to the President. One former White House Staff admitted that he had discussions with the President about Watergate and how they would cover it up. The next month it was found out that Nixon taped all of his conversations in the Oval Office. Nixon refused to hand over the tapes when the Senate requested. He attempted to tell them the key tape had a 18.5 minute gap on it then he tired to send written and edited transcripts of the tapes instead of the actual tapes.

Nixon realised he had himself in a corner and could only figure one way out. On August 8, 1974 Richard M. Nixon became the first U.S. President to resign. Gerald Ford who was Vice President took on the highest office of the land.

Nixon was the only ‘Watergate conspirator’ who spent no time in jail.

I'm not exactly sure of what President Nixon was thinking of when he thought he could cover something so big up. To break into another party's office to snoop around when you're running for President isn't the wisest thing to do. If he wanted to win so bad I'm sure he could have found another, more legal way of going about it.

Vietam War

The Vietnam War was the longest war in Untied States history. The hostilities claimed more the 58 000 American live while another 304 000 were wounded. The war was fought in Vietnam between 1959 and 1975. The war involved the North Vietnamese and the National Liberation Front who fought against the United States and the South Vietnamese army.

Between 1946 and 1954 the Vietnamese fought for their independence from France during the First Indochina War. After the war ended the country was divided into North and South Vietnam. The North Vietnam fell under control of the communists who were against France and who's aim was to unify Vietnam under a communist rule. South Vietnam was controlled by the Vietnamese who joined the French.

In 1965 the United States sent troops to prevent collapse of the South Vietnamese government. The United States was unable to do so and in 1975 Vietnam was reunified under Communist control becoming the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

During the Vietnam was between three and four million Vietnamese were killed, from both South and North Vietnam. About 2 million Lao and Cambodians were killed as well who were pulled into the war. 58 000 Americans died in the war. The cost of the war was over $150 billion dollars for something the whole country didn't agree on.

The War was not a full American war. The country itself was divided up and still is today on the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. I don't think it was needed to have the U.S. involved and instead the United Nations should have helped out the situation.

The American Century

The "American Century" was a term coined by Time magazine's publisher Henry Luce used to mark the United Stated during the twentieth century.

Nowadays the term is used to illustrate the U.S. dominance throughout most of the 20th century. It began in the Spanish-American War and the importance of the United States in World War II after the Pearl harbour attack. The power continued though the Cold War where their nuclear power was a dominant feature of their country and made them something to be afraid of along with Russia. The duo-superpower ended in the 90s when the USSR collapsed and left the United States to stand as a solo superpower.

The term refers to the political power as well as it's economic power and influence in the world throughout the century. Over the course of the century many countries would soon adopt the economic policies of the Washington Consensus.

Some people do not agree with this term saying it makes the roles played by the United States out to be much more than what they really were. Some critics have proposed the end of the American Century with the new millennium. The late Gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson titled his autobiography "Kingdom of Fear: Loathsome Secrets of A Star Crossed Child in the Last Days of the American Century".

The 1900s were extremely Americanized and almost anything big that happened in the century had something to do with the country in some way or another. They became the superpower that we know today and continue to strive. I agree with those who say it's going to end soon. I don't see it ending in the next few years but possibly in the next 50 years their power with slowly decline and another country will take their place over the next 150 years.

Joseph Stalin

In 1901 Joseph Stalin joined the Social Democratic Labour Party where he helped to organize the resistance against tsarism. On April 18, 1902 he was arrested for organizing a strike in a large factory. After 18 months in jail he was deported to Siberia. In 1904 Stalin escaped from Siberia and was soon back to organizing strikes.

Stalin was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committe from 1922 to 1953. After the party's leader, Lenin, died in 1924 Stalin promoted himseld as the political heir and swiftly made it up becoming the dictator of the Soviet Union.

As the dictato he forced collectivisation of agriculture and rapid industrialisation which increased the USSR's productivity and economic growth but cost many lives. During the 1930s stalin purged his party of the "enemies of the people" which resulted in the exile of milions to slave labour camps and the execution of thousands.

These purged caused many lost from the Red Army. Stalin was warned repeatedly but was still not prepared for Hilter's attack on the Soviet Union in June 1941.After the attack it looked like his future as the dictator hung in the balance until he recovered by leading his country to victory. The cost was many human lives but it seemed to matter very little to him.

After the war, the Soviet Union entered the time of nuclear weapons and ruled over an empired which included most of eastern Europe. Stalin became more paranoid and died of a stroke in March of 1953

I think Stalin was a ruthless dictator who didn't care much for his country. He just wanted himsef to seem like a god. He power took over his desire to help the people of his country and ended up costing many lives.

Russian Revolution

The Russian Revolution was a two-part revolution. It had the February Revolution and then the October Revolution. The revolution was the first overthrow of the tsarist autocracy and the overthrow of the liberal and socialist Provisional Government. After the revolution the Soviet power under control of the Bolshevik party was established in Russia. This lead to the Soviet Union until 1991.

The revolution started when the country's people had enough of the style of government at the time. On February 23, 1917 people at food queues started protest and were soon joined by women from textile factories who were protesting about the bread and food shortages. Most of the country went on strike and women stopped at factories that were not on strike to get the workers to join. By the 25th almost every business in the capital of Petrograd was shut down. This made the Duma government realise the problem and forced the Tsar to surrender his control.

On the morning of the 27th, the people on strike in the streets were joined by soldiers who were originally sent by the government to control the riots. The crowds out numbered the police and caused them to join the rioters. This left the power if the country with no military in the capital and the authority collapsed.

The October revolution was led by Lenin who based it on his writings of Karl Marx's theories. This began the spread of communism in the twentieth century. The October revolution was far less spontaneous than the February revolution. This one involved planning by the Bolshevik Party. On November 7, 1917 Lenin led the revolutionaries in a revolt against the already wounded Provisional Government. They then replaced the government with local councils electing groups of workers and peasants to become the Soviet government.

In March the tsar Nicholas and his family was placed under house arrest. After the Bolsheviks came into power during the October revolution their imprisonment became stricter. The next year on July 16, 1918 the family was taken into their basement and executed. This was directed from Lenin who was in Moscow at the time. The royal family was lined up as if to take a photo and were shot. It was believed to be chaotic due to the first few shots deflecting off jewels sown into the girls undergarments.

I think the Russian Revolution was needed in the country. They needed a new system that was for the people. This seemed to be the only way they could do it but it was an effective one to change power in the country to benefit the population.

Pearl Harbour

On December 7, 1941 the United States was surprised by an attack by the Empire of Japan's Carrier Striking Task Force. The attack was on the United States Pacific Fleet and their other armed forces that were stationed at Pearl Harbour in Oahu, Hawaii. This attack pushed the U.S. to declare war, entering the second world war the next day. They began the War in the Pacific.
The attack on Pearl Harbour left 2403 casualties and 1178 wounded. 3 destroyers, one mine layer, 5 battle ships and 188 air crafts were sunk or damaged in the attack. This is compared to Japan's 64 dead, one captured, 29 aircraft and 5 midget submarines lost.

It is believed the attack was to protect Japan's move into Singapore and the East Indies in attempt to secure her access to oil by keeping the U.S. Pacific Fleet from intervening.

After the attack it was rumoured that the Japanese cut arrows in the cane fields directing their pilots to the harbour. This idea was quickly put aside when the U.S. pilots said anyone who could find Oahu would have little difficulty finding the largest harbor in the Central Pacific.

I think the attack on Pearl Harbour was a bit idiotic. From what I know, the Japanese had no real reason and the attack just added another country to the war. It made the war bigger and no one wants anymore than what already's happening. If the Japanese would have left the States alone there's the big possiblity that the atomic bomb would have never been created and the destruction that came along with it may have been avoided but we'll never really know.