robert e. lee Essay -- essays research papers

Robert E. Lee, who was considered to be the greatest soldier fighting for the Confederate States of America, descended from a long line of famous heroes. Many of Lee's ancestors played important roles in America's history. His father was a Revolutionary War hero and a friend of George Washington. He was often referred to as Light Horse Harry Lee. Lee was born on January 19, 1807 in Stratford, Virginia. Lee always admired Washington, and was his hero as a youngster. Young Lee decided to become a soldier, partly because of the military tradition of his family. Lee enrolled in West Point Military Academy and graduated 2nd in his class in 1829. Lee majored in military engineering and supervised several army projects, he was named Second Lieutenant in the Corp engineers. His devotion and hard work in supervising harbor improvements in Saint Louis got him promoted to Captain in 1838. As a captain, his first experience in actual battle was in the Mexican War. He served under General Winfield Scott, and was the best engineer in General Scott's campaign. Lee's actions at the battles of Cerro Gordo, Churubusco, and Chapultepec received many high praises and earned him a reputation. General Scott claimed that the success of the war was due to Lee's bravery and skills, Lee was appointed the rank of Colonel. In 1582 he was appointed superintendent of West Point Military Academy. Under his service, James B. McPherson, Phillip Sheridan, and John Bell Hood would graduate from the academy, soon to be famous. Lee finished his duty as the superintendent in 1855, and served as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Second Cavalry, stationed in Texas. In 1859, while serving in Texas, Lee was sent to command a group of Marines to suppress John Brown's uprising. John Brown was a northern abolitionist would believed a rebellion in the south would lead to abolition. He was taken down by Lee's forces. After suppressing the uprising, Lee was called to Washington is 1861. The succession movement had begun. Some southern states had left, but Lee's own Virginia was still uncertain. As much as Lee had supported the Union, he couldn't bear the sight of union soldiers invading and destroying his hometown. Lee had thought over this matter for days, and finally decided to resign from the union forces and offer his help to the confederacy. When Lee reached Richmond, Virginia had succeeded and they had a... ...hrew strong attacks at the union forces, but was repulsed with heavy losses. The battle of Gettysburg was the largest battle ever fought in North America. He was criticized for attempting an impossible battle, the union forces had and advantageous position and more men. After Gettysburg, Lee retreated back to Virginia for the rest of the war. With the loss of more and more soldiers, Lee had no choice but to start taking a defensive position. In the spring of 1864, General Ulysses Grant got control of the union forces and decided to bring Lee into northern Virginia and crush the confederate forces there. Grant rushed to Petersburg, hoping to seize the railroad the was supplying Lee with supplies. Lee had arrived first and Grant started a siege. In 1865, Grant finally seized control of the railroads and lee retreated to the west. Lee, realizing his loss of men, met Grant at Appomattox and surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia. After the war, Lee was considered a hero of the south, with dignity he accepted his defeat and preached to his people the necessity of peace and national unity. He later became the principal of Washington college at Lexington. He died on October 12, 1870.

Natural resource conflict

Before we proceed to our discussion about the context of the Natural Resource Conflict, it is imperative to take first into account the definition of two terms which are always a part whenever troubles and chaos may arise. These two terms are Conflict and Security. According to (Kernerman Multi Lingual dictionary), security means â€Å"the state of being, or making safe, secure, free from danger etc while conflict is being defined as something to come into collision or disagreement; be contradictory, at variance or in opposition; clash: a fight, battle, struggle, esp. a prolonged struggle; strife( dictionary.com unabridged). This two are sure to go hand in hand whenever trouble or in a larger scale WAR arises.I-   How and in what ways are conflicts over natural resources more issues of development and political economy, rather than security, traditionally conceived?Natural Resource Conflict is one of the most puzzling problems that the world nowadays is confronting. Some are resol ved through diplomatic manner while others are still being contested until now in the form of a hostile confrontation which hapless victims are usually the innocent civilians and children as well. Natural resource conflicts are commonly seen in the continent of Africa where according to a certain report in 1998 that 9 out of thirteen battle related conflict on Natural Resources had occurred (Scott Peg autumn 2003).The best answer to this question is that they are conceived as something that has got to do with â€Å"weak states, to the increased erosion of boundaries and to open or clandestine intervention from neighboring countries. There are a lot of examples to be considered in regard to this situation. One was the case of Sierra Leone, when that country was turned upside down by the atrocities of the group who called themselves the Revolutionary United Front. This group whose savagery and barbarism was confirmed by the presence of thousands upon thousands of people including chi ldren whose limbs and arms were cut off from their bodies.R.U.F. during it heydays period were using the vast amount of diamond deposits in Sierra Leone in order for them to purchase arms and ammunitions, that are necessary in their fight against the Country’s Government.. What is interesting about this was the inability of the government of Sierra Leone in arresting the major personalities of the group. In fact, what is quite ironic is that after the peace agreement. The government even let the R.U.F. to participate in the ensuing election. Instead of making them pay by sending them all to jail, for all the miseries and pain they have inflected towards the populace. If the government of Sierra Leone is committed and strong enough there is no reason why they can’t do it. What happened is a mere reflection of the weakness of the government.II- Internal and External Factors about the Natural Resource ConflictTalking about factors concerning the existence of Natural Resou rce Conflict, well, there are a lot to be counted as such.First we have to discuss about the 3 internal factors. These are the:1. Authority2. Ideology3. PoliticsSpeaking of Authority it means bureaucratic control and a system of rewards, which generates formal, but passive consensus.  About ideology it addresses a sense of mission, indoctrination, which results in formal but passive consensus.  Lastly is politics (power Game) it touches the result of temporary internal alliances and strong links with the external people of influence.  In regard to the external factors there are the so called:1.  Ã‚   Share holders2.  Ã‚   Financiers3.  Ã‚   Other individuals or groups of individuals having a stake in the behavior of the organization, such as political parties, trade unions, other formal and informal CSOs, powerful individuals with economic or ideological interests.We can cite as example are the sovereign Countries of Angola and Sierra Leone during the time when they were still struggling to resolve their respective insurgency problems. Both these governments at the time were hiring the services of Executive outcomes, a private military company. The purpose for these was to check the flow of diamonds from these countries which as had been alleged were perpetrated by insurgents in order to use the proceeds from this illegal trade in sustaining their effort of destroying the already extant government of both countries. It’s called illegal because the government had nothing to do with this trade. De Beers, the world’s larges trader of diamonds was even under pressure because some of its purchases were coming from these areas.III- The ActorsWhenever conflict arises it cannot be denied that there are a lot of organizations who are ready to share all their expertise just for the sake of concluding a certain conflict. Whether they are government sponsored or not, it should be noted that they’re here to help. One example for this was th e time when Kuwait was invaded by Iraq. The United States together with the assistance of several countries and under the complete approval of the U.N. was able to liberate Kuwait from the occupation of Iraq.IV-  Ã‚  Ã‚   The dynamics of Neo-Liberal CapitalismThe dynamics of Neo- liberal capitalism is an event that is greatly manifested by the massive growth of China, India and other countries which several years ago were still waddling along the seemingly unending mire of poverty and non-growth. It is the kind which leads to the resurgence of this so called globalization. It promotes drastic reforms concerning the economic status of one’s country and give abundant opportunities for countries to invest from one country to another.Naturally the more investments made to a certain country, the greater the economic growth that the recipient of these investments will experience. Like for example China. Its tremendous and dazzling economic growth started when it initiated the ref orm framed by the late Deng Xiao Ping. It opens China economically to foreign investments.The resulting effect is the way China is being treated nowadays, not only in Asia but throughout the world. However, growth sometimes will lead to certain negativity, like what happened to Japan in the middle of the 20th century. Because of its massive economic and industrial growth, it was forced to invade China and its neighboring countries. The reason for that was to gain control of those countries resources so that it can sustain and maintain the necessary materials for its huge industrial and economic sector.REFERENCES:Pegg, Scott. â€Å"Globalization and Natural Resource Confict- The New Strategic Environment.† http://findarticles.com/?noadc=1. 2003. Naval War College Review. 9 May 2007.

Is the Daddy Longlegs Dangerous to Humans

Many people believe that daddy longlegs are deadly, or at least venomous. Its also common to hear that the only reason they arent a threat to humans is that their fangs are too short to penetrate human skin. The fact that this information is repeated so often causes many people to assume that the statements must be true. The truth, however, is that you do not need to fear daddy longlegs. Its also true that when two people are discussing daddy longlegs, they might not be talking about the same creature. Daddy Longlegs Three kinds of critters are commonly referred to as daddy longlegs, two of which are not spiders, and one of those two is not even an arachnid. The common name daddy longlegs is most often used to describe Opiliones, which are also known as harvestmen.  Opiliones are arachnids but not spiders. They have no venom glands and do not spin webs. They prefer moist environments, such as under logs and rocks, though some can be found in desert climates.The nickname might also refer to a crane fly, which is a true fly and a member of the order Diptera. They have six legs and wings and look like gigantic mosquitoes.  Crane flies are not spiders or arachnids and do not pose a threat to people.Sometimes, the name daddy longlegs is used for a group of spiders of the family Pholcidae. These spiders are commonly called cellar spiders, and they  do have venom glands. One common  cellar spider found across the United States is  Pholcus phalangioides  and is gray. Another is  Holocnemus pluchei, common on the Pacific Coast and in desert areas. It has a brown stripe on its abdomen. Both of them spin webs. Are Cellar Spiders Harmful? Even though  cellar spiders have venom glands, there is no scientific evidence that their venom can harm a human being. No studies have been done on cellar spider venom to measure its toxicity, according to spider experts at  the University of California-Riverside. Pholcid spiders do have short fangs, but no shorter than those of other spiders that have been known to bite humans. The cellar spiders fangs are similar in structure to those of a ​brown recluse spider, which often bites humans.   The show Mythbusters  tackled the daddy longlegs fangs legend back in 2004. Co-host Adam Savage subjected himself to a cellar spider bite, proving that this daddy longlegs spider is indeed capable of breaking human skin. The results? Savage reported nothing more than a mild, short-lived burning sensation. Analysis of the venom revealed it is nowhere near as potent as venom from a black widow spider, which can kill people, though most people who are bitten recover in 24 hours. Not all people who are bitten by a black widow spider receive venom. Some people just get a bite. All of this means that you do not need to worry about bites from daddy longlegs of any variety.