Battle of waterloo Essay Example for Free

Battle of waterloo Essay The Battle of Waterloo was fought thirteen kilometres south of Brussels between the French, under the command of Napoleon Bonaparte, and the Allied armies commanded by the Duke of Wellington from Britain and General Blucher from Prussia. The French defeat at Waterloo drew to a close 23 years of war beginning with the French Revolutionary wars in 1792 and continuing with the Napoleonic Wars from 1803. There was a brief eleven-month respite when Napoleon was forced to abdicate, exiled to the island of Elba. However, the unpopularity of Louis XVIII and the economic and social instability of France motivated him to return to Paris in March 1815. The Allies soon declared war once again. Napoleons final defeat at Waterloo marked the end of the Emperors final bid for power, the so-called 100 Days, and the final chapter in his remarkable career. The Protagonists Napoleon Bonaparte had always been driven by his desire to make France a European empire and was an experienced warlord and leader. He had carried out a coup against the government of the First Republic of France (the Directory) in 1799 and established himself as ruler and First Consul, eventually to declare himself First Consul for life and Emperor in 1804. In 1802 the French Republic was officially ecognised and the Peace of Amiens signed. Napoleon had higher ambitions and pursued his desire to make France the most powerful country in Europe by conquering other countries including Britain. In 1803, Britain declared war on France and the ensuing Napoleonic Wars were fought between France and various Allied coalitions over the next 1 1 years. The Allies successfully invaded in 1814 and forced Napoleon to abdicate at the Treaty of Fontainbleau. The European powers were meeting in Vienna to re-establish the territorial balance in Europe when news came of Napoleons escape from Elba on 1st March 181 5 and is re-entry into Paris on 20th March. The powers immediately renewed their declaration of war on Napoleon and the 7th Coalition between Britain, Austria, Prussia and Russia was formed on 25th March. They began assembling their troops in readiness for war, intending to attack along the French borders and march on Paris from different directions with enough strength to crush the French. In the event, only the armies of Wellington and Blucher were in place in Belgium. The Austrians and Russians arrived after Napoleon had been defeated. The Allied army under the Duke of Wellington was a coalition of British, Dutch, Belgian and German oldiers. Napoleon described Britain as the most powerful and most constant of my enemies. Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, had never been beaten by the French and had a reputation as a talented coalition general. He came to prominence in India and then successfully directed the Peninsular Campaign of 1811 when the British went to support Portugal and Spain against Napoleon. He was made a duke at the end of that war and appointed ambassador to the restored Bourbon court in 1814. Gebhard Leberecht von Blucher was the commander of the Prussian army. He was 72 at the time ot the Battle ot Waterloo and he only man to nave beaten Napoleon more than once. Age and experience meant that Blucher was less afraid of Napoleon than any other commander. His self-confidence and career record had a positive effect on his army, helping to keep morale amongst the Prussians high. Strategies After his return to France, Napoleon developed his strategy to defeat the Allies. He re-established himself in Paris and began building up his army in preparation for an invasion of Belgium, his goal was to capture Brussels. His battle plan was to mount an offensive attack on the Allied troops gathering in Belgium and to destroy them. In order to do this he wanted to divide the armies before defeating them separately, forcing Wellingtons army to retreat back to the Belgian coast in the west and the Prussians to retreat to the east. With speed he deployed his army along the French border and centred his headquarters at Beaumont Just across the border from Belgium. He was ready to attack on 15th June 1815. In order to separate Wellington and Bluchers troops, Napoleon ordered Marshal Ney to advance on Quatre-Bras, a crossroads on the roads between Brussels and Charleroi and Nivelles and Namur. Allied Dutch-Belgium troops under Prince William of Orange were already positioned around the area and succeeded in holding off the French attack until reinforcements arrived. They continued to hold their ground, resulting in stalemate on 16th June. The result may have been a coincidence of timing. Had Marshal Ney attacked Quatre-Bras earlier the outcome could have been very different as, until the reinforcements arrived, the French army greatly outnumbered the Allies and their chances of victory were good. If the Allies had been defeated, they may have retreated completely rather than regrouping at Mont St Jean, a few kilometres north of Quatre-Bras. Wellington admitted surprise at the direction of the French attack; Napoleon has humbugged me, he declared. At Ligny, the Prussian army occupied strongholds of walled gardens, stone houses and farmhouses and lined up on the forward slope of the Ligny Brook with the right guarding the villages of St Armand and St Armand Haye. Heavvy fghting ensued with casualties on both sides, but the Prussians were forced to commit more and more troops. Although the French were victorious, they failed to totally destroy the Prussian army. They were able to retreat, albeit with numerous injured and dead, north to Wavre (about 18 kilometres east of Waterloo) Napoleon had succeeded in his aim of keeping the two Allied armies apart but mistakenly believed the Prussians were defeated. He was confident that Wellington could also be defeated. Preparing for battle On the morning of 18th June 181 5, Wellington was occupying the ridge of Mont St Jean, Just south of Waterloo, and Napoleon that of La Belle Alliance across the valley. The corps were divided into three under the commands of Lord Hill, Prince William of Orange and Sir Thomas Picton. Wellington was short of well-trained infantry and the cavalry were inexperienced, but he believed in the use of carefully deployed firepower. They had some 156 cannon and the standard gun for the infantry, a smoothbore mus et k titted with a bayonet on a socket over the barrel ot a gun Observing that his troops were outnumbered by the French, Wellington decided that his best plan was to stand firm until the Prussians could come to his aid.

Greek Pride in the Individual :: Ancient Greece Greek History

Greek Pride in the Individual The culture of ancient Greece reflects the importance of the individual in society in many different ways. The Greeks used art, philosophy, and even their system of government to convey their beliefs in the importance of one single man in a society. Greek artists showed value for the individual. All people were portrayed in Greek art, from the sagging old woman to the ideal athlete. Although early Greek art focused on the human ideal, their later art shows that the Greeks appreciated all forms, and found the human body in general to be a beautiful thing. Even the gods in Greek art showed how highly the Greeks valued humanity. The gods were depicted as humans, and were made to human scale; no huge overpowering deity was ever portrayed in their art. The Greeks appreciated themselves in their art as much as they appreciated the gods. Even on the most famous temple of all time, the Parthenon, humans were portrayed. The frieze that adorned the upper face of the Parthenon depicted the human procession in honour of the god Athena. It was not just sculptures and architecture that showed Greek pride in the individual. Greek drama showed a huge appreciation for humans in all their glory. The Greeks valued human emotions; their plays covered a wide array of subjects, all the way from the tragedies of war to the comedic side of a society in the perils of war. These subjects made it possible to reveal the Greek appreciation for real life situations, showing the value they placed on human actions, but most of all on human nature. Like the various forms of Greek art, the government of ancient Greece appreciated the individual by creating an environment in which individuals were free to express themselves. Tyrants like Pisistratus and Cleisthenes came to power to try and make the polis a better place for the individual. These tyrants reformed the state in many ways; they helped make it possible for the rich and poor to have equal rights, and they created the conditions for the construction of the splendid monumental buildings ancient Greece is remembered for today. Although not all tyrants were good, they all had one thing in common: they were all citizens of Greece, and ruled to improve the lifestyle of the citizens of Greece. After the end of tyranny, Greece had a democracy; a government ruled by the people for the people.

History of Psychology Essay

Modern psychology is a science that it continually being researched and added to. Psychology predates the 19th century and includes roots into early philosophy. Looking closely one can identify philosophers that related to the beginnings of psychology, identify major philosophers that historically relate to the beginnings psychology as a formal discipline and how the development of the science of psychology changed during the 19th century. A philosopher that could easily be called the father of modern psychology would be: Rene Descartes. Descartes was a philosopher in the 17th century that stepped outside the limits and wanted to know more. Descartes came up with 4 basic rules to arrive at the truth of whatever he was researching. These rules were basically to think clearly, logically and without bias (Goodwin, 2008). Descartes had several derived ideas and was considered a nativist and a rationalist. These ideas that he created foreshadowed one of psychology’s major topics of nature versed nurture. Descartes also fought that there was a difference between a person’s mind and body; and this difference separated us from animals. Before Descartes died he published his last of many books called: The Passions of the Soul. This book established him as a psychologist and a physiologist (Goodwin, 2008). This book emphasized on human emotions and continued on with a discussion about mind and body distinctions. He Clarified the body is a machine and responds to curtain motions, such as fear, that trigger reflexes. Descartes also determined that the pineal glad in the brain was the gland that sent messages from the mind/spirit to the body. Descartes died at just before his 54th birthday in 1650. There were several philosophers that historically relate to the beginnings psychology as a formal discipline. John Locke, George Berkeley, David Hume and John Stuart Mill are just a few to mention. Each philosopher contributed an aspect to psychology that led to its formal discipline. John Locke refused to believe in an innate mind and believed that mind is created by experiences and was not pre programmed. He stated believed that the ideas that come from our minds are due to ones sensations and reflections from experiences (Goodwin, 2008). George Berkeley added an analysis of visual perception. He disagreed with Locke’s theory of primary and secondary distinctions, but stated that our belief in God gave us a type of reality. David Hume is known for his study of impressions. This study helped research sensations and ideas the thought were due to impressions. Hume also identified the rules of association as resemblance, contiguity and cause/effect (Goodwin, 2008). There are a couple of reasons that psychology changed dramatically in the 19th century. John Stuart Mill was a big part of that change. Even though John Stuart Mill was a very young philosopher, he studied the logic of science and analyzed several methods on how to get a scientific truth. For example, Mill would look in to different genes that could produce depression. Every depressed person that he would look at would have this gene; however that did not mean that if you had the gene that you automatically had depression. In modern times we call his methods the experimental method and the correlation method. These types of methods are use today in the field of psychology. Philosophers are a big part of the modern world of psychology. They helped introduce methods that are still used today and added science to the study. Without philosophers we may still believe that the mind and body are one and that genes create thoughts and ideas and not experiences. We would not understand how visual and sensations react and create thoughts and different experiences. Philosopher Hermann Ebbinghaus once said that â€Å"Psychology has a long past, yet its real history is short† (Goodwin, 2008). This statement represents the fact that psychology is only 100 years old, but can be predated back from the time humans started asking questions.

Sociological Imagination, By C. Wright Mills - 1762 Words

Hayden Santiago 10/11/2017 ID 100602667 Soc. 1 FY40 Sociological Imagination The Sociological Imagination, by C. Wright Mills, was a statement that questioned the developing field of sociology, challenging sociologists and the public to take seriously the rise of elites and the decline of American democracy, American community, and American equality. Mills argues that the sociological imagination is a quality of mind necessary to the understanding of the human condition. The human condition refers to the characteristics, key events, and situations which compose the essentials of human existence. Those consist of birth,†¦show more content†¦A few things that the sociological imagination helps us understand about our society is that humans need to realize and understand how their own lives are influenced, shaped and constrained by social forces, and in order to understand how society shapes our personal lives, we need to think about how we are shaped by technology every day, by the economy, family and even the political system. He also teaches u s about the differences between personal problems and issues in our society in general. For example, if one person is unemployed, that is only the problem for that person. But if 5-10% of the labor force is unemployed, we know we’re looking at a social problem. We also get a big understanding of our personal lives. â€Å"For sociologists, the individual is a product of social relations, of social interaction, and of society itself, at a specific historical time period,† meaning that we the people were made by society itself. To him, improving the human condition meant that we would have to democratize our American society, our social institutions, our class and political system, our workplaces, family life, racism, patriarchy, humanShow MoreRelatedThe Sociological Imagination By C. Wright Mills857 Words   |  4 PagesThe sociological imagination is simply the act of having the capacity to think ourselves away from the commonplace schedules of our day by day lives kee ping in mind the end goal to take a gander at them with a new perspective. C. Wright Mills, who made the idea and composed a book about it, characterized the sociological creative ability as the clear attention to the connection amongst encounter and the more extensive society. The sociological imagination is the capacity to see things sociallyRead MoreSociological Imagination By C. Wright Mills969 Words   |  4 Pages C. Wright Mills defined sociological imagination as the awareness of the relationship between personal experience and the wider society. Understanding and being able to exercise the sociological imagination helps us understand the relationship between the individual and society. Mills focuses on the distinction between personal troubles and public issues. Having sociological imagination is critical for individual people and societies at large to understand. It is important that people areRead MoreThe Sociological Imagination : C. Wright Mills907 Words   |  4 Pagesindividual s life a person will experience what C. Wright Mills refers to as the trap. The trap alludes to a person that can only see and understand their own small scope of life. Their frame of reference is limited to their day to day life and personal experiences that are directly related to them, they cannot see the bigger picture. They do not yet know that the sociological imagination can set them free from this trap and as C. Wright Mills said, In many ways it is a terrible lesson; in manyRead MoreThe Sociological Imagination By C. Wright Mills1315 Words   |  6 Pagesâ€Å"The sociological imagination enables us to grasp history and biography and the relations between the two within society. This is its task and its promise.† C. Wright Mills writes about the sociological imagination in an attempt to have society become aware of the relationship between one’s personal experience in comparison to the wider society. By employing the sociological imaginati on into the real world, individuals are forced to perceive, from a neutral position, social structures that, inRead MoreThe Sociological Imagination By C. Wright Mills986 Words   |  4 PagesMills Chapter Summary â€Å"Yet Men do not usually define the troubles they endure in terms of historical change and institution contradiction.† Stated from chapter one of â€Å"The Classic Readings in Sociology† which was based on â€Å"The Sociology Imagination† by C. Wright Mills. As our Sociology 131 class study the works of C. Wright Mills, we learn and examine his views. We learn how he view other things such as marriage, war, and the limitations of men. His view of war is that both sides playRead MoreSociological Imagination By C. Wright Mills942 Words   |  4 PagesSociological imagination according to C. Wright Mills (1959) â€Å"enables its possessor to understand the larger historical scene in terms of its meaning for the inner life and the external career of a variety of individuals† (p.5) Mills in this book of The Sociological Imagination explains how society shapes the people. Mills wants people to be able to use sociological imagination to see things in a sociology point of view, so they can know the difference between personal troubles versus personal issuesRead MoreSociological Imagination, By C. Wright Mills Essay1611 Words   |  7 PagesI SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION CONCEPTUALIZATION As conceived by C. Wright Mills, sociological imagination is the mental ability to establish intelligible relations among social structure and personal biography that is observing and seeing the impact of society over our private lives. Sociological imagination helps an individual to understand on a much larger scale the meaning and effect of society on of one’s daily life experience. People blame themselves for their own personal problems and they themselvesRead MoreThe Sociological Imagination, By C. Wright Mills799 Words   |  4 Pages The sociological imagination, a concept used by C. Wright Mills, is essentially the ability to perceive a situation or act in a much larger social context as well as examining the situation or act from many perspectives. In particular, it plays a paramount role in Donna Gaines Teenage Wasteland. It is a tragic story of 4 teens who together, committed suicide. The teens were deemed as â€Å"dropouts, druggies† [Teenage Wasteland 8.2 ] by newspapers and were still treated with disdain even after theirRead MoreThe Sociological Imagination : C. Wright Mills1822 Words   |  8 PagesC. Wright Mills defines the sociological imagination as, â€Å"what they need, and what they feel they need, is a quality of mind that will help them to use information and to develop reason in order to achieve lucid summations of what is going on in the world and of what may be happening within themselves†. Mills also says that the sociological imagination enables us to grasp history and biography and the relations between the two within society. When I read Chapter One: The Promise from C. WrightRead MoreThe Sociological Imagination, By C. Wright Mills1692 Words   |  7 Pagesentire life, can be determined by examining his or her intellect, high school performance, and talents. However, C. Wright Mills proposes a new approach to this idea in his work, â€Å"The Promise.† Mills presents an idea known as the sociological imagination, which examines society on a larger scale to better grasp an individual’s life circumstances (Mills 2). The sociological imagination examines the role of social forces on the lives of individuals (Butler-Sweet, September 5, 2017). For example,