Casey Henderson Essays (2930 words) - Racism, Criticism Of Religion

Casey Henderson World History 20 th Century Dr. Biggs 2/16/15 Germany As world war one came to end a political transformation began to develop in Germany because universal suffrage was brought into their nation. Many characteristics after the First World War made Germany defenseless to people such as Hitler. Germany was a gory scene throughout the reign of Hitler and a very dark place heading into World War 2. The after math of the Second World War left Germany empty, defeated, and destroyed. Post both world wars left Germany at a depressive state but after World War 1 was the worst. Hitle r and his hatred for Jews caused Germany to become one of the scariest and most brutal eras a country has ever dealt with . The Treaty of Versailles forced Germany to pay France and Great Britain many reparations along with being forced to give up thirteen percent of their land. In an effort to recuperate from a brutal defeat after world war one Germany started modernizing gas works and power plants along with creating transportation projects. All these projects were put in place to decrease the unemployment rate. Germany's social spending rate was growing at a rapid pace as well as plummeting revenues which both were causing huge deficits. In 1930 the municipal finance took a fall which was caused by the budgets. Reparation payments could have still been made despite all Germanys financial issues but other countries made this not possible by placing protective tariffs on all of Germany's goods. Due to this , Germany was unable to sell goods in foreign countries where they could have made money to make these payments which further plummeted the economy. In desperation G ermany started to print out excessive amounts of cash which threw the country into super inflation. As the United States fell into depression they asked for the loans they had lent Germany and this mixed with every other problem, caused the German economy to b asically collapse . " By 1932 the German economy was a disaster. Unemployment was up to 6 million, German banks were put under government control, and there was an epidemic of German bankruptcies. " ( Germany' Authentic History) This shows the brutality that Germany faced post world war one and it's easy to see why the country was so desperate. This is when Hitler decided was the time to take power. His promise of bettering the economy and decreasing the unemployment rate was the reason so many followed him. In Adolf Hitler's speech on Mien Kampf in 1925 he says, " Was there any excrement, any shamelessness in any form, above all in cultural life, and in at least one Jew would not have been involved ." ( Kampf 61) Hitler's hatred for Jews is obvious and he believes that they are the soul problem for the economic fall throughout Germany. Placing the Jewish people in concentration camps was his idea of punishment and he believed that decreasing the Jewish people would help the economy because they were too wealthy. Following world war two was considered the reconstruction of Germany and it took a while. Germany suffered huge losses in industrial power and lives. Seven and a half million Germans had died which was around 10 percent of the population. Agricultural production was at an all-time low due to the severe bombings throughout the cities. The Potsdam Conference forced Germany to give 25 percent of their land to their allies. Many factories were destroyed in an effort to convert Germany into an agriculture nation. For the next two years following the German surrender the United States made big strides to start programs specializing in repairing scientific and technological savvy as well as exclusive rights throughout Germany . " Germany paid reparations to the United Kingdom, France, and the Soviet Union, mainly in the form of dismantled factories , forced labour , and coal. " ( Aftermath WW2, Wikipedia) Germany's allies were forcing these Germans to work hard as they should because this was their land for the time being and they defeated the Germans. In an effort to restore the destroyed country of Germany after World War 2 J.F. Byrnes the secretary

The long history of puppetry Essay Example

The long history of puppetry Essay Example The long history of puppetry Paper The long history of puppetry Paper Prehistoric miniature stone figures have been excavated in many places. We can only guess what they may have been used for. Scholars try to attach cultural or mystical significance to these finds. Storytelling and play acting with dolls are invented spontaneously by children the world over. The making of miniature figures is basic to human nature. It is a fair guess that the main use is simply entertainment. In the fifth century BC Herodotus writes about ancient figures operated by strings. Xenophon of Athens refers to a travelling Greek showman putting on a puppet show. These men did not discover something new, they were just early-published writers, and they wrote about what was happening. A 12th century woodcut shows two youngsters playing with figures of armed knights on strings. In a 14th century illuminated manuscript we see three girls watching a puppet show. It looks a lot like Punch and Judy. Theatrical scripts have often made fun of authority and the injustices of life. In societies where the authorities had more power than we nowadays give them they often reacted angrily to deserved ridicule. The Commedia dellarte was an improvised popular comedy in Italian theatres of the 16th to 18th century. It was frequently banned and was often performed on the streets. The characters Harlequin, Columbine and Pulcinella originated here. Italian performers exported their art throughout Europe and further afield. In the French language Pulcinella became Polichinelle, in Russian Petroushka, and in English Punch. They also invented the slapstick, a stick that has two small paddles at the end of it or is divided at one or both ends to make a noise when it hits anything. This is where we get the term slapstick comedy. Polichinelle was playing in France by 1630. Samuel Pepys was a civil servant who kept a diary. He wrote it for himself in his own private code but it was published after his death. It gives a fascinating personal view of 17th century England. In 1662 this diary records the first English mention of open-air puppet performances. Pepys writes that he watched the puppets a few times, once he stopped for a show in Hyde Park and it made him late for an appointment with the king. First known as Punch and Joan, the puppets became a popular diversion on beaches and in parks. The performers were often itinerants and were often mentioned in literature. As readers of Dickens the Old Curiosity Shop will know they were sometimes of not too respectable personality. Henry Fielding wrote his brilliantly satirical novel Tom Jones in the 18th century. There were concerns about violence in puppetry then as now. Tom Jones meets a travelling Punch and Judy man who claims to have cleaned up his show and made it into a moral and refined spectacle. The entertainer enjoys a couple of mugs of beer with the patrons of a wayside tavern and then physically assaults his assistant. Fielding has his hero comment that he much preferred the show in its old form. George Cruikshank, who made a name for himself by illustrating the writings of Charles Dickens was involved in the production of a book that preserved a street performance of a Punch and Judy show. Cruikshank and publisher John Payne Collier hired an Italian performer, Signor Piccini, to put on a private show in the Kings Arms, a tavern in Drury Lane, London. The show was stopped frequently so that Cruikshank could make drawings and Collier could record the dialogue. Both of these illustrations are by Cruikshank. Piccini may or may not have been an Italian. Then, as now, entertainers sometimes invented exotic names and backgrounds for themselves. He was a great puppeteer. He could have one of his puppets take off his hat with one hand, throw it to the other hand, and put it back on his head. Punch and Judy proliferated in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Shows were seen everywhere and some of the performers became prosperous.