Essays on Barbarians

The Tokugawa Shogunate had been peaceful and prosperous for many decades. However, when things started changing, and problems arose, the Tokugawa Shogunate fell and lost its glory. The Tokugawa Shogunate fell as a result of both internal and external factors. The internal factors came in the aftermath of the rise of the merchant class and the decline of power. In this case, the leadership fell since the Emperor did more of the reigning than the ruling, which means that more power is bestowed on the Shogun ("Tokugawa Period and Meiji Restoration"). Aside from the internal factors, there were external ...

It is believed that Islam as a religion is designed for the urban community rather than is of a nomadic nature. However, it was shortly changed during nine AD when its religious role was replaced by political incentives when the Muslim world broke its ties with the caliphate in the East. It is also believed that Islam has had an enormous impact on the architecture of the cities it was once dominating (Saoud, 2002, p. 2). This essay is divided into four chapters: 1st part will compare and contrast the medieval European and Islamic cities between 9-13 centuries by ...

The opium war which took place in the 19th century was one of the first major defeats of the Chinese government. China had a tremendous amount of wealth which was mostly attributed to the tea trade in the country. Britain had a great demand for this tea, while the country had nothing to offer the Chinese government in return. China was also ignorant to the western revolution and considered the western culture barbaric. China was a traditional country which held strongly to its traditions and culture. While China hoped to keep its culture free of the western culture effect, ...

There is a wide accepted concept that after centuries of development, the Muslim world began to decline in the 15th century. Did it really decline? In this work I would like to illustrate the main trends of developments of the Muslim world in early 15 – early 20 century. We know that in part of the second millennium, and for five centuries later there were many Asian invasions in other regions of the world, wide expansion (Seljuk, Arab, Turkish). But then the stagnation began. Since the "golden age" of the Abbasid Empire, it has not changed territorially. And large areas ...

In a similar manner that the comedic film termed as Dr. Strangelove includes convectional genres as per their time of publication, the Slaughter-House Five also incorporates fantasies, memoirs, autobiographies and science fiction. For instance, whereas the novel is based on the fantasy of time travel describing people being struck at it, the movie analysis the elements of cold war in a satirical manner by describing the doomsday device made by the Russians. Vonnegut perspective was against the warmongering apparent in the society like Kubrick movie. They were both based on an assumption that a superior power would create fear ...

The questions of birth control have always troubled mankind. The search for methods of contraception and abortion by doctors doing started in the ancient world. Throughout the history of mankind abortion is one of the oldest problems of medical ethics, philosophy, law and theology. The mention of abortion is found in ancient Chinese writing more than 4,600 years ago. There is evidence that the ancient inhabitants of Australia tore the membranes to cause miscarriage. Moreover, the women of East Africa caused an abortion with special wooden sticks. This paper is dedicated to clarification of the methods of birth ...

Francisco de Vitoria: On the American Indians

First Level Analysis Francisco de Vitoria was a theologian who wrote during the time of the Spanish conquest of the Americas. In his political treatise entitled On The American Indians, he suggests the Spanish should question by what right they have subjected the “barbarians” to their rule. Indeed, de Vitoria is immensely focused on investigating the political power of the Spanish in the New World, and in this particular passage, he determines that the barbarians that the Spanish have conquered in the New World should not be ruled under the dominion of the Spanish. He likens these people to ...

The First Crusade was organized in 1096 by the decision of Pope Urban II at the request of Byzantine Emperor Alexius I with the aim of helping the Eastern Christians in the defense of Anatolia (Asia Minor) from the onset of the Seljuks. During the campaign, further objective turned out to be the liberation of the holy city of Jerusalem and the Holy Land from the Muslims. Initially, the Pope`s appeal was addressed only to the French knights, but, later, the Crusade turned into a full-scale military campaign, and its idea spread to all the Christian states of ...

The Opium Wars and Taiping Rebellion shook Qing China. Two armed conflicts between China and the states of West, known as the "Opium Wars" (1839-1842 and 1858-1860), led to a terrible Chinese national disgrace, completely loss of political independence and the separation of China to zones of influence between foreign powers. At first, the casus belli was closure of the vast China market for countries of West. All the foreign states were forced to market only to certain Chinese companies situated at the port area in the Guangdong Province, without possibility of trade within the city, this caused artificial ...