The History of Terrorism Ancient to Modern Times

Terrorism is the unlawful use of violence to achieve political gains, and its history is as old as humans willingness to use violence to achieve political power. Early zealots and assassins such as the Sicarii and the Hashhashin frightened  their contemporaries, but were not really terrorists in the modern sense. The Sicarii,  a first-century Jewish group and one of the earliest, organized groups of assassins,  murdered enemies and collaborators in a campaign to oust their Roman rulers from Judea. They were used small daggers (sicae) hidden in their cloaks to stab people in crowds, then melt quietly away in the throng. The Hashhashin, whose name gave us the English word assassins, were a secretive Islamic sect active in Iran and Syria from the 11th to the 13th century.   Terrorism is best thought of as a modern phenomenon. Its characteristics flow from the international system of nation-states, and its success depends on the existence of a mass media to create an aura of terror  among large groups of people. 1793 and the  Origins of Modern Terrorism The word terrorism comes from the Reign of Terror instigated by Maxmilien Robespierre in 1793, following the French revolution. Robespierre, one of twelve heads of the new state, had enemies of the revolution killed, and installed a dictatorship to stabilize the country. He justified his methods as necessary in the transformation of the monarchy to a liberal democracy: Subdue by terror the enemies of liberty, and you will be right, as founders of the Republic. Robespierres sentiment laid the foundations for modern terrorists, who believe violence will usher in a better system. For example, the 19th century Narodnaya Volya hoped to end Tsarist rule in Russia. But the characterization of terrorism as a state action faded, while the idea of terrorism as an attack against an existing political order became more prominent. 1950s: The Rise of Non-State Terrorism The rise of guerrilla tactics by non-state actors in the last half of the twentieth century was due to several factors.These included the flowering of ethnic nationalism (e.g. Irish, Basque, Zionist), anti-colonial sentiments in the vast British, French and other empires, and new ideologies such as communism. Terrorist groups with a nationalist agenda have formed in every part of the world. For example, the Irish Republican Army  grew from the quest by Irish Catholics to form an independent republic, rather than being part of Great Britain. Similarly, the Kurds, a distinct ethnic and linguistic group in Turkey, Syria, Iran and Iraq, have sought national autonomy since the beginning of the 20th Century. The Kurdistan Workers Party(PKK), formed in the 1970s, uses terrorist tactics to announce its goal of a Kurdish state. The Sri Lankan Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam are members of the ethnic Tamil minority. They use suicide bombing and other lethal tactics to wage a battle for independence against the Sinhalese majority government. 1970s: Terrorism Turns International International terrorism became a prominent issue in the late 1960s, when hijacking became a favored tactic. In 1968, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine hijacked an an El Al Flight. Twenty years later, the bombing of a Pan Am flight over Lockerbie, Scotland, shocked the world. The era also gave us our contemporary sense of terrorism as highly theatrical, symbolic acts of violence by organized groups with specific political grievances. The bloody events at the 1972 Munich Olympics were politically motivated. Black September ,a Palestinian group, kidnapped and killed Israeli athletes preparing to compete. Black Septembers political goal was negotiating the release of Palestinian prisoners. They used spectacular tactics to bring international attention to their national cause. Munich radically changed the United States handling of terrorism: The terms counterterrorism and international terrorism formally entered the Washington political lexicon, according to counterterrorism expert Timothy Naftali. Terrorists also took advantage of the black market in Soviet-produced light weaponry, such as AK-47 assault rifles created in the wake of the Soviet Unions 1989 collapse. Most terrorist groups justified violence with a deep belief in the necessity and justice of their cause. Terrorism in the United States also emerged. Groups such as the Weathermen grew out of the non-violent group Students for a Democratic Society. They turned to violent tactics, from rioting to setting off bombs, to protest the Vietnam War. 1990s: The Twenty-First Century: Religious Terrorism and Beyond Religiously motivated terrorism is considered the most alarming terrorist threat today. Groups that justify their violence on Islamic grounds- Al Qaeda, Hamas, Hezbollah—come to mind first. But Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism and other religions have given rise to their own forms of militant extremism. In the view of religion scholar Karen Armstrong this turn represents terrorists departure from any real religious precepts. Muhammad Atta, the architect of the 9/11 attacks, and the Egyptian hijacker who was driving the first plane, was a near alcoholic and was drinking vodka before he boarded the aircraft. Alcohol would be strictly off limits for a highly observant Muslim. Atta, and perhaps many others, are not simply orthodox believers turned violent, but rather violent extremists who manipulate religious concepts for their own purposes.

Sunrise a Song of Two Humans and The Notebook

Hollywood, the popular American entertainment industry, since its birth, has always been the center for producing films and circulating ideologies. With its coexistence with modernity, it is no doubt that Hollywood has produced films, which aim to entertain and to give the new thoughts and experience of modernity to its audiences around the world. Hence, in this essay I choose two films, ‘Sunrise: a Song of Two Humans’ and ‘The Notebook,’ which coming from different eras of Hollywood and functioning as vernacular modernism, for the analysis on their representation of modernity, based on Ben Singer’s work on features of modernity, focusing on the change in family, marriage, and love, the shift to the consumer culture, and the rise of mass mobility. The beautiful silent film released in 1927, ‘Sunrise: a Song of Two Humans,’ is directed by the famous German director, F.W. Murnau, and is starred by George O’Brien and Janet Gaynor who take the main characters as the Man and the Wife respectively. It is a story of married couples that have conflicts over the husband’s immoral actions, but however, they become reconciled through their journey in the City. Apart from love, another underlying theme of this film is the experience of human with modernity. Similar to ‘Sunrise,’ ‘The Notebook,’ the all-time famous love novel written by Nicholas Sparks, is adapted into a film by Nick Cassavetes, and is starred by Hollywood popular actress and actor, Rachael McAdams and Ryan GoslingShow MoreRelatedPoems with Theme with Life and Death and Their Analysis8446 Words   |  34 Pagesdifferent appearance from other types of literature. This difference may help to define the characteristics that separate it from the other types. Prose fills a page, while poetry ordinarily does not. It is usually printed in stanza form, much as songs are. Edgar Allan Poe said that the purpose of literature is â€Å"to amuse by arousing thought.† He defined poetry as the â€Å"rhythmical creation of beauty.† He insisted that a poem, to be a poem, must be short, and that a long poemRead MoreIgbo Dictionary129408 Words   |  518 Pagesmanuscript was partly typed without alteration into a Word processor, originally an Apple-based system. This was transferred to an IBM system quite recently, but without any conversion of the character codes. It seems that two different systems of coding diacritics were used and more than two IPA phonetic fonts. Furthermore, for some reason, the typing of the grammar sketch which precedes the manuscript is incomplete. In order to make the manuscript available, I have therefore joined together the fragmentsRead MoreDeveloping Management Skills404131 Words   |  1617 Pagesmymanagementlab is an online assessment and preparation solution for courses in Principles of M anagement, Human Resources, Strategy, and Organizational Behavior that helps you actively study and prepare material for class. Chapter-by-chapter activities, including built-in pretests and posttests, focus on what you need to learn and to review in order to succeed. Visit www.mymanagementlab.com to learn more. DEVELOPING MANAGEMENT SKILLS EIGHTH EDITION David A. Whetten BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY Read MoreProject Mgmt296381 Words   |  1186 PagesKeepers, Katherine Knox, Dat Nguyen, Lacey McNeely and Amanda Bosworth. Mary Gray deserves special credit for editing and working under tight deadlines on earlier editions. Special thanks go to Pinyarat Sirisomboonsuk for her help in preparing the last two editions. Finally, we want to extend our thanks to all the people at McGraw-Hill/Irwin for their efforts and support. First, we would like to thank Dick Hercher for continuing to champion and provide editorial direction and guidance, and Gail KorosaRead MoreMarketing Mistakes and Successes175322 Words   |  702 Pageshave been updated, and in some instances reclassified. Two exciting new entrepreneurial cases, Google and Starbucks, are introduced, and the entire Entrepreneurial Adventures moved to the front of the book as Part I. I think your students will find these cases particularly interesting and even inspiring. The popular â€Å"Marketing Wars† is again included, this time as Part II, and it follows major competitors in their furious struggles. Two new parts have been added from older editions: Part III

Agrarian Discontent In The Late 1800s Essay Example For Students

Agrarian Discontent In The Late 1800s Essay Word Count: 1535Why the Farmers Were WrongThe period between 1880 and 1900 was a boom time for American politics.The country was for once free of the threat of war, and many of its citizens were living comfortably. However, as these two decades went by, the American farmer found it harder and harder to live comfortably. Crops such as cotton and wheat, once the bulwark of agriculture, were selling at prices so low that it was nearly impossible for farmers to make a profit off them. Furthermore, improvement in transportation allowed foreign competition to materialize, making it harder for American farmers to dispose of surplus crop. Finally, years of drought in the midwest and the downward spiral of business in the 1890s devastated many of the nations farmers. As a result of the agricultural depression, many farm groups, most notably the Populist Party, arose to fight what farmers saw as the reasons for the decline in agriculture. During the last twenty years of the nineteenth century, many farmers in the United States saw monopolies and trusts, railroads, and money shortages and the demonetization of silver as threats to their way of life, though in many cases their complaints were not valid. The growth of the railroad was one of the most significant elements in American economic growth. However, in many ways, the railroads hurt small shippers and farmers. Extreme competition between rail companies necessitated some way to win business. To do this, many railroads offered rebates and drawbacks to larger shippers who used their rails. However, this practice hurt smaller shippers, including farmers, for often times railroad companies would charge more to ship products short distances than they would for long trips. The rail companies justified this practice by asserting that if they did not rebate, they would not make enough profit to stay in business. In his testimony to the Senate Cullom Committee, George W. Parker stated, the operating expense of this roadrequires a certain volume of business to meet these fixed expenses.in some seasons of the year, the local business of the roadis not sufficient to make the earningswhen we make up a train of ten of fifteen cars of local freightwe can attach fifteen or twenty carsof strictly through business. We can take the latter at a very low rate than go without it. Later, when asked the consequences of charging local traffic the same rate as through freight, Mr. Parker responded, Bankruptcy, inevitably and speedy. While the railroads felt that they must use this practice to make a profit, the farmers were justified in complaining, for they were seriously injured by it. A perfect example of this fact can be found in The Octopus by Frank Norris. A farmer named Dyke discovers that the railroad has increased their freight charges from two to five cents a pound. This new rate, ate up every cent of his gains. He stood there ruined. (Doc. H). The railroads regularly used rebates and drawbacks to help win the business of large shippers, and made up this loss in profit by increasing the cost to smaller shippers such as farmers. As a result, many farmers, already hurt by the downslide in agriculture, were ruined. Thus, t he farmers of the late nineteenth century had a valid complaint against railroad shippers, for these farmers were hurt by the unfair practices of the railroads. Near the end of the nineteenth century, business began to centralize, leading to the rise of monopolies and trusts. Falling prices, along with the need for better efficiency in industry, led to the rise of such companies as Carnegie Steel and Standard Oil, which controlled a majority of the nations supply of raw steel and oil respectively. The rise of these monopolies and trusts concerned many farmers, for they felt that the disappearance of competition would lead to erratic and unreasonable price rises that would hurt consumers. James B. Weaver, the Populist partys presidential candidate in the 1892 election, summed up the feelings of many Americans of the period in his work, A Call to Action: An Interpretation of the Great Uprising. He wrote, It is clear that trusts arein conflict with the Common law. They are monopolies organized to destroy competition and restrain trade. Once they secure control of a given line, they are master of the situation They can limit the price of the raw material so as to impoverish the producer, drive him to a single market, reduce the price of every class of labor connected with the trade, throw out of employment large numbers personsand finallythey increase the price to the consumer. The main weapons of the trust are threats, intimidation, bribery, fraud, wreck, and pillage. However, the facts refute many of Weavers charges against the monopolies. While it is true that many used questionable means to achieve their monopoly, many were not out to crush competitors. To the contrary, John D. Rockefeller, head of Standard Oil, competed ruthlessly not to crush other refiners but to persuade them to join Standard Oil and share the business so all could profit. Furthermore, the fear that the monopolies would raise prices unreasonably was never realized. Prices tended to fall during the latter part of the 1800s creating what some have called a consumers millennium. Thus, the agrarian complaints against monopolies were not incredibly vali d, for the monopolies did very little harm to farmers of the time. .u241761bb84152abb47c1bac831d30efd , .u241761bb84152abb47c1bac831d30efd .postImageUrl , .u241761bb84152abb47c1bac831d30efd .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u241761bb84152abb47c1bac831d30efd , .u241761bb84152abb47c1bac831d30efd:hover , .u241761bb84152abb47c1bac831d30efd:visited , .u241761bb84152abb47c1bac831d30efd:active { border:0!important; } .u241761bb84152abb47c1bac831d30efd .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u241761bb84152abb47c1bac831d30efd { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u241761bb84152abb47c1bac831d30efd:active , .u241761bb84152abb47c1bac831d30efd:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u241761bb84152abb47c1bac831d30efd .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u241761bb84152abb47c1bac831d30efd .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u241761bb84152abb47c1bac831d30efd .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u241761bb84152abb47c1bac831d30efd .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u241761bb84152abb47c1bac831d30efd:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u241761bb84152abb47c1bac831d30efd .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u241761bb84152abb47c1bac831d30efd .u241761bb84152abb47c1bac831d30efd-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u241761bb84152abb47c1bac831d30efd:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: The Consequences Of Guns EssayFinally, deflation and falling prices during the late 1800s led to the most heated complaint of farmers and the Populist party that grew out of agricultural discontent. Deflation had been running rampant during the latter half of the 1800s, as evidenced by the drastic fall in the value of wheat and cotton. To fight the deflationary trend, the Populists demanded a reversal of the Coinage Act of 1873, which demonetized silver. The Populist platform for the 1892 election called for unlimited coinage of silver and an increase in the money supply to no less than $50 per capita.. Here again, the farmers are wrong in the assessment of their problems. It is true that the countrys money supply was not adequate. United States government data from 1961 shows that though the countrys population between 1865 and 1875 increased by nearly four million, the countrys money supply actually decreased. However, many farmers used the money supply to explain problems that indeed had very little to do with the money supply at all. This fact is best summed up in a quote from J. Laurence Laughlins article, Causes of Agricultural Unrest. He says, Feeling the coils of some mysterious power about them, the farmers have attributed their misfortunes to the constriction in prices, caused, as they think, not by an increased production of wheat throughout the world, but by the scarcity of gold.. Furthermore, history has shown that battle between gold and silver had little real meaning. The real battle was not between gold or silver, but instead what would be done to check deflation. William McKinley, in his 1896 acceptance speech, said, Free silver woul d not mean that silver dollars were to be freely had without cost or labor It would not make labor easier, the hours shorter, or the pay better. It would not make the farming less laborious or more profitable.Many farmers saw silver as a cure-all for their problems, failing to see that changes in the world were to blame. Finally, the discovery of gold in Alaska and improved methods of extracting gold from low-grade ore did much to increase the nations money supply. These facts prove that the farmers view of silver was not sound, thus invalidating their complaints about the nations financial system. The farmers of the late 1800s had many reasons for being dissatisfied with their situation. Unfair railroad practices, such as rebates and drawbacks, hurt them severely. However, in some cases, these farmers complaints were not justified. Many of the fears that farmers had about monopolies, such as the idea of unfair and unreasonable price increases, happened in very few occasions; in fact, prices went down in the latter part of the nineteenth century. Finally, history has proven that their view of silver as a way to end deflation and the decrease in crop values was inaccurate. The farmers of the period, though, used these issues to change the shape of American politics and bring it face to face with the problems the country was facing.