A comparison argument (or contrast, but not both) between a limited Research Paper - 1

A comparison argument (or contrast, but not both) between a limited aspect of the Viet Nam Conflict and our Conflict in Afghanistan(you need to chose a limited aspect that you are intrested in) - Research Paper Example Although the Afghan war is still going on and for that reason, the consequences of the war cannot be completely compared; but since the end is predicted to come about in the near future, a comparison can be drawn with respect to the destruction and losses militarily and politically. This paper, while reflecting upon the background of the Vietnamese and Afghan wars, will draw comparisons between them and cover the causes and consequences that a gory war brings about with it. Initially, the United States had little interest in Vietnam. However, as it became clear that the post-World War II world would be dominated by the US and its allies as well as the Soviet Union and its fighting partners, isolating communist movements took an increased importance in America’s eyes. These concerns were ultimately shaped into the doctrine of containment and domino theory. The move towards containment identified that the goal of communism was to spread to capitalist states and according to America, the only way to stop it was to â€Å"contain† it within its present borders. Moreover, arising from containment was the concept of domino theory, which stated that if one state in a region were to fall to communism, then the surrounding states would inevitably fall as well. These concepts forced US to get involved in the Vietnam conflict. In 1950, to combat the spread of communism, the United States began supplying the French military in Vietnam with advisors an d funding its efforts against the â€Å"red† Viet Minh (Hickman). According to an American senior journalist, with the initial objective of vanquishing al- Qaeda largely achieved, and the latest goal of luring the Taliban into a power-sharing deal out of reach, the main reason the U.S. is still at war in Afghanistan is inertia, and not for logical reasons. This is because the American military brass wants to show that its counter-insurgency theories work and â€Å"they are impressive theories developed by impressive

Resident Evil Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Resident Evil - Essay Example Marc O’Day supports the idea of Resident evil being centered on an action figure female character. From his own perspective, he views this as a change to post feminism. In the past, many films used to have male action figures and ignored the role of females in the society. Resident Evil together with other female centered films tried to bring the issue of women taking leading rules in the society and becoming more independent an extent of running their own affairs (Joanne & Peter 23). This film tries to depict Alice as a sexy woman yet a fearless woman who can face any challenge just to ensure she met her target: destroying Umbrella Corporation. Alice is given a masculine side in the film as she is able to fight zombies, use guns, and fight like a man, but still retains her female identity by being sexy and highly attractive to her audience. Marc O’Day supports the fact that this films are trying to depict the issue of gender equality as more women are taking leading ro les in the film industry (Joanne & Peter 27). Basically, in according to Marc O’Day, such a film is trying to raise critical issues which were usually ignored in the past century of women identity. Women are becoming more outgoing and taking leading roles in the world as gender equality continues to be practiced. Lisa Purse on the other hand supports the notion of the female representation in the film â€Å"Resident Evil† as also being in support of the feminist and postfeminist theories. First of all, she argues that more women are taking active role as key figures in movie supporting the notion of a society that has acceptable females as equal and having a role to play (Joanne & Peter 32). The film through its action figure, Alice, displays the female character as a strong, yet sexy woman. In her role, Alice, manages to play a masculine role through her violent action of killing, fighting

A history of refugees

A history of refugees According to the United Nations, a refugee is a person who flees their home country due to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion. From ancient to recent times, from poor areas to developed countries, refugees could be seen almost everywhere. Nowadays, although the global economy has been developing very fast, the problem of refugee still exits. With the old issues remain unsolved, the new ones also emerging, the situation of refugees did not improve a lot much. The number of refugees has kept raising and their geographical distribution has kept widening, how to find the solution to refugee problems has become a cross-century challenge for the whole world. Poverty is one of the fatal roots of the refugee problem. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), in their report on the global food and agricultural situation, points out that there are still 13% of the human species on earth (about 800 million) are still starving. And the phenomenon is most serious in the African continent there were about 400 million people lack of food or clothes; Asia following Africa sees the less worst situation there are about 300 million people are still suffering from hunger all day long; And the population in Latin America who live under the poverty line reach the number of 70 million. We notice that, the number of refugees in each continent refers to a considerable proportion of the number of people suffer from starvation. The latest United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) statistics shows that there are more than 2100 million refugees in total worldwide, of which 8.44 million in Asia, 5.33 million in Africa, 1.04 million in North Ame rica, 570 thousand in Latin America and the Caribbean, and Europe is home for 564 thousand refugees among whom mostly come from Africa, Asia and Latin America. In recent years, our whole world sees the continuous development of science and technology along with the global economy. However, food shortage is still a very fatal and serious problem. In a report released by Food and Agricultural Organization in March, it demonstrated that due to continuous natural disasters, there are now 60 million people living in 33 different countries are facing various degrees of food insecurity problems. The report, entitled Shortage of Food and Crops, said that some African area in the south of sub-Saharan region is facing the most serious food deficit 16 countries in that area are in extreme food shortage. In East Africa, although the situation of the year-long drought has been improved last year, yet 18 million people live in Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Sudan and Tanzania still need the international community to continue to provide emergency food aid. In Mozambique and other southern African countries, the recent outbreak of floods caused severe damage to crops, and these countries also need access to food aid too. Many countries in Asia are also troubled by the shortage of food. Serious food crisis has begun in Afghanistan due to continuing civil war and drought. East and Central Asia countries such as Armenia, Georgia and Tajikistan are also in the need of food aid due to the droughts happened in their domestics. Food shortages directly threaten the lives of local residents, in order to survive, the population in poor area was forced to leave their homes and become refugees of no fixed abodes. Another reason for refugee problems are very difficult to solve is the deteriorating economic situation and the over grown population in some certain countries. Lets take the case of Africa for instance. In recent years, with the African political situation is easing and the economic situation began to improve, people seem to think that everything is going to be OK. However, there are still many countries out there lack of funds for development and many countries are carrying very heavy debt. According to international organizations latest statistics, the total external debt of the entire Africa reached 360 billion US dollars. It is more than 24 times of what it was 30 years ago. Heavy debt, on the one hand, brings deathly heavy burden to the African countries, and also seriously hampered Africas economic and social development strategies. Africas share in international trade continue to decline, till now they only have 2% while the foreign direct investment put in the whole Africa c ontinent every year is only 1.5% of total international investment. Relatively backward economic conditions lead to the fact that the proportion of poor people in Africa is far more than that in other continents. Africas population accounts for over 12% of the total population of the whole world, yet, Africas GDP is only about 2% of that of the globe. Africa now has a population of about 700 million; the average annual population growth rate is 3%, with the growth in agriculture only goes to 2.5% per year. In some countries, there might be even negative growth in agriculture. There cant be enough food grown to feed the fast increasing population. Too fast growth of population has also caused a shortage or even depletion of natural resources in some parts of Africa. According to researches, every year in Africa, more than 4 million hectares of forests are destroyed. There are severe desertification in many areas which leads to abnormal climate change, floods, droughts and pests. Human destruction contributed a lot in creating this vicious cycle. The ecological environment in many African countries is deteriorating, many places are no longer suitable for living, and the former local residents were forced to leave and find other places to live. Besides, race, religious conflicts and territorial disputes caused intensification of the conflict and wars could be counted as another reason for refugees. In the Middle East, Israeli-Palestinian conflict which has last for a century has one worst consequence that it created a ripple of Palestinian refugees and the problem of these refugees even have an influence throughout the whole Middle East region. The wave of refugee formed by this conflict was the biggest and longest one in history. Currently, among the 21 million refugees worldwide, the Palestinian refugees make up the biggest part with a number of 3.5 million in total. From the emergence of the first generation of Palestinian refugees till now, the problem of them has continued for over 50 years and we could not even clearly see the hope to solve it. The problem of Palestinian refugees has become a big obstacle to remaining peace between Israel and Pakistan. Balkans refugee problems caused by the ethnic conflicts are quite bad too. Since the broke up of the civil war in the early nineties in the 20th century, the number of refuges in the Balkans has reached millions, of which women and children are the majority. In March, ethnic Albanians extremists had a large-scale armed conflict with the government forces; it caused another new refugee flow in Macedonia. The long-lasting civil war in Afghanistan make more than 7 million refugees ran away to Iran and Pakistan. In South Africa, the largest number of refugees could be found in Angola and Mozambique. These two countries recent 20 years were occupied by civil war or natural disasters, millions of people become displaced refugees. In Central Africa, because of the armed tribal conflict between Rwanda and Burundi, more than 2 million refugees fled to eastern Congo (DRC) region, and led to the conflict between Congo (DRC) and Rwanda, as well as Burundi and Uganda. It once caused the refugee c risis. The situation of refugees in eastern Africa is also increasingly worse: the war between Eritrea and Ethiopia lasts for over 10 years forced thousands of refugees flew to other countries; The Sudans civil war which nearly lasts for 50 years, forced large number of refugees fled to Ethiopia, bar Doyle, Central Africa and Kenya to survive; Now, in Indonesia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Colombia and other countries, bloody conflicts and terrorist activities are still forcing local residents to flee their homes and become homeless refugees. Natural disasters are also important reasons contributed to the refugee problem which we cannot ignore. According to materials released by international organizations, that the average death caused by natural disasters every year is 1.44 million, 57 thousand injured and 5 million homeless. Severe famine caused by natural disasters kills at least 73.6 thousand every year. In the past decade, various types of natural disasters caused the loss of 608 billion U.S. dollars in total and millions of refugees left their home and become wandering. Refugees not only bring problems to developing countries, but also bring burdens to developed countries. Large numbers of people move from developing countries to developed countries every year and among them, there are a lot of illegal immigrants who just becomes the economic refugees. Their existence with uncertainty of safety and economical support lead to social problems in developing countries. After World War II, to deal with the refugee issue left in Europe by the war, the international community set up a temporary agency in Geneva to solve the European refugee problem in the year 1951. It was responsible for the specific work of resettlement of the refugees. Later on, with the increasing number of refugees all over the world, this agencys scope also expanded and finally become the current United Nations Higher Commission of Refugees (UNHCR). UNHCR is funded mainly by contributions from the international community, 2% of the annual budget allocation by the United Nations, and the remaining 98% of pledges by countries. The annual budget of the UNHCR in the early ninetieth in the 20th century was 120 million and that in the year 2002 was 78 million U.S dollars. The current agent of UNHCR, former Prime Minister of Netherland Ruud Lubbers holds the opinion that to solve the refugee problem, the budget every year should at least be more than 110 million dollars. Resettlement work is a systematic project, in addition to rescue. At present, there are three major and general solutions to the refugee problems: voluntary repatriation; local integration and third- country resettlement. After the United Nations Higher Commission of Refugees was founded, the scope of its assistance activities continued to change: European refugees in the 1950s; focus move on to Africa in 1960-1970s; in the late 1970s, serious refugee problems have been all over Asia, Africa, and Latin American continents, the total number of refugees grow over 10 million; After the cold war in the late 1990s, ethnic conflicts and religious conflicts have become increasingly prominent in some parts of the world. Conflicts, civil wars and political instabilities led to large-scale influx of refugees. United Nations statistics show that in the last ten years in the 20th century, the number of refugees in the world increased by a variety of more than 7 million, from 15 million in 1990 to 22 million in the early of the year 2000. Among them, the worlds total number of refugee in 1991 was 17 million while this data became 23 million in 1993 and later in 1995 to a record 27 million. World Refugee Day occurs on June 20. The day was created in 2000 by a special United Nations General Assembly Resolution. June 20 had previously been commemorated as African Refugee Day in a number of African countries. In the United Kingdom World Refugee Day is celebrated as part of Refugee Week. Refugee Week is a nationwide festival designed to promote understanding and to celebrate the cultural contributions of refugees, and features many events such as music, dance and theatre. History tells us that the refugee problem is threatening our step of development in secure and peace. There are so many complicated reasons that cause the problem of refugee and there is no simple solution to it. Human beings must face the fact that we have these problems all around and work out ways to effectively eliminate this piece of dark shadow that has always been on our planet.

The Schlieffen Plan Essay -- World War II WWII WW2 Nazi Germany

The Schlieffen Plan was devised by Count Alfred von Schlieffen, the Chief of the General Staff in the German army in 1905. There were a number of different aspects to the Schlieffen Plan, and all were aimed at defeating France as quickly as possible, preferably in under 6 weeks. The Germans believed this was possible because they had defeated France in Alsace and Lorraine in the 1871. The main aim of the Schlieffen Plan was to knock out and capture France and then attack Russia in order to avoid fighting a war on two fronts at the same time. †¨The second aspect to the Schlieffen Plan was to invade neutral Belgium as a means to get to France, because the German-Franco border was heavily fortified and would mean almost certain defeat for Germany. Even though the Germans knew about the Treaty of London signed between Britain and Belgium in 1839, Kaiser Wilhelm II did not believe that Britain would come to Belgium’s aid over â€Å"a scrappy bit of paper†. †¨ The third aspect to the Plan was to use the 1st to 4th armies to go through Belgium and Holland to outflank the French and attack them from behind at Lorraine where the German 5th to 8th armies were holding, attack from the French forces and even give them a little ground to allow the Germans to get behind the French. In the process the Germans would be able to take Paris, the capital as they moved south to join the 5th to 8th armies in Lorraine. The whole of the Schlieffen Plan depended on adhering to a strict timetable, which in theory was a good idea on behalf of the German staff, but in reality it did not take into consideration factors such as soldiers fatigue in marching long distances and unexpected resistance by the British Expeditionary Force at the and the Belgia... ...e Germans arrived in France, the French were ready waiting to repel them. In conclusion, the main aim of the Schlieffen Plan was for Germany to avoid fighting a war on two fronts at the same time. The Plan failed for a number of reasons, but the most important was the unexpected resistance put up by the brave Belgians at Mons and the support given by the BEF at the Battle of the Marne. This meant that von Moltke had to divert his armies from encircling Paris, dig trenches to protect his soldiers from the bombardment form the new artillery, and thereby negate the crux of the Schlieffen Plan, which had depended on speed, knocking out and capturing Paris in six weeks. The Germans found themselves stuck in France while the Russians had mobilized: The Germans then had to fight a war on two fronts - the very situation which the Schlieffen Plan had been devised to avoid. The Schlieffen Plan Essay -- World War II WWII WW2 Nazi Germany The Schlieffen Plan was devised by Count Alfred von Schlieffen, the Chief of the General Staff in the German army in 1905. There were a number of different aspects to the Schlieffen Plan, and all were aimed at defeating France as quickly as possible, preferably in under 6 weeks. The Germans believed this was possible because they had defeated France in Alsace and Lorraine in the 1871. The main aim of the Schlieffen Plan was to knock out and capture France and then attack Russia in order to avoid fighting a war on two fronts at the same time. †¨The second aspect to the Schlieffen Plan was to invade neutral Belgium as a means to get to France, because the German-Franco border was heavily fortified and would mean almost certain defeat for Germany. Even though the Germans knew about the Treaty of London signed between Britain and Belgium in 1839, Kaiser Wilhelm II did not believe that Britain would come to Belgium’s aid over â€Å"a scrappy bit of paper†. †¨ The third aspect to the Plan was to use the 1st to 4th armies to go through Belgium and Holland to outflank the French and attack them from behind at Lorraine where the German 5th to 8th armies were holding, attack from the French forces and even give them a little ground to allow the Germans to get behind the French. In the process the Germans would be able to take Paris, the capital as they moved south to join the 5th to 8th armies in Lorraine. The whole of the Schlieffen Plan depended on adhering to a strict timetable, which in theory was a good idea on behalf of the German staff, but in reality it did not take into consideration factors such as soldiers fatigue in marching long distances and unexpected resistance by the British Expeditionary Force at the and the Belgia... ...e Germans arrived in France, the French were ready waiting to repel them. In conclusion, the main aim of the Schlieffen Plan was for Germany to avoid fighting a war on two fronts at the same time. The Plan failed for a number of reasons, but the most important was the unexpected resistance put up by the brave Belgians at Mons and the support given by the BEF at the Battle of the Marne. This meant that von Moltke had to divert his armies from encircling Paris, dig trenches to protect his soldiers from the bombardment form the new artillery, and thereby negate the crux of the Schlieffen Plan, which had depended on speed, knocking out and capturing Paris in six weeks. The Germans found themselves stuck in France while the Russians had mobilized: The Germans then had to fight a war on two fronts - the very situation which the Schlieffen Plan had been devised to avoid.

In the “Clearances” collection, what is revealed about Seamus Heaney and his relationship with his mother, and his thoughts and feelings about other

One of the most moving and emotional of Heaney's works is his collection of sonnets called ‘Clearances'. These sonnets were written in dedication and memoriam to his mother Margaret Kathleen Heaney, who died in 1984. The eight sonnets are filled with lively, detailed and vivid memories, but the strong and loving relationship between Heaney and his mother is constantly referred to also. Heaney has no difficulty in expressing openly the love felt for his mother, both by him and his family, as we see in the invocation at the beginning of the collection; ‘She taught me what her uncle once taught her'. Here we immediately see how his mother has taught him simple but great life wisdom, how to live and deal with problems in everyday life. This immediately identifies a clear picture of love and devotion towards her son, illuminating right from the beginning their strong mother/son relationship. This life wisdom is reflected again in sonnet 2, whereby she commands him on various rules before entering the house she grew up in; ‘And don't be dropping crumbs. Don't tilt your chair'. This yet again shows the close bond Heaney and his mother share, as she warns him in order to avoid him getting into trouble, showing that she is concerned over his welfare and wants to avoid upsetting him in any way possible. The fact that Heaney remembers this visit to his grandparents so vividly is also an indication of how important his mother and her family background was to him, as he shows a keep interest in all aspects of the visit. Despite this, the true reveal of the close bond shared by both mother and son is seen most apparent in sonnet 3, whereby Heaney describes the activities shared between them on times where it was just the two of them alone. In sonnet 3, he mentions himself and his mother preparing Sunday dinner; ‘I was all hers as we peeled potatoes. They broke the silence, let fall one by one'. The close bond between them is easily spotted here, as peeling potatoes is seen as a feminine image, yet Heaney is eager to help and share quality time with his mother, emphasising the importance she has in his life. The fact that there is silence is also an indication of their loving relationship, as neither feels the need to speak as they are enjoying just being in each other's company. ‘From each other's work would bring us to our senses', this yet again shows the unifying element between the both of them, almost as if they are part of one another, showing how alike they are. The change in mood in the second stanza emphasises Heaney's great pain at the loss of his mother. Yet despite this, they are still united as they were in the first stanza, ‘her breath in mine', once again highlighting the closeness shared between them. The final line in the third sonnet is a clear confirmation of the strength in the bond placed between Heaney and his mother as he feels the closest he has ever felt to her at a time when he should feel most distanced; her death, ‘never closer the whole rest of our lives'. A similar pattern of silence is shown in sonnet 4, where Heaney writes about his mother and how she dealt with her son being very intellectual despite only coming from a loving farming background. In the sonnet, Heaney mentions the silent fear felt by his mother at the thought of people thinking of her as a snob, the fear of thinking that her family will think she's above herself, ‘Fear of affectation made her affect. Inadequacy whenever it came to pronouncing words ‘beyond her'. Bertold Brek'. This shows us the discomfort felt by Heaney's mother by being torn to stay at her family's intellectual level or progress in order to be the same as her son. Read also Intro to Public Relations Notes We gain knowledge from the sonnet that she is slightly more knowledgeable than she decides to show, ‘well-adjusted vocabulary'. The result of her choice here illuminates the close bond between her and Heaney, as Heaney shows respect towards her by ‘governed my tongue in front of her'. He speaks as she would in order to keep to his background and make her feel less uncomfortable, which shows that he thinks about her thoughts and feelings and puts them before his own. Despite this, Heaney's education is affecting them as the ‘grammar which kept us allied and at bay'. This illuminates the problems faced by Heaney and his mother, despite speaking less intellectually for the right reasons, at the same time neither are being true to themselves, and are lying about the real person inside in order to please each other. The devoted bond between Heaney and his mother is illuminated again in sonnet 5. In this sonnet, Heaney talks again about another female activity that he is helping his mother with, helping her to fold sheets that have newly come in off the line. The intimacy between them is revealed once more as their hands ‘end up hand to hand'. This shows yet again the closeness between him and his mother as they are together in such an emotional way by performing such a simple task. There is a slight flaw again in their relationship in this poem however, as we begin to see the differences faced by both Heaney and his mother with Heaney's education seems to overpower his mother, ‘and pulled against her; suggesting that as he grows and becomes more intelligent, it is slowly pushing them away from each other. Sonnet 6 shows a change in Heaney's age, and it becomes clear that he is in his teenage years. Despite the change however, his relationship with his mother seems unaffected. He compares his mother with the book Sons and Lovers. The title of the book immediately shows us the deep love felt for his mother during these years, and their closeness is still confirmed as they kneel ‘elbow to elbow' in the church at Easter time. Heaney sees this as important and shows us that mother and son are both entering a different phase, they are both now devoutly religious. At a time when their views should differ however, Heaney and his mother remain allied, a true indication of the emotionally powerful shared between them. The ultimate reveal of the unconditional love and strength between Heaney and his mother is show in sonnet 7, the sonnet describing the death of his mother. On her deathbed, Heaney, along with other members of his immediate family show his mother the affection she longed for and deserved, ‘he called her good and girl'. Here, Heaney shows the most affection he ever has to his mother, revealing true feelings he has towards her. The fact that Heaney feels a ‘space' after she dies is also a key suggestion to the closeness of their relationship, that the woman he has loved and adored has left him and he feels emptiness, as if nothing can replace her, showing how highly Heaney thought of his mother. ‘It penetrated Clearances that suddenly stood open. High cries were felled and a pure change happened', yet again here, the flawless relationship shared between Heaney and his mother is shown as despite her spirit leaving her body, her ways have been passed on to him, and the use of the word ‘kept' suggests that Heaney will never forget her. The end of this sonnet, with the use of the word ‘felled' links sonnet 7 with sonnet 8, the final in the collection. In it, Heaney talks about the tree that has been removed from the garden in which he lived by new owners. I thought of walking round and round a space', this shows the emptiness felt by Heaney after his mother's death, and the tree is symbolic of the loss of his mother also. The closeness of the relationship between them is reflected in the feelings felt by Heaney after his mother's death, he, like the tree, also feels like he has been cut, both physically and emotionally, ultimately illuminating the desperation he feels now that his mother is not around, emphasising the closeness between them. Despite the focus of Clearances being on the experiences of Heaney and his mother, we are also informed of Heaney's thoughts and feelings towards other members of his family. In the invocation, we are made aware of Heaney's ancestors, including his uncle and other, present day family members who are working on the farm. Heaney shares his fear of being different to his family ‘to face the music'. It is clear that he is different to them, an academic gem, and it is clear that he is of the opinion that his family are being who they are supposed to be, and he believes that he is putting himself in danger by going against family tradition. This shows the respect he feels towards his family, and he takes their feelings into consideration, as he does not want to hurt them emotionally or cause them any unnecessary pain. The next family member we are introduced to is his great-grandmother in the hard times when she married outside the tribe and changed her religion. Heaney doesn't see her actions as anything unacceptable and sees it as an inheritance ‘to dispose of' after his great-grandmother's passing. He is ultimately respectful to his past family members and sees the ‘exonerated stone' as a mark of triumph not embarrassment. He shows great support and respect towards his great-grandmother and is brave enough to speak against what other people think are right, illuminating the support and love felt for his great-grandmother. In sonnet 2, we are introduced briefly to Heaney's grandparents. Yet again, Heaney feels respect towards them and sees their way of life as organised and traditional, a successful way to be. He clearly feels great affection and love towards them as he listens to his mother's imperatives in order not to upset them and make things easier for his mother, ‘to welcome home a bewildered homing daughter'. The final member of Heaney's family that we are introduced to is his father. In sonnet 3, Heaney sees and portrays him as a quiet man, a man who does not speak much, ‘hammer and tong at the prayers for the dying'. There is also a hint that Heaney's father is a man of few emotions, at the suggestion that he is not crying at his wife's bedside. However, in sonnet 7, Heaney sees him in a whole new light. His father describes his mother as ‘good' and ‘girl', and talks about the early days of their courtship, and finally shows her affection by bending down to her ‘propped-up head'. Heaney is overjoyed at this, ‘she could not hear but we were overjoyed', as his father finally feels like he did towards his mother. It is possible that Heaney feels a slight closeness towards his father at this point, that both are united in their grief. He clearly feels love towards his father, and his comforted by the words spoken by him at his mothers deathbed.

Illnesses of the 1700s Essay

Illnesses of the 1700’s There were many illnesses in the 1700’s and 1800’s that were life threatening, or even a sure death, that are in current times, not a concern, or highly curable. Examples are smallpox, bubonic plague, typhus, mumps, influenza, yellow fever, and measles. These diseases almost single handedly wiped out several native American tribes, and wreaked havoc on European communities. Small pox, overtook half of Boston in 1763. There was no cure, and to this day there is not one, however, it is now completely preventable by vaccine. This disease killed 1 out of 6 people that it infected, and left the rest with horrible scars for the rest of their lives. Inoculation began with smallpox, and spread very quickly due to this particular disease. Documentation of Native American artifacts show that small pox swept these communities, wiping out many of the skilled artisans, thus resulting in a lack of recorded history for long periods of time for these affected tribes. Bubonic Plague was also rampant in this period of time, wiping out whole communities. This highly contagious disease is now preventable and treatable, however, even with prompt treatment with antibiotics, the mortality rate is 15%. With housing conditions the way that they were during these times, people lived with many extended family members in one house, and in close quarters with those around them. Bubonic Plague spread like wildfire, affecting thousands in a short period of time. Influenza, which in current medicine, also has a vaccine, and treatments available, swept Europe prior to and after the 1700/1800’s. It is recorded that influenza in Europe infected over 500 million people, with a mortality of 12 million. It is hard to imagine someone dying from the flu, however, even now, the influenza virus mutates from year to year. This makes it necessary for a new vaccine to be developed based on the infections from a particular region so that it is effective in preventing that particular strain. Mumps, measles and rubella also had a high mortality rate, and like the majority of the diseases that affected millions in that timeframe, they are highly preventable with today’s medicine in the form of vaccines. There is no treatment once these viruses are contracted, so the symptoms are treated for both. The MMR vaccine was developed to prevent all 3 of these viruses, and are given with the standard vaccines that children get at their newborn check up. Typhus was a disease spread by lice, that caused massive losses of population. Areas that were overcrowded and communities that were undernourished fell victim to this epidemic. The lice spread quickly and thus spread the disease, people often wore the same clothes for long periods of time, allowing the lice to multiply and spread among households. Even once this disease was discovered, and was being investigated for treatment, the Doctor’s researching both became infected and died from it. It is rare to find this virus active today, and it is treatable with antibiotics. The way that the government deals with outbreaks of diseases differs today from what the procedure was in the 1700/1800’s. The standard protocol then was to quarantine entire communities, without proper testing, and unknown incubation periods, it was difficult for containment to take place. In current times, we have the CDC, a government agency dedicated to discovery, treatment, and containment of communicable diseases. They provide information to the public and are responsible for keeping vaccines updated and effective. In this way, our communities are protected from the rapid spread of epidemics. As one can see, the way that diseases are treated and prevented now, varies wildly from the lack of modern medicine that was available to even the most modern societies in the 1700s.