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Discussion Questions and Predicted Answers

My Questions: 

1. Did you enjoy the movie? Any comments? 

I enjoyed the movie very much and it was very interesting to learn about how the US Marines trained their recruits and how they operated on a platoon level in Vietnam. 

The movie was very slow paced and lacked proper suspense. It took far too long to get to the point, which was not clear on its own either. It was unclear which event was the climax of the movie. 

2. Who was your favorite character in the movie and why?

Animal Mother; He is a very badass individual who is rational in his thoughts and emotions and is able to get the job done. 

Private Pyle (Lawrence); I empathize with him considering he went through a very difficult time on Parris Island.

Sergeant Hartmann; He was an effective leader and or was very funny in terms of his training methods. 

Joker; He made very good jokes and was generally the most relatable character throughout the movie. 

3. Was American involvement in the Vietnam War justified? 

Yes; The USA was completely righteous in standing up for freedom and democracy in Vietnam where the USSR was funding a communist regime which aimed at taking away fundamental human rights from its own citizens. 

No, the USA had no business intervening in the affairs of other distant nations who were entitled to determine their own fate. The Vietnam War was an example of the failure of American Imperialism and why the whole involvement in the conflict was a waste of American lives and resources. 

4. What were some of the new things you learned about the Vietnam War through this movie?

I was initially not aware that the North Vietnamese would go as far as to launch an offensive on the Tet holiday. 

I was not aware that US Marines were treated that harshly in training. 

5. What was the most memorable scene in this movie to you?

When Pyle killed Sergeant Hartmann and then himself. The scene was extremely shocking and deep which makes it stand out the most to me. 

The interview scene shows the opinions of American soldiers at the time which says a lot about how the Vietnam War was viewed by the general population of the USA. 

The scene where the little girl sniper is killed because it creates a depressing atmosphere in which one is made aware how the North Vietnamese operated in terms of enlisting child soldiers to do killing for them which truly shows the brutality and savagery of the North Vietnamese. 

6. Why do you think Sergeant Joker had both a peace sign and “Born to Kill” written on his helmet?

Joker thought he was funny and made an attempt at making a “sick joke” in order to make others around him laugh at the paradox. 

Joker was attempting to make a statement about the duality of man and how one can claim to be for peace but then be a part of the killing maschine during war. 

7. Were the methods of collective punishment used by the Drill Instructor necessary?

Yes; The point of collective punishment is to remind the Marines that they are a unit and must act as one. If one Marine makes a mistake, the whole platoon must pay for it in order to ensure a team spirit is present. During battle, a marine must be able to rely on the other marine because they are one unit, and if a mistake is made during battle, it can put the whole platoon’s lives at stake. 

No: Collective punishment is a cruel method and does nothing beneficial. All it accomplishes is the incitement of internal disagreements between the Marines.

8. Was Sergeant Hartman racist?

Yes, his constant use of slurs and stereotypes prove that he was a racist individual. 

No, he may have used racial slurs and stereotypes, but due to the nature of his work, he was supposed to and there was no proof of him being a racist person, despite some of the things he had said being racist.

Mihkel Piilma’s Questions: 

1. Would you say that the “roasting, racism & dehumanizing & physical violence” by the Sergeant Hartman was necessary to the new privates?

The roasting and racism was necessary for the privates to get the feel of what it's going to be like in the army. The discipline level is needed for the whole army to function at its best, which directly affects whether the soldiers die or live. 

2. Should have the sergeant treated Pyle differently due to his physique and brain power? How did he affect the platoon? For me: Did he create unity perhaps as everyone tried to care for him and felt empathy.  Continuation: When we are already talking about him, did you feel that the beating by his comrades was necessary to wake him up?

Since Pyle was obviously challenged and overwhelmed by the physical challenged that a soldier had to face, the decision of not letting him into the army should have been done already earlier by the health check up team. The sergeant had obviously done this job for years, maybe even decades and it’s hard to teach an old dog new tricks. Although he should have seen that this is too much for Pyle and perhaps fired him. 

Yes and no since after the beating he started to actually get things done to an acceptable level, however like we later see the beating was most likely the brink of his mental health and after he broke down he went on to kill himself and the sergeant. 

3. What were a few biggest mistakes in your opinion that either side made ?

The US didn’t have proper policing of their troops, they didn’t watch out for the soldiers not to kill civilians (this scene when Joker and his pal were on the helicopter and the machine gun guy was shooting random people fleeing.).

On the Vietnam side they shouldn't have supported Viet Cong and actually respected the US soldiers who came to protect them, but then again the soldiers as mentioned just above did also kill civilians.

4. Would you say that romanticizing of killing by the soldiers is understandable as a coping method?

Yes, because if they would keep on thinking it is insane and immoral what they were doing it could have led to the soldiers not making decisive life or death decisions on the field. Additionally the mental health of retired veterans could turn out to be many times worse after they have to live with the things they had done, which could lead to suicide. 

5. Should have we seen more of the perspective of the Vietnamese? 

Since this was an American made movie and the focus was from the start on the US soldiers it is understandable if the directors of the movie didn’t want to over complicate things with a Vietnamese character.

Yes they should have, because otherwise the viewer only empathizes with the US soldier.

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Week 6 - Full Metal Jacket Notions

Presenters: Juhani Soininen and Mihkel Piilma

The Iron Curtain is a term used to describe the political boundary between the communist east and the capitalist west. The capitalist west was unofficially led by the United States of America while the communist east was led by the USSR which had its satellite states in Eastern Europe. Below is a map of Europe which shows the capitalist and democratic countries in blue and the communist countries in red. Europe is then divided by a black line which is the Iron Curtain. Gray countries  such as Finland and Sweden were neutral and did not join any alliances with the United States despite having excellent democracies. 

The Truman Doctrine was an American foreign policy initiated by President Harry S. Truman in 1947 which aimed at containing Soviet geopolitical expansion globally. The policy included the authorization of assissting foreign anti-communist regimes such as Vietnam and Korea. This usually involved indirect involvement such as the sending of special forces and advisors to countries in a struggle against communism and in some cases direct military intervention. The image below displays President Harry S. Truman, the namesake and architect of the Truman Doctrine. 

During the Cold War, the United States had a strategic foreign policy of containment with regards to Soviet expansion worldwide after World War 2. The cause of the policy was the fear of the communist domino effect meaning if one country falls to communism then others will follow its example. The policy came to an end in 1991 with the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War. The poster below is an American propaganda piece showing a Filipino man protecting the island nation from communism with a sword representing democracy as his weapon. 

The Cold War saw an emergence of an arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union for supremacy in nuclear warfare. It first began with the Manhattan Project in which the Americans developed atomic bombs for use against the Axis Powers during the Second World War. After the war, the Soviets took inspiration and began to produce their own weapons of mass destruction. In 1946, the USA tested its nuclear bombs on Biki Atoll as part of Operation Crossroads. In 1952, America tested Ivy Mike in the world’s first full scale test of a thermonuclear device. Throughout the Arms Race, both sides developed intercontinental ballistic missiles, or ICBMs for short. In 1961, the Soviets tested the Tsar Bomba which was the largest and most powerful atomic bomb to ever have been created or tested. The Arms Race concluded in 1987 when Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and US President Ronald Reagan signed the INF Treaty, resulting in both of the countries’ nuclear disarmament to some extent. The photo below shows President Reagan and Gorbachev signing the INF Treaty. 

The McCarthy Era was a period of American history which lasted from the late 1940s to the mid-1950s when US Senator Joseph McCarthy embarked on a mission to take down communist sympathizers in American society. Joseph McCarthy was a staunch anti-communist and a republican who served in the Second World War as a Marine officer. Throughout his political career, he fueled fears of communist subversion in American society which resulted in a lot of American celebrities being canceled due to them being suspected of holding communist views. The McCarthy Era came to an end in the 1950s when the senator accused the US Army of communism. Below is a picture of Lieutenant Colonel Joseph McCarthy.

The Korean War was fought between 1950 and 1953 between communist North Korea and capitalist South Korea. South Korea was supported by the United Nations, especially the USA while North Korea was supported by China and the Soviet Union. After the Second World War, Korea, a former colony of Imperial Japan, was divided by the Allies and the USA occupied the South while the North was occupied by the Soviet Union. This led to the clash in ideals which continues to this day. The conflict was inconclusive and resulted in a stalemate which continues to this day. The USA entered the war under President Truman in 1950 but withdrew in 1953 under President Eisenhower. 

The war began in 1950 when North Korea attacked South Korea and was able to capture all of the country except Busan where the South Koreans were able to make a stand. After North Korea refused to follow the UN’s order to withdraw, 16 UN countries sent their militaries to help the south as part of a combined army commanded by General MacArthur who commanded American and Filipino forces during World War 2 in the Pacific against the Japanese Empire. General MacArthur then invaded North Korea until the Chinese joined the war and helped the North Koreans push the UN back to Central Korea where the front stabilized in 1951. 

This map shows the situation of the war following North Korea’s initial attack in 1950. The 38th Parallel is shown and was the original border between the 2 countries. 

John F. Kennedy was the 35th President of the USA from 1961 to 1963. John F. Kennedy got the US involved in Cuba which was a part of Kennedy’s way of containing communism. Specifically, JFK authorized the failed Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961 in addition to the Cuban Crisis in 1962. President Kennedy also authorized sending special forces and advisors to South Vietnam in their struggle against communism. President Kennedy is also known for starting the Apollo Program which aimed at getting a man on the moon before the Soviets could, which succeeded in 1969. President Kennedy was assassinated in 1963 by a sniper. The FBI concluded that there was no conspiracy behind his assassination. Below is a photo of President Kennedy meeting a South Vietnamese representative. 

The Bay of Pigs was a CIA operation in 1961 in which American forces along with Cuban democratic revolutionaries attempted a naval landing on the Cuban Southwestern coast. The American side had 1,500 ground forces and several bombers and it was assumed by the CIA that there would be minimal resistance to an American invasion and that the local population would support them. However, the operation was a failure and Fidel Castro conveniently had thousands of men ready to repel the invasion which it did. In addition, the local population did not support the Americans. The photo below shows Douglas A-4 Skyhawks from the USS Essex during the invasion. 

After the failed invasion, the Soviet Union began helping Castro and Cuba. They began storing nuclear weapons in Cuba as it was a strategically good position, being so close to the United States. Eventually, the USA intercepted a nuclear weapons import from the Soviet Union to Cuba which resulted in a naval quarantine of Cuba. Eventually, the USA and the USSR agreed that the USA would remove its nuclear weapons from Turkey and Italy in addition to promising that they would never invade Cuba without direct provocation. The USSR would in return withdraw its nuclear weapons from Cuba. The Cuban Crisis is regarded as the closest the Cold War came to an escalation to full-scale nuclear war. The photo below shows a US Navy P-2H Neptune flying over a Soviet cargo ship which was used to carry the nuclear weapons to Cuba. 

The Space Race was a competition between the USA and the USSR in the second half of the 20th century with the aim of getting to space. In 1957, the Soviets launched Sputnik 1, a satellite. The satellite instilled public fear and the Sputnik Crisis in the USA due to a perceived technological gap between the US and their adversaries. This crisis initiated the space race between the 2 countries. In response, the US launched Explorer 1 satellite in 1958. In 1961, the Soviets made a great step and were able to get the first man in space with Yuri Gagarin. In 1969, the USA was able to land a man on the moon with the Apollo 11 mission, beating the Soviets in the Space Race. The photo below shows the American flag on the moon during the Apollo 11 mission, proving that freedom and democracy have no limits, not even the sky. 

The Vietnam War, much like Korea, was a war in Asia between a democratic capitalist state against a northern communist power supported by the Soviet Union. In the 1960s, the United States got involved in the war in order to protect South Vietnam. The US was once again afraid of the domino effect, and stepped in to prevent other countries from following its example. The US got involved after North Vietnam refused to negotiate with President Johnson. Over 58,000 Americans died during the war, in addition to almost 800,000 South Vietnamese dead. In 1973, the Paris Peace Talks concluded that Vietnam would be divided in 2, the north remaining communist and the south remaining capitalist. However, after President Nixon resigned and the Democrats won the election, they did not see it as necessary to protect South Vietnam. Therefore, the South was invaded and Vietnam was communist. The results were disastrous, almost a million “Vietnamese Boat People” left the country as refugees and around 200,000 of them died at sea. Those South Vietnamese who remained in Vietnam faced oppression, especially those who were supporters of the former democratic regime, who were sent to “re-education” camps where they were tortured and abused. The photo below shows 2 American soldiers in Vietnam. 

Henry Kissinger was a German-born American Secretary of State from 1973 to 1977 and National Security Advisor from 1969 to 1975. Kissinger is notable for having pushed for peace talks in Vietnam and was a key figure in organizing the Paris Peace Talks and the subsequent temporary division of Vietnam. Kissinger also played an important role in Operation Menu, in which the US military bombed Cambodian and Vietnamese targets in Cambodia in order to prevent the North Vietnamese from using the country as a base of operations. The operation resulted in the deaths of thousands of Cambodian civilians, making Kissinger a controversial figure. Below is a photo of Henry Kissinger and President Richard Nixon. 

Richard Nixon was the 37th President of the USA from 1969 to 1974. During his presidency, he established multiple environmental acts, lowered the voting age to 18 and introduced Comprehensive Health Care which was a progressive policy taken into practice years later. President Nicon did however, hold resentment towards the civil rights activists and supported Chilean dictator Pinochet, who killed millions. In 1973, Nixon engaged in peace talks with the North Vietnamese which brought the war to a ceasefire as they agreed to remain as 2 separate countries. 

In 1972, 5 of Nixon’s men broke into the Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington with the goal of stealing Democratic Party campaign strategies. The men were caught and arrested, resulting in a major political scandal. The media then went after Richard Nixon. The president is said to have not authorized the break-in, however. Following the break-in, Nixon did not apologize for it and fire those responsible, resulting in the country growing suspicious of his activities. Eventually, Nixon realized that he had lost most of his political support and decided to resign. The Watergate Scandal remains the biggest scandal in American history. The photo shows President Nixon giving his farewell speech to the White House in August 1974. 

Counterculture developed in the United States in the 1960s as a way of life and set of attitudes opposed to or at variance with the prevailing social norm. The late 1960s was a period of time which gave rise to hippie culture which involved listening to rock music, dressing in a very liberal fashion and opposition to war. The counterculture movement was the first time when children disobeyed their parents on a massive scale. The Summer of Love was a social phenomena in 1967 in which up to 100,000 young people gathered in San Francisco to listen to rock music and smoked drugs such as cannabis. Woodstock was a similar music festival held in New York in 1969 in which numerous folk and rock artists performed for up to 400,000 hippies. Woodstock is seen as a pivotal point in the counterculture movement and the beginning of a new era of music. The photo below shows a group of young people near the festival. 

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Glory - Critical Response

Glory is a 1989 historical war drama film directed by Edward Zwick. The film is about black soldiers of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment and their commanding officer: Colonel Robert Gould Shaw. The film explores Colonel Shaw’s leadership from training to battle and the numerous bureaucratic procedures and issues which he faces along the way due to the skin color of the men under his command. The movie also explores the relationships between a particular group of soldiers and their character development throughout the story. This critical response will explore the portrayal of the unit during recruitment and training, in addition to the Assault on Fort Wagner. 

In the movie, the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment appeared to be under equipped initially. In reality, Governor Andrews ensured that the regiment was provided all the necessary equipment upon arrival to the training camp, which they were and never actually had to threaten a quartermaster for boots [Schiller, 2021]. In addition, the enlisted men of the 54th were by no means escaped illiterate field hands as the movie makes them out to be. Governor Andrews ensured that those recruited into the ranks of the 54th were only fit and literate men meaning that only the highest quality of men were permitted to join [Schiller, 2021]. Another element of the training of the regiment which was not accurate was the whipping of soldiers which was definitely not allowed in the Union Army [Schiller, 2021]. Elements such as the lack of supplies, unfit men and flogging of men were simply added to the movie in order to enhance the storyline and do not actually depict what went on in military units at the time. 

The movie’s scene where the 54th Massachusetts Regiment assaults Fort Wagner in South Carolina is regarded as one of the most realistic depictions of combat during the American Civil War [Knighton, 2017]. Warfare at the time was very much as displayed in the movie with regards to the constant suicidal charges under musket and artillery fire. In addition, the death of Colonel Shaw in battle really did happen and at the time the death of a field officer was not uncommon and was glorified. In modern wars, colonels are not often seen in front of their regiments charging at the enemy while during the Civil War and before, officers were expected to lead from the front and death was a glorious ordeal in battle. The setting and the terrain of the scene are accurate, in addition to the timing of the sunset and onset of darkness which helped the stylistic element of the movie in making it more dramatic [Knighton, 2017]. It was also accurately shown how the battle ended, with many soldiers of the 54th being killed, with their colonel among them. The men were buried in an unmarked grave by the Confederate States Army which was meant as an insult, but Colonel Shaw’s father felt it was the most appropriate place for burial; with his men [Knighton, 2017]. 

In conclusion, Glory is a very accurate film which depicts many realities of the American Civil War. Despite the several inaccuracies which occurred in the first half of the film, Glory is an example of being as accurate as an historical film gets because no historical film always gets all of the facts absolutely right mainly for entertainment purposes. 

Sources: 

1. Schiller, Laurence D. (2021) “Glory: History or Just A Good Story?” https://blueandgrayeducation.org/pdfs/newsletters/Dispatch_3-Jan-20.pdf (Accessed 05.06.2022) 

2. Knighton, Andrew (2017) “What the Film Glory Got Right About the American Civil War and What It Did Not” https://www.warhistoryonline.com/american-civil-war/what-the-film-glory-got-right-about-the-american-civil-war-and-what-it-did-not.html?chrome=1  (Accessed 05.06.2022)

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Week 5 - Help

Presenters: Gertrud and Katarina

The 1950s and 1960s saw a dramatic change in American society especially in the South with regards to the rights of African Americans. The change was brought about by numerous Civil Rights Movements which aimed to provide equal rights for African Americans which were not present especially in the South where Jim Crow Laws still existed. They sought to bring an end to discrimination by law. The Civil Rights Movements were a long struggle for social justice and equality in which people of all races took part and successfully achieved in bringing an end to governmental issues such as segregation and the aforementioned Jim Crow Laws. 

The Brown versus Topeka Supreme Court Case which took place in the early 1950s was a major victory for the American Civil Rights Activist Movements because the US Supreme Court decided that the segregation of schools between white and black people was unconstitutional. The court case and the subsequent ruling was seen to have paved the way towards integration in American society. 

The Little Rock Nine were a group of African American students who enrolled in a high school in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1957. They were prevented from entering by the order of Arkansas governor Orval Faubus, refusing to comply with the US Supreme Court’s ruling 3 years prior. At first, the Arkansas National Guard, at the orders of the governor, were ordered to prevent the black students from entering the school. President Eisenhower then intervened and federalized the state’s national guard and they were then under orders to allow them in and to protect them. In the school, the 9 students faced slurs, threats and violence from students who opposed integration. 

Rosa Parks is commonly referred to as the Mother of Civil Rights Movements. She is famous for refusing to give up her seat at the front of a bus for a white man in 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama which led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott. She is therefore remembered as a symbol of the Civil Rights Movement.

The NAACP was formed in 1909 with the goal of providing equal rights and ending discrimination in terms of race. The NAACP was strongly against the disenfranchisement of blacks in addition to the Jim Crow Laws which were prevalent in the American South. The end of the Jim Crow Laws also secured black people the right to vote. 

In 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. led a march to Washington D.C. which 200,000-300,000 people participated in. The march is also notable because Martin Luther King gave his famous speech “I Have A Dream” which is remembered to this day as having paved the way to the ultimate success of the Civil Rights Movement. 

Richard and Mildred Loving were married in 1958 in Washington because interracial marriages were illegal in Virginia. They were arrested that year by the county sheriff because they violated the Racial Integrity Act of 1924 and were given the choice to go to prison or to leave the state. Their case was brought to the Supreme Court in 1967 and it was decided that bans on interracial marriage violate the 14th Amendment. 

In 1964, the Civil Rights Act was passed which was meant to bring an end to racial discrimination. In 1965, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was passed with the aim of stricter enforcement of the 15th Amendment and the prohibition of racial discrimination in voting. 

The Black Power movement in the Black Panther Party began in 1966 due to perceived failures of the Civil Rights Movement. Their concerns were self-defense, black nationalism and socialism. The Black Panthers have been very controversial and many have defined them as a criminal rather than a political organization due to their instances of shootouts with police and assassination attempts. 

The Civil Rights Movement brought about a significant change in the way that African Americans lived. The movement was successful in bringing an end to segregation and the Jim Crow Laws. Today, African Americans are free to go to the same schools, use the same bathrooms and sit anywhere on public transportation thanks to people like Martin Luther King and other activists who brought major issues to public attention and were able to peacefully bring equality to people regardless of race.

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Week 4 - The Immigrant

Presenters: Erik, Edgar and Kristjan 

The 19th Century was a century of rapid urbanization, industrialization and overall economic growth in the United States of America. For instance, the 1800s brought about the construction of railroads as means of connecting the country. Famous railroad companies include the Union Pacific Railroad Company and the Central Pacific Railroad Company both of which allowed the United States to access the Pacific Ocean. Another notable example of American Industrialization is the widespread usage of raw materials. Some notable examples of the newly formed industries include metal and forest-based industries. The rapid industrialization made products cheaper and therefore expanded the market economy and gave birth to a new form of the working class. 

The 1800s also saw the discovery of gold in 1848 in Coloma, California which led to a population growth on the West Coast and an overall further integration of it into the American economic zone. The Gold Rush brought 300,000 people to California. 

With the industrialization and economic growth in the late 1800s, businessmen formed trusts, with the first one being formed in 1882. A trust in this case is an organization of several businesses in the same industry. Trusts were eventually made illegal due to unethical business plans discovered by president Woodrow Wilson. 

Some notable industrialists include Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller and Henry Ford. Carnegie is known for his colossal steel company, and was a producer of raw materials, machinery and transportation. Rockefeller is famous because he founded the Standard Oil Company which controlled oil refineries all over the country. Crude oil was turned into Kerosene which was used as a fuel for homes. Henry Ford is most notable for his founding of the Ford Motor Company and the subsequent increase in availability and affordability of automobiles for the American population. With that being said, Henry Ford can be credited for the economic prosperity which America enjoyed as a result of the rise in the automobile industry. 

The Statue of Liberty is a 93 meter tall statue in Manhattan, New York and was gifted to the Americans by the French in honor of their emancipation of African-Americans. The statue was dedicated in 1886 and still stands today as a sign of freedom and liberty. 

Immigration is and always has been an essential aspect of American demographics. For this reason, America is always referred to as the country which was built by immigrants. Immigration from Europe to the USA in the 19th Century was common for multiple reasons. Firstly, Europe was unable to offer people freedom like America was with regards to religious, political and individual freedoms which the Americans protected by their constitution. Secondly, Europe lacked economic opportunity while the American Dream was available across the Atlantic. Europe also faced overcrowding in terms of job shortages and rising taxes. 

There were different waves of immigration to the USA. First came the Northern European wave which primarily consisted of Irish and German immigrants who provided a steady supply of cheap labor. Next came the Southern European wave from countries like Italy, Russia and Austro-Hungary. Finally were the Jews who were constantly under persecution and anti-Semitism in Europe. When the immigrants arrived in America by boat, they mainly went through Ellis Island in New Jersey where they were medically examined and put through other bureaucratic procedures. 

The Reed-Johnson Act of 1924 hindered immigration, banning immigrants from Asia and setting a low maximum for other countries outside Europe. The act was inspired by racism and the belief that those immigrants could not immigrate into American society. 

The two notions: melting pot and salad bowl are metaphors for 2 different ideals with regard to immigration. Melting pot stands for immigrants moving to America and integrating into the culture while salad bowl indicates immigrants coming to America and preserving their own country in order to have more diversity in culture. 

As for the present situation, America is still the country with the most immigrants. In 2019, there were almost 51 million immigrants in the USA, which was 15.5 percent of the population. The top three immigration groups by nationality were Mexico, China and India while 100 years prior they were Germany, Italy and Soviet Russia. 

Urbanization was increasing rapidly in the late 1800s and early 1900s. At first, conditions in urban areas were poor due to poverty and disease was rampant. Labor unions were founded for the working class in order to achieve higher pay and better working conditions. The early 1900s also saw the rise of the progressive movement which included socialist reforms which aimed on the improvement of lives of the working class population. Theodore Roosevelt is notable for his leadership of the progressive movement in America during his time as president. 

At the turn of the century, the USA fought a war with Spain in its colonies. Spain, a failing empire, lost and was forced to give up territory to America. This made the USA an imperialist nation with new colonies like the Philippines, Puerto Rico and Cuba. 

Dollar Diplomacy is a term used to describe an American foreign policy during its imperialist era. The goal of the diplomacy was to prevent European involvement in American affairs and American economic domination over Latin American countries with the aim of wealth. 

The Monroe Doctrine originated from President James Monroe in 1823 and effectively was a foreign policy doctrine which dictated that America had to have control over American affairs. The main principles included that America would not get involved in European affairs, the USA would not get involved with existing colonies in the Americas, the Western Hemisphere would be closed to future colonization and lastly that any attempt at intervention in American affairs would be viewed as an act of aggression towards the USA. 

The United States did however get involved in WW1 in 1917 after Germany attacked American ships and then sent a telegram to Mexico, proposing their joining the war on the Central Powers side. The US Army then deployed to France and defeated Germany. After the war, in 1919, the Allied powers signed the Treaty of Versailles which placed numerous economic and military limits for the German Empire. America had little involvement in the treaty and Congress voted against it on 2 separate occasions and led to the Americans having a separate treaty with regard to the Central Powers. 

American President Woodrow Wilson was the founder and architect of the League of Nations. The USA, however, did not join the organization due to isolationist policies. The goal of the organization was an opportunity for countries to resolve disputes instead of resorting to war right away. 

This particular time period will forever have a major effect on the course of American history up to the present day. The 19th century and the American expansion and industrialization still is visible today. The California Gold Rush was an important aspect of American expansion to the Western Coast. If it weren’t for the gold rush, American expansion to the Pacific Coast would have been delayed. The railroads which were built from coast to coast and the overall industrialization gave birth to the strong American economy which is still visible today and provided the foundation for the strongest economy in the world. Immigration to the United States has been its defining feature since its foundation and its loose immigration laws have allowed for it to succeed like it has done. Immigration has provided a steady source of labor in addition to the constant influx of new ideas which have allowed the country to be a lead innovator. Henry Ford, who expanded the automobile industry significantly and made America reliant on automobiles inspired increased economic growth in the country, was born to an immigrant father from Ireland and a mother of Belgian origin. Immigrants are therefore the source of America’s good fortune because different ideas and people are welcome there. America’s isolationism in the early 1900s and the politics surrounding it remained the same until their involvement in the Second World War when they turned from isolationism to anti-communism. The failure of the League of Nations perhaps due to America’s lack of involvement in it resulted in America taking a more involved approach in the newly formed United Nations which came after and has since become the leader of the free world. The increased urbanization still has an effect today when considering that around 80 percent of the American population lives in an urban area. Trade unions have since then lost their power and status because government regulation has already ensured for the most part that the conditions and pay of workers is up to standard.  

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The Patriot - Critical Response

The Patriot is a 2000 Roland Emmerich film which takes place during the American Revolutionary Wars. Its main character is Captain Benjamin Martin, who is at first reluctant to fight, but when his son is killed by British soldiers, he embarks on a rampage. It was the intention of the movie’s producers to produce a fictional story with a historically accurate backdrop. This response will examine the movie’s depiction of British soldiers in addition to the character of Benjamin Martin. 

The British Army officers in the film are villainized to an extreme degree, especially Colonel Tavington who is based on the real life officer General Sir Banastre Tarleton. Within the movie, Tavington is displayed as a ruthless military leader who committed horrible atrocities during the Revolutionary War against American soldiers and civilians. Most notably, the movie depicts the Colonel ordering his men to set fire to the home of Benjamin Martin for helping both American and English wounded. He also proceeded to shoot the wounded American soldiers. These acts obviously are clear violations of the Rules of War. The most cruel atrocity in the movie can be considered the massacre in which Colonel Tavington ordered his men to lock the entirety of a village’s civilian population into a church, and then to burn the church down. All of the aforementioned acts are all under debate and no real conclusion has been found with regards to whether or not the events actually occurred or not [Hodges, 2015]. It has been said by journalists that there has been no evidence of Tarleton ever breaking the rules of war. The movie has had a lot of backlash from the United Kingdom for comparing the British Army to the Nazis who are truly the ones who committed horrendous atrocities against millions of civilians all over Europe [Foreman, 2000].

The movie’s main character is Benjamin Martin who is based on Brigadier General Francis Marion who was a plantation owner and British Army officer before joining the Continental Army and then the South Carolina Militia. Brigadier General Marion is credited for being one of the key founders of modern guerilla warfare with his irregular operations which he conducted in South Carolina against the British as the head of a militia unit. The movie displays Martin’s exploits as successful and genial, many of which in Marion’s case were too. However, the movie makes it clear to the audience that the British soldiers and officers are evil, commit terrible crimes and violate the Rules of War constantly while the Americans were righteous almost all the time with a few hiccups. British historian Christopher Hibbert claimed that people like Marion committed atrocities as bad, if not worse than the British, making the movie’s depiction and villainization of the British completely unfair [The Guardian, 2000]. Aside from war crimes, the character of Benjamin Martin did not own slaves, instead had paid workers to work his plantation. However, the real-life Francis Marion was actually a keen slave owner who had a lot of them on his plantation [The Guardian, 2000] . Ironically, during the war, most of his slaves escaped his plantation and joined the British side. 

In conclusion, The Patriot is a film full of inaccuracies simply because the producers aims were to glorify the American rebels and villainize the British and Loyalists. Of course the producers could say that they were simply focusing on fictional characters and units whose actions were isolated from the rest of their respective armies. However, the movie’s impact on the audience’s perception of historical events is now corrupted heavily with the unrealistic dehumanization of British Army Officers.

Sources: 

1. Hodges, Nick (2015) “History Buffs: The Patriot” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBuvmidN8Dc (Accessed 05.06.2022)

2. Foreman, Jonathan (2000) “The Nazis, er, the Redcoats are coming!” https://www.salon.com/2000/07/03/patriot_3/  (Accessed 05.06.2022)

3. The Guardian (2000) “Mel Gibson's latest hero: a rapist who hunted Indians for fun” https://www.theguardian.com/film/2000/jun/15/news.melgibson  (Accessed 05.06.2022)

[amongussussyimpostors]

Week 3 - Glory

Presenters: Dasha and Anna 

Between 1861 and 1865, the United States fought a long war against the Confederate States of America in order to end slavery in the country. It initially began with the secession of Southern pro-slavery states from the Union and the subsequent formation of the Confederacy. 

Before the war, the Union was divided in many ways. For instance, The North was far more urban and relied heavily on industry with regard to its economy. The South on the other hand, were far more dependent on an agricultural economy. The capitalism which was present mostly in the North provided a perfect climate for ending slavery which allowed for a capitalist system to take place. The South’s agriculture was used as an excuse by Confederates for the preservation of slavery. The North was also more populated with 17 million people and the South had 13 million, 4 million of whom were slaves. 

Abolitionism in the USA increased steadily in the 19th century. Eventually, Congress passed a law which prevented the sale of American slaves to other countries. William Lloyd Garrison was a very notable abolitionist figure who was known as The Liberator and who also founded the American Anti-Slavery Society in 1833. 

When Missouri was due to receive statehood, Congress was divided on whether it should be a free state or a slave state. Northern senators wished to make it a free state while Southerners wanted to give them a choice. It was then proposed that Maine be made a free state while Missouri a slave state, making the number of free and slave states equal. With the Missouri Compromise in 1820, all slavery was abolished in states acquired with the Louisiana Purchase with Missouri as the only exception. 

The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 dictated that fugitive slaves would not be allowed to testify on their own behalf nor be granted a trial by jury. This meant that runaway slaves were still under danger if they were to be caught. 

The Underground Railroad is a term used to decide pathways and escape routes for runaway slaves from the American South to the Northern States or Canada. The “railroad” had several stations in people’s homes who allowed them as they moved North. The practice was dangerous due to slave catchers. The most famous conductor was Harriet Tubman who went on 13 trips, helping many runaway slaves to freedom. 

Dred Scott was an enslaved man who is famous for having filed for freedom in court with his wife. They both sought their freedom because they had lived in Illinois which was a free state. In 1857, the couple was formally freed in St. Louis. 

In 1861, the 11 Southern states seceded from the USA, forming the Confederate States of America after the victory of Abraham Lincoln and the Republican Party in the presidential election. The Southern states saw the Republicans as a threat to them being allowed to own slaves and therefore seceded. Jefferson Davis was the president of the Confederate States and Alexander H. Stephens was the Vice President. 

The primary cause for the Civil War was the Southern States’ state’s rights to slavery. The Confederates knew that Lincoln, the abolitionists, and the Republicans would not let them keep slaves. 

The war was fought between 1861 and 1865 and claimed over 365,000 Union deaths and 290,000 Confederate deaths. The first battle of the war was that of Fort Sumter in South Carolina in which no one died and the Union side under Major Rober Anderson was forced to surrender when resupplying of the Fort failed. The most notable battle of the war was the Battle of Gettysburg in which Major General Meade defeated General Lee, turning the tide of the war in the Union’s favor. After the battle, General Lee led his men on a retreat to Virginia. The war ended after Robert E. Lee surrendered the entirety of the Army of Northern Virginia in Appomattox County Courthouse. 

The Emancipation Proclamation was a presidential proclamation and executive order by Abraham Lincoln in 1863 which freed all slaves in the seceeeded states. The slaves were therefore considered permanently free if they escaped slavery in the South and stepped foot on American soil. In addition, it also dictated that the Union Army could enlist former slaves. 

The American Civil War changed world history. The abolition of slavery in the USA was relatively late compared to Western European countries but paved the way to a full democracy in the country. Despite the abolition, African Americans still faced prejudice and racism especially in the South were racist groups were founded, some of which exist to this day. The Jim Crow Laws which legally oppressed black people in the South only ended in 1965, 100 years after the end of America’s war to free black people from slavery. Nonetheless, the Civil War was a major step in the road to legal and constitutional equality which the American people enjoy today. Regrettably, there are people who are racists to this day who believe people are not equal simply based off of the color of their skin, but those people, who believe in these unconstitutional, undemocratic and racist ideas are a small minority who will not prevail over the majority of Americans who believe in freedom for all. 

[amongussussyimpostors]

Week 2 - The Patriot

Presenters: Mia and Sofia

The second half of the 18th century saw the British Empire and France at constant war with each other. The Seven Years’ War between the two powers which ended in 1763 served as a precursor to the American Revolution which came just 12 years later. 

The British Empire, the victor of the Seven Years’ War, had considerable territory all around the world, most notably in India and North America, which further increased their economic power and military capabilities. 

In the 1770s, the American 13 Colonies revolted against British rule in a revolution which lasted until 1783 resulting in the independence of the United States of America as a newly formed nation. The conflict began due to heavy dissatisfaction from the American people with regards to British rule, the 13 Colonies still being economically independent in terms of trading with Britain’s enemies and the heavy taxation by the British Parliament without representation. 

In 1773, the Boston Tea Party occurred which was a protest by the Bostonians against British taxation caused by the Tea Act which allowed the East India Company to have a monopoly on the American tea trade in addition to heavy taxation without representation by the British due to their lack of funds, having spent a lot of money during the Seven Years War. The colonials therefore decided to board a British ship in Boston harbor and dumped a lot of tea into the water, costing the British a lot of money. 

On the 4th of July, 1776, Thomas Jefferson and the Committee of Five wrote and signed the United States Declaration of Independence, founding the new nation. 

The Revolutionary War began in 1775 and was fought by the British Empire and their German Auxiliaries against the American revolutionaries supported by Spain and France, both of whom were enemies of Britain. The war was caused by the aforementioned taxation without representation and their deep desire for freedom from the British Crown. The outcome was an American victory and the subsequent full independence of the nation. 

The Articles of Confederation were the first legitimate frame of government between the 13 Colonies, fully independent from the British Empire. It was ratified in 1781 and superseded in 1789 by the US Constitution. The Constitutional Convention took place in Philadelphia in 1787 with the aim of which was to create a new frame of government. The US Constitution was taken into effect in 1789 and until today serves as the supreme law of the United States. The constitution included the articles to separate powers within government, with 3 distinct branches of government in addition to the separation of federal, state and local governments. The constitution also included the Bill of Rights, a series of amendments which granted the American people rights. 

George Washington was one of the most important figures in American history. In the 1750s, he served in the British Army during the Seven Years War. Soon after, he began a political career where he displayed opposition to the British Crown and its rule over the colonies. In 1775, Congress created the Continental Army of which Washington was made Commander in Chief at the nomination of Samuel and John Adams. It is undoubtedly Washington who won the war for the American side and was able to defeat the greatest army the world had ever seen. When peace with Britain was signed, Washington resigned in 1783. In 1789, he entered office as the first president of the United States and was able to keep the newly formed union together and united. 

Thomas Jefferson was the 3rd American President, 1st Secretary of State and 2nd Vice President. He was the primary author of the American Declaration of Independence, making him an instrumental factor in the country’s independence. 

The era saw the founding of a republic based on the ideas of freedom and equality which still exist in the country today. The beginning of the country did not fully encompass their promise of freedom for all, with severe oppression and enslavement against African Americans in addition to oppression of Native Americans. However, the ideas of the American Founding Fathers are more visible and present in the country today with legal equality for all Americans, regardless of color or gender. In contemporary America, as always has been, certain constitutional rights of the American people drawn up by the Founding Fathers are under threat. However, it is clear that America will remain the home of freedom and equality, just what it was founded for. 

[amongussussyimpostors]

The Journey of the Mayflower

Presenters: Hugo, Tristan, Emma and Hendrik

The Americas were inhabited by natives long before the arrival of the European settlers. Famous native civilizations include the Mayans and the Aztecs in Central America. One theory for the origin of native Americans which is most agreed upon is that they came over on the land bridge from Siberia to Alaska. 

Native Americans in North America were divided by regions such as the Plains, Plateau, Northeastern, just to name a few, all of which had their own tribes with their own cultures. 

The Journey of the Mayflower in 1620 will be one forever remembered as it was a pivotal point in American history and shaped the founding of the United States of America 156 years later. 

In 1620, due to religious persecution in the United Kingdom, a group of pilgrims set off to find a new home. After receiving permission to colonize in the New World, they departed the Netherlands for the Americas. First, they stopped in Plymouth, where many others joined them, both people sympathetic to their cause, in addition to those simply looking to establish a new life in America. 

The pilgrims were in fact separatists, looking to establish autonomy from the Church of England which they felt had not reformed itself enough and was still clinging to elements of Roman Catholicism. After several meetings with the king, they left for the Netherlands to find sanctuary. After printing numerous fliers and shipping them to England, they realized that they could not remain in the Netherlands forever, and decided it was time to find a new home. 

They arrived in the Americas in November 1620. The pilgrims established their colony but underwent a very tough winter which claimed many lives. Despite this, the settlers carried on and persevered, a trait which remains an icon of the American people to this day. Eventually the settlers came into contact with the Native Americans, whom they had feared. They were surprised to find that one of them spoke English. This allowed for the beginning of a new friendship between the two groups. 

After the first winter, the two groups came together for a 3 day feast. They ate waterfowl, wild turkeys, fish and deer in order to celebrate their successful harvest. Thanksgiving has since become a very important celebration in American culture which continues on to this day. In America, Thanksgiving is a time to spend time with one’s family, to help those less fortunate, and to celebrate America. 

The journey of the Mayflower is an important one because the pilgrims brought with them the ideas of freedom and equality which laid the foundations for the constitutional democracy which the United States is today. Were it not for the Mayflower, the USA would look very different today and the basic ideas which were brought over would not be as prevalent.