Napoleon Essay -- European History Military Generals Essays

Napoleon â€Å"I live only for posterity, death is nothing, but to live without glory is to die every day† (Lefebvre 43). Napoleon was driven by his desire for glory and ambition and his ascension was tremendous. Born in Corsica, his family moved to France, in Marseilles, when he was only a child. From the state of a â€Å"lieutenant,† at the age of sixteen, to the one of emperor in 1804, till reigning over the European continent after his conquest of Prussia, his ascension was not only due to the events that occurred during his life, but was also due to his ambition and his tremendous genius. His genius was both military and political. Napoleon was a military genius because of his career rapidity. He went to the School of Officers in Paris. At the age of sixteen he was already a lieutenant. At Toulon, this battle enabled him to climb quickly the echelons in the military. As Chandler states, Napoleon gave military orders to produce a large number of guns. These guns and mortars provided Napoleon the possibility to attack the different forts situated in places that were overlooking the harbor. Because of this production, Napoleon was able to produce enough guns to attack the place without having a great loss in his army. Horne declared the recapture of the port became possible because the previous attacks enabled Napoleon to place a number of guns and mortars in good position to fire the British fleet commanded by Hood (17). By the success of his capture, the British fleet left the harbor and Napoleon gained great recognition by the military and was soon after promoted to the rank of â€Å"gà ©neral de brigade.† Napoleon’s military genius is perceived through the new division of the army. Gates state... ..., Georges. â€Å"A Romantic Tempered by Realpolitik.† Kafker & Laux. Napoleon and his Times: Selected Interpretations. Malabar Florida: Robert E. Krieger Pub. Co., 1989. Napoleonic Europe 1812. Map. Atlas of European History. By Bartholomew, Edinburgh. New York: HarperCollins, 1994. 148-49 Rothenberg, Gunther. â€Å"Military Affairs.† Kafker & Laux. Napoleon and his Times: Selected Interpretations. Malabar, Florida: Robert E. Krieger Pub. Co., 1989. Rowe, Michael. â€Å"Debate: Napoleon and the Post-Revolutionary Management of Sovereignty.† Modern and Contemporary France 8.4 (2000): 510-13. Academic Search Premiere. EBSCO. Roesch Library, Dayton. 04 Nov. 2002 Vandal, Albert. â€Å"The Restoration of Order and National Unity.† Kafker & Laux. Napoleon and his Times: Selected Interpretations. Malabar Florida: Robert E. Krieger Pub. Co., 1989.

Banking and Its Influential Factors in the Economy

Banking is one of the most influential factors on the economies of today†s society. As with everything these days, technology is changing where, when and most of all, how we do things, specifically banking and other related financial transactions and arrangements such as mortgages, etc. Recently, in Toronto, the very city we live in, we were in the midst of two possible bank mergers, which would have changed banking and on a larger scale the entire economy, in many ways. In comparison to the larger banks of the world, Canada†s most major banks are not even close to the size and caliber of international banks like ING Direct, for example. This would not typically be a problem for Canadian banks, however when these international banks move into Canada, which has happened already, and is bound to happen even more as time passes and Canada becomes a more prosperous country, it quickly becomes a very large problem. Banks are an extremely affluent business. Regardless of where you are in the world banks are right at the top of the list when it comes to capital, equity and earnings. Canada fits right in, in comparison to the rest of Canada. But when we compare Canada†s banks to those of other countries, or even better, international banks, they are simply insignificant. For example, hypothetically speaking, if the entire world were opting whether or not to adopt a single currency, most deciding factors would be made by the banks of each individual country. Canada, although it is a major world leader in many other categories, would not be looked upon as a country that knew much about international stature, in terms of banking. In this essay I will try to prove how banking is one of the most influential factors on the economy by using factual cases from recent times. What does better customer relations† mean? Increasingly, customers are demanding more convenient ways to do their banking. An Ernst and Young study (Technology in Banking Report) concluded, â€Å"nothing changes in the banking world if customers cannot get financial services when and where they wish†¦this means anywhere, at any time. † Statistics show that ATM†s telephone banking, and home banking account for over fifty percent of all banking transactions today, and total non-branch activity is growing at fifteen percent a year. In one survey (Web-Tech, Inc., May 17, 1995), eighty-two percent of 18- to 34-year olds polled preferred banks with 24-hour service. Customers are also demanding a more sophisticated mix of products tailored specifically to their financial needs, and non-bank competitors are better fulfilling these needs. Banks today hold only 20% of household financial assets, versus 34% twenty years ago; they have 30% of business deposits, versus 42% only seven years ago. Non-bank credit card providers have gained inroads against banks, holding a 25% market share versus 5% in 1986 (WebTech, Inc., May 17, 1995). Internet banking offers an attractive solution to this redesigned products and services. Customers have 24-hour graphical-interface access to their accounts and appreciate that their bank is doing something to make banking easier for them. A country, like a business or a person, is constantly doing anything in its power to better itself. A business, like a society, is either growing or declining; the competitive world allows no other options. Human nature will allow no state of rest. Economics is the study of production, distribution, exchange, and consumption of goods and services (Ammer, pg. 186), all of which, if stopped, would cause a business or a country to grind to a halt. From these statements we realize that change is an integral part of the world of economics. Not necessarily a change in what we create, rather the way we do it. Technology, that is, the development of new materials, products, machinery, and processes can create new products and concepts as well as improve production and efficiency for existing products a few key factors that determine economic growth. As a result, new jobs are created, existing ones are made easier and more efficient, and the in the end there is a greater profit margin (Thurow, pg. 69, 304). To understand this topic I will look at the effects of technology on economic growth compared to those of the other four factors, There are five factors, which affect a country's economic growth, Each factor has its own effect on economic growth, however together they produce a greater overall effect. Picture a bank without any branches. No tellers. No rows of desks. No racks of brochures, no automated teller machines outside. Picture, in fact, a virtual bank, one that for the customer exists only in his or her office or home, as images on a computer screen. US financial institutions are moving towards â€Å"virtual banking.† This strategy is about making bank products and services available to customers any time and any place they want them. As virtual banking becomes more popular, it is very likely that more customer service will be seen while the number of traditional teller-staffed branches will decline. Bank customers will move away from traditional banking and will become more dependent on electronic transactions using ATMs or PCs (Britt, Savings&Community Banker, February 1995, p.9). Thanks to this â€Å"technical revolution†, financial institutions are using software programs, online services, and even the Internet to allow customers to check balances, pay bills, and transfer funds among accounts. Bankers promise that, in the near future, we will also be able to more easily buy certificates of deposit, mutual funds, and other investments, and even apply for loans electronically. For most people, today's best option may be plug into their bank through one of three leading home-budgeting software programs, these programs are: By charging $5 to $20 a month for such services, banks are sure to cash in on the high-tech superhighway. This would make everything much easier for customers. All that is required is a personal computer, software and a modem, all of which the majority of people in today†s society have. On-screen instructions, filled with colorful graphics and pictures, explain how to select and work on various tasks. The system automatically calculates and updates account balances and keeps records of bills. A handful of banks have already set up home pages on the Internet to provide information to their existing and potential customers about upcoming services. They started their transactions. Internet banking differs from the traditional PC banking model in several ways. In most home banking ventures, the bank sends an application software program to the customer which runs on the customer's PC. The customer then dials into the bank with their modem, downloads data, and runs the programs that are resident on their computer, perhaps sending back a batch of requests such as transfers between accounts. It demands more and more space and speed from the customer's computer. With Internet banking, on the other hand, there are potential customers who already have all the software they need to do their banking, since all they need is a browser. The actual banking software resides on the bank's server in the form of their home page. This software can be updated at any moment with new information, such as new prices or products, without having to send anything to the customer; it can also continue to expand and become more sophisticated without becoming cumbersome for the customer to operate. Banking with a browser, on the other hand, involves a continuous, interactive session, initiated by a local telephone call to a local access provider or online service. By developing internal expertise today, banks can prepare themselves to react quickly and efficiently to competitive moves and consumer trends as the financial services industry changes. Employees at Bank of America, Chemical, Wells Fargo, and other large U.S. banks use them to buy lunch and snacks. Smart cards-plastic cards with computer chips-are starting to be used for prepayment, debit, and credit purchases all over the world. In the U.S., smart cards can be only used at a contained group of machines, or for one purpose. â€Å"They are part of the broader shift to electronic delivery, to making ATMs more functional, to using PCs and the Internet to do home banking.† says Edgar Brown, senior vice-president of alternative delivery products at First Union, Charlotte, N.C. One of the advantages of using chips on cards with or instead of magnetic stripes is better security. Microprocessor chips are very difficult to alter or forge. Chips can carry more information than magnetic stripes can. A microprocessor chip can store up to eight kilobytes of data. Smart cards make cheaper and faster payments possible. Money can be deducted from a chip without on-line authorization. This makes for a two-second transaction versus an up-to-two-minutes one, and telecommunications costs are saved (Lunt, P., ABA Banking Journal, September 1995, p.46). We can plainly see that there are many factors having great importance, when dealing with the economy. There are many things we must take into consideration in order to make any kind of an informed economic decision.

Executive Order 9835 Demanded Loyalty

In 1947, World War II had just ended, the Cold War had just begun, and Americans were seeing communists everywhere. It was in that politically-charged atmosphere of fear that President Harry S. Truman on March 21, 1947, issued an executive order establishing an official â€Å"Loyalty Program† intended to identify and eliminate communists in the U.S. government. Key Takeaways: Executive Order 9835 Executive Order 9835 was a presidential executive order issued by President Harry S. Truman on March 21, 1947. The so-called â€Å"Loyalty Order† created a controversial â€Å"Federal Employee Loyalty Program† charged with eliminating communists from all areas of the U.S. government. The order empowered the FBI to investigate federal employees and created presidentially-appointed Loyalty Review Boards to act on reports from the FBI.Between 1947 and 1953, more than 3 million federal employees were investigated, with 308 fired after being declared security risks by the Loyalty Review Boards.   Truman’s Executive Order 9835, often called the â€Å"Loyalty Order,† created the Federal Employee Loyalty Program, which authorized the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to conduct initial background checks on federal employees and carry out more in-depth investigations when warranted. The order also created Presidentially-appointed Loyalty Review Boards to investigate and act on the findings of the FBI. â€Å"There shall be a loyalty investigation of every person entering the civilian employment of any department or agency of the executive branch of the Federal Government,† the Loyalty Order decreed, also providing that, â€Å"equal protection from unfounded accusations of disloyalty must be afforded the loyal employees.† According to the paper The Second Red Scare, Digital History, Post-War America 1945-1960 from the University of Houston, the Loyalty Program investigated over 3 million federal employees, 308 of whom were fired after being declared security risks. Background: Rise of the Communist Threat Shortly after the end of World War II, not only had the entire world learned the horrors of nuclear weapons, America’s relationship with the Soviet Union had deteriorated from wartime allies to staunch enemies. Based on reports that the USSR had succeeded in developing its own nuclear weapons, Americans, including government leaders, were gripped by a fear of the Soviets and communists in general, whoever and wherever they might be.  Ã‚   Growing economic tension between the two nations, along with fears of uncontrolled Soviet spy activity in America began to influence ​U.S. foreign policy and, of course, politics. Conservative groups and the Republican Party sought to use the so-called â€Å"Red Scare† threat of Communism to their advantage in the 1946 midterm Congressional elections by claiming that President Truman and his Democratic Party were â€Å"soft on Communism.† Eventually, the fear that communists were beginning to infiltrate the U.S. government itself became a key campaign issue. In November 1946, Republican candidates won sweeping victories nationwide resulting in Republican control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate.   Truman Responds to the Red Scare Two weeks after the election, on November 25, 1946, President Truman responded to his Republican critics by creating the Presidents Temporary Commission on Employee Loyalty or TCEL. Made up of representatives from six Cabinet-level government departments under the chairmanship of a Special Assistant to the U.S. Attorney General, TCEL was intended to create federal loyalty standards and procedures for the removal of disloyal or subversive individuals from federal government positions. The New York Times printed the TCEL announcement on its front page under the headline, â€Å"President orders purge of disloyal from U.S. posts.† Truman demanded that the TCEL report its findings to the White House by February 1, 1947, less than two months before he issued his Executive Order 9835 creating the Loyalty Program. Did Politics Force Truman’s Hand? Historians contend that the timing of Truman’s actions, taken so soon after the Republican Congressional victories, show that both the TCEL and the subsequent Loyalty Order had been politically motivated.   Truman, it seems, was not as worried about Communist infiltration as the terms of his Loyalty Order indicated. In February 1947, he wrote to Pennsylvania’s Democratic Governor George Earle, â€Å"People are very much wrought up about the communist bugaboo but I am of the opinion that the country is perfectly safe so far as Communism is concerned—we have too many sane people.† How the Loyalty Program Worked Truman’s Loyalty Order directed the FBI to investigate the backgrounds, associations, and beliefs of any of the approximately 2 million executive branch federal employees. The FBI reported the results of their investigations to one or more of the 150 Loyalty Review Boards in various government agencies. The Loyalty Review Boards were authorized to conduct their own investigations and to collect and consider testimony from witnesses whose names were not disclosed. Notably, the employees being targeted by the loyalty investigations were not allowed to confront the witnesses testifying against them. Employees could be fired if the loyalty board found â€Å"reasonable doubt† regarding their loyalty to the U.S. government or ties to communist organizations. The Loyalty Order defined five specific categories of disloyalty for which employees or applicants could be fired or rejected for employment. These were: Sabotage, espionage, spying or the advocacy thereofTreason, sedition or the advocacy thereof;Intentional, unauthorized disclosure of confidential informationAdvocacy of the violent overthrow of the U.S. governmentMembership in, affiliation with or sympathetic association with any organization labeled as totalitarian, fascist, Communist or subversive The Subversive Organization List and McCarthyism Truman’s Loyalty Order resulted in the controversial â€Å"Attorney Generals List of Subversive Organizations† (AGLOSO), which contributed the second American Red Scare from 1948 to 1958 and the phenomenon known as â€Å"McCarthyism.† Between 1949 and 1950, the Soviet Union demonstrated that it had indeed developed nuclear weapons, China fell to Communism, and Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy famously declared that the U.S. Department of State employed more than 200 â€Å"known communists.† Despite having issued his Loyalty Order, President Truman again faced charges that his administration was â€Å"coddling† communists. Results and Demise  of Truman’s Loyalty Order According to historian Robert H. Ferrell’s book Harry S. Truman: A Life, by mid-1952, the Loyalty Review Boards created by Truman’s Loyalty Order had investigated more than 4 million actual or prospective federal employees, of which 378 were fired or denied employment. â€Å"None of the discharged cases led to discovery of espionage,† noted Ferrell. Truman’s Loyalty program has been widely criticized as an unwarranted attack on innocent Americans,  driven by the Red Scare. As the Cold War’s threat of nuclear attack grew more serious during the 1950s, Loyalty Order investigations became more common. According to the book Civil Liberties and the Legacy of Harry S. Truman, edited by Richard S. Kirkendall, â€Å"the program exerted its chilling effect on a far larger number of employees than those who were dismissed.† In April 1953, Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower issued Executive Order 10450 revoking Truman’s Loyalty Order and dismantling the Loyalty Review Boards. Instead, Eisenhower’s order directed the heads of federal agencies and the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, supported by the FBI, to investigate federal employees to determine whether they posed security risks.