I consider myself an amateur historian of both the American Civil War and World War 2 because I view them as the two most pivotal points in our countries history. During the D-Day invasion America lost 135,000 soldiers in 24 hours (29,000 killed, 106 wounded and missing) UK lost 65,000 (11,000 killed, 54,000 killed and missing) Canada lost 18,000 (5,000 killed, 13,000 wounded and missing) France had over 12,000 CIVILIANS killed and missing (wounded unknown) in one day. Germany had the largest removed from action in one day with 320,000 (30,000 killed, 80,000 wounded and 210,000 M.I.A. or P.O.W.) Consider those numbers the next time the nightly news talks about the effects of one homicide bomber in the middle east and remember the price of freedom just 65 years ago on a single day.
*Source of statistics is the Encyclopedia Britannica and deaths include those that died later from wounds inflicted on June 6, 1944.
This has been one of the worst weeks in my life. Not to be topped by this week, but pretty bad for reasons that if you know are self explanitory, and if you don't I'm not going into.
However, driving home from one of my nieces graduation parties (not one of the reasons for the bad week in case you were wondering) I was reminded that 65 years ago there were men storming a beach in occupied France who, after that day had no more bad weeks, days, or moments. This didn't solve any of the problems that have come up in my life recently, but it did make me realize that the way I've handled them has been fairly petty and childish. I still feel the way that I feel, nothing but time and communication will change that, one I can control if the other parties involved will join me in it, the other I have no control over other than to keep drawing breath.
BTW if you think you know all the parties I'm referencing in the second part of this post, you're probably wrong.
Showing posts with label History. Show all posts
Showing posts with label History. Show all posts
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Sunday, March 15, 2009
End of an era?
Time for more politics....
America's days as a super-power are numbered. I state this not due to anything that is presently happening, although plenty there leads me to this conclusion as well, but by looking at historical trends.
The duration of Dynasties has shrunk as time has gone by. Egypt was a "superpower" from about 3150 BC until 332 BC. thats almost 3000 years. The Greek Empire went from roughly 2000 BC until 250 BC. (roughly 1750 years.) England was an empire from 1689 to about 1901, about 200 years. These are just 3 examples of an observation I've had, and I can give additional examples if people want them.
I would say the US has been a super-power from about the end of the Spanish-American war (1892) to present... that's a little over 115 years. With China and India starting to flex their muscle and Americans growing tired from being the world's police force how long can we stay a super-power?
America's days as a super-power are numbered. I state this not due to anything that is presently happening, although plenty there leads me to this conclusion as well, but by looking at historical trends.
The duration of Dynasties has shrunk as time has gone by. Egypt was a "superpower" from about 3150 BC until 332 BC. thats almost 3000 years. The Greek Empire went from roughly 2000 BC until 250 BC. (roughly 1750 years.) England was an empire from 1689 to about 1901, about 200 years. These are just 3 examples of an observation I've had, and I can give additional examples if people want them.
I would say the US has been a super-power from about the end of the Spanish-American war (1892) to present... that's a little over 115 years. With China and India starting to flex their muscle and Americans growing tired from being the world's police force how long can we stay a super-power?
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