Hurricane katrina Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Hurricane katrina - Research Paper Example The levees were not strong enough to hold a hurricane as enormous as Katrina. Many private and governmental agencies shared the responsibility of maintaining the levees’ integrity, which caused doubts about the division of responsibilities as a result of which, their efficiency declined. Another cause of failure was the lack of an appropriate warning system to alert the people. The death toll of about 2000 that happened as a result of Katrina could have been prevented had the entire population in the path of the hurricane was evacuated in a timely manner. Evacuations went very slow. A lot of people remained in Katrina’s path till 19 hours before the occurrence of landfall because of delays in the mandatory evacuation. The government was sluggish in the evacuation and rescue of the people affected by Katrina partly because of subjectivity about the consequences of the hurricane. With proper management and efficient disaster control and relief system, the disastrous effec ts of Katrina could have been

Thirty Years War Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Thirty Years War - Essay Example The Thirty Year War marks the last of its kind-a religious conflict fought under political guises. Unlike other religious wars, however, the Thirty Years War is known much more for its destruction, destitution, and lingering consequences: All this was effected by religion. Religion alone could have rendered possible all that was accomplished, but it was far from being the SOLE motive of the war. Had not private advantages and state interests been closely connected with it, vain and powerless would have been the arguments of theologians; and the cry of the people would never have met with princes so willing to espouse their cause, nor the new doctrines have found such numerous, brave, and persevering champions. The Reformation is undoubtedly owing in a great measure to the invincible power of truth, or of opinions which were held as such. The abuses in the old church, the absurdity of many of its dogmas, the extravagance of its requisitions, necessarily revolted the tempers of men, already half-won with the promise of a better light, and favourably disposed them towards the new doctrines. The charm of independence, the rich plunder of monastic institutions, made the Reformation attractive in the eyes of princes, and t ended not a little to strengthen their inward convictions (Schiller, 2006, p. 2). UndoubtedUndoubtedly, Europe had suffered through centuries of warfare before the Thirty Years War started in 1618; and the history of warfare, sadly, did not end after the Thirty Years War ended in 1648. In fact, shortly after the war in 1945, some historians tried to revise the traditional image of the Thirty Years War by: ...suggesting that the numerous complaints about the destruction of towns, the cruelty of soldiers and in general about unmitigated plunder, pillage and atrocities should not really be taken seriously. Rather, it is argued, they are so many cases of special pleading by farmers and citizens in order to get taxes and other impositions reduced (Asch, 2000, p. 291). Essentially, historians have attempted to scale down the level of destruction and destitution caused by the Thirty Years War by claiming that these farmers and citizens raised complaints and exaggerated their claims regarding the war in an effort to receive tax waivers and reductions (Asch, 2000). However, many historians have dismissed these claims. This dismissal may be partially due to a treatise released during the height of the Thirty Years War written by Franciscus Bonbra in which he describes some of the atrocities committed by mercenary soldiers: "They would rape any woman who seemed halfway attractive, plunder the houses, destroy the crops and beat and torture the peasants to extort money. In the end they would set the entire village on fire" (Asch, 2000, p. 292). Bonbra's treatise helped to lend credibility to the argument that the claims of destruction were valid; since Bonbra's treatise was written as a theoretical treatise rather than a petition seeking support or tax wa ivers (Asch, 2000). In truth, the Thirty Years War left a wave of destruction unmatched until the 20th Century's World Wars. The destruction, whether caused through poor militaristic strategies, army composition, or overall famine and disease, led to several changes