World War 1 Essays (1181 words) - Blockades, World War I

World War 1 When the World War I broke out in 1914, with Austria-Hungary declaring war on Serbia. Americas first reaction was to stay out to conflict. President Wilson, in his speech to the Congress on August 19, 1914 said: Every man who really loves America will act and speak in the true spirit of neutrality. The United States must be neutral in fact as well as in name during these days that are to try mens souls. We must be impartial in thought as well as in action. All American leaders favored neutrality. While the entire European continent was divided into two camps: Germany, Austria, Hungary and Turkey as Central Powers were pitted against the Allied powers: Serbia, Britain, France, Belgium, Italy and Russia. As the war progressed, American public sympathies veered to the Allied side. Under the leadership of J.P. Morgan and Company many banking firms gave huge loans to the Allied powers. By international rules the neutral country could trade with any other neutral nation and also with other belligerent countries not facing a blockade. The Americans wished to continue trade with both belligerent sides. In the initial stages of the war the British blockade of Germany created problems for the U.S. The British tried to stop all trade between Germany and the rest of the world. They extended their blockade by controlling imports to other neutral countries like Holland, Denmark and Sweden with are geographically close to Germany The Americans protested against the violation of neutral rights though Wilson never put undue pressure on England as no U.S. citizen lost his life due to the blockade. Moreover, all cargo seized was paid for at war. It was the German use of submarines in the war that brought the U.S. in direct confrontation with Germany. The German submarines fired indiscriminately at neutral ships too. The last straw was when the British passenger liner Lusitania was sunk by German submarines on May 7. It resulted in the loss of 1,200 lives which included 128 Americans. The American public was outraged. President Wilson immediately demanded compensation from Germany in a series of notes to Berlin. The tone of these notes was very crisp and harsh. Ten months after the incident, Germany apologized for the sinking and offered a compensation for the loss. But the U.S. was not satisfied. Wilson wanted to make Germany stop the use of submarines in the war. The Germans refused to comply with this. The tension with Germany resulted in many leaders advocating preparations for a possible war. The President was pressurized to order the enlargement of the army. Also, a 3-year building program for new ships was given the presidential nod. In 1916, Wilson was re-elected as the President of the U.S. Meanwhile, Germany declared that the U-boats would sink all ships: passenger or merchant; belligerent or neutral in the war zone. This angered the President. Three days later, he broke off all diplomatic relations with Germany. America still did not wish to enter the war. However, she took precautions. Wilson ordered all American merchants ships to be armed. On March 18, 1917, Germany sank three more American ships without prior warning. By now, Wilson had realized that without fresh troops and ammunition, the Allies would collapse. This war partly due to the Russian Bolshevik Revolution where Russia signed a peace pact with Germany. This had weakened the Allied camp. So during an extra-ordinary session of the Congress, the President declared war on Germany (1917). In his war message he stated: ...We shall fight for the things which we have always carried nearest to our hearts - for democracy...for the rights and liberties of small nations, for a universal dominion of right by such a concert of free peoples as shall bring peace and safety to all actions and make the world itself last free. With the entry of the U.S. in the war, the Allies got a fresh lease of life. In 1918, the Central powers faced a crushing defeat. After Americas entry into the war, Wilson realized that the Allied nations had made several secret treaties among themselves. This, Wilson felt, would go against the maintenance of lasting peace in the region. On January 8, 1918 he delivered his now

Free Essays on The Significance Of D-Day

The Significance of D-Day â€Å"I experienced an interesting psychological change in the few minutes before and immediately after take off. As I had climbed aboard and strapped myself into my seat I felt tense, strange and extremely nervous. It was as if I was in a fantasy dream world and thought that at any moment I would wake up from this unreality and find that I was back at the barrack room at Bulford camp, where we laughed and sang to raise our spirits- and perhaps to show others that we were not scared- personally I knew I was frightened to death. The very idea of carrying out a night time airborne landing of such a small force into the midst of the German army seemed to me to be little more than a suicide mission. Yet at the moment that the glider parted company with the ground I experienced an inexplicable change. The feeling of terror vanished and was replaced with exhilaration. I felt literally on top of the world. I remember thinking, ‘you’ve had it chum, it’s not good worrying anymore – the die has been cast and it was to be, will be, and there is nothing you can do about it.’ I sat back and enjoyed my first trip to Europe.† Yet another rifleman who was carried to the beach in the LCVP’s relates one of his incidents: â€Å"I got on the gun. I set the gun up, and we’re looking, we’re looking. He says, â€Å"See if you can spot him.† All of the sudden I spotted him, about 200 yards away, and I’d say about 30 or 40 feet higher than me. He wasn’t firing at me. He was firing down across. So when he opened up again – the Germans, when they fire, they fire fast, they don’t fire like we did, because they change the barrel of their machine guns in seconds. Ours were a pain. We had to take the whole gun apart and screw the barrel off, and then put another barrel on. They would get hot if you fired them like the Germans. We only fired bursts at three or four at a time. The Germans put their fi... Free Essays on The Significance Of D-Day Free Essays on The Significance Of D-Day The Significance of D-Day â€Å"I experienced an interesting psychological change in the few minutes before and immediately after take off. As I had climbed aboard and strapped myself into my seat I felt tense, strange and extremely nervous. It was as if I was in a fantasy dream world and thought that at any moment I would wake up from this unreality and find that I was back at the barrack room at Bulford camp, where we laughed and sang to raise our spirits- and perhaps to show others that we were not scared- personally I knew I was frightened to death. The very idea of carrying out a night time airborne landing of such a small force into the midst of the German army seemed to me to be little more than a suicide mission. Yet at the moment that the glider parted company with the ground I experienced an inexplicable change. The feeling of terror vanished and was replaced with exhilaration. I felt literally on top of the world. I remember thinking, ‘you’ve had it chum, it’s not good worrying anymore – the die has been cast and it was to be, will be, and there is nothing you can do about it.’ I sat back and enjoyed my first trip to Europe.† Yet another rifleman who was carried to the beach in the LCVP’s relates one of his incidents: â€Å"I got on the gun. I set the gun up, and we’re looking, we’re looking. He says, â€Å"See if you can spot him.† All of the sudden I spotted him, about 200 yards away, and I’d say about 30 or 40 feet higher than me. He wasn’t firing at me. He was firing down across. So when he opened up again – the Germans, when they fire, they fire fast, they don’t fire like we did, because they change the barrel of their machine guns in seconds. Ours were a pain. We had to take the whole gun apart and screw the barrel off, and then put another barrel on. They would get hot if you fired them like the Germans. We only fired bursts at three or four at a time. The Germans put their fi...

How to Combat Corruption as a Public Administrator Research Paper

How to Combat Corruption as a Public Administrator - Research Paper Example Public administrators can avoid corruption by maintaining ethical behavior as well as providing avenues such as hotlines to the members of the public and staff. In conclusion, the paper indicates that the society in countries such as Haiti and Uganda have negatively been affected by corruption that existed in the past. The US stiff regulations and empowered FBI has made the government to effectively deal with corruption. Corruption entails fraudulent conduct by the individuals who are not only in power but also by the subjects. Basically, it involves providing asking for a bribe and providing it in order for an individual to get a favor. Being a vice that has negative impact on economic, political and social development of a country, corruption is used by the government officials for illegitimate private benefits such as acquiring properties and government funds. Other forms of corruption include embezzlement, extortion, abuse of power, nepotism, favoritism and fraud. One of the major importances of combating corruption in the public service is that it ensures that the negativities that it brings about are abolished. Regardless of the economic position of a country, corruption is known to undermine sustainable development, threaten proper governance, negative impact on the democratic process, and impending economic growth. Within the public sector, corruption has implications that include underminin g people’s confidence, impeding the effectiveness of public service, increasing the cost of public transactions, and reducing tax revenues. Thus, as a public administrator one should be in a position to put adequate measures to address corruption that has emerged as one of the challenges facing the public service globally. From a public administration perspective, corruption has affected management culture in society and ethics in work

Russian Trade Profile Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 2

Russian Trade Profile - Research Paper Example With regards to imports, the nation brings in food, pharmaceuticals, foot wear, textiles and ground transports (Lalayants p 41). The principal trading partners of Russia include China that controls 7% of total exports and 10% of total imports. Germany dominates over 7% of exports and about 8% of the total imports.In 2013, the Russia Federation's merchandise exports reduced by 1.1% despite the fact that the exports increased by 11.2%. This was a poor performance in relation to the Asia-Pacific's collective growth of 2.1% in merchandise exports, but higher than the region's 4.9% rise in service exports. The service imports grew by 18.2% while the merchandise imports rose by 2.2%. This trade surplus remained stable reaching $ 180 billion in 2013 as shown in figures 1 and 2. This resulted in the growth of GDP and GDP per capita ("Asia-Pacific Trade Briefs: Russian Federation").Russia also experiences the largest expansion in FDI inflows in 2013, that increased with 56.7% to $ 79 billion. This growth has been strong since 2011 surpassing the regional total of 6.6% for 2012 whereby the outflows were larger than the inflows. The outflows in 2013 grew by 94% reaching $ 95 billion as shown in figures 1 and 3 ("Asia-Pacific Trade Briefs: Russian Federation").Cyprus was Russia's largest investment accounting for 18% of the FDI inflows. It reflected her repatriation of the earlier investments caused by the Cyprus financial problems. This resulted in the creation of more employment.

Management Across Cultures

Management Across Cultures This report gives an insight on the topic Managing Across Cultures, and also on the following issues, it tackles the meaning of Culture, its importance and relevance, It also looks at how people from different cultures come together to share the same work values, The importance of culture in work environments and what are the various management procedures to be adopted when dealing with people from across cultures.Culture, simply put can be seen as the way of life of certain people and Managing across cultures can be seen as a way of bringing people from different cultures together using quality management, and in order do that, culture is a very important tool.Three approaches have been adopted in quality management research by Form, 1979, which is known as the Convergence approach, Child and Kieser 1979, Divergence approach and Hofstede 1980, Culture specific. All these approaches shall also be looked into and see how it relates to culture. Procedure/ methodology For this report, six links were provided by Mr. Peter Godwin and on careful evaluation on all the links, two seem most appropriate for the report and they are: 1. Quality management: a cross cultural perspective by Alessandra Vecchi and Louis Brennan. School of business, Trinity college, Dublin, Ireland. 2. Handbook of cross-cultural psychology: social behavior and applications by By John W. Berry, Ype H. Poortinga, Marshall H. Segall, Janak Pandey, ÇiÄÅ ¸dem Kà ¢Ãƒâ€žÃ… ¸ità §ibaÃ…Å ¸i Findings The term culture has been found to mean different things to different people, for some, it is dynamic and passed down from generations to generations, it has also been described as the Eye of the world. Cultures differ all around the world and for this people view it differently just as they view work values. Work values can been seen as ones performance worth, the way culture affects these values is very important if we intend to work and coexist together. Two very important standards have been set aside on how work is viewed: The entitlement standard, which states that people who work should be rewarded in return while the other one, the obligation standard is of the opinion that everyones obligation concerning work is to the society. All these can be viewed as difference of opinions on how work values are measured. International Research Team (1987) Cross cultural psychology. Handbook pg 373. Some countries debase work, for instance India, they tend to give priority to family values rather than work values. J. B. P Sinha, (1994) Cross cultural psychology. Handbook pg 373. Culture can never be over emphasized in work environments as the way people work is like their very way of life. In managing across countries, Quality managements theories have been developed to note how different managers deal with managerial polices within different cultures. Three main theories have been used to espouse quality management research and they are the Convergence, Form 1979, the Divergence, Child and Kieser 1979 and Culture specific, Hofstede 1980. Quality management. An international journal 16(2), 149. According to Form, Better management practices from managers coming from different cultures can be traced to effective learning, Form (1979) Quality management. International Journal pg 149, that is to say, once different people from different cultures are brought together to learn, they actually stand a better chance at being better managers, because they are all exposed to the same managerial practices in the long run, not at all minding where they are from, so learning helps to bridge culture barriers. The Divergence theory on the other hand is of the notion that in order to reduce performance, organizational practices must be adapted to the national context. Top managerial support turned to be a significant factor affecting quality practices. They must account for regional differences like Human resource development, customer focus and satisfaction. Child and Kieser, (1979) Quality management. An international journal pg 162. In the culture specific theory, it was viewed that if managers from different societies were faced with change, there will still be some cultural factors, like the way they think or behave that will cause them to react to change. Hofstede (1980) Quality management. An international journal pg 151. All these theories on quality management have been seen to affect culture in the sense that it shows how managers can transfer quality management practices between countries that differ in cultures and backgrounds, putting into consideration, the cultures that are most approbate to change and those that are not, thereby adopting the following management procedures or techniques in dealing with people from across cultures; Participative procedures Team work arrangement Reward schemes; thereby promoting job satisfaction among people. In the same wise, all these managerial procedures can be detrimental if not carefully looked into for not all countries view participative management in the same way, some might actually see it as a sign of weakness on the part of the managers, also in team work arrangement, not all cultures believe in team work, some believe that working alone enhances performance. An experiment was conducted by Earley (1993) cited in Cross cultural psychology pg 388, which involved using the Chinese, Israeli and Americans as subjects, During the experiment it was observed that the Israeli and Chinese teams worked together to work collectively while the Americans worked on their own individually, these shows another manner in which various cultures react to team work. And finally, the reward scheme, it was found out that the way managers from different countries view reward is totally different, for example, the Japanese managers tend to reward team work as against the Americans who believed that in dividual work is best and reward is based on individual effort. Suzuki and Kondo(1986) cited in cross cultural psychology handbook pg 389. In summary, Cultures importance in work related issues and how these can be managed can not be overemphasized because different people work in the way that they perceive is best and that why it is important to introduce quality management techniques in order to foster better management procedures being carried out in order to bridge any gaps in cultural barriers. Conclusion In managing across cultures, managers must put into consideration that they are dealing with different people from diverse cultures and backgrounds and before adopting any form of managerial procedures which involves, Participative management, team work arrangement and reward schemes, their cultural views and values taking into consideration , Forms theory of Convergence, Child and Kiesers theory of Divergence and Hofstedes theory of Culture specific, before knowing how well they would fit into any work environment either to work individually or as a team.

Agoraphobia and its Impact on a Persons Life Essay example -- Agoraph

Agoraphobia and its Impact on a Person's Life A phobic disorder is marked by a persistent and irrational fear of an object or situation that presents no realistic danger. Agoraphobia is an intense, irrational fear or anxiety occasioned by the prospect of having to enter certain outdoor locations or open spaces. For example, busy streets, busy stores, tunnels, bridges, public transportation and cars. Traditionally agoraphobia was solely classified as a phobic disorder. However, due to recent studies it is now also viewed as a panic disorder. Panic disorders are characterised by recurrent attacks of overwhelming anxiety that usually occur suddenly and unexpectedly (Weiten, 1998). For a person diagnosed with agoraphobia, there are a number of restrictions and consequences associated with the disorder. A serious consequence is the incidence of severe and paralysing panic attacks. In the early stages of agoraphobia people suffer recurring panic attacks when in certain public places or situations. These attacks cause the person to feel generally uncomfortable in public settings. Eventually, fear of the recurrence of the panic attacks results in an obvious reluctance or refusal to enter all situations associated with the attacks. Other consequences of agoraphobia may include fear of being alone, fear of being in places where escape might be difficult, feelings of helplessness, dependence on others and depression. These consequences place many serious restrictions on a person with this disorder. Agoraphobia causes people to restrict their activities to smaller and smaller areas in order to avoid crowds, and open and public places or situations. This may finally lea d to the inability of a person to leave their home without suffering a panic attack. As with all other phobias, agoraphobia is often acquired through classical conditioning. Classical conditioning is a type of learning in which a stimulus acquires the capacity to evoke a response that was originally evoked by another stimulus (Weiten, 1998). Describing and explaining exactly how agoraphobia is acquired can be achieved by identifying the antecedents of the phobia. Antecedents are the events that precede a particular response. In the case of agoraphobia, this response is a panic attack. Agoraphobia is essentially anxiety of three kinds, phobic anxiety, panic anxiety (the panic attacks), and phobic a... ...hobic pattern has been broken (Weiten, 1998). The procedures leading to the acquisition and elimination of agoraphobia are based on a number of behavioural principles. The underlying principle is that of classical conditioning. Classical conditioning is a type of learning in which a stimulus acquires the capacity to evoke a response that was originally evoked by another stimulus (Weiten, 1998). Eliminating agoraphobia is basically achieving self-control through behaviour modification. Behaviour modification is systematically changing behaviour through the application of the principles of conditioning (Weiten, 1998). The specific principle used here is systematic desensitisation. The two basic responses displayed are anxiety and relaxation, which are incompatible responses. Systematic desensitisation works by reconditioning people so that the conditioned stimulus elicits relaxation instead of anxiety. This is called counterconditioning. Counterconditioning is an attempt to reverse the process of classical conditioning by associat ing the crucial stimulus with a new conditioned response (Weiten, 1998). This technique's effectiveness in eliminating agoraphobia is well documented.

Publius Virgilius Maro Essay

Aside from Christianity there is no other force that shaped Western civilization other than the Greco-Roman culture. And there is no better representation of that period in history other than Rome and Publius Viirgilius Maro, also known as Virgil. A closer examination of Virgil and his works made many to realize that Virgil was a byproduct of events and it is the twin forces of the Roman Empire and Greek history that prompted Virgil to write. This paper will look into the two factors that influenced the writing of Publius Virgilius Maro. This can be done by looking first at the events that transpired before Virgil began writing and this means tracing back Greek and Roman history. The second way of knowing the connection between history and Virgil’s writings is to dig into his works and of course this means analyzing the Aeneid. It will be shown later that it is Roman history and Homer that shaped Virgil to become the writer that he was destined to be. Rome After more than two thousand years the world is still mesmerized by Rome. It is because of its legacy, it military prowess, and form of government. Rome was without equal when it comes to how it help shape Western history. Yet in the early days of Roman history there is not much to see. There is nothing that could make an outsider ascertain its potential to be a dominant ruler of known world in antiquity. Ting Morris traced its early development in obscurity and he remarked, â€Å"Rome began around 2,800 years ago as a few small settlements on wooded hills overlooking the Tiber River† (4). But then Rome began to distance itself from the Latin communities from which it was supposed to be a part of. What happens next began a series of development that will catapult this small community into the world map, â€Å"†¦the roman Republic conquered first Latium, then all of Italy. The Romans annexed much foreign territory to their own state, but they also established a system of alliances with all other states. This gave the Romans a vast reserve of manpower that allowed them to overthrow every major power in the Mediterranean†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Mackay, 40). A new age has come and a new military superpower was born. But when the Romans began to assimilate remnants of Alexander’s Empire, the new European power came face to face with an ancient civilization whose insight into religion, politics, and philosophy was far ahead of its time. In short the Romans, â€Å"†¦ recognized something in Greek culture that was more impressive than anything Rome itself achieved, in spite of Rome’s unprecedented military success† (Cox). At this point Rome was all brute force. Yes the soldiers led by the Caesars were brave, strong and are very eager to make their mark in the battlefield but when it comes to culture, the Romans were barbarians compared to the Greeks. The Romans discovered an effective methodology in fighting wars and they even had the distinct advantage of knowing how to build an empire out of disparate tribes and nations. They were experts in campaigns that require traveling far from home and yet they lack one more thing. They did not have a good system that can be put in place after victory. This is similar to the idea that it is easy to start a war but the more difficult thing to do is how to end it. So when Rome began to feel the success of empire building the more that they felt the need for a way of life that will enhance their reputation in Europe while at the same time offer them an opportunity to enjoy life more. They found the answer from the sophisticated Greeks. Virgil The Romans had to learn from the Greeks and their history can be characterized not only by empire building but also by the why they incorporated Greek thought and the Greek’s way of life into their own unique system. Now there is none better who understood the need for assimilating Greek culture than the Roman intellectuals of that time. In fact, â€Å"Among the adaptors of Greek culture, none was more brilliant †¦ than the poet Virgil. He faced a formidable challenge. Everyone who encountered Greek culture recognized how much it was shaped by Homer† (Cox). This means that there is a great need to surpass Homer and if this is not possible then at least equal Homer’s genius. If this can be achieved then the Romans had done something which other Greek imitators failed to do and that is to provide a great explanation for their existence. A myth has to be created, a legend has to be made and the purpose for such an endeavor is obvious. There is a need for something that will hold the empire together. At the time of writing the Aeneid, Rome was again in the cusp of revolution. Julius Caesar was defeated by Augustus Caesar and so steps must be made to consolidate his power and to strengthen the arm of the new emperor. For a brilliant man like Virgil, times like this one is an opportunity that must be grabbed by both hands. Virgil proceeded to hit two birds with one stone. First he would write an epic that will explain the origins of Rome. He will do so by using stories that are already familiar among the people that he wants to see united under Augustus Caesar and during that time there was no other story quite like the one weaved by Homer centuries before. Virgil saw that epic struggle for good and evil; battles between heroes; and the self-sacrificial behavior of some heroes simply because they believe in something higher than themselves proved to be a formula hard to resist. Virgil was ready to accept the challenge. But it is clear from the beginning that it would not be an easy task. Aside from that Homer is a world unto itself. And as they say there is no way one can improve on perfection, the Iliad and the Odyssey are the blueprints for creating great epics and so what else can be done to make it better. Virgil was able to solve this problem by being inventive and by starting where Homer ended his story. When Troy fell, one of her sons went on to build another kingdom. But then again Virgil cannot escape the past. Virgil could not resist using a successful formula. As they say there is no need to fix what was broken. Judging from the power of the Iliad and the Odyssey to move people it is almost impossible not to use the same method and technique of telling a great story. And so Virgil copied many ideas from Homer. In the introduction to the Aeneid Levi Robert pointed out that: Virgil borrowed from Homer a great many items: his verse form, the division into twelve books, mythology, many episodes and similes. In the Aeneid Venus doubles for Nausicaa, Dido for Calypso and Circe, and Drances for Thersites. The funeral games the desecent into Hades, where Aeneas meets Dido as Odysseus met Ajax, the prophecy of Anchises, the catalogue of ships, Turnus attempt to burn them, a broken truce †¦ a quarrel of two Italian leaders †¦ and a final single combat (Robert, xiii). Aeneid The Aeneid is basically the story of Aeneas, the god-like leader of a band of Trojan refugees fleeing to Italy after the fall of Troy. In the beginning, Aeneas built a fleet with the goal in mind of settling in a foreign land and to finally establish a new nation of Trojans. In Virgil’s mind, he wanted the world to understand the basis for the establishment of the Roman Empire. And there is nothing as perfect as that. Hornstein, Percy and Brown’s book, The Reader’s Companion to World Literature, was very helpful in understanding the context from which Virgil’s Aeneid was written, and they said that it was written at a time of conflict. Italy was ravaged by more than fifty years of revolution and civil war. When the long-sought peace came, a new form of government was fashioned from a battle weary nation. And with the new set-up, ultimate power was in the hands of one man- Augustus Caesar. It was during this time that the Roman Virgil began working on the Aeneid. Hornstein, Brown and Percy wrote: Vergil began the poem in 29 B. C. , two years after the battle of Actium brought this period of civil war to an end. He had long been preparing for the task. His purpose was national: he desired to glorify the Roman people by his theme and exalt the Emperor in the person of his hero. (5) Homer Putnam acknowledge that Virgil is under the towering shadow of Homer when he made this judgment, â€Å"Homer himself, against whose essential insights into humanity, Virgil’s own achievement will always be measured. † Homer’s success allowed him to set the standard upon which others who will come after him will be forced to measure up. Allen Mandelbaum tells of how his previous study prevented him from fully appreciating Virgil’s works and he said, â€Å"One was a tag line of mark Van Doren that echoed through my youth with tenacious resonance: ‘Homer is a world; Virgil, a style’. † It also did not help that the critics saw Virgil as copying Homer, Gaskell said, â€Å"The overall plan of Virgil’s epic was plainly Homeric, with its main elements reversed: now the odyssey of the man comes first and the armed fighting follows it: but the Homeric parallels are many and obvious. † (161). The only major difference was that Homer was illiterate and therefore had to express the beauty of his poetry in oral reform. On the other hand Virgil was literate and he could study Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey in written form as well as compose his own epic and was able to write it down. This explains the difference in style but all the more strengthens the view that Virgil was strongly influenced by Homer. Conclusion Now the pieces of the puzzle begin to fall down into its proper places and one can now see the bigger picture. It was mentioned earlier that it was in 168 BC when the Romans began to conquer the remnants of Alexander’s Empire and it is through the conquest of former Greek states that the Romans saw first hand the beauty that was Greece. In short the highly militaristic Romans lacked the cultural refinements that one can find in abundance in Greek societies. It is through the process of incorporating Greek culture into the Roman’s way of life that they rediscovered the power of Homeric poetry. It took the genius of Virgil to use Homer’s works and use it as the foundation for his own epic. And so in 29 BC Virgil began writing the Aeneid with the purpose of emulating what Homer has achieved in Greece. Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey provided a sense of identity for all Greeks and Virgil was hoping to achieve the same results. But the desire to incorporate Greek life into Roman life is easier said than done. But everyone who will try to copy from someone begins by copying almost everything that one can see and the eye can appreciate. For instance the Romans copied the design of their temples and they also described their gods using the same attributes found in Greek society. But there is no need to worry because the Roman changed the Greek sounding names of their gods into Roman names for their statues. Virgil attempted to accomplish two major things when he wrote the Aeneid. He wanted to impress the new emperor (Augustus Caesar) and secondly he wanted to have a unique Roman epic that will help unite the people. Virgil was successful in achieving both. The hero of the Aeneid was behaving in much the same way as Augustus Caesar especially with regards to his conquest and the subsequent creation of a new nation out of that sheer determination to succeed. Now for the second part, Virgil was also able to create an epic that can be comparable to Homer. It is true that he copied many things from Homer and yet at the same time his stories were never simply a rehash of what Homer did. Virgil simply needed an inspiration to get going and he found it in the character of Aeneas whom Homer briefly mentioned in his work. From this little known character, Aeneid began to build a story that made the peoples pulse to race. It was indeed an epic story of battles, of struggle between good and evil, of heroes who most of the time failed to achieve their potential and sometimes die a tragic death. The Aeneid is basically an explanation as to the existence of Rome. For many there is a need to have that kind of idea, that kind of emotional anchor in times of trouble. And there is no way to fully understand the impact of Aeneid towards the people of Rome. But one thing is sure Virgil’s work was able to unite the whole of the empire and is instrumental as to why the empire endured for so long. It is now very clear that that Virgil was influenced by historical events and the circumstances that surrounded his life. If there were two streams where these influences came from then Homer is a mighty source of inspiration while the politics and warfare in ancient Rome provided Virgil with more materials to use. In Rome’s struggle to carve out a nation in Europe was evident in Aeneid where the hero had to travel and faced with numerous risks just so he can establish a new nation. It was Homer who provided much influence for Virgil. If Homer did not produce the Iliad and Odyssey it is hard to imagine Virgil able to make his own. This is not to take away anything form the accomplishments of Virgil but it would be almost impossible for him to write beautifully without Homer as guide. Homer did not only provide the seed from which Virgil will grow a powerful story, Homer also provided the correct format. And so putting it all together it is now very clear that Virgil was a byproduct of the events that surrounded him. Yet even before he was born, Homer’s influence and genius was already felt in many parts of the Western world. When Virgil was still very young it is easy to imagine that he was already familiar with the Iliad and Odyssey and no doubt the stories found in those epics help to shape the way he thinks. Works Cited Appelbaum, Stanley. Ed. â€Å"The Aeneid by Vergil† Trans. Charles J. Billson. Canada: Dover Publications, 1995. Cox, John. Introduction to Virgil, The Aeneid. 2008. General Education at Hope College. 03 April 2008. < http://www. hope. edu/academic/ids/171/Aeneid. html Gaskell, Philip. Ed. â€Å"Landmarks in Classical Literature† Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 1999. Hemminger, Bill. Exploring Ancient World Cultures: Rome. 1997. EAWC at University of Evansville. 02 April 2008. < http://eawc. evansville. edu/ropage. htm> Hornstein, L. H. , G. D. Percy, and Calvin S. Brown. Eds. â€Å"The Reader’s Companion to World Literature† New York: Penguin Putnam, Inc. , 1973. Knight, G. R. Wilson. Trans. â€Å"The Aeneid by Virgil† New York: Penguin Putnam, Inc. , 1956. Mackay, Christopher. â€Å"Ancient Rome: A Military and Political History. † New York: Cambridge University Press, 2004. Mandelbaum, Allen. Trans. â€Å"The Aeneid by Virgil† California: University of California Press, 1971. Morford, Mark P. O. and Robert J. Lenardon. â€Å"Classical Mythology† 7th ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. Morris, Ting. â€Å"Ancient Rome. † MN: Smart Apple Media, 2007.