Translate this blog in your favourable language

My pager view

Monday, June 25, 2012

A VIETNAM WAR: THE HISTORY OF WAR.


 

What Was the Vietnam War?

The Vietnam War was the prolonged struggle between nationalist forces attempting to unify the country of Vietnam under a communist government and the United States (with the aid of the South Vietnamese) attempting to prevent the spread of communism. Engaged in a war that many viewed as having no way to win, U.S. leaders lost the American public's support for the war. Since the end of the war, the Vietnam War has become a benchmark for what not to do in all future U.S. foreign conflicts.
Dates of the Vietnam War: 1959 -- April 30, 1975
Also Known As: American War in Vietnam, Vietnam Conflict, Second Indochina War, War Against the Americans to Save the Nat

Overview of the Vietnam War:


Ho Chi Minh Comes Home

There had been fighting in Vietnam for decades before the Vietnam War began. The Vietnamese had suffered under French colonial rule for nearly six decades when Japan invaded portions of Vietnam in 1940. It was in 1941, when Vietnam had two foreign powers occupying them, that communist Vietnamese revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh arrived back in Vietnam after spending thirty years traveling the world.
Once Ho was back in Vietnam, he established a headquarters in a cave in northern Vietnam and established the Viet Minh, whose goal was to rid Vietnam of the French and Japanese occupiers. Having gained support for their cause in northern Vietnam, the Viet Minh announced the establishment of an independent Vietnam with a new government called the Democratic Republic of Vietnam on September 2, 1945. The French, however, were not willing to give up their colony so easily and fought back.
For years, Ho had tried to court the United States to support him against the French, including supplying the U.S. with military intelligence about the Japanese during World War II. Despite this aid, the United States was fully dedicated to their Cold War foreign policy of containment, which meant preventing the spread of Communism. This fear of the spread of Communism was heightened by the U.S. "domino theory," which stated that if one country in Southeast Asia fell to Communism then surrounding countries would also soon fall. To help prevent Vietnam from becoming a communist country, the U.S. decided to help France defeat Ho and his revolutionaries by sending the French military aid in 1950.

France Steps Out, U.S. Steps In

In 1954, after suffering a decisive defeat at Dien Bien Phu, the French decided to pull out of Vietnam. At the Geneva Conference of 1954, a number of nations met to determine how the French could peacefully withdraw. The agreement that came out of the conference (called the Geneva Accords) stipulated a cease fire for the peaceful withdrawal of French forces and the temporary division of Vietnam along the 17th parallel (which split the country into communist North Vietnam and non-communist South Vietnam). In addition, 


Monday, June 18, 2012

DO YOU KNOW THE HISTORY OF THE TITANIC?



White Star Line, an industry leader, wanted to revolutionize travel by building the finest and biggest luxury passenger ships in the world.
Designing the Titanic.


Designing the TitanicThe RMS Titanic was one of three ships belonging to the Olympic-class of White Star Line vessels. In addition to the Titanic, there was the RMS Olympic and the RMS Britannic. Responding to growing competition, design for the Olympic-class liners began in 1907. The decision was made to focus on luxury and size rather than speed. Joseph Bruce Ismay, managing director of White Star Line, wanted to build a ship larger than any that had come before.


Construction of the Titanic.


Finding a location to begin construction of the Titanic ship was an engineering feat itself. Harland and Wolff, shipbuilders for White Star Line, had substantially revamped an existing shipyard to accommodate construction of the Olympic-class liners. Construction of the Titanic began on March 31, 1909.


It took approximately three years to complete construction of the 882 foot long and 92 foot wide vessel. Work on the ship was difficult and dangerous; eight people were killed and nearly 250 injured. The Titanic was launched May 31, 1911 but was not fully fitted and ready for service until spring of 1912. Displacing 52,310 tons, the RMS Titanic was the largest passenger ship in the world.


A Modern Marvel.


Exercise room on the TitanicInspired by the technological innovations of the industrial revolution, White Star Line wanted the Titanic to epitomize modern technology, engineering, safety and luxury. The ship featured electric lights, elevators and heaters. Guests could relax in a Turkish bath or spend their time playing tennis, swimming or exercising in the on-board gym.

Despite its disastrous sinking, engineers had designed the Titanic ship with safety as a top priority. The ship featured a double steel hull and 16 separate compartments capable of being sealed off from one another in the event of an emergency. The Titanic was also capable of carrying 64 lifeboats. However, in a fateful decision, White Star Line chose only to carry 16. This, combined with collapsible lifeboats, met the requirements of an outdated law mandating enough lifeboats for only 75 percent of the ship's passenger capacity.
The Maiden Voyage of the RMS Titanic.
 
On April 10, 1912, the Titanic set out for New York City from Southampton, England. White Star Line highly publicized the Titanic's maiden voyage. They went so far as to call the ship “unsinkable.” The promotion campaign attracted many prominent members of British and American society including nobility and wealthy industrialists. After two stops, one in France and one Ireland. The Titanic began its transatlantic crossing with 2,216 passengers.


The Night of April 14.

The history of the Titanic was forever altered when the ship struck an iceberg on April 14, 1912. Having received iceberg warnings via wireless telegraph, Captain Edward Smith altered the ship's course. However, the radio operators were more concerned with relaying private messages to passengers than passing along updated iceberg warnings to the bridge. At approximately 11:40 p.m., lookouts spotted an iceberg directly in the path of the ship. Evasive action was taken in an attempt to avoid the collision. A sharp turn to the port side was ordered, and the iceberg struck the ship on the right side damaging the hull. Captain Smith ordered a full stop to assess the damage. Initially, only five compartments were flooded, and the watertight doors had been closed to prevent additional flooding. However, water was able to flow over the top of bulkheads and in through normal openings causing two more compartments to flood. It quickly became obvious the Titanic would sink.

Evacuating the Ship.

The first lifeboat was lowered about an hour after the collision. It had a 65 person capacity; only 19 were aboard. Tragically, many of the lifeboats were launched far under capacity. This is attributable to several factors. Assured by the still working electricity and seeming calm, many passengers didn't think the ship was sinking. In addition, many of the third class passengers became lost or trapped in the ship and didn't make it to the lifeboats. Due to a women and children first rule, many men did not board lifeboats despite there being space.

Radio operators broadcasted distress signals, but the RMS Carpathia, the closest ship, was four hours away. All but two lifeboats were successfully launched. Eventually, the Titanic split and was completely sunk by 2:20 a.m. Roughly four hours after receiving the distress call, the Carpathia arrived and began rescue efforts. More than 1,500 people died.Discovery of the Wreckage. The full history of the Titanic would not be known for decades. The wreckage was discovered September 1, 1985 through a combined American and French effort. Researchers learned much of what actually caused the “unsinkable” Titanic's tragic end.
Public interest in the history of Titanic persists to this day. Perhaps the fascination stems from the arrogance of the ship's designers or from the significance of such an impressive ship during a cultural and technological transition. Whatever the case, the history of the Titanic continues to captivate both historians and popular culture a century later.

Titanic mistake

RMS Titanic was a ship deemed unsinkable, yet four days into her maiden voyage, the “unsinkable” ship collided with an iceberg. She went to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean and 1,517 people died. Despite

 formal inquiries and much informal speculation, a definitive cause for the collision has never been identified.

Number of mistakes.

Captain E.J. Smith of the RMS Titanic There is no question that a number of mistakes contributed to the sinking of the Titanic. Captain E. J. Smith was sailing his retirement voyage as the Titanic was making her maiden trip. Smith reportedly did not give orders to slow the ship despite reports of icebergs in the water, a common practice at the time. Smith also ignored or discounted a total of seven iceberg warnings from other ships and his own crew. J. Bruce Ismay, the Managing Director of Titanic’s parent corporation, the White Star Line, was on board the ship. Some people have speculated that Ismay put pressure on Smith to maintain speed as the White Star Line wanted to prove it could make a six-day crossing.

Mistakes during the build of the Titanic.

Another mistake, or perhaps a deliberate action, occurred during the building process. Substandard iron was used in the rivets holding the iron plates of the ship. The collision with the iceberg sheared the rivets and caused many sections of the ship to buckle. Yet another mistake lay in the height of the watertight compartments, which did not reach as high as they should have because the increased height would have cut into the living quarters of the first class compartments. Aside from the actual sinking, the ship carried only enough lifeboats for about one-third of the passengers and crew, which undoubtedly led to increased loss of life.

Mistakes by other vessels.

Not all the mistakes were made by people directly connected with the Titanic. Another ship, the Californian, had stopped for the night only 19 miles from the doomed ship. When the Titanic fired distress rockets, the Californian’s captain, Stanley Lord, decided the rockets were being fired because the Titanic was partying. The Californian’s radio had been turned off, and she missed the Titanic’s distress call; had the radio been on, the Californian should have been able to save all the passengers.
Close to a century after the Titanic went down, yet another possible mistake surfaced. The granddaughter of senior officer Charles Lightoller claimed the man at the wheel of the Titanic either did not hear an order or responded incorrectly; he turned right instead of left, putting the ship on a collision course with the iceberg. Louise Patten says her grandfather -- who survived the sinking -- lied about the mistake to prevent lawsuits against his employers and to protect his job. Patten also says that the chairman of the White Star Line ordered the ship to continue sailing on its intended course to reach land, in the hope of avoiding negative publicity, which may have increased the amount of water flowing into the ship. If what Patten says is true, despite all the other errors, in the end it may have been a simple misunderstanding that led to a titanic mistake.

The Sinking of the Titanic

1912 sinking of titanic

The sinking of the Titanic is one of the most talked about events of the twentieth century. Yet what really happened on that dreadful night in 1912? Here we will look at the events immediately leading up to and during the sinking of this massive ship.