University
Essays

For hundreds of years, maritime expansion represented the only way to reach distant shores, to attack enemies across channels of water, to explore uncharted territories, to make trade with regional neighbors and to connect the comprised empires. Leading directly into the 20th century, this was the chief mode of making war, maintaining occupations, colonizing lands and conducting the transport of goods acquired by trade or force. Peter Padfield theorized that ultimately, British maritime power was decisive in creating breathing space for liberal democracy in the world, as opposed to the autocratic states of continental Europe like Spain, France, Prussia and Russia. The Hapsburgs, the Bourbons, Hitler and Stalin all failed to find a strategy that would defeat the maritime empires, which controlled the world's trade routes and raw materials. Successful maritime powers like Britain and, in the 20th Century, the United States, required coastlines with deep harbors and security from aggressive neighbors that Germany, France and Russia lacked. This allowed them to concentrate on trade and commerce, and to develop powerful mercantile classes that won a share of power in government. Britain and Holland were the "first supreme maritime powers of the modern age", succeeded by the United States after the world wars of 1914-18 and 1939-45, and the fact that democratic institutions developed first in relatively open societies like these was not coincidental. Of course, the United States was a very weak maritime power in the 18th Century and its navy hardly existed, yet the Battle of Chesapeake Bay in 1781 was the key event that enabled it to win its independence. It depended on French and Spanish sea power to divert the British Navy to other theaters of the war, such as India, the Caribbean, Gibraltar or the defense of the home islands and in the end this strategy was successful enough so that at a crucial moment of the war, Britain temporarily lost its maritime supremacy in North American waters.

This first passage invokes the idea of being quiet and still so that you are able really take in what is all around you. In my own life, I do this by getting out into nature and avoiding the TV and the Internet for a…

Albert Bandura was born on December 4, 1925 in Mundare, Canada. He is most famous as the psychologist who developed such significant theories as the social learning theory, social cognitive theory and self-efficacy…

Although it might seem more like an inspirational, rather than a promotional brochure, the Common Ground Center skillfully uses the psychology of marketing and advertising to solicit funding.

Secondhand smoke is a mixture of chemicals, mainly of the smoke generated between puffs, called side-stream smoke, inhaled by persons who do not smoke but are around or within breathing range of someone who does.

Over the last several years, the issue of how private organizations and governments are responding to various manmade as well as natural disasters has been increasingly brought to the forefront.

The South Beach Diet is a weight loss plan that severely restricts carbohydrate intake. According to Kellow (2010) there are two primary claims that the South Beach Diet makes. The first is that the dieter will lose up…

Academic assessment is a very old custom in education. Assessment typically involves measurement of student development for the reason of informing. One level of notifying is recognition or eligibility in decision-making; a second level is that of notifying instruction. Conventional evaluation instruments have confines which limit their request for instructional program preparation.

Imagine living in 18th Century America. What would a person encounter during that time period? Would the diverse social and political backgrounds impact a person positively or negatively during this era?

Sex matters between friends. No, not in the way you might think -- or the kind of sex that you might think. Sex matters in terms of gender: Male friendship and female friendship really is different from each other.