West European Studies

There were various reasons that led to the rise of Civil war in the United States of America.  This civil war occurred between 1861 and 1865 and it is also referred to as the War between States. It was a sectional conflict between the Southern states and the Northern states. The Southern states had declared secession from the Union (United States) and had formed the Confederacy also known as the Confederated States of America. These Southern states were led by Jefferson Davis and they raged a war against the Union .  The Union was led by the Republican Party under President Abraham Lincoln. Therefore the war was between the Federal Government (Union) and eleven slave states in the South.  Railroads, steam ships, various military devices and weapons produced in masses were used in this war and it is therefore described as the earliest true industrial war. The war resulted in the death of 620,000 soldiers and many civilians and it is therefore regarded as the deadliest war in the history of America. This paper reviews some of the reasons for the Civil war. The main reasons for the Civil war were the difference in economies between the North and the South, issue of Slavery, the States Rights to vote and the election of Lincoln as the United states President.

The economies in the North and the South were different. This was one of the reasons that led to the Civil war. The economy in the North was industry based and people worked everyday on the factories to earn wages. The North was a manufacturing Center that used Raw materials to produced manufactured goods. The Southern states comprised mainly of large cotton plantations.  Cotton growing was labor intensive and therefore the owners of these plantations needed slaves to work in their fields. Slavery had already been abolished in the North but it still continued in the South. The Northern states were Free states where it was illegal to buy, own or trade slaves. Therefore people were paid to work in the factories. In the South, slaves worked in the plantations without pay. With the North championing for anti-slavery, a conflict was inevitable. The reasons given by the Confederate for the succession was the slavery issue. The North championed and protested against slavery but the South believed that slavery was good for their economy in that it saved the plantation owners money by not paying for the labor. The Northern States were afraid of the Slave power of the Southern States while the South was afraid of the abolitionist Republican Party.

The election of Abraham Lincoln as the president in of the Union triggered the South to a secession. The South held that President Lincoln would outlaw slavery . The election of Lincoln as the president meant the loss of control of the Federal government by the Southern states. This secession triggered the start of the Civil war. Though Abraham Lincoln was a compassionate man and was not happy on the way the slaves were treated, he had declared that he would not end slavery in states where it existed. Therefore though he was not viewed as an immediate threat to slavery, the South felt that he would lead to its extinction with time . The South thought that Lincoln who was an anti-slavery activist would abolish slavery and by doing this take away their way of life and their economy. During the 1860 presidential elections, the Republican Party campaigned against slavery expansion beyond the then slave states. The party was led by Abraham Lincoln. After Lincolns victory in the election, seven Southern states declared secession from the Union. This was vehemently rejected by the Lincoln admininistration which had not even taken office by then and by the outgoing administration. The secession was considered a rebellion by both administrations (Jones, 154).

The southern states were basically afraid of the Republican Party and Abraham Lincoln as the president of the Union. The slave states felt that Lincoln would stop the expansion of slavery. They also felt that even if Lincoln did not do this, another Northerner would do so with time. The slave states had become a minority in the House of Representatives. They also faced a future of perpetual minority in the Electoral College and in the Senate in the face of an increasingly powerful North. Therefore considering all this, the Slave states felt that it was time to quit the Union (Foote, 34). The war officially started on April 12, 1861 after a US military installation was attacked by the confederate forces. This occurred at Fort Sumter in South Carolina. President Abraham Lincoln responded to this by making a call to every state to offer volunteer army. This led to four more South states declaring secession. The degree of support for secession was in correlation with the number of plantations. The states which had the greatest concentration of large plantations were the first to secede i.e. States in the Deep South. The Border States which had fewer plantations did not secede.

Settling of new territories was another reason that led to the war. The South championed for the territories being settled to be admitted as slave states to the Union. The aim of wanting this was in order to prevent slaves escaping from the South into the new free territories. But the North wanted the new territories to be free. The loss of these new territories to Free states meant that the South would become marginalized with time. Some people championed for the States Rights where by the new territories would have a right of voting whether they wanted to be slave or free territories (Davis, 409).  The North held that the federal government had the power to decide whether or not to have slavery but the South held that every stated had a right of voting on any laws. The South also maintained that the federal government had no right or power of preventing new slaves from being taken to the new territories (Davis, 425). The South did not want to be governed by laws made by the laws made by the federal government but they wanted to make their own laws which would govern them. But the North insisted on the Federal Government making the laws. This together with the debate on the new states (whether to be slave states or Free states) triggered the Civil War (Stampp, 198).

The confederate president Jefferson Davis held that the confederate had a right to secede as this was the only way for liberation from the tyranny of an unbridled majority (Jefferson Davis, 55). The issue of slavery is believed to be the root cause of the conflict. This was because it was the main cause of different ideologies between the North and the South. In 1850, a new and stronger fugitive slave law was passed. This law gave federal agents the right to capture and return those slaves who escaped into Northern Free states (Foner, 56). Though this law was controversial, it was not a concrete reason for the secession. This is because the number of slaves who escaped was offset though Blacks from the North who were captured as slaves. This law was done away with after the secession. While the North championed for abolition of slavery, the plantation owners were angry for attacks on their peculiar institution (Davis, 186). They held the view that slavery was good for both the masters and the slaves. Even religious leaders like Rev. Fred A. Ross defended slavery by saying that it was sanctioned by God. The based their defense on Biblical arguments. The Post master General in the beginning of 1830s refused to allow mails containing abolition pamphlets to the Southern states. Teachers from the North who were suspected of having even the slightest tinge of abolitionism were expelled from the South. Literature on abolitionism was also banned from the South. To the Northerners, slavery was the antithesis of a good society and aa threat to their fundamental values and interests.

The Arguments
Many Southerners still hold that the war was not entirely on the issue of slavery but it was about money. The proponents of this argument believe that the South was more economically viable than the North due to its plantation and good relationship with England, its best customers. They therefore argue that the reason why the South joined the war was because of patriotism, enlightened political philosophy and idealism as compared to the North which joined the war on the grounds of patriotism and economic betterment. When Lincoln was elected the president of the Union, it made the situation worse as the South felt that having the Republican in power meant favoring the Wealthier Northern side.

Both the North and the South believed that they were right in their arguments. The South needed the slaves to work in their plantations for economic purposes while the North wanted to abolish due to the inhumane treatment that they received. Though slavery played a great role for the start of the war, it cannot be said to be the core reason for the Civil war (Pease, 923-927). The main problem rose from the need to establish a central federal government. This is because during that period, the state governments were powerful and held most of the power. Therefore the people of the states did not see themselves as the United States but as part of it. The North wanted a central federal government which the South did not want. This can be said to be the main reason for the war. The policies championed by the federal government in terms of taxes and abolition of slave trade are what made the South to secede.

The taxes paid on goods from other countries were a cause for quarrels. The South felt that these taxes referred to as tariffs were unfair to them and they felt that these tariffs were aimed towards them because they imported more goods than people from the Northern states. There were also other taxes that were imposed on the Southern goods exported to foreign countries and this was not employed on goods from the Northern states of equal value. The banks in the Southern state were charged higher interest rates on loans borrowed from the banks in the North. With the expansion of the Northern manufacturing industry, the North had no option but to look upon the South for the markets of its manufactured goods. This is because the Southerners were rich from the lucrative plantation business. But to the Southerners, it was cheaper and more affordable to buy goods from abroad. Besides, due to the differences in economy, the policy on tariff became controversial. The North preferred protective tariff for their manufactured goods while the South opposed this kind of tariff. This was because of their agricultural economy and the protective tariff would have provoked foreign retaliation and consequently reduce international trade with Great Britain. The protective tariff would therefore have been a burden to the slave states and a benefit to the North states.

Was the war inevitable
The Civil war was an inevitable war just like many other wars in history. It is in the nature of man to fight before he negotiates. Negotiations results from wars. In one way or the other, the American Civil war was bound to happen. This is because of the differences that existed between the North States and the South States. The American society grew in complexity after independence. This complexity was brought about by the shifting from small scale to large scale farming, migration in both sides of many white Americans and the slaves, and the rebirth of slavery and slave trade as a viable economic venture. These factors led to a sharp conflict of interests in terms of economy, social class and regions manifested in party politics. The economic differences between the North and the South increased significantly during the first half of the 19th century. The South depended on the cotton plantation while the North was mainly a manufacturing Center.

The war started after the slave states seceded. The arguments given for the secession vary. The fear of modernization by the South states is given as one reason for secession. The rapid modernization of the North was a threat to the South as the North was becoming more powerful economically. While the South was clinging to the rural traditional values, the North was developing and embracing new modernization urban values. This difference in values meant that the war was inevitable. The federal government concentrated its powers in Washington D.C and this together with increasing population made the North more power while the South lost political power because the population did not increase as rapid. This made the need of the Southerners to demand for freedom from the central government in Washington increase.

The patterns of living also diverged between the North and the South. This led to differences in the political ideas. The North favored a central federal government that would build infrastructures i.e. roads and railways, protect its trading and financial interests, and therefore control the national currency. The North championed for the federal government to have more powers and they were for a loose interpretation of the Constitution of United states. The South was completely opposite. The South wanted powers to be confined in individual states whereby each state had its right to make its laws. The South was not for internal improvements in terms of good infrastructure sponsored by the government. Because the South did not depend on the federal government, it did not any need to strength it. The Southerners also feared that a central government that was powerful would interfere with slave trade and maybe abolish it. Therefore they were not after such interference as their economy depended on slavery. Therefore due to these factors, a conflict was bound to happen and therefore the war was inevitable.

Notre-Dame de Paris is probably the most famous cathedral as a tourist destination in France but Notre-Dame dAmiens (see Fig. 1), approximately eighty miles north of Paris, is considered an unparalleled masterpiece of Gothic architecture. The cathedral was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1981 and the picturesque city of Amiens is sometimes referred to as Little Venice of the North.

Consecrated in 1152 and originally built in the Romanesque style, Notre-Dame dAmiens was completely destroyed by a fire in 1218. The rebuilding began in 1220 and though largely completed by 1280 the renovations seem never to have stopped.

John Ruskin, a British art lover and critic, expressed the view that the French could not leave their cathedrals alone for ten minutes. (Romane 40)

The entry for Notre-Dame dAmiens in Wikipedia states that Bishop Evrard de Fouilly initiated work in 1220. Robert de Luzarches was the architect until 1228, followed by Thomas de Cormont until 1258. His son, Renaud de Cormont, was the architect until 1288.

Though the above information is found in many reference works, a fact less widely known and one of the things I find most fascinating is that the original architect, Robert de Luzarches, was merely a layman in that field. (Pater 114)

After the destruction by fire of the Romanesque cathedral, Notre-Dame dAmiens was rebuilt in the Rayonnant style and proclaimed the pinnacle of Gothic architecture. Today, it continues to be acknowledged as possibly the finest example of Rayonnant Gothic in the world.

Paraphrasing Encyclopedia Britannica, the Rayonnant style represents the height of Gothic architecture, and during this period architects became more interested in decoration than in great size. Rayonnant Gothic makes extensive use of pinnacles and window tracery (see Fig. 2), and the name reflects the radiating character of the rose window. Other prominent features of Rayonnant Gothic architecture include the thinning of vertical supports, enlargement of windows, and a combination of the triforium gallery and clerestory into one large area. Notre-Dame dAmiens is the earliest manifestation of Rayonnant Gothic. (Encyclopdia Britannica 2010)

Rayonnant Gothic was immediately followed by the Flamboyant style, and the radiating rose window seen on the west faade today is actually a replacement from the Flamboyant period, not classic Rayonnant. (see Fig. 3 Hartt 464)

The western faade of the cathedral at Amiens is the most often photographed and the most easily recognized of its features. There, one will find the rose window, the two square towers of uneven height, three ornately carved porches, and the Gallery of Kings (see Fig. 4), but stone carvings and statuary are found on every faade and throughout the massive interior. It is these magnificent works, especially the series pertaining to John the Baptist (see Fig. 5) and those found in the choir screen (see Fig. 6), which most capture my interest and imagination.

The sheer number (in the thousands) of  intricate carvings, statues and gargoyles (see Fig. 7) and the realism of the portal sculptures is overwhelming, especially when considering the rudimentary tools and equipment available at that time. The entire cathedral is a sculpture and the focus upon Naturalism is considered a Gothic signature.

My focus will be upon the people, times, and circumstances which made the rebuilding of this cathedral financially feasible, architecturally possible and a psychological imperative for kings, clergy, nobles and peasants, alike.

The original, Romanesque cathedral at Amiens was not the only structure destroyed in the fire of 1218. Much of the city was gutted, and as would be the case for any community at any time, the mental and emotional toll must have been devastating. Just coming out of the Dark Ages and still experiencing tough economic times, though formally recognized as a city by the king for more than a hundred years, the fire could have sent Amiens back to darkness for many decades.

Luckily, the city was also a pilgrimage destination. The head of John the Baptist was allegedly brought back to Amiens from the fourth Crusade in 1206, though the truth of that matter is often debated. Even those who claim that the skull housed in the original cathedral did indeed belong to John the Baptist also say that the skull was somehow lost. Many insist however that some parts of the missing skull were eventually found and that John the Baptists facial bones rest once again in a North Aisle reliquary.

Whether or not Saint John the Baptists skeletal remains were actually housed in the cathedral was and remains irrelevant. The only thing which matters is that the faithful believed the relics were there, and this belief drew them to Amiens in great numbers. Incredibly, John the Baptist was not the churchs only rock star.

Long before John the Baptist started drawing crowds at the cathedral, the first Bishop of Amiens, Saint Fermin, was beheaded in Amiens on September 25, 303 AD and a cult quickly sprang up around him. He is venerated to this day, his relics are definitely in the cathedral, and the left porch of the main faade is dedicated to him. Saint Fermin is also depicted with John the Baptist (see Fig. 5) in the cathedrals stone carvings. Having the relics of these two men put Amiens in an enviable position, and this treasure alone might have been enough to assure that Notre-Dame would be rebuilt.

Another fortunate happenstance for Amiens was that it was the provincial capital of Picardie and on the Somme River. Considered a market town in a province where agriculture would soon flourish and the textile industry thrive, it was surrounded by dozens of villages at the time of the fire. The average village consisted of approximately thirty families, and additional settlements were continually springing up around these economic centers. The northern regions of France were becoming as much a Mecca for artists, craftsmen and merchants as for Christian pilgrims (and the Church received untold amounts of money from pilgrims).

The rise of personal fortunes during this era was still unusual as the feudal system had not yet been abolished. Kings were thought to rule by divine right and lands were owned by the royal families and the Church. Land was granted to subjects by the king and in return he was guaranteed soldiers during times of war.

Additionally, it was required that those who lived on or worked these lands tithe ten percent of everything they produced to the Church, which resulted in great personal wealth for many in the Churchs hierarchy. The abbots and bishops in Amiens would have enjoyed affluence beyond imagination by the monies received from tithes and those on pilgrimage.

The bishops and feudal lords of northern France were not happy about the profit-making enterprises of others and didnt encourage the practice, but they did begin to look the other way as a means of enticing laborers, craftsmen and tradesmen to settle in the area. It was this new-found freedom for individuals which stimulated the growth of population and wealth, both of which were necessary for an enterprise as demanding as that of the cathedrals rise from the ashes.

The early 1200s in Amiens suddenly became particularly prosperous for the king, the Church, and subjects of the realm not only because the need to defend themselves from outside invaders greatly lessened but because woad grew there in abundance. Indigo could be extracted from woad and there was great demand for indigo, especially in Great Britain. It has often been speculated that Bleu dAmiens alone could have paid for the rebuilding of the cathedral.

The relatively peaceful times gave people the ability to focus upon increasing their agricultural output and developing other avenues for general commerce (predominantly those related to textiles), which resulted in ever  larger amounts of money, livestock, crops and other items of value being given to the Church. This too would have contributed to the rebuilding of Notre-Dame dAmiens as well as benefit the clergy.

Though there had been a general increase in subjects optimism at the time of the fire, and prosperity was on the rise for many in the area, possibly the most important factor in the rebuilding of Notre-Dame dAmiens in such grand style was the wholehearted and unwavering support of three kings. Philip II Augustus was king of France in 1220 when work commenced, and his son and grandson (King Louis VIII and King Louis IX) continued the royal patronage until their deaths.

All three men took their duties to Christendom as seriously as they took their duties to France and its people. It was believed that the life of Philip Augustus was spared after his father, King Louis VII, prayed for his recovery from a dangerously high fever at the Shrine of Thomas Becket. Louis IX was said to have been on his death bed when he suddenly asked for a cross and then clutched it in his hands while sleeping for several hours. After awakening he seemed weak but miraculously healed, and within days he was hale and hearty.

I have found no similarly personal spiritual experiences for Louis VIII, but he did put a lot of effort into discovering new ways to make money without getting excommunicated, and he like his father and son went to battle for the Church.

It is no surprise that these men would give their full support to the building of a new and improved cathedral, especially one which would serve as a shrine for two figures as important to the Church as St. John the Baptist and St. Fermin. Kings needed to arouse both the religious convictions and patriotic sentiments of those they ruled, and to present an image of strength and  invulnerability to those they did not. The cathedral would be to their glory, as well as to Gods.

The rising prosperity of farmers and merchants and the general positivism in Picardie combined with the influx of laborers, artisans, craftsmen and tradesmen  and the support of kings  made rebuilding the cathedral seem a given despite the hardship entailed. The fact remained, however, that this would be a monumental undertaking.

Financial resources were made available, the city had a nearby quarry, and iron ore (for gates, hinges, locks, etc.) was plentiful, but it is still almost incomprehensible that men who lived in the early 13th Century managed to create such a fantastic edifice without heavy equipment and power tools, under the direction of an amateur.

Its location on the Somme River was certainly another important factor in this equation, but riverboats did not build Notre-Dame dAmiens. Historians look back upon men such as Robert Luzarches as a new breed of hero-architect who signed their buildings with pride and were prominently buried therein. (Kostof 341)  All three of the architects were master masons (Columbia University Amiens Syllabus 1) and in his relatively short life  born towards the end of the twelfth century and died in 1236  Luzarches also carved many of the cathedrals window sculptures, the larger-than-life-sized statues of the apostles and prophets, and the scenes from The Last Judgment above the main door.
Peasants would have been the general laborers who worked at the building site and in the quarry. Horses and mules were used to assist with both the transportation of stone and hoisting of stones into place, and they were often the muscle behind simple cranes powered by treadmills.

The quarry at Amiens was the first to have shelters installed so that work could continue no matter the weather and so that the dressing could be done at the quarry, saving vast sums of money on transport. Cut stone was also stored at the quarry until ready for use by masons and other craftsmen. Year-round work would have been impossible without the shelters and storage areas, and the steady supply of laborers provided by an ever-expanding population.

Even given a sufficient numbers of laborers, however, the dressing of each stone could take master craftsmen more than an hour per linear inch The amount of time required for individual artists to create thousands of extremely detailed stone sculptures and carvings would be incalculable.

The work was surely exhausting and exacting from beginning to end, and masons couldnt even begin until quarrymen had provided colossal blocks of stone cut from the earth with pick-axes. Quarry masons were required to leave their personal marks on each stone dressed so that if a stone cracked or otherwise failed during installation the mason responsible could be fined.

Excavators used manual tools to dig the hole and prepare level, stable ground for the buildings foundation. Mortar makers didnt have cement trucks. They mixed lime, water and sand in trenches and wooden troughs while carpenters built scaffolding and hundreds of laborers carried wood and mortar and stone and completed a thousand other tasks daily  working in pairs or teams and often using neck-yokes because the wheelbarrow was still a relative rarity in Europe.

Rayonnant Gothic architecture was a reaction to the difficult years preceding its advent. People were tired of suffering and want, and of dreary architecture which only reminded them of their burdens and unhappiness. The Church hastened to give the people what they want lest it risk losing its place of authority. The airiness, light, and extravagant decoration of the Rayonnant period was a backlash against the monasticism which had scorned knowledge as well as display or distraction of any kind, and which had severely limited architects of the low Middle Ages.

Gothic realism is a realism of particulars focused on specific details rather than on the overall structure of the visible world. Its most characteristic products are small-scale carvings such as the Labors of the Month in quatrefoil frames on the faade of Amiens cathedral with their delightful observations of everyday life. (Janson 464)

Although researching historical facts and technical aspects pertaining to Notre-Dame dAmiens resurrection proved extraordinarily interesting, the human components seemed far more profound. This project obviously excited the imaginations of everyone involved in even the slightest capacity, and its clear they believed they were doing something important.

Kings were thinking of their fortunes, reputations and legacies bishops had many of the same hungers as well as ambitions for the Church. John the Baptist and Saint Fermin were the luck of circumstance and Nature conspired, offering the river and bringing woad. Moreover, artists were given meaningful expression and peasants were beginning to question their lives of toil for the enrichment of others.

As I read about the huge numbers and myriad types of workers involved in this project, I couldnt stop thinking about full employment. Todays cathedrals are more often erected for Mammon (see Fig. 8), using slave labor. Was this the case for laborers at Amiens, as it was with  so many other great monuments (i.e., Mayan and Egyptian pyramids, the Sphinx, and the Great Wall of China) Were only the artisans, craftsmen, and tradesmen compensated for their work, while kings and bishops enjoyed the resulting spoils Was the rise in prosperity felt by the average peasant, too

It is difficult to imagine such an existence or such an endeavor when in todays world almost everything is done with the push of a button or accompanied by the roar of electric andor gas-fueled machinery. However with all of our advances and advantages, we build few structures as impressive and enduring as Notre-Dame dAmiens.

Hades, in the modern world means, the world of the dead. According to Norton, HADES (hdz) is the name both of the underworld and of its ruler. The Greeks also called the god Aides, Aidoneus, and Pluton, or Pluto, which means giver of wealth and refers to the gods ownership of the precious metals under the earth and the Romans usually called him Pluto, Dis (which means rich), and Orcus, which is also a name of his kingdom. Frequently confused with Pluto was Plutus, a figure that in ancient times symbolized agricultural wealth but later came to represent the wealth of money. (Norton Rushton, 1952) The Greeks and the Romans had very similar concepts of Hades with one of the main differences being the names of the deities involved in each of the myths. This paper will compare between the two concepts highlighting the similarities.

The Greek concept of Hades
In the Greek mythology, Hades was the god of the underworld, which was also known as his name. He was the son of Cronus (the father of time) and goddess Rhea (goddess of life and harvest). He had two brothers Zeus and Poseidon, and three sisters, Hera, Demeter and Hestia. (Hard, 2004) Myth has it that after the defeat of the titans by the Olympians, and the overthrow of their father, Hades drew lots with his brothers to decide on how to divide the universe amongst them. He received the underworld, which was the world of the dead, surrounded by five rivers, and the place where the dead souls found rest, as his domain. Once Hades took dominion over the underworld, he rarely left the underworld. No one was allowed access to the underworld and leave from the underworld except from a select few like Heracles. He was also known as the god of wealth because of the many precious metals in the earth. He was a pitiless and unruly but not evil.

Hades once saw Persephone, daughter of Zeus and Demeter, in a field and fell in love with her that instead of wooing her, he abducted her and took her to the underworld where he raped her and made her his wife. He did this with the help of mother earth and after scheming with his brother, Zeus, since he knew her mother would never allow of this union. The fruit of this union was the child Dionysus, a God of crisis and wild magic, with special relevance for women approaching the Mysteries. (Scott and Shemazi, 2000) Her mother seeing this, she cursed the earth with famine. On seeing this, Zeus and other immortals persuaded Hermes to convince Hades to let Persephone return to her mother since pleas to her mother were pointless. However, being intent on keeping his wife, he tricked Persephone into eating pomegranate seeds, thereby binding her to him forever. This made Hades make a deal with her mother that Persephone would spend a third of her time with her mother, another third with Zeus as his hands maid and the remaining third with her husband. The time Persephone spends with her mother, gives rise to spring since she showers the earth with rains and when Persephone returns to Hades it becomes winter as her mothers heart hardens and she send cold and winds. Deep in the Hades was Tarturus- a place where mortals who had committed worst crimes were punished and titans and other gods were imprisoned. It was guarded by a three-headed dog named Cerberus who separated the living from the dead.

Roman concept of Hades
The Romans regarded the god of the underworld and riches as Pluto or Dis Pater (ruler of the dead) or Orcus (angel of deathSlayer). He was the son of Saturn and Ops and the brother to Neptune and Jupiter. The three brothers conquered the world after their father was defeated in a fight. Pluto ruled the underworld.

Venus, in a bid to find Pluto love, sent her son Amor (cupid) to strike Pluto with one of his arrows. Proserpina, daughter of Jupiter and Ceres, was playing in the fields of Sicily with nymphs and collecting flowers when Pluto emerged from the Etna volcano with four black horses, abducted her, and married her to live with him in Hades. She became the queen of the underworld. On her search for her daughter, Ceres discovered Proserpinas belt floating on a lake of nymph tears, and she soon realized what had happened. She became angry and bestowed famine on Sicily. She refused to go back to the world of gods Olympus and toured the earth making a desert of it with every step and tear. The mortals on seeing this, prayed to Jupiter for help.

Jupiter then sent mercury to Pluto to order him to free Proserpina but by then Proserpina had eaten six pomegranate seeds binding her to him. So he made a deal with Jupiter that since she had eaten the six seeds, she was to remain with him six months of the year, the rest she could spend it above the surface. This gave rise to the four seasons of the calendar where during spring when Ceres receives her daughter, the crops and flowers blossomed and in summer, they flourished. In autumn, the flower changed colors to brown and orange as a gift to her daughter before she left for Hades. When she was with Pluto, there was winter.

Pluto was worshipped by the Romans for his kindness and he was the god of the dead, those wounded in battle and the ill.

Comparison of the Greek concept of Hades with the Romans
Both the Greek and Roman concept of Hades have the same storyline where the three brothers defeat the titans and cast lots to divide the universe amongst them. Both the Roman and Greek concept of the Hades regard this god as the ruler of the dead and the god of riches.

Both the Roman and Greek concepts of Hades give the same explanation as to why the four seasons- autumn, spring, winter and summer, came into being because of the deal made by Hades and his Wifes mother on the ownership of Persephone.

In both the Roman and Greek mythologies, Hades is referred to as the subterranean place where the souls of the dead reside and where the worst sinners and gods were imprisoned. In both no living person was allowed entry, (except for the select few like Heracles and Orpheus) and no damned soul was allowed to depart. In both, the Hades was guarded by a three-headed dog called Cerberus.

Both the Roman and Greek concepts view the union of Persephone and Hades as an act of balance in the underworld. Hades represented the dark gloomy side of the underworld and his union to Persephone struck a balance that allowed the underworld to have some brightness- she was the right soul of Hades.

Contrast of the Greek concept of Hades with the Romans
The major difference between the Greek and the Roman concept of Hades is the name of the deities involved. In the Greek mythology, the god of the underworld was known as Hades, his parents were Cronus and Rhea, brothers Zeus and Poseidon and his wife Persephone. In roman mythology, the god of the underworld was known as Pluto, his parents Saturn and Ops, his brothers Neptune and Jupiter and his wife Proserpina.

The Greek Hades was considered as harsh and merciless, deaf to and sacrifice to him were useless the only thing that prevailed upon him was Orpheus music  In his bid to restore his dead wife Eurydice. He was hated by humankind for his fierceness and anyone offering sacrifices to him had to turn his face away from him. The Roman Pluto on the other hand was regarded as a kind deity, he was worshipped by the people, and even sacrifices were made to him. He was milder than Hades and was worshipped as the god of wealth for his mild nature.

The Greek Hades was feared by men and deities alike, his name was feared and could not be uttered in daily life or on occasions. He was a life-hating god. Persephone was the one who changed his character to a beneficent and loving god who restored grains in the depths of the earth. It is said that after his radical change in character, his name was later changed to Pluto and this is the god whom Romans worship as the god of the underworld. Plutos name was not feared as such since he was a kind god.

In Greek mythology, Hades refers to the god of the underworld, the abode of this god also known as the house of Hades and the subterranean region in which the souls of the dead reside. In roman mythology, Pluto, the equivalent of Hades in Greek, referred to the god himself. The underworld was still known as Hades, and there is no mention of the name of his abode.

The Greek concept of Hades acknowledges Hades as the only ruler of the underworld alongside his queen Persephone, but the Roman mythology of Hades had three different gods of the underworld Pluto the god of riches, Dis Pater the ruler of the dead and Orcus the angel of deaththe actual slayer.
In the Greek mythology of Hades, Hades fell in love with Persephone and abducted her, taking her to the underworld to make her his queen with the help of mother earth Gaea and after scheming with his brother Zeus. In the Roman mythology, Pluto had help falling in love after he was struck by one of Cupids arrows thereby making him fall in love with Proserpina, and arranging with his brother Jupiter to have her abducted to conceal his involvement from Ceres.

The Roman mythology of Hades borrowed aspects of the Greek mythology to have its own. The Romans adapted the Greek Gods and mythologies as their own, only changing a few aspects after conquering the Hellenistic world. Pluto is said to have been worshipped by the Romans after Persephone changed Hades to a kinder being than before. Romans also use the planetary names like Neptune, Jupiter and Mercury as names of deities symbolizing that they worshipped the planetary system. The planetary system was looked at as deities by the Romans. The Greek on the other hand had separate deities from the planetary.

It is not entirely known how many pomegranate seeds Persephone took, or whether she took it on her own accord or she was tricked by Hades. In the Greek mythology, Persephone took one pomegranate seed thereby binding her to Hades, but a deal was met and it was agreed that she would spend a third of her time with her mother, another third with Zeus as his hands maid and the remaining third with her husband. In the roman mythology, she took six pomegranate seeds, though knowing eating food from the underworld would bind her there forever. A deal was worked out and time was divided between her mother and her husband.

Conclusion
In conclusion, Hades was the name referred by the Greek as the god of the underworld, his abode and the underworld itself. He was a very much disliked and hated god because of his pitilessness and harshness. People never mentioned his name for the fear they would arouse his anger. He ruled over the underworld and rarely left thereafter, he led an isolated existence, having little to do with his fellow gods or the world of the living. The roman god Pluto on the other hand was the god of wealth, owing to his name. He was kind unlike his counterpart Hades and people used to worship him and pray to him for help and success.

The Greek and roman mythologies of Hades have very many similarities since the latter borrowed the concepts of Hades from the Greek, only changing the names of the deities to the planetary systems we know of today, and certain aspects to make the roman god a kinder god as opposed to his counterpart.

Neoclassicism It is a term which defines the genre of work in the fields of science, literature, theatre, painting and other arts, all of which fall under the period between the 18th and 19th century.

Francis Bacons inductive method  Francis Bacons inductive method which is explained in his work called Novum Organum,  relies on collecting individual occurrences in nature which are particularly informative and then collating them to derive substantial knowledge.

John Wesley and Methodism  Reverend John Wesley was the founder of the philosophy called Methodism.  This philosophy stresses on the free will and personal salvation of an individual apart from understanding the Trinity concept and the divinity of Jesus.

Aristotle  Aristotle, is the famous Greek philosopher, logician, scientist, poet, writer and one of the most influential people who shaped the Western philosophy. Born in 364 BC, student of Plato and the teacher of Alexander the great, he had views on many subjects ranging from science to philosophy. Aristotles work in the various fields like science, mathematics, ethics, poetry, theatre etc, has contributed a lot to how we understand this world as of today.

Galileo Galilei  Galileo is the Italian philosopher, inventor, physicist, astronomer and mathematician born in the early 16th century.  Some of his inventions include the telescope, thermometer and the revolutionary water pump.  He discovered the rings of Saturn, was the first to view the four moons of Jupiter, and he published papers on his radical theory of heliocentric model of the solar system. He was found guilty of heresy and was subsequently jailed for publishing his heliocentric theory.

Rene Descartes- Born in the early 16th century in a small town in the south of France, Rene Descartes was one of the most influential thinkers in the human history. He is also called as the Father of Modern Philosophy.  Some of his philosophical works are Discourse on Method, Principles of Philosophy, and Meditations on First Philosophy.

Isaac Newton  Isaac Newton was the greatest English scientist of his period. He was primarily a physicist and mathematician. His accomplishments in the field of physics, mathematics and optics have laid the foundation for the scientific progress of the todays world. His prominent works are the definition of the laws of motion, universal gravitation, invention of integral calculus and so on, which are explained in two books, namely Opticks and Principia.

Geocentric universe- Geocentric model of the universe which depicted the earth as the centre of the universe and the sun, moon, stars and the other planets revolved around it , was upheld and believed by the ancient Greek philosophers.  They believed that the earth was at rest and not moving. This theory was superseded by the heliocentric model of solar system in the late 16th century.

Pierre Bayle- Pierre Bayle was a French Philosopher and writer. His prominent works include the Dictionnaire historique et critique. He advocated, in his works, the belief that one cannot integrate faith with reason.

Antoine Watteau  Jean-Antoine Watteau was a French painter who introduced a charming and graceful style in painting called the Rococo. Most of his works are influenced by the Italian comedy and ballet. Some of his renowned works are LAccord Parfait,A Pilgrimage to Cythera etc.
Alchemy and hermetic magic  Alchemy is an ancient practice of converting base metals into gold and extracting the elixir of life which is believed to make one immortal. Alchemy is part of the hermetic magic which is a study of occult sciences.

Edward Gibbons Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - The History of the Decline and fall of the Roman Empire was written by Edward Gibbon. He offers an explanation of how the Roman Empire fell, which was a difficult task, considering unavailability of proper sources.  He manages to put forward his theory by taking his ideas form a few relevant records which were available with the Roman moralists.
Three laws of planetary motion  Johannes Kepler defined the three laws of planetary motion. The first law states that The orbits of the planets are ellipses, with the Sun at one focus of the ellipse, the second law states that The line joining the planet to the Sun sweeps out equal areas in equal times as the planet travels around the ellipse and the third law states that The ratio of the squares of the revolutionary periods for two planets is equal to the ratio of the cubes of their semi major axes.

Paracelsus  Born in the late 15th century, Paracelsus was a Renaissance physicist, chemist, alchemist and botanist. He was the first to give the element zinc, its name.

Maria Winkelmann  Maria Winkelmann, was a German astronomer who discovered a new comet in the 18th century, which was named after her husband who, in fact, took credit for her work.

Blaise Pascal  Blaise Pascal, an influential French mathematician and philosopher who is well known for his invention of the first mechanical calculator, the pascaline, and has a programming language (PASCAL) named after him.

Querelles des femmes  Querelles des femmes is a French phrase which means the woman question. It was a debate over the womans rights and her role in the society.
Margaret Cavendish-   Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle and wife of William Cavendish, was a poet, philosopher and writer. She was an audacious writer and her works include an autobiography, plays, poetry, essays etc.

Immanuel Kant  Immanuel Kant the most influential philosopher in Germany in the 18th century. He has made important contributions in his book called Critique of pure reason. He emphasized on using reason along with experience to gain knowledge.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart  Mozart, the musical genius of all times, was a child prodigy.  Mozart learnt to play and compose music with the keyboard by the age of 5. He has composed a vast collection of symphonies, stage and opera works, violin concerts, piano concerts and so on.  His music was extraordinary and complex. It intrigued the people of his times as he was way ahead of his times as a composer.

Nicolaus Copernicus  Nicolaus Copernicus, a mathematician and astronomer, was the first to formulate the heliocentric theory against the traditionally believed theory of earth being the centre of the universe and all other heavenly bodies revolving around it. His theory influenced several other astronomers and scientists in and after his time and also began the Scientific Revolution.

Jean-Jacques Rousseaus The Social Contract and the general will  Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a French philosopher who introduced the political philosophy called the Social Contract. In his books on Social Contract he emphasized on direct rule developed by all individuals, instead of managing a government with a collection representatives.

Denis Diderots Encyclopedia  The French philosopher and writer, Denis Diderot was a major contributor to the Encyclopedia. The Denis Diderots Encyclopedia was the first to include the collection of facts and observations made by various contributors in the field of science and arts. It was also the first to include information on mechanical arts.

Rococo  Rococo is an art style which was introduced by Jean-Antoine Watteau, a French painter. It had the charm and grace which is associated with the aristocratic society of the 18th century. Rococo is also exhibited as an interior design style, found in ornate furniture, small sculptures, mirrors etc which pertains, again, to the 18th century period.

Plurality of Worlds Plurality of Worlds is the thesis which defines that the world which we live in is nothing but one of a plurality of worlds, and we who inhabit the world are few amongst all the inhabitants of the world.

This paper discusses the important role that Alice Paul played in the suffrage movement. The main primary sources for the paper were available from the Library of Congress, Harvard University and among National Womans Party papers at the University of Maryland site. While the Alice Paul Papers at the Harvard University are the single most important resource for this paper, they have proved to be the hardest to get since they can only be accessed by visiting the library or ordering the microfilm. Because of the difficulty faced in acquiring these resources, I relied mostly on the Library of Congress, which has made the collection available online. I also used the Alice Pauls oral history by Fry titled Conversations with Alice Paul Woman Suffrage and the Equal Rights Amendment. This in my opinion is an extremely important source in understanding Pauls motivations.

The paper is different from the works of other historians in that it focuses on Alice Pauls unique role in getting the Nineteenth Amendment. The paper argues that it was Pauls shrewd use of the electronic media and the propaganda she created which helped change the public opinion in her favor. Paul was so shrewd in the way she exploited the popular media that even her sufferings in the prison were highlighted to influence public opinion. The paper will carefully chart the course of Pauls life to understand why and how she developed into the militant suffragist leader and why her contributions were more important than those other suffragists.

1. With which account of how a scholar became a historian did you most identify Why
As I read through the various accounts of how the scholars became historians, the one story which I most identified with was that of Gordon H. Chang from Stanford University. Just like him, as a child I found history a boring subject and could not understand how learning the about the dead could in anyway help me in my life. But as I grew up and became more aware of the world around me, I realized that how people behave is determined by their past and this past can go back several generations. Soon I realized that the societys behavior depends on the societys past, or what we may call history. This realization, for the first time in my life, drew me to studying history. I realized that a number of things that we take for granted today are only possible because somebody in the past struggled hard to make it possible. The realization the actions of people who lived before me directly impacts my life, has also made me more responsible, since my actions and the actions of our society will have a direct impact on the lives of future generations. The study of the past has a direct impact on the future has shaped and this realization got me interested in studying history.

2. How has your conception of what history is and how historians work changed (or been maintained) over the course of this semester Provide examples to illustrate your answer.
At the start of this semester, I had thought that a historians work is simply to find out about the past and report it accurately. I thought that a historians work required carrying out intensive research so as to find out about the past. During the course of the semester, I have realized that no matter how hard a historian tries, he can never accurately find out exactly how people in the past lived and behaved and their motivations will always remain a mystery. Hence, a historians work is not only to find out about the past but also interpret it so as to get a better understanding of the past. For example, it is not enough to know American women got voting rights in 1920. Once we realize that President Wilson was initially against suffrage, we need to dig further and try and find out the causes which led to his change of heart and this would require an interpretation of the times in which he lived and the forces acting upon him.

The Second World War was the deadliest war ever fought in human history. So many people died during the war that more than sixty years later and even after numerous studies, no one has been able to say for sure exactly how many lives were lost to the War between 1939 and 1945. An accurate estimation becomes even more difficult because a huge number of people did not die in the actual battlefield but due to disease and epidemic. The biggest irony of World War II was that it killed more innocent civilians than the soldiers on the frontline. While exact number of casualties remains a mystery, various estimates put the total number of dead at somewhere around 60 million, with another 30 million wounded. Yet another casualty of the War was the millions of people displaced, which some estimates put at around 20 million.

The Second World War caused huge destructions on both sides and the War spared nobody. The biggest casualty was the European Jews who were systematically exterminated in German concentration camps. Most historians agree that around six million Jews were killed during the holocaust. However, Jews were not the only victims of the holocaust. Another six million non-Jews were also killed in the concentration camps. The German army also killed over 2 million civilians in Russia and Poland between 1939 and 1943 in military operations when German forces killed resistors, local leaders, hostages and bystanders.

Russia, by far, suffered the largest human toll in the number of dead and wounded, both civilian and military. Various estimates put the number of military deaths in the USSR anywhere between 7 and 13 million, with another 7 million civilian deaths. Poland, on the other hand, suffered the maximum number of casualties as a percentage of its pre-war population. Of the 34 million pre-War population, over 6 million Polish people died in the war and another 10 million fled the country. Of those who fled Poland, many later died in German concentration camps. China suffered the second highest human casualty during the War as at least 10 million Chinese were killed by the Japanese occupying forces. Other Allied countries who suffered great human losses included Yugoslavia, Greece, Austria, Romania, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Netherlands. In Netherlands, while around 200,000 people died due to German bombing, another 16,000 died due to starvation during the 1944-45 winter, when they were under German occupation. Such examples of deaths due to famine, disease, starvation etc during the war, make it even more difficult to accurately estimate the real human cost of the Second World War.

During the later part of World War II, as the Axis armies began to lose, it resulted in huge human losses to Axis countries. During the last two years, the Soviet Army took revenge on the Germans and killed at least 1.5 million German civilians. Germany also lost about 4 million men to military deaths. Japans military deaths were around 2 million and there were another 200,000 casualties in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

While these numbers are huge, the statistics do not capture the real human cost of the Second World War. The loss of family, friends, neighborhoods and country cannot be represented in numbers. Many soldiers left there homes as healthy individuals but returned without a limb or suffering from serious diseases. And the lifelong psychological impact of the war can never be expressed in words, much less through numbers. The real human cost of the Second World War can never really be accurately estimated.