Napoleon Bonaparte

Napoleon Bonaparte is one of the people who I admire the most in the world, not only as a leader of men, but also as a man devoted to his family. This admiration does not just stem from the fact that he is one of the greatest men to have ever lived in the Western world, but it also comes from the way he conducted himself throughout his life. Napoleon was indeed a unique man, who rose from extremely humble origins and became the emperor of the most powerful nation in Europe at the time. His life has been the subject of numerous literatures, with some writers supporting his deeds while others have condemned them. Despite these disagreements about Napoleon, one thing, which all writers agree upon, is that he was indeed an extraordinary man. Most historians consider Napoleon to have been one of, if not the foremost, military general in world history. Within a few years after becoming the French emperor, he had brought most of continental Europe under his rule. Furthermore, he had created a unique system of government, the like of which had never been seen in Europe. For the first time in the years after the French Revolution, the Catholic Church returned to France under his guidance. In addition, Napoleon was a man unique in his time because of the immense love he had for his family. He was also a man who was not afraid to take any path to satisfy his ambitions. It is because of all these distinctiveness and a lot more, which make him the person I have a high regard for.

Napoleon was born in the town of Ajaccio in Corsica, in 1769, to a local Corsican minor nobleman, and his birth coincided with the time when the French were trying to enforce their rule on Corsica, an island which had recently been ceded to them by an Italian ruler. Napoleon was born just a year after the French had acquired Corsica, and this occurrence ensured that he was born a French national. This ensured that while he was growing up, he did not share the same resentment as older Corsicans did towards what was locally termed as a French occupation. Instead, napoleon grew up with a great admiration for the French, something which would eventually guide him towards the path of becoming their ruler. Because his father had collaborated with the French from the early days of the occupation, he was given a particularly powerful position in the government of Ajaccio. This ensured that his family remained well off, and because of the influence his office carried, two of his sons, Joseph and Napoleon, were sent to the prestigious College d’Autun in France, where they were to be educated. It is thus that Napoleon came to France for the first time; little knowing that he would one day come to rule this country. His father passed away while he was still at a military college, and he was forced to act as the head of his family, despite his being a younger son. This was because his older brother, Joseph, was exceedingly incompetent and tended not to take his responsibilities seriously. This is one of the characteristics displayed by Napoleon that are most admirable. He was not afraid to take up responsibility, no matter how hard they seemed to be at first.

It was soon after he left the military college that he and his family permanently relocated to France, where Napoleon’s career would begin in earnest. For a person so young, he showed his ambitions early by joining a political group soon after relocating to France. Furthermore, he took up military service in the French army which was based in Nice. The tumultuous events, which were taking place in France during this time, gave Napoleon the opportunity to satisfy his ambitions. He got his first successful break when he saved the government of the time from a coup attempt by a rival group. This act ensured that he got the attention of the committee which ruled France at the time, who promoted him to the position of commander in the army. His new found influence earned him the command of the French army in Italy; a position, which he had coveted. This is where his martial ability came to be exhibited for the first time. When he was given command, he found the men to be disgruntled and underfed. His charismatic nature and organizational and military brilliance soon changed that as this became the best wing of the French military. Not only was there a complete turnaround in the men’s morale, Napoleon managed to gain victories over the Austrians which were crucial to the French cause. These actions vastly enhanced his image in France, and when he returned, he was a national hero. With his return to France, Napoleon truly started his political career.

This man’s political genius can be seen through his actions after his return to France from the war in Italy. He made what one could term a political marriage to one of the most famous women in France at the time, Josephine de Beauharnais. This turned out to be a tremendously popular marriage in the country, and it further enhanced Napoleon’s image as the national hero. Within a few years, Napoleon came to gain power in France, as one of the three men who ruled the country. His political genius then came into play as he had the constitution revised, making him the most powerful man in the country. This new power enabled him to have the authority to appoint all the people who were to occupy strategic positions. With Napoleon’s rise to power, it can be said that the French Revolution officially came to an end. His actions show that he was indeed a child of the revolution, as he used to say. He swiftly reformed all the crucial sectors in the government, making them more efficient than they had ever been before. Reforms were carried out in such sectors as the economy, the judicial system, as well as the education system. Napoleon’s greatness can further be seen when he restored those basic freedoms which the French people had been denied. One of these freedoms was the freedom of religion, which Napoleon reinstated by inviting the Catholic Church back to France. However, he did not give the Church the absolute authority it once had, and instead, its activities were placed under the supervision of the state. This ensured that the Church did not abuse its powers as it had done previously.

One of the most admirable things about Napoleon is his dedication to his family. When he rose to greatness, he made sure that members of his family also shared in it. He was exceedingly generous to them, often giving his siblings powerful positions in his empire. In fact, all of his siblings, except one, became monarchs of various parts of the continent during his rule. Even Joseph, the brother who had abandoned his responsibility as the oldest son, was made a king of Spain. This just shows the true nature of Napoleon; he was a loving man who did not hold grudges. Napoleon had one known illegitimate son, Alexandre Walewski, whose mother was a Polish noblewoman. While many men in that period tended to ignore their illegitimate children, Napoleon recognized his son and took responsibility for him. This can be said to be an example of his loving and caring nature. Despite the many wars which took place under his rule, the French people did surprisingly well. Their government was for the first time highly efficient, and the bureaucracy whom Napoleon had put in place worked far better than previous governments. It is because of all these achievements, made by a man from such humble origins, that I consider Napoleon to be one of the greatest and most admirable, men in history.

Taboos and their relevance in society

Taboos have existed in all the cultures in the world for thousands of years and they can be considered to be as old as man has practiced culture. There exist taboos for a very wide range of things and all of these depend on the culture within which it is put in practice. Examples of these are food taboos, taboos on topics to discuss and which not to, sexual relations among many others. Different cultures have different taboos which are strictly observed and it is indeed a very rare thing for a person to break the taboos of the culture within which one was raised. The taboos of various cultures are mostly linked to the environment within which they live, the influences from other cultures, and most of all, from their history. These taboos are learned by the people who practice these cultures from a very young age and in fact, they are learned at almost the same time as they learn their language. Taboos therefore become a part of a person’s state of mind and it is an integral part of their growing up process and due to this, it remains with them for the rest of their lives. In some cultures, if a person breaks a taboo, punishment can be very severe and these tend to be shunned by the rest of their society and at times even banished or killed. Taboos are an important part of our culture and even if they are discarded by people who practice them, it is inevitable that other taboos will come up to replace the discarded ones.

It has been said that incest and patricide are the most universal taboos and that these are the basis upon which human societies are founded. Although these and many other taboos are universal in a majority of cultures and societies, it has been found that no taboo is completely universal and that there are exceptions in certain societies. The most common taboos in many societies are restrictions against killing fellow human beings, sexual relationships such s incest and bestiality, the killing of unborn children, cannibalism and the most common of all, dietary laws. Taboos have also come to affect language because every society has certain words which are deemed inappropriate to talk about and those who use such words are often looked upon with disapproval. This has resulted in people using euphemisms and other words to replace taboo words in their speech. Taboos serve many functions and they have a tendency of remaining in effect in their respective cultures long after the original reason for their enforcement has been forgotten by those who practice them. It has been argued that taboos can be used to reveal the history of those societies which have no existing written records and many have tried to relate taboos to the ecologic and economic conditions which prevail in those societies which practice them. These attempts have rarely achieved any meaningful results because it is very difficult to determine the origin of a taboo when even those who practice it do not know anything about it. The result of this is that all conclusions end up to be just mere speculation because there are no facts to them up.

The rise of rationalism and the sciences have reduced the power of many taboos in modern cultures and today, it is a very common thing for people to discuss subjects such as sexuality which were previously considered to be taboo. The increased understanding brought about by rationalism has made certain medical disorders which had been previously considered to be taboo to be treated more analytically and this has ensured that such conditions are well managed and that those affected live a normal life. However, this change in the perception of old taboos is also very ripe ground for the breeding of new taboos. The end of such things as slavery, the prohibition of alcohol, and the acceptance of homosexual relationships have forced many to employ euphemisms which are politically correct. This has been done to ensure that all forms of open discrimination through language are avoided although this has at times proven to be unsuccessful. Modern culture has also raised a great debate on the previously taboo subject of incest with some seeking for the normalization of all consensual adult relationships despite the degree of blood relationship while others have made it harder for such things to happen by setting up laws restricting such relationships. New taboos have come up today due to the fact that many societies feel the need to remedy the effect that injustice has had on modern society such as neocolonialism. Taboos have been established when discussing such matters as race, ethnicity, and even nationalism because these are perceived to be very sensitive issues which should be carefully handled to avoid conflict between the concerned parties.

The history of taboos in the West is quite a long one and as a conclusion, we shall look at some examples of these. In Ancient Greece, adultery was a very serious taboo whose punishment if caught, was death either through starvation or by being dragged to death by horses. In medieval Europe, sex was not considered to be for pleasure and instead, it was only reserved for procreation; this meant that premarital sex was a criminal offense which was often punishable by death. Homosexual activity of any kind in medieval Europe was looked down upon and those caught were either heavily fined or imprisoned. It was taboo, especially in the North American colonies until recently, for there to be marriages between people from different races and laws were put in place to enforce this taboo. In the modern world, the mainstream society has tended to discriminate against those who undergo sex change operations and this is still a very controversial topic to this day. These people have become a new taboo in the society and it will likely be a very long time before they come to be accepted by the mainstream. 

Were Atrocities Committed in Vietnam?

The United States throughout its history has gone to war starting with its war of independence until most recently, the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. In most of the wars that it has been involved in, there have been claims that the United States military has committed atrocities against the civilian populations of the countries it has invaded. The reports of such atrocities have been reported during the following instances: the Philippine-American war; the Second World War; the Korean War; the Vietnam War; in Yugoslavia in 1999; and finally, during the War on Terror. In this paper, we shall discuss some American atrocities committed during the Vietnam War with specific emphasis on the crimes committed against the noncombat civilian population within Vietnam.

Atrocities such as the killing of noncombat civilians or the torture of prisoners occur in all wars but that it became a particular issue in the Vietnam War. Violence against the civilians of Vietnam by the American military was an intentional act of war and they acted with indifference to the destruction of noncombatants and to that of their property. Most of the military commanders of the United States were aware of the laws governing ground warfare that had been established by various international agreements but atrocities were still committed by some American soldiers and officers. Throughout the entire war, only two hundred and seventy eight soldiers and marines were convicted of murder, rape, and other violent crimes by the military justice system but many more incidents went unpunished or were not even reported. The policy of heavy bombing by in South Vietnam with high explosives and napalm by American forces to support ground operations in and around villages and the widespread use of artillery for the same purpose generated many accidental civilian casualties.

The United States military used herbicides and defoliants as part of its herbicidal warfare in Vietnam, and one of these, known as Agent Orange, was used extensively from 1961 to 1971 in South Vietnam and in portions of North Vietnam. At the time the herbicides were being used, there was little consideration within the American military about the potential long term effects of the widespread use of Agent Orange towards the Vietnamese population. It is further unclear exactly where in Vietnam the Agent Orange herbicides were sprayed and the amount sprayed at each location and this has ensured that virtually every aspect of the effects of this herbicide in Vietnam is infused with uncertainty. These herbicides were used on the crops of the Vietnamese civilians so that the crops could die causing mass starvation. The American army commanders mistakenly believed that starvation would force the Vietnamese population to support the American backed South Vietnamese regime but this turned out to be counterproductive because instead the people lost all confidence in the southern government and secretly supported the North. Another major result of the use of these herbicides was the mass starvation that occurred after their use and a lot of the civilian population, which had nothing to do with the war, died in the resulting famine.

It was the fear, anger, and incentive for promotion or commendation for a high body count (which was a requirement by the military at the time) that led the American soldiers to an over application of their weaponry which constituted atrocities against the civilian population. Individual Vietnamese and sometimes even entire villages could be killed because they were suspected of being the enemy or in certain incidents; they were simply killed just because they got in the way. The Vietnam war, with its tactical use of high altitude bombing and artillery fire, and the search and destroy missions resulted in mass killings. These weapons were used indiscriminately by the American military and in the process many civilians were killed accidentally. The number of these accidental killings may border in the tens of thousands because there were no statistics, whether private or official, at the time to show their extent. Furthermore, while platoons were on missions, their leaders rarely restrained them from committing such acts as would be deemed atrocities in normal human societies. One of the major and most notable of these incidents, due to the high media attention it gained, was the My Lai massacre of 1968.

The My Lai massacre in Vietnam was the mass murder of between three hundred and five hundred Vietnamese civilians in the village of Son My by American soldiers during the Vietnam War. Most of the victims of this massacre were women, children and the elderly and when investigations were carried out, some of the bodies were found to have been mutilated and many of the women had been raped preceding the killings. When news of this massacre first came to light, the army tried to deflect any concern about it by blaming it on the South Vietnamese military. This incident prompted global outrage when it became public and it increase the domestic opposition for the United State’s involvement in Vietnam. The My Lai massacre had numerous complex causes which included psychological stress on the soldiers, poor unit leadership, bad intelligence, and an overall American strategy that put more emphasis on killing than on protecting the people. The American strategy of having body counts to show their progress in their progress in the war was very detrimental to the lives of the Vietnamese civilians because they could not be differentiated from the North Vietnamese soldiers who also wore peasant clothing. This led to the American soldiers’ killing of random Vietnamese civilians on suspicion that they were enemy forces. Some soldiers, bent on having a higher body count in order to establish their reputations within the military ranks, wantonly killed Vietnamese civilians in order to raise their counts.

By its nature, atrocity defies rationality, marking the limits of understanding and he uses this to explain what happened in Vietnam. The order to kill anything that moves caused many American soldiers to commit vast and unthinkable atrocities in Vietnam. American platoons had a tendency of waylaying civilians, raping the women among them, and at times murdered them in cold blood. In certain instances, if the American soldiers did not find anybody to fight in the various villages across the countryside of Vietnam, they would instead indulge themselves by raping, torturing, and murdering the hundreds of civilians living within such villages. Most of these cases went unreported because the people of Vietnam at the time did not have did not have any legal authority they could turn to for justice because they were in the middle of a war and furthermore, the government which claimed to represent them (South Vietnam) had allied itself with a foreign power in order to maintain its authority. In fact, the South Vietnamese government actively supported the American involvement in Vietnam despite the fact that atrocities were being committed against its civilian population.

America committed genocide in Vietnam and admits that individual atrocities and war crimes did occur in that country. One would agree with Sevy’s opinion because of the statistics showing the American military casualties of the war. It is said that about fifty eight thousand United States soldiers died in the Vietnamese war and this was despite their having a weapons technology that was far superior to that of their opponents. Now that it has been determined that the Americans had superior weapons, we should now the casualties in the Vietnamese side. If the American lost nearly sixty thousand soldiers despite their superior weapons, it is only logical to assume that the Vietnamese lost many times more that number in armed forces and that would be without counting the civilian casualties of this war. The random killings that were committed by all the armed forces involved in this conflict may put the number of civilian casualties in the millions. It is my suggestion that if the Americans had not involved themselves in the war in the first place, then it would have come to a swift end much sooner than it did.

The American atrocities in Vietnam are real and that they happened on a much grander scale than have been reported. It is up to the United States government to recognize and acknowledge these atrocities and not only do so, but also apologize to the people of Vietnam for committing them. If the American government would do this, then there would definitely be an improvement in the relations between America and Vietnam which would bring them even closer than they are today. Furthermore, America would earn global respect for owning up to its failures and because of this new found respect; America would be able to retain its hegemony over the world with the good will of all the nations of the world. This would be to its advantage especially considering that new world powers, such as China, Russia, and Brazil, are rising to challenge America’s authority as the only world superpower.