In the 11^th, 12^th and 13^th centuries Christians from various parts of medieval Europe took part in what is known as the Crusades. By order of the Pope, these Christens gathered their armies and fought to retake Jerusalem a.k.a. “the Holy Land” from the rule of the Muslim peoples. When we hear of the word Crusade today, we almost always identify it as this Holy War, however, there are often times when crusade is used as a word to describe other events throughout history. These events are about the same magnitude in terms of size and impact on history as the original Christian Crusades. In the last century, arguably the single most impactful event of recent history that can in some ways be identified as a crusade was World War Two.

With over fifty countries taking part and over 65 million people killed, World War Two was the deadliest conflict in human history. The sheer magnitude of the conflict is defiantly on par, if not greater than that of the original Christian Crusades. The war involved an axis power comprised of mainly Germany, Italy, and the Empire of Japan, that intended on taking over and inflicting tyranny upon the entire world. It was up to the allied powers to come together and defeat the axis in order to save the world from domination. When the war had started, the Nazi war machine took over almost all of Europe within the first couple years leaving essentially the British isolated, and one of the only forces capable of fighting the Nazi’s on Europe’s western front. It wasn’t until 1941 however when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, that the United States officially joined the war effort and brought in much needed reinforcements to Europe and the Pacific Islands. The allied forces however, needed to devise a plan on how they would successfully get troops into mainland or “fortress Europe” to liberate once and for all, Europe from Nazi rule. It was General Dwight D. Eisenhower of the United States Army who helped to devise a plan to launch an amphibious assault through land, air, and sea, on the beaches of Normandy and begin the liberation of Europe by force. It was also General Dwight D. Eisenhower who spearheaded the assault known as “D-Day” and motivated his men by issuing a speech that dubbed the eventual liberation as “the Great Crusade”.

General Eisenhower was justified in calling the liberation of Europe “the Great Crusade” because it was in many ways similar to the original Crusades in that, a group of nations combined to fight against and liberate a foreign land from an evil force (or other nation power). Much like in the 11^th, 12^th, and 13^th centuries, “the eyes of the world” were upon the allied (crusading) forces as human history rested in the balance. On the morning of June 6^th 1944 American and allied forces were in fact embarking on a “Great Crusade” to liberate Europe from Nazi rule much like how the medieval  Christian forces embarked on a crusade to liberate Jerusalem from Muslim rule.

-Jacob Ramos

Modern Crusaders

Word count: 513

The mind of George Lucas is a brilliant one, but he sure didn’t completely make up the underlying story of his Star Wars films. Being a huge Star Wars fan as a kid, I have seen many similarities between the films and the history of different civilizations that I have learned about in class. Sure, from the Prequels to the end of the original saga, the story is set up to follow the lives of a young Jedi Anakin Skywalker who later goes down the rabbit hole, converts to the dark side and becomes a powerful Sith lord, and has a son Luke Skywalker who eventually becomes a Jedi himself and saves the galaxy from his father’s rule, but it story of the two political systems that collide and eventually give in to the other, that most closely represents history and what gets me thinking, George Lucas stole the idea of a Republic and an Empire from the Romans.

The prequel films served a purpose of not only introducing the eventual Darth Vader in Anakin Skywalker, but also showcasing the Republic that governs over the galaxy. This Republic in many ways resembles the Roman Republic which began around 509 B.C.E. There were a couple scenes in particular that most closely represented the Roman Republic. In the third prequel, “Revenge of the Sith”, there is a scene where there is a council meeting in a large auditorium filled with government officials and representatives from different parts of the galaxy. This closely represents the council meetings that would take place in Rome with officials elected by the people of Rome. The other scene or really plot twist in Revenge of the Sith that caught my attention was when Chancellor Palpatine reveals his true plan of taking over the Republic for the Sith and establishing an empire to rule the galaxy. Sounds a lot like Julius Caesar to me. Like Palpatine, Julius Caesar was already an established figure in the Roman Republic, but Caesar wanted more and more power and territory eventually establishing the Roman Empire.

In original trilogy, the “Empire” closely resembles the Roman Empire as they enforce their rule across the galaxy much like how Rome had a dominant rule over a large part of the civilized world at the time. This rule by the empire is eventually ended by the “Rebels” (aka. Barbarians and everyone else who wanted a taste of Roman blood).

The next time you watch the SciFi classic, take a moment to look at it as if the “Republic” and the “Empire” were the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. It’ll be clear that George Lucas isn’t as clever as you might think.

-Jacob Ramos

Word Count: 446

If we look back to the golden age of Athens and its democracy, we can see that there is a clear difference between the way they conducted their business and the way that we conduct ours today. A lot has changed in the roughly 2,500 years since Athens was at the height of its democracy. Humanity experienced countless wars and conflicts, technology advanced exponentially, and society, as well as the views and values of everyday people, has evolved into what we have today. This evolution of society is at the very foundation of the most significant difference between the American system of democracy and the Athenian system of democracy, equal representation of all classes and all types of people in government.

It’s no secret that Athens was ran by the wealthy upper class (Oligarchs) for most, if not all of its lifespan. But it was the working class and slaves of Greece that helped to literally build Athens with their bare hands. These people did not get their share of equal representation as they were essentially barred from participating in the Athenian assembly because of their social class or even because they were a woman. Members of the assembly were often against the idea of affording these kinds of people representation because they couldn’t stand to see power in the hands of the ‘uneducated’ and ‘uncivilized’ mob of the underclass (or women). Although there were later reforms in the democracy to include the voices of other members of society at the assembly’s, there was still a resentment to letting the general public take over the highest form of government in Athens.

Fast forward to 2018, our American democracy clearly has major differences in the department of representation. We live in a society that is built upon the premise that we are all equal and that values the opinions of others no matter who they are. Our constitution outlines that all members of American society regardless of race, gender, or social class are ensured equal representation and voting rights. Mind you, it did take America some time to get to this point in our democracy today. But we have reached a point to where unlike the Athenian democracy, we give an opportunity for every American to be heard and for every American to participate whether it be through casting a ballot, or meeting with their local congressman, in our great American democracy.

References-

http://www.stoa.org/projects/demos/article_democracy_overview?page=all