Essay on History of Independence

Abstract

Throughout civilization, the world has undergone various events. Countries in the world became colonies. Another event that characterized Europe and the world was the influences of World War I and II. This paper emphasizes on the influence colonial masters had on their subjects. It further emphasizes on world war I and its players.

Haiti Independence

The independence of the people of Haiti began in the year 1804. It was during this year that the country declared its independence from France. At this moment, the country declares its independence with a plea to free every citizen from the bondage of slavery. The commander in chief of that country that expelled the colony states that, it is not enough to have expelled the colonial master. Much has to be done to ensure the country attains maximum independence. The people of Haiti had for century’s undergone colonial rule. During the period most of its citizens attest to being humiliated. It is a fact that the people of the country did not like their colonial masters and this mistreatment led them to revolt.

The struggle for independence for this people came with several challenges. It was not an easy task for all since many soldiers of the war lie dead. Families had to lose their loved ones and the act of their colony still lingers in their memories. The general in his Independence Day speech literates that there are different aspects in the current regime that still remind one of French occupation. These aspects include laws of the land, culture and habits of the people and the structure of towns.

During this Independence Day, the mood is that of joy, but the general warns citizens of falling back to habits of their colonial masters. The general’s comment to the people of Haiti is to maintain the spirit of association, collaboration and unity. In his speech, he further states that the country needs to live peacefully with its neighbors. His remarks states that the country needs to develop its own policies laws and procedures. This therefore led to the development of the constitution of Haiti.

The first constitution of Haiti came in the year 1801. It was during this period that Governor General Toussaint sent a letter to Napoleon Bonaparte accompanied by the constitution. From the Generals sentiments during the Independence Day, one is able to understand his sentiments on the use of French laws on the citizens of Haiti despite independence. The constitution that was promulgated in the year 1801 has various chapters and tittles. The first of its chapter concentrates on territory. Details from the constitution indicate that almost the entire land of Haiti is under French territory.

The whole region of La Tortue, La Gonave and other regions was under rule of France and governed under particular laws. The divisions of these territories are districts. Where slaves do not exist and every man is eligible for employment despite his color race or other variables. The constitution moreover illustrates that there will be no distinction of persons. Such distinction may only come from talent virtue and other qualities of individuals. The constitution concentrates on other virtues of the people of Haiti.

It dwells on religion, where the constitution gives people the right to profess apostolic, roman and Catholic faith. In respect to marriage, the constitution states that there will be no divorce within the colony. This constitution provides guarantees for the security and freedoms of an individual. It also dwells on commerce and cultures of the people of Haiti where farmers, manufactures and other agents of commerce rights are protected. The constitution moreover lays emphasis on the legislature, system of governance, the Armed forces, municipal Administrators finances and other general dispositions.

Revolution

Revolution and war in past ages perhaps have impacts on today’s society. During those days, wars took place in trenches. The strategy of these wars was to lay foray in foreign the land, lay booby traps and using fixed machine gun, a soldier could destroy an entire unit of the enemy. In such wars like those that the one fought in Somme in 1916, many men lost their lives. These wars did not have rules of engagement as it is in modern warfare. This therefore meant that soldiers would attack enemies with the intention of killing them. With respect to the war at Somme, we can see that the Germans fighting French in their fortress did not want to take control of the fortress but to kill every soldier. This then meant that they had to use all manner of force on the enemy. The result was over 600, 000 soldiers on both sides died.

Revolutionary struggles in the world have been through war. It was through war that the many counties had their independence. In this struggles, many lives is lost, property lost and lives shuttered psychologically. In such incidences, we always hear the statistics of the dead and the progress of the war. What we miss to hear is the experiences of soldiers, families and leaders in respect to the war. This information would be necessary in understanding personal feelings of these soldiers. A narration from the battle at Somme from a French soldiers view starts with his narrating their war plan. He says that they were well prepared to attack German positions and had their directions right. From the maps they had and the direction of the local people, they knew how to attack these positions.

However, they did not anticipate the Germans to have held their strongest position at their weakest point. He states that they were just shelled by the Germans intensely. The soldier narrates as to how his friend was killed with an explosion when he tried to communicate with his team. What we miss to hear in these events of the war is how individuals feel; when their colleagues die, or just that experience of machine guns roaring and bombs exploding. In the battle of Somme, the French battalion faced many hurdles.

Many of their men died in trenches. It was normal to see men of one’s unit die under heavy machine gun fire. Men got blown off by shells. Days after the war soldiers had to bury their colleagues in shallow graves or at times throw their bodies in craters. The battlefield was littered with bodies of fallen soldiers. Survivors of these wars bear bullet marks as well as psychological marks. In the battle of Somme as well as other wars, young soldiers experience did not correlate with that of older soldiers. Older soldiers of the trenches felt that their death is worth while their younger colleagues felt confused of these events. However, such war tactics are outdated with new world policies and laws on war.

Age of Reform

Reform and new world powers have ended the colonialism perhaps forever. For those countries that were under colonial rule are now free of their masters’ laws, acts and burdens. The probability of self-rule had been seen from a distance. Their colonial masters left most of these countries after the end of World War II. After the war various agents of reforms came with laws and structures that would see an end to colonial rule and oppression in colony countries. The colonial masters subjected their subjects to humiliating acts (Cooper, Frederick, and Stoler 243-246). The question one would wish answered is how the subjects treated their former masters after the end of oppression. After the fall of colonial rule, the colonial masters were treated with hate.

Europeans treatment in these regions where they previously had power was that of hate and distaste. At some instances, such individuals were jeered in the streets. However, during the colonial rule one could see the dirty works colonial masters did to their subjects. The dirty works of the empire was evident on the faces of its subjects. One could see prisoners held up in deplorable cells, others flogged with bamboo. The influence of imperialism was about to end and a new age of self-rule emerge. The subjects in this regions did not like settlers but settlers knew the best way to deal with such individuals was to carry riffles. This influenced the perception of their subjects. It meant that, as a subject one had to follow rules or die from the gun. Just like the elephant workers in the East the natives of the regions were harmless people. However, one would wonder why colonial masters like Britain would insist its citizens carry guns (Cooper et al 243-246). The problem with this age was that subjects had little knowledge on guns.

It was usual at the time to see individuals following a British with his gun just to see him perform magic. Guns were as wands for performing magic. The use of guns and the use of oppressive technique on the subject meant that the colonial masters had an upper hand. However, this had to change; natives started being intelligent, other felt that these masters need to leave their countries. With such sentiments, it was obvious that revolution and reforms was emerging from the horizon.

World war experiences made soldiers and policy makers think otherwise. For platoon members in the World War I their trenches would carry their memories until eternity. After the war, secrets of their trenches need forgetting. Their experiences of the war are deep within their hearts. One should not look at their photographs in combat gear with steel helmets and state that they were a happy lot. Perhaps a soldier of this time would be the first person to wish the war ended as people would otherwise think. These trenches were full of blood and lives put to waste.

Even the most hardest of soldiers would have the feeling that the war had nothing important to civilization. The war came with much causality to both sides. It also led to the development of war technologies that would see the world change its policies on war forever. It was during this period that armies developed powerful weapons. The invention of machine guns and chemical weapons came during the era. Soldiers and citizens got the psychological effect of the war. One would see bodies of soldier scattered all over the place. Soldiers during their matches would see fractured bodies, body parts scattered on the grounds and craters. It was a moment of survival therefore there was no need to even cover these bodies with soil.

Revolution of trade unionism

Perhaps revolution struggles was the only strategy to freedom. It does not matter what the course of the struggle was but if it towards freedom then revolution is the name. The revolution would have socialist ideologies. This then led to terms like trade unionism, which fights for the rights of workers. Another eventuality is the emergence of democracy principles. The purpose of trade unionism is the enslavement of the working class. Democratic principles lead to the subordination of ideologies. The combination of both principles would see the emergence of social democracy. This relates to the existence of political liberty where an individual’s perception is not restricted to his status or class. Workers are now able to fight for their rights using trade unions. Workers therefore need to be in an organization first, the second aspect of these unions is that they need to be as broad as possible. The other quality relates to trade unions autonomy (Cooper et al 247). These unions need to have their own ideologies as well as systems of representations. There are countries where such unions do not work. This therefore means that there is the need to have revolutionaries. These organizations of revolutionaries functions with a head. The head of the movement needs to be a professional. This individual needs to an intellectual and a true social democrat professional. On the other hand, such an organization need to have extensive networks and secretive as possible.

The use of professionals in these revolutionary organizations, is to maintain continuity and maintain stable organizations. It is important that these individual must dedicate their professional work to the needs of the organization. In order to meet the needs of the organization, these organizations need to remain secret. Their functions and sensitive tasks need to be under the hand of few professionals. The police and government agents would try to disrupt functions of the organizations. However, with the use of centralized structure of the organization, structure of formation and the use of secrets, police actions should not destroy such organizations.

Fascist Doctrine Mussolini

Benito Mussolini took part in World War I. As a son of a blacksmith in Italy in the year (1883-1945), Mussolini got educated as a political journalist. His career came with his family sacrificing a lot in terms of finance. The man had great talent in journalism and this led to his advancement to the position of editor for a socialist newspapers office in Rome. It was during his tenure in the office that the World War I broke. Mussolini joined the war as a soldier and this experience made him learn new skills. It was also in the army that the leader of the Fascist movement got lessons on how to manage soldiers. After the world war, Mussolini formulated his Fascist party and it is evident that his philosophies inspired Adolf Hitler and other leaders in the region (Cooper et al 268-270).

The fundamental ideas of the Fascist party as developed by Mussolini had its own concept. The concept of this movement stress on the importance of the state and that individual’s interest should coincide with that of the state. Fascism principles stand for the expression of the will of the people in a conscious manner. Therefore, the principle states that individual’s liberty and the state needs not treat people as dummies (Cooper et al 268-270). The other fundamental principle of this ideology is that no cultural, religious or social units exist in the country except under direct rule of the state. Fascism on the other end opposes trade unionism, socialism.

However, recent developmental studies ascertain that Fascism is a regime rather than a doctrine. The doctrine further denies the human factor in the society. It is therefore prudent to note that democratic societies are under the delusion that they are exercising their sovereignty. This is not the fact since most of these nations have leaders who are kings. The leaders may be dictators or event cruel tyrants. Therefore, by Fascism regimes rejecting democracy, they reject those conventional lies of collective responsibility and equality.

Adolf Hitler Mein Kampf

Adolf Hitler was one of the greatest dictators in western history. Hitler’s life began with him undertaking an unsuccessful career in arts under the influence of his parents. As a young man Hitler escaped to Austria in order to avoid recruitment into the German army during world war I. however while in that country, he got into war fever and eventually entered the ranks of the army. According to his biography, it seems that war made him a happy man. After their defeat, he came back and joined the national socialist party. Adolf was a socialist and a racist in equal manner. His war tactics and activities showed to the world the dark side of humanity. His hatred for the Jewish community led to massive deaths. In his article “Mein Kampf” Hitler relays his philosophy as well as his ideas and racist statements(Cooper et al 273-276).

Winston Churchill Speeches

Winston Churchill influence on the globe has tremendous benefits as well as negative repercussions on humanity. Churchill was a writer, an artist, journalist and a historian. In his lifetime, he was able to be a prime minister of England. He worked as the prime minister of England during the World War I and later retired into writing. When he entered parliament, he opposed the Chamberlain’s policy. The prime minister was instrumental in fighting Germany and other opposing forces (Cooper et al 283-287). His speech and method of cooperation with allied forces say the fall of Hitler and Mussolini’s campaigns.

He was instrumental in organizing his armies in all aspects. He saw that in order to destroy Hitler’s force, it was important to join forces with other friends. In history, his works assisted in saving the world from mad dictators such as Hitler. Winston Churchill was a good orator as well as writer. His works titled “speeches” reveals his personal views on the war. He did not love being in war like Hitler but he always had the notion that his country had to do something about Hitler’s ambitions in Europe. The end of World War resulted in the liberation of many fronts held by Hitler. The fall of Hitler’s regime saw the liberation of Jews and other slaves working under Hitler’s regime. Various acts of atrocities by Hitler’s regime were brought to justice and the world saw the end of one of the greatest dictators of western history.

Works cited

Cooper, Frederick, and Ann Laura Stoler, eds. Tensions of empire: colonial cultures in a bourgeois world. Univ of California Press, 1997.