Conservapedia - User contributions [en]

United States of America

2007-05-08T16:28:43Z

MacGillicutty:

{| border="1" align="right" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="300" style="margin-left:5px"
|align="center" colspan="2"|
|-
!colspan="2" align="center" style="color: black; height: 30px; background: white no-repeat scroll top left;"|United States of America
|-
!colspan="2" align="center" style="color: black; height: 30px; background: white no-repeat scroll top left;"|[[Image:Kljghlkjkh.png|250px]]
Flag of the United States
|-
|Capital
|[[Washington, D.C.]]
|-
|Government
|Federal constitutional republic, Representative democracy
|-
|Official Language
|None ([[English]] de facto)
|-
|President
|[[George W. Bush]] ([[Republican|R]])
|-
|Vice President
|[[Dick Cheney]] ([[Republican|R]])
|-
|Senate majority leader
|[[Harry Reid]] ([[Democrat|D]])
|-
|House majority leader
|[[Nancy Pelosi]] ([[Democrat|D]])
|-
|Area
|3,718,695 sq mi
|-
|Population (2007 estimate)
|301,554,000
|-
|GDP (2007 estimate)
|$13.049 trillion
|-
|GDP per capita (2007 estimate)
|$44,333
|-
|}

The '''United States of America''' (commonly referred to as '''the United States''', '''the USA''', '''the US''', or lazily as '''America''') is a North American nation that consists of a federal union of fifty individual states and the federal District of Columbia. Its origins lie in the [[British Empire]]: it was founded on July 4, [[1776]] with the signing of the [[Declaration of Independence]], and its independence from Britain was formally recognized in 1783, following the [[American Revolutionary War|War of Independence]]. The US is currently the world's sole [[superpower]]; it has the world's largest economy, and is recognized as having the world's most powerful military.

==Overview==
The United States has land borders with [[Canada]] and [[Mexico]], as well as several territorial water boundaries with Canada, [[Russia]] and The Bahamas. It is otherwise bounded by the [[Pacific Ocean]], the Bering Sea, the Arctic Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean Sea. Two of the fifty states, [[Alaska]], an exclave, and [[Hawaii]], an archipelago, are not contiguous with any of the other states. Alaska in located in northwest North America and the Hawaiian Islands in the Pacific Ocean. The United States also has a collection of overseas territories and possessions around the world. Each of the 50 states has a high level of local autonomy under the federal system.

At over 3.7 million square miles (over 9.6 million km²), the U.S. (including its non-contiguous and overseas states and territories) is the third largest country by total area. It is the world's third most populous nation, with over 300 million people.

The United States' military, economic, cultural, and political influence increased through the 19th and 20th centuries. Since the mid-20th century, the United States has become a dominant global influence in contemporary economic, political, military, scientific, technological and cultural matters. With the collapse of the [[Soviet Union]] at the end of the [[Cold War]], the nation emerged as the world's sole remaining superpower, greatly influencing world affairs, as it continues to do today.

==Background - God, The Constitution, and Political Parties==

[[Image:76485685i79.jpg|right|thumb|300px|The drafting committee presenting the [[Declaration of Independence]] to the [[Continental Congress]], painted by John Trumbull 1817–1819.]]

[[George Washington]], [[Thomas Jefferson]], and the other [[Founding Fathers]] signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, 1776.

Between independence in 1776 and the ratification of the [[Constitution]] in 1788, the United States had two governing documents: the [[Articles of Confederation]] and the [[Declaration of Independence]] itself.

[[George Washington]], [[Thomas Jefferson]], and the other [[Founding Fathers]] formally established the current structure of the United States by ratification of the [[U.S. Constitution]] in 1788.

Since 1788, the United States has had only one official governing document: the [[U.S. Constitution]].

All previous documents are mere historical reference material.

Although officially a [[Republic]], since the Presidency of [[John Quincy Adams]], the United States has been governed by two [[political parties]] under the rules of a "Representative [[Democracy]]." Those two major political parties are the [[Democrat Party]], and the Republican Party. The younger of the two parties, the [[Republican Party]], was created in 1854.

In The United States' political life, the relationship between God and government is the prime characteristic differentiating the various political parties.

The [[Declaration of Independence]] supposes the existence of a God when it refers to "the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God" and says all men "are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights." That statement was inserted at the request of [[Thomas Jefferson]], whose religious beliefs were more Unitarianism / Christian.

It is established fact that most early United Statesians came there for Religious Freedom. It is also an established fact that people did live here before North America was "discovered." The United States'[[Founding Fathers]] called themselves Christians, and acted as though the United States was founded upon the principles and ideals of Christianity.

Despite their own beliefs however, the [[Founding Fathers]] specifically placed into the [[First Amendment]] to the [[U.S. Constitution]] a statement that the government cannot interfere in the conduct of religious groups, and grants "Freedom of Religion" for all faiths. That statement is often referred to as the "Free Exercise Clause."

This "Free Exercise Clause" of the [[First Amendment]] to the [[U.S. Constitution]] began increasingly to be tested and interpreted by the judiciary in the late 19th century as a result of the increasing population of religious minorities in the United States.

The various differences and contradictions between the founding documents such as the "[[Declaration of Independence]]", the "[[U.S. Constitution]]", the "[[Federalist Papers]]", and the many personal papers of the [[Founding Fathers]] has not helped to resolve the issue.

This is important to understand, as in recent decades, the [[U.S. Supreme Court]] has re-interpreted this clause to represent an actual, "physical separation" of Religion from Government. This "separation of Church and State" interpretation has become a continuing source of conflict in United States' society.

In The United States today, what political party one belongs to is sometimes determined by their personal view of the relationship between "God and government." To this group of people, all other social issues, whether they be abortion, euthanasia, freedom of speech, cloning, etc. are all subservient in one way or another to an individuals' view of "God and government." Another way to gauge one's political beliefs is by considering the relationship between "freedom and government."

The [[Republican Party]] does not believe in a "physical separation" between Church and State. The [[Democrat Party]] firmly believes in that "physical separation."

It is the pre-imminent importance of this issue in United States' Life and Culture that causes this discussion to have so prominent a place on the main page of this encyclopedia's "United States of America" entry.

==History and geography==

[[Image:56eugyjnm.jpg|right|thumb|300px|The [[White House]], the official home and workplace of the [[President of the United States]] of America.]]

In [[1783]], when the [[Peace of Paris]] concluded hostilities against [[Great Britain]], the former [[colonial power]], the United States' population totaled some three million [[citizens]] and [[slaves]] living on slightly less than one million square miles of land. An unknown number of [[Native Americans]] also lived in the western part of the United States, which was then bordered on the west by the [[Mississippi River]], on the north by [[Lake Superior]], [[Lake Huron]], [[Lake Erie]] and [[Lake Ontario]], on the east by the [[Atlantic Ocean]], and on the south by [[Florida]], then controlled by [[Spain]]. The land border with Canada was not clarified until the [[Rush-Bagot Agreement]] of 1816.

The majority of the taxable population lived in the thirteen original [[states]]. In alphabetical order they are [[Connecticut]], [[Delaware]], [[Georgia]], [[Maryland]], [[Massachusetts]], [[New Hampshire]], [[New Jersey]], [[New York]], [[North Carolina]], [[Pennsylvania]], [[Rhode Island]], [[South Carolina]] and [[Virginia]]. In 1790, an agreement between supporters of Jefferson and those of [[Alexander Hamilton]] resulted in the creation of the [[District of Columbia]] from part of [[Maryland]]; it has served as the national capital from 1800 on. The remainder of the 1783 territory was eventually organized as the states of [[Ohio]], [[Indiana]], [[Michigan]], [[Illinois]], [[Wisconsin]], [[Kentucky]], [[Tennessee]], [[Mississippi]] and [[Alabama]]. Two additional states were added during the first fifty years by [[secession]] from existing states: [[Vermont]] from New York, and [[Maine]] from Massachusetts. After that, the legality of [[secession]] became an issue.

In 1803, [[French]] emperor [[Napoleon Bonaparte]] took advantage of a lull in his war with Great Britain to sell the [[Louisiana Territory]] to the United States, more than doubling the nation's land area. This territory would later be organized as the states of [[Minnesota]], [[North Dakota]], [[South Dakota]], [[Montana]], [[Wyoming]], [[Nebraska]], [[Iowa]], [[Missouri]], [[Arkansas]], [[Kansas]], [[Oklahoma]], and [[Louisiana]] proper. President Jefferson commissioned [[Lewis and Clark]] to explore the new territory, which they did from 1802 to 1804.

[[Florida]] and [[Texas]] joined the United States as a result of [[revolutions]] by settlers from the United States against their central governments. Florida's was fought in 1810, while the much better remembered [[Texas Revolution]] was fought in 1836. While Spain was willing to cut its losses in Florida and relinquished any claims on the state in the [[Adams-Oniz Agreement]] of 1819, one of the successors to its empire in the Americas, Mexico, was considerably more attached to Texas and fought the [[Mexican War]] between 1846 and 1848 to reverse its annexation by the United States. Losing badly, Mexico was forced to cede the sparsely populated northern portion of itself under the [[Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo]]. This territory eventually became the states of [[California]], [[Nevada]], [[Utah]], [[Colorado]], [[New Mexico]] and [[Arizona]]. At approximately the same time, [[President]] [[James K. Polk]] had agreed with the British that the 49th Parallel (degree of latitude) would serve as the boundary between the U. S. and Canada from [[Lake of the Woods]] (partially in Minnesota) to the [[Pacific Ocean]]. This territory was later organized as the states of [[Washington]], [[Oregon]] and [[Idaho]].

In 1867, [[Secretary of State]] [[William Seward]] purchased [[Alaska]] from [[Russia]]. Critics referred to this as "Seward's Folly." Alaska is the westernmost extremity of [[North America]] bounded on the east by Canada, on the south by the Pacific Ocean, on the west by the [[Bering Strait]] and on the north by the [[Arctic Ocean]]. At $7,000,000, Alaska cost the United States considerably less per acre than the [[Mexican Cession]] and slightly less than the Louisiana Territory. Of course, [[inflation]] was less of a factor at this time due to the world [[economy]] still being principally [[agrarian]]. Although at the time it was considered a foolish bargain, Alaska would later become a large source of economic prosperity due to large gold, oil, and other natural resources. Alaska would not be admitted as a state until 1959.

The 50th and so far final state, [[Hawaii]], was also admitted in 1959, 67 years after the DOLE corporation, sugar producers, and the US Marine Corps deposed the last native [[queen]] of the archipelago and 62 years after annexation had become politically feasible as a result of the [[Spanish-American War]], in which the United States also annexed [[Puerto Rico]], [[Guam]] and [[Wake Island]]. The last three islands are not states, although [[Puerto Rico]] has occasionally held non-binding [[referenda]] to express its desired status within the United States.

The United States has occasionally relinquished territory. The most significant example of this was certainly the granting of independence in 1946 to the [[Philippines]] as part of the general [[decolonization]] of [[Asia]] and [[Africa]] following [[World War II]]. Under both [[autocratic]] and [[democratic]] governments, the Philippines have subsequently remained a strong United Statesian ally, and today contribute more troops to the U. S. [[military]] than some states. Other Pacific territories such as the [[Federated States of Micronesia]] and [[Palau]] have also become independent in the postwar era with little objection from opinion leaders on the mainland. More controversial was the 1977 agreement between President [[Jimmy Carter]] and [[General]] [[Omar Torrijos]] to return the [[Panama Canal Zone]], which had been part of the United States since 1914, to [[Panama]] in the year 2000. Ultimately the United States lived up to this agreement despite the worst fears of both [[liberals]] (who decried [[Operation Just Cause]], the 1989 invasion of Panama) and [[conservatives]] (who feared the management of the [[Panama Canal]] by [[Chinese]] interests).

The USA has been criticized for holding back its [[United Nations]] dues (currently, even after the Helms-Biden amendment, the United States has withheld 41%, or $1.246 billion dollars, <ref>http://www.un.org/ga/president/55/speech/una_usa.htm</ref>) as the US has sought reforms within the international organization.

== References ==
<references/>

[[Category:North American Countries]]
[[Category:NATO members]]
[[Category:United States]]

United States of America

2007-05-08T16:27:38Z

MacGillicutty:

{| border="1" align="right" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="300" style="margin-left:5px"
|align="center" colspan="2"|
|-
!colspan="2" align="center" style="color: black; height: 30px; background: white no-repeat scroll top left;"|United States of America
|-
!colspan="2" align="center" style="color: black; height: 30px; background: white no-repeat scroll top left;"|[[Image:Kljghlkjkh.png|250px]]
Flag of the United States
|-
|Capital
|[[Washington, D.C.]]
|-
|Government
|Federal constitutional republic, Representative democracy
|-
|Official Language
|None ([[English]] de facto)
|-
|President
|[[George W. Bush]] ([[Republican|R]])
|-
|Vice President
|[[Dick Cheney]] ([[Republican|R]])
|-
|Senate majority leader
|[[Harry Reid]] ([[Democrat|D]])
|-
|House majority leader
|[[Nancy Pelosi]] ([[Democrat|D]])
|-
|Area
|3,718,695 sq mi
|-
|Population (2007 estimate)
|301,554,000
|-
|GDP (2007 estimate)
|$13.049 trillion
|-
|GDP per capita (2007 estimate)
|$44,333
|-
|}

The '''United States of America''' (commonly referred to as '''the United States''', '''the USA''', '''the US''', or lazily as '''America''') is a North American nation that consists of a federal union of fifty individual states and the federal District of Columbia. Its origins lie in the [[British Empire]]: it was founded on July 4, [[1776]] with the signing of the [[Declaration of Independence]], and its independence from Britain was formally recognized in 1783, following the [[American Revolutionary War|War of Independence]]. The US is currently the world's sole [[superpower]]; it has the world's largest economy, and is recognized as having the world's most powerful military.

==Overview==
The United States has land borders with [[Canada]] and [[Mexico]], as well as several territorial water boundaries with Canada, [[Russia]] and The Bahamas. It is otherwise bounded by the [[Pacific Ocean]], the Bering Sea, the Arctic Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean Sea. Two of the fifty states, [[Alaska]], an exclave, and [[Hawaii]], an archipelago, are not contiguous with any of the other states. Alaska in located in northwest North America and the Hawaiian Islands in the Pacific Ocean. The United States also has a collection of overseas territories and possessions around the world. Each of the 50 states has a high level of local autonomy under the federal system.

At over 3.7 million square miles (over 9.6 million km²), the U.S. (including its non-contiguous and overseas states and territories) is the third largest country by total area. It is the world's third most populous nation, with over 300 million people.

The United States' military, economic, cultural, and political influence increased through the 19th and 20th centuries. Since the mid-20th century, the United States has become a dominant global influence in contemporary economic, political, military, scientific, technological and cultural matters. With the collapse of the [[Soviet Union]] at the end of the [[Cold War]], the nation emerged as the world's sole remaining superpower, greatly influencing world affairs, as it continues to do today.

==Background - God, The Constitution, and Political Parties==

[[Image:76485685i79.jpg|right|thumb|300px|The drafting committee presenting the [[Declaration of Independence]] to the [[Continental Congress]], painted by John Trumbull 1817–1819.]]

[[George Washington]], [[Thomas Jefferson]], and the other [[Founding Fathers]] signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, 1776.

Between independence in 1776 and the ratification of the [[Constitution]] in 1788, the United States had two governing documents: the [[Articles of Confederation]] and the [[Declaration of Independence]] itself.

[[George Washington]], [[Thomas Jefferson]], and the other [[Founding Fathers]] formally established the current structure of the United States by ratification of the [[U.S. Constitution]] in 1788.

Since 1788, the United States has had only one official governing document: the [[U.S. Constitution]].

All previous documents are mere historical reference material.

Although officially a [[Republic]], since the Presidency of [[John Quincy Adams]], the United States has been governed by two [[political parties]] under the rules of a "Representative [[Democracy]]." Those two major political parties are the [[Democrat Party]], and the Republican Party. The younger of the two parties, the [[Republican Party]], was created in 1854.

In The United States' political life, the relationship between God and government is the prime characteristic differentiating the various political parties.

The [[Declaration of Independence]] supposes the existence of a God when it refers to "the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God" and says all men "are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights." That statement was inserted at the request of [[Thomas Jefferson]], whose religious beliefs were more Unitarianism / Christian.

It is established fact that most early United Statesians came there for Religious Freedom. It is also an established fact that people did live here before North America was "discovered." The United States'[[Founding Fathers]] called themselves Christians, and acted as though the United States was founded upon the principles and ideals of Christianity.

Despite their own beliefs however, the [[Founding Fathers]] specifically placed into the [[First Amendment]] to the [[U.S. Constitution]] a statement that the government cannot interfere in the conduct of religious groups, and grants "Freedom of Religion" for all faiths. That statement is often referred to as the "Free Exercise Clause."

This "Free Exercise Clause" of the [[First Amendment]] to the [[U.S. Constitution]] began increasingly to be tested and interpreted by the judiciary in the late 19th century as a result of the increasing population of religious minorities in the United States.

The various differences and contradictions between the founding documents such as the "[[Declaration of Independence]]", the "[[U.S. Constitution]]", the "[[Federalist Papers]]", and the many personal papers of the [[Founding Fathers]] has not helped to resolve the issue.

This is important to understand, as in recent decades, the [[U.S. Supreme Court]] has re-interpreted this clause to represent an actual, "physical separation" of Religion from Government. This "separation of Church and State" interpretation has become a continuing source of conflict in United States' society.

In The United States today, what political party one belongs to is sometimes determined by their personal view of the relationship between "God and government." To this group of people, all other social issues, whether they be abortion, euthanasia, freedom of speech, cloning, etc. are all subservient in one way or another to an individuals' view of "God and government." Another way to gauge one's political beliefs is by considering the relationship between "freedom and government."

The [[Republican Party]] does not believe in a "physical separation" between Church and State. The [[Democrat Party]] firmly believes in that "physical separation."

It is the pre-imminent importance of this issue in United States' Life and Culture that causes this discussion to have so prominent a place on the main page of this encyclopedia's "United States of America" entry.

==History and geography==

[[Image:56eugyjnm.jpg|right|thumb|300px|The [[White House]], the official home and workplace of the [[President of the United States]] of America.]]

In [[1783]], when the [[Peace of Paris]] concluded hostilities against [[Great Britain]], the former [[colonial power]], the United States' population totaled some three million [[citizens]] and [[slaves]] living on slightly less than one million square miles of land. An unknown number of [[Native Americans]] also lived in the western part of the United States, which was then bordered on the west by the [[Mississippi River]], on the north by [[Lake Superior]], [[Lake Huron]], [[Lake Erie]] and [[Lake Ontario]], on the east by the [[Atlantic Ocean]], and on the south by [[Florida]], then controlled by [[Spain]]. The land border with Canada was not clarified until the [[Rush-Bagot Agreement]] of 1816.

The majority of the taxable population lived in the thirteen original [[states]]. In alphabetical order they are [[Connecticut]], [[Delaware]], [[Georgia]], [[Maryland]], [[Massachusetts]], [[New Hampshire]], [[New Jersey]], [[New York]], [[North Carolina]], [[Pennsylvania]], [[Rhode Island]], [[South Carolina]] and [[Virginia]]. In 1790, an agreement between supporters of Jefferson and those of [[Alexander Hamilton]] resulted in the creation of the [[District of Columbia]] from part of [[Maryland]]; it has served as the national capital from 1800 on. The remainder of the 1783 territory was eventually organized as the states of [[Ohio]], [[Indiana]], [[Michigan]], [[Illinois]], [[Wisconsin]], [[Kentucky]], [[Tennessee]], [[Mississippi]] and [[Alabama]]. Two additional states were added during the first fifty years by [[secession]] from existing states: [[Vermont]] from New York, and [[Maine]] from Massachusetts. After that, the legality of [[secession]] became an issue.

In 1803, [[French]] emperor [[Napoleon Bonaparte]] took advantage of a lull in his war with Great Britain to sell the [[Louisiana Territory]] to the United States, more than doubling the nation's land area. This territory would later be organized as the states of [[Minnesota]], [[North Dakota]], [[South Dakota]], [[Montana]], [[Wyoming]], [[Nebraska]], [[Iowa]], [[Missouri]], [[Arkansas]], [[Kansas]], [[Oklahoma]], and [[Louisiana]] proper. President Jefferson commissioned [[Lewis and Clark]] to explore the new territory, which they did from 1802 to 1804.

[[Florida]] and [[Texas]] joined the United States as a result of [[revolutions]] by settlers from the United States against their central governments. Florida's was fought in 1810, while the much better remembered [[Texas Revolution]] was fought in 1836. While Spain was willing to cut its losses in Florida and relinquished any claims on the state in the [[Adams-Oniz Agreement]] of 1819, one of the successors to its empire in the Americas, Mexico, was considerably more attached to Texas and fought the [[Mexican War]] between 1846 and 1848 to reverse its annexation by the United States. Losing badly, Mexico was forced to cede the sparsely populated northern portion of itself under the [[Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo]]. This territory eventually became the states of [[California]], [[Nevada]], [[Utah]], [[Colorado]], [[New Mexico]] and [[Arizona]]. At approximately the same time, [[President]] [[James K. Polk]] had agreed with the British that the 49th Parallel (degree of latitude) would serve as the boundary between the U. S. and Canada from [[Lake of the Woods]] (partially in Minnesota) to the [[Pacific Ocean]]. This territory was later organized as the states of [[Washington]], [[Oregon]] and [[Idaho]].

In 1867, [[Secretary of State]] [[William Seward]] purchased [[Alaska]] from [[Russia]]. Critics referred to this as "Seward's Folly." Alaska is the westernmost extremity of [[North America]] bounded on the east by Canada, on the south by the Pacific Ocean, on the west by the [[Bering Strait]] and on the north by the [[Arctic Ocean]]. At $7,000,000, Alaska cost the United States considerably less per acre than the [[Mexican Cession]] and slightly less than the Louisiana Territory. Of course, [[inflation]] was less of a factor at this time due to the world [[economy]] still being principally [[agrarian]]. Although at the time it was considered a foolish bargain, Alaska would later become a large source of economic prosperity due to large gold, oil, and other natural resources. Alaska would not be admitted as a state until 1959.

The 50th and so far final state, [[Hawaii]], was also admitted in 1959, 67 years after the DOLE corporation, sugar producers, and the US Marine Corps deposed the last native [[queen]] of the archipelago and 62 years after annexation had become politically feasible as a result of the [[Spanish-American War]], in which the United States also annexed [[Puerto Rico]], [[Guam]] and [[Wake Island]]. The last three islands are not states, although [[Puerto Rico]] has occasionally held non-binding [[referenda]] to express its desired status within the United States.

The United States has occasionally relinquished territory. The most significant example of this was certainly the granting of independence in 1946 to the [[Philippines]] as part of the general [[decolonization]] of [[Asia]] and [[Africa]] following [[World War II]]. Under both [[autocratic]] and [[democratic]] governments, the Philippines have subsequently remained a strong United Statesian ally, and today contribute more troops to the U. S. [[military]] than some states. Other Pacific territories such as the [[Federated States of Micronesia]] and [[Palau]] have also become independent in the postwar era with little objection from opinion leaders on the mainland. More controversial was the 1977 agreement between President [[Jimmy Carter]] and [[General]] [[Omar Torrijos]] to return the [[Panama Canal Zone]], which had been part of the United States since 1914, to [[Panama]] in the year 2000. Ultimately the United States lived up to this agreement despite the worst fears of both [[liberals]] (who decried [[Operation Just Cause]], the 1989 invasion of Panama) and [[conservatives]] (who feared the management of the [[Panama Canal]] by [[Chinese]] interests).

The USA's has been criticized for holding back its [[United Nations]] dues (currently, even after the Helms-Biden amendment, the United States has withheld 41%, or $1.246 billion dollars, <ref>http://www.un.org/ga/president/55/speech/una_usa.htm</ref>) as the US has sought reforms within the international organization.

== References ==
<references/>

[[Category:North American Countries]]
[[Category:NATO members]]
[[Category:United States]]

Global warming

2007-05-07T04:11:26Z

MacGillicutty:

'''Global warming''' is the term ascribed to an increase in global average surface temperature.
Scientists such as [[Richard Lindzen]], [[Fred Singer]], etc., say that the patterns of global warming are naturally caused. Some other scientists like [[James Hansen]] and [[Michael Mann]] say that the [[Modern Warming Period]] is largely caused by human activity.

Politicians who support the [[Kyoto Protocol]] have made the claim that there is a cause and effect relationship between increases in atmospheric concentrations of [[greenhouse gas]]es and air temperature.

Hansen's group at the Goddard Institute wrote, "Global warming is now 0.6°C [1.0°F] in the past three decades and 0.8°C [1.4°F]in the past century." <ref>http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/2005/</ref>

==Natural variability of the climate system==
The Earth has experienced numerous [[Ice Age|ice age]]s over the past two million years, during which global temperatures dropped approximately 6 degrees Celsius and then returned to normal. The frigid temperatures allowed ice sheets to expand southward, covering much of [[Asia]], [[Europe]], and [[North America]]. The cooling associated with ice ages is gradual, while the terminations are relatively rapid. However, even the rapid terminations of ice ages take centuries to millennia, which contrasts with the effects predicted for anthropogenic global warming.

==Politics of global warming==
The global average surface temperature warmed about 0.5°C (0.9°F) over the second half of the 20th Century,{{Fact-science}} and to some the warming appears to be related to increases in carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. The possibility of adverse consequences has become a major concern for environmentalists.

Assessments of climate science by the United Nations (see [[IPCC]] - ''Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change'')
have claimed that scientists are 90% sure that over 50% of the observed global warming in recent decades is human-caused, and that continued global warming should be expected over at lease the next century. One prominent journal published a literature search by an avowed [[Kyoto Protocol]] supporter claiming a "scientific consensus" overwhelmingly supports the IPCC reports. <ref>http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/306/5702/1686]</ref>

Several prominent scientists have pointed out the [[politicized science]] of the UN's assessment methods. The scientific reports are submitted to a panel of representatives appointed by each country in the IPCC. Several scientists have complained about their work being misrepresented by the U.N.{{Fact}}

Part of the political motivation for acting on Global Warming may be the fact that there is wide agreement among the United States public that Global Warming is a reality. A poll conducted March 11-14 of 2007 found that the majority of the United States public (59%) believes we are already seeing the effects of Global Warming, an additional 3% and 8% respectively believe they will see the effects with in a few years or within their lifetime, and 19% believe that Global Warming will be seen, not in their lifetime, but in future generations—only a small minority 8% believe that Global Warming will never happen. <ref>Poling report on Gallup poll for March 11-14, 2007[http://www.pollingreport.com/enviro.htm]</ref>.

Although the scientific evidence does point global warming, using opinions, such as the one in "this many people believe they will experience some event in their lifetime," as facts only increases controversy. People's opinions shouldn't be used to evaluate facts.

== Scientists ==
[[Image:Rogerrevelle.jpg|thumb|right|100px|Roger Revelle, Al Gore's mentor.]]

{|
| valign="top" width="35%"|
* [[Roger Revelle]]
* [[Achim Steiner]]
* [[Fred Singer]]
* [[Richard Lindzen]]
* [[Sallie Baliunas]]
* [[Lonnie Thompson]]
| valign="top" width="33%"|
* [[James E. Hansen]]
* [[Michael Mann]]
* [[Charles Keeling]]
* [[Edwin A. Hernández-Delgado]]
|}

==Further Readings==
*[http://schwinger.harvard.edu/~motl/global-temperature-not-exist.pdf Does a global temperature exist?], ''Journal of Non-Equilibrium Thermodynamics'', June 2007.
*[http://www.magma.ca/~hurleyp/FightingTheHoax.htm Fighting the Hoax]
*[http://environment.guardian.co.uk/climatechange/story/0,,2032821,00.html The appliance of science] by Mike Hulme.
*[http://www.climatecrisis.net/ ''An Inconvenient Truth''], Film by [[Al Gore]]
*[http://www.physics.harvard.edu/%7Emotl/iris-effect.pdf Climate Sensitivity and Observed Negative Feedbacks], lecture by Richard Lindzen and Roberto Rondanelli.
*[http://www.physics.harvard.edu/%7Emotl/lindzen-nature-of-arguments.pdf Nature of Arguments for Anthropogenic Global Warming], by Richard Lindzen
*[http://www.cato.org/pubs/regulation/regv15n2/reg15n2g.html Global Warming: The Origin and Nature of the Alleged Scientific Consensus] - [[Richard S. Lindzen]], Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Meteorology at the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]]
*[http://washingtontimes.com/commentary/20030825-090130-5881r.htm Global warming smear targets]
*[http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_ID=2319 The physical evidence of earth's unstoppable 1,500-year climate cycle]
*[http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=17181 Survey Shows Climatologists Are Split on Global Warming]
*[http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4499562022478442170 The Great Global Warming Swindle - Documentary Film]

==References==
<references/>

[[category:earth science]]
[[category:Liberal Falsehoods]]

World War I

2007-05-07T04:00:44Z

MacGillicutty:

'''World War I''', also known as '''The Great War''', was waged primarily in [[Europe]] from 1914 to 1918. It was the first global war in history. World War I also saw the first use of [[chemical warfare|poisonous gas]], large artillery, and armored [[tank|tanks]]. It was a "[[total war]]" because the governments involved took control over the economy and factories, giving first priority to the goods needed for war. Wage and price controls were imposed, there was rationing of goods for civilians, and free speech was limited. The governments put out [[propaganda]] to maximize support for the war and dislike of the enemy.

On one side of the war were the [[Central Powers]], [[Austria-Hungary]], the [[Second German Empire]], [[Bulgaria]], and the [[Ottoman Empire]]. The [[Allies]] consisted of the [[Britain|British]] and [[France|French Empires]], the Tsarist [[Russian Empire]], [[Italy]], [[Japan]], and after 1917, the [[United States]].

=== A Spark Leads to a Fire ===
----
On June 28, 1914, teenage [[Serbia|Serbian]] [[nationalism|nationalist]] [[Gavrilo Princip]] assassinated the Austrian Archduke [[Franz Ferdinand]] and his wife in [[Sarajevo]]. This action led to Austria-Hungary giving an ultimatum [http://teachers.sduhsd.k12.ca.us/mmontgomery/world_history/world_war1/ultimatum.htm] to Serbia. Serbia refused to comply with the list of demands, and due to a number of military alliances throughout Europe, a full scale war was soon in progress. Serbia requested support from its ally, [[Russia]], which mobilized its military forces. This mobilization led to [[Germany]] invading both Russia and [[France]] (which had an existing alliance with Russia), which was a part of Germany's [[Schlieffen Plan]] of war on two fronts. En route to France, German forces passed through neutral [[Belgium]]. The violation of this neutrality led [[Britain]] to declare war on Germany.

=== Great Battles of World War I ===
----
World War I consisted mostly of [[trench warfare]]. This method of waging war was very slow and messy. Soldiers might wait in their trenches for weeks, only to advance a few feet and wait in a new trench. There were four important battles which were fought before The United States joined the war.

'''[[Battle of Gallipoli]]'''

In April 1915, an amphibious Allied force landed on the Turkish peninsula of Gallipoli in a misguided attempt to knock Turkey out of the war. Although the Allies greatly outnumbered the Turks, the extremely tenacious Turkish fighters held their ground. The Allies did not understand the terrain adequately and suffered from limited knowledge of their enemy. Nine months later the Allies had to withdraw, after suffering 46,000 deaths among over 250,000 casualties.

'''[[Battle of Verdun]]'''

In 1916, the Battle of Verdun between the French and Germans may have been the most demanding battle in world history. The struggle started when the Germans attacked [[Verdun]], France, a city surrounded by a ring of underground forts. At least 220,000 soldiers died, and at least 480,000 were wounded in this 10-month struggle that accomplished nothing. At the end the front lines were in nearly the same locations as at the beginning.

'''[[Battle of the Somme]]'''

Also in 1916, and also in France, the British and French armies met at the Somme River and began a massive attack on the Germans in order to distract them from [[Verdun]]. This became the Battle of the Somme, and the fighting was even heard across the British channel in England. First the Allies shelled the Germans to weaken them, and then 100,000 British soldiers charged the enemy. But the shelling did not have its intended effect, as the Germans were dug in too deeply to be affected by it. On July 1, 1916, the Germans killed 20,000 of the British soldiers and wounded over 40,000, making it the single worst day in British military history. This battle, which did not succeed in moving trench lines, eventually involved over 2 million men along a 30-mile front. The British and French lost nearly 750,000 men.

'''[[Third Battle of Ypres]]'''

For 18 months the British hid 19 huge land mines underneath the German lines southeast of Ypres, Belgium, a location that had already seen battles in 1914 and 1915. The British then detonated those massive mines, and charged the German positions in July 1917. At first the strategy worked, as the Germans were confused and disorganized. But the British did not pursue the Germans as quickly as they should have. Rain began to drench the area in one of the wettest fall seasons there in years. Soon the British forces were stuck in a mountain of mud, and this Allied plan was yet another failure.

=== The United States Joins the War ===
----
For the first three years of World War I, the United States attempted to stay out of the war. The United States had friends and citizens on both sides of the war, and the wise move was not to move, to remain neutral. When the Germans used a [[U-boat]] to sink the ''[[Lusitania]]'' in 1915, killing over one thousand people, the United Statesians were outraged. Later, when Britain implemented a naval blockade of Germany, the Germans announced they would sink any ship entering or leaving Britain. They held true to their word and sunk three ships from The United States with the U-boats. The Germans had taken ads out in most United Statesian newspapers, warning United Statesians that they traveled on British ships at their own risk. However, only the [[Des Moines]] Register ran the ads.<ref> Morgan, Hal. ''More Rumor''. New York: Paradox Press, 1987. </ref>The United States now had many reasons to fight back, but she was still not ready to join the war.

The German Foreign Minister [[Arthur Zimmermann]] sent an encrypted [[Zimmerman Note|telegram]] to the German ambassador in [[Mexico]] which sought to induce Mexico to declare war on the United States. British intelligence intercepted and deciphered the telegram, however, and gave it to the United States to help the British cause. President [[Woodrow Wilson]] made the contents of the telegram public. The telegram promised that Germany would help Mexico regain land it had lost to the United States in the [[Treaty of Guadaloupe Hidalgo]] which ended the [[Mexican War]] if it would declare was on the United States. At first, the United Statesians doubted if the telegram was real and thought it had been forged by the British to make The United States favor them. But then Zimmermann was foolish enough to promise the pledge to Mexico in a public speech.

The Germans had gone too far. On April 2, 1917, President [[Woodrow Wilson]] spoke in favor of declaring war on Germany in an address to the joint houses of [[Congress]]. Congress then formally declared war on April 6, 1917.<ref>http://www.firstworldwar.com/source/usofficialawardeclaration.htm</ref>

=== Russia ===
----
As the United States was entering the war on the side of the Allies, Russia suffered two successive internal Revolutions which would later caused it to withdraw from the side of the Allies and leave the war altogether. The [[February Revolution]] overthrew the centuries-old monarchy of the Tsar; the [[October Revolution]] installed the [[communist]] [[Bolshevik Party]] under [[V.I. Lenin]]. The lack of success against the German and Austrian Empires, and the hyperinflation caused by unsustainable military spending by the Russian government led to much internal discontent and economic chaos.

Losses and hardship of the war had weakened Russian [[Czar Nicholas II]]. He abdicated the throne in March 1917 in favor of a provisional government headed by [[Alexander Kerensky]]. Hopes for a democratic revolution still existed at this time. But in October 1917, [[Vladimir Ilyich Lenin]], and the [[Communist Party]], which was never strong enough to challenge the Czar, overthrew the fledgling provisional government. The Communists later executed every member of the Czar's family including the children.

Lenin became the founder of the [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] state. He was both a writer and a revolutionary, a rare combination. He was the brother of the "bomb thrower" [[Alexander Ulyanov]] who was hanged for his involvement in terrorist activity and an assassination attempt on Czar Alexander III in 1887. An atheist, he became a [[Marxism|Marxist in 1889. He obtained a law degree shortly afterwards, and by 1895 was a subversive who was arrested and sent to the Tsarist gulag along the Lena River in frigid Siberia where he adopted the name Lenin after the place of his internment. Once he served his time he left for Zurich, where he developed his ideas further and became a leader of the [[Bolsheviks]]. He was returned to Russia by the Germans in the wake of chaos during the [[Kerensky]] regime with the hope to led the Bolsheviks to power and negotiate a peace settlement with the Germans. After the [[Treaty of Versailles]] failed to recognize the settlement between Germany and the Soviet Union in the [[Treaty of Brest-Litovsk]], he then ruled the Soviet Union and imposed a system of [[Marxism-Leninism]] (communism) that remained in force there until the [[Stalin]]'s rise to power.

=== The Western Front ===
----
The exit of Russia allowed Germany to shift a majority of their troops from the [[Eastern Front (World War I)|eastern front]] to the [[Western Front (World War I)|western front]]. This gave them a final chance to try and break the Allies before the United Statesians arrived. Known as [[Operation Michael]], the German offensive began in March of 1918.

The Germans launched five major campaigns in a four month period in 1918 on the [[Western Front]]. The Germans had technology and lots of energy. They had elite storm-troopers with automatic rifles, light machine guns, flame-throwers and artillery fire. They used poisonous [[mustard gas]] lavishly. They easily defeated the [[British Fifth Army]]. The Germans were advancing and taking property.

But fresh United States troops entered the scene. In the [[Second Battle of the Marne]] in July 1918, the Allies started winning. Nine United States divisions fought in this battle about 75 miles northeast of Paris. The Germans started this battle on another one of their offensives, but the The United Statesians turned the tables and enabled the Allies to win it. Casualties were enormous for everyone, including the United Statesians. Former President [[Teddy Roosevelt]]’s son Quentin was killed in this battle.

United States Capt. Jesse Woolridge, 38th Inf., 3rd Division described the battle as follows: “It’s God’s truth that one Company of United States soldiers beat and routed a full regiment of picked shock troops of the German Army ... At ten o’clock ... the Germans were carrying back wounded and dead [from] the river bank and we in our exhaustion let them do it - they carried back all but six hundred which we counted later and fifty-two machine guns... We had started with 251 men and 5 lieutenants...I had left 51 men and 2 second lieutenants."

=== The War Ends ===
----
As the United Statesians and the Allies advanced toward Germany, the Ottoman Turks and Bulgarians surrendered. There was a revolution in Austria-Hungary that overthrew its government, and Germany would not recognize that new government. Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated his throne in Germany on November 1918, and the Germans formed a new republic. Members of the German republic signed an armistice (agreement to stop fighting) on November 11, 1918. The "war to end all wars", was over.

==Further reading==
*''War By Time-Table: How the First World War Began'', A.J.P. Taylor, New York: American Heritage, 1969.

==References==

<references/>

[[Category:Wars]]
[[Category:World War I| ]]

Jesus Christ

2007-05-07T03:54:37Z

MacGillicutty: /* The Historical Jesus */

[[Image:Christ.jpg|thumb|right|700px|The Christ Redeemer Statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.]]

'''Jesus Christ'''
is accepted by [[Christians]] as the [[Son of God]] and the [[Messiah]]. Others call him 'Jesus of [[Nazareth]]', Christ, or Jesus, The Christ.
His name derives from the [[Hebrew]] 'יהושע ', meaning '[[YHWH]] is '[[salvation]]', whereas 'Christ' is more accurately a title; it comes from the [[Hebrew]] 'משיחא', or 'anointed one', which was translated into Greek as 'Χριστός'.

The historical importance of Jesus is memorialized by the modern calendar, which sets the year one to the traditional year of his birth.

==Jesus' Life==

In the [[Gospels]] of [[Matthew]] and [[Luke]], Jesus was born in [[Bethlehem]] ([[Judea]]) to [[Mary]], who at the time was a virgin, by the [[Holy Spirit]]. The [[Gospel of Luke]] relates that the angel [[Gabriel]] visited [[Mary (mother of Jesus)|Mary]] in order to announce to her that she had been chosen to bear the Son of God (Luke 1:26–38). An order of [[Caesar Augustus]], that a survey of the [[Roman Empire]] should be made caused Mary and [[Joseph (father of Jesus)|Joseph]] to leave Nazareth and go to the home of Joseph's forebears - to the house of [[David|King David]]. After Jesus' birth, they were forced to use a manger for a crib because the town's inn was full. According to Luke 2:8–20, an [[Angel|angel]] spread word of Jesus' birth to several shepherds who came to visit the newborn. Matthew also tells of the "Magi", ([[Zoroastrianism|Zoroastrian]] priests), who brought many gifts to the infant Jesus (among which were [[gold]], [[frankincense]], and [[myrrh]]; this has led to the incorrect assumption that three Magi were present, whereas the actual number is not given) after following a star which they believed was an indication that the [[Messiah]], or King of the Jews, had been born.

Jesus' early home is stated to have been in the town of Nazareth in [[Galilee]], and except for an escape to [[Egypt]] in early childhood, to avoid Herod's massacre of the other male infants, all other events in the Gospels take place in ancient Israel. Luke's Finding in the Temple (Luke 2:41–52), where Jesus impressed the priests by discoursing in [[Old Testament|scripture]] with them, is the only detailed event between Jesus' infancy and adult life mentioned in any of the canonical Gospels.

The Gospel of Mark begins with the [[baptism]] of Jesus by [[John the Baptist]], which appears to be the beginning of Jesus' public ministry. Jesus came to the [[Jordan River|River Jordan]], where John was preaching and baptizing people in the crowd. After Jesus had been baptized, and had risen up out of the water, Mark states Jesus 'saw the heavens torn apart and the Holy Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, 'You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased' (Mark 1:10–11). Luke adds the chronological anchor that John the Baptist had begun preaching in the fifteenth year of [[Tiberius]] Caesar, approximately in 28 AD/CE (Luke 3:1) and that Jesus was thirty years old when he was baptized (Luke 3:23).

After this baptism, according to Matthew, Jesus was brought into the desert by God where he fasted for forty days nights. During this period, the [[Satan]] appeared before him and tried three times to tempted Jesus into demonstrating his supernatural powers as a proof of his divine status; each temptation was refused by Jesus, with a scriptural quote from the Book of [[Deuteronomy]].
<to be finished...>
[[Image:Jesus5.jpg‎|right|thumb|300px|Jesus Christ (Conceptualization)]]

==The Historical Jesus==

It may surprise some readers to learn that modern historians generally place the actual date of his birth between 7 and 4 B.C. due to problems reconciling the Roman and Jewish calendars with the [[Gregorian Calendar]] which is in use today throughout the industrialized world.

Occasionally non-historians deny the [[Historicity of Jesus|existence of Jesus]], <ref>"Book Article Denies the Existence of a Historical Jesus Figure" [http://www.newswiretoday.com/news/12694/ NewswireToday ] </ref>
<ref>"David H. Lewis [debates] the historicity of Jesus, arguing that New Testament and contemporaneous writings give very little evidence that Jesus actual ever lived." [http://www.abc.net.au/religion/stories/s1517040.htm Escaping the Gravitational Pull of the Gospels] </ref>
but few scholars take this seriously.
[[Tacitus]], the Roman historian, wrote about Jesus in A.D. 115<ref>http://www.digisys.net/users/ddalton/evidence_of_jesus_outside_the_bible.htm</ref>, and [[Josephus]], a Jewish historian who did not believe in Jesus' divinity, wrote about him. <ref>http://www.christian-thinktank.com/jesusref.html</ref>. Dr. [[Gary Habermas]] wrote an extensive analysis of the historicity of the existence of Jesus in his work ''The Historical Jesus: Ancient Evidence for the Life of Christ'' which discusses many historical sources which mention Jesus.

[[Lee Strobel]]'s book ''The Case for Christ'' contains a number of interviews with experts on the historical Jesus and a defense of Jesus's resurrection, and is a good resource on this subject.

== Defense of the resurrection of Jesus ==
The [[Resurrection of Jesus Christ|resurrection of Jesus Christ]] is critical to the Christian faith. The Apostle Paul wrote, "if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain" (I Cor:15:14). Traditionally, Christianity has believed in a physical resurrection of Jesus Christ. <ref>http://www.iclnet.org/pub/resources/text/cri/cri-jrnl/crj0056a.txt</ref>

In recent history [[Christian apologetics|Christian apologists]] Gary Habermas is considered the foremost apologist for defending the resurrection of Jesus. <ref>http://www.garyhabermas.com/articles/dialog_rexperience/dialog_rexperiences.htm</ref><ref>http://www.tektonics.org/books/lichabrvw.html</ref><ref>http://faculty.gordon.edu/hu/bi/Ted_Hildebrandt/NTeSources/NTArticles/CTR-NT/Habermas-Resurrection1-CTR.pdf </ref><ref>http://faculty.gordon.edu/hu/bi/Ted_Hildebrandt/NTeSources/NTArticles/CTR-NT/Habermas-Resurrection2-CTR.pdf</ref><ref>http://www.garyhabermas.com/articles/crj_explainingaway/crj_explainingaway.htm</ref><ref>http://www.apologetics.com/default.jsp?bodycontent=/articles/historical_apologetics/habermas-nt.html</ref> Dr. Habermas had a debate against the philosopher [[Anthony Flew]] regarding the resurrection which was chronicled in the work ''Did Jesus Rise from the Dead? The Resurrection Debate'' and the debate had a panel of debate judges. J. Hampton Keathley, III , Th.M. in his essay ''Evidences for the Resurrection'' wrote: "The decision of the judges were as follows. The panel of [[Philosophy|philosophers]] judging content cast four votes for Habermas who argued for the fact of the resurrection, none for Flew, and one draw. The panel of professional debate judges voted three to two, also in favor of Habermas, this time regarding the method of argumentation technique." <ref>http://www.bible.org/page.asp?page_id=639</ref>

In recent history some notable defenders of the resurrection include: [[William Lane Craig]], [[Lee Strobel]], [[Josh McDowell]], [[Edwin M. Yamauchi]], [[N.T. Wright]] and [[Michael Horner]]. <ref>http://www.leaderu.com/offices/billcraig/menus/historical.html</ref><ref>http://www.leaderu.com/everystudent/easter/articles/josh2.html</ref><ref>http://www.leaderu.com/everystudent/easter/articles/yama.html</ref><ref>http://www.ntwrightpage.com/Wright_Early_Traditions.htm</ref><ref>http://www.michaelhorner.com/articles/resurrection/index.html</ref>

Legal scholars such as [[Simon Greenleaf]], [[John Warwick Montgomery]] and many others have asserted that western legal standards argue for the resurrection of Christ. <ref>http://www.bibleteacher.org/sgtestimony.htm</ref><ref>http://www.mtio.com/articles/bissart1.htm</ref><ref>http://lawreligionculturereview.blogspot.com/2005_01_01_lawreligionculturereview_archive.html</ref><ref>http://www.trinitysem.edu/journal/philjohnsonpap.html</ref> Defenders of the resurrection of Christ also cite many distinguished legal authorities regarding the historicity of the resurrection of Christ. <ref>http://www.ankerberg.com/Articles/apologetics/AP0302W3.htm</ref>

There is also simple logic: Why would Jesus submit to the crucifixion in as passive of a manner as is reported in the gospels unless he knew there would be a resurrection afterward?

Another reason to believe the resurrection is the fact that many people who claimed to be eyewitnesses to the resurrected Jesus voluntarily preached the news of this despite extreme persecution, and died for their efforts. Unlike the early members of most religions, these people had the opportunity to be direct eyewitnesses to what verified the claims of Christianity.

==Other people in the Bible named "Jesus"==

The author of ''Ecclesiastius,'' a book which [[Catholicism|Catholics]] and [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Eastern Orthodox Christians]] consider deuterocanonical, but Protestants place in the Apocrypha, is known as ''Jesus of Sira.''

The name ''Joshua'' from the old testament is the same name as ''Jesus'', it just hasn't gone through the Greek.

== See also ==

*[[Byzantine Empire]]
*[[Andrew the Apostle]]
*[[Lazarus (brother of Mary)]]
*[[Lazarus (Parable)]]

== External links ==

*[http://www.ccci.org/wij/ Who is Jesus? Is Jesus Christ God?]
*[http://www.farsinet.com/christmas/nativity_church.html Church of Nativity - Birth Place of Jesus Christ] Bethlehem.
*[http://www.bible-history.com/links.php?cat=19&sub=302&cat_name=Jesus&subcat_name=Background Jesus Background] Bible History on line.
*[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08374c.htm Jesus Christ]Catholic Encyclopedia.

==References==

<references/>

[[Category:Jesus]]
[[Category:Christianity]]
[[Category:Christian History]]
[[Category:Religion]]

United States of America

2007-05-07T03:51:01Z

MacGillicutty:

{| border="1" align="right" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="300" style="margin-left:5px"
|align="center" colspan="2"|
|-
!colspan="2" align="center" style="color: black; height: 30px; background: white no-repeat scroll top left;"|United States of America
|-
!colspan="2" align="center" style="color: black; height: 30px; background: white no-repeat scroll top left;"|[[Image:Kljghlkjkh.png|250px]]
Flag of the United States
|-
|Capital
|[[Washington, D.C.]]
|-
|Government
|Federal constitutional republic, Representative democracy
|-
|Official Language
|None ([[English]] de facto)
|-
|President
|[[George W. Bush]] ([[Republican|R]])
|-
|Vice President
|[[Dick Cheney]] ([[Republican|R]])
|-
|Senate majority leader
|[[Harry Reid]] ([[Democrat|D]])
|-
|House majority leader
|[[Nancy Pelosi]] ([[Democrat|D]])
|-
|Area
|3,718,695 sq mi
|-
|Population (2007 estimate)
|301,554,000
|-
|GDP (2007 estimate)
|$13.049 trillion
|-
|GDP per capita (2007 estimate)
|$44,333
|-
|}

The '''United States of America''' (commonly referred to as '''the United States''', '''the USA''', '''the US''', or lazily as '''America''') is a North American nation that consists of a federal union of fifty individual states and the federal District of Columbia. Its origins lie in the [[British Empire]]: it was founded on July 4, [[1776]] with the signing of the [[Declaration of Independence]], and its independence from Britain was formally recognized in 1783, following the [[American Revolutionary War|War of Independence]]. The US is currently the world's sole [[superpower]]; it has the world's largest economy, and is recognized as having the world's most powerful military.

==Overview==
The United States has land borders with [[Canada]] and [[Mexico]], as well as several territorial water boundaries with Canada, [[Russia]] and The Bahamas. It is otherwise bounded by the [[Pacific Ocean]], the Bering Sea, the Arctic Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean Sea. Two of the fifty states, [[Alaska]], an exclave, and [[Hawaii]], an archipelago, are not contiguous with any of the other states. Alaska in located in northwest North America and the Hawaiian Islands in the Pacific Ocean. The United States also has a collection of overseas territories and possessions around the world. Each of the 50 states has a high level of local autonomy under the federal system.

At over 3.7 million square miles (over 9.6 million km²), the U.S. (including its non-contiguous and overseas states and territories) is the third largest country by total area. It is the world's third most populous nation, with over 300 million people.

The United States' military, economic, cultural, and political influence increased through the 19th and 20th centuries. Since the mid-20th century, the United States has become a dominant global influence in contemporary economic, political, military, scientific, technological and cultural matters. With the collapse of the [[Soviet Union]] at the end of the [[Cold War]], the nation emerged as the world's sole remaining superpower, greatly influencing world affairs, as it continues to do today.

==Background - God, The Constitution, and Political Parties==

[[Image:76485685i79.jpg|right|thumb|300px|The drafting committee presenting the [[Declaration of Independence]] to the [[Continental Congress]], painted by John Trumbull 1817–1819.]]

[[George Washington]], [[Thomas Jefferson]], and the other [[Founding Fathers]] signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, 1776.

Between independence in 1776 and the ratification of the [[Constitution]] in 1788, the United States had two governing documents: the [[Articles of Confederation]] and the [[Declaration of Independence]] itself.

[[George Washington]], [[Thomas Jefferson]], and the other [[Founding Fathers]] formally established the current structure of the United States by ratification of the [[U.S. Constitution]] in 1788.

Since 1788, the United States has had only one official governing document: the [[U.S. Constitution]].

All previous documents are mere historical reference material.

Although officially a [[Republic]], since the Presidency of [[John Quincy Adams]], the United States has been governed by two [[political parties]] under the rules of a "Representative [[Democracy]]." Those two major political parties are the [[Democrat Party]], and the Republican Party. The younger of the two parties, the [[Republican Party]], was created in 1854.

In The United States' political life, the relationship between God and government is the prime characteristic differentiating the various political parties.

The [[Declaration of Independence]] supposes the existence of a God when it refers to "the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God" and says all men "are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights." That statement was inserted at the request of [[Thomas Jefferson]], whose religious beliefs were more Unitarianism / Christian.

It is established fact that most early The United Statesians came there for Religious Freedom. It is also an established fact that people did live here before North America was "discovered." The United States'[[Founding Fathers]] called themselves Christians, and acted as though the United States was founded upon the principles and ideals of Christianity.

Despite their own beliefs however, the [[Founding Fathers]] specifically placed into the [[First Amendment]] to the [[U.S. Constitution]] a statement that the government cannot interfere in the conduct of religious groups, and grants "Freedom of Religion" for all faiths. That statement is often referred to as the "Free Exercise Clause."

This "Free Exercise Clause" of the [[First Amendment]] to the [[U.S. Constitution]] began increasingly to be tested and interpreted by the judiciary in the late 19th century as a result of the increasing population of religious minorities in the United States.

The various differences and contradictions between the founding documents such as the "[[Declaration of Independence]]", the "[[U.S. Constitution]]", the "[[Federalist Papers]]", and the many personal papers of the [[Founding Fathers]] has not helped to resolve the issue.

This is important to understand, as in recent decades, the [[U.S. Supreme Court]] has re-interpreted this clause to represent an actual, "physical separation" of Religion from Government. This "separation of Church and State" interpretation has become a continuing source of conflict in United States' society.

In The United States today, what political party one belongs to is sometimes determined by their personal view of the relationship between "God and government." To this group of people, all other social issues, whether they be abortion, euthanasia, freedom of speech, cloning, etc. are all subservient in one way or another to an individuals' view of "God and government." Another way to gauge one's political beliefs is by considering the relationship between "freedom and government."

The [[Republican Party]] does not believe in a "physical separation" between Church and State. The [[Democrat Party]] firmly believes in that "physical separation."

It is the pre-imminent importance of this issue in United States' Life and Culture that causes this discussion to have so prominent a place on the main page of this encyclopedia's "United States of America" entry.

==History and geography==

[[Image:56eugyjnm.jpg|right|thumb|300px|The [[White House]], the official home and workplace of the [[President of the United States]] of America.]]

In [[1783]], when the [[Peace of Paris]] concluded hostilities against [[Great Britain]], the former [[colonial power]], the United States' population totaled some three million [[citizens]] and [[slaves]] living on slightly less than one million square miles of land. An unknown number of [[Native Americans]] also lived in the western part of the United States, which was then bordered on the west by the [[Mississippi River]], on the north by [[Lake Superior]], [[Lake Huron]], [[Lake Erie]] and [[Lake Ontario]], on the east by the [[Atlantic Ocean]], and on the south by [[Florida]], then controlled by [[Spain]]. The land border with Canada was not clarified until the [[Rush-Bagot Agreement]] of 1816.

The majority of the taxable population lived in the thirteen original [[states]]. In alphabetical order they are [[Connecticut]], [[Delaware]], [[Georgia]], [[Maryland]], [[Massachusetts]], [[New Hampshire]], [[New Jersey]], [[New York]], [[North Carolina]], [[Pennsylvania]], [[Rhode Island]], [[South Carolina]] and [[Virginia]]. In 1790, an agreement between supporters of Jefferson and those of [[Alexander Hamilton]] resulted in the creation of the [[District of Columbia]] from part of [[Maryland]]; it has served as the national capital from 1800 on. The remainder of the 1783 territory was eventually organized as the states of [[Ohio]], [[Indiana]], [[Michigan]], [[Illinois]], [[Wisconsin]], [[Kentucky]], [[Tennessee]], [[Mississippi]] and [[Alabama]]. Two additional states were added during the first fifty years by [[secession]] from existing states: [[Vermont]] from New York, and [[Maine]] from Massachusetts. After that, the legality of [[secession]] became an issue.

In 1803, [[French]] emperor [[Napoleon Bonaparte]] took advantage of a lull in his war with Great Britain to sell the [[Louisiana Territory]] to the United States, more than doubling the nation's land area. This territory would later be organized as the states of [[Minnesota]], [[North Dakota]], [[South Dakota]], [[Montana]], [[Wyoming]], [[Nebraska]], [[Iowa]], [[Missouri]], [[Arkansas]], [[Kansas]], [[Oklahoma]], and [[Louisiana]] proper. President Jefferson commissioned [[Lewis and Clark]] to explore the new territory, which they did from 1802 to 1804.

[[Florida]] and [[Texas]] joined the United States as a result of [[revolutions]] by settlers from the United States against their central governments. Florida's was fought in 1810, while the much better remembered [[Texas Revolution]] was fought in 1836. While Spain was willing to cut its losses in Florida and relinquished any claims on the state in the [[Adams-Oniz Agreement]] of 1819, one of the successors to its empire in the Americas, Mexico, was considerably more attached to Texas and fought the [[Mexican War]] between 1846 and 1848 to reverse its annexation by the United States. Losing badly, Mexico was forced to cede the sparsely populated northern portion of itself under the [[Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo]]. This territory eventually became the states of [[California]], [[Nevada]], [[Utah]], [[Colorado]], [[New Mexico]] and [[Arizona]]. At approximately the same time, [[President]] [[James K. Polk]] had agreed with the British that the 49th Parallel (degree of latitude) would serve as the boundary between the U. S. and Canada from [[Lake of the Woods]] (partially in Minnesota) to the [[Pacific Ocean]]. This territory was later organized as the states of [[Washington]], [[Oregon]] and [[Idaho]].

In 1867, [[Secretary of State]] [[William Seward]] purchased [[Alaska]] from [[Russia]]. Critics referred to this as "Seward's Folly." Alaska is the westernmost extremity of [[North America]] bounded on the east by Canada, on the south by the Pacific Ocean, on the west by the [[Bering Strait]] and on the north by the [[Arctic Ocean]]. At $7,000,000, Alaska cost the United States considerably less per acre than the [[Mexican Cession]] and slightly less than the Louisiana Territory. Of course, [[inflation]] was less of a factor at this time due to the world [[economy]] still being principally [[agrarian]]. Although at the time it was considered a foolish bargain, Alaska would later become a large source of economic prosperity due to large gold, oil, and other natural resources. Alaska would not be admitted as a state until 1959.

The 50th and so far final state, [[Hawaii]], was also admitted in 1959, 67 years after the DOLE corporation, sugar producers, and the US Marine Corps deposed the last native [[queen]] of the archipelago and 62 years after annexation had become politically feasible as a result of the [[Spanish-American War]], in which the United States also annexed [[Puerto Rico]], [[Guam]] and [[Wake Island]]. The last three islands are not states, although [[Puerto Rico]] has occasionally held non-binding [[referenda]] to express its desired status within the United States.

The United States has occasionally relinquished territory. The most significant example of this was certainly the granting of independence in 1946 to the [[Philippines]] as part of the general [[decolonization]] of [[Asia]] and [[Africa]] following [[World War II]]. Under both [[autocratic]] and [[democratic]] governments, the Philippines have subsequently remained a strong United Statesian ally, and today contribute more troops to the U. S. [[military]] than some states. Other Pacific territories such as the [[Federated States of Micronesia]] and [[Palau]] have also become independent in the postwar era with little objection from opinion leaders on the mainland. More controversial was the 1977 agreement between President [[Jimmy Carter]] and [[General]] [[Omar Torrijos]] to return the [[Panama Canal Zone]], which had been part of the United States since 1914, to [[Panama]] in the year 2000. Ultimately the United States lived up to this agreement despite the worst fears of both [[liberals]] (who decried [[Operation Just Cause]], the 1989 invasion of Panama) and [[conservatives]] (who feared the management of the [[Panama Canal]] by [[Chinese]] interests).

The USA's has been criticized for holding back its [[United Nations]] dues (currently, even after the Helms-Biden amendment, the United States has withheld 41%, or $1.246 billion dollars, <ref>http://www.un.org/ga/president/55/speech/una_usa.htm</ref>) as the US has sought reforms within the international organization.

== References ==
<references/>

[[Category:North American Countries]]
[[Category:NATO members]]
[[Category:United States]]

United States of America

2007-05-07T03:49:11Z

MacGillicutty:

{| border="1" align="right" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="300" style="margin-left:5px"
|align="center" colspan="2"|
|-
!colspan="2" align="center" style="color: black; height: 30px; background: white no-repeat scroll top left;"|United States of America
|-
!colspan="2" align="center" style="color: black; height: 30px; background: white no-repeat scroll top left;"|[[Image:Kljghlkjkh.png|250px]]
Flag of the United States
|-
|Capital
|[[Washington, D.C.]]
|-
|Government
|Federal constitutional republic, Representative democracy
|-
|Official Language
|None ([[English]] de facto)
|-
|President
|[[George W. Bush]] ([[Republican|R]])
|-
|Vice President
|[[Dick Cheney]] ([[Republican|R]])
|-
|Senate majority leader
|[[Harry Reid]] ([[Democrat|D]])
|-
|House majority leader
|[[Nancy Pelosi]] ([[Democrat|D]])
|-
|Area
|3,718,695 sq mi
|-
|Population (2007 estimate)
|301,554,000
|-
|GDP (2007 estimate)
|$13.049 trillion
|-
|GDP per capita (2007 estimate)
|$44,333
|-
|}

The '''United States of America''' (commonly referred to as '''the United States''', '''the USA''', '''the US''', or lazily as '''America''') is a North American nation that consists of a federal union of fifty individual states and the federal District of Columbia. Its origins lie in the [[British Empire]]: it was founded on July 4, [[1776]] with the signing of the [[Declaration of Independence]], and its independence from Britain was formally recognized in 1783, following the [[American Revolutionary War|War of Independence]]. The US is currently the world's sole [[superpower]]; it has the world's largest economy, and is recognized as having the world's most powerful military.

==Overview==
The United States has land borders with [[Canada]] and [[Mexico]], as well as several territorial water boundaries with Canada, [[Russia]] and The Bahamas. It is otherwise bounded by the [[Pacific Ocean]], the Bering Sea, the Arctic Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean Sea. Two of the fifty states, [[Alaska]], an exclave, and [[Hawaii]], an archipelago, are not contiguous with any of the other states. Alaska in located in northwest North America and the Hawaiian Islands in the Pacific Ocean. The United States also has a collection of overseas territories and possessions around the world. Each of the 50 states has a high level of local autonomy under the federal system.

At over 3.7 million square miles (over 9.6 million km²), the U.S. (including its non-contiguous and overseas states and territories) is the third largest country by total area. It is the world's third most populous nation, with over 300 million people.

The United States' military, economic, cultural, and political influence increased through the 19th and 20th centuries. Since the mid-20th century, the United States has become a dominant global influence in contemporary economic, political, military, scientific, technological and cultural matters. With the collapse of the [[Soviet Union]] at the end of the [[Cold War]], the nation emerged as the world's sole remaining superpower, greatly influencing world affairs, as it continues to do today.

==Background - GOD, The Constitution, and Political Parties==

[[Image:76485685i79.jpg|right|thumb|300px|The drafting committee presenting the [[Declaration of Independence]] to the [[Continental Congress]], painted by John Trumbull 1817–1819.]]

[[George Washington]], [[Thomas Jefferson]], and the other [[Founding Fathers]] signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, 1776.

Between independence in 1776 and the ratification of the [[Constitution]] in 1788, the United States had two governing documents: the [[Articles of Confederation]] and the [[Declaration of Independence]] itself.

[[George Washington]], [[Thomas Jefferson]], and the other [[Founding Fathers]] formally established the current structure of the United States by ratification of the [[U.S. Constitution]] in 1788.

Since 1788, the United States has had only one official governing document: the [[U.S. Constitution]].

All previous documents are mere historical reference material.

Although officially a [[Republic]], since the Presidency of [[John Quincy Adams]], the United States has been governed by two [[political parties]] under the rules of a "Representative [[Democracy]]." Those two major political parties are the [[Democrat Party]], and the Republican Party. The younger of the two parties, the [[Republican Party]], was created in 1854.

In The United States' political life, the relationship between GOD and GOVERNMENT is the prime characteristic differentiating the various political parties.

The [[Declaration of Independence]] supposes the existence of a GOD when it refers to "the Laws of Nature and of Nature's GOD" and says all men "are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights." That statement was inserted at the request of [[Thomas Jefferson]], whose religious beliefs were more Unitarianism / Christian.

It is established fact that most early The United Statesians came there for Religious Freedom. It is also an established fact that people did live here before North America was "discovered." The United States'[[Founding Fathers]] called themselves Christians, and acted as though the United States was founded upon the principles and ideals of Christianity.

Despite their own beliefs however, the [[Founding Fathers]] specifically placed into the [[First Amendment]] to the [[U.S. Constitution]] a statement that the government cannot interfere in the conduct of religious groups, and grants "Freedom of Religion" for all faiths. That statement is often referred to as the "Free Exercise Clause."

This "Free Exercise Clause" of the [[First Amendment]] to the [[U.S. Constitution]] began increasingly to be tested and interpreted by the judiciary in the late 19th century as a result of the increasing population of religious minorities in the United States.

The various differences and contradictions between the founding documents such as the "[[Declaration of Independence]]", the "[[U.S. Constitution]]", the "[[Federalist Papers]]", and the many personal papers of the [[Founding Fathers]] has not helped to resolve the issue.

This is important to understand, as in recent decades, the [[U.S. Supreme Court]] has re-interpreted this clause to represent an actual, "physical separation" of Religion from Government. This "separation of Church and State" interpretation has become a continuing source of conflict in United States' society.

In The United States today, what political party one belongs to is sometimes determined by their personal view of the relationship between "God and government." To this group of people, all other social issues, whether they be abortion, euthanasia, freedom of speech, cloning, etc. are all subservient in one way or another to an individuals' view of "God and government." Another way to gauge one's political beliefs is by considering the relationship between "freedom and government."

The [[Republican Party]] does not believe in a "physical separation" between Church and State. The [[Democrat Party]] firmly believes in that "physical separation."

It is the pre-imminent importance of this issue in United States' Life and Culture that causes this discussion to have so prominent a place on the main page of this encyclopedia's "United States of America" entry.

==History and geography==

[[Image:56eugyjnm.jpg|right|thumb|300px|The [[White House]], the official home and workplace of the [[President of the United States]] of America.]]

In [[1783]], when the [[Peace of Paris]] concluded hostilities against [[Great Britain]], the former [[colonial power]], the United States' population totaled some three million [[citizens]] and [[slaves]] living on slightly less than one million square miles of land. An unknown number of [[Native Americans]] also lived in the western part of the United States, which was then bordered on the west by the [[Mississippi River]], on the north by [[Lake Superior]], [[Lake Huron]], [[Lake Erie]] and [[Lake Ontario]], on the east by the [[Atlantic Ocean]], and on the south by [[Florida]], then controlled by [[Spain]]. The land border with Canada was not clarified until the [[Rush-Bagot Agreement]] of 1816.

The majority of the taxable population lived in the thirteen original [[states]]. In alphabetical order they are [[Connecticut]], [[Delaware]], [[Georgia]], [[Maryland]], [[Massachusetts]], [[New Hampshire]], [[New Jersey]], [[New York]], [[North Carolina]], [[Pennsylvania]], [[Rhode Island]], [[South Carolina]] and [[Virginia]]. In 1790, an agreement between supporters of Jefferson and those of [[Alexander Hamilton]] resulted in the creation of the [[District of Columbia]] from part of [[Maryland]]; it has served as the national capital from 1800 on. The remainder of the 1783 territory was eventually organized as the states of [[Ohio]], [[Indiana]], [[Michigan]], [[Illinois]], [[Wisconsin]], [[Kentucky]], [[Tennessee]], [[Mississippi]] and [[Alabama]]. Two additional states were added during the first fifty years by [[secession]] from existing states: [[Vermont]] from New York, and [[Maine]] from Massachusetts. After that, the legality of [[secession]] became an issue.

In 1803, [[French]] emperor [[Napoleon Bonaparte]] took advantage of a lull in his war with Great Britain to sell the [[Louisiana Territory]] to the United States, more than doubling the nation's land area. This territory would later be organized as the states of [[Minnesota]], [[North Dakota]], [[South Dakota]], [[Montana]], [[Wyoming]], [[Nebraska]], [[Iowa]], [[Missouri]], [[Arkansas]], [[Kansas]], [[Oklahoma]], and [[Louisiana]] proper. President Jefferson commissioned [[Lewis and Clark]] to explore the new territory, which they did from 1802 to 1804.

[[Florida]] and [[Texas]] joined the United States as a result of [[revolutions]] by settlers from the United States against their central governments. Florida's was fought in 1810, while the much better remembered [[Texas Revolution]] was fought in 1836. While Spain was willing to cut its losses in Florida and relinquished any claims on the state in the [[Adams-Oniz Agreement]] of 1819, one of the successors to its empire in the Americas, Mexico, was considerably more attached to Texas and fought the [[Mexican War]] between 1846 and 1848 to reverse its annexation by the United States. Losing badly, Mexico was forced to cede the sparsely populated northern portion of itself under the [[Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo]]. This territory eventually became the states of [[California]], [[Nevada]], [[Utah]], [[Colorado]], [[New Mexico]] and [[Arizona]]. At approximately the same time, [[President]] [[James K. Polk]] had agreed with the British that the 49th Parallel (degree of latitude) would serve as the boundary between the U. S. and Canada from [[Lake of the Woods]] (partially in Minnesota) to the [[Pacific Ocean]]. This territory was later organized as the states of [[Washington]], [[Oregon]] and [[Idaho]].

In 1867, [[Secretary of State]] [[William Seward]] purchased [[Alaska]] from [[Russia]]. Critics referred to this as "Seward's Folly." Alaska is the westernmost extremity of [[North America]] bounded on the east by Canada, on the south by the Pacific Ocean, on the west by the [[Bering Strait]] and on the north by the [[Arctic Ocean]]. At $7,000,000, Alaska cost the United States considerably less per acre than the [[Mexican Cession]] and slightly less than the Louisiana Territory. Of course, [[inflation]] was less of a factor at this time due to the world [[economy]] still being principally [[agrarian]]. Although at the time it was considered a foolish bargain, Alaska would later become a large source of economic prosperity due to large gold, oil, and other natural resources. Alaska would not be admitted as a state until 1959.

The 50th and so far final state, [[Hawaii]], was also admitted in 1959, 67 years after the DOLE corporation, sugar producers, and the US Marine Corps deposed the last native [[queen]] of the archipelago and 62 years after annexation had become politically feasible as a result of the [[Spanish-American War]], in which the United States also annexed [[Puerto Rico]], [[Guam]] and [[Wake Island]]. The last three islands are not states, although [[Puerto Rico]] has occasionally held non-binding [[referenda]] to express its desired status within the United States.

The United States has occasionally relinquished territory. The most significant example of this was certainly the granting of independence in 1946 to the [[Philippines]] as part of the general [[decolonization]] of [[Asia]] and [[Africa]] following [[World War II]]. Under both [[autocratic]] and [[democratic]] governments, the Philippines have subsequently remained a strong United Statesian ally, and today contribute more troops to the U. S. [[military]] than some states. Other Pacific territories such as the [[Federated States of Micronesia]] and [[Palau]] have also become independent in the postwar era with little objection from opinion leaders on the mainland. More controversial was the 1977 agreement between President [[Jimmy Carter]] and [[General]] [[Omar Torrijos]] to return the [[Panama Canal Zone]], which had been part of the United States since 1914, to [[Panama]] in the year 2000. Ultimately the United States lived up to this agreement despite the worst fears of both [[liberals]] (who decried [[Operation Just Cause]], the 1989 invasion of Panama) and [[conservatives]] (who feared the management of the [[Panama Canal]] by [[Chinese]] interests).

The USA's has been criticized for holding back its [[United Nations]] dues (currently, even after the Helms-Biden amendment, the United States has withheld 41%, or $1.246 billion dollars, <ref>http://www.un.org/ga/president/55/speech/una_usa.htm</ref>) as the US has sought reforms within the international organization.

== References ==
<references/>

[[Category:North American Countries]]
[[Category:NATO members]]
[[Category:United States]]

World War II

2007-05-07T03:27:32Z

MacGillicutty:

'''World War II''' was a global conflict fought between the [[Allies|Allied]] powers including the [[United States]], the [[Soviet Union]], [[Britain]], [[France]], Australia, Canada and many other nations and the [[Axis (WWII)|Axis]] powers (mainly [[Nazism|Nazi]] [[Germany]], [[Fascism|Fascist]] [[Italy]], and Imperial [[Japan]]). The war is usually considered to have started on September 1, 1939 with the invasion of [[Poland]] by Nazi Germany. During the war, eight major world powers fought, along with several lesser states joining with one side or the other. On the side which lost were the Axis Powers Germany, [[Japan]], and [[Italy]]. Against them were the Allied Powers [[United States]], [[Great Britain]] and the Commonwealth, the [[Soviet Union]], [[France]], and [[China]] (which was friendly to the West at the time.) Russia entered the war on the side of the Allies after Germany launched an attack codenamed [[Operation_Barbarossa|Barbarossa]], while Britain declared war in reaction to Germany's aggression against [[Poland]].

==Causes==
The causes of World War II are complicated. The immediate causes of World War II are generally held to be the Japanese attacks on China, the United States, the British and Dutch colonies; and the German invasion of Poland on the 1st September 1939. Following the two day deadline for the withdrawl of German forces, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand declared war on Germany, followed quickly by France, South Africa, Canada and Nepal.

One major cause of German aggression may be the fervent [[Nationalism]] that became the norm in Germany post-[[World War I]]. Germans were eager to reaffirm their position as a major player on the world stage.{{fact}}

== German Tactics ==
The major tactical innovation of the war was the use of combined arms warfare, typified by the German doctrine of [[blitzkrieg]]. In this style of warfare armor, infantry, artillery and air power (see [[Luftwaffe]]) all coordinate to achieve overwhelming superiority at point on the enemy lines. Armor and fast-moving infantry units then exploit the gap and penetrate deep behind enemy lines. The objective is to cause a widespread collapse of the enemy's ability to fight. It was particularly effective during the early stages of the war, before the Allies developed effective countermeasures.

==War in Europe 1939-1941==
The French and British were initially reluctant to honour promises to the Polish government, avoiding serious consideration of an invasion of Germany. The British failed send land forces in time to support the Poles (see [[Western betrayal]]). The French mobilized slowly and then launched a token offensive in the Saar. The Meanwhile, on September 8, the Germans reached Warsaw, having slashed through the Polish defenses.

Following the completion of the invasion of Poland, German forces regrouped and Allied forces remained defensive, leading US commentators to dub it the [[Phoney War]]. This perception was not shared in [[Finland]], which fought a Soviet invasion start on 30 November 1939. Despite the overwhelming numbers of the [[Red Army]], the Finnish resistance was strong and the battle was hard fought before the Soviet army took control.

May 10 1940 marked the end of any accustion of a phoney war, with the invasion of France by Germany, via [[The Netherlands]], [[Luxembourg]] and [[Beligium]]. Resistance by the British armies and French armies proved weak and the occupation of France began. British troops were able to evacuate mainland Europe at Dunkirk. France was divided into the northern [[Occupied France]] and the collaborationist [[Vichy regime]] in the south of France, including [[Corsica]].

The collapse and occupation of France, together with Germany's alliance with the Soviet Union, fascist Italy, benevolent neutrality of fascist Spain and Portugal, with little of Europe outside of Axis hands led many to assume that the United Kingdom had been defeated. Indeed it would appear that the, seemingly foolish, decision of the relatively weak United Kingdom to continue the war took the Axis powers off guard. This decision ensured the remaining British Empire was still involved in the war, with Japan threatening many British possessions in Asia.

In 1940 [[Denmark]] and [[Norway]] were invaded by German forces, to preempt a British occupation of Norway. Norway also contained a source of [[Heavy water]], possibly crucial in the construction of an atomic weapon. This was soon followed by the British invasion of neutral [[Iceland]] (the invasion of [[Denmark]] by German forces marks the start of an independent Iceland).

With Britain the sole opposing European nation, the [[Battle of Britain]] commenced. The [[Luftwaffe]] attempted to achieve aerial dominance over the south of Britain, in order to allow a sea based invasion of Britain to proceed. For many months the [[Royal Air Force]] and Luftwaffe fought for dominance, with the resilience of the RAF, with British, Canadian and Polish pilots forced a rethink of [[German]] tactics. The period that followed is known as the [[Blitz]], where the RAF and Luftwaffe attempted to undermine the infrastructure of the opposing country. This was a period of great economic devastation, which took both countries a considerable period to recover from. More seriously it led to huge numbers of civilian deaths.

1941 marked the major turning point in the war in Europe, when the Germans put aside plans for an invasion of Britain and undertook [[Operation Barbarossa]] - the invasion of the Soviet Union. In a war of major turning points, this was the most significant in Europe. This miscalculation diminished the Germans armies capacity as they a war against the Soviet Union (known as the [[Great Patriotic War]] in the Soviet Union) demanded huge dedication of resources and later in the war permitted an invasion of mainland Europe by Allied Forces on [[D Day]].

==United States Enters the War==
The [[Attack on Pearl Harbor]] brought The United States into the Great War. This is what we are told, despite the pre-existing naval war in the Atlantic between the US Navy and Germany in the summer of 1941. Admiral [[Isoroku Yamamoto]] of the Japenese Navy was against engaging with The United States and only fear of "waking a sleeping giant", which they did. The United States recovered from the shell shock and plunged into the war with the slogan "Remember Pearl Harbor!".

==The end of World War II in Asia==
On August 6, 1945, a B-29 Superfortress, the Enola Gay, dropped a nuclear bomb on Hiroshima. Then, on August 9, a B-29 dropped the second atomic bomb. On August 20 the Japanese government told the United States they were ready to accept the terms which the Allies proposed. The next day, the Allies replied, saying the authority of the emperor would be "subject to the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers." On August 14 the Japanese government agreed to this.

Then, September 2, 1945, the Japanese government, along with all it's military forces, formally surrendered to the United States. This happened in a ceremony aboard a United Statseian battleship, the ''Missouri'', on [[Tokyo Bay]], where the [[Japanese Instrument of Surrender]] was signed. This was the ending of World War II, after six years almost to the day.

==Fall Out From World War II==

*[[Iron Curtain]]

*British Empire
The war effectively bankrupted Britain, which started the process of discarding its empire. It was not until 2007 Britain finished paying off the loans to the USA which it had taken to fight Nazi Germany.

*Supremacy of the USA in the Western World
Whilst most countries had seen their economies demolished by the war, the USA had industrialised heavily and gained financial gains from sales of arms to other Allied countries.

*Supremacy of the Soviet Union in the Eastern World.

==References==

<references/>
[[Category:World War II| ]]
[[Category:Wars]]

World War II

2007-05-07T03:24:16Z

MacGillicutty: /* America Enters the War */

'''World War II''' was a global conflict fought between the [[Allies|Allied]] powers including the [[United States]], the [[Soviet Union]], [[Britain]], [[France]], Australia, Canada and many other nations and the [[Axis (WWII)|Axis]] powers (mainly [[Nazism|Nazi]] [[Germany]], [[Fascism|Fascist]] [[Italy]], and Imperial [[Japan]]). The war is usually considered to have started on September 1, 1939 with the invasion of [[Poland]] by Nazi Germany. During the war, eight major world powers fought, along with several lesser states joining with one side or the other. On the side which lost were the Axis Powers Germany, [[Japan]], and [[Italy]]. Against them were the Allied Powers [[United States]], [[Great Britain]] and the Commonwealth, the [[Soviet Union]], [[France]], and [[China]] (which was friendly to the West at the time.) Russia entered the war on the side of the Allies after Germany launched an attack codenamed [[Operation_Barbarossa|Barbarossa]], while Britain declared war in reaction to Germany's aggression against [[Poland]].

==Causes==
The causes of World War II are complicated. The immediate causes of World War II are generally held to be the Japanese attacks on China, the United States, the British and Dutch colonies; and the German invasion of Poland on the 1st September 1939. Following the two day deadline for the withdrawl of German forces, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand declared war on Germany, followed quickly by France, South Africa, Canada and Nepal.

One major cause of German aggression may be the fervent [[Nationalism]] that became the norm in Germany post-[[World War I]]. Germans were eager to reaffirm their position as a major player on the world stage.{{fact}}

== German Tactics ==
The major tactical innovation of the war was the use of combined arms warfare, typified by the German doctrine of [[blitzkrieg]]. In this style of warfare armor, infantry, artillery and air power (see [[Luftwaffe]]) all coordinate to achieve overwhelming superiority at point on the enemy lines. Armor and fast-moving infantry units then exploit the gap and penetrate deep behind enemy lines. The objective is to cause a widespread collapse of the enemy's ability to fight. It was particularly effective during the early stages of the war, before the Allies developed effective countermeasures.

==War in Europe 1939-1941==
The French and British were initially reluctant to honour promises to the Polish government, avoiding serious consideration of an invasion of Germany. The British failed send land forces in time to support the Poles (see [[Western betrayal]]). The French mobilized slowly and then launched a token offensive in the Saar. The Meanwhile, on September 8, the Germans reached Warsaw, having slashed through the Polish defenses.

Following the completion of the invasion of Poland, German forces regrouped and Allied forces remained defensive, leading US commentators to dub it the [[Phoney War]]. This perception was not shared in [[Finland]], which fought a Soviet invasion start on 30 November 1939. Despite the overwhelming numbers of the [[Red Army]], the Finnish resistance was strong and the battle was hard fought before the Soviet army took control.

May 10 1940 marked the end of any accustion of a phoney war, with the invasion of France by Germany, via [[The Netherlands]], [[Luxembourg]] and [[Beligium]]. Resistance by the British armies and French armies proved weak and the occupation of France began. British troops were able to evacuate mainland Europe at Dunkirk. France was divided into the northern [[Occupied France]] and the collaborationist [[Vichy regime]] in the south of France, including [[Corsica]].

The collapse and occupation of France, together with Germany's alliance with the Soviet Union, fascist Italy, benevolent neutrality of fascist Spain and Portugal, with little of Europe outside of Axis hands led many to assume that the United Kingdom had been defeated. Indeed it would appear that the, seemingly foolish, decision of the relatively weak United Kingdom to continue the war took the Axis powers off guard. This decision ensured the remaining British Empire was still involved in the war, with Japan threatening many British possessions in Asia.

In 1940 [[Denmark]] and [[Norway]] were invaded by German forces, to preempt a British occupation of Norway. Norway also contained a source of [[Heavy water]], possibly crucial in the construction of an atomic weapon. This was soon followed by the British invasion of neutral [[Iceland]] (the invasion of [[Denmark]] by German forces marks the start of an independent Iceland).

With Britain the sole opposing European nation, the [[Battle of Britain]] commenced. The [[Luftwaffe]] attempted to achieve aerial dominance over the south of Britain, in order to allow a sea based invasion of Britain to proceed. For many months the [[Royal Air Force]] and Luftwaffe fought for dominance, with the resilience of the RAF, with British, Canadian and Polish pilots forced a rethink of [[German]] tactics. The period that followed is known as the [[Blitz]], where the RAF and Luftwaffe attempted to undermine the infrastructure of the opposing country. This was a period of great economic devastation, which took both countries a considerable period to recover from. More seriously it led to huge numbers of civilian deaths.

1941 marked the major turning point in the war in Europe, when the Germans put aside plans for an invasion of Britain and undertook [[Operation Barbarossa]] - the invasion of the Soviet Union. In a war of major turning points, this was the most significant in Europe. This miscalculation diminished the Germans armies capacity as they a war against the Soviet Union (known as the [[Great Patriotic War]] in the Soviet Union) demanded huge dedication of resources and later in the war permitted an invasion of mainland Europe by Allied Forces on [[D Day]].

==America Enters the War==
The [[Attack on Pearl Harbor]] brought America into the Great War. This is what we are told, despite the pre-existing naval war in the Atlantic between the US Navy and Germany in the summer of 1941. Admiral [[Isoroku Yamamoto]] of the Japenese Navy was against engaging with America and only fear of "waking a sleeping giant", which they did. America recovered from the shell shock and plunged into the war with the slogan "Remember Pearl Harbor!".

==The end of World War II in Asia==
On August 6, 1945, a B-29 Superfortress, the Enola Gay, dropped a nuclear bomb on Hiroshima. Then, on August 9, a B-29 dropped the second atomic bomb. On August 20 the Japanese government told the United States they were ready to accept the terms which the Allies proposed. The next day, the Allies replied, saying the authority of the emperor would be "subject to the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers." On August 14 the Japanese government agreed to this.

Then, September 2, 1945, the Japanese government, along with all it's military forces, formally surrendered to the United States. This happened in a ceremony aboard an American battleship, the ''Missouri'', on [[Tokyo Bay]], where the [[Japanese Instrument of Surrender]] was signed. This was the ending of World War II, after six years almost to the day.

==Fall Out From World War II==

*[[Iron Curtain]]

*British Empire
The war effectively bankrupted Britain, which started the process of discarding its empire. It was not until 2007 Britain finished paying off the loans to the USA which it had taken to fight Nazi Germany.

*Supermecy of the USA in the Western World
Whilst most countries had seen their economies demolished by the war, the USA had industrialised heavily and gained financial gains from sales of arms to other Allied countries.

*Supremecy of the Soviet Union in the Eastern World.

==References==

<references/>
[[Category:World War II| ]]
[[Category:Wars]]