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IF READER HISTORY-2TRANSCRIPT
The Cold War was a period of
tension and subdued hostility which
gripped most of the world between the
1940s and the early 1990s. The
primary actors in the Cold War were
the United States and its allies,
countered by Russia and countries
aligned with that nation. Rather than
engaging in a potentially devastating
out and out war, the countries involved
in the Cold War jockeyed for position in
more subtle ways. Many major events
in global history including the rise of
the Berlin Wall and the Cuban Missile
Crisis were related to the Cold War.
The Cold War has its roots in
the Second World War, when the Allied
powers made an uneasy pact with
Russia to defeat Germany and Italy.
The Allied countries were concerned
about joining forces with a Communist
nation, and Russia was likewise
hesitant about the agreement. After the
Second World War, Germany was
divided into territories occupied by the
Allies and Russia, and the relationship
started to go sour shortly after that.
From the point of view of the
West, Communist was a dangerous
idea. Russia had firm control of
Eastern Europe, but the Allies and the
United States in particular hoped to
prevent the spread of Communism
through containment. The West was
also concerned about the potential for
conversion in developing nations in
Africa, Asia, and South America. The
West heavily controlled regions which
bordered Communist countries, and
sent a variety of spies across the
borders to gather information about
Communist regimes. In addition, both
Communists and Westerners engaged
in wars on other ground, such as in
Korea and Vietnam, in an attempt to
gain the upper hand.
Russia and allied nations such
as China, on the other hand, wanted to
protect themselves and the Communist
nations that they were allied with. The
division between Communist Eastern
Europe and the West was called the
“Iron Curtain,” due to the difficulty in
crossing it, thanks to Communist
officials trying to keep citizens in and
Westerners out. Communist nations
competed with the West economically,
scientifically, and technologically in an
attempt to establish superiority. The
Cold War led the Space Race which
landed Americans on the moon in
1969, and it also led to nuclear
proliferation, as a growing number of
countries grew concerned for their
safety.
Numerous attempts were made
at reaching a diplomatic agreement
during the Cold War, but the Cold War
truly began to end when Eastern
European nations rose up against
Communism. The Solidarity anti-
communist movement gained ground
in Poland as the Berlin Wall fell and
leaders of the United States and
Russia started to engage in
cooperative talks. Diplomatic
relationships between the major
players in the Cold War were re-
established in the 1990s, to the relief of
many people around the world who
had been impacted by the Cold War.
A war crime is a crime which is committed during the course of a war, either by a civilian or a member of the military. War crimes have been a problem throughout human history, although prosecution of such crimes only really emerged in the 20th century, thanks to general public outrage about crimes committed by German and Japanese forces during the Second World War. Unfortunately, this term can be a bit challenging to define, as it is somewhat nebulous. War crimes are also notoriously hard to prosecute and prove.
Most governments agree that any action which violates international conventions and agreements about warfare is a war crime. For example, abuse of prisoners of war is outlawed by the Geneva Convention, and therefore considered a war crime. Perfidy, the act of wilfully deceiving the enemy, is also a war crime. Crimes against humanity such as torture, genocide, mass deportation, and other acts of persecution are also considered war crimes when they occur during a period of Ideally, individual nations should prosecute their own war criminals, and in several countries, tribunals have been established after periods of war to acquit or convict and sentence suspected war criminals.
In other instances, neutral courts such as those in the Hague have tried war criminals after a period of war. Trials typically include testimony from victims, if possible, along with witnesses and professionals such as forensic anthropologists who analyze evidence at suspected sites of criminal activity. Sentences for war crimes vary, depending on the magnitude of the crime and the will of the court.
The first serious attempts to prosecute war criminals occurred after the First World War, and they were largely
considered a failure. After the Second World War, however, a tribunal was arranged in Nuremburg, Germany, for the purpose of trying suspected war criminals. The tribunal was run by the Allied occupying forces, and a number of prominent Nazis were tried during the Nuremburg trials, including Hermann Goring and Rudolf Hess. This tribunal set the stage for future prosecutions of suspected war criminals, and caused a shift in international attitudes about the concept of war crime.
Internationally, organizations such as the UN may monitor conflict zones for signs of war crimes. In some cases, suspected war criminals may be remanded to a neutral court such as the International Criminal Court in the Hague, if the United Nations feels that they will not be tried appropriately in their home nations. This international court has very specifically spelled out authorities, to ensure that its power is not abused.
Ancient Egyptians created mummies because of their staunch belief in life after death and the need for a well-preserved body in the afterlife was of monumental importance. The study of ancient Egyptians reveals that the need to discover artificial means of preserving bodies came after they discovered natural means of doing so. In the end, the ancient Egyptians made mummies out of their deceased using processes that changed over time as newer discoveries were made.
Initially, ancient Egyptians attempted to make mummies by simply wrapping bodies in many layers of linen bandages. This method was used prior to the knowledge of any type of embalming and failed to prevent the decay of the body. Though they would extract most of the organs from corpses before making them into mummies to delay decaying, the process failed to prevent decay for long.
An advancement in mummification was made when ancient Egyptians decided to soak the linen bandages in resin and create a hardened, outer shell for their mummies. This process also allowed the living to paint the carefully molded faces of the mummies to look more realistic. However, because this process still did not equate to embalming, the corpses still decayed.
It wasn’t until natron, a naturally occurring salt, was discovered that true preservation became possible. Natron was used for embalming mummies and because it dried out the tissue, decay was prevented. The drying process took time and some parts of the body, such as fingernails, were tied on to avoid falling off and becoming lost. The ancient Egyptians believed that a body must arrive in the afterlife fully intact in order to be used. They continued to remove most of the internal organs, but not the heart as it would also be needed.
As time advanced, mummies were always embalmed with a drying agent and the body cavities stuffed with saw dust or linen. Often times the bodies were cleaned with oils and spices prior to stuffing. Masks made from hardened resin were often placed over the head and shoulders of the mummies making them distinguishable in the afterlife. Once perfected, the entire mummification process took about 60 days, thus meaning the funeral and final burial of ancient Egyptian mummies occurred at least two months after death.