Various Assignments Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Various Assignments - Essay Example The Balkans’ invasion was meant to open up borders to facilitate the Axis’s invasion of the Soviet Union. However, resistance from two main ethnic groups in the Balkans and ethnic conflicts in the Balkans complicated the Axis’s efforts and these incidents culminated to hold the Axis at bay until the Red Army arrived holding the Axis back until Germany finally surrendered (Bishop, 2008). Pearl Harbor The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor secured a major advantage for the Axis during World War II. The surprise attack achieved its intended purpose: to destabilise the Allies’ Pacific Fleet and to give Japan the time and space it needed to invade South-East Asia. Although the Allies would ultimately defeat Japan and the Axis, the Axis were able to take advantage of the damages to the Pacific Fleet and did indeed invade South-East Asia (Fuller, 1993). Battle of the Coral Sea The Allies gained a significant advantage in the Pacific Theater of the Second World War d uring the Battle of the Coral Sea against the Axis. During the Battler of the Coral Sea, both the Axis and the Allies would sustain significant damages. However, the damages sustained by the Axis were far greater than the Allies and as a result severely limited their participation in the Pacific Theater against the Allies (Henry, 2003). Battle of the Midway The Battle of Midway provided the Allies with its most important advantage during the Second World War in the Pacific Theater against the Axis. Japan sustained major damages to its navy from which it did not fully recover during the Battle of Midway. From this point on, Japan remained on the defensive rather than on the offensive. Thus the Battle of Midway was a turning point for the Axis during the Second World War in the Pacific Theater (Isom, 2007). Part 2: Fidel Castro: Annotated Timeline 1959: Through a guerrilla war, Fidel Castro overthrew Cuba’s military dictator Batista and was sworn in as Cuba’s Prime Minis ter (History Television, 2012). 1960: Castro immediately set the stage for the creation of a communist state, the first in the Western Hemisphere. In setting the stage for establishing a communist state, Castro nationalised businesses owned by the US which included oil refineries, casinos and factories. This lead to the US terminating diplomatic relations with Cuba and implementing trade sanctions (History Television, 2012). 1961: Castro made a public announcement that he was a Marxist-Leninist. This announcement coincided with Cuba’s increasing economic and military dependence on the Soviet Union (History Channel, 2012). October 1962: The US learned that Cuba was in possession of nuclear weapons and this led to a confrontation which was ultimately resolved by an agreement between the Soviet Union and the US. This was an agreement that Castro did not consent to. December 1962: Castro freed Cuban exiles who having been trained and supported by the CIA landed near the Bay of Pi gs with the intention of ousting Castro. The exiles were unsuccessful and were captured by Castro’s army. Castro released the exiles for â€Å"medical supplies and baby food worth about US$ 52 million† (History Channel, 2012). 1965: Castro merged his revolutionary parties with Cuba’s Communist Party and appointed himself the amalgamated party’

Recount and the U.S. Supreme Court Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Recount and the U.S. Supreme Court - Essay Example a political battle ended by the federal courts as the Florida Supreme Court ordered for a state-wide recount which is later on brought to an end by the U.S. Supreme Court. In this case, the Supreme Court resolved whether the recount is constitutional and identified a remedy once deemed unconstitutional. Within the American Judiciary, a writ of certiorari could be granted only for compelling reasons but of judicial discretion. One of the grounds cited by the judges, as per asserted in Rule 10, was the occurrence of discrepancy on the decision of Florida Supreme Court for ballot recounts. It could be recalled that in December of the same year, the Florida Supreme Court stated multiple court decisions regarding the presidential election and the process of manual recount which was mandated to be statewide and even with the appeal of Bush, were ordered for stay. Justice Scalia argued that the petitioner Gore has a substantial probability of success and a manual recount was granted in order to count the legally casted votes that may not be counted by the machine such as in cases of dimpled chad. Moreover, it was accounted by the justice that halting the pro cess of recounting votes will inevitably shed a confusion of the legitimacy of the election. Yet the issue remains, why did the U.S. Supreme Court overturn the decision of Florida Supreme Court on its mandated recount? The majority of the justices elected that the decision of Florida Supreme Court for state-wide manual recounting was unconstitutional as they reckon that the Florida Legislature aimed to utilize the â€Å"safe-harbor† benefits of â€Å"determination of controversy as to appointment of electors† as stated in Title 3 of the United States Code  § 5. Three justices, Rehnquist, Scalia and Thomas, claimed that the Florida Supreme Court’s decision violated the intent of Florida legislature while seven of them concurred that there was a defiance of the Equal Protection Clause in manual counting as there has