I have never thought of history in a way that did not involve the connections that exists between all of the various fields of study. I have always felt that everything that falls into the scope of human interaction, as well as everything that has had some form of interaction on humanity, i.e. weather, plant and animal life, and landform changes, needs to be studied and understood in a historical manner. Manning does an excellent job in describing these interactions and the need to connect history to other disciplines. When it comes to being able to study history, I think we can all agree that a historical record of facts and figures, names and places, and who died when is not easy to study. A historical record that connects population movement and growth to the ecological record of an area , while it includes the who, what, when and where is much more beneficial because it helps answer the all important why.
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
Israel's Impact on the Post-WWII World
There was no greater period of change in the face of the world in such a short period of time as was found in the years immediately following the end of the Second World War. New nations were formed, borders redrawn, and new governments established around the world. The most impactful of all of these changes was the creation of a Jewish nation in the Middle East. When the European powers decided to create the country of Israel they set in motion a series of events that still affect the world in every way possible. All aspects of global society, from economics and politics to culture and religion, are affected by Israel. Events in this tiny nation create massive ripples felt in every corner of the world. There is seldom a day when there is not at least one news story in every major world newspaper related to the Israeli people in one way or another. Jewish conflict with the neighboring Muslim countries has set the tone for international diplomacy for almost 100 years. Which side of the dispute a nation sides with at any given time extends beyond the Middle East to the world at large.
There are countries around the world such as Venezuela with its population around 29 million. That even though nations may not like the leader’s foreign policy or stand on nuclear weapons draw very little notice. Yet the same cannot be said for Israel with its almost 8 million people. In our modern world it can be said that if the leader of Israel gets a cold, the world as a whole sneezes. In a May 12th search of the AP website (http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/fronts/WORLD?SITE=AP) for stories relating to Israel, 71 news stories were listed for the month of May alone, 89 stories in the 15 days kept on record. During that same time period only 32 stories were reported for our example country of Venezuela. What other country, founded in the last 75 years, has had such impact the world over?
There are countries around the world such as Venezuela with its population around 29 million. That even though nations may not like the leader’s foreign policy or stand on nuclear weapons draw very little notice. Yet the same cannot be said for Israel with its almost 8 million people. In our modern world it can be said that if the leader of Israel gets a cold, the world as a whole sneezes. In a May 12th search of the AP website (http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/fronts/WORLD?SITE=AP) for stories relating to Israel, 71 news stories were listed for the month of May alone, 89 stories in the 15 days kept on record. During that same time period only 32 stories were reported for our example country of Venezuela. What other country, founded in the last 75 years, has had such impact the world over?
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