American Revolution - Early Campaigns of the American Revolution

Previous: Causes of Conflict | American Revolution 101 | Next: New York, Philadelphia, Saratoga Opening Shots: Lexington Concord Following several years of rising tensions and the occupation of Boston by British troops, the military governor of Massachusetts, General Thomas Gage, began efforts to secure the colonys military supplies to keep them from the Patriot militias. These actions received official sanction on April 14, 1775, when orders arrived from London commanding him to disarm the militias and to arrest key colonial leaders. Believing the militias to be hoarding supplies at Concord, Gage made plans for part of his force to march and occupy the town. On April 16, Gage sent a scouting party out of the city towards Concord which gathered intelligence, but also alerted the colonials to British intentions. Aware of Gages orders, many key colonial figures, such as John Hancock and Samuel Adams, left Boston to seek safety in the country. Two days later, Gage ordered Lieutenant Colonel Francis Smith to prepare a 700-man force to sortie from the city. Aware of British interest in Concord, many of the supplies were quickly moved to other towns. Around 9:00-10:00 that night, Patriot leader Dr. Joseph Warren informed Paul Revere and William Dawes that the British would be embarking that night for Cambridge and the road to Lexington and Concord. Departing the city by separate routes, Revere and Dawes made their famous ride west to warn that the British were approaching. In Lexington, Captain John Parker gathered the towns militia and had them form into ranks on the town green with orders not to fire unless fired upon. Around sunrise, the British vanguard, led by Major John Pitcairn, arrived in the village. Riding forward, Pitcairn demanded that Parkers men disperse and lay down their arms. Parker partially complied and ordered his men to go home, but to retain their muskets. As his men began to move, a shot rang out from an unknown source. This led to an exchange of fire which saw Pitcairns horse hit twice. Surging forward the British drove the militia from the green. When the smoke cleared, eight of the militia were dead and another ten wounded. One British soldier was injured in the exchange. Departing Lexington, the British pushed on towards Concord. Outside of the town, the Concord militia, unsure of what had transpired at Lexington, fell back and took up a position on a hill across the North Bridge. The British occupied the town and broke into detachments to search for the colonial munitions. As they began their work, the Concord militia, led by Colonel James Barrett, was reinforced as other towns militias arrived on the scene. A short time later fighting broke out near the North Bridge with the British being forced back into the town. Gathering his men, Smith began the return march to Boston. As the British column moved, it was attacked by colonial militia which took up concealed positions along the road. Though reinforced at Lexington, Smiths men continued to take punishing fire until they reached the safety of Charlestown. All told, Smiths men suffered 272 casualties. Rushing to Boston, the militia effectively placed the city under siege. As news of the fighting spread, they were joined by militia from neighboring colonies, ultimately forming an army of over 20,000. The Battle of Bunker Hill On the night of June 16/17, 1775, colonial forces moved onto the Charlestown Peninsula with the goal of securing high ground from which to bombard British forces in Boston. Led by Colonel William Prescott, they initially established a position atop Bunker Hill, before moving forward to Breeds Hill. Using plans drawn by Captain Richard Gridley, Prescotts men began constructing a redoubt and lines extending northeast towards the water. Around 4:00 AM, a sentry on HMS Lively spotted the colonials and the ship opened fire. It was later joined by other British ships in the harbor, but their fire had little effect. Alerted to the American presence, Gage began organizing men to take the hill and gave command of the assault force to Major General William Howe. Transporting his men across the Charles River, Howe ordered Brigadier General Robert Pigot to directly attack Prescotts position while a second force worked around the colonial left flank to attack from behind. Aware that the British were planning an attack, General Israel Putnam dispatched reinforcements to Prescotts aid. These took up a position along fence which extended to the water near Prescotts lines. Moving forward, Howes first attack was met my massed musket fire from the American troops. Falling back, the British reformed and attacked again with the same result. During this time, Howes reserve, near Charlestown, was taking sniper fire from the town. To eliminate this, the navy opened fire with heated shot and effectively burned Charlestown to the ground. Ordering his reserve forward, Howe launched a third attack with all of his forces. With the Americans nearly out of ammunition, this assault succeeded in carrying the works and forced the militia to retreat off the Charlestown Peninsula. Though a victory, the Battle of Bunker Hill cost the British 226 killed (including Major Pitcairn) and 828 wounded. The high cost of the battle caused British Major General Henry Clinton to remark, A few more such victories would have shortly put an end to British dominion in America. Previous: Causes of Conflict | American Revolution 101 | Next: New York, Philadelphia, Saratoga Previous: Causes of Conflict | American Revolution 101 | Next: New York, Philadelphia, Saratoga The Invasion of Canada On May 10, 1775, the Second Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia. A month later on June 14, they formed the Continental Army and chose George Washington of Virginia as its commander-in-chief. Traveling to Boston, Washington took command of the army in July. Among Congress other goals was the capture of Canada. Efforts had been made the previous year to encourage French-Canadians to join the thirteen colonies in opposing British rule. These advances were rebuffed, and Congress authorized the formation of the Northern Department, under Major General Philip Schuyler, with orders to take Canada by force. Schuylers efforts were made easier by the actions of Colonel Ethan Allen of Vermont, who along with Colonel Benedict Arnold, captured Fort Ticonderoga on May 10, 1775. Located at the base of Lake Champlain, the fort provided an ideal springboard for attacking Canada. Organizing a small army, Schuyler fell ill and was forced to turn command over to Brigadier General Richard Montgomery. Moving up the lake, he captured Fort St. Jean on November 3, after a 45-day siege. Pressing on, Montgomery occupied Montreal ten days later when Canadian governor Major General Sir Guy Carleton withdrew to Quebec City without a fight. With Montreal secured, Montgomery departed for Quebec City on November 28 with 300 men. While Montgomerys army had been attacking through the Lake Champlain corridor, a second American force, under Arnold moved up the Kennebec River in Maine. Anticipating the march from Fort Western to Quebec City to take 20 days, Arnolds 1,100-man column encountered problems shortly after departing. Leaving September 25, his men endured starvation and disease before finally reaching Quebec on November 6, with around 600 men. Though he outnumbered the citys defenders, Arnold lacked artillery and could not penetrate its fortifications. On December 3, Montgomery arrived and the two American commanders joined forces. As the Americans planned their attack, Carleton reinforced the city raising the number of defenders to 1,800. Moving forward on the night of December 31, Montgomery and Arnold assaulted the city with the latter attacking from the west and the former from the north. In the resulting Battle of Quebec, American forces were repulsed with Montgomery killed in action. The surviving Americans retreated from the city and were placed under the command of Major General John Thomas. Arriving on May 1, 1776, Thomas found American forces weakened by disease and numbering fewer than a thousand. Seeing no other choice, he began retreating up the St. Lawrence River. On June 2, Thomas died of smallpox and command devolved to Brigadier General John Sullivan who had recently arrived with reinforcements. Attacking the British at Trois-Rivià ¨res on June 8, Sullivan was defeated and forced to retreat to Montreal and then south towards Lake Champlain. Seizing the initiative, Carleton pursued the Americans with the goal of reclaiming the lake and invading the colonies from the north. These efforts were blocked on October 11, when a scratch-built American fleet, led by Arnold, won a strategic naval victory at the Battle of Valcour Island. Arnolds efforts prevented a northern British invasion in 1776. The Capture of Boston While Continental forces were suffering in Canada, Washington maintained the siege of Boston. With his men lacking supplies and ammunition, Washington turned down several plans for assaulting the city. In Boston, conditions for the British worsened as winter weather approached and American privateers hampered their re-supply by sea. Seeking advice to break the stalemate, Washington consulted artilleryman Colonel Henry Knox in November 1775. Knox proposed a plan for transporting the guns captured at Fort Ticonderoga to the siege lines at Boston. Approving his plan, Washington immediately dispatched Knox north. Loading the forts guns on boats and sledges, Knox moved 59 guns and mortars down Lake George and across Massachusetts. The 300-mile journey lasted 56 days from December 5, 1775 to January 24, 1776. Pressing through severe winter weather, Knox arrived at Boston with the tools to break the siege. On the night of March 4/5, Washingtons men moved onto Dorchester Heights with their newly acquired guns. From this position, the Americans commanded both the city and the harbor. The next day, Howe, who had taken command from Gage, decided to assault the heights. As his men prepared, a snow storm rolled in preventing the attack. During the delay, Howes aids, remembering Bunker Hill, convinced him to cancel the assault. Seeing that he had no choice, Howe contacted Washington on March 8 with the message that the city would not be burned if the British were allowed to leave unmolested. On March 17, the British departed Boston and sailed for Halifax, Nova Scotia. Later in the day, American troops triumphantly entered the city. Washington and the army remained in the area until April 4, when they moved south to defend against an attack on New York. Previous: Causes of Conflict | American Revolution 101 | Next: New York, Philadelphia, Saratoga

Capitalism Has Evolved Into Imperialism - 1589 Words

At the turn of 19-20th centuries, capitalism has evolved into imperialism. The world was almost completely divided between the major powers. Uneven economic and socio-political development intensified. States, which entered the path of capitalist development (USA, Germany and Japan) after the others, quickly moved forward and pressed the old capitalist countries - Great Britain and France out of the global markets, aggressively seeking redistribution of colonies. The most acute contradictions have arisen between Germany and Great Britain, whose interests were put into conflict in many areas of the globe, but especially in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, where German imperialism mainly directed its trade and colonial expansion. Serious†¦show more content†¦Since the end of the 19th century Russian-German conflict grew. The expansion of German imperialism in the Middle East, its attempts to establish control over Turkey affected the economic, political and military-strategic interests of Russia. In its customs policy Germany sought to limit by high import duties the import of grain from Russia and at the same time ensure the free access for German industrial goods to the Russian market. Deep contradictions existed between Russia and Austria-Hungary in the Balkans. Their main reason was the expansion of the Habsburg Monarchy, supported by Germany, to the neighboring South Slavic lands - Bosnia, Herzegovina and Serbia to assert its dominance in the Balkans. Russia, supporting the struggle of the peoples of the Balkan countries for freedom and national independence, considered the Balkans as its sphere of influence. Balkans on the eve of the war really turned into one of the most dangerous hotspots of international tension. Austro-German expansion in the Balkans, the desire of Germany to submit Turkey to its influence and affirm its positions in the area of the Black Sea straits sharply aggravated Russian-German conflict; the tsarist government was forced to move away from a policy of maneuvering between the blocks and take the focus on the Anglo-French Entente. In the summer of 1914 it was advantageous to Germany to go to war, because the Russian army and navy were

Asian students perform better academically than US students Free Essays

Asian students perform better academically than U.S. students throughout the entire school year. We will write a custom essay sample on Asian students perform better academically than US students or any similar topic only for you Order Now In order to prove that Asian students do perform better, Harold W. Stevenson and his colleagues proposed a series of large cross-national studies, beginning 1980. Stevenson discussed his studies in the article â€Å"Learning from Asian Schools†. The studies compared Chinese, Japanese, and American children who sampled from first grade and fifth grade classrooms in elementary schools in Minneapolis, Chicago, Sendai, Beijing, and Taipei. The studies found that in mathematics average scores of the Asian first and fifth graders were higher than the American averages. When compared the scores from different grades, the studies found decline in American schools as well as improvement in Taiwan and steady high performance in Japan. In addition, the studies found that in reading the Asian students caught up by the fifth grade following the increased demands in Asian languages, although American first graders tended towards the top on these tests. The test results undoubtedly confirmed the truth about the superior performance of Asian students over American students. According to the studies, Stevenson found that there were three main reasons associated with Asian children†s success: cultural differences, educational system and teacher performance. Asian mothers considered the most important thing in their children†s life is to do well in school; education is equivalent to the children†s future. Therefore, Asian mothers hold high standards for their children†s academic performance, believing that the road to success is through effort, having positive attitudes about achievement, and studying diligently. In contrast, American mothers had very high satisfaction with their children†s academic performance because they lacked measurement standards for performance, and believed their children†s success came from being born with intelligence and being diligent. American mothers also placed a lesser emphasis on academic achievement because they believed their children†s childhood shouldn†t solely focus on school. Asian mothers† attitudes caused their children to work harder to improve their performance. In addition to the cultural difference mentioned above, the different education system also formed a barrier for American students through the road of success. In school daily life, American students spent most of their time in the classroom. Dissimilarly, Asian schools had frequent recesses and a longer lunch period that in turn maintained the students attention to the teachers. The after school activities and clubs in Asian schools made the school an enjoyable place, therefore, students appeared well behaved and well adjusted, which could be proven by fewer complains in school and better attendance by Asian students. Due to the clear academic goal, the more demanding curriculum for Asian students actually did not cause extraordinary stress. Asian teachers† performance also contributed to the students† academic achievements. Compared to American teachers† individual work and self-adjusted schedule, Asian teachers usually consult each other, worked as a group to design teaching techniques in following the national curriculum, hence provided the best understanding from the students. Asian teachers only spent part of their school time teaching and prepared the classes in the teacher†s room for rest of the working time; this allowed them to prepare their classes well. Asian teachers followed preplanned materials and assigned a â€Å"brief period of seatwork throughout the class period†(Stevenson 236), which provide a series of productive interaction and discussions for students. In contrast, American teachers had to cover all elementary school subjects and spent most of their time at school teaching, so they didn†t have enough time to prepare classes. In addition, American teachers explained concept first and gave seatwork later during class, thus reducing the students† attention. Even the Asian teachers† education background was not as high as American teachers, the â€Å"in-service training under the supervision of skilled models†(Stevenson, 236) used by Asian schools gave the teachers the skills to gain students attention, which included giving feedback to students, using more materials that can be manipulated and relating the subjects to the students† daily life. In conclusion, the U.S. had to create a cultural emphasis on academic success and education, which is not merely increase the length of school days but had to change the way of American teachers† jobs performance. Stevenson considered the culture difference might cause some biased results, so he proposed his studies by using wide range of scientific data to gain the precise statistics. According to Stevenson†s studies, Asian students perform better academically is a truism. Nevertheless, American schools will not achieve the same level of success if they completely imitate Asian schools. In addition, Stevenson merely compared the children†s scores might ignore their practice abilities. Although theories dominate practices, the good performance on test paper does not equal to the strong practice abilities. Undoubtedly, the great academic performance achieved by Asian schools is worth praise, however, it is very difficult to compare success factors between different cultures. Therefore, the ways to improve American schools† performance should be adjusted to fit in the need and want of American schools. In other words, merely introducing higher standards, longer school days, and new education systems cannot improve the performance of American schools. Simultaneously, it is very important for American schools to discard the dross and select the essential from Asian schools† academic experiences in order to establish a series of countermeasures. Once American schools recognize their shortcomings and build a new academic culture base on their advantage, American academic achievement will rise to world standards. When I was a third grader of elementary school in China, my Chinese teacher not only impressed me through her outstanding teaching performance but also evoked my interest in writing composition. In Chinese education standards, third grade of elementary school is the time to learn how to write a short narrative composition. I had no idea how to describe an affair†s process. On the first day of class for composition, I felt really nervous because I did not know what I was going to face. I thought the teacher would give us something to write, but what surprised me was that she started the class by telling us a tale of the fisherman and goldfish. I was immersed by the interesting story and felt completely relaxed. After the teacher finished the story, she distributed a copy of it to us and started a discussion about the story. Following a series of â€Å"what if, how and why† questions about the story under the teacher†s instruction, we reached an alliance that the writer†s abundant imagination and remarkable writing skills let readers fall into the story. The teacher did not ask us to write anything after the class; I had already readied to start my first composition in my mind, because I had understood how a good story could bring happiness to people. For the rest of my years in elementary school, I wrote compositions to entertain myself and finally could not live without it. The compositions that I wrote in the third grade were really ridiculous, but I always remembered and appreciated the teacher†s aspiration and encouragement. Without her positive feedback, I would never have benefited from writing Chinese composition. From my personal experience, I believe that Asian students do not gain the remarkable academic achievements by sheer good luck. In other words, the academic success of Asian schools is worthy of praise. How to cite Asian students perform better academically than US students, Papers

Nursing Business Cultural Competences

Question: Discuss about thr Nursing for Business Cultural Competences. Answer: Cultural safety is an integral part of nursing practices in health care setting. Cultural safety is the effective and safe nursing practice of a nurse from different cultural background, which is determined by another person. Ensuring cultural safety is one of the key responsibilities of a nurse. Nurses deal with patients from diverse background and they have to establish a satisfactory therapeutic relationship with the patients; thus, they need cultural competence for providing patients culturally competent and equal treatment (Arieli et al. 2012). Being a nurse in Australia, I have to deal with diverse range of patient and have to ensure the absence of discrimination in the care settings. For evaluating my cultural competence in nursing care delivery, I have selected Muslim women in Australia, as the diverse group of care user. Grossman et al. (2012) depicted that culture plays a key role in shaping the health beliefs, values and behaviors in a health care setting. It has been revealed in several studies that inadequately handled cross-cultural issues are affecting the health care delivery by nurses significantly, leading to the negative health outcomes of patients. However, we face many barriers to provide effective and culturally safe services to my chosen users group. I have revealed that, Australia is a multilingual and multicultural community; however, there is a mono-cultural Anglo Australian approach that dominates the entire healthcare system. I have practiced in Queensland, where the Muslim population is greater in proportion; I have revealed that the cultural variations of the Muslim patients made the application of medical rules and regulation harder for us. One key barrier with these patients is communication issues. As approximately 70% of the Muslim women in Australia belong to non-English lin guistic background, effective communication is hindered with us (Gerlach 2012). Hindrance of effective communication within nurse and patient enhances the rate of medication errors, misinterpretation of health care advice and dissatisfaction of the patient. The second important barrier of delivering cultural safe practice to the Muslim women in Australian healthcare framework is their dietary boundaries. Muslim women are not permitted to consume some very common foods delivered to the patients at hospital like pork. This is very common non-vegetarian ingredients to common western foods like bacon, gelatin or ham in care settings. Non-compliance to their food culture leads to patients dissatisfaction, thereby lowering their health outcomes. In addition, Muslim women are permitted to consume only halal meat, which is not always followed in hospital food guidelines (Jeffreys 2015). I have also observed another challenge to deal with the Muslim women patients. According to their religious belief, they have to wash their hands before and after taking their every meal. It is quite difficult for a patient, who is bed ridden. They are not permitted to intake any medication that consist alcohol. It is very difficult for the us to deal with some situations, where a patients health requirement needs alcoholic drugs, but the patient is not allowed to have it. However, then I have to request the physician to prescribe some alternative medication for the patient to prioritize the patients religious value. Another challenging feature of working with Muslim women is that these patients are not permitted to expose their body parts in front of others, especially in front of a person of opposite gender (Kirmayer 2012). Thus, it was difficult for a nurse to deal with a patient experiencing some sexual reproductive issues. Another concern related to the Muslim patient is their r eligious fasting, which is difficult to be allowed in a hospital settings or if the patient is suffering from malnourishment (Akhu-Zaheya and Alkhasawneh 2012). However, disallowing them is a practice against patients moral rights. In core Muslim culture, the community is male dominated and women are not allowed to take medical assistance without having the permission from the male head of the family. While dealing with the patients, I have also observed that Muslim women do not have sufficient awareness about the necessary aspects of health and well being. Due to these reasons, it is difficult for me as well as other practitioners to involve the patients effectively in their health care planning. Thus, their cultural awareness should be improved for aligning their perspective with the modern medical services, which would help me to provide adequate health care services in a culturally safe way. While handling patients, I have to address and prioritize their unique health and personal needs. I have always tried to solve the issues raised while working with Muslim women in my work setting, through my critical thinking skills after evaluating the situation and priorities of the patient. I always show respect and dignity towards patients religious belief, while interacting with them. During my working period in Queensland, I have undergone a multicultural and multilinguistic training for enhancing my potential of communication with Muslim women, who are from non-English background (Kirmayer 2012). I always review patients background and history before interacting with the patient, it helps me to use my critical thinking skill and plan the framework of therapeutic relationship establishment. While assisting my female Muslim patients in their ADLs, I tried to maximize their privacy and tried to show a culturally neutral attitude. From my perspective, showing cultural competence t owards the patients improves their adherence and compliance with the health care practices. I always use my non-verbal skills, which are effective to communicate with patients, while facing communication difficulties with a Muslim woman. I believe in reviewing the cultural needs of a patient before initiating healthcare intervention. It helps me to prioritize my patients overall needs and thereby making them satisfied. For example, planning a Muslim patients meal time in such a way, that would not interfere her pray time, as they need to pray 5 times a day. I try to prioritize patients right, as it is essential for improving the quality of health care, according to the principle of Treaty and Waitangi. I also reflect my perspectives upon my colleagues for improving the quality of overall health care delivery system in our organization. I have dealt a patient, who was 79 years old and having impaired mobility, thus she needed assistance in bathing. However, she refused to take assistance, as she was not willing to expose her body parts in front of other person. I have not argued with the patient, rather with a polite eye contact, I tried to make the patient understand about her health risk of not taking assistance and attempted to maximize her privacy during bath by assigning female support worker and providing autonomy in bathroom, as much as possible. Instead of my skillful application of handling such contemporary situations, one time I had to administer an alcoholic drug to a Muslim patient, as it was required for her survival. As a responsible nurse, I would also take part in advocating the care users of my selected diverse group to cooperate with the health care system via effective cross-cultural communication. I will advise them to follow the rules and regulations of health care system through an in-depth interaction with nurse and other health care providers. I would ensure their cultural safety and would promote the importance of understanding cross-cultural communication in heath care practice. In contrast, I will give advice to the nursing staffs to prioritize patients cultural needs with respect and dignity, while avoiding any kind of gender or racial discrimination in health care context. In conclusion, I would say that, I have all the essential skills to ensure my patients cultural security and safety in the healthcare context. I would always prioritize Muslim cultural aspects, while working with Muslim women, as well as would advocate them to adhere with the health care processes, as it will improve their health outcomes. Reference List Akhu-Zaheya, L.M. and Alkhasawneh, E.M., 2012. Complementary alternative medicine use among a sample of Muslim Jordanian oncology patients. Complementary therapies in clinical practice, 18(2), pp.121-126. Arieli, D., Friedman, V.J. and Hirschfeld, M.J., 2012. Challenges on the path to cultural safety in nursing education. International Nursing Review, 59(2), pp.187-193. Gerlach, A.J., 2012. A critical reflection on the concept of cultural safety.Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy, 79(3), pp.151-158. Grossman, S., Mager, D., Opheim, H.M. and Torbjornsen, A., 2012. A bi-national simulation study to improve cultural awareness in nursing students.Clinical Simulation in Nursing, 8(8), pp.e341-e346. Jeffreys, M.R., 2015. Teaching cultural competence in nursing and health care: Inquiry, action, and innovation. Springer Publishing Company. Kirmayer, L., 2012. Rethinking cultural competence. Transcultural Psychiatry, 49(2), p.149.