The Great Irish Famine

 

The Great Famine was one of the most important events in Ireland's history.  During the 1840s, potato blight destroyed most of Ireland's potato crops.

The result was devastating, between 1845 and 1852 more than one million Irish people starved to death.

 
Also, during that time, hundreds of thousands of Irish people left Ireland.

These immigrants brought with them their unique culture and tradition. One of their festivals that has become a worldwide phenomenon is Halloween.

The Great Irish Famine had a tremendous impact on Irish and world history.

Nation Profile

Building a Nation

Kalanji

Motto:

Girls Rule! Girls Control!

Mission Statement:

Government: Our type of government is democracy.

Goal: Our goal is to let woman control the world and let men be slaves forever.

History: This nation was created by the great women, Cherry Watermelon. She fought with Alexander and she won. She thinks women are smarter and greater then men so there should be a country that women control me. After years of fighting, she finally built this amazing nation, Kalanji.

Leadership:

- Head of State: Jill Wang (kh960230@yahoo.com.tw)

- Co-president: Kelly Lin (kellylin1995@gmail.com)

- Head of Foreign Affairs: Kaho Koseki (kaho19951220@hotmail.co.jp)

- Head of Domestic Affairs: Angela Lin (vu84w96@yahoo.com.tw) 

Weather/Climate/Topography:

-2 years temperate and 2 years cold

Natural Resources:

-Water

-Oil

-Food production 

Demographic:

Total Land Area: 2 million sq/km²

Total Population: 50 million Major Cities: Kelly, Kaho, and Kally

Percent living in cities: 50%

Ethnic Groups and Populations: None

Religions and Percentages of the Population: Kalanji has no official religion; 100% is Varied/Free

Domestic Policy:

There are no rebellions or protests against the government in Kalanji, the citizens are enjoying peace and prosperity. We are a capitalist country. We have classes in our country and citizens earn money based on how hard they work. The country is organized into croplands Anji and Angela; chilly jungle Jill; three cities Kaho, Kelly, and Kally. Kelly is the capital city. Our economy is mainly agriculture in the counties and light manufacturing in the cities. Tourism in the jungle is also major part of economy. All citizens are required to perform 3 years of military service after graduate from high school. Once the citizens have finished their military service, they are eligible to vote and hold public office.

Currency and Economic Policy:

Kalanji has free market economy with government oversight. Any citizen has the right to start their own business or company. However, no company or corporation is allowed to have monopoly. All citizens businesses pay a flat tax rate of 15%. Any tax evasion is severely punished with 20 years in jail. Nation currency is the Kala which is equal to NTD 50. At the age 65, all citizens can retire. If they choose to retire, they will get 5000 Kala per month.

Education policy:

All citizens of Kalanji are required to attend 10 years of school. Compulsory education is divided into 3 levels-Elementary: 5 years; Middle-school: 2 years; and High-school: 3 years. After they complete their military service, citizens can choose to attend university. All these levels of education are paid for by the state. Any student who fails to complete 10 years of compulsory education is not allowed to vote or own property. 

Police and Security Policy:

Kalanji has two levels of police: local and federal. Each city has local police force which is supported by federal police force. Police can carry guns.  Legal Policy: All citizens have freedom of speech and are equal before the law. Death penalty is punishment for premeditated murder and drag trafficking.  

Healthcare and Public Health Policy: 

Citizens in our country can have health check once a year, and it’s free for our citizens. And they have to pay for health insurance100NT per month. Also, when the citizens get very ill, the government has to pay 40%of the medical service. 

Agriculture and Food Production Policy:

Agriculture is the main economy in the counties. Kalanji can grow enough food to feed its citizens and has enough left over to export to its neighbors. However, there are no cows in Kalanji, so beef has to be imported.

Issues of Domestic and Foreign Policy:

Anyone born in Kalanji is automatically given citizenship. Any adult who wishes become citizen must first serve three years of military service. Any citizen of Kalanji who wants to become a citizen of another country must first give up their Kalanji citizenship. 

Foreign Policy:

Kalanji shares borders with Krakowska and Territory 21. Kalanji is in an alliance with Territory 21. Currently Kalanji and Krakowska are neutral with each other.

Military, Defence, and National Security:

Kalanji maintains a large military and defense force since all citizens are required to serve three years in military. Kalanji military has three levels: army, navy, and air force. All these levels have state of the art military equipment. Kalanji strongly enforces its borders, any violation of Kalanji territory is met with military force. 

Foreign Aid policy:

Kalanji gives other country medical help or assistance when there is serious disaster or problem. However, Kalanji only provides military assistance to its allies and neutral nations.  

The First Great Depression

The Long Depression was a worldwide economic crisis, centered mostly in Europe and the United States. It began with the collapse of the Vienna Stock Exchange on May 8, 1873 and ended in about 1896. At the time, the episode was labeled the Great Depression, and held that title until the Great Depression of the 1930s.

During the Long Depression, there were numerous smaller banking and currency crisis around Europe and the rest of the world such as the Panic of 1873, the Panic of 1884, the Panic of 1890, the Panic of 1893, and the Australian banking crisis of 1893. Of these different panics, the most famous of these was The Panic of 1893 which brought about an end to the American Gilded Age. The Panic of 1893 was an American financial crisis sparked by a railway speculation bubble which led to bank failures.

Many countries combated the Long Depression by returning to the Gold Standard for their currency, protectionism, and eventually colonialism. Protectionism is a policy where free-trade is reduced and strict taxes, or tariffs are put in place for foreign imports. European empires carved up Africa during the scramble for Africa in a search for more resources and new markets to lift them out of this depression.

Thomas Robert Malthus

        Thomas Robert Malthus was an influential British scholar and Anglican clergyman. Malthus is famous for his theories concerning population and its response to various factors. In his most famous work, An Essay on the Principle of Population first published in 1798, Malthus argued that sooner or later the population gets checked by famine and disease and reduces in size.

        Malthus’ work is a criticism of the theory of utopianism. In Malthus’ time, it was a popular idea that society would continue to grow and develop until it was perfect. Malthus argued that through history, populations increased until their environment could no longer sustain their growth and then the population was collapse to a level where it was once again in balance with its environment. Malthus’ work was quite influential, affecting both Karl Marx and Charles Darwin, two of the 19^th centuries most important thinkers.

Evolutionary Economics

Evolutionary economics is a school of economic thought that is inspired by evolutionary biology. It deals with the study of processes that transform the economy using evolutionary methodology. It has the roots in Darwin’s theory of evolution through the process of natural selection. Evolutionary economics uses this Darwin’s framework to understand how small, random variations could be accumulated over time that resulted in the emergence of a completely different form.

In addition, evolutionary economics also draws upon Karl Marx’s theory of economic development. Marx based his theory of economic development on the premise of evolving economic systems. According to Marx, over the course of history superior economic systems would replace inferior ones. Inferior economic systems contained both internal contradictions and inefficiencies that made them impossible to survive over the long term. In Marx's view of history, feudalism was replaced by capitalism, and eventually capitalism would be replaced by communism.

Evolutionary economics started in the 19^th century and it is still an important school of modern economics.

Friedrich Engels

Friedrich Engels was a German entrepreneur, social scientist, author, political theorist, philosopher, and together with Karl Marx, father of Marxism. He is most famous for The Communist Manifesto which he co-wrote with Marx and was first published on 21 February 1848. In 1849, Engels took part in a failed armed uprising in South Germany, after which he fled to England where he lived for the rest of his life. After Marx's death in 1883, Engels devoted his time to editing Marx's unfinished volumes of Capital and became the editor and translator of Marx’s writings.

Although Engels is must famous as Marx’s co-writer, researcher and friend, he also wrote a number of books by himself: The Condition of the Working Class in England in 1844 (1844), The Peasant War in Germany (1850), Revolution and Counter-Revolution in Germany (1852), Anti-Dühring (1878), Socialism: Utopian and Scientific (1880), Dialectics of Nature (1883), The Origin of the Family, Private Property, and the State (1884), Ludwig Feuerbach and the End of Classical German Philosophy (1886)

In these books, Engels argued that a relationship based on property rights and forced monogamy will only lead to the proliferation of immorality and prostitution. Also, a future communist society would allow people to make decisions about their relationships free from economic constraints.

L'affaire Dreyfus

The Dreyfus Affair was a political scandal that divided France in the 1890s and the early 1900s. Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a young French artillery officer of Jewish descent was convicted of treason for having communicated French military secrets to the German Embassy in Paris. Dreyfus was and sentenced to life imprisonment and sent to the penal colony at Île du Diable in French Guiana.

In 1896, it became clear the Major Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy was the real culprit. However, Esterhazy was never formally charged or convicted during his lifetime and retired from the military in 1898.

Dreyfus was pardoned by President Émile Loubet in 1899 and released from prison. However, he was subjected to a second trial and again declared guilty of treason despite the evidence in favor of his innocence. On July 12, 1906, Dreyfus was officially exonerated by a military commission. The next day, he was readmitted into the army with the rank of Major.

Unification of Italy

        The unification of Italy began in 1815 with the Congress of Vienna in 1871 with the Franco-Prussian War. After the Congress of Vienna, the Italian peninsula was divided into many different states including: the Papal States, the Kingdom of Sardinia, the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, the Duchy of Modena and the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia. Italians in favor of unification faced opposition from the Pope and the Holy See.

One of the most influential revolutionary groups was the Carbonari who were inspired by French Revolution. Many of the members of the Carbonari were mainly drawn from the middle class and intellectuals. The Carbonari were radically anti-clerical in both their philosophy and program and strongly resisted the influence of the Catholic Church. In 1821, Pope Pius VII excommunicated the Carbonari from the Catholic Church with the bull Ecclesiam a Jesu Christo.

Otto von Bismarck and European Geopolitics

Otto von Bismarck (1 April 1815 – 30 July 1898) was a German-Prussian statesman who oversaw the unification of Germany. He earned the nickname "The Iron Chancellor" because he ruled with an iron fist. Besides uniting Germany, he is most famous for his diplomacy of Realpolitik. Realpolitiks literally translates as “actual” “politics” and is politics based on practical and material factors rather than on theoretical or ethical objectives. This means using realistic or pragmatic ways to solve political problems rather than ideological ones, focusing on considerations of power, not ideals, morals, or principles. Bismarck used balance-of-power diplomacy to ensure that the newly united Germany enjoyed peace during the 1870s and 1880s.

        Bismarck was the first chancellor of a united Germany, a post he held from 1871 until 1890. Emperor Wilhelm I died in 1888 and he was succeeded by his son Friedrich III who was already sick and died after less than a year on the throne. Friedrich III was succeeded by his son Wilhelm II who strongly disagreed with Bismarck’s foreign policy. As a result, Bismarck was forced to resign his post as chancellor in 1890. Bismarck spent his final years writing his memoirs, Thoughts and Memories, in which he strongly criticized Emperor Wilhelm I. He died in 1898 aged 83 and "Loyal German Servant of Kaiser Wilhelm I" is written on his gravestone.