France has been around for thousands of years. It has had many rulers. It also has had many good times and bad times. French has had many well known people some they hailed and others they scowled at.

There are many famous people to talk about. There are five people in my mind that shine out of all he other people in France. First off is Joan of arc. She was born in Dormeny on January 6 1412 later she died May 30 1431 in Raven. Her father was Jacques d Arc. He was a small pheasant farmer was poor. Joan was the youngest of five children. Never learned how to write but was a skilled sewer and in spinning. Said she saw angels ST Michael, Margaret, Catherine.

Next is Louis the fourteenth. Was born September 16 1635 and died September17 1715. Son of Louis the thirteenth. Became king in 14 may 1643 after father death. Did not become master until 1961. Cardinal Mazalia ruled till Louis was old enough while he ruled he concurred Austria and Spain. Louis married Maria Theresa of Bustin. Next is my favorite Napoleon Bonaparte. Napoleon was the emperor of France. He was the second son Charles and Marie Bonaparte.

He was born in Corsica which he spent most of his childhood there.

He later went on too college of Autun in 1778 and then I n 1785 he went to military school in Paris and became a LT. He was a citizen during the revolt in France He was devoted to knew ideas after the revolt. A military genius was revealed in him on 1793 at age 24. He became brigadier general in December 20 of 1793. He was finally defeated on 1815 June 1st at seven o clock by 30,000 Prussians.

There were also many wars in France that affected their lifestyle. Some of the wars were the War of religion a WWI, WWII and the French revolution. First off was the French revolution which occurred in 1887 and ended in 1889. The citizens of France rebelled since the USA colonies did against the British. Louis the 13 was ruling while the citizens over threw him. Next was WWI which was in 1914 between most of the countries in the world this left most of the countries in debt including France. Then WWII happened 1933. While Hitler was the nazi leader. The French were defeated in 1940.

Culture of France

There are many wonderful things about the country of France that are known throughout the world. People of all cultures can name several items that France is identified with.

French food is known all around the world for its taste, elaborateness and well prepared cosine. France is known for its great variety in seafood. There are several regions in France that are known for their own specialty. The Chacroute Alsace is white wine with pork and sausage is a well known dish. In Central France they are known for wine sauce and dried sausages in the Rhine valley. Southern France is known for heavy garlic, vegetable, herbs and vegetable stew called ratatouille.

Sports are also a big activity in France. Soccer is the main sport which 8,000 people play each year. Rugby, horse racing, and auto racing are all big sports as well. Probably the biggest sporting function in France is the Tour de France. This is bicycle racing which is a 2000 miles long course and continues for three weeks. This event is grueling and some athletes can not even finish the race. This event happens every summer in July.

Entertainment in France is almost the same as here in America. People have to go out and shop early since the shops close around six or seven o’clock. Many people mostly adults go to cafés for relaxation and to talk to friends.

The television is widely used in France for educational purposes. Ninety percent of Frances population has a television. The television is watched on the average about three hours a day. The computer is starting to be widely used in France. Many people use it for games and education.

Besides going to a sports function many people go to the movies with a date or with friends. There are French films played there and there are also many famous American films played. Music is also huge part of French culture. In the earlier years classical music was what most of the people listened to. Now in the modern era kids have changed from classical music to rock and roll, punk music, and hip hop and almost any time of music you can think of. They have their own French music stars and some American stars go and have their concerts there.

Religion in France is spread out the same way as in America. It is as follows: Roman Catholic 83%-88%, Protestant 2%, Jewish 1%, Muslim 5%-10%, other 4%.

Liberia was ‘historically’ peaceful up until April, 1980. It was in that year that an illiterate Master Sergeant by the name of Samuel K. Doe took a couple of squads into the Executive mansion in Monrovia and shot the then sitting President, President Tolbert. Doe was part of the Khran tribe and certainly couldn’t read and write. He took the President and some key cabinent members out on the beach and executed them. Taking control of the nation’s air waves he declared himself to be President. He stated he would rule for five years and then hold elections. I imagine it would be hard for Americans to wake up one day and here that an illiterate Army Sergeant stormed the White House and declared himself to be in charge. Africans have a radically different culture though then us in the West. Anyone that kills the Chief essentially would become the Chief. My father stated that Liberians were very shocked when Lee Harvey Oswald did not become President. The source of the angst in the native people that led them to support a coup lies in the history of the nation of Liberia. Liberians share a rich history with the United States. It was the American Colonialization society that did arrange for the Freed American slaves to return to Liberia. This is very much similar to the situation involving native Americans in our own nation. Liberia was already inhabited by approximately 13 other indegenous tribes. The Freed Slaves were however, vastly superior in education and technology. They were the original government of Liberia. Americo-Liberians ruled Liberia from its birth or inception in 1847 until 1980. The people backed Doe because they originally saw it as a change in power. The United States supported Doe because he was staunchly anti-communist as were most dictatorial thugs. Doe rule for five years and then in 1985 he held elections. The October, 1985 elections went down in history in the Guiness book of World records as the most fraudulent election in history. I still remember to this day the November 12, 1985 coup involving a fellow by the name of Quionkpa. There were all sorts of rumors about Quionkpa floating about the city that day. He originally grabbed the radio station and declared Doe to be exiled. He said he would rule for three months and then hold elections. People took to the streets and rioted until later in the day when Doe came out of hiding and retook the capital city. It seems that taking a capital city is all you need to do to take a country hostage in a coup. Doe eventually captured Quionkpa and took him out to the same beach and shot him and his followers. There were also rumors about foreign troops in the city of Monrovia. Originally these rumors were said to be Americans because they were “barefoot.” I speculate though that America probably would not get its forces involved unless there were American lives in danger. It is more probable that the foreign troops if they existed were Libyan or Cuban. I cannot think of a single soul that would have given Doe shelter except for a vehmently anti-communist nation. I left the Repbulic of Liberia on June 8, 1986 never to return to again. Liberia’s troubles were only just beginning though however. In December 1989 a rennegade clerk who stole a million dollars from the treasury returned to Liberia and invaded through Ivory Coast and Guinea. Charles Taylor started Raping and pillaging the villages of the countryside and began to descend towards the almighty goal of the capital. (Don’t you just love it how angry clerks, and illiterate master Sergeants can take over a country?) Taylor committed several dozen war crimes and eventully one of his lieutenants broke free of his command and started his own rebel band. Roosevelt Prince Johnson and Taylor then raced to the capital fighting each other and Doe’s forces along the way. Johnson eventually got to Doe first and took him out to the same beach in which Doe liked to execute persons. Doe endured a wonderful session of torture where he starred in his very own ear removal ceremony on live video which sold in black markets everywhere. Doe’s forces being primarily Khran took to fighting and eventually began beating up on other tribes they had grudges against. The Gio and Khran Tribes had a good go at it for a number of years as well. Throw in the Interim Government forces and the UN Peacekeepers from Nigeria of all places and the situation just kept getting uglier through the nineties. By 1996 the country was embroiled in a seven faction civil war. I am not sure how anyone kept anyone straight by that point. It would have been nice if I could have returned to Liberia for the 1996 NEO operation but unfortunately I was deployed to Hungary at the time. It seems it would have been nice to be walking on those hallowed grounds where I went to grade school in a US army uniform but that was not to be. I would like to return to Liberia after I graduate someday, but that remains to be seen. It would be nice to move some of my personal books over there and open up a library or school of sorts where people would have unfettered access to reading material. But once again you know how dictators are about teaching people to learn and write.

A long history lies behind the separation of Taiwan and China sow how China and Taiwan have been separated from each other. After China lost a humiliating war with Japan in 1895, the Treaty of Shimonoseki was signed, which ended the first Sino-Japanese War. China had to cede the province of Taiwan to the Japanese. The fact that Taiwan was ceded is significant because China no longer had any rightful claim over them. The people in Taiwan refused to submit to the Japanese and initiated a rebellion against them. The Japanese quickly crushed the rebellion and for the next 50 years the Japanese occupied Taiwan stringently. It was not until 1945 when the Japanese were finally defeated that Taiwan was freed. At this point, the Chinese unlawfully took control of Taiwan, and set up their own government. Chinese government authorities caused resentment among the people in Taiwan. In February of 1947, two years after China took over Taiwan, the people of Taiwan revolted against the Chinese. However they were able to quell the uprising in a matter of months and afterwards the Chinese declared Taiwan a province one of their own provinces (Encarta 1998).

Following a tough war with Japan, China needed time to heal its wounds. However Chinese Communists took advantage of China’s condition and started a nationwide revolution. The Nationalist Army, having just fought a grueling war with Japan, was very vulnerable at the time. The Communists, led by Mao Zedong, had little trouble overthrowing the Nationalists and took over the country in 1949 ( Sherman, 1998 ). As a result, Chiang Kai-shek and the Nationalists fled to Taiwan. The Communists’ plan to invade Taiwan, however, was tharwted when the United States intervened by sending naval forces to defend the island. For the remainder of the 1950’s, the United States defended Taiwan from any invasion by the Communists. In the March of 1954, Chiang Kai-shek was reelected as the president of the Republic of China (Taiwan). The government and the United States agreed to a mutual-defense treaty, which stated that the United States would take punitive action against China if the Communists attacked Taiwan.

Chiang Kai-shek brought over Taiwan’s original Constitution from China. This Constitution became moot during the Japanese rule over Taiwan. Another Constitution was drafted at the conclusion of World War II, but it was not until 1946 when the final document was approved. After elections were held in 1947 and 1948, it became the basis of Constitutional government in areas controlled by the Nationalists, including Taiwan ( Whitney, 1998 ). The Constitution was created to have a government that was a mixed presidential and parliamentary system, with a greater emphasis on the presidential system. The political system was a unitary one, though it had some characteristics similar to a federal system. To ensure that no part of the government becomes corrupt, there are more provisions for the separation of powers and checks and balances written into the constitution than in Western constitutions (Copper 1999). Taiwan has worked hard to create a constitution that would be fair and just to its people.

Taiwan enjoyed a time of prosperity after signing the treaty with the United States. During this time the United States extended immense economic and military aid to Taiwan, which allowed Taiwan to slowly build its economy. The United States stopped sending aids to Taiwan during the mid 60’s. However by this time over four billion dollars had already flowed into Taiwan’s economy. With the U.S. having helped Taiwan’s economic growth get started, Taiwan was left to fend for itself. Not only did Taiwan not fall, it actually was able to continue its economic growth. Industrial production was estimated to have risen over 300%, while exports tripled and imports doubled (Kemenade 1998). With its modern economic development, Taiwan’s economy was quickly developing into one of the strongest in all of Asia.

Politics moved in the direction of democracy, while authoritarianism and political repression declined. During the 60’s, Taiwan’s internal government and its international status underwent few changes ( Lee, 1999 ). Chiang Kai-shek was reelected president in 1960 and again in 1966 by the National Assembly. The Republic of China (Taiwan) was diplomatically recognized throughout the world and its foreign trade was expanding. Taiwan had one of the fastest growing economies in the world and was protected from any possible invasion from China by the United States. These were indeed good times for Taiwan.

Now, at this point I would like to ask what does being independent mean? According to Webster’s Dictionary being independent “means not being committed to any one political party, being financially self-sufficient, and not being governed by a foreign power.” Taiwan is not committed to any one political party. In fact many believe that the very purpose of China launching missiles off the coast of Taiwan was to intimidate supporters of the pro-independence candidates in the presidential election. As far as being financially self-sufficient, Taiwan has flourished with its modern economic development and has a growth rate higher than most other Asian economies. Furthermore, Taiwan has been run by a democratic government that follows a constitution designed to prevent corruption by providing a system of checks and balances for the separation of powers more extensive than those in many of its Western counterparts (Copper 1999). For all practical purposes, Taiwan was already an independent nation.

Taiwan’s good fortune would not last, however. Due to the United States strong global influence, many countries slowly began to shift their formal relations to China instead of Taiwan. In the early 70’s, Taiwan’s international status was quickly dissipating. Swayed by the Chinese government, the United States began to seek relations with China, which led to Taiwan’s expulsion from the United Nations in 1971. Taiwan’s seat was given to the People’s Republic of China. The United States ended all formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan in 1979, after it had negotiated formal relations with China. The defense treaty signed between the United States and Taiwan ended the following year. In a matter of a decade Taiwan had lost its international status to China and its protection from China by the United States (Kazer 1998).

Despite these hard times, Taiwan looked for new ways to continue to expand its economic growth. In January of 1988, Taiwan President Chiang Ching-kuo died and was succeeded by Vice President Lee Teng-hui. In an ambitious attempt to elevate Taiwan’s economy with that of the elite nations, Taiwan started to invest large amounts of money in China’s industries.

Recognizing the value of Taiwan, China wanted to annex Taiwan to increase its power. With the recent return of Hong Kong by the British, many Chinese equate Hong Kong to Taiwan. However the fact is that the two cannot be compared directly because their situations are different. Hong Kong was leased to the British for ninety-nine years after the Chinese had lost the Opium War. On the other hand, Taiwan was ceded to Japan after China’s defeat to the Japanese in the Sino-Japanese War. The definition of ceded is the surrendering of a possession. When the Chinese leased Hong Kong to the British, they were just allowing the British to borrow it, while Hong Kong still belonged to the them. Taiwan was ceded to the Japanese, which meant that they had renounced any ownership to the island. There is a clear difference between ceded and leased. Once the Japanese were defeated, Taiwan became independent. China however forced Taiwan into becoming a province of China, even though it had no legitimate claim over Taiwan.

The majority of the people of China share a strong belief that all Chinese people should be united. I agree that all Chinese people should be united, so that is why I believe that it is important we have an open communication with China. The people of China should realize that the majority of the people in Taiwan wish for things to remain as they are now. However Taiwan has been very clear that it will not reunify with China unless the Chinese government accepts democracy. After a restructuring of the government, Taiwan had actually developed a three-phase reunification plan with China. Two years later, representatives from each country met in Singapore to discuss relations between Taiwan and China. The objective of the meeting was to establish a schedule for subsequent meetings between the two governments. This was the first high-level contact between China and Taiwan since 1949. In 1995, Taiwan’s President Lee Teng-hui traveled to the United States, where he addressed the 50th reunion of his class at Cornell University (Mann 1998). This trip angered the Chinese and relations between the two deteriorated in 1995. Any hope that the talks would lead to a reunification was remote. In an effort to intimidate supporters of the pro-independence candidates in Taiwan’s presidential election, China launched missiles near the Taiwanese coast. In addition thousands of Chinese Communist troops were practicing amphibious landings along the shore of Fujian, which is located directly across the strait from Taiwan. Alarmed at the growing tension between Taiwan and China, the United States dispatched two aircraft carrier battle groups into the region to cool both sides down (Pomfret 1998).

The Chinese took up a new strategy, in their attempt to reunify Taiwan by gaining the support of the United States. In 1997, a summit meeting between Chinese President Jiang Zemin and U.S. President Clinton took place in Washington. During the summit meeting, Chinese officials sought to win President Bill Clinton’s commitment to the Chinese over Taiwan. The U.S. turned down the Chinese at the time. One year later, during Clinton’s visit to China, the Chinese again requested the support of the United States ( Fang, 1998 ). This time the Chinese got what they wanted when President Clinton publicly announced that the U.S. would oppose the independence of Taiwan. In addition, the U.S. will not support Taiwan’s quest for international recognition or its readmission to the United Nations. During a meeting with Shanghai community leaders, President Clinton agreed with the “three nos” concerning Taiwan which was sought by Beijing. The “three nos” are the creation of two Chinas, the independence of Taiwan or Taiwan’s reentry to the United Nations (Peterson 1998). With the United States supporting China, Taiwan was pressured into resuming talks. In 1998, after a three-year hiatus, China and Taiwan once again resumed talks that may lead to a reunification of Taiwan with China. This time around, both sides have compromised, which should create a better atmosphere for negotiations. China has dropped its insistence that they focus on reunification. Taiwan has dropped demands that they deal only with practical issues such as illegal aliens and ways to protect the large amount of investments. Taiwan businesses have in China. Taiwan has sent Koo Chen-fu, a Taiwanese billionaire, businessman, and high-ranking member of Taiwan’s ruling Nationalist party, and a team of top Taiwanese legal experts to Shanghai to meet with Chinese officials.

Koo arrived at Shanghai on a flight from Hong Kong because Taiwan prohibits direct flights to China. This is symbolic of just how far apart the two countries are concerning the reunification issue. Currently, Taiwan’s policy regarding its relationship with Beijing is officially a one-China policy but one that promotes separation until the conditions for unification is right. This is clearly evident with Taiwan’s ban on direct trade, transport and postal links with China (Cooper 1999). This is just one of many examples that portrays the tension between the two countries.

These negotiations between China and Taiwan come at an important time for both. China is attempting major economic reforms during a time when the economy has begun to slip for the first time in several years. China does not want to be distracted from its economic problems by bad relations with either Taiwan, whose companies have invested over $35 billion in China, or the United States. Meanwhile Taiwan is undergoing important political changes. Taiwan already has a flourishing democracy and the opposition party, the Democratic Progressive Party, is gaining support. In fact this December, Taiwan will hold an important parliamentary election. The Democratic Progressive Party is expected to gain seats in the parliament ( Chiu, 1999 ). They have been linked to those who want Taiwan to declare independence from China and dismiss the idea that the two are one. The problem with the growing popularity of the Democratic Progressive Party is that China has warned Taiwan that a declaration of independence could initiate an attack. Furthermore, members of the opposition party will accompany Koo to Shanghai during the talks (Lim 1998).

If these negotiations do not work out and the two remain separate; they can still work together. Despite the tension between China and Taiwan, the two remain close. Taiwan invests billions of dollars into Chinese’s businesses every year. Taiwan will never threaten China in any way. China should not be bullying the people of Taiwan with missile tests near Taiwan’s coast when they have an election or threaten an attack on them if they declare independence. It should be the people of Taiwan who decide whether or not they wish to reunify with China and the conditions of the reunification, if they choose to reunify.

2: The thing that create our identity our the sports we invented, the way we talk (eh), the courtesy that we have towards other countries, the food we eat, and even the prices we have. More stuff that makes our identity are the amount of racism in our country compared to the U.s. , also the beauty of the land compared to the overpopulated cities in the U.s. We have the Rocky mountains and many other clean and famous landmarks. Also the crime rate is alot lower than in the U.s., and also unlike them we have free health care and a lower pollution rate.

3: Canada to me is the best place to live in because we have beautiful landmarks, we have free health care that helps my family alot because of my asthma, we also have a government and a large amount of people that are nice to other countries and are less hated. One main thing known about Canada is that we are a center for sports, we also have  less racism than the U.s., because if a black child walked into a school in the U.s. 30 years ago he would be made fun of called names and even failed by the teachers because of his skin color. But back in the 1800’s black people thought of Canada as the free land.

4: I think Canada and the U.s are very different because, we have way less violence, we have less pollution, we are more friendlier to our neibouring countries, we have less pollution and free health care for that matter. Most of the popular sports know in days us Canadian’s invented even though the U.s. tries to say they might have, we are more of a free country than the U.s. and we aren’t even as close to as racist then them.

5: Canada and the U.s. are the same because, the businesses from the U.s. are coming to Canada and putting the Canadian buissnesses bankrupt. Also the T.v. sations from the U.s. are on almost all the T.v channels, most of their shows and movies are twice as violent as our’s and they even try to cut down the amount of violence in the shows before their broadcast. Also the U.s. are coming to the leagues that started off being Canadian, and we let them because they are way more dominant then us. Even though our violence level is lower than their’s it’s getting pretty high and our gangs are multiplying very fast.

6: If Canada wants to keep a good country for the future we must, start by cutting down the amount of pollution, also we have to clean up all the graffiti and the bad influences painted on the walls, we also have to try to cut down the violence level that’s on T.V. because that’s just ruining the minds of the youth. We also should be more effective on the laws in the country like teens not smoking cigarettes or marijuana. I think if Canada changed and showed the rest of the world that we’re perfect then the rest of the world would start to think about themselves.