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04dec63

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From Bulfinch's Mythology: Adventures of Aeneas
Mythologist and writer Thomas Bulfinch included the Roman myth of Æneas in his collection of myths, originally published as The Age of Fable (1855). Æneas, son of the Trojan prince Anchises and Venus, goddess of love, was a heroic leader and warrior who fled Troy after it was captured by the Greeks in the Trojan War. The Roman poet Virgil told Æneas’s story in his epic the Aeneid.
From Bulfinch’s Mythology: Adventures of Æneas
By Thomas Bulfinch
We have followed one of the Grecian heroes, Ulysses, in his wanderings on his return home from Troy, and now we propose to share the fortunes of the remnant of the conquered people, under their chief Æneas, in their search for a new home, after the ruin of their native city. On that fatal night when the wooden horse disgorged its contents of armed men, and the capture and conflagration of the city were the result, Æneas made his escape from the scene of destruction, with his father, and his wife, and young son. The father, Anchises, was too old to walk with the speed required, and Æneas took him upon his shoulders. Thus burdened, leading his son and followed by his wife, he made the best of his way out of the burning city; but, in the confusion, his wife was swept away and lost.
On arriving at the place of rendezvous, numerous fugitives, of both sexes, were found, who put themselves under the guidance of Æneas. Some months were spent in preparation, and at length they embarked. They first landed on the neighboring shores of Thrace, and were preparing to build a city, but Æneas was deterred by a prodigy. Preparing to offer sacrifice, he tore some twigs from one of the bushes. To his dismay the wounded part dropped blood. When he repeated the act a voice from the ground cried out to him, 'Spare me, Æneas; I am your kinsman, Polydore, here murdered with many arrows, from which a bush has grown, nourished with my blood.' These words recalled to the recollection of Æneas that Polydore was a young prince of Troy, whom his father had sent with ample treasures to the neighbouring land of Thrace, to be there brought up, at a distance from the horrors of war. The king to whom he was sent had murdered him and seized his treasures. Æneas and his companions, considering the land accursed by the stain of such a crime, hastened away.
They next landed on the island of Delos, which was once a floating island, till Jupiter fastened it by adamantine chains to the bottom of the sea. Apollo and Diana were born there, and the island was sacred to Apollo. Here Æneas consulted the oracle of Apollo, and received an answer, ambiguous as usual,—'Seek your ancient mother; there the race of Æneas shall dwell, and reduce all other nations to their sway.' The Trojans heard with joy and immediately began to ask one another, 'Where is the spot intended by the oracle?' Anchises remembered that there was a tradition that their forefathers came from Crete and thither they resolved to steer. They arrived at Crete and began to build their city, but sickness broke out among them, and the fields that they had planted failed to yield a crop. In this gloomy aspect of affairs Æneas was warned in a dream to leave the country and seek a western land, called Hesperia, whence Dardanus, the true founder of the Trojan race, had originally migrated. To Hesperia, now called Italy, therefore, they directed their future course, and not till after many adventures and the lapse of time sufficient to carry a modern navigator several times round the world, did they arrive there.
Their first landing was at the island of the Harpies. These were disgusting birds with the heads of maidens, with long claws and faces pale with hunger. They were sent by the gods to torment a certain Phineus, whom Jupiter had deprived of his sight, in punishment of his cruelty; and whenever a meal was placed before him the Harpies darted down from the air and carried it off. They were driven away from Phineus by the heroes of the Argonautic expedition, and took refuge in the island where Æneas now found them.
When they entered the port the Trojans saw herds of cattle roaming over the plain. They slew as many as they wished and prepared for a feast. But no sooner had they seated themselves at the table than a horrible clamour was heard in the air, and a flock of these odious harpies came rushing down upon them, seizing in their talons the meat from the dishes and flying away with it. Æneas and his companions drew their swords and dealt vigorous blows among the monsters, but to no purpose, for they were so nimble it was almost impossible to hit them, and their feathers were like armour impenetrable to steel. One of them, perched on a neighbouring cliff, screamed out, 'Is it thus, Trojans, you treat us innocent birds, first slaughter our cattle and then make war on ourselves?' She then predicted dire sufferings to them in their future course, and having vented her wrath flew away. The Trojans made haste to leave the country, and next found themselves coasting along the shore of Epirus. Here they landed, and to their astonishment learned that certain Trojan exiles, who had been carried there as prisoners, had become rulers of the country. Andromache, the widow of Hector, became the wife of one of the victorious Grecian chiefs, to whom she bore a son. Her husband dying, she was left regent of the country, as guardian of her son, and had married a fellow-captive, Helenus, of the royal race of Troy. Helenus and Andromache treated the exiles with the utmost hospitality, and dismissed them loaded with gifts.
From hence Æneas coasted along the shore of Sicily and passed the country of the Cyclopses. Here they were hailed from the shore by a miserable object, whom by his garments, tattered as they were, they perceived to be a Greek. He told them he was one of Ulysses' companions, left behind by that chief in his hurried departure. He related the story of Ulysses' adventure with Polyphemus, and besought them to take him off with them as he had no means of sustaining his existence where he was but wild berries and roots, and lived in constant fear of the Cyclopses. While he spoke Polyphemus made his appearance; 'a terrible monster, shapeless, vast, whose only eye had been put out.' He walked with cautious steps, feeling his way with a staff, down to the seaside, to wash his eye-socket in the waves. When he reached the water, he waded out towards them, and his immense height enabled him to advance far into the sea, so that the Trojans, in terror, took to their oars to get out of his way. Hearing the oars, Polyphemus shouted after them, so that the shores resounded, and at the noise the other Cyclopses came forth from their caves and woods and lined the shore, like a row of lofty pine trees. The Trojans plied their oars and soon left them out of sight.
Æneas had been cautioned by Helenus to avoid the strait guarded by the monsters Scylla and Charybdis. There Ulysses, the reader will remember, had lost six of his men, seized by Scylla while the navigators were wholly intent upon avoiding Charybdis. Æneas, following the advice of Helenus, shunned the dangerous pass and coasted along the island of Sicily.
Juno [queen of the gods in Roman mythology, the counterpart of the Greek Hera], seeing the Trojans speeding their way prosperously towards their destined shore, felt her old grudge against them revive, for she could not forget the slight that Paris [son of the king and queen of Troy] had put upon her, in awarding the prize of beauty to another. 'In heavenly minds can such resentments dwell!' Accordingly she hastened to Æolus, the ruler of the winds,—the same who supplied Ulysses with favouring gales, giving him the contrary ones tied up in a bag. Æolus obeyed the goddess and sent forth his sons, Boreas, Typhon, and the other winds, to toss the ocean. A terrible storm ensued and the Trojan ships were driven out of their course towards the coast of Africa. They were in imminent danger of being wrecked, and were separated, so that Æneas thought that all were lost except his own.
At this crisis, Neptune, hearing the storm raging, and knowing that he had given no orders for one, raised his head above the waves, and saw the fleet of Æneas driving before the gale. Knowing the hostility of Juno, he was at no loss to account for it, but his anger was not the less at this interference in his province. He called the winds and dismissed them with a severe reprimand. He then soothed the waves, and brushed away the clouds from before the face of the sun. Some of the ships which had got on the rocks he prised off with his own trident, while Triton and a sea-nymph, putting their shoulders under others, set them afloat again. The Trojans, when the sea became calm, sought the nearest shore, which was the coast of Carthage, where Æneas was so happy as to find that one by one the ships all arrived safe, though badly shaken.

all

all

people

on both side of durand line in kabul plus khyber are

suffering

for no sin

of their

if the haves

continue this attitute

they

would

face elimination

at the hands

of world primitive

living

tribe

t6he puktoons

running

in tens of millions

on the same analogy that eliminated ussr

to rubbles out of which was born

russia

confusion and reality

United States Army IINTRODUCTION United States Army, military force of the United States with the chief responsibility for land combat. The U.S. Army includes the active-duty Army, the Army National Guard, Army Reserve, and civilian employees, all under the direction of the Department of the Army. The Army provides the forces stationed at permanent bases around the world and maintains combat-ready troops for deployment anywhere in the world. The Army National Guard and Army Reserve train units to provide emergency disaster assistance, to serve on active duty during wars, and to reinforce the main Army. The Army protects American interests by maintaining its standing force of about 487,000 soldiers, backed by about 200,000 troops in the Army Reserve and 350,000 in the Army National Guard. These troops are trained and equipped to destroy enemy armies and occupy other countries if necessary. Because of the Army’s ability to attack and control large geographic areas, it often becomes the decisive force in conventional (non-nuclear) conflicts. The Army works in concert with the three other major branches of the U.S. military—the Navy, the Marine Corps, and the Air Force. Navy ships transport Army troops, equipment, and supplies to bases overseas. The Navy also assists Army operations with air support, reconnaissance, and naval bombardments. Marine units conduct amphibious landings against defended shorelines and carry out conventional ground combat operations. The Air Force provides airborne transportation for Army units and offers other types of air support as necessary. The Army assists the other three branches by establishing and defending ground bases, communications facilities, and supply lines. IISTRATEGIC ROLE United States Army units stationed overseas protect America’s strategic interests, offer symbolic support for allied countries, and deter military aggression. The Army permanently stations about 65,000 soldiers in the Federal Republic of Germany and about 40,000 soldiers in South Korea. Following the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, Army units were expected to remain in that country until a new civilian government could be established. The Army had about 120,000 troops stationed in Iraq as of 2005. The Army’s 25th Infantry Division also supplied the bulk of the nearly 18,000 soldiers stationed in Afghanistan in 2005. U.S.-led forces toppled the Taliban government there in 2001. The Army also deploys troops in about 100 countries at any given time to provide training and military education. To retain maximum flexibility to fight all over the world, the Army maintains combat equipment at strategic land bases around the world. The Army also keeps combat equipment on ships, called Maritime Prepositioning Ships (MPS), stationed in places such as the Persian Gulf and Diego Garcia, a small island in the Indian Ocean. If fighting seems likely, this equipment can be rapidly sent to the contested area. Army soldiers, rushed in on large transport planes, then unload the weapons and supplies from the ships and embark on their mission. In addition to the conventional combat forces, the Army also maintains Special Operations forces for quick deployment. Special Operations forces are exceptionally well-trained in weaponry, unconventional warfare, foreign languages, foreign cultures and ideology, and communications and electronics. The Army sends Special Operations forces on high-risk missions, such as attacking bases behind enemy lines, destroying enemy command posts, and long-range reconnaissance. IIIORGANIZATION The Army is organized into large fighting units called divisions. As of 2003 the main combat power of the Army had ten active divisions and eight reserve divisions, each containing from 13,000 to 16,000 soldiers. Each division includes supply, communications, and other support units so that it can operate independently from other Army units. The Army’s active force centers on six “heavy” divisions, which fight with tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, and other armored vehicles. The active force also includes an airborne division that can send paratroopers (soldiers trained to go into battle by parachute) to targets anywhere in the world, and an air assault division that uses helicopters to attack targets and deploy troops. Two more divisions are made up of light infantry—primarily foot soldiers with light weapons. The Army National Guard can mobilize eight additional divisions in time of war. Every division is divided into three or more combat brigades or regiments, each with 3,000 to 5,000 soldiers. Divisions also contain supporting units of many sizes, including military police, engineers, and command support staff. Each brigade contains three to five battalions of 500 to 1,200 soldiers. The battalion has three or more companies, which are sometimes called batteries (in artillery units) or troops (in cavalry units). Each company has about 150 soldiers, organized into platoons of about 40 soldiers. A platoon has three or four squads. With nine soldiers, the squad is the Army’s smallest unit. Below the division level, all Army units have a specialty, such as combat, engineering, intelligence, and artillery. IVCOMBAT EFFECTIVENESS The U.S. Army ranks behind many countries in the number of soldiers on active duty. However, its advantages in mobility, equipment, and training make it the most formidable ground force in the world. Compared to other armies, the U.S. Army has superior technology, highlighted by its precision weaponry and advanced communications capabilities. For example, the Army's M1 Abrams tank, with its computer firing controls, can accurately fire on targets even while moving, enabling it to take on and destroy several enemy tanks at once. The complexity of the weapons means the Army assumes a heavy supply and maintenance burden, but this characteristic is compensated for by the weapons’ battlefield effectiveness. Heavy divisions fight primarily with the M1 Abrams tank and the M2/M3 Bradley infantry-fighting vehicle. The principal weapon for an air assault division is the AH-64 Apache attack helicopter. Other combat units use the Artillery Multiple Launch Rocket Systems (MLRS), 155mm howitzers, Patriot antiaircraft missiles, portable Stinger antiaircraft missiles, and wire-guided antitank missile launchers. Most infantry soldiers carry the M16 assault rifle. The infantry may also use heavier weapons such as the M203 40mm grenade launcher, the M-249 5.56mm squad automatic weapon (a light machine gun), and the M-60 7.62mm machine gun. The airlift and sealift support of the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy gives the Army the greatest mobility of any army in the world. The Army can deploy the 82nd Airborne Division in just hours and provide reinforcements by a heavy brigade in about 15 days, or much sooner if the Army uses its prepositioned heavy equipment. In addition, the Army’s Special Operations and Airborne units can forcibly clear the way for larger Army deployments virtually anywhere in the world. The Army’s experience in the years after the end of the Cold War in 1991 revealed a need for improved strategic responsiveness. During the conflict in Kosovo in 1999, for example, the Army appeared to be slow in putting ground forces quickly into position for possible deployment. To be able to deploy rapidly around the world the Army needed to develop lighter equipment that could be transported more quickly. Enhanced strategic responsiveness required reduced demands for logistics support, such as fuel, ammunition, and repair parts. The need for quick deployment led the Army to develop a lighter, wheeled infantry-fighting vehicle called the Stryker, which currently is being used in two infantry brigades and which will be used eventually in up to six Army combat brigades. The Army also initiated a research program to develop a new combat system to replace the M1 tank and the M2 Bradley fighting vehicle with a system that will be effective in combat but weigh considerably less. In addition to its technological sophistication, the U.S. Army maintains combat readiness through realistic and comprehensive training at every level—from the individual soldier through the division. Active units routinely train at three of the world’s most comprehensive combat training centers: the National Training Center near Barstow, California; the Joint Readiness Training Center near Leesville, Louisiana; and the Combat Maneuver Training Center at Hoenfels, Germany. These “instrumented battlefields” can measure with precision the outcomes of mock battles. In addition to these major training centers, extensive computer simulation systems make it possible to train individuals, crews, and combat units in complex scenarios. The Army’s superior mobility, technical sophistication, and training do not guarantee success on the battlefield, but they provide a substantial advantage in most conflicts. VTHE LIFE OF A SOLDIER ARecruitment The U.S. military, including the U.S. Army, is a volunteer force. It does not currently use conscription (forced military service, also known as the draft). In 2003 over 95 percent of new enlistees in the U.S. Army were high school graduates. Some joined the Army to take advantage of college scholarships funded in part by the Army after their term of service, but many others joined to serve their country for longer periods. Recruiting offices throughout the country help persuade young people to consider a career in the military. After enlistment, new soldiers are sent to basic soldier training, which is called boot camp because new recruits were once known as boots. After basic training, soldiers train in their military occupational specialty (MOS) and are assigned to a unit. In 2003, 15 percent of the enlisted soldiers in the Army were women. Officers of the Regular Army—the Army’s permanent force—must have a college education and are appointed from one of three sources. Enlisted soldiers with college degrees may become officers by attending Officer Candidate School (OCS). Alternatively, some officers receive their commissions (formal award of rank) through the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) programs at over 250 colleges and universities around the country. A select few young men and women attend the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, which offers an intensive four-year college-level program with rigorous military training and traditional academic subjects. All newly commissioned officers receive the rank of second lieutenant. All soldiers, officer and enlisted, are assigned to one of 21 branches according to the functions they will perform in combat or in support of combat units. The main combat branches are infantry, armor, field artillery, aviation, and engineers. Enlistees can request assignments from over 200 military occupational specialties associated with the various branches. Women are excluded from combat specialties, and this limitation includes complete exclusion from infantry and armor branches as well as from most field artillery and combat engineer specialties. Women have increasingly demanded that the Army open all positions to women, and this pressure for change has been controversial both within the Army and in the United States as a whole. Homosexuals can serve in the Army, but they must conform to the U.S. military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. Under this policy, homosexuals will not be sought out for expulsion from the Army, but they may be forced to leave the service if their sexual orientation becomes known. BTraining When not at war soldiers spend most of their time preparing for war. From the moment a soldier enters the service, constant attention is paid to physical fitness. Physical training (PT) is the foundation for preparing soldiers for the stresses likely to be encountered in battle. Physical training includes running, group exercises, and sports and other physical fitness events. At their home military bases, soldiers spend most days training for wartime missions. This regime includes training on combat skills in classrooms, in nearby training grounds, and at special sites where combat equipment is stored. Training exercises may last a few days or several weeks. Units routinely go to other military bases or the combat training centers in California, Louisiana, or Germany to practice combat skills in different settings. Soldiers concentrate on proficiency at operating their weapons and on coordinating their efforts with the squad, platoon, and company. In addition to field training, officers and enlisted soldiers spend considerable time in the classroom. Enlisted soldiers attend a series of schools as they move up the ranks. Immediately after their commission, officers attend a training course in their branch of the Army. They take an advanced course in their branch specialty five years later. Officers with the rank of major attend the Command and General Staff College at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas, and later, after obtaining the rank of colonel, the Army War College at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania. Continuing education is a central part of the Army’s leadership development program. During deployments, whether for training or actual fighting, soldiers usually live in tents or in their vehicles. In the field they usually eat prepackaged rations called meals ready to eat (MRE). The Army also has contracted with private companies to provide hot meals to soldiers who are in the field or deployed to foreign countries such as Kuwait. Most units also have cooks who make one or two hot meals a day. To assist with meal cleanup, some junior soldiers (privates or specialists) are occasionally assigned to pot scrubbing and other time-consuming chores. Most soldiers dislike this assignment, which is sometimes called the kitchen police, or KP duty. At permanent bases civilian employees do this work. VIHISTORY The Continental Congress created the United States Army on June 14, 1775, in the midst of the American Revolution (1775-1783). Some National Guard units trace their ties to pre-Revolutionary War colonial militia units. Since 1775 Army soldiers have fought and died in every American war. The Army flag has 176 campaign streamers attached, each one marking a major milestone in Army history. These landmarks of American military history include Lexington, Yorktown, New Orleans, Sumter, Gettysburg, Appomattox, Little Bighorn, Meuse-Argonne, Guadalcanal, Normandy, Korea, and Tet. Until the end of World War II (1939-1945), Congress usually reduced the size of the Army to a bare minimum between wars. This practice resulted from the country’s distrust of standing armies that dates to colonial times. At the outbreak of war, the opening stages for the Army were characterized by a massive effort to mobilize and train the masses of soldiers needed for war. Since World War II, however, the United States has maintained a substantial permanent Army. In addition to foreign wars, the Army has conducted many missions on American soil, including disaster relief, frontier patrol, and the major engineering projects of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Outside the United States, the Army has been involved in many operations other than war, including peacekeeping missions, disaster relief, and humanitarian assistance. The Army has also conducted many small-scale combat missions, such as during the 1900 Boxer Uprising in China and a 1918 mission in Russia. Presidents George Washington, Andrew Jackson, Ulysses S. Grant, William H. Harrison, Zachary Taylor, and Dwight D. Eisenhower had extensive careers as Army officers. Other presidents, such as Rutherford B. Hayes, William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, and Harry S. Truman served as Army officers in time of war. Other famous Army leaders include Henry Knox, Winfield Scott, John Pershing, Douglas MacArthur, Omar Bradley, Norman Schwarzkopf, and Colin Powell. AAmerican Revolution The Army faced long odds in the American Revolution (1775-1783), which began in 1775 when American colonists demanded independence from Britain. The British army was larger, better equipped, and backed by the world’s most powerful navy. German mercenaries known as Hessians bolstered the size of the British force. The colonials’ main force, the Continental Army, consisted mainly of inexperienced, poorly equipped volunteers who had joined in response to an offer of a cash bonus and a promise of land after the war. The states refused most of the Continental Congress’s requests to provide money and supplies for the troops. Local militias reinforced the Continental Army. Many militia soldiers were experienced and better equipped than their Continental Army counterparts, but they were generally not prepared to fight far from home or for extended periods. The weakness of the combined militia and the Continental Army left General George Washington few options at the outset of the war. Washington’s forces fought well in localized battles and skirmishes, but had far less success waging sustained offensive maneuvers. By the summer of 1776, the American troops struggled for survival against a skillful British offensive in New York and New Jersey. The Continental Army won few significant battles until late in 1776, when Washington made his famous Christmas night crossing of the Delaware River to surprise British forces in Trenton, New Jersey. Through the next several years, Washington gained the upper hand over the British by avoiding direct confrontations, focusing instead on stealth and surprise to weaken the enemy. The success of the Continental Army and local militias brought the French into the war as an American ally, and eventually forced the British to agree to the colonials’ demands for independence in 1783. About 4,000 soldiers died in the war. See American Revolution. After the American Revolution Congress disbanded most of the Army, and in 1789 it stood at just 800 soldiers. Local militias assumed most military duties, primarily fighting Native Americans as wars accompanied westward settlement into the Ohio Valley, Kentucky, and Tennessee. In 1802 Thomas Jefferson founded the United States Military Academy at West Point. Workers built it on the site of one of George Washington’s most valuable Revolutionary War outposts. The U.S. Military Academy has produced many of the nation’s most famous military leaders, including United States presidents Ulysses S. Grant and Dwight D. Eisenhower. BWar of 1812 In the late 18th and early 19th centuries many European countries fought in the Napoleonic Wars (1799-1815). The United States became entangled in the conflict in 1812, after both England and France had seized a total of over 1,000 American merchant ships. The United States declared war on England in 1812 in an effort to protect its trade rights and to oust British forces from Canada, their last stronghold in North America. Small, disorganized, and poorly trained combinations of American regulars and militia traded blows with the British, but could not win control of Canada. In 1814 improved American forces claimed a victory at Chippewa, in what is now Ontario, Canada. Early in 1815, soldiers under the leadership of future president Andrew Jackson defeated the British in the Battle of New Orleans. Both sides wearied of the fighting, and Jackson’s battle marked the last in the war. Militarily, the war produced no significant changes, and Canada remained firmly in British hands. (See War of 1812.) CMexican War By the 1840s the United States Army was small but relatively professional. The westward expansion of the United States led to war with Mexico in 1846. The Mexican War (1846-1848) marked the first time the Army fought a war primarily on foreign soil. Despite being outnumbered by Mexican forces in most engagements, the U.S. Army maintained an advantage through the use of speedy breech-loading rifles, withering artillery attacks, and superior battlefield tactics. By 1847 the Army controlled much of the Mexican interior, and in August of that year U.S. forces moved into Mexico City and occupied it. Mexico soon admitted defeat and agreed to a peace settlement in which it gave up about half of its territory to the United States. About 1,700 American soldiers died in the fighting. Among the U.S. troops were two young officers, Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant, who both later rose to top ranks in the Army. DCivil War and Late 19th Century The American Civil War (1861-1865) pitted Lee, Grant, and many other experienced members of the Army against each other. Civil War battles rapidly overshadowed all previous combat in American history with their unprecedented levels of death and destruction. Technical improvements in both rifles and artillery led to extraordinary casualties for Union and Confederate forces. Both types of weapons were rifled (made with spirals engraved in the barrels) to increase range and accuracy. At the Battle of Shiloh in 1862, the Union Army lost more than 10,000 soldiers in two days of fighting, more than had died in the eight-year American Revolution. Historians do not know exactly how many soldiers of the Union and Confederate armies died by the end of the Civil War in 1865, but the total exceeded 600,000. This total is more than the combined number of American deaths in all other U.S. wars from the American Revolution through the war in Afghanistan in 2001. The Civil War was the Army’s first war of the industrial era. Both Union and Confederate forces relied on railroads to move soldiers and equipment, and used the improved firepower of factory-produced weapons. Telegraph lines carried battle orders and reports of damage, and the North’s blockade of the South meant that no part of the Southern economy remained unaffected by the conflict. Conscription helped both sides create huge armies. After the Civil War the Army occupied the former Confederate states as part of Reconstruction—the process of rebuilding the South. This mission pitted the Army against the Ku Klux Klan and other white-supremacist resistance groups. Reconstruction came to an end in the late 1870s, and federal troops were withdrawn. In the years following the Civil War, the Army also expanded its campaign against Native Americans as settlers moved west and pushed them off their lands. The most famous battles took place on the Great Plains, where the Sioux, Cheyennes, Comanches, Kiowas, and others fought the Army from 1855 to 1877.The most notable encounter was the defeat of Lieutenant Colonel George Custer’s command at the Battle of the Little Bighorn in southern Montana in 1876. By the 1890s the American frontier was gone, and the Native Americans had been subdued. The closing of the frontier ended the mission that had defined the Regular Army for most of its existence. ESpanish-American War and Philippine Insurrection The search for new markets for American business interests at the turn of the 20th century helped spur the United States to declare war on Spain in 1898. During the war the American military took control of Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines. The war lacked notable land battles, apart from the famous exploits of the Rough Riders led by Theodore Roosevelt, who would become president three years later. The war marked the Army’s first major mobilization and deployment off the American mainland. The fighting with Spain lasted less than four months. Few U.S. Army soldiers died in battle, but several thousand perished from disease and poor sanitation. In the Philippines, guerrilla resistance occupied the Army for several years of intense battles from 1899 to 1901. Sporadic fighting in the Philippines continued over the next ten years. (See Spanish-American War.) FEarly 20th Century The early 20th century brought significant change to the Army. The Department of War, later renamed the Department of Defense, created the Army War College in 1901 to train the Army’s senior officers. In 1907 the Army established the Army Air Corps to explore the military use of airplanes, dirigibles, and other aircraft. The Army Corps of Engineers supervised the construction of the Panama Canal beginning in 1907. Under the leadership of Colonel George W. Goethals, the Army engineers completed work on the 82-km (50-mi) waterway in 1914, one of their most notable peacetime projects. The Army also made construction of the canal possible through improved public health in the Canal Zone. Tropical diseases had stymied previous canal construction efforts. Army sanitary officer William Gorgas brought malaria and yellow fever under control, protecting canal workers from these deadly diseases. GWorld War I (1914-1918) The United States stayed on the sidelines of World War I until Germany’s unrestricted submarine warfare drew the country into the conflict in 1917. The U.S. Army deployed hundreds of thousands of troops to France to join the Allied efforts to defeat the German empire. The relatively fresh Americans helped turn the tide against the Germans. By the time Germany capitulated in 1918, over 4 million soldiers had served in the U.S. Army, and more than 50,000 had died in battle. The war demonstrated that heavy artillery, machine guns, tanks, flame-throwers, and other weapons had rendered many traditional tactics obsolete. The Army Air Corps, the forerunner of the U.S. Air Force, proved the potential of combat aircraft. World War I also marked the largest U.S. military mobilization up to that time, and required a massive shift in industrial production to support the millions of soldiers. The Army’s success in battle became closely tied to the efficiency of industry, agriculture, and most other sectors of the economy at home. After the war, the United States rapidly demobilized and reduced the Army to a force of less than 100,000 soldiers. In the following years, this small force underwent tremendous change as it incorporated into its operations the rapid technological advancements in aircraft and armored vehicles. On the ground, horse-mounted cavalry gave way to soldiers mounted in tanks. In the air, crude and flimsy biplanes gave way to increasingly powerful fighters and bombers capable of long-range attack deep behind enemy lines. HWorld War II (1939-1945) The United States began to increase military spending in the late 1930s and 1940s, but the country was not ready for war when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. The attack shocked the country and brought the United States into the war. Millions of men volunteered for the Army and other branches of the military. Congress also conscripted millions of men into the Army. The Army relied heavily on air power during World War II. The Army Air Corps used heavy bombers to strike civilian and military targets deep behind enemy lines. Newly developed fighter airplanes supported frontline soldiers with close air support—attacks on enemy ground positions. On the ground, the Army conducted amphibious assaults throughout Europe and the Pacific, including difficult landings at North Africa, Sicily, Normandy, the Philippines, and Okinawa. In Burma (now Myanmar) and other parts of the Pacific theater, Army units fought their way through jungle and swamps in slow-moving infantry battles. The relatively open terrain in Europe made it possible to deploy large columns of tanks. Army commanders such as General George Patton mounted aggressive tank assaults to lead U.S. forces. Combined with infantry, artillery, and close air support, the effective use of armor helped overpower enemy defenses. World War II also saw the widespread use of air transport to deliver Army soldiers to the battlefield. In some major attacks, Army forces parachuted into position. The most notable airborne action was the massive paratroop support of the D-Day landings in the Normandy region of France in June 1944. As in World War I, American industrial power and mass mobilization provided the military capabilities, supplies, and equipment essential for American victory in World War II. At its peak in World War II, the U.S. Army had more than 8.2 million soldiers. More than 230,000 Army soldiers died in combat. ICold War Years After the war, the U.S. Army occupied and governed Germany and Japan. In 1947 the Army Air Corps officially split from the Army to become the United States Air Force. The advent of nuclear weapons at the end of World War II convinced some strategists that ground combat forces would become far less important. But the Army’s ground units turned out to be key elements throughout the Cold War, during which the United States and its allies struggled for global power against the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and its allies. Most Army soldiers returned to civilian life after World War II, so the Army was caught off guard when North Korea (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) invaded South Korea (Republic of Korea) in June 1950, starting the Korean War (1950-1953). Fearing that the attack by Communist North Korea could lead to Communist gains elsewhere in Asia, President Harry Truman sent Army troops to fight in the war. Although formally a United Nations (UN) undertaking, the Korean operation was led by the U.S. Army. The hastily assembled UN forces suffered setbacks in the early months of the war, but regained the initiative with a surprise landing behind enemy lines at Incheon in September 1950. The dramatic amphibious assault, directed by General Douglas MacArthur, enabled the United States and its allies to recover the territory of South Korea that had been lost to the North Koreans. The UN forces pushed north into North Korea toward the Yalu River that borders China. In late November and early December 1950 China responded, sending hundreds of thousands of soldiers to fight alongside the North Koreans. The UN forces were soon bogged down in a long and costly stalemate on the ground. An armistice ended the war in 1953 after more than 27,000 Army soldiers died in battle, out of a total of more than 2 million who served in the Army during the war. The United States has stationed Army troops in South Korea ever since. In the aftermath of the Korean War, the United States maintained the largest peacetime Army in the country’s history. For the first time, the U.S. Army stationed large numbers of soldiers overseas, particularly in Germany and South Korea. In Germany, some of these bases served as a “tripwire,” putting American forces in the front lines of any possible Soviet attack. This positioning assured American allies that the U.S. soldiers would face combat in the early stages of a Soviet invasion, thereby raising fears in the minds of Soviet leaders that American political and military leaders would be more likely to use nuclear weapons to repel the Soviets. Similarly, by putting U.S. troops along the border of South Korea and North Korea, the United States signaled that it would use force to defend South Korea. JVietnam War (1959-1975) American involvement in the Vietnam War dates to the 1950s, but became substantial only in 1961 when President John F. Kennedy sent a large contingent of U.S. Army Special Forces (Green Berets) to support the South Vietnamese Army. By 1963 the number of Green Berets and other “advisers” passed 16,000, and some were involved in combat. Kennedy was assassinated in November 1963. His successor, President Lyndon Johnson, dramatically increased the number of troops in Vietnam in 1964. The Army relied on technological sophistication and massive firepower to fight the North Vietnamese army and guerrilla forces. The major military innovation of the Vietnam War was the advent of air mobility—the use of helicopters to transport soldiers and supplies in and out of battle, despite difficult terrain. Helicopters also ferried the wounded away from the battlefields, making it much more likely that these soldiers would survive. The North Vietnamese forces had far less sophisticated weapons and equipment than the Americans but used hit-and-run tactics with devastating effect. By avoiding most pitched battles with American troops, the North Vietnamese undercut the U.S. Army’s advantage in firepower. American public support for the war withered as U.S. losses mounted in the late 1960s. The calls for U.S. withdrawal became even more intense in 1969 when the press reported details of the My Lai Massacre, in which U.S. Army troops killed from 300 to 500 unarmed civilians. President Richard Nixon began withdrawing American forces in the early 1970s, and the last soldiers left in 1973. At the height of the war, the Army had nearly 500,000 soldiers assigned in Vietnam. Over 30,000 Army soldiers lost their lives in combat. KLate 1970s and 1980s After the demoralizing defeat in Vietnam, American leaders became reluctant to send troops into combat. The Army remained a central element of the U.S. military strategy against the Soviet Union, however. Other branches of the military controlled most of the strategic nuclear weapons powerful enough to destroy very large targets. The Army’s strategy emphasized the use of tactical nuclear weapons—those that can be used to attack battlefield targets. The Army’s nuclear arsenal included thousands of atomic artillery shells for repelling a potential Soviet attack in Europe, although many experts doubted that the radiation from these weapons could be confined to enemy targets. The Army also reacted to the Soviet threat by developing new heavy armor, including the M1 Abrams tank and the M2 Bradley fighting vehicle. The M1 was designed to destroy the Soviet army’s T-80 tanks if they tried to invade Western Europe. The Army invested heavily in building the Abrams to be faster and more lethal than its predecessors so that it could fight the more numerous Soviet tanks. The Abrams met these objectives, but it also used more than twice as much fuel as its predecessor and required more maintenance on its advanced engine and weapons systems. The Army developed the Bradley fighting vehicle to carry infantry into battle alongside the Abrams. In addition to its crew of three, each Bradley can carry six soldiers, and it can match the Abrams’s speed. In order to make the Bradley fast enough to keep up with the Abrams, designers used light but relatively soft aluminum armor on the vehicle, raising concerns that they would not survive combat with enemy armored vehicles. The Bradley also boasts substantial offensive firepower, including antitank missiles and a 25mm gun with a sophisticated thermal sight that allows the gunner to aim through darkness, dust, or smoke. Again, the sophistication of the thermal sight and other equipment on the Bradley substantially increased maintenance requirements. LPost-Cold War The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 forced the Army to rethink its overall global strategy. Facing a relatively weak Russian army, there was no longer a pressing need to train and plan for a massive ground war in Europe. In the early 1990s the Army began to reduce its soldier ranks by about one-third in order to pay for operations and readiness requirements and to provide modest funding for modernization of some parts of the Army. The Army also removed all nuclear weapons from its inventory. The United States developed a new global strategy based on the assumption that it would be forced to fight two major regional conflicts simultaneously. This strategy also assumed that while fighting the two wars, the Army would also be responsible for operations other than war, such as peacekeeping missions abroad and disaster relief at home. This strategy called for the continued deployment of soldiers in Germany and South Korea, and for heavy reliance on equipment and supplies on the strategically located Maritime Prepositioning Ships. The Persian Gulf War (1991) presented the Army with a significant challenge. The Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in August 1990 led President George H. W. Bush to send hundreds of thousands of Army soldiers to turn back the invasion, supported by a United Nations (UN) resolution calling for Iraq to withdraw. In January 1991 aircraft led by the United States conducted over 100,000 bombing runs against Iraqi targets. The next month the U.S. Army took the lead in the largest armored battle since World War II. With almost half a million American soldiers operating in conjunction with the other U.S. military services and units from allied nations, the Army played a key part in the successful 100-hour ground campaign that forced Iraq to surrender. From 1991 to 2001 the Army conducted a number of humanitarian and peacekeeping missions abroad, in countries such as Bosnia, Haiti, Rwanda, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Somalia, and Kosovo. The Army faces a quandary in responding to such international crises. Many Americans recoil at televised images of hunger and war abroad, and support the deployment of U.S. troops to deliver aid. At the same time, however, public support for these humanitarian missions can dissipate quickly when American lives are lost. The 1999 military campaign in Kosovo relied almost exclusively on air power to avoid ground combat casualties. MGlobal War on Terrorism Following the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001, U.S. Army soldiers were deployed to Afghanistan to engage the al-Qaeda terrorists who were behind the attacks and the Taliban government that supported them. At first, most of the American soldiers were Special Forces (Green Berets) who trained Afghans to fight against the Taliban and al-Qaeda. These Special Forces soldiers, sometimes riding on horseback with Afghan men, used modern satellite communications to direct precision weapons dropped from airplanes or unmanned aerial vehicles against Taliban forces. After the Taliban government was ousted, regular Army combat units were deployed to Afghanistan to conduct operations against remnants of the Taliban government and al-Qaeda. The rugged mountainous terrain and harsh climate made combat operations difficult, because the terrain provided an almost endless number of places for the Taliban and al-Qaeda to hide and reduced the effectiveness of U.S. advantages in mobility, firepower, and communications. As part of the fighting against terrorists, U.S. Army soldiers were also deployed to a number of other countries, including Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. Army soldiers also were sent to Yemen, Somalia, the Philippines, and the country of Georgia to help train local forces in antiterrorism measures. After the September 11 attacks more than 40,000 Army National Guard and Army Reserve soldiers were called up for active duty. Some of these soldiers were deployed overseas, while others were assigned to protect vulnerable targets in the United States, such as airports and national landmarks, and to augment security forces at Army installations throughout the United States. Soldiers are expected to be engaged for the foreseeable future in such homeland defense operations, especially soldiers in the National Guard, which has units in all 50 states. NInvasion of Iraq In late March 2003 the U.S. Army took part in an invasion of Iraq to depose the regime of President Saddam Hussein, who was suspected of concealing weapons of mass destruction. After less than a month of fighting, U.S.-led forces were in control of all the major cities and oil fields of Iraq, including the capital Baghdād. The U.S. Army’s 3rd Infantry Division played a key role in capturing the capital, while the 101st Airborne Division captured oil fields and other major urban areas. Iraqi infantry and armored forces were unable to mount effective resistance to U.S. Army tanks and other armored vehicles. United States forces suffered a total of 138 deaths from March 19 through April 30. On May 1 President George W. Bush declared an end to major combat operations. However, in the ensuing years, an insurgency in Iraq killed more U.S. troops than died during the invasion of Iraq and the capture of Baghdād. The U.S. Army faced urban guerrilla warfare that featured roadside bombings, ambushes with rocket-propelled grenades, and mortar attacks.

http://hayatashah.multiply.com

hi n good wishes

its the 21st june and it would bve 23rd june on monday thereby changing the long days to shorten untill 22 decenber

have a great weekend

regards

just for all who visit and thanks

its been quite difficult these days to have electricity most of the times in office or home

the blogging and netsurfing that i used to do on regular bsis besides upadting of downloads from microsoft has also been affected by the power/electric current

othar than the above two reasons its quite hot also and prices gone up with rise in crude oil prices touching 140$

enjoy

regards bestwishes

its hot and the power goes off mostly

so lets enjoy the heat than

hi

sorry for being giving little time
here
have a great
time

civilizations

Indus Valley Civilization

I

INTRODUCTION

Indus Valley Civilization

In the Indus valley area now known as Pakistan, an advanced Bronze Age culture rose up about 2500 bc and lasted for nearly 1000 years. Scholars do not know how it began or whether its people were related to those who now occupy Southwest Asia. Nomadic tribes called Aryans invaded the Indus River valley, probably from the region north of the Caspian Sea, in 1500 bc. The Aryan culture became dominant in the area, eclipsing that of its predecessors.

© Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

Indus Valley Civilization (2500?-1700 bc), earliest known civilization of South Asia, corresponding to the Bronze Age cultures of ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Crete (Kríti). The remains of settlements belonging to this culture have been found throughout the Indus River valley in Pakistan, westward along the coast to the Iranian border, in India's northwestern states as far east as New Delhi, and on the Oxus River in northern Afghanistan. The Indus Valley civilization encompasses one of the largest geographical areas covered by a single Bronze Age culture.

II

CHARACTERISTICS

Indus Valley Art

The Indus Valley civilization thrived in the area of present-day Pakistan and western India between about 2500 and 1700 bc. A farming community, the civilization created artwork associated with agricultural life. Found at the archaeological site of Mohenjo-Daro, this ceramic figure depicts two oxen pulling a woman in a cart.

Scala/Art Resource, NY

Excavated settlements reveal blocks of mud-brick buildings separated by streets, and the cities, such as Mohenjo-Daro and Harappā, are dominated by large public buildings. These buildings were at one time identified as colleges, temples, granaries, and palaces, but later research has not confirmed such interpretations. The cities are usually divided into two distinctive groups of buildings, one of which may be enclosed by a wall.

The work of Indus Valley artisans shows a high degree of craft specialization. Characteristic artifacts include a distinctive black-on-red pottery, ceramic toys and figurines, etched carnelian beads, metal (bronze, silver, and gold) ornaments and tools, and stamp seals with an undeciphered script. Unfortunately, the nature of the social organization in this complex culture still evades complete interpretation.

Sometime after 2000 bc, complex ecological changes occurred in the Indus Valley area, forcing abandonment of many settlements and altering the basic characteristics of the civilization. Late Indus Valley culture is known mainly from excavated small farming villages. Artifacts associated with these sites are stylistically similar to earlier types but show more regional variation.

III

HISTORY OF EXCAVATIONS

Stone Tablets from Mohenjo-Daro

These stone tablets were found at Mohenjo-Daro, an archaeological site in modern Pakistan. The city of Mohenjo-Daro flourished during the Indus Valley civilization (2500?-1700 bc). Merchants use the stone tablets, which show examples of pictographic writing, to mark their goods.

Charles and Josette Lenars/Corbis

The Indus Valley civilization was first defined by the British archaeologist Sir John Marshall's diggings at Mohenjo-Daro and M. S. Vat's excavations at Harappā (both in what is now Pakistan) in the 1920s, and it is sometimes called Harappān civilization after the latter site. In 1946 the British archaeologist Sir Mortimer Wheeler, excavating at Harappā, located stylistically different pottery in the earliest occupied areas. Subsequent discoveries at nearby Kot Diji established that this early pottery at Harappā belonged to the early Bronze Age Kot Diji culture. Since 1960 Indian, Pakistani, and Western scholars have defined several additional early Bronze Age cultures at Goth Āmri, Sothi, Gumla, and other sites in Pakistan, each of which has some traits in common and contributed to the formation of the Indus Valley civilization.

countries

Afghanistan Facts and Figures

Basic Facts
Official name	Islamic Republic of Afghanistan
Capital	Kabul
Area	652,225 sq km
	251,825 sq mi
People
Population	31,056,997 (2006 estimate)
Population growth
Population growth rate	2.67 percent (2006 estimate)
Projected population in 2025	50,252,227 (2006 estimate)
Projected population in 2050	81,933,479 (2006 estimate)
Population density	48 persons per sq km (2006 estimate)
	124 persons per sq mi (2006 estimate)
Urban/rural distribution
Share urban	23 percent (2003 estimate)
Share rural	77 percent (2003 estimate)
Largest cities, with population
Kabul	2,678,000 (2003 estimate)
Kandahār	225,500 (1988 estimate)
Herāt	177,300 (1988 estimate)
Ethnic groups
Pashtun	38 percent
Tajik	25 percent
Hazara	19 percent
Minor ethnic groups (Chahar Aimaks, Turkmen, Baluchi, Nuristani, and others)	12 percent
Uzbek	6 percent
Languages
Afghan Persian (Dari)	50 percent
Pashto	35 percent
Turkic languages (primarily Uzbek and Turkmen)	11 percent
30 minor languages (primarily Balochi and Pashai)	4 percent
Many people are multilingual
Religious affiliations
Sunni Muslim	84 percent
Shia Muslim	15 percent
Other	1 percent
Health and Education
Life expectancy
Total	43.3 years (2006 estimate)
Female	43.5 years (2006 estimate)
Male	43.2 years (2006 estimate)
Infant mortality rate	160 deaths per 1,000 live births (2006 estimate)
Population per physician	5,381 people (2004)
Population per hospital bed	2,500 people (2001)
Literacy rate
Total	36.3 percent (2000)
Female	20.8 percent (2000)
Male	51 percent (2000)
Education expenditure as a share of gross national product (GNP)	2 percent (1980)
Number of years of compulsory schooling	6 years (2002-2003)
Number of students per teacher, primary school	61 students per teacher (2002-2003)
Government
Form of government	Islamic state; transitional government
Voting qualifications	18 years of age; universal
Constitution	In January 2004 the loya jirga ratified a new constitution
Armed forces
Total number of military personnel	Undetermined
Military expenditures as a share of gross domestic product (GDP)	Undetermined
Economy
Gross domestic product (GDP, in U.S.$)	5,761 million (2004)
GDP per capita (U.S.$)	160 (2003)
GDP by economic sector
Agriculture, forestry, fishing	52 percent (2002)
Industry	24.1 percent (2002)
Services	23.9 percent (2002)
Employment
Number of workers	11,696,531 (2003)
Workforce share of economic sector
Agriculture, forestry, fishing	70 percent (1990)
Industry	11 percent (1990)
Services	19 percent (1990)
Unemployment rate	Not available
National budget (U.S.$)
Total revenue	267.1 million (2004)
Total expenditure	758 million (2004)
Monetary unit
1 afghani (AF), consisting of 100 puls
Major trade partners for exports
Pakistan, India, Finland, Germany, Belgium
Major trade partners for imports
Pakistan, South Korea, Japan, United States, Germany
Energy, Communications, and Transportation
Electricity production
Electricity from thermal sources	30.39 percent (2003 estimate)
Electricity from hydroelectric sources	69.61 percent (2003 estimate)
Electricity from nuclear sources	0 percent (2003 estimate)
Electricity from geothermal, solar, and wind sources	0 percent (2003 estimate)
Number of radios per 1,000 people	132 (1997)
Number of telephones per 1,000 people	2 (2004)
Number of televisions per 1,000 people	12 (2000 estimate)
Number of Internet hosts per 10,000 people	0 (2000)
Daily newspaper circulation per 1,000 people	6 (1996)
Number of motor vehicles per 1,000 people	2.3 (1997)
Paved road as a share of total roads	24 percent (2003)
Sources
Basic Facts and People sections
Area data are from the statistical bureaus of individual countries. Population, population growth rate, and population projections are from the United States Census Bureau, International Programs Center, International Data Base (IDB) (www.census.gov). Urban and rural population data are from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations (UN), FAOSTAT database (www.fao.org). Largest cities population data and political divisions data are from the statistical bureaus of individual countries. Ethnic divisions and religion data are largely from the latest Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) World Factbook and from various country censuses and reports. Language data are largely from the Ethnologue, Languages of the World, Summer Institute of Linguistics International (www.sil.org).
Health and Education section
Life expectancy and infant mortality data are from the United States Census Bureau, International Programs Center, International database (IDB) (www.census.gov). Population per physician and population per hospital bed data are from the World Health Organization (WHO) (www.who.int). Education data are from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) database (www.unesco.org).
Government section
Government, independence, legislature, constitution, highest court, and voting qualifications data are largely from various government Web sites, the latest Europa World Yearbook, and the latest Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) World Factbook. The armed forces data is from Military Balance.
Economy section
Gross domestic product (GDP), GDP per capita, GDP by economic sectors, employment, and national budget data are from the World Bank database (www.worldbank.org). Monetary unit, agriculture, mining, manufacturing, exports, imports, and major trade partner information is from the statistical bureaus of individual countries, latest Europa World Yearbook, and various United Nations and International Monetary Fund (IMF) publications.
Energy, Communication, and Transportation section
Electricity information is from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) database (www.eia.doe.gov). Radio, telephone, television, and newspaper information is from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) database (www.unesco.org). Internet hosts, motor vehicles, and road data are from the World Bank database (www.worldbank.org).
Note
Figures may not total 100 percent due to rounding.

debate

Atheism

I

INTRODUCTION

Numbers of Followers of All Religions

This chart shows the percentage of the world's population that adheres to several of the major world religions. About one-third of the world’s population adheres to a form of Christianity. Latin America has the largest number of Christians, most of whom are Roman Catholics. Islam is practiced by over one-fifth of the world’s population, most of whom live in parts of Asia, particularly the Middle East.

© Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

Atheism, the denial of or lack of belief in the existence of a god or gods. The term atheism comes from the Greek prefix a-, meaning “without,” and the Greek word theos, meaning “deity.” The denial of god’s existence is also known as strong, or positive, atheism, whereas the lack of belief in god is known as negative, or weak, atheism. Although atheism is often contrasted with agnosticism—the view that we cannot know whether a deity exists or not and should therefore suspend belief—negative atheism is in fact compatible with agnosticism.

Atheism has wide-ranging implications for the human condition. In the absence of belief in god, ethical goals must be determined by secular (nonreligious) aims and concerns, human beings must take full responsibility for their destiny, and death marks the end of a person’s existence. As of 1994 there were an estimated 240 million atheists around the world comprising slightly more than 4 percent of the world’s population, including those who profess atheism, skepticism, disbelief, or irreligion. The estimate of nonbelievers increases significantly, to about 21 percent of the world’s population, if negative atheists are included.

II

SCOPE OF ATHEISM

From ancient times, people have at times used atheism as a term of abuse for religious positions they opposed. The first Christians were called atheists because they denied the existence of the Roman deities. Over time, several misunderstandings of atheism have arisen: that atheists are immoral, that morality (see ethics) cannot be justified without belief in God, and that life has no purpose without belief in God. Yet there is no evidence that atheists are any less moral than believers. Many systems of morality have been developed that do not presuppose the existence of a supernatural being. Moreover, the purpose of human life may be based on secular goals, such as the betterment of humankind.

In Western society the term atheism has been used more narrowly to refer to the denial of theism, in particular Judeo-Christian theism, which asserts the existence of an all-powerful, all-knowing, all-good personal being. This being created the universe, takes an active interest in human concerns, and guides his creatures through divine disclosure known as revelation. Positive atheists reject this theistic God and the associated beliefs in an afterlife, a cosmic destiny, a supernatural origin of the universe, an immortal soul, the revealed nature of the Bible and the Qur'an (Koran), and a religious foundation for morality.

Theism, however, is not a characteristic of all religions. Some religions reject theism but are not entirely atheistic. Although the theistic tradition is fully developed in the Bhagavad-Gita, the sacred text of Hinduism, earlier Hindu writings known as the Upanishads teach that Brahman (ultimate reality) is impersonal. Positive atheists reject even the pantheistic aspects of Hinduism that equate God with the universe. Several other Eastern religions, including Theravada Buddhism and Jainism, are commonly believed to be atheistic, but this interpretation is not strictly correct. These religions do reject a theistic God believed to have created the universe, but they accept numerous lesser gods. At most, such religions are atheistic in the narrow sense of rejecting theism.

III

HISTORY

In the Western intellectual world, nonbelief in the existence of God is a widespread phenomenon with a long and distinguished history. Philosophers of the ancient world such as Lucretius were nonbelievers. Even in the Middle Ages (5th century to 15th century) there were currents of thought that questioned theist assumptions, including skepticism, the doctrine that true knowledge is impossible, and naturalism, the belief that only natural forces control the world. Several leading thinkers of the Enlightenment (1700-1789) were professed atheists, including Danish writer Baron Holbach and French encyclopedist Denis Diderot. Expressions of nonbelief also are found in classics of Western literature, including the writings of English poets Percy Shelley and Lord Byron; English novelist Thomas Hardy; French philosophers Voltaire and Jean-Paul Sartre; Russian author Ivan Turgenev; and American writers Mark Twain and Upton Sinclair. In the 19th century the most articulate and best-known atheists and critics of religion were German philosophers Ludwig Feuerbach, Karl Marx, Arthur Schopenhauer, and Friedrich Nietzsche. British philosopher Bertrand Russell, Austrian psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, and Sartre are among the 20th century’s most influential atheists.

IV

REASONS FOR REJECTING GOD

Friedrich Nietzsche

Nineteenth-century German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche was an influential critic of religious systems, especially Christianity, which he felt chained society to a herd morality. By declaring that “God is dead,” Nietzsche signified that traditional religious belief in God no longer played a central role in human experience. Nietzsche believed we would have to find secular justifications for morality to avoid nihilism--the absence of all belief.

The New York Public Library

A

Criticisms of Theism

Atheists justify their philosophical position in several different ways. Negative atheists attempt to establish their position by refuting typical theist arguments for the existence of God, such as the argument from first cause, the argument from design, the ontological argument, and the argument from religious experience (see Theism: Arguments for Theism). Other negative atheists assert that any statement about God is meaningless, because attributes such as all-knowing and all-powerful cannot be comprehended by the human mind. Positive atheists, on the other hand, defend their position by arguing that the concept of God is inconsistent. They question, for example, whether a God who is all-knowing can also be all-good and how a God who lacks bodily existence can be all-knowing.

B

The Problem of Evil

Some positive atheists have maintained that the existence of evil makes the existence of God improbable. In particular, atheists assert that theism does not provide an adequate explanation for the existence of seemingly gratuitous evil, such as the suffering of innocent children. Theists commonly defend the existence of evil by claiming that God desires that human beings have the freedom to choose between good and evil, or that the purpose of evil is to build human character, such as the ability to persevere. Positive atheists counter that justifications for evil in terms of human free will leave unexplained why, for example, children suffer because of genetic diseases or abuse from adults. Arguments that God allows pain and suffering to build human character fail, in turn, to explain why there was suffering among animals before human beings evolved and why human character could not be developed with less suffering than occurs in the world. For atheists, a better explanation for the presence of evil in the world is that God does not exist.

C

Historical Evidence

David Hume

In An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding (first published in 1748 under a different title), Scottish philosopher David Hume offers several criticisms of religious belief, including an argument against belief in miracles. According to Hume, testimony about the occurrence of miracles should be subjected to rational standards of evidence.

THE BETTMANN ARCHIVE

Atheists have also criticized historical evidence used to support belief in the major theistic religions. For example, atheists have argued that a lack of evidence casts doubt on important doctrines of Christianity, such as the virgin birth and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Because such events are said to represent miracles, atheists assert that extremely strong evidence is necessary to support their occurrence. According to atheists, the available evidence to support these alleged miracles—from Biblical, pagan, and Jewish sources—is weak, and therefore such claims should be rejected.

V

DIVERSITY IN ATHEISM

Atheism is primarily a reaction to, or a rejection of, religious belief, and thus does not determine other philosophical beliefs. Atheism has sometimes been associated with the philosophical ideas of materialism, which holds that only matter exists; communism, which asserts that religion impedes human progress; and rationalism, which emphasizes analytic reasoning over other sources of knowledge. However, there is no necessary connection between atheism and these positions. Some atheists have opposed communism and some have rejected materialism. Although nearly all contemporary materialists are atheists, the ancient Greek materialist Epicurus believed the gods were made of matter in the form of atoms. Rationalists such as French philosopher René Descartes have believed in God, whereas atheists such as Sartre are not considered to be rationalists. Atheism has also been associated with systems of thought that reject authority, such as anarchism, a political theory opposed to all forms of government, and existentialism, a philosophic movement that emphasizes absolute human freedom of choice; there is however no necessary connection between atheism and these positions. British analytic philosopher A. J. Ayer was an atheist who opposed existentialism, while Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard was an existentialist who accepted God. Marx was an atheist who rejected anarchism while Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy, a Christian, embraced anarchism. Because atheism in a strict sense is merely a negation, it does not provide a comprehensive worldview. It is therefore not possible to presume other philosophical positions to be outgrowths of atheism.

Intellectual debate over the existence of God continues to be active, especially on college campuses, in religious discussion groups, and in electronic forums on the Internet. In contemporary philosophical thought, atheism has been defended by British philosopher Antony Flew, Australian philosopher John Mackie, and American philosopher Michael Martin, among others. Leading organizations of unbelief in the United States include The American Atheists, The Committee for the Scientific Study of Religion, and The Internet Infidels.