Belgrade essays

Belgrade essays Probably one of the most interesting facts about Belgrade is that it exists at all. In its long history, it has been devastated more than twenty times. The reasons people continued living there is that it ocupies a vital strategic position at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, and lies on the cross roads between east and west. The Celts were the first to settle there, and later the Romans built a city there. The Huns, the Goths and the Avars all possessed it. Finally, it was settled by the Slavs and remained, with interuptions, one of the chief cities of Serbian state, until Turks took it away from the Hungarians in 1521. Numerous battles were fought for it, in and around it. It is not surprising that very few antiquites survive, though it would be much more but for the violent German bombardment in 1941. The NATO bombardment in the spring 1999 had destroyed almost all of the very few authentic buildings, but the city wall, built in 16th century as a protection from Turk s, still remains (although in ruins) as one of the major characteristics of Belgrade. Furthermore, Serbia has been through five wars during the last decade, and Belgrade is a true image of a third world capital with the government in a trasition from dictatorship to democracy, with the devastated economy and overall decline of society. (1) Belgrade, with its two million residents, is located in Serbia , at the place where the Sava joins the Danube. It is one of the oldest cities in Europe, and besides Athens, the greatest urban whole of the Balkans. The oldest archeological artefacts in Belgrade date back to the fifth millenium BC. It is the capital of Serbia and Yugoslavia, whic is multietnical country, with 63% Serbs, 14% Albanian, 6% Montenengrin, 4% Hungarian, and 13% others. 65% of the population are Christian Orthodox, 19% Muslim, 4% Roman Catholic, 1% Protestant and 11% others. (2). The form of government today is multiparty federal democrac...

The American Elections of 1896 essays

The American Elections of 1896 essays The election of 1986 is considered as one of the most important in the nation's history since it marked a sea change in the evolution of the modern presidency. Though the status of this election was unclear, it is frequently considered as a realigning election that stands for a serious difference from previous patterns of voting. Mainly, it refers to any one of several United States presidential elections in which geographic bases of power for each of the two parties were radically altered, resulting in a new political power structure and status quo. It is believed that a realigning election happens only after a shift in partisan preferences in the general populace. Furthermore, in this case, James Weaver of the People's Party, who had finished a reputable third four years before, threw his aid to the Democratic candidate William Jennings Bryan. John M. Palmer of the National Democratic Party received 133,435 votes (1.0%), and the Prohibition Party's Joshua Levering 125,072 votes (0.9%). Many of the Prohibition voters went to Bryan in this election, but this was insufficient to overcome Republican candidate William McKinley. Besides, this election was one of huge importance to money. It's main issue was which metal should back U.S., gold or silver. Bryan supported silver whereas McKinley supported gold. The Populists had supported Bryan because they as well supported the silver issue. The diverse political parties had some support for each but the main ones were gold for Republicans and silver for Democrats. On November 3, 1896, 14 million Americans went to the polls, giving Republican William McKinley a winning total of over 7,100,000 votes (51%) and 276 in the Electoral College against about 6,500,000 popular ballots (46%) and 176 electoral votes for Democrat William Jennings Bryan. It was the largest margin of victory since President Ulysses S. Grant's reelection in 1872. William McKinley's political back up ca...