Semester Report

We are learning things every day, school only extends the learning process. In this essay, I will be discussing and explaining the learning process and topics that I’ve encountered during my time in English class. Most of these techniques and tips have helped me and some I have already familiarized myself with. I’ve learned things like writing and organizing a bibliography, citing references correctly, organizing my thoughts, and doing book reports and reviews and comparing them. This is just a handful of what I’ve learned and I continue to learn in this class as the days pass.

When I first started in the class, about the first 10 lessons, it was pretty straight forward and simple. There were a few essays to write, and a book to read. That book to read was called 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne. If you are interested in learning more about the book, I wrote a separate review for that and even an in-depth comparison later on. The essays were openers, very simple instructions writing about a page worth of words, sometimes posting it publicly. All this practice led up to the eventual process of learning how to make mind maps and outlines, and organizing your thoughts which also organized my paper a little bit better. I’ve heard of a mind map prior to this, and I’ve done outlines in the past, but still it was relatively new to me but nothing I couldn’t handle on my first try. I continued to learn how to better organize my thoughts into a compact paper and turn it into a 3-paragraph paper consisting of the introduction, the body, and the conclusion, which helped me see the bigger picture. I also learned 3 points on what good writing was.

Good writing was easy to read and understand, follows conventional grammar standards, and is creative or entertaining to read. After a couple weeks this was drilled into my head which also helped my priorities for every topic and essay. Eventually these were applied fully to my essays in the first several weeks, and we focused individually on each point until we concluded each point on the right note by applying what we learned to the essay we would write at the end of the week. This practice and mindset helped me later on, especially.

After these few weeks, we started reading another classic novel. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. This book’s plot was really well-crafted I can tell and is very interesting with exciting moment in the book. Unfortunately, I wasn’t genuinely interested but was a good read nonetheless.  It was interesting to see some influences and practices that went on at the time of the French Revolution.

At this point let’s say we’re nearly 30 lessons or so in. Another book, Out on the Pampas by G.A Henty was introduced. It is one of the better books in my opinion form this year so far. It was about an English family moving to colonial Argentina to pursue success and profit there. Many events occurred and things happen but I won’t spoil it for you, you can read it for yourself.

We also learned to write under a clock. So, we wrote in a timely manner, usually anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour at most. We reviewed most of the basic writing standards and understood the tips that were applied to our writing. After getting used to being timed while also organizing the essay and planning responses, we ventured into writing longer essays. Specifically, 3 to 5-page essays. The task was very daunting at first, but soon I got over it and it proved to be easier than expected. Now I can write these longer essays without much trouble, provided I’m not under a 30-minute timer and I don’t have a tough subject to write about.

Some of the longer topics were on music, and research papers, which I will talk about soon.

Around this time, we also covered font usage, verb tenses, noun-verb agreement, and more.

Eventually, we dove into book reports and book reviews. Things like comparing characters, comparing each book read, and explaining a certain part of the book and the structure of it. It helped me recognized each book part, and the analysis of it.

We also started a few new books since speed essays, one being The Scarlet Pimpernel by Emma Orczy, and the other being With Clive in India by G.A Henty.

The Scarlet Pimpernel was also based around the French Revolution but not being specifically reactionary to it. It’s background certainly points to the French Revolution and is very open about it. It is about a mysterious hero (the Scarlet Pimpernel) who rescues targeted guillotine victims from the aristocratic government at the time. I did a comparison of this book and A Tale of Two Cities on my blog earlier if you want to check it out, this includes a review of the plot.

The next major topic on improving the versatility of my writing was research papers. The first research paper was chosen by the teacher of the class, which was Butterflies. More specifically, the life cycle of Butterflies. The teacher supplied us with good sources which I mainly took from which boosted the efficiency way more. We also got to pick our own Butterfly to apply the life cycle to that particular Butterfly and explain it’s lifetime which was pretty cool. It is up on my blog as well.

After a successful completion, it was time to do the research and response on my own, including choosing the topic I had to write about. The topic I chose was on the American Civil War. I consider myself one of the largest history buffs that is under the age of 18. I had to find and research all the info by myself, including organizing the paper and preparing for the rough draft. I also proofread and wrote the bibliography, same as the Butterfly research paper.

Speaking of bibliographies, we learned about this before writing the final draft of the Butterfly Life Cycle research paper. It was confusing to learn, and it still kind of is hazy to me now, but I suppose I did alright. We learned the different ways to write references as works cited for encyclopedia articles, web pages, books, and even media such as movies or videos. We also learned the two different formats for each application, the MLA and APA format. I learned that the MLA format was most used today.

We started reading Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe, and eventually Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.

This basically wraps up what I have been learning so far for this semester. Like I said, I learned many things, some things I already knew. Things like mind maps, analyzing books, citing references and organizing a bibliography, and doing detailed book reviews were a few things that were relatively new to me and I’m glad I got to familiarize myself with them and learn more about these subjects.

History Week 26 Review

In this essay I will be telling the story of Cleopatra and Mark Antony

Cleopatra is believed to have been born in 69 BC in Alexandria, Egypt to powerful parents of Greek origin. Her family made up the Ptolemaic dynasty, which ruled Egypt for many years. For a while she ruled Egypt alongside her father and later became the country’s only ruler. Her first political alliance was with the famous Roman general, Julius Caesar, and after becoming his mistress, they had a son together.

Mark Antony, another key figure in the world of Roman politics, was a close ally of Caesar. He was born around 87 BC, making him almost twenty years senior to Cleopatra. He was born into a prominent political family, but spent his early adult years recklessly. In 49 BC, when a friend of his passed away, he took the man’s wife, Fulvia, as his own. After incurring a high level of debt in Rome, Antony fled to Greece and later joined the military. He moved upwards quickly, in part due to his familial connections with Julius Caesar. Along the way, he allied himself with Octavian, who later ruled the entire Roman empire.

When Julius Caesar was assassinated, Mark Antony was among three men who continued to rule Rome. To ensure Egypt’s loyalty to Rome, he sent for Cleopatra to discuss political alliances together. She refused him twice, and when she eventually did agree to meet with him, he was won over by her charm. They soon began a relationship and later moved back to Egypt, where they were married. As with her relationship with Caesar, this new marriage solidified Cleopatra’s union with Rome. Antony’s first wife, Fulvia, acted out in response to this by organizing an attack against Octavian and claiming she was acting on Antony’s behalf. Mark Antony tried to repair the damage by returning to her, although it was already too late and she died soon after. As an additional step, he married Octavia Minor, the sister of Octavian, to reunite the two families. Now it was Cleopatra’s turn to hear of Antony’s infidelity, mere weeks before delivering twin babies. Despite this, she continued to help and support Antony in his military endeavors. By this point, Antony had doubts about Octavian’s true loyalties; he left Octavia Minor (who was pregnant) and returned to Cleopatra. Enraged and determined to gain more power, Octavian publicly spoke out against Antony and Cleopatra and launched a military attack, while in Egypt, Antony officially declared his alliance and loyalty to Cleopatra. Afraid for her life, Cleopatra hid in her own burial tomb, amid rumors that she was already dead. With Octavian gaining a steady advantage in the fight, Antony killed himself with the mistaken belief that Cleopatra had done so too. With this knowledge, along with the fact that she would be made a prisoner of Octavian, Cleopatra also committed suicide. There are many different theories today as to how exactly she died, but the earliest records mostly agree that it was due to a self-inflicted cobra bite.

          In conclusion, this story has been popular and stayed that way due to its lull of love, and the destruction war brings.

The Founding of Carthage

According to legend, Carthage was founded by the Phoenician Queen Elissa (better known as Dido) sometime around 813 BCE. The city (in modern-day Tunisia, North Africa) was originally known as Kart-hadasht to distinguish it from the older Phoenician city of Utica nearby. The Greeks called the city Karchedon and the Romans turned this name into Carthago. Originally a small port on the coast, established only as a stop for Phoenician traders to re-supply or repair their ships, Carthage grew to become the most powerful city in the Mediterranean before the rise of Rome.

After the fall of the great Phoenician city of Tyre to Alexander the Great in 332 BCE, those Tyrians who were able to escape fled to Carthage with whatever wealth they had. Since many whom Alexander spared were those rich enough to buy their lives, these refugees landed in the city with considerable means and established Carthage as the new centre of Phoenician trade. The Carthaginians then drove the native Africans from the area, enslaved many of them, and exacted tribute from the rest. From a small town on the coast, the city grew in size and grandeur with enormous estates covering miles of acreage. Not even one hundred years passed before Carthage was the richest city in the Mediterranean. The aristocrats lived in palaces, the less affluent in modest but attractive homes, while tribute and tariffs regularly increased the city’s wealth on top of the lucrative business in trade. The harbour was immense, with 220 docks, gleaming columns which rose around it in a half-circle, and was ornamented with Greek sculpture. The Carthaginian trading ships sailed daily to ports all around the Mediterranean Sea while their navy, supreme in the region, kept them safe and, also, opened new territories for trade and resources through conquest.

It was this expansion which first brought Carthage into conflict with Rome. When Rome was weaker than Carthage, she posed no threat. The Carthaginian navy had long been able to enforce the treaty which kept Rome from trading in the western Mediterranean. When Carthage took Sicily, however, Rome responded. Though they had no navy and knew nothing of fighting on the sea, Rome built 330 ships which they equipped with clever ramps and gangways (the corvus) which could be lowered onto an enemy ship and secured; thus turning a sea battle into a land battle. The First Punic War (264-241 BCE) had begun. After an initial struggle with military tactics, Rome won a series of victories and finally defeated Carthage in 241 BCE. Carthage was forced to cede Sicily to Rome and pay a heavy war indemnity.

Following this war, Carthage became embroiled in what is known as The Mercenary War (241-237 BCE) which started when the Carthaginian army of mercenaries demanded the payment Carthage owed them. This war was finally won by Carthage through the efforts of the general Hamilcar Barca. Carthage suffered greatly from both these conflicts and, when Rome occupied the Carthaginian colonies of Sardinia and Corsica, there was nothing the Carthaginians could do about it. They tried to make the best of their situation by conquering and expanding holdings in Spain but again went to war with Rome when the Carthaginian general Hannibal attacked the city of Saguntum, an ally of Rome. The Second Punic War (218-201 BCE) was fought largely in northern Italy as Hannibal invaded Italy from Spain by marching his forces over the Alps. Hannibal won every engagement against the Romans in Italy. In 216 BCE he won his greatest victory at the Battle of Cannae but, lacking sufficient troops and supplies, could not build on his successes. He was defeated by the Roman general Scipio Africanus at the Battle of Zama, in North Africa, in 202 BCE and Carthage again sued for peace.

Placed, again, under a heavy war indemnity by Rome, Carthage struggled to pay their debt while also trying to fend off incursions from neighbouring Numidia. Carthage went to war against Numidia and lost. Having only recently paid off their debt to Rome, they now owed a new war debt to Numidia. Rome was not concerned with what Carthage and Numidia were involved with but did not care for the sudden revitalization of the Carthaginian army. Carthage believed that their treaty with Rome was ended when their war debt was paid; Rome disagreed. The Romans felt that Carthage was still obliged to bend to Roman will; so much so that the Roman Senator Cato the Elder ended all of his speeches, no matter what the subject, with the phrase, “Further, I think that Carthage should be destroyed.” In 149 BCE, Rome suggested just that course of action.

A Roman embassy to Carthage made demands to the senate which included the stipulation that Carthage be dismantled and then re-built further inland. The Carthaginians, understandably, refused to do so and the Third Punic War (149-146 BCE) began. The Roman general Scipio Aemilianus besieged Carthage for three years until it fell. After sacking the city, the Romans burned it to the ground, leaving not one stone on top of another. A modern myth has grown up that the Romans forces then sowed the ruins with salt but this story has no basis in fact. It is said that Scipio Aemilianus wept when he ordered the destruction of the city and behaved virtuously toward the survivors.

Utica now became the capital of Rome’s African provinces and Carthage lay in ruin until 122 BCE when Gaius Sepronius Gracchus, the Roman tribune, founded a small colony there. Memory of the Punic wars still being too fresh, however, the colony failed. Julius Caesar proposed and planned the re-building of Carthage and, five years after his death, Carthage rose again. Power now shifted from Utica back to Carthage and it remained an important Roman colony until the fall of the empire.

Carthage rose in prominence as Christianity grew and Augustine of Hippo lived there before coming to Rome. The city continued under Roman influence through the Byzantine Empire (formerly the Eastern Roman Empire) who held it against repeated attacks by the Vandals. In 698 CE, the Muslims defeated the Byzantine forces at the Battle of Carthage, destroyed the city completely, and drove the Byzantines from Africa. They then fortified and developed the neighboring city of Tunis and established it as the new center for trade and governorship of the region. Carthage still lies in ruin in modern day Tunisia and remains an important tourist attraction and archaeological site. The outline of the great harbor can still be seen as well as the ruins of the homes and palaces from the time when the city of Carthage ruled the Mediterranean.

Out on the Pampas: Character Review

Today I am writing on Out on the Pampas, the main characters in Out on the Pampas are Mr. Hardy, Mrs. Hardy, Charlie, Hubert, Maud, and Ethel.  Mr. Hardy is the father of Charlie, Hubert, Maud, and Ethel.  Mr. Hardy barked at the idea of moving from England to a plantation in South America.  He kept the whole family in order by planting and fighting Indians.  He was the leader in the family.

Mrs. Hardy, Mr. Hardy’s wife, was the family cook.  She helped keep the houses clean.  She taught Maud and Ethel about farming, cooking, and cleaning.  She also helped to look after the plantation while the boys were away.

The eldest sibling, Charlie, was my very favorite character.  He was the most adventurous and bravest but often was caught not listening.  He helped his slightly younger brother in fighting the Indians.

The second oldest sibling, Hubert, was mainly the provider of meat for the family.  He hunted the most and brought a never ending supply of waterfowl to the table.  It was hard for Hubert to become accustomed to fighting the Indians, but he was the most reliable sibling and always listened.

Maud was the oldest girl in the family.  She usually helped look after the chickens, ducks and geese, along with the cooking.  She was very brave and witty.  She also saved Hubert from the Indians.

The youngest sibling was Ethel.  She helped her mother around the house keeping the place tidy.  Although she was unaccustomed to the shock of Indian battles, she was captured and held by the Indians.  She was eventually saved by the end of the book.

In Conclusion, Out on the Pampas by G. A. Henty had some of the most intriguing characters, no matter what problem occurred. I wouldn’t personally read it again, due to the main story being fairly predictable.

The Scarlet Pimpernel Versus A Tale of Two Cities

The two books being reviewed today are A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens, and The Scarlet Pimpernel, by Baroness Emma Orczy. Both books take place in France at the time of the French Revolution in the late 1700’s, and one of the common morals between these books is sacrifice and bravery, and if you read the books, you’ll know why. This essay will cover and review the similarities and overview of these two books, my opinion of them, and commendation.

To start this off, I will first cover A Tale of Two Cities‘ storyline (not trying to spoil or give away to much). One of the stories opening sequences displays a pleading Charles Darnay, an Aristocratic French gentleman with noble Aristocratic relations. He was held accused of treason against the English, and Mr. Stryver, a friend and attorney of his pleads his case, but to no avail until Sydney Carton, a drunkard, assists in the case and grants Darnay off the hook. This happened in 1780. Back in 1775, we meet Lucie Manette, daughter of Dr. Manette. She assumes her parents were dead until she meets her father in a garret protected by Monsieur Defarge. Her love was commonly referred as a revitalizing effect, and recalled her father to life, so to say. In 1789, the storming of the Bastille takes place, and a man associated with the maintenance of the Evremonde (Darnay has relations to his uncle, Marquis Evremonde) and is captured and put in prison. Darnay, returning to England, departs immediately for his sake and heads for France. It eventually leads into bigger and badder problems that Darnay did not expect, and in the end a surprising turn of events take place. I’ll leave the rest unknown for the reader’s sake.

The genre is historical fiction, and includes real life references and situations such as the French Revolution. Since it is historical fiction and refers to the time of the French Revolution, it is heavily driven by reaction and the Revolution itself. The main theme here is redemption and rebirth, sacrifice and heroism. The book displays redemption and rebirth when Carton makes a sacrifice in the end, and rebirth when he changes his drive and morals, after initially being a drunk man. You can also say other morals of the story include loyalty and love, but I find the first two are more evident as far as the book goes. The book is told from the point of view of an omniscient third person narrator, and proves to be a reliable source of information. The book’s author is Charles Dickens, and claims his source of inspiration for the book was from a certain play in which he acts in called the Frozen Deep, written by a friend of his. He wanted to further the reader’s understanding and knowledge of the French Revolution, and to describe the time of terror that is the Revolution. Other books by him included Barnaby Rudge, Great Expectations, and Our Mutual Friend. Barnaby Rudge was an historical fiction book that was written before A Tale of Two Cities, but later he writes Great Expectations and Out Mutual Friend.

The main characters of the book are Charles Darnay, a French aristocrat by birth who rejects the cruel values of his uncle Marquis Evremonde, Sydney Carton, an outright drunken man and attorney who is discouraged and insolent without a pursuit in life, Doctor Manette, former Bastille prisoner and loving father of his daughter, Lucie. Lucie Manette is a young French woman who grew up in England as an initial orphan by a ward of Tellson’s Bank. Her love was known to transform people and their standards, enabling her father’s “recall to life” in the early book. Other main characters include Monsieur Defarge, wine shop owner and revolutionary in Saint Antoine and also former servant of Dr. Manette, Madame Defarge, cruel revolutionary who hates aristocracy and is vengeful, and Miss Pross, the loyal guardian and servant of Lucie. The book in the early parts are told in set years and intervals of time and last until the latter parts of the Revolution.

Moving on is The Scarlet Pimpernel. It takes place in France at the time of the French Revolution. It primarily focuses and follows the endeavors of Lady Marguerite Blakeney, or Lady Blakeney, the wife of Sir Percy Blakeney. The Scarlet Pimpernel, on the other hand, is a masked hero who is responsible for the rescue of countless French aristocrats, saving them from execution. In the early parts of the book, he is only known as a mysterious Englishman who is wanted by the French government for his deeds. Throughout the book, he is more than ever elusive, but nonetheless, things take a different turn for the Pimpernel, his companions, and his adversaries. Read the book to find out more. That is the short version of the plot, but here’s a little more detailed rundown:

One day, Lady Blakeney is approached by a French agent sent by the government in hopes to find and capture the Scarlet Pimpernel. This agent would be known as Chauvelin, later in the book. At first she refuses, but eventually word is out that a colleague of the Pimpernel has a letter from Lady Blakeney’s brother Armand St. Just, implying his assistance and involvement with the Pimpernel. Again, Chauvelin approaches Lady Blakeney, asking her for aid in this mission, and she accepts, hoping for the safe return of her brother.

That night she attends a ball with her husband, Lord Blakeney (Sir Percy). She saw a note exchange between a friend of her husband and one of the men with her brother’s letter and manages to sneak a look. She tells Chauvelin where the Pimpernel will be at and at what time. When the appropriate time comes, no one is seen but Sir Percy asleep on the couch. In fear and despair of the pending safety of her brother, she asks Sir Percy to help her brother, and he promises back, and then he leaves for the north. After this point, it gets really hard to review with spoiling too much, so it is worth it to read the book and take a look of the whole storyline, it is very intriguing and is a very good read.

The book’s main theme is fighting  battle that can’t truly be won. The author of this book is Baroness Emma Orczy, The Scarlet Pimpernel is housed in the genre of historical fiction.

The main characters are Lord Percy Blakeney, established English gentleman and husband of Lady Blakeney, Chauvelin, the French agent who prompts Lady Blakeney and is sent by the government to capture the Pimpernel and oppose him, Armand St. Just, brother of Lady Blakeney and blackmail property of Chauvelin, Sir Andrew Ffoulkes, friend and devoted follower of the Pimpernel. Other characters are Comtesse de Tournay, aristocrat rescued by Pimpernel in the opening of the novel, wife of Comte de Tournay, also eventually rescued by the Pimpernel. Comtesse does not like Lady Blakeney because she thinks that Lady Blakeney was responsible for the condemned Marquis de St. Cyr and his demise.

          In conclusion, both books are very good, but I personally like the Scarlet Pimpernel more, it reminded me of a James Bond movie, but mixed in with Sherlock Holmes. A Tale of Two Cities is still very good, but it just lost my attention and was personally hard to track with all the time jumping.

20,000 Leagues Under the Seas

Today I am writing a character comparison between professor Pierre Aronnax and Captain Nemo, I hope you enjoy! First is a brief review of the story.

Professor Aronnax, his manservant Conseil, and a Canadian harpooner named Ned Land are aboard a ship called the Abraham Lincoln, chasing a “giant narwhale” that has been terrorizing ships across the globe. As they attack this monster, it attacks back, causing the trio to be thrown overboard. Captain Nemo of the Nautilus takes them in, feeds them and shows them the wonders under the sea that no other man has seen before. It’s a good story, with compelling characters, two of which I will be comparing.

Professor Aronnax specializes in natural history, marine animals especially. He had written a book titled The Mysteries of the Great Ocean Depths, which established him as an expert, which is why he was called upon for his opinions on what was attacking ships.

He was curious, and believed that man didn’t know what lay past ten miles below the surface. He was sure that there were creatures they’d never seen, and might not ever see. He was excited to come long on the Abraham Lincoln looking for this creature.

Captain Nemo is a man filled with hatred. You can tell from the way he acts. Something horrible happened to him, and he seeks revenge. Not the eye for an eye sort, though. He has made himself a fortress, surrounded only by few that he had chosen. He can get everything he needs and more from the sea, and he’s proud of the fact. He has spent years bettering his mind and learning new languages and discovering things, and it all falls into a grand master plan to get back at the surface world for wronging him so horrendously.

Both characters have an immense love for the sea, and all that can be learned, discovered, and made from it, they find it fascinating. Each has immense knowledge of marine life; they both yearn to know all secrets the sea holds. Each would spend days reading from Captain Nemo’s library if they could. If they had years to, they would collect shells and organisms to study and admire. Both want to immerse themselves in knowledge, and both have great love for the seaweed forests. Both are also stubborn and want their way, both couldn’t go a day without asking themselves a million questions, although Captain Nemo seems to have answered many for himself before meeting Professor Aronnax.

Their differences are mainly in personality traits. While they do have similar interests and such, Nemo seems to be a bit more aggressive. He’s very secretive with things, and spends days at a time locked up in his room. He has cold eyes and has seen death, therefore cutting any and all ties to the world around him . Professor Aronnax, on the other hand, spends all the days Nemo doesn’t have him locked up out looking around, and he expects answers to his questions. He’s baffled by Nemo’s secretiveness. He’s inquisitive and wants to know all the sea’s secrets, but he wants to go back to land, while Nemo has sworn never to step foot upon the surface world again. Aronnax gets sick of eating fish daily, and craves land-meat. Aronnax is also a much nicer person than Nemo. They are opposites personality-wise, and don’t actually like each other that much. Nemo refuses to let them leave because nobody can know of his ship, and he thinks of Arronax as a burden. Arronax can’t stand imprisonment.

While they both are very curious and love the sea very much, Nemo thinks of it as his home, while Aronnax craves to be back on land.

          In conclusion, this was an all-around amazing read. I highly recommend this book.

Week 20 Review

Just wanted more feedback, I am trying a new format, comment your opinion. Also, My new YouTube channel will have its first video up tomorrow. The channel name is WitheredGamingYT, now on with the essay!

Today I am writing on the Peloponnesian wars, I hope you enjoy.

After the Persian Wars, just when everything seemed peaceful, a new conflict arose. It all started when some of the members of the Peloponnesian League begin to rebel against Sparta. Athens sent some reinforcements to help in the endeavor, but Sparta rejects their troops.

Athens stubbornly shot back that they were making a new, better form of government based on democracy, which did not make Sparta happy. If you remember, Sparta used oligarchy in their city-state. So, Athens allies with two other city-states that dislike Sparta and go to war in 460.

In 457 Athens emerges victorious in their attempt to capture the island of Aegina. Sparta finally steps up to plate and begins fighting. They defeat the Athenians near their own city.

From 446-431 there was what is called the Thirty Years’ Peace. However, Athens breaks this by interfering with a battle that they were not supposed to be involved in. Sparta decides in 432 that Athens is guilty of breaking the treaty and they demanded that Athens stop attacking Corinth.

Athens boldly replied that they would be independent and would never submit to any Spartan. There was a stalemate until Thebes attacked an Athenian ally in 431. This brought about another huge war that lasted 3 years longer than the previous one. This is called the Archidamian War.

In 432 Sparta invaded the land around Athens. But Sparta didn’t ever stick around for too long— the slaves that they owned often rebelled and had to be held back, and they had to help with the harvest back at home. In fact, the longest invasion that we have a record of lasted for a mere 40 days!

Athens ravaged Sparta’s coast and won a battle at Naupactus, but a bad plague hit in 430 B.C. and killed 30,000 people, destroying about half of Athens’s total population. This plague also caused the death of Pericles and his sons. Pericles was an amazing Athenian general who was very successful.

Cleon revived a new navy, and Demosthenes won a victory in 425 in the Battle of Pylos. However, Sparta invaded Amphipolis, which was were Athens imported most of its silver from, and Thucydides, the Athenian general, could not repel them. He was exiled and wrote a history of the Peloponnesian Wars in his book called A History of the Peloponnesian Wars.

After this, there was a brief period of relative peace, due to both sides losing their leaders. But Sparta rebelled and won the victory, letting them gain control of the Peloponnesian League.

Now, in the 17th year of the war, the main battleground moved to Sicily. Athens tried to defend its own colonies against Syracuse, and Sparta actually helped Syracuse. For the first time, Sparta won a genuine naval victory against Athens, this was when Athens began to decline.

Athens, though having retreated to Attica and being defeated by Sparta time and again, proved to be a tough nut to crack. On the other hand, Sparta allied with the Syracusans, Ionians, and, surprisingly, the Persians, their former archenemies. The Persians promised to send ships and money to them. On top if that, the city-state of Athens was having conflicts amidst itself, which weakened them even more.

There was a battle against Athens in which the Athenians would have been demolished if their foes had only been anxious enough to destroy them. There were more battles, too, which I won’t mention here, except that Athens won many victories and got back on their feet. This went on until 406, when Lysander won another naval battle, this time at Notium. The defeat must have been terrible, because the Athenian general was not re-elected, and he exiled himself.

In 406, very close to the end of the war, Athens won a battle. Unfortunately, bad weather prevented utter destruction. Athens also lost 6 important naval commanders!

Sparta then ran for the Hellespont, which was were Athens got most of its grain. Athens chased after them, but in 405 they lost the battle of Aegospotami. Finally, the Athenians had had enough, 6 commanders gone, their state considerably weakened— they retreated and gave up their fleet and all their colonies. Sparta even commanded them to tear down their own walls!

For over a year Athens was ruled by the Thirty Tyrants but they rebelled against this form of government. Sparta just decided to reinstate them with new men. King Pausanius, though, decided not to, and let them practice democracy if only they’d let the Spartans be the #1 ruler. The king was put on trial for the way he treated the Athenians, probably because the people thought that he was too soft with them, but the votes were 15/14 in favor of Pausanius.

It may seem as if the story is over and that Sparta is stronger than ever, but both of those things are telling the reverse of how things really worked. Sure, the Peloponnesian Wars were over and Athens subdued, but it seems as if somebody always has to be unhappy with the current situation. But before I tell you what I mean by that let me make my points— one, there is a storm brewing and another war— the Corinthian War— is about to start. For seconds, Sparta and the other people that had participated in the war had grown the opposite of stronger— even Sparta had been weakened.

So, a bit about the Corinthian War: this was a war where Sparta was the one being attacked at the beginning. Sparta’s allies were unhappy with the fact that Sparta took all the spoils and all the credit for conquering Athens. So, a big alliance (particularly Thebes and Corinth, although Persia and Athens pitched in as well) went up against Sparta. There were many battles, but in the end Persia, Sparta, and Athens had all benefited from it, a contrast to the Peloponnesian Wars.

Persia, whose territory had diminished during the Persian Wars, actually was able to regain control over the Ionian Greeks in Asia Minor and reconquered the eastern Aegean Islands. Sparta remained the strongest Greek city-state and took advantage of a certain rule in the peace treaty that had been signed at the end of the war. The “King’s Peace” stated that all Greek city-states were to be independent of each other, and that if any one of them interfered with the other, Persia would come and attack them. Sparta used this to exercise a sort of “or else” nature, that is to say, all they had to do to stop any alliance was to remind them of the peace treaty, and how Persia would come and attack them if they rebelled.

With Clive in India

Hello there! I just wanted to thank all those who commented their feedback on last week’s essay, now on to the essay.

          This is a book review on the book With Clive in India, in this review I will first briefly summarize the book, then I will give my opinion on the book. I would just like to warn all who read this, there are slight spoilers ahead due to when a main character is introduced.

          The story With Clive in India follows a young man named Charlie Marryat, to help his family money wise, he decides to report on the raging battle between France and Britain in India. During the boat ride to India, a man falls overboard, Charlie jumps ship and saves the drowning man. Back on the ship the man says his name is Tim, Tim, grateful for Charlie’s service, becomes Charlie’s servant. This is where our second of three main characters is introduced. Once the duo arrives at the town they are staying at, they are offered an opportunity to join the army and leave their furnace of a room. The duo immediately accepts the offer, they then fight many battles with only minor injuries. Later in time they ae told to go to a town and help the ruler, the duo travels to the town and begin helping build the ruler an army. But during their stay, the cook attempts to kill Charlie with poison, but due to Tim being overly cautious and having monkeys taste the dishes before being sent to Charlie, everybody but the monkeys were ok. The cook was going to be hung by the ruler, but Charlie saved the cook from his impending doom and the cook then later joins the duo. All three main characters are now present.

          I would suggest this book to anybody, but you might struggle with some vocabulary depending on your reading level.

          In conclusion, this book is great for almost all ages and reading types, this is due to its large diversity in categories.   

English: 56

Dear readers, this essay will be a bit different from my other essays, please comment your opinion on if you like my new style or to switch back. Now on with the essay!

          When people get a new pet or item that they have wanted for a long time, they immediately become extremely attached. They will spend lots of time with said thing and grow a strong bond to it, but should they grow attached? This is our topic for today, this has been a highly debated subject throughout time. Some say to remain unattached; others say otherwise, I will share with you a story about this topic, then give you my opinion.

          I own goats, five at the moment to be exact. I love those goats more than almost anything, this story takes place around thanksgiving of 2019. On thanksgiving I had no school, now as a kid whose birthday was only days before, I naturally played my new video game in my room for most of the day. I had forgot to check on the goats that day, and then that next morning my favorite goat was ill. I felt horrible, I blamed myself entirely, towards three in the afternoon, we brought it inside. I began rapidly searching every veterinarian website I could find, I kept coming up short with what my goat had. Then we took it to an actual vet, they said he had a very rare case of an uncurable disease. Long story short we put him down, I had never felt more frustrated/ confused mixed with upset in my life.

          So, from my point of view, its up to you on what you do, because if I didn’t care about that goat, I wouldn’t have tried to keep it alive for so long. But if I didn’t care, it still wouldn’t hurt almost four months later. But; I now always check on them, rain or shine. And I would also like all who read this to know, I wasn’t doing this for pity points, this just was the best example I had.

          So thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed, by!

The Kings of Rome

This essay will cover the first kings of Rome. The first king was Romulus, he founded the city of Rome on Palatine Hill, the place where he and his brother were born. During the first days of his reign, Romulus began building walls for his city. His brother, Remus, walked over to Romulus and began to mock him for the small beginnings of his wall. He than stepped over the wall and teased how easily he got in, Romulus then hit his brother upside the head with his shovel, killing Remus instantly.

          As king Romulus made many decisions, some good, some poor. One bad quality of Romulus was how violent he was, one time he strapped a man by his limbs to chariots, then made the chariots drive off, ripping the man’s limbs off and killing him from the strain. A good quality was his strategic thinking during combat, Rome never lost a battle under his rule. The way he died is unknown, some say he was struck by lightning, some say he was assassinated by a council member.

The next king was Numa Pompilius, he was the exact opposite of Romulus, Numa Pompilius was a peaceful king, he never had to fight a battle due to his negotiation skills, he laid the foundation for many laws and regulations in Rome, some being vetoes, the ability for prisoners to be released upon good behavior, and many more.           In conclusion, these two kings laid the foundation for one of the largest countries in history.