CULTURE AND CIVILIZATION OF

ENGLISH-SPEAKING COUNTRIES
Departamento de Lenguas Modernas

M.A. Dasa Kotlarova

2015

CHAPTER 1

Introduction of Culture and its Association with Language

What is culture?
Raymond Williams in his book Key Words (1983) termed Culture as being one of the two or
three most complicated words in English language'. Culture can be understood as the whole
way of life that is vital for the survival of a specific group or people living in a specific society.
Christopher Jenks (1993) gives four following domains to consider:
1.
Culture as a state of mind: having some intellectual and learning capabilities superior
than others.
2.
Culture related to the idea of civilization: some societies are seen as superior than
other societies.
3.
Culture as the collective body of arts and intellectual work within any society (high culture): the highest level of human creativity and social life- in theatres, concert halls, art
galleries and libraries (Mozart, Beethoven, Picasso, Shakespeare, etc.).
4.
Culture as a whole way of life (as a social Heritage): the collection of ideas and
habits that are learnt, shared and transmitted from generation to generation.
The Components of Culture: Symbols, Language, Values and Norms
The common components across cultures are symbols, values and norms.
All cultures include symbols which confer meanings to things and events.
These symbols are expressed through what we call language. Language conveys the beliefs
and values of a culture.
Values are ideas. These ideas are translated into norms which give us in concrete terms how
we should behave. Let's take an example: One of the values of a culture might be "Thou shalt
not kill". This value can shape our behavior in a number of ways. We can have norms
condemning euthanasia, dangerous driving or abortion. Hence the idea of not killing guides our
behavior in a number of different circumstances.
Language is a set of symbols individuals use to communicate, it allows culture to develop.
Indeed culture is transmitted through language.

The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis

The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis argues that language provides categories through which social
reality is defined and constructed. Thinking and perception are not only expressed through
language but also shaped by language. The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis comes from two American

linguists who first formulated it. They consider that we all have a basic need to make sense of
the world. Language is the main tool for organising the world.
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For example, in Eskimo there are different words for falling snow, snow on the ground, hardpacked snow etc; in Aztec, a single word is used for snow, cold and ice. The Garo of Burma, a
rice-growing people, distinguish many types of rice. Nomadic Arabs have more than 20 different
words for camel. Verbal distinctions among types of rice and camels are necessary for different
groups of people because these objects are important in their environment. As a matter of
necessity, they distinguish among many different types of what we may regard as "the same"
object.

Notion of Civilization
Civilizations are intelligible fields of historical study . . .which have greater extension, in both
space and time, than national states or city or city-states, or any other political communities.
(Toynbee 1935, I: 44-45)
Civilizations are institutions of the highest orderinstitutions, that is, which comprehend
without being comprehended. ( I: 455)
New spiritual insights allow for the birth of a new religion and ultimately a new civilization
(Toynbee 1935).

DISCUSSION:
What is thus the link between culture and civilization?

CHAPTER 2
History of English and its Spread
English is a member of the Indo-European family of languages that includes several major
branches: Latin and the modern Romance languages (French etc.); the Germanic languages
(English, German, Swedish etc.); the Indo-Iranian languages (Hindi, Urdu, Sanskrit etc.); the
Slavic languages (Russian, Polish, Czech etc.); the Baltic languages of Latvian and Lithuanian;
the Celtic languages (Welsh, Irish Gaelic etc.); Greek.

Of these branches of the Indo-European family, two are, as far as the study of the development
of English is concerned, of paramount importance, the Germanic and the Romance (called that
because the Romance languages derive from Latin, the language of ancient Rome). English is a
member of the Germanic group of languages. It is believed that this group began as a common

language in the Elbe river region about 3,000 years ago. By the second century BC, this
Common Germanic language had split into three distinct sub-groups:
East Germanic was spoken by people who migrated back to southeastern Europe. No East
Germanic language is spoken today, and the only written East Germanic language that survives
is Gothic.
North Germanic evolved into the modern Scandinavian languages of Swedish, Danish,
Norwegian, and Icelandic (but not Finnish, which is related to Hungarian and Estonian and is
not an Indo-European language).
West Germanic is the ancestor of modern German, Dutch, Flemish, Frisian, and English.

A Chronology of the English Language:

449

Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain begins

450-480

Earliest Old English inscriptions date from this period

597

St. Augustine arrives in Britain. Beginning of Christian conversion

731

The Venerable Bede publishes The Ecclesiastical History of the

English People in Latin

792

Viking raids and settlements begin

871

Alfred becomes king of Wessex. He has Latin works translated

into English and begins practice of English prose. The AngloSaxon Chronicle is begun

911

Charles II of France grants Normandy to the Viking chief Hrolf

the Ganger. The beginning of Norman French

c. 1000

The oldest surviving manuscript of Beowulf dates from this period

1066

The Norman conquest

c. 1150

The oldest surviving manuscripts of Middle English date from this

period

1171

Henry II conquers Ireland

1204

King John loses the province of Normandy to France

1348

English replaces Latin as the medium of instruction in schools,

other than Oxford and Cambridge which retain Latin

1362

The Statute of Pleading replaces French with English as the

language of law. Records continue to be kept in Latin. English is
used in Parliament for the first time

1384

Wyclif publishes his English translation of the Bible

c. 1388

Chaucer begins The Canterbury Tales

1476

William Caxton establishes the first English printing press

1549

First version of The Book of Common Prayer

1604

Robert Cawdrey publishes the first English dictionary, Table

Alphabeticall

1607

Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in the New

World, established

1611

The Authorized, or King James Version, of the Bible is published

1702

Publication of the first daily, English-language newspaper, The

Daily Courant, in London

1755

Samuel Johnson publishes his dictionary

1770

Cook discovers Australia

1928

The Oxford English Dictionary is published

Spread of English across the Globe

Since the seventeenth century, English has been extending over the world. It is due to various
important factors:
Date
17th and 18th centuries

Facts
English spread as a result of British colonialism

18th and 19th centuries

English spread as the language of British leadership in the

Industrial Revolution

Late 19th and early 20thc.

English spread as the language of American economic

superiority and political leadership.

Second half of 20th c.

English spread as a consequence of American technological

domination.

Long before the expansion of English as a global language, there were other minor spreads of
the language, as for instance the spread of English to Scotland because of the military
escapades of William the Conqueror (11th century) or to Ireland with the Anglo-Norman troops
sent by Henry II.
Lets examine table in which you can find how English took place in different territories
conquered by the English:
Place

Facts
French were present in Canada from 1530 and later defeated by Britain.

Canada

French-speakers remained in the East when process of English

colonization began. French of Quebec remained.

The
Caribbean

The most spoken language is Spanish, but there are also other European
languages (complex colonial history). African slaves in this area
developed creole as a means of communicating among themselves.
However, no creole has gained enough status to be accepted as a
national language. Nowadays, English and Spanish are the official
languages.

Australia

Australia served as the first penal colony- British prisons were

overcrowded and convicts were sent there. By 1900 it had 4 million
inhabitants from British Isles. English is the official language with
American English influence- vocabulary has been affected.

New Zealand

No convicts in New Zealand, and slow settlement. By 1900, it has a

quarter of million people. People there are more inclusive of the
indigenous population and it is one reason why the language contains a
large number of Maori words, in contrast to Australian English. They
reject American English in favor of British English.

South Africa

English became the official language of the region in 1822 and by the end
of 19th c., there were half a million immigrants there, most of them spoken
English. Afrikaans-speakers used English as a second language, and
nowadays English is one of the 11 official languages in South Africa.

South Asia

About 40 million users of English, the 3rd-larger English using area after
USA and Great Britain. English developed as a medium of control
administration, education, etc.- in the period of the British Raj (17651947), creating an English-based subculture in the subcontinent.

Former

The increase in trade and activities in opposition to slave trade brought

Colonial

English to the entire West African coast, and several English-based

Africa: West

pidgins and creoles developed. English is still taught and used, being an

Africa

official language there. British varieties of English develop in 6 particular

countries, which have English as an official language: Sierra Leone,
Ghana, The Gambia, Nigeria, Cameroon and Liberia.

East Africa

The Imperial East Africa Company was founded in 1888, and a series of
colonial protectorates was established. There are 6 main states with a
history of British rule that gave English official status when they gained
their independence: Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Malawi, Zambia and
Zimbabwe.

South-East

There is a mixture of English and Australian English, and American

India and

influence increased in the 1940s. The British influence there began with

South Pacific

Captain James Cook and English become rapidly an influential language

in the British territories of South Pacific. And because of the very different
cultural circumstances in different parts of the region, no one South Asian

English variety has emerged.

CHAPTER 3
English-speaking Countries
United Kingdom

The Flag of United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is popularly
called as the Union Jack. It is officially known as the Union Flag. The flag is a blue field with the red cross of Saint George (patron
saint of England) edged in white superimposed on the diagonal red cross of Saint Patrick (patron saint of Ireland), which is
superimposed on the diagonal white cross of Saint Andrew (patron saint of Scotland).

Separated from the European continent by the North Sea and English Channel, the United
Kingdom (informally referred to as Britain) includes England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern
Ireland. England and Wales were united in 1536. The addition of Scotland in 1707 created Great
Britain, renamed the United Kingdom in 1801 when Ireland was added. The Republic of Ireland
fought itself free of British rule in 1922, leaving Northern Ireland as a province of the United
Kingdom with Belfast as its capital.
England is the most populous part of the U.K., with 49 million inhabitants. Almost one third of
England's people live in the prosperous southeastern part of the country centered on Londonone of the largest cities in Europe. Scotland, with one third of Britain's area, is a mountainous
land with 5 million people, most of them (75 percent) concentrated in the lowland area where

Glasgow and Edinburgh (Scotland's capital) are located. The Scottish nation can be traced to
the Scoti, a Gaelic-speaking Celtic tribe. Wales, with 2.9 million people, is also mountainous
with a Celtic culturethe country is called Cymru (pronounced CUM-ree) in the Welsh language
and its capital, Cardiff, features castles and museums highlighting Welsh culture. Since 1997
the government has been pursuing a policy of devolution, leading in 1999 to an elected Scottish
parliament and Welsh assembly. In 2000 Londoners elected their first mayor and assembly.
The industrial revolution was born in Britain in the 18th century, making it the world's first
industrialized nation. The British Empire, a worldwide system of dependencies, fed raw
materials to British industry and spread British culture. Most dependencies gained
independence in the 20th century. Part of the legacy of empire is that Britain is home to a
growing multicultural population. The 2001 census counted more than 2.5 million Asians (mostly
Indians and Pakistanis) and 1.1 million Blacks (from Africa and the Caribbean). Most of the
remaining dependencies consist of small islands in the Atlantic and Caribbean.
ECONOMY
Industry: Machine tools, electric power equipment, automation equipment,
railroad equipment, shipbuilding
Agriculture: Cereals, oilseed, potatoes, vegetables; cattle; fish
Exports: Manufactured goods, fuels, chemicals; food, beverages, tobacco

United States of America

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The U.S. flag is a strong symbol of American identity and national pride. Stars are a symbol of the heavens and the goals to which
humankind aspires; stripes are symbolic of rays of light from the sun. Thirteen stripes represent the original thirteen colonies that

11

declared independence from England; fifty stars symbolize the current 50 United States. White signifies purity and innocence, red
signifies valor and bravery; and blue signifies vigilance, perseverance, and justice.
Also known as Old Glory, The Star Spangled Banner, or simply The Stars and Stripes - the U.S. flag has a colorful history and has
undergone many changes since the first official flag of 1777.

The United States of America, the third largest country by size in the world, is a nation of
natural, geological, and cultural diversity. Occupying the middle portion of the North American
continent, the country's varied landscapes run from tropical beaches in Florida to alpine peaks
in the Rocky Mountains, from rolling prairie lands and barren deserts in the West to dense
wilderness areas in the Northeast and Northwest, with some of the world's largest lakes,
deepest canyons, mightiest rivers, and most populous cities.
Though a relatively young nation, the United States has enjoyed a meteoritic rise in global
importance since declaring independence from Britain in 1776. Advances in the past hundred
years in particular have established America as a world leader economically, militarily, and
technologically.
The U.S. is generally divided into six large regions: New England; the mid-Atlantic; the South;
the Midwest; the Southwest, and the West. Though loosely defined, these zones tend to share
important similarities, including climate, culture, history, and geography.
New England hosted some of the first settlers in the New World. These travelers left Europe,
mainly England, in search of religious freedom. They created an intellectual, cultural, and
economic epicenter in the region that lasted nearly 200 years. Visitors flock to the states of New
EnglandConnecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont
for, among other things, a dose of American history.
The mid-Atlantic region includes Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania,
and Washington, D.C. These 19th-century industrial powerhouses attracted millions of
European immigrants and gave rise to some of the East Coast's largest cities: New York,
Baltimore, and Philadelphia. They're also home to some of the most picturesque scenery in the
nation, including the ancient peaks of the Appalachians and the tranquil Chesapeake Bay.
The South comprises Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi,
North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. This most distinctive of
U.S. regions took decades to recover from the devastation of the Civil War. But over the past
half-century, a so-called New South has emerged, supplementing its agricultural base with
modern manufacturing and industry and attracting a flock of transplants and retirees to its mild
climate, laid-back lifestyle, and varied landscapes.
The American Midwest is perhaps most difficult to define culturally and geographically. Home to
the Great Lakes and much of the mighty Mississippi River, the highly fertile soils in the Midwest

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make it the country's agricultural epicenter. Dubbed the "nation's breadbasket," the region
comprises the states of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri,
Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.
Starkly beautiful landscapes define the American Southwest. A land of prairie and desert, the
Southwest is made up of Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas, although parts of
neighboring states are often considered part of this region.
The Southwest is home to some of the world's great natural marvels, including the Grand
Canyon and Carlsbad Caverns, and many manmade wonders as well, like the ruins of the
Chaco culture.
The American West, home of rolling plains and the iconic cowboy, pioneering image of the
United States. But this region is a profoundly diverse one, ranging from endless wilderness to
desert, coral reefs to Arctic tundra, Hollywood to Yellowstone. The states of the West include
Alaska, Colorado, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and
Wyoming.
ECONOMY
Industry:

Petroleum, steel, motor vehicles, aerospace, telecommunications,

chemicals, electronics
Agriculture: Wheat, corn, other grains, fruits; beef; forest products; fish
Exports: Capital goods, automobiles, industrial supplies and raw materials,
consumer goods, agricultural products

Canada

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The Canadian flag consists of three vertical stripes: the right and left stripe are red and of
equal size. The center stripe is white and in the middle of it is a red eleven-pointed maple leaf emblem. Red and white are the
national colors of Canada; these were proclaimed as official colors of the country by King George in 1921. The color red was taken
from the Saint George's Cross and the color white from the French royal emblem. The maple leaf at the center of the flag represents
the national tree of Canada. The Canadian flag is also known as the Maple Leaf flag and was inspired by the flag of The Royal
Military College of Canada.

The second largest country in area after Russia, Canada has coastlines on the Atlantic, Arctic,
and Pacific Oceans, giving it the longest coastline of any country. In area, Canada is slightly
larger than the United States, but has only 11 percent as many people. It is one of the least
densely inhabited and most prosperous countries. A vast region of swamps, lakes, and ancient
rock, known as the Canadian Shield, radiates out from Hudson Bay to cover half of the country;
it is agriculturally poor with few people but rich in mineral deposits and forests. The shield
stretches from the Arctic to the Great Lakes and Labrador, cutting the country in half and
contributing to a division between easterners and westerners. The Canadian Shield and western
mountains experience subarctic climates, resulting in a near empty northan estimated 75
percent of Canadians live within 161 kilometers (100 miles) of the U.S. border.

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France pioneered settlement, but Britain gained control in 1763. In 1867 the British North
America Act united English-speaking Upper Canada (Ontario) and French-speaking Lower
Canada (Quebec) with Nova Scotia and New Brunswick in a self-governing confederationwith
independence in 1931. Canada is a multicultural society dependent on immigration for growth.
Some 28 percent are of British descent, 23 percent claim French descent (concentrated in
Quebec), 2 percent are aboriginal peoplesother minorities include Italians, Germans,
Ukrainians, and Chinese. Canada's population is highly urbanized, with most people living in
four areas: southern Ontario, Montral region, Vancouver city and southern Vancouver Island,
and the Calgary-Edmonton corridor. The urban economy has a large manufacturing base, and
the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has brought an economic boomabout 80
percent of Canada's trade is with the U.S.
ECONOMY
Industry: Transportation equipment, chemicals, processed and unprocessed
minerals, food products
Agriculture: Wheat, barley, oilseed, tobacco; dairy products; forest products; fish
Exports:
Motor vehicles and parts, industrial machinery, aircraft,
telecommunications equipment, chemicals, timber, crude petroleum

Australia

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The national flag of Australia is a blue field with the Union Jack in the upper hoist-side
quadrant, and a large white seven-pointed star known as the Commonwealth Star or Federation Star in the lower hoist-side
quadrant. The fly contains a representation of the Southern Cross constellation, made up of five white stars one small five-pointed
star and four, larger, seven-pointed stars.

An island continent located between the Indian and Pacific Oceans, Australia combines a wide
variety of landscapes. The highest mountains are part of the Great Dividing Range that lines the
east coast from Cape York Peninsula south to the state of Victoria. Most people reside along the
southeast coast, in cities like Melbourne or Sydney, because winds from the southeast release
rain thereleaving the interior beyond the mountains arid or semiarid. West of the Great
Dividing Range the landscape consists mostly of plains and plateaus; the Macdonnell Ranges
near the country's center are an exception. The Great Artesian Basin provides underground
water for a region that would otherwise be desert. Vegetation ranges from rain forests in the far
north to steppes and deserts in the vast interior (which Australians call the outback). There are
more than 130 species of marsupials, such as kangaroos, koalas, and wombats. The Murray-

16

Darling River Basin, covering about 14 percent of the continent, helps sustain wheat and wool
industries.
Founded in 1788 as a British convict colony, Australia was a place of banishment until gold
strikes in 1851 opened floodgates of immigration. Independence came in 1901, with a
constitution adapted in part from that of the United States. Immigration has been key to
Australia's development since 1788; from 1945 through 2000 almost six million immigrants
arrived. Aborigines number about 517,000, and the government is making efforts to settle
aboriginal land rights. Australia has one of the world's highest living standards with 85 percent
living in urban areas.
ECONOMY
Industry:

Mining, industrial and transportation equipment, food processing,

chemicals, steel
Agriculture: Wheat, barley, sugarcane, fruits; cattle
Exports: Coal, gold, meat, wool, alumina, iron

New Zealand

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The New Zealand flag is the symbol of the realm, government and people of New Zealand. Its
royal blue background is derived from the ensign of the Blue Squadron of the Royal Navy. The stars of the Southern Cross
emphasise this country's location in the South Pacific Ocean. The Union Jack in the first quarter recognises New Zealand's historical
origins as a British colony and dominion.

New Zealand is a fertile and mountainous group of islands in the southwestern Pacific Ocean.
"It is a land uplifted high," wrote Abel Tasman, a Dutch navigator who was the first European to
sight New Zealand, in 1642. Snowy peaks, fjord-scarred shores, and pastures dotted with sheep
define this country.
New Zealand, a parliamentary democracy modeled on that of the United Kingdom, has been a
self-governing British dominion since 1907. It became a founding member of the British
Commonwealth in 1926.
One in three citizensKiwislives in or around the city of Auckland. Rugby clubs with names
such as Canterbury and Wellington reveal a nation peopled mostly by descendants of British
settlers. The indigenous Maori constitute about 15 percent of New Zealanders; recent
immigrantsprimarily from Samoa and Fijimake Auckland one of the world's largest
Polynesian cities.
The export-driven country, whose chief trading partner used to be the United Kingdom, faltered
in 1973 when Britain joined the European Union. The loss of preferential treatment prompted a
search for new markets. Japan, Australia, and the U.S. now buy half of all exports, which
include wool, mutton, lamb, beef, cheese, fish, and chemicals.
New Zealand plays an active role in helping democratic nations and emerging Pacific island
economies. It sent troops to East Timor when violence broke out in 1999, and it provided
millions of dollars to the South Pacific island of Niue after it was devastated by a tropical cyclone
in 2004. Niue and the Cook Islands enjoy a status of self-government in free association with
New Zealand.
ECONOMY
Industry: Food processing, wood and paper products, textiles, machinery
Agriculture: Wheat, barley, potatoes, pulses; wool; fish
Exports: Dairy products, meat, wood and wood products, fish, chemicals,

wool,

mutton

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The Caribbean

The Caribbean or previously called West Indies, is group of islands more than 2,000 miles
(3,200 km) long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south,
from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north. From the peninsula of Florida on the mainland of
the United States, the islands stretch 1,200 miles (1,900 km) southeastward, then 500 miles
(800 km) south, then west along the north coast of Venezuela on the South American mainland.
Three major physiographic divisions constitute the West Indies: the Greater Antilles, comprising
the islands of Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic), and Puerto Rico;
the Lesser Antilles, including the Virgin Islands, Anguilla, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Antigua and
Barbuda, Montserrat, Guadeloupe, Dominica, Martinique,Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the
Grenadines, Barbados, and Grenada; and the isolated island groups of the North American
continental shelfThe Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islandsand those of the South
American shelf, including Trinidad and Tobago, Aruba, Curaao, and Bonaire. (Bermuda,
although physiographically not a part of the Caribbean, has common historical and cultural ties
with the other islands and is often included in definitions of the region.)
The population of the Caribbean is ethnically heterogeneous and largely the legacy of an early
plantation society based on slave labour. Most of the population is descended from African

19

slaves or from Spanish, French, British, or Dutch colonists or is of mixed ethnicity. The
Caribbean creole languages, evolved from pidgin variants of European languages, have
become the common languages of many of the people. The French and English creoles are a
blend of these languages with African and West Indian languages. By contrast, the major
Spanish-language communitiesCuba, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republicspeak pure
Spanish. Papiamentu, a Spanish-Dutch (Netherlandic)-Portuguese-English creole, is widely
spoken on Aruba, Curaao, and Bonaire. South Asians constitute a substantial minority in the
region, especially in the Caribbean, ), and Puerto Rico; the Lesser Antilles, including the Virgin
Islands, Anguilla, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Antigua and Barbuda, Montserrat, Guadeloupe,
Dominica, Martinique, Saint Trinidad and Tobago, where they make up almost four-tenths of the
population. Chinese constitute a smaller minority, and people of European (principally Spanish)
descent account for some seven-tenths of the population of Puerto Rico. Roman Catholicism is
the predominant religion in the Spanish- and French-speaking islands, while Protestantism is
the norm in the English-speaking and Dutch territories.
ECONOMY
With the exception of Cuba, which has a centrally planned economy, the
Caribbean can be characterized as a predominantly free-enterprise market region.
The economies of the region are marked by dependence on the export of a few
commodities, commonly agricultural, and consequently are extremely vulnerable to
external economic events. Weak and unstable foreign markets have contributed to the
generally unfavourable international-trade accounts of many West Indian countries.

HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT

Make a research about the following cities:

London, Edinburgh
Dublin

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New York, Los Angeles

Toronto,Montreal
Sydney

CHAPTER 4
HISTORY OF 20TH CENTURY
The First World War

Historians disagree about what 'caused' the First World War, but most trace it in some degree to
the growing power of Germany. The 'balance of power' between the nations of Europe became
unstable. This led them to form military alliances:
The Triple Alliance Germany, Austria and Italy
The Triple Entente France, Britain and Russia
After the murder of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand in June 1914, Austria-Hungary declared
war on Serbia. The countries of Europe found that the alliances they had formed dragged them
into war.

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The course of the war

In August 1914, Germany invaded France through Belgium, using its plan for war the
Schlieffen Plan. The German attack was forced back at the Battle of the Marne in September
1914. Both sides dug defensive trenches and the war ground to a halt.
For the next four years, the war on the Western Front consisted of a deadly stalemate. The
battles of Verdun and the Somme in 1916 and Passchendaele in 1917 were key events where
each side tried to wear the other side down.
In 1917, the Americans entered the war. Before they could arrive, the Germans made another
attack in March 1918. It was successful at the start, but the Germans failed to break through.
They were pushed back in August 1918. Two months later the Germans signed the Armistice.
28 June

The Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand was shot by Serb terrorists on a visit to
inspect Austrian troops in Bosnia.

5 July

Germany promised total support for Austria-Hungary.

28 July

Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia this angered Russia.

30 July

Russia mobilised her army this alarmed Germany.

3 August

Germany implemented the Schlieffen Plan and invaded France through neutral

22

Belgium.
4 August

Britain declared war on Germany because of an agreement with Belgium.

The War of Movement (August September 1914)

The Germans invaded France, but were stopped at the Battle of the Marne (September 1914).
The British Expeditionary Force (BEF) helped to stop the Germans at the Battle of Mons (23
August 1914).
The Russians invaded Germany but were destroyed at the Battle of Tannenberg (August 1914).
The Race to the Sea (September November 1914)
On the Western Front, both sides dug a 400-mile line of trenches from Switzerland to the
English Channel. Soldiers had to put up with constantly being wet, being pestered by rats, and
illnesses.

Stalemate (1915)

There was a stalemate (neither side could defeat the other).

On the Western Front, attacks on the German trenches led to huge casualties.
Britain's attempt to open up a 'Second Front' at Gallipoli in Turkey was a failure.

The War of Attrition (1916 1918)

The two sides simply tried to wear each other down:

Huge battles, eg Verdun and the Somme in 1916, Passchendaele in 1917, lasted many months.
Thousands of men died or were wounded.
New weapons, eg poison gas, tanks and aeroplanes failed to make much effect.
There were terrible conditions in the trenches and many casualties from machine gun and
artillery fire.
The British blockaded German ports to try to starve the Germans into surrender. In October
1918 there was a revolution in Germany.
German U-boats tried to starve the British by sinking merchant ships but this angered the
Americans.
German Zeppelins and Gotha planes bombed London.

The End of the War

The United States of America entered the war in 1917.

On 21 March 1918, the Germans launched Operation Michael a huge last-ditch attack.
On 8 August 1918, the German Army's 'Black Day', when their attack was defeated.
The Allies, with the Americans, began to push back the Germans. The Allies and Germany
signed a ceasefire, or 'armistice', at 11am on 11 November 1918.

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Recommendable books: Erich Maria Remarque- All Quiet on the Western Front, Ernest
Hemingway- A Farewell to Arms, Frederic Manning- The Middle Parts of Fortune.

The Second World War

The war was caused by both long and short term factors.

Long term factors

From October 1929 an economic depression, starting in America, spread across the world.
Millions were thrown out of work some starved to death.
People were angry, and they turned to political extremists:
In Germany and Italy, fascist dictators came to power.
In Japan, the army took power.

Countries became more aggressive:

Japan invaded Manchuria in 1932.
Italy invaded Abyssinia in 1935.

Short term factors

Hitler built up a Greater Germany in central Europe. In 1938 he united Austria and Germany,
known as the Anschluss, and demanded the Sudetenland, the German-speaking areas of
Czechoslovakia. In doing so, he broke the terms of the Treaty of Versailles.
Faced with aggression like this, the League of Nations was powerless.
World leaders like the British Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, and France's douard
Daladier tried a policy of appeasement negotiating with Hitler and offering concessions.
In September 1938, the Munich Agreement gave Hitler the Sudetenland. The Czechs were not
asked what they thought about it. Hitler occupied the Sudentenland in the following month.
Appeasement failed to stop Hitler:
In March 1939, Hitler occupied the rest of Czechoslovakia.
In September 1939, he invaded Poland, and Britain declared war.

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The Phoney War (September 1939April 1940)

Hitler conquered Poland. There was no other major activity on land, although there were actions
at sea. Historians believe that this period saw very little action as all countries involved were
biding their time and waiting for the other to make the first move. The governments of Germany,
Britain and France began to issue propaganda. The British government even flew over
Germany but, rather than dropping bombs, they dropped propaganda leaflets. Very little of
military significance happened that was noticeable. However, all countries were developing their
military bases and new technologies. People began to get frustrated and some evacuated
children were sent home because people felt there was no point staying in the countryside when
there were no bombs to worry about.

Blitzkreig (April 1940June 1940)

The Nazis conquered Denmark, Norway, Holland, Belgium and France. The British
Expeditionary Force was trapped at Dunkirk, but managed to withdraw by sea back to Britain.
On 4th June, 1940, Winston Churchill delivered one of the most famous speeches of all time to
the House of Commons in Westminster. In it, he warned about the possibility of a German
invasion of Britain and said to the inspiration of many: We shall defend our island, whatever the

25

cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight
on the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.

Britain and the empire stands alone (July 1940 June 1941)

Britain withstood the German Airforce, called the Luftwaffe, in the Battle of Britain (July
September 1940).
But Britain was alone, and in great danger of losing the war.
The Luftwaffe bombed London for 76 nights running (the Blitz), then other cities such as
Coventry. People took cover in air raid shelters; some were made of corrugated iron in gardens;
others were located inside train stations and tunnels.
The British were driven out of Greece and most of North Africa.
The British ran out of money, and had to sign the Lend-Lease Agreement with America (America
sold arms to Britain, to be paid back after the war).

The tide turns (19411943)

In June 1941, Hitler invaded Russia, known as Operation Barbarossa. This brought Russia back
into the war, this time against Germany. The failure of Operation Barbarossa was the first major
German defeat.
In December 1941, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. This brought America into the war.
As a result the Allies gradually began to win the war:
In June 1942 the Americans defeated the Japanese at the Battle of Midway.
In November 1942 the British won the Battle of El-Alamein in Egypt.
In January 1943 the Russians defeated the Nazis at the Battle of Stalingrad.

Victory (19431945)

In 1944, the Nazis launched V-1 rockets, known as doodlebugs, which fell randomly in southern
Britain.
But:
After D-Day on 6 June 1944, Germany was gradually driven back in Western Europe by the
British, Americans and their allies.
The Americans and British continued the strategic bombing campaign on German cities.
The Russians advanced in Eastern Europe and in April they reached Berlin. Hitler committed
suicide.
Germany surrendered and war came to an end in Europe shortly afterwards and VE Day was
announced on 8 May 1945. Winston Churchill announced this with caution: We may allow
ourselves a brief period of rejoicing; but let us not forget for a moment the toil and efforts that lie
ahead. He was speaking of Japan, where the war would continue for three months more.
On 6 August 1945, the Americans dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, and again on
Nagasaki on 9 August. Within weeks Japan surrendered, and VJ Day was announced 15

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August 1945. By this stage, Winston Churchill was no longer Prime Minister. Clement Attlee had
taken over following a general election in which the majority of people voted for a Labour
government believing that they would help them more in recovering from the destruction of war.
Attlee said, at midnight:The last of our enemies is laid low.

World War Two created a new world:

It has been estimated that 50 million people died in World War Two.
The old empires of France and Britain were ruined. A 'wind of change' meant that by the end of
the 1960s almost all the old colonies of the British Empire had gained their independence.
America and Russia were the new 'superpowers', and immediately started on a Cold War.
The dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki created a world which was
terrified by the threat of atomic war.
Germany was divided, and remained so until 1990.
The League of Nations was disbanded. Instead, a new United Nations was declared
Recommendable books: Norman Mailer- The Naked and the Dead, Kurt VonnegutSlaughterhouse-Five, Wadysaw Szpilman- The Pianist: The Extraordinary Story of One Man's
Survival in Warsaw.

Lets have a look on two true stories from Holocaust, one of Anne Frank and other of Oscar
Schindler.
In accordance with a racist ideology, the Nazis systematically murdered approximately six
million Jews and four million members of other groups (Slavs, Gypsies, homosexuals, the
disabled and the mentally retarded, criminals, religious objectors) they thought as undesirable.
The Nazis worked their victims to death in labor camps, starved them to death in ghettos, and
murdered them directly in death camps.
The Nazis most famous victim was Anne Frank. Her Het Achterhuis: Dagboekbrieven 12 Juni
1942-Augustus 1944 (1947; Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl, 1952) describes how her
family hid in Amsterdam for two years before being discovered and sent to concentration
camps, where only Annes father, Otto, survived.
Schindlers List is Steven Spielbergs award-winning film which illustrates the profoundly
nightmarish Holocaust. It re-creates a dark, frightening period during World War II, when Nazioccupied Krakow first dispossessed Jews of their businesses and homes, then placed in
ghettos and forced labor camps in Plaszow, and finally resettled in concentration camps for
execution. Oskar Schindler, a German businessman and an opportunist member of the Nazi
party acquires a factory for the production of mess kits and cooking paraphernalia. Not knowing
much about how to properly run such an enterprise, he gains a contact, Itzhak Stern, who has

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links with the underground Jewish business community in the ghetto. They loan him the money
for the factory in return for a small share of products produced for trade in the black market.
Schindler witnesses the horrifying visions of the Holocaust and the toll it takes on the Jewish
people. Schindlers motivations switch from profit to human sympathy and by lavishly bribing the
SS officials, he is able to save over 1,100 Jews from death in the gas chambers.

Cold War
By the time World War II ended, most American officials agreed that the best defense against
the Soviet threat was a strategy called containment. In 1946, in his famous Long Telegram,
the diplomat George Kennan (1904-2005) explained this policy: The Soviet Union, he wrote,
was a political force committed fanatically to the belief that with the U.S. there can be no
permanent modus vivendi [agreement between parties that disagree]; as a result, Americas
only choice was the long-term, patient but firm and vigilant containment of Russian expansive
tendencies. President Harry Truman (1884-1972) agreed. It must be the policy of the United
States, he declared before Congress in 1947, to support free peoples who are resisting
attempted subjugationby outside pressures. This way of thinking would shape American
foreign policy for the next four decades.
THE COLD WAR: THE ATOMIC AGE
The containment strategy also provided the rationale for an unprecedented arms buildup in the
United States. In 1950, a National Security Council Report known as NSC68 had echoed
Trumans recommendation that the country use military force to contain communist
expansionism anywhere it seemed to be occurring. To that end, the report called for a four-fold
increase in defense spending.
In particular, American officials encouraged the development of atomic weapons like the ones
that had ended World War II. Thus began a deadly arms race. In 1949, the Soviets tested an
atom bomb of their own. In response, President Truman announced that the United States
would build an even more destructive atomic weapon: the hydrogen bomb, or superbomb.
Stalin followed suit.
As a result, the stakes of the Cold War were perilously high. The first H-bomb test, in the
Eniwetok atoll in the Marshall Islands, showed just how fearsome the nuclear age could be. It
created a 25-square-mile fireball that vaporized an island, blew a huge hole in the ocean floor
and had the power to destroy half of Manhattan. Subsequent American and Soviet tests spewed
poisonous radioactive waste into the atmosphere.
The ever-present threat of nuclear annihilation had a great impact on American domestic life as
well. People built bomb shelters in their backyards. They practiced attack drills in schools and

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other public places. The 1950s and 1960s saw an epidemic of popular films that horrified
moviegoers with depictions of nuclear devastation and mutant creatures. In these and other
ways, the Cold War was a constant presence in Americans everyday lives.

THE COLD WAR EXTENDS TO SPACE

Space exploration served as another dramatic arena for Cold War competition. On October 4,
1957, a Soviet R-7 intercontinental ballistic missile launched Sputnik (Russian for traveler), the
worlds first artificial satellite and the first man-made object to be placed into the Earths orbit.
Sputniks launch came as a surprise, and not a pleasant one, to most Americans. In the United
States, space was seen as the next frontier, a logical extension of the grand American tradition
of exploration, and it was crucial not to lose too much ground to the Soviets. In addition, this
demonstration of the overwhelming power of the R-7 missileseemingly capable of delivering a
nuclear warhead into U.S. air space-made gathering intelligence about Soviet military activities
particularly urgent.
In 1958, the U.S. launched its own satellite, Explorer I, designed by the U.S. Army under the
direction of rocket scientist Wernher von Braun, and what came to be known as the Space Race
was underway. That same year, President Dwight Eisenhower signed a public order creating the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), a federal agency dedicated to space
exploration, as well as several programs seeking to exploit the military potential of space. Still,
the Soviets were one step ahead, launching the first man into space in April 1961.
That May, after Alan Shepard became the first American man in space, President John F.
Kennedy (1917-1963) made the bold public claim that the U.S. would land a man on the moon
by the end of the decade. His prediction came true on July 20, 1969, when Neil Armstrong of
NASAs Apollo 11 mission, became the first man to set food on the moon, effectively winning the
Space Race for the Americans. U.S. astronauts came to be seen as the ultimate American
heroes, and earth-bound men and women seemed to enjoy living vicariously through them.
Soviets, in turn, were pictured as the ultimate villains, with their massive, relentless efforts to
surpass America and prove the power of the communist system.

THE COLD WAR: THE RED SCARE

Meanwhile, beginning in 1947, the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) brought
the Cold War home in another way. The committee began a series of hearings designed to
show that communist subversion in the United States was alive and well.
In Hollywood, HUAC forced hundreds of people who worked in the movie industry to renounce
left-wing political beliefs and testify against one another. More than 500 people lost their jobs.
Many of these blacklisted writers, directors, actors and others were unable to work again for
more than a decade. HUAC also accused State Department workers of engaging in subversive

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activities. Soon, other anti-communist politicians, most notably Senator Joseph McCarthy (19081957), expanded this probe to include anyone who worked in the federal government.
Thousands of federal employees were investigated, fired and even prosecuted. As this
anticommunist hysteria spread throughout the 1950s, liberal college professors lost their jobs,
people were asked to testify against colleagues and loyalty oaths became commonplace.

CHAPTER 5
INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS
COMMONWEALTH
The husk of the old British empire, an accidental by-product of history. The only thing its
member states apart from Britain have in common is that they were once her colonies, though
Mozambique, not a former colony, was admitted in 1995 as a special case. Not all her excolonies are members: the future USA for example liberated themselves before the idea was
thought of; some colonies, like Burma and British Somaliland, declined to join from the
beginning; and the Irish Free State, South Africa, and Pakistan were once members but later (in
1949, 1961, and 1972 respectively) left. Nevertheless the present Commonwealth comprises
Britain and most of her old empire: around 54 states, scattered over all the inhabited continents,
with a population estimated (in 1994) at 1.4 billion.
The term commonwealth, in this context, dates from the turn of the century, and grew out of the
realization that already several of Britain's older-established colonies were self-governing in all

30

essential respects. To call them colonies, or collectively an empire, appeared to undervalue

their real independence, and the new word was felt by some to express better the form the
empire would take: a union or federation of equal nation states, united for the common good of
the whole. An important catalyst for this transformation was the First World War. This had the
dual effect of reminding the dominions of their continued subjugation to Britain in some ways
when George V committed the whole empire to the war it was without formal consultation with
themwhile at the same time emphasizing their importance and sense of individual national
identity. By the time the next world war came around, each dominion was allowed to decide for
itself whether it would join in. (Canada, Australia, and New Zealand were generous with their
contributions; South Africa, many of whose whites felt more affinity with the Nazis, less so.) This
development was not to everyone's liking, however. Enthusiasts for the commonwealth ideal
had generally envisaged the dominions taking an equal share in the formulation of policies that
would then be common to them all. Instead it took an entirely different turn, and came to mean
that they would have equal rights to separate policies of their own.
This privilege was established in the early 1920s, after disputes within the Commonwealth over
the Washington naval conference of 19212 and the Chanak affair in 1922. In 1923 Canada
became the first dominion to conclude a treaty with a foreign power (the Halibut Fish treaty)
without reference to Britain; and the pattern for the futureof independent partnershipwas
set. It was formalized by an important pronouncement of the 1926 imperial conference, defining
dominion status; and by the 1931 statute of Westminster, which confirmed the dominions'
legislative autonomy. For the moment this only applied to colonies of European settlement (the
full list at that time was Canada, Newfoundland, Australia, New Zealand, Eire, and South Africa),
and not to the non-white colonies. That changed in 1947, when the newly independent nation
of India was admitted to the Commonwealth. That established the character of the multiracial
Commonwealth as it exists today.
As decolonization progressed, the other ex-colonies followed. Most old imperialists regarded
this process with pride. Some of them indeed saw the new Commonwealth as the culmination of
the empire, the goal to which its evolution had been directed for a hundred years or more. In a
way it was, for there had always been a strong tradition of what was called trusteeship in British
imperial thought. It was also widely hoped that the Commonwealth might prove to be a powerful

31

political and economic force in the world, all the more powerful for being free, and so revive
Britain's flagging great power status and role. Labour ministers were prone to this as well as
Conservatives. For this reason the Commonwealth has been criticized for seducing Britain away
from her continental neighbours, during the years when western Europe was evolving an
alternative supranational structure of its own.
The idea that the Commonwealth could be a kind of empire-substitute, however, was soon
shattered. The newest members regarded their hard-won national independence jealously, and
were unwilling to co-operate together merely to give Britain a further lease of international life.
There were sharp clashes between members, arising from past memories that were hard to
eradicate, conflicting economic interests, and differences of principle, especially over the issue
of apartheid, which forced South Africa to leave in 1961. (It rejoined in 1994.) Widely dispersed
as they were, and differentiated in almost every possible way, it would have been remarkable if
the member states had easily and naturally cohered. So the Commonwealth became much less
than the united third force in the world that the imperial optimists had envisaged; something
quite different, though still worthy of respect.
As it stands now, it is totally unlike any other international organization of states that has existed
before. It has a secretariat, and a secretary-general (set up in 1965), but little else in common. It
has no power, no united policy, no common principles, and no shared institutions. There used to
be a common citizenship, with Britain allowing unrestricted entry to all Commonwealth citizens,
but her Immigration Act of 1962 put an end to that. Most member states are parliamentary
democracies, but not all. Most have retained English legal forms, but not all. Most play cricket,
but not all. The single constitutional feature common to all member states is that they
acknowledge the British monarch as symbolic head of the Commonwealth, but fewer than half
recognize her or him as the head of their own states. It was once thought of as an economic
unit, a potential free (or preferential) trade area, but that was never convincing, and collapsed
when Britain joined the European Economic Community in 1973. Another blow was the raising
of British college fees for overseas students in 1979. The interchange of bright young people
had been a valuable way of fostering Commonwealth solidarity. That was no longer felt to be a
priority, however, in the narrowly utilitarian climate which prevailed at that time.

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Nevertheless the Commonwealth still serves a purpose, as a forum for informal discussion and
cooperation between nations of widely disparate cultures and material conditions. That function
is served by a host of specialist Commonwealth institutions (the Commonwealth Institute in
London, the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, the Association of Commonwealth
Universities, the Commonwealth of Learning, and so on); and by biennial conferences of
Commonwealth heads of government. The ideal it represents still flickers, albeit fitfully. Only
time will tell whether the Commonwealth is a mere footnote to history, or the beginning of a new
chapter.

Location map Commonwealth of Nations

NATO
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), established under the North Atlantic Treaty (Apr. 4,
1949) by Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Great Britain, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the
Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, and the United States. Greece and Turkey entered the alliance
in 1952, West Germany (now Germany) entered in 1955, and Spain joined in 1982. In 1999 the
Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland joined. Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania,
Slovakia, and Slovenia joined five years later, and Albania and Croatia joined in 2009, bringing
the membership to 28. NATO maintains headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.

33

The treaty, one of the major Western countermeasures against the threat of aggression by the
Soviet Union during the cold war, was aimed at safeguarding the freedom of the North Atlantic
community. Considering an armed attack on any member an attack against all, the treaty
provided for collective self-defense in accordance with Article 51 of the United Nations Charter.
The treaty was also designed to encourage political, economic, and social cooperation. The
organization was reorganized and centralized in 1952, and has undergone subsequent
reorganizations.
NATO's highest organ, the North Atlantic Council, may meet on several levelsheads of
government, ministers, or permanent representatives. The council determines policy and
supervises the civilian and military agencies; NATO's secretary-general chairs the council.
Under the council is the Military Committee, which may meet at the chiefs of staff or permanent
representative level. Its headquarters in Washington, D.C., has representatives of the chiefs of
staff of all member countries. France withdrew from the Military Committee from 1966 to 1995
while remaining a member of the council, and did not return to NATO's military command until
2009.
NATO is now divided into two commands. Allied Command Operations is headed by the
Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR). SACEUR directs NATO forces and, in time of
war, controls all land, sea, and air operations. Allied Command Transformation, with
headquarters at Norfolk, Va., is responsible for making recommendations on the strategic
transformation of NATO forces in the post-cold-war era.
In the 1990s, with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Treaty Organization,
NATO's role in world affairs changed, and U.S. forces in Europe were gradually reduced. Many
East European nations sought NATO membership as a counterbalance to Russian power, but
they, along with other European and Asian nations (including Russia), initially were offered only
membership in the more limited Partnership for Peace, formed in 1994, which subsequently
evolved into the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council. More than 20 countries now belong to the
partnership, which engages in joint military exercises with NATO. In 2002, NATO and Russia
established the NATO-Russia Council, through which Russia participates in NATO discussions
on many nondefense issues. Other NATO partners include those in the Mediterranean Dialogue
and the stanbul Cooperation Initiative and a number of other individual national partners. NATO
is not required to defend partnership nations from attack.
NATO has increasingly concentrated on extending security and stability throughout Europe, and
on peacekeeping efforts in Europe and elsewhere. NATO air forces were used under UN
auspices in punitive attacks on Serb forces in Bosnia in 1994 and 1995, and the alliance's
forces were subsequently used for peacekeeping operations in Bosnia. NATO again launched
air attacks in Mar.June, 1999, this time on the former Yugoslavia following following the
breakdown of negotiations over Kosovo. In June, 1999, NATO was authorized by the United

34

Nations to begin trying to restore order in the province, and NATO peacekeeping forces entered
Kosovo. In Aug., 2003, NATO assumed command of the international security force in the Kabul
area in Afghanistan, which by 2010 had expanded to include some 120,000 troops (including
more than 78,000 Americans) deployed throughout Afghanistan; and in Oct., 2003, a NATO
rapid-response force was established. NATO forces also were largely responsible for enforcing
the UN-authorized seven-month no-fly zone over Libya during the Arab Spring revolution there
in 2011.
The membership of many NATO nations in the increasingly integrated European Union (EU)
has led to tensions within NATO between the United States and those EU nations, particularly
France and Germany, who want to develop an EU defense force, which necessarily would not
include non-EU members of NATO. In 2008 disagreements between Greece and Macedonia
over the latter's name led Greece to veto an invitation to Macedonia to join. The same year,
Georgia and Ukraine were promised eventual membership but not given any timetable; Russia
had objected strongly to their becoming NATO members.

EUROPEAN COMMUNITY
Alternative titles: Common Market; EC; EEC; European Economic Community
European Community (EC), previously (from 1957 until Nov. 1, 1993) European Economic
Community (EEC), byname Common Market, former association designed to integrate the
economies of Europe. The term also refers to the European Communities, which originally
comprised the European Economic Community (EEC), the European Coal and Steel
Community (ECSC; dissolved in 2002), and the European Atomic Energy Community(Euratom).
In 1993 the three communities were subsumed under the European Union (EU). The EC, or
Common Market, then became the principal component of the EU. It remained as such until
2009, when the EU legally replaced the EC as its institutional successor.
The EEC was created in 1957 by the Treaty of Rome, which was signed by Belgium, France,
Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and West Germany. The United Kingdom, Denmark, and
Ireland joined in 1973, followed by Greece in 1981 and Portugal and Spain in 1986. The former
East Germany was admitted as part of reunified Germany in 1990.
The EEC was designed to create a common market among its members through the elimination
of most trade barriers and the establishment of a common external trade policy. The treaty also
provided for a common agricultural policy, which was established in 1962 to protect EEC
farmers from agricultural imports. The first reduction in EEC internal tariffs was implemented in

35

January 1959, and by July 1968 all internal tariffs had been removed. Between 1958 and 1968
trade among the EECs members quadrupled in value.
Politically, the EEC aimed to reduce tensions in the aftermath of World War II. In particular, it
was hoped that integration would promote a lasting reconciliation of France and Germany,
thereby reducing the potential for war. EEC governance required political cooperation among its
members through formal supranational institutions. These institutions included the Commission,
which formulated and administered EEC policies; the Council of Ministers, which enacted
legislation; the European Parliament, originally a strictly consultative body whose members
were delegates from national parliaments (later they would be directly elected); and the
European Court of Justice, which interpreted community law and arbitrated legal disputes.
Members revamped the organization several times in order to expand its policy-making powers
and to revise its political structure. On July 1, 1967, the governing bodies of the EEC, ECSC,
and Euratom were merged. Through the Single European Act, which entered into force in 1987,
EEC members committed themselves to remove all remaining barriers to a common market by
1992. The act also gave the EEC formal control of community policies on the environment,
research and technology, education, health, consumer protection, and other areas.
By the Maastricht Treaty (formally known as the Treaty on European Union; 1991), which went
into force on November 1, 1993, the European Economic Community was renamed the
European Community and was embedded into the EU as the first of its three pillars (the
second being a common foreign and security policy and the third being police and judicial
cooperation in criminal matters). The treaty also provided the foundation for an economic and
monetary union, which included the creation of a single currency, the euro. The Lisbon Treaty,
ratified in November 2009, extensively amended the governing documents of the EU. With the
treatys entry into force on Dec. 1, 2009, the name European Community as well as the pillars
concept were eliminated.

36

ASSIGNMENT IN CLASS

Individual presentations by students about following topics:

Politics: Senate of USA, Voting system in USA, Parliament of UK
Industry: open topic, any English speaking country
Technology: NASA, computer boom and Internet
Movies: Hollywood production, European cinema
Music- Beatles, Rolling Stones, etc.
Television: main channels, TV shows
Radio: History, main stations in England, USA
Newspapers: the most important newspapers
Food and drink: meals, restaurants, recipes, menus, ordering
Holidays: birthdays, weddings, Easter, Memorial day, New years eve, Christmas, St
Valentines,
Thanksgiving, Halloween
Sports: baseball, cricket, USA football, Canadian football, rugby, basketball, hockey, skiing,
curling
Famous people: Queen Victoria, Elizabeth I of England, George Washington, Winston
Churchill,
Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Marilyn Monroe,
Mohammed Ali, Lady Diane

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BIBLIOGRAPHY
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/relativism/supplement2.html
http://vcampus.uom.ac.mu/soci1101/221the_components_of_culture_symbols_language_value
s_and_norms.html
http://www.anglik.net/englishlanguagehistory.htm
http://historialenguainglesa.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-spread-of-english-across-globe.html
www.nationalgeographic.com
http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/topics/znhtyrd
http://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/cold-war-history
http://www.britannica.com/place/West-Indies-island-group-Atlantic-Ocean
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http://www.mapsofworld.com/flags/canada-flag.html
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http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/politics/flags-of-new-zealand
http://ukflag.facts.co/unitedkingdomflagof/ukflag.php
http://www.enotes.com/topics/world-war-ii-literature-26
https://schindlersjews.wordpress.com/schindlers-list-the-movie/brief-summary-of-the-film/
http://www.britannica.com/topic/European-Community-European-economic-association+
See P. H. Spaak, Why NATO? (1959); R. Osgood, The Entangling Alliance (1964); A. Beaufre,
NATO and Europe(1966); J. Huntley, The NATO Story (1969); J. A. Huston, One for All: NATO
Strategy and Logistics through the Formative Period, 19491969 (1984); L. P. Brady and J. P.

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Kaufman, ed., NATO in the 1980s (1985); W. H. Park,Defending the West (1986); J. R. Golden
et al., ed., NATO at Forty (1989).
JOHN CANNON. "Commonwealth of Nations." The Oxford Companion to British History. 2002.
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