Famine in Ethiopia

Ethiopia has never been a place of wealth, which is due largely in part of the many unfavorable situations it has faced. During the nineteen seventies, Ethiopia experienced an immense famine, while later it was hit with a lengthy drought. It was caused due to the lack of spring rains that were absent in the past years, as well as disease that destroyed numerous crops. A couple of years after their recent agricultural loss, the country began to pay again for the previous climate problems. In the early nineteen eighties, lack of rainfall started to effect this part of Africa which then led to the decrease in the growing of crops. In this period of time nearly five hundred thousand farmers lost a large part of their income, which resulted in a collapse of state run commercial farms. Since agriculture was affected by the drought, Ethiopia was once again faced with deprivation. The conditions that the citizens were living in were devastating. Early in the year of nineteen eighty-four, citizens were warned that soon five million people would be at risk of starvation. The daily fears everyone was faced with included exhaustion, abnormally thin physiques, tragic and unclean living conditions, and scavenging for daily food. This focus of survival also suspended food production, which was no help to their current, dismal economy. Because the famine took such a massive toll on the citizens of Ethiopia, it was expected that the government would go through problems as well. More so, the Western government was resilient to become involved. Beside the fact that Ethiopia was going through a Civil War, they did not make the famine and the citizens affected by it a high enough priority. Instead, they continued to spend large amounts of money on the war. Even when the county was supposed to be receiving humanitarian aid, the civilian famine food was being delivered to feed the troops. The few steps that the government actually did help out with in the famine crisis were the decisions to transfer peasants who lived in effected areas to the southern part of the country. Between the years of nineteen eighty-five and nineteen eighty-six, approximately six hundred thousand people were moved into the less effected areas. These intentionally designed areas were to be centered close to water, schools, and medical services. Many people were convinced that relocation would improve their families’ lives but like the government had done before; they failed to provide these recourses for the citizens. Some peasants fled instead of having to be relocated. Later it was found that because of the resettlement, tens of thousands of peasants died. For the most part the Ethiopian citizens were left to fend for themselves. By nineteen eighty-six Ethiopia was at a better place within their agriculture and economy, but had still not reached complete stability. This event affected eight million people and the death toll was over one million lives. Even though drought and famine have been a reoccurring problem in Ethiopia, they have yet to experience conditions equally as troubling as this one was. Today the country has since doubled its population from what it was in nineteen eighty-four, and is now working as hard as possible to prevent it from ever happening again.

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World War II Introduces Kamikazes

Kamikaze. You may have heard this word used many times, but are not aware of the story behind it. Kamikaze attacks first began in World War II, in nineteen forty-four. Their purpose was to be used as a war tactic, mainly by the Japanese. Commander Takashiro Ohnishi came up with the idea as a new and effective way of war battle. Since the numbers of American fighter planes were increasing while outnumbering the Japanese, Japan had to come up with a different attack plan. Before this, there was no way to sink the American ships and if they wanted to get on top in the war, this was one way to succeed. Commander Takashiro thought that crashing his planes into allied ships would do more damage then simply firing machine guns from an aircraft. Each plane was laced with a multitude of explosives, in an attempt to cause the American ships to explode on contact. Since the Americans had the upper hand in technology during the forties, Kamikaze attacks were exactly what the Japanese needed to put them ahead of the game. Surprisingly, a large number of the Japanese army men were very curious and interested in flying the Kamikaze attacks. They had a tendency to choose the younger less experienced pilots to go on these lethal missions, since they needed the experienced pilots elsewhere. Before venturing out on the pilot’s last journey, he would often write letters to loved ones while also receiving a “thousand-stitch sash.” For these men, it was more of a spiritual mission because they believed they were fighting for the Emperor God. When the first mission was instructed to take off and destroy as much as possible, it proved to be very successful in destroying many enemy men. Immediately, the Japanese realized this type of attack could be extremely helpful, thus they sent out even more planes. The plan was set that each plane was used to take down one ship, and this mission was accomplished much of the time. If the ship was not completely immersed or sunken, it was at least badly damaged and killed many American soldiers. The Japanese believed this to be possibly a better war tactic, but it was questioned whether this caused more deaths for the Japanese, or if it helped them in war. Judging by the ratio of killed Japanese soldiers compared to Americans, you can see that Kamikazes were an extremely effective new form of attack. Kamikazes played a major role in the defense of the Japanese and without them, many men would have been lost, while Americans would have continued to push forwarding, winning the war. Overall you can see that the use of Kamikazes was extremely beneficial and helped the Japanese throughout war. We have also experienced a form of Kamikazes in modern day America. It might be considered an old act of war, but Kamikaze planes continue to take lives of civilian and military personnel alike. On September 11, 2001 terrorists used Kamikaze tactics to fly planes into the Pentagon in Washington D. C., and the Twin Towers, in New York City. This suicide attack was yet another trial of this long-lived war strategy. The men who took over the American planes were giving their lives up in exchange to kill many people, in honor of their country. This is the ultimate goal of Kamikazes. In the nineteen forties, Kamikazes were used in war, and today they have made their way over to terrorist attacks. In the end, Kamikazes have made a lasting impact on the strategies of war.

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