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Simón Bolívar – The Liberator
Simón Bolívar is the most famous of all the Latin American revolutionary figures, the George Washington of a half dozen South American nations. This outline looks closely at the life of Bolívar, from his birth in Venezuela in 1783 to his first forays into politics and war in 1810. The classic example of the Creole…
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Francisco de Miranda – The Precursor
Francisco de Miranda is the most glamorous and dashing figure in the wars for independence. He was also destined to play the role of the precursor to the wars for independence in Latin America, rather than the great leader. This outline looks at the dramatic life of Miranda. He was truly a revolutionary of the…
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Napoleon Invades Spain and Portugal
Although the processes of modernization and reform set the stage for the wars for independence, it was the Napoleonic wars, and more specifically, Napoleon’s invasion of Spain, that triggered the wars for independence in Spanish America. This outline first looks at the rise of Napoleon and his efforts to dominate Europe. We then closely examine…
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Seeds of Rebellion in Spanish America
This outline begins a series on the wars for independence in Spanish America. By 1750, the Spanish Empire in the Americas had been in place for two and a half centuries, and it was straining to survive. A powerful and increasing division had emerged between those Spaniards born in the Americas (Creoles) and those born…
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Psychological Warfare (PSYWAR) – The Movie
The U.S. Department of Defense defines psychological warfare as: “The planned use of propaganda and other psychological actions having the primary purpose of influencing the opinions, emotions, attitudes, and behavior of hostile foreign groups in such a way as to support the achievement of national objectives.” Notes: http://metanoia-films.org/psywar.php
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U.S. Vetoes of UN Resolutions Calling for an End to the Cuban Embargo: 1992 – Present
Resolution Title Date Vote Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States of America against Cuba (A/RES/77/5) Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States of America against Cuba (A/RES/75/289) Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United…
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The Haitian Revolution
In August 1791, thousands of slaves rose up in Saint Domingue, led by a voodoo high priest named Boukman, in a war for their freedom. Over the next decade, the revolt destroyed the power of white planters and their estates and laid waste to the French colony. Amidst the violence, a group of charismatic black…
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Slave Rebellion in St. Domingue
The Haitian Revolution is the only successful slave rebellion in the Americas. This outline and the next analyze the only case of slaves rising up, taking power, and creating an independent nation. We begin with an overview of the rise of Saint Domingue as the classic example of the sugar and slave plantation complex in…
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The Radicalism of the American Revolution
The “meaning” of the American Revolution has been hotly debated for more than 200 years. For some, it is a conservative effort by planters to seize power and control the development of a society already divided between slaves and free men, whites and non-whites, and the landed and the landless. For others, it represents a…