Charge of the Light Brigade Essay

Indeed, his tenure was contemporaneous with the version of "the sun never setting on the British Empire." As an educated man elevated in 1869 to peerage by Queen Victoria as well as a liberal Roman Catholic, Acton was able to comment on numerous trends he observed as indicative of the age of colonialism. Acton was able to view Europe both through the eyes of an educated man and a philosophical liberal -- he criticized the doctrine of papal infallibility, and also understood that the prospect of gross nationalism engendered fascism and totalitarianism and a movement away from democracy and republicanism. His famous phrase, "power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely," was indicative of his view that hyper-nationalism could be used as not only an excuse for genocide, but as a means to control and usurp power based on absolutely nothing tangible.

In recent history, one can find a number of post-World War Ii events that begin with the Western military retreating or completely pulling out of certain areas. This, of course, is based on a number of items: regulation of nuclear proliferation in space and a rethinking and slowing of events that, at the appropriate time, could have established a greater role for democracy as the world learns global responsibility.What Acton called "The Unbidden Guest," could describe the Western World, the United States in particular, since 1945. As a consequence of the Cold War and Soviet exploitation of those educational and communication facilities, the United States has used its political power in a number of "police actions," specifically to proper up pro-Western Administrations, while finding reasons to disavow those who tended to align themselves with Cuba or the former Soviet Union. Indeed, some would say that the Iraqi War is nothing more than a continuation for the "Operation Freedom" police action, transferred into a more robust and defendable action (Hill, 2000, 15-51; Siegel, 2004).

REFERENCES

Bently, M. (1999). Historiography: An Introcution. New York: Routlege.

Frisina, K. (1999). Beyond the Gateway - A History and Literature Celebration. Retrieved from Harvard University: http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~histlit/centennial/100-years.html

Hill, R. (2000). Lord Acton on Nationalism. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

Rosenberg, S. (1995, April 7). The Story of Love, History, and the Doctor. Retrieved from San Francisco Chronicle: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/e/a/1995/04/07/WEEKEND12827.dtl

Siegel, R. (2004, September 10). "Folly of Empire." Retrieved from NPR.org: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=3911613.....