W.C WORLD WAR 2

World war 2

CAUSE:

The immediate cause for the world war 2 as most of the historians believe is the treaty of Versailles which crippled Germany entire and aroused a burning desire for vengeance into some of its patriotic citizens, other reason was the economic depression throughout Europe

German Aggression

The war in Europe began in September 1939, when Germany, under Chancellor Adolf Hitler, invaded Poland. Britain and France responded by declaring war on Germany but took little action over the following months. In 1940, Germany launched its next initiative by attacking Denmark and Norway, followed shortly thereafter by attacks on Belgium, the Netherlands, and France. All of these nations were conquered rapidly.

The Battle of Britain

Later in the summer of 1940, Germany launched a further attack on Britain, this time exclusively from the air. The Battle of Britain was Germany’s first military failure, as the German air force was far weaker compared to that of Britain’s , was never able to overcome Britain’s Royal Air Force.

Greece and North Africa

As Hitler plotted his next steps, Italy, an ally of Germany, expanded the war even further by invading Greece and North Africa. The Greek campaign was a failure, and Germany was forced to come to Italy’s assistance in early 1941.

The USSR

Later in 1941, Germany began its most ambitious action yet, by invading the Soviet Union. Although the Germans initially made swift progress and advanced deep into the Russian heartland, the invasion of the USSR would prove to be the downfall of Germany’s war effort. The country was just too big, and although Russia’s initial resistance was weak, the nation’s strength and determination, combined with its brutal winters, would eventually be more than the German army could overcome. In 1943, after the battles of Stalingrad and Kursk, Germany was forced into a full-scale retreat. During the course of 1944, the Germans were slowly but steadily forced completely out of Soviet territory, after which the Russians pursued them across eastern Europe and into Germany itself in 1945.

June 22, 1941 Germany begins invasion of USSR

July 1 Germany has Riga, Dvinsk, Minsk, and Lvov under control

July 3 Stalin orders scorched-earth policy

September Hitler shifts priority of attack to southern Russia

September 8 Germans begin siege of Leningrad

September 19 Kiev falls to German forces

October Thousands of russian civilians dig trenches around Moscow

November 27 German advance on Moscow is halted

December 8 Hitler orders all forces in USSR to shift from offensive to defensive operations

July 27, 1942 German troops cross Don River

August 23 German troops reach Volga River; Luftwaffe bombs Stalingra

November 19–20 USSR launches two offensives against Germans

December 12 Germany launches Operation Winter Storm

February 2, 1943 German Sixth Army surrenders

The Normandy Invasion

In June 1944, British and American forces launched the D-Day invasion, landing in German-occupied France via the coast of Normandy. Soon the German army was forced into retreat from that side as well. Thus, by early 1945, Allied forces were closing in on Germany from both east and west. The Soviets were the first to reach the German capital of Berlin, and Germany surrendered in May 1945, shortly after the suicide of Adolf Hitler.

Pearl Harbor

The war in the Pacific began on December 7, 1941, when warplanes from Japanlaunched a surprise attack on the U.S. Navy base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. By this time, Japan had already been at war with China for several years and had seized the Chinese territory of Manchuria. After the Pearl Harbor attack, Japan began a massive campaign of expansion throughout the Southeast Asia–Pacific region.

The U.S. Entrance and Battle of Midway

Although the Pearl Harbor attack provoked a declaration of war by the United States on Japan the very next day, it would be several months before U.S. forces would get seriously involved militarily. In late spring of 1942, the United States and Japan engaged in a series of naval battles, climaxing in the Battle of Midway on June 3–6, 1942, in which Japan suffered a catastrophic defeat.

The Solomon Islands and Guadalcanal

For the next year, the United States engaged Japan in a protracted struggle for theSolomon Islands, which lay near vital Allied shipping routes. Between August 1942 and February 1943, Allied forces carried out an invasion on the island ofGuadalcanal—the beginning of a long series of Allied offensives that would eventually force the Japanese out of the Solomons and then pursue them from various other Pacific island chains that the Japanese had earlier seized. In the meantime, British and Indian forces were combating Japanese troops in Burma.

The Approach to Japan

Fighting continued throughout the Pacific in 1944 and early 1945, including major battles at Leyte, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. By the late spring of 1945, most of Japan’s conquests had been liberated, and Allied forces were closing in on the Japanese home islands. As they neared Japan proper, the Allies began heavy bombing campaigns against major Japanese cities, including Tokyo. This process continued through the summer of 1945 until finally, in early August, the United States dropped two atomic bombs on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Stunned by the unexpected devastation, Japan surrendered a few days later.

Casualities of the war

Country	Soldiers		Wounded	Civilians killed
Australia	1,000,000		180,864	10,000
Austria	800,000		350,117	125,000
Belgium	625,000		55,513	76,000
Brazil	40,334		4,222	-
Bulgaria	339,760		21,878	10,000
Canada	1,086,343		53,145	-
China	17,250,521		1,762,006	7,750,000
Czechoslovakia	---		8,017	294,000
Denmark	---		---	2,000
Finland	500,000		50,000	2,000
France	---		400,000	350,000
Germany	20,000,000		7,250,000	1,600,000
Greece	---		47,290	325,000
Hungary	---		89,313	290,000
India	2,393,891		64,354	25,000
Italy	3,100,000		66,716	153,000
Japan	9,700,000		140,000	672,000
Netherlands	280,000		2,860	200,000
New Zealand	194,000		17,000	-
Norway	75,000		---	7,000
Poland	---		530,000	5,680,000
Romania	650,000		---	200,000
South Africa	410,056		---	-
U.S.S.R.	---		14,012,000	-
United Kingdom	5,896,000		369,267	92,700
United States	16,112,566		670,846	6,000
Yugoslavia	3,741,000		425,000	1,200,000

SORCES

WIKIPEDIA

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/germany-surrenders-unconditionally-to-the-allies-at-reims

http://www.world-war-2.info/casualties/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surrender_of_Japan

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/648813/World-War-II/53552/Invasion-of-the-Soviet-Union-1941

http://teachinghistory.org/history-content/ask-a-historian/25268

http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/bombing-of-hiroshima-and-nagasaki

W.C Kalidasa

EARLY LIFE

KALIDASA  was a traditional Sanskrit writer, considered as the greatest poet and dramatist in the Sanskrit language. His  period cannot be dated with precision, but most likely falls within the 5th century AD.

It is believed that he was from humble origin, married to princess and challenged by his wife, studied poetry to become great poet. His wife's name was Vidyotama.

Period

His period was linked to the reign of one Vikramaditya ( Chandraguptha II) (380 CE – 415 CE) and Skandagupta (455 CE – 480 CE), were titled Vikramaditya and Kalidasa's living period is linked to their reign. It was said that he as among nine jewels of vikramaditya’s (Chaardragupta II) court. It was also argued that Kalidasa lived in first century B.C. during the period of another Vikramaditya of Ujjain, but now it is generally accepted that Kalidasa's period falls between 5th and 6th Century C.E. His name, along with poet Bharavi's name, is mentioned in a stone inscription dated 634 C.E. found at Aihole, located in present day Karnataka

Plays

Kalidasa wrote three plays. Among them, abhignanasakuntalam is considered as a masterpiece. It was among the first Sanskrit works to be translated into English, and has since been translated into many languages.

Abhignanasakuntalam ("Of Shakuntala recognised by a token") tells the story of King dhusyanta who, while on a hunting trip, meets shakunthala, the adopted daughter of a sage, and marries her. A mishap befalls them when he is summoned back to court: Shakuntala, pregnant with their child,accidently offends a visiting sage and incurs a curse, by which Dushyanta will forget her completely until he sees the ring he has left with her. On her trip to Dushyanta's court in an advanced state of pregnancy, she loses the ring, and has to come away unrecognized. The ring is found by a fisherman who recognizes the royal seal and returns it to Dushyanta, who regains his memory of Shakuntala and sets out to find her. After more attempts, they are finally reunited.

vikramorvasiyam tells the story of mortal King Pururavas  and celestial nymph Urvashi who fall in love. As an immortal, she has to return to the heavens, where an unfortunate accident causes her to be sent back to the earth as a mortal with the curse that she will die (and thus return to heaven) the moment her lover lays his eyes on the child which she will bear him. After a series of mishaps, including Urvashi's temporary transformation into a vine, the curse is lifted, and the lovers are allowed to remain together on the earth.

Poems

Kalidasa is the author of two poems raghuvamsa and kumarasambhava.

·         Raghuvaṃsa is an epic poem about the kings of the Raghu dynasty.

·         Kumarasambhava describes the birth and adolescence of the goddess Parvati, and her marriage to Lord Shiva.he have also written several poems.

  Conclusion

    Kalidasa is greatest poet indian had ever known his contributions to the indian literature is     huge his style of poems include usage of beautiful imagery and similies. He gives a lively     description of everything he writes, surely one can say he was the greatest poet ever lived.

Sources wikipedia

Britannica

Telugu film mahakavi kalidasu (1960)

W.C leonardo davinci

        Leonardo da Vinci was an immensely talented painter, engineer, sculptor, architect, musician, mathematician, scientist and inventor lived during the Italian Renaissance. What is unique about Leonardo and make him an universal genius, is that he excelled at both technical and creative endeavors in a wide variety of fields. He completely embodies the notion of the inquisitive "Renaissance Man".

Leonardo da Vinci was born on April 15, 1452 . Leonardo was the illegitimate son of Ser Piero da Vinci, a wealthy 25-year-old notary of Florence, and local peasant girl, who is only known by her first name, Caterina. Leonardo was born out of wedlock but his father took custody of the little fellow shortly after his birth.

  

    Leonardo never attended public school but growing up in his father's home he had access to scholarly texts owned by family and friends. Early sources describe his charm of manner, and precocious display of artistic talent. And he demonstrated a great talent for drawing. When Leonardo was 15, his father apprenticed him to Andrea del Verrocchio, the leading artist of Florence and the early Renaissance. He served at least ten years (1466-1476) as Garzone (apprentice) to Andrea del Verrocchio and painted details in Verrocchio's canvases. In 1475 da Vinci painted the kneeling angel on the left and the landscape of the Verrocchio's picture Baptism of Christ.

      With his paintings, he introduced new techniques, and researched concepts such as drawing in perspective.

   

     In 1472, he was accepted into the painter's guild of Florence and officially graduated from apprentice to master. After leaving Verrocchio's studio in 1478, Leonardo remained in Florence where he worked independently. His early paintings include Ginevra de Benu (1474), Adoration of the Magi (1481), Benois Madonna (1481), Saint Jerome (1481), and an altarpiece for the chapel of the Palazzo Vecchio. The unfinished Adoration of the Magi is the most important of all the early paintings.

About 1482 Leonardo became the court artist for the duke of Milan, Ludovico Sforza and spent 17 years working for him. Da Vinci wrote the duke an astonishing letter in which he claimed that he could build portable bridges, ships, armored vehicles, and other war machines, and that he could execute sculpture in marble, bronze, and clay. In Milan he served at the same time as a military engineer, architect and artist.

      

    During his long stay in Milan, da Vinci painted The Virgin of the Rocks and The Last Supper. He also produced many other paintings and drawings (most of which have been lost), theater designs, architectural drawings, domed churches, fortresses and canals. His largest commission was for a colossal bronze monument of Sforza's father on horseback, that Leonardo never finished.

          

         While working on The Battle of Anghiari, the French governor of Milan hired Leonardo, and once again Da Vinci abandoned his project to begin employment elsewhere.

          

      One of Leonardo's great accomplishment, which still so fascinate the world, is the famous Mona Lisa (originally called La Gioconda). Even more captivating to the imagination of many is the controversial self-portrait da Vinci sketched in his later years. Its structural similarity to the face of the Mona Lisa has long held the interest of artists and scientists. To this day no one knows whether the woman in the painting was a real person, Leonardo seems to have had a special affection for the picture, for he took it with him on all of his subsequent travels.hs another famous work was " the last supper" which took him 3 years to complete,its secrete was not know at that time.

secret of the last supper.

Besides being a skillful artist, Leonardo was also known as a remarkable inventor, and a brilliant scientist. Leonardo designed a myriad of inventions, although few of these designs were constructed in his lifetime. In his later years, he devoted a substantial amount of time to carefully constructed notebooks filled with scientific notations and compelling sketches, all precisely inscribed backwards , so that they can only be read with the aid of a mirror.

He sketched designs of many different flying machines. Leonardo designed an flying machine that bears a striking resemblance to modern helicopters.

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              One of his most complete scientific achievements was in geology. Many scientists, as late as the nineteenth century, refused to believe that the world was not created as we see it, but that it had formed over many years. Most believed in the 'biblical' age of the earth, some 4 000 years. Yet 300 years earlier, Da Vinci had already formulated the idea of geological time, following his involvement in canal building and his insatiable curiosity that led him to investigate the exposed rocks. His observations led him to believe that valleys are carved by rivers, that the sea-level can fall to reveal mountains, and that this all happened over a huge period of time.

              After the death of Giuliano dei Medici, Leonardo accepted an invitation from Francis I, king of France, to leave Italy and work for him. At the age of 67, in 1519, while living in France, Leonardo Da Vinci died and was buried in the church of Saint-Forentine in Amboise. 

sources

 www.mos.org/leonardo/bio.html

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonardo_da_Vinci

www.yesnet.yk.ca/schools/projects/renaissance/davinci.html

www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/art/artyfacts/davinci/davinci_life.shtml.