Morant and Handcock as Murderers or Scapegoats of the Empire The legend that Morant and Handcock were Australians wronged by the British army is, indeed, a legend.[1] As commented by Australian historian Dr Craig Wilcox, Australia’s only soldiers ever to have been shot by a firing squad following a court martial, Lieutenants Harry ‘The Breaker’ Morant and Peter Joseph Handcock were justly dealt with. The myth regarding the harsh, unjust treatment of both men and the association between the Morant legend and Australian nationalism is seemingly naïve and doubtful. However conflict of Morant’s personality remains prominent amongst historians. The revival of the Morant legend is owed to the Bruce Beresford film, based upon nationalistic writings influenced by personal agenda such as George Witton’s Scapegoats of the Empire. The realities and truths of Morant’s life differ substantially to the legend. Morant and Handcock were not scapegoats but heartless murderers. Harry Morant and Peter Handcock were unstable men, held a desire accompanied with revenge to kill the Boer prisoners and carried out the unwarranted killing of an innocent German missionary. Harry ‘the Breaker’ Morant, ‘a scapegoat of his own unstable character’[2] and P.J. Handcock, a ‘victim’ of his brutal actions, were not scapegoats. Their distasteful personas shed light on their common misinterpretations by Australians. Morant and Handcock were indeed advocates of cold-blooded murder. Morant and three other officers (P.J. Handcock, G.R. Witton and Lieutenant Picton) apparently decided to shoot any Boer prisoners who fell into their hands. Morant was charged three ... ... middle of paper ... ...ocent holy man. Their awful deeds not only brought a premature end to their lives, but great embarrassment to other Australians abroad and at home. These men were not scapegoats. Rather, they exploited the opportunities and circumstances provided by the British forces to carry out what they pleased. --------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] The Breaker Morant and Peter Handcock Case, Dr Craig Wilcox [2] Carnegie: 1979: 10-1 [3] The Bulletin, 19th April 1902, Frank Fox [4] Closed File, Kit Denton [5] The Breaker Morant and Peter Handcock Case, Dr Craig Wilcox [6] The Myth of Harry ‘Breaker’ Morant, Max Sollit [7] The Myth of Harry ‘Breaker’ Morant, Max Sollit [8] The Myth of Harry ‘Breaker’ Morant, Max Sollit [9] The Myth of Harry ‘Breaker’ Morant, Max Sollit
Rolf de Herr’s 2002 film The Tracker represented some human beings in the past who have been extremely naïve, barbarous, and bigoted when it came to dealing with Indigenous Australians. This film portrayed white racism in the characters of the Fanatic, the Veteran, and at first the Recruit until he becomes stronger and eventually changes his demeanor towards the Aboriginal people. Even though the Tracker experiences immense hardship throughout the movie he was always two steps ahead of his bosses since he was very familiar with the land and was also able to outsmart his superior officers. The Tracker is a gloomy film which presents the dark past of Australia that must never be forgotten.
The atrocities of war can take an “ordinary man” and turn him into a ruthless killer under the right circumstances. This is exactly what Browning argues happened to the “ordinary Germans” of Reserve Police Battalion 101 during the mass murders and deportations during the Final Solution in Poland. Browning argues that a superiority complex was instilled in the German soldiers because of the mass publications of Nazi propaganda and the ideological education provided to German soldiers, both of which were rooted in hatred, racism, and anti-Semitism. Browning provides proof of Nazi propaganda and first-hand witness accounts of commanders disobeying orders and excusing reservists from duties to convince the reader that many of the men contributing to the mass
We just recently lost the Alamo and all the great men who fought for it. 189 men lost there lives fighting for the Alamo and they will be greatly remembered. The men held the fort for 13 days before Santa Anna and his army engulfed it. Santa Anna other wise know as napoleon of the west or the president of Mexico ordered his men to kill every one thou he let some women and children go to tell the tale. Soon after the lose of the Alamo general urrea executed 400 Texans under command of colonel Fannin which is known as Goliad massacre.
In Simon Wiesenthal’s The Sunflower, he recounts his incidence of meeting a dying Nazi soldier who tells Simon that he was responsible for the death of his family. Upon telling Simon the details, Karl asks for his forgiveness for what he helped accomplish. Simon leaves Karl without giving him an answer. This paper will argue that, even though Karl admits to killing Simon’s family in the house, Simon is morally forbidden to forgive Karl because Karl does not seem to show genuine remorse for his committed crime and it is not up to Simon to be able to forgive Karl for his sins. This stand will be supported by the meaning of forgiveness, evidence from the memoir, quotes from the published responses to Simon’s moral question, and arguments from Thomas Brudholm, Charles Griswold, and Trudy Govier. The possibly raised objection, for this particular modified situation, of forgiveness being necessary to move on from Desmond Tutu will be countered with the logic of needing to eventually find an end somewhere.
Chapter 1: Introduction The problem of internal revolt is inherent to all empires, as it is difficult to consistently maintain authority over a large and diverse population. Although empires have taken steps to prevent a loss of control from occurring, even the utmost vigilance has either not been enough, or has lapsed long enough for a revolt to occur. The resulting uprising might be minor, or it might be serious enough to threaten a crucial territory. How empires have dealt with a major internal revolt is instructive in several ways: it tests whether or not the empire's military is strong enough to deal with revolts, it tests the ability of the ruler or the ruling class to maintain their authority in the face of the challenge, and it provides a way to examine an empire's policies by looking at which ones may have contributed to the revolt, and which were changed or introduced in its aftermath.
On Sunday April 28, 1996, Martin Bryant ambushed the Tasmanian tourist destination Port Arthur and heightened the Australian death toll for a single person massacre to a ravaging 35 people. The day had good, calm weather, attracting numerous abundances of tourists to the small Broad Arrow Cafe of Port Arthur in the early morning. By 1.00 pm, an estimate of over 500 visitors were at Port Arthur, although the number died down to about 60 people remaining just before Bryant’s initiation of attack. In his first few seconds, Bryant had managed to claim three young victims, an asian couple and the girlfriend of Mick Sargent, who escaped death with a grazed scalp. Using an AR15 semi-automatic rifle, Martin Bryant’s shots were clean, fast, and unanticipated - causing people to run and hide for their lives. Many males were killed in heroic attempts to shelter their wives and children from the gunfire, with some killed instantly and many left to bleed to death at a slower, more painful ra...
In this story Babylon is representing Paris, Babylon was known as a sinful city. Drinking, sex, drugs, bad behaviors etc… like los Vegas. The character “Charlie” is revisiting Paris; by doing that he is pretty much revisiting his past. The story begging in a Ritz bar, the Ritz bar use to be very busy and full of American before the stock market crash in 1929 but now the bar is very empty because all of the Americans that use to go there left to go home because of money problems. I thought integrity is one of the mercy court values that go with the story because Charlie was very honest about his past life he admit that he was an alcoholic and he gave up his drunk life to have his daughter to live with him.
The Vietnam War was one of the most controversial wars in history, perhaps because it was one of the first wars to be documented, filmed and shown on television for most of the public to see, judge, feel and eventually protest against. This essay will discuss the varying experiences of Australian veterans upon their return to Australia from Vietnam. In my opinion, I do believe that the Australian soldiers of the Vietnam War were treated horribly when they got back from Vietnam. Opposition Leader Arthur Calwell and many Australian families who had to fight in the Vietnam War believed that it was a bad idea to send troops. Families watched their men and boys leave for Vietnam as soldiers and came back as disrespected veterans.
According to KTLA, the boy ended up with a loaded gun in his hand, and then there was a bang.
Great leaders are found on both sides of history, the good side and the bad. Winston Churchill and Adolf Hitler were both good leaders, even though they were on different sides of the war. Churchill and Hitler, although very different were both effective leaders because they evaluate and understand the other side’s strengths and weaknesses and are underestimated. Understanding the strengths and weaknesses of the opposing side is important during war because it means that one is able to use his opponent’s weaknesses against him during war, whether it is military or political. For example, Hitler was very good at using his opponents’ weaknesses against them, and this is evident by how fast he was able to invade Europe. The magnitude of Hitler’s
Le’ Morte d’ Arthur is a medieval romaunce by Sir Thomas Malory about King Arthur, Camelot and the Knights of the Round Table, violence plays a very crucial part in the story. Many different kinds of violence occur in this set of stories, some of which are very ordered and fine, like jousting, and also disordered violence like war. The worst type of violence though is when people use violence to get vengeance, which is a major theme, because many of these knights are mad at others. While many of the knights in the book are concerned with getting revenge, these actions and the search for vengeance are often futile and almost always end badly.
The bombings of Darwin relates to Australian soldiers because it was on Australian soil and killed Australian citizens and armed Australian defenders protecting the vulnerable coastal city. With the many civilians and defenders wounded and killed, it was the largest invasion attempt ever. The bombing of Darwin with its other minor skirmishes served to prove that Australia is a crucial player in the world game. With Japan trying to pin us down only served in making us an even tougher nut to crack and we have proved ourselves time and again in defending not only our country, but others as well. The Sudan war, Boer War, Boxer Rebellion, Korean War, Vietnam, Afghanistan and the Two Gulf Wars were brutal for sure, but all were overseas and none touched Australian soil the way the Darwin bombings
Oppression is a term that has been used throughout history to describe the injustices brought upon minority groups. Feminist writer Marilyn Frye shared the definition of oppression, which essentially means to shape or conform certain groups of people (for this paper women will be used as the primary example) into socially constructed ideals through restrictions that mold and immobilize minority groups or females (Frye 11). According to Marilyn Frye, this term is sometimes loosely thrown around and used out of the term’s true context. The misuse of this term often creates a misconstrued view of what true oppression is and how particular groups of people are able to function within
Since the genesis of the United States of America, political scientists and figures have recounted tales of war between the ideologies of political groups. In his farewell address, even George Washington, first president of the United States, warned against “the danger of parties in the State” as well as “the baneful effects of the spirit of party generally” (Washington). Since human beings are reluctant to heed good advice, the “mischiefs of factions” (Madison), since then, have come about and been growing and changing, and political alliances have been strengthening and evolving, so much so that they have progressed into a form of hierarchical organizations that foster environments in which everyday Americans can come together and celebrate their concurring political beliefs. At present day, political polarization is stronger than it has ever been before, proven by the decline of centrist members in Congress, the increasingly partisan voting behaviors of the American public, and the widening social gap between Republicans and Democrats. This intense partisanship has several implications on the functioning of the American government, delineated by the increased time it takes to confirm presidential nominations in a divided branch government, 30 percent legislation decrease in a divided legislative government, and the overall decline of honest discussion in the American political atmosphere.
Any author's primary goal in story writing is to convey an idea or topic to their reading audience. The conventional wisdom on this thought is that the clearer this is conveyed, the greater the appeal to the reader. However, some authors feel the need to resist this trend and forge new paths that sometime leaves the meanings of their stories obscure and hidden from the average reader. Donald Barthelme has taken this optional approach with his story "The Indian Uprising". There are several reasons that I did not fully enjoy this post-colonial short story.