K

At the start of this year, I made some New Year resolutions about this blog. Since it’s now the end of the year, it’s time to check how many I fulfilled!

• Finish the Paris and a bit of Belgium page. check!
• Post events on time, not the day after. check!
• Write more often about my daily life. (this one is debatable but) check!
• Fill my posts with pictures and drawings. (also debatable but also) check!
• Get 100 views in one day!!! definitely not checked…

So I’ve got all of them except one! Great! Now, for next year’s resolutions (with the unfinished one from this year included):

• Get 100 views in one day
• Write travel guide for America
• Upload more drawings
• Make better header
• Collect more subscribers
• Receive Freshly Pressed! (for long-term, not only next year, because it is highly improbable)

Another five for next year (not including the long-term one, which would make it six), and hopefully I’ll be able to complete all of them by the end!

K

Merry Christmas everyone!
K

K

And here are the wonderful decorations (some made, some bought):

K

P.S. Will add pictures of decorations later. When it is all done, of course.

I remember last year I posted about my birthday, and I was so excited to be 13. I was so young that time… Wait! I’m talking like I’m an old lady! What’s going on? This is probably to do with two reasons: 1) the book I’m reading now is Finding Violet Park by Jenny Valentine, something about a dead old lady and 2) my dad is playing some sort of sad violin sonata at full volume. Well… all right then…

I’m very happy that there’s another celebration. My mom made a really good dinner for me (might post up the recipe soon, look out!) and it’s been a happy day. Also, my grandma came over to celebrate so its been great. Happy happy happy!

K

1. Use long words: It makes the content longer and makes you look intellectual. I, for one, can’t think of three synonyms for ‘like’, but with the help of my handy thesaurus installed on my computer, I can replace it with smart words like ‘admire’, ‘respect’, and ‘esteem’. Look, I look like I ’have the air of being someone’ who graduated from Harvard!
2. Use enters: It doesn’t add any content but makes your e-mail longer, as in literally in length. When the receiver sees that he/she actually has to scroll down to read the whole e-mail, they’ll already get the impression that your e-mail is long, even if half of it is empty space. Works like a charm.
3. Ask questions: Whenever you run out of things to say, ask questions. It makes the e-mail personal and allows them to have something to say.

On 28^th July 1914, World War I (WWI) broke out involving all the world’s great powers who were assembled in two opposing alliances.  There were both long-term and short-term causes for this war that would last for four years and kill more than 9 million people. This essay will discuss the significance of each cause in starting the war.

Nationalism was the biggest factor of WWI, making people become very warlike. Nationalism is the belief that one’s country is the best and that all people of the same nationality are one and the same. Before the 1800’s, nationalism was not adopted by most countries and therefore people were not interested in their country’s affairs. However, in the beginning of the 19^th century, nationalism spread rapidly around Europe and people became more proud and involved in their country’s activities. Nationalism contributed to the outbreak of WWI in two important ways. Firstly, it provoked people to engage in war due to patriotism. In Britain and France, civilians actually celebrated when war was declared on Germany, claiming it was a matter of national pride. If the population had not been so intent on war, the countries may not have engaged in it in the first place. Secondly, two historically important ideas sprang from nationalism: imperialism and militarism. Many people believe that the assassination of Franz Ferdinand was the most significant cause of WWI. However, without nationalism, the assassination would only have been a small, local incident—as people would not have been interested—and soon forgotten. Therefore, without this ideology, WWI would not have broken out.

Imperialism was directly stemmed from nationalism and a relatively major factor of WWI. Imperialism is the policy of expanding a country’s power by military force. The politician’s nationalistic ideas that their country was the best allowed countries to find justification in invading other smaller or weaker ones—mostly Africa—and colonizing those countries. Imperialism was an important factor in starting WWI in two ways. Firstly, European countries gained rising tension due to the competition to own most of Africa. Alliances were broken and hatred born when one country took over another country’s colony. Consequently, opposing countries were eager to enter the war to beat their opponents and regain their colonies. Secondly, colonies under a country’s rule were forced to go into war in the event that their ruler did so too. As a result, WWI involved more countries than the ones immediately involved. Therefore, without imperialism, a war might have broken out, but it would not have been on this large a scale.

Militarism was directly caused from nationalism and imperialism and was a minor but vital factor of WWI. Militarism is the desire to own a large army and use it aggressively to promote or defend the nation’s pride. In 1870, an arms race between most of the European countries—especially Britain, Germany and France—started. Britain’s navy was by far the best but Germany tried hard to make theirs the best, creating a fierce competition and rising tension in Europe. By 1914, Germany and France’s armies had doubled in size and all countries were eager to use their military to show off their strength and gain respect from other countries and loyalty from their own citizens. Also, Germany thought that through the war, they would be able to become a world power. Therefore, militarism made countries capable to go to war and created rising tension between countries. Militarism is also the root of two factors of the war: alliances and the Schlieffen plan. Hence, it is doubly important.

The Schlieffen plan was a major factor of WWI and one derived directly from militarism. It was a military plan for Germany to defend itself should the need arise for Germany to go to war with both France (on the west side) and Russia (on the east). The idea was to quickly defeat France and then concentrate all of its efforts on Russia, the slower of the two. Generals in Germany believed that the country that attacked first would win. However, this idea was common—but false, as proved later—knowledge. All countries thought that those who were not on the offence would lose in a war. As a result, when WWI started, all countries immediately engaged in the war, thinking that if they hesitated, they would be invaded and conquered. Without the Schlieffen plan (or rather, the knowledge that those who attacked first would win), countries would have taken their time to decide whether or not to engage in the war and might not have entered at all. Yet with this plan, countries made the hasty decision to enter in it when many countries may not have had to. Therefore, the Schlieffen plan is an important factor of WWI.

Alliances were a major factor of WWI and were directly stemmed from militarism. Alliances are, in this case, agreements between two or more countries to protect each other in times of danger. During WWI, there were many intertwining and complex alliances. The main two were the Triple Entente—consisting of Britain, France and Russia—and the Triple Alliance—consisting of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy. There were also smaller alliances such as the one with Russia and Serbia; the one with Britain, France and Belgium; and the one between Japan and Britain. When Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, Russia got involved to defend Serbia. Germany then got in to help Austria-Hungary by declaring war on Russia. France was drawn in due to its alliance with Russia and declared war on Germany. Germany retaliated by attacking Belgium, pulling Britain into the war in the process. The war enlarged to such a scale that it became known as the ‘war to end all wars’ and the ‘Great War’. Without alliances, there would have been a war (between Serbia and Austria-Hungary), but it would have been another small European one and not on such an enormous scale. Therefore, alliances are a major and important factor of WWI.

Many consider the assassination of Franz Ferdinand to be the largest factor of WWI. However, it is actually the smallest factor. On June 28^th 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife were assassinated by a Serbian terrorist. Austria-Hungary was outraged at this and declared war on Serbia, starting WWI. However, rather than being the cause of the start of WWI, the assassination was rather an excuse to start the war. At that time, a war of this size was bound to happen, due to nationalism, imperialism, militarism and alliances. Countries used the assassination as a pretext to show off their military power, gain respect and obtain colonies. Therefore, though the assassination did spark off the whole war, it was not that important a factor.

In conclusion, there were many causes of WWI, some more significant than others. The largest factor of WWI was nationalism, as it provoked countries into engaging in war and, more importantly, was the root of three other causes of WWI.

Thanks for reading!

K

I was shocked. Where had all these fumes come from? Turns out, there’s some sort of oil plant near my apartment, behind a building. They burn waste and the result is a massive bonfire and an ugly mass of pollution in the once-clear sky. And that’s only what you can see. What about the other invisible dangerous chemicals it produces? I had always thought that pollution was a foreign situation, something that wasn’t directly concerned with me. When I saw pictures like the ones below in the news, I would think: “oh, it’s a problem,” and promptly forget about it.

But I guess I should. So, here are a few ways to prevent, or at least slow down, pollution:

• Recycling: using recycled objects to make new items takes less energy than making a new item from the start. Try to recycle glass, plastic, paper, and metal objects. Also, when going grocery shopping, bring your own bag instead of using paper or plastic ones every time.
• Saving energy: turn off everything when you leave the room or house. Lights, computers, TV’s, air-conditioners, and other appliances all use energy even when you don’t use them. Factories burn fossil fuels and gas to produce electricity and this contributes greatly to air pollution. Turning off your appliances when you don’t use them will reduce air pollution.
• Plant flowers and trees: plants like the philodendron, the chrysanthemum, and the golden pothos have been proved by NASA to absorb toxic chemicals and get rid of them, reducing the pollution in the air.

K