essay help?

Question

i really need to wirte an essay on similarities and diffreneces between the war in iraq and the civil war that went on in the south. i need a couple of important facts, or points to get me started on the essay, can u think of any? plzz ireally need this by next wednesday, anyone who comes up with most ideas or talking points will get the 10 pts. plz help, i m stumped!

Answer 1

Well the U.S. Civil War began as an attempt by a group of southern states to forcibly secede from the federal union that had been established when the victorious colonies turned states ratified the U.S. Constitution. As you may recall, the southern states were concerned about the issue of slavery and the prospect that one day it would be deemed unconstitutional.

The civil war in Iraq has no similar roots. The Sunnis and Shia are not warring over slavery. It's a stretch to suggest that either side is fighting the other to protect the sanctity of their two or three year old constitution. Instead, this is a fight for power in which one side, the Shia and the Mahdi army, are supported by Iran, who would like to see its historical nemesis Iraq, governed by a friendly or puppet government.

On the other side of the equation are the Sunnis, who had been entrenched in power because Saddam was a Sunni, and his ruling Baath party was almost exclusively Sunni. They are fighting for power and political existence since they shunned the parliamentary elections that followed the ratification of the Iraqui constitution and have very little legally recognized power.

So if you can characterize the U.S. civil War has a conflict which had its roots in principles, i.e., first the binding sanctity of the U.S. Constitution in Abraham Lincoln's view, and then later the idea that slavery was absolutely prohibited by the U.S. Constitution, it is more difficult to make that case in Iraq.

Indeed, the Iraqui civil war is reminiscent of the Balkan conflict in the aftermath of the dissolution of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s. Serbians ethnically cleansed Croats brutally throughout areas they thought of as historically Serbian, and to a much lesser extent Croats began doing the same. There is always a power vacuum, at least initially, when an autocratic leader like Saadam is deposed and the government dissolves. Then who holds political power becomes soley a function of who is better armed and whose forces are better led in the subsequent civil war; a war which will determine who controls Iraq's considerable oil resources and which religious sect will prosper in post-civil war Iraq. (Unlike Yugoslavia the Sunnis and Shia are ethnically indistinguishable. They divide themselves on religious lines not ethnic lines.)

A few other themes you might wish to consider include the nature of the voluntary association of the states following the American Revolution versus the coerced association of Sunnis and Shia (and Kurds, but they are not yet involved in the Iraqui civil war) under Saadam. The relative lack of religious extremism found in the U.S. Civil War (although many abolitioinists were indeed religious and acted upon religious conviction as opposed to basing their opposition to slavery on constitutional grounds). Whereas the Maahdi army is led by a Shiite cleric and a militia that is exclusively Shia and functions not unlike an armed religious crusade.

I hope this helps you begin your own analysis of the two civil wars. Good luck.

Answer 2

Find out what the various warring factions in Iraq have against one another. Is it strictly religious differences, or is there something economic or social behind it, too? Do a little research and find out what issues BESIDES the obvious one of slavery helped to start or cause the US Civil War. There were plenty. You may need to go beyond your history book for this, as they often whitewash things and oversimplify them when preparing textbooks, even for teens.

I think you can find some good things there. To start with, list five things important to the Civil War that do not apply to the Iraq war. Then, list five things important to the Iraq war that don't apply to the Civil War. Weed out your list and pick the best three out of the ten things. Do the same (come up with ten) for the things that do apply. Then, weed out your list again.

Slavery might be on your differences list, while treatment of women might be on your similarities list. Religious differences could be everywhere! Keep digging., It's a great topic for an essay. It helps us all understand that people today are not nearly as different as we like to think we are from those who lived 150 years ago. They didn't 'like' war any better than we do!

Answer 3

I'll give you one, but I really think the whole point of the essay is so YOU think of it.

Here's an idea to get you started: both wars are civil wars. In the U.S., it was the north and south. In Iraq, it was the Sunnis and the Shiites (until the U.S. intervened).

Hope I helped!