Structural Adjustment Programs in Developing Countries

Structural Adjustment Programs in Developing Countries INTRODUCTION Development economics can be divided into two broad categories which are neoclassical economics and structuralism. The structuralist sees the world as inflexible. Change is inhibited by obstacles, bottlenecks and constraints. People find it hard to move or adapt, and resources tend to be stuck. In economic terms the supply of most things is inelastic. Such general inflexibility was thought to apply particularly to Least Development Countries. Entrepreneurs were lacking; and communication was poor, this alleged inflexibility was married to the evident fact that production structure of developing countries was very different from that of developed countries. To achieve development it had to be changed rapidly. The sturcturalist view of the world provides a reason for distrusting the price mechanism and for trying to bring about change in other ways. If supplies and demands are very inelastic large price changes are needed to achieve small quantitative adjustments. Large price changes are disturbing both directly and also because they result in changes in income distribution, if the losers are powerful they may be able to resist the change through organized industrial or political action. Structuralism primarily seeks to provide a reason for managing change through administrative action. Structural adjustment is a term that is used to explain policy that are driving change in countries Economic relationships especially the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) towards developing countries. In one way or another are among the conditionalities imposed by the international organization, thus Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs) these are programs implemented by IMF and World Bank in what is said as helping developing countries to survive in their economic failure but with conditions to abide to. The main objective of structural adjustment programs (SAPS) is to make economic changes to Governments of developing countries but with conditions the IMF and World Bank grants loans to developing countries to make these economic changes in their Economies. Initially Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs) was created as a method of economic recovery from the second world war (WWII) it was a mechanism for dealing with the balance of payment (BOP) problems that resulted from the second world war which its effects in world economies as there was massive economic recession of late 1970`s and 1980s by this time many developing countries were adopting socialist or command economy, therefore IMF and World Bank aim was to change these countries to the other form of economy that is change these countries to free market economy or commonly known as laissez fair it was not easy for the IMF and World Bank to change these countries as there could be resistance to change that is why the World Bank and IMF decided to implement these policies. The main tools for economic changes which the IMF and World bank were implementing consisted of major changes in countries economic, the conditions imposed in order for the developing countries to get loans included the following:- Devaluation of currencies in relation to us dollars, Cutting or removing subsidies on products and services, Price controls on consumer goods or minimum wage labor laws are often removed (Bakker 1994), Liberalization of trade and privatization of public sectors, Encouraging Least Developed Countries(LDC`S) to invite multinational companies to invest in these least developed countries(LDC`S) Political changes from single party to multiparty political system late 1980`s Those were the main changes which the World Bank and IMF were implementing towards the developing countries which I am going to explain it more later, in general I am trying to gather more information to gain confidence about the contribution of Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs) towards these developing countries that is why Im conducting this study to assess the contributions of Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs) towards the economy of Tanzania. At the end of this study leaders will be able to understand more about Structural Adjustment Programs(SAPs) and its contribution in the economy of least developed countries(LDC`S) especially for the case of Tanzania. 1.1 BACKGROUND OF TANZANIAN ECONOMY AND STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT PROGRAMS (SAPs) Tanzanian economy and Structural Adjustment Programs(SAPs) can be traced from when Tanzania got independence in 9th December 1961 when it was under the reins of late Mwl, J K Nyerere By this time Tanzania was under socialist economy, under socialist leadership from 1961 to 1985 enjoyed a peaceful socioeconomic environment however Tanzania is composed of many ethnic background but both were united by the national language of Kiswahili introduced by the late father of the national Mwl,J K Nyerere. In the late 1970`s and 1980`s there was economic failure in many developing countries especially Tanzania, making Tanzania among the poorest country in the world thus this is where IMF and World Bank started to provide conditionality to least developed countries(LDC`S) so that they can recover their economy. 1.2 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT BEFORE STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT PROGRAMS (SAPs) After independence the government of Tanzania was not prepared to control and guide the national economy as the system of control of the economy used after independence was that of the British economy. During this period the main products were law materials to Europe in consisted of the following cash crops such as sisal, cotton, coffee and tea in this period agriculture contributed more than 50% to Gross National Product (GNP) and sisal, coffee and cotton contributed about 60% to foreign exchange earnings (Taube 1992) In 1967 Tanzania implemented the Ujamaa policy of villagization by the Declaration of Arusha this program helped the villages with greater accessibility to input and output markets in our country it helped to improve the infrastructure in Tanzania such as transport system, water and energy supply together with health and education facilities. In 1978 to 1979 Tanzania went in a war with Uganda where Idd Amin Dada was Dictator in Uganda this war went off in 1979 with a lot of negative consequences to the national economy and wellbeing of Tanzanians together with the collapsing world market prices and it was this period when Tanzania was required by the IMF and World Bank to transform its economy from socialist economy (Command economy) to free market economy by trade liberalization and privatization of the public sector. Tanzania was doubtful to make this transition under the reins of late Mwl, J k Nyerere he was not ready to make this transition but because the country was in serious economic problems it started to implement the policy. Tanzania after negotiating with the IMF on a standby loan failed in 1979, due to this failure the country launched the first Self Guided National Economic survival program (NESP) in 1981 the objective of this program was conditional liberalization of the economy. In 1982 the government adopted a three year plan of SAP at first the program did not add any significant changes in the national economy. At the end of the fiscal year of 1984/85 Tanzania launched its significant economic reforms. The aim of this transformation was trade liberalization. The economic transformation consisted of some policy measures to be abided to these policy measures included the following (Taube 1992: Wenzel and Wiedemann 1989):- Prices of agricultural products were raised by 46-55 percentage, Cooperative unions for crops were formed, Depreciation of Tanzania shillings by 40 percent, Frozen government budget deficit at prior year amounts, Rise in government wages at an average of 29.9 percent, Domestic trade of food were liberalized, Elimination of subsidies both consumer price and agricultural subsidies, (Taube 1992: Wenzel and Wiedemann 1989) The own fund import scheme which allowed imports purchased with foreign currency deposited was initiated. Those measures were welcomed by international donors as the first step towards economic development, although those measures affected the economic performance with very little margin. 1.3 THE ORIGIN OF STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT PROGRAM IN TANZANIA FROM 1986 Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs) started in 1986 it was welcomed by the new political leader, it is when Ali Hassan Mwinyi was a president after 24 years of the rule of Mwl Julius K Nyerere the new Government adopted a three year ERP (1987/88-1989/90, the main objective of ERP was to increase growth rate per capital income, a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) target growth of 4.5% and reduce inflation bellow 10% 1.4 TANZANIAN ECONOMY Tanzania is among the poorest countries in the world Economies in terms of per capital income. Tanzanian economy depends heavily on agriculture, which contributes more than 40% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), provides 85% of exports, and employs 80% of the work force. Climatic conditions, however, limit cultivated crops to only 4% of the land area. Industry traditionally featured the processing of agricultural products and light consumer goods. The World Bank, the IMF, and bilateral donors have provided funds to rehabilitate Tanzanias out-of-date economic infrastructure and to alleviate poverty. Long-term growth through 2005 featured a pickup in industrial production and a substantial increase in output of minerals led by gold. Recent banking reforms have helped increase private-sector growth and investment. Continued donor assistance and solid macroeconomic policies supported a positive growth rate, despite the world recession. Tanzanian economy Through Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by the end of 2009 consist of the main three sectors namely Agriculture, industry and service sector where agriculture contributes 26.6%, industry sector contributes 22.6% and services sector contributes 50.8% to the national economy, in general service sector contributes more than any other sector in the national economy consider the following figure:- Source:-www.theodora.com/wfbcurrent/Tanzania/tanzania_economy.html 2. THE CONTRIBUTION OF STRUCTURAL ADJASTMENT PROGRAM TO THE ECONOMY OF TANZANIA Following the above explanations I will now turn my focus by discussing the contribution of Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs) to the economy of Tanzania; the introduction of structural adjustment programs (SAPS) in Tanzania has a lot of advantages and disadvantages to the national economy. Starting with the Economic recovery program (ERP) of 1987/88-1989/90 financial year of Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPS) the following are the Advantages of structural adjustment programs (SAPS) in Tanzania. 2.1 IMPROVEMENT IN AGRICULTURE One of the objective of Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPS) in 1985/86 was to increase the output of food and export crops that is to say cash crops this was possible by improving the market structure for these crops not only this but also providing more incentives for production. Today even in the past ,agriculture is still the back born of our national economy thus improving agriculture was the only way to help Tanzanians because about 80 percent of the population of Tanzania are living in rural area where agriculture is taking place thus many Tanzanians could benefit much from this program. Initially the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) responded positively gross domestic product increased from 21.8 to 25.3 to 40.6 percent during 1990-1992. As seen on the Annual growth rate of GDP at factors costs, 1989-99 figure 2.1 below. From the above agricultural sector contributes 552 of the gross domestic product Percent, from the above figure it shows gross domestic product falls much in 1994 because of the government reduced effort to implement the structural adjustment programs(SAPs) measures following this the IMF and World Bank withdraw from supporting the government and even other donor countries refused to give grants/loans, again the country performance shows to fall down in the year 1998 this fall in economic performance was due to poor weather condition at the end of 1998 elnino rainfall lead to the destruction of peoples properties and crops as agriculture is the back born of the national economy, it lead to the poor performance thus low gross domestic product, not only agriculture was affected but even other economic activities were badly affected. 2.2 IMPROVEMENT IN INFRASTRUCTURE OF TANZANIA Early 1986 structural adjustment programs (SAPS) through Economic Recovery Program the IMF and World Bank started among other measures to improve the Tanzanian infrastructure through rehabilitation of the existing infrastructure which were inherited from the colonial government, there were need for improving these infrastructures because they were in bad conditions, and they included roads, railway, airports and harbors. The main importance of infrastructure is for fostering the economic development in our country together with making the country more accessible in all regions. Road infrastructure helps to make transport and communication so smooth in a country, making agricultural activities to grow and expand the market from rural areas to urban areas and together with making exportation of cash crops abroad so easy. As Tanzania was transforming its economies from command economy to free market economy that is privatization in place where private investors are increasingly investing in the country, infrastructure is one of the ingredients of the national economy. These infrastructure were improved in this phase from 1995-2000 and 2001-2005 Tanzania transport network have improved significantly. Today if you want to travel from any part of Tanzania you can reach without any problem this is the success of structural adjustment programs (SAPs) and the Government at large because structural adjustment programs (SAPs) cannot be able to run itself. 2.3 PROVIDING GREATER SUPPORT FOR PRIMARY EDUCATION AND BASIC HEALTH SERVICES One of the major areas which the structural adjustment programs (SAPS) contributed to the national economy was for funding for these basic needs of human beings, providing education and health services is one way of developing the nation and making the country more productive, further more is the way for preparing the country for future development. If we compare from when the country got independence, now primary education have changed a lot even the number of primary school and secondary school have increased in 1980`s we were speaking of one school in each district by those years they were known as middle schools but nowadays every ward is having at least two secondary school as from 2005 to date and a lot of primary schools approximately every village is having its primary school in Tanzania today, this is also the contribution of structural adjustment programs(SAPs). 2.4 TRADE LIBERALIZATION AND PRIVATITATION OF PUBLIC SECTORS Starting from 1985/86 among conditionalities imposed by the IMF and World Bank was to change the country economy that is change to free market economy together with privatization of public sector in Tanzania, privatization lead to many advantages some of them includes, recovery of dead industry increase national output as I remember in 1978/79 Tanzania experienced a lot of Economic problems as the country were coming from the war with Uganda. Generally the world economy was down, trade liberalization was like an incentive to attract many external and internal investors to come and invest in Tanzania indeed the number of investors increased and the national output increased too, not only that but also trade liberalization lead to removal of many trade barriers such price and market reforms, tariffs, embargoes, custom duties and other duties. Trade liberalization was preparing Tanzania and other developing countries to the system of open market where the forces of demand and supply are the only determinant of price in the market, therefore the government is not supposed to interfere in any matter, farther more, it also lead to freedom of expression which later I am going to discuss, through freedom of expression the country also lead to change in the political system from single party system to multiparty political system which I see as development. 2.5 TRANSFORMATION OF POLITICAL SYSTEM IN 1985 In 1985 Tanzania changed its political system from socialist economy to free market economy this decision come as a result of structural adjustment programs (SAPs) in order to make the economy more free from government intervention, the transformation went together with trade liberalization. The political transformation was successful in 1985 but the first election under multiparty election was in 1995 were the first president elected was Benjamin William Mkapa who were the first president to implement the Structural Adjustment Programs(SAPs) seriously than any other president. By transforming the political system it had many merits including the country performed poor the public could question about what went wrong, not only that but also it introduced in the country the rule of law and freedom of expression both of these are very important ingredients of economic development in any country, rule of law and freedom of expression are the foundation of peace and security in any country failure to have rule of law and freedom of expression it can lead to retardation in countries economic development. Thus the current economic development is a result of the peace and security 2.6 GLOBALIZATION OF THE WORLD MARKET Trade liberalization of 1980`s lead to the world market as a single market that is to say globalization is the process of making the world as a single village where through technology communication makes integration and linkage in the world market wherever you are you can be able to communicate and make business by using your mobile phone, as evidenced today many people have mobile phone, to date a lot of transactions are done using a mobile phone, including bank transactions, saving money for any emergency (Vodacom and Tigo service known as M-Pesa and Tigo Pesa). Today you can transact via mobile phone, all these are the results of Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs) through the effort of IMF and World Bank is through liberalization which attracts foreign investors to invest in developing and developed country as a result of integrations in the world market it also lead to the growth of industrial and financial sector. At the same time Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs) creates conditions for developed country to exploit by the process known as neo-colonialism. 3. THE NEGATIVE CONSEQUENCES OF THE STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT PROGRAMS (SAPs) Structural Adjustment Programs apart from having advantages it has a lot of negative consequences of which the SAPs measures and conditionalitys imposed to developing countries including Tanzania perhaps that is why our late Mwl.J K Nyerere was reluctant to implement the Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs). Mwalimu thought about the fund and World Bank to set conditions for future financial support he saw it as infringement on Tanzania`s national sovereignty. On the other hand devaluation of currency Nyerere argued that it would be political suicide and could lead to riots in the street. The following are the negative consequences of Structural Adjustment Program (SAPs) in Tanzania today:- 3.1 REMOVAL OF INPUT SUBSIDIES Before the introduction of structural adjustment programs in Tanzania late 1970`s farm inputs were highly subsidized making these inputs available at a cheaper price and even the agricultural produce were available at low price, but after introducing structural adjustment programs in 1980`s, things changed subsidies were removed in 1984 they were not permanently eliminated but they were eliminated in phases but in 1995 subsidies were completely eliminated, soon after this elimination farm input such as fertilizers in combination with inflation lead to increase in prices and even farm produce shoot up unexpectedly. 3.2 DEPENDENCE THEOREM AND GOVERNMENT DEBT Introduction of structural adjustment programs in one way or another was the way of making least developed countries to become dependent instead of independence as seen from all these countries few African countries are independent, this is the evidence of those conditionalities imposed by the IMF through structural adjustment programs of 1986 in Tanzania. Perhaps this is a source of todays massive national debt, no country could say no to structural adjustment programs, as doing that was meaning that loosing the grants, loans and any other assistance from donor countries, thus the only way was to accept those conditionalities in order to survive from the economic problems. Generally structural adjustment programs are making conditions so that these countries are supposed to follow on the other hand it makes developing countries to have no say to developed countries. 3.3 DEVALUATION OF TANZANIAN SHILLINGS The main aim of devaluation of currency was to encourage exportation of farm production, but on the other hand devaluation of currency was affecting those farmers who were producing not for exportation and not only that but also the value of Tanzanian shillings in relation to other currency it was depreciating, the depreciation of currency has some big impacts to Tanzanians as it goes together with inflation in the country. Higher inflation in the country means harming the economy as the inflation of 1992 it caused a lot of problems to farmers as farm inputs were so high and even prices of goods and services were very high. 3.4 ELIMINATION OF GOVERNMENT CONTROL ON THE ECONOMY Structural adjustment programs through privatization of public entities to private sector lead the government to have little control of the national economy that is to say the decision about the price of goods and services are now left in the hands of the forces of demand and supply that is market mechanism to decide one of the major weakness to leave the market to decide is that the government have no power to decide on economic variables, even to control monopolies and other market failure, it does not mean that the government have no control it have control but not as much as it had during socialist economy, this is evidence that Tanzania inflation is increasing every year the government have failed to control this inflation. 4 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION From the explanations about structural adjustment programs (SAPS) contribution to the national economy of Tanzania I can be able to draw my conclusion by saying that structural adjustment programs have contributed much to the national economy where it was able to bring up new technology in our country in Swahili we call it UTANDAWAZI was possible to come in our country as a result of trade liberalization and privatization of the public sector. Late 1980`s the country were transformed into a new political system that is multiparty political system which brought about the rule of law and freedom of expression to allow individual to freely express their views about the national development it is a good news to us Tanzanians as now we can be able to express ourselves without fear from any one unlike during single party political system today in Tanzania economic development is a result of frequent critics from opposition parties such as CHADEMA,CUF,UNDP,TLP AND NCCR MAGEUZI just to mention a few. On the other hand structural adjustment programs have contributed much in building and extending the development in social services through the Economic recovery program (ERP). It has helped to rehabilitate the countries physical infrastructure, increase the output of food and export crops, increase capacity utilization in industry by allocating scarce foreign exchange to priority sector and firms. Structural adjustment programs not only contributed to the growth of national economy but in one way or another it has some negative consequences to the national economy such negative impacts such as removal of subsidies to farm inputs, devaluation of currency in relation to us dollars both of these lead to worsening the balance of payments of our country together with increasing the inflation in Tanzania. Lastly but not least structural adjustment programs lead to our country being a dependent to developed country, hence lead to increasing the government debt even today Tanzania is having a high rate of debt to many friendly countries these are the result of structural adjustment programs, not only developing countries are dependent to developed countries but also developed countries are dependent to developing countries for raw materials such as minerals, cotton, tea and other natural resources.

Battle of Kursk

In the winter and spring of 1943, after their terrible defeat in Stalingrad, clearly outnumbered and losing the initiative in the eastern front, Hitler and the German High Command were asking themselves what to do next, in the summer of 1943. The situation was bad not only in the war front. While Russian tank production increased to unbelievable levels, the German obsession for complex new super weapons, like the advanced but then immature Panther and Tiger tanks, largely reduced German tank production. General Guderian, the best German armor expert and commander, said â€Å"As interesting as these designs were, the practical result was just a reduced production of the Panzer 4, our only efficient tank then, to a very modest level. â€Å". Shortly before the battle of Kursk Guderian added, about the Panther and its crews, â€Å"They are simply not ready yet for the front†. In early 1943 the Germans were about to destroy their own tank production rates by terminating Panzer 4 production in return for a production of just 25 new Tigers per month, but at a moment of reason Hitler gave control of tank production to Guderian who stopped this idea. The German plan The debate in the German High Command about what to do in the summer of 1943 was between two options, the realistic option and the enthusiast-optimist option: * The realistic option, supported by Guderian and Manstein, the best German field commanders, and by others, suggested to compensate for the large Russian numerical advantage by fully utilizing the superiority of the German commanders and soldiers in tactics, command, and fighting, by a strategy of dynamic mobile defense that would cause great losses to the Russians in a series of local clashes. The realistic goal was to stop and delay the Russians, as decisive victory was no longer achievable. * The enthusiast-optimistic option, proposed by General Zeitzler, chief of staff of the German army, suggested to concentrate almost all German tanks, and other forces, to a major decisive battle against a large portion of the Russian armor, in order to destroy them and by doing so hopefully regain the initiative. The most suitable place for such a battle, as Zeitzler proposed, was the Kursk salient, a wide region around the city of Kursk, about half way between Moscow and the black sea, where the Germans surrounded the Russians from three sides. It was obvious that the Russians will keep a large tank force there, and the plan was to encircle them in a classic Blitzkrieg style pincer movement of German tanks from North and South and destroy them. Zeitzler's plan was code named Operation Citadel. When Hitler discussed the two options with his Generals on May 4th, exactly two months before the German attack began, it became clear that each of the two options had a major problem. The major problem with Zeitzler's plan to attack the Kursk salient, was that aerial photos clearly revealed that the Russians were building dense and deep fortifications there in order to counter such an attack, and that many Russian tanks were moved deeper behind the front line. Instead of an open battlefield Blitzkrieg, it was going to be a direct charge on dense anti-tank defenses. General von Mellenthin warned that such a direct attack will be a â€Å"Totenritt†, a ride to death, for the German tanks. In response to Guderian's worries, Hitler himself admitted that whenever he think of this planned attack, his guts turn. The major problem with Guderian's option was that it lacked the charm, enthusiasm, and optimistic hope for a major change in the war that Zeitzler's plan had. So the enthusiast Hitler decided in favor of Zeitzler's plan, and calmed his worries of it by ordering to delay the attack for a while in order to incorporate more of the brand new advanced German tanks and tank destroyers in it. The date was set to July 4, 1943. Once the order was given, the Germans prepared as best as they could. The entire region was photographed from above, the German commanders visited the front line to observe their intended routes, and the Germans concentrated all available forces in two armies, North and South of the Kursk salient, leaving minimal forces along the rest of the long Russian front. The German force included a total of 50 divisions, including 17 armor and mechanized divisions. These included the most powerful and best equipped German divisions, such as the Gross Deutschland (Great Germany) division and the Waffen-SS tank divisions Leibstandarte (Hitler's bodyguards), Totenkopf (Death skull), and Das Reich (The Reich). The Germans concentrated all their new armor, the Tiger and Panther tanks, and the mighty new Elefant tank destroyers, which had a front armor thicker than a battleship's armor. They also concentrated all available air units and artillery, and despite the problems of the German plan it was a formidable concentrated mobile armor force with great offensive potential. The Russian preparations Thanks to their â€Å"Lucy† spy network, which operated high ranking sources in Germany via Switzerland, the Russians didn't just expect the German attack, they knew all about it. They received the full details of the German plan, and the Russian military intelligence was able to verify most details in the front to ensure that the information was real, not disinformation. The Russians prepared eight defense lines one behind the other, and also positioned their entire strategic mobile reserve East of the Kursk salient, in case the Germans will penetrate thru all these defense lines, which indeed happened. The Russian plan was simple. First, they will let the Germans attack as planned right into their series of very dense defense lines, and after the German armor will be crushed there, the Russian army will start its strategic attack North and South of the Kursk salient and push the Germans West along a wide part of the front. The Russian defense was unprecedented in its density. A total of 1,300,000 Russian soldiers with 3600 tanks, 20,000 guns, including 6000 76mm anti-tank guns, and 2400 aircraft were concentrated in and around the Kursk salient. It was about a fifth of the Russian military personnel, over a third of the tanks and over 1/4 of the aircraft. They laid 3400 mines per each kilometer of the front, half of them anti-tank mines, and over 300,000 civilians dug thousands of kilometers of anti-tank trenches and other fortifications. The Russian lines were filled with numerous anti-tank guns organized in groups of up to 10, each group commanded by one officer and firing at the same target. The Russian camouflage was superb, the Germans said that until they were hit by them, they could identify neither the Russian mine fields nor their anti-tank gun positions. To avoid forcing the Germans to divert from their known plan, Russian air attacks were delayed until the German tanks already moved into the trap. The Russians were as ready as they could be. The battle of Kursk The German attack finally began, in the afternoon of July 4, 1943, as planned. The German armor spearheads, led by the most armored and most powerful Tigers and Elefants, advanced forward in the wheat fields toward the Russian lines. Then came wave after wave of anti-tank aircraft attacks by both sides, German Stukas attacked dug in Russian tanks and Russian Sturmoviks attacked the German tanks. The fighters of both sides engages in air combats over the battlefield, and each side's massive heavy artillery also fired. The advancing German tanks suffered rapidly increasing losses from the dense Russian anti-tank defenses, but pressed forward. Once the German heavy tanks reached into the Russian defense lines, they could finally be hit and destroyed from their sides, where they were not so armored as from the front. At this short range they also lost their superiority in long range firing from their powerful guns. In the North, the German attack advanced only 10km into the Russian lines in two days and was stopped, after losing about 25,000 soldiers and 200 tanks, but fighting continued. In the South, where they had stronger forces, the Germans sent all their reserves forward and pressed on despite the losses. On July 12, after a week of heavy fighting with heavy casualties in both sides, General Hoth, the German commander in the South side of the Kursk salient, decided to concentrate all his remaining tanks, about 600, and press forward with all their concentrated force deeper, past the last remaining Russian defense line, and into an area more suitable for tank warfare near the small village Prokhorovka. He didn't know that at this point in the battle, the Russian High Command already predicted this development, and since the German advance in the North was stopped, they could now safely send their armor reserve to meet the advancing German tanks in the South. The Russians ordered their entire 5th Guards tank army, which so far didn't participate in the battle, to hurry at maximum speed from its position East of Kursk to meet the German tanks advancing near Prokhorovka. Due to very bad visibility, with thick smoke and dust, when the Russian tanks met the German tanks the next morning, they didn't stop advancing until they were all around and between them, so about 1500 German and Russian tanks fought in a fierce battle of very short firing distances in which the Germans could not exploit their technological superiority in longer range fighting. The Germans lost more than half of their remaining tanks in this great clash which lasted eight hours, and the Russians lost greater numbers. The battle was decided. The next day Hitler ordered to stop Operation Citadel, and the Russians started their counter attack North of Kursk. After the battle The battlefield in Kursk was filled with many hundreds of burnt tanks and crashed aircraft, and so many dead soldiers. The difference was that while the Russians suffered heavy losses but could continue as planned and shift from defense to a large counter attack in a wide front, the German army in the East just lost the core of its remaining force. In the summer of 1941 the German army attacked Russia and was stopped only near Moscow. In the summer of 1942 the German army attacked in South Russia and reached the Volga river at Stalingrad before it was stopped, and lost the strategic initiative to the recovering Russian army. In the summer of 1943, in the battle of Kursk, the much weaker German army broke its fist and lost its best remaining units in its attempt to regain the initiative in one last major attack, for which the Russians were fully prepared. After the battle of Kursk, the war in the eastern front was a long Russian advance, in which the Russian army returned to all the territory it lost to the Germans, conquered all of Eastern Europe, and reached all the way to Germany and to Berlin and won the war. The Germans could no longer attack or stop the Russian advance, and were just pushed back in a long retreat.

How does Charles Dickens create an atmosphere of crime and death in ‘Great Expectations’?

In this essay, I will talk about how Charles Dickens creates an atmosphere of crime and death in ‘Great Expectations'. Charles Dickens was an English novelist of the Victorian era and was considered to be one of English language's greatest writers; he was acclaimed for his rich storytelling and memorable characters and achieved massive worldwide popularity in his lifetime. ‘Great Expectations' is a novel written and serially published from 1860 to 1861 in a magazine called ‘All Year Round'. Shortly after that, it was published as a complete novel. It was set during the Industrial Revolution in Britain. The Industrial Revolution brought in a major change in the economy and society resulting from the use of machines and the efficient production of goods. Charles Dickens begins the story in a graveyard. Immediately, we are introduced to the theme of death. The weather matches with the creepy setting. It links to death by using words like â€Å"raw afternoon†; the word â€Å"raw† suggests that it is painful. â€Å"Dark† suggests evil and death; and â€Å"flat† suggests something bleak. These words all enhance the gloomy setting. The main character Pip tells us about his parents and brothers who are buried in the graveyard. He lists the names of his brothers in a matter of fact way and this shocks us. â€Å"†¦and that Alexander, Barthlomew, Abraham, Tobias and Roger, infant children of the aforesaid, were also dead and buried†¦.† In the 1830s when the novel is set, half the babies died in infancy due to poor medical care and killer diseases which thrived in the appalling conditions within the society. Pip lists the names of his five dead brothers. This makes us think that the list is never-ending and highlights the presence of death. We are introduced to the theme of crime when an escaped convict by the name of Magwitch, jumps out from behind a gravestone at Pip. â€Å"Hold your noise!† At this point, he makes the reader feel frightened, as he starts to threaten Pip. Pip also sees a gibbet. â€Å"†¦a gibbet, with some chains hanging to it which once held a pirate.† A gibbet was where executed criminals were placed as a warning to others. It stands out on the horizon and looks particularly eerie in the gloomy night sky. Dickens personifies the sky to make it â€Å"angry†; the use of personification here alarms the reader because the sky feels extremely threatening. The sea is described as a â€Å"lair†; the use of the word â€Å"lair† suggests that the sea is a wild animal in a den. The wind comes rushing from the lair to get Pip. Pip becomes â€Å"a bundle of shivers†. The word â€Å"shivers† suggests fear and extreme cold, both of which and to an atmosphere of crime and death. In Chapter Three, Dickens describes the weather as a â€Å"rimy morning† and has Pip imagine a goblin that had been crying all night. This links to the guilt that Pip feels about the crime he has committed because he is upset and he feels like crying. â€Å"Rimy morning†, â€Å"very damp†, â€Å"damp lying on the bare hedges and sparegrass, like a coarser sort of spider's webs†, â€Å"the marsh-mist was so thick†, â€Å"the mist was heavier†¦.†, all these words tell us of darkness and crimes. Dickens uses a simile to compare about the â€Å"damp lying on the bare hedges†¦Ã¢â‚¬ . Dickens uses personification to enhance Pip's guilty conscience by using the weather, â€Å"the marsh-mist was thick† and â€Å"the marsh-mist was heavier†¦Ã¢â‚¬ . The mist is clearly a metaphor for Pip's state of mind. He is literally finding it hard to find his way to the convict but also feels morally lost because of his crime. Dickens writes about a â€Å"wooden finger on the post†¦Ã¢â‚¬ . Dickens also uses personification to enhance Pip's guilty conscience at this point because he has committed a crime and he thinks that this signpost is telling him the only way he should go. â€Å"Like a phantom devoting me to the Hulks†, â€Å"that the wooden finger on the post†¦invisible to me†¦Ã¢â‚¬ . Dickens uses personification by heightening Pip's mind as he is confused about the whole situation. The signpost has turned into a ghastly accuser. As the confusion in Pip's mind races on, he sees an Ox which was black â€Å"with a white cravat†. This Ox of Pip's mind notices him with the pork pie and recognises that the pie is not his. â€Å"A boy with Somebody-else's pork pie! Stop him!†, â€Å"Holloa, young thief!† With its clerical air, the ox seems like a vicar, accusing him of sin. In the beginning of Chapter Eight, Dickens described the Satis House like a prison. It â€Å"was of old brick, and dismal, and had a great many iron bars to it. Some of the windows had been walled up; of those that remained, all the lower were rustily barred.† Iron bars are like prison bars and it is one of the places where you can't escape from. â€Å"There was also a large brewery† at the side of Satis House. This place was very idle. â€Å"There was also a large brewery. No brewing was going on in it, and none seemed to have gone on for a long long time†. Nothing growing in it signifies death and in this case, the large brewery consists of nothing but waiting death. At one point, Pip was beginning to feel cold as he went through the house. â€Å"The cold wind seemed to blow colder there, than outside the gate†¦Ã¢â‚¬ . This links to Pip's fear of going into the house. The more he has the feeling of becoming colder, the more he fears going into the house. He isn't really used to visiting anyone else's places except the graveyard and that's why he feels frightened of going in to the house. When Pip was about to meet Miss Havisham, Estella walked away from him and took the candle away with her. â€Å"This was very uncomfortable, and I was half afraid.† From Pip's point of view, he's afraid of the dark. He's always used to having light around him as he goes around but in this case, there was darkness; â€Å"No glimpse of daylight was to be seen in it†. This stresses the presence of evil and death. Pip is alone when he sees a woman in the dressing room in Satis House. â€Å"In an armchair, with an elbow resting on the table and her head leaning on that hand, sat the strangest lady I have ever seen, or shall ever see†, â€Å"†¦ â€Å"†¦she had bridal flowers in her hair, but her hair was white. Some bright jewels sparkled†¦Ã¢â‚¬ . White is related to ghosts and ghosts come from death. She is rich with faded dresses and her house is very old. Miss Havisham is compared by Pip to a â€Å"skeleton† and a â€Å"waxwork†; the word â€Å"skeleton†, suggests that Miss Havisham could represent the presence of death. The â€Å"waxwork† suggests something that there is something about Miss Havisham which appears real but is not substantial. The â€Å"bridal flowers in her hair† compares with her white hair and obvious age suggests something eerie and bizarre. In Chapter Twenty, Pip travels to London to see Mr Jaggers in his office. â€Å"I was scared by the immensity of London; I think I might have had some faint doubts whether it was not rather ugly, crooked, narrow and dirty.† Pip has never been to London before and he was so used to living in the Marshes, he had no idea what London might look like, as in that time, London was the busiest, most crowded towns of England. Pip goes into Mr Jaggers' room and was fascinated by what he sees in it. â€Å"Mr Jaggers' room was lighted by a skylight only, and was a most dismal place†. When the novel was set, electricity wasn't really invented at that time and the only light rooms receive is the daylight. â€Å"The skylight, eccentrically patched like a broken head, and the distorted adjoining houses looked as if they had twisted themselves to peep down at me through it.† Pip is intimidated by what he sees as he has never been to an office before. Pip also sees â€Å"some odd objects about†. The skylight is personified as a victim of an assault. â€Å"Old rusty pistol†; this suggests that Mr Jaggers is a criminal and has done many crimes with the â€Å"pistol† in the past. â€Å"A sword in a scabbard†; this suggests that he is very protective of his special possessions. â€Å"Several strange-looking boxes and packages†; this suggests that there might be a few hidden surprises that Mr Jaggers doesn't want people to know yet. â€Å"Two dreadful casts on a shelf, of faces peculiarly swollen and twitchy about the nose†; this also suggests that he is very interested in dice as to see in how it was created. Pip has also never seen these kinds of objects before in his life and he too, gets fascinated as he looks into them. Pip says that Jaggers' chair is like a â€Å"coffin†. We have a mental image of Jaggers emerging like a vampire from the coffin. Pip's experiences of the law are linked to Dickens's life: his father had been imprisoned for debt and he had been a court journalist and law clerk. The choice of settings such as the frightening graveyard and the introduction of dark characters such as the sinister convict, Magwitch create the atmosphere of crime and death. Dark weather creates a sense of crime and death in a lot of scenes. Charles Dickens sums up this novel as a crime and death genre. It is also a mixture of crime and horror as well as crime and death. A drunken court official offers to show Pip a public hanging place. This sickened Pip just as it did Dickens who campaigned against such humiliating events and wanted them to be banned. Dickens spent his life campaigning against poverty, crime and death. There was crime and death everywhere all around his time and he chose this genre to make his readers aware of these and to the fact that poverty played an important part which caused high crime rate resulting in unfortunate deaths.

The schedule of college students causes them to eat unhealthy foods at awkward hours which makes them unhealthy and obese Free Essay Example, 2000 words

It is easy for them to live a life using things that come in handy. Though it should not be by putting one’s health and life at stake, students feel it is fun to eat out and have some good time with cohorts and peers without caring for the effects and consequences of poor diet (Anne Ng p. 2). When college students are stressed about exams they consume junk food like ice cream in between study sessions as a comfort food. Students feel that good tasting food has an overwhelming impact on the brain and enhances the complete well being of the person. Students binge on junk food and noodles because they taste good and are inexpensive. Junk or unhealthy food is a quick fix for students who have crammed schedules. Further students do not wish to remain hungry and tired and therefore they access ready made food from the nearest corner or vending machine. These factors like time, exam stress and cheap food does not give rise to the idea of self cooking nutritious food among college st udents, they rather stick to unhealthy food to overcome the hunger at any time (Top 5 College Student Stressors). College life is a new environment and students feel difficult in balancing their life with higher education, social pressures and food habits. We will write a custom essay sample on The schedule of college students causes them to eat unhealthy foods at awkward hours which makes them unhealthy and obese or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/pageorder now The extreme change in life style leads to a change in food habits and students become obese. The Freshman 15 stigma clearly indicates why it is difficult for college students to maintain their study life and food habits. The change in day schedule at the colleges affects eating and students do not have adequate time to exercise. Inadequacy of time is due to all nighters to complete projects and study for exams (Malinauskas et al). College student have the habit of eating late at night because they do not have enough time during the day. The time may be 12 am and the food they chose is usually fast food, junk food and friend food. The habit of eating unhealthy food is an outcome of eating disorders and diet changes. Eating habits change when student attend college because the eating time varies according to the college schedule. Students mostly depend on college cafeterias, buffets, unhealthy snacks and round the clock restaurants that tempt them to over eat and discourage them to choose healthy food. Stress and inadequate money also deprives students from eating the right food. Students deprived of eating food at the right time end up eating junk food at odd times such as 2 a m and are confident that they have good metabolism. But this kind of eating habits takes its toll in the long term.