Articles by Steven Gilchrist

From 1932 – 1933 a famine occurred in the Ukraine. Also known as the Holodomor, the famine resulted in the deaths of millions of Ukrainians. Holodomor means to “kill by starvation” or “death by hunger.” The Holodomor was part of the wider Soviet famine of 1932 – 1933. The number of people who died in the Ukrainian famine is not completely known. The causes of the famine continue to be debated by historians. Arthur Koestler, a Hungarian-British journalist, described the Holodomor with the following quote: “At every train station there was a crowd of peasants in rags, offering icons and linen in exchange against a loaf of bread. The women were lifting up their infants to the compartment windows – infants pitiful and terrifying with limbs like sticks, puffed bellies, big cadaverous heads lolling on thin necks.” On November 10, 2003, at a United Nations convention, 25 countries signed a joint statement on the 70 th anniversary of the Holodomor. The preamble of this statement reads: “I...

2016 marks the 100 th anniversary of the National Park Service.   On August 25, 1916, President Woodrow Wilson signed a bill creating the National Park Service agency, “to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and wildlife therein, and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations.” The National Park Service manages all of the 59 national parks in the United States.   Yellowstone National Park was the first national park in the United States. The National Park System encompasses 84.4 million acres of land; 27,000 historic structures; 21,000 buildings; 12,250 miles of trails; and 8,500 miles of roads.   The largest single property of the National Park System is Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve in Alaska.   The smallest property in the system is Thaddeus Kosciuszko National Memorial in Pennsylvania. Early proprietors of ...

From April 2, 1982 to June 14, 1982 Argentina and the United Kingdom fought in a conflict known as the Falklands War.  The 10 week conflict was fought over two British territories located in the South Atlantic Ocean: the Falkland Islands & South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands.  The conflict began when Argentina’s military invaded the Falkland Islands.  Prior to invading the Falkland Islands, Argentina’s economy was collapsing.  Lieutenant General Leopoldo Galtieri initiated the invasion of the islands as a plan to galvanize the citizens of Argentina.  The invasion of the Falkland Islands was intended to unite Argentina’s citizens around a common cause and to distract the citizens from the economic problems the country was facing.  The Falkland Islands had been governed by the British government since 1833.  In that year the British expelled Argentina from the islands.  The islands are located 400 miles east of the Argentinean ...