Hafford furniture free essay sample

A Crisis at Hafford Furniture: Cloud Computing Case study MMBA 507 Student ID: 300333323 PROBLEM DESCRIPTION Hafford Furniture was a furniture manufacturer since 1970, supplying to furniture retailers, wholesalers and occasionally one-time bulk purchasers across the United States. Hafford relied on a Business Information System (BIS) to handle all the internal business processes. The BIS was seamlessly connected to a VAN-based EDI system, which served as the customer’s interface for making orders. In 2008, Hafford’s entire IT infrastructure and data storage were destroyed by a massive hurricane. Hafford was able to restore the company data with its disaster recovery plan, but not all its IT function. In March 2009, VP of IT proposed in a management meeting to adopt SaaS cloud solution to restore the IT function. Hafford could access to the same BIS without having to worry about the cost to rebuild another IT data centre. He projected that the IT staff strength could be halved, as the cloud vendor would take care of the management of the software’s platform and its infrastructure. We will write a custom essay sample on Hafford furniture or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The next day, the president of Hafford ignored the internal decision-making protocol and contracted their disaster recovery vendor, PFI Services for that same cloud service. In January 2010, Hafford was faced with appalling sales report for the year before, mostly caused by bottlenecks in the ordering system supported by PFI. Not only was the cloud capability insufficient, PFI was also filing for bankruptcy and undergoing liquidation. Hafford once again fell into a desperate situation. REVIEW OF KEY ISSUES Management issues Lack of Corporate governance The weak corporate governance in Hafford is especially notable in the fundamental change process. While there was an internal policy for creating a fundamental change in Hafford (Fig 1), Feckle, the President, had ignored it by entering into a cloud contract without consulting any of his top management, just one day after the premature proposal was shared with him. It was extremely risky to make such a significant business decision without sufficient knowledge in the service that he engaged. To make a well-informed decision, Feckle should have adhered to the corporate policy and trusted the IT professionals to evaluate and recommend a suitable vendor. Figure 1 Fundamental change policy 2. Failure to think critically during decision-making It is understood that Hafford used to adopt a VAN-based EDI-system specifically due to its security, despite it being slower and more costly. In Norris’ proposal for using cloud, he altered the company’s priority by pushing for an internet-based EDI-system, without providing solid justification. Questions like â€Å"will the internet-based EDI change the business in any way?† or â€Å"will it compromise customers’ security? † were not asked. The management seemed to have accepted this change too easily, without understanding its impacts. This concern should have been analysed more thoroughly before concluding to transit to an internet-based EDI-system. 3. Poor understanding of business needs The IT obj ective was not fully aligned with the business objectives. For example, in 2009, while the company was expecting a 30-35% increase in sales due to the efforts in a series of product improvements, the IT team was preparing a cloud proposal to the company basing only on the old IT functions. It had missed out on considering how it could support an explosive sales surge. Furthermore, Hafford was switching its VAN-based EDI to an internet-based EDI, which could potentially allow Hafford to widen its reach to attract a new group of SME customers. This could play a part in increasing their sales. However, Hafford did not foresee these changes, likely due to lack of communication between departments within Hafford. IT issues 1. Lack of thorough analysis in cloud computing The IT team failed to conduct due diligence in exploring all possible solutions that could meet its needs. While cloud offered great advantages for the company, it might have been too hasty to consider only private cloud as the final solution. In fact, public, private or hybrid cloud offered different potentials and could achieve the goal within competitive cost as well. The IT team should also have analysed each cloud model against its business needs before determining if software as a service (SaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), infrastructure as a service (IaaS) or a combination of services would work best. 2. Lack of on-going management While cloud is said to be flexible, it demands some level of active management to harness the most of it after implementation. The IT team should be able to react quickly to resolve problems like the order bottleneck or a data lock-in. Besides, the IT team should have been more vigilant in ensuring business continuity for the company. RECOMMENDATION The key failure observed in the case was the lack of understanding in cloud computing and the lack of communication in the company. Like any other business decisions, the management should have exercised prudence by developing clear objectives and analysing the opportunities and threats before arriving at its conclusion. In this section, a recommended methodology to approach Hafford’s IT restoral problem is presented. Step 1. To develop business objectives The most important step is to approach a business problem with a clear business objective. It will be necessary for the management to look at the restoral of the IT centre as a collaborative business problem. Communication within the organisation is crucial in aligning all the stakeholders’ goals. With effective teamwork, the IT will appreciate the business values better and be able to analyse the suitability of various options. Step 2. To compare various viable options The IT team should research on what the available solutions are, before zeroing into a particular infrastructure option. While the restoral of a physical data centre may be expensive, there may be payment structures that could help reduce the impact. On the other hand, cloud computing may appear cheaper but it inextricably exposes users to a range of risks, especially in the aspect of security. Also, there are hybrid options that can minimise risk while offering cost benefit. In short, the IT team should fully understand the merits and shortcomings of the following options before selecting the IT infrastructure. 1. Public cloud 2. Hybrid cloud 3. Private cloud 4. Public cloud – Physical data centre 5. Physical data centre Step 3. To choose the suitable cloud service model There are three common service models in cloud computing. It is important to evaluate each model’s attributes and determine which cloud model would be more suitable for the business needs. 1. Software as a service (SaaS) To understand threats and opportunities of cloud computing Cloud computing offers the following powerful advantages but also opens a gateway to a wide range of threats. 1. Elasticity Usage-based pricing model, charging users only for the capacity used Scalability in terms of network and speed depending on demand 2. Simplicity Setting up and maintaining a data centre can take significant manpower. Cloud computing offers convenient and economical business solutions to clients, while taking advantage of the economy of scale by taking care of one specialised area in bulk. 3. Cost-efficiency No capital cost required. Companies benefit from the transference of risk (of over-provisioning and under-provisioning) of investing in a private data centre. While accepting these benefits from cloud, users should also exercise due diligence by being aware of all the possible problems cloud computing brings. Some of the crucial problems are outlined as follows. 1. Business continuity There is always a risk with placing valuable business information with a single third party. As such, the best way to go about is to even out the risk by employing multiple cloud providers and devising a business continuity strategy should any of them fail. Data lock-in It would be risky for a company to be unable to easily extract their data and programmes from one cloud provider to another due to compatibility issues of the programme and data from one cloud provider. In order to mitigate this risk, SaaS developer could use standardised API so that the business can remain flexible and mobile. 3. Data security While most cloud providers invest a considerable amount of attention on managing security, users should assess the security standards adopted by the cloud provider against their requirements before engaging it. 4. Insufficient capacity Although it is said that cloud is scalable, in rare occasions, businesses may experience traffic surges beyond what their contracted cloud can offer. Hence, it is important to strategize carefully before deciding on the cloud service. Step 5. Choosing the cloud vendor After thorough analysis and establishing a clear description for the cloud service needed, the user will have to evaluate the following factors to arrive at the most suitable vendor. 1. Pricing structure While cloud vendors typically follow a pay-as-you-use pricing model, pricing structure varies. For example, Google AppEngine charges users by the cycles used while AWS charges by the hour for the number of instances the user occupied. 2. Security Users need to look at a cloud service’s physical as well as network security. This refers to the physical location the cloud provider houses its equipment and network security measures like firewall and data encryption. Also, a cloud provider should be compliant to government standards specific to your business. In the case of Hafford Furniture, it was an auditing requirement for Hafford to ensure the cloud vendor is compliant with Statement on Auditing Standard No.70. 3. Other factors A clean record does not promise anything, it would be beneficial to also look at the vendor’s track record against available benchmark systems. Also, it would be helpful to have a vendor that can provide reasonably good service. Hence, it is important to know about the extent of customer support services, the setting up process and the ser vicing response and resolution time. Step 6. Engagement of cloud vendor and getting started During cloud rollout, especially from a different sort of data management, it would be common to face various teething problems. Cloud vendor should try to achieve seamless implementation, and companies might need to prepare their staff and/or customers should it affect their routine jobs significantly. Step 7. On-going active management of the cloud service Internal IT team should be continuously vigilant towards possible threats to ensure that the cloud service adopted by the company is safe and secure. Active backups of data must not be neglected. Also, internal feedback reviews could help the IT team understand the possible difficulties faced by the users, and also stay up to date with the company’s business initiatives.

Kmart Workbench essays

Kmart Workbench essays Based on the findings of our research, the feasibility analysis of upgrading the internal inventory system "Workbench" proved to be of benefit to the Kmart Corporation. Our cost benefit analysis, which spanned over a 5-year period, reports total benefits at $2,126,000 and total cost at $1,652,000, providing a return on investment of 28.65%. Further analysis concludes that the breakeven point of this project is at 3.15 years. The development company that initially created the Workbench system will be solely responsible for design and implementation of the upgrade, and, because of this, our costs will be significantly lower than if a random developer was appointed. In addition, end-users of the system feel that training will be relatively straightforward because they will only have to learn the new improvements, keeping project costs even lower. Because the system upgrade will save employees time, make the system more user-friendly, and improve overall efficiency of the inventory system, the willingness of users to participate is high. Further, support from stakeholders will be positive because the system upgrade will increase customer satisfaction, thereby increasing overall sales and profits. The current business condition of the Kmart Corporation has made economic feasibility a top priority of the company in recent months. Because economic conditions are continuing to deteriorate and employee and customer morale has continued to decline, Kmart management is highly committed to the enhancements of the system. Overall, it can be concluded from our analysis that the end result of the upgrade will be an increase in profits for Kmart Corporation, which is becoming increasingly important as Kmart prepares for a road to economic recovery. Project Name: Inventory Tracking System Scope: Improve overall quality tracking of inventory thru the Workbench system. Responsible User, Responsible Ana...

Disability Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Disability Law - Essay Example Discrimination against these people is not justifiable since anybody is a potential candidate of this condition. The role that Equality Act 2010 has played cannot be underestimated. The equality Bill received royal assent in April 2010 and became an Act. It was a replacement of all the existing acts on discrimination. Actually it did consolidate all these legislations. Some of the acts that were consolidated to come up with the equality Act include Disability Discrimination Act 2005, The Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 and Equal Pay Act 19702. This act reforms, streamlines and harmonizes these previous legislations with the sole aim of achieving equality among people regardless of their physical or mental state. Thesis Statement The Equality Act 2010 has been very effective in eliminating disability discrimination in all walks of life starting from the physically to mentally disabled. Components of the Act The Equality Act 2010 covers up nine guarded features which make it a brea ch of law to discriminate any individual on the grounds of age, disability including those who have or previously have had a disability. It also makes it unlawful to discriminate against anybody on grounds of gender relocation, marriage and civil companionship, pregnancy and motherhood, race, religion or belief comprising lack of belief, gender and sexual orientation. The act covers fields such as those of employment, goods and services, facilities admissions and treatment of students. There are a number of significant changes in the Equality Act 2010 that have had a lot of positive impacts in the sector of education which is fundamental to the development of the country. The definition of direct discrimination has since changed to include the protection from discrimination based on both the perception and association for all the nine characteristics protected by the Act. Discrimination is no longer a direct and evident but sort of perceptual and associative. As such, the Act has be en very crucial in shaping the society by eliminating discrimination. The Act has also explicitly extended discrimination protection to disability. Again, this is with the view that those who are disabled either physically or mentally did not choose to be in the condition and, therefore, there is absolutely no reason to discriminate against them3. If anything, they are very important components that can steer the society forward if given the opportunity to do so and should, therefore, be made to feel equal to the rest of the society. The disability-related discrimination has also been replaced by a newer kind of discrimination: discrimination against disability. It is unlawful to discriminate anyone because of disability in any sector whether in education or in any other sector. The breastfeeding mothers can now be explicitly protected ensuring that a woman is neither looked down upon nor treated in a less favourable manner just because she is breastfeeding. With this in mind, a bre astfeeding mother feels free and as an important component of the society. She lives a stress free life since she is considered an equally important part of the society. The Act also protects pregnant students from discrimination. For a long time, students have been discriminated against on grounds of pregnancy. They are not treated fairly and equally giving rise to a sense of disorientation and isolation. This does not provide breathing space for academic excellence in schools. The Extent

Contemporary Separatist Conflict Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Contemporary Separatist Conflict - Essay Example While some find this acceptable due to various reasons, others do not approve of such strategies (Marianne Heiberg, 2007). Though the issue of separatism is a raging topic for debate and political contention in almost every country in the present day, it must be understood that it is simply not possible for all minorities to have their own political and geographical boundaries. However, the larger nation should recognize their presence, contribution and their aspiration to self determination when providing them with any set of rights (Metta Spencer, 1998). As long as both recognize and respect each other, separatism as a concept does not exist. As such, separatism today exists predominantly in the minds of people and is demonstrated primarily through violent and political means. People need to realize that demarcating territory on the basis of ethnicity is simply impossible in all cases as such areas are ethnically unclear due to a dispersed population. People need to realize that it is best to live together in a manner that provides for and encourages the right to self determination. After brutal wars such as in the case of the Balkans, many people realize that fighting has not achieved the intended goal and the only way multi-ethnic groups develop is by way of mutual coexistence (Margaret Moore, 2006). One of the best examples for such a successful approach can be attributed to the Danish minority that lives in the northern part of Germany. The Danish group have due representation in the parliament, have an education system with Danish as one of the major mediums of instruction and enjoy normal rights as other native Germans. This is one of the few examples where a minority lives normally within a large country where mutual respect and trust helps ensure the development of the region. Violence and separatism seldom help achieve the desired results in the present

Child abuse and neglect

Child abuse and neglect Child Abuse: Real-life vs. A Child Called It According to the US Advisory Board on Child Abuse and Neglect, about 4,000,000 children die each year as a result of child abuse and neglect (Bob 12). Child abuse refers to nonaccidental harm that is inflicted on children by their parents or other adults (Magill 218). Many people do not take child abuse seriously because they either believe that harsh discipline is necessary, or they do not realize how bad it really is. Both child abuse and neglect are serious social problems that often have a lasting negative impact on the development of minors (Magill 218). Due to the incredibly violent and graphic nature of A Child Called It, readers may not believe the encounters are factual. However, they most regrettably are true. The abusive actions in A Child Called It parallel those of real-life child abuse cases. Abuse mostly occurs in families who are young, poor, and single (Palmisano 228). When families are going through hard times, there is a lot of stress that comes along with it. With all of this stress, the parents take it out on their children. Having a crisis in the home heightens the chances that a child will be abused (Bob 15). A familys relationship is a very important part of the system in the household. Domestic violence and parental issues are also contributing problems in reoccurring child abuse cases. Parents who abuse each other are more likely to abuse their child as well, because violence in one aspect of family life often flows into other aspects (Rein 54). Families in which the wife hits the husband, the child abuse rate was considerably higher, resulting in 22.9 children per one hundred children (Rein 54). There has also been found a correlation between family income and child abuse and neglect, (Rein 52). Child abuse cases are more likely to occur in households where money is in short supply, especially if the caregivers are unemployed (Bob 15). Difficulty in the family structure can also trigger child abuse. Children in single-family households were at higher risk of physical abuse and all types of neglect than were children in other family structures (Rein 51). In A Child Called It Dave Pelzer suffers child abuse at the hands of his alcoholic mother. It was not like this all the time. At first she was a loving and caring mother, and then she changed dramatically. Together they used to have good times. They would always spend all their time together, going to the zoo and the park, until the family slowly started to split apart. Pelzers father was a firefighter, so he worked many twenty-four hour shifts, which caused problems between him and his wife. If parents are having problems in their relationship, then they take out their anger on others. In Pelzers situation, his mother took care of all her feelings by drinking and abusing her son. Most people believe that the fathers are abusers because they are bigger and stronger, but it is mostly the women. In fact, there are many households where the woman of the family beats the man: 80% of fatal maltreatment cases were attributed to women, that is for both child abuse, and spouse abuse (Carey 23). Many people believe that women are not capable of child abuse because of their maternal instinct, but woman are the abusive ones. According to Carey, 58% of child abuse is by the mother. Many abusers inflict abuse onto their kids because that is how they grew up. The severity of child abuse, and the manner in which children are abused, bears a strong resemblance to the type of maltreatment experienced by their mothers (Kim 54). Another big contributing factor to child abuse is substance abuse. There are some cases where there is drug abuse, but the most common substance is alcohol. According to the Children of Alcoholics Foundation, 40 percent of confirmed child abuse cases involve the use of alcohol or other drugs (Kim 54). In most cases, with or without depression as a factor, studies indicate that a major contributing factor to child abuse is alcohol or drug addiction (Kim 54). In A Child Called It, the abuse is done by Pelzers alcoholic mother. With the father gone, the mother made herself useless and drunk. At times while Father was away at work, she would spend the entire day lying on the couch, dressed only in her bathrobe, watching television. Mom got up only to go to the bathroom, get another drink or heat leftover food (Pelzer 30). Shortly after this phase of being lazy, she started to abuse her son, with alcohol at her side. Whenever child abuse is suspected, the most important thing to do is to report it. Many people do not report child abuse, which may result in the child dying. There are so many reasons that people do not report child abuse, and it becomes a big mistake: 60% failed to report child maltreatment because they did not have enough evidence that the child had been maltreated (Rein 23). Whether there is a lot of evidence or not, all child abuse suspicions should be reported because it could save a childs life. Also, around 16% failed to report because they did not think CPS would do a good job (Rein 23). Whether it is believed that they would do a good job or not, letting someone know what is going on can make the smallest difference in a childs life. One-third of the mandated reporters thought the abuse was not serious enough to warrant reporting (Rein 23). There are many organizations today that will help if there is suspected child abuse, without putting the victim in any further danger. For example, there are the Societies for the Cruelty to Children, American Human Association, Child Welfare League, National Council on Child Abuse and Family Violence, and much more (Dolan 60-68). In A Child Called It all of the teachers knew about Pelzers abuse but did not say anything. According to Pelzer, every day when he walked into school he went to the nurse for their daily routine. She would ask him to remove his clothes and check all over his body for new marks. All of the teachers knew but were afraid to say something. Mr. Hansen, one of the teachers that knew about this, even called home one night to talk to his mother. When Pelzer got home that night he got a beating because of it. Child abuse is a serious crime. Many people are afraid to intervene, but they should. Many people do not really believe that child abuse is as bad as they hear from different stories, but it really is. In A Child Called It, most things that happen in real life child abuse cases, was present in the book. In both real life and in Pelzers story, the family was experiencing trouble in the structure and relationships. Also, the abuser was the mother figure. And the worse thing of all is the community negligence. Many people do not say anything, whether what they suspect is really happening or not. Child abuse is real and Dave Pelzer experienced it first hand.

Battle of Waterloo

The Battle of Waterloo stands as a very important episode in the whole of Napoleon Bonaparte’s wartime adventures. It was the fierce fighting that occurred in the muddy field closed to Brussels in 1815 between the Duke of Wellington and Napoleon that finally sealed Napoleon’s fate in his bid to rule the world. The theatre of battle was in an area closed to the Belgian Capital Brussels. (Bourne 1915, 118) This battle has been considered by many as one of the most crucial battle in history and the battle claims responsibility for reversing the trend of European history.As Brian Bond pointed out: â€Å"Waterloo was a ‘decisive battle' by almost any criterion. † (1998, 3) Our research aims to define factors and conditions which caused Napoleon failure on the battlefield and mistakes he made that led to his demise. The battle of Waterloo is analyzed in detail, because it is the most typical example of Napoleon's strategy, otherwise military narrative limited to the essential minimum. A whole host of reasons are responsible for Napoleon’s misfortune on the day of Waterloo.We are going to begin with political reasons. The failure of Napoleon in the Battle of Waterloo could be linked to his failure to disunite the states of Europe that had stood against him. He had tried to negotiate separately with each of the allied sovereign but these negotiations proved futile. It is worth noting that there were signs of willingness to cooperate with Napoleon from the Russians and Austrians but this did not last long.These early signs of willingness to cooperate with napoleon came as a result of the fact that during a substantial part of 1813 and 1814, the allied powers had been at loggerhead with one another over the sharing of the territories they had acquired during the previous year. (Creasy 1908, 353) It was this situation that Napoleon tried to exploit. This plan was brilliantly understood by Talleyrand, the French representative at the Congr ess of Vienna, as a result he did everything possible to prevent this kind of manipulation.(Creasy 1908, 354) Talleyrand had realized how necessary and important it was to see that no member of newly created European alliance needed one another to if they had to succeed to control the excesses of Napoleon whom they considered their old time enemy. This situation played a significant role in the defeat of Napoleon in the battle of Waterloo. Napoleon himself understood that if he could create a situation that could make him get involved in separate battles with the British and the Russians that would have been synonymous to success.(Creasy 1908, 357) Success here would not have been only among his strongest opponents but it would have also been against the other masses who were already gathering momentum against his Eastern dominions. The point here is that the failure of Napoleon to disunite his opponents before the battle of Waterloo meant he was going to have a difficult battle aga inst a united opponent. In this regards, Napoleon lost at Waterloo partly because he had failed to hold to his war time commitment of keeping the forces of his opponents separated.Also the main loop hole in Napoleon’s expedition in the battle of Waterloo lay in France itself. Returning from exile in Elba the Emperor easily gathered his troops, as the Government in 1814 was faced with a difficult problem in demobilizing the Army, still more loyal than the Marshals to Napoleon. (Rosebery 1900, 98) The troops were restive at the news of Napoleon's approach. When his small force found an infantry regiment barring the road, Bonaparte advanced alone in his familiar grey overcoat, he shouted: â€Å"Kill your Emperor, if you wish.† A single shot would have finished the adventure; but the regiment, ignoring all commands to fire, broke ranks and surrounded Napoleon with acclamations of `Vive l'Empereur'. (Rosebery 1900, 99) He was greeted enthusiastically by the peasants and sol diers, but the upper classes were hostile to Napoleon. French citizens were opposed to war and this situation had a serious impact on Bonaparte’s adventure. (Veve 1992, 214) He remarked to Mole, one of his former Councillors:Nothing astonished me more, in returning to France, than this hatred of priests and nobles, which I found to be as widespread and violent as at the beginning of the Revolution. They have reopened everything which had been settled. (Rosebery 1900, 123) Political situation in France was not favorable too. Napoleon could not make up his mind to give the responsibility of coming up with a new constitution to a representative assembly. Such an assembly would have provided for a constitution that would guarantee a free government.Such an assembly also would not have given him the opportunity to carry out the expedition which according to him will guarantee safety and victory over his foreign opponents. In this circumstance he fell in love with dictatorship and normally a dictatorship would not have had the support of French citizens. This had an impact on the morale of French soldiers. Moreover, Napoleon bids for discipline in French soldier came with came with little results and his attempt to keep these secrets unknown to foreign missions was never achieved.All this had a role to play in the battle of Waterloo. French soldiers were less prepared for war. Most French soldiers were longing for rest. Even the most hardened warriors wanted rest. They had been very busy under the reign of Louis XVIII. Most of them had just begun enjoying the pleasures of resting when napoleon called them to return to their barracks. With this situation a good number of the French army pointed out that they love napoleon better than Louis XVIII but if they most go to fight all Europe again then it will be better to take back Louis XVIII.(Cowin 1903, 608) This situation put the French army in a delegate and difficult situation and the battle of Waterloo just c ame as a confirmation. Napoleon didn’t have enough officers to complete skeleton of army as the choice of available Generals was dangerously limited. Napoleon's only ally was the unreliable Murat, to whom Napoleon wrote at the end of March: â€Å"I will support you with all my forces. I count on you. † (Andrews 1939, 251) Apart from Murat, four of the Marshals, including Berthier, were struck off the list for leaving Paris with Louis XVIII.In his choice of leaders, Napoleon's judgement was poor. Grouchy was said to be a great General but he was out of his depth as a Marshal. He showed little initiative and was tardy in his pursuit of the Prussians, giving them time to regroup. He failed to keep the Prussians separate from the other Allies and, although engaged in battle with the Prussians at Wavre, he failed to prevent a corps being deployed at St. Lambert. His battle at Wavre continued until he had defeated the Prussians but, by that time, Napoleon was on his way back to Paris.Ney also proved unreliable as a leader failing to take advantage of his situation in the precursory battle at Quatre-Bras. Napoleon made a mistake that left the tactical handling of the battle to Ney. It was also a serious misfortune for Napoleon that Drouot, the great artillery expert, had to replace Marshal Mortier, commander of the Guard, who was ill. (Knoph 1979, 224) In embarking on the Continental System Napoleon underestimated the toughness and resilience of the English economy and society. Napoleon had not grasped the speed or the scope of the industrial revolution in England.By 1800 Boulton and Watt had built and installed hundreds of their steam-engines, particularly in the all-important textile industry. When Watt died in 1819, Lord Liverpool rightly acknowledged that ` England could not have survived the Napoleonic Wars without the steam-engine'. (Veve 1992, 168) Wellington's somewhat cryptic judgment that `the battle of Waterloo was won on the playing-fields o f Eton' (Veve 1992, 14) presumably refers to one side of the picture: the toughness of the English leadership. It would be equally true to say that the battle was won in Boulton's engine-making works at Birmingham.With these set backs, Napoleon was covered with gloom as one of his councilors noted: He was full of anxiety, the self confidence that use to be heard in his utterances, the tone of authority, the lofty flight of thought all had disappeared. He seemed already to fill the weight of the hand of misfortune which was soon to be laid on him so heavily and no longer counted on his star. (Cowin 1903, 699) Some citizens even described Bonaparte as exhausted and suffering, due to the frequent hot bath he took while other described him as suffering from a secret disease, therefore should go to sleep.Overview of military strategy should be given at the beginning speaking of military factors determined Napoleon’s failure at Waterloo. By the outbreak of the Revolution, the staff of the French Army already possessed a coherent doctrine of offensive strategy and tactics. How much did Napoleon's strategy and tactics owe to his predecessors? To explain the origins of Napoleonic strategy is not, of course, to belittle his genius. As he said at St Helena: â€Å"Everything is in the execution. ‘ The planning which preceded a battle was an intense and painful process.I am like a woman in labour. † (Abbott 1855, 408) Also Bonaparte pointed out: Few people realize the strength of mind required to conduct, with a full realization of its consequences, one of these great battles on which depends the fate of an army, a nation, the possession of a throne. Consequently one rarely finds Generals who are keen to give battle. I consider myself the boldest of Generals. (Abbott 1855, 421) It is known that he took Guibert's and Bourcet's writings with him to Italy; he also sent to Paris for the account of Maillebois' campaign in Piedmont in 1748.It would not be far wrong to say that Napoleon's Italian campaigns were Guibert and Bourcet in action. Their influence was a great deal more important than Napoleon's general reading of Plutarch, Caesar, and Frederick the Great. (Esdaile 2001, 42) In discussing the principles of strategy at St Helena, Napoleon asserted, `I have fought sixty battles, and I have learnt nothing which I did not know in the beginning. ‘ (Abbott 1855, 581) The essence of Napoleon style of fighting is mobility.Marechal de Saxe in his Reveries, written in 1732, gave some valuable lessons about mobility; he anticipated Napoleon when he said `the whole secret of manoeuvres and of combats lies in the legs'. (Markham 1954, 21) The scholars define flexible nature of this new war: Greater mobility allowed Napoleon’s armies to concentrate their superior forces at specific points – in space and time – over a wide area. This gave Napoleon the capacity to keep reconfiguring the deployment of his troops in bat tle, take less mobile and more predictable opponents by surprise, outmanoeuvre them, and prevent them from even locating his own troops.(Doz and Konosen 2007, 102) This is the strategy of his first campaign in Piedmont, and also of his last campaign of Waterloo. The tactics of the Waterloo has tended to produce an exaggerated antithesis between the `thin red line' of the English infantry and the massed column attack of the French. Ney's massed columns at Waterloo were exceptional, and a poor example of French tactics. In 1772 Guibert, wrote his Essai General de Tactique, which was widely read and discussed. Guibert strongly advocated an ordre mixte, in a flexible combination of line or column according to circumstances.(Black 1994, 171) Normally the French in the revolutionary and Napoleonic period used column formation for approach and changed to line for the actual attack: but it appears that at the battle of Maida in 1806 and frequently in the Peninsular War battles, they were ta ken unawares by the English method of concealing their infantry behind a rising crest of ground, and were caught by the English volleys before they could open out their columns. (Black 1994, 186) Napoleon explained at St Helena that this again happened at Waterloo.Napoleon himself seldom interfered in the tactical handling of infantry, which varied according to the skill of his Marshals and Generals, because he had to keep his attention for the general handling of the battle. But one of his first orders to the Army of Italy was to confirm the use of the ordre mixte. He, of all people, was aware of the importance of fire-power. At St Helena he said: `It is with artillery that war is made. ‘ `The invention of powder has changed the nature of war: missile weapons are now become the principal ones; it is by fire and not by shock that battles are decided today.‘ (Abbott 1855, 523) With a divided and apprehensive nation Napoleon dare not risk a defensive campaign. So, one of t he reasons why Napoleon Bonaparte failed in battle of Waterloo was the fact that he himself failed to maintain his own tactics. His only chance was a quick and resounding victory which might rally France behind him and shatter the allied unity. In contrast with 1814 Napoleon in 1815 had plenty of veterans, including the returned prisoners of war. The National Guard battalions could be used for fortress duty, to release every available man for the fieldarmy.In March the army had barely two hundred thousand men in service; in June its strength still did not reach three hundred thousand. Of these Napoleon had to leave nearly a hundred thousand, supported by National Guards, to hold the Alps, Pyrenees, Alsace, and even La Vendee, where a royalist resistance movement broke out in May. His available striking force at the beginning of June was no more than 130,000 men. (Esdaile 2001, 80) The allied forces within reach were strung along the Belgian frontier–30,000 English and 70,000 Belgian, Dutch and Hanoverian under Wellington, and 120,000 Prussians under Blucher.So the British forces also had numerical advantage over Napoleon’s troops. Marshall Blucher the Prussian war commander was in Belgium with one hundred and sixty Prussians. Also, in the middle of 1815, the Duke of Wellington had also brought in some one hundred and six thousand troops. Some of the troops brought in by Wellington were British Nationals while the others were paid by the British government. On the other hand Napoleon had stationed close to a hundred and thirty thousand men with well prepared artillery, with state equipments of commendable standards discipline and efficiency.These men were under the command of Napoleon himself. The disparity in the number of troops stationed by Napoleon’s opponent and those of Napoleon was great and favored the allied forces. In this circumstance Emperor was bound to have to tough battle, but the Russian and Austrian armies could not reach t he eastern frontiers before July. Napoleon's problem, with markedly inferior numbers, was to prevent a junction of the two allied armies in the north, and to beat them separately. He hoped to surprise them while they were still dispersed; and the concentration of his Army was as brilliantly conceived as ever.(Esdale 2001, 86) At June 16th it became clear to Napoleon that Blucher was concentrating in force round Ligny. Napoleon intended to tie down the Prussians by a frontal assault, and then smash their right wing, forcing them on a line of retreat eastwards away from Wellington. By 8 pm Napoleon had put in the Guard at Ligny, and had broken and partially routed the Prussians. Napoleon could either complete the rout of the Prussians, or move to the left wing and smash Wellington while the Prussians were still out of action. Yet within a few hours Napoleon had lost the initiative.(Rothenberg 1977, 95) On the morning of June 18 Napoleon with seventy-four thousand men faced Wellington with sixty-seven thousand men. Wellington had chosen his favorite defensive position on a rise, where the reverse slopes would shelter his infantry from plunging artillery fire, and he carefully distributed his English divisions to stiffen the Belgian-Dutch. Napoleon ignored the warnings of his Peninsular War Generals about the fire-power of the English infantry, and decided on a frontal attack on the centre. `I tell you that Wellington is a bad General, that the English are bad troops, and it will be a picnic.‘ He was in no hurry to start the battle, and Drouot advised him to let the ground dry out till midday, so that the twelve-pounder batteries could get into position. (Black 1994, 211) Napoleon intended to smash Wellington before the Prussians could intervene. Britain found it difficult to unite her might with Prussian war effort. The situation at Waterloo was a completely different scenario. At Waterloo, Wellington succeeded to pin down Napoleon leading a situation Napol eon regarded as one of his nightmares in his bid to conquer the world.At this stage of the war, the joint forces of Britain, Holland, Belgium and later on Russia pulled their might together to crush the French forces at Waterloo. Moreover, his efforts to keep Russia away from the battle failed. He had sent one of his commanders with 3000 men to keep the Russians busy thereby keeping them away from the forces of Britain, Holland and Belgium, but this mission never succeeded as the Russians ended up re-enforcing the allied forces at Waterloo. In this regards, Napoleon lost at Waterloo partly because he had failed to hold to his war time commitment of keeping the forces of his opponents separated.Napoleon did not take seriously the possibility that Blucher would recover from Ligny in time to join Wellington. By his underestimate of Blucher, the more surprising because be had experienced his pertinacity in 1813 and 1814, Napoleon had allowed himself to be strategically outmanoeuvred. Th e British forces had some tactical advantages over those of the French. To begin with, the British forces were well trained to withstand cavalry which was a significant part of Napoleon’s war efforts. The British mounted three line deep square with soldiers at the forefront kneeling and those behind firing.Moreover the British army had what it took for this system to succeed and that was discipline. This discipline put the British soldiers in a superior position when compared to the French. In fact, the British always struggled to keep their lines in tact even when they faced threats from advancing French troops. Moreover, while the British fought in line formation, the French held to their column system and this had a severe weakness as the French forces could only attack the British from the sides and in front.(Webster 1931, 74) In addition, the British took a superior position over the French following their rapid musket fire, a rolling fire across the line that went on in a constant manner and the Britain army had been trained to be fast and fire as soon as the command was made. Everything could still be retrieved by a tactical triumph on the field of Waterloo, but Napoleon made a mistake that left the tactical handling of the battle to Ney as he was too imprudent. When Ney launched the first main attack four densely massed infantry columns were repulsed with heavy loss by the English volleys.After that Ney sent in the cavalry alone. For two hours the superb French heavy cavalry were worn down against the unbroken English squares, and were unable even to spike the guns which the enemy had temporarily to abandon. (Rothenberg 1977, 110-112) In the evening Napoleon had been forced to use fourteen thousand men of his general reserve to bold up Bulow's Prussians. That’s why there were no troops for a final decisive assault on the English centre. As Wellington put in his cavalry, the French Army broke in panic and rout. Barely eight thousand men es caped in fighting formation.(Knoph 1979, 187) Ney's fundamental error was in first sending in the infantry column unsupported by cavalry, and then the cavalry unsupported by infantry. After the tremendous artillery preparation, a combined assault of all arms would have forced the enemy to form into squares, which could then have been ripped to pieces with caseshot from the horse and divisional artillery. Wellington wrote on the day after the battle: It was the most desperate business I ever was in: I never took so much trouble about any battle, and never was so near being beat.Our loss is immense, particularly in the best of all instruments, the British infantry. I never saw the infantry behave so well. ‘ (Markham 1974, 261) Wellington fought his last battle at Waterloo and became a hero as his popularity all over Europe became great and in the process crating a legacy for himself and the world. He was Commander-in-Chief during the occupation of France and advocated a non-puni tive peace deal. He organized loans to restore French finances and advised the withdrawal of troops after three years. He returned home in 1818 and became Prime Minister in 1828.Main military reason why Napoleon failed in the battle of Waterloo was the fact that the British forces had some tactical advantages over those of the French. To begin with, the British forces were well trained to withstand cavalry which was a significant part of Napoleon’s war efforts. The British mounted three line deep square with soldiers at the forefront kneeling and those behind firing. Moreover the British army had what it took for this system to succeed and that was discipline. This discipline put the British soldiers in a superior position when compared to the French.In fact, the British always struggled to keep their lines in tact even when they faced threats from advancing French troops. Moreover, while the British fought in line formation, the French held to their column system and this ha d a severe weakness as the French forces could only attack the British from the sides and in front. In addition, the British took a superior position over the French following their rapid musket fire, a rolling fire across the line that went on in a constant manner and the Britain army had been trained to be fast and fire as soon as the command was made.(Webster 1931, 74-78) Delay in the deployment of Napoleon’s troops also played a dominant role in the defeat of France at the battle of Waterloo. To begin with, delay in the deployment of troops meant; Napoleon gave his opponents the opportunity to further increase the already existing numerical superiority to the detriment of his own forces. Secondly delay in the deployment of troops meant the aspect of surprise attack was no longer a dominant part of the game. This is because the allied forces had the time to prepare for an impending attack from which ever angle Napoleon chose to attack from.The failure of Napoleon at the ba ttle of Waterloo could also be blamed on the organization of his opponents. For instance, the forces mounted by the Duke of Wellington were well organized and disciplined, a situation that gave him the opportunity to be able to station his forces at any one moment on any of the many roads that lead to Brussels so as to check any impending danger or advancement of napoleons forces. (Veve 1992, 214) That means the allied army was made present for movement to any direction necessary. An important factor that led to the defeat of the French was weather.This was during the wet season because the ground was wet and muddy thereby making it difficult for soldiers to move freely, Napoleon was pushed to postpone some major attack till one p. m. on the grounds that he was waiting for the field to get dry. In fact the muddier the ground remained meant the more difficult it became for napoleon’s army to move as their and wheels of their war vehicles kept sinking in to the mud and in the p rocess Napoleon’s men and army were bound to get tired faster than would have been the case if the ground was dry. Postponement and delays in launching major was not a good thing for napoleon to do.For instance, delay meant the advancing Prussian army was left unchecked likewise attacking earlier would have meant the advancing Prussian army who had been delayed due to the muddy nature of the terrain would have been delayed further and thereby keeping them far from the battle ground. To conclude we should say that a whole host of reasons are responsible for Napoleon’s misfortune on the day of Waterloo. In the final analysis, Napoleon was bound to crumble in that battle. Main political reason is Emperor’s failure to hold to his war time commitment of keeping the forces of his opponents separated.Situation in France was not favorable too as upper classes were opposed to war and this situation had a serious impact on Bonaparte’s adventure. Main military reaso n why Napoleon failed in the battle of Waterloo was the fact that the British forces had some tactical advantages over those of the French. Also Napoleon made a mistake that left the tactical handling of the battle to Ney. Ultimately, Emperor shoulders much of the responsibility for the failure or defeat of France in the battle of Waterloo. Napoleon had not grasped the speed or the scope of the industrial revolution in England.The fact that he was the overall leader and his inability to make correct judgments meant France was doomed to fail in the battle of Waterloo. He remained very confident or better still arrogant, believing he could win back the support of France and overcome the Allies. Defeat at The Battle of Waterloo ended Napoleon’s hundred days reign. He was left with no choice than to move to the island of St Helena where he died in 1821. BIBLIOGRAPHY Andrews, Gordon. Napoleon in Review. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1939. Abbott, John S. C. Napoleon at St.Helena: Or, Interesting Anecdotes and Remarkable Conversations of the Emperor during the Five and a Half Years of His Captivity. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1855. Bourne, Henry Eldridge. The Revolutionary Period in Europe: 1763-1815. New York: The Century Co.. , 1915. Black, Jeremy. European Warfare, 1660-1815. London: UCL Press, 1994. Bond, Brian. The Pursuit of Victory: From Napoleon to Saddam Hussein. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998. Brett-James, A. The Hundred Days: Napoleons Last Campaign from Eye-Witness Accounts. New York: St. Martins Press, 1964. Cowin, Margarete Bacon.Napoleon the First: A Biograph. New York: Henry Holt, 1903. Creasy, Edwards. The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World. New York: E. P. Dutton, 1908. Doz, Yvez and Kosonen, Mikko. Fast Strategy: How Strategic Agility will help you stay ahead of the game. New York: Wharton Pearson, 2007. Esdaile, Charles J. The French Wars 1792-1815. London: Routledge, 2001. Forrest, A. Napoleon’s Men. New York: London: Hamb ledon, 2002. Howarth, D. Waterloo: Day of Battle. New York: Atheneum, 1968. Knoph, A. A. (L. Chalfont, Ed. ) Waterloo: Battle of the Three Armies. New York: Book Club Edition, 1979. Markham, F. M.H. Napoleon and the Awakening of Europe. London: English Universities Press, 1954. Muir, R. Britain and the Defeat of Napoleon 1807-1815. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1996. Rosebery. Napoleon, the Last Phase. London: Arthur L. Humphreys, 1900. Rothenberg, Gunther E. The Art of Warfare in the Age of Napoleon. London: Batsford, 1977. Veve, Thomas Dwight. The Duke of Wellington and the British Army of Occupation in France, 1815-1818. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1992. Webster, C. K. The Foreign Policy of Castlereagh, 1812-1815: Britain and the Reconstruction of Europe. London: 1931.

A Critical Analysis Of “The Send Off” By Wilfred Owen Essay

This essay intends to examine the poem â€Å"The Send Off† by Wilfred Owen. Owen wrote this poem while he was stationed at Ripon army camp. He was based there after being a patient at the Craiglockhart War Hospital, this is where he met Robert Graves and Siegfried Sassoon. Owen was at Ripon between March and June, 1918 and died in action on the fourth of November 1918. â€Å"The Send Off† is a poem about some troops that have just come from a sending off ceremony before departing by train, presumably to the frontlines of World war One. The poem has many themes running through it. Some of these are death, strangers, flowers, secretiveness and healing. The poem opens with a very claustrophobic first line – â€Å"down the close, darkening lanes they sang their way† The words ‘down’, ‘close’ and ‘darkening’ provide the reader with a feeling of doom, claustrophobia and fear of uncertainty. The image of going ‘down’ provides the reader with the images of death, darkness, being buried, walking the trenches and going to hell. This opening line also provides a rather prophetic image of people being sent to concentration camps, by train, in World War Two. Further enhanced by ‘siding shed’. From the phrase â€Å"they sang their way2 there is an opposed feeling of happiness to the claustrophobia. However, the singing changes from happiness when the poem is read again and the other themes are considered. Flowers are the next prominent theme displayed in this poem. They appear in line four, stanza one and line fifteen, stanza three. â€Å"Their breasts were stuck all white with wreath and spray As men’s are, dead.† The flowers are described as white and in wreath form, the reader may imagine in this line that white lilies are associated with funerals. The language in this line gives the impression that the troops are covered in white flowers  and that the flowers are ‘stuck’ to their ‘breasts’ as in a coffin. This is further enhanced by the abrupt end to this line ‘dead’. The impression is that the soldiers are predresseed for their own funerals. â€Å"Nor there if they yet mock what women meant Who gave them flowers.† In this line the poet is asking if the women, who gave the troops the flowers, realise that the flowers are symbolising the reality of the horrors and the almost certain death that these troops are going to face in the frontline. The theme of funerals is picked up again in stanza two – â€Å"Dull porters watched them, and a casual tramp Stood staring hard,† The strangers, the porters, tramp, guard and women are all watching the troops, covered in flowers march from their army camp to the train station. The troops, in deliberately, are predressed for their funeral and there are no apparent cheers or voices in the poem as they depart, they are leaving silently, secretly and this leaves the reader feeling that it is a funeral convoy passing by and that the troops are experiencing foreboding of doom and may well be resigned to their fate on the frontlines. â€Å"They sang their way dimly gay† further shows that the troops are resigned to their fate and are singing their way to almost certain death.. interestingly, there is a large amount of secretiveness throughout this poem. It is first apparent in stanza three – â€Å"So secretly, like wrongs hushed-up, they went.† This line makes the reader question why the troops are departing so secretly, then in line thirteen the phrase – â€Å"We never heard to which front these were sent.† Shows that the troops and general public were not aware of where the troops would go to fight, or what the true nature of the realities would be when they got to their destination and that the public were not made aware of these realities and truths, in fact it was concealed from them. The secretiveness is also mentioned in stanza two, lines nine and ten – â€Å"Then unmoved, signals nodded, and a lamp Winked to the guard.† Here the theme of secretiveness is displayed through the imagery of the signals nodded and a lamp winked, the reader feels conspiratorial messages conveyed through Morse code. In the last stanza the secretiveness theme appears again, but this time, it is linked with the return of the soldiers. This stanza implies that only a few of these soldiers are likely to survive the war and return to their homes. However, they will ‘creep back’ implies that the soldiers may not wish to return as heroes and may need to heal themselves both mentally and physically. In conclusion â€Å"The Send Off† by Wilfred Owen starts off as a poem about a sending off ceremony towards the end of the war but in fact goes on much deeper to discuss the differences between what people at home perceive the war to be and the actual realities that the soldiers face at the frontlines. The last stanza hints at healing, and suggests that those few soldiers who do return may wish to do so silently, and not as heroes, and may not wish to discuss the realities and horrors that they have experienced. Thus, the  title is rather ambiguous.