Although Belgium has only been an independent state since the 1830s, it has a long and complex past. This history is essential for understanding the complexities of issues that led to a devolution of the unitary Belgian state into a federation of linguistically based regions. In addition to the elements that contributed to Belgium's particular political evolution, the history which is traced in this book is a composite of many themes of broad historical interest and importance. Belgium: A History covers the gamut of Belgian history through dramas of religious and cultural conflict, intense localism, state building, uneven development, divergent class interests, war and domination, and finally, integration into a larger European community.
At the beginning of the twenty-first century, Michigan was home to the second-largest Belgian population in the United States, and Detroit had one of the largest Belgian populations in the nation. Although immigration declined after World War I, the Belgian-American community is still prominent in the state. Political, religious, and economic conditions, including a nineteenth-century depression, helped motivate the move to America. Belgians brought with them the ability and willingness to innovate, as well as a tradition of hard work and devotion. "The Gazette van Detroit", a Flemish-language newspaper first printed in Detroit in 1914, continues to be produced and distributed to subscribers throughout the United States and overseas. Belgian-Americans continue to incorporate traditional values with newfound American values, enabling them to forever preserve their heritage.
Obaid Younossi; Mark A. Lorell; Kevin Brancato; Cynthia R. Cook; Mel Eisman; Bernard Fox; John C. Graser; Kim Yool; Robert S. Leonard; Shari Lawrence Pfleeger
Why have the costs of acquiring space systems been so high? What are the sources of the problem? To answer these questions, RAND undertook an extensive study of two space systems - the Space Based Infrared SystemHigh (SBIRS) and the Global Positioning System (GPS).This title analyzes the reason for the comparatively high growth in the cost of space systems by means of an in-depth study of two systems: SBIRS-High and GPS.
When, on June 5, 1998, Falcon Air Force Base, ten miles east of Colorado Springs, Colorado, was renamed in honor of General Bernard A. Schriever, USAF (Ret.), it marked a singular event. Normally, such an honor is bestowed posthumously, but in this case, the renaming ceremony proved the exception.Although World War II had sparked an effusion of scientific and technical developments, among them radar, electronic warfare, jet engines, air-to-air and air-to-ground missiles, and data-processing technology, the two innovations ofunprecedented character that had the greatest affect on the Air Force and the world balance of power were nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles. Gen. Henry H. "Hap" Arnold, who led the Army Air Forces in World War II, believed correctly that the Air Forces' future lay in adapting scientific andengineering advances to air warfare. He was determined to continue in peacetime the cooperation between the Air Force, university scientists, and industry that had paid such handsome dividends during the war. One of the men selected to help fashion the technology of the postwar Air Force was a young colonel named Bernard Schriever, who combined some uncommon personal attributes with engineering training and combat experience. Schriever was to become the officer most closely associated with the development of ballistic missiles. Ultimately, he would be responsible for research, development, and acquisition of all new weapons used by the United States Air Force
