What Were the Effects of the Contact Between Europeans and North Americans Essay Example for Free

What Were the Effects of the Contact Between Europeans and North Americans Essay Ever since 1485, Christopher Columbus, an explorer from Italy, began to vigorously look for sponsor for his voyage. He presented his idea of sailing to the Atlantic and into mysterious Asia to John II, King of Portugal. Yet, he was interested in his plan. John II and the royalties thought the plan was unfavorable and unrealistic. When Columbus was about to give up, the queen of Spain, Queen Isabella, offered her assistance. Columbus and Queen Isabella later signed a treaty called Capitulations of Santa Fe, stating that the new lands Columbus could claim for Spain would belong to him. In return, he should bring back gold, pearls, and spice. In 1492,Christopher Columbus and his three ships- the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria, arrived on the shores of San Salvador in the Caribbean. Lacking knowledge of geography, he believed that he had reached India but which was actually North America. (Livingston, 2010) However, after Columbus’ arrival in the Americas, the animal, plant, people, and bacterial life of these two worlds began to mix up. The arrival of Columbus brought wars, slavary and forced labor, the spreading of diseases caused at least 5 million deaths even worse. The contact between Europeans and North Americans brought Natives catastrophes and devastation that Europeans could never make up. Most importantly, the hidden disease brought by the Europeans caused massive amount of Natives to die. As the Spain, French, and English explorers came to America, diseases like small pox, malaria, chicken pox, influenza, measles, and yellow fever, the diseases that once killers that killed a great deal of Europeans, were brought to the new lands too. Walbert)Which were later called as â€Å" The gift from Old to New Worlds†. (Kincheloe, 2007) As time passed, the Europeans were used to these diseases and gained immunity against them. However, the natives had never confront of these disease before, therefore they had no resistance to these illness, and their traditional cures didn’t work. These diseases killed as much as 90 percent of the native population, which means that only one in ten natives survived. Diseases like malaria and yellow fever were passed down from person to person from mosquitoes. When a particular region was affected, the disease would usually spread out rapidly. Also, natives could easily get the diseases when traded with one another. Other diseases could be transmitted throught the livestocks brought by the Europeans. For example, cattle passes measles and small pox; pigs pass influenza; chicken pass malaria. Native hunters and gatherers could get the diseases when they were in touch with the animals. Thomas Harriot, an English explorer, witnessed the natives suffered from the diseases and wrote the following paragraph in his jornal, â€Å"Within a few days after our departure from every such [Indian] town, the people began to die very fast, and many in short space; in some towns about twenty, in some forty, in some sixty, in one six score [6 x 20 = 120], which in truth was very many in respect of their numbers. . . . The disease was also so strange that they neither knew what it was nor how to cure it. † (Kincheloe, 2007) Harriot’s paragraph clearly stated that the natives died in large amount everyday. Lostln Revery said in her article: The transmission of the diseases caused more devastation in the New World than the Black Death had done in Europe. In addition, the coming of European also brought up a new kind of trade-the slave trade, which cost hundreds and thousands of native men and women forced to be taken away. (Walbert)Dr. Calvin Lawrence Jr. wrote the following paragraph in Coloumbus Day 2012: Hero, Villain, or Both?. â€Å" Columbus is an obvious target of scorn and resentment for Native Americans whose fortunes declined precipitously in the aftermath of his journey to the New World. He and his men also brutalized people of the West Indies and enslaved others. † He interpeted how Columbus and his crew treated the native slaves. According to the passage, the settlers treated the native slaves ruthlessly and unfairly. As the number of settlers increased, more and more buildings like housings were needed. Settlers needed workers to do chores such as building the houses and working of planation. Settlers later found out that they could sell tools, firearms, metal knives, axes, ammunition, alchohol, furs and cloths to the natives. Kincheloe, 2007) In return, they would bring them other natives they captured in tribal wars. Those warslaves were sold to the settlers as slavery. The idea of slavery had already occur before Europeans arrived. The natives adopted the idea of holding slaves as chattel property. Those slaves were usually enslaved war captives and were used for small- scale labor or rutual sacrifices. Little records stated that the slave holders viewed the slavess racially inferior from other tribes. However, most slaves would slowly equalized into the tribes to replace dead warriors. After European marched in, it caused a change in Native American slavery, as they created a new market. At first, the settlers only bought slaves from other tribes and used them as workers. As time passed, the demand increased, colonists in the South began to capture natives. The natives were used as labors to cultivate tobacco, rice, or indigo, which is a type of dye. Therefore, the population of natives decreased swiftly due to forced labor. Settlers even encouraged natives to go against each other to triggered them into war, their objectives were to weaken the warring tribes and increase the number of slaves. Furthermore, the misunderstood and conflict between Europeans and Native Americans usaully lead to war that led to massacres of native villages. For example, the conflict between settlers and the Pequot tribe that was centered along the Pequot River, called The Pequot War. (Pequot War) The natives believed that the land were sacred and they were closely linked with the lands. The idea of â€Å"owning† land did not exit among the Native Americans. They lived on the land, but didn’t consider that they owned it. When European immigrated in their lands, the Native Americans welcomed them and were willing to share the lands with them. Nonetheless, the Europeans took advantages of the natives and started to take over their land. The points of anxiety included unfair trading, the sale of alcohol, and the destruction of Pequot crops. Eventually, it led to the first war between natives and Europeans on the continent. In 1636, European trader called John Oldham was killed by the Pequot. The incident triggered the leader of settlers, John Endicott, to seek retaliations. The Europeans then cooperated with the Narragansett, the rival of the Pequot. In May 1637, more than 500 Pequot people were burned down or hunted down, and the chief was the executed. The village was massacred. Historians considered this as a shameful period of history. The other example was the conflict between the Southern Tuscaroas tribe and the settlers in 1715. The war was later called The Tuscarora War. The European Setllers that lived in North Carolina had lived in peace with the natives for over 50 years. The chief of the Southern Tuscarora, Chief Hancock, later found his villages often assaulted and his people frequently kidnapped and sold as slaves. Chief Hancock felt that there were no alternative but to go against the settlers. Chief Hancock teamed up with other tribes and attakced the planters on the Roanoke River. Hundreds of settlers were killed. Governor force then attacked the Southern Tuscarora and other tribes in return. Hundrerd and thousands of Tuscarora were killed or made prisoners. As the result, the majority of Southern Tuscarora began migrating to New York to escape the setttlers. Due to the natives were mostly lack of armed force and resources, also weaken by diseases, they were nearly always unsucessful in wars. In conclusion, the contact between European and American caused the population of natives to reduce fastly. The Europeans thought they were the superior culture that brought civilization to the inferior culture. Since they were armed with better weapon, natives were in an inferior postion. Although the settlers did make progress for the natives, they still caused a great deal of native’s death. European imperialism of America changed the culture and lives of natives permanently and resulted in genocide of natives. The most deadly reason of native’s death is the disease they brought from the old world. The settlers brought in a number of kinds diseases that were fetal and took away a great deal of native’s life. As the settlers increased, more and more laborers were needed. Natives were captured and sold as slaves to work for the settlers. However,the settlers didn’t treat the natives well and overworked the natives. Lastly, the war between natives and settlers was also one of the reason that natives deceaded. Settlers from European countries armed with better weapons that natives couldn’t compete. As the result, the natives were mostly defeated in battles. To sum up, the contact between Europeans and Native Americans ked to a demographic disaster of unprecedented proportions. Some natives population became extinct in less than 100 years.

Effect Of Postimpressionists On The Next Generation Essay -- essays re

Postimpressionism Postimpressionism was a movement in late-19th-century French painting that emphasized the artist's personal response to a subject. Postimpressionism takes its name from an art movement that immediately preceded it: Impressionism. But whereas impressionist painters concentrated on the depiction of a subject's immediate appearance, postimpressionists focused on emotional or spiritual meanings that the subject might convey. Although impressionist artists interpreted what they saw, their approach nevertheless remained rooted in observation of the natural world. Postimpressionists conveyed their personal responses to the world around them through the use of strong, unnatural colors and exaggeration or slight distortion of forms. Postimpressionism can be said to have begun in 1886, the year that French painter Georges Seurat exhibited Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte (1884-1886), and to have ended in 1906, the year French painter Paul CÃ ©zanne died. British art critic Roger Fry, however, coined the term postimpressionism, in 1910 when he organized an exhibition of French paintings at the Grafton Galleries in London. Fry is said to have been dissuaded from using the word expressionist to describe the work of CÃ ©zanne, Seurat, Paul Gauguin, Henri Matisse, Vincent van Gogh, and others, and to have finally declared: "Oh, let's just call them post-impressionists; at any rate, they came after the impressionists." The term was firmly established when Fry held a second show of postimpressionist art at the Grafton Galleries in 1912. The Postimpressionists The painters most closely associated with postimpressionism all took part in Fry's first exhibition: CÃ ©zanne, Seurat, Gauguin, Matisse, and van Gogh. Although their styles differed greatly from one another, these artists shared an ability to communicate concepts, emotions, or personal sensation through their art. Unlike other postimpressionists, Paul CÃ ©zanne did not create symbolic equivalents between elements of his paintings and particular emotions or concepts. Instead, CÃ ©zanne, who began his career as an impressionist, felt that he could communicate the intensity of his personal sensation through his painted observations of nature. He repeatedly turned to traditional artistic subjects, such as landscapes, still lifes, and nude bathers. However, his r... ...m, used more decorative shapes, stencilling, collage, and brighter colors. It was then that artists such as Picasso and Braque started to use pieces of cut-up newspaper in their paintings. An early 20th-century school of painting and sculpture in which the subject matter is portrayed by geometric forms without realistic detail, stressing abstract form at the expense of other pictorial elements largely by use of intersecting often transparent cubes and cones. CÃ ©zanne influenced cubism, the highly influential visual arts style of the 20th century that was created principally by Picasso and Braque in Paris between 1907 and 1914. The Cubist style emphasized the flat, two-dimensional surface of the picture plane, rejecting the traditional techniques of perspective, foreshortening, modeling, and chiaroscuro and refuting time-honoured theories of art as the imitation of nature. Cubist painters were not bound to copying form, texture, colour, and space; instead, they presented a new reality in paintings that depicted radically fragmented objects, whose several sides were seen simultaneously. this has been collected from various resources on the net ... ibiblio.org, among others

Analysis Of Scientific Glass Inventory Management Finance Essay

The products of Scientific Glass include customized and specialized glassware for a variety of organizations such as pharmaceutical companies, hospitals, research labs, quality-control sites and testing facilities. By January 2010, a substantial increase in their inventory balances tied up the capital needed for investment for expansion. The debt-to-capital ratio exceeded the 40% target preventing the company to use their capital in other areas. Also the shipping costs were rising, competitive pressures were speeding up, and certain markets in North America and Europe were becoming saturated which underscored the necessity for capital investment for expanding market opportunities in Latin America and Asia. Moreover, expanding warehousing network increased the inventory levels along with costs, documentation complexities and errors. The company hired a new Manager of Inventory Planning, Ava Beane, to come up with an effective plan to manage SG’ s inventory without requiring a large capital investment. In order to finance operations in year 2010, SG requires an external funding of $53.8 million. These expenses would further limit the company to use their existing capital in other areas such as research and development and expanding to international markets. To improve customer service levels, SG had increased the target customer fill rate to 99% and added six more leased ware houses to meet the demand more accurately. This led to an increase in the inventory levels as some warehouse managers kept extra inventory in order to meet the company target fill rate. Good practices Maintained continued sales growth and higher customer satisfaction Produced creative products with lower life cycle costs Focused on durable products, innovative designs and superior customer services Reduced time between ordering and delivering the products to the customers Bad practices Treated inventory management as an afterthought, due to which inventory imbalances were increasing The company exceeded its target debt to capital ratio of 40% Incurred both underage and overage costs High Inventory Problem Due to increasing in customer service level, SG planned to add regional  warehouses in many parts US. SG has the main and the largest one in Waltham, MA, which is next to manufacturing plant. SG also has another warehouse that located outside of Phoenix, Arizona. However, at the end of 2008, SG bought other six warehouses. This means SG has the total 8 warehouses to serve customers. Annual rental and operation costs for North American warehouses were 15% of the cost of the warehoused inventory. However, in 2006, before add more 6 warehouses, SG already made investment to expand the warehouse at Waltham in anticipation of continued growth, but after these 6 warehouses had been bought, this warehouse does not work full efficiency of its capacity. Another problem of warehouse management is company expected to reach high level of customer service to 99%, so that warehouse managers keep order inventory ahead before it reach threshold of inventory level to order new one to assure that they will meet the customer service target level at 99%. This situation causes high inventory levels than required and also high inventory turnover. Moreover, salespeople were allowed to have its products up to $10,000 worth from ware house and keep them in trunk stock in their homes and cars in order to deliver this inventory on short notice to any customer who was within driving distance. This amount could lead to high finished goods in warehouse and in-transit. It could lead to missing products in inventory, and lost. Proposed solutions to inventory problem In order to solve the inventory issues, two main aspects need to be considered: Number of warehouses and their structure can be changed; Related policies can be changed and more appropriate policies need to be implemented. For changing the number of warehouses, in other words, centralizing or decentralizing warehousing functions, the different options considered are as follows: Centralized warehousing in Waltham: This option uses a single central warehouse near to manufacturing facility at Waltham and will send all customer orders from this one location. Centralized warehousing in Waltham to meet demand in Southeast and Northeast regions used the delivery service of Winged Fleet as their rates are cheaper for these two regions. This would allow SG to pool its inventory in one place in order to meet demand. But the customer response times would  increase Decentralized warehousing: This option considers more number of warehouses rather than having a single centralized warehouse to meet the demand better and reduce customer response time. Continuing with 8 warehouses: This option makes no change on the network of the warehouses and all regions will be supplied its warehouse if there is no stock-out occurs. Two centralized warehouses: In this option, the additional warehouse will be at the west at Phoenix and it will be supplied from Waltham. Demand of east region will be met from Waltham, demand of west region will be met from Phoenix and demand of central region will be met from both warehouses, assuming to have equal shares on the central region. This option may also consider including the warehouse at Dallas In addition to the main warehouse at Waltham. This additional warehouse would be supplied from Waltham. This would allow demand to be met for all other regions and prevent any stock-outs in a single warehouse. Outsourcing the warehousing functions: In this option, all warehousing actions will be outsourced to Global Logistics (GL) and distribution will start from main warehouse at Waltham and then GL will be responsible from rest of the operations. Outsource warehousing to GL to meet demand in the Central, Southwest and Northwest regions because shipping costs for those regions is cheapest with the GL rates. Outsource warehousing to Global Logistics (GL) which will provide a centralized warehousing in Atlanta. Goods will be transported in bulk from Waltham to Atlanta and GL would take responsibility of inventory-control and delivery to the customers. This way SG would not have to bear the warehouse rental charges and could focus on increasing sales and develop newer products to meet customer needs. Evaluation of the proposed solutions Having proposed certain options for inventory management, the evaluation of the different options needs to be evaluated using certain parameters to arrive at a conclusion on which would be comparatively the better option to be followed for scientific glass. Evaluation of different options will be conducted based on the following five parameters: Transportation costs, Average inventory levels, Time responsiveness, Fill rates and Additional costs and benefits Since all the products of scientific glass can be arrived out based on the analysis of its 2 products namely Griffin and Erlenmeyer, since they are mentioned as the best representative for a total of nearly 3000 products of Scientific Glass, all the parameters are analyzed for these products to arrive at a conclusion. Transportation Costs: Transportation costs for different options would be calculated for the two products, namely Griffin and Erlenmeyer. In addition, for each option, demand for the next year calculated considering the 20% increase in sales. When warehouse to customer shipments are considered average shipment weight of 19, 5 pound is used and to have an average transportation cost value, these two products’ costs are averaged according to their relative proportion in sales. Inter-warehouse transshipments occur only when stock-out occurs and as the numbers of warehouses are decreasing, effect of these costs will be diminished; therefore, it is only considered in the option where there are 8 warehouses. Option Transportation cost($) Centralized warehouse – all customer shipments are calculated for rates of Winged Fleet 12210, 16 8 warehouses- having 8 warehouses and making no change, from Waltham to all other 7 warehouses all items are sent by bulk shipment. Inter-warehouse transshipments are calculated by bulk shipment rates and they are considered only when a stock-out occurs, therefore fill rate is included in these calculations 2701, 41 2 warehouses – , when two centralized warehouses considered, it is assumed that Waltham will supply east region, Phoenix will supply will west region and they will equally supply the central region 2332, 07 Outsourcing – when warehousing functions are outsourced, assuming the 5 regions of Global Logistics (GL) will have equal amount of demand 2276, 83 To conclude, as it is expected, when numbers of warehouses are decreased transportation costs are increased. From the aspect of transportation costs, GL option has the smallest cost amount. Average Inventory Levels: The inventory policy to be used by the company needs to be decided. Begin with the review type; although firm monitors the entire inventory transfers from Waltham warehouse to other warehouses; they think taking physical counts of inventory at all warehouses. Therefore, it is concluded that company uses periodic inventory review policy. Company did not mention any due date, therefore the inventory plans should consider infinite time horizon. Though there exists a fixed cost for shipments from warehouses to customers; there is no other fixed cost related to transportation to the warehouses, i.e. no fixed ordering cost. The only order cost is $0.40 per pound bulk shipment cost which is a variable cost with weight. As a result, all analysis can be conducted considering critical ratios and the related fill rate values, which is the only option that is left and also it is considered as the most applicable to the situation. Since some of the simultaneous changes can be done, considering ce teris paribus principle and when fill rate is maintained exactly as 99% for all warehouses, we can calculate the average inventory level that must be kept at warehouses. Weighted-average biweekly inventory levels are found as: 8 warehouses : 98853 2 warehouses : 68034 1 warehouse : 59703 Outsourcing : 59703 When outsourcing option is used, it will be the same for the company in the sense of kept inventory levels for the one-centralized-warehouse option therefore they are assumed to be equal. As number of warehouse decreases, level of inventory decreases as it is expected. This is because, â€Å"the greater the degree of collaboration, the lower the uncertainty (standard  deviation of the error or coefficient of variation) of the demand model† This implies that the money tied up in the inventory decreases and this extra capital can be used in other areas, like expansion plans to international markets Based on average inventory levels, either single centralized warehouse or outsourcing gives equal results. Time Responsiveness: Delivery system of the company compensates 2 weeks of shipment cycles including the stock-out situations. In order to be a market leader, differentiation on this subject is also needed and unfortunately since this is not an exact quantitative scale, only possible situations could be mentioned. For having one centralized, or two centralized or 8 decentralized warehouse options, they all include at most 3 days ready to shipment duration and Winged Fleet’s delivery time of at most 3 days if there is no stock-out situation and the stock-out probabilities are diminishing with the aggregated demands. On the other hand, GL has 1-day premium shipment in addition to 3-day regular shipments. Considering the highly growing market situation and different segment of products, having different delivery times to different products and also to different customers will make this company focus on the most yielding areas. Therefore, it can be said that working with GL has the advantage of differ entiating customers/orders and, since there will be 2 warehouses, stock-out probability and related durations will be less compared to other options. And all of these aspects will increase the time responsiveness of the company. Additional Costs and Benefits: Quantitative issues to related to options of inventory management In order to continue with the current 8 warehouses total of $10M investment is necessary, it is assumed that all of this amount will be equally shared among all warehouses. Since warehouse operating costs will be the 15% of the total warehoused inventory, these costs could be directly compared with the annual average inventory levels that are kept in each option The amount paid to sales forces will not change when the company has 1, 2 or 8 warehouses because it is assumed that as the number of warehouses decreased, number of salesperson per warehouse will increase and total number of sales persons will not change. On the other hand, when warehousing is outsourced this  amount will not be paid Qualitative issues to related to options of inventory management. When GL is used for warehousing, SG’s senior managers will be able to focus on increasing sales, marketing issues and developing next generation of products. Stopping the practice of trunk stock could lead to a decrease in the time responsiveness and therefore it should not be stopped. Improving the controlling systems will create a better understanding of the current situation after the warehousing functions changed. Finally, when GL is used, the approach of warehouse managers to keep more than 99% fill rate and 60-day-supply will not be a problem, because all of these operating issues will be responsibility of GL. This will help to company not to keep excessive amount of inventory and less tied-up money in the inventory which can be used in other areas. Fill Rate: Company’s fill rate policy should also be calculated for the different options. The company replaced the earlier fill rate policy of 93%, which is only marginally better that the industry average fill rate of 92%, with 99%. However, there is no sign that the company is implementing this policy because it is the best approach that must be taken for the company objectives. Moreover, using a fill rate higher than optimal level leads to higher inventories and more money tied up in the inventory. Therefore, company should lower the rates down to optimal levels, if there is no other concern related to market leadership or customer satisfaction. To calculate the optimal levels of fill rates for all four options the cost items which are added to underage and overage costs also needs to be considered. The underage costs are 10% of the gross margin and overage costs are 0.6% of the unit cost of any product. Also it is assumed that unit costs covers all the costs such as warehouse rental and operation costs, cost of capital and inventory write-offs. For the three options other than outsourcing, there is no change in cost items, only the multiplied quantities are changed; but the outsourcing alternative eliminates the 15% warehouse rental and operating costs and 1% inventory write-offs. As a result, overage costs are decreased while underage costs are increased. Resulting optimal fill rates are as follows: 1, 2, or 8 warehouses Outsourcing Griffin 95.4% 96.5% Erlenmeyer 94.9% 96.1% These numbers can be interpreted in two different ways: If company is flexible about the determination of fill rate, in other words if it can lower the fill-rates from 99% to optimal levels, outsourcing option pushes the optimal fill rates to higher levels which results in larger inventories and more money to tie up. If the company still insists on keeping fill rate at 99%, the additional costs that must be paid to maintain 99% fill-rate level is lowered in the outsourcing alternative. Consequently, the better policy related to fill rates depend on the attitude of the company. Finally, another policy change about fill-rates can be considered. Rather than using one fill-rate for over all products of the company, different rates for different products can help the company in decreasing inventory costs related to, at least, for some of the products. Conclusion To conclude, since available options are studied from different aspects, it must be mentioned that the company should choose the alternatives and compare the results of evaluations according to their priorities. For instance, evaluation criteria like inventory levels and transportation costs are conflicting on interests. Company can see their situation and make decisions according to priorities. While assessing the weights for factors, it is considered that average inventory level and the transportation costs are the most important costs for the company. Then, the fill rate follows them. Time responsiveness is the next important factor which is followed by additional costs and benefits with equal weights for each. Changes in warehouse management are considered as options other than outsourcing do not provide radical policy changes which could make warehousing management better. These weights and the scores related to the investigations yield that the outsourcing the warehousing  function to Global Logistics is the best alternative among all. All of investigations and cost studies conducted are to find the most cost effective option in order to getting closer to the target debt to capital ratio of the company and provide more capital to fund expansion into new international markets while maintaining or even improving the high customer satisfaction level

Constantine at the Battle of Milvian Bridge

The Battle of Milvian Bridge was part of the Wars of Constantine. Date Constantine defeated Maxentius on October 28, 312. Armies Commanders Constantine Emperor Constantine Iapproximately 100,000 men Maxentius Emperor Maxentiusapproximately 75,000-120,000 men Battle Summary In the power struggle that began following the collapse of the Tetrarchy around 309, Constantine consolidated his position in Britain, Gaul, the Germanic provinces, and Spain. Believing himself to be the rightful emperor of the Western Roman Empire, he assembled his army and prepared for an invasion of Italy in 312. To the south, Maxentius, who occupied Rome, sought to advance his own claim to the title. To support his efforts, he was able to draw upon the resources of Italy, Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily, and the African provinces. Advancing south, Constantine conquered northern Italy after crushing Maxentian armies at Turin and Verona. Showing compassion to the citizens of the region, they soon began to support his cause and his army swelled to near 100,000 (90,000 infantry, 8,000 cavalry). As he neared Rome, it was expected that Maxentius would stay within the city walls and force him to lay siege. This strategy had worked in the past for Maxentius when he faced invasion from the forces of Severus (307) and Galerius (308). In fact, siege preparations had already been made, with large amounts of food already brought into the city. Instead, Maxentius opted to give battle and advanced his army to the Tiber River near the Milvian Bridge outside of Rome. This decision is largely believed to have been based on favorable omens and the fact that the battle would occur on the anniversary of his ascension to the throne. On October 27, the night before the battle, Constantine claimed to have had a vision which instructed him fight under the protection of the Christian God. In this vision a cross appeared in the sky and he heard in Latin, in this sign, you will conquer. The author Lactantius states that following the visions instructions, Constantine ordered his men to paint the Christians symbol (either a Latin cross or the Labarum) upon their shields. Advancing over the Milvian Bridge, Maxentius ordered it destroyed so that it could not be used by the enemy. He then ordered a pontoon bridge constructed for his own armys use. On October 28, Constantines forces arrived on the battlefield. Attacking, his troops slowly pushed back Maxentius men until their backs were at the river. Seeing that the day was lost, Maxentius decided to retreat and renew the battle closer to Rome. As his army withdrew, it clogged the pontoon bridge, its only avenue of retreat, ultimately causing it to collapse. Those trapped on the north bank were either captured or slaughtered by Constantines men. With Maxentius army split and decimated, the battle came to a close. Maxentius body was found in the river, where he had drowned in an attempt to swim across. Aftermath While casualties for the Battle of the Milvian Bridge are not known, it is believed that Maxentius army suffered badly. With his rival dead, Constantine was free to consolidate his hold over the Western Roman Empire. He expanded his reign to include the entire Roman Empire after defeating Licinius during the civil war of 324. Constantines vision prior to the battle is believed to have inspired his ultimate conversion to Christianity. Selected Sources Lactantius Account of the BattleEusebius Life of Constantine