In my previous history class, there was a huge banner on the wall that loomed over the room. I read it every day: “Learning from the past. Live in the present. Preparing for the future.” Less than a year ago, my classmates and I in our history class were panicking about final exams, studying hard and frantically, cramming everything in the night before — in other words, exactly what our teachers told us not to Do. This probably wasn't the best way to approach final exams. This year, my classmates and I tried to “learn from the past” and prepare ourselves better. But I guess you could say history repeats itself. On a larger scale, you can see the repetition through the Syrian Civil War, which has technically been ongoing since 2011, but there has been a long history of political instability dating back to 1900. Just like in the Pequot War of 1634, where without doing research, you might think that the war was only between the English against the Pequots, many people think that the Syrian conflict is between “rebel forces” and Bashar al-Assad (the president of Syria) and his government. When he “reluctantly” took power in 2000, due to the deaths of his male relatives, many people believed he would reform tumultuous Syria. However, his administration has been considered “full of hardliners,” or people who support strict, often extreme rules. His administration is believed to have “pushed him away from reforms”. Assad and his administration have raised many rebels, angry at the government and eager to overthrow it. But the “rebel forces” are not a large group, just as “the English” were made up of English, Mohegan, and Narragansett. There are approximately 100,000 rebels in Syria who make up approximately 1,000 different rebel groups. Some groups are... middle of paper... does the empire grow into what it is today? Today, China's population is approximately 1.354 billion people, while India's is approximately 1.27 billion people. In 1600 China(*) had around 200 million people and India did not carry out censuses, but it was a densely populated country(**). China is very powerful and important to the United States. They produce almost every item we use: almost everything, from dolls to plastic to clothes, has "MADE IN CHINA" written on the label. Has China always played such an important role in world society? Have China and India always had the highest populations in the world? If not, when did this powerful rise begin?*according to http://www.meteor.iastate.edu/gccourse/energy/china.html**according to http://www.preservearticles.com/2011112818005/notes- on -ancient-history-of-population-growth-in-india.html