In 1861, however, came the Civil War; a sharp struggle for control of this vital waterway ensued immediately, which culminated in Ulysses S. Grant's siege of Vicksburg, helped by the fortified gunboats and armoured steamers of the Union.
There was also a sharp struggle over leaded gasoline, which had been an issue since the 1920s, when Standard Oil kept industrial fatalities secret.
The words are sharper, the struggles more frequent, comments drip with disdain.
Some of Japan's once shining corporate stars, including Sony and Sharp, are struggling with record losses.
In what appeared to be an effort to address the problem, the Hon Hai chairman, Terry Gou, negotiated last year to acquire a 10 percent stake in Sharp, the struggling Japanese company, which is the only major competitor to Samsung in display panels.
Sharp has struggled to cut costs and reshape its business, partly because it has invested in expensive plants in Japan that make the panels for TVs and mobile devices and is being hurt by plunging prices and intense competition.
In 1928 and 1929 he increasingly undermined his former allies of the "Right," implementing a program of faster industrialization and sharper class struggle with the errant elements of the peasantry.
Yet this was a security that only made internecine struggles sharper.
DEALBOOK Qualcomm Buys a Stake in Sharp | The struggling Japanese consumer electronics giant Sharp said it would receive a $120 million investment from Qualcomm in a two-part deal that would make the American company one of Sharp's biggest shareholders.
Sharp, which has struggled amid falling sales and a rising yen, has had its credit rating cut to "junk" status.
