Mikhail Gorbachev and the Collapse of Communism

Mikhail Gorbachev was the yongest leader for the Soviet Union at age 54. Mikhail did support the Soviet Union but saw that there was a decrease in the economy so, had other ideas. He did not like the ideas of totalitarianism and rewarding the silence of others or discouraging people acting on their own. So enough he figured out that there was going to be a collapse of communism in Russia. So he made his on policies one being glasnost, which was allowing citizens to talk about ways to improve the society. And also perestroika, which was allowing citizens to open up their own business. Many people started diliking Communism & it helped on the collapse of Communism. This gave people a voice & the right to vote, leading them to think about how American's government was like .

The collapse of Communism

The Collapse of Communism was because there were many econmical problems, polictical downfall & it had no support.The Soviet Union collapsed because socialism failed & they had a lot of competion cause them to waste all the money on weapons. The USSR collapse on Stalin's cause, he invested no maney on these couries only on the weapons. Berlin was seperated to EAST & WEST & people tore it down because their were 2 systems & they wanted to unify it. This was such a good relief because many countries turned to capitalist.

Nelson Mandela and Apartheid

The Apartheid was a racial segregation similair to the one in the US stating that whites were superior to anyone else and weren't allowed to vote. Other kind were called Bantu including the blacks & the indians. Because of this action many people went against the policy and formed the ANC (African National Congress). These orginization was to help fight for the rights of Bantu people. Nelson Mandela were one of the people that was in the oranization 7 went out of his way to fight against the policy. Nelson Mandela used many non-violence methods to gain Africans freedom. He tried to put a stop on the Apartheid & was considered a great hero for these actions. He finally got Africa independent. He was the arrested for 27 years. After he got out he wrote a book "Long Walk to Freedom", expressing the obstacles he had to overcome for Africa. He got elected president in 1991

African Independence

Africa changed a lot during the 1955-1975 because of Europe. The Europeans wanted to "civilize"them, so they were treated unfairly & unequal. They were also very racist of Africans & thought they were better than them. The Europeans also controlled all of their natural resources. Many Africans got very tired of being controlled over Europe so they started fighting against them. They won their independence & were under they're on ruler. On of the ways they fought back is by renaming Rhodesia to Zimbabwe. Throughtout the years they have tried to civilize themselves, they aren't as civilized as us.

One of the leaders Africa had was Kwame Nkrumah, he was a teacher and had many non-violent protest like Gandhi. He made many boycotts & strikes on the Gold Coast from the Bristish, therefore he got arrested often. After a great deal in effort, the Gold Coast got hi independence & was rename Ghana. Later he became the president for Ghana. Jomo Kenyatta was another African leader that spent many years in Europe fighting for Africa's independence. Because of these actions he was sent to jail for 7 years. He was from Kenya & after he got out he was elceted president for Kenya. He led Kenya to revolution, and gained it's independence fro Europe.

Film Lesson: "The Right Stuff"

In the film “The Right Stuff” the US and the USSR were in a cold war competing to see who was more advanced in technology and science. It starts of by the US trying to break the sound barrier and finally breaking it. Meanwhile, the Russians had the first satellite called “Sputnita”. Also the Russian were the first to launch a rocket ship. They were far ahead of the US. IT took the US a while to make a functional rocket ship. When the US thought they were a head by have the first monkey in space, the Russian had the fist human being is space. It was a endless race. However, the US was the first to have people on the moon and that’s why they win the war. The scenes that will help me remember this Cold War is the attempts the US had to make the functional rocket ship. Another one is knowing that the first man in space was Russian.

NATO and the Warsaw Pact

NATO stands for North Atlantic Treaty. The NATO was made by Europe and North America during the Cold War. The main purpose was to have a Mutual Defense Alliance, meaning if one country was being attack the others involved would be able to help them fight. As a response to the NATO, the Soviet Union made the Warsaw Pact organization. The Warsaw Pact was to threaten the NATO, to make them weaker. So, the Warsaw Pact gain control of many European countries and then it grew its military & political forces. However, even thought the Warsaw Pact gained many countries, NATO had a great advantage towards them and by year 1991 the Warsaw Pact was eliminated.

Film Lesson: "Schindler's List"

Schindler’s List is a film showing us the events that occurred during the Holocaust. Schindler helped many of the people that were in the working camp that he controlled. The film had some real footage and images but not as much as “Night and Fog”. The most powerful scene was watching the women mistakenly being in Auschwitz; cutting their hair, undressing themselves, everything they had to do before entering the gas chamber. It was their expression that was scarring to watch. I have to say that “Night and Fog” was a more powerful film to me as a viewer because it had graphic images, therefore it gave me more of a realistic view of the Holocaust.

Film Lesson: "Night and Fog"

The film “Night and Fog” is a documentary that shows us about the catastrophically moment in history. The impact the documentary had on me was very powerful, it showed me many before and after pictures. My reaction towards the movie was sadness because of the way the Jews, the non-Aryan race was treated. The images shown were extremely disturbing in both films but I think that a this film gave us a better understanding of the Holocaust. For example the way they used the remains of people to make things like wigs, soap , clothing, paper for the military at war.

Treaty of Versailles (end of WWI)

The Treaty of Versailles was a peace treaty signed June 28th 1919, the end of WWI. It punished the Germans for all the people killed & everything else that happened during WWI. The Germans had to pay a lot of money, they tried to print more money out but their dollar had a very low value. The Germans economy was broke by the time they finished paying. The Germans also had to give up lots of land. I think the treaty was very unfair because in a war there's two sides, so they didn't make all the damage. Hitler saw their country in depression and told them that he would help them get their land back and what not. The Germans trusted he and then he became the dictator and started WWII. The Treaty of Versailles was the cause of WWII.

Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk) modernized Turkey

Turkey was once in the Ottoman Empire and Mustafa Kemal helped to make Turkey its own nation. Mustafa Kemal was the first president for 15 years. He modernized Turkey and made it more secular. He separated the laws of the country from the rules of religion. He wanted Turkey to be more like the Europeans and the Americans so he made an English system of court. Kemal gave women more rights like being able to vote & a better jobs. Kemal also wanted the Muslims to dress more like the Americans so he banded the Fez, which was a transitional hat that the officials wore. Instead Mustafa made them wear pants, a tie, a less traditional clothing. He was such a great influence for t=Turkey that he was named "the father of Turks".

Film Lesson: "Gandhi"

Gandhi's name was Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and was born on October 2, 1869. He influenced India in getting freedom. He boycotted and used non-violence against the British to win their freedom. He boycotted buying clothing from the British because the Indians were the ones who made them & the British would take it away to sell it right back to them. Gandhi though the Indian's shouldn't use violence and when he found out that they were setting the police on fire he stop eating. He also boycotted buying salt & did a march called the "Salt March" in which Gandhi & the Indians walked 250 miles to the ocean to make salt. They used the salt to sell it and the British got mad, so they started to use violence while the Indians didn't. The use of non violence help Indian a whole lot to gain independence. Gandhi was such a great influence for Indian.

The Russian Revolution.

The Russian Revolution started because the Russian people didn't like how Czar was running Russia. While being in war the military hardly had food & were being killed by millions because of their low technology. Russia then decided that they wanted a new government called Communism. This cause to revolutionize & this is when Lenin and Bolshevik became leaders of the revolution. There was a March in which made Czar step down of the power & Bolshevik took over Russia. Lenin then promised & quoted "Peace, Land, and Bread." He promised them peace because the Russians weren't at rest. They were fighting World War I for a few years now. Lenin promised them land because they lost lots of land & getting it back would make them more successful. Lenin promised Russia bread because they were in a famine, meaning there were food shortages. They were suffering through starvation.

Causes of World War 1

World War I was the first great big war. The two sides of the fight was the Triple Alliance and the Triple Entente. The Triple Alliance included Germany, Italy, and Austria-Hungary & on the Triple Entente included France, Russian, and England. One of the causes of the war was imperialism because both of the groups were fighting over European territory. Another cause was the assassination of Francis Ferdinand in Sarajevo by a Serbian. Austria shortly attacked Serbia. After this attack from Austria, the Russian attacked Austria. Nationalism was a big cause of why the WWI started, because nationalism is taking pride of your own country & helping others when in need causing the other nations from the Alliance & Entente to attack.