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.