Mikhail Gorbachev and the Collapse of Communism

Mikhail Gorbachev had a very different thinking way of thinking than other leader of the USSR. He came up with new ideas that is a different belief than Stalin, and other former leaders. Mikhail Gorbachev was tired of communism, and followed his own ideas and demonstrated what a real government should be. Russia's was a country that was ran by totalitarian rulers. The Russian was tired of the corrupted government, and its leaders. They needed someone to start reforms to make the USSR capitalist, or at least show that capitalism was a good thing. Mikhail Gorbachev along with his partners, started these huge reforms called the "Glasnost" and "Perestrokia". In 1985 he announced a glasnost, this marked a turning point because churches were opened, books were published and freedom of the press rised. Perestokia was a policy that allowed people to own their own small businesses which weren't owned buy the government. This in a way marked the end of Communism, it proved that Communism wasn't affective and small businesses were needed for the success of the economy.

The Collapse of Communism

During the Cold War the USSR and the U.S. were the world's leading superpowers. After the war the power of the two country was in a race. The situation went from bad to worse. The Berlin Wall was the big gigantic wall that seperated East Germany from West Germany. It was a political boundry between USSR and US. East Germany was part of the Warsaw Pact, and West Germany was part of the NATO. Anyone who tried to cross the wall was shot and killed. At least one hundred people were mercilessly shot at the Berlin wall. In November, 1989, demolition work began. At first, the goal was to built a road designated for private trips between the two sections of Germany. Then they decided to make several border crossings so more people could travel across. Soon, they were cutting holes for pedestrians. Some people came at the wall with rock hammers to gather souvenirs of the wall.

Nelson Mandela and Apartheid

The people of South Africa was ruled under the policy called apartheid. Apartheid is a divide people based on race so it was basically segregation in Africa. Many of the people oppose this policy because not all race had the same rights the white had more and they weren't able to vote in parliamentary elections. When you were growing up in Africa during the apartheid times were hard but one man wanted freedom this man was Nelson Mandela. Nelson Mandela started off his political career by being apart of the African National Congress. Nelson Mandela was sentenced to life in prison but was freed in 1990 after spending 27 years in jail. Nelson Mandela was such a hero towards the people because he helped with the liberation of Africa and he helped end the Apartheid policy. He used civil disobedience, gained trust of his people and was elected to be the president of South Africa. South Africa had more population of African American people, and they supported Nelsons ideas. His ideas of "civil disobedience" were inspired by Ghandi and used by Martin Luther King Jr. and other leaders such as AL Sharpton. His mission was to free the "oppressed and the oppressor". He didn’t give up serving for his country even after being punished for 27 years

African Independence

African Independence was when the African colonies gained its independence from the European countries. This was during the mid 1950's the Africa continent was being ruled by European countries, because the Europeans wanted the natural resources the African poses, for example the gold, diamonds and other raw material. It took Africa 20 years to recover, but know Africa is a whole different continent, because the colonies gained independence from the Europeans. That made them goes on to form their own country. It was easy for the African countries because the European countries were weakened after WWII. The Europeans could not manage to control the African because it was too expensive for them since they lost in WW2. They wanted to express their traditions; Europe was ready to let go of Africa after WWII. Many Africans became well educated. Creating a middle class and following the independence of many others

Some of the African leaders that helped give the African impendence were Kwame Nkumah. He used techniques such as Jazz and Negrative movement. The Negrative movement was a way to make the African people believe that they can be independent and also it gives them pride and sometimes it helped to raise there spirits.

Film Lesson: "The Right Stuff"

The film "The Right Stuff" was two countries competing to build the first rocket and competing for other things too. The country included the United State and the USSR (Soviet Union); they were trying competing by seeing which of them had the best astronauts and rockets. They did everything they needed too, so they can get their best results. The USSR was the first one to send man in space and the United State send a monkey in space instead they did not want to send a man and the rocket blows up it will look bad because that’s taking the life of a human but if a monkey dies people wont make such a big deal about it. But even if the USSR (Soviet Union) were ahead of us we still got to win the competition because we had better technology that was expanding more and we had some of the best trained astronauts working for us which did a better job then them, plus we went even farther than them in space. That made our abilities greater then theirs.

NATO and The Warsaw Pact

NATO stands for North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It is a military alliance established by the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty on April 4, 1949. It was created to prevent USSR to spread communism. It was inpact of communist countries, just like the NATO which was for the Democratic government. Countries that were in NATO were Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey, United Kingdom, & United States. These were the 26 countries that are currently in the NATO, and on the Warsaw pact the countries were Soviet Union, Albania (until 1968), Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany (until 1990), Hungary, Poland, and Romania. These were the two groups created as a defensive system. If one group attacks another group all of the countries envolved in the groups would declare war on each other. It was like friends protecting their friends, or we can say gangs. Warsaw Pact was formed by these alliances because the communist military alliance wanted to maintain power over Eastern Europe. The Soviet Union gained both control over its neighboring European nations.

The film Schindler’s list

The film Schindler’s list was a very powerful illustration of the holocaust. When I looked at the movie what drowned my attention the most was the children and how they were killed. There were very adorable kids in the film. Take the little girl with the pink dress for instant that was wandering around. At the end, the little girl was wheeled in dead. It was horrible to see such innocent children get gassed. From stopping the Jewish race from growing they had to kill the children. The picture of the girl being wheeled in would stay with me forever in my head. The children were taken away when the women had a check up. When the children waved goodbye to their mothers, it was an upsetting scene because the children didn't know what is about to happen.

Film Lesson: Night and Fog

Night and Fog was a documentary film about the Holocaust. The Night and Fog illustrates the lives of the Jew's and how they were treated by the Germans. This film showed the different ways Germany tried to kill the Jews as of using a gas chamber, shooting at the Jew's and the use of using the oven to burn the bodies. it was a very descriptive movie. One thing that I saw in the night and fog was it explained and gave more evidence that was in the holocaust. The movie uses real image showing the dead body and real video that was actually shot where the holocaust took place, they even recorded how the place looks now a days meaning how the chambers were empty how the ground grows with grass and more. They focused more on showing you the basic concept on what it was and making you realize how cruel that act of genocide was and how the Nazi's surpassed the border or abuse of human nature. Concluding I think that Shindlers List was a better movie because it explained more effectively the Holocaust. If I had seen only the night and fog I really wouldn’t have known much about the holocaust. The movie Schindlers list actually made me realize how bad the holocaust was.

The Treaty of Versailles (ended WW I)

World war one-ended November 11th 1918 Germany was one of the three countries that lost. German lost many of its soldiers and it defeated its military power. At the end German was forced to sign a treaty and which made them lose many of their land owned. The treaty was called the Treaty of Versailles, which was very effective to the German people. The treaty limited the rights of the German. German couldn't make big ships or build any kind of military power. One of the laws that the treaty had in it was to pay the damage of the war. United States couldn't lend money to Germany during the depression of America. As a result German faced several depressions. The German people thought that the treaty was unfair and also wanted a fair government that can save them from the situation that they are in. That’s the time Hitler came in and wanted to overthrow the government. I think that the Treaty of Versailles was unfair because Germany was not the only country involved in the war so they should not have to pay all the money for the damages caused. Even if they lost other country lost also so they should have to share the expense. The treaty of Versailles led to the rise of Adolph Hitler, how so? Well the country was in great death so they need money and a good leader and Hitler was right there at hand. Hitler had a plan to fix the country so Hitler steps in to save the country, but know one now what Hitler had in mind.

Mustafa Kemal and the Modernization of Turkey

The Ottoman Empire was one of the biggest empires ever. It stretched from Northern Africa to the Middle East and Southern Europe. This was a Major Muslim dominated empire. the ottoman empire ended after WW1. It meant the father of the Turks. His principles were stated as the "Six Arrows". This was his drive, his purpose and his values which defined everything he did and was reason behind everything he did. The Six Arrows were republicanism, populism, secularism, reformism, nationalism, and statism.Secular is the state of being separate from religion. For example eating and bathing may be regarded as examples of secular activities, because there is nothing inherently religious about them.

Film Lesson - "Gandhi"

Gandhi lived by the quote " an eye for an eye only makes the whole world go blind." Gandhi also believed and follows non-violence. Gandhi believed that the best way to defeat Great Britain was by not fighting them at all, when you don’t get angry with the British then they look like the bad guy when they try to over power the Indians. Gandhi did not want to fight back because he said that fighting back would kill them one after another, not solving the controversy that they were first fighting about. To make a bold statement he did not fight and won India’s independence like that.

Some way that Gandhi influenced people not to fight was by going on a hunger strike, it was really affected because the people of India stop fighting. Gandhi was also responsible for the salt march. The salt march was to prevent the British from taxing them. Salt was very valuable back in those days so Great Britain would tax on all the salt, gaining more profit. Gandhi led thousands of people to walk around 200 miles, just to get themselves free salt from their own land, the sea. He was doing this entire thing without using any violence at all. He also wove his own clothes so he didn’t have to pay for the clothes Britain sold them, for they only let India buy from Britain and no other countries.

One of the main reasons that India won it’s independence was because of Gandhi he believed in piece and he lived by it. During the time of India's independence, World War II was going on. Britain would get affected tremendously because Britain would lose a lot of money from the boycotts Gandhi started. Britain found India valuable and if India aloof from Britain, Britain’s empire could possibly collapse.

The Russian Revolution

The Russian Revolution was a popular Revolution in Russia. The revolutions began during world war one, when the Russians were forced to fight with a limited amount of weapons along with a bunch of other unfair treatment. Eventually the Russians pulled themselves out from the war, although the unfair treatment continued and they began getting tired of it. Retreating was a major cause of the revolution. Their was an unnecessary number of people and a victory seemed hopeless. Czar Nicholas II became associated with a faith healer named Rasputin who's scandalous behavior shocked Russia. After one year being involved in the war it had already begun taking its toll on the people. Their was a food shortage so the people demanded more but Nicholas instead sent troops in to keep the people from demonstrating. Most people started viewing communism as a successful way to live their lives by and soon the Workers and peasants revolted against the landlords and factory owners. Peasants took over land and overturned the interim provisional government resulting in the establishment of the Soviet Union

Causes of WW I

World War I has affected many nations along with their citizens. WW1 was known as "the great war". One of the many causes to World War I was the rise of nationalism toward many countries.
The people who wanted independence led to a to series of national struggles and problem for their independence among the Balkan people.

Another cause for WW1 was the need for their own country, many people got tired they wanted to have their own country so they started becoming rivalries with other country around Europe. Another reason of the war was because of the Balkan wars and the assignation of Franz Ferdinand. Balkan states were very unstable at the start of the 20th century as the region was under foreign rule and the Balkans wanted self-rule.

In protest against Austria's control, terrorists in Bosnia assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife at around June 1914.
The Bosnians were backed by Serbia and Russia; Germany sided with Austria, against Serbia. Of course After Franz Ferdinand was shot, Serbia took advantage and was able to take Austro-Hungarian Land.

Militarism came into place all the countries within Europe were creating large armies before the war years. Every country was ready for the war they were planning and getting their army ready; it was just a matter of time. Secret battle plans lead to spies, which also lead to other nations feeling scared and suspicious.
The Collapse of the Alliance System came because the European government fells distrust and he made them feel suspicious. Everyone was so suspicious they never talked about specific plans if a war was to come soon because they were scared that they might be destructed.