Mikhail Gorbachev and the Collapse of Communism.

Mikhail Gorbachev was able to clear up a path to the end of communism. He was praised for his youth and his strong political experience. After a while, he was voted as the the political secretary. At age 54 he became voted as one of the youngest Soviet leaders. He lived during the time of Stalins harsh rule. When he became voted as the newest leader, he had no intention of continuing Stalin's "useless" way of rule. He decided to pursue new ideas. He wanted to encourage the citizens to give him new ways of improving their society. Because of this, many new changes were made. Churches were able to open. The government was very unfair to its people.

Glasnost was a policy created by Mikhail. It was another word for "openness". It was a way to get the citizens of the Soviet Union to tell them any ways they could try to improve their society. This is what brought a lot of change to society. Some good, some of it bad.

Peristrokia was the idea of economic reconstructing. Mikhail wanted to find new ways to revive the Soviet economy. They were also able to open up their own small business .

The Collapse of Communism

Communism was a major political party and belief that swept throughout Europe. Other countries, such as the United States, were worried that communism would spread and take over the world.

Communism in Eastern Europe collapsed because there was no support, economical issues and political downfall. The USSR collapsed because Stalin put all his money into defensive arms. The Soviet Union collapsed because they had no money, and they had a lot of competition, and socialism failed for them. It did change the world in some ways. Almost every country that was under communism turned into capitalism instead. Communism originally tried to help solve the corruption of the system, but it was just a waste of time and it ended badly.

Nelson Mandela and Apartheid

Apartheid was a racial-segregation policy of the government in South Africa. Under the apartheid system, nonwhites (black), colored (mixed), or Indian-did not share full rights of citizenship with the white minority. The establishment of Black National States was another manifestation of apartheid. It was coined by the South Africa Bureau for Racial Affairs, or SABRA for short. Under the system, colored people did not share the same rights and privileges as the whites. One privilege that was taken away was, for example, a black cannot marry a white, or vice versa. Plus, any blacks over the age of 16 had to carry identity documents with them. Nelson Mandela fought for the independence of South Africa. Nelson Mandela was put into jail because of this. (Mandela was in the ANC's fight to promote non-violence methods to gain freedom and justice). He also tried to stop the Apartheid. He was considered a hero for these things. Mandela was in jail for 26 years, but later on, he got out and wrote a book called "Long Walk To Freedom". The book was about his struggle to overcome segregation and gain freedom. He still continued to fight for his country and his people admired him for that.

African Independence

Africa has changed in only 20 years. In 1955, Africa was practically overthrown by the European nations. Libya, Egypt, Ethiopia, as well as South Africa were the only countries not taken over by the European nations. By the time of 1975, almost all the countries that were once ruled over, were free from European rule. Before all these countries gained their independence, Europeans marched in to take all the natural resources that Africa was naturally known for. Many of the Africans were angry that their own homeland was taken over. A few of the Africans didn't really mind the Europeans taking over because the Europeans gave them many new things and resources. They built hospitals, schools and other helpful places for the Africans. Eventually, the Africans grew tired and worked really hard to gain their independence. They succeeded very well too.

One of the most memorable leaders was Jomo Kenyatta. When the Europeans invaded his homeland, he realized how unfair they were treating his people. He also realized that they were trying to change their government into that of communism. He went to Europe to try to persuade them to give his people their well deserved freedom, and later on, became president of Kenya.

Film Lesson:"The Right Stuff"

This film about a space race to space and the moon. The United States and Russia were the two countries competing to get into space first.The race was to get the first man into space. We succeeded with sending a monkey into space but Russia got the first man into space. America lost this first race. The second race was to get someone on the moon. America got the first man on the moon! America can claim victory! The scene that will help me remember this Cold War event is were when both the United States and Russia tried to send different rockets into space. America failed at sending those rockets up to space. Once Russia sent up their rocket, America tried so hard to send rockets up to space until they finally succeeded. Eventually they caught up and won the space race.

NATO and The Warsaw Pact.

NATO was an organization created by Europe and North America. (NATO stands for North Atlantic Treaty). The major reason for the formation of NATO was that the countries involved would get a mutual defense alliance so that if one of them were attacked all of the other countries in NATO would come to help, as part of the alliance. The Warsaw Pact was a treaty between all of the countries that bordered the Soviet Union. The NATO saw the Warsaw Pact as a threat, although it was supposed to be another defensive group. The Warsaw pact deals mostly with satellites and it controls the alliances better by keeping the military organize in other countries of the alliance. The Soviet Union gain power quickly and became very powerful, they were also able to keep the socialist government secure.

Film Lesson: "Schindler's List"

"Schindler's List", I must admit, has to be one of the most powerful movies I have ever watched. This movie shows the details of the Holocaust. Seeing the Nazis round up all Jews and taking them away to concentration camps. All of those Jews didn't have any idea if that same night or day that they were rounded up, would be the last time of their living. Jews who were not needed or disobeyed the Nazi orders were shot right on the spot they were. Others, such as little kids, old people and the disabled that couldn't work were sent to be either shot, gased, and burned. That is totally unfair. As for me, the powerful scene that got to me, I must say, was the part were the families were separeted from eachother and when the Nazis filled the vans of the useless people and the little kids, and were to be taken away. It really hurt me because those kids didn't have a future. They didn't know that that was the last time they will see their parents and older siblings. I can't image me being separeted from my family. They mean the world to me. Mostly all the images of pain and killing will stay with me. Why? because once I saw those poor, innocent people being killed and living hell, it's hard to forget those images and plus, I can imagine what it will be like if I lived it. The movie most powerful to me, I must say, was this movie. "Schindler's List". This film showed more details and actually got to me. It's not easy watching a movie of the history when you know you should be lucky that you are living in the present, or the future for them. They never knew that the day the were in the concentration camps, could've been the last day living.

Film Lesson: "Night and Fog"

"Night and Fog" is a documentary. I think My reaction to this documentary was shocking and upsetting because it was shocking and upsetting to see what happened to the Jews during the Holocaust and what the Jews had to live through. Probably felt like living hell in the Concentration Camps. The documentary also showed some pictures of how the Nazis killed the Jews. The documentary was not really as powerful as I though it will be. The movie "Schindler's list" was the most powerful because it actually shows more details as of what happened in the holocaust. The documentary mostly showed pictures and the people telling the story. As for the movie, it actually showed and shared the pain the poor, innocent Jews had to go through. It looked like livving hell. It also showed the way the Nazis treated them physically, the concentration camps, the trains...everything. In my opinion, the Hollywood film illustrates the Holocaust more effectively because as I said, it showed more details and I, myself, felt the pain and the suffering. This film got to me in so many ways.

The Treaty of Versailles (ended WWI)

WW1 ended as a resut of the Treaty of Versailles. The Treaty of Versailles affected Germany a lot. The rules were very harsh on Germany. Germany had to pay all damaged of WW1. Because of this, it made Germany have a bad economy. Another rule was that Germany had to reduce its military power by a lot. They couldn't have more than 100,000 men in the military. They also banned the use of heavy artilery, tanks, or any other type of machines used for war. This made Germany embarrased and insecre about their military. While Germany was under the Treaty of Versailles, the Great Depression came to the nation of Germany. America was helping Germany by paying for some the reparations, but America's economy was also in a not so good shape. So this cause Germany's economy suffering. The Treaty of Versailles blamed Germany for everything that happened and was damaged in the war. The people of Germany wanted a leader who would bring Germany back into that shape. The leader was Adolf Hitler. Hitlers words impressed the people of Germany. He explained why Germany had lost the word, and becuase of this Hitler was able to gain support and power. He blamed the Jews that Germany lost the war. Eventaully, Hitler became the dictator of Germany and started World War II.

Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk) and the Modernization of Turkey.

Mustafa Kemal made secular changes to the country of Turkey. (Secular means having objects that are not religious in any kind). Mustafa Kemal was a very famous young man who led his people to victory and independence. Mustafa found the Turkish Republic and became the first president. Before he was president, he was a military hero. Then he decided to lead his nation to liberation and independence. Mustafa was a powerful leader, He put an end to the power of the Ottoman empire, and he was president of his nation for 15 years.

Mustafa's main goal for Turkey, was to modernize his nation. He didn't want his people to follow the same old ways of the other surrounding lands. One of the most important fairly thing he did was letting people practice their religion. For example, he let Christians and Jews practice their faith as much as they wanted. Mustafa treated his people equally. Even peasants were considered important. Even the style and fashion became different. He made the Turkish men wear hats instead of the fez. Men also wore clothes like the Westerners (suit, tie, pants, and shoes). He also made women stop wearing a veil that covers the face. When it came to voting, he let and gave women the rights to vote. As you can see, during the year of 1923, Turkey got its independence and it became a modernize nation.

Film Lesson " Gandhi "

Gandhi was a most important person for the Indian nation. It was Gandhi who helped India get its own independence from Great Britain.
Some of the ways he used was to oppose the British rule. Gandhi was fighting with non-violence. Gandhi protested in a peaceful way, and with his followers right behind him. Another thing Gandhi did was make his own supplies. Gandhi said to his Indian people that all of them would make their own clothes for now on. Gandhi and his follwers would even walk a lot of miles to collect their own salt by the ocean. Gandhi was a peacemaker. He decided not to "fight back" at the British with violence. All of his protest and fighting were in peace. If any of his followers ended up using violence, Gandhi would fast. His followers were afraid that he would die by fasting, so they stopped the violence on their own. Non-violence worked very well against the British. If the British attacked them while they did their peaceful protests, it would make the British look bad and the Indians look good.

The Russian Revolution.

The Russian Revolution had many reasons why it happened. Communism was first introduced by Karl Marx during the Industrial Revolution. Communism is where the people work and everyone gets the same amount of pay no matter what profession.
During this time, Russia would be ruled by kings known as Czars. Changes were needed to be made, just like they were during the industrial revolution.
Russia had more physical conditions such as diseases spreading, starvation, and were controlled by a Czar who kept sending troops into war only to get injured and die. Russia didn't have a stable financial system so they were not able to supply the soldiers with enough or needed weapons for war.
Soon the revolts the people had made caused the Czar to leave his throne following that changes were finally made to Russia's political system. A group called the Bolsheviks, which was led by Vladimir Lenin, took over Russia. He led his small group into a revolution against the temporary government made after the Czar had left his throne.
After the Bolsheviks won and defeated the temporary government and gave what they promised in that quote. Russia soon left World War One because of its own internal reasons. Lenin ruled over Russia after taking over the Government and forming his own kind with ideas from Karl Marx's communism. Russia became the first ever communist country.

Causes of WWI.

World War I was the extremely deadly war combined with the others. Many innocent people were killed for no reason.
One of the causes was nationalism. Nationalism was the love, pride and respect for one's country. Most people build the hatred among other countries thinking theirs is the best. Another cause was militarism. It was how each country was able to keep their own military. This means them keeping their military ready for war at all times. Each military had their own plan to dominate the others.
Another cause was the assassination of the King Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary. He was killed or assassinated by someone from Serbia. Austria-Hungary realized they had a right to blame Serbia for the killing of their leader. Because of this they decided to declare war. This event leaded to the start of World War I. One of the most deadliest wars in the world.