Mikhail Gorbachev and the Collapse of Communism

In 1985, the assumption of power in the Soviet Union by a reformer, Mikhail Gorbachev, paved the way for political and economic reforms in east central Europe.Gorbachev’s supporters praised his youth, energy, and political skills. Soon he was voted as the the political secretary. Gorbachev abandoned the "Brezhnev Doctrine". Which was the Soviet Union's policy of intervening with military force, if necessary, to preserve communist rule in the region. Instead, he encouraged the local communist leaders to seek new ways of gaining popular support for their rule. In Hungary, the communist government made reforms in 1989 that led to the banning of a multiparty system and competitive elections. In Poland, the communists went in a round table talks with discussions of Solidarity.Solidarity formed the first non communist government within the Soviet bloc since 1948.In 1985, he announced a policy called "glasnost".It meant openness. He encouraged Soviet citizens to discuss ways to improve on their society. In the same year, Gorbachev introduced the idea of perestroika or economic restructuring. In 1986, he made changes to revive the Soviet economy.This allowed changes to come pouring in. Churches were opening. Book that were banned were brought back into the country.Many of the citizens were finally able to complain about all the economic problems. People were able to state their mind and give ideas of how things should be done.The revolutions of 1989 marked the death knell of communism in Europe. As a result, not only was Germany reunified in 1990, but soon, revolution spread to the Soviet Union itself.

The Collapse of Communism

213434 Americans thought that them being involved in the arms race was mostly what helped bring down the curtain on communism. But it was much more then that. In the 1980s, many people started to reject communism. That was the problem, no one believed in it anymore. communism was like a vision to change society that needed followers which it didn't have anymore. Everybody who went to communist party went there for career choices, not to spread to spread communism So in the end, there was nothing to back up communism.
12323Germany was split into four sectors-the Soviet, American, French, and English after WWII. Germany had fallen apart. The Soviets ran their part of Germany as a communist section.The wall was built in 1961 to prevent the Soveits' people in the east from escaping into the West which was better. There were about 5000 escapes. Ronald Reagan had came over to the Brandenburg gate to give a speech to the Soveit Leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, and the West Berliners. East Berliners heard the speech through their radioes. He wanted the wall down since their was tension between the US and USSR with the Space Race and Nuclear Weapons that had happened in the past. He wanted to be on better terms with the Soveits and realized the struggle of the people. He wanted Germany reunified. Finally in like Nov they started to take the wall down. Families that were separated were reunited after not seeing each other for years.

Nelson Mandela and Apartheid

32323The Africans word meaning separation or segregation was called Apartheid. Apartheid was the racial policy brought about by the National Party government of South Africa in 1948. Everyone who wasn't considered whites didn't have the same rights as those who were white. That included black people,mixed, and Indians. African Americans weren't able to do a lot of things in Africa, their own country. They weren't able to vote, use many public facilities, including bathrooms and institutions until 1990. It was because these places were restricted to the use of one race only. Which was usually the whites. If you failed to follow these rules, then you would probably be killed if you were black.
22t2But there was this man that Africa considered a hero because of the results he brought to the table. His name was nelson Mandela. He helped them in the fight for freedom. He lived in the streets of South Africa were if you don't abide by the rules of apartheid you would be thrown in jail.He began as a leader in the African National Congress, but he was work to fight for freedom was cut short because he was sentenced to death. His trail is now seen as nothing more than a cruel and evil plan used by the white South African government to silence Nelson Mandela. Even though he was in jail for a few decades, the hope he left helped his people to fight against the struggle of Apartheid while he was gone. He was thanked for that and was given awards for it. Plus his people were so happy that they finally received freedom from apartheid

African Independence

2343Well based on the map, Africa has changed way then a little. It changed dramatically. In 1975, like 95 percent of Africa was taken over by the colonies. The Europeans ruled most of Africa. The only places that were taken over was: Liberia,Libya,Egypt,Ethiopia, and the union of south Africa. But the fight for independence started 1951.Some leaders who lead the fight to freedom were, Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya, Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, and Nelson Mandela of South Africa. The leading country in the independence was Ghana in 1957. But prior to the independence, it was the British colonies gold coast. Once countrys gained their independence, the changed their name and the gold coast changed theirs to Ghana. This name honored a famous West African kingdom of the past. Ghana became the first nation ruled by Africans to join the British Commonwealth. They were ver excited to be free but the wasn't prepared to rule yet. The Africans weren't educated on how to govern properly. They were being ruled for over 20 years so what do you expect?

Film Lesson: "The Right Stuff"

23In the movie "The Right Stuff", it was a fight between America and Russia which took place in 1947. It was more like a race then a fight though. It was called the space race. It was a race seeing who can get to outer space first. The Americans thought they were winning the race when they built a air plane that was able to pass the sound barrier.So the americans got excited when this happened. They got confident that they were the strongest.But when the russians had built a space ship ti go in space, the Americans were afraid. they were afraid that the Russians could just drop nucks down from space or something. Then the Americans caught up and got into space but was ridicualed when the first American i n space was a monkey. So we lost the war for the first to space. But we won the race which was getting to the moon first.

NATO and The Warsaw Pact

324324NATO means "North Atlantic Treaty Organization". The organization included countries in Europe and North America. The organization was established on April 4, 1949 with the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty. Since America was the country leading the race of nuclear weapons, Western European powers relied on their massive nuclear arsenal to keep the evil soviet union away.After a while, the soviet union realized that they cant do anything because of the united states' nuclear weapons.After this, communism fell and the need for military assistance was over,so it turned into a political organization.
5435The Warsaw Pact formed six years after NATO.The Warsaw Pact included the Soviet Union and its satellite countries.Which were: Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Albania, and Bulgaria. The act was created because of NATO.It was signed in Poland in 1955 and was called 'The Treaty of Friendship, Co-operation and Mutual Assistance'.Even thought it sounded like a nice name, it was a military treaty that stated that the country's included in the treaty will come to each others aid in case it was attack by country's outside of the treaty.By 1991, the pact was over with.

Film Lesson :" Night and Fog"

Between the two movies, i think that night AND fog was more of a powerful movie. I say this because it showed some graphic stuff. It was actually footage of what happen. So actually graphic footage would give a better message then a movie based on something that happened then. Because the footage would make you really understand. Like Night and fog , it showed the actual dead bodies. How the Jews were really treated. How hen you look at the dead bodies, you could see how the were deprived . You would see the body super skinny showing that they didn't have food. That their hair was basically bald because their hair was shaved off. Alot of the bodies were decapitated and just so sad looking. You would see the field of dead bodies because they had no more coal to burn them. I felt bad for the soldiers and others who had to see, smell, and to carry the dead bodies I just thank God i wasn't living at the time to see these horrible actions. I especially wouldnt want to be a Jew at the time!

Film Lesson: "Schindler's List"

Schindler's List showed a great deal on important information about the holocaust. It showed how barbaric and horrible the Nazis were. Especially to the Jews. They did the most cruel things to the jews. the drove them out of their homes. It was from their homes, to the ghetto, to the working camps, to the death camps. which was the last stage when they were losing the war. It showed how they divided the jews acording to gender and age. if your old enough to work, they would take you to work. if your old, a woman or a child, they would kill you off. They woman and childern ahd a same chance of living depending on the camp , but the old was killed regardless. The ones who died died from starvation , being shot, burned or gassed. No mercy was being shown.
Some of the most horrible , cruel things i saw was when the people were hiding in the town after the raid. When they thought they were safe then started to come out, only realizing that the Nazis were waiting for them. The soliders killed them in cold blood. With no mercy. They didnt care if you were young,old,man, child, woman, pretty or ugly. They killed you off regardless. They felt like it was the right thing to do and that it was their job. They thought of it as fun and amusing. The most powerful film out ofnthe two of them was night and fog. it had actual footage and showed the acutal terrors that happened. It made you feell like you were actually there.

The Treaty of Versailles (ended WW I)

When War War 1 was all said and done, it affected Germany a lot. One of the problems Germany faced after WWI was having to pay back all the damages done by them. Many European countries demanded huge sums of money from Germany, and as they were unable to fill those demands, the country's economy suffered. Germany also lost a lot of land to surrounding countries (such as the Polish Corridor, etc.)
Germany faced the Treaty of Versailles, which was an agreement signed with France, Britain and America. It stated that Germany had to pay reparations for causing the war. They had to cut their army, armaments and they also lost land, including Alsace Lorraine to France. It had a huge impact on their economy as well as their morale, which is why the German people were so keen to believe Hitler and the Nazis when they said they would better Germany and make it like it was before the Treaty.
The terms of the treaty of Versailles were somewhat harsh, but not out of the ordinary for that time period. In 1871, Germany had forced France to accept similar terms (losing Alsace Lorraine and paying heavy amends).One year earlier, Germany had made Russia sign a treaty that went far, far beyond what Versailles would ask of Germany. If anything, the terms were actually less harsh than what France and Britain had originally wanted; they had wanted to break up Germany, so that it would never again be a military threat...

Mustafa Kemal ( Ataturk) and The Mondernization of Turkey

Mustafa Kemal ( Ataturk) founded the Turkish Republic and became its first president. He was one of the few great leaders who had managed to accomplished a lot in a short time. He was the president as well as a military leader/hero. He was Also the spiritual leader of Turkish people, according to the worth of his efforts and revolutions. in the early 1920s he continuously emerged a triumphant commander who crushed the invaders of his country.Ataturk became known as an very capable military officer by being the only undefeated Ottoman commander during world war 1. He came out victorious through many battles and when he won at the Dardanelles in 1915, he decided to lead his people to liberation. He won it for them because he destroyed all those who opposed him.
His successful military campaigns led to the liberation of his nation and to the establishment of Turkey. During his reign as president, Ataturk started upon a program of political, economic, and cultural reforms.He didn't want his people to be just like the surrounding lands. Being far behind then the more advanced nations. He wanted to modernize his people.Then he made it happen.
He gave his people modern equality like in a lot of other country, like Christians,Jews or even Muslims can worship as they please.Kemal separated the laws of Islam from the laws of the nation.Under Kemal, women gained more freedom. He granted women the right to vote and to hold public office. Kemal also launched government funded programs to industrialize Turkey and to begin economic growth. At the time he made it illegal to were a fez hat. If you were going to were a hat it would be hats like the hats the people in England were wearing. Secularity (secular) is the state of being separate from religion.

Film Lesson: "Gandhi"

Gandhi is very well known to be one of the important historical figures throughout history.Mahatma Gandhi was born in 1869 and he died in 1948.Gandhi was born in Porbander in western India.Gandhi influence changed India's history and way of life up to its independence in 1947. He helped the indian people gain their independence. Gandhi helped get India freedom from the British. The way gandhi fought against the british was through nonviolence. He thought that if the Indians were nonviolent towards the British then it would make the Indians look better than the British and make british look bad. His plan ended out being very effective because it worked. Gandhi did marches, peaceful protests, and even started to make his own clothes and salt. he had his people buy nothing from the british to show that they weren't in favor of them. But the granting of the independence wasn't all because of gandhi. It was also because that the british went through so many wars after another. they lost so may men in the process. They didn't fell like dealing with the indians so they gave them the freedom they wanted. This was what gandhi wanted, but not everything turned out the way he wanted to. He wanted all the people in indian to be unified in india. But instead the were separated. This upsetted Gandhi-G but hey you cant get every thing you want....

The Russian Revolution

The Russian Revolution started in 1917. They were ruled by their king called Czar. He put them in Wold war. They had lost many people and many battles. They had lost over 4 million people to the war. The Russian people was tired of those who ruled over them. They sucked at ruling over them. Their were things like diseases and famines. The people begged Czar of food during the famine in the winter, but instead he send soldiers to deal with them. This are reasons why the revolution was started. So then he was eventually assassinated. Then the russians were taken over by the Bolsheviks which was lead by Vladimir Lenin. Lenin was the leader or the revolution. The Revolution was about fighting for their rights and so they could be treated better. also to change their government. And thanks to the revolution, their home land changed and communism spread all threw their land. "Peace land and bread" was a quote used by the Bolsheviks a lot. It was the promise lenin made to russia.He had promised peace, love and bread to Russia and its people after the war. Eventually, the land of russia started to flourish.

Causes of WWI

World War One was a great big war. A very deadly one also. Tons of people died during the war. Those who hoped to return home to there family was killed like flies. Many people only had one drive and that was waiting to see their family. But there were a lot of reasons why the war was started. Some of the causes included: Nationalism, Militarism, and the assassination of Franz Ferdinand .

Nationalism is the pride,loyalty, and devotion in ones nation. Most of the nations was full of nationalism. For example; italy unified in 1870. It was very weak and didn't have much power at all. It could barely be counted as a great power. Even there industrial progress was slow. But they still and ambition and aimed high. Italy wanted Tunis and Tripoli in northern Africa. Thus created problems with france because that land was basically there territory. So everybody had conflicts with each other because most of them were territorially ambitious. so most countries would put up posters and have speeches about who the favored and supported. Schools would teach their kids that their country was better then their enemy and that they must kill them in till there gone.

Then there was militarism. Militarism is a strong military spirit or policy. The policy of maintaining a large military establishment. Many of the countries had a tendency to deam military efficiency to the extreme importance. When they put their military before anything else. So they kept their military ready for war at all times. Before the battle would happen, the militaries of each country we drawn out a battle plan.

Another cause of the world war was the assassination of king Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary. He was killed by the someone from the land of Serbia . Austria-Hungary saw they had a right to punish Serbia for the killing of their leader. Because of of the assassination they decided to declare war and joined up with germany so they could have a part in hurting Serbia. After this decision, the event lead to the beginning of WW1.

Imperialism in China

From 1839 to 1842, China fought what we now call the "Opium Wars" with Britain.The British opium trade in China started the world’s very first drug war, in the 19th centuryOpium is a preparation made from the juice of poppy seedpods, and used to produce heroinn the 15th century, when opium was first introduced to China, it was used as medicine to treat diseases such as dysentery, cholera, as well as diarrhea. Most of the opium came from india or turkey. Chinese authorities tried to stop the growing import trade in opium.Most of the imports of opium to China was strictly forbidden. Despite this restriction, the opium trade continued to grow. Privately owned vessels of many countries, including the United States, made huge profits from the growing number of Chinese addicts of the black market. But china gave them tea and it had become a very popular drink in Great Britain. China would have rather not traded with the British at all, but they were willing to sell the British tea only if they used the port in Canton.The British had to use gold and silver because China was a self-sufficient country and the Chinese did not want or need anything from Great Britain or any other foreign countries.When the British couldn’t find any other products to export to China, they decided to bring in opium mixed with tobacco to promote opium smoking. Around the same time as the opium trade went on, the Chinese ended up spending most of their money on the drug. China began to fall moneywise. Which lead to the opium wars.

When the Chinese government discovered the British smuggling opium into China to sell, they didn't take it very well.Lin Tse-Hsua, an imperial commissioner, wrote a letter to Queen Victoria of England arguing that if the opium had harmful effects that Britain had to make opium trading and consumption illegal in England, then why was England exporting such harmful products to other countries. The problem was that it was never delivered into the hands of the queen.But it angered British officials in China who felt that it challenged their power.The trade of opium also started to destroy the way the original trade order of China was ran . After a while, China finally decided to get rid of all the opuim they had. The British got angry and decided to have their army surround China. China wanted to beat the british, but they failed anyway. The british destroyed them easily becuase they weapons and technology was far more advanced then theirs. Since china was basically out of money, they had nothing to make better weapons for their army. Wanting not to lose tier pride, they made a treaty with the british called " The Treaty of Tianjin"The British forced China to sign this treaty by burning up the imperial summer palace, also known as the Yuan Ming Yuan.Under the Treaty of Tianjin, China had to open up eleven more ports to foreign trade that made the trade better.

"Mountains of the Moon"

European explorers had went to Africa to find the source of the Nile River. To find out the source of the river, they decided to walk through the middle of Africa in to find the source near Africa's center. But it was a very hard to accomplish . To find the source, they decided to walk the whole way there. Based on Africa's terrain, it seemed like a very bad idea. The men had to carry all their heavy supplies by foot. They had ran into the local tribes in the area. Their camp was ambushed by a whole bunch of people from a tribe and alot of people was killed.Alot of people people died of fatigue and disease. Some also died of diseases, such as milarea . The strange thing about lake victoria is that its in the middle of Africa and it was named after the English queen. who happens to be more then a thousand miles away. The primary technological advantage the Europeans had over the Africans was the guns. The Europeans could easily wipe out the Africans.It was guns against spears. The Africans didn't stand a chance. Another reason the Europeans easily took over Africa was that the tribes were not unified. they were easy to be killed while thay were divided.

imperialism Project

We did the imperialism Project to understand imperialism more. Imperialism is when one country tries to take over another country to gain control over their economy. Imperialism refers to the colonial expansion adopted by Europe's powers. Later adopted by japan and the united states during the 19th and early 20th centuries; expansion approximately took place from the Franco-Prussian War to World War I. We learned that trade was very important to the colonies. That if it wasnt for the trade routes over water, some goods would be harder to trade and some wouldn't be able to be traded at all. I also noticed that alot of countries had colonies in different places. Like England, it had colonies all over the world. They owned land in North America, Africa, and Asia.

Karl Marx and Communism

Karl Marx, but his ideas changed Russian history. During the Industrial revolution,he saw the treatment of the workers in Europe. Conditions in Europe factories were really disgusting and unsafe. After seeing all this, he came up with an socioeconomic structure called communism.According to Marx, Capitalism contained the seeds of its own destruction. He said that people should be treated equally, especially when it came to pay. No one got a different amount of pay then another and there was no different kinds of social class. Everything was owned by the government and people had to share everything with each other. The people weren't even allowed to own a private house. Thats basically what Communism was.He saw the workers as the good guys, and the landlords as the bad guys. Karl Marx said that communism would be the last stage in human society, which would be achieved through a proletarian revolution and only becoming possible after a socialist stage develops the productive forces, leading to a huge amount of goods and services.

Karl Marx and The Industrial Revolution

Karl Marx was a German and. his ideas changed Russian history. He was born in May 5, 1818 and had died in March 14, 1883. He was philosopher, political economist, historian, political theorist, sociologist,communist and revolutionary. Marx was so surprised and disheartened by the treatment of workers in Europe. Conditions in European factories were very Terrible,disgusting and very unsafe. Marx felt that people who worked at the factories, rather than landlords, should control factories , farms and argued about it. He urged the workers of the world to unite in a worldwide revolution.Marx argued that capitalism, like previous socioeconomic systems, will produce internal tensions which will lead to its destruction sooner or later Marx's ideas were known as Communism, a word formed for common. Workers would share wealth in a communist society. He believed that socialism will, replace capitalism, and lead to a stateless, classless society called pure communism.He spoke his idea if communism constantly and he was finally able to persuade leaders to adopt to the ways communism for years. His idea of communism was equal to the idea of a utopia which was a perfect world. He said that people should be treated equally when it came to pay, having houses (no private homes) and social classes. Everything was owned by the government and people basically had to share everything.

Nationalism and the Creation of Italy

Nationalism is a big part of the United States and every other place in the world. Nationalism is technically belonging to, rooting for, and fighting for, your own country. You can also say it is one's love for their country. Some of the things that contribute to nationalism is the people sharing the same language, and having a common culture. Also, things like having common currency and similar religion. Its also the belief that people shouldn't be ruled by a king or an empire nor should they put their trust and loyalty in them. That their trust and loyalty should go to a nation of people that they have things in common like language,beliefs,culture,history and other things like that. One way that i express nationalism is the way i dress. I dress like fellow american children. The food i eat is also an example and how i eat it as in with a certain utensil like a fork.

Because of nationalism, a lot of empires were destroyed. But it also help built up nations as well.Italy was one of the countries to form from the territory of crumbling empiresin 1815, Austria ruled the italian provinces of Venetia and Lombardy in the north, and several small states between 1815 and 1848. The numbers of Italians that were didn't approve of living under foreign rulers anymore started to increase. They were tired of being ruled by people who wasn't even one of them. Among the growing numbers of the Italians who didn't approve were two leaders that appeared. One was idealistic, the other practical. The one who was idealistic wasThey had different personalities and aimed for different goals. But both of then helped bring the. unification of Italy.

Simon Bolivar and Latin American

The reason why Simon bolivar was famous because he was one of South America's greatest generals.He played a a big part in Latin America's successful struggle for independence from Spain. His victories over the Spaniards won independence for Bolivia, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela. After a certain amount of time he was in a great position of power. He was president of Colombia, dictator of Peru, and president of the newly created Bolivia, a region that use to be called Upper Peru in colonial times and had once belonged to the Viceroyalty of La Plata.This new country honored Bolívar in its choice of name, and he made its first constitution,which only lasted 2 years.

What influenced him in his quest for revolution was the trips that he took. Once the French Revolution was over, he went to France to see how the new government was doing things and how they were doing in governing the people. He saw that it was doing better then it was before. When he was done visiting France, he had wanted to see the United States were running things. He also saw that the government was doing very well. When he was done with his travels, he decided to go back to his people and told them how their government could be better. Then they started to think how their government was ran and how their king was french and not even spanish. Then the people people in his country decided to have a revolution like the french and americans and they fought for their independence. After a lot of battles they finally won their freedom from the spanish. Then after that he helped country after country win their independence from spain in till all of latin america was free.