Mikhail Gorbachev and The Collapse of Communism

Mikhail Gorbachev contributed many reforms. Glasnost meaning openness and Peristrokia meaning economic reforms. He encouraged Soviet Union citizens to discuss ways to improve their society. In 1986, He made changes and revived the Soviet Union local gained power over their farmers and factories. People were also allowed to open their own private business. People now can choose from list candidates for each office. He also didn't want a nuclear arm race so he signed a treaty with the U.S. Glasnost allowed people to do things freely such as write whatever they want on the newspaper. Reading newspaper people now know the truth of the economic problems they are facing. Religious people wanted freedom of religion. People were also against Gorbachev. Many events occurred such as the Hungarian Communist Disband and The Fall of the Berlin Wall.

Collapse of Communism

In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev became leader of the Soviet Union. He relaxed Communist strictures and rules with reform policies of glasnost(openness) and perestroika(restructuring). Another cause was the rise of nationalistic resistance of the ideology of communism, attempts of increasing democracy. Berlin a giant wall that separated East Germany from West Germany came down. This was necessary because East Germany was a Communist Society and West Germany was a Capitalist. Many people tried to cross the wall, however got killed. When the wall came down this was the beginning of The Collapse of Communism. This opened up a lot of opportunities for the people that are sick of Communism. They now can also visit their family's that don't live in a Communist Society.

Nelson Mandela and Apartheid

Apartheid is a racial segregation policy of South Africa from 1948 - 1994. In the Apartheid system, nonwhites were referred to as Bantu meaning blacked or colored. Also the wealth class between the blacks and whites were very different. Whites got paid well, while the Blacks don't. Nelson Mandela stood up to Apartheid to make a difference. He influenced the people the support him. Later, society feared that he was capable of starting a revolution so they sentenced him to jail for 27 years. When he was released his people wanted to immediately elect him. He became president. He also won a noble prize

African Independence

African Independence occurred not that long ago. Kwame Nkrumah was a non- violent protester and wanted Africa to have it's independence. He led strikes and boycotts in Africa. He was also often arrested. His efforts were very successful, thus getting Africa it's Independence. He was the main reason Africa got their independence. The only independent countries in 1955 were Egypt, Libia, Ethopia, Liberia, South Africa. Jomo Kenyatta was also a protest leader. Peopl respected him so much they named a Africa country after him named Kenya. In 1975, all countries were independent except , Rhosedia, South-West Africa and Afars Issas Territory, and the Spanish Sahara.

The Cuban Missle Crisis

The Cuban missile crisis was the closest we ever came into having a war with The Soviet Union. Thanks to the cooperation and help of John Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev, the war was avoided. Nikita Khrushchev had conceived the idea of placing missiles in Cuba so if they ever needed to go to war with the U.S, they can release the missiles. In the summer of 1962, They had started placing the missiles in Cuba. After President John F. Kennedy, had found out about the installments of the Cuban missiles, he immediately organized The EX-COMM, consisting of 12 of his most important trustworthy advisers to handle the crisis. Kennedy imposed a quarantine on the island. After Kennedy pulled back the quarantine, Nikita sent a letter stating that if the U.S never invades Cuba they will get rid of the missiles, then another letter came from Nikita stating that if they remove the missiles from Turkey they would remove the missiles from Cuba. Two options. One was chosen, which was the first proposal. That was the end of the Cuban missile crisis

Nato and Warsaw Pact

The Nato Pact consists of The United States, Canada, Portugal, Italy, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, and Turkey. The main purpose for this alliance was defense. It stands for North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Also since the western European countries were a little beat up after WW II, The US covered them by applying The Marshall Plan. Nato started a new program in 1979, which would help build up defense, as well as new efforts towards stopping the Soviet Union from building up their nuclear weapons. The Soviet Union then felt that Nato was a threat so they forged the Warsaw Pact. This pact consisted of mostly of The Soviet Union and it's satellite countries. The Soviet Union wanted to strengthen it's hold on it's satellite countries. This program was taken over by Nikita Khrushchev and Nikolay Bulganin in the early 1955.

Film Lesson: "The Right Stuff"

The US and USSR were competing in many different unique concepts. The US were the first to break the sound barrier and Russia were the first to send a satellite and a man to space. The US then felt embarrassed and with hard work they pulled of their own space program and sent a monkey to space, while the Russians sent a man to space.The US felt very embarrassed sending a chimp to space. The US afterwards gained the upper hand by sending a man to the moon. The movie showed scenes where doctors were testing the men, to see if they're capable to go to space and handle the stress. There were also scenes were it took the US many tries to build a successful space rocket.

Film Lesson: "Schindler's List"

Schindler's List was a hollywood version movie of the procedure the Jews went through. From ghettos to concentration camps to death camps. Schindler's List illustrates Holocause effectively, but not as effectively as Night and Fog. It illustrates the way the Jews were treated and how they were killed for no reason, just to take lives out of boredom. The movie illustartes how the children were taken away and disposed of because their lack of inability to work. In the movie there was one Jewish Girl wearing red while the rest of the movie was black and white. They did that for a reason so they could show the girl's corpse later burned and put in a shovel cart. It must be terrifying living with the thought that you could die any second for no reason. The SS with machine guns murdered the sick in the infirmary because they could not work.

Film Lesson: "Night and Fog"

This movie illustrates the Holocaust effectively. It shows real images and clips of the massacred Jews and discusses how they were treated.I believe this movie was more effective in illustrating the Holocaust more than "Schindler's List" because it was a real documentary showing real images of massacred Jews. I felt really sad, how the bodys were all stacked up in a pile and the way the bulldozer moved the leftover bodys like they were nothing. It was also felt really sorry when they were all free and looking at their family and friends bodys all piled and spread in the unforgiven soil of the death/concentration camps. The Jews that became free after the Allied forces found the concentration/death camps did not know what to do since they are now free. They were all used to painstaking work and small amounts of food. Their minds never crossed what they would do if they became free because they thought they would never be free. When I saw the overgrown camp "Auschwitz" in the 1960s as shown in the documentary, I felt really amazed looking at a historical significant land that murdered 3,000,000 Jews alone in that camp.

The Treaty of Versailles(ended WWI)

The Treaty Of Versailles was a peace treaty that ended World War I. It was signed on June 28, 1919 by Germany and Allied powers at the Palace of Versailles. The treaty deprived Germany of 13.5 % of territory and all of it's oversea possesion. The Germany was now limited to 100,000 men, and banned against the use of heavy artillery, gas, tanks and aircraft. The treaty led to a situation when the German people felt let down, and wanted to blame someone. The treaty also led to economical problems. There was a lack of food and job opportunities. This increased the anger the Germans had inside them. In 19 23, Adolf Hiter attempted to take over the German government. He was unsuccesful, and was sent to jail for nine months. Hitler blamed Germany because of their weak governement. He spoke in a charismatic style that impresses the German citizens. He blamed outsiders for the cause of the Germans weak army. He placed the blame on one race "The Jews". by January 1933, Hilter and his nazi party controlled the German government. Hitler became dicator and had complete control. People who opposed him were often murdered.

Mustaf Kemal(Ataturk) and the modernization of Turkey

Mustafa Kemal Ataturk was the founder of the Turkish Republic and it's first president. He was a military commander and protected his country as well as winning impressive victories against all odds. He lead his nation to independence. His goal was to modernize Turkish life to give his people a new sense equality, dignity, and happiness. In his road for modernizatrion secular governement and education played a major role.

He wanted religious faith to be a matter of individualities. One of his famous quote talking about modernizing Turkey was " The major challenge facing us is to elevate our national life to the highest level of civilization and prosperity." Mustaf Kemal had many accomplishments as president for 15 years, until his death in 1938, leading reforms in political, social, legal, economic, and culture in Turkey.

Film Lesson: "Gandhi"

Gandhi was born in Porbander in western India on October 2, 1869. In 1888, Gandhi, he traveled to London, England to study Law in Law school. He was a political and spirtual leader of India and The Indian Independence Movement. He does not like to protest using violence, instead he uses none-violent protesting. He influenced the Indian people to not buy British goods, instead buy Indian goods. He believes that acts of violence against the British only provoked a negative reation, whereas none-violent protests provoked the British into doing something which pushed more people into supporting the Indians Independence Movement.Britian passed a law stating that Indians cannot get salt from any other source, but the British. In 1930, Gandhi led the Salt March to make salt from the ocean.

Joseph Stalin and Totalitarianism

Totalitarianism is when the government controls all aspects of a citizen's life. Joseph Stalin took power in 1924, right when Vladimir Lenin died. Stalin was the undisputed leading figure of the Communist Party. By the 1930s, Stalin truly became dictator of The Soviet Unions. Stalin introduced a plan called THE FIVE YEAR PLAN. This plan stated a plan in which Stalin wants to rapidly industrialize Russia. Joseph Stalin also created "The Great Purge" which states that he will kill anyone that opposes him. Stalin was a powerful leader, however he takes advantage of his power which he did by creating "The Great Purge". He was very intimidating.

Film Lesson: Doctor Zhivago

The Film , Doctor Zhivago depicted as a harsh time for Russia where people were killed and communism occurred. Zhivago is a very intelligent man that works very hard to on his job being a doctor. He owns a mansion house, however since it's a communist society he must let people in to make it equal.No one is special. One man is not richer than another man no matter how hard he works or how much more intelligent he is than the other person. When Doctor Zhivago went back to his house some of his belongings were stolen because he had too much. He didn't even have enough fuel for his home. He had to steal them.

Causes of WWI

There were many causes for World War I. The causes consists of Nationalism, Imperialism, Arms race, the assassination of Franz Fredinand, Militarism, and Alliances. Nationalism caused divided Italy and German states to form. It was a problem for Austria-Hungary. They contained many conflicting national groups. Imperalism caused rivalry between Germany, Great Britian, and France. These countries competed for economic expansion for Africa, however France and Great Britian resolved their differences in Africa. Arms race was also another cause for World War I. It caused a lot of competition for amount of military power and technology. This lead to organized and well thought plans out to attack.