Mikhail Gorbachev and the Collapse of Communism

Mikhail Gorbachev was the youngest Soviet leader since Stalin and was supported by the Politburo. He pursued new ideas and started different reforms. He announced the policy of Glasnost. Glasnost means "openness". He wanted Soviet citizens to give ideas to make their society better. He made a lot of changes. He allowed churches to open and released dissidents from prison. He also allowed for the publication of books, that were banned because of the author. People were allowed to complain about economic problems. Mikhail had introduced the idea of perestroika. Perestroika is a word for economic restructuring. He wanted to make communism more efficient and productive. People were allowed to open small private businesses and managers were able to have more control over their businesses. He introduced another idea called democratization, which allowed for the election of a new legislative body. He changed the Soviet's foreign policy. He stressed diplomacy over force. He had signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Force with President Reagan. He said that the Soviet Union no longer opposes to reform. This all led to the end of Communism because their were no longer people enforcing the way of communism. Also communism was no longer strict and people were able to do the things they wanted and live a better life.

The Collapse of Communism

A series of events led to the collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe and in the USSR. In Eastern Europe there were reforms and people were starting to reject the idea of Communism. There were demands for reforms, some countries were starting to hold free elections, and there were revolutions. The new president of East Germany had decided to hold free elections and wanted the Berlin Wall to be tore down. There then became talk with West Germany. This resulted in the destruction of the Berlin Wall and the unification of Germany. In the Soviet Union, Boris Yeltsin was elected president. He fought for power and wanted the break up of the Soviet Union. He helped reformers end communism. This resulted in the USSR ceasing to exist. With the disappearance of the USSR, there is know only one super power in the world. The two super powers had been the United States and the Soviet Union. Now its only the US.

Nelson Mandela and Apartheid

Apartheid is a system in which non whites didn't have the same rights as white people. It is a type of racial separation. Nelson Mandela had helped abolish apartheid in South Africa and is considered a hero. He was a leader of the African National Congress (ANC). He became fighter and fought for freedom against the cruel government. He believed that every race should live in harmony. He led many people to fight for their rights. To silence him the white South African government put him in jail. Even while in jail he was a beacon of hope. More people fought for their freedom. In his absence they fought harder. He was in jail for 27 years and released in 1990. He won the Nobel Peace Prize. He helped outlaw apartheid and became South Africa's first black president. He is so admired, not only by the authors of those sites and articles, but, by a lot of people. He helped South Africa become a better place for everyone, he even went to jail to end apartheid. Everyone will remember what he did.

African Independence

During a 20 year period, from 1955 to 1975, Africa changed dramatically. In those 20 years African countries wanted to severe their ties with the European countries that ruled their lives. After WWII, all over Africa their were people trying to fight to have there own countries. They wanted similar people with similar traditions to be under the same countries. They wanted independence from the European imperialists. Their were many movements all over Africa. Many leaders emerged and gave hope to others. One of those leaders was Leopold Senghor. He led the way for Senegal's independence and later became the first president of Senegal. Another leader was Kwame Nkrumah. He led non violent protests for Ghana's independence. He became Ghana's first prime minister and later it's president for life. For Kenya's independence the leader was Jomo Kenyatta, with the help from the secret organization Mau Mau. Jomo Kenyatta later became Kenya's president. Moise Tshombe led the southeastern province of Katanga's independence. For Algeria's independence, one of the leaders was Ahmed Ben Bella. He was named Algeria's first prime minister then it's first president.

Film Lesson: "The Right Stuff"

In class we watched the movie "The Right Stuff". This movie was about the Space race. The two countries that were competing in the space race were the United States and the Soviet Union. This movie took place during the Cold War. For most of the space race the Soviet Union was winning for they were the first country to put a man in space, a week after the United States got an animal up there. They were also the first country to put a satellite in space. But in the end the United States won by getting a man on the moon. The scenes from the film that will make me remember this Cold War event would be when the United States had sent spies to see what the Soviet Union were doing and the drills that the men were doing to get prepared to go to space.

NATO and The Warsaw Pact

NATO stands for North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It was an alliance of countries in Europe and North America. The Warsaw Pact was another alliance between the Soviet Union and its satellite countries. It was created because of the creation of NATO. Both alliances' stated that if one of those countries' were to be attacked all the other countries in NATO or the Warsaw Pact would go help them out. Both alliances were made for defense reasons. In the picture above, the countries in blue represented those in NATO and those in red were in the Warsaw Pact. NATO was formed because the countries in it wanted a mutual alliance and so that the people in their countries felt safe and not threatened by other countries. The Warsaw Pact was formed in response to the creation in NATO. NATO was formed by the United States, mostly to help other countries and to keep communism from spreading. The Warsaw Pact was formed by the Soviet Union, so that they can spread communism.

Film Lesson: "Schindler's List"

In class we watched the movie "Schindler's List". "Schindler's List" illustrated the Holocaust by showing how Oskar Schindler had helped Jews during a horrific time. It showed how he had helped save them from going into camps, and eventually get killed. He made them work in his factories, which was better since they would live. The scene that was really powerful was how real it looked when the Nazis were killing people for no good reason. The image that would stay with me was when I saw that the girl with the red coat died and when the Nazis lined some people and shot some of them with one bullet, if they didn't die they shot them till they did. Another scene that would stay with me was when a bunch of kids were put into a truck and they were all happy and waving at their parents not knowing what would happen to them. To me "Night and Fog"was more powerful because that film had actual scenes of what happened in the camps and was a documentry so you saw actual dead bodies and how horrible the Nazis treated them.