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.

Film Lesson: "Night and Fog"

In class we had watched the movie "Night and Fog". It is a documentary on the Auschwitz concentration camp, 10 years after being closed down. It shows some gruesome stuff that changes how people see the Holocaust. It was a very powerful movie and had some scary scenes that made me happy I wasn't alive during that time. While watching this documentary I felt disgust on how the Nazis treated the Jews. My first reaction was horror. I had seen some images and read about what happened in the concentration but I never saw how horrible it really was. I thought this film was very powerful. "Night and Fog" it had more powerful and gruesome than the ones in "Schindler's List". I think "Night and Fog" illustrated the Holocaust better than "Schindler's List" because it showed real video and showed the Holocaust as it actually was.

The Treaty of Versailles (ended WW I)

The Treaty of Versailles was a peace treaty signed between Germany and the Allied Powers on June 28th 1919, which ended WWI. The Treaty of Versailles made German life bad after WWI. Germany had to accept full blame on starting the war thus being completely humiliated and initially refusing to sign the treaty. They were to pay for compensation to the allies under Article 231 (the "War Guilt Clause"). Some of their land was taken away, including their colonies, and distributed among the allies. They had to pay a whole lot of money to the allies that when not payed, they would be visited by troops from the allies. Germany did not pay most of it back in money but with coal and other products. The German economy was ruined and being unable to recover itself. The German military and army were restricted. The Germans felt insecure and horrible because they couldn't defend themselves and they had to follow other peoples' rules. I think that treaty was fair yet unfair. I thought it was fair because they did the most damage to the allied powers' military. I thought it was unfair because Germany shouldn't be the only one blamed for the war. I think historians say that the Treaty of Versailles led to the rise of Fascism and Hitler because most of Germany felt insecure, which made them look up to Hitler as a leader that would stop other countries from controlling them.

Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk) and the Modernization of Turkey

Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk) is known for being the first President of Turkey. He modernized Turkey in a very short period of time. He made Turkey more secular. Secular are things that are not pertained or connected to religion. He let people believe in the religion they wanted to believe in. He believed in united humanity and equal rights for everyone. He believed that that the country was drastically not modern. He wanted to modernize Turkey to give it a new sense of dignity, equality, and happiness. Ataturk gave women their equal rights in 1926, with the new Civil Code. He wanted the people of Turkey to start wearing European hats and never to wear the fez. He made women stop wearing veils. He wanted all citizens to have surnames. He changed the Islamic calender to the Western kind. Ataturk also decided to change the nation's language, from Arabic to Latin.

Film Lesson: "Gandhi"

During class we watched the movie Gandhi. It was based on the life of Mohandas Gandhi. He was better known as Mahatma in India and for playing a part in the independence of India from Great Britain. He believed in non-violent resistance to get independence. This meant that he wanted the people of India to rebel without violence. He used this by making Great Britain look bad instead of the Indians who were getting hit and not doing anything back. When he saw that Indians were using violence he went on a hunger strike until they stopped. This helped by making Indians not use violence. Gandhi spoke at many gatherings. He told Indians to stop buying Britain's clothes and make their own. He made his clothing by using a spinning wheel several hours a day. He led many marches but the most famous one was the Salt March. Britain was putting taxes on many things including salt. Gandhi led a march from Ahmedabad to Dandi. At the end of the march he made salt.

The Russian Revolution

The Russian Revolution took place in 1917. During this time the government was changed three times. The Russians had started a revolution because of many reasons. The Czar had led Russia into WWI. This caused Russia to have economic and political problems. There were many food shortages and Russia was spending a lot of money. Russians were scared of the power that the government had. The people were constantly hurt. The Russians wanted to have a revolution to get out of the war and to be free from their cruel ways. The Czar abdicated the throne and was later killed with his family. Their leader was a man named Vladimir Lenin. He was the leader of the Bolsheviks party. Lenin had once been exiled but thanks to the Germans was able to get back into Russia. Lenin and the Bolsheviks party overthrew the government and made Russia into the first Communist country. The quote "Peace, land and bread" means that the Russians wanted to have peace, land and bread. In Feburay 1917 there was a bread shortage in Russia. Bread became more hard to get. The people of Russia had wanted bread, so that is where the quote had came from.

Causes of WW I

World War I took place during 1914-1918. It was first called "The Great War". It involved most of Europe and the United States. There are many causes as to how it started.

One of the causes of World War I was nationalism. The countries involved in WWI were strongly nationalistic. They loved their country and thought that everyone should be like them. As this thought went around, many countries were trying to dominate others. They wanted to spread their countries' ways. This made the countries involved in WWI want to try to dominate each other.

Another cause of World War I was militarism. The countries involved in WWI started expanding their military. They were in constant fear of other countries going to attack them. They believed that other countries were planning attacks on their country. For the fear of getting attacked they made their military bigger and stronger. They started making plans and were always ready to attack.

Another cause of World War I was the assassination of the Archduke Francis Ferdinand. Francis Ferdinand was the heir to the Austrian throne. He was killed with his wife in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914. He was killed by a Serbian nationalist, who was part of a group called the Black Hand. This officially helped start WWI. Austria-Hungry then seeked vengeance against Serbia for killing the heir to their throne. This lead to Germany backing up Serbia. One by one countries were declaring war on each other.