The Collapse of Communism

Communism started to collapse in Eastern Europe around the 1980s, this was because people started to reject communism, they were tired of it and the rules that they had to obey. Most people rejecting communism the Soviet Union broke up and were able to bring back the Western and Eastern side of Germany. Many countries were finished with Communism and converted into a democratic country. Communism also collapsed in the USSR, many people were being rebellions and not following the orders and the USSR government couldn't stop them anymore. Nothing went right anymore for the communist countries and just stopped being communist. In 1991 the Soviet leaders were no more and overtrown by their own countries. With the new leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev communism was gone from their countries and people had the right to say what they wanted. With this collapse of communism it doesnt mean there are no more countries with communism, there still like China, Laos, North Korea, and Vietnam. These countries still run with a communism government but lowered the control of the state econmomy.

Mikhail Gorbachev and the Collapse of Communism

Mikhail Gorbachev found a way to end communism, by this people just loved the way how he knew his way in politics and yet was so young for his age. He knew his way through politics and knew what was right from wrong and still didn't like or accept communism. By the time he was 54 he was voted as Soviet leader. In his times Joesph Stalin was still going on about communism, nobody was suppose to go against him or if they did they were put in jail or killed. Once Mikhail Gorbachev became the new leader he wanted to finish the whole communism and wanted to give his people the right they deserve. Mikhail accepted new ideas from the people on how to change the society to make it better for them. With communism, there were suppose to be no economic problems because everyone was paid the same and equally; even with this nobody liked the idea. Now that Mikhail changed that the people were now able to complain about the problems and what they would want to change. He brought the things that were banned from the society before and brought them back into the society. He took innocent people out of jail, released books that were banned and opened churches so that the people could follow their religion. This is how Mikhail Gorbachev paved the way for the end of Communism.

A policy that Mikhail Gorbachev had created is the Glasnost. Glasnost which means openness which allowed the people from the Soviet Union say what they need to say. What the citizens would have said were to improve the society. Peristrokia allowed people to open up their own bussniess and gave the local managers more control over their factories and farms. Gorbachev wanted the people to be happy and to give them thier fair rights.

Nelson Mandela and Apartheid

The Apartheid is a racist segregation in South Africa where the people who weren't white would not have the same privilege as the white people had. This was a policy in the government from 1948 until 1994. Even if you were a mix of white and another race, the government still wouldn't have given an exception and give you what the white people get. The white people had it easy while the other race didn't get much. Africa is the home of Africans but the white people took over and made it theirs.

Nelson Mandela was a hero and still is one to the Africans because he was one of the leaders that fought for his people's right. Nelson wanted to fight for Africans could have their independence and their rights, so they would not be treated as seconds. Africa is their country, Nelson Mandela and all the Africans believed that they should be given rights and were allowed to do anything, which is true. Since the white had more power, they didn't care what they thought but Nelson Mandela didn't let that get to him and fought to get his people their rights. Even while sentenced in death he still gave hope to others and didn't give up on giving his people what they deserved. He was a strong leaders like all the other leaders out there that never gave up and fought for what they wanted without backing down. Nelson Mandela wasn't just admired by the people of Africa but also admired by the authors of the article. This is because Nelson Mandela is an inspiration for them, because they see how Mandela never lost any hope for getting what him and his people wanted.

African Independence

Africa has changed plenty over the past 20 years. During 1955 Africa had no independence and were being controlled by European nation. The Europeans would come into Africa with the Africans having no say what so ever. It wasn't fair that the European nation takes over Africa and making it theirs, but they didn't care and just took everything from Africa and made it theirs. By 1975 the Africans were tired of it and fought to gain their independence, yet there were few who didn't mind because the Europeans gave them new things and made Africa better. There was still the ones who hated it because it was their country and had no say into whether they allowed the Europeans to come into their land and take their natural resources. They still fought for their independence and were able to get it. Some of the leaders who fought for Africa's independence would have to be Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya, Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana and Nelson Mandela of South Africa.

Film Lesson: "The Right Stuff"

"The Right Stuff" was a competition between the the US and the USSR, the United States were the US and Russia was the USSR. They both wanted to get to space first but there was only one winner and this movie told us who was the winner. Both countries wanted their technology to be superior and after one country did something big the next must be even bigger. First the United States broke the sound system but they didn't want to say anything about it. Later on Russia sent the first satellite into space, and the United States wanted to beat them so they sent a monkey into space because they didn't want to hurt anyone. By beating that Russia had sent a man into space a few weeks later. That was big to everyone, bigger than sending the monkey into space. So to beat that the United States sent a man into space as well but he was the first man to go to the moon. The scene that would help me remember the Cold War event is when they were in the conference room trying to figure out how to beat the Russians. How the Americans would show what the Russians were doing and how the Americans really wanted to be ahead. That scene was unforgettable because it would show that the Americans were informed and would think about how to beat the Russians.

NATO and The Warsaw Pact

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was an alliance organization of the United States, Western Europe and Canada. All of the 12 nations had agreed to protect each other so that communism would not spread further more. NATO did not want the idea of Communism going to other countries and taking over the world so for that to happen NATO made sure that the other countries would disagree with communism. The Warsaw Pact is a soviet version of the NATO which would promise that they would protect the Communist countries from the Western attack. The Soviet's created the Warsaw Pact because the Soviets were scared of the NATO.

Film Lesson: "Night and Fog"

"Night and Fog" was also a powerful movie because it showed us actual photos of what had happened in the concentration camps. This was a documentary, this showed us what really happened and how it had actually went on. The documentary described to us what took place during the holocaust. This was very much powerful because it was very real and showed me how the holocaust really was. I would just hear and read stories but never really watched anything and watching this wasn't anything happy it was depressing to see the photos that were being shown. "Night and Fog" can very much compare to "Schindler's List" because they both showed very well how the holocaust was and it wasn't anything easy to watch. Both showed how the people were treated and how the Jews were unhappy but who wouldn't be unhappy with how they were being treated. I believe the Hollywood version illustrated the Holocaust much better because even if it was acting it showed how it had happened and how they fought to live and tried hard. The Hollywood version showed how the Jews would hide so they won't be taken away. Yes, the documentary version was powerful but the Hollywood version had something that would express so much more. It felt so real but at the same time it didn't, I just couldn't believe that this had happened to innocent people. The holocaust was just depressing and watching both versions explained and let us know how people were being treated. Now hopefully nobody would have to go trough this.

Film Lesson: "Schindler's List"

Schindler's List was a powerful movie that proved not everyone that was part of the Nazi were mean. Schindler didn't want to hurt any of the Jews but did try to help them and not let them be sent to concentration camps. Schindler instead allowed the Jews work for him by making equipments. In the movie "Schindler's List" the Holocaust was illustrated very clearly and like if you were just standing there watching all of it happen so sadly. The movie showed how the Nazis were cruel people that didn't care about the Jews and didn't put themselves in their shoes and see their point of view. Than there was Schindler who had his list and this list saved some of the Jewish people's lives. This movie was written out very well and powerful to watch.

The scene that was powerful to me was the liquidation where the Jews were taking out of their own homes and were being sent out to ghettos. Where they were all squished together and passing disease. The Jewish were being sent to so many places and if they weren't able to work they would be killed. Nazis were pushing them around like it the Jewish had no feelings, they didn't even care about the feelings of the Jews. The Jewish were trying to live no matter how bad they had it. The liquidation didn't just stop of after the ghetto, after the ghetto they went to labor camps and other camps and than the final decision was to send them to concentration camps. This whole movie was powerful but the liquidation wasn't fair, sadly nothing was ever fair to the Jews.

There isn't any specific image from the movie because all images from the movie will stay with me. They have all been so powerful and showed so much and seemed so real. The images were very cruel but it was true, it was how the holocaust really was. There was plenty cruelty and very depressing to how the Jews were being treated. Also it showed how the people hid from the Nazis so they weren't sent to the camps. The Jews hid but they were still found and were still being killed. All of this would stick with me and wouldn't past me like if nothing had ever happened to them. Jewish people went through a lot but they over came it. Also this film was much more powerful then the "Night and Fog" because "Schindler's List" showed more detail. "Night and Fog" only showed pictures they had and people that had to go through the concentration camps. "Schindler's List" was more powerful and let you know how everything went step by step.

The Treaty of Versailles (ended WW I)

The treaty of Versailles affected Germany at the end of WWI by making them pay for everything that they caused. Germany was who had to pay for the damages caused by the WWI to the countries that won, because they were the ones who started the WWI. Also since they had lost the WWI they had to give up their 10% of lands in Asia. Germany tried to deny the treaty but weren’t able to so started to protest. They had to go along with the rules of the Treaty and couldn’t just ignore it because they were the ones who actually lost the WWI. Some of these rules were Germany had to pay back everything to the allies. Germany also had to give up coal to Belgium and France and also lower the army men they had. I don’t believe that the treaty of Versailles was fair because Germany wasn’t the only country fighting in this war there were other countries that were defending each other. By just making Germany pay isn’t fair. Some of the historians say that the Treaty of Versailles led to the rise of Fascism and Adolph Hitler. I think that historians say this because it seems reasonable because Adolph Hitler was German and saw everything was taken away from the Germans. His thought was getting revenge but he took the power he had to far. So much taken from the Germans that they needed someone to bring the country back to its feet but it didn’t turn out so well with Hitler.

Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk) and the Modernization of Turkey

Mustafa Kemal was the first president and Turkey and he had his ideas on how to be more modernized like England, USA who wore anything they wanted and were modern not like. This is how Mustafa wanted to be, him as president let him make his own laws and people of Turkey would have to obey or that is just breaking the laws he created. The people of Turkey weren't allow to wear fez which is a type of hat but without the borders to cover the sunlight so instead of fez they wore regular hats but the hats must have a border around it. Also men could only wear regular clothes like how the Western people did. The women wouldn't be able to wear a veil or the ottoman clothing. Mustafa didn't want no one in his country to wear any of it or anything that had to do with the Muslim clothing tradition. He didn't want go along with the rules that the other Muslim country had. This made Turkey become more modernized and secular. Where secular means to not have anything to do with anything about the religion they have. The people of Turkey named him Ataturk which means "Father of the Turks", they had given him this name for his gratefulness.

Film Lesson: "Gandhi"

Gandhi helped his nation India to gain independence from the British using non violence. With using non violence to gain independence he would protest and make marches. Gandhi started out with throwing away the government passes because only the Indians had to carry around everywhere while the British didn't have to. Gandhi found it wrong that they were the only one's who had to carry it around everywhere while they were suppose to be treated like the British. The British police man had beaten him and Gandhi didn't fight back he just kept putting the papers into the fire until he couldn't move anymore. Gandhi also made a boycott for the English products. The English would gather the cotton from India because it was easier and than go back to England to make the clothing and sell it to the Indians. Gandhi told everyone not to buy any of the clothes and taught them how to spin their own clothing. Than there was also the Salt March where him and a group of people walked 240 miles to the Indian Ocean to make their own salt.This was because they weren't able to make their own salt, they had to buy the salt from the British. The British decided to ignore it because it wasn't hurting them or anyone.

Non violence worked very well with Gandhi because no matter how much the British man would attack the Indians he had never used violence or thought about using violence against them. Gandhi never went along with the quote "An eye for an eye" he believed that if you go with this quote the violence would never finish. Than a group of Indian man who were protesting attacked a couple of police men and also burned down their a police station for assaulting a couple of Indian men. This disappointed Gandhi very much so to stop the Indians from using violence he started a fast until they would use non violence instead. This convinced them to stop with the violence and go with the non violence because they didn't want to Gandhi to die and still be a powerful leader.

I believe the only way the Indians gained their independence was because of Gandhi. He stood strong the whole time and was a very powerful leader which inspired others. He took everything the right way with non violence so it didn't make them look mad at all. It would make the British look bad because they were the ones who would use the violence against the Indians. If there was someone in India who would gain the independence for India did what Gandhi did than they might of gotten their independence. During 1447 the Indians would have fought for the British during the World War II. This would only have happened if they didn't get their independence.

The Russian Revolution

The Russian's had a revolution because of the revolution that had happened on February and October. Causes of the Russian Revolution was because of political, economic and of socialism. The February revolution happened because of the Czar Nicholas II had left the throne. Czar Nicholas II was the one who engaged Russia into WWI and he kept sending troops to fight while people of starving. He was being a bad Czar and was abdicated from his throne. The October Revolution was because of the Soviet Union establishing. Bolsheviks were the people who had defeated the Russian Revolution. They also had a leader, his name was Vladimir Lenin. Lenin was a communist who didn't agree to the war. He followed to what Karl Marx and his communism. The night of November 6, the Bolsheviks attacked the Russian capital and that night they had won. The quote "Peace, land and bread" by Lenin meant that he would promise them peace, land and food for when the war is finished. They had fought for what they wanted.

Causes of WW I

The cause of the WWI was because of Nationalism, Militarism, and Imperialism. All of the nations believed that their nations were the best and fought to prove that it was true. If you were from one nation you would think your nation is superior and more powerful than all the others. With all the countries thinking differently it brought problems and to solve it they used war. The war was also used to see who can own the mos land. Imperialism came in because of Africa and Asia. Europe would mostly conquer them because they had more force with them. To Africa and Asia it wasn't fair because they were being controlled while Europe thought it was good for them. Well that was imperialism, now Militarism comes in because Europe had much greater military. They were getting their military ready for war and to have everything organized and prepared for war. Finally what actually started the war was because of the assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary. He had put the countries in their alliance and now because someone had assassinated him the war begun.