Mikhail Gorbachev and the Collapse of Communism

Mikhail Gorbachev paved the way for the end of communism by introducing the ideas of Glasnost (openness) and Perestroika (economic restructuring). The definition of glasnost is the policy of maximal publicity openness and transparency in the activities of all government institutions in the Soviet Union. The definition of Perestroika is economic restructuring or reform in the Soviet Union introduced by the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in 1987. In his policy called Glasnost, Gorbachev encouraged Soviet citizens to embrace change, discuss and find ways to improve their society. His government allowed churches to open, released dissidents of the previous government, and allowed the publication of books that were banned before. Gorbachev also allowed reporters to freely criticize the government and its officials. His Perestroika allowed Soviet citizens to publicly complain about economic problems such as waiting in line to buy food and other items. Through Perestroika, local managers gained more authority over their farms and factories. Also, people were allowed to open small businesses. These changes paved the way for the collapse of communism.

The collapse of Communism

Communism collapsed in Russia and Eastern Europe because it lost its appeal and democracy became more popular. People living in the communist countries were restricted in many ways. For example there were not allowed to travel without the permission of their government. Also they did not have different products to choose from, for instance everybody had to purchase the same type of product such as a certain brand of toothpaste. In addition, people had to wait inline for hours to buy food and other necessites. No matter how hard one worked a persons salary did not increase and there were no incentives to earn more money and thrive. This regime was against people's nature and will to become successful and prosperous. People in East Germany demanded reforms and pressured the communist government. Under so much pressure the communist government stepped down and a new government came to power. The new government allowed free elections and gave orders for the demolition of the Berlin Wall. In 1989, Mikhail Gorbachev became president of Russia and he paved the way for reforms with glasnost (openess) and perestroika (restructuring). Many nations in Russia wanted to become independent and eventually the Soviet Union collapsed. After the collapse of the Soviet Union many other communist nations such as Bulgaria, Albania, and Romania became democratic.

Nelson Mandela and Apartheid

Apartheid was a racial segregation policy that existed in South Africa between 1948 and 1994. It was created by the South African Bureau for Racial Affairs (SABRA). It is a policy in which racial segregation was allowed legally. It was created in 1948 in the general election of 1948. In it different races were segregated, sometimes by the use of force. Apartheid separated many public buildings. It only allowed one race in one building at a certain period of time. Also until 1990 anyone who was not white, was not able to get full citizenship and did not have the right to vote. Nelson Mandela was a South African independence leader who fought for independence for South Africa. In my opinion, Nelson Mandela was a hero because even though he spent 27 years in prison, he still kept fighting for South African independence. He is a man of peace and honor. I think if South Africa had not become an independent nation he would have kept fighting for independence for as long as he lived. The authors of the articles also believe he is a true hero, because he fought for the right thing freedom.

African Independence

The continent of Africa changed so much in 20 years because many European countries such as Great Britain, France, Spain, Italy, Germany and Belgium wanted Africa's land for their own interest. These nations took control over much of Africa stealing their valuable natural resources such as diamonds, gold, silver, copper and rubber. This crippled the African nations' economy. These countries wanted to gain their independence. Some independence leaders such as Kwame Nkrumah made boycotts, speeches and non violent protests in order to convince Ghanan people to fight for their country and to become independent from the British. Kwame Nkrumah eventually became the prime minister of Ghana, and then president for life and led the country until his death.Another independence leader was Jomo Kenyatta who was a Kenyan nationalist who created and organization called the Mau Mau which is a secret society of people who try to scare British farmers to move out of the highlands. He became the president of Kenya and lead it. Most of the nations became independent by 1975 and governed their own countries with their own laws.

Film Lesson "The Right Stuff"

I really liked the movie "The Right Stuff" because it showed the amazing airplanes in cold war. It was interesting to see the two great powers of the world, the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Both of these powers tried to become first to put a man into space and the first man on the moon. When the US tried to send a monkey up to space the Russians laughed at them because they were unable to send a man into space. But the US were the first to send men to the moon. The planes they made were very sophisticated. They could fly at mach 2 which is about 1500 miles per hour, and these planes were able to fly above 100,000 feet. In my opinion, the Russians won the competition because of the fact that they sent a man up into space first and not a monkey. The scene of the planes flying in the sky definitely will help me remember the Cold War and the Space Race.

Nato and The warsaw Pact

NATO is the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It is a military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty. The NATO headquarters is located in Brussels, Belgium. The major reason for the formation of NATO was that the countries involved wanted a mutual defense alliance so that if one of them were attacked all of the other countries in NATO would help . The North Atlantic Treaty was signed on April 4, 1949 to protect themselves from the Soviet Union.
In response to this, the Warsaw Pact was created on May 14, 1955. It consisted of the Soviet Union and its allied countries. These countries also made a treaty to protect each other and assist them if they needed it.The Soviet Union kept military personnel in the other countries of the alliance and kept them running socialist governments. It was the first step in an attempt to strengthen the Soviet Union's hold on its friendly countries. This program was undertaken by Nikita Khrushchev and Nikolay Bulganin after they took power in early 1955. Eventually the Warsaw Pact was dissolved in 1991.

Film Lesson "Schindler's List"

The movie "Schindler's list" depicts the holocaust quite well . It describes how Jews lived through the holocaust. It was a very graphic and intense movie because in some scenes kids were taken away from their mothers and gassed inside the gas chambers, and only the strong people were allowed to live if they worked. The weak were immediately killed inside the gas chambers or burned in crematoriums. In my opinion, the most powerful scene is Auschwitz, because the way the Jewish people were treated in there was just horrible. They were starved, beaten and were forced to completely undress in front of the guards in sub zero temperatures. One image that will always stay in my mind is the scene where the little boy was trying to hide from the guards and fell into the dirty toilet whole. I felt sorry for this boy because I can imagine the fear he must have felt. I think "Schindler's list" was more powerful than "Night and Fog" because it had more graphic and dramatic scenes. From my point of view, Steven Spielberg has done a great job in showing us the suffering and the demise of the Jewish people in the holocaust.

Film Lesson "Night and fog"

The film Night and Fog is a French film with English subtitles about the holocaust. I was shocked by this movie. It was very graphic, especially the documentary. In the documentary real people were dying and being tortured. I found the film very powerful because I could not believe what I was seeing actually happened. Night and Fog and Schindler's list both have similar scenes. Jews are seen boarding trains to the Ghettos and to the concentration camps. I really felt sad watching these films because it reminds of how cruel and disgusting some people can be. I was horrified by watching what the Nazis had done to the Jews. Most of those people were innocent and did not deserve to be tortured and killed. The documentary illustrates the holocaust better than the movie because it showed more graphic and real scenes that actually took place.

The Treaty of Versailles (ended WW1)

The Treaty if Versailles was a piece of paper that Germany had to sign because they lost WW1. It said that the war was all Germany's fault, and that they must pay for all the damage caused. They also lost a lot of the land they also had gotten from the war. They owed so much for the war that there currency was almost worthless. Germany also had to shrink their army to around 100,000 soldiers. Their economy was so terrible that they had to carry a huge bucket of money just to buy 1 loaf of bread because of the very high taxes. I think that it wasn't fair for Germany because they weren't the only country that caused damage in the war. All the countries involved in the war should have helped repair the damage caused in the war, not just Germany. I think the Treaty of Versailles led to the rise of Fascism and Adolph Hitler because since Germany's economy was weak. they needed someone strong to rise into power into Germany to make the country strong again So that is how Hitler and Fascism came to power.

Mustafa Kemal Attaturk and the modernization of Turkey

Mustafa Kemal Ataturk was born in 1881 and became the founder, and first president of the Republic of Turkey. He brought new laws that made Turkey a more modern country such as France and other European nations. He passed laws that made it illegal to wear a hat called fez which sometimes has a tassel over it. He made Turkey look more modern with new clothing like European hats, tuxedos, pants and boots. Women also would stop wearing the veil. Ataturk put into effect an independent dress code for Turkey. He also gave women the right to vote. He made Turkey a secular country. In a secular country, people are governed by the government and its laws, not by religion. He also changed the Turkish calender from Islamic to Western. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk died in 1938 at the age of 57.

Film Lesson: "Ghandhi"

Mohandas Gandhi was a very important person in India. He helped the Indians gain their independence from Britain. He used acts of non-violence to fight against the British, so it made Britain look like a bad country. In order to get his people to practice non-violence, he fasted until the people began listening to him. Eventually his peoples listened to him an made them promise not to fight against them, even though they were taking control over their lives. One aspect Gandhi used to show non-violence is that he told the Indians to make and weave their own cloth instead of buying from the British, because of the heavy taxes on it. Another aspect Gandhi uses to practice non-violence is the salt march. He and his followers marched 240 miles to the sea to collect salt to use for their own purposes.This hurt Britain's economy any more because pretty much nobody was buying their own products. Eventually India had got its independence in 1947, because at the time Britain's economy was weak, they were just recovering from a World War and so they didn't have the money to take care of another country. Gandhi was still upset because Hindus and Muslims were separated from India. Gandhi was a peace maker, he wanted to gain independence without violence and so for this people honor him by calling him the "Great Soul".

The Russian Revolution

The Russian Revolution was a very important time in Russian's history. It creates a new form of government in Russia. Before the Revolution czars used to control the whole country. They were like emperor. Czar's did not really do anything to help the country. They mainly cared about themselves and their family. So Russia was a very poor country and most of the people were starving and were poor. They needed somebody who can help strengthen the economy and its peoples. One cause was World War 1, this really was a blow to Russia because they did not have good technology and were already poor to afford one. A lot of people were losing their lives. The revolution was about the Russian people revolting against it's country to demand a better life. A man named Vladamir Lenin and his party the Bolshevik's got an idea about similar to Karl Marx idea of communism, and he thought this would help Russia a lot. He eventually took power and they finally had peace, land and bread which means they had peace with each other, bread they had food to eat and land to live on. Lenin created a form of dictatorship in Russia.

Causes of ww1

World War 1 was one of the most deadliest wars in history. Millions of people lost their lives.Many new deadly weapons were created like the machine gun, poison gas, planes, tanks, and submarines. One of the main causes of World War 1 was the assassination of the arch duke France Ferdinand. A Serbian assassin came and shot the arch duke and his family. Austria-Hungary got mad at Serbia so they declared war on them. But then the Russians got mad and declared war on Austria-Hungary. Then Germany declared war on Russia and France and Britain. This was like a chain reaction. This sparked all these countries to entering the war. Nationalism also caused the war because Nationalism is ones love for a country. Many strong Nationalist movements happened putting up signs and posters demanding for troops and alliances. Militarism also contributed because it is when a country creates weapons and gets ready to have war anytime. These all helped to cause World War 1.

Opium Wars

The Opium Wars was started by imperialism. The British wanted The Chinese's tea, but the Chinese wanted to be independent and did not want to sell it to them. The British offered the Chinese Opium, which is a used to make drugs. The Chinese agreed to trade only with Britain and no other western country. They got addicted to the drug and did not want it from Britain anymore. China then went to fight Britain but most of their money wan on the drug, plus Britain had better technology so the British won the war.