Scott's Global Blog

Mikhail Gorbachev and the Collapse of Communism

2009-05-13T07:04:00.000-07:00

Glasnost (or Openness) means freedom of speech and Perestroika (or economic restructuring) means the changing in economy. Mikhail Gorbachev was a young leader in the Soviet Union. He had visions and alot of ideas for changing the econony to make it more better. he even made policies which were glasnost and perestroika, which are defined in the begining of this paragraph.

Many ideas have occured to Gorbachev to fixing the soviet economy with more policies, systems, reforms, etc. He also lossen the elections and also lossens many satellite states. Vagorbachev has made changes for the people and they were happy for his hard work in changes.

The Collapse of Communism

2009-05-12T07:19:00.000-07:00

Communism went coming down on the USSR and the Eastern Europe because of bankrupt. They wasted alot of money to keep going in their argument, but in the end, the USSR ran out of money and they gave up. The Berin wall a big structure that separated the East and the West of Germany. Both sides tried to cross the border between them, but none prevailed and no one made it through. They both decided to make ways to cross the border before tearing down the wall.

It would seem that they got tired of not crossing from the wall so they agreed to destroy the Berlin Wall. They even used rock hammers to have pieces of the wall as souvenirs. Its kind of confusing that they did that. Also, the Soviet Union Started to separate in to fifteen different republic after the fall of the wall. This event changed the world and Communism came to an end completely.

Nelson Mandela and Apartheid

2009-05-05T06:54:00.000-07:00

Apartheid is a policy of segregation and an economic discrimination that is against non-European in South Africa. Nelson Mandela was known a hero for trying to set free of South Africa from the system that the Europeans have set upon. He was set in prison for 27 long years and he waited. After being set free, Nelson Mandela was seeing that the people wanted to follow him in his footsteps to freedom.

Mandela was making plans on how to liberate South Africa. Mandela became president of South Africa for his hard work on freeing the country and awarded with the Nobel prize. The South African Government were afraid if Mandela were to die in prison, then a black revolution would occur and it would be hard for them to handle so they let him go.

African Independence

2009-05-04T07:25:00.000-07:00

African poeple were not treated very fairly and they decided to have independence in the continent, so now there was a few people who were ready to step up and give Africa independence. There were a few people who were going to give Africa independence like Jomo Kenyatta, Mau Mau, Leopold Senghold, Kwame Nkrumah, etc.

In the year 1955, before Africa obtained their independence, there were only about 4 countries that already had independence, while the other countries belonged to the colonies. Then by 1975, thanks to the leaders who lead Africa, almost all of Africa has their independence. In the end, Jomo Kenyatta became president which the British confirmed to him for Africa.

Film lessson- the right stuff

2009-04-08T07:09:00.000-07:00

The U.S and the USSR were competing in a race to get to space. his film shows the old days on how NASA was back in the days of the space program. The Russians were able to launch their first satellite in space which was called spudnik. The U.S were terrified about the satellite and they were afraid that the Russians will be one ot two steps ahead of them. The U.S decided to send the first man to space.

The U.S were searching for candidates that were perfect and found test pilots. The U.S tried to test the rockets to see if they were able to launch it in space. Many months have passed and there had been alot of failed test. While trying, they also decided to send a chimp up to space. The first man up was a Russian and the Chimp was the first american. The U.S were really behind the Russians. They felt embarrased and threatened.

The U.S tried to send the first american man up to space, but they still used the chimp for testing. There was about seven people who were able to go to space. others failed the test.

NATO and the Warsaw Pact

2009-04-06T07:11:00.000-07:00

NATO was a organization that involved in the countries of Europe and North America. If any countries were to be under attack, then the other allies will come to their help. The Warsaw Pact was another mutual defence ran by the Soviet Union in the Cold War. The Soviets were able to create a nuclear bomb in cuba to use while they were in a war. This kind of weapon was something that could start a nuclear war.

The Cold War was actually part of the space war that the U.S and the USSR were having. They had to many conflicts and disagreements on development, weapons, etc. The USSR were trying to get their hands on nuclear weapons. The" Iron Curtain" was something that divided Europe into two separate areas of the end of World War II.

People would imagine what would have happen if we did use nuclear weapons again in the Cold War instead of arguing about stuff. The world would probably be in chaos not just between the U.S and the Soviet Union.

Film Lesson: Schindler's List

2009-03-26T07:28:00.000-07:00

Schindler's list is about a man who tries to give hope to the jews while they are captured and put through concentration camps. This man was one of the greatest guy that the jews loved because of his protection for the jews. There has been alot of scenes that really got me interested throughout the whole movie.

One of the images that kinda will stay in my mind is when the germans made the jews burn all the dead bodies just to get rid of any evidence that will make the germans lose the war. Another scene that made me sad was when all the kids were getting taken away from all their parents. As the women were going somewhere, they see all the kids packed up on the trucks and they thought they were going somewhere fun. The parents tried to save them but they failed and they lost their childrens.

On the dead body part scene, you see many bodies being burned and many jews were cremated. Other jews had to carry them around to burn them and they had to see the bodies go to ashes. It was a sad and painful way to see your family die while you are in the borderline of death. This movie was a true way to know the Holocaust.

Film Lesson: Night and Fog

2009-03-26T06:57:00.000-07:00

When I saw the film, i thought that this film was gonna show some parts that have happen in real life, but it did explain much about what has happen during the Holocaust. The film was really powerful because at some scenes, there has been a lot of dead bodies lying around the concentrated camps and that their being burried, etc.

When comparing to schindler's list, it explains more about the Holocaust with the jews and what they have gone through the whole war like working day and night, burrying dead bodies to get rid of evidence, etc. I would also say that the documentary illustrates the Holocaust more effectively than the Hollywood version.

The reason i chose this is because the documentary type explains more better than the Hollywood type. It shows more about the war and it talks about what is going on in every part. As for the hollywood part, it skips alot of parts and you never know what has happen for real. It will only show you the most important part but you want to know about other parts to know more.

The Treaty of Versailles (ended WW I)

2009-02-24T07:05:00.000-08:00

The treaty of Versailles is a peace treaty that ended WWI between Germany and the Allied Powers.The Versailles treaty deprived Germany of around 13.5% of its 1914 territory (some seven million people) and all of its overseas possessions. They had to pay the consequences by giving up their land by 10% and lost the overseas for other countries.Germany was limited to a small army and was forbidden to build large ships. The treaty also forced Germany to pay Great Britain and France for the damage caused by the war.

Since Germany was paying for their actions, a man named Adolf Hitler came in. He claims that germany lost the war because of their weak government, but for his actions, he was sent to prison. Then, he says that he has one person to blame, which was jews. The Hitler became a dictator and lead germany's army.

This is why the people fear that Hitler was coming to lead germany after the war. It would seems that Hitler was not surprised by germanys defeat and for their actions. The german empire used to be really huge, Franz Ferdinand death started the war, the Treaty of Versailles was signed after 5 yearsn after Ferdinands death, etc.

Mustafa Kemal and the Modernization of Turkey

2009-02-11T07:07:00.000-08:00

Secular is the meaqning of separation of state and religion. Mustafa Kemal wanted to turn turkish life into a modernize world in order to give his nation a new sense of dignity, equality, and happiness. Then later on, he created a secular system, where the vast Moslem majority and the small Christian and Jewish minorities are free to practice their faith.

Mustafa did alot of things to change the Turkey country, like nationalis, secularism, reformism, etc. He helped his people from struggles and many other problems. He was kind of known as the Turkish liberator. He became president and ran for 15 years, until he died in 1938. The world honors his memory as a foremostpeacemaker who upheld the principles of humanism and the vision of a united humanity.

Film lesson: Gandhi

2009-02-10T07:18:00.000-08:00

Gandhi was one of those guys that helped gain independence for his country, India, from the British. While he tried to free his countries, he did alot of things like make the salt walk, hunger strike, etc. But in the end, he actually freed his country, but was assasined by a hindu man who didn't like him. Everyone thought of him as their hero. India won their independence in 1947. Everytime he would be put in jail, he would go in a hunger strike by not eating but he could drink.

Gandhi also made the salt march because he didn't want his people to pay for salt from the british so they start walking and jogging until they reached their destination. Many people would try to kill him, to put a stop to his plans for independence, but they had fail. Gandhi would be remembered in history because he believed in himself and worked hard to succeed in that belief. This guy was really a great man for India.

The Russian Revolution

2009-01-09T06:42:00.000-08:00

The Russian Revolution of 1917 were a series of popular revolutions in Russia, and the events around them. These revolutions had the effect of completely changing the nature of society within the Russian Empire and transforming the Russian state. There have been alot of deaths that Russia had saw. Czar Nicholes II brought Russia to WWI. After a while, the poeple didn't like him at all so they all wanted him gone.

Czar Nicholes II abdicated his throne and was later on executed. Russians had a revolution because they wanted a better government and wanted to end the war. In the begining, Nicholes lead Russia, but he wasn't good at it. The things that brought Russia to WWI was Militarism, Nationalism, the assasin of franz ferdinand, etc.

Militarism was when other countries from WWI were increasing militay power to fight againts their enemies. They even had plans to see how they were gonna fight in the war. Nationalism was something that the countries had in mind to caputre somefor their lands.

The most big reason that made Russia go into war was that Franz Ferdinand was killed by a serbian man. The Serbian man was in a group called the "dark man" which was his job to kill franz from going to other countries.

Causes of WW1

2009-01-07T07:14:00.000-08:00

There has been many causes that made World War I to begin. Causes that created WWI were Militarism, Nationalism, The Assasanation of Franz Ferdinand, etc. During the war, many men have died in the battle, countries have been captured, etc. One of the causes that created WWI is Nationalism.

Nationalism was something that other countries were dealing with. There were even some that tried to capture some countries and make the their own. Like for example the Austria-Hungary, they wanted more land for people to live. in the end, they gotten more than they needed.

Another causes that made WWI was Militarism. During the war, Germany, Russia, France, etc were planning on how they were win battles, how to overpower their enemies, discussing their weakness, etc. They even increased their military power to get more stronger and not let other countries beat them up.One cause that WWI started the most was the Assasination of Franz Ferdinand.

At one time, Franz and his wife were drivng out of the countries because they were gonna make equal rights with other lands, but the a Serbian that joined a group called "black hand", killed both of them. with that russia declared war on germany for the death of Franz Ferdinand. There were even other countriesm that joined in for the battle to support for others, or joined for their reasons.

The Opium Wars

2008-12-10T06:44:00.000-08:00

The Opium Wars had started when British kept trading China opium with China's green tea, silk, etc. Opium is a type of drug that you can smoke now. China used opium to treat diseases like dysentery, diharrea, etc. But when 10% of China started smoking it alot, many people died. Due to the loss of people, China made a campaign of anti-opium that they will ban and destroy all the sources they have. They even thought of expelling British from the land. When the Emperor, Daoguang, told the imperial commissioner, Lin Tse-Hsua, to stop the British to stop selling opium to them anymore, they didn't listen and continued to sell for profits.

When the British got mad at China, they wanted to put an end to the anti-opium campaign because China didn't want opium no more, but Lin refused, so they started to got to the first drug war, the Opium Wars. Since China wasn't prepare for battle, Britain came in attacking them with their powerful technology. China was behind of time and were not modernized that much. Great Britain won the Opium Wars against China due to technology like cannons and guns for example.

China was forced to sign the Treaty of Nanjing, which made China open up many ports for ships to come in now for Great Britain. China was also forced to legalized sell opium now. This was a humiliating defeat for China. people now continue to smoke opium now and it's still killing them. Today, China are now modernize and are perpared to do anything now. History should not be repeated. Thats when the second Opium Wars comes in....

Film lesson: Mountains of the Moon

2008-12-03T06:43:00.000-08:00

During the movie, the explorers who were looking for the source of the Nile River, they lost alot of things as they move along, day by day. They have encountered alot of struggles during their expedition. They had low food supply, they had sickness, they got lost, many of their supplies were stolen by tribes, etc. In the end, Richard Burton and John Speke were arguing that one said that they did not found the sourceof the Nile River and one said that he found the source.

As they were in the court discussing the situation, which was if they should name the lake, Lake Victoria, John commited suicide on himself. When Richard heard of the accident, he did not continue his speech and left without another word. John named the lake after their majesty, the queen, Queen Victoria. When the Europeans went to take control of Africa, they succeeded because they had technology and the Africans didn't.

The reason why they won, is because they had machine guns to attack and they had Quinine, a cure for Malaria, a disease whch can only be caught in Africa. While the Africans had spears and made shields, they didn't stand a chance againts the Europeans. This is a movie that shows what has happened in the past. This movie was based on a true story.

The Meiji Restoration of Japan

2008-11-26T06:39:00.000-08:00

The way that Comomdore Matthew Perry "Bullied" the Japanese into signing a trade treaty, is when they came into the coast of Edo(Japan), showing them ships that had no sails. The Japanese were surprised by their technology. They started intimidating them. As the Japanese looked at their warships, they realized that their ships won't have a chance, so they had no options but to give them their wishes.

On March 31, 1854, A treaty was signed which opened two ports for the Americans to come in for trades.During the Meiji Era, the country of Japan realized that their country is very weak because they don't have the technology that other countries have. The decided to collect and look at some technology from other countries and try to increase their miltary strength. I would say that they are trying to catch up to others so nobody would think that they are easy to invade.

After Japans Emperor died, they had good transportation and communication put in , good and free education, etc. Thanks to the Emperor, Japan is up to date. Japan knows how other countries work, their culture, etc. The have the technology they needed to catch up, etc. Japan won't be struggling anymore.

Karl Marx and Communism

2008-11-06T06:43:00.000-08:00

the idea that Karl Marx he was thinking of communist was that everyone were equal. He wants the workers to work and take a break at the same time, that they have equal money, that the have equal rights and that they be treated fair and equally, etc. Karl Marx wanted Communism to take over the world because his communist wanted to treat workers fairly but he didn't like landowners to treat them nothing, to not be fair, etc. For other countries, they didn't want to do the same thing that Marx was doing.

The "Good Guys" that Karl Marx thinks is the factory workers he sees in factories that are in nervous breakdown and other problems. The "Bad Guys" that Marx thinks are the landowners that run the factories and getting rich on their own, not caring or helping the workers that work for them. This is why he made communism for the workers.

Communism is something that people are treated fair and that the have common things that they want. People wants to be treated firly when they work. But there are some places that people dont want to be in or want to work in the area in the owners is not gonna be good or fair to them. In todays world, there is still communism around the world, waiting to live in a good life with fairness.

Karl Marx and the Industrial Revolution

2008-11-05T06:40:00.000-08:00

When Karl Marx looked at the factories at where people were working, he realized that most of them were tired and were getting sick. Those who were sick were not treated or told to rest for anything. Marx didn't like how the Industrial Revolution was going because many people were tired, many were not in good health, they received no payment, some were having a nervous breakdown, etc.

Marx had to do something to help the workers, so he created communism. He talked to all of the workers that they should control factories and farms instead of landlords. Like the " Enlightment", people had the power to choose whatn they want to have in the economy. Karl Marx told "the workers of the world to unite" to a worldwide revolution. The workers were inspired to join him on in the Revolution.

The way that Karl Marx was inspired to do the Revolution was that the way how he saw the workers were treated. There were kids that were 18 yrs. or under working, women, men, etc. They had no breaks and they had no vacations or days off to take. They never earned any money to use to buy food or clothes to wear and eat. After Marx saw enough, he had to step up and do something.

Nationalism and the Creation of Italy

2008-10-16T06:34:00.000-07:00

Nationalism is the belief that ones greatest loyalty should not be loyal to a king or empire, but to a nation of people who shares a common culture and history. Italy was created because nationalism was destroying other empires and at the same time, nationalism was creating new countries. Italy was being reborn. When Italy was being created by nationalism, Italy used to be a poor country that the kingdom of sardinia was controlling italy.

There was a small army called the "Red Shirts" that took control of the cities like Venice. A man named Guiseppe Garibaldi was leading them with the help of Camillo di Cavour to add them to italy which waqs taking over by the Sardinia people. The only bad news was that there was alot of unsolved problems that Italy was facing during the war they were having.

With Rome in the kingdom of italy, the country was complete but then Italy started having economic problems that the government could not deal with anymore. As a result, Italy entered the 20th century as a poor country. Too many riots happen and the were very disorganized.

Simon Bolivar

2008-10-10T06:39:00.000-07:00

Simon Bolivar was one of the greatest person who ever lived to help South America. He has had alot of victories over the spaniards to gain independence for Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, etc. He was also called El Libeerator. As he grew up, He married a woman named Maria Teresa who then later died of yellow fever. He vowed to never marry again. Later on, he made a famous vow on top of Mount Aventin of Rome that he will not rest until his country and South America was free and in independence. He wanted to become a great liberator. In 1810, he made his first independence in Venezuela with a help of a man called Francisco de Miranda to revolt against the spanish. Boilvar and Francisco occupied Caracas

Bolivar had days when he was forced to retreat to some other countries because of the Spaniards and sometimes he occupied alot of countries like Grand Colombia, Ecuador, etc. During his journey, he has made alot of friends who he helped them get their independence. The last stronghold that Bolivar had to capture with his helper, sucre, was in Peru, as well as the new country of Bolivia. The people named a country at his name in South America because Bolivar had won all of the independence for all of the country's in South America, so they decided to add a new country at his name.

After taking down the Spaniards, bolivar was not successful at being a role of government. Later on Bloivar was going to great britain to be in exile but then he died during the a battle he encounter when he set sailed. Now today, he is still remembered for his bravery and for his achievment for what he did for South America.

Robespierre and The Reign of Terror

2008-09-23T06:41:00.000-07:00

The reign of terror was a terrible time that Max Robespierre created after he became the leader of the Committee of Public Safety. He decided to see who was the enemy to the republic and afterwards, he acted like a dictaor. He started the whole thing by getting power, little by little, while other leaders struggled for it during the battle with the First Coalition, An alliance that Prussia and Austria made with Great Britain, Holland and Spain.

The Reign of Terror was something that people were afraid to be in. If anyone who challenged Max Robespierre's leadership, they would get their heads chopped of, same thing if someone does a crime that Max thinks it is. The execution would be sentenced to the gallows to get their heads chopped of. One example is that a 18-year old boy was sentenced to the gallows for chopping a tree down that it represents liberty. Alot of people in France died in the gallows and the people were in dangered one by one. The people didn't want to die. The Reign of terror happened because Max became a dictator and used the gallows ALOT.

On July 28, 1784
Max lost his head because the convention would know that they would not be safe when he is around so they turned on him. Everyone would say "down with the tyrant". people would be chasing him until they catched him and put him on the gallows. After Max lost his head, The Reeign of Terror had finally ended.

The French Revolution

2008-09-22T07:00:00.000-07:00

#1:
-Nobles almost had complete authority over peasants
-Nobles did not do military work
-Nobles collected tolls from people doing markets and on the roads
-Peasants were forced to do military work
-Peasants had to pay taxes to their king, the church and their lord
-Etc.

#2- The price of bread have doubled and the people were starving and France was borrowing heavilythat King Louis the 16th was asking the Americans to fight England in their revolution.

#3- I think the peasant was trying to kill them because one thing i saw in the pictureis that his arm is wrapped around the feudal lords neck, the feudal lord is trying to break free and the clergy is hiding behind them

#4- It appears that the two people are struggling to survive because they keep giving the feudal lords crops and animals as taxes. after a while, they will end up with nothing and they will probably die

#5- Te poor peolpe do resent on the rich poeple because they have to pay alot of things that has to be paid like every month or year and they don't have things that rich people have. The rich people have the easy life.

#6- I would say the people because people should be able to vote and decide if they want a government that isn't so cruel and fair. All of the poor people would want to participate in this because they would live healthy than die in the streets.

#7- I think the king and the rich people didn't want and fair democracy because they rather live the way they are right now and they would care less for the poor people.

John Locke and " The Enlightenment "

2008-09-18T06:37:00.000-07:00

Thomas Jefferson is the one who wrote the Declaration of Independence. The rights that he was talking about is that all men are equal. The rights that men have is life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The Declaration of Independence also says that if any Form of government becaomes too destructive, the men can abolish it or alter it. They can also try to decide a new government that will actually care for their safety and their happiness, They can decide how much power they will put, etc.

The government gets their power by the people. The people decides if they want to approve the government or if they want to disprove a government they want to create. For example, if someone wants to become president, the person must have an approval from the people saying that they want that person to become president. The government cannot decide for itself if they want to do something. Today, the people still do the same thing to see if they want the government to keep going or not.

Copernicus and the trial of Galileo

2008-09-12T06:49:00.000-07:00

There are two theories of the solar system, the geocentric and the heliocentric. The heliocentric is the theory that the sun is in the center of the solar system, while the geocentric is a theory that the earth is in the center of the solar system and that other objects go around it. Basically the geocentric theory came first that everything revolved around the earth, and then the heliocentric came in from the scientific method. Scientist try to prove that the geocentric was wrong.

Galileo was in trial because he tried to prove that the sun did not sit in the center of the universe. The Roman Catholic Church put galileo in trial because he wasn't suppost to defend or teach the Copernican doctrine. He has done alot of tings to be representing his theory. One example he did is that he was doing a 500 page dialogue to explain the theory. In the end, the holy office sentence him to life inprisonment under house arrest. They sentence him to place where he will live and also die there.

Scientific Revolution: The Scientific Method

2008-09-11T07:04:00.000-07:00

The Scientific Method Is being used all the time for scientist to see if they can prove or disprove. It all satrted when a scientist named Aristotle started to prove things like how many teeth are in a man and a womens mouth without checking inside their mouth and if a heavy object falls faster than a samller object. Today, Scientist uses the scientific method to see if they can prove or disprove a theory or an idea.

Alot of scientist uses the scientifc method because they don't just want to accept and idea or a theory, they want to have their own conclusion to see if they agree or disagree. One example is when Issac Newton tried to explain the law of gravity that Aristotle talked about. In the end, Aristotle was wrong. This is why the Scientific Revolution was created, to see if scientist agree or diagree a certain thing that one scientist says. Right now, the scientific method is still being used all the time.

Another example is when he tried to prove that heavy objects will fall faster than smaller objects but when an itallian scientist named Galileo tested it, he proved Aristotle wrong. Before the scientific method was made, most scholars would get theirs ideas fom the greeks ad romans, or from the bible. Now that the method is made, scientist can prove things more easily and more better.

Evolution vs. Creation

2008-09-05T06:56:00.000-07:00

Creationism
Creation is a religious belief that humanity, the world and all living things were created by God. These kind of things are all from the bible of the story of Genesis that starts when God created the Earth, man and women, etc. Most of these things is in Christianity and others. Everything has happen a long time ago and everything is in the bible to tell how it goes. Churches explain how each chapter of the bible, how mandkind has been created and so on.

Darwin's Theory of Evolution
Darwin's theory is said that little things can evolve into bigger things as the years go by. There are many things that have been said to explain the theory like monkeys evolving into men. Alot of things have happened in the past million years like for the dinosaur age. It is said that we are form from different things to humans.

I would believe with creationism because i think that we are born as humans alone and not from something else. If we were borm from little things that form into animals or anything else, we would be another creature living outdoors instead of acting normally like we always do. I dont believe that we are animals acting who are acting like they know how to do things that no other creature can do. I would say that animals and humans were made separatly from the world. I also don't believe that evolution created the world because it would have to grab alot of things outside of the world.

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2008-09-04T06:45:00.001-07:00

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