Mikhail Gorbachev and the Collapse of Communism

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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)

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

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

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

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

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.