Mikhail Gorbachev and the Collapse of Communism

Mikhail Gorbachev was elected as the new leader after Brezhnev's death due to the fact he was young, his energy and political skills. Mikhail Gorbachev led the Soviet into a second Russian Revolution. He made changes in the Soviet Union, one was glasnost which allowed churches, books to be published that were previously banned. This brought many changes reporters were now allowed to look into social problems and criticized government officials in public. He also had another reform called perestroika which restructured the economy. He was trying to revive the Soviet economy. The Soviet Union and the Communist party became more open due to these reforms. Glasnost is one of the reforms by Gorbachev which means openness since the media was open and people can actually say their opinion. The reforms made by Gorbachev led to a series of democratic revolutions in the Eastern Bloc countries and eventually the fall of the Soviet Union and Communism in most countries.

The Collapse of Communism

Communism was once the dominant economic system in Russia (Former USSR) and eastern Europe. During a series of events during 1989 to 1991 it eventually caused the downfall of Communism. There were many struggles within the Eastern Bloc and were now opposing Communism and went through democratic revolutions. The Soviet Union were unwilling to help the Eastern Bloc countries and just let them have the revolutions. The pressure in East Germany forced the change and a new president was elected. The new president had the Berlin Wall destroyed and ended up unifying Germany. The fall of Eastern Germany led to other countries following suit and the Soviet Union collapsed. The people removed Mikhail Gorbachev from power and most of the Communist countries changed with that. Some of the countries like North Korea, Cuba and China remained communist even after the fall of the Soviet Union.

Nelson Mandela and Apartheid

Apartheid is a policy of racial segregation in South Africa reinforced by the South African government. Under Apartheid the non white people living in South Africa didn't have the same rights as a white person living there. This system restricted many things such as non whites having to go to special facilities for them and the non whites were not able to form any organizations against Apartheid and those leaders were killed. Nelson Mandela was a important figure in this time period. When he was freed from prison in 1990 he was the one who fought to get Apartheid abolished. In the end he did reach his goal to get it outlawed and all the non whites gained their rights again. Nelson Mandela led nonviolent protests to fight against Apartheid and led to him being imprisoned. During his imprisonment Apartheid eventually became outlawed and he was released from prison. He was then elected as president of South Africa after being free from prison. Mandela is so admired because he was willing to sacrifice himself for the better of the people of South Africa.

African Independence

Africa was under British rule for a long time and then change happened in Africa. During 1955 Africa was mostly under British rule and then later on in 1975 Africa was mostly independent. The reason is that the African's were influenced by the African Americans and learned from them by listening to Jazz and reading literature by them. They also got influenced when they went to war during World War II when they fought with the Europeans and then thought that they don't want to be under another country as a colony. Some of the leaders include Jomo Kenyatta, Mau Mau, Mobutu, and Nelson Mandela. Jomo Kenyatta was imprisoned and was later released and led the rebellion for independence for Kenya. The Mau Mau were also fighting for independence along with Kenyatta although they had no connection. Mobutu was the leader for a place called Zaire which later became the Congo after independence.

Film Lesson: "The Right Stuff"

In the film The Right Stuff it was a competition between the Soviet and the Americans. They were competing to be the first to get to space. Then they wanted to send a person in to space after getting to space. The Soviet was winning in the competition since they sent a rocket to space before while the Americans were trying to break the sound barrier. The Americans were trying make a rocket but took several tries to finally have a successful launch while the Soviet had already had a successful launch. The Americans then sent a chimpanzee to space due to the possible risks and not knowing what space is like. The Soviet on the other hand sent a human to space and was winning the race once again. The scenes that will help me remember this Cold War event are the the testing the people had to go through in the Space Program. Another scene is when the Americans got the news about the Soviet sending a rocket called Sputnik to space and then decided to try and send a human to space. Another scene is when the Americans sent a chimpanzee to space and it became to first american in space. These are the scenes that will help me remember this Cold War event.

NATO and The Warsaw Pact

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is a organization formed after World War II to have a mutual alliance so that if a member gets attacked the other members would aid them. NATO was formed by the US and Europe. The USSR also had another alliance called the Warsaw Pact and was created in response to NATO. The Warsaw pact was made up of 8 communist countries. They both played a role in the Cold War one side was communist and the other capitalist. Both were destined to keep each other out for example the Americans wanted to keep the Russians out and vice-versa. They had several things during the Cold War, there were the Arms Race, Space Race, Cuban Missile Crisis, Korean War and the Vietnam War. During the Cuban Missile Crisis the Soviet placed Nuclear Missiles in Cuba since Cuba was a ally with the USSR. The Soviets allowed the missiles to be launched in the event of a invasion which would spark a nuclear war. They then ended up reaching a agreement for dismantling the missiles in exchange for a no invasion agreement.

Film Lesson: "Schindler's List"

Schindler's List illustrated the holocaust by showing what the holocaust was like the hollywood way. It showed the jews being liquidated from the ghetto and board a train to go to the concentration camps to do slave labor. It also showed the mass killing of jews by being being killed in the gas chamber and the bodies were burned so they don't have to burry them. The scene that was powerful was the scene with Auschwitz and showed what the conditions were like there. The images that would stay with me are the ones showing the Jews being burned after the gas chamber. Another image would be when the children were hiding from the nazis. I think the documentary was more powerful since it showed real footage from the concentration camp.