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.

Film Lesson: "Night and Fog"

I thought how something like that was possible to try and eliminate the whole Jewish population. I was terrified that humans would do something like that to other humans because all humans are created equal. I found the film to be powerful and a strong piece of evidence that the holocaust is a true event and not a conspiracy. The scenes from Schindler's List was similar to the ones in the documentary because they both showed the Jews boarding the train and went to concentration camps. They both showed the Nazi and the SS killing Jews randomly even though they committed no crime. I think that some scenes in Schindler's List was based on the documentary. I think the documentary illustrates the holocaust better because it shows real footage from the concentration camps and shows how they were like. Both the film and the documentary were great even though the documentary was much better at illustrating the holocaust.

The Treaty Of Versailles (ended WWI)

After WWI the winner was the Allies so then the loosing side had to agree to a treaty. The treaty was signed in the Palace of Versailles so it was known as the treaty of Versailles. Due to the treaty Germany became responsible for causing the war and had to compensate for the damage. Germany was in trouble and went through many hardships due to a smaller army, no overseas colonies and the economy was bad. The German people also felt insecure due to a small army and having the risk of not being able to protect themselves in the case of an attack. I think the treaty was very harsh on the Germans since they had to pay for the damage in their country and had to pay for the damage in other countries. This also caused Germany to be in a large dept which had a impact on their economy. The Germans needed someone to lead them to greatness again. This then allowed Adolf Hitler to reign and bring Germany to greatness. I think historians say that the treaty caused the rise of Hitler and Fascism because the people were desperate for a leader to make Germany superior again. This then allowed for all the events that happened after WWII, the rise of the Nazis, Concentration Camps, etc.

Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk) and the Modernization of Turkey

After WWI the Ottoman Empire fell many countries emerged and one of them was Turkey. Mustafa Kemal rose and then led Turkey and modernized it in many ways. Mustafa Kemal helped modernize Turkey by following ideas of the Europeans and Americans rather than continuing to use the Muslim tradition. He also made Turkey more secular by separating religion from things like education, cultural and legal affairs. Mustafa replaced the religious traditions with modern western traditions such as the clothing they wore. This means that they started to wear suits, ties and shoes rather than the traditional clothing. Religion was separated from everything and he banned religious things like the fez which was a hat worn by people of the Muslim faith. He called the fez something that someone who is uncivilized would would wear and he was trying to make Turkey more modern. Mustafa also restructured the economic system and cared for the poor. He said that the real master of the country is the villager. The word secular means to separate religion from other things such as education, culture, etc.

Film Lesson: "Gandhi"

Gandhi was a influential person in India and helped to gain independence from Great Britain. Gandhi used nonviolence to gain independence. He told people to not fight back when the police and soldiers attack them and just hang in there. He used nonviolence to make the British look bad since they attack the Indians when they didn't use any type of violence, an example would be the massacre where lots of Indians were killed. Gandhi did many things such as boycotting British made cloth and making his own. Gandhi also did marches like the salt march which was nonviolent. Gandhi had a philosophy of using nonviolence to do things. He wanted people to not do anything violent so that the British will look like they are evil by harming people who did no crime. Gandhi was arrested several times but was released eventually and then continued his nonviolent acts. He used this effectively and thought this was the way to gain their independence from Britain by showing that they can support themselves without the British. I think the independence was mostly Gandhi because without him there would be no leadership to lead them to independence. Gandhi also gave hope to the people no matter what class they were, the rich or poor. It could have happened eventually do to the war and they need to spend money on their own country rather than governing another.

The Russian Revolution

The Russian Revolution was a series of revolutions in Russia during 1917. The Russians wanted a revolution because their czar Nicholas II was preventing any change and the people revolted which led to him abdicating his throne. Then in Russia a temporary government was created due to the czar leaving his throne. Russia still continued to fight in WWI and refused to leave the war. The new temporary government created was a democratic government. But the peasants revolted against the landowners and factory owners. In the revolution there was a clash between the democratic government and the Bolshevik party. This eventually led to a civil war in which the Bolshevik party defeated the democratic government. Then the Bolshevik party then signed a treaty with Germany and left the WWI. The Bolshevik party was led by Vladimir Lenin. The Bolsheviks used Karl Marx's idea of communism and formed their own government. This led to Russia becoming the first communist country. The quote "Peace, Land and Bread" means that the Russians wanted to leave WWI to have peace by signing the treaty with germany. The land part was for communism, the Bolshevik party led by Lenin who wanted all russians to revolt against landlords and factory owners and then take their land. The bread part was due to the czar who let the people in Russia starve.

Causes Of WW I

There were many causes for the first world war also known as The Great War. The first cause was Nationalism since the Austria-Hungary empire and the Balkans were made up of conflicting national groups such as Serbia. Nationalism also made the nations feel as if they were better than other nations. The next cause is Imperialism because all the European nations needed natrual resources due to the Industrial Revolution which led to them expanding into Africa and Asia. They competed for the economic expansion into Africa and Asia and fought for the land. The next cause was the alliances Germany, Austria-Hungary and Russia formed the triple alliance. When one country went to war all the allies were at war also protecting their allies in combat. The next cause is Militarism which was when they build stronger and larger armies which lead to fear and hatred between the other nations. The last cause is the assasination of the Archduke of the Austria-Hungary empire by a Serbian man. This then led to Austria punishing Serbia which led to Russia declaring war and then Germany declared war. All the other allies such as Great Britain then joined the war.