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.