Mikhail Gorbachez and the end of Communism

Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev became the Communist Party General Secretary. He was elected by popular choice .The last three leaders before him were all elderly, sick, old-school communists. All three of them ruled to their deaths. Gorbachev, at the age of 54, was younger and fitter. He was more suitable for the job. He spoke about change for the Soviet Union.
He introduced two Russian words to the SU international vocabulary: "perestroika", meaning restructuring, and "glasnost", meaning openness. Both concepts were revolutionary in Soviet terms, until now the system has been at a standstill and closed. Gorbachev idea of glasnot ended the totalitarian government that was established by the past leaders and made the government open. People had the freedom to say what was on there mind to make the country better. This glasnost system allowed churches to become open again, libraries could print banned books, and reporters had the right to freedom of speech. They could publicly view there thoughts and critize the government. Under his policy of perestoika mangers were allowed to rein freely over their farms and factories. Civilians were able to open there own small businesses. Before perestokia people were demotivated because no matter how productive they were they still weren't making enough money. But this policy helped to make the country more efficient.

Collapse of Communism

Communism collapsed in the Eastern Europe and the USRR after the collapse of the Berlin wall. The Berlin wall was a wall set up in August 1961 to seperate Communist Germany and Democratic Germany. Noone was allowed to cross the lines. Not even doctors or scientists. Anyone who tried to cross the wall were shot mercilessy. The wall was torn down on November of 1989 after thousands of people came out and started to take peices of the grafitti wall for themselves as solvenir.They did this because they want to stop the seperation and become a united front. The collapse of the wall allowed Diplomats to enter the Soviet Union. Eastern and Western Germany were now reunited. They were now able to form social and economic ties. It wasnt all good before they had economic problems. People were not able to cross the borders to Communist Germany and Democratic Germany. The Soviet Union separated into fifteen different Republics, which were Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgystan, Lativa, Lithuania, Moldova, Russian Federation, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. This led to the fall of the Soviet Union. The world now did not have to worry about nuclear attacks. People had to work extra hard to provide for themselves. Farming was not a major income now. They had to find higher paying jobs.

Creation of Israel

Zionism is The movement dedicated to establishing a Jewish homeland in Palestine. Many of the Jews began to feel the urge for their own country, a homeland for the Jews. The Jews finall got ther own homeland in Israel. There was only one problem they were surrounded by countries that hated them. The countries that surrounded the Jews did not want them to have a land of there own. Especially having it so close to them. Only one day after the Jews had settled into there homeland they were attacked by Arab and Palestine. This attack led to a Middle Eastern war between the Jews and the Paletinians. The Jews were all alone in their fight they had noone to help them. But on the Palestinian front they had Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Europe to back them up. Which was very unfair. After the war Israel had greatly incresed in size. It now had 8000 square miles. the Arab land was decreased by 50 percent. Jerusalem was divided, with Arabs on the east side of the Green Line and the Jews on the west.

Nelson Mandela and Apartheid

Apartheid is the seperation of blacks/indian nor mixed decent and whites. The blacks were not given the same rights as the whites. Nelson Mandela was a very influencial man in the world. He fought for unity and liberation of his South African people from racism and apartheid. he started out as a leader of and underground political movement called the African National Congress (ANC). With this movemnt strive to overthrow the white-ruled government of the country. His carrer in the ANC was not very long. He was sentenced to life in jail beacuse of a cruel plot by the white South Africans to keep him quiet. They knew he would start something up and they wanted to shut him up. But little did they know even in prison Mandela would still have an influence on the people. After 27 years in captivity Mandela was set free. His release was the beginning of the ending of aprtheid. In the next 5years Mandela received a Nobel Peace Prize and was elected president of South Africa. With Mandela's help Apartheid ended and the people of South Africa were given there equal rights.

African Indepenence

African Independence began when the British Colony Gold Coast declared it's independence in 1957. It was renamed Ghana after a West African Kindom of the past. They got there independence by rallying, setting up boycotts and strikes. The people were led by a leader similar to Ghandi named Kwame Nkrumah. Nkrumah used non-violent protests. After a long fight Ghana was able to gain there independence and startement many advancements and movements throughout Africa. Kwame industrialized Africa. Built roadways and strenghten health and education

Ghana's independence influenced other countries in Africa to strive for their independence. Kenya was one of the countries that started their struggle for independence. They were led by Jomo Kenyatta and "Mau Mau" or the secret society made up mostly of Kikuyu farmers that were forced out of the highlands by the British. There aim was to frighten white farmers out of the highlands instead of fighting. They were successful and Kenya gained independence. Jomo was named president and he took effective roles in uniting the society. This stabalized the country a whole lot. When Kenyatta died Daniel arap Moi took over. He was not as good as a leader as Kenyatta. His efforts to keep the country united. He faced oppostion to his one-party rule. He was being forced to make the country more democratic. During the 1900's the economy failed, the country began to spiral into corruption. Many people died and 100's were left homeless.

The Congo gained its independence in 1960 from Belgium. Patrice Lumumba became the nation’s first prime minister. Then Algeria gained there independence led by the FLN or
Algerian National Liberation Front. The FLN used guriella tactics to fight against the French sent troops on Algeria. Ahmed Ben Bella, a leader of the FLN who had been imprisoned by the French,was named first prime minister (1962–1963) and first president (1963–1965). Ben
Bella reestablished national order, began land reforms, and developed new plans for
education.

The next country to gain independence was Angola. Angola was under the rule of the Portrugese. The Portrugese were unwilling to help Angola industrialize and modernize. Angola had no health or education and they had little commerce. The other indepenent countries of Africa inspired Angola to free themselves. The Portrugese sent an army to Angola to fight he people. The funding for this war was about half of Portugal national budget. In 1975 Portugal withdrew their armies leaving the country with no one specific to govern. A civil war took place over this no leadership betwee UNITA (National Union for the Total Independence of Angola), and communist MPLA (Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola).

9th Grade Review- The Neolithic Revolution

The Neolithic Revolution began after the Paleolithic Revolution. It was a time when nomands or hunters and gatherers began to advance there society. They built simple tools, cultivated crops and domesticated animals. The Neolithic Revolution or the Agricultural Revolution was a shift from food-gathering to food-producing. Noone really knows why the revolution began at this time but ome say it might have been because of the climate change in the region. The hugh and rising temperatures provided longer growing seansons and drier land for cultivating wild grasses. The excess of food help boom the population. As the population increased te more people were thinking of settling down and the more the idea of farming and cultivating looked attractive. It provided a seady flow of food unlike hunting.


The people of this age had many farming methods. One being the slash and burn method. This was when they cut tress or grasses and burned them to clear a feild. The ashes that were left behind fertilized the soil and made it good for farming. The people also used the method of domesticating animals for food. They learned that if they put the animals in a man made pen they coul keep and tame them and have a good and constant source of food for there growing society.

Villages were usually run by Couvil of Elders made up of the head of the house hold of various families. When resorces slowed the villages went to war. The great warriers in the battles usually became head of the villages. New technologies arose from this new way of life they farmers creted simple metal tools like plows. Some might have used animals to pull them to make work easier. They created simple calenders to keep track of harvest . They also created tools for when they had to battle against other villages and to protect their valuables. Many of these civilations built there society near fertile lands by rivers.

The European Union

The European Union is an alliance of 25 nations. It began after the end of WW2 as an economic union. After the USSR collapsed the EU became the competiting super power against the US. The EU decided to create there new currency. It was caled the Euro. Many were skeptical of the release on January 1 2002 but they began to like it. Euro is now traded much more times a day than the US dollar. The EU nations are kind of like the States in the US. The people of the Union were able to move to any of the 25 nations and be able to live and work witout any papers just like the US. This was not in place 10 yrs ago.

The EU is the 3rd largest country in the world. Becasue of the size ,the European Union has become an important economic force in the world. If the US which has 300 million citizens has to trade with the EU with 500 million citizens they have to follow by there rules and abide by there regulations. The EU now has there own parliament, military, and various organizations and committees that help maintain cooperation and trade between the EU member nations. There Economic Unions were sucessful and grew into other economic societies. So I guess the EU was a good thing. It helped stop the accurance of war in Europe.