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.

Film Lesson: The Right Stuff

In the Film The Right Stuff the US and the USRR were competing in the Space Race. They were both trying to see who would get the first man up into space. In my perspective the Russians were the winners becasue they were the first to send up a satelite nd the first again to said a human being into space. The US had an advantage of about two weeks to send there first man in Space but they wasted time and the Russians received that oppurtunity. The US was a bit embarassed by this because while the Russians were sending a real man; we sent a chimp. That was not a good look for us. We had to be in the forfront with or technology. We had to show the World that we were the best in this Cold War. We had to come out on top. After a few years and a few failed rocket designs the US finally got there rocket to fly. They were able to send Alan Sheperd a fighter pilot into space. We finally passed the USRR in the race because he orbited the earth more times than the Russian astronaut Yuri Gagarin did.

There were many scenes from this movie that will remind me of the Cold War. One scene that really stuck to me was the breaking of the sound barrier. This really put the US in advantagous position. Anoter scene that will help bring back memories to me is the failed attempts of the US to get rockets to launch. This scene was both informative and funny. The scene with Russia sending there man to space first will also stick with me ad remind me of the race of the Cold War. This moview really helped me out alot it gave me a new spin and perspective to the Cold War it showed me the intresting aspects that I will always remember.

Cuban Missile Crisis

The Cuban missle Crisis was the closest the world ever came to a NUCLEAR war. In 1962 the Soviet Union was far behind the US in the arms race. The Soviet missles were only powerful enough to be fired at Europe but the United States bombs could be fired and hit the entire Soviet Union. Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev got the idea that the Soviet Union could set up missile bases in Cuba and that could bring some potential harm to the US in an attck of the Soviet.

Fidel Castro the Prime Minister of Cuba agreed to Khrushchev proposal becasue he was afraid of a second attack from the US after the failed Bay of Pigs attack. In 1962 US spy planes flew over the Cuba and revealed the Soviet missle installations. President Kennedy was then informed of the events and called together the EX-COM a group of his twelve best advisors to handle the crisis. After seven days of debate, President Kennedy informed the public of his findings. He told them of his plans to quarantine the island to avoid the sending of anymore Soviet offfensive weapons.

This was the hottest moment in the cold war becasue Kennedy said if any missles were launched from Cuba it would be an attack against US by the Soviet. To Combat the Crisis Kennedy demanded and instant removal of the weapons. He ordered low level renaissance misons every 2 hours. Kennedy pulled back the quaratine and raised military to DEFCON 2 or Defence Condition 2. The US were urged not to invade Cuba in return for removing Soviet missles based there by Khrushchev in an impassionate letter. EX-COM received a second letter pn the 25th after a U-2 spy plane was shot dwn over Cuba. The letter demanded that the US remove missles in Turkey and in return the Soviet would remove from Cuba.

On October 28 Khrushchev agreed to dismantle the bombs in Cuba in ship them back to the Soviet only with assurance that the US would not invade Cuba under any cirumstances at all.

CUBAN MISSLE CRISIS LINK

NATO and The Warsaw Pact

NATO was officially established on April 4, 1949 with the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty. It was formaed because Western Europe found themselves too weak politically and militarily to prevent the spread of the communist "iron curtain" on a national level. The NATO or North Atlantic Treaty Organization was a a defensive military alliance set up because of the fears of Soviet Aggression in Europe after the Berlin blockade. They feared that this blockade would heightened The Soviet Union to retaliate and then attack. The organization was made up of ten western European nations, United States and Canada. If any of these NATO memebers were attacked the situation would be met with armed forces by all member nations. The nited Staes suplied the western European Nations with arsenal to keep the Soviet ground invasion under control. NATO technology became so advanced that the Soviet power was totally diminshed. After Communism ended the NATO became political instead of military.



The Warsaw Pact was set up 5 years after the formation of NATO. The Soviet Union saw NATO as a threat and as a security blanket formed there own alliance. The Pact included the Soviet Union, East Germany, Czechoslavakia, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Albania. The prompt for this organization was to remilitarize. The Soviet Union had very good ground control. Although they were much more powerful than NATO there techhnology soon fell behind which was not very advantagous to them. The Pact lasted throughtout the Cold War but later was ldissolved because coutries dropped out.

LINK TO NATO AND WARSAW INFO

Film Lesson: "Night and Fog"

Although I was unable to see this film I was able to get a picture of what it was about, from reading reviews and other factual information from sources on the internet. I also got information from fellow classmates who were there to watch the film and from what they have told me it was very grusome.

The film was based of the post-Holocaust concentration camp at Aushwitz with the events that occurred there during World War 2.It deals briefly with their conditions and focuses mostly on questions of hate and human blame. The film shows disturbing and distressing film footage of prisoners and victims from the camp.

From what I have heard and read I think the film was not as powerful as he Shindler's List. Even though it was much more brutal and gross than Shindlers list it didnt show how the Jews really felt.

Film Lesson: "Shindler's List"

{Scene from Film: Shindler's List}

The movie "Shindler's List" was a very informative and disturbin film. It really showed me how the Jews were treated. The film depicted the harsh and rough circumstances the Jews went through. Being cleared out of ther homes with only a few treasurd items. Sent to the Ghettos havin to live with many other famiies in a jam packed apartment. Trying to survivr an make sure yuor family is alright. Not knowing what would happen to you in the coming days. That must have been extremly hard to deal with. The film showed how they were focefully taken out of the ghetto. They couldnt carry ne of ther personal belongings they were all thrown in the streets. The ones who tried to escape were killed. if you didnt have your paper you were shot most were shot execution style right in there heads. The jews who survived were asked to strip of there clothers and run. This was done to seperate the healthy from the sick. Then they were loaded into trains and carried to the concentration and death camps.

There were a few powerful scenes in this movie. One being the Jewish family in the Ghetto who rapped the jewelry and valuables in bread and ate them when they had to leave the ghetto. The did this so the Nazi would not take the valuables away. Another scene was the liquidation of the Ghetto when the Nazi went nd killed all the Jews who were hiding. It intrested me that the Jews could find such intresting places to hide. They taped themselves to beds. Made holes in the floors that ould not esaily be detected. Some hid in the roofs of the houses and children took refuge in the toilet pits and inside pianos and cupboards.

There are many imags that will stay with me but two that stuck out the most to me was the cicumstances the Jews went through in the trains goind to the concentrtion camps. Ther were crammed into the cars no food no water and it was extermely hot at first then they went into poland and it waz freezing. They were tryin to find hope inside themselves not knowing what was about to hapen. Not knowin that they were about to die. Another image that stuck out to me that will stay with me forever was the sight of the children being hurdled into the trucks being taken to be killed. They were not even aware of what was goin on. They were so happy thats the fact that saddens me the most. They were so young and neive. The sight of the mothers crying for there children as also very depressing and sad.

US Atomic Bombing of Japan in 1945

I disagree wih the article. No I do not think that the US Bombing of Japan should have been the number 1 news story of the century. Even though this bombing killed thousands of innocent lives there were many other top stories that are stil affecting our world critically today. The US misconception and stupidity was very important but wasnt really key to me. Thou many Japanese people still suffer from radiation and other defects caused by the war I still think there were many storeis that were happening in our own country that topped this. I cannot think of anything else that I would add to that list of New articles at this time.

A bigger story would be I feel the finding of the Aids epedemic #26. This event should be placed at the top of the list. This disease still affects many today. It is is world known disease and is very deadly if not handled and treated porperly. This disease still has no known cure.

On the List of 100 top stories I was shocked to find that the Holocaust of Germany was at #7. The findings of concentration camps should have been very important.Thousands of Jews were beong killed eveyday in a massive genocide. That story should be atleast #2 on the article list. Another story I was surprized to see at the bottom of this list was the Civil rights march in Washington, D.C.: Martin Luther King gives "I Have A Dream" speech. 1963. #50. This event in hisory changed millions of lives or ever. This was a timne when Blacks and Whites got together for a common cause. They wanted to end the feud between the races. I think this should have least made it to spot number 3 in my mind.

Germany at War - WWII

{NAZI PROPAGANDA POSTER}

Propaganda- information that is spread for the purpose of promoting some cause. Propaganda is a specific type of message presentation aimed at serving an agenda. At its root, the denotation of propaganda is 'to propagate (actively spread) a philosophy or point of view'. The most common use of the term (historically) is in political contexts; in particular to refer to certain efforts sponsored by governments or political groups.

The poster illustrated shows Germany in the fight of World War 2. Hitler was to invade England but after that plan fell through he decided to invade and conquer the Soviet Union. The poster depicts to me that Germany was trying to conquered Great Britain by the symbol of the cross with W. Churchill on it. The Iron in the picture shows that Germany is now shifting the attention to the East and Joseph Stalin. They were ready to attack in full force. The Crib in this propanda poster illustrates security for th German people and the Land meant prosperity of Germany and he Living Space the people would be proided. The factory pobably means that the Germans were buliding weapons and were ready to attack with full blow at anytime.

This propaganda poster basically is trying to say that Germany is superior to all other nations. It has prosperity, security and resources.

Treaty Of Versailles (ended WW I)

The Treaty of Versaillles was the peace treaty which ended the World War 1 between the Allied and Centeral Powers. The Treaty was signed at the Paris Peace Confrence. This treaty put the blame of the entire war on Germany. The treaty stated that Germany had to give up most of there conquered lands to the surrounding countries. They were stripped of all there overseas colonies mostly the ones in Africa. The treaty also decreased the number of there military so they would not be able to start a war and fight back. Germany was blamed for the whole War

I think historians say that the Treaty of Versailles led to the rise of Fascism and Adolph Hitler because Germany was weak and they were desperate for some control.

Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk) and the Modernization of Turkey

Mustafa Kemal's help modernize Turkey and made it more secular (not religious) by changing their daily dress . He claimed the people would be more civilized if they change their costume of Turan. He said there new dress should be: boots or shoes on their feet, trousers on their legs, shirt and tie, jackets and waist caosts and a brim on their head called a hat. Another plan Ataturk had to modernize the country was to prevent the undermindment of women. He said they should not put themeselves in further ridicule and treat women equally. Kemal had another plan to modernize turkey. He created new letters for the language. He claimed that the people were to learn it quickly and teach others.

Film Lesson: "Gandhi"

Before 1947 India was owned and governed by the British. They treated the country very badly because they felt that they were Superior to the Indians. Mohandas Gandhi helped the Indians gain Independence. Ganghi did many things in his years of fighting for freedom. He fasted and walked many miles in protest for a free India. Ganghi fasted because his people were getting violent and were not listening to him. He walked about 250 miles to protest the taxation of salt by the British. He wanted to show his people that they could make there own salt their salt. Gandhi got the attention the most from the British by his Civil disobedience and Protests. He was arrested many times but that only made his cause stronger.

Gandhi firmly believed that if violence was used to achieve any end – even if it was used in the name of justice – the result would be more violence.Throughout his life, Gandhi remained committed to non-violence and truth even in the most extreme situations.

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