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