Mikhail Gorbachev and the Collapse of Communism

Mikhail Gorbachev was a very different type of leader from the rest of the leaders who controlled USSR before him. His ideas and beliefs were very different from the ideas of Stalin, and other former leaders. Mikhail Gorbachev was tired of communism, and followed his own ideas and demonstrated what a real government should be. Russia's history was ran by totalitarian rulers. The people of Russia were also tired of the corrupted government, and its leaders.They needed someone to start reforms to make the USSR capitalist, or at least show that capitalism was a good thing. Mikhail Gorbachev along with partners, started these huge reforms called the "Glasnost" and "Perestrokia". In 1985 he announced a glasnost, this marked a turning point because churches were opened, books were published and freedom of the press rised. Perestokia was a policy that allowed people to own their own small businesses which weren't owned buy the government. This in a way marked the end of Communism, it proved that Communism wasn't affective and small businesses were needed for the success of the economy. Mikhail Gorbachev was one of the first leader who slowly removed communism from USSR. He opened up the economy and allowed for positive changes in Russia. He is one of the most important leaders for the USSR because he brought capitalism, and removed communism from USSR.

The Collapse Of Communism

The communism collapse in Eastern Europe and in USSR because the Communist party leaders ruled with absolute power.They took control of farms and factories, workers did not become more prosperous as they had expected and, instead they were treated harshly and punished cruelly. The economy worsened in communist countries. Workers who were still poor were no longer motivated to work hard. Not enough products were being made, and not enough food was being grown. People could not buy the things that they needed. The situation went from bad to worse. The Berlin Wall was the big gigantic wall that seperated East Germany from West Germany. It was a political boundry between USSR and US. East Germany was part of the Warsaw Pact, and West Germany was part of the NATO. Anyone who tried to cross the wall was shot and killed.At least one hundred people were mercilessly shot at the Berlin wall.In November, 1989, demolition work began. At first, the goal was to built a road designated for private trips between the two sections of Germany. Then they decided to make several border crossings so more people could travel across. Soon, they were cutting holes for pedestrians. Some people came at the wall with rock hammers to gather souvenirs of the wall. Soon, hundreds stormed the wall with sledgehammers and attacked the graffiti-coated structure. After the collapse of communism the Soviet Union split up into many other countries. The Soviet Union was in economic recession because they lost alot of money during the space race. The Soviet Union. split up to many different countries. It become a Democratic Nation as well as all of the other parts that split up. They even changed the red hammer and it became the original flag with with three stripes. That was the collapse of communism and the Soviet Union, and the US won the cold war.

Nelson Mendela and Apartheid

Apartheid was a racial-segregation policy. It divided the black, mixed and Indian natives from the white. It ran from 1948 to 1994. Nelson Mandela was a man who wanted to abolish the apartheid, and was tired of apartheid policy. Nelson Mandela fought for Africa to gain unity and liberty. Throughout his life he fought for the people of Africa, and used civil disobedience just like (Mahatma Gandhi) to beat the Europeans. His constant plea and struggles for freedom, lead him to jail for 27 years. After being in jail for 27 yrs for his native people, allowed him to become stronger and wiser creating journals and books of idea for his people and the path to independence. He gained trust of his people and was elected to be the president of South Africa. That was the first time ever where free elections were held. Since South Africa had more population of african american people, they supported Nelson Mandela, and voted him to be the president. He is admired by thousands of books and sites because he is among those people who can give up his life for thousands. He is also famous because he did not give up serving for his country even after being punished for 27 years He is also a hero because used peaceful means to achieve his goals for his country. He is also amongst one of those individiual who lives for others, and his country.

African Independence

African Independence was a period when African colonies gained its independence from the European countries. During the mid 1950's the continent of Africa was being ruled by European countries, because the Europeans wanted the natural resources that were stored in Africa. After 20 years Africa was a whole different continent, because the colonies gained independence from the Europeans and went on to become independence countries. It was easy for the African countries because the European countries were weakened after WWII. The Europeans did not want to deal with their colonies, because it was very expensive to run colonies when countries are far away. They wanted to express their traditions, Europe was ready to let go of Africa after WWII. Many Africans became well educated. Creating a middle class and following the independence of many other nations. People were sparked by outsiders to make sure Europeans were wiped out of Africa.Africa had many leaders because there were so many provinces. These leaders were inspired by African-American leaders.They had Leopold Senghor, who leaded Sengal and later became president. Kwame Nkrumah became Ghana's first prime minister. Marcus Garvey was jamaican born, but his goal was to lead Europeans out of Africa and have Africa ruled by Africans. Jomo Kenyatta led Kenya through a harsh independence. And many others.

Cuban Missile Crisis(Extra Credit)

The Cuban Missile Crisis was the nuclear weapons that USSR Installed in Cuba. Cuba was a communist country just like USSR, and was USSR's allied friend.Soviet Union only had missiles that could reach to Europe, but they needed to come up with an strategy make the missile go to America. So USSR decided to install the missiles in Cuba, which is just 90 miles far from the coast of Florida, America.After seeing the pictures of the Cuban missiles the U.S got worried. John F. Kennedy took the time to tell the USSR to remove their missiles.He also told them that he built a blockade around the country. After seeing no change, Kennedy was ready to order the navy to attack, but the USSR came up with a deal to stop the attack. If the U.S. would leave Cuba alone, then Russia would take out all its missiles in Cuba.This is why this point in the Cold War is called the hottest point. Throughout the Cold War no one fought physically, but this was the point where two of the Super Powers of World were about to fight which made this the hottest point of the Cold War.

Film Lesson: "The Right Stuff"

The U.S and the USSR were competing to be the first one to break the sound barrier.Their mission was to break the sound barrier by using a small rocket-powered test plane called the X-1. The USSR send a satellite into space which led to the US breaking the sound barrier. Later on the US realized that the USSR has rocket.The U.S felt embarrassed, and so they were looking for the best pilots to go to space. The pilots have to be in best physical shape, and have to be very healthy, and also smart.The U.S did so many tests on the rockets but they were unsuccessful. After many faliures they accomplioshed, and the rocket was successful.However we send monkeys for our first trial, and the USSR sent people.The US wanted to build a rocket that will be faster than Soviet Union. The USSR were winning the competition because they were the first one to send the rocket, and a statelite called sputnik, which also made U.S mad and jealous.The scene from the film that will help me remember the Cold War is the testing that they were doing on the pilots, because the training is very hard, and only likmited amount of people get selected to be the astronaut.

NATO and The Warsaw Pact

NATO stands for North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It is a military alliance established by the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty on April 4, 1949. It was created to prevent USSR to spread communism. The Warsaw Pact was when the Soviet Union institutionalized its East European alliance system when it gathered together representatives from Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, and Romania in Warsaw to sign the multilateral Treaty on Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance, which was identical to their existing bilateral treaties with the Soviet Union. It was pact of communist countries, just like the NATO which was for the Democratic government. Countries that were in NATO were Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey, United Kingdom, & United States. These are the 26 countries that are currently in the NATO, and on the Warsaw pact the countries were Soviet Union, Albania (until 1968) , Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany (until 1990), Hungary, Poland, and Romania. These were the two groups created as a defensive system. If one group attacks another group all of the countries envolved in the groups would declare war on each other. It was like friends protecting their friends, or we can say gangs. Gangs protect their gang members from their common enemies.