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.

Film Lesson: Schindler's List

The movie Schindler's List illustrates Holocaust as a horrifying, and terrible event. The jews were kicked out of their houses, and were sent to live in the ghettos. The ghettos did not work for the Nazi's, but later on they decided to build concentration camps where all the jews would be killed. After the failure of Ghettos they build Auschwitz. Thats where all the jews were sent, and killed. Jews were seperated based on their health, sex, and physical fitness. Childrens were seperated form their parents. Some childrens managed to stay with their mothers because they would hide in places where the Nazi officers can't find them. Some would hide in the gutter underneath the toilet.Childrens were also killed.The jews that they did not kill were the ones who were able to work, and were on Schindler's List. Schindler was a bussiness man who owned a factory that made weapons for the German army. He needed workers that work for him, so he decided to choose jewish people who can work for him. He protected his workers, because he needed them to work for him. The scene that was most powerful to me was when the Nazi officer saw the women hiding her child from him, and trying to save her by taking her in the train along with her. The officer violently took the girl away from her mother, and seperated the mother and the daughter. It was most powerful scene because it reminded me of my mother, and i also felt the pain of being seperated from my mother. The image that will stay in my mind from the film is when the boy jumps into the gutter from the toilet. He also found many other kids of his age hiding inside the same gutter. It was the most stinking, and disgusting image from the whole movie.

Night And Fog

The reaction of the documentary fil "Night And Fog" is very shocking. The brutal, and horrifying scenes of the movie was the dead bodies laying on the ground waiting for it to be burried under the ground.I found the film to be very powerfull, because it was really devistating to see people dying from starvation, and suffering from pain. There were horrible living conditions in the camps. They were taking all the jews and putting them into camps, and taking their valubles from them. They were either killed as soon as they got to the camps or they were chosen to do the work. Some were send to the hospital to do experiments, and some were send to prison where they cannot sit down or stand up because its very small. They shaved women's hair to make coats out of their hair. In the movie they showed ovens, crematoriums, and the gas chambers where the jews were horribly killed alive.There were 3 million jews killed at the "killing factory"(Auschwitz). In both the movie, and the documentary (Schindler's List, and Night and Fog) they showed the scene where dead bodies of jewish droped into the ground by a bulldozer. The movie that showed Holocaust more effectively is the documenatry, because its shows footages that were recorded during the Holocaust, for example they showed the dead bodies, the jewish people in the bunk beds, and also the ashes of the jews after being burned alive in the ovens. Also in the movie they copied some of the scenes from the documentary.

The Treaty of Versailles (ended WW I)

The treaty of Versailles affected Germany in negetive way. Germany was blamed for the entire war, and was forced to pay the compensation to the allies. The Germans lost 10% of their land, overseas colonies were taken away which means that they no longer have access to the Spice island. They also lost 12.5% of their population. Basically Germany had no money to recover from this.Germany was under control by the other European countries, and had rules that Germany cannot break. Germany had limited army 100,000 men is the limit. Their overseas possesions were taken by the european countries.Coal minning area were controlled by France.Germany had to pay goods(money, gold) to the allies as a reparations.Also Germany would take the responsiblity or the guilt of the war.I think the treaty was not fair, because not only Germany was involved in the war, but Austria-Hungary was involved in the war along with Germany.Its not just fair to blame only one country for the cost of the war.They blamed Germany for the war cause Germany lost the war, and became weak after losing the war. Germany was very weak that time, and they needed strong leader like Hitler to get them back on track.They felt that Hitler would make Germany strong, and he will recover all the territory that has been lost.They had no other hopes, but to trust Adolph Hitler. Adolph Hitler created hopes in the mind of German people and so they trusted him.

Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk) and the Modernization of Turkey

Mustafa Kemal modernized Turkey by adopting the European ideas. Aturk believed that traditional way of running Muslim countries outlived itself, and that Turkey's chances of surviving the future as well as gaining new strenth would only be gained by adopting principles from the European countries, which at that time had outdistanced Turkey in all fields. He introduced a political system that took many elements from Western system. He wanted turkish people abolish the fez(the hat that Turkish people wore). He wanted the Turkish people to wear shirt, pants, and ties(European dress code), and get rid of the robes that they used to wear. What Mustafa Kemal wanted as a modern turkey was defined from 6 principles nationalism, Republicanism, Populism, Statism, Secularism, and Revolutionism.Basically Mustafa Kemal wanted to modernize Turkey, and make it more in the present time so they won't fall back from the other European countries. Mustafa Kemal was like the emperor of Japan who wanted to modernized Japan during the Meiji Restoration, and Mustafa Kemal wants to modernize Turkey.However Mustafa Kemal made Turkey secular. Secular means that its non-religious, or rejects religion and religious considerations . The women stopped wearing the veil, and he replaced the Islamic calendar for the western calendar.

Film Lesson - "Gandhi"

To gain independencce from the British, Gandhi used civil-disobediance to get rid of British people. He did not want to use violence against the British because they knew that they will not be able to defeat the British using violence, because they were not strong enough to face them.So civil-disobediance was the only weapon to fight back. Also using these strategies will make the British look bad.Some of the things that Gandhi did was, he encouraged the indian people to make their own clothes, and not buy the clothes made by Britian.Also he wanted indian people not to buy salt, and get salt from the ocean,because the British were charging tax on salt. Also he felt that they should take salt from the ocean because the ocean was on indian land so they have the right to take the salt from the ocean.He never raised his hand against British, because if he used violence then it will make the indian people look bad. If they take the pain and stay quiet then it will make the British look bad.One of his famous quote was "An Eye For An Eye leaves The Whole World Blind".India's independence was not all about Gandhi,but there were other events that were going on during the that time which helped India gain its independence from Britain. One of the event that was going on at that time was WWII. The British were involved in WWII and because of the war the British became weaker because they lost alot of money, and soldiers. They were annoyed of the Indian people and did not want to deal with them any more.Then finally India gained its independence from British, and kicked the British, out of Indian land.Not all of Ghandi's dreams came true, Ghandhi wanted Hindus-and the muslims to live togather in peace, and not have seperate lands, but eventually the muslims were seperated, and another country was formed, which was Pakistan. After India got its independence Ghandhi was ironically killed by an Hindu indian extermist named Nathu Raam Godse.

Russian Revolution

The Russians had a revolution mainly because of the gulf between the peasents who were former serfs and the land owners. They lost WWI.They lost the war against Germany, and there was starvation in the country. Thepeasants also felt that the czar should not pay attention on war, but should take care of their needs, and the economy was really bad.The major cause of the revolution was the Peasants getting mad at the czar cause he was not taking care of their needs. Also the government never recovered from their past. They lost their money in war, and never really recoverwed from it and it kept getting worse. They didnt have technology that will contribute to the war, and let them end up getting victory. They lost thousands of their young soldiers.Another reason was that the Russians didnt have industrial revolution.The peasants wanted to throw out the old government, and wanted to approach towards Karl Marx's Communist Manifesto. They wanted a communist country which they eventually did for 75 years.During the revolution the czar was Nicholas II who was not a bright man, and an ideal leader that will be appropriate to run a country.Lennin was the leader of the Bolsheviks communist party. Lennin promised the russian people "Peace, Land, and Bread".

Causes of WW I

Major cause of WWI were Nationalism, Militarism, Assassination of Frans Ferdinand and the collapse of the alliance system. Nationalism was one of the main reason for WWI because nationalism led to competetion between nations. Also the people of one country feels that they are better then the other.This was one of the reason why the countries fight each other.Another cause of WWI was Militarialism because the countries were creating large armies. The countries wanted a good army then the other countries. They also increased their military, and naval forces.They felt that if they have strong army they can defend themselves from other countries. After seeing the other country with a strong army Germany also wanted a stronger army then Great Britain. Also another cause of WWI was the assasination of Archduke Franz Ferdinan. He was the crown Prince of the Austrian Empire. He was killed by the Serbians, because they wanted to be independent country which today is known as Yogoslovia. His assasination was a major cause of WWI. Fourth cause of WWI was the Alliance.Their were two alliances, they were the triple alliance and the triple entente. The triple alliance consisted of the countries of, Italy, Germany, Austria and Hungary. The triple entente was Russia, France, and Britain.