Mikhail Gorbachev and the collapse of communism

Mikhail Gorbachev allowed new ideas to be heard. communism restricted freedom of press, speech, and religion. With Gorbachev now governing, the soviet citizens were able to speak their minds about complaints or problems. Gorbachev actually took the time out and listened to people. In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev announced a policy known as glastnost or openness. This encouraged the soviet individuals to discuss ways to improve their society. Then in that same year, Gorbachev introduced the idea of perestroika or economic reconstructing. He made changes to save the soviet economy. These changes opened up the soviet union and paved the way for the end of communism.

ODE TO JACKIE FEICHTER

THE COLOR OF YOUR EYES, THE BRIGHTNESS OF YOUR SMILE,
GETS ME THROUGH THE DAY, THINKING OF YOU ALL THE WHILE
1 TOUCH FROM YOUR HAND, SENDS JITTERS DOWN MY SPINE
IM ALWAYS THINKING OF YOU, WISHING YOU WERE MINE
I GO HOME EACHDAY, AND THINK OF THE FEELINGS THAT IVE FELT
HOPING THAT SOMEDAY YOU WILL BE MINE BUT 4 NOW THERES SUM1 ELSE
NOT 4 LONG

I LOVE YOU JACKIE

The collapse of communism

The leading powers of the Cold War was the USSR and the US. After world war 2, they started competing. They both had atomic weapons and arms weapons. They competed with each other to the point where it cost both parties a lot of money. but for the USSR, the competition was way too much. Their economy soon collapsed at the high price of competing with the US. Because the USSR collapsed, the communist countries that were associated with it went down also. The collapse of the USSR destroyed many economies around the world. 

The Berlin Wall was a border separating East and West Germany. No one was allowed to cross over to the other side. Those who tried were punished. For 28 years, east and west germany was completely blocked off from each other. In 1989, they decided to make border crossings so that people would be able to travel back and forth between eastern and western germany. some people came at the wall to gather souvenirs and some stormed the wall. On November 9 of that same year, the wall came down.

Nelson Mandela and Apartheid

Apartheid is the separation of blacks and mixed individuals, from white people. Apartheid was the policy of the government of South Africa in the years 1948 to 1994. Nelson Mandela is a hero because he fought for Africas unity and liberation. He is an inspirational man. He was thrown in jail and treated badly by the white men. He had great reason to be angry with them. They indeed deserved revenge. Mandela had a different way of handling the Apartheid situation. Mandela refused to use violence as the answer to gain freedom for his people. he was a man of peace. Nelson Mandela was also very fair too. For instance, as much as he hated the Apartheid, he never hated South Africans.If I was Nelson Mandela, I would hate the Apartheid and the South Africans. Mandela and I are obviously very different. Using this approach and many others, Mandela was  able to gain freedom for his people. Mandela is so admired by the authors of these sites. One man stated that Mandelas face was tired, but when he spoke, his voice was strong. Many South Africans have given him an amount of respect that people in superiority only wish they could have. Nelson Mandela was a great man.  

African Independence

Many African nations had been ruled by the Europeans. After World War 2,the African people decided that they didnt want to go back to being ruled as colonies, after they had fought in the war trying to defend their freedom. Meanwhile, the Europeans were willing to give the nations back their independence. In the 20 year period from 1955 to 1975, African had gone from colonies to independent countries. One of the leaders of African Independence was Jomo Kenyatta. As the president of Kenya, Kenyatta worked hard to unite the various ethnic and language groups in the country. As a result, Kenyas capitol grew into a major business center of East Africa. Another important name is Nelson Mandela. He also helped with the African Independence.

NATOand the Warsaw Pact

NATO stands for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It includes countries in Europe and North America. NATO was created for the countries involved so that if any opposing countries attacked them, the countries part of the NATO organization would have their back. The NATO also helped with economic aide of the European nations. If the countries cooperated with eachother, they could speed up the could rebuildng process.
The Warsaw pact consisted of the Soviet Union and its satellite countries. It was like a NATO for the Soviet Union. The warsaw pact was created in response to the NATO.

Film Lesson: Schindler's List

Schindlers list illustrated the holocaust in a number of ways. There were Nazis, Kapo and Commandandt. They were taking the Jews from their homes and putting them in ghettos. The Jews were made to be slaves. They were treated horribly. They were only given bread and soup to eat. Women, Men and children were separated from their families. If The Jews were either old, too young, sick, or unhealthy, they were killed. The Nazis had different killing methods. Some people were shot. some were killed in gas chambers.Some were put into ovens and burned.Those who survived, were let free after the war. Just like the holocaust.
The most powerful scenes to me were the children and the Auschwitz camp. I dont understand how anyone has the heart to kill thousands of people. especially children. The kids didnt even lose their innocence yet. They were very young. Yet their age didnt make a difference. They were killed anyway. This upsets me because i love children. And to kill a child depresses me. I remember the little girl in the red coat. She was so cute and lonely. Yet she was killed.
The images that will always stay in my head is that of the naked, dead bodies laying on the ground. The thing is that the Nazis didnt even bother to clean it up. They just left them laying there. I saw heads chopped off of the bodies. Its pretty scary.

Night and Fog

Night and Fog was very sad. it depressed me because the jews were treated as if they were animals. They were treated terribly by thos ewho felt they were superior to the Jews. They even treated kids the same way they treated adults. It was the worst. showing the dead bodies on the floor with no heads almost made me sick. the film was very powerful. It made me think about everything. It made me think of the things that they used to go through. When people make racist jokes, this is what i think about. Racism is what the holocaust was all about. It compares with the scenes from schindlers list because some of the scenes from this movie was in schindlers list. The documentary portrays the holocaust most effectively. the documentary was in black and white which made me feel like i was there. there were pictures that told the story.this made me feel like it was more realistic because the pictures were actually taken at the camps. i felt like i was there and i felt their pain.

WWI and The Treaty of Versailles

The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. It ended the war between Germany and the allied powers. Germany was blamed for the first world war and so the Germans were forced to pay for the suffering that was caused as a result of World War I. They had to accept full responsibility for the war, and they had to spend A LOT of money. 10% of german lands were lost, all of Germany's overseas colonies were taken away, and 12.5% of the German population were living outside of their countries borders. The Germans had payed a high price.

Some of the rules of the Treaty of Versailles were:

-the German army had a 100,000 man limit

-Germany surrendered all colonies

-restricted in size

-germany must pay money or goods to the allies

-had to accept full responsibility for the war

I do not think that this treaty was fair. Germany was blamed for the war when it wasn't really their fault. Now they had to pay a very high price. The price was so high that it messed up Germany as a whole.It screwed over all the people in Germany.I feel bad.

Historians say that the Treaty of Versailles led to the uprising of Adolph Hitler.I think this statement might be true. What Germany was going through brought many people down. They needed a leader to bring them back to their feet. When Adolph Hitler stepped up, the Germans were most vulnerable and they were in need of a leader. At that time, Hitler was the one who could have done so.

Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk) and the modernization of Turkey

Mustafa Kemal modernized Turkey and made it more secular. The word secular means denoting attitudes, activities, or other things that have no religious or spiritual basis. The Kemalist secularism meant the separation of state and religion. The religion was separated from educational, cultural, and legal affairs. It meant the independence of thought and of institutions. The Kemalist principle of secularism was not against religion, but it was against those who were in oppopsition to modernization.Religious faith was a matter of individual conscience.
Mustafas main goal was to give Turkey a new sense of dignity,equality, and happiness. Kemalism believed that only a republican government can best represent the wishes of the people.

Gandhi

Gandhi helped his nation of india gain independence from Great Britain. One way that he did this was by calling on the indians to boycott against the british. The indians refused to buy british goods, attend government schools, pay british taxes, and vote in elections.One of Gandhis ideas was on non-violence. He gave the idea of civil-disobedience which is the deliberate and public refusal to obey an unjust law.He launched this campaign to weaken the british governments authority and economic power.Gandhi had the indians spin their own clothing so that they wouldnt have to buy clothes from the british.As a result of the boycott, the sale of british cloth dropped sharply.There were strikes and demonstrations againt the british that usually ended in the arrest of the indians.Gandhi didnt like violence, so he pleaed for non-violence.Another way that Gandhi helped his nation is through the salt acts. The indians needed salt. The only place they could get salt from is the government. The only way that the indians could get the salt is by buying it from the british and they had to pay taxes. To show their opposition, the indians walked to the seacoast and began collecting their own salt from the sea water by letting the water evaporate.This was called the salt march.A little bit later, they intended to shut down the salt factories.The indians were attacked and beaten when they did this.But people continued to march peacefully.I think that Indias independance was all about Gandhi. If he didnt fight for independence than it would not have happened.the idea of non-violence that Gandhi had was a good idea.It helped the indians.

The Russian Revolution

The Russian Revolution started with the February and October Revolutions. The February Revolution was a popular uprisig.the Tsar at that time (Nicholas II) had gotten Russia involved in WWII. Many people were dying as a result of the war.There were many food shortages.Instead of getting the people what they had begged for(food), Nicholas II sent troops to keep people from the violent demonstrations and riots in Petrograd. As a result, Nicholas II was removed from power. Now that there was no king in Russia, a temporary government was put in place. This government proclaimed civil liberties and promised demoratic elections. The October Revolution was the time when the temporary government was overturned, and the Soviet Union was established. the October Revolution was thought up of by a small group of people called the Bolsheviks. they werent very popular and they didnt get much support. They started to over throw the government in April and by October, they were a popular and much larger group. they had built up support in Petrograd and with other urban centers.after october, the Bolsheviks declared themselves the representatives of a dictatorship. As a result, the Russian Civil War broke out in the summer of 1918.

Causes of WWI

There are many things that contributed to World War I.It goes from nationalism to militarism to the assassination of Franz Ferdinand to the collapse of the alliance system. first it starts with nationalism. in Europe, countries such as France, Germany, Austria and Russia were very nationalistic. As a result of this, the French turned against the Germans and the Russians against the austrians. Through nationalistic speeches and writings, these countries tried to prove their national superiority. This quickened the pace that the war took to envelop. when Austrian Archduke Francis Ferdinand was assassinated by Serbians Austria took action. Germany let Austrias actions rock; meaning Germany minded their business and didnt get into it. the same cant be said for Russia. Russia defended Serbia and the next thing you know France, Belgium and soon after Great Britain was involved. the alliance systems had alot to do with the world war also. Since the alliances were made secretly, this made it hard for the countries to trust one another.The General suspicion kept the diplomats from doing their job and they didnt fix the crisis'.