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.