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'.

The Opium Wars

The Opium war was the worlds very first drug war. Opium is a drug made from poppy seedpods. It was produced in the East Indes and shipped to China by the British merchants. Opium is used to make other drugs such as Heroin, Morphine, Codein and Mescalun. At one time, opium was used as medicine to treat diseases. When the chinese were introduced to mixing opium with tobacco, they began to smoke it. This drug was so powerful that the chinese became badly addicted to it.
After a while, the British merchants didnt have anything to sell to China. China was a self-sufficient country so everything that they needed, they alredy had. In order to keep the tea trade flowing, the British merchants imported opium mixed with tobacco to china. This promoted opium smoking. Many of the chinese smoked this drug and as a result, the chinese population decreased. When the chinese government became aware of the drug, they tried to put an end to it. There were policies against selling opium to smoke. opium smoking houses were banned and shut down. Anyone who sold opium to smoke was either banished or killed. eventhough there were policies against opium, the British still kept selling it to china. Because some of the government officials were greedy, they became part of the illegal opium trade.
Some time had passed and the chinese really became serious about the sale of opium. In more ways than one, they tried to get the British to stop selling opium to China. They wouldnt listen.

an anti-opium campaign was started. Great Britain demanded that the Chinese ended the campaign but they didn't so the Britain's attacked the Chinese. They Chinese were caught by surprise by this attack. Because the Britain's had advanced technology, they won the Opium war.

Film Lesson: "Mountains of the moon"

The Europeans faced many hardships as they explored Africa. First the Africans who were with John Speke and Richard Burton had to travel with no shoes. They traveled on rocks and in different forms of percipitation. Second, the europeans had to travel with personal belongings, food and tents for shelter. These things were pretty heavy to carry. Third, they had to travel through the high grass and branches of Africa. They used instruments to chop down the grass and branches in their way. Fourth, they came across tribes who didnt know who they were. They were most facinated by the sight of white men. Fifth, they were robbed by some of the Africans who were at first traveling with them.
Lake Victoria is the third largest lake in the world. It is named after a british Queen. It is strange that Lake Victoria is named after a british Queen because lake Victoria is the source of the Nile River. As we all know, the Nile River is in Africa. This leads me to conclude that Lake Victoria is in Africa. If this large lake is in Africa, why is it named after a british Queen? This very question has me very perplexed.
The Europeans had advanced technology over the African people.One was the magnifying glass and the telescope. When the head of the African tribe was given the magnifying glass, he was looking through it because he had no clue what it was. When he was given the telescope he thought it was a musical instrument. He blew through the telescope which was pretty funny. The piece oif technology that amazed the head of the tribe the most was the gun. He was holding it like it was a precious item. He laughed when he had shot one of the people. He was truly amazed with this weapon.
Eventually, Europeans were able to conquer Africa. They had a great technological advancement. They were able to conquer Africa with their machine guns. The Africans didnt have this advancement in technology. They still had spears and bows and arrows. There was no way that they could fight against the machine guns. For this reason, Africa was taken over by the Europeans.

Karl Marx and Communism

Karl was known for communism. He had the idea that the workers should be the ones to control factories and farms. He urged the workers to unite and rebel against the landlords in a worldwide revolution. Marx came up with the idea for communism because he didnt like the way the workers were treated. Communism was the idea that workers would share wealth in communist society and that all workers should be treated equal.He started to express his ideas but they were shot down with threats from the authorities. He moved to paris with his wife and began mixing with the working-class. The poverty that he saw was shocking. It was then that he applied the dialect theory to what he saw in Paris. Now Marx considered himself a communist and he argued that the working class would be the emancipators of society. Karl Marx viewed the workers as the good guys and the landlords as the bad guys.

Karl Marx and the Industrial Revolution

Karl Marx was not in agreement with the Industrial Revolution. He hated the treatment of the workers in Europe and the conditions that they were living in. The European factories were very harsh and unsafe. Marx felt that the workers should be the ones to control the factories. He hated the way everything was before and after the Industrial Revolution. It was a battle of the rich verses the poor.
If it wasnt for Karl Marx' strong dislike for the Industrial Revolution, there would be no communism. Communism in other words is basically a classless society. Marx didnt like the way that the poor people were treated. His a idea for a classless society was a good idea. This would make both the rich and the poor equal.