Jennifer T. Global blog

MIkhail Gorbachev and the collapse of comunism

2010-05-07T11:14:00.001-07:00

Mikhail Gorbachev basically paved the path for the collapse of the communist rule. He was the youngest ruler since Joseph Stalin. People that were with Mikhail Gorbachev were interested in their youth and energy and political skills. He wanted to pursue new ideas being ruler now and didnt necessarily wanted to follow what Stalin had once put. He saw what past soviet leaders did wrong by following a totalitarian state and not letting the people speak freely. He saw what it did to the country. Instead of just bringing the Soviet Union forward, it would silence the people and just didnt do much to help it. So because of this reason, he made up the policy of glasnost which just means openness. He wanted the people of the Soviet to be heard and bring the country forward. Not only did he make this new policy but he also encouraged citizens to speak up and be heard in improving the Soviet. This policy made things better because it allowed for churches to be open once again, it bought justice and took out innocent people from jail. Not to mention it also un-banned books that were once censored from the people. This new policy also allowed people to openly complain about economic problems as well.
The chain of complaints caused him to make a new policy called Peristrokia. It was basically economic reconstruction of the economic system that was put into place. His plan was to simply improve communism and not to get rid of it. His ideas that were now put in placed helped the soviet Union to escape from communism and slip into a more democratic system. Since people can now speak freely he secretly let the people of the soviet union into their doom of being a democratic state :]

Collapse of COMMUNISM

2010-05-07T11:13:00.000-07:00

Communism collapsed in Eastern Europe and in the Soviet Union for many reasons. The collapse of Communism happened during the years of 1989-1991. It all started with President Mikhail Gorbachev not wanting to send more Russian soldiers. So after that little by little, the communist people started to lose their power. It also started to slowly collapse because of the reaction to NATO which was the warsaw pact. These countries started to not agree with communism and started converting into democratic countries. Soon after it was just a wave of reforms and democratic revolutions that soon led to the total collapse of communism in Eastern Europe and in the Soviet Union. The Berlin Wall was sort of a symbol of communism so people that werent into communism anymore pressured East Germany to tear down the Berlin Wall. The Berlin wall was the "iron curtain" that separated the communist countries from the countries that didnt believe in communism. It also separated the countries that were involved in the Warsaw pact and NATO. After the demolishing of the Berlin wall, Germany became unified as one country. It was basically like a domino effect that this had on the other countries and in 1991, this was the official collapse of the communist revolution. The soviet union collapsed and was no longer known as the soviet union it was now known as Russia.

Nelson Mandela and Apartheid

2010-05-07T11:12:00.001-07:00

Apartheid was a system used under Africa used for legal racial segregation. It was mostly in Africa enforced by the SABRA (south African bureau for racial affairs) during the 1930's. This was when the black Africans were under the society of the white Africans. The black Africans were considered lower than the White Africans in their society. It was unfair but it was legal under apartheid. Under these rules, they couldnt interact with other people. For example, the black Africans couldnt communicate with the White Africans. They were not allowed to marry each other or play with each other. It was like in the United States when segregation was taking place. Apartheid was official abolished in 1993. Right before Mandela was voted in for Africans president after being a free country from the British rule.
Nelson Mandela was a guy in Africa that was in jail for most of his life. He got put in jail for going against the Apartheid rule and was sentenced to jail for 27 years. While in jail, he became sort of like a role model to not put up with the Apartheid rule. The government was going to let Mandela spend most of his life in jail but then worried about if Mandela died while in jail. They thought that if he should die in jail, a black African revolution was soon to be followed shortly after his death. After this, they released him in 1990 and thats when he negotiated with the White government of Africa to end apartheid and was then elected as president and he served five years. He is admired because spending so much time in jail he still never stopped fighting for African rights. He never gave up and still had that will power to rule Africa right after he was released from jail.

African Independence

2010-04-28T11:13:00.000-07:00

Africa changed alot during the period of 20 years. There were more independent countries than colonies after the 20 years that passed. Most of the African Countries that under some sort of rule, they were under the rule of European rule. Most of Africa was ruled under England powers. Shortly after World War two, they were ready to transfer their government. So after wards, two rulers in Africa started to take over. They started taking over little by little. First it was Jomo Kenyatta that started an African revolution. He started taking over whats now called Kenya. Doing so he started the Mau Mau rebellion. The Mau Mau consisted of mostly the Kikyuyu farmers that were forced out of highlands by the British people. Instead of using violence the point of this Mau Mau rebellion was to simply scare the white farmers out of their highland so they could get their farmland back. By the time Kenya had won their independence from Britain more than 10000 Kenyans were killed. After winning their independence, Kenyetta became the leader of the Kenya. He worked very hard to unite the Kenyans and then died in 1978. Afterwards Kenya never had that same success ruling Kenya as Kenyatta did.
Another ruler that took over Africa was Moise Tshombe. He took over a region in the south eastern part of Kantaga. It was full of minerals and soils. He tried to take over those lands but people of Africa didnt want him to take over because that land was important because of the minerals and stuff. This was known as the Tshombe's rebellion. In the end, Africa is now as we know it.

Film lesson- "The right stuff"

2010-04-14T11:10:00.000-07:00

In global class during ninth period, we watched a movie! It was called "The Right Stuff". It took place during the Cold war. The United States was competing with USSR to see who would go into Space first, also known as the space race. Russia was winning the competition because they technically sent a person into space first while the United States send a monkey into space. The United States went through a process in which they will find out which people were capable of going into space and bring it home for the United States. They would go through a list of men that were up to be one of the spacemen going into space. It was in a hospital in which they got tested and they would sort of shock the persons fingers and make them squirm around. Then they would tell them "Thank you" and call up the next person. It was kind of weird how they would be tested. After they narrowed down the list, the men would then be put in machines in which they would be shaken i guess to see if they can resist the no gravity in space. This scene from the movie helps me remember the cold war.
After they announced the seven that would be the lucky ones going into space, they would still have to go through training while NASA would be testing out spaceships. It was pretty funny how it would just take off and den go in a circle and come back down. It was a fail for the first few months and then finally they think they have it and then only the top of the spaceship would come off. So then Russia would send the first human into space while the United States send up a monkey up in space 3 weeks later. After they were made fun of for sending a monkey, they decided to bring back the 7 spacemen that were originally chosen to go up for the United States. Thats all that we saw that day.

NATO and the warsaw pact

2010-04-12T10:39:00.000-07:00

NATO was a sort of like an alliance between North America and Europe. It basically said that if one country inside the NATO was attacked, the other countries that were also part of this will come to help them out the best way they can. They will also help out financially so that they can rebuild after world war two and they can get their army back to the way it was. It was supposed to go as planed under the Marshall plan. It was a way to protect their alliance during the cold war and if any war should have occurred during the cold war. While the Soviet Unions alliances worsened NATO had gotten stronger.
Events during the year 1968 in Czechoslovakia made them view NATO as a source of protection against their war enemies. Then in the year 1979, they made up a new program that will hopefully build up their defense all while trying to stop the Soviet Union from using nuclear weapons.
The Warsaw Pact was a response to the NATO. This involved Soviet Union and their satellite countries which were countries that surrounded it. The leader of this pact was ,of course, the Soviet Union. They made the rest of the countries inside this pact to follow their lead and run socialist governments. All of this was to hopefully strengthen the Soviet Union, they claimed power in 1955. This pact was renewed in 1980 in hopes it would continue for the next 20 years. Sadly the Warsaw Pact was officially claimed non-existent in 1991.

Film lesson:schindleres list

2010-03-24T11:08:00.001-07:00

Schindleres List was a hollywood version of Night and Fog. It was less graphic than Night and Fog but it still showed the main idea of the holocaust. It was sad when the children were looking for a place to hide and then the little boy had to hide inside where the people go to use the bathroom. None of the children wanted him to hide with him so he had no choice. That part really got to me because no child should have to gone through what he did. Also how they would trick the children to go on the trains. Then when the trains are leaving the parents would see them leaving and they knew where they were going and the children where just waving at their parents and that was probably the last time their parents saw them alive. The scene that would forever stay in my head is when the woman comes up to them and tells them that the building isnt going to last standing up because it was built wrong. Instead of believing her, they shoot her in the head. That scene reminds me of Saving Private Ryan when a solider sits down and takes out his helmet and right away he gets shot in the head. That was a scene i would never forget.
As i said in my last blog, Night and Fog was good in details in what happened but Schindleres list got to me with the scenes with the children. So that movie was good in explaining what the children went through during this time but Night and Fog should be seen if you want to see what really happened during the holocaust. Night and Fog has more graphic details though so it might be offensive to some people.

Film Lesson: "Night and Fog"

2010-03-23T11:10:00.000-07:00

My reactions to this movie is that is was really hard living during the holocaust. People didnt deserve to die that way and it shouldnt have gone the way it did. The scene that really got to me was when they found the bodies after the jews were liberated. All of those bodies were just there in one pile. Jews were just mistreated and they were all treated unfairly because of one man.
For me personally Night and fog showed a better view of what the holocaust was like. The hollywood version in my opinion exaggerates and it makes it longer and adds things.Night and Fog was simple and it showed what was actually happening.Not to mention it actually shows the scenes that was happening. It shows the details that the jews had to deal with for the few years that Hitler was in charge.

Treaty of Versailles

2010-02-25T11:07:00.000-08:00

The treaty of Veresailles was the treaty that ended World War one. It was signed on June 28, 1919. Basically the treaty blamed Germany for the cause of the war. At the end, Germany took the blame and they had to end up paying expensives for the war. Before the war, Germany owned a bunch of land all across Europe and Asia. After the treaty of Versailles was signed, Germany had lost alot of their land to the Allies which were the United States, Britian, and France.
So after the treaty was signed and in place, Germany had lost alot of land, went into an economic depression and was basically defeated really badly by this war and the treaty. Since Germany was in a bad shape at that time Hitler came into the picture. Hitler promised them that he wil be the one to put Germany back into the shape it was once. That Germany would be powerful with the most powerful military and that they would regain all the land that they lost. Germany was desperate to be strong again so they gave into his ways and soon enough Hitler became a dicatator and the rest went down in history. This is why the Treaty of Versailles is very controversial now in days. If the treaty was never signed or if Germany was never blamed for the war than Germany wouldnt have lost all their land and never lost so much money and they wouldnt have gave into Hitler. Then Hitler woulnt have gone into power and the holocaust would have never happened, and a World War two would have never existed.
It seems that way but is it really true? Did Germany's blame of the war really cause this chain of events? The treaty was not fair in my opinion. The allies shouldnt have blamed Germany for the War. They lost alot in the war and took forever to regain what they had lost. Without this blame in this treaty, then world war two would have never happened and maybe the world would have been differently both econmically and politically.

Mustafa Kemal and the modernzation of Turkey

2010-02-24T11:10:00.000-08:00

Mustafa Kemal modernize Turkey by making turkey a republican party. Before Mustafa came into the picture, Turkey was run by the Ottoman Empire. When Mustafa came into power, woman got the right to vote in the year 1934. He also introduced Turkey to secularism. Secularism is when Religion is seperated from all public affairs such as state laws, education, and cultural affairs. The laws in Turkey were now not based on religion anymore. Religion was treated seperatly and not used for the laws and other stuff. He also reformed the country of Turkey, replacing traditional concepts with more modern concepts. His revolution was based on the reforms he made in Turkey. Nationalism was also part of his revolution to moderinize Turkey. His idea of nationalism is not racism, its preserving the independence of Turkey and also to help the political development of Turkey. It respected the independence and the right to their own independence of each nation. Turkeys modernization was based on ecnomical and technological developments in Turkey.

Film Lesson- "Gandi"

2010-02-11T11:24:00.000-08:00

Gandhi did a lot to help India gain its independence. India also went through a lot and without Gandhi, then they probably wouldn't have made it through all of that and gained their independence. Gandhi believed in a no violence revolution. So he refused to fight back if India fought back. There was a scene in the movie where the people that followed and believed in Gandhi where they would go up to the Indian policeman that were under the British Rule and then they would get hit by them. The civilians didn't do anything but get hit and then the woman just went up to them and took care of their wounds. It was just a chain and they kept going. It was really sad that they would just accept getting hit by their own people. Even though they were still under British rule they were still Indian.
Gandhi did a salt march in which Indians would go into the Indian ocean and get their own salt. They would do this in order to insure they weren't going to buy anymore from the British. In order to show that they would not give in into the British and that they can go on their own, then they would make their own salt. It was like an act of rebellion towards the British. There was also a massacre that changed everything. In the movie, after the Ami star massacre, Gandhi decided to make a non-violence revolution. He didn't want to be like the British and be at their level with violence so he did a non--violence revolution. His philosophy was that if it was a non-violence revolution, they would see that they are not like them. No i dont think India would have gotten their independence from Britain without Gandhi because he had alot to do with their independence.
The end :]

The Russian Revolution

2010-01-13T09:41:00.000-08:00

Before the Russian Revolution, they were seperated into three governments. One government was run by Czar Nicholas two. Under Czar's rule, Russia got involved in world war one. Many Russian soliders lost their life in that war. Also they were in starvation because they didnt have much food. Another government was a provisional government it was basically like a temporary government. The provisional government couldn't get them out of world war one. There was a russian revolution because of "mini revolutions" in Feburary 1917. Another Russian Revolution was in October in the year 1917. In feburary 1917, Czar was removed from power and was no longer in power. Thats when the provisional government was put in place. Since Czar was not in power anymore, they needed someone to keep Russia in place.

The revolution that took place in October was also called the Bolshevik Revolution. This revolution turned the provisional government into the Soviet Union. Lenin was the leader of the Bolshevik group. They turned Russia into a communist country because they believed in the teaching of Karl Marx. The Bolshevik knew that they wouldnt be able to be kept in power if they stayed in the democratic state that they were in, so they announced that they were turning into a dicatorship. This sparked the Russian Revolution of October.

Causes of World War 1.

2010-01-11T09:13:00.000-08:00

There are many causes for world war 1. Some of the main causes of the first world war was Nationalism and impearlism. World War one started on 1914 and lasted all through 1918. Countries that backed up each other would get involved if the country they were protecting got involved then they would get involved trying to protect the country. The thing that caused it to become a world war was the assination of Francis Ferdinand. The seribian black hand killed the archduke and his wife because he wanted to bring together Austria-Hungary and Serbia to make a Triple empire. Serbia didnt want this because the rule under Austria-hungary will break Serbia apart and they dont like being under their rule. So then Austria wanted to destroy Serbia for killing their archduke. Since Austria wanted to destroy Serbia, Germany was right behind them and decided to destroy Serbia too. The Austrian government officialy declared war on Serbia on July 28 1914.

Another cause of world war one, is Nationalism. Countries thought that they were better than the other countries so they would declare war. Also, Alliances were reasons for the world war to happen. The alliances were made in secret so people wouldn't know about these alliances. When people did find out about the alliances, they would get mad and they were suspicious of the alliances. Alliances also bought the question of power. Sure they were together now during war, but what happens after the war? Will they still be in an alliance? Who would get more power?

Opium war- Imperialism in china

2009-12-18T09:36:00.001-08:00

The opium wars were fought during the years 1839-1842. China fought the opium wars against britain. Before the opium war, China did not have interest in the countries in the Western Hemisphere. The tea that was only avaliable in China was a very popular drink in Great Britain. So Great Britain would trade with China for the tea. In exchange, China did not want any of the ideas that the countries in the Western Hemisphere had. Great Britain felt like this trading system wasn't balanced. They felt that they needed to buy and sell from China not just buy. In order to balance this trading system, they decided to sell China Opium. There were different views of the effects of Opium. The Chinese thought that Opium was used to make herion and morphine. While Great Britain thought it was a medicene used to relieve pain reduce hunger and thirst.

So in the end, Great Britain ended up winning and China felt humiliated. China tried so hard to eliminate the drug from their country but Great Britain could not let that happen. So in 1841, Great Britain sent gunboats to destroy most of China's costals cities. China was left destroyed after this surprise attack because China was behind in modern weapons and technology. They were forced to sign the Treaty of Nanjiing in 1842. It is called the opium wars because it was a war of the drug opium. Great Britain won becuase they were moire advanced in modern technology and weapons.

Film lesson: "Mountains of the Moon"

2009-12-10T09:36:00.000-08:00

In the movie "Mountains of the Moon", Europeans traveled to Africa in search of the source of the Nile River. Europeans had more power over Africa, however they faced many hardships in Africa. They need to face the fact that there are alot of bugs that can harm them. Such as the mosquitos that carry around Malaria. One of the Europeans had a beetle go inside his ear. Then he got a sharp object and put it in his ear. He ended up killing the bug but injured his ear. They also needed to communicate with the people in Africa even though they dont understand them.

They would name the river after their queen because they found it and they had more control over Africa. They had more power and control over Africa and since they found it, they named it after their queen. Europeans have greater technology such as a gun while Africans still fought with sticks and stones. They are moer advanced in technology then Africa.

Imperalism project

2009-12-07T09:28:00.000-08:00

In the imperalism project, we cut out cotton, slaves, copper, etc. We then glued them to an empty world map in the specific place in wehich they grew. For the slaves they had to glue them to the certain country in which they were kept. After that, we had to color in the main country in England. With that same color we had color in the countries that the main country controlled. This showed imperialism because the country that was colored in Europe was the main country. The other countries that were colored in the same color somewhere else in the world, was the country they controlled. This is what the imperialism project was all about.

Karl Marx and communism

2009-11-19T09:29:00.001-08:00

Karl Marx was a guy that didn't agree with the industrial revolution. He came up with the idea of communism. He thought that workers should be paid the same amount of money. That means if you work as a doctor, and you live in a communist country, then you would get paid the same amount of money as someone working as a cashier. Karl Marx believed that capitalism and socialism was bound to fail.

He wanted communism to rise around the world because he thought communism was better than socialism and capitalism. To him the good guys were the factory workers who worked long hours at minimum wage. They knew that they were being mistreated and they should be paid the same amount as everyone else. The bad guys to him were the owners of businesses, mostly factory owners. He thought they were the bad guys because they controlled everything and they got paid more than the workers and they dont do as much work as the factory workers. Communism might have been a good idea in his mind but when you actually put the idea into work, it doesnt always work out the way you plan it. Thats why the countries that seem to follow communism ideas, usually dont last. They convert into what we have here in the United States, capitalism or socialism.

Karl Marx and The Industrial Revolution

2009-11-17T09:33:00.001-08:00

Karl Marx didn't like how workers were treated. He says that the conditions in the factories that they worked in. The factories were unsafe and harsh. Karl Marx didn't agree with the treatment of workers in the industrial revolution. Which is why he came up with the idea of communism. Karl believed that workers should unite as one and sort of rebel and not take the treatment from the factories in which they worked in. In his idea of communism, workers would share the money they made among other "communist" people. The money would be distributed among the people based on what they worked for and what they needed it for.

He ended up dying in 1883. He got inspired by the way workers were treated in the factories. Communism still lived on after he died. People after Karl Marx expanded on the idea of communism which is what we know today.

Nationalism and the Creation of Italy

2009-10-27T09:43:00.000-07:00

Nationalism is belonging to a certain country. You would be willling to fight for and die for your country. This is the basics of Nationalism. Nationalism exists everywhere and is a new concept. You know what nation you belong to by the borders that surrond that country. I am nationalistic because i live in the United States and i use the same money that everyone else uses in this country. Even though i didnt live through the history that the country lived through, i know what happened like when the American Revolution happened. America was trying to break free and gain its independence from Great Britain.
Nationalism is known to break an important empire. For example it broke up the Austrain-Hungratian but it made Italy become one. Even though Italy was being under Austria's rule, they wanted to be free from them. They wanted to be free from them because they had different ideas then Austria. They organized a group that italians made up called the Young Italy and no one over the age of 40 could join. Italy was different before it was Italy. Italy was just some part of a empire and afterwards, they were an independent country.

Simon Bolivar and Latin American Revolutions

2009-10-22T09:38:00.000-07:00

Simon Bolivar led many of the south American countries to their revolutions and led them to their victory. He is known as the South American liberator.Simon Bolivar would travel from Venezula to the United States to see the government since America was no longer in control by Great Britian. He saw that the government was great and they were doing fine. Then Caracas started a revolution with Spain and he had to go over to help. When he came back he was in favor of started a revolution.

He helped Venezula start a revolution and helped them win their independence in 1821. He also helped Ecuador, Columbia , Panama, and Peru win their independence. This is why he is so famous, what he is mostly known for. He helped most South American counrties fight for their independence. His influence to start the revolutions was the fact that he believed that Latin American countries shouldnt be ruled with another counrty half way around the world. He has a country named after him because of all the hard work he has done and with Peru. They decided to make part of Peru named Bolivia.

John Locke and "The Enlightment"

2009-10-01T09:31:00.000-07:00

The rights that Thomas Jeffereson was talking about is that all men (people) are created equal. No one person is greater than the other person. People are equal in power as well as politically because anyone and everyone could vote and run for the government. According to the Declaration of Independence, the government comes from the people. The people have the power to overthrow the government if they dont agree with it. The government is used to protect the peoples rights.
People must have a valid reason in order to overthrow the government. They cant just go against the government for no reason. The government must be unfair and abusive to its people in order to rebel against their government.

Copernicus and the trial of Galileo

2009-09-18T09:30:00.000-07:00

Heliocentrism is a theory that stated that the sun was the center of the universe. Heliocentrism was the opposite of what the geocentric theory stated. Nicholaus Copernicus is the scientist that later on proved this theory to be true. He was the first scientist that showed a mathematical model of this theory. This theory was brought up as people were noticing the motions of the planet earth and the sun. Later on these motions were studied more carefully amd which is when the theory of heliocentrism was borned. Lots of scientist around the world were studying the motions of the sun.

Geocentrism is another theory about the solar system. As stated before, it was the opposite of what the geocentric theory stated. The geocentrism theory states that the earth was the center of the universe. Scientist before saw that the moon rotated around the sun. So since the moon rotated around the earth, everything in the solar system must rotate around the earth too. Although the geocentric theory was out first, it is not true. Heliocentrism was based on the scientific revloution.

Galileo was put on trial by the catholic church for stating in a book that the earth was not the center of the universe. The church believed that the earth was the center of the universe while Galileo thought that the planets revolved around the sun. He did some researc through a telescope and was going against what the church believed.

Scientific Revolution:The Scientific Method

2009-09-17T09:39:00.000-07:00

The scientific method is a method used by scientists everywhere. This method consists of making a hypothesis, making an experiment, writing down your observations, and a conclusion. It is a good way to keep track of your data and see what you did wrong and what you can do next time to make it better. Scientific methods can be used to prove a theory wrong. Making a hypothesis is a scientists way to make an educated guess. Then the scientist must make an experiment based on the hypothesis that they had made. During the experiment, they must take notes on what is happening also know as data. After that they write a conclusion on what happened.

Evolution vs. Creation

2009-09-14T14:08:00.000-07:00

The Theory of evolution is that we all came from one species. For example, people believe that we came from the ape and as time passed the ape had transformed into a human. Darwin's theory of evolution is said that all ancestors are related in one way or another. He stated this because of his research in the galapolos Islands. He noticed that the finches were are similiar but different based on where they lived.

Creationism is based on a religion. This states that God madethe world and also made human beings. This story is said in the bible in the old testament the book of genesis. God made the land, water and this whole entire world. He also made man and woman which he named Adam and Eve.
I believe in Creationism more than the theory of evolution. The theory of evolution doesnt make sense because it would take a really long time and also if the apes changed doesnt that mean that we would have to change too? Wouldnt the cycle just continue on? Creationism makes more sense because you have a creator and the world would continue on in its regular cycle.