MIkhail Gorbachev and the collapse of comunism

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

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

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

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"

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

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

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.