Mikhail Gorbachev and the end of Communism

Mikhail Gorbachev became the Communist Party General Secretary. He was elected by popular choice. Gorbachev, at the age of 54, was younger then the people that were elected before him. He spoke about change for the Soviet Union, and introduced two Russian words to the SU international vocabulary: "perestroika", meaning restructuring, and "glasnost", meaning openness. Gorbachev idea of glasnot ended the totalitarian government that was established by the past leaders and made the government open. People had the freedom to say what was on there mind to make the country better. This system allowed churches to become open again, libraries could print banned books, and reporters had the right to freedom of speech. They could publicly view there thoughts and critize the government. Under his policy of perestoika mangers were allowed to rein freely over their farms and factories. Civilians were able to open there own small businesses. Before perestokia people were demotivated because no matter how productive they were they still weren't making enough money, and maked the country better.

Collapse of Communism

The Collapse of Communism happened because many people were afraid, they were being threatened by nuclear annihilation. Many people were annoyed at the fact that they couldn't cross the borders, without worrying about their lives, because those who tried to cross the borders between the Eastern and Western were shot and faced tear gas. So in turn they tore down the Berlin Wall, so that Eastern and Western Germany could form a more balanced economic and social ties with one another. But getting the cooperation they needed with one another wasn't very easy. The Soviet Union then separated into fifteen different Republics. Many ethnic tensions arose across the country because everyone all of a sudden wanted self-rule and others wanted religious freedom. They were mostly afraid of losing their power and privileges. The sudden urge for them to overthrow the government lead to the end of the Soviet Union, which gave way for countries within the Soviet Union to gain their independence.

Creation of Israel

Zionism was a Jewish movement that led to the development of Israel. After Israel was made a country many conflicts began between the new country and its neighboring countries. Israel was surrounded by Arab countries. In 1948, the independent country was attacked by several of the surrounding countries.The creation of the Rhodes Armistice would solve the war which lasted for about a year. An Armistice is a compromise, but even with this in effect the countries still had their differences. The differences among the countries, mostly between Israel and Palestine, was that the Arabs that made up Palestine felt that they should have been given the same things the Jews were given. The Palestinians believe that their God gave them that land , but the Jews had the same belief. These beliefs are one of the main causes of conflict between these countries to this day. There is still alot of fighting in the country because of the land that they are on is holy land and other people think that they should have more of the land than others.

Nelson Mandela and Apartheid

In Feb., 1990, a man by the name of Nelson Mandela, came out of jail with a dream. A plan to better South and take away all its misery and pain. His plan was to bring the white supremacists government down. His dream when he got out of prison was to liberate the oppressed and the opresser, for he knows how it feels, for he spent 27 years in prison. Apartheid took place in the late 1930's by the South African Bureaus for Racial Affairs. The law was designed as a separation method. It band mix marriages. It caused a resettlement policy,where in certain area , only certain people live in that area. Later international pressure started to overcome South Africa's policies, so the President at the time had no choice but to open the door for protests against apartheid. Then after this it opened the door to a new constitution being signed in 1990 to abolish the Separate Amenities Act. Within that same year Nelson Mandela became the new leader of South Africa.

African Independence

African began going from coloions to country's in 1955. In 1975 more thn 1/2 of african became a country.Between the two world wars, an educated middle class had begun to emerge in African cities. Some African Americans such as W. E. B. Du Bois as well as by older Africans like Blaise Diagne, who organized Pan-African congresses in 1919 and 1921. One of the movement’s leaders, Leopold Senghor became the first president of Senegal. African soldiers in World War II fought with Europeans to defend freedom. The postwar world changed the thinking of Europeans too. They began to question the cost of maintaining their colonies abroad.

The European Union

The EU is a very good thing. It makes the EU easyier to travel. Easyier to trade good with between each other. This was an alliance of 25 nations that has changed Europe. This union has been so successful that it has created a new superpower in the world. The only two super powers in the world today are the EU and the US (after the USSR's fallin 91'). It is like the US, but now the states are countrys. It also made trading money easyier because the euro was made within the EU. It prevents the European nations from going to war also.

9th Grade Review - Neolithic Revolution

The Neolithic Revolution is a agricultural revolution that is the change from nomadic hunting and gathering to agriculture and settlement. The first agricultural revolution had major social changes. It increasied population density, the organization of a hierarchical society, standing armies, state institutions, barter, trade and the expansion of human "control" over nature.
In particular, in opposition to the moveable personal property and communal property of the nomadic hunter-gatherer, a new way of life began that introduced private property, private ownership of land and buildings, valuable artifacts. Slavery also started in human evolution, in almost all continents, where captured humans were considered as "things", the private property of wealthy individuals and families. Also introduced inheritance and marriage.

Film Lesson - "The Right Stuff"

They were competing to get the first man to space. Then the bigger picture was to be able to build the first rocket to fly into space. The competition was being won by the USSR they were the first to get a man into space. We were the first to have a mockey into space and was the sencond to have the man into space, but the first to be on the moon was the americas and from there we were winning and then won the competition because the USSR failed. The scenes from the flim would have to be the first rocket space blown up, and the monkeys being test and being the first one into space.

NATO and The Warsaw Pact

NATO stands for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. NATO is an organization formed by the Europeans and all of North America. The formation of NATO was that the countries involved wanted a mutual defense alliance so that if one of them were attacked all of the other countries in NATO would come to their aide. The Warsaw Pact was made up of the Soviet Union and its satellite countries. It was another defense alliance like NATO. The Soviet Union had military men in the other countries of the alliance to have them running socialist governments. This attempt to strengthen the Soviet Union's hold on its satellite countries was only one of its ways.

Cuban Missile Crisis

The Cuban Missile Crisis was the closest the world ever came to nuclear war. In April 1962, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev had an idea of placing missiles in Cuba. In the summer of 1962 the Soviet Union worked quickly and secretly to build its missiles in Cuba. On October 22, Kennedy announced the discovery of the missile installations to the public and his decision to quarantine the island. On the 25th Kennedy quarantine back the line and raised military readiness to DEFCON 2. Then on the 26th EX-COMM heard from Khrushchev in an impassioned letter. He proposed removing Soviet missiles and personnel if the U.S. would guarantee not to invade Cuba. October 27 a U-2 was shot down over Cuba and EX-COMM received a second letter from Khrushchev demanding the removal of U.S. missiles in Turkey in exchange for Soviet missiles in Cuba. Attorney General Robert Kennedy suggested ignoring the second letter and contacted Soviet Ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin to tell him of the U.S. agreement with the first. That is what they did and

Film Lesson: "Night and Fog"

I really didnt understand this movie it was in french was English subtitles but I did understand what they were talkin about. The movie is like a documentary of the holocaust and what happend after the war and how it looks today. They were just explain the holocaust it was not a movie like Schindler's List. It was a very powerful movie because it was very graphical, and it told the story not hiding anything. The scenes that i saw from schindler's list had a story. This was more of a time line of the World War. I think that they are both different types of movies and that they cannot be compare with each other.

Film Lesson "Schindler's List"

Schindler's List illustrated the holocaust very well. It show how it was not hiding anything. The most powerful scenes of the movie to were the scenes of the camp, and how it was it was ran. That movie was a great documentary and didnt hide anyhting it was the real thing. The children being taking away was like taking candy from a baby from the jews. The one image that would stay with me is the little girl in the red dress when she was hiding and after when she was burned. The reason this image would stay with me because the movie was in black and white the only thing in clor was this little girl. The reason for this was to show what would happened to the girl that was hiding.

US Atomic Bombing of Japan in 1945

Do you agree that the US Atomic Bombing of Japan is the #1 news story of the century? Why or why not. Can you think of a bigger news story? Take a look at the list of the top 100 news stories at the end of the article. Would you add or change anything on the list? Explain why.

I do think that the Atomic Bombing attack on Japan is the #1 news story of the century. This changed the way the world looked on life and war. This had also changed the law and won the war for the US. This is a big reason that we're one of the most powerful nations in the world. I think without the atomic bombing we would have cause a bigger problem in the future. What could of happen is, we may of had attacked someone at this point in time, it would be 5 times the size and 10 times more powerful now that we have this law people are not allowed to made these weapons so everyone is safe. There is one news story that may come close to the being #1, which is that U.S. astronaut Neil Armstrong's walk on the moon in 1969. I still think that a atomic bomb is a better news story than a man walking on the moon, but thats how I feel today in life. People that were there to see this on the news and lived during this time, I think that they may feel that there story, because they were there to see it all of these happen. I would change only one thing on this list it which was the WWW. I think that this is top 15 material. Some people today cant live without it. And the invention of the computer should be there too. These a necessity in life in this point of time.

Germany at War (WWII)

Define propaganda. Explain the poster. What does it say? How are Germany and other nations at war illustrated? What is going on in the poster? Explain the poster and its symbols.

Propaganda is a message that influences the opinions or behavior of people. Most of the time it provides information, propaganda can be deliberately misleading, using logical fallacies, which, while sometimes convincing, are not necessarily valid. The poster says Eucopas Sieq dein wohlstand which is written in German. In English it means Europe's victory is your prosperity. Made in 1941 by the Nazis, it has alot of meaning. In the picture it has a fist hitting it looks like a Russian leader. and a bed near germany, I think to tell the people at home it is ok to rest we have it over control. The fist to fire up the men in the war. Also land where the fist has past there already. It is a very loud picture.

Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk) and the Modernization of Turkey

Explain how Mustafa Kemal (aka: Ataturk) modernized Turkey and made it more secular. What changes did he make? Also define secular.
Mustafa was a military hero, that became the charismaticleader of the Turkish national liberation struggle. After winning battles that had all odds against him, he led his nation to full independence. He ended the Ottoman dynasty which lasted for six centuries,and then created the Republic of Turkey. By the cooperation of the people, Mustafa was successfully able to make Turkey a secular country. A Secular society people pay very little attention to religion and religious matters. Mustafa didn't want religion to be involved in society. He wanted to remove religion from education, cultural and legal affairs, and the country. Mustafa made many changes in Turkey that helped the country modernize. He also decided to remove the social class system that existed in the Ottoman Empire, this may have caused more equality between people. Mustafa was the leader that turkey need and without him they may still have been in the ottoman dynasty.

The Treaty of Versailles (ended WWI)

Explain how the Treaty of Versailles affected Germany at the end of WW I. Some historians say that the Treaty of Versailles led to the rise of Fascism and Adolph Hitler. Why do you think historians say this?
This affected Germany because they had to pay for all the cost and damages of the war. This and they also didn't have a leader. Then the Treaty of Versailles led to the rise of Fascism and Adolph Hitler. Hitler was a Bad leader for the Germans. He made them believe that he is better than the Jews and another problem was that he was a fascist. Historians say this because it is true. After the WWI Hitler came into power and then led Germany into WW2. And he brought the German's into fascism which was not what they needed.