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.