The Collapse of Communism

The collapse of communism is a term that is greatly associated with the destruction of communism in the Soviet Union. Communism is what we consider to be a corrupt way for the government to control its people. The number one reason why communism was destroyed in the Soviet Union was becaus ethe people had thown many riots and revolted against communism. Another strong reason is that the people themselves took part in the destruction of the Berlin Wall. We can imagine the Berlin Wall as communism control, and by the Soviet People destroying it, we can say it is symbolism for the people saying that they are in control, not the government. Another reason the wall was torn was because the people got tired of the economic control the wall did to the people. With the wall up, Soviet people could not trade and go to certain places with out the governments knowledge. By this action, the world was shook! People begain to fight for the cause of the destrution of communism

Nelson Mandela and apartheid

Apartheid was a type of government in africa in which the white settlers were dominant and had more rights that that of any other race.

Mandela was considered a hero in africa because he is what we consider today, a civil rights leader for those neglected in the African community. He was most noted for his use of non violence in order to obtain rights for African American. For his leadership, Mandela was placed in jail for 27 years. But this did not even make him angry one bit. After his realese from prison, Mandela still strived to be a great leader. Because of his actions, Mandela helped free control from apartheid, and Africans have more rights than ever.

Mandela is honored by most people for his heroics in freeing African Americans for the dreadful act of apartheid. He is admired for never giving up on his goal of freeing african americans. His is a story that anyone, can and should relate to. Mandela was a great leader and is a great example for todays society.

African Independence

According to the map, the area for africa was once composed of mainly colonies and later on in 1975, africa was divided into independent countries. This was obviously due to British rule in 1955. Africa was divided into colonies so that the materials found in those areas could be divided among the british settlers there. As time went on, Africa became less controlled by the British, rulers such as Kwame Nkrumah, Jomo Kenyatta, and Mau Mau all fought for independence. The fruit of their activites is the map of africa in 1975 which is shown next to that of the map of afica under british rule

Mikhail Gorbschev and the collapse of communism

Glasnost: "means openness." It was a policy that brought changes to the government and the way of life those living in the Soviet.

Perestroika: "means economic restructuring" Obviously brought about changes in the economics for Soviet's.


When Mikhail Gorbachev came to power ikn sule over the soviets, the first thing he did was create reforms that favored as he calls it "openness" in the community. Under the policies known as Glasnost and Perestroika, the community in the Soviet Union changed for what the people thought was the better. There were better oppertunities for the people of the Soviet Union . Gorbachev believed that with the addition of these polices, that the Communist party whould eventually ''loosen its grip" on the Soviet society. After the policies were issued, Gorbachev created the third policy called demorcratization, which allowed the people to chose there own candidates for election rather than choose from the selection of the communist party. Lastly to relieve the stress of communim, Gorbachev changed the way the Soviet's traded with other countries. He did this by creating the "new thinking"policy which allowed the Soviets to come to an agreement with other countries in which no nuclear war would break lose.

The Cuban Missle Crisis

The cuban missle crisis was an event during the period of the cold war that was considered a close call. A close call in the sence that it was the closest the world ever came to a nuclear war. I was said that this event was the hottest event in the cold war which seems to be true. This all occurred when the Soviet's had started to create missiles in cuba that could be in target rage of the US. When the US found out this they also created missiles that were in target range of the soviet's in Russia. It was not until the US created better missiles that the Cubans had feared a war would begin that they took down their missiles in hopes that the US would not wage war on cuba.

NATO and WARSHAW PACT

The NATO was formed in the time of the cold war. This was an organization who's members were in parts or europe and in north america. This organization's purpose was aid it's allied countries in times of war. This pact was created in case the cold war became an actual war. The U.S. was fearful that the Russians would wage war with us.

The WARSHAW PACT was also formed in the time of the cold war. Its members consisted of the Soviet Union and the contries that bordered it. The Soviet did no use its bordering countries to support each other in war but rather use them as a border around themselves in case of attack. Like the US, the Soviet was also afraid of war breaking out but was ready as well.

Film Lesson: The Right Stuff

In the movie, the U.S. and the USSR, try beat each other in the field of flight. The US first broke the sound barrier which caused this "space war" to occur. After which the USSR put a satellite in space. This caused the US to respond by putting a monkey in space. The USSR then beat the US by placing the first man in space. But to top the USSR, the US placed the first man on the moon. This caused us to win the space war.
Parts in the movie that i won't forget is the part where the US kept launching test rockets and the failure that occured. The US tryed so hard to actually get a rocket into space but most failed.

Film Lesson: Schindler's list

The film Schindler's list showed the viewer a interesting view of life for the Jew's during the Holocaust. It showed how the Jew's were rushed out of thier homes and how the Nazi's invaded the ghettos after the Nazi party relized the Jew's were not dying. After they were taken out of the ghetto, they were put to work. This was not as bad as the documentary, but the film still shows how the Nazi's shot the Jew's that were not capable of working.

Film lesson Night and fog

Night and Fog gave the very in depth view of what occured in the period when Hitler was killing the Jew's. This film was powerful in the sense that it gave brutal images which were sadly real. The amount of images shown were overwhemling, and realistic. But the hollywood versinon did have more shooting, but in the documentary, the bodies are shown dead and in piles.The documentary is much powerful than the film because it is real. The movie only depicts to us what happened in the ghetto and the factories but does not tell us what happened in the concentratiion camps. The documentary does this. it shows the places the Jew's were killed and shows how they were burned and "buried" (if you call that buried). The documentary is much more devastating compared to the film because you can't help but feel sad for those murdered. Just looking at it will make you atleast some what creeped out.

Treaty of Versailles

Treaty of Versailles was the peace treaty that offically endded World War I. With the signing of this treaty, Germany and it's allies took full responsibilty for the war. And on top of that, Germany took the most damage. Germany's land in Africa and Asia was taken away, and they also lost about 10% of thier country. The 10% loss of land in Germany caused some new countries to be formed. These countries included Poland, Yugoslavisa, Czechoslovia, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Austria, & Hungary. And lastly, Germany had to pay reparations to the triple Alliance, for those who lost their lives in war.
To the Historians who said that this caused fascism and Adofl Hitler's actions while in power, i must say that that could be one reason. Hitler had wanted a very strong government for Germany. In doing so he created the Nazi's. He thought that with much military power that he could overthrow almost any government.

Mustafa Kemal

Secular, as defined by dictionary.com, is ''of or pertaining to worldly things or to things that are not regarded as religious, spiritual, or sacred''. Mustafa Kemal's work is an example of this. Kemal was the 1st president of turkey. It is said that many of his reforms were secular in the sense that they helped the people of Turkey forget about religious binds and start to think more highly about themselves and the world around them.
Kemal was most notied for having led the Turkish National Movement which would let Turkey become free from the Ottoman Empire and would allow them to be their own country. After which, Kemal became the 1st President of Turkey.

Film Lesson "Gandhi"

Mahatma Gandhi was considered one of the main causes that India gained its independence from Great Britain. Originally starting out in Africa, Gandhi had realized tat the rights of India's were very limited and thought that it required a change. He began with protests in Africa and was said to be jailed. Eventually after his release, Gandhi had returned to India to continue his work "at the source".
Gandhi had started campaigns and protests in India to show the British government that their help was not needed. One of his most famous protests was the Salt March, which he led while in his 60's. Gandhi was also noted for his courage and fearlesness. He went to jail many, many times and yet refused to stop his work.
Somthing that Gandhi had insisted on was the act of non violent protest. This is critical to his work. Their was a time when while imprissoned that this followers had killed police officers and burned down a building for hi realese. This led to him starving himself and causing his followers to stop these violent protests. When one of his followers confronted him saying that it was fair " an eye for an eye" Gandhi had responded " an eye for an eye would leave the whole world blind". In other words, violence solves nothing, which is completely true.
Gandhi is considered the cause of the independence of India, but does it really make a difference? Yes, because the Indian Community did not stand up for themselves. Gandhi was the one who pushed the Indians to win in dependence. Not to say they would not eventually gain freedom without him, but that with him, it quickened the process by alot.