Mikhail Gorbachev and the end of Communism

*Glasnost: Is a policy that refers to an idea of being open to non-socialist economic systems. Russsian word for "openness"

*Perestrokia: A policy that involved restructuring of the social and economic status in communist Russia.

Mikhail Gorbachev was born on March 2, 1931 who is a Russian politician. He was the last leader of the Soviet Union, who served from 1985 until the collapse of 1991. His supporters praise his youth, energy, and political skills that they admired. He was one of the youngest leader of the Soviet Union, since Stalin. He didn't need to follow other people ideas, he just came up with new ones that were more better and useful.

He opened up the Soviet Union and paved the way to end communism by opening the soviets citizens to help them out in their society. Due to this he started a thin called Glasnost that was an opening to help his citizens and make them feel comfortable with him as a leader, and to be not afraid of any losses. However, he had many ideas that he created another called Perestrokia that was an idea on economic restructuring throughout the Soviet Union. As Gorbachev made new reforms communism started to get weaker and weaker. His main idea was to make communism more efficent and productive development. Many changes came along the years where he finally ended communism and dramatically living to a new reform called capitalism where many things changed and are not the same.

Collapse of Communism

*Communism collapse in Eastern Europe and the USSR, because of many reasons. This was one of the major events in history that had happened. They wanted to separate the East and West Germany by breaking down the Berlin Wall and having great disaster. Due to this both sides of Germany had economic and social ties. Eventhought is was a disaster, later on it came with great support that they were able to make thier financial situations more better. When Communisn fell there was less need for concerns about nuclear annhilation. Many people turned against Communism and followed democartic rules.

*The Berlin Wall was a gigantic structure separating the Eastern and Western Germany and was a cause of concern. The Berlin went up on August of 1961. Due to this wall the East and West Germany were very angry because they couldn't cross the border. However, many people tried to cross, but there was consequences of being killed or shot. But because of this East and West of Germany were blocked for 28 years from each other. So for this reason, many people went and tear down the Berlin Wall with sledgehammers and broke down the Wall forever.

*Due to the Fall of the Berlin Wall it caused the union of the East and Western to become as one unified country that was from the start. Germany accepted capitalism and had finally removed communism from Europe. There was big changes when the Soviet Union fell, because of this they were creating smaller countries. So, this will take place by removing a super power from the world.

Creation of Israel

Explain the conflict that occurred when Israel was created. Why do the Palestinians and Israelis not get along?

*Zionism: Is a movement that has encouraged the creation and support of the nation of Israel and it's people.

* There was a lot of conflicts that occurred when Israel was created . Like they didn't get along with the Jews due to many reasons they had. YThis had begun in the Late 1800's where the Jews had migrated to Palestine and their numbers grew after WWII. This was because many survived of the Holocaust and went to live in Palestine and because of this things started to be terrible, that they created support for a Jewish homeland. Due to this Jews, and Palestinian Arabs claimed a right to the land of Palestine. This is were violent moments betweens the groups started.

But, in 1947 the United Nations decide to divide Palestine, into an Arab state and a Jewish state. The Jews accepted this pland, but the arabs did not accept it. By 1948, Britian withdrewand the Jews proclaimed the independent state of Israel, that was recognized by the United Sates and the Soviet Uninon. Later, on that Arab decide to attack Israel, but because of this the Israeli forces won severals wars with the Arab. The result of the war was that Israel was nearly doubled its territory. There was alot of surprise because the country of Israel developed very fast, between 1948 and the mid-1980s about 2 million Jews migrated to Israel, eventhought some went to escape from persecution. I believe that the Palestine should just stop and live in peace. This will bring less conflicts between the Jews and the Arabs and the Jews would feel more comfortable and forget everything. Also because even today many Jews are being judge and I believe is not good because everybody should be treated equally.

Nelson Mandela and Apartheid

Apartheid: Is a policy that separates differents racial groups, also known as discrimination to people who have different ethic background. [Whites, Blacks, Mixed, Indians]

*Nelson Mandela was born in Transkei, South Africa on July 18, 1918. His father Chief Henry Mandela was from Tembu, Tribe. He was well educated at University College of Fort Hare and the University of Witwatersrand and was qualified in law in 1942. Due to this he was an Important ANC leader, but in1964 he was jailed by the government. He was in jail for 27 years and during that timel he became a powerful symbol of the struggle for freedom. During the 1950's Mandela was inspired by his major role in the ANC's non- violent campaign to undermine apartheid.

*Nelson Mandela is considered a hero in South Africa because he did more than their people expectedand mada alot of accomplishments for them. For this he is favored by many authors and mentioned by varios articles like "My Hero Project". He is appreciated by many authors because of his great support in stoping apartheid. he was a great man, eventhought he was in jail he didn't stop and wanted to make people to feel equal. He wasa greatand strong man that liked to help others and looked after them.

African Independence

*Africa changed so much in the 20 year period from 1955 to 1975 because of many reasons. In 1955 africa changed because the British colony developed the first African colony in South Sahara to achieve Independence, called the Gold Coast. The Gold Coast was a British colony, their leader was Kwame Nkrumah who organized a party. He helped liberate the Gold Coast from the British by using the strikes and boycotts to battle the british. Due to these results the British granted independence to the Gold Coast and Nkrumah became its prime minister. He renamed the country Ghana that was a new nation to its african past. * In 1975 africa had more independent countries than in 1955, because the africans thought it was neccessary to separate from Europe. Due to this it was more effective because there was independent countries in 1975. In a British colony named Kenya, their leader was Jomo Kenyatta who led them to independence. He spoke for the Kikuyu people who were let out of their land by the European settlers. However, Kenyatta refused to the Mau Mau ( was mainly to frigthen the white farmers to leave the highlands) connection so he was imprisoned by the british for a time for his refusal. In 1963, the british granted Kenya Independence, so Kenyatta became the first prime minister of an Independence Kenya. he worked very hard to unite the varius ethic and language groups in the country.

Neolithic Revolution

*The Neolithic Revolution is the term also know as the first Agricultural Revolution, that describes the transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture. This revolution was a time period about 10, 000 years ago when everything changed from hard to easy. This means that from hunting and gathering that was very dangerous many went to domesticating animals and plants. Due to this many men changed from cave men to farmers that worked really hard in order to live and have land. There was many advantages due to this change that many settled down and started to grow more food and their population started to increase. Many new cities were formed in river valleys because they had rich soil for farming. There was 4 major rivers named that were the Nile (Africa), Tigris-Euphrates(Mesopotamia), Yellow(China) and Indus(India) Rivers. Due to this places that were organized and very wealthy advanced civilizations began to start. This Revolution was a major event thoughout history because it showed how people lived and how they worked hard in order to live. Many people now would not even be alive because they were starving to death and had no place to live. So, because of this they learned to domesticate animals and plants that was very important in order to live.!

The European Union

*Around the 1980's and 1990's there was an expansion of the European Community that was called the European Union (EU). This union served as politically and economically to all the 25 countries. The European Union then introduced a new European currency called the Euro. Due to this now in today's world more euros are traded every day than US dollars, and the significance of the euro continues to nurture as compared to the US dollar.
*The European union is a good thing because now traveling to Europe is more easier and effective due to this developement. It is more easy to travel around the world like the U.S. this means that they don't have to stop everytime to show them their passport and just keep going. Now many people who live in the EU nations can freely now work in any part of the EU nations without any problems. The 25 European nations have about 500 million citizens and the US have about 300 million citizens which make a big difference in population. The European Union was successful because it had lasted long and many countires were able to establish more effectively.

Film Lesson- "The Right Stuff"

*In the Film "The Right Stuff" there was two kind of countries competing against each other. They were the U.S. and the USSR (Soviet Union), they were trying to get the best rockets and astronuants, the nuclear weapons. They did everything they needed too, so they cen get their best results. The Soviet union tried to first send a monkey in the rocket and see what the results would, so if the monkey survived they would send a human being.The scene that will help me remember is when they were trying to see which spaceships will fly to the moon and that will really work for astronuants to go too. This tell how the first person would go to the moon and how it was planned by the workers who made the spaceship. The winning one was the US because they had better technology that was expanding more and they had chosen better
astronuants that had better abilities to go up to space.

Cuban Missile Crisis

*The Cuban Missile Crisis was a major event during the cold war that was close to a nuclear war, it was between the United States and the Soviet Union. The crisis began on October 14, 1962 in that time John F. Kennedy was the president of U.S. The Russians refer this even to the Caribbean Crisis, but the Cubans people refers it to the October Crisis. This Crisis was taken in Cuba because the Soviet Union decide and the cubans were scared because of losing again like before. This made the cubans to agree to have them install it in their country which was a secret missile installation on Cuba. Due to this the Us found out about and decided to figth them and stop what they were doing along the way. Fianlly after all the conflict and tension thay decide to stop and just leave it alone of what had happened. The Soviet Union took ouht their installations out of cubaand the soviets went back to their place. This was due to the help of Nikita Khrushchev and Keneedy because they aggred of both decisions and stoped the crisis on keep going..

NATO and the Warsaw Pact

NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization)
*Is an organization that includes countries in Europe and North America. A major reason for the formations of this organization was that they wanted the countriesto be involved in a mutual defense alliance. This meant that if one of them were attacked all the other countries in NATO would come to their aide. The NATO goal was to stop the Soviet Union's production of nuclear weapons. So the Soviet Union didn't want this to happen, they decided to create its own defensive alliance called the Warsaw Pact.

The Warsaw Pact was an alliance between the Soviet Union and its Satellite countries. This help the Soviet Union to keep a military personnel in the other countries and kept running a socialist government. These alliances were both strong and were able to avoid major conflicts to other nations.

Film Lesson: "Night and Fog"

Some 0f the reactions to "Night and Fog" was that it was terrible to see the documentary because it showed scenes that were not good to see. It showed the way many people were killed and how later they were buried by other humans beings, they had no compassion to other people's lives. I found this film powerful because it was horrible to see and it showed many scenes that were very disturbing about the prisioners and victims from the camp. It compares some scenes from the "Schindlers's List" because it showed how they used to work and then later on how they were killed by the germans. Some scenes were similar to each film because it had to do with the Jews and how they were treated. The film that illustrates the Holocaust more effectively is the Hollywood Version, I say this because the film "Schindler's List" had more effectively scenes that showed how it really happened and really got people's attention of how the Jews lived during that time.

Film Lesson: Schindler's List

The Schindler's List illustrated the Holocaust, because it explained how life was during that time and how many people lived and how they were treated by the germans. We were able to see how the Jews were treated first in the Ghettos, then in the Labor Camps and Finally in the concentration camps (Aushwitiz). The film also illustrated how the Jewstried to hide and to escape, but they had no where else to go and the nazi's had no compassion and killed them like they were killing animals. Also the childrens were separated from their parents and were nver brought back together because most of them died. But in the film there was one man that could save most of the Jews because they worked for him and he was one of the Nazi member. His name was Schindler and if you made it on his list there was a lot of possibilities of not being killed because he would save you.

The Scenes that I think that was most powerful for me was Aushwitiz. It was horrible to see how they get burned just like if there animals that had no life. It was very terrible to watch how they were treated because they would kill you and they won't even feel anything inside them like why I did this? These kind of people were very agressive and treated the Jews like a piece of crap and didn't care about them.

The Image that will stay in me was the Little girl with the pink jacket running and trying to hide so she won't get killed and also how Schindler saw the little girl like if she meant something to him or giving a signal of how the people were being treated and that she didn't want to be one of them. He was very sad at the way the jews were treated but he couldn't do anything, the only thing he could do was save the people that worked for him and nothing else.

US Atomic Bombing of Japan in 1945

Well in my opinion for this cause is that I agree that the US Atomic Bombing of Japan was the number one news story of the century. This was basically the major event that ever happened during that time, because many things were changing and things were getting modernized like massive productions and the use of different kind of weapons and their technology which where not similar to the US. The bombing was a terrible thing that ever happened, because it killed many innocent people and it destoyed two cities of Japan which where Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Due to this attack it injured many people because of the radiations that was everywhere, and they had no where to hide or nothing to do but let it surround them and kill them.

Another story that was a major event in the US was the attack on the World Trade Center (Twin Towers) this happened 5 years ago (Sept.11.2001) was a terrible event because it did killed many people that worked there and lived around there. This happened due to an terrorist attack that made two planes crash on both towers and made them collasped killing many people that even tried to get out, but they couldn't because it was too late. Still now they are finding some parts of human body parts which is very terrible to hear because it affects many families that had victims died due to that attack.

I don't think it needs to add more information, but i thinks it need to be more formatted, because each event need to have more info about what happened and some aren't even that important that are on the very top they need to be put almost to the end and put the really important ones on tops which people would like to be interested in more in finding more information of why it happened.

Germany at War - WWII

Propaganda is a poster with information, ideas, or rumors which are spread around to help or harm a person, a group of people, a nation, etc. On the other hand, propaganda is not precise it is the saying of people to let others know and join them or help them with what they are doing or a particular cause.

The poster says Eucopas Siea dein Wohlstand which is a german word that really means " Europe's Victory Is Your Prosperity" in our language. Germany and other nations are at war and the illustration shows that Germany has defeated Great Britain and the fists turns directly to the right which is the east side of the country. Another symbol is the picture on the left top which is the graveyard with a name on it "W. Churchill's". I think that this will mean that they defeated that country and it was buried. Another symbol is the baby cradle that might show that babies were born in that time or maybe killed or there was security around that country. Also a Big Space of land that might be for the Germans which means prosperity and space to live in.

The Treaty of Versailles (ended WWI)

The treaty of Versailles (1919) was the peace treaty which ended the World War I between the Allied and Central Powers and the GermanEmpire. The treaty led, either directly or indirectly to a serious situation in Germany where the people felt let down, this made them wanting to blame on others. It led to economic problems and a lack of food or jobs. The treaty of Versailles also formed the League of Nations, a group of over 40 countries that hoped to settle problems through negotiation, not war. Those countries that joined the League of Nations promised to take cooperative economic and military action against any aggressor state. The Land of Germany was taken, some were used to help create the new country of Poland. Germany's army and navy were limited, they had to remove their troopsfrom the Rhineland, and industrial area along the French border. Historian say that it led to Facism because is the rule of a people by dictatorial governments that is nationalistic and imperialistic. Facists governments are also anticommunist. Facism emerged in both Italy and Germany after WWI that was Adolf Hitler idea.

Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk) and the Modernization of Turkey

Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk) 1881-1938 was a general and a war hero in Turkey, He wanted Turkey in order to give his nation a new senses of diginity, equality and happiness. In his modernization secular government and education played a major role in people's life. This brought him to have a Secular System in Turkey were most of the Christian and Jewish people were free to pratice their faith. He believed that Turkey had to change to survive. His changes were that Islamic law was replaced with a new law code, based on European models. The Muslim calendar was replaced with the western (Christian) one. He really reformed the Turkey nation, Ataturk built roads, railrods, and factories. In 1933, Ataturk said " I look to the world with an open heart full of pure feelings and friendship." He was a real hero in Turkey because everybody admired him who definitly threw off the European dominations. By this time the government of Turkey reamins secular, but some Islamic groups works strongly for a return. The name Ataturk meant "father of the Turks." On November 10, 1983, due to an illness of a few months, the national liberator and the Father of modern Turkey died. His legacy to his people and to the world still endures.

Secular: Having to do with worldly rather than religious matters. Not having any connection with religion.

Film Lesson: "Gandhi"

Gandhi helped his nation of India gain Independence of Great Britian by teaching many about the nonvoiolent resistance and civil disobience which it meant the refusal to obey unjust laws. He did alot of things in order to bring peace to his country India, because he wanted to have freedom and wanted to his people to be free and not depend on anyone. He used a lot of tactics that were boycotting, or refusing to buy british goods. Also he forced his people to do the same and not follow their rules or buy anything of their goods. Gandhi embraced western ideas of democracy and nationalism. His philosophy of nonviolence was effectively used because violence wasn't used at all, he did not want to people to get hurt and never used weapons among them. He was a very great man that wanted everything to be settled in his country. He played an important part in the independence movement with his policy of passive resistance. Finally in 1947, Britain granted Indenpendence to India after Gandhi death.