Grace's Global Blog

Mikahail Gorbachev and the collapse of Communism

2008-05-05T05:12:00.000-07:00

Mikhail Gorbachev made reforms in the USSR so that it could stay the super power of the world. Glasnost was when there was no secrets from the people in the media. People for once were able to seen exactly what was going on around them, even though they had already suspected some of the things they saw, they were more relieved to see the truth, instead of lies being told to them.
Perestrokia was "restructuring" russia. It was a change in the political system, and tried to make it more democratic.
Eastern and western Germany were united once again after the tearing down of the Berlin Wall. The Easter Communist Side and the Wester Demoractic side were united again.

Collapse of Communism

2008-05-02T05:13:00.000-07:00

After so many years that the Soviet Union was following communism, people started to realize that communism wasn't really as good as they thought. Since people who made more effort in their jobs and worked longer harder hours were getting paid the same, they started to realize that they should put an end to communism. Since many communist governments, weren't the best at the time, they were not happy with the choice of their governments and their rulers. Dictator and Communist leaders wouldn't do the best for the country and people started realizing that they were getting the short end of the the stick. The collapse of communism was inevitable.

Nelson Mandela and Apartheid

2008-04-18T05:15:00.000-07:00

Apartheid was the segregation between many people of Africa. Nelson Mandela, was the person who disagreed with this act. He tried to stop this segregation act. He spent 27 years in prison, but he was represented by the idea of having freedon and equality for everyone. many people admired his acts because no one else had courage like him to accomplish the ideas he had in his anti-apartheid mind. Nelson Mandela also used the "civil disobedience" idea, as Gandhi did. Gandhi in a way inspired most of the ways of nelson and his acts on how he acted towards the Apartheid idea.

African Independence

2008-04-16T05:11:00.000-07:00

African Independence was a start to many good things in Africa. The people were becoming more educated, and a beggining of a middle class was begining. This was the start to African countries gaining their independence from Britain. Many African leaders who were well educated were able to gain independence for some countries. Many of these leaders were inprisoned and then became prime ministers, who set their countries free.

The Cuban Missile Crisis

2008-03-31T17:25:00.002-07:00

The Cuban Missile Crisis, was considered the hottest part of the War, because it was the closest tha we ever got to an actaul war with physical contact. It all started beacuse Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev wanted to put missiles in Cuba, beacuse Fidel Castro needed protection from the U.S he liked this idea and let the Russians put missiles on the island, secretly. After President John Kennedy found this out he organized the EX-COMM, which was a group of the most important advisors, inoreder to take care of this problem.

Later the president found where they were being installed, and then announced that if any missile were to attack the U.S that they would take it personally, and say that it was Russia's fault, and oreder them to retrieve their weapons. Soon a letter from Nikita Khrushchev came to the president saying that they would take out missiles planted in Cuba, if they promised not to attack Cuba.

Nato and The Warsaw Pact

2008-03-31T17:25:00.001-07:00

The North American Treaty Organization, was made up of The United States, and some countries in Europe, and was made in order to make allies. The united countries would have each others back, if something were to happen. The countries that joined this organization, had mostly the same views, and agreed on just about everything. Since the United States was kind of the leader, and a big part of this organization, the Russians thought that the NATO was a threat to them.

The Russians decided to make an organization of their own, The Warsaw Pact. With this pact the Russians were able to create allies of their own. Their ideas of communism and being against democracy, were shared throught out this organization, and with this they were able to get along, unlike the U.S and Russia.

Film Lesson : "The Right Stuff"

2008-03-31T17:24:00.000-07:00

This film showed us how Russia and the United States, were in a competition on who's technology was more equiped for space. The Russians were able to send the first satellite into space, and because of this we started realizing that we needed to speed up, and try to defeat the Russians in the space area. So then we started working on rockets, but they kept on failing. We finally were able to get our rocket to work, nut we couldn't risk one of our men going up there as we didn't know if our rocket were to blow up, so instead we sent a monkey.

After this the Russians, started to step up, and were able to send the first man into space. Although they did win the race for getting the first man in space, we eventually won because we were able to send the first man to the moon.

Film Lesson : "Schindler's List"

2008-03-20T05:06:00.000-07:00

Schindler's list is a movie about Oscar Schindler, a Nazi leader. Although we know the Holocaust to be a terrible point in time where there were may deaths to the Jews, this movie portrayed a guy who clearley didn't have enough heart to kill som many people as violently as Hitler did. This movie gives us a happy ending, which we all know, was not one of the aftermath feelings to the Holocaust. I think the reason I like this movie better than the documentary, is because it gives us that happy ending that we've all grown accustomed to. Unlike the documentary that was shown before, this gives you an idea that not the whole world was as bad as Hitler.

Although yes, he did participate to many killings like all the other Nazi leaders, you could see by the films that he would protect his workers, and he did feel sympathy for these people. An example was that when he found that little girl with the red dress hiding, and then took her to the other Jews, but then later in the movie he saw the little girl's bodie along with the other dead bodies getting thrown away. You could obviously see that he was not a "Hitler", that he knew what he was doing was wrong.

Film Lesson: "Night and Fog"

2008-03-20T05:05:00.000-07:00

The Film Night and Fog was about the treatments of the Jews during WWII. It showed how the Nazi's took the Jews to the Concentration camps and tried to kill them in many ways. Since this was a documentary, you were able to see where everything once took place. In this documentary you were able many brutal things that actually occured. It was horrifying how well you could see the harm caused to these people. Although the movie was in French (I believe) it had a good communication to the audience, because the content that it was trying to deliver about the holocaust, everyone was able to understand.

The Treaty of Versailles (Ended WW I)

2008-02-11T05:06:00.000-08:00

The treaty of Versailles was the peace treaty that eneded WWI. It was signed in 1918, at Versailles, which was 10 miles away from Paris. Germany was not happy with this treaty, as it humilated them, in the worst possible way. When they signed the treaty, they agreed to give up some of their land and to pay, all the expenses that were wasted in the war. The Germans had to take responsibilty for the War, and they had no other choice but to sign it. The Germans felt unable to defend themselves, and because of that they were bitter towards the allies, since part of it's land was now theirs.

Since the Germans were blamed for the whole war, they had to face the consequences that the treaty brought, which were not fair at all. The Germans lost a lot of land, and because of that, Germany lost some of it's people also. After the end of the war, the Great Depression was also going on, and in Germany people were desperate for food and land. Adolf Hitler was the guy Germany turned to in their time of need. Adolf was determined to get Germany back the way it was before the war, so people accepted when he took over, in hopes of restoring Germany.

Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk) and the Modernization of Turkey

2008-02-08T05:07:00.000-08:00

Mustafa Kemal, sometimes called Ataturk, which means "Father of the Turks" founded the Modern Turkish Republic. He had various positions that he served in the army. Mustafa's goal was to modernize Turkey to make it more like Europe and the United States. He wanted to make sure that people were treated equally, and that they respected each other.

In his 15 years of being president, he didn't let anything get in his way to getting Turkey the way he wanted. Even religion wouldn't make a big deal, everyone was free to practicing what they wanted. In order to support this he created a secular(seperated from religion) government and education programs. An example is that women who wanted to go to college couldn't wear the head scarfs.

Film Lesson : "Gandhi"

2008-02-07T05:06:00.000-08:00

In the movie "Gandhi", it showed us how Gandhi resolved problems that were going on In India without violence. Gandhi was a political protester who was able to get many people to follow his beliefs without causing any violence, which is hard to do, because so many people were outraged that Britain was treating them unfairly.

One of Gandhi's famous quotes is "An eye for an eye, makes the whole world blind." As you can see he was very passionate about using non violence in order to get what he wanted. One of his famous protests was His Salt March. Britain banned India from making or getting their salt from anyone else but them. gandhi however wanted to show them that they didn't need them, along with boycotting their clothes, he decided to do this salt march, and make his own salt. Many people followed him and when they got there they made salt, but when they came back the British people beat them to show them that they couldn't sell that salt.

The British would always find ways to send him to jail, and for stupid stuff too, sometimes they would even make it up. Still Gandhi never used violoence against them. Every hit, blow, or tackle they gave him, he never laid one hand on them. With the wise word and advise of Gandhi, India was able to soon gain their independence from England.

Joseph Stalin and Totalitarianism

2008-01-11T07:43:00.001-08:00

Totalitarianism is a form of government in which the nation is run by a group of dictators.After Lenin's death Joseph Stalin took over Russia. Stalin really wanted to do a good thing for the nation but he too it to extremes in order to achieve it. He was a dicator and he controlled the oublic and private lives of the people.

He created a 5 year plan which was really him trying to make Russia more advanced in it's technology, people, etc. People who arguued this were killed, he wanted people to be proud of their country and he also wanted something to show for it. He decided that with his 5 year plan new advances would surprise the would and that Russia would be the best.

Film Lesson: Doctor Zhivago

2008-01-10T07:46:00.001-08:00

The Film "Doctor Zhivago" takes place in WWI, and shows Russia's role in it. After being tired of the war, they decided to wuit because so many soldiers were injured and they missed their families. The Czar, thier leader, was sent to jail and then the soldiers were finally free to go back to their home.

Going back home he noticed that living in a communist governement wasn't all it promised it would be. He was a very wealthy man with a huge house and because they now lived in a communist government, they had to be equal so he had to share his house with about thirteen other families. Later he soon realized that communism isn't as good as of an idea he though it was.

Causes of WWI

2008-01-04T07:44:00.000-08:00

Many nations in Europe were allied with others, and so when a country went to war so did their friend. Since many european cuntries were allied, when it was time for a country to participate in the Great War, so did all the others. World War 1 was started for many reasons. One, was because most countries were nationalistic. Two because they wanted to gain more land, resources, and keep the ones they had already. The third, was because they wanted to gain power.

Before the Great War even started, many nations were tense and any little act could cause a war between many nations. And that's exactly what happened. Franz Ferdinard , the Archduke of Austria, and his wife, were shot and then soon died. This was considered a terrorist act, and beacuse of this WWI was on it's way. Many nations were forced to attened in battleing because of losing their alliences and gaining new enimies beacuse of it.

The Opium Wars

2007-12-14T07:47:00.000-08:00

The Opium Wars occured because of the British selling Opium that was used for medical reasons, but they started selling it as drugs. Opium comes from poppy seeds and so do other drugs like heroine, methane, etc. In europe, the chinese green tea was in great demand, so when they went to china to get some, they would not let them have it. Since they really wanted this tea, they introduced Opium as a drug, and after they were hooked on it, they started trading it with merchants for the tea. The Emperor noticed what they were doing and because of that, he demanded that the British stop selling the opium. He said that it was tearing the country apart, and his people were getting sick and dying from the opium, but the British refused.

Since the british would not stop selling the opium, The Opium Wars had started. The British were more advanced in their technolgy, and had better weapons than the chinese, it wa pretty obvious who was the winner. After a humilating defeat, the chinese were forced to sign the Treaty of Nanjing in 1842. This treaty opened up ports through china, and it held the chinese responsible for all the opium that was damaged / wasted during an anti- opium campaign.

Although it seems that china was "ripped off", they were able to adopt new cutoms that the English brought, and also without this maybe things that the chinese know today, wouldn't exist because they did adapt our systems and made them their own.

"The White Man's Burden"

2007-12-10T07:45:00.000-08:00

The White Man's burden is a poem by Rudyard Kipling, where he expresses how he feels about the Americans going to the Philippeans. He says that teaching the Philippeans is a burden for the Americans and how they should be greatful for this action. Americans felt like they were obligated to teach the Philippeans there customs and traditions, that they needed their help even when they didn't want it or need it.

The way Ruyard expesses himself in this poem, is in a kind of racist manner. Acting as if his race is better than the others, and it clearly expresses the way people felt in those days.

Even though this did probably help the Philippeans, I don't think that it's right to feel the way the Rudyard expesses in this poem. Sure they did help people but that doesn't mean they need to feel as they are superior to the Philippeans. It's not like they asked for our help in the first place, once again, we just invaded their territory.

The Scramble for Africa

2007-12-05T07:56:00.000-08:00

The scramble of africa is pretty much explained in it's title. This was a period of time in which many european nations were "scrambleing" for african land. The european nations were able to conquer their african lands easily seeing as they were more advanced in technology and weapons, so Africa couldn't really fight back and if they did they would lose. Great Britain, France, Italy and other countries were big winners in this period, as they were the countries that gained most land, and with that land came minerals, recourses they needed, people, and huge benifits.

The reasons that they did this was because the needed to find more materials that they wanted, and also they wanted more land. Seeing as the more land they get the more powerful they seem. Also Africa was used as a port to India by Britain. Either way the European countries were there to take away the land from it's rightful owners.

Film Lesson : Mountains of the Moon

2007-12-03T07:46:00.000-08:00

The film "Mountains of theMoon" was about nglish explorers coming to africa to try and make it like england. The explorers Richard Burton, and John Speak traveled to africa and after a couple of days there, were attacked by an african tribe nearby, as they were intruders on their land. After that they decided to go back to recover and then again brought new men, for their journey.

They needed to collect raw materials and were also on a quest to take over africa and make it like Europe so they would stay there and teach their stuff. They also wanted to find the source of the nile river and eventually found it(John Speak) and was named lake Kanagawaictoria, after the queen.

The hardships that they had to go through were brutal, not even that, fatal. Since they were not in their own country they would be attacked every so often and they would lose a lot of men, because the would be outnumbered. They also had to deal with the fact that they had to sleep outside and then they would be bothered by creatures.

Africa was really bothered because the were being invaded, but then technology and new materials that were being brought by the englishmen allowed them to expand in technology and in knowledge.

The Meiji Restoration of Japan

2007-11-27T07:46:00.000-08:00

American's for a long time were wanting to trade with Japan, so Matthew Perry a United states naval officer, negotiated with Japan about this for a long time. When the Americans came the japanese were impressed on how advanced their technology was and how far behing they were. Seeing this they decided to let the Americans open up a port that they would use to come and go.

Even though it seems that Americans got the benifits, Japanese were able to modernize themselves. The adopted and adapted ideas they got from Germany and the U.S. The weapns and "new" transportation that the americans came with each time they went to japan, suprised the japanese. They we amazed of their new technology and decided that if they let the americans in they would be able to gat the ame things also.

Later they signed a treaty of Kanagawa, allowing them to have an aliance between each country, whenever the ameicans would come to the two ports that were open in japan, they would be able to be supplied with materials that they needed, food, water coal, etc.

The Meiji estoration let The Japanese build a better establishment for the people. They adopted the idea of education and soon it was mandatory for each child to have to go to school. Also this didn't only have positive effects, they were also wars being started, but they were stilling improvong their ways.

Karl Marx and Communism

2007-11-16T07:54:00.000-08:00

Karl Marx also known as the father of communism, tried spreading the idea of communism throughout the world. He thought this was better because people, in a way would be equal. Although, some people who worked more would get paid the same as the people who worked less thought that this was unfair. He argued that the workers should run the factories and the money, not the owners because they were greedy. Even though countries became communist, they did not follow the exact things that Marx set out for.

The communist country idea seemed very good to people of below classes, but not to people who had the abilty to work harder, longer and had more important jobs than the people that didn't. The communist idea really didn't work out, mostly because people are greedy, and want and need more money than other people. Whether it be for their family or for their own pleasures. People are greedy, and feel that if you've worked hard for extra money than you deserve to get paid more. Although communism still exists, you can tell that it's not really a good idea because it doesn't work. It would be nice if it did, but it doesn't.

There are only few countries in the world with a communist government, which is proving the idea that communism, is unreal, and is just a "dream" of Marx. Also even the countries that do have a communist government, don't even follow the ideas of Marx, so is it really a communist government?

Karl Marx and the Industrial Revolution

2007-11-15T07:50:00.000-08:00

In the Industrial Revolution, people who needed money were forced to work long and tedious hours to get it. Karl Marx did not like the idea of this because it wasn't fair that people who worked so much get paid so little. Karl Marx did not like the idea of capitalism, seeing as that people weren't paid or treated equally.

Karl Marx knew that owners did not pay their workers their "fair share" and therefore came up to the solution that everything and everyone should be equal or shared. In other words he created a communitst government which is the idea of things and people being equal, not measured by how much money or land they own, also goods needed by people were available to everyone. Even though this sound very good, when it was applied to people and their countries it didn't work as well as planned. Marx's idea was soon to be tested out by countries.

Nationalism and the Creation of Italy

2007-10-19T07:44:00.000-07:00

Nationalism is the act of being loyal and proud of your country. In modern day we express it in many ways, whether we are aware of it or not. Continuing our customs, and traditions are ways that we show this. An example of me having a sence of nationalism, is one of my bracelets, which resembles Mexico/ Mexican flag, it's pretty old, but I still wear it.

In Italy, before of how we know it now, it's nation was "falling apart" so to say. Mostly because they felt they didn't have any or enough nationalism, seeing as some of their rulers weren't even Italian. This led to many outbreaks and arguments, making the counrty fall apart. Three people who tried changing what was Italy back then were Giuseppe Mazzini, Giuseppe Garibaldi, and Count Camillo di Cavour. Giuseppe Mazzini tried turning Italy into seperate states, while Giuseppe Garibaldi united Italian nations in the south, trying to unite all of Italy.

Also trying to unite the north of Italy was Count Camillo di Cavour, and then the nations were taken over by King Victor Emmanuel II. Nationalism helped the uniting of Italy, because if it wasn't for people being proud of Italy, they could not have survived through so many disagreements and wars. Without the pride for their country they would've split into many nations.

Simon Bolivar and Latin American Revolutions

2007-10-15T07:42:00.000-07:00

Simon Bolivar was born on July. 24, 1783 in Caracas, Venezuela. His parents were very wealthy, but Simon lost them when he was only a teenager. He spent his young years travleing in Europe. There he learned many things about the Enlightenment, including the influences, causes and leaders.

The enlightenment sayings, and thoughts inspired Bolivar to accomplish great things later on. On his way back he saw that the people in the United States, were able to govern themselves just fine, even without a monarchy. This made a huge impact on him, and in Latin/ South America, and it's revolution.
It all started around the year of 1810, when he joined a group, fighting for Venezuela's Independence from Spain. Bolivar suffered through many unexpected attacks from Spain, but didn't give up. Other countries were inspired to try to gain their freedom, from Venezuela's attempt, and then gaining Independece, in 1811. Bolivar being a true leader, fought his battles, with an army of around or even less than 25,000 soldiers, leading them to victory and "liberating" them from Spain.

The country Bolivia was named in honor of Simon ( The Liberator) for giving them their Independence. Bolivar was the inspiration that these countries needed in order to gain their Independence. With help from him they soon became Independent, and accomplishing Bolivar's wish.

Robespierre and The Reign of Terror

2007-09-28T07:43:00.000-07:00

The Reign of Terror started September 5, 1793 to July 28, 1794. The Terror took lives of many people. It is estimated that each month 1,900 executions took place. Maximilien François Marie Odenthalius Isidore de Robespierre was one of the leaders in the French Revolution. Also he was a deciple of Jean-jacques Rousseau, and was very active in the period of The Reign of Terror. His actions leaded to an arrest and his execution. He was leader of The Committee of Public Saftey.

Many people siad that he was yearning for power and that's why he would make so many executions in one day. Any one who he thought was a threat would be sent to the guillotine. The execution of King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antionette took place 1793. Many people found the guillotine as a form of entertainment. People brought their childerens to watch, and would fight for the best seats. People eventually grew tired of living in fear of Robespierre and waiting for their day to come. They decided to send him to the guillotine where he was killed in July.28,1794. After Robespierre a new leader came to take over France, Napoleon Bonaparte.

The French Revolution : Social Causes

2007-09-27T07:45:00.000-07:00

The French Revolution began 1789 and ended 1799. It started because the king wanted to collect taxes from the people because he needed extra money for the nation. Their crops were destroyed from the winter and the money that he had for the nation, he used to help the americans in the American revolution. 98% of the population was made up of peasants, merchants, and some of the middle class people. the other 2% were the king and his family, clergy, and the nobility. There were 3 estates. The first estate consisted of the clergy, the second was the nobility, and the third were middle class people and peasants. When the estates went to vote the first two estates would most likely go on the kings side.

The third estate did not want to pay for the majority of the taxes, since they were poor already it seemed unfair to them that they had to support the nation while the wealthier classes didn't even pay there complete share. The third estate told the king that it was unfair that two percent of the population was able to out number ninety eight percent.

They suggested that the king let each person have one vote, but he did not like the idea knowing that if he did the outcome, would be the opposite of what he wanted. Since the king did not let the third estate have their way, they decided to rebel and capture the Bastille prison. The people decided to capture the Bastille because inside the prison was a great supply of arms. The death of King Louis XVI and queen Marie Antionette, occured 1973. They were both sent to the guillotine, First King Louis then the Queen. Soon would come the Reign of Terror.

Copernicus and the trial of Galileo

2007-09-11T07:45:00.000-07:00

Heliocenrism
Heliocentrism- the theory that the sun is the center of the universe. Also called the Copernican theory named after Copernicus, the first person to discover this. Most philisophical arguments of heliocentrism involve arguments about how the sun is the center of the universe or how the planets revolve around the sun.

Geocentrism
Geocentrism- the theory that the earth is the center of the universe. Also it states that the sun and the other planets revolve around us. Two observations supported the idea of geocentrism. The first was that the Sun, stars, etc. seem to revolve around the earth each day. The second was that back then people belived that the earth did not move at all, so in order for something to revolve around they assumed that the sun and everything else revolved around them.

The Trial of Galileo
In 1633 Galileo was forced to kneel in front of the Inquistion of the Roman Catholic Church and take back his statement which said that he agreed with Copernicus' Theory that the sun is the center of the universe and that we revolve around the sun. Since the RCC believed that we were the center of the universe they made him say that he no longer belived in Copernicus' theory; he did this out of fear.

Scientific Revolution: Scientific Method

2007-09-10T07:51:00.000-07:00

The Scientific Method
Scholars, before the 1500's got their ideas and theories of science through the bible, and the ancient greeks and romans. An example of a scholor is Aristotle, he made such good hypothesis' that when they were heard people thought he was right. The scientific revolution was able to prove these theories right or wrong. Aristotle had a theory that heavier objects fall faster then lighter objects. Well, during the late 15oo's Galileo wanted to see if this was true so supposedly he went to the Leaning Tower of Pisa and dropped two stones of different wieght. He dropped them and saw that both stones went down at the same speed. He proved Aristotle wrong. The scientific method was a group of new scientists that tried to prove theories, they couldn't just accept the theory and say it was right when it wasn't. There are four steps to the scientific method.

Scientific Method
1. Observe a part of the universe.
2. Make a hypothesis of what you just observed.
3. Make predictions and come up with a conclusion about the theory.
4. Make experiments that prove your hypothesis right or wrong.

Evolution vs. Creationism

2007-09-06T08:22:00.000-07:00

Darwin's Theory of Evolution
Charles Darwin's theory of evolution was basically stating that all living creatures once came from common ancestors. That means that that all the organisms that live on this planet are somehow related to other organisms. An example can be a lion and a tiger. As you know from their names they are not the same animal, but in some ways they look alike in thier structure. This is because they both came from a common ancestor. With time mutations in the genetic code produce new characteristics in the organism. The mutations can occur because the organism needs to adapt to an environment. If it can't it gets a characteristic that will help it survive. The mutations, over time gather up forming a new organism completly diffrent from it's original, not just the same organism with better traits.

Creationism
Creationism is when you belive that the earth, life, universe, and humanity was made by a higher being. In the book of Genisis which is for both the Jews and Christians, and the Quaran whisch is for muslims it explains creationism and an understanding of how everything today came to be, which is rejecting the explanitions of evolution. Many people try to influence and try to convince people to belive in one thing and not the other.Teaching creationism is banned in the United States schools. Mainly to avoid controversy between the state and the church.