Saturday, May 8, 2010

Mikhail Gorbachev and the Collapse of Communism


Mikhail was worried about who would take over after the death of two former leaders in office, had died in a year. Soon after Mikhail would rise to office mainly because he was supported by many youth in Russia. He was also the youngest ruler at age 54. Mikhail had plans of reforming the Soviet Union. Not major changes but if would differ from past leaders such as Joseph Stalin. The past leader encouraged totalitarianism which didn't allow the people to voice there opinions and put the Government in full control.
Mikhail thought it might be better if the people could voice there opinions so he brought up a policy called glasnost. This way the Government could take advice from the people on ways to improve the country. He also had another policy called perestroika which is Economic Restructure.
With these two policy Communism quickly feel to its knees because for once the people of Russia had a voice thus taking much power from the government. This also led to the defeat of the Soviet Union

Friday, May 7, 2010

The Collapse of communism


Many things led to the fall of communism in Russia. The people were going though oppression and wanted to break free. The government wanted full control over the country. When people are always being told what do or feel that freedom is threatened revolts will form and the Government falls.l This is what the leaders in the U.S.S.R. faced. The people of the USSR voted Communism out of the country. Not only in the Soviet Union but all over the east Communism was starting to fail. Some Countries that still believe in that form of Government are going through poverty and are in bad shape.
Since Russia was no longer a communist state they decided to take down the Berlin Wall to connect the Former east Germany with West Germany. Germany was no longer divided by the Communist 

Thursday, April 29, 2010

African Independence


After the fall of Germany in World War 2, the European Nations that had once imperialised Africa wanted to bring democracy and government to them. Though once the Africans had government they were still treated unfairly. They weren't allowed to vote and the Europeans were racist. You had to be white to have citizenship rights and the Europeans Just felt like they were better then them all around. The African grew tired of mistreatment so they started to revolt. All though Africans had got their independence they were not Civilized. There trying to get it together but it isn't really working. Most Africa got its independence by the late 1990s

Nelson Mandela


The apartheid was racist segregation between White and non whites. Similar to the civil Rights era in the U.S.. It was in South Africa and it lasted between 1948 and 1994. The Nonwhites Referred to as the Bantu were not allowed to vote because they were not full citizens. Nelson Mandela at the time was a civil rights activist during this time. He was also a leader of the Umkhonto We Sizwe, the armed wing of the African National congress
The African Court charged him with sabotage and he was sentence to 27 years in prison for the crimes he had committed against the Apartheid. He spent most of his prison years in Robben Island. After he was released from prison Feb 11 1990 he helped towards a multi racial democracy in South Africa. Nelson Mandela is regarded as a hero because he helped end segregating in South Africa. Also he help give non whites in South Africa a voice to vote

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

"Film Lesson:"The Right Stuff"


The film the right stuff was about the rivalry between The US and the Soviet Union. They were competing in technological advantages. One country wanted to be better than the other. In the movie the US train many men to go into space hence the movie was named the right stuff. America's first achievement was breaking the sound barrier(Mach 1) then breaking it again mach 2. While the Russians were able to put the first man in space. While the U.S. put the first Chimp. Making America embarrassed. Russians also put the first satellite  in space. After all of this though America was able to put the first man on the moon. In my opinion i believe that the Space race and all other technological break through by both parties were a Tie. They were even in trying to out do each other

Monday, April 12, 2010

Nato and Warsaw Pact



 The Nato and the Warsaw pact were directly formed because of the Cold War between The United States of america and The Soviet Union. The Cold war happened after WW2 had ended. Russia wanted to influence Communism in the then divided Germany and the rest of the world. The U.S. wanted to spread capitalism in  their side of Germany and other countries. These conflicting ideologies caused US and Russia to have a "cold war". They called this a cold war because the tow superpowers had never fought each other directly. The reason for this is because both countries had arsenals of Nuclear weapon. They were afraid that if they go to war one might use the Atomic Bomb then the other would counter act with its own.
For protection America and other capitalist countries formed together as a defense against the soviets. The called this (NATO)North Atlantic Treaty organization. England, France, western Germany and others were part of NATO. Soviets had considered NATO a threat. In there Response they made there own alliance with communist countries such as Eastern Germany, Poland, Romania and others. Though in 1991 people of the Warsaw Pact decided to dismantle. That what NATO and Warsaw pacts were about

Monday, April 5, 2010

Film Lesson Schindlers List


I believe that Schindler's List did an excellent job of portraying the Holocaust. It showed how evil the Nazis really were towards the Jewish people. I Found many scenes from this movie interesting. The main scene i found Interesting was the scene with the Jews hiding in pianos and in the Walls. but then they were found and often killed. Another Scene i found Interesting was when the children were being taken to Auschwitz , and t hey were waving. They were blind to the fact that they were about to die. I believe that the Hollywood depiction of the holocaust was a better representation of the holocaust because in the movie we actually get to see the Jews and the Nazi and how they were treated. In the Night And Fog Film all they showed was the concentration camps after the Jews had left. Also it only showed scene from the concentration camp. Schindler's list showed how the Jews were moved in to the Ghettos and then how they were liquidated