Mikhail Gorbachev and the Collapse of Communism

Mikhail Gorbachev was the youngest leader of the Soviet Union since Joseph Stalin. He had new ideas and reformations that Stalin didn't approve of. Mikhail's new policy glasnost was similar to America's freedom of speech, in the old government there was no freedom of speech but with this new policy he was able to give the people more freedom so they would support him more and stand by his side. Then Gorbachev passed another policy which was called perestroika which gave people the right to own private own businesses, with all these economical reforms and policy the Soviet Union was becoming more like its modern Russia

The Collapse of Communism

During the cold war and much of the 60s the USSR and the US were the worlds superpowers. The reason why communism fell is because during the arms race they wasted most of their money trying to create nuclear weapons and their economy fell. The communist countries that supported the USSR also collapsed because they got most of their money from soviet Russia so that's why they collapsed with them and then 15 countries were created out of the USSR.

Nelson Mandela and Apartheid

In South Africa the people and government was under a policy called apartheid. Apartheid means to divide people based on race so it was basically segregation in Africa. Many oppose this policy because the non whites didn't have the same rights as the whites and they weren't able to vote in parliamentary elections. Growing up in Africa during the apartheid times were hard but one man wanted freedom this man was Nelson Mandela. Nelson Mandela started off his political career by being apart of the African National Congress. Nelson Mandela was sentenced to life in prison but was freed in 1990 after spending 27 years in jail. Nelson Mandela was such a hero towards the people because he helped with the liberation of Africa and he helped end the Apartheid policy.

African Independence

The reason why Africa gained their independence is because the British were too busy handling their own businesses with all the wars they fought they had too much to worry about so they let the Africans have their independence. After World War two the British had to worry about fighting the Germans and rebuilding. Also the African leaders had made their people very well educated. This the reasons why Africans were able to gain their independence.

The Right Stuff

The U.S and the Soviet Union were in a space race. The movie showed Russia launch the first satellite sputnik it also showed battles between the U.s and Russia. When they launched their satellite the U.s were scared so they decided to put man into space. The part that will stick in my head the most was in the beginning when they try to break the sound barrier and the guys plane blows up and the other scene is when they actually do break the sound barrier.

Nato and the Warsaw Pact

NATO stands for North Atlantic Treaty Organization. This organization was created so that if the countries in it were attacked by the Soviet union the other countries would jump in and help. The Soviet union made a counter organization cqalled the Warsaw pact. The Soviet union wanted to stop capitalism from spreading.

Schindlers list

Schindler's list showed a different side to the holocaust but it did a good job portraying it. I think the one scene that will stick in mi head the most is when they are burning all the Jews bodies and a Nazis yelling and going crazy, him yelling pretty much showed how killing millions of people isn't normal and it will drive you insane. I think Schindler made a pretty noble thing getting all his workers back when they were sent to Auschwitz and how he made sure the children were coming back with their parents as well. The scene when they were liquidating the Jews from the ghetto that scene was brutal and cruel how they would go into the houses and see the Jews were hiding and just kill them brutally. Schindler's list did a very good job portraying the Holocaust.

Night and Fog

The film Night and fog had some pretty disgusting parts, it showed people carrying the dead bodies and holding heads. It also shows how the Jew's tried to claw their way out of gas chambers and it showed how fingernails were on the concrete ceiling. The documentary portrayed the harsh facts behind the Holocaust and was a lot more gruesome than Schindler's list. Since Schindler's list was longer it was able to show more things about the holocaust but they both did a good job showing how cruel it was.

The treaty of Versailles affected Germany in a major way. It said that Germany had to take blame for starting the war and for the casualties, it also stripped Germany of their land and their overseas colonies like some places of the spice islands and it took away parts of Africa and they had to pay for damages . The Treaty also limited Germany's military they were only allowed to have 100 thousand soldiers. Germany was in so much debt from the treaty that they wanted vengeance so then came the rise of Adolf Hitler. I think the treaty was unfair and just put the blame on Germany who didn't even start the war.

Mustafa Kemal and the Modernization of Turkey

Mustafa Kemal was born in 1881 in Salonica which use to be part of the ottoman empire and it is now a city in greece. Mustafa Kemal was a military leader and a hero he lead the turks out of a liberation struggle and led them to freedom. In his idea of modernization education and government played a big role.Mustafa kemal was president for 15 years until he died in 1938 he was a great leader to his people and adapted the name attaturk which means father of the turks.

Gandhi

Gandhi helped the Indians gain independence by teaching the Indian people civil disobedience which is refusing the British laws using peace. Gandhi used peace as his main weapon, he knew that if he used non violent protests he will get the British to attack them and the British would be the bad people. Gandhi also constructed the salt march which was the protest against the salt tax and Gandhi and the Indian people walked 240 miles to walk to the Indian ocean to get the salt from the water. Gandhi was a great leader to his people, some people did hate the fact he was trying to make the Hindus and Muslim join together in India and that's what led to his assassination

The Russian Revolution

The Russian Revolution was after the Russians withdrew from WWI and was also when the Russian people were fed up with their czar and decided to overthrow him, it was also the start of communism. During the Russian revolution there were series of other revolutions within it like the February revolution and the October revolution/Bolshevik revolution. The February revolution was when the Russian people removed their czar Nicholas II, their wasn't much uprising during this revolutions but them removing the czar and having a temporary government after.
The Bolshevik revolution was led by Vladamir Lenin who's ideas were similar to Karl Marx. Lenin spread the ideas of communism and the people supported his ideas because they knew it was time for change.