Neil's Global Blog

Mikhail Gorbachev and the Collapse of Communism

2010-05-09T20:03:00.000-07:00

Mikhail Gorbachev was one of the leaders of Russia while it was still Communist, and he helped the country tuen Democratic and Capitalist in a big way. He decided that keeping the country in the dark wasn't helping anyone, so he started the policy of "glasnost". Basically this let people let their ideas be heard, and it stopped the silence of opinions. He also introduced another policy called "perestroika". That basically means that people could speak freely about what they thought about the economy and the country. He also gave the people much more power, he stopped the government from regulating everything that workers and farmers did, and he let them be on their own. He also introduced the policy of letting the people vote for their leader, something that really helped the country become Democratic. Without Mikhail Gorbachev, the people in the Soviet Union would have had a lot less power, and Communism would have gone on for much longer.

The Collapse of Communism

2010-05-08T19:34:00.000-07:00

Communism collapsed in Eastern Europe and the USSR because of knowledge. People were realizing that communism wasn't working well, and they wanted a change.The Soviet Union stopped being Communist after many many reforms and years of protesting citizens, the totalitarian government ended, and in its place a democracy was made. Also the Berlin Wall, the wall separating East and West Germany. was destroyed. After seeing the Soviet Union become democratic, other countries took their example and overthrew their governments and became democratic as well. If you think about it, it's like the opposite of containment, instead of Communism spreading, Democracy was.

Nelson Mandela and Apartheid

2010-05-01T19:24:00.000-07:00

Apartheid was a policy of segregation in South Africa. Basically, in a country where the majority of people were black, the black people were treated worse than the white people. Black people couldn't vote, marry someone who was white, or even use public places for white people. Nelson Mandela is a South African who was in jail for almost 30 years, just because he wanted to help his people. He hated the unequal treatment in South Africa, and fought to change it. But even with him in jail, no one forgot him, and when South Africa finally did become independent, the people voted Nelson Mandela, a man who had just gotten out of 30 years of prison, as their leader. Not even in prison could he be silenced, and he truly changed the world by showing one person really could make a difference.

African Independence

2010-04-28T19:11:00.000-07:00

The biggest reason for Africa's change in the 20 year period between 1955 to 1975 was because most African countries had gained their independence in that time. In 1955, only 4 countries in Africa were independent. They were Libya, Ethiopia, the Union of South Africa, and Egypt. Ghana was one of the first countries to succesfully become free of England, they achieved freedom under the leader Kwame Nkrumah. After WWII was when a lot of African countries wanted their freedom, and under the guidance of Kwame, Ghana achieved freedom, and inspired other countries to do the same.

Film Lesson: "The Right Stuff"

2010-04-15T16:11:00.000-07:00

In the film "The Right Stuff", both the USSR and US were competing against each other trying to make the technology to go into space. Russia was the first country to go into space, much to America's dismay. After that America tried to send many rockets into space, but most of them failed. After a while though, America felt confident, and wanted to send people into space. Because of the slight chance of something going wrong though, America sent a monkey into space. 2 weeks later Russia successfully sent the first man into space. This both made America look bad, and it made Russia look superior to America. The monkey going into space will definitely help me remember the Cold War.

NATO and the Warsaw Pact

2010-04-13T15:57:00.000-07:00

NATO stand for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. NATO was an alliance between several European and North American countries, where each country promised to help the other countries when they were in need. This alliance was very helpful to some smaller countries in Europe that felt threatened by large Communist countries, such as Russia. The Warsaw Pact was the Communist response to NATO. It was an alliance formed by the USSR and several other Communist countries in Europe. It, like NATO, was an alliance where the countries promised to help each other out when they were in need. Unlike NATO though, the Warsaw Pact slowly disappeared, where NATO is still an active organization today.

Film Lesson: "Schindler's List"

2010-03-25T13:57:00.000-07:00

Schindler's List, in my opinion, illustrated the Holocaust in a dramatic way that showed fully how horrible the Holocaust was. For me, the most powerful scene in the movie was when you see the dead body of the little girl in red being carried away, it made me feel sad for all the children that were killed. Another powerful scene was when the little boy was looking for a place to hide, and literally every place was taken, it goes to show just how many people were victims of the Holocaust. I think Schindler's List was the more powerful film. It really showed how sick and indifferent the Nazi's were to the Jewish people.

Film Lesson: "Night and Fog"

2010-03-25T11:57:00.000-07:00

"Night and Fog" is a documentary about the Holocaust that shows some of the atrocities that happened there. The movie both creeped me out and saddened me, like how they showed that the Germans used the remains of dead people to make things like soap, wigs, blankets, and paper. I think that Schindlers List better illustrated the Holocaust. Schindlers List showed the chaos and the violence better than the documentary, although they both showed the horrors that took place during the Holocaust.

The Treaty of Versailles

2010-02-26T19:30:00.000-08:00

The Treaty of Versailles was a treaty signed June 28, 1919. It officially ended WWI. The treaty destroyed what Germany had worked so hard to attain, it required that Germany give up 10% of its land, all its colonies, and it required Germany to take sole responsibility for being the cause of the war. This crippled Germany's economy, which inadvertently led to the rise of Fascism and Adolf Hitler. The country was weak and in need of a powerful leader, and Hitler provided just that. He said he would help the country and the countries people. The German people put Hitler in power, and by the time they saw his true sick intentions it was already too late, and he was a dictator.

Mustafa Kemal and the Modernization of Turkey

2010-02-24T19:21:00.000-08:00

Mustafa Kemal Ataturk who wanted to make Turkey more secular. Secular means religious, in a nutshell. Mustafa wanted to modernize Turkey to improve its future. He made many reforms, some of which were the freedom to practice your faith, banning the Fez and the Veil that religious people wore, changing the calender, and encouraging western clothes. Without Mustafa Kemal Turkey would not be where it is right now.

Film Lesson "Gandhi"

2010-02-12T19:11:00.000-08:00

Mahatma Gandhi was born in 1869 in India. He is famous for being a major factor in India gaining its independence. It all started when Gandhi was kicked off a train in a British controlled area of Africa. He was angry that the Indian people did not have rights, not even in their own country. He said that it was time for Indian people to gain their independence from the British. Gandhi did many things to peacefully protest British rule, for example he would his own clothes instead of buying from the British and encourage others to do so too. He also conducted the famous Salt March. This was where he and his followers marched to the sea to make salt, which was against British laws. He and many of his followers got thrown in prison for that. He was a man of non violence, if any violence was caused by his supporters he would fast, and in fear of his life his supporters would stop the violence.

The Russian Revolution

2010-01-14T20:18:00.000-08:00

The Russian Revolution happened in 1917. It was led by a man named Vladimir Lenin. The Russian Revolution happened during WW1. The leader of Russia kept on sending troops into war. After a while the soldiers got fed up with always being hungry, cold, and badly equipped, so they decided to desert. After Nicholas II's regime was overthrown Vladimir Lenin took over. He created the slogan "Peace, Land, and Bread" and promised to provide those to every man in Russia. He was very popular for that. The Russian citizens were tired of losing at war, not being able to afford land, and starving, so when Lenin started promising these things the majority of the Russian people supported him, which inadvertently ended up going from communism to a dictatorship.

Causes of WW1

2010-01-12T20:08:00.000-08:00

There were several reasons that WW1 started in 1914. One of those reasons was nationalism. Nationalism is a strong sense of loyalty and pride for your country. Often times people thought their country was better than another, which helped lead to WW1. Another reason was militarism. Militarism is the belief that a strong military force is essential to your country. Before the war started the governments of europe were building large armies trying to out do the other countries and advance the progress of their own. This led to certain european countries hating each other. The last straw that started WW1 was the assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand. He and his wife were killed by a Serbian nationalist. The serbian people wanted a revolution, and they thought that if the Archduke helped the poor then they would become content and lose their interest in fighting. Austria went to war with Serbia, and after all the allies of each side joined it became a true World War.

Opium Wars - Imperialism in China

2009-12-20T14:51:00.000-08:00

The Opium Wars were a series of wars that took place during the mid 1800's. These wars took place over Great Brittan's right to trade with China for opium. Brittan started trading opium to the Chinese people for their goods, and after they were addicted Brittan had a lot of control over China. Eventually China made opium illegal. Brittan then bribed government officials and made an illegal opium trade. This eventually led to war, which Brittan won, because of their technological superiority.

Mountains of the Moon

2009-12-12T18:43:00.000-08:00

The movie mountains of the moon is about 2 explorers who set forth to find the source of the Nile River. The European people were far more advanced, but they succumbed to diseases, like malaria from mosquitoes. They also needed some help in communicating with the people in Africa, so they found a guide like person. They named the lake after Queen Victoria because they had found the lake and they wanted to honor their queen. Then they went back to Europe, where one man killed himself, and the other debated on the possible source of the river.

Imperialism Project

2009-12-07T18:39:00.000-08:00

In the imperalism project we cut out various things that were valuble during the industrial revolution. Then we pasted them on a world map according to where they grew or were taken from. Afterwards we color coded the different countries of the world, and what areas of land they owned. This went to show how some countries seized control of others by force or by money. That was our imperialism project.

Karl Marx and Communism

2009-11-20T13:43:00.000-08:00

Communism was the idea of a man named Karl Marx. He thought that the capitalist system was unfair, and that most of the population didnt have much, while the minority of the population that was rich had everything. So he thought of a different scheme of government where everyone had equal wealth. He thought this was a better way for society to work. Some peolpe agreed with his ideas, and others didnt. The first country to adopt this government was the U.S.S.R. Currently some countries like North Korea and Cuba are communist.

Karl Marx and the Industrial Revolution

2009-11-20T12:08:00.000-08:00

Karl Marx Hated the entire industrial revolution. He thought things were un evenly stacked against the workers, and that the owners of the factories had all the money and power. He designed and pushed for a new form of government where all people will have equal wealth and power. He called it communism, which is from the word common. Marx believed that it would make the world a better less corrupt place if capitalism was destroyed.

Nationalism and the Creation of Italy.

2009-10-29T19:11:00.000-07:00

Nationalism is the way people love and respect their country. You can express Nationalism by waving your countries flag, a form of nationalism seen around the world. I show Nationalism by saying the national anthemn, and celebrating the 4th of July. Also another way i show Nationalism is by using the English language, which is the national language of America.

Before 1815 most of Italy was controlled by Austria. From around 1815-1848, two leaders from italy helped achieve their independence. After this italy came out with several political problems, but in time they united.

Simon Bolivar and the Latin Revolutions

2009-10-25T16:28:00.000-07:00

Simon Bolivar was the leader of several succesful revolutions. He is known throughout the world as the liberator of south america. He saw that the government of America was doing great and that the people had power. He then helped the country Venezula start a revolution, and they won their independence in 1821. Afterwards he also helped Ecuador, Columbia , Panama, and Peru win their independence. His idea behind the revolutions was that a country halfway around the world shouldnt rule them. In fact, the country Bolivia was named after him because he was so famous.

John Locke and The Enlightenment

2009-10-01T14:56:00.000-07:00

Thomas Jefferson said that "All men are created equal." This means that we are all equal, and have right to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. Another thing we have the right to is that is the government denies us any of the 3 rights listed above, we the people can abolish the government and select a new leader
The current ideas of government were formed by John Locke. He gathered bits of ideas from enlightenment thinkers and he put them together, to form a government layout very similar to ours.

Copernicus and the Trial of Galileo

2009-09-20T17:13:00.000-07:00

First came the idea of a geocentric universe. That was the idea of the universe revolving around the earth, and Aristotle and Ptolmey both supported this. Afterwards, during the scientific revolution, Copernicus and Galileo both supported the heliocentric theory. That was the idea of the sun being in the center of the universe. Galileo Galilei proposed this theory to the Roman Catholic Church. After a trial, he was sentanced to house arrest. He spent the rest of his life under house arrest and died there.

The Scientific Method

2009-09-18T09:36:00.000-07:00

The scientific method is what you use to prove a theory. Scientists have been using it for years and years. One example of the scientific method is when Galileo proved Aristotle wrong in his theorey that heavier things fall faster. Now because of Galileos experiments we all know how everything in a zero air resistance enviornment falls at the same speed. With out the scientifis method we wouldnt be able to definitively prove anything and there would have been many many less inventions and there would be constant disputes among the scientific community about whether or not something could have been proven.

Evolution vs. Creation

2009-09-15T10:01:00.000-07:00

I believe in evolution. Its not that i think religion is wrong, i just believe evolution because there is evidence supporting it. The most prominent evidence is that of Charles Darwin. Charles Darwin went to the gallapagos islands, and observed Finches. He saw that some finches had longer beaks, some had shorter beaks, some had large strong beaks, and some had tweezer like beaks. He deducted that over millions and millions of years all these types of finches slowly evolved depending on what they ate or what they adapted to eat, and that is what made all the variety. I much believe this over the theory god made the earth in 7 days, because it can be proven.

I dont believe the christian theory, i find it highly unlikely that the book god wrote only talks about earth and not the other billions of planets that there are. Also, how could every organism remain thhe same after all that time? Everything changes eventually. Everything.