Nick's Global Blog

Mikhail Gorbachev and the Collapse of Communism

2009-05-13T07:16:00.000-07:00

Mikhail Gorbachev opened up the Soviet Union by adding more churches. Gorbachev wanted more people to start talking about their society. Basically he started to make things better. One of his ideas was called glasnost. Glasnost was established in 1985. Glasnost is when the people talked about Soviet Union's issues, such as economy and political problems. Gorbachev wanted his people to come together and be open about their society, he wanted to hear their opinions too. Another one of Mikhail Gorbachev's ideas which was created was called peristrokia. Peristrokia was an idea to reform the economic system, and also the political system. This is how Mikhail Gorbachev paved the way to the end of communism for the Soviet Union.

The Collapse of Communism

2009-05-12T06:59:00.000-07:00

Communism failed in Eastern Europe and the U.S.S.R because nobody believed in it anymore after Stalin. Also not many people were living happily and they were basically struggling to survive.
At first they tried to knock down the Berlin wall to make a private road for people that would like to go to the other side of the wall.Next, they decided to make several border crossings so more people could travel across. Some people came to the wall with rock hammers to gather souvenirs of the wall. Soon, hundreds of people stormed the wall. They came with sledgehammers and attacked the graffiti-coated structure till they knocked it out.

In 1991 the Soviet Union split up to many different countries. It become a Democratic Nation as well as all of the other parts that split up. They even changed the red hammer and it became the original flag with with three stripes. In conclusion America won the Cold War because Communist proved to be unsuccessful.

Nelson Mandela and Apartheid

2009-05-05T07:12:00.000-07:00

Apartheid was used in South Africa for many years. Apartheid is a social policy or racial segregation involving political and economic and legal discrimination against people who are not White. It was basically what was going on in America where all the colored people were separated from the white people. This was going on in South Africa from 1948 to 1990.

Nelso Mandela was such a hero because Mandela along with 150 others were arrested on December 5 1956 and charged with treason for speaking out against Apartheid. He also fought many violent acts to gain freedom in South Africa. He then was in jail for a very long time because of committing treason.

He is loved by many people including the people who wrote these articles and sites because he stood up for what he believed in and did a lot to free his people. He took the pain mentally and physically by being in prison and by getting beat up by the people in charge in South Africa. He was a brave and courageous man.

African Independence

2009-05-04T07:12:00.000-07:00

Africa changed in the 20 year period from 1955 to 1975 by it becoming more educated. During the two major World Wars, the European countries weren't economically stabled enough to run a country hundreds of miles away.

Some of the African leaders to gain independence Kwame Nkumah. He used techniques such as Jazz and Negrative movement. The Negrative movement was a way to make the African people believe that they can be independent and also it gives them pride and something to raise there spirits.

Some of the leaders that freed countries are Fulbert Youlou who helped Congo get its independence, another leader was Kwame Nkumah who helped Ghana get its independence. Jomo Keneyyta helped Kenya get its independence also. These are all important people to African people.

Film Lesson: "The Right Stuff"

2009-04-08T07:12:00.000-07:00

The United States and the U.S.S.R were competing in the movie "The Right Stuff" to get Mach 1, which was the faster then the speed of sound. The first person to do that was an American pilot, the competition had only begun. The next competition the U.S and the U.S.S.R had was the first person into space and the U.S.S.R came out on top, the U.S. was always playing catch up to keep up.

The scenes that will help me remember the Cold war are the pilots and all of the rockets trying to fly up but failing. Another scene that will help me remember the Cold War is when the United States pilot broke the Mach 1. The last very important scene that i will remember is when the Russians sent the first man into space and the United States pilot said at least well be the first free man in space.

NATO and The Warsaw Pact

2009-04-06T07:07:00.000-07:00

NATO is an organization that the countries in Europe and North America formed to try to stop communist nations. One major reason that NATO was formed because countries involved wanted a mutual defense alliance so that if one of them were attacked all of the other countries in NATO would come to their aide, just like as if World War I.

The Warsaw Pact consisted mostly of the Soviet Union and other Communist countries. It was supposed to be another mutual defense alliance like the one that NATO had, and was created in response to it. The Soviet Union was the biggest and most powerful country in the alliance. The Soviet Union kept part of their military in the other countries in the alliance to make them socialist nations.

The countries involved in NATO were Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France and the United Kingdom, later followed by the United States, Canada, Portugal, Italy, Norway, Denmark and Iceland.

The Warsaw Pact included Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovak, Hungary, Poland, Romania, West Germany, and the USSR.

Film Lesson: Schindler's List

2009-03-27T07:12:00.000-07:00

Schindler's List illustrated the Holocaust in a very unique way. It was different from "Night and Fog" because it didn't illustrate most of the areas were there were camps just one camp in Poland. The scene that was most powerful was when the Nazis went to the ghetto and they cleared all the homes. One other powerful scene that affected me was when all the little kids were getting sent away and when the little kid went into the toilet, it was really sad and disgusting.

The images from the movie will stay in my mind forever is when all of the dead bodies are getting burned that made me get the goosebumps. Another scene that was really sad was when they were killing everybody and all of the little kids were crying watching their loved ones getting shot that was a really sad moment in the movie that would probably be in my life and my mind forever.

Film Lesson: Night and Fog

2009-03-26T06:54:00.000-07:00

"Night and Fog" had me really thinking. It made me really sad, and wondered what if that happened to me and my family. After I saw that movie it felt like my life had changed forever. I found the film very powerful, it almost made me tear. The scenes were sort of similar to as some of the senses from Schindler's list, but the ones on "Night and Fog" were way more powerful. "Night and Fog" illustrates the Holocaust more deeply and detailed and it shows most of the murders and the dead just laying around, that was really sad and it moved me it showed how cruel the Holocaust really was.

The Hollywood version of the film isnt as deep as the documentary is. The Hollywood version of the film is sad but does not make the Holocaust look as cruel as it truely is.

The Treaty of Versailles (ended WW I)

2009-02-24T06:53:00.000-08:00

The Treaty of Versailles affected Germany because the winning side of the war, put the entire blame on Germany. Land was taken away from Germany, and also all of their colonies. After all that, they even piled up a whole bunch of fines on Germany, but Germany didnt have any money to pay it because all of its colonies were taken away, and they couldnt produce and sell natural resources.

I think that this treaty was unfair because they put the whole blame on Germany. The cause of the war wasnt even because of Germany and the Allies put the whole blame on the Germans. I agree with what the Historians say because if they didnt put Germany in an economic breakdown, and looking for someone who can fix their struggling situation. So i agree with the Historains that the Treaty of Versailles was the cause of World War II.

Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk) and the Modernization of Turkey

2009-02-11T10:39:00.000-08:00

Mustafa Kemal modernized Turkey by making laws about how there people dressed. He banned people from wearing the fez on their head. He also made it illegal on wearing the robes, the people now had to dress more European. They now had to wear regular shirts and pants.

Mustafa Kemal also made Turkey more Secular. Secular is of or relating to the doctrine that rejects religion and religious considerations. He did this by the separation of religion from educational, cultural and legal affairs. That was independence of thought and independence of dominance of religions.

The Kemalist principle of secularism did not go agaisnt atheism. It was not an anti-God principle. It was a rationalist, anti-clerical secularism. The Kemalist principle of secularism was not against an enlightened which Islam was opposed to modernization but against an Islam

Film Lesson - "Gandhi"

2009-02-10T06:51:00.000-08:00

Gandhi helped his nation of India gain Independence by a non violent act of powerful speaking. Some of the things that he did was refuse to get off the train because he bought a 1st class ticket but they made him go to 3rd class and he refused so they concluded to kick him off the train. He also refused to buy British goods. He believed in what he did by even spinning his own clothes, and not buying any British clothes.

He used non violence by getting arrested and getting hit and assulted that way he got more followers. He also never fought back every time he got hit by British soldiors. When he threw away the Identification Cards, he was getting hit and he didnt fight back the only thing he did was continue burning them, he was a great man who believed and fought for what he wanted.

I think Indias independance didnt happen just because of Ghandi. I think if it kept on happening for more time then

The Russian Revolution

2009-01-09T06:37:00.000-08:00

The Russians had a revolution because they were all unhappy. The winter of 1917 was a very cold winter. It was horrible for the Russian people and they were all very hungry but the czar wouldn't do anything about this. Instead he would waste all of his money on sending worthless troops out to fight World War I, while they would just get killed anyway. The Russian people were furious. They thought that they needed a change in their governemnt and all of these events triggered it.

The Revolution was all about someone saying that they can change the way the country is to make it better place. The people during that time were all hungry and desprete and they just believed it and voted to keep their country a cocmmunist nation. The leader of the Revolution was Lenin. He was in the Bolshevik group as well as Joseph Stalin.

The quote "Peace, land and bread"means that the Russians wanted Peace in the country no wars, land for them to have farms and bread for them to feed their children. They wanted these aspects to have a better Russia and communism promised them that.

Causes of WW I

2009-01-07T06:45:00.000-08:00

During the late 1800's throughout the early 1900's there were still empires that were formed. Many of the people that were being taken over were very unhappy with that and wanted there own country. The people thought that in one empire they spoke over three different languages, then why would they even be a united country. One major reason why World War I happened was because of Nationalism.

For many years each country had their military strongly prepared and ready for the war. They spent millions of dollars to help prepare their military. They were trying to prepare themesleves to have a very powerfullly millartaty. There was one problem about all of this and that was that they didnt have anywhere to use it. This made them start tension and conflict within eachother. Miliratism was a really important factor in starting the war.

Another reason why the "Great War" started was because of Imperialism. There was a lot of rivalries because of the economic income for each country. What triggered the war though was when the archduke of Austria was assassinated by a Serbian, Austria declared war on Serbia which then cause Russia to join the war on Serbia's side.

All of these caused promises between the natoins to be broken. This was the collapse of the alliance system. This war caused the people of all the nations they belonged to felt pride in the fact that their country was the dominate one.

The Opium Wars

2008-12-10T06:44:00.000-08:00

During the Opium war, the Chinese werent very open to trade with other antions. The British wanted the tea from the Chinese, and the Chinese wouldnt want to trade. So, the English made the Chinese addicted to Opium. Soon enough the Chinese people started becoming very sick, weak and very lazy from the drug that they were addicted to called. Opium. The Chinese government was very unhappy, which resulted for the government requested Britain to stop giving the Chinese Opium. The British refused because they wanted their tea and money, because during that time tea was very rare. Thats when they declared war.
It is called the Opium war is because the chinese were trying to get Opium out of their country, but the British kept bringing Opium in China. As a result the British easily won the Chinese because the British had advanced weapons and a bigger and stronger milatary. This is one of Chinese's most humiliating loss in history, because they got beaten so badly. In Conclusion, the Chinese decided to allow trade to catch up on the mdoern technoligy.

Film lesson: "Mountains of the Moon"

2008-12-03T06:39:00.000-08:00

When Europeans tried getting to Africa they faced many hardships. Some of them include getting attacked by native African tribes, dying from starvation, and dehydration. Also a very common way of them getting stopped is catching malaria from mosquitoes.
The source of the Nile river was Lake Victoria. Even though it was in Africa it was called Lake Victoria because John Speke and Richard Burton named it after there queen, Queen Victoria. The technological advantages that the Europeans had were guns, and the Africans had spears and wood. The Europeans eventually conquered the continent because they had machine guns and they can kill multiple Africans at a time.

The Meiji Restoration of Japan

2008-11-26T06:38:00.000-08:00

Matthew Perry bullied the Japanese to sign a trade treaty through a display of the United States' military. When Perry anchored 26 miles off the coast of Tokyo, the Japanese were suprised and amazed by the movement of ships with no sails. Perry alsso intentionally arrived in port with sails down to intimidate the Japanese with American progress of thechnoligy. The impressive navy force that Perry brought to Japan were stronger, and faster to any warships the Japanese had and they left the Japanese with few choices but to grant the U.S. it's wishes.

With this being in affect, the Japense economy went down. Its economy dropped because European countries and American produced large amout of supplies and the Japense got no tariff on foreign goods.To become a modern nation, the emperor ysed a system of mandatory, state funded elementary education. The mandatory school would raise a level of education. This also helped Japan have more nationalist.

An archipelago is is a chain or cluster of islands that is formed tectonically. After all of this Japan become one.

Karl Marx and Communism

2008-11-06T06:37:00.000-08:00

Karl Marx's idea of communism was that all of the common people should one day be on top of the government. He thought that because they were the ones that did all of the harsh work and didnt get paid back in any way. He said "Workers would share wealth in a communist society. Marx wrote that wealth should be distributed "from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs."

Communism is the common people being in the full control of the government. It is also where everyone is common and equal. He wanted communism to take over the world because he wanted the common people to be on top. He saw the common people as the good guys, and the more rich people as the bad guys. He thought so because the common people did most of the work and got basicly no pay.

Karl Marx and the Industrial Revolution

2008-11-05T07:03:00.000-08:00

Karl Marx really didnt agree with the Industrial Revolution. He disliked the fact that the factory owners controlled the workers, but the workers were the ones that were doing all of the work. He was the one that invented the idea of communism, he wanted the government to be used by all of the "common" people. '

The industrial revolution inspired Karl Marx to come up with communism was because he really disliked the fact that all of the people that were doing the actual work, were getting treated horribly and they were doing all of the work and had no power. So Karl Marx thought of the common people ruling all of the people.

Nationalism and the Creation of Italy

2008-10-16T06:35:00.000-07:00

Nationalism is the pride for ones country. It is when people are good followers and supporters for their country. It is also when you love your country and you would die for it. This happeneed very recenly. A few hundred years ago there was none of that. Noboby would die for their kingdom. The king hired mercanaries to fight the wars for them, there was no volunteer army.

I do many things to show that i am nationalistic for both Greece and America. To show that i am nationalistic for Greece is i wear a lot of shirts with the Greek flag about it, i studied all of their history, mytholigy, and eveything about it. I go there every other summer, and stay there for two months. Other things i do is when people ask me where i am from i say Greece and im really proud of it. I go to the Greek Indpendece Day Parade and i wear my greek shirt with a huge Greek flag around my body with y face painted blue and white, and Blue is also my favorite color. I am nationalistic to America because i celebrate the 4th of July by doing fireworks, and i also root for America in the World Baseball Classic.

Nationalism was used to create Italy because all of the people that lived there talked and followed the Italian cultrues and they called themselves Italian. They also had really pride for the land they lived in and wanted to be Independant. Before Italy became Italy it was a really messed up Kingdom. It was ruled by two Kings and they both had two different views on how to rule a Nation. It became Italy by forming a group called the Young Italy. They then went into battle and captured Italy. They then became a real nation.

Simon Bolivar and Latin American Revolutions

2008-10-10T06:37:00.000-07:00

Simon Bolivar is one of the greatest general in world history.He accomplished a great amount of achiements in a short period of time. The whole contient of South America was captured by Spanish rule and Simon Bolivar didn't like that. He went to Europe and studied work of Locke, Rousseau, and Voltaire. On his way back fom studying in Europe he went by the United States and learned even more about democracy. He took action into his own hand in South America. He took over Venuzeula in 1811. He then took over many other countries and then named it Republic of Columbia.

He is a hero in South America. People see him as a hero because if it wasnt for him then there wouldnt be no free south american countries. They would all be conquered by Spain. They were all very unhappy being ruled by Spain and Bolivar was the first to take action. They honored him so much they even named a country from him. He fought for freedom, and democracy. He fought against the spanish. He will always be a hero in South America, for freeing the people.

Robespierre and The Reign of Terror

2008-09-23T06:35:00.000-07:00

The year 1793, a very horrible time in France. They just had their revolution, and everybody was going mad. This was the time that many people didn't want to loose their power, or people who wanted it back. That all triggered to the Reign of Terror. The Reign of Terror was a period of violence that occurred fifteen months after the French Revolution , which was conflict between rival political parties, the Girondins and the Jacobins. Estimates of how many were killed were widely, from 16,000 to 40,000 deaths,in many cases, records were not kept.

French government created the Committee of Public Safety , which was created on September 6th 1793 and was dominated by Maximilien Robespierre. Robespierre wanted to completely wipe out the whole idea of "monarchy." He even took off the kings, queens, and jokers off common household items, like a deck of cards for example. He was the dictator during the terror. He exucuted people who didnt agree on his ideas, sort of a hitler figure. He closed down most churches at well. The exucations were carried out by the Girondins.

The French Revolution

2008-09-22T06:53:00.000-07:00

1) The people in France were critical of the nobility because they had most of the property, got most of the money and paid the least amount of taxes. They thought it was really unfair. They were also critcal about the king because he had full, complete power and he used a feudal system. They also did'nt like them because he taxed them so much. They were critical about the clergy because they recieved most of the money then mostly every body in France, and they only paid about 2% of France's taxes.

2)A Frence peasent could have grumbled about how he was not able to hunt or fish on the estates.

3)The point that the cartoonist is trying to make is that basicly they treated the French peasents like a donkey, a slave. The caption under means that the peaseants reallky can't take it anymore they had enough they grew tired of being treated so poorly.

4) In Source B it is clearly stated that even though the peasents had close to nothing they still needed to give that too. They were treated horribly. It seems like it keeps on getting worse and worse for them. Even though they have a small portion of land, they need to give the lords double of what they dont have.

5) Sources A,B and C all do show how the poor truely dispised the rich, for doing whatever they are doing. It also shows how unfair they were being treated. They all say that the minority of the people make way more then the majority.

6) In source D, the writer most likely got his idea from John Locke. You can tell he was influenced by him because he talks about Liberty, the way that man should be free and make his own laws and not be treated like crap.

7)This was most likely banned in 1775 becasuse of the King and all of its nobles and lords. They banned it because they knew if the people found out about it he will loose all of his power. The lords, nobles, and clergy banned it because they would loose everything they have and be equal, and they didnt want to loose their power or wealth.

John Locke and "The Enlightenment"

2008-09-18T06:34:00.000-07:00

In the 2nd paragraph of the United States Constitution it clearly states that we all deserve certain rights. Some of those rights include life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. He also states that we have the right to tear down the government if we are treated with Tyranny again. If that does happen us, we the people have the right to create a new government from the beginning.

Also according to Jefferson, we the people have the "power." It says that "That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, —" That mainly came from Locke who believed that the people should govern, not totally be taken control of and being treated horribly. Another place the government gets its power is from the house of representaties, which is basicly voted upon. In other words this country is ran by its people, and its "leaders."

Copernicus and the trial of Galileo

2008-09-12T06:39:00.000-07:00

For a long period of time a lot of different people believed that the Earth was the center of the universe. That was called the geocentric theory. It was created by a bunch of scientist that believed that the Earth was the center of the universe and that everything revolves around the Earth. The other theory said was called Heliocentrism. That theory stated that everything revolves around the sun. The theory that was created first was the geocentric theory. The theory that came out of the scientific revolution was the Heliocentrism theory.

In the older times, people's opinions could basicly put them to death. The Roman Catholic Church put Galileo on trial and on house arrest becuase he believed in the Heliocentrism theory. On the other hand the Roman Catholic Church really disagreed. Even though they really didnt put him to jail they had him under house arrest and when they did take him in he was in apartments rather then a jail cell. The Catholic church put him on trial because they disagreed with him because he believed that the all the planents revolve around the sun. On the other hand, the church totally disagreed. He eventually died in his house, where he spent the rest of his life after the trial.

Scientific Revolution: The Scientific Method

2008-09-11T06:40:00.000-07:00

The scientific method is a method used to prove and to help to find the truth out from science. For example the steps you need tot take to use this method is first create a theory, or think of something you want to prove or disprove. After you find your question, you need to make a hypothesis, which is an educated guess of what you think will happen when you perform this expirement. After you have completed the hypothesis then you have to perform the experiment, in the meantime you should observe every thing you do, carefully paying attention to the steps you took. After you have completed your expirement then you see if your hypothesis was correct or not. If it is incorrect then you continue trying to figure out your hypothesis, if your hypothesis is correct then your hypothesis is succesful.

An experiment that uses the scientific method is for example the expiremnt that Aristotle said where he stated that girls have less teeth the boys. To use the scientific method with this expirement first you state the hypothesis that you think for example men have more teeth then woman. Then after you state that you check three different men and three different woman. When you get proved wrong its good because you know it and its proven that they have the same number of teeth. That is the right way to do an expirement not just guess its true without even trying to prove his hypothesis.

Evolution vs. Creation

2008-09-05T06:42:00.000-07:00

The theory of evolution and Creationism are both two different theorys of how we, the humans came to this earth. The theory of evolution states that we all the living things on this earth are related. That we are almost the same to bananas, monkeys, fish, and all of nature. Charles Darwin also stated that multi complex orginisms came from orginisms that werent that complex. He thinks that we came from the apes, because we have similar structures.

On the other hand, Creationism is viewed in a more religious way. It is said that we all came from God. The Genesis has the story of how we came. It tells us that we came from God. In the early 1900's, the United States had gotten alot of people into trouble for teaching it in public school. A teacher got arrested for teaching it and it was banned to be taught in public school. They werent aloud to even have text books from the theory of evolution inside.

In my opinion i agree more with Creationism. I think it is the most logical thing. It was also taught for many more years and people followed it for a very long time. It also makes more sense because there is always a stronger figure in your life that created you. It was also written in the bible and many books that said that we were created from God.