Grace's Global Blog

Mikhail Gorbachev and the end of Communism

2007-05-09T08:24:00.000-07:00

Mikhail Gorbachev was the youngest Soviet leader since Stalin and his supporters worshipped his youth, energy and political skills. Because of his supporters, Gorbachev became the Communist Party's new general secretary. The Soviet citizens then encouraged Gorbachev's election. He decided to pursue new ideas. Soviet leaders before Gorbachev formed a totalitarian state and it gave silence and discouraged people from being themselves. So this led to the Soviet society not changing much and the Soviet economy rising. Gorbachev then found out that social and economic reforms would not happen without giving people suggesting free ideas and information. Then in 1985, he introduced the policy called glasnost, openness. This policy brought wonderful changes for example, it allowed churches to open and it released people who disagreed to the law from prison and allowed the publication of books by past banned authors. Later on, reporters discovered problems and disapproved officials. This openness also allowed the citizens to complain about the numerous problems that it causing about economic issues. Buyers protested about the fact that they had to stand in lines to buy food. Obviously Gorbachev did not blame these issues on himself but to the Soviet Union's slow system of central planning. Then in that same year (1985), Gorbachev introduced to another idea called perestroika which means economic restructuring. That following year, Gorbachev made changes to bring back the Soviet economy. The local managers received a lot of power over their farms and factories. People were also allowed to open their own small private businesses. Gorbachev's intentions were not to get rid of communism but to upgrade the economic system to be more organized and to grow more. Gorbachev paved his way to end communism by taking little steps and using his own ideas of improving Soviet's economy. And because it led to many problems from his own “wonderful” ideas, it made him very unpopular.

Collapse of Communism

2007-05-08T17:39:00.000-07:00

The downfall on communism became a major point in history. After WWII, the Soviet Union and the US were involved in a Cold War. They both tried to increase their influence worldwide. The Soviet Union stretched out its power over the majority of Eastern Europe. It all pretty much came clear that communism was not going to leave Russia. The Soviet Union also separated into 15 different Republics which insisted of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Russian Federation, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.

Between 1960's and 1970's, the Soviet Union's Communist leadership had a strong control over its people. But changes await them like the democratic reforms. A young leader emerged into the Soviet Union named Mikhail Gorbachev. He wasn't like the other leaders of the Soviet because he decided to pursue new ideas. He made many changes to their economy and politics. In 1985, he introduced to a policy called glasnost or openness. This allowed the citizens of Soviet to complain about economic issues. Examples such as consumers protesting about the fact that they had to stand in lines to buy food and other materials. So all these problems made Gorbachev not very popular. When capitalism arrived to Russia, the countries separated and the separation made the people do a lot more work for themselves so they had to get jobs of higher income. The fall of the Soviet Union changed the world by creating smaller countries and removing a huge and powerful one. The purpose for the Berlin wall was to separate the East and West Germany. The East was the communists and they were very strict about attempting to cross the wall. If they tried, they were immediately shot. The East and West Germans were alarmed that they couldn't cross the wall. This separation was for 28 years. Then little by little they all grouped into a large group and attacked the wall with sledgehammers.

Creation of Israel

2007-05-07T08:35:00.000-07:00

Zionism is a political movement which supports homeland for the Jewish people in the land of Israel. Many conflicts grew when Israel was created. The Jews thought to themselves that the war of 1948 was proven that they were alone in the Middle East. They were greedy for land that they would rather kill each other then just share it. Israel was attacked by the forces of Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Egypt. The Arab had a different look on the war. It was very humiliating loss. The war also drove off the Palestinians off their lands. After the war ended, a 1949 agreement, Rhodes Armistice, some 700,000 Palestinians left their homes and most of them moved into an area called West Bank and creating a refugee crisis. As they fled similar amount of people of Jews left their homes in neighboring areas and other Arab countries because of turmoil. The Israelites and the Palestinians obviously did not get along with each other due to the fact of their differences and the way they thought about life and what God's purpose for them were.

Nelson Mandela and Apartheid

2007-05-02T08:19:00.000-07:00

The term Apartheid means to separate and in this case, separating races from each other. Its a racial term that existed in South Africa. Nelson Mandela was a true fighter before he was chosen as South Africa's leader. He did not follow the government system and transformed into a determined man that was on the lifelong journey in freeing South Africa. He was a leader in an underground political movement called the African National Congress (ANC). He acted out many parts that was against the white-ruled government. But this didn't last long when he was sentenced to life in prison. Nelson Mandela sure is a true fighter because while he was in prison, he was determined to be a support of hope for his people who went on with their lives with the Apartheid while Mandela was in prison. He was finally set free in 1990, being in prison for 27 years. The day of his release was the beginning of the end of the Apartheid and he was rewarded with the Nobel Prize and elected to be the President in South Africa. Mandela fought for unity and women rights and thanks to his bravery and determination, Apartheid was outlawed. Mandela was admired by the authors because of how much he would try to get freedom for his people and country.

African Independence

2007-04-27T08:26:00.000-07:00

Africa gained more independent countries in 1975. And in 1955, Africa only had 5 independent countries. Belgian Congo was European's biggest money-making attraction in Africa. Belgium also stole the colony's rich resources of rubber and copper and Belgium kept sucking in all the wealth that Africa had to offer. They also did not try to attempt to prepare the people for independence. Belgium's approval of independence in 1960 to the Congo resulted as a disaster. The nation's first prime minister was Patrice Lumumba and he ruled a divided country. Katanga which is in the mineral-rich southeastern area was led by a local leader, Moise Tshombe. He declared independence for that region. This a huge threat because copper from Katanga's mines were the nation's most transported. The influence of outside forces made more problems.

9th Grade Review - Neolithic Revolution

2007-04-25T05:27:00.000-07:00

The Neolithic period began about 10,000 years ago when humans transitioned from hunting and gathering to domesticating plants and animals and settling down. But way before the Neolithic period even started, there was the paleolithic period which was basically the beginning of peoples' lives and they were called nomads who constantly moved from one place to another if they run out of food. They would live in groups of 20-30 and within those groups, they divided the men and women doing different jobs. Like the men would hunt down animals and the women would gather fruits, berries, etc.. They were also brilliant in making tools for their hunting skills. But then their lives changed when they turned to the beginning of the Neolithic period. After their transition, they received more foods and the population grew, forming cities later on. The cities were mostly formed in river valleys because of it's rich soils for their farming needs. This changed gave them permanent settlements and they established social classes and eventually came down to the rise of civilizations.

The European Union

2007-04-24T16:11:00.000-07:00

Europe was probably the main continent in the world that had the bloodiest wars against countries. After it's three battles and many losses during those battles between Germany and France, couple of the European leaders came to a encouraged to the idea that the only way to keep a long lasting peace was to unite those countries together economically and politically. This idea formed the European Union which consisted of 25 nations that changed the face of Europe. Being so successful, it became a economic and political superpower which now competes with the USA only since USSR collapsed in 1991. The 25 nations involving in the European Union now share the same currency; The Euro. After the Euro being introduced in 2002, it became one of the leading currencies in the world. It is being more traded than the US dollar. Traveling in Europe became more easier for people because they don't need to stop at each border and get their passports checked. It's just like how we travel here around other states. This also became a benefit to businesses who can ship products without any hassles between the European Union Members. Citizens of the European Union can now freely work in other European Union nations. Even their population is larger than ours, they have 500 million citizens in those 25 EU and we have 300 million citizens making them the 3rd largest country in the world. This is a good thing because they now give freedom to it's citizens in terms of traveling and doing businesses. This was formed to prevent having a war between these countries again and their chance is in ever battling each other again is very small.

Film Lesson - "The Right Stuff"

2007-04-16T10:00:00.000-07:00

The US and USSR were competing each other by making the best rocket and going to space and making nuclear bombs/weapons. The US was winning because they had stronger nuclear missiles and rockets that orbited 7-10 times around the earth. And this caused the Cuban Missile Crisis. When the guy goes in the rocket and travels the space reminded me of the Cold War because of the competition occurring between the US and Soviet Union.

Cuban Missile Crisis

2007-04-16T05:22:00.000-07:00

The Cuban Missile Crisis was known for being the closest nuclear war in the world. The U.S armed forces were ready for anything that came to them and Soviet Union commanders were ready to use nuclear weapons on the battlefields to protect it's island just in case it's invaded. Thanks to two brave men, President John F. Kennedy and Premier Nikita Khrushchev, the war was dismissed. The Soviet Union was behind the U.S in the arms race in 1962. The Soviet Union missiles were only powerful in Europe and not in U.S because their missiles can beat the entire Soviet Union. Fidel Castro was determined to find a way to defend it's island from the U.S. So he finally agreed to Khrushchev's plan of placing missiles on the island. So in summer of 1962, the Soviet Union worked very hard to build up a secretive missile installations in Cuba. But Kennedy was informed about it so he built up the EX-COMM which 19 men helped Kennedy go through the crisis. On October 22, Kennedy publicly announced about the installation and checking the island. He stated that any missile thrown to the U.S was known for an attack to the U.S and demanded them to remove all nuclear weapons. But eventually Khrushchev decided to stop the installation and return the missiles to the Soviet Union and trusting that the US would not invade Cuba. This was known as the hottest moment in the Cold War because Cuba and the US went against each other by using nuclear missiles.

NATO and the Warsaw Pact

2007-04-12T10:33:00.000-07:00

NATO was an organization that involved countries in Europe and North America. It was an agreement where they would help each other if they need money or help fighting other countries which is the main reason of forming this organization. NATO transformed itself from being a military force to a political force from the downfall of communism and eliminated military alliances.
The Warsaw Pact was formed 6 years after NATO's formation by Nikita Khrushchev and Nikolay Bulganin. It involved mostly the Soviet Union and it's satellite countries. It was first made to be another mutual defense alliance like NATO but it formed a communist military alliances to keep power over Eastern Europe. The Soviet Union took control over it's allies attacking Czechoslovakia and Hungary. This pact renewed for another 20 years. Slowly the Warsaw Pact was beginning to separate. East Germany decided to withdrew from the pact and join West Germany to reunify Germany again and then the leaders of the remaining 6 countries in the pact decided to dissolve this.

Film Lesson: Night and Fog

2007-03-22T08:50:00.000-07:00

My reaction to this film is the horror of the people and how they died. I actually felt the sickness they had from starvation and when the allies found the dead bodies, they would just tow them in a hole like its nothing. I didn't find this documentary as powerful as I thought, I thought it would've been more revealing of what happened. The scenes between this documentary and Schindler's List was compared very differently because Night and Fog would just tell us and show people and how they were treated by the Nazis but in Schindler's List, they would make it so that we feel the Jews feelings. The Hollywood movie illustrates the Holocaust more because it shows how many people tried their best to hide from the Nazis and how many would die because of their health or attitude. Night and Fog would show us the showers and where they would sleep during this horror. Schindler's List illustrates how much agony the Jews went through and it would really touch us whenever a child is crying for their mother or father or trying to get out of the Nazis arms.

Film Lesson: Schindler's List

2007-03-22T08:31:00.000-07:00

Schindler's List illustrated the Holocaust by showing people hiding and running away from the Nazis and showing that the Jews were terrified. They also illustrated how the Nazis were very demanding by yelling at them and threatening them with guns. The most powerful scenes to me was the children. It was sad to see them trying to hide from them and when the Nazis find them, they would run after them. They also separated them from their parents and it was sad to see them kicking and screaming out of fear and frustration. The image that will stay with me is when they shoot the old guy while he was shoveling snow. Just seeing the hole in the head and blood running out of his body and staining the snow was very disturbing and sad.

US Atomic Bombing of Japan in 1945

2007-03-19T17:22:00.000-07:00

I do agree that the US Atomic Bombing of Japan is the #1 news story of the century because It killed a total of over 200,000 innocent people and many arguments went on about why or why not it shouldn't have been done in the first place. A bigger news story that I can think of is the Holocaust and 9/11. Holocaust because they killed Jews who have done nothing wrong but was an imperfect aspect to Germany according to Hitler. 9/11 was a bigger news story because it happened unexpectedly just like the Atomic Bombing of Japan and it happened in the middle of the morning. I would add the 9/11 because it is talked about a lot and it happened during the new century.

Germany at War - WWII

2007-03-09T08:45:00.000-08:00

Propaganda is a form of advertisement that engages people in doing something or influencing them in certain activities. The poster says "Europe's Victory is Your Prosperity" I think that this is saying that if Europe wins the war, it gives the people benefits and brings good fortune to their countries. Other nations are involved such as Great Britain getting defeated by Germany and how Hitler from Germany invaded the Soviet Union. The churchhill symbol represents Great Britian's defeat by Germany and the huge iron fist is showing how its punching Stalin and the Soviet Union.

The Treaty of Versailles (ended WW I)

2007-02-13T07:18:00.000-08:00

The Treaty of Versailles gave a hard time to Germany. Germany and its allies signed the Peace Treaty of Versailles on June 28, 1919. Germany was blamed for starting the whole war and had to pay for all the damages to Great Britain and France under the war guilt of the treaty. As a result to paying for the damages, Germany lost 10% of German lands. Since they couldn't pay the rest, Germany had to borrow money from America to pay its debt to Great Britain and France. The land of Alsace-Lorraine that Germany conquered from France, was returned back to France. German people's lives were very difficult after the Treaty of Versailles and they felt that the Treaty was very unfair to them. The German people also believed that a great leader would once again come and save them from this depression. And thats when Adolf Hitler came along. In 1923, Hitler wanted to overthrow the German Government but was unsuccessful and was sent to prison for nine months. Hitler blamed the German Government for Germany's problems. He believed that "a stab in the back" was the reason why Germany lost the war. I think that historians stating that the Treaty of Versailles led to the rise of Fascism and Adolph Hitler because Hitler wanted to bring back Germany and overthrow the government by blaming their weak powers. Hitler and his power of blaming others, led him to become a total dictator with total control.

Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk) and the Modernization of Turkey

2007-02-13T00:01:00.000-08:00

Mustafa Kemal set a goal for his country, Turkey, to give the experience of dignity, equality, and happiness. He was a well known leader and became a leader by being a military hero in WWI. During his modernization program, Secular government and education played a big role. A secular society's main goal was to get rid of all religious aspects in the Turkey peoples' lives. The secularism he set for his country was that he wanted to get rid of separation of religion from educational, cultural and legal affairs. He also wanted Turkey to be a communist country so he removed the social class system that was already in Ottoman Empire. He made changes in the religioius fashion. He wanted the religious people to dress in a new kind of fashion.

Film Lesson: "Gandhi"

2007-02-09T08:23:00.000-08:00

He helped India gain their independence from Great Britain by boycotting and gathering their own salt. Some of the actions that he took were the Salt March because they were refusing to pay taxes on salt from the British government. Gandhi also told the Indian people to weave their own clothes instead of using their money on British cloth. He said that if you use violence against the British, it will only result in an angry negative reaction towards the British. This will make the British do something bad to the Indians. I think that Indian's independence was all about Gandhi because he led them into something they would never risk to do such as doing the salt march and getting beaten up for it.