Thursday, May 10, 2007

Mikhail Gorbachev and the end of Communism

Mikhail Gorbachev helped to open the soviet union by modernizing their economy and introducing a market economy to Russia. This led to other countries establishing a market economy of their own and become independent. Glasnost was a program to try to get rid of tthe corruption and political abuse in the Soviet Union. Perestroika was an economic program.

Collapse of Communism

Communism collapsed in eastern europe because there were not that many goods to go around the econonmy was becoming weak and many of the people wanted there freedom. The citizens tore down the Berlin wall because they wanted to unify there city. The collapse of the soviet union changed the world because the treat of a nuclear war was decreased and the United States became the world's only superior power.

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Creation of Israel

Zionism is basically the establishment of a Jewish State. When Israel was created there were many problems even a war. This all happened because countries such as Jordon,Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Egypt didn't want to share the holy land with them.The dispute was between the Jewish Israeliains and Arab Palestianians, both claim the right to the land of Israel/Palestine. there had been much violence between both sides. Both group claim the land based on historical,ethnicity, religion and culture. Israelis has sovereignty over most of the land, because they won 2 major wars against arab armies

Wednesday, May 02, 2007

Nelson Mandela and Apartheid

Apartheid is a system of racial segregation which was used by the South African government from 1948 to 1994. Under this system people didn't have the same right as white people. Non-whites were classified as Bantu ( black ), colored ( mixed ), or Indian. This system separated the whites from the other races and made them the superior. Nelson Mandela did not agree with this form of government. He fought to change this. He became a cultural icon of freedom and equlitiy because he tried to remove the form of government in Africa and eventually did. Nelson Mandela was admired so much by the authors of the sites and articles because after his realse from prison he wrote a book of his life which was really good. Also, he made afria a equal nation

Tuesday, May 01, 2007

African Independence

During 1955 Africa had only like 5 independent countries. That is how little there independence was. As the years pasted there independence did increase and by 1975 there were around 20 countries who won there independence. As you can see the big change in Africa made it a independent area. People such as Blaise Diagne and Moise Tshombe helped them win there independence.

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Neolithic Revolution

The Neolithic Revoluton was the 1st agricultural revolution. It changed the way that humans live. All of the use of agriculture in these days allowed people to establish permant setlement, social classes, and new technologies. Also settlements by some early groups in the valleys of Nile,Yellow, and Indus river resulted in some great civilization in Egypt, China, India, and Mesopatamia.

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

The European Union

The European Union is an intergovernmental union of 25 states in Europe. This union was established in 1992 by the Treaty on European Union. It is one of the largest economic and political entities in the world. This economic union was successful and grew into other economic unions. Now the EU has many of its own establishments such asa parliament, military, and various organizations and committees that help maintain cooperation and trade between the EU member nations. This union was a good thing because it prevents war between nations such as England, Germany, France, and Italy. They are now together economically, politically, socially, and militarily. There is not much of a chance that these nations will be going to war any time soon.

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Film Lesson "The Right Stuff"

In this movie the Russians were competing against the Americans to see who could get spacecraft into space first.During the movie the Americans made many attempts to beat Russia but failed. Russia was the first to get a spacecraft into space first but the Americans were the first to get a man on the moon so no one really won. A scene that i will remember the cold war is when the United States were testing out the spaceships and many of them will explode. It showed us how desperate the U.S was for winning the space competition against Russia.

Cuban Missile Crisis

The Cuban Missile Crisis was a time when the U.S heard news that the Soviet Union was placing nuclear weapons in Cuba and the U.S was doing as much as they can to stop this because they were getting into problems with 2 communist countries.This event was considered the hottest momment in the Cold War because it was the closest to becoming a nuclear was in this period.When Kennedy heard what was happening in Cuba he immediately formed the ex-comm, a group of 12 of the most imortant advisors to handle the situation.