Nelson Mandela and Apartheid

Apartheid, in my definition, was the racial segregation that took place in South Africa during the majority of the 20th century. A freedom activist who helped end this racism, was a man named Nelson Mandela. He's a man who is regarded by many to be not only a national hero, but an international hero. He was a leader of the ANC(African National Congress), a group of activists who's goal was to end the apartheid. Mandela tried to regain black freedom through non-violent methods. The South African government feared Nelson's ability to influence the nonwhite south africans. They imprisoned him for treason in 1964. He stayed imprisoned for the next 27 years.

During this time he became a symbol for national freedom. His ideas were not to riot and take over the white south african government, but instead to coincide with them so that South African blood wouldn't be spilled. Upon being released from prison, he became the president of the ANC, and had the entire nonwhite south african population on his side. He could have easily engaged in war against the government, but instead of negotiated and managed to open up free elections in 1994. He was then voted president of South Africa by winning 62% of the votes. By this time, apartheid was officially over and people of all colors had gained equal rights. He is admired by many people because of his courage and his dreams of freedom, and not revenge(despite being jailed for 27 years).

9th Grade Review - The Neolithic Revolution

The Neolithic Revolution was the transition from being nomadic groups of people, to settling down and farming. This transition led to the development of organized society. People went from there barbaric methods of hunting and gathering, to the domestication of crops and animals. This vast advancement in technology led to a major increase in food. The increase in food allowed for more people to live, thus increasing the population and this encouraged the development of cities.

Traiditional farming methods were discovered during this expansive time period. Methods such as slashing and burning were first thought up during this time. This method of slashing and burning is when you burn the forested areas, creating flat land and a sort of fertilizer for the future crops to be grown there. They also learned that certain animals could be domesticated and bred for food. This major development was much easier than the dangerous hunting and gathering. This Neolithic Revolution basically paved the way for future civilization .

The European Union

The EU(European Union) was the unification of 25 European nations that united them economically, politically, socially, and militarily. These countries no longer need passports to travel around, which makes it VERY easily for business men to get around. Almost all of the countries in the European Union use the same form of currency, the euro. Anyone who's a citizen of a country in the EU, can live and work in any of the other countries without needing any special form of documentation.

This union first started as an economic bond between 6 steel and coal producing countries. It was a major success and developed into the superpower it is today. This unification was a major event in European history. It allowed the countries to prosper economically, especially after the debt that the 2 world wars had created. All these countries that had previously fueded for hundreds of years are now all in a mutual agreement. The bond between them almost completely neglects the chance for a future war.

Film Lesson: "The Right Stuff"

In the movie The Right Stuff, the US and Russia competed in the "space race". They were both competing to be the first ones to explore the final frontier. Russia was in a sense winning this competition. They were the first ones to get a satelite into space and the first ones to get a man into space. The US always seemed to be one step behind. Only 2 weeks after the US had sent the first monkey into space, Russia managed to get the first man into orbit. One of the scenes that will help me remember this event, is the intense training that they putt he astronauts through. It just shows how determined the US was to getting someone up there and willing to go as far as to nearly kill someone to do it.

Cuban Missile Crisis

The Cuban Missile Crisis was an event that happened in 1962 in which the Russian government placed missiles on Cuba to combat the US in case of an attack on Russia. The Russians were far behind in the arms race. The US has missiles that could reach Russia, but Russia could only land an attack on Europe. In the chance of an attack in Russia, they would have no way of defending themselves so they build missiles in Cuba. It's refered to as the hottest moment in the Cold War because it was the closest the world came to a full on nuclear war. John F. Kennedy dealt with the crisis by assembling a group of his 12 most important advisors, named EX-COMM. They debated for several days and managed to solve the crisis and avoid war with the communist regime by agreeing to not invade Cuba.

NATO and The Warsaw Pact

NATO was the alliance of the western european nations, the US, and Canada. It was originally formed to protect themselves from the communist Russians. Also, since Europe was left in shambles after WWII, they were helped economically through the Marshall Plan. In response to this treaty, Russia made a pact with the eastern european nations. They stationed troops in this satelitte countries to protect against western european attack and to strengthen there views on socialist governments.

Film Lesson: "Night and Fog"

The movie Night and Fog really made me open my eyes. It displayed the brutal acts of the nazi's and I found it fairly disturbing. I think it was a pretty powerful film. It would've been better if the film maker set the mood a little better. He was constantly playing "happy" music while showing pictures of decapitated jews. This movie displayed the holocaust almost just aswell as Schindler's List did. Schindler's List may have been filmed using actors, but it still depicted what actually happened at the holocaust. Night and Fog showed the aftermath of the killings that took place. Both were very powerful films that showed the "before" and "after" effects of the holocaust. I'd have to say that Schindler's List depicted the holocaust better. Night and Fog only showed the after effects of everything, Shindler's List tried to show exactly what happened at the holocaust and just how ruthless the nazi's were.

Film Lesson: "Schindler's List"

Schindler's List showed just how ruthless the nazi people were. They packed hundreds of jews onto train cars, they destroyed all the jewish people's belongings, and took the children away from there parents. It depicted the cruel acts that people can do. Burning of bodies, killing people for absolutely no reason what so ever. The most powerful scene for me, probably isn't the most signficant. It was when the female jewish engineer went up to the nazi generals to tell them that the foundation needed additional work, or something along those lines. Instead of taking her word and possibly rewarding her, the leading general tells one of his soilders to shoot her. Then when she's kneeling down with the soilder behind her, she utters the words "It'll take more than this to stop me". The soilder, without hesitating simply cocks his gun and shoots while replying, "I'm sure it will". The ability to simply shoot someone without showing any remorse or sympathy is just unimaginable.

There was a bunch of scenes from the movie that will probably stay with me. When Schindler was giving the jewish people on the train extra water, the generals told him, "that's cruel Oscar, giving them hope". It just doesn't make sense how someone can have the ability to show that much hate towards a single race of people. All the shooting scenes leave a lasting impression aswell. Especially the scene when the jewish boy made a run for it, and when the soilder raised his gun, the dad jumped in front and pushed the gun down screaming for his sons life. The soilder simply turned and shot the man without thinking. Then when the other soilders brought back his son, he didn't even wait for them to bring him closer, he shot him from a good 20 feet away.

US Atomic Bombing of Japan in 1945

I'd have to aggree that the bombing of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki was the biggest event of the 20th century. The sheer magnitude of the bombings make them unsurpassable on the list of 100 top events. The dropping of the bombs not only killed well over 300 thousand people over a 10 year span, but the bombs also signified a major land mark in world history. It was the first time that nuclear warfare took place. People have attempted genecide before, there's been hundreds of wars, hundreds of thousands of people have been assassinated, but nothing has, and possibly ever will, ammount of the uneasy feeling the atomicc bombs created. On the list of 100 biggest events, I'd probably only move the Treaty of Versailles higher on the list since it started the initial domino effect that created the holocaust, world war 2, and the atomic bombings of Japan.

Germany at War - WWII

Propaganda is the deliberate spread of rumors to harm a certain group of people. In the poster, it shows Europe with various symbolic messages. It shows England looking as if it's a graveyard with Winston Churchill's tombstone standing in it, trying to say that England fell to the German forces. The country of Germany(which looks rather large by that posters color scheme) with a cradle symbolizing security and, what looks like land, symbolizing the land that the German people have or desire. The fist wearing chain mail armor looks as if it's delivering a blow to the face of Joseph Stalin, symbolizing the inevitible downfall of the Soviet Union. This poster is clearly showing the cocky attitude of Germany.

The Treaty of Verailles

The Treaty of Versailles greatly affected Germany after WWI. It basically pinned the entire incident on Germany. They were responsible for paying off all the countrys who were greatly affected by the war, which was basically the major countrys of the world. Germany lost all control of their oversea colonies aswell, which was a major loss during a time where imperialism was at its peak. Some of the German border was lost aswell. They lost Alsace and Lorraine to France after 47 years of country, they lost a small portion of northern Germany to Denmark, and a large part of eastern Germany, which became the country of Poland.

Germany was in a major political "slump" after the Treaty of Versailles. They needed a leader to take over and get the country back into shape. This is why historians believe the treaty led to the rise of Hitler and a more dictator oriented government. Hitler took total control and tried to reform Germany into the empire it was before it's major loss of World War I.

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and the modernization of Turkey

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was a war hero from world war 1 who later became the president of Turkey. He felt that Turkeys involvement in the Islamic religion didn't modernize them. He wanted his country to be respected in the eyes of the western nations. This was secularism. Secular is pertaining to worldy things instead of religious or spiritual things. He felt that the islamic nature made his country look less respected than the other countrys of the world.

First and foremost, he didn't like the current clothing of the country. He felt that the fez was a sign of ignorance. He wanted everyone in the country to be wearing a dress shirt, a tie, jacket, waistcoat, and a hat, to make his country's culture more similar to the western nation. He felt that having women hide there faces and huddle down whenever a man would walk by was ridiculous and barbaric. Last, he changed the nations alphabet. The hard to discipher letters of the islamic alphabet led to an incredibly high ammount of illeterate citizens. He encouraged people to teach each other the new adopted alphabet to make the country look more civilized. Without the Atatürk's encouragement, Turkey would still be the "uncivilized" country it was when it was under heavy Islamic influence.

Film Lesson: "Ghandi"

Ghandi was quite possibly the reason India gained its independence. He showed great leadership and displayed never before seen tactics to topple an empire. He had the unique philosophy of non-violence. He believed that violence wouldn't solve anything. "An eye for an eye only makes the whole world blind" was a quote by him that truly expresses how he feels about violence, no one benefits from it.

His idea of civil disobedience was mainly displayed through public acts defying British laws. Some of the things he did were stuff such as, spinning his own cloth and encouraging others to do so, leading the salt march to protest the british salt acts, and not buying British made products. He used these methods effectively because he dealt an economic blow to the British. He didn't want to hurt them physically, but instead break all ties between them and India so that they faced a sort of economic drought.

I don't think India would have its independence if not for Ghandi. He showed tremendous leadership and gave the people hope and inspiration. Without Ghandi, the Indian people would've taken the violent approach and the British army would've destroyed them. Ghandi didn't provoke military action, which was why India got as far as it did. Ghandi was the foundation of India’s independence.