Mikhail Gorbachev and the Collapse of Communism

Mikhail Gorbachev is the president of Russia. He was the youngest president at age 54. Mikhail decided that since the russia was a totalitarian state, and nothing was getting done, he thought that he should open up russia more so that free fresh new ideas will come and make Russia more economic and new with social reforms. This was called the "Glasnost". This was to promote Openess in Russia.
In 1985, Gorbachev decided to make something new called "Peristrokia". This was to make economic reforms. Local managers gained full rights to their farms and property and people were allowed to own privately owned small buisnesses.

The Collapse of Communism

The reason for the collapse of the berlin wall was people can leave countrys without exit visas and caused a migration to east germany. Countrys formed a union against communism called the warsaw pact. Which denied communism into countrys. Communist partys still stayed political. traditional communist partys with dictators china cuba north korea etc. Also chinese partys crushed their schools. The United States was able to profit from its imperialist exploitation of other countries while socialism could only lose economically in that competition.

Nelson Mandela and Apartheid

The Apartheid was a system of government where you might have the same same job as someone else because of the color of your skin, the other person would get paid more in a week than what you would get paid in a year. Also, they would underestimate your ancestors and their way of life. Nelson Mandela is such a hero because he sacrificed himself in order to achieve South Africa's freedom. Mandela at first was the leader of a political movement called the African National Congress (ANC). As the leader of this political movement, he fought for the rights of colored skin people in Africa which he knew were been unfairly taken away from them. He was sentenced to life in prison, unfairly, since the government didn't want him around to influence people to realize what the government was doing. After 27 years in prison, he was freed and was elected president of Africa. Mandela is so admired by the authors of these articles and sites because he freed so many people, including himself, from the injustice the Apartheid government was offering them. He saved a lot of people from continuing with that lifestyle, which they didn't deserve, by being in prison for so long, sacrificing himself in such a brave way.

African Independence

Africa is a continent in the world. Africa is filled with over 20 countries. Africa didn't have its independence. The Europeans basically imperialized the continent and took it for themselves. Until recently 1955-1970, Afrida had been gaining their independence. The French, Spanish, English etc. took over them for a long time. They used them for their natural resources and cheap labor.Ghana was the first country to gain their independence. Kwame Nkrumah was the leader of this. He was a teacher who spent time studying in the united states and came back to get more rights for his country, but ended up becoming the president of Ghana and the English left.Another nation was Kenya. This country was special because their leader/president was in prison then he was elected as the leader. This is one of the two countries that did this. The leaders name was Jomo Kenyatta. He led the Mau Mau's so he can scare the white men away without any war.So during this time of fighting for independence, Africa changed alot, they gained all of their independence from the European countries except for a select few and most of them got to eliminate their country's names and change them to something more african and create a flag. For example Zimbabwe was Rhodesia, then they changed it and created their own national flag to show their independence.

Film Lesson: The Right Stuff

Competitions where with first man of moon and first person to have a satellite in space. They wanted to see who can get into the moon. The russians in this competition where winning just because they started to get everything first. they were able to get someone to the moon then the u.s. The Russians only won for the first man in space because america held back for two weeks cause they weren't sure if they wanted to send the monkey or a Man to space. In this film the most that hit me and made me rember was the scene when they titled to russia and the russian pod went up to space with the guy. Also when America find's out that russia had a man on space they were devistated. That's one of the thing's i wouldn't forget. Also russians set up the first satellite in space. Something else they competed was they wanted to see who can brake the sound barrier first. American's had the first guys on the moon.

NATO and The Warsaw Pact

NATO was the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It was for the United States and countries of east and some western European countries. If a country would attack a nation that was a member of NATO, all of those other countries would retaliate. In response to this, the Warsaw pact was created. This pact would not be powerful unless the Soviet Union was part of it. Back then, the only two superpowers in the world was the United States and the Soviet Union. Unlike NATO, the Warsaw Pact was weakening because of the political scene of Russia towards the 80s and it fully dissolved in the 90s.

Film Lesson: "Night and Fog"

I thought the film lesson Night And Fog was really interesting. it showed the destructions of the holocaust and showed what it looked liked 10 years later. I felt this was powerful because it showed clips of things really happenining,such as the hiding and burning of the bodies, all the skulls and corpses everywhere. Things that have been seen cannot be unseen. If you think about it, its also powerful because you realise that the bodies in the movie does not compare to the years of murder that went on in Poland And Germany and the rest of Europe.It Kind of was the same as the other film lesson, Schindlers list because at the end it showed the bodies and stuff being buried and burned at the end of the war. Also it showed people dying and the camps and the barracks and all those buildings, also the bathrooms which were about the same. For me, the HollyWood version of the holocaust was more interesting and it showed alot more of the things that happened. Such as the Hair being cut off to prepare the women for the gas chambers and the selection was more in detail, It was a bad event.