Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Film Lesson -"The Right Stuff"

The competition between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. was something known as the "Space Race". Just like the Arms Race, both countries were trying to develop ways to get into space quicker than the other country. In the movie, the Russians got the first satellite up into space, as well as the first man. The U.S. had accomplished getting the first monkey into space. The U.S. also accomplished making many orbits around the earth. So technically, the U.S.S.R. had won the space race. One scene from the movie that I will remember is the scene when the American astronauts first made it into space and continued making orbits around the earth and
the scene that would help me remember the Cold War would have to be when the man ran into the presidents office, and trips, and they said your late again. I think this scene would help me remember the cold war best.

Cuban Missile Crisis

The Cuban Missile Crisis was a major event that occurred during the Cold War, this crisis brought the U.S. and the Soviet Union close to a fierce nuclear war. This nuclear war would be between more than just the U.S. and the Soviet Union, it would put most of the world at war. The possibility of having many countries take part in this war is due to the creation of NATO and The Warsaw Pact which created alliances between many nations.The Cuban Missile Crisis began with a Nuclear Arms race in which the U.S. competed against the Soviet Union to create the strongest nuclear weapons. During the race both nations felt hardships and surpassed one another in technological advancements. During 1962, the Soviet fell very behind the U.S. and in order to stand up and defend against a nuclear war the Soviet needed Cuba. The Soviet Union set up nuclear weapons in Cuba and would launch them against the U.S. when needed. The Soviets felt that using Cuba would be a very smart thing to do, they needed to be prepared with backup in case of a nuclear attack. A few days later President John F. Kennedy found out about the Soviet's plan. Kennedy decided to surround Cuba with ships and stop the Soviets from bringing more nuclear weapons to the island. To put a stop to this crisis Kennedy came up with a proposal for the Soviet Union, Kennedy wanted the Soviet Union to remove all nuclear weapons and personnel from Cuba and in exchange the U.S. would not invade Cuba.

NATO and the Warsaw Pact

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"

I personally thought "Schindler's list" was more powerful than "Night and Fog" but it was also difficult to watch. I was disqusted on how Germans treated the Jews. The "Night and Fog" was documentary and they filmed the place way after the Holocaust. They showed the abandoned place. They showed around the place explaining the way they had to live and how crowded they had to stay together. The scene that moved me the most was the clip when the people who found the dead bodies everywhere had to use a bulldozer to push away all the bodies. The people were all skinny and nothing but bones. The Germans started losing the war at the end so the Germans wouldnt feed the Jews. They couldnt feed the Jews or their own citizens. The Germans also ran out of coal to burn the Jews' bodies but they couldnt fuel the ovens. When the Americans went on the land, they found dead bodies everywhere. It was a horrible image. The Schindler's list didnt show the aftermath of the Holocaust.

Schindler's List

What i thing that the film illustrate about the Holocaust was that most of the Jews dead in this period of time and no man or woman could safe them from there own death. The most powerful scenes for me was when most of the Jews where put in some cages and the Germany's trow some poison gas that kill more then 6,000 people in a instance and after that that toke them to a other part and there where some people burning the dead body's of the Jews. The image that will stay with me is when there was a girl with a red coat in point she was walking throw some Germany's and goes up to a house and hides under the bed then after that all most in the end of the film the girl appears again but this time she is dead and she was going to get burred form some other people.

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.

Monday, March 19, 2007

Germany at War - WW II

Propaganda is like a poster with information, ideas, rumors, to spread to help or harm a person or event. Propaganda are not always true sometimes its just people trying to influence you or grab your attention. I think this poster is saying that Europe will be winners and a few more countries. Germany is also trying to say the they could take over russia. This alsao says that hitler is a lyer and decided to attack russia and take over the dictator (mussulini).

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

The Treaty of Versailles (ended WW I)

The followig countries, Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire had lost World War I. The other victorious team (US, France, Russia, Italy) had created the treaty of versailles where Germany take full responsibility of starting the war in the first place. Germany had to pay for all damages done in the war and lose their population, soldiers, and land. Germany was furious because they had used a lot of money because of the treaty of versailles. They had to support the other side for every little thing like the widows and such. Many historians think the Treaty of Versailles led Germany into World War II. Germany was really angry at the fact that they had to pay for everything. I have to agree with the historians because Germany wouldnt just get over it, they would want to get even and take revenenges. The Treaty of Versailles affected Germany at the end of World War 1 because it was blamed for the entire War. Germany was greatly affected, because they were forced to pay allies.In addition, Germany lost 10% of there lands. All of their colonies were taken away and they divided them between allies. 12.5% of Germany's population were leaving outside of the new Germany borders.

Monday, February 12, 2007

Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk) and the Modernization of Turkey

Mustafa Kemal became the leader of Turkey. He brought Turkey to the modern world of Europe. But to make it large he had to start with the most minimum thing and that was their clothing. He only wanted to buy useful land. Kernal wanted his country to have happiness, dignity and equality. Atatürk tried to resolve it by leading his country out of the crumbling past into a brave new future.In Mustafa's program of modernization, Government and Education had played a major role.

Film Lesson: "Gandhi"

India recieved the help of Gandhi to gain independence from great britian. They wanted to stop buying britian good and to start buying the goods from india.In the year 1920 when the British government had failed to amends, Gandhi had organized a campaign of non-cooperation. But the Indians in the public office did not accept. The British East India Company had considerded salt taxes something necessary. Gandhi being telling people to pick up salt from the earth or distil it from the sea as their natural right. Ganshi had a philosophy of non-violence t hat had to be expressed through civil disobedience.

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Joseph Stalin and Totalitarianism

Totalitarianism is a term employed by political scientists, especially those in the field of comparative political, to describe modern regimes in which the state regulates nearly every aspect of public and private behavior.Stalin use Totalitarianism to rule Soviet Union because citizens had to obey the government without asking any question. They would support with extreme nationalism and they couldint do nothing back. The plan included two goals: rapid growth of heavy industry and increased farm production through collectivization of agriculture. Stalin was a dictator.

Film Lesson: "Dr. Zhivago"

It Depict the russian revolution because it showed how betrayal can change a persons opinon. people wanted a change because they were starving and soldiers have been dying in war they weren't winning. The film depicted communism as because it showed all the effects of it. Dr. Zhivago got his first hand look at communism when he came home. His large house was filled with other people in every room. Him and his wife only had one room to themselves.Dr. Zhivago was given first hand to look at the communism when he returned because he was a good doctor and help many people

Saturday, December 09, 2006

The Opium War

The opium war was a war between Great Britain and China that began in 1839 as a conflict over the opium trade and ended in 1842 with the Chinese session of Hong Kong to the British, and opening of five Chinese ports to foreign merchants, and the grant of other commercial and diplomatic privileges in the Treaty of Nanking.The captains of the defeated Chinese junks feared that their failure would be viewed by higher authorities as a disgraceful act of cowardice. The captains therefore reported to Commissioner Lin that they had won a victory and had sunk a British ship.The British won.

The White Man's Burden

The poem is tryin to say that white people dont rule people not just for the honor or pride. They thought its more of thier job or thier duty to rule other countries and civilize them. According to them they had to do it and they were doing it. it wasnt that easy but they kept on conquering. they wanted everyone to be like them. they belived thier race was the best and they wanted it to stay that way so they started ruling other races so they always stay on the top . they said ruling wasnt always wasnt this easy you cans say it was like a burden. they had a responsibilty of all the countrys they were ruling so they cant make no mistakes or they will loose the control on them so it was like a heavy burden on them and this is what the poem is trying to say

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Film Lesson: "Mountains of the Moon"

In the movie the europeans had faced many obstacles in finding the main source in the nile river, which were moskitos that carried malaria, african tribes that tortured and killed people, and lions. It is strange to most why the source of the Nile River is named after a british queen. The reason why I think this river was named Lake victoria was because one of the two men from europe just came up with the name.
One technological advantage the europeans had over the africans was their weaponry. The africans had spears and the europeans had guns. Obviously guns are more sufficient than guns.