Roberto'sglobalblog

The Collapse of Communism

2009-05-13T09:11:00.003-04:00

There were many factors that led to the fall of communism but the main ones were the greed and corruption that it caused. Under Communism, Millions of soviet citizens were executed because they failed to follow the rules that were made. Also the leader of the soviets, Stalin was trying to convince his country as well as Eastern Europe that Communism was the right thing and he tried to force people to accept that but he only made things worse. The fall of the Berlin Wall was necedssary because the exile it caused between East and West Germany was tearing the country apart and the only way to end it was to bring the Wall down. The fall of the Soviets marked the end of Communism for Eastern Europe and that is why it was so important.

Nelson Mandela and Apartheid

2009-05-06T09:10:00.003-04:00

Apartheid to me was just another form of racial segregation against another race that was non-white. Nelson Mandela was a hero because he helped liberate South Africa from segregetion and other acts of hatred against Black people. During the 1950s Mandela played a key role in the ANC's non-violent campaign to undermine apartheid, South Africa's system of racial segregation, through strikes, civil disobedience, and demonstrations. But when he was arrested and sentenced to life in prison he became the symbol of the struggle for Independence for the Africans and that is why the prison guards believed that if he died in prison a major uprising would occur and that would be chaotic so they let him out nafter only 27 years and he immediatly became a hero. He is admired by the Authors and article because he went through many hardships and suffring to open the door to opputunities for the People of South Africa and he helped abolish Apartheid and he will be remembered forever because of that.

African Independence

2009-05-05T09:20:00.003-04:00

There were many changes that ocurred in Africa in the 20-year period from 1955 to 1975. Some changes were Independence for alot of the African nations and Africa became more modernized with new schools and roads and a better government. There were more opportunities built for the African people to be the leaders of their own countries and some of those people were Leopold Senghor, Kwame Nkrumah, Jomo Kenyatta, and several other people that helped shape Africa to what it is.

Film Lesson: The Right Stuff

2009-04-08T10:19:00.004-04:00

The U.S. and Soviet were competing in the movie because the soviets had launched their first satellite into space and their space program was going well and the U.S. felt that they were falling behind in terms of technology. So the U.S. tried to catch up by making their own space program but theirs was struggling so the Soviets were winning the space race and the U.S. became so desperate that they sent a chimp as their first American in space. One scene that will stay in my mind was when the Americans were testing out their rockets and it was just a disaster because every rocket they sent up just blew up and they failed and failed but they never gave up because they refused to fall second place to the Russians and that just shows the determination of the U.S. at that time and their refusal to give up.

NATO and The Warsaw Pact

2009-04-06T09:35:00.003-04:00

During the Cold War tensions were high and even though there was no actual fighting involved there was still a threat of war that the U.S. and the Soviets could not afford to ignore. It was that threat of war that prompted the U.S. to form an Alliance with several other countries who were also against Communism like France and Great Britain and named this Alliance NATO which stands for North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The Soviets, having heard of this Alliance felt threatened and formed there own alliance with countries that supported communism and they named there Alliance the WarSaw Pact. So basically the NATO and WARSAW PACT were precautionary Alliances that were made to feel more secure during the threat of Nuclear war in that time but of the two only NATO still runs today.

Film Lesson: Night and Fog

2009-03-26T09:19:00.003-04:00

My reaction to Night and Fog was that I was not that surprised for what I was seeing because I had been studying the Holocaust for years and I even read a book on it so I already knew what I would expect to see from a Holocaust documentary and it just furthered my disgust for the Nazis. I do think the film was pretty powerful in that it was not a book or a movie but real life events that were being shown and you could see for your self what they had done and even though Schindler's List was pretty accurate in their views of the Holocaust the scenes from the Documentary were more powerful because there were no actors or directors to say cut but real life people. So overall I think the documentary showed the Holocaust more effectively because they were showing the murders and burning of bodies and the madness of the Holocaust in action and it was not full of actors with fake blood or anything but real life people that were being slaughtered like animals.

Film Lesson: Schindler's list

2009-03-26T09:10:00.003-04:00

There were many ways that the movie illustrated the horrors of the holocaust because that is what the movie was intended to do. But the scene that stuck to me was when the nazis were burning the bodies and one of the nazis started screaming and laughing and then he started to shoot at the already dead burning bodies. That showed me just how sick and cruel they were and they showed no remorse or guilt for what they were doing and it also ruined them phsychologically.

The Treaty of Versailles (ended WWI)

2009-02-24T09:06:00.002-05:00

The treaty of Versailles affected Germany at the end of WWI mostly negatively in many ways. First of all, it limited their military power very aggresively and they were left unable to defend themselves. Also the Treaty practically destroyed their economy because as a result of the Treaty most of their produce and profit had to be sent to the Allied nations as a reparation payment. They also lost a large amount of land because of the treaty and their overseas colonies were also taken away from them so a massive amount of the German population was left living outside the new German borders. So overall Germany was forced to take the blame and all the punishments that were a result of the war and I don't think that was fair because Germany was'nt the only ones to caused damage in the war but they were forced to take the blame regardless and that's what led to the bitterness of the German population to follow. I think historians believe that the treaty led to the rise of Hitler and WWII because the treaty left Germany very vulnerable and they needed something or someone to lead them out of that time of darkness and that's where Hitler stepped in.

Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk) and the modernization of Turkey

2009-02-13T09:20:00.002-05:00

One way that Mustafa modernized Turkey was that he changed the way his people dressed and made it more modern like the Europeans and he eliminated the Fez which was a hat that they considered an object of ridicule. Another way that he modernized Turkey was he changed the way that women were viewed in their society because he stated that women had to wear covers for their faces and had to bow their heads when a man passed by in other societies and he did'nt want that level of difference between men and women in his society. For me secular means to not involve religion or sacredness in something and Mustafa made his country more secular by eliminating their sacred or religious attires and replacing it with a more modern and European-style clothing.

Film Lesson - "Gandhi"

2009-02-12T09:37:00.000-05:00

There were many ways that Gandhi helped India gain their independence from the British. Most of them had to do with all the acts of defiance that he led against the British like the salt march or the boycotts against British goods. And the most important part of these acts of defiance was that they did not involve any violence. This ensured that the world saw the British as the bad guys and not the Indians because the only people using violence was them. This method was called civil disobedience and what it did was that it allowed the Indians to disobey the british and not buy their products or follow the laws the British made and they took the punishment because they knew that eventually the british would have to change their laws because if not then the country would fall apart.
Extra Credit: I think India's independence would have come anyways without Gandhi considering that WWII was happening at the time and if the British would not give India their freedom then the U.S. and the rest of the Peace Union that was mas made at the end of the war would demand it.