African Independence

Film Lesson: The Right Stuff

The movie The Right Stuff was about the on going competition between Russia and US. First of all, this happened during the Cold War when the superpowers went head to head and had a competition over everything because at the end of the day one wanted to be more superior to the other. The first thing that happened is that the US and the Russians were competing on who would break the sound barrier which was 750. Fortunately the US were the first ones to break it and this made the Russians very upset. Furthermore, the Russians were the first ones to send a satellite into space. This satellite was called Sputnik and it was launched in the year of 1957 into space. A year later was when the US sent its first satellite into space. The next competition was which nation was going to be the first one to send a man to space. Due to this the U.S. created NASA which was a space program used to explore space. NASA stands for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. However, since the US believed that is was very unknown thing to send a man into space what they decided to do was to send a monkey first into space and fortunately the monkey made it. On the other hand, the Russians decided that they were going to send a man into space either way and they did making them look very advance and ahead than the US. Therefore, the people who believe that the US was the first to send a man into space are very wrong. In the movie I rememeber the chosen people to go into space go under major testing and experimenting in order to check how they can retain themselves in space compared to a monkey. The same test that the men were given, were also given to the monkey. Later in the years, the US decided to beat the Russians onto the moon and they did because Luis Armstrong was the first man on the moon. One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.

NATO and the Warsaw Pack

After World War II, the superpowers of the world decided to go head to head. Now this was actually was the Cold War however there was no actual fighting going on. In the Cold War there were two different types of organizations created. With the U.S. and other Europeans countries the organization called NATO was created in defense to Russia. which stands for North Atlantic Treaty Organization This was to created a mutual defense among all the countries in the NATO for if someone gets attacked by other countries. This organization also helped the U.S stop Russia from spreading their communist ways and from keeping Germany separated. In response to NATO, Russia created an organization called the Warsaw Pack. This organization consist of countries such as Poland (where is was signed), Albania, Hungry, and even Bulgaria. The Warsaw Pack was another mutual defense actually created in response to the creation of NATO by the U.S. Russia and U.S. went head to head with their organizations. Even though Warsaw Pack seemed more advanced with their satellites countries, the organizations later dissolved out.

Film Lesson: Schindler's List

The movies Schindler's List was about how the Jews went through the Holocaust. In this movie the Holocaust was illustrated as being very cold hearted and brutal. The movie conveyed to the viewer how the Jews were moved out of the own homes and houses into the "ghetto". Here it didn't matter if the Jews were rich or poor they still were forced and crowed into the ghetto. In the ghetto they were packed and moved in very uncomfortably. Many families tried to take as many things as they can however many lost their things because the Nazis threw them away. In the movie there was one family that placed their jewelry into a piece of bread and that piece of bread they eat so that the Nazis wouldnt take their valuable things away. Additionally in the movie the Nazis killed anyone who wouldn't listen to orders or instructions or anyone who looked sick. Also the Jews were moved from the ghetto into concentration camps where they took everything the Jews own and threw it away. If the Jews were able to work or were sick they would killed them one by one shooting them. Many of the children were killed as well which is very sad even though some would hide in the bathrooms full of nasty dirty things. In Auschwitz, the Nazis would cut off all the girls hair in order to use it for the war that was going on. It was very sad and dissapointing to see how people try to dehumanize a group of people. I would mostly remember when Schindler saw the little girl in the pink dress walking through the streets when the Jews were being sent to the concentration camps from the ghetto and then Schindler saw her dead bodies going into the hole where they would burn the bodies.

Film Lesson: Night and Fog

Night and Fog was a documentary about the Holocaust made by the French. In this documentary they showed many scenes that were actually real and that really happened. For instanced they showed the skeletons of the dead bodies. However the bodies of the Jews that were working in concentration camps were very skinny and you could actually see their bones. It was very shocking and sad to watch such strong scenes of how brutally the Jews were treated by the Nazis. In this documentary they also showed the gas chambers where the Nazis would gas lots of Jews to death. The Jews being gassed would believe they were taking a shower but once there was gas instead of water coming out of the sprinkler they knew the were about to die. There was no escape because they were locked inside. The documentary showed one of the major concentration camps which was Auschwitz and it showed the train tracks and everything. Today there only lies green grass and souls of innocence people in Auschwitz however back during the Holocaust Auschwitz was a mass murdering place. In my opinion you can not compare the movie Schindler's List to the documentary becuase now Hollywood movie no matter how real they act it out or how vivid they make it seem nothing would compare to the actual skeletons, blood, and dead bodies of what really happened.

The Treaty of Versailles

The Treaty of Versailles was based on World War I and Germany was the country to take all the blame for it. This Treaty was actually signed in France and symbolizes the end of WWI. The Treaty of Versailles forced and had Germany obligated to pay a compensation for all the destruction of the war. In other words, the Treaty of Versailles affected Germany in a very bad way. For instance, Germany lost 10 percent of its land and all of its overseas colonies to the Allies which were France, British, and American. In addition to losing so much land, the Germans also lost about 12.5 percent of their own people. So some German people were not even living in Germany territory. In result to the treay, Germany's economy became even worse after the war because they couldn't recover themselves because they had so much money to pay the allies. Their produce and profit were entirely used as payments to the allies. The Germans lost military power and were soon into a recession. Since Germany was very desperate to recover and to put revenge on the allies, the treaty actually lead to WWII and the rise of Adolf Hitler and also facism.

Mustafa Kemal Ataturk and the Modernization of Turkey

Mustafa Kemal was one of those leaders who lead his country such as turkey to total independence from the Ottoman Empire. He, Mustafa Kemal became President of Turkey for 15 years and during those 15 he modernize Turkey using sweeoing reforms and many other notions. He wanted to give Turkey a sense of dignity, equality, and happiness. As president he created the "6 Arrows" which include republicanism, populism, secularism, reformism, nationalism, and statism. He also allowed Moslem majority and small minorities free to practice their faith and what ever they wanted. Most of his reforms were full of secular instructions and he believed that in freedom and equality for all and even though the peasants were less of social class he also believed that they were a big part of society. In the modernization, Mustafa changed the way people wore clothes and also he declared that the religious beliefs should have nothing to do with the governments actions. In other words a secular government.

Film Lesson "Gandhi"

At one point in time India was ruled and controlled by Great Britain. However Mahatma Gandhi was a significant figure who helped India gain Independence. Gandhi was a very important leader in India. He was one of those leaders who believed in non-violence. However he strongly believed in passive resistance, in civil disobidence and in helping India gets its Independence from Britian. Gandhi led many boycotts and non-violent actions. He encourage people in India to stop buying the British cloth and to make and weave their own clothes. Gandhi himself, spent hours per day making his clothes. In additon to that boycott, the British only allowed the Indians to buy salt from the British only. Therefore Gandhi marched with other hundreds of Indians to the edge of India in order to make their own salt. In the movie whenever the Indians went behind Gandhi's back and used violence, Gandhi would take it upon himself and he would fast until the Indians would stop using violence and being to use civil diobidence again. Gandhi went to jail many times and he was placed in jail by the British however whenever he came out he still went back to helping get India's Independence.

The Opium Wars

The Opium Wars were wars between Great Britan and China. These wars were due to the drug opium and that is why they were called the Opium Wars. Great Britan wanted to balance out their tea trade with China however since China was a self-sufficiant country, China in reality wanted nothing to trade with Great Britan even though they used gold and silver, they couldn't find anything else to trade. This is when Great Britan began to import opium into China from India. The Chinese people bought it very easily. However even though during the 15- century, opium was first used as medicine to treat diseases such as dysentery, cholera, and diarrhea, the British promoted opium in China as being smoked as a drug.

Each year about 2 million pounds of opium were being sold in China. This affected China very much because it weakened its population due to the fact that nearly 10 percent of the people in China were smoking opium. It also affected China ecomonically because of the large amount of resources used to pay for the opium. The illegal selling of opium became a big problem in China because even the Chinese government accepted brides from the British and became corrupted themselves. During the war, when China discovered the opium selling, the British attacked China in a very unexpected way. Due to the fact that China was not ready for these attacks and being that they weren't as advanced as Great Britan, the British won the war and China was forced to sign a treaty called the Treaty of Nanjing. This treaty not only ended the war but also opened more ports in China for the British.

Film Lesson: "Mountains on the Moon"

The Europeans faced many hardships while exploring Africa and trying to find the source of the Nile River. For once, the Europeans had to deal with the tribes in Africa. Theses tribes would destroy where the Europeans would sleep and threaten the explorartion of Richard Burton and John Speak. John Speak got captured once by a tribe and was stable in both legs. As f0r Richard Burton he got sa speare right through. As the explorartion conttinued the Europeans had to deal with the wild animals as well. For instance, Richard Burton saved a run away slave from a pair of tigers. However if it wasnt for John Speak being as backup Burton would have been attacked or even killed by the furious lion. The source of the Nile River is called Lake Victoria and it is named after a British Queen. It is very weird that it is still named Lake Victoria because Queen Victoria has been dead for many years now. The Europeans were able to conquer Africa due to the fact that they were very advance in technology. For instance, the Europeans had weapons and gun and they also had alot of money and tools to hunt. In additon the Europeans also had slaves to do all the dirty work.

The Meiji Restoration of Japan

Japan is an archipelago which means that it is made up of many different little islands. The country of Japan was basically isolated from the rest of the world for a long period of time. Japan had no interaction with the outside world and they did want to either. However Mathew Perry was sent to Japan in order to get goods from them. Mathew Perry wanted to water and coal for their ships and their trade with China. These Americans also wanted to open the doors for Japan it would not be an isolated country anymore. The Japanese did not want to sign the treaty of trade but since they didn't want the Americans to destroy their country, they actually ended up signing the treaty of trade. In other words, Japan was sort of forced to sign the treaty of trade. After they signed it, they were no longer isolated from the world because they now started to trade with Russia, China, Britan, and France. As Japan began to trade more their economy grew and went up because they weren't relying on only themselves anymore. As the economy grew the government began to change and dissolve. The government was now militarize and Japan became more industrialized and commercialized due to the western political and economic influences.

Karl Marx and Communism

Karl Marx saw that because of the Industrial Revolution the only people that were moving forward and becoming rich were the owners of factories and businesses. However, the people who worked long hours and under horrible conditions were getting no where. He believed that everyone should have the same pay in other words equality. He also believed that the workers should be the ones controlling the factories and farms instead of the landlords or that the workers should united and cause a revolution. Karl Marx stated that the wealth should be distributed "from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs." Karl Marx believed that capitalism and other governments were only for the rich people because they were the only ones in power and the only ones that had the most money. With communism everyone would have the same pay and no one would own any property. This meant that there would not be any social classes what so ever.

Karl Mark and the Industrial Revolution

Karl Mark was a man who didn't appreciate or like the Industrial Revolution. He believed that the workers were being treated very unfairly and the wage they were getting paid were very low. He also believed that the factories were in very harsh conditions and very dangerous. Karl Mark realized that the factory owners were the only ones getting rich while the workers just worked and worked but continued to be poor. He called the factory owners bougeoisie and the workers or middle class were called the proletarians. This led Karl Marx to develop Communism because he wanted to end the fact that the bougeoisie were the only ones with all the power. He wanted everyone to be equal in pay and in power.

Nationalism and the Creation of Italy

Nationalism is basicly the pride and loyalty someone has towards his or her country. It is also rooting for or belonging to a certain country. Nationalism could be define by the rights someone has in his/her country, or someones culture, living within define borders, common languages and religion and also the country's history. I am nationalistic because as an American I root for the U.S when its is against other countries or even in competitive sports. In addition, I also celebrate common holidays such as the 4th of July, Christmas and even Thanksgiving. Furthermore, I am also Dominican, therefore I celebrate the Dominican Independence on February 27 and I also go to the Dominican parade.

Nationalism was a very big thing in many countries such as Italy however its states were separated. The people of Italy were becoming very tired of being ruled by other people outside of Italy. Famous people such as Giuseppe Mazzini believed that Italy should be united and freed from the Kings and nobles. This led Mazzini to create a group to help unite Italy.

Simon Bolivar and Latin American Revolutions

Simon Bolivar also known as "the Liberator" accomplished many significant things. First of all Simon Bolivar was born on July 24, 1783 in Caracas, Venezuela. There he lived with his parents, unfortunately his parents died during his teens. Simon Bolivar received a good education in Caracas and also in Spain as well. After his wife's death, Simon Bolivar began to travel a lot into France and Italy. There he study the philosophies of people such as Rousseau, Locke, and Voltaire. Before arriving back to Caracas Simon Bolivar stopped in the United States at the same time that the U.S. had won their independence from Great Britain. This inspired Simon Bolivar and made him convince that is was time for Venezuela's independence from Spain. In addition, he also went to London as well as the United States and studied their system of governments. In London he searched for support for a revolution in South America. When he came back to Venezuela he created a revolutionary army and fortunately after some early defeats, he was able to beat the Spanish and win independence for Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Panama, Ecuador, and Bolivia. His surprise attacks and wise decisions led him to his victory.

Robespierre and The Reign of Terror

As the French Revolution continued, the king, the nobles, the lords and the the clergy began to lose most of their power over the people in poverty or the lower class men. However the people who were gaining power in France were now becoming greedy and power-hungry. During this time a legislative assembly was set up for the king to share power with but the king didn't agree with that. In results, the Jacobins end up cutting the king's head off for being accused of treason. Around this time, many people's head was cut off using an execution machine called the guillotine. This machine was used with the people found to go against the new government or even people following the old one as well.

Later, Maximilien Robespierre rose up in power. He was the one who came up with the Reign of Terror because during this time the people lived with this fear and terror of their heads being the next one to get cut off (that is how extreme things were). Robespierre as dictator of France did anything and everything he can to get rid of the old government or the old monarchy. For instance, the calendar was changed and Sunday was deleted from the days of the week because they believed religion was now "old fashion." In addition, kings, queens, and jacks were removed and placed with faces of revolutionaries.

Even though Robespierre had so much power, he didn't use it in the right way. The reason why is because people were afraid of getting their heads cut off for really no reason at all. Therefore, Robespierre was arrested and his head was cut off (what goes around comes around) and there ended the Reign of Terror.

The French Revolution

1) Many people in France were critical of the nobility, the king, and the clergy because the king had absolute power. In addition the peasants had to pay taxes and feudal dues to the lord, the king, and also the church. Furthermore, the peasants had no privilages in society even though they made up about 90% of France population.

2) In the year of 1978 a French peasant might have complained about how poor he or she was due to the fact that they had to pay taxes to the upper class men. Additionally, the peasants had to pay the lord in order for them to use their mills, ovens, and winepress. Also the peasants where the ones with the smallest income in France.

3) The cartoonist point in this image is that the upper class men such as the clergy and the lords live of the taxes and the feudal dues of the peasants and that is because in overall, everything that the peasants earn eventually will go to the lord and the Church. The quote " One hopes this will end," means that the peasants believe that one day the king will not have absolute power and that there wouldn't be no more heavy taxes for the peasants to pay.

4) The author of the source B describes the life of a peasants as stressfull and awful with alot of dues. The reason why is because a peasant family only with a morsel of land, a cow, and a horse had to pay feudal dues to two lords and in addition to that they had to pay taxes to the king. Some of the feudal dues include chickens, and a lot of kg of wheat and oats

5) Sources A, B, and C do explain why the peasants resented the rich people because in source C the document conveys that a peasant only make 200 livres a year while a priest would make 10,000 a year. Another reason the peasants would resent the rich people because in source B it states how a family of peasants had to pay so much taxes that they said " the taxes and feudal dues are crushing us," because they had to pay 20kg of wheat and 3 chickens as dues to one lords. To another lord they had to pay 60kg of oats, one chicken, and five pence not including the taxes they had to pay the king.

6) Rousseau's writing would mostly influenced the peasants the most because in Rousseau's writing he conveys that no one has the power to have total control over other people and that in order to achieve something through force such as feudal dues is sort of a violation of the human rights.

7) I believe that the pamphlet was banned by the clergy and the lord (nobility) because they were the ones who were charging these heavy dues and also they were the ones who were living off of the peasants hard work. Furthermore, the king, the nobility, and the clergy all believed in absolute power over the poor people.

John Locke and "The Enlightment"

John Locke was a very influencial person in history especially in the time of "The Enlightment". He as philosopher his notions and ideals influenced Thomas Jefferson when he wrote for the Declaration of Independence. In the Declaration of Independence, John Locke believed that everyone was given rights by God. These rights include Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of happiness. In addition, the Declaration states that in order for the people to keep these rights that a government should be establish and if the government voilates or destructes the rights of the people, then and only then the people should go against it and abolish the government. Additionally, the people have the power to overthrow a government that abuses the human rights of the people. In other words people are the ones that have most of the power due to the fact the we could go against anything and reconstruct it in a more suitable way for the people to live in.

Copernicus and the Trial of Galileo

The theories of geocentric and heliocentric have brought a big controversy for the people and their prespective on how life was created for many of years. Before the Scientific Revolution started many people believed that the Earth was the center of the universe and the all the planets and the stars including the Sun orbited around the Earth. This theory is called the Geocentri theory. However. after the Scientific Revolution some people believed that is wasn't the Earth that was the center of the universe but the Sun was the center of the universe and that everything including the planet Earth moved around the Sun. This theory was brought up by a person named Nicolas Ccpernicus. Copernicus examed the motions of outer space and came up with the heliocentric theory. However not many people believed the heliocentric theory due to the fact that Copernicus didn't have much evidence to prove his point. Therefore many people continued to believe in the geocentric theory and didn't accpet the heliocentric theory. In addition the Roman Catholic Church never accepted the theory of the Sun being the center of the universe up until their were advancements in mathematics and physics took place.

The trial of Galileo was one of the conflicts that had to do with the argument of what was the center of the universe the sun or the Earth. Galileo Galilei was one of the people who just like Copernicus believed that the Earth was not the center of the universe but however the sun was and that the planets including the Earth revolved around the sun. Galileo was put on trial by the Roman Catholic Church for promoting the heliocentric theory in his book. In other words, going against the belief of the church and against the interpretation of the bible. The church believed that the Earth was the center of the universe and therefore Galileo was found guilty and sentenced to house arrest.

Scientific Revolition: The Scientific Method

Before the Scientific Revolution, people got their notions about science from the Ancient Greeks and Romans which of course is where we got our basic ideas that led to greater and more acurate ideals today. Not only did people believed in the Ancient Greeks and Romans before but they also believed in the words of the bible and also they followed the ideas from the religion of Christianity.

However, the Scientific Revolution exposed the people to a new way of thinking that proved or unproved the ideas that everyone had. Scientis began to experiment their ideas about the world and science in order to reach a conclusion that is as acurate as possible. These experiments were conducted through a method called the Scientific Method. The Scientific Method is based on a number of steps in order to reach a final solution or conclusion.

The first step of the Scientific Method is the problem or question of the idea or theory at hand. The next step is called the hypothesis. Here the person doing the experiment will come up with a educated guess (a prediction) about the experiment which has to do with how the scientist believes the experiment will conclude. Then, the scientist would test his/her experiment more than once to have results that are more acurate. Afterwards, he/she would observe and collect the data and results of the experiment and reach a conclusion.

For instance, if I would want to use the Scientific Method to find out which object has more density a dice or a wooden cube. First I would make an hypothesis which is that I believe that the wooden cube would be more denser because the wooden block ways more. Then I would proceed to conduct the experiment. After I'm done with the experiment I would collect my data (results) and reach a conclusion.