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 businesses.

The collapse of communism

Many things led to the fall of communism in Russia. The people were going though oppression and wanted to break free just like us over here in the west. The government wanted full control over the country but when people are always being told what do or feel they fell the need to revolt and the Government crumbles.This is what the leaders in the U.S.S.R. faced. The people of the USSR voted Communism out of the country soon this spread all over the east and communism everywhere was starting to fall.

Since Russia was no longer a communist state they decided to take down the Berlin Wall to connect the Former east Germany with West Germany. Germany was no longer divided and Germany was free from the clutches of communism once again.Today there are still communist countries, but they're economies are terrible and they rely on donations from other countries.

Nelson Mandela and Apartheid

Apartheid means the separation of races for the benefit of one. In other words, they separate races so that one race can live better and get more benefits. This is exactly what was happening in Africa. Africans were being separated from the whites in their own country. They were also being mistreated and were being harmed by the government. This was all legal and it going against it was considered unlawful or insubordinate.

Nelson Mandela was one of the people who fought to eliminate the apartheid laws in Africa. He went to jail for opposing the law, but nevertheless he fought what he felt his people deserved and he helped a lot. Thanks to him Africa got rid of these laws and voted nelson Mandela as their first black president.

African Inpendence

The Europeans basically imperilized the continent and took it for themselves. Until recently 1955-1970, Africa 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. He was a teacher who spent time studying in the united states and came back to get 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.

"The Right Stuff"

In this film they showed the Space Race. It was part of the Cold War but it was about space. The Russians were the first to put a satellite in space. The US were the first to break the sound barrier. The US began to fear that the will control the whole world. The US said they had to get something up there. The Russians were the first to built a spaceship. The US began to get people the best astronaut so fly to space. They picked 7 astronauts out of 56 pilots. We had our crew but we need a spaceship. 1961 was when we built our spaceship and instead of sending the astronauts we sent a monkey.




The Russians were the first to sent a human to space. The US was so embarrassed about this we started to put so much money to NASA. The US started to faster the Russians. Farther then the Russians.We eventually beat them by sending Neil Armstrong to the moon. We won the Space Race against Russia.

NATO and The Warsaw Pact

NATO was formed by Europe and The United States so that they could have defense alliances.If one of the countries were to be attacked by a nation the other NATO countries could come to their aid. Europe still had many economic problems so the United States were able to help them out and give them supplies. NATO stands for North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
The Warsaw Pact was a treaty between all of the countries that bordered the Soviet Union. The Warsaw pact was similar to the NATO but just for the Soviet Union. When North America and its allies found out about the Warsaw pact they knew that action would have to be take to avoid another World War.

Film Lesson: "Schindler's List"

In my perspective i think this documentary will most likely stay on my mind cause of the brutal scenes that took place in Germany. Images that will most likely stay in my mind will probably be when they where executing the Jews who tried to escape in the ghetto. They would just take any measures possible to make sure that all the Jews were dead. Another scene was when the Nazis were burning thousands of dead bodies, so much bodies that it was snowing ashes.


Schindler's list is better than night and fog in a way because it shows the emotion of the people, but these emotions are quickly shadowed by the footage of the real carnage caused by the holocaust which is shown in night and fog. Some scenes I will admit though are really strong. Like the scene were the little girl in the red dress is being carried to the giant pile of burning bodies.