Omy's Global Blog

Mikhail Gorbachev and the collapse of Communism

2008-05-05T05:07:00.002-07:00

Mikhail Gorbachev slowly opened up the Soviet government through Glasnost and other mild reforms. Glasnost allowed the people of the Soviet Union to speak freely and Churches to open. Another idea Gorbachev had was called Perestroika. Perestrokia was an economic reform which gave managers control over their Farms and Factorys. All of these reforms began to make other Eastern European nations change their way of thinking too. Eventually communism fell all across Europe leading to Germany's reunification.

Nelson Mandela and Apartheid

2008-04-18T05:16:00.001-07:00

Apartheid was the segregation in South Africa. There were three terms used for non-whites in the system. Bantu which was Black, and colored or indian for people of mixed race. Until 1990 many places like banks or even bathrooms were made to be used by only one of the Apartheid Races. In 1994 the Apartheid system was finally completley abandoned after years of boycott and violence.

African Independence

2008-04-16T05:18:00.000-07:00

Following the end of World War II many African nations felt they should no longer be ruled by the Europeans, Some nations like the British helped set up a power transfer from themselves to the people of their colonies. Other Nations like Portugal refused and eventually left their colonies in a state of disrepair. The first colony to achive its indepndence was The Gold Coast which became known as Ghana. Thanks to their leader Kwame Nkrumah and help from the British Ghanawas able to prosper for sometime until their economy collapsed.After that power switched hands often until the first elections in 2000. In Angola a colony of the Portugese it was much worse as Portugal was unwilling to give up their colonies. The Portugese left in 1975 without giving power to anyone. This led to a major civil war between the MPLA and UNITA. In 1995 talks began between the two parties but they broke down and the civil war still continues.

Film Lesson: "Schindler's List"

2008-03-20T05:12:00.000-07:00

"Schindler's List" shows the Holocaust just how it occurred with Hollywood drama and some fiction thrown in. The most powerful scene had to be when the Nazi Army was killing and moving everyone out of the Krakow ghetto. Seeing people fight for hiding spots under the floor, in ovens, and even in the back of a piano it showed how much the Jewish people feared the Nazi's and what they threatened to do to them. I doubt I will forget the scene when the Nazi's separate the women and children because they are going to be killing them. It let the viewer see how ruthless the Nazi army was.

Film Lesson: "Night and Fog"

2008-03-20T05:04:00.000-07:00

"Night and Fog" was pretty good for a documentary it blended the footage of Auschwitiz 10 years after the holocaust with the little amount there was of video of Auschwitiz during the Holocaust. "Schindler's List" had better scenes since they actually created footage and had the footage work for them instead of writing for the footage. "Night and Fog" depicts the Holocaust in a more realistic way since it is a documentary and "Schindler's List" had some drama and fiction worked into it.

Mustaf Kemal (Ataturk) and the Modernization of Turkey

2008-02-08T05:19:00.000-08:00

Mustaf Kemal was the first Turkish president after the fall of the Ottoman Empire. He was able to modernize Turkey in the 15 years he served as president through 6 beliefs. Mustaf believed in Republicanism, Populism, Secularism, Reformism, Nationalism, and Statism. Mustaf Kemal deep belief in Secularism meant that State and Religion were divided. He also divided Religion from other affairs like the legal system and Education. One of Mustafs sayings was "Peace at Home, Peace in the World" Turkey was able to stay out of conflicts during Mustaf and his presidency.

Mustaf made many reforms including a Language reform. In five months Mustaf was able to change the old Arabic Script to the Latin alphabet. This is something that could have easily taken 5 years or more. Mustaf also launched reforms for Womens Rights. He gave them the same opportunities as Men had including political rights.

Mustaf not only led a political reform as president but a full Cultural Revolution in Turkey. He was able to modernize and make Turkey secular in only 15 years.

Film Lesson "Ghandi"

2008-02-07T05:09:00.000-08:00

Mahatma Gandhi was a main figure in India's history as he helped shape the future of the country. Gandhi fought for the independence of India from British rule through a series of civil disobedience campaigns. Ghandi advocated a nonviolence which was called Ahimsa. In 1930 he led a march to the sea, where they evaporated the water to produce salt as a protest to the british salt tax. Ghandi had a vast amount of power in india. Many times he fasted as a form of protest as a revolution could easily break out if he died.

Ghandi had a philosophy of non-violence which he followed strictly. He used it very well and easily to his advantage. Ghandi hoped that Britain would also find violence useless and would leave India. He used fasting many times since the British could not let him die.

Even if Ghandi hadn't taken up this cause India would probably be free from british rule today it may have just taken longerand possibly more violent.

Ghandi was assasinated on January 30, 1948 in New Delhi by a Hindu fanatic who disliked Gandhi's idea that Muslims and Hindus were equal.

Causes of World War I

2008-01-04T07:47:00.000-08:00

World War I began because of the Assassination of Franz Ferdinand and the rising rivalries between the European nations. Nationalism and Militarism played a big part in starting World War I. Nationalism is when someone is extremely loyal to a nation. This led to many rivalries between countries and conflicts between the nations who wanted to get back their lost territories. Militarism is when a nation is dedicated to maintaining their Armies strong and powerful. Great Britain and Germany competed to have the largest navies.

Alliances played a big part in WWI, Alliances are when a group of nations form a Military Agreement. Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy formed the Triple Alliance. Great Britain,France,and Russia formed the Triple Entente.

The Opium Wars

2007-12-14T07:47:00.000-08:00

"The White Man's Burden"

2007-12-10T07:43:00.000-08:00

The white man's burden is the idea that the Caucasian people were supposed to help and teach the other races how to act and live. I agree that people who are wealthier should help those less fortunate but it should have nothing to do with race.

The scramble for Africa

2007-12-05T07:44:00.000-08:00

The scramble for Africa was during the late 1800's and early 1900's when European countries began dividing up Africa. The countries that divided up Africa were France, Britain, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, and Italy. The European countries wanted Africa for its untapped natural resources. The reason that the Europeans were able to conquer the African people was because they has many technologies like guns that the Africans had never seen before. This scramble hurt many African people because it broke alliances between tribes and placed enemies together.

The Meiji Restoration of Japan

2007-11-27T07:45:00.000-08:00

The Meiji era of Japan is considered to be their version of the industrial revolution. Matthew Perry was an American Commodore whi in 1853 visited Japan with a fleet of four warships. He had a request from the American government for Japan to open up its ports and allow them to restock their ships with Coal, Water and other things they may have needed. The Japanese had been in isolation for hundreds of years and were both imprssed and scared of the massive ships, because of that fear Matthew Perry was able to bully Japan into signing the treaty.

Durring the Meiji era Japan's econonomy was bumpy. When the foreigners first arrived the economy began to fail as American and European products were being sold at lower prices than Japanese products. The foreign products were also of better quality than the Japanese products. The Japanese were able to finally modernize when the emperor Meiji began his reign in 1868. The Japanese decided to take a the best parts of the strongest modern nations while avoiding the mistakes most of them made. This industrialized and modernized Japan.

An Archipelago is a chain or group of islands

The French Revolution: Social Causes

2007-09-27T07:46:00.000-07:00

The French Revolution was caused by the social changes following the enlightenment. The three classes (The clergy,Nobility, and Everyone else). The Third Class absorbed many of the Enlightenment ideas(Democracy, Freedom)and wanted to put them in place. The French people wanted more representation in the estates general since they only got one vote yet the 2%(the Nobles/Clergy)Of the population got two votes. On the 14th of July the French people stormed The Bastile. Bastile had many weapons and amunition, The bastile was also a symbol of the tyranny within the monarch.

Copernicus and the Trial of Galileo

2007-09-11T07:44:00.000-07:00

Durring Galileo's time many people belived that the sun and everything revolved around the Earth. This was called Geocentrism, Galileo bellived that the Earth actually revolved around the sun. This is called Heliocentrism. Galileo's belifes in the Heliocentric system caused him many problems with the church. He was placed on trial and was sent to prison for his belife in the Heliocentric idea. His books, along with Copernicus and Kepler's were put on the banned reading list.

Scientific Revolution: Scientific Method

2007-09-10T07:50:00.000-07:00

The Scientific Revolution led to many changes in the way people thought. Many of Aristole's theory's were widly accepted until around the year1 1500. The Scientific Revoltion challenged the old theory's proving many like Aristole's theory that heavier objects fell faster than lighter ones. Galileo and many other modern scientists used the Scientific Method to challenge the older theories.

The Scientific Method has four steps Observation, Analisis, Hypothesis, and Experimentation. Each step allows a scientist to conduct an experiment without bias since they must choose what they belive will be the outcome. Observation is when you well observe the subject you will be conducting experiments on. Analisis is when you gather your thoughts to be begin forming a Hypthesis. You Hypothesis is an educated guess on what the outcome of your experiment will be. The Experiment phase is the final one where you actually conduct the experiment.

Evolution VS Creationism

2007-09-06T07:50:00.000-07:00

Evolution vs Creationism is a dispute over the origins of humanity and life on earth. The theory of Evolution came from a man named Charles Darwin. Creationism is based on the events of the Book Genesis.

Evolution is based on the idea that we all have one common ancestor. The idea is that we all evolved from simple organisms through beneficial genetic mutations. The organisms with the new beneficial traits passed it down to their offspring. The organisms without the new beneficial mutation died out leaving the stronger organisms. This is called Natural Selection. Natural Selcetion preserves the new beneficial mutations while getting rid of the weaker organisms.

Creationism is based on the events of the book Genesis(for Jewish and Christian people) and the Qur'an(for Muslim people). It states that God created everything there is and that the world reshaped the world using floods. There is also another kind of Creationism "Progressive Creationism" where no floods occured. Intelligent Design is another form of creationism where the universe was created by divine intervention.