Mikhail Gorbachev and The Collapse of Communism

Mikhail Gorbachev was one of the candidates to replace Leonid Brezhnev. He was elected and he wanted to change the way things were done. Mikhail didn't want a totalitarian state because he knew it wouldn't change. He decided on a policy called Glasnost. Glasnost is a policy for openness. He let the citizens decide what to do. They suggested some ideas like opening churches, publishing books of banned authors, and releasing dissidents. Peristrokia was an idea for economic reform. Glasnost wanted some people to change the economy too. Small private businesses were allowed to operate and managers controlled more of their farms and factories. Instead of the old political system, Mikhail made people choose the candidates. It made it more like a democracy instead of a communist state.

The Collapse of Communism

Communism and the USSR collapsed because Mikhail Gorbachev used glasnost and perestroika. Certain countries wanted to leave the Soviet Union and did not want to be communist anymore. The economy was worsening and Gorbachev resigned as leader. The Soviet Union turned into 15 different republics because of revolts. The Berlin Wall separated East and West Germany. People tore down the Berlin Wall because they wanted people to cross with private roads and soon everyone wanted to cross. They started breaking it with hammers and soon it fell. People were worried less about nuclear warfare. There were less communist countries to deal with.

Nelson Mandela and Apartheid

Apartheid is when black and other colored people did not have the same rights as white people in South Africa's government. He was sentenced to life in prison but was released in 27 years. Nelson also won a Nobel Peace Prize. He was the president of South Africa. He was the leader of the African National Congress. Nelson Mandela is so well liked because he helped outlaw Apartheid and helped a lot of things in South Africa. Mandela wanted everyone in South Africa to live in peace and that helped make everyone like him.

African Independence

Africa changed so much from 1955 to 1975 because a lot of the countries in Africa were trying to gain independence. World War 2 was over and Europeans wanted to give back their countries. Africa's country had many third world countries that were poorly-developed. They needed support from larger countries like the United States. Some countries have no definite form of government. Leaders helped lead some revolutions and most of them succeeded by using the examples of past revolutions. Kwame Nkrumah was a nonviolent protester who wanted Gold Coast to gain its independence. He used protests and strikes against the British. Mobutu Sese Seko wanted the Congo to be ruled by him. He overthrew Tshombe and ruled for 32 years. Ahmed Ben Bella was the leader of the Algeria National Liberation Front. The French thought they couldn't contain the rebellion and decided to make them independent.

Film Lesson: "The Right Stuff"

"The Right Stuff" was a movie about the U.S. and the USSR trying to see who would get into space first. The U.S was trying to break the sound barrier. They succeeded when a test pilot named Chuck Yeager was able to do it using the X-1. The Russians were able to get into space first with their satellite called Sputnik. They were ahead of the U.S in the space race. This made the U.S want to break new ground in space. The USSR sent a man into space but the U.S. only sent a chimp. The U.S. was trying to create rockets to get into space but they keep failing. They wanted to find astronauts so they could get a person into space and then train them so they know what to do and know how everything works. Their scientists did various tests to help prepare them for space and even a chimp was being trained. In the end, one of the pilots was able to get into space.

The scenes that will help me remember the Cold War is the reporter trying to call the news after the sound barrier was broken. Someone stops him saying that they don't want the Russians to know about it. Another scene that I remember is all of the rockets failing. Most of them couldn't get enough thrust and just blew up in midair. It showed how much time and effort was needed to get into space.

NATO and The Warsaw Pact

NATO and the Warsaw Pact were made during the Cold War. Both of them fulfilled the same purpose. They created an alliance between countries in case of an attack. If someone attacked one country, the other countries in the alliance would help the country being attacked. NATO had alliances with countries mainly in Europe and North America. The Warsaw Pact mostly consisted of the Soviet Union and its satellite countries. It had the Soviet Union, Poland, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, and Albania. NATO had the United States, the United Kingdom, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Portugal, Norway, Canada, Iceland, Denmark, France, Belgium and Italy when it was made. NATO and countries in the Warsaw Pact didn't do anything to each other except use third parties like terrorists and mercenaries. The Warsaw Pact countries disbanded after the Soviet Union was no more and when a lot of the communist governments were gone. NATO is still around today and more countries have joined NATO since then.

Film Lesson: Schindler's List

"Schindler's List" showed the holocaust in a negative way. It showed the slaughter of Jews in the Krakow ghetto and all the death in them. There is one person who did something to save the Jews. He was named Schindler and he was a Nazi, which is weird since Nazis don't usually try and save the Jewish people in the Holocaust. A reason he could have done this is because he saw the Jews being killed in Krakow. This was done so a new concentration camp called Plaszow could be made. Schindler tries and sets up a factory by collaborating with the Jewish businesses. The Jews could work in the factory and they would not be sent off to concentration camps because Schindler bribed the Nazis. The Jews were cheap labor and they helped produce products cheaply. In the concentration camps, dead bodies were burnt in ovens and their ashes would rain down on the camp. People were often worked or tortured to death.

I think that the killings in Krakow was the most powerful scene for me because many people were killed and there was dead bodies everywhere. The Jews couldn't do much about it and the Nazis wouldn't listen to them. I remember I watched "Schindler's List" back in 8th grade and I still remember the children hiding everywhere and when they sprayed the trains with a hose. I guess those scenes will stay with me because I could actually remember them.