The Fall of the Soviet Union is the topic I have decided to investigate

Began with Lenin ... ends with Gorbachev

Let's start off with a background story. The Soviet Union was a dream of a revolutionary called Lenin. He wanted a communist revolution and changed Russia from a monarchy to a communist state. This was during and after WWI. How could the second super power fall? Do not think it was Reagan at the Berlin wall asking to tear down that wall. No, it was more complicated than that. The Soviet Union had problems at the core with its ideology (communism), a misguided war that brought, a Trade Union, and the pope that brought down the Soviet Union.

Solidarity: Poland's stand against communism

Soviets in Afghanistan

There are two big things that contributed to the fall of Communism. One was the war in Afghanistan. Second was Solidarity in Poland. This movement began out of a protest of food prices and people were killed in Gdansk 1980. This movement began as trade union called itself Solidarity. Then there were a series of protests in Poland in the 1980s, all of them a part of the Solidarity movement. Pope John Paul II wanted the Soviet Union dissolved. So the Polish people were patriotic in having a pope back up their Solidarity movement. Poland started the idea to dissolve the Soviet Union. This protest was more successful than the Hungarian protest in the 1950's because the Soviets grew weaker politically in the 1980's. You might have known that there was a war between Afghanistan and the Soviets. This war began in 1979 and ended until 1989. It was started to keep communist party in Afghanistan but they clashed with the mujaheddin (backed by the U.S.A.). This war weakened the stagnate Soviet Union economy which lead to more unrest a home. The Russo-Afghan war is compared to the United States' Vietnam. This was just a factor leading to the fall of the Soviet Union. A weakened economy leads to reform that would end the Soviet Union.

Gorbachev the reformer

Gorbachev came to power and things changed for the Soviet Union. He implemented Glasnost and Perestroika. These reforms allowed free speech (Glasnost) and economic reform (Perestroika). These reforms would have taken place even if it wasn't Gorbachev in power. These reforms however backfired. The newly given free speech was used to criticize the Soviet Union and call for a democratic government. Also the Non-Russian Soviets were the ones who wanted the Soviet Union to dissolve from the Soviet Union more than the Russian Soviets. All regular people of the Soviet Union and Soviet Bloc countries cried for change from a communist government and its horrors. This idea was pushed by the Solidarity movement in Poland. The East Germans have the least in common of all the Soviet Bloc countries and so the disintegration starts at the fringes.

Berlin Wall Falls

The Berlin wall was a sign of oppression. It was built the keep the Soviet Berliners in their side of the wall and not let them escape to capitalist Berlin. As with all rules or restrictions people break them and there are many wild stories of getting on the other side. It was a matter of time until those words would be heard and acted upon. Ronald Reagan came to Berlin, recognizing the Soviet Union's weakness, asked to tear down the Berlin Wall. East Germany was the first Soviet Bloc country to break away from the Soviet Union. People back in the United States thought he destroyed the Soviet Union, but no, he was just lucky enough to witness the fall and to tip the Soviet Union and Soviet Bloc countries into actually dissolving.

The Soviet Union dissolved

The Soviet Union was huge. There were many soviet states that were on the fringe of Russia's old borders. Just to note these Soviet states obviously did not have Russian culture because they were not apart of the Russian Empire. So the Russian Soviets went to Russify these states through widespread propaganda and force. This Russsification was trying to limit the ethnic languages. This caused resentment and distrust within the Soviet States. One example of this limiting of ethnic expression was the Holodomor or Ukrainian Genocide in 1932-33. So in conclusion after the fall of the Soviet Union these former Soviet States are now free to participate and enjoy being a part of the Global community. Even though the Soviet Union is gone these former states still have close ties to Russia and are influenced by its bigger brother. Don't forget Georgia in 2008.

Ive learned leaders in many nations of the world face complex problems that they feel cannot be solved without international action or cooperation

Joseph Kony in the middle with the white shirt

A trail of LRA soldiers heading back to their camps

I have learned many things over this year. I learned about some national issues that need to be dealt with like how to win the war in Afghanistan and most recently the Uganda conflict. What was most shocking to me was that there was a war in Uganda now for 20 years and not many people were talking about it or noticing it. This was very shocking news that why didn't other nations help the conflict. This needs extra-national help now. Millions of lives have already been lost and no more should be killed. To solve this problem we might have to change the governments leadership from its corruption. Then reality checks in this is just modern day of the white mans burden and the west trying to solve the worlds problems. No, this won't be a an American European contingency, it should involve all of the nations to help solve this crisis.

I understand how our knowledge of the past is constructed through analysis of primary sources of many kinds

A primary source is anything that can be evidence produced during the time under study. They offer an inside view of a particular event. They are reliable accounts of the past. They are archival evidence. Types of primary sources are but not limited to biographies, diaries, email, interviews, letters, creative works, news film footage, official documents, posters, speeches, etc.

MUSEUM

Boer weapons

The picture above has a set of Boer War memorabilia. The Boer Wars were a pair of two wars As countries were looking for colonies countries conflicted. Like in South Africa, the British came there around 1880 and they saw Danish settlers already there called the Boers. Hungry for land, the British imperial machine took most of the Boer lands. So these Boers resisted their British rule in the first Boer war 1880-81. This conflict with the Boers and British is called the Boer wars. This picture came from a National Boer War Memorial association, and this is a credible source because they contain materials from the Boer war.

This political cartoon is a great representation of the white mans burden. It shows who was really carrying the burden. The rich western countries of the world dominated other lands to expand their economy. On the other hand the natives suffered under the yoke of industrial labor. For example, Indians had to work in mills and out of their house, they had to serve in the British army, and they had to be taught in British schools. Some Indians hated that because they thought that it was an attack on their culture. even though people resented the change, the new imperialism brought India out of a slump and new roads, buildings, and factories were built. This picture is public domain and was found on Wikipedia. This source may be a problem because when trying to make a case you can't go find evidence by word of mouth, there needs to be physical proof like documentation.




This photo shows how well mannered imperialists can have a jolly good time in the jungle. This picture shows us that the African bush is the backyard for adventurers. This is just a way to show the people of the home-land the exotic things of foreign lands. Also in the African jungle there was a tale of of a lost adventurer Dr. Livingstone. He was a byproduct of British influence on Africa. This picture came from a site that is recommended by the Birmingham GRID for learning, UK.




Not only did the Europeans have colonies, the U.S.A. joined in and used its big stick to meddle in Latin America and the pacific. That was U.S.A.'s imperialism. while the Americans tamed the wild west they also got involved in globally with the Spanish American War. This started out mostly because of scare tactics used by newspapers about a sunk ship of the coast of Cuba. After the war, the U.S.A. was introduced in the world stage and got territory like Puerto Rico. This picture came off of Harvard's web link archives. Harvard is a prestigious school it wouldn't plagiarize...right?

I have become more knowledgeable about the world

I. Current Events / Global Issues

Talks go nowhere, actions do

There are a lot of problems with the world today as the students learned from their presentations. There are big problems right now like the broken global economy, global warming, and human rights issues. These are all big topics that can't be explained in just a single paragraph. One Issue that the class has learned about was the issue in Uganda. There is an example of human rights violations. Children have been terrorized by the LRA and some captured to be used as children soldiers. This has been happening for about 20 years and nothing really has been done. This was a shock to me and I could not believe that the global community has done anything about it except for food aid.

II. History of the 20th century

Eventful like an explosion

The past century was eventful in a nutshell. In the beginning of the century there was still new imperialism and there were many European colonies. With nationalism stirring up turmoil in the Balkans some of the multi-ethnic empires of the world fell in WWI. Nationalism also played a role in WWII when Hitler had to unite Germany under a racist cause. This century is also plagued with many wars all over the Globe and both world wars. But with all the strife and turmoil there is some hope. Modern science advanced greatly in the 20th century and new technologies were being made all the time. There are both pros and cons to science. The nuclear fission can create energy for millions but it can also be used as a bomb. Medicine improved greatly after the 1800's and some soldiers survived their wounds. Modern science also improved agriculture through genetic engineering. The 20th century was both the best and the worst century at the same time.


III. Human Diversity

One in the same

The world is neither black nor white. Race is just an illusion. We are all human beings and nobody should be judged because they look different than you. Using race is just a quick way to categorize people and clump them into groups. Geography had to do with some of our skin deep differences. We can look back to Mr. Diamond with his theory of how the world became ruled by white people. His answer was that geography had to play a role in it.

IV. Places on earth

Extremes of the Earth

Just as people are diverse so is the world's geography. Planet earth has many different locations and no two place are exactly alike. There are extreme highs like Mount Everest and extreme lows like the Mariana trench. There are deserts both the sandy Sahara and the cold polar regions. These extremes of mother nature has inspired any people to go explore and have an adventure. These extremes have also separated people and led these divided groups of people to create their own culture

V. Cultures of the Worlds societies

It's a small word

There are six billion of us and not everyone has the same opinions and culture. As the world grows people need to be more considerate of other cultures. Lets take Japan into perspective. They seem totally weird and out there but they have different customs than we do. While we think that individualism should be expressed, the Japanese might take an offense and think that is weird. Also in many other places around the world there are different customs. When we think that belching after a meal is rude it is sometime necessary to do so to show respect to the cook. Also Muslim women have to cover themselves but that is just apart of Arabic culture. We just all have to learn to respect other cultures as we become a global community.