Jeff's Global Blog

African Independance

2010-04-28T11:15:00.000-07:00

There was a major change in Africa during 20 years. Many countries gained independance during these times. Some major countries within this revolution included South Africa, Zimbabwe, Algeria, and Sudan. The leaders of the revolutions were different in different countries. Nelson Mandela was responsibke for South Africa's independance, and Jomo Kenyata was the main headfigure in Kenya's independance.

Film Lesson: "The Right Stuff"

2010-04-14T11:33:00.000-07:00

Competitions were about with first man on moon and first nation to have a satellite in space. The competition was between the United States and Russia. They wanted to see who could land on the moon first.. The russians in this competition where winning only because they were ahead of the United States in technology. The Russians were the first to be in space, but United States had the first person to land on the moon because the NASA got funded a lot so they made a better spaceship to land before Russia did. The part of this film that helped me remember this cold war event is when America found out that russia had a man on space; they were devistated. That's one of the things I wouldn't forget. Also the Russians set up the first satellite in space. Something else they competed was they wanted to see who can brake the sound barrier first.

NATO and The Warsaw Pact

2010-04-14T11:25:00.000-07:00

NATO stands for the (North Atlantic Treaty Organization). The NATO was created by The United States and various European countries. If a country would attack a country that was with NATO, all of those other countries would defend the country.

In response to this, the Warsaw pact was created. In May 1955, the USSR (Old name for Russia) made the Warsaw Treaty to the scare of the Federal Republic of Germany into NATO in October 1954. This pact would not be powerful unless the Soviet Union was part of it. Back then, the only two superpowers in the world was the United States and the Soviet Union. Unlike NATO, the Warsaw Pact was getting weaker because of the political scene of Russia towards the 80s and it fully dissolved in the 90s.

The ones who created Warsaw pact were USSR and 8 other communist countries.

The countries in NATO were France, United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Portugal, Italy, Norway, Denmark, and Iceland

Film Lesson: "Schindler's List"

2010-03-24T11:40:00.001-07:00

Schindler's List showed a great deal on important information about the holocaust. It showed how barbaric and horrible the Nazis were. Especially to the Jews. They did the most cruel things to the jews. the drove them out of their homes. It was from their homes, to the ghetto, to the working camps, to the death camps. which was the last stage when they were losing the war. It showed how they divided the jews acording to gender and age. if your old enough to work, they would take you to work. if your old, a woman or a child, they would kill you off. They woman and childern ahd a same chance of living depending on the camp , but the old was killed regardless. The ones who died died from starvation , being shot, burned or gassed. No mercy was being shown.
Some of the most horrible , cruel things i saw was when the people were hiding in the town after the raid. When they thought they were safe then started to come out, only realizing that the Nazis were waiting for them. The soliders killed them in cold blood. With no mercy. They didnt care if you were young,old,man, child, woman, pretty or ugly. They killed you off regardless. They felt like it was the right thing to do and that it was their job. They thought of it as fun and amusing. The most powerful film out ofnthe two of them was night and fog. it had actual footage and showed the acutal terrors that happened. It made you feell like you were actually there.

Film Lesson: "Night and Fog"

2010-03-23T11:22:00.000-07:00

When i saw the movie "night and fog" it seemed like any other holocaust documentary. Showing the dark and gritty camps. But when the pictures of the dead bodies started to pile up, it all just opened my eyes EVEN MORE on how much death and destruction came out of the holocaust. These nazis conducted sick, repulsive, experiments on the jews in this camp. and the way to dispose of the bodies was completely inhumane. Mass graves of people, women and young children included, were also shown in the film. There are many scenes in this movie that are similar to a movie called "Schindlers list", which deals with the same topic. I think that "Night and Fog" illustrates the holocaust more accuratley because it shows actual scenes of the holocaust.

The Treaty of Versailles (Ended WW1)

2010-02-25T11:23:00.000-08:00

The Treaty of Versailles was the single document that put an end to World War 1, known as the Great War at the time. But with this document, came forth more hate and controversy. This document stated that Germany was the main cause of all loss in WW1, so they had to pay heavy reparations and practically all of their foreign colonies were taken away from them. This devastated the German government and economy, practically eliminating them. In my opinion, I think this was a reasonable arrangement, instead of eliminating their entire country, they let them be in shambles. But as people say, when all is lost, there is always that one cockroach that survived, or something like that. Well anyway, that was the case in Germany after the Treaty of Versailles. Adolf Hitler, a Austria-Hungarian, started to make speeches on how the entire country can rise again, by eliminating anybody that is not part of the 'superior race'. Many historians bicker that the Treaty of Versailles was the main reason for the rise of Hitler and Fascism.

Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk) and the Modernization of Turkey

2010-02-24T11:15:00.000-08:00

The word secular means of or pertaining to worldy things, basically non-religious. Mustafa Kemal (aka Ararurk) was a turk who was basically the first president of modern turkey. Think of him as a George Washington figure. He wasnt really fond of the Turkish way of life at the time, which was almost completly circled around religion. When he became the leader he passed various laws and promoted several different styles. To rid of the religious influence in Turkey, he showed the Turks how to dress as their neighbors the Europeans. Instead of a robe with a fez, he said to wear a shirt, jacket, pants and a brimmed hat. Not only did he change the Turks' fashion sense, but he also changed some of their laws. He actually banned the wearing of a fez, a religious sort of headgear. He applied new governmental ways to the current Turkish one. He applied more secular themes to these Coesxisting laws.

Film Lesson "Gandhi"

2010-02-11T11:17:00.000-08:00

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, or Gandhi for short, the standalone reason for India's independence. He used methods such as civil disobedience to attempt to stop England's tyranny towards India. These methods that Gandhi used were non-violent, yet effective protests. He was a gifted speaker and influenced many Indians to unite and put an end to British rule. Even though his protests were peaceful, he still was arrested countless times by the police. This was pretty much one of the biggest benefits of using non violent procedures. When the British arrested Gandhi and other non-violent protesters, they were making themselves look bad, arresting harmless men. After a while, the British had enough of the Indian people, they decided to grant India it's independence. All of this would not have been made possible if it weren't for people like Gandhi.

The Russian Revolution

2010-01-13T09:54:00.000-08:00

The Russian Revolution is the collective term for the series of revolutions in Russia in 1917, which destroyed the Tsarist autocracy and led to the creation of the Soviet Union. The Russian Revolution of 1917 is also called the Bolshevik Revolution or the October Revolution. In 1917 there were actually two revolutions in Russia. One was the February Revolution in which the Tsar abdicated his throne and the Provisional Government took power. The other was the October Revolution in which the Provisional Government was overthrown by the Bolsheviks.
During the Russian Revolution, the Russian got involted into World War I, and during that time, when they were fighting to the Germany, they were losing so badly, lots of the people were kill during the war. Bolsheviks was the leader of the Russian Revolution, the reason that the revolution starts because of the people were tiredof the government so they wanted a change.

Causes Of WWI

2010-01-13T09:53:00.001-08:00

There were multiple factors that caused WW1. One of then was when Francis Fernidad was assassinated by a Serbian nationalist on June 28, 1914 in Sarajevo, Bosnia. After that Austria-Hungary was able to find an excuse to make Serbia an enemy and declare war on them. Even the Germans pressured Austria-Hungary. Other factors that caused WW1 was imperialism. The Industrial Revolution forced European nations to go overseas and search for raw materials to make products. European nations got some of their raw materials from Africa, and the European nations competed for land in Africa. Britain and France talked things out, but later on there were tension between Germany, Britain, and France. Even becoming allies were one of the factors. The Triple Alliance was formed which was composed of Austria-Hungary, Germany, and Italy. While they were allies Germany and Italy were suspicious of each other because of the Balkans.

Opium Wars - Imperialism in China

2010-01-13T09:40:00.000-08:00

The Opium war was one of the very first and biggest drug war in the world. Actually, there were two Opium Wars. The wars lasted from 1839 top 1842.The main reason why the Opium Wars began was because of opium. Opium is a drug that comes from the juice of poppy seedpods. It could also be used form making heroine. Tea was very popular in Europe and the place where the British got their tea from was from China. China only had one place for the British to trade with which was the Canton port. The British always bought tea from the Chinese, but they now wanted to sell things to China. So to even out things the Bristish introduced the drug, opium, to the Chinese people. The British got opium from India. Opium was first used as a medical drug in China. It was used to treat some diseases like diarhhea. It was also used for making people more active and for sex. Later on, the British taught the Chinese that they could smoke opium by mixing it with tobacco. In the 18th centry the Chinese started to abuse and get addicted to opium. So much people were getting addicted to opium that 10% of the Chinese people smoking opium. This lead to the many deaths of the Chinese people. Emperor Daoguang then chose Lin Tse-Hsua to create an anti-opium campaign. it was to stop the use of opium activity like the use, selling, buying, and importing of opium. Chests of Opium were destroyed and thrown away. The use of Opium was also considered illegal. Users of opium would be executed. A letter was also sent to the Queen of England. However, the letter was unable to reach the queen becuase the messenger was killed. The first opium war started in November, 1839 because the British took over Hong Kong. The Chinese lost the first war becuase the were behind when it came to technology. As a result the Chinese were forced to sign the Treay of Nanjing. This was the end of the first Opium War. Another Opium War was caused becuase of the violation of a few treaties. After that war the Chinese signed the Treaty of Tiangin. The treaties were eventually abolished when communism came in to China.

Film Lessons: "Mountains of The Moon."

2009-12-10T09:38:00.000-08:00

In "Mountains of the Moon", the European geographers went to Africa to search for the source of the Nile River and half- heartedly found it. The technological advantage they had was that they had better weapons and other utilities than the Africans who used spears and other ancient technology. They were able to conquer Africa easily because the Europeans had better weapons that are more advanced and the Africans relied on ancient weapons. On their expedition they faced many hardships and most of their crew eventually ended up dyeing. Some of the hardships they face was getting through Africa since most of it was uncharted so they were going into the unknown. Another hardship they faced was meeting other tribes along the way some that attacked them and some became allies. The next hardship was the conditions in the desert insects such as mosquito that carry malaria. It is strange that Victoria Falls is named after a British queen because the land that it is in is Africa and not a European country.

Imperialism Project

2009-12-07T09:21:00.000-08:00

We did this project on imperialism to be more informed on how popular this system was. We learned that many european countries practiced imperialism to spread out their own influences. We also learned that the Europeans spread out from South America, to the Middle East. The main reason for the political expansion was for the Area's Natural resources. In Africa, the main export was gold, oil, and Ivory. From North America came corn, beans, and other various produce.

Simon Bolivar and Latin American Revolutions

2009-11-19T09:35:00.001-08:00

Simon Bolivar helped Latin America gain its Independence from Spain who was ruled by a French monarch. He is famous because he helped liberate most of Latin America. He also helped form a government like they did in the United States and France. He has a country named after him because he helped gain independence in Latin American. Simon Bolivar helped defeat Spain durring the Latin American Revolution and fought for independence. The major inspiration during his mission was the United States who gained their independence from Britain, and the French who also formed a new government.

Copernicus and the Trial of Galileo

2009-10-05T13:16:00.000-07:00

The Geocentric theory is the theory that came first, but was not exactly the most accurate theory. This theory states that the earth is located in the center of the universe, while everything else revolved around the earth. On the other hand, the Heliocentric method is pretty much the opposite. Coming out of the scientific revolution, it is the theory that the sun is in the center of the universe, and the other planets and stars revolve around the sun. With present day standards, it seems that the heliocentric theory is the correct theory.

On April 12, 1633, Galileo was on trial and had to be tried in front of 10 cardinals of the catholic church. He believed that the Earth revolved around the Sun (Otherwise known as the heliocentric theory). The Church, however, denied these claims and believed that the Sun revolves around the Earth. According to one Father Firenzuola, Galileo was not supposed to learn, or teach this sort of theory. In the end, he confessed in a sarcastic (?) way that he was wrong and the church was right.

Scientific Revolution: The Scientific Method

2009-09-17T09:45:00.000-07:00

The scientific method is, in short, a way to inquire about something and to determine whether or not the question has a solution. First we must think of what we want an answer to. then we form up a theory or a hypothesis. Then we conduct the experiment, recording down the result as the experiment is taking place. After the experiment, we observe the results and form a conclusion to whether or not we have solved the inquiry.
For example, if i wanted to see how fast an animal walks, i would ask my self something like, "If I were to look at an animal walk, How long would it take him to go to the mall." Then I would observe the animal until it reached the mall. Doing stuff like keeping time of the animal, and keeping track of the speed of the animal.

Evolution vs. creation.

2009-09-15T10:00:00.000-07:00

Evolution is the very complicated theory that man comes not from god, but from an animal. the primate to be more specific. (Apes, monkeys. That sort of thing) As these primates go through the earth, they encounter certain obstacles that force them to change physically and mentally. Over the course of time, they became stronger and smarter and eventually, they "transformed" into the humans we all know and love today.

The theory of creation is actually pretty much the exact opposite of evolution. People who believe in creation believe that all things on earth was made by god. Including the world, plants, animals, and most importantly, people. At first, the people were very highly looked upon. But after an incident involving a very "special" fruit. they became outcasts and had to survive in the outside world.

I personally believe in kind of a combination of both. I believe in the theory of creation because of my religious believes and my parents. But more recently I learned about this theory and think that it can be possible that man came from an amoeba.