Chelsea's Global blog

Joseph Stalin and Totalitarianism

2008-01-14T11:21:00.000-08:00

Totalitarianism is state regulation of nearly every aspect of public or private behavior. Joseph Stalin was a dictator of the soviet union who eventually used totalitarinism to gain complete control of the union. Stalin used propaganda, censorship, and terror to force his will on the Soviet people.

In 1928, Stalin introduced his five- year plan which was to build steel mills, electric power stations, and any other industries/supplies needed. Also to set up large scale farms for peasants to work on. In the 1930's Stalin initiated a Purge of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, which has become known as the Great Purge. Stalin's rule had long-lasting effects on the features that characterized the Soviet state which ended his rule and its collapse in 1991.

Film Lesson:Doctor Zhivago

2008-01-14T11:08:00.000-08:00

In the film"Doctor Zhivago", scenes in the movie depict the russian revolution. It shows how the russians were able to take a stand for their beliefs and going against all of their leaders. The Revolution happened because the Russians were tiredof beingcontrolled and didn't want any thing to do with the czar. The film also depicted communism ,in the scene where he returned back to his home and realized that many people were living there. They all shared the same wealth.

Causes of WWI

2008-01-11T05:36:00.000-08:00

World war I began in 1914 and ended in 1918. It was called "The Great War", until other world wars followed it. World War I had many causes, such as nationalism,militarism, and the assassination of Franz Ferdinand.
Nationalism was the cause of the rivalry between the countries. Countries competed with each other in making weapons for war because they didn't want other countries getting too far ahead of them. Each country wanted to expand their land and with Germany having the most power, many countries felt threaten by Germany's goals of taking over countries from all around the world. With so many new weapons being made and strong nationalism between countries caused many countries to feel that they must be ready for war at any moment.
On June 28Th,1914, Franz Ferdinand was assassinated by a Serbian man, while on their way to attend a meeting.The Serbians wanted to convert the Austria-Hungarian Monarchy into a Triple Monarchy so that they could be included. Serbia didn't like Germany's response and declared war on June 28Th,1914.

The Opium Wars

2008-01-11T05:14:00.000-08:00

In the 15Th century, the British decided they wanted to trade goods with china.Mainly tea because it was very poplar among the Europeans and Americans. China refused because they were a very self-sufficient country. Until the British introduced a new medicine to China called opium. Opium was used for curing diarrhea, dysentery, and cholera, until the British mixed it with tobacco so that it could be smoked. Soon the Chinese were strung out on the drug. This weakened a large amount of the Chinese population and even the Chinese economy. The Chinese government soon realized this and banned the drug from being sold and traded in china. This upset the British and they refused to stop selling opium to the Chinese people. In 1840 the opium wars began. China was very unprepared the for the war, and eventually lost the war to the British.

"The White Mans Burden"

2007-12-16T16:52:00.000-08:00

The poem "The white Man's burden", written by Rudyard Kipling, speaks about the European rule over the Africans and Asians. The Europeans believed that they were doing the conquered people favor a by teaching them manors and how to be civilized. The "white man" took the burden off of the people by controlling their land and taking all of their responsibility. In return this would also benefit the Europeans. European imperialism would widely spread through Asia and Africa. I do not agree with the justification from the Europeans about imperialism in Africa. The technological advantages of the colonist made it very easy for them to conquer Africa. The white mans burden speaks was written in 1899 about U.S imperialism in the Philippines. I don't believe that one-hundred years later the us is still living the white mans burden. The us does not go to other countries and conquer their people and land. Its not possible!!

"The scramble for africa"

2007-12-05T05:14:00.000-08:00

The "Scramble for Africa" began in 1881. When Europeans began to expand their influence in Africa. This was called "The scramble for Africa" because the Europeans would claim or take whatever piece of land they wanted. This scramble effected Africa a lot. When the Europeans mixed up the lands they put enemies together and they even split up families. The main european nations involved in the scramble for africa were Spain, Britian, France, Portugal, Germany, Italy, and Belgium. All of these european nations had a huge technological advance over Afruca. They had weapons,food,medicin;etc. These advantages made it easy for the europeans to eventually conquer africa.

Film Lesson:''Mountains of the Moon''

2007-12-03T05:05:00.000-08:00

In the film "Mountains of the Moon" when the Europeans went to Africa they faced many hardships. Such as attacks from the wild animals and even from the African people. Weather also effected the journey to find the Nile river. Many slaves would get sick and even die. This slowed down their search for the source of the Nile. The slaves that the Europeans brought along with them also cause many problems. They would steal products and food that the Europeans needed and run away with it.
It is strange that the Nile river (largest river in Africa) is named after a British queen. This is because the Europeans were the first to every make people aware that the Nile was actual there. There were people in Africa already living there, but in the film, the Europeans were making it known for the rest of the world. So, the Europeans named the river after their queen(Victoria).
The Europeans had a huge advantage over the Africans. They had medicine, guns, and other useful products. The guns were used for protection against lions and even Africans. The medicine also came in handy when someone got sick. All of these advantages made it very easy for the Europeans to conquer Africa.

The Meiji restoration of japan

2007-11-27T05:05:00.000-08:00

Mathew Perry "bullied" the Japanese by showing the United States "military might". He dropped an anchor 26 miles off the coast Tokyo and the Japanese were amazed by the movement of the ships with no sails.Mathew Perry arrived with no sails on his ships to prove their technological improvbements. The Japanese were impressed and on March 31,1854 the treaty between Japan and the United States was signed. After the Meiji Restoration Japan became a new formed government and many changes were made. They were no longer a feudal government and the emperor even founded a school of elementary education. Japan is known to be a archipelago. This is a group of many islands in a large body os water.

Karl Marx and Communism

2007-11-18T15:01:00.000-08:00

Karl Marx believed in Communism. He believed that wealth should be distributed "to each according to their abilities, according to their needs." Marz also believed that workers would control government. The exact meaning of Communism is when common workers would share wealth in a communist society. Marx wanted communism to take over the whole world so that everyone would be equal in wealth. He also believed that the owners were the "bad guys" and the workers were the "good guys". He said that the owners depended on the workers to hold them up.

Karl Max and the Industrial Revolution

2007-11-18T13:45:00.000-08:00

Karl Marx was a German philosopher that began a movement called the "Communist Manifesto". He believed that there was a scientific reason of how history progressed in the past and would progress in the future. Karl Marx hated the idea of the Industrial Revolution. Marx thought that the workers did all the work, while the owners of the establishments or businesses, took all the credit and made all of the money. He called the owners, the bourgeoisie, and the workers proletariat. He believed that the bourgeoisie would use their wealth to control the government and exploit the proletariat. Because of this Marx decided to invent Communism. Communism is when everyone gets paid the same amount of money equally. This became a problem because people started to be lazy and didnt want to work. The talented people got paid as much as the untalented people. This idea was a failure.

Nationalism and the Creation of Italy

2007-11-13T05:17:00.000-08:00

"Nationalism is the belief that one's greatest loyalty should not be to a king or a empire but but to a nation of people who share a common history or culture." People today are still very nationalistic. Such as my family and many families around the world. I am nationalistic in many ways due to the fact that i share the same nationality, cultural beliefs ,language, history ,religion, and even territory with others. Nationalism was used to create the nation of Italy.In 1815 and 1848,Italians didn't want to live under the foreign rulers no longer. So in 1852 a man named Camillo di Cavour decided to unify the nations or city states of Italy. Cavour achieved his goal and Italy is now a nationalistic country.

Simon Bolivar and Latin American Revolutions

2007-10-15T05:05:00.000-07:00

In the nineteenth century a man named Simon Bolivar,also known as "The Liberator",led many military forces of ten thousand soldiers to the nnorthern part of south america to free its citizens from the spanish rule. This action led to theIndependence for Venezuela,Peru,Ecuador,and Bolivia. He joined a man named Francisco de Miranda to beat the spanish. In 1824,Bolivar joined a man named Antonio Jose de Sucre,andformed a army of seven quarters. This army defeated ten thousand Spanish troops. Because of this there was a new formed country,named Bolivia,after Simon Bolivar.Bolivar is famous for his accomplishments and helping others have the oppurtunity to be free. Simon Bolivar was influenced by many things he was seeing around the world. Such as when he traveled to the United States,which had won their independence from Britain. He realized that its was time to get his own countries independence from spain. And he would be the one to do it!!!

Robespierre and The Reign of Terror

2007-09-28T05:44:00.000-07:00

The French Revolution brought about many changes. People of different social classes gained more power and were equal. But as others began to gain power ,others began to lose power.This is when the Reign of Terror came about. France had no leader and didnt know what to do to keep order in the country. Then a man named Maximilien Robespierre came along and took control of the french government. Calenders,laws,and church rules were changed.Robespierre took control by killing and executing people. This time was called the Reign of terror because the french citizens were afraid and no one was safe. But soon people were sick and tired of living in fear so he was arrested and his head was cut off. The reign of terror was over and people could live in peace.The government was finally stable.

French Revolution:Social Causes

2007-09-27T05:16:00.000-07:00

The French Revolution began in 1789 and ended in 1799.The French revolution was caused by many factors.Such as desputes between social classes, unfair taxing,power abuses,feudalism,oppresion and the wrongful managenment of the french society.
There were three estates int the french revolution.The first estate was the church.This estate was equal in social and econic terms.Also in spiritual power.The second estate was nobility,they were less than 2% in population and enjoyed extensive rights and privilges.Both of these estates didnt pay any taxes.The third and last estate were the commoners.They were made up of the middle class(bourgeoisie),peasents, and the city workers.This estate felt very used because they were forced to pay allthe taxes tithes to the church, and pay rent to their lanlords.The enlightenment had a very big influence on the french revolution because the enlightenment days were very unfair.The french seen that the philosiphers from the enlightenment fought for what they believed in ,so that's what the fench decided to do.The last straw that lead to the french revolution were the major differences and discrimination between the three groups.Also the economic problems,lack of money(because of wars),and even farming harvest!!On July 14th,1789 there was a huge bomb that hit Bastille due to the french revolution.The people of paris were afraid that their representatives would be attacked by the military ,so they decided to take action and stormed/bombed Bastille.Soon after,on August 26th,the Declaraion of the rights oof man and of citizens was proclaimed.

Copernicus and Galileo

2007-09-18T12:17:00.000-07:00

Heliocentrism is the theory that the sun is the center of the universe and solar system.Which was the first theory to come about.This theory in astronomy also came out of the scientific revolution due to the big religious beliefs about the earth and universe.There is another thoery in astronomy called geocentrism,that states that the earth is the center of the universe.The belief in this in his system was common in ancient greece.Many great philosiphers also claimed this theory,such as Aristotle and Ptolemy.In the 16th century Copernicus made a model of the heliocentric system which was built on by Keppler and defended by Galileo.The two theories became the center of a major dispute in astronomy.

In 1616,philosipher Galileo was put on trial for his belief in the "Coperican planet system".

Scientific Revolution:Scientific Method

2007-09-10T05:24:00.000-07:00

The Scientic Revolution came about in the 1500s,when scolars and scientist got their own ideas about science mainly from the roman and greek bibles.For example the christians and the greeks believed that the earth was the center of the universe and that all of the planets revolved around it.The scientic revolution proved this theory to be false.The scientific revolution became a new way prove these ideas true or false.Many scientists tested their ideas such as Aristotle who believed that heavy objects fell at a faster speed than lighter objects.Another scientist was Galileo wo proved Aristotle's theory to be wrong.
Later came along a new group of scientists who tested theorys over and over again. This was called the Scientific Method.One of the greatest scientists of all times used this method of experimenting,Isaac Newton.Isaac Newton defined the laws of gravity and helped peoples understanding of physics.Again another one of Aristotle's theories of physics was proven wrong.But this time by Isaac Newton.He believed that one are of physics owned the earth and another owned the rest of the universe.Newton then proved that there was a one law of gravity that applied equally to the earth and whole universe.The great scientist of physics ,Isaac Newton,did it again!!!

Evolution vs. Creation

2007-09-06T05:23:00.000-07:00

The theory of evolution states that all life is related and has descended from a common ancester. Also that creatures evolved from these ancesters over time.This theory states that all humans evolved from apes.One of the most known Evolutionist was Charles Darwin.Darwin's general theory of evolution stresses a naturalistic "descent with modification".He also believed in a process called"natral selection",that caused mutations,which caused for the creatures to evolve.These mutations are passed on from one generation to another.This process is how Darwin believed humans came about.(We've evolved fron primates).
Another theory of how life apon earth came about is the theory of Creation.The two theories are the biggest conflicts in the history os science.The theory of creation states that planet earth and life on it were created by god.Although different religions have their own ideas about creation,those that call themselves Creationist,believe the version of creation in the bible in the book of Genesis.Creationist believe that God created the universe,and all creatureson itin seven days.They also believe that God created a man and a woman,Adam and Eve and they created all the children of the earth.

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2007-09-05T05:44:00.001-07:00

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