Exam #5

It is quite simple to compare Stalin to Mao when it comes to how they got to be in power. Both of them, in the end, led their countries revolutions. Mao started off as a soldier, as did Stalin. By being on the field they got to build their reputations up with the people. While growing up Stalin was in a poor family and he got pushed around by a lot of bullies. This could be why he grew up to be so strong and loyal to Russia. The same goes for Mao, all of his life he was extremely loyal to his country. This could be why he was so strict when it came to people going against his government. Both of these men were forced to piece back together their fallen country. Stalin decided to make his country into a strictly communist nation, while Mao made China into a democratic dictatorship.

In the beginning of Hitler and Mao's coming to power, they both began concentration camps or something like them. They gave people extremely poor living conditions and thousands of men, women and children were affected by this, simply because their leaders did not agree with a certain group of people. There were also extreme rules in both governments, for Mao it was the Little Red Book, which had many maxims in it. If a citizen didn't know what the correct thing to do in a situation, than they would consult this. He made everyone carry around one of these, which led some people to become even more loyal to him. Hitler didn't have his own book that everyone carried around, but he did have the Nuremberg Laws. This was a type of segregation, it stated that if you had 3 German grandparents than you were a true German. But if you had 3 Jewish grandparents you were pure Jewish, this was basically just another way for Hitler to separate people.

A dictatorship is a government where just one person controls the country. One way to tell when a possible person may become a dictator is when they try to get everyone to do what they think is right. All of these men tried to force their types of government, the Nazi party, Communism and Democratic Dictatorship. Another thing is when they start to do dramatic acts and movements. Such as when Hitler started his concentration camps, and they started to turn quickly into death camps. One last thing to look out for is when the leader makes new laws and tries to split people up into different groups. Like when the Nuremberg Laws were made, it split up the Germans and the Jews. These are are all important signs of a potential dictatorship building.

Exam #4, Part 3

In the early 1930's, Germany really didn't have a solid governemnt at the time, which left it open for anyone to really step in. Adolf Hitler would do things and then when other countries would give him a chance all he would say was that he wouldn't do it again. So he, over time, gained more and more power. The people in were so shooken by the revolution and wars that they really saw hope in Adolf Hitler. With the country in this type of state it was perfect for the Nazi's to step in and take charge.
Hitler told the people of Germany that he would bring the country out of debt, and they completely loved him for that. So he first made the concentration camps to bring the people more jobs. But when he started to purify the country of the Jews, Slavics, Gypsies and others those people went into his concentration camps.This movement was the Nuremburg Laws, these stated that if you had 3 or 4 German grandparents than you were pureblood German, but if you had 3 Jewish grandparents than you were pure Jewish. It was Hitler's type of segregation, like the black and white segregation in America.
They saw the Jewish camps as just jobs to help build they're country. So they really didn't see anything wrong with the camps. Well obviously knew something bad was going on but they really didn't think they had to do anything about it. Finally the unstability of Germany at the time made it from a democratic nation to a horrible ending called the Holocaust.

Exam 4, part 1

In both the Russian and French Revolutions the leaders were bad for the country. In Russia, the leader Czar Nicholas II had bad war tactics and the people frowned upon him. This reason was that he trusted Rasputin, the town drunk and partier, to take care of is hemophiliac son. King Louis XVI was similar to Czar Nicholas because he was a bad leader who the people absolutely hated. In both places the people of the town were extremely unhappy, this may have been because in both countries were very poor. But it's not like these leaders would really care anyways, as Louis' wife Marie Antoinette said when told about all the starving and cold people; "Let them eat cake."
During both revolutions the economic conditions were extremely bad. Even though the royalty were well off with money and food, the common people were extremely poor and could barely feed their families. In the french revolution, it was mainly the queen's fault. This was because she felt the need to have extravagant decorations and flowers. She also had her own little getaway home, while her country's people were out on the streets dying and starving to death. In the Russian revolution, they even had names for the two types of people who were fighting, the "reds" which were the poor people,or the Bolsheviks, and the "whites" who were the wealthy people. The Bolsheviks and the whites both killed people, but the reds won because they killed less people.
With the end of the French Revolution came with a lot of deaths, hungry and poor people. But by the end of the Revolution, France was a chaotic nation,much like the Russian. Because by the end of World War I the country had no real leader. Both revolutions severely changed things in the country and truly began a revolution.

Battle of Stalingrad

1. What does Joseph Stalin's advice to the people of Stalingrad say about him as a leader?
It says that he really didn't care about his people, but it also shows that he wants them to stay tough. This is because he tells them to never give up or retreat, and if they did they would be killed.

2. Explain why Hitler would react in the way shown after signing a Non-Aggression Pact with Stalin?
Because, he wanted to prove to Stalin that him and his army were undestructable. He wanted to prove this so badly that he would scarifice the many innoccent people killed in the bombings.

3. Explain the significance of propaganda in this battle, using examples from the posters.
The posters put up by the people of Russia showed that they were fighting back at the Germans. For example, in one poster there is a picture of a lion getting stabbed through the tounge with a spear-like thing. But, there was more signifigance to this than meets the eye. Because the lion was a german and the spear had the sign for the russians. The russians believed that they would defeat the germans before they could get to them.

4. What do the extremes of the war reveal about what it takes to win a total war?
All of the hard times the townspeople went through shows how important it is to never give up on yourselves or your country in a time of dispair. The extremes show that in order to win you have to be dedicated and you have to be willing to stick it out even in the hard times.The people of Stalingrad were determined not to give up and they were set on staying through everything and fighting.

5. How does the story of Vasily Zaitsev relate to the war in Iraq?
In both places there are a lot of men lost and they had to go to using secret shooters in order to go in and defeat. Also, in both situations the men have to be very careful and precise about when and where they shoot.

6. In times of crisis, sometimes heroic figures emerge. Which figure emerged in a similar way to Vasily after the terrorist attacks of 9/11?
The firefighters were the ones who emerged as great heroic figures after 9/11. This was because they were the people who had to go into the trade centers first and risk their lives and well beings just so other men and women could get out safely and get to home to their families, even if that meant themselves not getting home.

12. Does the Soviet reaction to victory seem reasonable to you? (Be specific)
I could not get this chapter to open for me.

Book Portfolio

The book I read was Animal Farm by George Orwell. This book was about how the animals on Mr. Jones farm don’t like the way he has been treating them. So the leader, Major, gets them all together to help him to overthrow their owner. He tells them this based on a dream he has where there are no humans. All the animals end up loving the idea, but he ends up dying, so the three younger pigs; Napoleon, Snowball and Squealer take over for him. When the animals defeat Mr. Jones they name the farm Animal Farm. The farm is running well until Napoleon wants to build and windmill, but Snowball doesn’t want to, so they call a meeting, where Napoleon sets his dogs that he’d been training on him and runs him out, giving him all power. Now he says the farm has to be run by the pigs, because it would be good for the entire farm. But then he decides to build the windmill, but soon finds it knocked over. He automatically thinks it was Snowball that came back, but the animals who were against him who were suspected, were attacked by the dogs. He has shown the rest of the animals how much power he evidently has and starts to make snowball to be a villain. He slowly starts to act like a human and sleep in beds and trade with the other farmers. He tries to tell the common animals that he is a good leader when they are cold and hungry. But when a farmer, Mr. Frederick, doesn’t give him enough timber, a war breaks out when the farmer comes and tries to destroy the farm. Later, the pigs start to be more and more like humans, and start to align themselves with them. Soon the common animals can’t distinguish them between the humans and pigs. The remaining commandment on the barn says this, “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” The theme of this book was that if you are not careful, power can corrupt you.
George Orwell wrote this book with the intent to show how bad communism really was back then. He uses Napoleon overthrowing Snowball to symbolize what Stalin did. Orwell also shows how bad Stalin treated his fellow people, killing to further himself and to get what he wanted. Napoleon did those very same things to the common animals, which he used to work together with. He also kills Boxer just to get some money for whiskey. He also uses animalism to easily show another example of socialism. He uses the concept of the windmill to show the struggles the Soviet Union went through before it was finished. In Animal Farm, it took the animals a long time to finally build the windmill successfully because of everyone trying to destroy it. This is just like all the trouble Russia had to go through to finally get the Soviet Union to work.
In using the symbol of the animals overthrowing their evil leader Mr. Jones, he was trying to show how the Russians overthrew the Czars. He then shows how when Napoleon just takes up Mr. Jones old habits and starts to mistreat his fellow animals and make them unequal that the communist system is not so equal after all. When the dogs and pigs take over the government, saying that they know what to do and will make Animal Farm better, they are being just like Stalin, the Russian dictator. Especially when they start to murder enemies and even they’re own animals.
When in chapter 10 Mr. Pilkington says to Napoleon and his fellow leaders “ If you have lower animals to contend with,” he said, “We have our lower classes!” he shows the corruption that has been happening throughout the story. Even going back to what Major said about dividing the humans and animals, he’s doing the same with splitting the animals in themselves. He’s telling the truth about how the animals were in the upper class, or non working, and the laborers. This quote also ties together these animals and the working people of the world today. The way the reader can see that this is real to them also, makes it all the more important.
Overall, Animal Farm was George Orwell’s way to help the people of his time realize how awful and unequal socialism really was. He knew that if he just wrote about what was going on his readers wouldn’t really care. So he set it in the Animal Farm because by using these fictional characters and problems it would be easier to understand. Here is a quote from Old Major warning the animals of the farm; "Your resolution must never falter. No argument must lead you astray. Never listen when they tell you that Man and the animals have a common interest....we must not come to resemble him...No animal must ever live in a house or sleep in a bed, or wear clothes, or drink alcohol, or smoke tobacco, or touch money, or engage in trade."

Exam #2

The Colombian Exchange transformed the world in a more radical(favoring drastic political, economic, or social reforms: radical ideas; radical and anarchistic ideologues) way than any other development in world history. One significant effect of this process(A continuous action, operation, or series of changes taking place in a definite manner: the process of decay) was the establishment of the Triangle Trade. While many factors were a part of the Triangle Trade, the rapid growth in both supply and demand for new commodities was the largest motivating element. This time period may be best associated(anything usually accompanying or associated with another; an accompaniment or concomitant) with economic developments, but it is impossible to analyze(to examine carefully and in detail so as to identify causes, key factors, possible results, etc.) this period without considering the intense social impact that the Triangle Trade had on those involved. In truth, a full understanding can only be gained by appreciating (To be fully conscious of; be aware of; detect: to appreciate the dangers of a situation) how economic and social factors(One that actively contributes to an accomplishment, result, or process) impact each other in history.

My Paragraph
The time when Europe was trading goods with America and also America trading with Europe. This was called the Colombian Exchange, it made a very radical difference in the world, more so than any other event in history. One of the things that contributed to this event was something called the Triangle Trade. It started in 17th Century, there was a kind of three step process: First, goods such as weapons, liquors and manufactured goods from Europe to Africa in exchange for slaves. Then they went to America and the Caribbean and gave them slaves for raw goods like tobacco, sugar, rum, cotton etc and brought it back into Europe. The way that the routes went formed a triangle shape, therefore it was named the Triangle Trade. The driving force in this was the supply and demand for the commodities, such as Sugar. Since the demand, or want, for sugar was up and the supply, or amount, of sugar was down the people who made it needed more slave workers to pick and manufacture the sugar. Some good things that came of this was the economic, or money, growth and the impacts the Triangle Trade had on social life. The only way you could understand how this time period and trading impacted the world is looking at how social and economic factors in history work together and understanding it.

Local History Purposal

Topic: Local History

Angle: Del Flood

Medium: Essay

Slavery Powerpoint Link

http://docs.google.com/Present?docid=dsgxdb8_0hd4bsn&fs=true

Exam #1

This picture shows how massive and gruesome The Terror was during the French Revolution. In this you see the entire town gathered around the guillotine. The guillotine is a structure with a sharp blade dropped by pulling a rope. It was used to execution the people whom were targeted by the town. This method worked a lot better than the previous one, before this time they just used a axe, which wasn't very efficient. Back then sometimes when the axe was used the head wasn't taken cleanly off and it would take a lot of time for it to work, not only was this new way more effective, but also made it a little easier on the victim. In this picture you can also see that this did not bother the townspeople, but it was widely cheered on. This was because of the mass amount of people in each town during the French Revolution. Because of this it made it even harder on everyone with the food and money storage. Another thing this shows is that the executions were done right in the middle of town for everyone to see. Some people of higher ranks would spread false rumors about people just to get them killed. That is why everyone had to be so careful about what they said and did around others because you never knew who would twist and turn your actions and words around.

In this picture you can see the event named The Fall of the Bastille. The Bastille was a prison that was run during the French Revolution. Anyone could be taken to it just for speaking against or saying bad things about the king. If the guards heard that you said anything they would come to your house in the middle of the night and take you away to the Bastille. Only, this jail wasn't your regular jail. The inmates here were tortured severely and it had a horrible reputation around town. So a large mob of townspeople decided to storm it and take it down. As in the picture there was a large amount of people who joined in. They took it down brick by brick, which was quite symbolic because it meant that the building could never torture people like that ever again. This was really one of the first times the French people had the nerve to go against the government, which was really the start of the Revolution.

This picture shows one of the most important aspects of the Revolution, the Tennis Court Oath. The reason it was called that was because the large group of townspeople who had come to the castle in order to take down the king couldn't get in. This was because the king had barricaded himself inside the castle so that he didn't get hurt. So they decided to go out onto the tennis court. As in the picture, there were many many people who were all working and agreeing on a common cause. The agreement was to stick together until France received a written constitution so that their country wasn't a monarchy anymore. They were so forceful and powerful that King Louis XVI was forced to succumb to them and force the other nobility and the clergy to join with them. It is clear to see that whomever was speaking was very well liked and the crowd was firmly in agreement with him. The men in the middle were most likely the leaders of that class of people, or also called deputies. This was a major movement for the French Revolution because it was one of the only times they got the courage up to go against their current government, and it actually worked out for them.

Even though all of these pictures are 3 different events, but they all tie together to show what an impact the French Revolution had. One of the things that is common in all of these is that the people during this period came out of it with a great deal of control. In each of these events it had to do with the people of France getting together as one and going for a common goal of what they wanted to change. Usually the change had to do with the way the government was running things. Another thing about all of these events was that they all changed France very dramatically and long lasting. Overall the effects of the French Revolution came largely from events like these. It was these that helped to change the country's government and future forever.

My Project Post

For this upcoming project this is what I plan on doing:
Topic: Global Slavery
Angle: "Comfort" Women Slavery
Medium: Slide Show

My First Blog

Hey everyone!
I'm not really that great with this whole blogger thing....im not the most technologically savy person. But i'm hoping that I'll get better throughout the year! alright bye! good luck this year!