Lloyd's Global Blog

The Collapse of Communism

2010-05-07T11:15:00.001-07:00

The reason why communism collapsed in Eastern Europe and and in the USSR is because of multiple reasons. One of them is that the people were opposed toMikhail Borbachecv becasue he wanted to send troops. Gorbachev also advised that the government should be open to the ideas of their people. Communist countries were also losing power. A revolution took place in Romania to overthroe the government. Basically people didn't like the way they were living. People also tore down theBerlin Wall because people in East Germany wanted reform. This allowed the unification of Germany. Eventually more people overthrew communist governments which led to the collapse of the Soviet Union. Then the USSR collapse at New Years of 1991. The western part of the world was surprised because they didn't expect communism to collapse because they saw it was spreading. Most of the world nations became capitalist nations.

Nelson Mandela and Apartheid

2010-04-29T11:23:00.000-07:00

In my own words, apartheid is a policy in which black people and colored people are seperated from non colored people. That meant that they were segregated, and there couldn't be inter racial marriages. Nelson Mandela is a very important man of Africa. Why? Its becasue he helped to get rid of apartheid in South Africa. He did this by using civil disobedience, boycotts, strikes, and demonstrations. Why did Mandela do this? This is because he was in jail for 27 years, and during those years he wished there would be a time South Africa lived happily. When he got out of jail he started to get to work and he became leader of ANC.

African Independence

2010-04-28T11:10:00.000-07:00

Africa has changed a lot from 1955 through 1975. A lot of areas ion Africa gained independence. One of those countries was the Belgian Congo now known as Zaire. This was very serious because Belgium got copper and rubber from there. Patrice Lumumba eventually became prime minister of the Belgian Congo when Belgium grant them independence. Moise Tshombe then declared independance to the south eastern province of Katanga. There was also Jomo Kenyetta. He tried to unite some parts of Africa. He was also the leader of African Independence.

Film Lesson: "The Right Stuff"

2010-04-14T11:09:00.000-07:00

The way the Soviet Union and the U.S.A. were competing against each other was who could reach furthur into space and he could break the sound barrier. This was called the "Space Race." The nation that was currently winning is the Soviet Union. Why. It is becuase the Soviet union had succesfully launched a satallite into space. Before that happened, the U.S.A. broke the sound barrier. Before the sound barrier was broken a man died becuase he tried to break the sound barrier. When the U.S.A. found out that the Soviet Union launched the first satallite into space, they tried to make rockets too that could be lauched into space having a man in it. The U.S.A was constently doing lauching experiment and failed a bunch of times. They finally lauched a succesful rocket into the air. They then launched another rocket into space that contained a chimpanzee. A weel later, the Soviet Union laucned a rocket into soace, but with a man inside it! This made the U.S.A. look bad.

Nato and the Warsaw pact

2010-04-12T10:37:00.000-07:00

After WW2 ended, and organization called the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) formed. NATO's nations were the nations that believed in freedom.NATO was composed of the USA and the western nations of Europe. NATO was formed to help the unstable Western European nations. The USA helped these western European nations with there economy and distribution of food. It was also formed to protect western European nations from any attacks from the Soviet Union. In response, the Soviet Union formed the Warsaw pact. The Warsaw Pact was composed of the Soviet Union and its satellite nations which it took control of. So what happened between them was the arms race and space race. Both of them competed to see who had bigger, better weapons and who could first go to space and reach furthur into space.

Night an Fog

2010-03-23T11:18:00.000-07:00

The movie really made me think more about how the Jews felt during the Holocaust. It also made me think how I would feel like if I were a Jew during the Holocaust. This was a very powerful, and it made me think a lot. I think this movie was able to portray a more powerful message than Schindler's List because the movie showed real video footage of what was happening to the Jews.
The video footage that showed dead bodies on the floor and cut off people's heads was very sickening. I kept saying to myself " How can these people do something unacceptable and disgusting?" When I saw how skinny the people were it looked like they were just all bone, and it was very disturbing to me. Especially that they burned and gassed people while they were alive. The movie "Night and Fog" really gets the message of what happened to the Jews through your head.

Schindlers List

2010-03-23T11:14:00.000-07:00

The movie really surprised me after watching it. They way Schindler's List portrayed the way Jews were treated is mostly by shooting the Jews and making them slaves. In the movie the Nazis were kicking Jews out their homes to put them into the ghettos. Ghettos were the small living places the Jews would live in where Hitler thought they would die of disease and starvation. When Schindler saw how the Jews were being treated, he got some Jews to work for him so they wouldn't be killed in the death camps. One scene that was very powerful for me was when the Nazis were cleaning up the labor camps to destroy the evidence. They way the cleaned the Jews up was disrespectful. They threw them away as if they were garbage and not humans. It was also sickening when men carried the skinny people and when they burned them. I think the movie that was able to portray the Holocaust better was "Night and Fog" . It's because "Night and Fog" was showing real evidence of what happened to the Jews like heads being cut off from people's bodies and the disposing of humans.

The Treaty of Versailles ( Ended WW1 )

2010-02-25T11:09:00.000-08:00

When the Treaty of Versailles was made, WW1 ended as a resut of the treaty. The Treaty of Versailles affected Germany on a huge scale! The rules were very harsh on Germany. One of the rules was that Germany had to pay all damaged of WW1. This made Germany have a bad econmy. Another rule was that all German collines outside of Germany had to be removed which made Germany lose a lot of land. Another rule was that Germany had to drasticaly reduce its military power. They had to make sure they din't have more than 100,000 men. They also banned the use of heavy artilery, tanks, or any other type of machines used for war. This made Germany embarrased and insecre about their military. While Germany was under the Treaty of Versailles, the Great Depression came. America was helping pay Germany pay for the reparations, but since America's econmy was also in bad shape Germany's economy greatly suffered. I think that the Treaty of Versailles was too harsh for Germany. The Treaty basically blamed Germany for everything that happened in the war. The people of Germany were so angry at the treaty that they wanted a leader who would bring Germany back into that shape. That man was Adolf Hitler. Hitlers words and books impressed the people of Germany. He explained why Germany had lost the word, and becuase of this Hitler was able to gain support and power. He told people that the only way for Germany to gain power is to only let the Aryans , true Germans, rule Germany. He blamed the Jews that Germany lost the war. Eventaully, Hitler became the dictator of Germany. After that Germany basically tries to conquer the world, which didn't work out well for them. If the Treaty of Versailles wasn't so harsh, Hitler would probably not rise to power becuase the German people wouldn't have anyone to look up to bring Germany back into good shape.

Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk) and the modernization of Turkey

2010-02-24T11:13:00.000-08:00

Mustafa Kemal a.k.a. Ataturk was a very important man in the history if Turkey. He was the very first president of Turkey! He was also the person who formed the Turkish Republic. When he was president of Turkey, Mustafa made a lot of types of reforms. Mustafa did his best to make his country like Europe and the United States. One of the ways he used to change Turkey was to abolih the use of fez hats. Fez hats where a part of the Muslim religion. He told the people that wearinf fez hats were wrong. He stated that people who wore fez hats were the people who were uuncivilized. Mustafa did a lot of things to seperate religion from everything else. He abolished churches, the education of religion, and the way they dressed. Mustafa did his best to make Turkey a secular nation and a more Westernized nation.

Gandhi

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

Ganhi was one of the most important person of the history of India. He was an extremely great man of India. He was the person who liberated the Indian people from British rule in 1947. Another name for Gandhi was called "Great Soul." He was also a lawyer when he was in Africa. When Gandhi came back to india, Gandhi had done many things to provoke the British Empire. He influenced many of the Indian people, and he was popular among the poor. he got a lot of people to be on his side. Gandhi was give speeches to his people, and he would help lead protests. He preeeched to his people about what the government wanted. One of the most famous things he preeched was the policy of non-violence to achieve goals. When Gandhi lead protests, he would use the policy of non-violence. There was a public meeting that the Indian people had about the British Empire. According to the British Empire, Indians couldn't have public meetings. in response, the British Empire massacred almost every Indian in the public meeting. This was called the Amristar Massacre. This made the British Empire look bad, and Gandhi was very dissapointed. One of his most famous demonstrations was the Salt March. Everyday, Gandhi and other people walk for a long time until they reached the Indian Ocean. From there Gandhi and his people would make their own salt instead of buying the salt sold by the British. The Indian people were to only use British salt, but they rebelled. This is one way Gandh provoked the British Empire. When Gandhi was arrested for making his own salt, his followers walked into the salt factory. They used the policy of non-violonce while they walked to the salt factory. They were beaten by the British soldiers. While this happened, American writers were there and they wrote down what happened. This made news all over the world. The British Empire really looked bad after people had read articles of ewhat the British Empire had done to the Indians. Two years after WW2, India finally gained it's ndependance from the British Empire. In my opinion, I don't think that Indian Independance was all about Gandhi. I'm sure Gandhi didn't lead his people just to gain popularity, but it was becuase he cared for India and he wanted India to be treated good. While the fisht of Indian Independance was going on, britain was also having a food shortage.

The Russian Revolution

2010-01-13T08:43:00.001-08:00

There was once a revolution in Russia, and it was called the Russian Revolutionof 1917. it wasn't just one revolution. It was a series of revolutions. Poor workers kept moving from place to place trying to find jobs. A lot of workers went on strike. The people didn't like their way of life, and the government was unfair. they didn't like the fact that their government was corrupt and an autocracy. There was ask a shortage of food. The people were sick of their government and wanted reform. People then overthrew Nicholas 2 from the government. This was called the Feburary Revolution. There was another revolution called the October Revolution. It reformed the interem provisional government and made the Soviet Union. Germany than took over Russia which mean Communism ruled it.

Causes of WW1

2010-01-11T08:34:00.001-08:00

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 and China

2009-12-18T08:35:00.000-08:00

The Opium wars were one of the very first and biggest drug war in the world. There were two Opium Wars. The war 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.

Mountains of the Moon

2009-12-10T08:36:00.000-08:00

So this movie was about two men, Richerd Francis Burton and John Hanning Speke, having an expidition in Africa. This was part of European imperialism. Their job was to map out the inside of Africa and find the source of the Nile River. If they were able to map out Africa Europe would be able take over Africa and take its resources. To do this they needed help from a lot of men. Their first expisition wasn't that succesful. They were attacked by the natives and they weren't prepared for the conditions of Africa. Burton got a big spear punctured through his lower face. He didn't die becuase of the spear. They also didn't have enough ammunition to defend themselves. They then went back to England. They were able to map very little of Africa, and they still haven't found the source of the Nile River. Once again, Burton and Spekes went back to Africa to get the job done. This time they had more men, slaves, and supplies. They were more prepared this time. They experience a lot of hard times during the second expedition. On one part of the movie Burton and his men encountered very dangerous animals. With the smarts of Burton his men were able to get through some tigers, and with the gun skills of Speke Burton's life was saved from being attacked by a lion. Like before, Burton and Speke encountered natives. Since they had a lot of supplies Burton's men were able to trade with the natives. They even faced big problems caused by small things. One problem was when a beetle went inside of Spekes ear. Another problem is when Burton had a dieseas in his legs which made him unable to walk. They then found a river, but they weren't sure if it was the source of the Nile River. So then the kept venturing and they found another river. Speke thought it was the source of the Nile River, but Burton didn't agree with Speke becuase there was no measurements or any sort of that. Speke named the lake Lake Victoria after the Queen of England. It's weird becuase the lake is in Africa and named after a white person. The technological advantage the Europeans had was their guns. Eventually the Europeans took over Africa becuase they improved their guns and mad machine guns.

Imerialism Project

2009-12-07T08:45:00.000-08:00

In Mr. Moloney's class I did the imperialism project with the class becuase it was a good way to learn how Europe tried to conquer the whole world. In this project we learned that Europe traveled around the world to find spices since spices were very important in Europe. The Europeans traded spices with the spice islands in Indonesia. So while the Europeans tried to find spices, they accidentaly discovered the New World. They arrived at the Carribeans. In the New World they got more resources like gold, silver, and cotton.Later on European nations competed to control other parts of the world. They also started trading with other nations. The Europeans started trading for slaves from Africa to work in the New World so that more cotton would be produced. The Europeans also wanted to trade with the Chinese. The Chiniese didn't allow them. So what the Europeans did is they gave the Chinese opium from India. When the Chinese got addicted to the drug China allowed the Europeans to trade with them.

Karl Marx #2

2009-11-19T08:41:00.000-08:00

Karl Marx's idea of Communism was to make the poor people dominate their master and take over. Communism is the government system in which the government controls everything and people are paid the same money. Karl Marx wanted Communism to take over the world becuase he didn't like the fact that the workers were looked down upon their masters. He didn't like the fact that workers were getting poorer and the owners were getting richer, and that wasn't fair. He wanted everything to be the same so people would be treated fairly which meant there was going to be a classless society. Karl Marx saw the owners or the rich people the bad guys becuase they were the cause that the workers were living in poverty. Workers weren't paid that much compared to the owners of factories or other businesses. He saw the workers and poor people as the good guys. Karl Marx himself was also living in poverty.

Karl Marx and the Industrial Revolution

2009-11-17T08:44:00.000-08:00

Karl Marx was a Jewish german man who converted to Christianity. Karl was born in Trier. His dad forced the family to become Christian so they could get a job. Karl never believed in God In Karl's other days when he wasstill young, he was a succesful lawyer. He was the man who created the government system, Communism. How did he develope communism? One of the reasons was the Industrial Revolution. He was totally against the Industrial Revolution. He was sick and tired of the way workers we treated and the thing that children were working in the factories. He wante the people in the factories to be treated fairly and repected. After he died, he ideas and ways were known as Marxism. His ideas influenced a lot of people and even influence nations. These ideas then evolved into communism. So because of the Industrial Revolution Marxism became very popular with nations like China and Russia. Communism overthrowed some governments, and till today communism still exists.

Nationalism

2009-10-27T08:41:00.000-07:00

Nationalism is when people decide not to be ruled by a monarchy. The poeple place there loyalty to the culture they are living by. Nationalism is a new thing of America. Years ago people never had there own flags. One example of me being nationalistic is by remembering and reciting the American pledge. I am nationalsitic by living the American way like eating burgurs, using dollars, and using jeans.

Itlay is a nation formed by nationalism. Before Italy became Italy it was first ruled by Austria. In the early and middle years of the 1800's Italians started to disobey the rule that they should be loyal to the king or ruler. Some revolts broke out, but some of them failed. A man named Cavour helped unite Italy. He won several battles, and he also helped nationalistic rebels win. He was able to drive Austrian forces away in order to take over territory. So Cavour was an important person in history for uniting Italy as a nation.

Simon Bolivar

2009-10-22T08:38:00.000-07:00

Simon Bolivar was one of the very important people of history. He had Creole parents, and he was born at July 24, 1783 at Caracas, Venezuela. His full name is Simon Jose Antonio de la Santisima Trinidad Bolivar. As a child, Simon was very well educated by his tutors. His parents died when Simon was eight years old. As he grew up he married a Spanish woman named Maria Teresa Rodriguez. His wife died when the came back to Venezuela. After that he went to Europe and studied a bit more. Simon also went to America to study. He had learned about the Enlightenment thinkers, and the revolutions in France and America. When he came back to Venezuela he thought it was time that Latin America should be liberated from Spain.

Simon won his first battle by joining forces with Fransisco de Miranda at Valencia. Bolivar lost some battles and had to run away. Bolivar then won other battles. There was one time he joined forces with New Granada. He and New Granada were able to win Caracas back in Venezuela. Bolivar had to flee again and came back with more support. He then won the Battle of Boyaca. Simon lost a few battles, but he won some too. On December 17, 1830 Simon Bolivar died of tuberculosis.

So Simon Bolivar is very famous because he helped liberate many countries from Spain. The country Bolivia is named after Bolivar because he helped liberate Bolivia. He helped others defeat the spanish forces in Latin America so he can liberate the countries under them. The Enlightenment thinkers, John Locke, and the revolutions on France and America influenced him to lead the revolution.

John Locke and Thomas Jefferson

2009-10-01T08:40:00.000-07:00

The rights that Jefferson was talking about are life, liberty, and the pursuit of hapiness. He said that people were created equal by God. Rights were given to people by God. To have these rights protected and maintained governments are formed. The government gets its power from the people that the government governs. That type of government is a democracy. I think that democracy is the best froms of government becuase people like it.

If the people dislike the government, they can try to make another government. First they would have to overthrow the present government. The would need enough people to revolt against the government to form a revolution. The owrd Revolution means change. It doesn't always have to deal with war.

The Solar System: Geocentric and Heliocentric

2009-09-18T08:38:00.000-07:00

There are two types of explanation of the solar system: Geocentric and Heliocentric. Geocentric came before Heliocentric.The geocentric explanation of the solar system is that the Earth was the center of everything, and everything else revolves around it. Back in the day, this idea was popular among the Greeks and the Chinese. Philosophers also thought that the stars, sun, and planets circled the Earth in a perfectly circle motion.

The heliocentrism explanation of the solar system is that the Sun is the center of everything, and all the other planets revolve around it. The planets that circle the Sun circle the sun an an elliptical shape. Heliocentrism is the only correct explanation of our solar system. Nicoluas Copernicus mathematically proved the heliocentrism explanation of the solar system right. Johaness Kepler helped expand this idea. Heliocentrism was developed by the scientific revolution. Very religious people, like the Catholics, were strongly against this theory becuase it conflicted with their religion. Today, almost everyone accepts this theory.

Galilieo was an astronomer, mathematitian, philisopher, and a physicyst. He was one of the people who helped in the Scientific Revolution. He was put on trial becuase he believed Earth was not the center of the universe. The Catholic Church disbelieved that the Earth was not the center of the univierse. That is why Galileo was put on trial. Galileo was then punished, but he wasn't put to death.

Scientific Revolution: The Scientific Method

2009-09-17T08:45:00.000-07:00

The scientific method is a series of steps that scientists use to solve a problem. It would be an experiment. To do the first steps of the scientific method, you would first need to identify the problem by observing things. You would have to observe very carefully. You would then make a statement of what you think what would happen. That would be your hypothesis. The you test your hypothesis to see if its correct. If your hypothesis isn't correct, then you have to change the hypothesis and execute another experiment. You will have to keep on experimenting until you have a conclusion that is right. After that, your problem is solved, and that is the scientific method of solving problems.

One example of someone using the scientific method is Galileo. Galilea was an Italian. He was testing Aristotle's theory that a heavier object would fall faster than a lighter object. Galileo proved Aristotle wrong. He dropped a heavy and light ball from the leaning Tower of Pisa. When he performed the experiment, both the heavy and light balls fell on the ground at the same time.

Evolution VS Creation

2009-09-15T08:50:00.001-07:00

If someone were to ask me if I believed in evolution or creation, it would be creation. Why? It's because I'm Roman Catholic, and creation is part of my belief. I have been a Roman Catholic since I was Baptised a baby. My parents are Roman Catholic too. Most of my friends are also Roman Catholic. Here are some other reasons why I believe in creation.

I believe in creation not just because God is God. It's because God has created everything we know, see, and cannot see in this world. He is the Creator and the very source of this world. God created the world in seven days. Scientists wouldn't believe that, but God can do anything. No matter what I always need to have faith in my religion. Science cannot explain ethics. God created animals the way He wanted to. So I am on the side of creation.

In my religion it says that God says "Let there be light." Who knows? Maybe that light could have been the Big Bang. So I partially believe part of evolution. Maybe God made animals back then that were meant to evolve to the animals of today. So basically I believe both sides, but I'm more on the side of creation since my God is the source of everything in this world.