NATO and The Warsaw Pact

NATO is a group of countries in North America and Europe that formed an alliance with one another. If one NATO country was attacked, all NATO countries would come to that countries aid to help them. This also allowed Russia to recover after WWII. The Soviets were becoming an increasing threat towards the NATO. The military of the Soviets were becoming just as powerful as the Western Powers. This made many Europeans members start to doubt weather the U.S. would defend them if they were attacked by the soviets. As the U.S. was fighting a war in Vietnam, Europeans were afraid that the soviets were building up their military force. NATO managed to prevent getting attacked by the soviets although communist governments were forming in the alliances.

The Soviet Union and its satellite countries formed a organization of their own called the Warsaw Pact. This was created in response to the NATO. Warsaw was a attempt to strengthen the soviet's control over satellite countries. This was a organization where all the communist countries united. Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and the Soviet Union made up the Warsaw pact. East Germany got out of the pact to join West Germany and unite once again. The USSR started to withdraw troops to aid other countries part of the Warsaw pact. With only six countries left in the Warsaw pact, the organization soon decided to disband.

Film Lesson: "The Right Stuff"

This film showed the competition between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R.. Americans lived in fear that the Joseph Stalin would try to spread communism across the world. The U.S. felt it had the advantage after they dropped the atomic bomb because they were the first country to have a atomic bomb. This glory did not last long, soon the Russians made even more powerful bombs called hydrogen bombs (H-bomb). The Americans then made H-bombs of their own. The Russians then made the first satalite to go into space, this start the competition of the astronauts. We put a monkey into space and they put a human. We were determined to get ahead of the Russians. We put a group of astronauts into space who became American heroes, which is what "The Rights Stuff" is about. We eventually got ahead of the game by being the first to put a man on the moon.

Film Lesson: "Schindler's List"

"Schindler's List illustrated how horrible the Holocaust really was. Jews were treated inhumanely and killed by the millions. They moved all Jews poor and rich into ghettos. Jews were forced to live in small crowded buildings. One of the more powerful scenes for me was when the children were separated from their parents just to be killed because they wanted to kill the next generation of Jews. Many Jews hoped to be put in labor camps because it was the best chance they had at living. Auschwitiz was the one place where Jews felt that they would live. Schindler did not let many of his workers get killed. The pictures of the killing of Jews for no reason at all will never leave my mind. Schindler knew that there was no justice to the killing of the Jews, he tried to save as many Jews as he could.

Film Lesson: "Night and Fog"

"Night and Fog" showed just how inhumane the jews were treated. Im sure many people were surprised to find out how serious the holocaust really was. This is one of the worst cases of genocide of all time and it was done in such orginized manor, as if the nazis truly felt they were making a better world. "Schindler's List" was a more hollywood version of the holocaust and some of the events were not true, but for the most part it showed a good historical demonstration on the everyday hardships the jews had to face. "Night and Fog" showed more effectively just how harsh the jews were treated but "Shindler's List" showed how much they had to go through for mant years. Both of these films give a deep understanding to what it was like to be jewish back then and made me feel that such things should of never happened and should never happen again.

The Treaty of Versailles (Ended WWI)

The Treaty of Versailles was thought of as many as what caused WWII. Germany lost WWI and was blamed and punished for it. They were forced to pay millions to other countries and lost many resources and land. When the United States stop loaning Germany money, nearly 30% of Germany got unemployed. All hope seemed lost and the German people were looking for a leader to bring Germany back into power. This is when Adolf Hitler got the attention of the German public, he promised to give Germany more living space and bring them back into power. What the German people did not know was that Hitler had plans of his own to dominate the world. The people were so desperate for a new leader that they looked right through Hitler's true plans. Hitler did make Germany more stable, and helped the economy greatly. The more he helped Germany, the more the German people wanted him to have power. This is when facism got involved, and the Hitler started his rampage which resulted in WWII. This is why many historians thinks that the Treaty of Versailles caused WWII.

Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk) and the modernization of Turkey

Mustafa Kemal was one of the first leaders ever to separate religion from government and educational affairs. Ataturk felt that no person, group, or religion was any better then the other. His goal was to make every citizen equally important and that they should work hard everyday to feel united with their country. Ataturk saw the peasants as the true rulers, so he let woman vote in 1934. Kemalism is much like daily life in the United States. This was a revolution that not only modernized Turkey but let the world see how a country can be ruled with fairness, happiness, and in the best interest of the people. It did not matter what religion or race you were, and it did not matter what you practiced, Ataturk made a society where all could peacefully live together in a free world.

Film Lesson "Gandhi"

Gandhi used many methods to help his nation of India gain independence from India. He was most famous for his non-violence ways. He even fasted when he saw his followers using violence, violence ended almost entirely after he fasted Gandhi believed that if they did not fight back, then the British empire would be the ones who look bad. Gandhi told all his followers to make their own cloth and to burn all British cloth. It became a common sight to see a Indian making their own cloth. Many looked up to Gandhi as a new hope for freedom. Gandhi was not just a politician, he was one of them. Gandhi told his followers to boycott all British goods and to only buy Indian goods. He also marched on the beach collecting salt with his followers. It was very important to have salt in order to live in such heat. The British soldiers used violence and hit the Indians with clubs.

Gandhi was put in jail many times to try to prevent him from leading his followers. This did not stop his followers from making their own salt and cloth and from boycotting the British. Gandhi was taken to the round table conference to discuss the independence of India. Independence was finally rewarded to India and was greatly sue to Gandhi. I believe that the independence of India was greatly due to the actions of Gandhi. I also think that even without Gandhi's help, India would have most likely won it own independence sooner or later because history has proved that when the governed does not agree with the government, the government is usually to fall. In this case one man helped trigger a non-violence fight against the government and helped an entire nation gain independence.