Joseph Stalin and Totalitarianism

Totalitarianism is when the government controls almost every aspect of public and private behavior. Stalin used Totalitarianism to rule the Soviet Union by killing anyone who were a enemy of the party. Stalin executed nearly half of the entire communist party including the very people who got him into power. Stalin had a "Five Year Plan" for the purpose of making the Soviet Union a major industrial power in five years time. This came at a huge price, workers were forced to work 16-18 hours a day and working conditions were not safe. Stalin became very paranoid during the "Five Year Plan". He killed anyone who rivaled him in political power and it became clear that Stalin was not killing enemies of the party but the party itself. Stalin made atheism the official policy and executed all priests or forced them to work. There was no freedom at all and not even any religion. Living conditions were better and unemployment was down but this did not make up for the 40,000 plus deaths and forcing religion away from the people.

Film Lesson: Doctor Zhivago

Dr. Zhivago did not like the way the Czar was treating the people. The Czar was killing all who opposed him and many were starving. Many people were dieing in war. Dr. Zhivago wanted a change in the government which is why he supported the revolution. At first, Zhivago thought that the revolution was a great idea for a new form of government. Russian people wanted a change because they were sick of the way the Czar unfairly treated people and sick of all the people dieing in war. Soldiers started to ignore their generals in the battlefields and just walked home, this was the start of the revolution. A civil war among the communist and non-communist was created. The communist won the war and soon took over the government. Dr. Zhivago now knows the full extent of the communist government when he came home and saw that his house and all his property was being shared among strangers. He did not like what was going on and thats when he realized that communism was not going to work.

The Russian Revolution

The Czar was not treating everyone fairly and many were starving. When Russia went into WWI, it showed how weak the Czar's military was. Soldiers were dieing by mass numbers each day and they soon they started to just ignore their generals and walk home. This was the start of the Revolution. More and more people started abandoning the battlefields and joined the fight for Communism. Communism appealed to many people because there would no longer be a ruler such as the Czar again, instead the workers would control the government and everything would be shared among everyone equally no matter what your job is. This means that there will be no middle class or upper class, there will just be one class where everyone gets the same money and property. A civil war between communist and non-communist was formed. The communist won the war and took over the Russian government. The communist succeeded in creating a communist country.

Causes of WWI

WWI had many different causes. 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. A German chancellor named Bismarck made the alliance system which included The amount of weapons in the military each country had increased each year. 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. Years went by and countries were just waiting for a reason to strike. The assassination of Arch Duke Ferdinand and his wife gave reason for Austria-Hungary to give an ultimatum to Serbia. Serbia refused the ultimatum and soon Austria-Hungary waged war against Serbia. Allies of both Serbia and Austria-Hungary joined in the war ans soon became a four vs. four country war. The assassination of Arch Duke Ferdinand is known as the trigger for WWI.

The Opium Wars

The Opium Wars was a battle between Britain and the Chinese. The Chinese had all the resources they needed but the British wanted to trade with them because they needed some of their resources. The Chinese unfairly traded little of their resources for many of the British resources. The British were determined to find a product the CHinese could use. They discovered the the Chinese doctors used opium to stop pain. The British started trading the opium with the Chinese. The Chinese soon found out that opium is also a addiciting drug that harms your body. The Chinese Emperor wrote a letter to Britain telling them to stop trade and that it is unfair that they allow opium in China but not their own country. China got no responce from the letter so they decided to wage war against Britain to stop opium trade. This is why The Opium Wars has it's name. The Chinese stood no chance against the technology of the British such as their well built boats and their cannons. They lost the almaost as soon as it started. China was starting to fall apart, people did not trust their Emperor anymore because many were starting. The opium trades did stop eventually but it is unclear as to why.

"The White Man's Burden"

The "White Man's Burden" is the idea that it is the responsibility of a country to share their advanced civilization with the rest of the world by force because they are the best civilization in the world. This is a very racist way of thinking and there is no doubt that the author of this poem was a imperialist. This justified imperialism by saying it was their responsibility to "help" other countries by forcing them to change their entire culture. The actual taking over of the country and forcing them to do labor and take their natural resources is not a burden at all. The only "Burden" according to the author is to make them realize how much better his race is to their race and that they should do things the way his civilization does and forget everything about their own. This racist attitude was common among people of this era and they truly felt that to make the world better, they had to share their ways of doing things with the world even if it was done by force.

"The Scrample for Africa"

"The Scramble for Africa" describes nations competing with each other to gain land of Africa. The France had the most African land. Britain also had a large percent of the land. Germany had the third most land. Very little land was independent because of how fast the Europeans were taking over Africa's land. This gave Africa borders but was extremely unfair to the African people because they did not even ask for their permission. These nations were looking for natural resources in Africa such as rubber from rubber trees and much more. A tribe called Zulu did surprisingly well against the Europeans considering the advanced technology the Europeans tribe had over the Zulu. The leader of the Zulus, Shaka Zulu, teached his followers military skills and were even able to out smart the Europeans in some fights. The technology of Europe soon put a end to the Zulu but at least they proved to the Europeans that they can organize and be civilized when they must. Soon all of Africa was under other nation's control and was done fast and easily due to the machine guns and other technology. This scramble among Africa effected the African people because tribes that lived together for hundreds to thousands of years were seperated and many were seperated from t\land they h\they have gre to be use to and they would have a hard time adjusting to other places.