Joseph Stalin and Totalitarianism

Totalitarianism is a system of government that is centralized and dictatorial and requires complete subservience to the state. Stalin came into rule after Lenin died. He used his position in the Party to get all his supporters and followers in key positions of the Communist Party. In time, this worked and Stalin gained control of the Soviet Union after Lenin died. Stalin made a "five year plan in order to make the Soviet Union one of the most industrialized nations in Europe, making them powerful and having and giving them an upper hand. The five year plan was made in oder to get more people working in factories. Stain made people give up their own land, in order to turn it into farms or factories. If people didn't obey, they would be killed Stalins harsh dictatorship, was what made him famously known among history.This leads to the Great Purges. This was when people were forced to join labor camps. Many people were killed and sent to exile. The economy raised, at the peoples expense. Stalins one and main concern was to gain economic power. He didn't care about his people. Stalin, is a symbol of the dark side of communism, and a great example of how far people are willing to go to gain money and power. This can very much compare to modern day government.

Film Lesson Doctor Zhivago

Th film depicted the Russian Revolution because it showed all the cayuse caused by the Russian Revolution. Reasons why the Russian people wanted change was because The mo, they wanted equality. They wanted to run things themselves, and have some control of their country. This represents the idea of communism. In the movie, you were able to see the struggles that the soldiers faced. They showed, all the wounded and killed solders, which eventually led to them surrendering. During the movie, both sides called a trues. Because it was Christmas, they came together shared belongings and sang songs. They also took time to collected the dead bodies of their soldiers. But at the end, the long hard days of the war on the battle field became to much. The Russians called quits and pulled out of the war.In turn they sent Czar, the political ruler, to jail. This allowed the people to live their free lives, which depict a communist way of living. This is how Communism was born. Doctor Zhivago, witnessed communism when he returned to Moscow and saw all his belongings being split up among different families. His house was also split and numerous families lived their. Because according to communism, this was the fair thing to do because it allowed for equality.

Cause of WWI

Causes of the World War were, Nationalism, Militarism, Assassination of Frans Ferdinand and the collapse of the alliance system. The first cause was nationalism, nationalism can turn other countries against each other because it can cause competition among other nations.This was one of the basic most common problems countries faced against each other. For example Nationalism posted a problem for Austria-Hungary and the Balkans. These areas were made up of conflicting national groups. Another strong reason as to why the Great War started was because of Imperialism. IT greatly contributed to the rivalry in Europe, and was one of the main reasons for it's increase.When the increase in manufacturing during the Industrial revolution occurred, Great Britain, Germany, and France needed foreign markets. Things that led to the war was the feud of Germany against Britain and France. Other issues, were that of the falling Ottoman empire to Austria-Hungary and Russia. Another reason to blame for the start of the War was the Alliance, which overall led o the immediate result of the War.Their were two alliances, they were the triple alliance and the triple entente. The triple alliance consisted of the countries of, Italy, Germany, Austria and Hungary. The triple entente was Russia, France, and Britain.

the Opium Wars

After reading the links below; explain "The Opium Wars". What happened
during The Opium Wars? Why are they called The Opium Wars? Who won and
why?

During the Opium Wars, it all started out with the trade of the British with the Chinese. China was isolated for many years, the British came and wanted to trade with the Chinese, but their tries went in vain, since the Chinese didn't want or need what the British had to offer. When the British finally offered Opium to the Chinese, they quickly accepted the offer, it was something they could not turn down. For hundreds of years the Chinese doctors used this drug to heel patients, or to prevent heavy unbearable pains. The British thrived during this trade. Soon the British grew, in content. Since China was self sufficient, they couldn't find any other product to export to china, they decided to mix tobacco with Opium and promote smoking Opium in China. Soon over two million pounds of Opium were sold to China every year. The Britsh were thriving at the Chinese expense. The BRITISH were able to trick the Chinese, and in turn killed over thousands of people. This war was called the Opium wars because, it was almost literally a fight for Opium the Chinese wanted it out while the British wanted it in. The British won this war due to their high technology and powerful army.

"The White Mans Burrden"

Explain what this means - what is "The White Man's Burden"? Read some
analysis of the poem (#1, #2, #3). Do you agree with this analysis? The
poem was written in 1899 about US imperialism in The Philippines - is
the US still imperialistic today? Are we still living the "White Man's
Burden" one-hundred years later? Explain.

In the poem they talk about the Europeans going to the Philippians, they thought they were actually helping them but in reality they were just making things worse. The white man felt that the Philippians needed them, as in almost what happened in Africa. ALL they were really doing, was robbing people out of their land and free natural rights. What the white people saw as a duty or a task, others saw as a living hell. Overall I don't agree with the poem on imperialism in the Philippians.
In a way i do still think that we are living the white mans burden. I think this because, still today the United States is always in everyone else's
business, they still feel the need to help everyone else and be in
their business. We are in Iraq right now... doing so called
"reconstructing" we tared apart their old government and changed it to
a democracy. We think we're doing good, as the Europeans thought they were doing for the Africans, but in reality we are just killing people. This can relate to the Europeans who traveled around the world conquering (as we did in Iraq). The Europeans felt that they were superiors or better. They felt a burden to have to conquer and make better these savage live people, when in reality they were just harming them. The Europeans felt that their race, the white race was the best. By them conquering and ruling other lands, they would just spread their race among the world, which in their eyes was the best race. The white race would be WORLDWIDE.

" The Scramble for Africa"

In your own words - explain the term "Scramble for Africa" .
In your
explanation address the following: 1.) who were the main European
nations involved in this scramble; 2.) what were these nations looking
for in Africa; 3.) how were they able to dominate Africa so easily; and
4.) how did this scramble effect the African people?


The term the "Scramble for Africa" was the term used to describe the periods of imperialism in Europe, when Europeans raced to get to Africa. They wanted to
explore Africa for various reasons, one being all their natural
resources and they also wanted to explore the Nile River. Everyone
became interested in exploring Africa, even though few were successful. Some of the nations involved in the scramble were, France, Great Brittan, Germany, Italy, Portugal and Spain. Europe ultimately succeeded in gaining control of Africa. They won because they were civilized, and were able to strategies their defeat. Also they won because they had a great amount of technology compared to the Africans, who
were uncivilized and had never seen white men or even a gun.Sometimes they used their materials or gold to buy over some Africans. The scramble effect, affect the African people in horrible ways. They were taken from their homelands, killed and used as slaves. Many families were broken up and villages were destroyed.

Film Lesson: "Mounrtains of the Moon"

In the film "Mountains of the Moon", what were some of the hardships
that Europeans faced as they explored Africa? Also, why is it strange
that the source of the Nile River, (Lake Victoria - the third largest
lake in the world) is named after a British Queen? Finally, what was
the primary technological advantage that Europeans had over African
people? Why were Europeans eventually able to conquer Africa so easily?

Some of the hardships that the Europeans faced were that they, had to battle Africans in farther villages, who had never seen "white men" They felt threatened and attacked the Europeans. Another thing that the Europeans faced was, Africans which they hired to work for them, leaving in the middle of the night, and stealing their things. Another big problem was the vast dry deserts of Africa. It is strange that The third largest river in Africa is named after a Britsh Queen because, the Europeans, when exploring Africa, went along dividing up the land and naming places, even though it was not their country nor their land. It is so strange because the lake should be named after an African name, and not British, since it's not their country. The primary technological advantage Europeans had was that they were civilized. They had a full grown society. People lived in houses. Had nice cloths and a government in place. Meanwhile the Africans, still lived in small tribes. They hunted food and wore "savage like cloths" Overall Europeans were able to conqueror Africa because of they were civilized and had technology such as gun powder and riffles. These things allowed them to defeat the Africans in war.