Mikhail Gorbachev and the Collapse of Communism

Mikhail Gorbachev was a very different leader from the rest of the leaders who controlled USSR before him. His ideas and beliefs were very different from the ideas of Stalin, and other former leaders. Mikhail Gorbachev was tired of communism, and followed his own ideas and demonstrated what a real government should be. Russia was ran by totalitarian rulers. The people of Russia were also tired of the corrupted government, and its leaders.They needed someone to start reforms to make the USSR capitalist. Mikhail Gorbachev along with partners, started these huge reforms called the "Glasnost" and "Perestrokia". In 1985 he announced a glasnost, where churches were opened, books were published and freedom of the press rised. Perestokia was a policy that allowed people to own their own small businesses which weren't owned buy the government. This in a way marked the end of Communism and showed that Communism wasn't affective and small businesses were needed for the success of the economy. Mikhail Gorbachev was one of the first leader who slowly removed communism from USSR. He opened up the economy and allowed for positive changes in Russia. He is one of the most important leaders for the USSR because he brought capitalism, and removed communism from USSR.

The Collapse of Communism

After the War, America and the Soviet Union were in a cold war. The Soviet Union was communist, and wasn't willing to change to a democracy. But as the 21st century came closer, the economy of communist countries such as Cuba and USSR began to collapse. The waste of money on military and oppressive government could not hold up the economy. By the 1990s Russia collapsed. The Berlin Wall, which separated communist East Germany and West Germany was brought down, making the sides no longer seperated. The fall of communism ended the Cold War between the American and Communist countries. The Soviet Union became separated into different countries. After that very few countries remained communist including China and Cuba. The fear of nuclear war also decreased, and Democratic policies were accepted in other countries.

Nelson Mandela and Apartheid

Apartheid was used in South Africa for many years and was a social policy or racial segregation involving political, economic and legal discrimination against people who are not white. The same thing was going on in America where all the colored people were separated from the white people. This went on in South Africa from 1948 to 1990. Nelson Mandela was a hero because Mandela along with 150 others were arrested on December 5 1956 and charged with treason for speaking out against Apartheid. He also fought many violent acts to gain freedom in South Africa. He spent many years in prison for committing treason. He is respected by many people because he stood up for what he believed in and did a lot to free his people. He took the pain mentally and physically by being in prison and by getting beat up by higher authorities of South Africa. He was a brave and courageous man.

African Independence

Africa went through dramatic changes over 20 years from 1955-1975. Many African countries gained their independence. They gained their independence because some of the African countries fought against colonists to become independent. Africans wanted to show others that they can industrialize and and run their own country. Leopold Senghor was the leader and first president of Senegal. Jomo Kenyatta was another famous African leader, who was a nationalist leader of Kenya. There also was Mobuto who ruled the country of Zaire. Nkrumah organized strikes and boycotts.The Gold Coast adopted the name Ghana. Eventually the OAU (Organization of AfricanUnity) and Pan-African Congress was formed.

Cuban Missile Crisis (EXTRA CREDIT)

The Cuban Missile Crisis was the closest that the United States ever came to a nuclear war. The US armed forces were very prepared and Soviet commanders in Cuba were ready to use battlefield nuclear weapons as the island's defense to any invasions. In 1962 the Soviets were behind the US in the arms race and had missiles that were only powerful enough to be launched against Europe. The United States' missiles were capable of striking the entire Soviet Union. Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev came up with the idea of placing intermediate-range missiles in Cuba. At this time, Cuban leader Fidel Castro was looking for a way to defend his island from any US attack. He approved Khrushchev's plan and in the summer of 1962 the Soviet Union worked quickly to secretly build its missile installations in Cuba. When word got out to the United States and photographs revealed the Soviet missiles under construction in Cuba, President John Kennedy organized a group of his twelve most important advisors, which was known as the EX-COMM, to handle the crisis. Many debates were taken place, causing Kennedy to impose a naval quarantine around Cuba. He also wanted to prevent the arrival of anymore Soviet weapons. Tensions began to build on both sides. In a letter, Khrushchev proposed removing Soviet missiles if the U.S. would promise not to invade Cuba. The worst day of the crisis was October 27th when a U-2 was shot down over Cuba and EX-COMM received a second letter from Khrushchev demanding the removal of U.S. missiles in Turkey in exchange for Soviet missiles in Cuba. Some tension was eased on October 28th, when Khrushchev announced that he would remove the installations and return the missiles to the Soviet Union, showing that he trusted tge United States would not invade Cuba. Both countries came to an agreement that Soviet light bombers should be removed from Cuba and the United States will not attack and invade Cuba.

Film Lesson: "The Right Stuff"

In the film, the United States and the USSR were competing on who would set the world record of breaking the sound barrier by making an airplane that was called MACH I. Both countries also wanted to be the first who brought man to space. By building spaceships, the Russians were ahead of the Americans . The US decided to gather a team of top notch astronauts were smart pilots and capable of taking the job. When testing the spacecraft, the US sent a monkey to space. Competing back was Russia who were the first ones to send the first man ever into space. The Russians were also first to put satelites in space. The Russians outsmarted the US and won the competition. The scenes that will help me remember the Cold War was when Russia and the U.S were competing against each other of whose the best country to break records like when the U.S broke the record of the sound barrier. I'll also remember how the US didn't want the press to write a report on their sound barrier breaking so the Russians won't get ahead of them. America wasn't very friendly with the Russians because they were a communist country.

NATO and the Warsaw Pact

NATO was also known as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in which was a military alliance. It was an organization of countries that were involved in a mutual defense alliance, which meant that if one of the countries were attacked the allied countries would help defend them. The Warsaw Pact was another defensive alliance, but was an organization Communist countries in Central and Eastern Europe. Western Europe and North America made up the NATO alliance. NATO was created to stop the spread od communism and help defend fellow countries from attacks. The Warsaw Pact was created because the communist military wanted to maintain power over Eastern Europe. The Soviet Union wound up gaining control over its neighboring European nations.