The Collapse of Communism

The Berlin Wall was a big structure separating East and West Germany. Keeping all the communism in Germany. The wall strictly split them apart and killed anyone who tried to cross it. Germany was split for 28 years. Until 1989 the wall was broken down after being started in 1961. The wall was broken down by the people. It was supposed to simply be a road for private trips, and walkways for certain people. Soon hundreds came to the wall and tore it down.

In Russia, Mikhail Gorbachev, became leader in 1985. He did not beleive in communism, but in openness and restructuring. There was a collapsing economy and a nationalistic ferver that let the Soviet Union fade away.

New Nations in Africa

Before Africa gained it's independence, new leaders rose up to point Africa in the right direction. Kwame Nkrumah was the first to rise up. He had been a teacher in the after studying in the United States. During the 1940's he worked to free the Gold Coast from the British. He organized boycotts and strikes against the British government. In 1957 the Gold Coast became known as Ghana. Nkrumah became the prime minister and later the president of Ghana. 

The Right Stuff

The Soviet Union and the United States were competing to get into space. There were rockets built repeatedly to see if they can get into space. The United States finally made a successful rocket and sent a monkey in it. So basically the first American in space, was a monkey. The United States had a slighlty upper hand at that moment. Being able to send the first lifeform into space. But then Russia made the United States look bad. They sent a live human being into space. Fearlessly stepping all over the slow American progress.

This actually brings back the tension in the Cold War. All during the movie the American workers dying to get into space were complaining only about one thing. They were always complaining about how the Russians were always making them look bad, and that they were so sick and tired of the Russians beating them at everything. In front of the cameras, they were all smiles and said that the Russians beat them fair and square. When the cameras were off and the Americans were away they spoke harshly against the Russians with things such as "The Stupid Russians". Although it was written that everything was good, hatred lives in the people.

NATO and the Warsaw Pact

NATO was an organization formed as a defensive alliance in some European nations and North America. It was so that any nation included in NATO was attacked, they would help each other. Along with NATO came the Marshall Plan where everyone supported each other economically, helping them. At first some nations doubted that the United States would keep to their word, but after the events thst occured Czechoslovakia, NATO's security grew.

The Warsaw Pact was with a pact with the Soviet Union and the surrounding countries. It was created to defend the nations from any attack with an immediate counter attack. Just like NATO only on the European side. The Warsaw Pact was started by the Soviet Union in case of an attack from the United States.

Both these organizations were made for one purpose. They were to protect the included nations from attack from others not in the organization. It was not much of an offensive move as it was a defensive move.

Schinlder's List

The movie of "Schinlder's List" was one of the most dramtic movies I have wathced in my life. It clearly shows what the Jews went through in the Holocaust. It shows how one group of workers, working for Oscar Schindler suffered in the Holocaust. They were moved over many places and suffered greatly in each place, watching comrades fall to the floor in a never ending sleep.
I have to pick the most powerful scenes in the movie would be Aushwitz and the children. Aushwitz was the biggest death camp wdere most of the people wre excecuted and even though the group of workers wasn't there for too long they suffered greatly. Their hair was cut off and they were threatened with the fake showers which beleive it or not, may damage the mind.
The children suffered horribly. At their innocent agethey had no idea what they had in store for them. They were all sent to be killed without knowing it. Meanwhile some children stayed behind in the camps hiding in small places. In "Schindler's List" they show of a boy who they were not allowing to hide with them because of the needed space. So he ran around until he reached the restroom and he jumped into one of the whole, into human droppings. To my surprise there was already kids in there, the whole thing was disgusting.
I beleive a couple of images from the movie will stay in my head. The image of the children hiding, the image of the deatgh camps, but mostly the image of the little girl with the red clothing. Earlier in the movie she was shown walking by the Nazi's into a home and hiding under the bed. Afterwards in a later scene the Nazi's are searching for Jews and there is nobody under the bed anymore. I assumed she was captured. Near the end, Schindler is witnessing the burning of bodies and in one of the wheelbarrows carrying bodies, was the little girl, dead.This is the image that will stay with me.

Night and Fog

The documentary of Night and Fog was very dramatic. The images shown are horrific and so harsh. The way some people were killed and killed themselves were simply, disgusting. They would jump onto the electic wires and kill themsleves, or simply crawl into the snow and die.
The film was very powerful as there were dead bodies lying everywhere. The suffering that the Jews had to go through was devastating. The live footage of the events were harsher than any movie I have ever seen related to the Holocaust. Compared with "Schindler's List" the live footage was a bit more harsh in the way they try to get the message through. The re-make of the extermination of the Jews in the movie was harsher by the fact that it has audio and the peoples screams have a bigger effect on you when you can hear it instead of just imagining it.
I still beleive the Holocaust was shown more effectively in the movie of "Shindler's List." It shows the clear suffereing of the Jews of all ages. Especially of the young which were taking big risks in making sure they would not be taken to extermination. But most of all it shows almost evyerthing shown in "Night and Fog" with audio that makes one feel the suffering even more, and get the picture that the Holocaust was the worst event to ever happen to mankind.

The Treaty of Versailles(ended WWI)

When Germany lost World War I, the allies wanted Germany to take full blame for all the damage. The allies wrote The Treaty of Versailles to punish Germany harshly. It wasn't enough to make them responsible for the war but it cost them dearly.

Germany lost a lot of money with the Treaty of Versailles. 10% of German lands were lost as a result, that made Germany lose all its colonies overseas. Then a huge 12.5% of Germans found themselves living outside German borders. Germany had suffered a huge economic lost in paying the Allies for reparation payments.

Germany got their military disarmed. Germany felt ridiculed because their military was the reaason Germany was famous. This made it look weak and defensless to other nations. Ths made a political uprising.

Germany was harshly punished for what it did. The Treaty of Versailles made completely sure that it got what it deserved. But all the punishment led to a hatred that Germany generated to all the nations that were part of the Treaty of Versailles.