A look back on the year

History this year has been a true inspiration to me. Up until this year History was something that I only took because I had to. However, through learning about modern world history, as well as the atmosphere of the class I have become extremely interested in the subject. History is no longer something, which I consider a chore to do the reading homework in, as nerdy as it sounds it actually excites me to have to do reading, and learn about different aspects of history. Apart from learning history, this class also taught me a lot about myself, and the subjects that interest me.  Another change for me in history this year was the fact that I become comfortable with expressing my ideas, and sharing them with the class. This would've never been possible if it wasn't for the comfortable atmosphere of the class. I honestly love coming to class everyday because it isn't a class that I dread going to, and it is extremely fun. Each day is filled with activities, which not only test our knowledge what we have learned but plant new ideas in our minds. I am extremely sad that the year is over because I have enjoyed the time we have spent as a class, learning history together. 

Appeasement Extra Credit

Although WWII, occurred years ago, the issues, and events that took place during that time are still relevant in our daily lives. One of the issues that I have noticed in movies, as well as Obama's Presidential campaign, was appeasement. In this video that I found, Obama speaks about how when Bush was suppose to be honoring, and celebrating Israeli independence, he instead bashed Obama, as well as all Democrats. Bush explained that he felt Obama and the Democrats were just appeasers like Hitler, who wanted to negotiate with terrorists. For the first few minutes of the video Obama continues to talk about appeasement. We learn about events, and issues in class, through what has happened in history. However, it is always interesting, when you notice something that is currently happening in the world that goes back to what was taught in class. 

Comparison of two different Maps

In looking at both the map provided in the textbook, and the map that was put on the blog. The first difference that caught my eye was that the map in the textbook was all one color, as opposed to the map from the blog, which was different colors depending on the terrain. You can easily distinguish the desert from rural areas from the map on the blog. In addition, Egypt is two different sizes, in the textbook Egypt is miniscule and the Nile overpowers the country. This could indicate how plain and simple Egypt is, because the only significance is the river. However, if on the map provided from the blog, I noticed that Egypt is not all desert in fact the map indicates that small portion of Egypt is desert. Another difference between the two maps, which is a more obvious difference, the map from the blog stops at Afghanistan, where as the textbook map continues until The People's Republic of China. Lastly the blog map is more proportionate, and the textbook map is distorted. 

Pop Culture: Decolonizatino

After learning about decolonization in class, as well as through The Battle of Algiers, when I think about it their have been a few movies, as well as a book that I recently read that deal with recent decolonization.

Things Fall Apart- Chinua Achebe

The Battle of Algiers 

The Kite Runner

The missile crisis

When my father was a young boy, he was sitting in his kitchen one day after school. All of a sudden he heard President Kennedy come on the radio. This was a time during the Cold War when the missile crisis was happening.President Kennedy addressed the Russians on the radio, and ordered Russia to stop making missiles and taking them to cuba. President Kennedy threatened the Russians. My father told me that this announcement scared all of the people, because they thought that their was a nuclear war in the midst. My father remembers his being scared of what was to come, even though he was a young boy. The people were also frightened because they were unsure of what the United States was going to decide to do, if the Russians continued to take missiles into Cuba.

Kenya

Kenya is an extremely poor country which is overpopulated. Out of the 30 million people that live in Kenya 52% live bellow the poverty line. As a result of the country being poor their is a huge unemployment rate, and children become more intersted in durgs, and violence. Another result of the countries situtation is that currently 80% of the population is dependent on subsistence economy. However, the problem is that 20% this food is used for marketing. People are constantly starving, and even enter refugee camps in order to not starve to death. Their is a mortality rate of 414 per 1,000 people. 

The David

I will be researching one of Michelangelo's most famous peaces of art, which is the statue of David also known as The David. After some research I realized that The David has is symbolic in many different ways, and depending on the resource The David has a different meaning. In addition because The David is an important peace of art, when someone thinks of Florence, Italy they automatically think of The David. I want to further investigate the meaning of The David for Italy as well as the reason that Florence is well known for having The David. 

  Recently Italy faced a tremendous earthquake, in Rome, and many people were killed. Along with the amount of people who died, some of Italian culture was crushed as well. I would like to do research, and see the affects of the earth quake on the culture of Italy. As well as the importance of The David, if it is more important now than before. 

  Over the course of the year we have learned different histories of the different countries, as well as some history of art. Since Michelangelo lived during the Renaissance and created The David during that time period, I wonder if any of the techniques he used on The David relate back to something we have learned this year. I want find resources that would describe the reasoning behind each technique that Michelangelo used, and see if anything relates to my knowledge of  modern world history.

Michelangelo's David

In September of 2008 a BBC writer by the name of Mark Duff wrote an article about how Michelangelo's David, could collapse. Experts are saying that because The David is exposed to people walking past it each day, and creating vibrations the statue has become endangered. In addition to the vibrations, the marble in which the statue is made from as well as it's shape serves as threat to the statue as well. An idea of encasing the statue has been proposed, however this would cost about one million euros. Four years ago the cracks on the statue were repaired. This was extremely controversial because experts felt that they were changing the statue from it's original state.  The David has been an iconic statue for 504 years (since the Renaissance), an originally served as a symbol for Florence's Republican ideals. Today it symbolizes many different ideals, and depending on whom you ask you find different answers.

Other sites on The David:

Michelangelo's David set to move

Michelangelo's David is damaged

Dinesh D'Souza

After reading an article called "The Closing of the Conservative Mind, Part I," which was written by Dinesh D'Souza I was able to learn about his views. D'Souza is an extreme leftist who is Islamic, and has written a book called The Cultural Left and Its Responsibility for 9/11. He has received many threats from angry rightist American who speak of him as a follower of Bin Laden. The problem with D'Souza is that because he grew up in India, he doesn't understand how people could disagree withhis believes, he is single minded an has no clue how to understand someone else's perspective. In his book D'Souza blames "American liberal policies and actions taken by named individuals in power." I personally feel that through reading responses that people have had from his book, and how Americans feel that he is blaming America I find it impossible to understand why he doesn't understand people harsh feelings towards the book. Lastly this article clearly illustrated how extreme someone's view points can be.

A Women's place in society

After learning about WWI, and WWII as well as doing some research on Rosie the Riveter, it seemed to me that the role of women in both of these wars was primarily the same. Women were always thought of as the one who took care of the household, and had babies in order to continue this process. However, once the war hit because the men went off to war, their was desperate need for people to take over the factories, as wells as other jobs that the men did, in order to help provide for the army, and keep the cities going. Women then were desperately needed to take over the jobs that were vacant, and their roles in society switched. They no longer were quarantined to their households to make dinner, and take care of the children. They now were the reason that the armies were fully supplied, and ready to fight. In WWI their jobs were mainly running all of the factories. However, in WWII the women became much more involved in the war, and now were no longer just operating the factories but were also taking care of the wounded soldiers, and were pilots for the Air Force. The fact that women were restricted to only helping work/manage the factories during WWI, and the in WWII their was a huge leap and women were then able to be pilots, help with the wounded soldiers, and take on other jobs that the men left behind. This indicated a enormous change in the roles the women took in society, and how women were slowly becoming more, and more respected. It is important to see how much the role of women is society has changed over the years, and how the events that took place in WWI, and WWII were key to the evolution.

WWII Movie List

Here is a list of a few movies that I came up with that where either related to or had a scene that took place during world war II.

1) The Lion The Witch And The Wardrobe: Four British syblings were sent to the country side because of the German bombings over London. The Children ended up finding a wardrobe, which served as a passage to a land called Narnia. The movie is about their adventures in Narnia and how they had to get back their brother who was kidnapped by the Ice Queen.

2)The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button: It is the story of a boy who gets younger while everyone else gets older. At one point he leaves his home and sets out to sea where after a few months is attacked by the Russians killing all of the members of his crew as well as his captain. 

3) Pearl Harbor: This movie takes you through Pearl Harbor with the events leading up to it as well as the actual battle, and the aftermath. In addition, you learn about the personal lives of the soldiers, not just when they were at war but before it.

4) Casablanca: Takes place in Casablanca, which was in unoccupied Africa during world war II. It was where many Americans sought refuge from the Germans. The hot spot in Casablanca was a place called Rick's Cafe, which was a night club. It is a story of history as well as the romance between Rick and Ilsa.

5) Valkyrie: This is the story about a man Colonel Claus von Stauffenburg who is apart of the German army, and comes up with a plan to kill Hitler. It is the story of Stauffenburg, his attempts to kill Hitler, how he figures out a ways to put his plan into action, and the failures of his plans.

6) Defiance: This movie is about three Jewish brothers who are apart of the resistance against Hitler. It is about their lives in the resistance, the hardships,  how they took care of the people who where with them, and how they fought when they went head to head with the German army.

7) The Sound of Music: Maria who originally is in a convent in Austira, is asked to leave the convent and is sent to work as a governess for a Naval officer who has seven children. At first the children don't like Maria but later they become fond of her, and Maria and the Captain Von Trap (Naval Officer) fall in love and get married. When Von Trap refuses to join Hitler and take his place in the army, the Nazi's come after him and his family. The Von Traps had to escape through the hills of Austria and into neutral Switzerland.

Home Guard

When the second world war began their were many middle aged men that offered their services to the army. Winston Churchill proposed an idea to the head of the air raid precautions to create a Home Guard. After the German army began there western offense, Britain announced over the radio that they were looking for men who were between the ages of 40 and 65 to become local defense volunteers (LDV's). These men were not paid, and the only requirement that these men needed to have was to be able to shoot a rifle or a shotgun. After the defeat in France the LDV's were deployed to Britain's' coast. In Britain they defended the munition factories, organized road blocks, checked identity cards, and capture German's who's planes were shot down. However, a major problem for the LDV's was the lack of shot guns and pistols. Britain asked the public to help supply the men, but their contributions weren't enough. The war veterans became involved in helping the LDV prepare to fight the Germans. They created training schools, one of the most important schools was named Osterley. The Home Guard was trained in sabotage as well as the use of high explosives.

"The Decision to Drop the Atomic Bomb" Response

By showing this movie on the atomic bomb in 1955, I think that people were able to learn the history of the bomb as well the affects that it still has on Hiroshima. NBC was smart in airing this video, I think it is important for the American people to see what happened in our history, and see the changes we have made from that day. The last remarks of the video pointed out the changes that we have made in our country on nuclear weapons. Hiroshima is a perfect example of a place that is still suffering from what happened years ago. In addition, it points out how an even that occurred in history, can still be an on going problem today. In relation to the memory of WWII I found it interesting that the video had veterans, and survivors of the bomb talking, and how today they still believe in what they fought for, or what they believed in from the war.

The Pieces of WWII

I personally completely disagree with having the Holocaust separate from the other sections of WWII. I think that by having the Holocaust separate, you don't get the affect of how terrible it was, and it is hard to see where it comes into place, and how it connects in relation to the rest of the events that occurred during WWII. If I were to organize and order the years 1933-1945 I would write the textbook in chronological order. If you do it in chronological order, the reader can easily make connections to each event, and be able to form a better understanding of what happened, and why it took place. If the text book isn't in chronological order then the reader won't be able to put the pieces of the puzzle together, and won't be able to understand completely understand.

Here is what it would look like...

The Pieces of World War II
1933:
-January, 30 Hitler becomes chancellor.
-Hitler reveals desires of creating authoritarian leadership.
1935:
-March 9 ,Hitler announces creation of air force ( a week later he announces that there will be a draft).
-Mussolini uses his imperial expansion by attacking Ethiopia.
1936
-March 7, Hitler sends troops t Rhineland which was France's territory according to the treaty of Versille.
-Hitler achieves a diplomatic revolution.
-Chiang Kai-Shek kidnapped by military forces--> formation of a new united front against the Japanese.
1937:
-July Chinese and Japanese forces collided on the Marc Polo Bridge.
-Japanese attack China in the summer.
1938:
-March 13, Hitler annexed Austria to Germany.
-September 15, Hitler demands the cession of Sudetenland.
1939:
-March Germany occupied the Czech lands , and Slovaks declared their independence from the Czechs.
-March 15, in Prague, Hitler declared himself the greatest German of them all.
-August 23, Hitler announced his nonaggression pact with Stalin.
-Germany and the Soviet Union divided Poland amongst themselves.
1940:
-Summer, Japan demanded the right to occupy airfields to benefit from economic resources in French Indochina
-France and Britain declared war
-Winter passed and on April 9, Hitler resumed war and attacked Denmark, and Norway
-May 10, Germans attacked Netherlands, Belgium, and France.
-June 22, French capitulated
-August the German air force launched a big offense against the British air force, navy, harbors, and communication centers.
-September the Germans had lost the battle of taking over Britain
-Mussolini invades Greece
1941:
-April, German troops took over Yugoslavia and Greece to secure the Balkans.
-December 7, Japanese Naval bases attack Pearl Harbor.
1942:
-spring most of Southeast Asia and The western Pacific was under Japanese control.
-Hitler captured the entire Crimea
-Fall war had turned against Hitler
-November, British and American forces invaded French North America
-May 7, in the battle of the coral sea American forces held back Japan.
-June 4, America won the battle of Midway Island and established naval superiority.

1943:
-Allies agree to fight until the Axis powers surrender
-British and Americans forced the Germans and Italians to surrender
-Hitler's troops forced to surrender in Stalingrad.
-Allies carried the war to Italy.
-Soviets re-occupied Ukraine
1944:
-June 4, Rome was now in the hands of the allies.
-Allies landed 5 assault divisions on the beaches of Normandy.
1945:
-Allied armies moved towards the Elbe River.
-Soviets occupied Warsaw and entered Berlin.
-Hitler moved into a bunker 55 feet underground to direct the end of the war.
-April 30, Hitler commits suicide.
-May 7, German commander surrender.

My Great Uncle's Story

When I asked my parents if they knew anyone who fought in WWII my mom told me a short story about my great uncle Mel. My Uncle Mel at the time was living in the United States, and he was engaged to my aunt Claire. My great uncle was called to go to war at the age of 26, but when it was time for him to go to war he became sick with Flabystis. Flabystis is a disease that causes the vain to swell up, and so he was hospitalized immediately in Louisiana. Due to his condition my uncle was not able to fight in the war.

Appeasement: Sibling relationships

There have been various times when my brother and I have got into a huge fight, where we are screaming and yelling at each other. In addition like all siblings my brother and I hit each other occasionally when we are mad. However, what my brother always has against him is the fact that if he starts hurting me and I scream my mom will run into the room, and he will get punished for hurting me, because I am younger. So I normally start screaming and he i appeases, and gives into my trap because he knows that he will get in trouble if he doesn't stop.

A Dicatator's Hour

On April 14,1941 and article on Adolf Hitler's intents on proclaiming war called A Dictator's Rule was in Time Magazine. The article talks about how the spring of 1941 was the biggest moment in Adolf Hitler's carrier, because it had potential to lead to his total dominance of the world if he went about it correctly. The reason spring was so important was because that was when Hitler announced that Germany was at war with the Belgrade Government. That spring as put in the article was Hitler's building season. Hitler no longer utilized the pleasures of life such as his car, and nights to the movies, he only devoted himself to war. Hitler put all of his year of work, and his accomplishments of expanded Germany, as well as the army, making the navy strong, and lastly his 3,000,000 followers. All of this was put on the line during the war. Sure it may be easy to look at his statistics, as well as all of his accomplishments and be fooled that he was a good man with good intention. However, this is far from the truth, and I feel that this is what helped him gain followers. The people were so focused on how well he spoke, and how everyone was following him, that they forgot to pay actual attention to what he was saying, and his intentions to make an Aryan state. In addition I think that the people were so relieved after the great depression that they wanted to believe that someone could take them out of the slump they were in and make a quick turn around. Furthermore Hitler used tactics to basically brainwash the people into thinking that he was actually doing good, when he really was doing the exact opposite.

Fascism

Through reading the article The Price of going To Class I proceeded to conclude that the Taliban was somewhat of a fascist organization. Although it did not fit all of the requirements of fascism like totalitarianism, and being militaristic, it did identify with other elements that are key to fascism. For example 80 percent of women are illiterate, as well as married underage. In addition women are banned from working outside of the home because they are needed to take care of the children, the household, and bare children to increase the population. The Taliban also has censorship and television, movies, and music, are banned. Censorship, along with not allowing education for women, is a major part of fascism in the case of the Taliban because this enables them to have full control over what the people know, as well as what they can learn. Lastly apart from censorship, and gender roles one of the most important elements of fascism, is having a single organization have complete power, which the Taliban had for five years, and to some extent still have currently.
Because the Taliban is a somewhat fascist group, it shares some similarities with the Nazis organization. First off the Taliban had, ultimate power for five years until the United States overturned them. This is extremely similar to Hitler being sent to prison after the Beer Hall Putsch uprising, which was an attempt to take over the Munich government. However, although the Taliban was overturned by the United States, and although Hitler was sent to prison they both managed to find ways to gain power once again. The Taliban ambushed Afghanistan with checkpoints, as well as the assassination of officials, and they were able to gain control over the countryside. Hitler, and the Nazis acted similarly and began to take over Germany region by region. Lastly both the Taliban, and the Nazis used threats in attempts to get what they wished. The Taliban didn’t want women to be educated, and so they made threats on women who did go to school, and threw acid on their faces. The Nazis didn’t want the Jews to own factories, and didn’t want them to have jobs because the Jews were making they most money, and so they placed threats on the Jews requiring them to give up their jobs, otherwise there would be consequences, which normally meant death.
This article illuminated the idea of how the Taliban is a fascist organization, as well as how similar the Taliban is to the Nazis. It is terrible to think that the horrific organizations that we are educated on to prevent them from occurring again, are still occur in the world today. Also it is clear that just because Europe, and the United States have dealt with, as well as experienced certain events. This does not mean that other countries are able to do what Europe, and the United States have done, and they are suffering from the lack of power to do so.