Adrian's history blog

Joseph Stalin and Totalitarianism

2008-01-11T07:45:00.000-08:00

Joseph Stalin was the second leader of the Soviet Union. He came to power by working in the shadows. He started as a low government official and he placed followers in key government positions so that when Lenin died he would have a large percentage of people voting for him. Totalitarianism is a type of government that has complete control over the country, kind of like a monarchy. Stalin used Totalitarianism to change news papers and radio stations and all places that distribute news so they display him as a good person who makes good decisions and make sure that no one distrusts him and everyone trusts him and follows him.

Film Lesson: Doctor Zhivago

2008-01-10T07:47:00.000-08:00

In the Movie "Doctor Zhivago" the Russian Revolution is depicted as something that is a better idea then it is when its put into practice. The idea exited the people of Russia a lot because they thought everyone would share and their would be no leader. However Lenin became the ruller and made living conditions very harsh for people, taking houses from people, saying how much of something they can have.
The Revolution happened because people were feat up with the Czar and the War. The movie depicted communism as something that was misunderstood. Either by the people of Russia or by the people putting it into practice, because when communism took over some people were confused at what was going on and even outraged. The Dr got his first look at communism when he got home. His house was divided into I believe it was about 10-13 sections and each on had a family in it. He and his wife and kid were moved into a room upstairs of their ounce large house.

Causes of WW I

2008-01-04T07:49:00.000-08:00

Their were many causes of World War I. They all slowly built up until on important event made the spark and ignited the gas that was overflowing. The Assignation of France Ferdenance was the spark but the gas was many other things that build up for many years. In many countries Militarism started taking root. Most countries started because other countries started but that doesn't change the fact the because of this tensions started to rise. Two causes could be related if you think about it. Nationalism, the support for your country that what it does is right and that it is better then other countries led to imperialism which is when a country takes its Nationalism and spreads it to other countries and continents.

However one of the main causes for WWI (or as then known at the time the Great War) was the alliances that were formed threw out Europe. The main alliances were those between Great Britain, France, Russia and that of Germany, Italy, and Austria Hungary. When Austria Hungary went to war so did Germany. When Britain learned that one of their 'lesser allies' Serbia were going to War with Austria Hungary they too went to war, then France, Russia, and Italy as wheal. So while one event was the cause for WWI the war itself was inevitable due to all the things that were happening threw out Europe.

The Opium Wars

2007-12-14T07:46:00.000-08:00

The Opium Wars was when European nations, mainly England were selling opium to China and using it so they would be able to buy more stuff from the trade ports on China's East coast. It started when England was running low on silver which was their main trading resource with China. They were trying to think of a product that they had that China didn't. They finally came up with Opium, a very addicting drug that was banned in England. Smugglers gave some Opium free around the ports so that people would get addicted and when traders came looking for tea and other things they would trade it for Opium.
After a while many people in China became addicted to Opium and eventually the Emperor cough word of it and sent a letter to England. The note was a plea to England to stop selling Opium to the Chines people. He said "Why do you sell a drug to our people that is baned in your country?" The English refused and continued to sell Opium. Eventually China set up a barricade around the port with their best ships. The English then arrived with their more advance steam ships with their guns and cannons and literally blasted threw the barricade. Probably only one or two English ships were sunk and the entire Chines barricade was destroyed. After this China was forced to sign a treaty with many countries that opened new ports and each country controlled at least one port.

"The White Man's Burden"

2007-12-10T07:45:00.000-08:00

The White Man's Burden explains how white Europeans were trying to civilize Africans and Indians. They considered it a burden because they felt it was their duty to help instead of just for personally reasons. Some Europeans felt that since they were more advanced and civilized they had to help other cultures but instead the reason they did it was because they were disgusted by their uncivilized ways and they also were ripping them off by getting them to sell raw materials cheap and selling back completed products. I cant really agree or disagree with the analysis, all I can say is that the author of the poem was racist and as we said were are in the same possition today with the war in Iraq (damed Bush).

"The Scramble for Africa"

2007-12-05T07:47:00.000-08:00

The Scramble for Africa was when European countries were trying to conquer as much of Africa as possible. It was called the scramble because many countries were trying to conquer Africa at the same time and they ended up splitting it into different countries and each European country controlled a certain amount of African countries were they imposed their laws, confusing the African people because they arent used to the European ways and also separating friendly tribes. The main countries who conquered Africa were Great Britain, Spain, Italy, Belgium, France, Germany, Portugal, and Holland. These countries were able to conquer Africa so easily because they were more advance with guns.

Film Lesson: "Mountains of the Moon"

2007-12-03T07:50:00.000-08:00

The movie "Mountains of the Moon" was a true story of to explorers, John Speak and Richard Burton who set out to find the source of the Nile River. They meet many hardships on their journey including hot deserts and hostile tribes. They were also almost killed by a tribe on their first attempt at finding the source of the Nile. Its strange that they name the Lake thats the source is named after a british Queen when its in Africa. Lake Victoria would be a good name because it was a victory but they named it after the queen.
The main advantage the Europeans had against the Africans was guns. Africans had spears while Europeans had guns.

The Meiji Resoration of Japan

2007-11-27T07:50:00.000-08:00

The Meiji Restoration accord during the later part of the 19th century. It was started by Emperor Meiji after the previous Emperor allowed American ships to dock in Japan to re-supply. It was cause by this because first: the Emperor broke one of their most important laws which stated that Japan will not make contact with the rest of the world, but mainly the Restoration came about because when the American's came in their steam ships the new Emperor Meiji saw how far behind Japan was with the rest of the world.
He wanted Japan to regain its position as seeming to be the most advanced and best country of the world which is why the law that no one in Japan would make contact with the other countries. He sent 'spies' to other countries to learn from their advances and then bring the information back to Japan so they could adapt it to their culture. From the moment they agents stepped on a boat their mission started as they went around the ship and drew detailed plans on the function of all the mechanisms.
When they reached their country they visited factories and some military facilities and took very detailed notes on how everything was organized and how everything worked. After they gathered as much info as they could or all that they needed they would go back to japan and workers would start building off the notes and any blue prints they brought back. You could say this all started because of Japan's jealousy that they were no longer the best.

Karl Marx and Communism

2007-11-16T07:50:00.001-08:00

Karl Marx was the creator of evil Communism. He was German but his ways of thinking would greatly effect Russia as we know. He was a very wheal learned person being a philosopher, Historian, social scientist, and a great thinker. He got his ideas from how he saw factories being run from the Industrial Revolution. He thought workers weren't treated wheal and were over worked. He believed that the workers not the landlords should own the factories. He believed in a system of equality were no one worked for anyone. They all worked cooperatively for the benefit of the factory. If their were too many people of the factory floor and their were people needed for paper work then some people working on the floor would go up and do paperwork.

Karl Marx and the Industrial Revolution

2007-11-15T07:46:00.000-08:00

Karl Marx was a German and was the man who created communism (boooo). He didn't have an opinion on the industrial Revolution as a whole but he felt the factories weren't run wheal. He thought that the workers not the landlords should own the factories. Also he felt that the factories were much to dangerous and the workers weren't treated wheal.
He believed that the workers of the world should unit and re create the way factories are run. He believed that all the workers and owners of the factories are equal. Probably in the sense in no one has a specific job. Everyone does the job that needs to be done. If everyone is on the plant floor with extras and paperwork needs to be done then the extras will go and do the paper work.

Nationalism and the Creation of Italy

2007-10-19T08:05:00.000-07:00

Nationalism is when you support the country you live in. So if you live in America then you are nationalistic when you support the country. I am nationalistic by watching baseball, celebrating the fourth of July and by speaking English.

Nationalism helped Italy become a country because the people living their wanted a united country with a respected boarder and their own government. While most countries were destroyed by Nationalism, Italy was created by it from the ashes of old countries that all collapsed or joined together.

Reign of Terror

2007-09-28T07:46:00.000-07:00

The Reign of Terror began September 5th, 1793. This was a hard point during the French Revolution. The main thing for the Reign of the Terror were the executions that took place at the guillotine which then seemed important but now they just seem like people were beheaded just because someone didn't like them. After the Reign of Terror came a period just as bad and even though their were less executions their were many more deaths; the Reign of Napoleon.

The French Revolution

2007-09-27T07:49:00.000-07:00

The French Revolution became with one short event but took a long time to come into effect. At first their were three estates, the Clergy, Nobles, and Peasants which were everyone else. When something was wrong in France usually the King would settle it. But when the King didnt know what to do because the problem was too big he would call a meeting of all the representatives of the three estates. The system was very unfair because if the Clergy and Noble voted for something that would greatly effect the peasant Estate and not them then even if the Peasant estate voted against it it wouldn't matter because it was a three on one vote even though most of the population was in the Peasant Estate.

On July 14th 1789 however everything would change. The people of the Peasant estate revolted and captured the Bastille, a Jail/ Fortress. After that their was a meeting of the Estates and the results didnt suit the Peasant estate so they went off to make their own government. From then on the Revolution was a slow political posses.

Copernicus and the trial of Galileo

2007-09-11T07:49:00.000-07:00

The geocentric was the first beliefe about the solor system. This Theory states that the Earth is the center of the universe. This was brought up by the Church in the belief that everything revolves around the Earth. Then came the heliocentric theory that came from the scientific revolution. This theory states that the sun is the center and we revolve around the sun.

The trial of Galileo was done because the Church has a lot of power back then and if they were proven wrong then they would lose power. The Church was putting him on trian because he was contridicting their idea that the universe revled around tge Earth and saying it revolved around the sun. Galileo believed that when what he saw threw his teliscope was the truth (becuase it was) but the Church believed that Earth was the most important and the god mad everthing revolve around it.

Scientific Revolution: Scientific Method

2007-09-10T07:51:00.000-07:00

The scientific method is a layout set out to simplify how to solve a problem. For example if you want to find out how many people like to watch TV against who dosent, you would first state the problem, then make a guess or "Hypothesis", then you need to list what materials you will need. After that you get to the actual experiment. First you go around asking people if they like watching TV. If they do they would go on a list under "Likes to watch TV" if they dont they would go under "Does not like to watch TV" then you would look at your data and based on that come up with a conclusion seeing whether or not based on the people you asked if the majority does or does not like to watch TV.

Evolution vs Creation

2007-09-06T07:52:00.000-07:00

Evolution is a proven scientific theory theory that all life on Earth once were single celled organisms and slowly 'evolved' into multi-celled organisms. Also if a creature or plant is in an environment that changes it needs to adapt to survive. For example with humans, science shows were were monkeys once and we adapted to make surviving easier. We were able to walk upright to move around better, our hands changed to hold things better and we lost our fur because we started to were clothes that kept us warm.

Creation is Religious the believe that god created all life on earth the way it is now. Basically the story goes that god wanted an Earth and universe so he made them. Then he desired life and made Adem and Eve and trees and animals. And after that history starts from when man first started accurately record history around the time of Egypt or ancient Greece.