Mikhail Gorbachev and the collapse of Communism

"Glasnost" means openess. "Peristrokia" means economic restructuring. Mikhail made a policy in 1985 known as glasnost and encouraged Soviet citizens to discuss ways to improve their society. Glasnost had changed a lot because the churches were opened again, dissidents were released from prison, books by previously banned authors were published, and reporters investigated social problems and openly criticized government officials. In 1985 Gorbachev introduced the idea of peristrokia. Gorbachev made cheanges to revive the Soviet economy in 1986. Local managers had gained greater authority over their farms and factories, and the people were allowed to open their own private businesses. Gorbachev was trying to make the system of communism better not to throw it out.
Gorbachev unveilede a third new policy in 1987 called democratization. He did this in order to loosen the grip of the communist party on society and politics. The plan called for the election of a new legislative body. Voters were now allowed to pick candidates from any party instead of hand picked and approved people from the communist party.

Collapse of Communism

Communism collapsed in Eastern Europe and the USSR because the Soviet-bloc nations of Poland, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Romania, and Hungary. The leader, Gorbachev was forced to resign as president. The Berlin wall collapsed because first they made a private road for people to pass through the wall between the two sections of Gremany, then they started making more sections so more people could pass between the two seciotns of Germany, then people came to the wall with sledge hammers and attacked the wall. The Soviet Union got broken up into 15 different republics. These republics are Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgystan, Lativa, Lithuania, Moldova, Russian Federation, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. They formed republics when the people of these areas revolted. The collapse of the Soviet Union chenged the world by having less of a need for concern about nuclear annhilation.

Nelson Mandela and Apartheid

Apartheid is a form of racial segregation in parts of the world where it is racially segregated in social or educational ways. Nelson Mandela was a hero because he wanted all of the races to be free even though the white people locked him up for 27 years. He was also a complex person because he wanted peace but had used a campaign of violence. He wasn't communist but admired the communist leaders that fought along side him.

African Independence

The Africans finally got their independence a while after the scramble for Africa. Africa changed a lot in 20 years. There were less areas in Africa that were colonies of the Europeans and a lot more that had their independence. A leader named Jomo Kenyatta had leadKenya and helped gain their independence. When he got elected for leading it he tried to unite all of the different cultures living in there.

The Cuban Missile Crisis

The Cuban missile crisis was during the Cold War. It was when the Soviet Union was behind the US in the arms race and the US had missiles that could reach the Soviet Union but they only had missiles that could bomb Europe. The Soviet Union decided to try and put missiles on a closer range to the US and Cuba agreed because Fidel Castro was afraid of another invasion. Eventually the US found out because of photographs they got from a spy.

This was concidered "the hottest moment in the Cold War" because this was as close as the US and the Soviet Union got to bombing each other and starting a nuclear war. In order to combat the crisis Kennedy organized the EX-COMM which is a group of 12 of his most important advisors to handle the crisis. After a meeting he decided to put a naval quarantine around Cuba. Then he wrote a letter to the Soviets about taking their missiles out of Cuba. they had a meeting and agreed and the Soviets took their missiles out of Cuba.

NATO and The Warsaw Pact

NATO and The Warsaw Pact were alliances that were created to defend the other countries in the alliances. NATO was made up of the US, Canada, Portugal, Italy, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, and the United Kingdom. The Warsaw Pact consisted of Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and the Soviet Union.

NATO was made as a mutual defence alliance so that if one of them was attacked the other countries in the alliance would come in to aide that country being attacked. The Warsaw Pact was made as a response to NATO and is supposed to be a mutual defence alliance like NATO. The Soviet Union dominated The Warsaw Pact.

Film Lesson: "The Right Stuff"

The US and Russia were competing in a space race in the movie "The Right Stuff". Russia was winning the race because the US spaceships kept crashing. They would go up a little then go down and explode. Russia was winning because they sent a man into space about a day or two after the US sent a chimp into space. The scene in this film that made me remember this Cold War event was when the US kept sending ships into space and they kept coming back down and exploding. When they finally sent a chimp into space and it came back down was funny because everyone kept taking pictures of it like it was very important.