Clodhys` Global Blog

Joseph Stalin and Totalitarianism

2008-01-11T07:43:00.001-08:00

Totalitarianism is state regulation of nearly every aspect of public and private behavior. Totalitarian regimes or movements maintain themselves in political power by means of secret police, propaganda disseminated through the state-controlled mass media, personality cults, regulation and restriction of free discussion and criticism, single-party states, the use of mass surveillance, and widespread use of terror tactics.propaganda disseminated through the state-controlled mass media, personality cults, regulation and restriction of free discussion and criticism, single-party states, the use of mass surveillance, and widespread use of terror tactics.

Stalin rid himself of all potential rivals in the party, by having many of them executed. To ensure his position and to push forward "socialism in one country," he put the Soviet Union on a course of crash collectivization and industrialization. An estimated 25 million farmers were forced onto state farms. Collectivization alone killed as many as 14.5 million people, and Soviet agricultural output was reduced by 25 percent, according to some estimates.

The "Five Year Plans" were a series of nation-wide centralized exercises in rapid economic development in the Soviet Union. The "Great Purge" campaigns of political repression and persecution in the Soviet Union orchestrated by Joseph Stalin during the 1930s, which removed all of his remaining opposition from power.

Film Lesson: Doctor Zhivago

2008-01-10T07:45:00.000-08:00

The film Dr. Zhivago depicted the Russian revolution as a horrible time to live in Russia. Some of the reasons that Russia wanted the independence were first because they wanted to get rid of Czar Nicholas II of Russia. The reason they wanted to get rid of him was because by the spring of 1917, Russia was on the verge of total collapse. The army had taken 15 million men from the farms, so food prices had soared. The severe winter dealt with railways, overburdened by emergency shipments of coal and supplies, which would be the final blow.

Causes of WWI

2008-01-04T07:45:00.000-08:00

World War 1 had three different causes, Nationalism, Militarism, and the assassination of Franz Ferdinand. Nationalism is an extreme loyalty to one`s nation and concern for it`s welfare. It was one of the causes of WWI because European nations were looking to regain their lost territories. Militarism is a nation`s policy to maintain strong army forces. This was also another cause to WWI because France, Russia, and Germany were competed to build powerful armies. The assassination of Franz Ferdinand was probably the first cause of WWI. Franz Ferdinand was the heir to the throne of archduke of Austria. He was assassinated by a Serbian nationalist. This led to the Austrian-Hungarian empire to declare war on Serbia. After that Serbia had it`s friends to help them out, but so did Austria-Hungary.

The Opium Wars

2007-12-14T07:45:00.000-08:00

Many things happened during the opium war. The British began to trade opium to the Chinese for tea. The Chinese used the opium as medicine in the beginning, but soon the British began to show the Chinese how to smoke opium. The Chinese emperor began to hate the British for bringing the opium to China. He hated the British because the opium was making the people of China very lazy. So the emperor wrote a letter to queen Victoria, but the queen of england did not respond to the letter. Then China closed it's trading gates to england, but england did not like this so they came with gunboats and attacked the Chinese ports the Chinese tried to defend themselves but the British boats were too advanced in technology. So england defeated the Chinese easily.

"The White Man's Burden"

2007-12-10T07:43:00.000-08:00

The white man's burden was to bring every one civilization to all the native lands like Africa, and Asia. I agree with this analysis because the poem is basically saying that Europe is like getting tired of making everyone civilized. I think that the Europeans were just confused because it's not like the other lands wanted to be civilized. What Europe did was first conquer the land and then by force make them learn how to be civilized. I don`t think that the U.S. was as imperialistic
as before. In some places they might some racial slurs, but no we are not living the white man's burden anymore.

The scramble for africa

2007-12-05T07:45:00.000-08:00

The main countries that fought over the land of Africa were Britain, Spain, Italy, Portugal, France, Germany, and Belgium. These countries fought over Africa's vast resources like diamonds, gold, silver, rubber trees, ivory, wood, salt, and other materials. They were able take over Africa with the invention of the machine gun and the cure for malaria. The Europeans made many borders which confused the Africans by separating the friendly tribes and putting them together with their rival tribes.

Film Lesson: "Mountains of the Moon"

2007-12-03T07:45:00.000-08:00

Some of the hardships that the English explorers John Speak and Richard Burden faced were the harsh weathers in Africa. Africa has a very hot climate, which explains it's deserts. The wild tribes were also a problem. The first time John and Richard encountered a wild tribe they were attacked and they had to retreat back to england. Then when they returned, they encountered other tribes. These other tribes were

The Meiji Restoration of Japan

2007-11-27T07:43:00.000-08:00

Japan was a largely closed society, it did not want diplomatic and commercial contact with foreigners. The United States and other nations tried to establish formal relations with Japan, but were repeatedly denied. So, in 1852, President Millard Fillmore ordered Commodore Matthew Perry to command the U.S. Navy's East India Squadron and to establish diplomatic relations with Japan. Perry initially delivered President Fillmore's request for a treaty to a representative of the Japanese emperor in 1853. He returned with a larger force in 1854, arriving in Edo (Now Tokyo) Bay, and obtained the signature of the Japanese authorities to the Treaty of Kanagawa on March of 1854. This treaty led to significant commercial trade between the United States and Japan, contributed to opening Japan to other Western nations, and ultimately resulted in the modernization of the Japanese state. The Japanese lived in an archipelago, an archipelago is a groups of many islands in a large body of water.

Karl Marx and Communism

2007-11-16T07:44:00.000-08:00

Karl Marx was considered the father of communism. His most famous analysis of history is the summed up opening of the The Communist Manifesto: "The development of Modern Industry, therefore, cuts from under its feet the very foundation on which the bourgeoisie (The capitalist class)produces and appropriates products. What the bourgeoisie therefore produces, above all, are its own grave-diggers. Its fall and the victory of the proletariat are equally inevitable." What this shows is his hate for the capitalists who made money off of the poor workers. Although communism isn't a good idea Marx's ideas were.

Karl Marx and The Industrial Revolution

2007-11-15T07:43:00.000-08:00

Karl Marx was disappointed with the treatment of workers in Europe and generally the industrial revolution. Karl Marx thought that the workers should control the factories and farms instead of the landlords. He wanted to create a revolution with the workers of the worlds. Marx believed that the workers were controlled by religion.

Podcast Draft

2007-10-25T08:00:00.000-07:00

The English industrial revolution began in the late 17 century. It was a period where there was major changes in many things like social conditions, agriculture, manufacturing, and transportation. It was a major turning point not just for England, but for mankind. The industrial revolution began after the 1688 "Glorious Revolution", the British kings lost power and the aristocratic landholders gained power. The landholders tried to reason their landholdings and started the Enclosure Movement to bring more and more of their own land under tighter control, this process went on through the 1700's. Population increased because industrial resources like coal and iron were in central and northern England. A shift in population from southern England northward took place in northern cities like Manchester. The people would be moving from farm land to the cities. These cities grew larger in population. Important inventions like the "Spinning Jenny", which was an invention that produced yarn began to be made in 1760s, and soon the British textile industry was booming, aided by Eli Whitney's invention of the "Cotton Gin" in America, which provided a ready source of cotton. Some negative aspects of the industrial revolution were that whenever new inventions arose, nearly everyone was forced to begin a new career within a factory. Some other negative aspects would be the life expectancy decreased to be 15 years of age. Also women and children were expected to work 16 hours a day doing work that could cause serious injuries. Now some positive aspects of the industrial revolution were that many jobs were available. Also the prices of goods decreased because of extreme availability. Knights of Labor (formed after the Civil War) were a loose federation of workers from all different trades they allowed women and African-Americans. They worked for better working conditions, an 8-hour day, the abolition of child labor, and equal pay for equal work. A strike is when employees refuse to work, hoping to force their employer to meet their demands. Some examples of this are The Haymarket Square Affair in Chicago. A bomb was set off that killed many police officers. Many people think that the bomb was set off by striking workers as retaliation for a previous clash with police that killed several workers. Another example would be the Pullman Strike in Illinois. Pullman railway workers had their wages cut, yet were supposed to pay higher rents in the company owned town. The strike led to violence. In 1886, labor leader Samuel Gompers helped found a new national organization of unions called the American Federation of Labor or AFL. Gompers served as AFL president for 37 years. The AFL focused on improving working conditions. By using strikes, boycotts, and negotiation, the AFL won shorter working hours and better pay for workers.

Nationalism and the Creation of Italy

2007-10-19T07:43:00.000-07:00

Nationalism is the belief that one’s greatest loyalty should not be to a king or an empire but to a nation of people who share a common culture and history. An example of me being nationlistic would be that i always go to the Colombian independence parade in Flushing, Queens every year. Nationlism was used to create the nation of italy because between the years 1815 and 1848 the italians were getting tired of foreign rulers. Before the italians grew tired italy was just a bunch of kingdoms ruled by austria. Two people had a major influence on the italians. There names were Giuseppe Mazzini and Camillo di Cavour. In 1832 Giuseppe Mazzini organized a nationalist group. In 1848 revolts broke out on the italian peninsula. Giusepperan a republican government for a while. However the rebellions failed and Mazzini was drove into exlie. Camillo di Cavour became the prime minister of sardinia in 1852 by king Victor Emmanuel II. With careful diplomancy and well chosen alliances, he achieved the expansion. With the help of his french allies Cavour was able to dive austria out of italy.

Simon Bolivar and Latin American Revolutions

2007-10-15T07:44:00.000-07:00

Simon Bolivar was an important part of south america's history. He is well known for his victories over the Spanish armies. He also liberated many countries from the Spanish. After his trip to europe he returned to Venezuela and declared independence from the Spanish. He then left Venezuela and went to what is Colombia today. Soon after the Spanish reconquered Venezuela. Then he began to command a Colombian army. He tried to enlist people from Cartagena in order to capture Santa Marta, but he had too many political and military conflicts there so he fled to Jamaica. There he made a deal they would supply him with an army and he would free slaves. With a victory at the Battle Of Boyaca he added new granada (Colombia) to the countries he had freed from Spain and created Gran Colombia which consisted of modern countries: Venezuela, Colombia, Panama, and Ecuador. Though he wasn't finished yet in july 26 and 27 of 1822 he met with Jose de San Martin who was the protector of Peru because he had only partially liberated them. Bolivar took over the task to free Peru. He defeated the spanish again in 1824 with the help of Antonio Jose de Sucre. Thus on 1825 the republic of Bolivia was created. Which was named after Simon Bolivar. This explains why he is so famous he is mostly famous for his well thought out political and military thoughts. Also for defeating the spanish time after time, but of course he couldn't have done it without the people who helped him all throughout the wars.

Robespierre and The Reign of Terror

2007-09-28T17:09:00.000-07:00

The reign of terror was mostly about struggles between rivals that took on violent character with executions by the guillotine. This reign of terror lasted for about 10 months after the french revolution had promised democracy. Max Robespierre was a very important part of the french revolution. He was also a influential member of the committee of public safety. He said "Terror is nothing other than prompt, severe, inflexible justice." On september 5 the convention institutionalized the terror : systematic and lethal repression of the enemies within the country. The result of was policy in which the state could use violence to kill people that were resistant to the government. The estimated total victims of the reign of terror was 40,000. 8% were aristocrats, 6% were clergy, 14% middle class, and 70% were workers or peasants accused of many sorts of crimes.

French Revolution

2007-09-27T07:52:00.000-07:00

The French Revolution was a period of political and social problems in the political history of France as a whole, during which the French governmental structure, previously an absolute monarchy with feudal privileges for the catholic clergy, underwent radical change to forms based on enlightenment principles of republic, citizenship, and inalienable rights. The first estate was the church clergy (those who prayed). The second estate was the nobility knights(those who fought). It was common for aristocrats to enter the Church and shifted from the second to the first estate. The third estate was the peasantry (everyone else).

Copernicus and the trial of Galileo

2007-09-11T07:45:00.000-07:00

Nicolaus Copernicus is the first to discover a Sun-centered system in which the earth, rotating on its own axis every twenty-four hours, revolved around the sun once a year. In 1543 he published a book named the revolutions of the celestial orbs. His book was all about the heliocentric theory which involves the thought that the earth revolves around the sun. Although the first theory was the geocentric theory which was created by Aristotle.

Scientific Revolution: Scientific Method

2007-09-10T07:53:00.000-07:00

The scientific method consists of many steps. First observe and describe of a phenomenon. Second form a hypothesis to explain the phenomena. Third use the hypothesis to predict that other phenomenas exist, or to predict the results of new observations. Fourth perform experimental tests on the predictions by several independent experimenters and properly performed experiments.

An example of Aristotle, the Greek philosopher, stated that males and females have different number of teeth, without bothering to check;

Evolution vs Creation

2007-09-06T07:57:00.000-07:00

Evolution is the theory that everything descends from a common ancestor, and that all life is related. Charles Darwin created this theory he also thought that all living things developed from non-living things or that complex creatures came from more simplistic ancestors. Random gene mutations that are in a organism`s genetic code occur, but it`s a good thing because it can be used for good. This process is called natural selection these mutations are passed on to future generations. Over time as the mutations accumulate the organism changes to a totally different creature. Darwin's theory of evolution is a slow process. Here`s what darwin wrote : "…Natural selection acts only by taking advantage of slight successive variations she can never take a great and sudden leap, but must advance by short and sure though slow steps."

Creation is the belief that everyone and everything is created by someone whose existence is yet to be unknown. There are different types of creationism from the resources that were given to me there are only 6. They are young earth creationism, Old earth creationism, Gap creationism, Day-age creationism, Progressive creationism, and Theistic evolution. These types of creationism are in the christian religon. There are other religons as well for example Hinduism, Islamic, and Jewish they are all in the category of creationism, but with different opinions on it.