Film Lesson: "The Right Stuff"

"The Right Stuff" is a 1983 film about the astronauts who participated in Project Mercury. Project Mercury was the United States' attempt to send someone in space during the 1960's. This was because in 1957, the U.S.S.R. launched the satellite Sputnik. This started a competition between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. called the Space Race. For a large portion of the film, the Soviets were winning the competition while the U.S. still was not able to get a rocket to even launch. The Soviets already sent a rocket and a man to space. There was a funny scene in the film which showed many of the failed attempts of the U.S. launching a rocket.

NATO and The Warsaw Pact

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is an organization that includes Europe , Canada, and the United States. It was formed during the Cold War when there was a high amount of tension between the United States and the Soviet Union. This was an agreement that states that if one member was attacked then the other members would come to their aid. It was established when the North Atlantic Treaty was signed in April 4, 1948. The reason for forming this alliance was that the nations of Western Europe were too weak too after World War II and could not stand up to a Soviet invasion. They felt threatened by the expansion of communism throughout the world. The Warsaw Pact was an alliance formed by the Soviet Union and its satellite nations as a response to NATO. The Soviet Union kept military personnel in the satellite nations to make sure they stayed communist. They sometimes took military action against members of the Warsaw Pact such as Czechoslovakia and Hungary.

Film Lesson: Schindler's List

The film "Schindler's List" showed how the Jews were sent to the ghettos and from there, the concentration camps. Many of the scenes in the film were powerful. Seeing how the Nazis killed the uncooperative or "useless" Jews without any regard for human morality was appalling to me. Seeing the measures the Jews took to hide from the Nazis such as hiding under planks and inside latrines just shows what horrible things were in store for them There were so many scenes of death and destruction that it is hard too describe how bad these actions were.

Film Lesson: Night and Fog

The film "Night and Fog" was a 1955 documentary directed by Alain Resnais about the Nazi concentration camps in World War II. I have seen many photos of the holocaust but I have never seen actual footage of the camps. The footage was extremely powerful as I have never seen how exactly the Nazis actions were carried out, only the results of those actions. When I compare this to "Schindler's List", I see this as a more powerful film. This is because since "Schindler's List" was a movie by a Hollywood director, I mostly saw it as a movie. "Night and Fog" showed real footage of what the Jews went through in the concetration camps.

Film Lesson - "Gandhi"

Gandhi helped India gain independence from British rule by using civil disobedience or as he called it, Satyagraha. This involved resisting British authorities without the use of violence. He encouraged the refusal to buy British made goods and the manufacturing and purchase of Indian goods. One example was that Gandhi wove his own cloth and wore only a loincloth and shawl to oppose the British monopoly on cotton. He also lead a march from Ahmedabad to the Arabian Sea to make salt to oppose British taxes on salt. This resulted in many people getting arrested including Gandhi himself. When the Indian people rioted, Gandhi fasted to protest their violent methods. He also tried to unite the Hindus and Muslims for the sake of independence.

I think India would have gained its independence without Gandhi. It might not have been obtained the same way or had the same results but it would have been obtained nonetheless. It most likely have been more bloody. However, World Wars I and II and the Great Depression have weakened Britian's control over its colonies as it had problems at home to deal with. Eventually, Britain would have given up on retaining control over India. Also some of Britain's enemies might have helped India.

The Russian Revolution

In 1914, Russia had a revolution which made it the first Communist state in history. There were many reasons why a revolution took place. One reason was Czar Nicholas II's apparent weakness and indifference. He was not fit to be a leader and avoided direct confrontation with public opposition and resistance and allowed his security forces to deal with problems as they saw fit. Their harsh ways of dealing with problems increased resentment towards Nicholas II by the Russian people. Anger towards the czar was furthered when in January 9,1905, a crowd of over 100,000 people marched to the Czar's winter palace to call him out and present a petition. However he wasn't there and the police attacked the crowd and killed many people there. Many Russians thought that the Czar no longer cared about his people and were enraged. In the following years many disasters, scandals, and political failures plagued Russia. The final straw for the Russian people was World War I. Many soldiers died in the war and victory seemed impossible. It also caused inflation and food shortages. This caused the February Revolution and the abdication of the throne by the czar in 1917.

Vladamir Lenin's return to Russia was when the Russian Revolution began to take place. His goal was to make the Bolshevik party take control of Russia. In October of 1917 the Bolshevik party starts the revolution and removes the provisional government that took the Czars place from power. After the Bolsheviks took power, they made Russia into a communist state.

Causes of WW I

World War I was a war that lasted between 1914 to 1918. I was also known as the Great War and the War to End All Wars. This war was fought between the Allied Powers and the Central Powers. Most of the war was fought in Europe and the Middle East. There were numerous causes to WWI.

Nationalism was one cause of World War I. After Germany became unified in 1871, it formed many alliances with other European nations. After 1890, Germany tried to have its influence spread throughout the world which caused it to have conflicts with other European nations. Italy became unified in 1870 and wanted new territory. It wanted Tunis and Tripoli in Northern Africa which bought Italy into conflict with France as Tunis was near Algeria. Italy also went into conflict with Austria-Hungary as they ruled Italia Irredenta which Italy wanted. Russia was the most populated country in Europe. Slavic people made up two-thirds of the country's population. Russia broke the Treaty of Paris in 1870 by trying to take control of the Balkans. Russia signed the Treaty of Paris when it lost the Crimean War to England and France. Britain did not want Russia to control the Balkans as British trade in the Mediterranean Sea would have been threatened. In 1871, France was defeated in the Franco-Prussian War by Germany. France wanted to get back the territories of Alsace and Lorraine back from Germany. France also wanted to acquire overseas territories and form alliances with other European nations. Britain was the most industrialized nation in Europe and had the largest navy and oversees empire. Britain was more concerned about its empire than it was about European affairs. France and Russia threatened its trade so they were Britain's major enemies but after Germany started to build up its navy, Britain's worst enemy was the Germans.

Militarism was another cause of WWI. European nations also began to raise military spending in 1871 which led up to the arms race. Germany was the nation that increased military the most. All the major powers in continental Europe adopted the Conscription system. They also lengthened their years of military service. There was also a naval race between Germany and Britain. They started expanding their fleets and building Dreadnoughts which were fast, large, heavily armed battleships.

The event that led to the outbreak of the war was the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand. On June 28,1914, a Serbian nationalist named Gavrilo Princip shot both the Archduke and his wife. Pricip belonged to an organization called the Black Hand which wanted to created a united Serbian state. Archduke Ferdinand was heir to the Austrian throne. The current emperor, Franz Joseph was expected to die soon. This would allow Ferdinand to turn the Dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary into a Triple Monarchy that included Serbia. This threatened the realization of a united Serbia. The Black Hand needed to assassinate the Archduke before it was too late. After the assassination, Austria wanted to destroy Serbia. Austria thought that if they declared war on Serbia, then Russia would declare war on Austria. Austria wanted full German support. Germany guaranteed full support as an ally. Austria gave an ultimatum to Serbia which was mostly unfair towards Serbia. Serbia's reply did not satisfy Austria and on July 28, 1914, Austria declared war on Serbia. Russia decided to help Serbia and fully mobilized its military. On August 1,1914, Germany declared war on Russia. Germany asked France to stay neutral but France refused and Germany declared war on France on August 3. On August 4, Germany invaded Belgium and Britain declared war on Germany.