Causes Of WW 1

After the Franco-Prussian war, Europe and the United States were going through a period of relatively peaceful time. But during the late 1800's and early 1900's many people were being taken over. During that time, Europe has two alliance systems; one being the triple alliance, which consisted of Italy, Germany and Austria-Hungary and many other allied smaller countries, The triple entente which consisted of Great Britain, France and Russia.

One of the reasons of this war was the amount of money spent on the military. The entente and alliance both had been building up their military, especially Germany. basic belief is that the origin of the war had begun even before the creation of the allied powers. Another reason that could have been the cause of this war, is nationalism. Many smaller countries or 'states' had been wanting their own country, finally leading to the last straw which was the assassination of the Austrian arch-duke named Franz Ferdinand. He was assassinated by a Serbian nationalist.

Angry, at the fact that their arch-duke was assassinated, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, which was going against the alliance system and were backed up by another country and so the system went, until the entente and the alliance both fell, and that had been the beginning of World War 1.

The Opium Wars

The opium war also known as the Anglo-Chinese wars lasted from 1839-1842, it was the most humiliating defeat the Chinese had faced. The opium started from the time when the British wanted to trade with the Chinese, but the Chinese did not because they were not interested in anyone Else's matters. Though the Chinese agreed to trade tea with them but the British wanted an equal trade, they would rather trade and sell with them. As the British received tea from the Chinese, the British gave the Chinese a drug called opium, which is made from the seeds of a poppy flower. Due to the drugs, many people were addicted to it and wanted more opium until it caused a devastation in china that is when the Chinese decided to fight back, which began the Opium war.

During the opium war, it was the British against the Chinese. Though the Chinese were a fast civilized race their weapons, that were old-fashioned artillery were no math against the British gun ships. The Chinese still went through with the war which got them a humiliating defeat. It was called the opium wars because the British brought drugs to china and had sold these drugs and now many people were dying and demanding more, they couldn't do anything about the epidemic so they waged war against the British.

Ultimately, the British won the war, because china was not prepared for the war and they did not have the right weapons to compete against with them. Though after that China signed two treaties; The Treaty of Tianjin and The Treaty Of Nanjing. After the signing of the treaties, peace was restored into China again, they legalized opium and the British finally opened ports into China.

Film Lesson: Mountains Of The Moon

The movie we recently watched in class called "The mountains of the moon" is about European exploration into Africa to search for the source of the Nile river. The two explorers, Richard Francis Burton and John Hanning Speke had been the two that had journey into Africa. With hardships such as the length of the desert and the scorching desert heat, the low amounts of provisions and the many wandering animals and diseases that they many not know of. Even though both of these explorers were really intelligent people there were many things they did not know about Africa.

They named the lake, Lake Victoria because the queen in England of that time was Queen Victoria. Even though normally it would not make much sense for a lake that is in Africa, and African people had known so much about this lake, and lived around it, why did the Europeans get the right to name the lake after their queen. But that was fact, Europeans were more technologically advanced and had many tools that the African did not even know about.

Europeans had many scientific and technological advancements than Africans. While the Africans were pretty much stuck in the stone age (like using spears while the Europeans had guns), Europeans had guns, microscopes and other sources of advanced technology.

First of all, Europeans had better knowledge on technology and they had better access to those technology than African people. While African people used spears and knew nothing of the outside worlds, Europeans had knowledge in all aspects and had guns, which they later developed into machine guns. While the technology and thought process in Europe changed Africa stayed the same, and due to that Europeans had been able to conquer the African people.

Karl Marx and Communism

Karl Marx was a German born Philosopher, who had much influence on the subject of Communism. He was known as the founder of communism. His life long friendship in Friedrich Engels had led the two of them to write a book known as the, "The Communist Manifesto" in which he explained his idea and theory on Government, he believed in the basic idea of Communism.

Communism is a political ideology that promotes a classless society, which based on common ownership. The basic means for it is that everyone gets to share, there was no means of privacy, or private ownership. It was the idea that if Communism were to be a internationally known and used, the world would be a much better place. There were many intellectual thinkers and leaders who used this system as the basis of their government. Political leaders like Mao Zedong and Vladimir Lenin had used this system in their respective countries. Though Communism is a great vision, it would lead to wars and dictatorship.

Karl Marx wanted Communism to take over the world because he believed that it was a great system of government and in fact it was, but many people did not see this system the same way as he did. The entire "sharing is caring deal" could get out of hand as there are many people who are greedy and would want everything to themselves. Another reason why would be because a classless society, where everybody would be entitled to share everything and no one would have something as their own would have seemed like the perfect thing, but the fact that it just was not, just like you can't change every ones way of thinking.

Karl Marx viewed the workers as the "good guys" and the company or industry owners as the "bad guy." Another idea of Marx, which is widely known as Marxism, which was basically the sympathy for the idea of working class people. Marx wanted workers to take responsibility into their own hands and take over the industries, by over throwing the industry owners. He believed that "the workers of the world should unite" as one to take over the industries, as derived from a famous communism quote from "the communist manifesto."

Nationalism and The Creation Of Italy

Nationalism can be referred to as an idea or sentiment about ones country, it also depends on social movements that go on in the country. In a way, I don't believe I am a nationalist because I haven't done much in anyway to improve or create a system that will benefit my country and all those who inhabit it. One way I could say I am nationalistic is that I have pride in my country and I still believe in the culture and traditions that I have been taught and I will pass this onto my own children, even though I am a US citizen, I still have a different sort of attachment to my own country.

Nationalism helped build Italy by separating Italy into smaller groups, there was many disagreements on how to let Italy stay in power or how to increase Italy's power. Many of the people in Italy wanted to unite the country after many trials of separation but systems were different. After many hardships, Italy was formed once again into a large country.

Simon Bolivar and Latin American Revolutions

Simon Bolivar is very famous because his skills both as a leader and an army general was none throughout the world most notably the Spanish world. Bolivar had lived a decent childhood and lived on to become a great military leader. After the tragic death of his wife, Bolivar had travelled through Europe and the United States, while he travelled through the United States, he really liked the way how the US had fought for their freedom and gained it through the hardships, but in the end had become a good democratic country. Bolivar liked the idea so much that he planned on getting his country, Venezuela, its own freedom from Spain.

Simon Bolivar had not only helped his country achieve freedom but rather he had helped all of South America be their own independent country and gain them freedom from Spain. For that reason Bolivar is extremely respected in South America. He had helped many of the countries of South America today to gain their freedom from the country and or nation they were bound to.

Bolivar had helped many different countries achieve their freedom from their rulers. Even though he did not have military experience or training he still managed to put together an army and overthrow monarchs that were still ruling in South America.

The biggest influence that Bolivar had received to fight for his country's freedom was watching how the US had fought for theirs and gained that freedom. He already liked the idea of Democracy and how the people had part on the government and he wanted that to be influenced in his country and all throughout South America. In the end, Bolivar had brought unity to South America but that didn't last to long as after his death many of the countries had gone into war with each other.

Robespierre and The Reign of Terror

The Reign of terror was a violent event that took place fifteen months after the French Revolution. 16,000 to 40,000 people were killed during the reign of terror. Many famous and highly know people were executed under the blade. They were killed, (they were beheaded) in front of the people, to show that people who don't support them, and that they will have to face the same death. French nobles and clergy were not approving this new terror work, as they now had to work and did not receive any goods or benefits from the peasants.

Maximilien Robespierre tried to erase everything that was related to the old monarchy. Churches were closed as it was one of the major resident which was like a load over the peasant shoulder. He was like a dictator, he took charge of everything.. He was the person who organized The Reign of Terror. Government officials were scared and tried of his idea of cutting off others head. They didn't feel safe. They organized a conspiracy towards him and he was executed the same way, he was also beheaded. Then the Reign of Terror was over.

The Reign of Terror was caused because the democracy was not granted to the people (Most of these people were of the 3rd class).They had to fight for it, and the Reign of Terror was one of the way to gain it. It took lots of death body and blood to gain the freedom they desired. This execution was carried out as they kept on beheading many people. All the people were scared and were not strong enough to go against him. But, at last they all stood together and executed him.