Tuesday, February 24, 2009

The Treaty of Versailles (ended WW I)

The Treaty of Versailles was the document that ended the war. This document consisted of the demands that needed to be meet by the losing side(Germany). This treaty was one of the causes of WWII. This treaty was unfair to the losing side. This document restricted the military forces and divided up land that was loss in the war. No more than a hundred thousand troops and 6 navel battleships. All the damage done to the allied power was to be paid for by the Germans. This giant debt cause Germany to go to a big depression. The treaty of Versailles was very unfair to the losing side. All the restrictions led to many damages inside the German people. This led to an uprising in the people. The people searched for a new leader to rid Germany of its hardships. Hitler arose for this cause. As people saw him as a leader the world saw him as a threat. 

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk) and the Modernization of Turkey

Secular is a word that refers to seperation of church. Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk) wanted a seperation from the church in everyway like school, culture, and legal affairs. He wanted to modernize turkey. He change things by letting people practice their religion anytime. He wanted to replace the traditional values of turkey with modern ones. This was the reformation he made. He completly change the turkey economy for the better.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Film lesson- "Gandhi"

Gandhi was the person that greatly helped India receive it's independence. He is a symbol of peace. The matter in which he takes care of situations are the most pure action. No matter how many times he is struck he just does nothing and do what he was previously doing. The film we watch portrayed him greatly. The scene in which he told the Indian people to throw away their ids and burn them was one of the few scenes that shows his philosophy. In Gandhi's life he was imprisoned and hurt by racism.
Some of the ways he achieved independence was using various tactics. One really effective one was the boycott of British goods. This included their clothes and salt. The British had a law that said the Indian people cannot buy salt from anyone other than the government.Gandhi took a lot of people and marched toward the sea. This march was meant to go out to the coast and make their own salt. Gandhi told the people pf India to make their own clothes. this will stop the dependence on British goods. The British took a big hit from the this boycott. Gandhi's way was not to start a fight but to do anything to prevent it. One hurtful way Gandhi prevent a fight was to fast. The only way he would stop fasting was if everyone agreed to stop fighting.
Gandhi's philosophy is a very noble one. His actions of peace made the British look bad when they used violent means against him. The massacre of Indians at Amritsar shows the violent means to keep the Indian people oppressed. I completely agree with his ways but these types of actions take a lot of self control. Gandhi was viewed as a hero to the Indian people. At his funeral he was praised by everyone. The peaceful man made the whole world shed tears for his death.