Daniel's Global Blog

Joseph Stalin and Totalitarianism

2008-01-11T05:06:00.000-08:00

Totalitarianism is a state regulation of nearly every aspect of public and private behavior.

Film Lesson: Doctor Zhivago

2008-01-10T05:13:00.000-08:00

The film takes places during the Russian Revolution. It depicts the Revolution during the years of Bloody Sunday. The Russian people wanted a change during that time because of their defeat during WWI. During the beginning of the Revolution, Russia was ripe for it and it all began with the fall of Czar Nicholas II. The film also depicts communism by the common ownership of the means of production. In the movie, Dr. Zhivago was given a hand at communism when his home was taken over by communists.

Causes of WWI

2008-01-04T05:08:00.000-08:00

World War I began in 1914 and lasted through 1918. But it wasn't known as WWI until WWII began, it was known as 'The Great War'. Prior to the war, there were causes like nationalism, militarism, and the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Nationalism was ignored in 1815 for the settlement of the Congress of Vienna. Germany and Italy were both left divided and revolutions occurred before their unification in 1861 and 1871. What also caused the war was the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. What occurred in the end was that France lost in the war. Militarism was another cause of the war. Before 'The Great War', the militaries of all the countries were coming up with plans for mobilization. The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand occurred on June 28, 1914. After his assassination, it began fast-moving events and to the beginning of 'The Great War' in the next month.

The Opium Wars

2007-12-12T05:05:00.000-08:00

The Chinese people didn't want to accept any imports from other countries. Then the British imported a drug that the Chinese won't reject. The drug is a pain killer and it was called Opium. It started working in the beginning, but then Chinese people started getting addicted to the drug. The emperor of Yongzheng wrote a letter to the British to tell them that they don't want any more Opium, but the British said no and a war began. The First Opium War began in 1834 and lasted through 1843. The Chinese suffered a humiliating defeat because of their outdated ships, but the British ships had cannons.

"The White Man's Burden"

2007-12-10T05:12:00.000-08:00

The reason that the poem is titled "The White Man's Burden" is that it talks about the time of American colonalization.

"The Scramble for Africa"

2007-12-05T05:08:00.000-08:00

The Scramble for Africa began in 1881 when France moved into the continent. Other European countries that came in was Britain, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, and Italy. The African country that remained independent during that time was Ethiopia.

Film Lesson: "Mountains of the Moon"

2007-12-03T05:07:00.000-08:00

In the movie, the Europeans experienced life in a dessert and they found it hard. There were a lot of insects that come out in the nightime and the explorers have to wear nets.

The Meiji Restoration of Japan

2007-11-27T05:07:00.000-08:00

Before Japan began modernizing their country, they didn't allow other countries to negotiate with them. In 1853, four American steam ships came to Japan by U.S. Commodore Matthew Perry, and he wanted the Japanese to open their doors to other countries. The Japanese were scared because of the ships being powered by steam, and they all carry cannons and rifles. Either they do it or Perry will have to force them. But then the Japanese became impressed of how the ships don't need any sails.

Karl Marx and Communism

2007-11-13T05:02:00.000-08:00

Karl Marx was a communist, and most of his ideas were based of that. The three volumes of Capital were all communist ideas. When Marx was working with Friedrich Engels, he was already a communist and was interested in the ideas Marx came up. By 1844, Marx became a communist and doing that caused him and Engels to be expelled from Paris. In 1845, he and Engels both moved to Belgium and worked on more communist ideas. Their famous work that was published was The Communist Manifesto of 1848. As a communist, Marx had been arrested and got expelled from Belgium. King Louis Phillipe convinced Marx to come back to Paris, and then he went to other countries and they expelled him in most of them. He finally settled in London, published his first volume of Capital, and died over there in 1883. After his death, most of his communist ideas were still used but not in many countries.

Karl Marx and the Industrial Revolution

2007-11-09T05:11:00.000-08:00

Karl Marx is a German philosopher who lived during the Industrial Revolution. Marx is a communist and all of his writings caused him to be expelled from different countries, which includes Belgium and France. His reaction to the Industrial Revolution was serious because of the political economy and polution from the factories. The negative effect during that time was Child Labor. It was because they had to work for 16 hours, they were only allowed one break a day, and they weren't able to go to school. With the help of Friedrich Engels, he published the first volume of Capital. This talks about his view of capitalism and his opinions of that and his own work. Marx stated in an essay that he wrote in 1875 that dictatorship would work better. After Karl Marx' death in 1883, Friedrich Engels used Marx' work and published volumes 2 and 3 of Capital. The polution from the factories were bad that this led to the beginning of Imperialism, because the goods had to be made with natural resources.

Nationalism and the Creation of Italy

2007-10-19T05:10:00.000-07:00

Nationalism means that a country is controlled by its own government and not by a king. People vote for their own rights and their own ruler. The way that U.S. citizens are nationalistic is that the currency they use are U.S. dollars, they recite the Pledge of Allegiance and the national anthem, the language they speak is English, they celebrate holidays like Independence Day (July 4th) and they also vote for their rights of how the country should be controlled. Nationalism started existing during the 1800's and started changing the way people live. Nationalsim started destroying empires and they started to become nation states. In 1858, the Kindgdom of Sardinia was the largest state known in the area. Camillo di Cavour helped unite Italy by driving out the Austrians with the support of Napolean III. Through 1870, Italy is known as how it is today as a nation state. The province of Venitia was taken over and drove out the Austrians.

Simon Bolivar and Latin American Revolutions

2007-10-15T05:06:00.000-07:00

What Simon Bolivar accomplised during his lifetime was during the year 1813, he led the invasion of Venezuela. Then months later he became the President of Venezuela and became known as El Libertador. Bolivar also made a victory of the Battle of Boyaca in 1819 and two years later, he became the President of Great Colombia. He won a few other battles during the years 1821 and 1822. During those years he took the task of liberating Peru with the help of Jose de San Martin, and was made the dictator of the country. Mostly of all of those accomplishments, the Republic of Bolivia was made in 1825 with the help of Antonio Jose de Sucre. Then after, he became presidents of other countries including Peru and Colombia. Bolivar resigned from presidency in 1830 and then was going to Europe. But before he even set sail he got tuberculosis, and he died in Colombia during the same year.

Robespierre and the Reign of Terror

2007-09-28T05:08:00.000-07:00

The Reign of Terror that occurred during the French Revolution, lasted from 1893 through 1894. Maximilien Robespierre ruled France during that time and controlled that government as if he was a dictator. He executed the French people by cutting their heads off, and this started to make the French people scared. What they all thought is that they could be next, and they want to put an end to this.

The French Revolution: Social Causes

2007-09-27T05:13:00.000-07:00

The French Revolution lasted from 1789 to 1799. What caused the French Revolution was that the French people were complaining that they are paying too many taxes, and also the bread prices were high. All of these situations caused the French people to starve

Copernicus and the trial of Galileo

2007-09-11T05:13:00.000-07:00

Scientific Revolution: Scientific Method

2007-09-10T05:14:00.000-07:00

The Scientific Revolution was used before 1500, and the ideas of science were mostly from the ancient Greeks, and Romans. Others look for their answers by finding it in the Bible. The problem with this method is that they find the answer to their theory, but sometimes the answer is not true. If scientists can't find the answer to their theory, they would have to do the experiment themselves. This was how the Scientific Method began, the experiment was tested a few more times until they find their own conclusion.

Evolution vs Creation

2007-09-06T05:08:00.001-07:00

Charles Darwin's Theory of Evolution is an organism that has descended from a common ancestor. He came up with a mechanism called "natural selection". Natural selection preserves and accumulates genetic mutations, and are used by human breeders. The Theory of Evolution is a slow process and have different steps that are to be followed. The Theory has been in a crisis for the past 50 years. There are like tens of thousands of irreductebly complex systems, and it perevades the biological world.

Creationism is the belief that the world was created by a God of religious beliefs. The term comes from the belief described in the book of Genesis. Scientists have been trying to figure out how the Earth was made and the age. According to a poll, most Americans believe that it was God that created the Earth. Another poll said that humans existed in years before, and God wasn't part of that.