The Russian Revolution

The Russian Revolution started in 1917 and ended in 1918. It was the first time a nation adopted communism as its political and economic system. The Russian people were tired of fighting and dying during WW I. As a result it had weakened there government and economy. World War I created conditions in Russia that helped trigger a revolution. The effects of the revolution were changing the nature of society in the Russian Empire. The Russians weren’t satisfied and were dejected so they decided to have a revolution. A major problem of the October and November revolution was that they were starving and loosing the battle. Czar Nicholas II brought Russia to World War I. As time went by people started to dislike him and wanted him out of there territory. The negative aspects of the revolution were food shortages, population decrease, and peasants had very high population. Workers and peasants revolted against the landlords and factory owners. The people from Russia were tired of there government and wanted a new one. Lenin, the leader of the Bolsheviks was inspired by Carl Marx and his belief in communism. He was able to spread it through out Russia. The people were now embraced with the ideas of communism. He encouraged a revolt against landlords and factory owners. One thing that he and the Bolshevik party came up with was "Peace, Land and Bread”. He was a great leader that promised them these things. There were two revolutions the October and November revolutions. The February revolution was when the Russian people removed Czar Nicholas II. The October revolution was led by Vladimir Lenin whose ideas were similar to Karl Marxs. Lenin was able to spread the ideas of communism. Communism was able to last in Russia from 1917 - 1989. The Soviet Union was established; they got rid of the Democratic system, and set up dictatorship in the country.

Causes of WWI

World War I also known as the Great War was from 1914-1918.Causes of World War I were nationalism, Militarism, the Assassination of Frans Ferdinand and the collapse of the alliance system. A major cause of this war was the assassination of Ferdinand in Austria on 1914. He was killed by a Serbian Nationalist. Germany pledged its support to Austria-Hungary, pressuring them to declare war on Serbia. Nationalism on the other hand caused competition among the nations. It turned Frenchman against German and Russian against Austrian. Countries tried to prove their nationalism superior to other countries. This quickened the pace that the war took to develop. They had strong speeches and writings about there pride towards there country. Another strong reason as to why the Great War started was because of Imperialism. Great Britain, Germany and France needed markets after the increase in manufacturing caused by the Industrial Revolution. They competed for economic expansion in Africa. This caused the falling of the Ottoman Empire to Austria-Hungary and Russia. Another reason that started the War was the Alliance, which led to the immediate result of the War. Their were two alliances, they were the triple alliance and the triple entente. The triple alliance consisted of the countries of, Italy, Germany, Austria and Hungary. The triple entente was Russia, France, and Britain. Each country was improving in their military system. They demanded more power for their country. Germany was the strongest country with one of the best military. Each Country prepeared there army to win.

The Opium Wars

The Opium war was between China and England. It started in 1839 and ended in 1842. China was isolated for many years, the British wanted to trade with China for there most popular natural resource which was tea. But China did not want any help from them. So, in order to get the tea, British started to sell Opium to the Chinese people. When the British offered opium the Chinese gladly said yes. Opium was a type of drug that was very strong and easy to get addicted to. It was used for medications and to take the pain away. Opium can be dangerous, but the British felt the rulers in China had no right to keep opium from their people. Western Civilization had grown.

As time went by they decided to make a new product using opium. The governments signed a peace treaty that allowed the British to use five ports instead of one. They mixed tobacco with Opium and promoted smoking Opium in China. Over two million pounds of Opium were being sold to China every year. The British were successful with the new ideas that China was coming up with. In 1838, efforts to trade opium were ended, and anyone who was trying to trade it would be killed. China was forced to sign the Treaty of Nanjing in 1842, and the British supplementary Treaty of the Bogue in 1843.This war was called the Opium wars because it was a fight for Opium. China wanted it out while the British wanted it in. The British won this war due to their high technology and powerful army. As a result the Chinese lost power of an important Island call Hong Kong.

Film Lesson " Mountains Of The Moon"

While searching for the Nile River Europeans faced many obstacles and hardships while going thought Africa. They were curious in finding the largest river in the world which was the Nile River. One major conflict was the native tribes. They were fascinated seeing”white people”in there territory because they never had seen anyone like them. They felt threatened by the Europeans so they would then frighten them with there spears. The Europeans which were Richard Burton and John Speke weren’t use to the living conditions in Africa. They had a lot of walking to do while carrying heavy equipment. While they were sleeping many Africans would come to steal there belongings. John got infected by a bug that got inside his ear and got shot with an arrow that went right through his face. To get to the Nile River they had to pass through the Sahara dessert which was very difficult. They were thirsty and tired of walking. When ever they found a lake to finally drink from it was infected with dead animals. While being on this long journey they saw lions which they had to escape from. They had to be careful and cautious because there were many diseases that were easy to catch and easy to get infected by. Towards the end of there journey they finally found the source of the Nile River which is Lake Victoria.

The third largest river which is named Lake Victoria was named after the British. They named it after there English Queen. It was weird that it was named after Victoria because this land was already discovered, people already lived there, and it was in the middle of Africa. Europeans decided to name it after a queen even though it wasn’t there property. The lake should have been named by the Africans because this was there land, country, and territory. Still today the lake is named Victoria.

Europeans had many technological advantages over African people that made it easier to conquer Africa. One of there technological advantage was there weapons. They carried guns and shields which were very dangerous and powerful while the Africans had arrows. They also carried telescopes, compasses and magnifying glasses to help them during there journey. They had important and advanced equipment which helped them conquer Africa.

The Meiji Restoration of Japan

Japan was a very important country during the late 1850’s. Japan is an archipelago which means that it is made up of many different little islands. They were independent and isolated from most of the world. Mathew Perry was an American and a commodore who traveled in many ships. He threatened to destroy Japan. Mathew "bullied" the Japanese into singing a treaty by impressing them with the technologies that the Americans enjoyed. He used America’s technology because it was more advanced and better than Japans. They sent many ships in order for Japan to end the nation’s self-imposed isolation and open it to trade.The Japanese were very impressed by the technology of the American steam ships. Japan had great pride in their cultural heritage. On March 31, 1854 a treaty was signed between the United States and Japan that opened two ports to the United States and acted as a catalyst towards Japanese. They would establish their own treaties with the Japanese.

The Meiji Era had a great effect on Japanese economy. A new emperor came in charge called Meiji. His plan was to reclaim he's divine right to rule and restructure the society. The Meiji Restoration was to turn Japan into a modern country. Japan had been in isolation for so many years that their army and technology were very weak. Perry purposely dropped 26 miles off the coast of Tokyo, to impress the Japanese. The Japanese were impressed, on how far the ships were able to travel in such a short time.

When the Meiji period ended, with the death of the emperor in 1912, The Japanese economy became better during the years because of there trading with the United States. They developed more contact with the outside world to get more involved in trade. They were able to modernize because they established a parliament, developed transport and communication systems; they had better and more advanced technology and a more powerful army and navy. Thanks to the Meiji restoration Japan became a more modernized country.

Karl Marx and communism

Karl Marx's ideas were so influencing that they were soon called communism. Communism is the idea of everybody being equal. Social classes were now all the same and everybody was paid the same amount of money. The government controlled its people. Even thought Marks ideas were so strong and many people believed and supported it many communist countries didn’t use his ideas. Mark believed that workers would take over landowners and there government. He believed that factory workers could start a revolution and take over the factory owners since they had a higher amount of population.

The community was made up of two types of social classes which were the proletariat and bourgeoisie. The proletariats were the workers. They basically worked the entire day to whoever paid them the most amount of money. The bourgeoisie were the business and factory owners. He didn’t like the way that the proletariat class was being treated. The idea of communism was for everything to be equal. Society would only produce what it needed and there would be no private ownership. Everything would be owned by the government or state not by the people.

Many people loved the idea of communism, because this way, they would finally get the rights they always wanted. Marx hated the Industrial Revolution, he wanted Communism to be world wide, because this way everyone else would be able to enjoy what he thought was the best way of life. Marx wanted the best for his people. He viewed the “poor people” as good people because they worked really hard. He viewed the rich people as the “bad people” because they abused the power over the factory workers, and used Capitalism in their favor to make more money. Karl Mark was one of the most influential people in the 19th history.

Karl Marx and the Industrial Revolution

Karl Marx was a German who disagreed with the industrial Revolution and his ideas impacted the lives of many other people. He wanted workers to have the power in factories instead of landowners. Marx's ideas were so important and influential that they were named communism. He believed that workers had the power so they would control the government. During the Industrial Revolution social classes were very important. He felt that the Industrial Revolution allows the rich to get richer and the poor to get poorer. The two different social classes were the bourgeoisie who were the landowners and the proletariat who were the workers .He believed that since there were more workers than land owners the workers would all stick together and make a revolution.

Karl Mark disagreed with the Industrial Revolution. He thought that wealth should be spread equally, to help others advance. With his idea of communism, people would live fair more equal lives. Karl noticed how hard children had to work and weren’t able to go to school. Although he died in 1883, his ideas were still able to form the basis of the Bolshevik Revolution.