Film Lesson: " Night and Fog "

In class, since we're doing World War II now, we are learning about the Holocaust, because it was a big part of the war in Europe. It was a devastating thing that happened. Many people died because of their race. Mainly, because they were Jews.  But also many minorities were killed, like Gypsies, prisoners of war, the disabled or ill, homosexuals, and etc. It was the biggest genocide in the world. The movie "Night and Fog" is about a documentary about the  Holocaust and what happened in the concentration camps and the life living there. They had images of the inmates and all the cruel things they've used to kill the Jews and other races that Hitler thought they were 'Superior' of. The Nazis would torture them or just kill them just for fun. In the movie, they showed footage and they talked about how they would experiment them on what humans can handle. When I saw this movie, I was horrified and disgusted that Hitler and Nazis would kill innocent people because of their race and supposedly, the Nazis were just following orders. But not only that, but also on how they put these people in pain. Also for the past few days, we also watched another Holocaust film. It was called " The Schindlers List ". But that movie was a Hollywood movie, and they re-in acted the events that really happened to people during that time. So when they shot Night and Fog, it was 10 years after the war and the people were in the camp were liberated. This documentary did move me in some way, but Schindlers list moved me more because it was about how a Nazi saved 1100 Jews because they put them in labor. I think this whole Holocaust event moved me in a way that racism and war can turn people evil. 

Treaty of Versailles (ended WW1)

World War I caused a lot of European country's damages. But the one who lost in the war paid the prices for all the damages . The Triple Entente, which is the United Kingdom, France, Russia, and also the United states won the war, and the Central Power, which is Germany, Austria, and Italy lost the war. Since Germany signed Treaty of Versailles, they paid most of the damage of their country and other countries that they've destroyed. They also lost their colonies in other countries, like Africa. Their economy was ruined and all this led Germany to depression.

Then a man, named Adolf Hitler, was one of the Germans who were really upset about their losses. He was Austrian- born, but raised as a German. He became a great politician and also became a leader of the Nazi Party. And soon enough, he became the Chancellor of Germany. The treaty of Versailles also got them furious, because there was many unfair rules of the treaty, but other people think they deserved it. But I think, there's a lot of good and bad sides of the war, because everyone chooses to kill people. But it depends of the measures you take.

Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk) and the Modernization of Turkey.

Mustafa Kemal Ataturk is a Turkish Muslim. He was mostly involved in religion and politics. Mustafa Kemal wanted to modernized the religion, Islam in Turkey. Mustafa didn't want to wear the traditional stuff that Muslims wore in the Middle East. He believed that religion is religion, you don't have to wear a specific thing. He felt that since they're in Europe, they wanted themselves to blend in the European style. Like he wanted them to wear such things, like jackets, hats, shoes, pants, and etc. that Europeans wore at that time, since Turkey is part of Europe. 

Europe back then became secular, and some people wanted to keep the traditional clothing in their religion, Islam. But Mustafa Kemal thought that secular clothing shouldn't get in the way of religion. 

Film Lesson " Gandhi "

For the past few days, we've been watching clips from the movie "Gandhi". Gandhi was an Indian man, who helped his country win its independence from the British. But to him, in order to win their independence, was all about gaining it with non-violent actions. He was one of the spiritual and political leaders of India. He was a very kind-hearted man. Though in this kind of situations, many people would take violent actions, but Gandhi didn't he believed in that but peace and taking non-violent actions.

Basically this whole Indian Independence movement started because India was controlled by the British, since they were part of the British Colonies. They were okay with it first, but things changed and the Indian people didn't like their ways and the way things were. They were also treated terrible, and got taxed more than they should be. Like any other countries, they wanted to be a free country.

The actions he took was very light and wise. He took his protesting to the next level, by not fighting back if the British Officers or officers who hurt them. Though, there was this one time when they had a massacre and killed almost 1400 people. Another event that they protested was the Salt March. They didn't want to pay any taxes for the salt. The Indians refused to pay, so they instead marched peacefully. After trying for many years of doing things peacefully without any violence, and it finally worked. The Prime Minister of Great Britain declared independence for the country India.

The Russian Revolution.

Like our American Revolution, Russia also had their own revolution except they had more of their own people involved, and many people were killed. The people that were involve in this revolution was the Czar, but after he died, he was replaced by the Provisional government. They were going against the Bolshevik, known as the Communist Party, and they also became the new government of Russia, since the other government lost in the Russian revolution.

The Russians had these revolution because the Communist wanted to take over Russia and its government. They believed that they should be one government where everything is fair and everyone gets the same amount of rewards of money. The idea came from Karl Marx, also he made the idea of socialism. From there VLadimir Lenin, became the leader of the Bolshevik Revolution. After he died, he passed the Bolshevik Revolution leader to Joseph Stalin. They had this motto " Peace, land, and Bread " and it meant the majority. It basically expressed the idea of the Bolsheviks. 

Causes of WWI.

World War I occurred during 1914-18. It was a violent war between many European countries, like Germany, France, Great Britain, Austria-Hungary, Scots, and more, and also got the United States involved. There were many causes of this war. Mainly because of Imperialism, Nationalism, Militarism, and the Assassination of Franz Ferdinand and the collapse of the alliance.

Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in June 1914 by the Serbian black hand. Austria- Hungary's people's reaction to the death of their emperor were outrageous and they basically blamed the Serbians. That's how the Russians got involved. The Germany allied Austria- Hungary and declared war on Russia. France allied with the Russians and soon, Great Britain also joined them. They were called the Triple Entente. The Germans, Austria-Hungary, and Italy were called the Triple Alliance.

Also, another cause of the war is nationalism and militarism. Most people had many pride in their countries. They believed that they're the best nation out there and they see the other nations negatively. Same with Militarism, they believed that the government or the people of that country should have a strong military. It also came from the Imperialism.

Opium Wars - Imperialism in China

The Opium war was during the Imperialism in China. The western Europeans were still exploring places, trying to find new resources. In China, they've found their tea and they loved it. The British only had one port in China. The British didn't like it, so they decided to trade Opium to the Chinese people for their tea. The people in China realized that it was a dangerous drug and they make it illegal, and whoever uses it can get killed.