2/22

The previous two chapters were pretty much a cause and effect of each other. European imperialism grew strong in the 1800s. Europe’s main place for domination was in Africa. Every country scrambled and rushed to colonize in Africa to extract its resources for personal use. Things got so out of hand the Europeans had to set up the Berlin Conference to set up ground rules for colonizing in Africa. What was interesting was that no representative from Africa was present. Throughout this new imperialistic period, Europeans tried to justify their actions with the idea of “civilizing” the Africans or helping them advance. Besides colonizing and imperializing in Africa, Europe also took control of countries in Asia. England took over the majority of India which caused many rebellions and up risings such as the Sepoy Mutiny. They also colonized along the coast of China. The Opium War was the result of Chinese lack of collaboration with the English. France mainly colonized in south east Asia.

Imperialism was one of the factors the led to the growth of the Great War, aka World War I. The Great War was also a result of intense nationalism, self- determination, alliances, but what lit the fuse was the assassination of an Austrian heir to the throne. The majority of the war was a stalemate. The war enabled women to be heard in society due to the fact that they had to the men’s place in the arena of work while they were off at war. The War also caused economic damages. Everything was invested into the war. Even every bit of food. Women and children had to fast on certain days so that the men would have enough to eat. At the end of the war the Treaty of Versailles tried to mend all the terrible out comes of war by having Germany pay for all the war debts. Behind the curtains of The Great War, Russia had its own internal conflict with its proletariat and the government. Russia had to pull out of the war which caused it to lose a vast amount of land just to focus on itself. Lenin and the Bolsheviks led a revolt to start a new form of government that was theoretically the best government possible, Communism. This revolt was known as the Russian Revolution. Even today, Lenin is still remembered as a great leader of Russia for leading it out of a “terrible” time. Lenin coming to power was not a coincident but a work of the Germans.

2/7/11

I know this is late for a blog but my internet crashed last night and i could do nothing. Following a period of revolution all around the world, there were social and economical reforms that took place. These reforms were all grouped together and was what we call the Industrial Revolution. There were new ideas such as the use of coal as a source of fuel instead of lumbar due to the dwindling amount. Labor saving technology was a big innovation during this period. It enabled workers to produce more of there product in a short period of time. Britain led the industrial revolution but then the United States, Russia and Japan came in to the big picture.

During about the same time period, the Americas were starting to take its shape. The United States started to expand with the idea of Manifest Destiny. It was very big and important for the Americans although it was also devastating for the Indians as they were forcefully removed from there land. The Latin Americas were weak after there independence. They were never self governing and now that they were new and on there own there governments were weak and had no experience. This was the very reasons dictators came in and was the cause of much strife. It was mostly exemplified in Mexico with all the conflict it went through…. Sorry i have to go to school now, can i finish up my last part later though? The next chapter was about how all the societies in the east started having conflict within its borders. There military was week and the people were unsatisfied with how the government ran. There were many reforms to try to fix the country and please the people. In some cases rebellion happened instead of reform such as the Boxer Rebellion and the Taiping Rebellion. Yeah i need to go to school now. Can I finish up later?