The Russian Revolution

The Russian Revolution started in 1917 and was also called the Bolshevik Revolution. There were two revolutions called the October Revolution and the February Revolution. The February Revolution was about Czar Nicholas II losing power and the people having riots in the streets. The October Revolution was about a small group of people which were the Bolsheviks that led them and represented themselves as dictators of the proletariat. The Russians had a Russian Revolution because they wanted change the Russia Empire and after WWI broke out Czar collapsed and then there started a revolution.
Some of the major causes of the revolution were that so many soldiers died, starvation, less supplies and on food, and peasants grew rapidly. The Revolution was all about the people wanting a new government and they didn't like Czar since he was leader. People hated him so much when they heard the quote, "Peace, land and bread" by Lenin, they liked the idea of communism. The quote meant that there'll be no more problems and trouble and communism came from the idea of Karl Marx. Russia use to be a communist country, but now it's not a communist country anymore.

Causes of WW1

There were many causes of WW1. Nationalism was one of the primary causes of the war. Nationalism that had made a settlement of peace on the Congress of Vienna was ignored. Countries like Austria-Hungary and the Balkans(from Europe) became a "posed problem" from Nationalism because it conflicted many national groups. There was an alliance system that Bismark made which were Germany, Russia, and Austria Hungary to defeat France.

Another cause of WW1 was militarism. Militarism increased, strengthen, and increased in cooperation to gain more power for the army. Germany was one the countries that had this strategy to gain more control and try to win the war. Germany worked with Austria and Britain worked with the French. Germany and Austria had military agreements and so did the British with France.

The assassination of Franz Ferdinand was also a cause of WW1. Franz Ferdinand was an archduke of Austria-Hungary. He was assassinated in Sarajevo that declared war on Serbia starting World War 1. Alliances collapsed because of this when Ferdinand was assassinated and made Austria-Hungary mad at Serbia. The alliance system contributed in the war and Austria-Hungary was in war with Serbia.

The Opium Wars

     The Opium wars were about when China and European countries fought over a drug called opium that took about 3 years from 1839 to 1842. Opium was a drug from India. Opium was one of the first drug wars in the world. The reason of the Opium wars were because China wanted to isolate themselves outside their country. Europeans especially Britain wanted to trade with China. Europeans saw that tea from China was a great product and they liked the China's tea. China only let the Europeans access to the port and that's when China adapted from Western civilizations. Europeans gave the drug opium to them. 

     China was so addicted to opium that it was a heroin and morphine and the Chinese made a law that it was illegal because the drug affected many people in China. The Chinese would confiscate it and destroy the opium and buy no more of it from the Europeans.  During the Opium wars China would get defeated a lot because of the highly equipped Europeans. It was called Opium wars because China got mad at the Europeans for bringing a drug to their country and they stopped trading the Europeans tea. Europeans got mad also for not getting tea from the Chinese. All because of a drug it was called the Opium wars.

     In the war Europeans attacked the Chinese with their gunboats and cannons. The Chinese were not prepared for the war and only had swords. The Chinese's weapons were no match for the Europeans advanced technology and weapons. The British defeated China. China signed two Treaties called Treaty of Bogue and Treaty of Nanjing. They finally got peace and China was able to legalize opium. Also Europeans were able to have five ports in China.

Film Lesson: "Mountains of the Moon"

     The film, "Mountains of the Moon," was a great movie and I can see now how the Europeans traveled in Africa finding the Nile River. As the Europeans explored Africa, some of the hardships they faced there were when robbers robbed most of the explorers supplies and food. Europeans were short on supplies and food. Rare animals like lions would get in their way, bugs like mosquitos at night, they met tribes on the way and had to give presents to them to stay or pass in the tribes' land or turf. Also the Europeans were ambushed from a bad tribe because they didn't like them and wanted to take any valuables they had especially gold. 

     It's strange that the Europeans named the Nile River,"Lake Victoria," after a British Queen because after they found the Nile River they wanted to name it after their British Queen in honor of her. Along the expeditions of the Europeans, the primary technological advantage they had over African people were weapons like guns. The guns they had were hand guns and shotguns. The African people didn't have any weapons like what the Europeans had, instead they had spears but it wasn't effective.  

The Meiji Restoration of Japan

     Matthew Perry  bullied the Japanese into signing a trade treaty through a display of military might. To impress the Japanese, Perry amazed them by ships with no sails. When Perry came to the ports he intimidated the Japanese with their high technology. 

     Japanese's economy has changed during the Meiji Era by a production of labor intensive goods, handicrafts, and a lower quality of machine from the absence of the Industrial Revolution. The Japanese modernized and industrialized by having two ports after a treaty was signed and trading helped them to get what they needed. Archipelago means a chain of islands. Japan is an archipelago because they had many small islands.  

Karl Marx and Communism

     Karl Marx's idea of Communism was to have workers share wealth in a communist society. He didn't like that landlords and factory owners were being in control and making a lot of money for themselves. Communism is a system of social organization in which all property is vested in the community and each person contributes and receives according to his or her ability and needs. 

     Karl Marx wanted Communism to take over the world because he didn't like that peoples' jobs were unfair and the worker were getting paid less. He saw the conditions of workers' jobs. He saw that since the workers work so hard with less money, he saw them as the good guys and he saw the landlords and factory owners as the bad guys because the way they treated the people that works really hard and they were being greedy making more money.

Karl Marx and the Industrial Revolution

When the Industrial Revolution came around, Karl Marx felt that the treatment of the workers were harsh and unsafe. He didn't like it. He was arguing about thatworkers should be in control of factories and farms rather than landlords. He wanted workers to unite in a "worldwide revolution." The Industrial Revolution inspired Marx to invent Communism because workers would share wealth in a communist society.