War Crimes

War is a brutal thing that has no positive result. Sure politicians may brag and say how the war was a great thing, but there are thousands, even millions of people who die throughout the war. Overall the war is brutal, and shouldn't go any farther than necessary. Unfortunately, they sometimes do, and that is called a war crime. Killing off citizens is a horrible thing. The citizens are unarmed, and may even be against the war. Unless they take up arms against you, they are very little threats to you. And murdering a helpless person is just wrong. The holocaust was ridiculous, and a war crime to the highest extent. The Natzis took millions of Jews, and murdered them in gas chambers and ovens. Both of them are horrible ways to go. The Natzis did all of this for the small reason that they decided to hate Jews. It was a brutal mutilation of a race of people who had done nothing at all, and had no reason to be persecuted. The Holocaust was possibly the biggest war crime in history, because of all the horror that they caused for no apparent reason.

Causes for the Taiping rebellion

I personally believe that the Taiping uprising was completely directed towards the Opium war. After the British and the Chinese gov’t reached the agreements, the British basically gained 100% control of the Chinese gov’t. For the next 10-15 years, the Chinese gov’t stood by as the British called all the shots. After finally paying off all their debts, the Chinese gov’t gained control back. However, they were not prepared to have all the power back in their hands and were not ready to run the nation. The Chinese people knew this and noticed that they had to take action. This is where the Taiping uprising started and they knew they had to throw off the poor and weak gov’t that was in charge at the time.

what was so interesting about the southern most tip of Africa

Today in class Ms. Xia asked us why were two countries from northern Europe fighting over some land at the southern most tip of africa? In this blog i will attempt to bring in what we learned about the Berlin conference to help explain why it was that these two countries ended up here. SOuth Africa was valuable for a couple of reasons. It had some valuable natural recources like diamonds, silver, and rubber. This of course was extremely appealing to both nations because their own lands have terrible natural recourses (either because there was never any gold or silver there, or because by that point in time it had already been used up by the countries' inhabitants). So it had great stuff, but so did other parts of the world that were much closer to get to, and the waters around South AFrica are some of the most rough waters in the entire world. The reason that sailors would travel all the way around the southern tip of Africa is because otherwise they would have to take an even more dangerous land route. The land route would have them cross some extremely arid places. BY land, merchants, conquerors, and mitionaries would have to sail over to the easter Mediterrranean, walk hundreds of miles or ride a horse (but that would require extra supplies) then get another ship to take them across the Indian ocean to places like British India or the the Dutch invaded Indonesian Islands. SO you see both countries wanted to own the water route to their Eastern provinces so that they would make a convinient pit-stop on this long water voyage. The initil interest in Africa was created by the Berlin Conference where Africa was split up. ALthough they already had provinces in Africa, the Berlin conferences was a fiinilization of realizing what both countries wanted. They saw the AFrica was valuable real-estate with some great natural recourses and South Africa was in a perfect location. You can guess that with two countries wanting the same land, it would end up in a war specifically in this case it was the 1st BOer War.

Boer War

The Boer War occurred in 1899 in South Africa. The "Boers" was a name for the Dutch Settlers. The war was the conflict between the British colonial rule and the "boers" or Dutch setters. They were arguing because they were fighting over who got the land and the African people. When war was first declared, the Dutch overpowered and conquered most of the British. But then, the British came back with a harsher response. They burned down many British farms and captured many wives and children and imprisoned them. They also made man africans, that were on the "side" or under control of the Dutch and they imprisoned them as well. They killed tons of these people that were imprisoned because they were not taken care of well enough. Where they were kept was very unsanitary which made living conditions really rough. They ended the war with The Treaty of Vereeniging. They estimate that several thousands of lives were lost, and about almost half of the Boer population.

Researching this made me think about how I would feel if people started a war where I was living and I had to live through it. I have never experienced a war where I have been living but I can imagine it is not very fun. I think it would be terrifying because I could easily walk out of my house going to school and happen to be in the middle of people fighting, and therefore I could easily get injured or worse killed! I think it must have been even weirder for the Africans because the two people who came in and had this war were not even really related or connected very much to the land. In Iraq, the Iraqi are fighting against the US and so it is at least there own people. That doesn't make it any more right but at least there is one familiar side. Not knowing at least one side would make it even harder to go through because then there is double the chances that you will get hurt. Having a familiar side means that they will probably try to avoid killing their own people as much as possible. Seeing that the Africans didn't really benefit from the war, I think that this must have been a dramatic change that they would have loved to avoid, especially considering that innocent people were taken and killed in prison camps.

Citation:

DISCovering World History. 2003. http://find.galegroup.com/gps/retrieve.do?contentSet=GSRC&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&qrySerId=Locale%28en%2

C%2C%29%3AFQE%3D%28ke%2CNone%2C8%29boer+war%24&sgHitCount

Type=None&inPS=true&sort=Relevance&searchType=BasicSearchForm&tabID

=T001&prodId=IPS&searchId=R1&currentPosition=2&userGroupName=menlo

_schlib&docId=EJ2105240003&docType=GSRC (accessed January 5, 2010).

Suez Canal

In our reading, there is an example of overseas expansion and how the newly man made Suez Canal played a role in this movement. The Suez Canal is a connection between the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. It allows large ships to travel from Europe to Asia, not needing to travel around the tip of Africa.

In relation to the reading, Europeans could access the Asian countries more efficeintly with there large amounts of goods that needs to be sold. When ships reached the Suez Canal, they used telegraph, inventing a following underwater telegraph to help the communication amongst all the ships in the canal.

Google images

Napoleon, the conquerer not the pastry

Napoleon Bonaparte was a military and political leader of France in the 1800's. He was a military genius and a brilliant politician that help to shape European politics. In the first decade of the 19th Century, The French Empire under Nepoleon, engaged in a series of wars against every European power. It was only his defeat in Russia, where he lost 600,000 men, that stopped him from dominating Europe. What would the world be like now if he would have defeated the Russians. Would France be the France of today?

The Ethnic Identity of Africa

With the Europeans conquering Africa, the natives of Africa began to see that they had one common "enemy" in the white people. By establishing this enemy, there was development of unification all across Africa with the people now considering themselves a race. Even though there still were enemies within the tribes of Africa, the natives began to think of themselves as a seperate race from the White people. This was vital for the Africans to develop this sense of community and race, because through this connection, they had become united as a continent. This ethnic identity helped the Africans understand themselves and it was vital for the nations of Africa. By having this ethnic identity, the Africans began to start these "mini-revolutions" that would eventually expel the White people from Africa and would let the Africans live and thrive for themselves. The philosophers that started thes beliefs started what would become the common beliefs for the natives for many years to come.

Ways of the World Strayer

Education in the Colonial Era

In the Colonial Era, education was vital for awareness of the world and its surroundings. Education was not only to learn about the world around them, but also an escape from manual labor. It also gave the opportunity to be placed in better paying jobs. There were also cases where education was used for power control. As the Europeans went through Africa, they installed beliefs and ideas that helped them maintain power through education. Others were embracing European culture as well. Some would speak the language of France and also dress like them, and have weddings like them. This helped the development of Africa because of the fact that they ca “blend” in with the white people. By blending in, it would open up doors for the Africans, which would allow them to access European technology and philosophies. 

Africa and How it was Divided Up

While looking at the map of how Africa was divided up, I was curious as to why countries like France and the British were able to get the majority of Africa, and the central points. France even though they got mostly the Sahara desert in the central part of Africa, they did get and control access to the Red Sea, which was a majory port because of the fact that trading with the Muslim Empires could be accessed through that area. Also the British had control of Egypt and South Africa, both had major trade cities in both of these regions. Then there were nations like the Germans and Spanish, who were left with almost nothing. I was just curious about the process of how Africa was divided up, and why certain countries were able to get most of the major ports and parts of Africa. 

Japanese Shogun

Im going to go into detail about the shogun because they seemed interesting. The shogun or the shogunate was referred to a military leader of the Japanese armed forces. At one point in time, they had more power than the emperor and had control of the Samurai.  The Shogun rules as a dictator that rules all of Japan.Today, retired shogun that still have power and give advice to others is called a "Shadow shogun. A shadow shogun in Japanese is called yami shogun. Some shadow shogun are former prime minister Kakuei Tanaka and politician Ichiro Ozawa.

Samurai Class

I read about the Tokugawa period, and how the period was governed by a shogun. The shogun was at the top of the social class. However, there were daimyo, lords, who had their own lands and what they said go. Japan was not exactly unified because each lord decided there currency, tax systems, and even had military forces. The book did not go into much detail about these military forces, which were the famous samurais. We know they were at the top in society, however it did not go into depth about their daily lives. I did some research about the samurais, and found an article The Samurai Class of the Tokugawa Period. During the Tokugawa period it was very peaceful, meaning there was no need for samurais bring them down financially. Samurais' would generally work for a daimyo and some would even work for the shogun. The samurais' who worked for the shoguns' lived a better life, financially, some were extremely rich. But there were some samurais' who just roamed called Ronin and they did not have a stable income. They found employment wherever and sometimes they would work for farmers or teach. There was a wide range of where a samurai was in a social structure, however their loyalty, and honor was admired. That is why during the Tokugawa period many of the samurais learned about poetry, art, and teaching. Tokugawa was a peaceful era which had not much need of samurais' and they promoted education among the samurais. As you can see, the peace also increased the amount of educated people along with Confucianism.
ARTICLE:
Lain. "The Samurai Class of the Tokugawa Period". Associated Content News. November 17,2009.

Industrial Revolution

When reading about the Industrial Revolution, it was clear to see that it was a time of complete transformation. Change for the positive, that is, with new inventions being released constantly. The coal-fired steam engine, the spinning jenny, the power loom, and the cotton gin were just some of the many beneficial tools that added to the “culture of innovation.” (Page 528 Ways of the World)
However, the positive aspects of the Industrial Revolution were all that were stated in this section. It got me thinking if along with all of the beneficial effects this time had on society in the late 1700’s, if there was a downside as well. After some further research, I found that there were some negatives as well. According to Wikipedia along with various other websites such as Yahoo Answers, the main downsides of the Industrial Revolution were enclosure, pollution, child labor, and insanitary working quarters.
Enclosure took place where those of the wealthier class took money/land from those of a lower class, forming one larger and better lot, leaving the farmers jobless. The machines and factories caused pollution, which dirtied the once clean air. The factories needed more workers than just adults, and in turn hired children to work their machines. Due to the fact that they were hiring children, they were able to get away with paying them below minimum wage as well as having them work in extremely close and unsuitable environments.
As one can see, the Industrial Revolution brought both positives and negatives to society in the 1750s-1800s. The positives, however, strongly outweigh the negatives. All of the beneficial things the new inventions brought truly improved the way Europe matured as a whole, opening up countless doors to even more future opportunities. The negatives were in fact harmful in some ways, and it is understandable as to why some saw the Industrial Revolution as damaging to those who lived through it. Yet as a whole, I feel as though for the most part all that came with the Industrial Revolution was beneficial and “this continuous emergence of new techniques of production and the economic growth that they made possible mark the past 250 years as a distinct phase of human history.” (Page 528 Ways of the World)

Asian and Latin American Industries

After reading the section titled " Explaining the Industrial Revolution", I came across a brief statement that said, " the Industrial Revolution became global when a number of Asian and Latin American countries developed substantial industrial sectors." It then gave a long list of some of these sectors such as Oil, and natural gas, but I wanted to more about how they started for these to sections of the world. 

Asia(Asian tigers)

The Asian tigers is a term that refers to the highly developed regions of asia, which are Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan. The main reason why there was a huge increase in the asian Industries, was because of the motivated people, and the stable governments in asia. The governments was stable, and so many nations around the world sought asia as a place to invest in. Not only did foreign countries like the stable governments, but they also liked the good labor of the people. The workers in asia were both motivated and skilled, so they made asian countries such as South Korea  a great place to invest in. In 1960 was when the real industrialization happened for South Korea. This was when they switched from the less advanced manufacturing, to the more advanced manufacturing of steel. Shipbuilding and the automobile industries were now of interest, and for the next 30 years after 1960 South Korea grew to be considered a "Developed Country". The main automobile industry  is Hyundai-Kia which is the 4th largest automobile automaker.

Latin America(Argentina)

Argentina also has grown  a lot economically because of manufacturing. The only difference is that South Korea grew in the Automobile industry, while Argentina grew in the Agricultural industries. Argentina is now huge in the food processing industry, because of their own natural resources of crops such as soy and maize. 

Karl Marx

I thought the view of Karl Marx on the Industrial Revolution was refreshing. Instead of just viewing it as a time of technological advancement and urbanization, he saw it from the point of view of the workers. He felt that they were being treated unfairly and were being exploited. He recognized that there were two classes: the workers selling their labor, and the capitalists who were buying it. He saw that since workers were making the product that the factory workers were selling, the factory workers were paying the workers as little money as possible in order to make the largest profit. they were getting rich and sitting back, while the workers were spending long grueling days in the factory and being paid next to nothing for it. Marx said that the machine spread the working ability of the family, since it took away the value of strength. Workers just needed to be able to repeat the same motions all day, and the machines did the rest. this made it so that the man was paid less, and therefore the rest of the family was forced into working in order to earn enough money to support the family. even children were forced to work since strength and intelligence were not needed. He felt that the use of machines and lower wages to workers made the factory owners boatload of money, while the rest of society suffered. He believed it was time for the working class to revolt and rule society, Making everyone equal. It was socialism

Industrial Rev Activity

I personally thought that the activity was not well done and poorly organized. The main problem I had with the activity was that someone could go to the beach for one star of luxury for only a dollar but they could go the opera for 30 dollars and only get 3 luxury stars. This messed up the whole activity by the end because everyone ended up with like 20 luxury stars because they spent all their money on walks to the beach. Also another problem was that the citizens had no idea how much money their wages should be and so the owners could charge us for really low wages and they would profit a lot of money and we would have no money for use to spend. I guess that send us the right message about the corrupt owners but I still had a problem with the pricings so if this was changed then the activity would be beneficial and helpful.

This Isn't my Blog Entry

This isn't my blog entry I just want to know what people think the answer to this question is.

Why was the Ottoman Empire so successful? Why did the economy and culture all of a sudden become more sophisticated?