Russia Posts Katyn Massacre Documents on Internet

On Wednesday, Russia's archives posted documents about the massacre of over 20,000 Polish officers and citizens during World War II. This was the first time the documents had been posted by Russia since the war, although they had been public for many years. They did so as as gesture towards Poland to mend relations because the case looms large in Polish history and has soured relations between the two countries for decades. The documents were posted to show that Russia was finally excepting responsibility for the killings in Katyn and else where in the 1940s. The documents show signatures giving permission to Soviet soldiers to kill Polish prisoners of war. The document do not reveal the names of the officers that carried out the executions, but Russia plans to make those documents public on a later date. The release of these documents is playing a positive role in helping Russia come to terms with its painful history under Stalin. Since the tragic plane crash on April 10 that killed the President of Poland and 94 other on boards, relations between Russia and Poland have grown warmer.

Link:

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/04/28/russia-posts-katyn-documents-internet/ 

UKRAINE PARLIAMENT

In this current event, ukraine was having a debate on wether or not Russia can use a naval base in their country. The president of Ukraine was explaining and describing this law as betrayal to their country and it got ugly. Fist fights were present in parliament. I think that this relates to modern world history by portraying Nationalism. The president is just trying to get the picture out that they would be betraying their own country if the law past and that the people in Ukraine should have pride in their country. It is a very controversial subject.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/apr/27/ukraine-parliament-fight-eggs

Iran's Nuclear Threat

This article talks about the problem that I believe we have all probably heard of, and its the problem of nuclear weapons and Iran. Iran claims to not having or making any nuclear weapons, and that the Uranium is just being used for medical purposes, but other people are 100% sure that the Uranium is actually being used to develop bombs. If Iran did develop nuclear weapons they could bomb Israel, and cause a massive nuclear war. This would happen because the US is allies with Israel, and they would have to protect the Israel people. One way that this article connects to some  of the stuff that we have been learning is that it could potentially be one big war crime for Iran to break the treaty that all countries currently have.

"Muslim says mistresses are the French way of life"

This article is a case regarding a Muslim man's mistress charged a payment for driving a car with a veil because it blocks her sight. Following this, a discovery was made that the husband actually had four wives that were not under French law, but only done ritualistically. The head of the Muslim group in France, Mohammed Moussaoiu, had a meeting with the French officials to talk about the crisis. He mentioned how emphasis of the veil was not being given compared to other issues.

After reading this article, it made me think about the respect that should be given to all races of people around the world. The veil, in Islam, is very important to some women, but not all. The lady should not be charged of wearing a veil, because that is disrespect to the religion. Just like others, this women should be free to live a lifestyle she wants to. The government does not have the right to do that, unless she was actually crossing the speed limit during driving. We are all the same people, its just the factor of religion that draws a border among us. 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100426/ap_on_re_eu/eu_france_forbidding_the_veil;_ylt=AqApG9ayOY0FRjhFr2_DhYNvaA8F;_ylu=X3oDMTMyNnY0NTlzBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTAwNDI2L2V1X2ZyYW5jZV9mb3JiaWRkaW5nX3RoZV92ZWlsBHBvcwMxBHNlYwN5bl9hcnRpY2xlX3N1bW1hcnlfbGlzdARzbGsDbXVzbGltc2F5c21p

 

War Crimes in World War II

World War II consisted of multiple war crimes. Some of these war crimes consisted of the Holocaust, the Raping of Nanking, Firebombing, and the dropping of the Atomic Bomb. “The Holocaust was the systematic, bureaucratic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of approximately six million Jews by the Nazi regime and its collaborators.” (http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005143) The German Nazis considered themselves superior to the Jews, and this mindset led to one of the greatest mass destructions of all time. The Raping of Nanking is also a historical event of such horrific human action that history itself attempts to forget it. Although Japan had already taken control over most of China, this was not enough. Tension between Chinese and Japanese military troops caused an exchange of firing near Peking (now Beijing), and the Japanese used this incident as an excuse to declare war against China. This led to a significant period of time in which Japanese gladly took the lives of thousands, proceeding to rape, burn to death, or bury alive innocent Chinese civilians. When the events were drawn to the attention of the public, neighboring countries were quick to attempt to clean up the reputation of the Japanese along with cover up the tragedy as best as they could. In attempt to bring World War II to an end, America dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. To this day, it is undetermined whether or not dropping the bomb was the necessary course of action the United States should have taken in attempt to reach the end of World War II.

All of these events are very controversial events that took place during World War II. In my personal opinion, they all would be qualified as war crimes, however the definition of a war crime may vary. When war is declared, those agreeing to participate in the war are aware that what comes with fighting are severe injuries, destruction, and death. With this said, the “crimes” committed such as the Raping of Nanking and the dropping of the Atomic bomb would not technically be breaking any rules. However, actions such as those discussed above cross the moral border. Take the Raping of Nanking- did the Japanese have any right to take the lives of thousands of innocent Chinese civilians? And not only that, but what incentive did the Japanese have causing them to display such crude and vial actions against the Chinese? In order to determine whether or not something is really a war crime or not, I feel as though it is merely personal. Majority of the events that took place centered around World War II or a war of some sort included an abundance of deaths and destruction. This is what is expected of a war. However, does that make it right? That question can be answered only individually.

Sources:

http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005143

http://www.nanking-massacre.com/RAPE_OF_NANKING_OR_NANJING_MASSACRE_1937.html

Who was involved with the Korean War

On June 25, 1950 the Korean war reached the climax of the battle. Once North Korea bombarded and invaded South Korea the finances and other countries began to get in the middle of the war. The US and UN helped North Korea with the chaotic army. Since World War II ended about five years after the US had a lot of military material which was helpful for the korean army because their weapons were up to date and powerful, Airplanes, machinery. Because the UN army swiftly moved through North Korea, China jumped ship thinking it would be a careless win, however the soviet union was not as willing to join the war. In the middle of the war the South Koreans fought back and pushed them back making china "give up" essentially. The US army became even more stronger and powerful but very expensive. The war came to closure on July 27, 1953, the USSR concluded it was a waste of financial resources and needed to end. It was considered a waste for four decades, until they were able to make up for all the wasted money.

The Holocaust from the eyes of a German

When I was researching what about the Holocaust I wanted to blog about, I was thinking about my Grandma who grew up in Germany during the time. I came up with a question, should she have to take the blame for what her country did? I think that even since she lived there, she should take the blame because of what some of the people in her country did. She was not involved and did not want anything to do with it. But usually when people say they are German the first thing that comes to mind is the Holocaust. How can these people take the blame if they had nothing to do with it. However the actions that Hitler took to exterminate the Jews was to a certain extent of being endlessly cruel and not needed. When talking to my grandma about this she said that the time during the Holocaust was so sad and depressing she didn't know how to go on living normally. She said all the test they did to find out if the people were jewish or not was unnecessary and horrible. One time they measured her nose, but her blond hair and blue eyes meant she was a dominate German(I think they checked her records too). To this day she has the horrible image of the Jews being taken away to camps and then hearing about what they did. However she still is proud of the fact that she is German but wished the Holocaust never occurred.

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.

WWII, Change

World War 2 definitely changed the definition of war and how it was fought. World War 1 was a war of attrition where all troops hid in tenches for months at a time and fought each other until either side ran out of troops. Machine guns and poison gas were key inventions during World war 1, and when used together they were one of the deadliest combinations. But when World War 2 comes, things change greatly. Armies begin to fight with a faster pace, and battles become much shorter. Blitzkrieg becomes popular, which is a type of fast warfare involving planes, ships, tanks, and other automobiles. Troops begin to fight, and are motivated by the goal of being the strongest in the world. Cities are invaded and countries are conquered. Automobiles, ships, airplanes and tanks end up playing a large role in the war in many wars. They increase the mobility of the troops and the speed they can move at, and they become dangerous weapons. Planes begin to be used to provide air support for the troops, and drop bombs. This has a huge impact on the war, and ends up leading to the deaths of many. Firebombing begins to happen using incendiary bombs to destroy large portions of cities, and kills hundreds of thousands. Then the atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, devastating Japan, and showing how dangerous an atomic bomb can be, and how much power it can give to an country. The atomic bomb was a weapon that could completely change the course of a war in seconds, and it did. These are just a few ways that WWII changed war.

The History of the Atomic Bomb

Sixty five years ago, the US dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and dicated war against Japan. The bomb was so forceful that Japan's government decieded to raise a white flag and give up. The era of the bombings were the first of using extremly more powerful weapons then guns and cannons. This bomb destroyed Hiroshima and almost all of its citizens. The controversy of the bombings were based on killing so many people. If you think about it, it isnt that much worse than two countries at war, it wipes out many more people at one time, but in war, killing is not so fast but still a lot of people are murdered. In reality it is all bad but by wipping out all of the citizens at once was extremely more powerful and sent out a message to people not to mess with the US because their weapons are MUCH stronger than guns and knives.

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB162/index.htm

WWII Changing War

World War II definitely changed the definition of war. Almost every aspect of war changed, from the weapons used to the strategy and tactics. There was a huge difference between World War I and WWII. In World War I, most of the soldier sat in trenches and would come out only to immediately get shot by the opposing side. Compared to WWII, where the use of bombs became a new tactic. Also, instead of trenches on opposite sides, soldiers would storm cities and fight there. This allowed them to control areas more quickly. This is shown by the amount of cities that were destroyed in Japan by American forces.

The atomic bomb played a huge role in WWII. Not only did it show the power of the US but it devastated Hiroshima and Japan as a whole. It left the people in fear of what was to come and brought a new aspect to war itself. In my opinion, the atomic bomb was the biggest difference in the war and eventually changed future wars.

Causes of WWII

I think the biggest cause of World War II was no one standing up to Germany and Italy. At the end of World War I, Germany got 10% of their land taken away, their military was cut down, and they had to pay for the reparations. Italy on the other hand got nothing out of the Treaty of Versailles. At the beginning Germany followed what the Treaty of Versailles said however, when Hitler came into power he increased the military and stopped paying the reparations. But no one protested. The war had just ended and no one wanted to fight again so they didn't say anything. Germany then annexed Austria, Czechoslovakia, and other German speaking parts. This was against the Treaty of Versailles and yet no one did anything. Britain and France had a small conference with Germany asking them to stop increasing their land, which Germany did not follow through. As you can see France and Britain didn't even try stopping them and this caused Germany to break loose and do as they pleased. If someone would have stood up to Germany and put an end to it, I don't think the events would have happened as they did.

Sources:
Notes
Strayer 645-649
"Long Term Causes of World War II" <>

Causes of WWII

I think that one key reason why World War II occurred was because the United States wasn't willing to get involved until 1941. Hitler was able to sweep across Europe with relative ease because nobody was willing to touch him. Most major nations in the world were still recovering from the massive bloodshed of World War I, and they weren't interested in becoming entangled in another fight. The United States was unaffected by Hitler's genocide and invasions of neighboring countries, and American citizens were strongly against another war that would once again significantly damage their already fragile economic structure. They only got involved once Pearl Harbor was bombed, as their nation's security was threatened.

The Soviet Union was the only military power who was willing to initially fight against Hitler, in part because they were geographically and historically involved with the situation. It is questionable whether they would have been able to defeat the Germans without additional assistance from the United States.

Had the US gotten involved sooner, they could have stopped Hitler before Germany grew into a global superpower, thus preventing a World War from breaking out.

Eugenics

Eugenics is the practice of selective breeding towards humans. It has a lot to do with the theory of natural selection. Society aims to protect the weak and underprivileged, and help keep them alive. Natural selection says that only the strongest and best survive, so by protecting the week, society is essentially going against the natural process, and keeping mankind from becoming stronger. Eugenics does the opposite, it aims to improve the gene pool by any means necessary. One example of eugenics in the 1900s was the holocaust. The Nazi felt that mankind must continue moving forward. The Nazi Germans wanted to be the strongest of the human race, and they wanted to rid the human race of any weakness. They began to identify any races that they felt were inferior, and exterminate them. They decided that the Jewish must be eliminated, so they began mercilessly murdering Jewish people. it was a ruthless genocide. They also began trying to breed perfect humans to enroll in their army. Strong healthy males would breed with strong healthy females in am attempt to create the ideal human being.

The Na'vi

Na'vi flag of Ewya

The four stars on the right side represent the four clans of the Na'vi. The blue background represents the color of our skin. The tree in the middle is what we call home tree and it is where we live and where our culture is based. The red triangles make it look kinda cool and serve no purpose whatsoever. The black and white circles represent our peace with between the good and bad in nature and our unity with nature and our home tree.

National Anthem:

O land of the Na'vi, of rivers and plains;
Made rich by the sunshine, and lush by the rains,
Set gem like and fair, between mountains and sea,
Your children salute you, dear land of the free!

Green land of Pandora, our heroes of yore,
Both bondsmen and free, laid their bones on your shore.
This soil so they hallowed, and from them are we,
All sons of one Mother, Pandora the free!!

Great land of Earth, diverse though our strains,
We are born of their sacrifice, heirs of their pains,
And ours is the glory their eyes did not see,
One land of two peoples, united and free!

Dear land of Earth, to you will we give,
Our homage, our service, each day that we live;
We guard you, great Eywa, and make us to be
More worthy our heritage, land of the free!

http://naviblue.com/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=122&start=10

National History:
We are known as the Na’vi. Our nation is located on the eastern coast of what is know Brazil, but we are spread out all across South America. There are 4 major tribes that fall under our nation, each one having its own unique dynamic that makes the Na’vi so powerful and diverse. The first tribe is known as the Omaticaya. The capital of the Na’vi empire is located in the center of the Omaticaya tribe in the dense forests of Brazil. We live in what we call the Hometree were everyone in the tribe is located. We all live in this tree because it enables us to connect with the one thing we value most, and this is our bond with nature. We feel that all beings including animals, plants, and humans are all connected and share one common bond. We feel that you should try and differ yourself from your common being but try and be with them. Some ways we try and make ourselves one with our planet is we wear minimal clothes. This helps be as much part as the Earth as the animals we live with. The only time we use accessories is when we go into battle, which has only been one time in our history. This is when the British came over to our homeland and tried to change our ways. They wanted to bring us new technology that would diversify ourselves from nature. They insisted on bringing new technology and even diseases to us, we resisted. We then summoned all 4 tribes of the Na’vi to fight off the evil Englishmen and were able to defeat them fairly easily. This truly send a message to the rest of the world that our land was not going to be taken over and we were not open to this outside influences that wanted to change our ways. We then broke back into our four tribes and went on with living our way of life.

One thing that is very unique to our people that no other nation obtains is our special bond we have with nature. We strongly believe in a secret bond that we share with all organisms and this helps us be that much more with our Mother Earth. This is a special ritual we do and accomplish this ritual by putting our feet in the roots of the plants. These plants then give us the nutrients that help them survive and let us be even more one with the world. We do this with animals by taming them completely and being able to rid the animals across the plains of Nagat. When we able to accomplish this, we are accepted into manhood because our Mother has accepted us as part of her. Our Mother is also called Ewya by our people and it is what we value most in We believe that all creatures on Earth’s fate is controlled by the sentient intelligence Ewya. We have no choice but to live in harmony and natural equilibrium with their surroundings. If we become too numerous, Eywa will devise a way to limit their numbers before they cause an ecological imbalance. Over the years of our existence as a nation, we have a healthy respect for their surrounding environment. In return, the environment has provided them with sufficient food and shelter, creatures to ride for ground and air transportation, and an ambient, comfortable temperature throughout one creature, but only for the balance of nature.

At first we were willing to interact with humans, but after concluding that humans had nothing of value to offer to them, they break off contact and start engaging in guerrilla warfare to resist the human's mining operations. The Na'vi have no far-reaching political structures on the scale of nation-states, but are organized into relatively structured clans. Occasionally different clans from far-reaching areas will cooperate in times of great crisis.

sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Na'vi_language

http://james-camerons-avatar.wikia.com/wiki/Na'vi

Alliances and Connections:

Christmas town to Christmas land

Flag:


Anthem:


National History:

Halloween town was at the top of the world. Everyone knew about Halloween town; they had the best exported items, they had the money to buy anything in the world they wanted, and they even had possession of 4 different holidays (countries). Christmas town was a branch off from Halloween town, they were more peaceful and respectful rather than Halloween town. They didn't like fighting, but they were very patriotic and nationalistic. Over the course of 100 years, Halloween town became very needy and greedy. They started taking things from Christmas town and Easter town more than usual. They never asked or told the towns what they were taking, they would just TAKE. Christmas town was getting tired of being the nice one and decided the rebel. Even though it was going against their way to break the peace, they were being treated unfairly and they did not like that more than anything. Christmas town finally won after a long hard battle and was could finally become their own nation. As a part of their emancipation, they called themselves Christmas land. A new nation deserves a new name. I compared this "becoming a nation" to how USA broke off from Britain. They didn't like how the British were taxing them, so they decided to rebel. Both cases the weaker nation was treated unfairly and in order to be your own nation, you have to govern yourself.

Alliances and Connections

Elle, Kaitlin and I decided to make our nation named Christmas Tree Land. It is in the North Pole so therefore we decided to be allies with Europe, Canada, and Russia. We are very open to new cultures or different people. We have our own traditions but we are open to new options and suggestions because we try to have open views. Europe had part of the Ottoman rule which was very strong for a long time. Europe also had the rising Scandinavian Countries which were very strong and had powerful nationalism. We also have powerful nationalism and we take pride in what we do. We would be alliances with Canada because they are a big country and Russia is as well. The North Pole being relatively empty and weak needs those bigger nations and countries to help us when we need protection.

Zalcra

Flag

National Anthem

From mountain to mountain
From snow to sand
Coco to coconut
Land to island

We wanted to talk
They wanted to fight
A tragic mistake
In the night

We won the battle
Us, proud and true
The beautiful land
For me and you

Now there is peace
Peace is our hope
We only want peace
Our only hope

National Identity

Lizzie, Agustin, and I created the nation of Zalcra where Zalcranians live. The original founders of this nation were from Switzerland, one of the only neutral countries that is involved in no wars. These people traveled to Hawaii, and planned to settle on an island off of the state. Since we are settled on an island, we have resources such as coal, iron from the volcanoes, water, sand to make glass, and forests for trees. Majority of our people are from Switzerland so they speak English, French, Dutch and German. Since we come from a neutral environment and then settling into a new are, our classes in society are all equal. I will be designing a national flag for Zalcra that is found as a logo on many of our products also.

National History

The history of Zorcra is a rich one indeed. Zorcra was founded in the early 1800s, after the great Battle of Hapunawaha. It is a small island near Hawaii, which was actually formed from a volcanic eruption as early as the 1600s. Originally, Zorcra was inhabited by Pacific Islanders who called themselves Palma’as.  They were fierce warriors and were also a very advanced society who had made many different types of weapons, as well as herbal medicines, vaccines, and sturdy building materials.  They were also very smart and most of the population was literate in the island language of Palms.  The Palma’as were indeed in tune with nature, as the name of their people suggest.  They had many natural resources that were worth celebrating, such as strong bamboo, all kinds of different fruits and crops, fresh water and mineral springs, coal and volcanic rock, rich farmland, and iron and other metals in the Ho’ana mountains.  In 1790, the Swiss government had heard about all of these incredible resources from some early explorers that had stumbled upon this island, and they began to grow extremely interested in the area.  They sent a fleet of ships to check out the area and meet some of the settlers.  The voyage was only intended to check the island out and see if the tales were true, but the islanders mistook the gesture as a threat.  Not only were the islanders threatened, but England was there as well, and they had settled part of the island in the hopes of conquering the Hawaiin Islands and taking them in the name of the queen.  The Swiss tried using their neutrality and their peacefulness in order to make a treaty with the islanders, but most of the islanders did not speak English, and the English weren’t willing to translate, so as a result the Battle of Hapunawaha began.  Hapunawaha was the Palma’a general in charge of the army.  The battle lasted 3 days, but in the end, the Swiss won out.  The battle wasn’t particularly bloody because the Swiss simply took out a few of the key leaders, putting the island into chaos and taking as few lives as possible.  The total death toll was around 200, 130 islanders and about 70 British people.  The total island population was around 2,000 at the time, comprising of about 1,800 islanders and 200 English settlers.  The Swiss fleet comprised of about 3,000 sailors.  After the battle, the Swiss cleaned up the island of any collateral damage, as well as treated the wounded and the sick of the island, as well as built a beautiful memorial to the fallen warriors.  This clearly pleased the islanders, who decided a treaty was indeed a great idea so that the Swiss and the Palma’as could live side by side peacefully.  This is how the country of Zorcra was founded. The people are called Zorcranians, as well as a few Palma’as.  The language is called Palmekens, which is a mix of Palms, German, Italian, and French.  These languages are also spoken separately in Zorcra, as well as Romanish, English, and Palms.  

Alliances and Connections
We Zalcranians look down on a lot of the nations around the world for being so violent. We don't like to acquaint ourselves to very violent nations, because we fear that they will bring all of their violent people to our island. We do accept people who are being prosecuted for reasons having to do with anything but crimes. We love to change these peoples lives and show them what a nation should be like. If we really had to be allied with three nations, even though we feel as if we are better off solo, we would be allied to Australia, New Zealand, and Iceland. We would be allied to them, because we never hear of any type of disputes in these places.

Samurai

The life in Tokugawa Shogunate consisted of different levels and groups of people. They played a different role and society and each individual had a job of his own. At the top sat they great leader called the shogun, then were the daimyo or the local landlords who took care of the land. These lords had their own numbers of samurai who worked for them. Samurai in small towns could play the role of guards to a castle, advisors, or men in the army also. In larger cities their role changed to more functions such as a police officer or working inside the Shogunate government.                                                                  (haha its Tom Cruise!)

When we first think of samurai, we think of skillful fighters, not men who work almost like security guards for the government! But in Tokugawa Shogunate, there was one group of samurai called the ronin or also known as "masterless" samurai. They would live alone and find a small town to live in where they can teach their skills of fighting and fulfill duties to others who are interested.

Samurai used a variety of weapons such as bows and arrows, spears, guns, and most importantly the sword. Living the life of a samurai was not a simple task. They were true warriors who honored their leader in any circumstance and fought bravely. Their ethnic code is, "the way of the warrior." One example that really exemplifies the respect and discipline samurai have is the action they take when they know they are soon to be captured or killed. When a samurai realizes that his skills cannot overtake the power of the enemies around him, he commits suicide to honor is bravery and to his leader rather than getting captured and showing shame.

http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/TOKJAPAN/SHOGUN.HTM

http://www.anime-pictures.info/samurai-7/samurai-71.jpg

Chinese Nationalism

The nationalism of China was greatly directed at anti-imperialism and were directed towards the riding of foreign influence. On three occasions, Taiping Rebellion, Boxer Rebellion, and the work of Sun Yat-sen, it is apparent that China's nationalist efforts are centered on anti-imperialism, and in all cases they are trying to destroy the Imperial dynasty that is the Qing. In the Taiping rebellion, Hong Xiquan felt it was his duty to spread the word of Christianity(for he thought he was the son of Jesus) and do away with the Qing dynasty. The Qing dynasty was viewed by many Chinese as corrupt and foreign rulers. Under the Qing, China suffered many humiliating defeats, including that in The First Opium War to the United Kingdom. The Qing also didnt allow the spreading of Christianity to occur. Hong Xiquan believed he was the son of Jesus and wanted to spread Christianity, and couldn't under the Qing. The Chinese therefore felt they had to rid themselves of the Qing dynasty because it was bringing disgrace to their nation(China), so they fought to bring down the Qing dynasty who were the last imperial dynasty of China. In the Boxer rebellion, a secret society of "Boxers"(warrior who used their fists) formed who rebelled against the Qing dynasty. The Boxers wanted to keep all western influence out of China in order to keep China a strong nation without an other influences. This was very nationalistic because they wanted to keep their pride in China and didnt want China to be full of other influences. Sun Yet-Sen was a Chinese revolutionary we played large part in the overthrowing of the Qing dynasty. He led a revolution based on the ideas of nationalism, democracy, and equalization. he felt that Chinese government should be in the hands of the Chinese and not in the hands of a foreign imperial house. This was very nationalistic because he wanted China to be ruled and controlled by Chinese and no one else. China must maintain pride and strength, and should rule itself. He also felt that Government should be democratically elected, therefore the Chinese could be proud of their country and those who are leading it. This was also very nationalistic. Yat-sen helped overthrow the Qing dynasty because it was an Imperial dynasty, and it was bringing much disgrace to China. He felt he needed to help get China out of the hands of foreign rule and imperialism, and into democracy and under control of a leader who would help earn China's pride back, and establish China as a powerful and strong nation once again. This was another example of China's nationalism.

Sources:

http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/MODCHINA/SUN.HTM

and

Wikipedia

Nationalism and the Sepoy Rebellion

The Sepoy Rebellion was the First War of Independence in 1857. I was when Indian soldiers rebelled against the British authorities. An event that led directly to the Sepoy Rebellion was when there was a new rifle that came out and it was said to have been covered in a mix of cow and pig fat, both of which are sacred or religiously important to Hindus and Muslims. They found this very offensive and refused to use them. The authorities were not very happy with that decision of theirs and so many were put into jail, publicly humiliated, stripped in public, and sentenced to labor. Later, there was a big jail break which then caused a chain of jail breaks to occur. People heard about them and so many other people escaped. Then they invaded Delhi and replaced the current leader with a previous leader. Afterwards, the people who took part in the escape from the jails were tried and then strapped to and blasted by a cannon. From the document Aftermath of the First war of Independence they said "The Indians called it 'the Devil's Wind.'"

In my other blog I defined nationalism as "Nationalism is a person or groups "loyalty and devotion to a nation" I think that they were doing this out of nationalism because they were fighting back against the people who were selling things that disgraced their culture and religion. They were fighting because they were disrespected and thought of badly and wanted that to stop. The British was rude to the Indians and they called them "barbarians without any culture." (document Factors responsible for unrest amongst Indian masses) I think that their reasons for fighting was for pride in themselves and in their culture and religion. They were fighting for respect because the British disrespected them and the Indians wanted to make that change.

*Just about all Documents in Packet Used (not sure how to cite)