The Russian Revolution

The Russian Revolution of 1917 is also called the Bolshevik Revolution or the October Revolution. In 1917 there were actually two revolutions in Russia. One was the February Revolution in which the Tsar abdicated his throne and the Provisional Government took power. The other was the October Revolution in which the Provisional Government was overthrown by the Bolsheviks. Russian socialists and their relationship to the war played a key role in setting the stage for revolution in Russia. Lenin, the leader of the radical Bolsheviks, was an outlaw and actually lived in Galicia and Switzerland at the beginning of World War I. He carried on a lively debate with the more moderate wing of the Russian Social Democrats called Mensheviks. The key issue was the relationship of revolution to war. Unlike the other socialist, Lenin actually was in favor of war at this time, because he thought it would weaken capitalism and prepare the ground for revolution. But in two key votes on this issue within the party he lost. Lenin promised "peace, land and bread". He gave none of them to the peasants as the text of this decree shows. He abolished the private property, created the Cheka to guarantee the expropriations the Communist Government did. Death by starvation was common in the Soviet Union. The estimates are between 3 and 10 million deaths in 1922. Stalin also had his time to apply what he had learned from Lenin and what a long time he had. The First Duma took place in May. Even though indirect voting favoured the wealthier and politically conservative classes , the majority of the people elected to sit in the First Duma was anti-government. The First Duma consisted of the members of the following groups: The Constitutional Democrats. The Octobrists, the national groups, the labour group, the peasant members, a few Social Democrats, The largest party was the Cadets. These political groups and parties demanded ministerial responsibility and full control of all affairs of the state, including taxation. In other words, they wanted a constitutional monarchy. The Czar promptly dissolved the Duma.The heart of the Russian Revolution was destroyed--which made it possible for a class of bureaucrats, led by Joseph Stalin, to scramble to power on the ruins of the workers' state and re-impose a hierarchical society with much in common with Western-style capitalism.

Causes of WWI

Alliance Systems: was started by Bismarck, the German Chancellor from 1871 to 1890. After the Franco-Prussian War, Bismarck held that Germany was a "satiated state" which should give up ideas of further conquest. Thus Bismarck organized a system of alliances designed to maintain Germany's hegemony on the European continent. France was determined to challenge the hegemony of Germany because France had been defeated by Germany in 1871 and had been forced to cede two provinces (Alsace-Lorraine) to Germany. Bismarck tried to befriend Austria, Russia, Italy and Britain in order to isolate France.
Militarism:All the countries within the hostile camps were building large armies and navies during the pre-war years. As a by-product, a class of professional and powerful military officers developed and tended to dominate the civil authorities. In addition, before the conflict happened, the military of each country had drawn up complete plans for mobilization. These plans only awaited the go-ahead signal. The existence of secret battle plans stimulated espionage, which in turn aroused greater hatred and fear.
Franz Ferdinand: eldest son of Carl Ludwig, the brother of Emperor Franz Josef, was born in 1863. Educated by private tutors, he joined the Austro-Hungarian army in 1883. His military career included service with an infantry regiment in Prague and with the hussars in Hungary. While in the army Ferdinand received several promotions, captain, major colonel, and general.Later Franz Ferdinand is shot to death along with his wife by a Serbian nationalist in Sarajevo, Bosnia, on this day in 1914.

The Opium wars

Opium substance derived by collecting and drying the milky juice in the unripe seed pods of the opium Poppy, papaver somniferium. Opium varies in color from yellow to dark brown and has a characteristic odor and a bitter taste. With nearly 2 million pounds of opium being sold in China each year, opium weakened a large amount of the Chinese population. In the 19Th century, 10 percent of the Chinese population was smoking opium.
This also affected China economically, due to the large amount of resources, especially silver, flowing out of the country to pay for the opium. When the Chinese government first discovered opium smoking in the country in 1729, government promoted policies to prohibit the sale of opium for smoking, and shut down and banned opium-smoking houses. At the time, it became a very serious offense to sell opium for smoking purposes. It was classified in the same category as robbery and murder. The punishment was either banishment or execution.
Although the harsh punishments helped rid cities of local dealers and treat drug addicts, they did not stop British merchants from bringing in more opium to China. Because many Chinese government officials were corrupt and accepted bribes from British officials, they also became a part of the illegal opium trade. When the Chinese government discovered the British smuggling opium into China to sell, it was alarmed.
That was when Emperor Daoguang appointed Lin Tse-Hsua, an imperial commissioner, to lead an anti-opium campaign.Lin, in 1839, finally went to Canton, which was then the main port for foreign trade. There, he found a British warehouse full of opium. He confiscated its content and publicly destroyed more than 20,000 chests of the opium seized from British merchants by mixing them with salt and lemon before throwing them into the ocean.
The Opium Wars resulted in the victimization of China by foreign powers for decades to follow. It was not until 1949 and the victory of Mao Zedong and communism that the unequal treaties signed between the Chinese government and the foreign powers were abolished. It was also after 1949 that China took back all the ports, except for Hong Kong. Hong Kong remained a British territory until 1997.

Mountains of the moon

The two Europeans, Richard Burton and John Speke had many expectations and hardships that faced in the Continent of Africa. They started out in Somalia and went west to the middle of Africa that's where they met their most fears. But as they sailed to Africa, they saw Africans working to bring the goods of Africa to sail it to Europe. As they traveled they camped in the desert to rest for the night. As they were sleeping they were ambushed by a tribe with spears and shields. Richard and John fought against them but there were to many. So they had to escape, luckily Richard Burton escaped but with a spear through his mouth. John was captured and tied up on the sand floor. John escaped the next mourning but before he escaped, the tribe stabbed his legs and arms for great amount of pain.
Richard and John found each other but went back to Europe to fix Richards mouth. They finally came back for another trip and left to the middle of Africa. Richards mouth was fine except for some missing tooth's. The two bumped into a big tribe that wanted him to come to the King for an invite. They had to bring gifts for the king (which they had to or they would get killed) as they approached him dressed as proper as they can, holding the England flag. The king saw the gifts but did not know how to use them. Richard showed him the small pistol and how it works.
The tribe got really scared, because they did not know what was the weapon. The king loved him and accepted him as a visitor. They had a party and had a lot of fun. John did not participate in the party but traveled a little more to see if they have found the Lake Victoria ( they named the lake, lake victoria, because their Queen was named Victoria and they wanted to name the lake after her). He did but Richard did not want to leave. He wanted to go back home because the monsus would come (The rainy season).
John went hunting for animals and he put the gun on the side and suicide himself. He died in 1890 during the time Richard was doing his speach. He was telling his adventures in the National Geographic Confrence. But he didnt finish when he herd his beloved friend died from that disaster.

Karl Marx and communism

He was born a Jew, but his father converted the family to Christianity in order to get a job. Marx did not believe in god and thought workers were controlled by religion. He said, religion is the opiate of the people. Opium is a drug. Marx's ideas were known as Communism, a word formed for common. Communism is the control of goods and services (commodities) through a government that produces only to serve the people. It is total equality. Communism is abolition of private property, meaning that resources (minerals, coal, oil, etc.) and production (factories, plants, refineries, etc.) are owned in common by the people. Workers would share wealth in a communist society. Marx wrote that wealth should be distributed from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs.Conditions in European factories were very harsh and unsafe. Marx argued that workers, rather than landlords, should control factories and farms. He urged the "workers of the world to unite" in a worldwide revolution. Marx hated the idea of Capitalism. He hated how the rich became richer and the poor became poorer. Marx hated the Industrial Revolution, he wanted Communism to be world wide, because this way not only the people of England would have what he thought were equal rights, but everyone else world wide would be able to enjoy what he thought was the best way of life. Marx saw the low class, working people or the factory workers as the good guys. This was because they were for his idea of communism and he viewed them as the "victims" of capitalism. viewed the factory owners and the people of high power as the "bad guys", because of all the power they had and because they were capitalist. Marx died in 1883, but his ideas formed the basis of the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917. Mongolia became the second communist nation in 1921 and by the end of World War II, many governments were overthrown by communists.

Karl Marx and the Industrial Revolution

Karl Marx was best known as a 19Th century revolutionary. His ideas were very influential and other countries through the years practiced them, however not in the same pure form Marx invented.The philosopher, social scientist, historian and revolutionary, Karl Marx, is without a doubt the most influential socialist thinker to emerge in the 19Th century. Although he was largely ignored by scholars in his own lifetime, his social, economic and political ideas gained rapid acceptance in the socialist movement after his death in 1883. Until quite recently almost half the population of the world lived under regimes that claim to be Marxist. This very success, however, has meant that the original ideas of Marx have often been modified and his meanings adapted to a great variety of political circumstances. In addition, the fact that Marx delayed publication of many of his writings meant that is been only recently that scholars had the opportunity to appreciate Marx's intellectual stature. Karl Marx felt that the Industrial Revolution allowed the rich to get richer and the poor to get poorer.The industrial revolution inspired Marx to invent communism because he thought the working class was doomed to forever work for low wages.He believed that since there were more workers than owners, the workers would eventually get fed up, start a revolution and take over.

Nationalism and the Creation of Italy

Being a nationalistic is just being proud of your country. But there are holidays that expresses your nationalism. For example: In America there is Easter, July 4, ETC. There are maps that represents the own country. Every information about the country is on the map. By 1871, Europe was remapped with the rise of two newly united nations - the Kingdom of Italy and the German Empire. The unification movements of both countries took place at roughly the same time in the mid-19Th century and were motivated by the same historical trends - that of liberalism and nationalism. The following discussion presents a comparison of the two unification's. Before the French Revolution and Napoleon Bonaparte, both Italy and Germany shared some similar features. Italy was divided into a number of separate states which were ruled by despotic kings. Yet the Italians shared a common language and a common history - the Roman Empire. Many still had memories of the ancient unity and glory.Italy has been the home of many European Culture, such as the and the Romans, and later was the birthplace of the Universitys and of the movement of the Renaissance, that began in Tuscany and spread all over Europe. Italy's capital Rome was for centuries the center of Western Civilization ; it also spawned the Boraque movement and seats the Catholic Church . Italy possessed a colonial empire from the mid-nineteenth century to the mid-twentieth century.