Why are capitalist views the most popular views today?

Capitalistic views seem to be most dominant economic system across the globe but why is that? Capitalism promotes motives towards the people under the economy which in favor boosts that country’s economy. Not only will the government be appreciative and like capitalism but so will the people under the rule. Capitalism is primarily the only economic system that actually works for both its people and the government.

This is posted for Sam Binesh

Could true communism exist today?

Some countries to this day claim they are purely communist but obviously have their flaws. Is it possible today to even have a true communist country? An example of an issue that renders a pure communist country impossible would be the no leaders policy. The country is to be run by the people. The problem with this would be the difficulty in exchanging negotiations and trade agreements with other countries. Another problem with it would be finding a representative for the country in events such as UN Meetings or the Olympics. If there is a representative, would that country then still be considered truly communist?

This is posted for Sam Binesh

What if Mao ruled like Stalin?

Mao was a communist leader that is portrayed as less brutal than Stalin. But what if he was worse? Instead of cow sheds, what if he had his own prison like the gulags Stalin had? If Mao were to have a prison, like the Gulag, how would it have affected today’s China and would the prison still be around? I believe China may be in a more true communist state today if Mao enforced his laws more brutally. The more strict laws would impose more obedient citizens and change how we would look at China today.

This is Sam Binesh's

Cuban Missile Crisis

The Cuban Missile Crisis is an event that affected the US/Soviet relations in a really negative way, almost causing these two great superpowers to go to war. The USSR  had just become Allies with Cuba because of the US deciding to invade Cuba in an attempt to overthrow Fidel Castro. Cuba was so close to the US, so they decided to take advantage of it. The USSR sent their missiles to Cuba and gave them first strike capability which scared the US. The US took quick action on this by asking the USSR to take the missiles out of Cuba immediately because that will lead to war. People were really tense because of this and were thinking that war was inevitable. However, the Soviets and the US didn't really want to go to war so the Soviets and the US tried to reach to an agreement. The Soviets said they would take their missiles out of Cuba if the US promised not to attack Cuba. The US agreed and the USSR took their missiles out of Cuba relieving all tension. This was a significant event, but luckily, the US and the USSR didn't go to war.

Non Communist China

Today we have the UN, but before the start of WWII we had the League of Nations. Now we know that the power struggle in China began just before the start of WWII when Japan invaded China. We also know that the League of Nations did nothing to stop Japan. But if the League of Nations was actually able to stop Japan from invading would China have come out a different country then it is today? Also do you believe that because China is communist the worlds economy is better?

British Inventions during WWII

Britain the one country who fought for the entirety of WWI and WWII ( Unlike the Americans), wasn't seen as a super contributor to WWII. People say the only reason the Allies won was because of the US. Yet Britain did a lot more then what people know. One of the first things invented in Britain at the start of WWII was the radar. Yes the British did in fact invent the radar. They used this technology to their advantage during the Battle of Britain in the 1940's. The Brits also built the first computer. And no the well known U.S. company Apple did not, I say did not invent the first computer( so hah ten points for G.B.). The computer first computer was in fact used to crack the German code. So all in all Britain was a huge contributor during WWII.

What If Hitler Didn't Kill The Jews

What if Hitler did not try and exterminate the Jews. Would the war have ended differently if Hitler instead of trying to kill them had them volunteer for his army? Germany most probably could have won WWII if it wasn't for the mass extermination of Jews. Think about how many strong young men where sent of to death camps just because they where Jews. Do you think Nazi Germany could have won the war if they had recruited the jews instead of trying to kill them?

What is Communism

Throughout all of history we have seen many different aspects of Communism through the form of countries, many people and historians can agree that they where not accurate aspects and views of Communism. each and every communist leader had his own view and expression of communism, whether it was a mix of two other isms or their own, for example Leninism, Stalinism, Maoism and so on. What do you think is the proper definition of Communism and have we seen something like this before? Which communist leader was the closest to bringing his country to a true communist state?

Living in the Soviet Union during the Cold War

During the Cold War, the standard of living in the USSR was abysmal. The government put a large portion of its money into the military, instead of its economy. To quote a wise man, they were: "Choosing guns over butter." There was a consistent lack of consumer goods, and the people would have queue for hours, and spent inordinate amount of money on those consumer goods. The wait time to buy a car was seven years. Inflation was also an issue. A 32 cent bar of soap could cost as much as $1.60. It took years, but in 1990, Gorbachev introduced a market economy. What would you have done if you were in Gorbachev's position?

Beginning of the Cold War

In the Cold War, the US and the USSR had two opposing aims which aided the development of tension in their relationship. Russia, being very communist, wanted to spread their ideals among other (weaker) countries in hopes to have superiority over the US, while the US promoted democracy and encouraged other nations to rise against communism. The US basically wanted to smooth out all of the tensions that rose from WW2 and create stability among Europe.

Russia was power-hungry and wanted to leave everything the way it was after the end of WW2, even though it was surrounded by corrupt nations. Russia's main goal was to rebuild its economy, and produce industrial items, as the Cold War begun. 

Both sides were threatened by one another and their opposing views made it more difficult to fix all of the damage created previously. Do you think if they understood each others perspectives, that the Cold War would have played out differently? Who do you think had the most beneficial view for both of them (who was right)? 

Why communism is not ideal

We were able to see Russia's government slowly collapse through the Cold War, as government leaders ran their country under a flawed system. Government leaders saw Lenin as the original revolutionary and wanted to maintain his ideals, although overall, their country was suffering substantially. Government leaders believed that communism was set in place and resisted change, despite the fact that the people opposed it.
Russia was a country filled with resources accessible to provide the people with, but they were never given what they wanted - they were forced with whatever the government allowed them to have possession of. Russia found itself constantly competing with the United States in production for material goods and weapons, as well. Do you think that Russia would have benefited if it was run under a different system? How would it would it be worse than staying with their original government?

Mao's Success

Throughout Chairman Mao's reign, he was very successful and was portrayed as a strong leader. During the Chinese Civil War, he only asked the army to attack if he knew he could absolutely win. Mao said, "When they attack we retreat. When they are tired, we attack." Mao's success on the battlefield made him, as well as his country, strong, and a force to be reckoned with. A huge percent of China was peasants. He believed that if he could gain support of the peasants, he could gain support of the country. Mao promised to the peasants that if they won the war, he would give them two square meals a day. He also staged an intermission of taking from the rich and giving it to the poor(the peasants), which gained support from the majority of the population. Mao also did a good job of eliminating his enemies. During the Hundred Flowers Campaign, he asked for feedback from anyone who had problems with his policies. Those who opposed him, he arrested. Mao's Red Guards helped destroy any other enemies such as people who threatened his authority or power. He used a system of dehumanizing other authorities by calling them "cow demons" and "snake spirits." The Red Guards destroyed all authority, other than Mao, that he dehumanized. After Stalin's death, many people spoke about the flaws of his reign including the Soviet's new leader, Khrushchev. The criticism towards Stalin, a man whom Mao had praised, scared him as he wanted to be known as a strong leader during life as well as after his death. To avoid being disliked later on, he earned praise from the young people of China. He did this by instructing for his red book to be taught that describes Chairman Mao's successes, which essentially made the young people praise him. Although Chairman Mao also had many failures, most people only saw the good in which he had done, making him a very successful, strong leader.

How the Cuban Missile Crisis Added to Tension

Cuba's government, lead by Fidel Castro, released thousands of exiles into the United States, causing a massive invasion at Bay of Pigs. Tension between the United States and Cuba was at its peak, forcing the United States to impede the invasion by mass destruction of Cuban ships and weaponry. Although the US and Cuba had their disputes, the Soviet Union saw Cuba as a reasonable ally to begin the development of missile sites.
The alliance formed by the Soviet Union and Cuba created more exasperation between the US and Soviet relationship. It threatened the United States in a different way than before because it could have given Russia an advantage during a possible nuclear war.
Ultimately, since President Kennedy placed a quarantine on the construction of missiles and offensive weapons, Russia didn't have access to an "advantage," but the tension between the US and Soviet Union was still present.

America's Backyard

Despite Guatemala not being apart of the United States of America, they still like to keep a close watch on them. Politicians these days and in the 60's were mainly funded by big corporations to allow them to take what they want. One of the biggest companies, the Unites Fruit Company owned a lot of land in Guatemala. Well, more than three-hundred thousand acres of land, ports, railroads and even the Telegraph/Telephone company. When President Arbenz takes office, a democratically elected president, the USA decides it needs to intervene. President Arbenz wanted to nationalize the land of Guatemala and give it to the people. This would cause USA companies to lose a lot of money and possibly run out of business.  The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) are deployed into Guatemala to overthrow the leadership. Do you believe what the CIA did was justified?

Why was Germany so successful from 1939-1942?

From 1939-1942, Germany was extremely successful on the battlefield. In 3 years, they reclaimed the Rhineland and also took Poland, Denmark, Norway, and large portions of Russia. The German army was so successful because of Blitzkrieg and Hitler’s nationalism. Blitzkrieg was a very successful battle tactic used by Germany during World War II. Blitzkrieg means "lightening war," which is exactly what Hitler wanted to have as it would use less resources and less men would die, keeping Hitler's army strong. Blitzkrieg would start with the Luftwaffe which would bomb a point on the enemy line. The German tanks would then break through the enemy lines. The tanks and infantry caused distracting chaos behind the initial enemy line and would then turn back to encircle, or surround, the enemy. This battle tactic lead to German success because it took advantage of the weaponry, tanks, bombers, and artillery, effectively. Hitler's nationalism to his country allowed Germany to be widely successful. When Hitler came to power, people were excited for change. Hitler quickly improved economy and re-militarized, giving many people jobs. He also united the country by eliminating all political parties other than the Nazi party. People quickly put trust into him as he had done so much to improve Germany. The uniting and rebuilding of the economy gave Hitler the support of the entire country which enabled Hitler the countries permission to go to war. Hitler's Germany, in 1942, only began declining because his ingenious battle techniques were used against him.

Outsourcing

As many countries begin to lose money to bigger corporations such as Walmart or Apple, how will the US economy and others change to compete? One word comes into mind for most and that would be outsourcing. The definition of outsourcing means to obtain (goods or a service) from an outside or foreign supplier, especially in place of an internal source. What this means is to move your company where your paying at least $9.25 an hour to producing your item in China where your paying only a few cent per hour. Despite still needing to ship the items back to America companies are still making an increased profit margin allowing companies to keep their businesses alive and in the black. Even if it means moving only one branch, it can be enough to keep a business open. Outsourcing is great for the country that are having many more jobs opening for their people but can be horrible for the country losing said jobs. What do you think? Do you think outsourcing can actually help maintain more jobs for the ones that are losing them? EX. US loses jobs to China due to cheap labor, can this help maintain jobs in US?

After Mao

On September 9, 1976, Mao Zedong passes away leaving China in a poor state. Next up to bat would be a politician named Deng Xiaoping. Unlike Mao's view on communism, Xiaoping saw things much differently as he visits the United States of America early on in his term. This is very significant as this is something Mao would never do as USA believes firmly in Capitalism. Already people can expect to see a lot of change with this new leader. To allow for the China economy to recover from all of Mao's mistakes that he never admit to, Xiaoping brings the country towards a market economy for the first time. This is not something the normal communist would do as everything should be controlled by the government. He also reformed many other things such as agriculture and industries. By giving the peasants lands under contracts, production was great and overall it was a great idea. Xiaoping encouraged small businesses and yet again another thing communist would never allow. All of these reforms were very successful in helping the economy grow and fix all that Mao had done.

What allows authoritarian and totalitarian governments to come to power?

Although not an ideal government, during the pre-World War II period, authoritarian and totalitarian governments came to power. What exactly allows this type of regime to take power? When individual countries are struggling with economy, famine, or other things, they blame the government. When the people feel as if their government is failing, they find ways to elect a new government either through revolution, such as the Russian Revolution, or other ways. Many of the leaders of these totalitarian and authoritarian governments come to power by promising it’s people a better life. For example, Benito Mussolini of Italy promised to revise the economy. Hitler of Germany promised to create new jobs. When new leaders come to power, they begin their reign by brainwashing/convincing the people that they are doing things to better the country. For example, when Hitler came to reign, his first acts were to reoccupied the Rhineland and created a propaganda. During the pre-World War II period, many countries converted to forms of authoritarian government as they felt strong leaders would make a better life for them.

Was the Cold War inevitable?

Was the Cold War inevitable? During WWII, the US and USSR allied up to take down Germany. But after the end of WWII, their alliance just was not strong enough to survive, ultimately resulting in the Cold War. Even while they were allies, they generally distrusted one another and didn't like each other. The USSR always wanted the US to put forth more effort and push forward faster and the US had always hated communism. Before WWII, the world was very multipolar, but after WWII, the US and USSR seemed to not take much damage and the world was more bipolar, putting these two nations at the top of the hierarchy, putting them both in a situation where they felt threatened by the other. Also, Stalin was very communist. He believed communism was great and wanted to spread it to weak countries. He was very powerful and his views were so different than the US's so they had to do something. The US saw this as a threat and started initiating containment. Because of these reasons I believe the Cold War had to happen sooner or later, but I can't help but wonder if there was anything they could have done differently to prevent this war from ever taking place. Do you think there is anything the US and USSR did wrong that could have prevented the Cold War entirely? Or do you think there are certain details that could have ended the Cold War much sooner than it did?

Why the USSR collapsed.

When Mikhail Gorbachcev was elected the leader of the Communist Party in March 1985 it marked the true beginning of the end of Soviet Union. Gorbachev was set out to help the crashing economy and to widen his hated regimes popularity. Mikhail’s answer to these problems was his two-tiered policy of reform. Part of this reform was initiating a policy of glasnost or freedom of speech.  Gorbachev did not realize was that giving people complete freedom of expression that he was also unleashing emotions and political feelings that had been held in for decades. The soviet people used their freedom of speech to criticize the failing government and nationalistic rebellions began in spring up across east Europe.  These rebellions spread like wildfire burning up in the Soviet Union’s satellite states. These states includes East Germany, Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and beyond. They all demanded democratic reform. In 1989 the East German regime fell to a revolution that brought down the Berlin Wall. The Berlin Wall was constructed in 1961 to separate East Germany (communism) from West Germany (capitalism)and reigned over as the symbol for communism. Despite the USSR politically falling it also faced many economic issues that led to their downfall. The economy of the USSR was a command economy. This means that the government has total control of all production and chose what was to be produced and how much was to be made. Eventually overtime the command economy imploded and caused the USSR to collapse. The cold war was also to blame for making the economy worse. The cold war was the tense relationship between the Soviet Union and the United States. One of the main problems of the economy which was caused by the Cold War was that the USSR would focus on heavy industry over consumer goods which left people waiting on long lines and traveling up to 100 miles just to get meat. Together these flaws ended the economy

Why Gorbachev was so ideal in the end of the Cold War

I believe Gorbachev helped end the Cold War. One way he did this was by easing the tensions between the US and USSR. Before Gorbachev, none of the Soviet leaders and US presidents ever got along, and when they did, it was for a very brief moment in time. But once Gorbachev got elected, he actually communicated with the US presidents to ease tension. This was ideal because it got them talking which is so important in finding an agreement. Gorbachev was also open to changing the idea of communism. When Stalin was leader, he had very strict rules on what communism was, and it was very ineffective once he died. Gorbachev knew that communism in the USSR was not working and so he created economic reforms included glasnost and perestroika. Glasnost was an idea of openness that allowed the Soviet people to finally speak their minds, while Perestroika was an idea of economic restructuring. Both of these led to a strong USSR and made the people happier. Do you think the outcome of the Cold War would be the same without the election of Gorbachev? And do you think he made the USSR better?

Life During the Cold War

Considering the Cold War was such a recent event in history, I am always interested in peoples first hand experiences because listening to someone talk about their lives is more relatable than reading about it. My dad had lived through a vast majority of the Cold War. I was interested on how it affected him as a child growing up in Australia, when the Cold War was mainly between the US and USSR. After hearing him explain, life in Australia seemed very similar to the ones in the US. He explained to me that before he was born, there was a fear of communism overtaking Australia which led to the SEATO and ANZUS treaty because they feared the communist party. There was later an attempt to ban the communist party from Australia. I found it interesting that both the US and Australia were trying to keep communism out and contain it. There was also the Petrov Affair which was an incident between Australia and the USSR. It was a spy incident that made the USSR very mad so they closed their embassy in Australia for 5 years. I feel like this is very similar to the Berlin Air Blockade where the USSR cut off west berlin from supplies because they were upset with the Americans. Also, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, he was very young but has memories of being taught to hide under his desks or tables in case of an attack. I remember from a documentary we watched in class, the US was taught the same things even though they knew it wouldn't do much. He later moved to the US and once the wall fell, he said there was a great sense of relief to finally have this thing come to an end. I never really realized how other countries were affected by the Cold War because in class we only learned about the relationships between the USSR and the US. But I find it very interesting that the USSR also had issues with their relationships with Australia and other countries as well and decided to share.

The Massacre of Tiananmen Square

The protests in Tiananmen Square that led to the Massacre of Tiananmen Square on July 4, 1989 were protests of students who felt oppressed by the government and their elders, they felt that they had all their decisions made for them and had no control over their lives. At first the protests were relatively under control as the government allowed them to happen believing that it would help relieve tension among the people. But the protests quickly escalated with the arrival of Gorbachev and the camera crews from every major countries. The Chinese government tried to wait until Gorbachev left to crack down on the protesters, but could not stall for time as on July 4, 1989 the Chinese Republic Army was given orders to clear out Tiananmen Square, they soldiers then followed the orders and shot at the public without discrimination, killing thousands. While no official numbers have been released, many people estimate that the total death and injury toll is to be in the thousands. Many injured people were dragged to hospitals on bikes and on bike carts as there were not enough ambulances to carry all the injured along with the fact that most ambulances were blocked by the army. A popular figure and image of the Tiananmen Square massacre was a man known as "The Tank Man" who stood of incoming tanks and didn't allow them to pass, symbolizing the peoples revolt against the government and its control.

Do you think the massacre of Tiananmen Square was justified by the government?

Who is Mao Zedong?

Mao Zedong (commonly referred to as Chairman Mao) was a communist, and a political and military leader in China who led the Chinese people to a Communist revolution after the Japanese invasion during WW2. He was a great public speaker and persuaded many of his followers to come with him way out west in China so he and his followers could not be touched by the Nationalists nor the invading Japanese. After the war was over he and his followers returned to eastern China where they staged a revolution and overthrew the current Nationalist party who soon fled to Thailand where they still remain. Mao was a big fan of Stalin and his ideology and was gravely disappointing when Stalin died. After Stalin died, the relationships between the USSR and Communist China went south, the USSR and its leaders didn't like Mao and offered no support to China whether China wanted it or not. Mao had many reforms that were in fact quite useless because the country was not ready for them or they didn't do anything useful, for example, Mao wanted China to be the world leader in the production of steel, yet most people didn't even know how to make a proper furnace, much less make steel. Another example is the killing of the sparrows, Mao ordered this as a result of the crop failure which was due to his idea of China becoming the worlds leader in steel production. While the people made poor quality steel, the crops died, Mao blamed the crop failure on the sparrows and ordered the people to kill them, this caused even more problems because after the sparrows died, other animals that the sparrows ate came and ate even more crops came than the sparrows. After all of this Mao became really worried that after he died he will receive the criticism that Stalin did after he died, so Mao ordered a revolution that would eliminate all powerful political leaders and educators that would criticize him or be a threat, thus leaving only the generation that viewed him as a hero and a god. This was to a certain degree was successful but still did more harm then good, even to Mao, as for about 10 years there was wide spread chaos and destruction that further ruined the country. Mao died at 82 and still to a certain degree received criticism for what he did indirectly through Deng Xia Ping who undid nearly everything that Mao did along with condemning 4 of Mao's greatest followers to death through a public trial that was aired on television and printed in all newspapers and magazines. The trial was a public statement that what had happened in Mao's time, along with every change that it made, had to go, China needed a change in its government and politics.

Do you think that what Mao did was right, or was he being selfish and was power hungry?

China Today

Much of what China is today can be attributed to Deng Xiao Ping, who gave many Chinese to have economic freedom and establish a proper economy. If you look at what happened after Deng Xiao Ping gave the people economic freedom, you will see that many people started moving to the cities where they were offered jobs by the incoming capitalistic businesses who were given access to China by Deng's economic reforms. Many people who work in the factories are offered barely anything (up to 50-70 cents an hour) but they still end up making more money than they did as farmers, or whatever they were before. Since there is so much cheap labor in China, it is easy for businesses to make money despite the fact that they have to ship their products around the world. If you look at companies like Walmart, or Apple, you will see that for the price that it takes them to produce 10,000 products in the US, they can produce 1,000,000 products in China yet still sell the products for the same price, the reason for that is: the living conditions in China are lower, people live off of less money so you can pay them less and still expect them to produce the same quality goods in larger amounts. I personally believe that while all of this modernization and economic growth is good, but the people who are working in the factories should be put in better conditions, while they are receiving money that is bettering their lives, they are still living quite close to poverty because they are getting so little pay, whether it is better or not of what they got previously. The workers should get better pay, if not they should at least be put in better living conditions because they are living in such close quarters that if one person gets sick, then that sickness could spread and infect roughly another 10-500 people and could possibly start an epidemic.

Do you think that what is happening in China is good, or that there is some sort of flaw in the system which enable companies and the government to cheat their way into things?

Classroom Simulation Analysis

On March 12, our class did partook in an activity simulating countries with nuclear capabilities. Everyone in the class was divided into different groups, and each group and one component of a nuclear bomb. However, some people were designated as spies. The role of these spies was to sabotage the group by secretly trading their component to another group. I was designated as a spy, and was immediately ousted by my group. As a result, I was moved to a different group. The simulation did not go as I expected it to. I thought that no one would get a nuclear weapon because people would be to scared. In reality, almost every group got a nuclear weapon (except for one, which chose to give up their component). In the end, the two larger groups declared war on each other. I think it's interesting that no one suggested diplomacy. It seemed as though the only route was to acquire a bomb.

After Mao

On Friday in class we watched the video segment “After Mao” and learnt that a trial was held and that Deng Xiao Ping came into power. After Mao’s death at the age 82, there was power struggle over who should be the successor of Mao. Even though Hua Guofeng was Mao's designated successor the Gang of Four (or the four Chinese Communist Party officials) took this as an opportunity to each take control. Due to the aggression of the Gang of Four, Hua and Ye came up with a secret plan to arrest them. After their scheme became a success, the Four was arrested. During this time, while the Gang of Four’s power was declining, Deng Xiao Ping became more influential and came into power. A famous line that Deng said was “it didn't matter if the cat is black or white, as long as it catches the mice, it is a good cat.” He wanted to imply that whether it was communism or capitalism, as long as it works, it’s good.  Also, during this time the Party ended the Cultural Revolution and the Four Modernization began. After a few years, the trial officially began on November 20, 1980. Deng proposed that the trial should be an open trial and be televised nationwide . This was symbolic of getting rid of communism and it was Deng’s way of educating the public of the wrongness of the Cultural Revolution and to show that a new age has arrived. During the trial, they were accused of their crimes during the Cultural Revolution and while some admitted to it, some declined. Jiang Qing in particular said "I was Chairman Mao's dog. I bit whomever he asked me to bite." Jiang Qing and another were sentenced for life but Jiang eventually committed suicide. Some others were sentenced.

What do you think of the trial and Deng's rise in power?

Classroom simulation connection/analysis

The simulation that we did in class on March 12th was related to the nuclear bombs race in the Cold War. We had to attempt to trade with other countries to gather all the materials we needed to make our nuclear weapon. In reality we were attempting to assemble a flashlight. Despite the fact that we were only racing to assemble a flashlight, other students in my class took racing serious, myself included. Many group made promises with others to make alliances with them after the nuclear weapons were assembled, however they did this only to get what they needed. My group was a prime example of a "democratic country" wanting only what was in its best interest. First off my group only traded one battery with other groups, which was clearly in our best interest to conserve goods to have an advantage, because each group needed two batteries to fully assemble their bomb. The second example was that my group made alliances with other groups to ensure that we got all the goods needed, but we had no unified agreement inside our group to honor those alliances. Lastly, when one dictatorship offered us all of their supplies to make a almost completed bomb, we jumped at the chance because we were only concerned with the well being of our country. The main thing that I would like to be taken away from this is the fact that countries are automatically selfish, and truly only primarily concerned with themselves. In the Cold War we see this many times, to many levels of intensity. When the United States first tested and used an atomic bomb the Russians were quick to follow. A reason behind this would be the fact that Russia had spies in the Manhattan Project. However, when the Russians first tested their nuclear weapon the US was shocked. We then followed with attempting to make a hydrogen bomb. The reason behind all of this was that the countries were trying to race each other, and therefore out do one another. Once this race started, and competition became more aggressive. It is somewhat shocking how Russia and the US were Allies and then turned on each other. It had seemed that the leaders of the US, Russia, and Great Britain were getting along, it almost seemed as though they were friends when FDR nicknamed Stalin "Uncle Joe". However this dynamic flipped quite quickly when these strong powers no longer were fighting the common enemy. This shows how war unites those who in different situations would not get along. These two countries were both strong powers and as soon as they had no real reason to consistently agree against the common enemy, they started disagreeing. If one country has a weapon that makes them strong (US with the atomic bomb) other countries who are strong will want this weapon to surpass them in power. All of these things happened in the Cold War, and were clearly demonstrated in our in class simulation as we observed groups turning on one another to do what was the best for them.

WW2 power struggle

Through learning about World War 2 I had many ideas about what could have made Hitlers quest for world domination better and more successful. I am not supporting Nazis or anything they did, however there are some very obvious mistakes that Hitler made that I think could have been handled differently.
Hitler first went against rulers that had  been created after World War 1 and did nothing to hide what he was doing. You would think that he would attempt to hide the bad things he was doing in hope that he would not be caught, but he had no problem with other countries knowing. This first problem caused other countries to not trust Germany once again, and this lead to the second strategic failure.
If Hitler would have been agreeable and attempted to go under the radar while building up his army, he might have been able to make real allies. If Hitler would have had allies this would have given him the ability to spread war over Europe and weaken his opponents while he prepared his army further. Through doing this Hitler would have been able to then sneak his forces in to steal the land his allies had taken for him in a wonderfully executed and secret attack. The reason I think these strategies would have helped Hitler win is because they would have solved the problems he actually faced in the war.
Hitler really had no willing allies at any point in the war because he had gone against the rules and just invaded Poland for no apparent reason. As he continued to spread across Europe he had no one else helping him except for either those who surrendered for the good of their country, or Russia for the time they stayed allies with Hitler. Realizing the fact that really no one was helping him substantially, this then makes the fact that he decided to turn on his ally and then invade their huge country seem quite stupid. Personally I think that if Hitler had remained allied with various countries and taken over Europe all together, he could have spread forces out, and then surprised his allies by pulling a massive surprise attack. I would have to say that if Hitler succeeded as much as he did in World War 2 that he could do that again, but clearly modified.
Overall Hitler made some detrimental mistakes that cost him the war, and ended his quest of domination.

Space Race

While learning about the space race I became increasingly interested and curious as to why it became such a big deal. There are obvious reasons, such as the fact we would be making huge technological advances. Despite the huge leap in progress, I want to know why the space race was amplified by the leaders in the Cold War.
It all starts with the fact that Russia and the US were in a power hungry fight to be considered the top country. Fight is not the best word for this because no country actually ever did anything. Russia and the US through this war basically just flexed their muscles at each other, but never threw a punch. Once the US created a atomic bomb, and kept that from Russia despite their alliance, jealousy started. Russia thought they had the right to know about this because of the alliance, however Stalin stayed calm and collected because his spies had been informing him. Once the US had finally tested and used this nuclear weapon, soon after Russia tested their first nuclear weapon. This was the first round of flexing their every growing muscles. Then the United States decided they would build up their muscles more by creating a hydrogen bomb. Once they tested the bomb, and it was hugely successful, the United States flexed their muscles once again almost gloating at Russia. Things cooled down slightly for a while, however when FDR made a comment about having better color TV than Russia, it was taken as another challenge. Russia then abruptly sent Sputnik, the first man made object sent into space, out into the sky shocking everyone. Sputnik never really did anything, just simply reminded the United States that they had gotten an object into space before us through sending a beep through our radios. This is where Russia flexed their muscle once more. This further provoked the United States to continue on with this childish fight.
The fact that this went on for so long shows us something very valuable. The two countries were in a power struggle and did not trust the other enough to simply back down and seem week. Both countries had the idea in their head that the other was going to attack them at any point in time, but this clearly was a huge misunderstanding. Russia wanted to build up their country, and the US just wanted to avoid all wars over seas. I find it ridiculous that countries will act like this just to intimidate the enemy or to become even more strong that they already are. This topic once again proves the point that in any type of war each country is only in it to do the best for themselves, and if it comes down to choosing between winning and losing at the cost of an ally, I would believe that they would only think of themselves. Honestly, war just makes people and their government one crazy mess.

Mao Zedong Rise to power

Mao Zedong can be seen as the father of communism in China. However his rise to power was much different than any others. After fleeing into Western China, traveling about 10,000 miles and losing 90% of his troops that followed him; Mao waited for his time to strike. Over time while China nationalists were fighting invaders from Japan. his communist party was becoming stronger and the nationalist become weaker. Mao struck after the brief war and won. Mao followed in Stalin's footsteps when it came to running a nation. He created landforms which took away land from the rich and distributed it equally among the poor. Landlords would be humiliated and put on a fixed trial which would lead them execution. Strict communism was happening just like in Russia. How did Mao really gain power and control over a country that was for nationalism? The answer is Poverty. Poverty was all throughout China. 90% of the Chinese population was poor. Mao came to them with something they had never been offered before, or had. Land. Mao knew that to win he had to win over the power of the people. In his succession to do this, Mao also created loyalty from the people because of his land reforms. Mao was now secure in power, communism infected another country.