Fidel Castro Biography

The link to the biography: https://docs.google.com/a/bps121.org/document/d/1Xk8lkXy-S_mJNBfcQbtUdNubd5j1hOVRMltrzY8Ybj4/edit

Fidel Castro Explain Everything

The link to the youtube video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwR1A-Y2Z-o

World War II: resolved and unresolved

Yes, the conclusion of war did address the causes of the war

Causes:
-Japan left the League of Nations and invaded China
-Mussolini leads Italy to invade Ethiopia
-Hitler leaves League of Nations after Germany recieves harsh terms with Treaty of Versailles

Resolved or not?
Resolved :
Japanese emperor Hirohito surrendered after the atomic bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and after Russia declared war on Japan. Therefore, the Japanese expansion becomes halted and Japan becomes subject to the terms of the allies.

Germany's surrender after British and US forces bombed German cities and Hitler's suicide brings an end to Hitler's regime. The Allies divide up Germany into east and west Germany and take possessions. However, the split of the Soviet Union in the east and other allies in the west brings rise to problems.

Unresolved:
Mussolini's invasion of Ethiopia is not discussed later in the chapter and the book leaves you hanging on what happened. The brutal overkill of Ethiopians brought anger to non-revisionist states, but apparently they did nothing about it.

The division of Germany into east and west creates the "iron curtain", an ideological separation between communist Soviet Union in the east and the other European powers in the west. This could lead to future conflicts between the two sides.

The two new leading powers of the world, the United States and the Soviet Union both develop seperate ideologies. The United States turns to democracy while the Soviet Union turns to communism. This separation of ideas and the competitive nature that would develop from being the leading powers would eventually lead to the division of the former allies and to the start of the Cold War.

World War I before and after pics

World War I: change and continuity

A change in the world between pre-World War I and post-World War 1 is that Europe developed new boundaries and thus, new countries. A continuity between these two time periods is that Africa remained predominantly British colonies.

Change:
- Austria-Hungary empire before; Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Yugoslavia after
- Romania's boundary expands northern border after WWI into previous Austria-Hungary region
- Russia's western border turns into Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Finland and Poland

Continuity:
- colony of Sudan before and after World War I belongs to Britain
- colony of Egypt stays with Britain before and after war

Islamic and East Asian empires

The Islamic empires are similar to Tokugawa Japan and Ming/Qing China in that both discouraged innovation. They were both similar in these aspects, because both lands had rulers who feared that innovation would lead to change and destablization of the empire. In China and Japan, this fear was more politically oriented than the Islamic empires, who feared more about the weakening of Islam, which was the base of the empires they founded. They were different in that the Columbian exchange affected the Islamic empires much less than they did the Japanese and Chinese empires. This was because the Islamic empires were already capable of cultivating all their land, while the Chinese and the Japanese were only able to cultivate a very little portion of their land, as little as 11% before the arrival of American food crops. The American food crops would give the Chinese and the Japanese much more land to cultivate, while it really would not make that much of a diffence in the Islamic empires, where all the land was already cultivatable, so China and Japan would see a much more steady increase in population.

Why different empires are placed together

The Ottomans, the Safavids, and the Mughals are placed together, because of their location. The three empires were located geographically near each other, so putting them together can show the various interactions that the three empires have with each other, which would be ineffective if they were placed into three separate chapters. This is a shift in the text organization, because usually different empires are given their own chapters, or at least one of the three or four main sections in a chapter. For the future, this indicates that chapters will try to cramp more information together, because as we enter the modern world, it will get increasingly complex and there will be much more detail to cover in each chapter.

Fabian Fucan's rejection of Christianity

Fabian Fucan attacks Christianity for religious, cultural, historical, political, and social reasons. He rejected Christianity for the religious reason that it is exclusive. He becomes angry that Christian missionaries are trying to destroy the Law of Buddha and the Ways of the Gods. This also translates into his political reason to reject Christianity. He feared that by removing the native deities and their ways, the Christians would also destroy the strength of the Japanese emperors, who depended on the divine authority that they inherited from the native gods in order to rule. He rejects Christianity for the cultural reasons that it led to the ignorance of the traditional Confucianism and Buddhism, which he regrets leaving, and that Christians tried to replace them with their own culture. He rejected Christianity for the historical reason that over the course of history, Christian Europeans have taken over the countries of Luzon and Nova Hispania, and that they will do the same in China if they stay there longer. He rejects Christianity for the social reason that it is not socially stable. He is repulsed by how Christians are not afraid of punishment, and will promote their faith, even while risking their own lives. This fearlessness would endanger the social system, since the emperors use punishments as motivation for people to behave well.

Why Qianlong is being such a little...

The point of view of Qianlong is condescending. The reason for this point of view is because he was taught to believe that he is the "son of heaven". This leads him to believe that he is the most supreme being on the earth, so he feels that he does not have to be nice to any other monarch and that he does not need to be dependent on anyone else to run his empire.

Qing expansion map

Is history valuable?

History is not valuable, because it encourages us to imitate the ways of the past in our modern lives. This is a bad thing, because we as humans have continually developed as time has gone by. If we try to imitate the past, we will be taking a step back from progression. An example of this is Lance's prediction on the Ming and Qing dynasties' durations. He was wrong that they would only last a short time, while it infact lasted very long, lasting up to 270 years. Even though the dynasty endured a long time, the reason for their endurance was their cutting off connections with the outside world. If modern America tried to imitate this way of government, it would be a disaster, since we depend on global exchange and communication to be productive. For example, we depend on the import of foreign scientists from all over the world to advance scientific research, such as a cure to AIDS. Without these external resources, our productivity would be much slowed down. This is why history is not valuable in the modern world.

Ming and Qing economy results

The economy of Ming and Qing China are almost exactly the opposite of what I predicted them to be. Instead of promoting new technological innovations, the new dynasties forbid innovation in technology, because of the fear that it will bring change and destablize the state. There are also no new methods of transportation. The Ming and Qing dynasty continued to use ships as well as the silk roads.

Ming and Qing economy predictions

I predict that the economy of the Ming and Qing dynasty will continue to prosper economically, as all the other dynasties before them have done. Their preceeding dynasties' economies involved new technologies, such as iron in the Zhou dynasty or paper in the Song dynasty. Similarly, the Ming and Qing economies will prosper from the trade and exchange of new technologies that will arise in their respective periods. Also, the Ming and Qing dynasties might also have new methods of transportation, most likely ships, alike to the silk roads that arose in earlier times.

Ch. 21-26 Review Jeopardy

The link:
https://jeopardylabs.com/play/ap-world-chapters-21-26-review

Gilad Oved, Lawrence Yu, Nick Merlino, Dan Conley, Lynn Samson

Graph questions

The first graph shows how the population of Africa steadily increased from 1500 to 1800. The second graph shows how the slaves exported out of Africa also increased from 1500 to 1700. The third graph shows all the destinations the slaves were taken to in the western hemisphere, with the Caribbean importing the most. On a DBQ, I would write about how the population of Africa increased while the slave trade also increased at the same time. I would also write about how how most of the slaves were taken to Brazil and the Carribean, both colonies that ran sugar plantations and had a limited population of natives to work those lands, resulting in the high need of African slaves to do the intense labor required for sugar production. I find it surprising and rather contradictory that the population of Africa rises steadily while the slave trade took increasing numbers of Africans from Africa. This does help my understanding of the textbook's contents, since the textbook discusses the same general information as is presented in these graphs, and the graphs reinforce that information with visual and numerical data.

Social Hierarchies of the Americas

Reasons for differences in the change of Politics and Economies in Spanish and Portuguese Colonies

Political

The reason for the difference between political changes in the Spanish and Portuguese colonies was that they colonized completely different lands. Spanish conquerors were able to conquer the natives and organize a labor force to build their American empire, which the Portuguese weren't able to do. Instead, they had to bring in African slaves, which led them to compete with other Europeans, since Europeans also needed supplies of slaves.

Economic

The reason for the difference between economic changes in the Spanish and Portuguese colonies was that in Spain, the profit came mostly from mining silver. This silver contributed to European economy as well, since Spanish kings took 1/5 of it. Therefore, they did not compete with other European states, but rather supported them with silver. Meanwhile, the Portuguese derived money from sugar production, which is a hard business with little profit. The European states also produce sugar, so the Portuguese, already with their little profit, had a reason to compete with the European states to increase their revenue.

Voicethread review

Okay. This app sucks. Every time I use it, it crashes. It doesn't give me an option to search by usernames or emails, which would be really useful considering that I have to use this for my history class project. Also, it doesn't even show all the results when you search for a voicethread. Overall, this app is pretty bad and whoever made it should just quit making apps. Cuz it's bad.
Rating: 1 star

My Voice thread (Niccolo Polo)

https://voicethread.com/share/4081290/

pgs. 594-595 Blog Questions

1) Why is there a myth about Christopher Columbus, and why do we have a holiday for him?

In my opinion, the myths about Columbus exist to portray him as a hero. The myth that he had little resources and poorly constructed ships make him look more capable, since he was able to discover "America" with only the bare minimum. If instead, they told the truth about him, that he had lots of resources and well built ships, then he would be seen as less of a hero, since he had all those resources to help him out in his journey. We created a holiday for him and celebrate the false fact that he discovered America, because the discovery of America is one of the most important events in our history, and it is the reason why we are all here today. We as a society needed some central figure to look up to for such an important event, and since the people who actually discovered America were probably insignificant, we chose Columbus, because he is well known and he got somewhat "close" to finding America. 

2) Reflect on the contents of the essay.  What will be new/change about the path of history in this coming era?  What do you think will continue/stay the same?


The biggest change that will come with this era is the integration of the eastern and western hemisphere to create a singular global connection. In this new era, trade will be truly global, since all parts of the world come together in one global economy, unlike the previous era of trade, in which the eastern and western hemisphere only conducted trade within their own hemispheres and rarely ever did commerce with each other. Another big change is the increase in slave trade. Although slave trade existed in previous eras, it boomed in the early modern era. Massive numbers of slaves were traded across the eastern, as well as the western hemispheres, where they suffered cruel and inhumane conditions. Other   than these two major changes, most everything else remains the same. There is still the spread of agriculture, manufactured products, culture, and technology, as there was in the previous era. Religions like Christianity and Islam, as well as technologies like printing and gunpowder reached areas throughout the globe. Trade routes still existed and prospered even more than in previous eras.