Blog #8!!!!!

I still can’t believe that we have covered 24 chapters in a 10 week period. 756 pages that’s crazy!!!! Although it has been stressful at times and it seemed like some of these things I did not quite understand, in the end with all the class discussions and blogs that I have seen make me understand some of the questions I had a lot better.

            In chapter 21, the thing that stood out the most was the section on Hitler and the Nazis. This significant event that happened in history is an example of EXTREME nationalism. With the discussion in class, I cannot believe that Hitler took things so extreme as he did and that people actually believed and complied with everything that was going on. When we discussed how some people did not know that they were in fact playing a role in the murders of hundreds and thousands of people is dumbfounding. I could not comprehend how some people did not know or just chose to look the other way while this was all going on. The most interesting part is how this massive system of mass murders was organized and how they psychologically got people to feel that they were not playing a role in their evil plan. I have learned about some of the camps that people were held out, especially through the story of Ann Frank that most people have probably read in high school. What today looked like a horrific nightmare was the reality for many people during this time. This chapter was very sad but as always full of relevant information.

Chapter 22 was on the Rise and Fall of World Communism. Here we learned that the Russian Revolution took place in a single year, 1917 and was led by the charismatic leader, Vladimir Ulyanov also known as Lenin for short. Here a substantial number of members fought for the end of their role in WWI. Next China’s revolution took several decades but finally ended in 1949 also lead by a charismatic leader by the name of Mao Zedong. Although they only started with 60 members, their support grew enormously. China had been fighting for foreign imperialism and peasant exploitation which was a radical social change.

Chapter 24 dealt with Accelerating Global Interaction. Here the most interesting things that I took from this chapter were on relevant issues that we are facing today. The section on global environment transformation and going green were the ones that are key issues that are in headlines every day and will continue to be until something is changed and done about this issue. The whole idea behind people changing their habits is not so the government can be in complete and utter control in every aspect of our lives. These changes need to be made so our earth can be enjoyed for the many generations to come.