Unit #8: June 2011 Archives

Q4 - Lesson #39 - Unit #8 "Two-Minute" Review

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We'll spend our last two days together reviewing the material from this unit. If you want to post anything to the blog, you can do it on this entry.

Congratulations on surviving two years of World History at MPA.


UNIT 8:  Perspectives on the Present
       

Chapter 33:  Restructuring the Postwar World (1945 - Present)       
    1    Cold War:  Superpowers Face Off
    2    Communists Take Power in China
    3    Wars in Korea and Vietnam
    4    The Cold War Divides the World
    5    The Cold War Thaws
       
Chapter 34:  The Colonies Become New Nations (1945 - Present)       
    1    The Indian Subcontinent Achieves Freedom
    2    Southeast Asian Nations Gain Independence
    3    New Nations in Africa
    4    Conflicts in the Middle East
    5    Central Asia Struggles
       
Chapter 35:  Struggles for Democracy (1945 - Present)       
    1    Democracy
    2    The Challenge of Democracy in Africa
    3    The Collapse of the Soviet Union
    4    Changes in Central and Eastern Europe
    5    China:  Reform and Reaction
       
Chapter 36:  Global Interdependence (1960 - Present)       
    1    The Impact of Science and Technology
    2    Global Economic Development
    3    Global Security Issues
    4    Terrorism
    5    Cultures Blend in a Global Age


HOMEWORK for the end of the quarter...

Your Current Events should be turned in by now.

Your packet of Chapter 36 quizzes should be turned in by tomorrow.

Here are the Unit #8 Identification and Essay Exam items. Remember that you write the Unit #8 Essay out of class, and they are due no later than upon your arrival to the Final Exam on Thursday. (It's at 8:45 AM in the Nicholson Center.)

The Extra Credit - World History Film option, should you choose to do it, is due to be posted to the blog no later than the end of Thursday, June 9th. (That's 11:59:59 PM.)

Q4 - Lesson #38 - China Since Tiananmen Square

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This is it. It's your last "regular" lesson in World History 9/10. We will take a look at the events in China in the midst of 1989, the same year the Berlin Wall fell in Germany and European communism was on the retreat. In China, the outcome will be different.


China: Tiananmen Square and After

Let's take a quick look at some of the events leading up to Tiananmen Square.

  • "It doesn't matter if a cat is black or white, so long as it catches mice." - Deng Xiaoping
  • "Poverty is not socialism. To be rich is glorious." - Deng Xiaoping
  • "Reform is China's second revolution." - Deng Xiaoping

tiananmen_tank.jpg








To try and make sense of the events surrounding Tiananmen Square, let's try and answer these questions.

  • What led the students to gather in Tiananmen Square?
  • What options did the government have in dealing with the protesters?
  • What happened in Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989?
  • What was the reaction of the world to these events?
  • Why did events unfold in this manner in China?

"Massacre in Tiananmen Square" - BBC on This Day (June 4, 1989) This is the actual story that appeared on BBC News.

Here is a set of documents about Tiananmen Square released from the National Security Archives of the United States. They make for interesting browsing.

Here is the website for the documentary film, "Tiananmen: The Gate of Heavenly Peace."


China After Tiananmen:  More than twenty years have passed since the events of 1989, and China has certainly undergone rapid change since then. We can briefly discuss the general direction of those changes, and there are some links below in which you may be interested.

"Chinese learned to live with reform" - This BBC story looks at the legacy of Deng's reforms thirty years after they were put in place.

"Taiwan Flashpoint" - Check this out if you're interested in learning more about China's position on Taiwan and the potential threat posed in the region.

"Where next for post-Games China?" - This takes a look at China's options following the end of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games.

Any remaining time is yours to work on whatever needs working on...


HOMEWORK for next session - Monday, June 6th

Current Events are due today. I'll also put your Unit #8 quiz packets together. You can pick those up from me today if you want them for the weekend.

We'll start the "Two Minute" reviews for Unit #8 on Monday.

Your packet of Chapter 36 quizzes should be turned in Tuesday. Yes, you are free to use your book as you complete them.

Remember that you write the Unit #8 Essay out of class, and they are due no later than upon your arrival to the Final Exam on Thursday, June 9th.

The Extra Credit - World History Film option, should you choose to do it, is due no later than the end of Thursday, June 9th.

Q4 - Lesson #37 - The Fall of Communism in Eastern Europe

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We'll check in on changes in Eastern and Central Europe today, before wrapping things up with a look at events from Tiananmen Square forward in China on Friday. We'll also aim to get you some working time yet this week before Monday's final "Two-Minute" Review.

Just to clarify:

  • Essay: Due by the time you arrive at the Final Exam.
  • Identifications: You do this at the Final Exam.
  • DBQs: You do this at the Final Exam.
  • Multiple Choice: You do this at the Final Exam.
Remember, no computers are used during the Final Exam, so any note sheet for the IDs needs to be printed out in advance.
Here's a link to the Extra Credit - World History Film opportunity...

Changes in Central and Eastern Europe:

wall_fall.jpg








You are several others will be assigned a country. Your job is to prepare us a "travel guide" of sorts for that country. However, we won't be asking questions like, "Where should we stay?" and "What should we eat?" Instead, focus on the following:

  • If at all, how did the fading of communism affect your country?
  • How did the country reassert its independence after the decline of the Soviet Union?
  • What have been some of the key challenges facing your country?
  • Who are the people, groups and/or events we absolutely should know?

central_europe.jpg
These are the countries which we will be "touring" together today:

  • Poland
  • Hungary
  • Germany
  • Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic and Slovakia)
  • Romania
  • Yugoslavia (see below)




yugoslavia.jpg















By the way, in an attempt to minimize confusion, here's the current status of the former Yugoslavia. These countries have been created: Bosnia and Herzogovina, Croatia, Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia. Kosovo declared independence in 2008, but its status is still in dispute. (The United States does recognize its independence.)


HOMEWORK for next session - Friday, June 3rd

Please do the final "regular" reading assignment of your World History career by reading Chapter 35, Section 5, "China:  Reform and Reaction." (pp. 1059-1063) The quiz will be matching.

Your Current Events are due on Friday. You can find copies of the template on previous lessons.

Your packet of Chapter 36 quizzes should be turned in by Tuesday, June 8th. Yes, you are free to use your book as you complete them.

Remember that you write the Unit #8 Essay out of class, and they are due no later than upon your arrival to the Final Exam on Thursday, June 9th.
The Collapse of the Soviet Union and the Fall of Communism - Our focus shifts today to an event that, had you asked me about it two years earlier (when I was about your age), I never would have expected to see happen. The fall of the Soviet Union both significantly changed the world's political outlook, but it also dealt a fatal blow to communism's chances of competing with capitalist and democratic systems. We'll try and make sense of these events today...

Before we go too far, I want you to put yourselves in the position of a Soviet citizen, say a member of the Communist Party, in 1985. Pair up with those around you and brainstorm a list of complaints and criticisms you have about your lives. It might help to think in terms of social, economic and political issues. Think about both the Soviet Union in particular and communism in general.

Let's take a few minutes now to browse a set of Gorbachev notes that I've used when teaching this topic in other classes. (It will download as a Microsoft Word document, and you're free to use it to take some notes if that would be helpful... That's a hint.)

Here are some events I believe you need to understand to make sense of all this...

gorbachev.jpg















Gorbachev and Reform
  • glasnost
    • Chernobyl
  • perestroika
  • demokratizatsiya
ethnic tensions in the republics
rise of Boris Yeltsin

yeltsin.jpeg








August Coup - 1991
December 25, 1991 - end of the Soviet Union
Commonwealth of Independent States

soviet_union.png















I'm interested in your opinions on these questions...

  • Which factors were more important in the ending of the Soviet Union? Internal or external?
  • Should Gorbachev be remembered as a hero or a failure?
  • Is Russia better off without communism?
  • Is the world safer now than during the era of the Cold War?
  • Should communism be, in the words of Reagan, left on the "ash heap of history?"

Here's what Time had to say when it named Gorbachev one of the 100 Most Important People of the Century.


Gorbachev remains active as head of the Gorbachev Foundation.


Russia since 1991 - We've talked about Putin a number of times these past two years. Let's talk briefly about some of the issues that Russia has faced since the fall of the Soviet Union.

  • Boris Yeltsin (1991 - 1999)
  • rise of the oligarchs
  • economic transitions
russian_economy.PNG









 
chechnya.png









  • Chechnya (1991 - 2002) - insurgency continues
    • Moscow theater hostage crisis (2002)
    • Beslan school hostage crisis (2004)
  • Vladimir Putin (President 2000 - 2008) (Prime Minister 2008 - )
  • Dmitry Medvedev (President 2008 - )

medvedev_putin.jpg









HOMEWORK for tomorrow - Thursday, June 2nd

Please read Chapter 35, Section 4, "Changes in Central and Eastern Europe." (pp. 1052-1058) The quiz will be matching.

Your final batch of Current Events is due on Friday, June 3rd. Remember that the topics are different this time, as explained on Lesson #30. You can download this template for your Final Set of Current Events.

Your packet of Chapter 36 quizzes should be turned in by Tuesday, June 7th. Yes, you are free to use your book as you complete them.

About this Archive

This page is a archive of entries in the Unit #8 category from June 2011.

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Unit #8: February 2012 is the next archive.

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