Nelson Mandela and Apartheid

Apartheid was used in South Africa for many years and was a social policy or racial segregation involving political, economic and legal discrimination against people who are not white. The same thing was going on in America where all the colored people were separated from the white people. This went on in South Africa from 1948 to 1990. Nelson Mandela was a hero because Mandela along with 150 others were arrested on December 5 1956 and charged with treason for speaking out against Apartheid. He also fought many violent acts to gain freedom in South Africa. He spent many years in prison for committing treason. He is respected by many people because he stood up for what he believed in and did a lot to free his people. He took the pain mentally and physically by being in prison and by getting beat up by higher authorities of South Africa. He was a brave and courageous man.He was agains the system and against of the white having all the power. However his carrer in ANC was not for to long, he was sentenced to life to prison. Their was no reason for Nelson to be in jail, the white South Africa governemt just didnt want Nelson to get in the way. However even in jail he fought for his right still he didnt stop he continued to be a beacon. In 1990 after 27 years of prison Mandela was finally free. Then less than fiver years he had ended the aparheid and he wa awarded the NOble Peace Price, and was elected as president.

african independence

In a 20 year time period, from 1955 to 1975, Africa had gained most of its independence from the colonies. Nkrumah organized strikes and boycotts and the Gold Coast took the name of Ghana. It was the first nation to be governed by Africans. Nkrumah wanted to create an Africa ruled by Africans and helped create the Pan-African Congress. Later on forming the OAU, Oranginzation of African Unity. The nationalist Jomo Kenyatta was an other strong leader of Kenya, and there was the rise of the Mau Mau.Another reason that they gained their Independence was because they slowly began to modernize and the people of Africa slowly began to become smarter. The African many learned many American cultures and went to schools and studied hard. Most Africans defended freedom for Europe in WWII and they demanded the same for them when they went back to their colonies!

The Cuban missle crisis

The Cuban Missile Crisis was the closest the world ever came to nuclear war. The United States armed forces were at their highest state of readiness ever and Soviet field commanders in Cuba were prepared to use battlefield nuclear weapons to defend the island if it was invaded. Luckily, thanks to the bravery of two men, President John F. Kennedy and Premier Nikita Khrushchev, The Cuban Missile Crisis was the closest the world ever came to nuclear war. The United States armed forces were at their highest state of readiness ever and Soviet field commanders in Cuba were prepared to use battlefield nuclear weapons to defend the island if it was invaded.

NATO and the warsaw pact

Nominally the Warsaw Pact was a response to a similar treaty made by the Western Allies in 1949 (the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, or NATO) as well as the re-militarization of West Germany in 1954, both of which posed a potential threat to the Eastern countries. Although it was stressed by all that the Warsaw Treaty was based on total equality of each nation and mutual non-interference in one another's internal affairs, the Pact quickly became a powerful political tool for the Soviet Union to hold sway over its allies and harness the powers of their combined military. When Hungary tried to extricate themselves from the agreement in 1956, Soviet forces moved to crush the uprising; and, in 1968, Soviet troops invaded Czechoslovakia (with support from five other Pact members), after the Czech government began to exhibit 'Imperialistic' tendencies.

The Treaty Of Versailles (ended WWI)

The Treaty of Versailles ended WW1. It was signed at the palace of Versailles in France. The winning side which included the French, British and Americans made this treaty to punish Germany and blame the Germans for everything. This treaty forced Germany to give up any thing it had. Its colonies were seized by the British and French. This treaty forced Germany into a recession. This led to Fascism and the rise of Adolf Hitler. Hitler provided the people of Russia the one thing that the needed, revenge. He started building the military, which was unauthorized by the treaty. Hitler provided the people of Germany with what they wanted, they wanted to hurt the people that made them lose everything. I believe what they did was fair because Germany had been very reckless with their military and other rights, and also abused their power to build up their military and start wars, so I believe to a certain point that the treaty was fair.

Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk) and the Modernization of Turkey

Secular refers to things that are worldly. Mustafa Kemal made Turkey more secular by letting individuals practice their own religion whenever. He made Turkey have secular institutions. He wanted freedom and equality for all of his people. Fezzes were replaced with European hats and European clothing was preferred which helped make Turkey look modern. Women stopped wearing their veils and they were able to vote. The Western calender was used instead of the Islamic calender.The Western code of laws were also used. People had surnames. The economy is built on the peasant. The peasant fuels the country. The Turkish alphabet, which was based on Latin, was adopted.Mustafa Kemal was President for fifteen years until his death in 1938. He introduced a wide range of reforms to Turkey and had a lot of achievements during his lifetime. He was an extraordinary leader of modern times.

Ghandi

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, who was also known as Mohatma Gandhi, was born on October 2, 1869. He was called "Mohatma", which means great soul. He was commonly known as Mohatma because of all of his strides to help his people and make India an independant nation. In his life, Gandhi organized many movements and acts to show the British government that the people of India did not need them. Such acts consisted of the Salt March, the Civil Rights Movement in South Africa, and the Rowlatt Act Protests.
For example, in the Salt March, Gandhi lead his people on a 240 mile journey to the coast to collect their own salt to show that they did not need british products. This was inspired by the Salt Acts, which permitted India from acquiring salt from anyone else but British companies. In the civil rights movement in South Africa, Gandhi lead mine workers on strike.
Along side all of these movements, Gandhi stressed that the Indian people not fight back with the use of violence, but to receive the blow and not give the it. Gandhi's beleife behind this strategy was that if the Indian people do not fight back with force and violence, but with word of mouth and peace, that the Indian people could never lose while the British government takes into perspective the harm they have caused.
Even if Mohandis Gandhi was never born to this world, the nation of India would have eventually gained its independence. During World War I, the British government in India would gradually deplete due to the need of resourced and troops the war demanded. A short time after the end of WWI and the Treaty of Versailles, Britains colonial forces in India would decrease again to nothing or close to it due to the upcoming war. World War II.