The Opium Wars

China is a very old country with ideals that have lasted more than two thousand years. The Chinese people were satisfied with their way of life and had little interest in the nations of the Western Hemisphere. Tea which is grown in China, had become a big drink in Great Britain. China would have rather not traded with the British. They were going to trade with Britain only if they used there port in Canton. They did not want western ideas in their society.The British decided they needed to "balance their trade." That means that they must buy and sell to China, not just buy. So they decided to sell Opium. Western Civilization has grown and prospered in the past millennium because of trade. so they tried to keep that going.

Opium is a drug grown in India. Opium is used to make morphine and heroin. Opium is made from poppi seeds. The Chinese government outlawed the import of Opium because of the debilitating effects of the drug.In 1838, China ruled that anyone dealing in Opium would be put to death. Shortly after that, government official began to destroy any opium coming into their land. This brought war, henced the name "The Opium Wars".

The Opium War lasted from 1839 to 1842. The British firepower was way better than China. So China took a humiliating defeat. The governments signed a peace treaty that allowed the British to use five ports instead of one. The Chinese also lost control of the important island of Hong Kong. Eventually, China was also forced to legalize the selling of opium. The treaty that ended the Opium War was the first of many "unequal treaties" with the west. It began a century of invasion and humiliation for a very proud nation.

Film lesson: "Mountains of the Moon"

The Europeans faced many hardships as they explored Africa. Some of them were: that they caught diseases like malaria and had to cures for them till later. They also had no maps, so Africa was an unknown land to them. Many African tribes were territorial and killed/tortured foreign people, therefore the Europeans always had to trade and give away things to content the others. The European explorers also had difficulty sleeping in the wilderness as they had to be protected from bugs and insects. Africa was completely unknown land to the Europeans, and that was a major factor into making exploration difficult. What makes thing even worst after the Europeans got into the country after the hardship, they began taking over, naming things without consent of the African's .

It is weird that Lake Victoria is named after a British Queen, since it is located deep inside Africa. It is strange since the British did not discover the lake as there were already people living there. Africa had no specific boundaries or border lines. Africa's countries were all mapped out by the British. It is also weird how the lake is still named Lake Victoria today.

The Europeans had a lot of technological advances compared to the Africans. The Europeans had huge ships, magnifying glasses, telescopes, guns, goods, etc. The latest weapons the Africans had at that time were spears. The Europeans were more advanced and developed technological.

The Europeans eventually conquered Africa easily because of their invention of the machine gun. The Africans were surprised from a basic handgun, and the machine was just devastating. This allowed the Europeans to easily overtake Africa and conquer it. The Africans had no defenses against the Europeans' guns. There was no chance of stopping the Europeans from invading and taking over their land.

The Meiji Restoration of Japan

For a long period of time, the nation of Japan isolated itself from the rest of the world. This was known as the Tokugawa period. The Shogun and the samurai believed that outside contacts could potentially threaten their power. This period of isolation lasted for over 250 years. In 1853, four American warships appeared in Edo Bay. They were under the command of Commodore Matthew Perry. He came with a request from the United States government asking for Japan to open up its ports and to establish diplomatic relations between the two nations. Perry came with the sails of his ships down to show the Japanese the technological progress that the West has made. The Japanese also saw the guns on the ships and knew that no Japanese vessel can stand up against Western ships. The Japanese knew they could not reject any of the United States' requests because those requests were backed up with force. The Japanese decided to sign the Treaty of Kanagawa with the United States which opened up ports to United States ships. This allowed other Western nations to sign treaties with Japan.

There was much unrest afterward and the Shogun no longer ruled Japan. The Meiji Restoration was when power was "restored" to Emperor Meiji. During the Tokugawa period, the Emperor had no real power and only had ceremonial duties. Emperor Meiji wanted to modernize Japan and used Western nations as his model. He sent envoys to study the West's political system's. What was learned was used to shape Japan's government. Their old feudal system was done away with. A new system was set in place which allowed citizens to elect their legislators. They also imitated the education systems and the military of the West which made Japan a very powerful nation.

Karl Marx and The Industrial Revolution

Karl Marx is German born in Germany in 1818. He was born into jewish family but his family converted to christianity so he could get a better job. He didnt believe in god, he thought religion was an idiotic thing for the people. He had a atheist way of sight to religion and god. When he worked he thought it was unfair, unsafe and very harsh how the land owners and bosses at jobs treated the workers. Soon after he was dismayed by the workers in Europe. From there on he tried to get workers to join and fight back the people of High Ranking and class. He felt workers rather than owners should control the land and farms, all of his ideas is know as Communism.

Communism is when people beleive everything should be equal when things isn't. He fought for the rights of the workers. The ideas of Marx were not used in the communist countries. Marx believed that workers would control government, but communist governments was very strict. Workers were often forced to work on huge farms and factory. In most Communist nations, the press was un-useful in the case of talking about the government. They were not allowed to print news stories that criticized the government. People who spoke out against the Soviet government were treated horribly. Karl Marx died in 1883, but his ideas lived on.

His ideas help start the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917 and 4 years later Mongolia became the second communist nation. At the end of WWII many govrnments were taken over by communist. Now in the world communism is still around in places such as Cuba or North Korea but all the communist have another thing in common. There flags mostly contain red.

Karl Marx and Communism

Karl Marx is known as the father of communism. He believed that everyone should be equal. Equal like as in having equal power, chances and money. Instead of one person being in control like free-for-all , everyone is in control of them selves.

Marx wanted communism because he was tired of having an unfair society where some people work harder then others and get more money because of higher classes or ranking. Higher classes were the ones in control of there society when really he believed everyone should have equal power.

Robespierre and The Reign of Terror

Max Robespierre was the dictator of France. He was going to stop the Jacobins from starting a war against Austria, and after the battle gain control of the Government. When he could've stop there, he didnt he decided to use his power to wipeout and kill any revolutionaries. The People behind his back began to fear and felt unsafe. Later on he was arrested and Executed for causing another fight and killing Revolutionaries (beheadings).

After the French Revolution all the third estate of France were happy that there was gonna be change in their government, but before they were able to let change come about, The Reign of Terror.

The Reign of Terror was a period of time that occured a little over a year after the French Revolution and it was conflict between two rivals. The Girondins and The Jacobins. The Jacobins were a very big political group that wanted to gain control in the monarch political party after the French Revolution. The Girondins were a group of people who had certain opinions and principles rather than an organized political party. The Jacobins wanted to place order back into France while the Girondins wanted to have there certain beliefs and principles. This happened because the leader of the Girondins wanted to start a war against Austria but the Jacobins didnt want to because they didnt want militaryism. The Jacobies and Girondins faught a battle leaving over 4,000 dead.

Simon Bolivar and Latin American Revolutions

Simon Bolivar was a liberator and a leader which peple called him the George Washington of South America. He is famous for giving the Republic Colombia which consisted of Colombia and Venezuela their freedom and independence from Spain. Simon Boliar viewed the way America and France got there freedom from corrupt leaders and government. Spain owned several Countries in South America and Simon Bolivar thought it was time Colomnia and Venezuela had there freedom. He was joined by Francisco de Miranda in the revolt against the Spanish. During the battle while Bolivar was occuping Venezuela, Miranda was defeated by Spain. So Bolivar gatherd people from Jamaica, Ireland and England and defeated the Spanish. As years passed he gained more countries, mainly ion South America to help with the revolt.

Nationalism and the Creation of Italy

Nationalism is an idea or belief that a persons loyalty goes out to his country. You are a nationalist if you are American, which whom celebrates the 4th of July. That is an the American Indepence day. Even if you join the Army, Navy, Marines and etc you are a nationalist. Some people don't know when they watch the olympics and root for their country they are nationalist. It's a everyday thing that some people don't know that they are.

Before our time, nationalism ruined countries but it also help build many. Italy was one of those countries that it help build while detroying other ones. Before italy was united it use to be broken up. Nationalism united it because the nationalist spreaded and people united to form one big nation.

The French Revolution

1) They people were mad because the Nobels, the King and the Clergy had way too much power.

2) A Peasent might have grumbled over the prices of bread, the prices doubled.

3) It's showing the First and Second Estate on top of the Third Estate.

4) It was horrible. They barely had anything.

5) They resented them because the way they were treated.

6) Many people were influenced. Many people of all races. Most recently it was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

7) It was banned because the First and Second Estate didn't want any power or rights to go to the Third Estate.

The Enlightment

John Locke was a very influencial person because of his thoughts and how he thought. He had good views on life and thought that the people didn't need kings or queens theycould govern themselves. He thought that people of all races and classes should be born equal. He also influenced the U.S Consitution. He was encouraging revolution.

Trail of Galilieo

In the trail of Galileo, he tried to explain to the town that the Earth revolve around the Sun and not vise versa. They didn't believe him so the tried to excummicate him. He also tried to explain that when heavy and light things fall at the same time they will fall at the same time. The town insist that he was wrong but he was actually right. In the end he was put on house arrest for the rest of his life.

The Scientific Method

The scientific method was a new way of thinking. Scientist who try do prove or disprove this theory test this experiment over, and over again. This is most commonly used with the Creation vs. Evolution theory. This was also tested with Aristotle theory of different weight falling at different speeds. In the end he was proved wrong.

Evolution vs. Creation

Evolution is a process which involves inheriting traits. It's also a process that involves offspring’s. This is believed that all organisms had to be descended from common ancestry. In this case it is believe that humans descended from monkeys and gorillas. Then they evolved into cavemen. This evolves to humans.

Creation is the religious belief that life, Earth and the whole universe was created in the original form by a deity or deities, whose whereabouts are supposable. This talks about how the earth was created by God in seven days.

I believe in Creation because if anything evolved it had to be created first. The dirt can’t just evolve into a bug and bugs evolved into a animal and etc. That is just impossible.

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