Cause of WWI

World War I was caused by three primary things; Nationalism, Militarism, and the assassination of Franz Fernidad. It seems to have begun with Nationalism, which is an extreme and sometimes irrational love for their country. The citizens disliked people from countries other than their own because of things such has different traditions, religions, and even language, which acted as kindling for the flames of war.

The second reason which was the largest reason out of the three. Due to the increased Nationalism between countries citizens, the men of power in that country became very cautious of other countries. Eventually this Nationalism rose to the generals making even then wary of neighboring countries so they decided to increase their "defenses". These defenses ranged from more soldiers to weapons and even the production of countless battle tanks. These heavily increased "defenses" acted as gas for the kindling, which was already stacked high.

lastly and importantly was the assassination of Franz Ferdinand. Franz was the archduke of Austria-Hungary, a very high person in their government. The assassination itself wasn't the exact cause of hatred, rather it was the location. He was assassinated on Serbian soil, which at the time there was a lot of bad blood between the two countries leaving them on edge of his presence to begin with. His assassination was the definite and clear spark that started the fire of war.

The Opium Wars

The Opium wars are a series of wars between Europe and China for a drug, opium, that of which took place from 1839 to 1842. Opium is a drug found in middle eastern countries from poppy flowers. The cause of this war is a little strange in that the cause was that China wanted to be isolated while the Europeans, particularly the British, wanted to trade their opium to private buyers who used it recreationally. The drug's original use was to cure such sicknesses as diarrhea. When the Chinese saw what the opium addiction was doing to their citizens they banned it from China, from then on all Opium found was confiscated and destroyed. Europe didn't stop sending the drug because they were becoming rich off this drug so in turn China stopped selling their Tea causing the explosive reaction, war. In truth the war was fought over more than just the drug, the Chinese were fighting to keep their culture and morals pure while the British fought for wealth. The war ended with the British as the definite victors due to their overpowering military and technological advantage over the Chinese. With their victory the Europeans gained 5 ports and two treaties which allowed them to legally sell their opium.

Film lesson: "Mountains of the Moon"

We'd recently watched the documentary, "Mountains on the Moon". The film was about the Eurpopeans' exploration of South Africa and their search of the Nile River's source. During their trip, the men faced various hardships and conflicts. Richard Burton and John Speke led a group of people through Africa. They faced long hot days in the deserts, and the rocky roads where food and water was scarce. night and day they had to be careful of the wild animals and disease-ridden insects that wander throughout the continent. Europeans were also stopped many times by native African tribes. To survive in the depths of africa, they tried to avoid any conflict that could disrupt their journey.

Then finally Richard Burton and John Speke along with their crew found the source of the Nile; the third largest lake in the world, Lake Victoria. The Name came from the Queen of Britain at the time. People may find it strange to name an African lake after the Queen since they had no relation at the time, this was because since the Europeans were the first to document it they claimed the right to name it.

The Europeans went into Africa and had the advantage of their superior technology. Basically when a conflict did occur, a gun beats a spear. Another advantage their technology gave them was their tools of data collection, which infaturated the Africans.

After this Discovery the Europeans overtook Africa. Due to their modern technology, and the invention of the machine gun, this was a very easy task. After Africa was taken the European countries fought over control of the land which came to be known as "The Scramble for Africa."

Karl marx and Communism

Communism is an economic and political system created by Karl Marx. He never agreed with the idea of capitalism, he didn't like the fact that the rich became richer through the work and toil of the poor, which were becoming even poorer. His idea was that communism would put all men on equal ground so that there would be no need for competition, everyone would receive the same pay as well as the same benefits; no man was above another. Communism is considered to be the branch of socialism, a broad group of social and political ideologies that of which draws on the various political and intellectual movements. Marx saw the worker as the good guys and the factories owner as the bad guys because they workers were treated unfairly and the boss took advantage of the workers. Marx wanted Communism to take over the world because to him all problems within the social classes would end. this idea of Marx’s works- in theory.

Karl Marx and the Industrial Revolution

Karl Marx felt that the Industrial Revolution created a harsh and unsafe environment factory workers, which were adults and children as young as the age of six. He felt that ,since the workers do all the work, they should own the factories rather then the Factory owner. He thought that workers of the world should unite and revolt against the owners. He felt that it was strictly unfair for rich to get richer and poor to get poorer. His observation of the revolution sickened him to the point where he was inspired to form a new one, communism. Under communism no one is rich or poor, everyone shares the same class of living. Everybody is treated as an equal, nobody had private ownership, and all the workers received the same pay. This government created an equilibrium for the working class since everyone would be in the working class, however, this is only in theory.

Nationalism and the creation of italy

Nationalism, to take pride of one's residing country or country of birth. Many things are brought about through nationalism; friendships, fights, feuds, and even wars. I personally am a pacifist while still being a nationalist, being that i can still be prideful of my country(Brasil) without taking it to any extreme to anger anybody. From time to time i play soccer with a few friends or wear the Brasilian colors when i go out and lastly i actually have two Brasilian flags in my room.

Italy, like some other countries, had such a respect and pride for it's country and wanted a change for the better. These nationalists wanted a new government; a government for the people. This government wasn't like the one in America or france Italy made something different, a constitutional monarchy. This worked basically as follows: the king had rule but his decisions could be overthrown by the two ministers and the two ministers had a group of citizens who had meetings over political decisions which then informed the ministers of their decision. In a way the people had some power, and they were content with that.

Simon bolivar and latin america revolution

Simon Bolivar was a Venezuelan general who eventually freed most of South America  from the Spaniards, a "George Washington of South America" if you will. He was born into a rich family and at a young age received the entire fortune due to the early death of his parents. With his wealth he helped fund and even fight with a group of patriots attempting to free Venezuela. They soon freed Caracas  from the Spaniards. At one time he went to the British in search of aid but only found neutrality. When he returned the Spaniards attacked and forced his troops back into New Granada(Columbia), who was also at war with the spaniards. The two forces allied and attempted another attack but this was forced to retreat into Jamaica. After that started the string of victories freeing the territories of Ecuador, Columbia, Panama, and Venezuela. The capture of these key areas caused the Spaniards to become weak and essentially useless in South America. In the end he also captured Peru which was then cut in half and became Peru and Bolivia in honor of Bolivar. Bolivar, after capturing all these areas, created a The Original Republic of Columbia also becoming it's first president.