MacGregor is History

IB1 Thursday 6/5

2010-05-06T12:43:00.000-07:00

LESSON 6/5: I continued to cover the Cold War today. First I went through the different periods of the Cold War:

Periods of the Cold War (Version 1):
1945-47 Start of the Cold War
1947-53 The Cold War at its height
1953-57 Thaw 1
1958-62 Freeze 1
1963-68 Thaw 2
1969-75/79 Detente
1975/79-85 Freeze 2
1989-91 End of the Cold War

Periods of the Cold War("Wikipedia"):
1917-38 Pre-Cold War
1939-45 World War II and Post-War
1947-53 From "Containment" through the Korean War
1953-62 Crisis and escalation
1962-79 From confrontation through détente
1979-85 The "Second Cold War"
1985-91 End of the Cold War

Then I covered some main crisis:
1948 Coup in Czechoslovakia
1948-49 Berlin Blockade
1950-53 Korean War
1960-61 Berlin Crisis (Berlin Wall)
1962 Cuban Missile Crisis
1963-75 Vietnam War
1973 Coup in Chile
1979-89 War in Afghanistan

Different views of the Cold War:

THE ORTHODOX VIEW
Started among US and Western historians in the late 1940's and early 1950's like Arthur Schlesinger Jr. "The Soviet Union bore primary responsibility for the outbreak and the continuation of the Cold War"

Communist aggression
Russian expansionism/imperialism
"Spheres of Interest"

EVIDENCE:

The Iron Curtain was established by the USSR
The USSR was behind the Coup in Czechoslovakia
The USSR was behind the Berlin Blockade 1948
USSR sponsored states that were the aggressors in "Proxy Wars" (like North Korea)

THE REVISIONIST VIEW
US historians developed this view in the later 1950's and the 1960's. Important historian D.F. Fleming. "The United States initiated and sustained the Cold War".

USSR prioritized defense
USSR also prioritized security
USA misunderstood and over-reacted to Soviet actions

EVIDENCE:

The Russian Civil War - the Western Powers supported the "White" against the Bolsheviks
The land war during WWII was fought by Russia. Russia therefore took huge casualties.
Stalin followed the deal made with Winston Churchill (British Prime Minister during WWII) in Moscow 1944 - the "Percentage Agreement"
USA created the Truman Doctrine (before COMINFORM), the Containment policy, the Marshall Plan (before COMECON), NATO (before the Warsaw Pact)

Here ended the lesson with me handing out your essays. See you tomorrow.

HOMEWORK 7/5: No homework

N3M Wednesday 6/5

2010-05-06T12:10:00.000-07:00

LESSON 6/5: In the beginning of this lesson I mentioned some of the main things that happened during your specific period. You can find that information in "Living World History" pages 678-679. Use this information and the handed out book about the Cold War when you make a time-line over "your period".

Here are the time periods as well as the groups again:

Group 1 - 1945-1960 (Abdiqani/Jonathan)
Group 2 - 1961-1975 (Anton/Arvid/Jos)
Group 3 - 1976-1990 (Josef/Philip)
Group 4 - 1991-2010 (Mona/Osas/Sidra)

I gave you some information about your last task in history:

You need to make a presentation of a specific time-period. This presentation should include a time-line and some closer presentation of some important events. Your presentation may not exceed 15 minutes - even if you are three people in the group. My advice is that you make the time-line together and then divide the work on events (so you still can present even if somebody is sick). The presentation can be a PowerPoint presentation, a MovieMaker presentation, an "Exhibition" with explanations, an Oral Presentation, and..... (feel free - there are many ways to present). All presentations should be ready at the beginning of the Thursday lesson 20/5!

In the end of this lesson I went through your grades right now. See you tomorrow.

HOMEWORK 7/5: Work on your presentations...

N3M Wednesday 5/5

2010-05-05T23:25:00.000-07:00

LESSON 5/5: We saw the rest of the "Origin of the Cold War". After the documentary I showed you the amount of time left:

Thursday 6/5 - Work with Cold War Presentation
Friday 7/5 - Work with Cold War Presentation
Thursday 13/5 - No lesson
Friday 14/5 - No lesson
Thursday 20/5 - Presentation Cold War
Friday 21/5 - Presentation Cold War
Thursday 27/5 - Last Day; Grades and Evaluation

So this very last part of the History Course includes the time period 1945-2010. The main theme is the "Cold War" and the "Aftermath of the Cold War". We will cover this part chronologically:

Group 1 - 1945-1960 (Abdiqani/Jonathan)
Group 2 - 1961-1975 (Anton/Arvid/Jos)
Group 3 - 1976-1990 (Josef/Philip)
Group 4 - 1991-2010 (Mona/Osas/Sidra)

Tomorrow (Thursday 6/5) we will discuss the different forms of presentation possible. I will also have a last "grade presentation" with each one of you. See you!

HOMEWORK 6/5: None

IB1 Wednesday 5/5

2010-05-05T23:03:00.000-07:00

LESSON 5/5: I went through the origin of the Cold War. This included:

Definition of the Cold War: "A state of tension between states, which behave with great distrust and hostility towards each other, but which do not resort to actual fighting."

In wikipedia we find the following explanation of Cold War:
"The Cold War was the period of conflict, tension and competition between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies from the mid-1940s until the early 1990s."

How was the Cold War fought?:
i. Propaganda and agitation
ii. Espionage and covert actions/subversion
iii. Economic Competition
iv. Technical competition, including the arms and space races.
v. Sporting competition
vi. General maneuvering for advantage
vii. Surrogate, proxy, limited wars

In wikipedia we find the following explanations:
Throughout the period, the rivalry between the two superpowers was played out in multiple arenas: military coalitions; ideology, psychology, and espionage; military, industrial, and technological developments, including the space race; costly defense spending; a massive conventional and nuclear arms race; and many proxy wars.

When did the Cold War start?:

1917 - when the Bolsheviks took over in Russia and spearheaded the attempt to spread Communism (Comintern 1919...) and the Western Powers for intervening in the Russian Civil War 1918-1920
1945 - The Yalta (February) and Potsdam (July-August) Conferences
1945 - The London Conference of Foreign Ministers (September - October)
1946 - Churchill's "Iron Curtain speech" at Westminster College, Fulton, Missouri (March)
1947 - The Truman Doctrine (March)
1947 - Cominform (October)
1948 - The Communist take-over of Czechoslovakia
1948 - Marshall Plan / COMECON
1948 - The Berlin Blockade

HOMEWORK 6/5: None!

IB 2 Wednesday 5/5

2010-05-05T22:14:00.000-07:00

LESSON 5/5: I covered the foundation of the DAP/NSDAP:

The German Workers Party (DAP = Deutsche Arbeiter Partei) was founded in January 1919 by Anton Drexler, a Munich locksmith and Karl Herrer, a reporter. They were from the beginning a local party who wanted to get involved in the politics of Bavaria. The Early DAP/NSDAP was mostly an Army Propaganda Unit (led by an extreme nationalist, supported by a paramilitary private army that was ready and willing to overthrow the State)

Adolf Hitler was appointed by the army (July 1919) as a Verbindungsmann (police spy) of an Aufklärungskommando (Intelligence Commando) of the Reichswehr to influence other soldiers. He was also instructed to infiltrate the DAP and investigate their behavior. Hitler joined the DAP in 1919. In March 1920 he was discharged from the Army. His former superiors continued to encourage his political engagement within the party. Hitler had a great talent as an orator, and his ability to draw new members, combined with his characteristic ruthlessness, soon made him the dominant figure in this small party

1920 – February: DAP changed their name to NSDAP (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiter Partei) – the National Socialist German Workers Party. The swastika became a party symbol and they lay out a 25-point party program that included both nationalism:

· Revision of the Versailles Treaty

· The Union of all German speakers into a greater German Reich

· State Control of Propaganda and Press

· The Führerprinzip

· The exclusion of Jews from Citizenship Right

and socialism:

· Nationalize Trusts

· Abolish Land Rents

· Restrict Interests on Loa

· Introduce Profit Sharing in the Industry

· Confiscate Profits made by the Industry during the War

· Create a People’s Army based on the SA

December 1920: NSDAP purchased a weekly newspaper – the Münchener Beobachter (Munich Observer) and made into the Party newspaper – the Völkischer Beobachter (People’s Observer). Secret army funds and a donation from a private person paid for this. Hitler knew the importance of powerful meetings: In February 1921, Hitler spoke before a crowd of nearly six thousand in Munich. To publicize the meeting, he sent out two truckloads of party supporters to drive around with swastikas, cause a commotion and throw out leaflets, their first use of this tactic

After this short introduction to the DAP/NSDAP we started the presentation of "Propaganda". We went through two groups:

Newspaper Article

Nuremberg Rally

HOMEWORK 11/5: We will continue with the presentations next week so your homework is to have these well prepared. You should also browse through the papers I gave you about propaganda in the Third Reich and you need to be able to explain the "Wall Street Crash".

IB2 Tuesday 4/5

2010-05-04T11:17:00.000-07:00

Well - this will be my solution until I can get my homepage going again. You will receive updates on lessons as well as homework and material this way.

LESSON: Today we worked in class. You explained your intentions and showed me different plans, ideas, drawings, etc... I told some of you that I thought it might be a good idea to use PowerPoint or something similar when we present tomorrow. See you in class!

HOMEWORK 5/5: Finish your work and be prepared to present at the beginning of tomorrows lesson!