what do you fear?
History
The Cold War
The Cold War is perhaps one of the greatest games of intimidation and fear played between two countries and is the closest the world has even came to nuclear warfare. During World War II, the Soviets and Americans bonded together to defeat Germany. Following the victory over the Germans, the ties between the two nations began to break apart. The biggest question when talking about the Cold War is who started it? Was it the Americans, who ignored security concerns by Russia due to the fact that America possessed the atomic bomb, or was it the Soviets, who took territories and added them to their “Iron Curtain”? Either side could be argued, but the fact is, the Cold War is consisted of series events that were caused by the fear of one side getting too powerful.After World War II, Russia began its expansion. To counter-act this movement and justified by protecting the “free peoples” from the Soviets, America started the policy of “containment”. The Truman Doctrine, created in 1947, was a policy created to contain the Russian expansion by establishing bases, alliances, and giving foreign aid throughout the world to wherever communism was being spread. Containment even went as far as going to war.
An example of containment was The Korean War. In 1945, Russia invaded an occupied northern Korea. As a result, America and Russia agreed to divide Korea in half, the north being communist, and the south being supported by the United Nations. Five years later in 1950, North Korea invaded South Korea, and to stop the spread of Communism, America obtained the consent of the United Nations to intervene. Several months later, the invaders were pushed back to the division between the north and south called the 38th parallel. In the end, the war was compromised with an armistice.
The Cold War continued to 1960s, where we see the Vietnam War, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and many other notable events. Like the Korean War, the Vietnam War was a matter of containment. In 1954, the French were pushed out of Vietnam due to the spread of Communism in the north, therefore, south became an anti-communist Vietnam. In 1964, America came to believe that if South Vietnam were to fall, the rest of south east Asia would follow in its downfall to Communism. This caused America to play an even larger role in the war. Eventually, the war was ended when public opinion in America went against the Vietnam War.
In 1961, a team of Cuban exiles was formed to overthrow Fidel Castro. This invasion of Cuba was called the Bay of Pigs Invasion that proved to be a failure. The failed operation set the tone for the Cuban Missile Crisis. In 1962, Soviets were installing nuclear warheads in Cuba, which were discovered by reconnaissance planes. This was all due to the Russian fear of the United States. America already had missiles in Turkey in the backdoor of Russia. Also, the Russians were behind in the nuclear arms race. Cuba had supported the installment of missiles in their country for security purposes. The installation, however, was thwarted when President John F. Kennedy used the navy to quarantine Cuba, which made the Russian ships carrying the materials needed to complete the installation, to turn around. The whole situation was solved when America promised to remove missiles from Turkey and not to invade Cuba once again.
The Cold War could have been one of history’s major disasters, or one of history’s smallest conflicts whose fate were placed in the hands of a few. If not because of the actions taken by John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev during the Cuban Missile Crisis, our homes would be in ruins today, and the human population could have been extinct. The actions taken by the two countries were definitely influenced by the fear of another being more powerful. What we should learn from this conflict is that, if we can learn to trust one another, fear can be eliminated.
http://zakgriffiths.edublogs.org/page/3/
http://library.thinkquest.org/11046/home_collage3.jpg
http://www.shmoop.com/causes-of-cold-war/summary.html
REA AP European History test prep book
http://www.hpol.org/jfk/cuban/
An example of containment was The Korean War. In 1945, Russia invaded an occupied northern Korea. As a result, America and Russia agreed to divide Korea in half, the north being communist, and the south being supported by the United Nations. Five years later in 1950, North Korea invaded South Korea, and to stop the spread of Communism, America obtained the consent of the United Nations to intervene. Several months later, the invaders were pushed back to the division between the north and south called the 38th parallel. In the end, the war was compromised with an armistice.
The Cold War continued to 1960s, where we see the Vietnam War, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and many other notable events. Like the Korean War, the Vietnam War was a matter of containment. In 1954, the French were pushed out of Vietnam due to the spread of Communism in the north, therefore, south became an anti-communist Vietnam. In 1964, America came to believe that if South Vietnam were to fall, the rest of south east Asia would follow in its downfall to Communism. This caused America to play an even larger role in the war. Eventually, the war was ended when public opinion in America went against the Vietnam War.
In 1961, a team of Cuban exiles was formed to overthrow Fidel Castro. This invasion of Cuba was called the Bay of Pigs Invasion that proved to be a failure. The failed operation set the tone for the Cuban Missile Crisis. In 1962, Soviets were installing nuclear warheads in Cuba, which were discovered by reconnaissance planes. This was all due to the Russian fear of the United States. America already had missiles in Turkey in the backdoor of Russia. Also, the Russians were behind in the nuclear arms race. Cuba had supported the installment of missiles in their country for security purposes. The installation, however, was thwarted when President John F. Kennedy used the navy to quarantine Cuba, which made the Russian ships carrying the materials needed to complete the installation, to turn around. The whole situation was solved when America promised to remove missiles from Turkey and not to invade Cuba once again.
The Cold War could have been one of history’s major disasters, or one of history’s smallest conflicts whose fate were placed in the hands of a few. If not because of the actions taken by John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev during the Cuban Missile Crisis, our homes would be in ruins today, and the human population could have been extinct. The actions taken by the two countries were definitely influenced by the fear of another being more powerful. What we should learn from this conflict is that, if we can learn to trust one another, fear can be eliminated.
http://zakgriffiths.edublogs.org/page/3/
http://library.thinkquest.org/11046/home_collage3.jpg
http://www.shmoop.com/causes-of-cold-war/summary.html
REA AP European History test prep book
http://www.hpol.org/jfk/cuban/
The Reign of Terror (1790s)
During the French Revolution, what most considered the most notorious event that took place during that time period was known as The Reign of Terror. After the uprooting of the former government and last monarch before the french revolution, Louis the XVI, the National Convention took the place of the old monarchy. Under the leadership of Maximilien Robespierre, the Committee of Public Safety, the executive committee of the National Convention, unleashed what the French called the Reign of Terror. The terror was used to exercise fear to a large extent to put down whatever counter-revolution that would threaten the authority of the National Convention. Unlike the Secret Polices in the 20th century, people were not taken prisoner but instead executed by the infamous guillotine. The guillotine was an execution device by which a blade is risen by a rope and dropped on the neck of the victim, therefore, causing decapitation. Executions through guillotine was displayed publicly in order to "educate" the masses, in other words, to terrorize people into doing what Robespierre wants them to do. Victims of the guillotine were largely normal people rather than aristocrats. As a matter of fact, those executed by the guillotine were often people that spoke out against the government. Simply criticizing the government meant that you were a traitor and threatened liberty and freedom, according to Robespierre. The guillotine took the lives of around 30,000 people in France. The first victim of this instrument of terror was Marie Antoinette (the wife of Louis XVI), and the last, Robespierre himself in 1794.
Source: http://www.historywiz.com/terror.htm
-REA AP European History
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillotine
img - http://www.elec-intro.com/reign-of-terror-1794
Source: http://www.historywiz.com/terror.htm
-REA AP European History
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillotine
img - http://www.elec-intro.com/reign-of-terror-1794
Witchcraft Trials
The witch hunts have been around since the golden age of the Roman Empire and has lasted until the mid 1700s. Mass executions of women being accused of witchcraft has resulted in the deaths of thousands of people, the majority of which are women. What is the witch hunt? It is a practice in which people accused of witchcraft are searched for, tried, and most likely executed. What were they caused by? Fear. Fear is related to all the theories out there about the witch hunts. This is because people feared the possibility of unfortunate events happening due to the acts of witches. One infamous account of the witch hunts was in Salem, know as The Salem Witchcraft Trials. This event took place in 1692 during the early beginnings of English colonization of America in a town called Salem Town. Mass hysteria, took hold of the people of the town causing the witchcraft trials to take place. (Hysteria is an uncontrollable fear) 29 people were convicted of witchcraft in this event and executed. Why is this event so popular when only a few were executed compared to the other events that has claimed the lives of hundreds? It is because this case of the witch craft trials has been commonly referred on due to it being the most recent event in the series of witchcraft trials in which religious extremes and false accusations has gone to a new level. Even famous people like Joan of Arc were falsely accused of witchcraft and unjustly executed.
"Region Number of trials Number of executions
British Isles and North America ~5000 ~1500–2000
Empire (Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland, Lorraine, Austria and Czech) ~50000 ~25000–30000
France ~3000 ~1000
Scandinavia ~5000 ~1700–2000
Eastern Europe (Poland and Lithuania, Hungary and Russia) ~7000 ~2,000
Southern Europe (Spain, Portugal and Italy) ~10000 less than 1000 Total: ~80000 ~35000"
http://allformsareknown.wordpress.com/2010/07/30/salem-witch-trials/
http://departments.kings.edu/womens_history/witch/worigin.html
http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/salem.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witch-hunt#History
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salem_witch_trials
