Cat's World History II Blog

Greetings World History II Learning Community, It was wonderful to see and hear all of your thoughts and research from your papers. Yesterday I shared my “backup” presentation in class, and it was the poster illustration. I’m glad I made a Plan B because the projector was having issues. Good thing it turned out okay! This was supposed to be my initial presentation, so if you have free time you can watch it at the link below: World History II Analytical Paper  Thank you so much to Ciara and everyone who helped make this possible. Have a great weekend, Cat G.

The opening story of Chapter 23 is the story of many women who are victimized by sex trafficking. I read about this in Nicholas Kristoff and Sheryl WuDunn's book, Half the Sky, and it discusses all about how women hold up half the sky, yet they extremely victimized when they are promised jobs as dishwashers in vulnerable times and then forced into prostitution in places such as Cambodia and red light districts where there is a high concentration of sex services in a particular area. This is a result of globalization, the term used to describe the process of interaction and integration of worldwide economies on a global level, driven by international trade and investment. This story illustrates why globalization is controversial. Globalization is a new term, but an old process. Several factors contributed to economic globalization, this process of "immense acceleration in international economic transaction" (Strayer 1024) in the second half of the twentieth century. One

It was exciting to read the heading "1914 - present" because it would mean our reading would become more current. I finally saw a modern photograph, so it was a sign that the chapter would be more relatable. According to Strayer, the age of empire was over because of several international circumstances and social changes. For one, empire was an outdated political order that rejected the view that humanity was divided. Further, European forces of nationalism and democratic values backfired and contributed to colonial disintegration. Europe was weakened by the two world wars, and countries opposed colonialism, sparking anticolonial movements everywhere. Especially in the Asian and African colonies, Western-educated elites had arisen and emphasized independence, backed by public support and agreement. However, despite the common goal for independence, there were obstacles that confronted nationalist movements because there were fragile alliances, people unsure of leadership, and

Global Communism The communist system promised equality and opportunity. It was a system people experimented with, rooted in the ideas of Marx: industrialization and revolution. Personally, I love Marxist theory because I see capitalism as the core cause of class conflict, and the cause the myth of the American Dream that comes up in many discussions. Communism is an extreme form of socialism. Communism rose in several places throughout the world following World War II during the twentieth century, but its primary places were Russia and China. Communist revolutions echoed the French Revolution as there were peasant upheavals because of the unfairness of high social classes with a goal of promoting utmost social equality for the lower classes. I have Communist Manifesto , but I just need time to read it. It is Eurocentric to say that communism has fallen because there are still countries in the world that consider themselves to be communist. When we say this, we are not embracing how

I have heard about Nazi Germany racial laws, but I never actually knew of their details before. Overall, these were extremely racist and anti-Semitic. The fact that Jews had to hide their identity just for the sake of their lives reminds me of when I read Number the Stars by Lois Lowry, a story of a girl of about ten years old living in Nazi Germany. It's been years since I've read it, but I do remember a moment in the book when a young girl removed her Star of Nazareth necklace and hid in the closet from Nazi soldiers. The reading goes into detail about the fake science and justification of scientific racism that motivated Nazi ideology: "Despite the persistent claims of Nazi ideology, there was no scientifically valid basis to define Jews as a race. Nazi legislators looked therefore to family genealogy to define race." This was unfair and dehumanizing. These laws lead to the rise of fascism because they were a form of political system. Hitler's destroying of

Introduction to Part 6: The Most Recent Century (1914 - 2015) I was excited when I saw the more recent, colorized photographs on page 872 because it meant that we would get to explore history from a more current perspective that would be more relatable and understandable. This section provides a nice preview of the world's major events which include World War I, World War II, world communism, and the fall of empires with the fight for independence of colonized regions. Though the length of this era is controversial, the major event of the most recent century was World War I. Because this conflict grew out of European rivalry and failure to achieve a unified civilization, it demonstrates that the events of the most recent century stemmed from older patterns and emerged with new ones. Along with these major social and political events, economically, the nineteenth century experienced a large population growth made possible through advancements in medicine and the soaring of industri