Film Lesson: Doctor Zhivago

The film Doctor Zhivagho depicts the Russian Revolution because it brings about many themes on the war.

Causes of WWI

The Opium Wars

The Opium war was based on the British forcing its way for trading opium for tea into China. The British wanted China to trade with them, but China refused to do so because they believed they were self-sufficient and independent. China produced their own goods for their people and had no needs to trade for other's produced goods. Once China agreed to trade with the British they wanted silver in return for their tea. The British were then obligated to trade their silver for the Chinese tea. As time went on the British were running out of silver and they were left with the burden of finding another produced good to trade for tea. The British then introduced their new good to China, which was opium. The people of China welcomed the opium and became addicted to the drug. The economy of China soon began to change, the farmers began lacking in producing farm goods for the people, and the Chinese army soon began to crumble or break down. When the emperor of China realized the breakdown of the economy was caused by this drug opium, he sent a letter out to Queen Victoria, but the letter never made it to her. The British refused to stop distributing the drug to China and they were forced to take action by burning the opium trade ports. As a result of the action the Chinese took, Britain declared war. Britain had more advanced battle warfare tactics that resulted in a easy victory against China.

"The White Man's Burden"

The "white man's burden" is a poem based on imperialism. It was written based on the war of the U.S. trying to take control of the Philippines, this was during the Spanish-American war. It's a description on the task the white men are obligated to take in order to take action on the take over of other countries. I agree with the poem because it describes how the white people tried to take over weaker countries. America is still living the "white man's burden" today because even though America has won the war in Iraq, our armies still continue to take action towards their obligation on changing the Iraq government.

"The Scramble for Africa"

The European people believed that their race was superior to any other race in the world. They believed that it was their duty to take over other countries to expand the European race. One country the Europeans believed they could've conquered was the continent of Africa. When Europe's control over Africa expanded, many European nations wanted area of their own ruling. Many of the European nations then started controlling many parts of Africa. Major European nations that had control of areas in Africa were France, Britain, Portugal, Belgium, Germany, Italy, and Spain. They would take control of these areas in Africa because of their rich natural resources. These nations would use these natural resources to produce products to sell to the people of Europe and as well as the people of Africa. The nations would also take control of these areas because the more land they owned, the more power they had. They were able to dominate Africa so easily due to their advanced technology. They had the advantage over them because Africa was a lot weaker. Some African tribes also gave up their land to the European nations so that they wouldn't take it by force. The aftermath of the scramble had major effect on the African people because many tribes of Africa were separated into different portions due to the boundaries created by the European nations.

Film Lesson: "Mountains of the Moon"

As the Europeans explored Africa, they faced many hardships. Throughout their journey they would encounter random brutal attacks from other African tribes that would force them to abandon their journey. They would come across a number of dangerous ferocious wild animals like lions and tigers, but didn't cause any deaths. The slaves that were brought on the trip would also cause hardships, stealing goods and food and running away with it. The conditions that the ground was in were horrible, with big rocks that would interfere. The weather would also be a major factor to effect the slaves during the exploration that would cause deaths and less help for the rest of the trip. Many things hurt the exploration on the search of the source of the Nile River, due to all these negative aspects it slowed the journey down, but they still managed to get through it all. It's strange that the source of the Nile River is named after a British Queen because the lake is located in Africa. The founders of the lake were European, therefore they named it after their queen. Its all due to imperialism. They had the power to overcome Africa because they had more power and the right to name it of their choice. And still today, the lake is called Lake Victoria. The European had a primary technological advantage over the African people which were mainly weapons, medicine, and utensils. They had a lot more power due to advanced weapons such as guns. They had a lot more food, medicine, and utensils for survival and power over the African people. Due to all this the Europeans eventually were able to conquer Africa. They had no defense to help them counter back. This is another example of imperialism. Europeans had the upper hand, with more power, to take over the more weaker, which was Africa.

The Meiji Restoration of Japan

Japan is a archipelago because it is made up of many islands. Before Japan opened its trade routes to any other foreign countries they were isolated. In their state of being isolated they had no contact or communication with countries. Due to the fact that they were isolated for so long, they were trapped in time with their old technology, not knowing about all the new technology that was actually out there. Mathew Perry bullied Japan into signing a trade treaty due to their opposition towards the American. When Mathew Perry brought the ships to the ports of Japan, the Japanese were shocked to see the technology the Americans had, such as steamboats and rifles. The American needed to Japan to open their trade ports so that American ships could use Japan as a refill station. American ships would use these ports to refill in food, water, and coal. During the Meiji Era, Japan threw away the whole idea of feudalism. In 1668, the emperor Mutsuhito took back his thrown in Japan. He believed in order for Japan to be equal in political and economically was by sending Japanese scholars to America to learn and bring back the Western ways to Japan. They began to modernize and industrialize by the teachings of the Western ways. The scholars brought back the ways of industrializing railroads and factories to produce goods.