Monday:
End of the Cold war:
- Mikhail Gorbachev comes to power
- Perestroika and Glasnost
- Berlin Wall comes down: symbol of the end of the cold war (iron curtain)
- Boris Yeltsin: first elective president in Russia, 1991-1999
Why did the US win the Cold war:
- we had close ties with our allies, the USSR didn't
- China started siding with us after 72
- the Soviet economy was in shambles whereas the was flourishing
- we had a string military
- high inflation
- social problems
- Gorbachev's willingness for change and reform
- Arms reduction talks
- SALT, INF, Reagan-Gorbachev meetings
- Soviet mistakes
- invasion of Afghanistan
- ignoring social concerns
- spent everything on military
Post-Cold war:
- 1990's: the world seemed to be a much more peaceful place
Impact of the fall of communism on Europe:
- New countries broke out of the USSR
- Estonia, Latvia, Ukraine, Georgia,...
- East and west Germany re-united in 1990
- Rise of democracy and capitalism Rise of Islamic groups: Taliban and al-Quaeda
- Wars and ethnic cleansing
United States was the only super power left
9-11:
- Al-Quadea took over planes and drove them into World Trade Center, Pentagon, Capitol Building (instead they into a filed in Shanksville)
- 3,000 people died
- see Mr. Bruns notes
Tuesday:
Civil rights:
Definition:
- The national effort made by African American people and their support in the 1050's and 60's to eliminate segregation and gain equal rights
History:
- 100 years after the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed all slaves
- segregation in school and business
- not allowed to vote
Important people:
- Martin Luther King Jr.
- was assassinated by James Earl Ray, he was a target by white racists
- Baptist Minister
- Co-Founder the Southern Christian
- wasn't violent
- Rosa Parks
- Refused to give up a bus seat for a white man; was a planed action
- had to go to prison
- Malcolm X
- American Muslim minister and Human Rights Activist, was more violent
- Beyard Rustin
- Co-Founded southern Christian Leadership Conference
- helped Martin Luther King Jr.
Major Event:
- Selma
- African American in the south would march from Selma to Montgomery to protest voting rights
- three attempts
- "Bloody Sunday"
- March on Washington
- Martin Luther gave his "I have a dream speech"
- Montgomery Bus Boycott
- lasted for 381 days
- Central High school
- First integrated school in the south
Acts and Laws:
- Brown vs. Board Education
- ended legal segregation of schools
- Bailey vs. Patterson:
- banned segregation of public transportation
- Civil Rights act:
- Prohibited discrimination in many ways (in voting, public accommodations, public facilities, public education and employments)
- established EEOC (equal employment)
- Voting rights act:
- prohibited the denial of the vote and forbids discriminatory voting
- Loving vs. Virginia
- Legalized interracial marriage
Kennedy assassination:
Background:
- first 62% were unhappy with Kennedy's politic on Cuba and the Bay of Pics
- people liked how he handled the Cuban missile crises
Assassination:
- November 22, 1963 in Dallas Texas
- the bullets went through his head
Lee Harvey Oswald:
- was accused of killing Kennedy
- Shot a police officer
- got escorted into prison
- there was another gunman
Wednesday:
Zapruder's Film
- One of the most famous films in history
- showing the assassination of Kennedy
Top 5 conspiracies:
- The soviet
- The Mafia
- The Cubans
- Lyndon Johnson
- The CIA
History of al-Qaeda and Terrorism against the USA:
What is al-Qaeda:
- Al Qaeda means "The Base"
- world wide terrorist network
- were led by Osama bin Laden
- now leader is Ayman al-Zawahiri
- Were founded in the 1980's when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan
Desert Storm: in 1990
- One of the reasons why 9/11 happened
- we were concerned that Iraq would invaded Saudi-Arabia because of their oil resources
- al-Qaeda started hating us, because we had troops there
Thursday:
Why did these people want to attack America:
- they think our freedom is our weakness
- because the way the US and its allies treat the Muslim world; we treat them as second class people, as a little brother
- US has military bases almost everywhere
USA in Somalia:
- Dec 4 1992, Bush sends 28,000 troops american troops to Somalia
- Bush wanted to help Somalia, because all attempts to send food were intercepted by war lords
- that led to Black Hawk down:
- Helicopter was shot down by terrorists
- the US thinks al Qaeda trained the terrorists in Somalia
Afghanistan:
- 1996: Taliban comes to power
- radical Muslims
- harsh and repressive government
- drug trade (Heroin) -> Famine
- extreme poverty
- Public executions
- destroyed Buddha statues
- Taliban did not plan the 9/11 attacks, but they let Bin Laden operate in Afghanistan and refuse to turn him over to the US
Fatwa:
- In August 1998: Al Qaeda, led by Bin Laden declared war on US
- first bombing: Embassy Bombings in 1998, in Kenya and Tanzania; 220 people were killed
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed:
- he planed the 9/11 attack
- he is still waiting trial in Cuba
Bush Doctrine:
- US had the right to secure itself against countries that harbor or give aid to terrorist groups
Operation Enduring Freedom:
- Invaded Afghanistan (Oct 7, 2001)
- Mission: Capture Osama bin Laden, destroy al Qaeda network; remove Taliban Regime
What are the problems:
- Friend or Foe?
- Suicide Bombers
- Drug Trade
- Famine
- Never known democracy
- extreme Islamic groups (Taliban and al Qaeda)
- Border crossing
Friday:
Troops and Obama:
- Obama focused on the war in Afghanistan more than Bush
- At the end of 2016 our troops should be out
Iraq
- Different war than Afghanistan
- in 1979 the Ba'ath party came to power (Saddam Hussein was the leader)
- after invasion in 2003 by American and British forces the Ba'ath party was removed from power
Genocide against the Kurd's:
- Saddam Hussein killed 200,000 Kurds, because he didn't like them
- December 30, 2006 was hanged
We didn't leave right away. because:
- Civil war broke out, between 3 different groups of religion
- In 2011 we left
- 2014 Obama sent military advisers back, they are training the Iraq military how to fight the ISIS
Persian Gulf War:
- August of 1990 Iraq invaded and annexed Kuwait, because of the oil
- Goal for UN: free Kuwait
- went successful
- relationship between us and Iraq went down because of this
- led to 2003 war
Operation Desert Shield:
- US troops went to Saudi-Arabia to prevent Iraq invading
- easy victory
consequences on Iraq:
- we would not trade with them
- Iraq had to agree to let weapons inspectors in their country; didn't work out, Iraq kicked them out couple of times and let them back in; then eventually we invaded them and war broke out
- no fly zone; Iraq had special zones where they weren't allowed to have military
Iraq War 2003 - 2011
Main causes:
- We believed that Iraq had weapons which weren't allowed (Nuclear, Weapons of Mass destruction)
- -> We invaded, but we never found any nuclear weapons
- Hussein sent out false information and wanted countries to know they "have nuclear weapons", because they didn't wanted Iran to invade them
- we brought down Hussein and set up a democracy in Iraq
Other "possible" causes:
- Some think Hussein support al Qaeda
- Iraqi government human right abuse
- wanted to spread democracy to the country
- oil interests
- president Bush wanted to fix what his dad messed up
Issues in Iraq after invasion
- violence against coalition forces
- violence between different religious group, civil war
- Al Qaeda came into Iraq (today know as ISIS)
- Bush wasn't prepared for the time after taking down Hussein
Comments