Mikhail Gorbachev and The Collapse of Communism

Mikhail Gorachev was a young leader to the old and conservative Soviet Union. His new ideas and vision as opposed to the old views of Stalin were considered to be a way out of their situation. He introduced a policy of glasnost which was a policy of openness or freedom of speech. Under the old government there was no right to speak. With the thoughts of his people in his mind he had passed the policy of perestroika which gave people to own and open small private businesses. This was the plan of Econmical Reconstruction or like a communist industrial revolution. Gorachev unknowingly opened the door to the collapse of communism. With this policy Gorachev also was able to lossen the elections and lost many satellite states.

The Collapse of Communism

During the Cold War the USSR and the U.S. were the world's leading superpowers. After WW2 these two world powers were competing in a race. Both of them being world powers and armed with atomic weapons they did not get in to any actual fighting. The mere cost of keeping up with each other was high for both countries. For the USSR it was to much. Their economy soon collapsed at the high price of competing with the U.S. With the collapse of the USSR the communist countries that they supported soon also collapsed due to the fact that their main source of money came from Soviet Russia. The collapse of the USSR destroyed many economies around the world. The collapse of the USSR gave a response out to the world. The fall of the Berlin Wall raised the iron curtain that had fallen on Europe ever since WW2. Cuba which was one of Russia's allies due to it's location near Florida. The collapse made the U.S. the world's only leading superpower and reshaped Europe again.

Nelson Mandela and Apartheid

There is no place in the world today where segregation has not hit. In the Continent of Africa, segregation was a major issue. In South America the government there adapted a policy of apartheid. This was a policy of segregation which was similar to the Jim Crow Laws in the Southern U.S. after the civil war. This was in the common sense to stop the majority which were non-white from voting and having a say in their country. Southern Africa was lead by Nelson Mandela and others in their fight for a free and equal South Africa. Today Nelson Mandela is a symbol of hope like Dr.King and Gandhi who have become the peoples voice wherever there is apartheid or racial injustice. Nelson Mandela is considered a National Hero, not because he had freed his country of South Africa but rather because he did not give up. He and many others were the immovable objects that nothing as strong as European Imperialism could move. He was the cornerstone of the South African people and was elected President in South Africa's first free election in 1994.

African Independence

Africa was not always into the many countries that it is today. Before during the gold rush and European imperialism the European countries came to Africa and started making their colonies. This upset the African people because their borders were being defined by the will of those new to their countries. The African people also had no say in their government. This was one of the more critical parts that had affected the African people because they were supposed to abide by laws that they had no say in which were created by a government in which they had no voice in. Many new African nations were formed after WW2 mainly because of the fact that the European countries had no money left to control these countries.

Many African countries demanded thier independence. These countries had many fighting for their freedom. Some of who include Leopold Senghor, Kwame Nkrumah, Jomo Kenyatta, Nelson Mendela and mony more. All these leaders felt the need to free their country and to do it without the use of violence like Gandi. In the end many of their efforts had worked and their countries were free.