Ch 22 pg 675-689

            As a result of American and British desires to create democratic societies while Soviets insisted control over Eastern Europe, rival military alliances formed known as NATO and the Warsaw Pact.  The disagreements between Eastern and Western Europe become known as the Iron Curtain that had high tension but no shooting war occurred.  According to American authorities a communist victory meant that communist would spread further across Asia and beyond because they feared nothing considering the Soviets and Chinese were partners.  The third major military conflict of the cold war happened in Afghanistan where a Marxist party had taken power.  Though, fearing the overthrow of a new communist state, Soviets forces finally withdrew from the area.  Then not too long after America attempted to enter Cuba but the Soviets already had control over it.  So, in an attempt to keep the Americans out they threatened to fire missiles but the J.F.K maybe a compromise.  He promised not to invade Cuba if the Soviets promised to remove their missiles out of Cuba.

            During this time, many lived in fear of the deadly weapons that each country carried and threatened to use if one place stepped out of line.  This possibility, according to Strayer, is a primary reason why no shooting war of any kind occurred between the two superpowers, the United States and the Communist World.  There are two big failures that the Communist party faced.  The first is how the Soviet economy expressed no signs of improvement compared to the more advanced capitalist countries.  The second is was moral.  The horrors of Stalin’s Terror and the gulag approaching genocide in communist Cambodia tore apart communist claims to moral superiority over capitalism.

Chapter 22 pg. 659-667

Karl Marx is the man who influenced the political and philosophical teachings modern communism.  Communism was at its prime in the 1970s where about one-third of the world’s population lived under communist rule.  This was commonly found in the Soviet Union and in China but it also made its way over to Eastern Europe.  There were different interpretations of communism but they shared the common ideology derived from European Marxism.  This influenced the lower classes and a worldwide socialist federation to bond together to form an international revolutionary movement.  The Russian Revolution served as a catalyst for others to revolt while providing them with aid and advice.  Soon, a Treaty of Friendship between the Soviet Union and China in 1950 joined the two communist giants in an alliance that caused many in the West to view communism as a unified international movement aimed at their destruction.

The Russian Revolution is like an echo of French Revolution because the people wanted their freedom and to treated as equals.  The beneficiaries of the French Revolution, the middle class, suffered due to rise of communism.  At an attempt to put an end to the threatening communistic ways, America created the Marshall Plan in attempts to be friendly with the USSR but they quickly caught on to the Americans and the plan failed.  Stalin, head of the USSR, acted to install fully communist governments, loyal to himself, in Poland, East Germany, Czech, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria.  Many years following the likes of the Russians, the Chinese experienced an on-going battle with communism that took decades to achieve.  The Chinese imperial system had collapsed under the pressure of foreign imperialism.  This took much longer to achieve because in Russia they have been studying and following Karl Marx for years while China had only recently discovered it making it difficult to gain as many followers as Russia did.

Chapter 21

In chapter 21, I learned about the collapse and recovery of Europe.  During the First World War, the balance of power was expressed in two rival alliances, the Triple Alliance of Germany, Austria, and Italy and the Triple Entente of Russia, France, and Britain.  The outbreak of the war is considered an accident because no one predicted the archduke’s assassination would have occurred.  Schools, mass media, and military service had convinced millions of ordinary Europeans that their national identities were profoundly and personally meaningful.  Not only was their public pressure but an industrial militarism contributing to the war.  Each place had substantial standing armies and, expect for Britain, relied on temporary military service to help them.  New military technology contributed to the staggering casualties of the war, including some 10 million deaths.  At the beginning it was thought to be movements and attacks but instead it became “trench warfare.”  These battles would last for months which resulted in over a million deaths.  Vast propaganda campaigns sought to arouse citizens by depicting a cruel and inhuman enemy who killed innocent children and violated women.  So, the First War brought the attention of how much power the United States has because they were a big part of the Defeat of Germany.

Since the World War One represented the political collapse of Europe, the Great Depression that followed suggested that its economic system was to fail as well.  During the Great Depression created a ripple effect of negative events on the country.  First people lost their jobs, with no jobs people soon lost their homes, and then they would starve because they had zero money.  Vacant factories, soup kitchens, bread lines, shantytowns, and beggars came to symbolize the human reality of this economic disaster.  Then shortly after World War One, the Nazi party under Hitler’s leadership proclaimed a message of intense German nationalism cast in terms of racial superiority.  Hitler’s hatred towards Jews as an alien presence, passionate opposition to communism, a determination to rescue Germany from the humiliating requirements of the Treaty of Versailles all lead to the country’s obsession with control.  Then the Second World War started between both Asia and Europe because they sought to fundamentally alter the international arrangements that had emerged from World War One.  The Second World War was the most destructive because they had an estimated 60 million deaths which is six times the deaths in World War One.  A good portion of that number were civilians caught in the cross fire and about 6 million were Jews that perished in a technologically sophisticated genocide (concentration camps).  Russians, Poles, and other Slavs; Gypsies, or the Roma; mentally or physically handicapped people; homosexuals; communists; and Jehovah’s witnesses also perished while Germany attempted to reach racial purification.

Living Justice: sec 1 & 7

The Dignity of Every Person and Human Rights

            There is no culture or religion that does not in some way express the value of human life.  The Catholic Church has actively promoted human dignity both in individual moral choices and in the ethical practices of entire societies.  The main point the Church makes in how all humans are made in the image and likeness of God.  In their own ways, all humans reflect the image of God in their rational minds and in their physical bodies.  This means they are all entitled to be treated with the greatest of respect and dignity.  The text almost mentions how humans deserve the care and attention that belong to beings of inestimable worth.  This means that all people, no matter who you are or where you come from, deserve to be treated with inalienable respect as children of God.  The Catholic Church is amazing as staying with a consistent ethic of life because they boldly promote pro-life on multiple controversial issues, advocating respect for all human life.  It is also important to remember to express equality because the race for income, wealth, and status does not take place on a level playing field because opportunities are never evenly distributed.

Colonialism and Economic Development

            As a result of the Catholic Churches persistence on equality the Church is entering a long and complex process to bring fairer treatment for less-developed nations.  The text states that the focus is on formal patterns of colonization, while other observers express concern about less obvious but equally malevolent practices described as neo-colonialism or neo-imperialism.  Some regions of the world suffer serious unfair disadvantages.  Even after gaining political independence the nation does not know what to do with it because the economies of these lands have been warped by prolonged experiences of dependency and domination.  Since these nations have experienced patterns of inequality for so long, the terms social sin or structural evil have been applied to them in recent Catholic ethical thought.  Besides, the exploration of the Europeans into the New World, like Africa and Asia, the priests, preachers, and missionaries that traveled with the explorers sought to spread Christianity to indigenous peoples where ever they went.

Chapter 20 Part 2: Education, Religion, Identity

         There are multiple cultural changes occurred after the Europeans conquered Asia and Africa because initially, the colonial enterprise appeared promising.  Western education made its moves through missionary or government schools.  To those that were uneducated, many believed having the intelligence to read and write was like possessing magic.  Being intelligent meant escaping from the European rule like having to do labor work.  So, many look up to the Europeans who spoke French or English and wear fancy clothes.  Over in northeastern India would even brag about dreaming in English.  During nineteenth century India, the western educated people sought to change the cultural traditions while keeping classic texts of Hinduism alive.

            Not only did the style of education change but religion also provided a basis for a new or transformed society.  Christianity made a huge impact on New Zealand, the Pacific Islands, and especially non-Muslim Africa.  By the 1960s nearly 50 million Africans identify as being Christian.  This was a result of military use that defeated the societies which had the people questioning the power of their old gods and local practices.  Christianity was so widespread because of modern education of mission schools.  The young, poor, and many women discovered greater opportunities for themselves when they studied with missions.  Though, some would still keep to their origins which resulted in the development of independent churches that were, still Christian, but on African rule.

            Also, in Africa, developed new ways of belonging that confronted colonial life.  Race and ethnicity were the main concerns for the African culture thus creating the idea of an “African Identity.”  These members were brought together by language, common colonial oppression, and European racism.   The well-educated Africans began to think differently causing an effort to revive the cultural self-confidence of their people.  Black people have a history of achieving just as many great things as Europeans and they deserve more respect than they have been receiving.

Colonial Encounters (pg. 589-606)

When the Spanish and Portuguese did their best to conquer the Western Hemisphere, places like Germany, Italy, Belgium, the United States, and Japan focused their attention on Asia and Africa. European motives and activities were shaped by the military capacity and economic power.  Like most places, they used military forces to push their way into multiple countries.  At first the European military advantage lay in organization and command structure.  The Europeans fought hard for the new territories that they wish to take.  They mainly took over the adversaries who did not have greater or equal gun power as the Europeans.  Close to everyone in large and complex civilizations of India and Southeast Asia lost the political sovereignty and freedom of action they had previously exercised.  In places like India and Indonesia the colonial conquest grew out of earlier interaction with European trading firms.  For example, the British East India Company played the leading role in the colonial takeover of South Asia.  With many places constantly attempting to make an impact on Indonesia, some areas held out until the early twentieth century.

            This process evolved an ongoing number of peaceful meetings to negotiate trade and land among the competing Great Powers.  The most challenging places to take were those that contained decentralized societies because Europeans were unable to communicate to any form of authority for them to defeat.  So, in the end, it was up to the villages and towns to defend themselves from being taken over.  One British official commented on how he wished they didn't have to destroy a village in order to take control but they saw no other option.  Though, one clear option would have been for the Europeans to not be so greedy and to live with the space that they have.  Neither the Europeans nor any other country have to invade on anyone’s territory, taking away many peoples sense of security.