The Cold War

There was a lot of conflict between the military, between Eastern and Western Europe called the iron curtain. Europe had been divided, there was a lot of tension especially in Berlin. The most hunting battle in the cold war era was the one that never happened. It took place in Cuba when Fidel Castro took power in 1959, the nationalization of American assets provoked great U.S. hostility and efforts to over throw his regime. The Americans wanted to overthrow Cuba but the Soviet Union wanted Cuba to turn communist. I think that the U.S. had a fear that that Cuba was going to stay communist and in some way harm them.
There are two failures of the communist experience. the first was economic, communist economics by the late 1970s showed signs of catching up to more advanced capitalist countries. The second failure was moral. The horrors of Stalin's terror and the gulag, of Mao's culture revolution, approaching genocide in communist Cambodia. All this for away at communist clams to moral superiority over capitalism. The communist leaders were aware of this problems but the way they were approached were not the best.

The Collapse and Recovery of Europe

After the war all the soldiers were coming back home, and the government had decided to help them by creating "homes for heroes" which were housing programs. But because of the war the traditional ways had been broken, women's gained the right to vote, and women were expressing more sexuality. At that time women's felt more free after men had left to war, so when men came back women's did not want to go back to what they were before. I think that they wanted to gain more respect and have more rights. The Great Depression in 1929 was a huge loss for everyone even the rich people. For the rich it meant contracting stock prices that wiped out paper fortunes almost overnight. The Great Depression also was the lost of work. Then the second world war was the most destructive conflict in world history , with many deaths around 60 millions. The new technologies of warfare, heavy bombers, jet fighters, missiles, and atomic bomb were the most responsible for all the casualties. Because of the war it drew women into both industry and the military.

Culture during the Colonial era

For a majority of people education meant a new identity, because this gave them the knowledge of reading, and writing. This was like a magical power that they were getting. Education gave access to better-paying positions in government. Education was the secret of richness. For India and Africa European education was an instrument of progress and liberation from the stranglehold of tradition. Even though the africans wanted to learn to become better the europeans still did not see them as men. James Aggrey says" we were created in the image of God, but men have made us think that we were chickens, and we still think we are; but we are eagles. Stretch forth our wings and fly." This meant that after they were getting educated Africans understood that they were not chickens, that they were more than that and they were capable of learning and doing great things. Which I think is true because when people are told they are something and that have no way of knowing they are not they will keep on believing that.

Second Wave of European colonialist. The "Scramble for Africa"

The european motives and activities were shaped by the military capacity and economic power that the Industrial Revolution conveyed. The construction of the second wave European empires in the Afro- Asian wold, empires everywhere. The europeans had a lot of advancement in their military and firepower and machine guns. But why then the europeans would say that they proffered informal control, for it was cheaper and less likely to provoke wars. They still went on and had to fight long and hard to be able to create their new empires