Joseph Stalin and Totalitarianism

Totalitaranism is when one person has total control of his citizens. He has control of every aspect of their lives such as what jobs they get, how many childern they can have and the food they eat. You also have control of the media and have secret police everywhere to do what you want. Stalin used totalitaranism to control everybody. Stalin wanted to make sure that everywhere knew who he was and obey only him. In order to do this, he had to take control of the media and had assigned secret police to arrest anyone suspected of treason. The Five Year Plans was when Stalin wanted to industralize the country. He tried to catch up to what he said was"50-100 years" behind on technology. He took control of the farms and sent farmers to concentration camps. The Great Purge is when Joesph Stalin believed that his supporters were trying to kill him. He systemically killed his supporters and commanders of the army. It is believed that he killed about half of the Communist Party.

Film Lesson: Doctor Zhivago

Doctor Zhivago depicted the revolution because the Russian people were beginning to get dragged into a war with Germany that they were sure to lose. The Russian people wanted a change because the Czar was treating them unfairly. The Revolution also had some outside help. When Russia lost the battle between the Japanese, the Russian people lost faith. When they backed out of WWI , they gave up chunks of land to their allies and Germany. The revolution also happened because the Russian people went to the Czars house,they were all killed. The film depicted communism because of Lenin and his brother that was part of the red army. Dr. Zhivago got a taste of communism when he returned home because he had his house being shared and his things being given away.

Causes of WW1

Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austrian-Hungarian was in Sarajevo when a Serbian student shot him. This sent all of Europe into war. When Austria-Hungarian found out, they were angry. They invaded Saravejo and sent them a list of demands. If they didn't follow what was there, they would be in war. Russia had a alliance with Saravejo but backed down when they found out that Germany has a alliance with Austria-Hungary. The goverment of Saravejo wanted to change some demands but Austria wasn't going to do that so they declared war on Saravejo. This sent a ripple effect. Austria also declared war on Russia and France and in turn Germany did also. Another cause of the war is when Germany tried to compete with the British in making naval ships, that only intestified the feelings to each other. Another reason is many of the countries sent their troops to the front lines just in case but many took that as the war beginning and sent whatever they had to the front also.