Angelina's Global Blog

The Collapse Of Communism

2010-05-11T12:27:00.000-07:00

The collapse of Communism was a slow yet expected. It was expected to be known as the "perfect" government policy. As you can already tell, this was not the case. Communism collapsed because of many reasons. One of them was the president named Mikhail. (you can read about him in the blog before this one) He refused to send any of his troops to their rescue because of all the opposition. The government was also losing a ton of its money as well as its power. Not only that but organizations that had the help of the United States greatly discouraged communism. NATO especially was one of them. They helped the communist people see just how good capitalism was. They showed how we got all types of products in so much variety and things of the sort.
One thing that really got in the was of spreading capitalism was the Berlin Wall. It separated the communism countries from the capitalist countries. It was considered an iron curtain to ward off the opposition. Finally it went down and Eastern Europe was able to spread its capitalism influence elsewhere.
Once capitalism started spreading and communism collapsed, the Soviet Union was no more. Since communism was no longer there there was no need for the Soviet Union. It changed the world because as soon as it was gone more and more countries around the world that were communist changed to a capitalism system.

Mikhail Gorbachev and the Collapse of Communism

2010-05-07T11:10:00.000-07:00

Mikhail Gorbachev was able to clear up a path to the end of communism. He was praised for his youth and his strong political experience. After a while, he was voted as the the political secretary. All pulitboro gave their support for mild reform in the Soviet Union. At age 54 he became voted as one of the youngest Soviet leaders. He lived during the time of Stalins harsh rule. When he became voted as the newest leader, he had no intention of continuing Stalin's "useless" way of rule. He decided to pursue new ideas. He wanted to encourage the citizens to give him new ways of improving their society. Because of this, many new changes were made. Churches were able to open, Dissidents were realeased from prison and books that were once banned were put in bookshelves. Many of the citizens were finally able to complain about all the economic problems. These were some of the different ways that Mikhail Gorbachev was able to pave the road to ending communism. Its about time that it happened as well. The government was very unfair to its people.

Glasnost was a policy created by Mikhail. It was another word for "openness". It was a way to get the citizens of the Soviet Union to tell them any ways they could try to improve their society. This is what brought a lot of change to society. Some good, some of it bad.

Peristrokia was the idea of economic reconstructing. Mikhail wanted to find new ways to revive the Soviet economy. Local managers finally gained greater authority over factories and farms. They were also able to open up their own small business .

Nelson Mandela and Apartheid

2010-04-29T11:06:00.000-07:00

The Apartheid is the racial segregation policy of South America. All people who were considered non-whites did not have the same rights as those who where "white". For example, African Americans were not allowed to vote in the parliament. Public bathrooms and certain places were also reserved for one race only. It literally meant "seperate development of races". Government prohibited mixed marriages. Many of those who opposed Apartheid were banned. It got so bad that even some of the opposition leaders were killed.

Nelson Mandela was one of those blessed people that opposed the horrible rule of the Apartheid. He grew up in the streets of South America, where drinking out of the wrong water fountain could get u in jail. He started out as a leader in the African National Congress. Unfortunately his work was cut short when he was sentenced to death. He continued to give his people hope. After 27 years, he was released from jail and the Apartheid was over. Nelson was awarded the nobel peace prize and voted as president of South America. He is admired greatly for the hope he gave his people while he was in jail. They were happy for the freedom they received from the Apartheid.

African Independence

2010-04-28T11:07:00.000-07:00

According to the map that is shown, Africa has changed tremendously in only 20 years. In 1955, Africa was practically overthrown by the European nations. Almost all its countries were ruled by the European people. The only countries that were not under European rule were Libya, Egypt, Ethiopia, as well as South Africa. By the time 1975 came rolling in, Almost all the countries that were ruled over, were free from European rule. Before all these countries gained their independence, Europeans marched in to take all the natural resources that Afreica was naturally known for. Many of the Africans were angry that their own homeland was taken over. They wanted to either chase all the Europeans away. If they had to, they also resorted to killing. A few of the Africans did not really mind the Europeans taking over because the Europeans gave them many new thing. They built hospitals, schools and other helpful places for the Africans. Eventually, the Africans grew tired and worked really hard to gain their independence. They succeeded very well too.

One of the most memorable leaders of African independence was Jomo Kenyatta. He grew up studying very hard and gaining a proper education. He eventually became a carpenter but continued studying politics. When the Europeans invaded his homeland, he realized how unfair they were treating his people. He also realized that they were trying to change their government into that of communism. He went to Europe to try to persuade them to give his people their well deserved freedom. He was put in jail for 7 years. When he got out of jail, Africa was soon freed from the European influence. He was voted as the president of Kenya.

Film Lesson: "The Right Stuff"

2010-04-14T11:08:00.000-07:00

This was has to honestly be one of my favorite films i have watched. This was about the space race to space and into the moon. The United States and Russia were the two countries competing to get into space first. As i was watching this film, i realized that Russia was the one who initially won this space race.The first race was to get the first man into space. We succeeded with sending a monkey into space but a few weeks later (i think it was 2) Russia got the first man into space. It was then that we lost this first race. The second race was to get someone on the moon. This was where we claimed our first victory. We got the first man on the moon so we won right there!

This movie showed a lot of great scenes. One of my favorite scenes was when they broke the sound barrier. America accomplished such a feat that day. This goes to show how advanced our technology was. The other scenes were when both the United States and Russia tried to send different rockets into space. America really failed at sending those rockets up to space. Once Russia sent up their rocket, America tried so hard to send rockets up to space until they finally succeeded. Eventually they caught up and won the space race.

NATO and The Warsaw Pact

2010-04-12T10:28:00.000-07:00

NATO stood for North Atlantic Treaty Organization. This group included countries in both North America and Europe. The main reason for this group was defense. If one of the countries were to be attacked by a nation the other NATO countries could come to their aid. Europe still had many economic problems so the United States were able to help them out and give them supplies. This could help both countries, if their is good cooperation between the two, to rebuild ther cities faster. Many of them felt threatened by an attack from the Soviet so the importance of the NATO grew.

The Warsaw Pact included the Soviet Union and its satllite countries. It was supposed to be another defensive group but was created in response to NATO. Here, they dominated the alliance. They kept their military personnel and kept on running socialist governments. They renewed in 1985 for another 20 years. In the 1980's the organization weakened severely. Troops were being withdraw from countries.In 1991 the Pact decided to disperse.

Film Lesson: "Night and Fog"

2010-03-24T11:13:00.000-07:00

"Night and Fog"was also another powerful movie about the holocaust. I found this film to be powerful when it came to describing what took place in the death camp of Auchwits.
It was very similar to the the other film called "Schindler's List". Both of these films are actually very similar. Some scenes are even almost actually alike. There was this one scene where the people were being loaded onto the train. Inboth films, we see the Jews slowly being loaded onto the train by the Nazi guards. Their faces are all filled with a sense of hopelessness. That alone was enough to simply bring tears to ones face.
As powerful as this film was, I must admit that the other film I watched was way more powerful. "Schindler's List" showed how the holocaust took place a lot more effectively. That filmed showed what happened to the Jews when they were being brutally tortured by th Nazis. Innocent people were being shot just for running away from them or disobeying a single stupid order. What really tugged at me the most was the children. They were being taken away from their mothers and families. These children didn't even know that they were being taken away to be killed. Their mother's knew this but not the children. Some children were smart enough to find a secure place to hide. Unfortunately many never made it out alive. I hope something like this will never happen again.

Film Lesson: "Schindler's List"

2010-03-23T11:08:00.000-07:00

"Schindler's List" has to be one of the most influencial movies I have ever watched. It sends such a powerful message to those who watch it. This movie displayed the Holocaust perfectly. You saw the Nazis round up all the Jews and take them away to concentration camps. Those who were not needed or disobeyed the Nazi orders were shot on the spot. The others that couldn't work were taken away to be shot, gased, and burned. It was such a horrific sight to see.
For me, the most powerful scene was when they loaded up the useless people and children into the vans to be taken away. They never knew that this would be the last time they would see the light of day. What really pained me the most was when all the mothers saw the children being taken away from them. They desperately tried to reach their children but were held back.
I think all the images i have seen from the movie will stay with. After watching such cruelty unfold, it is really difficult to let any of those images go. Some of the very grusonme images are kind of glued to my head. Just the thought of seeing someones head getting pierced by a bullet is enough to make me want to puke.
This film is way more powerful to me than "Night Of Fog". I say this, because "Night Of Fog" was simply a documentary. It only showed us pictures of those who died and how the death camps looked like. This movie shows people getting shot, burned, and tortured. "Schindler's List" shows so much power that it's hard to even describe.

The Treaty of Versailles (ended WW I)

2010-02-25T11:05:00.000-08:00

After the end of World War I, Germany suffered the heaviest burden. Since their side lost the war, Germany had no choice but to sign the horrible Treaty of Versailles. This Treaty declared that everything that happened during the war was Germany's fault. This meant that Germany had to pay for all the damages done to the allies. Germany also lost 10% of their land. The loss of both land and massive amounts of money completely destroyed the economy. One thing that really destroyed Germany is that all the lands they conquered overseas were taken away from them. Everything that belonged to them was taken a divided among the the allies. Since they lost so much land after the war, 12.5% of the German population found themselves outside the German border.

I think this has to be the most unfair treaty i have ever heard of. Come on people! Why the heck would you blame just one country for a whole war. Sure, Germany caused a lot of casualties to the allies and all its supporting troops but they didn't cause all the casualties. The allies also called just as much damage as the Germans. They also killed thousands of innocent German lives. I say they should both be equally punished. They both deserve severe consiquences, not just one.

They say it was the Treaty of Versailles that caused the rise of Hitler. I agree. After such a horrible loss, Germany wanted to redeem themselves. They needed a strong leader. It was Hitler who showed them that. They easily let him grab power and brought them up again but never realized how insane he was until it was to late.

Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk) and the Modernization of Turkey

2010-02-24T11:07:00.000-08:00

Mustafa was a very famous young man who led his people to victory and independence . It was him who founded the Turkish Republic and became its first president. Many of his people were surprised with how much he was able to accomplish in such a short amount of time. He was a military hero when he came back from the Dardanelles in 1915. It was then that he decided to lead his nation to liberation. A powerful leader, he crushed all those who opposed them. He put an end to the power of the Ottoman empire. He was president of his nation for an impressive 15 years.

Mustafa's main goal for Turkey was to modernize his nation. He didn't want his people to follow the same old ways of the surrounding lands. He wanted to give his nation a new sense of dignity, equality and happiness. One of the most important things he did was make religion an individual conscience. Christians and Jewish people were free to practice their faith as much as they pleased. He also gave his people modern equality. Even peasants, who were greatly ignored in the Ottoman Empire, were considered important. Even the sense of style became different. They wore European hats instead of the Fez.(which was now prohibited) Citizens even got their own surnames. They even produced their own Western Calendar.

Mustafa created a secular civilization. This meant that everything was based on worldly things instead of the usual worshipping of the church. They distinguished themselves from the usual faith.

Film Lesson: "Gandhi"

2010-02-11T11:07:00.000-08:00

Gandhi was a very important figure throughout history. He was the most important person to the Indian nation. It was Gandhi who helped India get its own independence from Great Britain. Some of the things he did to oppose british rule were always acts of non-violence. Gandhi would lead a march to some near factory of some sort. There, he would protest in a peaceful way, with his followers right behind him. Another thing Gandhi did was produce his own supplies. In India, both salt and clothes were costing the people a whole bunch. To save themselves from this, Gandhi declared that all the Indian people would make their own clothes. They should not buy them. He even marched a whole lot of miles to collect his own salt by the ocean. The trip took days but he still managed.
As written above, Gandhi was a peacemaker. He was not one to shoot back at the British with violence. All of his protest were in peace. If any of his people ended up using violence, Gandhi would fast. His people were afraid that he would die so they stopped the violence on their own. Non-violence worked very well against the British. If the British attacked them while they did their peaceful protests, it would make the British look bad and the Indians look good.
I don't think India's independence was based all on Gandhi though. If i remember right, Great Britain was also fighting in another war at the time. Great Britain was getting hammered all over the place. Eventually Great Britain would give India their independence because they had to start worrying about their own country. They could no longer worry about anyone else.

The Russian Revolution

2010-01-13T09:27:00.000-08:00

The Russian Revolution was a time of much turmoil. The Czar, or the leader as they are more commonly referred to, was assassinated. Instead Russian was taken over by a group called the Bolsheviks. There could only be one reason that the Russians wanted a revolution so badly. It was because their government was screwed up! People don't want change unless they are desperate. All the Czars (kings) that ruled Russia were not very bright. There were famines, diseases and a whole bunch of other problems. The Russians were absolutely tired of what these "kings" had to offer. They did not want them anymore, so they all revolted.
This revolution was all about bringing back the peace and order in Russia. This meant giving back the land that belonged to the rightful people. This also meant restoring the peace by making it much easier for people to get whatever they needed. Some major causes of this revolution was the influence of WWI. Also bring in mind that Russia was a communist country (and still is). Another cause sould have been that their government was horrible and they wanted change.
The leader of this Revolution was a young man named Lenin. He had a small group of followers called the Bolsheviks. It was he who overthrew the Russian government and ecame its new leader. Like a dictator running his country, Lenin ruled and once again brought peace to the people of Russia.
The Bolsheviks also had a very famous quote called "Peace land and bread". I believe it meant the peace that Lenin wanted to make Russia have. Once Lenin was in rule, peace started to slwly flourish in the land. Famers were able to get new farm lands and property. Everyone could finally get a bite to eat. It was truely a good sign for more things to come.

Causes of WWI

2010-01-11T09:12:00.000-08:00

World War I was an extremely deadly war. Many innocent people were killed. The improvement of machine guns, poison gas, and other deadly weapons of war contibuted to the massive killings. One of the most important questions we ask ourselves is that how did the war start? There are many answers.
One of the biggest causes of this world war, was nationalism. Nationalism was the love for one's country. Because of this love, it fueled the hatred that one ocountry had for another. Countries would make speeches or hang posters to show which side they supported. Countries who supported one another would do their best to support and defend their friends. Those who were enemies would do everything in their power to kill the other.
Another cause of the world war was militarism. It was how each country was able to keep their own military up to standards. This meant that they kept their military ready for war at all times. The european countries all had powerful armies. Each one had their own plan to dominate the other civil authorities. Before even going to war, armies would have a full scale battle plan drawn out.
Another cause of the world war was the assassination of king Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary. He was killed by someone from Surbia. Austria-Hungary realized they had a right to blame Surbia for the killing of their leader. Becaus of this they decided to declare war. This event leaded to the start of World War I. One of the most deadliest wars in the world. I have to admit its hard to believe.

Opium Wars - Imperialism in China

2009-12-18T09:26:00.000-08:00

During the imperialism all the way in China, Europeans wanted to get some of the good natural resources that thay had. One of the most important resources the Europeans wanted to get, was Chinese tea. When the Europeans came to China, the chinese were never willing to give them their valuable tea. The only way they could get the tea was by trade. One of the items traded to the Chinese was a plant called opium. It was a type of drug in some way. The chinese wanted to buy it abd in return, they would give them tea. Most of the imports of opium to China was strictly forbidden. However, the trade continued to grow with the increasing number of opium addicts. Since this trade continued, the Chinese ended up spending most of their money on the drug. China began to fall moneywise , and thus, the opium wars began.
Since China was rapidly losing its money, the chinese army quickly began to collapse. Tax collectors in China began charging more and more to the local villages. People were getting poorer and poorer by the minute. Britain, on the other hand, decided to force the issue of increased trade rights. The trade of opium also started to destroy the original trade order of China. After a while, China finally decided to burn all the opium in their possession. The British did not take it well and occupied positions around China.
Although China was determined to defeat the British, they had no sucess. Britain was able to defeat them easily because of the advanced technology they had. China still had their money problem, so it was difficult to supply their soldiers with enough weapons. Not wanting to lose any more of their troops and their pride, they made a treaty with the British. This allowed them to open new ports for better trade.

Film Lesson: "Mountain of the Moon"

2009-12-10T09:26:00.000-08:00

Over the last two days, we watched an interesting film called "Mountains of the Moon". This film was basically about how these two European explorers wanted to find the source of the Nile River. To do that, instead of going up the river to its source, they decided to walk through the middle of Africa in hope of finding the source near Africa's center. However, finding the source of the Nile was not an easy task. To find the sorce, they had to walk on foot the entire way. Africa's terrain was not really inviting. In fact some of it was mountainous! They had to carry all these heavy loads by walking. Many people died of fatigue and more then half of them deserted. Another big problem was the local tribes in the area. There was one scene where their camp was ambushed by a whole bunch of people from a trbe. Many were killed. Some also died of diseases, such as milarea.
It took them a good couple of months but eventually John Speek was able tto find the true source of the Nile. In honor of the queen of England, he decided to name the enormous lake, Lake Victoria. It was actually a very strange name at first. For one thing, the lake was always there but the Europeans believed that they "discovered" it just now. A second factor, was that the sorce of the Nile was located in the heart of Africa and it belonged to Africa. John Speek named it after his queen all the way in Europe. It's strange that an African lake has a European name.
During the course of the film Speek and his travel partner, Burton, showed many of the gadgets that were from Europe, to the native peoples of Africa. Many of the Africans were amazed at all these new devices. They have never seen such things in their life before. For example, the gun. When Burton gave the tribeleader the gun, he was simply astounded. He knew that his tribe's spears were no match for the deadly firearm. This wasone of the reasons why Europe was able to cinquer Africa so suddenly. If it was spear against guns, who do you think would win? Of corse the European guys with guns!

Imperialism Project

2009-12-07T09:28:00.000-08:00

Over the past few days, we worked on a project about imperialism. Imperialism is when one country tries to take over another country to gain control over their economic, social, and political lives. For this project, we had to attach certain labels of things (for example tea, cotton, etc.) on certain parts of different countries. We also had to draw some sort of trade route to show where some of the products came and went. Keep in mind that all of the trade routes we drew, were over water. Many of the product, including slaves themselves, were transported from one place to another by ship. The main point of this imperialism project was to show what countries in Europe went to what parts of the world to take over. Many of the European countries went to Africa and took almost every part of Africa they could get their hands on.
I learned a lot from this from this project. I was able to learn what countries took over what parts of the world. I can't remember much about the project but i do remember coloring the countries that certain parts of Europe took over. I remember both France and Spain taking over a good part of Africa and perhaps even parts of the new world. (Present day N.A) I also remember all the different types of products that they shipped from all over. They had tea that came from China, all the way back to Europe. Slaves were also taken from Africa and brought over to the New World so they could work on plantations.

Karl Marx and Communism

2009-11-19T09:27:00.000-08:00

As said before on the previous blog, Karl Marx was not a big fan of the industrial revolution. He believed the people should be the one to run the government. Not the landlords. As a matter of fact, he encouraged workers to stage bloody revolts against the factory owners. Since he thought workers should all be treated equal, he came up with the idea of communism. He spoke of the idea frequently and was able to persuade leaders to adopt communism for a good number of years. His idea of communism was equivalent to that of a utopia. A perfect world in other words. He said that people should be treated equally when it came to pay. Everyone had a shared pay and there was no type of social class. No one owned a private home. Everything was owned by the government and people basically had to share everything. It kind of gave new meaning to the term "sharing is caring" except it was placed on a much higher standard. Unfortunately, even though it souded like a good idea to many, in reality, it failed miserably. After only a couple of years communism nearly crumbled. Only a few countries still use communism today but they might revert to capitalism eventually.
Although Karl Marx wanted people to join in communism, what was it exactly? Communism is a social structure that is based on common ownership and a way to control the means of production and property in general. It would hold a classesss and stateless society of people. Karl Marx did not want just this but he also wanted something called "Pure Communism". It is when EVERY member of a society can participate in the decision-making of political and economic aspecs of life.
During the Industrial Revolution, Karl Marx saw all of the workers as the "good guys". He didn't want them to be treated in such a poor manner, so he tried to help them. He saw any of the owners or landlords as the "bad guys". They treated the people unfairly to him. They barely payed them and such and such.

Karl Marx and The Indutrial Revolution

2009-11-17T09:34:00.000-08:00

Karl Mrax was a German man who practically changed Russian History. He was born a Jew but his father turned to Christianity to find a job. Karl Mrx, however, did not believe in God whatsoever. He thought that religion was what made people get jobs. He compared religion to some sort of "drug". He also had no love for the Industrial revolution at all. Conditions in European factories were very dangerous to the people. He though that factories should be run by the people who work in it, not by the landlords of the factories itself. He didn't like the ideas of people, especially young children , had to work for such long hours at a time with no breaks in between. He felt that the workers themselves were being run by these machines instead of by their own will. Workers didn't seem to have a say during the Industrial Revolution. They were hardly being paid enough to support their families. Many people who did work but never got paid enough, lived in slums. They were very dirty places! Landlords of the factories were usually the ones who lived in the laps of luxury. Karl Marx declared this was very unfare and it inspired him to create a world of communism.
The idea of communism was derived from the word common. It goes with the idea that workers would be able to share wealth and that wealth could also be ditributed among members of a communism society. After he died, his communism ideas were not used that often, however. He believed that workers of a communist society should band together and control the government. The only problem was that communist societies were very strict when it came to ruling. It was like being ruled by a dictator. Most workers were forced to work on huge farms like they did befor. The press was almost always censored to the public. People didn't know if something was going on. They were not even allowed to print news on things that were concerned with the government. If they tried to speak out, the people were often times treated harshly.
Even though not all things in a communism society were good, people have learned. Communism is not as controlling as it was then. People of a communism society are now treated more fairly. Karl Marx may not have had the best idea during the Industrial Revolution but we have learned from them. As the saying goes, we learn from our mistakes!

Nationalism and the Creation of Italy

2009-10-27T09:37:00.000-07:00

Nationalism is a major part of our country. Not just out country but all around the world. It defines who we are and what we do.(almost) Nationalism is basically the love for one's country. We live in America and therefore we have a cetain loyalty to our country. We, as people, believe that our loyalty should be to all of our country's people. We don't want to be loyal to a king or an empire. There are many ways to show that we are nationalistic. For starters, we are all live in the same area. WE LIVE IN AMERICA PEOPLE! That would be the most obvious way to know. If you look in a map, people could clearly define that we are nationalists to our country. We also share a common currency. We all use the great dollar. (which is not so great anymore) We all have a common religin. Although not everyone is the same religion, most Americans are christians. The history for our country is the same, no matter who tells the story. It all starts with the Mayflower coming into the Americas and settling in the new world. Learning how to farm from the Indians. We have the Civil War and of course The Revolutionary war. Then things start going on until the present. We have a whole bunch of symbols that represent us. The bald eagle and the american flag both represent the freedom of our nation. Our culture, almost anywhere you go in America is the same. We have malls, schools, certain foods, and certain clothes we wear. We also have a sense of belongingness. If we are stuck in a country with almost no Americans, we feel left out. As soon as we see anither American we immediately feel welcomed.
A lot of nations also have astrong sense of nationalism. Italy was one of the most important ones. Before Italy became a country of strong nationalism, it was strongly divided. The people lived far apart from one another and it was a fairly messy system. Eventually, people started to realize that they had things in common with one another. People would communicate with each other more. When the seperate countries interacted with each other, they would notice they shared similar life styles. They found out they all spoke the similar language of italian. This would encourage more interaction with other people. The culture of the people were also very similar. Very much all the reasons why we are all nationalists is how Italy became adoptive of nationalism.

Simon Bolivar and Latin American Revolutions

2009-10-22T10:00:00.000-07:00

Simon Bolivar was an amazing man, who did what no other could do for the people of Latin America. He was a man of great curiosity. Once the French Revolution was over, he traveled to France to see how the new government was progressing. He saw that it was greatly changed for the better. Once he was done visiting France, he decided to check out the United States. He also saw that the government was doing very well. Once he gathered all the information he needed, he went back to the Latin Americas. He told his people that their government could be changed as well. The people of Latin America thought about why they were always being loyal to a king. They wondered a lot about that because they also learned that their king was not even from Spain. He was French! The people of the Latin Americas decided to have a revolution of their own. Bolivar created and commanded his own powerful army. Although they lost a good couple of fights between the Spaniards, Bolivar stood tall and eventually prevailed over them. Latin America was finally free from Spain's power and soon enough, the whole continent of South America followed. This was why Simon Bolivar became so famous. He freed his people from another one's influence and now they have their own government.
As a tribute to the man who freed them from Spain's influence, Bolivar was rewarded with a country named after himself. This country is, what we call today, Bolivia. I've never been their myself but i have heard it is a nice place to visit. I also know that their is a statue of Bolivar almost everywhere you go in that country.
Bolivar commanded a strong army at the time. Even though he did have his army, he could not win on his own. When he fought Spain, he asked for help in many different places. These places include the areas he visited when before he went back to Spain. With some help from people like the Haiti, they were finally able to defeat Spain and gain their independence from them. He fought for his people who wanted change. He would not give up without a fight.
Bolivar's greatest influence for doing this was probably the revlutions of both the French and the Americans. He saw how the people were able to rebel against their own government. It took some time but eventually they all prevailed. He saw how the people reconstructed to form a new type of government. This time, the government would treat all the people fairly. The enlightenment thinkers would be proud!