Title: Let's Try Something New
Blog info: This blog is about chapter 30 and the cultural, social, and political changes in Europe that went on through the 1960's to the 1990's. These changes included movements against the affluent society (New Left), the rise of self service grocery stores and shops. There were also small revolutions in France, Czechoslovakia, Poland and Russia. The European consensus agreed that jobs would be in abundance and the standard for living would improve, although in Russia and the East Bloc it varied depending on the country. Cold war tensions relaxed and lead to social harmony. This hard-won consensus, however, began to unravel in the 60's. Protesters for the counter culture movement globally challenged standard ways of life. In the 1970's the postwar economic advance came to a halt with serious consequences in Western Europe. In the west more conservative political parties emerged and dramatically cut welfare benefits to deal with economic decline and global competition. New political groups like feminists, environmentalists and populists criticized centrist politics across the board. Postwar leaders of the East bloc waver between reform and repression leading to a stagnation. Broad movements against communism took place in Poland and Russia and snowballed out of control. Communism was swept away in 1989 as the Cold War reached a dramatic conclusion.
Chapter/Unit Objective: through this chapter we hope to achieve a deeper and more detailed knowledge of the revolutions that took place, the political and social movements taking place, and events leading up to the end of the Cold War and the outcomes of the end.
Essential Question (E.Q.): How did the surprisingly peaceful reunification of Germany lead to the end of the Cold War?
__________________________
Three People
Chapter 30 is called “Challenging
the Post War Order”, and the important figures in this chapter did exactly
that. Many of the significant leaders of the time wanted to press play on many
of the reform movements. There’s no doubt that the twentieth century was full
of motivated and important figures who thought that their ideas were best for
the country, however, three of them stick out to me as influential: Margaret
Thatcher, Simone de Beauvoir, and Rachel Carson. Not only were these three influential,
but they did some really great things (which is controversial, of course).
Margaret Thatcher
First of all, Margaret Thatcher was
the first woman elected to lead a major European state which already puts her
at the top of my list, because women were still struggling at this time but
were beginning to gain some rights. Thatcher is referred to as the “iron lady”
who attacked socialism, promoted capitalism, and ultimately changed modern
Britain. The 1980’s were referred to as the “Thatcher years”, and during this
time her government cut spending on health care, education, and public housing.
Thatcher’s policies helped the welfare state, unfortunately they caused
industries to be shut down, unemployment rates in Britain doubled causing a
widened gap between the rich and the poor, and then leading to the terrible
effect of discontent and crime. People began to blame her for the growing
unemployment, which leads me to my argument of why her success was
controversial. Even though she reduced union power, lowered taxes, and promoted
a free market she became increasingly unpopular. She is significant to the
chapter because of what she did for Britain after the Cold War. Her views on
how to make Britain a better country didn’t play out as well as she may have
wanted them to, and she became stubborn, overconfident, and even uncaring. It’s
important that people are aware of how her ideas and moves affected the people
in such a short amount of time. I believe that’s why she’s so significant to
the time period and the chapter. Along with the fact that she was the first
woman to ever lead a European state.
Simone de Beauvoir
The 1970’s marked the arrival of a
feminist movement devoted to securing gender equality and promoting the
interests of women. This major development in women’s rights was because of
changes in motherhood, feminine intellectuals articulated a powerful critique
that made many women think twice and challenge the status quo, and the Vietnam
War dissatisfied many women causing them to band together and make changes.
Many women were inspired by recent works such as The Second Sex written by
Simone de Beauvoir. She analyzed the position of women from the stand point of
an existentialist. I find her to be very inspiring because she argued her point
by reflecting on history, philosophy, psychology, biology, and literature. She
proved first that she was intelligent and then continued to make her point.
That shows other intellectuals the potential that women have. She also argued
that only through courageous action and self-assertive creativity could a woman
become a completely free person and escape being the inferior “other” that men
have molded her into. I agree with her, and that’s why I think she’s so
significant not only to this chapter but to the time period, and modern times.
Because of her novel The Second Sex, a
feminist movement expanded from Europe to the United States. Beauvoir inspired
a generation of women intellectuals, and because of that woman gained more
rights and women are where they are today. She contributed so much to the
feminist movement of the time, and didn’t blame anybody else for the lack of
women’s rights. She firmly believed that women must accept responsibility for
their lives and strive to overcome the dilemmas they face. She’s a powerful,
motivated woman who was a very significant figure at this time.
Much like feminist activists and
peace advocates, new environmental groups began to bloom in the 1960’s. These
early environmentalists drew inspiration from writers, much like the feminist
activists did which I just got done writing about. Biologist Rachel Carson
wrote Silent Spring, first published
in the United States in 1962 and it was quickly translated into twelve
different languages. That shows just how popular her writing was and how it
began to motivate young minds. This story was a bout a future spring when
people would wake up and hear no birds singing because the birds had been
killed by pollution and the overuse of pesticides. This one book had a striking
and significant impact on the growth of environmental movements in Europe. I
believe that Rachel Carson is significant to this time period because of the
impact she had on the movement, and the events that took place due to her
thoughts and her book. By the 1970’s it was clear to see the destructive
environmental costs that industrial development was causing. Therefore, new
environmental groups formed which then led to further environmental protests.
But what is even more shocking was that because of Carson’s outward portrayal of
the possible future of the environment, the Green Party emerged. The Green
Party planned to fight for environmental causes. Members of this political
party were elected to parliament in 1983, the first time in sixty years that a
new political party had been seated in Germany. Their success was a model for
others in the U.S as well. Without Rachel Carson’s predictions and novel, I
don’t believe that the movement would have happened or had the same effect on
much of the world. This is why Rachel Carson, in my opinion, is just as
significant to the time period as the other two women. She changed the lives of
so many, and made lives better for the future.
___________________
Two U.S. Events
Star Wars Plan
 |
| Star Wars Plan |
In 1983, United States President Ronald Reagan created the
Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), otherwise known as Star Wars. Reagan's goal
was to destroy Communism. The SDI was a shield in space to protect the US from incoming
Soviet missiles. Reagan said, "Wouldn't it be better to save lives than to
avenge them?" Even though Reagan had good intentions with his idea,
critics did not believe that Star Wars would be successful, and they feared
that the Soviet Union would retaliate with their own SDI.
**connection across
continents**
 |
| Tight Controls on Travel |
The Strategic Defense Initiative relates to the conflict between East and West Germany. East Germany was communist, and the Berlin Wall was built to separate the east from the non-communist west. West Germany is like the United States.They also wanted to eliminate communism. East Germany had tight controls on travel and they would persecute anyone who tried to escape to the west.
 |
| Fall of the Berlin Wall |
The East represents the Soviet missiles. The west wanted to protect people from communism like the United States. When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, many people from the east poured into the west. The east could have tried to stop everyone like they did before the wall fell, but instead they let everyone leave, realizing that they could not stop it from happening.
 |
| Reunification of Germany |
Like Reagan said, Germany thought it would be better to save lives than to avenge
them. East Germany did not get revenge on West Germany for "stealing"
all their citizens, and West Germany did not get revenge on East Germany for
keeping people in a communist state against their wishes. The east and west
were reunited into one Germany less than a year after the fall of the Berlin
Wall.
The
Women's Movement in the US
In the 1960's and 1970's, the United States experienced the women's movement. Women were fighting to seek new roles, responsibilities, and their own personal and professional identities rather than being defined by the male-dominated society. Women were inspired by different authors and organizations to rise up and fight for their rights. Some people pushed for an Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution. However, it was only ratified by thirty-five of the thirty-eight states it needed, so it did not become part of the Constitution. The movement did have some victories though. One of the most significant was the right to have an abortion during the early months of pregnancy. Unfortunately, the women's movement died down in the later 1970's without all the goals being met.
**connection across continents**
Betty Friedan was an American
author whose inspiration stretched to
Europe. She wrote The Feminine Mystique which called attention to the stifling aspects of women's domestic life, saying that housewives live in a “gilded cage."
This video gives a glimpse of what the women's movement was like in the US.
____________________
"Picturing the Past"
Women Take Kids to Daycare
In the 1960's and 1970's there was a surge in the fight for women's rights and equality, which had great success. Women came together to promote gender equality within the workforce, in politics, and at home. Inspired by Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex women and their movement gained media attention and gave women more opportunities in and outside the workforce. Women were able to divorce and get abortions, get protection from sexual harassment, and get help to accommodate their busy lives. For instance, daycares opened to take care of children while mother's went to work.
Analyzing the Image
Judging from the picture, how
many women took advantage of the new
opportunities given to them? How do you think the men reacted to this?
- Answer: The vast majority of women took advantage of these new opportunities, even if they were not a part of the feminist movement. Some men were reluctant to accept the change, while others welcomed it.
Connections
What was the organization that helped make opportunities like daycare possible?
- Answer: National Organization for Women, (NOW)
Has the feminist movement of the 1960's and 70's had a lasting effect to today?
- Answer: Yes, women are in the workforce, still use daycare, and are being given even more opportunities now than back then.
____________________
Connections Across Time
The Consumer Revolution and Today
Throughout Western European history, the trends of consumerization have been a major theme.
 |
| To this. |
 |
| From this... |
Around the time of the Cold War, the new consumer revolution created new trends, new products, and new opportunities for the working class. Also, it had a major impact on how people ran their lives. The new products, such as vacuum cleaners, lead to more efficient ways of doing household chores. This revolution would bring a new age of technology.
This connects to today because of our very own consumer revolution. Around the world there are new technological advances that run our lives. New cars, cell phones, tablets, things like that, and we are dependent on these products. An example: our cell phones and computers help us keep in touch with friends and family and keep track of our daily schedule. The world we live in today mirrors the world more than 30 years ago, just with more high-tech devices.
Women Then and Now
- During the Cold War there was a feminist movement to change patterns of motherhood and paid work that demanded better working conditions and new demands. They wanted more opportunities for work, better wages, and not to be seen as male-dominated.
 |
| From this... |
 |
| To this. |
This connects to today in a way that, because of these movements for women's rights, there's more flexibility to what women can do. Women live independently and maintain some of the highest respected jobs. It sets new and improved standards for women. Their goal to be a more dominate sex prevailed as there are women like Michelle Obama, Hilary Clinton, and Sarah Palin seen marking their mark in politics.
_____________________
Artwork
The artwork from 1960-1991 found many different outlets in the ways people expressed their views of the changing society. People reacted to these drastic changes by means of their cultural and political depictions of their various views.
| Thierry Noir's Berlin Wall |
| Reagan's memorial statue |
The people in West Berlin would draw on the wall in protest. People like Thierry Noir and Keith Haring were artists who decided to make the Berlin Wall their large-scale canvas. However, many other common people on the West side followed suit. The Berlin wall acted as an outlet for protest about the splitting up of the city. Eventually the East would be able to add to the colorful design that the West was able to create due to their greater freedom. The Berlin Wall is still a symbol of this period of history during German reunification and bits of it can be found in several museums. Some of it is in President Reagan's memorial statue. The wall stood like an iron curtain between the communist East Germany and the free West Germany.
 |
| Keith Haring's Berlin Wall |
Edmund Valtman created this political cartoon to show the fragmentation of the Soviet Union after reforms like perestroika and glasnost by Gorbachev. However, because of revolutions throughout the country, Gorbachev's reforms were overwhelmed. This caused there to be a large anticommunist revolution took over the Soviet Union and thus causing it to break apart into Russia and fourteen other states. In the cartoon we see Gorbachev sullenly looking over his collapsed Soviet Union.
_____________________
3 Things learned:
- Margaret Thatcher was a New Leftist who greatly reformed the welfare state in England. She also drastically cut social spending and played austerity measures.
- Gorbachev's reforms like perestroika and glasnost accelerated the westernization of the Soviet Union. They loosened the controls on media and lessened governmental controls.
- Stagflation was the economic slow down and inflation that caused a worldwide recession that threatened the post World War II prosperity experienced by most European countries.
2 Things interesting:
- It's interesting how much women came to the foreground of society. There was Margaret Thatcher who was one of the great minds of the political world during her time and also Simone de Beauvoir who was a feminist that advocated for independence and many other women who achieved great things.
- It was very interesting how Willy Brandt asked forgiveness at the memorial of a Polish soldier at a Jewish ghetto for the war crimes of Nazi Germany.
1 Question:
- Why did people not have many revolts over communism and why were they not successful until the late 20th century if the leaders were as repressive as they were? If people were as adamant about change over dictatorial rule as they should have been then people should have been more aggressive in their approach. In reality it seems like the people really didn't do much. The communism fell apart on its own.
