In 100 words minimum, describe what you learned in the course that most surprised you and that you are least likely to forget.Post your answer as a comment to “Assignment 8” in the blog.
Something that most surprised me in this course was the fact that the Latin American countries were so dominated by the United States government. I feel like the United States treated Latin America like they were puppets to use in the war against the spread of Soviet Socialism. I am least likely to forget this because I now analyze the other political maneuvers the United States made in recent history. Were their tactics really going to benefit the other country and help them be “free” from their own government? Or was it a trap that the United States set to gain more power and control over what they consider to be lesser nations?
One of the most surprising things to me was the way that the United States has treated Latin America. The readings from week six were really eye opening to me. I always thought the United States was a dominant force that helped other countries. But, they took advantage of Latin America’s inferiority. Arevalo was right in saying that some U.S. citizens are still unaware of what the United States has done. We, as North Americans, are victims just like Latin Americans in that we are controlled by an imperialist policy. No matter what the sacrifice, it is all about business. It also surprised me how inferior Latin America really is. I didn’t realize there were many countries controlling Latin America and taking advantage of them.
The topics I learned the most about in this course are about the revolutions and U.S. foreign policy in Latin America. The things I will most likely forget are the excess facts that we read about in the Problems in Modern Latin American History book, but I will defiantly remember the main ideas and concepts. Overall, the thing the most surprised me in this course, was the United States involvement in most of the day-to-day activities in Latin American, in recent history. Finally, I am happy I am enrolled in this class, not only did I learn a lot about Latin America, but I also got to work with other classmates, which commonly does not happen in most online classes I have taken, in the past.
What I learned in the course that surprised me was in the beginning of this course when we discussed the “right to self-determination” and the relation it has with the United States role in Latin America. This assignment help open my eyes to how the U.S. was being controlling and did not let Latin Americans make their own decisions. I also found it interesting that it related to the Declaration of Independence. I feel as though this helped me to understand the relation between Latin America and the United States. It made me realize the dynamics of the relationship between these two places. This is the one assignment that I probably will never forget, because it was a great start to the course for me.
I was most surprised to learn about the dictatorships in Latin America. I did not realize that the United States of America used dictators as a safeguard from Communism. I learned about the John Foster Dulles, President Eisenhower’s Secretary of State. (I live in Virginia and have been to Dulles International Airport and did not know it was named for John Foster Dulles). I also learned about his brother Allen Welsh Dulles, the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. I was especially fascinated by the sudden disposition of government in Guatemala by the CIA. I will remember the essays we read on these events. I learned from the e-mails we received that when examining such events it is important not to be overcome by emotion. The events carried out by the United States Government were unfair to the Guatemalan people and benefited the USA as well as big companies like Standard Oil Co. and United Fruit Co.
I was surprised that I enjoyed reading “The Last Days of the Incas” and “The House of the Spirits”. These are books that I probably wouldn’t read on my own. “The House of the Spirits” was a book that I am not likely to forget. It had a mix of everything to keep the reader interested. Although it was a bit lengthy, it really captured the spirit of the people and the time periods that it spoke about. There is also a movie version of this book, but of course it is not as detailed as the book. I was also surprised to learn about the role of other countries in their control over Latin America.
I would have to say that what surprised me the most during this course was learning that the stereotypes of the past still plague the Latin American nations in the present. How much the Latin American countries are still under the control of more dominate nations and the influence of prejudices of our political officials over generations. These personal prejudices have contributed to the century’s long belief that Latin Americans are inferior and unable to solve the problems of their nation. Until reading about the issues that Latin American nations face throughout this course, I never really realized how much they have been dominated and controlled by other countries through economic and other means.
What I learned that surprised me is the fact that the U.S. had such a heavy influence on so many countries in Latin America, and for the most part, it was a negative one. What I am least likely to forget would be all of the minor details about the countries and the history. While I appreciate the history, I was under the impression that this course would go into more detail about Latin America today. Even so, I really enjoyed the geography part of it and would have enjoyed doing more with that.
The thing that I learned from this course that most surprised me and that I will always remember would be the story of how Francisco Pizzaro was able to defeat the Incan Empire. It was interesting to see the multiple factors that played a crucial role in the defeat of this advanced civilization. The extreme consequence of foreign disease on these native people was pretty surprising to me. It set the stage for all of the succeeding events that led to the Spanish conquest. The capture of the emperor itself was also surprising to me. I don’t think I will forget the story of the events that surrounded this occurrence and how surprised I was that these conquistadors were able to accomplish their goal. Multiple aspects of the capture, if changed ever so slightly, could have resulted in the complete failure of Pizzaro and his men, and that fact of small things making a profound difference is the thing that I will not forget.
I was afraid that this class would be more of a history “theory” class. The class did discuss issues in our history, but in an interesting way. I learned a lot about how the United States treated various countries in the past. I was shocked to find out that they had mistreated and belittled them to make our country more prosperous and powerful. The United States seemed to interfere in other countries business when it was not necessary. I always felt that other countries hated us because they were jealous of our freedom. I believe now that they probably hated us due to our arrogance and rudeness.
I skimmed through a few of the answers above, and it seems that most of the posters were surprised by the same thing that I was--the influence of the United States government on Latin America. Since that was a pretty huge focus of the class, we learned quite a bit about it. And, honestly, I'm pretty disappointed in the government for the way that it handled affairs with Latin America. I won't forget the section that we read about John Foster Dulles and the United Fruit Company. I thought it was appalling that he used "communism" as an excuse to take extreme action, almost reflecting the thinking of Esteban Trueba in "The House of the Spirits". Overall, I couldn't believe how the United States acted towards Latin America, treating them like a lower-class version of humanity.
The most surprising thing I learn is the same thing that I’ll be least likely to forget. I remember having to learn about the Aztecs and Incas in grade school, but I never remembered much more than they were people from South America. The Last Days of the Incas was an interesting book that really organized these groups of people for me. I now understand that the Incas were from Peru and the Aztecs from Mexico. The book also helped establish a timeline for me – from the story, apparently the Aztecs had already been conquered before the Incas. Additionally, I learned that the Inca empire, as well as a large portion of South America, was dominated by the Spanish. Before, I never really knew what caused the end of such ancient civilizations.
Coming into this class with no prior knowledge of Latin America and its relationship with the United States as well as the social class issues, a lot of this class came as a surprise to me. The first thing that jumped out to me was how poorly Latin American people were treated. This was not only seen by Latin Americans inside of the United States. The bigger surprise came with how people inside their own Latin American counties treated one another. The next surprise came with the involvement the US has. I always knew the US was such a great country and had a huge influence world wide but I never understood the impact it had in a political and economical impact. This class overall taught me a lot, and it was a great time learning about Latin America.
What I am least likely to forget is how our relationship with Cuba developed and why it is the way it is today. I always knew that we had an embargo against them and it had to do with communism, but I did not really know much about the history behind it. Finding out that we actually had a good relationship with Cuba until Castro came here for a visit with Eisenhower and VP Nixon is mind blowing. Not only did I find it very interesting and eye opening, I enjoy discussing the topic with my friends and coworkers. It actually came up just a few nights ago as one of my coworkers recently watched a documentary about it. It is so hard to believe that a country that is supposed to be about freedom has such a strong history of oppression of others.
I learned many things in Modern Latin America. One of the most surprising things that I learned was the fact that the United States treated and to this day still treats Latin America harshly. Latin America is a country that needs our help as a flourishing country. One thing that I will not forget once I am finished with this class is the fact that struggling nations do not receive much help from those countries who really need the help of others. This fact really bothers me because I believe that each and every person should help each other out during their struggle. Also, at the beginning of the class I learned all the stereotypes that are used against people who are not American. I realized that I do stereotype people and that they are just people just like you and me, with the most of the same goals in life. This class taught me a lot and I hope to use what I learned!
The main thing that I learned and am least likely to forget is that I should never take the government’s word on first glance. I’ve had many history classes over the years but this is the first one to where I actually get to hear about the cover-ups of the United States government. I shouldn’t take any of the projects that the U.S. government does at face value, because they don’t always have a legitimate reason for their interventions. For example, the intervention in Gaugamela, and the one in the Middle East for the search of “Weapons of Mass Destruction.” I’ve always been skeptical of some of the actions of the government, but these examples prove my point that the government had jumped the gun too many times in the past.
Throughout this course we have truly learned a lot. It was a very short time period to learn a lot of material, which made it difficult but it was manageable. I believe I personally benefitted the most from the information Professor Biddle would have in the e-mails about the readings for the week. The insight he would have in the e-mails was a lot easier and more interesting than the book. I found it somewhat hard to understand the MLAH book at times because of all the terminology I was not familiar with. I do recall learning about the neocolonialism and the caudillos and how there were many different viewpoints on them. We also learned about guerilla warfare and the book went into detail about Che Guevara and how other countries went through guerilla warfare. The HOS of spirits book however, was interesting and feel like I have learned a lot from that as well. I also, enjoyed The Last Days of the Incas and learning about Pizarro and his take over. I think what surprised me the most was how greedy the world really is and especially America. The U.S talks a lot on other countries like Iraq and other places, but we have done a lot of wrong too. For example, with the Argentineans after World War II when the U.S had a lot of power they just wanted more and even did illegal activities to satisfy the greedy leaders at that time.
We learned a lot in Modern Latin America that I was taught about in elementary school (like the Aztecs), but not in middle school or high school. The thing that I will least likely forget is the fact that Latin America was treated so poorly by the U.S. and other countries. It also doesn't help that there were bad and powerful leaders in the countries. I remember one of the first things we did was read the Schoultz readings, and it talked about how much we looked down on Latin America. It talked about how we had to send people to the countries because they were so behind, childish, and inexperienced that they couldn't do it themselves. It's really sad that countries like us thought that way and completely took advantage of the lack of inexperience. Although we can't change the way we treated them, there's always the future to change it. I also liked how we used the maps and other resources to learn different aspects of information on Latin America. It was really interesting learning about something that the last time I was taught it was in elementary school.
In what short time we were enrolled in this class it is really surprising how much we really learned. I learned in Modern Latin America just how Latin America has developed or underdeveloped under colonist oppression. I have a better understanding of the ways in which socialism and communism were positive forces in Latin American cultures. It has been interesting to learn about how the United States government has opposed communism in Latin America to ridiculous extremes. Even while supporting ruthless violent dictators who opposed democracy. It was also very interesting to learn about the Aztecs more. They have always interested me so it was fun.
What I learned in this course that most surprised me was how history in the governments both in Latin America and the US have just repeated themselves and that there has been very little resolutions to some things, like the situation with lack of support or aid to Latin American countries. What I will least likely to forget that I learned in this course and found interesting was how similar and where alot of the American religious beliefs and symbols came from and no matter what part of the country you are from, social class always plays a part in how you are treated and how you live.
Something that most surprised me in this course was the fact that the Latin American countries were so dominated by the United States government. I feel like the United States treated Latin America like they were puppets to use in the war against the spread of Soviet Socialism. I am least likely to forget this because I now analyze the other political maneuvers the United States made in recent history. Were their tactics really going to benefit the other country and help them be “free” from their own government? Or was it a trap that the United States set to gain more power and control over what they consider to be lesser nations?
ReplyDeleteOne of the most surprising things to me was the way that the United States has treated Latin America. The readings from week six were really eye opening to me. I always thought the United States was a dominant force that helped other countries. But, they took advantage of Latin America’s inferiority. Arevalo was right in saying that some U.S. citizens are still unaware of what the United States has done. We, as North Americans, are victims just like Latin Americans in that we are controlled by an imperialist policy. No matter what the sacrifice, it is all about business. It also surprised me how inferior Latin America really is. I didn’t realize there were many countries controlling Latin America and taking advantage of them.
ReplyDeleteThe topics I learned the most about in this course are about the revolutions and U.S. foreign policy in Latin America. The things I will most likely forget are the excess facts that we read about in the Problems in Modern Latin American History book, but I will defiantly remember the main ideas and concepts. Overall, the thing the most surprised me in this course, was the United States involvement in most of the day-to-day activities in Latin American, in recent history. Finally, I am happy I am enrolled in this class, not only did I learn a lot about Latin America, but I also got to work with other classmates, which commonly does not happen in most online classes I have taken, in the past.
ReplyDeleteWhat I learned in the course that surprised me was in the beginning of this course when we discussed the “right to self-determination” and the relation it has with the United States role in Latin America. This assignment help open my eyes to how the U.S. was being controlling and did not let Latin Americans make their own decisions. I also found it interesting that it related to the Declaration of Independence. I feel as though this helped me to understand the relation between Latin America and the United States. It made me realize the dynamics of the relationship between these two places. This is the one assignment that I probably will never forget, because it was a great start to the course for me.
ReplyDeleteI was most surprised to learn about the dictatorships in Latin America. I did not realize that the United States of America used dictators as a safeguard from Communism. I learned about the John Foster Dulles, President Eisenhower’s Secretary of State. (I live in Virginia and have been to Dulles International Airport and did not know it was named for John Foster Dulles). I also learned about his brother Allen Welsh Dulles, the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. I was especially fascinated by the sudden disposition of government in Guatemala by the CIA. I will remember the essays we read on these events. I learned from the e-mails we received that when examining such events it is important not to be overcome by emotion. The events carried out by the United States Government were unfair to the Guatemalan people and benefited the USA as well as big companies like Standard Oil Co. and United Fruit Co.
ReplyDeleteI was surprised that I enjoyed reading “The Last Days of the Incas” and “The House of the Spirits”. These are books that I probably wouldn’t read on my own. “The House of the Spirits” was a book that I am not likely to forget. It had a mix of everything to keep the reader interested. Although it was a bit lengthy, it really captured the spirit of the people and the time periods that it spoke about. There is also a movie version of this book, but of course it is not as detailed as the book. I was also surprised to learn about the role of other countries in their control over Latin America.
ReplyDeleteI would have to say that what surprised me the most during this course was learning that the stereotypes of the past still plague the Latin American nations in the present. How much the Latin American countries are still under the control of more dominate nations and the influence of prejudices of our political officials over generations. These personal prejudices have contributed to the century’s long belief that Latin Americans are inferior and unable to solve the problems of their nation. Until reading about the issues that Latin American nations face throughout this course, I never really realized how much they have been dominated and controlled by other countries through economic and other means.
ReplyDeleteWhat I learned that surprised me is the fact that the U.S. had such a heavy influence on so many countries in Latin America, and for the most part, it was a negative one. What I am least likely to forget would be all of the minor details about the countries and the history. While I appreciate the history, I was under the impression that this course would go into more detail about Latin America today. Even so, I really enjoyed the geography part of it and would have enjoyed doing more with that.
ReplyDeleteThe thing that I learned from this course that most surprised me and that I will always remember would be the story of how Francisco Pizzaro was able to defeat the Incan Empire. It was interesting to see the multiple factors that played a crucial role in the defeat of this advanced civilization. The extreme consequence of foreign disease on these native people was pretty surprising to me. It set the stage for all of the succeeding events that led to the Spanish conquest. The capture of the emperor itself was also surprising to me. I don’t think I will forget the story of the events that surrounded this occurrence and how surprised I was that these conquistadors were able to accomplish their goal. Multiple aspects of the capture, if changed ever so slightly, could have resulted in the complete failure of Pizzaro and his men, and that fact of small things making a profound difference is the thing that I will not forget.
ReplyDeleteI was afraid that this class would be more of a history “theory” class. The class did discuss issues in our history, but in an interesting way. I learned a lot about how the United States treated various countries in the past. I was shocked to find out that they had mistreated and belittled them to make our country more prosperous and powerful. The United States seemed to interfere in other countries business when it was not necessary. I always felt that other countries hated us because they were jealous of our freedom. I believe now that they probably hated us due to our arrogance and rudeness.
ReplyDeleteI skimmed through a few of the answers above, and it seems that most of the posters were surprised by the same thing that I was--the influence of the United States government on Latin America. Since that was a pretty huge focus of the class, we learned quite a bit about it. And, honestly, I'm pretty disappointed in the government for the way that it handled affairs with Latin America. I won't forget the section that we read about John Foster Dulles and the United Fruit Company. I thought it was appalling that he used "communism" as an excuse to take extreme action, almost reflecting the thinking of Esteban Trueba in "The House of the Spirits". Overall, I couldn't believe how the United States acted towards Latin America, treating them like a lower-class version of humanity.
ReplyDeleteThe most surprising thing I learn is the same thing that I’ll be least likely to forget. I remember having to learn about the Aztecs and Incas in grade school, but I never remembered much more than they were people from South America. The Last Days of the Incas was an interesting book that really organized these groups of people for me. I now understand that the Incas were from Peru and the Aztecs from Mexico. The book also helped establish a timeline for me – from the story, apparently the Aztecs had already been conquered before the Incas. Additionally, I learned that the Inca empire, as well as a large portion of South America, was dominated by the Spanish. Before, I never really knew what caused the end of such ancient civilizations.
ReplyDeleteComing into this class with no prior knowledge of Latin America and its relationship with the United States as well as the social class issues, a lot of this class came as a surprise to me. The first thing that jumped out to me was how poorly Latin American people were treated. This was not only seen by Latin Americans inside of the United States. The bigger surprise came with how people inside their own Latin American counties treated one another. The next surprise came with the involvement the US has. I always knew the US was such a great country and had a huge influence world wide but I never understood the impact it had in a political and economical impact. This class overall taught me a lot, and it was a great time learning about Latin America.
ReplyDeleteWhat I am least likely to forget is how our relationship with Cuba developed and why it is the way it is today. I always knew that we had an embargo against them and it had to do with communism, but I did not really know much about the history behind it. Finding out that we actually had a good relationship with Cuba until Castro came here for a visit with Eisenhower and VP Nixon is mind blowing. Not only did I find it very interesting and eye opening, I enjoy discussing the topic with my friends and coworkers. It actually came up just a few nights ago as one of my coworkers recently watched a documentary about it. It is so hard to believe that a country that is supposed to be about freedom has such a strong history of oppression of others.
ReplyDeleteI learned many things in Modern Latin America. One of the most surprising things that I learned was the fact that the United States treated and to this day still treats Latin America harshly. Latin America is a country that needs our help as a flourishing country. One thing that I will not forget once I am finished with this class is the fact that struggling nations do not receive much help from those countries who really need the help of others. This fact really bothers me because I believe that each and every person should help each other out during their struggle. Also, at the beginning of the class I learned all the stereotypes that are used against people who are not American. I realized that I do stereotype people and that they are just people just like you and me, with the most of the same goals in life. This class taught me a lot and I hope to use what I learned!
ReplyDeleteThe main thing that I learned and am least likely to forget is that I should never take the government’s word on first glance. I’ve had many history classes over the years but this is the first one to where I actually get to hear about the cover-ups of the United States government. I shouldn’t take any of the projects that the U.S. government does at face value, because they don’t always have a legitimate reason for their interventions. For example, the intervention in Gaugamela, and the one in the Middle East for the search of “Weapons of Mass Destruction.” I’ve always been skeptical of some of the actions of the government, but these examples prove my point that the government had jumped the gun too many times in the past.
ReplyDeleteThroughout this course we have truly learned a lot. It was a very short time period to learn a lot of material, which made it difficult but it was manageable. I believe I personally benefitted the most from the information Professor Biddle would have in the e-mails about the readings for the week. The insight he would have in the e-mails was a lot easier and more interesting than the book. I found it somewhat hard to understand the MLAH book at times because of all the terminology I was not familiar with. I do recall learning about the neocolonialism and the caudillos and how there were many different viewpoints on them. We also learned about guerilla warfare and the book went into detail about Che Guevara and how other countries went through guerilla warfare. The HOS of spirits book however, was interesting and feel like I have learned a lot from that as well. I also, enjoyed The Last Days of the Incas and learning about Pizarro and his take over. I think what surprised me the most was how greedy the world really is and especially America. The U.S talks a lot on other countries like Iraq and other places, but we have done a lot of wrong too. For example, with the Argentineans after World War II when the U.S had a lot of power they just wanted more and even did illegal activities to satisfy the greedy leaders at that time.
ReplyDeleteWe learned a lot in Modern Latin America that I was taught about in elementary school (like the Aztecs), but not in middle school or high school. The thing that I will least likely forget is the fact that Latin America was treated so poorly by the U.S. and other countries. It also doesn't help that there were bad and powerful leaders in the countries. I remember one of the first things we did was read the Schoultz readings, and it talked about how much we looked down on Latin America. It talked about how we had to send people to the countries because they were so behind, childish, and inexperienced that they couldn't do it themselves. It's really sad that countries like us thought that way and completely took advantage of the lack of inexperience. Although we can't change the way we treated them, there's always the future to change it. I also liked how we used the maps and other resources to learn different aspects of information on Latin America. It was really interesting learning about something that the last time I was taught it was in elementary school.
ReplyDeleteIn what short time we were enrolled in this class it is really surprising how much we really learned. I learned in Modern Latin America just how Latin America has developed or underdeveloped under colonist oppression. I have a better understanding of the ways in which socialism and communism were positive forces in Latin American cultures. It has been interesting to learn about how the United States government has opposed communism in Latin America to ridiculous extremes. Even while supporting ruthless violent dictators who opposed democracy. It was also very interesting to learn about the Aztecs more. They have always interested me so it was fun.
ReplyDeleteWhat I learned in this course that most surprised me was how history in the governments both in Latin America and the US have just repeated themselves and that there has been very little resolutions to some things, like the situation with lack of support or aid to Latin American countries. What I will least likely to forget that I learned in this course and found interesting was how similar and where alot of the American religious beliefs and symbols came from and no matter what part of the country you are from, social class always plays a part in how you are treated and how you live.
ReplyDelete