Dorothea Lange - Try the Train

 

     This particular photo by Dorothea Lange is called, "Toward Los Angeles". It was taken in March of the year 1937. 

     The men exhibited in the photo are only two of the millions of immigrants that moved from either across the border or from the American Midwest in order to find labor jobs in California. During the Great Depression was the highest peak of displaced farmers who sought work and moved out to the west coast. Wages were decreasing and the number of laid off farm workers was increasing; all in all, it was a bad time to be a farmer. The problem of the time when this picture was taken was the inequality and disparity that the farm laborers were forced to endure while on the job. The government was not doing anything effective to give aid to the farm workers, especially those who were Mexican or Mexican American; white government officials were even claiming that these specific immigrants made up half of the unemployed in California while white trade unions blamed them for the loss of available for white men. 

      A solution to this problem was the protest of this horrible mistreatment, which many groups did do. However, there were laws created (vagrancy laws) which gave officials the right to arrest and even give the workers to other farm owners to "pay off their debt"; eventually they were repealed in 1941 as they wee found unconstitutional. The creation of individual farm workers unions was the only solution to the problem until the convergence of two major unions which bore the United Farm Workers of America, most commonly associated with the great Cesar Chavez. Up to this day, the struggle to bring these workers all the rights they deserve is still being fought, although there have been successes.Dorothea 

Russia

     World War I was known as the war to end all wars; it was an international fight between the Central Powers (Germany and Austria-Hungary) and the Allies (France, Britain, and Russia) with one of the main the underlying causes being imperialism. The Russian Empire was a country that became involved by mere alliance with no true dog in this dogfight.
     Russia entered the war when Germany declared war on the country just as Austria was declaring war on Serbia after the assassination of Franz Ferdinad of Austria by Gavrilo Principo: this action was what got the ball rolling and soon he world became involved. Russia was experiencing the after effects of the July crisis, which was a bundles of consecutive conflicts in the ten years before the WW. The country was in a poor economic state and led to their dependence on the foreign investment from France; this led to a mutual growth of both countries, with Russia's defense building back up. The Tsar Nicholas II had made his cousin the Grand Duke Nicholas  as leader of the entire Russian army, made up of around 1.2 million men, with groups of cavalry and infantry going towards Germany and towards Austria Hungary; the rest were in defense of their proper land. In August of 1914, the Battle of Tanneberg was one of the first defeats of Russia against the Austrians after a number of victories, with more than thirty thousand Russia soldiers having lost their lives. In most of 1915, Russia's forces were forced to retreat even further, with them having fought back and then driven back once again. In March of 1917, the Tsar Nicholas resigned his position with the takeover of a newer government from the Bolsheviks; this group allowed Lenin and Trotsky to enter Russia and start a revolt against Russia's involvement in the war. July of 1917 was Russia's final invovlement in the war, which was the people's attempt to remove themselves and state their independence; they threw down their weapons and ran for their lives in protest. After the October Revolution, the fighting ceasedThe Bolshevik leaders were ultimately successful in their civil war.
       Approximately one million seven hundred thousand Russian soldiers died during World War I. Foloowing the war, Russia was hit with a famine as well as a harsh winter.