The first note was written by the United States to the USSR. The note opens by stating that the United States has problems with what the government of the USSR is doing. In the second paragraph, August 13, 1961 is referenced. This is the day that Berlin awoke to find that the East German Army had begun to place a barbed wire fence that would cut off West Berlin from East Germany. When the wall was built, millions of East Germans were prevented from fleeing to West Berlin. This mass emigration was occurring because the economic and political situation in East Germany was poor and the people were fleeing to West Germany where the conditions were better. In the third paragraph, the United States rejects the building of the wall as it would prevent the East Germans from fleeing to the West. The United States asserts that this breaks the quadripartite agreement along with the decision made by the Council of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Four Powers. The United States says that it never agreed to restricting movement in Berlin and that makes the actions of the East German government illegal. In the fourth paragraph, the United States says that East Germany has admitted that the only reason the wall was built was due to political and internal turmoil. The political and internal reasons that the note refers to are the differences in the governments in East and West Berlin. In East Berlin there was communist rule under Soviet leadership. The Soviets had not accepted the
In President Reagan’s speech regarding the Berlin wall entitled “Address at Brandenburg Gate” delivered on June 12th, 1987, Reagan takes the position as the rhetor with the sole purpose of convincing the city of Berlin to unite and get rid of the wall separating the city in two. The wall is described by Reagan multiple times and is described to be both a physical and non-physical wall. Most of the city is separated by the physical wall and those that aren’t are heavily guarded and prevent travel to the other side. The discourse was intended to not only be heard by the leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, but by most of Europe and North America. The exigency in Reagan’s
The years following the fall of the Berlin wall brought Germany closer together as one country. The east side of Berlin was communist, whereas the west side was socialist/democratic. The Berlin wall was often referred to as a symbol of the cold war and the inner conflict of Germany. It showed the different ideologies of the USA and USSR and their systems of government. Officially known as the “Anti-Fascist-Protective Wall” by the east, and the “Wall of Shame” by the West, it physically divided the city of Berlin from August 13, 1961 to November 9, 1989. The fall of the Berlin Wall was beneficial for the economies of Germany and the US.
Usually walls are put into places to avoid people to cross borders and keep peace but they destroy peace. Recently one could have heard in the News that Trump wants the Mexicans to pay for a wall between Mexico and the United States. This Wall should make it impossible for people to cross the border unofficially. As one could know from history classes, we had a wall in Germany for many years which was built by the winner countries of the second world war for a similar reason. Before the Wall, many people from East Germany tried to escape to West Germany where they had obviously better living conditions. It divided Germany in East and West Germany. Additionally, there was a part of Berlin, what was in the East German part, isolated from a huge wall that belonged to West Germany. This wall made it hard for the citizens of East Germany to visit West Germany. The Government of East Germany had other principles than the government of West Germany and it was not in the interest of the East German government to show their citizens how good their life could be in West Germany. After the falling of the Wall, it was possible for everyone to travel in Germany whenever they want without standing in line at the borders. But there was a big gap in wealth between East and West Germany. Even today the loans in West Germany are lower and the federal states have less money than the ones in West Germany. But in Berlin, one can visit ruins of the Berlin Wall which are colored and painted. As one could know from visiting Berlin, there is only a small part of the Wall left but at other parts, one could find the position of the wall with marked flagging on the ground. Additionally, one could buy a piece of the wall as a souvenir. Standing in front of the ruins of the Berlin wall inspires this realization: Peace is about breaking barriers not building them.
In June of 1987 U.S President Ronald Reagan gave a speech urging for the destruction of the Berlin wall and the reunification of Germany. The speech begins with President Reagan complementing the strength and resolve of the people of Berlin. The speech quickly changes its focus to: the Berlin Wall, the Division of the German people, and the problems created by the governments of the communist world. Reagan then mentions that progress is being made with the Communist East and wishes for the same in Berlin. He then reverts back to failures of the Communist East and the strength of the German people. Regan finishes the speech with the idea that the will of the
After unraveling of the Soviet Union and the collapse of the Berlin Wall, fears of war breaking out between the major powers of the United States and the Soviet Union were greatly reduced. Numerous commentaries, reports, and studies arose out of the question of what to do with the excess U.S. forces, and how to reshape them for a new era (Snider & Carlton-Carew, 1996). Since the birth of the United States, the military has been an important part of the United States. The US military has been a fundamental part of foreign policy, including fostering democracy, establishing rule of law, and assisting with economic development in territories allied with the U.S. (Ludema, 2007).
The Berlin Wall is a historical symbol of the Cold War and the fall of the Berlin Wall is a symbol of the end of the Cold War. And also, the Berlin Wall played a great role in the life of millions of people and defined the fate of German people, which put them apart by the Wall for a long period of time. Sixteen years after the end of World War II, the communist government of East Germany began building a wall on (August 13, 1961), that would divide the city of Berlin into East Berlin and West Berlin. The purpose was to keep fascists from entering East Germany, but mostly to keep West German citizens, primarily people of valuable professions such as doctors, teachers and engineers, from Changing side to the West. People of Berlin Called the wall Schandmaur, which actually means " The wall of shame". Over the years of the wall being constructed it took at least 3x times to rebuild it, but each time bigger than the last one.
During the span of the Berlin Airlift, 394,509 tons of supplies were given to the Berlin people from the United States, Royal Air Force, and British Civil. The Berlin Airlift’s main priority was to assist the people in Berlin with supplies such as food, clothing, medical supplies, and much more, because the Soviets blockaded West Berlin and deprived Berlin citizens of resources in an attempt to run the other allied powers out of the city. Thousands of individuals were helped during the Berlin Airlift, which lasted a little over a year. The three main causes of the Berlin Airlift was post World War ll, Germany split up into 4 zones, the Soviet Blockade, and the Cold War.
The Berlin Wall, built in August of 1961, was s physical symbol of the political and emotional divisions of Germany. The Wall was built because of a long lasting suspicion between the Soviet Union on one side and Western Europe and the United States on the other. For 28 years the Berlin Wall separated friends, families, and a nation. After WWII was over Germany was divided into four parts. The United States, Great Britain, and France controlled the three divisions that were formed in the Western half and the Eastern half was controlled by the Soviet Republic. The Western sections eventually united to make a federal republic, while the Eastern half became communist.
In 1989, one event occupied the spotlight around the world. The Berlin Wall, which for twenty-eight years had separated families and friends came down as thousands of people began crossing Bornholmer Bridge in northern Berlin. NBC’s Tom Brokaw could be seen on television throughout the United States saying, “A historic moment tonight. The Berlin Wall can no longer contain the East German people. Thousands pouring across at the Bronholmer bridge” (Dodds, 2014). This single event changed many things in Europe and around the world. The fall of the Berlin Wall that night, which was the ultimate symbol of the Cold War, was a major turning point in the collapse of communism leading to the unification of East and West Germany and was influenced by political leaders from both the Soviet Union and the United States. The fall of the wall affected the Communist world and eventually led to the collapse of the Soviet Union allowing countries under their control to become independent and free.
This is a newspaper source from the London Herald dating Saturday 11th of November 1989. This primary source demonstrates the views of the British towards the fall of the Berlin Wall, what it symbolised and how it affected the political world.
History seems to remain in an endless cycle of repetition. In the world's most contemporary issue: walls. History has proven to us that walls either protect, in the case of the Great Wall of China, or divide, as proven by the Berlin Wall. Depending on the intended purpose of walls and borders, they can protect or ruin lives. Any sort of barrier creates restrictions, and if caught beyond those limits can result in banishment, exile, separation, estrangement, and displacement. Nevertheless, with great effort walls can be brought down.
After the wall had been torn down, besides the new ability to freely travel, the Washington Post explained the effects, “it was really a process that took several months, a process that consisted of the physical deconstruction of the wall, countless changes in people’s daily routines, and a mental shift — which was perhaps the biggest hurdle of all,” (Fisher). The Imperial War Museums said, “Germany reunited on 3 October 1990, 11 months after the fall of the Berlin Wall,” (What Was the Berlin Wall and How Did It Fall?). The Wall Street Journal added, “the policies rushed into play to restore the unified nation are largely seen as a success, if an expensive one, that paved the way for Germany to take the stage as Europe’s political and economic centerpiece,” (Roth).
Spokesman for East Berlin's Communist Party announced that citizens of the GDR were free to cross the country's border. More than 2 million people from the East side of Berlin visited West Berlin that weekend to celebrate. One journalist described it as "the greatest street party in the history of the world." Despite the fact that the Berlin Wall successfully divided East and West Berlin people were killed because they tried to get over, under, or around the wall.
The Berlin wall had many events that led up to its construction. Some Major economic, political and social events that caused the building of the berlin wall were world war II which had both economic and political events, the cold war (political), the berlin blockade (economic), the berlin crisis (political), John F. Kennedys speech (social) and the four-power agreement (political).
I convict that the fall of the Berlin Wall contributed the most to the fall of the Soviet Union because it became "the symbol of the fall of the Soviet Union and return to democracy for its republics and satellite nations". The Berlin Wall was a physical wall built up in the center of the city of Berlin to separate the Western Berliners and eastern Berliners. In 1989, The government opened the Berlin Wall for East and West Germany and removed the restrictions to travel to the West. East Berliners used sledgehammers to take down the wall.