The Use of Rhetoric in Media Accounts of the Berlin Airlift
In the late 1940’s Berlin became the dividing line between Communism and Capitalism. This beleaguered city was to be the front line of the Cold War. In 1948 The city, divided into four sectors, one of which was occupied by the Soviet Union, was engaged in a life or death struggle for survival. The Berlin Airlift was not simply a struggle for the life of one city. The city was a prize in the game of chess between the west and the Soviet Union. The media of the day utilized rhetoric and propaganda to influence the emotions and allegiances of the people who read them. In 1948 Berliners were caught between starvation on one side, and Communism on the other. Westerners feared,
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Aristotle believed that rhetoric frequently utilizes three persuasive appeals, Logos, pathos and ethos. The newspapers, magazines and newsreels of the day, certainly support the use of these types of rhetoric. In the early stages of the Blockade on April 2nd 1948, the British newspaper the Daily Mail engaged in the use of rhetoric in it’s article The Red Bluff, when it stated,
The frontier between East and West now divides Berlin. That city is controlled by nations who are glaring at each other with furious eyes. Heaven knows neither we nor the Americans or French want war. Through the dumb, patient, millions of Russia are cut off from us, we are convinced that they do not want it either. But if a few fanatics in the Kremlin, whose hands are already dyed with blood, are desirous of plunging the world into madness and ruin, they must be stopped. They will be. The writer is using Ethos, an appeal to ethics, by urging people to right something grossly wrong, and pathos by describing the Soviet Union as murdering madmen who want to destroy all that it good. This is a theme which comes up frequently in the media of the era.
Shortly after this article was published on June 12 1948 the U.S.S.R closed the autobahn for repairs. Road transport in an out of the cities was halted 3 days later. On 21st June all
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
On June 26, 1963, the famous words “Ich bin ein Berliner” changed the world. These words, which in English mean “I am a Berliner,” were delivered by John F. Kennedy in West Berlin. His speech was viewed worldwide and brought national attention to the Berlin Crisis and the Cold War. Today, most people have heard about the speech, but may not know a whole lot about it. They may ask themselves the following questions:
In Berlin, the Iron Curtain had many purposes. It was there to protect, to separate and to enforce a way of life for East Berliners. Firstly, The Wall gave meaning to people’s lives in different ways. It defined where they were to go, who they were to see and who they were to be. For the countless Stasi and informers, it gave them a purpose and an importance in society, and after The Wall came down, that purpose was lost and yearned for. Secondly, The Wall and the controlling ways of the Stasi loomed over the lives of East Berliners, and its implementation was just one of many extreme measures to minimalise Capitalism and encourage Communism. Thirdly, although The Wall
At the long awaited end of World War 2, Germany was divided into two pieces, one for capitalists and the other for communists. Berlin, the stronghold city of Germany at the time, was split into two pieces as well, one part for capitalists and one part for communists, all separated by the infamous Berlin wall. West Berlin was a pro-american island in a soviet sea, and when the soviet union decided to blockade any shipments into West Berlin, the United States had to take immediate action. America shipped in supplies to West Berlin by air! If it hadnt been for America and its allies supporting West Berlin, it could have easily been conquered by the surrounding communists. The Berlin Airlift displayed the fight that America put into containing communism and how hard they were willing to work to keep the red water as far away from them as possible. These diplomatic tactics saved Berlin and eventually led to the Berlin walls’ downfall, allowing the city to come together and live peacefully. This was one of the first major steps in stopping the spread of communism through
The Berlin Wall had a major impact on humanity’s views on how society should be ruled. Berlin is the capital of Germany. After the ending of WWII, Berlin was split up into East Berlin, and West Berlin. East Berlin was communist, suffered from the repressions of the Communist Party. West Berlin had a better lifestyle, and had financial aid from the United States. From the years between nineteen forty-nine to nineteen sixty-one, approximately 2.5 million people from East Berlin escaped to West Berlin. This toll included skilled workers, professionals, and intellectuals. Because of the loss of these people, the economy in East Berlin was threatened. On August twelve-thirteen, nineteen sixty-one, the Berlin was built in order to stop the people of East Berlin from fleeing. The Berlin wall was a major point during the Cold War, and many opposed it. It gave another reason to detest communism.
Human conflict is a subject that has existed from the beginning of time. These conflicts are sparked by differentiation of thoughts and ideas amongst different people. Often times, these conflicts result in separation and segregation in which different ideas no longer collide, but rather change through different geographical zones. The post world war two conflicts between the soviet union and the allies illustrates how people were pressured to exit in order to reach a better standard of living. The census of the people living in East Berlin during the cold war would agree that a communist way of life was not satisfying—especially considering the freedom which is literally separated by a vast wall. East Berliners escaped the communist terror in an effort to gain more freedom of life, get paid better for the jobs they were performing and acquire the luxuries of life that were not available to them.
To put this speech into perspective, the historical context must be observed. Following World War 2, Europe was in the throes of a power struggle between the two prominent ideologies of the time: capitalism and communism. This power struggle saw the Soviet Union (USSR) slowly expanding their territory, as the capitalist nations tried to contain the USSR’s expansion. The United States, though far removed from the situation, were adamantly against the spread of communism and this put a strain on their relationship with the USSR, leading to a nuclear arms race. During this period, Germany was split into four occupied territories: Great Britain, Soviet Union, France and America. This cooperative occupation continued until the 1948 Berlin Blockade. The USSR blocked all of the western allies’ access roads to the eastern half of Berlin. This blockade was dropped in 1949, but it paved
On June 24, 1948, the Soviets officially cut all electricity and transportation routes to and from the western zones of Berlin.22 They would remain closed for almost a year. The only reason the United States did not leave and Berliners were not starved into submission was because the United States Air Force, the Royal Air Force, and the French Air Force flew literally thousands of tons of food and fuel into the city daily. The actual events during the blockade are not important to this argument. All the reader need know is that the Soviets continually changed their justification for the blockade and were ever changing their demands for it to be lifted. What is important, was that many in Washington could not believe what was happening. Many
At the end of the second world war, U.S, French, British and Soviet military forces decided to divide Germany and Berlin between them. In early 1948 the United States, France, and the United Kingdom wanted Germany to have a more stable society and be economically stable while the Soviets insist in keeping Germany weak and easy to control (Cold War Slides 54). The question of the time was whether western Germany and western Berlin (Allied controlled) would remain free of the Soviets or would be absorbed by the Soviet eastern Germany. Therefore, because of the hostile relationships left by the world war II between the western allies and the Soviet Union, Germany was in danger of communism and Soviet policies. The morning of June 24, 1948, the Soviet military organized a blockade on rail, roads, and water access to Allied-controlled areas of Berlin, starting the Berlin Crisis (“The Berlin Airlift”).
It had been almost 2 years since the Berlin wall was installed by East Germany with Soviet Union’s influence before President Kennedy had arrived in West Berlin. In his Ich bin ein Berliner speech, President John F. Kennedy strongly denounced the construction of the Berlin wall and exemplified the U.S. total support for the unification of Germany. President Kennedy was able to fulfill his purpose by immediately identifying with the plight of his audience with the suggestion that he too was ich bin ein Berliner or “I am a Berliner”. In addition, his presidential visit to war torn West Berlin shaped his speech by promoting the democratic hallmarks of freedom and solidarity while soundly rejecting the flawed ideals of communism. Scholars articulate
The Berlin Blockade is said to be the first major international crises of the Cold War. The basis of this blockade was to cut of Western Allies ' railway, road, and canal access to the eastern side of the city. The Soviets proposed an offer to the west, in which they would drop the blockade, if newly introduced Deutschmark currency was withdrawn from West Berlin. But seeing as though if they did agree, the German society would only crumble even further, so the westerners rejected the offer. The idea of the an airlift came to mind of the western allies, as they wanted aid Berlin citizens and abolish the Soviet authority. This idea was inspired by the World War II American airlift from India, over the Himalayas, to China- “The Hump”, to resupply the Chinese war effort. Planning and investigating were soon done by the three nations in an attempt to figure out and carry out a large-scale solution.
Mikhail Gorbachev, in his four years in power to that point, had reduced the burden of oppression on the residents of the Soviet Bloc. Without his reforms, the Wall would not have fallen. Yet Gorbachev’s reforms alone were not enough to open the Wall, for they were in no way intended to end the occupation of divided Berlin.
The Berlin wall was a barrier that divided the capital of Germany Berlin into two from 1961 to 1989. On one side of the wall there was East Berlin which was made up of the soviet sector and on the other side was West Berlin which was made up of the American, British and French sectors. The Berlin wall not only divided Berlin but it divided family and friends. This article will outline the key ideas of what caused the Berlin wall to come crashing down, how communism and oppression affect the society people living in either west berlin or east berlin had come accustom to, the perspectives on the wall coming down from the Mikhail Gorbachev , St John Paul ii and …., the consequences the wall coming down after 40 years and how this affective not
Twenty-seven years ago, the eastern side of the world was known to the west. A place that had been surrounded by a large frontier saw the light on november 9th in 1989. Berlin, the actual german city of dreams, is the witness of a political situation that lead a cultural and social movement in a period of conflict. The remnants state in the Berlin Wall, a place that is known for its background and its contemporary iconicity; a place that is worth visiting.
In contrast to the desolate picture life in East Berlin painted, the economy of West Germany, which also included West Berlin, was rebounding and becoming quite strong. West Berlin’s businesses were booming, and their industry products were readily and rapidly bought by its resident who were eager to obtain the products and goods they had so long been deprived of previously, as a result of World War II.10 This new and heightening demand for goods pushed wages up quickly, and many new jobs were created with the development of new housing units and other construction enterprises.11 Movies, plays, and concerts were also available for West Berlin residents to enjoy, and overall life in West Berlin was good. However, life on the West side wasn’t all fun and games. Their city was still divided, and families were still separated. To the children of West Berlin residents, East Berlin was hidden from view and shrouded in mystery, their only knowledge of the other side coming through school or some form of media. It seemed they constantly asked themselves the question, “ Will the lives of East and West Germans forever be so vastly different and separate?”