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A paper on the rise and fall of the Berlin wall
The cold war and its impact
The cold war and its impact
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Recommended: A paper on the rise and fall of the Berlin wall
The 1980s was a deadly and significant decade. Not just the U.S. went through a dark time the whole world experienced many wars and conflicts. On the bright side a lot of technology was produced plus many entertainment shows were created. The fall of the Berlin Wall was a memorable day for the Germans. They hated being trapped and controlled by the German Government. They had to go twenty eight years separated from their friends and family. Until November 9, 1989. The Cold War wasn’t any regular war. It was a tension between the Soviet Union and the U.S. The United States feared that communism would spread. The U.S. and the Soviet Union fought together against the axis powers, but after the war ended ,distrust grew between the two superpowers.“The …show more content…
John F. Kennedy was against the communist Soviet Union therefore he sided with West Berlin, giving his speech on June 26, 1963 in Berlin."all free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin, and, therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words Ich bin EIN Berliner." ( I am a Berliner) -JFK.JFK said the speech to show the support the United States had for West Germany. He had an audience of 450,000 people .JFk aimed most of his speech towards the Soviet Union.During his speech in West Berlin JFK said,“Lasst sie nach Berlin kommen.” ( Let them come to Berlin).His quote meant let the Soviets come we can control and handle them.As the Cold War began to thaw out, the fall of the Berlin Wall was soon coming. The fall of the Berlin Wall was on was on November 9, 1989. East Berlin announced a change and by midnight the GDR said people can cross the borders. During that very moment citizens rushed to the borders with hammers and picks hitting at the wall. They were finally free. Here is a video about the fall of the Berlin Wall. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmRPP2WXX0U .The Berlin Wall is important to my everyday life because it is a possibility that if it never fell I could’ve been living in a communist country right now. The Berlin Wall was a huge global event that affected
Oh right, because we were blinded by our fear of communism” (Green). It was the U.S. fear of the spread of communism that propelled the motion to war forward.... ... middle of paper ... ...
Communism was both an international and national crisis. The United States fear was having any custody of its country becoming communism and it wanted to stop it from spreading throughout the world, because the U.S was dominantly Democratic and Republican and they feared a takeover of other countries or even their own states trying to take over. (Anticom...
In the year 1961, the building of Berlin Wall called upon disasters in Germany. United States controlled the west of Berlin while German Democratic Republic held the East. Being stuck under the rule of day to day terror, people from East Berlin were making their way to the West Berlin. West Berlin was a safe spot and freedom checkpoint in the middle of terror. To stop the moving of East Berliners, the East German government decided to build a barrier that limited and halted the East Berliners from leaving. But the battle to control Berlin between, the United States and the Soviet Union, had been taking place since after the division of Germany. The German Democratic Republic wanted better control over its people to spread its communist ideas
The United States’ feared the spread of communism and attempted to do anything in its power to stop it. Before the United States was able to stop the spread of communist beliefs, the citizens of the United States government were becoming more and more paranoid.
After World War II, Germany was separated into four different sectors assigned to the triumphant Allied forces: the United States, Britain, France, and the Soviet Union. (Wolski) The capital was located one hundred fifteen miles into Soviet territory. (Kenny) The Western Allies believed this was unfair because Berlin was the only large city at the time. They agreed to separate Berlin into quadrants as well. (Wolski) The United States, Britain, and France joined their sectors together as a democratic state called the Federal Republic of Germany. (Taylor) Meanwhile, Russia kept their portion separate and it became known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR). However, this caused a problem because the democratic West Berlin was entirely surrounded by Soviet land. (Wolski)
The Soviet Union and the United States served as Allies during World War II. At the end of the war however each side wanted to deal with the aftermath differently. The United States was in favor of a peaceful and cooperative relationship with Germany and their Allies. The Soviet Union wanted revenge on the crimes and atrocities that were committed against them. The United States wanted to push democracy in Eastern Europe yet the Soviets countered this by saying the United States was hypocritical, since at that time the United States supported the Latin countries that were governed by dictatorships. The Soviets were under the impression that this was an effort to boost the UNITED STATES economy.
...e fight against communism placed a great responsibility on United States and its European allies. In order to back their beliefs, they were responsible to help in the fight against communism. Each country believed strongly in their individual views concerning communism and they were willing to do anything to stop the advancement of this particular form of government. This eventually led to the deaths of thousands of U.S. troops in a war that was being fought for controversial reasons.
John F. Kennedy, having been in Berlin numerous times already, returns to display the support of the United States government. Kennedy’s willingness for the survival of Berlin was vast and was never doubted. The strength of Berlin rested with the United States, and John Kennedy looks toward the positive of their situation. With his youth and energy, John Kennedy’s words are heard around the world yet again. On June 26, 1963, President Kennedy delivered the most distinguished speech of the time, elevating the morality of the city’s protection from communism (Kennedy 1963).
“Ich bin ein Berliner”, these words stated by Kennedy were the first words spoken by him in German appealed immensely to the people of Berlin who heard his speech (Kennedy).
The Cold War put us on the brink of war with the Soviet Union. This could have possibly been the one thing that started the fear of communism. Russian spies are everywhere. People suspected each other, even their neighbors. Since the soviet Union was a communist country that was spreading it’s influence in Europe. America had to do something about it. America felt that the people living in the Soviet Union were being oppressed and needed to be free. This so called war was basically seeing how far both the countries, (America & Soviet Union) could go without going into war. Examples of this would be the Truman doctrine, which was Truman’s way of making sure Greece and Turkey would not become a communist country (N.N.787). Another example would be the Marshall Plan, which asked the countries that needed help request it and the US would help. America did not want the Soviets to spread their ideas to other countries by exploiting the dissatisfaction of their country. So we helped because we thought that our country was in trouble from the communists (N.N.787). An even better example of clashes between the US and the Soviet Union would be the Berlin Airlift. Soviets blocked off all land into Berlin and we airlifted supplies into Berlin. Now during this at home, there were many people scared of communism also. Many were accused communists due to the Red Scare.
In conclusion Berlin Wall was an important milestone in the growth of the Cold War. It was the expansion that represented the thinking of a determined Communist system. Western Capitalism, which was more powerful, eventually defeated the system. The massive wall that did so much harm to a country was finally destroyed, and the people of Germany could now live the way they all wanted to live. They could live the life of freedom. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall East Germany has went through a lot of changes, and it still is not easy for all of the people in East Germany. But no matter how hard it is for the people of East Germany now, it is better than being alone and separated from their families, friends and rest of Europe.
Though times were tough for many years for some Germans, things are improving slowly. While the wall was erect, many Germans had high hopes of change and continue to strive towards equality nationwide. In June of 1963 when John F. Kennedy visited Berlin, he gave a very impacting speech to the people of Berlin, "There are some who say that Communism is the wave of the future. Let them come to Berlin" (Sidey). Although the wall no longer physically stands, it still today divides Germany and Berlin into two separate states today.
When the Soviet-supported East Germany constructed the Berlin Wall, many were distraught. It separated families, loved ones, and many others. West Germany’s allies, including the US, did not know quite how to show support, but JFK tried his best to do so. In JFK’s speech to the people of West Berlin and all of West Germany addressing the construction of the Berlin wall, he appeals to the people of West Berlin and encourages them to stay strong in order to show the people of West Berlin that they are strong fighters. JFK appeals to the people of West Berlin by trying to bond with them.
The Berlin Crisis reached its height in the fall of 1961. Between August and October of that year, the world watched as the United States and the Soviet Union faced off across a new Cold War barrier, the Berlin Wall. In some ways, the Wall was Khrushchev’s response to Kennedy’s conventional buildup at the end of July, and there were some in the West who saw it that way. However, as Hope Harrison has clearly shown, Khrushchev was not the dominant actor in the decision to raise the Wall, but rather acquiesced to pressure from East German leader Walter Ulbricht, who regarded the Wall as the first step to resolving East Germany’s political and economic difficulties. The most pressing of these difficulties was the refugee problem, which was at its height in the summer of 1961 as thousands of East Germans reacted to the increased tensions by fleeing westward. But Ulbricht also saw the Wall as a way to assert East German primacy in Berlin, and thus as a way to increase the pressure on the West to accept East German sovereignty over all of Berlin.
The collapse of the Berlin Wall changed Western Europe as we know it today. The Iron Curtain which had split Europe had ascended and the once divided germans were reunited under one common nation. The causal factors which resulted in the fall of the Berlin Wall were internal — communism imploded upon itself—. Gorbachev attempted to reform communism through Glasnost and Perestroika, which were supposed to incorporate economic reforms and transparency, however, history illustrates that increased liberty is incompatible with communism. Dr. Schmidtke argued that structural deficiencies led along with poor economic growth which led to the collapse of communism in Europe, and consequently the collapse of the Berlin Wall. The alienation of intellectuals and the authoritative nature of communist regimes further contributed to the failure of communism in Europe. However, the collapse of the Berlin Wall would not have occurred had it not been for Gorbachev’s Glasnost, Perestroika, and the end of the Brezhnev Doctrine. Along with German official Schabowski whose actions were the catalyst for the mass exodus of persons from the GDR into West Germany. The Collapse of the Berlin Wall would not have occurred so swiftly had Gorbachev not tried to implement reforms to communism.