The Cold War in Berlin - Research Paper Example

The Cold War in Berlin What were the causes that brought down the Berlin wall in 1989? Who played a role in the act of unifying Germany again? These are two questions that have been asked and answered in many ways from the time the wall went down. This paper will talk about the history of the Berlin wall, one of the factors that led to the fall of not only the wall built by the Soviet Union. It will also explore the whole iron curtain issue that plagued Europe for years. The presidents of United States of America and their historical speeches that changed the world and finally how small changes Gorbachev made turned out to be bigger than they expected. How Communism was destroyed like every single block of concrete in the wall. The time before the wall was built, with the end of World War II the red army of the Soviet Union captured Berlin and it was divided to four sections. The American, French and British held the west side of Berlin and the east was held by the Soviet Union. New rules and regulations began to be imposed in East Berlin which limited traveling for the citizens to West Berlin. After the Soviet Union started to put up the Berlin Blockade, access to East Berlin was suspended limiting supplies like food and fuel to West Germany (Burgan, 2008).This was a political strategy of the Soviet Union to prevent mass exodus of it manpower to West Berlin and strengthen their communism agenda in their territory. The history of Berlin wall remains important in understanding the great socio-economic and political steps the world has made and the root of the existing political divide between the US-capitalist lead economy versus the Russian-communist policy. The current socio-economic and political structure is a product of their 28-year different political ideologies in the west and East Berlin as a result of the physical barrier by the Berlin wall. German has remained a strong economy in Europe and the current most influential political voice in European Union. These observations can be traced to the dark period of the Berlin wall construction and its eventual destruction (Bakke, 2011). The existing international relations between the United Germany, United States, Russia and other former allied states are a product of their past World War II experience. It is therefore important to note the significance of Berlin wall in world history and the creation of a stable modern Germany economy. The Berlin wall was built in 1961 after the Democratic republic of Germany decided to entrench their oppression on the East Berlin population and advance their communism course. This was the height of cold war and particularly set Soviet Union against the United States. The increasing global concern on the state of socio-economic and political condition differences between the Soviet led East Berlin and Capitalist allied West required sound approach to be brought to an end and reduce the tension. This is when John.F.Kennedy who was the US president by then visited Germany for the first time over the wall. His speech played a significant role in mitigating the possible outburst of full-blown military combat between the Soviet forces and the United States. A summary of President Kennedy’s speech explores the significance of his oratory skills and in-depth political strategy which left an indelible mark in the history of Berlin wall and Germany. Here is the summary of President Kennedy’s speech in front of unprecedented crowd gathered close to the wall. He stated that if one was claiming that communism was good, he should come to West Berlin and see the capitalism taste. This was meant to demonstrate how well the capitalism ideology had spurred significant economic growth and political freedom in West Berlin. He also asserted that dividing people and putting them under oppression was not only contravention of individual human rights but a recipe to economic backwardness. He reiterated the need for a united people and pursuit of capitalism which was characterized by democracy “Freedom has many difficulties, and democracy is not perfect But we have never had to put a wall up to keep our people in, to prevent them from leaving us!” He demonstrated how West Berlin had prospered despite being physically separated from the rest of the world and directly championed for adoption of democracy as a tool towards capitalism before he gave a closing remark amidst a cheering crowd of how proud he was to be a West Berliner (Smyser, 2009). It is worth to note that John. Kennedy’s visit was also meant for a meeting with the Soviet Union Leader Nikita Khrushchev in Vienna Austria for a retreat in terms of the oppressive rule over the East Berlin people. The meeting ended in a stalemate and increased tension between US and Soviet Union. At some point, the US threatened to react with military force if their rights in West Berlin were interfered with in any way by the communist Soviet Union. The East Berlin administration faced significant threat of depopulation if they did not tighten the emigration rules and this was seen as possible to be resolved through improving the wall and widening no-go zone with stronger and shoot to kill border guards. To achieve this, the second wall which was known as border wall 75 was created in 1975 as the Soviet Union sought to increasingly stamp their communist policies and oppressive authority in East Berlin. It is worth to note that West Berlin which was a territory of the Capitalist US fell within the larger Germany portion that was divided to Soviet Union. It was therefore a problem to the Soviet Union to see the capitalism in the West Berlin influencing its communist East and they threatened to uproot the West Berlin administration and conquer it. They went as far as issuing a nuclear weapon use against the West allied forces led by US in an attempt to root out the capitalism campaign that diluted their effort to install strong communism. The United States had begun to put in place proactive measures in the event that Soviet Union made good their threat and commenced stationing of short range American missiles in Europe. This was vehemently opposed by the Soviet Union and heightened the raging tension between the East and the West. This forced President Ronald Reagan in 1987 to go through Berlin to meet Gorbachev in an effort to woe him to loosen his oppressive and communist noose on the people of East Berlin. Mikhail Gorbachev is central figure in the Berlin Wall debate as he had significant power to advance the communist policies in East Berlin. He was the Soviet Statesman who saw the last moments of Berlin Wall and its collapse. He stood to defend communism in East Berlin by oppressing people through centralized economic decision, restricted freedom of rights and increasing blackmail against the US. However, he is remembered for being at the forefront of the reunion between West and East Berlin through the fall of the Berlin wall. In 1987, the speech of US president Ronald Reagan entitled "Tear down this wall!" played a significant role that eventually culminated to Gorbachev’s less oppressive rule "There is one sign the Soviets can make that would be unmistakable, that would advance dramatically the cause of freedom and peace. General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall! " (Prados,2011). The message of Ronald Reagan was coming at a time that communism policies had begun to seem inadequate in various countries like Hungary, Poland among others with some level of weakness. This means that Soviet Union was increasingly failing in its socio-economic communist campaign. There was emerging rebellion from within and this weakened Soviet Union significantly.Gorbachev begun to change rules by letting the laws to be more lenient in East Germany (Gorbachev & Green Cross International.2011). This was characterized by increasing decrease in level of fear that the people had towards USSR. The East Germany people could be allowed to travel beyond their border to Austria and Hungary a move that slowly degenerated towards the eventual freedom and collapse of the Berlin Wall. This marked the beginning of communism collapse across the world and significantly disintegrated USSR leading to the first opening of the iron curtain which was the name given to Berlin Wall. It is important to note 1989 as being a critical year in the development of events in Europe and the world at large (Smyser, 2009). It is during this time that history suddenly accelerated its course and the symbol of this shift being the fall of the Berlin Wall. Gorbachev was under political pressure to bring in reforms that would facilitate freedom as the people showed impatience with their long standing isolated life and lack of freedom under communist power. In the wake of late 1980’s, Gorbachev began to initiate the process that culminated in the break-up of the Soviet Union strength, the collapse of Berlin wall and subsequent reunification of Germany, the collapse of Communism and the end of the Cold War. In November 9, 1989, after increasing public unrest in East Berlin, East Germany under Gorbachev finally opened the Berlin Wall and the celebration that followed in the free movement from East to West Berlin remain historic to date. Towards the early 1990, official operations to dismantle the wall began with large bulldozers and people making efforts to eliminate the decade long barricade. The fall of Berlin wall brought significant socio-economic and political restructuring in Germany and the world at large. It marked the end of cold war and the allied forces withdrew their occupation of Germany as Berlin began to rebuild itself. The USSR experienced unprecedented break up and fell with its entire communism policy. The German adopted mixed economic approach to incorporate the diverse socio-economic experiences during the Berlin wall separation and this propelled it to greater economic heights (Manghani, 2008). United States influence in Europe became evident as their relentless capitalism campaign seemed to have won the hearts of many. At the same time the Soviet Union had been reduced to Russia with widespread secession by various member states. Europe began to engage in serious socio-economic integration and good international relations policy. There was rapid social integration among the Germans and a stronger economy emerged against the backdrop of previous oppression and destruction of the East Berlin by Communist leadership. Negotiation for the Berlin Wall issue by the United States and Soviet Union which involved two US presidents marked the beginning of a peaceful resolution approach in political related disputes between the two countries. Their continued relationships to date have been characterized by significant disagreements on international socio-economic and political policy matters due to their different political ideologies that prevail in their respective opinions and decisions. References Bakke, E. (2011). 20 years since the fall of the Berlin wall: Transitions, state break-up and democratic politics in Central Europe and Germany. Berlin: Berliner Wiss.-Verl. [u.a.. Burgan, M. (2008). The Berlin Wall: Barrier to freedom. Minneapolis, Minn: Compass Point Books. Gorbachev, M. S., & Green Cross International. (2011). Mikhail Gorbachev: Prophet of change : from the Cold War to a sustainable world. Forest Row, East Sussex [England: Clairview. Manghani, S. (2008). Image critique & the fall of the Berlin Wall. Bristol, UK: Intellect. Prados, J. (2011). How the Cold War ended: Debating and doing history. Washington, D.C: Potomac Books. Selvidge, L. (2009). The last dance over the Berlin Wall. Smyser, W. R. (2009). Kennedy and the Berlin Wall: "a hell of a lot better than a war". Lanham, Md: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. Read More