Collapse Of The Berlin Wall Essay
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 Gorbachevs 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.
Mr Gorbachev Tear Down This Wall: Reagans Berlin Speech
The Berlin Wall was erected by communist East Germany and the Soviet Union in 1961 to keep skilled East German workers and intellectuals from fleeing to West Berlin . By the 1980s it had become a symbol of the tense relationship between East and West during the Cold War as well as an enduring symbol of Soviet oppression. On June 12, 1987, U.S. President Ronald Reagan spoke near the wall in front of Berlins famous Brandenburg Gate.
Reagan was quick to seize on this moment of change in the Soviet Union and asserted his willingness to develop an arms-reduction agreement with his Soviet counterpart while also agitating for increased openness between people on both sides of the Iron Curtain. The most well-known part of Reagans oratory came at roughly 12 minutes into his 26-minute speech:
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!
The Berlin Wall Analysis
The investigation explores the events and mindsets during the Cold War with the purpose of answering the question What lead to the construction of the Berlin Wall? The exploration of this historical event is important to demonstrate the tension that existed after World War II between the two powerhouses, the U.S. and USSR. The conflict between the counties entrenched in their beliefs of democracy and communism drove feelings of fear, mistrust and a division of power. The Berlin Wall was a means to separate East and West Belin and allowed the USSR to retain their communist population despite its citizens wishes while the U.S. promoted capitalism as a way to unite multiple countries. The main sources for this investigation are Berlin: The
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The Lasting Legacy Of Reagans Speech
The Tear Down This Wall speech didnt mark the end of Reagans attempts to work with Gorbachev on improving relations between the two rival nations: He would join the Soviet leader in a series of summit meetings through the end of his presidency in early 1989, even signing a major arms control agreement, the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.
In the aftermath of the Berlin Walls fall, many began to reevaluate Reagans earlier speech, viewing it as a harbinger of the changes that were then taking place in Eastern Europe. In the United States, Reagans challenge to Gorbachev has been celebrated as a triumphant moment in his foreign policy, and as Time magazine later put it, the four most famous words of Ronald Reagans presidency.
In the end, Gorbachevs reforms, and the resulting protest movements put pressure on the East German government to open barriers to the West. Gorbachev was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990 for his work in ending the Cold War, including the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Why Was The Berlin Wall Built
The walls origins traced back to the years after World War II, when the Soviet Union and its Western allies carved Germany into two zones of influence that would become two separate countries, respectively: the German Democratic Republic and the Federal Republic of Germany . Located deep within Soviet-controlled East Germany, the capital city of Berlin was also split in two.
Over the next decade or so, some 2.5 million East Germansincluding many skilled workers, intellectuals and professionalsused the capital as the primary route to flee the country, especially after the border between East and West Germany was officially sealed in 1952.
Seeking to stop this mass exodus, the East German government closed off passage between the two Berlins during the night of August 12, 1961. What began as a barbed wire fence, policed by armed guards, was soon fortified with concrete and guard towers, completely encircling West Berlin and separating Berliners on both sides from their families, jobs and the lives they had known before. Over the next 28 years, thousands of people would risk their lives to escape East Germany over the Berlin Wall, and some 140 were killed in the attempt.
Reagans ‘Tear Down this Wall’ Speech Initially Met Criticism
President Ronald Reagan in front of the Brandenburg Gate in West Berlin on June 12, 1987 to make his famous speech saying, Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.
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Ronald Reagan’s Tear Down This Wall Speech
President Reagan implored the Soviets in a June 12, 1987, Berlin speech to tear down this wall. The Hoover Institution and the Ronaldread more
President Reagan implored the Soviets in a June 12, 1987, Berlin speech to tear down this wall. The Hoover Institution and the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute hosted a look back at the evolution of that speech and its importance more than three decades later. Speakers included speech author Peter Robinson and Jamie Fly, Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty president. close
Strategies Harriet Tubman And Others Used To Escape Along The Underground Railroad
Despite this, the Berlin Wallthat heavily fortified symbol of Cold War divisionsseemed as solid as ever.
On June 12, 1987, standing on the West German side of the Berlin Wall, with the iconic Brandenburg Gate at his back, Reagan declared: 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. Reagan then waited for the applause to die down before continuing. Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!
Reagans tactics were a departure from his three immediate predecessors, Presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, who all focused on a policy of détente with the Soviet Union, playing down Cold War tensions and trying to foster a peaceful coexistence between the two nations. Reagan dismissed détente as a one-way street that the Soviet Union has used to pursue its own aims.
Thousands of celebrants climb atop the Berlin Wall in front of Brandenburg Gate on the night of November 9th, 1989. Crowds had flocked to the border crossings after a botched news announcement spread rapidly that the East German Government would start granting exit visas to anyone who wanted to go to the West.
Robert Wallis/Corbis/Getty Images
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Period Following The Building Of The Berlin Wall
After the Berlin Wall was constructed in 1961, West German Chancellor suggested to U.S. President that the United States propose a swap of West Berlin with and parts of and the city’s population would have been relocated to West Germany. Adenauer did not believe that the Soviets would accept the offer because East Germany would lose important industry, but hoped that making the proposal would reduce tensions between the western and eastern blocs, and perhaps hurt relations between the USSR and East Germany if they disagreed on accepting the offer. While the Kennedy administration seriously considered the idea, it did not make the proposal to the Soviet Union.
NATO also took an increased interest in the specific issue related to West Berlin, and drafted plans to ensure to defend the city against an eventual attack from the East. A tripartite planning group known as , working together with NATO, was entrusted with potential military responses to any crisis.
On 26 June 1963, President Kennedy visited West Berlin. On his triumphant tour, cheered by hundred of thousands of West Berliners in the streets, he stopped at the Congress Hall, near the , and at , before delivering at West Berlin’s city hall a speech, which became famous for its phrase “” and a hallmark of America’s solidarity with the city.
At the Brandenburg Gate in 1987, U.S. President provided a challenge to the then Soviet leader:
West Berlin comprised the following :
In the American Sector:
Transport And Transit Travel
West Berliners could travel to West Germany and all Western and states at all times, except during the by the Soviet Union when there were restrictions on passenger flight capacity imposed by the airlift.
Travelling to and from West Berlin by road or train always required passing through East German border checks, since West Berlin was an surrounded by East Germany and East Berlin. On 2 October 1967, six years after the Wall was constructed, tram tracks in West Berlin were removed because the authorities wanted to promote car usage, meaning that the tram system remaining today runs almost entirely within the former East Berlin.
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The Wall Circled The Entire City
. For example in the following. Web Ethos is used to make the audience feel like what the author is saying is more believable and evokes trust from the audience. Web Rhetorical devices Inhalt Allusion and direct references Antithesis Direct Address Repetition Allusion and direct references In his Tear down this wall speech Ronald.
Web Reagans speech was intended to tear down the berlin wall. Another element of the rhetorical situation that well. Web Ronald Reagans speech Tear Down this Wall has moved the citizens of Berlin to hope that with the aid of the United States of America freedom will soon come.
Who the writer is who the audience is and what the topic is. Web Some of the rhetorical devices that Reagan uses in his speech are allusions and references direct address and antithesis. The rhetorical situation is that the speaker is Ronald Reagan.
Web For most people the renowned Tear Down This Wall speech in 1987 marked a new age a crucial defining moment in history that brought together a world. Web Rhetorical devices used in Ronald Reagan speech Tear Down this wallReagan says Every man is a Berliner forced to look upon a scar Reagan uses this Metaphor calling. For example in the following.
This system divided the continent of europe from the Baltic South. Web Berlin Wall Pretty much no one in the West thought the Berlin Wall was all that cool. In Tear Down This Wall.
The credibility gained by. Some of the rhetorical devices are meant to.
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Traffic Between Different Parts Of West Berlin Crossing The East
When the Wall was built in 1961, three metro lines starting in northern parts of West Berlin passed through tunnels under the Eastern city centre and ended again in southern parts of West Berlin. The lines concerned were today’s underground lines and and the S-Bahn line . On the sealing off of West Berlin from East Berlin by the Berlin Wall the entrances of the stations on these lines located in East Berlin were shut. However, western trains were allowed to continue to pass through without stopping. Passengers of these trains experienced the empty and barely lit where time had stood still since 13 August 1961. West Berlin’s public transport operator BVG paid the east an annual charge in Western Deutsche Marks for its underground lines to use the tunnels under East Berlin. and also had one subterranean stop at the Eastern , the only station beneath East Berlin where western U Bahn trains were still allowed to stop. Passengers could change there between U 6, S 2 and the elevated S 3 or for the transit trains to West Germany, buy duty-free tobacco and liquor for Western marks in GDR-run kiosks, or enter East Berlin through a checkpoint right in the station.
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The Berlin Wall And The Cold War
For many, the fall of the wall proved the triumph of capitalism over communism. East German communist leaders were forced out of office. Negotiations began for the complete reunification of Germany.West German Chancellor H. Kohl assured the world that a united Germany would be no threat to peace. In October 1990, he became the first Chancellor of a reunited Germany. The construction of the Berlin wall in Germany between the 13th of August 1961 1989 increased tensions to a significant extent as it was a sign of dominance portrayed by the USSR, was a follow up from the Bay of pigs and U2 spy plane crisis and the US were trying to combat the USSR by setting up the Berlin airlift and demanding peace in the east. The Berlin Wall was arguably the greatest source of tension during the Cold War due to the many significant events happening before and after the construction of the wall. Finally, the construction of the Berlin Wall created significant tensions between the two superpowers, USSR and the USA, which developed into other tensions arising in the Cold War Period. I have analysed the topic To what extent did the construction of the Berlin Wall increase tensions during the Cold War period and developed 3 strong body paragraphs that support my
Reagan Speech: Tear Down This Wall 1987
President Ronald Reagans “Tear Down This Wall” speech marked his visit to the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin on June 12, 1987, following the G7 summit meeting in Venice. As Reagan spoke, his words were amplified to both sides of the Berlin Wall, reaching both East and West Germans. The President noted recent Soviet progress toward “a new policy of reform and openness,” but wondered, “Are these the beginnings of profound changes in the Soviet state? Or are they token gestures, intended to raise false hopes in the West, or to strengthen the Soviet system without changing it?” Reagan declared that the Berlin Wall offered the Soviets and their president, Mikhail Gorbachev, an opportunity to make a “sign” of their sincerity and “advance dramatically the cause of freedom and peace.” The “sign” Reagan proposed was simple: “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”
A full transcript is available.
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The Dismantling Of The Berlin Wall
1989 was a very important year for Europe and the world. Leading up to this time, many countries were involved in the Cold War, a time of military and political tension between western and eastern powers. People were glum, economies were weak, and political competition was at its peak. But this was the year the Berlin Wall was opened this year ultimately led to the ending of the Cold War . On November 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall was ordered to be taken down. Within a year, West Germany and East Germany became unified, and within two, the Cold War had completely ended . The dismantling of the Berlin Wall in 1989 triggered an extraordinary transformation of Europe. The event affected the lives of the citizens of the now unified Germany, led to the collapse of Communist rule, and brought rise to the question of political superiority in Europe and the United States.
When Did The Berlin Wall Fall
On November 9, 1989, the Cold War officially began to thaw when Egon Krenz, the head of East Germanys Communist Party, announced that citizens could now cross into West Germany freely. That night, thousands of East and West Germans headed to the Berlin Wall to celebrate, many armed with hammers, chisels and other tools. Over the next few weeks, the wall would be nearly completely dismantled. After talks over the next year, East and West Germany officially reunited on October 3, 1990.
This was a result of many changes over the course of two years. Gorbachevs reforms within the Soviet Union gave Eastern Bloc nations more freedom to determine their own government and access to the West. Protests within East Germany gained strength, and after Hungary and Czechoslovakia opened their borders, East Germans began defecting en masse.
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The Speech That Helped Bring Down The Berlin Wall
Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate. So said President Reagan, addressing the Soviet general secretary at the Brandenburg Gate, near the Berlin Wall. Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!
Reagans stark challenge to tear down the Berlin Wall gave shape to increasing international pressure on Moscow to make good on its promises of openness and reform. The wall, which had become a symbol of Soviet oppression, came down two years later, on November 9, 1989.
To honor the 30th anniversary of the end of the Berlin Wall, Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo unveiled a statue of Ronald Reagan at the U.S. Embassy in Berlin during his visit to Germany this week.
Peter Robinson, who wrote Reagans tear down this wall line, said his team knew what tone worked for the president: clarity, a sense of vision and a moral purpose.
Robinson also knew that sometimes great speechwriting requires breaking rules and following your instincts. Robinson had been advised by numerous diplomats not to mention the Berlin Wall in the speech. In spite of the advice, he left the line Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall in every draft.