A Brief Note On Hungarian And East German Revolts

The lives of the people in Berlin were impacted by a result of hostility, making

The German Peasants’ Revolts were a series of revolts occurring from 1524-1526 in which peasants ran amok throughout the German states, with some groups converging on the town of Memmingen, Swabia, to form a Peasant Parliament and voice their grievances in the Twelve Articles of the Swabian Peasants. The revolts were caused by religious teachings and abuse inflicted by lords, and were responded to with support, as well as condemnation.

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

Germany and the capital, Berlin, was split at the end of WWII. The East Berlin and Germany were controlled by the Soviets and West Berlin and Germany was controlled by the US, France, and Britain. Since West Berlin was completely surrounded by communism, Joseph Stalin, the leader of the Soviet Union, decided to prevent any shipments (including food) from going into West Berlin (Doc. B) in an attempt to starve them out. They created a blockade. When the US and its allies found out, they sent planes over to get the shipments and take them to the West Berliners which provided over two million people with supplies ranging from food to coal for nearly over a year (Doc. B).

Firstly, some people believed the government should intervene. For example, Ferdinand Laselle, who is a political activist, gave a speech in Berlin saying that the state should carry on the

“What happens to Berlin happens to Germany; what happens to Germany, happens to Europe.” These were the words of Vyacheslav Molotov, Soviet Foreign Minister from 1939 through 1949. The Soviet Blockade of Berlin was a direct challenge to Western attempts to combine their zones of occupation, and it threatened to unleash World War III. The Western Allies’ response to this blockade was a massive airlift, supplying over two million people in West Berlin with food, water, medicine, and other supplies. The Berlin Airlift was an important historical event which occurred just three years after the conclusion of World War II in Europe, and it had many complex causes and far-reaching consequences.

In addition to the problems communism caused to East Germany, the leaders were not trusted by the civilians. In June 1953, East German leader Walter Ulbricht and his government party raised the price of food, while expecting the workers to work just as hard and efficiently. They were wrong as a protest starting on June 16 in East Berlin soon spread throughout East Germany and involved 400,000 workers. The USSR’s way of coping with this protest was to order Soviet tanks to roll into the protest sites and East Berlin. They killed 50 protestors and arrested 10,000 more in order to restore order. Hundreds more were executed for their actions in the protest (Burgan 35). Though this was prior to the construction of the Berlin Wall, it shows how the USSR had a bad history of how they coped with their citizens, and worsened the relationship between the government and the citizens. As these examples show, the USSR being a communist nation really hurt both their economy, as well as the government’s relationship with their people. Their mistrust of their East German population cost the government a lot of money to station more guards on the border. This high cost cut greatly into their funding of the space program, causing them to lose the Space Race to the United States.

Throughout all of the valiant efforts of Hungarian Students and workers the Hungarian revolution had begun only to see hundreds die and thousands more leave with fatal casualties. The only way the Hungarians could fight back was to take up arms and fight back with as much force as possible and eventually they did succeed only to watch all of their hopes a dreams crushed when the soviets returned to decimate the Hungarian Freedom Fighters within a matter of a few short days. The Soviet Union’s Reign had only ended when the Berlin wall was demolished in 1989 when other countries finally realized that the Communist were also a very large threat to the rest of the world, which bring me to yet another point in history when the same efforts concluded to very fruitful rewards.

The demands, “adopted at the storm meetings held at the universities” (Doc 1) call for freedom in harsh and extreme tones. Instead of compromise with communists, the students request for the “withdrawal of all Soviet troops from Hungary” (Doc 1) and to have “no interference in Hungary’s internal affairs” (Doc 1). As an alternative to Soviet rule, the students desire for Hungary to be in control of its internal affairs. The people of Hungary wish for “equal rights for individual farms and cooperative members” (Doc 1). Hungarians envision a life without communist rule intervening with the responsibilities of the country and demonstrate the idea by “[cutting] out the hated hammer and sickle that the Communists had placed at [the] center [of the Hungarian flag]” and proclaiming that they have created a new flag of freedom. ( Doc

The date is August 29th, 1949. The war which plunged the world into chaos is now four years passed. But, a new problem has risen in the west. The Soviet Union has successfully tested its first atomic weapon, and it doesn’t take long before American U-2 planes, flying overhead, spot its destruction. A year later, Mao Zedong’s communist party prevails in the Chinese civil war. Then, before two mere months pass, Communist North Korea, backed by the Soviets, invade South Korea officially starting the Korean War. These problems involving communism are not the first of their kind, and certainly won’t be the last. For a stretch of around ten years, the threat of communism infiltrating Americas “perfect” democracy is very real, plunging the public deeper into the already present mass hysteria known to all as The Red Scare. This mass hysteria suffered over the idea of communism infiltrating the United States government affected the country both politically and socially and still affects the country politically to this day.

These blockades later became the infamous “Berlin Wall”. The wall was infamous because it “stood as a grim symbol of totalitarian socialism” (“Berlin Wall” 2). “The soviets tried to control all of berlin by blockading the roads.”(“Berlin Wall 2). After the building of the wall the Westerners responded with the Berlin Airlift. The Airlift was was series of helicopter flights that supplied the country with food and supplies. The Airlift not only helped them in their food situation but also caused success for the economy in western Germany. The wall was later destroyed after the Eastern Cabinet resigned. On “November 7… hundreds of thousands of Berliners took to the streets, breaching the wall in frenzied celebration.” (“Berlin Wall” 3). This was a momentous day as the effect of the wall was essentially imprisonment for the people on the eastern side. The wall was armed with guards that were instructed to kill anyone who attempted to escape. The destruction of the wall was significant because it displayed how things can be accomplished without violence. Then 21 days later “West Germany outlined a proposal calling for the reunification of the nation” (“Berlin Wall” 3). All in one year the wall that stood as a sign of separation was destroyed and the two sides were

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.

In 1961 there was a wall build with barbed wire to separate the east and the west in Berlin. This resulted in a riot from the citizens who proceeded to attack offices, military officials, and threw rocks at military vehicles like tanks and cargo trucks. The people of Berlin were outraged, people were forced away from their friends and family and were not allowed to cross the border of the wall because Khrushchev wanted to gain control of the entirety of Germany.

In 1923 German workers went on strike against the government. Germany's money value decreased to about nothing. Hitler proclaimed a Nazi revolution or a "putch." While Hitler and 2,000 troops were protesting, the police shot into the crowd, killing 16 troops.

They wanted to drive The United States of America, The United Kingdom and France out of the city. So, in 1948, what came to be known as the Soviet Blockade was an event that aimed to starve the western Allies out of the city. The United States could have retreated and started a war. But they did not. In fact, they themselves sent food to the city of Berlin and wanted to bring it back to normal. This is because they did not want Soviet Union to gain full control over the city. They could not see this part of the city turning totally communist. This effort, known as the Berlin Airlift, lasted for more than a year and delivered more than 2.3 million tons of food, fuel and other goods to West Berlin. 300,000 Berliners demonstrated for the international airlift to continue. In May 1949, The Soviets lifted the blockade, permitting the resumption of Western shipments to Berlin.