American Presence on German Culture Essay

“Culture makes people understand each other better. And if they understand each other better in their soul, it is easier to overcome the economic and political barriers. But first they have to understand that their neighbor is, in the end, just like them, with the same problems, the same questions.”- Paulo Coelho. According to Paulo Coelho, in order to better overcome the worldwide obstacles, we should try to understand each other’s cultures. Through this paper, I will try to show you the main differences between German culture and American culture. I have always felt as if I have grown up around the German culture, but it took me living there for an extended period of time to see that there are indeed differences between the two cultures. While I identify with both cultures and have both nationalities, I identify stronger with some traits of the American culture yet do the same with some of the German culture. Through this paper, I will be using different models to show the similarities and differences, as well as I hope to gain a deeper understanding of both cultures as well.

February 1945: Yalta Conference: The Yalta conference was meeting held by the leaders of the 3 most powerful allied countries: the US, USSR, and Great Britain. They were there to discuss reparations in Germany. They all agreed that Germany should have a military power. Stalin, however, wanted $20 billion from Germany to pay for reparations, but FDR and Churchill disagreed. At the end of the conference, they all agree to divide Germany into four zones. The US, USSR, Great Britain, and France will each get a zone. This also led to the division of Berlin. The Yalta conference left Berlin and Germany divided until the end of the Cold War.

The forty-five years from the dropping of the atom bombs to the end of the Soviet Union, can be seen as the era of the new conflict between two major states: United States of America (USA) and Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). According to Hobsbawm, ‘cold war’ was the constant confrontation of the two super powers which emerged from the Second World War. At that time the entire generation was under constant fear of global nuclear battles. It was widely believed that it could break out at any moment. (Hobsbawm, 1994) The consequences of the ‘power vacuum’ in central Europe, created by the defeat of Germany, gave rise to these two super powers (Dunbabin, 1994). The world was divided into

WWII: was it destiny, devastation, or a devious mind? WWII had a big effect on the United States population. If we would not have had WWII, our un-employment rate would be higher. Without WWII, the culture in the United States would be less diverse than it is today. In conclusion the world as we know today would not be the same if WWII had not occurred; it played a major role in the changing of population, economy, and culture in the United States.

Before the creation of the atomic bomb, Russia and America were working towards a common goal: defeating fascism. World War II was a fight against Germany to eradicate their fascist government. Along with the help of Great

As both sides of the Cold War began to fashion intensely dangerous weapons, it was soon realized that if either party launched a first strike, it would be ensuring the death of their opponent as well as themselves. The Soviet Union's development of their nuclear arsenal forced

Two days ago, May 8th, 1945 Winston Churchill officially announced that Germany has surrendered to the Axis forces. A surrender contract was signed by Germany in Reim, France May 7, 1945, stating that Germany was no longer apart of this brutal war.

The Cold War was a response to the perceived threat by the United States that Communism would interfere with national security and economic stakes in the world. It was a perceived threat by communist countries that the United States would take to the world. During the Cold War, the United States, Russia, and other countries made efforts to avoid another world war, while warring in proxy in other lands. The devastation caused by the hydrogen bombs exploded in Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the next technological advancements became only deterrents to the public. Governments had their own agenda which would result in worsening the strain between nations. The United States hid behind a curtain of nationalism resulting in increased

World War Two proved both that whole countries could fall in a matter of weeks, and that enough land and manpower was the best kind of security. Stalin also militarized the region seeking post war security through buffer states. Stalin's motivations for the blockade are not entirely clear, however, his belief in the effectiveness of nuclear weapons was not as encompassing as other Soviet leaders. During this time nuclear strategy and technology was still at an infantile stage and the classic image of an aggressive nuclear USSR was not true. While after the dropping of bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki accelerated Soviet research into nuclear arms, Stalin did not put much weight into nuclear arms. In 1948, while the U.S. had a monopoly of nuclear weapons, they could not completely dismember the Soviet war machine with their stockpile. This fact encouraged Stalin, who was influenced greatly by his experiences in the Russian Civil War and the World War II. From these experiences, Stalin derived Soviet military doctrine from large scale conventional forces and strategies that led to the defeat of Nazi Germany, the largest military threat the world had recently seen. In short, both the United States and the USSR placed high strategic value on the physical lands of Eurasia ensure physical military presence in Berlin and an inevitable

Between 1790 and 1920 it was a tough time for the Indians. During that period Native Americans were forced to convert to the European-American Culture. Their whole life changed, the way of living, religion, and especially their children’s future. It was wrong of Americans to convert natives into a different society that they saw fit and not letting them express their own culture and treating them as an unworthy society.

During the early 1900’s, The United States government was ruled by white men that have captivated the American patriotism. The patriotism of the American society was greatly enchanted by the white superiors wanting to establish a strong American values and culture. The era of the time gave little hopes and dreams of living in a land that its purpose was to give the opportunities to all newcomers. However it was a different scenario among the Mexican American community. The Mexican communities within the United States are force to adapt to a new tradition due to the defeat of Mexican-American War. The Mexican government efforts to persuade its people to leave the United States were no effect because of their disloyalties to its government. From here on the Mexican-American community in the United States will decide its own self recognition of identity.

German tradition influenced the American tradition immensely. While they did not agree on everything the German tradition caused American sociologists to question their society and examine it further, “American social philosophy took shape largely in response to stimulation from the teachings of the German tradition,” (pp.252). German and American views on what makes a good society differ tremendously. The German sociologists believe that no one can determine whether a society is good or bad while the American sociologists believe a good society rests on the norms that a particular society has created.

Following the Second World War, Greece was plunged into decades of strife and political turmoil. The Kingdom of Greece falls somewhere in the middle of the superpower confrontation during the Cold War. Originally, Stalin and Churchill had agreed to let Britain run a non-communist Greece, yet the nation struggled between the Western and Eastern blocs and their respective superpowers’ influence [1]. This struggle originates from the German and Italian occupation of the Kingdom of Greece during the Second World War. During this occupation, many resistance groups of different ideologies began to emerge. Following the war, while the Greek government was still taking refuge in Egypt, the occupational government dissolved, leaving

-Yalta’s diplomatic negotiations of the post-war world were made along with the more urgent military decisions designed to bring Germany to unconditional surrender.

Next, we will explore if ICJ judgements tend to favor the major powers. We will focus on the more recent cases for the study as they are most applicable to today’s world. Specifically, we will track cases filed from 1992 to 2013. The table below lists cases involving major powers in the ICJ during this time period.