Essay On The Berlin Airlift

For thirty years, an iron curtain lay across Germany. This iron curtain was called the Berlin Wall, and it represented the divide between East and West Germany. It also represented the loss of East Germany’s freedom and democracy. The Berlin Wall separated families and friends. This resulted in children growing up without a father and wives losing all communication with their husbands. The Berlin Wall poorly affected many people and businesses, and caused an ugly dent in Germany’s history.

From the overthrowing of the Russian Tsar to the exile of the Nationalists, the world has been in a state where radical movements have been the main focus of citizens, even in democratic societies. The October Crisis was one of these extraordinary events that had occurred. It was a period of international and national revolutionary movements that used violent acts against constitutional measures. The 1970 October Crisis was a pivotal moment that had an undeniable and lasting impact on Canadians as it revealed the wisdom of Trudeau’s decision to enact the War Measures Act, demonstrated that the FLQ (a left-winged terrorist organization) was not a good representative of the French-Canadians, and it

Despite its beginnings as a logistical nightmare for the aircrews and aviators, the Berlin Airlift was effective in the role of containing the spread of communism into Berlin, while ensuring the survival of capitalism for its millions of citizens.

Following World War II the alliance between the U.S., Britain and The Soviet Union began to unravel as the USSR pushed for the spread of communism which threatened America and the free world. For the next few decades, America’s leaders would need to strategically combat the expansion of the iron curtain and communism. Issues broke out all over the world but the most significant “battles” were that of Berlin, Korea and Cuba. The U.S. contained communism in Berlin by remaining persistent, in Korea by battling, and in Cuba by taking caution.

Despite its beginnings as a logistical nightmare for the aircrews and aviators, the Berlin Airlift was extremely effective in the role of containing the spread of communism into Berlin, while ensuring the survival of capitalism for millions of its citizens.

Following the fall of the Third Reich at the end of WWII Germany was split between east and west into two different countries. In the east the German Democratic Republic was under communist rule and was supported by the Soviet Union. The Federal German Republic was a democracy that was part of NATO. As part of the division of Germany following WWII, Berlin, the capital of Germany was divided evenly between the two nations. However, the entire city of Berlin was deep inside of the GDR, so the Western half of the city was democratic but it was surrounded by communist territory. This made West Berlin a place where many East Germans would try to escape to. As a result of this the German Democratic Republic built a wall surrounding West Berlin to stop its own people from escaping to freedom.

The Berlin Wall, built in August of 1961, was s physical symbol of the political and emotional divisions of Germany.

Again and again Kennedy contrasts the threats of communism all the while promoting the strength of West Berlin and the German people. Through these bold claims, the audience of West Berliners observe the truth in his words and the logic in his points.

The artwork that I am criticizing is the “Wall of Oil Barrels - The Iron Curtain” by Christo and Jeanne-Claude. The location of this barricade was in Rue Visconti, Paris, between Rue Bonaparte and Rue de Seine. Rue Visconti is a one way street that is 140 meters long and 3 meters wide. They used oil barrels and put them up on June 27, 1962. Christo and Jeanne-Claude worked together on the barricade, taking a total of eight hours to get it all done. The iron/steel oil barrels were stacked on top of each other, forming a wall/barricade of some sort. Christo and Jeanne-Claude left all the barrels exactly they way were, they didn't even change the colors of them. They also kept the brand of the barrel and the rust on them visible. The barricade took up 488.26800 feet (13.7 x 13.2 x 2.7). There was a total of 89 barrels used to create the art.

Like sheep led to the slaughter; this is one of the most famous analogies used to refer to the Jews during the holocaust. The Jews were being systematically murdered, beaten, and abused day after day, and there was almost no refusal on their part. Almost no one fought back. This however was not the case in the Warsaw ghetto.

The United States responded with the Berlin Airlift: for eleven months, American aircrafts dropped supplies into Berlin. The Berlin Airlift demonstrated the economic strength and efficiency of the United States. In 1949, the blockade was ended and Germany was divided into two different countries: the Federal republic of Germany in the west and the German Democratic Republic in the east. Both sides created economic and military pacts: Marshall Plan (1947) and NATO (1949) for the western bloc, Comecon (1949) and the Warsaw Pact (1955). The two superpowers never fought directly due to threat of the nuclear weapons that they both had by 1949. The moment of maximum tension is the Korean war in 1950, when American soldiers were deployed in South

I was blessed and curst to have a chance to live and experience the best and worst of our world social systems – Communism and Democracy. Born in August 21st, 1968 in the city of Sofia, Bulgaria, behind the “Iron curtain” as known in the West, the most volatile periods of the world history, when a day earlier the “evil empire” Soviet Union invaded Czechoslovakia and smashed with iron fist in the form of 5,000 tanks rolling down the streets of Prague, the rising voice of the people for democracy and freedom.

“But there was always the risk that Russian reaction might lead to war. We had to face the possibility that Russia might deliberately choose to make Berlin the pretext for war. . .”- Harry S. Truman.

What were the main factors that ultimately led to the failure of the Berlin Blockade?

Being surrounded by East Germany left the Western-occupied sections of Berlin very vulnerable, however. In June 1948, Allied efforts to produce a unified currency for West Germany triggered alarm in the Soviet Union, and officials decided to block all access to Berlin, in the hopes of forcing the Allies to give them more control of the city. Essentially, the Soviet Union planned to starve the city in order to coerce the West into capitulating.