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The events of World War 2
Significant events during World War 2
Berlin wall research
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The end of World War II was marked by the fall of Berlin due to the attack by Soviet military. Once the capital of Germany had fallen, Berlin was chaotic and lacked order. The Allied forces—United States, France, England and the Soviet Union—all worked to bring order
to the city. It was divided into four sectors; one for each of the nations. The Soviet Union was granted half of Berlin since they were the ones who had seized the city and ultimately ended the war in Europe. As the Cold War came about, the quality of life in East Berlin declined significantly while the West remained a free democratic nation.
During the Cold War, it can be seen through several of the images in one of the secondary sources that the Soviet Union deployed many military
Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union began with mutual distrust in World War II, intense rivalry, and conflicting ideologies. Cold War was fought with four major weapons. The weapons were propaganda, economic and military aid to devastated nations after World War II, arms race, and the alliances. Propagandas were used for containment and to raise the people’s morale and patriotism. Economic aid of the devastated nations was also used as a method of containment, as it prevented the desperate nations from falling under communism. Arms race was one way of representing the nation’s military pride and the ability to retaliate when attacked, although the arms were not developed to dominate world power. Finally, alliances were created and its scale was compared to verify the superior side of the Cold War.
But the battle to control Berlin between, the United States and the Soviet Union, had been taking place since after the division of Germany. The German Democratic Republic wanted better control over its people to spread its communist ideas and tried taking its way around to get control of East Berlin by building the Berlin Wall. The creation of this “concentration camp” on a much larger scale, gave the GDR total control over the people. The reasoning that the German Democratic Republic provided for the creation of this gigantic wall was that many of its skilled labor were leaving to the “free land” or the West, causing an economic downfall in the East.
After World War II, many countries have serious problems in almost all areas, political, social and economic. At one of the winners of the major issues after the war were the German question and the reason for the conflict between them, and led to the division of Germany and Europe.
Berlin and West Berlin but was located deep inside the Soviet controlled zone. Then, in 1961, the Soviet government built a wall which separated the two halves of the city. It was not until the 1980s that cold war tensions eased. through the glasnost (openness to public debate) policies of soviet leaders. Mikhail Gorbachev.
World War II was a war unlike any other war that has occurred in the history of the war. In studying this war, there are some significant events that contributed to the start of World War II, that led to the US's entrance into W.W.II, and events that helped bring an end to W.W.II. The failure of the Geneva Peace conference, Hitler's annexation of Austria, the Spanish Civil War, Hitler's acquisition of Czechoslovakia, the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact, Germany's invasion of Poland, and the fall of France all contributed greatly to the start of World War II. Some events that contributed to the entrance of the US into the war were Italy's invasion on Ethiopia, Japan's invasion of China, the Attack on Pearl Harbor, the Destroyer-Base Deal, the Nye Committee, and the Lend-Lease Act. The Invasion of Italy, the Battle of Midway, D-Day, the Battle of the Bulge, and the fall of Berlin to the Soviets were five of the events that contributed to the ending of World War II.
The Cold war was powered by many factors, but it can be made clear how hugely both military-industrial manufacturers and the secret services impacted the events and final outcome; actions made by the CIA and KGB became historical turning points, just as the rapid improvements and discoveries made in the field of technology has revolutionised the world today.
During the late 1940's and the 1950's, the Cold War became increasingly tense. Each side accused the other of wanting to rule the world (Walker 388). Each side believed its political and economic systems were better than the other's. Each strengthened its armed forces. Both sides viewed the Cold War as a dispute between right and wron...
The result of World War II had tragic results for Japan, Germany, and also Italy. The United States and the Allies came out victorious once again but the cost of war greatly affected all the countries. Germany, Japan, and Italy now have more debts to pay and also lost much of their territory once again. The war took many lives and also ended up destroying many beautiful cities. World War II showed how not just the soldiers were affected in the war, but everyone in all the different countries were affected by the war.
Soon after the war had ended, the allies began to draw up peace treaties with Italy and four other countries that had fought with the Axis. Throughout the history of the world there have been major power shifts, wars, and abrupt changes in society. World War II, being as destructive as it was, was bound to happen. But, through all the death, destruction, surprise attacks, and torn cities, peace was accomplished at a great cost.
Even though Berlin lay deep within the Soviet sector, the Allies thought it would be the best to divide this capital. Therefore Berlin was also divided into four parts. Since the Soviet Union was in control of the eastern half of Germany, they made East Berlin the capital of East Germany. The other three counties were each in control of a small part of what was to be West Germany. The Allies decided that they would come together to form one country out of their three divided parts. Those three divided parts formed West Germany. After all the land was divided the Soviet Union controlled East Germany. Just like the Soviet Union, the economy in East Germany was struggling to get back on its feet after the war. While West Berlin became a lively urban area like many American cities, East Berlin became what many thought of as a ‘Mini-Moscow’. In East Germany there was literary almost nothing. The shelves in the stores were practically bare, and what was there was not in very good quality.
Between 1961 and today, the Berlin Wall saw many changes, and so did the people that it entrapped. Prior to the construction of the Berlin Wall, borders between East and West Germany were closed in 1952 because of tension between Communists and Democratic superpowers and the only open crossing left in Berlin. West Germany was blockaded by the Soviets and only kept alive because of air drops made by the Western Allies (Time). The Soviets had to do something about the mass amount of people leaving Soviet East Berlin for West Berlin, and the non-communist world. The most visible aspect of the Cold War was the Berlin Wall. Before the wall was constructed, East and West Germans could travel freely between the two states.
In 1947, the Western portion of Germany instituted a government under the watchful eyes of the Western Allies. The Soviet sector followed suit in 1949. During this period, the elaborate governance structure of greater Berlin broke under the strain of Cold War tensions. What emerged was West Berlin, which took up ties with West Germany, known as the Federal Republic of Germany. East Berlin, which comprised the ruins of the old and historic center of Berlin and outlying districts to the East, became the capital of the German Democratic Republic. After World War II, the Americans pumped capital into West Germany through the Marshall Plan, which resulted in one of the world's strongest economies, enormous prosperity and a stable democracy. Germany has been divided ever since and though at every opportunity, lip service was paid by all western nations to its eventual reunification, no one took the matter seriously.
Also, the Soviet Union’s quest to remain a world superpower cost it dearly, as they were hard pressed to keep up with US defense spending under Ronald Reagan. The “Soviet Union was spending a large percentage of its GNP on the military because of the expansion of US spending” (p.3.fsmitha.com). Th...
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 Gorbachev’s 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. Europe was divided into two blocks; the communist East and the democratic West was governed collectively by the French, British, and Americans, respectively.
After the end of World War Two, the cold war begun with Russia and America airing several propaganda with the use of the three different media such as radio, newspaper and television. According to Karrington (2007), "During the cold war, both American and the Soviet Union u...