Introduction:
The Berlin Wall was built in 1961 by German Democratic Republic’s (GDR) government to stop people form the eastern bloc to escape to the west through West Berlin. Its downfall in November of 1989 was huge news to the world as with its importance it affected the whole world. It was not just uniting a single country again but it also opened the border between the East and West of Europe and the world. It was an end to the Cold War tensions between the two ideologies of the USSR with communism and the USA with capitalism, which meant a drastic change in policies of many countries. The two presidents who brought the wall to its downfall were Ronald Reagan, a former actor and then president, in the USA and Mikhail Gorbachev, a reformer, in the USSR, even though Reagan was not the president of America anymore when the actual downfall happened. Although the actual downfall was a result of the east German population and in the end the decision of the GDR’s government, Gorbachev played a far more important role to bring the issue to the point were a decision for a wall would even be possible and Reagan played a role to enhance the issue towards his favour of the fall of the wall and the Soviet union, but he only influenced a little in the end where he was more relying on Gorbachev’s decisions than vice versa.
Investigation:
Ronald Reagan was president of the United States form January 1981 to January 1989 and during this time he is said to be the person who brought the Cold War to an end and the Berlin Wall to its downfall. His hawkishness and emancipatory eloquence such as his speech in 1987 in front of the Berlin Wall were seen as a major influence to the fall of the Wall. Reagan’s forceful ‘tear down the wall’ speech in 1987 is regarded as a reason for the GDR’s opening of the wall’s gates. He was using great verbal pressure on Gorbachev and the Soviet Union in order to provoke a reaction in favour of the capitalist West. Reagan was using comparisons of the financial differences in particular the economical wealth of the countries in the West including West Berlin, which was in the heart of the GDR and the east, which was quite far behind from rebuilding the country physically and economically. Reagan also provokes the East with his statements about liberty in various ways, as he was saying that it is a question of all mankind as long as the gates at wall are closed and the lack of freedom for the populations. Reagan forcefully said, that there is only one Berlin , referring to the separating wall dividing the two parts of Berlin, which was built by the Communists. And with the peak of the speech he was directly referring to Gorbachev, “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!” This became the reality two years later. In addition, Reagan also achieved great influence on the fall of the wall with putting a lot of pressure on the Soviet Union with the drastic increases in terms of the arms race . These increases pressurised the USSR enormously as they struggled financially to keep up with the rich USA and thus Gorbachev was forced to come to the table with the western countries or organisations to compromise. His forceful and to some extent aggressive policies influence the western view where it was definitely Reagan, who brought the wall to its downfall as the cartoon shows a huge mark of Reagan’s footstep that had …show more content…
There were always questions in my head, for example ‘How could the people build a wall in their own country, which encages just them and I wanted to know, who the main people were behind the downfall, such as how they eventually got the wall to be torn down. It was my interest to learn about this part of my home country’s history, which is still there, whether it is in the minds or countryside, what brought me to my question and the topic of my
The Berlin Wall was built in 1961 by German Democratic Republic’s (GDR) government to stop people form the eastern bloc to escape to the west through West Berlin. Its downfall in November of 1989 was huge news to the world as with its importance it affected the whole world. It was not just uniting a single country again but it also opened the border between the East and West of Europe and the world. It was an end to the Cold War tensions between the two ideologies of the USSR with communism and the USA with capitalism, which meant a drastic change in policies of many countries. The two presidents who brought the wall to its downfall were Ronald Reagan, a former actor and then president, in the USA and Mikhail Gorbachev, a reformer, in the USSR, even though Reagan was not the president of America anymore when the actual downfall happened. Although the actual downfall was a result of the east German population and in the end the decision of the GDR’s government, Gorbachev played a far more important role to bring the issue to the point were a decision for a wall would even be possible and Reagan played a role to enhance the issue towards his favour of the fall of the wall and the Soviet union, but he only influenced a little in the end where he was more relying on Gorbachev’s decisions than vice versa.
Investigation:
Ronald Reagan was president of the United States form January 1981 to January 1989 and during this time he is said to be the person who brought the Cold War to an end and the Berlin Wall to its downfall. His hawkishness and emancipatory eloquence such as his speech in 1987 in front of the Berlin Wall were seen as a major influence to the fall of the Wall. Reagan’s forceful ‘tear down the wall’ speech in 1987 is regarded as a reason for the GDR’s opening of the wall’s gates. He was using great verbal pressure on Gorbachev and the Soviet Union in order to provoke a reaction in favour of the capitalist West. Reagan was using comparisons of the financial differences in particular the economical wealth of the countries in the West including West Berlin, which was in the heart of the GDR and the east, which was quite far behind from rebuilding the country physically and economically. Reagan also provokes the East with his statements about liberty in various ways, as he was saying that it is a question of all mankind as long as the gates at wall are closed and the lack of freedom for the populations. Reagan forcefully said, that there is only one Berlin , referring to the separating wall dividing the two parts of Berlin, which was built by the Communists. And with the peak of the speech he was directly referring to Gorbachev, “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!” This became the reality two years later. In addition, Reagan also achieved great influence on the fall of the wall with putting a lot of pressure on the Soviet Union with the drastic increases in terms of the arms race . These increases pressurised the USSR enormously as they struggled financially to keep up with the rich USA and thus Gorbachev was forced to come to the table with the western countries or organisations to compromise. His forceful and to some extent aggressive policies influence the western view where it was definitely Reagan, who brought the wall to its downfall as the cartoon shows a huge mark of Reagan’s footstep that had …show more content…
There were always questions in my head, for example ‘How could the people build a wall in their own country, which encages just them and I wanted to know, who the main people were behind the downfall, such as how they eventually got the wall to be torn down. It was my interest to learn about this part of my home country’s history, which is still there, whether it is in the minds or countryside, what brought me to my question and the topic of my