There comes time in the history of our world, where a quote defines and embodies the actual event. Some people remember both when both President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Present George W. Bush said those famous words regarding the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, by saying, “it will be a date that will live in infamy”. Present Reagan, whom some would say had a memorable quote when it came to the end of the Cold War.
On June 12, 1987 President Ronald Reagan visited West Berlin the sight of the Berlin Wall which was constructed by the Soviet Union in 1961, as a barrier between the East Berlin which was controlled by the Soviet Union and West Berlin, which was controlled by both the United States and Great Britain. The Soviet Union claimed its reasoning for building the wall was to protect its population from fascist’s elements that were conspiring to prevent the “will of the people” in building the socialist state that East Germany was.
The real purpose of the wall was to create a barrier and to prevent the massive emigration and to prevent defectors. At the end of World War II, the three super powers met in Potsdam, Germany on July 17 until August 2nd of 1945. The three countries that participated were the Soviet Union which was represented by Communist Party General Secretary Joseph Stalin, Great Brittan was represented by Prime Ministers Winston Churchill and, later, Clement Attlee, and the United States was represented by new President Harry Truman.
The reason for the meeting in Potsdam, which is also known as the Potsdam Conference, was to figure out how to split up the defeated Nazi Germany. They agreed on the Division of Germany and Austria respectively into four occupation zones and the similar division of each capital, Berlin and Vienna, into four separate zones. They would each split up and take a zone that way countries and superpower would not try to take all of Europe, like Hitler attempted to do. In Berlin and in German, the Soviet Union took control of the Eastern bloc while the powers in the West would have control of the Western Bloc.
Shortly after the end of World War II, the demarcation lines between East and West Germany and also the western occupied zones could be easily crossed and travel was not constricted. In 1948, Stalin placed the Berlin Blockade in effect after disagreements with Western Berlin. The Blockade prevented food, material and supplies from getting into Western Berlin. Due to Stalin’s actions with the Blockade, the United States and other allies such as, Canada, Britain, Australia and New Zealand began flying in goods, food and supplies. This event would be called the Berlin Air Lift.
The actions taken by the West would ultimately upset and infuriate the Soviet Union, and eventually in 1949 the Blockade would be lifted. As the economy in Western Germany grew and turned into a capitalist country, and the economy in the East was not improving this made more and more Eastern Germans wanting to move to West Germany. In April of 1952, German and Soviet leaders met to discuss the demarcation lines and the borders. It was brought up that the East Germans should initiate a pass system, where citizens would be given passes to travel back and forth, and to stop the movement of the Western agents.
Joseph Stalin agreed and advised the East German to build up their borders. Stalin told them, “”The demarcation line between East and West Germany should be considered a border-and not just any border, but a dangerous one … The Germans will guard the line of defense with their lives. ” The Berlin Wall was then erected in 1961, and the wall itself split not only the city of Berlin, but the country of Germany into two pieces. The wall was more than 140 kilometres (87 mi) long, and also had a second wall about 100 metres (110 yd) farther into East German territory.
Between the two walls, was a piece of barren land cover with sand, known as the Death Strip. The Death Strip would provide no cover, and provide a clear shot for any guard. During the life time of the wall it went through four different fazes beginning with the first wall; a Wire fence and concrete block wall in 1961, an improved wire fence from 1962 until 1965, an improved concrete wall from 1965 until 1975, and the final wall was erected in 1975. That wall was completed in 1980 and stood over 12 feet high and was 3. feet wide. The day before Reagan had arrived in 1987, over 50,000 individuals showed up to protest the presence of the President being in Berlin. In his first visit to the wall in West Berlin in 1982, President Reagan wanted to discuss why exactly the wall was there at what purpose did it serve. The next day President Reagan delivered his speech at the Brandenburg Gate along the Wall. Tucked behind bullet proof glass, the president gave the speech to thousands including the West German President and government bodies.
Present Reagan delivered these words that were directed to the leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, “We welcome change and openness; for we believe that freedom and security go together, that the advance of human liberty can only strengthen the cause of world peace. There is one sign the Soviets can make that would be unmistakable, that would advance dramatically the cause of freedom and peace. 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! President Reagans word the highest levels of the Soviet Union. In his speech Reagan also called on Gorbachev and the Soviet Union to end the arms race, which the USSR and the United States have been in a deadlock with since the end of World War II and the Potsdam conference. President Reagan mentioned the Soviets’ SS-20 nuclear weapons and state that, “not merely of limiting the growth of arms, but of eliminating, for the first time, an entire class of nuclear weapons from the face of the Earth. ”
The Soviet reaction to the speech was once thought as giving an “openly provocative, war-mongering speech. The tearing down of the Berlin Wall was one of the last few things that eventually brought the fall of the Soviet Union. The completion of the removal of the wall finished up in November of 1991. The fall of the wall an as well as the fall of the Soviet Union took the world by surprise, and the spread of democracy was in full effect. President Reagan said it best in his speech, “As I looked out a moment ago from the Reichstag, that embodiment of German unity, I noticed words crudely spray-painted upon the wall, perhaps by a young Berliner, ‘This wall will fall.
Beliefs become reality. ‘Yes, across Europe, this wall will fall. For it cannot withstand faith; it cannot withstand truth. The wall cannot withstand freedom. ” That is what happened; the Soviet Union could not withstand freedom, and eventually collapsed. At the time of Reagans speech many believed that it did not work, but looking back over 20 years ago some would still argue, but most would agree that his word had a deep influence on the fall of the Berlin Wall and the re-unification of Germany.
