Shortly after midnight on this day in 1961, East German soldiers begin laying down barbed wire and bricks as a barrier between Soviet-controlled East Berlin and the democratic western section of the city.
After World War II, defeated Germany was divided into Soviet, American, British and French zones of occupation. The city of Berlin, though technically part of the Soviet zone, was also split, with the Soviets taking the eastern part of the city. After a massive Allied airlift in June 1948 foiled a Soviet attempt to blockade West Berlin, the eastern section was drawn even more tightly into the Soviet fold. Over the next 12 years, cut off from its western counterpart and basically reduced to a Soviet satellite, East Germany saw between 2.5 million and 3 million of its citizens head to West Germany in search of better opportunities. By 1961, some 1,000 East Germans–including many skilled laborers, professionals and intellectuals–were leaving every day.
In August, Walter Ulbricht, the Communist leader of East Germany, got the go-ahead from Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev to begin the sealing off of all access between East and West Berlin. Soldiers began the work over the night of August 12-13, laying more than 100 miles of barbed wire slightly inside the East Berlin border. The wire was soon replaced by a six-foot-high, 96-mile-long wall of concrete blocks, complete with guard towers, machine gun posts and searchlights. East German officers known as Volkspolizei (“Volpos”) patrolled the Berlin Wall day and night.
Many Berlin residents on that first morning found themselves suddenly cut off from friends or family members in the other half of the city. Led by their mayor, Willi Brandt, West Berliners demonstrated against the wall, as Brandt criticized Western democracies, particularly the United States, for failing to take a stand against it. President John F. Kennedy had earlier said publicly that the United States could only really help West Berliners and West Germans, and that any kind of action on behalf of East Germans would only result in failure.
Answer:
I disagree, Imperialism was not a necessary evil.
Explanation:
Imperialism was not a necessary evil but rather a pure evil that should have been averted. This is because it only benefits the country that is extending its power over another country.
Often the livelihoods of the colonized countries are affected negatively. Imperialism has been identified to be the major cause of the slave trade and racial discrimination. It is also the main reason many communities or countries have lost their cultures and huge resources.
Answer:
The Pact of Steel was a military and political alliance between Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy.
Explanation:
The two leaders had almost the same political ideology and wanted to expand each other's territory. With common interests come a friendship between these dictatorships.
Answer: The one about the US ships not being to enter goes first. The second one that has the names with Thomas Jefferson's goes second. The one with the names of different battles goes last.
Explanation:
Answer:
The end of the space race & the colapse of the soviet union
