Monday, February 6, 2017

1960's

      The 1960's were both a fascinating and appalling time of year. From the Berlin Wall to the March on Washington, this series of years was very intriguing. 


Berlin Wall


16 short years after the end of the brutal World War Two, the Berlin Wall materialized. In early August  1961, the United States of America, along with France and Britain, got one half of Germany and the capital, Berlin. They called it West Germany. The other half was received by the USSR, which is an abbreviation for Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, because they helped the USA win WW2. Russia took order over one side of Berlin. Western Germany was rich, plentiful, and was governed by capitalism. Unlike the west, Eastern Germany was ruled by communism and was very poor. Many people, who lived in the east, were leaving because they did not have as many rights as the westerners. At first, they escaped by climbing over the fence that separated the two halves. Once the Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, realized that his people were escaping he and the Communist East German Authorities decided to put up the Berlin Wall. This wall was over 81 miles long and around 11 feet in height. East Germans were shot if they tried to cross over the wall. Approximately, 136 people died from trying to get to freedom. Although there were hardships, many people were very lucky. Around 5,000 people were fortunate enough to live to get to the other side. The Berlin Wall was up for 28 long years. Many families were split by this massive wall and didn’t see each other for a long period of time. Ronald Reagan, who was the president on the US, demanded that Mikhail Gorbachev bring down the wall that was separating families for too long. In the end, Gorbachev destroyed the Berlin wall and families and friends were reunited.

The Cold War




Although a dreadful time filled with the threat of nuclear war and a Communist world, the Cold War has also sparked the huge launch of advanced technology, such as the very first man to step upon the moon’s dusty gray gravel. In the late 1940’s, tensions, as well as economic separations, rooted in both America and the U.S.S.R.’s hearts toward each other. While the U.S. believed in capitalism, which  is, in the dictionary’s definition, a ‘‘political system in which a country's trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit, rather than by the state,’ the U.S.S.R fiercely supported communism, the belief of  ‘a society in which all property is publicly owned and each person works and is paid according to their abilities and needs’. Just south of America’s Florida, Cuba-turned-Communist lay. Because Cuba was Communist, and the U.S.S.R. was corresponding with it, the U.S. president, Eisenhower feared something called a ‘domino’ effect, which was if the powerful superpower, the U.S.S.R., would convert every country to Communism. In order to scare the U.S.S.R. off, America began producing may Atomic bombs, which, in turn, caused the Soviets to make their own atomic bombs, and more than the Americans. This is the start of the Cold War. with Russia and Cuba teamed up, America became increasingly worried. They apprehended that Russia would transport ships loaded with missiles over to Cuba, which, because of its closeness to Florida, would bomb the U.S.A. America, trying to prevent this disaster, devised a plan to invade and overthrow Cuba. It was a failure. Fidel Castro, Cuba’s dictator, had learned of the invasion, called the Bay of Pigs, and the two-day dispute resulted in the capture of 1,100 and the deaths of 114 individuals. During the height of the Cold War, America not only disagreed with the U.S.S.R., but also competed against them. One thing, nicknamed the ‘Space Race’ was started by the Soviets. The U.S.S.R. launched the first satellite in space, Sputnik, in 1957. The reason for their competing was to prove which country was the stronger of the two and should be most feared. America was losing dramatically when Russia put  both the first man in space followed by the first woman. Finally, the U.S.A. made the biggest accomplishment of the 1960’s when they put Neil Armstrong on the moon. For approximately 45 years, the Cold War Dragged on, until Gorbachev put a stop to it. Mikhail saw that the people of Russia had not ideal living standards and wanted to resolve it. Their living standards were poor because of the expenses the country was spending on the nuclear weapons, and Gorbachev decided the only way to stop this from continuing, he would have to befriend the west. In order to do this, Gorbachev set up a meeting with the president of the US, President George W. Bush. The meeting, which lasted a full 6 hours, went surprisingly well, and the two met again on even more meetings. These meetings accomplished much, and on one of them, the Strategic Arms Reduction treaty (START) was signed. Finally, in December the 2nd, 1989, when George Bush and Gorbachev met again, they declared the Cold War, finally, over. 




Mikhail Gorbachev leader of the Soviet Union during the Cold War/Berlin Wall. 


Here is a picture of Martin Luther King Jr. One, of many, activist against segregation. He lead the March on Washington which many different races came together and protested about segregation. Around 250,000 people attended this march.