Filed under: Humanities
Continuing along our historical timeline, after doing the 1950s ad early 1960s, we are now into the deeper and later part of the 1960s. The last unit that carried into the 1960s was about civil rights. This one does touch on those things but is focused more on the Cold War on the front of nuclear weapons and the issues that they caused.
The product that we made in the end of this unit was a bit different than anything that we had done before. In the past we have done a lot of videos, podcasts, and presentations. We wrote research essays. Research essays are clearly-written and well-organized essays that involve researching source material and synthesizing what you learn from it with your own ideas. We all individually chose a topic to write about and then, we all wrote an essay. The essay had to be MLA formatting and 500-1k words. Other than that it could be whatever we wanted. Here is mine.
Seycove Secondary
The Berlin Wall, a Soviet Perspective
How the World Was on the Brink
Adam Gerbrecht
PLP 11
Ms. Petra Willemse
April 29, 2019
On June 4, 1961, when asked to describe West Berlin, Nikita Khrushchev described it as the “a bone stuck in [his] throat”(Andreas). It was a small and irritating issue that refused to go away. He saw the Berlin Wall as a quick and anaesthetic-free surgery that would remove the irritating, but not demanding issue in his esophagus. It was not a peaceful option, but a swift and necessary one. The Berlin Wall was not an aggressive or military action. Khrushchev built the Berlin Wall as a political statement not as a militant action. And the misunderstanding of this action caused the world to shake. It was a way for Khrushchev to draw a line and keep East Germans in the East, and West Germans in the West. Yet, it is still regarded as one of the defining moments of the Cold War. All because of a misunderstanding.
The unrest at the border between the two halves of the city did not start when the Wall was put up in 1961. As early as 1952 the East Germans were pestering their Soviet uncles to help them stem the tide of their fleeing population from illegally moving to the western half of the city. The people wanted a way to block West Berlin. It is also important to realize that the Soviet ambassador cabled home, showing concern about the unrest at said border. He was worried that East Germans would “act on their own and close the border”(Frederick 3). Due to this caution and others, Nikita Khrushchev was led to authorize the building of the Wall. But, because of the secrecy of all this at the time, the West saw it as a spontaneous action. An invasion.
To continue, the perspective of Khrushchev as he made this call is relatively easy to understand, yet the political backlash he received was large. As I mentioned earlier, he had instated the Wall as a swift, easy, and peaceful way to solidify the already restless border. A way to halt people from fleeing the communist controlled East Germany. Briefly after this action, President John F. Kennedy promised the one and a half million West Berliners that the United States would protect them from Soviet takeover. Except, it was not a takeover was it?
No it was not. Also, digging deep can reveal a long and interesting relationship between Premier Khrushchev and President Kennedy. Well documented are the letters that both leaders exchanged from 1961-1963. In one of those letters that JFK is writing to the Premier he acknowledges the relationship and interests of the two nations. Hinting at the possibility of a positive relationship between them due to the international magnitude of this dispute. He said, “I am sure that we both recognize the interests of other countries are deeply involved”(Kennedy 2). That is a small excerpt from a three page letter that the President wrote. Throughout the letter the President does acknowledge that they have their differences but also but also prompts both men to use “diplomatic channels for quiet and informal discussion”(2). Yet, none of that was used to discuss the divide in Berlin. So, the statement of Mr. Kennedy about the Berlin Wall was a little reactive, avoidably causing the whole world to hold their breath. If he used those diplomatic channels, he would not have misinterpreted the Berlin Wall as a sign of invasion.
All things considered about the cause leading up to the Berlin Wall, and the immediate actions it caused, it is also important to recognize the way that it effected Berlin, as well as the Western world. To put it into layman's terms, it was a successful attempt. The border was drawn in a simple and imposing way. The situation was called a “failure to resolve the problems”(Trahair 396). This solved the problems. For the West, this action just caused confusion at home.
On the 20th of November, 1961. Joseph Alsop, a writer for the newspaper The Latrobe Bulletin wrote an article on the Western perspective. He said that “clear Western decisions have evidently not been taken”(Alsop 1). An American, he spoke in a public platform that the way the West reacted was not a clear solution or resolution to the divide in Berlin. He also pokes a whole in JFK’s statement about the support of the secluded West Berlin. Saying the West Berlin citizens were pushed on by an “onward, Berlin soldiers”(1) attitude. So, even at home, the people saw that the misunderstanding of this situation was what pushed all people involved, to the edge of their nerves, and pushed the world to the brink.
You may be thinking why this essay was written at an opposite stance on an event that is always taught and talked about from one perspective. That is exactly why. The Berlin Wall and the divide between East and West Berlin is always portrayed from a western perspective. This essay was written to open up the Soviet perspective and provide a way for readers to see the other side of the wall. Also. Today we can see a historical perspective. Most of the documents I have referenced were not available at the time. So, at the time due to a lack of communication, instead of a solution being made. Tensions just rose. The leaders of East Germany and Berlin were not taking offensive action to start a war, they were in fact just trying to end it. It did not end the war for the same reason that this idea is not taught. Soviet perspectives are dismissed simply because they are soviet. If you don’t understand you enemy though, how can you end a conflict?
Works Cited
Alsop, Joseph. “Berlin Wall Brings Confusion .” Constructed at the End of 1961, the Berlin Wall Brings Confusion to Western Powers, 20 Nov. 1961, www.newspapers.com/clip/22469498/opinion_constructed_at_the_end_of/.
Fabian, Andreas. “A Bone in the Throat: An Analysis on the Origins of the Berlin Wall.” A Bone in the Throat, McGill University , Apr. 2015, www.e-ir.info/2015/09/06/a-bone-in-the-throat-an-analysis-on-the-origins-of-the-berlin-wall. Accessed April 20th, 2019
Kennedy, John F. “Kennedy – Khrushchev Letters, 1961.” Received by Nikita Khrushchev , USSR: Kennedy – Khrushchev Letters, 1961, JFK Library, 20 Feb. 1961, www.jfklibrary.org/asset-viewer/archives/JFKPOF/126a/
Taylor, Frederick. “The Berlin Wall a Secret Histroy.” History Today , Feb. 2007.
Trahair, R. C. S., and Robert L. Miller. Encyclopedia of Cold War Espionage, Spies, and Secret Operations. Enigma, 2012.
As you can see, I chose the Berlin wall. I will get into that later, but first I want to talk about how we started this unit. We started by watching Thirteen Days (2000) a movie that is a drama, but it details the events of the cuban missile crisis from a Western Perspective. Not a soviet. For thirteen extraordinary days in October of 1962, the world stood on the brink of an unthinkable catastrophe. One fall move away from a clear exchange.
During this unit a lot of our research on the topic was done though film. All the way through the learning we were watching various episodes from CNN’s popular and helpful TV series, The Sixties. Most notably we most recently watched the ninth episode, Times are a Changin’. This was the only side assignment that we really did in this unit.
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x56gtyh
Th assignment that came out of this was a two parter. A paragraph and a visual. The paragraph was to relate, reflect, and compare the events and ideas of the cold war, and the cages at home for Americans. I chose to write about the changes in women’s rights. Here is my visual and paragraph.
So, to return to my essay I want to quickly talk about why I chose Berlin and why I chose a soviet perspective before I wrap this post up. In this unit we learned about it, and in units last year we even talked about the Berlin wall. Every time that we mentioned the Wall in class it was always taught to us from a Western perspective. We are told that is was a militant and aggressive action by the Communists to invade West Berlin. I wanted to show the other side of the wall. Literally.
So, enough about what I actually did in this unit. What did I think of this unit? I enjoyed it. This unit and the last both had a final product that was essay oriented and the chunk of the work that we did in the project was writing, one of my strengths and passions. So, for me these units were enjoyable. As far as the content I did enjoy the unit, but I did feel like we had already learned all of this. We talked about the same events last year, we talked about the sixties last unit, and we talked about nuclear weapons and the issues they caused earlier in the year. In conclusion, this unit was short, impactful, slightly repetitive, but in the end. Relatively enjoyable.
Also, to touch on the idea of the second part of this unit, the writing. This is a skill and subject that I would say I am good at so going into this unit, I wouldn’t say I was expecting to cruise, but I didn’t see much of a challenge. What I liked, was that Ms Willemse and Mr Hughes pushed me up above what I even thought I could do, challenging me to write my very best in every assignment. So, this unit perfectly blended writing, and rights. Nice.
