At the close of the Second World War, European allies along with their American counterparts took it upon themselves to divide and claim occupation of European countries that the war influenced (Brogan, 1985: 16). Allies were able to rule their own countries again, once the German occupation had been revoked. The next progression was the allies’ conjoined occupation of Germany, where Berlin, Germany’s epicentre, was segmented for all to occupy a sector (Gelb, 1986: 19).
The separation of berlin was the first initial step towards the beginning of the Cold war, as the relations between these various nations started to drift apart.
1.2 The Two Conflicting Economic Systems
To fully understand the origins of the Cold war, it’s important to quantify
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Merriam Webster defines Consumerism as “the belief that it is good for people to spend a lot of money on goods and services” (Merriam-Webster. 2014). This definition is a true reflection of the consumer culture of the time. The roll consumerism played in America was deeply affected by the increase use of consumer credit for the consumption of products. This use of consumer credit by the masses was seen as an essential tool for the success of the American people. (Logemann. 2008:525). This allowed people to purchase cars, appliances, TV’s and other possessions that contributed to there social status (Logemann. …show more content…
The name was coined by writer Jack Kerouac in 1948 to characterize a perceived underground, anti-conformist youth movement that originated in New York (Morgan, 2003:32). This new movement stressed about the importance of spirituality and spontaneity as well as asserting intuition of reason and Eastern mysticism over conventional Western institutionalized religion (Barbour, 1996). The “Beats” as they referred to themselves as, intentionally went out their way to question and challenge the patterns of respectability as well as shock the rest of the American culture.
The writers of the beat generation displayed a sense of freedom as they often lacked traditional structure and form. A famous piece of literature from the beat generations was the novel written by author Jack Kerouac called On the Road. What made this book so different was that it was written on a 75 meter roll of paper (Morgan, 2003:35). The novel showed the freedom of writing and lacked accepted punctuation and paragraph structure. The book was a hallmark for the possibilities of the free life (Saul,
1. Identification and evaluation of sources This investigation, examining certain events of the Cold War, will answer the question: To what extent did President Ronald Reagan’s actions aid in the end of the Cold War? The Cold War was a war between the United States and the Soviet Union that took place from 1947 to 1991. During that time several United States presidents took office, one of the last being Ronald Reagan whose actions have been argued to have been more influential than the rest and impactful toward the downfall of the ongoing war with the Soviet Union.
At the end of World War II, Berlin and Berliner, who used to live as one people in the heart of Germany, experienced a unique situation. Indeed, all Berliners were much undifferentiated except by the fact that they were living in Berlin's Eastern of Western parts. In addition, Berlin was vulnerable as it was encircled by communist lands. Document 1 shows this reality and particularly underlines the precarity of West Berlin’s situation. At any moment Soviet Armies could invade West Berlin before the West could intervene.
During the long and gruesome second world war, the Soviet Union and the United States were allies because their mutual goal was to destroy the strong military powerhouse of Germany. After completing this daunting task, the United States and Soviet Union each became eager to obtain sole possession atop the international spectrum, meaning the world’s leading superpower. An era known as the Cold War began immediately following World War II and lasted well into the latter twentieth century, but this “war” was not the usual physical war that fills history but a bloodless war of social and governmental world dominance. Although the Cold War did not involve actual fighting and the loss of numerous United States soldiers’ lives, the tension filled
Post War Document Based Question Historical Context: As World War II came to an end, a new conflict emerged between the United States and the Soviet Union. This conflict, known as the Cold War, affected many regions of the world, including Europe, Asia, and Latin America. Task: Using information from the documents and your knowledge of global history, Write the questions that follow each document in Part A.
The Cold War Era started in 1946 and lasted until 1989 when the Berlin war fell signifying its end. Many events happened through this time period that shaped American culture and brought us to where we are today. It all started in march 1947, which reflected the combativeness of president Harry Truman. Secretary George c Marshall told Europe that that policy of the United States was not directed “ against any country or doctrine but against hunger, poverty, desperation and chaos.” in 1947 the brutish announced that they could no longer support the pro western governments of the Mediterranean in their fight against communism. If the US could not take up the burden the whole region was in danger of falling under communist roll.
The 4 ½ decade long clash between the U.S. and Soviet Union was dubbed “The Cold War” by Bernard Baruch because of the cold relations between the two competitive nations. The tension between the U.S. and U.S.S.R. began primarily because of the polar opposite ideologies of each nation, the U.S. being Capitalist and The Soviet Union being Communist, causing a multitude of disagreements between the two. The disputes between the two countries began during WWII when the U.S. left their Soviet allies flapping in the wind, when they refused to open a second front, which resulted in the Soviets taking a beating. The U.S. later excluded The Soviets from the Atomic bomb project, since the U.S refused to work with their scientists. The U.S was also becoming
1 - Consumerism developed in America during the early twentieth century in large part due to the boom in industry created by Europe 's inability to create goods after World War I. Combined this with American inventions such as Henry Ford’s assembly line and Americans had money to spend (Schultz, 2013). With the advent of an electrical distribution system, Americans had electricity in their homes for the first time, which led to the desire for all types of electrical appliances to make life easier. All these new products meant that companies had to get the word out about their products which ignited the advertising industry, which led to even more consumerism. Mix into this recipe, the growing credit industry, and you had consumerism like
Though the cold war brought about McCarthyism and unnecessary fear to the American people, I believe the cold war affected American society in a more positive than negative way. During the cold war, Brown vs. the Board of Education took place which lead to the desegregation of all public schools ,this also lead to the undoing of the separate but equal doctrine. Ten years later in 1964 President LBJ signed the civil rights act. This leads me to believe, unlike wars prior where the United States went to war and came home to a nation that was “working toward civil rights for all its citizens”, the cold war cataclysmic in shaping why civil rights for all American citizens weren’t only crucial but a necessity for America to be America-the poster boy(girl) for democracy. The cold war was mainly a battle between American democracy and Soviet communism.
Berlin was known as the centerpiece of the Cold War. Being the capital city of Germany, the desire to have power over it was extremely high. Germany was split into two, the East, taken over by the Soviet Union, and the West, taken over by the United States, Britain, and France. Tensions rose between each country on who would be able to have power over Berlin. Since the city was on the east side and up to 100 miles inside Soviet-controlled East Germany, the Soviets had power; However, the West would not allow them to take over the capital city so easily.
Huxley describes the “New World” as being controlled by mass production and based around the idea of over-production. Huxley predicted that a world economy based on an endless growth model of disposable consumer goods and disposable energy to run the machines would lead humanity to environmental and existential crisis. John the Savage initially reacts to the “New World” with the words of Miranda, from Shakespeare’s Tempest, when she first encounters visitors to her island, “O Brave New World that has such people in’t.” John eventually sees the evil in over consumption and flocks to an abandoned lighthouse.
However, automobiles like the Chevrolet, the Rambler and the Hudson Hornet were huge successes when it came to consumerism in the economy. Manufacturers in the automobile industry, would make small changes to every year’s model. These changes would persuade consumers to buy the new model and that they needed to update their cars every couple of years and ultimately expanded purchasing growth in the 50’s society.
During the beginning of the “Cold War”, Berlin was an area where Europeans were able to relocate to without having to cross the international borders of Europe. In response to this east Germany, authorities thought it would be best to build a “wall” that surrounded West Berlin. After the East German government had given permission to stop the immigrants from moving into Germany the premier decided that he wanted to close its border forever. The Wall was completed within a night and day and was built with barbed wire and concrete block, it divided Berlin from one side to the other. For years after West Berlin became the hot end of the “cold” war as nuclear weapons faced off across the wall.
"The Cold War was an ideological contest between the western democracies especially the United States and the Communist countries that emerged after the Second World War" (Tindall 972). The United States and the Soviet Union had differences over issues such as human rights, individual liberties, economic freedom, and religious belief. "Mutal suspicion and a race to gain influence and control over the so called nonaligned or third world countries further polarized" (Tindall 945). After the WWII Soviets dominate European countries and thought the U.S. had the same motives.
He describes the allure of insanity within his writing. Kerouac writes, “the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time… but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars” (Kerouac). In his description of the burning which these people do he calls them “fabulous yellow roman candles” showcasing his idea of their beauty. The act of being mad in a society where norms were upheld with an iron fist served as an act of rebellion. This rebellion was artfully done and upheld by the Beat generation authors.