In addition, the berlin Wall was in the construction process, increasing the cultural divide between eastern and western Europe along the Iron Curtain. When the Berlin wall was completed, people were shocked and could not fathom the wall disappear. A significant number of intellectuals fled from the east to the west to escape the communist laws of equality, as opposed to a more merit based system. The loss of these influential individuals severely damaged the economy of East Germany. When a significant population of East Germans migrated to the west, the economy was harmed to a greater extent.
Being a communist, Brecht also openly criticized capitalism inside the play. The play is an example of Epic Theatre, and as a way to alienate the viewers from the events they had just passed in the Second World War; the play is set out during the period of 1618 to 1648, in this 30-year war. Differently to "Mother Courage and Her Children", "Death and the e Maiden" is a critique by author Ariel Dorfman to the Chilean Dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet during the years of 1973 to 1990, and all the problems faced by a country tormented by a dictatorship transitioning to a democracy. Similarly to Brecht, Dorfman does not specify the location of the play, only that it is "a country that is probably Chile but could be any country that has given itself a democratic government just after a long period of dictatorship". The play has both specificity and a universality making it extremely topical in the late-twentieth century era of tentative political transformation.
The world was left in a bipolar power struggle between the two main superpowers, America and the Soviet Union. Stalin, then the leader of the SU wanted to spread communism in order to strengthen the Unions hold on satellite states in Eastern Europe. The US were afraid of the threat of communism, fearful it would spread and cut all ties with their onetime allies. The Soviet Union hardened its attitude towards the West when NATO was formed in 1949 to battle the USSR. One of the major causes of tension was the Berlin blockade which caused an accelerated involvement of the US in Europe.
Student Number: 27048382 Modern History Essay ‘With reference to the quote and your own knowledge, assess the impact of the Terror on Soviet society in the late 1930’s. In the late 1930’s, the purges and show trials which comprised the Terror, had a significant impact on Soviet society. The Communist party was coerced in powerlessness, the working class suffered considerably, both physically and psychologically, and copious members of the intelligentsia were exiled or killed as a direct result of the Terror. Furthermore the military was damaged, as many of the leaders of the Party’s formerly powerful Red Army were purged. The purges and show trials aimed to terrorise Soviet society into compliance with Stalin’s regime, and ‘remove potential enemies,’ to allow Stalin to found an almost entirely ‘new’ Communist party, which comprised of ‘more dependable’ members.
The spread of communism throughout china, Russia, Korea and Eastern Europe put a lot of fear and pressure on the US as they didn’t want another war and they didn’t want communism to spread. The withdrawal of the French led to the division of Vietnam with the prospect of future elections that would unite Vietnam under Communist rule; this increased the fear of the spread of Communism and led to US political involvement. Moreover, the domino theory was the main factor in the formation of SEATO as it believed if one country fell to communism in south-east Asia then the next country would and the next and so
Hitler, Stalin, and the Bomb Hitler and Stalin both share the dubious distinction of being two of the most destructive figures throughout all of history. The atrocities committed between the two of them against innocent people runs up into the millions. With Hitler, his rage was derived from his disdain to any Jewish person around believe that they truly were inferior to him. Stalin had a deep fear of people rising up against him and killed a mass amount of his own people just to suppress that fear that the people in his country might soon rebel against him. During the time period in which their reigns each occurred, nuclear science was starting to make some of its biggest discoveries in history.
As if to reinforce the fear of communism, two spies working on behalf of the Soviet Embassy were discovered in an event known as the Petrov Affair and reignited the fear of communism which became stronger than ever before. The government’s seemingly desperate response to communism, such as sending Australian troops overseas in forward defence and in the hopes of displaying loyalty to America in return for support in a potential attack, also added to the fear of communism among citizens as they realised their own government saw communism as a menace. It is evident that events such as the Petrov Affair, a direct result of the Cold War, made Australian society extremely anxious about the threat of communism and this lead to substantial tension within the community. Unease within society became quite apparent as people became more concerned over national security and the government continued to send troops overseas to fight in wars against communist powers. During the 50’s and 60’s, there were many political and social protests within Australia and it was evident that the nation was split on many issues, especially those regarding war.
One key piece of evidence in favour of this is the Pravda article “dizzy with success†which suggests that the purges spiralled out of Stalin’s control. The Purges thrust the whole of Russia into a state of fear of what would happen to them. It affected all sectors of society and even a seemingly insignificant act could result in arrest. For example one woman was arrested for saying that Tukhachevsky, a high ranking military officer, was handsome after he was arrested. One key reason other than Stalin’s personal paranoia for the Purges was to cleanse the party of careerists, yet dissidents and doubters were also at risk.
“Nazi Germany gave us a big ungainly word, yet one that we still use: totalitarianism. We may even throw it around too loosely, applying it to a lot of foreign leaders whom we don’t like. But heres what it meant in the context of Nazi Germany: the destruction of all persons and groups that would challenge Hitler’s supremacy. This destruction singled out not only the Jews but also most intellectuals, the Communists and the Socialists, the labour unions, the Catholic Church, parts of the Lutheran ministry and even elements of the Nazi movement itself. Nazism was a revolution, and revolutions tend to devour their own.” The words of Robert Smith Thompson (2003, 141) have just described the crisis that was facing the Weimar Republic in the years 1933-1939.
Governments, communities, businesses, and individuals work to stop terrorism by sharing information these entities in an effort to keep an eye on how terrorists have evolved with the changing environments. This paper will illustrate how terrorism has changed over the years and how it affects society. The Russian Revolution occurred in 1917 and was a series of forceful events changing the people in charge of the governments in Russia (Lifeboat, 2006-2012). These powers changed hands at the efforts of individuals who could be considered terrorists within the country. These people had political motivation as the governmental leaders of the country were not satisfactory to those in the revolution.