1946-Iron Curtain:British Prime Minister Winston Churchill makes speech declaring, “An Iron Curtain has descended across the continent. The Iron Curtain was not an actual curtain, just a representation on a map. It shows how the communist countries and the free countries were separated. When Winston Churchill made his speech, he directed the term Iron Curtain towards how the Eastern European countries were being influenced by the Soviet Union. In the museum, the Iron Curtain will be represented by a curtain, dividing the museum into East and West with artifacts from either side. ~Cole Capitani
1948- Berlin Airlift: At the end of WWII, the Soviet Union occupied Germany, and divided it into East and West. To keep trucks, and cars from passing through to the other side, Joseph Stalin built a blockade, so people could not supply others on the opposite side. The Americans were forced to airlift supplies into West Berlin, because Stalin would not allow anything to pass into West Berlin. Ultimately, the West Berliners were able to stay out of Soviet control thanks to the Americans. The Berlin Airlift will be represented in the museum by a plane flying over what looks to be a Berlin Blockade.
~Cole Capitani
~Cole Capitani
1961- Berlin Wall: The Berlin Wall was constructed on August 13th, 1961 for the soul reason of keeping the citizens of Soviet controlled East Berlin inside the country. Due to the destructed and ignored state of East Berlin, Many citizens decided that they should move across the border into the more livable and sustainable, West Berlin. With a wave of many highly educated people and high class citizens leaving East Berlin, the Soviet leader decided to construct wall over night to stop the flow of immigrants. The wall was heavily guarded and heavily regulated to contain the 1.1 million East Berliners left side. The wall was constructed with the material designated for re building 20,000 apartment complexes to increase the living conditions for the citizens of East Berlin. The Berlin Wall will be represented in the museum by a large climbing wall for kids so they can get a feeling of what it was like to climb over a wall. (Of course there will be no armed guards to shoot them, just cardboard figures.) ~Miles Van der Zwiep
1968- Prague Spring: The Prague Spring was a time in Cold War history where the leader of Czechoslovakia, Alexander Dubcek, decided to attempt in breaking away from Soviet control. He tried to implement more of a democracy with relaxed censorship and new political parties. But, The Soviet Union was not about to let the small satellite country out of its grasps. The new Soviet leader, Leoind Brezhner, had Dubcek arrested and sent in 500,000 ground troops and tanks to enforce the Soviet power and maintain control. We will represent the Prague Spring in our museum by having a dress up bin so they could dress up as any player in the Prague Spring they wanted and read up on a little history on their character0 and then act the part of their chosen character. ~Miles Van der Zwiep
Origins of the Cold War Summaries:
The Origins of the Cold War started after WWII, when Germany was divided into four zones, with the allies on one side, and the Soviet Union on the other. Germany needed to be rebuilt and the US was willing to help. The Marshall plan’s goal was to rebuild Germany, so they would buy US goods, and our economy would not crash like during the Great Depression. This created tensions between the West and the East, or as some may know them, Non-Communists and Communists. The Berlin Airlift or the Berlin Blockade connects directly to the tensions between the East and the West. Joseph Stalin created a blockade to block supplies from getting to West Berlin, hoping it would result in the West leaving Germany. The Americans, and other West allies, were forced to airlift supplies into West Berlin, so the economy would not crash. Also, the Berlin Wall was created to keep East from entering West which created more tensions. These ideas connect to the Cold War directly, and how the USSR and the US were battling for who would be the greatest world power. Would the world be ruled by communism, or would it remain free?
~Cole Capitani
~Cole Capitani
The origins of the Cold War started right after the ending of World War II and the devastation of Europe. With rising tensions between the US and and the Soviet Union, the clash between the two countries started to heat up. Stalin of the Soviet Union decided to place a blockade on Berlin. This was directed towards shutting down transportation of supplies via land to West Berlin. In response, the US decided to fly supplies in through the air to avoid the blockade. Stalin, realizing his plan was a failure, lifted his blockade after 11 months and yet again allowed supplies to enter via land. Later on, after Stalin’s death, a new leader took his place in the Soviet Union, his name was Nikita Khrushchev. This new leader saw the many people vacating and moving across the border from East Berlin into West Berlin due to the horrible living conditions. In response to the fleeing high class citizens, Khrushchev ordered over night that a wall be constructed on the border of East and West Berlin. This tightened the tensions between the two countries partly because the Soviets were capping of the desires of the citizens of East Berlin of which they occupied. Additionally, The wall was constructed with the material designated for re building 20,000 apartment complexes to increase the living conditions for the citizens of East Berlin. These are two of the many things that tightened the differences between the Soviets and the US making for a more heated cold war with accelerated tensions.
~Miles Van der Zwiep
~Miles Van der Zwiep