The Cuban government believed it could open up trade and tourism and build the economy with support from other communist nations. The Soviet Union pursued an imperialistic relationship with Cuba in which the Soviets would rule and provide protection to a colonized Cuba.

With Cuba’s proximity to the United States, Castro and his regime became an important Cold War ally for the Soviets. The relationship was for the most part economic, with the Soviet Union providing military, economic, and political assistance to Cuba.

How did the Soviet Union help Cuba? They sent money and supplies to Cuba. They sent in military men to help Cuba.

In addition, Cuba has other issues such as deforestation, water pollution, the loss of biodiversity, and air pollution. Soil degradation and desertification are produced by the lack of good farming techniques and natural disasters. Deforestation is killing the forest, for example, cutting down trees.

For purposes of occupation, the Americans, British, French, and Soviets divided Germany into four zones. The American, British, and French zones together made up the western two-thirds of Germany, while the Soviet zone comprised the eastern third.

To avoid antagonizing the Soviet Union, Marshall announced that the purpose of sending aid to Western Europe was completely humanitarian, and even offered aid to the communist states in the east. The aid also produced record levels of trade with American firms, fueling a postwar economic boom in the United States.

First constructed in 1961, the wall was the Cold War’s most tangible symbol of communism and demarcation of the Iron Curtain. Professor Harrison: The wall symbolized the lack of freedom under communism. It symbolized the Cold War and divide between the communist Soviet bloc and the western democratic, capitalist bloc.

Today, the Berlin Wall still stands as a monument in some parts of the city. Thirty years after its fall, the wall serves as an ever-present reminder of Berlin’s turbulent past, but also its triumphant recovery.

The fall of the Wall marked the first critical step towards German reunification, which formally concluded a mere 339 days later on 3 October 1990 with the dissolution of East Germany and the official reunification of the German state along the democratic lines of the West German Basic Law.

The rise of the Berlin Wall, and subsequent occupation of East and West Germany caused an economic disparity between the two countries. West Germany was flooded with wealthy foreign soldiers, who bolstered its economy, while East Germany, under the authoritarian rule of the Soviets, saw much worse conditions.

The Berlin Wall dismantling saw anti-communism, and communism intolerance, spread quickly around Eastern Europe with free elections and economic reforms following suit.

The wall stopped people leaving East Berlin, preventing further damage to the economy. Showed the West that communism would remain in East Berlin and that Germany could not be united under Western control. International relations: Tensions increased between the USA and the Soviet Union after the Berlin Wall was built.

Hundreds of state-owned companies were sold off to the private sector after reunification and many subsequently collapsed because they could not compete in a market economy with a much stronger currency. Many of the workers who lost their jobs felt they were the victims of the new, heartless, West German owners.

As eastern Germany went into a deep recession during the first phase of unification, the western German economy went into a small boom. Western German GDP grew at a rate of 4.6 percent for 1990, reflecting the new demand from eastern Germany.

Upon reunification, East Germany only contributed eight percent (8%) of the total GDP of the nation. The productivity in East Germany was weakened greatly because of the high unemployment rate, and the new regulations East German businesses had to follow.

Financial experts have calculated that the unification of East and West Germany cost 2 trillion euros – the largest investment in the country’s history. But it paid off. The transfer of wealth is spurring a second German economic miracle.

After the USSR falls, Germany will probably be reunited. But if that doesn’t happen, another trigger of events will probably reunite the two Germany-ies, so even if they don’t reunite, and due to the poor conditions, the citizens will probably still break through the Berlin Wall and reunite the Germanies together.

Soviets

Before 1871 Germany had always been a motley collection of states – which shared little more than a common language. The German states in 1789. They were then part – in name at least – of Charlemagne’s ancient Holy Roman Empire. Another Emperor – Napoleon – would finally dissolve this ancient group of states in 1806.

About 5,000 East Germans managed to escape across the Berlin Wall to the West, but the frequency of successful escapes dwindled as the wall was increasingly fortified. Thousands of East Germans were captured during attempted crossings and 191 were killed.

Similarly, Stalin was not prepared to use force to keep the Western Allies from supplying West Berlin by air, because he did not want to risk a war. In May 1949, Stalin ended the blockade of West Berlin. The allies were now determined to build up West Berlin as a showcase for capitalism .

In general, the Cold War was a period of increased tensions and hostility between the superpowers of the United States and the Soviet Union (USSR). The Berlin Blockade was a high point in tensions in the early Cold War, while the Berlin Airlift was the Allied response to the blockade.

1949 was a bad year for the United States. The Soviet Union had detonated their bomb, and then China Fell to the communists after a Civil War between Mao Zedong’s communists and Jiang Jeishi’s nationalists. This led the United States to really feel like they were losing as they saw communism start to spread.

What caused the Berlin Blockade? Stalin wanted Germany to remain weak, as a strong Germany could represent a threat to the Soviet Union. The Western Allies disagreed and were encouraging Germany to rebuild in the Western sectors. This angered Stalin who decided to force the Allies out of Berlin.

Stalin

Stalin lifted the blockade on May 12, 1949, but the Airlift continued to ensure Berlin would be well supplied for the winter. His actions produced the opposite effect; the Berlin Airlift led directly to the creation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), a military alliance that could counter Soviet power.

Stalin wanted Germany to stay weak. He was concerned that they might attack the USSR again in the future. He wanted them to pay compensation to the USSR for damage during the war. The USA wanted Germany to stay strong.

Disagreements over how to deal with the German question resulted in tension and arguments that led to the Cold War. Stalin’s fear of a strong unified Germany put him at odds with American policy to establish an economically strong state which was able to trade effectively and freely with the West.

Between 1947 and 1956, Moscow took large reparations from East Germany and much of Eastern Europe, probably far more than the $10 billion it had demanded at Yalta.