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Yohei Sparks

Professor Moore

COMP-1302

4 February 2017

A Wall That Divides Two Ideologies

Ever since World War II ended with Germany's defeat to the allies. Because of this, the

city of Berlin, the capital of Germany, was divided among four allied nation, France, United

Kingdom, The United States, and The Soviet Union. However, in 1961, a wall was built to divide

Germany into two nations: Federal Republic of Germany to the west and German Democratic

Republic to the east. With that wall, it became a figure of two ideologies that conflicted with

each other. This lasted until the fall of the Berlin Wall in November of 1989 where both West and

East Germans were re-united together. By use of location, comparison, and diction, Ronald

Reagan made a speech convincing the then-Soviet Chairman Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down

the wall to re-unite the German people once and for all under one free democracy.

Sometimes, when a president makes an important speech whether the issue is domestic or

foreign, many times, they do so in the press conference room of the White House or the Oval

Office. But there are times, like when Reagan made the speech towards Chairman Gorbachev,

they do so at where the problem stands and in this case, the west side of the Berlin Wall by the

Brandenburg Gate which is under the East German territory. Although President Regan could

have performed the speech at the White House, he personally went to West Berlin, Germany to

make the speech instead. He does point this out as he said We come to Berlin, we American

presidents, because its our duty to speak in this place, of freedom (Line 4). The possible reason

behind this is because he stands with the American people, to tear down the wall and reunite the
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country under a free democracy and end the communist regime of the East, which was behind in

many aspects. Also like President Reagan pointed out, there were Presidents before him whom

did the same idea of speech, such example is President John F. Kennedy.

During the 1980s the difference in technology between West and East Germany was

significant. By using comparison, President Reagan pointed out, But in the West today, we see a

free world that has achieved a level of prosperity and well-being unprecedented in all human

history. In the Communist world, we see failure, technological backwardness, declining

standards of health, even want of the most basic kindtoo little food (Lines 50-53). The

Western side indeed had a better technology because they had the support from the western

world which had a better technology than the east and also advanced quicker than eastern

European nations. While on the Warsaw Pact side, their technology was desperately outdated

compared to their western counterpart and sometimes could not operate nor use certain types of

technology that intelligence agency brought from the West due to their lack of understanding and

let alone the copy of these technologies. Although the Communist east did beat the West in few

things (such as launching animals to space), since the east has not made a lot of technological

advances since then. By reuniting east and west, President Reagan is certain that their world

would improve and make everybody happy once again under one rule, democracy.

Because this was a formal speech, President Reagan would have had to make sure this

speech has been academic and professional. Within the speech, President Reagan points out that

Germany was once a nation who was defeated by the Allied Powers to stop a man with a

ludicrous mind and idea, and lost almost everything because of the constant bombing and

advancing of Allied Forces. But President Reagan notes that within the forty years, West

Germany has since then become an the greatest industrial output of any city in Germany--busy
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office blocks, fine homes and apartments, proud avenues, and the spreading lawns of parkland.

Where a city's culture seemed to have been destroyed, today there are two great universities,

orchestras and an opera, countless theaters, and museums (Line 40-47). Although East faced the

same event they do not have abundant anything except soldiers and checkpoints, and they do not

really have a fine homes and apartments, they do have an orchestra but they are part of the

military orchestra, and most important of all they do not have enough food to feed the entire

nation of East Germany which also applied to Soviet Union, their main source of trade and

assistance in economy and trading.

From the year when Germany was defeated in 1945 to when Germany faced a division in

two sides, free side and the strict side. But of course, the President of the leading free world, the

United States has done many speeches to convince the East side to take down the wall to reunite

Germany and the rest of the European nation that was divided because of the event. One of the

notable President that did this was President Ronald Reagan, he tried to convince the then-

Chairman of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the wall that has divided the

country of Germany and the world and reunite as one free nation and a world without

communism. President Reagan saw that the East was behind in technology and was too poor to

feed their nation a sufficient amount of food. Fortunately for President Reagan, the wall did

eventually came down in November of 1989, two years after he made the speech in West Berlin,

in front of the Wall where the Brandenburg Gate stood behind under East German Control.
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Work Cited

Regan, Ronald. "The History Place - Great Speeches Collection: Ronald Reagan Speech 'Tear

Down This Wall'." The History Place - Great Speeches Collection: Ronald Reagan

Speech 'Tear Down This Wall'. The History Place, n.d. Web. 14 Feb. 2017.