If our president was to be assassinated by someone form another country I would want the assassin and the country punished. The assassin would be tried in court and once convicted he or she would receive the death penalty. This way we can send a message to the rest of them that they will be caught and killed if they try it. Also the country the assassin came from would be punished. We would punish the country because its probably their fault in the first place for making its people believe that were evil. Also if we were to find out the assassin belonged to a group we would go after them as well no matter where they are. If we were to go after the country they may stop protecting these groups and they would also be punished for they didn’t do anything about them in the first place. The group must also be punished so they do not recruit anymore people and try to do another assassination.
The conditions in Russia in the 1800s and early 1900s were horrible. There wasn’t enough food, the living conditions of the common man were poor, and there was an unfair share of countries. The problem that angered the people the most was that there was no bread. The people without bread soon broke out into bread riots and the army refused to fire on them basically handing them the government. It is difficult to establish a democracy because the leaders will often think the people are incapable of having some kind of say in the government so they take over and have a positive experience if you will.
I don’t believe it was possible for the German people not to know about what was going on during the Holocaust. Even if they didn’t know the extent or just heard rumors to which Hitler was persecuting Jews, the Germans had to have thought that something suspicious was occurring. Hitler used propaganda to blind the pubic though and make them feel superior. However, with all the people in hiding and all those who had gone missing you would have noticed. If you lived anywhere near a camp you would have smelt the rotting of flesh and you would notice all the people going in yet none of them ever coming out.
If I suspected that the atrocities and genocide that was happening I don’t think I would’ve done anything. By then, I’d probably have been brainwashed by the propaganda into a state of mind that the Jewish people and others were inferior to my race. I would fear the punishments that the Nazis or SS if I knew about it and spoke out. I believe that genocide could defiantly happen again because man has a prejudice nature, if not you then someone else does. Even today there is genocide or there was in Somalia.
After World War II the victors split up Germany. The United States, Britain, France and the Soviet Union divided Germany into four zones, each controlled by one of the four countries. Berlin also was divided the same way. At first, Berlin's citizens could move freely between the zones to work or visit family and friends. Then the U.S., British and French zones then became capitalist and democratic. The Soviet zone on the other hand became a communist dictatorship. By 1948 the democratic Allies and the communist Soviet Union were fighting over on how to govern Berlin.
Western nations assumed they would have free access to the city. However, Berlin was in the Soviet part of Germany so it was an island surrounded by capitalism. On April 1, 1948 the Soviet Union blockaded routes in and out of East Germany. They trapped 2 million West Berliners with little food and fuel. The U.S., Britain, and France countered with the Berlin Airlift. The allies flew planes with food and supplies into West Berlin for 462 straight days. The Soviets then lifted the blockade in 1949. Also in 1949, Western and Eastern Germany finally formed separate governments. Many attemps were made to get over, around, and through the wall and many succeeded. One such success was when truck carrying a group of East Berliners simply crashed through the wall. The driver was shot but kept going. He later died from his wounds.
In the 1950s, the West-East gap continued to widen. In West Berlin and West Germany, rebuilding and economy boomed while in the East, food and housing were scarce. Finally on November 9, 1989 the Berlin wall fell.
Web site http://www.newseum.org/berlinwall.html
The Korean War and the war in Vietnam were very similar. Both of these conflicts were about the spread of communism in southeastern Asia. The North Korean army crossed the 38th parallel in June 1950. South Korea looked to the U.N for help. The Soviet Union was boycotting the UN so they could not stop them from sending an international force into South Korea. Troops from 16 nations went to South Korea led by General Douglas McArthur. The war in Korea bounced back and forth for awhile until the North Koreas push the U.S. to the very tip of South Korea and the US has the fear of being pushed into the water. Then General McArthur landed a small force of marines at Inchon behind North Korean lines. The UN then pushed the North Korean army all the way to the Korean border with China. China wanted Korea as a buffer state so they poured in 300,000 troops and by sheer numbers alone pushed the UN force back below the 38th parallel. McArthur then suggested the use of the atomic bomb and because of this President Truman stripped him of his power. Later in the war each side did not want total victory and the UN just wanted to push the North back across the 38th parallel which they accomplished. In July 1953 almost 3 years later, North Korea and South Korea signed a cease fire agreement ending the conflict.
In Vietnam the North Vietnamese went across the border and invaded the south. At the peace conference in Geneva the U.S. tried to limit the communist influence in Vietnam. They were some what successful and Ho Chi Minh was only given the North. The U.S. and France set up a democracy in the south under Ngo Dinh Diem in the south. Diem in the long run was not a good leader and because of this the communist North gained support. Eventually in 1963 Diem was assassinated. The conflict eventually turned into a war when the north attacked two US destroyers. By late 1965 185,000 soldiers were located in Vietnam. Even though the US was winning on paper with the most advanced weapons the use of guerilla tactics by the Vietnamese and the Vietcong had great popular support while the South Vietnamese government was growing less popular. Protests at home were not helping much either. In 1969 the U.S. began to withdraw its troops and just sent them weapons but that was not enough and in the spring of 1975 Saigon fell and the North had control of all Vietnam.
This is applicable to what we are learning because we are learning about Korea and Vietnam.