Ronald Reagans Famous Berlin Wall speech was given June 12th, 1987 on the 750th anniversary of Berlin near the end of the Cold War. His famous line where he calls Gorbachev to “tear down this wall” went down in history. The historical importance of the Cold War shaped the Berlin Wall speech. The speech addresses three issues which included East Germany versus West Germany and the Berlin wall, communism vs democracy, and the reduction of nuclear weapons. 

At the time Germany had been split up between East Germany and West Germany. The Berlin wall was built to separate the two countries and to make sure no one crossed the borders. East Germany was controlled through communism and West Germany was controlled through democracy. Families had been separated when the wall was made. The Soviet Union was having some economic struggles and East Germany was struggling too. 

At this time the Cold War was coming to an end and the Soviets were starting to falter. This lead to Reagan saying “General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall”. Reagan was telling the head of the Soviet Union that if he wants peace he needs to get rid of this divide between the two nations. The Cold War was a “war” between two powerful nations during 1947-1991 that didn’t want to have a world war but still wanted to be a powerhouse. The ideologies between the two nations was represented through communisms vs democracy. Each nation thought their ideology was the best and the other was a threat towards them. This wasn’t an actual war, it was two nations pussyfooting around each other to prove their ideology is better. Both nations didn’t want another world war so they both would constantly send micro aggressions towards each other. Tensions would raise to dangerous levels throughout this time period. The Cold War impacted what Reagan was saying because he threatened peace if the wall was not torn down. The Cold War had already been going on for 40 years and to make a threat like this is a big deal. This was important because during the Cold War no one wanted an all-out war, but Reagan threatened their peace and directly called out their leader. On top of that the Cold War was all about communism versus democracy and what Reagan was saying was that democracy is winning. Also to put an end to East Germany and West Germany was a stepping stone to putting an end to the Soviet Union and the Cold War. The differences in East Germany and West Germany were the differences between the United States and the Soviet Union. Later the two nations dissolved into one nation in 1990 when the Soviet Union went through massive reform. A year later in 1991 the Soviet Union collapsed and split into 15 different countries.

Reagan’s speech had a lot to do with communism versus democracy and which ideology is successful. The Cold War was a war fought over which ideologies is better between democracy and communism. In previous years when communism was not on a downward spiral Reagan had referred to the Soviet Union as an evil empire due to the conflicts with nuclear weapons and the corruption within the Soviet Union. At the time West Germany was having a pretty successful economy and the impact of conservative ideas was a main reason for this. On the other side East Germany was struggling and was approaching a huge debt crisis and their economy was struggling in all aspects. Democracy was surging across the globe in places like Central and South America where they had become open markets and their economy was surging. 

Reagan often uses the term freedom to describe anything related to democracy. The language he uses throughout has been driven in him by the historical context. The cold war had been going on since the 40’s and to the United States it had always been about Democracy. Democracy had been equated to freedom for years. Reagan uses this language when he says “In Europe, only one nation and those it controls refuse to join the community of freedom. Yet in this age of redoubled economic growth, of information and innovation, the Soviet Union faces a choice: It must make fundamental changes, or it will become obsolete”. Calling this alliance a community of freedom is the product of the battle between communism and democracy. The names paints a positive picture and anyone against it seems wrong. The Soviet Union attempted to reform some of its policies with a act called Perestroika. Which loosened state control over the market but was still a communist policy which did not have open markets. The economy still faced struggles with reduction in petroleum exports. This economic struggle soon lead to the downfall of the Soviet Union.

The last and perhaps the most important issue of Reagan’s speech was to reduce the amount of nuclear weapons that each nation had. The Cold War was inches away from a nuclear warfare many times. In 1980 the Unites States and the Soviet Union they had a combined 50,000 nuclear warheads that were ready to be used. The tension between the two nations was at an all-time high because a nuclear war could end humanity. In the next 7 years the Soviet Union’s number of warheads went from 25,000 to 40,000. For years, Europe had been attempting to negotiate a pact to destroy nuclear warheads on both sides to further safety. The Soviet Union at first wanted nothing to do with this, but the determination of the alliance within Europe was strong. Reagan addressed the reduction of arms when he said “But through it all, the alliance held firm. And I invite those who protested then-- I invite those who protest today--to mark this fact: Because we remained strong, the Soviets came back to the table. And because we remained strong, today we have within reach the possibility, not merely of limiting the growth of arms, but of eliminating, for the first time, an entire class of nuclear weapons from the face of the earth.” The Cold War was partially a contest to see who could be the best. Nuclear warheads were at first a show of power and strength for the two nations but soon they realized the danger of possibly using the nuclear warheads. The threat of a nuclear fallout in the Cold War was a threat and a bargaining tool. The dangers of this were seen and impacted how the world viewed nuclear warheads. The impact of this historical event lead to countries seeking to reduce arms. Reagan’s speech had looked forward towards a peaceful future without the eminent threat of nuclear warheads. Later on the Soviet Union and many other nation agreed to disarm thousands of warheads at an attempt of peace.

The Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 and dissolved into 15 different nations. Mikhail Gorbachev had resigned from power and the bulk of the Soviet Union is now Russia. The collapse of the Soviet Union marked the end of communism in the region and to the Cold War. With the Cold War coming to an end the three issues which included East Germany versus West Germany and the Berlin wall, communism vs democracy, and the reduction of nuclear weapons had all come to a resolve. The Cold War shaped not only Reagan’s Berlin Wall speech but an entire generation.
