The most secure border in the world

Currently, the state border between North Korea and South Korea is deservedly considered the most protected part of the world. But from 1961 to 1989, the Berlin Wall firmly held the palm in this "hit parade" - a strip of barriers and fortifications that marked the state border of the GDR and West Berlin. This fortified line actually encircled the entire West Berlin (length - 155 kilometers), so this city was a kind of island in the territory of the German Democratic Republic. But the term "Berlin Wall" itself is usually applied to that section of this state border, which passed directly along the Berlin streets and divided the city in two (length - 43 kilometers).

The Berlin Wall was built in 14 years and was completely finished by 1975. Directly, a concrete wall approximately 3.6 meters high made up the westernmost part of this strip, and access to it was free for the inhabitants of West Berlin - therefore it turned into a kind of street canvas for various artists long before the fall. But from the side of East Berlin, it was a real barrier line: wire barriers; a signal fence through which an electric current was launched; more than three hundred watchtowers with snipers; two and a half hundred other military frontier premises; anti-tank ditches and anti-vehicle lanes and the like. The most famous was the constantly illuminated "no man's lane", unofficially renamed the "death lane": it was when violators crossed it that the border guards of the GDR received the right to shoot "to kill". Also within the city there were eight checkpoints through which communication was carried out between East and West Berlin.

Forbidden fruit is sweet, especially when it's behind a wall

Over the 28-plus years of the existence of the Berlin Wall, many people have tried to overcome it and move from the GDR to West Berlin, and sometimes repeatedly - the minimum figure called by historians is 100 thousand people. The motives were simple - to leave socialist East Germany for the sake of life in the capitalist West or reunification with relatives and friends (the second motive was relevant, first of all, immediately after the appearance of the dividing line). A number of sources indicate that approximately 85,000 people were convicted in the GDR for attempting to cross the Berlin Wall. Moreover, not only the border violators themselves were subject to criminal liability, but also everyone who somehow helped them in organizing these actions.

Nevertheless, the attempts did not stop and during the existence of the wall they counted about five thousand. The easiest way to cross the Berlin Wall was in the first days and weeks after the appearance of the barrier on August 13, 1961 - then the wall itself did not exist yet, there were wire fences, so that residents of houses adjacent to the dividing line could jump into West Berlin. However, then these attempts were thwarted, and the Berlin Wall began to take its stable form. And then no matter how the East Germans came up with ways to get to West Berlin. Underground tunnels were dug one hundred and fifty meters long and only 60 centimeters high. Home-made balloons and diving apparatus were created (the border also passed along the Spree River). Light planes were hijacked, catapults were built to "shoot" people through the wall, the wall itself collapsed in some place with the help of a bulldozer, and so on.

But the most common way was to simply try to cross the separation strip as quickly as possible and climb over the wall. It was in such attempts that people died. The exact number of victims is still unknown: the numbers range from almost two hundred people, the fact of whose death is confirmed by documents, to almost two thousand. There are known cases of execution by GDR border guards of children who were trying to overcome the Berlin Wall. However, several East German border guards also died as a result of gunfire from West Berlin. One of the most famous tragic cases on the Berlin Wall is the death of Peter Fechter in 1962: he was wounded in the leg and died in the "no man's lane" from blood loss: people from the western part of the city could not come to his aid, and the border guards of the GDR were inactive .

The Berlin Wall is the most odious and sinister symbol of the Cold War

Category: Berlin

As a result of World War II, Germany was divided into four occupation zones. The eastern lands went to the Soviet Union, while the British, Americans and French controlled the west of the former Reich. The same fate befell the capital. The divided Berlin was to become a real arena of the Cold War. After the proclamation of the German Democratic Republic on October 7, 1949, the eastern part of Berlin was declared its capital, and the western part became an enclave. Twelve years later, the city was surrounded by a wall that physically separated the socialist GDR from capitalist West Berlin.

The difficult choice of Nikita Khrushchev

Immediately after the war, Berliners were free to move from one part of the city to another. The separation was practically not felt, except for the difference in living standards, which was visible to the naked eye. Store shelves in West Berlin were bursting with goods, which could not be said about the capital of the GDR. In the capitalist enclave, the situation was better with wages, especially for qualified personnel - they were welcomed here with open arms.

As a result, a massive outflow of specialists from East Germany to the West began. The part of the ordinary population that was dissatisfied with their life in the "socialist paradise" did not lag behind. In 1960 alone, more than 350 thousand of its citizens left the GDR. The East German and Soviet leadership was seriously concerned about such an outflow, in fact, an exodus of people. Everyone understood that if you do not stop him, the young republic will inevitably collapse.

The appearance of the wall was also caused by the Berlin crises of 1948-1949, 1953 and 1958-1961. The last one was especially stressful. By that time, the USSR had actually transferred its sector of the occupation of Berlin to the GDR. The western part of the city still remained under the rule of the Allies. An ultimatum was issued: West Berlin must become a free city. The Allies rejected the demands, believing that in the future this could lead to the accession of the enclave to the GDR.

The situation was aggravated by the policy of the East German government at home. The then leader of the GDR, Walter Ulbricht, pursued a tough economic policy along the Soviet lines. In an effort to "catch up and overtake" the FRG, the authorities did not disdain anything. Increased production standards, carried out forced collectivization. But wages and the general standard of living remained low. This provoked the flight of East Germans to the West, which we mentioned above.

What to do in this situation? On August 3-5, 1961, the leaders of the Warsaw Pact member states urgently gathered in Moscow on this occasion. Ulbricht insisted that the border with West Berlin should be closed. The Allies agreed. But how to do that? The head of the USSR, Nikita Khrushchev, considered two options: an air barrier or a wall. We chose the second. The first option threatened a serious conflict with the United States, perhaps even a war with America.

Split in two - in one night

On the night of August 12-13, 1961, the troops of the GDR were brought up to the border between the western and eastern parts of Berlin. For several hours they blocked its sections within the city. Everything happened on the declared alarm of the first degree. The servicemen, along with the police and work teams, simultaneously set to work, because the building materials for the construction of barriers were prepared in advance. Until morning, the city of 3 million was cut into two parts.

Barbed wire blocked 193 streets. The same fate befell four lines of the Berlin underground and 8 tram lines. In places adjacent to the new border, power lines and telephone communications were cut off. They even managed to weld pipes of all city communications here. The stunned Berliners gathered the next morning on both sides of the barbed wire. The order was given to disperse, but the people did not obey. Then they were dispersed within half an hour with the help of water cannons ...

The wrapping of barbed wire around the entire perimeter of the West Berlin border was completed by Tuesday, August 15th. In the following days, it was replaced by the actual stone wall, the construction and modernization of which continued until the first half of the 70s. Residents of border houses were evicted, and their windows overlooking West Berlin were bricked up. They also closed the border Potsdamer Platz. The wall acquired its final form only in 1975.

What was the Berlin Wall

The Berlin Wall (in German Berliner Mauer) had a length of 155 kilometers, of which 43.1 km were within the city limits. German Chancellor Willy Brandt called it a "shameful wall", and US President John F. Kennedy called it "a slap in the face of all mankind." The official name adopted in the GDR: Anti-fascist defensive rampart (Antifaschischer Schutzwall).

The wall, which physically divided Berlin into two parts along houses, streets, communications and the Spree River, was a massive structure made of concrete and stone. It was an extremely fortified engineering structure with movement sensors, mines, barbed wire. Since the wall was the border, there were also border guards who shot to kill anyone, even children, who dared to illegally cross the border into West Berlin.

But the wall itself was not enough for the GDR authorities. A special restricted area with warning signs was equipped along it. Rows of anti-tank hedgehogs and a strip dotted with metal spikes looked especially ominous, it was called "Stalin's lawn." There was also a metal mesh with barbed wire. When trying to penetrate through it, flares were fired, notifying the border guards of the GDR about an attempt to illegally cross the border.

Barbed wire was also stretched over the odious structure. A high voltage current was passed through it. Observation towers and checkpoints were erected along the perimeter of the Berlin Wall. Including from West Berlin. One of the most famous is Checkpoint Charlie, which was under the control of the Americans. A lot of dramatic events took place here, connected with the desperate attempts of citizens of the GDR to escape to West Germany.

The absurdity of the idea with the "Iron Curtain" reached its climax when it was decided to wall the Brandenburg Gate - the famous symbol of Berlin and all of Germany. And from all sides. For the reason that they were in the way of an odious structure. As a result, neither the inhabitants of the capital of the GDR, nor the inhabitants of West Berlin could even approach the gate until 1990. So the tourist attraction became a victim of political confrontation.

The fall of the Berlin Wall: how it happened

Hungary unwittingly played a significant role in the collapse of the Berlin Wall. Under the influence of perestroika in the USSR, in May 1989 she opened the border with Austria. This was a signal for the citizens of the GDR, who rushed to other countries of the Eastern bloc in order to get to Hungary, from there to Austria and then to the FRG. The leadership of the GDR lost control of the situation, mass demonstrations began in the country. People demanded civil rights and freedoms.

The protests culminated in the resignation of Erich Honecker and other party leaders. The outflow of people to the West through other countries of the Warsaw Pact has become so massive that the existence of the Berlin Wall has lost all meaning. On November 9, 1989, Günther Schabowski, a member of the Politburo of the SED Central Committee, spoke on television. He announced the simplification of the rules of entry and exit from the country and the possibility of immediately obtaining visas to visit West Berlin and Germany.

For the East Germans, this was a signal. They did not wait for the official entry into force of the new rules and rushed to the border in the evening of the same day. The border guards at first tried to push the crowd back with water cannons, but then they yielded to the pressure of the people and opened the border. On the other side, West Berliners had already gathered, who rushed to East Berlin. What was happening was reminiscent of a folk festival, people laughed and cried with happiness. Euphoria reigned until morning.

On December 22, 1989, the Brandenburg Gate was opened to the public. The Berlin Wall was still standing, but nothing remained of its sinister appearance. It was broken in places, it was painted with numerous graffiti and applied drawings and inscriptions. Citizens and tourists broke off pieces of it as a keepsake. The wall was demolished a few months after the entry of the GDR into the Federal Republic of Germany on October 3, 1990. The symbol of the "cold war" and the division of Germany ordered a long life.

Berlin Wall: today

Accounts of those killed while crossing the Berlin Wall vary. In the former GDR, it was claimed that there were 125 of them. Other sources claim that there are 192 such people. Some media, referring to the Stasi archives, cited the following statistics: 1245. Part of the large Berlin Wall memorial complex, opened in 2010, is dedicated to the memory of the dead (the entire complex was completed two years later and occupies four hectares).

At present, a fragment of the Berlin Wall, 1300 meters long, has been preserved. It has become a memory of the most sinister symbol of the Cold War. The fall of the wall inspired artists from all over the world who flocked here and painted the rest of the site with their paintings. This is how the East Side Gallery appeared - an open-air gallery. One of the drawings, a kiss between Brezhnev and Honecker, was made by our compatriot, artist Dmitry Vrubel.

The anniversary of one of the most significant and symbolic events of the 20th century is celebrated in Germany. A quarter of a century ago, the Berlin Wall fell. Chancellor Angela Merkel visited the memorial complex and paid tribute to those who died while trying to overcome the concrete barrier.

For three decades, it divided two parts of the city and, as it seemed then, two worlds.

Flowers between the damp and gray blocks that once divided Berlin are a tribute to those who died while trying to escape from the totalitarian system. Angela Merkel knows what it means to live behind a wall. She grew up in the GDR. She herself did not believe that the reinforced concrete monster could one day disappear.

"The fall of the Berlin Wall showed us that dreams can become reality. Nothing should remain the same, no matter how high the barriers," Angela Merkel said.

The Berlin Wall stood for 28 years. She killed at least 138 people. Those who fled from the embrace of socialism were shot at. Their names are now immortalized on a memorial in Bernauer Strasse.

Hartmut Richter himself fled to the West in 1966, swimming across the Teltow Canal. Nine years later, he tried to bring his sister to the West in the trunk of a car. He was arrested.

“I was sentenced to 15 years in prison. If I had served the entire term, I would have been released only in 1990. But I was released in 1980 because the German authorities ransomed me,” says Hartmut Richter.

Another reality of the system - the GDR sold its prisoners to its western neighbor for hard currency. Berlin with a wall and Berlin without a wall are two completely different cities. The differences become especially noticeable when comparing photographs then and now directly. The wall that separated families, East and West, was built by order of the leadership of the GDR in 1961. They tried to make the border impenetrable. But as soon as they fled from the GDR - both with the help of a balloon, and by swimming. Only through the sewer passages under the city, 800 people moved to the West. Others made digs under the wall from the basements of houses. Burghart Feigel, who helped over 600 East Germans find their way to the West, shows the only surviving tunnel entrance in Berlin under the wall.

“The tunnels did not work for long, only 2-3 days, because they could be discovered. But during this time, a lot of people passed through them, even children. Other escape routes for children are difficult, and they, for example, could pass through the tunnel. Small children transported in meat bags," says Burghart Feigel.

These were real special operations. In total, 75 tunnels were made under the Berlin Wall. Joachim Rudolf, one of those who dug that underground passage, married a girl who crossed to the West through it, still cannot forget the eyes of those who came out of the ground.

"All the problems that were worth it - calluses on our hands, electric shocks when we connected electric pumps to pump out water, or when we sat on wet clay, and this clay wet floor was sometimes energized. For a while, everything it was forgotten. It was worth it," says Joachim Rudolf.

Bad things are often forgotten. According to a survey conducted right before the celebrations, one in six Germans would like to have the wall back. Surprisingly, a few years ago there were fewer people who wanted to fence themselves off again. Moreover, not only eastern, but also western Germans yearn for the border. By the way, they still pay the solidarity tax. Well, the former Ossi, eastern ones, remember the good things that happened. Elke Matz, owner of an East Germany goods store in Berlin, explains why ostalgia occurs.

"There was solidarity, unity in the GDR. In the West, it was not like that. Everyone kept together, helped each other, were friendly during the GDR. They were much closer, family-like. And the West Germans were real capitalists. Look, today everything belongs to banks" , says Elke Matz, owner of Intershop-2000.

But 25 years ago, people wanted only one thing - freedom. The Soviet leadership also insisted on reforms. On November 9, residents of the GDR were informed on live television about a new free procedure for traveling abroad. Hundreds of thousands of East Berliners came to the checkpoints near the wall. Barriers under the pressure of the crowd were raised. Soviet troops did not interfere in what was happening.

The wall was practically destroyed, but today, for the solemn date, it was recreated again, from luminous balloons. The light wall stretched for 15 kilometers. And at night, passengers coming in for landing again see a divided Berlin.

Exactly at 9 pm Moscow time, all these 8 thousand luminous balls will rise into the sky. Each will be accompanied by a postcard with personal memories of the Germans from the time when Germany was divided. So after a quarter of a century, the Berlin Wall will be destroyed again.

The height of the wall that gradually surrounded West Berlin reached 6 meters. For anyone who could try to illegally cross the wall and thus fall into the "death strip", the border guards of the GDR were ordered by order No. 101 to open fire. Most of the successful escapes to the West occurred in the first months after the erection of the wall, when it had not yet been brought to perfection.
the night of August 12-13, 1961. The thermometer showed 13 degrees Celsius. The sky was overcast and a light breeze was blowing. Like every Saturday, most residents of the capital of the GDR went to bed late, hoping to sleep longer on 13 August. Until 0 o'clock this night in Berlin proceeded as usual. But shortly after midnight, the telephone rang in many apartments in the capital, and traffic rapidly increased. Functionaries of the SED, the state apparatus and economic departments were unexpectedly and urgently called to the service. Huge mechanism fast and accurate

came into motion. At 1:11 a.m., the German General News Agency broadcast a statement from the Warsaw Pact states... When the morning of August 13 arrived, the border between the German Democratic Republic and West Berlin was under control. In the afternoon, it was secure, "wrote the East German historians Hartmut and Ellen Mels. That night, the single city of Berlin was divided into two parts.

History reference

The grim symbol of the Cold War was built 45 years ago. Prior to this, the border between the western and eastern parts of Berlin was open. The 44.75 km dividing line (the total length of the border between West Berlin and the GDR was 164 km) ran straight through streets and houses, canals and waterways. Officially, there were 81 street checkpoints, 13 crossings in the subway and on the city railway. In addition, there were hundreds of illegal routes. Every day, from 300 to 500 thousand people crossed the border between both parts of the city for various reasons.

The situation around Berlin worsened in the summer of 1961: the hard line of the East German leader Walter Ulbricht, the economic policy aimed at "catching up and overtaking the FRG", and the corresponding increase in production standards, economic difficulties, forced collectivization 1957-1960, foreign policy tensions and a higher level of wages in West Berlin encouraged thousands of citizens of the GDR to leave for the West. In total, over 207,000 people left the country in 1961. In July 1961 alone, over 30,000 East Germans fled the country. These were mostly young and skilled professionals. The indignant East German authorities accused Berlin and the FRG of "trafficking in human beings", "poaching" personnel and attempts to frustrate their economic plans. They assured that the economy of East Berlin was annually losing 2.5 billion marks because of this.

In the context of the aggravation of the situation around Berlin, the leaders of the Warsaw Pact countries decided to close the border. Rumors of such plans were in the air as early as June 1961, but GDR leader Walter Ulbricht then denied such intentions. In fact, at that time they had not yet received final consent from the USSR and other participants in the Eastern Bloc. From August 3 to 5, 1961, a meeting of the first secretaries of the ruling communist parties of the Warsaw Pact states was held in Moscow, at which Ulbricht insisted on closing the border in Berlin. On August 7, at a meeting of the Politburo of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED - East German Communist Party), a decision was made to close the border of the GDR with West Berlin and the FRG. The project was named "Chinese Wall II". About 25,000 members of paramilitary "battle groups" from GDR enterprises occupied the border line with West Berlin; their actions were covered by parts of the East German army. The Soviet army was in a state of readiness.

The erection of the Berlin Wall did not initially involve the blockade of West Berlin, as in the late 1940s. Since 1963, residents of the western part of the city were allowed to visit their relatives in East Berlin for Christmas and New Year, but five years later the GDR introduced a passport and visa regime for transit travel for citizens of the FRG and the West Berlin population. The passage through the territory of East Germany of members and officials of the West German government, as well as military personnel of the FRG, was suspended.

To the West: by air, by water and underground

According to the latest data cited by the German Die Welt, the number of Germans who died while trying to move from the GDR to the FRG exceeded 1,000 people.

The count included fugitives who managed to get to the West, but who were later liquidated by Eastern agents or were kidnapped and taken back to the East and there executed or deprived of their lives in some other way. The exact number of Soviet deserters killed is still unknown.

How many more deaths may be associated with attempts to cross the border between the GDR and the FRG is unknown. However, historians are close to definitive data. The investigation into failed escape attempts across the Baltic Sea that claimed the lives of 181 people is almost complete.

The height of the wall that gradually surrounded West Berlin reached 6 meters. For anyone who could try to illegally cross the wall and thus fall into the "death strip", the border guards of the GDR were ordered by order No. 101 to open fire.

Most of the successful escapes to the West occurred in the first months after the erection of the wall, when it had not yet been brought to perfection. The first case recorded by the camera occurred on Tuesday, August 15, 1961: 19-year-old East German border guard Konrad Schumann, whose bride remained in West Berlin after the partition of the city, jumped over the wire barriers on Bernauer Strasse. Subsequently, Schumann happily married, settled in Bavaria and worked at the Audi factory.

Security was strengthened, but the citizens of the GDR began to use vehicles to overcome the wall, recalls Gzt.Ru. 14 escapes were made on heavy trucks, which accelerated and rammed an obstacle. After that, a strip with "Stalin's grass" (steel spikes) appeared in front of the wall. Then they began to use sports cars with a low landing, which could slip under the checkpoint barriers, however, then vertical iron bars began to be welded to the barriers. Then people began to hide under the bottoms of cars and in specially converted tanks. One day, nine people, one after another, managed to cross the border in the engine compartment of an Isetta minicar, from which the battery and radiator were removed. In December 1961, a month before the GDR authorities ordered the dismantling of the tram and railway tracks connecting various parts of the city, 24 defectors in the Nollendorf Platz area broke through to West Berlin on the S-Bahn. Of course, the most daring escape can be considered the one that took place in October 1961. Four men ordered a familiar dressmaker the uniform of Soviet senior officers, got hold of cowhide boots, made shoulder straps and order blocks. In broad daylight, they passed a checkpoint in the Potsdamer Platz area, passing between the GDR border guards saluting them.

It was possible to sail away from East Berlin: in June 1962, 14 citizens of the GDR seized a tugboat that sailed along the Spree River, tied up the captain and, writing sinusoids under heavy machine-gun fire, took the ship away from the city center to the west.

There were several attempts to cross the wall underground, that is, to dig a tunnel. One of them ended successfully - in 1964 there was a mass escape. 37 students from the GDR on their side, and their friends and relatives in West Berlin on their side dug a tunnel towards each other for 6 months. The total length of the underground passage, which ran at a depth of 12 meters, was about 300 meters. Within three days, from October 3 to October 5, 1964, 57 people crossed the tunnel to the West - 31 men, 23 women and 3 children. Despite the fact that the last group was discovered, they managed to shoot back and cross the border.

Perhaps the most unfortunate escape options are through the air. On the seventh day of the wall's existence, East Berliner Rudolf Urban decided to jump over the border. Having chosen a house along Bernauer Strasse, which faced West Berlin on one side, he pushed himself off the windowsill and jumped. He was shot while jumping… Two months later, on the same street, Berndt Lenzer was shot dead in the window of the fourth floor, after which the windows of all the houses along this street facing west were walled up. On August 17, 1962, 18-year-old Peter Fechter jumped over a wall with a pole, was wounded in the stomach and lay bleeding for an hour in no man's land.

But there were also successful attempts: on the night of July 28, 1965, the Holzapfel family, consisting of 6 people, climbed onto the roof of the complex of ministries of the GDR, a small building that was once Goering's fiefdom. They threw a rope from the roof, which their relatives caught on the other side of the border - they pulled it tight and held it until the whole family got over the wall.

They also told about the case when parents, trying to save their child, "shot" him like a slingshot, while they themselves remained in East Berlin.

The last victim of the wall when trying to jump over the wall was 20-year-old Chris Geffroy - he was killed on February 6, 1989, two weeks before the cancellation of order No. 101. Already after the order was no longer valid, the border claimed another life. On May 8, 1989, Winfried Freudenberg crashed to death while trying to fly to West Berlin in a makeshift balloon.

Berlin Wall in numbers:

Length - 155 km

Length on the border of East and West Berlin - 43 km

Length on the border of West Berlin and the GDR - 112 km

The length of the control and trace strip - 124 km

Number of guard dogs - 600

Number of watchtowers - 302

Number of bunkers - 22

The number of the border guard corps of the GDR on the border with West Berlin is 14 thousand people

Escape stats:

Successfully crossed the wall - 5043 people, 574 of them - military personnel of the People's National Army of the GDR and employees of the People's Police

More than 60 thousand people were prosecuted for preparing an escape

Arrested on the outskirts of the wall - 3221 people

Killed while trying to overcome the wall - 1008 people

Of these, over 40 children and adolescents, as well as 60 women

The age of the dead ranged from one year to 86 years.

Killed border guards and policemen guarding the wall - 27 people

Assaults on the wall were undertaken, accompanied by attempts to break through it - 35

The material was prepared by the online editors of www.rian.ru based on information from the RIA Novosti Agency and other sources

In 1955, the division of Europe between East and West finally took shape. However, a clear frontier of confrontation has not yet completely divided Europe. There was one unclosed "window" left in it - Berlin. The city was divided in half, with East Berlin being the capital of the GDR, and West Berlin considered its part of the FRG. Two opposing social systems coexisted within the same city, while every Berliner could freely get "from socialism to capitalism" and back, moving from one street to another. Every day up to 500 thousand people crossed this invisible border in both directions. Many East Germans, taking advantage of the open border, left for the West forever. Thousands of people moved in this way every year, which greatly worried the East German authorities. And in general, the wide open window in the "Iron Curtain" did not at all correspond to the general spirit of the era.

In August 1961, the Soviet and East German authorities decided to close the border between the two parts of Berlin. The tension in the city grew. Western countries protested the division of the city. Finally, in October, the confrontation culminated. At the Brandenburg Gate and on Friedrichstrasse, near the main checkpoints, American tanks lined up. Soviet combat vehicles came out to meet them. For more than a day, the tanks of the USSR and the USA stood with guns aimed at each other. Periodically, the tankers turned on the engines, as if preparing for an attack. The tension was somewhat relieved only after the Soviet, and after them the American tanks, withdrew to other streets. However, Western countries finally recognized the division of the city only ten years later. It was formalized by an agreement of four powers (USSR, USA, England and France), signed in 1971. All over the world, the construction of the Berlin Wall was perceived as a symbolic completion of the post-war division of Europe.

5. Vietnam War 1965-1973

The Vietnam War began with an incident in the Gulf of Tonkin, during which coast guard vessels of the DRV fired on American destroyers providing fire support to South Vietnamese government forces in their fight against partisans. After that, everything secret became clear and the conflict developed according to the already familiar pattern. One of the superpowers entered the war openly, and the second did everything in its power to make it "not boring" to fight. The war that the United States thought was a cakewalk turned out to be America's nightmare. Anti-war demonstrations shook the country. The youth rebelled against the senseless massacre. In 1975, the United States considered it a good thing to announce that they had "accomplished their mission" and proceed with the evacuation of their military contingent. This war greatly shocked the entire American society and led to major reforms. The post-war crisis lasted more than 10 years. It is difficult to say how it would have ended if a new crisis had not erupted associated with the introduction of Soviet troops into Afghanistan.

6. Afghan war

In April 1978, a coup took place in Afghanistan, later called the April Revolution. The Afghan communists, the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA), came to power. The government was headed by the writer Nur Mohammed Taraki. However, within a few months, a sharp struggle flared up within the ruling party. In August 1979, a confrontation broke out between the two leaders of the party - Taraki and Amin. On September 16, Taraki was removed from his post, expelled from the party and taken into custody. Soon he died - according to the official report, "from anxiety." These events caused discontent in Moscow, although outwardly everything remained as before. The mass “purges” and executions in the party environment that began in Afghanistan caused condemnation. And since they reminded the Soviet leaders of the Chinese "cultural revolution", there were fears that Amin might break with the USSR and move closer to China. Amin repeatedly asked for the entry of Soviet troops into Afghanistan to strengthen the revolutionary power. Finally, on December 12, 1979, the Soviet leadership decided to fulfill his request, but at the same time remove Amin himself. Soviet troops were brought into Afghanistan, Amin was killed by a grenade explosion during the storming of the presidential palace. Now Soviet newspapers called him a "CIA agent", wrote about the "bloody clique of Amin and his henchmen."

In the West, the entry of Soviet troops into Afghanistan caused violent protests. The Cold War broke out with renewed vigor. On January 14, 1980, the UN General Assembly demanded the withdrawal of "foreign troops" from Afghanistan. 104 states voted for this decision.

Meanwhile, in Afghanistan itself, armed resistance to Soviet troops began to intensify. Of course, it was not the supporters of Amin who fought against them, but the opponents of the revolutionary government in general. The Soviet press at first claimed that there were no battles in Afghanistan, that peace and tranquility reigned there. However, the war did not subside, and when it became clear, the USSR recognized that "bandits were rampaging" in the republic. They were called "dushmans", that is, enemies. Secretly, through Pakistan, they were supported by the United States, helping with weapons and money. The United States knew well what a war against an armed people meant. The experience of the Vietnam War was used at 100%, with only one small difference, the roles were reversed. Now the USSR was at war with an underdeveloped country, and the United States helped him to feel what a difficult thing it was. The rebels controlled a significant part of the territory of Afghanistan. All of them were united by the slogan jihad- holy Islamic war. They called themselves "mujahideen" - fighters for the faith. Otherwise, the programs of the rebel groups varied greatly.

The war in Afghanistan did not stop for more than nine years. More than a million Afghans died during the hostilities. Soviet troops, according to official figures, lost 14,453 people killed.

In June 1987, the first, so far symbolic, steps towards peace were taken. The new Kabul government offered "national reconciliation" to the rebels. In April 1988, the Soviet Union signed an agreement in Geneva on the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan. On May 15, the troops began to leave. Nine months later, on February 15, 1989, the last Soviet soldier left Afghanistan. For the Soviet Union, the Afghan war ended that day.