20TH CENTURY HISTORY

Exam Essay Plan

TOPIC -Choose one decade in the period 1945-2000 and explain why the events in that decade were significant for the world in the 20th century. DECADE -1960s INTRODUCTION The 20th century was a hundred years of the first occurrence of a global war, nuclear weaponry, technological advancements, civil rights movements, and major changes in politics, economics, society, science and ideologies. The building of the Berlin wall symbolises the collapse of Communism as a political ideology being put to practice Cuban Missile Crisis an event that brought the two largest powers in the world to the brink of nuclear war Civil Rights Movement the latter half of the 20th century showed large changes in social aspects of the world MAJOR EVENT #1 EVIDENCE The building of the A monument to Communist failure Dean Rusk, US Secretary Berlin Wall of State 13 August 1961 The wall of shame Willy Brandt, West German mayor German Democratic [A wall] is a hell of a lot better than a war John F. Kennedy Republic, a Communist West Berlin, a capitalist city, stuck like a bone in the Soviet government throat Nikita Khrushchev Federal Republic of If Communism was such an ideal system, why was it necessary Germany, a Capitalist to cage people in Waugh government 1961 207,026 people escaped East Germany via Berlin EXPLANATION A tangible symbol of the Iron Curtain, a term first used by Winston Churchill on March 5, 1946 to describe the physical and ideological divide between the Soviet bloc and Western Europe. Soviet aims in building the wall Maintain control over East Germany Stop the flood of refugees. They were mainly skilled professionals needed in East Germany SIGNIFICANCE Fundamental admission by the Soviets that their system was inferior and oppressive to the point that they needed a physical barrier to stop the haemorrhaging of people to the west Communist regime failed to convince its own people of the superiority of their political, economic and social system In short, the Wall symbolized the division of the world in terms of opposing factions. To the West, the Wall was evidence that communism was a system of oppression. To the East, some people, certainly not all, viewed it as a barrier to Western corruption. To the west, the Wall constituted powerful propaganda: evidence that East Germany was a failing state and that thousands of its people did not want to live under communism. The significance of the hated Wall was that it divided a country in two for nearly 30 years.

MAJOR EVENT #1 Cuban Missile Crisis 14-27 October 1962

MAJOR EVENT #3 Civil Rights Movement

EVIDENCE July 1960 American refused to buy Cuban sugar October 1960 End all trade with Cuba January 1961 Cut off all diplomatic relations with Cuba Starve Castro into submission Waugh Bay of Pigs Invasion April 1961 We had an obligation to protect Cubas existence as a Communist country Khrushchevs memoirs We wanted to keep the Americans from invading Cuba 22 October Naval blockade Offensive missile sites John F. Kennedy, 22 October It also led to a better climate between the two leaders and two countries BBC Timewatch Special The most dangerous crisis the world has ever seen Dean Rusk, US Secretary of State The week that changed the world Richard Nixon, 1972 EXPLANATION Fidel Castro, leader of Communist Cuba since 1959 Nikita Khrushchev, leader of the USSR 1953-1964 John F. Kennedy, President of USA 1960-1963 Bay of Pigs Invasion, April 1961 US supported invasion, Cuban exiles trained by the CIA clear the attack on the Bay of Pigs was doomed Waugh As a result of the Bay of Pigs invasion Castro declared Cuba a Communist state in December 1961 SIGNIFICANCE The Cuban Missile Crisis was arguably the hottest point in the Cold War. The people who lived in the United States were expecting to be bombed. The crisis could have easily deteriorated into a nuclear exchange alphahistory M.A.D. is a form of deterrence Robert McNamara, the threat of being attacked with nuclear weapons from both sides made the superpowers wary of instigating a nuclear war. EVIDENCE hope of building a coalition for racial equality that could not possibly be ignored Melba B. Duncan Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 Martin Luther King, Malcolm X "I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed that all men are created equal." Martin Luther King, August 28 1963 EXPLANATION In the early 1960s, the fundamental prize sought by the civil rights movements was something that African Americans had never known: full legal equality Denied the right to vote, barred from public facilities, subjected to insults and violence, injustice from the courts and discrimination in housing, employment, education and many other areas.

CONCLUSION

Nearly 100 years after the Emancipation Proclamation, African Americans in Southern states still inhabited a starkly unequal world of disenfranchisement, segregation and various forms of oppression August 28 March on Washington, which attracted at least 200,000 participants. King's address on that occasion captured the idealistic spirit of the expanding protests. Civil Rights Act of 1964. This legislation outlawed segregation in public facilities and racial discrimination in employment and education. In addition to blacks, women and other victims of discrimination benefited from the act The civil rights movement can be defined as a mass popular movement to secure for African Americans equal access to and opportunities for the basic privileges and rights of U.S. citizenship. Although the roots of the civil rights movement go back to the 19th century, the movement peaked in the 1950s and 1960s. They pursued their goals through legal means, negotiations, petitions, and nonviolent protest demonstrations. SIGNIFICANCE A true attempt to close racial divide. The largest social movement of the 20th century, the civil rights movement influenced other group advancement and group pride efforts, such as the modern women's rights movement and the student movement of the 1960s. It produced major legislation that reformed American society, and it opened up new political, social, and economic opportunities to blacks. The 1900s was a century of innovation and change. The 1960s in particular, was a decade of great change and of great significance in regards to the 20th century. The construction of the Berlin Wall saw the challenge of Communism as a legitimate economic and political system. The Cuban Missile Crisis of 1963 marked the fortnight where the world was almost on the brink of nuclear war. The Civil Rights movement in the 60s sparked a reform in American government and society that lives to this day. The 1960s was a decade that saw to the highest point of tension between capitalism and communism, and a true attempt to close the racial divide in Western society.