Many people believe the Cold War was an actual “war” however, this war was an event that included a sequence of divergent competitions. The Cold War was caused by several events, which took place at the Yalta conference. This conference lead to the Cold War by allowing the Soviet Union to have control over the […]
The Soviet Union was first formed on December 30th, 1922, by the Bolshevik party led by Vladimir Lenin. During the Russian revolution, the Red Army, consisting of socialists led by Vladimir Lenin, was fighting the White Army, consisting of a mix of monarchists, capitalists, and democratic socialists, for control. When the civil war was ended, […]
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Get startedThere are a lot of connections between Fahrenheit 451 and the Cold War. The novel of Fahrenheit 451 reflects the period it was made in. Its themes of information, censorship, and ignorance are reflective of the ideas from the Cold War itself. The war causes thoughts about the future of the country—some of those thoughts […]
“Never think that war, no matter how necessary, nor how justified, is not a crime.” The cold war was a period of tension between America and Russia, which lasted from 1947-1991. The reason for this is because of WWII, in which the previous wartime alliance that the United states as well as Great Britain had with the Soviet Union began to fall apart. The things that happened during this period are like a middle school fight; even after there was a winner, tension remained and that led to other little disputes among the two.
What set into motion the whole ordeal was the possibility of Soviet communist parties in democracies all over Western Europe which evidently posed a threat to the countries of America and Great Britain. Communism is a political ideology that believes all property is that of the public and that people work and are paid based on what they can do, how well they do it and what they need; the goal of communism is to make a society where there are no social classes and workers own the means of production. Another growing fear of the American-British alliance was the permanent dominance of the Soviet Union in Eastern Europe. The fall of the Berlin wall marked a turning point in the cold war, though it didn’t end the fighting it left a significant impact on the people of the time as well as in history.
The Bay of pigs invasion though seemingly unrelated to the cold war, in part played a role in it due to Cuba’s connections to the Soviet Union as well as America. Though several stories exist regarding Ernest Hemingway’s role and impact in the cold war, one of them, written by former U.S. Marine Colonel, Nicholas Reynolds, speculates that Hemingway may have been a spy for the Soviet Union and the United states as well.
In 1952 East and West Germany became divided in their political ideologies, thus eventually splitting the country itself. East Germany became home to the German Democratic Republic, an ally to the Soviet Union (who believed in the values of communism and dictatorship). Dictatorship is basically giving one person all the power in the country, no checks and balances like we have in America today to limit our leader’s power from being abused wildly. While West Germany became the Federal Republic of Germany and hosted individuals with political ideologies aligned with those of Western democracies;such as the United States (believing in capitalism and democracy).
Capitalists believe that companies and businesses should be run privately without intervention from the government. Democracy is a system of government that allows for representatives to be elected to look out for the best interest of the citizens. All these forms of government and political beliefs still exist in the world today; communism remains in China, Cuba, Laos, and Vietnam. Many countries including Australia, Ireland, the United Kingdom and our very own America practice capitalism today. Despite the instituted divide between East and West in Germany based on these beliefs, the physical border itself between the two remained open, allowing for oppressed East Germans to escape to the more lax (in comparison) West Germany where they were not as overbearing and oppressive.
Though the idea for a permanent, more effective form of separation between the East and West was discussed on June 15 of 1961, it wasn’t until a month later on the night of August 12 that construction of a barbed wire fence around West Berlin came to fruition then later became a solid concrete wall surrounding the entirety of West Berlin. The fence had various crossing points that allowed for transition between the Soviet sector and the Western sector, which were closed off,resulting in the separation of families and division of neighborhoods. Around 1989 things started changing in Germany and the unrest of the people brought the heat to East German officials, because of everything that was going on the decision was made to bring down the wall dividing East and West Germany, bringing them together in 1991.
The situation taking place in Germany was not the sole focus of the period known as the cold war. In 1959, two years before the construction of the Berlin wall in Germany, America’s relationship with Cuba was threatened along with their Cuban assets such as sugar plantations, cattle ranches, mines and utilities.This all happened because Fidel Castro took out the previous Cuban president, Fulgencio Batista who knew all about America’s hand in the economy and would look the other way when it came to such matters, making him an ally; like a dirty politician or representative working for a gang today.
Castro had different views for his country when he became president; he didn’t like the way we did things and he felt that his people should be more independent and push American control out of Cuban companies and the nation. Like anyone when their money is at stake, America started to panic and come up with ways to solve the problem and remain in control. Not only did Castro take steps to make his country independently prosperous but he encouraged other Latin countries to do the same for themselves.
When 1960 came around and Fidel Castro was being diplomatic with the Soviets, American president Dwight D. Eisenhower approved an off the books mission allowing the CIA to recruit and train 1,400 Cubans who were exiled and living in Miami, to invade Cuba and overthrow Castro, the goal was to hopefully spark an uprising of Cuban citizens against their president. The American government even entertained the idea of putting a hit on Fidel Castro. The plan for the mission to overthrow him continued and was kept a secret by President Kennedy when he assumed the presidency of the US to prevent retaliation from the Soviet Union against America for their involvement.
The plan went awry. Someone must have been spying for the Cubans and feeding them information about the attack because somehow they cleared the aircraft we targeted ahead of time. The mission was meant to be effective but stealthy but it was the exact opposite; on Cuba’s southern shore known as the Bay of Pigs, the battle was being broadcast all over the island, ships carrying the trained exiles were sunk, the fighting didn’t last very long. Bad intelligence was given and information was leaked jeopardizing the integrity of the mission. American officials were reluctant to let communism reign in Cuba, but everybody knew if they poked the bear enough eventually they would get mauled. WWIII was not in anybody’s best interest.
Unfortunately, things only went on to get worse in 1962 when the Cuban missile crisis, a scare Cuba gave America when they decided they wanted to play with big bombs, which led to thirteen days of heightened tensions between the two because both were worried about initiating nuclear conflict. As is done in many crime or drama movies and shows today, when hearing that Ernest Hemingway was a spy then finding out that someone leaked information to the Cubans about the Bay of Pigs Invasion, our first instinct may be “it was him”.
It looks to me like much of his spying, at least according to the records of it that exist regarding what he did, was done around the 1940s and 50s, thus decreasing the likelihood of it having been him feeding the information to Cuba about the invasion in 1961. He had a history with the Soviets earlier in the Cold war, the guilt of those decisions along with the fact that he was scared of repercussions for those decisions from Senator Joseph McCarthy, anti communist senator of Wisconsin, may have begun to weigh on him like the pressure on a bowling ball underwater and probably played a part in what led to his suicide in 1961.
Hemingway was more than just a spy; he was a writer among other things. He wrote several literary works including; The Old Man and the Sea, A Farewell to Arms, For Whom the Bell Tolls, and many more. Earnest Hemingway did not write much about his dealings as a spy for either the United States nor the Soviet Union.
There are many different theories and feelings people have when it comes to Hemingway; some see him predominantly as a spy and nothing more while others might see him as a writer and literary genius. However you might think of him, one can not deny that his hand in the fight between America and Russia likely turned the tide in America’s favor.
In short, The Berlin Wall, The Bay of pigs Invasion, and the actions of Earnest Hemingway were important factors in what came as a result of the period known as the Cold war. Each of these played a critical role in shaping our great nation’s history and influencing the country we know today. The events that took place can be compared to what we face today, the Bay of Pigs invasion had a dictator leading Cuba before Castro and now a man similar enough, if not the definition of a dictator leads our country; such as Donald Trump, who removes all who oppose his decisions from office.
The Berlin wall is similar to the issue of the Mexican border wall previously proposed and even attempted by Trump, meant to close America’s borders to Mexicans. The closest comparison perhaps to relate to Ernest Hemingway in today’s society is perhaps the speculation surrounding the Russian intervention in our Presidential elections in 2016, with the goal of aiding Trump’s campaign and tarnishing that of Hilary Clinton, influencing and interfering with our democratic system of government. The Russians hacked into thousands of voter databases and stole tons of voter’s personal information to basically give Trump more votes. We are living through history. It happened during the Cold War era and it is happening now during the CoronaVirus era.
