Introduction
The Berlin Wall, whose construction began in 1951 and opened in November 1989, was a wall separating East Germany from West Germany, In the period of its construction, approximately 136 were killed trying to cross the wall into West Berlin. The division between West Germany and East Germany was as a result of differences in ideologies between these two sides. While the west adopted the western capitalist system of governance that enhance democracy, the East established an authoritarian government with similar to the Soviet economy. On the other hand, Iraq-Kuwait war was a conflict between the Republic of Iraq and State of Kuwait that saw a seven month occupation of Kuwait by Iraq. The conflict was fueled by an argument that Kuwait was stealing Oil from Iraq but facts show that the decision to attract Kuwait was made two days before the actual invasion.
Main Body
After the collapse of the Berlin wall, President Bush focused on Germany re-unification and although his administration focused on future unification, Germany unified rather soon than US anticipated. The response of US in Germany unification led to the incorporation of Germany in North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). After the collapse of Berlin wall, a number of challenges confronted the Bush administration on how to handle the unification process. The immediate consequence of American supporting Germany re-unification was an alliance that brought together US, France and Britain in Germany administration. The US claimed that it accepted the wall as an international life and gave information to Soviet that it did not intend to use force against the erupting of the wall. This posed US as a peace loving country and helped reduce on the tension that existed due to cold war. In addition, a possibility of a military conflict over Berlin was reduced with this positive response from the Americans thus fostering peace. The constructing of the wall had caused severe hardship to Germany family, the division between the West and East even worsen the situation since most families had been divided by the wall and attempt to cross the wall resulted to death. Therefore, America’s response towards supporting the unification was seen as a sign of relief by the Germans. Domestically, the government was praised for helping in the re-unification of Germany (Engel, p.151).
Kuwait invasion by Iraq was a violation of international law and the Bush administration through its foreign policy sort to intervene Iraq’s prospect of controlling oil resources in Kuwait. Bush assembled a coalition to attack Iraq. Among the members included Britain and Soviet Union. This led to Operation Desert Shield carried out to remove Iraq’s occupation on Kuwait. International consequences of American’s response include global support to form an alliance to help fight Iraq’s occupation. This included alliance with Soviet Union, Arab countries and Britain. Israel was excluded since it inclusion would have removed the Arab support and could have sparked off unplanned conflict between Israel and Arab countries. Therefore, as a result of American’s response, legitimate Kuwait government was restored and a strong diplomatic tie between America and Kuwait was fostered. There was also a restoration of security, peace and stability in Middle East for a while. Above all the protection of Americans abroad was enhanced. Hence, Americans response helped restore US military might and remove the humiliating show that occurred in Vietnam and led to a new world order which broke down Cold war alliances and instead forge peace worldwide. The end of Cold war and alliance of Soviet with US against Iraq signified the beginning of new cooperation between the west and East.
The consequences of this response domestically were severe; this was due to the fact that the US invaded Iraq and failed to accomplish its mission of removing Saddam. This posed a credibility challenge to Bush administration that was used by democratic to oust the Republic in the 1992 general election (Braj B teal, p. 204).
Conclusion
In conclusion, the response of American in both the collapse of Berlin wall and the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq help to bring in new world order that saw the demise of Cold war. The collapse of Cold war signified the acceptance of peaceful process in handling international problems. As a result, alliances between the West and Soviet Union were fostered and peace was reborn. However, the response credited American military operation and help restore American a superpower.
Works cited
- Braj B. Kachru, Yamuna Kachru, Cecil L. Nelson. The Handbook of World Englishes. USA: Blackwell Publishing, 2006 149-160.
- Engel, Jeffrey. Local Consequences of the Global Cold War. Chicago: Stanford University Press, 2007 200-250.