[ SECRET POST #3634 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #3634 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.



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02.


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03.
[The Crown]


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04.
[Fandom: CSI/ Nick Stokes]


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05. [nf]


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06.
[Matt Smith as Prince Philip in The Crown]


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07.
[Green Lanterns]


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08.














Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 10 secrets from Secret Submission Post #519.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 1 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here

Comments

Re: Probably stupid question that I can't find the answer to

[dethtoll]

The Soviet Union prior to the 90s comprised a large part of Europe, encompassing Poland and the Ukraine, as well as a big chunk of Germany (some people who are old enough still remember the weirdness of East Germany) which included the entirety of Berlin. The Soviets invaded and occupied Berlin at the close of WW2; it later handed over separate zones of the city to the UK and the US, and a third was handed over to France later. As relations between the USSR and the west soured West Berlin became a focal point in the burgeoning Cold War as a free city belonging to democratic West Germany, surrounded entirely by the communist East Germany. The wall itself was erected in '61 as a dividing line between East and West to keep people in the east from fleeing to the west. Its status as a symbol of the USSR's authoritarianism is why "tear down that wall" became Reagan's call to Gorbachev to show he was serious about making the Soviet government more open, transparent, and democratic.

Re: Probably stupid question that I can't find the answer to

[(Anonymous)]

East Germany wasn't part of the Soviet Union, nor was Poland (Ukraine was). They were run by Communist governments with close ties to Moscow, they were part of the Warsaw Pact, they were de facto satellite states, but they were still nominally independent states. Same with Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, and Czechoslovakia.

Which I think is the point that AYRT is getting at - Gorbachev was the head of the USSR, not of East Germany.

Re: Probably stupid question that I can't find the answer to

[(Anonymous)]

You countered your own argument, though. They were nominally independent, but de facto satellite states. Even if they had wanted to tear down the wall, if Gorbachev said nyet, it wasn't going to happen. The destruction of the Berlin Wall was one of the major signals of the end of the Cold War, and ultimately the dissolution of the USSR.

Re: Probably stupid question that I can't find the answer to

[(Anonymous)]

Oh, no, I completely agree - that is the answer to OP's question. Gorbachev was important because the Warsaw Pact countries were de facto satellite states.

I'm just saying that Poland and Germany had a different relationship to the USSR than Ukraine did, and that this was significant politically