... story of the wall ends. But it began in stealth and secrecy 40 years ago. In the early mornigh hours of August 13, 1961, the top secret top-secret operationwas carried out by the military and police, under the direction of the future head of the German Democratic Republic, Erich Honecker. It was made to stop theflight of GDR citizens, espically skilled workers ... yards wide, cleared of brush, dotted with mines, and covered by machine guns in subway stations along the border. The wall was thrown up with prussian efficency. Early Saturday evening police were summoned to their barracks wi...

• Word Count: 550
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... .3 million. Livestock totals did not reach their pre-Five Year Plan levels again until the mid-1950's. Stalin was unhappy with this so he sent diplomats (few) or just sent secret police or army units to deal with resisting cities, towns, or villages. In 1928 only 1.7% of the peasants were on collective farms but after the army or ... secret police came and "persuaded" them the total went up, in March 1930 there were 58%. By the end of the 1930's there was a total of 99% of peasants working or in ... ...

• Word Count: 548
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... a constitution in 1936 which was proclaimed to emphasize civil rights but also to emphasize the obligations of citizens to their ruler. Anyone who disagreed with Stalin was taken by the secret police and put in jails or killed. This lead to the Great Purge. The "Great Purge" was a time where Stalin removed all people who challenged him as the absolute ruler and ... of people disappeared from the country at this time because they were threatened by their leader. Loyalty was expected not only from citizens but from the communist party and the secret police as well. Even innocent citizens ...

• Word Count: 911
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... creates very difficult problems. What is required is a basic expansion of plans. He noted that time is working against us--although living conditions in Cuba are deteriorating, Castro is tightening police state controls within the area. He is also sending agents and arms into other countries of Latin America. When President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, he died knowing secrets that would ... show that in the months preceding Kennedy's death, White House emissaries engaged representatives of Cuban leader Fidel Castro, Kennedy's arch-enemy, in a series of quiet contacts and secret exc...

• Word Count: 994
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... heated protests, and then ending with the trial of Lieutenant William L. Calley. The Vietnam War has just been a complete nightmare. The United States tried to keep the My Lai massacre secret, but information leaked into the public's hands very quickly. In this confusing situation, people had several different views of what happened out in Vietnam, back in 1968. The plan to ... keep the incident secret had failed, with the help of a photographer named Ronald L. Haeberle, and a soldier named Thomas R. Partsch. Ronald L. Haeberle had taken pictures from Vietnam, revealing horrifying shots...

• Word Count: 1150
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... over several countries because of setting up Soviet-controlled governments in Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary and Czechoslovakia. Once they were in power within the country, Communist Party leaders used the secret police to silence all opposition to the. What Winston Churchill, the prime minister of Great Britain, had been worrying and warning others about was happening. He felt that an iron curtain ... ...

• Word Count: 746
• Approx Pages: 3
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... farmers who worked there were able to return to their own farms and use them for them selves. In 1934 to 1939 during Stalin's "reign of terror" Joseph had his secret police send over 25 million people to the gulags and over 1 million executed and 7 million died in the gulags , these people were sent to the gulags and murdered because Stalin was ... ...

• Word Count: 1072
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: Undergraduate