Residents of the United States are prone to theatricality, even to buffoonery in politics. To be convinced, just look at the struggle of candidates in the 2016 elections. Perhaps because not much happened there in the entire “centuries-long” history significant events: The Civil War passed, the Grand Canyon was accidentally discovered, they seemed to fly to the moon, Obama was mistakenly awarded the Peace Prize. The attack on the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001 stands out. This is a terrible tragedy that has changed a lot. After it, the United States turned from the world gendarme into an aggressor of the same scale. Everything happened and continues under the roar of shameless, shameless propaganda according to the behests of Goebbels.
What this terrorist attack actually represents, who is behind it, still represents.
Events and reasons
The Twin Towers of the World Trade Center (WTC) are the common colloquial name for the North and South Towers, the main buildings of the World Trade Center located in New York. The height of the 110-story buildings exceeded 400 m. In total, the Trade Center included 7 buildings. The attack on the World Trade Center Twin Towers on September 11, 2001 destroyed or damaged everything to such a state that it was necessary to carry out complete dismantling and demolition of all buildings and utilities.
It is officially recognized that the air attack on the World Trade Center buildings was carried out by terrorists who hijacked airliners American companies on regular flights. One plane crashed into the North Tower between the 93rd and 99th floors on the morning of September 11, 2001, and 17 minutes later a second one collided with the South Tower.
As a result of the applied aircraft damage to the building structures, fires that broke out and quickly spread, the twin towers collapsed less than 2 hours after the start of the terrorist attack, causing serious destruction of the buildings located around, heavy smoke, a dense dust cloud in the surrounding area, the death of some of the people in the buildings, as well as those who carried out emergency rescue operations to evacuate, extinguish fires, restore order, and provide medical assistance.
As a result, the following died:
- 2,606 civilians who were in the WTC buildings and in the surrounding area.
- 147 passengers and aircraft crew members.
- 343 New York City Fire Department employees, 60 police officers, 8 emergency medical personnel.
Along with the destroyed WTC complex, more than 20 buildings were damaged as a result of dust and toxic pollution from fires, some of which had to be demolished later, some were restored and repaired. In total, hundreds of thousands were killed square meters office and administrative areas, a huge number of financial documents, reports, rare paintings, sculptures that were located in destroyed, burnt out buildings.
The question immediately arose - who blew up the twin towers on September 11, 2001? The official version of the US government It sounds like this - the cause of the tragedy was the deliberate hit of passenger planes hijacked by terrorists belonging to Al-Qaeda, and the resulting fires led to the collapse of the tallest buildings in the country.
In parallel, there are several versions, both supported by testimony, footage of eyewitnesses, excerpts from official documents, expert opinions, and conspiracy theories, in the spirit of a global conspiracy theory. The first are caused by serious facts that are difficult to brush aside, the second are based on conclusions and emotions.
The following speaks in favor of unofficial versions:
- Externally, the fall of the twin towers looks like the demolition of buildings by a controlled, precisely timed explosion, indistinguishable from the planned destruction of other skyscrapers in the United States, which can be seen in numerous videos.
- Fires that broke out in two separate buildings could hardly have deformed reliable building structures, including metal ones coated with fire retardants, in less than 2 hours. By the way, the North Tower already survived a fire in 1975, terrorist attack
1993 in an underground garage with a truck filled with 680 kg of explosives, which claimed lives but only slightly damaged the building. - By the end of the same day, the 47-story, 200-meter building of the World Trade Center - 7, located far from the twin towers, collapsed. This was shown in live, and information about the explosion sounded before the event. Later I turned on official version collapses are the same fires inside. Why they arose, why at least some traces of them are not visible (smoke, fire, partial destruction of solid glazing) - no comment, as the Americans like to say.
- Journalists clarify, asking for examples of the collapse of buildings made of reinforced concrete structures in the United States before or after the events of September 11
2001, which occurred as a result of fires. There are none. - The story of an entrepreneur who, a few weeks before the tragedy, took out building No. 7 of the World Trade Center for a long-term lease, insured it, including a separate item against a terrorist attack, and ultimately received considerable profit from the destruction of the buildings, smelled bad.
- Adding doubt to the information about the unprofitability of the tallest buildings in America, plans for their demolition, unrealized, including due to the complexity, high cost such work in the dense, super-expensive buildings of Manhattan.
- Appointed by the administration of the U.S.A. to be the leader of the September 11, 2001 attacks, the al-Qaeda leader initially rejected such dubious fame. He even gave an interview to a Pakistani newspaper about it. Only in November 2001 did he agree to the prepared role. Protege of S.S.A. to fight the USSR in Afghanistan, by that time he himself declared America enemy No. 1 - for which he paid.
There are many doubters. Among them is Russian communist leader Gennady Zyuganov, who said in 2012 that the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 in New York were planned by US authorities.
Implications and conclusions
The tragedy, which claimed many lives, became a turning point both internally and internationally. foreign policy USA. The answer to the question of who blew up the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001 will be the resolution of the situation with international terrorism that threatens the foundations of " free world" Under the banner of fighting it, previously unknown opportunities opened up for America, covered by the fig leaf of democracy:
- Roughly suppress dissent within the country.
- Intervene in the policies of the governments of other countries, the work of banks, companies, dictating to them your will, backed by military and financial power.
- Overthrow unwanted governments, stage coups d'état with the wrong hands, generously sponsoring any opposition, including the Nazis, terrorists of all nationalities, against whom so much is officially talked about. Sad examples are neo-Nazis in Ukraine, ISIS banned in Russia.
The US desire to use in all corners globe the theory of “controlled chaos” to achieve only one’s interests is now no secret to anyone. The tragedy of September 11, 2001, which so “invigorated” the US economy, especially the Department of Defense with hundreds of bases around the world, military-industrial complex, numerous and very expensive intelligence services to maintain, came in handy, no matter how blasphemous it may sound, so opportunely that it raises serious doubts.
The attack on the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001 and the events that followed will continue to influence the course of world history for a long time to come. The real reasons that led to it will sooner or later become public.
The skyscrapers of the World Trade Center, or Twin Towers, were a memorable part of New York, a city that itself became a symbol of America, its indomitable character, forcing the entire country to constantly strive forward and upward, overcoming obstacles. The creation of this architectural and technocratic masterpiece was not only an engineering and economic task. By his very appearance he was supposed to inspire the idea of inviolability Western civilization, its eternity and power.
Again about the terrorist attack...
In the first year of the third millennium of the New Era, namely September 11, the Twin Towers were barbarically destroyed. To destroy them, the terrorists used weapons that matched the era: two huge passenger Boeing 767s, which also symbolize the power of American industry, like the skyscrapers they struck. Much has been written about these events, and I repeat to everyone known information there is no sense, as well as dubious assumptions about the involvement of a wide variety of forces in the terrorist attack, including the CIA and the US State Department. Journalists did not miss a single detail of the disaster. Even the number of the plane that crashed into twin towers, was subjected to careful study in search of fatal coincidences and omens. Bowing our heads in memory of the innocent people who perished, it is worth thinking not about death, but about the birth of these structures, which for almost three decades personified the American technological genius.
Prerequisites for a grandiose project
The roaring sixties were not for the USA best time. Were under threat fundamentals free society declared by the Founding Fathers. The moral crisis has reached alarming proportions, like a cancerous tumor affecting everything. most of youth. Drug addiction became part of the very popular hippie subculture, and patriotism turned into something both funny and indecent. There was a war going on in Vietnam that seemed to have no end (at least not a victorious one). Girls often greeted soldiers who came from Indochina not as heroes who fought for democracy, but as child killers. Something big could bring back to Americans a sense of dignity and pride in “the freest homeland in the world.” Flight to the Moon or Mars, for example. Or the world's tallest twin towers.
Difficult construction
The overall project belonged to Minoru Yamasaki, by that time already a famous architect. Behind the external laconicism of the outlines of the buildings one could guess very difficult content. Even in demonstrative sameness, a feeling of power was assumed, as if saying: “If necessary, we will build more!” Digging of the pit began in 1966. Actually, Manhattan is a rocky island, and all its skyscrapers are built on a naturally solid foundation. The Twin Towers were an exception; they were built on soft ground. The second problem concerned the creation of infrastructure. You don’t need to be a specialist to understand the complexity of the task of wiring and replacing communications in a busy metropolis. Here we can block traffic on a certain street for a year, but in New York this is unacceptable: both roads and crossings must work. And one more circumstance complicated the construction process - the subway station, where passengers boarded underground trains going to New Jersey. A new terminal had to be created, but the old one worked all this time.
Some numbers
Now about the numbers and quantities that American builders love to list when talking about their achievements. More than a million square meters of soil were removed and, of course, dug up before that. Each of the mounting wall blocks, made of steel, weighed 22 tons and had the height of a four-story building. The total weight of metal used in the construction of the complex was 200,000 tons. No stone masonry was used. The elevators (there were 239 of them) lifted people and goods to a height of one hundred and ten floors at a speed of 8.5 m/s, and their shafts were designed in such a way that they enhanced the rigidity of the entire scheme. Numerous financial difficulties had to be overcome, but ultimately the first skyscraper was completely completed by 1971, and in 1973 both twin towers were solemnly put into operation. Their deaths in 2001 demonstrate the helplessness that sometimes the most developed intelligence and boundless diligence in the face of brutal violence. The only consolation is the invincibility of intellect and hard work - these best
In the United States, suicide bombers from the terrorist organization Al-Qaeda hijacked four passenger planes, sending two of them to the symbol of business New York - the World Trade Center towers, and the other two - to the Pentagon and, presumably, to White House or the Capitol. All aircraft except the last one reached their targets. The fourth hijacked plane crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
New York District Judge George Daniels issued a default judgment ordering Iran to pay $7.5 billion to relatives and other representatives of those killed at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The judge determined that Iranian authorities must pay another three billion to insurers who covered property damage and other material losses. Earlier, Judge Daniels ruled that Tehran could not prove its non-involvement in providing assistance to the organizers of the terrorist attack, and therefore the Iranian authorities bear a share of responsibility for the damage caused during it.
On the site of the destruction of the Twin Towers in New York on September 11, 2011, there was the World Trade Center Memorial. It consists of two square fountain pools located right at the bases of the former twin towers, along internal walls which cascade streams of water flowing into square holes located at the bottom of each of the pools.
The names of 2,983 terrorist victims (including six who died in the 1993 World Trade Center attack) are carved into bronze slabs that line the parapets of both fountains.
The new World Trade Center complex was opened. It is the fourth tallest skyscraper in the world - its height is 541 meters. Construction began in April 2006 on the corner of a 65,000-square-meter site where the twin towers of a destroyed shopping center previously stood.
Celebrated in the USA as Patriot's Day since 2009, after the approval of Act 111-13 Universal Law USA, this date is also referred to as the national Day of Service and Remembrance.
The material was prepared based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources
1946 China is expecting a new civil war. Japan still cannot recover from the terrible atomic attack. Europe is in ruins. And everything is fine: the dollar has been recognized as an international currency, the International Bank is being established, and the construction of new buildings is beginning. The United States expects that it will soon become a powerful power and “take over” the whole world.
In the same year the mighty of the world this, namely the leadership of New York, come up with a proposal to build in Lower Manhattan WTC - World 1. They assume that post-war countries will begin to lead international trade. But this could have been prevented cold war: Russians with the strongest in the world land army are acquiring atomic bomb, cast icy glances at Europe and strengthen friendly relations with Asia: helping the Koreans end the war and cementing their relationship with China forever. It was then that the Americans had to postpone the construction of the World Trade Center indefinitely.
History of the Twin Towers
The chief architect of the World Trade Center seemed to have a presentiment that one day the structure he designed would play a fatal role for the United States. Minoru Yamasaki wrote that if it were possible, “I would solve the architectural problems that confront me by designing one-story houses.”
It all started on the initiative of the director of the New York Port Authority, August Tobin - it was he who, in 1946, put forward a proposal to build a World shopping mall 1. Roughly speaking, he wanted to create something that would generate a lot of income.
The Legislature authorizes the construction of 21 buildings on the banks of the East River - land that belongs to the Authority. The project was being developed, and when it was already ready (in 1949), the approval document was withdrawn.
In the mid-1950s, David Rockefeller saw the developed project. Only his goal is different - to restore the attractiveness of the lower part of New York City (Manhattan). In 1958 they began to develop a plan to increase business activity, and in 1960 they began to evaluate the World Trade Center project. According to it, the complex was to be located on 53 hectares of land owned by the Port Authority, and there would also be a 300-meter exhibition hall surrounded by 50- and 70-story hotels and offices. Entertainment was provided such as theatres, restaurants and shops. But it was not until September 1962 that the chief architect (Minoru Yamasaki) was appointed to work on the final design, and construction began in 1965.
Yamasaki made his own adjustments: he unconditionally rejected the possibility of erecting a group of buildings and proposed opting for two twin towers 80 floors high. It followed from this that the project needed to be completely changed. However, everything happened very quickly: at the end of 1970, the topmost element of the supporting structure was installed in a ceremonial ceremony, and in 1973 the buildings were put into operation.
Events of September 11, 2001
For almost 30 years, the World Trade Center twins were the most... high tasks in the world. The first tragedy occurred on February 26, 1993. On this day, a truck containing a bomb exploded on the second floor of the North Tower, where the underground parking was located. Omar Abdel-Rahman (Islamist leader and organizer of the terrorist attack) hoped that the tower would begin to collapse and hit the second one, that is, the complete destruction of skyscrapers would occur. But he miscalculated - the creations of the talented architect survived. The collapse killed 6 people, injured approximately 1,000, and the building completely ceased to function.
102 minutes - the most terrible in 2001. Just an hour and a half later, 1 World Trade Center ceased to exist. At 8:46 a.m., a plane with terrorists on board rammed the first tower, and at 10:28 a.m., another Boeing rammed the second, and these terrible seconds were captured on video. This terrorist attack is the largest in the history of mankind. Almost 3,000 people became victims, and another 24 were missing.
Revitalization of the building
November 21, 2006 was the day when the first phase of construction of the modern World Trade Center 1 began. This project took a lot of time and money - almost 4 billion dollars and 7 years (like its predecessor, destroyed on September 11, 2001). The height of the tower is 541 m (including the spire, which weighs more than 700 tons). Today this architectural creation is the tallest in New York, the USA and the entire Western Hemisphere.
In those places where the twin towers previously stood, 2 memorials were installed in the form of pools made of granite, and lined with bronze slabs engraved with the names of the victims along the perimeter. They are located exactly where the foundations of the buildings were laid. And WTC 1 itself is located in the western corner of the site. It turns out that the new buildings seem to surround Ground Zero(memorial memorial).
Characteristics of a modern building
1 World Trade Center, or Freedom Tower, is a commercial and office building. The structure strongly resembles its predecessors. This is a light spiral-shaped building with a huge spire at the top. It is glazed on the outside, and inside the central part there is a large hall. The height of the room is 24 m, and from here there is access to offices, restaurants, information centers and exhibition halls.
The underground part is equipped with lobbies connected to railway lines and the city metro. At the very top, of course, are the restaurants, which offer a stunning view. Also on upper levels There are observation decks. The lower part of Freedom Tower is lined with prismatic glass, and the upper part is clad in blue.
- Most of the budget was intended to provide security in the event of a terrorist attack.
- In 1776 it was adopted by the United States. The building is 1,776 feet tall, and for good reason.
- Glass panels, which are chosen as cladding material, are reduced by 20%, since thanks to them interior spaces filled with daylight.
- The memorial to the people who died and went missing when previous Manhattan skyscrapers collapsed is by various estimates the most visited, but the project has been criticized for its enormous cost and lack of aesthetics.
What do tourists need to know?
Any tour of New York includes a visit to 1 World Trade Center. You can also get there on your own. The entrance ticket to the observation deck costs about $30. As in many other countries and cities, here you can purchase a New York Pass and visit all the desired places (including World Trade Center 1) for free.
Observation decks in the Freedom Tower (New York, Manhattan) are located on levels 100, 101 and 102. High-speed elevators take you up, with displays built into the walls showing the stages of the city’s development as it “grows up.”
Considering terrible tragedy which happened on this site 15 years ago, many people are afraid to visit World Trade Center 1. When the building was put into operation, the owners waited a long time for the tenants of the premises - few wanted to take such a risk. But, as we know, a shell does not hit the same crater twice, and one would like to hope that this will actually be the case.
1 World Trade Center - a response to terrorism
WTC 1 is not just a beautiful architectural object with a panoramic observation deck. This is a worthy response to global terrorism, as well as a place where one can honor the memory of dead people. The modern New York building is one of the main attractions that is most frequently visited local residents and tourists.
Twin Towers: History, Pride and Tragedy of America
Buildings, like people, have something in common. Some live simple lives unnoticed by most and, when they die, remain in the memory of only their closest relatives. Others are visible, admired or hated; at least many people know them. When they die, they remain part of history, living in the minds of millions, even after passing into eternity, influencing the living.
It was the second option that fate chose for famous skyscrapers, Twin Towers in New York. Blown up as a result of the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001, these buildings seem to continue to exist: everyone knows them, remembers them, they continue to be replicated in thousands of photographs. In the end, they still subtly influence the life of a huge metropolis, and the United States as a whole.
Construction of the Twin Towers
It's easy to build, difficult to negotiate. Any building in the world, even a country house, is born not on a construction site, but in the minds of its creators. The World Trade Center in New York was no exception, the architectural and visual dominance of which were two skyscrapers, immediately called towers: North and South.
The idea of building a grandiose complex was born in the USA during the Second World War. By 1944 it became clear that as a result, Western world There was only one state left that managed not only to maintain its economic power, but to significantly strengthen it, especially against the backdrop of destroyed Europe and Japan. America became this state. There was no need to possess great mind to understand a simple truth: in the coming decades the country will become a superpower and will develop rapidly. And it will need a large financial and trading complex.
But a lot of time passed before the idea began to turn into reality. There were two main reasons.
The first is the inflamed arms race and the Cold War, which required colossal financial investments.
Second - collision economic interests several influential US groups, as well as two states, New Jersey and New York. In addition, the construction of the Center assumed the emergence of new skyscrapers exceeding the height of the Empire State Building, the pride of the city, tallest building peace. The financial groups that controlled this building were not at all eager for the emergence of a formidable competitor.
And only by the beginning of the 60s were all commercial, image and financial issues managed to be resolved. Not last role the Rockefeller brothers, David and Nelson, played in it. Using their influence, connections and money, the brothers began to build the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan.
The entire complex, including the twin towers, was designed by several powerful design companies, but an American was chosen as the leading architect, the father of the project Japanese origin Minoru Yamasaki.
Yamasaki completed several serious work in different cities of the USA, although he was not one of the most venerable professionals in the country. A follower of Gothic modernism, experiencing strong influence architecture of Le Corbusier, the Japanese drew attention to the small ancient twin towers in the Italian town of San Gimignano, taking them as a model to carry out his task.
And the master’s task was simple: to create something that would have 5 times more office space than the Empire State Building. Having gone through several possible options, Yamasaki came to the final conclusion: two slender towers with a square cross-section, shaped like parallelepipeds.
The entire construction process can be divided into the following stages:
- design: 1962 - 1965;
- cleaning and preparing the area for construction - from March to August 1966;
- August 1966 - start of excavation work, excavation of soil for the base of the towers;
- installation of the last load-bearing element of the buildings - December 1970 (North Tower), July 1971 (South Tower);
- grand opening of the complex - April 4, 1974.
At the end of construction, the towers turned out to be the tallest buildings in the world, each with 110 floors. The top elevation of the South was 415 meters, the North was 2 meters higher, and it was also decorated with an antenna with an elevation of 526.3 meters.
Among other things, the appearance of the towers launched a real race of skyscrapers that began in the world. Looking ahead a little, we can say that in place of the fallen “candles” the Americans built a new World Trade Center, which is crowned with the most tall building Western Hemisphere. However, now it is only the fourth in a cohort of giant buildings.
The unusual face of the Twin Towers
Continuing the analogy we started, we can say that, like people, outstanding buildings also have their own records and unique life events. They are also available at the Yamasaki Towers. Here are some of them:
- During the construction of the buildings, deep 20-meter pits were dug to get to the “bedrock” rock. The earth from the excavations was used for an artificial embankment, on which several buildings of the World Financial Center were subsequently built.
- The design of the towers is based on hundreds of large and small steel pipes, creating a special frame that is resistant to wind and seismic vibrations.
- The façade of buildings abounds a huge amount narrow windows only 56 cm wide. Yamasaki suffered from a fear of heights, and designed the windows so that any person, approaching the window sill, could easily rest against the slopes of the window opening, which would create a special feeling of reliability.
- Each of the towers had 103 elevators, of which 6 were freight. Some passenger elevators were high-speed, some were ordinary. For the transition from the first to the second, platforms on the 44th and 78th floors were used.
- Immediately after the construction of the towers, they received derogatory criticism from the world's leading architects. The city residents didn’t really like the buildings either. But gradually they got used to them and even began to be proud of them. Approximately the same fate happened to Eiffel Tower in Paris.
- The first attempt to destroy the buildings was made in 1993. Then, in the garage of the North Tower, underground, a truck with more than half a ton of explosives was blown up.
In the end, the terrorists managed to blow up unusual buildings. But, having destroyed them, did they destroy the very idea, the desire of man to conquer, to create something unusual? After all, it is inherent in human nature itself.
And, perhaps, the daring Frenchman Philippe Petit said this very well, who in August 1974 managed to walk 8 times in a row (!) on a rope stretched between two towers, while dancing and even lying down: “Lying on the rope, I saw very close above you is a seagull. And I remembered the myth of Prometheus. Here, at this height, I invaded her space, proving that a person can be compared with a bird ... "
