The Berlin Wall is political structure of the cold war which divided the city of Berlin in two halves for twenty eight years from 1961 to 1989. It was of great importance and symbolised polity, sociologically as well as economically, the difference of the era.

The Construction of the Berlin Wall

August 13, 1961 is marked by the decision of the leadership of the German Democratic Republic, the GDR, to build the division between East and West Berlin from concrete. It was erected overnight, and to the surprise of East Berliners, sealed them off from the western half of the city.

The building of the wall was due to the raise in the number of the East Germans emigrating to the West. In particular, it was designed to stop people from emigrating and to keep the highly skilled workers for the ailing Soviet-style economy of East Germany.

The Political Symbolism

Tremendously, Berlin Wall become political icon of opposition between communism and capitalism during the post World War II division known as Cold War. It focused on the political and social-organizational conflict between Communism of the Soviet Union and Democracy of the western powers led by the USA.

This wall represented the division of East Europe by the soviet union from the western civilized world. It meant the externalization of antagonistic relations between the two hostile groups of the opposing camps and their battle for supremacy.

The Social Impact

It became clear that the construction of the Wall directly affected the regular existence of citizens on both sides of Berlin most stringently. People were isolated from their families and could not easily pay visits to their friends. It stopped obviously the organically permeated neighborhoods, and accounts of postwar suffering and mental harm feature in Waldheim’s text.

But attempts to escape were made, and some died trying. The wall separate people into two different countries infact border guards were told to shoot anyone who tried to scale the wall. The Wall symbolized the living conditions in the divided state and the oppression of individualism and especially people’s ability to interact with one another.

The Economic Divide

The Berlin Wall also depicted the main economic divisions between East and West Germany. As a result of activities with the western Europe orientated West Berlin experienced economic growth and development. In contrast, East Berlin –controlled by Soviet-type command economy – had problems with scarcity of products, and a lack of inhabitants’ rights.

Serving as a wall, it served to keep East Germans from crossing over to the better-endowed West. It show that the system of socialist economy did not work and there exists divisions in the standards of living between the two sides.

The Fall of the Berlin Wall

However, after twenty eight years the Berlin Wall came crashing down on the 9th of November in Nineteen eighty-nine. The fall of wall dividing East and West Germany was a moment which marked the change of the relationships between two major political systems in the world and a start of the end of Cold War.

This collapse was marked with events such as protest taking place through out east Germany in an attempt to gain freedom in addition to political change in the country . The pressure then added on to it from inside and outside the wall to crack it and finally join the divided city and the country.

The End of the Cold War

The breakdown of the Berlin Wall was considered to be making the signal of ending the cold war period. It symbolized the decline of the superpowers that was Soviet Union control in Eastern Europe and triumph of liberal democracy. It also playing an important role in political change across Europe primarily resulting in the demise of the Soviet Union in 1991.

The Reunification of Germany

The Wall collapsed, and techniques to reunify the two Germanies were begun. The process was difficult in creating a synthesis of two completely separate economies, as well as two distinct societies and social structures. But it helped the east Germans to embrace an improved standard of living enhanced by the freedom of democracy.

Conclusion

Unlike the border or the barrier the Berlin Wall stands for so much more. It reflected the political and social condition of the Cold War, political struggles, social problems, and economic differences. The fall represented freedom in against tyranny thus creating a path to the unification of a parted country. This event represented the price that political ideologies paid and also an area where different human rights and unity ought to be respected.