The Berlin Wall was a physical barrier built between 1961 and 1989 that separated Western Berlin from surrounding East Germany. It has created and symbolised the ideological divide between communism and capitalism, gay making Berlin a divided city between East and West Berlin. The walls’ fall has become the biggest event of modern history, it has ended the Cold War, and it has helped reunify Germany.
This is The Construction of the Berlin Wall.
You must know how the Berlin Wall was built to know what brought it down. After World War II, Germany was divided into four occupation zones, by the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and the Soviet Union. Just as Berlin, which was entirely within the German zone occupied by the Soviets, was divided into four sectors so was it.
Millions of East Germans began fleeing to the West in 1953 as tensions escalarted between East and West. This exodus alarmed the Soviet Union and on 13 August 1961 the Berlin Wall was built to prevent an exodus. The Wall was about 155 kilometers (96 miles) long, was mostly made of concrete, contained watchtowers and barbed wire fencing.
The Fall of the Berlin Wall
For nearly three decades the Berlin Wall remained a symbol of repression and division. But this was all changing with the winds of change blowing through Eastern Europe in the late 1980s. Often, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev is given the responsibility for the walls’ collapse, implementing reforms huge such as glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring) that combined enhanced transparency and democracy. Reforms also allowed for greater political and social change in the Soviet bloc.
Then, things changed on November 9, 1989, when an East German government spokesperson who accidentally and proudly said the travel restrictions to the West were gone. They gathered in East German thousands at the border checkpoints, crying for them to let them in. The border guards eventually let PowerPoint back into where they belonged, opening their checkpoints and let people pass freely from East to West Berlin.
Impact and Significance
The Berlin Wall falling had a tremendous amount to do with Germany, but also the world. On October 3, 1990, the Cold War era ended as East and West Germany united; reunification became reality. It was a victory for democracy and human rights and made clear that peaceful protest and political change can contribute to the kind of change that really matters.
The Berlin Wall’s fall also had knock on effects beyond Germany’s borders. It was a sign of the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe and the subsequent breakup of the Soviet Union. This was the end of an era of divided Europe and the start of a new era—and at least a new order—of greater unity and cooperation.
In Conclusion
The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 was a huge moment in global politics. It was a signal that the Iron Curtain had fallen, another sign that the Cold War was over, and reunification for a divided Germany. It was the Berlin Wall that fell, and we still remember, it was hope, it was resilience, and it was the dawn of humanity, to be able to effect change.