The fall of the Berlin Wall is the one we often refer to as a symbol, as a point where the Cold War begins to end. But remember that the fall of the wall was not the end of the Cold War – although it certainly was its moment. In this article, we will see how the Berlin Wall came down and the Cold War concluded.
The Berlin Wall: A Symbol of Division
In 1961 the German Democratic Republic (GDR—East Germany) built the Berlin Wall to keep its citizens from escaping to West Germany. Physically, it separated East from West Berlin and symbolised the broader gulf between the communist Eastern Europe and democratic Western powers.
During the Cold War, the wall became a powerful symbol of that conflict, the Iron Curtain that divided Europe in two ideological camps. Its existence seemed to harden the North Atlantic into a divide between the United States and its allies in the West and the Soviet Union and its satellite states in the East.
The Gorbachev Era: Winds of Change
In the mid 1980s, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev imposed a series of reforms that would set the scene for a changing of the tone of the cold war. Gorbachev wanted to regenerate the Soviet Union’s desteral, faltering economy and political system with his policies of glasnost (openness) and perestroika (structural).
As Gorbachev’s reforms spurred increased expression and demands for more freedoms throughout Eastern Europe, their unintended consequences opened space. It spurred pro democracy and change movements, across countries under a Soviet influence such as East Germany.
The Fall of the Berlin Wall
By the end of November 1989, weeks of pressure Mount East German citizens exasperated into government announcement that East German citizens would be allowed to pass freely across the border. Crowds formation at the Berlin Wall resulted in impromptu dismantling of the barrier.
The desire for reunification leading to freedom was beautifully symbolized by the fall of the Berlin Wall. The celebrations sparked an historical turning point that they marked. Yet it did not immediately solve problems that were part of the Cold War.
The End of the Cold War
The fall of the Berlin Wall was a big deal, but it was just one event in a wider set of events which concluded at the end of the Cold War.
Leaders, such as Gorbachev had to take a cooperative attitude. Dialogue and negotiation with Western powers helped reduce tensions in the hope of diplomatic solutions.
On 31 August 1990, the United States, Soviet Union and other countries signed the Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany. This treaty helped reunite East and the West into one Germany, end the Cold War in Europe, and lay a joint foundation upon which to resolve European tensions without war.
Conclusion
Of course the fall of the Berlin wall made a huge contribution to the events that led to the end of the Cold War. The changing political landscape and the meddling for freedom and reunification is what the power symbol meant. But it was not the only factor that ended the Cold War.
However, the end of the Cold War was a messy affair; it was a widening of politics, diplomacy and changing the balance of power of global interventions. To really get it, you have to know the bigger picture with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War.