Today the Berlin Wall remains as a monolith of Cold War history, a war that dominated much of the last century. The city of Berlin was divided physically and ideologically by this barrier erected in 1961 and lasted nearly three decades. We will look at the origins of the Berlin Wall, and at its central importance to the Cold War in this article.
1. The Cold War: An Overview
The Cold War was a Cold War, or a political stand off between the United States and the Soviet Union, from the conclusion of the second world war until the early 1990s. No direct military confrontation took place between the two superpowers, but tensions were high, causing proxy wars, nuclear arms race and espionage.
1.1 The Division of Germany
After World War II Germany was occupied by the Allied powers, the United States, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and France. But this ideological gap between the Soviet Union and Western Allies soon escalated into the division of Germany into the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) and the German Democratic Republic (East Germany).
2. The Separation of Berlin
Berlin, as the capital of Germany, was also divided into two sections: Governing West Berlin, with the Western Allies and East Berlin being under Soviets’ jurisdiction.
2.1 The Mass Exodus
East Germany had a large population decline during early years of the Cold War because of people moving to the more prosperous West Germany. The government of East Germany working in cooperation with the Soviet Union decided to build a physical barrier to stop this flow.
3. The Berlin Wall
On August 13, 1961, the Berlin Wall was started being built. The wall stretched about 155 kilometers (96 miles) across Berlin from barbed wire and concrete and armed soldiers. It was used to stop East Germans crossing over to the democratic West Berlin.
3.1 Families and Friends in Jeopardy
The Berlin Wall was one of those terrible things; separation of families and friends was one of the most devastating consequences. They were cut off overnight from their loved ones, couldn’t visit them or communicate freely.
3.2 The Death Strip
Death Strip was what the area behind the Berlin Wall was called. As an exceptionally heavily fortified region, this place had guard towers, anti-vehicle trenches, signal fences and mines to make escape attempts extremely difficult.
4. The Symbolic Impact
That symbol of the Iron Curtain was the Berlin Wall, the monument which divided the democratic Western Bloc from the communist Eastern Bloc. It was the suppression of basic human rights, and the somewhat different ideologies.
4.1 The Fall of the Berlin Wall
On 9th November 1989 the Berlin Wall came down, after months of protesters, and political change in the Soviet Union. Soon afterwards ended the Cold War era with the reunification of Germany.
5. The Legacy
Today Berlin Wall stands for unity and freedom. A commemoration has been preserved in parts of the wall, a reminder of that dark chapter in history of people fighting for freedom.
5.1 Learning from History
The history of the construction and fall of the Berlin Wall describes some of the hazards of political extremism, the worth of human rights, and the power of collective action. It reminds us that walls and divisions cannot truly hold each other apart.
Finally, the Berlin Wall was a physical separation of Berlin, but also a representation of an East-West division, during the Cold War. The construction and demise of this was transformative events in historical time that were to have implications for the world into which we live today.