During the Cold War periods the Berlin Wall stood as the main barrier between Eastern and Western Europe countries. On August 13, 1961 the German Democratic Republic built the wall to split Berlin into East Berlin and West Berlin. East Germany put up the wall to stop people from traveling from communist East Germany into free Western countries.
Background of the Berlin Wall
After World War II ended the United States, Soviet Union, Great Britain, and France took charge of their own separate zones of occupied Germany. Most people think of Berlin as part of East Germany but the city actually existed within its own four separate sections. The coolness between the USSR and the Western Allies deepened to produce enduring political and belief differences.
Cold War tension levels intensified when authorities built the Berlin Wall. The physical divide between East and West sides stood as proof the deep political differences between free market nations and communist governments. The wall demonstrated the Iron Curtain dividing democracy from non-democratic areas of Europe.
East and West Berlin
The Berlin Wall existed to separate East Berlin from West Berlin. The Western Allies supervised West Berlin as part of their occupied zone whereas East Berlin fell under control of the German Democratic Republic which served as a Soviet Union satellite state.
Alive to West German politics and economics despite physically existiing inside East Germany’s borders. Its people lived better lives with open boundaries to western countries. East Berlin fell under the strict regulations and Soviet influences of the GDR government.
Berlin Wall Anatomy and Basic Design Facts
Berlin suffered from multiple barrier systems instead of just one obstacle. A space filled with trenches separated two cement barriers to create the death strip and watchtowers along its length. The wall ran 96 miles across the city to create a complete division between West Berlin and East German spaces.
Different updates to the wall structure were made during its operating timeline. When it first started as a simple barbed wire fence the border evolved into harder to overcome defensive structures that raised the risks of breaking through.
Checkpoint Charlie
Famous gate Checkpoint Charlie stood at Friedrichstraße. Diplomats and Allied military personnel passed through this location most often. The checkpoint became a famous symbol explaining how East and West remained separate.
The Fall of the Wall
The Berlin Wall stood as a permanent feature for 28 years before people brought it down on November 9 1989. The fall occurred because major social and political reforms swept East Germany and all parts of Eastern Europe.
After years of peaceful demonstrations and authorities improving East German travel restrictions the wall was taken down. The change allowed Germany’s parts to join together again while finishing the Cold War period.
Legacy of the Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall made permanent changes in city life and worldwide history. The wall’s fragments at East Side Gallery show how East Germany split apart but people fought to be free. People from everywhere visit this attraction at the wall’s original site.
The end of the Berlin Wall brought hope and a positive feeling across the world because it stopped oppressive rule. The Wall’s collapse prompted Germany to unite again and helped destroy the Soviet Union which closed the Cold War era.
Lessons Learned
People around the globe use the Berlin Wall to remember why differences between ideals can harm us and the need for people to unite. Through these walls we can understand their negative impact on our communities.
The Berlin Wall stood between East Berlin and its West Berlin neighbor in East Germany territory. The Berlin Wall’s construction and collapse tell two critical stories of the Cold War’s fight between ideologies and people’s drive for independence.