The German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany)d reared up the East Berlin Wall in 1961 to seal off their truncated eastern half from West Berlin, then fully part of West Germany. This physical barrier kept West Berlin controlled by militant western powers, from East Berlin, controlled by Soviet power. The ongoing Cold War tension between the United States and the Soviet Union resulted in a huge fall out, the Berlin Wall was one such consequence. We can look into why it exists.
The Cold War Background
Politic and ideological standoff between countries of the West, led by United States, and of the Communist bloc led by the Soviet Union. Following World War II, the end result was divided Germany into four occupation zones. Though Berlin was in the Soviet zone, like the rest of Germany, it, too, was divided into four sectors, a sign of the wider split between an East and a West. Shortly after, the two superpowers began to build tensions.
Reasons for Building Berlin Wall
1. Preventing East Germans from fleeing to the West:
The population had drained out of East Germany in massive numbers until there was little left but empty flats, unable to find a better economic opportunity, freedom or even higher standard of living in the West. The fact that this mass exodus impeded the East German regime’s economic stability and political strength. To solve the problem, East Germany constructed Berlin Wall to stop its citizens from moving.
2. Political and ideological division:
It was not just a physical wall, but a way in which the Berlin Wall represented the division between two different political systems and ideologies. The Soviet Union wished to limit Western democratic ideals so that communism would appear to be superior, and they sought to demonstrate with the evidence to that end.
3. Preventing espionage and defection:
And Berlin became a dirty little hotspot for espionage during the Cold War. They built the wall to keep western spies out of their country. At the same time, the wall served to discourage defections, the risk of which was growing exponentially as it grew rarer to do so and risk one’s life in attempting to escape to the West.
The Impact of the Berlin Wall
1. Human suffering:
The Berlin Wall built tremendous human suffering. East Germans were separated from their families, countless East Germans died trying to get across the border. It was a reminder to the world what oppression looks like and what went down during communist regimes.
2. An iron curtain:
It solidified the separation between East and West and became all too often known as an ‘iron curtain.’ This physical and metaphorical division persisted to extend beyond the physical wall, pooling relations between the United States and the Soviet Union, as well as their respective allies.
The Fall of the Berlin Wall
Nearly three decades separated the two and on November 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall came done. What caused the fall of the wall was a series of things: economic hardship in East Germany, mass protests and changes in the political picture of Eastern Europe.
Conclusion:
By no stretch of the imagination can the Berlin Wall be considered a product of anything, except for the Cold War tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union. Its purpose was twofold: The countries intended it to stop East Germans escaping to the West, and to symbolically express the ideological world division into communist and democratic worlds of influence. The wall was for the Germans a very important landmark and had a great affect in their lives.
