Introduction

The symbol of the Cold War – the Berlin Wall – has fell, and it was the key changing the world and indicating the beginning of a new epoch. This giant occasion was the unity of Germany and was the start of a new period of time in the country. The present article will therefore discuss the Berlin Wall in terms of its definition, its importance in the sphere of the Cold War and its main causes for its ‘demise’.

What was the Berlin Wall?

Berlin Wall was erected as a solid structure that left half of Berlin for east and the other half for the west. It was built in year 1961, by German Democratic Republic (East Germany) to stop its citizens of East Germany from escaping to West Germany which was controlled by powers of Western states..

Features of the Berlin Wall

The Berlin Wall which was built in 1961 had total length of about 155 kilometers (96 miles) Following the construction of the Wall, physical barrier consisted of concrete walls, barbed wire fences, watch towers and a ‘death strip’ which also include anti-vehicle trenches. The wall divided families, friends and loved ones into two; the communists and the democrats’ so clearly.

The Cold War Context

The cold war is described as the state of political and military rivalry that existed between the United States of America and its allies, known as the western powers, and the Union of Soviet Socialists Republics (USSR) and its allies, collectively known as the eastern bloc The Cold War was a state of political and economic unrest between two major world power superpowers and their respective alliances. It was termed as ideological conflict which begun right after the World War II up to early 1990s. The wall in Berlin was a physical barrier that separated the two most powerful nations of that time.

The Soviet Soviet control over Eastern Europe

After Second World War the setting up of communism in Eastern Europe, Soviet Union gained dominance over the region. There arose political-and economical divide between the East and the West where the Western powers supported capitalism while the Eastern countries supported communism.

The Iron Curtain

Iron Curtain can be described as an expression put forward by Winston Churchill to widen the barrier between East and West. It symbolized the political and the military division which existed between the Western part of Europe and Eastern part inclusive of the soviet union.

An article outlining the causes to the destruction of the Berlin Wall

The breakdown of the Berlin Wall was a result of many conditions and occurrences which finally brought about the wall’s demise. Several key factors include:

Free Radicalism: Economic Struggles in East Germany

GDR lived in economic decline, high unemployment rate and more to the less civil liberties than FRG. People in the East began to feel dissatisfaction because living conditions and more importantly freedom was still far from that in the west.

Gorbachev’s Reforms

The reforms he initiated in the Soviet Union were called glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring) by their initiator Mikhail Gorbachev. Such policies were hoped to bolster the Soviet economy and the Soviet political regime. Again, these reforms reflected change opportunities in East Europe by breaking down the Berlin Wall among others.

Mass Protests

Public demonstrations calling for change, civil liberties, and the merging of the two Germanys became the order of the next year in East Germany. These demonstrations, combined with the pressure that the West placed on East Germany, exerts a tremendous amount of pressure on that government.

Political Changes

When the Soviet Union started slowing down its control over the Eastern Europe nations, a number of them went through political transformation. In Hungary, the government tore down its border with Austria and began to allow East Germans to come west. This decision also paved way to other to follow that decision with the same outcomes.

The Entry of West Germans into East Germany

In October, 1989, the East German government said those wishing to travel to West could do so. West Germans poured into East Germany, which put immense pressure on the service with people starving for change. To appease this and other pressures the East German government decided to open the Berlin Wall on the 9th of November in the same year.

Conclusion

The event of the breaking down of the walls in Germany was a useful and symbolic signal that the Cold War had ended, and that Germany was now ‘one’ again. This was a defining movement in which mass desire for freedom was victorious over communism, hence socialism. The Berlin Wall left people with an idea of freedom, and freedom is a symbol for every individual all over the world even as they long to see the world become one with no walls.