The Berlin Wall was built in August 1961 and it just like its name tag implied was a concrete and barbed wire division separating East and West Berlin but it became a symbol of Cold War itself. The wall represented and divided democracy and capitalism in the west with communism in the east and the wall greatly shaped the relations of direct superpowers in the Cold War.
This is the story of how the Berlin Wall came to be in the first place.
Post World War II Germany was subdivided in to four zones that was occupied by United States, Soviet Union Britain and France. Capital Berlin also had been split into four areas. Yet relations with Soviet Union worsened and hence started the Berlin blockade and later the airlift.
The building of the Wall started on the 13th of August, 1961, primarily to control the high rate of those emigrating from East to West Germany. The wall consisted of fences of barbed wire, watch towers and concrete walls; thus confining East Berlin from the western part.
Impact on the Cold War
The Berlin Wall had several significant effects on the Cold War:
1. Increased Tensions
Tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union rose higher when construction of the Berlin Wall begun. It confirmed the division of the world into the socialist Eastern Bloc and the liberal democratic Western Bloc, the social rift that governs the Cold War. When it became a symbol of oppression, the west looked at it as a vindication of communism’s inability to deliver.
2. Migration Control
The Berlin Wall kept the masses from travelling to the western side in search of better job prospects among other things. That threatened the economic growth of those under communism and also showcased the poor living standards of East Berlin against its west. The described wall can also be viewed as one of the mean of control performed by the government of East Germany, which kept the population inside their own geographical area.
3. Espionage and Diplomacy
Both the East and the West staged intelligence operations behind the backdrop the Berlin Wall. Spy exchanges; many of which are illustrated by the swap between Abel and Powers –reflected on the increasing intensity of espionage in the Cold War period. However, it is also essential to mention that the Berlin Wall grew into the major negotiating site as leaders of the two sides sat down in order to find the way to solve conflicts.
4. Symbol of Resistance
However, the wall also provided a platform for people who were guerrilla and political freedom fighters for democracies. The wall was transformed into a bill board where people on both sides could record an optimistic desire for reunification end to communism. 1989 was a great victory for democracy, representative government and the end of division of Europe by the Berlin Wall.
Conclusion
The Berlin Wall symbolized dividing line in many ways – physically separating the East and the West during the Cold War. The construction/creation of this building served to increase the Cold War discord between the U.S. and U.S.S.R while also exposing the American populous to life under communism. But it also gained the connotations of the protest and therefore it positively contributed to the reunification of Germany and to the termination of the Cold War.
