The Cold war is a name that was given to a historic post World War II conflict between America and the USSR that spanned almost fifty years. Certainly, one of the most familiar symbols of this period was the Berlin Wall. Constructions in the year 1961, the Berlin Wall was constructed through separating East Berlin, West Berlin and it has got a worthy place in Cold War. In this article, we will look at why some of the most significant issues around this period in history revolved around the Berlin Wall.

1. Escalation of Tensions

Following World War II, Germany was divided into four occupation zones controlled by the Allies: Including the United States, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, France. Almost all the cities were divided into four sectors, including Berlin that was situated in the Soviet zone. Still, Cold War hostility escalated between the Soviet Union and Western Allies, that is, the division of Berlin intensified.

2. The Iron Curtain

The term Iron Curtain, attest by so many historical authorities was first used by the then British prime minister Winston Churchill to refer to the curtain like divisions that separated the Eastern European communism and western European democracies. The construction of the Berlin Wall cemented this division and in effect put up a wall, an actual physical barrier what is known as the Iron Curtain.

3. Preventing Defections

That is why construction of the wall was one of the ways of stopping high rate of people fleeing from the East Germany to the West Germany. The barrier was erected to prevent the east Germans from traveling to the west Germans which offered real freedoms and a far better quality life.

3.1 Border Security

The Berlin Wall contained watch towers, was guarded with electricity fencing, and checkpoints. They were implemented with the aim of stopping people from moving to and fro across the sectoral border and exercising near total control on the movement of people from East Berlin to west Berlin and vice versa.

3.2 Shoot-to-Kill Orders

Many border guards of East Germany were instructed to shoot anyone who tries to flee the border. This policy led to the loss of many completely innocent people who tried to flee to the West.

4. Symbol of the Cold War

The wall in Berlin became one of the strongest signs of the cold war and separation of communism and capitalisms. It symbolised the freedom which Eastern Europe countries did not have and the differences between the Western Allies and communism.

4.1 Propaganda War

Each side utilised the Berlin Wall in an effort to propagate their specific belief systems. The Americans and their Western allies fumed and painted the wall as an emblem of oppressiveness, while the communists and their Eastern allies defended it as the only mark of defense against imperialism.

4.2 U.S Response

The construction of the Berlin Wall was considered in the United States as a direct act of defiance towards it in Europe. West Berliners have heard the direct words of President John F. Kennedy making his now famous, “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech signifying America’s support for freedom.

5. The Fall of the Wall

Thus as the Cold War drew to a close and with the Soviet Unionnonatomic retiring it’s hegemony in Eastern Bloc the symbol of Berlin Wall came crumbling down on 9th November 1989. It was a celebration of the joining of Germany and signaled the end of an age of highly politicized enmity.

5.1 Peaceful Revolution

This wall came down due to mass demonstrations of the East Germans who insisted on change, freedom from communism and democracy. In this context the removal of the Wall represented meaningful and people’s wish to be free and a new beginning.

5.2 Reunification of Germany

The fall of the berlin wall greanted the german reunification that happened on tenth of October in 1990. This meeting could be seen as a major indicator of the beginnings of the eventual end of the Cold War, and the eventual integration of Europe.

Conclusion

The Berlin wall symbolized not only a division of an city, it symbolized more than the division of an ideology and the physical division of two powers in the cold war. Its importance is secondary, but what is important is that the symbol of ideological struggle, communism and democracy and the longing of those in the Eastern Block, in the lands of the Iron Curtain for freedom. The dramatic fall of the Berlin Wall still stands out as one of the most important and exciting concepts of the recent decades on the level of the entire mankind which saw growing its desire for freedom from the iron grip of the dictatorial regimes of fate.