The Berlin Wall is always brought up as a crucial event when commencing Cold War conversation. However, was the Cold War a cause or a consequence? This article breaks down the Berlin Wall and its relationship to the Cold War to help you understand something for beginners.
What was the Cold War?
Political tension between the United States and the Soviet Union during and immediately after World War II and stretching into the early 1990 was called the Cold War. This war was actually known as ‘cold’ because it wasn’t a high military clash between the two superpowers; rather an arms contest for supremacy.
The Division of Germany
After World War II the nations of the allied Powers carved Germany into four occupation zones each administered by the United States, the Soviet Union, France, and the United Kingdom. Eventually the zones controlled by the United States, France and the United Kingdom became West Germany and the Soviet controlled zone was East Germany.
The Rise of Tensions
When the Cold War took shape, the temperatures between United States and the Soviet Union grew. Such was this rivalry that ideological differences with Germany arose among the two superpowers.
Berlin Wall Development
When the Soviet Union built the Berlin Wall in 1961 to stop East Germans traveling to the West, the more we gain a sense of why we蔵ne in coming to grips with the Great Soil, 500,000 of which traveled to the West that year—20,000 daily. It literally separated East Berlin (covered by the Soviet Union) from West Berlin (under the control Western Allies and West Germany). Its construction was a rooted symbol of the ideologic split between communism and democracy.
The Wall Was a Cause to the Cold War
The Berlin Wall was a cause, the Cold War, and the Berlin Wall was a consequence of the Cold War. The result was an outcome of escalating tensions, but its very construction only widened the East-West divide.
Propaganda in Ideological Conflict
The rift between communism and democracy became even more increased by the erection of Berlin Wall. The walls were constructed as propaganda both sides blamed the other for the process of building and the results.
Escalation of the Arms Race
But when there was Berlin Wall there was added arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union. A chance for the two superpowers to show off their military—and nuclear—capabilities, and result in more advanced weapons and arms.
Proxy Conflicts
During the Cold War came beyond the Berlin Wall and the division of Germany which led to proxy conflicts. Avoiding these conflicts – the Berlin Crisis of 1961 and the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 – meant the world was brought very close to nuclear war.
The Cold War as the Wall
While the Berlin Wall was part of what made United States and the Soviet Union fight, it was itself caused by the Cold War as a whole.
Migration and Brain Drain
The wall was built directly in reaction to the flood of East Germans pouring into West Germany. The Soviet Union wished to secure skilled workers, intellectuals and professionals from the East so that drain of them would not wear their economy and political system down.
Symbolic Division
The existence of a Berlin Wall represented a metaphor of communism against democracy. Its presence served to confirm the perception of the Cold War as coded on ideological terms.
The Fall of the Wall
The Berlin Wall came crashing down in 1989 as symbol for the end of the Cold War. The end of International Relations foreign policy marked by Germany reunification was a turning between peace and war.
Conclusion
It is crucial to consider that the Berlin Wall and the conflict generated on both sides of the wall was an important innovative ingredient for the Cold War, and for its development and concentration. Unable to be summed up as either a cause or a consequence, it was the physical manifestation of the ideological and political antagonisms between the United States and the Soviet Union. The reason why understanding the Berlin Wall means the Cold War and its political effects on the global worldview is basic in itself.
