In the cold war years – the major conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union many past events helped form today’s world. One of them must be a construction of the Berlin Wall and its demolition. These categories of events mark historical periods and it is the intention of this writer in this blog that follows to review the significance of the Berlin Wall in the context of the Cold War story.
1. This paper seeks to find out the circumstances that led to the construction of the Berlin Wall.
Construction began on the 13th of August in 1961. The wall divided the city of Berlin into two parts: The western Berlin state was administered under the rule of the Soviet Union while the eastern Berlin state was administered under the rule of United State, United Kingdom and France. This one included concrete walls, barbed wired fences and watch towers making it almost equally difficult for east Germans to cross over to the western-region.
The fallout of the construction of the berline wall was the result of the worsening cold war between the west and the eastern powers. The immigrants had grievances in economic and political systems in East Germany and hence fled to West Germany. To prevent the people from deserting en masse, the Soviet Union directed the building of the wall to keep the people in. This division was between the democracy and communism, and also marked the East and the West.
2. The Dual Significance of the Berlin Wall
This symbol manifested rapidly into what Berlin Wall signified east and west; the life of people living under communist regime. Homes and possessions were lost within short duration and families were separated. The wall hence embodied the creep of the Cold War division between this world and the socialistic ideologies.
Wall pictures – people trying to climb it, famous ‘Checkpoint Charlie’, etc., are items that symbolized freedom drive through the Cold War period. In this respect, the wall was the symbol of division: people in communist countries watched Westerners and wanted what they had.
3. Impact on the Cold War
About the Berlin Wall: An Analysis of its Importance to the Cold War The Berlin Wall was important to the Cold War for many dual, diametric and complementary reasons. It locked in Cold War geography, and ensured the dominance of Soviet power over Eastern Europe. The wall aggravated the rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union in the realm of arms production and, hence, in expenditures.
At the same time the wall was used as a symbol of the collapse and inefficiency of communism. They showed how much the USSR was ready to sacrifice to keep its subjects in check and the disparity between the western and eastern worlds – between the rich and the poor and between the freedom and oppression.
4. The Fall of the Berlin Wall
The partition severed Berlin’s physical unity for almost three decades since the Falling of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989. this c/dashed line shows the indication of the ‘end of the Cold War’ and the reunification of East and West Germany. The wall came down due to the following reasons that include the following; the stagnated economy of the Soviet Union, the civil disobedience and pressure for change, and the regenerative Soviet leader ; Mikhail Gorbachev.
German unification was an event of the greatest endorsement by people from every corner of the globe after the fall of the Berlin Wall. It symbolized the triumph of liberty of the gloomy dictatorship and acted as the tonic to the speedy political and social transformations that characterized post 1989 Eastern Europe.
5. Legacy of the Berlin Wall
Today it is the Berlin Wall of freedom, of brave people and the victory of the spirit over tyranny. Using fragments of concrete walls, Durruty-Hernández was able to depict the sad result of separating families and communities. The war conjures up the need to protect liberty, human rights, and demokratia .
Several sites can now be visited to commemorate the Berlin Wall in Germany’s capital with the Berlin Wall Memorial being an excellent landmark for this purpose or even the East Side Gallery together with a number of murals painted still on an existing piece of the wall.
Conclusion
The building of the Berlin Wall and its destruction are best summarized as the events that marked Cold War. The wall represented the struggle between capitalist West and communism in the East and gave meaning for the effort and the failure of communism. Its fall signaled the end of the Cold War, as well as the reunification of two Germanies. On the whole, the Berlin Wall events might function as the memorial of the fight of people for freedom and human rights and for the establishment of peace.
