The Cold War was the time in world politics when the United States and its allies in the so called ‘West’ was on one side, and Soviet Union and its allies in the so called ‘East’ on the other side. Probably, one of the most well known landmarks of this division was the Berlin Wall – a material line dividing the city between East and West. This article will however seek to understand the significance of the Berlin Wall in the war that took place between the chilly and the warm countries.

This paper focuses on The Construction of the Berlin Wall.

The Berlin Wall was built by East Germany in August, 1961. Its main use was to stop the East Germans from crossing the border and leaving for West Germany. Since the two German states were economically and politically different, most of the people shifted from East to West; this was a major setback to the GDR since the government feared that this was a major threat to its survival.

Upon its construction, it symbolically divided the Western capitalist world from the Eastern so-called socialist one. People lost their loved ones and the former center of European culture and commerce, Berlin, turned into the representative of confrontation.

The Symbolism of the Berlin Wall

The Berlin Wall symbolized East and West democracies as opposed to authoritarianism in the Eastern Bloc. The event was a political language reminder over the contrasting political systems and cultures. It also developed into a powerful symbol of the Iron Curtain which Winston Churchill once drew as a line separating Europe in half.

Freedom and democracy were viewed as the enemies of the soviet Union, and the west used the build up of the wall in Berlin to illustrate this. Some people wore it as an anthem against communism in the 1980s and for the defence of given freedoms which characterized the Cold war period .

The Effects to East and West Berlin

Some of the ways in which the construction of the Berlin Wall affected the lives of people and the city are following. In East Berlin the wall expanded the narrowing space for personal freedom even more. Control in East Germany became much stricter, and a try to flee the country turned into something very dangerous. Many thousands more were arrested and imprisoned for nothing more than trying to escape to the West.

In front of the wall, East Berlin remained a parody of freedom, the symbol of socialism. So on the other side of the wall, West Berlin was living proof of freedom and democracy. The United States with its allied friends bearing the brunt of supporting West Berlin to make it economically productive within the blockade provided by the physical barrier. NATO became a strong Wall that restrained the Soviet Union and American troops put an end to all possible invasion.

The Berlin Wall as a Catalyst

The construction of the eastern Germany barrier, known as the Berlin wall, complicated the Cold war relations between the United States of America and the Soviet Union. It also extended the division of Europe; it also extended the arms race between two superpowers of the world. The Wall was a symbol of conflict of democracy and communism and provoked the political and military actions characteristic for the given period.

Some might argue, however what cannot be denied is that the Berlin Wall has resulted in a severe loss of countless numbers of people, but it is perhaps significant to view the Berlin Wall as the spur that triggers the breakup of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War. Working hard and demanding civil liberties, the inhabitants of East Germany, together with the pressure from the rest of the world, led to the dismantling of the wall in 1989.

Conclusion

It has to be said that the Berlin Wall was one of the most crucial in the conditions of the Cold War. It meant; thus the demarcation between the western and the eastern! It therefore continues to tell the difference between ideologies of the two superpowers. The construction of the wall expanded hostility and deepened the rift that separated family and friends. But it also inspired it, to bring about the destruction of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War.

Present day Berlin however has the cuttings of the wall, which symbolizes not only the history of Berlin’s division but also the numerous losses during the cold war. Looking back on the inspiration and aspirations of people worldwide, the break of the Berlin wall is remembered to be an important event in history.