The Berlin Wall Essay example

Following the Second World War, Germany had split into two states: East and West Germany. East Germany fell behind economically and forced its citizenry from moving to West Germany. West Germany, conversely, had become overwhelmingly successful. West Germany had established itself as one of the world’s wealthiest nations. Finally, in 1990, full German unity succeeded in bringing both West and East Berlin together.

Berlin Wall). Crowds of East Germans crossed the wall and climbed over the wall. The two

But on the other side East Germany was not doing as well as West Germany was. East Germany was under the full influence of the Soviet union and was a Communist society when it became its own country. Do to the dragged economy and that the individual freedoms were restricted many citizens living in East Germany wanted to leave they could no longer stand the conditions in which they were living in.Many citizens gathered their things and left to th the West. Many of them made it across the border as for others were stopped along the way. From then on East Germany began to lose its population and labor force. As they lost more of their population the Soviets wanted to take over the West. They tried to threaten the United States by the use of nuclear weapon issue but the United States and all the other Western countries were very committed to protecting West Berlin.

     Since World War II, about half a million people cross the border separating different parts of Belin daily. East Berliners could attend movie theaters showing Western films, and many had jobs in the strong economy of West Berlin. With the thriving economy, many shopped in the well stocked stores in West Berlin. Items like jeans, fashionable dresses, and seamless panty hoses which were unavailable in East Berlin shops were reaidly available in West Berlin shops. In addition, East Berliners and other East Germans could simply take a subway car to flee to West Berlin and on to West Germany.

When the wall was put up one thing lead to many other things. If a mother had gone to say the west side of berlin for a couple of days while her family was in east berlin where they live during the time period that the wall had been put up, the mother would have to maybe wait some time before she could go back to east berlin with her family. When the wall was put up many scenarios just like this had happened and many families actually were split apart. Families being split up could lead to the other family members trying to get into the side they are on which was now considered illegal and if they had been caught trying to cross the wall they could have been shot on site. People trying to cross from east to the west was very common as it was believed that west was the more favourable side. By 1961 around 3 million east Berliners had gone over to live in the west this impacted the people living in the east because many who had moved were skilled labourers such as doctors this meant that there were only limited doctors for the

Due to the Berlin wall families were divided, and no physical connection was able to be made from each side. Jobs from the East and West side of Berlin were cut off. The reason given to the East Berliners for putting the wall up was too, put off aggression from the West, even though the wall pointed inward to East German territory. During the wall's 30 year history, unstable and varying reports claim that either 192 or 239 people were killed trying to cross the wall. Interestingly enough, through the wall's 30 year history there were roughly 5000 successful escapes into West Berlin.

After World War II, Germany and Berlin were controlled by four major powers, US, Britain, France and Russia. Many people fled from the east side, which Russia controlled, because they did not like being under the rule of the Soviet Union and communism. Over 2 million people fled over the course of the years 1949-1959. Russia did not like how people were leaving their side of Berlin, so they built a wall. This wall started out as a barbed wire fence that later was made into a 15 feet high and 4 feet wide wall made of concrete blocks.

During this time East Germany was under the Soviet Union, which was communist; the Soviet Union during the cold war era had many European countries in their union. Germany was split with eastern Germany being communist and western Germany being a federal republic of Germany. Many families were split when the boundaries between the two states were drawn so people typically immigrated out of Eastern Germany into Western Germany. Eastern Germany tried to stop their people from leaving by imposing the “iron Curtain”. The Berlin wall was heavily guarded so America could not barge in and destroy the wall; America did make it known they were not pleased by the

Following the fall of the Third Reich at the end of WWII Germany was split between east and west into two different countries. In the east the German Democratic Republic was under communist rule and was supported by the Soviet Union. The Federal German Republic was a democracy that was part of NATO. As part of the division of Germany following WWII, Berlin, the capital of Germany was divided evenly between the two nations. However, the entire city of Berlin was deep inside of the GDR, so the Western half of the city was democratic but it was surrounded by communist territory. This made West Berlin a place where many East Germans would try to escape to. As a result of this the German Democratic Republic built a wall surrounding West Berlin to stop its own people from escaping to freedom.

The Wall did not hold them back from freedom. According to reports, official figures show that more than 400 people died trying to flee. Human-rights activists say that the true figure could be closer to 800. Many of these escape attempts were dramatic. People leapt form windows, tunneled and crept through sewers, rammed through the gates in steel-plated trucks, crawled through mud, and swam the icy waters of the city's rivers and canals. Even though the Wall created international crises, divided families, and spawned villains and gangsters, it also produced its heroes. Brave men and women who lived in the shadow of the Wall found ways to elude Communism.

The end of World War II in 1945 had Germany Divided Four Allied occupation zones. The eastern part of the country went to the Soviet Union, and the western part goes to the United States, Great Britain and France. Each section was under the control of a different country. The United States, Britain, and France each joined their sections to form a democratic state on May 24,

These blockades later became the infamous “Berlin Wall”. The wall was infamous because it “stood as a grim symbol of totalitarian socialism” (“Berlin Wall” 2). “The soviets tried to control all of berlin by blockading the roads.”(“Berlin Wall 2). After the building of the wall the Westerners responded with the Berlin Airlift. The Airlift was was series of helicopter flights that supplied the country with food and supplies. The Airlift not only helped them in their food situation but also caused success for the economy in western Germany. The wall was later destroyed after the Eastern Cabinet resigned. On “November 7… hundreds of thousands of Berliners took to the streets, breaching the wall in frenzied celebration.” (“Berlin Wall” 3). This was a momentous day as the effect of the wall was essentially imprisonment for the people on the eastern side. The wall was armed with guards that were instructed to kill anyone who attempted to escape. The destruction of the wall was significant because it displayed how things can be accomplished without violence. Then 21 days later “West Germany outlined a proposal calling for the reunification of the nation” (“Berlin Wall” 3). All in one year the wall that stood as a sign of separation was destroyed and the two sides were

To refresh your memory, at the end of World War II, the Allied powers divided Germany into four different zones. Decided at the Potsdam Conference, each separate zone was controlled by The United States, Soviet Union, France, and Great Britain. (Rosenburg) But as the relationships between The Soviet Union and the rest of The Allied Powers quickly evaporated, aggression and power became the main focus. The United States, France, and Great Britain combined their zones, creating “West Germany”, and The Soviet controlled zoned turned into “East Germany” (Rosenburg). Being controlled by democratic nations, West Germany’s living conditions and economy were flourishing. Almost Miraculously. On the other

2. After WWII, Germany was divided into four zones. West Germany was occupied by the U.S., Britain, and France. Whereas East Germany was occupied by the Soviet Union. Berlin

The Berlin Wall was built in 1961 in the Cold War. It was used as a separation tool that divided Germany into a communist side and a democratic side. The West side was democratic and the East side was communist. These sides had different views and ideas of how Germany should be led and run. The Berlin Wall blocked people in the West side from going into the East side to go to work, shop, to see their family and vice versa. It was very difficult to try and cross over from the West side to the East side. The Berlin Wall had the physical wall that separated the two sides alone with soldiers stationed on each side of the wall, these soldiers were given orders to shoot anyone that attempted to cross the wall. Hundreds of people were killed trying to cross the wall. When it