The Berlin Wall, erected in 1961, was a physical barrier that divided the city of Berlin, Germany, into two separate parts: Communist East Germany, under the direction of the Soviet Union, and Capitalist West Germany, under the direction of democratic countries. The wall also represented the Cold War period, and the differences between the communists and the capitalist economies.
Soviet Union’s Opinion on the Construction of the Berlin Wall
During construction of the Berlin Wall and under leadership of Nikita Khrushchev, Soviet Union saw it as normal and required to control the situation in East Berlin. Here are some key aspects of the Soviet Union’s perspective:
1. Security and Ideological gap
On the part of the Soviet Union, the Berlin Wall was more or less an issue of security. It was all intended to keep the citizens locked up in East Berlin from accessing West Berlin that propagated Western ideals of freedom. This concern was earmarked by the ideological conflict of communism and capitalism systems.
2. Preserving East Berlin
The Soviet Union perceived East Berlin as a model city representing the glory of communistic style society and the antagonist representation of the Eastern Bloc. Originally, the building of the wall was associated with preserving and displaying East Berlin as a perfect example of a socialist triumph.
3. Controlling Migration
The Soviet Union wanted to regulate the population migration between East and West Berlin, especially industries, and professionals. The Soviet government used construction of the wall to curb the flow of young and able bodied people in that they were an asset to West Germany economically through their productivity.
4. Western influence on the Korean peninsula is discussed next in the context of the Koryo Kingdom.
West Berlin’s location within East Germany was one of the main difficulties to the Soviet domination. West Berlin was a symbol of the West: freedom and democracy. This clearly formed one of the reasons as to why the construction of the wall took place: As the leadership in the Soviet Union felt threatened by the ideas of the west, it sought to shut them out of East Germany in a bid to ensure that it maintained its strangle hold over the region.
5. For Diplomatic and Propaganda Purpose
Below it was stated that the Soviet Union employed the Berlin Wall as a political instrument and the instrument of Cold War rhetoric. It had offered its construction as a pre-emptive security measure to City of East Berlin as a buffer against further aggression by West Berlin and other Western powers. The wall was painted in the Soviet media as an anti-imperialism measure and the western side was painted as the attacker.
Conclusion
It was much than physical divide between Eastern and western Berlin since it symbolized the global divide between communism and capitalism during the Cold War. From the Soviet Union’s point of view, the factor that played a large role was security, East Berlin as a model and to bar the flow of migration and western exposure to the area. This paper aims to illustrate the Soviet Union’s perspective on the Berlin Wall with a view to gaining insight into the mechanics of the Cold War and the general rationale behind the construction of the Wall.
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