The Berlin Wall was constructed as a physical barrier separating East and West Berlin during the Cold War. It was built by the German Democratic Republic (GDR) to prevent defections from East Germany to West Germany and to stop the influence of the Western world from entering into East Berlin.
BERLIN: The Construction of a Wall
The creation of the barrier dividing Berlin started on August 13 in 1961. It comprised of compound barriers such as the wall made of concrete, electric wires which are barbed and watch towers. Construction of the wall was around West Berlin and surrounded the whole city thus isolating it from the East Berlin as well as the remainder of East Germany.
The Locations of the Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was approximately 155 km long, and effectively cut Berlin in two. It included a concrete east and west wall with a ‘death strip’ of electrically charged sand, broken glass, and deep anti-vehicle trenches in-between.
Furthermore, there were many towers on the wall that watchmen with arms were guarding the area so nobody or nothing could pass through it. Such guards were instructed to kill anyone who sought to flee the East as they tried to fend off massively armed heavily aggressive escapees.
The Impact of the Berlin Wall
This call divided the people of Berlin, and the entire world for that matter, in many ways and is worth giving due attention. Their relatives and friends; citizens of East Berlin were deprived of the rights to freedom and free market economy of the West Berliners.
The building of the Wall also represents the ideological divide in between the capitalist West and the East, and the conflict of the Cold War more generally. It served as a real wall representing the Iron Curtain, a line dividing West Europe and the Eastern Europe.
The Fall of the Berlin Wall
For several years there were many protests and the political situation changed and on the 9th November 1989 the Berlin Wall decreased. The happening bas been one of the most important in history and eventually paved way for the German Reunification.
The release of pressure of the international community, the free spirit of the people of East Germany and the political changes in the Soviet Union led to the failure of the Berlin Wall. It also helped to demonstrate the evolution from the Cold War to the triumph of communism in Eastern Europe.
The Legacy of the Berlin Wall
Some of the existing architectures of modern Berlin include the famous remains of the Berlin wall. Berlin Wall documentation is done at Bernauer Strasse where one can walk through a reconstructed section of the Berlin Wall as well as viewing and listening to various eye witnessing documentaries about the Wall. It is one of the emblematic landmarks of the German people during the Cold War period.
Conclusion
The Berlin Wall was concrete and barriers that split Berlin for nearly 30 years. It symbolized the partition between communism and liberalism, between east and west, and the oppression of the independence of people. They are historical construction and the events leading to its collapse and an excellent lesson on the strength of togetherness.
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