Speaking of the key events in the modern history nobody can ignore the division of Berlin into two parts. Many people will remember the city of Berlin, which was at the heart of the Cold War and saw its population divided by the Berlin Wall. This wall, constructed in 1961, acted as the materialized separation, ideological and political, of East and West Bloc. In this article the author intends to explain why East and West Berlin were separated and what was contributed to this process.
The Causes of Division
The separation of Berlin can be attributed to a period after the Second World War. In consequence of Germany’s surrender in 1945, the victorious Allies – the United States, USSR, Great Britain and France – split Germany into four occupied zones. Like most big cities, Berlin which was located in the Soviet-occupied zone was also divided. But the occupation zones themselves emerged as the areas of disputes and competition among the Allies. The city of Berlin situated deep in East Germany became a miniature of cold war.
Rivalry Between the East and the West
Ideological factor was a central cause of the split of the Berlin; the Soviet Union on one hand and the Western Allies on the other hand had extremely different political systems. The West embracing capitalism and democracy wished to rebuild Germany under one government head. But for the soviet Union which lost much during the war and needed to guarantee it own security, division of Germany worked for him. This situation rose to new heights when the two distinct German states were created – the Bundesrepublik Deutschland or West Germany, and the Deutsche Demokratische Republik, or East Germany.
When West Germany was enjoying the environment created by free trade and partnership with the Western world, East Germany was suffering from rather having to face serious Economic problems in addition to having to endure political oppression under Soviets. Primarily, the division of the two German states heightened the departure of East Germans to West Germany causing a loss of skilled populous and capital to the East Germans. To this end, the authorities in East Germany put upright a concrete barrier in the form of the Berlin Wall to halt immigration.
The Construction of the Berlin Wall
The building of the Berlin Wall started the 13th of August, 1961 and no one saw this coming. In one night barbed wire and barricades separated streets, families and even the buildings themselves. It was only later replaced by concrete, guard towers, as well as a broad ‘death strip,’ complete with such accessories as tripwires. This fantastic wall was meant to stop more East Germans from crossing to the west; the regime tried all it could to keep the population pegged down.
The division of Berlin was to have powerful ramifications for the inhabitants of the city. People were marooned on the other side of extreme identity polarities and could not easily cross over to the other extreme after having once crossed the path of no return that divided the families. The division of the city had strong psychological consequences that supported the notion that Berlin was constituting the frontline of the confrontation between communism and Capitalism.
The International Response
Originally, the split of Berlin received numerous critical comments from the global community. The erection of the Berlin Wall was perceived by the western right activists and governments as the violation of human rights and as a physical barrier or the manifestations of the so called Iron Curtain . In one way it reminded them of the conditions they were living under in the communism of the Eastern Bloc.
To which the United States and its allies answered with a number of steps aimed at showing support to the West Berlin and contain Soviet advance. For instance the Airlift operation in 1948/49 thru which supplies including food and fuel was flown to West Berlin because of the Soviet blockade. It reflects determination and solidarity of the west with such a dramatic effort.
The Fall of the Wall
The division of Berlin persisted till almost three decades, and then in the night of November 9, 1989 the Berlin Wall came down. Internal and external push factors served as a propeller to this great event. Internally, the people in the east Germany were beginning to be dissatisfied with political and economically policies and the resulted to protests and demands. Externally, there were newly formed political alliance, the Soviet Union led by Mikhail Gorbachev was liberalizing and becoming more open to the member states of East European bloc.
Indeed on that one fateful day, thousands of the East Berliners stormed into the checkpoints in an attempt to move to West Berlin. The employees of the Belarusian border guard who found themselves in a difficult situation and without specific directions from Minsk opened the gates on their own. The liberalization of East and West Berlin coupled with the dismantling of the longest and most heavily fortified Wall symbolized the beginning of the…
Conclusion
East Berlin and West Berlin were formed due to the divergence of the soviet viewpoint from the western powers that of the allied powers. In this respect the erection of the Brandenburger Tor or what became known as the Berlin wall represented this division. It served as a sword that helps East Germany keep their citizens inside that region and helped to strengthen the enmity between two blocs. Yet one can also use the fall of the Berlin Wall to show that people have it inside of them and they will fight for freedom. It became rather significant at that moment as the light had returned to recreate the unity which was lost between two halves of the city.
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