If we consider importance of events that affected history, people would automatically recall the Berlin Wall. Built when the cold war was at its peak in post war Germany, the wall helped dictate the divide between East and West Berlin for nearly three decades. In this article, the author will seek to establish the history and physical workmanship of this exemplary edifice.

The Background:

After World War II, Germany was divided into four occupied zones with each zone controlled by one of the victorious Allied powers: the USA, USSR, Great Britain and France. Like many other cities, Berlin, the capital of Germany was divided into four zones each controlled by a different power. But ideological differences brought the cold war with the super powers of that time starting with the soviet union and other western powers.

Construction Begins:

The Berlin Wall was built on the night of 13 August 1961. The building of the wall therefore arose as the number of East Germans fleeing towards West Berlin in search of freedom and better standard living conditions increased. The Soviet backed state of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) sought to end this by dividing this city with a wall.

The Wall’s Construction Process:

The construction of the Berlin Wall involved several key stages:

1. Planning and Preparation:

Before the construction of the fence, the East Germany government came up with a plan of building a barrier that would render pass throughs inconceivable. It has undergone a lot of analysis since research and engineering were made on the technique in order to be effective and permanent.

2. Border Personnel and Equipment Mobilization:

The day construction started saw more than 30,000 soldiers and police officers of East Germany stationed at the border between East and West Berlin. Barbed wire, concrete barriers and any other material required to in the construction of the wall were provided to them.

3. Initial Barriers:

Its construction began with an external fence made of barbed wire, which was actually the first stage of construction. Such obstacles were a way to delay the flight of possible villains and strengthen the border between the two parts of the city.

4. Improved Barricades:

Later rather than heights of barbed wires tall fences made of concrete were installed. These barricades represented what was called “wall elements” – enormous concrete blocks intertwined with metal bars that could not be easily dismantled.

5. Watchtowers and Patrol Roads:

There were quarterly towers running along the wall and the border guards can easily monitor the area for anyone fleeing. Additional features included long patrol roads that would afford quick access to maneuver security forces.

6. Secondary Fences and Traps:

To make the protection more powerful, the second barbed wires were erected either parallel to the wall. They bestowed alarms and traps on these fences in order not to allow any intrusion on the part of the rebels.

The Impact and Significance:

The experience of the construction of the Berlin Wall influenced the people of Germany and the whole world. Its construction also created the actual barrier within the city as well as the symbolic barriers between communism and capitalism during the Cold war.

To all the people of Berlin, the wall brought significant amount of misery. People were divided, and everybody who stayed in East Berlin had no chances to taste the western economic miracle and freedom. The wall symbolized restrictions to individual’s freedoms and rights of humanity.

The final nail on the coffin of Soviet Union and its influence in East Europe was hammered on November 9 1989 when the Berlin Wall fell. And what was important, it became the symbol of hope, unity, and the victory of spirit over the body. At the present, a vast part of that barrier has been retained in certain sections of Berlin for historical purposes so that it will always remain an obvious symbol of Berlin’s history as well as the determination of the Germans.

Conclusion:

The rises of the Berlin Wall were one of the most significant events in the history of Germany as well as in the concerning the cold war. This was a symbolic reproduction of an actual split in the ideological and political domain between East and West. It is impossible to overestimate the role of the wall in people’s lives and to this date is a symbol of a world without a wall.