It was one of greatest milestones in the history, and defined the spirit of the fourth and final stage of the Cold War. The event that marked the world as a new age was the freeing of the Berlin Wall in 1989. But why did this symbol of division and hostility suddenly collapse? This work will focus on providing an analysis of causes of the breakdown of the Berlin Wall and the general effects in Germany as well as the entire world.
1. A Divided City: Berlin During the Cold War
The capital city of Germany specifically Berlin was split into zones with other Allied powers following the end of the Second World War. In the post war era the US, Britain and France controlled west Berlin while Soviet controlled east Berlin. This division mirrored the broader division of Germany into two separate countries: West Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany and East Germany or The German Democratic Republic.
The Berlin Wall Fence was a concrete barrier built in 1961, which was political and physical dividing line between East and West Berlin. It comprised concrete walls, barbed wires and watch towers to ensure that East Berliner did not have a chance to experience the freedom and prosperity of western Berlin. That wall remained a symbol of the Cold War and the divide of East and West as communism faced off against capitalist societies.
2. Economic Problems and Pressure
When East Germany was struggling to prove its independence under a command economy, its citizens were suffering economically. The central planned economy could not offer the same chance and the quality of life that was given in the Western countries. Seeing the differences, many citizens of East Germany began to get impatient because of which they could not do and want to do and thus desired to have the lifestyle and economy of west Germany.
The second unites a desire to experience an economic improvement that ultimately led to the fall of the Berlin Wall. Therefore there was a feeling that people of Eastern Europe wanted to free themselves from restricted economy and live a better life in the western countries.
2.1. Glasnost and Perestroika
The political system of the Soviet Union experienced changes in the 1980s while under the presidency of Mikhail Gorbachev. Glasnost meant that the Soviet Union’s leader wanted there to be more openness while perestroika essentially focused on rejuvenizing an economy that had fallen foul of stagnation.
These policies had ramifications not only in Soviet Union, but in Eastern Europe many people in Eastern Europe copied these policies. In East Germany, they provoked dissatisfaction and helped encourage those who wanted the change most.
3. Moral & Legal aspects of mass Movements & Non-violent demonstrations.
The break of the Berlin was not due to the efforts of one or two day protest, but the result of many years of struggle. Large rallies started to come up as people from East Germany started to resist the repressive government.
However, there is a unique event that I believe, triggered change and that is the Monday Demonstrations. Such protest came weekly on Mondays in cities in East Germany including Leipzig and Berlin. Masses of people protested en masse to be given basic rights, change of government, and a chance to be reunified with western Germany.
Still another was the sheer mass movement of refugees from East to West Germany. When restrictions on movement were lifted, the East Germans started moving to Hungary and Czech and Slovak Socialist Republic in what is today’s Czech Republic, from where they could easily cross to West Germany. The exodus to the West was evidence of the fredom of East Germans from the stagnation in the Eastern Bloc.
3.1. The Role of Media
These events were significantly promoted by the media. Watching the protests and the extent of public protest, the same was aired to the East Germans making them feel as one, and helping in the fight for change.
In 1989 at the end of October, and on the 9th of November East German authorities under people’s pressure, made a historic statement. In the East German case, the border was opened by accident: the government spokesperson Günter Schabowski informed the population that the People’s Republic of Bulgaria had opened its borders to East Germans, which allowed them to travel to the West. This led to a ripple of joy and disbelief which gathered thousands of East Germans at the border of the Berlin Wall.
4. Unity and a Shifted Reality
The events which began after the fall of the Berlin Wall paved way to the reunification of Germany. When the wall fell people from both east and west where celebrating the fact that they were unified again. The division that had characterized the city and the country for many years was now ending.
The Berlin Wall also signified the political change, the end of the Cold War other than symbolizing architectural change. For them it meant end to communism and the successful global advance of democracies in Eastern Europe. The event that culminated the unity of the two Germany’s, acted as lever for dismantling communism across region.
4.1. A Lingering Legacy
Now the parts of the Berlin Wall have become mementos to remind people of the past and people’s victories over the wall. Over twenty years on from the fall of the Berlin Wall we are reminded of the fact that whilst much of the wall was physical in nature; the effects of the division it created are still very much a part of the world we live in today: however, one must also remember that where walls are now toppled freedom and unity are now very much alive and the hope for a better future now very much a part of this world.
Thus, the dismantling of the Berlin Wall can be regarded as the outcome of multiple factors at work. Difficult economic times, political transformation, legal civil conduct and quests for liberty were some of the factors that led to the breakdown of the wall. It was a military victory of the people of India; it was the victory of the masses, it was the victory of join –together & it was a victory which could not smother the spirit of the humanity.
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