This article will examine the Berlin Wall. The history of the creation and destruction of this complex illustrates the confrontation between the superpowers and is the embodiment of the Cold War.
You will not only learn the reasons for the appearance of this multi-kilometer monster, but also get acquainted with interesting facts related to the existence and fall of the “Anti-Fascist Defensive Wall”.
Germany after World War II
Before you figure out who built the Berlin Wall, you should talk about the current situation in the state.
After the defeat in World War II, Germany was under the occupation of four states. Its western part was occupied by the troops of Great Britain, the USA and France, and the five Soviet lands controlled the Soviet Union.
Next, we’ll talk about how the situation gradually grew tense during the Cold War. And also discuss why the development of the two states, based in the western and eastern zones of influence, went in completely different ways.
GDR
As we will see later, the history of the Berlin Wall shows not only the place of the clash between the countries of the socialist bloc and the Western states, but also the gradual separation of parts of one power.
In October 1949, the German Democratic Republic was established . It was formed almost six months after the formation of the Federal Republic of Germany.
GDR occupied the territory of five lands that were under Soviet occupation. These included Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, Brandenburg, Saxony, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.
Subsequently, the history of the Berlin Wall will illustrate the chasm that can form between two warring camps. According to the memoirs of contemporaries, West Berlin was different from East Berlin, as London at that time was from Tehran or Seoul from Pyongyang.
Germany
In May 1949, the Federal Republic of Germany was formed. The Berlin Wall in twelve years will separate it from its eastern neighbor. In the meantime, the state is quickly recovering with the help of countries whose troops were on its territory.
So, the former French, American and British occupation zones four years after the end of World War II are transformed into Germany. Since the division between the two parts of Germany took place in Berlin, Bonn became the capital of the new state.
However, later this country becomes the subject of a dispute between the socialist bloc and the capitalist West. In 1952, Joseph Stalin proposed the demilitarization of Germany and its subsequent existence as a weak but united state.
The US rejects the project and, with the help of the Marshall Plan, turns West Germany into a fast-growing power. For fifteen years, since 1950, there has been a powerful boom, which in historiography is called the "economic miracle."
But the confrontation between the blocks continues.
Berlin crisis of 1961
After the onset of some “thaw” in the Cold War, the confrontation begins again. Another reason was an American reconnaissance plane shot down over the territory of the Soviet Union.
Another conflict ensued, the result of which was the Berlin Wall. The year of the erection of this monument to perseverance and stupidity is 1961, however, in fact, it existed for a long time, even if not in its material embodiment.
So, the Stalinist period led to a large-scale arms race, which temporarily stopped with the mutual invention of intercontinental ballistic missiles.
Now, in the event of war, not a single superpower had nuclear superiority.
Since the time of the Korean conflict, tension has been rising again. The peak moments were the Berlin and Caribbean crises. As part of the article, we are interested in the first. It happened in August 1961, and the result was the creation of the Berlin Wall.
After the Second World War, as we already mentioned, Germany was divided into two states - capitalist and socialist. During a period of special passions, in 1961, Khrushchev transferred control of the occupied sector of Berlin to the GDR. Part of the city, which belonged to Germany, was blockaded by the United States and its allies.
The ultimatum of Nikita Sergeevich concerned West Berlin. The leader of the Soviet people demanded his demilitarization. Western opponents of the socialist bloc responded with disagreement.
The situation was in limbo for several years . Khrushchev’s visit to the United States seemed to defuse the situation. However, the incident with the U-2 reconnaissance aircraft put an end to the possibility of mitigating the confrontation.
The result was one and a half thousand additional American troops in West Berlin and the construction of a wall stretching across the entire city and even beyond, from the GDR.
The date of construction of the "Anti-fascist defensive rampart" is considered August 13, 1961.
Wall construction
So, the Berlin Wall was built on the border of the two states. The history of the creation and destruction of this monument to obstinacy will be considered further.
In 1961, in two days (from August 13 to 15), barbed wire was stretched that suddenly divided not only the country, but also the families and destinies of ordinary people. This was followed by a long construction, which ended only in 1975.
In total, this shaft lasted twenty-eight years. At the final stage (in 1989), the complex included a concrete wall about three and a half meters high and more than a hundred kilometers long. In addition, it included sixty-six kilometers of metal mesh, more than one hundred and twenty kilometers of signal electric fence and one hundred and five kilometers of ditches.
Also, the structure was equipped with anti-tank fortifications, border structures, including three hundred towers, as well as a control and track strip, the sand of which was constantly leveled.
Thus, the maximum length of the Berlin Wall, according to historians, was more than one hundred and fifty-five kilometers.
It was reconstructed several times. The most extensive work was carried out in 1975. It is noteworthy that the only gaps were at checkpoints and rivers. At first, they were often used by the most daring and desperate emigrants "to the capitalist world."
Crossing the border
In the morning, the Berlin Wall opened to the eyes of the civilians of the GDR who were not expecting anything. The history of the creation and destruction of this complex clearly shows the real face of the warring states. Overnight, millions of families were divided.
However, the construction of the rampart did not prevent further emigration from East Germany. People made their way through the rivers and made digging. On average (before the construction of the fence), about half a million people traveled from the GDR to the Federal Republic of Germany daily for various reasons. And in the twenty-eight years since the erection of the wall, only 5075 successful illegal crossings have been completed.
To do this, waterways, undermines (145 meters underground), balloons and hang gliders, rams in the form of cars and bulldozers were used, they even moved along the rope between the buildings.
The following feature was interesting. People received free education in the socialist part of Germany, and began to work in Germany, because there were higher salaries.
Thus, the length of the Berlin Wall allowed young people to track its deserted areas and make shoots. For pensioners, however, there were no obstacles in crossing the checkpoints.
Another opportunity to get to the western part of the city was cooperation with the German lawyer Vogel. From 1964 to 1989, he signed a total of $ 2.7 billion worth of contracts, buying out a quarter of a million East Germans and political prisoners from the GDR government.
The sad fact is that when they tried to escape, people were not only arrested, but also shot. Officially counted 125 victims, unofficially, this number increases significantly.
Statements by US Presidents
After the Caribbean crisis, the intensity of passions gradually decreases and the crazy arms race stops. Since that time, some American presidents have begun to make attempts to call the Soviet leadership for negotiations and come to a settlement of relations.
In this way, they tried to point out to those who built the Berlin Wall their erroneous behavior. The first of these speeches was the speech of John F. Kennedy in June 1963. The American president spoke before a large-scale gathering near the Schöneberg Town Hall.
The famous phrase “I am one of the Berliners” has still remained from this speech. Distorting the translation, today American comedians often interpret it as saying by mistake: "I am a Berlin donut." In fact, every word of speech was verified and learned, and the joke is based only on ignorance of the intricacies of the German language by the audiences of other countries.
Thus, John F. Kennedy expressed support for the people of West Berlin.
The second president, who openly addressed the topic of the ill-fated fencing, was Ronald Reagan. And his virtual opponent was Mikhail Gorbachev.
The Berlin Wall was the rudiment of an unpleasant and outdated conflict.
Reagan told the Secretary General of the CPSU Central Committee that if the latter is seeking liberalization of relations and a happy future for the socialist countries, he should come to Berlin and open the gate. “Destroy the wall, Mr. Gorbachev!”
Wall fall
Shortly after this speech, due to the procession of "perestroika and glasnost" across the countries of the socialist bloc, the Berlin Wall began to fall. The history of the creation and destruction of this fortification is considered in this article. Earlier, we remembered its construction and unpleasant consequences.
Now we will focus on the elimination of the monument of stupidity. After Gorbachev came to power in the Soviet Union, the Berlin Wall became a stumbling block. Earlier, in 1961, this city was the cause of the conflict on the way of socialism to the West, but now the rampart has prevented the strengthening of friendship between the once warring blocs.
The first country to destroy its section of the wall was Hungary. In August 1989, near the town of Sopron, on the border of this state with Austria, a “European picnic” took place. The foreign ministers of the two countries laid the foundation for the liquidation of the fortification.
Further, the process was already impossible to stop. At first, the government of the German Democratic Republic refused to support this idea. However, after fifteen thousand East Germans crossed the territory of Hungary in Germany in three days, the fortification became completely superfluous.
The Berlin Wall on the map runs from north to south, crossing the city of the same name. On the night of the ninth to tenth of October 1989, the border between the western and eastern parts of the German capital officially opens.
Wall in culture
For two years, since 2010, the memorial complex "Berlin Wall" was built. On the map, it occupies about four hectares. Twenty eight million euros were invested to create the memorial.
The monument consists of the “Window of Remembrance” (in honor of the Germans who crashed while jumping from East German windows onto the Bernauer Strasse bridge, which was already in the Federal Republic of Germany). In addition, the complex includes the chapel of Reconciliation.
But not only this is famous for the Berlin Wall in culture. The photo clearly illustrates probably the largest open-air graffiti gallery in history. If it was impossible to approach the fortification from the east, then the western side is all decorated with highly artistic drawings of street masters.
In addition, the theme of the “shaft of dictatorship” can be traced in many songs, literary works, films and computer games. For example, the song “Wind of Change” by Scorpions, the film “Good Bye, Lenin!” Is dedicated to the mood of the night of October 9, 1989. Wolfgang Becker. And one of the cards in the game Call of Duty: Black Ops was created in memory of events at Checkpoint Charlie.
Facts
The significance of the fall of the Berlin Wall cannot be overestimated. This fence of the totalitarian regime was perceived by the civilian population as clearly hostile, although over time the majority reconciled with the existing situation.
Interestingly, in the early years, the most frequent defectors were East German soldiers guarding the wall. And there were no less than eleven thousand of them.
The Berlin Wall was especially beautiful on the twenty-fifth anniversary of its liquidation. The photo illustrates a view of the illumination from a height. Two Bouder brothers sponsored a project that consisted of creating a continuous strip of luminous lanterns along the entire length of the former wall.
Judging by the polls, the inhabitants of the GDR were more satisfied with the fall of the shaft than the FRG. Although in the early years there was a huge flow in both directions. East Germans threw apartments and went to richer and socially protected Germany. And enterprising people from the Federal Republic of Germany strove for cheap GDR, all the more so because the mass of housing was left there.
During the existence of the Berlin Wall in the east, the brand cost six times less than in the west.
Each box of the World in Conflict video game (collector's edition) contained a piece of the wall with a certificate of authenticity.
So, in this article we met with the manifestation of the economic, political and ideological division of the world in the second half of the twentieth century.
Good luck to you, dear readers!