The Berlin Wall in 1986
The Berlin Wall was a wall built by East Germany on 13 August 1961 that divided the city of Berlin between the communist East Germany and the capitalist West Germany until 9 November 1989, when the revolutions in Eastern Europe led to the people seeking reunification and demolishing the wall. Its symbolic fall was considered to be the end of the Cold War, as Germany was now reunified and the Iron Curtain was opened.
History[]
In 1961, East Germany began construction of a wall to divide the Soviet Union-occupied East Berlin and NATO-occupied West Berlin to stop the flow of East Germans escaping to West Germany. East Germany feared that a brain drain would occur, as 50% of East Germany's intelligentsia were among the refugees that left for West Germany, which were up to 3,500,000 people. The wall was heavily-guarded, with anti-vehicle trenches, guard towers, and several Soviet Army troops, and it was an impossibility to get past the wall. The Berlin Wall was painted on both sides with murals, and it became a part of daily life for 28 years, dividing families on both sides of the country. There were some secret clashes between Soviet Spetsnaz and American Black Ops operatives during the 1960s, and on occasions the West would play western music in attempts to get the East Germans to be sympathetic. However, the wall remained in place for almost three decades.
In 1989, the Cold War drew to a close as revolutions occurred in the communist states of Eastern Europe, and the government of East Germany was also overthrown. Erich Honecker resigned from office in November 1989, and people demanded the reunification of Germany. Crowds of people tore down the wall and embraced the Germans from the other side of the wall, and on 3 October 1990 the reunification of Germany was formally complete. The images of people destroying the Berlin Wall were filmed and broadcast around the world in a symbolic moment of history, and the Fall of the Berlin Wall would be an icon of the fall of communism and the end of the long era of East-West rivalry.