Fall of Berlin Wall

The story begins after the end of World War 2. The second World War was fought between Axis (Germany, Italy, Japan, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria) and Allied powers (U.S., Britain, France, USSR, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, Greece, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, South Africa, Yugoslavia). Axis lost. After Hitler, Allied powers decided to divide Germany into 4 parts. Later they merged and divided into two- became West Germany and East Germany. It was divided on the basis of Capitalist and Communist ideas.

On August 13, 1961, the Communist government of the German Democratic Republic (GDR, or East Germany) began to build a barbed wire and concrete “Antifascistischer Schutzwall,” or “antifascist bulwark,” between East and West Berlin. The official purpose of this Berlin Wall was to keep so-called Western “fascists” from entering East Germany and undermining the socialist state, but it primarily served the objective of stemming mass defections from East to West. 

Even though Berlin was located entirely within the Soviet part of the country (it sat about 100 miles from the border between the eastern and western occupation zones), the Yalta and Potsdam agreements split the city into similar sectors. The Soviets took the eastern half, while the other Allies took the western. This four-way occupation of Berlin began in June 1945.

Permanent Migrations also started. This was uni-directional- communism was centralised, with less job opprtunities, the conditions deteriorated so much that until 1961, 20 percent (around 3.5 million people) of east population had settled to west.

The east government started thinking of solution to this Brain drain. The post war agreement divided the capital Berlin into two. The eastern part would be under the influence of Soviet Union and west would be under the influence of allies.

On 13th August 1961, the wall was revealed to the world. But the public was definitely disappointed. Some people simply tried to climb over the wall at night when the guards were not able to see. so the east government put barbed wires on the top of the wall. As time passed government started making the wall stronger and with this, people also got creative in ways of escaping.

On February 1989, a man hit the wall with a very heavy cargo truck. he escaped through the hole. To stop these kind of escapes, government started using innovative ideas.

In February 1985, East Germany got a new leader Mikhail Gorbachev. He recognised and acknowledgd the problems. He decentralised the political and economic controls, brought two measures Perestroika (reconstructing and Glasnost (Transparency), allowed private company to enter.

Finally eastern government decided to ease the regulations. On November 9 1989, due to a misunderstandimg by spokesperson, the news spread that the Fall of Berlin would come into effect immediately.

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