The Berlin Wall was built in 1961 to separate the western and eastern parts of the city of Berlin , Germany. The western side of the city was under the control of the United States and the eastern side was under the control of the Soviet Union .
With the end of World War II in 1945, Nazi Germany was defeated by the Allied armies, composed of the United States, England, France and the Soviet Union.For this reason, its territory was divided between the victorious countries. Berlin was located in the eastern part of Germany, however, as it was the capital, it was also divided between the victorious countries.
On each side of the wall a different socioeconomic model was in force: the American west side lived in a capitalist system, while the Soviet east side lived in a communist model .
The Berlin Wall was a symbol of this division and also a mark of the ideological dispute of the Cold War . The two economic models, North American capitalism and Soviet communism, competed to be the dominant regime throughout the world.
The wall was built by the Soviet side to prevent migration to the capitalist side. It stood for 28 years, until 1989, when the population itself tore it down, symbolically marking the defeat of the communist system .
Construction of the Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was built by Walter Ulbricht , president of East Germany, on August 13, 1961. He ordered troops and army vehicles to form a barrier that would prevent any civilians from passing between the western and eastern sides.
Germany had been under the control of foreign countries since the end of World War II. When it was defeated by the Allies, its territory was divided between the United States, England, France and the Soviet Union.
While the western part of the country, led by the United States, England and France, lived under a capitalist regime, the eastern part was ruled by a Soviet communist system. The territories were called:
- German Democratic Republic – which used the socialist regime;
- Federal Republic of Germany – which used the capitalist regime.
The criterion that established the division into West Germany and East Germany was the socioeconomic model imposed on each part of the country.
Even though East Germany had been under Soviet control for about 20 years, it was only in the 1960s that the Berlin Wall became necessary. The aim was to stop the migration of people from the communist side to the capitalist side .
The construction was carried out suddenly and did not take into account the streets or buildings that existed on the site. Many families, friends and neighbors were separated and remained that way for almost three decades. Anyone who tried to jump over the wall could be arrested or killed.
The official reason for building the Berlin Wall was to protect the population from fascist elements who were conspiring against the will to build a socialist state in eastern Germany.
The wall was 155 km long and was guarded by around 300 observation towers. In addition to being surrounded by armed soldiers, alarms, electric fences, guard dogs and traps, such as ” fakir beds “, which were lawns full of nails.
Fall of the Berlin Wall
In the 1980s, East Germany, like the Soviet Union, experienced a worsening of its economic crisis, including a shortage of some products on the markets.
The economic crisis also became a political crisis , due to strong popular dissatisfaction and the creation of movements opposing the government.
In 1989 there was a wave of migration from East Germany to neighboring Hungary and Poland. These countries, despite also living under governments supported by the Soviet Union, went through moments of weakening of communist power.
For example: Hungary’s opening of its borders to Western countries, and the election of a non-communist ruler in Poland.
Under pressure, the East German government announced that it would also open its borders , which caused many people to go to the edge of the wall to cross the border.
The delay in opening the passage caused the crowd itself to begin destroying the wall on November 9, 1989. However, the demolition of the entire length of the wall only took place on June 13, 1990.
Berlin Wall and the defeat of communism
The fall of the Berlin Wall symbolized the victory of capitalism over communism in the Cold War . The opening of East Germany’s borders and the subsequent fall of the wall exposed the weakness of the regime to the world.
Since the 1980s, the USSR faced serious economic problems and was unable to face the competitiveness imposed by American capitalism.
The costs of the Afghan War (1979 – 1989) and the need to maintain war material also helped to further weaken the communist bloc.
Two years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, on November 8, 1991, the Soviet Union officially ceased to exist . With this, the Cold War also ended , with capitalism emerging as the winning socioeconomic model, which began to be adopted in most countries.
With the communist defeat and the end of the USSR, Germany stopped being divided into two blocks and became unified, once again becoming a single country.
See more about what communism is , the characteristics of communism and the differences between communism and socialism .
Berlin Wall: the symbol of the Cold War
The Berlin Wall was a symbol of the Cold War because it concretely showed the ideological division that the world faced during the Cold War.
The countries were divided between supporters of American capitalism and Soviet communism. Those who chose one or the other, internally and externally, faced opposing resistance movements.
The wall physically exemplified a division that was occurring not only in Berlin, but across the entire planet. Therefore, the fall of the Berlin Wall (torn down by the people themselves, especially those on the Soviet side), represented a dissatisfaction with the division and a supposed preference for the capitalist model.
For this reason, the world closely followed the historic event, broadcast live on television and radio in several countries, including Brazil.
Learn more about the Cold War and capitalism .
The Berlin Wall today
The Berlin Wall was almost completely destroyed in 1989 and 1990, but some parts of the construction were maintained as a historical record and are currently tourist attractions in Berlin.
Parts of the wall can be found in exhibitions around the city, but most of the concrete wall has been transformed into a kind of open-air art gallery . The wall is covered in graffiti and other artistic expressions that even make political criticisms.
