The days of the death strip
November 9 1989 will endure in history as an extremely important day. This is because of the fall of the berlin wall, the biggest symbol of the cold war, leading finally to the reunification of Germany. To explain how the wall fell I have to go back to the ending of the Second World War and how this lead to tensions between two ideologies; capitalism and communism.
In 1945 Germany was defeated, after World War II ended the conferences of Potsdam and Yalta were held to decide the future of Europe and principally Germany. This conferences divided the territory of Germany into four zones one for each ally. The eastern part went to the Soviet Union and the western part to the United States, Great Britain and France. Berlin, the capital of Germany was located within the soviet part of the country, but still it was divided in four. This seemed like a problem to the communist bloc, because capitalist influence was within communist Germany. Nikita Khrushchev, a soviet leader, when referring to the capitalist side of berlin he said “stuck like a bone in the soviet throat” ("Berlin Wall"). The Russians wanted to drive the capitalists away from Berlin, so they blocked the west side from food, but the allies supplied them by airplanes. This lasted for a year approximately. …show more content…
In 1961 more than 80,000 people fled, ("Berlin Wall") this had made the economy on the east side increase as they received a huge number of skilled workers. With this the economy of the communist side was threatened, so Khrushchev ordered to close the border for good. They built a concrete wall that divided the city. With this it became impossible to get from east to west side with the exception of the checkpoints where principally diplomats were allowed to enter or
November 9 1989 will endure in history as an extremely important day. This is because of the fall of the berlin wall, the biggest symbol of the cold war, leading finally to the reunification of Germany. To explain how the wall fell I have to go back to the ending of the Second World War and how this lead to tensions between two ideologies; capitalism and communism.
In 1945 Germany was defeated, after World War II ended the conferences of Potsdam and Yalta were held to decide the future of Europe and principally Germany. This conferences divided the territory of Germany into four zones one for each ally. The eastern part went to the Soviet Union and the western part to the United States, Great Britain and France. Berlin, the capital of Germany was located within the soviet part of the country, but still it was divided in four. This seemed like a problem to the communist bloc, because capitalist influence was within communist Germany. Nikita Khrushchev, a soviet leader, when referring to the capitalist side of berlin he said “stuck like a bone in the soviet throat” ("Berlin Wall"). The Russians wanted to drive the capitalists away from Berlin, so they blocked the west side from food, but the allies supplied them by airplanes. This lasted for a year approximately. …show more content…
In 1961 more than 80,000 people fled, ("Berlin Wall") this had made the economy on the east side increase as they received a huge number of skilled workers. With this the economy of the communist side was threatened, so Khrushchev ordered to close the border for good. They built a concrete wall that divided the city. With this it became impossible to get from east to west side with the exception of the checkpoints where principally diplomats were allowed to enter or