The Berlin Wall: The First World War

Improved Essays
The history of the Berlin Wall was ignited by World War II. Germany plotted an attack on Poland, yet was intimidated by the fact that the Soviet Union might interfere. So, before raiding Poland, Hitler made sure to sign a non-aggression pact with the U.S.S.R. This pact secretly stated that Poland should be divided between Germany and the Soviet Union, with Germany receiving the western third, while the Soviets gained control of the remaining two-thirds. Germany began their attacks on Poland on September 1, 1939. In response, Poland’s allies, Great Britain and France, declared war on Germany, sparking World War II.
Germany successfully gained control of Poland, and started the defense against the Allies. As it goes, the best defense is a strong
…show more content…
The wall was responsible for population division, conflicts between political superpowers, and the creation of war. With Britain’s, France’s, and the United States’ sectors all containing airports, the wall was built so that people under Communist law in Soviet East Germany could not go into the Capitalist sectors of Berlin and fly into West Germany. The wall was built by the Soviet’s solely to preserve the population ruled by the Soviet Union’s Communist Party. The people of East Germany wanted to escape to a life under Capitalist law and began protesting against the government in October of 1989. These protests continued to escalate eventually leading to the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989. Pieces of the rubble of the Berlin Wall began to spread to countries around the world to be used as monuments in memory of the hardships that were created by it. The wall has become a symbol of the pursuit of world …show more content…
Not only did the wall cause protests and a peaceful revolution, it was a spark of the Cold War itself. It took the responsibility out of the hands of the Communist Party, and made the population of East Berlin make the final decision to break down the wall. The most effective way to keep a stable population under communist law is to make the population happy. The Berlin Wall was the complete wrong way to approach the situation. If instead of isolating the people when the population decrease was noticed, the Soviet Union focused on a less societally destructive solution, the same goal may have been possible to achieve without as many hardships. The biggest flaw in the Communist Party’s handling of the Berlin situation was that they tried to do away with Fascism in Germany, which had kept the society and population stable for so long. Whatever arguments are made, the Berlin Wall is a scar on an otherwise historically attractive

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    “Tear Down This Wall” Started in the 1960s, the Cold War between the Democratic United States of America and the Communistic Soviet Union had become an ongoing issue around the world, and has implemented fear among the German Berliners. The Berlin Wall was built by Communists in August 1961 to retain Germans from departing East Berlin into West Berlin. The wall stood as a symbol of separation and the Cold War between the two countries. On June 12, 1987, President Ronald Reagan, who was known as the “Great Communicator”, came to West Berlin to assure hope to the people of Berlin, both the west and the east. In the well-known speech, “Tear down This Wall”, President Ronald Reagan utilizes ethos, emotional appeal, anaphora, and rhetorical questions to persuade the West Berliners to never give up hope, and entice the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall.…

    • 914 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Berlin Wall Dbq

    • 789 Words
    • 4 Pages

    There were tensions between the two sides of Germany and their views on the Berlin Wall greatly differed. The supporters of the Berlin Wall saw it as a necessity because the West Berlin government were bringing danger of conflict. By the West Berlin Senate rejecting the proposals for negotiations, they stepped up agitation and as a result the wall had to be put in place. With the wall the supporters believed they had stopped an important action from occurring “West Berlin’s becoming the starting point for a military conflict…

    • 789 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Berlin Wall Dbq

    • 1500 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The lives of people in the West of Berlin were completely different to the lives of people in the East of Berlin. After WWII, Germany split up into states each one governed by one of the allies (the USA, France, England and the Soviet Union) all split equally over the country and capital city, Berlin. The Soviet Union decided to make their state into a communist run state, whereas the other three states decided to lead their states as a democracy much like their own. Due to this disagreement in governing directions, the democratic states made their own republic (the German Democratic Republic (GDR)) and the Soviets created their own republic as well (the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG)) and in 1961 the FRG created a wall through the capital…

    • 1500 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Berlin Crisis Dbq

    • 1037 Words
    • 5 Pages

    They felt that they must protect Berlin as if it fell it would not be long before the rest of Europe would fall to Communism. This conflict in ideology eventually caused the Berlin Wall to be built. At first the people living in the East of Berlin were allowed to travel to the West and were able to see the progress there. Hundreds of thousands defected to the West as the preferred the capitalist way of life. The Soviet Union lost skilled workers and felt threatened they would lose more.…

    • 1037 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Berlin Wall Dbq

    • 1001 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The differences between democracy and communism caused tension between the two superpowers, the Soviet Union and the United States, after World War II. A wall was built as a border to separate the two governments and caused many problems. Throughout the world the fall of the Berlin Wall was celebrated but in the Soviet Union, the fall began to destroy their government. The wall was a physical and mental barrier between East and West Berlin. After World War II, Germany was divided into two states.…

    • 1001 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Berlin Wall

    • 1294 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Thousand of East Berliners who were dissatisfied with the Eastern Communist Government found hope and had been moving into the Western Democratic government for a better life. Even though the official purpose of the raising wall was to keep western “fascists” separated from the East in order to prevent them from influencing the communist state the USSR had formed. It raised at a time of growing tension between East and West because of the desire of the Allies and the USSR had of Europe’s control. The building of the Berlin Wall directly affected the lives of millions of people in Europe and especially in Berlin, because of the division it created from Eastern communists and Western democrats. The Berlin Wall was built to divide Eastern and Western Germany because of the political differences between the USSR and the…

    • 1294 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Berlin Wall Dbq

    • 524 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The fall of the Berlin Wall had the greatest impact in my opinion on the fall of the Soviet Union. The wall was initially put up to keep people from fleeing East Germany. Although, the people in the East were informed differently about the actual wall’s purpose. In November of 1989, the Berlin Wall was dismantled. The wall was put in place by the East German Communist Government to keep East and West Berlin separated.…

    • 524 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Cold War Dbq

    • 738 Words
    • 3 Pages

    That night, ecstatic crowds swarmed the wall. Some crossed freely into West Berlin, while others brought hammers and picks and began to chip away at the wall itself. After the initial days of celebration following the opening of the Wall, the fate of the two Germanys hung in the balance. 1990 brought a spectacle East Germans had not seen in nearly 60 years. That being an open election-…

    • 738 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Berlin Wall Dbq

    • 643 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Berlin Wall separated…

    • 643 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Introduction: The Berlin Wall was built in 1961 by German Democratic Republic’s (GDR) government to stop people form the eastern bloc to escape to the west through West Berlin. Its downfall in November of 1989 was huge news to the world as with its importance it affected the whole world. It was not just uniting a single country again but it also opened the border between the East and West of Europe and the world.…

    • 1692 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    After World War II, Germany split through Berlin, making an East and West Berlin. The economic standpoint in East Germany was not sustainable, so that made those citizens want to move over to the West side. Being under Soviet control, the migration of these people started to collapse the East. By August 1961, the Soviets stopping the flow of people by building the Berlin Wall, a infamous symbolic landmark of the Cold War. Two US Presidents, those being JFK and Reagan, commented and wrote speeches to those stopped from achieving their wants and freedoms to those in East Berlin.…

    • 1046 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Freedom for All On June 12th, 1987 United States President Ronald Reagan gave his famous “Remarks at the Brandenburg Gate” speech at the Brandenburg Gate in West Berlin. At this time, the United States and the USSR were embroiled in a global power struggle, which resulted in a great deal of tension between democratic and communist countries. Many people at the time sought reunification of West Berlin and East Berlin, and an end to the Cold War. In “Remarks at the Brandenburg Gate,” former president Ronald Reagan uses logos appeals, pathos appeals, and parallel structure in an effort to initiate the demolition of the Berlin Wall, and usher in freedom to communist countries.…

    • 1179 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Berlin Journal by Robert Darnton provides an account on the reunification of East and West Berlin. Throughout the journal, Darnton reveals how confronting the past is an important step in moving forward. Darnton also examines the different meanings the Berlin Wall symbolized for East and West Berliners. Finally, the effects of reunification on the economic system were a concern among East Berliners as they did not want to let go of socialism. The three major themes in Darnton’s Berlin Journal included confrontations of the past, symbolism of the wall, and the impact of the economy.…

    • 984 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Challenging the leader of the Soviet Union, President Ronald Reagan issued a statement on June 12, 1987. He arrived to the Brandenburg Gate in West Berlin with a challenge: to tear down the Berlin Wall and rally citizens to oppose the wall and accept democracy, “Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” There was no doubt that Reagan was a world leader and his word was very impactful.…

    • 1187 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The fall of the Berlin Wall not only symbolized the end of the Cold War, communism, and dictatorship in Eastern Germany, but it was also a great impact on European history. The Berlin Wall, despite its monstrous purpose, brought some positive consequences to the people of Germany. During the twenty-eight years the wall stood, many friendships and families were torn apart due to a physical separation, as well as metaphorical due to stigmas, controversies, and stereotypes. As the wall was built up, lifelong relationships were torn down. For some Berliners, however, it created tighter bonds, as people supported their peers who had been separated from friends, family, and lovers.…

    • 1043 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays