In the course of history, the rise and fall of communism in the world plays a big part. One of the most visible symbols of communism in Germany was the Berlin Wall separating the City of Berlin.
The beginnings of the Berlin Wall dates back to the end of World War II. As the War came to a conclusion in 1945 as part of the post-War agreement, Germany was divided into four occupation zones to be controlled by Russia, Britain, France and the United States. The Capital of Berlin, even though it was located in the Russian zone was also divided into four zones.
Over the next few years, the communist controlled Russia was at odds with the other three countries over reconstruction plans for Germany. The three other countries were in agreement on the future of Germany and they agreed to combine their zones and form West Germany, while the Russian zone became East Germany. The countries did the same in the zones in Berlin forming East Berlin and West Berlin.
In the 1950’s Germans were able to freely move between East and West Berlin as well as between East and West Germany. However, East Germany started to find that many of the citizens started to move permanently to the West. This concerned them because it included many educated East Germans, and the government was concerned that they were losing too many talented Germans. This prompted the East German government to implement more stringent restrictions on travel, which made travel to the free West more difficult.
As a result of the travel between West and East, East Germany constructed the Berlin Wall. On August 13, 1961, the East German Army began closing the border, and the 87 mile long wall began to be constructed. With the closing of the border, families, friends and businesses were now split by the wall, affecting the everyday life of many Germans. In June 1962, the East German government began to construct a second fence about 100 yards inside its border as an additional containment.
The actual Berlin Wall has gone through a number of changes through the year. The original wall was actually a wire fence. Since its inception the wall became a concrete wall and its final version of the border wall which was finished in 1975.
However, the biggest change occurred in the late 1980’s. With communism starting to fade in Russia and Germany, pressure began to mount to unify Germany and the city of Berlin. One of the defining moments in the fight to unify Germany came in 1987, when President Ronald Reagan delivered his famous “Tear down this wall” speech where he urged Russian President Gorbachev to bring down the wall as a show of increased freedom in the former Soviet Bloc countries.
On November 9, 1989 after increasing pressure, the Berlin Wall was brought down and Berliners were once again able to travel freely. In the subsequent months, the borders between East and West Germany also were opened to travel, and in 1990, the two Germany’s were once again unified. And, it all began with the fall of the Berlin Wall.