Skip to main content

The Berlin Wall - Construction, history and fall of the Berlin Wall

The Berlin Wall-Construction, history and fall of the Berlin Wall .The construction and especially the fall of the Berlin Wall have been great events that have marked the history of the 20th century since This wall divided Germany into two parts for more than 28 years.
In this article we want to explain the background, the history of the construction, the fall and where you can see the remains of the Berlin Wall.all about the Berlin Wall, the Cold War symbol !
The Berlin Wall - Construction, history and fall of the Berlin Wall
Index of the article

Background of the Berlin Wall

Let's start the article explaining how Germany was and what happened for the construction of the Berlin Wall.When World War II ended Germany was divided , we focused on Berlin where the city was segmented and n four sectors depending on the countries that occupied it.Or what is the same, Berlin was divided into these four sectors of occupation :
  • The Soviet area
  • The American zone
  • The French zone
  • The English zone
When four countries with such different political ideologies were found, the bad relations between the communists and the allied countries , this led to the birth of two currencies, two very marked and different political ideas, and, in the end, the division into two of Germany.
The Berlin Wall - Construction, history and fall of the Berlin Wall
In this way Germany is divided into 1949 in the German Federal Republic (RFA) that formed the US, France and Britain and on the other hand the GDR German Democratic Republic formed by the Soviet Union .But p In order for there to be communication between the two Germans, they created 81 crossing points between the two zones.
Surely you are interested in knowing everything about World War II to know all that happened so that Germany would be divided, click in these links:

Construction of the Berlin Wall

We know that there was a bad relationship between the two policies that were in Germany but why or what led to the construction of the Berlin Wall? The problem arose between 1960 and 1961 when the economy of the GDR (Soviet Germany) began to go bad and the population of East Germany began to move to West Germany.
Nearly three million people moved to the RFA or what is the same they abandoned communism to move to capitalism, as the Soviets realized that they did not stop losing population, the night of August 12, 1961 a provisional wall was erected , where they closed 6 9 access points on the other side, leaving 12 but guarded.
The next day, in the morning, 155 km of wire fence separating Berlin were placed and no one could go to the other Germany.During the following days the wall was built well, with bricks so they had to evict the people who lived in those areas.
The Berlin Wall - Construction, history and fall of the Berlin Wall
Even though there were many attempts to escape to the other area, the population still had the desire to go to the RFA ( Capitalist Germany) and some succeeded, so the wall continued to expand to prevent the entire population from escaping.
There came a point that the Berlin Wall became a huge wall that separated all of Germany, exactly it was a concrete wall (inside it was built with steel cables) 4 meters high where in the pa The upper part had a hemispherical surface to prevent people from clinging to jump to the other area.
The Berlin Wall - Construction, history and fall of the Berlin Wall
But not only did they avoid the passage to the RFA zone with the wall they also created the Death Strip , this was formed by a moat, a fence and a road full of armed soldiers and 24-hour military vehicles a day, not forgetting the watchtowers, so that no one could cross into the other Germany.
Like this, I also do not prevent a lot of people from trying to cross the wall in 1975 by 43 km and it was formed by the strip of death and full of fences.

People who crossed the Berlin Wall between 1961 and 1989

As we have mentioned in the previous section, you are sure to know how many people got crossing into capitalist Germany or RFA (West Germany) between 1961 and 1989 .
Approximately 5000 people tried to cross from these 3000 of them were arrested and about 120 died trying to have a better life .The last person who died trying to cross was on February 5, 1989.
As a curiosity we recommend you go to the Checkpoint Charlie Wall Museum where you can see many images of the time and they will tell you many stories of the people they wanted crossing the Berlin Wall.

Fall of the Berlin Wall

In May 1989 the opening of the borders between Austria and Hungary motivated the fall of the Berlin Wall, this favored because More and more Germans were going to Hungary requesting asylum from the RFA embassies, provoking a multitude of demonstrations in Alexanderplatz.
In this way on November 9, 1989 the government of the German Democratic Republic allowed the passage to the west , so that this day many people crossed over to the other side, there was a mass exodus of Germans.
The Berlin Wall - Construction, history and fall of the Berlin Wall
And the next day, on November 10, 1989 the first breaches of the wall were made and finally, after 28 Many families, friends and loved ones were able to meet again.

Where to see the remains of the Berlin Wall

The Berlin Wall is a symbol of e the Cold War and meant a very important step the fall and, therefore, the disappearance of that forced separation from Germany.Although we have commented that the wall was destroyed today remains partly standing.
The Berlin Wall - Construction, history and fall of the Berlin Wall
In East Side Gallery you can see part of the Berlin Wall , exactly you can see 1.3km of a wall that is decorated with different paintings that reflect the events that were happening during those 28 years.
But it is not the only place where you will be able to see it, next to Checkpoint Charlie you can also see remains of the wall in the exhibition «Topography of Terror» .

Photos of the Berlin Wall

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Jose Risueño Biography

José Risueño (Granada, 1665- id ., 1732) Spanish sculptor and painter.Follower of A.Cano, P.de Mena and D.de Mora, he worked in Granada, where he made the figures of the chapel of the Sacrament of the Carthusian monastery, the San Juan de Dios of the church of San Matías and the Crucified Christ of Sacromonte.It is famous for its polychrome baked clay figurines ( Penitent Magdalene ).

Giambattista Tiepolo Biography

Giambattista Tiepolo (Giambattista or Giovanni Battista Tiepolo; Venice, 1696-Madrid, 1770) Italian painter.He studied the works of Sebastiano Ricci, Veronese and Giovanni Battista Piazzetta, and imitated the chromaticism, with its violent chiaroscuro effects, of the latter.In his early ceiling paintings (Archinti and Dugnani palaces in Milan) he reaffirmed his decorative talent, based on architectural perspectives, trompe-l'oeil paintings and moving crowds. His first important work, the decorative cycle of the archiepiscopal palace of Udine (1727-1728), composed of biblical narratives, already denotes in the conformation of the figures (of great naturalism) and in the composition of the same contributions from the artist himself, although certain influences from Sebastiano Ricci and Veronese are still detected. Feast of Antony and Cleopatra (c.1743), by Tiepolo In Milan he worked in the Clerici Palace; in Venice he did it in the Scalzi church and in the Labia palace.The...

Enrique Mélida Biography

Enrique Mélida (Madrid, 1838-Paris, 1892) Spanish painter.He was part of the Madrid romantic school.In his work the portraits and genre paintings stand out: The party was spoiled (Casón del Buen Retiro, Madrid), Procession of penitents in Spain in the s. XVIII (Sydney Museum).

Guillermo Uribe Holguín Biography

Guillermo Uribe Holguín (Bogotá, 1880-1972) Colombian composer.In his hometown he started on the violin.He studied music in the United States, where in order to survive he had to play in dance orchestras and arrange select music songs for popular performances.Back in Colombia, he managed to revive the National Symphony Orchestra.Thanks to his merits, he received a scholarship that allowed him to continue his specialization in Paris, where he studied with D'Indy. Guillermo Uribe When he returned to Colombia, he completely renewed the field of music in the capital of the republic, and became the highest exponent of the country's musical culture.His extensive work is almost all for symphony orchestra, although he also has cultured music, piano works, choral works and chamber music. His compositions include Del Terruño , Three hundred pieces of popular sentiment , Bochica , Furatena (based on legends of pre-Columbian origin, 1940), Triumphal March , Indigenous cerem...

Antoni Clavé Biography

Antoni Clavé (Barcelona, ​​1913-Saint Tropez, 2005) Spanish painter and sculptor.A disciple of the sculptor Ángel Ferrant and the painter José Mongrell, he began painting at the School of Fine Arts in Barcelona and his foray into the professional field was produced through poster design, mainly cinematographic.Affiliated with the Republican Army during the Spanish Civil War, in January 1939 he went into exile to France, where he spent time in a refugee camp.He continued his pictorial activities, forming, together with a group of Spanish painters, the so-called School of Paris. In 1941 he set up his first Montparnasse studio.His emotional stability and the birth of his son gave rise to a series of intimate paintings, some of them tending towards abstraction.It did not take long for him to produce paintings with a marked expressionist and even cubist character, in which he systematically and especially dealt with the collage technique, from which the assemblages later derived. ...

The great conquerors of history

What do you think has been the greatest conqueror in the world? In today's article we will talk about the great world conquerors and what has been the evolution until today. From the beginning of the world to the current moment, as we know it, there have been multiple conquests, battles and wars that have led to the creation of different kingdoms that have remained for a short time or thousands of years. In today's article we will talk about the great conquerors of antiquity: Alexander the Great Attila Genghis Khan Napoleon Bonaparte Adolf Hitler Article index Alexander the Great Alexander the Great is considered the greatest conqueror in history, hence he was called El Grande. The great conquest that you celebrated was that of Persia, territory after territory ended up being part of its empire : Asia Minor, the Mediterranean Levant, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia, Central Asia and even invaded India. Attila Attila is another of the ...

Innocent VI Biography

Innocent VI (Étienne Aubert; Limoges, 1352-Avignon, 1362) Pope (1352-1362).He had been a professor of Civil Law in Tolosa, where he later founded the Colegio de San Marcial. Innocent VI Simple in his customs, Pope Innocent VI put an end to the excessive privileges and pomp of the prelates and sought to reduce the luxury of the pontifical court.He provided ecclesiastical jobs for persons of recognized ability, abolished a large number of reservations and privileges, prohibited the simultaneous performance of various benefits, and sent to his churches the numerous prelates residing in Avignon without being called, threatening them with excommunication. He recklessly released tribune Cola Rienzi from prison to help him overthrow also tribune Baroncetti, who had terrorized the city of Rome with his cruelties.Rienzi, whom the people had received as a liberator, became a hateful despot and was eventually assassinated by the people after subjecting him to the most ignominious dealing...

Gregory IX Biography

Gregory IX (Ugolino de Segni; Anagni, c .1170-Rome, 1241) Pope of the Catholic Church (1227-1241).Nephew of Pope Innocent III, he studied in Paris and Bologna and in 1206 he was appointed Cardinal Bishop of Ostia by his uncle.A man of notable legal scholarship, he defended with great energy the claims of power of the papacy and the freedom of the church, for which reason he came into conflict with Emperor Frederick II Hohenstaufen. Pope Gregory IX approves the Decretals (fresco by Rafael Sanzio) Already in 1227 he excommunicated Frederick II for failing to fulfill his promise to undertake a new crusade, and in 1229 ordered the invasion of the kingdom of Sicily.In 1230 he made peace with the emperor, although the struggle between the Church and the emperor continued.In 1239 he again excommunicated Federico II and decreed a crusade against him; the imperial troops were about to enter Rome when he passed away. During his pontificate, Gregory IX founded the Inquisition and, with ...

Alexandr Izvolski Biography

Alexandr Izvolski (Moscow, 1856-Paris, 1919) Russian politician and diplomat, main architect of the alliance between Russia and England in the years before the First World War. Alexandr Izvolski Educated at the Imperial Lyceum in Saint Petersburg, he soon held important diplomatic posts: he was Russian ambassador to the Vatican, Yugoslavia, Germany, Japan and Denmark.Between 1906 and 1910 he served as Minister of Foreign Affairs; after that he was appointed ambassador to France. In 1907, Izvolski signed a pact that strengthened the alliance between France and England against Germany.Thanks to this pact, the British and the Russians divided Persia, which was divided into three zones of influence: a British, a Russian and a neutral zone between the two (Afghanistan was under the protection of Great Britain).This pact, together with the Franco-Russian alliance of 1890 and the Anglo-French agreement of 1904, formed the embryo of what would later become the Triple Entente. In Oct...