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 !

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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