Why was the Berlin Wall built?
When the war ended in 1945 the allies divided Berlin into four sectors Russian,American, French and British.The Soviet Russians had the east sector and the Americans,French and British had the west sector between them.At first the people who lived in the east side could cross over freely into the west side.The majority of Germans in east Berlin did not want to be under Russian rule so they started to defect to the west for a better standard of life.The Russians did not like the idea of this mass defection and in 1961 they decided to build a wall across the eastern sector.The wall in fact stretched the length of eastern Germany and the majority of it was a wire fence surrounded by minefields and guarded by watch towers.Any east German who tried to escape over the wire was either arrested or shot.In Berlin itself the wall was made of reinforced concrete slabs and these used quite a lot of asbestos in the construction.Entry from the east to west was controlled by checkpoints the most famo
A few tentative steps across Checkpoint Charlie and you were transported to a different world. One side had McDonalds, Coke, Toyota cars and a democratically elected government. Across the Checkpoint, was a world of state-owned factories, rows and rows of identical apartments, and a self-imposed government. This was the world of the two Berlins divided by barbed wire, watch dogs, tanks, and an imposing wall. In 1945, following World War II, Germany was divided into two countries – East Germany and West Germany. East Germany was controlled by the communist regime of the Soviet Union while West Germany became a democracy supported by the United States. Berlin, the former capital city, although entirely within East German borders, was also split into two. On August 13, 1961, the German Democratic Republic (GDR) decided to block off East Berlin and West Berlin by means of a barbed wire. Streets were torn up, and barricades erected. Rail lines and the subway between East and West Berlin was
After the second world war Germany was fragmented into two parts i.e. east Germany under the communist rule of soviet union and the west Germany which was democratic country supported by U.S.A. Berlin lies in the centre of east Germany so it was divided for the occupation by Russia, U.S.A. and England. The relation between West Germany which was democratic and East Germany which was communist was getting bitter. So a wall was built which separated east and West Germany. This wall prevented the people from the East Germany to enter west Germany and enjoy freedom. East Germany had already lost many workers who went to other part. The higher officials of East Germany thought that best way to prevent the flow of manpower to west was to build the wall. The wall was constructed on 13th august 1961. It was one hundred and seven kilometers long and four meters in height, built with concrete. On the east part of the wall a trench was made so that no vehicle may hit the wall and to restrict the
