Building of the Berlin Wall

Date constructed: August 13, 1961 Date demolished: November 9, 1989

Why was it constructed?

- West Germany, ruled by the UK, US and France, had established a capitalist society, and people had
very good living standards. They could buy gadgets and appliances and travel as they wished. East
Germany was not so well off. Because the USSR had established a communist society in it, individuals
had little freedom. The Soviets pilfered factory equipment and shipped it back to the USSR. The economy
suffered. Therefore in the late 1950s, hundreds and thousands of East Germans fled to West Germany.
Many of these refugees were young, trained professionals, so East Germany lost both its labor force and
its population. In 1958, Khrushchev had delivered the Berlin ultimatum, demanding that the western allies
should withdraw their troops from West Berlin and that West Berlin should become a "Free City" within six
months. He even threatened to settle a separate peace treaty between the USSR and the GDR. But the
Western Allies were committed to defending Berlin. So the meeting between US President Kennedy and
the Prime Minister of the USSR, Khrushchev, in 1961 had no effect. By 1961, East Germany had lost 2.5
million people, so they needed a way to stop the easy access East Germans had to West Berlin.
Desperate to keep its citizens, East Germany decided to build a wall to prevent them from crossing the
border.

The Building of the Berlin Wall

Just past midnight on the night of August 12-13, 1961, trucks with soldiers and construction workers
rumbled through East Berlin. While most Berliners were sleeping, these crews began tearing up streets
that entered into West Berlin, dug holes to put up concrete posts, and strung barbed wire all across the
border between East and West Berlin. Telephone wires between East and West Berlin were also cut.
Berliners were shocked when they woke up that morning. What had once been a very fluid border was
now rigid. No longer could East Berliners cross the border for operas, plays, soccer games, etc. No longer
could the approximately 60,000 commuters head to West Berlin for well-paying jobs. No longer could
families, friends, and lovers cross the border to meet their loved ones. Whichever side of the border one
went to sleep on during the night of August 12, they were stuck on that side for decades.

How did this affect the tension between the USSR and the US?

Tension level: -5 (decreased tension)

The reaction of the western allies was moderate, since the three essentials of the American policy
regarding Berlin were not affected: presence of allied troops, free access to Berlin and the right of self-
determination of the West Berliners. As Jeremy Isaacs claims, the United States and the Soviet Union
didnt want a military conflictonly wanted to conduct a surgical operation which was represented by
the Berlin Wall. In fact, this reduced the tension as it was a non-violent resolution of the Berlin Crisis.
According to Frederick Taylor, it acted as a barrier to silence an international crisis that could have
escalated into a nuclear arms war. Hachette also affirms that the Wall came to symbolize Europes
division, at the heart of the Cold War.


Bibliography
Rosenberg, Jennifer. "The Rise and Fall of the Berlin Wall -- Part 2." 20th Century History.
N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Aug. 2013.
<http://history1900s.about.com/od/coldwa1/a/berlinwall_2.htm>