The Berlin Wall Essay Research Paper INTRODUCTION

The Berlin Wall Essay, Research Paper INTRODUCTION Today people belong to the CNN generation. Any time an event happens in the world today people turn to CNN. In recent years, the Gulf War, and the events in Bosnia have been headliners. In 1989, one event monopolized the airways of CNN, THE FALL OF THE BERLIN WALL. I remember seeing this, and thinking how little I knew about this event. The fall of the Berlin Wall succeeded in one aspect that today is still not been rectified; The Berlin Wall divided Berlin into two very distinctively different cities. These cities both developed differently. Even after the wall was destroyed eight years ago the city still remained divided, and is still divided today. Following World War II, the allies had begun this split that was greatly

expanded following the building of the wall. The split of the city was wanted greatly by the Soviets, but not the other allies. When I joined the army being stationed in Germany didn?t really appeal to me. I wanted to stay stateside, with little travel, Going on a one to two year hardship overseas tour did not appeal to me. But after 1989, I put in request to be sent to Germany. I arrived in January 1990 three months after the wall collapsed. When I visited the wall five questions about the wall and German society surfaced; First what was the background of the wall why was it created, second how and when was the wall constructed, and of what material, third what were the measurements of the wall, Berlin is a huge city, fourth the aspects around the fall of the wall, and the

actual fall , and fifth after riding the Berlin sub-way, how did these tunnels affect the travel within the city, and the differing cultures of the two differing cities of East and West Berlin . In this examination I will finally answer these questions that I asked my self seven years ago. These questions all center around the aspect of Berlin becoming Two cities following World War II. Berlin, eight years after the fall of the illustrious wall is now busy rebuilding and redefining itself. Since my initial visit I have returned to see friends every other year. The city is no longer restricted by its cold war status as the symbolic dividing line between East and West. Berlin is the new political, cultural, and architectural capital of Germany and is quickly becoming one of the key

business centers in all of Europe. Before Hitler came to power and lost World War II, Berlin had enjoyed this status. The German government hopes today to groom Berlin as a possible capital of the new European Union. They are grooming there economy, and the city to be the focal point. BACKGROUND After World War II Berlin, was badly damaged during the war, unlike World War I. The Soviet Union wanted to bring the war to German soil. The Soviets harbored many hard feelings toward the German people. The city was surrounded by the German Democratic Republic/East Germany, and was partitioned into East Berlin and West Berlin. The city was in the Soviet sector of the post-war division. But the capital too was divided among the victorious allies, to keep the capital with democratic

ideals. The divided city not only symbolized the collapse of the German Empire, of which it was the capital, but also became a focus of cold-war tensions between the Communist nations led by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the group of Western nations led by the United States. The Berlin wall, a wall separating East and West Berlin was built by the East Germans in 1961, blocked free access in both directions until 1989; by the time Germany was unified in October 1990, much of the wall had been torn down. (1) Because of dissatisfaction with the economic and political conditions, an increasing number of people left East Germany (German Democratic Republic). from? January to the beginning of August 1961, about 160,000 refugees were counted?(2) Also, the international