the Erlin wall 1961 to 1989 the Cold War the Berlin wall would become a symbol of ideological division and suppression of human rights during the Cold War it represented the Iron Curtain that separated Western Europe and the Eastern Bloc in August 1961 the communist government of the German Democratic Republic of East Germany began construction of the wall and placement of barbed wire between West Berlin and the East its purpose was to stop Western fascists from entering the socialist state of East Germany and stopping defections from east to west it would continue to do so until
November 9th 1989 when the East German regime announced that its citizens had the right to cross the border when they wanted the wall goes up when world war ii came to an end in 1945 the victors came together at the Yalta and Potsdam conferences to split Germany into four Allied occupation zones East Germany would go to the Soviet Union while the Western Park went to the United States Great Britain and France even though Berlin was located entirely within the Soviet part of the country the city would be split into four sectors in the same way
the Russians were determined to remove the United States Britain and France from Berlin a Soviet blockade in 1948 attempted to starve them from the city however the United States and its allies resisted by dropping food and fuel supplies from aircraft which became known as the Berlin Airlift the booming Western sector which was the showcase of capitalism contrasted sharply to the economically poorer East many German refugees flowed from the east to the west including highly skilled workers such as doctors teachers and engineers between 1945 to 1961 15 to 20 percent of the East German population had
left to the west premier Nikita Khrushchev leader of the Soviet Union had had enough and gave the East German government permission to close Berlin's borders for good on the night of August 12th 13th 1961 East German soldiers the police force and volunteer construction workers laid down barbed wire and a cinderblock wall which stretched over a hundred miles as the decades went on the wall developed into a more sip stated one featuring a series of tall concrete walls electrified fences fortifications and watchtowers escaping East Berlin now people would no longer be able to cross freely with
ease to go to work or shop as they had done before now in order to get from west to east they had to pass through border crossings the most famous were checkpoints alpha Bravo and Charlie but there were several other border crossings which checkpoints / border crossings could be used also dependent on nationality dependent on whether they were West Germans or foreigners or status such as military personnel or diplomats West Berliners or West Germans as well as foreigners could apply for a visa to get into East Berlin East Berliners and East Germans however were not
permitted to cross the border to West Berlin or West Germany in October 1961 US chief of mission in West Berlin Alan Lightner was stopped in his car by East German police this prevention of access for American officials to East Berlin caused a standoff between American and Soviet tanks which faced off at checkpoint charlie from many hours both sides stared each other down waiting for their enemy to fire the potential for world war 3 was eventually averted when President John F Kennedy contacted Nikita Khrushchev and convinced him to withdraw his tanks the American tanks also backed
away soon after armed soldiers patrolled the wall and would shoot anyone on sight attempting to escape ditches barbed wire guard dogs searchlights and minefields were also set up to prevent escape attempts buildings overlooking the wall were demolished four had their windows bricked up so that people could not escape by jumping from them at least 171 people were killed trying to cross the wall but this didn't mean that Escape was impossible hundreds of East Germans tried to escape across the wall including by flying in a hot-air balloon by zip line on a tightrope in a car
without a windshield by swimming and through a tunnel President John F Kennedy visited Berlin on June 26 1963 he made a speech known as ich bin ein berliner referring to himself as a Berliner in spirit as a way of ensuring that the United States will fully support West Berliners and Germans this would be a big morale boost the while President John F Kennedy protested he realized a wall was better than war on June 12 1987 US President Ronald Reagan arrived in West Berlin for its seven hundred and fiftieth anniversary celebration in his speech at the
Brandenburg Gate he challenged Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the wall the fall of the wall on November 9th 1989 with the Cold War thawing and political changes happening across the Eastern Bloc the East German government announced that all GDR citizens could visit West Germany and West Berlin günter schabowski the East German Communist official who was the unofficial spokesman had announced a new freedom of travel for East Germans to the west in that they could apply for visas from the state agency in an orderly manner in an unprepared interview after not having all the
information he said to journalists we have decided today to implement a regulation that allows every citizen of the German Democratic Republic to leave East Germany through any of the border crossings and when asked when this would take effect he responded according to my information immediately without delay from this interpretation thousands of East Germans gathered around the checkpoints and the wall creating a party atmosphere then the crowd of East Germans crossed the border and climbed onto the wall celebrating with West Germans on the other side people knocked down the wall with hammers and soon with the
help of bulldozers it was pull down the reunification of East and West Germany was made official on October 3rd 1990 [Music] subscribe to our channel for more animated history videos get simple history the Cold War out today hey simple history fans if you're looking for a better way to support the channel and help us create more epic content consider becoming a sponsor on our channel sponsoring means that for just 5 bucks a month you get these amazing perks you can be the first to see new episodes with early access you'll be able to watch new
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