THE fall of the berlin wall it took place in the transition from the 9th to the 10th of November 1989. This event is remarkable, as it foreshadowed the fall of the German Democratic Republic, East Germany, and the reunification of germany, separated into two nations since the end of World War II. The fall of the wall was also part of the process of fall of the communist bloc in Eastern Europe, which began in the late 1980s.
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historical background
The Berlin Wall was one of the great symbols of Cold War, a political-ideological conflict that divided the world into two blocks: the capitalist, led by the United States, and the communist, led by the Soviet Union. Germany was one of the great stages of the Cold War, as the country was divided into two nations.
At the end of the Second war, Germany, defeated, was divided into four zones of influence: one british, one french, one North-American is soviet. This division into zones of influence also took place in Berlin, the capital of Germany. As the tensions resulting from the Cold War advanced, Germany ended up splitting into two nations.
THE ocidental Germany (German Federal Republic) and the Oriental Germany (German Democratic Republic) were the two nations that emerged from this political-ideological dispute of the Cold War. Berlin, for being a large city and for having great strategic importance, it was disputed by the two blocks, which also resulted in their division. In the 1940s, a dispute began that lasted for five decades.
Map of Berlin during the Cold War period. In blue is West Berlin; in red is East Berlin.**
With the configuration of this framework and the formation of the communist bloc in Eastern Europe, the United States soon created a strategy to block the advance of this bloc across Europe and, thus, the Marshall Plan. This plan was intended to finance the reconstruction of Western European countries that suffered from the destruction caused by the war.
The result of this is that soon the city of Berlinwestern (capitalist side) developed. The population of the eastern portion of Berlin, politically and economically dissatisfied, began to move in large numbers to the west. Only in 1953, 331,000 East German people left the country|1| and between 1948 and 1961, about 2.7 million people had left the country|2|.
To contain the exodus of inhabitants, the governments of East Germany, ruled at the time by walterUlbricht, and the Soviet Union, ruled at the time by NikitaKhrushchev, decided to build a wall to isolate West Berlin. The Berlin Wall was built on the transition from the 12th to the 13th of August 1961. For 28 years, the wall was the symbol of the division of the world because of the Cold War.
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fall of the berlin wall
The communist bloc entered a strong crisis during the 1980s and the situation was no different in East Germany. The crisis of the East German economy was evidenced by the increasegivesdebtexternal of the country, growth of deficitcommercial, The lack in goods etc. Furthermore, the country's industry and infrastructure were on the brink of collapse.
The East German population's dissatisfaction with their country's economic bankruptcy was compounded by the government's authoritarianism. The East German government did not accept criticism, persecuted opponents, as well as censoring the culture and people's opinion which was intense. the secret police, called Stasi, was the symbol of government repression.
The growing dissatisfaction of the population caused opposition movements to start to be organized despite government repression. The political crisis in East Germany began to be aggravated especially from 1989 onwards due to events that took place in the Hungary and on Poland, two other communist bloc countries.
In June 1989, Hungary decreed the opening of its border with the west, that is, with the capitalist nations and this directly impacted Germany, because only in the month Next, 25,000 people from East Germany decided to go to Hungary and from there they went to Austria, where they requested political asylum at the German embassy. western|3|.
Meanwhile, in Poland, the first government was elected nocommunist since World War II, and this has also caused thousands of people to move from East Germany to Poland. This flow of events led to a series of protests in East Germany, especially in East Berlin and Leipzig, the largest cities in the eastern portion.
O month of October and the first days of November 1989 they were marked by a series of events that highlighted the downfall of the East German government. The situation was getting out of control and this resulted in the dismissal of thousands of members of the government. Protests were also gaining a magnitude not seen in East Germany since the 1950s.
On November 9, 1989, the East German spokesman called Gunter Schabowski announced the new citizen mobility law. The law announced by the spokesman basically ended restrictions that existed on the East German border. During the interview, Schabowski mistakenly stated to a journalist that the law would take effect immediately. The law, in fact, would only be valid after being approved in Parliament.
The spokesman's press announcement attracted thousands of people at the East German border posts. These people demanded the right to cross the borders to enter West Germany and soon about 100,000 people gathered around the Berlin Wall, forcing East German authorities to endorse the law. At the turn of the night from November 9th to 10th the crowd, carrying shovels, pickaxes and other tools, it started The accomplish The felledofWall that separated the two portions of Berlin.
Helmut Kohl, Chancellor of Germany from 1982 to 1998, was the one who led the German reunification process.***
The fall of the Wall had a very large symbology and gave strength to the process of reunificationof thegermany. The political process of the reunification of Germany was driven by Helmut Kohl, chancellor of West Germany and member of the Christian Democratic Union, party of center right from Germany.
THE German reunification was formalized on October 3, 1990 and the full border opening process completed on July 1, 1991. The tearing down of the wall as well as the reunification of Germany were accompanied by street celebrations and parties across Germany.
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Consequences
The fall of the Berlin Wall was one of the great recent events in human history. Its great consequences were:
Contributed to the fall of the Eastern European Communist bloc. The ruin of the block was already underway and the fall of the wall was another element in this process.
Contributed decisively to the reunificationgivesGermany.
The fall of the Wall also presented a major challenge for West German rulers who faced the challenge of realizing the modernization of the eastern portion of Germany. The division of Germany after so many years created a kind of "mental barrier" and even today, three decades after this event, there are still German citizens who defend the reconstruction of the Wall.
Summary
The Berlin Wall was one of the great symbols of the Cold War and surrounded West Berlin, isolating it.
The Wall was built in 1961 to contain the exodus of people moving to West Berlin. It was built in one day.
Separated the two parts of the city of Berlin for 29 years.
In the 1980s, East Germany was in a serious economic crisis that generated strong dissatisfaction among the population.
The lack of freedom and authoritarianism of the East German government was also a cause for dissatisfaction.
Numerous protests took place in East Berlin and Leipzig, major cities in East Germany.
The opening of Hungary's borders caused thousands of Germans to go there to cross the West German border.
The fall of the Wall came after the East German government spokesman announced the opening of the country's borders.
Thousands of people gathered around the Wall on November 9, 1989 and then began to tear down the wall.
A year after the fall of the Wall, Germany was reunified and became one nation again, after nearly 50 years of separation.
|1| FERNANDES, Marisa. The political reunification of Germany (1989/1990): in the context of relations between the great powers, p. 95. To access click on here.
|2| BRENER, Jayme. Eastern Europe: the democratic revolution. São Paulo: Current, 1990, p. 104.
|3| FERNANDES, Marisa. The political reunification of Germany (1989/1990): in the context of relations between the great powers, p. 99. To access click on here.
*Image credits: nephthali and Shutterstock
**Image credits: Miqu77 and Shutterstock
***Image credits: 360b and Shutterstock
By Daniel Neves
Graduated in History
