The erection of the Berlin Wall: why it happened

The erection of the Berlin Wall became a symbol not only of the division of the German nation - this event marked the materialization of the "Iron Curtain" on the continent and throughout the world. The wall became a demonstrative boundary between two opposing world systems: with military posts, barbed wire, observation towers and other relevant attributes of the Cold War.

The erection of the Berlin Wall: a symbol of the world's schism

The foundation for its construction was laid at the final stage of the Second World War. Already the fact that the allied forces - the USSR on the one hand, and the United States with Great Britain - on the other entered Germany simultaneously, predetermined the erection of the Berlin Wall in the future. Germany, after signing the capitulation, was divided into so-called zones of occupation, divided between the already noted allies and France. Actually, the city of Berlin itself was divided into three parts. After all, despite allied relations, built on the opposition to the Nazi regime (which simply could not coexist), the relations of the Soviet leadership with the Western countries were not at all cloudless. These contradictions somehow had to emerge after a general victory. Mutual distrust and simultaneous entry into Germany led to the fact that the country was divided into four zones, where each of the victors in their own way controlled the processes of postwar reconstruction and denazification. And the contradictions did not take long. In March 1946, Winston Churchill openly announced the state of affairs in his famous speech in Fulton. The erection of the Berlin Wall: how it was

Different views of recent allies on how to restore post-war Germany predetermined a fundamental difference in the processes taking place in the east and west of the country. For example, in the Soviet zone, the process of denazification, that is, identifying and removing from positions (or extradition to the court, if necessary) of persons who tainted themselves with participation in the crimes of the Hitler regime was extremely principled. In the West, the personnel qualification was more valued, so former criminals often quietly continued to cooperate with the authorities, "repainting" their own positions. Of course, there were differences in the variants of the political and economic system that the socialists and capitalists built. Both systems were trying to impose on their territories controlled puppet governments. It is not surprising that mutual questions and claims, which resulted in two successive Berlin crises of 1948 and 1961, soon matured. As a result of the First Crisis, two independent states were formed: the GDR and the FRG. As a result of the Second Berlin Crisis , the Berlin Wall was erected at all.

The year 1961 was marked by N. Khrushchev's ultimatum to the American authorities, according to which those should immediately withdraw their troops from West Berlin. The Soviets have done this for a long time, leaving, however, a friendly socialist government. However, for the US the withdrawal of formations meant that the whole of Berlin could be in the zone of the GDR. A series of unsuccessful negotiations, as well as the fact that the Germans migrated massively from the eastern part of the city to the western one, compelled the Soviet leadership to raise the issue of litigation. The erection of the Berlin Wall in 1961 marked the final division of the country, firmly linking the hope of restoration with the final outcome of the Cold War in someone's favor. So it happened: the wall existed until the time when the socialist camp was seriously shaken by the pressure of external pressure and internal contradictions. The destruction of the Berlin Wall took place in November 1989.