History of the Berlin Wall
| The Berlin Wall was a barrier that was brought up between the former East Germany and the former West Germany. In fact, many historians hold the Wall responsible for the onset of the Cold War. In 1952, leaders from East Germany had a meeting in Moscow with Joseph Stalin. |
The outcome of the meeting was a decision that there should a barrier between the two parts of Germany to stop free travel of people. So, the first barrier was constructed in the form of a wire fence in 1961.
However, this was not so effective in preventing people from escaping to the west. The very next year, an better wire fence was erected. This wall continued to exist till 1965, when it was brought down, and replaced by a concrete wall. A more sophisticated wall was built later in 1975. Referred to as the Grenzmauer 75, this wall was reinforced with mesh fencing. It had 116 watch towers and anti vehicle trenches. It was difficult to scale with its pipe finish at the top. However, about 5,000 people defected to West Germany and around 100 to 200 people died as a result of such activities.
This famous barrier of the Cold War Era finally came down in November 9, 1989, when East Germany decided that it would open its door to everyone. Free and unrestricted travel between the two countries started thereafter. In 1990, the military of East Germany started demolishing the wall, although this was already being done by citizens. West German currency was adopted by East Germans. Much of the wall was completely torn down by 1991. Germany's reunification finally happened in October 1991.
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