The Rise and Fall of the Berlin Wall
"An Iron Curtain has descended across the continent. Behind that line lie all of the capitals of the ancient states of central and eastern Europe . . . all these famous cities and populations around lie in the Soviet sphere and all are subject . . . to a very high and increasing measure of control from Moscow." With this section of Winston Churchill's famous speech in 1946 at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri, he coined the term "Iron Curtain." Most people believe that Winston Churchill was referring directly to the Berlin Wall, but he was actually talking about the general closing off of Soviet satellite countries in Eastern Europe. Even though the wall itself was not built until 1961, the Berlin Wall was the enduring symbol of that "Iron Curtain." Understanding the reason for its construction, the heartache it caused, and the joy over its fall helps modern students relate to its symbolic role as an "Iron Curtain" (Rise). The Berlin Wall was erected for one main reason: to keep East Berliners from escaping to West Berlin. After WWII, Berlin, the capital of Germany, was a ruined city. The WWII victors, the United States, Great Britain, France, and the Soviet Union, divided Germany and Berlin in four sectors, each c
In conclusion, the "Iron Curtain" that had divided Berlin for so long had come down. Since 1961, the Berlin Wall had separated East and West Berlin, and many had died trying to cross it in desperate attempts to escape from East Germany. East Berliners marched to the wall shouting "Tor auf! Open the gate!" West Berliners waited on the other side with high expectations. Finally, East Berliners climbed over the wall and began chanting happily with the West, "The wall is gone, the wall is gone!" Then both sides began pounding at the wall with hammers, turning the wall into a pile of rocks. At last, the most hated symbol of communism was gone (Brewster 223). Ironically, the fall of the Berlin Wall had begun with building of it in 1961, and it fell for the same reason it was built: too many East Germans were escaping to the West. However, it took about three decades until the wall was torn down. In 1989, the first free labor union was founded in the Communist Poland, which meant the end of the communist system had begun. The Soviet Union still controlled their satellites, but with the new leader Gorbatshov their politics changed in 1984. Gorbatshov reformed the stalinistic system, but didn't replace the communist system completely. These reforms had major effects on other communist countries, especially Poland and Hungary. On August 23, 1989 Hungary opened the "iron curtain" to Austria. East German tourists used this chance to escape, and more than 13,000 of them did within three days. This was the first major exodus since the erection of the Berlin Wall. After this huge evacuation, mass demonstrations against the government and the system in East Germany began at the end of September and lasted unt
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Approximate Word count = 1162
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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