Why Was the Berlin Wall Taken Down

The Berlin Wall, located in Berlin, Germany, was a system of concrete walls, barb-wire fence, checkpoints, and control posts that was designed to stop residents of East Berlin from going into West Berlin. After the defeat of the Nazis in World War II, Germany found itself occupied by the Allied forces of the Soviet Union, United States, Great Britain and France. Germany was split in half, one side controlled by Soviet forces that was put into a communist regime while the other half was occupied by the other three countries and was allowed to form their own government. This was also the case of the city of Berlin.

By the beginning of the 1960s, thousands of East Berlins were crossing into the west part of the city. They were fleeing from the repressions in the communist-controlled East Berlin to a comparatively democratic and progressive West Berlin. The Berlin Wall was put up by East Germany or German Democratic Republic (GDR) to stop the mass exodus. The Berlin Wall was improved and strengthened from 1961 to 1975 to stop further crossings into West Berlin.

The fall of the Berlin Wall began in the late 1980s when the Soviet Union began to lose its once feared might. Once by one, communist regimes in the Iron Curtain (countries in Eastern Europe) began to topple one after the other. Hungary opened its borders thus allowing Germans to flee into West Germany. Mass demonstrations in East Germany forced the government to lift travel restrictions impost to East Germans. In November 9, 1989, thousands of East Berliners flocked to the checkpoints along the Berlin Wall demanding passage into West Berlin. The sudden surge of numerous Germans and more lax travel restrictions forced border guards to finally open the borders.

The Berlin Wall was an offshoot of the Cold War between communist Soviet Union and the capitalist West. The communist regimes put up by the Soviet Union in East Germany and other countries in Eastern Europe were repressive. West Germany and the rest of Western Europe enjoyed liberties not accorded to citizens under communist rule such as free press, free speech, freedom of assembly and right to private property. The resulting situation made economic and political conditions in Eastern Europe less favorable compared to Western Europe. Four decades of authoritarian rule created populations disillusioned on communism. When reforms failed to improve the conditions in communist-controlled Iron Curtain, citizens in countries like Poland, East Germany and Czechoslovakia demanded radical changes in the government.

The fall of the Berlin Wall was is attributable to two factors. Germans under communist rule had had enough of poor economic conditions and repressive regimes and were seeking a better life they have seen or heard was being enjoyed by non-communist countries. Another factor is that the communist government in East Germany was unable to address the dissent. The weakening of the Soviet Union left the GDR with weak influence and power.