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The symbolism of the wall as a representative of the divide between capitalism and communism was not lost on [[United States|American]] President [[Ronald Reagan]], who, in a famous 1987 speech, urged [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] President [[Mikhail Gorbachev]] to "tear down this wall!" These words proved [[prophet|prophetic]], because on November 9, 1989, the German Democratic Republic announced that the border would be re-opened. The wall was promptly destroyed. In the following year, the parliament of the German Democratic Republic voted for reunification and became new states (Bundesländer) of the Federal Republic of [[Germany]].
The symbolism of the wall as a representative of the divide between capitalism and communism was not lost on [[United States|American]] President [[Ronald Reagan]], who, in a famous 1987 speech, urged [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] President [[Mikhail Gorbachev]] to "tear down this wall!" These words proved [[prophet|prophetic]], because on November 9, 1989, the German Democratic Republic announced that the border would be re-opened. The wall was promptly destroyed. In the following year, the parliament of the German Democratic Republic voted for reunification and became new states (Bundesländer) of the Federal Republic of [[Germany]].
==Background==
Following the [[Potsdam Conference]] of 1945, the city of Berlin, like the rest of Germany, was divided into four zones of occupation, one for each of the victorious Allies. The western part of the city was divided between the Americans, British, and French, while the eastern part was controlled by the Soviet Union. This was a potentially difficult arrangement, as the whole of Berlin, located in eastern Germany, was entirely within the Soviet occupation zone of the country. Though it did not immediately lead to conflict, the tensions of the developing [[Cold War]] led to confrontation between the powers in 1948, when the Soviets cut off land access to western Berlin; the Americans responded with the [[Berlin Airlift]] of 1948-9, in which large quantities of supplies were flown into the city, effectively breaking the blockade. Though the airlift was successful, the events surrounding it and the blockade eliminated any chance of a swift and peaceful reunification of Germany. The western occupation zones were consolidated into [[West Germany]] in 1949, while the Soviets followed suit and proclaimed their own occupation zone as the German Democratic Republic, or [[East Germany]], later that same year.
During the following decade or so, West Germany saw a tremendous economic recovery, thanks to its embrace of a mostly [[free market]], and enjoyed a stable democratic political order. By contrast, East Germany, though it claimed to be a multi-party democracy, was in reality a repressive Communist dictatorship, modeled like other Eastern European countries after the Soviet Union. Individual rights and the rule of law were largely ignored, and the population was oppressively monitored by the country's secret police, the [[Stasi]]. Meanwhile, East Germany's adoption of a government-run command economy led to severe inefficiencies and a decline in the standard of living, relative to America and Western Europe. While many East Germans protested the situation, especially during a failed uprising in June 1953, many others fled into West Germany. In response, beginning in the early 1950s, the East German government built fortifications along the entire border with the West, and stationed large numbers of border guards to prevent any of its citizens from escaping.
However, West and East Berlin were not at this time sealed off from one another. The two halves of the city were still technically under joint Allied administration, so that for a time, the East German authorities declined to block access between them, for fear of causing an international crisis. As a result, during the late 1950s East Germans (including many East Berliners) used this point of access to reach the West. By 1961, this risked creating a serious population drain for the East, while the ability to openly compare the free West and the Communist east was also deeply embarrassing to the regime. As a result, by the summer of 1961, the East German government was desperate to plug this hole in the "[[Iron Curtain]]," despite the international problems this might cause.
==Construction==
==Construction==