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Dec 15, 2009 · Learn about the Berlin Wall, a symbol of the Cold War that divided East and West Berlin from 1961 to 1989. Explore the causes, events and consequences of the wall's construction and collapse.
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Aug 21, 2024 · The Berlin Wall was built by the German Democratic Republic during the Cold War to prevent its population from escaping Soviet-controlled East Berlin to West Berlin, which was controlled by the major Western Allies. It divided the city of Berlin into two physically and ideologically contrasting zones.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
- The border between East and West Germany was opened on November 9, 1989, following anti-government protests in East Germany and the democratization...
- The “death strip” was the belt of sand- or gravel-covered land between the two main barriers of the Berlin Wall. It was constantly under surveillan...
- Segments of the Berlin Wall still exist in modern Berlin, notably on display at the Topography of Terror museum, the Berlin Wall Memorial, and the...
- The Berlin Wall was actually a system of barriers that included two walls. In the system’s final form, the outer wall, called the Vorderlandmauer,...
The Berlin Wall (German: Berliner Mauer, pronounced [bɛʁˌliːnɐ ˈmaʊɐ] ⓘ) was a guarded concrete barrier that encircled West Berlin of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; West Germany) from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and the German Democratic Republic (GDR; East Germany).
The fall of the Berlin Wall ( German: Mauerfall, pronounced [ˈmaʊ̯ɐˌfal] ⓘ) on 9 November 1989, during the Peaceful Revolution, marked the beginning of the destruction of the Berlin Wall and the figurative Iron Curtain, as East Berlin transit restrictions were overwhelmed and discarded.
Berlin crisis of 1961, Cold War conflict between the Soviet Union and the United States concerning the status of the divided German city of Berlin. It culminated in the construction of the Berlin Wall in August 1961 and the solidifying of Soviet and NATO spheres of influence in Europe.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
The Berlin Wall stood in place for almost 30 years. It remained the most tangible evidence of the Cold War and Iron Curtain separating the Soviet bloc from the West. Western leaders often referred to it as a symbol of Soviet repression.
It was on 9 November 1989, five days after half a million people gathered in East Berlin in a mass protest, that the Berlin Wall dividing communist East Germany from West Germany crumbled.
